River pictures

[davedave]

A few pictures of the river I took earlier this afternoon. I was hoping to get out chubbing tomorrow but the forecast gives heavy rain so I may just stick my umbrella up and have a coupe of hours trotting.

 

A chubby looking spot

 

 

 

 

Where i'm hoping to get out tomorrow, it's a lovely part of the river

 

 

A nice run down to a small bridge

 

 

 

Let's hope the weather holds out tomorrow. Fingers crossed

[jimmyh]

That does look like a nice stretch, I can just imagine one or two decent pike lurking around there, perhaps under that bridge?

[Rusty]

Lovely pics Dave, which river is it?

 

I hope to have some later but I think they'll be rainy scenes. About to head off to a special venue, first time this season but don't know what the Kennet will be like. So far we haven't been let on because the river's been too high.

[Anderoo]

That does look nice, good luck! I still haven't done any river fishing this winter, it's been a total washout so far. I had Thursday and Friday off work, and ended up back at the perch pond both days as the river was still not right. I'm getting rather severe chubbing withdrawals now!

[davedave]

It's the river Isle in Somerset. The pictures are of a slower area where a lot of the bigger chub show, but most of the river is quite pacy and so has some good roach, dace, trout and small chub fishing. In matches the river can produce 15lb of roach and chublets on a good day. There are pike but are rarely fished for, i've had a couple of attempts but have never been succesful, although I hear they've come out to low doubles.

 

I woke up this morning with the intention of fishing in the area in the third picture, as it looked really nice yesterday, but the forecast gave heavy rain. I packed the car up as it started to drizzle so called it off and went back to bed for a couple of hours, but then it cleared up again so I thought i'd give it another try and went down to a different part of the river closer to home (not knowing which way the weather would go) and had a fishless hour and a half trotting before the rain really came down and I packed up and went home wishing I hadn't bothered

 

It's been really depressing. I've been fishing 5 times this year and had two perch of about half a pound each to show for it. I've had no luck fishing for big perch and my attempt on the river today was useless. I haven't had a good fishing day since December in the christmas fayre match. Yet I'm still stupid enough to go out every weekend. I really should just put my rods away for about 6 weeks but I can't do it

 

Anyone else having any luck? Anderoo did you catch much on the perch pond?

 

Cheers

[Anderoo]

Yes, had a good day on Thursday with several perch and a couple of bigguns (one equalled my second biggest and was a real old bruiser!), yesterday was hard work and I just managed to scratch out a few small ones plus one better one of just over 2lb. I was thankful for them though, for most of the day I was staring a blank in the face! It was very cold yesterday and the pond is shallow, so I think that was the problem. The peacock handwarmer was working overtime...

 

I had a look at the river and decided against it, it's back in its banks but hammering through, clear and extremely cold. Not worth the effort just yet I think.

Edited February 9, 2013 by Anderoo

[Rusty]

Anyone else having any luck?

 

Yes had a good day out, hard work but got there in the end. I'm absolutely knackered, blog tomorrow.

[davedave]

Nice one Anderoo! My last half dozen attempts at perch have been pitiful. Can I pick your brains? I've been using these http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TDA-Run-Rings-with-clip-5-Pack-Ideal-Carp-Bream-fishing-/360581725498?pt=UK_SportingGoods_FishingAcces_RL&hash=item53f4587d3a with a bead and a couple of float stops on 3lb mainline 'straight through', then about a foot and a half gap to my drennan micro barbed specimen size 8 (depending on bait, but usually a size 8 or 6). That's my rig. I have been using single lobworms as bait. What have you been using? I've tried prawns but haven't had much luck. I would use deads but am struggling to catch them and don't want to spend all my day trying to catch some bait.

 

Just the last few weeks my confidence has been knocked as i've been using my same tactics which have produced some good results last summer/early autumn but I feel like i'm doing something wrong. What tactics/baits/rigs are you using at the moment anderoo? If you don't mind me asking. Maybe the fish aren't biting or i'm fishing too shallow but something isn't right. I also think all the cold/rain/snow/snow melt hasn't helped.

 

Nice one Rusty, look forward to reading it

Dave

Edited February 9, 2013 by davedave

[Kappa]

Hi Dave,

 

They look fine, I would say the leger rig doesn't matter too much so long as it doesn't tangle and is fairly resistance free (that includes pointing the rod straight at the lead and using as light a bobbin as you can!).

 

One thing that has made a huge difference for me is feeding plenty of chopped worm and maggot. This can be in a feeder or by hand but the chopped worm really pulls them in.

 

Prawns have been very selective in the pond we have fished but deads are good too, worms can be OK but tend to get snaffeld by roach etc. I have heard prawns are like marmite, loved on some waters useless on others.

 

BTW spending time plumbing around is worth it to find features under the water (the deeper spots of our shallow pond are best). Finally don't be afraid to rove around and move the rods or swims. We have found that 15ft can be the difference between a blank and a couple of 3s!

 

Rich

[Chris Plumb]

Yes had a good day out, hard work but got there in the end. I'm absolutely knackered, blog tomorrow.

 

Ditto (in every respect) a real slog - walked miles but the pressure was off with a season's best chub (5.08) in the 1st, 20mins. Pics and blog tomorrow...

 

C.