Monday sees me try something different, armed with the seat-bag the pike gear and a 7m Chinese whip I headed off to the other bank and peg 22 (almost opposite 10) where I have seen fish scattering previously. Pike rod went out but on plumbing up with the whip, the expected 5ft of water had become 2.5ft despite the rain we had been having. I surmised that the sluice had been opened a bit too long! Added to the low level it was weedy, clear and very windy. A 1.5g Chinese float with a 0.10mm hook-length to an 18 and maggot ended in 20 rudd and no pike runs for 1-08.
It wasn’t until a week later that I returned, back to peg 10 fishing 10am-12pm. The sardine bait was put out at about 20m and I set the pole up. I had just had a couple of roach in the first couple of drop ins when another member came by and stopped off for a chat before heading to the top field. I had taken my eye off the pike rod to turn towards him when he says your floats gone! My first run of the season, in fact the first for more than a year! The top kit was put down and a strike met with a firm resistance and after a short scrap a 9lber was in the net, at which point chaos ensued- I was out of routine and forgot to pick the rod up when I started to take the pike off the platform to unhook – goodness knows what the guy thought as I must have looked a right numpty. Anyway the pike was safely unhooked and weighed with the net adjustment showing the pike was dead on 9lb. The subsequent photos did not come out well as I think I must have smeared the lens with my wet hands! Anyway there was no more pike action but 18 roach, 16 rudd and 9 littler skimmers kept me busy for a 2-12 total.
Friday sees me back at Bowood peg 10 again 10-12 but this time no pike action although seeing the egret fly past, the kite swoop overhead and the kingfisher catch fish opposite did provide compensation. The pole produced15 roach,11 rudd a perch and a small skimmer for 2-06. It is noticeable that the roach are becoming the dominant catch now rather than the rudd. The perch was also noteworthy, not because it was large but the fact that it was unusually in the 2-3oz bracket whereas the usual size for the main lake is either microscopic (size of my thumb) or over a pound (on rare occasions)!
So last day of the month and I decide to give the Pondtail a go. Well I lasted an hour on the 5m whip, the temp was 3 Celsius on arrival at 9:30 and starting at 9:45 I had not had a sniff by 10:45 despite trying worm and combinations of maggot so I packed up and am writing this instead!
December is around the corner with lots of days taken up with family things but I’m sure I’ll get a few days in!
First outing is on the 4th when I took the Frenzee waggler to the Pondtail peg 1 and had a pleasant couple of hours fishing (9:45 to 11:45) double maggot and just loose feeding a few maggots at intervals. I set the homemade peacock waggler with the bulk around the float , a no. 6 about 2 feet from the hook and a no. 8 about six inches from the 18 hook, the result was 3-06 comprising of 36 roach and 4 perch.
Friday sees me wander down to peg 10 at Bowood, fishing 10-12. The pike rod with sardine went out to no avail and the lighter elastic and winter rig with a homemade body down float taking a bulk of 1g and 2 no 8 droppers to an 18 carried double maggot to start and later worm but no real size of fish came to this even with a bit of chopped work in the initial two balls of groundbait. 17 rudd, a roach, a microscopic perch, a hybrid and a skimmer managed to pull the scales round to 2-03.
Wednesday sees me back at Bowood but I changed plans as there was a car already parked up and I recognised it as an angler that in all likelihood would be on peg 10, no with the lake still holding vast amounts of weed the only peg worth fishing with known clear areas was 10 so I made the decision to leave the sardines in the car and fished the Pondtail on the pole for a change! Fishing 9:30 to 11:30 I started with 2 firmish balls of groundbait with some wheat and then loose fed wheat every few minutes, only topping up the groundbait with a ball every 40 mins or so. The weather was typical November- wet but this time quite warm at 14C. I set up with a lighter elastic than usual teamed with a BGT Blues taking 0.75g to a 0.10mm hooklength and an 18 with double maggot. Shotting was the usual bulk set about 3 feet from the hook with two no.8 droppers. Bites came steadily apart from a couple of blank periods when the flow changed, fifteen roach and two perch took the scales down to 1-10.
Friday was going to be my next outing but waking up to a dark oppressive gloom and rain I took the easy option and decided to write this instead! On the other side of the world Gareth had returned to the commercial he had visited previously- the one where you got money back for every fish you caught!
Fishing a whip he ended up with 3 large tilapia (4-5lb) and a carp fishing the traditional two hook method with a soft paste on the top hook and a firm paste on the bottom hook. All the fish came to the bottom hook with a paste made from the fishery provided pellets he was loose feeding.
One of the tilipia had a tag which apparently made it count as 3 fish – only 100 fish in the whole lake were tagged and of course he had to get one! The most fish caught when he was there was 5 and the lowest 2 so he didn’t do too bad in the four hour session.
A pike from Bowood now becomes a target for the remainder of the month!
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.
Sunday 17th I head off to Bowood with weed rake in tow. I was shocked by the extent the reeds/rushes had encroached on the main channel with by my reckoning at least 9 (NINE) swims were now unfishable due to the rushes and weed growth given there are only 25 swims discounting the Pondtail (2) and Stock Pond (2) it was getting dire. I decided to try peg 8, starting at 9 o’clock with the rake and forty minutes later I had a mound of weed behind me and a narrow strip of channel to fish in out to 10m. Dirty, sweaty and knackered I set up the pole and had my first put in as the bell chimed 10. The next two hours were frustrating as despite me bulking the shot making up the 0.8g four inches from the hook the corn bait was being intercepted by hordes of 2-3 inch rudd so that the float was either not cocking or being taken for a wander as the ball of rudd failed to get the corn into their mouths. I had started with just two balls of groundbait with wheat and corn and made the mistake of loose feeding wheat which acted as a dinner bell to the ravenous juvenile rudd. By noon I had smuggled out a solitary roach and ten rudd for a 1-10 total.
Tuesday and I am back at peg 8 fishing 9:10 to 12:10. Same rig but this time starting with three hard balls of groundbait and a full pot of wheat with a few grains of corn. Loose feeding was a no-no, so any additional feed was introduced via a cup. Again the rudd proved to be a nuisance but I managed to get 2 roach, 30 rudd and ,wonders will never cease, my first half decent bream of the season at 2-10 making a 5-12 total.
What a contrast to last season when bream were seemingly plentiful. The weed has to have had a big say on the change, possibly the bream and tench (still not had one yet) are under the weed feeding on natural food.
Back to peg 8 the next day fishing 8:15 to 11:00, hoping that some bream had arrived to mop up the wheat I had thrown in at the end of yesterday’s session. Same rig and tactics, corn bait and 47 rudd and 3 roach gave me a busy session with 5-10 final weight but also dropped 20+ fish that were just holding on to the corn as they were so small.
Next opportunity was Tuesday 26th, I avoided the Bank Holiday week-end ! I decided to pop down to the Pondtail for a session on the whip but also took the Beastmaster rod set up from the visit to High Penn with hybrid feeder and intended to fish this with a 14mm scopex and vanilla boilie to see if there was any interest- there wasn’t! I set up with a 5m whip but was concerned that the reeds were starting to make an appearance here also, I had a couple at 4m directly in front of me so had to be careful when guiding fish in. Feeding wheat and fishing double maggot I only added a small ball of groundbait once bites slowed down a bit. The carp rod cast out towards the far bank lilies to my right remained “sleeping” but the whip attracted 39 roach and 6 perch for about 5lb. Sod’s Law applied once more and with the carp rod inactive the float shot under and a lift brought back the rig minus the hook- a carp !
Final outing this month was Friday 29th back to Peg 8 for a session 9-11:20. Wish I could report something different but the rudd were still there but strangely inactive, or so it seemed. The weather was cooler with a strong ripple on the water, so much so I was wearing my coat and fleece! The result was just 11 rudd for 1-02, however it was the first time I had been bothered by pike, I had a 4oz rudd taken by a pike of 5-6lb that bit through the line after a minute or so, the feed /fishing area erupted several times as the rudd scattered form the pike turning the water into a boiling mass. Hopefully this augers well for the winter pike sessions!
To date I have fished Bowood fewer times at this point of the season than previously but even so the difference has been concerning, so much so I e-mailed the estate office with my concerns regarding the encroachment of the reeds and the detrimental effect it had and may have on the spawning areas for future stocks plus the water clarity being affected by the filtration effect of the thick reed beds and asked if they had any plans to tackle the reeds. I had an acknowledgement and that it was being passed to the Estate manager – who has not yet replied after 2 weeks!
August arrives and Monday 4th sees Gareth and I travel to Viaduct fishery to fish Cary pool, ending up on pegs 74 and 75. Gareth choose 75 and had a carp of 5-12 before I had got my pole out!
Straight in to carp- or so it seemed.
The day didn’t go quite as expected with both fishing paste and alternating with corn while feeding micros and 4mm on a 14 hook to 0.18mm line with homemade floats taking 0.6g, the carp didn’t get much of a look in as the skimmers seemed ravenous. I ended up with 3 roach, 45 skimmers and a carp of 9-14 for approx 62lb. Gareth added another carp of 10.04 a roach, 2 rudd and 57 skimmers for 75-80lb.
Gareth et al went off to Newark for a few days to visit the Antiques fair although Gareth also did a bit of fishing as seen above with a carp netted by Zachary!
At some point (time merges when they are here!) we had a short evening session on the Marden at Hazeland with Zachary having a go on the whip and landing a roach and the biggest trout yet which proved interesting as I had forgotten to put the landing net head in!!
While they were away I had a session at Bowood (11:20 -2pm). Thje weed growth had got thicker but worse still rushes were encroaching the middle and I counted 9 pegs that were unfishable with several more problematic. Anyway I persevered on peg 10 and had 8 rudd, a roach and 3 skimmers for 2-10 using the usual tactics.
Sunday 10th sees us at Hazeland for a short session 7:30-8:30 fishing the last weir saw no bites in 15minutes, not even from minnows so we moved up to the car park. I ended up with a trout and 3 minnows while Gareth had a trout and one minnow. Next evening we go to High Penn from 6:30 to 8pm fishing the last peg on the east bank. Gareth fished the method feeder that he had previously used while for a change I set up a 9ft Shimano Beast master and bait runner with a hybrid and wafter. Result was despite several small fish knocks I only had one proper “run” that i missed! Gareth managed 3 rudd and 2 roach among the constant bites, losing about 10 fish in the weed on the retrieve.
That was the last opportunity before I took them backlto Heathrow on the Thursday for their flight back to China. Normal service will now resume!
Gareth et al arrive and Tuesday evening sees us at the Hazeland Weir for a short session (5:45 – 7:45pm). I took the Frenzee 10ft waggler while Gareth opted for a bomb rod. I had two trout of 12oz and 10oz ion the first 15 minutes then one further missed bite between us! Not off to a good start!
Wednesday 16th and we have a couple of hours on High Penn with Zachary watching. Gareth fished a pellet waggler and I went with a hybrid feeder holding micros with a 8mm pellet. We chose what we call the beach pegs on the North bank as they are basically the one large peg. Gareth had two roach on the pellet waggler!!!!! and I blanked in terms of fish having two knocked off on a snag on the retrieve. Casting shorter I hook the “snag” which turns out to be a spool from a Daiwa Crossfire and about 100m of line that took me about 10minutes to land by carefully wrapping it up in a ball – this was passed onto the club secretary as we have only just acquired the water and this was not a good start!
Friday we head off to Witherington and fished the inner snake, Gareth bagged peg 93 (the bridge peg) and I went on 92. Gareth was into a fish from the margin before I had plumbed up. He carried on in a similar vein to land 8 carp for 47-00 (each carp weighed) whereas I struggled and ended up with several lost fish, several foul hooked but some lumps that took me around the island although I did get the biggest of the day at 10-08 in a 5 fish total for 26-00. I had to go across to 13m to get consistent bites fishing corn over 4mm pellets.
Sunday sees a short session with Zachary at Hazeland where Gareth and I both fished bomb and maggot he managed 8 rudd and a minnow, I had 3 minnows before 6 year old Zachary took over for 3 minnows also.
Monday sees a short session on the Marden at Hardens. We walked up to the pool and I managed a trout, a small chub of about 10oz and 8 minnows for roughly 2lb, Gareth had a small chub from the first downstream peg on our walk back and three minnows from the pool. We desperately need some rain in the rivers.
Thursday sees a session from 2:30 to 4:30 on section 1 of the Marden. I fished the waggler on the 10ft Frenzee rod while Gareth fished a bomb. Walking up to the end of the field we fished the “Wall” peg and I managed to sneak out a roach and a trout, Gareth had 3 minnows although to be fair we did spend most time walking and trying to find fishable areas with flow. Gareth’s minnows came from the barrage peg near the car park on our way back.
Friday and we head off for a day on the Severn, starting at Bridgnorth to get tickets for the Golf course section, only to be told that had stopped over five years ago- so much for clubs keeping their web-sites up to date! Fortunately I had identified a day ticket water at Highley – Bert’s, so we made our way there and armed with hemp and pellet and casters we found a swim where we were hopeful of a few bites.
Like most rivers the Severn was low and the area was shallower by at least a foot or so, than it should have been.Basically Gareth hooked and lost two chub on a snag on the way in but managed a dace on caster, I was snapped once and in an effort to avoid a blank changed to a light bomb and cast a single caster into the shallows, missing several bites I finally succeeded in getting a minnow! A disappointing but interesting day.
We managed to get a short session (7-8:30pm) next day at High Penn when Garth fished the hybrid and I fished the Frenzee rod with a normal waggler. Result was 1 roach and 6 perch for about 1-06 on double maggot, Gareth had some raps on the feeder but had a roach and perch on the waggler when we swapped for a bit.
Next outing was Wednesday to High Penn for a 2.15 – 4:45 session, this time fishing the last peg on the east bank.
Gareth was fishing a method feeder loaded with micros and a 6mm orange wafter cast towards the weed beds at 30m. Overhanging branches meant we both had to cast with an underarm sidewards flick. I was on my usual waggler with 16 hook and 2aa homemade reed float. To cut a long story short I had a roach fairly quickly but then struggled until a shoal of perch arrived, ending with the roach and 8 perch for approx 1-02. Gareth had a better time landing a carp of 7-12, a roach of 1-04, another of 10oz and losing a carp close in.
Last day of the month sees us travel to Harescombe fishery between Stroud and Gloucester as we had to pick Wendy (Gareth’s wife) up from just outside Gloucester as she had been visiting a friend. We ended up on Meadow lake with me on 4 and Gareth 5.
Peg 5 rightPeg 4 leftPeg 4 right
Now the tackle was kept to a minimum as we went in Gareth’s Ka and had to fit 3 adults in on the way back so Gareth used a 12 ft telescopic carbon rod that I bought from Ali some 8 years ago that packed very small (approx 18 inches) and I used a three piece match rod, both fishing a waggler with corn on a 16 hook to 0.16 hooklength – this was later upped to a 14 on 0.18mm. Feeding micros and 4mm we both fished the edge of the lilies, Gareth in the little bay seen in the picture and myself at the outer edge of the right hand side. Gareth did best getting carp of 8lb, 8lb and 7-04 while losing 4 from directly in front of his platform. I managed to hook 4 and lose 4, comprising of the first lump that I had on for a while before it managed to snap me on the pads, two were hook pulls and the fourth a foul hooker that gave me a scale. Four rudd saved the blank but it was very frustrating as there were fish coming into the right margin mopping up the pellets but very few bites- just three losses . The weather was not nice with several showers interspersed with heavier rain and the odd bright spell – typical summer weather!
8lb7-048lb
More outings to come until they depart for China on 14th!
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.
The high winds, rain and freezing temperatures have been so far this month limiting me to just two excursions so far. Friday 3rd sees me head to peg 10 at Bowood in bright sunshine but the air temperature was -2C on arrival lifting to 2C just under 3 hours later. The Pondtail was still frozen after the cold days and nights we had been having and there was ice still on the main lake all the way down to just after peg 7. It was very still with a gentle breeze rippling the water at times but fishing from 10am to 12 produced not a single bite or run. Fish were starting to show (silvers and pike) at the edge of the ice around peg 7 which was just about fishable when I left; I should really have chanced it and fished up to the edge of the ice rather than going to the deeper water but hindsight is a wonderful thing.
Eleven days then pass before the next visit as a further deep freeze put a firm lid on the lakes and I resolved to let the ice melt and for the temperature to be stable for a couple of days before venturing out.This time I went on peg 9, mainly as there was a couple of pike anglers on the far bank, one of which had his pike float about 20 yards from peg 10. There was still thin ice on the lake up to peg 5 and I was tempted to fish there but knowing that it was only 3-4ft deep did not appeal.
I got a bait in the water by 9:55 and fished until 12. I mixed up one 250ml cup of dry groundbait on the wet side to act as an attractant and fed a single ball with some pinkies. Ten minutes in and the float dipped under and a small roach came to be resident in the keepnet. Just after this the swans swam by and the pike float bobbed almost as if their wake had caused it but I was not convinced. A couple of minutes later the run materialised and the strike resulted in what felt like a decent fish, until it let go- I obviously struck too soon in my haste!
No further runs which was annoying as the water was constantly erupting with small fish evading marauding pike although one of the anglers on the other bank had a pike which from a distance looked to be around the 5-8lb mark from just up from peg 5. I had an interesting time on the pole ending with 3-03 comprised of 33 roach, 20 rudd and 7 skimmers/blades – yes they were small! I did catch a couple on a Chinese honey jelly ball that I had bought, I will try these further as I bought them in a variety of flavours.
NO pictures this time as I did set the video up for the session and the weighing but on playback there was nothing!
wheatnotcasters 