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.

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.

  

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.

 Here is the shot of my last bag.

  

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.

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.

AAF Group 2 Revels Fishery

It was a bit of a turbulent start to this match as I was running it due to Craig having to work and I made a few controversial decisions on the morning, anyway that aside it was to be a silvers only match over four sections spread across three lakes!?!?!?

The draw got underway and Pete drew me out peg 3 on Dead Tree Lake, not a too bad area by all accounts and as I walked past some of the other pegs on my lake I knew that people would be in for a struggle, which is not ideal.  My peg looked like this:

I had a multitude of options but decided to fish 2 pole lines at 13m both with chopped worm slop and groundbait, I then set up a waggler to fish maggot towards the far bank and finally I set up a margin rig to fish in the roots of a tree stump to my left hoping for a few perch.

I called the all in and fed a ball of worm slop on both 13m lines and then I started by trying to mug a perch down the edge but that lasted all of 5 minutes and I was soon on the waggler.  I had a slow start and by the end of the first hour I had 3 skimmers in the net, Ivan and Bri to my right were catching a few roach on maggot so I fed a few maggots in a couple of balls of worm mush but continued on the wag for another 20 minutes.

The fishing was never hectic but I managed to plod along all day, the swap to maggot was like flicking a switch as both of my pole lines came alive with small roach and the odd better skimmer, again it was never hectic but I just plodded on putting weight in the net.

I lost 1 carp on the wag and landed another on the pole, on an 0.08mm hooklength and a 20 Gamma Green hook, so I fortunately was not plagued by them like Griff was on peg 1 to my left and he had to put back 5 carp in the end.

Rotating lines was key but they all died off as the day went on and I didn’t even get an indication down the edge or on worm long.  As I called the all out there was a collective sigh of relief as it was all over.  Bri and Ivan had been catching fish all day so I thought that it might be close, Ivan said that the majority of his fish were tiny so that boded well for my bag as I had a few netters, I was still annoyed with myself for losing two decent roach at the net though, both 4-6oz fish, I was hoping that it would not cost me.  Griff DNW’ed as he had to run off for a hospital appointment that was sprung on him at 3pm!! Then there was 700grams I think to my left, I had 3.390Kg, Bri Had 2Kg+ as did Ivan but Bri had the bragging rights by 40grams if I remember correctly.

Back to the results and I drew with Rocky for individual Glory, Nomads ‘A’ took the top team spot oh and Bri should have paid into the pools as he would have picked up a section 2^nd and match 3^rd!!

What would I have done differently?

I would have liked to have fed one of the long lines differently with caster perhaps but it seemed to be a maggot day so I am not sure if that would have made a difference.

Tackle used:

Pole Long:

Elastic: Yellow Hydro

Line: 0.13mm to 0.12mm Cenex dropped down to 0.08 later

Hook: 16 B911 F1 dropped down to 20 Gamma Green Later

Float: 0.2g AS3

Pole Margin:

Elastic: White Hydro

Line: 0.15mm powerline to 0.12mm Cenex

Hook: 16 B911 F1

Float: 0.3g AS4

Wagler:

Rod: Browning Champions Choice 13ft Super Light

Reel: Daiwa TDM 2508

Line: 0.18mm Supplex to 0.10mm hooklength

Hook: 20 B560

Float: 5BB Dave Harrell Insert waggler, swapped to 3AA Sensilite later

Shearwater Practice

I had a spare place in the van and Craig hadn’t fished Shearwater before so off we went.  I gave him the grand tour before we started to set up on the road bank opposite the lawns area, the reasoning being that there was decent depth in that area and the weather had been colder of late. I decided that I would mostly be practicing the long range method and clipped my long range outfit up at 75 turns of my reel, this equalled approximately 87 yards (Big reel), and my bait was 50:50 groundbait and pellet in a 45g Guru Hybrid feeder.  I cast the rod out as I started to set up my waggler rod for later and as I was treading the tip section the rod went round with an angry carp attached.  It put up a good account for itself but was no match for the gear that I was using and a low double was soon nestling in the net, I would have got a photo but I dropped it whilst trying to show it off, Ha poetic justice I suppose.  No harm was done to the fish as it landed in a foot of water and was swimming as it touched the water.

Back to the fishing Craig and I had been joined by Pete before this and the other two were raring at the bit after my early success, and soon we were all getting stuck into the massive bream stocks within the lake, the other two were catching a lot of fish and their clickers soon showed that they had turned me over so I set up a shorter range method rod and started a new line. Again the fish were quick to respond and I was soon keeping up with the other two, but even though it was just for fun the bragging rights would have required a monumental effort on my behalf.

We all steadily caught and we all tried our short pole or waggler line with no bites for any of us, which was a surprise, back to the long range rod though I had another quick carp and then decided to put on a head cam for a couple of hours, the video can be found below.

Shearwater Practice

All in  all it was a great day, Bragging rights went to Craig followed by Pete both with over 90lb on their clickers, mine read 70lb but I had managed to try some things out and also tested my long range rods against each other.

What would I do differently?

As I have a group match coming up soon on the venue I would have to say use strawberry crabsticks as bait because that’s what Craig told me he was on?!?!?!?  Seriously not a lot I need to work on my accuracy at range so I can see a few more trips down there in the near future, I am also going to add some more weight to a couple of feeders to see if I can get that extra 10 yards.

Tackle used:

Feeder Long:

Rod:  Browning Black Viper 14 or 13ft

Reel: Shimano Ci4 Ultegra 5500 XTC

Line: 8lb sensor mainline, 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1 with a baitband

Feeder: 45g Guru Hybrid with black hydro

Feeder Short:

Rod:  Drennan 12ft 6inch Medium feeder

Reel: TDM 4012

Line: 8lb sensor mainline, 0.19mm hooklength

Hook: 14 QM1 with a baitband

Feeder: 36g Guru Hybrid with black hydro

Wagler:

Rod: Drennan Acolyte 14ft

Reel: Daiwa TDM 2508

Line: 0.18mm Supplex to 0.10mm hooklength

Hook: 20 B560

Float: 3BB Dave Harrell Insert waggler