Is anybody there?

[Peter Waller]

I thought i'd been posting a long time, 2005 but blimey Peter, just noticed you've been a member for 15yrs ! Long time that m8, I wonder if Elton will be giving a retirement gift LOL.

Think that I might pack up before I'm a 101 though!

[Tigger]

Think that I might pack up before I'm a 101 though!

 

 

LOL, i'm a sprightly 101 though Peter

[arbocop]

Nice catch. Always nice to see a netful of roach. According to the red top angling magazines they were due to be extinct by now, along with river fishing generally. I think Angling Times said that rivers would be devoid of anglers by 2015.

 

Mike

[kenj]

The storms of late don't make it too easy to plan a day's fishing. I'm fortunate to have a small river on my doorstep, to fit in a few hours here and there. The net of roach, one of small chub the following week and this nice perch last week, all came from the same half mile of river.

 

 

Carrying only the basics on this session, I'd left my scales behind, any ideas of the weight of this 13 inch perch?

 

This was my blog. http://www.urbanfieldsportsman.com/index.php/big-perch-rewards-persistance/

Edited December 14, 2015 by kenj

[Anderoo]

I actually went fishing yesterday!

 

Just for a few hours in the afternoon to a local bit of the Thames, quivertipping with bread. I was hoping for roach and with the river flowing well and holding some colour it looked nice and roachy. It took a while to build the swim (a deep steady glide between big bends) and as usual a few small chub were the first to arrive, and then later on the roach. No big fish but I had quite a few, and it was very enjoyable.

 

I was upstream legering, and I'm definitely improving with that method. I'm converting a lot more bites now than I used to by fishing downstream. It took a while to get the rigjht combination of feeder weight, hooklength length and bow in the line, but once that was done almost all the bites were lovely deliberate donks on the tip followed by the tip falling slack. A really nice method - I will keep practicing, and hope the big roach of a few years ago are still in residence...

[kenj]

The upstream method of legering was a deadly method for matchmen in the A4 and Marlow Teams of the 70's and 80's. The rod being faced down stream, the bow in the line allowing less weight to be used, due to the feeder being pulled down into the river bed, rather than lifted off. Bites were usually drop backs. It works well on the Thames with it's gravel bottom, but caused us a few problems on the Trent due to the rocks. Same principle as uptide seafishing from a boat.

[Steve Walker]

I've only been lure fishing for weeks and weeks. Should probably go and do some chub or roach or grayling fishing, but I haven't knobbled a big enough perch yet.

[Anderoo]

I've just ordered another load of small soft plastics and little jig heads from AGM - the Thames around me can be quite hard work so I will probably be visiting the canals and local stillwaters before attempting somewhere more serious...! Plus the canals have the added advantage of zander which does make it a lot more interesting.

 

I was expecting to be doing a lot of perch fishing this winter but actually now I can see me spanding a lot of time fishing for roach on the rivers, mainly the Thames. A fish or two over a pound and a half would be fantastic but they are rather hard-won.

[Steve Walker]

I don't really have anywhere easy and local that I've found. I quite fancy the LAS canals, and they are cheap, but with most of my sessions at this time of year being short afternoons, they aren't ideally located. I fished a local gravel pit yesterday afternoon for not so much as a follow. The Thames near me has some massive perch coming out on lures, but it's not easy. Sometimes you just want plenty of bites!

[Steve Walker]

Still, it was nice to get out and have the lake to myself on a mild December afternoon.

 

 

 

 

 

(Funny what a bit of mist does to the lights of the industrial estate over the back!)