How did you get on?

[Aussie Bob]

Filthy weather on Saturday steady drizzle and light rain , cold wind. Went a had a look at the lake about 2pm when the drizzle eased off there was one brave soul out there bait fishing without any waterproofs of any note. Retreated back to the flat the rain stopped at about 5pm rigged up the fly rod and went to catch the last hour before the light went.
Cast around a bit with a nymph surprised myself by casting a straight line into the wind several time's will have to work out how I did that now. Blanked. Still yet to break my duck on the fly but keep on plugging away , at least the casting is coming along pretty well now...the fish haven't been too impressed yet though.
Drizzle closed in and the wind picked up significantly so headed home, passed the bait fisherman who was still going and wondered why he hadn't got hypothermia yet he was soaked right through , he was also soaked from the inside there was about 10 empty bourbon cans in his pack !!!, he hadn't caught a thing but told me he was here for another hour or so reckoned it was the best time (guy was definitely short a roo in the top paddock and or p*ssed) ...Actually hoped he didn't catch anything ,....no landing net and would have had to walk across a metre of wet rocks to get to waters edge with the light going ! Could have ended up badly, Hopefully he got home ok.

 

[S-Kippy]

He did. I watched him from my observation post on the moon. :wh

I thought I recognised you ! Simon's efforts are to be applauded. I understand he raised nearly a whole pound for "Skimmers in Need".

 

[rubio]

Filthy weather on Saturday steady drizzle and light rain , cold wind. Went a had a look at the lake about 2pm when the drizzle eased off there was one brave soul out there bait fishing without any waterproofs of any note. Retreated back to the flat the rain stopped at about 5pm rigged up the fly rod and went to catch the last hour before the light went.
Cast around a bit with a nymph surprised myself by casting a straight line into the wind several time's will have to work out how I did that now. Blanked. Still yet to break my duck on the fly but keep on plugging away , at least the casting is coming along pretty well now...the fish haven't been too impressed yet though.
Drizzle closed in and the wind picked up significantly so headed home, passed the bait fisherman who was still going and wondered why he hadn't got hypothermia yet he was soaked right through , he was also soaked from the inside there was about 10 empty bourbon cans in his pack !!!, he hadn't caught a thing but told me he was here for another hour or so reckoned it was the best time (guy was definitely short a roo in the top paddock and or p*ssed) ...Actually hoped he didn't catch anything ,....no landing net and would have had to walk across a metre of wet rocks to get to waters edge with the light going ! Could have ended up badly, Hopefully he got home ok.

Ahhh the sweet essence of Wild Turkey premixed with coke. My own preference down there was for good 'ol Bundaberg. a belly full of either takes the edge off. Not compatible with rock fishing tho as ya say.

 

[john step]

Used the rest of my Tesco cheapo loaf today and had my first double carp of the year on the surface at 16+. I'll have to fork out for a new loaf now

 

[Aussie Bob]

Ahhh the sweet essence of Wild Turkey premixed with coke. My own preference down there was for good 'ol Bundaberg. a belly full of either takes the edge off. Not compatible with rock fishing tho as ya say.

He wasn't that classy drinking Wild Turkey !! looked like the cheap generic stuff ...still have no idea what the point is of mixing spirits with coke is unless you are trying to cover the taste up of some cheap whisky / ouzo / bourbon / rum e.t.c....

Getting on the old Bundy eh? ...was told when if first came to Australia "if you don't fight on rum you will never fight" ....a belly full certainly makes for interesting times seen some very stupid behaviour after rum sessions...

Off for another bash on the fly after work for an hour or so not sure being a beginner and trying to night fish on the fly is a good move but unless you have a go you will never know...

 

[barbelboi]

˙˙˙˙˙uoısıʌ ɹnoʎ ɥʇıʍ sʞɔıɹʇ sʎɐld oslɐ ɯnɹ ɥɔnɯ ooʇ - dǝʎ

 

[flightliner]

˙˙˙˙˙uoısıʌ ɹnoʎ ɥʇıʍ sʞɔıɹʇ sʎɐld oslɐ ɯnɹ ɥɔnɯ ooʇ - dǝʎ

BBB, thats so accommodating for aussie Bob, what with him being being upside down from where we stand.

 

[neil1970]

I was on the lake from 7.30 - 10.30 this morning.

Second cast saw a jack on my favourite lure (a topwater jerkbait).

Then nothing else except for a few follows for the rest of the session.
Nice morning.

 

[barbelboi]

Looks like this upside down thing's catching..............

 

[flightliner]

Looks like this upside down thing's catching..............

Someone kicked it all off with a hard fighting Bream , it just would'nt stop scrapping belly up all the way to the net!.

 

[john step]

With all this up and down weather the fish are not playing fair. That's my excuse.mg:Had 4 little commons from my easy water and BROKE my quiver tip rod in half, just collapsed. I have only had it about 20 years and the firm I bought it from is no longer there so I can't take it back to complainThe new one won't be called a quiver tip rod I guess but a" feeder" or some such name. Times change:wh

 

[tigger]

I had a few hours on a club water yesterday, as many rudd as I wanted but only one tench...

 

[hyperdrive]

Well I thought i would have a go at this carp fishing lark and chose a lake about an hour or so drive away, which my son told me would be hard and I'd be lucky to catch anything with just a day trip saying I needed at least a 24 hour session. The lake is around 20 acres or so and reputedly holds a number of large fish.
So off I went and duly filled a barrow with many things to take to a chosen swim. I attached a spomb thing to my only carp rod and proceeded to fire a load of bait. Set up the two carp rods I'd borrowed from my son and away I went. Lunchtime arrived so I put the kettle on and settled into my sandwiches. Weather was beautiful, not good for fishing but nice to sit there and take in the surroundings. A guy from a couple of swims up came along and asked the obligatory "caught owt mate" to which my reply was no. He then went on to tell me he had nothing but his mate had had 5 fish with the smallest being a low twenty, was that this morning I enquired. No came the reply it was over the last two days he is now entering his third day here. Hmmm perhaps my lad was right. Anyway 7:30 in the evening arrived and I decided to pack up and head home. All I managed to catch was a bit of mild sunburn on my face, I think that's why it was red anyway. Blanked all the way.

 

[rubio]

Well I thought i would have a go at this carp fishing lark and chose a lake about an hour or so drive away, which my son told me would be hard and I'd be lucky to catch anything with just a day trip saying I needed at least a 24 hour session. The lake is around 20 acres or so and reputedly holds a number of large fish.
So off I went and duly filled a barrow with many things to take to a chosen swim. I attached a spomb thing to my only carp rod and proceeded to fire a load of bait. Set up the two carp rods I'd borrowed from my son and away I went. Lunchtime arrived so I put the kettle on and settled into my sandwiches. Weather was beautiful, not good for fishing but nice to sit there and take in the surroundings. A guy from a couple of swims up came along and asked the obligatory "caught owt mate" to which my reply was no. He then went on to tell me he had nothing but his mate had had 5 fish with the smallest being a low twenty, was that this morning I enquired. No came the reply it was over the last two days he is now entering his third day here. Hmmm perhaps my lad was right. Anyway 7:30 in the evening arrived and I decided to pack up and head home. All I managed to catch was a bit of mild sunburn on my face, I think that's why it was red anyway. Blanked all the way.

I went one better, or worse, than a blank yesterday. 3 hours of flicking in pellets in the evening sunlight and my target fish was primed. First cast and 20 secs wait and it was on. 2 secs of clutch scream and it was off. Line parted in an unexpected place. I can only think I must have nicked it on the chicken wire that is apparently deemed essential in all swims now. Forever getting stuck around the stuff. Anyway it's clearly something or someone else that's at fault and I'll soon have a lovely gold/black koi that I'm guessing is a double possibly, glistening in my net.
Not the net I bust yesterday tho!

 

[john step]

Just got back from Lincoln buying a replacement rod for the one busted Wednesday. Now all you tackle tarts can faint but its a Shakey Sigma 10ft feeder. It feels like a cracker. It was about the same price I paid for the broken one about 20 years ago. It feels a better rod, so some things do get cheaper. I will give it a try tomorrow.

 

[peter crabtree]

Couple of hours this afternoon lure chucking on the canal locally. As usual I blanked.. Walking back I was wondering why Neil 1970 can pull them out here but I can't?
Practice maybe??

 

[barbelboi]

Maybe you're not supposed to use a pole Simon......

 

[binka]

This one’s got a twist or two to it…

I received a text yesterday afternoon from the fella I fish with asking if I wanted to have a walk around a few local lakes to decide where we wanted to fish today and after picking me up en-route we walked three before finally making our minds up.

As we were setting off home I suggested having a quick look at a lake right on the edge of town that I’d heard of but had never gotton around to having a nosey at and it couldn’t have been more different to the picture I had built up in my mind.

Over the distance of a short, leafy track the scene had changed from that of an urban estate to one of complete scenic tranquillity and when the owner came over and I asked him what was in the lake he simply replied…

“Whatever’s evolved over the last four hundred years”.

Only one reaction to that really and a change of plan was agreed

We met at seven this morning and made our way up to the top of the lake where it narrows, there had been a decent frost and we were just out the way of a chill north easterly but the birds were twittering and the backdrop wasn’t too shabby…





Not too bad ahead either…





Having no idea of depth I plumbed up the whole way across but couldn’t find more than two and a half feet, it was reminding me of the archetypal farm pond and so I initially set up a 3 x no.4 waggler with a couple of small droppers and fished down the centre and after a couple of hours all I had mustered were a few small roach and skimmers on the faithful chopped worm…








I’ve got to admit I was in my element though and who wouldn't be when surrounded by beautiful and peaceful surroundings on an unfamiliar water and not knowing what to expect when the float dipped away but the margins to my left were, to say the least, a little distracting to the point where temptation got the better of me and I decided I would break down the waggler and concentrate on a different approach…





I set up a simple, tiny 3 x no. 10 crystal dibber with a size 16 hook before chopping my feed to a complete slop and pinching off a very small nip of worm for bait, a small handful of slop went in where I was about to underarm the bait to before winding back right under the rod tip and the wait was on…





Nothing much happened for ten minutes or so and then the float pimpled below the surface and a small perch put in an appearance followed by a seemingly endless procession of others with the odd roach and skimmer for good measure whilst all the time the slop was going in over the top before I then hit something much more solid and lively which eventually turned out to be a small stocky common of around 2lbs…





Great fun on the light gear.


As I was having so much fun I continued to fish this line throughout the day with bites ebbing and flowing but never drying up and I took skimmers to 1 1/2lb, roach to around 3ozs, endless micro-perch and some very nice surprise crucians which were true to their shy biting nature by barely pulling the delicate float under and which I was chuffed to bits with as I haven’t caught any for a good while as they tend to be a bit thin on the ground in the waters I usually fish…








Even more satisfying is the fact that the other fella and I have had a crucian challenge going for the last few weeks with the first to net one winning a drink off the other so I’m now four pints to the good and there’s a fish swimming around who’s been affectionately nicknamed “four pack”.


That’s me done, if the fresh air hasn’t worn me out the write up has but it’s always like that when you’ve enjoyed yourself so much.


Next out over the weekend, 30grm method feeders at 100 yards plus on bite alarms and bobbins but I bet I keep "casting" my mind back to today.

 

[dorsetandchub]

The weather looked as trustworthy as a Cobra, I set out in weakish sunshine but arrived at my fave Commercial (Revels Fishery) to find it had greyed over and rain didn't look too far away.

Still, my new Drennan Acolyte pole needed a run out. Tooled up with Daiwa Hollow whopper stopper, it felt completely manageable at 13m.

I arrived at my usual, chosen swim to a bit of a shock. The maintenance programme had arrived on my doorstep, the reeds at the back of the swim all gone and the dead silver birch tree pruned down to a short length of trunk, sans the loads of branches that used to give the carp a big helping hand.

As Tim has now officially relocated, it was the old i-pod for company and, flicking the Blues section, it was a long session of Nine Below Zero and Paul Lamb and The King Snakes. I should have been happy with the million singing finches and the Cows v Crows West Side Story going on in the next field but, no, I needed some jazz and blues. In the words of the fabulous Nina Simone, I got it bad and that ain't good.

I set up a Colmic float rig, with 8lb main to a 6lb trace and a size 14 Drennan wide gape carp hook. Topped up with two 6mm cubes of Spam.

Prior to pusing the pole out, I cattied over around a quarter of a tin of Dynamite Baits Hemp and Chilli.

Out the float went and under after five minutes or so and a sprightly but outgunned F1 around a pound and a half graced the old net. It was followed shortly by a slightly bigger specimen of somewhere near 3lb. The third bite was an absolute lump that kept low for the 30 seconds it was on anyway. Annoyed.

The carp got bigger, over the next hour two around 7lbs, two around 8lbs, one of around 9lbs and three around 5lbs. Somewhere around half the ton in an hour. The new pole handled them all easily enough, strangely and most unusually two or three of them put up disappointing fights and were very quickly netted. To compensate though, the rest were the usual hand to fin combat, proper battles.

The next hour went much the same way, all carp but a little smaller, a couple around 1 and a half, four around 3lbs, a couple around 5lbs.

It started to dawn on me that the fishery maintenance had obviously been contracted out to the Happy Skippy Fishery Company. Not a single skimmer in sight. Speaking of skips, I began to wonder if that's how they'd left the fishery. The old mind started to wander to a Hill Street Blues script, 20,000 bodies? In one dumpster??

Back to reality - and coffee. A couple more carp around 2 and a half pounds and then shock of shocks! A single skimmer of maybe 6oz (lone survivor of a fishnic cleansing programme possibly).

A few more smallish carp and one scarred warrior of around 8lbs. If it had had hair it would have been a crew cut or a skinhead. It had the table manners of Vinnie Jones and was about as good looking.

There were ducks everywhere on the fishery and broods of ducklings aplenty. A squad of seven ducklings swam up to the island I was fishing up against. Six of them were soon less than enchanted and swam away with their parents. The seventh one was alone for maybe a minute before realising it was alone and slightly beginning to panic. It swam to the point of the island and in that semi-paddle, semi sprint on the surface swam and ran to catch up with the rest. It put a big smile on my face. Better than the best day at work.

A roach of around 4oz then appeared following another downpour of hemp and yet more carp. A nice, pristine proper minted roach of half a pound or so then put in an appearance.

I switched to Dire Straits (Alchemy, live album) and the fish began to switch off. I sat back and necked a flask of coffee I'd brought along. I'd hit three figures, not that it matters but I guess we put signposts and indicators on these things.

I packed up happy. The drive home seemed to vanish in an instant. Home to a hot bath. A good day.

 

[nicepix]

This weeks Mole Patrol took me into five Departments but I'd arranged for Wednesday to be a relatively quiet day starting out West in the Deux-Servres and ending up at Montmorillon in Vienne around 70km north of where I live. The route home would take me over the River Gartempe in an area I hadn't fished before. In addition to the mole trapping boxes and gear I put two rods into the van, both made up with reels, line and end tackle, ready to go.

Lunch time saw me parked on the banks of the Charente near to Civray in glorious sunshine. I had taken the dog for a walk and was sitting on the banks near to the van when an idea struck me. I had no set timetable and plans to stay out late, so why not fish here for an hour first? I got some micro pellets out of the van and catapulted a small quantity into the clear water close to where it shallows off and is full of underwater cabbages. Within a few minutes there were signs of fish in the area. Arrowhead bulging of the surface and a few bubbes here and there. More pellets were added then I took a Greys Specialist Float rod out of the van. It was teamed with an old Match Aerial and Avon float. The float was changed for a 4BB loaded waggler, worm on hook and the bait was lobbed out around 15 metres into the zone. I had nothing for around ten minutes so more pellets were added. A mixture of chicken pellets and 4mm halibut pellets. The float dipped and I struck thin air. Same next cast so the hook was changed to a 16, smaller worm put on and a small, 4oz roach obliged. Then I got a succession of perch around double the size before some large predator scattered the fish causing one of the roach to skip across the water like a skimming stone.

A few hours later saw me pulling into a small lane alongside the Gartempe, a tributary of the Vienne and part of a salmon reintroduction program. I gave Roobs her tea after a walk along the bank then got an old Shimano Barbel Quiver rod and Speedia reel out of the can and lobbed a 3/4oz ledger with a worm on a 14 hook under an overhanging tree downstream. The sun was over my back causing 'my' bank to be in shade so I was hopeful of a barbel or two. It was not to be. Small chub plagued my bait and so I went up in stages through sweetcorn to hard maize and 1/2" cubes of Spam to try and lure a big 'un to no avail. It was either small chub on worms or sweetcorn skins fished out of the groundbait or nothing on the bigger baits.

I spent the last twenty minutes or so fishing the bushed of the far bank, or as close to them as I could manage, with a 50g feeder and sweetcorn bait, causing the old reel to whir somewhat. No bites though.