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Specihunter

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A double header of two locations today but only fishing one of them.

I made an early morning trip to Samphire Hoe arriving at a very low spring tide to do a recce for future visits in the coming months in an attempt to find a few holes amongst the Boulder field in the hope of finding my first wrasse. It's something of a minefield.....

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after an hours walk, a few holes were spotted, photographed and committed to memory. I'll be back!

Drove back across the Kent countryside back to the estate for a very short session, had a few skimmers, a couple of quality roach and one very sad looking tench. I used a size 16 barbless hook, it's obvious we have at leat one member that chooses something more agricultural.?

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The resident tortoise was enjoying the sunshine.

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Received a phonecall asking me to attend my GP practice next Sunday for my second jab, I'll be looking to travel a little further afield this Summer.

An early exit to get back home in time for the Chelsea game, so far so good.?
Take a spinning rod see if any pollock are about
 

mikench

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For the third day in succession the Met Office have stated a <10% chance of rain and it's rained . It started at about 2.30 today just as I was packing up to go home for the match. It's now stopped and the match might be off but that's life. I returned to the moody pool set up a feeder / comatose rod and caught nothing not even a bleep. Fortunately I also float fished.

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On arrival there were 2 bivvies in my preferred pegs and set up in such a way that you could not get past them. The occupants were asleep and didn't respond to my comments of selfish and unacceptable conduct. I moved to the opposite bank but not before I took a couple of photos of the miscreants and, for good measure, one of their car. I had just cast a line when they packed up and left . The bailiff turned up and I told him about the pair. They had been warned about their conduct yesterday ( leaving rods unattended) and asked to move their bivvies which they apparently did only to relocate them when the bailiff had gone.The bailiff who is a pal asked if I knew what kind of car they had. I wattsapped the incriminating pics to him and he went off with a purposeful stride but not before helping me relocate to my preferred swims now vacant.
I caught 29 assorted roach and perch. The roach were swingers but only just being all this size.

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All in all an interesting day on the bank and proof if any were needed that the uncaring few can spoil things for the majority. I suspect there will be a couple of vacancies coming up.
 
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108831

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Why is the match liable to be off Mike?
I've seen now Mike,bloody ridiculous...
 
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john step

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Not fishing but fishing related today. With my heart in my mouth I drilled and grinded the hole in the reinforced section of one of my pole top 2s and fitted a side puller and re elasticated it.
Not so difficult as imagined and quite a relief.
All I want is to get out to try it.
 

tommos16

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Been a bit bored of pig hunting recently (mainly because I haven't been getting bites so I'm now going off it ha, I'll soon be back on them I'm sure) so thought I'd go down to the canal with worms and a float.

And a livebait circle hook rig rod (somewhat controversial I know, but Pike eat fish I suppose).

5 live, small Perch ended up accounting for 5 Pike, best was only probably only 2 or 3lb, but great scrappers on a 1.75lb Barbel rod and highly enjoyable after sitting motionless behind two baitrunners and bite alarms for a while. All hooked in the scissors as well. While this weather stays cold I think I'll stick to Pike for a while, then leave them be once things warm up and chase Tench.
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Sent from my VOG-L09 using Tapatalk
 

no-one in particular

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Definitely, I had some mackerel on my first visit there last September. Also will take a Bombarda setup for flies and micro lures.
Looks good for some float fishing John, quite a big float with a drilled bullet as weight and you could cast quite far with that I think, less chance of getting snagged up and good for all sorts of fish. I even bottom fish sometimes with a float, let the weight sit on the bottom and let the current move it about, flatties sometimes take it. But that looks ideal for bass, wrasse and pollock as well. I would be tempted to try two baits, one for wrasse on a bottom hook and maybe a small sandeel or something further up the trace. If mackerel are about, half a sand eel is good...
 

103841

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Thanks for the tips Mark, I’ll give them a go, in fact I’ll try loads of things to get a few new species this Summer.
 

no-one in particular

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Thanks for the tips Mark, I’ll give them a go, in fact I’ll try loads of things to get a few new species this Summer.
Just one thing I have just thought out to think about. There will probably be a strong current flowing left or right being near Dover. This means the float will be dragged along often enough towards the wall. There is a period of slack water around the high tide mark for about an hour though. Doesn't stop you float fishing just something I think you will find but you will work it out.. Be nice to see how you get on whether it is float, bait or lure.
 

103841

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There is indeed a very strong current flowing right to left. If the place is empty you could walk along trotting a float but that’s not realistic, however, by going to the end of the wall I have found you can let the float drift towards Dover without problems. Few anglers are prepared to walk that far so..... watch this space Mark!

If I get one even half this size I’ll be more than happy.

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bullet

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It's hard not to catch Wrasse down here......sorry, that should read "was hard not to", as they are now worth big money and being potted out left, right and centre and being sent up to the Scottish Salmon feedlots to eat lice.
However, if I wanted to catch one over snaggy ground I would float fish with a piece of Peeler Crab or whole small hardbacks.
Can't beat Crab for them, really.
They also seem to have a liking for soft plastic lures, particularly the Fiish Black Minnows.
I've caught some very good ones on these, but it can get expensive as they make a mess of the bodies and frequently nip the tails off!
 

nottskev

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I fancied fishing the old canal, but the canal and pools can get busy on a weekend, so it was back to the woodland pond. This time with an umbrella. You have to pick your way down a bumpy track and heave open a heavy gate with a sticking catch, but it's worth it when you have the water all to yourself. Or almost.

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I picked a peg on the more open side, checked the headroom and set up the long rod and pin. With a couple of loops pulled off I commenced fishing a 1.5bb slip of peacock about 12 or 13m out. I've replaced the painted tips on some of my old peacock floats with 2 or 3mm hollow plastic inserts. They definitely catch the light better. I was fishing the bank between an inlet stream and its outlet, so the water has a steady draw that varies day to day. After 15 mins or so I had the float a foot overdepth with 3 no10 stotz an inch apart on the bottom, which slowed it to a crawl. I started fishing at 3pm, and absolutely nothing happened. If you stare at the pic below for two hours, you'll replicate the experience.

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Did one of the fishing papers use to have a Spot The Float competition?

At 5pm the float moved for the first time, and the first of half a dozen bream was on.

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Then I caught two small perch which suggested the bigger fish had gone. I wrapped up and scarpered at 6pm as the sky darkened and the temperature dropped. I enjoy the long rod/pin, but I'm noticing on this water the advantages of the pole. Overcoming the tow is simple, and you can pot or cup your feed in precisely and hold your bait right on or next to it. I've had days when all the bites, even from bigger fish, came at half depth or on the drop, harder to fish with a rod due to the tow and wind. The fish go for maggots here, casters don't work, and it's harder to feed them as tightly as casters or pellets. It's annoying when a pouch of maggots gets blown off course or spreads out too much. Mind you, if you hook one of the 4-6lb barbel in here you're grateful for the running line.
 

103841

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It's hard not to catch Wrasse down here......sorry, that should read "was hard not to", as they are now worth big money and being potted out left, right and centre and being sent up to the Scottish Salmon feedlots to eat lice.
However, if I wanted to catch one over snaggy ground I would float fish with a piece of Peeler Crab or whole small hardbacks.
Can't beat Crab for them, really.
They also seem to have a liking for soft plastic lures, particularly the Fiish Black Minnows.
I've caught some very good ones on these, but it can get expensive as they make a mess of the bodies and frequently nip the tails off!

thanks for the advice. I'm new to this and haven't used crab before, you say a "piece" of peeler crab, any particular piece of the crab? Also what pattern and size of hook do you use?
 

bullet

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Buy yourself a few peelers, fresh are best but frozen work fine.
Pull all the legs off and peel the shell off the back.
Cut the crab in half so you have two sides, as it were.Scissors are best for this.
Use something like a size 1 or 1/0 aberdeen and hook a half onto it as best you can, then use bait elastic to whip it onto the shank well, it will look a bit like a sausage with the hook point exposed.
It's a messy business so make sure you have a towel!
You can peel a few of the legs and claws and hook them straight on for extra attraction.
Plumb the float to fish it close to the bottom, if Wrasse are around it won't take them long to find it.
Fish right above or next to any structure, Rocks, pier legs, harbour walls etc. They generally won't stray far from cover.
 

markcw

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I had a week at Wooda Lakes in Devon.
Some good waters on the site, Specimen, match, mixed, tench and crucian,and residents only.
Having stayed and fished there last year ,I decided to give the residents only lake a try this year.
The tackle used was my matrix mtx margin pole and a 25 year old Leeda concept 13' carp match rod, used as a pellet waggler, reel for the rod was a Preston Innovations Inception 4000, spoiled up with 6lb Guru pulse line. Hooklength was Guru 0.17 N Gauge to a banded Xtra strong size 12 with a pellet band.The float was a Guru foam 4SSG waggler.
The rigs for the pole were a Preston Innovations DS shallow 4 x 12 shotted with 7 number 9 stotz on 0.17 Guru N Gauge, this was fished at 7 metres in 5' of water. The margin float was a 0.4 gram Drennan dibber shotted with 3 number 10 shot on 0.17 Guru N Gauge, one rig did both margins. Fished between 6" and 2' deep
Bait was mainly maggot in the margins and at 7 metres, I did use soft hookers as well as JPZ black and Fjuka white pellets on a couple of days, Mainline cell softened 2mm pellets were used as an attractor.
Pellets used for the waggler were Mainline Cell 6km hard pellets.both as feed and bait fished 20 - 25 yards out between 12" and 3' deep.
The first day I did around 130lb of carp, perch from wasp size upto around 10oz and chunky roach of around 6oz.
Weights midweek short sessions were between 40lb and 60lb.
The fishing was not as easy as weights suggest, the carp came and went both on the pole lines and pellet waggler, I had to cast around looking for fish sometimes on the waggler.
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