How did you get on?

[Notts Michael.]

Gordon and I tried a venue we like and usually catch at but which suffers badly in summer from a drop in water level. This year it was so bad that fishing was banned until the end of September. We visited it in early October but decided not to fish it. Today it was much improved.

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As soon as I arrived and set up so did a little friend.

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as I was feeder fishing I had no maggots to offer but he seemed to like my micros and kept coming back for more. He stayed most of the day.

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Gordon caught from the off and was actually plumbed up before my first cast. It’s normally my last cast.. Only kidding Gordon. He had 2 roach before I had made my first cast and the second was a very respectable fish of at least 8oz. I had a feeling it was going to be one of those days but I needn’t have worried. I had 9 carp and 2 roach on the feeder caught on a variety of pellets and maize. This was probably the biggest at around 5 lb.

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So nothing big but the sun shone and it wasn’t cold. Gordon had a carp mid afternoon and over 20 roach. One of my roach was tiny and I’m still trying to work out how he swallowed an 11mm Robin red pellet. A very enjoyable day and I doubt we will get many more like it until after Christmas. Thank you for your company Gordon and here’s to next week and a few more little fishies.

Were they Robin Red micro's?? Groan, I'll get me coat.

 

[john step]

Friday and my first trip of the week due to commitments. A pole session on the canal where it is a good sitting surface of concrete pathway. I have had it with mud at the moment.
Nothing very big but bites all day. Dace,roach,rudd,perch,silver bream and bleak and not forgetting a small pike .
Tomorrows venue should yield some bigger roach. Fingers crossed.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Now then @Steve Arnold we are doing this all wrong. Forget the feeder rod, swim feeders, boilies and all that malarky. Just go perch fishing with a float rod, 5lb line and a half worm bait fished under the rod end....

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Three of these and one of those flat things you are always going on about


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Yes, I think I am now a bit obsessed by bunging out boilies on rather heavy tackle!

When I first moved out to France I used your tactics. Caught a few barbel, plenty of bream, some roach, baby chub and junior silure. Unfortunately this is the Lot and those outsized, unstopables happened a couple of times and I just needed to catch them.

But I have to admit your sort of recent fishing is probably more fun!

Is your rod an old HG B&W CTM? I used to have one, lovely rod!

 

[@Clive]

Got to admit that at this time of year I have had several zoo creature experiences. All on the Vienne though, not the Charente. Like you, I stepped up my gear to suit. And, of course, you can't lob a loaded 60g feeder to the far bank with light tackle.

The rod is a 1975 Hardy Richard Walker Avon. I'm on the lookout for a matching carp rod.

 

[no-one in particular]

Got to admit that at this time of year I have had several zoo creature experiences. All on the Vienne though, not the Charente. Like you, I stepped up my gear to suit. And, of course, you can't lob a loaded 60g feeder to the far bank with light tackle.

The rod is a 1975 Hardy Richard Walker Avon. I'm on the lookout for a matching carp rod.

I have one of those rods, purchased in a job lot at an auction about 2 months ago, is it any good? looks like it is, not sure whether to keep it or flog it. This one is 10ft, what's it good for catching, barbel chub?

 

[@Clive]

I have one of those rods, purchased in a job lot at an auction about 2 months ago, is it any good? looks like it is, not sure whether to keep it or flog it. This one is 10ft, what's it good for catching, barbel chub?View attachment 25023

If it is the Avon it will be 1lb tc, the Carp is 1.5lb tc. The Avon has a lovely through action and has landed double figure carp from rivers. Not suitable for casting heavy groundbait feeders, but ideal for chub, barbel, etc with leads and floats. I would expect the carp version to have a similar action, but with a bit more power.

 

[Neil Maidment]

I returned the Hampshire Avon yesterday, still chasing the better roach. They were eager to feed from the start and continued until around midday. Similar to the last visit but in larger numbers and a few more net fish to 1lbish. Sadly lost a much bigger roach which was annoying as I hooked it well down the swim and had got it all the way back to under the rod tip.. and then it was gone! By the time they'd shut up shop, I'd had in excess of 50 roach for, I reckon, close to 30lbs.

Early afternoon was a bit quiet but then I started to catch dace and lots of them. Like the roach, they continued to feed for quite a while. Some were true specimens and I even used the landing net on a couple occasions. I also should not of have swung to hand some of them as well, but got away with it. Probably added close to 20lbs to the days total.

A few more roach arrived as the light faded, all good fish but not the truly big ones.
One of the best days trotting I've had for a long time.

 

[@Clive]

I forgot to mention the bait I bought for yesterday's session. Normally I get my maggots from Arkwrights in a local town where we shop on a Thursday. I might buy them two or three times a year and always swear never to buy any more. Last time they were turning in two days and I cannot ever remember any having food sacks. I pay €8.16 for half a litre of bran with a few maggots thrown in.

Yesterday I called at a normally less conveniant shop that happened to be on route to the River Charente. I paid just €6 for half a litre of maggots with a bit of bran chucked in not the other way round and whilst being small, they actually had food sacks.

I was so giddy I bought a tub of lobworms too as they are hard to come by in this region. I harvest a few when setting mole traps in customer's gardens, but I can't find enough of them. Most worms in gardens are smaller red worms, not lobs. That cost me another €4.30 and when I checked them there were just ten, but what worms they were! I've seen boa constrictors smaller than these beauties. The first I fished in two pieces and didn't get a bite. Two more were used in halves and accounted for four fish. Five if you count the b***m I shook off at the net only to have it return 2 minutes later having taken the same half lob again.

When I got home I put the maggots in the freezer to use next week and have put the 7 survivors (that's the modern term) of the lobs in a new wormery hoping they will do what comes naturally.

 

[Notts Michael.]

Went for a chilly and windy 3 hrs on the club stretch of disused canal around lunchtime to try out a recent Ebay purchase, Drennan series 7 float rod, with red maggots, some of which were turning to casters. I also wanted to get a bit more used to a 10 quid 'Strike Right' 1960's reel as the plan was to fish close in between margin vegetation, so no casting required, just a few feet swing or so. Hoping for a few nice Perch, it was the carp that were more interested in the maggot/caster cocktail on a size 16 hook, 6lb mainline, 4 Mirror carp obliged, the one I weighed was 7lb, the others a bit smaller, around 6lb or so, all handled nicely by the Drennan float rod, but I'm not sure it's very forgiving through action would be great for persuading carp over 10lb to behave without a long battle. I really liked the reel for this type of fishing, thumb pressure acting nicely as a drag.

 

[nottskev]

I forgot to mention the bait I bought for yesterday's session. Normally I get my maggots from Arkwrights in a local town where we shop on a Thursday. I might buy them two or three times a year and always swear never to buy any more. Last time they were turning in two days and I cannot ever remember any having food sacks. I pay €8.16 for half a litre of bran with a few maggots thrown in.

Yesterday I called at a normally less conveniant shop that happened to be on route to the River Charente. I paid just €6 for half a litre of maggots with a bit of bran chucked in not the other way round and whilst being small, they actually had food sacks.

I was so giddy I bought a tub of lobworms too as they are hard to come by in this region. I harvest a few when setting mole traps in customer's gardens, but I can't find enough of them. Most worms in gardens are smaller red worms, not lobs. That cost me another €4.30 and when I checked them there were just ten, but what worms they were! I've seen boa constrictors smaller than these beauties. The first I fished in two pieces and didn't get a bite. Two more were used in halves and accounted for four fish. Five if you count the b***m I shook off at the net only to have it return 2 minutes later having taken the same half lob again.

When I got home I put the maggots in the freezer to use next week and have put the 7 survivors (that's the modern term) of the lobs in a new wormery hoping they will do what comes naturally.

Would I prefer dear bait and the kind of river fishing our correspondents in France report, or cheaper bait and abstracted rivers full of sewage and chemicals? I'll need to think about that for a bit. As for lobs, the worms sold here are often DOA.

 

[@Clive]

Would I prefer dear bait and the kind of river fishing our correspondents in France report, or cheaper bait and abstracted rivers full of sewage and chemicals? I'll need to think about that for a bit. As for lobs, the worms sold here are often DOA.

Its not all good out here I'll have you know. It gets quite lonely being the only angler in miles and miles of river bank

 

[no-one in particular]

If it is the Avon it will be 1lb tc, the Carp is 1.5lb tc. The Avon has a lovely through action and has landed double figure carp from rivers. Not suitable for casting heavy groundbait feeders, but ideal for chub, barbel, etc with leads and floats. I would expect the carp version to have a similar action, but with a bit more power.

Its the Avon I have then, I don't have any near me barbel now and I have a good chub/roach rod so, I might sell it some time. It is a nice rod though. Nice to see someone using one. Thanks....

 

[no-one in particular]

3 hours and 4 swims yesterday, cheese and bread and stuck with the rolling bullet. Seemed like a good idea and didn't fancy the float in these conditions. Not a ****y, not even a twitch, a few things came to mind, last time I caught a couple roach on bread but the maggots might have got them going but I had no maggots this time. I have put one of those bait droppers on my shopping list as I think they will work in the river when it like this and I don't really like swim feeders. Lots of chub along here in the summer but I think they may have moved downstream into wider slower deeper water for the winter. However, the water felt really cold and I think that may have a lot to do with the blank. Might leave this stretch for a while though and try somewhere else.
One note on the cheese, I bought some Indian cooking cheese, it felt soft and malleable in the packet and I thought it might do for the roach as well as the chub but when I opened it it had no smell, it might work with coating with something but I think I will stick with the tried and tested strong cheddar next time.
A bit cold and windy, not much bird life about, just a wren and a few crows plus one heron.

 

[@Clive]

It

Its the Avon I have then, I don't have any near me barbel now and I have a good chub/roach rod so, I might sell it some time. It is a nice rod though. Nice to see someone using one. Thanks....

I would have no hesitation using it for those canal carp. Also, sometimes a 10 foot rod is handy when overhanging branches get in the way.

 

[nottskev]

Yet more rain kept the river up - and in the fields here and there - so it was back to where I fished on Friday. It rained all night and cleared up in the morning, which suited me fine. With a mild, dry, windless day I didn't even have to switch on my heated waistcoat. (If you haven't got one, I'd recommend one.)

I'd had a torrid time reading bites on Friday; my glasses have an out of date prescription, and all the little sliders I made for this deep venue have black tips, which usually show well against the open water, but were painfully hard to see. So I knocked up a couple of floats to the same spec with hollow plastic tips hoping they'd be more visible when dotted

By some fluke, they shotted up perfectly - a 2g olivette plus 5 no 8 - and were much easier to see. I admire people who make floats with a finish like hand-painted bone china. Mine won't win any beauty contests, but they do what I want, ie go under. Fewer perch today, and none of the pound plus fish I really like to catch, but an entertaining afternoon. I remembered the tares today, and they accounted for most of these

 

[flightliner]

Absolute rubbish day today! Fancied a change from barbel fishing so just took an old fibreglass Avon with sliding float, a tub of worms, 3 cock chafer grubs and some dead maggots left over from last week. I found a swim that looked like it might hold some perch and I had seen some good ones in the area recently. There was one in the swim when I got there so my hopes were high.

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The perch never got a look in.

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3

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6 barbel a chub and a bream! All on worms or cock chafer grubs. I possibly had a perch on a grub, but it got off.
I'll never get the hang of this fishing lark!

I can't see the old wicker basket Kev.
Nice catch by the way.

 

[flightliner]

Yet more rain kept the river up - and in the fields here and there - so it was back to where I fished on Friday. It rained all night and cleared up in the morning, which suited me fine. With a mild, dry, windless day I didn't even have to switch on my heated waistcoat. (If you haven't got one, I'd recommend one.)

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I'd had a torrid time reading bites on Friday; my glasses have an out of date prescription, and all the little sliders I made for this deep venue have black tips, which usually show well against the open water, but were painfully hard to see. So I knocked up a couple of floats to the same spec with hollow plastic tips hoping they'd be more visible when dotted

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By some fluke, they shotted up perfectly - a 2g olivette plus 5 no 8 - and were much easier to see. I admire people who make floats with a finish like hand-painted bone china. Mine won't win any beauty contests, but they do what I want, ie go under. Fewer perch today, and none of the pound plus fish I really like to catch, but an entertaining afternoon. I remembered the tares today, and they accounted for most of these

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What an absolutely stunning catch of roach Kev, and on tares too.
We must have a day there soon. (if its where we've talked about previously)

 

[nottskev]

What an absolutely stunning catch of roach Kev, and on tares too.
We must have a day there soon. (if its where we've talked about previously)

That would be good, Mick. Any time there's 2 or 3 feet on it fishes well. Decent route from your way, too.

 

[@Clive]

I can't see the old wicker basket Kev.
Nice catch by the way.

They don't tend to have them out here Fred Some have a wicker panel in the lower compartment and there are wicker creels for trout fishing, but most old seat boxes are solid panelling, slightly wider at the bottom, tapering up with one or more compartment trays stacked above the lower one. Mine was there on that day as always. I don't sit on it if I'm settled in for a few hours or where the banking is uneven. It is handy to have it at the side of the chair like a sideboard so I can access things in the compartments. You can just see it here.....

It has two shallow trays over the main compartment. I got it from a car boot sale over here for €20 about five years or so ago.

 

[flightliner]

Where should I go friday just gone? The Trent was bank high and tramming thro, a stillwater or canal maybe but to be honest I'd lost my enthusiasm for stillwaters for the time being and and I'd heard the canal I fancied was'nt fishing to well so, knowing of a big slack when the Trent is flooded I opted for it.
Up at 5-30 I was on the bank at 7-30 and ready with my kit at 8ish with big hooks and large lumps of spam for bait.
No feeding prior to casting out, they only saw the baited hook that was placed as near the crease as I could.
5foot hooklinks help presentation in these conditions and inside a half hour my first Barbel was on the bank, not big, maybe 5or6 lb but it was encouraging.
Two more before noon had me confident of two or three more before I had to leave but- theres always a "but" they stopped feeding.
During that period I had a nice chat with the local farmer who told me his neighbour had packed farming in and was making a good living from Barbel anglers.
When he left I had some late lunch and a coffee and took in the bird life that was flying around.
Crow, kingfisher, Fieldfare, Greylag and Canada geese, Robin and blackbird.
What really surprised me was a big bumblebee that flew past on the cold wind coming at my face.
The sun was beginning to get lower over the A1 on the far bank and almost on dark the rod gave a savage jerk then stopped, i reasoned that so sharp a movement any fish causing it would be either hooked or on its way elsewhere so I lifted into it and was happy to feel a good fish at the other end, it was the best of the day so i took a picture, packed my gear away in the car over the floodbank and left for home in the now dark night!