How did you get on?

[nottskev]

Sunday afternoon I tried the woodland pond. It looked idyllic, but the pic I took has de-materialised somewhere inside this phone. I really tried my best - pole at 5m and 11m and a little feeder on a wand out in open water. Caught about 20 perch for perhaps 2lb total. This was my second blow-out on this water, so I messaged the dude who runs the fishing to see what he thinks. My question had a slight tinge of why is the fishing so poor. He went the next day and caught 40lb of good bream tight up against a reed bed. That's the last place I'd have looked for them. We live and learn, and that shut me up.

Tuesday evening it dawned on me I hadn't been on the river in a month, so I thought I'd better get a bit of summer evening barbelling in before the next wild and crazy weather events kick in. I couldn't get on the float fishing pegs I fancied, and I settled for a challenging swim - fast, shallow, short and snaggy. I'd have been better with a pin, but the line on the pin was under-gunned for this swim. With a big 8g float on, I got three bites in 3 hours. One finished in a hook pull - rare with barbel. One barbel cut the hooklength off in a snag before I could get a grip. One, thankfully, ended up in the net. To our mutual relief. We both needed a rest. It weighed 11lb 2oz

This evening I went back to the tench lake. I hadn't been there since Mick (Flightliner) joined me there before the river season. It gets extremely weedy by mid-summer, and I had a rake in the boot just in case. The owner seemed almost surprised to see an angler, and I had the place to myself.

The weed was pretty dense, but I caught a tench first put in, so I was reluctant to start chucking the rake about.

The first few tench came in with a mass of weed, so I decided fishing was as good a way of clearing a bit of weed as any. The pole was definitely the method, as you could lower your rig into clear patches. I'd opened a tin of meat for the river, but shelved it when I saw how clear the river was, and I'd chopped it smaller - 6mm or so - and coloured/flavoured it with Robin Red powder. This on the hook and 3mm red krill pellet feed was going down well with the tench and with some nice roach

It was one of those lovely evenings when your float goes under every time. There were some big roach and rudd playing at the surface. It's hard to resist fishing for the tench, but I intend to go back and fish the top layers sometime this month.

 

[mikench]

WoW Kev, a cracking net full and what a magnificent barbel. ?

 

[markcw]

Brilliant catch Kev.

 

[Steve Arnold]

Spring and early summer here on the Lot have been almost barbel-free! I was beginning to think they had all been washed downstream during the winter floods, then last week a couple of 1lb fish turned up to give us hope!

Lucky we took Alistairs Freelander yesterday as our choice of swim was full of french tourists swimming, paddle-boarding and some trying to fish!

We went upriver a short distance to where a kindly carp angler had cleared a steep track to a pretty swim. Well hidden amongst the trees the tourists had not spotted it, to our good fortune!

I fished past mid-river to find some flow and used my catapult to get small balls of heavy groundbait out the distance. The fish appeared after about 30 minutes and over three hours I had two barbel about 3lb then a 4lb bream. As it was getting dark I had a 20 foot "twitch" bite that tried to pull the rod out of my hands! Nice fight ensued and I was surprised the barbel only weighed 4.7 lbs.

Alistair blanked as he was not casting far enough to find the fish. Close in the bottom of this swim is silty, get past midstream and the flow increases and the bottom is stony.

Maybe he will now start using that Shimano barbel rod I sold him months ago? With the rods he used yesterday he was struggling, think I will have to give him casting lessons (again!!!)

So I am relieved, the barbel are still there! Probably only just finished spawning, the weather and river conditions have been very strange this year.

 

[mikench]

Nice report as usual and well done. I shall join you in the metaphorical sense in a few weeks.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[peytr]

I promised some people a 'how did I get on' in a match near Gouda this morning, so here goes:

I became second-last which is is my worst result this year and as far as I remember, ever . I targeted bleak, which where there all right but lost wagon loads of them falling of the hook. I should have used hook with a pinched barb from the start, that worked better for me.

I varied between the short whip (bleak), a medium pole (trying to get a skimmer or anything) and the feeder (reaching the other bank easily and looking for bigger fish as well). Five minutes before the end signal I hooked a real good fish on the feeder, which could have pushed me to the level I think I belong. It didn't. I must have tied a bad knot in the hook length because the hook came off. I had 850gr bleak and the winner had just over 19kg. The weight where distributed between these two extremes rather evenly.

Ah well, we had a very nice morning of fishing. Some rain halfway the match but it dried up and even got sunny, once we had to start packing up.

All in all a reasonable alternative to a day at the office.

 

[peter crabtree]

After a showery morning the rain eased off so I drove the short journey to the GUC at Kings Langley… My first visit here for quite a while. It looked sock on with colour and a gentle flow pushed on by the river Gade.

No big perch showed or the better quality roach but as usual a few bites and Im happy…

 

[nottskev]

I'd picked up some bait yesterday, and had a couple of possibles in mind for today: crucians on the pole or bream on the feeder. But the rain wouldn't stop and I couldn't face either for a proper session. I'd walked along a kind of fast backwater of a Trent tributary last week, just doing my daily 2 or 3k steps (10K? I wish) that I caught some barbel and chub off about 10 years ago, It's off-piste, overgrown and free fishing, and has a bottom of rock covered in smaller rocks. You can easily lose every fish you hook, but I'd come up with the answer in 2010, and since it's 15mins away and 10 steps, through jungle, from the car, I decided sod the rain, I'll give it an hour.

The swim was looking good with an inch or two on from all the rain

Although, having hacked my way in (from the road that runs alongside you might never know a river was in there) I was as shocked as Robinson Crusoe to find a footprint in my swim

I'd replicated the rig that got them out 10 years back. A hooklength of the disturbingly orange but indestructible Kryston Quicksilver braid, which I'd found in an old tackle box, and a home-made lead hanging on a bit of 4lb line to make sure the rocks didn't cost me the whole rig or, worse, a barbel. Mainline was 15lb.

Ideally, the next pic would be a barbel, but I sat in hammering rain for two hours without a bite or a line bite. It may well be that the whole generation of chub and barbel we caught back then has gone, with no replacements yet. Still, nothing ventured, nothing gained. I was thinking how my engineer lifelong mate who died young said, when I told him what leads for barbel fishing cost, he'd got some scrap lead and he'd make a mould and we'd melt it down and make some. We made a mix of thin ones (2 oz app.) and thick ones (4 oz app.) and I've got a small stock left.

 

[mikench]

Is the pellet attached with a lassoo knot Kev? Worth a try though.

 

[chevin4]

Just got home from an early morning start on my local stream. First trip in four weeks due to various home improvement projects therefore I was really looking forward to the trip.. It was surprisingly quiet on what is normally a very busy venue. The session also gave me an opportunity to put a new rod through its paces namely a 1.75 tc 11ft Barbel Torrix. I managed a catch 3 Barbel but all small approx 4lb to 5lb apparently the fishing has been slow according to the bailiff. The rod handled well even the small fish put a nice bend in the rod although I found the rod a little stiff in the tip for my liking. That said it is undoubtedly a big fish rod and I hope to catch a recent double on it for which the rod was designed for.

 

[silvers]

Spring and early summer here on the Lot have been almost barbel-free! I was beginning to think they had all been washed downstream during the winter floods, then last week a couple of 1lb fish turned up to give us hope!

Lucky we took Alistairs Freelander yesterday as our choice of swim was full of french tourists swimming, paddle-boarding and some trying to fish!

We went upriver a short distance to where a kindly carp angler had cleared a steep track to a pretty swim. Well hidden amongst the trees the tourists had not spotted it, to our good fortune!

I fished past mid-river to find some flow and used my catapult to get small balls of heavy groundbait out the distance. The fish appeared after about 30 minutes and over three hours I had two barbel about 3lb then a 4lb bream. As it was getting dark I had a 20 foot "twitch" bite that tried to pull the rod out of my hands! Nice fight ensued and I was surprised the barbel only weighed 4.7 lbs.

View attachment 16423

Alistair blanked as he was not casting far enough to find the fish. Close in the bottom of this swim is silty, get past midstream and the flow increases and the bottom is stony.

Maybe he will now start using that Shimano barbel rod I sold him months ago? With the rods he used yesterday he was struggling, think I will have to give him casting lessons (again!!!)

So I am relieved, the barbel are still there! Probably only just finished spawning, the weather and river conditions have been very strange this year.

4.7 kilogrammes surely?

 

[mikench]

That would be 10lb 4oz or thereabouts. I doubt they grow that big in the Lot.

 

[silvers]

this weekend I attended Newport Pagnell Fishing Association’s open pairs match on the Great Ouse around said town.
The stretch varies quite a bit in depth but is generally narrow and shallow.
iirc twenty-two pairs fished (so fourty four anglers).
I was pleased to note that the river was carrying a tinge of colour ... although not much as I could see every fish flash when hooked In the less than 3 feet of depth.
I caught fish all through, using my favoured hemp & caster combination ... but they were sadly tiny ... totalling just 7 pounds and four ounces. Myles, on the peg upstream, was moaning all through about his lack of fish ... but still weighed in 6 pounds and 10 ounces (some things never change eh Whitty?). The best return on that part (abbey field) was 9pounds 10 ounces of hemp roach ... whereas I didn’t get a single bite on the seed!
My pairs partner had done somewhat better, returning 10 pounds and two ounces, but sadly we were pipped for the last prize (finishing fourth overall).
This stretch seems to have lots of really tiny fish this year ... perhaps I would have caught more on maggot ... but the fish were even smaller when I tried this bait.
So ... apologies to Steve Glidewell for my lack of success ... and hoping for better luck this week.
if all goes to plan I’ll be fishing three matches ... Avon at Barford on Wednesday, Severn at Bewdley and Great Ouse at Willington on Sunday.

 

[silvers]

That would be 10lb 4oz or thereabouts. I doubt they grow that big in the Lot.

The photo looks very similar to My first 9 pounder (still the only barbel I’ve got a photo of) caught from the Great Ouse in (iirc) 1983 or 84

 

[mikench]

Gordon and I went to a popular club water and foolishly decided to fish in the corner of the near side bank which we hadn't fished before.

I say foolishly because we decided last time we fished here to give the corner pegs opposite where we normally fish a go. In the intervening few weeks undergrowth and trees had expanded encroaching above and left and right making casting difficult. In addition the water level had dropped significantly as can be seen by the peg opposite normally occupied by Gordon. We had perhaps a couple of feet of water. I started on the feeder but rapidly switched to the float as Gordon was catching roach and I wasn't. Blank averted I switched back. I had 2 carp but small and 19 roach. Gordon also had a couple of carp and over 30 roach. The rain held off for most of the day and it turned out to be warm and sunny. A guy we have met a few times turned up with his 3 kids and they showed us up catching 10 carp between them on the method with wafters as a hook bait. The same tactic as me but for them it worked . It was nice to see a girl and 2 boys aged 9 ish to 13 fishing happily with their dad and catching. They all waved as we left as they tucked into a picnic. Dad was teaching them all the basics and they were quick learners. There is hope for the future of angling and it was heartwarming to see.

 

[S-Kippy]

Having consulted the ski club schedule I decided on another go at the Aquadrome tench as the boat shouldn't have been running today.....but,of course,it was. What is the point of publishing a schedule and then not sticking to it ? This damned boat is doing my bloody head in.

I had 2 tench (best 5-9) on rubber corn before the boat started running right over my baits. The best was a bit of a warrior.
I tried to tough it out but I just couldn't stand it and moved. The trouble with that is that by the time you've moved the sun is up,its bright and you have to start over and build the swim from scratch. Suffice to say I never had a bite in my "new" swim though towards the time I'd set for packing up I did have a couple of sharp indications....either liners or bits but that's often what happens before the tench move in. Met Simon down there...he wasn't fishing but he sat with me and we had a good chat & catch up. Good to see him.

I'm so annoyed I want to go back but its pointless while Barnacle Bill is cavorting about which seems to be every soddin day atm. As I've said before....have these bloody people not got jobs to go to ? Supercilious,inconsiderate gits.

 

[peter crabtree]

I must admit the boat was coming in too close today. I sat with club president Bob a few pegs up from you and the boat was going directly over his baits. He did however catch the biggest tench (9lb easily) I’ve seen this year and one of the smallest, along with a big perch and some clonking bream. Always good to catch up Skip see you there soon hopefully.

 

[S-Kippy]

Not if that bloody boats out, Simon. I just cannot deal with it.

 

[The Sogster]

Had another trip to the estate lake yesterday and today.

Yesterday was quite blustery so I opted to fish a small groundbait feeder plugged with 2mm pellets and filled with hemp and corn into about 3 feet of water with either a pellet or corn on the hook.
The fishing was steady from the off with skimmers of between 6oz and 10oz coming readily to the net averaging around 5 fish an hour.
This continued until around 7pm, I'd started at 1.30pm when the heavens opened and the bites died.
I stuck it out under the brolly and luckily the rain abated just before packing up time at dusk.

Today I fished the same swim unusually for me, as I thought it had more potential and partly because I felt that there was a better stamp of fish to be had from the swim.
So today I fished the feeder again but with a small method feeder and 2mm pellets only with a dumbell type hook bait. Hopefully the bigger bait would sort out the bigger fish.
The bait was attached to the hook directly with a pellet band (no hair), I've found this helps on this water with the abundance of skimmers.

Once again it was a steady stream of similar stamp fish to yesterday but a better catch rate, averaging 8 an hour.
But no better stamp fish.

Then the rod hooped round and I felt myself attached to a large angry carp. Foolishly I had left my large 28" pan net (reserved for such occasions) at home after drying everything overnight.
So in a reverse 'scuse me mister moment, my mate had to go cap in hand to a young carp angler further up the bank and ask to borrow his net.
I couldn't get it in my small drennan speedex net.

The young lad, I found out later his name was Tom very kindly lent me a specimen carp net for the day which was his spare.

So drama and panic over I managed to slip a borrowed net under this lovely looking common of 11lb 14oz.

The rest of the day was a return to the skimmers finishing with 53.

 

[Sean89]

Managed 4 hours on the local stretch in the town centre in Bedford today and luckily enough cast smack bang on top of the big shoal of Bream! I had 8 in the first hour and this absolute beauty of a 2lb 4oz Roach! ? a lot of the Bream coming out had this reddy rashy sore on them is that down to spawning damage? Pretty sure I could of had a 100lb+ out if arrived earlier and got to stay longer ? either way when your clipped up and the tip is arching over every cast you can’t complain!