Mild, overcast and...

Blanked!

How did everyone get on then?

I managed three or four hours after missing my early alarm due to celebrating the footie win with the odd jar last night and found things as predicted with the pike pre-occupied with spawning and the perch had left the country.

I did get a follow from a jack of around 6lbs but there was no way he was taking and another miss that scared the hell out of me as it left the water like an exocet just as I was lifting out.

Still, the dog bivvy experience made it worth it and more lol! (see "Unofficial Caption Competition").

So then... how did it go?

Gale force north wind, freezing cold, white water waves - OK this was Friday but Simon (Peter Crabtree) and I connected with a good head of carp up in the water.
Jerry

....windy.
I was well chuffed when I drew a causeway peg at Marsworth ressie this morning. Started on cage and maggot 30m out. It was warm and the wind was coming from behind me. I was getting bitted out on maggot so changed to
long chuck method feeder with yellow mini boilie. Tip wrapped round and fish on, a kite round to my right and this was not stopping, needless to say my set up was too light to handle carps.
Went back on the maggot and cage and got a few small roach. 5 minutes to the allout a wrap and a bream was in the net.
Weighed in 3lb 9oz.
Winner had 5 bream for 18lb.
19 fished...

Dismal, 48 hours of nothing other than exceedingly noisy wildlife and very persistent and annoying tufted ducks. Barely even seen a fish move in all that time. I was chancing my arm on the relatively decent weather getting the fish moving on what is a big, deep and cold pit, it didn't. Judging by the fact that the pike haven't spawned yet, and show little sign of doing so yet, and they spawned on 31st of March last year, I reckon we are a good month behind on 2012.

Despite the warm day on Friday, the night was bitterly cold. I awoke to bright sunshine and a thick covering of frost. Everyone else on the place blanked too, even the guy scratching around for bits with maggots. On the plus side, I've seen, and mostly heard, more wildlife than I have for a good while. Kingfishers, grebes, terns, swallows, a plethora of ducks and geese, buzzards, owls and bats. Spring has certainly begun, but it's got a way to go yet.

Trouting at Farmoor on Sat'day. Buzzers hatching by the gazillion and all intent on getting as far down my lughole as possible. Very bright so fish stayed deep but finally sorted them out...25' leader and heavy buzzers fished almost static. Me & Phil shared 19 fish including two "blues" averaging 4lb and lost 3/4 others each. At last some proper spring buzzer fishing.

Swallows all over the place too....lovely.

Had a trip to the club pond planned for Fri but that was abandoned when I awoke to pouring rain.

Saturday I went up to the local fishery. A thick frost coated the ground and it brought back memories of last year when frost followed by a hot afternoon resulted in me blanking at the venue for the first and only time.

Arrived, tackled up a float rod and started off with red maggot. I`d arranged to meet TincaTim up there and I`d only had about 3 casts when he turned up. Pleasantries exchanged I went back to fishing and didn`t have to wait long for the first fish of the day and year, a modest skimmer of just a few ounces. Next came a small roach and then the bites died off. As the sun had moved round a little I could switch to my prefered line to my right that I`d been feeding since I arrived. Switching to single corn brought me instant success in the form of a small carp of around a pound. Judging by how it came in it was foulhooked but I couldn`t be sure as by the time I`d netted it the hook had fallen out. I`d say it fought like a bream but that would actually be unfair to bream.

The going was slow after that so as an angler a couple of pegs down was having some succes with the method feeder I decided to set mine up and give that a whirl. The going was still slow but eventually I had a few taps on the rod tip. Nothing else developed though so I reeled in only to find a small skimmer attached to the hook. Honestly I`m not sure it was even capable of swallowing the 10mm boilie it had attempted to eat.

The next success came on the float rods that I`d left in the margins. Spotting the float burying itself I lifted into something that put a bit of a bend in the rod and after a short but satisfying fight a beautifully conditioned female tench of about 2lbs was resting in the landing net. Caught on a banded 8mm spicy sausage pellet, a first for me.

The only other fish I caught was a small roach that managed to foul hook itself on the method feeder.


I lost concentration in the afternoon and couldn`t really settle on a method. An enjoyable session though, it was nice to sit by the water in the sun and any day where I catch a tench is a good one as far as I`m concerned.

Saturday afternoon, bright and sunny down south, first outing since January, not a bite for 3hrs then 2 fish in 10mins. Nothing in next half hour and heard a nice Indian meal calling my name.... Still, it was a result as my mate had blanked on his previous 4 trips.

Anything but overcast here. Bright and sunny this morning. Just been up to the farm pond to harvest some live baits for a catfishing expedition after lunch. Had the elastic stretched with some over-size mirrors, but managed to get through them and put half a dozen takers in the tank.

Can't see me doing much this afternoon with the sunshine, but I won't know until I try.

Total blow-out on an open on saturday,did,nt draw particularly well,but had a plan.Catch 20lb of skimmers,and go for carp in the margins in the last hour,maybe 2 or 3 should push weight up to framing place.All going to plan until after 2 hours,a few carp are being caught,so rather than stick to the plan ,panic set in,i spent the next thee hours piling bait in the margins,chasing shadows,totally overfeeding the swim and neglecting the skimmers-end result 19lb 6oz,48lb won,35lb second,25lb third-should of just carried on catching skimmers-who knows-a harsh lesson!!

Saturday night on a club lake was my first overnight trip for about a year. Targeting Bream and hopefully Tench (everyone else was Carping - as is usual).

Late afternoon and evening sun worshipping but no fish:





Had to wait till 10pm for the first indication which turned out to be the first Bream of the night. Went on to have 9 or 10 mostly around 5lb but one of them went a couple of ounces over 8lb. They were still feeding at 1:00am when I left them to it and hit the sleeping bag.



The intention was to start again just before dawn hoping to find the Tench. Woke to a heavy frost and an air temperature of -4

I'm getting far too old for such mornings



Should have carried on after the Bream!

Like the first pic Neil, cool man. Is that a twig in your gob or a cheroot?

peter crabtree said:

Like the first pic Neil, cool man. Is that a twig in your gob or a cheroot?

Click to expand...

Trick of the light!

Mind you, the inactivity (except what appeared to be constant malletting of bivvy pegs on the opposite bank) was enough to start me smoking again!

It was so mild during the evening/early night that I was very confident of finding some Tench come dawn. The very fast and considerable drop in temperature was quite a shock!