How did you get on?

ian g

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Had a day on one of my favourite PA waters in Powis . I was a bit twitchy with the strong wind forcast but as it turned out it wasn't to bad . The lake is fairly shallow around 3 ft deep at most . I usually like to float fish but the wind was a little to much . I arrived to find the lid had come a little loose on my maggots so I had 1 1/2 pint in the bottom of my bait bag . Luckily only a few in the boot :( . I set up to feeder rods with bite alarms , not really my style of fishing but needs must . One rod with a maggot feeder the other with ground bait / chopped worm and worms as bait . A mate of mine bailiffs this lake and came around for a chat , football and fishing for half an hour , good to catch up and a couple of trips planned , but the lake according to him wasn't fishing well . He went off to check the other angler on the opposite bank and I had a bite , first tench of theyear at 3.6 . Well blank avoided I thought , my mate was pleasantly surprised when he called back to say goodbye . Another hour past and a 2nd tench on the worm rod again , slightly bigger at 3.12 . I was casting every 20 minutes to get a bit of feed in and at around 12 o'clock the dinner bell went and I had another bite on worm , better fish again 4.13 . Starting to get into this feeder fishing:D;). As I put the fish back my other rod is off and I land another tench around 2lb . Bit of a quiet spell before another maggot munching tench , 3.8 . Another wait before catching two more on worm again around 3.8 . Listened to the football so it wasn't all good news:D before packing up at 5.30 . The place is a manor house with two lovely lakes with decent fishing . Nothing massive but there are some nice tench , bream and a few wild carp . Enjoyed doing something different but I still prefer the float rod.
 

no-one in particular

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Crossed over to the dark side Ian, its a slippery slope, I might have to put you back on the straight and narrow, once I catch a 2lb roach on this, a proper rod all 550grms of it! and a proper end rig like a float, I am sure you will see the error of your ways. But almost a well done, a nice catch.
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riverman

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well it was mission accomplished today and i had a nice bend in the rod as a13lb 3oz carp fell to legered mussel.put up a cracking fight also.had 5 tench 3 bream and an f1 on waggler fished mussel also.heavy showers kicked in around midday and then the winds picked up so called it a day around 1pm.was at the needless pond in morley and even though its only small does hold some cracking carp. :)
 

seth49

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Back on usual club fishery yesterday, on my own as mick didn’t feel well enough to go, arrived about seven am and it was already 11 degrees rising to 16 degrees in the afternoon when the sun came out, dry till setting of home and then heavy rain which wasn’t forecast.

it was quite windy so picked a sheltered swim out of the wind, fished my pole at top kit plus three sections using maggots over a bit of ground bait, had a mixed catch of roach, skimmers, ide, and a couple of tench plus a nice crucian, the first of this year.

good to be back on here in decent weather for a change, hopefully it will carry on warming up and stop the
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incessant rain we have had this winter.
 

mikench

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I wasn’t going to bother posting about the fishing yesterday as it was dire with just 3 roach between us despite trying loads of different baits allegedly all popular with the resident fish. Ackers Pit was more like Knackers Pit and a few passing dog walkers who have fished it said it was very temperamental and if the water was cold, the fish disappeared.

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This water is barely 3’ deep and only 2.5’ in parts. I saw a large mirror cruising the margins on arrival and we both thought we would have a good day. Whilst the roach were around 8oz , just 3 all day was ultimately very disappointing. Ledgering is prohibited for reasons I cannot rationally fathom and ground bait is not allowed. Ah well there is always next time but not here.

Gordon walked around the perimeter but saw only a terrapin happily living in the water despite the cold. There were too many dog walkers too for my liking - it resembled Crufts at times.
 
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no-one in particular

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Should have taken a house brick today to balance this rod out, strewth I nearly dislocated my wrist first cast, acolyte it is not, 550 grams! I have beach casters that are lighter.
However, I did get used to it and 2 ft longer than my other rod so that came in handy but it is not a roach rod, you could land a barbel on this. But I would be happy with a nice tench or bream and I like the rod in my own bonkers way..
Fishing was useless, a complete blank in this backside end of the canal same as last time. Used up some dead maggots and bread on a quill float in the edge to save my wrists.
There must be fish in here, this dead one in the opposite bank looks a bit like a small carp but not sure.
More interesting was all the birds I could hear singing but not good at recognizing bird song, this is a migratory hot spot. Later when swapping swims a bloke came along and I got chatting and he was using a Merlin App and he showed me and I was quite impressed, I need to get a smart phone though but might have a go at it one day.
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riverman

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I wasn’t going to bother posting about the fishing yesterday as it was dire with just 3 roach between us despite trying loads of different baits allegedly all popular with the resident fish. Ackers Pit was more like Knackers Pit and a few passing dog walkers who have fished it said it was very temperamental and if the water was cold, the fish disappeared.

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This water is barely 3’ deep and only 2.5’ in parts. I saw a large mirror cruising the margins on arrival and we both thought we would have a good day. Whilst the roach were around 8oz , just 3 all day was ultimately very disappointing. Ledgering is prohibited for reasons I cannot rationally fathom and ground bait is not allowed. Ah well there is always next time but not here.

Gordon walked around the perimeter but saw only a terrapin happily living in the water despite the cold. There were too many dog walkers too for my liking - it resembled Crufts at times.
well thats the 1st time i've heard of legering being prohibited on any fishery mike.very strange indeed. :rolleyes:
 

mikench

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It is indeed Steve and i dont understand why. The lake is a popular beauty spot with a proper footpath all round. Maybe the club ( which owns the water ) fears a lead may injure a walker. I consider a float and hook have the same potential. A mystery!
 

Alan Whitty

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Looks ready to spawn Steve....

Went yesterday after blanking on Thursday( lost a decent double figure carp), yesterday's effort was a little better with 14 skimmers from 8ozs to just over the pound, 7 roach to 6ozs, 2 bream 2.8-3lb, 3 small tench of a pound or so, a mirror about 5lbs or so and a common 10lb 5ozs, all on either float fished bread or punched pellets of meat, waggler fished on 0.10 hooklength and a 16 hook....

Just to add, I like the idea of banning legering on certain types of lakes, you wouldn't have as many parrot mouthed fish then, add to that more anglers might(just might) become more proficient fishermen, just my opinion so please don't blow me out of the water...
 
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Ray Roberts

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I went yesterday for a few hours lure fishing. I went to a pond on my clubs book that I haven’t fished for a few years. It’s very pretty but I haven’t enjoyed much success there. On my previous visit a couple of years ago I had about a dozen perch on small lures. This time it was even slower. I was just on the verge of moving to another water when I had a rattle on the drop shot rod, and missed it. I cast to near the same spot between some reed beds next to an island and I soon struck into a fish. I was fishing quite light with a 1 - 8g rod. The fish tore off away from the reeds. I had the drag set fairly light and had to put a bit of pressure on to stop the fish going around the island when the bloody hook pulled. I didn’t get to see the fish unfortunately, so if it was a perch it was a pretty big one, though it may have been a carp. I gave it another hour but not a touch. The bluebells were making an appearance and it was nice to be out. I’ve been here three times and never seen another angler. I may give it another go on a more overcast day.

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I moved to another club water about 15 minutes away. I know of at least one three pound perch that has come from here and again I had the place to myself. I have tried for the perch several times on lures and a couple of visits with worms and raw prawns. I’ve yet to catch one here on lure and only had a few small ones on bait. I gave it until dark without a touch It may be that the larger perch have died out, they certainly don’t seem to be there in any numbers.
 

ian g

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Fish a club water this afternoon , mainly a carp place but a lovely setting and hopefully a few other species . Fished a waggler with maggots and a ground bait feeder and worm . Fairly quiet for a couple of hours before I spotted bubbles around the float before I had a battle with a carp for around 10 minutes on light tackle . Finally slipped the net under it . Nice fish 11.8 . Nothing else to report fish wise .
 

Steve Arnold

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OK, will try again to see if this report loads....


Yesterday I talked Alistair into following up on a recent days exploration I had taken further down the river. I had spotted one swim where his 4x4 could back down a short track and we could fish out of the back of the car into deep water with a nice flow.

When we arrived there was already a car parked down the track and a family was having a picnic. Well. it is "le Week-End" as they actually do say here and we are now close to the large town of Cahors. I guess I half expected this!

So we walked down the stretch, the banks are rather steep. After spraining my ankle two years ago and then developing a thrombosis I am in no mood to take risks. Alistair is a year older than me at 72 and I would not expect him to tackle the loose stone bank either! But I was viewing the opposite bank of this wide stretch, I spotted a swim that looked perfect with access steps to a landing stage. I noted there was shade and that was useful for us on this bright day, that is often where the fish chose to lie when the sun is fierce.

It meant a drive into Cahors and across the river there, but it only took a 20 minute drive so soon we were at the perfect spot.

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There was a good flow and a back eddy towards the lock entrance. Alistair took the landing stage and fished the back eddy and I was happy to fish the main river. For four hours I baited the swim hoping to draw some fish in, apart from little, sharp tugs there was nothing to show. Alistair had not bothered bringing groundbait and was catching zilch, not even these little bites!

After trying all of the several boilies I had with me, large, small, different flavours and colours I had concluded the little bites were just little fish. So I decided to have my lunch and a beer. The bread roll was a little too stuffed and had some smoked salmon in with salad stuff, hmmmm!

I would sacrifice almost anything for a fish just now, so the sacrifice was made!

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I chuckled, laughing at myself over such low tactics, as I cast out. The feeder settled on the river bed and seconds later the rod was nearly pulled out of my hands, FISH-ON!

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Next cast the same experience and a 4.2 lb chub was the result.....

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Three more barbel quickly followed, all around the 4 lb mark. My fishing was then interrupted by a shout from Alistair, he had hooked into something that was not moving. So I reeled in and walked to his swim, just as the something started moving slowly into the main flow.

After a peculiar fight Alistair drew it slowly towards us, I could just make out the shape of a zander. But a very big and swollen bellied zander it turned out to be!

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It was taken on a small boilie to a size 12 hook and 10 lb line. It’s the spawning season for zander and after quickly weighing in the net it was returned to the river.

After the weight of the net was deducted the fish was just over 16 pounds, a giant of a zander in any anglers eyes! I doubt we will ever see a bigger zander in our lives, but now we know where it lives we shall return later in the season
 
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Steve King

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Today I finally managed to get out on the bank for the first time since June or July last year and it was also the first time fishing since my wife passed away. As I mentioned elsewhere here, I was intending to go fishing on Monday, but the torrential rain and high winds put me off!

I called into the local tackle shop to buy some worms and casters, only to find it closed and I therefore called into the tackle shop in Droitwich. While I was in Droitwich I called in at Waitrose and bought some lunch because I make my own bread nowadays and I was running low! On the way from the car park to the store entrance, a woman flinched when she saw me in camo gear!! I tried to smile nicely, but I reckon she thought I was a mercenary or something! Conversely the checkout lady gave me a lovely smile and probably thought that I was in the armed forces!

Anyway, at Top Barn Fishery, I quickly set up a carp rod with a pop-up boilie and despite changing various set-ups and boilies, I didn’t get a take all day.

Meanwhile, the waggler rod was getting roach, rudd and perch every other cast. The fish were small though and there were none above three ounces. A more determined bite sent the float plummeting and I struck into a fish that stayed low in the water throughout the fight. I eventually netted a lovely tench. Not the best day’s fishing ever, but it was a significant day for me!

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