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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.

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Entries in this blog

Willows

11.3.22 - Willows

Hmm, though the end of the running-water season approacheth, I could not resist a last chance at Willows before the planned transfer of 50 of its larger carp to other lakes the next day. What's more, with rain is due, I always feel it will be easier to huddle under a brolly on a lakeside rather than a river bank.  It started off dry and still, and with two fish in the first three casts, I anticipated a fine haul. Then the first of two, two-hour rain stints kicked in and the strong S/SE wind
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

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Dobsons

20.5.22 - Dobsons

A treat for me to have a fishing day with the revered PeterJG. I arrived at 5:15am to find my partner already set up on the bank, rods out and primed for hot fishing action. However, being the gent that he is, Peter insisted on not catching anything while I set up, and for a good hour or more afterwards.Naturally,  I returned the compliment and we both remained biteless before I eventually broke the protocol with an 8oz bream. It was a strange day. Very enjoyable, but with the fish cagey and an
Willows

23.8.21 - Willows

I'm sorry readers, but it's Willows again. A rare Monday morning session, but took the day off for a funeral so sneaked in a 4-hour stint. Dull, overcast (the weather, not me) with a chill northerly breeze that had me running back to the car for a jacket - it could only be summer 2021. Despite the drop in air temp - or perhaps because of the drop in air temp?) the fish were quite active throughout. I had lots of liners, lots of jerky hits that came to nowt, and somehow missed some unmissable
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

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dixons

6.3.22 - Dixons

A rare opportunity to fish on a Sunday, so thought I'd do something different and went for a last piking session of the season. I'm very drawn to Dixon's Mere; it's quiet, underfished, and has no crays or (on the few occasions I've fished it) any nuisance waterfowl. On the other hand, there's no otter fencing or much in the way of recent catch reports, so I'm not sure what's in there. Fished the east bank, spending half an hour in each of 8 swims, reading that if pike are present, they
Willows/Hambridge

15 & 17.12.21 - Hambridge & Willows - The Ugly, the Bad and the Good

Wednesday, and I had the chance to fish for an hour or so before dark. I thought I'd give lure fishing ago given the number of guys marching up and down Speen Moors last Friday with their 7ft rods and multoplier reels. I dug out an old 9ft rod from the garage, and popped into Tony's for some artificial crayfish, rubberised worms and some wire traces. Thus kitted, I wound in fast, slow, jaggedy and twitchingly, but after an hour in various swims, all I'd landed were sunken leaves and submerged br
Speen Moors/Enborne

30.9.22 -Enborne/Speen Moors

With temperatures crumbling as autumn starts to get in gear, I started my migration from lakes to the canals and rivers. The morning could have been perfect for perch at first light- misty and still, but overnight it had dropped to four degrees, the coldest since spring, and maybe that turned them off. I managed to get some pole practise in prior to the match at Enborne on Sunday, presenting and jiggling a worm right in front of their reedbed ambush points, but only managed one of about hal
Hambridge

14.11.22 - Hambridge and river Lamborne

With my morning customers enjoying a holiday, I have a consecutive bonus Monday few hours fishing. Take my waders to the river Kennet at Hambridge and fish three swims. The river is very low which, along with angler failings, contributes to only modest returns of 7 dace, a roach and a beautiful gudgeon. On the plus side, no lost big'uns as tends to happen to me here. On the downside, no big'un's to lose. Realising it's not going to be a great return, I squelch my way over to the Lamborne. N
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Hambridge

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Willows

10.08.21 - Willows

Well, that was a strange evening. Only just got into the carpark at 3.30 and walking to one of the only one of my preferred swims left, people seemed to be catching. In 6 hours I caught just the 6 fish. But they were tench of 3lb and 1lb 3, mirrors of 8lb, 16lb 10 and 4lb 8, plus right at the end in the virtual dark, a common of 15lb 9. So though I struggled for bites, I ended up with just under 50lb of fish! Funny old world. BTW the larger tench gave no fight whatsoever despite h
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

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Dobsons

3.4.21 - Dobsons

Different day, same cold, north east wind but this time no prospect of later sunshine. Wanted a swim with the wind on my back rather than in my face, so chose the far east bank of Dobsons for the first time. From this end of the lake I could see nine bivvies set up. None of them seemed to catch. For the third session on a row, I didn't get a touch on pellet of wafter on method feeder all morning, fishing up against the artificial island. Kept a float on second rod and eked out just the one solit
Harris lake

1.7.22 - Harris Lake, Marsh Farm, Surrey

It was an honour to be invited to compete for the 7th Paul Goldbourn Memorial Trophy with the revered Chris Plumb and a good number of other anglers, waifs and strays. Not knowing what to expect, my kindly chauffeur, MB, warned me on the way down that the lake can be a little 'moody' which was later reiterated by CP who told me that not much tends to happen in the afternoon. And so it proved. The competition for biggest Crucian was fairly won by a 2lb 12 fish (see CP's post as below), but I
Dobsons

21.5, 2 & 3.6. Dobsons. Meh.

Hmmm. OK, a week away between visits, but nothing to write home about in any, so you'll just have to make do, I'm afraid. 21st - 25 fish in total, biggest a 1lb perch, though a pretty good carp straightened my hook out. 2nd - 22 fish. Some nice roach among them, but nothing more than 12 ounces 3rd - 1 roach, 1 perch for 3 ounces in 7 hours I've fallen off a cliff. Thank goodness for Peter G, who accompanied me on the last trip and while he wasn't puling in bream after me and r
Willows

15.6.21 - Willows

I've never seen so many fish. With the temperature soaring to thirty degrees, the surface was alive with cruising carp.  Out came the dog biscuits, with the plop-plip of every cast bringing surface attention. Gobbling down every freebie, the canny fish  could tell if there was a hook/line involved, mouthing then instantly spitting my otherwise identical bait out time and time again. Commons of 5lb 15 and 6lb 4 came when I increased their urgency by catapulting in freebies, but the bloody du
Treoes lake

8 & 11.12 - Treoes lake

Having abandoned any further 1hr 40 minute round trips to my 'local' river which seemingly holding no fish, and my very local Port Talbot Docks mysteriously having last week closed to all further fishing, it's my usual lake again. Friday. With the frosts a few days past now I was hoping the fish will have woken up hungry. Well, they sort of had. Got a handful of roach and bream, but in heavy rain did get a bonus 13lb 6 Common. Monday. A chilly but often sunny day. I chose to sit on the
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Treoes lake

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Willows/Hambridge

3.9.21 - Willows then Hambridge

Well, if you'd told me I was going to have two personal bests since records resumed last June after my 20-odd year hiatus from angling, I'd be anticipating a fab day, though by anyone else's standards it probably wasn't. After my haul of ten (10) carp on Tuesday evening, they really didn't want to know today. After an hour or two without a sniff on the method feeder, I maggotted and hemped-up a zone about 5ft out from a bankside shrub and swapped for a float. This brought fourteen roach, of
Willows

9.3.21 - Willows

What with it having been a glorious early spring day. I managed to sneak one-and-a-half hours in at Willows before sunset this evening. As soon as I arrived, the wind got up with the expected change of weather approached. 7 Canada geese, 1 grebe, 8 trains (7 passenger, 1 goods), 3 crows, 1 pheasant, 3 Chinnock helicopters (probably the same one, three times, to be fair), 7 pigeons, 1 moorhen, 2 coots, 1 red kite, 1 other angler. 0 fish. Did get a bite soon after starting, but unusually wit
Willows

17.8.21 - Willows

Not a great success. My three preferred swims were already taken, but that's OK, I've done well previously from the one I chose. Tossed out the method feeder at the island, and threw pellets out over it,  but though I had sporadic attention on the bobbin, nothing seemed to want to take it for real despite changing hook baits several times. Switched to and from float fished maggot over hemp and managed a meagre 1lb 4 tench, 5 bream around the 6-8oz mark and three roach. Nothing exciting until in
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

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Alders/Willows

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
Alders/Willows

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
Bellwood/Speen Moors>Enborne

11 & 12.12.21 - Bellwood & Speen Moors

I can almost get away with a shortcoming in angling skill and verve when the fish are hungry in summer, but winter is again flicking my nose and guffawing at me. Saturday was a bit grim. I'd heard it was going to be slightly warmer, so off I trot to Bellwood where I felt I had unfinished business after last week's match. Always cast at showing fish, they say, so when one popped at the surface as I arrived in 'car park corner,' that's where I sat. I alternated two from three of a pellet feed
Treoes lake

31.7.23 - Treoes Lake

Well. Nothing happened in the first hour of the morning apart from a few sharp showers which kept all other anglers away until 11. Again it was too blustery for the pole so I took at two-method feeder approach, one to my left adjacent to lilies, the other to the edge of the central island. As has happened in recent trips to two locations, a switch of bait lit the touch paper. Between 8am and 11:30 it got so manic that at one point I swapped to just one rod as I couldn't keep up with all of
Willows

20 & 21.8.21 - Willows

Two long stints at my favourite lake (when it's playing ball) to test my theory that the carp swim round the central island in the morning, move to open waters in the afternoon and slink out to the margins for their tea. Friday: dry and with the lake to myself at 6:30am pinged the method feeder out towards the island. By 9. I'd had visits from commons of 7lb, 4lb 10 and 9lb 12, all on the same orange wafter. It was set to be a fab day and I held my smile even when fourteen Canada geese splash
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

2
Willows

6.9.22 - Willows

OK, so the heatwave has definitely gone. This evening the SW wind was blowing grey and black clouds hard and fast overhead making it look more Mordor than Berkshire. The chop on the water meant float fishing was out and pinging the method feeder out towards the island brought only phantom bites as the wind caught the bobbin. I chanced that the carp may be sheltering so came back to a rod length or two out near the cover of the lake's lone overhanging willow. A bite soon ensued. Winding in,
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

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Willows

13.8.21 - Willows

Regular readers will know that  a week ago at Willows I achieved:  (a) 6:45am til 11:30  - nothing (b) 11:30 - 2:30 - 5 carp.  (c)  2:30 - 4:45. - Not even a nudge Following this, a revered and sagely angling guru wisely ordained that 'the knack is to 'ONLY be on the bank for (b) ! 4 hours at the 'right' time is better than 10 hours at the wrong...' Seven days later, with different bait and tactics, though I spent the first two hours before crossing the causeway to Willows, the sc
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

2
Willows

Willows - 5th, 9th & 10th October 2021

Autumn is here, and while the books will all tell you that the carp are feeding hard, sensing the forthcoming winter, the continued unseasonable warmth has maybe stopped the message getting through. Little to report from 3 sessions frankly, with a mirror and 5 commons cross the piece - or should it be 4? - I caught the photo'd fish an hour after dark in single corn float fished about 2ft from the bank. It didn't give much of a fight, and was particularly well behaved on the unhooking mat. M
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

2
Willows

25.9.21 & 27.9.21 - Willows

Two more trips to my fave lake chasing the carp before they hunker down in the cold and go off their feed. Saturday. Slow. I was told it had dropped off since my Harvest moonlit fun on Tuesday (maybe because of its waning?). Tried a bit of everything, and though I lost a couple, just three carp of 8lb 4, 4lb 8 and 6lb 14 was below par. Tuesday. Unable to do any work for today's employer as their computer system was irrecoverably down. As the job is wholly reliant on access to data base
Bayleaf the Gardener

Bayleaf the Gardener in Willows

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