How did you get on?

[The Runner]

Thanks Tommos
I was a coarse angler as well until I moved here two and a bit years ago- had hardly done any sea fishing since my youth...
Sorry, don't know much about the fishing around Oban - stayed there donkeys years ago and had mackerel and small pollack from the pier on coarse gear- should be some wrasse as well I think.
I know that most of the serious sea anglers around there concentrate on Loch Etive a few miles away- never been so cant help with specific marks but I know its very deep water for mostly thornbacks and spurdog.
Oban is famous for massive skate for boat anglers but think you might be a bit undergunned !

 

[peter crabtree]

Went down to Windsor today to fish the Thames at Home park. A lovely stretch of river with plenty of pegs to go at. Having fished here often over the years, I decided to join the controlling club, only £25 for the year for me. They have regular matches here, so now I’ll be able to fish those..
Today’s set up, the same as I always do here, 15’ ultralight and sliding waggler.
It’s about 8’ deep near the middle and that is where I like to fish it. 3:4gr insert Crystal waggler with 3gr ollivette and a few droppers fished 8” off bottom.
Size 18 carbon match hook to 0:09 bottom.

It was impossible to fish with maggots due to the teeming bleak shoals, so I plumped for the only alternative bait I had; hemp and tares.
Balled in a kilo and a half of hemp based groundbait as far as I could throw it a third of the way across. Then started cattying hemp over that. After a few minutes I cast out my tare, as soon as the float cocked it dived under, quality roach number one....

As usual I missed loads of bites but landed a good net-full of prime roach during the 5 hours I fished.

Total was c.15lb, all roach, ranging from 6 to 12oz bar 1 dace and a perch...

More than happy with that, roll on Autumn when the bleak disperse and I can use casters, then hit most of the bites instead of a third of them, like today.....

 

[S-Kippy]

I very nearly went to Windsor today myself but decided it was way too hot and bright. Finding it extremely hard to be bothered to go atm....its just so busy everywhere I've been lately.At least Windsor would have been quiet ( bar the boats) I suspect....never is busy midweek.

 

[markcw]

Went back to Newlands today for a few hours while partner is working from home and I feel like I am in the way,
Set up on peg 7 on Surmans lake,
First to rig up was a straight 20g inline lead with a 2g flying backlead and a 0.19 Guru N Gauge hooklength with a size 14 QM 1 hook. The rod was the12' Shimano Speedcast ,reel was 4000DL Shimano baitrunner loaded with 5lb Shimano Aernos line. Bait was to be a 10mm Mainline tutti fruiti boilie.
Next to rig up was an 11' Daiwa Harrier pellet waggler, reel was a PI Inception 4000,loaded with 5lbs reflo to same hook length as feeder rod, Float was 14g Guru balsa pellet waggler with a feeder link attached for a quick change over if required, this was locked in place with 3 float stops, and set at 20" deep. Finally Shimano Beast Master Margin Extreme 4 metre margin pole. 18 elastic through the number one section, Float was a 4 x 14 Drennan tuff eye spotted with stotz on 0.21 reflo. Business end was a Kamasan B911 hook.
Started off by priming 2 margin swims ,the one one the right with Dynamite Baits meaty marine groundbait and a few durable soft hookers.The one to the left with a handful of corn scattered along the edge.The pole rig was able to do both margins by altering the depth by a couple of inches each time.
Started of on the straight lead and cast towards the island at around 40 yards away.I dropped it about a yard short of the island near to lilys, Cattyed some boilies over to the island, and waited for tip to go round... and waited ...and ..waited.
After half an hour and not a sniff, I reeled in, put rod in holder and got pellet waggler rod into action, cast about 30 yards and started firing a couple of boilies towards the float, again after a while a lot of effort no reward.
In with the rod, out with the margin pole, I lost 3 on the corn margin, but landed 4 all around 7lbs, on the pellet side lost 2 landed 2, these were a bit bigger at around 10lb.
Decided to call it it a day, the sun was up and shining and it was getting to warm.
All in all an enjoyable day, Speaking to a couple of anglers ,they said it had been a struggle on the feeder. And no carp had been topping. Back on there next week or may try the one at the top end of it. Similar in size and stock fish.

 

[tigger]

I checked the ea river levels this morning with trotting on my mind. The chart showed the river level dropping down, but it was still too high at 4am. Going off the chart I guestimated it would have dropped off to a fishable level by mid afternoon. I decided to try a bit of trotting for the latter part of this afternoon.....I knew I shouldn't have bothered!
I marched across the fields to my target swim and when I got there saw straight away the river was way to high for trotting.....barstuards!

There was a gent fishing at the end of my planned trot. He was sat on the pebbles with two rods up in the air. As I checked his membership book we had a chat. He said he'd been there since 6am and only had one small chub. No sooner had he said it than his rod tip bent around and he had another! After chatting with him I decided to fish since I was there anyhow.

As I pieced my rod together I realised that I'd left my bait pouch in the car, "darn it"!
I went back to the car and "bu££er", it wasn't there.
I must have left it at home ?. I then remembered I always leave a cotton neck bag in my shoulder sling for emergency situations such as this.

As I walked back across the field I was muttering to myself, hoping the neck bag was still in my sholder sling. If it wasn't I would be going home again. Whilst mutterring I reached to my waist to adjust my belt, only to find two belts, one of which was the missing bait pouch belt!
I only had it on back to front! ???.
? A little worrying that ?.

Back on the bank and I swapped the 4 gram float, that I'd attatched before I set out, for a large 6 gram wire stemmed bolo, which turned out to be the perfect choice for the conditons. Anyhow, the short session turned out to be ok, I had a small barbel, a huge dace and two chub....

 

[no-one in particular]

I went back to the river looking for the Mullet yesterday. There were hundreds of them, the wind had calmed and the ripples were gone so I could see them. I picked the bit of river where I could see the most and let them totally ignore everyone of my flies for a couple of hours, about 8 different flies were used, I did have one look like it turned to it but it was probably just turning anyway.
In the meantime I was lobbing in bits of bread to see if they would get interested but the same result, I was lobbing it on their heads virtually but they just ignored it. Whether it floated over them or down past their gobs, it made no difference. I then attached some line and a 10 hook to my fly line and fished it on the bottom just over the bank hoping they might go down and start feeding on all the bread I chucked in but they just kept sailing past me all afternoon. I have had this before, a good sign is when they disappear, it means they have gone down to feed on your bread but not today. I tried anchoring a bit of floating crust as well but they just sailed past it as well, might as well lobbed in bricks, they wouldn't have noticed. They were in pods of about 4-15 fish and just cruising under the surface, maybe a few 4/5-lbers among them.
I should have gone bass fishing but those Mullet are a greater lure to me, I have often thought to catch one on the fly one of angling's great achievements and it is pretty exciting casting to fish you can see so I enjoyed it even though it is very frustrating, I have often thought fly fishing blind is a pretty dismal affair but when you can see the fish, it's a whole new ballgame; one day it will all come together before I fall apart.
Not much bird life, usually see a king fisher along here but not today.

 

[108831]

Like you Mark,mullet are alluring to me,so much so my wife hates it when I spot them,I bought a set up once whilst on holiday just to have a crack at them....

 

[no-one in particular]

Like you Mark,mullet are alluring to me,so much so my wife hates it when I spot them,I bought a set up once whilst on holiday just to have a crack at them....

The classic way is to buy small mepps spinners, try different coloured and sized ones but, adapt them so they have a single hook snood tied to the eyelet and about a 10/8 hook on the bottom and a small single hook up the top.. Thread a ragworm/lug onto the hook and up the snood and use the small hook to hold it in line. Mullet will get interested in the spinner and snap at the worm. You can support the spinner with a float as well if you want it to stay up in the water where the mullet often are. More stuff for you to buy but don't tell your wife it was my idea, my neck is doing fine at the moment.
On that note off to an auction today to look at a couple of fishing lots and throw more money at the sport, I lost 4 flies yesterday, another £4+ down the swannie.

 

[108831]

That is specifically good for thin lips,not so effectice for thick lipped,which seem much more common and i'm not bothered which ones I catch...

 

[no-one in particular]

That is specifically good for thin lips,not so effectice for thick lipped,which seem much more common and i'm not bothered which ones I catch...

Actually I think your right, it was a video I watched on thin lips however, I had a friend who used to do something similar with a float, a small silver fly spinner and little harbour worms. he slayed the thick lipped mullet on the Cuckmere in Sussex using this method.

 

[seth49]

Out again yesterday, mick and I and Neil on a guest ticket, fished from 7 am to 5 pm, light rain till 10am and then stopped and started to warm up, by 3pm it was very warm and humid, fishing was very slow, had two carp on mussel float fished to a patch of lilies, then it went quiet, plenty of carp in the lilies, could see them moving as if they were feeding on the underside of the leaves, but couldn’t tempt them out.

It was very pleasant sat in the warmth for a change, even nodded of a couple of times, just little micro sleeps of a few seconds, tried quite a few different baits, but only mussel worked, the other pool less than half a mile away, worm is the best bait but not here.

Did get one more carp later on these, but it was slow, I did do better than the other two, mick blanked, and Neil had a bream, a few carp did come up on the surface later on, and I missed a couple on dog biscuit, bit rusty with surface fishing this year, enjoyed it though, sticking at it instead of standing talking payed off.

 

[Reemul]

Fished Kingsbridge with my son again last night 4 - 9pm. Few swims with people fishing, 1 swim had 5 fish while we were there.

I had the jetty and my son the one near the island.

Was very quiet, my son lost 2 really hard takes on pellet that had in the snags very quickly then he had a tangle so while helping him I lost a fish, very frustrating. Started packing up at 8.30pm and just about finished with just my son having 1 rod left when it went screaming off to the left, after a decent battle he pulled out a 20lb 3oz carp his new PB, really wide decent fish but in all the excitement we forgot to actually take a picture of it

Speaking to the baliff he said the fishing had been terrible, the evening matches were struggling to catch more than a fish or 2 and lots blanking but he didn't seem to know why, said it was very intense in May and June and it could be that but it's not heavily fished at the moment but that continues my Kingsbridge blank, no fish in the last 4 trips.

Away now till next Saturday so a little break.

 

[silvers]

anyway... tomorrow evening I shall be venturing on to the Warks Avon to practise my feeder techniques. I have a match on the middle Trent on Saturday and my local contact tells me that feeder is king at the moment. I’ve never used the “dink dink“ as most of my feeder fishing is for barbel or Stillwater bream ... I shall report back!

Fairly uneventful 2 and a half hours fishing a ground bait feeder with casters ... trying various rigs and hookbaits ... catching plenty of Small dace from 1-3 oz with a few roach and gobies.
standard running feeder rig with 2ft hooklnegth was about the most effective ... shorter and longer tails didn’t work so well ... dink dink rig worked but not spectacularly!
as the light faded I had two barbel hookups, i Think the first was foulhooked as the b560 came back with no damage. The second straightened said hook.

 

[108831]

Use decent hooks is my motto,I don't know what b.s. line your using,but whatever it is your hooks don't match up to it,Guru MWGB is my hook of choice for barbel,cannot(or haven't)straighten a 14 on 10lb line...

 

[silvers]

Thanks for the tip Alan!
I was fishing for Dace and Roach ... just messing around trying things out as I rarely fish feeder for small fish. I was using bayer 2.1 hooklength.
For targetting barbel I use kamasan animals in a 16 or 14 ... they’ve not let me down.

 

[108831]

Imo you shouldn't use hooks you can straighten on 2lb line on feeder gear,maybe a Drennan wide gape or something like that,not as beefy as the animals you use for barbel...

 

[tigger]

I decided to make my pilgrimage up the motorway to the river this avvey, but unfortunately it looked like most of the uk population had decided to go up the freakin motorway also!
I'd turned onto the sliproad before I realised the motorway was solid with cars which appeared to be doing an impression of a lob worm crawling across the path. As soon as I got to the first exit which was about 12 miles and 45 min's later I got off it and went the scenic way.
Anyhow, back to the fishing, although there's not really a lot to say. I tried a different spot from recently, one that has been very productive in my past visits. Today it didn't produce anything like as good as my past sessions but I still caught quite a few small chub, dace and a few decent chub also, no barbel which I usually catch here?
I only took one pic as the river is very wide there and the rocks are coated in seriously slippy slime so coming ashore was hard work.....

 

[sam vimes]

I did sneak out after all. Just for an hour or so as it turned out. The first indication I got of something being amiss was the fish being finicky and shifting about rather randomly. I really had to vary the line and distance I was fishing just to keep getting finicky bites. The second indication that something wasn't right was a strong gusty wind whipping up out of nowhere. Then came a distant rumble a spotty shower of rain. I beat a hasty retreat as I didn't fancy a soaking or waving 17' of carbon about with lightning nearby. My timing was impeccable as I'm listening to the rain hammering down and the thunder cracking away merrily. It was just about worth it for 14 good dace, 2 chublets, 1 grayling and a half decent brownie.

 

[tigger]

I forgt to mention the weather myself Chris, it was blazing sunshine and 32.5 degrees as I arrived at the river about 3pm. By 3.30pm it had clouded over and was raining some hefty sized blobs of rain. It carried on like that on and off until I walked back o the car at about 5pm. I went to the stretch above to bailiff it and it was still raining then and the temprature had dropped to 22.5! Still kept having short showers of large droplets of rain, luckily nothing like your thunderstorm.

 

[lambert1]

I am afraid that I am one of those that Covid has really got to. I have tried to go fishing without my go to bait of maggots, with mixed results. My first attempt was ruined by the pig ignorant public and their dogs and only a few fish on bread. The second was an attempt on an horrendously windy day to try for a Chub or Barbel with a blank. I really like my local tackle shop and would normally support it as much as I could, but I have not been to buy maggots because I just do not feel safe, particularly with the recent spikes. I have only been to the supermarket once a week and Pets at Home on a couple of occasions, since the Pandemic lasted and I really do not like it.
I am in no way as experienced or skilled as many on this forum and Maggots are a bait I am confident with. So I got them online through Willys Worms and was impressed at how fresh and well packed they were. I wanted a session to enjoy just catching fish and forgetting Covid for a few hours. To say that I am knackered this morning is an understatement and boy was it fun! Only one nice Roach needed the landing net and the rest were candidates for the mini species thread, but it was like being a kid again with constant action from, Roach, Dace, Chublets, Minnows and Gonks. It was boiling hot, so I speedily returned them all. I was pleased not to have any bait gobbling little Perch to contend with and the disgorger work was simple and quick. Yes it is a more expensive way of buying them, but by the time I have driven to the tackle shop and back, (not very local to me) I would think that there is not a lot in it. If any one else is interested in trying them, I had a pint of mixed colours and was as I have said impressed. The rivers I fish are small so a steady trickle from a pint is enough to keep the fish interested. Just the tonic, feel so much better now and planning another trip.