china

May 2026 Part 3 – will I catch?

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So Monday sees us back at the grass carp lake and this time we went on the far side bank of the first “lake” as the pegs we fished before were occupied, in fact the whole place was busy as it was the May Day holiday.

We collected a couple of boxes ourselves and set up in the same way with one notable exception – Gareth had now acquired a 7m whip that had been delivered to the apartment within 24hrs of ordering! We struggled to get a bite and there were no signs of bubbles like the last visit, the guy fishing where we had been last time had a few fish and when he packed up we decided to move into the area. I fished the same peg as last time and Gareth went to my left, away from the corner. Still no bites and then the son of the owner came around making his rounds on his electric cart and asked if we had any luck. On hearing we had nothing he got Gareth to show him the rig and he then proceeded to take the hook length off and put one of his own on which had significantly larger hooks. He said the pellets were right but use them for feed – he then got a bag of paste from his cart and made up a big ball of paste for us to use. He then attacked the rigs by shallowing up and reducing the weight until the float settled with two paste hook baits in place. He then put the depth back so the bottom ball of paste was just touching bottom. After this he did the same for my rig and used our pellets to put a couple of big handfuls out. Casting- we had been swinging out underarm but he said to cast overarm. The paste was soft but firm and stayed on the hook remarkably well, with the float rising when the paste came off. Now that is real customer service! As a consequence in the hour or so we had left I managed to miss a glorious bite, Gareth missed two but finally connected with a good fish that turned out not to be a grass carp but a black carp weighing 5-03 or 2.345kg which saw Gareth get 20 yuan back.

So Tuesday, my last day for fishing, arrives and I am on a two day blank streak! Back to Nanlan we went and although I missed two bites early on and Gareth four it was clear that the heavy rain had cooled the water as there were no cruising fish in sight. Gareth then managed to hook something that doubled his rod over (his was longer and more powerful than the one I was using) and ripped line from the clutch before pulling out. Apparently there are grouper over 100lb present! Heavy rain then started and it got busy as new fish were stocked and that usually meant a load of anglers rushing to the places where the fish went in.

Some grouper in the 4-5lb range were getting caught by sticking the rod under the walkways, releasing the line and withdrawing the rod then feeling the line for the shrimp being taken. Most were using light drop-shot style rods with multipliers so when they hooked a grouper the rods were bent double! The heavy rain continued and we were not getting any action so we decided to return back home.

After having lunch delivered to the door! Gareth took me back to the river where the visit started but this time you could see the bottom clearly. Fishing the same whip but this time without the isotope I had 90 minutes of fishing, 75 of them in the rain! It was interesting to see large circular craters in the river bed which Gareth informed me were tilapia nests. Indeed you could see larger tilapia in one or two, I managed to hook one of the bigger ones but it dropped back as Gareth was trying to hand line it up the wall! In the end I managed 27 small tilapia but saw several larger fish including carp just out of range. With the rain not easing we waited for a slight break in the weather and packed up.

Next morning (Wednesday) I was picked up by the taxi at 5am (10pm Tuesday UK time) to start the journey back home, 25 hours later after a transfer in Beijing I stepped through the front door-knackered! The traveling to and from China accounted for 12 806 miles while travel within to the venues took the total to a minimum of 13 000miles. Was it worth it – you bet! Putting the obvious family visit aside the opportunity to fish in a different environment using different tackle and tactics for new species will always be worth it. The blanks, well it is called fishing not catching and even blanking you gain a lot of experience and memories.

Now need to get back to catching some fish over here but I have brought back some paste I will try!

September 2025 Part 1 -World apart

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A bitty start to the month with various commitments like car MOT and service among others, anyway I got out on the 5th and settled o peg 10 at Bowood fishing 9:30 to 11:30 by which time I was pulling out what little hair I have left! The reason for my frustrations were the hundreds if not thousands of tiny rudd about 2 inches long constantly attacking the float and the corn, often preventing the corn from sinking by creating a ball around it as they tried to get it in their mouths! I had fished my usual rig with all the shot six inches fro the hook. By 11:30 i had managed to get 4 rudd on maggot, a roach and a rudd on corn and a roach on a Chinese honey jelly pellet! A total of 10oz.

Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th see me at the Glebe outside Hinckley for a two day invitational that I was running on behalf of Herbie. I had informed Herbie that this was likely to be my last MFS event. Money taken, nets dipped and draw made, the last peg left was mine and it was my usual area peg 24!. I set up a feeder with the intention of swapping to a straight lead later , a long pole rig with a 0.8g homemade long rugby ball float teamed up with 0.18mm line and a size 16, a short line with a similar float taking 0.6g and a 14 (my paste line!) and a rig for the margin 0.20mm to a 14.

It was slow I resisted the temptation to put the feeder up the bank and go on my long pole line that had been primed with 3 balls of groundbait initially and a pinch of 6mm pellets every couple of minutes, as it was evident it was a struggle for everyone. Ninety minutes in and I get my first bite, a small skimmer!, Ten minutes later the rod pulls round and I latch into a real lump that decided to run along the far bank and smash me in the reeds! The joys of fishing! I finally snared a carp of about 3lb on the feeder.The inside line proved empty despite regular feeding and efforts throughout the match, margin produced nothing and in the end I stayed on the 11.5m long line with 6mm pellet giving me 7 carp. At the weigh in I had 48-13 of carp and the skimmer of 0-04 for a 49-01 total. Annoyingly I had also lost a double figure carp that I had in the net twice and it swam out twice before I could lift the net, losing it eventually after a hook pull. One of my landed carp was in the 12-15lb range but this one was bigger!

Day 2 came and this time I was left with peg 8.

From yesterday I had gleaned that the people who had caught well were on the bomb about half way out, pinging pellet over the top. So I amended my approach to start on the bomb, also setting up the same rigs as the day before. Now peg 8 has a pole stuck in the water about 5m out and 6-7m down the peg, I have fished this peg before and have always been able to steer the carp around the pole without issue. The day went slow again with me getting 3 carp on the bomb and pulling out of 4 more, while the 11.5m line produced not a single bite! The 5m line towards the pole got me one skimmer and the right margin gave me 4 carp with 3 lost and 3 skimmers. Carp weighed 39-11 and a level 4-00 for the skimmers making a 43-11 substandard total!

Sunday sees me licking my wounds and going for a short session on the Pondtail before the rain and wind arrive! I set up on peg 1 although it was now getting overrun with plant life!

I opted for the 3m Chinese whip and a Chinese float set up with olivettes and a single no12 dropper to a 18 hook. I started with two plum sized balls of soft groundbait and fed wheat every few minutes during the session from 9:35 to 11:10. When I set up I realised that I had not got a landing net head in the net bag!

The set up – the distance from the hook to the olivettes is about 2 feet whereas the total depth is approx 5ft. Fishing double maggot alongside the furthest bunch of the two weed bunches I manged 32 roach and a solitary perch for about 3-3.5lb

Now fishing in China is different to say the least, Gareth sent me some pictures of a visit to a commercial he had heard about.

Only whips allowed, it was very busy, need to draw your peg before you start -you draw 2 pegs and choose which one you want to fish! 300 yuan (approx £30) to fish but they refund you 25 yuan (£2.50) for every fish you catch but you are on a timer, 300 yuan 4 hours, 600 yuan 8 hours. When he arrived the “regulars” were making comments unaware that he could understand a lot and Wendy, his wife, was also present and heard them say that he stood no chance of catching!

He used his own 4.5m whip, but they also supply if needed but maximum length allowed is 5.4m. They gave him pellets, paste, landing net and an umbrella. You can see every peg has its own permanent keepnet in the water. Next time the manager said she will give him a proper box to sit on she also said biggest fish is 20lbs and listed the species but no idea what they are as she only spoke Chinese, she said the smallest fish around 4lbs in there. The whips are powerful enough to get them out, 0.25mm to 12lbs braid with about a size 6 hook everyone using 2 hooks, 1 hook has big ball of sloppy paste on and other hook small piece of harder pace. Around 5pm everyone started feeding pellets in the margins and fishing close in (just like here!). He saw lots of lost fish , they are big and fight hard. So how did he do? Well the regulars making the remarks blanked and he caught two tilapia the one in the photo is 6lb (weighed) and he also had another of 7lb(weighed).

July 2025 Part 1- the hot one!

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July arrives and I manage to get out on the Friday for a couple of hours at High Penn (9:30 to 11:30), this time opting for the second swim on the west bank.

I had taken just the margin pole as previously but was surprised to find only 4foot of water whereas it was more than twice the depth on the opposite bank. Feeding loose feeding corn and wheat I had a bite after about ten minutes from a rudd and that was how it continued with regular bites from just in front resulting in 16 rudd and a solitary perch all on corn for a calculated 2-11 total.

The next Tuesday sees me brave Bowood between 9 and 12 but I was amazed at the increase in the weed growth, even peg 5 that I had previously raked was covered and unfishable without a long effort with the rake. Given the weather I whimped out and went to peg 10 where I ran the rake through several times .

It was a funny session with the sun burning on my back but a cool breeze coming right to left cooling my front! I fed three balls of groundbait with loose fed wheat and apart from one cast fished corn on the 16 hook rather than maggot, topping up the groundbait with a single ball every 45 minutes or so. The action was consistent if frustrating as the small rudd were attacking the corn en masse as they couldn’t get it into their mouths resulting in me bulk shotting the 0.6g rig to try and get past them. I ended up with 19 rudd, 4 small skimmers and two roach for a weighed total of exactly 3-00.

Friday, the last chance to go before Gareth arrives (I had pulled out of the final leg of the Summer League once I knew that a journey to Gatwick was needed!) I opted for the Pondtail, simply due to the fact that I could get back to the car easily once the heat started to build! Starting at 8:05 I managed to get to 9:35 before packing up and retreating to the car which showed a temp of 28C.

The repaired bridge and the weed growth that has spread.

I had just taken the ten foot Frenzee waggler and fished a couple of rod lengths out with a homemade peacock waggler with a 0.12 hooklength and 16 hook, loose feeding wheat with double maggot on the hook. I did bump a few more fish than usual but ended up with 8 roach and 2 perch for a weighed 1-02.

The last session Gareth had before leaving China was on the Shiqi river spinning and getting an asp.

A few joint sessions coming up!

June 2025 -Part 1, the shortest one yet!

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June has been a busy month with family commitments meaning I have been as far afield as Yorkshire (family) and Shepton Mallet (for an Antiques Fair acting as PA to my daughter-in-law who was over from China!) .

Fishing has not gone well! Two sessions, first the third round of the Summer League took place at Hungerford on the K&A Canal. I was drawn on C9 which was down from Dunmill Lock.

To cut a 5 hour story short it was hard with me ending up with 15 fish 2 perch, 6 roach and 7 gudgeon for 4oz – yes they were tiny! If you had a bit of shade you caught a bit better but the shade you see in the photos had disappeared by the start of the match. At the weigh in I was amazed that I was not last, indeed the lowest weight was 1oz and there were 2 others on 4oz. The K&A is the best canal in the country but this particular stretch is pretty dire compared to the rest, it tends to be used because there is a large car park whereas parking is an issue on the better stretches closer to Marlborough and Devizes.

June 16th, first day at Bowood, parking up there were only two other cars so I hoped I would get onto my favourite start of season peg -peg 1. Walking down it was good to see the one time ravine you had to cross with the stream had been sorted so there was now a duct with a solid hard surface over it, but that is when the good news stops. Peg 1 was like tap water and badly weeded, of course I had left the weed rake at home but decided to give it a go by clearing two holes in the weed at 11m in front and 13m to my left. Initial loose groundbait with corn and corn deposited I then started in the two feet of water as 9 was being chimed out by the clock tower. When it chimed for 11:30 I packed up, biteless despite having fish roll in the weed on three occasions. Can only improve – next time deeper water will be cleared with the rake.

Gareth had an unusual fish in his swim in China!