How did you get on?
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Pete Shears
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Quite cold yesterday first thing on the GUC near the tunnel. Had a raven fly over its 'kronking' gave it away followed by a green woodpecker calling in the trees but very hard to spot. Casting around with small curly tail grubs and paddle tail minnows had a few small perch follow but reluctant to take. By casting into the tunnel I managed to get two hand sized perch.
Hedgerows alongside the towpath laden with berries, sloes and hawthorn.Still plenty of weed in the canal making casting awkward made more difficult with the head high reed beds alongside the towpath in places. Had a red kite circling above me for a few minutes until a crow decided to
pester it. Had a few more small perch follow but not take the lures and with the boat traffic building up after 9.30 - time to go.
Hedgerows alongside the towpath laden with berries, sloes and hawthorn.Still plenty of weed in the canal making casting awkward made more difficult with the head high reed beds alongside the towpath in places. Had a red kite circling above me for a few minutes until a crow decided to
pester it. Had a few more small perch follow but not take the lures and with the boat traffic building up after 9.30 - time to go.
Steve King
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It’s been fancy apartments for many years now! I think all the European production takes place in Switzerland nowadays.
I have not fished around that area for many years, but thinking about it, I moved out of London nearly 10 years ago!
The river was low and clear when I went with Michael a couple of weeks ago, and we've had little or no rain since. But I was a bit bored on the carp pool on Saturday, and I don't have a good go-to stillwater this year, so despite the conditions and the likely competition for pegs on Bank Holiday, I drove over after lunch. Beside, I'd splashed out on a reel specifically for catching barbel close-in, hoping the drag system would take a bit of the strain off, and I wanted to give it a try
There was hardly anyone on the river, so I had a good choice of swims. But it was a case of good news/bad news when I realised the reel was on the kitchen table, and that theme continued when I started fishing. I set up with an 8g float, put a pellet in the band, swung it in to check the depth and found myself attached to a barbel
I'd also left the mat in the car, so that's my coat underneath it. That was some start, so I tried again to check the depth, and this took the pellet on the drop
Events were taking on an air of unreality. I swung the float in and went to put the rod in the rest to lay it on while I let things settle down. And the rod was nearly taken out of my hand by another bite, but this one avoided hooking itself.
After that, I spent 3 hours covering every inch of the swim, with the float, a bomb, and even, for the last half hour, a small feeder with smelly groundbait, but I could not get another bite. I can't complain, but after the first three casts, it was a bit of an anti-climax. I reckon if you're only allowed 3 bites, better to get them on the last 3 casts than the first three.
There was hardly anyone on the river, so I had a good choice of swims. But it was a case of good news/bad news when I realised the reel was on the kitchen table, and that theme continued when I started fishing. I set up with an 8g float, put a pellet in the band, swung it in to check the depth and found myself attached to a barbel
I'd also left the mat in the car, so that's my coat underneath it. That was some start, so I tried again to check the depth, and this took the pellet on the drop
Events were taking on an air of unreality. I swung the float in and went to put the rod in the rest to lay it on while I let things settle down. And the rod was nearly taken out of my hand by another bite, but this one avoided hooking itself.
After that, I spent 3 hours covering every inch of the swim, with the float, a bomb, and even, for the last half hour, a small feeder with smelly groundbait, but I could not get another bite. I can't complain, but after the first three casts, it was a bit of an anti-climax. I reckon if you're only allowed 3 bites, better to get them on the last 3 casts than the first three.
tommos16
Well-known member
Quite a day on the canal today, which to me remained the most untapped fishing venues out there.
In order, I managed to catch (on half a worm and a size 18 hook) a Freshwater Mussel, Roach, Bream, Perch, Eel, Chub, Dace and Ruffe. Nothing huge, but more than a few good Perch and the Eel was a good weight for the area. The monsters are out there still in this canal, with Roach to over 2lb, 6lb plus tench and 24lb Pike coming out recently. As well as rumours of one rogue Catfish that has stripped out a few Pike anglers now.
I’ll be targeting it all winter I reckon!
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In order, I managed to catch (on half a worm and a size 18 hook) a Freshwater Mussel, Roach, Bream, Perch, Eel, Chub, Dace and Ruffe. Nothing huge, but more than a few good Perch and the Eel was a good weight for the area. The monsters are out there still in this canal, with Roach to over 2lb, 6lb plus tench and 24lb Pike coming out recently. As well as rumours of one rogue Catfish that has stripped out a few Pike anglers now.
I’ll be targeting it all winter I reckon!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Ray Roberts
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I had nothing planned for today and the prospect of wasting the day didn’t appeal. I dug out my lure gear and headed for the river Eden.
There was some re-enactment do going on at the castle and I could hear them jousting. As I set up a guy dressed in chain mail armour and carrying a couple of spears made his way along the path behind me. It all seemed a bit surreal. I didn’t have a bad afternoon really. I managed to explore the river for as far as I could go, I hadn’t seen all of this part previously. I managed six Jack pike up to about five pounds and four perch, none of any great size, but fun on a light rod. All in all I was pleased I went.
There was some re-enactment do going on at the castle and I could hear them jousting. As I set up a guy dressed in chain mail armour and carrying a couple of spears made his way along the path behind me. It all seemed a bit surreal. I didn’t have a bad afternoon really. I managed to explore the river for as far as I could go, I hadn’t seen all of this part previously. I managed six Jack pike up to about five pounds and four perch, none of any great size, but fun on a light rod. All in all I was pleased I went.
Pete Shears
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Another visit to the GUC yielded a micro pike and 5 hand sized perch to white and pink curly tail grubs, all of them caught around 9am then the boat traffic started to get busy nearer 10am so it was timw to go. Not much wildlife about, a green woodpecker yakking away deep in the trees and a buzzard calling somewhere and that was about it.
September is my favourite time of the year ... whether that is because I always seem to do well in contests in that month (and October) or coincidentally because I’m a Virgo, I just don’t know.
Anyway ... this year it would appear that September has arrived early ... and not just meteorologically!!
Saturday was the day for Barford AA’s “end of the month” open contest on the eponymous stretch of the Warks Avon.
I drew the first peg in the backwater (next door to the peg that I’d had on the rivermasters qualifiers a couple of weeks before). This time the river was even slower, lower and clearer than that occasion (if that is possible!!!). my peg for the day suffered from being much shallower than the one above ... when the sun was out I could see bottom all the way across. It deepens off at the tail of the peg, and also benefits from picking up a tiny bit of flow from the main river pushing around a bed of reeds At that point.
anyway ... whatever I tried failed ... with 90 minutes of the match left I’d mustered about half a pound (mainly small stuff). I’d started feeding fairly heavily at that tail of the swim quite early ... due to the paucity of any fish. I then hooked and lost a barbel on a light hemp rig.
This was the signal for a crazy last hour or so ... I caught 5 chub and a barbel on the pole, as well as pulling out of another barbel (I saw it twisting when I hooked it) that may well Have been foul hooked. All on the pole and double caster, using no.14 elastic set tight to stop the chub reaching sanctuary of the reeds that lined the peg. In the last 20 minutes I also caught three larger roach around 12 oz or so (where were they when I was trying to catch them?)
20 pounds and 11 ounces was my final weight ... five pounds or so clear of the runner up.
hopefully my run of good draws will continue through my favourite month!
Anyway ... this year it would appear that September has arrived early ... and not just meteorologically!!
Saturday was the day for Barford AA’s “end of the month” open contest on the eponymous stretch of the Warks Avon.
I drew the first peg in the backwater (next door to the peg that I’d had on the rivermasters qualifiers a couple of weeks before). This time the river was even slower, lower and clearer than that occasion (if that is possible!!!). my peg for the day suffered from being much shallower than the one above ... when the sun was out I could see bottom all the way across. It deepens off at the tail of the peg, and also benefits from picking up a tiny bit of flow from the main river pushing around a bed of reeds At that point.
anyway ... whatever I tried failed ... with 90 minutes of the match left I’d mustered about half a pound (mainly small stuff). I’d started feeding fairly heavily at that tail of the swim quite early ... due to the paucity of any fish. I then hooked and lost a barbel on a light hemp rig.
This was the signal for a crazy last hour or so ... I caught 5 chub and a barbel on the pole, as well as pulling out of another barbel (I saw it twisting when I hooked it) that may well Have been foul hooked. All on the pole and double caster, using no.14 elastic set tight to stop the chub reaching sanctuary of the reeds that lined the peg. In the last 20 minutes I also caught three larger roach around 12 oz or so (where were they when I was trying to catch them?)
20 pounds and 11 ounces was my final weight ... five pounds or so clear of the runner up.
hopefully my run of good draws will continue through my favourite month!
Another Dave
Well-known member
Hi all. I'm very much behind when it comes to writing up and submitting my reports! Had a six species session on a tiny river today that I can't wait to tell you about, but before we get there I have a few more tales to tell, and to keep things chronological we need to first go back to the @rse end of July.
Remember my 'Crucian (?) ID' thread from earlier that month? https://www.fishingmagic.com/forums/threads/crucian-id.375689/
It's where I had confirmed that we're not dealing with true crucians in the pond in question, and this led to some discussion of whether the fish's genetic purity really mattered anyway.
My old fishing mate had joined the club that runs the water in question and he had kindly bought me a guest pass for the day. The location was lovely and quiet, just a few horses making the occasional horse noise and the odd woodpecker. The swims looked great.
One old guy fishing when we got there. My cheerful hello was completely ignored, oh well, some people!
Only an acre, once a small gravel pit, it was 8 or 9 foot out by those margin pads, and it was hard to cast my float rig out, had a bit of weight down the line to get the bait past bits. All a bit unwieldy and it didn't feel right so I also set up a sleeper - my trusty 8ft Darent Valley on the quiver with a tiny feeder, corn on a 14 and some posh hempy groundbait my mate had bought. I set this up on the right of my swim, set the baitrunner and carried on playing around with the float rig. They say there are only 4 carp there, but they are all 20s, and I didn't fancy swimming after a rod
There was a lot of activity, with these cruciany hybrids rolling and jumping and basically acting like mini carp, ruling the roost. The baitrunner shrieked me into action, I knew as soon as I felt the fish that it wasn't one of the 20s, game on, what have we got here? It fought like the devil. So quiet was the loaction that my mate heard the baitrunner from the next swim and came round and netted this for me:
I got 6 runs over the next 2 or 3 hours and landed 5 of these cheeky chappies, with the smallest guessed at pound and a half and the largest weighed at 2oz shy of 3lb
If anyone wants to speculate on hybrids, please join me in the Crucian (?) ID thread linked at the start of this report.
Oh, and halfway through it turned out the old boy already fishing there had dozed off before we got there and couldn't have been more friendly later on. I never did get anything worth remembering on the float. My mate's been back for a few short sessions since and hasn't had one yet. I think I must have been in the right place at the right time that day.
All in all a great day out in perfect weather with my mate at a lovely location and what good sized, hard fighting fish, around that size is absolutely ideal for putting the DV 8ft through its paces.
Remember my 'Crucian (?) ID' thread from earlier that month? https://www.fishingmagic.com/forums/threads/crucian-id.375689/
It's where I had confirmed that we're not dealing with true crucians in the pond in question, and this led to some discussion of whether the fish's genetic purity really mattered anyway.
My old fishing mate had joined the club that runs the water in question and he had kindly bought me a guest pass for the day. The location was lovely and quiet, just a few horses making the occasional horse noise and the odd woodpecker. The swims looked great.
One old guy fishing when we got there. My cheerful hello was completely ignored, oh well, some people!
Only an acre, once a small gravel pit, it was 8 or 9 foot out by those margin pads, and it was hard to cast my float rig out, had a bit of weight down the line to get the bait past bits. All a bit unwieldy and it didn't feel right so I also set up a sleeper - my trusty 8ft Darent Valley on the quiver with a tiny feeder, corn on a 14 and some posh hempy groundbait my mate had bought. I set this up on the right of my swim, set the baitrunner and carried on playing around with the float rig. They say there are only 4 carp there, but they are all 20s, and I didn't fancy swimming after a rod
There was a lot of activity, with these cruciany hybrids rolling and jumping and basically acting like mini carp, ruling the roost. The baitrunner shrieked me into action, I knew as soon as I felt the fish that it wasn't one of the 20s, game on, what have we got here? It fought like the devil. So quiet was the loaction that my mate heard the baitrunner from the next swim and came round and netted this for me:
I got 6 runs over the next 2 or 3 hours and landed 5 of these cheeky chappies, with the smallest guessed at pound and a half and the largest weighed at 2oz shy of 3lb
If anyone wants to speculate on hybrids, please join me in the Crucian (?) ID thread linked at the start of this report.
Oh, and halfway through it turned out the old boy already fishing there had dozed off before we got there and couldn't have been more friendly later on. I never did get anything worth remembering on the float. My mate's been back for a few short sessions since and hasn't had one yet. I think I must have been in the right place at the right time that day.
All in all a great day out in perfect weather with my mate at a lovely location and what good sized, hard fighting fish, around that size is absolutely ideal for putting the DV 8ft through its paces.
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seth49
Well-known member
Back on our usual club water yesterday, already three there before me at 6.15 am, the peg I wanted was free so set up there, usual fish for tench and silvers till 3 pm, then swap to the margins for carp.
Caught about eight tench including the two I caught later carp fishing , plus a barbel, also two crucians and a dozen or so skimmers, so a nice session on the pole.
Swapped to the carp later, did manage three, but they weren’t easy to catch at all, they were coming into the swim but ignoring the baits, getting very cagey now, including two scaly mirrors, Good day though, enjoyed it.
Caught about eight tench including the two I caught later carp fishing , plus a barbel, also two crucians and a dozen or so skimmers, so a nice session on the pole.
Swapped to the carp later, did manage three, but they weren’t easy to catch at all, they were coming into the swim but ignoring the baits, getting very cagey now, including two scaly mirrors, Good day though, enjoyed it.
Not a crucian among them Dave! If I was fishing a place where f1s had been stocked that would be my guess as well as brown goldfish.
My guess is that there were crucians at some stage in the past and these have bred with king carp resulting in "natural" hybrids that look for all the world like f1s.
I see this on several venues.
Ps some of old boys have hearing problems and dont always respond as expected.
My guess is that there were crucians at some stage in the past and these have bred with king carp resulting in "natural" hybrids that look for all the world like f1s.
I see this on several venues.
Ps some of old boys have hearing problems and dont always respond as expected.
S-Kippy
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I was supposed to be having a few hours on the Thames with the BF today but he's gone down with a cold and bearing in mind his less than robust current health he decided against it. I went anyway.
Terribly frustrating....for every bite I hit I must have missed a dozen. I can barely see the split in hemp now let alone get it on the hook. I had a few on hemp but most fish came to elderberry raisins....the shrivelled up berries which are a bit smaller and a lot tougher and the roach dont seem to mind. I should have had a lot more than I did but I did have a reasonable bag of quality roach and a solitary perch which also took an elderberry. True to recent form I was pestered by boats all afternoon and got washed off several times.
Nice to do something different for a change but I am so out of touch with this sort of fishing. I kept wishing I'd had some casters...at least I could have seen those well enough to put them on the hook albeit I'd probably have got shucked out by bleak.
Terribly frustrating....for every bite I hit I must have missed a dozen. I can barely see the split in hemp now let alone get it on the hook. I had a few on hemp but most fish came to elderberry raisins....the shrivelled up berries which are a bit smaller and a lot tougher and the roach dont seem to mind. I should have had a lot more than I did but I did have a reasonable bag of quality roach and a solitary perch which also took an elderberry. True to recent form I was pestered by boats all afternoon and got washed off several times.
Nice to do something different for a change but I am so out of touch with this sort of fishing. I kept wishing I'd had some casters...at least I could have seen those well enough to put them on the hook albeit I'd probably have got shucked out by bleak.
Ray Roberts
Well-known member
I took my two youngest grandchildren to Hawkhurst Fish Farm. The older granddaughter wasn’t with us as she had begun her first week of secondary school.
We arrived about 10:30 and had breakfast on the terrace Then after rigging them up with a whip each they started fishing, we finished at 17:30 they had fourteen carp up to about 3lb which is fun on a whip.
This is Logan aged four, a picture of concentration.
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We arrived about 10:30 and had breakfast on the terrace Then after rigging them up with a whip each they started fishing, we finished at 17:30 they had fourteen carp up to about 3lb which is fun on a whip.
This is Logan aged four, a picture of concentration.
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
seth49
Well-known member
Went to our other club water yesterday, as it’s more sheltered due to the cold north easterly wind which was blowing, it felt chilly as well, supposed to be 20 degrees C in the afternoon, but felt nothing like that.
Did have one carp early, and then just a few line bites, tried worm but only small perch and ide on that, so went on the method feeder which usually works when there not close enough for the pole.
Hooked one within minutes which came off, then just a bream after till I finally caught the carp I was after, as it was my 100th of this year, I managed 102 last year so should exceed this total comfortably.
Did have one carp early, and then just a few line bites, tried worm but only small perch and ide on that, so went on the method feeder which usually works when there not close enough for the pole.
Hooked one within minutes which came off, then just a bream after till I finally caught the carp I was after, as it was my 100th of this year, I managed 102 last year so should exceed this total comfortably.
Went yesterday,to the Ouse at Bedford,fished slider to start feeding balls of black lake laced with casters and odd grains of corn,nothing on the corn but plenty of roach,odd dace,skimmers and perch,decided to change to the feeder around middayish had bites from the off,with similar results,then I got it in my head to set the float rod up again,but on the stick float down the side,not a normal float for the river,I expected 5/6ft off the rod but it was nearer 7ft 6in,ended up fishing well overdepth around 9 or 10ft,but the size of roach and perch improved with fish to 10ozs coming fairly regularly,a very nice day,interspersed with plenty of scantily clad ladies walking by...?
hooferinsane
Well-known member
Back to the public lake to try fishing for the larger carp. Had three runs, two to luncheon meat fried in paprika and one to a homemade boilie. Missed the fish on all three runs though……
First time actually carp fishing for 25 years plus though, so it can only get better.
First time actually carp fishing for 25 years plus though, so it can only get better
.
flightliner
Well-known member
Trent again yesterday.
I dropped in a swim hoping for a few bream on feeder gear and I wasnt disappointed as from the off after using a home made bottom bait dispenser my braid was covered in Bream slime and line bites started making for a promising day.
Fifteen minutes after starting my sweetcorn bait was taken and I had my first Bream that I weighed at 6—4. That done I had a referance point that could help later to make a "guestimate" wieght of my catch.
The fish would come in two's and threes then I would have to top up the freebies with the bait dropper to help re commencing more bites and fish.
By mid afternoon I had a quite spell for a little short of an hour with only two fish so I opened a tin of corn and put the lot in with the dropper, the fish were still in evidence as the braid was still being coated with slime(never had this happen before) but it did the trick and I had a purple patch where the fish were hitting both baited rods at once forcing me to use just the one.
By this time I was pretty worn out with twenty nine fish so I rounded the tally up to thirty then packed my kit away and headed for home.
I reckoned that 150lb was the bare minimum weight of that catch, possibly more with so many identical to the one I weighed earlier.
No matter tho, I'm just happy to say its the best Bream catch I've had from the river!
I dropped in a swim hoping for a few bream on feeder gear and I wasnt disappointed as from the off after using a home made bottom bait dispenser my braid was covered in Bream slime and line bites started making for a promising day.
Fifteen minutes after starting my sweetcorn bait was taken and I had my first Bream that I weighed at 6—4. That done I had a referance point that could help later to make a "guestimate" wieght of my catch.
The fish would come in two's and threes then I would have to top up the freebies with the bait dropper to help re commencing more bites and fish.
By mid afternoon I had a quite spell for a little short of an hour with only two fish so I opened a tin of corn and put the lot in with the dropper, the fish were still in evidence as the braid was still being coated with slime(never had this happen before) but it did the trick and I had a purple patch where the fish were hitting both baited rods at once forcing me to use just the one.
By this time I was pretty worn out with twenty nine fish so I rounded the tally up to thirty then packed my kit away and headed for home.
I reckoned that 150lb was the bare minimum weight of that catch, possibly more with so many identical to the one I weighed earlier.
No matter tho, I'm just happy to say its the best Bream catch I've had from the river!
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What a great catch, Mick! You must be getting your strength back. I'd love to catch bream like that on the river, so I will be pestering you for details
flightliner
Well-known member
The first pik was the days biggest at 7—9 Kev.
?