How did you get on?

[mikench]

I'll follow that advice Ian as I lost a few roach yesterday with what I suspect was through being too gentle with them. On one occasion a reasonable roach came off just as I was about to lift it out and the float and line wrapped around the rod like a dervish! Still lots to learn!

 

[tigger]

I'll follow that advice Ian as I lost a few roach yesterday with what I suspect was through being too gentle with them. On one occasion a reasonable roach came off just as I was about to lift it out and the float and line wrapped around the rod like a dervish! Still lots to learn!

I've mainly found it happens when trotting for grayling and using a soft rod Mike but I suppose it could happen on still waters also although roach have soft mouths and the hooks can penetrate them easy enough without too much bant behind the strike.

 

[sam vimes]

Chris, when using the microlite I found a harder strike and keeping the pressure on stopped me from loosing the fish as you say you did. When you strike and feel the little bump often fish are only hooked very slightly and it just comes out but with the grayling I found the hook wasn't penetrating because of their hard upper lip so I struck harder but also kept the pressure on hard when retrieving them so as to stop them creating that bit of slack line caused when they wiggle as they do which allows them to shed/throw the hook....if you get my meaning. Give it a go and see if your catch rate improves .

Easier just to get the Acolyte Ultra out. I was only using the Microlite to confirm my feelings that I prefer a faster actioned rod for trotting than the Mk2 Microlite/Titan/Avenger offer. Saying that, it was a bit better than expected, though I did have to modify my preferred technique a little.

 

[103841]

Here in the Southeast our local tv weather forecaster is a chap called Simon Parkin. Simon seemed extremely confident last night that this morning it would be a very pleasant and sunny start to the day with rain arriving late afternoon followed by a pretty miserable weekend.

A trip to the lake was an absolute must this morning and a rummage through the freezer revealed prawns, bread and corn with a few left over lumps of meat in the fridge....perfect, more than enough to half empty the lake!

Alarm set for five and was fishing by six, sitting head on into a strong wind and as the clouds gathered a few spots of rain started falling on the water, and me.

Had nothing for the first hour other than lots of rogue bites which I'm now convinced are the work of the lakes very own Ninja turtles having caught a terrapin on my last visit.

Meat didn't work, nor did corn, but a change to bread brought instant success with a few Rudd, a bream and finally a tench, followed five minutes later by another tench, the same one! Never had a recapture in such a short space of time, can anyone better that?

The weather was getting worse and by 11am I'd had enough and called it a day.

Simon Parkin is leaving Meridian tonight and will give his final forecast, try and get it right old chum.

 

[barbelboi]

I’ve had a couple of short sessions this week tucking myself away where the backwater meets the river for some more dace. I’m enjoying the challenge of picking them out of an average of a foot of gin clear water in brilliant sunshine – some are so ‘cute’ that they suck the maggot to a skin in the blink of the eye and am still losing some off a micro barbed as they are ‘just’ hooked by a sliver. Many around the 6-8oz bracket, a few gobios and chublets and, the law of sod, a somewhat larger dace parted company just before I could stretch the net over the couple of meters of water vegetation in front (didn't bother with fish pics as they were about the same as last time).........

 

[tigger]

Nice pic's BB, and I gott'a say I think the waters you fish look great! Is there nothing bigger than those dace 'n' stuff in there though?

 

[103841]

I’ve had a couple of short sessions this week tucking myself away where the backwater meets the river for some more dace. I’m enjoying the challenge of picking them out of an average of a foot of gin clear water in brilliant sunshine – some are so ‘cute’ that they suck the maggot to a skin in the blink of the eye and am still losing some off a micro barbed as they are ‘just’ hooked by a sliver. Many around the 6-8oz bracket, a few gobios and chublets and, the law of sod, a somewhat larger dace parted company just before I could stretch the net over the couple of meters of water vegetation in front (didn't bother with fish pics as they were about the same as last time).........

I've had similar experiences (and failures) over the past week or two fishing the weir in Canterbury. Looking down into gin clear water I can watch the dace destroy a maggot without disturbing the float, got to be the best pick pockets in town.

 

[Pete Shears]

Spent a few hours this morning on the river Wreake after chub and anything else willing to feed. Quivertipped crust to start with in a deep pool,the tip bouncing around as the minnows gave fantastic indications but striking into fresh air until a chub of 2lb 4oz got to the bait first.
Then all the bites stopped so over to the float with worm which I could see clearly over 6ft down.Had lightning fast bites and several worms later contacted a perch of 4oz or so - beautifully coloured because of the clear water.Went on to get five more and a minnow which I then used as livebait and something promptly nicked it off the hook leaving again striking at fresh air.One white egret and a buzzard with a kingfisher provided some wildlife interest.
Also saw four hares in the field whilst attempting to locate other swims for future visits but a lot of the river is choked with reedmace,bullrushes,wild water lilies,streamer weed and lots of other aquatic growth further visits may have to wait until late autumn.

 

[barbelboi]

Nice pic's BB, and I gott'a say I think the waters you fish look great! Is there nothing bigger than those dace 'n' stuff in there though?

Yes of course Ian, and I posted them as well as the ‘lesser productive days’ if you want to call them that – I thought that this is what the thread’s all about ‘How did you get on’ – not ‘stick a post on when you get a big fish’ and disappear. Often it just feels good to fish the very local streams and backwaters for my enjoyment rather than to try to impress others. And at the moment I’m dacing..........


BTW The backwater chub go to at least this big..........

 

[tigger]

Yes of course Ian, and I posted them as well as the ‘lesser productive days’ if you want to call them that – I thought that this is what the thread’s all about ‘How did you get on’ – not ‘stick a post on when you get a big fish’ and disappear. Often it just feels good to fish the very local streams and backwaters for my enjoyment rather than to try to impress others. And at the moment I’m dacing..........

I'm not knockin your catches BB (I wouldn't do that bud) i'm curious if the place actually holds bigger fish that's all. I like the look of the places you post in your pic's, they look like waters where you don't catch bigger fish very often but they could throw up a surprise now and again which is a good feeling when it happens....just my thoughts looking at your pic's .
I fish a couple of places like that myself, lots of smaller species like dace but then I drop on something I wasn't expecting and didn't even think it was present!

 

[fishplate42]

Had a couple of hours dangling on our local river this afternoon. Even after the rain, the river was flowing almost gin-clear and it was well over 2ft deep. Now this may not seam like earth shattering news, but for our river, that is deep!

I managed to catch a couple of dace but that was it. I think it was probably the wrong time of day as we saw a few fish early on but they all seemed to disappear. A walk further up the river did not reveal any fish at all. I am still learning this river stuff at the moment. I am only fishing with a 3m whip but it is great fun finding out what works. Sue feeding the swim before I was actually fishing seems to bring the fish in, I then catch a couple and that is it - they all rush off home. We are thinking that we probably fed for too long before I actually started fishing, as we could see plenty of fish initially. I assume, putting them back may well be scaring the rest off.


Still, the day was not wasted, we came home with a nice bag full of blackberries…



Ralph

 

[peter crabtree]

I was up at 5:30 this morning and off to the canal by 6:15 arriving at my peg at 6:30. Set up my pole and 2 topkits, one shallow for right across in 2' of water and the other for middle of the far shelf.



Baits today were caster, red maggot, hemp and some nice ripe elderberries which I picked from a towpath tree on the way up to my peg.
Started on the shelf rig with caster tripping bottom in the flow and picked up some gudgeon, ruff and small roach. Kept pinging hemp and eventually tried an elderberry. First bite turned out to be a fat gudgeon but no roach seemed to want them? A change to maggot got the bleak going and I couldn't get my bait down through them on the light rig I was using. A quick try on the hard across rig with caster and more flipping bleak drove me nuts.
A change to a heavier rig with a bulk of shot 6" above the hook seemed to help and I started catching some quality roach on double maggot.
As the morning wore on the boat traffic got heavier and I spent more time not fishing than fishing as they churned up the silt...
By lunchtime it started to rain so I decided to call it a day. I was a little disappointed with my total catch but was cheered by these 2 decent goer roach, one of which I estimate was pushing 14oz.

 

[103841]

Spent a few hours this sunny and warm morning patrolling the free stretch of river through Canterbury looking for Chub. Hard work as few were showing but did manage a couple, one going about 2lb, the second about 3lb.

Ended up at my current favourite spot and watched a lad casting a lump of cheese on a spinning rod into a small tunnel going under the road, instant success with a nice chub, another hiding place I have discovered.

Ralph,
Same lad was catching chub recently on.................blackberries!

 

[tigger]

I had a several hours out today on small'ish tributary river. When I arrived I wished I hadn't bothered as it was about 3ft up and the colour of mud! I struggled to get in a position to fish it as the banks where steep as a ski slope and completely overgrown with nettles and balsam which where well above head height and just about every other prickling stinging plant and effin insect there is in existence was there also. I got stung and bitten to bu&&ery and i'm itching and smarting as I tap this out.
Anyhow once i'd managed to get on a sloping death trap of a shelf on the river bank and stood up to the tops of my wellies in the water I started to trott. I had a chub of about 2lb after several trotts which was a nightmare to get in with the water being so high because the first thing they do when you hook them is bolt for the bankside cover and once they get in there, especially the nettle and balsam stalks it's nigh on impossible to get them out. Because of this when I hooked a fish I really bullied them in preferring to risk pulling the hook out of them rather than let them get into a snag. I was lucky as not one made it to a snag that I couldn't drag it out of. I had about eight chub between 1 1/2lb and 3lb and lots of smaller ones of about eight to twelve ounces, I also had about twenty or more very chunky dace also. If i'm honest I didn't enjoy it as I was stood in a awkward position where one wrong move and the water would have gone over me wellies and I could have slid into the river! Being eaten alive by insects wasn't exactly enjoyable either and neither was all the effin nettle stings I had/still have....WTF did I bother going LOL.

 

[mikench]

Today I visited the large open water I rejected on Thursday! The weather proved to be acceptable if a little windy and as it turned out in my face! I set up my feeder rod with a pellet feeder and banded pellet and cast out more in hope than expectation. I then set up the float rod with caster and pinkies on the hook although not necessarily at the same time!

I decided to use my buzzer not having done so much before and was amazed to hear it chirruping away after about 10 minutes. The chirruping stopped almost as quickly as it started and the line dropped back. I thought have my bream followed me ! one had most certainly as I struck and a few moments later it was in my net along with what looked like a bucket of wallpaper paste!

It was my biggest bream to date weighing nearly 7lb! It looked huge but the slime probably weighed a couple of pound! A good start I thought ! This bream was then followed by a small roach and then another bream of even greater size - 8lb. It was huge and I was made up ! The float rod remained quiet and I switched to pellet. Almost immediately I had a take from a roach of about 8oz followed by several more but smaller. The buzzer sounded and I struck and from the first frantic struggles I thought I had a carp. I hadn't and as I saw the green flanks I knew I had a tench!:wh I landed a super fish weighing 6.5 lb and have a photo to prove it. When my iPhone finally sincs with myiPad I shall post a pic. This fish made my day and made my choice of venue an auspicious one.

A couple more bream of similar size followed on the feeder and a few of the smallest perch I have ever seen on the float! What a great day! My daughter was at the oval ; shame it was rained off early!

 

[103841]

^^^nice one.:thumbs:

 

[mikench]

My tench!





The venue

 

[tigger]

Mike, well done on your fish but I feel sorry for that poor tench!
That'll be down to the carp anglers on there dragging it out with their 3 1/2lb test pokers and heavy leads etc!

 

[The Runner]

Just had a very soggy evening session on the Colne at Uxbridge, usual float rod, seat, nets and box of bits job. Walked down in a lightish drizzle and got to river just in time to see Dan land his second barbel of the afternoon, about 6-8, first one had been a bit bigger, both on bread...Kept walking as I fancied one of the swims towards the bottom end but when I got there found very little flow other then down the inside as with the very low water a big bed of grassweed upstream was up to and flat on the surface and slowing it right down. Set up anyway, tiny stick with 3 no8s and a 10 spread out and a 4 right under the float and a 20 to 0.10. Chucking it down by the time I started at 4 and kept it up for the next hour and a half as I picked up mostly small perch with the odd dace, and realised that the waterproof overtrousers aren't as waterproof as they used to be, As it cleared around 6 and the light got better, could see virtually everything in the swim, which didn't include any chub or barbel, so time for a move.
Had a good look at a couple of swims as I walked back up but both looked too low so back up above the weir and dropped in three below where I had the big barbel a few weeks back.
Kept same float on but upped hooklength to 0.11. A bit of a big fish or bust swim as a rule with only a few perch to go with the lumps, but hardly any weed or other snags as its just a very dark run under low trees so no real need to go too heavy for the clarity of the water.
First few trots unexpectedly produced some nice dace 4 to 6oz before the perch moved in, a couple of 10oz fish in among them and probably had the best part of 6lb after an hour and a bit when it suddenly went dead. Predictably enough when the float went again after 15 minutes of nothing something pulled back properly and a few minutes later without too much drama had a barbel in the landing net. Nice fish of 8-3, thought that was going to be it for the evening but five minutes later hooked another which went off upstream at a rate of knots. Thought it was going to keep going round the corner which would have been problematical but fortunately it turned and came back towards me at the same speed. And as it went past me again the hook came out. Swearword. Fished on until too dark to see the float but only added a roach and another perch
Another very decent evening's fishing- can't believe how few people are on the river at the moment

 

[fishplate42]

Spent a few hours this sunny and warm morning patrolling the free stretch of river through Canterbury looking for Chub. Hard work as few were showing but did manage a couple, one going about 2lb, the second about 3lb.

Ended up at my current favourite spot and watched a lad casting a lump of cheese on a spinning rod into a small tunnel going under the road, instant success with a nice chub, another hiding place I have discovered.

Ralph,
Same lad was catching chub recently on.................blackberries!

I have not thought of fishing in there. We have plenty of blackberries. What is the biggest chub you have had out of the weir pool? I must remember to take the scales...

I drove past the weir pool on Saturday afternoon, in the pouring rain, but couldn't stop as I was on 'taxi duties'. It looks like I will be back at the weir pool early next week now, on my way to pick up the laptop I left at my Mum's house mg:

Well it is a good excuse, can't go all that way for nothing

Ralph.