How did you get on?

[riverman]

been quite a while since i caught a crucian mike.theres a venue near selby thats littered with them.i remember some years back whilst fishing there a bloke walking his dog (who was staying in one of the fixed caravans around the lake) asked me if i had any omega pellets.i said no and he said ok i'll go and pump you some.about an hour or so later he brought a bag of them and told me to give it a little while and the crucians will go mad.he wasn't wrong and i must have had about 20 of them on the waggler.you can always tell its a crucian as they have a very distinct fighting pattern and swim round in a circle.to be fair they put up a decent fight for their size.

 

[barbelboi]

On Friday 17th we took the best part of three hours to drive up to Bailden where my son and family had recently moved (about three miles from their previous property) to a house less than 100m from the river Aire. Neither of us had fished the river before (my son had been busy with work and the house) so it was a learning experience for both of us – and it was fun learning. Most days the weather was hot with a couple of cooler days thrown in but with a naturally overgrown stretch of river there was plenty of shade.

We decided to start with targeting a different species each day of the seven days we were staying. This worked quite well and, although I have fished rivers with bank to bank minnows before, never have I seen them in such numbers. I dread to think how much we paid for the gallons of reds to feed them off.

The wildlife was everywhere. Herons, kingfishers, dippers, wagtails, and quite a few other birds that I can’t name (It was so much easier over the Colne before we moved when Simon (Peter Crabtree) used to educate me as to feathered species ID).

Anyway, we never caught any monsters but located large shoals of fun sized dace, plenty of chublets/chub, some grayling, spotties, only small roach to either side of half a pound, some barbel and definitely no snotties. The added bonus being so close to the river was the wives nipped down with some bacon butties and beer cool drinks to keep us going……………..

 

[riverman]

some decent fish there.the river aire stretch at thwaite mills in south leeds is literally a mile from my front door can you believe..try not to laugh when i say i've never fished it.i prefer north yorkshire where its much more picturesque and less noise about.i have heard that the aire is producing some decent barbel near the royal armouries so might go and investigate.glad you had a decent day at baildon.

 

[Pete Shears]

Early start at the local reservoir after tench again.Two method feeder rods and a float rod using a mix of wafters,plastic baits and real sweetcorn.
Mild SW breeze,overcast and water warm to the touch ,action was slow except to float fished corn ,lift style with a swan shot 3" from to hook - roach between 3oz & 12oz tearing off not allowing any tench to get near it.
A slow lift of the bobbin had a pike of 8lb, it had taken a manila wafter. A fast take on the other feeder rod resulted in a male tench of 5lb.
An osprey turned up and caught fish twice and red kites seemed to be fascinated by the reservoir today too.

 

[flightliner]

decent session today.been on the river nidd and ended up with 1 barbel around the 4lb mark 1 chub around the 2.5lb mark 5 grayling and 4 dace,
the barbel and chub fell to luncheon meat on the leger and the grayling and dace to maggots on the stick.started off with hair rigged halibut pellets on the leger but not a touch.so switched to meat and fired some loose offerings out and eventually got some action.i did lose another fish which shot off and spit the hook but never mind.the grayling fishing on the nidd is superb and one day i'll target them on the fly.all in all a decent day but the nidd needs a bit of rain in it so the heavy showers the north are expecting will do it the power of good.

Loved fishing the Nidd years ago, lovely river, I once fished it at "Alice hawthorns" where at the time I had some pretty decant Yorkshire Barbel on lobworm.

 

[wetthrough]

Another good days fishing with @mikench. Not much to add other than not caring much for fishing the tip, whatever it catches. Pleased to get the Chub though, my second and the first was about 3" long on the Dane last year. Some nice Tench coming to Mike while studiously avoiding me.

Nice Roach:

and the Chub:

Thanks Mike. Looking forward to next week.

 

[markcw]

I had a day at Lodge Farm in Fritwell about 20 minutes from Oxford,
I took a returnee to angling , he hadn't been for a while and wanted a refresher so to speak .
The pool I fancied going on was more or less full, it is one where if you fish Magot you will catch silvers all day with the occasional carp .
So we had to go on the original pool which is more carp dominated but the silvers areca better stamp.
I set up a rod for him and with it being very shallow the float was a small loaded self cocker locked in place with two number eight shot and two number rights down the line , hook was a 16 guru lwg.
Also set him up to fish a top two off his Drennan Series 7 margin pole , He forgot to bring the number four section otherwise he could have fished it full length .
Looking at the elastic that was in it ,it seemed as if it was Drennan bungee 14/16.
Pole rig was a Drennan crystal dibber with a 14 banded hooklength .
Showed him how to keep priming the margins and a swim between the bank and small gap to an island . This was for the top two set up .
Bait was hard pellet, maggot and redworm .
A few maggots were catapulted out and 3:were soon impaled on the hook of the float rod .
After a few tentative casts , he was bang getting the hang of things . And soon a succession of roach and perch were coming out .
I set up on the next peg , Five sections of pole , two topkits , one topkit had 17 hollo the other black hydro. Rigs were homemade dibbers, mainline guru n gauge to a Drennan extra strength hook length with a 14lwg hook on black hydro top .The 17 hollo had similar but a 5lb hooklength to 14 lwg banded hook.
I primed the margin with soaked 2mm mainline pellets mixed with overwetted Dynamite Baits Halibut groundbait carp feed, this was formed into soft balls that could be gently thrown in front and to the side of me on the margin ledge about 12" deep , just off the ledge it was 18" deep . The groundbait/pellet mix for this was squeezed a little harder , I loose fed some maggots and some 6mm mainline hard pellets over the top . The rig for the margins was 17h set up ,this was fished on a top two and short 4 .
The black hydro set up was fished on a top two,short four and a number five section to a swim on my right ,
The groundbait mix was thrown in along with a few maggots . Bait was to be maggot .
I started of on this swim ,roach and gudgeon were soon being caught .
Mick the returnee decided to give the swim in the gap to the island a try and not long after he hooked a carp, The first of a few , after telling him how to use the puller bung on his topkit he managed to net one around 4lb .
He was made up . And was soon back in trying for another.
I got back to my peg and noticed tails wafting around the margin and muddy swirls . So in with the rig baited with a soft hooker pellet and a minute later I was playing the first of 8 carp I managed to catch, The carp in here sometimes go mental when hooked and this one was no exception . I ended up stripping the 17h using the side puller Usually a can get fish in just by applying a little pressure, Not this one and a few of his mates as well .
I landed it and it was around 5lb .
I primed the swim and left it and went back on the silvers swim . A few decent roach were caught , then the carp decided to show , these were in the 2lb bracket and were easy to bring in .
I primed that swim and left it and put more bait in the margins.wwhile I went to see how Mick was doing .
I gave him a few pointers on how to feed his swim to keep it topped up . I put a cad pot on the pole tip and filled it with bait ,showed him how to part lift the float out of the water , slightly rotate the topkit and trickle some bait in then lower the float .
He got a few more carp doing this the largest running to around 7lb .
I managed a couple of more the largest which was weighed but not photographed was 9lb10oz . I photographed one at 7lb 11oz ,
We called it a day around 4pm from getting there at 8am and Mick starting fishing at 9am .
He had an enjoyable day and we are planning to go about once a week to different venues , canal and river included and try and get a few more involved . . He is going to go through his tackle and renew some of it .I told him to set a budget and stick to it and buy what he needs Not what he wants .
I will post the next installment next time we get out .
Enclosed pic of 7lb 11oz carp it's folded a little in the net

 

[john step]

First outing for a week due to apps and hot weather. Rained most of the day.
A carpy club lake to get in the swing of things.

Fished a centre pin and beefy float rod with breadflake over slop and a dibber for 7 carp and 8 F1s. I gave up maggot due to small perch.
Three doubles to 16.8. I guesstimate about 90lb all for a loaf of bread!

 

[markcw]

Not so much a how did you get on but more of a how what I am going to do .
I am on a community forum ,and trying to see if any members go fishing .
Had about half a dozen enquiries at the moment ,Some fish , including Mick who I took on Saturday, some want to try .
A mother has asked if her young son can go , She takes him but he has never caught . His granddad does a lot of carp fishing but won't take him ,
The young lad has sensory perception disorder, so I have told her I will take it slowly with him and he will catch his first fish on Saturday , I am taking them lodge farm where I know he will catch .
So I will post how we get on on Saturday night .

 

[jon atkinson]

Rather blustery conditions coupled with a feeling of 'unfinished business' having lost a couple of Tench last time out saw me heading back to the relatively sheltered Newby pond after Sunday's work party. It was surprisingly flat calm when I arrived but it wasn't long before the wind got up putting a substantial ripple on the water. I opted for the peg that caused much frustration last week having brought the weed rake to hopefully mitigate the problem. I spent the first 10 minutes or so thinning out the rather prolific weed at the front of the peg which had the added bonus of reuniting me with my rig from last week - one of the two Tench that I lost had dived straight in to the weed & shed the hook so I had to pull for a break & lost the lot!

Anyway, I fished corn on the waggler over micros, hemp and corn but it was tough going (again). I had a couple of Roach, one half decent, a Roach-Bream Hybrid and a Crucian-Common hybrid. I needed to get away handy and was starting to think it wasn't going to happen with the Tench despite them blowing incessantly in my swim

. I upped it to 2 pieces hair rigged and was finally rewarded with a feisty female that was nudging 3lb. One day I might actually get properly to grips with what is undoubtedly one of my favourite albeit challanging of our ponds.

 

[mikench]

Gordon and I set forth again to the new lake which has been good to us both but especially me on the tench front. I am pleased to say it did not disappoint either of us. I had a small chub almost immediately swiftly followed by 2 tench.

THe sun was out and quite low hence the poor pic. I then had a crucian.

I finished with 5 tench and several roach. I even lost a large tench at the net. Gordon caught his usual number of quality roach and finally he had his tench and a lovely specimen it was too. Shortly after he landed a feisty common around 9 lbs so he was well pleased and his new Cadence 15’ performed superbly. He finished with 18 fish. It was blowing a gale all day and cold once the sun disappeared. We packed up as rain clouds gathered. Another great day Gordon and here’s to next week.

 

[Pete Shears]

Another early start at the local reservoir after tench and for a change successful.
A very fast run at about 5am saw me attached to a hard fighting tench which weeded itself three times but eventually landed ,a female at 5lb 14oz and later followed by a male tench of exactly 3lb. The only other action was a roach of about 4oz on plastic corn.
Very windy and cold for late June even worse yesterday when the forecast showers lasted for 90 minutes and over 2 hours, just avoided a cloud burst near midday driving home on near flooded roads.

 

[seth49]

Back on usual fishery today, arrived at 6,30 am to find it was very windy with just one end off the pond sheltered from the cold south easterly wind, tried a corner peg for a change it always looks like it should be good, and it wasn’t bad to be honest, had a mixed bag of F1s, skimmers ,roach, Ide, and 1 crucian,plus 5 tench usual pole tactics worm section over chopped worm and ground bait.

Later on fished cockle on the pole in the margins, for two carp about five pounds apiece, but lost two which dived in the reed mace and shed the hook, so a better silvers peg than carp perhaps, started packing up about 5pm as I could see it was going to rain, and it did just after I’d loaded my car for the trip home.

 

[flightliner]

I decided a days float fishing for Barbel on the tidal Trent would make a nice change on monday night so a late evenings change of tackle and I was ready for the following afternoon.
The forecast said hi winds and the swim I fancied was facing south so fearing a case of not doing my choosen method I put my heavy feeder rods in the car just in case.
I needed a pint and a half of maggots and chose a newly opened shop near my venue.
I asked the owner for the bait giving him a two pint container where he simply filled it to the brim! What can one do but go anytime I'm out that way, good maggots too!!
Upset to see my plan was not going to work on arrival as the stiff breeze was directly in my face ruining the chance of any decant presentation so I was glad of putting the feeder rods in the car with some groundbait.
I headed to a swim I had used in the past where Bream tend to dominate and on stopping my car the first thing I saw was a narrowboat well donstream of me had misjudged the river bend by not taking it on the outside which is much deeper. There was no chance of it continuing on its journey until the tide had lifted it.
I put my kit in the shade of a willow for the shade it offered and put my rods out.
Despite the beached boat my swim was deep but rose quickly to the surface, reason enough for it to be a haunt of river Bream where my third cast with corn and three maggots turned up a fish of around 5+pounds,a good start.
Sadly, like many outings where a fish turns up quickly the swim, tho still fish active slowed up,, no matter tho as I was happy just being out and knowing how the swim never really or rarely produces nothing at all.
Two more Bream in the next half hour with the second coming free near the net and I was left waiting an hour before another Bream fell to my rod.
I've fished the swim before and had big catches from it and seldom waited long for another, was that they were edgy or afraid perhaps of the rumoured seal thats been hanging around the area since christmas, mmmm!
I was thirsty so waded to the narrowboat and asked for my water bottle to be filled which they very kindly filled for me, they were nicefolk and we had a good chat, mostly about the river and its many moods and dangers.
On retufn I put more bait in with my home made dropper and the Bream seemed to be interested again as a few others fell to my rods, one of them ripped away with my baitrunner purring as if a Barbel was on the end and to be honest it could have been as tho river Bream pull better than their stillwater cousins this one was the exception.
Another surprise followed when I connected with a fish that pulled harder, it was a zander that had a liking for sweetcorn and maggots!!
A few more and it was time to leave and as i was putting my kit away an aquintance turned up with his lure gear and and promptly caught a massive massive pike that made me think was the possible reason for my total catch of ten Bream and the zander being "edgy", hard to say tho.

 

[flightliner]

Oops, here's the Bream

 

[David Rogers 3]

I've just learned a lesson that at my age and having fished for nearly 60 years, shouldn't have been necessary. On Monday evening, I caught a couple of 3-4lb tench from my local estate lake, both of which needed the use of forceps to remove the size 12 microbarb hook. I was using the same hook last night as it still felt sharp. I hooked the biggest tench I've ever had on the end of my line, and after managing to keep it out of three separate patches of lilies, the hook pulled in open water. I'd forgotten my reading glasses (again), but I've just examined it closely with them on and the microbarb is missing - no doubt damaged in the course of using forceps to remove it on Monday. I won't be making that mistake again...

 

[riverman]

decent session on the swale today.fished from 07.00 till 3.00pm.1 barbel around the 4lb mark. 3 chub biggest around the 3.5lb mark.plus 15 dace and 5 bleak on the stick.had 5 hours on the leger with meat that accounted for the barbel and chub.then had the last 3 hours on the stick with maggots that nailed the silvers.lovely spot helperby and my favourite stretch of the swale.seeing the resident woodpecker an added bonus which was halfway up the tree behind me.

 

[seth49]

I was first on the fishery yesterday, and only joined later by Neale and we had the place to ourselves all day, fishing was slow in the morning fished out at three sections and top kit but only catching skimmers and a couple of tench on usual worm tactics.

So tried close in about four feet from the bank, and this was a lot better, had more tench, 1 crucian and some nice roach as well, plus F1s too.

Now there were a lot of carp cruising on the surface, I caught on of about six pounds by dropping a worm section just in front of it, and I tried with a large floating bait straight under the rod tip on the surface, I had a ten pound carp on this plus an Fi.

I finished with 9 tench, 1 crucian 25 various silvers plus the 2carp, so a good day eventually after a slow start, most of the close in fish on cockles as well, certainly sorted the better roach out.

 

[David Rogers 3]

Partly redeemed myself for Wednesday' loss of a big tench with three last night (4lb 10oz, 4lb 11oz, 5lb 5oz). No hook issues this time, but it just made me wonder again about the potential weight of the "one that got away"...

 

[S-Kippy]

A Comedy of Errors for me today.
I really wasn’t feeling it but I forced myself to go or I feared I might never go again. Early (very) start hoping to bag a swim on the Godalming members lake. Some hope….I had 5-6 spots in mind depending on how busy it was. All were occupied and this is before 5am. I found one other possible but I don’t like corners and having watched it for 10 mins with no sign of fish I gave up and went for Harris Lake. My favourite spot was taped off for some reason and after a couple of biteless hours I finally hooked a fish which promptly fell off. Howl !
I had a lot of bubbling going on but few bites….don’t know why. I kept changing baits and eventually had a couple of proper crucian and one hand sized job. Corn…real or rubber.
Then a bloke turned up and said “ You’re in my swim”. Apparently there was a match on and that bank was booked. My fault…should have checked so had to pack up and move. Bumped into the head bailiff who suggested a float swim on the far bank so I thought why not….and after 10 mins the float disappeared and I’m into a tench. Not a big one at about 2.5lb but very welcome.
But it was the only bite I had !
Packed early to get on the M25 before it got silly but found myself queueing on the A3 just to get on the 25 then crawled home via every red light in SE England. Took me over 2 hours.
The best crucian went 2-6