How did you get on?

[john step]

Groundhog day on a local pool. Must be grateful about a local bites venue with plenty of rod bending action. Roach, a decent enough perch and 8 carp to about 7or 8 pounds. All good fun on a match rod and the rest of my dead reds which are fast running out. A few on punch also.

 

[no-one in particular]

High tide 11.30am so had a couple of hours, sunny but not so warm with a chilly breeze. Just frozen lug and my carp rod with a 3 hook flapper trace. First cast this small Plaice which to be honest I did not know I had until I started reeling in. One decent knock later and one or two sucked lugworm but this was the only fish. Still, enjoyed it and some seabirds over the cliffs, fulmars, crows and the herring gulls of course. My mate came down for a chinwag as well so not a bad day although a bigger plaice would have gone down well.

 

[mikench]

Glad to see you out again Gordon. I've gone off the red Drennan hooks because they do open out as you now know.

 

[bullet]

Glad to see you out again Gordon. I've gone off the red Drennan hooks because they do open out as you now know.

Yep, they're shite.
Tried them for the first time recently, they went in the bin after one outing and a decent lost Chub.

 

[bullet]

Went to my local river today, with good expectation as it is at a nice level.
Unfortunately, Farmer Barleymow on the other side had decided today was a good day to get a swing shovel and a few chainsaws in and do a bit of 'gardening' on his side by ripping out a load of willows and removing woody debris from the river upstream of where I needed to fish, resulting in masses of crap and sediment coming down in the flow.
Went home, got onto the EA to see if they had permission......what a f** king waste of time, not interested, nothing to do with them, apparently, even though it appeared habitat was being ruined.
I need to talk to the relevent council, they said...
Guess what, Council closed.
So if you want to get away with habitat destruction, just do it at the weekend !

 

[mikench]

.......and a lockdown helps.

 

[john step]

.......and a lockdown helps.

Weekends I notice are the times when someone in a remote farm decides to get rid of all their old tyres by burning them.

 

[rayner]

There's a venue local to me that as stocked over 80 carp from mid doubles to the high twenties with two fish over thirty pounds.
They were stocked mid-December, right through Jan and Feb, there were several tents of carpers on the bank after the thirties with the lure of the catches being the ones to name the fish. Friday this last week one of the 30lb fish were caught, 31lb 1oz.
It was caught by a young man on match tackle, method feeder and a 6mm fishery pellet.

 

[mikench]

Thwarted by a work party on the only local water containing Pike I looked elsewhere for a spot of fishing . I was in two minds whether to go early and have a frozen muddy field to cross or take my chances and go later. I chose the former and was the only one there.

I sat in the car for a bit to allow it to get heated up and then made swift progress across a frozen field.
I settled into my favourite peg with a weak sun shining on me all day. It was rather nice and I caught consistently on maggot and a size 20 hook. Anything else and believe you me I tried most other things , produced nothing at all. 3 other bods came mid morning and feeder fished without success. I had 29 fish ?, mainly gudgeon, Small perch and roach and a few roach around 12oz or so like this.

A lovely day and karma was restored.

 

[Pete Shears]

Another piking trip to the local canal feeder reservoir yesterday - frost on the fields, -2C showing on the car dashboard,fiery sunrise and a brilliant,bright full moon. Soon warmed up lugging all the kit ,sat there with a coffee and managed to get two owls replying to my own owl whistle.
A good mate turned up and settled into the next swim up and he had the first fish,a jack of about 4lb. I managed to get four jacks between 4 & 6lb - margins,25 yards out or as far as I could cast a sardine so no consistency,the water probably still too cool for spawning.

 

[rayner]

There's a venue local to me that as stocked over 80 carp from mid doubles to the high twenties with two fish over thirty pounds.
They were stocked mid-December, right through Jan and Feb, there were several tents of carpers on the bank after the thirties with the lure of the catches being the ones to name the fish. Friday this last week one of the 30lb fish were caught, 31lb 1oz.
It was caught by a young man on match tackle, method feeder and a 6mm fishery pellet.

Another 30 plus fish yesterday to carp tackle.
What was noticeable was the tackle used, it appeared to be a fixed rig that should be free running, A size 4 or 6 hooks should be a maximum size 10, a braided line should be mono.
But then again rules can be broken, most commercials rules are ridiculous.

 

[balalur]

Bought my first pole last week-a vintage/used Browning Pro Country 110 Pole. Never pole fished before but I always wanted to give it a try. I have elasticated it using Preston no4 solid elastic and made a rig for it- 12mm mainline,10mm hook length to a size 18 Guru match hook and 0.5G float.
Fished at 10m for about an hour and a half yesterday afternoon using a month old maggots for bait and on the hook (most of them dead..).
First put in and I had a bite in seconds-a sideways strike and I was into a decent fish pulling elastic! I had to use the landing net as I couldn’t safely lift it... A very beautiful rudd of about 4-5 ounces.

I had about 15 beautiful rudd in total with a surprise last fish-a grass carp around a pound!

 

[no-one in particular]

Nothing to say about today, best bait (fresh lug), ideal tides, good sea, slightly choppy with some color and not a snitch, not a even a tremble; thats fishing for you. I didn't stay too long, something was telling my fishing brain it wasn't going to get any better and it was a bit cold, strong east wind blowing, not the slight breeze forecast. 3/4 of a packet of lug left over that's gone in the freezer for another day. Might try somewhere different next time.

 

[mikench]

I feel your pain Mark. There is always another day.

 

[bullet]

Nothing to say about today, best bait (fresh lug), ideal tides, good sea, slightly choppy with some color and not a snitch, not a even a tremble; thats fishing for you. I didn't stay too long, something was telling my fishing brain it wasn't going to get any better and it was a bit cold, strong east wind blowing, not the slight breeze forecast. 3/4 of a packet of lug left over that's gone in the freezer for another day. Might try somewhere different next time.

Bad Luck, that certainly is fishing for you, possible more so with sea fishing, especially this time of year.

 

[no-one in particular]

Bad Luck, that certainly is fishing for you, possible more so with sea fishing, especially this time of year.

There has been some Dabs and Plaice about, I had one small one on Saturday but not today; some days are like that, no matter what you do however; easterly wind, when the winds in the east the fish bite the least!

 

[bullet]

Yep, one tide cam be fantastic, and the next dead.

 

[Pete Shears]

Back on the Wreake this morning,cold and misty,level down again with a tinge of colour - looked just right.
Settled down with the quivertip and crust,first cast - a chub 3lb 8oz, second cast - another chub 2lb 12oz and then lots of nothing,tried flake,worm,cheese paste and worm - still nothing. Suddenly went much colder when a slight breeze kicked from the east stirring up the mist which made me colder than the frosts and snow a couple of weeks ago - time to go.The car told me it was 1C.

 

[no-one in particular]

Yep, one tide cam be fantastic, and the next dead.

But the conditions were perfect for them, what is it they don't understand.

 

[rayner]

Two thirties this week at Aston, my question is, why the hell do carp anglers especially name fish. To me, it's absolutely crackers, they're fish not babbies.