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Entries in this blog

Catch up

I've been so busy recently I haven't been able to update my entries. What with 5 mental days at Glastonbury and constant work I've had no time to fish so my only updates are from a couple of quick 20 hour sessions that I've managed to squeeze in.   23rd May - Berkshire club lake.   I'd planned this session to try out my new 11' 2 1/4lb small water rods. After lure fishing with 7ft rods for the whole winter my 12fters felt stupidly unwieldy so I decided to get myself a pair of these little
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

5

Back with a bang.

24th-25th April - Berkshire Lake   As I've mentioned previously I'd become disillusioned with the carp scene towards the back end of last year and thus hadn't been since early December. I hadn't really missed it much at all, but I did notice the carp at work becoming far more active every day. Add to that a few catch reports that my mates had kept me updated on and I thought I'd get out for a night after work.   I was understandably "rusty", and after putting 2 rigs up trees, getting m
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

2

Three 2's and a 3.

31st March - K&A Canal   Popped back to the canal with the soft plastics tonight. It was rather an impromptu trip after unexpectedly getting off from work early but it was certainly worthwhile.   I thought I'd try another new stretch to prevent it getting a little stale, and to give the other stretches a bit of respite. I made a quick call to see if the old man wanted to join me and 3/4 of an hour later we were tackling up, full of expectation. We fished for an hour or so in the bitin
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

Free panda.

29th March - K&A Canal   First entry for a while, it's all been a bit bleak lately. The couple of half-hearted/hungover sessions I've managed have both drawn blanks, so when I turned up today to find a bloody canoe race in full flow I wasn't exactly hopeful.   It's not really worth fishing when there's 200 competitive, would be sailors bumbling about so I went to the local lakes to waste some time, planning a return in the evening. That didn't exactly go smoothly either... I lost a jac
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

4

Cracking end to the season :).

Well, that's it, another seasons over but I'm glad to say I've seen it in with a couple of really good sessions. This close is going to be one of the most difficult for me I think. I've really enjoyed being away from the lakes in the past few months and although I can still fish a few bits of canal it's going to be a long 3 months.   13th March - Hamps. River   I arranged to pop down to a local stretch of river with a mate after work to see how the pike stocks were looking. To be honest i
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

1

Biggest pike of the season and another pb perch.

7th March - Hamps. River & K&A canal   I've just returned from another fantastic days lure fishing.   A mate of mine is the keeper on a lovely stretch of river in Hampshire and after seeing a few big pike recently (one so big it's been christened, Big Bertha) he invited me down for a quick go at them. It was flowing pretty hard, but by sticking to the deeper water we managed 4 between us and a few obligatory trout. Unfortunately "bertha" didn't put in an appearance, though he did
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

A little catch up.

I've been back to the canal a couple more times since my last entry but only for an hour or so per session. The first was spent checking out a new stretch that proved to be a bit of a struggle. Only one 50yard area produced, but the result was well worth the effort. I had a nice perch of approx 2.4 in the net but before I got a chance to weigh it the old man shouted that he was playing a bigger one. Sure enough, in the net it went and at first sight it was indeed a better one, we guessed aro
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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The coldest feet in the south.

27th Feb - K&A Canal & Avington Trout Fishery.   I'll start with a pic of the most vividly marked perch I've ever seen. My workmate caught it on the fly this afternoon. We were just walking back along the lakes with a customer when I spotted a perch right in close. He grabbed the anglers rod that had an apps bloodworm fly attached. The water is gin clear and as the fish was literally 2 ft from the edge so we could see everything. He dropped the fly in, twitched in once to catch the
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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Big stripeys all round :).

23rd Feb - K&A Canal   Had a call from my Dad around midday to say he was going down the canal and did I want to meet him after work. No way was I refusing so after hurrying the last few anglers off the fishery 10 minutes after closing time I put my foot down and got to the canal with about half an hour of light left.   He'd not had any luck when I arrived, and after we'd walked most of the stretch I've been doing well from, the only action came from me catching a jack and missing a p
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

1

Finally done it :).

I've finally bettered my perch pb. After a few close shaves recently, and a lot of effort over the past 2 winters I popped out for a couple of hours tonight and managed 6 perch - 3.03, 2.14, 2.07, 1.8 and a couple of small ones. I also lost a decent pike.   Both the 2 bigger fish where caught from the first area I tried. I had the 1.8 first so persevered and had the 3.03 shortly afterwards before moving15 yards down the bank and casting to the same area, hoping the different angle of retr
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

3

Scuppered the opportunity I've been waiting for.,

19th Feb, K&A canal:   I got off work at a decent enough time today so decided to stop off at a new stretch for the witching hour (well, half an hour by the time I arrived). I had a tiny perch after a couple of minutes so at least I knew there where some fish about.   I worked my way up the canal, stopping for a few casts in between the many moored barges, willingly staring at my shad every time it came into my own margin. Then it happened, just as I was about to lift the lure out, r
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

2

Fairly quiet today.

17th Feb Berkshire lake and various stretches of the K&A   Back out with the lure rod following yesterdays success. I started off in the shop once again, spending more money on lures. I thought lure fishing would cost me a lot less money than carping, but so far it's cost me a fortune.. it's certainly addictive. I'm even thinking of buying a new rod already... I've only used the other one 3 times .   I'd intended on fishing the stretch of canalised river again, but was met with an a
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

1

What a difference 10 minutes can make.

Sat 16th Feb 13 - Various stretches of the K&A canal:   Well what a days lure fishing I've had. I had planned to fish somewhere around Newbury for the late morning/afternoon before meeting the old man for the evening on a different stretch of the canal.   I actually ended up spending an hour in the tackle shop nattering, which only gave me an hour or so to explore a few bits around the town. I wandered about, having a flick here and there without anything happening before hooking a b
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

1

The desire is well and truly back..

7th Feb 13, canalised stretch of the Kennet.   I finally managed to get back out with the lure rod. Spare time is at a real premium with my new job and juggling my social life and fishing is proving pretty difficult.   I ventured back to the same stretch once again, largely because most other stretches are all but un-fishable due to the flow and water levels. I walked the entire stretch without finding a swim that I could properly work my baits in until coming to the end of the beat wher
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

5

Up to date and back on the rivers.

So here we are, it's the middle of February and things have changed quite significantly for me over the past few months. I've finally got myself a very worthwhile job that I hope to stay in long term. I'm now working at the famous Avington Trout Fishery , and am absolutely loving it, depsite the horrendous weather. It's been a long old struggle since achieving my degree in fishery management and aquaculture some 3-4 years ago, but finally my persistence has paid off.   As I said in the last
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

A year on.

Well, I've just rediscovered my old blogs after almost a year. I quite enjoyed reading them back and reminiscing over last years successes that have all too quickly become but distant memories.   I found writing about my fishing very rewarding last year.. it enabled me to really appreciate the good's and mill over the bad's from each session. Without writing it down I find it all quite difficult to take in. As much as I'd like other people to hopefully find reading my blurb pleasurable, I a
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

A quick overnighter

21st - 22nd April - Berkshire Stillwater   I finally started a new job this week after 4 months of unemployment. I'm ecstatic to have finally found something but it will mean that my time on the bank is very limited. In 7/8 years of holding this particular ticket I've fished one night at a weekend, and hated it so much I vowed never to do it again. Unfortunately I now don't have a choice, so I ventured down straight from work on Friday. I was buying some alarms off someone that was fishin
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

Where have all these people come from..

3rd - 5th April - Berkshire Stillwater.   Back out again for two nights with a mate. Knew it'd be busy later in the week due to easter bank holiday, so we arranged to meet down there on the Tuesday. Little did we know that a load of people had taken the full week off so they could fish a long session. Due to the pressure I slotted into a corner swim that controlled its own little bay in the hope that the fish would seek refuge in the quieter areas. The swim used to be full of fallen tree
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

First session on the other target water

27th March - 28th March - Berkshire Stillwater   Decided on a slight change of scenery so visited the other big fish water that the ticket offers. Got down around 10am and had a walk around and a chat with the fellas that had done the night before. It had been fairly quiet and nothing was showing, but I donned my polaroids and set off to find something to go on. I'd done a full lap of the lake, when I arrived back at the car park end and saw a fish ghost past around 2ft under the surface.
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

A manic 48 hours

20th - 22nd March - Berkshire Stillwater   Firstly some good news... After attending the interviews last week I've finally been offered a job . 3 months of unemployment, relentless job searching and hardly an acknowledgement of my 20+ applications had worn me down a bit but finally things are starting to look up. On the flip side it has allowed me to get on the bank a lot more than usual over the winter period .   I heard from the job on Monday and within an hour I was sorting my kit i
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

2nd carp of the year

7-8th March - Berkshire Stillwater   After my success last week I'd well and truly got my carp head back on and was gagging to get back at them.   Tuesday morning bought good news in the way of 2/3 interviews. It's taken me 2 months of unemployment and 20+ applications just to get an interview so I decided to celebrate with a night on the bank.   I arrived at 4.30ish and had a walk around but saw nothing. One lad had managed a 25lb common on a day session and was due to leave that e
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

First carp of the year :).

27th-28th Feb - Berkshire Stillwater   I decided against the nights carping last week but after a short, biteless trip on the river last week I decided to have a look at one of the lakes on the way back to the car. Stopped off in a mates swim and chatted away for a couple of hours before deciding I was extremely keen to get the carp gear back out.   After a few texts I arranged to meet a mate down at the lake on Monday morning for a quick 24 hour session. I'd heard that one swim produced
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

A slow day

21st Feb - Speen Moors and K&A canal   After hearing that Speen had done 3 5lb+ chub in the weekend match I decided to have a rove around for a few hours. Baited and fished a number of swims without a bite.   Gave up at about 2pm and decided to have a wander along a bit of the K&A I'd been told had done a few good weights of perch. Found the going swims but unfortunately they were occupied so I ended up at my usual stretch for the last couple of hours. Managed a handful of perch
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

0

They're playing hard to get today..

16th Feb - Canalised stretch of the Kennet and K&A canal   Back to the same stretch again, this time for a day with my Dad as we don't get the chance to fish together as much as we used to. Still fishing on the exchange permit as he's a member of the club controlling the opposite bank to the one I normally fish.   Same routine once again, bait a number of swims and fish them in rotation. Fished all of the swims that have produced up until now without so much as a sniff between us. R
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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3 in a day

Feb 15th - Canalised section of the Kennet.   Another trip to the same stretch today, although I'd got an exchange ticket and fished it from the opposite bank.   Followed the same routine of walking to the boundary and baiting swims with mash, but this time I fancied giving it a go on the float. I decided against using my pin as the lack of flow would make things difficult, so I set up with a small fixed spool and a loafer to fish a large chunk of flake, just tripping bottom.   As
tomhaggett

tomhaggett

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