How did you get on?

[silvers]

Another fortnight gap since my last outing on the River Nene.

with the Wye champs being postponed due to high river levels (decision was made friday lunchtime ... right decision) I booked in on a 25 peg open on (yet again) the Barford AA stretch of the Warks Avon. There was torrential rain forhalf an hour before draw time which caused the river to rise a few inches and then drop in The latter part of the match. As I was running late (flu jab on Saturday morning) my peg was drawn for me .... a narrow peg in the ‘arm’. Unlike earlier in the summer, there was a decent flow in the arm ... but still very little colour. nevertheless I was quite hopeful of catching a few roach. it’s definitely wintertime now ... no driving to your peg ... a decent walk from the access points pushing my barrow.

I set up two stick float rods for across and a then a short pole for fishing for perch in the near side slack water. The peg requires a side cast to get the float and hook under overhanging trees to run down the flow. I fed maggots in the slack and hemp and caster across. As I had 4 pints of casters (for the Wye) i opted to feed a fair bit heavier than normal as there are few dace on this peg and IMO roach can usually take heavier feeding ... it would also increase my chances of a stray chub.
Going In on the maggot line discovered minnow city ... and they were still there after 2 hours ... when I fed some choped worm and had a handful of perch ... but tiny.

On the stick float it Started slowly but I did get regular fish ... albeit small samples with only one netter about 5 ounces.
Half way through I started to alternate the hemp and caster feed with maggots ... which did work A bit but not spectacularly. With 45 minutes left I lost (what felt like) a smallish chub .... so upped the feed and hooklink. Pretty immediately I had one about pound and a half and then a smaller sample of 5 or 6 ounces. After that very little more.

It turned out that I only needed one more medium chub ... I weighed in 10 pounds 6 ounces, with twelve pounds winning and two more weights in the 11s. Not unhappy with fourth place off the peg, but slightly gutted to be so close.

 

[davebhoy]

I got that adapter off the end of a selfie stick Alan however the are lots of different ones widly available on line..one example here; Link

However as most are made to fit the thread of a tripod rather than a bankstick I couple mine with one of these ; Link

With that I can attach any mobile phone holder for a tripod (or any camera with tripod screw) to a standard bankstick.

There are also some companies now making adapters specifically for attaching phones to banksticks like this one ; Link

However I am not a fan of the spring loaded mechanism for holding the phone, the screw down clamp sort are more secure imo.

I use one of the spring loaded ones you linked to there and it’s been great with the remote, I’ve not had any trouble with it but I can see how the other sort might be better

 

[108831]

Cheers Philip,ive ordered the one described as seconds on the last link,not necessarily for cheapness,but I dont really want the bluetooth option,im quite happy to use the timer on my phone...

 

[peter crabtree]

Windy, soggy match yesterday!! 70mph wind and torrential rain, spent more time hanging onto my brolly than fishing..

At least I had something to weigh in..

 

[S-Kippy]

Stone Bonkers.

 

[peterjg]

It's not very often I report my catches but today was a bit unusual. I fished the Thames, caught 18 roach (biggest about 14ozs) and two bream (biggest 7lbs 11ozs) on legered Robin Red pellets, bread or trotted wheat. I was fishing in an open field, nice and sunny but with a cold, brisk westerly wind. Seven or eight ladies turned up mid afternoon and proceeded to undress and change into swimming costumes just upstream from where I was fishing! They then went for swim upstream in the fast coloured water and returned after about 30 minutes. I'm sitting there fishing and one of the ladies is just standing there absolutely starkers drying herself off - I'm sure I missed a few bites!!!

 

[john step]

It's not very often I report my catches but today was a bit unusual. I fished the Thames, caught 18 roach (biggest about 14ozs) and two bream (biggest 7lbs 11ozs) on legered Robin Red pellets, bread or trotted wheat. I was fishing in an open field, nice and sunny but with a cold, brisk westerly wind. Seven or eight ladies turned up mid afternoon and proceeded to undress and change into swimming costumes just upstream from where I was fishing! They then went for swim upstream in the fast coloured water and returned after about 30 minutes. I'm sitting there fishing and one of the ladies is just standing there absolutely starkers drying herself off - I'm sure I missed a few bites!!!

Did you nor offer to towel her down?

 

[john step]

A cold wet viciously windy day today. I picked a spot beneath a high bank . Funnily I had the whole lake to myself!
The morning was spent extracting the sum total of 5 small perch on a waggler.
In desperation I chucked out a small feeder and a "Medusa" of red worms on a feeder into 23 feet of water for the last hour.
Result, the tip banged round 5 times for 5 mirrors to sevenish.
Lesson learnt. Should have tried it earlier.

 

[Philip]

It's not very often I report my catches but today was a bit unusual. I fished the Thames, caught 18 roach (biggest about 14ozs) and two bream (biggest 7lbs 11ozs) on legered Robin Red pellets, bread or trotted wheat. I was fishing in an open field, nice and sunny but with a cold, brisk westerly wind. Seven or eight ladies turned up mid afternoon and proceeded to undress and change into swimming costumes just upstream from where I was fishing! They then went for swim upstream in the fast coloured water and returned after about 30 minutes. I'm sitting there fishing and one of the ladies is just standing there absolutely starkers drying herself off - I'm sure I missed a few bites!!!

I think on this occasion we would all agree that precise location details including google maps pin and GPS reference would be a great.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Yesterday I dropped my wife off at Toulouse airport, she is away to see her 1st granddaughter in Scotland. So I am my own master for two weeks!

This afternoon I had four hours of a "warm-up" session on my nearest barbel swim. I had just set up my 2nd rod when the heavens opened and the wind blew. Not used to fishing in bad weather and I sat there willing the fish to NOT bite as I sheltered as best I could. Of course both rods started nodding and it was only a few minutes before the first barbel hooked itself!

By the time I had unhooked this 4lb fish the rain had found it's way down my neck, fortunate the temperature was still around 15c. Not bad for November!

The sun broke through after about 30 minutes. I had long enough to dry out a little and appreciate the autumn colours....

Five more barbel to over 5lbs made for a busy session. Most caught in pouring rain as the storm closed in again!

The last came as it was getting dark.....

All the barbel were in the best of condition, autumn feeding must be good!

It was a steamy drive home, all my gear sodden! Tomorrow I will throw it all out on the lawn to dry - weather permitting!

 

[john step]

Thats a terrible looking place you are forced to fish.

 

[mikench]

Gordon and I set forth to a familiar water but early on it was very cold at 4c and windy. I started on the feeder and Gordon turned to the darkside( not a pole) but brought out his feeder rod for its first ever outing. He did start on the float but because of flooding the water was 1.5' higher than normal and with a very pronounced tow it was like trotting a float.

Quite why I gave him guidance when he outfished me I'll never know. He soon had a couple of nice roach around 6oz on a bomb. I failed on the feeder missing a few bites on a maggot feeder. I emulated Dave Coster initially with a heavy maggot feeder, short fluorocarbon hook length and 14 hook with maggot. There was no interest. I finally managed 3 small perch and Gordon finished with nearly double figures. I think he has been secretly feeder fishing for years.?

In truth we struggled and so did others with no carp and just the odd roach or perch. Once the sun came out it was quite pleasant but the fish were not persuaded. You can see the flooded car park and road in the pic which was much worse on arrival. At least it stayed dry. Cheers Gordon and here's to next time .

 

[markcw]

It's not very often I report my catches but today was a bit unusual. I fished the Thames, caught 18 roach (biggest about 14ozs) and two bream (biggest 7lbs 11ozs) on legered Robin Red pellets, bread or trotted wheat. I was fishing in an open field, nice and sunny but with a cold, brisk westerly wind. Seven or eight ladies turned up mid afternoon and proceeded to undress and change into swimming costumes just upstream from where I was fishing! They then went for swim upstream in the fast coloured water and returned after about 30 minutes. I'm sitting there fishing and one of the ladies is just standing there absolutely starkers drying herself off - I'm sure I missed a few bites!!!

What stretch of the Thames ?


Asking for a friend , who hopes it's Medley, Donnington or Sandford ?

 

[peterjg]

Markcw, top field at Beale, which is upstream of Pangbourne. Those women must have been absolutely crackers, although it was sunny the wind was cold and the water was up and coloured!

 

[nottskev]

First serious rain in ages put the river up 2'+ yesterday, so even though it kept on raining sideways in the fresh wind, and the ruins of the tree canopy were clogging your line, and the mud slide banks made you choose your swim with care, the barbel were eager.

I've been finding plugs of punched meat glugged ( did I really use that word?) in meaty oil work well, but I tried some dumbbells from a local bait producer. They contain the crushed remains of many denizens of the deep, plus the crushed shells of those that have them. I knew as soon as I opened the pack they'd catch. You wouldn't want to eat them yourself, but you imagine a barbel's reaction. It took a literal 5 minutes to get a bite. I had an eel, too - second in a few weeks after not seeing one for several years.

Totally different day today. Cold night, clear sky, no wind. I didn't want to go back to the river, but going to the woodland lake was optimistic. I didn't go until lunchtime, and I didn't expect a bite until 4pm. I primed several spots, two in my swim and one 40m along the bank and tried to coax a bite from a carp or a barbel out of them, but even though I stayed on til the light was almost gone, it didn't happen. Still, it made a change from all the wind and rain.

 

[seth49]

A gap in the rain we’ve had for the last week or so, so back on usual pond,later than usual due to roadworks causing long tailbacks, got set up about nine o clock, no rush though very quiet with all the rain going in and it was only 3 degrees,

Finally got a run around lunchtime, a common about 6 pounds, and although there were carp coming into the margins, I just had one more a bit smaller, and that was it, still nice to get out again, even with the odd heavy showers.

 

[wetthrough]

Another enjoyable day thanks Mike despite the sparsity of fish and thanks for the curry book. I need to make sure both hand warmers are working though. These old hands can't cope with close to zero temperatures. At least I christened the feeder rod, although it'll be a fast tow before it sees the light of day again, hopefully never. Last time I tried feeder fishing was about 20+ years ago and I didn't like it then. Maybe if I was better at it I would find it more enjoyable. Just need to remember to keep a firm grip on the rod on the cast when I'm clipped up...

 

[mikench]

You were not too shabby Gordon.?

 

[john step]

All's well that ends well I suppose.
I drove to the Fosdyke to find it running and coloured. Not a problem in itself as one can lay on over the shelf with a pole.
The problem was the rafts of duckweed making things very unpleasant. I stuck it for 2 hours and had a netter roach and 2 silver bream but up sticks as I wasn't enjoying it. I fished there 2 weeks ago and there was less weed so this lot must have come down from elsewhere.

I drove back to my local pit and had a couple of hours until dark. I had roach, perch, a couple of skimmers. Plenty of bites to make the day end pleasantly.

 

[markcw]

I called in one of the local tackle shops on the way into town yesterday.
I am getting items together to put in grandsons seatbox I collected last week.
Large tub of shot, float adaptors ,disgorgers, plummets hooklengths,etc, I was totalling it up as I was going along ,
It was surprising what it came to.
As for floats and pole rigs , I decided he can have some of mine,along with a few different sized bait tubs.
The box has an Octoplus leg system fitted, I got two of the red Octoplus red rectangular side bowls with it.
I managed to get some PI Octoplus leg adaptors ( blue ones) from the shop, so now I can give him a small PI side tray to use instead of him using the bowls if he wishes to.