How did you get on?

[peter crabtree]

Fished the Thames at Windsor yesterday and caught this big dace, probably the biggest I’ve seen from the river.

Today I fished the Colne in town, it was actually quite chilly in stark contrast to earlier in the week. Bait wise I only used elderberries and fed hemp.

After a succession of fairly small roach I struck into something which felt quite solid. At first it jetted off and I suspected it was a chub, then after a spirited tussle I caught a glimpse of it. For a heart stopping moment I thought it was a huge roach. Alas it was a hybrid.

.

 

[103841]

That dace looks as big if not bigger than some of the mackerel I caught Simon!

 

[tigger]

I had a few hours swimming the stream again this avvey, had a lot of dace with one absolute giant, at a guess well over a pound!
I also had some gudgeon, small chub up to a couple or more pounds, and two little tiddly barbel.
Pretty much on what was going to be my last cast anyhow, my line was cracked off on the cast as it had got caught on something on my reel, maybe the ratchet switch, reel foot, who knows ?. I only got the float a couple of weeks back, cost me two and a half effin quid ?.
I hate loosing anything, i'd rather give it some one than loose it!

 

[rubio]

At least you still have some photos to remember it by. I lost mine plus blanked.

 

[bullet]

What with the rivers around here being really low and out of sorts at the moment, I had a rare trip to a canal I haven't fished for years after a Tench on the lift.
Used to fish it quite frequently when I was a teenager, and we had some good sessions.
I had a mooch up there the other day after work, so knew where I was heading. Nice spot in rural surroundings.

The swim required a bit of trimming and faffing about getting weed out of the margins, which took a while, and it's a fair way from the parking.
Just got settled down when Farmer Giles turns up in the field opposite and starts this ffs...

It was a bit on the ripe side to say the least, in fact you could almost taste it!

I debated whether to move elsewhere, but in the end decided to stay put and put up with the rural odour as I couldn't be arsed to prepare another swim.

The fishing was slow at first, with no sign of anything, I had sweetcorn and mags, but soon just went for double corn on the hook as there were lots of small Rudd going mad for the maggots.
Eventually I got a bit of blowing in the swim, but nowhere near my baited area, but at least it showed some fish were about.
It then went very quiet, and out of the blue the float dipped a bit then rose right up, and after a very good scrap a decent Tench was in the net!

It was starting to get a bit dimpsey now, but I fancied my chances for another, and after about 10 mins had blowing right under the float, which resulted in another good bite and similar sized fish.
Really enjoyed it, I've forgotten what lovely fish they are and what fun to catch.
Definitely be back for another go soon, hopefully in more fragrant surroundings.

 

[tigger]

Great report and fish Bullet.
We've just had the farmer spray liquid shyte on the fields front and back of our house effin stinks and as you said, you can tast the effin stuff!

 

[bullet]

It's evil old tackle, my cloths stunk of it when I got home!

 

[tigger]

It's evil old tackle, my cloths stunk of it when I got home!

Our house stinks of it now!

 

[mikench]

Slurry is horrible stuff but pig manure is worse. Not sure Farmer Giles should be spreading it so close to a watercourse in case of run off.

 

[bullet]

Couldn't agree more, but most of them don't give a feck about that around here, and they've got lakes of the sruff to get rid of.

 

[wetthrough]

Managed a day on the Dam yesterday arriving about 5:30am . Usual Dam setup. Margin rod and one for 12/15M in around 8'. The margin rod I can use for fishing at distance up in the water. Some loose GB on the top and a couple of hard balls for the bottom. Started off on the bottom on the long line while feeding the margin with maggot, hemp and the odd caster. Had a few problems turning caster due to the heat and only have about 100 so kept most for the hook. Picked up the odd fish here and there off the bottom with maggot and caster. Switched to the margin around 8am and pulled out the first of many, nice fish

The margin died off fairly quickly as it does so switched back to the long line around 10:30. Nothing on the bottom but getting bites on the drop so switched to the margin rod picking up a good stamp of fish on tares, caster and corn of all things. Before yesterday I'd have agreed with @mikench that corn seems to have lost its edge. I've hardly had anything on corn up until yesterday. It went quiet around 11 which is normal picking up again around 1:30 from then on it was a bite a chuck taking mostly tares and corn. Had some difficulty hitting bites with the tares so switched to an 18s, I'd had a 20s on for the margin. If anything bites got harder to hit which seems odd although the 18s was to 3.3lb, the 20s to 2lb, if it makes a difference?

Ended up with 87 on the clicker with around 40% netters although I'll net anything from around 4.5/5oz.

 

[markcw]

Our house stinks of it now!

You want to try cleaning one out .

 

[Molehill]

Slurry is horrible stuff but pig manure is worse. Not sure Farmer Giles should be spreading it so close to a watercourse in case of run off.

That's the whole point of why they spread it, usually rain forecast after a dry spell, empty the tanks onto the fields nearest drains, ditches, rivers and all the s**t washes off with the rain. Doesn't burn the grass. The dairy farms are a BIG problem in our river Towy with their muck spreading.
Though when caught out they receive a jolly good telling off, that's it .

 

[tigger]

Went swiming the stream for a couple of hours again this avvey.
Had quite a few small roach, lots of dace including some clonkers and a lot of chublets going up to a couple of pounds.

 

[The Runner]

After a good day there a week and a bit ago decided to have another trip up to Kilmaluag. fishing the tide mostly up this time.
One of those days that shows you why Skye is sometimes referred to as The Misty Isle- it never lifted from sea level to about 100 ft above all day so not much in the way of scenery shots this week.
Got there just before low tide and decided to start from a low rocky point that hadn't fished before. Usual quick start with three pollack in the first 20 minutes, all around 2lb, followed by a quiet spell and then a 12oz coalie and a slightly better pollack from the shallower kelpy water on the other side of the point.

Would only be getting about another hour on here before the tide covered the rocks and was about to move to the next point along where had the better fish last time when another angler turned up out of the mist and went straight there. Gave it another 20 minutes where I was, no more takes, had a chat with the newcomer who was camping over at Bornesketaig for a week with a couple of mates, who would be along later if they weren't doing any good where they'd gone. Got a tip off of another good pollack mark from him as well, not an obvious one and a relatively short walk so that's now on the list to try.
This is about the most the mist lifted all day

Moved back eastwards, tide running the wrong way for Na Tragha and would only get an hour at the very most from the far, and better, end of An t-Sailleir so just dropped onto the rocks in between the two points. Tiderun was close in, upped the bullet to 15gm with a larger lure and second chuck got the best pollack of the day

Then nothing at all. After an hour or so tiderun had slowed appreciably so set up beachcaster, mackerel on a 2/0 and could hold at 70 yards with 6oz. Action was again immediate, first seven chucks resulting in three pollack all about 2-8, two dogfish and two missed bites. Doggies are slightly bigger here...

Then went quieter as tide slowed even more. One massive pullround which had me straight into a snag, and a smaller bite which got me what I suppose is a pb Poor Cod

Tiderun then changed direction and started hammering along so couldn't hold anymore (can change direction here two or three times in the space of a 6 hour tide), back on the lures for half an hour, nothing doing, so called it a day. Thought in the calm conditions and with no sun on the water the lures might have gone a bit better, but not complaining at a dozen fish .
Plenty of gannets going past close in and heard at one point what must have been a fair number of kittiwakes out of sight in the mist, other than that the usual ravens about and a flock of about 50 twite on the croft land right at the start of the walk in with similar numbers of rock doves.

 

[flightliner]

Hardly anything to report this season, stuff to do about the house for the first few weeks (one BB) then had my daughter here from Italy for a month so other than a day when I took my grandchildren out for a three hour trip to the river Sheaf that runs thro Sheffield. ( great mini session, we had 20 small trout!)
So all in all things angling wise have been pretty lean.
So, with the return of my daughter back to Italy I managed a day chasing some roach on the river Trent tidal reaches Friday just gone.
I arrived at noon and after a chat with a guy I began trotting pellets beneath a big balsa and goose quill Avon in a swim that had nice pace, a little more couloir would have been welcome but rainfall as been pretty lean of late but I was still pretty confident of a few bites at the very least.
I had only had some dozen runs thro when I felt an incredible pain in my forearm that could only have been an insect bite-- boy did it hurt!
I slapped hard against my thin sleeved fleece to kill whatever it was inside then looked at the point of pain where a big reddish swelling had begun to appear, god I hate wasps!!!
Composure regained I recommenced my efforts with the float that thankfully wer-nt hampered by the wasp sting, being a lefty paid off!
Ten minutes later Aaarrrgggghhhh! Another bloody sting!!
I ripped off the fleece, turned the arm inside out and there was the culprit, the death defying little B - - - - - D!. It was dead in a nanosecond!!!
Two ruddy bites! The last time I'd suffered one fishing was back in the sixties in a big Boston open match on the Witham, maybe I've been lucky but two is taking the pee.
I looked around the swim and sure enough I found the nest some 15 feet away, a big one to by the look of it!!
I was nervous now of another encounter so I reluctantly moved a couple of swims a few yards further upstream, all taking up effort and time but hey, another bite would be the end of things, it had to be done.
Finally settled with a good rytham I began again and concentrated on my fifty yard trot downstream, when, ten minutes later a voice above me said" you'll not catch anything from there young fella" when at that very moment my floats gone and my strike resulted in a nice plump roach of some near 8oz!
A result!
I kept up with the float till the turn of tide despite my aching back and my final catch was 10 very nice roach with the best around 1-1 or 2 maybe along with a bream around the 1-8 mark.
An interesting session for me as I haven't trotted pellet before but it seems there's mileage in it!
The wasp bites BTW are still reminding me of what could have been a little more enjoyable afternoon-- I mean-- what on earth do they exist for??

 

[mikench]

I cannot think of any endearing qualities possessed by wasps Mick. I hate them and zap any I come across. Hornets are even worse.

 

[flightliner]

Mike, if I could get back to that nest two days on the trot I would take that nest, poisen it at last light when they're tucked up in bed then go back the following afternoon and dig out the cake/grubs.
Excellant chub n roach bait, that's all wasps are good for.

 

[rayner]

The wasp is a very good garden pest catcher, they feed on all manner of insects, flys, caterpillars and beetles. They are attracted by anything that smells sweet. That's probably why they are attracted to you Mick, you little sweetie.

 

[Keith M]

The wasp is a very good garden pest catcher, they feed on all manner of insects, flys, caterpillars and beetles. They are attracted by anything that smells sweet. That's probably why they are attracted to you Mick, you little sweetie.

There’s a tree shedding sap all over the cars and whatever else is under the tree next to a pond I’ve just come away from, and the cars and ground are literally covered in wasps. I had a few on my car roof and bonnet which managed to cling on for the whole journey home.

I had a great morning catching some nice Tench and Crucian on my Tench Float rod and my Sheffield Centrepin so it was worth having to brave the wasps on the way back to the car. I had 7 bars of gold from around 10oz up to around 1¾lb in the early morning all on redworms plus two small red eyes of around the 2lb mark or thereabouts. Nothing grand but a very enjoyable few hours.

Keith