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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

2.9.22 - Alders & Willows

Ridiculously, I thought that the overnight rain (yes, rain!) and slightly lower air pressure at first light might bring the notoriously plentiful but cagey fish out at Alders. After 2 hours without a touch, I took the hint and crossed the causeway to their noisy neighbours in Willows. A slow start, bumper lunch time then slower afternoon, brought commons of 7lb 12, 4lb 4, 5lb 6, 5lb 15, 5lb 12, mirrors of 6lb 11, 6lb 4, 4lb 11, 7lb 12 and 6lb 5, plus a single 2lb 11 tench. None of the bigge

6 05 22 - Alders/Willows

So, here was the plan. (a) Start at first light at Alders on float until the sun climbed high enough to send the fish into hiding in the clear water. At that point I'd (b) cross the grass to Willows where the opacity of the more turbid water may be keeping the fish less guarded. (a) went well. I had bite after bite, good ones too, and I missed lots many more than the 2lb Common and Bream of 3lb 12, 5lb 1 and 5lb 8 I had to show for it. As anticipated, the bites slowed, though there was time

30.4.22 - Alders & Willows - The rough, the smooth and the rough

A session of mixed emotions. Firstly, shock. I had the unanticipated delight of scraping the thick ice from the car windscreen at 5am. I'm sure our neighbours enjoyed this nearly as much as I did. Arrived at a heavily frosted Willows with the temp gauge showing it was exactly 16 degrees below the day's anticipated high of 16 degrees. Surprise next. Anticipating the cold would have kept the fish firmly under their duvets in the lakebed, I kept it down to single corn, size 14 hook, 5lb l

12.3.22 - Dobsons/Alders/Willows - The Dilemma

Well, today summed up quite nicely the dilemma I'm at with my fishing. Regular readers will see that I generally choose to fish at Willows. Well, it's easy to park, sheltered from most winds, otter-proofed and there are no crays. It's also pretty easy to catch good fish. Since re-finding fishing in June 2020, the vast majority of the 149 Commons and 101 Mirrors (between 1lb and 18lb) I've caught have come from Willows (not including the many tench, bream and crucians) I have 12 written

13.7.21 - Alders & Willows

I've always intended to fish Alders on one of my weekly evening sessions, but the lure of the carp at Willows has always proved irresistible.  But arriving to find Willows very busy (l met a number of new members fishing for the first time there) including my preferred 'evening' swim, I decided tonight was the night. However, it was to be a disappointing evening, but with 2 noteworthy events. I Just one bite in 4 hours (a 3lb 12 tench) so crossed the causeway the by now nearly deserted Will

28.05.21 - Alders & Willows

My close-season concentration on these two adjacent lakes continues and went with a plan. I followed perceived wisdom and  fished 6 - 8am at Alders. I had line bites and knocks every cast, but nothing took it properly. So as per schedule, I crossed the causeway to Willows and alternated between 2 hours method feeder then 2 hours float-fished corn. The feeder accounted for three hard-fighting carp - maybe the warming water has pumped them up, as they all put up a show worth more than th

7.5.21 - Alders/Willows

I got to Alders today and found four more anglers than the normal none. I think this came from my spreading recent catch details on the Newbury Angling Association Forum. To the best of my knowledge no one caught, nor had my pal, Peter,  on his trip yesterday. On behalf of the fish, I'd like to apologise to all. If it's any consolation, I had just a couple of line bites there this afternoon before switching to Willows for the last hour. As a punishment from the fish gods, my one decent
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