A little trotting yesterday...

[Steve Walker]

Were all of the females smaller?

[Latimeria]

Same genus, different species http://happywaterlife.blogspot.de/2013/06/pungitius-kaibarae.html (actually Pungitius sinensis)

[Vagabond]

Same genus, different species http://happywaterlife.blogspot.de/2013/06/pungitius-kaibarae.html (actually Pungitius sinensis)

That's a pretty spectacular fish - thanks

 

Steve - Re relative sizes - didn't catch enough to come to a definite conclusion - about three females and a male. That male is in breeding plumage.

 

They are a nightmare to catch - they live down amongst the weed-stems in a mildly brackish dyke, depth 3 feet, and just coloured enough so you can't sight-fish for them, and they live cheek-by jowl with roach and perch fry. Catch ratio is about 500 roach to 50 perch to 4 sticklebacks ! Took me weeks to locate them ! Of course a fish researcher with a big net .......

[Steve Walker]

Pretty.

[Steve Walker]

Netting would be cheating!

 

I used to catch sticklebacks in the local canal when I was a kid handlining with a lure based on a dog nobbler tied on a #22 with red cotton tail and a split shot head.

[BoldBear]

Love the reports Tigger, I wish I knew what a 9 lb Barbel feels like on a centre pin. The Bream on the Lea give me the run around when trotting, so Lord knows what a hard pulling Barbel would be like.

Dales you need to try a lot further up the Lea, you would soon feel the mettle of a 9lb Barbel on a pin there LOL

The 9lb-plus Barbel I'm holding in my avatar was caught from the upper Lea on my Centrepin.

 

Great post and picture as usual Tigger

 

Keith

Edited July 24, 2015 by BoldBear

[Tigger]

Dales you need to try a lot further up the Lea, you would soon feel the mettle of a 9lb Barbel on a pin there LOL

The 9lb-plus Barbel I'm holding in my avatar was caught from the upper Lea on my Centrepin.

 

Great post and picture as usual Tigger

 

Keith

 

 

Thank's Keith .

[Tigger]

I half-heartedly set out for a trotting session today and as I got a few miles up the motorway the signs were flashing long delays between several of the junctions ahead! That was it, I had to get off the motorway at the next exit, turn round and go home.
Unfortunately, I hit the traffic jam before I got to the next exit and spent, what felt like forever, stop-starting. Eventually I got to the next exit but rather than get back on the motorway and head back home as i'd planned to I bit the bullet and carried on to the river. I had to use the sat nav as I didn't know how the hell to get there from this area.
What seemed like 100yrs later I arrived at the river. When I got out of the car the wind was blowing really quite strong and the river didn't look inviting at all with the chop on the surface making the river appear to be flowing upstream ! I walked the length of the beat and dropped into any likely looking runs but despite my best efforts I only caught a trout of about a pound. I walked back to the car intending to wrap up and fire off but after having a drink of water I forced myself to walk back upstream to one of the spots I liked the look of. There where several large trees in the river in this swim and to fish it meant casting 20yards to particular spot at the head of one of the trees root ball (I think that's what it's called) and then trott down the side of the tree as close as possible. The reason for this was because I suspected that there might be barbel lurking in the tangled mass of roots and under the large trunk. At first I had no joy with bunches of maggots so I put two or three on the hook to see if there was anything smaller feeding on my freebies. First trott with three maggots on produced a fingerling chub. The next dozen trotts through produced a small chub each time. I decided to keep feeding a few large handfuls of corn and a couple of catapult pouches full of maggots every 10 minutes hoping to entice any barbel out of the tree roots. After a few more chubletts on several maggots I decided to fill the hook with corn and trotted right up to the roots. The float buried and I struck into something very powerfull.
I gave it no line at all but it got into some of that fluffy green weed on the bottom and I got my hook back embedded in a cloth ! Next trott through the float went under and bang, another powerfull fish was on the hook. Because of the situation with the roots etc I had to strike really hard and carry on pulling in one movement so as to get the fish as far away from the roots as possible because even though I gave no line the rod bent round a few feet. Most people wouldn't belive you if you told them that you can hit and hold barbel up to eight or more pounds with a 14's hook, 6lb mono amd a match style rod but that was what I was doing and it realy was serious fun and excitment.
Anyhow, i'll stop going on boring you all to death. I finished up landing 14 barbel and pulling the hook out of about four and leaving the hooks in two. I think the two hooks snapped off at the hook because my line was so goosed for the first 10 or 12ft. If I was going to carry on fishing I would have pulled 20ft off cut it off and re-tackled on the fresher line.
Unfortunatly I forgto to take the camera so no pic's...darn it .

 

What started out as a disaster of a fishing session turned out to be one of the most enjoyable exciting ones of my life !

[Latimeria]

Even better than when those skinnydipping nymphomaniacs called Timothy and Simon invaded your swim?

Edited July 26, 2015 by Latimeria

[Tigger]

Even better than when those skinnydipping nymphomaniacs invaded your swim?

 

 

I wish...don't think anything could top that lol.

 

It was a place i've never fished before and I don't think people fish it as it's quite an alkward swim, not using the method I used at least. I'm looking forward to trying it again but might try a step up in my set up next time.

 

 

I used the acolyte plus 13 footer and I have to addmitt it's grown on me, it had some serious bends put in it yesterday....i'm surprised it's straightend out LOL.