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About this blog

the downs and ups of a pleasure angler

Entries in this blog

Wye barbel trip 15/16.7.12

Got to a Guest House in Ross-on-Wye late Sunday afternoon. Nice place, and close to the fishing shop, but this time they moved me up to the attic cos the room originally booked was full of used champagne bottles from a party, I understand. Went out for fish and chips.   Arrived at river, town stretch. Flowing fast and very brown, but nowhere near the top of the banks. Looked a bit formidable to a greenhorn like me. Shall I fish from the top, and then if I get a fish will I be able to jump 6 f
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Lemington Lakes 17.7.12

On the way back from my Wye trip I called on an old friend in Moreton-in-Marsh, and after an excellent lunch went to try Lemington Lakes, a commercial fishery only a mile away. If nothing else it would be an interesting contrast to the Wye! I had seen a feature on the roach fishing there in an angling mag, though I think a lot of the roach have since been transferred from Westminster Lake to Priory Lake and Abbey Lake. After parking the car the first lake I came to was Abbey, and a carp angler t
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Vendee, France - August 2012

Family holiday near St-Gilles-Croix-de-Vie on the west coast of France, but took a couple of rods for some not-too-serious fishing. Based on trawling the web (despite my poor French) I had hoped for 3 possibilities:   1. Catch a black bass in lake Apremont. I tried a bit of lure chucking, but really didn't know what I was doing - no luck.   2. Catch some decent roach in the river Vie or Lac Apremont. In the former (a dam area about 10 ft deep at the lowest point of the river) I was bombed
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Court Farm 27.8.12

Decided to have a bash at the roach in a nearby commercial. I'd been told you could bag up in the summer on small pieces of meat, and this was to be my main tactic; but I started on maggot to boost confidence, I guess. I started catching roach up to 8 oz, but when I switched to meat the bites stopped except for ... the carp.   So back to maggot for most of the session, and had about 20 roach, but none bigger than 8 oz. Tried bread for the last half hour, with a bit of groundbait, but spent mo
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Trying for lake roach 15.10.12

5.30-6.30pm After a few weeks 'off fishing' with a bad back I decided last Monday to find a swim where I could fish close to the car park. I heard that a couple of club members had caught some decent roach on maggot on BW, one of the local gravel pits, and decided to give it a try. Result - 'perched out.'   Today I only had an hour available, but decided to have another try using maggot, because others hadn't found the perch to be such a problem. Chose a swim diametrically opposite. Put dow
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Float fishing for river roach 29 Oct 2012

A cloudy day and as ever the question 'roach or perch?' I decided on roach and went to a section of canalised river . I've been told you can catch reasonable roach there on bread, and a monster was caught there last year as well. By the time I was tackled up it was 3.30pm, and with the clocks having gone back that only gave an hour and a half. I started on maggot. I'd been warned that this would attract endless gudgeon and small dace, and that's exactly what I got, plus 2 small roach. I don't kn
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Blanko ergo sum

.....as the great French mind-angler Rene Dust-carts once said.   I wondered whether to report on my latest blank, and decided that, if I didn't, you might think I no longer exist.   Well I haven't caught much this winter - a mixture of other commitments, minor back trouble, and of course downright (and totally undeserved) bad luck! I've chucked a few spinners, impaled a few lobworms, caught one or two roach and perch, but nothing really worthy of comment. Yesterday was a typical example. Th
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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8.4.13 Charlie's Lake, Andover

5.30 - 8pm An attempt for some roach in a commercial fishery.Someone was saying in the tackle shop that the canal temperature at the weekend had been 2degC, and only perch had been coming out, so I wasn't expecting too much. In fact the WT wasn't too bad - 8degC - and I had about 25 roach on float-fished maggot. Mostly small, the best about 6oz, but at least I caught. And I wasn't carped once!
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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The times are a' changin' 17.6.13

Not much to report on the fishing. Yesterday, the glorious 16th, I just had time to check out a couple of swims - and discovered that they are unfishable unless I bring gardening implements. Worth knowing, at least. Then I spent an hour spinning for perch in what I thought was a banker area where the river meets the canal. To give me confidence I started with a small orange spinner, certain that I'd catch a few small ones and could then switch to a bigger lure, but even the tinies weren't inter
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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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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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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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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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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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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Side-Planer 22.11.13

3-4pm. Cold bright day. Not really a proper session. I fancied giving the side-planer a walk along the flowing canal with a Mepps attached. I've caught jacks on the s-p with wobbled smelt, but never had anything on a lure and I decided to have a go. But I lacked confidence as to what was happening to the lure. There was a fair flow, and not being able to see the lure, and not having direct contact with it, I had little idea how deep it was - and I felt it needed to be near the bottom on such a c
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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Weirpool fish - where are they? 1.1.14

I couldn't resist going out in the howly wowly wind to wet a line, even if it wasn't a very serious attempt to catch fish. Following getting my first 3 fish drop-shotting two days ago I went to a free weirpool to see if I could repeat the trick. I had already seen from the other side of the canal a few days ago that the EA had opened the weir gate wide and there was a mass of water rushing through, with almost no-where that a self respecting perch would want to go. Aha! My logic was this: with m
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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Private weirpool

3-6.30pm Grey sky, moderately high air pressure   I went armed with worms, maggots and deadbaits, and wasn't sure when the magic hour came whether I would try for perch or pike. Started off with float/maggot to see where the fish were concentrated, and it wasn't where they usually are! Had 3 roach, best about 8oz, and 4 mini-dace.   Then tried worm on the float with no success, so switched to jigged plastic worm. Had a 2lb jack, interestingly where the roach were. The perch weren't intereste
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Thames trotting failed 16.6.14

7.30 - 10pm I've only lived near Wallingford since 19th March, so this was my first chance to fish the river. I've joined a club that can fish the Thames at Carmel College at Wallingford. This used to be a Jewish boarding school (it was known as the 'Jewish Eton') till the nineties when it had to close for financial reasons. I don't understand what it is used for now apart from being used as a film set for various TV programmes - and for angling, with beautifully prepared swims you can drive yo
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Lure fishing for perch 7.7.14

6-9pm I first went to a hotspot on the K&A Canal. Water very clouded. I tossed out my trusty Mepps Aglia and started getting 'knocks'. Now according to the books that is what you expect, but it has never been my experience. Up till now, when I got a 'knock' it meant I had encountered a bit of weed - at least, I think so. But these were too high in the water, and I was fairly sure it was fish. Could this have been linked to the murky conditions? I'd be interested in any views.   Then, aft
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,
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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.
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The Flying Tench

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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
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The Flying Tench

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Attempt at waggler 8.9.14

5.30-8pm R Thames The object of today's fish was to learn a new technique rather than to catch fish. Phew, fortunate that! I'd never fished waggler before and gathered it might be useful on the Thames, so... I remembered my depth gauge this time, and was surprised to discover how uniform the depth was -10' deep from a rod length out to three quarters of the way across. A bit deep for float fishing, but not impossible. I put the 2' extension in my rod to make it 15', and used a 10BB waggler f
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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