How did you get on?

[mikench]

Had a much better day today despite the weather which proved to be contrary to the forecast ie very windy and wet! It improved but the brolly stayed up to shelter me from the wind. It was cold though and my poorly finger was sore by the end!

What about the fish I hear you ask! Guess what, yes the bream did not let me down and I had a dozen to 3lb. Strangely no carp and no roach!

A guy arrived early on and set up a rod pod and two rods. He then tried to set up his brolly! An hour later he was finally ready! I watched his brolly blow away three times and turn inside out a few times more! He struggled with his enormous net and blanked! I really felt for him and I remembered my own struggles. You get what you pay for when it comes to brollys! I hope he wasn't put off!

 

[peter crabtree]

My recent exploration of the canal in and around Hemel Hempstead found me on another new to me pound today. This is to be our venue for next Tuesday's old codgers outing..



A brief text message to our artistic friend and I was soon joined by Rob who couldn't resist a go when I offered him my rod...Son of Meldrew also turned up and we all had a good old chinwag..

I caught mainly gudgeon interspersed with chublets, perch, skimmers and roach.

 

[theartist]

Jeez you're sneaky with that camera Simon

 

[john step]

Went with a mate to the Tidal for barbel today. We fished all day into 2 hrs of dark and both blanked.
Our excuse was the couple of recent frosts. No barbel turning over on the surface at dusk. Nix, nothing.
I better stick to the pike I think.

 

[mikench]

I was encouraged to go fishing by er indoors who had plans and I didn't need asking twice! I took my dead maggots and my new pin to the same venue as yesterday! It was very very windy and raining so I decided to save the pin for another day and use the ABU. I put up the brolly and kept it up as the squalls became more frequent and violent! I think live maggots are decidedly nicer than dead ones and I am not too keen on them!

Despite keeping them in water they gradually turned black but that did not deter the roach! I had around 20 and only a couple were tiddlers with the majority around the 6 to 8oz mark and a couple around 12 oz. there were only 3 diehards on all three lakes and taking into account the weather I am not surprised!

I used the Mach 3 and have to say it is a very good rod which flatters my lack of skill being very quick and responsive on the pickup!

I reverted to pellets later in the day but no response!

 

[peter crabtree]

No rain down here in metroland but bright and very breezy today, a horrid cold NWesterly was gusting down the cut behind the supermarket in town...
Fishing close in to the wharf again with a .50g pole float to a 16 and double maggot.

All the recent talk of pins prompted me to dust off the Bewick for a change...

First few bites, prompted by a constant stream of loosefed maggots, were some lovely dace. So good to see these silver darts making a comeback around here after a long absence..

After some chunky roach, gudgeon and perch I hooked something that pulled back enough to crank the ratchet on the reel, as it flashed near the surface I thought it was a big roach.

It wasn't ...

I was shivering cold as I awaited that last bite before going, it was a lovely sail away which went solid as I lifted in ....
Ping...mg:

 

[mikench]

Are pins catching on?

 

[peter crabtree]

Not really no, just didn't want to risk damaging my match reels fishing on concrete....

 

[tigger]

Not really no, just didn't want to risk damaging my match reels fishing on concrete....

HEY PC.....go on the appropriate thread if your gonn'a start talking about pins....you've done enough moaning about people talking pins on here!! .

 

[john step]

I think live maggots are decidedly nicer than dead ones and I am not too keen on them!

Despite keeping them in water they gradually turned black but that did not deter the roach! I had around 20 and only a couple were tiddlers with the majority around the 6 to 8oz mark and a couple around 12 oz. there were only 3 diehards on all three lakes and taking into account the weather I am not surprised!

I reverted to pellets later in the day but no response!

SO DEAD 'UNS ARE NOT LIKEABLE. With fish like that I should think you would love them

 

[Pete Shears]

Rain blowing in a gusty wind when I set off for the river Wreake this morning,as it got lighter the rain stopped - worth turning out then.It hadn't made much difference to the river though even clearer and lower than my previous visit.Still quiver tipped crust was still working and managed to land a chub of 1lb 2oz and a surprise roach of 14oz,both in perfect condition - no
injuries from otters or cormorants.very slow going though,tried a big black slug which emerged from the grass at my feet - nothing,punched bread on the float - nothing,worms on a light leger and float - nothing,same went for flake.Not much doing on the wildlife front save for jackdaws,crows and rooks,the cold blustery north westerly must have put everything into hiding.

 

[flightliner]

Is tare time still ok, have the frosts killed it on the tidal Trent in general. I neede to know , if it was I could move on to other things, a pike. Or some chub maybe even a Zed or three.
So, wind n tide being favourable I was running a Pete Warren stick down a lovely run of water hoping that I could repeat some of the previous bags of roach.
Not to be sadly not a bite in three hours -- to the sea and back up to Newark-- bug*^r !
Ok, on goes the feeder and it's a bite most put ins but oh how persnickety you they were, four tiny Dace in far to long had me reaching back for my float set up as the light became more iffy.
Tare for the last half hour for nothing then a final half hour with maggot for seventeen bits of tin before I could no longer see my float.
Questions answered-- no more tares for a while, move on, maybe go for a Sturgeon like the biggie that was taken not long ago further along the river.
Anyway, change it will be and to be honest it's nice.
Such a fascinating river, full of surprises, much like the barn owl that flew over me to wave me off as I left at dusk.
Mystery too, I mean-- who is it that's vaping under this tree?

 

[sam vimes]

who is it that's vaping under this tree?

Binka.

 

[S-Kippy]

Something a bit different for me today. Big Dave had assured me that the carp lake held some good perch. I fancied a change so off I went armed with 50 lobs and a packet of prawns.

I didn't get the exact spot I wanted but I was happy with where I was.....though not happy with the weather fairy who said nothing about blazing sun. The promised overcast just never happened and as a consequence I was utterly biteless until the light levels started to drop around 3-30. By 4-30 I'd had 6 fish....nothing massive....the best two around 1-6 and 1-8 with another decent fish lost all on worm.

As darkness fell I put one rod away and concentrated on the other switching to prawn on the hook. Today was clearly a prawn day as I had virtually a fish a chuck between 5 and 6-15.....though just as BD said once it's dark the smaller fish seem to dominate. I did manage the best fish of the trip which I guessed at maybe 1-10 but the rest were 6-8 oz jobs. Double prawn or a great big king prawn seemed to do the business over a disgusting mush of chopped lobs,diced prawn,red maggot and a squirt of Predator Plus.

Nice to do something different and fish finer for a change. I was hoping for something a bit more substantial but I went out to catch perch and catch perch I did. I actually really enjoyed it and I will be back again to see if I can find those bigger stripeys.

Loads of blokes carping as usual and not catching either so I think I was right to target the perch today.

Amazingly the M25 was as good as gold both ways....i think the Highways Agency tracker must have fallen off my car or the Skippy App has been corrupted. Either way I'm certainly not complaining.

 

[no-one in particular]

Binka.

Must have set fire to himself with one of those left over rockets from bonfire night stuffed down his trousers.....
Sorry Bink, couldn't resist.

 

[mikench]

It îs Binka ! He is an expert in Native American smoke signals and not a lot of people know that

The smoke says" get s*****d the lot of you"

 

[nottskev]

I hadn't been out for a week, thanks to a raft of apt's for doctors, dentists etc, and the weather hadn't been inspiring. But this morning I thought “Why haven't I fished the canal lately?”

There's a stretch below locks 10 miles out of town where a friend had fished earlier in the week, and, despite a biteless 2 hours when no boats passed and the water cleared and stood still, he'd caught a few in the end. But anyway, this was Saturday, and the place is normally Boat City. Couldn't happen again, could it?


So I set off with half a pint of casters and minimal gear. There was nobody fishing, and a glance in the water confirmed that there'd been no boats for several hours – you could see the bottom from the lock bridge.

Hope springs eternal etc, so at 12 I set up to fish in the deepest part, two thirds over, cupped a few casters in and waited for a bite. Or a boat. By 2.30, neither had arrived, and I was about to wrap up when the lock runner went and a boat came through. This sparked an upsurge in sport lasting until 2.45.

Why don't I fish the canal more often? It hasn't put me off, and I'll probably go back in a few years.


To be fair, the canal can fish really well. A match was won on these pegs with 16lb of roach last year, and it holds a fair number of big fish, too, from chub and carp to oddities like this Zander, caught from the same peg last year on caster on a size 20 and .8 bottom, and included here to balance up today's embarrassing catch photo.

 

[tigger]

Nice one Kev.....but I do hate canals!

 

[peter crabtree]

May be try bread punch next time Kev, if there is a next time...?
I swear by it when the canal is clear...

 

[nottskev]

May be try bread punch next time Kev, if there is a next time...?
I swear by it when the canal is clear...

I think you're right there. My mate caught on bread - but wasn't catching even on that when the canal was static.