How did you get on?

[hooferinsane]

Went back to the public lake yesterday, decided to just take a swim feeder rod. Groundbait and maggots on the hook proved difficult to connect with fish relative to the bites I was getting. Changing to sweet corn on the hook proved the turning point, connecting with a rudd or roach, the best up to a pound nearly every cast. Had a few small carp, largest about about 3lb. The lake has a weed problem starting at present. It was down the eastern end of the lake last week, this week it was at the western end. I fished in the middle of the lake, there was about 2/3ft in front of me which wasn’t a problem to me for fishing. The wind direction changed towards the end of the day, I was packing up about 4.15, but by about 4.00pm the movement of the weed saw my swim looking like this picture below. The buoy is 30 yards from the bank. I plan a return next week, but perhaps may do a recon mission the day before!

 

[Pete Shears]

Another stroll along the GUC this morning, heard jays hidden in the trees calling to each other didn't spot them though. Two pairs of swans each with three cygnets expecting to be force fed bread were out of luck. The cool northerly breeze was not blowing along the water which made it a bit easier to cast the small jigs and lures eventually resulting in a small jack,then a perch which fell off when I lifted it,the curly tail grub must have been jammed in its mouth not hooked at all. The fish just were not switched on at first but on the way back I had five hand sized perch to a white curly tail grub from a turning bay, obvious they don't like getting up early, only go early to get a parking space these days with all the insomniac cyclists, joggers and dog walkers on the loose.

 

[The Sogster]

Had another trip to the estate lake on Tuesday, having had some nice roach over recent weeks up to around a pound I fancied a try for a bigger specimen.
Baits of choice were maggots in custard powder, corn and bread fished on the drop under the float to try and search the full water column.
I had an enjoyable day but unfortunately the roach stayed away and all I could muster where a seemingly inexhaustible horde of tiny perch all no bigger than 3oz and usually much smaller all falling to maggots.
I couldn't buy a bite on corn or bread.

Decided to go again today but changed tactics to a blockend feeder with micro pellets and corn with 8mm hook pellets, corn and bread for the hook.
It was decidedly cool in the fresh northerly breeze and bites were slow from the off with only a few skimmers/ hybrids in the first couple of hours all around 8oz.
Still no roach though then around 4.30 I finally managed a roach of about 12oz, I hoped they were moving in but alas no more bites were forthcoming until about 5pm when I found myself attached to a feisty little Tench of about 2lb to 2.5lb.

The evening continued with a steady flow of skimmers but still no roach.

Having started packing things away slowly I made the decision to have that one last cast.
Decision of the week, 2 minutes later the tip hooped round and I found myself attached to this absolute beauty, weighed and witnessed at 2lb 1oz.

Not my target species but a fantastic surprise nonetheless.

 

[seth49]

Back on same club water again, different weather though bright sunshine and hot once it had warmed up, it fished a lot better on Tuesday when it was cloudy all day, decided to fish with rods today, and leave the pole to one side, it was reflected in my catch as I didn’t have as many fish as Tuesday, it was a pleasant day and I could have my rod in a rest instead of holding the pole all day.

Had the skimmers and tench in the photo plus three carp as well, enjoyable day in the sunshine.

 

[Keith M]

My son decided to have an all nighter at one of our club estate lakes last night; and although I wouldn’t be fishing all night with him I decided to have a few hours chasing a few Carp until the light started to fade at 8pm and then leave him there.

We got setup by around 3pm and decided to fish along one of the island swims which we had not fished for quite a while.

This was my swim facing one of the islands:

There was a dreaded Bream shoal in my swim and I was forever getting my bobbins lifting about a foot before stopping which was a tad annoying and was keeping me fairly busy resetting them every time I tried to pour myself a coffee ; One of these Bream actually managed to swallow one of my hair rigged boilies; hook and all.

The Bream of around 2½lb which managed to swallow one of my hair rigged boilies.

I had four Carp before I left at 8pm; the largest being just over 17lb.





I don’t know how Stuart got on as he hasn’t got home yet.

Keith

 

[mikench]

Gordon and i returned to the same venue as last week and fished the lake most badly affected by the pollution incident in 2019 when all the silver fish died. It was apparently restocked earlier this year and we wanted to find out. We set up close to each other with Gordon on the float and me on the feeder. It was my last fishing trip for 5 weeks and we were able to have a good chat about a myriad of subjects.

It remained overcast with a chilly breeze for most of the day but we both caught. I had around 20 skimmers plus a couple of perch and roach. Gordon had over 30 assorted fish so clearly the lake has been restocked. It was a very enjoyable day and simply flew by. One minute it was mid morning and the next it was 3.00 pm. Thanks for your company again Gordon. All in all despite just the one carp you caught we both had fun and enjoyed catching even skimmers.

 

[108831]

Who is the poachers tackle in Gordon's swim???

 

[Pete Shears]

Back on the local reservoir this morning in a different swim as the others are like swamps now CRT have run off a lot of water.Had one bait off a weed bed and the other method feeder further out in deeper water. Plenty of lifts and beeps as small fish attacked the feeders. Two great white egrets and four common egrets this morning and later four buzzards circling high with two kites much lower.
Pike and perch were hammering the fry in and around the marginal weed beds.
Eventually had a proper bite on a 10mm esterberry boilie with a 3lb female tench responsible which fought harder than some carp I have caught whilst a mate further up was getting bream in the 3-5lb range.

 

[flightliner]

Little time, must keep short.
Tidal trent yest'
Bad, tide turned at 11-30 am so didnt fish till it turned at 1-40pm.
Fished feeder with banded pellets, first bite an hour later when rod buckled over, played a "nearly double" Barbel, took a long time on the lighter line.
Next cast was my target roach, a nice one too.
A brief spell with nothing but about 4—30 pm another roach that was brother chip to the first came to my net.
I had to be away by 6—30pm and at 5—45 another BB decided to take my 6mm pellet, it ran to the far bank at 45 degrees (a long way on this wide section) and it took a long time to bring it back to the net, another " not nearly double" but oh so close.
In short a very enjoyable few hours.
Before leaving a fellow angler began chatting about a big pike that had taken fish from other anglers in the same area I had lost one last week.
He decided to to try for it and landed it, it weighed 25lbs and a few ounces.
(I said it was big ?)

 

[Roger Johnson 2]

When concorde was in development it was forever flying over Stanton Harcourt a club water I loved back then,bloody noisy,that isnt that far from Brize Norton.

I fished the caravan site lake at Stanton H around the same time, (‘74-‘76?) great seeing the aircraft going directly overhead, made the ground shake, but never caught a thing during flying time


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[Ray Roberts]

Trip to a new section on the river Eden near Hever Castle. I’ve done really well on the last few trips, so I was pretty optimistic. The river looked gorgeous and the surroundings were as good as it gets.

I had a new Acolyte plus feeder rod to try out and it certainly performed better than I did. I had thirty five roach and rudd plus a few micro perch.

Most of the Eden is fairly narrow but there are two wider bays leading to the main lake. I set up in the first bay and unusually for me I set up a keepnet, not that I really needed it as it turned out.

I lost a decent fish at the last knockings, I was playing it gently in and it felt like a really large bream. But suddenly the hook link inexplicably broke halfway down its length. As I didn’t get snagged once during the session it’s a bit of a mystery. I wondered if it could have been a pike as I was using worm as bait. I have had them before on lightish gear and sometimes they don’t immediately seem to realise they are hooked.


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[bullet]

On the Canal this afternoon, with Tench the target.
The spot I had in mind was not an option, as unfortunately the Farmer had been out with the Slurry in the field opposite, and a keen breeze was wafting it's pungent odour right at me, so I wandered another quarter of a mile or so and found a nice looking spot that didn't stink and wasn't going to take me most of the afternoon to rake.

I had a few fish blowing here and there from the off, but they were proving hard to tempt. Worm usually works well here, but the swim contained too many small Perch to have that bait as an option, they were on it before the float had even settled, so I stuck with Corn, feeding a little Hemp and a few micro pellets.
A couple of nice Rudd came to hand, which gave nice lift bites,but the Tench remained elusive, until the float slowly slid away and I finally connected to something with a bit of power!
For it's size, it fought like hell, really beat me up, actually, in and out off the lillies, ploughing about, got it in the net and it shot out again back in the weed!
Finally managed to scoop it out...

I doubt it would have made 3lb, but it made up for it with spirit, fished on for a while but that was it.
I do love a Tench.....?

 

[Steve King]

Despite this being a weekday Alcott Farm was pretty busy when I arrived! I chose to fish Roman Pool, the previous two visits I fished the smaller Willow Pool.

Despite switching from maggots to sweet corn and then expander pellets I was plagued with small roach and perch on the waggler.

I then tried a legered expander pellet close to the island and this produced some carp; nothing huge the biggest was about 4lb. I also tried fishing the waggler bait a little higher in the water, but it still resulted in tiny bits and pieces.

 

[nottskev]

Lovely weekend weather for everyone, but not much good for fishing. A cold night and a cloudless day. Definitely not a day for barbel on the river, so I took the easy option and drove over to Lincolnshire to the sleepy old commercial. The statics at the far end of the shallow pool - the crucian pool is next but one - are usually just a bit of the backdrop, adding something to the pleasantly dilapidated scene

But today, the denizens were down for the bank holiday, and the far bank burst into trailer park life. A couple of blokes in deck chairs lobbed feeders here and there. A man with a giant strimmer strimmed the area. After a bit of consultation with the others, he attacked the rush beds along their bank and levelled them. Perhaps they were in the way. Another chap fabricated a repair piece for his caravan, and beat on sheets of metal for an hour like a steel band. Around tea-time they cranked up their sound system and had a disco. Or whatever you call it when old guys play loud music and drink.

The fishing wasn't great. A procession of 4/5lb carp came along but none of the usual bigger ones turned up to make it more exciting. I thought I'd wait and take a pic of a larger one, but that didn't happen. It was a nice enough afternoon, but I'd probably have had more fun if I'd joined them at the other end.

 

[INearlyCaughtOne]

I have been literally fishing mad recently and after a many days non-stop marathon I became punch drunk, so I have had a rest. Yes, you heard me right, I have had a break for 48 hours. However, I am fishing up the Witham tomorrow and have a pint of maggots in the fridge ready to go and I feel rested for the break. I've also looked into Lakeside fishery and I will look forwards to going over there. Apparently, you can ring the shop from the peg and they bring our sandwiches and drinks!!!

 

[no-one in particular]

Another couple of hours blanking on the canal yesterday, there was a match on, about 20 blokes fishing and they had hardly anything, a few bits. The gear they had was amazing, poles the width of the canal, must be 30ft, it's a whole world of fishing I have never got into but I find it fascinating nevertheless. I felt a bit embarrassed walking past them with my gear, they must have thought who's this twat. Anyway got to try out my "new" reel a Morrits Elite on my old rod from some distant past era and I was pleased with that, really pleased with the reel, Also got to try out my new binoculars, an expensive gift from a friend and they were excellent, a new world has opened for me. So all in all an interesting day. I think the fish are still subdued with the recent drop in nighttime temperatures; be good to be there when they switch back on though.
The wind got up a bit fierce but a Buzzard came out briefly but not much else about. I realized I have not seen a Hobby along here this summer, usually see one or two. Plenty of Hirundines high up though, must be migrating now.

 

[108831]

Well,well,well,I had decided to go fishing Saturday,but I woke at 2am and couldnt get back to sleep,so when the time came to get my grub,drink and bait ready I really couldnt be bothered,anyway around 8.30am I had a text from a mate asking where I was fishing,I explained the situation and he said there were only two other anglers there so I gathered some food and bait and shot off,on arrival two more cars were there,so I opted for a reasonable,if not favourite swim which had been manicured during a recent work party,not well imo,anyway after a very slow start I ended with a very respectable catch of barbel averaging 5-6lbs,biggest a few ounces below 8lb,a pleasant day only marred by the dreaded 'Victor Meldrew' turning up late on,with me in his favourite peg,normally a message for disaster as he just keeps pestering you to go,luckily I think he heard my curse when I spotted him and left me alone,thank god?

 

[peter crabtree]

The old A41 between Kings Langley and Tring has many right turnings, all of which inevitably lead to a canal bridge. Through Apsley, Boxmoor, Bourne end, Winkwell, Berkhamsted, Northchurch, Cow roast to Tring.
Some 10 or so miles all told. Today I took the second one and revisited an old haunt, the Ovaltine pound. A running pound fuelled by the river Gade. Gravel bottom and a tad clear today..Once the leading employer in Kings Langley with a vast egg farm and processing plant in an Art Deco style, now apartments…

2 deep pole rigs, 0:45g floats to hold back hard ( one trashed first put in ) 11 no 10’s shirt buttoned down to 22 B510 to 0:09.
Single caster trickled along the bottom over some hemp soon produced fish. Good roach and shimmering river darts taking bait confidently.. A change to single grain of hemp, yes, on a 22 hook! Too small I hear you think..No, once pushed into the kernel, stuck firm.

Better roach appeared as if by magic…No missed bites, the 22 doing the biz.

Some nice bank side flora too..

 

[Keith M]

That photo brings back a few memories Peter.

I remember the ovaltine stretch when I used to live in Royal Navy married quarters in Abbots Langley at the top of the hill in 1975 (I was based in the MET office in Northwood) the Ovaltine stretch in Kings Langley used to be one of my regular haunts.

There was a warm water outlet from the Ovaltine factory which used to attract lots of fish; including a Guppy that I hooked one morning on size 20 hook.

Keith

 

[peterjg]

Memories for me as well dating back nearly 50 years ago using a swing tip. There used to be lots of carp in that stretch.