roach

September 2026 Part 1 – Rumble in the jungle!

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Wednesday 2nd sees me at Crookwood peg 9 fishing 10:15 to 1:35(although really only to 1:15 spoiler alert!). I have made the decision to just fish the Chinese paste for the foreseeable future and try different combinations. Today I mixed 50-50 the blue packet and the red ( Old Ghost) with the obligatory jellyfish powder. Tackle was the 0.16mm rig with a Chianti style homemade float with the bulk set 6 inches from a 16 hook, elastic was a green 2.2mm Chinese hollow.

It was raining, that light “wet” rain that seems to get everywhere but fortunately it stopped after about an hour. I didn’t introduce any groundbait, instead just relied upon a half pot of micros and 6mm pellets with a few pellets every put in with the paste. The going was slow, in fact it took me 40mins to get my first bite, a skimmer. From then on it continued to fish hard with bobs on the float but no real bites apart from a further 2 skimmers and a stockie plus a couple of missed bites that may have been liners.

As I was getting towards the end of my paste the float slowly submerged and a lift produced a solid weight that began moving slowly at first before heading towards the far bank. To be honest I thought it was probably a better carp around the 6-7lb mark and after a few minutes got it within netting range, when it finally showed itself I realised I was in trouble as it was more like a 12-15lb common, that when I tried to net it I managed to get it’s head in the net but nothing else, before I could readjust the net it flipped and swam out again. It then headed into the left hand margin (see photo)

The fish managed to get into the under growth and after steady pressure came out only to go straight back in and through the reeds for about three meters. Again I kept steady pressure and just as I thought it had finally snagged me it moved back towards me only to go under the bank at the side of the platform where it stayed, five more minutes of pressure resulted in nothing, so after approx 15 minutes of the contest with the fish I accepted I had lost the fish and it had finally snagged me. As it was so close to the peg I was able to get hold of the line and began to exert steady pressure thinking I was going to either pull free from the snag or snap, only for the carp to suddenly reappear with its head gasping a quick grab of the net and ping the float went slack and the carp slid out of view. Inspecting the rig, the line did not break, the hook did not pull out – the hook snapped at the bend! I thought “Oh dear” or some such equivalent phrase! At which point I packed up!

Following Monday I returned, this time to peg 26.

Tackle was similar although the float was now a homemade rugby ball style and the hook was a heavier gauge 14! Paste was the red and yellow 50-50 mix. Fishing along side the far end of the lilies over a bed of 4mm and micros I was soon getting lots of indications and had a busy session until the paste ran out on the three hour mark. I ended up with a tench of 2-02, crucian of 1-02, two brown goldfish (as opposed to crucians!)2-07 and 2-03,a skimmer of 1lb plus one other, a small roach and 3 carp ranging from 1lb to 1-05. Added to these I was snapped twice, pulled out 4 times and snagged once – the chances you take when fishing close to lilies.

Two days later sees me back, this time at peg 28 towards the end of the bank with open water and no lilies! Fishing 10-1 with same set up as previous visit and same paste mix. Started at 9m (7 section) and began getting skimmers after 15 minutes. However after an hour or so I lifted into a bite and crack my number 6 section snapped about six inches above the female join. I managed to get the pole back within reach and discovered it was a clean break- had it been a new pole as opposed to it being 20+ years old it would have looked like a “manufacture defect”! The remaining piece could not be telescoped so I ended the session fishing 5 sections. Again I had to build the swim but my final tally came to 5 skimmers over the pound (best 1-09) plus 2 under, a tench of 1-11 and a roach. Also had a crayfish drop off on the way in plus pulled out of a fish , probably a carp that took off towards the other bank.

Off to Torquay for a few days so no fishing, back home for a week then off to China!

August 2026 Part 2 (or is that 3?)

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Following my paste post I returned to Crookwood one further time on Wednesday 26th and fished peg 18. For some unknown reason I didn’t take a picture of the peg! Anyway think of it like peg 23 with lily pads on both sides! I decided to fish both far corners of the pads with the same tackle as previously but would introduce groundbait on the right with no pellet and pellet on the left with no groundbait and have two put ins before swapping to the other side, hence rotating the swims throughout the session.

Paste was also changed to a 50-50 mix of the blue packet and No5#(white pack) that filled a large pole pot, to this I added 1.5 pots of water, gave it a quick swirl so the paste was all saturated and then left it while I tackled up. To this I then added a liberal dose of “octopus” powder which is in fact jellyfish powder and kneaded to form a ball of paste that would last the session (10am to 1pm). A big pot of paste does last me about 3 hours.

I kick started the session with a pot of F1 groundbait to the right edge and a half pot of 4mm pellet to the left. Starting over the groundbait the swim started to fizz with the float dancing around before a skimmer produced a positive lift on the bulk and was duly netted. When I went on to the pellet swim it was a lot quieter and it took till about the third rotation to get a bite. Overall the bites came quicker over groundbait but the fish were a smaller stamp. I managed to extract a tench of 2-02 and a bream of 3-02 plus a carp of about 2lb from the left swim while just the one small carp from the groundbait swim. I also had 10 skimmers (roughly 3-7 split) and 2 roach (0-2) for a 16-08 weighed total.

On the face of it the groundbait seems to attract more but smaller fish while the pellet only approach seemed to attract the better quality. The paste change was also interesting as I have now tried three different mixes with the Red No3~ and ~2 mix producing mainly small fish compared to the other mixes. I will continue experimenting and intend to try through the winter with paste also!

Fishing the Chinese Paste UK style!

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I have been experimenting for some time with Chinese paste mixes but before I go further I have to explain that the way paste is fished in China is different from over in the UK. Big differences include using two hooks, having a firmer paste that allows casting, plumbing up using the paste as a plummet plus more. I am going to China later on this year and will do a write up of paste fishing there.

So firstly the paste, if you think we have a wide range of groundbaits then think the same for paste but more so. Paste for varying speeds of break down, for different species(tilapia, carp, black carp, sea fish, crucians, bream…), different flavours within each species, you get the idea! I have stuck to a limited range and experimented within that narrow selection. The paste I have available currently …

As you can see the packets are all in Mandarin so the diagram at the back is helpful as a starting point. Anyway let me show you it in practice. The venue is Crookwood Lake on the Devizes ticket peg 23.

Once I got my box set up I began on the paste preparation.

Left to right, top to bottom – main bulk paste; second paste; mixed in ratio 70/30%; two full pole pots of water added and stirred in then left while I sorted out the rest of my kit. Mix after 15 minutes: Jellyfish powder, this forms a stringy texture to the paste; Jellyfish powder added/sprinkled on; paste after quick mixing and kneading.

In China they use very long floats for paste fishing with rolled lead strip making a form of olivette, the lead strip is trimmed to get the weight correct so the float cocks just at the top of the body, the paste then acts as the weight for the long antenna.

I tend to try and adapt the paste to UK style venues so use two basic rigs- the float used can change but the shotting is the same. First a bulk with one dropper, the second just the bulk.

You will notice the relatively small hook by UK standards for the paste – a 16. Partly because Crookwood is a true mixed fishery so I wanted to see what I could catch on a 16 rather than a 10 or 12 which is usual for paste when it is used mainly for carp. Bait size was roughly a small walnut of paste, feeding a few 4mm pellets in the toss-pot with the paste in the area marked by the lillies.

I began at 10:15 and stopped at 1:25 when the ball of paste had run out. The float was constantly dipping and moving but I ended up with tench of 3lb and 5lb in the net together with a bream of 2.5lb, 5 skimmers and 3 roach. I also had 4 small carp (best 1-04) and two crucians of 12oz and 1-04, these where returned straight away as club rules do not allow carp to be retained in keepnets.

To be honest I probably put too little jellyfish powder on the mix as it was not as stringy as usual but it works. At some point I am going to have a go with a Chinese two hook set up if I find a venue that allows two hooks! Similarly I am tempted to try the paste on a river to see what would happen!

July 2026 Part 2 -A mixed bag

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A mixed bag of venues!Wednesday 22 sees me visit High Penn for a couple of hours before it got too hot. I set up in what I term North 8 (the fourth peg on the north bank, I start with the furthest peg on the west bank as peg 1!), very straightforward waggler approach but with bulk of 6 no 8 shot set about 15 inches from a size 16 hook with just a further no 8 about 9 inches below that. No groundbait just loose fed maggots, about 10 every couple of minutes on the equivalent of 3 rod lengths. Despite a prolonged attempt with corn, not a bite on it all the bites came to double maggot, ending up with approx 1-13 according to my ounce count, comprising of 3 roach and 16 perch.

Fast forward to Friday and I arrive at Crookwood and despite myself I set up again on peg 56, partly because it was in shade and partly I wanted to see if I could make the Chinese paste work. Set up was as previous visit and fished at 10m. I started by putting in two balls of crushed expander laced with micros and a few 4mm, thereafter I fed 4 -5 4mm pellets with the paste each put in. First two put ins I opted to fish corn, to test the state of play and had a roach and a skimmer , then moved on to the paste. I ended up with the roach, two skimmers, 2 carp of 0-08 and 1-00, 2 tench of 0-12 and 2-00, 4 crucians and 5 bream- best 3lb. I clicked 20lb in total.

Time to scratch that itch- last time I fished Viaduct we had thunder and lightning coupled with monsoon style rain and I caught little, I wanted to try and redeem myself so entered the Tuesday open which surprisingly attracted 20 anglers compared to 8 the last time. Anyway money paid and my fingers pull out 115, the good news being I was on the shaded side of Campbell lake. I had made the decision that I was going to fish exclusively with Chinese paste and as such set up 3 rigs; the first was a basic homemade Chianti style taking 0.6g on 0.20mm line, the second was my Chinese set up fished bottom only with olivette and one dropper to a 14, the final rig was for the margin- just in case! I did relent and also set up a bomb for banded pellet as a back up. Depth was identical at 5m and 10m, starting at 5m was slow with a couple of skimmers and I soon went out to 10m where I spent most of my time ending with 3 carp for 20-02 and a bream net that I clicked 40lb but weighed a lot less at 28-12 for a 48-14 total. I only lost one carp at the net with a hook pull but suffered with numerous liners/ghost bites! The guy on 116 tipped back complaining that he had kept foul hooking the fish and loosing them, the guy on my left had a late run of carp but only had a handful of skimmers. Generally I was happy with that but surprised at the bream as when I have weighed them before on Cary (next door lake) they weighed heavy, hence my clicking!

Moving on to the end of the month I decided to do something I had not done in ages and also visit a venue I last fished about 16 years ago in a snow storm- Flaxlands just outside Royal Wootton Bassett. I had decided to do a bit of pellet feeder work with my 8ft Tricast Power Carp Wand. I rolled up and was fishing by about 8:30 through to almost 1pm. I set up on a very awkward peg on the small lake, peg 14, but it did give total shade up until I left!

Despite me getting my initial pellet all wrong I persevered and the tip was hardly still but few positive bites, 5 small carp were netted best only about 2lb. About 11:45 I decided to put up a float rod- an old Silstar Ian Heaps 11ft canal and using corn had 6 roach on the waggler plus missed several bites in the margins. Total weight about 5lb.

Zachary showing Gareth how to do it!

July2026 Part 1 – Phew!

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As previously mentioned I do not seem to cope very well in very hot conditions in this country so the heatwave we have been experiencing has seen me in doors with the curtains closed and fans on for most of the time. However I have ventured out on two occasions, both time to a venue I last visited when Gareth fished a junior match there and as he has just turned 40 that tells you how long ago that was! The venue is Devizes’ lake – Crookwood. It is off the beaten path somewhat and if you can brave the narrow lane with farm vehicles coming towards you it is relatively easy to find.

Tuesday the seventh sees me arrive to find a match taking place! Fortunately the opposite bank was not used and better still in shade! I settled on peg 56 which turned out to be about 4 feet deep at 10m.

I set up two rigs, a catch all rig involving 0.16mm Tornado to 0.14mm hooklength of same to a 16 and a heavier margin rig for next to the bush with 0.20mm to a 14. Floats were both home made, a “chianti” style on 10m taking a number 6 and 3 no 8 shot, the margin rig a BGT1 variant taking 3 no 8.I cupped in three balls of Swimstim green groundbait liberally spiked with micros and a good pinch of 4mm and corn at 10m. Within a minute the swim was fizzing and double maggot produced a lot of ghost bites with the maggot untouched- I suspected small fry chasing the maggot around causing the bite. Eventually I had two small roach, at which point I changed to corn. The float was still dancing around but now when you got a positive bite the fish were larger. I did also try expander that got interest but the fish were slightly smaller. I finished up the 3 hour session with the shade disappearing and a net comprising of 5 roach, 5 skimmers, 2 perch (one of 0-14) a solitary bream of 2-04 and a hand sized mirror carp that was returned immediately as per the rules for a level 6-00.

The following Tuesday I returned to Crookwood fishing peg 53, again in the shade! I Fished 9:15 to approx11:30 with the same approach although I only set up the same rig on the 10m line, ignoring the margins. Once again the introduction of bait turned the swim into a veritable jacuzzi!

For once I had taken my pole bump-bar and after two small roach and a rudd on maggot went on to the corn with the bump-bar allowing me to keep the float accurately over the feed despite the breeze. Expander was tried again and once more produced a slightly smaller stamp of fish. The highlight of the session was my first tench of the season a tinca of 2-04 which along with 10 skimmers (best 1-04) gave another level 6-00 total!

Still not been on the river and will probably wait until the rain arrives but will continue with High Penn and Crookwood in the meantime. I may yet get a hankering to give Viaduct another go!

June 2026 part 2 – Weather!

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I am going to stop mentioning the weather as the weather gods are not happy with me! Following the thunder and lightning at Viaduct we then get a period of red hot temperatures plus more thunderstorms! Basically June the 16th came, that magical day with the opening of the river season, so what did I do… I didn’t go fishing! Experience has told me the first day on the river is never great but allied to that we have a river that is very low with hardly any flow and bright sunlight – a blank waiting to happen so I opted out and then the real hot period struck!. Yes I could have gone but these days I don’t deal with the hot weather in this country very well – China and Thailand seem to be no issue????

So my latter part of June has been curtailed to just one short visit to High Penn on the 28th. I had decided to set out to fish every peg during the season and as such set up on the west bank second peg in. I took my pole and fished 9:30 to 11:10 but the day did not start well with my 10m and 11.5m sections being jammed inside one another so it was 9m or not at all. No photos for this session and I had left my keepnet at home due to the hot weather so aimed to put any fish back asap. So plumbing up at 9m was just as it got deeper, I needed another section at least to be comfortably in the deeper area but that was not going to happen!

Fishing with a 1g Paster on 0.12mm to 0.10mm to an 18 with the bulk set 18 inches from the hook and a dropper 6 inches away from the hook I began with two balls of groundbait mixed fairly firm to try and get down past the rudd laced with chopped worm. Hook bait was double maggot and predictably the first fish was a rudd, after a couple more some perch appeared, switching to worm I had a roach and a micro perch at which point I thought to myself -“lets try something different”. I had in the past bought a series of jars of what are essentially flavoured and coloured translucent jelly pellets.

I have been using the bright yellow honey flavoured ones off and on during different sessions and have caught on them so I decided to give them an hour to see how they went. Immediately first cast there were constant dips as small fish investigated. Now I have to explain that these jelly pellets are about the size of a 4mm pellet and are perfectly round but after being in water for some time expand top a 6mm size. Eventually the float buried and a rudd came to hand. Basically I ended up with 6 rudd, 6 perch and 3 roach for about 1-04. Half of the fish were caught on the jelly pellets- including the perch!

In the meantime Gareth had made one of his flying visits to Vietnam as he had some time off for the Dragon Boat Festival in China. He visited the same place as previously and between having a nap and fishing for part of the second day racked up 21 hours of fishing time and caught 21 fish.

The first session, another 6 were taken in the second shorter session.

Bait for the non-predators were either stale cake from a bakery molded around the hook or if fishing up in the water the cake was used on the float feeder and rice paper on the hook, predators were taken with fish chunks.

Must make more of my time in July!

June 2026 Part 1 – It’s summer?

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June kicks off with me driving down to Viaduct for a Tuesday open on Campbell. Now before we start I have to admit I was under no illusions that I would struggle against the regulars but I wanted to see if fishing Chinese paste in a match would produce! Draw puts me on 131, all alone with nobody I can see on my bank as there is a bush blocking the view some 40m away – yes I had a lot of water!

Look carefully at the weather in the photos – it lasted for about an hour then we had thunderstorms, hail, driving monsoon type rain. Fortunately in one respect the wind came off my back but left me with the only water without ripple on the lake! At the end of the match I had 2 inches of water in my bucket! Anyway I managed a couple of skimmers and a carp at 10m fishing paste with a Chinese float (bottom end only) before the heavens opened. The right margin looked inviting but produced a solitary bob, the left margin gave me a carp three small roach and three further skimmers. All bar two skimmers came to the paste. I was nowhere to be seen in the match with the two carp weighing 13-03 and the silvers 13-04 for a 26-07 total, only about 150lb short! My kit took 4 days to dry out!

A week or so later I ventured out to the K&A fishing the short pound at the end of the Willows. I fished 10:20 to 11:20 on the whip, in the time nine yes boats went through so the canal was flowing like the Trent most of the time as the locks were in almost constant use. When I managed to get a little bit of still water for more than a minute, I got a bite, ending up with 2 roach, a gudgeon and 3 skimmers, one about a pound the rest small as you can see from the total of 1-04. Again double maggot produced whereas single was studiously ignored.

Saturday 13th sees me drive up to Meadowlands for a Maggotdrowners match on Warren. Peg 36 was to be my home for the day .

The left margin was alive with carp, coming right up to the platform, 10:30 match starts- not a carp to be seen! Basically set up three lines, a margin, one 5m out from the margin which was to be my paste line at 45 degrees to the platform and one directly in front at 10m. Groundbait went in at 10m and 5m line, while a toss-pot of micros and 4mm and a couple of kernels of corn went in on the margin line just past some inviting grass growing over the water. First hour was okay with 4 skimmers and a carp from the margin. m line on paste was dead and 10m line produced one skimmer. Decided to stick to the margin and added another skimmer and a carp. Things then went quiet and had a cast with a method along the bank into the corner bay to no avail. Put paste on down the margin and lost 6 foul hookers two pulls after crazy first runs then 4 “dinner-pate” scales. Managed to get a few more carp out before the end of a frustrating day! Nothing on the 5m line and 1 skimmer on the 10m. Weighing showed 8lb of skimmers and 31-03 of carp for a 39-03 total.

Monday 15th (new river season eve!) went up to High Penn for a couple of hours on the pole to use up some bait. Set up in the furthest peg on the west bank and found 8 -9 feet of water at 10m. Fishing corn on a 1.5g Paster float and 18 hook had a nice time with 12 roach and 20 dumpy rudd for a weighed 6-07.

Gareth in the meantime adds another new species to his list in China – a climbing perch.

May 2026 final part- the return to normality!

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So the return from the China excursion sees me catching up with the mundane aspects of life before heading off a week later to the Kennet and Avon at Semington in preparation for the return visit of Clive, aka Sidestream Bob. Main duty was to cut out two comfortable pegs but I managed to fish 10:05 to 14:05 trying a few different things. I was feeding 4mm meat and had not taken any worms or pellet, just maggots and the meat. Tackle was identical to previous visit with a 1g Paster on 0.12mm to 0.10mm and a 16. Two balls of groundbait introduced at 2+2 length and a few cubes of meat loose fed (later started to loose feed maggots) only topping up after any boat went through. Bites were fairly consistent with me ending up with 31 skimmers (best 2-04), 4 perch, 16 roach, 6 gudgeon and two rudd. An hour on the meat produced the best roach of the session at 5oz and a solitary skimmer.

So Monday arrives and Clive texts to say the traffic is bad and he is still 15 minutes away so for me to go ahead and he would join me when he could. I set up in Clive’s swim from the last visit leaving my previous swim for him. I had just finished setting up when Clive arrived, greetings completed I said I would watch for the first hour then start fishing. Clive admitted to being a bit rusty but was soon getting bites over the worm and caster laced groundbait and by the time I started he had got into a more comfortable rhythm. However, the canal was in one of it’s moody days and it was hard work compared to previous visits, nonetheless Clive managed to winkle out a respectable net of 3-14 including a net perch while I could only get 3-04 before two boats killed my action. I ended up with 20 skimmers, 8 roach, 1 rudd, 5 perch, 1 ruffe and 2 gudgeon.

Wednesday sees me go to High Penn for a brief session of 2hours. I had taken the seat-bag and a waggler with just maggots as bait and some left over casters. I settled in to the first swim on the North bank accessing via a fairly steep slope that in wet conditions would be problematic! The fishing was easy although the bank did not suit the seat-bag and despite making a makeshift stone platform it was very uncomfortable. The stamp of fish was generally good and the 21 roach, 31 perch and 2 rudd I estimated at 8-03 given I was doing a weight count in ounces (131oz) along side my fish tally.

Sunday sees me return for a couple of hours in the morning before it got too hot. This time I opted for the first peg on the West bank but took a seat box and pole for a change. Fishing at 10 m with the bulk set at 3 feet from the hook with three droppers below I fished and fed just maggot, no groundbait. The weather was having an effect as the bites were slower in coming but I still managed 18 perch, 7 roach and 5 rudd for approx 4lb.

That ended up being the last session of the month as the high temperatures were not conducive to me going out and fishing! June sees a trip to Meadowlands for a Maggot Drowners match and before then I have booked in to a match at Viaduct for a change of scenery and approach!

May 2026 Part 1 – Something different

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Before I left for China I managed a couple of outings, the first sees me return to the same peg at Rowde fishing the 5m whip from 9:45 to 11:45. Plenty of action with 17 roach, 28 skimmers,2 rudd, 2 gudgeon and a perch making up a net of 5-02. Double maggot accounted for speedy bites but small pieces of worm provided better samples but longer between bites.

My second visit was to high Penn fishing 10-11:45 on the first peg on the East bank. Tackle was the 15 ft (4.5m) waggler with a 4AAA insert waggler with a no 6 and two no8 droppers in the 10feet+ of water. Hook-length was 0.10mm Shogun line to an 18 hook and double maggot. I fed two balls of groundbait to start and 1 further top up after an hour with loose fed maggots every 4-5 minutes. This approach resulted in 19 roach, 21 rudd and 15 perch for a 5-04 total the rudd were small being 2 or to the ounce.

Wednesday 29th (morning) sees me catch the bus to Chippenham to get a coach to Heathrow, from there a flight to Wuhan transferring to a further flight on to Shenzhen. Then a prearranged taxi ride to Zhongshan to be met at my son’s apartment at 10pm Thursday. A lift up to the 11th floor of the 34 storey block to drop my luggage off, a quick change of clothes and we are off for a quick hour session on the local river!

Fishing from a wall about 10 feet off the water with a 4m whip and a BGT float with an isotope set at about a foot deep baiting with worm I soon had 3 tilapia coming to hand plus a Nile tilapia. I also managed a new species both for me and Gareth – what the Chinese call a big mouth carp.As we packed up we shone a light into the base of the wall to see a large carp- unfortunately or perhaps fortunately it ignored the bait!

Friday morning comes and I don’t yet feel the effects of the journey which was just as well as we were heading off to Zhuhai to fish a tilapia commercial. Now when I say it was different from ours it really was- firstly you pay the equivalent of £30 for 4 hours but you get a refund for each fish you catch, needing I think 8 fish to break even. You “draw” via a random number generator two pegs and you choose which one you fish. Given that situation Gareth had spent some time creating two sets of tackle as we could be at opposite ends of the lake, as luck would have it we ending up drawing numbers that let us fish next to each other. The rules were strict in the sense of maximum whip size was 4.5m, no braid or elastic and two hook system with paste the only bait allowed, but you could feed pellet. I was fishing a new 3m medium heavy whip with a 8lb main line to a two hook 4lb hook-length that was attached via a rubber O ring to a swivel on the main line. Gareth had prepared two types of paste in preparation, the darker one was allegedly for tilapia, the other was made from ground down pellets, both had additives .

The pellet paste mix
The tilapia paste

You start straight away as you are timed from the point you pay. Now the fish were to be kept in a 1m square net anchored to the side of your platform which had it’s own umbrella. It was a real experience watching the Chinese anglers fish but one thing that was universal was that if someone lost a fish the banter would start – “why don’t you go home, you won’t catch”, “Oh what a shame” you get the idea! The guy on my right managed to land two but lost about four, the one on Gareth’s left landed one and lost six! But they are tilapia I here you say they are small- oh no … average size is 6lb they don’t stock anything less than 4lb!

So how did we do? Well Gareth landed two and lost two I had 1 and lost one when the swivel opened up after which I dispensed with the O ring. The one I did land only just managed to get it in the net- an 8lber on 3m whip- yes it was exciting! Photos are difficult to take as my fish only just fitted in the net and they have spines and sharp gill covers and teeth! I just wanted to get mine safely into the “keepnet”.

Gareth's 6lber
My 8lber

At the end of the session they come around and lift the net to see how many fish and record it on their app. Payment is all done via phone apps and by the time we got to the lane out Gareth had been refunded for the fish caught. It had fished poorly compared to normal as the weather was cold for the time of year although it was mid 20s! The results of sessions are posted on Wechat and the best on the day was 14 fish, a couple of days earlier the best was 64 for an estimated 650lb!!!! Apparently the same individuals are usually in the top 3 for the day- it is their way of making money as apart from being refund for the number of fish they also pay the top three in each session a prize! The following day our fish would have put us in the top 10!

Part 2 will follow a grass carp lake!

Chopped worm my way

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Firstly this is chopped worm fishing for silvers not carp which is a different ball game but that is not to say that my way won’t work for carp. Chopped worm fishing can be as simple or as complicated as you want it to be but I am going to outline what I do in three different scenarios- canal, lake and river. Before that -the worms. I now use medium denrobenas as it gives a wider variety of thicknesses but chopped lob worm in the winter can be devastating especially in very clear water.

Canal

This is in respect to normal canals not the deeper canals as found in Yorkshire or the Gloucester canal. I differ in many respects to most who fish chopped worm on a canal

both in terms of tackle and approach. I have two main approaches but both involve the pole, the first when the water is coloured can see me use a float of anything up to 1.5g depending on depth and tow with a long bristle- usually one of my Paster floats, the second when in clear mode (mainly winter) sees me using a 0.4gfloat with a standard bristle – the “Peatmoor”. Line in summer is 0.12mm to 0.10mm, in winter 0.10mm to 0.08mm, hooks are usually 18 or 20 with occasionally going to a 16 in deeper areas. Shotting is bulked with one no8 or no10 dropper(winter).

I do not set up a separate area for the chopped worm, generally I set up a line down the deepest part of the canal starting with groundbait and loose feed, usually not introducing any very finely chopped worm for an hour or more. When introduced it is cupped in on the same line neat (NB I do not wash the worms first) along with the medium it comes in. The thinking here is that the worm juice is soaked up by the medium rather than just being washed away.

The key element of this type of fishing is finding what size/thickness the fish prefer – size matters! I start with about an inch of the head of a thin

worm and if bites are not forthcoming I will use an inch from the middle of the worm before trying the tail segment. I rarely use more than an inch as I find anything longer results in the end being taken without the hook being anywhere near the fishes mouth so a strike at what appears to be a positive bite just results in the worm being pulled of the hook! I will try different thicknesses of worm until I find what the fish prefer.

Fishing the worm can fall into two distinct approaches. Bream and roach I tend to try and keep the worm still, perch I try to give movement by very carefully and slowly dragging the float either against any tow or then with the tow, occasionally lifting just the float out of the water and letting it fall back down. In both cases I tend to be 2-3 inches over depth. Worm on the canal tends to be viewed as a bonus fish approach but I try to use it to maintain catching while also having good chances of picking up bonus fish. One word of caution as regards feeding- I tend to feed the equivalent of two pinches of chopped worm initially and will not introduce any further until bites slow down/cease I then will cup in the same amount and fish that out while expecting fewer bites in winter from the second introduction, after this I will reduce the amount I put in as I find in winter especially it is a case of diminishing returns.

Lake

Tackle is similar but if there is a good head of bream I will mix micro pellets with the chopped worm 50-50, this is handy if on a commercial where they insist on the worms being cleaned first. Again the thinking is that the micros will soak up the worm juices as well as being an obvious attractant for the bream. Generally I will fish it the same way as the canal with the recognition that the depth is likely to be greater and I will try movement even after bream often moving it against the tow. Depending on the depth I will for deeper areas mix chopped worm in with the groundbait especially if there is a lot of tow on the water as I do not want it drifting out of the swim.

River

Depends on the flow! Basically two approaches, chopped worm in groundbait cupped in or bait-dropper used for neat worm. Often the bait-dropper is used after the initial feed as a top up. Floats are anything from 1g to 4g+ depending on flow and depth with line upped to 0.14mm to 0.12mm or 0.10mm in winter hooks anything from a 16 to a 20 depending on size of fish expected. I will try letting the float trot through at speed of flow, then try holding back and letting go and finally holding it dead still to see how the fish want it. Worm size is where it may surprise you – it stays at an inch even when after big fish on the river. I remember a winter league match on the Bristol Avon at Sutton Benger when I was well up the section (may even have won it) and had a bream, an eel over a pound and some perch . The guy on the upstream peg was telling his companion after the match that I was fishing just like him with “a dirty great big worm” but he couldn’t catch anything on it. I did smile to myself as the dirty great big worm was a segment from the middle less than an inch long!

That is my approach to chopped worm fishing, not saying it is right or the best way but it seems to work for me.