Showing posts with label Hampshire Avon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Hampshire Avon. Show all posts
23 January 2022
31 December 2021
19 December 2020
08 November 2020
07 November 2020
1st Nov 20 Salisbury and District AC match Hampshire Avon
Today it was off to the Hampshire Avon for my first club match on the Avon of the year.
I got to the draw that was being run as
a rolling draw to keep everyone safe and I was given peg 14 out of the bucket,
I had no idea where or what this was but a couple of the guys pointed me into
the direction of an area known as the high bank.
On arrival I realised that I was
carrying far to much kit as I had got a little bit warm on the walk from the
car, I was met with a fast flowing stretch of shallow water under my feet and a
slack produced by a branch in the water on the far bank, in all it would have
looked better with another 2 foot of water in the river but beggars cannot be
choosers (I would have moaned if the river was spot on for this peg anyway!) and
I stared to set my kit up for the day.
Plan was to start on bread and then
swap to maggot or caster as the day went on and then feed for a chub for the
last hour, so I set up a Chub float rod, Roach float rod and a pole rig for
across.
At the all in I used the pole to feed a
small ball of bread into the crease downstream of my position and then I started
on an 11mm Punch hoping to snare an early chub, well long story short, I didn’t
managed to snare a chub bit I did get a few roach and loads of minnows for 4lb
10oz I think it was.
I really struggled to get more than 2
fish in a row from any area of the swim, I think it was due to the shallow
water and water clarity but I really had to hunt around for any fish. I was
also properly beaten up by the minnows as they were even eating treble caster! It
was still a nice day and some of the guys had great days with two 18lb+ weights
of roach coming in from in the town.
I didn’t hang around as was soon
getting a nice warm shower and my tea.
What
would I do different:
Draw
better and stay on bread all day, I only switched to wriggly baits as I thought
it was the done thing but maybe the feeder next time?!?! I don’t know this time.
Use
BB’s a bulk on crow quill to help with catching the correct flow!
Rigs
used:
Chub float:
Rod: Cadence 15ft #2
Reel: Cadence CS10 4000
Line: 4lb sensor, 0.11mm-0.15mm Stream hook length
Hook: 13-11 B711
Float: 4g Drennan Loafer shotted with an olivette and bulk
Roach float:
Rod: Cadence 15ft #0
Reel: Cadence CS10 4000
Line: 3.2lb Drennan floatfish, 0.11mmStream hook length
Hook: 16 B560
Float: 2g handmade crow quill later stepped up to 3g due
to the wind.
Pole:
Elastic:
Preston 13H through 1 section
Line:
0.13mm to 0.11mm Powerline
Hook:
16 B560
Float:
1g Drennan glow tip 3
01 February 2020
Avoiding the Blank 20 Part 1
So here is my fist Vlog of 2020.
I have spent most of my time chasing Chub on Rivers and Roach on Still waters over the last month.
I hope you enjoy.
I have spent most of my time chasing Chub on Rivers and Roach on Still waters over the last month.
I hope you enjoy.
31 December 2017
End of year catch up 2017
Well that was 2017 then, out of all of my gaols for the
year I managed to achieve 1 in that I won the R.Sigs Coarse Angling Champs
again and came close with another by coming second for the second year running
In the R.Sigs Carp Champs. I did get to
fish both in both Corps teams though, however, I don’t feel like I have had the
rub of the green this year and it has been a series of near misses and calamities.
So to the last couple of weeks, my traditional end of the
year usually sees me slogging it out on a carp lake somewhere hoping for a rod
to rattle off, well this year I thought I would catch some fish.
I started on the Dorset Stour at nutford, it kind of
summed up my year really, I spent loads on bait, carried too much kit to the
river, then proceeded to break my cupping kit whilst balling in only to find that the roach were not there
and I ended up on a mighty blank….. So enough of that. I even moved swims to one that looked bob on
for a perch to sit there for 3 hours without a sniff on worm!!
The next day I popped down to the Nadder as I had heard
that some good weights had come off a couple of pegs at the top of the stretch,
I fished my little cotton socks off for a small chub and some bits in 3 hours
before a dog walker came past and told me that a couple of guys had emptied it
the day before…… I am spotting a theme here.
Anyway I moved to the last swim above Harnham mill and proceeded to get
a few nice roach and a hybrid lined up until a massive essox decided to eat
everything that I hooked. I packed up
early and went home with my tail between my legs.
It was Thursday now and I was allowed out for a couple of
hours in the morning, off to the Lords walk I went and had a lovely few hours
annoying the small dace along that stretch.
I bumped into another club member and he told me I wouldn’t catch anything
big on maggot, so I stopped off at Tesco on my way home and blitzed some bread
for the Friday….
Reinvigorated and with my kit stripped down even more I
pulled up at the River Avon upstream of Salisbury, the day was brilliant as I
had a few hours in the morning catching roach to 10oz and Dace to 8 oz on my
17ft float rod and a small crowquill trotting breadflake at them.
Unfortunately
a pike moved in again so I decided to move downstream a bit where I fancied it
for a chub. Same tackle and tactics and
I was rewarded with a small chub and a lovely net of roach and dace.
My next trip out was after Christmas and I had to endure
waking up to a mini blizzard, still I had things to do so I ignored my nice
warm bed and drove up to Swindon to get a new cupping kit from Lee and then
doubled back to Great Bedwyn to try and snag a big perch or two. The drive was horrendous, it wasn’t the snow
on the road but the trees that had given up under the weight of the snow that
was causing the issues, I made it to the canal at about nine but because my man
flu was making me feel the cold I was off by one in the afternoon. I had managed 10 roach, a waspie perch and a
small skimmer so at least the float had gone under a couple of times.
 |
| New friend!! |
Next day out was the Friday again and I decided to try
the other bank of Lords walk, it was a nice few hours but quite frustrating as
the wind was horrendous, I had a few trout trtotting bread flake but had to set
up a light bread feeder to catch a Grayling.
I enjoyed it none the less.
So that’s it 2017 done, I am still trying to beat my PB
carp that has stood for 12 years now and I will be trying hard again to do
better in the Army angling groups both match and carp. I will also be trying to keep this a bit more
up to date although “I went to the lake and blanked!! Again!” is all you may
get.
I hope that your 2017 was a good year and lets all hope
that 2018 is better.
05 February 2017
Carpy Catch up January 17
The beginning
of January was proper winter fishing, due to most of the lakes in the area being
frozen it started with a trip to the Avon where I managed to get a nice morning
of roach fishing on the tip and float, I took my video camera and it can be
found here:
The following
week however there was a small low front that I had to get onto the club lake
for, it was a long cold night with not even a liner to show for it… it was time
for a rethink.
Once again
the lakes were frozen or at least not too appealing that weekend, so the plan
was for a trip to the Avon chasing Grayling and dace, I managed a few and had a
nice morning.
Next week
saw me getting away for a Wednesday afternoon, with the weather being rubbish.. High
pressure and clear skies I decided on a trip to Todber Manor, I fished on one
of their new match lakes and managed a few small carp. (ok tiny). The video is below but misses out on the part
where John the fishery owner laughed at me for having to don my waders and try
to remove a snag. It turned out to be an
umbrella!!! Fought well on a 0.24mm
Powerline hooklength.
There is a special message at the end aswell.
Due to the
cold weather the lakes were frozen again for the last couple of weekends, I
ended up on the river both times and had some nice fish but I really need to
catch a carp again soon.
Only a short
blog but until next month, Tight lines.
22 January 2016
19 Jan 16 Hampshire Avon
I had a day off from work today and I had decided that I
would be back off to the Avon to try and catch a Chub, the main goal though was
to try different hooks out on the float as I have been suffering hook pulls of
late. I stayed up late tying hooks in
various patterns and sizes to various lines and could feel the cold leaking
into my fishing room, so when my alarm went off and the wife told me that there
had been a hard frost, I ignored it and had a lay in. I got to the river at about 10 O’clock and
the thermometer had barely read above freezing the whole way, I had a quick
recce on another stretch before finding myself parking up where I had been on
Saturday.
This time I had packed my seatbox so I was able to keep
my feet dry on my platform and I started on the float, due to the depth and
flow I set up a 6 no.4 lignum stick and I was soon happily trotting down the
far bank crease but, my hook pulling spell continued and in the first 40
minutes or so I lost 5 decent fish but still managed to land a chub of about
2lb and a trout of a pound.
So the pattern continued for another couple of hours
until I was unable to get a bite anywhere in the swim, at this point I decided
to set up the feeder, I had managed a few small trout and a grayling on top of
the earlier fish by this point and the feeder was brilliant for about 20
minutes with a bite a chuck resulting in a lot of missed bites but a few decent
dace and grayling.
After about an hour I was varying feeder size and packing
the feeder with hemp to reduce the amount of maggot going in the swim when I
hooked a good fish, it tried to run under the trees downstream but I turned it
from them and then it ran upstream, just as it got opposite me the fluorocarbon
hooklength hit an unseen snag and parted about halfway down. I was not impressed.
I started to alternate now between the float along the
inside which gave me a number of small
trout and grayling and the feeder won which the bites had reduced and were just
as hard to hit, just as the sun was starting to set though the tip bounced and
dropped back and I lifted into another decent fish. This time the hooklength broke on my double
figure of 8 knot at the top of the hooklength as I was trying to turn the fish
from the trees. I will get it sorted
soon.
After that bites dried up and the temperature plummeted
so I decided to call it a day, I bumped into Simon and Dave from whom I managed
to glean a little information and I will have to see where I decide to go
tomorrow.
A quick video of the session can be found here:
What would I do different?
Sounds like Corn is the bait of choice for the Chub along
the stretch so it may have to be start on big baits next time.
Tackle used:
Float:
Rod: Drennan Acolyte 14ft
Reel: Daiwa TDM 2508
Line: 0.16 Shimano invisitec (Off the front of Angling
Times I think)
Hook: Various, best at moment 16 Carbon feeder
Float: Dave Harrell Pointed Lignum stick six No.4
Feeder:
Rod: Drennan Medium feeder at 12ft 6 inch, 3oz tip.
Reel: Daiwa TDM 4012
Line: 8lb sensor various hooklengths
Hook: Various, best 14 Carbon Feeder
Feeder: Various, mainly small 30g black cap and small 30g
vari weight feeder.
18 January 2016
A day on the Avon
I decided to go river fishing this weekend after I had
seen the weather forecast and I am glad that I did, the van thermometer barely
got above freezing on my trip to the river and it was a raw day when I was
setting up. I was on the Hampshire Avon
in Salisbury and my first swim was basically the first spot along the boardwalk
that took my fancy.
Here is the shot of my last bag.
As you can see I was very close to the footpath so I
constantly had close encounters of the doggy kind, anyway, I started on a feeder
across to the slack in the picture, I had a bite a chuck for the first hour but
I struggled to convert them into fish and I managed 1 small roach and a minnow
in this time, I had also lost what was a decent fish possibly a chub and was
not impressed with my rustiness on flowing water. I decided to set up a stick
float to see if that would improve my bite to fish ratio and on my second run
through I had a small grayling hang itself but alas that was it. After a fruitless half hour I decided to get
on my toes and explore this stretch of river, I had the trolley with me and was
pleasantly surprised by how good the path to and along the river actually is.
My second spot was down by the fire station and there was
a lovely looking pool just above a foot bridge, whilst I was watching the water
a small fish topped concreting my decision to fish there.
I decided to fish the stick as the swim looked to have
nice depth and a decent flow, it was a good call as over the next hour or so I
managed 5 small roach all on the stick and maggot, as I was deciding whether or
not to move I cast a lobworm out into the middle of the pool on the tip, but
the only bite was me eating my lunch.
So I decided to move upstream on my way I found this
small pond that had not defrosted all day.
The next spot that I found was a swim called the kissing
gate, as it is a known Chub haunt I was soon setting my kit up in it. Due to the speed of the water and the fact
that I had quite a bit of bait at my disposal I decided to attack the swim with
the feeder.
Casting across to the small slack I was quickly rewarded with indications
but again I was struggling to hit them, I tried changing the length of the
hooklength, breaking strain, size of hook, weight of feeder, amount of bow
hookbait but it would seem that it was a swim full of half decent dace and they
are renowned for getting away with it. I managed 5 Dace to about half a pound
and a Grayling of similar size before cold feet and lack of light stopped play.
What would I have done differently?
Should have gone upstream earlier as there were fewer
walkers up there and the fish were a better stamp, well what I had.
I will be trying my Acolyte out on a chub peg next time.
Bread on the tip next time.
Tackle used:
Float:
Rod: Drennan Acolyte Ultra 14ft
Reel: Daiwa TDM 2508
Line: 0.14mm to 0.10-0.12mm hooklength
Hook:18- 20 B560
Float: 6 No4 Dave Harrell Shouldered stick
Feeder:
Rod: Drennan 12ft 6inch medium feeder
Reel: Daiwa TDM 4012
Line: 8lb sensor, hooklength various, 0.15mm Wychwood fluorocarbon
was very good!
Hook: Carbon Feeders 18-12
Feeders: Vari weight by drennan in slow swims and Kamasan
Blackcaps 30-40g in last swim.
17 January 2016
Afternoon session on the Avon
I managed to get to the Avon near Amesbury for a few
hours the other afternoon, I had a
couple of pints of maggots to use up so just packed a rod, net and a few stick
floats and bits and started to walk up the river.
The first swim I went to I know quite well as I have had
a few decent Dace from it in the past, it took a few runs through but I managed
about 10 Grayling to a pound and a few small Trout. I started to miss a few bites that I thought
were really small fish so I moved upstream to another good swim.
In the second swim there is a crease along the inside and
a tree overhanging the far bank, in the current conditions of the river being
up and lightly coloured the crease was the better option. It didn’t take long again and I was soon into
decent Grayling again, but after about an hour I got itchy feet so moved
upstream again to a swim where I knew there was a chance of a Roach.
I have caught Roach to 1lb 10oz many years ago from this
stretch so I am always hoping that there may be a few of his siblings around to
this day, anyway it is another nice near bank crease with good depth. I had a good start and after
a few small fish I hooked into what I thought for a moment was the bottom, I felt a few good head nods and the fish
moved across the current towards a dying weed bed, just as I changed angle to
try and turn the fish the size 20 hook pinged out leaving me distraught.
After that loss I managed a few decent Grayling and a
final move saw me back in my original swim until I lost the light, there I
managed 4 or 5 Trout to a pound and a half so it was not a bad little session
at all.
Here is a short video from the session:
What would I have done differently?
Not a lot really, perhaps a bigger hook may have kept the
unseen fish on but then again would I have had the bite off it?
Bread next time.
Tackle used:
Rod: Browning Champions Choice 13ft Super Light
Reel: Daiwa TDM 2508
Line: 0.18mm Supplex to 0.10mm hooklength
Hook: 20 B560
Float: 4 No4 Dave Harrell Shallow water stick, best pattern
was reversed bulk in bottom 3 feet of the rig.
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