How did you get on?

[Alan Whitty]

Been today on a local deep club water, fished the slider and maggot in 14ft of water and blanked gloriously, one bite at 1pm then nothing, was it worth it, no not really and it's not the blank, just wasn't feeling it....

 

[Ray Roberts]

Been today on a local deep club water, fished the slider and maggot in 14ft of water and blanked gloriously, one bite at 1pm then nothing, was it worth it, no not really and it's not the blank, just wasn't feeling it....

Did you blank using eyed or spade end hooks, asking for a friend, lol.

 

[Ray Roberts]

I fished a club water today. It was the river Eden in the grounds of Hever Castle.

It is a stunning place, even more so in the summer.

When I arrived there were two cars already parked up there. I pulled up next to an old chap who I had met and chatted with previously. He told me that he had been dead baiting and had caught two pike, which was encouraging. He also informed me that he was eighty one. He additionally told me that he was going to get a knee replacement very soon and was already planning his next trip after the operation. What an inspirational guy.

I came loaded for bear. I left the light gear at home and was fishing a FreeSpirit jerk bait rod with a very large rubber roach/shad type bait and a Shimano Tranx multiplier. The other rod was a Savage gear rod and a Daiwa Tatula reel with a spinner-bait. I have had some great results here with the large shad type baits, not this time thought I flogged it to death for about four hours without so much as a touch. My best catches here have been just before dusk. I fished through until just before it became dark, but without success. The river leads into the main lake at Hever Castle and it maybe the fish have moved into the shallow parts of the lake prior to spawning.

I’ve been using homemade titanium traces for over two years now and they have been brilliant. I’ve snagged up occasionally and so far I’ve not lost any lures or kinked any traces. The hooks have either bent out or I’ve reeled in what I’ve hooked. My PB is six feet of waterlogged fence post, lol.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Blanked using a size four eyed carp hook on single maggot, can't imagine why...
Just to add the four other anglers there also blanked.
Chose the wrong venue it seems...

 

[John Aston]

Funny old game , this angling lark . Today started with a 40mile trip to the upper Swale to carry out our monthly water quality monitoring. Nothing serious shown by readings - rather giving the lie to local paper's hysteria on pollution .

Another 20 mile trip to the Yorkshire Ouse, followed by a 3/4 mile walk in search of a big chub - some reported in a match recently. Tackle up, ready to tie on hook-and find I failed to put in my chub and perch hooks after removing my heavy gauge barbel hooks (which have failed to see any action since November) . Find one hook , a size 4 Kamasan . Sorted ? Nah, I'd kept it for some reason after breaking the point off.

Furious drive home , collect right hooks and decide to try for perch again in the nearby Swale. Fish the cheese I'd taken to the Ouse , mainly because I was starving (it was now 2 pm , and breakfast was 7am ) and wanted my lunch not to be interrupted , as it probably would have been on worm. But hold on , it's only a damn bite , and on stinky blue cheese - so it must be one of the very few chub which inhabit the stretch. Bloody hell , this is feeling solid out in the flow , I think , imagining a five .

I was wrong - it was 6-10 and a PB . And here it is - all because I screwed up my prep .

 

[jon atkinson]

Lovely-Chubly - love it when a 'plan' comes together!

 

[Alan Whitty]

Thats a lovely looking chub

 

[nottskev]

Trees were bending in the wind on my way up to the Derwent at lunchtime. So much so that I ignored the club stretches and paid a fiver at the cafe to fish their more sheltered swims. I wasn't averse to the armchair comfort, either

With a strong upstream wind on I dug out another of those float you carry around for years without using, a crowquill Avon

Flowing east with prevailing westerlies, the wind is always downstream on the Trent and getting your float to run through is the least of your problems. But the float was ideal today, and being so light it follows the bulk shot out nicely when under-armed out.

There were plenty of fish around, but they varied from the small

to the very small. (Sorry the last pic is so blurred, but I was anxious to get this little rarity back in the water asap)

I was hoping to catch a couple of the fat brownies that inhabit the stretch, but I wasn't too disappointed with plenty of small fish in a lovely spot.

 

[peterjg]

Monday: fished a club lake for roach and caught 6 small roach and two carp of 16lbs and 20lbs 8ozs on a size 16 b911 hook to 0.10 mm line. The water temperature was only 44F so the carp hardly fought just plodded around, so different to the summer. Bait was tiny cubes of luncheon meat.

Today: fishing before dawn on a clear and rising river Kennet. This is a lovely stretch (my favourite venue), tried legering in three different swims, tried bread, dead maggots and dendras. Didn't expect much - and that is what I got, not a single bite or knock. Water temperature 48F. Thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

[ian g]

I managed a couple of hours back on the Severn 4 pm to 6.30 pm . River was up and coloured , the perch weren't playing but there were a lot of slivers topping in the swim . Nothing to report fish wise not even a touch on lobworm

 

[@Clive]

My mate who had his last night fishing saltwater session interrupted by the lifeboat and coastguard helicopter was a bit more successful on Tuesday night. He landed a 15lb 2oz boris and another one over 10lb from the tidal Trent. After losing big fish on each of his last three overnight tidal sessions he has got the monkey off his back big style.

 

[Alan Whitty]

Brilliant, great fish...

 

[Steve Arnold]

After a run of blanks on the river Lot I had to do something drastic, I was going to have to fish a different river!

The Lot runs cold at this time of year, fed from barrages high in the Massif, a bit either side of 7c this last couple of weeks. The barbel have totally switched off or moved to swims I cannot reach. Only a few chub have kept enough appetite to take my baits. About a 50 minute drive south is the river Aveyron and it is fed from springs at a lower level, so I hoped it would be a little warmer and encourage the fish to feed.

I had studied Google Earth for a few hours and had a few possible swims in mind. This afternoon I fished the second swim I visited and after the showers had passed it turned into a pleasant little suntrap for me. The river temperature was just over 9c which gave me some hope.

I have developed all the attributes of a carp angler now, and this brought a result......

......a lovely river carp of 19 lbs which gave a very strong fight.

Apart from a few little pulls on the rod tips that was it, but I cannot complain. A jammy carp on my first short visit, I plan to explore this stretch further.

 

[ian g]

Beautiful fish Steve

 

[nottskev]

I fancied going for trout and grayling on the Derwent, but it came up a metre yesterday, and some of that would be snow melt, so I settled for the Marina. Not that the Trent got any less rain and snow - it's a metre and a half up right now - but you're out of the flow and stand more chance with the roach. I love the fact that you could fish here in your slippers in the worst weather in the middle of winter

It all looked serene when I set up, and the day was mild and dry as forecast. I wasn't encouraged by the state of the water, though. It was a filthy colour and coated in debris

You had to ask yourself how fish would find a bait in this. I usually start with groundbait to give them a clue when it's so coloured, but I'd left that at home. The other thing I'd left at home was an umbrella, and a steady drizzling rain set in as I got fishing. With more water than usual under the usual slider, I fed hemp, casters and a few tares out, and maggot to the right. No bites for half an hour, but chatting to a friend who lives nearby and brought his dog - a big, lovely, daft Labrador - down passed the time while fish homed in.

My expectations, given the state of the river, were low, so I was delighted when some decent roach started to take the tares

Things were going well until the thought crossed my mind that I'd not been bothered by pike here for a long time. It can be a bit of a predator hotspot. Naturally, in no time I was locked in a stalemate with one. It couldn't bite my line (or it would have done) and I couldn't get it in. I thought of just cracking it off and tackling up again, but that goes against the grain. The thing wasn't that big, but it would not give up and it was a good 15 mins before this was in the net

Hooks and knots are a hot topic, so I should just say my pike gear has a Kamasan B560 size 18 spade end whipped with the ever-reliable Matchman hook tyer to a .10 hooklength.

It was still raining, my arm ached and I hadn't fed my swims for a quarter of an hour, so I was happy enough to pack up with more fish in the net than looked likely when I started

 

[Woofy Chivers]

Spent a couple of hours on little farm pond close to me on Sat and was rewarded with a dozen carp and a couple goldfish. Floatfished using my split cane Avon again and light line with worm and sweetcorn for bait. Really good sport on light tackle.
I’m totally not tech savvy being 60 years old and a roofer my entire working life but I’m going to try to add a couple of photos of a couple of the carp I caught. But if they don’t appear it’s because I’ve done something wrong but I will give it a go.

 

[no-one in particular]

Some nice fish for a little farm pond and a nice rod, I like a bit of wood myself, like a tree designed to bend in the wind.

 

[Woofy Chivers]

Thanks
The fish in the pond are in wonderful condition. I presume it’s because it’s never fished. They seem to be breeding successfully as the carp are sized from fry to around 4 lb which it’s great to see. I used to bailiff for Bathampton AA and looked after Woodborough lake , a hundred year old estate lake for approx ten years. In all that time the carp would always spawn but I never saw anything smaller than 8 lb caught. Perhaps the reason being it’s rammed with Perch but never knew for sure the answer to why no small carp were present. The little farm pond seems to hold nothing but carp , mainly commons but a few mirrors and odd goldfish but def no Perch. It’s spring fed which is constant all year so I think that prob helps to keep it all healthy as well.
The Sun is shining so think I may go and have an hour or two up there today

 

[terry m]

After 2 months of meagre scraps from a flooded Hants Avon, today’s early visit was more in hope than expectation. Found a slack and lobbed in the first bait, a whole herring under a deadbait pencil. Started to put together the second rod when the pencil lifted and then slid straight out into the main flow. Lifted into what immediately felt like a decent fish, and 10 minutes later a clonking 29lb 9oz beast was on the mat. Still short of the 30lb milestone, but second largest I have ever banked. Delighted with the catch, maybe one day a 30!

 

[Woofy Chivers]

Had a couple hours on farm pond today but it was hard going compared to how it has fished recently. Bright sunshine but a bitter wind didn’t help plus the cold weather has turned the pond gin clear so obviously not perfect conditions to say the least. Managed half a dozen small carp. One was a pretty little mirror and another what I can only guess was a common/ goldfish hybrid. Its definitely odd looking as the photo shows ( if I can remember how to add photo ).
A red kite sat in a tree next to the pond for a while watching a buzzard being mobbed by crows as he was going about his business trying to find a morsel to eat.
To be honest I was glad to get home as the wind was freezing and chilled me to the bone