How did you get on?

[flightliner]

A plan to go for a zander came unstuck yesterday when "life" stuck its nose in the way to thwart my plan. So I decided to drop swmbo in the town centre and go to the Don to scratch the itch of a big brownie on a lure.
I had a walk prior to that with a walk a little upstream for some new area to fish at a later date but it wasn't to my liking as I know far worse 'orible looking places that could potentially turn up far more fish in this once severely polluted river.
So back to my old haunt where I once took notts Kev some two years ago and fished above a bridge with said lures, one a silver spinner and a second curly tail jelly type lure that I've had big perch with in years gone by.
After an hour and a half fishing in what I considered perfect watery conditions I came to the conclusion that even tho I knew for certain there were some good fish in front of me it was beginning to look like it would'nt happen, another half hour prooved me right so I decided to pack up, phone swmbo, arrange a pick up for more brownie points and head home!
Ps, almost forgot, the area I fished had a biggish willow that any I fish beside I always tie a supple branch or two into a ring and an overhand knot.
If you ever find any along the Trent odds on its mine!

 

[flightliner]

Yes . Very close.

Maybe those jacks are already in waiting for the big girls, not long now if my theory is correct!!

 

[John Aston]

A plan to go for a zander came unstuck yesterday when "life" stuck its nose in the way to thwart my plan. So I decided to drop swmbo in the town centre and go to the Don to scratch the itch of a big brownie on a lure.

Err ...good idea to wait until they are in season?

 

[john step]

A atmospheric blanking day on the pit for pike. The fog came down and silence reigned. My new home made bobbins didnt do the trick so they will have to do better!

 

[Pete Shears]

First trip to the upper Soar this morning, easier walking across the fields due to the dry autumn - it is usually ankle breaker territory as the cattle churn it up. Water level low but with colour, started off trotting flake but switched to the quivertip and began to get very gentle trembling bites which I thought could be signal crayfish - no, a barmy brown trout leaping about which weighed in at 1lb 10oz followed by another at 1lb 4oz ,these antics stopped any more action.
Moving swims resulted in a chub of 1lb 9oz and moving again had the hooklength break on striking. The new hooklength was attractive to two signal crayfish hanging on the hook after the flake, one fell off, the other only let go when the heel of a size 9 hit it. Recasting I had another bite - another brownie which had my lost hook in the scissors - that went 1lb 6oz.
Moving again and trotting flake, I had another chub at 1lb 8oz and stood amazed as an otter jumped from the opposite bank into a clump of mid-river reeds and then swam to my side about 50 yards downstream - too big for a mink or vole.

 

[nottskev]

I had a couple of hours after a barbel on Sunday afternoon. With a good 2'+ on, I knew where to find a nearside swim with a couple of them. The plug of thawed-out spicy meat I rolled under the trees stayed untouched. When I reeled in the meat felt like it had frozen again. The water was seriously cold. I've ordered a thermometer. It should give my excuses more weight.

I went to the marina on the river yesterday. I wasn't expecting too much, even less when the car needed a good scraping at 9 am. It turned into one of those dank, misty days where the light stays dim all day.

I tried the heated waistcoat for the first time. All 7 panels, second lowest setting. I switched it on and thought, this will be great if it lasts. Four hours later there was still plenty left in the battery. I doubt it got over 5c, and the air was damp enough to wet the rod like drizzle. Aside from generally feeling warm, my hands and feet stayed fine. I could have tied a hook on if needed at the end. The idea that keeping the core warm helps the extremities seems true.

The fishing was slow, not surprisingly. But a windless grey winter day has its own charm, and you can dot your float to a dimple and try and winkle a few out. In twelve feet of water, I set up the 2AAA slider for a slow drop under the olivette and fished anywhere from bottom to 18' off. I had red maggots, white maggots and hemp, and there seemed to be the same amount in the tubs at the end, I fed so little.

Fish of any size were welcome

Half a dozen dace like this were a nice surprise

A fishing mate who lives nearby dropped in with his dog for a chat

I'd no sooner gathered a few fish around then a pike took a couple and the bites dried up for a while. By 2 o'clock there were some slightly bigger ones getting involved, but I felt I'd had enough and dodging the traffic was worth more than a few extra fish.

You can catch much more when it's mild and the water's up and coloured, but I enjoyed that.

 

[108831]

Been today,was extremely jealous to read of your extra water Kev,our river is around 4" below normal level and crystal clear,amazingly I must have had 35 pongo gudgeon,a similar number of chublets between 2ozs and a pound,plus two proper chub late on,the peg I fished used to be the best on the stretch,but it is very hit and miss,especially once the water cools,with a big slack close in which changes the way the flow goes throughout the day,but,it was a days fishing out in the countryside...

 

[sam vimes]

jealous to read of your extra water Kev,our river is around 4" below normal level and crystal clear,

There's been so much extra water in my local rivers that I actually did some work this last week. Even now, there's still a good 6" of extra water and it's damned cold water too.

 

[chevin4]

As my normal river venue is still low and clear I decided to go pike fishing on Thursday. The pit in question normally fishes best with a strong SW wind with low pressure. Due to the fact that I had experienced two consecutive blanks on the venue I was not optimistic. I elected to try a different area the average weight of pike caught on this difficult water deadbaiting is well into double figures. I decided to use a sunken float paternostered roach on the second rod instead of a smelt. I tweaked the paternoster rig slightly and pleased that throughout the day the rig was 100% tangle free. The delkim sounded at 12 30 on the roach after a lively fight a superb conditioned pike was netted which weighed a very satisfying 17lb 11oz Had I lost the fish at the net I would have estimated its weight to be around 9lb it was very broad a across the bank. Hopefully this will be the start of better things to come and will tackle the pit with a renewed sense of purpose.

 

[Pete Shears]

Piking again this morning on the local canal feeder reservoir. Still dark on arrival so on with the head torch and stagger along the grassy path on the right hand side only to find the elasticity in the head torch band had gone so it slowly slipped down until it rested on the bridge of my nose blocking the view - it could only get better . . . Setting up three deadbait rods ,sit back with a coffee under the umbrella/windbreak to watch it slowly brighten up to very gloomy with misty drizzle falling. Seven other members turned up and began to hurl dead sea fish about,three in adjacent swims opposite me had a bait boat each ,bait boat regattas whatever next ?
Had a pike of 6lb 12oz grab the sprat on a single circle hook and later another pike nicked the sprat completely.
Watched a sparrowhawk swoop across the water and land in the straggly hedgerow about ten yards from me,could see it was the male with the blue/grey plumage on its back.
Coffee gone and no further action, packed up about 1.30pm and headed home for a warm shower.

 

[John Aston]

A bone cold , misty , silent and still day grayling fishing. Normally one can hear distant superbikes and the odd tractor but yesterday there was not a sound . I saw one horse rider and a dog walker in five hours - so it was just me and the river, which is how I like it . Sadness too , as my friend L had died the previous day. She'd asked me for some help as she was struggling to catch consistently on fly and wanted to learn about trotting. That was three years ago and we had some lovely days together as she learned to master Klink and Dink and then got to grips with the centre pin and long rod - from an exclusively game fishing background it was all a mystery to her . The fish I remember her catching the most was a lovely pound plus grayling on a December day like this one. Finally - finally - she'd got the cast right and was trotting the Loafer float down the edge of the fast water at the head of the pool. Grayling bites aren't easy to miss and I'm not sure who was more delighted - and she got another next cast .

I fished a mile of river , poking through gaps in the alders where it was too deep to wade and wading the cold , cold cold water in the shallows. I caught a grayling after ten minutes and dedicated that one to L ; then a couple of nuisance trout , well mended but still slim after spawning . It was almost dark when I packed up at 3-30 , with eight grayling to about 1 -4 . The most memorable , and also the best fish was hooked in about 18 inches of fast water over 30 yards downstream - that certainly put a bend in the Harrison and a smile on my face .

My best pool yesterday -

 

[108831]

A lovely fishy spot that.

 

[bullet]

I fancied a bash at the Grayling myself today, as I haven't fished for them for ages.
I really wanted to fish the fly, but it was quite cold and I didn't fancy standing in the river for long periods so took the trotting gear.
River was looking very nice, and carrying a fair bit of water.

I fed a few maggots and had a run through, fish straight away, and they kept coming, nothing of any size, all 9 to 12 inches. I popped a few in the net head...

Every spot I tried produced a few fish, and another angler fishing the fly was also doing well.
Interestingly, he had caught a decent Perch along with the Grayling, which I've never heard of from here.

 

[silvers]

Last match of the year yesterday ... and frankly I’m not too disappointed that it’s over now ... the last couple of months have been pretty barren.
I filled in for a team on the Wye winter league at Hereford. 72 anglers fishing, and I was drawn peg 59 for the day. A peg with a platform, not the usual scramble down the bank that you get in this venue. The comfort of the peg was pretty much the only positive of the day though!
it was a cold day (about four degrees) but not bitterly so, along with a persistent mist. As it had been mild for the best part of a fortnight the venue was likely to fish very well (It did!).

I fed three swims .... approaching the middle (it’s double banked here) with groundbait and casters (after my last attempt, when the lack of groundbait was a definite mistake). i fed this line with regular hard ’nuggets’ rather than an initial barrage.
at the bottom of the near shelf (6m) i bait dropped chopped worms for perch, and also went a metre beyond this with bait dropper maggots and hemp (with 4 large balls to kick off). I didn’t loose feed this line either as bleak could be a problem.

I had three chublets in the first three runs down with a bolo set at about 11ft ... but then it dried up and just odd fish after that. There was a chublet shoal present on all the pegs above ... but it seemed we were right on the tail of it ?.
i managed a few perch on the inside line and picked up odd fish thereafter on both bolo and inside over the maggots ... but they just got smaller and smaller.
Ended up with 20 pounds and eight ounces for 2nd last in the 12 peg section, as my next peg neighbour said ... inbetween all the fish .... loads of chublets on the pegs above ... bleak and perch shoals on the end pegs above the rowing club.

on reflection ... it looks like the groundbait approach was wrong for the day an initial cannonade of maybe 15 balls would have been more effective. Oh well, one day I’ll get to grips with that river!

 

[john step]

Another glorious blank for pike on the pit. They seem to have shut up shop.
I did have some entertainment though. This robin mugged me for some of my cheese sandwich. It started off rummaging in my tackle then sat on my knee looking at me! I couldnt refuse it.

 

[no-one in particular]

This is how you do it John

 

[john step]

This is how you do it John

View attachment 18708

I will take one along with me next time

 

[no-one in particular]

I will take one along with me next time

Ha-you will beat that eventually John, thought you might like it-that was filmed a couple days ago, a Great White Egret at Grove Ferry on the Kent Stour. Amazing, it picked it up, swung it around dropped it, picked it up again, got its head in its mouth and stretched it neck vertical and just swallowed it.

 

[mikench]

Amazing what a heron and an egret will take.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[john step]

Ha-you will beat that eventually John, thought you might like it-that was filmed a couple days ago, a Great White Egret at Grove Ferry on the Kent Stour. Amazing, it picked it up, swung it around dropped it, picked it up again, got its head in its mouth and stretched it neck vertical and just swallowed it.

They are getting more common. The other two types of Egret have spread up from the Med in recent years.