gudgeon

December 2025 part 2 – Must do better!

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So after returning from family duties in Yorkshire I headed off to Semmington to fish next to the pump again. The weather had changed from the days of heavy rain and was dry and very sunny so much so I fished from 10:20 to 12:40 when I had to pack up as I could no longer see my float with the sun and glare on the water, having stupidly left my sunglasses in the car! I decided to fish mainly worm and wanted to try out a couple of different shotting patterns and that is what happened apart from a couple of fish on maggot. I was fishing a 1g Blue with and 18 on the 0.10mm hooklength with the shot strung out at the start (proved to be the most productive) while various versions of bulk and droppers were tried as well. Two small balls of groundbait laced with chopped worm were introduced at the start and topped up with a small golf ball size when bites began to slow. The result was 17 roach,5 skimmers, 2 gudgeon and a solitary perch for a modest 3-12.

The following Tuesday sees me at my usual haunt- peg 10 at Bowood, fishing 9:45 to 11:45. Tackle was the usual with the pike rod not getting any attention despite the occasional scattering of fish. Groundbait was just two balls at the start and then loose feed with maggot on the hook.Nine roach, twenty rudd and two skimmers succumbing to my net which took the scales down to 1-10. To add insult as I packed up there was a huge pike strike just off the edge of the platform!

Christmas came and went but Sunday 28th sees me at the Pondtail for a short cold session between10 and 11:35 on the Frenzee waggler. I’ll just say I had a bite and missed it and leave it at that! I had a planned visit to Tunnel Barn Farm on the Monday as it was close to the wife’s friend in Coventry, who I was going to deliver some presents to. Car was packed ready for an early getaway however that all changed when the oven gave a loud bang and ceased working, fuses checked,etc… and it had definitely expired. So quick call to cancel the trip, tackle removed from car and Monday was spent sorting out a makeshift mini-oven and contacting a firm to come and sort us out, of course with it being the festive period it will be the New Year before anything is sorted!

We will see what the New Year brings, Happy New Year !

September 2025 Part 2- I hate weed!

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Like a demented addict I return to peg 10 at Bowood and usual method I tried to stick on corn but after a while started alternating with maggot to no real avail. Basically it was dire with 4 bites and four fish, all rudd , three on maggot and one on corn for a miserable 3oz.

Friday sees me go to the K&A canal at Semmington, walking up to the pump area by the flyover. This was always a good bream spot before they added the new viaduct and I wanted to see what it was like now. Fishing 10-12 I set up the pole to fish at roughly 6m where the slope ended and introduced a ball of stodgy groundbait to counteract the flow and depth and a few chopped worms, loose feeding wheat and the odd maggot over the top. Starting on double maggot on a 16 below a 1g float in the approx 6ft of water with a bulk set 2ft from the hook and a single no8 dropper I immediately started catching, first 4 put ins resulted in skimmer,skimmer roach, skimmer. This carried on with small skimmers for a while until a lull was broken with a better fish that turned out to be a perch of 1-12 that stretched the no 10 elastic. (Number 10 is not usual for a canal I admit but for this area and depth of water I followed some advice given by Ian Didcot many moons ago, namely that the heavier elastic would set the hook better compared to the more usual elastics used). Swapping to a piece of worm the fish kept on coming until a boat driven by a New Zealand Captain Pugwash came straight down the inside almost running into my net while heading for the moorings at the lock. I was not pleased and suggested in future he did what other boaters do – keep out then hard turn in, drop off member to tie up front rope and pull mid-barge rope to level up and secure. To make matters worse a second barge then came and did the same but stopped to my left with its bow in touching distance of my landing net (I actually had to move it to prevent it getting hit). I struggled on while they waited for their antipodean friend in a third barge to catch up. They then managed to churn everything up while going through the lock. I gave it another ten minutes but decided to pack up, finishing with the perch plus two small ones, a gudgeon, a roach a rudd and lots of small skimmers for a 4-13 total.

Following Wednesday sees me back at peg 10 Bowood, a glutton for punishment or more like a dog that won’t give up his bone! Still heavily weeded, may be almost mid November before any piking can occur, I set up usual fashion and tried maggot, worm, corn and wheat and caught on all of them, ending the three hours with 15 rudd, 8 roach, a hybrid, 3 perch and two skimmers for a level 3lb.

Friday sees me head for High Penn for a change, fishing the middle of the East bank.

I had taken just the margin pole and plumbing up found about 10feet of water. A couple of walnuts of groundbait were introduced and a sprinkling of wheat with the odd maggot loose fed. and the couple of hours shot by with the 1g float regularly lifting or going down.The 11 roach, 9 perch and 14 rudd went 4-09 with the best fish being a roach of 0-12. Unfortunately the carp cruising around stayed out of pole reach, perhaps I’ll take a waggler next time!

My focus then moved to getting sorted for the Maggotdrowners match at the Glebe on October1st.

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!

January 2025 Part 2 – where are the fish?

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Sunday 19th I venture to Bowood a bit later than usual and fished peg 7 as 9 and 10 had people on them. Fishing 10 until 12 I had not a single bob or any indication of fish in front of me! Wednesday I travelled down to Gatwick to pick up Gareth and family early on Thursday morning. Friday sees Gareth and I fish Bowood from 2pm until 4:10, me on 10 and Gareth on 9 (his choice of pegs) taking just whips and pike rods. This time at least we had some action, Gareth had 2 roach and a skimmer for 0-04 and I had 7 roach and 2 skimmers/blades for 0-07, no runs from pike but at least some bites! Saturday Gareth went to Rowde and found there was little water in the pound but managed to get a few roach and skimmers Sunday was teeming with rain and I declined the offer to go to the canal at Rowde with Gareth, who set off and came back a couple of hours later with tackle soaked but dry himself having had 3 roach and a pike of 7-15 with the pound now only a foot deep!.

Monday I acquired the exchange ticket and joined Gareth on the same pound at Rowde with a 4.5m whip and pike rod, this time the water was right up to the top but Gareth blanked and I had a solitary roach and a jack of 5-02.

Tuesday sees us back at Bowood from 12-2 in very muddy conditions with rain and wind, fortunately we travelled light with just whips and pike rods. This time I went on 9 and Gareth 10 and ended with similar catches to last time, I had 5 roach and a blade for 0-04 while Gareth had 0-08 with 7 roach and 2 blades (the fish were small!).

Wednesday back at Rowde for two hours, this time walking down to a further pound fishing peg 2 of the CT.again fishing for two hours with whips and pike rods except this time I took the light 10foot waggler rod. I ended up with no pike action but did get 3 roach, 2 skimmers, 2 perch and a gudgeon for approx 1-04. Gareth had 4 skimmers and two perch but also a jack of 3-13 on the whip taking his maggot bait.

Thursday, Gareth gets up early and fishes the first peg after the moorings at at Rowde, one cast ten minutes in the water and a pike of 5-13, job done he comes home!

Friday 31st Bowood 2pm to 4:30 usual pegs, me on 10. Whips and pike rods, it was a struggle I had 2 roach 0-04 (bigger than last time!) Gareth had 3 blades, a roach a rudd and a skimmer of 1-04 for a 1-12 total. Really Bowood is not fishing well at the moment and there seems to be a group of 8 cormorants present.

A quick explanation about the whips we have been using, I have been using the carbon 4.5m whip with a Chinese float waggler style at Bowood but a 3m one on the canal with a normal pole float, Gareth on the other hand has been using a cheaper 4m Chinese whip with a standard home-made pole float.

Before coming across for the visit Gareth had tried spinning in the local river and ended up with a crowd of about 50 people watching him as he played a rarity for the river a fish that we think is an asp.

They return to China after a quick visit to Newark on the 7th February so the blog will be back on track next month!