16th october
Posted by viney, Oct 16 2011, 08:13 PM
13.30- 19.00 speen moors and k&a canal
Originally I was supposed to be going to the Barbel society day on the lower benyons today but due to work and family commitments I had to pull out earlier in the week. With everything done and dusted far earlier than anticipated I grabbed my spinning rod and tackle box and headed out.
Starting off at speen moors I worked my way round with nothing but a missed hook up from a jack that shot out from under the concrete bridge as I was just lifting my lure from the water. With no further interest there I moved onto the canal, after seeing a few small perch follow right to the margins I switched to a small spinner which caught me a couple of half pound perch, blank out of the way!
I moved up to a lock cut and switched to a white rubber tadpole on a jighead (this caught my pb perch of 2lb1 last year) first cast here produced a jack of less than a pound, first pike caught by design though!
Moving to the other side produced one further perch of 1lb1. As the light was beginning to fade I decided to head back to a point where the canal narrows due to reeds in the hope that a pike or two would be on the prowl, as I walked under the a34 bridge I let the tadpole run along the edge watching the effect twitching the rod had on its motion when all of a sudden it disappeared and a healthy bend appeared in my rod and the clutch started to let off line. After a second I figured out what was going on and gained control of the fish, as it came towards the net I was convinced it was a 3lber! The scales told a different story and settled at 2lb3, new P.B so no complaints 
.
The rest of the walk back to the car saw another two sub 1lb perch so in all a very enjoyable afternoon!
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29th september
Posted by viney, Sep 29 2011, 08:08 AM
River Kennet hambridge 16.15-19.30
2 Barbel (4lb1 3lb7) and a chub (2lb10)
Another pleasant evening on the bank, fished the same swim as I have been for the last week, both Barbel on boilies the chub came after I kept getting quick jabs on the tip for around 20 minutes so I reeled in and changed my end tackle to a size 16 with just 2bb as weight and a whitefish paste pellet on the hook, cast just upstream of where my hookbait had been and let it bounce downstream and sure enough the chub took it first time! Can't put pics up at the moment as image shack has stopped working on my phone, anyone got a similar site I could try?
27th september
Posted by viney, Sep 27 2011, 07:45 PM
River Kennet newbury 16.30-20.00
6 barbel, 1 chub and a troot
Decided fishing was a far more attractive idea than the gym with the weather today!
My guesstimation was way off the mark today, I put all the fish in the 1-2lb bracket apart from the last which was considerably smaller than the fish that came before it yet weighed 1lb14! Wish I had weighed the fish that came before it! All fish fell to ledgered boilies with a small pva bag of crushed boilie.
25th september
Posted by viney, Sep 25 2011, 03:06 PM
River Kennet hambridge 13.00-15.30
Another short session after Barbel which yielded just one baby Barbel of around 1lb which was unhooked in the net and promptly returned to grow into a monster! I'm fairly certain the swim I'm targeting at the moment is the same swim from rustys blog!
22nd september
Posted by viney, Sep 24 2011, 05:48 PM
4pm-7.30pm river Kennet hambridge
A short unplanned trip for Barbel after work, I set up in a swim just downstream of a tree that crosses the water where it is fairly shallow with fast choppy water along the far bank with a slightly deeper slower flowing glide just downstream about 4 rod lengths out. Had a chub of around 1.5lb within ten minutes of casting out then had a proper wrap around on the tip at around 6pm but the hook pulled.
With the weather looking good for tomorrow I shall be spending a few hours down there for a rematch!
it pays to listen to your gut instinct!
Posted by viney, Aug 27 2011, 05:43 PM
River Kennet nr thatcham 9am-6pm
Not quite the early start I had planned but the lay in was much needed!
I arrived and set up, cast just short of the trees on the far bank a few times to build up some bait then sat back watching the tip. It wasn't long before I felt unsettled and kept getting drawn to a riffle that kept appearing on the surface of the water a rod length out and 3 lengths downstream of me. I don't know why but something was telling me to recast to there, minutes later my refilled feeder was swung into position. It wasn't long before a few short jabs then a wrap around on the tip signaled I was in! After a very good battle I slid the net under my first Barbel of any real size
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After returning all 11lb15 of her to the water I checked my rig, the feeder hadn't even had time to empty!
The rest of the day was fruitless but that didn't bother me after such a cracking fish!
my return to flowing water
Posted by viney, Jun 19 2011, 08:12 AM
Kennet stream 16:30-23:00
My first trip back on flowing water and as is the norm I blanked...
I chose a stream I had never fished before but had wondered round in the winter, on arrival there was one other person fishing there, after a quick chat and some helpful advice I was headed to a swim I had passed and sussed out on arrival.
The swim in question involved an underarm cast to a tree in the water then passing the rod over bankside vegetation to where my rod rest was to give a better hit and hold angle. I set up the quiver rod with a simple running lead and a 10 inch fluro hooklength to a size 8 korda kurv. A hair rigged 14mm halibut pellet and a bag of assorted pellets completed the rig.
I dropped my baited rig just short of the tree and about half a foot short of the crease which signaled the faster flowing water of the outside of the bend. With my rod on the rest and a slight bend put in the tip I settled back and began to daydream of catching one of the streams larger residents (from what the guy I was talking to was saying barbel to 16lb came out last year and theres quite a few carp to 30lb)
Unfortunately it was not to be, the only bite came at around 10pm and was a very distinct chubby rattle on the tip, it was at this point I kicked myself for opting for a longer hair to specifically Target barbel and carp!
Although I blanked I left full of high hopes and plans to Target the fish in this stretch and leave the lakes alone for a bit!
Heading back this afternoon for round two, fingers crossed!
quick session
Posted by viney, May 15 2011, 09:37 PM
19.30-21.30 willows lake
Just a quick 2 hour session to try out a rig I've been playing around with for the last couple of weeks.
Fished a single double strength pop up to the island with no free offerings, had 3 fish;
2 mirrors (12b4 and 12lb6)
1 common (11lb9)
The rig worked very well all thee fish were nailed in the bottom lip with very secure hookholds.
The thing that struck me this evening is that last year is that most of the fish you would have from this lake would be around 6-7lb with the odd double thrown in and hardly fought whereas tonight the three I caught were very hard fighting! Can the dynamics of a lake change this much over a year or was it just luck on my part (maybe good angling with the right bait and rig) to hook three of the larger fish out of the stock in the lake?
lots of commons
Posted by viney, Apr 26 2011, 07:33 PM
After spending two nights trying this 'specimin carp fishing' mullarky (sitting in my bivvy smoking like a train waiting for a bite alarm to scream into action while every knob and his dog walking round the lake tell u what the 'in' spots to fish are. YAWN!) i was getting bored... But without a hefty walk said lake was the most convenient!
Roll on a change of luck which brought with it a car and meant i could travel further afield again!
Knotts 24th(night) 25th(night) and 26th(day) april
I spent alot of time fishing this lake last year and the last couple of nights and today have made me remember why!
In total 15 fish graced my landing net;
11 common carp (biggest four 18lb9, 16lb2, 15lb4 and 14lb14 of the rest only one was under 10lb!)
4 tench (5lb9, 3lb15, 2lb8 and 2lb3)
The warm weather has definately turned the fish on big time although the lake being a 'tench' fishery i am suprised with the small number of tench caught and none were caught within two hours of each other. Definately a very fun couple of nights as the carp are very hard fighting slow growing carp not fish farm fat sluggish fish (as you can see in rustys blog).
Not one to miss out on the action my friend came down for the afternoon and promptly landed a gorgeous 23lb4 common within two hours of arriving! ba####d!!
Will upload pictures as soon as i have access to a laptop or computer!
the blog has been a bit slack...
Posted by viney, Apr 10 2011, 10:42 PM
Havn't updated my blog in a while so this will include two different sessions, unfortunately no pictures as my phone wont upload them to anything other than facebook!
First session was one night on a local stillwater which proved to be a great success, my carping efforts last year saw me land numerous fish of 14lb8oz but none bigger, the first fish that evening changed this. Not the usual carp 'run' my hanger lifted and dropped for a few minutes before i decided it must be a small bream and picked the rod up, this provoked the fish to take line at a rate of knots catching me completely off guard! soon though i had a 20lb7oz common in the net! this was followed by a 14lb9oz at around 3am and then about an hour before packing up and having had no further action i changed tactics to a bag of 4mm pellets with a hair rigged piece of fake corn and cast to a topping fish at range, within minutes line started peeling off that reel! the culprit, a 21lb3oz mirror and another p.b!
This weekend started on thursday evening with a few hours surface fishing on a local still water, this resulted in a few fish to 9lb something and a lost fish of a much bigger size! As i had friday booked off the plan was a fairly early start, unfortunately this was thwarted by a drinking session on thursday night so it was around 1.30pm by the time i arrived! the afternoon was spent wondering round surface fishing with no success other than casting into trees every time i got them feeding confidently! I settled into a corner swim for the night casting up the margin on one rod and to open water on t'other, around 10.30 i was recieving line bites on both rods so i re-assessed the situation and opted for an underarm cast to the left and right of my swim with a scattering of bait over each rod. This produced 4 fish to 11lb6 until around 2am when it went quiet, 4.50 saw a very angry 13lb1 common trip up. This fish was by far THE hardest fighting fish i have ever caught, it took me just shy of 40 minutes to land him! I decided on a change of swims as my mate was coming down for bit of a social for saturday afternoon/night. After a quick chat with steve (jv44) i decided it was time for some surface fishing and landed two fish to 11lb one after the other by letting my dog biscuit drift right into a snaggy corner. The second night yielded another four fish to 15lb9oz all from the margins rather that the gravel bar that ran to the corner i fished on the first night.
All in all my two favourite stillwater sessions this year so far!
on 25th september