bloomin'reedsbarnard

there are a fair few Zander around the Teddington area as well as some nice cats

Reading and district do offer day tickets on most stretches of the canal tho it doesnt allow fishing from boats, they are a friendly bunch so it is worth getting in touch with them through the website

Hi, unfortunatly, I managed to break the 1.75 TC section of my berkely F1, it also has 2lb and 1.5 tc sections, its a clean break and has taken off about 6 inches, what im wondering is how viable do you reckon it would be to get my local rod repairer to build a decent heavy quiver onto the end, what sort of weight for the tip would you suggest for barbel and have any of you done anything similar?

I stand by marmite as the best repellent, honestly, if I eat it a few hours before a session I can be bankside and watch the little bleeders land on me , shake their pointy little heads and zoom off......I know you either love it or hate it but some of the formulas can be fairly harmful to fish if the bait gets contaminated

I'm not sure if its on a day ticket or not, i have a feeling it's club run, also i seem to remember it wasnt open to fishing all year round...however i may be wrong. If you are in the area, a 5 minute drive will take you to Twynersh, as far as commercila fisheries go, this is the best, Infact im not a fan of commercials at all but i like this place a lot, its a series of old gravel pits, some large and some not so large, I think the smallest is 3 acres with a few of about 5 and a few of 20 ish, its very natural and rustic, have a look TWYNERSH

As an RDAA member I can thouroughly reccomend the ticket, some great stretches of the kennet (river and canal), they pretty much cover everything with big pits to smaller lakes, trundling streams to raging rivers via perfect canals. Feel free to pm if you want more details

I use it in conjunction with a meaty boilie, something like Surf N' Turf or even a fishmeal based one, the Barbel and chub love it, it even tempts them out of cover on a bright day

Bluerinse, are these the bombs you were describing BOUNCING BOMBS ON EBAY

I shall certainly look into that thanks

Anderoo, there are a fair few barbel to be had in your neck of the woods, infact last season i had a fair few in a day from the little stream running off the thames at sandford meadow

20/06/07 I wanted an early start and I got one, I got to Whistley at 5am and was a bit disappointed that it was pushing through fairly high. Nonetheless I rushed to the swim I was thinking about all night, the first swim next to the refuge, on the island bit itself. There were 2 cars in the car park owners of both were fishing the river and they were leaving as I landed my first fish, a 3lb 3oz Chub, It looked to the observer to be a good fish what with the flow and all so had some audience and was too shy to take a pic of the little fella, anyhow I was confident more was to come. I had with me 2 rods, one with a bait runner and one with my pin which I had loaded 8lb line onto the night before, I wanted to roam a bit and use whichever seemed more appropriate. I stayed in this swim till 8 and nothing more was happening though the river started to fine down a bit, I decided to move…..all the way…….to the swim next door, now this swim is pretty tight with a fallen submerged tree to the left and a fair few reeds to the right but what made me risk it was the lovely slack at the back, /out went some garlic spam and I waited, an hour infact before I decided to leave, I just told myself to think about moving and the runner was off….I struck….HAHA! it’s a barbell, it was holding tight to the floor, I did all I could to stop it getting under the tree but it got in there….wait a minute….I could still feel it but it wasn’t budging, I let out some slack, I jerked right, I jerked left but nothing was moving, it mustve wrapped me around a branch I guess and I just had to yank for the snap. I stopped for a drink and replayed it in my head but was soon off looking for swims. I had a look at some of the new swims but didn’t fish any of them, the new swim on the bend is lovely but I just didn’t feel confident so I had a look up the other end, again I didn’t feel right and wanted to get back to my first swim via chatting to an old boy who was fishing in the first swim next to the refuge on the normal bank, very deaf and frail he was…..so frail that he managed to land a 7lb 7oz chub….a new whistley record, he did leave his glasses behind unfortunately but im keeping them safe.. Right back at my swim and I was refreshed, if you have ever seen the swim in question it has the submerged tree on its right and widens at the point of the refuge allowing ( at certain levels) a nice back wash and crease underneath which lie lots of reeds, I decided to whack on the smallest weight I had 1/8 oz and let the bait and led find its own resting point…..It worked and I was off again another barbell, splash splash as it fought its was upstream toward the ….the tree….surely not….nope it didn’t get that far, I had tightened my clutch to far by mistake and the line snapped at the reel….the old boy was gutted for me…….not as much as I was. A few hours passed and some chub were taking some surface goodies from the far side so I set up the pin with a 5ssg chubber and hooked some bread and with a careful cast I managed to get in their line……yea im in, a chub of 4lb 10oz hoorah. This killed the swim a bit but ten minutes later I had another of 2lb5, and another of 3lb and another of 3lb. The chub fun ended and I made prep for the evening, about 6 o clock I heard a little voice behind me”alright mate”, I looked around “were you fishing sonning on Sunday” he said “yes” I said as my puzzlement turned to recognition, HA it was the bloke who walked past our camp in the afternoon on Sunday and told Dave he would have given blood to fish the weir. We had a brief chat and he asked me about chub as hed never caught one, more of a lake man hje said he was. He took up the swim that my old mate had left an hour earlier and was chatting to me so much about stuff that I put my rod down and went over to him. Just there I said, 2 foot off the bank just infront of that over hanging branch, okay he said and did so, I walked back to my swim and he was in, HA! A chub he squeeled……yes squeeled, It was a nice one too, 5lb 10oz a bloddy ounce over my own pb! Still he was chuffed and went on to say how he and I should night fish together as he has the coverall speci permit, I made lots of straight man gestures like, its hard to do a night with a wife and baby…blah blah I did explain too that I only do nights with my secret angling club, he looked at me with a face that said “if you tell me you will kill me wont you” Job done and 10. 30 arrived and after a long day I was ready to go home….bent on Revenge. 22/06/07 So the afternoon was mine and bent on revenge I headed for the River of dreams. unfortunately my favourite 2 swims were occupied so I hasd to seek an alternative, this I did without production and as soon as the guys had left I snuck into the swim next to the refuge. . Just the one rod today, my 1.5 tc berkely and 8lb on my trusty outlaw baitrunner, the river was flowing harder today nd just a touch more coloured and I risked a cast that paid off, I cast around a loose snag and tightened my line through the branches and shortly after,the runner was off. Out came a little chub of 3lb 10oz Right, this fish had succumbed to a surf and turf boilie so that was the bait of choice for the day, however a further cast to the same area produced nothing so a change was needed. This time I cast ahead of me past a line of reeds and 10 minutes later was rewarded with this A 4lb 13oz .....getting bigger. The area I was fishing was on a slope so the self takes are a bit dodgy but hey practice practice, better than trying to get some odd angle while resting the camera on a dead hedgehog . Again I cast to the same spot....well a little further between the line of reeds and an overhang on the left bank and after 30 mins the line screamed off, my heart beated and I really thought I may be into a Barbel, I struck and ....yes it is ..haha Im in.....Dont lose this one Will for **** sake.....that was for thirty seconds after its initial surge......it wasnt a barb but a good chub of 5lb 2oz the evening was drawing in now and at 10 PM I decided to pack up as I did get a bit spooked by a Munkja......Muntj.....monckja.....one of those deer things that came running out of the bushes. I will get you boris I will. 24/06/07 So I'm still awake at 3am with thoughts of my recent 2 whistley sessions going round and round in my head, the lost Boris on the first day, the nice chub and their bigger brothers. All this thinking got me wanting to have one last crack to round off this pretty intense week of sessions, sooooo with a little nudge to Wifey poos I promised to be back by 11am and I was off and was at Whistley by 4 AM or thereabouts. This time I took my Berkely 1.5tc with my outlaw baitrunner loaded with 8lb line, I also wanted to make the most of the Chub action and fish for them with a Quivertip and 5lb line. It does funny things to me that stretch, when i think about it I picture all the swims and what and where would be productive but when I get to the place it kinda rips my confidence apart, not so much confidence but I really....really question everything and doubt creeps in.....see even after 20/30/40/50 years its still there...niggling. My confidence in my swim selection was knocked even more when a seemingly middle aged barbel pro came along and sneered "you wont get any barbel in there mate, some good chub mind but no barbel" I knew all night that I wanted to be in my usual spot.....I wanted to defeat it. Over went the ledgered hooked mini bloodworm boilie, I even shocked myself at how risky I was playing it, straight over a snagged branch and balanced the line through the mesh of twigs......ten mins later...DINK DINK.......WRAP!.BANG! I'm in, the levels were up a bit and so was the flow and this fish put up a good fight as I tried to coax it up stream towards me, a nice chub of 4lb 6oz, no pic as it was **** down and I didnt want to risk the camera. Happy with that I let the "Chub area "chill for a bit and pondered on my barbel options. I had a lost fish from under the reeds( on a previous session)cutting to the left from infront of me so I cast my bait to the spot....nothing so i cast a little further...and agin until i was just off the far bank.....At this point im really getting into myself "come on Will work it out" "they are here" . i think id given a cast to every crease but still no joy and 10 am was fast approaching. "its no good" I thought, I'll have to risk it, the sunken tree to the right of the swim had everything barbely about it, it was a roof, it slowed the pace, it was over a deep run aaaaaand it was snaggy to ****, **** or bust I say, I had to do it. I cast about 8foot from beneath my feet but I saw my bait instantly wrap around a branch and I pulled for the break, 1 lead down, again I cast, nothing for 15 mins (Im going on the rule that if barbel are nearby and hungry they will hit the bait soon after it hits the water) I start the retrieve....**** another branch, 2 leads down. At this point i feel I had failed my personal challenge and I'm taking it pretty bad I must say. 9.45, **** it ill be late, one more set up, one more cast. I was more cautious this time keeping away from the twigs as best I could, i set the rod down to disassemble the other and pack it away and .....ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM....HA! its gotta be, I pounced on the rod, I engaged the reel, the fish, the fish hugged the floor, "right Will keep it together" " remember what happened the other day" This was going to be a hard fight, the chub in this current was tricky enough, the Barbel raced around to the back of the tree but i managed to steer him away, but once id cleared that obstacle he spotted something else to get caught up in, i needed to get him to the slack of the refuge and level the playing field, after what seemed like 10 minutes I had the fish in the net. JOB DONE!!

hmmm, how do i edit a post, my pics didnt come out

The reason pellets probably didnt work so well towards the end of last season is that high oil protiens dont break down in cold water as well as in the summer, infact the fish cant digest them too well either, so with many anglers chucking in handfulls of freebies then the barbs will feed well without having to risk taking that "funny looking bit of food with metal in it". there was an experiment taken and it worked out that 4 23mm halibut pellets was enough to keep a 7lb barbel full up for about a week. In the winter I always get the milk protiens out although last winter I used a lot of the BCUK bloodworm boilies, everything loves them. also the start of the season is always dodgy as they have had three months living on natural stuff unless of course your rivers are like some round here where everyone goes to feed the fish at meal times

20/06/07 I wanted an early start and I got one, I got to Whistley at 5am and was a bit disappointed that it was pushing through fairly high. Nonetheless I rushed to the swim I was thinking about all night, the first swim next to the refuge, on the island bit itself. There were 2 cars in the car park owners of both were fishing the river and they were leaving as I landed my first fish, a 3lb 3oz Chub, It looked to the observer to be a good fish what with the flow and all so had some audience and was too shy to take a pic of the little fella, anyhow I was confident more was to come. I had with me 2 rods, one with a bait runner and one with my pin which I had loaded 8lb line onto the night before, I wanted to roam a bit and use whichever seemed more appropriate. I stayed in this swim till 8 and nothing more was happening though the river started to fine down a bit, I decided to move…..all the way…….to the swim next door, now this swim is pretty tight with a fallen submerged tree to the left and a fair few reeds to the right but what made me risk it was the lovely slack at the back, /out went some garlic spam and I waited, an hour infact before I decided to leave, I just told myself to think about moving and the runner was off….I struck….HAHA! it’s a barbell, it was holding tight to the floor, I did all I could to stop it getting under the tree but it got in there….wait a minute….I could still feel it but it wasn’t budging, I let out some slack, I jerked right, I jerked left but nothing was moving, it mustve wrapped me around a branch I guess and I just had to yank for the snap. I stopped for a drink and replayed it in my head but was soon off looking for swims. I had a look at some of the new swims but didn’t fish any of them, the new swim on the bend is lovely but I just didn’t feel confident so I had a look up the other end, again I didn’t feel right and wanted to get back to my first swim via chatting to an old boy who was fishing in the first swim next to the refuge on the normal bank, very deaf and frail he was…..so frail that he managed to land a 7lb 7oz chub….a new whistley record, he did leave his glasses behind unfortunately but im keeping them safe.. Right back at my swim and I was refreshed, if you have ever seen the swim in question it has the submerged tree on its right and widens at the point of the refuge allowing ( at certain levels) a nice back wash and crease underneath which lie lots of reeds, I decided to whack on the smallest weight I had 1/8 oz and let the bait and led find its own resting point…..It worked and I was off again another barbell, splash splash as it fought its was upstream toward the ….the tree….surely not….nope it didn’t get that far, I had tightened my clutch to far by mistake and the line snapped at the reel….the old boy was gutted for me…….not as much as I was. A few hours passed and some chub were taking some surface goodies from the far side so I set up the pin with a 5ssg chubber and hooked some bread and with a careful cast I managed to get in their line……yea im in, a chub of 4lb 10oz hoorah. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/icecream4crow/100_1133.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a> This killed the swim a bit but ten minutes later I had another of 2lb5, and another of 3lb and another of 3lb. The chub fun ended and I made prep for the evening, about 6 o clock I heard a little voice behind me”alright mate”, I looked around “were you fishing sonning on Sunday” he said “yes” I said as my puzzlement turned to recognition, HA it was the bloke who walked past our camp in the afternoon on Sunday and told Dave he would have given blood to fish the weir. We had a brief chat and he asked me about chub as hed never caught one, more of a lake man hje said he was. He took up the swim that my old mate had left an hour earlier and was chatting to me so much about stuff that I put my rod down and went over to him. Just there I said, 2 foot off the bank just infront of that over hanging branch, okay he said and did so, I walked back to my swim and he was in, HA! A chub he squeeled……yes squeeled, It was a nice one too, 5lb 10oz a bloddy ounce over my own pb! Still he was chuffed and went on to say how he and I should night fish together as he has the coverall speci permit, I made lots of straight man gestures like, its hard to do a night with a wife and baby…blah blah I did explain too that I only do nights with my secret angling club, he looked at me with a face that said “if you tell me you will kill me wont you” Job done and 10. 30 arrived and after a long day I was ready to go home….bent on Revenge. 22/06/07 So the afternoon was mine and bent on revenge I headed for the River of dreams. unfortunately my favourite 2 swims were occupied so I hasd to seek an alternative, this I did without production and as soon as the guys had left I snuck into the swim next to the refuge. . Just the one rod today, my 1.5 tc berkely and 8lb on my trusty outlaw baitrunner, the river was flowing harder today nd just a touch more coloured and I risked a cast that paid off, I cast around a loose snag and tightened my line through the branches and shortly after,the runner was off. Out came a little chub of 3lb 10oz Right, this fish had succumbed to a surf and turf boilie so that was the bait of choice for the day, however a further cast to the same area produced nothing so a change was needed. This time I cast ahead of me past a line of reeds and 10 minutes later was rewarded with this <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/icecream4crow/100_1136.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a> A 4lb 13oz .....getting bigger. The area I was fishing was on a slope so the self takes are a bit dodgy but hey practice practice, better than trying to get some odd angle while resting the camera on a dead hedgehog . Again I cast to the same spot....well a little further between the line of reeds and an overhang on the left bank and after 30 mins the line screamed off, my heart beated and I really thought I may be into a Barbel, I struck and ....yes it is ..haha Im in.....Dont lose this one Will for **** sake.....that was for thirty seconds after its initial surge......it wasnt a barb but a good chub of 5lb 2oz <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/icecream4crow/100_1137.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a> the evening was drawing in now and at 10 PM I decided to pack up as I did get a bit spooked by a Munkja......Muntj.....monckja.....one of those deer things that came running out of the bushes. I will get you boris I will. 24/06/07 So I'm still awake at 3am with thoughts of my recent 2 whistley sessions going round and round in my head, the lost Boris on the first day, the nice chub and their bigger brothers. All this thinking got me wanting to have one last crack to round off this pretty intense week of sessions, sooooo with a little nudge to Wifey poos I promised to be back by 11am and I was off and was at Whistley by 4 AM or thereabouts. This time I took my Berkely 1.5tc with my outlaw baitrunner loaded with 8lb line, I also wanted to make the most of the Chub action and fish for them with a Quivertip and 5lb line. It does funny things to me that stretch, when i think about it I picture all the swims and what and where would be productive but when I get to the place it kinda rips my confidence apart, not so much confidence but I really....really question everything and doubt creeps in.....see even after 20/30/40/50 years its still there...niggling. My confidence in my swim selection was knocked even more when a seemingly middle aged barbel pro came along and sneered "you wont get any barbel in there mate, some good chub mind but no barbel" I knew all night that I wanted to be in my usual spot.....I wanted to defeat it. Over went the ledgered hooked mini bloodworm boilie, I even shocked myself at how risky I was playing it, straight over a snagged branch and balanced the line through the mesh of twigs......ten mins later...DINK DINK.......WRAP!.BANG! I'm in, the levels were up a bit and so was the flow and this fish put up a good fight as I tried to coax it up stream towards me, a nice chub of 4lb 6oz, no pic as it was **** down and I didnt want to risk the camera. Happy with that I let the "Chub area "chill for a bit and pondered on my barbel options. I had a lost fish from under the reeds( on a previous session)cutting to the left from infront of me so I cast my bait to the spot....nothing so i cast a little further...and agin until i was just off the far bank.....At this point im really getting into myself "come on Will work it out" "they are here" . i think id given a cast to every crease but still no joy and 10 am was fast approaching. "its no good" I thought, I'll have to risk it, the sunken tree to the right of the swim had everything barbely about it, it was a roof, it slowed the pace, it was over a deep run aaaaaand it was snaggy to ****, **** or bust I say, I had to do it. I cast about 8foot from beneath my feet but I saw my bait instantly wrap around a branch and I pulled for the break, 1 lead down, again I cast, nothing for 15 mins (Im going on the rule that if barbel are nearby and hungry they will hit the bait soon after it hits the water) I start the retrieve....**** another branch, 2 leads down. At this point i feel I had failed my personal challenge and I'm taking it pretty bad I must say. 9.45, **** it ill be late, one more set up, one more cast. I was more cautious this time keeping away from the twigs as best I could, i set the rod down to disassemble the other and pack it away and .....ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM....HA! its gotta be, I pounced on the rod, I engaged the reel, the fish, the fish hugged the floor, "right Will keep it together" " remember what happened the other day" This was going to be a hard fight, the chub in this current was tricky enough, the Barbel raced around to the back of the tree but i managed to steer him away, but once id cleared that obstacle he spotted something else to get caught up in, i needed to get him to the slack of the refuge and level the playing field, after what seemed like 10 minutes I had the fish in the net. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i10.photobucket.com/albums/a136/icecream4crow/7lb11oz.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a> JOB DONE!!

4 of us members of the Secret angling society fished a private stretch of the Thames near Reading, over sat night and were rewarded with around 100lb of Bream each, Dave however had an amazing session first thing on Saturday with a couple of nice River tench around the 4lb mark.....then things got really exciting. We were all happily fishing away when we heard Dave holler, we walked up while watching him having a right ol' scrap, we could clearly see it was a big big tench, it was indeed, weighing in at 8lb 6oz . Ten minutes later another that settled the scale at 8lb exactly, I have never in my 20 years of fishing known of such big tenhc from "Ol' father Thames"

Hi mate, Thames promenade behind the rivermeade is free fishing, plenty of bream there as well as rowers , scours lane where the marina is could produce some chub and perch and thats also free to fish. Kings meadow near the big tesco is the best spot, will require some work but there are some good slabs along there.

That settles it then....cover ourselves in marmite and get licked to death by rats

i find toast and a healthy helping of marmite really does keep the mozzies off, I went fishing the other night, everyone got bitten except me

I was thinking we could do a few pick ups on the way in a couple of cars and park at cunning man and walk through....with a few trolleys of course

Ha ha....its Mr Slyder. welll have to hook up with a few people to fish calcot for a night in the summer

Hi, Ive been reading these boards for a while, I havent posted before as I dont really have much to ask and people are really good at answering others posts. My question today however is....is there anyone out there with a Reading and District membership, I fished Whistley mill at the weekend and loved it, a true dream venue, It is a 27 acre pit holding pike to 30, carp to 42, eels to 7, bream to 14, tench to 11, perch to 3 + and even better than that it has about 3/4 mile of river Loddon next to it holding barbel to 14, chub to 8 and brown trout galore, the place is worth the ticket alone. If anyone lives in the area the I would be glad to offer them a guest ticket on my book sometime.