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About this blog

I started this blog in March 2021, having blanked in over half of my fifteen winter trips to various waters of Newbury Angling Association. The rivers, canals and lakes are fine, I'm just not very good at catching the fish in them. Oddly, i seemed to get a bit better for a while, but 2023 has undone all that. In July I moved to South Wales, not entirely for the weather, but to enforce a change in my fishing luck.

Entries in this blog

Alders

26.4.22 - Alders

Arrived at 3:30 in shirt-sleeve sunshine to find a gent tackling up in the swim I'd planned to fish. No problem, we had a friendly chat and wished each other luck as I took the swim opposite. He set up a pole rig, a tactic I am too clumsy to attempt,  which would prove an interesting comparison to my ham-fisted approach. Immediately, the sun went in, never to return and the NE breeze, prevalent of the last week or more built up and blew over my competitor and into my face, chopping the water in
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Alders

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Alders

22.4.22 - Alders

A day for tench, I decided, and reached the lakeside to make the worst of all possible discoveries. That's right: I'd left my lunch at home. Bravely, I watched my quivertip while ignoring my quivering lip and fished. For six hours I sat without a bite from a fish, or, obviously, on a succulent ham sandwich, or crispy bag of crisps. With four hours still to go, I'd eaten much of the sweetcorn and was now eyeing up the maggots when the rod leapt from the rest and in came a 4lb 8 tench. Another fol
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Alders

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Alders

2021 08 30 - Alders

Summer Bank Holiday? Of course it was: there was a stiff cold north wind right in my face that had me back to the car firstly for my gilet and, half hour later, my thick coat. It was bloomin' cold. There was one other angler sat right opposite me. OK, so he had the wind on his back rather than full-facial, but how he sat there for three hours in his shorts I couldn't tell you. The fish hid as well. I didn't get a touch for three hours, then wondering how I could change my luck, saw that a ruddy
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Alders

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Alders

3.8.21 - Alders

Arrived at 3:30pm for my Tuesday evening fish to find the Willows/Alders carpark with just one space left. Willows was very busy, and though folk said they were catching, I opted for the always-quieter and beautiful looking Alders, which had just the two anglers fishing. As it was hot and sunny, I gave it a couple of hour on the method feeder (no bites) before switching to float and starting to ping in the maggots, as demonstrated to me by the Welshman last Saturday who I watched pull out tench
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Alders

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Alders

11.6.21 - Alders

At 57, I am surely too old to be having sleepless nights over fishing, but the worry over which lake, which swim, kept me awake and anxious into the small hours. In the end, I went for the less popular Alders, which became a good decision. While spawning carp crashed in the middle of the lilies, I kept to the edge, method feeding a variety of hook baits before finding one that worked for today - double hair-rigged artificial corn. Having lost a good tench in the snags near my feet, I was happy t
Alders

8.5.21 - Alders

Arrived in pouring rain and left in 40mph+ winds. That's May 2021 for you. Stopped for a while to help the working group plant bull rushes and irises around adjacent Willows.  Help required please:  it was a quiet day by previous week's standards, the stop/start frosts probably having an effect. This said, for the solitary 4lb bream I caught, I had 4 good fish slip the hook after cracking 100mph bites, where the bobbin cracked into the rod. Each was on for between 10 seconds and a couple
Alders

04 05 21 - Alders

After the 40mph winds of Bank Holiday Monday evening, Tuesday's were a mere 30+ The swell on the lake looked more like the North Atlantic than Maytime Berkshire,  better suited to surfing than fishing, but I had a few hours and gave it a go. Less bites in total than of late, there were still several will-he-wont-he bites where the bobbin rose, fell a little, fell a little more, rose again etc but did not develop into bites. Then there were the ones that nearly pulled the rod out of the
Alders

03.05.21 - Alders

Bank Holiday Monday, with winds in excess of 40mph but mercifully the accompanying rain gave me the honour of keeping away until I'd finished my session. Alders is now my favourite lake. You'll have read that last Friday was a day of tentative movements on the bobbin whereas Saturday brought good solid takes. Today was back to finickity. On and off, the bobbin played about all day. Sure, some were line bites, but others had fish playing with the bait for several minutes without taking it pr
Alders

27.3.21 - Alders

8am Saturday morning and I was amazed to find the car park at Rawlings Retreat empty. Against the general populace , who tend to go Willows and fire against the island from the west bank I chose Alders feeling that less pressured fish might be hungry fish, and spent the day there on my own. After a couple of hours of nothing I was starting to have another think, when my lift-method float zipped under, and a lovely 5lb 6 bream soon came to the surface and offered no resistance to being dragg
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Alders

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