D_Heaps

I did actually fish that tench lake 2 or 3 years ago. I didn't do that well but it was early in the season. Had maybe 8-10 of these tench as I recall and they were all around 1 - 2lb. While it does all seem rather artificial it was a bit of fun and did exactly what it said on the tin. IMHO it takes some of the fun out of fishing when you get a bite and already know what its going to be before you even strike into it. The whole place was nicely maintained and the cafe/tackle shop were nice. A lot of people would not dream of setting foot in such a place but I'd go again if I thought I could get 2lb roach there. (Still haven't caught a 2lb roach anywhere else)

These are a pike selection but perch 2lb+ take all of these. All from France or Poland and reasonably priced. Medium size (17cm?) Delalande Super Sandra on 6/0 jig head. - Most pike seem to find these very offensive and attack them on sight. Salmo Slider - Roach - 10cm sinking - The best pike lure of all. Its almost like cheating. Salmo Slider - Firetiger - 10cm sinking - Casts 100 yards on the right setup. Mepps Lusox no2 gold The complete spinner for all depths/flows. Get takes on the drop as the lead head drags it spinning downwards. The red tuft on the hook drives perch mad (and rusts the hook). No depth or flow? No Problem. The lead head can be removed but it won't cast far. Salmo executor. Lovely looking quality versatile floating crankbait. Like a smaller Rapala Super Shad Rap at 1/2 the price. If you've tried all these in vain you are probably heading for a blank. (I might swap the FT slider for a 21g tandem spinnerbait or a floating slider in summer time) I love lures and carry around a bagful but if I was only allowed 5 for pike I think that would be them. Wot no Kopyto? I use the 4.5" ones extensively but Sandras catch me a lot of pike of all sizes and give me greater confidence. 10cm Sliders really are a wonderful lure if the rod is up to it (45g) as they cast like a bullet, can reach all depths, and almost anything you do retrieve-wise will provoke a pike to react.

Still moving today. I've not seen such a glorious sight since March. Time to get chubbing. *liquidises a loaf*

Hello ali. I've got a very similar rod (Drennan series 7 1.25 TC with quivers and avon top). I've used it for tench fishing using a bite alarm/baitrunner with the avon top and it is great. In fact I've done exactly what you describe for tench (clipping up and casting maggot feeders to same spot repeatedly). A 1.25lb one is also the perfect chub legering rod with the quiver on. I've not tried float fishing with it as its only 12ft and I have a 'proper' float rod but it'd probably be fine for float fishing for larger species like tench and chub from a boat. You've got a good all round fishing tool there but I'd want something lighter for say roach fishing. Mines dealt with carp to 15lb and barbel to 9lb too and I think it is my favourite rod. I even took it out to India and had small mahseer and catfish on it.

When I was mahseer fishing in India My gillie and I were fishing close to the camp while the guys were chucking food scraps into the river and smaller fish were rushing straight in as the stuff went in the water. My gillie Mr Basavaraj grabbed a tomato as it floated by and cut off a small slice for the hook. First cast he got a nice little mahseer about 1.5lb. My own hookbait of chicken scraps and bones was largely ignored however.

Well yes. There is. I stand corrected. (Said the man in the prescription shoes) I meant in the sense that it is something artificial/inedible and often doesn't even look like food. They are picked up mainly out of curiosity or whatever fish have instead. Its the confidence angle I was trying to get across. Static artificial baits definitely have a place but you are not going to enjoy fishing them unless you have confidence in them. Once you have caught on them & are confident in using them you will use them more frequently, catch more on them and have more fun. When i started lure fishing I was very doubtful (in spite of what other people say) that a fish would want to eat a piece of metal or plastic. But after some successes I came to appreciate that fish do not think the way we do, if at all, and respond in their own way to something visually different to the surroundings. They have no choice but to suck it up just to see if it might be edible or not. ...And that will be their undoing..

Its all about having confidence. Something I learned from lure fishing (which I suppose is essentially what this is). I've used popup plastic sweetcorn to great effect for bream/carp etc. Once you've proved to yourself that a fake bait works you can move on from there but its all about making the initial 'leap of faith'. It happened for me after getting 10 good (7-9lb) bream in about an hour and a half. I'd suggest using fake baits on a second rod if you're unsure. That way you'll know you're not completely wasting your time while you wait for the plastic bait to produce. Once you get a few on the plastic bait its a nice feeling knowing you have definitely still got something attractive on the hook after a long wait.

Phone State Tackle in Witney. I've always found them very helpful. Theres loads of other fishing nearby if its no good in there. Don't know the lake myself.

Being new to marker float use myself I have been through this problem. I was using braid main line and about half the time the float would not rise due to the braid twisting round itself in flight. Twist and shout! It made me throw my rod in frustration. Then I read somewhere that you should use a length of heavy mono to stop the twisting. Set it up as normal but just use 2-3 ft of thick (I used 40lb) mono to attach the float. The stiffness of the mono will resist the twist. Use a tidy knot and it will pass through the run-ring OK.

On the last afternoon I tried to get a 6lb chub from the Cherwell to beat the 5lb-11 one I got last week. Got a 4lb one and then endured several hours without a bite. The last bit of light was draining from the sky and I was throwing all my bait in and preparing to leave as it would be too dark to see my tip in a couple minutes. The cheese paste was sitting unmolested in what I knew to be a good chub swim and I was desperate for a bite. I was even talking to myself 'one last chub' 'C'mon please' etc. A little knock and then a gentle shuddering pull round on the tip was met with a fast strike and my prayers were answered. A decent chub was hooked. After getting snagged in the left hand side of this swim a couple times previously I took several steps to my right to fight the fish and after a minute it was slowly coming my way and clear of the snag. Trouble was it was too dark to see which way the fish was heading and I finally saw it swirl dangerously close to the right bank. I piled on more pressure to keep its head up out of the bottom but it turned and headed powerfully down and with a 'ping' my chub and rig were gone. I confess I did swear quite a lot as it seemed like it was going to be the perfect end to my season but it was not to be. Once I stopped swearing and became philosophical about it I felt a perverse sort of pleasure at having the anticipation, excitement and frequent heartbreak of angling distilled into a couple of minutes albeit with an unhappy ending. I should have re-tied my rig at the start of the session having caught a couple decent chub on it but didn't bother and that probably cost me this fish. Its been an up and down season and that pretty much summed it up. I'll still be back next season. There's more to fishing than catching fish.

Don't hold your breath for a barbel m8. Chub wise you can have some good sport on the kidlington ticket if you can avoid the crayfish. I went for a few sessions at the end of the season when the crayfish were asleep and was having very good sized chub. Not a lot but all big. Use legered bread or cheese paste and keep moving like everybody has already said. Any swim that looks good can produce a chub. Waiting for winter makes the whole thing so much easier as the vegetation on the banks dies back as does the weed in the water. Fishing in post-flood high water conditions was productive as it cuts down the number of places to try. Anywhere with a slack where you think you can get a bait to hold still is probably where the chub will be sheltering from the flow. I've tried fishing in the summer and found it a real pain in the backside with little bits when fishing maggots and crayfish on any bottom bait. I'm too stingy to try feeding off the bits.. My best effort from last season was knackered old 5lb-9 fish but that should very possible to beat. I've had 5lbers that looked like young fish so there ought to be some really big ones in there. Good luck. Post up if you get any good'uns and I might be tempted to get down there before Feb!

I was at the big weir for Sandford lock. It looks really good but fishinblokes I've met down there say its quite hard. You local to Oxford then Anderoo? I've only just got back into fishing last season and regret all the years I've lived here and not fished any of the lovely rivers/pits etc we've got here. And there's so much of it just on the 3 club tickets I've got. In one season I've been out fishing at least once a week on average and barely scratched the surface. I've never struggled like this last month though even though I'm new to fishing big rivers. Good interesting stuff about the gravel digging. I'd never considered what that would do.

So its not just me then.. Theres just not enough flow. I've kicked off the season miserably in a few places on the Thames round Oxford using maggots and other things that have usually brought roach,chub,perch etc. Even in a nice weirpool runout with good flow and, you would think, oxgen all i can get is bleak and other pests. We need a few days of rain.

I fished it for the first time yesterday for Tench. It was ace. Floatfished lobworm on the old 'lift' method and maggot feeder with red maggots. Don't know if I was lucky but the place appears to be stuffed with tench. I went for a quick after work session for 3 hours or so and landed 6 between 3 and 5 lb and lost a couple more. regulars tell me the tench go to almost 8lb and bream to 10lb. It gets very busy with the carp boys withbivvies/baitboats and all that. They catch a lot of tench on their bolies and just crank them out on carp gear. I used a float rod and 1 1/4lb TC speci rod and had some very spirited fights from the tench I got. If its tench sport your after you could do a lot worse I'd say. Plenty of them but no record breakers.