Blogs

From one extreme…

Went back to Deep Hayes last night for a few hours surface fishing. I went in the evening as a friend has joined but he’s not as keen on the early morning sessions as me so we went down after work! Straight away I noticed a massive difference in the behaviour of the fish. Although they were about in numbers like normal, they were much more on edge and were much harder to get going – no doubt because for most of the day they had been subjected to all manner of ‘approaches’ from the local sch

July 28, 2006

Frustrated!

Did another early morning session today – first time on another new water! I’m getting about a bit lately! Lovely lake of about three acres with more features, bays, points, snags, pads and back waters than you could shake a stick at. I went up with Izaak for a quick reccy at the weekend but he started balling ten minutes into the job so I had to come home, but saw enough to know it was worth a stab (couple of good doubles and one perhaps a scraper twenty). Got there at dawn with the inten

Russell Fitzpatrick's Blog

July 26, 2006

carp....driving me mad!

well lately i have been targetting a few carp,i stalked two on the river lea in hertfordshire at the start of the season,resulting in me losing a possible 20+ common,on the float too! i then went onto the tidal lea in hackney,right in the east end of london,i found a group of carp,mostly small single figure fish but several were big enough to warrant my attention,easily good upper double figure fish. so i set up a boilie/bolt rig combo got it in place,all was quite for a while until i went t

Russell Fitzpatrick

July 22, 2006

Russell Fitzpatrick's Blog

first catfish

Well i have always wanted to hook a catfish and feel that power,i had spoken to a few friends that who had encounters with teh wels and they were not dissapointed! So i went and met up with my mates in cambridge,matt rand and mark,we had decided to visit a norfolk pit that they had fished a few weeks before,resulting in a 20lb+ cat,so we went for a two night session. on getting there we each dumped our ruckys in swims to show they are claimed,on returning with the rest of our gear,Matt ha

Russell Fitzpatrick

July 22, 2006

Hmmm

Two sessions on Wick to report on. I've been fishing this swim out of stubbornness. It's crawling with tench, I've just been having problems connecting with them. The last three trips have resulted in the first fish hooked getting off, and two of them to a blank. I though it was Groundhog Day again yesterday, but managed to put a couple of small tench on the bank later. Last night's incident was inevitable; I suspected that the fish were tackle-shy, so I scaled down to a 4lb bottom and a 14. Bin

July 21, 2006

Well and truly knackered!

I did another session on my new little water yesterday morning; I set the alarm for 4am and was at the water for around half past, just as it was coming light. It was only my third time on the water, and like the previous two sessions, I went after the carp off the surface, armed with one rod, net, mat, essentials and a big bag of flavoured dog biscuits! The last session had brought a lovely 17lb plus common to the net, one of nine fish I took during a few hours fishing, and whilst well chu

July 19, 2006

No tench

Just got back from an unsuccessful session on Wick. I thought I'd give it a try because the fish seem to run bigger; an average Dabchick tench is 4-5lb, an average Wick one 5-6. There are also some very good tench in there, into double figures. I fished a peg at the opposite end of the lake to my usual pegs. I just didn't feel like fishing a big expanse of water into the wind, so I found a calm and sheltered bay at the upwind end. Shallower and more weedy, and at the wrong end by the wind, but w

July 6, 2006

More tench

I gave Dabchick another go last night, same peg and tactics as last week. The water looked a good deal clearer than it did last time, and I think it showed. Also, a bloke I was chatting with told me that it had been fished each of the last four days. It's a great peg, but is unfortunately right next to the car park, and can get hammered. I'll have to spend some time looking for a less accessible peg with similar features. Anyway, I ended up with half a dozen tench to about four pounds, a co

July 1, 2006

Bag o' tench!

May I make a confession? During yesterdays tench session I reached the conclusion that I really do hate ducks. They are swines. Every time I 'pulted out some loose feed I had Mrs Duck and her horde of stupid little teenage ducklings home in and paddle round my float. Waving a pole at them just about chased them out of reach, but with the next batch of feed they were back again. What with confusion with line bites from the ducks and missed bites while waving six metres of carbon at them I reckon

June 24, 2006

Down the river

I nipped down to the Thames for a couple of hours last night, on the swim I fished on opening day. I started off fishing pellets on a feeder rig. I hit one good bite and was briefly connected to something powerful before it weeded me. I'd like to think it felt too strong for a chub, but I'm not convinced. I later switched to fish maggot on the float managing to land a couple of chub of around 4lb and to lose one. Good fun on heavy float tackle, fishing the centrepin and Drennan Avon rod wit

June 23, 2006

Opening Day

Against expectations I managed to grab an hour and a half on the Upper Thames today. I hadn't planned it, expecting to be somewhere on the M6 this evening, but I had some hookable halibut pellets and 2mm feed pellets left over from tenching, and went on a whim at about 8pm. The swim I was headed for is a fair way down the Thames path, about half an hour's brisk walk. I'm still harbouring hopes for a Thames barbel, if I'm honest, and that's how far you have to walk before you find any swims with

June 17, 2006

Prowler's Blog

It all started when....

My Blog, mmm I should have really started this the other week, but well, "if, if's and ands were pots and pans there'd be no room for tinkers" Captains Blog, Shipdate 31-5-06 The Summer that we had all been waiting for looks as though it's finally arriving, i'ts been a long time coming this year, May was really well erm nondiscript, oh apart from the ten days of fog leaving a few hundred stranded tourists and a couple of nice days where I managed to get out on the yak properly and fis

Prowler

June 13, 2006

Prowler's Blog

Entry Continued

Friday the 2nd June Finally released back into the wild, the next day was looking good but I wasnt sure how or if I could cope with the driving. Saturday 3rd June After the first decent nights sleep in days Saturday morning arrived with a burst of morning chorus and that dawn smell, you know the one, that combination of summer rain and freshly cut grass, it felt really good I can tell you, Tracy my better half got up and said "come on let's get you down the beach", blimy it wasn't ev

Prowler

June 13, 2006

Presentation, presentation, presentation

Had a few hours on Wick this evening. I alternated 14mm halibut pellets and worm on the hook over 2mm pellets and hemp. I fished most of the evening using a lift rig but just couldn't get the presentation right. There were plenty of fish feeding in and around the swim, but I had only two fast bites, which I missed. Really frustrating. I like the lift method, it lets you fish a large bait under a float with sensitive presentation, and helps to differentiate line bites, but for some reason it just

June 12, 2006

A bit better

Gave Wick another crack again today. I didn't bother with the prawns, sweetcorn or groundbait this time, and instead loose fed halibut pellets, red maggot and hemp. I fed one spot about three rod lengths out and another right under the rod tip. It started slow again, with lots of fish lazing on the surface. Gradually a few bubblers appeared, a the odd one of them over my loose feed. This was promising, because Wick tench seem almost always to give themselves away. I've found it rare to catch whe

June 8, 2006

Blanketty-Blank

Gave Wickwater a try this evening. It had a bit more colour and warmth than Dabchick lake did, but while there was plenty of evidence of fish about there wasn't a lot of feeding going on. Plenty of rolling, porpoising, cruising under the surface, leaping out of the water, but not a lot of bubbling. Oh well. Another couple of weeks and they'll be ravenous. Wick's bloody noisy though. Close to the road, and someone was running a generator or some kind of heavy machinery nearby. Also, a coupl

June 6, 2006

Breaking the closed season tradition

Against my normal habits, I've been tench fishing today. I've by and large kept to the old closed season ever since it was abolished, but it seems more and more pointless each year. There's precious little anticipation when the banks have been trampled and the fish hammered since April. It looks as if I'm not going to get out for the first two weekends of the season, so I thought "sod it" and had a crack for the tench on Dabchick Lake. I like Dabchick lake. It's smaller than Wickwater but

June 2, 2006

Not This Year...

Ahhh… The 1st June. Traditionally the first day of the season on Stoke-on-Trent AS waters for those who have completed work party’s and historically the time when you’ll find me stuck up on the Top Pool for two weeks solid before the crowds arrive on the 16th – but not this year. Commitments elsewhere meant I was unable to complete the work parties and even if I had, I doubt I’d have been able to get an away pass from home. As such, last night was a bit of a weird one; I still found mysel

June 1, 2006

Fully Scaled Mirrors R Us!

I managed to sneak a few hours surface fishing on Blackwood last night. I actually went down to a day ticket water in Cheddleton first but there were a few folk on and quite a rip on the surface, so I went up to Blackwood where Mart and I had the place to ourselves. It took a while to get them going and they were quite spooky, I had the feeling somebody else may have been up there surface fishing earlier in the day but there was no sign of any floaters anywhere. We got them feeding off