fishing bits with col

Enjoyable summer so far

2010-07-16T18:45:00.000+01:00

Well its been a great summer so far, where i have had some fantastic catches , the most memorable 218lb at Tunnel Barns new Jennys pool. Most of the fish were caught on bronze maggot over slop shallow.

Oak ham farm

2010-04-05T12:40:00.002+01:00

Been out a couple of times , a bit of specie fishing and a pleasure session at Oak ham farm.

Had a nice 7.5lb barbel at Morton springs to pellet feeder and a good early spring bag of carp, unbelievably for this time of year the carp fed in the margin, about 4 inch from the bank

8.8 LB common to pellet feeder. 2nd trip to morton spring

Had a match Saturday at tunnel barn farm where i weighed in 21lb 5oz 37lb won and the 3 lower 30s . If i had stayed on the silvers instead of trying for the carp in the last 2 hours down the margin i could have been in with a shot , oh well.

Morton Springs

2010-02-27T17:10:00.001Z

After all the snow and cold weather it was nice to get out and be warm for once.

Decided to try something different this weekend , have a go at a bit of specimen hunting and i could not think of a better place than Morton Springs.

I settled on a peg close to the car park ,which gave me a comfortable 30 yard cast to the island and with the wind of my back it was perfect.

Started the session on the straight lead , casting about until i had some kind of indication , but after two hours it looked like another blank was on the cards, time for a change, out went the method feeder loaded with dampened micros but after an hour still nothing, last chance saloon.On went a Preston's pellet feeder , a short hook length size 14 guru QM hook and quick stop. I casted out about six foot off the island and began making some hook lengths up, when the tip went slack and the line limp , i reeled down and connected with a freight train, it took me into a weed bed about 20 metres out, i let the line go slack for a moment and then began to pump, the fish came free and i could see it was a big Barbel,, my heart began to race , again it snagged up in more weed , this time in front of me , i could see it was big, again i freed it and a nice 7.5lb fish was in the net.

Soon after a nice 4lb mirror fell too the same tactic and this was followed by a nice 6.5lb common.

Only one more bite came after this , the wind had changed and was blowing crosswind making casting a bit more difficult, i was happy thou, what looked like another blank turned out fine and this one trip totalled more than my last 3 put together .lol.

At the bank at last

2010-01-24T16:53:00.001Z

Its great to be back at the lake side after three weeks of absence and i for one nearly cracked with withdrawal symptoms.

Me and john decided on a day at Oak ham , as you are guaranteed bites here , well if you have a little knowledge , some anglers still struggle .We set up on the old pool , John to the island and me , the stumps. Today was an all out carp attack with pellets , corn and for me, my winter favourite, bread.

I started in open water at about 8 metres , feeding about five 4mm pellets , i used a 6mm cold water expander on a size 16 barbless to 3.12 lb hook length. I had a small carp of about a pound first chuck . I knew it would be a good day but after 5 fish it went quite, i tried corn but nothing.

John was catching well to the island at about 11 metres . His attack was similar to mine but using liquidised corn as feed .

I had now concentrated on my second swim a stump that marks out a no fishing zone, stepping up my feed to about 25 pellets and 2 or 3 pieces of corn every put in i began to catch steadily and was having a decent run of small carp averaging 12oz to a pound.

John was also bagging, but it was harder work for him as he was fishing longer as his inside line and middle track did not produce.

My swim was going quiet , i knew they had backed of a bit so i added another section , not to fish another metre but enough to get me close to the stump i mean my float was touching it. Every

time i fed, i tapped the stump with my pole , this worked wonders and bread and corn with steady feeding bought me a 66lb net of fish, John weighed a cracking 50lb 8oz . Two brilliant bags of fish for this time of year ohh and i had 3 fish on a piece of onion from a sandwich ?

66 lb for me 50lb 8oz for John.

Winter Fishing , i love it.

2010-01-03T16:50:00.001Z

Its been a while since i wrote to my blog, with the winter league and such. Also i am one who likes to add photos to my write up , i do not think it would go down well with fishery owners and match organizers , if i asked for a picture at the end.

Anyway the winter league is going a bit better than last year , with me picking up coin in 5 out of 6 matches. This year the dam wall is the place to be but unlike last year, i cannot seem to draw it at all .

It could be worse, my fishing buddy John draws the worst pegs every week the shallows where only blades seem to be this time of year and with skimmers needed to frame its very difficuilt to compete from these pegs, also carp do not count so that adds to the difficuilty.

Have been to Oakham a couple of times ,where John did a nice 50lb+ bag on corn and pellet I did about 25lb.

Me and John Telling had a day there , ice fishing , we broke through 3inch of the stuff to have a go at the Roach

Had a trip to the Warwickshire Avon Saturday again going for the Roach but i blanked ( Great start to the year ). John Dale did great fishing the bread feeder and punch , he picked up some nice Roach in the last 2 hours.

Autumn at Snitterfield.

2009-11-08T16:54:00.001Z

Well i thought it was about time too post something to my blog, i have been fishing but got a bit lazy with updating the blog. Anyway me Pete and John had a visit too the reservoir at Snitterfield and to say it was hard, would be an understatement.

We met at about 6.15 outside fishermans , took the motorway to the junction with Stratford road, where, we stopped off for breakfast, which i must say , was great, there is something about a good breakfast that sets you up for the day.

When we arrived at the reservoir it looked like it was going to be a good day, quite a few carp were cruising near the surface which is unusual at the back end of October but it was not the carp we were after, silvers were our quarry, Roach and Bream.

Pete settled on peg 2 , my favourite summer peg, John next too him and me 2 down from that. Pete and John fished the pole for Roach and i the feeder, i wanted to try dead reds. Pete and John both weighed 2lb 13oz as Roach sport was slow but as i found the Bream were not in a feeding mood either, i had 4 fish for 8lb 4oz.

Me and john telling had a day there in September and both caught well .

Jubilee pools “ in the shadow of the tree”

2009-07-25T17:33:00.001+01:00

Its been a while since i wrote to my blog and has usual i have had good and bad trips.

A few weeks ago went to tunnel barn farm , top pool , peg 28 and had a gut busting 137lb but as usual, the weekend after, had a match on the same pool and weighed 30lb but still enjoyed it. John came 2nd with 48lb something , i was 5th.

Today went to Jubilee pools at Ryton and like a fool fished under a great big willow, the sun didn't reach me until it was time to go home, i was chilly all-day .I fished most of the day for big bream but they did not show , i had a few skimmers and Roach for 14lb , John to had 18lb of silvers to the waggler.

Aden fisheries foxes pool

2009-06-27T18:45:00.001+01:00

Me and John had a session on foxes pool , Arden fisheries and to say i was disappointed is an understatement. Yet again the weather changes the day before the trip, A week of warm sunny weather gave way to heavy rain and it killed sport dead.

John did great with 42lb compared to my measly 14lb , mostly on paste but saying that , i foul hooked and lost 15 fish, why god knows but it was a poor performance yet again, this year as been so bad , i will be glad when its over.

Johns 42lb My 14lb

Oakham match lake

2009-06-21T16:13:00.003+01:00

What a great day, one of the best so far this year, well for commercial carping anyway.

Had a day on the match lake at Oakham and believe it or not, had the whole lake to myself, everyone seems more interested in the top pool, why, because there are bigger fish supposedly but ive found that this pool as large fish of its own and its not to far to walk, last wek was a killer.

Started the session at 6 metres in about 3 foot of water, you dont have to go to far out here, the fish come right under your feet, i have had them to 9lb, in 6 inch of water.

I had a few on the soft expander, but was missing a lot of bites , i bannded the pellet and began to catch steadily but a lot of fish were boiling on the surface , time for the shallow rig . I kept the pellets going in and was catching well but im sure the float was spooking them, so tried something i have never before, a rig with no float, this was great and the fish hooked themselves.

Through out the day im also tried the margin rig with catmeat and had a few but a spectater walked right up to where i was fishing and spooked the fish .

I ended the day back on the surface and had a lot of foul hookers , i think the fish were turning at the last minute, maybe spooked by the pole over their heads?

At the end i had a nice bag of 91lb but with the fish i lost it should have been 140lb easily.

I was on my own so the picture of the net was all i could take and there are no bricks in there hehe.

Oak ham top pool

2009-06-13T19:23:00.001+01:00

Fished the top pool at Oak ham, its the 2nd time i have fished this pool we thought the ton up was on, but it was not to be.

We fished the east bank using pellet , paste, meat and bread ,but could not settle for one method, it was trial and error and i am sure if we had stuck to one bait , maybe the ton+ would have been possible.

John Dale weighed 79lb , John Telling 73lb and me 67lb 8oz.

The next time we fish this pool it will be winter for the Roach , i couldn't do that walk again this summer phewwww .

Johns second weigh My second weigh

We both used two keepnets these are the 2nd lot.

2 weekends of contrasting weather.

2009-06-07T14:29:00.001+01:00

What a difference a week makes, i mean, last weekend we fished in temperatures above 20c and this weekend it did not go into double figures, last week the sun was out , this week , we got soaked.

Me and John Dale had a trip to the reservoir and even though sport was not hectic ,i really enjoyed it. I fished peg 3 and John peg 2 , my favourite on the lake. I gave floating crust ago but the wind was making presentation awkward, so that went out the window, John meanwhile was having a few shallow and even fished beyond the weed bed but the fish were smaller here. I started having a few close in and with constant feeding had Roach right into the edge in about a foot of water and because it was so clear i could see the fish taking the bait .

By the end of the day John weighed 21lb 10oz and i had 13lb dead so all in all not a bad day and Johns net was excellent.

The following weekend , well yesterday to be exact me and John Telling had a trip to Jubilee pools , we fished the large speci lake as i wanted to target those large Bream but as is common the weather had took a turn for the worst and it was hammering it down , it had since yesterday and it did not look to good.

I started at 10 metres , looking to catch some of those large Bream that go well into double figures but after 2 hours i knew it would be hard. The angler next to me was also struggling , he was after the Bream and a couple of days ago he had 160lb of them of the same peg but all he had today was one carp close to double figures.

John was bagging again on the waggler, so i set up a Roach rig shallow and began to feed half a dozen maggots every few seconds , it did not take long for the Roach to arrive . In-between the Roach line, every now and then i gave the Bream line ago but it was empty. John finished with a cracking 22lb 2oz bag of Roach i weighed 15lb 13oz . If i had stuck to this line 30lb would have been easy, but i like to try different things, thats the enjoyment i get ,experimenting with flavours , rigs etc. You never know what can happen thats why i love fishing.

Worse weather Wednesdays !

2009-05-28T09:10:00.001+01:00

Why is it that whenever i have a Wednesday off, the weather always changes?. They did a study once and found on average Wednesdays were more likely to be the worst day of the week weather wise, something to do with people not working Saturdays and Sunday , the earths temp slowly decreases and by Wednesday it is lower, just my luck this is the only day the wife does not work , so i usually book it off, have a day fishing , no need to rush back.

Any way yesterday was one of those bad weather Wednesdays. It started ok ,but as always as i was setting up it began to rain and by the time my rig hit the water it was pissing it down and blowing a gale . The brolly went up for the first time this year, i hate fishing under brollys .

I was on the bird nest peg , i have always fancied this peg but have never fished it before, it is always out of bounds due to , birds nesting in the tree that hangs in the water.

I potted some ground bait laced with pellet at 8 metres, left this line to settle and fished 5 metres with red maggot dusted in atomic cloud strawberry red. The fishing was slow , when it rains here combined with a temperature drop its always the same. Anyway the Roach line was slow but i could see the fish taking the free offerings but not the one with the hook , so frustrating. It was time to concentrate on the Bream line. I fished with pellet on the hook over Silver x Bream ground bait, which is a deep red and my hands looked like i had been in a slaughter house, thankfully most of it washed off. Anyway i had 4 Bream on this line and funnily some nice Roach too 6mm pellet.

My final weight was 11lb 8oz and John fishing waggler weighed 11lb 13oz, yet again a great performance on the wag.

Snitterfield 23 may 2009

2009-05-24T14:42:00.001+01:00

Well i had another trip to Snitterfield reservoir today, i felt i had too after the disappointment of last weekend.

I settled for peg 2 , one of my favourites , i like this peg because you can drop your tackle right in but more importantly, its got some nice weed features within easy reach of the pole, i am always more confident when i can reach such features comfortably.

The plan was to try and catch shallow and with the weather looking warm it was looking good. Started by potting in 3 caster and pellet laced ground bait near the weed bed, this was for later , my Bream and Crucian line. The other line was at 5 metres with maggot and caster, the maggot to start off the swim , caster if i start to get pestered by small fish. Pestered by small fish i was, little Perch, lots of them, i do not recall there being this many over the last few seasons. As i was feeding half a dozen maggot every 30 secs i began to notice boils and swirls with the occasional flash of large Rudd and Roach. I put on my shallow rig , about 18 inch deep but could not get a bite , i noticed the swirls were less frequent, the pole was casting a shadow on the water , so on with a rig similar to hand to line , this did the trick and i started to catch some quality Rudd and Roach but those little perch still got there first this was the signal to change to caster and it worked, i still had a few perch but not as many.

So i had a great days fishing and ended up with 21lb of Roach , Rudd and small perch great stuff, the only downer on the day, was when a message came through on my phone, it was Jades football coach , as i held the phone my top 3 was pulled from between my legs i managed to grab it , but in panic threw my phone on my side tray, straight into my water soaked casters, SHIT ……! and i lost what ever was on the end.

Snitterfield reservoir

2009-05-17T12:35:00.002+01:00

At last summer is nearly upon us but we still are having unsettled weather and it was just like that, on my second visit to the reservoir this year, but who cares, its great to be there, whatever the weather.

The day started well enough weather wise but the wind was a bit blustery and like a fool i fished straight into it ,with no cover .

Pete James, who came with me and John , was on the nice corner peg ,where he could reach the weed bed and was sheltered from the wind , John settled just around from him and i next to John.

By the time we set up the showers started and this coupled with the wind made presentation difficult. Fished red maggot at 5 metres but sport was slow and small perch were becoming a nuisance , for me and John but Pete was catching well to white maggot , quality Roach.

The long Bream line only produced one fish, but lost a carp on the flake. John had a couple of Bream and a good net of Roach along with Pete's quality net of silvers it was a great day. I weighed 9 lb and Pete and John 17 lb 10 oz dead, great nets between them.

canal match

2009-05-08T22:35:00.004+01:00

Last weekend i was luckily enough to be a guest on a canal match, on the grand union at catherine de barnes and tio say i enjoyed it would be an understatement. The last canal match i had a couple of years ago was a disaster to say the least, but this time i stuck my head down , i even ignored a phone call off the mrs and thats a big no no.

I caught four Roach down the track to punch until it died, where i went far across to a lovely looking reed bed where i continued to catch small roach, perch and the darkest chunky gudgeon i have seen in ages.

Any way finished 3rd out of 14 and John dale finishing 4th . A few ounces seperated us yet again and this time i was at the top end for once.

My beautiful teenage daughter.

Self portrait and edited by me.

Snitterfield reservoir

2009-04-26T17:31:00.001+01:00

Well summer is nearly upon us and i for one cannot wait for those long , hot sunny days.

We had an early trip to Snitterfield reservoir after stories of good catches for this time of year, as always the weather leading up to the fishing session was perfect, until the day of the trip, heavy rain !.

The day started badly, with a heavy shower and i and John got soaked, as we did not have our waterproofs on. Also a match was on and we had to fish a different area than i would have liked, but still that's fishing , nothing ever goes to plan, well not for me lately, I'm beginning to think I'm cursed.

I started with a nice Roach of a pound, it looked more like a pound and a half. This was followed by a nice hybrid, of about 1.5lb but it was slow as always the heavy rain dampened it a bit. Both Johns were catching well , John Telling on waggler and John dale the pole. Eventually the day came to an end, even thou sport was not hectic i still enjoyed it, i always enjoy the reservoir so was not disappointed

John Dale weighed 10 lb 4oz and John Telling 9lb 10 oz and me a measly 4lb 12oz

The end at last (pheew)

2009-04-18T18:39:00.002+01:00

Horray the winter league is over and i am so happy. Its been a bad one for me and i have not really enjoyed it this year, with today being no exception.

Pulled peg 17 , on that dreaded dam wall. ( Again).

Fished straight lead to start the first 45min, not a touch, tried corn, pellet and maggot but nothing. Came in on the pole line just off the ledge with pellet and corn nothing for an hour, then hooked a lump. It stayed low, bearly moving, then gradually moved to the left , where it snagged me!!!! I was hooked up and had to pull for the break.

Went onto the pellet feeder with a short 3 inch hooklength , and had 2 fish horray.

I weighed 2lb 2oz and was beaten to section win by one ounce.

John dale fished another great match to win and give him the league which he deserved. He fished a great league from start to finish and those blades helped him in the first few matches where we all sat it out for speci,s.

Well done John.

Heres a pic of 14lb of Roach to hemp and tare, on the river avon ,near Stratford 1993.

winter league last but one

2009-04-11T18:38:00.002+01:00

Well another catastrophe, picked dam wall yet again, peg 15 i may as well set up residence in this peg , i live on it, at least i had the rigs this time, just a pity the fish didnt know that.

I tried groundbait feeder, method , pole and straight lead, which eventually gave me a solitary carp 12.5oz, oh i did foul hook one on pole and the number 5 stretched to oblivion until the hook pulled.

9lb something won it and my mate John came 3rd with 8lb odd.

So just to cheer myself up , heres another photo from when i could actually catch fish, a 3lb golden orfe.

Oakham Farm

2009-04-10T19:19:00.003+01:00

Hooray a bagging session already. I had a day at Oak ham Farm today and fished the oak pool, this is the old pool too the right, next to the converted barn.

I fished the bank in the trees where i had 2 lines set up, one at 5 metres and the other to the island .I started on the 5m line, feeding micros over banded pellet and had the first fish in 5 minutes , after that, i caught on this at a steady pace until i was amassing a nice weight.

I now wanted to give the island line ago , fishing flake over micros in about 1.5 ft of water, but it was difficult because of the sudden gust every now and then , but i had a fish first put in , the biggest of the day at 4lb . The next put in resulted in a big fish taking my 13h elastic round one of the wooden stakes in the lake at 11metres , where it snagged me, thank god for pulla bungs as submersing the tip i was able too safely retrieve my rig, without fear of being spiked by a float disguised as a missile. A few more fish followed but it was too windy so i returned to the 5m line and put a nice run of small Carp and two nice Roach together, the Roach weighing 1.5lb and a pound, lovely fish. I ended a great day with 104lb and it made a nice change to the ounces i have been accumulating lately.

9LB Stillwater Barbel makins in 1998, sorry about the tosh.

winter league

2009-03-31T18:40:00.003+01:00

Well another weekend and another winter league match out of the way, thankfully there are only two left, because i am bored of them now. Summer is just around the corner and its bagging time , also time to renew my Leamington licence, in readiness for the reservoir , which excites me more this year than ever before. Any way too the winter league. John deservedly won the match with 9lb something but it was much more than this with all carp weighing 2lb. He had a couple of nice fish around the 6lb mark. Martin (the venue expert ) came 2nd and Keith to my left 3rd, i luckily and to my surprise won the section for the 2nd week running, i weighed 1lb11oz.

http://open.spotify.com/user/justicecsa1/playlist/6ooN4HQ1ilNSOoo9vPGyne

winter league

2009-03-19T19:53:00.002Z

Well we are half way through the winter league and its not gone well.
To be honest its been a nightmare, with the fishing coming second to worry about work as the crunch takes its toll. Half the work force was slashed last week and some good freinds may never be seen again, it was an upsetting expierience and i do not think that will be the end of it, so understandingly i have my mind on other things and of course being on short time and losing over a third of my wage is also having an impact on my fishing, lets hope that a recovery is just around the corner. Meanwhile heres a great music site link to my early 80s electro , yes i was a breakdancer and loved to go to alldayers at the powerhouse to do my stuff.
http://open.spotify.com/user/justicecsa1/playlist/16rOq0KL5srjudcdebp1Dj

101 Carp and no ice in sight.

2009-02-22T14:11:00.005Z

Another weekend , another fishing trip, well that's not true, had a day at Alcott farm Thursday , with John Paul and his uncle. We decided to come to Alcott, because john and wayne were fishing the open Saturday, i was not , i was meeting john t at Oakham. The day fishing was not to good and i weighed 6lb , mostly Roach with the odd small carp and john 7lb his uncle estimated 15lb.

Anyway back to yesterday. We arrived at the fishery about 8.00 and set up on the old pool to the right, and settled on the pegs where we broke the ice the first time, thankfully no hard work to be done this week, pheewww. I started on the liquidised bread again , using pinkie on the hook, john the waggler 2 rod lengths using red maggot hook bait. After an hour i had nine small Roach , it was slow , but john was baggin on the wag. I had fed a pellet line at 8 metres and decided on a change of tactic , target the carp, well the weather is starting to get warmer, time for the carp rigs to come out.

First put in on small pellet resulted in an instant bite and a nice 4oz Carp was soon in the net.The action was non stop from then on , john baggin Roach and me small Carp. In the end i made it to 101 Carp but as always, that last fish took ages to catch. John had easily 200 Roach with 2 Tench and a couple of Carp total weight 16lb 10oz , i ended up with 29lb 13oz, so a great day and with the summer slowly approaching, this year we should be into some good sport.

16lb 10 oz mostly Roach 101 small Carp for 29lb 13oz

Ice hole “ pt 2 “

2009-02-15T18:38:00.001Z

Well it was cold again and yes, Oakham like everywhere else was frozen. We ended up at Oakham because the winter league match was called off, a burst pipe or something. Any way, i for one was secretly pleased, a chance to catch some fish.

Me and John met at 7.15am and had a pleasant drive to Oakham, it was nice because the sun was rising and it gave the impression it was going to be a nice day, eh wrong , well weather wise any way, it was bloody cold.

We fished the lake to the right , the same one as last week but different pegs , we fished the east bank , it would make a change , we already knew we would catch where we were last week, where would the challenge be then. John started with a small ball of groundbait, i decided on liquidised bread again , but fish red maggot instead of punch, feeding pinkie. I started well and had about 10 Roach before John had his first fish. All was going well for me but a bit slower for John. John decided he wanted to fish to the island but with the ice it looked impossible, how would he break the ice at 9 metres. On went his pole cup and he began to tap the ice, breaking a small hole near the island, surely he was not going to fish it , he was. Over went his rig and he slowly lowered it into the 6 inch diameter hole and had a roach straight off, he played it then began to drag it over the ice, i thought it was hilarious , i had never seen anything like it, the next put in a carp, his no2 elastic stretched under the ice, he eventually got it tio the surface and struggled to drag it across the ice, this was not right , so he got his cupping kit and filled it with hot tea, trying to make a small channel to play the fish in, god it was so funny, but it worked and using is cup again tapped out a nice small channel. John began to fish the pellet and began to get the odd Carp, i was plodding along nicely with the Roach and the odd Carp.

The day passed quickly and we both put a nice bag together, but with John feeling ill , i might have got a few more than him, alas he weighed a great 7lb to my 6lb, we still enjoyed it , even though the weather turned really cold.

My 6lb = 102 Roach, 4 Carp Johns 7lb mostly Carp.

Hole through the ice “ Eskimo style “

2009-02-08T17:53:00.001Z

Well its been a bad winter weather and fishing wise, not doing too well in the winter league, struggled on a few venues and fed up with this snow, but still , occasionally you get it right and you begin to love fishing again and this weekend was the case in question.

Got up at 6.30am and arranged top meet my mate john at 7.15, outside fisherman's friend . We got up to –3c and it didn't look good, even john, in fisherman's said “ There are always a couple of fools “ and it looked like he might be right. Even the drive to Oak ham our venue today was a bit treacherous, as my car slid on the black ice , which worried me, it felt like my tyre was flat.

We arrived at the lakes to a picture card winter scene, crisp snow the sun breaking through and a frozen solid lake. Me and john grabbed a length of scaffold pole and began to break the ice , creating to fishable areas about 3 ft across and 7 ft long , just enough to give us a bit of depth, about 3.5ft to be exact. We then spent another half an hour netting the broken ice out of our swims, but at least we were nice and warm.

We both started on the punched bread and john had a fish straight away, it took a little longer for me to have one , i think john had 3 fish by my first, but we were catching.

John began to have a better stamp of fish on the red maggot over the liquidised bread, i gave pinkie a go as it was quicker to mount on the hook than punch, i to began to catch quicker. John gave me a few red maggot to try and it did seem to pick off the better Roach.

As always i wanted to give the Carp line ago so went over on pellet over micros, but was only having little dips on the float, i gave the water a tap with my pole and the float buried , carp on. This happened a couple of times, who would have thought summer tactics in the depth of winter. Anyway i took 4 carp on this line and all the while John was bagging some nice Roach. I eventually went back on the Roach line and began to catch again. All in all i had 5 Carp and 102 Roach for about 6lb John had a heavier bag of fish with some quality Roach ,not far of the pound mark , what a great day, i do not know why more people do not venture out in winter and even if a lake is iced over , depending on your choice of venue, you can still catch after all the disturbance of breaking the ice, I'm sure the fish respond to the commotion.

2 holes in the ice Johns near 7lb bag

Just over 6lb i think.

My Favourite venue “ Snitterfield reservoir”

2009-01-16T18:01:00.001Z

Here is a collection of pictures from Snitterfield reservoir

13.5lb mirror on the candle The rest of the bag

A nice silver bag for John A double figure bag of Crucian

A early spring bag

The Avon at Wasperton

2009-01-11T12:50:00.001Z

Well the weather is still cold and the fishing is still dire, well for me anyway. Me and John had a trip to the Leamington AA stretch of the Avon at Wasperton and settled for two swims nearest the car park. The opening bet was waggler and maggot but after 2 hours nothing was happening . John had already tried the maggot feeder but too no avail. I decided to give the mashed bread feeder a go and with a tasty looking rubbish raft to my left, i was confident. No fish on that either. After making a fool of my self and casting the feeder right over a branch as two anglers stopped to chat, i gave up.

John had moved to my left where he found some slack water and using his pole took two small fish, i decided to poach and john was a good sport and let me , i had 3 small fish in all , john five, so we did not blank and all the Pikers had no action at all. Role on the summer and here are a few pics to remind me i can catch fish

1 33lb of Bream and Crucians Snitterfield reservoir

2 36lb skimmers jubilee pool

3 14lb on the bowl in December

4 A good bag of fish from silver pool Arden fishery in winter

Stratford “ The lido “ River Avon.

2009-01-04T19:05:00.002Z

Got up early for this trip and was really up for it, but even noticing the temperature on the car was –7c i was still confident.

I met John at 7.15am and decided to have a hot sandwich on the way, this turned out to be my best and only bite of the day.

We set our gear out in the bay and i noticed how clear it was and looking back this was not the right swim choices as you only have about 2.5 ft of water at 12 metres.

John was lucky to have 1 Roach after trying all sorts of methods, i had even tried the bread flake, in the hope of catching a rouge Chub, but all was in vain.

After the session, we both realised that we needed some heavier wagglers to reach the main flow of the river, but only after a angler turned up and began to catch from the off. You can still learn from your mistakes even after 30 years of fishing.

The cold and clear Avon

solid with ice

2009-01-01T15:43:00.001Z

Hi all.

john and i had a trip to Oakham this weekend , targeting the Roach on old pool .

The overnight temperature had dropped to minus 4c and it was still below freezing when we arrived at the fishery, but even i was suprised to find the old pool frozen over. We still decided to give it ago and after an hour breaking the ice with a 8 foot piece of fencing post we had cleared enough ice to fish 3 sections of pole.

Both of us had about 3feet of water , enough for the silvers to feed comfortably. John started on the punch, feeding a tosspot of crumb each put in and caught from the off, i meanwhile fed some canal black and fished the bronze maggot over the top but had no initial response. John was having a fish nearly every put in and he showed me why. He had rolled his bread and used a cloudier crumb, i changed my set up and used some of johns bread and began to have a few.

Now was the time to try something different and have a bit of fun, we both tried feeding more pinkie for john and maggot for me and began to have some better fish , then i tried a big piece of flake on a 22 hook with no chance of ever landing a rouge carp on 5 elastic with 1 inch thick ice in front. John tried white pellet on a 3 elastic. I would have loved it if he had a carp on this set up.

Anyway we had a bit of fun and considering the commotion breaking the ice plus the conditions, we had some nice fish. I reckon john had 6.5lb of roach and myself, about 4 lb 10 oz so was pleased

Johns net And me frozen

A bad couple of trips ,,,,5 actually.

2008-12-15T19:09:00.001Z

Well be out a few times and fished like a total twat, sorry but its true. Had a session on orchard at Arden fisheries , hooked a lost one fish, that was the extent of my action. John on the other hand fished great and took a nice bag of Perch . Well done.

The weekend after fished a match at woods and drew peg 5, a good island peg , again i blew it , i tried the bread flake approach , just for the carp, but no show and there seemed to be a lack of silvers in front of me , thats my excuse anyway.John fished great again and came 3rd, missing out by a few ounces. Oh i had 2 fish ?

The weekend after was the start of the winter league ,at lower park. (the winds got up again). John laughed as i pulled out peg 15 the peg i hate , its so deep and a full face on wind seems to always hit this bank. Again i tried for bonus fish and never had a bite, but i am glad i stuck to my guns and was disciplined in my approach.

John finished joint 1st with 3lb something , a nice bag of silvers, well done again.

Now this weekend was a disaster, it rained non stop and after a bite less couple of hours ,the top lake burst its bank and a torrent of water came rushing down the hill. The lake we fished on began to rise rapidly and me and my other friend John began to panic as the water rushed over our bank , flooding my tackle bags( see pics) and flooding the field where our cars were parked. I have never packed away so quick.

orchard nightmare

2008-11-22T19:30:00.001Z

This weekend, me and John decided on the Orchard pool at Arden fisheries, Snitterfield. Not fishing this pool for a while and never in winter , we were both fishing it blind. The local expert had told me of 30 odd pound of Roach from this lake in the winter, fishing maggot at 4 metres and loose feeding by hand.

I fed 2 balls of groundbait at 11 metres and some micros on top,John fed two balls too and fished at about 6 metres. I tried the short line for an hour , but nothing, so went long over the earlier feed and had a bite straight away, but as i shipped back i hit the bush and lost the fish, a small Roach. That was my action for the day . I tried straight lead with corn, breadflake and even set up a waggler rod, but only had two casts before catching the bush , snapping my hook length , enough was enough and i gave in too defeat.

John meanwhile stuck at it and put a tidy bag of small perch together, about 2lb 2oz and it was a good result in crappy conditions. my fingers are still numb. Oh and Pete bagged up on the opposite bank , i think he even had a couple of carp. ( The local expert )

A few fishy pics Just to prove we can catch fish

2008-11-16T16:53:00.001Z

45LB of Bream Roach and 5 Crucians nearing 2lb

26lb at Snitterfield reservoir

Lower park fishery

2008-11-16T16:43:00.001Z

John and I decided on a return trip to Lower park fishery in preperation for the winter league. A cruel and harsh contest that tests you and your tackle to the limit. I have had many an item broke here , a brolly totally mangled by the gale force wind , two number 4 sections and the lid of my seat box, pulled off its hinges

We decided to be brave and fish with the wind face on, on the east bank.

John started on the chopped worm and me , i took a gamble on a ground bait attack at 10 metres , potting in 7 orange sized balls.

From the start we were pestered by blades, small inch long Roach that even took Johns larger worm hookbait.

I was getting a bit bored with this, but i know i will welcome them in the winter league. By now John had a bonus carp of about 2 lb and some nice Roach. After trying Bread, pellet and maggot at 10 metres, i knew that line was not going to produce and its a pain shipping in and out 10 metres for 1 inch Roach. I started another line with a few flavoured micros and decided to sit it out for the last hour. Luckily I had a 2lb common, a nice skimmer and a smaller mirror and ended up with about 3lb 10 oz , John had about 3lb.

It is 3 weeks I think until the start of the league and we have to do better than this . But until then, woods farm Saturday matches begin and i know John and I cannot wait

arden fisheries the bowl

2008-11-09T19:50:00.000Z

Well had a day at Arden fisheries, the bowl and it was a bit of a dissapointment.
The heavy rain the night before raised the lake by about 6 inches and a lot of the platforms were under water.
We arrived about 7. 30 am and had a treacherous walk to our pegs, the ground was very slippy, with thick clay mud and wet leaves.
I set up the pole at 6 metres which gave me about 9 foot of water and began to pot feed bronze maggot every put in , about half a dozen. John decided on the waggler, his favourite method and threw red maggot by hand about 5 metres out , just at the bush line.
John had the first fish of the day , a small Perch followed by a 4oz Rudd.
I then had my first fish, also a small Perch followed by another then a Roach.
It was a slow day, but enjoyable and with only 1lb 13oz in the net and John 3lb 3oz , we called it a day. We will come back though, as it was nice secluded surroundings , with overhanging trees and the sense of isolation.

Oakham farm

2008-11-03T18:10:00.001Z

Hi All

Well this weekend me John and a friend of his , Pete, decided to have a crack at Oak hams match lake. Because it was for cast to be cold , i knew it would be hard. Anyway arrived at the lake around 7. 30am, a slight frost lay across the fields and there was a bitter chill in the air. I had a walk up to the match lake and it was like a mirror, with only a slight ripple at the far end. We got our gear out of the cars and i swear it gets heavier and heavier every trip, what do we take with us ?

We settled closest to the car park with john on the east bank , me on the north side and Pete in the deep corner. By now a stronger wind had picked up , a north easterly, not good at all.

John began to catch Roach on the maggot and Pete decided to go for the lumps with pellet.

I started cautiously feeding about 4 micro pellets and fishing bread flake over the top.

John was catching well , Carp , Roach and skimmers ( Where the silvers came from i dont know, but i never counted on them) Pete had a few Roach and the odd Carp and me a couple.

John fed some chopped worm and this killed huis swim for a while , why ,we do not know but it took a while for the Roach to return. I was now having a good run on the bread and alternating with pellet.

In the end John had about 18lb of fish with a lot of quality Roach, pete about 10lb and i around 35lb. I enjoyed it but it was freezing by the end of the session , i was looking forward to that chinese tonight.

Arden fisheries

2008-11-02T19:28:00.000Z

Hi All

Me and john decided to give foxes pool ago at Arden fisheries , Snitterfield.

We fished the bank opposite the car park , with john settling in a corner swim and me the next peg along. We both started deep ,but john was itching to fish shallow and soon changed to long pole , shallow . I stayed full depth but realised after a few fish it was slow and i had overfed the swim. John was now having a few shallow , it was not hectic but he was having more fish than me. I decided to start a new swim but not feed as much.

John suddenly said " a red float was popping up all over his swim " and sure enough there it was in front of me. Like an idiot , i pulled my rig into the float , then all hell broke loose.

The carp swam to the middle of the lake and leapt 2 foot in the air, it was big. My pole took a frightning curve and the 15h elastic was at full stretch , something was going to give , i was sure the pole would go. A long hard battle commenced, but eventually the fish tired , a nice 9lb 10oz carp lay in the landing net . I could see now why it fought so hard, the other rig was in its tail and i had lassoed the loop on that rig!

The day soon ended and john had a nice bag of carp i think it was 46lb i had 33lb not counting the foul hooked fish.

Tunnel barn

2008-11-02T19:13:00.000Z

Hi All

This is my first entry too my blog, a memoir of a few of my fishing trips, pleasure and match.

At the beggining of september i had a day at tunnel barn farm , canal pool. It had been a coldish night, with heavy rain and i knew this would make it hard.

Me and john dale fished the north side of the lake , i think i was on peg 23 and john 22.

John fished long to the far bank , having perfected the art of holding the pole and catapulting bait at his float, this is a skill i have not yet mastered , its harder than you think, well i think it is.

I started long and had a few , but it was slow, john on the other hand was having a few on soft pellet and was beggining to bag, i decided to give the paste ago close in and feed sloppy pellet over the top. After a while this began to work but i was foulhooking a load of fish.

All in all i lost about 15 fish but still ended up with a reasonable 34lb , john beat this with a great 46lb, well done john. It was the shallow approach which worked on the day and given the cold wet conditions , was a job well done