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Showing results for tags 'carp'.
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NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 2015 - 0900 Warm, overcast and quite breezey. Temps never below 15ºC - Unseasonably warm. 13 carp - best 2, 13lb 11oz (common) & 12lb 0oz (mirror) - the rest evenly spread between 9½ - 3½lbs. 1 Crucian 2lb 5oz. 1 skimmer and a dozen assorted perch, roach & gudgeon (mainly perch). The plan was going to be a dawn raid for stripeys on the canal - but a very last minute change of plan - due to the unseasonably warm overnight temps that were (accurately!) forecast - had me setting up in the dark for an overnighter after a late season crucian. Lucky to get one amongst all the carp - most of which were caught on my float rod rigged up with a 16 to 4lb bottom - the 12lber was first cast!. Had crucians rolling in the swim for an hour or so just before midnight - when I caught the one I did - but I think they were being bullied away by the carp. Freelined bread once it got light - and had 4 or 5 carp that way - including the 13lber which was the last fish caught.
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Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham 0530 - 1430 Cool & overcast - drizzle from 1100. 3 Carp; 10lb 10oz, 8lb 1oz & 3lber. A doz rudd & roach and 1½doz small perch. Slowish day alledgedly fishing for crucians - though Paul fared better snaffling a brace of 1¼lb+ fish. 10lb carp 1st cast - lucky to land it on a size 18 to 2¾lb bottom! Fished meat & maggot in rotation. All the roach were of a good stamp circa 8-10oz - pity there weren't a few more of them! A pic of one of Paul's Crucians - love the buttery colouration...
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NAA Stillwater - Widmead 0445 - 1045 Warm and overcast with sun breaking through after 0900. 15ºC->24ºC 1 Crucian; 3lb 13oz - new PB! 2 Commons; 11lb 3oz & 8lb 5oz. 2 Perch - 1 just on 1lb and a nice Rudd of 10oz. Yippee got what I came for - had heard of some big 3's showing and even whispers of a 4lber so thrilled to have snaffled one. Sat right back and float fished under my rod tip about 2 foot from the bank - lots and lots of little lifts and movement from the off - which was obviously just rudd and perch. Had one classic lift about an hour after starting and briefly connected with something solid which quickly shed the hook - felt this was a crucian and that my chance had gone - thankfully a little after 0800 same thing happened and as soon as it was hooked I knew it was a crucian - couldn't believe the size of it when it popped to the surface for the first time and it took 3 more plunges before I had it subdued - very very nervy couple of minutes - was convinced I had a 4lber!! Had to settle for 3oz light but still can't wipe the smile of my face!!!! Biggest common off the top - with bread flake - other one on the method. Crucian beats previous PB by 3oz - a 3-10 fish from a nearby lake caught on 22/6/99 - my 2nd longest standing PB until today.
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NAA Stillwater - Widmead 1500 - 0700 Overcast and breezy with light drizzle most of the night after a warm sunny afternoon. Min 15ºC - mild despite the breeze! 6 Carp - all commons - biggest 9lb 13oz, smallest 6lb 8oz. 1 Bream 4lb 8oz. 1 Tench 2lb 8oz. 2 Doz+ Roach and Rudd. It comes to something when the highlight of your fishing trip is breakfast!!! However the pork and bramley apple sausages, fried egg sandwiches and mugs of steaming fresh tea were much anticipated! The fishing again was slow - Paul and I were after tench and bream - but again were thankful for the occasional carp showing up to put a bend in the rod. And at least these were a little more respectable than last time. Shame, as it started so promisingly - Paul had a bream first cast (he wouldn't get another!) and I spent nearly 20 minutes in mid afternoon battling what we were convinced must be a 20 on my float rod - only for it to turn out to be a 7lb+ common hooked in the derriere - which as Paul was quick to point out doesn't count!!! Still at least the overnight rain wasn't as heavy as forecast - and I was prudently home and dry before the heavens opened. Paul who fished on to try and add to his tally of 5 carp and the bream wasn't quite so lucky but thanks to keeping an eye on the rain radar on his Blackberry missed the worst of it! Pic (ala Rusty ) of the sausages!
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NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 0500 - 1000 Bright and sunny - cool start. 9º -> 16ºC 5 Carp - biggest 2; 11lb 0oz & 9lb 7oz - a few 'bits' - roach, perch & a gudgeon. A dawn raid hoping for a crucian or 2 but alas the carp were too voracious!! Whatever I put on the hook - bread, maggot, meat, pellet the carp nailed within minutes - didn't give the crus a look in. Bumped as many as I landed too! Biggest carp however was caught deliberately - on floating crust - bit of a " if you can't beat them, join them" effort!
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Newbury AA stillwater - Widmead 0500 - 1000 Warm, overcast and sultry. 16ºC->21ºC 3 Tench; 3lb 10oz, 3lb 7oz, 1lb 11oz. 2 Carp; 9lb 14oz & 8lb 5oz. 7 Rudd. Dawn raid in the hope of another monster crucian - and whilst I had a big fish roll shortly after baiting the swim it was a case of nothing doing. Rudd were a nice size - upto 9-10oz, though in truth a bit of a pain as they kept giving crucian like bites on my lift float rigged meat! Carp off the top in the last hour - having thrown in freebies all morning!
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Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead. 1500 - 0800 Warm and overcast. Mild night, temps didn't go below 14ºC 4½* Carp, biggest 8¼lb, 1 Bream 4¼lb, 20+ Roach & Perch - in roughly equal nos. Another "Breakfast was the highlight of the trip" trip! Spent the first couple of hours fretting over my swim choice which saw me move swims and immediately get a bite which resulted in the bream - thereafter bites at a premium. Paul had had an identical return when I packed up having joined me 4 hours after I started. He fished on for another hour or so and added a 2nd bream to his tally plus the rather unusual looking carp below. He thinks it might be a Koi? Strange looking critter - note the lack of dorsal fin! *The ½ was a fish I landed on Paul's rod - he was dealing with a snagged up method feeder when his other rod went off - I struck and landed the fish - a carp of 8lb exactly - I reckon it should be mine!
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Newbury AA Stillwater - Widmead 0530 - 1100. Bright and sunny after a cool, misty start. 10º -> 20ºC 1 Crucian; 2lb 2oz. 8 Carp; best 2 - 12lb 6oz & 11lb 9oz, smallest 6¾lb. 3 rudd & a perch. A morning's float fishing (lift method as per usual!!). Crucian and 3 of the smaller carp on 6mm S-Pellet. Meat just got nailed by the rudd. Last couple of hours spent freelining bread - which brought 5 more carp including both bigger ones. Smallest crucian from here in 7 years...
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River Kennet - Nr Thatcham 1800 - 2330 Mild, overcast with a soft southerly breeze - really lovely night to be out. River low and carrying quite a bit of leaf litter as you'd expect. WT a balmy 56ºF. 1 Barbel; 9lb 0oz. 1 Carp; 15lb 9oz!! Trick or Treat? Never been so disappointed to get such a lovely looking carp - as for nay on 10 mins I thought I was connected to the mother of all barbel!!! This is my 30th season barbel fishing this stretch of river and in all that time I've never caught a carp - until last night! Barbel caught at 2015 - carp 1½hrs later.
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NAA stillwater Widmead and Thatcham 0400 - 1200. Overcast, still and mild - temps around 17/18ºC 1 carp, 11lb 5oz. 1st EVER close season session - oooo I feel a little bit dirty! Don't intend to make a habit of it but I had some time owed to me which if I didn't take by next week (and as ½ the office we already off, next week was out) I would lose. So I thought I'd join Paul on one of his 'free Fridays'. 1st part of the morning was purely reconnaissance, OK I did have a bait in the water but after 5 hours looking at a stationary float I was packed up in a flash when Paul suggested we move and try and get a carp or two off the top from a pit where they shouldn't be - and relocate them to where they should - work that clearly comes under the heading of 'Close Season Preparation! (In case you're wondering the club have a Section 30 for this that runs to the end of Oct). Sure enough the carp were clearly patrolling the surface layers and catching them looked a doddle - especially as I had a fish pretty much first cast and Paul had a hook straightened with his first cast. Alas I didn't get another take - though Paul did go on to winkle out a couple of commons (mine was a mirror) of 5lb+ and 6lb+. All in all a good excuse to be out! I really didn't want my photo taken... But Paul was determined to gather the evidence... Paul had a 9½lber from Dixons. Fish-on ! Fish on the bank. Paul gets all arty (Again!)
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Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham 0430 - 1000 Clear and sunny, warm after a cool start (8ºC when I set up). 6 Carp; best 2, 14lb 8oz, 8lb 4oz - the rest 6 or 7lbers. So after a crucianless night on Marsh Farm a morning trying for one nearer to home - this lake has them to over 3lb - but alas it is also the home to a lot of voracious carp! The 4 smaller ones all 'fell' to my float gear. All the time I was feed little bits of bread into the margins by my feet (any further out and the ducks get at it). It wasn't too long before the carp were competeing for freebies - so a quick change in tactics to freelined bread resulted in the 2 bigger ones straight away - before returning to looking at a float! All fish caught by 0700 - could have gone home for breakfast!
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Willows lake, Thatcham 0530 - 0930 Overcast, clearing to bright sunshine for last hour. 5 Carp; 12lb 9oz, 11lb 2oz, 8lb 11oz, 7lb 2oz, 6lb 13oz. Another forlorn crucian hunt - but at least at this venue there are some 'easy' carp (too easy!! ) to amuse. 2 smaller fish on float tackle - bigger 3 on floating crust in the margins (ie within 1m of the bank!) Biggest one:
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Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham 2000 - 0700 Warm and overcast night, didn't get below 14ºC. Drizzle until midnight but by dawn our brollies/shelters were dry. Lovely night to be out. 2 Crucians; 3lb 7oz & 2lb 3oz. 1 Carp 10lb 5oz. Not quite mission accomplished first cast - but certainly 1st bite!! Biggest crucian of the season, my 3rd biggest ever and the first 3lber I've ever had from this water. Plan was to try and avoid attracting the carp - so didn't feed the swim - a ploy which appears to have worked (nearly!). Paul and no such qualms and even crossed over to the dark side with the purchase of a pellet waggler for this trip! He had arrived well before me and being a true gent didn't drop into the swim I wanted - though I think he may have rued that decision when I landed my 3lber as I think it would have been a PB for him... Still he caught a lot of carp - and was landing his 16th of the session as I left - he even managed a 1-10 crucian. My 3lb+ Crucian... Not Paul's biggest carp of the night (think this was 8lb something), but certainly the best looking one!
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Newbury AA Stillwater - Thatcham 1930 - 0730 Clear, still night, quite chilly (5.5ºC) by dawn. 5 Carp; 12lb 10oz, 11lb 15oz, 11lb 6oz, 11lb 3oz, 10lb 10oz. A repeat of last weekend for Paul and myself - hoping for a repeat performance on the crucian front. Alas, they were conspicuous by their absence with little evidence of fish rolling. Paul and I did both suffer some curious bites on the float which neither of us could connect with - and for me at least I had to content my self with feeding bits of bread in the margins and waiting for them to start disappearing before offering one with a hook in it! Last carp and smallest did come on float fished prawn - meant for the crucians. As last week Paul had many more carp (he did fish the method OR the pellet waggler!) - but when I left still hadn't managed a double! Sunrise over Willows Lake... X marks the spot?
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NAA Stillwater - Widmead 1530 - 0800 Warm, with 'milky' high cloud and a full moon - luv-er-ley night to be out! 3 Carp; 11lb 7oz, 8lb 10oz, 8lb 8oz. 3 doz. roach & perch in roughly equal nos. - most of the perch were in the 6-8oz bracket - most of the roach weren't! 1 rudd. Not fished here for some time - in fact the last time was: http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-268-2930-august/ This used to be a fantastic tench venue but results rapidly tailed off in the mid 00s so I've been looking elsewhere for my tinca's. Whispers on the grapevine that a few good-uns in the 7lb class have been coming out this summer prompted the return. Alas not a hint of one - though I was given the 'you should have been here yesterday' treatment form an old boy who said he'd had a couple of 5lbers from 'my swim' over the weekend. I even brought out one of my all time fav tench baits - black pudding - only to discover that carp like it too! Still the carp here are like torpedoes, the scraps are always very lively - especially when you hook one on the float rod - as I did this 11lber!
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NAA Stillwater - Thatcham 1930 - 0500 Warm, overcast and still. No need of a shelter or brolly - could have sat in shirtsleeves all night if it wasn't for the mozzies. Super night to be out. 1 Crucian; 2lb 6oz. 5 Carp; 17lb 14oz, 16lb 0oz, 10lb 1oz, 9lb 5oz, 7lb 1oz. 1 Perch (small). Love it when a plan actually comes off! One of the lake's crucians was always number one priority and I had one as soon as it got completely dark - should probably have added to it as I had crucians rolling in my swim up to midnight and bumped another couple of fish. Plan B was to try and get some of the carp feeding in the margins - so again as soon as it was dark and the ducks and geese had settled for the night I was trickling in bits of bread crust - waiting for slurps and swirls. When the carp eventually arrived it was simply a case of dapping a bit of bread under my rod tip - and then hanging on for dear life! All 4 biggest carp caught this way, the 7lb though, falling to a tiny speck of prawn meant for a crucian - which also resulted in an 'interesting' battle of light-ish tackle! My biggest carp from this lake and my biggest for 7 years... http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/forums/index.php?/blog/82/entry-263-1415-august/ . Dawn saw an armada of wildfowl head for my swim so a quick pack up saw me fast asleep in my own bed before 0600. 17lb 14oz 16lb on the nose!
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Willows Lake - Thatcham 1900 - 0500 Warm overcast night - lovely night to be out! 4 Carp; 6lb 5oz, 6lb 14oz, 7lb 12oz, 13lb 9oz. 5 Tench - best 2lb 7oz and all the others C2lb±2oz. 1 Crucian; 3lb 3oz. ½doz+ perch - all small. Nice to see some tench in Willows - bin many years since I've had this many in a session. All fish fell to lift method tactics less than a rod length out - with simple maggots as bait - did also bring a feeder rod but it stayed in the quiver all night. Snaffling one of the lake's big elusive crucians is always the target here - so extremely pleased to get one! Most fish caught before midnight except for 3 of the carp including the bigger one which took an absolute age to get in on a 4lb bottom!
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Jubilee Lake - Thatcham 1900 - 0430 Glorious might to be out - warm (min 15ºC) with a balmy southerly breeze to keep the dew off - fantastic view of Jupiter and Saturn in the night sky too! 7 Carp; 15lb 8oz, 9lb 14oz, 9lb 3oz, 8lb 7oz, 8lb 2oz, 6lb 15oz, 5lb 8oz. Not one of my favourite venues - too busy and noisy - which probable explains why I struggled to get a single bite in the margins. All fish during darkness on the feeder - the biggest two topping and tailing the session.
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Jubilee Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0600 Warm overcast night - despite the forecast which predict a cool night - temp didn't drop below 13ºC. 2 Carp; 8lb 5oz & 6lb 7oz. 1 Bream 6lb 8oz. Slow, slow night. Venue was VERY busy with lots of noise on the bank meant I didn't get a solitary bite all night on my margin rod - and fishing at range wasn't much better. All fish on pellet (was alternating with boilies).
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Jubilee Lake - Thatcham 1400 - 0500 Clear and breezy - night was cool and clear but not as cool as forecast (kept too busy to get cold!) 10 Carp; 23lb 10oz (!), 11lb 15oz, 10lb 11oz, 10lb 6oz, 10lb 4oz, 9lb 14oz, 9lb 5oz, 8lb 13oz, 8lb 6oz, 7lb 7oz, (Over 110lb of carp!). 2 Tench 3lb 11oz & 3lb. Last year I made the mistake of fishing here in the school holidays - and got very irritated by the noise from other anglers. No such worries last night - I had the lake to myself once the sun had gone down - just the rats for company (!!) and a lovely view of Jupiter and Mars traversing the southern sky. All fish after dark - didn't get a bite until gone 2130 and they switched off at 0400 - made for a very busy night. Tench on float fished meat in the margins - plus a couple of the smaller carp - all other carp on feeder with either hair-rigged pellet or prawn as bait. Biggest on pellet - my best ever common.
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Dobsons Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0500 Cool clear night. Temp down to 5ºC when I packed up! 4 Carp: 9lb 12oz, 8lb 2oz, 7lb 15oz, 6lb 9oz. 1 Bream 5lb 12oz. 1 roach. Brrrr - a slow but steady night looking out for Perseids as much as fishing! Surprised how cool it was at dawn - compounded by a very heavy dew!
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Willows Lake - Thatcham 1800 - 0600 Cool clear night down to 7ºC at dawn and very misty and damp with dew. 9 Tench: All over a pound with 3 fish over 2lb. 7 Carp biggest 2, 12lb 2oz & 8lb 15oz all the others between 3½ - 6½lb. 1 Crucian 2lb 2oz. 4 perch. A return to the swim of a fortnight ago hoping for - and getting - a similar return for what will probably be my last overnighter of the summer. As before, started off float fishing maggot but the micro perch were in residence nailing the bait before the float even settled - so a switch to meat was swiftly called for which they ignored. Really pleased to snaffle another of the lake's elusive crucians. Hopefully the tincas will put on a bit of weight in the coming seasons......
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Willows Lake - Thatcham 2000 - 0500 Warm (min 16ºC), overcast and drizzly most of the night especially early on. 8 Carp; biggest 18lb 5oz - all the rest between 5¾lb - 9¼lb. 1 Tench - circa 1lb and a skimmer. A night of 2 halves - started float fishing the margins targetting the lake's rare but large crucians - and sure enough had crucians rolling in my swim repeatedly as it got dark - so hopes were high! Alas the carp kept getting to the bait first and when I didn't connect with a fish that went screaming off it was the wrong species. Still - my first tench from here in yonks - think a few must have been stocked in the winter. By midnight I'd had enough of trying (and sometimes failing) to bully carp in on inappropriate tackle so it was out with the feeder rod. First up was a lovely large mirror - which at over 18lb is my biggest from this lake in 37 years of fishing it! First light and the rain had stopped so it was off for a couple of hours kip and a late breakfast!
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NAA Stillwater - Widmead 1800 - 0600 Breezy with heavy showers up to midnight, cool and clear there after. 3 Carp; 8lb 1oz, 7lb 10oz, 3½lb. Another slow night on the lakes - again nothing in the margins - all bites on pellet.
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TAA Stillwater - Thatcham 1800 - 0600 Warm night becoming increasingly cool (9ºC) by dawn. 4 Tench - 2 4lb+, 5 Carp biggest 2 14lb 9oz & 10lb 6oz. A quick return to try and find some more tench - a plan which got off to a great start as 4 out of the first 5 fish were all tincas - caught float fishing the margins as well. Alas the carp then moved in! 14lber was one of the mankiest beat up fish I've ever caught - hence no pic!
