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the downs and ups of a pleasure angler

Entries in this blog

Roach again 26.9.11

Went to the same swim as last week, a roach swim on the canalised river Kennet. Fished just over an hour at dusk, trotted bread. Air pressure a bit high so I wasn't too optimistic.   5 roach, mostly small, but one nice 14 oz fish. the best I have had from that stretch. Very pleased. Also one perch of about 6oz. I've had pike on bread before, but never perch!   I'm starting to get some confidence in using bread, ready for getting a monster when it gets colder! Though the good fish was caugh
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Angling in a corset 19 September 2011

My slipped disk has been a pain over the summer and I haven't done any fishing, but I got a support belt thing recently that helps a lot. So I am OK now for short trips, I think.   Last Monday I tried maggot on the hook with groundbait feeder on a swim on the canalised river which is known for roach, but just got very small fish - gudgeon, roach, perch. But I saw a couple of reasonable fish just under the surface that could have been roach. So this week at the same swim I tried float and magi
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Easy carp 30/5/11

The couple of days after my last entry on Feb 14 the back wasn't too good, so I decided to leave fishing till the weather improved. Didn't fish despite the warm April (well - April!), and then we've had cold evenings through much of May which I didn't think would inspire the fish or my back. I finally got back to the bank through a promise to try and help a novice angler catch a first carp - not a difficult task, you would think. We went to WW, a local easy carp water, and despite getting drench
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Valentine's Day Lady Hunt

I've been off for 3 months with a back problem. No big deal, but it didn't seem wise to risk it fishing in the cold weather. So the main aim today was to see how the back was, particularly standing for a while, and I decided on a short trip to the Lambourn for Grayling (Walton Way for info of locals).   Locals will know that the EA have done clever stuff heaving in loads of gravel so it's faster and shallower than it was. I find it rather tricky, for example, guessing how far the loose maggot
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Rumours of roach Monday 15 Nov 2010

I heard of some decent roach coming from the canal, but the bad news was that the weather was forecast to be clear and sunny. Still, there was hope as it was also meant to be foggy, clearing slowly in places. I figured the roach would like the fog, so did something almost unheard of for me - got up early!   Actually my wife's alarm normally goes off at 6.30am, but my normal response is to groan and sink into a kind of pseudo dream world where I am dictator of the world, and think of all the h
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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A couple of modest ladies Nov 8

3.45-4.45pm   What to do? A sharp drop in temperature, an inch of rain in the last day or so, and the afternoon bright and clear, unlike the forecast. Also I was even more short of time than usual. I played safe and went down to the Lambourn. It seemed terribly shallow and clear, and to a non-expert like me it seemed surprising that the EA's decision to lower the weir would improve the fishing. Still, only one way to find out.   I trotted maggots and had a couple of half pound grayling an
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Where are the roach? Nov 3

2.30-5pm   Had heard of some good bags of roach from 2 of the local lakes a couple of weeks ago, so turned up at Dobsons which I have scarcely fished before. WT 10degC. Gave it half an hour, but not a touch. Wondered what to do. What would a REAL roach angler do? I went to a part of the canal where, a few years ago, they got good bags of nice roach. A strong downstream wind. Had always reckoned that a downstream wind was Ok for trotting as you can control the speed of the float, but found it
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Around Colthrop (1 Nov)

2.30-5pm WT 10degC, 3 deg up on last week.   Not a lot to report, but I thought I should say something to show I am still alive, and also because I was fishing similar places to Rusty and Steve in Rusty's blog re 31st Oct.   Today was meant to be a roach day, but the sky was far bluer than the weatherman predicted, and for some reason I thought dace would be a better bet than roach. I headed off to the little weirpool at the start of the Aldermaston, where on a previous occasion I had one
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Rusty's chub live again!

Monday 27 Sept, 3-6pm   With Rusty's permission I decided to have a crack at his chub. I passed by earlier in the day and had a look, and at least one of them was there. But as Rusty had found, they weren't easy.   First I tried lure fishing - and just lost a couple of good lures. Then I tried a popped-up lobworm. I must admit I was a bit worried that my ham-fisted lure fishing might have spooked them. Also, even with the rod set up with the tip high the pull of the current racing through
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Tiddler bashing

6 Sept 10.30am - 12 noon. Well I couldn't work out what to do today. Heavy rain was forecast in the evening, my usual time. I was thinking of trying out the canalised river, but a fairly strong east wind was also forecast, and I thought it would make trotting difficult.   In the end I went to Dixons gravel pit, where I reckoned there would be adequate cover from the wind. Last September I went there and started catching 4oz roach, bite a chuck, but got sidelined into trying for rudd in the
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Coveted Angler of the Season Award

Sorry folks, I'm afraid you haven't won it. I have! IT'S MINE! Yes, the really coveted one, the one awarded by THE FISH to the angler who gives them the LEAST AGGRO. The BIGGEST BLANKER OF THEM ALL! The number of blanks I have had since May is truly astonishing. Leaving aside tiddlers and my trip to the Wye, in 12 trips I have had 12 blanks! And that's a pleasure angler in summer!   And how do I feel about this? Well, sad to say, a kind of benign idiocy has descended upon me, and I have quite
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Wye trip 18-20 July

A repeat of last year spending 2 nights in a b&b in Ross-on-Wye - though the river was 2 feet lower than last year, so I didn't know what to expect, as I think barbel like a bit of rain.   On Sunday eve fished a peg in the town stretch. An angler packing up had had 2 barbel, so I took over his swim and was reasonably expectant. He advised me to cast out to the edge of the main flow. Lots of yanks, shakes and bangs, but few real bites. Had 2 chub, and lost a third. I fished an hour into d
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Lots to look at!

Well that's the positive spin on 3 blanks! I think the real problem is that I'm a pleasure angler who aims a bit high for the hours that I'm able to dedicate. But they were still 3 enjoyable sessions.   21 June. Went down to the syndicate lake at lunchtime, and there were loads of carp in the shallow end in the hot sun. I threw in a few dog biscuits, and one or two were taken, and I gambled on them growing keener in the evening. But they weren't!   28 June. Had a crack at the crucians on a
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Mon 14th June Carped out

Last week another crack at the big rudd on the syndicate lake. Put half a bag of groundbait in at lunchtime, but when I returned in the evening I could still see it untouched in the shallow, clear water - no rudd, no carp, not even small roach. Blanked.   Today 7-10pm. Went to a club lake in search of crucians in a swim next to some lilies. Started on maggot, and it was small roach a chuck - and one rudd. Switched to a very small meat bait on 16 hook, but little interest, even when I switched
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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The Angst of Angling

Another three blanks!   24th May (WT 23 deg! about 2 metres out, 2 metres deep) Attempt to capture the big rudd in a local syndicate lake - the evening of a very hot day, where I think I had seen a few rudd earlier in the day, but couldn't see them -or interest them - in the lower light levels of eve.   31st May (WT 18.5deg) spent an hour or so chucking lures round a local gravel pit, to no effect. Hmm, I'd located the perch a few weeks ago, so thought I was onto a good bet. Saw a strange
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Monster Watching - Mon 17th May

Syndicate lake 7.30-9pm WT 16degC   A lovely mild, calm evening (18degC) with flies hatching everywhere - so different from a month ago. The initial plan was to try for some carp on dog biscuit. I had seen them in two places in shallow water earlier in the day, but one place was now dominated by a swan - not great for fishing on the top - and I couldn't see any carp in the other, and nothing took my free offerings.   So, plan B which was to try for a big rudd where I had one last year, in
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Prawn cocktail? Mon 10th May

6.40-9.10pm local pit WT 13.5degC   The aim of the outing was to find out a bit more about the perch in a pit I've spent a few sessions on now - and also to try prawn as a new bait. I've never been keen on the messy business of chopped worm, and I hoped that Tesco's economy prawns would prove an alternative.   Started with maggot feeder tight to an overhanging tree, but zilch for the first half hour. With the water temp having dropped it didn't seem too promising, but then I noticed some f
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Mon/Tues 3/4 May 2010

2 short trips to a local pit to try and learn a bit more about the stripey potential. Mon eve was very cold, and I think sargeant agreed with me cos not a touch - on maggot or worm. Tried 2 swims, one of which was where I had had fish a week ago. Tues eve looked like being the same, but then I came a couple of feet up in the water and got one or two bites and small fish on maggot. Ended with a better fish just under 2 lbs on worm just as it was getting too dark to see the float.   Nothing gre
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Perch at last! Monday 26 April

Went to a local angling society pit, where the water temp had risen to 15 degC, and wondered if this would have woken up some fish.   Called in initially in the afternoon for a brief spell chucking a spinner, to no avail. But chatted to an interesting angler   Returned in the evening with a float rod and a couple of worms and some maggots. Instant results on the only two worms - one perch of about a pound and a half and a tiddler. Then switched to maggot - slower, but got three more perc
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Blankety-blank 29/3 - 19/4

Five blanks, would you believe it! 4 short sessions trying for perch on gravel pits, mainly with lob worm - though today's session was with maggot with roach also in mind - and one for roach on the canals, also with maggot. I've got to say angling in April has me foxed, particularly in the pits. I could have paid my money at a commercial, and I'm sure I'd have had a netful of roach, today. Now I know the commercials have a higher stock density, so I'd expect to get more fish there, but I still d
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Monday 22nd March

Aquatek Fishery, East Lake 4-6pm WT 9degC (in margins)   I'm not really used to fishing a waiting game with bobbins, but set up 2 rods, one with popped-up lobworm, the other with double maggot at first, then lob lying on the bottom. The weather was supposedly mild at about 12degC, but it felt cold and grot with a stiff breeze and light rain. Ashamed to say I sat in the car and listened to the radio as I watched the bobbins!   My usual experience is that if nothing happens in the first hal
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Sunday 14 March 2010

Last week spent a couple of hours after pike - spinning, wobbling, ledgering - to no avail   Today 4.30-6.30pm WT 8degC   My normal fishing day is Monday, but that would be too late so I sneaked out of a family gathering today, Sunday, to get a last couple of hours of the river season. Went to a swim on the flowing canal where I lost a good chub a few weeks ago and trotted maggot. Not a touch for half an hour. My concept of trotting is that the float dips every couple of runs down, so was
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Mon 1st March

WT 6degC, AT 11degC. 3.30-6pm   Partly inspired by CP's recent success, decided to try for some perch. Thought of going to the stretch of canal I suspect CP may have been to, but decided to try and be original - which was a mistake! There had been a hard frost overnight, but it seemed like a summer's day, and I hoped the warmth of the air would waken Sargeant Stripey from her slumbers. But the combined cold water temp and bright sunlight seemed to have turned them off.   There was another
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Mon 22 Feb 2010

3.30-5pm Had 1.4cm of ice cold rain and snow overnight, so I knew it would be hard. Tried maggot feeder and 2 dedrobaenas with maggot feed at a chub swim on the flowing canal for an hour, but no luck. So went to a private weirpool I'm allowed to fish where I've never known it to take longer than 5 mins to get a first bite from a chub, but was surprised to see a torrent running through the pool in a way I've never seen before. Mrs Chevin seemed to have moved on, so went home for tea!
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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Mon 15th Feb 2010

4.30-5.30pm AT approx 4degC.   Did my back in slightly a week or so ago, hence no fish and no blog last week.   Was planning to hunt a monster croc this week, but the back was still a little dicey and, as ever, other events conspired to leave too little time, so had a very short go on the Lambourn - the stretch where they've taken down a lot of trees. Actually I didn't really have time to give it a proper go as I found it was getting tricky to see the float as early as 5pm. For some reason
The Flying Tench

The Flying Tench

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