29th June 1st real spot of Bristol Avon barbel fishing
Armed with some hemp and pellets I headed off to fish an area of the Bristol Avon where I knew a few larger barbel remained. The Bristol Avon barbel numbers have been decimated by otters. Some will say it's a gap in year class, other will cite the floods of 2007 and 2009. But when you look at it closely where there are →
Sunday 26th June, The great summer roach hunt
John and I had decided to walk the Bristol Avon to see where we could find the large roach that inhabit the river. Summer time gives a great opportunity to try and find these beautiful fish. The sun was shinning and it was 28c so very good spotting conditions. We started at the very top end of the river on a trout →
Thanks Hugh Miles
About two weeks or so ago I put a site on my blog about the Avon roach project. Which explains what work is being done to improve the roach population of the Hampshire Avon. Huge Miles has made this now into a 15 minute story. Well done Hugh a magnificent effort again.
June 24th 2 carp off the top in the rain
I bailiff a small lake that is a mixed fishery close to where I live, well it's 6 minutes in the car. The lake has some good carp to over 20lbs in there and many other doubles. With the rain pouring down ( I wish they hadn't mentioned the drought) I headed to the lake to check permits and day tickets. I →
June 22nd Bristol Avon and first barbel of the season
I've resisted taking the rods out when looking at the Bristol Avon for barbel so far, that is until today. Normally I take a bucket of hemp and place it in different swims and just observe what turns up. Today I was visiting a stretch I intend to fish this year as there are still a few doubles to be had. On →
Tinkering with the tench rigs
I said that I would show the change of rig that might have just made a difference on my last session on Horseshoe. I have changed main line too. My mate Alan Thomas keeps telling me about the Korda Kontour fluoracarbon main line. I decided to get some. On small reel spools and the amount of twist you get it's what →
June 17th the show goes on and on!
Previous years saw me fishing the river on the 16th, but last year I missed out on some huge tench that came out, fish of over 11lbs, it wasn't going to happen this year. The previous day had seen me catch some beautiful tench and two over 9lbs as well. The night had been cold and clear, with a full moon. I was →
June 16th Horseshoe lake
Well you can see from the previous blog my session started well with a fish 5 minutes after casting out. So with hemp and dead maggots out I recast at 3.50am to the spots. During the previous day, Steve a carper from up north had moved into the next swim. He seemed a really nice guy and even asked if he could →
June 13th Little Horseshoe
Richard Snelson who is in the Tench Fishers ask me if he could spend a while just looking at what I use tackle wise and how I approach tench fishing in general. Richard is a very accomplished fly fisherman and wanted to turn his hand to a bit of coarse fishing. We decided that Little Horseshoe might be a good option it's →
June 12th
The rain has been pouring down since 5am this morning and the garden is getting a much needed soaking. The air temperature is 11c which will cool the lakes down a little. This should confuse the tench and carp further about whether to spawn or not. I need to sort my tackle out ready for the week and normally do this in the garden, →
6th and 7th June Horseshoe lake
I woke to a cloudy day and recast out at 4.20am. The rigs were the same as before. The rods didn't get any action during the night. Soon I had a good run which produced a small tench of 2lbs 1oz. Then at 4.35pm a small tench rolled over the baited area, this normally means that a bite is not too far away. →
5th June Horseshoe lake
I was one of the last people to leave Horseshoe lake before the junior carp fish-in and I was 7th back on the lake after. I had thought that the lake opened on the Saturday night at 5pm and I was surprised to find when I arrived at 4.15pm on the Sunday to find guy's lined up outside waiting to get inside. →
3rd June Little Horseshoe lake Cotswold Water Park
Dave Rogerson the leader of the gang of the Tench Fishers in the Mid West region had been telling us stories of this lovely little gravel pit in the Cotswold Water park. The Little Horseshoe fishery is run by WaterMark and can be fished on a £15 day ticket purchased from the Tackle Den shop which is close by. The lake →
Horseshoe Lake 31st May to 1st June
So this was due to be a very short session on Horseshoe as the junior carper were due a teach-in session for the weekend and I needed to be off by 12.00 noon. So it was 30hrs. I arrived at 7am in the morning to find that summer bay was almost empty of anglers. The weed is not growing too much. What is →
Tuesday 24th May Horseshoe
Ian had fished Horseshoe before and his Pb carp had come from there of over 30lbs. This time the target was for a large tench. We arrived at 7am and I started to fish as Ian needed to get a ticket at 8.30am. There had been very few carp out the day before. However a couple of the Scottish Tench Fishers who stayed on had →
Monday 23rd May Great Somerfords Moor lake
Ian had wanted to catch some tench and there cannot be a better water to fish then the Moor lake at Great Somerford. The lake is about 8 acres in size and produces plenty of tench to 8lbs. There is little weed but plenty of food for them to grow on. We agreed to meet near to the fishery. We were soon →