How did you get on?

[Tee-Cee]

" Dace pushing a foot long "........I'd have thought I'd died and gone to heaven !!

What's even worse is it sounds as though he caught more than one. !

I cannot imagine what fish of that length would weigh...............................

Very nice fishing, though

ps Last time I saw dace of that size was in the 60's fishing the Little Ouse at Thetford !

 

[dorsetandchub]

Long drive down to Kent this morning. The last of a series of three reservoir silvers only matches. Today it was Bough beech. After a long walk to the steps on the dam wall everything was ok. Said steps were steep and a fully loaded Preston shuttle took a tumble followed by me still holding the handles. Arse over tit and my finger trapped....
Expletives filled the air as I pulled myself up and spotted my mangled finger with the nail hanging off and gushing claret!
A quick first aid job by a fellow matchman and I arrived at my peg....


The green sludge on the shoreline was stinking dead algae which was also very slippery. I contemplated going home but having come this far I was determined to fish.
Set up 12"6 carbon active rod with 2oz tip and 30gr cage feeder with an 18" hooklink to an 18 Drennan wide gape. Small worm and dead maggot on the hook.
One small skimmer in the first hour and my confidence fading fast..I looked at the car park in the far distance with my now painful knee which also fell victim to the tumble.
Nah carried on regardless..
Had a bite a chuck in the last hour 3-4pm from perch, skimmers and a nice big roach.
Weighed in 4lb:8 for nowhere. Haven't seen the overall results for the 3matches but feel I did ok but no cigar....
14 fished..

Cheating innit?? Taking your own tench groundbait additive??

 

[binka]

Cheating innit?? Taking your own tench groundbait additive??

I reckon he got it caught in a till

 

[dorsetandchub]

As a Scouser, I'll take the fifth......

 

[greenie62]

As a Scouser, I'll take the fifth......

...And probably every other one going, too! mg:

 

[qtaran111]

Had a great day's fishing on Saturday. Four tench, each about 3 - 4lbs on float and method feeder with bread, sweetcorn and slug, plus a 7lb mirror and loads of roach and bream.

Almost didn't go cos it was pissing down in the morning, but turned into a beautiful day from lunchtime onwards.

 

[Tee-Cee]

A major fall, a ripped finger, not to mention the shock of it all, and then failing to ' place ' is total dedication to our sport IMHO..

If we had a ' Angler of the Month ' award I think Simon would be a deserved winner !!

Had it been me I may have lain prone until the ambulance arrived - total wimp, me.....

 

[peter crabtree]

Thanks for your kind words Tony. I spent 4 hours in A and E yesterday.
Tetanus jab and a course of penicillin. It's not easy having a bath with one hand.
Upside is I managed to come 6th out of 18 over the 3 matches...

 

[dorsetandchub]

That's good going, mate - very well done.


Many years ago I managed to scratch the cornea of my eye whilst fishing so I do sympathise, honestly. Glad you got through it all ok.

 

[peter crabtree]

This is how it looks this morning..
Sorry if you're having breakfast...lol..

 

[dorsetandchub]

Ouch, that really does look raw and sore.


Hopefully, you'll be back to normal soonest and chasing those GUC gudgeon again

 

[greenie62]

This is how it looks this morning....
Sorry if your having breakfast...lol..

Not a pretty sight, PC - hope it mends well, soon!

With a 'Health n Safety' & hindsight hat on - what changes would you have made to avoid / minimise the injury? e.g. would wearing gloves have prevented the damage?

Just wondering whether you had any tips for us 'owd b*ggers' who unthinkingly take risks scaling down banks we wouldn't have given a second thought to in younger days?

Hope it doesn't cause you to miss out on any fishing! mg:
Tight Lines :thumbs:

 

[Neil Maidment]

One of the best threads on the site! Proper fishing in every sort of way.

Now that I've finally relocated to Dorset and the spending on our new home has reduced from a torrent to a flood, I've started to take advantage of early retirement and do a bit of fishing. Especially on the Hampshire Avon where some of the stretches have only just opened for coarse fishing.

Very low and clear has been great for exploration and fish watching but tough on the catching. Relatively short sessions into late evening have been the choice and have finally produced some superb chub to 6:06. The smallest has been 5:08 and they've all been in stunning condition (but still a little empty!). Winter trotting could be very interesting indeed.

Need to be off the river by 10pm and on two occasions I've felt I've left a goodly number of feeding chub!

I'm old enough to remember Avon chub of similar length but half the weight so I'm finding this current generation quite stunning.

View image in gallery​

View image in gallery​

 

[Ray Roberts]

This is how it looks this morning..
Sorry if you're having breakfast...lol..

Eeek, I had a similar trolley/barrow type accident myself a short while ago. No broken nails but three broken rods, two Free Spirt carp rods and a Free Spirit float Rod, also a very nice pair of Optilabs driveaware sunglasses. I bet you recover quicker than me, lol.

Best wishes for a speedy recovery mate.

 

[sam vimes]

three broken rods, two Free Spirt carp rods and a Free Spirit float Rod, also a very nice pair of Optilabs driveaware sunglasses.

I think I'd have rather lost a fingernail.

 

[theartist]

Just getting back in to the swing of things following a recent family holiday to East Anglia on the Norfolk/Suffolk border. As usual a travel rod and a couple of pints of maggots and hemp found their way into the boot of the car

Amongst the usual sea side visits, zoos and the like I managed to get a few hours in each day to the following rivers..

Suffolk Stour - just a few hours fishing on the way up, this river was extremely weedy so it was a case of winkling a few fish out of holes in the weed like I used to do as a kid on the Gade before the Geese stripped it completely there. Bought back nice memories getting a dozen roach, dace and perch not counting the tiny dace of which there were many.

Yare - Being tidal this river was the perfect pace for running a stick through and the hemp bought the roach out in numbers, one a chuck before the wind direction changed making it really cold for the missus to be sitting there reading to be fair so once again another short but an enjoyable session.

Hundred River - This trip was personal having blanked there on a cold October day many years ago. This time like the Yare it was full of roach with many visible in the clear water so I knew I would catch. They were of all sizes with some crackers too, nothing huge but many needing the landing net. They were bubbling over the hemp making the surface a froth so I hoped for bream but it was all roach in the only swim I could fish due to the strong winds.

River Chet - The winds had not abated and were every bit as strong but I was sheltered even if the river itself wasn't. This lead me to set up the dreaded waggler to combat the wind and waves. Like the Yare this river was slightly tidal and was also full of fish with Skimmers, roach and perch to a pound plus a bonus trout which I wasn't expecting.

River Deben - A short session on the way back home saw a lot of dace along with a few perch and roach from what was a slow gin clear river.

Although nothing big was caught I managed almost 200 fish in five short trips which I was more than pleased with given the indifferent reports coming from East Anglia. Some nice rivers to pleasure fish if you can get out of the wind

 

[Hugh Bailey]

On a family holiday in Florida. Have even staying at Fort Myers beach after a week or so in Orlando.

Had three fruitless sessions with soft plastics - the last one yesterday I dicivered the best lure by accident - hooked 3 garfish type things in 3 casts but they all came off. To be honest the lack of fish didn't matter as the bird and wildlife is just amazing - Dolphins, egrets,osprey, pelicans, raccoon, frigate birds, Hawks, loads of waders and gulls.

Today I got up early and went to the bait shop which opens at 6am and bought some live shrimp. Broke my blank and caught 4 species - catfish, sheepshead, redfish, and something else I'm not sure about. Only downer was dropping my camera in after catching the as yet unidentified one.

Saw dolphin and stingray close up but had an unbelievable experience when I caught the redfish - as i retured it there was a huge splash and an osprey landed right in front of me, picked up the fish(maybe 2lb) and then after a bit of a struggle, took off back to its nest! This doesn't happen on the Basingstoke canal!

 

[Tee-Cee]

Last bit on the ' finger '......

I suppose the main problem now is keeping the finger clean and infection free on a daily basis, never mind when fishing !
In the past (for bathing at least ) I used those synthetic gloves as found in hospitals which fit very tight over the hand, and then slipped a tightish elastic band over the wrist to stop the ingress of water. You still cannot immerse your hand for too long, but it does mean the hand can be used after a fashion..........

I've tried all sorts but this was the best, although still quite a faff !

For fishing I used the same latex gloves from which I cut off a 'finger ', slid it over the damaged digit ( which also had a plaster over it ) and then used strong waterproof tape to hold it on. Sometimes I used two ' fingers ' for extra protection !!
NOT ideal, and maybe Boots / Google can offer something better, but it worked well enough to keep the wound clean, AND THAT IS CRITICAL ON THE BANK IMHO..............

One cannot be TOO careful ..................


ps At a pinch, I've also used extra strong waterproof plaster ( again, sometimes two ) and applied them BEFRE leaving when the finger is dry. They can be the devils own job to remove sometimes, BUT they do a job !!

Hope this helps, Simon......Perhaps at your next match they will give you a 5lb ' start ' as you've an injured hand - some hopes eh ??

 

[robertroach]

Hugh,

Fabulous fishing in Florida isn't it! I was fishing on Bahia Honda Key one evening with floatfished live shrimp and had several small tarpon between 20-30lbs. It was deep water, when hooked near the surface, they would dive to the bottom then swim to the surface and leap clear of the water. All so fast the line was still pointing down when the fish were in the air! Unforgettable experience.

 

[rubio]

Blankety blank.
If anyone would truly like to know how I did it and what techniques I used...........