Stretpegger

Congratulations Anderoo what a cracking fish,i too used to suffer a lot of lost grayling.Went through several patterns but the best i have found so far is a drennan superspade with the barb crushed down.

Hi salty types I am first and foremost a coarse angler but last year took my first tentative steps in mullet fishing.Found a location by accident that in five outings produced 2 fish.Ok not a brilliant return but i am hooked now.This year i am going to make a more concerted effort,was just wondering what time of year would you recommend as a realistic time to start.Do sea temperatures influence your decesion or time of year? Am guessing that geographical locations play a part as well so the location i will be fishing is a creek off a Hampshire harbour,any ideas?

Near to where i live is a stretch of the river Pang that is said to have been the inspiration for Wind in the Willows.The site is owned by BBONT ( berks bucks & oxon naturalists trust) nice to know that the most famous water vole of all "ratty" and his mates are safe in their spiritual home.

I must admit i have never heard of the " Newbury residents only" status of the kennet in the town.Looks like i could have been poaching the few times i have fished it Had forgotten about the Lambourn,must give it a whirl sometime.

As far as i am aware the Kennet in Newbury is free fishing from the Wharf upstream through the town to Egypt point.Up and downstream of those two locations it falls under Newbury AA control.As Chris suggested you are better off joining the Newbury or Thatcham clubs.In addition if you join Thatcham AA you can if you wish for an additional payment be affiliated to RDAA.This will give you access to large amounts of the kennet downstream of newbury.

Thanks for the link...i for one am definitely interested.

Mike you have a PM.

Hi Newt Yes i have heard of the "snakehead" but it was the link to the Sun newspaper that made me smile.They have a certain reputation in the U.K. and have done a few dog eating monster pike type stories over the years.Not that i purchase it of course!

I thought the April 1st was a few weeks away yet!

As i said i do not know where i stand re the close season,i can see positive reasons for and against a close season.All i was driving at was to have some consistancy across the board,but as i live in the real world then there is doubt that the current situation will continue for the foreseeable future.

Regardless of the close seasons individual landowners or fishery owners impose on their waters the thing that really winds me up on this subject is the national close season.I cannot believe that the current situation of closing rivers but leaving stillwaters and canals open does angling any favours at all.It must seem to the non angling public that we are hypocrites for protecting rivers and yet continuing to fish lakes. Im still not sure where i stand on the close season issue but if we are to continue it i would favour a closing down of all waters,the current situation is a mess

Thanks for the comments everyone,i should though give Doug a lot of credit for the catch.It was on his advice that i chose my swim,when you have a swim that is a known hotspot then half the battle is won. I didnt fish tight to the far bank cover as with the light tackle i was using it would have been suicidal. But feeding a rodlength short of the far bank persuaded the chub to move out to intercept the maggots.Chub as we all know are greedy fish so a steady stream of freebies will make them lose a lot of their natural caution. The feeding of the swim was the key,the actual fishing was relatively straightforward.I think i would have struggled to achieve a similiar catch on my local river kennet.But the stour is an exceptional river for chub,they seem to dominate on this stretch.The only other fish i caught other than the chub was a half pound perch. As i mentioned the big "5" was an old looking fish,Doug commented that a lot of the big ones look this way.Makes you wonder how much longer the crop of big chub will be around.Having said that the stour has been at the top of the chub tree for a number of years so who knows Medway You should give it a go the ringwood club has open membership and plenty of DT opportunities,if i lived a bit closer i would certainly consider becoming a member.

As requested my Mike T here is a brief report on the day.We arrived at the venue just after first light,Doug my host for the day gave a quick rundown of the noted swims and we then seperated to fish swims about 100 yds apart.Due to the bright sun that was forecasted for later on i chose a swim with plenty of marginal cover on the far bank,this would at least give the chub some shade before the sun rose to high in the sky. Due to the bright conditions and hard frost patient loose feeding and fine tackle was the way to go.I kicked off on a bolo float and centrepin,however the current was more sluggish than i had anticipated.After a few trots down it was clear that presentation was suffering so i retackled up with a fixed spool and waggler instead.Although i love using my pin im not a slave to it and always carry a fixed spool if conditions deem it more suitable. I should point out that all the while i had been tackling up i had been loosefeeding maggots,and although no bite were forthcoming on the pin,first trot down on the waggler and i was in.That first chub was a 4 pounder,however this didnt open the floodgates and the next dozen or so trots brought nothing.I didnt find this at all suprising as in my experience chub wise up fast. To cut a long story short it was then a case of going through various ploys to bring a bite.I went from double maggot to single,then going down in hook size,then scaling down hooklength.Later on i altered my shotting pattern,all these various ploys brought another 4 fish. By early afternoon nothing was working so i stopped fishing and just patiently fed the swim,By loose feeding only for 20 mins or so then having a run through on the waggler coaxed some more chub to open their mouths.I finished the day with 8 chub,best was a old looking 5lb 9oz fish Considering the conditions i was very pleased with my catch,i had to work hard for them but that is the sort of fishing i enjoy.Have a return trip planned before the season closes hofefully the weather will be kinder to me this time

Will do Mike,assuming i catch anything worth reporting! Spoke to my companion for the day yesterday he confirmed that the stour is looking good.Bit more cloud cover would be welcome but you cant have it all.

Nothing short of a flood of biblical proportions will stop me going this saturday.Thats the day of my much anticipated trip to the Dorset Stour chasing its fabled monster chub.I dont for one minute expect it to be easy but one bite from the right fish would make my season.Going as the guest of a Ringwood club member,we had actually planned this trip for last March but at the last minute i couldnt make it.But in my absence he still managed a brace of sixes and ten five pounders which he took great delight in telling me on the phone that evening!

Although i would now class myself as an allrounder i too have a matchfishing background so i suspect i still fish lighter than a more " traditional " big fish angler.This is due in no small part to the fact that maggots,casters hemp & tares still play a massive part in my fishing.These baits my their very nature will always be more acceptable to the fish on fine tackle.I definitely do not advocate light tackle just for the sake of it but modern rod technology and the new breed of hi tech lines will allow you to excert considerable pressure on light tackle. Some of the more enlightened specimen anglers have taken match techniques on board,i believe Andy Little recently attributed some of his success to his willingness to adapt to a lighter approach where necessary.

Ahh britford the bane of my life! I have probulary had more frustrating sessions there than any other river fishery.Not an easy venue by any stretch of the imagination,but one that i constantly return to for its magnificent roach.

Martin Bowler has a new website up and running,some interesting videos & podcasts to view and listen to.More new material will be added as the site develops,early impressions are good the chub on cheesepaste video was especially informative. Web address is http://www.martinbowler.co.uk

Although i love using my pin it does have its limitations in certain circumstances.Re fixed spool reels i have been slavishly loyal to Shimano reels for years.However last summer i purchased the Shakespeare Mach 3 reel and so far have been extremely impressed with it.Reasonably priced and comes with 3 spare alloy spools and a reel case.Mine is the front drag model but rear drags are available as well.

Speaking personally i approach any sort of fishing in a pro active manner,i think this stems from my match fishing background.Although it is over ten years since i last fished a match old habits die hard. When i finally made the decision to pack in match fishing to become more of an all rounder i new my matchfishing mindset would come in useful. By that i mean that if the fish are not biting then i go through various options to buy a bite.This could be a change of bait,hooksize,shotting pattern trace diameter etc,of course the other option is to change swims or even venues. I know your post is re to pike fishing but the same rules apply.I havnt fished for pike so far this winter but in the past i have fished different baits on each rod,one legered one floatfished in the margins then there is popped up baits to look at or static bottom baits etc.In short make something happen.

I actually didnt think the conditions were as bad as forecast when i awoke early on sat morning.Would have prefered to fish locally but the Kennet was still running suprisingly high despite the lack of rain this week. So it was quick dash down to the upper avon instead,no monsters but grayling are always pleasing to catch regardless of their size

Is the vauxhall ac chairman you mentioned Dickie Bird? If so think he was instrumental in getting the club to stock barbel on the clubs part of the ouse at radwell.

John Checkout the " sealskinz " waterproof socks,had mine several years now and am very happy with them.Allows you to wear regular walking boots and still have dry warm feet however wet the boots get

Thanks for the info Chris.

Thanks for the replys everyone,not sure if i will be investing in one of them but its good to test the waters as it were.Im with you Steve i check on the "metoffice" and "metcheck",i am aware of other sites but feel you can get into an information overload situation sometimes so i stick with those two. Having said that the "kennetsignalling" site looks interesting,will definitely be paying a visit to them in the future.Thanks for the link Chris. Chris I see from your blog you were at SM yesterday,is the track under the A34 flooded?or is it passable with care? Sorry for wandering off topic