How did you get on?

[seth49]

Later start today, mick having family things to sort, arrived at the fishery about nine thirty, to find most of the pegs already occupied, so we picked a couple which were left, I tackled up with my Shimano beastmaster 9/11 set up at eleven feet, with a method feeder, using soaked 2 mm pellets and a ringers chocolate orange Walter on the hair.

First cast a carp about six pounds, so not a bad start, then it was a succession of bream, nothing else, mick wasn’t catching anything, so when a good peg near him became vacant, he asked if I wanted it as it was my turn for it, I said you have it, I’ll stay here, it was very hot and I couldn’t be bothered with moving everything.

Tried float with paste for the carp and tench, two good bites but missed them both, meanwhile mick was having good sport with the carp in his new peg, and about five o clock he asked if I wanted to join him, me fishing the margin and him further across, so moved my gear down to join him.

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There were lots of butterflies about today, shot of one of my favourites.


We fished till nine, mick had eighteen carp I had six, plus lots of bream, really hot today, but plenty of action eventually, back tomorrow hope to get there early and get one of the tench swims.

 

[John Keane]

Later start today, mick having family things to sort, arrived at the fishery about nine thirty, to find most of the pegs already occupied, so we picked a couple which were left, I tackled up with my Shimano beastmaster 9/11 set up at eleven feet, with a method feeder, using soaked 2 mm pellets and a ringers chocolate orange Walter on the hair.

First cast a carp about six pounds, so not a bad start, then it was a succession of bream, nothing else, mick wasn’t catching anything, so when a good peg near him became vacant, he asked if I wanted it as it was my turn for it, I said you have it, I’ll stay here, it was very hot and I couldn’t be bothered with moving everything.

Tried float with paste for the carp and tench, two good bites but missed them both, meanwhile mick was having good sport with the carp in his new peg, and about five o clock he asked if I wanted to join him, me fishing the margin and him further across, so moved my gear down to join him.

View attachment 7164
View attachment 7165
There were lots of butterflies about today, shot of one of my favourites.
View attachment 7166

We fished till nine, mick had eighteen carp I had six, plus lots of bream, really hot today, but plenty of action eventually, back tomorrow hope to get there early and get one of the tench swims.

Must get some of those Ringers Chocolate Orange “Walters”, are they better than the Wafters?

 

[seth49]

It’s my iPad correcting my spelling again, I typed wafters it thought I meant Walters, bloody nuisance.

 

[John Keane]

It’s my iPad correcting my spelling again, I typed wafters it thought I meant Walters, bloody nuisance.

Bit of autocorrect is always good for a giggle, Seth!

 

[peter crabtree]

Evening series match last night on the Aylesbury arm on the outskirts of the town. Warm, windless and very tranquil.

I thought the bush opposite looked promising so I cupped in some chopped worm as close to it as I could. I took a gamble and fed 2 more lines with soaked micros. These were one at the start of the lilies to my left and another 3 ft further to my left, again close to the lilies.
Started on the bush with a whole Dendra hoping for a bream, got loads of tweaks and pulls before finally hooking a roach which went into the weed and escaped.
Had a look on the micro lines with a 4mm soft pellet and got the same response. Finicky bites which at first I suspected was crays but after a successful lift a roach proved to be the culprit.
I dotted the float down to a pimple which helped hitting the bites and I ended up with 2lb:3oz for 6th out of 12. 2 bream for 8lb won, a total of 14 big bream were lost during the 3 hour fixture.
The pads and the floating weed were the target every time for those fish.

Highlight of the evening was a small flock of oyster catchers flying noisily overhead.

 

[S-Kippy]

Someting very different for me today....running water !

Having returned from my sea trout odyssey with a humungous cold ( courtesy of Bolloggybil) i wasnt planning on fishing this week. The BF indicated likewise but it was a dummy as he rang me from Godalming this morning. I had the rght ar$e as he clearly just wanted me out of the way. Get !

It doesnt matter but then again it does....I am getting very fed up with him and I feel a divorce is imminent.

Anyway....I felt a lot better coldwise today but with no time to get to Godalming and pi$$ on his bonfire I decided to give the Thames a go at Windsor. Nothing very big there but usually shedloads of plump roach and dace. I took tares but couldnt get them going so stuck with castr over hemp. Bite a chuck for a couple of hours but I doubt I hit more than 1 bite in 6. Bloody dace !

The fish wandered in and out and up and down. Matches there are often won with 20-25lb of silvers....I know how they do it but its too much like hard work for me. I had nothing like that many fish...a quite modest haul actually but it was nice to run a stick float through again.

Then the bleak moved in....time to go !



Proper bleak mind.

 

[seth49]

Away early today, on fishery by four thirty, still three anglers here before us, so mick chose a swim he’d fished before, and I chose my favourite tench swim, as I’d had problems landing carp here on the pole, I had already rigged up my twelve foot, pound and a half barbel rod with a centrepin reel loaded with ten pound line, using a drennan glo tip float, to a size ten hook, to fish either mussel or paste.

I fed the margin first with 2 mm pellets, while I set my chair up, and got ready to fish, first drop in, the float buried and I was attached to a carp, the rod and reel coped well, felt more in control, than I did with the pole, the carp here really fight hard, they certainly test what ever tackle your using.

That was on mussel, as were the next two carp, no tench though so when it went quiet, I decided to use my rake, which I decided to take today, to see if it would help with the tench, raked the side of the swim, by the irises and fed some hemp and pellets, quarter of an hour later.

Success it was the only one though, did get a couple of roach, two perch, and a bream, on mussel but no more tench, had three more carp as well, these are the two biggest, nine and and half, and ten and a half.


At about eleven thirty they just switched of, no more bites at all,tried paste but still nothing, so about two o clock we decided to call it a day as we had both been up since four am. And I for one was starting to nod off, at least it was micks turn to drive, he reckoned the tench were trying to spawn were he was fishing, so perhaps that’s why I didn’t get more.

I enjoyed catching them on the barbel rod and pin, didn’t need to cast, just swung the float out, about six foot past the rod tip, nice easy fishing, and very effective, back out again on Tuesday, enjoyed today.

 

[john step]

Went to a different reservoir today. A club book I only use half a dozen times a year. Usually when I want an easy day with plenty of rod bending.

I had 7 carp(4 doubles) on freeline breadflake and 6 F1s on a method feeder which I am getting to grips with.

I dont know who it was that recently advised on here to put cling film round the mould to make it come away cleanly but thanks............it works like magic.

 

[John Keane]

I dont know who it was that recently advised on here to put cling film round the mould to make it come away cleanly but thanks............it works like magic.

I cannot tell a lie, ‘twas I

 

[Another Dave]

Couple of days ago i realised i'd been neglecting my lure fishing, a type of fishing where my confidence can sometimes take a huge hit. You really do have to believe in the lure. I had a few follows from chub on a soft plastic worm that i slowly bounced across the bottom but i could see in the clear shallow water that they were too wary. Fairly sure they would have stopped to hoover up any edibles but a discipline is a discipline and i only had lures with me.

Changed lure to a 1.5 inch cheap chinese floating plug that i modified last year - changing the hook to a single ruined the action but i found that a 1" soft plastic tube/muppet on the hook gave it a really satisfying side to side wriggle that only needs a slow retrieve to get it wobbling. The diving rate was just right too, i can keep it just off the bottom to avoid catching algae.

Off to the trusty cliff swim and swung out the plug, let the current trot it down under the trees and second go through had a lovely perch, probably not quite a pound. No mat and nowhere to put it for a pic so you'll have to make do with a pic of my new favourite lure.

 

[nottskev]

I went over in Binka's direction yesterday evening and we fished one of a chain of established pools in a picturesque setting. Steve fished chopped worm on the edge of a big lily bed. I'd decided to fish pellet waggler. His was far the better decision, since he caught all evening, a mixture of small carp, tench, roach and perch. I had only 7 or 8 of the little stockies - the only time either of us saw any trace of the pool's more long term residents, they were crashing about in the middle of weedbeds or lilies - and the fish showed little interest in coming up for pellets. In case you've never seen one, here's a small carp



This evening, I went on the river to test-drive the anti-mosquito shirt I invested in yesterday. I was planning to combine it with some straightforward deet spray, and leave the cosmetics to the Avon lady. The river was low and clear, the sun was shining, and very little happened between 4pm and 6 pm. A couple of roach and a perch, followed by, of all things, a little bream



The session was going nowhere, so I took the hooklength off and just cast in the feeder for half an hour, thinking I might as well bait up with some hemp and caster and wait for some fish to switch on later. I resumed fishing at 6.30, with a lighter hooklength and a smaller hook, and this chub put up a good fight



Another half dozen similar chub followed, all giving cautious bites, before the tip pulled around for the first of 3 barbel that turned up between 7.30 and 8. The first was quite small - always good to see, in these days of declining numbers of ageing barbel



The next two were more substantial and took a while to get out on the 14 hook and .18 hooklength I'd resorted to.



Thanks to a bit of a facing breeze, there were fewer mozzies around, but the shirt kept them off better than the SSS spray, and I've got no new additions to the collection of lumps and bumps I brought home ,last time.

 

[103841]

A nice selection of fish there Kev, hope the Binka is well and still looking for that big perch.

 

[theartist]

The trip of the week was back to a flat, calm, almost eerie River Severn. There wasn't any trains as they were filming something so the disappointment of not seeing any from my prime viewing point was negated by the tranquility of it all, a peace that was only broken by a diesel engine running by with a film crew perched on the front as I perched precariously on a fallen tree. They were the only perch I saw all day although I almost lost mine when a helicopter buzzed the valley really low taking shots. I heard from someone it was a drama about Sherlock Holmes' daughter but that could be an elementary wind up of course.

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I took maggots for a change and as expected bleak and dace were a problem so big bunches went on a size 10. It always amazes me that this works for barbel on some rivers but not others. Fortunately it worked today for barbel between 10oz and 4lb here and there. There's a lot of small barbel around the 2lb mark this season and they are always good value

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The memory of the trip was being perched on the tree hooking a good barbel on pellet which I could tell was foulhooked and by it's zig zag pattern I surmised somewhere very near the tail, this was always going to end one way but what a way to sign off. Barbel often jump clear when foulhooked but this one slowly did a figure of eight, before turning 180 degrees and leaping a good metre high and two across. It was a good long fish maybe 6-8lb and it seemed like it didn't even make a splash as the only commotion was the mild expletive I used in admiration as we parted company.

By now the fish were really bubbling over the feed I had put down and I could have whacked out a lead as it wasn't an ideal swim for trotting. But I didn't, instead a few more handfuls of feed went in and I went on the long journey home, I had caught enough today

 

[Molehill]

My first trip to the Severn to use hemp and tares and try to target roach, I am new to this bait combination so prepared for a learning curve.

First evening I picked a swim and started loose feeding hemp, I concentrated on building a rhythm of trotting and regular feed (twice a cast if possible). I understood it would take a while for the fish to switch on but the old confidence takes a knock when nothing happens for over an hour - so different from the near instant results from fishing maggots.

Slowly the bites and fish came, nothing hectic and a lot of trots down between fish, I was constantly adjusting float depth, shotting etc. to try and find the best combinations, it seemed to change during the session.

But the result included half a dozen beautiful plump roach around 1/2lb mark, my best and most consistent catch of roach from the river! None of the "biggies" I have caught before by mistake (fishing for other species), but enough to grow my confidence on this method immensely. I packed up with lots to think about and ponder, but felt I had learnt much.

The next two evening sessions I deliberately picked swims of different pace and character, both had potential and I wanted to see if they would produce fish, the best way to learn is to try alternatives (nobody to point me to "hotspots") rather than keep going back to the same spot.
Suffice to say neither swim produced , other species and a couple of small roach came to hand but the better roach stayed absent, this surprised me in one of the swims that I would have put money on!

Back home and sorting my gear in the shed, lots to ponder and plan and importantly, lots learnt - floats, hooks, feeding, presentation - it is a joy to find a challenging method of fishing (after 60 years at it) that engages the brain and thought processes - beats chucking a feeder out for barbel any day.

 

[theartist]

Keep at it Molehill, The Severn is still a bit coloured and hemp and tares/pellets will fish better when it gets clearer (hopefully) in August, plus the holes/runs will be easier to spot.

 

[Molehill]

Yes it is very murky, recall this is quite normal for the first month of the season but seems all wrong when the levels are right down. I presume it is the algae or phytoplankton exploding with the warmth and nitrates/fertilizer running into the river at this time of year. Farmers are trying to maximize grass growth for silage and hay so the top dressings are spread in their tons, especially just before some rain.

 

[john step]

I cannot tell a lie, ‘twas I

Thanks John.

 

[d.owens]

Took an evening trip with the two little kids for a spot of float fishing in the small pond in the woods. Bunches of maggots on size 14 barbless hooks to 4lb line to give us a fighting chance if we hit a biggish carp. Liquidised bread and crushed hemp groundbait.
A nice tench was soon in the net.
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A few nice roach and perch kept us busy.
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A really nice night, having had the pond to ourselves, was finished off with a chubby little mirror carp.
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My little girl has always loved her fishing, but now the little fella is asking to go again as he had such an enjoyable time. Pity my big lad doesn't like it, but 2 out of 3 not bad!
View attachment 7188

 

[108831]

Got up yesterday morning with the intention of going to the crucian lake and trying prawn,thought I'd check the website and guess what there's a match on,so put the prawns back in the freezer(hadn't defrosted)and got some read reds out and went to Bedford to try for the bream on the feeder,had several casts to get some feed down,cast and had a small chub on the drop,then two bleak and bites shredding my bait every chuck,so changed to pellet and wafters,caught a couple of roach to 12ozs ,then started to get liners,with nothing to show,I red dead reds down the edge to get rid really,just a pinch every few minutes,I soon had dace boiling in ten feet of water,some were 8oz size,plus a few perch,late in the day just before packing I put an 18 hook and freelined a maggot,watching it sink I had a dozen dace(none of the bigger ones)and four perch around 6ozs,it was amazing how quickly the race spooked and disappeared....

 

[theartist]

I had a tough choice to make Saturday morning - go fishing with the in-laws at Lakeside or go fishing by the side of a river. Suffice to say I was soon heading the opposite way to the missus round the m25

The talk of wild river fishing had inspired me to revisit a tiny river I hadn't fished in many a moon and with the first rain this month I was hoping the wet weather would keep joe public indoors as it was in a small busy park. The river suffers quite a bit from poaching too so expectations were low, some nice dace or a 1lb chub would be cool, that sort of thing.

I didn't do well at all to start with, the water was low and clear which wasn't really a surprise, yappy dogs were in abundance and my maggots were getting hammered on the drop by minnows and tiny chublets. I knew of a deeper spot that was tucked away that I found in the winter but it was a bit of a battle this time through the nettles and involved standing on rushes. I was totally hidden from all the noise in close vicinity by rushes left and right, the size of which were quite impressive, they must have been 12 foot high from the water easy, and in front of me there was a lovely dark hole under a group of trees on the far bank, enough room to trot a float about ten feet even if a demon cast under the overhang was needed each time.

After more tiddlers I finally got through to a decent chub all 12oz of it but I was happy as a clouburst made me hunker down under my poncho like a waterproof Clint Eastwood hoping to get a fistful of chub. The rain didn't last long but the chub kept coming much to my surprise and most of them were stunning scale perfect fish, nothing huge but I was getting the odd one over a pound and a couple around two, which are good fish for a tiny river like this. All the chub were a funny shape - all head and it was like they didn't get much food there but I guess if they fed further up where the swims are open they would probably end up AS food. There's always one that outgrows the rest and I was soon slipping the net under a mouth that could have swallowed a tennis ball, once again a funny shaped fish which I was going to take as 3lb but as it's easily a pb for the stretch I weighed it and it went just under 4, all muscle I suppose and a giant of the stream.



By the time I had packed up I had a total 33 chub for an easy 30lb, not that I use a keepnet or could in such a swim, they all went straight back in the condition they were caught, bars of gold in the sun which was now cooking me a bit, they had a good feed up too with a pint of maggots gone, you can never overfeed chub with maggots, couldn't really get through to anything else though just two nice roach and a couple of tiny rudd which was a bit random

One of the reasons I like the close season is that areas like this get overgrown in the spring and stay overgrown through the summer. So back went the rushes and nettles that I walked through, carefully covering my tracks to keep the swim off grid as if it was a secret giant barbel swim, these fish deserve then same as they could well get plundered if their hideaway wasn't hidden.

Not bad for a free bit of fishing and a lot more fun than shopping