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About this blog

the downs and ups of a pleasure angler

Entries in this blog

Hemp'n tares 4.9.14

5.30-8pm. Went to the 'easy Thames' where dog-walkers go, where the banks are clear of nettles, and where there was a decent flow and 7 feet of water one and a half rod lengths out. Ideal for trotting. The aim of the session was to try hemp and tares.   My experience of fishing with hemp is mainly limited to the 'good old days' when I was a teenager. My twin and I got on the Green Line bus from north London to Walton-on-Thames one day, and fished for roach. It was a killer bait in those days
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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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

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Monday December 7th

10am to 12 noon. As a result of yesterday's recce and 20 mph winds forecast I decided to miss the river for once and fish Dixons for roach in a sheltered spot. Air temp forecast 9deg C, though I didn't have a water thermometer, seemed mild enough for it not to be too hard. Started with float, but switched to maggot feeder when the wind moved round a bit to the west. 14 foot deep. Tried two swims on Dixons plus a few minutes on the Moor Ditch. Not a touch. Had fished the morning as Metcheck fore
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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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

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Zig Rig 19.8.13

7.45 - 8.45pm The aim of the session was simply to catch a carp on a zig rig - something I've never done. My interest in this came from a time when I was trying to catch a carp on the top from what is now really a specimen lake, and they felt all round the dog biscuit to see if there was any suspicious line there. It occurred to me that if I had the bait a foot or two down with the line coming up from a running lead below the carp might come at it from above and not encounter the line. The lake
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Sea fishing near Swanage 8.9.15

5.30-6.30am I'd never caught a sea fish on a lure from the bank, and didn't really know where to start. I have memories of casting out into the ocean in vague hope, but nothing coming of it, and not really expecting anything to come of it! But on this occasion a highly skilled local angler offered to take me out.   The first thing was that we met in the dark at 5am in the morning! After a short walk we clambered down rocks, also in the dark, with him giving me guidance all the way. Quite an a
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Cold lake 22.1.16

Local lake, 3-5pm   Plan A was to catch perch and maybe roach on prawns, which is a good bait on this lake. But, contrary to the forecast, there was almost no cloud, I got no indications on the float, and felt I had to boost my expectation. So I switched to double maggot on size 18 hook. One good bite which I missed and then dead. But might that be a tiny movement that was going on? I decided to do what the books say, and switched to size 20, single maggot, and shotted the float right down. Bi
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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12.5.17 pb Roach!

5.15 - 8 pm Relatively shallow local lake which has warmed up well (WT 17degC)   Fished feeder. 3 roach, 1lb 3 oz, 1 lb 7 oz, 1 lb 12 oz. The fish were full of spawn. The biggest was a pb, and the catch was my best catch of roach, so I was very pleased. The middle fish was quite pale and almost looked like a silver bream, but I was not aware this species was present in the lake. I shall take a camera next time! All the roach came in the first hour, and I also foul hooked a second 1lb 7 oz
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Mon 18th Jan

The key question was where to go after the recent melting of the snow. I felt the Lambourn might have got rid of the salt etc by now, but another possibility was that there were static stretches of the canal where very little of the snow melt would have even got into the water, and with the very rapid rise in temperatures I thought Mrs Perch might be waiting for her dinner. Decided to play safe with the Lambourn.   Fished 2.30 - 4.45pm. Water temp amazingly 8degC. For the first 90 mins fished
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Ladygrove Park Lake 15.8.14

7.30-9pm A short exploratory session. My aim was to see whether fishing with maggot would tempt any of the better roach, or just get loads of small ones. I baited with 3mm halibut pellets, with maggot on the hook. First bite was a lovely 9 inch roach, and I was optimistic, but I didn't get any bigger ones - though it was 'bite a chuck', and there were several reasonable roach as well as some skimmers. For the last half hour I switched to sweetcorn, and immediately got a better stamp of skimmer,
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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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

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Speen Moor 24.6.13

6.30-9.45pm   The aim of the trip was a general recce as to how SM was looking, and also to try and catch a decent dace as I had heard some had come out recently. And my pb is a mingy 6.5 oz!   The first swim was challenging with a swift flow, and as I was trotting and feeding maggots by hand the bites were all about 20 yds away. First trot down I though I had achieved my objective but, alas, the convex anal fin showed it to be a small chub of about 12oz. It was enjoyable fishing. I caught a
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Warwicks Avon 25/26 July 2016

Decided to visit the Warwicks Avon at Fladbury in the hope of getting a bream (my pb stands at a lowly 5lb 12 oz), though I wasn't expecting too much as there was so little rain in the river. Had a brief float-fish in the afternoon, and had a nice roach-bream hybrid of about a pound. Well, I think I had him, I think he touched the bank, but I never got him into the landing net. While I was fumbling about reaching for the net and looking in the wrong direction there was an explosion in the water,
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Mixed bag 24.2.14

4-6pm I went to the same swim as the last 2 weeks,where I reckoned a lot of fish would be concentrated to get out of the fast flow, but after getting a pb dace last time I decided to leave the perch and see what other silver fish might be around.   My first approach was with bread over specialist roach ground bait. Immediately I was getting little touches, but they were hard to hook. Then I caught a nice roach of about half a pound, but after that it was very slow so I decided to try maggot o
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Ultra-light 17 Nov 2015

1.30 - 4.30pm The Thames   Kappa kindly took me out for an afternoon introduction to U/L, borrowing his rods. The fish were in good form, and the extra flow meant they were a bit nearer, in which aided contact. Nevertheless, there was a dramatic improvement on my previous attempts at lure fishing on the Thames, where I have caught one or two pike but found the perch hard to find compared with my previous experience on the Kennet. Let me rephrase that - in 18 months I have only caught one perch
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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France 27 July to 4 August 2013

A family holiday in the Vendee region of the west of France. I managed three short sessions on local lakes which had all been created by damming little rivers: Apremont, Jaunee and Gue Gorand.   My aim was to try and make contact with some of the local roach. For some reason I reckon some reasonable sized ones will be found in these lakes - though my reason for thinking so is limited to one not very specific comment on a French angling website. In the first two cases I suspected from my exper
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Wednesday Dec 9th

2pm - 4.30pm   Very mild day, and a few days leave left so took a few hours to go perching. Went to a tree swim on the canal where a friend bagged up a few days ago using the pole. Had thought the colour would have dropped out sufficiently to make jigging a plastic worm a good option, aiming for my first perch on a plastic. But the canal was more coloured than I expected so I decided to try lobworm on a straight lead, with maggots sprayed over the top. But I would use a long-drop bobbin, whic
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Gold lame worm 1.9.14

5.30-7.30pm Kennet Spent the first 90 minutes alternately sheltering from the showers and ledgering for a monster chub that got into a snag and broke me up last time. Alas, he wasn't at home - or maybe he objected to the broomhandle and rope approach I used to try and avoid a repeat this time! Spent the last half hour jigging with my gold lame worm with the wiggly tail. It seems fish are appreciative of glamour, and I was pleased to net a 3lb 13oz chub and a 2lb 1 oz perch.
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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The Lost Carp 2.9.13

6.30-9.30pm   Went to an easier water than last week in search of a carp. My plan was to decide when I got there whether to fish on the surface or the bottom, depending how many fish were active up top. There was loads of surface activity, but I realised I had forgotten my fluorocarbon leader and felt that 6lb mono might be a bit light, so fished with a float 12 feet out on the bottom using 8lb soft braid.   I chucked in some dog biscuits and immediately a carp came and snaffled them up, so
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Middle Dorset Stour 15,16 Nov 2018

I've always wanted to fish the middle Stour since someone told me it was a place where you could reasonably rely on a good bag of roach with a good chance of a fish over 1lb. I was able to combine it with visiting a family member. Would the fishing come up to expectation?   15 Nov 1.30-4.30pm. The fishing shop steered me in the direction of a 'mill pond', weir pool really. But this immediately raised a question. Where on earth in a weir pool do you find roach? Such experience as I have of weir
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Drop-shotting 30.12.13

2.45 - 4.20pm   I had a couple of hours on the CSAS stretch of the Kennet 2 days ago. It was good to meet up with Viney, but we both blanked and I am sure part of the reason was water temperature of 6.5degC. In addition it was rather coloured, about 12" visibility.   Today I went to the private weirpool I visited a couple of weeks ago. Water temp was unchanged from 2 days ago, but the colour had dropped out just a little. My plan was to do some more jigging for perch, but a guy in the tackle
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Rumour of roach 9.9.13

I had some realistic plans for carp or perch for today, and then I heard a rumour about some good roach in one of the harder gravel pits. Typically, I gave up on the carp and perch and had a crack at the roach. Not a touch! Always the same - me and roach! I won't bore you with the details.
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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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

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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

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Wareham 2-4 Nov 2015

Took a 2/3 day fishing break on the free stretch of the River Frome with 3 objectives:   a) catch a really big roach, though I realised this was a long shot b)catch some middle-ranking roach c) get a pb dace   Well the biggies weren't around, and it turns out there are very few middle-ranking roach there. I was mislead on that score by a local angler when I dropped in in September. So that left the dace.   Unfortunately they were a bit AWOL also. Some exceptional dace had been comin
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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