How did you get on?

[john step]

Went to the Tidal to have a wave about with my new Acy 13ft feeder.
What a rod. Any thoughts of guilt about the money disappeared very quickly. Lots of casting at various distances to experiment.

Nothing to write home about catch wise but I was amazed at the ability to see bites and hit dace mid river. I also had a bream about 5 and lots of perch.

Now I just wonder what the Acy float rods are like....NO NO NO I mustn't

 

[flightliner]

Weather, tides, all seemed good especially with a little freshwater running into the Lower Trent from the recant rains, timing my arrival to coincide with the start of the ebb around 11-30 ish I was tackled up and ready to go.
A six number four John dean stick shirt buttoned down with number fours to midway then double sixes, nines and tens respectively nearer the size 18 hook and I was ready to go with hemp n tare.
Initially there was loads of floating rubbish spoiling presentation but not the feeding programme and after an hour I finally had my first nice roach, welcome indeed.
They were a bit spasmodic afterwards but another hour in they settled in with more confidence and became more regular in visiting the landing net, one or two nice goers too , as well as a really big.(ish) dace.
Around three o clock the roach were right under my rod which had me offering freebies a little lower downriver but now they were just going mad for the tare.
I could have carried on but decided to change things round a little that I did by re shorting the bulk of my shot just above midway with the nines and tens evenly spaced towards the hook.
all I did then was to place a few grains of hemp in the swim and lay the rig in a straight line downriver and hold it tight giving no line.
This had the effect of of holding the bait mid depth with the bulk from above while the last half of the cast was held in a tight straight line in a stationary but tempting position for the roach that were flashing at the freebies to hit as they wished ---- Bingo! One of those light bulb moments.It was so dramatic to feel those bigger roach hit the bait and hook themselves, definitely the best part of the session but after some six fish they backed off. So it was back to stage one where the roach were just as eager as ever.
I had to pack up near four thirty but had another fifteen minutes of "last casts" which made my final tally of 84 redfins somewhere near or around 18/20 lbs.
A great days roach fishing , just hope they carry on thro out the colder months ,
Love em ! url=https://postimg.org/image/1k9gxrhoez/]

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[tigger]

Now I just wonder what the Acy float rods are like....NO NO NO I mustn't

They're excellent John .

 

[Alan Tyler]

First pike trip of the season, a bit of a shake-down. I thought I'd go minimal and stay mobile, so put my kit in one of those little Aldi bags, with coffee, butty and camera in a carrier bag, mat and unhooking tools in the landing net, and one bait rod and one spinner set up. In honour of it being pike season, I wore a vest, thinking the wind would lower the temperature a bit.

First mistake - there's no wind-chill within a shooting jacket with a waterproof inner membrane.

Second mistake - carefully packing everything into a small pack increases the density, decreases the size but does not diminish the weight. I was melting and aching by the time I reached the spot where I meant to start. After half an hour of calling them in with a spinner to find and take the deadbait - nuffink.
Move to the next swim about six feet away, separated by a tree, and about twenty minutes later, the float sinks, and I'm playing a small pike. Now, being mean, I run a bit of line, with a noose in it,through the eye of the hook and tie it to the trace so it'll slide. The noose goes round the jaw of the smelt, and if I cast a bit bumpily, or miss a run, I usually get the smelt back. This scrap ended with a sort of stretching pull, and only the jaw of the deadbait came back. That was one hungry pickerel, hanging on till it touched the net, then turning on the turbo and away with the goodies. A pity it hadn't grabbed the bit with the hook in, though.

Time to move on; mistake number three, a sub-section of number two, revealed itself: artistic, tightly woven packing needs repeating every time you want to pack up and move.

And as I stood, catching nothing, at two other swims, I realised mistake number four: having nothing to sit on and sloping, lumpy banks to stand on consitutes a core workout for an idle old git.

Noon came and went, and with it, the chance of another fish till about four. Steaming, aching and with my arms feeling stretched out of their sockets, I admitted defeat.

I'll be back, with a seat box with less in it, and that less compactly packed, and cushions, and a trolley to make moving a doddle, and cushions. If I use that Aldi bag again, I'll put the shoulder strap back on. And I'd better start taking some exercise, too...

 

[theartist]

I realised mistake number four: having nothing to sit on and sloping, lumpy banks to stand on consitutes a core workout for an idle old git.

Waterproof trousers and an old bin bag (or a dry unhooking mat) can make lumpy sloping banks a surprisingly comfortable seat if your roving.:thumbs:

 

[Another Dave]

Went out with some soft plastic lures today and blanked. A chub spat the lure in the first swim, i got some takes from perch that i couldn't convert in another swim. And in another a pike took my lure but just shredded the tail and then spooked.

Would do the same thing tomorrow (with some tweaks) and most probably will.

 

[maggot_dangler]

Fish the last Club comp today .

joint 3rd orrid day cold as hell blowing a blue howie tried eveything i had maggots worms bread paste pellets pepperami few small perch on single white maggot were the only takers , Think it must be down to the fact it is a shalolw pool with a lot of cold wayter input all the fish have hit the deep spot that is next to daNG IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A LINE INTO .

PG ...

 

[The Runner]

Fished club match today on the Thames at Dorchester, we have two or three there every season but its at least 4 years since I last fished it as our Sec unerringly seems to arrange them to coincide with my having other commitments/ holidays etc.
Anyway, drew three below the Thame Mouth, thought the tall trees on the far bank might keep the worst of the wind off, but no, blowing a hoolie straight downstream.
Plumbed up, ten to eleven foot at 9m and didn't fancy my chances of fishing pole any further than that. Set up two pole rigs, one of a gram and one of 2.5, long rod with another 2.5gram rig on it, waggler and small feeder although knowing the area didn't expect these last two to see much use. All float rigs with a 20 to 0.07
Mixed a bag and a bit of Black Roach with a lot of binder and on the whistle gave it ten big ones at 8m and another four at 5. Went in at 5 and three roach immediately but no size. Went out to 8m over the main balling and the fish were a little bigger and had a silver bream about 3oz as well, nice to see. After an hour had 16 fish but no real pattern to it, had a few runs through with long rod but it wouldn't go down quite right, ditto the waggler a bit further out. Started loosefeeding hemp and a few maggots, second hour a bit better as more silver bream moved in and they were a bit bigger than the roach although did get a bonus roach about 8oz and gradually as the day went on things got steadily faster as found that the bulk of the silver bream seemed to be sitting a few yards down with the smaller roach right over the feed and for about an hour it was pretty much one a drop on double white maggot. Slowed down a bit in the last hour as the bleak started showing but right at the end had a run of half a dozen more in as many minutes with a half pound perch, only my second fish over 4oz.
Whistle went, had lost count a bit but thought I had around 140 fish, no real idea of the weight but estimated for 12 to 13lb.
A bit out....18-6 and a win, 12-9, 11-10 and 7-7 making up the frame.

At least 20 years since I've seen so many silver bream. Was saying the other day that there weren't as many in the Thames as there used to be; seems to be a bit of a comeback, they made up well over half of my fish and next two swims down both had quite a few as well.

 

[peter crabtree]

Interclub match today on the Thames at little Stoke a couple of miles downstream from Dorchester where Martin was...Similar conditions, very gusty upstream gale blowing so my pole stayed in the bag.






Set up 15' rod with 3AAA reverse taper peacock waggler on a slider set up, plumbing up I found 8' depth at about 25yds out in the gin clear river. Balled in 2kilos of babyheads, VDE dark roach with some molehill soil which was abundant on the bank as a binder.

It didn't seem to matter whether the single maggot on a 20 B611 was red, bronze or flouro, it was roach a chuck. In fact if I didn't get a bite on a trot through it meant the maggot had been sucked, come off or the Hooklink tangled..

It went a little quiet after 3 hours bagging but picked up again an hour later until the end. 6 hours of frenetic fishing with no fish over 6oz but plenty of them...

Tipped the scales with 10lb:5oz which was enough for 3rd overall.

15:5 won it with 10:11 2nd..

26 fished.

Oh and we (The Tring anglers) beat Hanwell .a.c on their own stretch of Thames by 5lb...

 

[Alan Tyler]

I returned to the pike lake with my petrol-splitter for amoral support (he uses live baits, given half a chance), with more suitable clothes, a big, loosely-packed seat-box with cushions, and a trolley. AND a bait-table!
What a difference! Everything came out of the box easily, could be arranged on the table and trolley so I could find it, and went back in in record time when it was time to go. I felt like Eeyore with his jar and burst balloon. I even got a modicum of exercise with all the standing up to cast - deadbaiting with a centre-pin is like hiding the TV remote, only more so, on a windy day like yesterday.

The pickerels were distinctly unimpressed, though. The water had coloured up since Friday, and nothing touched or even, so far as I could tell, followed any of my lures - bright, dull, soft, jangly, fast, slow - the same response - nuffink.

The deadbaits were better received, but only just. Over in the shallow, right-hand side, something small nailed a smelt just as I began to retrieve it, and snaffled it without touching the hook. That was about fifteen minutes in; try as I might, I didn't get another sniff till gone noon, by which time the spinning trace was off and both rods were float-fishing deads, one in the deeper water in front, one in the shallows to the right.

Eventually, the right hand float not having moved for a while, and knowing the bait would be mullered by crayfish if left grounded, I began to bring it in, and again, it was pounced on. This time, all the cunning plans worked, and a four-pound jack was netted, neatly unhooking itself in the net.

As I faffed around, getting reorganised, Petrol Splitter had a run. Six pounds and a bit. He always does that!

A bit later, there was a proper bite on the deep set, but it was another jacklet avoiding the metalware, and that was our action for the day.

The bird-life was something else, though; lots of kingfisher action, a young great crested grebe, long-tailed tits, and as we packed up, "Jack! Jack!" announced the arrival of the biggest mob of jackdaws I've ever seen, they must be gathering tips from the starlings, mustabin two hundred of them!


TheArtist, thanks, I'll find myself a rubble sack, then even a wet unhooking mat can be made to serve as a roving seat. The ones I have at the moment are a lurid blue, I'll try and get one in a more muted tone.

 

[neil1970]

I had a little session on Sunday.
A few bites, but only one hookup.
Really nice to see such a well conditioned fish

 

[mikench]

Beautiful fish Neil!

 

[mikench]

Why is your petrol splitter amoral Alan

 

[Another Dave]

like hiding the TV remote

You're gonna have to explain that one for me.

 

[puffer_]

Blanked on a predator session on the canal yesterday, one knock but no joy.

Didn't bother me though, saw the resident kingfisher, which is always nice.

Was sat watching my rod when I saw something out of the corner of my eye, immediate thought was either a falling leaf or a squirrel, but turned my head and it was a stoat! I presume it had got a whiff of my dead bait, as it stood there for a second and then came right up to me, put its front paws on my lure box, eyeballed me for a few seconds, then cantered off! Amazing, it was literally less than a foot from me and stood still long enough for me to inspect it! Stoats & weasels are my favourite creatures, so it made my day.

I suspect I'll never be as close to one again.

So yeah, the blank didn't bother me

 

[barbelboi]

I haven’t posted on this thread for a while as it’s all been very much the same as previous posts this season on the rivers, backwaters and streams for roach, dace and chub.

Last Friday it was blowing a hoolie so, for a change, I fished a local pit for some late season up in the water ‘carping’ as I’d seen a bit of surface movement on a recce the day before. It didn’t take long to get them going with pouches of pellets catapulted out regularly and taking the fish on the drop at around 30m. 8 carp of no significant size but good fun on light gear – fished from 11am - 2.30pm.

 

[john step]

I am getting my pike head on. Had a trip to the river which is very clear.
Just a couple of singles on lamprey. They pulled back well and as I packed up I noted where there were a couple of strikes by a biggy further up the bank in a difficult spot.

I shall return with wellies to enable me to approach the spot. At least I know no one will have beat me to it. Hopefully.

 

[mikench]

I might have had you followed John!:wh

 

[Alan Tyler]

Sorry for the obscure references - Petrol splitter is without morals (as far as I'm concerned) because he sees roach only as livebait. Yuk.
The invention of the remote control is supposed to have made us all three pounds a year fatter - getting up to change the channel may not be much exercise, but it all helps.

 

[Another Dave]

Well i did go back over my swims with different lures and got my second pike of the millennium. Just over a pound i'd say, back of the net!

This is about the only swim where there's a bit of a run. Got that thing where a lower level you can stand on is starting to build up in the marginal reeds, so i could actually shuffle down a bit and do an overhead cast downstream. Straight away i get this cheeky chap.