Matthew Simmons

Hi - here's one for the trotting experts, Had a great day trotting on the Kennet on saturday in a lovely 5 ft deep glide from my bank across the river to a treelined and undercut far bank. Droppered in some hemp and caster and fished (and fed over cast) red maggot over the top. Tackle as in the pic - 6lb Drennan Floatfish all through, avon float, bulk shot (3AAA) 12" from a #14 kamasan animal with double red. Occasionally loose fed hemp and caster. Must have bagged 50 dace - nearly one a chuck and all a great stamp including 2 that needed netting. After an hour I started to get some very different bites, when I wasn't holding back hard to stimulate a dace bite. Float would bury and I'd think I'd caught the bottom - only after a few seconds the 'bottom' shook its head and slowly started to move. So in the 4 hours I was out, I had 8 of these barbel bites and only landed one. I know these had to be barbel as its a known barbel swim and this stretch only really contains barbel and dace. All the others simply came detached after about 10-20 seconds. While I was absolutely delighted to catch this one, as you can see its a fin perfect little 4lber - and it was my first barbel on the float - what I would like is some pointers on why only one stayed on and what I should do in future to improve my catch to bite ratio. Or does this tend to happen trotting for barbel? I've had hundreds of barbel legering and can caught the number I have 'dropped' on one hand. Any thoughts would be gratefully received - I have had some much fun for years! Thanks Matt

Nice summary Anderoo and I am particularly envious of the perch and bream - 2 species I did target this year but failed to do the business. I did have some nice perch but never when I was looking for them! and had one great bream session on the Thames - but the pits eluded me. Well done and some nice pics! Nevertheless I had a top year and made myself try new venues and methods - the breadpunch on the K&A over the last couple of weeks has been deadly for an hour after work into dark. Some big chub in that canal among the roach and dace. Matt

My favoured venues on the Loddon and Kennet will be rammed this weekend. Might get out to the K&A but will probably give the weekend a miss and fish evenings next week till the close. Then I'll break the river tackle down, tidy everything up and wait for the first tincas. M

I can't for the life of me understand why Barbour jackets have ever been a fashion item! I have owned 3 and they have all been bomb proof in the role they were designed - suffering massive amounts of abuse on the river bank and keeping the rain out. But they shed proofer constantly so you can't wear them in a car or over clothing that you don't mind getting oily. And they do smell 'interesting' - more so if their main purpose isn't a fashion accessory! And they aren't especially breathable so you work up a bit of a lather in one - mind you that's an interesting image with Fearne .... However, I found as they started to get more popular, this was in the 80s when I bought my second one, the quality had dropped off and they needed reproofing more often - but the service from BARBOUR was flawless and they could, probably still can, put in new zips, patches, cuffs - even if you hadn't asked! I went the synthetic route 10 years ago - they still leak after a couple of years but they don't smell interesting - not sure I would ever go back to the waxed cotton though.

OMG the cardinal sin - catching a 'proper' carp by accident - and I bet you weren't wearing camo Secrets safe with me! M

Yes - I've got it Anderoo - it just says that there ain't so many barbel in oxfordshire these days (no sh*t sherlock!) and a few nostalgic anecdotes about past captures. Talks a bit about the tributaries upstream of the kennet and loddon - mainly unhappy reading. I'll dig it out over the weekend. M

Not sure I buy into the theory, although logic dictates that its a good one at face value. My experience however is that I get a lot of chub from the Loddon or Wey every winter on legered crust - but some days they won't touch it and they'll take spam - a week later and they'll take crust - same conditions to my my eyes - go figure. So I am not sure - Chub suicidal one day, mega-wary the next even on pressured waters. If they were any different I wouldn't bother! M

Yes Anderoo, I can relate to the moody carpers at Frensham - its well know for its mafia and for that reason I avoid it - life's too short to put up with the pathetic and unprovoked abuse I have received the few times I fished within 50 yds of 'their' swim. There are clearly laid out rules defining swims in the club book but those guys are exempt because obviously carp fishing takes priority over the lesser species such as rudd, tench and pike. Those little Tutti boilies (or indeed esterberry) have really done the trick for me tench-wise anywhere - except Badshott Lea! Red maggot and feeder did the trick and red corn or red mag under the trees pick's em up as well. BTW I never fish for carp - but they tend to be all I catch when I am bream fishing. M

There are decent cats in badshott lea - on the farnham ticket. Its a bit of a scrum at the weekends but they've got lots of really nice water as well. They should be waking up about now with this warm weather. Whole Kalamari or live baits do the trick. M

Just wait till you've got any sort of wind and a feeder plus bait weighing 2oz to see how cr*p your accuracy is Rusty! I would imagine its as bad as mine - luckily I find that despite what you read in the mags, I can still catch with my groundbait spread randomly around Berkshire! M

Yes Hawk - maybe I tend to be a bit direct for my own good! But I do think its a case often of caveat emptor on both sides. I agree the retailers have had to get on board - and its interesting that very often you can get something cheaper through a normal online store as opposed to ebay - or indeed a good old fashioned shop! And yes I've noticed pre-bagged bait - and its not always cheap! Ebay have always refunded pretty quickly when I've had an issue, but I have noticed that the dodgy sellers are getting very cute these days. M

Its not a pretty sight, but I use my 1.25 TC Avons with and without quiver's to cast 35g feeders (plus feed) that sort of distance with a reasonable degree of accuracy for example when I fish the Thames at Beale Park for the bream. They aren't in the Drennan league being the Masterline JW Avon, but I think the Drennan would handle this without breaking sweat! Good luck. Matt

Re the Kennet - I heard that it took 200 years for the water to filter down through the chalk downs to properly get into the springs that feed it like all other chalk streams - if so then any rises in the river due to rainfall can only be temporary and to get a sustainable rise in levels needs the springs need to refill properly = 200 years time! Which if true makes the excessive pumping at Axford pure vandalism on the part of thames water. The Kennet where I fish is painfully low, ironically it may show a rise in the summer due to the holding back effect of the weed growth, but I fear this season on the rivers will be really depressing - the thames is at a standstill as well. I may have to resort to fishing lakes, but not sure I can bring myself to buy the necessary camou stuff you obviously need for that branch of our sport.

Ebay isn't what it used to be - full of muppets and retailers now - but still if you do your homework on the seller/buyer and check their feedback I've never had a problem other than the odd thing that I've bought that needed returning. I never sell to anyone with no feedback. On this basis, I've bought fishing tackle, even expensive guitars and guitar parts from the USA and far east with no problem. Maybe I've just been lucky not to get rolled.

Hi Inderblitz, If its the ponds that I think you are referring to then its unlikely you'll really need a quivertip as they are so small. I used to successfully fish them with a waggler fished overdepth with meat or corn as bait. Loosefeed around the float. Right now tench are not going to play but come march there is definitely an opportunity subject to an upturn in the temperature. But if you're set on the quivertip - you really need to watch it for best results - depending on the end rig, by the time you hear anything the bite will have gone. Matt

I tried hard a few sessions in the autumn before the frosts on a section of the K&A known for its perch. Like other posters I failed miserably - its a great method for jack pike - I did have follows from perch - but they were chasing the lead! M

Decided to fish for pike on saturday on the Loddon - fished deads and leapfrogged every hour - not a touch. Not surprised - there we big chunks of ice floating down the river! M

Just the once - in 1977 by a Wessex Water Bailiff back in the days before EA

I've done well with the Pike version. M

Its a toss up between chubbing or piking on the Loddon. But if the skies are clear I might just stay at home and catch up with some chores as I can't fish into dusk. M

ireland - anywhere but specifically loch currane for the sea trout - most westerly point in europe before you get to america! wales - wye for barbel - nuff said Zimbabwe - zambezi for tigerfish - probably not very safe right now! Matt

Hi, Interesting issues here - First fish will generally face into a current - upstream. Secondly in terms of how a lure behaves - and therefore choice - a lot depends on the speed of the river and this should also determine your choice of lure. When there is little or slow flow there is not a lot of difference to how your lure behaves - water pressure will be pretty similar at all points of the "fishing-clockface" but still expect the fish to be looking into the current. Also you can choose any type of lure slower water and treat it like fishing a lake or canal. In faster water, upstream spinning with a mepps is deadly for salmon and seatrout. Often they will react very decisively I think because they can see it quite a long time approaching and then hit it before it 'escapes' behind them. A mepps is just about the only lure I have found that still 'works' when fished back 'with' the current - often I would choose a mepps for fishing upstream because I can fish it deeper than fishing down and across when the increased water pressure will bring the lure to the surface. For fishing down and across I would use a plug and fish it slower and it will fish deeper as well but the path will be more across the fishes vision. The same principles apply with pike and perch - can't speak for zander as I have never fished for them. Hope this helps Matt

Hi, Just joined the forum - looking to connect with anyone sharing a passion for great fishing. Matt

That's a really nice fish - well done a great result on an evening that I had planned to fish but didn't! A big chub is massive across the back and this never really shows up pictured side-on, but a superb fish in great condition. I was planning to fish to the Thames, lower down that you I suspect, near Pangbourne - same evening, same method same target. But the drop in temp put me off - it was raw and the Thames is is a bit a new entity for me. Are you a TAA member? - maybe we've met on the Kennet. Nice PB well done! Matt