Barton Court Fish-in 13th March

[Anderoo]

Nice photos Steve, I got home and realised I hadn't taken any at all

 

Barton Court is a lovely place, quite bewildering for a first-timer like me! Water everywhere, all linked up but with quite different characters. I got nowhere near to fishing it properly but had a lot of fun catching the obligatory trout, and finally managed some pech from a nice little slack between two trees, but none of them were over a pound. The only other 'proper' fish I managed was a little dace.

 

I think I enjoyed the company more than the fishing actually, to be honest I'm a bit fished out at the moment! It was good to see old friends and meet new ones, finally meeting Chris 'Kennet Destroyer' Plumb, and I enjoyed talking to Tidlertamer too. Thanks again to Chris for organising it - I'm looking forward to seeing how he got on!

 

Well done on getting a shot of the watervole Steve, I saw three of them today, that alone makes it a good day

[JV44]

Quote Anderoo Well done on getting a shot of the watervole Steve, I saw three of them today, that alone makes it a good day

He swam buy a few times but on that occaision i saw him downstream heading my way and just stood still and waited,magic to see them as that bit and the Trout water beats up and downstream with there attendant River Keepers ensure the mink are kept down must be the reason that they survive there as most of the rest of the river is deviod of them sadly.

Good luck on your stream and here is hoping you track a few Perch/Chub down , mate of mine has just told me he had a load of pike on the river today so it will be Perch/chub hunt with all the lobs rusty and i have left over and then try to track down a river croc in the afternoon ,righto wine oclock time steve.

[Rusty]

with all the lobs rusty and i have left over

And we have a lot left over, I used about ten of the fifty I had, something will eat well tomorrow.

 

Good to meet everyone today and great to see that Angly hasn't quite come down from his recent Chub exploits.

[arbocop]

And this little fella swam by me a couple of times without getting a photo but managed it on the 3rd attempt

 

Great day and many thanks to Chris Plumb for organizing it,He had a couple of decnt Perch long before he got to the spot that Rusty was on about but could be he tracked down a monster Stripey at dusk or any of the others that stayed till then,Hope one of you got one Steve.

 

Well done one and all. Fantastic water vole pic, I saw one or two when I was last there, didn't get any photos though. Just the sight of a water vole makes me nostalgic and almost weepy.

 

I wished that I could have been there, but without a car (nicked) even if I was quick enough to book I would ahve been stuffed.

 

Any big dace show up?

[Chris Plumb]

Any big dace show up?

 

No - suspect they were all having nooky - the ones I had were all in spawning condition.....

 

 

C.

[JV44]

Mike sorry to hear about your motor mate hope you get something sorted soon ,saw a Water Rail as well whilst there today.

Pike didnt want my Pike flys/lures/sardines and spent to long being frustrated by them really instead of seeking out some slacker water after Perch Steve.

[Leon Roskilly]

Fishing lobworm, I struggled for a while when I first arrived.

 

Then I managed a couple of small perch, the first around 1lb, then one half that size.

 

Moved to the top of the fishery and thought I'd run an abu atom through a 'piky' swim.

 

Straight away I had a jack around 4lb chasing it at my feet, but forgot I was using a circle hook.

 

Second attempt and it was hooked and released in the water.

 

Then I had a 2lb pike on trotted lobworm, then lost a bigger pike when it exploded out of the water amongst the reed beds.

 

Found a pool full of obliging, but very fit, trout.

 

Back to the car for a sandwich, then another piklet to worm (around 1lb).

 

Apart from some more trout that was it.

 

Brilliant day Chris, thanks for organising it

 

 

AAAAAaarghhh!

 

 

Unpacking the boot I found that a lot of maggots had escaped.

 

I may not be allowed out fihsing again for some time

 

(Shall we start a sweepstake for the date that Brenda first finds she's sharing the car with a large fly?)

[tiddlertamer]

PS did tiddlertamer turn up - sorry I missed you if you did?

 

 

C.

 

A big thank you to Chris Plumb for organising a great day out. And, although I didn’t get to speak to everyone as I threw myself into my fishing at a fabulous venue, those I did meet were extremely welcoming.

I’m afraid I was either fashionably late or just plain lazy this morning. The thought of travelling by tube across London with my fishing gear during rush hour, along with cheaper ticket prices after 9.30 meant a late train and the rather tardy arrival time of 11.30.

It was a bit surreal at first, wandering around saying hello to the other participants. What seemed like a good idea at the time when I joined Anglers Net– to label myself Tiddler Tamer, a self deprecating name reflecting my normal stamp of fish – was a bit strange when used to introduce myself in person.

There I was a six foot four bloke in black army fatigues, who during the week has an enjoyable but at times high pressured job, wandering around saying “Hi, I’m Tiddler Tamer.” All rather odd…

Not helped by my waterproof trousers slowly shredding as the day wore on. What had started as a small tear earlier in the week after losing an argument with a barbed wire fence on the Suffolk Stour became a jagged rip starting just under the waistband and stretching down to a point just above my ankle. So no points there for sartorial elegance…

The venue itself is special though. I believe it is the next beat upstream from the ‘Wilderness’ stretch of the Kennett where the winter episode of A Passion for Angling was filmed. So hopefully Bartons Court would throw up similar offerings – large grayling, roach and pike…

I started off at the bottom upstream end of the fishery on what I believe is known as the Yellow or Willow Stream. Third or fourth trot down, a trout just under 2lb took the bait, putting up a great fight. Not the species of fish I was hoping for but, after blanking elsewhere on the majority of occasions in January and February, not unwelcome. Followed fairly quickly by another trout, which somehow managed to throw the hook but inches from the net.

I moved on in search of other species. Three or four other swims followed but nothing stirred.

A switch to the Middle Cut paid off. A grayling! Not the nearly three quarters of a pound that I claimed to Steve Walker. (Sorry, a fisherman’s tale!) I failed to balance my digital scales and later reading showed my new weighing sling reading at least a few ounces when wet, but a good half pounder and a plucky fighter nonetheless.

And then… more trout… three in all but one fought like stink, hurling itself spectacularly out of the river. The biggest over two and a half pounds.

And then my fixed spool reel started to misbehave. A minor fault at first. I struck, I hooked but also got the line caught behind the bail arm. Lost fish.

Then I struck, I hooked but this time, it wasn’t a minor fault – turning the handle failed to engage the bale arm. Lost fish. One retired reel too. My reserve reel came out and I pledged to switch to a centrepin next season.

A change of tactics saw me switch from maggot to lob worm and a search for perch…

Twilight arrived and the fish stirred but nothing took my bait.

I wandered up to the fishing hut to say my goodbyes.

I couldn’t resist a last cast or two. Andrew (Anderoo) wandered up after a last minute bit of piking had come to nothing. We chatted about our respective days and I shared the news that with family business to see to on the 14th, this would be my last cast of the season.

Twilight had now turned nearly to darkness. I managed to undo the tangle in my line and send the float down the river on my last cast of the season. We both watched its progress as it bobbed down the river… into shade and darkness… on a whim I struck as the float disappeared….but sadly it had disappeared into shadows rather than below the surface and no fish had become my prize.

I took the tackle out of the water and cut the line as I started to pack my fishing gear away. It can only have been five seconds, perhaps ten, but a large fish then rolled on the surface where my float would have been had I had one more trot down the river. Andrew pointed out, and we laughed, that it might well have been the 2lb roach of my dreams…

But it won’t be this season that sees me fulfil that dream. Next season though?

Edited March 14, 2009 by tiddlertamer

[Tony U]

Jealous..... Me Never

[ruislipdave]

Hi everyone,

Its very interesting reading all of experiences from Barton Court, it sounds that you all had a great day even though no big roach or dace were caught but I was glad to hear some decent perch were banked, it is really a special place to spend a days fishing even on hard days. Carrying on from my earlier posting, did anybody, mainly those who spent some time legering lobworms catch any crayfish ? They were unusually very conspicuous due to their absence last tuesday. I don't think there are more trout present than there used to be, but I suspect due to the (temporary hopefully) absence of silver fish there is less competition for our bait, I caught around 25 on tuesday mainly on breadflake - about 10 in 10 trots from the middle cut. My dace was in spawning mode so I guess any big girls were shoaled up tight somewhere. Me and my son are off to the Loddon tomorrow in the hope of a big chub or barbel , I'm off now to check my lottery ticket , if the jackpot comes up I'll buy Barton Court, remove the bleedin' trout and get some fisheries expert in and try and return it to the roach and dace heaven of a few years back, although I bet Dr Mark Everard could winkle a 2 pounder out now given his track record.

Cheers and tight lines,

Dave