How did you get on?

[Alan Tyler]

Someone who has been there done that?
You'll deserve any rewards for your efforts. I've not managed any success with it personally. Just one of many ways to not catch mullet I have seemingly perfected.
I plandan to try smoked kipper on this evening's tide. Also somewhat aromatic. If I can add mullet smell, quite distinct I think, it'll be the first time this year.

No, just the briefest of chats with someone who was marching along a beach carrying a fly-rod while I was doing my human rod-rest impression with my 1970s tourist tat gear; plus a bit of marine biology and scuba-ing long ago.
I haven't been anywhere near enough to a mullet to fish for them, though I hear there are some a (long) tube ride away, so that may change.

 

[christhoel]

It all started well with the sun ? as I walked down to the rother in the hunt for a barbel once there I set the rods up one baited with maggots fished on a maggot feeder and the other rod was supposed to be meat ledgered in the fast flow at the far bank ! ( I’d left the meat in the fridge !)
Not to be deterred I had some halibut pellets at hand and put one on a hair and sent it out to the flow! Not a bite on that rod but the maggot rod was busy with bites from the off 1st cast resulted in a grayling 2nd cast a minnow then 3rd cast a decent brown trout that was having a mini breakdown zipping around the river I got a bit carried away and tried to land it quick and as I went to lift it and put net under it went again and I lost it!
Brown trout are known for killing a swim and that is what happened fished another hour and a bit and not another bite !
So went over to the canal for a few hours!
Got over to the canal and tried out some blue maggots and enjoyed about and hour if catching roach and perch nothing big but about 10 fish and a bit of sport it was hard work today with the glaring sun and crystal clear water but managed to get some action after a week off of fishing on the poison !

 

[103841]

Did‘nt know what to do for the best today, my better half is busy starting the horrendous process of sorting out her dads estate and keeping a watchful eye on mum at the same time, she said I’d just get in the way and should go fishing, so I did.

After a sad weekend I wanted somewhere with some tranquility so headed for my favourite spot in Hythe and arrived just in time to witness a beautiful sunrise.



Spent half an hour chucking lures without success when I spotted an angler bringing in a mackerel on feathers, a quick change of rod and I was into them immediately, however it was a very short lived visit as the shoal soon moved back out of reach. Twelve fish in three casts, enough for supper tonight!

 

[mikench]

After my physio session i returned home got my gear and set off for Tiggers current favourite still water venue. I haven't been there for a few weeks and thought today might be one of the last few opportunities to fish for carp with floating bread. My plan didn't disappoint but as I reached for my phone to take a pic of a 1.5lb roach I realised I had left it at home. It was quite revelatory being without it and I didn't miss it. I used my Acolyte Plus throughout and it remains my favourite float rod.

I also had a very good Rudd around a pound and 20 or so bits. I managed 6 common to 8lb before I ran out of bread. I missed loads and the carp were tentative in their takes and a large piece of flake worked best. The weather was glorious and I'm glad I took and erected my parasol which worked a treat. The pegs on this water are at water level but at least 10' below the surrounding field . All in all a very enjoyable few hours.

 

[103841]

Nice fishing Mike, did the roach take bread from the surface?

 

[mikench]

The roach were all caught on maggot and close in. The Rudd was a cracker and came on one maggot .

 

[markcw]

I decided to go to Newlands, instead of the canal,.More to try new elastics out in margin pole,
Got there and asked around how it wa fishing, All the the side I had decided to fish was very quiet, only the odd fish being caught and long waits between bites.
Set up the Speedcast feeder rod with a 20g inline lead and a Shimano dl 4000 reel, line was 5lb Sensor to a size 14 hook with a quickstop an a 6lb guru hooklength.
The margin pole topkits were set up with 4 x 14 preston tyson floats on each kit, line on the 2 margin rigs was 7lb Guru to 14 hooks, the other topkit had 4lb Guru to a 14 hook.shotting was a small bulk and a couple of stoppers,
The left hand margin was primed with sweetcorn flavoured with Dynamite baits coconut juice . The right hand margin was primed with Fjuka 2 in 1 feed and hook pellets, These are around 4mm but can be molded to form a larger hook bait.
The other rig was set to fish on a top two plus two in front of me in 6' of water, this was primed with Dynamite baits F1 durable hookers, Elastic solid 16 for left hand margin, solid 14 - 16 right hand margin, and 6 - 8 hollow on topkit plus two.
After nearly an hour on the feeder with no bites, I brought it in and went over the left hand margin that I had kept primed by throwing 3 pieces of corn in every 5 minutes.
First put in and the float buried and a few minutes later a 5lb carp was netted, I had two more in succession around the same weight,
I threw a few more grains of corn went in as I decided to rest the swim and go on the feeder again but at 20 yards out, bait was 3 grains of corn, as I waited to see if the tip would go round I kept priming both margin swims, and out in front of me.
Three bream on the feeder of around 3lb apiece came to the net in the space of minutes before swim went quiet.
So out with topkit plus two and 6mm F1 durable hooker bait. Nothing doing.
Decided to try the right hand margin with the Fjuka bait, I had heard negative reports on this bait so expectations were not good,
Fifteen minutes later, the float buried , and what seemed like a decent fish was only slightly hooked and I lost it.
I will be back to try this bait again, I think it has potential and is not expensive.
I packed up after 4 hours , pleased with what I caught considering the place was not fishing very well.

 

[mikench]

Lovely photo John; classic application of the rule of thirds.

 

[mikench]

Well with the prospect of warm sunshine Gordon and I chose a venue we have visited frequently and which affords shade. However we had decided to fish the opposite bank for a change which does not. I arrived at the water at 6.15 and it was dark but someone was there first and 3 shopping bags had been put on three pegs which I would have chosen. I noticed that the guy in the van had his wife with him and it was she who had put down the shopping bags to give her husband a choice. I quipped politely that this wasn't Benidorm and you couldn't reserve pegs like sunloungers. She removed one of the bags but the peg left was next to one which was in disrepair so we reverted to our normal side.

Gordon can Just be seen in the red cap through the trees on the adjoining peg. I set up a carp rod on a buzzer and a float rod. The latter saved my sanity as I had just the one bite on the feeder from this.

It hardly needed a 2.25tc carp rod but that's what it had. It was a nice fish around 5lb.

We both had around 25 fish each mainly roach, Rudd and perch. No carp for us but the lady angler did catch one and was clearly thrilled as she walked round to show hubby with the fish in the landing net. The sun shone but there was plenty of cloud. I tried floating bread but there was no interest at all. Ducks came from nowhere when bread appeared but were not too much of a pest. The heron was a constant companion and a kingfisher flashed past. It was a lovely days' fishing and we chatted about all kinds of things. I lost the cover and snag ears for the Delkim but found them again so all was well.

Cheers Gordon for an enjoyable day and let's hope the tench oblige on Friday. We are eternal optimists.

 

[peter crabtree]

12:30 to 4:30pm on the canal at Berkhamstead. Caster and hemp.
The worst time to fish but all I had... Warm and sunny afternoon chilling session

.

At least a few bites from bits..

 

[wetthrough]

Another enjoyable day with Mike. I'd have taken a picture of Mike doing 'battle' with the Bream but wasn't quick enough. That's Bream for you! It was just a fun day fishing. Nothing spectacular size wise but no tiddlers and pristine fish, very shy bites from the Roach. Last of the last casts and I hook into my one and only big fish of the day only for it to slip the hook with the tackle ending up in the tree. That's fishing. Looking onward and forward to Friday

 

[flightliner]

Little time available today but I had a hankering to wet a line so it was a choice of my two very local rivers, the Don or the Rother ( where Authur Scargill was arrested in the miners strike).
The Don won the day and by eleven am I was ensconced in a tight, tree lined swim, a very shallow turbulent one where I had little choice but to stand in the river to get a line in with no tangles.
There was a large sub surface rock where the water was virtually static behind it with the water below the static being impossible to fish on account of the sun making a float impossible to see.
It would be a limited period of trying to winkle any fish from the mini bit of water, three or four maybe and so it proved, three nice Greyling came my way then it was time to move on.
Four swims later I had had enough, the sun was exhausting but I was satisfied with my twenty or so fish, Trout and Greyling and three minnows.

 

[seth49]

It was a scorcher yesterday, arrived at the fishery at 11 am, to find I was the first there, so I went to the corner peg we had opened up the evening before, couldn’t fish into the corner before because of the irises, now I had access to it at last, when I first walked round this fishery last year I liked the look of this peg, and it proved to be right.

Usual sleeper rod in right hand margin, which did nothing today, small perch kept dragging it out of position, started with my pole to the left, fishing mussels or paste, tried luncheon meat as well, nothing on that, first fish was a carp of about five pounds, then another about eight, after this it changed to smaller fish, I had two F1s, a tench, a couple of skimmers and a nice little crucian, plus a few roach, I had been feeding groundbait more than micros today, which seemed to attract more variety, I had also changed to worm for bait.

Next carp I hooked did me in the reeds, so put the pole away and got my Nash dwarf 2 1/4 pounds nine ft carp rod out instead, free lining mussel or worm over the groundbait, which was a good move as the next two carp weighed 11 lb 2 ozs, and the mirror at 13 lbs 13 ozs, which gave me a really good scrap.

Thankfully by 5 pm it clouded over and cooled of a bit, which was a good thing at least the sweat wasn’t running down my face onto my glasses, it was really that hot, because of the cloud cover it was going dark by seven o clock, so started packing up, good thing as it rained hard on the way home, so a good day with a mixed bag of fish, enjoyed it.

 

[rayner]

Even though it was expected to be a little too warm for me I had a day with paste. A total of eight fish were all I managed, well below par with paste for me.
I know the reason, pollution.
The cause of pollution is the dreaded furlough, roll on the end of the furlough. Boris should be shot for contemplating such a move never mind implementing it.
Since the end of the lockdown, local fisheries have seen nothing short of an explosion of anglers. Regularly fisheries are seeing every peg taken resulting with the fish being hammered daily, even if fish are showing to be elusive of late from my two visits I see bait being overfed in most pegs from anglers trying to force fish into feeding.
Had this idea occurred t me a little sooner I would have changed tack but being short of time on the bank I'm a little slow with making changes that I should make automatically.
For those on furlough. GET BACK TO WORK!!!
Grumpy I may be but it is forced on me by others. ???

 

[mikench]

I sympathise Gary but at the moment the world and his wife are going fishing and have the time to do so. Can you not join a club and enjoy some exclusivity and one with waters and pegs which are suitable for your needs? Good luck.

 

[christhoel]

The day started well steady stroll down to pebble beach fished 2 rods one hair rigged meat in the run hoping for a barbel or chub and another rod fishing maggots this rod was plagued with minnows had 8 at that stretch and nothing on the meat !
Walk onto the canal and had some of the resident roach out had 5 in half hour !
Moved further up stream back onto the river on a bigger pool fished the meat to the far swirls (not a touch again ! ) and the other rod ledgered maggot down stream that seemed to do the business had half a dozen grayling the biggest is pictured !
Then the phone rang and it was the oldest lads school wanting me to fetch him cos he’s being excluded for the rest of the week for inappropriateness of social media !
He has ruined my day none of my kids are to do such devious things and bully others !

 

[no-one in particular]

Even though it was expected to be a little too warm for me I had a day with paste. A total of eight fish were all I managed, well below par with paste for me.
I know the reason, pollution.
The cause of pollution is the dreaded furlough, roll on the end of the furlough. Boris should be shot for contemplating such a move never mind implementing it.
Since the end of the lockdown, local fisheries have seen nothing short of an explosion of anglers. Regularly fisheries are seeing every peg taken resulting with the fish being hammered daily, even if fish are showing to be elusive of late from my two visits I see bait being overfed in most pegs from anglers trying to force fish into feeding.
Had this idea occurred t me a little sooner I would have changed tack but being short of time on the bank I'm a little slow with making changes that I should make automatically.
For those on furlough. GET BACK TO WORK!!!
Grumpy I may be but it is forced on me by others. ???

Today I was with a non fishing mate and on the way back I took him for a look round a commercial, he has expressed an interest and I thought this might appeal to him and just give him an idea. I have fished this commercial before and it was always a bit too populated and crowded for me but I thought maybe not on a Wednesday. It was packed, every swim in two lakes we drove past taken, everything was on display, poles, carp rods, multi rods the lot, all sitting facing each other. I have crossed it off my list but I was a bit surprised to see this but then I read your bit about furlough and this must be why. Hopefully they won't all discover rivers before they go back to work.

 

[mikench]

Today I was with a non fishing mate and on the way back I took him for a look round a commercial, he has expressed an interest and I thought this might appeal to him and just give him an idea. I have fished this commercial before and it was always a bit too populated and crowded for me but I thought maybe not on a Wednesday. It was packed, every swim in two lakes we drove past taken, everything was on display, poles, carp rods, multi rods the lot, all sitting facing each other. I have crossed it off my list but I was a bit surprised to see this but then I read your bit about furlough and this must be why. Hopefully they won't all discover rivers before they go back to work.

It’s that aspect which I find so off putting to the point that those I visited haven’t seen me since. I’d rather take up crochet .

 

[peterjg]

Started on the K&A canal with wheat, caught two small roach - then the boats started moving. Moved to a nearby bit of the Kennet, trotted bread had 16 roach, a gudgeon, two dace, a 3lb snottie and a 4lb 13oz brown trout. No other anglers at either venues - they must be all on commercials?

 

[john step]

Didnt go Monday due to the heat so today was my first foray of the week.
I fished a waggler on a pin at a local club easy water which today was far from easy. The carp were having none of it on the usual pellets and bread.
I resorted to a trick I used to do for barbel on the Lea in Herts.

I stuffed a size 10 carp hook with stewed wheat and fed the grains over the top. An instant response. They obviously wanted small baits as I then had six carp of which a couple were doubles. I had the biggest F1 I have ever seen, weighed at 7.4. I didnt know they grew that big.
No photos as the bank was too sloping and awkward.
Nice it was cooler too.

PS. Just read again the posts about crowded fisheries. A bit crowded for me today too. Two others on the lake!