How did you get on?

[The Runner]

First time out in a few weeks, stayed local on Loch Portree but closer to home than my usual spots there, fished it from Black Rock (tidal island) about half a mile out of the town. Accessible only for three hours or so either side of low tide, it did cross my mind in summer to strand myself on it and fish over the top of the tide when the loch seems to fish better, but probably not a good idea as its in full view of the harbour and someone would most likely call the lifeboat out...
Anyway, low tide around noon so fished it an hour and a half down and two and a half up. Only took light beachcaster as probably no need for a down the side rod as the wrasse have moved off now. Set up two hook rig, mackerel on one, squid on the other, both on size 1s and gave it a decent chuck towards the big marker buoy. Pretty slow, missed a couple of rattly bites that made a mess of the mackerel so went down to a 4 on it and half an hour later another one, hit it this time, only a dab about 8". Nothing more until about 90 minutes after the tide turned when a savage couple of bangs on the tip resulted in a coalie around a pound on squid. And that was that - at least the plague of baby cod seem to have gone for the moment.
Lovely day, around ten degrees and not a breath of wind. Three ravens doing their acrobatics over Ben Chracaig behind me, thought the mild weather might have also got the local sea eagles showing off pre nesting but didn't see them (Its been so mild here that I've got a pair of collared doves building a nest opposite the house)

Sorry no pics, left phone on kitchen table..

 

[nottskev]

A funny couple of hours on a small local river on Sunday afternoon. That's funny peculiar, not funny ha ha, as my granny used to say. Kitted out for the cold forecast, I had to carry my jacket to avoid over-heating. I'd recce'd a new stretch on Friday and found some inviting swims. You can walk a fair way on this river before you find a spot where you can't see the bottom. And a bit further til you find a feature on the bank. I'd found 30 m of deep dark water on a bend overhung with big hawthorns. Any chub who saw the stretch would think about retiring there. I was heading there until I came to the underpass into the chub field, which was jammed solid with a herd of cows packed under the bridge. I'd have literally had to push through them to get past, and they had a skittish look about them.

Ok. Back to second and third choice swims.




I sat down 20m from a bend and flicked a bit of bread on a size 10 with a single swan shot link down to it, and it must have taken all of 30 seconds before the tip trembled and pulled round



Even though I got it out with barely a splash, I couldn't get another bite wherever I placed the bait in the swim, so I had to look for another spot. A spot that might have held a fish, a small eddy under my bank, had a big branch stuck on the bottom just where you'd cast, so I sat up from it, crept down and dropped a little cage feeder with liquidised bread a yard above the branch. Tantalisingly, the tip twitched a few times, but that was all.

By the time I got into the third swim, I was down to settling for places where you couldn't see the bottom, and there was a bit of depth. But by then the low sun made it impossible to see what you were doing, and I had to give this swim up.

Back to the first swim, after checking the cows where still guarding the chub field, where I swapped the swan shot for a float, ran a piece of flake through and promptly caught this miniature pike.



But why has it got that pink bit below its chin? I can't think I caused it - it was hooked in the scissors on a bite I struck immediately, was unhooked easily, and came out like that. I sent Steve the pic, and gave him a call' He identified it as a damaged gill raker, probably caused by a previous capture, although we both still found it odd, as the little pike was so tiny it couldn't be given the kind of through -the - gills handling that might damage it. It swam off ok.

A funny couple of hours, full of brambles, snags, cows waiting to mug you in subways and a bizarre capture.

 

[lakhyaman]

Tried some different waters up on the tea estate.

At the bottom of the bungalow garden is a thirty yards by ten strip of water into which some fish had been thrown a couple of years ago. I suppose it is an apology of a fishing pool but I just think of it as a single peg extracted from a snake lake!


Apology of a fish pool.

I have tried to extract a fish from there three or four times in the past but have failed miserably. So old Jibon and I spent the better part of a day trying to put matters right. The usual bait of bread paste laced with ants eggs did not produce any definitive bites. However a blimp of a Catla surfaced over the groundbait (fish feed pellets) and left me both gobsmacked and on tenterhooks expecting a bite at any moment. The thing must weigh at least 15 pounds! I did hook him for a second but then the hook came away with a gigantic scale showing he had been hooked foul.
Ants eggs come as a mess of eggs and translucent worker ants (all dead) and with practice can be wrapped around the hook and gently lowered into the water at one's rod tip. A mass of ants eggs can be irresistible to fish and reverting to this tactic finally broke the jinx.


Jibon with the first little Rohu from the pool.

The fish was not large but on a light float rod provided adequate sport and was an immensely satisfying catch.

A number of waters on the estate are farmed with catfish and Indian carp especially Rohu. One is a sort of backward "L" in shape and had recently been netted out for the market. Although almost all the catfish end up being caught some of the Indian cyprinids usually escape the net. It is a yearly cycle so the fish are not large weighing between a pound to two pounds on average with some fish which have escaped the net twice (two years in a row) being in the 3-31/2 pound class.

Jibon and I set up in the crook of the "L" with the short arm to our left and a view up the long arm


The setup


View up the long arm.

It is a very quiet spot and Jibon and I fished through the 2nd afternoon into the night with a fire to keep us warm once the sun went down. We caught any number of fish, over a bed of fish feed pellets as that is what they were fed on, all Rohu surprisingly. The netting had obviously not been very efficient but it meant sport for me and the fish would be larger at the next netting!


Average size but some were 4 times this.

I was using my Hardy Marksman 13 ft float and it reminded me once again why it is the most beloved of all my rods.

All the best

Lakhyaman

 

[Another Dave]

Very odd kev Could he have popped that out struggling with a large prey fish?

 

[nottskev]

Funny you should say that, Dave.... I didn't include this, as my post was already turning into a lot of text for a couple of fish, but when I struck the bite, the float dipped and started to tow across the river and the rod hooped around like a proper big chub, and I was surprised to see this little fish pop up when I'd drawn it up the swim. I assumed I'd struck and pulled it into weed or a snag, but now you mention it, the swim would be the best ambush spot for a pike for in the area, and a big pike was allegedly caught there a few years ago.

 

[neil1970]

Been a while since I've done a report, so heres one from over the holiday period.
28th of December around 10 lure anglers met up on the GUC for a Christmas fish, which was a nice bit of fresh air after being stuck indoors.
Somehow, by luck rather than skill, I was the only adult not to blank; however we were all beaten by a friend's young son who caught 3+ fish

The following Saturday we had visitors and I managed to get my mate a free pass on the river for a couple of hours fishing. As you can see he hates losing lures!

New Years Day saw me meet up with Simon and two other friends on the GUC - We all had a laugh & my mate was the only one to catch (his first lure caught fish)

Yesterday I hit the river before dark, and managed my first 2 fish of the year :w

 

[Pete Shears]

Dead baiting for pike on the local reservoir this morning and saw a beautiful sunrise,all reds and pinks reflecting through the clouds.After that the three deadbait rods were just ornaments,not a sniff so bird watching mode took over - flock of about 25 lapwings,50+ grey lag geese, 5 goosander,2 buzzards and a red kite.Another bird flew the entire width of the reservoir skimming the surface just like kingfisher,turned out to be a female sparrowhawk.Did not see one fish dimple the surface,roll,splash or anything although when I left there were six too many cormorants.

 

[wetthrough]

Fished the Dam again. Arrived around 9:30 set up two rods. One on the slider at around 35M in 13'+ at the bottom of the shelf one for the margin ~3'. Set the slider up first, balled some GB laced with dead pinkies and left it while setting up the margin rod. Fished the margin for a while to no avail in the hope they'd settle on the GB. Nothing, not even a nibble on either. Packed up around 3:30. Good practice all the same and only two tangles on the slider which is good going for me Still enjoyed it despite the lack of fish and rain. Oh, my waterproof tackle bag leaks. Ended up with a bag full of rampaging wet maggots and pinkies...

 

[mikench]

Wet pinkies are little devils incarnate !!

 

[tigger]

As I made my way up the motorway I wondered where to try as on the EA river check it was showing a rise due to yesterday's rainfall. I plumped for well know public stretch which is tidal. The stretch is know for silver fish but I wasn't really interested in them as I wanted something that pulled back a bit to test out my 13FT RS Tournament rod.
Anyhow when I got there it seemed like a lot of other anglers had the same idea and beat me to the place.....darn it! I nearly got back in the car to go elsewhere but with only setting out at 1pm it was now 1.30pm already and so I decided to just go for it.
As I walked up river most of the anglers were pike or leger anglers and I only saw one other float fisher. Due to the number of anglers I was forced to walk further and further up river to get a spot ffs! I finally reached a spot above all the other anglers.

With the river being up a couple of foot and the tide backing it up, wading was out. This spot is good to fish straight off the bank and a cast of around 15 to 20 yds gets you into a nice run. At first I was catching roach (up to about 12oz) and a few dace, but eventually, after introducing a good few maggots, I started to catch a number of chub which put a nice bend in the rod as they used the current to their advantage. However, I really wanted a barbel to give the rod a proper test, guess what?....I got one lol, and it really pulled back in the flow. The rod was great and the drive back down the busy motorway wasn't as bad since I was still beaming to myself .

 

[Keith M]

Yesterday I hit the river before dark, and managed my first 2 fish of the year :w

Neil nice report.

I see you are using single hooks on your lure in the above picture; I am going to try this on some of my lures as well but I’m going to have to use the right size and weight of hook to maintain the lures action; what hooks did you use? or did you find them already with single hooks in a tackleshop?

Keith

 

[mikench]

The rod was great and the drive back down the busy motorway wasn't as bad since I was still beaming to myself

The junction I wanted to come off was terrible because of the fatal accident on the M58 so I went to J24 and came back up to J25! Lovely fish Ian: almost as nice as my cardinals !

 

[Pete Shears]

Back at the local reservoir this morning after pike again but on the opposite bank to yesterday.Tucked up behind a large willow to get out of the cool NW breeze but facing the sun.Three rods set up and again no fish topping anywhere,5 too many cormorants and another goosander making 6 in all.A flock of 20+ lapwing circled the reservoir and eventually settled up in the shallows.Two bleeps,the drop off lifting and then pinging free signalled a run and had a pike of 9lb 12oz in the net.The cormorants were also in this area of the reservoir where it is deeper although it needs 6ft more water to fill it up again.Sun kept shining and at one time felt warm when the breeze faded,brilliant to be out.

 

[Tee-Cee]

Seventeen roach yesterday on red maggot fished shallow as previously described. Lost two much better fish, though...

Very, very cold in the north/ west wind and I was quite pleased to head off home after 4 hours. I left a Robin so stuffed with maggots that he actually stopped feeding....................

Out again Friday/ Saturday


ps Why, oh why, is it always the 'better' fish (that are on for a minute or so!) still manage to avoid seeing the landing net. Grrrrrr.

 

[neil1970]

Neil nice report.

I see you are using single hooks on your lure in the above picture; I am going to try this on some of my lures as well but I’m going to have to use the right size and weight of hook to maintain the lures action; what hooks did you use? or did you find them already with single hooks in a tackleshop?

Keith

Thanks Keith
I use decoy 'pluggin singles' at they seem very good quality. They're good on spinners as well - you can bump them along the bottom with much less chance of snagging.
Decoy Plugging Singles S27 Hook

 

[Neil Maidment]

More chubbing on the pacey and very clear Dorset Stour. A short 3 hour session trotting a single red maggot under a 8grm balsa produced a total of 6 nice chub. Mostly between 4lbs and 5lbs but with the last two definitely the right side of 5lbs. Both of those came in the deep gloom as darkness descended.

 

[John Keane]

Out for the first grayling trip of 2019 to a Wirral Game water on the River Dee above Corwen.

Lovely day, low sun and reasonable temperatures (until we got down to the river). Reality bit after around 5 minutes in the water and hands got colder and colder.

Using my Dave Harrell 14ft rod with a JW Young Purist II centrepin for the first time. The reel was a delight to use and the rod was light with a very responsive tip.

After a few fruitless trots the float was held back momentarily then went under at around 60yards distance. A gentle lift and a lively lady was played back to the waiting net.

It shed the micro-barbed hook back through its gills and into the net where it promptly snagged! So cut the hook off and tended to the grayling and took a photo then returned it safely to the water.

By now my hands were too numb to get the hook out of the net, or tie another on, so I put some gloves on and moved down to the next pool where I managed to get another hook tied on and caught a similar sized grayling at around 30 yards range. This time I managed to snap the 2lb hooklength in the net and so decided to withdraw from the fray, have a butty and watch my mate fishing.

Lovely day, great fishing, lousy temperatures very tiring 60 mile drive home and I’m seriously beginning to wonder whether I am, in fact, getting too old for this sh**!

 

[mikench]

No John you are just being sensible! I was ready to go fishing at 7.30 am but it felt really cold outside and the car was white! Even at 8.30 the temperature was only -3c! I waited until 10.00 and it was still freezing! I decided to stay home and glad I did as certain deliveries needed a signature and i was home alone!!

Since I dislocated my little finger( badly) a year ago, I really feel the cold in that finger and I see little point in suffering even for those lovely roach!

 

[Another Dave]

Spare half hour and some dendrobenas.

 

[mikench]

I needed to get out and had some maggots past their best so went fishing for 3 hours or so! I only had the maggots so float fished for roach and had about a dozen but all small!

It was very cold but no wind! However there was the finest of drizzle falling persistently which I only really noticed when I found the maggots were wet! I then realised everything was wet and faced with a choice of drying off and erecting a brolly or going home to warm up and a nice cup of tea, I chose the latter!

A miserable day all in all and fishing was slow for everyone! A club member was jumping up and down with glee at what he thought was a PB and new record roach until he was advised it was a roach bream hybrid! Shame but a nice fish though!