LIF Fish In 2017

[itsfishingnotcatching]

PM sent S-Kip

Safe journey all, see you tomorrow

 

[Peter Jacobs]

Sadly cannot make it.

Good luck to all though.

 

[sam vimes]

Looking forward to the pictures and tales of 2lb+ grayling.

 

[tigger]

Looking forward to the pictures and tales of 2lb+ grayling.

The lack of feedback is a little worrying .

 

[peter crabtree]

Bit early yet tigger, ever tried driving up the M3 on a Saturday evening?

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Did S-Kippy catch an eel?

 

[barbelboi]

Off down the pub for dinner now - info/pics tomorrow.....it was ffffffffcold though..

 

[Ray Roberts]

Well, after a bit of a slow start I started to pick up a few grayling. The sun was bright so I went to my car to fetch my sunglasses. When I returned a bloody cow was trampling over my gear. If this wasn't bad enough it shat all over my rod quiver. This must have brought me luck as I ended up with 44 grayling and a whole load of spotty things, the best went 7lb and had two other hooks in its mouth not including mine.

I think those Acolyte's are pretty good rods as all my fish were on a 20 and a three pound bottom.

Not a bad day and I'm on a promise when I get in, unfortunately the promise is that if I tread cow sh*t into the hall carpet she's going to wring my blo*dy neck.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[S-Kippy]

Did S-Kippy catch an eel?

No he did not. Clarkey was plotted up on the eel hole !

Me and the BF fished lower down than most as his knee is not up to tramping across fields. Both of us had a ridiculous number of grayling [Phil had had 30 + within an hour and a half] and it was nearly midday before i had a run through without either a fish or at least a bite. Size was disappointing though....lot of fish in the 6-8 oz class with both of us only having maybe 4-5 fish of 1lb plus with the best around 1-6. Add to that some very handsome brownies but no chub for me despite sitting on a swim that can produce chub. Better quality fish in the afternoon but not so many....and I bumped no end. I started on my Acolyte Plus but it seemed a bit firm for the grayling so I changed rods and that improved matters no end in terms of them staying on. i didn't use my little pole elastic bungee which,on reflection, might have been a mistake.

I dread to think how many grayling there are in that river. I reckon I had 4 foot of water and 2 and a half foot of that was grayling.

It was bloody cold too.....one of the drawbacks of catching steadily is that your hands are almost permanently wet and that does nothing to keep them warm. It was nice to catch a few on running water but by about 3 we were both a bit bored so we gave it best.

Good to see and exchange insults with all the usual suspects and to meet a couple of new Liffers.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

I didn’t have any eels either?
I had enough and left at 12.30 ish.
Fish after fish from the first trot.
Nothing of any size, maybe 3 grayling just making the pound make, 8 trout going to around 3 lb the best.
One small perch that I doubt even went 3ozs.
I wasn’t cold at all, the sun was on me all the time.
To be honest it wasn’t hard fishing at all, the fish were crawling up the line.
I didn’t find I had to do anything to get the fish feeding, or work at it to catch. That’s why I found it a little boring, so packed up. Lost count of the number of grayling must have had 50 plus in the first 2 hours.
Think it might be time to give this venue a rest and find somewhere else that has more of a challenge.
Great to see the old and new faces, and Coco was on form as always, good on you Jerry

 

[Neil Maidment]

Not quite a similar story for me as I travelled up to the top beat and eventually found a few grayling above the arches. Nowhere near the amount the guys had down on the lower beat but perhaps an overall better quality. I had about 15 grayling, all net fish of 1lb+ with the best a few ounces short of 2lbs.

Plenty of brown and sea trout and a very lively salmon that had no intention of surrendering to me!

A cold and picturesque start.

Tend to agree with Clarky, not sure the lower beat, which is the usual limit for coarse fishing, is worth the £27.50 a day ticket. Access to the top beat doesn't improve the value too much either particularly as I have the Dorset Frome minutes away from home for about £10 a month mg:

 

[tigger]

Not quite a similar story for me as I travelled up to the top beat and eventually found a few grayling above the arches. Nowhere near the amount the guys had down on the lower beat but perhaps an overall better quality. I had about 15 grayling, all net fish of 1lb+ with the best a few ounces short of 2lbs.

Plenty of brown and sea trout and a very lively salmon that had no intention of surrendering to me!

A cold and picturesque start.

Tend to agree with Clarky, not sure the lower beat, which is the usual limit for coarse fishing, is worth the £27.50 a day ticket. Access to the top beat doesn't improve the value too much either particularly as I have the Dorset Frome minutes away from home for about £10 a month mg:

Nice pic's Neil .

 

[sam vimes]

I started on my Acolyte Plus but it seemed a bit firm for the grayling.

I've been saying for ages that the Ultra makes for a better grayling rod. However, if there's a good slug of extra water in the river, I have started using a Plus. That bit of extra muscle pays dividends when relatively modest fish try to hang across a good flow and bumpage doesn't seem as prevalent. I can't imagine that the Ultra would be much fun with the bigger spotty hooligans on the LIF though.

 

[Neil Maidment]

I used one of my ancient Normark Microlite 13ft Match rods today and was well pleased with the way it handled some decent grayling. Didn't bounce or lose many either.

Didn't cope too well with the mid afternoon salmon but developed a satisfying and alarming hoop several times mg:

 

[S-Kippy]

I've been saying for ages that the Ultra makes for a better grayling rod. However, if there's a good slug of extra water in the river, I have started using a Plus. That bit of extra muscle pays dividends when relatively modest fish try to hang across a good flow and bumpage doesn't seem as prevalent. I can't imagine that the Ultra would be much fun with the bigger spotty hooligans on the LIF though.

I think you're right, Chris. I remember a day on the LIF when the water was pushing through and I was catching some proper big lumps and the rod struggled to bring them up against the flow. That's exactly what I bought the AP for as I thought the Ultra was too similar in action to my Ultralight.

Of course yesterday the water wasnt pushing through so I didn't need the extra oomph the AP offered. Just a bad rod choice on my part but it didn't take me long to work that out and switch to a Drennan IM9 which was much,much better.

The BF was on his 14ft Ultralight because he broke 2 inches off the tip of his Hardy.....and didn't bump many fish as a result. I really should have put my little bungee thing on as that really does make a big difference when grayling fishing. Virtually stops them twisting off as the wriggly little devils are wont to do. The very devil to tie but worth it. Looks awful too but the fish dont seem to care.

I agree with Ray. The LIF is really quite a lot of money for what it is and I wouldnt bother if I had any grayling fishing of note near me....but Bucks isnt well known for its grayling. I keep meaning to try the free stretch of the Itchen below the LIF but just havent got round to it yet.

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Ray highlghts my thoughts. Reason I didn't join this time.

I had about 100 grayling last time (post FM day) with very few over the lb. Yes the odd spotty makes it a bit more exciting but the chance of getting through to the roach or chub seems very difficult.

Well done chaps, bit chilly mind.

 

[barbelboi]

Like Neil, Roger and Jimmy - Ian, Kevin and I opted for the far end of the beat (but not quite so far) and fished into a very strong current with gin clear shallow water. As Neil said, the quantity of fish was nothing like the numbers from the other end but of a better quality with all fish over a pound in weight. It was a toss up between the Acolyte Ultra and the old Titan2000 which the Normark won hands down as I’d picked up the wrong rod tube (not used to these early morning treks) and grabbed a Preston Carbonactive by mistake.

It was a cold, frosty start and the wind picked up considerably during the day. With the shallow, clear water (mostly no more than a couple of feet deep ) and the bright sunshine most of my fish were taken some 20/30 yds down the trot and came back pretty exhausted from the strength of the flow. Therefore I only took one quick fish pic.

Good to meet up with all the usual faces again and Martin and Crispy for the first time.

 

[Ray Daywalker Clarke]

I am not saying at £27.50 the LIF is over priced, just not the challenge of years gone by.
Just the quality of fish seem to be very small, give it a couple of seasons
and these fish will be far better.
When you start catching from the first cast to the last, and haven’t
had to do anything in terms of feeding, working your rig etc etc, for me it isn’t a challenge.
All these kind of waters charge around the same.
I am off down the Stour in a couple of weeks for the weekend, I know I
will have a challenge on my hands there, just to try and find fish, let alone catch them.
I know the top beat has better fish, but I was trying to get the roach going, had them in this swim before, took time, but it was a no go this time, far to many small grayling.
I am sure we can come up with another water that has quality fish,
and the challenge to go with it.

 

[S-Kippy]

Yep.....got to agree Ray. Theyre not long lived fish the grayling so we probably need to wait for a certain year class to come through & peak before it will be full of lumps again. I always enjoy the LIF do's but the biggest challenge yesterday was not booting the BF out at Fleet because he was doing my head in moaning about his broken Hardy all the way home !

Throop has my vote. Something for everyone and we have a man on the inside !

 

[Graham Elliott 1]

Neils been arrested?!!! That'll share the fish out a bit.


I'll go for that. Good idea.