How did you get on?

[Ray Roberts]

Many years ago, well long enough for the statute of limitations to have ran its course, I was driving over a bridge that crosses the river Darenth. I remarked to my brother in law, who incidentally is a very nice chap but looks like a thug, that I used to fish under the bridge when I was a kid and that I caught all sorts under it. He said why didn’t we stop. I had a small rod in the boot and a few bits so we jumped out I set up, found some worms in the leaf mould and climbed over the parapet. Kev stayed on the bridge watching. The bit I was in was sort of fenced off and part of a private estate. With my typical good luck a guy in a van pulled up and looked down at me. I think his van was marked up with the EA logo or water company, I can’t remember which. “I don’t think you should be fishing there sir!” “Oh really? and who might you be?” He flashed some sort of ID card and proceeded to take my photo with his camera. He was standing next to Kevin as he went to do it. “Nice camera mate,” said Kev in a friendly manner. “Does it float?” The guy couldn’t scurry away quickly enough. I stayed for about 15 minutes and had a chub and a half decent trout before leaving. What reminded me of the story was a walk I had along the river yesterday afternoon from the same bridge. I went the opposite side, I saw some fish that looked to be spawning that were tightly shoaled up in a large eddy. They definitely don’t want any confusion over whether you can fish there or not these days.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[mikench]

I wasn't going at all but at around 11. 00 I changed my mind. I arrived to a phone call from an old client who just won't accept that I have retired and no I couldn't look at 20 odd pages of documents relating to a court case he thought he could handle himself. 45 minutes later I started to set up a feeder rod when my phone rang again and it was one of my former partners telling me another former partner had died of cancer aged 74. I knew he was ill as I had spoken to him at length in January. That greatly saddened me. I was also advised that a former client had been run over on a country lane by a tractor and killed aged 52.
By the time I wet a line I had lost interest. I had no enthusiasm and persevered until about 2.30. How did I get on? I blanked despite my malaise, being in the same peg and using the same bait and tactics as last Saturday. In the overall scheme of things I couldn't care less.

 

[Pete Shears]

A cold easterly across the reservoir this morning, 4C the car told me, stepping out of the car it was more like January than April but have a go now I am here. Two method feeder rods set up and cast out,hide under the brolly to keep out of the icy wind which then started to swing all over the place. Manaed to get six skimmers to about a pound each before legging it. Had a green woodpecker flying alongside the car as I drove down the side of the reservoir and spent about twenty minutes watching an osprey patrolling the far bank and the shallows.

 

[jon atkinson]

Decided to have another stab at getting on our newest water on Sunday and this time the cows were in a different field and the electric wires were turned off! Started on bread on the waggler on a #14 hook and had bites from the off. First up was a rather battle-scarred Orfe / Ide [is there a difference??] of about 1.5 lb. I had hair-rigged corn on the feeder which yielded a tench of about 1lb and that was it. the waggler, however, was pretty much non-stop; predominantly Crucian in the 4 - 6 oz bracket of which I lost count, but they were imaculate. I also had some respectable if slightly anaemic looking Roach as well as some babies of which the colour / shape made me think Crucian but the shape of the dorsal fin suggested common - either way, a #14 hook didn't deter them! I switched to single red on an #18 fine wire for a while but that just resulted in smaller Roach & Crucian [including 'Quasimodo'], no joy on soft or hard pellet. All in all, a good day [didn't have to use my A.K.!]

 

[mikench]

Glad to see you are back fishing and posting Jon. You must have been very busy during lockdowns.?

 

[sam vimes]

Orfe / Ide [is there a difference??]

Ide is the name usually used for the natural form of the species. Blue/Golden orfe are the ornamental variants.

 

[jon atkinson]

Glad to see you are back fishing and posting Jon. You must have been very busy during lockdowns.?

We certainly had our moments Mike! I have just managed to take a few days off last week and again this week and am certainly very happy to be out on the bank again... back out tomorrow ?

 

[jon atkinson]

Ide is the name usually used for the natural form of the species. Blue/Golden orfe are the ornamental variants.

Thanks Chris - I had a quick gander on line but what came up wasn't really differentiating... should have dug deeper!

 

[103841]

A short visit to the estate and the place was empty, no anglers and no visitors, but unfortunately the peace and tranquility didn't last long as the gardeners decided to let rip with their chainsaws, how inconsiderate.? The evil wind of the past few days (weeks?) had subsided and it was a shirtsleeve day in bright sunshine.

Thought I'd try a straight lead rather than a method feeder, I walked around the lake to the far bank and loose fed a few handfuls of pellets. Clipped up and cast to the spot and after two hours, not a touch. Reverted to the feeder and within ten minutes............

Their black spots are like a fingerprint, don't think I've caught this one before. I thought I'd cracked it with the change but that was it for the final two hours.

 

[seth49]

Not one of our better days, set of in light rain, but it did stop as I arrived, tried the other pond today as we haven’t fished it this year, very slow just a couple of ide and a small F1, not many bites and missed a few as well, the wind started in the south west and then swung round to north east, it turned very cold as well, the bites dried up when the wind changed, and then it started to rain hard as well, so we decided that’s it, and we packed up and went home, hope it’s better on Thursday.

 

[S-Kippy]

Weather forecast looked half decent for today so I chugged off to Bury Hill again. It was bright enough when I left but barely 1degree on the dash.

Bit warmer when I got there ( though not much) and decided to fish an old favourite of mine that has given me some good days in the past. Strangely, I’ve always caught more crucian than tench from this peg though it looks a classic tench swim. Anyway....not expecting much until it warmed up I was surprised to get a lovely crucian first chuck. Mugfish I thought but no as I had 7 others and 2 tench in the next couple of hours. Expander or double red. Then the lake just died as the sun got up and I only had a couple more by lunchtime. All of a decent stamp too....I weighed a few to get a mark and they were between 1-10 and 1-14. Lovelyfish.

I persevered and around 1-30 I had a run of fish having switched to single red and put on a lighter hook link. It died again about 2-30 though I did manage another couple striking at tiny nudges and lifts. Died again around 3 and though if I’d stayed I’m sure I could have scratched a few more out but I’d had a decent day, it was hot and very bright so packed to beat the bun fight on the M25.
In all I had 16 good crucian with the best 2lb and 2-1....the rest between 1-8 and 1-14 plus a couple of tench and a horrible snotty thing. Some on 4mm expander, the rest on maggot bar one which took a bit of my sandwich.

And to cap it all a cuckoo calling from the woods. Doesn’t get much better this time of year imo

 

[nottskev]

It looked like rain all morning, so I waited. After lunch the sky looked just the same, so I packed the car and a 10 minute journey got me on the bank just in time to catch a steady downpour for half an hour. The bank in question being a stretch of canal closed in 1949, built in 1796 to carry coal from long-gone coal mines and now on the card, along with 3 tidy-sized pools, of a club founded by blokes from a steelworks long razed to the ground. I had a wander about during the last lockdown, and I found this kind of reception from the anglers I came across: What's your name? Kevin? Get yourself a card, Kevin, and get down here. I like canals, especially ones with a touch of overgrown decay and remnants of Fred Dibnah type engineering, so at £20 a year I'd be mad not to give it a try.

Knowing next to nothing about the fishing, I picked a spot 100m from the bridge. The pole was the obvious way to go, but I fancied fishing the way we fished canals pre-pole, so I went with an ultra-light 12' rod (not the same as an Ultralight rod), a titchy 1000 size reel with 2lb Maxima, a skinny peacock float taking 1.5 bb and a .10 hooklength. I'd have risked .08, but there's always a carp around these days. The stretch is pretty wide and I found about 3' 6" three quarters over.

I had maggots, some casters and a defrosted bag of ancient groundbait, apt for the "old" theme of the day. It turned out to be not groundbait, but a method mix with micros, a bit of fishmeal and a splash of caramel. So one swim got a few caster dripped in, the other dabs of method mix and a few maggots. I'd just got ready to fish when the sky darkened, it poured down and a squally breeze brought big rafts of debris which parked in front of me. Making me think I'd have been better on the pole, but never mind.

First to turn up were some Ide - a fish I hardly ever come across. I'd missed a couple of bites where the maggot was shredded but not stretched, then caught Ide. Maybe that's their bite signature? Anyway, I'd end up with 15 of these

A couple of bream like this

The regulation sprinkling of small perch. And a couple of small but welcome crucians

After 4 hours I'd caught about 12lb and I definitely felt like I was starting to get my £20 worth.
Beyond the trees on the far bank, a number of anglers pushed barrows and pulled trollies to and from one of the pools, a clue, I'm guessing, to where the carp are concentrated. I had the canal to myself, which suited me fine.

It's a pretty place for a bit of old-school fishing, and the vibe is homely and friendly

 

[Rod McG]

Lovely day at Broadwaters in Weybridge yesterday.
Fished for the first time with a cage feeder loaded with maggots and a sickly green ground bait and artificial corn and maggot on a hair rig.
Not in the water for5 minutes and a feisty 4 pound common.

Nothing for an hour then loads of small bites and an eel of 2 or 3 pounds. Amazingly it had latched onto the fake corn...perhaps it couldn't release its teeth??

Took the hair rig off and fished with 3 maggots on a size 16, another eel of similar size, and after that the first bream of the year for me, perhaps 4 pounds.

Didnt think the feeder would work on this lake as the bottom is dead leaves and silt. Never used one before but saw a video of a bloke fishing for tench using one....sadly no tench for me though.

 

[mikench]

The forecast was for dry weather but cool and with a NE breeze so not too promising. Nevertheless Gordon and I set forth to a lake which can afford some protection from cold winds if you have it at your back. We decided to abide by the adage that the fish follow the wind despite it being in our faces.

My it was cold and as the wind increased in velocity it became even colder. Gordon's hands were blue and it was generally unpleasant on the float. I had a feeder rod which returned me one bronze bream around 5 or 6lb and I had 9 smallish roach and Rudd on the float. Gordon struggled too but managed over 20 decent roach and rudd. It's not often we call time early but today we had had enough by 2.30 so packed up. A pleasant few hours fishing in good company just a shame about the weather.

 

[jon atkinson]

I had an afternoon on Newby, the furthest and most picturesque of the club ponds. It is not an easy water which combined with the distance means that it is not particularly 'busy' which suits me just fine! As ever I was hoping for Tench but the drop in temperatures overnight didn't instill much confidence but I picked a swim about 30' out alongside some lillies and pinged out some cubed spam with the same punched on the hook.

A few respectable Roach were the first to show but it was hard going and switching to bread didn't do anything. I resisted the temptation to revert to my default maggot and persevered with meat & finally saw a small male Tench of about 1.25lb.

This was followed by a feisty hybrid and then a better Tench nudging 2.5lb and then... nothing! Not a prolific session by any standards but enjoyable all the same.

 

[108831]

Often those sessions are the most satisfying,for me anyway....

 

[John Aston]

TS Eliot was right , April is indeed the cruellest month. Weeks of cold north easterlies, overnight frosts and glaring sun have ruined all my plans. My trout streams are pitifully low and clear, the tench don't seem to have woken up yet and the only shows in town have been some reservoir trouting (enjoyable, but pricey and not a patch on stalking wild browns on forgotten streams) and a bit of ide-ing, if that is A Thing .

One of my local, semi commercial lakes has a reputation for big ide and I've had several to four pounds in recent years. Funny things - first one I caught , about 6 years ago , stumped me as it wasn't a record roach , sadly , but it looked like a chub that had genetic issues and it wasn't until some weeks afterwards I was told what it was . They fight very hard , but sometimes not at all, and one I caught even went airborne . I've had them now on worm , maggot and spikey shad jigs .

Yesterday the lake was busy, and here's the thing - everybody apart from me and an old boy who blanked was fishing for carp. The reply to the inevitable question doesn't even mention the species now, because the carp has become the fish that doesn't even need a name . So ...'Any good ? ' - Aye- two and my mate 'ad ten last week '. My reference to fishing what the Angling Times has taught me to term 'wag'n mag for silvers' consigns me to harmless eccentric status, as I am clearly not a real mensch up to the war of wits with cyprius carpio . Or chucking out a method feeder , chatting loudly to mates on the phone while waiting for the rod to get pulled in , as I term it .

Wag n mag produced scores of silly little bites from tiny roach, which I've not seen here before in such numbers . Miss loads and darkly plot introducing some pike in a stealth stocking op . Wallop, rod bucks over - a big fish takes line and the Acolyte bends into a nice curve .Ide ? chub? stillwater barbel (eugh)? or the fish that dare not speak its name ? Bloody thing falls off. But ten minutes later , a hard bite on the drop and a big ide of 3-13 . Retreat to car to make tea and decide to change to worm in the afternoon in the hope of avoiding bites from tiny fish.

Partly successful , but now a succession of 6 inch perch . Hmm . Start to day dream about dry fly on a perfect May afternoon up on the Moors . Reverie interrupted by classic lift bite- dead weight ,hopeless fight but bloody hell , it's a PB - a 4lbs 7oz ide .

I'd rather be trout fishing but on a cold , breezy and dull day this was some consolation. As was the sight and sound of a Bell Boeing Osprey at very low level on its descent to RAF Leeming - I could even see the driver!

 

[jon atkinson]

Fished the L-L canal by Rimmer's Bridge today - a nice stretch right by Mescar fisheries for those of you that might have fished there. I selected a swim just 'upstream' of a large overhanging tree. Pinged some old red maggots across to the far basis on a little & often basis and set up for a wag 'n' mag approach, #20 hook with a 1.75lb hook length.

Very slow at first but things heated up after 1/2 an hour or so after which it was pretty much non-stop! Mostly small Roach with several netters, some small but pretty Perch, a rather 'manky' skimmer of about 1/2 lb, another Roach x Bream, 1 small Rudd and todays Brucey bonus was a rather porky Ruffe - been a few years since I've had one of them!

Ended up packing up rather sharpish around 16:00... I don't mind getting a bit wet, but not a lot wet and when that turned to hail

another #fail by BBC weather, but otherwise a really enjoyable session.

 

[bullet]

Nothing but chilly wind and bright down here, not great for river trouting, and ultra low levels don't help either.
I finished work early today, and when the wind dropped it felt quite warm, I also noticed a slight rise in level on my local stretch so headed down.
Not much doing initially, but then a light but steady hatch of Olives started coming off.
It always amazes me how Trout can just switch on, and a seemingly barren river one minute can become quite the opposite.
Ended up with half a dozen or so Brownies to 14 inch and a few Grayling, all on Sparkle Dun dry.

 

[seth49]

back on usual pond today, weather wasn’t the best, two or three heavy showers of hail and sleet, went very cold and windy in the showers as well, in between it wasn’t to bad, fairly warm in the sunshine but still feels cold yet.

Fished feeder rod with method feeder, and selection of baits on margin rod, none of which worked, best bait was sweetcorn on hair, and a couple of maggots on the hook, first fish was a tench, then a small carp, then an ide, finishing with another carp, long while between bites, water is still very cold, Neil had a decent day on the float, using same bait, he’d about 8 tench plus silvers, I just fancied a day watching the rod tips instead of a float.