travel

May 2025 – a Mish-Mash

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Sunday 11th sees me back at Boddington for the first leg of the North Wessex Summer League with 10 teams taking part. I drew A section, permanent peg 12 on the dam wall which I was not unhappy with.

Setting up a 5m whip, pole and waggler the plan was to start on the whip move further out on the pole and use the waggler if struggling. It was hard! The wind was blowing off the dam wall down to sections C and D and despite ringing the changes I ended up with my worst ever weight at Boddington 3-01 comprising of 18 roach and 2 perch , 5 on the whip, 6 came to the pole and 9 the waggler. The section was tight but I ended up with 9 points, beating the angler on the right by 12oz but losing by 11oz to my left. The team bombed out and were 10th.

Rolling on to the 20th I find myself getting up at silly o’clock to get to Monkhall near Bridgnorth for the MFS three day festival which once again I was charged with running. We had been allocated Lark and Owl on the Tuesday, followed by Buzzard and Hawk, then Swallow and Hawk, with the proviso that if you fished Hawk on Wednesday then Swallow was for you on Thursday. Money taken in, pegging sorted the draw takes place with fishing from 11:30 to 4:30. Last peg in the bag places me on Lark 7, the one lake I have not fished before and the peg that is furthest from the car park, added to which once again the wind was blowing to the other end of the lake which had a nice ripple while peg 7 was like a mirror!

The peg did look nice with inviting margins and I set up a shallow rig (for the hell of it!), a paste rig for 2+2, a pellet/corn rig for 10m and a margin rig. It has to be said that I did not intend to fish the shallow rig as I know I cannot compete now in a fish race and my line of attack was to target the carp on paste and then the margins. Well things did not go to plan, firstly the fish were not really feeding properly due to getting ready to spawn again, so it was a frustrating time with tails visible in the margins but only weighing in 36-13 while losing at least three times that with foul hookers both on the 2+2 and margin line. Needless to say last in section, I know my place! To rub salt into the wound the heavens opened with half an hour to go!

Day 2 sees me on Hawk peg 3, a peg I have drawn before. Set up as before, paste on 2+2 line, corn and micros in margins and micros long. First put in a carp of about 4lb on paste before anyone else had caught, then a series of missed bites and foul hooked fish. I managed to land a couple more before looking in the margins but had to fish very short (next to platform almost) to get proper bites, again lost 10+ carp and weighed in 56-11 which amazingly was not last (last but one!)

Final day and Swallow 8 called but again the weather gods had a joke and the wind was going down the far end of the lake so it was another case of fishing in a mirror!

Similar approach with the addition that the pellet rig now became a far bank rig as I was on the corner of the island. Again I was off to a flier on paste but it was a case of rotating around the swims, taking a couple of fish then moving on. The right margin produced nothing but the left margin seemed to be favoured by the carp. Far bank I fed with maggots via a toss pot with double maggot as hookbait that produced a fair amount of action but was difficult with the corner and snags. I managed to weigh in 56-06 despite losing more than 10 carp again. Colin Mercer on peg 6 said I had beaten him but I knew he had beaten me as was the case. Last again.

On to Sunday (25th) and round 2 of the Summer League at Walters lake South Cerney. Talk beforehand was that it would be hard as it was not fishing at all well pleasure fishing so a match was bound to be difficult and so it turned out.I was drawn on B1 (scales) which was permanent peg 16.

I set up a hybrid feeder, a margin rig, one for the 2+2 line and one for 10m. Bait was to be maggot/caster/worm/pellet/corn – anything I could get a bite on! Three balls of F! Sweet groundbait mixed dry were deposited on the 10m line laced with casters, a single ball was cupped in on the 2+2 with a pinch of casters fed every couple of minutes. Red and white maggot seemed to attract some attention and 4 fish in the first hour meant at least I avoided a blank! Things went downhill, next hour saw no bites on any of the areas. Re-feeding the long swim saw a couple of small skimmers but I was struggling. I then decided to put in a toss-pot of chopped worm with a few casters and began repeating it every 10 minutes with half a small dendrabena on the hook – finally some response – a small perch but then a bite that pulled the elastic out – a bream. The match ended with that bream, 4 small skimmers, 3 roach and the perch for 4-06 and 6th in the 10 man section. The team improved coming 4th on the day.

Last action this month sees me return to Rowde on Tuesday, same pound and swim, partly because although it is wide it is a short pound and realistically only two could fish it and I picked the flattest area that gave a stable sitting position for the seat-bag. Feeding the remnants of the groundbait and casters from Sunday on the 5m Chinese whip and rig I was soon into fish. Fishing 9:18 to 10:59 I had 20 roach, 16 skimmers, 9 rudd and 6 perch for between 4 and 5lb (I don’t bother taking the keepnet) before the boats and the CRT workers cutting the grass around the locks made it an easy decision to pack up.

Next up round 3 on the canal at Hungerford.

April 2025 – the excitement builds!

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Right, firstly an apology, there will only be one post this month for obvious reasons if you get to the end of the post! Saturday 5th sees me get to Boddington in good time to collect the money and sort the draw.There were three let downs so having originally booked for 10, then increased it to 11 and then 13 we ended up with 10 fishing! I was left with peg 38 in the bag- yes one away from when I came up previously! This time we were faced with a heavy (15mph) wind directly into our faces and I began to regret the fact that I had left the whips at home and had just a pole and waggler set up as the pegs either side had about 10 fish apiece before I had a bite!

Some clarification on my rigs may be in order as I was not fishing a traditional pole rig as I had converted one of my Chinese floats by adding a spring eye to the tip that could be removed if required so I had a 1g olivette 3-4 ft from the hook and 4 no8 droppers spread out below that with a 16 hook to 0.10mm. The fish finally found the three balls of caster laced groundbait and feeding casters while fishing double maggot I managed to start to put some fish in the net with some better net samples, oddly I did not get a single perch. At the end I knew I had been beaten either side but I weighed in 11-11 and was happy with a pleasant days fishing despite having approx 30% more fish bumped off due to the wind.

The results can be seen below, the only one not to weigh in was Ian who lost his landing net and first part of his handle in to the depths as it worked loose and despite best efforts he could not retrieve it. To his credit he continued to the end but tipped back and helped with the weigh in.

On to Wednesday and I paid Rowde a visit on the K&A canal. Parking up in the lay-by I had gone light again with just the whips and my seat plus of course landing net and bait. The first pound was full of boats, the second pound is not fishable as there are power lines, so on to the third pound which is about 40-50m wide and has 3 CRT fishing pegs that I did not fancy so continued on the the fourth pound and set up a 6m Chinese whip with one of my favourite orange Chinese floats and a 0.10mm hooklength to an 18. I had decided to experiment with feeding just micros after the first 5 minutes of introducing a dozen or so maggots with hookbait being double maggot.

You’ll notice the back rest of the seat is missing- lost some time ago when Gareth borrowed it! The canal here is about 30m wide as we are just below the infamous Caen Locks. Starting at 9:45 and packing up at 11:30 (reason for that coming up) I had a pleasant session resulting in six perch, two rudd, five roach and twenty one skimmers for approx 3-04.

At one point a boat came through into the pound and then proceeded to go through my swim three times while waiting for the lock gates to be opened, at this point I put the whip down on the deck and had a cup of coffee. The boat finally got into the lock and I continued catching until disaster struck, I lifted into a bite, felt a good fish (possibly a bream) and the line snapped a foot from the tip of the whip. Clearly when I put the whip down it must have caught on something that weaken the line at that point. I packed up at this point and trundled off home!

Now the reason for the title and no second part this month is that Gareth contacted me and asked if I would like to go fishing in Thailand with him as he had a couple of days holiday with the Chinese celebrating May Day, he would pay the airfare and fishing and I would just need to sort out a hotel for my arrival so I could get some rest before the fishing! Spoke to Mrs J who said go! So I have been sorting out various things in the mean time but the fishing will be two days at Jurassic Mountain Centre on the Specimen Lake, but before that a morning on a lake near Bangkok fishing for Mekong catfish – the same one that Gareth had the 80kg fish from last year. Expect pics and report in May (if I catch!)

March 2025 part 2 – Going light

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So Bowood is no more, until June 16th, so the canal is available for piking until the end of March so Tuesday18th sees me heading to Rowde with the rucksack bag, a 3m whip and a pike rod, large oval landing net and unhooking mat (compulsory on canal for pike) and fold-able groundbait bucket with bait. I was planning to fish the first pound away from Devizes from the road bridge, on arrival there were several boats moored up and I ended up in a large gap well away from them about half way down the wall.

Loose feeding on the whip I began slowly with a a solitary roach and a perch before one of the boats moved off and went through the swim, it took over an hour before the next bite but I then had a further roach and two perch before I hooked a decent fish that I had on for a few minutes before the hook pulled, I suspect it was a good perch. Only other bite was a missed run on the pike rod to a smelt. I packed up shortly after to end the short session as the bank was getting increasingly busy with walkers.

Rest of the week I was tied up with various things but Saturday sees me travel up to the Glebe for a Maggotdrowners match. This was to be a 6 hour match with everything counting. I arrived in good time and ended up drawing peg 8 which I didn’t mind as I have fished it before albeit in the summer months.

I set up a feeder, a rig for 13m, one for 2+2 and a margin rig. Feeding the 13m with three balls of groundbait with a smattering of 2mm and 4mm pellet plus a few grains of corn. The other lines were loose fed with pellets. Although the day was quite settled and warmish everyone was struggling apart from peg 1. The feeder lasted half hour before moving on to the pole as others on the feeder were also biteless. From the start at 11am to 3pm I had two bites that resulted in two skimmers plus I had lost two carp in the first hour that were foul hooked. From 3pm to 4pm I lost a further carp which I had on for about 5minutes that was a real lump before the hook pulled but did manage to put a carp of about 4lb in the net plus a further two skimmers. In to the last hour and I took a chance and chopped up some worm that I put on the 13m line , worm on the hook resulted in four further carp (why didn’t I try worm sooner?). At the weigh in my skimmers went 4-12 and the five carp 27-07 for a 32-03 total and 3rd in section. It had been a good day until 15minutes from the all out when we had a biblical rain and hail storm that soaked everything!

Tuesday 25th sees me back at Rowde, this time taking the 5m Chinese whip and float with the intention of feeding micro and fishing expander, I also had the pike rod but that did not get any interest.

I started on maggot but fed micros and bumped four good fish early on, possibly perch but after a small skimmer on maggot I changed to the expander and ended up with 7 skimmers (best 1-01), 6 roach and a rudd for approx 2-08.

I waited under Monday 31st and headed off to Boddington as I was running a silvers match on the Saturday and wanted to check the water level and have a word with the bailiff about adding a couple of extra pegs. I set up on peg 39 and was pleased to see that the water level was up to the first platform down.

Fishing at 10m I had about 10ft of water and as it was very calm I fished a light 0.3g float set to fish on the drop with a 0.10mm hooklength to a 16. Three balls laced with caster were introduced and caster loose fed over the top with a further ball being added every 45minutes or so for the 3 hours I fished. It was frustrating at first as the top I had chosen was just not right as I bumped ten fish before changing for a lighter elastic which sorted the issue. I chopped and changed trying different things but still ended up with 25 roach plus a perch of 1-01. There were a couple of quiet periods when there was possibly a pike in attendance but I did not hook any.

I packed up at 1pm to get home avoiding the usual traffic around Oxford. Next month sees the Boddington match and a surprise!

March 2025 Part 1 – Out with a whimper!

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March 4th I decided that as my knee was still playing up I would go “light” and take a walk down the opposite bank to peg 20 (next to the island). Armed with a waggler and pike rod plus seat-bag I slowly hobbled down to the peg starting at 9:30 and finishing at 12:05. The pike rod was cast out about 20m to the left while the waggler was set up at 20-25m with loose fed maggot and one of my homemade bodied wagglers taking 4AAAwith a couple of no 6 shot as droppers – I wanted to have a positive lift if there was a bite hence the size of droppers.

The lake was untypically flat and with the bright sun I was not too hopeful given the way things had been going, but if you don’t try you won’t succeed as they say. Loose feeding a pinch of maggot every few minutes I had my first bite after 40 minutes a roach, from there on I had had sporadic bites and ended up with nine roach and a skimmer but at the end I hooked a good fish that I played for over 4 minutes getting it in to netting range a couple of times before it finally snapped my 0.10mm hooklength on one of the old platform posts close in. I never saw the fish but I am convinced it was a tench by it’s fight rather than a pike or anything else. No further bites after that loss so it was a case of trudging back to the car wondering what might have been. The only other thing of note was that there were two anglers piking on the last two pegs on the other bank and one had a pike but they both were oblivious to the deer that broke cover and ran along the slope only 20m behind them.

Sunday 9th was my next visit and I had decided to just go on the Pondtail as my knee was playing up and it being the last week-end of the season I was expecting it to be busy. How wrong could I be! On arrival there was one car and he was fishing peg 2 on the Pondtail, so I ended up fishing the waggler on peg 1 starting at 9:30. Loose feeding did not seem to work after an hour I mixed up three handfuls of groundbait and started to introduce small marbles every couple of casts. This seemed to work and I managed 6 roach up to 12noon when I packed up. The angler on peg 2 had only one small roach so in relative terms I didn’t fare too badly! The pic shows only 5 roach as I missed the net with one!!!!

The next week had little opportunity for fishing with the funeral of Pete Sarahs, the stalwart of Peatmoor, who I had accompanied all over the country with the junior teams and helped to run the junior matches with at Peatmoor for over 15 years, taking place on the Monday,car into garage on Thursday before heading to Yorkshire the same day and Wednesday taken up with meeting a fellow angler after some floats. Tuesday then was my last visit to Bowood and I made the walk down to peg 20 again. This time there was a very strong, cold wind blowing straight down the lake towards me creating a big tow on the water, so much so it was akin to trotting a river. Even 18inches overdepth did not help and I gave up the ghost at 11:15 biteless and not having seen any indication of fish, even the grebes were more interested in their courtship rituals than fishing! So ended another season at Bowood. A great beginning but a struggle there after- I caught half my total weight of fish for the season in the first three weeks!

Now a tale of some fish! Gareth decided he fancied another trip to Thailand this week-end so he organised a trip to a lake usually reserved for locals- taxi to Hong Kong,fly to Bangkok via Hong Kong on Saturday, stay in the airport hotel and be collected 6am Sunday, hour journey to the lake, fish 9 hours then return to airport, get back late Sunday and work Monday! Oh to be young again! Six year old Zachary was going with him and the guide set him up with a light spinning rod as the main tackle was to heavy for him. Unfortunately the clutch on the reel could not cope with the red-tailed catfish and even tightened fully the catfish still took line! Anyway they had a good visit with 32 red tail catfish and 1 tambaqui. Estimated total weight 1270lbs. Zachary caught two 20kilo catfish!

All his own work!

February 2025 part 2 – The woes are still there!

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Did I really write that things can only get better! Silly me! Having sorted out Gareth’s pike rod I ventured forth to the Pondtail on Wednesday 19th in the hope that I may get a bite or two. Well I fished 9:15 to 11:15 through a mishmash of weather on the waggler, loose feeding at first but after 40 minutes and no bites I relented and made up a small amount of groundbait and started to introduce small marbles of it every few minutes. This got me a bite that I missed by hitting it too early in my anxiety to catch (or was that the shock of seeing a bite!). Anyway there were 3 further bites that I did manage to hook and land – three roach for 5oz.

Saturday 22nd sees me up early and traveling up to the Glebe fishery outside Hinckley for a Maggotdrowners event. I had decided to plan my attack on maggot fished short with the pole at 11m as a back up plus a groundbait feeder on my light bomb rod and a waggler. The woes then hit me with a vengeance – during the uneventful drive up I had a nagging doubt in my head- “why was there more space than normal in the car?”. Drawing peg 25 – the same area I frequently seem to end up in- I drove down to the bottom of the lake and started to unpack the car when it hit me – I had left the bag with the wheels and barrow kit for the Octbox at home in the garage! To make matters worse the usual path via a bridge that took you very close to the peg was taped off as it appeared the bridge needed repairs, so I had no option but to walk around the muddy slope to peg 30 then carry on to the peg. Now I do not have a strap fitted to the Octbox (it is in the bag with the wheels!) so I had to carry it up the muddy, slippery slope to the peg – in total I had 4 trips to get my kit there.

I set up as I intended a short pole (top 3) with a 3 x n08 float with 0.10mm hooklength to an 18; long pole with a 1g Paster float again to a 0.10mm and 18; the waggler with a homemade sarkandas cane insert waggler taking 4AAA and my Preston 10 ft bomb rod with the mandatory 20 inch hooklength to a barbless 17 hook. Groundbait was a mix of F1 cold water dark and Swimstim natural.

The match starts and I cup two balls on to the 11m line with a few micros and maggots and leave it. On to the short line loose feeding a pinch of maggots every put in – no response. After 25 minutes I put a marble of groundbait out and a couple of minutes later missed a bite before getting a small perch and that was it! On to the pole line expander – no interest, one bite on maggot that came from a small skimmer. That was it again, peg 26 was starting to pick up skimmers on the long pole and I probably spent too long trying to make it work to no avail, so on to the feeder.

Third cast (3/4 across hopefully avoiding the far bank carp) I hooked a skimmer of around a pound. The rest of the match sees me swap between the feeder and waggler (fished on same line as feeder) but apart from a lost skimmer on the waggler I could only catch on the feeder but I was having to wait for the bites. I ended up with a further 5 skimmers for a 6-11 total. The 5 peg section went like this Peg 22 1-7, peg 23 7-01, peg 25(me) 6-11, peg 26 11-1 and peg 28 14-11. Still it was nice to catch a few fish before making another 4 trips back to the car with the kit!

My knee did not like the slipping and sliding over the mud so it was not until Friday 28th that I ventured out but where to. My head said the canal, the monkey on my shoulder said Bowood – the monkey won! I ended up on peg 8 as another angler was just setting off as I got to the car park and he went on 10. In lieu of protecting ,my knee I had taken a waggler and pike rod plus the haversack seat. Going down was fine as the frost the night before had left the ground nice and crisp- coming back the temperature had risen by 9C and it was a bit squelchy. I fished 10 to 12 but knew the woes were going to win when I saw the water – you could just see an inch into it, very coloured very bright sunshine and yes no bites or indications of fish. The angler on 10 was blanking when I left and another angler who arrived just as I was setting out was blanking on the other bank by the island.

On a positive note I did get out and next week a visit to the canal may be in order although I still want to get this damn monkey off my Bowood back!

January 2025 Part 2 – where are the fish?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

November 2024 Part 1 – Rain needed!

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Friday 1st I head for Bowood fishing on peg 10 9:15 to 12:00.Usual set up but strangely quiet on pike front with mo sign of any chasing of fish or strikes! This inactivity from the pike encouraged the silvers to feed resulting in 42 roach, 13 rudd, 6 skimmers and a perch for a level 5-00, so plenty of action to keep my interest but no fish of note.

Sunday comes around and my knee is playing up so I head with the whips for a couple of hours max on the Pondtail peg 1 which had now been cleared of the undergrowth and was at last fishable. Setting up with the 4.5m Chinese carbon whip and an 18 hook to a 1.4g float I had a pleasant couple of hours if frustrating at time with the fish coming in cycles. 14 roach a gudgeon and a perch for 1-08 came to the walnut sizes balls of groundbait and loose fed wheat, with double maggot doing the business apart from the perch which perversely took double wheat!

Tuesday sees me walk back to peg 10 to find the water was quite clear and started at 9:15, my first and only bite on the pole cam after and hour and twenty minutes – a roach on maggot,. Despite trying chopped worm, wheat, pellet and all combinations of maggot I could not buy a bite so decided to pack the pole up just after 11:30, before doing so I had moved the pike rod right over the pole line. Just as I finished putting the pole away I had a take on the pike rod with line streaming off the open bail arm, striking I was immediately into a heavy fish but slowly managed to subdue it’s runs and managed to christen the new light weight landing net handle I had treated myself to! The scales showed it to be 17lb exactly, so that was my cue to go home!

Wasn’t until the Sunday that I was able to get out again, opting to return to peg 10. To my absolute dismay the water had turned to tap water clarity with the bottom 4m out being visible in 5ft of water!No bites, no runs and no signs of any fish topping or swirling! I packed up at 11:30 with a blank – a rarity for Bowood!

Tuesday sees me fancy a change and I go to Blacklands opting for peg 12 in the shade opposite the toilet block, a choice I was to regret as it was COLD but bright sun on the other banks!I fished 9:40 to 12:50 and had to adapt my approach as i had picked up my canal/silver fish hard case and forgot that the pole cup in my Bowood box that I had taken was the wrong fitment! Matters then got worse as I was intending to fish worm before moving over to a second area that was to be primed with micros, on opening the bag I thought contained micros found it was groundbait which is banned at Blacklands!

I, in the end, opted to fish a number 6 elastic to a homemade chianti style float taking 0.4g in the 6ft of water at 10m, using a hooklength of 0.10mm to an 18 barbless hook. The main problem I could see was that there were leaves everywhere so I had to be careful shipping out and lowering the float into clear water before feeding small pinches of chopped worm via a toss pot at the end of the pole. Anyway as it turned out worm head still works and 20 roach, 12 perch and a solitary skimmer came my way for what I reckoned on 6-08 after counting the ounces of each fish as I went along! The biggest fish was a perch and the skimmer, both 14oz.

Hopefully we will get some rain soon to put the colour back in Bowood.

June 2024 Part 1 – Thank you rain!

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June has been a slow burner so far with Bowood on the horizon I only managed to get down to the canal at Horton for what was going to be a couple of hours, however…

Picked up the exchange tickets from Jackie at TK Tackle and headed off to Horton armed with the whips and half a pint of maggots and a bit of groundbait. The long grass revealed that nobody had been fishing there for some time! Set up a 4m whip and Chinese float and got the first cast in at 9:50 over the top of two small golf balls of groundbait and a pinch of maggots. Bait unusually for a canal was double maggot but I have found that this does produce results despite the accepted wisdom of small baits!

It was not long before the first fish, a roach, was swung in and over the next hour I had thirteen roach, four skimmers and a perch for between 1.5 and 2lb but then five boats came through, two in one direction and three in the other all in eight minutes and that killed it so my two hour session was ended after seventy minutes!

Bowood was now looming and I made up some new bags of wheat. My method is not to stew the wheat as the convention but I cover in boiling water and leave covered for 2-3 days before draining off the water and bagging the wheat. One bag for the fridge and the rest to the freezer. I was hoping for rain for a few days before the start of the season which may seem odd but experience has shown that the better fish tend to congregate in the shallows at the start of the season and if there is a good colour in the water they will happily feed.

My wish was delivered and three days of rain to various degrees left me hopeful, although the river through town was still running low and clear! Sunday 16th arrives and I set off at a leisurely pace as again I find the fish don’t wake up and feed until 9 or 10 o’clock! Three cars were already parked up and I suspected they may have had an early start. The long walk down was not as bad as the long walk back up the hill but I duly arrived at peg 1 but was unable to spot it at first due to the undergrowth but finally located it and got the gear in situ. As I hoped the bottom could not be seen (it is only 18-24 inches deep) with a good colour. A couple of minutes was spent pulling out rushes that were encroaching across the front of the platform so that fish could be netted and keepnet positioned safely.

Two lines of attack were identified – straight in front at 10m and 45 degrees to the left at 10m. Both were identical depth so the same rig could be used for both. Said rig was going to be an Ugly Duckling taking 1g of shot bulked six inches from a size 14 hook to 0.16mm Shogun line. Two balls of groundbait laced with a bit of wheat and 4-5 grains of corn went on the left line while the main line had three balls of similar! Throughout the session I was feeding a pinch of wheat every five minutes or so. First drop in was at 9:24 with corn on the hook, after twenty minutes of inactivity I succumbed and put a pair of maggots on only for two two inch fish to drop of, probably they were only holding the maggot. A half ounce rudd in the net finally sees me back on the corn and at 10:10 a proper bite sees a bream of 2-03 in the net followed by another of 2-00 five minutes later but then nothing.

At this point I made the decision to introduce more groundbait but this time to cup it in loose. This seemed to do the trick and when I placed the last bream of 3-10 (left hand pic) in the net at 1:10 I had secured seventeen bream for 52-04, my best weight at Bowood. The reason I stopped as the fish were still feeding was that I realised I might struggle lifting the net out. Anyway I managed and placing the net on top of my netbag I took a quick photo and then released the fish back into the water.

Wife’s birthday means no fishing today so Tuesday next chance but I think the colour may have gone and a different swim will be needed. End of the month sees Makins Pairs.

Meandering March 2024 Part 1

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March arrives and it is not until the 6th that I am able to get to Bowood arriving at peg 10 with a frost on the ground, air temperature of -1C and fog! I was ready to fish by 9 and continued to 12:30, the fog eventually lifted and the day turned very warm and sunny, however the water was highly coloured with a max of 3 inches clarity. Anyway the usual set up was in place and by 10 am I had one micro perch that dropped off! There were two others in the top field and another regular, Bob, turned up and went on 9 as he assumed the other two had gone on the other bank and had been planning on going to the top field. While chatting the float started going against the tow, a strike and a solid resistance followed by a goodly amount of elastic came out. Unshipping slowly I finally put the net under a 3-08 bream hooked in the pectoral! I had a small bream of 1-12, five roach, 3 skimmers/blades and 6 rudd for a final total of 6-10.

With the close of Bowood approaching – it keeps the same close season as the rivers- I went on the last Sunday, thinking it would be busy, how wrong I was- I had the lake to myself! Back on 10 with the usual approach I managed to get another bream of 3-06, a tench of 3-00, 25 rudd, 4 roach and 3 skimmers for a 7-12 total.

However there was a point when I quickly unshipped the pole as the pike float bobbed and started to go then stopped. On finally retrieving the bait I find there was a piece of flesh cut out with almost surgical precision less than 5mm from my top hook.

There have been no reports of crayfish in the 10 years I have been going to Bowood and I have never seen one there. Showing the picture to Jackie in TK Tackle she was bemused at first but came up with the possibility of it being a catfish. The lake was design and built by Capability Brown and many of his lakes at that time had carp and catfish introduced, it is quite feasible that some offspring of the original fish may still be in the water as 80% of it is not fished. A thought to ponder!

I decided to go on the Wednesday and leave the last day of the season alone! Bowood 10 was the peg again but the wind was blowing very hard and the water had got very coloured with a couple of heavy overnight downpours. I started at 9 but packed up at 11:30 having to fish the last hour or so just using the top two of the pole as the wind was extreme. Seven roach, twelve rudd and seven blades finished my season for 1-03.

To review the season – I have again succumbed to peg 10 during the autumn and winter due to it being the deepest area and with bait going in it does hold the fish (possibly!). Anyway the initial outlay for a Bowood ticket of £205 may appear expensive but given it is only 3 minutes from door to gate it is convenient plus the 55 visits I made means each outing cost me £3.93 so it is financially worthwhile.

I netted 555lb 5oz of visit making an average of just over 10lb a visit. That breaks down in the following way Pike 17 caught for 168-05, seven over 10lb (18-11,17-06,14-04, 14-04, 13-00, 1`2-04 and 11-13), Tench 13 caught for 51-15, the best 5-06 with 6 between 4 and 5lb and 6 between 3 and 4lb, there were 82 bream weighed the best being 5-00 with five between 4 and 5lb, 35 between 3 and 4lb, 32 from 2 to 3lb and 9 from 1 to 2lb for a total of 234lb. That leaves 101-01 of other fish. I made 25 fewer visits this season, partly down to spending more time on matches and Gareth dragging me to the canal or river!

Who knows what next season will bring, if it follows the usual Bowood cycle it will be a tench year with few bream!