How did you get on?

[S-Kippy]

Was all set to go to Bury Hill today but I didn’t really feel like spending any more money there. So I let the BF talk me into going to Farmoor for a trite.
Where we fished was pretty well decided for us by where wasn’t covered in horrible green algae with no wind to move it when we arrived.
Found a clear spot with a couple of fish showing and in no time I’d had a couple and missed another take. 3 hours later with no more takes even though fish were obviously in the area we moved.
Stopped in an area where we’d seen fish earlier but was covered in scum however a wind had got up and moved this. It looked really good.
I had 3 more trite and lost another fishing Daiwl bachs right in the surface. For no reason we could see the BF never had a pull despite fishing almost identically to me. We never saw another fish caught so I was more than pleased to winkle 5 out…..the BF was happy for me if not for himself. Frankly…I felt he gave up around lunch time.

 

[mikench]

Today , despite the paucity of fish including our intended quarry, was a very enjoyable one but it was warm. We set up on the same venue that has featured before , most recently last Friday when I had to let Gordon down.

I set up my DV with a open ended feeder stuffed with a gb made up of corn, liquidised bread, hemp and gb. There was little interest. Gordon , on the float had a succession of small roach and perch as did I when I switched to the float. The water is very shallow and weedy so fishing is tricky. Gordon came up trumps with a cracking common of 13lb.

He will post a better pic I'm sure such was his delight on catching it on an 18 to 3lb hook length. I switched to corn on the float at a depth of around 2' and this was the result.

A lovely tench of 5lb 3oz. That made my day. We accept that the waters we fish do have tench but not in significant numbers so each one we catch is special. Not to be outdone Gordon followed up with an excellent crucian and his own 5lb tench. It was a very pleasant day. I had around 6 small roach and perch but sadly no more tench. I remain content with just the one and there is always a next time. Cheers Gordon and here's to Friday when shorts will be de rigueur in the heat.

 

[flightliner]

Not fishing but fishing related.
I had an invite to a"bit of a do" at Bob Roberts home on Sunday last where the guest list was like a whos' who in the world of angling.
Guys like Archie Braddocks, Kevin Clifford, Alan Henshaw the manager of the EAs fish farm at Calverton in nottinghamshire, our host and his good lady wife and lots of others who made up the guest list.
We all enjoyed two huge pies, a chicken or a beef with peas made by a former well known member of this forum, namely Lee Swords and helped by his wife and daughter followed afterwards with a choice of delicious confectionary.
The talk was all about fishing and the coming season and I chatted for nearly an hour or more with Archie B, and Kevin Clifford afterwards who signed my book he generously gifted me after a chance meeting on the river Trent a few years ago (A history of carp fishing revisited).
Also a chat from Alan Henshaw to a group of us resulted in an invite to Calverton FF in the near future that I'm really looking forward too.
I also had the opportunity to catch up with others present where we exchanged offers of guesting each others syndicate or club waters where some present ran both carp and mixed fisheries.
All that and much more and the time passed by so quickly.
I enjoyed every minute.
ManyThanks Bob!

 

[wetthrough]

You won't be seeing me in shorts any time soon. Something everyone should be grateful for. The common was a PB for me so well chuffed, I didn;t take a pic. Gave me a bit of a runaround but the Tench pulled a lot harder surprisingly. A good day thanks Mike. Could have done with a few more bits to fill in the gaps but you can't have everything.

The mist just clearing over the lake when I arrived at about 6:10. and some fishy pics.

The Crucian, I think

and Tench

 

[Bob Roberts]

Not fishing but fishing related.
I had an invite to a"bit of a do" at Bob Roberts home on Sunday last where the guest list was like a whos' who in the world of angling.
Guys like Archie Braddocks, Kevin Clifford, Alan Henshaw the manager of the EAs fish farm at Calverton in nottinghamshire, our host and his good lady wife and lots of others who made up the guest list.
We all enjoyed two huge pies, a chicken or a beef with peas made by a former well known member of this forum, namely Lee Swords and helped by his wife and daughter followed afterwards with a choice of delicious confectionary.
The talk was all about fishing and the coming season and I chatted for nearly an hour or more with Archie B, and Kevin Clifford afterwards who signed my book he generously gifted me after a chance meeting on the river Trent a few years ago (A history of carp fishing revisited).
Also a chat from Alan Henshaw to a group of us resulted in an invite to Calverton FF in the near future that I'm really looking forward too.
I also had the opportunity to catch up with others present where we exchanged offers of guesting each others syndicate or club waters where some present ran both carp and mixed fisheries.
All that and much more and the time passed by so quickly.
I enjoyed every minute.
ManyThanks Bob!

Thank you sir, you are more than welcome! It has become a bit if a fixture in the calendar now Covid is hopefully behind us. I was just looking at the group photo earlier today and it struck me eight of the bunch to my knowledge have published books, several more have contributed guest chapters. But its not an elitist gathrring. Some guests, folk will never have heard of. But all have been kind or helped me in some way in the past. It's my way of recognising that and saying thank you. Plus it's bloody great to be there. So many great tales were swapped. Here's to next year.

 

[seth49]

Back on club water again yesterday, warmer weather for a change but no signs of spawning yet, fished the narrow section for a change as I can reach the island with the full 10 metres of my pole, fished usual chopped worm and ground bait, half way across for a start for the tench, very slow again for the tench just catching the odd ones together with skimmers and roach.

I caught 5 tench plus 15 assorted silvers, no crucians either, or barbel, I emptied my keep net at 3pm as usual for a quick photo, and then had a brew as I catapulted a few four mm pellets to the island, after about 5 minutes there were signs of carp over these, so extended my pole out there with a soft pellet on the hook, first time I’d fished my pole too it’s full length , and it was easily manageable I found, had three carp about 4 to 5 pounds in weight and had couple come off which were possibly foul hooked, so still haven’t reached 200 tench this season, I’m just 5 short of that target, hopefully pass it on Thursday, nice day out and very pleasant in the warmth.

 

[john step]

Not fishing but fishing related.
I had an invite to a"bit of a do" at Bob Roberts home on Sunday last where the guest list was like a whos' who in the world of angling
I enjoyed every minute.
ManyThanks Bob!

Blimey Mick you do move in high circles!

 

[john step]

Back to my deep water today. Only about 10 members so always peaceful. The sun was very hot and I sat under the shade of the brolly most of the day. I must say I was wondering the wisdom of going as the heat gets to me nowadays. ( New thread elsewhere coming up)
I had four runs and four carp. Three sub doubles and the biggest a 15lber.
With the forecast for more heat That will be it for the week I feel.Philip, practising what I preach. Two nets ready and I did actuall get two runs one after the other!!

 

[flightliner]

Blimey Mick you do move in high circles!

Lol, I at least hope I qualify as being the apostrophe in the who's who John.

 

[nottskev]

Lol, I at least hope I qualify as being the apostrophe in the who's who John.

That's as fine a poetic comparison as I've seen on FM Mick.
Modest, too: I remember passing you, a left-hander, my rod to try on the Don.
You turned it upside down, reeling in backwards, casually caught a couple of grayling, gave it back and said, not bad.
You can't do that unless you're a "who" -)

 

[Pete Shears]

Out on the Wreake this morning to find very low levels and very little flow but fish topping and rolling in the deep pool.
Having gone through flake,crust,sweetcorn I eventually had a small perch followed by by a chublet and that was it, even a bit of light lure fishing was unsuccessful. With the sun high and getting hot it was time to clear the bankside vegetation in other swims for subsequent trips and visit a large gravel pit nearer Melton with tench in mind.
Glad to see a kingfisher twice showing they had survived the winter.

 

[nottskev]

I was intending to skip the opening day rush. Until about 4pm, when I talked myself into going. It was a day of brilliant sunshine and the river low and clear so I was resigned to a pleasant fish-free evening in a second division swim. I chose a swim a mile and more downstream of the weir, where most of the people who got up early would be fishing or would have fished. The swim was a bit of a snagpit with overhanging trees and rocks in the edge, so my rig was about as simple as you can get, with a lump of modelling clay on a hairgrip that would pull off if snagged

With the bait drifted under the tree, I only had to wait 10 minutes before the rod whipped round. I've caught some decent stillwater barbel and some tidy sized carp in the cs, but the speed and violent power of these river fish is of a different order, and I was glad no-one was watching - with a high bank, a strong flow and a 4m net handle, it took 3 or 4 goes to get this one in the net

Ten minutes later, the rod takes off again, and a slightly smaller barbel is the result

With two fish in the first 20 minutes, I didn't mind at all that I didn't get another bite in the next two hours.

 

[mikench]

Well done Kev; lovely specimens. When I saw the "lead" on my phone I thought where does he get his Henry Moore weights from? Very good idea. Is that a rubber band round the spool ?

 

[seth49]

All three of us on the syndicate water yesterday, it was slow going to be honest, apart from the perch which were all over my bait if I put chopped worm in, I had to feed just ground bait and fish worm over that to avoid to many of them.

I did reach my target of 200 tench for this year, which is 56 more than I caught all last year.

It was hard going to catch the five I needed to do this, had three in the morning and then lost three when I just needed 2 more to reach my target, finally caught the last one after lunch.

In the afternoon I was shipping out to the spot and noticed a carp on the surface, so I lowered the worm section in just in front of it, there was a big swirl and I had it on, gave me a good scrap too, took a while to land but I did manage it, it weighed 10lb 1oz, a nice common.

So I finished with 1 carp, 6 tench, and 36 assorted silvers mainly perch, roach, and a couple of Rudd, it was a pleasant day but a breeze and cloud cover would have been better, hopefully the fish will spawn now, and things should improve again.

 

[nottskev]

Well done Kev; lovely specimens. When I saw the "lead" on my phone I thought where does he get his Henry Moore weights from? Very good idea. Is that a rubber band round the spool ?

It is. The line clip on this model sticks out too much and the line occasionally clips itself up when you cast. The band covers it.

 

[john step]

It is. The line clip on this model sticks out too much and the line occasionally clips itself up when you cast. The band covers it.

Kev, I hadnt thought of modelling clay for weights. How does it store. Does it go rock hard ?
I use some black plasticine for the same purpose but I have always felt uneasy should the scent put the fish off. It doesnt seem to unduly but one cant help wondering if there would be more bites without the scent.

 

[nottskev]

Kev, I hadnt thought of modelling clay for weights. How does it store. Does it go rock hard ?
I use some black plasticine for the same purpose but I have always felt uneasy should the scent put the fish off. It doesnt seem to unduly but one cant help wondering if there would be more bites without the scent.

I remember the horrible smell of plasticine, but this has very little scent. It seems to "keep" fine stays malleable and weighs heavy, The bit in that pic is just under 1/2 oz and stayed on for two hours and two barbel. Here's the stuff

Newplast Modelling Clay Bars | Cowling & Wilcox

Perfect for a range of activities & available in a range of colours, this Newplast Modelling Clay is non-drying, non-setting and waterproof. Shop now!

www.cowlingandwilcox.com

 

[john step]

Thanks Kev. A bar of green and a bar of peach on way as I type. Should save some lead on the Trent snag pits.

 

[mikench]

Another day fishing with Gordon and an enjoyable one despite the heat.

A familiar venue and on our side of the water there is protection from the sun. It's a hard water but despite that Gordon did well and had 2 tench. This one was just under 5lb.

We both had around a dozen small roach and Rudd but I didn't manage a tench. I did get a bronze bream around 4lb but it's a poor second to a tench. An enjoyable day though cut short for me by my eldest dotter, hubby and baby coming round with BBQ grub. An ideal excuse to christen my new Weber. Here's to next week Gordon.

 

[Philip]

Philip, practising what I preach. Two nets ready and I did actuall get two runs one after the other!!

Well played ! ...plus you have got the self take sorted too ..nice Carp & pic