anyone having a hard time catching

[Andy_1984]

i dont know whats goin on. it cant be me surely. for the past 4 weeks i have blanked. actually i tell a lie i caught 1 perch that i managed to entice to take a vertically jigged maggot.

 

that was the only perch from a shoal of about 10 that even looked at my bait.

 

my nephew took an interest in lure fishing for pike 2 weeks ago so ive been taking him to a part of the canal they built 6 years ago thats only about 150-200 yards long between two loch gates. The biggest pike is probably about 5lb and has no shortage of scrappy wee jacks about 2lb. its also stuffed with fat perch just under 1lb and roach to 1lb.

 

we trashed the water its entire length over 4 days without a single bite, had a few follows from pike and perch but they just wouldnt take.

 

the roach and perch are just not interested in anything and will ignore everything, though i did have one like i mentioned above.

 

now i thought this would hopefully be an isolated incident but not at all. i have also tried the older more established canal in places where i know catching a cheeky wee perch is almost a sure thing but even that was not to be.

 

what makes it worse is i was out on Friday at 5:30pm to 1pm on the Saturday with only the odd microscopic pull on my quivertip from a stickleback at a loch i had caught some very nice roach last year.

 

I witnessed a 3lb roach come from it last week! i thought i would never had seen such a beast, a 3lb roach is certainly an eye full.

 

so anyway i thought we were on to a winner this week as the weather has been brilliant. we decided to fish the 8ft deep trench at about 20ft out from the bank. maggots were a no no as the sticklebacks can give you the most deceiving pulls on a quiver so i opted for sweetcorn on a feeder slap bang in the middle of the trench surrounded by a fine ground bait.

 

we hadnt had a positive roach or carp bite in 19 hours. we have blanked on it 3 times now this month.

 

on a plus i did get to see one of the massive koi cruise right over my feeder and in to the distance. estimated to be about 10lb

 

so anyway it seems to be a regular theme where ever i go fishing recently. what are peoples opinion, are you finding it hard to catch ?

 

when we had a short spell of warm weather last month the fishing was brilliant with a lot of roach,perch and pike getting caught then we had a very cold spell with early morning frosts. now this warm weather all of a sudden.

 

are the fish very confused or are they preoccupied with something else ?

 

as you can see im trying to find and blame me not catching on something else

[robtherake]

Andy, mate: you're not alone.

 

Temperatures here (apart from the last week) have rarely risen above 12 degrees, and the tench still won't come out to play. I spent four consecutive evenings on a little tench lake that's usually a sure fire bet this time of year, for just one fish. There's absolutely no bubbling or topping, and the water's still bloody freezing.

 

To a large extent, I think the recent deluge is responsible: two feet of cold water can have that effect, so I believe. Soddin' hopeless!

[Andy_1984]

im at a loss to explain it, though i did here from a few of the match anglers yesterday they may be spawning which i hope is the case. temperatures here have been great here around 24c day time and 14-18 night time. water temperature has also went up enough to go swimming without feeling cold so i would have thought they would be well on the feed.

 

still doesnt explain though about my small bit of canal stuffed with perch and pike. i havnt seen any spawning activity, only inactivity(sitting their doing absolutely nowt).

[Phone]

Andy 84,

 

Maybe - just maybe you're paying your dues for a great summer. Fish aren't that complicated. They eat - and do that other stuff - then eat some more. That's about it.

 

Carp here are well through the spawn.

 

If I had a chance to come to England tomorrow here's where I would start if I were left to my own devices. After 10 years of internet fishing I believe you guys often sell the fish short. For some reason you Englishmen are obsessed with tiny tiny. I may exaggerate just a bit to get my point across but what would you catch if you fished for perch with a 1/0 hook and 20 maggots on it? Let the perch and sicklebacks battle it out among themselves. We have a perchlike fish (bluegill) with a tiny mouth. I never cease to be amazed the size hook it can get into its. mouth. What would happen if you put 3 lob worms on the same hook?

 

In the 1970's I had no problem catching carp, admittedly on a couple early commercials, using bright green 17lb mono (Berkley Big Game) and what you would call donkey choakers (paste) for bait tied directly to my mainline. They told me I was just lucky. Nothing wrong with being lucky.

 

I love English fishermen but honestly if ever there was a group that "outthought" themselves it is the serious English angler.

 

Try to relax and have a little fun - cuppa - let the fish do their thing.

 

My advice (for what it's worth from 10,000 miles away) bait the area VERY lightly if at all and use BIG bait. On average, Big bait equals big fish.

 

Phone

[robtherake]

Andy 84,

 

Maybe - just maybe you're paying your dues for a great summer. Fish aren't that complicated. They eat - and do that other stuff - then eat some more. That's about it.

 

Carp here are well through the spawn.

 

If I had a chance to come to England tomorrow here's where I would start if I were left to my own devices. After 10 years of internet fishing I believe you guys often sell the fish short. For some reason you Englishmen are obsessed with tiny tiny. I may exaggerate just a bit to get my point across but what would you catch if you fished for perch with a 1/0 hook and 20 maggots on it? Let the perch and sicklebacks battle it out among themselves. We have a perchlike fish (bluegill) with a tiny mouth. I never cease to be amazed the size hook it can get into its. mouth. What would happen if you put 3 lob worms on the same hook?

 

In the 1970's I had no problem catching carp, admittedly on a couple early commercials, using bright green 17lb mono (Berkley Big Game) and what you would call donkey choakers (paste) for bait tied directly to my mainline. They told me I was just lucky. Nothing wrong with being lucky.

 

I love English fishermen but honestly if ever there was a group that "outthought" themselves it is the serious English angler.

 

Try to relax and have a little fun - cuppa - let the fish do their thing.

 

My advice (for what it's worth from 10,000 miles away) bait the area VERY lightly if at all and use BIG bait. On average, Big bait equals big fish.

 

Phone

 

Phone

 

I hear you, my friend, but believe me: I've been fishing simple float tactics and barely dribbling the feed in. The recent rains, coupled with a steady Northerly, have really put the kibosh on things (in this locale, at least). Summer just hasn't arrived, despite what the last week's temperatures would suggest.

 

...and it looks like we'll be getting more of the same, judging by the forecast.

 

http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/forecast/uk/ts12

Edited May 28, 2012 by robtherake

[Guest redfin2]

Andy 84,

 

Maybe - just maybe you're paying your dues for a great summer. Fish aren't that complicated. They eat - and do that other stuff - then eat some more. That's about it.

 

Carp here are well through the spawn.

 

If I had a chance to come to England tomorrow here's where I would start if I were left to my own devices. After 10 years of internet fishing I believe you guys often sell the fish short. For some reason you Englishmen are obsessed with tiny tiny. I may exaggerate just a bit to get my point across but what would you catch if you fished for perch with a 1/0 hook and 20 maggots on it? Let the perch and sicklebacks battle it out among themselves. We have a perchlike fish (bluegill) with a tiny mouth. I never cease to be amazed the size hook it can get into its. mouth. What would happen if you put 3 lob worms on the same hook?

 

In the 1970's I had no problem catching carp, admittedly on a couple early commercials, using bright green 17lb mono (Berkley Big Game) and what you would call donkey choakers (paste) for bait tied directly to my mainline. They told me I was just lucky. Nothing wrong with being lucky.

 

I love English fishermen but honestly if ever there was a group that "outthought" themselves it is the serious English angler.

 

Try to relax and have a little fun - cuppa - let the fish do their thing.

 

My advice (for what it's worth from 10,000 miles away) bait the area VERY lightly if at all and use BIG bait. On average, Big bait equals big fish.

 

Phone

 

Well thanks for that Phone, but despite your well intentioned advice it is a different 'Kettle of Fish' over here you know. Believe me when I say the Brits on the whole are good anglers, especially us coarse types and are not afraid to change things around. Witness the fact that we still Match Fish on the International stage where I doubt you will see a better exponents of fishing, and not only tiddlers.

 

In fact my thoughts are that the Yanks are a bit heavy handed when it comes to bait fishing, perhaps that is the nature of the waters you have compared with ours, but I will concede that your game fishers / Bass anglers seem to know their stuff. But overall Phone it is very different over here, and despite your advice on Big Baits it just would not work with the problem that the OP has stated.

 

However when the time is right I will use big baits and a 2'' cube of meat is the norm, or 20mm pellets, bunch of worms etc, but that is for Barbel and Chub, Horses for Courses Phone.

[Andy_1984]

phone, Thanks for the comments. my rig wasnt that complicated and not set up for tiddlers. 3lb roach in this water and carp to about 18lb.

 

i had my quiver rod setup with 7lb mainline with a 15g flat inline feeder through to a 6lb hook length, diameter of which is 0.18mm with a size 14 Korum S3.

 

i reckon some might think that's a bit heavy handed for roach but to be honest i used this tactic one day when i intended to catch carp from this water and got pestered by large roach that took to it no problem. hook length diameter is about same as 3lb kamasan line and didnt want to take any chances with the carp if they took the bait.

 

the first hook bait i tried was a large bunch of red maggots, those damn sticklebacks dont half pull on a quiver they looked like roach bites! so switched over to 1 bit of sweetcorn with the hook buried right inside it with only the point showing.

 

so i dont think my rig had any impact on me not catching. i reckon they were up to "that other stuff" that you mention

[Anderoo]

I've only fished 3 times so far this spring but it's been pretty good so far. The tench have certainly proved trickier in the last couple of weeks but are still just about catchable. The funny weather so far this year has made things harder than usual though.

[Phone]

Andy 84,

 

Go ahead and stir them up a bit with a glycerol glug. Little shock factor. OTOH, it not nice to fool Mother Nature. If the weather is off - the fish can be off.

 

redfin,

 

Very British

 

Phone

[Guest redfin2]

Andy 84,

 

Go ahead and stir them up a bit with a glycerol glug. Little shock factor. OTOH, it not nice to fool Mother Nature. If the weather is off - the fish can be off.

 

redfin,

 

Very British

Phone

 

Yes, and we have something 'on' this weekend too...celebrating 60 years of Queen Elizabeth II reign, and probably many will spend the 'long weekend' fishing and downing the odd pint of Beer in the many street party's up and down the country, and all the time the sun will shine on this wonderful country of ours,

 

Thank God I am English