Wildlife in action

I today for the first time in a long time took myself and my camera to the river.Not much to report in the way of fish because due to my injured back i can not sit down long enough to fish but still it was a pleasant way to spend some of the day.

I went with the view that i wanted to take some pictures of a nesting grebe who has set up her rather late i might add home in the safe area behind the weir pool and is sitting (i hope) on eggs but i got distracted by the swans.
I'm adding the picture in the hope that you can see what i saw and like me it may cheer up your day.

Return to the pool

Well as much as i tried not to i returned to the magical pool on the Thames yesterday to find someone sitting in the hot peg. So putting a brave face on it i went and said hi and broke my own rules and asked what he had caught to which he replied "nothing mate not even had a bite".
Now i became a bit happier at this news which is wrong but well hey what you gonna do? i then thought discretion was the better thing to do and wandered around the weir sill and set up thinking that i would pick a few off by a willow tree which was hanging over the bank. Well after a hour i still hadn't caught and the other guy came around to tell me he had packed up and did i want to go to the peg he was leaving.The words hadn't left his mouth before i was moving.I asked him what bait he was using and he told me maggots and that he had not caught a thing,so i pinged out a few boiles which is what i have been catching a few on from this peg and sat down and rested the swim for a bit and made my first cast.
true to form i then had a clonking great bite and after a good fight a 6lb barbel graced the net.I didn't enjoy catching this fish as i had foul hooked it in the pelvic fin which was not on purpose but i feel it suggests a few barbel competing for the freebies in the swim.
so the next cast didn't produce too much but then the last cast of the afternoon produced a fine bream which just about made my day.

Next trip to the river will see me there for a longer session going into night and will see what i can find few more of these size bream would be nice though this one went 8lb very fat dark fish which was the broadest bream i have seen for a while.

My Barbel Day and My Ways

Let me remind you of my earlier post which said this is my year.... well after yesterday it is. I arrived at a weir pool on the Thames and saw i was the only person on the stretch and after thanking various deity's (like to hedge my bets !!) i put all my tackle out ready but i followed Des Taylor's advice and before i had even set up my chair i put some bait out not a lot mind you but about 15 boiles and some pellets.
So i then set up all the tackle and tied a new rig and used a new brand of hooks to nylon which sort of confused me a bit because who ever had tied them had made them too small for boile stops,not to worry said my friend who had come and sat near me use some grass so i did.
I use a Shakespeare mach 2 barbel rod and a fox reel and the end tackle was a running ledger rig with a single 16mm boile and i managed to cast the bait to just in front of the weir pool gates.As many do i put the rod in a high rest to keep the line out of the water as the snags in front of me are quite bad and sat back to wait while chatting to my mate.
We watched the rod tip and after a couple of minutes the rod tip banged down twice and then hooped over with the clutch screaming "that's a barbel said my mate" "no kidding "was my reply. after a spirited fight 6lb of barbel was landed and i was a happy chappy. i didn't tell my mate until afterwards that this in fact was a first for me as i hadn't caught a barbel previously so happy was a understatement.
So after calming down two pictures later and a fish safely returned i re-baited and recast and it happened all again this time the fight went on a bit longer and a barbel of 81/4lb graced my net. The whole session after that was a blur but i finished of with two bream the biggest going  9lb and i got smashed up by something i just couldn't stop possibly one of the big carp that live in the river pool.
So is this my year i think so.................

Well it's time again

So the glorious 16th has been and gone again for another year. This year i realised a childhood ambition and fished opening day on the Kennett and although i didn't catch a thing i had a very pleasant morning followed by a evening on a stretch of the Thames.
I returned to the same stretch of the Thames today and got dropped off by my daughter who well done to her passed her test on Friday,we arrived at 830am and she left me too it and for the first time in a long time i took a stove and cooked food and boiled water for coffee.I don't know about you but flask coffee tastes completely different to fresh made coffee and sausage in a bun tasted well as only outdoor food could.All this made the day go with a swing and it mattered not one bit i didn't catch a thing but hey who cares.
So back to today's issue or what i saw as a issue but know realise was not really.I sat there today just upstream of a well known Berkshire town and saw the armada that's is known as pleasure boats come sailing past me good job i had some back leads and was able to pin the line to the deck. Big boats were just plain rude a number of times i thought that i was going to get swamped by the wash but just managed to move back in the nick of time. But the rivers there for all and i suppose i can fish into the evening/night and that will solve that issue.

Day Ticket woes

Yesterday i went fishing with a friend and his 9 year old daughter to a local and well known day ticket water where i assured them that they will catch fish and put a bend in there rods.Well first put in i caught a carp after a typical rod wrenching bite until i got it on the bank to see about 6lb of mirror carp which should have weighed judging by the fight at least 25lb and apart from some missed bites that was that for me.My friends daughter didn't to to well until the afternoon when after listening to her dad moan at the tangles etc i set up a 5mr whip for her to use thinking it would be easier for her. Now on went the float and the hook was a 18 to 6lb line straight through and sweetcorn on the hook finished the job off a treat. We put the float out where she thought it should go and baited around the hook with some corn and a scattering of hemp.
So following some advice like don't let go of the pole i went back to my swim and carried on,about 5mins later i heard zzzzzzizzzzzip and turned round to see the pole shoot across the lake being towed by a angry carp and looked down to a little face which just stared at the water. Well no harm done, after a walk around to the other side to regain the pole and to see the fish had got off with no damage done i went back to my swim and chatted while they packed up as it was home time.
I then fished on but moved onto another lake which is full of small carp and had about 30 fish in a hour which was great fun but after a while i was glad of the call to say time to come and get me please yes love was the reply and after the one last cast you just have to have i packed up and left.
not long to go until the rivers open i have booked the day off and then booked the weekend off as well and just cause i could i booked the next two days off as well so day one will be the Kennett in berks and perhaps the Thames in Windsor day two could be the Thames again and hen i just don't know i may try the fishers stretch of the lea as well as its on my ticket but hey lets wait and see........

The Meeting

This week i have attended  the first AGM of a fishing club that i have ever been to. To say i was a touch disappointed with the whole thing would be a understatement in fact it was a period of time out of my life i am unlikely to get back. To start with to have a agm and hardly any of the committee turn up to it is unheard off and secondly the acting president stated not once but several times that the club lack new blood but when i volunteered it seems that they were all more interested in going to the pub than sorting out what was going on with what is one of the oldest fishing society's in the country.
Ok rant over on a lighter note i have been waiting for the river season to open and while I'm waiting i have been to some commercial fisheries and the two i have been to have been very impressive to say the least but i do miss the running water roll on the 16th.

Ok sunday didn't happen

but wednesday might. But the question is do i goto a club lake or do i go to a day ticket lake?.

Ok Sunday not Friday

Ok well I'm hoping to go out Sunday morning for a few hours at least.Going to go tench fishing so i know have to go to a tackle shop and buy some small bits and bobs but I'm not gonna but any maggots.SHOCK HORROR i know spring tench fishing with no maggots what ever next?.Well every time i use maggots i end up being distracted by Roach these fish just captivate me all silver and flashes of red fins and they almost seem regal in there appearance.One of the best books i have in my collection is by John Baily and its called Roach "The gentle giants" and i feel that's a fantastic title for these little and some not so little fish.
So back on track,I'm gonna need some fine wire wide gape hook's some sweetcorn and some new hook link material and ok so I'm not that good some casters i cant go tench fishing without casters and as I'm on the allotment all day tomorrow i should have a big load of worms as well oh yeah and don't forget the hemp seed.
And a bit controversial i know but i need some new fake baits but I'm gonna try the pre- glugged ones in a flavour.
So sit tight and await my next post.....

Friday's cancelled

I know i know,but Friday is not going to be the day of rest I thought it would be to start with there is the weather to contend with now i don't mind a bit of rain but I'm not sure i fancy sitting there with 12ft of carbon and lightening crashing down that would make my hair curly.
I see that the great closed season debate is raging on a treat within the angling forums and various other forms of media communication i grew up with the closed season in all it's glory's including the lakes and canals being closed in fact i can remember the only way to go fishing in those days was to a well known west London lake and fish any method for trout.Amazing what you could catch on sweetcorn not sure though many trout were caught on boiles though.....
So fishing this weekend may have to be early on Sunday but I'm not to sure as i want to spend time at home but as the wife is working Sunday morning may be the time to try a big pit for the spring tench who I'm hoping are close in the margins and waiting to spawn or have spawned and in any case will be hungry, but if i see that they are spawning i will turn around and come away as spawning fish are not to be disturbed as they are making next years and the years after that's sport.

Friday Feeling

I'm off work again on Friday and will be going fishing but as its a bank holiday I am on hand to taxi wife and child to work but i am going fishing in the day.
My problem is where to go,I'm a tight arse to be honest so i wont be going anywhere which will cost me money to fish.But and its a big but that sort of narrows it down to the choice of two club lakes and a large lake in west London and of course the canal.
Now i like fishing the canal as its where i started fishing many moons ago but it seems to have lost the fish that were once there,i used to fish the grand union between uxbridge and west drayton and you could count on a good bag of roach and perch and if you got it right you would see the rare bream and the occasional tench,not now I'm afraid. now there are many reasons for this decline it could be pollution but i doubt that that stretch of canal had a lot of pollution issues but the industry's have now gone into decline so I don't think its that.It could be predation not many mink and certainly no otters but there are a few Cormorants about this area.These birds are here as a result of there natural food stocks being depleted at sea so as any living thing would they have turned to the nearest food source they can find which is in the waters we all fish and manage.   Now this leaves only one other possible predator yes its been written and i have seen it for myself but I'm sorry to say its man.I'm not going into the whole debate regarding why you shouldn't take fish from the canal for the pot because well its just wrong but I'm going to explain to the next person i see catching a pike/bream/carp/perch that killing it and eating it will and could leave you open to all sort of problems mainly what the hell is in the water in the canal.........                                                                                                                                  So Friday may well see me on the canal just for the sheer bloody mindedness and stubbornness i am known for i will catch a lump from there i will.........                                      

How lucky is

I was asked last week by some friends about possible day ticket lakes that they could goto this weekend it being easter and all. After much disscusion which is allways the way with fishing friends they diecided to goto Orchid lakes near Abingdon in the very nice county of Oxfordshire. Now Orchid lakes is not somewhere i have fished before but i sort of remeber a review about it and so they went off on friday morning,well leaving from Marlow in Bucks and going to Abingdon its a easy run down the M4 or M40 and well stright there almost,having got half way and having to turn back because one of them forgot his rods!. i mean how could you forget your rods there one of the most importent things without them you would not be able to fish they managed to get to the lakes and finding it very busy set themselves up on the club lake.
One of the party is a die hard carp angler and the other is a genral if it swims type of fisherman so two different approaches, the carp angler has caught up untill now 8 carp into mid teens and two bream.Now having fished alongside the carp man before i know what tatics he uses and im not supprised he has caught that amount im suprised he has not caught more but thats fishing. Now to the other member of the party he up untill know has caught three bream,one tench and a 30lb catfish !! on a boile.
Now these are two good friends who fish together quite a bit and who have been on many fishing adventures including a trip to france this year where the carp man caught a 25lb carp and the anything that swims guy caught a 36lb carp.
So i guess im trying to work out is a single species approach to fishing the right way or is it better to hedge your bets and catch whatever is feeding in your swim. But i suppose thats why we go fishing.........

Today i missed

Being able to pick up my rods and wander down to the Thames just for the time of day when boris and his mates might come out and inspect my bacon grill.Of course its the closed season on rivers i i fancy some moving water i have to goto the canal and there i find some solace untill the river opens again.
Ho hum well i didn't go anywhere insted i'm going to watch a freebie dvd starring Matt Hayes some people love him some people loath him me i don't mind him some times i even follow his advice and some times it works.

I watched a clip of him catching tench one evening and as you can see from the picture his advice worked on that occasion.7lb of spring tench caught from a old estate lake in bucks run by a good club but thats now behind me im in a different club now so we will have to see what happens.......

Why do we go fishing?

Do you as i do go fishing to escape the day to day stress of life ?. I know when i'm by the water i tend to drift off into my own little world and as the wife says "you lose all track of time" o can sit there at 8am and before i know it is 4pm and im supposed to be picking up somebody from somewhere i  make it just in time but there have been some close calls (sorry !!)
Last year and in fact the start of this year i have been captavated by a weirpool on the river Thames.

                                                        View downstream
This pool just says fish me and fish me now,so for 8 months once or twice a week at different times of the day including nights i fished and by god did i fish i went through the whole amoury of baits,pellets,meat,maggotts,worms,boiles,paste,bread. And caught what? 2 bream that's what 2 snotty slimy (but welcome) bream.
And yes before you ask there are fish there how do i know because one of the people who tell us fishermen when we are sat there minding our own business told me so............         

My First .

Ok,well i thought that i should try this blogging thingy out as my wife has obviously gained a lot out of her blog and with her help here i am.
My name is Andy and i go fishing,there thats better know i have told you all my sordid secret i feel sort of a sense of freedom now.
I'm going to tell you all of my exploits over the coming fishing season including the ups and many downs of my attempts to catch fish and hopefully show you what i have caught and what happens around me while i'm fishing. I'm not going to try to show you the technical side of what i do as there are a lot of sites to do that and quite frankly they know more than me!.
As I work shifts i tend to go fishing during the week and this brings it's advantages such as i dont have to talk to many people.Dont get me wrong i'm a nice person (some of the time) but i just can not be arsed answering the same question time and time again conversations go along these lines..
"Caught much mate?" reasonable question i think my answer is "nope" reasonable answer.
Proper thing for my visitor to do is to then leave but no they dont "i had loads from here last week on meat" im now thinking good for you i'm crap at fishing and i dont need to be reminded of that thank's now go away.My reply is along the lines of" ahh well if you dont try you will never know" and i then start to ignore my visitor but not even this works with some so i resort to my last resort i plug my headphones back in to my ipod/phone and drown my oh so very helpful visitor out with some Paul Weller or Ian Brown.

I suppose your going to call me anti-social or rude or whatever, if i wanted to talk i would but i'm fishing......