How did you get on?

Mark Wintle

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Gordon and I met up at the same water as last week expecting a dry muggy day with increasing temperatures. It rained and quite heavily for about an hour early on but remained fine for the rest of the day but it became increasingly breezy. We both set up float rods and I plumbed up as , being an idiot I couldn't remember which line of China pencil was for this water. I have now made a note on my phone. We had planned to try lures for larger perch and Gordon did.

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If Gordon had had any interest I would have followed suite but he didn't and I couldn't be bothered. Mr Metronome caught consistently a range of roach, Rudd and small perch with over 25 in total when I left. I too had a variety of similar fish but the mum and dad of the perch I caught were not in evidence. I had a bakers dozen all on maggot and this on pellet.

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It felt like a bream but didn't really look like one and was a golden colour. Could it be a skimmer turning bronze or a hybrid. It weighed 3.5lb whatever it was.

I left early as I'm cooking tonight for eldest dotter and plan to serve up at half time. Cheers Gordon and thanks again for doing that little mod to the rod rest; much appreciated. An enjoyable day in the fresh air even if the fish were not really obliging. A few other stalwarts on the feeder struggled.
Gurt hybrid....
 

S-Kippy

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With an overcast day forecast I fancied a go somewhere today but I did NOT fancy a mega early start so that ruled Godalming out. Been a while since I'd been to Bury Hill and I quite fancied another go on the pole so off to Dorking at a much more reasonable start time. Only one other angler there when I arrived so I had plenty to choose from,settling on a swim with a big bed of pads to my right opposite the island which is a great wind break and a lovely dark background for the float.

Bit damp to start with and it took me quite a while to get the swim going and even then it was just rudd and roach. I very nearly moved but then a crucian turned up and I stayed put. It was a funny old session....I missed loads of very finicky bites,foulhooked a couple and lost a couple but also picked crucian up steadily all morning. There was a horrible bit around 11am when some skimmers moved in but I stopped feeding until they cleared off. I was getting no interest at all on maggot....they wanted 4mm expander though I did try corn but each time I put that on a bloody tench snaffled it and did me in the pads.

Went very quiet around midday for a while but it picked up again and I was still getting bites and the odd fish when I packed at 2-30 ish to get home in time for the footy.

I ended up with 20 crucian with the biggest maybe 1-12....half a dozen slimy things,a dozen or so good roach and a solitary tench. The trouble with this place is that once the lilies and reeds are properly up you just cannot keep the tench out of them on the sort of gear you need for the crucian.
Thoroughly enjoyed it. Its a lovely place to fish this time of year and there were very few anglers there today which makes a big difference. Good to get the pole out again too.
 

wetthrough

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Another enjoyable day out with Mike today. I was looking forward to trying for some bigger Perch with lures which Mike had kindly brought for me, I only have one lure of my own, an ancient spoon. Regrettably, if there are any there they weren't interested. Mike had to leave early but whilst I'd had plenty of Rudd and Roach I was desperate to get something that would fill the net. Stuck it out til 5pm and finally landed a Bream of around 5lb, about average for this water.
 

markcw

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seth49

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A good day out yesterday, as usual I was there before Neil and mick just after 6.30 am, lovely warm morning with no wind, and plenty of cloud cover, usual set up margin rod in on alarm, and set my pole up for the centre of the canal like stretch, which is only ten metres wide between the bank and the island, good idea of whoever dug the pond out.

Fed two cups of ground bait mixed with some chopped worm, and a small pot of soaked 2 mm pellets after each fish, first time I’ve really tried chopped worm, and it worked well, with half a worm for bait, wasn’t long before the swim was fizzing with bubbles as the tench moved in.

I had eight tench, about the same of F1s, two lovely crucians and a mix of roach and skimmers, a good mornings fishing till about 12 am when as usual it went quiet for a couple of hours .

Still caught a few later, and then the carp started coming into the margins, so swapped top kits for margins, using dura slip size thirteen and a bigger float with two worms for bait, they’ve got cute close in by swimming close in, and if they touch the line there off, with a big bow wave as they spook, had to drop the worms tight to the bank to get a bite.

First carp was a thirteen pound mirror which gave a good scrap on the pole, let the elastic play it just changing direction to keep it going in circles, till I could net it, side puller helped later as well, then it took a while before I got another bite, a nice common of about eight pounds.

Packed up at 6 pm so a long day in hot conditions, really enjoyed it though and a successful new method as well.
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mikench

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So that's why I got that name. That reminds me( I hope I haven't told this anecdote before) of a work colleague called J Bond who exclaimed indignantly at an unpleasant partners meeting" what do you expect me to do" I replied " I expect you to die Mr Bond" . At least it brought a little levity to proceedings.
 

Alan Tyler

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Hello again chaps, I've only had two rather dull trips in the last 15 months, so nothing to report, but yesterday it all went a bit bonkers...
The Grand Plan was to use the wet weather and England-Germany match to get a better chance of bagging some of the more desirable swims, but the wheels began to fall off when I couldn’t get an answer from Petrol-Splitter, who is normally mustard-keen and alert, on a fishing day.
Solitary, over seventy, health problems, unusual behaviour change … all alarm bells.
So, I drove round to his, rang the doorbell several times with no answer, so rang 111, who assessed the situation and said they’d send an ambulance. Job done, I set off back. Two minutes in, Lazarus rises, finds his phone, calls me and has the @@@ nerve to be angry with me!
Three minutes in, 111 calls back, and I explain the hearse could be called off. Panic over, I throw the kit together, failing to notice that my box has shed a leg, and leaving two-thirds of my meal-deal in the fridge, sort out the bait (except for the Stilton, which had got wind of The Plan and was hiding somewhere) and set off back to his. He must have done a bit of reflecting on what MIGHT have happened, and was actually ready on time; quite unprecedented!
The rain had started early, so next to nobody would be out fishing…
A water main had burst, so the main road was closed, and we followed a procession of the bewildered along narrow lanes through the Hertfordshire bocage, lost extras from the “Battle of the Bulge”, and never stopping long enough on these rural clearways to program the phone. I guessed correctly which way to turn upon meeting the main road, but blew it the other side of the village, and got thoroughly lost.
Once we’d finally figured out how to get somewhere sensible and had arrived at the fishery, the rain has stopped and there was a dismaying number of cars there, but we got into the same pegs as the last time, the Croatia game, when the river was flooding. That hadn’t been too bad, apart from the Noah re-enactment bit.
This wasn’t too bad, either; sloshings indicated P-S was catching before I’d even got a bait in the water, and a mud-cloud erupting under my toecaps showed there was at least one feeding fish near me. It was a barbel, just over eight pounds, so I was glad I’d bothered!


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Another four netters followed plus two hope-for-the-future “swingers” of about six ounces each. The fast flow under the far bank produced as many chublets as anyone could ask for, and way more than I wanted, so all the bearded wonders were from the near-bank slack. I should have put a roach-rod up after no.4,because barbel bites dried up, but fighting the sloping bank with an uncorrectable (missing leg) box was tiring me, and the excitement of the day and the 6a.m. start rather got to me, so there was a long fallow spell until just before packing-up time.
The last one, who must have shared my habit of letting appetite triumph over timekeeping, weighed 8.88 pounds, whatever that is, which I think may make my best pair. That didn’t pull terribly hard compared to the middleweights; I think it was too busy trying to slap itself round the head for falling for that ol’ chestnut again.

Lazarus caught lots of netter chub to 4lb+, and a fair few barbel, too.

Just when I thought the wheels were firmly back on the plan, I realised the splashy lanes had drowned my speedometer, so the relaxing drive home, basking in the warm glow of success,
 

jon atkinson

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Another afternoon session on the cut yesterday, on the Lydiate side of Rimmer's Bridge for a change. Usual light wag & mag approach resulted in mostly Perch - loads but only a handful of netters. Also quite a few small Roach, 1 tiny Skimmer / Blade, a hybrid and just the 1 Rudd. I did get snapped off once - own stupid fault - forgot to relax the drag having tightened it to pull out of a snag. On balance, I think that I prefer the Downholland side but I'm really enjoying being back on the L-L.
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mikench

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Yesterday evening I had decided on venue, tactics and bait and all was prepared. By morning, and this is becoming terminal, I had decided to go to my favourite for a spot of floater fishing. No pics of the venue as you have been bored silly with it for months. Indeed only one pic of a roach as my battery failed.

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I estimated it was around 12oz or so and I caught about 8 all the same size and on 8mm pellet on the feeder. The bread on the floater rod was devoured but not by carp but dozens of small fish. Throw in ducks, geese , gulls and moohens and it was largely a wasted effort. An older chap on the next peg was catching some fabulous crucians over 2lb on a prawn bait. He told me prawns were cheaper than maggots and it was the only bait he used. I had switched to my Titan by now and I caught several small perch, the ubiquitous gudgeon and skimmers. The guy I mentioned packed up as the heat increased and gave me his prawns (£1.30 a bag from Asda). I immediately caught a lovely crucian, a perch about 12oz and the craziest skimmer ever. It erupted from the water several times and then came meekly to the net.

A chap arrived as I was packing up so he got the rest of the prawns. By now it was too hot for me and the lure of an ice cold beer became too much. A very enjoyable day all in all.
 

S-Kippy

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The BF wanted to go trite fishing today and I was happy to agree as it doesnt require carrying shedloads of gear and its a very civilised start time.

Reservoir was pretty well flat calm when we arrived and our favourite bank rather scummy so we wandered round a bit and stopped when we saw a few fish moving. Within 30 minutes we'd both had a fish and were hopeful of a decent day.....little did we know. We then spent the most frustrating morning trying to catch fish that had their noses right in the surface film. I had a take which I missed and Phil hooked a lump that came off.....and that was it. We tried everything we knew but just could not get a pull....short leader,tiny flies,dry fly,deep buzzer, damsel pulled through the surface. Not a touch.

Eventually we retired defeated and discovered that it was the same everywhere you went on both reservoirs. We saw one other fish caught but everyone we spoke to hadn't had a pull. It was very odd as once it clouded over conditions were very nearly spot on.

I was disappointed but I'd had a good day at Bury Hill on Tuesday whereas this was Phil's first trip for 3 weeks due to his dodgy knee. He was very,very fed up.

You get days like this sometimes.
 

103841

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" ? who wants to be a millionare? ? "

I DO!

Today down here in the south east corner of our great country I have enjoyed the first sun blessed day for ages. I was drawn again to Samphire Hoe in search of another wrasse, a bigger wrasse. With a cool box full of ragworm and high expectations I arrived at low tide to fish the flood which I've been assured is the way to go.

Four hours of total frustration. I've almost learnt to recognise the annoying bites from annoying crabs determined to ruin an annoyed anglers day out, amongst all the rattles were a couple of bigger rattles, by the time I'd struck, the prey (I'm guessing a decent wrasse), had dived into the rocks and kelp leaving me with no other option than to pull from the victors snag, and that was it. I left scratching my head wondering if it's my total lack of sea fishing experience, but talking to a few anglers on the way back to the car it appears they weren't doing any better, small consolation.

Theres always a highlight when coming to the Hoe, the sight and sound of a Spitfire and today was no exception, infact I'd cottoned onto the fact that one flew overhead nearly every ninety minutes taking the exact same flight path doing a u turn just before Dover harbour and doing a victory roll on its way back towards Folkestone, must be a passenger experience me thinks, I'd like some of that with my birthday approaching.

Got home and straight on the net Googling, yes I'm right, they are passenger rides.............£5k a pop!

Yes I'd like to be a millionaire!

If you look closely with a magnifying glass you'll spot the expensive ride.

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john step

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Another blank yesterday when after river tench. Usually a popular stretch of the Witham but hardly anyone fishing this year and the bailiff said its dire. I couldn't be bothered with skimmers so I upped the bait size and stuck it out to no avail until 8Pm. Thats two full trips with no tench.
I know they are still there because one or two had the nerve to porpoise in the centre flow.
Tomorrow I will go somewhere easier before I go bonkers. How those blokes sit it out on ultra hard waters for a year for a bite or two I just dont know.
 

The Sogster

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Had a bit of a trip down memory lane today.

For many years I fished the river Idle around Bawtry and the Chesterfield canal around Everton, Misterton etc.
But that was fifteen years or more ago.

I have a new fishing buddy who expressed interest in the same venues so tackle loaded we set off on an exploratory journey to find what is available.

First port of call was the tackle shop in Bawtry to ask about local venues only to be told by the young lad on duty he knows nothing about local waters or who has the fishing rights.

Then off to see the canal at Everton and Drakeholes then Clayworth but it was very shallow and weedy as well as gin clear with about 18 inches of water. Plenty of fish to be seen though.

Backtracking we ended up at Gringly Carr on the Chesterfield canal, with around two feet of depth, but still weedy and gin clear but hundreds of small roach.

Set up a 14' ultralight and Sheffield 'pin with a very short two number 4 insert waggler at about 12inch deep fished to hand whip style.
Just fed a few maggots per put in and it was a bite a chuck from roach and rudd of 1oz to 3oz in the top layers occasionally the bait would get through the hordes to a slightly better stamp at around 6oz to 8oz but no real netters.

Fished from about 2pm until about 8pm and managed around 94 (miscounts are possible) fish, but probably missed/ bumped off another 30.

All in all a very enjoyable day seeing old venues and feeling like a kid catching nothing but bits, because every fish was a fin perfect specimen and glinted like jewels in the sun.

There is pleasure in knowing you're the first to catch these fish.
 

Alan Tyler

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"Sheffield 'pin" got my full attention! Care to enlarge on that? Wooden? Ali? Hybrid? Caged?
I'm always surprised by the way an ancient reel on a modern rod looks fine, but a fixed-spool on a cane rod - even one designed for the job, a Wanless or a Walker - just looks somehow wrong.
 
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