Jump to content
  • entries
    192
  • comments
    136
  • views
    255615

About this blog

the downs and ups of a pleasure angler

Entries in this blog

Grove Pond 31.5.23 Mixed Bag

This is mainly to let you know I'm still around, though it's a while since I went fishing - mainly because of the state of the Thames, and then waiting for the lakes to warm up. Today I went to find a new lake at Standlake called Lincoln's Lake. Problem, I never found it! Doh! So I drove down to Grove Pond and had an enjoyable time float fishing maggot. Almost no bites from small roach, but a 2lb carp, 3.5lb tench, 11oz crucian. I'll let you know when I find LL!

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Perch - which worked better, lure or worm? 25.10.22

Another 2 hour dusk raid on the Thames, and this time I took a lure rod along. I can't do normal roving lure fishing due to arthritis, but the plan was to fish the one swim alternatively with ledgered real worm and slightly shiny plastic worm on a jig head. I started with the lure rod and caught a couple of perch of about half a pound straight away, but then the bites from the lure rod dried up and the remaining 6 fish (all 4 to 12 oz) were all on real worm. I had hoped the lure (about 2.5 inche

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Finding the Perch 14.10.22

Last year about this time I came across a small shoal of 2lb perch in a local stretch of River Thames, and caught 3 of them. Then I'm not sure if they moved elsewhere or were less happy to feed with the colder weather, but I didn't have any more. So today I went to see if they were back. Yes, just about! After a dead hour or so on lobworm I put on a couple of maggots to see where the prey fish had gone to, and on my first cast the tip bent round, and I'm sure it was a big perch. But it soon shed

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

River Thames Lechlade 21.9.22

I was fishing hemp and tares, and hoping for busy action, though it wasn't to be. In fact, after being directed by the tackle shop to a stretch of river which I think they ran, but which I found unfishable, I only had 2 hours on my preferred stretch. Just 4 roach, but the best was 14oz and my Thames pb so I was very pleased. This fish was on caster, the others on tares, 6 feet deep in about 9 feet of river. An angler near me fished maggot on ledger and had a very good bag of roach, maybe I shoul

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Boddington Reservoir 1.6.22

I've done a couple of entries on this and they've been lost, so will keep it very brief. I spent an afternoon at Bod Res trying for the roach. Midwater. Plenty of bites on maggot and also 6mm pellet, but I kept bumping them and only landed about 10 fish. The problem may have been that the rod, a trotting rod, wasn't soft enough. I've got another rod more like a match rod, and will try again with that.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Grove Pond 23.5.22

3-5pm mainly cloudy My first fishing session for three months, not being allowed to drive following heart surgery. It was good to be out! I float-fished double maggot, more than half the time up in the water.  1 tench (approx 3 lbs), 2 small crucians (both up in the water), one rudd, 2 roach. Nothing earth-shattering, but an enjoyable session, and somehow my brain is better able to plan future trips having had the first session of the season.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Blankety Blank end November up to December 23

It must be about 6 trips now I've blanked, all on the Thames. All were short sessions of up to a couple of hours, so arguably they amount to just a couple of longer sessions by hardier anglers, but even so I'm starting to feel the need for some fish!  Mostly my trips have been casting cheese paste randomly into the river in the hope of a monster chub, or laboriously researching where the roach have shoaled up. As temperatures drop the chub ought to be a prime target, but the problem with the Tha

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

River Severn - lots of mud, no roach 10-12 November 2021

I booked myself a couple of nights in a B&B in Bewdley in the hope of catching some Severn roach and maybe beating my river roach pb, a modest 1lb 2oz. Alas, things didn't go to plan, but as with all failed angling trips I'm hoping I can learn from the experience! Wed: arrived at 2pm at a BAA water, Blackstone Farm where I'd been reliably informed I could drive along the bank, only to find BAA hadn't sent me the lock combination. Just past office hours so I couldn't phone them up. Grrr.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Thames Perch 25 Oct to 1 Nov 2021

25th Oct Same approach (lobworms on straight lead and Liquid Worm attractant). 3 nice perch 2lb 6 oz, 2lb 8 oz and a smaller one approx 1lb. 28th Oct and 1st Nov Just when I thought I'd got the perch sussed, 2 blanks. Today it felt very cold to me, I'll have to get the thermals out. I got several bites, though. In two cases they bit off the worm just below the hook!

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Thames perch - 20 &22 Oct 2021

Attractor groundbait dowsed with liquid worm, hook bait lobworms, straight lead. On Wednesday I found a new swim where I was getting bites from good perch. I would play them for 20 seconds or so and think they were securely hooked, and then they got off. I just landed one of about 1.5 lbs, but lost 4 or 5 good fish. Today, Friday, I tried again with the same approach.  4 small ones and a lovely 2 lb 9oz. It started well, but after the 2 pounder the swim went dead. I assume the fight sp

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Swansea marina (River Tawe) 14-16.9.2021

Three days in Swansea fishing as part of a week's family holiday on the Gower. It has to be said that this was salt water fishing (well, maybe a bit brackish), and my experience of such contests is that the fish normally come away with a 'clean sheet'!  Though on this occasion I had built up my courage by watching a youtube video by some local youngsters who made it all look rather easy, catching small fish of a wide range of species. So I was hoping to get plenty of bites and catch even if the

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

2.9.21 Jack-Attack!

I returned to Swift Ditch where the swim had gone dead on maggot feeder, though my first experiment was to try float fishing with hemp'n tares in a slightly different swim. In an hour I had just 3 roach, all no more than 3 inches long. I don't know how the greedy little fish could eat such a large bait as a tare! I wasn't fishing well, partly because I had set up too log a rod for the various trees and bushes. So I switched to a ledger rod, and moved back to where the swim had died the day

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Maggot Feeder, what am I doing wrong? 31.8.21

5.15 - 7.45pm weather cool and cloudy I've tended to dismiss maggot feeder for the Thames, particularly in summer, because my past experience has been that it just attracts very small fish. But I have met a couple of anglers recently who have done OK with it, which has made me wonder if I have given it a fair crack. Having joined a club that has a stretch of what is in effect a 'carrier' for the Thames, much narrower than the main river, I decided that I could concentrate the maggots in a l

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Thames lock cut roach 23.8.21

4-5pm. I had two false starts in other swims so only left myself an hour in bright sunlight. Pleasantly surprised, though. About 10 roach up to half a pound up in the water on hemp and tares. To me it's a slight puzzle. My general impression is that the lock cuts are pretty well devoid of fish in the summer. Why is Sandford an exception? Maybe I'm wrong and there are more fish in the others than I suppose. I must give a couple of the ones nearer my home another try. To be fair, the only one I've

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Grove pond 20.8.21

2.30 - 5.15pm I started off 'up in the water' with hemp and tares and casters hoping for some of the quality roach and rudd I've had in the last couple of months here. I had 6 roach in the first hour, but none were over about 5 ounces, so I switched to fishing on the deck practising the lift method. One nice bream about 3lbs, and 3 crucians all about 8 oz. Enjoyable fishing. 

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Thames bream 2.8.21

Fished a new stretch of the Thames for a couple of hours this morning. Spent most of the time fishing feeder with double caster on  the hook, just 3 rod lengths out. Just caught gudgeon plus a couple of very small roach. Then I switched to 4mm carp pellet and, for the last 10 minutes or so, cast out into the flow and had a 3lb 7oz bream. Not big by Thames  standards, but it was actually the best Thames bream I have had, so I was very pleased.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Christchurch trip 13-15 July

Despite much planning and useful advice from people on AN, tackle shop managers and anglers I met, my long awaited trip to the Bournemouth/Christchurch area yielded little in terms of fish. Tuesday evening: Royalty Fishery on the Avon. Wow, what a lovely river!  Trotting wasn't possible because the flow required being able to see the float further than my eyes will manage, but I tried double caster with a feeder. Several nice dace of about 5 oz, and then BANG!  At first I thought it was a m

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Rudd and Roach at Grove Pond 30.6.21

This was an experimental session, feeding hemp but trying different hook baits up in the water to see which worked best. My conclusion, at least today, was maggot for the rudd and double caster for the roach. My best fish were a rudd of 13oz on maggot and a roach of 14oz on double caster. The casters were dark red, and would therefore have floated except for the weight of the hook, and so would have sunk very slowly which may have appealed to the roach. As well as tares I also tried artific

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Grove Pond - Hemp and Tares 25.6.2021

5.15 - 7.15pm. I'd had a crack at the roach with hemp and tares a couple of days ago, but was frustrated by very few hook-ups. This time I did much better. I wondered if the tare was sliding round the hook and masking the point. Switching from size 16 to 14 helped a lot. They were still very fast, tricky bites but I managed 23 roach and one rudd up to half a pound or just over.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

1lb Rudd 14.5.21

Grove Pond 3.30-5.30pm My original plan was to catch roach on meat up in the water, but the roach weren't in evidence, except a few very small ones, and for a time the rudd were. My rudd pb is a hefty 2lb 2oz, but after that I think my best was a mere 9oz. So I was very pleased to catch a second best rudd at 1lb 0 oz. I had 5 rudd in all, a couple in the 6-7oz mark.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in general

Roach up in the water 9.5.2021

Grove Pond 3.30-5.30pm I'd been told this lake holds roach up to about a pound, so the aim of today was to start a quest for these (also rudd and crucians) by experimenting with a new bait, meat. I've used big chunks of luncheon meat ledgering for chub and barbel, but only once tried smaller pieces on the float for smaller fish. I started with maggot to build confidence. Quite slow, I soon found small pieces of meat approx 5mm square got just as many bites, and I hooked a couple of sma

Grove Pond 30.4.21

3.30 - 5.15pm  This lake belongs to Wantage Angling Club, of which I am a member.  After a series of cold nights, and bright sun all afternoon, I had few expectations of catching fish, but I was pleasantly surprised. I float-fished maggot and had about 15 small roach, about 5 rudd (best a chunky 7oz) and 3 nice crucians, all about 6oz. As far as I know this lake doesn't hold any mega-specimens, but it's a very pleasant lake to fish.

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in Update

What happened in 2020?

I've just realised it's been more than a year since I posted, so I thought I'd do an update to let the world and the computer system know that I am still around! What fishing happened in 2020? For me very little. I can't remember what the problem was in winter 2019/20. I think it was the time I had tennis elbow! Then in the spring and summer we had Covid and restrictions on fishing and tackle shops coupled with a house move - not far, still Didcot area. In the autumn I did at least wet

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench in Update

River Blavet, Brittany 1-6 October, 2019

This was a special fishing holiday near Pontivy in Brittany to fish the River Blavet and the Nantes-Brest Canal which it flows in and out of. I had heard from blogs on-line, and also a reliable report on Anglers Net, that the roach (to 1lb 8 oz) and bream (to 6lbs) fishing here was prolific, with nets of around 50lbs regularly available in a session. Also the locals mainly fish for predators, to be taken away and eaten, so I assumed the roach and bream wouldn't be too 'hook shy.'   Alas, that

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

Thames bait-dropper, pellet 19.8.2019

7 - 8.30pm For the first time in the Thames I used bait-dropper. I cast out 10 bait-droppers full of 3mm pellets, and then fished feeder with 6mm halibut pellet about 5 rods out. At first it was bite-a-chuck, and very positive bites, too. Within 5 minutes I had a 12oz roach, which is actually my pb for the Thames. Then they got a bit cagey, and I missed a lot of bites. I wondered if the hair was too long and they were sucking the bait and not really having the hook in their mouth? Next time I m

The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We and our partners use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences, repeat visits and to show you personalised advertisements. By clicking “I Agree”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent.