How did you get on?

[nottskev]

That was a bit grim. No real inspiration so I thought I'd go back to my Lincolnshire commercial and try a few of those things that I keep seeing in fishing magazines, but never do: popped up baits, bread discs, pellet cones, wafters. I'd bought a couple of related bits and pieces, and some bait that looks like children's sweets. Everywhere I'd prefer to fish is too low and too clear, so why not join the 21st century for an afternoon?

The lake is fine, and there's no lack of features in front of you




But the bait tray looked a bit weird. Far too colourful



If you're used to impaling a maggot or a couple of casters, like me, it's striking how much paraphernalia is involved in getting a bait on the hook, commercial style. Everything seems to need a bait stop. Or a bait band. Or a baiting needle. Or a pellet compressor. Or a mould to get them on your feeder. Or a tool to open up the band so you can get a pellet in. Etc.

Anyway, I tried to remember the stuff I'd read in the articles about what to do to get bites on stone-cold mid-winter commercials, and tried this and that here and there but to no great effect. For what it's worth, the Guru mini feeders and mould seem good, the little Shimano baitrunner I got cheap on ebay was very nice, and the Ringers pellet cones - with a slit in the side so you can "use them without taking off your hooklength" are hopeless - with no way to centralise the line, the line always end up, when you've packed the cone, at the side, and the compressed pellets fall off as soon as you push them out. Add that to the hideous colour, and it makes for a truly naff product I'm embarrassed to have bought

I set up two rods, so as to try out the various set-ups, but the action was slow. Nothing was being caught. The bailiff, when I said I'd had two, said oh you're doing well.

I think I had 8 fish between 12 and 3, and then I was off to beat the traffic.



I'm off tomorrow to meet a friend and check out a stretch of the Derwent where the odd chub is rumoured to be caught. Hard to believe it used to be Chub City down there not all that long ago.

 

[mikench]

Just one of those fish Kev weighed as much as my dozen!mg:

But I was free and in the fresh air and I might have caught something special!!!

 

[john step]

Kev glad you are coming over to Lincs. No passport needed:wh

I did a bit of small river piking today. Lovely and mild. I had 4 jacks to 7lb on lamprey and roach. I think there is potential there. Will go more often until the Witham recovers.

 

[nottskev]

Kev glad you are coming over to Lincs. No passport needed:wh

I did a bit of small river piking today. Lovely and mild. I had 4 jacks to 7lb on lamprey and roach. I think there is potential there. Will go more often until the Witham recovers.

Well, I like fishing in Lincolnshire! First time I went, the bailiff saw me do two trips with my gear from the car park, then told me next time I could thread my way through the private grounds with the the static caravans and park behind my peg! Much appreciated. Civilised place, in my opinion.

 

[Pete Shears]

A pleasant few hours spent on the river Wreake this morning managing to get two chublets on trotted flake and a hand sized perch on legered worm.Very close to a winter drought as the level is lower than last summer and very clear.Spotted a kingfisher which flew off downstream and my presence deterred a bloody cormorant from landing.A much better result than Wednesday piking on a large Northants reservoir which was another blank and was freeze dried in the NE wind.

 

[108831]

Been for the first time this season trotting on a small river fairly local to me,had two chub,biggest 4-15,lost three due to hook pulls,unusual for me,three perch to 2-2,several roach to 8ozs,one dace,one chublet and ten or fifteen gudgeon...home just after dinner time.

 

[wetthrough]

Another bite free day on the Dam today. Seems to becoming a bit of a habit. Where the heck are all the fish? At least I wasn't battling with the tow fishing about half way up the Dam. Great day for the waggler though, flat calm and not that cold.

 

[Pete Shears]

Good job I ignored the weather forecast and took the brolly this morning on the local reservoir - absolutely chucked it down for over an hour.Managed to get three deadbait rods set up before it really came down.The wind swung from SW to NW and the rain stopped for a while.Whilst tucked up under the brolly,sipping coffee and dreaming of a run,I was watching two red kites and four buzzards soaring over the fields on the opposite side of the reservoir,with six goosander paddling about.That was it- no runs,legged it about 1pm when the patch light rain abated.

 

[peter crabtree]

It’s been a week of mixed fortunes. Last Sunday I drove all the way to Wiltshire, a place called Calne, for a silvers only do on a day ticket lake.

Had just 2 bites, a gudgeon and a small roach!

Tuesday I fared slightly better on the canal on the old codgers match but just 3lb:4oz for nowhere...

Friday a mate and I went back to London Colney to fish the river Colne, despite the favourable conditions it didn’t fish anything like as good as our pre-Christmas visit..

Today was the best day although not brilliant.
Another canal match where I managed 5:5:0 of roach, gudgeon, perch and skimbobs on the waggler

 

[jon atkinson]

Really didn't like the look of the forecast for today with wind easily my least favourite of the elements, but the prospect of another 7 days before I could get out swung it. Once on site there were several pegs that were reasonably sheltered from the prolonged gusts of wind that were hurtling in from the west, the swims themselves less so, unfortunately. It was hard going - I managed a dozen or so small roach, none of which needed to trouble the landing net. High point of the day was watching a pair of crows haranguing a buzzard - you'd think that the point would come when the buzzard would think "enough of this nonsense" & tear into the crows but they just seem to put up with it? On balance I was glad that I went, & making it back to the van 5 minutes before the heavens opened was a major bonus!

 

[Tee-Cee]

Two reports in one...

The first, on Friday, was a non event really as I failed to get going right from the off. Perhaps it was the fact that I had agreed to fish with a pal for once, when normally I fish alone, but whatever the reason I couldn't settle down and fish in my usual manner. Not to say my pal was responsible, because being a quiet chap who says little at the best of times he just went about his session and said little.
Over the four hours I managed just four fish of no size despite having, supposedly, very good conditions, with the only ideal factor missing was fish spotting on the surface, at any time. It is something I like to see and it gives me a degree of confidence and the feeling I will catch something......Maybe I just had an off day.................................

Today, entirely different. Conditions were dreadful and it took me time to sort a swim unaffected by cross winds, and even worse, facing. Eventually, I found a bay with wind coming from behind (north/west)and providing i didn't cast too far I could fish on the edge of flat water where it met that swept by blustery winds that raced across the surface.
For an hour or more I failed to register any form of interest in the red maggot dropping through the water, when out of nowhere the float shot away and I had my first roach of no great size, but I used the net anyway. This was followed by several more, with one touching 12/14ozs or so, but all fought well on the light gear which sported a 22 hook.
After a quiet spell I changed to a bigger hook and tried 2/3 maggots with a little more loose feed. Within ten minutes I had very strange bite, in that the float went away very slowly (almost as if it was dragging the bottom - but not possible!) and on the strike it felt like the bottom as well!
A hard boring fish had me giving line for a while but eventually it slid into the net and a very pretty perch went 1lb 10ozs on the scales. Turning it over it had a slash down one side which I took to be the work of cormorants which visit the lake from time to time.
All of this was witnessed by a passing fisherman who guesstimated the weight at '3lbs+' so he was a little shocked by the actual weight. Had he not seen the scales I've no doubt a 'story' would've done the rounds next week, and by next weekend that fish would be close to 4lbs!!

I had lovely morning and it felt good to be out in the mild conditions. I fished hard and another hour would've been good, but I had to make tracks around 12.30 to meet the wife's lunch schedule. Unfortunately, I failed to realise the shutting of the Marlow By-pass for the weekend (to install a new bridge) would have such a massive effect on Henley town centre, which was virtually gridlocked for a while by folk looking to detour the area. In the end it took over an an hour to reach home and I was more than ready to do serious damage to a nice, hot, homemade curry. It was delicious!!

Out again on Wednesday which, from what I understand, will herald the end of the mild weather and by next weekend temps will be considerably lower in the Thames valley, I'm thinking......

It won't stop me , though!!

 

[seth49]

Out for a few hours yesterday, just took my dropshotting rod and tackle with me, thought I’d try for some of the big perch I’ve seen chasing fry in the summer, still new to this dropshotting method but I caught about half a dozen small perch, but nothing of any size.

Nice mild morning, good to be out again, l was the only one on the fishery, so I had my pick of ponds and swims, never see many here in winter, but it’s ok if it’s mild, the roach fishing is pretty good usually.

Out again tomorrow, new club mick and I have joined, giving a mild day so will try one of the new waters, make a change to fish somewhere different, we’ve been on the same fishery for four years now, really like it here, but just fancied a change.

Only thing that nearly spoilt the day, was an idiot cyclist with no lights no reflectors, and dressed all in black, while it was still dark, he was very nearly a hood ornament.

 

[nottskev]

I'd spent yesterday cleaning the car - hoover, wash, wax - washing the fishing clothes and sorting my gear out for today. I was feeling pretty pleased with myself as I got to the Old Lake late morning. But that didn't last long. I'd planned to fish waggler, and I had the rod with me. The reel, though, was on the kitchen table. Fortunately, the pole was in the holdall.

A breezy day was forecast - hence the waggler - so I walked round to the bank with the wood behind to get a bit of shelter. The water was clearer than i'd seen it for ages, but it's always a pleasant place to fish.



I wasn't overloaded with bait - a pint of maggots, half a pint of casters and a handful of worms. Corn was spectacularly successful this time last year, but I can't get a bite on it these days. Because it was so clear, I fished a bit further out than usual, 11 -12m. One side was fed with a bit of chopped worm and casters, the other with a few maggots. The maggot swim proved a write-off, with just a couple of tiny fish. The chopped worm went down better though, and all the fish took a small section of worm or a worm head.

Having spent the summer laid up with a chest infection, I've been studiously avoiding places where folk congregate to spread flu. I've not put in a bid for Michael Jackson's oxygen tent, but I'm thinking of it. About an hour in, a chap spotted me from the far bank, and walked all the way around to watch for a bit. He stood next to me and said "I've been bunged up with a terrible cold all week, but it hasn't stopped me getting out walking". What can you say?

The fish came in fits and starts, so I was never going to get a big catch, but the stamp of fish was much better than the last couple of visits. There were a few nice roach



and a couple of lovely perch



But I couldn't get a bite after 3pm, and decided to beat the traffic




It was really enjoyable fishing, with canal-scale gear. I don't think I'll be fishing for a few days so the ducks got the leftover bait

 

[103841]

Get down, get with it Kev!

Nice stripey btw.

 

[peter crabtree]

13 codgers turned out this morning at Marsworth on the GUC.
We’ve fished this venue a lot recently as it’s been on consistent form but today it was a struggle for most. A chilly wind rippling the surface on what had been the hot pegs Sunday.
Fortunately I had flat calm in front of me and fishing punch on an almost submerged waggler was very comfy.

First cast at 10am my float cocked and carried on down which produced a pound skimmer, nice start.

During the next 4 hours it was virtually bite a Chuck on punch, roach to 4oz, small skimmers and the odd gudgeon. It went quiet during the last hour so I changed to maggots across by the Dutch barge. This produced a couple of perch and some more gudgeon.
At the scales I weighed in 5lb:9oz, enough for a comfortable win.

2nd had 3:4 including a 2:4 perch. Otherwise the weights were very poor.

 

[mikench]

Well done Simon! Cracking perch Kev ! You are right about the old lake being a lovely spot!

 

[108831]

Simon,do you use the rod to negate bikes etc,rather than the pole or is it just personal preference?

 

[peter crabtree]

Our Old codgers matches are rod, reel and float only.

Otherwise I ship my pole parallel to the bank, bikes etc don't bother me.

 

[Neil Maidment]

Back on the Stour at Throop after the chub. The river is at a good level but remains very clear.

I fished a dumpy waggler with just 1 No4 down with single maggot on #20.
Armed with less than 3 pints of red maggot I kept the loose feed going in on a regular basis.
Took more than an hour to get the first fish but only succeeded in losing it. Then managed to land three good chub between 11:30am and 3:00pm.





Then had 4 more slightly bigger fish, maybe 5lbs+ in the last hour and a half. Ran out of bait before the end so didn't really get them lined up but an enjoyable session in tough conditions.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Rarely do I really get very, very wet. On the odd occasion, as with all year round fisherman, I become a little damp when choosing not to put the brolly up for a light shower, and yesterday was a case in point.....

I'd arrived at my still water at 8am with most of the journey in misty, almost negligible rain and this continued throughout the morning. Just as I thought it would get heavier the 'rain' stopped and I was thankful for that as I was underarm casting some distance with a 'pin, so having a brolly was out of the question. Fast forward toward to the end of the session at around midday and I noticed it getting a little darker so after a couple of premature 'last casts' I started to slowly pack the gear away, but I wasn't quick enough and the rain started at a reasonable rate, only to increase at pace, with me betwixt and between in the packing stakes.

Cut a long story short (!) it dawned on me I still had to negotiate the 300m walk back to the car, during which time I dropped my landing net, something I didn't realise until I reached the car! By this time the rain was coming down in stair rods from the blacked sky and if I could've got wetter I certainly did in searching for the net.....

In the end I managed to wipe down some of the gear before shoving in all in the car (I don't normally do 'shoving' around my tackle) and heading of home. All in all it took most of the afternoon to dry stuff out and my wife was most understanding around having rods, reels and everything else draped around the utility room. All is now back in place and ready for the next session..........

The fishing? Well, I had a really enjoyable morning with around a dozen roach of decent size. Not a touch for the first hour (had me thinking I should adopt 'Jerry' timings and arrive on the bank at 10am) before the flat float stabbed away and I was into a nice 12oz fish. As is usually the case I had a number of fish before they went AWOL and I had to go search for a few more fish. I managed to miss half a dozen 'dead cert' bites in the process but with this style of fishing I have to accept I won't connect every time the float zooms away.

When to go next is now the issue. Friday looks to be very cold with a heavy frost so not ideal, and the weekend not much better. Without doubt I will go (I need my share of 'mindfulness') but it might come down to an 11am/3pm session IF THE BL**DY SNOW THAT HAS JUST STARTED TO FALL IN THE CHILTERNS, DOESN'T GET ANY WORSE!! Grrrrrrr.

Well pleased I went yesterday and looking back I would happily do it all again - including getting soaked!!

ps Bait was single/double reds on an 20 or 18 (for the double red) to 1,5lb bottom fished at anywhere between 2 and 4' deep, with the occasional foray at 5' and 1'. (2 x No 8 shot down the line as previously explained in past posts)

pps I now have to fill in the 3 year 'Renew the Driving Licence' form this morning having had a successful eye test and scan yesterday. Not perfect but the 'mince pies' are good to go for another three years, when I will then be 79 years old- what a thought!!!