Latest ventures out on the river....

[Tigger]

I had several hours trotting for barbel yesterday, but not a sniff of a barbel!   Maybe the sudden overnight frosts and with the river only just dropping down after being in flood had put the dampers on me catching a barbel. Anyhow, I did catch 5 decent chub of about 3 1/2 to 4lb , several roach of around a pound, small roach, dace and chublets....no barbel though!

Had another couple of hours after chub today. There was a horrible strong downstream wind but the temps were up from 9 degrees yesterday to 14 degrees today.  I did ok today and had quite a few chub, no monsters, but all of them were around 2 1/2 to 4lb and really fought hard.

A couple of pictures from the day....

 

[Peter Waller]

Down on the Broads we have had the usual saltwater surges driving the fish off the main rivers. The salt also sours the water and the fish go off the feed. However, if you know where to look the fish will hold up away from the salt, they will also get hungry!  A good time to be out fishing but success is not guaranteed, at least not on the Waveney. My neighbour went out for the day, just one fish, a three-pound roach, jammy sod!

[BoldBear]

Has the broads recovered from the problems it had in the past with sludgy deposits spreading over its river beds in certain places ?

Or is it now back to its former glory ?

Keith

Edited November 4, 2023 by BoldBear

[Peter Waller]

It's been fishing its socks off for whatever reason. The 'sludge' as you call it is dependent on the winter weather, there one year and gone the next. Things aren't perfect but the bream and the rudd are back in large numbers. The perch are also doing well but the pike fishing is a shadow of what it was, seals, ignorance and poor handling practices.  

[Tigger]

I've fished for the last two saturdays in a row, week before last I caught five small barbel and some chub...

 

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[Tigger]

Last....hang on , it was sunday last week not saturday , the river was a couple of feet up and I had to don my chesties in order to  get out to the area i'm usually able to reach in my thigh waders.  I'd forotton how much of a hasstle it is when you want a slash and your wearing chest waders! 

The water felt cold and to be honest I wasn't expecting much, so I was surprised to hook something solid after only a few trotts through.  I won't harp on about how I got a piece of wood shaving in my eye after cattying out the first pouch of maggots, or how I had to walk back to the car and try to swill my eye out with half a small bottle of water that had been in the car since june!, or the rain, the downstream wind,etc etc.  

Anyhow, within a couple of hours (that includes the time it took to walk back to the car etc, oh, and re-tie my hook after it hooked a large twig on one of my fist casts) I did ok and had six barbel and some xxl dace as a by product, several pic's from the session....

 

 

 

 

 

[Tigger]

Deleted, it's pointless now

 

Edited April 19 by Tigger
Pointless

[chesters1]

Nothings pointless except if its a broken arrow .i for one miss looking at fish i will never catch or never better .