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viney

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Blog Entries posted by viney

  1. viney
    04.00 - 10.30 am NAA stillwater widmead
     
    The weather seemed perfect warm with light rain showers, but the fishing started off slow until around 6am.
    I opened up with a small tench that managed to run into the tree to my right but i eventually got it out! I wasnt going to make the same mistake as i received my second run and applied pressure straight away but soon realised this fish was a bit different it just kited around with no real power, seconds later i had my first ever crucian in the net! After weighing it came in at just under 3 1/2lb and i knew i had something special! Perfect timing for my phone to self destruct and with no one else on the lake to verify to enter as a specimin i releuctantly put her back
    Everything fell quiet for a couple of hours until i had 3 commons to 5lb spaced around 20 mins apart, i decided to move my left hand rod from the entrance to the bay to the side of a bush on the opposite bank, as i was tightening the line to set my bobbin i realised i just couldnt remove the slack and lifted into a nice hard fighting 9lb common, mustve dropped my bait right on its nose! Had another couple of small commons before packing up a very good mornings fishing just a shame my fone didnt want to play ball at a crucian moment!
  2. viney

    again the kennet wins overall

    By viney,

    river kennet brimpton, 0700-2300
    Two chub 4lb and 2lb 4oz and a handful of gudgeon and minnows
    After spending the last week reading up on fishing for barbel i was very optomistic, as per usual my high hopes were not fulfilled.
    My plan of attack was to fish a few swims spending no longer than an hour in each, using a whittled down source boilie with a bag of hemp, crushed boilie and pellet or a lump of polony with a bag of hemp.
     
    After twenty minutes in the first swim a rattle on my tip brought me to full attention, crayfish? Just as i settled back it whipped round and i connected with strong resistance, convinced of my first barbel i battled to keep it away from the tree downriver and out of the main flow. After a few minutes i had my second ever chub in the net. Although not a barbel i was happy when i saw the scales go to 4lb!
     
    The next few hours saw no action until i tried a rubber maggot on a 16 with a bag of hemp, this produced half hour of fun with the minnows and gudgeon! Refocused i found a lovely shallowish stretch with a fallen tree, it was tight to get into so i touch ledgered polony to produce my second chub.
    The last 7 hours of my day saw one cray and nothing else despite fishing every slack, overhanging tree, deep glides and shallow sections!
    Ive been granted a few hours sundy morning so hopefully attempt 3 will yield some barbel! Any tips or hints would be gratefully received!
  3. 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.
  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

    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!
  6. viney

    first time fishing a lake

    By viney,

    Well I thought I would start a blog as i tend to fish at least once a week! Not going to be anywhere near up to scratch as other blogs on here but oh well!
     
    Managed to get a short session in after work (3:15pm to 5:30) for some reason decided to fish a lake rather than the canal as it was closer to my car (in the thatcham lakes.
     
    Having never fished a lake before I used the same tactics i was planning for the canal (open ended feeder with a plug of dynamite black groundbait at either end with a maggot filling and a double red maggot on a size 18) and fished close in to an overhanging tree. After an hour with no bites even with a constant trickle of maggots and groundbait catapulted to the area of the feeder i switched to paste pellet...still nothing, for the last half hour i tried a float drifting across with the wind, still nothing so another blank to add to an unsuccesful year so far!
     
    not a very exciting first blog but we have to start somewhere!
  7. 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!
  8. 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....
  9. 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
  10. viney

    thank god for the ladies!

    By viney,

    Fished two waters today:
     
    River kennet- Thatcham
     
    07:30-10:30
     
    Trotted lobs and maggots past and under every tree and bush possible to no avail, wasnt too fussed as i got to grips with casting properly with the 'pin
    Switched to magic bread at around 10am and trotted up to an over hanging tree on the far bank, had a bite but the hook pulled, had another half hour on that swim then gave up.
     
     
    Lambourn- Shaw
     
    10:45- 13:00
     
    Trotted single red maggot on a size 16 hook, 17 grayling WOOHOO!! first decent session ive had this year the fish were practicaly jumping onto my line! The largest (just shy of a pound) was hooked around 3 foot infront of me while i was putting my bait box back on the bank!
     
    So in all a good half days fishing, the pin was much easier to use with the fireline on it, i actually caught fish and only caught one tree!!
  11. viney
    kennet- Brimpton 12-16:30
     
    Arrived to find a very up and very fast kennet, found a few nice swims but couldnt hold bottom even with a 70g feeder in the slacks as the line in the fast current dragged it out of the slack
    trotted lob and red maggot all afternoon and not a single bite, moving from one swim i did hook into a dead fox tho...nice!
     
    kennet side stream- colthrop 16:45- 18:30
     
    Arrived only to realise id left my pint of maggots at brimpton
    so i quivered lobworms and spam cubes in every slack on the stream and behind the bush in the pool, one bite missed, that was it.
     
    Although i didnt catch it was a very nice day exploring new waters!
  12. viney
    only a short blog as the laptops broken so im doing this from my phone!
    Decided to brave the heavy rain sunday morning and have a crack at my first carp. Arrived at 6am in torrential rain and set up. At around 7.30 line my rod started bouncing around, reeled in a very greedy small roach that took 3 hair rigged bits of corn and a size 10! Around 20 mins later the line started screaming off my reel, my first carp! After around ten minutes i had her on the bank unfortunately my scales only go up to ten pounds! And this and the second an hour later went straight to the bottom packed up after this as i was soaked through, next things to buy will be a new set of scales and some form of shelter!
  13. viney
    back to the first ever lake i fished for a second crack at it! Having walked the lake a few times in the last couple of months i knew roughly where i wanted to fish, on arrival there were fish crashing exactly where i thought they would be.
    I quickly got both rods out and settled down with my book, ten minutes later i had a small common in the net, blank out of the way and there were some high hopes! Although it wasnt to be, only one other small common graced the net and another found an unforseen snag just off the point of the island, heavy rain ended play at around 10.15.
    Will definately be visiting this swim again in the near future as im sure it holds great potential!
  14. viney

    me vs kennet

    By viney,

    And again i lost!
    After getting completely preoccupied with carp over the past few months it suddenly occurred to me i'd lost the joy of fishing sat in my bivvy waiting for that one fish to trip up.
    With that in mind my next trip planned was an evening on the kennet near thatcham.
    the kennet obviously upset with my neglect had brought the twins along to play. I fished 5 or 6 swims and caught at least five crays from each :@
    So not a great return to the river but def a step in the right direction!
  15. viney
    Due to being utterly useless and lazy (and getting a ps3 for my birthday) i havnt done a blog after any recent trips!
    A day on the csas stretch of the kennet saw around 40 fish landed including a monster gudgeon of just short of a pound (im convinced it was a barbel but an older 'wiser' angler has informed me there arent barbel that small in there so it was DEFINATELY a gudgeon ) the rest of the fish were a pretty even mix of roach dace grayling gudgeon and perch.
    A day on the wierpool at colthrop saw a handful of small bits and bobs but no big gudgeon or carp
    A morning on the kennet above hambridge yielded another big gudgeon of 1lb 3oz (had digi scales by then for accurate weighing!) and around 20 other tiddlers. I waded across to fish the far side of the island which provided a grayling of 1lb 1oz and a chub of 3lb 6oz.
    An afternoon on willows lake saw 9 carp to 11lb 8oz grace the net in a little over 5 hours!
    Barton court lake was next on the list, interesting day being showered with spray from shotguns! only fish out were 5 small skimmers, pretty sure the shooting turned the carp off!
    And lastly i went with a mate to frobury farm, spent a few hours on the top lake with no signs of any fish so we moved to one of the match lakes for the last hour and switched to waggler and maggot set up and caught around 15 rudd.
    Nothing amazing (apart from the monster gudgeon but a few enjoyable trips!
     
  16. 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!
  17. 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!
  18. 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!
  19. 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!
  20. 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.
  21. 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.
     
     
  22. viney
    Started off fishing a free stretch of the canal with a mate of mine who hasnt fished since he was 9!
    Got off to a good start with my first ever bream in the first hour on a single red maggot with a cage feeder and groundbait shortly followed by this slab:
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1131...mp;id=837105642
     
    What a strong fighting fish! the day was looking good.... then came the F#####G canoers!
     
    Most were fine and kept to the far side a few however thought it a good idea to stick right in by the near bank causing two lots of lost tackle and alot of swearing, especially to the second canoe that did it as i warned them my line was there and they just laughed and carried on to say i was unimpressed would be a very large understatement! with that we moved to behind northcroft which was pretty much shoulder to shoulder anglers!
     
    After an hour or so of nothing there we took a quick (but very warming) drive to shaw, with newly returned feeling to our fingers and toes we were confident, my mate lost one grayling and i caught a 1/2lber to finish the day.
    Will definately be returning to the canal before the end of the season to try for some more bream when there hopefully wont be any canoers!
  23. viney
    Due to work, shopping and mothers day over the weekend, after work today was my last chance to get some river fishing in, after a few failed attempts lately i decided to go for the sure bet, the lambourn at shaw.
     
    I arrived after a thouroughly S##T day at work including a covering of brake fluid, in a fairly bad mood which was not improved by hitting a tree first cast and losing my hooklength
    After contemplating going home i decided to have another shot, it was worth it, first trot and the float buried and i struck into this beauty of a fish:
     

     
    Didnt have scales on me, anyone any idea of the weight? my 'pin is 6" diameter so the she's roughly a foot long?
     
    This one was followed by 3 more of roughly the same size, 5 smaller and 12 extremely small trout (possibly recently spawned?)
     
    Very happy with my last day on the river, with a PB grayling and 3 others of a good size
     
    Good luck to everyone else over this weekend!
  24. viney

    Frobury farm

    By viney,

    After hearing good and bad things about this fishery me and a friend decided to give it a go. we were set up and cast out by around quater to six and settled into our chairs chatting away. The first fish of the day fell to his rod in open water, after a good scrap a nice 8 1/2Lb mirror was in the net, his first ever carp and it wasnt even 7Am yet! I followed this with a 7 1/2Lb common, 3 1/2Lb tench and a 3Lb common. My rods then fell silent until 3·30 while he added Another 5 to his list including a 10 1/2Lb mirror and a common just shy of 11Lb! Mid afternoon saw a few more fish each and after totting up our catch weights we had just under 98Lb between us!
    In all a very good and productive day at at a venue i would not only visit again but also recommend at £8 a day for two rods.
     
    Sorry if some of this doesnt make sense im writing it on a wii, not an easy task!
  25. viney

    Hmmm where are my scales?

    By viney,

    Firstly dont you hate realising youve lost something right when you need it?! Anyway....
    River kennet @ brimpton 0430-0930
    A very early and chilly start due a hangover induced afternoon bedtime yesterday! I had no real optimism of catching until daybreak so i settled down and ledgered pellets until dawn was beginning to show. I decided the conditions werent great to try solely for barbel, chub and perch seemed more likely quarry!
    After a couple of hours dipping my worm in and under every bush, branch, slack and eddy i was still yet to catch. I then remembered having seen a perfect swim on an adjoining stretch on NAA.
    It took around 2 minutes before my touch ledgered lob was gobbled down by a very hungry sergeant! As i got him in the net i knew straight away it was a pb (1/4lb to beat) but by how much? Oooh yeah thats right id dropped my bloody scales! So after a quick picture he was returned
    http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?pid=1478...mp;id=837105642
    If you go to the next pic along on that link therer my 4lb chub from wed.
    I slowly made tracks back to the car revisiting every spot, caught nothing else but did find my scales!
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