Aaah!

That night before feeling!

Following the week from hell with work I was honestly beginning to think that fetching the bait, getting the gear together, making the sandwiches and preparing the flask was all going to be a step too far but it's all done and I'm very glad it is.

I shall be on a different river to usual tomorrow which I fished earlier this season on an ill prepared whim and this time I am fully tooled up to explore what I think should be a good perch swim which I identified back on my previous visit and I will be perfectly happy for a not so eventful day where I can kick back, relax and just enjoy the anticipation, whatever it may or may not bring.

The perfect frame of mind for passing up what I know will be good fishing elsewhere in search of a speculative big stripey.

Anyone out this weekend and what have you got planned?

I picked up a couple of pints of maggots today with intentions of doing some trotting later in the afternoon....unfortunately the skies opened ten minutes after I came out of the shop up and it still hasn't stopped slashin' down so that was that, no fishing today. Problem now is the river levels tomorrow, maybe it'll have dropped off enough later in the afternoon to have a go, if not it's gonn'a be Sunday.

Visited the tackle shop this morning and got fresh maggots and casters.
2kilos of Gros gardons noire and a big tin of hemp.
Tomorrow I'll be at my usual Saturday morning haunt with my neighbour Doug on the canalised river Gade stretch of the GUC near Hemel. I'll be taking a pole only this time and plan to fish caster held back in the flow for the roach and dace. Hopefully I might catch the mystery lump which I've hooked a couple of times and lost without seeing it....
Up until midweek I had the choice of 2 matches on Sunday but both have since been cancelled...Plan b I'm now going to Molesey near Hampton court to practice for a match the following Sunday. Haven't fished the Thames at all so far this season and it's been 6 years since I last fished at Molesey so I'm hoping it's still as good as it was then...

Have a great day all three of you! I am just off but the venue is undecided! I will let the car decide!

Fishing severly curtailed at the moment with just too many other things to do...however I do have a couple of tubs of particles cooked up so I may go and bait up a swim or two in the hope I can get out for a quick dangle one evening next week.

Struggling to get out anywhere at the moment since my lads accident I have become the "on call" driver for all and sundry I am determined that I will get out onto a river next week.

Off now to pick my new car up, no I haven't suddenly come into money its a motability car so I never own it but on the other hand I don't have to worry about anything other than fuel and not letting maggots escape in it

Broken foot has temporarily curtailed driving and therefore fishing , hopeful of resuming normal service next weekend

Binka.

Never fish at the weekend myself, lucky to have all week however. Like you I may give the whiskers a rest and try for perch.

What is your normal gambit when after perch? Do you bait with maggots and fish a worm, move swims, stay and wait. One rod or more?

People are saying the Trent chub are scarce this season, has you found it so?

I suppose with a nice worm almost anything could come along. Do you go very low on the hook link of perch Steve?

What about a float? Perch on the float?

****y.

****y123 said:

What is your normal gambit when after perch? Do you bait with maggots and fish a worm, move swims, stay and wait. One rod or more?

People are saying the Trent chub are scarce this season, has you found it so?

I suppose with a nice worm almost anything could come along. Do you go very low on the hook link of perch Steve?

What about a float? Perch on the float?

Click to expand...

It depends a lot on the circumstances Rich, I have found big perch will often ignore a livebait in favour of maggots which they become totally preoccupied with when there's a constant rain of them but constant feeding really is the key.

I prefer worms over anything but they're not very selective, especially when you start feeding chop which brings in just about everything that swims but I've always done well in winter with worm hook bait over a carpet of dead maggot feed. I am happy feeding chop with a really oversize lob on something like a size 4 but then you've got the pike to worry about.

I tend to favour a single swim by habit but acknowledge that I ought to move around more, I'm just too lazy

Typically I will use two rods on a stillwater unless I know I'm on a banker but I find it's a bit too much for me on rivers by the nature of the swims.

Hooklinks...

I've gone onto flouro (Drennan Supplex) just to try and give myself a bit of an edge as I'm sure you know those big river perch go like the clappers when you hit one, I took an 8lb barbel and a 3-1 perch in the same session a season or so ago and the perch took more line off me than the barbel!

As with anything it's a balance though and I tend to go with 4.4 or 3.3 if they're being a bit tricky, the one thing I will say is always fish an 'X' version hook that's strong enough to withstand the constant head shaking, a mistake which cost me the biggest perch I'm ever likely to see.