Autumn River Campaign

[lyn]

Cracking perch denzil. Well I can now say I have finally fished the Ouse above Bedford I had 5 roach to 4 and best of all I caught not one but 2 native crayfish which were really nice to see instead of the signals.

 

A baliff arrived a bit late in the day and I found out I should have been futher down the stretch I was fishing, story of my life!! Still a nice day in company of my fishing mate and a very intimate stretch of the Ouse that looked so promising, oh well another day

 

Oh, the roach were up to 4ozs not lbs just in case you were wondering!

 

lyn

 

PS Just remembered, I was most upset when I went into the tackle shop in Bicester and saw a centre pin in the same blue as my AN pin I didn't think there was another like it

Edited November 7, 2009 by lyn

[Chris Plumb]

NICE fish Denzil! I'm green with envy!

 

Nice pics Rusty - the opening scenes of the Midwinter Madness episode of A Passion for Angling was filmed in that weirpool - a bit more water in it the day Bob & Chris fished it. (Bob caught a trout and Chris a chub). Let me know when you're next down there and I'll see if I can come down and show you around....

 

 

C.

[Rusty]

the opening scenes of the Midwinter Madness episode of A Passion for Angling was filmed in that weirpool

 

I'll admit to popping the CD in the computer to check, how sad is that? They wandered off upstream though, I wanted to do that but wasn't allowed..celebrity status I guess.

[Steve Walker]

Had the afternoon on the Bristol Avon - managed two perch of 12oz and 1lb on floatfished lobworms, bumped one and missed another. There were fishy goings on, though, with definite predator activity and I'm pretty sure perch were the culprits.

 

Maybe I am really damaging my chances by not fishing lives?

[JV44]

Had the afternoon on the Bristol Avon - managed two perch of 12oz and 1lb on floatfished lobworms, bumped one and missed another. There were fishy goings on, though, with definite predator activity and I'm pretty sure perch were the culprits.

 

Maybe I am really damaging my chances by not fishing lives?

 

That would be a yes!! .

[Anderoo]

Maybe I am really damaging my chances by not fishing lives?

 

A question I keep coming back to when fishing the Thames, Steve. The ethics of livebaiting is for another topic (this one is too good to spoil!) but I personally don't enjoy it, feel bad about it, and it's always a last resort. However, on the Thames I think (in certain conditions, at least) it's almost essential...

[Steve Walker]

Although I've absolutely nothing against other people doing it, it's something I've never done. I remember seeing someone using lives for pike when I was a kid - very effectively - and being simultaneously fascinated and horrified. I am tempted to give it a go.

 

I'm considering spinning - I used to catch loads of perch, chub and jacks on spinners on the upper Thames, including my biggest ever chub from that bit of river - but is it effective for big perch?

[Anderoo]

Although I've absolutely nothing against other people doing it, it's something I've never done. I remember seeing someone using lives for pike when I was a kid - very effectively - and being simultaneously fascinated and horrified. I am tempted to give it a go.

 

I'm considering spinning - I used to catch loads of perch, chub and jacks on spinners on the upper Thames, including my biggest ever chub from that bit of river - but is it effective for big perch?

 

I'm pretty much the same, Steve. I've been very lucky to have fished waters for pike where a dead, or a wobbled dead, would catch as many if not more pike than a live. Since moving, it's become very clear that if I want to catch pike, I need to use livebait. So I have fished for other species.

 

Pike I can live without, but perch are a different matter. The Thames is a brutal world! It is so predatory. On other waters, where the perch's primary food source is crays and the average perch size is high, lobs are all you need. But I think the Thames is different.

 

I have tried spinning on the Thames and caught lots of perch, but none bigger than a pound or so.

[Steve Walker]

That's my experience of spinning on the upper Thames too - but I put that down to there not being many bigger perch around there. If you've tried it where there are big perch and it still mostly picks up little ones, that's not so good.

 

I fished three swims today, catching a fish from each of two of them, and missing/bumping a bite in each. Now, in the second swim that I had a fish from, there was obvious predator activity over a prolonged period both before and after I caught my fish. I can't be 100% sure that it wasn't pike, but it was definitely the kind of extended pursuit I associate with feeding perch rather than the swirl and grab ambush of old toothy.

 

I'm thinking that if the perch are preoccupied with piscivory, I may as well be offering a pheasant tail nymph to trout that are busy taking mayflies.

[The Flying Tench]

I'm considering spinning - I used to catch loads of perch, chub and jacks on spinners on the upper Thames, including my biggest ever chub from that bit of river - but is it effective for big perch?

 

I caught a 2.11 and 2.12 a couple of weeks ago on a Mepps Number three - but had no luck last week when the temperature had dropped. But so much perching is done in winter when I guess lure fishing is less succsessful? And I've got to admit there are plenty of places where I've chucked spinners with no success, but caught at a different time on lobs.

 

I've also never used livebaits, but a couple of years ago I decided this was a bit illogical. I caught 3 gudgeon and killed them to use as deadbaits, unsuccessfully. Then at the end of the day I realised that if I'd used them as lip-hooked lives I could have put them back. I think I'd be willing to try lip-hooked lives, but don't think I'd want to use a snap tackle and stick a hook through the fish's back.