How did you get on?

[peter crabtree]

Today I went back to the fishery I fished last week, the same one as we took the young lad. This time I fished the bottom lake which holds tench, ide, chub and crucians but no carp....





Set up 13' ultralight with waggler on 3lb line straight through to a Drennan specialist 18. First chuck, halfway between the island and me with double maggot, float buried, fish on.....




Errrrm?

Went on to catch some small tench and later some quality roach.



One of the tench looks like it's been attacked by ******* birds....

 

[mikench]

I sneaked off for the afternoon to my usual and as it was breezy I set up the feeder rod. After an hour I was frozen as I had decided that as it was now mid April I wouldn't need the various layers! The breeze was really cold and I came away after 2 hours. My hands were cold particularly my dislocated lttle finger !

I had 3 roach around 6oz or do and 3 bream around 2lb but no carp! After the sun and warmth of Monday I was unpleasantly surprised by the temperatures today! one lives and learns! Next week promises to be much warmer.

 

[103841]

This alledged warm front expected next week can't come a day to soon.

Next week I will mainly fish for tench.

 

[wetthrough]

Likewise Mike. So much for 'feels like' 8 degrees. Had a bad start on the Dam. Lost three plummets and one float before I'd even started. One plummet just came off. One ended up in the trees with the float and one got stuck in something on the bottom - not a good start. Despite getting there quite early it was about 10:30 before I really got fishing. Picked up a micro Roach pretty soon then nothing, until, bang off it went. Hmm, strange, bit like a bream with power. A flippin' Pike about 4 1/2 to 5lb. Hooked right on the corner of it's mouth otherwise it would have snapped me off. Unhooked it easy enough then it leapt back in so sorry, no pic. after that which was about 12, nothing until about 3 then picked up 5 3:4oz Roach til I had to leave at 4. I'd like to have stayed longer as it seemed like it was picking up but nature was calling very loudly and unusually for mid week there were a lot of people about...

 

[peterjg]

Wetthrough; re your post. I use plummets made from galvanised nails with a bit of old catapult elastic pushed on for the hook to go in. They land quietly and cost nothing, hope this idea helps.

 

[flightliner]

Threw caution to the wind today and visited a Derbyshire water to try my new , drastically altered Shakey agility feeder rods.
Long range feeder maggot rigs with four lb bottoms and 16 hooks n two red maggots hoping some nice roach would fall to the plan.
Mud mud mud everywhere made it a mire that had me drying all the gear in my greenhouse and garage back home but back on the venue my hopes were somewhat dashed as the roach must have been elbowed out of contention by some pretty hungry carp that although I really don't mind when the're my target fish were
Not really welcome on the gear I was using.
Anyway, the long and short of it was a drop back bite that turned out to be not an expected Bream but a carp that after a few moments shed the tiny hook.
Another drop back four hours later and another carp took me along on its exercise programme that I was able to prove he needed a different trainer after some twenty plus minutes or so when it went into my landing net.
The scales said 13-3 so it was honours even.
But that ruddy mud --- !!!!!!

 

[peter crabtree]

Similar day to flight liner for me today, fished the deep match lake at Willows nr St Albans for bream with groundbait feeder and maggot.



One of those misty, dank mornings with barely a breath of wind but not too cold. Started fishing around 8:30 but it was 12:30pm when I had my first bite. A finicky twitch on the 1oz tip, a small mirror carp followed by a small common. After that the bites were more positive and a few bream showed up. Mostly in the 2-3lb range but not the big slabs I wanted to catch, but at least it was better than my previous 2 visits where I blanked.

 

[seth49]

View attachment 4309
Went all traditional today, eleven foot split cane rod, Trudex pin, and a porcupine quill float, four pound line and two pound hooklenght to size eighteen hook.
View attachment 4310

A mixed bag on maggot,forty fish in total, roach, Rudd, skimmers and perch, nothing big best roach maybe six ounce, but good fun, I like the cane rod, bit heavy but I didn’t seem to bump many fish of for a change.

Had to find a sheltered swim out of the east wind, but when I did it was quite pleasant in the afternoon when the sun came out for a while, lots of birds about a robin kept me company all day.
And I made a new friend.
View attachment 4311

 

[mikench]

I visited a new water today which has been on my card since I joined BM 2 years ago but which I had never bothered with! I decided to go because I was led to believe it had been restocked with 500 each of roach, Rudd and tench but none put it an appearance. The bailiff came at about 4.00 pm and advised that the restocking had been delayed!!!!

Anyway despite setting out for roach on the maggot feeder and tench on corn and pellet the carp turned up like this one!View attachment 4312

I had 8 all told which taking into account how much talking I did with some new chums is not bad at all! A very enjoyable day and I plan to go again tomorrow! Glutton for punishment or what!:wh

 

[john step]

Talk about the cold today. The car thermometer said 5.5 degrees. I fished a pool high on the Wolds. Yes Lincolnshire does get high in places.
The mist and damp was more like November. The trees dripping as though it were raining.

I had lots of small roach, rudd and perch but also a chunky crucian and a chub. A wild chub despite it being a stillwater. They get in as tiddlers from a pipe and seem to do quite well.

I kept smelling a familiar disgusting smell on route to the fishery. Arriving I discovered all my worms were dead and turning to squelch. That has got to be one of the worlds worst smells.mg:

 

[S-Kippy]

1st trite trip of the season for me and the Big Feller today. Forecast has been all over the place but a call to the reservoir confirmed the buzzers had started and the trite were having them.

With the kids still off the roads were quiet and as it was a bit cold and murky to start with there didnt seem any need for an early start. Arrived about 9-15 and spent a while chatting in the office before deciding to fish Farmoor 2 instead of our usual Farmoor 1 which hadnt quite got going yet according to the rangers.

Standard Farmoor set up. 2 buzzers and a daiwl bach fished under a bung and though there was hardly a fish showing on top they were gorging on buzzers about 4-5 feet down. I had 3 fish before Phil had had a pull and it was a bit too easy from then on. By 1230 i'd had 13 fish to Phil's 10 and this despite several tea breaks to avoid accusations of fishmongering from the BF. After a quick council of war we decided to move onto F1 to try to make things a little more challenging....which it certainly was though I had 3 more fish and Phil another before his knee and my back decided it was time to go. So...16 for me and 11 for Phil making 27 trite in all. Size was a bit down on previous years but we still both had a couple of nice fish and they were all in super nick and fought ( as usual) like tigers. Most fish came to a buzzer on the middle dropper though I did have 3 on the top dropper DB.

By way of a bonus Phil informed me that we'd seen a Common Scoter and a Garganey. I'll have to take his word for it as all I saw was a little black duck and a little brown duck.

Thoroughly enjoyed it. A good day on the buzzer early season is always nice.

 

[mikench]

I did go fishing for a second consecutive day and to the same venue! It rained until 1.30 pm but my tempest brolly kept me warm and dry and afforded me the opportunity to make a latte!!!:wh Pretentious! Moi!

Any way I had 2 carp( I was after tench or roach) within the first hour and then nothing for 3 hours! I set up the float rod with maggot and fished overdepth trying to perfect the lift method but I doubt I succeeded! I was using my pin and as there was no wind I could cast reasonably well( relative ) and felt in control! The float dipped to reveal a roach of about 2oz which was great excercise for my thumb!!:wh

At about 5.00 pm the float just disappeared and nearly took my rod with it! Anyway I managed to land the little ruffian( 7lb) and this was the result;
View attachment 4320

Apologies to Binka and Tigger for some flagrant plagiarism which I will need to perfect but the pin passed its test as did the rod! I tried to emulate their artistry but failed!! An interesting day all in all!

 

[Hugh Bailey]

By way of a bonus Phil informed me that we'd seen a Common Scoter and a Garganey. I'll have to take his word for it as all I saw was a little black duck and a little brown duck.

Good birds!

 

[Tee-Cee]

Skippy....How many do you take home for the pot?

I obviously don't trout fish so have no idea what you do around a catch of that magnitude.

Good fishing, though..

 

[flightliner]

. Yes Lincolnshire does get high in places.

:

True Peter, noticed several times in the past, always keep my car windows up now.:scared:

 

[S-Kippy]

We only ever fish catch and release, Tony. They all go back.

 

[S-Kippy]

Good birds!

So I'm told. I dont really do ducks but they do get a few rarities up at Farmoor. One of the birders we chatted to said there was a Velvet Scoter about last week and a Black Redstart.

Few years back the place was swarming with birders as some very rare migrant had dropped in. A tern of some sort though how they could spot and identify it in amongst all the others is beyond me.

 

[flightliner]

Out yesterday, another venue simply to avoid the mud at my last one.
An hours drive hoping once again for some roach using float gear.
A little bait in the margins prior to setting up hoping it would stir the fish into feeding seemed to do the trick , third or fourth cast and in minutes the float slides away with my strike hitting what felt like a brick wall!
Oh no, not another carp, yes it was and off it went to the centre of the lake where for a long period it was give and take , it taking line and me retrieving it mostly in equel measure.
All dogged stuff until I felt a tiny pluck on the four pound line, after that the fish went ballistic tearing off towards the far end of the lake and at the same time cutting a swath to near the carpers on the far bank for comfort.
Gladly my worries were unfounded but the power of the fish had me playing it for a little over thirty minutes.
Finally, with the fish close to the bank I saw the reason for the pluck on the line earlier in the struggle--- my hook was in the fishes tail, had similar with Barbel where during playing a sudden feeling of slack then a sudden tightening up often has the hook slipping the mouth but taking hold again elsewhere.
It went just a tad under twelve pounds on the scales .
Back to the business in hand I ended up with plenty of small roach and some very chunky perch where one may have been a pound but only by scaling my gear right down to fine and a little hemp and red maggots.
All in all a dissapointing day with the bigger roach failing to show.
Driving home I was held up by a bad car smash--- four police cars , an ambulance, a car with its front end demolished laying on its side with a big steel lamppost laying over it.
Hope the occupants were ok!!
Bugg*r- anyone know why piks end upside down ???

 

[peter crabtree]

A beautiful spring morning down the cut today. Got there for 8:30 and fished 9 to 3.
The water was crystal clear again and bites were at a premium to start with.
Didn't take any bread today, just red maggots and flouro pinkies. 11' ultralight and waggler to a 20 out on the bottom of the far shelf.





Around midday I started to get bites on the drop so I shallowed up to about 18" and from then on it was bite a bung. Had no interest in the pinkies, it was all single red magg.




Perch, dace (in sandpaper rough spawning mode) Gudgeon, bleak, chublet, skimmers and roach..

 

[nottskev]

Out yesterday, another venue simply to avoid the mud at my last one.
An hours drive hoping once again for some roach using float gear.
A little bait in the margins prior to setting up hoping it would stir the fish into feeding seemed to do the trick , third or fourth cast and in minutes the float slides away with my strike hitting what felt like a brick wall!
Oh no, not another carp, yes it was and off it went to the centre of the lake where for a long period it was give and take , it taking line and me retrieving it mostly in equel measure.
All dogged stuff until I felt a tiny pluck on the four pound line, after that the fish went ballistic tearing off towards the far end of the lake and at the same time cutting a swath to near the carpers on the far bank for comfort.
Gladly my worries were unfounded but the power of the fish had me playing it for a little over thirty minutes.
Finally, with the fish close to the bank I saw the reason for the pluck on the line earlier in the struggle--- my hook was in the fishes tail, had similar with Barbel where during playing a sudden feeling of slack then a sudden tightening up often has the hook slipping the mouth but taking hold again elsewhere.
It went just a tad under twelve pounds on the scales .
Back to the business in hand I ended up with plenty of small roach and some very chunky perch where one may have been a pound but only by scaling my gear right down to fine and a little hemp and red maggots.
All in all a dissapointing day with the bigger roach failing to show.
Driving home I was held up by a bad car smash--- four police cars , an ambulance, a car with its front end demolished laying on its side with a big steel lamppost laying over it.
Hope the occupants were ok!! View attachment 4328
Bugg*r- anyone know why piks end upside down ???

I had this a while back. It turned out they were upside down on my phone. The answer was to use the Edit facility, one of these being to turn the pic around before sending it from your phone. Hope that helps. I'm the last person qualified to give IT advice.