How did you get on?

[jon atkinson]

SUC with the lure rod yesterday afternoon after a good work out on a work party - pleasant, if slightly dank, with the water a little too chocolatey for my liking. Tried half a dozen different lures, different rates / styles of retrieve... not a sniff - a total Serge ☹

 

[John Aston]

Another extraordinary day's fishing for perch. In order 3-11 , 3-13 and a PB 4-1 , all on worm. Perfect conditions- grey , drizzle , still and a falling and clearing river after the latest big flood ten days ago . Pic on big perch thread. Last Autumn I was moaning how poor the perch fishing was Up North , compared to some of the famed big perch waters in the Midlands and South . I'm not moaning now - in the last 5 weeks I've had 5 twos , four threes and a four. No great feat of skill involved - right places and right times happened to be where and when I was fishing .

 

[john step]

A recce to a new lake I have permission to fish today. About 4 acres. Good depth of 13/14 feet over the shelf. Never been coarse fished.
After moving from a biteless spot the new spot gave up a 9.12 mirror and 11 roach . Pleasant and private.

Oh yes and the Acy Ultra is still in one piece after the mirror!

 

[Pete Shears]

The Wreake was at about the same level and pace as last week with a muddy tinge.
Plenty of small taps and rattles on the quiver tip and sometimes a sudden sharp jolt, I could not hit any of them and the crust or flake was still on the hook. Using worms stopped all of that - no interest at all ,same with cheese paste.
Kept moving swims until I had the first proper bite and landed a chub at 2lb 8oz on crust.
Spotted a couple of buzzards and a kestrel along with rooks,crows,jackdaws,ducks,moorhens and the smaller songbirds but the first day for about three weeks there was hardly any wind.

 

[peterjg]

A day on the Kennet after roach. Two snotties on legered Robin Red pellets, another two snotties on layed-on flake and five blasted crayfish. No roach? I am now a crayfish specialist angler!

 

[mikench]

Boil the beggars and eat the tails: delicious.

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Boil the beggars and eat the tails: delicious.

. . . . and serve them with a citrus mayonaise or a Spanish Alioli and crusty bread . . . .

Remember it is illegal to put them back . . . . and they are very, very tasty . . . .

 

[peter crabtree]

Oi! Don’t start your cookery stuff here please!

 

[mikench]

Sorry Simon.?

 

[John Aston]

I thought it was illegal to take signals without an EA licence ? Not that I'd grass you up ...

 

[mikench]

You are not allowed to put them back so what do you do do with them. They have to be killed.

 

[markcw]

A day on the Kennet after roach. Two snotties on legered Robin Red pellets, another two snotties on layed-on flake and five blasted crayfish. No roach? I am now a crayfish specialist angler!

Crush them under your boot,
That's what I do .

 

[Mark Wintle]

I'm still hoping the turgid Dorset Stour will clear - the level isn't too bad - in the next three days but inthe interim I grabbed an hour on a minor side stream and found some dace, almost all very small, with just the one worth catching at over half a pound:

 

[John Aston]

I'm almost embarrassed to report another perch triumph from the proverbial 'Yorkshire River ' . Good conditions, about a foot above NSL and clearing nicely after yet another flood. No bites until a little cloud cover, but still bright . One fish lost , one bite off (Master Jack Pike I suspect) and fish of 1-8, 2-3 , 2-4 and 3-11 . All on large worm , using 2/3 oz lead and size 4 . 12 ' Avon , 6lb Maxima and an old school Fairy Liquid indicator (anyone know where I can get some more ? ).

One point I would make is that every Youtube perch expert will wang on about fishing what the kidz call 'structure' and I call 'features'. They are well worth fishing , I wont deny that , but every big perch I've had in the last few weeks has come from open water between a third and half way across the river , in relatively slack water . I've not had one fish near a bush , drop off , bridge buttress etc .

Here is the 3-11 ; the forceps are 6 inches long

 

[john step]

I think you nailed it this year. Well done.

 

[Pete Shears]

Another piking trip to the local reservoir yesterday morning, head torch not needed as it was light just after 6am.Three deadbait rods set up and cast out,sit back and wait with a coffee with a small radio on listening to Tony Blackburn,better than some but lacks the depth of the late Brian Matthews. Just after 7am a run on sprat saw a long slim jack of 5lb 14oz in the net. Sipping another coffee with a raven calling as it flew over the water,later two buzzards,two egrets and one kingfisher.
No more runs - time for the rivers before the season closes.

 

[S-Kippy]

A day on the Kennet after roach. Two snotties on legered Robin Red pellets, another two snotties on layed-on flake and five blasted crayfish. No roach? I am now a crayfish specialist angler!

That's why I stopped fishing the Kennet. I just cannot deal with the crayfish.

 

[peterjg]

Skippy, you are right those crayfish are horrible! The problem is I've found a really nice quiet stretch of the Kennet that has a good head of quality roach - without the crayfish it would be perfect.

 

[S-Kippy]

Those bloody signals have utterly ruined my favourite river ever. Barbel in the summer and autumn.....roach in the winter. I've not fished it for years and I doubt I ever will again. Breaks my heart.

 

[peterjg]

S-Kippy, sorry to see your post - maybe give the Kennet another go? It's true though the crayfish are awful; I put bits of sausage in a net bag which is tied to a piece of cord and thrown it in a bit upstream of where I fish in an attempt to lure them out of my swim - it partly helps but does not totally solve the problem unfortunately. Trotting is not a problem. I don't deliberately fish for barbel but occasionally catch them by accident when roach fishing. I had never fished the Kennet prior to 2013 so don't know of the decline - which is probably just as well!