Jump to content

viney

Members
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Posts

    1013

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    5

 Content Type 

Blog Entries posted by viney

  1. 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!
  2. 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?
  3. 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!
  4. 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!
  5. 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.
     
     
  6. 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?
  7. 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!
  8. 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
  9. viney

    20th november

    By viney,

    I returned to the widmead stretch of the canal today with a pack of roach deadbaits and a pike float purchased at the last minute on my way there. I tried 'trotting' the deadbaits at different depths and speeds past every likely looking bush and reedbed but not a single wiggle or knock on the float will be making a trip to the fishmongers in thatcham to get some sea deadbaits this week to try again next weekend.
    Current score is me 0-2 pike, any tips or hints would be very gratefully received!
  10. viney
    Canal between hambridge and widmead:
    The morning started at 6.45am cold and foggy.
    We started off on bellwood and workes our way to the canal via pallets spending ten minutes in every peg on the way to no avail.
    First hit of the day felt like a big fish but the wire holding the minnow and trebles on my spinner straightened (will be contacting the ebay seller regarding this as i am not impressed at the risk posed to fish!).
    The second and last for me was a 2lb 1oz perch which followed my rubber tadpole all the way under the rodtip so i saw the action as he struck, what a thrill watching the pure agression of a hungry perch!
     
     
     
    http://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150...69&refid=13
     
    after working our way we headed to speen mores but even though we tried every likely looking spot the only action was a jack lost at the net for steve until he cast upstream in the most unlikely looking shallow stretch and the surface exploded as his shad hit the water, the culprit? This beautty, 14lb 10oz of mr esox!
     
    http://m.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10150...2d&refid=13
     
    Not an overly productive day as more time was spent waggling the shads infront of us figuring out how to make them look lifelike in the water and a pb each (unfortunately my other friend blanked) but i feel we all learned alot so fingers crossed for next time!
  11. 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
     
     
  12. 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!
     
  13. 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!
  14. 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!
  15. 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!
  16. 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!
  17. 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!
  18. 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!
  19. 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!
  20. 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!
  21. 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>
  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
    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!
  24. 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
  25. 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.
     
     
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We and our partners use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences, repeat visits and to show you personalised advertisements. By clicking “I Agree”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit Cookie Settings to provide a controlled consent.

  I accept