The Complete Fisher Forum

[drsixty7]

I didn't know which section to put this is in so fcuk it I may as well start one of these things...

Just got back from our annual jaunt on the canals of Great Britain, in this instance it was a week on the very pleasant Kennet and Avon canal from Hilperton to Bath and then on to Bristol-ish on the Avon. It's a family holiday but I have always taking the liberty of packing a rod or two, makes sense really as we're spending a week surrounded by water and frequenting as many watering holes a possible along the way. In the past two years the trip has included three generations of the family, me, the wife, ankle biters and now the infamous father in law! True to form he came along this time with more fishing coarse paraphernalia than proper luggage whereas I was travelling light with a 6ft 3wt brook fly rod and an 8ft fly/spinner combo jobbie incase i fancied going back to my roots of canal fishing. It was the brook rods first outing and I cut a strange figure on the banks of the canal trying in vain to temp anything with an f-fly, there were tons of takes but in reality the fish were probably too small for the fly, meanwhile the old fox was filling his boots with bream, roach and a couple of Eel (from the Avon) with his many concoctions of exotic meats, maggots and tinned veggies.

[IMG]http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h126/drsixty7/th_IMG_0972_zpsa5980f14.mp4[/IMG]

After a couple of the days on the Rover Avon we started on the return back to base along the K&A canal mooring up at the Dundas Aqueduct it was time to give the old float fishing another bash, no pussy footing about though size 8 hook, a random float set at an estimated depth of mid water and a massive blob of the cheapest bread money can buy... quick flick about two foot from the side of the boat and then feet up...



Then the following day at Bradford on Avon, same set up...



I did manage to christen the fly rod but only with an embarrassingly small chub the size of my thumb that fell to a damsel, still its a start.
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[fossil-fish]

Excellent. They look more like the hybrids we get over here than proper bream. Great fish though and sounds like fun fishing. I have found light spinning gear a great way to sneak some fishing when the car is packed with luggage and family. The modern LRF style rods with light drop shot rigs are a really fun way to fish. Small drop shot lures will catch perch but sticking a worm on will catch anything. One from the Erne yesterday.



Brilliant first entry to your log.

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[drsixty7]

Thanks FF, that carp did have a tench look about it too. Amazes me how anything can survive in such murky water let alone find a spawning partner, no wonder they're all a bit mixed up. So a Carp/Tench hybrid, would that make it a Tarp?
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[Whistlekiller]

Although I've never seen one myself, there's a short article about Tench/Carp and Tench/Bream hybridisation on this link Mick:

Reciprocal Gubbins

The fish Michael's referring to on his side of the Irish Sea are usually Bream/Roach hybrids. Boach?

On the subject of the murky depths, you show me one bloke who can't manage it at an orgy with all the lights turned out.


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[Bazza]

[BristolFlyer]

Best blog name ever !!!

[drsixty7]

Unlikely to be a Tarp then
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[BlankDay]

Got the letters the wrong way round Mick.
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[Whistlekiller]

[drsixty7]

[drsixty7]

[drsixty7]

Sometimes you just get a calling from the wild to get out there and go fishing, with the recent news of new management at my most local fishery Halliford Mere, the calling has been getting louder and louder. So I decided a week ago that today would be day to scratch the itch but as the week progressed the weather forecast looked less and less recommendable until yesterday when it was unquestionably bad and probably adviseable to cancel but if the elinor social of 2013 tought me anything it is that fish don't seem to mind the rain and it wasn't as bad as that Friday. I'd already been to the lakes a couple of times to check out what was going on and on arrival it was obvious that the fish were high in the water, jumping and in numbers too. Halliford as a reputation for being a difficult place to fish, deservedly so for its limited back casting in lots of swims but there's been a lot of cutting back carried out giving much more freedom.

Kevin Zimfisherboy arrived shortly after me and we were given a warm greeting by new manager Gerry who despite the unpromising rain had prepared the coffee and a warm fire in the lodge should we need it, nice touch. A sneaky look in the catch log showed that Cats Whisker was producing the goods along with Montanas and black blue flash damsels. On our last day fishing together at Elinor Kev had a great day fishing Wickhams Fancy's or something similar, after a brief discussion about whether that tactic might work under similar conditions today I deciced to try what I'd seen in the book, white and green cat.

We headed over to the furthest bank from the restaurant where there was a lot of activity, after a couple of speculative casts at rises I chucked a few under a tree, retrieving across a patch of lily pads, I nailed one on the hang just before I plucked the fly out of the water, ten minutes in, one fish, great start! Twenty minutes or so later another came at the same spot, same tactics. For the next hour I flogged that swim to death ignoring the advice to move if a swim doesn't produce after 20 minutes, Kev had moved quite some time before but then he's the most proactive fishermen I can think of. I wandered into the next clearing, there were fish there but they weren't interested in what I was offering and by this time I was trying some alternatives, orange blob, foam head cat, black hopper, even an f-fly!

The one most annoying thing about bank fishing is the snags on the bank, one clearing in particular had so many twigs and small branches on the ground it was virtually impossible to get a cast going, maybe the SKB boys can invent a landing net with optional rake attachment? You can have that one for free lads!

The next swim up was directly facing the point, fishing the channel, there is a small lily pad to the right and again there were fish in the vicinity. Back on the cat now I chucked one to the left of the lilies and before I'd had chance to dress the line one took it! Now the advice to move after twenty minutes of no fish was sinking in, I'd done well when the swim had been unaffected by anglers for a while, so I gave it another ten minutes before moving along to the arm of the point, along the way it was quite clear that the fish are nicely dispersed around the lake and if I'd had more time I'd have covered every swim but time was running out. On my approach to the bank facing teachers corner I'd not been at my subtlest, spooking a fish close in at the bank, that told me there were fish here to so I took heart. That particular swim produced nothing but lost me a cats whisker to a beech tree. On to the next clearing facing the cattle grid (or whatever it is) and on with a Montana, first cast at a swirl and I'm in, I took my time with this one not because it was of any great size but if netted it would be my fourth and a personal best at HM and so it proved. I gave it another ten unsuccessful minutes, lost the Montana to a branch and called time on a brilliant mornings fun!

Back at the restaurant we were joined by the owners, Gerry and returned stalwart Pete, all three anglers had returned four apiece!

It was only once the action had stopped that I realised my jacket had come second to the weather and I was soaked, my trousers had held up better than Kevs had though and he was off for a sauna afterwards, why worry it's only rain, don't let it get in the way of your plans or you might miss out on some great memories.

HM is back and in the coming months will only get better and better, and if piking is your thing they're in there and up to the 30lb mark, I've seen the photos!
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From.a silk purse to a pigs ear

[Officer Clipboard]

Nice reporting there Mick!
For the record, I was working. I have been fishing in much worse weather!!
Will try to come next time!
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[drsixty7]

Having missed out on the recent 'mini social' at Halliford Mere and taking an enforced 'rain check' on the SKB Ladybower event I deciced to make it up to myself with a hastily arranged morning session at the rejuvenated Mere. With the Elinor Spring social rapidly approaching I've been spending some time at the vice and cultivating an unhealthy obsession with the sport. Having recently acquired a new reel with a full compliment of lines it seemed the sensible thing to do to give the new set up a try out before the big event next month!

I couldn't get there soon enough this morning, the sun was shining, there was a light breeze, there were fish rising, it was all set up for a great few hours. The problem I find with a half day is fighting the urge to dive in and just get fishing rather than taking my time to watch the water and see what's going on. The advice from the lodge was something black, fished about a foot down with a slow retrieve. Seeing as I had already tied on a white damsel I decided to give it a go in Teachers corner, where there was evidence of fish being there, no takes, follows, nothing. Heeding the earlier advice a then went with a black Montana, still nothing as I approached the point. Fishing from the point was another angler, Richard, who'd recently return to fishing following a ten year absence. He'd had some success already with three fish to the net. He suggested I take his place on the point and fish something resembling the large PTN that he'd caught his three on. The nearest fly I had was a Diawl Bach, but that drew no interest. Time to unleash the 'Arnold J Rimmer Holographic Damsel', four or five cast brought a couple of confidence boosting takes but it was now officially one of 'those' sessions when the fish rise in the places where you just been! I've previously had success in the corner opposite the lodge and with a stiffening breeze blowing down the lake from the access road it could be argued that the fish could be feeding on anything blown on the water from the trees. After ten minutes or so and now allowing the damsel nymph to sink for about 20 seconds I got sight of a following fish that turned away at the last minute. After a couple of duplicated casts I lifted into a fish and successfully brought it to the net. Unfortunately apart from one other follow and one more take that was as good as it was going to get. Still a bad morning fishing beats a good day working. Roll on Elinort, can't wait.
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[drsixty7]

I've got a theory about theories, they can't be trusted.
After watching a recent episode of Totally Awesome Fishing in which Graeme Pullen theorises about good fishing coming immediately after the breakdown of a warm spell and following the first rain for a good few days I thought I'd sneak out early Sunday morning under the cover of it being Father's Day'. It was overcast on arrival at Halliford Mere and fish could be seen rising all over lake one, the weather theory had me in confident mood boosted by the previous day's re-stocking of lake one. On previous visits I've tended to be in too much of a hurry to he fishing instead of taking my time and watching the water first, so this time I put the theory to the test and soon spotted a fish rising, it was having none of the flies I had in tandem, green blue flash damsel on point followed by Diawl Bach and GRHE on droppers. Moving along to 'The Point' it was clear there was a significant damsel hatch going on, particularly in the reeds to the right of the point, so matching that hatch with the blue flash damsel would appear to be the correct satisfy that theory, think again, still nothing doing. I moved to the left side of the point were I spotted a number of fish charging around near the margins on the near bank and close to the gravel bar further out. This produced nothing more than half a dozen ambitious Perch, the firs perch I've ever caught on a fly but not what I was looking for. Having moved around and with the sun coming out I found a small clearing in a weed patch that held three or four fish that looked to be taking something off the top, I know I'll switch to dries with an F-Fly, I had a couple of takes by parch again but nothing at all from the trout. Watching the water again for more clues there were clouds and clouds of fry so on with a cats whisker, once sgain I drew nought except for more attention from the pesky perch. And that was it for my half day, a big fat zero! Maybe I didn't try enough different flies but I tried every kind of retrieve and counting the flies down to cover the depths, the only consolation being that no one else was catching either. Back at the lodge the owners reckoned my blank was due to me fishing 8lb leader instead of their recommended 4lb, I'll test that theory next time out, after all 8lb served me well in the sunshine at Elinor, so why not today? Theories, damned theories!


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From.a silk purse to a pigs ear