rudd

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!

April 2026 – Only one

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After the debacle of Boddington I managed a short session on the canal at the Magpies on the last day of March. I ended up taking the pole and the Bowood box as I was intending to fish chopped worm. On arrival the short term moorings were almost empty but the rest of the pound was being used although I did manage to get a spot about 25m past the bench where there was a 20m gap between boats. I set up with a 6-8 hollow elastic (Chinese approx 1.6mm) and opted for a 1g Paster float on a 0.12mm mainline to a 0.10mm hook length holding an 18. Two balls of groundbait with chopped worm were cupped in and I started on double maggot which resulted in 4 small roach. A swap to worm for the rest of the two hour session sees me pick up 15 skimmers, 8 roach, 2 perch and a rudd for a 3-03 total. Several bites missed with them just hanging on to the end of the worm and one good fish pulled out of within 3 seconds, probably a better perch.

I returned a week later this time just with the whip and stool for a very short session (10:05 to 11:40), fishing 50m past the wooded steps with my usual 5.4m whip set up. This time I did not take any worm, instead concentrating on white maggot over an initial two balls of groundbait. The session started with a run of roach then the skimmers moved in, ending up with 11 roach, 11 skimmers and 4 rudd for a 2-02 total.

Moving on 6 days I decided to go to Rowde for a change, if I could park, as the lay-by is often full, with a back up plan of continuing on to the Magpies if needed. As it turned out there was plenty of room and even more surprising was there was nobody fishing on the left of the bridge at the foot of the Caen Locks. This was a new section for me so armed with the whips and stool I decided to give it a go.

Looking towards the flight of locks
My peg!

Plumbing up I found I had a lot more depth than the Magpies – about 4 to 4.5 ft. Fishing the same rig as before I started with two balls of groundbait with chopped worm then I had a quick roach or two on maggot before losing 5 on the bounce. This led me to go up to a 16 as I think the fact I was sitting quite high of the water was having an effect. I began alternating between worm and double white maggot and was getting plenty of bites but missing a lot more than usual. I lost a couple of skimmers at the net as I had only got the short travel handle that lives with the whips and It was only just reaching the water. I hooked into a much larger fish that felt like a proper slab of a bream only for it to pull out when almost at netting distance – the bream and skimmers do seem to have softer mouths. Anyway I fished from 10:10 to 12:05 and ended up with 6 roach, 21 skimmers and 2 perch for a 3-10 total.

Only one post this month as I leave for China on the 29th and return on 6th May, so will do a longer piece then!

March 2026 Part 1- Farewell Bowood

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So far March has been an almost fishing free month with just one visit to the canal on March 4th. Arriving at the Three Magpies I settled 10m past the moorings and cast out the pike rod at 9:50 and started to set up the usual whip. I had just finished plumbing up when the pike float skated across the surface after a couple of bobs and a strike sees a feisty fight and a 6-08 pike in the net by 9:55!

I missed a further run at 11:00 when the hook pulled just as it was getting within netting range and for the rest of the session 11 roach, 11 skimmers 7 perch and 5 rudd for approx 3lb kept me busy until I packed up at noon. Double maggot was the only bait they would look at, singles produced nothing and even worm only produced a solitary roach.

I did not get a further opportunity to go before leaving for Yorkshire for the mother-in-law’s funeral, returning the following Wednesday.I had intended to visit Bowood one last time but with heavy rain and high winds on Thursday and strong winds on the Friday I just didn’t bother! My season at Bowood has been shorter than any previous, 27 visits at an average cost of £8.89 and an average catch of 2-11. I caught more in the first two sessions last season compared with the total for this season. I have decided not to rejoin as the estate management have done nothing to control the spread of weed or rushes nor even replied to an e-mail I sent asking for their future plans to deal with the issues that I laid out for them. Added to that the increasing appearance of cormorants and the otter plus the access have not left me with the desire to partake in another season. Instead I am going to focus more on the rivers which I have neglected plus High Penn lake along with the K&A canal.

Later this month I have two matches coming up, first at the Glebe and the following Saturday at Boddington.

February 2026 Part 2 -Chewing the Cud

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Monday 16th sees me back at the Magpies near the overflow fishing a short session from 10:00 to 11:15. The 5m Chinese whip was in action again with just loose fed maggot and double maggot on the hook. This produced 16 roach, 4 skimmers a perch and a ruffe for around the pound mark. It has been very noticeable that if you lose a maggot, ie end up with single maggot, you did not get a bite, double maggot the bites returned.

Next day I returned for a short session this time just with two pike rods I did get a run on the sardine (the other rod had a smelt) and appeared to hook it okay but just as I got it in net range the sardine came flying back. Whether it was a hook pull or it wasn’t hooked in the first place I’ll never know.

Gareth returns from the Finland trip and we are back st the Magpies in the wind and rain for two hours armed just with the pike rods- one run and this time a landed pike of 5-02.

The bite!

That night we were awoken near midnight with a call to say my mother-in-law had died, this was not unexpected and we had already arranged to go up to Yorkshire the day after Gareth et al returned to China. So I was a bit blurry eyed when I got up on Thursday ready to set of to Chew for a day arranged by Gareth on a boat pike fishing.

Having got there we found that although we were in time for a 9am boats ready we were the last to arrive and leave as the rest had been off at 8 or 8:30! We weren’t too bothered as it was meant to be a chilled day with neither expecting to catch given the size of the place and our relative inexperience off a boat. Any way prior to the visit I had purchased a Chinese fish finder similar to a deeper and had tested it on the Pondtail and was quite impressed. I had set it up on a 4m whip so that we would stop the boat and try it before dropping anchor and fishing. To be fair it was very good, identifying the depth and were the fish were sitting in the water and the relative size of fish.

It was lucky that we were able to go on the boat as the boats had been cancelled on Monday and Wednesday due to the high winds. Anyway we spent the best part of six hours staring at pike floats and moving to various locations while blanking! It has to be said that there was a wind and the fish finder inevitably showed more fish on the windward side of the boat rather than the leeward, so we got a bit windswept.

Next day sees us back at the Magpies still no pike but the whips produced 15 Roach, 6 skimmers and a perch for about 2lb for me and Gareth had exactly the same number of fish but 12 roach, 5 skimmers, 3 perch and 2 rudd. Best fish was a 10oz skimmer for me.

Saturday arrives, Gareth was going back to China later that day and I had a Maggotdrowners Silvers match at the Glebe. |Gareth made the most of his time and visited the Magpies very early but after I had left at 5:40 and managed to get a farewell pike of 4-02 and missed another run.

At the draw everyone was saying that the 20s would be best so I was not too disappointed when I drew peg 20. I set up a waggler, light feeder/bomb and two pole rigs- one for 11m the other for 5m. Feeding the 11m line with two balls of groundbait laced with casters worms and micros I put one small ball at 5m and loose fed maggot. I also started feeding the waggler line (about 18-20m) with casters every 5 minutes or so. Starting on the feeder I had a good few casts to get some bait down but saw little response so moved on to the 5m line, no response, on to the 11m line, no response, waggler eventually saw a bite with a skimmer hooked and promptly lost as it reached netting distance! After two hours I had my first fish- a gudgeon on the 11m line. I decided at this point to forget the pole and concentrate on the waggler. I had set it up to fish on the drop with three no8 shot as droppers and by plugging away I started to pick up the odd skimmer. This then went quiet and I swapped to the bomb over the same area that produced a few more skimmers by the end. At the weigh in I found that the non-20s had fished a lot better, indeed of the 20s I had the second best weight, beaten by 3oz at the last peg. Of course as the match ended the rain began!

Fast forward to the 27th I visited the Magpies again for a two hour session, fishing about 20m past the moorings. No pike but the whip produced 12 roach, 8 perch, 12 skimmers, 4 rudd and a very rare bleak! Total approx 2-12 taken on double maggot or worm. If I had stuck to maggot I would have had more but I wanted to see if I could get the better skimmers or perch.

Next month sees matches at the Glebe and Boddington plus I am intending to make a farewell visit to Bowood as the season closes on the 14th and I do not intend to rejoin next season. Meanwhile back in China Gareth caused a bit of a stir with the locals at the predator(bass) commercial by catching a red snapper (Chinese translation) and then had a blank on an evening session.

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 !

November 2025 Part2 – At last!

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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!