How did you get on?

[mark_t]

Had a few hours at local pool so had the carp rods out, within 30 minutes had a take on the left rod on a tutti frutti boilie



This was very close to the Lilly pads so had to bully it a bit to get it out of the snags.

After about 2 hours the right rod alarm screamed and so carp number 2 a little bigger than the first, this was on a robin red boilie



I did also catch a bream but we shall not dwell on that

 

[buick_toni]

Today the weather had improved a lot from what it was on previous trips. It was sunny and warm, although a bit windy again. I was at the short river which I have visited a few times before, and there the current was very strong making things a bit hard. Also the river acted as a funnel to the wind making it quite annoying at times. Because of these, I mostly fished on the upper parts where the river connects to the lake.

And I got fish there! Actually two of them, both pike. Almost 1kg. Both equally But after the long winter it was great getting even that. The first one felt huge, adrenaline was rushing and I had a hard time pulling my gloves off and reaching for my net. Well, the truth was a bit disappointing, I had to laugh at myself a bit. Every year it's the same, no matter how small the first fish, it always feels way bigger.

 

[mikench]

I had planned to go out fishing today but my sandwich maker decided to do a pirouette and land on her knees on the pavement. She is an old girl of 70 and this resulted in hours at the A and E .

Nothing broken fortunately so she will be able to supply me with grub for fishing tomorrow
She has been admonished and promised not to be so thoughtless again.

She is far more important than fishing John as I am sure you know! By the way 70 is the new 60

 

[mikench]

Had a few hours at local pool so had the carp rods out, within 30 minutes had a take on the left rod on a tutti frutti boilie



This was very close to the Lilly pads so had to bully it a bit to get it out of the snags.

After about 2 hours the right rod alarm screamed and so carp number 2 a little bigger than the first, this was on a robin red boilie



I did also catch a bream but we shall not dwell on that

Nothing wrong with Bream!! I would say that as it seems that is all I can catch

 

[maggot_dangler]

Fished the pool again today .

had not even setup properly empty hook into the water bang away it went roach around 6oz or so then a sucsession of Crucians Bream and tench should have taken my scales with me as one of the tench was a right old lump as was one of the Crucians just love the way they fight size for size real scrappers .



PG ...

 

[mikench]

Just got back after an interesting days fishing minus a variety of kit blown away by the horrendous wind! It was really bad despite the sunshine and blue sky.

I arrived at my current favourite at 8.00 am to find over 30 anglers already there. The specimen lake was empty and I had never fished it so I thought why not

I had a good sized bream to begin with which weighed 4.5 lb( my biggest to date) and then followed up with a mirror carp weighing 12 lbs:wh I felt great despite the best efforts of Hurricane Albert! By 1.00pm half the anglers had gone because of the wind; it really was dreadful!

Another 7 bream followed all around the 4lb Mark so a much better day. I had to go early to pick up the wife from the station as she had been to Birmingham for a conference. She ridicules me for my addiction to curry and then goes out for a balti I caught the carp on polony and the bream on corn using a pellet feeder. Roll on tomorrow and I hope the wind subsides. I have even got a tan although it might be wind burn

 

[barbelboi]

It was back to the woodland pond this morning, a predominately sunny day with a bit of a breeze. Armed with a few reds and some hemp from the bait fridge I took the mile, or so, stroll over the fields/woods to the pond hoping for some more crucians.

I noticed that there are still three duckling from the original thirteen who took a bit of interest in the sound of the hemp hitting the margins. The fishing, even though we haven’t had an overnight frost for over a week now, started quite slow with 3 crucians in the first hour using a red – then a small perch of about a pound – then nothing for around half an hour. This wasn’t going to be another bumper crucian session.

So it was plan ‘B’ with the plastic hemp for some roach. The fish were very finicky and were not competing like last week. The bites were lightning fast so I thought I’d miss the first eight or nine to build up their confidence. I did then manage to hit the bites and took 11 from a shoal about this size over the next couple of hours. I fished from 10-3pm and the going was certainly the toughest yet – and it can’t be from loads of bait being chucked in over the bank holiday as I’m the only one that fishes the pond and definitely not at weekends.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Very pretty roach, Jerry...you'd think it was from a chalk stream.

 

[barbelboi]

Thanks Tony, the effort I had to put in today I would have happily accepted them in any guise........

 

[seth49]

Another good day today, my first tench of the year at 2 lb6 oz. the near leather at 10 lbs 6 oz, and the linear at 12 lbs exactly, the two carp were on the sleeper rod on pellets, and the tench I caught on the float rod on corn it was in really good condition and put up a good scrap.

Also had three bream on the float, and lost a good one at the net, plus a few small roach skimmers and perch,so five double figure carp in two days, not bad considering the east winds, it was blowing a lot harder today, no sign of any carp on the top.

If the wind changes and warms up, it should only get better, might get some crucians as well.?

 

[john step]

First time out for over two weeks so I went to an easy place to see if I could remember how to hold a rod!

Did I say easy?? That cold Easterly off the North Sea made fishing difficult.

I couldn't buy a bite in the morning but things warmed a bit in the PM and six carplets saved the day. No.1 carp bait breadflake did the trick.

 

[nottskev]

Records were broken today. The brightest sun, the bluest sky, the strongest wind and the smallest catch I've ever had from the deep lake. I think I'd conceded from the start when instead of pole or slider I just put out a little tip rod. An hour on a pellet feeder with pellet or corn on the hook - nothing. An hour on a small cage feeder with groundbait and corn or maggot in a different spot - nothing. An hour on a bomb further out with just a hookbait - 1 3lb bream and 2 skimmers. When I realised the only way to get a bite was to feed nothing, I decided to try again when the fish were more appreciative, not to say hungry, and spent the last half hour chatting with a friend about where we'd fish next time out. At least it wasn't as cold as the last outing.

 

[mikench]

Brilliant Seth but no more tench pictures if you dont mind

 

[peter crabtree]

.When I realised the only way to get a bite was to feed nothing.

Associated Matt, hope you're reading this good advice....

 

[cg74]

When I realised the only way to get a bite was to feed nothing

Associated Matt, hope you're reading this good advice....

Good advice, well to a certain extent....

My afternoon would've been a much quieter affair had I not fed anything. I started feeding tentatively with a small blockend feeder filled with red maggots and chopped worms.
As Bites came I slowly increased the feed, firstly by using a larger feeder and then casting more frequently.

This is one of the key skills in our sport; getting our quarry to take our hookbait. A skill that we develop over time.



Oh I Nearly forgot my catch return; five tench of about 4lb each and six bream of between 4 and 6lb, from an old estate lake.

 

[Tee-Cee]

That's all very well cg74, and a nice catch, but you forgot to say what was on the hook, or was it reds maggots AND worm??

Assoc/Matt will be on your case if you don't say........................

Nice afternoons fishing, though..

 

[cg74]

OMG, I can see why I seldom write up my returns.....
But just for Matt, I used red maggots and red worms and my hook choice was a size 12 Drennan Carbon Feeder, tied to 4lb12oz Reflo Powerline.

And to eliminate any confusion, the bream were all common/bronze bream (Abramis brama).

 

[nottskev]

Quote:
Originally Posted by nottskev
When I realised the only way to get a bite was to feed nothing....

Hello cg74, glad your day worked out better. The bit you quoted about not feeding wasn't advice or a generalisation. People do, it's true take a hookbait only approach in some limited contexts, such as fishing corn on the bomb or punched bread discs for freezing cold winter commercial carp. But I was just commenting on the lack of interest from the fish on that particular day. I have heard about building a swim up gradually.... in fact the rest of my post tells you I'd tried that for two hours in two different ways without any sign that would merit increasing the feed. So we might both have been right

 

[cg74]

Quote:
Originally Posted by nottskev
When I realised the only way to get a bite was to feed nothing....

Hello cg74, glad your day worked out better. The bit you quoted about not feeding wasn't advice or a generalisation. People do, it's true take a hookbait only approach in some limited contexts, such as fishing corn on the bomb or punched bread discs for freezing cold winter commercial carp. But I was just commenting on the lack of interest from the fish on that particular day. I have heard about building a swim up gradually.... in fact the rest of my post tells you I'd tried that for two hours in two different ways without any sign that would merit increasing the feed. So we might both have been right

Hi Kev, I realise the quote used wasn't written for advice purposes, I only used it following Peter Crabtree post.

 

[nottskev]

Thanks cg - I get you now. It was unlikely you intended to imply that I think not feeding is the best policy I could have been clearer - my point was that on this usually productive lake, it was interesting to see that the only place I could get a bite was a few metres out and away from the spots I'd been trying to tempt them to feed in with regular small helpings of pellets or groundbait and dead reds. It was as if they were positively repelled by food!