A few hours out yesterday.....

[Phone]

Tigger,

 

Once again intriguing photos and I love them. Errr - put a PS at the bottom of each photo "for Phone only" and lable which fish is an "X" and which fish is a "Y" . I'm not always able to put 2 and 2 together.

 

Phone

[Tigger]

Glad you like the pic's phone.

X and Y, do you mean what the species are?

If you do then in those pictures the chub are the longer more sausage shaped fish, the bream are the deeper bodied fish.

Edited September 10, 2019 by Tigger

[Dales]

Great pics and sounds like a top days fishing. There is something special about those days when you get a mix of fish and anything can be on the end of your hook when the float disappears.

[Ken L]

Fished the Warks Avon in the week.

Three hours of fishing pellet on two rods (one with a 12mm hard pellet and the other with a 4mm hooker pellet) with cage feeders and not a tap.

I looked down and there among the cabbages was movement. After a couple of seconds, I realised that a big barbel was starring at me in about 40cm of water and less than a meter from the bank. The cheeky sod was happily munching on the bits of bait that I'd dropped while casting!

He swam off when he saw me but the big rod came in and got stripped down because I didn't want to punch a lead or feeder into the cabbages. On went a float and a cube of meat and it got dropped in the side.

The lighter rod got a change of end tackle and I was about to cast it out with a braided hooklength, bigger hook and meat when the float twitched and slowly sailed away - Newt and Phone would like the float, it is a big gaudy "slip bobber" that gets right up the noses of a lot of tackle tarts.

Having juggled the rod that I was about to cast, I lifted into what turned out to be a decent eel which was quickly released.

A couple of minutes latter the float went again but I missed that one and just as I was resettling the float after re-casting, there was a "three foot twitch" on the little rod, so I grabbed it and lifted into what was obviously a big fish. For a while, I thought it might have been foul hooked because it decided to fight on the surface with lots of swirls and splashes - then it rolled while still a good way out and I saw a gold flash and a big triangular dorsal.

A couple of minutes latter, I slipped the net under my first double figure barbel.

Unfortunately, I was travelling very light and had no camera or scales but this fish dwarfed the 8lb fish that I did weigh last week and was probably nearer to 12lb than 10 and possibly more.

The float went again and I had another eel and called it a day.

I may be going back in a week or two but it will be meat from the start if I do.

The fish were clearly in the cabbages and not out in the man flow and I picked up the barbel by fishing in close, just the other side of the weed.

Edited September 14, 2019 by Ken L

[Tigger]

 

Congrats on your barbel Ken! I've been in that situation on a number of occassions, without the scales you'll never know what weight it was.

 

I had a couple of hours out trotting after tea on Friday, I had twelve chub and about 20 dace, give or take a dace or two.

 

 

 

 

[Ken L]

Yep, we'll call it a double - there's no point in claiming 12lb or 13lb when you can't verify it.

Will make sure I have the kit next time.

I confess I did look on-like as the fish had a very distinct blunt head an I thought I might find a photo with a weight - but no joy.

[Mikench]

Cracking fish again Ian. It's amazing what you can achieve with an unsuitable float lol. I only put my post about shotting on fm because I couldn't access the forums on here. My trotting leaves a lot to be desired.

[Tigger]

Cracking fish again Ian. It's amazing what you can achieve with an unsuitable float lol. I only put my post about shotting on fm because I couldn't access the forums on here. My trotting leaves a lot to be desired.

Thank's Mike .

Yeaph, you gott'a use a "stick float" for trotting lol.

Stick floats very often don't even resemble stick floats anymore anyhow. For the biggest part stick floats are pretty much garbage, too thin to catch the flow, flatten out when held back in a decent flow, very hard to see at range, can't see em if there's a chop etc etc. Your far better off using a bolo/avon float in a size that suites your situation.

 

Same here, I haven't been able to get on AN for a few days until today, and couldn't get on again just before!

Edited September 15, 2019 by Tigger

[Martin56]

Have to beg to differ, a porcupine quill takes some whacking for trotting, You can paint the tip say 1 &1/2" then shot it down to whatever suits.

A quill of about 7 to 9 or so inches will cover most scenarios.

Can see the tip 40 - 50+ yards easily.

Edited September 15, 2019 by Martin56

[Tigger]

 

If you like 'em Martin, then keep using 'em. I have a lot of stick floats and I might as well use them for kindling as the chances of me using them is very slim.

There is no way you could trott a stick float or even a large porcupine quill through a lot of the swims I fish without it flattening out as you try and hold back, or it dissapearing in the chop. Avons/bolo floats come in all sizes including very small ones and I would prefer to use a small bolo in a situation where many people would use a stick float.

I often trott up to a hundred yards also so again, the shoulders and long sight tip make it much easier to keep track of the bolo and see bites.