How did you get on?

[binka]

It’s a funny thing this fishing business… Innit!

If someone had dragged me out of bed at 3am this morning and told me to sit somewhere and stare at something for sixteen hours I’d have told ‘em a wheel had come off their trolley but that’s pretty much what I did and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it.

The only flaw in my plan was that the barbel were in full spawning mode which I think was a consequence of the dull May and early June which we had around these parts.

Still, I managed a fish and a barbel at that albeit a small one but it’s one more than I managed on opening day last season and that didn’t turn out too bad in the end…



The only real bite of the day came shortly after 6am and despite trying numerous different concoctions and rigs this small but welcome barbel remained my only fish, in true tradition the pint at the village pub on the way home really didn’t touch the sides and the one I'm halfway through at the moment is pretty slick too!

It's good to be back on the river and out again tomorrow afternoon until dusk, great to read of others enjoying their opening day too :guinness:

Ps... Jamie I'm going with minnow too

 

[hammer_jamie]

Glad you had a good day Binka, And nice Barbel mate

Sod it Minnow it is, Better then blanking and I still had a good time!

 

[wes79]

4 Tench & 4 Bream (worm & pellet respectively).

chuffed to bits.

 

[tigger]

The start of a new coarse fishing season on the river toaday and I managed to get out for a couple ogf hours trotting . First trott produced a spotty trout that looked close to 2lb, third trott produced a nice barbel of about 7lb so it looked promising. At the end of the session I finnished up with five barbel and five trout so it was a decent short opening day session. A few pic's from the session...

 

[Tee-Cee]

Taken somewhere in the region of 80 roach over my last three outings. Not all fish of great size but well worth the effort of rising at 4am. ALL the better fish to a 1lb+ fell to whole chickpea, many ' on the drop ' which keeps you on your toes ! Two cups of tea went AWOL on the odd occasion I put my rod down.
Used size 16 hooks to fine hook lengths with bottom shot 8" from hook. IF the bait did reach bottom this gave very nice slow bites...

It's taken a time to get them on this bait, but having done so, once the float goes under it's odds on to be a better fish, as smaller chappies can't hack the bait size...

They also take on flavours very well if left overnight and freezing them tends to soften them perfectly. Need to be lightly hooked throughh one of the 'bumps' of the pea and fine wire hooks the order of the day............Tench love them as well - damn it !

Once the peas becomes too soft for hook use, mash them and add to light brown breadcrumb along with the juice from the tins which gives lots of bits through the water without feeding............

Well worth a prolonged trial if the usual baits go off, as was proven yesterday when I took fish immediately having sat for an hour without a bite !

Not too bad trotted on a river, either !!



ps Geez, lots of free info here, but then my generosity knows no bounds.............................!!!

 

[theartist]

Popped out away from the crowds to The Gade as it's customary for me and dad to fish there 1st up. No big fish at all but a total joy to be out with the old man wandering up and down in our waders trying here and there. Catching hard pulling tonker dace in the current, below a weir and under an alder tree was bliss. Sure was good to fish running water again.

 

[Titus]

Loads of bream to 8lb and a couple of small barbel, all from the lower Severn. Happy days, I'm already feeling better about this season than I have for years.

 

[binka]

Nice to get a better session under the belt today in terms of results and a bit of confidence restored from yesterday after settling in for a few hours this afternoon and being joined by a mate who arrived later after finishing work early.

Managed a couple of fish and lost a third with my mate suffering a hook pull to his only wrap around but the overall signs were much better, the brief shower was quite welcome and the fish were also in great shape and very quick to recover…



Back out Saturday with a mate and have a few jobs to do on Friday so I might have another go tomorrow whilst the bucket of munga is still reasonably fresh to see if I can make it three out of three

 

[neil1970]

Hard going today for me.

I fished 5 swims with a variety of pellets and maggot feeder.

One gudgeon, one tiny perch and a small chub for my efforts.

Got snapped up in the weirpool by a barbel, which was a bit of a shame.

 

[neil1970]

One hour - 2pm-3pm today with the lures

 

[binka]

Fell in! mg:

I think I only made one mistake today and that was leaving the house late morning, everything from then on went rapidly downhill.

I decided to head for an area I’d been meaning to re-visit all of last season but had never managed to get around to it, I’ve caught many a good barbel there and had the numbers too and I thought it would be worth hacking a swim out (swim… lol!).

To that end I had done the hard graft through head high nettles and even higher Himalayan Balsam, on down the very steep bank before reaching the waters edge where the last couple of feet were a sheer drop to the water but I could see it was only a couple of feet deep with a few stout tree branches to grab onto when it came to pulling myself back out.

I slithered in with my long bankstick and got familiar with my new secluded surroundings before setting up the rod rest and then climbing back out to fetch the rest of the gear except that wasn’t quite how things turned out!

I grabbed one of the tree branches and began to pull myself up and then one of my waders dug into the soft soil on the sheer bank face just above the water line and I found myself doing a wheel spin with both legs as I heard the dreaded sound of the branch breaking which promptly dumped me back in the river where I ended up lay on my side!!

Not to be outdone I pulled myself up, clambered back out before emptying my waders at the top of the bank and heading back in again with the gear and after getting settled the first cast went right on the money only to later find that the entire swim had turned into a complete snag pit.

A couple of lost hooks later and I’d had enough, I did travel to another stretch of river and gave it a couple of hours but my heart just wasn’t in it by this time and so I opted for an early finish and a pint to console myself.

What a stinker, roll on Saturday…

 

[john step]

Monday I blanked with the added heartsink of watching my mate catch three tench and a double common. Insult to injury..he is the one whose tackle looks like it has been found in a skipmg:

2nd river day the 17th.
Despite earlier statements about avoiding the river for the first week I had to change my mind due to being unable to go next week.

Despite misgivings about the banks being crowded I was obviously wrong as there were only about 6 anglers on a mile stretch of Trent.

Lady luck smiled as I had 3 barbel. 9.1, 9.7 and 11.8 plus 3 chub about 3lb or so.
:
During the close season you forget how hard these fish pull back.

 

[barbelboi]

Thankfully I haven't had an early bath for many years now (the Loddon in flood). The magic remedy seems to be the emergency change of clothes I have always kept in a bag in the boot since. I know what will happen the first time I forget them..........

 

[edsurf]

Fished the Stour at Throop yesterday lots of weed in the river not the best for trotting, so for the first time put on a set of chest waders got half way across river to fish far bank, had lots of small dace and chub then a decent brown trout followed by a good sized perch , very different feeling fishing whilst standing in the river, but will give it another go as it opens up more swims for trotting a float.

 

[peter crabtree]

Crabtree bad angling award in the post Steve....mg:

---------- Post added at 20:53 ---------- Previous post was at 20:34 ----------

3 hours on the Colne this afternoon. 4BB stick float and maggot on a 22 Kamasan B511.

Roach/Rudd/hybrid?

[url='http://www.fishingmagic.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=2216']

[url='http://www.fishingmagic.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=2217']View image in gallery​

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Dace...

http://www.fishingmagic.com/photos/showphoto.php?photo=2218​

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[binka]

Crabtree bad angling award in the post Steve....mg:

Harsh... But fair!

 

[stu_the_blank]

The most wonderful complete blank yesterday evening. Warm, broken sun, almost still with a slight ripple, beautiful!

But, on cue as soon as the old season kicks in, the Carp decided it was time to start the annual ritual. the reed beds in the shallow bay were taking a bit of a pounding and other fish were lining up to follow, probably today, that unique smell that you get at this time of year was hanging in the air.

So, I set up well away from them in some deeper water in hope rather than expectation of picking up the odd fish that wasn't going to spawn this year. (wishful thinking, I believe that they will be nearby the frenzy to move in and hoover the eggs once the comotion dies down).

So sitting in the sun, glass of wine, bbq on, watching the swallows taking flies of the water, the buzzard soaring overhead, and very straight rods!

Yes a bonus fish would have made it better, but the best blank I've had for a while.

Our tench haven't spawned yet, so that's to come too. Does any species other than roach spawn in the 'close season'?:wh

Stu

 

[chub_on_the_block]

On opening day had my first trips out since last November. Dawn for tench at a Norfolk estate lake that was once prolific didnt yield a touch or even an indication that any fish were present.

Switch to a lake nearer home that i had never fished before brought 20Ib of Roach to 1Ib 3oz in a little over 3hrs. After years of trying to bag some Roach - my last decent net was 17Ib from Thames at Kingston in about 1981! - it was totally unexpected. Sadly it seemed too easy though - dont think I will be back in a hurry!

 

[Rich P]

I spent the evening of the 17th on the River Goyt, and was well rewarded with five chub (all around the 3lb) mark and a barbel of 8lb 8oz. The 'bearded one' put up a healthy fight too, so very pleasing. The only downside was the earlier rain brought the levels up and, with it, some unwelcome residues from the water treatment plant up the road.

All fish were caught using my new (to me) Speedia wide drum, and they also christened a new landing net.

 

[wa1115]

Had a short hour and a half session this morning on my local river using my new setup (Korum Snapper 5-15g rod and Fox Ultron 1500 reel) was very pleased with the setup especially as I was using my own hand tied Jigheads, 7 Perch in total fell to my lure nothing huge but on a light setup felt bigger. A productive session and more importantly great fun!