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viney

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  1. viney

    Trout on the Kennet

    By viney,

    5/8/13
     
    I decided the rain we had yesterday should have put a bit of flow and colour into the river (very little as it happened) so I set off for a few hours on the Kennet.
    Using typical gear for trout catching on the Kennet (quivertip, pellet hookbait and a small pva of small pellet) it wasn't long until the first showed up at around 1.5lb, it did a very good job of behaving like a barbel hugging the bottom for a few seconds then became airborne and started the acrobatics, a second was unfortunately lost at the net of around the same weight.
     
    Despite sitting it out until it got dark no more showed up, neither did those pesky barbel
  2. viney

    I'm giving up.....

    By viney,

    On barbel until the end of August or until we have had a decent amount of rain!
     
    Another fruitless evening after barbel on the Kennet, fished from half 7 until 11pm and the only time my tip moved was when bats flew into it. Starting to get a bit frustrated with it now so I will see out the rest of summer after carp and tench. I have never caught a tench float fishing so that will be my aim fishing close in with a 'pin, may also have a crack at the crucians and of course surface fishing in the evenings.
  3. viney

    A few off the top

    By viney,

    Had a couple of short sessions surface fishing for carp over the weekend, the fishing was slow with many fish just cruising around, not interested in feeding and generally avoiding areas with lots of freebies. After watching their behavior I changed tactics to a BIG lump of bread flake(around half a slice) as a single bait and cast out allowing the wind to push it around, as the fish were patrolling in small groups the big bait worked well, one would take a chunk off it causing the rest to hammer it, one would get the hook. Incidently all 3 fish taken were among the largest of their groups (all over 15lb one just scraping 20lb).
     
    The biggest bite though is the one on my leg, possibly a horse fly, the swelling is around 3" across and very hot and itchy!
     
    Oh and the sunburn............lets not talk about that!
  4. viney

    Oh so close

    By viney,

    Kennet near Newbury 17:30-21:30
     
    Spent a few hours trotting what is one of my favorite stretches of the Kennet but rather than moving around a lot I concentrated on one swim and tried to get my feeding regular and accurate as I am hopeless at it!
     
    The bites came steadily, I rested the swim for a minute or 2 after each fish (bar the 3 trout I left it 10 minutes while still feeding) a pretty even mix of dace, gudgeon, chublets and roach all mainly small with the odd bigger fish and a surprise grayling of around 1/2lb.
     
    Then as the light started to fade the float went under and I was convinced I'd snagged the bottom, then the bottom began to move off slowly but purposefully downstream, I managed to turn the fish and and gain some line. Just as it neared the edge of the main flow my float flew out of the water trailing behind it a straightened hook. The surface of the water boiled as the fish turned and powered off.
     
    So off home for dinner and a quick sleep before a 2am start at work all the while wondering what I could have done differently.
     
     
  5. viney
    Visited the same venue my 3lb chub came from last week, we had a look at the main river first of all but only a few swims are reachable due to thick stinging nettle and brambles so we opted to fish the backstream again.
     
    I knew before I arrived which swim I was going to fish, for some reason it had been in my head since my last visit, it just had to produce a fish or two! Now, I am no good at the whole 'put some bait in and sit there for an hour then cast in' so I took a risk and baited it then went further upstream to fish for an hour hoping Steve wouldn't venture up and drop into my swim! After an hour I dropped a few more pellets and small blobs of paste in and left for another half hour.
     
    It was just getting dark as I lowered my hookbait into place (paste wrapped pellet with a small pva bag of broken pellet) and as my isotope hasn't arrived yet the baitrunner was turned on just incase. Was that a jab on the tip or did I just imagine it?.....No must of imagined it. Just as I relaxed the tip whacked round and line started screaming from the reel, as the stream is only small I had to put a lot of pressure on the fish which the rod handled superbly (only the second fish I have had on it) but, what was I attached to? Barbel? Carp? Chub? Then she surfaced a rod length out, the biggest chub I have seen, I was calm until that point then I started to worry about losing it. After another tense couple of minutes she was in the net, looking every bit of 5lb. A quick call to Steve to get him to come down, luckily he was already heading my way, and the net was then lifted from the water. A definite 5lb I thought.
    The scales told a different story, my estimation was pretty bang on though, they settled at 4lb14 a new PB A quick snap:
     

     
    And she was back in the water, after a few seconds being supported in the flow a big splash and of she went into the dark.
     
     
  6. viney

    parts 2&3

    By viney,

    Part two of my day was a small back stream, worked my way down trotting every swim for 10 minutes or so, had a handfull of dace, a few roach, plenty of minnows and a 3lb2 chub which did an amazing impression of a barbel just hugging the bottom and using the flow.
     
    Part 3 a stretch of the kennet past Thatcham, used the last of my maggots catching minnows and trout then blanked feeder fishing for the last 6 hours
  7. viney

    19th June part 1

    By viney,

    Speen moors 05:00-10:00
     
    Spent the morning trotting, never had much luck here but had a chunky dace first trot and continued to catch at least one dace from every swim I fished with a few roach here and there. The dace were mainly small but around 10 warranted a net, the only one I weighed out of curiosity came in at 10oz .
     
    Really nice morning although very muggy, about to have a quick shower then see where the next part of my day takes me....
  8. viney
    Seven Lakes Angling 07:00-18:00
     
    The day started off nice enough with some sunshine so I settled down with a quivertipped cage feeder while I had breakfast, switched over to the float rod after a few hours of nothing, balled in some groundbait and a few freebies and sat it out....nothing still.
    Decided to move to one of the smaller ponds containing small fish and despite steady feeding nothing resulted after a further few hours (apart from pretty constant rain) so I moved again on 'the lake to be on' decided to stick one rod out on a bolt rig and alarm to fish itself and fished the float rod between the bank and a tree in the water leading into a little bay. After enduring a pretty savage hail storm my float finally buried and a small common graced the bank after a decent scrap on a 13' match rod with a 'pin and 4lb line.

     
    Uploaded with ImageShack.us
     
    A short while later I had a second common of a similar size then all went quiet, moved again a couple of times but had no further luck.
     
    Roll on June and renewing my Newbury ticket this year!!
  9. viney

    big roach?

    By viney,

    After hearing of a local day ticket water that holds some big roach and perch I decided to have a shot at targetting them.
     
    The plan was to catch them on the float, I missed a couple of bites early on then some noisy t**** set up the other side of the tree I was fishing to and starting hammering banksticks and shouting so I moved to quivertipping a maggot feeder to the far side. This produced 3 roach to 12oz.
     
    Another group of loud irritating types showed up down the other end of the lake (altough I could still hear every word they said!) So I called it a day, I guess that's the risk of day ticket carp fisheries but at £9 for one rod I very much doubt I will be going back any time soon.
  10. viney

    Its been a while (again)

    By viney,

    Sunday 17th feb
     
    Finally made it out for my second short session of the year (first was on the k&a and produced a few decent sized brownies).
     
    I had a few hours before work and with the reports of big perch from the canal a couple of hours with the spinning rod would surely bag me a few fish! I arrived at northcroft in high hopes, then realised I couldn't get to the canal from there so the weirpool and little stretch of river it was. After trying a few different lures, spinners, shads etc. I finally hooked a bankstick, at only a foot long is was short of my p.b so I packed up and went to work.
     
    I've lost count of the scores now but the kennet is winning by a vast margin.
  11. viney

    16th october

    By viney,

    13.30- 19.00 speen moors and k&a canal
     
    Originally I was supposed to be going to the Barbel society day on the lower benyons today but due to work and family commitments I had to pull out earlier in the week. With everything done and dusted far earlier than anticipated I grabbed my spinning rod and tackle box and headed out.
     
    Starting off at speen moors I worked my way round with nothing but a missed hook up from a jack that shot out from under the concrete bridge as I was just lifting my lure from the water. With no further interest there I moved onto the canal, after seeing a few small perch follow right to the margins I switched to a small spinner which caught me a couple of half pound perch, blank out of the way!
     
    I moved up to a lock cut and switched to a white rubber tadpole on a jighead (this caught my pb perch of 2lb1 last year) first cast here produced a jack of less than a pound, first pike caught by design though!

     
    Moving to the other side produced one further perch of 1lb1. As the light was beginning to fade I decided to head back to a point where the canal narrows due to reeds in the hope that a pike or two would be on the prowl, as I walked under the a34 bridge I let the tadpole run along the edge watching the effect twitching the rod had on its motion when all of a sudden it disappeared and a healthy bend appeared in my rod and the clutch started to let off line. After a second I figured out what was going on and gained control of the fish, as it came towards the net I was convinced it was a 3lber! The scales told a different story and settled at 2lb3, new P.B so no complaints .

     
    The rest of the walk back to the car saw another two sub 1lb perch so in all a very enjoyable afternoon!
     
    <a href="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/1ea34"><img src="http://www.freeimagehosting.net/newuploads/1ea34.jpg"></a>
  12. viney

    29th september

    By viney,

    River Kennet hambridge 16.15-19.30
     
    2 Barbel (4lb1 3lb7) and a chub (2lb10)
     
    Another pleasant evening on the bank, fished the same swim as I have been for the last week, both Barbel on boilies the chub came after I kept getting quick jabs on the tip for around 20 minutes so I reeled in and changed my end tackle to a size 16 with just 2bb as weight and a whitefish paste pellet on the hook, cast just upstream of where my hookbait had been and let it bounce downstream and sure enough the chub took it first time! Can't put pics up at the moment as image shack has stopped working on my phone, anyone got a similar site I could try?
  13. viney

    27th september

    By viney,

    River Kennet newbury 16.30-20.00
     
    6 barbel, 1 chub and a troot
     
    Decided fishing was a far more attractive idea than the gym with the weather today!
    My guesstimation was way off the mark today, I put all the fish in the 1-2lb bracket apart from the last which was considerably smaller than the fish that came before it yet weighed 1lb14! Wish I had weighed the fish that came before it! All fish fell to ledgered boilies with a small pva bag of crushed boilie.
     
     
  14. viney

    25th september

    By viney,

    River Kennet hambridge 13.00-15.30
    Another short session after Barbel which yielded just one baby Barbel of around 1lb which was unhooked in the net and promptly returned to grow into a monster! I'm fairly certain the swim I'm targeting at the moment is the same swim from rustys blog!
  15. viney

    22nd september

    By viney,

    4pm-7.30pm river Kennet hambridge
     
    A short unplanned trip for Barbel after work, I set up in a swim just downstream of a tree that crosses the water where it is fairly shallow with fast choppy water along the far bank with a slightly deeper slower flowing glide just downstream about 4 rod lengths out. Had a chub of around 1.5lb within ten minutes of casting out then had a proper wrap around on the tip at around 6pm but the hook pulled.
    With the weather looking good for tomorrow I shall be spending a few hours down there for a rematch!
  16. viney
    River Kennet nr thatcham 9am-6pm
     
    Not quite the early start I had planned but the lay in was much needed!
    I arrived and set up, cast just short of the trees on the far bank a few times to build up some bait then sat back watching the tip. It wasn't long before I felt unsettled and kept getting drawn to a riffle that kept appearing on the surface of the water a rod length out and 3 lengths downstream of me. I don't know why but something was telling me to recast to there, minutes later my refilled feeder was swung into position. It wasn't long before a few short jabs then a wrap around on the tip signaled I was in! After a very good battle I slid the net under my first Barbel of any real size
     

     
    Uploaded with ImageShack.us
     
    After returning all 11lb15 of her to the water I checked my rig, the feeder hadn't even had time to empty!
    The rest of the day was fruitless but that didn't bother me after such a cracking fish!
  17. viney
    Kennet stream 16:30-23:00
     
    My first trip back on flowing water and as is the norm I blanked...
    I chose a stream I had never fished before but had wondered round in the winter, on arrival there was one other person fishing there, after a quick chat and some helpful advice I was headed to a swim I had passed and sussed out on arrival.
    The swim in question involved an underarm cast to a tree in the water then passing the rod over bankside vegetation to where my rod rest was to give a better hit and hold angle. I set up the quiver rod with a simple running lead and a 10 inch fluro hooklength to a size 8 korda kurv. A hair rigged 14mm halibut pellet and a bag of assorted pellets completed the rig.
    I dropped my baited rig just short of the tree and about half a foot short of the crease which signaled the faster flowing water of the outside of the bend. With my rod on the rest and a slight bend put in the tip I settled back and began to daydream of catching one of the streams larger residents (from what the guy I was talking to was saying barbel to 16lb came out last year and theres quite a few carp to 30lb)
    Unfortunately it was not to be, the only bite came at around 10pm and was a very distinct chubby rattle on the tip, it was at this point I kicked myself for opting for a longer hair to specifically Target barbel and carp!
    Although I blanked I left full of high hopes and plans to Target the fish in this stretch and leave the lakes alone for a bit!
    Heading back this afternoon for round two, fingers crossed!
  18. viney

    quick session

    By viney,

    19.30-21.30 willows lake
     
    Just a quick 2 hour session to try out a rig I've been playing around with for the last couple of weeks.
     
    Fished a single double strength pop up to the island with no free offerings, had 3 fish;
    2 mirrors (12b4 and 12lb6)
    1 common (11lb9)
     
    The rig worked very well all thee fish were nailed in the bottom lip with very secure hookholds.
     
    The thing that struck me this evening is that last year is that most of the fish you would have from this lake would be around 6-7lb with the odd double thrown in and hardly fought whereas tonight the three I caught were very hard fighting! Can the dynamics of a lake change this much over a year or was it just luck on my part (maybe good angling with the right bait and rig) to hook three of the larger fish out of the stock in the lake?
  19. viney

    lots of commons

    By viney,

    After spending two nights trying this 'specimin carp fishing' mullarky (sitting in my bivvy smoking like a train waiting for a bite alarm to scream into action while every knob and his dog walking round the lake tell u what the 'in' spots to fish are. YAWN!) i was getting bored... But without a hefty walk said lake was the most convenient!
    Roll on a change of luck which brought with it a car and meant i could travel further afield again!
     
    Knotts 24th(night) 25th(night) and 26th(day) april
     
    I spent alot of time fishing this lake last year and the last couple of nights and today have made me remember why!
    In total 15 fish graced my landing net;
    11 common carp (biggest four 18lb9, 16lb2, 15lb4 and 14lb14 of the rest only one was under 10lb!)
    4 tench (5lb9, 3lb15, 2lb8 and 2lb3)
     
    The warm weather has definately turned the fish on big time although the lake being a 'tench' fishery i am suprised with the small number of tench caught and none were caught within two hours of each other. Definately a very fun couple of nights as the carp are very hard fighting slow growing carp not fish farm fat sluggish fish (as you can see in rustys blog).
    Not one to miss out on the action my friend came down for the afternoon and promptly landed a gorgeous 23lb4 common within two hours of arriving! ba####d!!
    Will upload pictures as soon as i have access to a laptop or computer!
  20. viney
    Havn't updated my blog in a while so this will include two different sessions, unfortunately no pictures as my phone wont upload them to anything other than facebook!
    First session was one night on a local stillwater which proved to be a great success, my carping efforts last year saw me land numerous fish of 14lb8oz but none bigger, the first fish that evening changed this. Not the usual carp 'run' my hanger lifted and dropped for a few minutes before i decided it must be a small bream and picked the rod up, this provoked the fish to take line at a rate of knots catching me completely off guard! soon though i had a 20lb7oz common in the net! this was followed by a 14lb9oz at around 3am and then about an hour before packing up and having had no further action i changed tactics to a bag of 4mm pellets with a hair rigged piece of fake corn and cast to a topping fish at range, within minutes line started peeling off that reel! the culprit, a 21lb3oz mirror and another p.b!
     
    This weekend started on thursday evening with a few hours surface fishing on a local still water, this resulted in a few fish to 9lb something and a lost fish of a much bigger size! As i had friday booked off the plan was a fairly early start, unfortunately this was thwarted by a drinking session on thursday night so it was around 1.30pm by the time i arrived! the afternoon was spent wondering round surface fishing with no success other than casting into trees every time i got them feeding confidently! I settled into a corner swim for the night casting up the margin on one rod and to open water on t'other, around 10.30 i was recieving line bites on both rods so i re-assessed the situation and opted for an underarm cast to the left and right of my swim with a scattering of bait over each rod. This produced 4 fish to 11lb6 until around 2am when it went quiet, 4.50 saw a very angry 13lb1 common trip up. This fish was by far THE hardest fighting fish i have ever caught, it took me just shy of 40 minutes to land him! I decided on a change of swims as my mate was coming down for bit of a social for saturday afternoon/night. After a quick chat with steve (jv44) i decided it was time for some surface fishing and landed two fish to 11lb one after the other by letting my dog biscuit drift right into a snaggy corner. The second night yielded another four fish to 15lb9oz all from the margins rather that the gravel bar that ran to the corner i fished on the first night.
    All in all my two favourite stillwater sessions this year so far!
  21. viney

    First fish of the year

    By viney,

    Spent the day fishing for carp with a mate, the original plan was to sit and wait for the whole day but after four hours without a touch i went for a wonder and saw some movement on an adjacent lake so we upped and moved, this paid off as within twenty minutes i had a fish on, first fish of the year was a 9lb 10oz common. Both my baits were withing 20 feet of each other tight to an island, one with a lobworm and pva mesh of maggot and the other a white rum soaked redfish boilie tipped with fake corn. The alcohol soaked boilie was the bait picked up so definately going to be experimenting more with this! A few more moves between lakes saw no more bites but given the conditions im more than happy to have just landed a fish!
  22. viney

    9/12/10

    By viney,

    Another crack at the chub on a stretch of the kennet, another blank.
    i know this may sound like another anglers excuse but i largely put it down to the swans, clever creatures in all fairness, every spot we had baited they headed straight for even if they hadnt seen us bait it, makes me think they have learnt the exact spots that are normally baited and fished as they ignored every area but obvious places to put a bait for barbel or chub! they worked up and down the stretch all afternoon so any one spot was only baited for half hour or so then they returned! Frustrating to say the least! despite fishing an hour into darkness once the swans had gone not even a tremble on the tip!
    Still it doesnt matter that i didnt catch, i was on the bank making the most of the last of my annual leave
  23. viney

    mmmmm bacon roll

    By viney,

    Spent the morning chubbing with steve and chris this morning, even after getting slightly lost and stuck on ice i arrived first and walked the stretch dropping my horrible smelling cheese garlic and crab paste into every likely looking hole. Steve and robby arrived as i was getting my kit out of the car, after a quick chat we set about the business of trying to catch some chub! rusty arrived shortly after and we worked our way up the stretch to no avail. Swans where a major problem for me for a while every time i got my bait in the water they were on it! around 10.30 i met up with rusty as he missed a bite while on his phone (maybe it was the 'pin gods punishment for using a fixed spool?) after this we headed back to the cars for some well deserved food and a chat, if you ever get the chance rusty makes a mean bacon roll! Unfortunately i had family life to get back to so i wished them luck and set off on my way.
    A great morning guys
  24. viney

    28/11/10

    By viney,

    I arrived at the naa stretch of hambridge at around 7am, my phone was telling me it was -6, loverly and warm then!
    I fished the stretch spending 10 to 15 minutes in each swim ledgering paste. As i was about to call it a day around 9am back in the first swim i fished the tip whipped round as i picked up the rod i made contact with the fish as it bolted into the tree crossing the river never to see the net.
    Cursing i packed up and headed home to warm up!
  25. viney

    26/11/10

    By viney,

    As usual my inability to stick to a plan and go off on a completely different tangent didnt pay off.
    Originally i had two stretches of the kennet in mind, the first involved a ticket swap and traffic back towards it was a nightmare but on my way to my second choice i, for some unknow reason, decided to turn off early and fish a different stretch. As it turns out this stretch is not ideal for winter chubbing as it is very shallow and fast in most of the pegs that have access to them. I found a few slacks and likely looking holes but nothing wanted to play ball (or wasnt there in the first place). I made my way back to the wierpool and fished the slacks, not even ronnie or reggie wanted to play!
    Not wanting to blank and to see if other fish would be interested in my homemade paste i scaled down to a size 16 and cast back out to the same area my freebies were in. Less than a minute later the tip pinged round and my blank saving gudgeon was landed, shortly after it was time to get home to a beer and dinner!
    As ever today was full of small valuable lessons;
    when walking through overgrown areas move your legs slowly to prevent falling flat on your face if your foot becomes tangled
     
    a single ssg is enough to hold a bait in a shallow fast running stretch
     
    saw many barbel swims for next summer
     
    if things arent going as planned, make changes to catch fish
     
    dont fart in waders then crouch down
     
    and i now know the basic ingredients and measures for my paste mix to get the consistency i want and can start playing around with flavourings
     
     
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