tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66922115395645427512024-02-02T03:08:01.633+00:00BRYANS ANGLEMY FISHING RELATED RAMBLINGSBRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.comBlogger175125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-82603328813358124782021-05-16T14:11:00.006+01:002021-05-16T14:11:00.471+01:00'RAYS' OF SUNSHINE<p> Lately there have been a few reports of the thornback rays showing up in the local tidal river in good numbers so I thought i,d set out to catch one. I have caught a few thornies in the past but I,m far from proficient at it, so I,ve set myself a little goal of fishing for them more over the next couple of months so that I can learn as much about them for future fishing trips. They're actually not too difficult a species to catch as they're not really rig shy and as long as a nice fresh bait is placed in front of them then you,re in with a chance. Anyways I arrived at my chosen location, after a 2 mile grueller of a walk, an hour before low water planning to fish the tide up until it was pulling too hard, making the fishing uncomfortable. </p><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YZvpssFgiYcAJpP-A89PE-dCXrMaqJUjQFoYU1xnyxtp4Bf55j0omR225TjMBkS8RM6ipttwcVszV6HDK60_0TjA84cipGcPxQ3QyF5Ki3gRr2p801jtsh1NQrLeZsIZkQBxyKByS1Cv/s2048/IMG_5600.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi_YZvpssFgiYcAJpP-A89PE-dCXrMaqJUjQFoYU1xnyxtp4Bf55j0omR225TjMBkS8RM6ipttwcVszV6HDK60_0TjA84cipGcPxQ3QyF5Ki3gRr2p801jtsh1NQrLeZsIZkQBxyKByS1Cv/s320/IMG_5600.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>TRAPS SET</b></td></tr></tbody></table><p></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As the picture shows the water here is a long way down which makes retrieving your tackle, or fish for that matter, a tricky affair. But its worth sliding down the wall and clambering over the rocks when needed as this spot is straight into deep water. Baited with a chunk of bluey the first rod was launched to the horizon, ok ok maybe more of 75 yard lob if I,m being honest. Before I even had time to bait up the second rod the first showed a classic ray bite, a pull down followed by a little tap and then a big slack line. I quickly wound the slack in until I felt some tension then leant into whatever was on the other end of my line not really expecting to have a fish attached. Low and behold I felt something kick back so proceeded to 'play' what turned out to be a small male thornback to the base of the rocks. I was really happy with this quick capture, even though I got in a right<b> 'mucking fuddle'</b> slipping, tripping and stumbling down the sea defences and across the rocks to land this more than welcome fish. Safely unhooked and returned none the worse for wear the ray swam off strongly and I set about baiting and recasting the rod before doing the same with my second rod.</div><p></p></blockquote><p></p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3pFocMeLNbL1U1-Yri6rzUdVGagdJUSkyJopnfQC-ke8OWHRLn-su2VHCYZT1P5SefffDA5RG-oNyXgXo5BB4w67qCPgHxzvwN0V403kBZq0hsxQ2cW8xWnFprFov6ksxyVgukmdUBv4b/s2048/IMG_5609.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1729" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3pFocMeLNbL1U1-Yri6rzUdVGagdJUSkyJopnfQC-ke8OWHRLn-su2VHCYZT1P5SefffDA5RG-oNyXgXo5BB4w67qCPgHxzvwN0V403kBZq0hsxQ2cW8xWnFprFov6ksxyVgukmdUBv4b/s320/IMG_5609.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THE FIRST MALE CAUGHT</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /> <p></p><p>Just as I sat my arse down the first rod started to nod as another fish took a liking to my bluey chunks. Same as before, pick rod up, wind in slack line, feel resistance and lean into whatever was causing it. Thump thump and another ray was pulling on the other end of my line, actually it was pulling pretty hard considering there was no tide run. A few minutes later and a similar sized ray to the first was unhooked and sent back to its watery home, what a result 2 fish in 2 casts. Another half hour or so passed and the second rod showed signs of something taking an interest in the squid and herring cocktail I had chucked out for them. A few minutes later and another small male thornback was drifting off back to the depths.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQ4XfV4KE1Y1dr2JZw_FGFXoeWQHAitZezeYjxUXIniJcWz9eHI_t8qA3pJ6ELw4vq3sDeEHb6v7A-lYSr15doNI_kkwEqgydANbTJX5GsgemhAyb3fkuQLhHZyHYYwFlAgu5W43Orfdj/s2048/IMG_5590.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1953" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFQ4XfV4KE1Y1dr2JZw_FGFXoeWQHAitZezeYjxUXIniJcWz9eHI_t8qA3pJ6ELw4vq3sDeEHb6v7A-lYSr15doNI_kkwEqgydANbTJX5GsgemhAyb3fkuQLhHZyHYYwFlAgu5W43Orfdj/s320/IMG_5590.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>MALE AROUND 4LB</b></td></tr></tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><p></p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ORFZqtUFNfsMA9I9cT-j-YG-bY_VRFiqMhJlYrUPjGSsgDM2zkliBpnjGI_Itj7nY03Ekpjg1uvqkIMLSpNPwo0IOxWnTM3ntG3H3NFW092Spw05qQXFN8_hABC4KC-bdGTPXSKhydZj/s2048/IMG_5595.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1988" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8ORFZqtUFNfsMA9I9cT-j-YG-bY_VRFiqMhJlYrUPjGSsgDM2zkliBpnjGI_Itj7nY03Ekpjg1uvqkIMLSpNPwo0IOxWnTM3ntG3H3NFW092Spw05qQXFN8_hABC4KC-bdGTPXSKhydZj/s320/IMG_5595.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>MALE OF ROUGHLY 3.5LB</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQzb3bhSdaXhCPab6iHaLovMqAy0LAm_1nF8wxQ7OUtmcELOhCjyiMuKJTpVgeh1V3JreQZBKQFqJRdeHJ98gANRsOZKJOzjfP_8RDa1qwLyuX3CFzJucQHxPrxFBwZ1cDc1wZxL3qwJW/s2048/IMG_5598.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiqQzb3bhSdaXhCPab6iHaLovMqAy0LAm_1nF8wxQ7OUtmcELOhCjyiMuKJTpVgeh1V3JreQZBKQFqJRdeHJ98gANRsOZKJOzjfP_8RDa1qwLyuX3CFzJucQHxPrxFBwZ1cDc1wZxL3qwJW/s320/IMG_5598.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THE SMALLEST MALE</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>After that initial flurry of action it went quiet for an hour or so, which I was actually happy about as it gave me a chance to get my breath back after that long walk and then clambering up and down the rocks. It wasn,t too long before I had another couple knocks on the rod tips but nothing materialised until whilst casting I noticed the remaining rod tip tap a couple of times. By the time I had tightened up the cast rod the other one was bent double and balancing on the rod rest with the butt of the ground. Tightening down I could feel a much heavier weight on the end of the line compared to the previous fish and I proceeded to pump the fish to the shore which was made harder due to the wind had picked up as well as the tide and started to run harder. A couple of minutes later, after a few hair raising moments where the ray got snagged in the rocks, I landed a lovely female thornback or around 6lb. Again I carefully unhooked here and slid her back into the river. Top banana........<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLdsgsGsF7WMVfK7rAiFalJwinzd04ORyknLutXz6TdKxu-5CuaRClLjFf88MKygU-UIG-72zABskEWqcDOdBQcZi2ftopTj-aGM5lY-i4-tnhqA2K_33WCthYUj9D8Q5ugmsR9ZQV2oC8/s2048/IMG_5602.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1829" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLdsgsGsF7WMVfK7rAiFalJwinzd04ORyknLutXz6TdKxu-5CuaRClLjFf88MKygU-UIG-72zABskEWqcDOdBQcZi2ftopTj-aGM5lY-i4-tnhqA2K_33WCthYUj9D8Q5ugmsR9ZQV2oC8/s320/IMG_5602.jpeg" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>FEMALE THORNBACK</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div>Shortly after returning the female I packed up and made the long walk back to the van as I was a happy bunny and didn't feel the need to carry on fishing. I think I fished for the total of 3.5 - 4 hours and caught 3 small males and 1 female thornback and also had a few other knocks. I will probably have another try for them next week if I get the time.</div><div><br /></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8xZtF97WixsHSFY5f7Rzp3ylfJZASwzZaSq1fHOKNVCrNTPawEML1rdXCJHgaNDvHCARSaKgz4l2mqhI7sN6tZRmKpMdn5WjDRZTc2bqLbBm06Vk0Oxbep35VN8LRdKyuBwpRB2CtKL1/s2048/IMG_5592.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1393" data-original-width="2048" height="272" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQ8xZtF97WixsHSFY5f7Rzp3ylfJZASwzZaSq1fHOKNVCrNTPawEML1rdXCJHgaNDvHCARSaKgz4l2mqhI7sN6tZRmKpMdn5WjDRZTc2bqLbBm06Vk0Oxbep35VN8LRdKyuBwpRB2CtKL1/w400-h272/IMG_5592.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>ACTION SHOT</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><div><br /></div><div>If you like the countryside and outdoor life take a look <a href="http://www.bryanscountryside.co.uk" target="_blank">HERE</a> at my other blog.......<br /> <p></p></div>BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-34499002885645409722021-05-14T14:10:00.000+01:002021-05-14T14:10:03.663+01:00<p>So since last posting on here I havn,t had a lot of time to do much fishing really. I,ve spent a lot of my free time building, modifying and writing content for my countryside/outdoors based website/blog, give it a view and see what you think as I,d love your feedback <a href="http://www.bryanscountryside.co.uk" target="_blank">BRYANS COUNTRYSIDE</a>, I,m pretty proud of what I,ve built to be quite honest with you. Its surprising how much time it takes to write a half decent post though, let alone the time it takes to edit the multitude of photos that I take whilst out and about on my adventures. I do enjoy doing it all though and hopefully I can keep growing the site.</p><p>Anyways back to the limited fishing I have actually done. As soon as Boris allowed us to fish overnight I was camped up on the Big Water for a couple of nights in pursuit of its carpy residents. In short I didn't even manage to land a bream let alone a carp even though the first night saw lots of small lifts and knocks showing on my alarms. I'm never disheartened if I blank on this water as its just such a wonderful place to spend some time. I did have a good plot around the swim, I say swim as the area I could fish was huge, and found a few sexy looking areas which will be worth fishing again at some point. I always try and map out in detail everywhere I fish here, and note it down for later use, as every little piece of information helps to track down its residents in 350 acres of water. The swim I was in is regularly fished by those after carp as it has a huge set of snaggy bushes on one side, at distance, which scream carp. But with a bit of time and effort, and a tip off from a mate, I found a nice stream bed runs across the swim at range and this gives a bit more depth and the only feature in an otherwise featureless area of lake bed. I fished 2 rods in it, and the other by the snags, and as mentioned had no joy but I will definitely be fishing that area again.</p><p> <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVe73_bAe1BPG_uPEAmpzgWR5jwKAf83XeLCChssXG4_17b7cd_t9aohMhhRZWZtLLz_YTxuYXSODA7ZrhtxePo0qw83vDSfIa0bHGYRvlyBV9MZy8fZeoeF4FPi68-rkRwH9TyrfpR4Y/s2048/+ALTON+29.3.2021.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNVe73_bAe1BPG_uPEAmpzgWR5jwKAf83XeLCChssXG4_17b7cd_t9aohMhhRZWZtLLz_YTxuYXSODA7ZrhtxePo0qw83vDSfIa0bHGYRvlyBV9MZy8fZeoeF4FPi68-rkRwH9TyrfpR4Y/s320/+ALTON+29.3.2021.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><p><br /></p>On one sunny afternoon I decided to grab my float fishing gear and have a little dangle at a local day ticket water. Armed with pellets and corn as bait I settled down into a nice comfy swim, which I,ve fished before, and set about trying to catch a tench. Now although we'd had quite warm weather for a week of so beforehand the water temperature was a lot cooler than I thought it would be, probably because of the low night time temperatures I guess. Fishing sweetcorn over a small sprinkling of hemp and micro pellets I was hopeful of pulling something into my swim but after a few hours effort all I managed was a couple of quick dips on the float. Apparently a couple of tench had been caught on the opposite bank, originally where I wanted to fish, by carp anglers, but that was earlier on in the day. As the afternoon drew on the temperature started to drop considerably and the wind picked up so I 'bottled it' and packed my gear away and sulked of home. An enjoyable few hours none the less even if this brute of a swan kept pissing me off trying to grab the bait from under my chair.<p></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdbFO0jNwA4Zc8LC8cyEmpY2c2adYkFwfwAWSBIf6msa5zd8QQbuoM3hlADIau73xDoxfeOAId8pO8wZ_NqJ8SwZAw_nqgGa-tmT5QffacNQnGvJ9ditYEeq-dQU3GclbueBiHsNuJNnL/s2048/IMG_5184.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYdbFO0jNwA4Zc8LC8cyEmpY2c2adYkFwfwAWSBIf6msa5zd8QQbuoM3hlADIau73xDoxfeOAId8pO8wZ_NqJ8SwZAw_nqgGa-tmT5QffacNQnGvJ9ditYEeq-dQU3GclbueBiHsNuJNnL/s320/IMG_5184.jpeg" /></a></div><p></p>BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-91431585504895264662021-03-05T16:07:00.004+00:002021-03-05T16:07:40.199+00:00BLANKETY BLANK<p> Its been a long time since I last had a dangle partially due to the lockdown, starting a new job and quite frankly a 'can,t be arsed' attitude of late. Last weekend I finally thought 'bollix' I,m going to have a mornings fishing no matter what. The local reports have been dire really with very few fish showing in my local river let alone any fish of note, but sod it I thought I,m going regardless. I spent a couple hours saturday afternoon getting my sea gear ready and tying a few rigs ready for the off at first light the following day. I hadn't ordered any worms so bait was going to have to be any old fish I found in my freezer and fortunately I had a good supply sitting ready for me.</p><p>First light saw me in my van poodling along the country lanes to my chosen destination in thick fog, which wasn't expected. Ten minutes after setting off I had pulled into a lay-by and loaded myself up with rucksack, rods and bait bucket and was setting off for the 1.75 mile walk along the sea wall to my chosen spot. Its handy living where I do as I have a multitude of saltwater I can fish as well as a good few freshwater venues too. A little while later and I was sitting on my bucket in my chosen spot huffing and puffing trying to get my breathe back before tackling up.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrifDSF7qSvthwZ7hFkSHh0LKovFzTuYAyA31dnlO0Dfsht0TjX6w-77xWOHmkv4RVrtL6nmDQXP_a2Jp86U6TvqnbVu7dNVdNF_cqappqFfNNEwV8l9X1Z9QBbAfN2wTPlKnUpKsz0i0/s2048/IMG_4655.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZrifDSF7qSvthwZ7hFkSHh0LKovFzTuYAyA31dnlO0Dfsht0TjX6w-77xWOHmkv4RVrtL6nmDQXP_a2Jp86U6TvqnbVu7dNVdNF_cqappqFfNNEwV8l9X1Z9QBbAfN2wTPlKnUpKsz0i0/s320/IMG_4655.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div><br /><p>It didn't take long to have the rods sorted and cast out with different rigs and baits on each rod. I like to hedge my bets so will always fish with different baits to see if the fish favour one over the other. I also cast at different distances too, to try and locate the fish. The tide was a couple of hours up and I noticed that there was a wicked current running close in which was causing my leads to regular trip bottom. Heavier weights were added and that helped but now the current was bending my rods over at a silly curve. I checked the tide tables again and it was only meant to be a 5.4m here which shouldn't have caused any problems, but after a chat with a couple guys on bookface it turns out my tables hadn't taken into consideration the full moon the night before, and I hadn't really thought about either. This meant the tide could possibly hit 6m which is practically unfishable along the river. Oh well I,m here so I,ll persevere, thought I.</p><p>Well I,d like to say my perseverance paid off but unfortunately it didn't what so ever. I lasted 3 hours before packing up as the current was just getting stronger and stronger and was just making the fishing uncomfortable. Also the wind had picked up and was causing more problems so I just gave it up as a bad job. It was still good to get out though and wet a line and hopefully I,ll be out again soon, just next time I,ll pay more attention to the tides.</p><p><br /></p>BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-88000276227831750752020-11-08T18:36:00.000+00:002020-11-08T18:36:05.187+00:00OUT AT LAST<p> So last Wednesday I finally got my wish and loaded the van and headed to the big water for a day chasing 'Old Esox'. Weather was forecast to be sunny, cold and very little wind, which is not my favourite conditions to be fishing in, but 'sod it' said I, I'm still going. Arriving at first light I could just see that the area of lake I had chosen was teeming with silverfish dimpling all over the place. Especially along a line about 50yds out from the banks, I believe this is probably where the marginal weed thins out, not that there is much around at this time of year. Barrow loaded and off I went to find the first swim along the bank that I had chosen, one which I have not fished before. I've fished the opposite bank a fair bit but haven't done so on this side, all I have done is have a little lead around, a couple of years ago, just to get a feel for the topography of the bottom, it doesn't vary much until you get further up the bank but more of that later.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmf0TZgVrEYA91GFDZZmXeeLVmpa4RfuzQLqYEZF-Ege0mBnKh-L3HPBYEclLsRiECIURCw-eMTgIGMHl_Z1CGkLgUAQ2PUqLiDu0Jks9UAmpZB5Kuhp4c7rjD1HDg604rUx3ZVMzoWdPM/s2048/fullsizeoutput_675.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><b><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmf0TZgVrEYA91GFDZZmXeeLVmpa4RfuzQLqYEZF-Ege0mBnKh-L3HPBYEclLsRiECIURCw-eMTgIGMHl_Z1CGkLgUAQ2PUqLiDu0Jks9UAmpZB5Kuhp4c7rjD1HDg604rUx3ZVMzoWdPM/s320/fullsizeoutput_675.jpeg" width="320" /></b></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>First swim just after first light</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>In no time I was set up in my first swim with all 3 rods cast at various distances with various baits but all fished on the same basic running ledger set-up. I've used this rig for most of my predator fishing since I first started over 25 years ago, with the only real adaption, over that period of time, to be the inclusion of a large run ring attached to the lead, usually 3oz or above, running freely on the line. I like the run rings as there's less chance of the line creating resistance running through them when/if a fish should pick up your bait and move off with it.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtsYOVESq99UKEaikfnlUfQfcYkN6_7LM_VB_BO-tsCKED3RWtCnfhxMqG9ZHr0D9pa4Bn3JLaNQjhRHZox8JtHKCZbL9Vf7UeyT9GUkE3Lc7BjHZB6CjHHzh_liQWPFP3bIdI9c_hFJRU/s2048/fullsizeoutput_678.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtsYOVESq99UKEaikfnlUfQfcYkN6_7LM_VB_BO-tsCKED3RWtCnfhxMqG9ZHr0D9pa4Bn3JLaNQjhRHZox8JtHKCZbL9Vf7UeyT9GUkE3Lc7BjHZB6CjHHzh_liQWPFP3bIdI9c_hFJRU/s320/fullsizeoutput_678.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Small pike but made my day</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>It wasn't too long before I noticed a couple of twitches on the tip of my middle rod, which I had cast to where the bulk of the silver fish were showing at first light. A few seconds later and the alarm sounded as the drop-off indicator unclipped from the line and clonked against the rod rest. Out of the chair and by the rod in a flash, ok maybe not that quick but it was quick for a knackered old git like me, I stood poised watching the limp reel line to see if the fish was going to move off which it did in no time so I picked the rod up, reeled down and set the hooks into some nice weight at the other end. This resistance on the end of my line took me quite by surprise really and have to admit my legs went a bit wobbly as I slowly played this hard fighting, and it did fight hard, pike to the bank. After a few minutes, and a few head thumping runs, the culprit was finally wrapped in the mesh of my landing net. Now I have to be honest and say that I was not expecting to actually get a bite let alone catch a pike today as I haven't pike fished properly for well over a year and thought I,d use this days fishing to just 'get my eye back in' as they say, so to actually catch one and this early in on my trip made me feel very happy. One of the trebles was located just in the entrance to his stomach which I popped out easily whilst the other was in the roof of his mouth which again released its hold easily which made for effortless unhooking, although I still got a bit of raker rash for my efforts. A quick weigh and a few pictures and the little beauty was slid back into the water no worse for wear. A fighting fit 8lb pike had made my day, in fact I was tempted to pack up, go back to the van and have a wander round another part of the lake a couple of hours later as no other action had materialised and I was just happy with that one fish, but instead decided to load the barrow and move further along the bank to a swim I quite liked the look.</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iB9mgmamtFR4yO5q0LAlnj18jhdZh4gXbsDW3mwjN1akqnaa3QM0kti0SOFluTA0xGN3flvAEfzfje8Sabkl_O3W_WFzm-s3EC5PZhmtyG_g7xA-UN6MHBE54SdiMX2I8OruqQgY8wIQ/s2048/fullsizeoutput_67c.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1522" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi3iB9mgmamtFR4yO5q0LAlnj18jhdZh4gXbsDW3mwjN1akqnaa3QM0kti0SOFluTA0xGN3flvAEfzfje8Sabkl_O3W_WFzm-s3EC5PZhmtyG_g7xA-UN6MHBE54SdiMX2I8OruqQgY8wIQ/s320/fullsizeoutput_67c.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Second swim</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Now once I got to this swim I thought I,d run my bait boat out around the area as to my right I could see a shallow point run out from the bank and I wanted to find the end of that as I thought it might be a good place to chuck a bait to. I thought this point might stretch out into the lake maybe 30-50 yards or so but boy was I wrong. The point actually turned out to stretch well over 100 yards out into the lake running from the right side of the swim through to just past the left side, and not only that the water was shallow too, running only 6 ft deep for roughly 50 yards in front of the swim. Now if I hadn't made a conscious decision prior to this trip to actually make an effort to find out more about the depths and contours of the lake bed when I go pike fishing, I do it when I carp fish but don't really when I,m hunting pike, I probably would of just launched my baits at the usual 3 different distances and would of ended up fishing shallow on top of the point/plateau, not that this might not of worked but I wouldn't of known any difference and ideally I wanted to be in the deeper water around the base of the point. After an hour or so of running the boat around and watching the echo sounder I had found 3 nice spots either side of the plateau and had my baits dropped, arse in my chair and a latte in my hand, all was good in 'Bryans World'.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3-BX-ZdCoNlrKu7NJUcZd1hyphenhyphenVDS6_p4SF6sC7DdK6dUGNDMCT4_MBBJxwh8pLIAxzNk0wUDYuBVguQfcC3UlY4rYh4YB88dg8y78PuLAYmfmWLO1EGhguC_jMoSyrPLzmbk0VZv2AaNy/s2048/fullsizeoutput_67a.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1866" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhF3-BX-ZdCoNlrKu7NJUcZd1hyphenhyphenVDS6_p4SF6sC7DdK6dUGNDMCT4_MBBJxwh8pLIAxzNk0wUDYuBVguQfcC3UlY4rYh4YB88dg8y78PuLAYmfmWLO1EGhguC_jMoSyrPLzmbk0VZv2AaNy/s320/fullsizeoutput_67a.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Jammy D dunked in a latte mmmmm</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>Nothing happened at all through the afternoon, other than me drinking more lattes, dunking more Jammy D,s and scoffing down 2 huge freshly cooked cheeseburgers but I was comfy and relaxed so just sat watching the wildlife in that 'part awake part asleep' state that us anglers can slip into during a days fishing. Suddenly out of the blue the drop off indicator released and smacked the rod rest as my alarm screamed out for urgent attention which in turn made me jump with surprise causing the latte I was holding to spill down my leg, bollix. As I got to the rod I could see line peeling from the reel so quickly shut the bail arm, tightened up and leant into whatever was attached to the end of my line. Instantly I felt a good weight before I got flat rodded as the fish stripped line from my reel, WTF. For the next 10 minutes I gained a little line then lost a little line as the unseen fish fought hard trying to stay away from the bank. After a few minutes I was pretty sure that a carp had picked up my small smelt deadbait as this fish was fighting too hard for a pike, and I still thought that, until 30 yards out it bow waved across the swim in roughly 4 ft of water and I could clearly see its dorsal fin cutting through the water like a sharks. Now seeing this made my legs go to jelly as if this wasn't a carp it was a good sized pike and the weight of it also made me think similar. A few more runs later and she was safely in my net and looked like a real beast of a fish. Not particularly long or fat but really thick across her back, maybe a twenty I thought but quickly put that idea out of my head as surely I couldn't catch such a fish on the first attempt this season, could I!!!!</p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedDNZjXhy8O9j4D2gSGg0BIbOQzdFxnuuQYQJkvuNOOp30bxI4wLlIhXB3SU6RBCsBcNMZVYzXfIfOGTfZuYI_nrYiuSlr5rW9oLNTR1jgLf6XavDiRabR0jogQ6I6PCwpzSZ8hryK6i-/s2048/fullsizeoutput_677.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhedDNZjXhy8O9j4D2gSGg0BIbOQzdFxnuuQYQJkvuNOOp30bxI4wLlIhXB3SU6RBCsBcNMZVYzXfIfOGTfZuYI_nrYiuSlr5rW9oLNTR1jgLf6XavDiRabR0jogQ6I6PCwpzSZ8hryK6i-/w400-h300/fullsizeoutput_677.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>20lb 2oz get in......</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>She was only lightly hooked in the scissors so a gentle twist and the hooks were out and safe. On the scales she weighed in at an impressive 20lb 2oz which is my first twenty pounder for more years than I care to remember and the biggest pike I,ve caught from this huge water. I was proper made up so took a few pictures and slipped her back. Now the sun was starting to go down and I did consider not to bother putting, the rod back out but thought maybe, just maybe, I might get another bite at the cherry. So another smelt was impaled on the hooks and the boat was sent out to roughly the same area for another chance, but I wasn't really that bothered as I was already over the moon with my 2 captures already.</p><br /><br /><p><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtkyMubYO-619NXblZUbKB7NQpuJIjzoFJY4WD8KS4eaFfy7OfkU-d-yr4QJ9T1rwEf6xYOa_Z91kdfmMrvObZ8uyyzqzLzLnflV4LrMXVq7dVL48ixG5F7Uxit2-lxS6SVW_1vhJ47hex/s2048/IMG_3808.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtkyMubYO-619NXblZUbKB7NQpuJIjzoFJY4WD8KS4eaFfy7OfkU-d-yr4QJ9T1rwEf6xYOa_Z91kdfmMrvObZ8uyyzqzLzLnflV4LrMXVq7dVL48ixG5F7Uxit2-lxS6SVW_1vhJ47hex/w200-h150/IMG_3808.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Big old chompers</b></td></tr></tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZOS7UjthRFw0kD9JD9vaLSst9qaQjI7o2aBUe0Uy5iieAjwqc4c-kMMcvLjcrmrxe4H6umXLeFzhUCRTQD__BPAkfWkPlIsE5ZuTskX7WBWqE6lNPrEXCmu-hpwb178kzXUSb4Q2n60Q/s2048/IMG_3805.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" height="160" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9ZOS7UjthRFw0kD9JD9vaLSst9qaQjI7o2aBUe0Uy5iieAjwqc4c-kMMcvLjcrmrxe4H6umXLeFzhUCRTQD__BPAkfWkPlIsE5ZuTskX7WBWqE6lNPrEXCmu-hpwb178kzXUSb4Q2n60Q/w213-h160/IMG_3805.JPG" width="213" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Thick across her back<br /><br /></b></td></tr></tbody></table>Not long after I,d clipped on the drop off indicator and turned the alarm off the alarm sounded on my righthand rod and I turned just in time to see the tip pull round before the indicator fell and line started to peel out from the reel. No, this can't be true, not another fish, not now. Yes it was true, there was another good weight on the end of my line as I leaned into the moving fish which was now kiting to my right and moving into shallower water. I increased the pressure and the fish turned and started doggedly coming towards me as I gained a few yards of line. Again this fish fought well but I knew this was a pike straight away as it had the 'feel' of one as it pulled back. A few minutes passed, and other than a heart stopping moment when she swam towards a sunken branch to my right in only a couple of feet of water, before she was laying at the bottom of my net. Smaller than the last but I wasn,t complaining. On the scales she weighed in at 14lb 10oz and was in pristine condition except for a healing scar on one side. A quick few photos and away she went back into the lake.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qDLCzCC-bVhbB87BkWsOVdy2FG5U3je6tXsVAzKsvpvV4f8D6avb8I3hUM_otj-bYtqd9nFxtd1EUMv-pMel6hfDWw4_oZBsvtVzNbBQbSck6Jc7_9eVRmWN__kx-flkLEq_Y89v6zpE/s2048/fullsizeoutput_67e.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1536" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3qDLCzCC-bVhbB87BkWsOVdy2FG5U3je6tXsVAzKsvpvV4f8D6avb8I3hUM_otj-bYtqd9nFxtd1EUMv-pMel6hfDWw4_oZBsvtVzNbBQbSck6Jc7_9eVRmWN__kx-flkLEq_Y89v6zpE/s320/fullsizeoutput_67e.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Third pike 14lb 10oz</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p>It got dark shortly after I returned the last fish and although I originally had planned to stay on a couple hours into darkness I just didn't feel the need to do so anymore. I had caught 3 beautiful, healthy pike topped off with a twenty pound beauty on a gorgeous sunny, but chilly, day and I just didn't need to fish on anymore, so I packed up and loaded the barrow and trudged off back to the van a very, very happy man.</p><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDysSonXMkSucPTte6fAPcxi9Mi8nW2egFhVy-MI5hNczTK6zKOsqWPkLIPoCRkHsqr1oH6_5zzccuBuyAPA56UHOGctXkShzMmXGiqVNSyB_yEut1Qyx8Ch3lHtIYOHZZP5Ivyrk8jaa8/s2048/ug6GzkN%2525QR6GxjopH43JHg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><b><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="1536" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDysSonXMkSucPTte6fAPcxi9Mi8nW2egFhVy-MI5hNczTK6zKOsqWPkLIPoCRkHsqr1oH6_5zzccuBuyAPA56UHOGctXkShzMmXGiqVNSyB_yEut1Qyx8Ch3lHtIYOHZZP5Ivyrk8jaa8/s320/ug6GzkN%2525QR6GxjopH43JHg.jpg" /></b></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>Without this I wouldn't of caught the last 2 fish</b></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><p><b>Keep on dangling guys....................</b></p><p><br /></p>BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-6157593052683825542020-10-30T16:52:00.002+00:002020-10-30T16:52:36.747+00:00ITS BEEN A WHILE<p> As the title suggests its been quite a while since I posted my last blog so thought it best that we have a little catch up and I explain why I have been so quiet of late. I think my last post was back in July when I had a night trip after smoothound, I didn't catch any but I made up for it by bagging up with bass including a couple of nice size keepers. I've had one overnight session fishing for carp on the big water, between now and then, which was fruitless, not even catching any bream which seem to have been taking anything fished before them. Other than that all I have been doing is thinking off, not actually going, fishing.</p><p>I,m still finishing off the work that needs doing to my house, currently in throes of completing the upstairs bathroom after a complete rip out and re-design/re-build over the past few weeks. The house improvements have taken a lot longer than planned but we have been adding to the 'TO DO' list very heavily, but the end is in sight now. I have also had a completely new career change and have gone from spending all my working life, I,m now 48 years old, either landscaping or in the building trade to being an APPRENTICE BUTCHER. Quite a change I,m sure you'll agree and there is a shit ton I have to learn in field. So far I,m loving the challenge and its nice not getting covered in mud and shite day in day out.</p><p>Although I havn,t been fishing much due to the lack of free time I have, during the limited time that I do actually have to myself I have been building up a new BLOG and YOUTUBE channel along with the usual social media platforms. I've been really enjoying doing this and feel that I have been making a fairly good job of it, although there is still room for improvement. The new venture isn't about fishing but about anything i find of interest in and around the Countryside. From general walks in the wilderness to foraging for wild food and anything else linked. I,ll include links to all of these below for those of you who may be interested in such things, in fact if any off you would be so kind as to visit these sites and then report back with your feedback, good or bad, it would be greatly appreciated.</p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQIwPjtUjTu6OzlNgMqNEzbzvzAB_C1LZrcEsFUqWbkdGXjZhrLuu5QiWf2Gan-sw9hi7pVH_J16BmQNbZ5ZbTQXu6iNIg4ydH8Keh9ihtkSCY1NYdJVjOKK6470wmQOLYgl5VnpAURR2/s1500/c48f150b-3726-43e7-a73b-085c19c3ee5a.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1500" data-original-width="1500" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGQIwPjtUjTu6OzlNgMqNEzbzvzAB_C1LZrcEsFUqWbkdGXjZhrLuu5QiWf2Gan-sw9hi7pVH_J16BmQNbZ5ZbTQXu6iNIg4ydH8Keh9ihtkSCY1NYdJVjOKK6470wmQOLYgl5VnpAURR2/s320/c48f150b-3726-43e7-a73b-085c19c3ee5a.jpg" /></a></div><p><br /></p><p><a href="http://brycc.co.uk">MY BLOG IS HERE</a></p><p>BRYANS COUNTRYSIDE CAPERS</p><p>WWW.BRYCC.CO.UK</p><p><br /></p><p>INSTAGRAM IS:</p><p>BRYANSCOUNTRY</p><p><br /></p><p>FACEBOOK IS:</p><p>BRYANS COUNTRYSIDE CAPERS</p><p>And my <a href="https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=BRYANS+COUNTRYSIDE+CAPERS">YOUTUBE CHANNEL IS HERE</a></p><p>So whats going to be happening in the future. Well I plan to start posting more entries on this here fishing blog as soon as I start fishing again, which hopefully will be next week as the call of the mighty Esox is ringing loudly in my ears. I'm hoping to be attacking the big water for pike on a regular basis so I,ll be reporting back here as to how I get on. Also I'm considering recording some of these trips and starting a youtube channel to show them on so if that happens I,ll be sure to let you know.</p><p>Well that's about it I guess, have a look at my new blog please and let me know what you think and keep a look out for more content coming on here soon. </p><p>TOODLES ALL.......</p><p><br /></p>BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-31098312817810596202020-07-22T11:20:00.002+01:002020-08-30T11:55:18.165+01:00BASS, BASS AND MORE BASS.....Recently there has been reports of a lot of smoothound being caught from the Thames shores, especially locally to me at Southend on Sea and Canvey Island. This news gained my interest as i used to love catching smoothounds on the monthly boat fishing trips to Hayling Island that i used to take with the guys from a local boat fishing club i was a member of. The power and speed of this members of the shark family was awesome from the boat so catching one from the shore would be fantastic. After doing my homework i opted to fish the closer of the recommended venues, Southend on Sea. I used to fish of the platforms near the casino many years ago and enjoyed some good sport catching winter species and flatfish as Spring arrived, but i,ve not fished the opposite side of the pier before let alone during the summer. I decided to choose a night time time, 1.30am to be precise, as i didn't really fancy being surrounded by the daytrip brigade.<br />
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I arrived just as it was getting dark and walked across the road to the top of sea defence and found i was way too early, the tide was barely across the mud 50 yards out. Oh well thought i, just means i have plenty of time to set up my rods and get myself comfortable before making my first cast. Around half hour later with all rods tackled and ready to go, the water had covered the mud and was slowly creeping up the shingle.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWgMg-ZWgbXuTe0Btp4mqCJ6mlOH-yY3NeB1CEgEA3bw0KGies-l8-l1Z15I-tBvDqaBzbcLoujycOmupHUKhyphenhyphenqKyaucEh_XDUglsOpKagK5V3y_KT38F3Z208kBnCyisCULNNCYgJCha1/s1600/fullsizeoutput_564.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="915" data-original-width="1600" height="182" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWgMg-ZWgbXuTe0Btp4mqCJ6mlOH-yY3NeB1CEgEA3bw0KGies-l8-l1Z15I-tBvDqaBzbcLoujycOmupHUKhyphenhyphenqKyaucEh_XDUglsOpKagK5V3y_KT38F3Z208kBnCyisCULNNCYgJCha1/s320/fullsizeoutput_564.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
First rod baited, single large ragworm, and whizzed the rig into the darkness as far as i could cast. Followed shortly after by my 2nd distance rod baited the same and then finally my last short range rod baited with squid and ragworm fishing a 2 hook flapper. i like fishing a 3rd rod close in as its surprising what you can pick up doing this. I,d just placed the 3rd rod in the rest when i had a good pull down on the first cast rod. Picking up the rod i felt a little rattle by something on the other end before a nice big thump registered on the rod tip. A quick strike followed by taking up the slack line and whatever was on the other end was gone, oh well at least it showed there was life out there.<br />
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Shortly after i had a good rattle on my right hand rod and upon striking i made contact with whatever was chomping on my bait. it turned out to be a little basslet which although small was more than welcomed. The little fella was carefully unhooked and returned to the sea where it strongly swam off to grow bigger. It followed from that point onwards, as the tide grew, that every cast resulted in a bite of one sort or another. Unfortunately as the flood grew stronger the weed started to build up and catch my lines which initially didn't really cause me any problems but by the end of the night was an absolute nightmare causing so much build up on my lines that more than once my rods were nearly being pulled out of the rest, especially if there was a hungry little bass hanging on the end of the line. More small bass paid a visit to the shore throughout the flood but nothing of any size, and definitely none of the smoothounds that i was hoping for.<br />
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I carried on using whole ragworm on my distant rods, huge great snake things they were too, whilst alternating between ragworm, squid strip and mackerel strip on the close in rod. All rods were getting bites but the rods fishing at distance were getting the most, and most positive, bites. Most casts had a rattle on the rod tips with every other cast resulting in a small school bass hitting the shingle shoreline. This action carried on to high water but i reckon i missed a lot of the action as the floating weed was starting to cause problems with the rods staying in place. I try to use as small a lead as i can get away with as i find it more comfortable to cast, but the downside is that if you get any weight of weed on the mainline it can trip the lighter leads out of their grip hold.<br />
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Just as the tide started to run again i had an almighty thump on my left hand rod and this time the tip pulled down and stayed there as a heavier fish hung on the to the end of my line. Quick wind down and sweep back and it was obvious i was into a better fish. Reeling in i could feel some good thumps from my adversary and thoughts of a nice smoothound were in my mind.m In the surf the fish started to thrash around and then up popped a nice size bass of maybe 3.5lb. I have to admit to being a little disappointed that it wasn't a smoothie but was still chuffed that it was a nice size bass that the missus would enjoy for her dinner. Rebait and recast i was just putting that rod back in the rest when my right hand rod thumped down and the rod butt actually lifted of the ground resulting in the rod balancing almost horizontal in the rod rest. Now this had to be a smoothound i thought as i leant into another heavy weight. Same as before there was some good head shakes and thumps being transmitted through the rod and again in the surf it fought well, even making me loosen the clutch so it could run a little. Thinking a small shark was about to pop its head out of the foaming water any time soon i was a bit surprised when an even bigger bass, the the previous one, beached itself upside of me a little. This one was a really nice size of maybe 5lb in weight and again i was a little disappointed it wasn't a smoothound but happy at the size of this bar of silver.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-Mjtu7ywGdkcJ2-sPZCMffyRDEm8rvKTlbV-kE37wiGrVwTdjpYg_pxbUvc72qFXrCIk3j9qksGQjeB7VLmsMn6YLgjURpnAOKDWXvsnqLotODSfDpX53x0ATvNp6t4wUsb3OxtRIvcu/s1600/fullsizeoutput_567.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1085" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0-Mjtu7ywGdkcJ2-sPZCMffyRDEm8rvKTlbV-kE37wiGrVwTdjpYg_pxbUvc72qFXrCIk3j9qksGQjeB7VLmsMn6YLgjURpnAOKDWXvsnqLotODSfDpX53x0ATvNp6t4wUsb3OxtRIvcu/s320/fullsizeoutput_567.jpeg" width="216" /></a></div>
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Shortly after this fish the weed got so bad that i decided to call it a night and head of home, it was after all 2.20am and i was beginning to feel a bit tired and my legs were knackered from walking upland down the shingle. Even when i reeled the rods in there was a little bass hanging on the end of two of them. So in the end i must of caught 15 or more bass in 4 hours of fishing including two good size ones of 3.5lb and 5lb, i didn't weigh them, unfortunately i didn't manage to land my actual target fish but i thoroughly enjoyed trying to catch one.<br />
Next time maybe....<br />
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The 2 largest bass i caught<br />
sitting on the chopping board ready to be prepared. De-scaled, heads off, tails off, fins snipped off and obviously gutted.<br />
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A few cuts were made in the body then i made a marinade of rapeseed oil, 1 whole lemon juiced, a little salt and black pepper and a good pinch of thyme freshly picked from my garden, and then spread this all over the fish making sure it got into the cuts nicely. The used lemon was then just chopped up and placed around the fish as well as a couple bits in the cavity. Popped it in tan oven covered for 10 mins then uncovered it and cooked for a further 30 mins.<br />
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The flesh was delicate and flakey with the skin being a little crispy. The herbs and lemon added a nice subtle flavour to the fish without overpowering it. Served up with broccoli, french beans and minty new potatoes. It went down a treat with missus and she's told me to go catch some more.<br />
REEESSUULLTTT........<br />
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BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-26310257206481251452020-06-28T12:44:00.000+01:002020-06-28T12:45:21.629+01:00BACK ON THE BIG WATER....Since the lockdown was lifted and we have been able to get back out on the bank i have been to the big water 3 times. First time was for a recce and to purchase my yearly ticket and get a key for the various gates situated around the water. I,m glad i took the time for a short walk around as i,ve settled on an area that i will be fishing for a while, which i know, and has also been been confirmed by a regular angler, holds carp, or at least they past through the area regularly. Situated well of the beaten track in a very difficult to access spot, and i,m pretty sure, judging by the lack of trails, that no one fishes this particular area.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THIS IS ONLY A LITTLE BIT OF THE UNDERGROWTH<br />I FOUGHT THROUGH</b></td></tr>
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It has been fished in the past though as there was a few, very overgrown, swims cut into the bankside undergrowth. I had actually found this area last year and thought it looked good for a session or two and did clear one swim to fish for a day session. I didn't catch anything then but i did log the place in the 'Old Memory Banks' for exploring at a later date.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>HOME FOR THE WEEKEND</b></td></tr>
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Anyways the following weekend saw me pulling into the carpark at first light and loading my barrow with enough gear to last a week let alone the 2 nights i had planned to stay. Pushing the barrow along the track was no problems at all but it was soon to become apparent that as soon as i wheeled of the solid pathway i was to experience issues. Now i knew it wasn't going to be easy carting all my gear to the actual swim through all the undergrowth but i didn,t realise just how difficult it was really going to be. within 10 yards the barrow got stuck in soft mud causing me to unload everything and carry it all to slightly higher and drier ground before the barrow could then be moved. Then due to there being no track i had to carry the rest of my gear to the swim area, through the tangled undergrowth, roughly quarter of a mile away. This took four trips to do and after half an hour i collapsed on the ground, next to a mountain of kit, a big huffing, puffing, sweaty mess.<br />
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<b>Lesson 1 Take less kit.....</b><br />
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After a life saving latte and a stomach filling sammidge was consummed it was time to get stuck into the task at hand, clearing somewhere to actually fish. Tucked in my bag i had a pair of pruners and a fold up garden saw and using these it didn,t take too long for me to clear a nice swim to fish and a nice area to pitch the basecamp. Next job was to clear a pathway through to another swim, and clear the swim itself, just a short distance away. This was so i could keep my options open as to where i was going to place my rods. An hour later and this was also done. Next i turned my attention to making the trip to and from this area easier to access, so i set about creating/clearing a pathway through the undergrowth from the swims to the access track. Not quite upto the track though as i didn,t want it too easily seen, i want to keep this area a bit 'Secret Squirrel'. All of this work had taken me into the early part of the afternoon and now it was time for another latte and a bite of lunch before getting the marker rod out and finding out what was in front of me.<br />
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<b>LESSON 2 ALWAYS WADE WITH A STAFF</b><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60Ip5P8iBNFhSa3yprH9xh8ahX3TrPLFGevnJfqUj4p4GJzcYqJVgpdaTJWMVeil4_C9EcrziQU3zInjp-aD-z7kXHsrtXYOzV8J76q4vF8wm9mYY2iCt5v5FgsPNGDveVsQPgKMh7N7r/s1600/fullsizeoutput_50e.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="461" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi60Ip5P8iBNFhSa3yprH9xh8ahX3TrPLFGevnJfqUj4p4GJzcYqJVgpdaTJWMVeil4_C9EcrziQU3zInjp-aD-z7kXHsrtXYOzV8J76q4vF8wm9mYY2iCt5v5FgsPNGDveVsQPgKMh7N7r/s320/fullsizeoutput_50e.jpeg" width="92" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>WADING<br />STAFF</b></td></tr>
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On with waders, which i,ve now found out leak, and out i splashed to edge of the trees either side of the swim. Water here was just below wader top depth but it gave me a good view around the trees, and it was a good spot to chuck the marker float out from. A little point to note here is that if you are planning on wading around in the margins of any lake or river it is worth doing so with a wading staff so that you can probe the lakebed checking the depth in front of you, and also to find out how soft the bottom is, as you ease forward. A staff is also handy to help you keep your balance if you stumble or get stuck in silt. My staff is actually a shooting stick i found a few years ago whilst walking the dogs locally. It was left leaning against a bush near a a small layby that was used to park in to access the fields beyond. I left it there for a couple of weeks before returning and seeing as no had returned and claimed it i took home. So waste deep in the lake i spent next the hour or so markering around the area to find a grand total off nothing of interest. The bed was pretty uniform and clean except for a big band of weed that reached out from the margins for roughly 4.5 wraps until it hit about 8ft in depth. So the decision was made and two spots at 5 wraps were liberally baited with spombed particles, groundbait and chopped boilies. I then moved along to the next swim and found roughly the same, except for a slightly rougher patch situated 7.5 wraps out in roughly 10ft of water. Out went more mix with the spomb before i baited up and chucked out my rigs in the 3 chosen spots. It was now late evening, i,d taken my time with all this preperation as i didn,t want to rush around, and i was knackered and hungry so out came the stove and on went a big fat ribeye steak for my dinner. Dinner quickly consumed it wasn,t long before i was away with the fairies..<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9wksuz_FY4AZ0jEVCDpWgqqYhNgUKRVB0g698oTNqqnPwX9Tptn3NE4xSBLUr1756kX6idqvQLKT88H03wCHo9ziFjYUy3IqLM3tr-0-90MoJQ320OJ-R1Of5fh46oRvfrWCg17FXqgl/s1600/fullsizeoutput_505.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="836" data-original-width="1600" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiK9wksuz_FY4AZ0jEVCDpWgqqYhNgUKRVB0g698oTNqqnPwX9Tptn3NE4xSBLUr1756kX6idqvQLKT88H03wCHo9ziFjYUy3IqLM3tr-0-90MoJQ320OJ-R1Of5fh46oRvfrWCg17FXqgl/s320/fullsizeoutput_505.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>TRAPS SET</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJw90P52SejwOW4Xg9gkmcCAo6GQNe5ZoCu75NaV72JuXVj7JSRuAM1GGT4V484XEAr98WV4Io0RHqsbsi9GuQ6BA8XpAFlUvkPxLcNQpNO0aGlgn0HvxPcWy7XAC3k9i6VLDyd46u6l8/s1600/fullsizeoutput_4ff.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="957" data-original-width="1600" height="191" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtJw90P52SejwOW4Xg9gkmcCAo6GQNe5ZoCu75NaV72JuXVj7JSRuAM1GGT4V484XEAr98WV4Io0RHqsbsi9GuQ6BA8XpAFlUvkPxLcNQpNO0aGlgn0HvxPcWy7XAC3k9i6VLDyd46u6l8/s320/fullsizeoutput_4ff.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>TRAPS SET</b></td></tr>
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Nothing happened overnight, just a few bleeps on the alarms, in fact nothing happened for the rest of that day. I spent the day clearing more of the undergrowth to make the area more comfortable to fish and relax in, trimming down branches that were in the way and stacking some of the windfall timber that litters the place. Evening arrived and i re-baited and recast the rods to the same spots as well as giving them some more spombs of groundbait over the top. Nothing else happened that night or the following morning which was a bit dissappointing as expectations were high initially, but i,m not too bothered really as it was only my 1st return trip and it was also a newish area to me. hopefully better luck next time. Mid morning it was time for the gruelling walk of shame back to the van with all my kit, fortunately a little lighter with less water and bait to carry. Rather than just drive straight home i popped over to another area and had a little explore there to see if it might be worth a trip there, it is.........<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kz16XpcXIvwhw_XQng8r9Q-IEhXqvQrWrsUTb_K2N9KLox7e3xduxrokH8fZBPfu7PfKHGmTQS61KvGO28w3JbO7R1UI-eNGscLzK4BxR2zPmNElF8tvXpuNaexeuw8mU_DvMnIt5laX/s1600/fullsizeoutput_525.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1218" data-original-width="1600" height="243" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3kz16XpcXIvwhw_XQng8r9Q-IEhXqvQrWrsUTb_K2N9KLox7e3xduxrokH8fZBPfu7PfKHGmTQS61KvGO28w3JbO7R1UI-eNGscLzK4BxR2zPmNElF8tvXpuNaexeuw8mU_DvMnIt5laX/s320/fullsizeoutput_525.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>CARPERS TOY</b></td></tr>
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<b>LESSON 3 NO NEED FOR A BAIT BOAT</b><br />
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I did take my bait boat along but only used it early on the last morning as i didn,t really want to give away where i was located. I ran her around the swims and right out to the middle of the lake searching the bottom but, as i,d already found with the marker, there really wasn,t anything of interest out there. Not to worry, this means that i don,t have to bring her again, to this area anyway, now. It was good fun to play with her though and i love the echo sounder feature i had fit on it.<br />
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The following week i was back in the same swim but this time just for an overnighter. With my kit trimmed down it was a lot easier to transport everything to the swim, but still bloody knackering. The previous week i had noted down in my phone where the spots were that i had found, so it was a quick and easy process to wang the rods out and bait over the top of them. In all i reckon i was fishing within 2 hours of turning up in the carpark. I,d arrived late afternoon this time, as i had been to a river on the way up, so after setting up and downing another nice ribeye steak it was time for some shut eye. Around midnight i had a bream like indication on one rod but seeing as nothing else happened i left it alone and went back to sleep. I was, shortly after first light, sipping on a lette watching the water but other than small stuff rising nothing of note was seen. I had a little clear around the track and inspected another swim further down before reeling in and packing up at 10am. Interestingly the rod that had the bream rattle had the hooklink bitten through, i reckon a pike had taken a silver and picked up my rig by accident before its teeth cut it clean through. The walk of shame again before i set off to explore another area to fish in the future, there is so much water to go at here.<br />
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So to sum up ive fished 3 nights so far for the total of zero fish, of any shape or size. I,ve learnt more about the water each visit though, so i,m not disappointed, and i,m now formulating a plan of attack for future visits.<br />
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<b>TIGHT LINES ALL</b><br />
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BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-16281059875995154142020-06-26T19:01:00.000+01:002020-06-26T19:01:46.926+01:00FISHIES......On my way to do an overnighter on my syndicate this week i made a pitstop at a small river located en-route. My aim was to have a wee chuck around with the micro lures for a perch or maybe a chub if my luck was in. Well i didn't catch anything, my excuse is that it was too hot and too sunny, but enjoyed a couple of hours stalking along the banks of the crystal clear water and spying on anything resembling a fish. I did have a few follows from micro chub and small perch but no actual takers. I wasn't,t bothered though as i had a great time just watching the fish hold in the flow, before darting for cover as i peered closer.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrcg2-4Bq0WUaXrz4hS9ikQbljzKhylSIkcqlMrKAnC647PKJ6C4-bcx-OQ4Cuz8uEeIMFMzX_4i2jAD0PIhbaiiixqQpExAPJAm6xjFUE35iYGFk0_ksJZUG5ytALj_3ZYF-VWUrhTDJ/s1600/fullsizeoutput_527.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1029" data-original-width="1600" height="256" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtrcg2-4Bq0WUaXrz4hS9ikQbljzKhylSIkcqlMrKAnC647PKJ6C4-bcx-OQ4Cuz8uEeIMFMzX_4i2jAD0PIhbaiiixqQpExAPJAm6xjFUE35iYGFk0_ksJZUG5ytALj_3ZYF-VWUrhTDJ/s400/fullsizeoutput_527.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>CHUBLETS HOLDING STATION IN THE FLOW</b></td></tr>
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A large part of the river seemed totally devoid of fish where as other parts were teaming with roach and chublets. I did find a couple of nice size chub, around the 3lb mark i reckon, but didn't manage to get a picture of them. I also watched what i thought was a near double figure carp slowly drifting in and out of some streamer weed until it came closer and i realised it was a huge bream. The only one i saw, a right old 'Billy No Mates'.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsJZkkbZQcohVqUonQMu03riby6SnFRD9thjT0BBWSOgpDnUMlYt7p8SZY6XBUGcwVVYXzZQfeKA5NnMYYkZuDECkeoIrJ9L5c7B-Ax921Up_CjxJk8DzHNvC3BX9qlwJs41-I2ZAmVTE/s1600/fullsizeoutput_523.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="796" data-original-width="1600" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilsJZkkbZQcohVqUonQMu03riby6SnFRD9thjT0BBWSOgpDnUMlYt7p8SZY6XBUGcwVVYXzZQfeKA5NnMYYkZuDECkeoIrJ9L5c7B-Ax921Up_CjxJk8DzHNvC3BX9qlwJs41-I2ZAmVTE/s400/fullsizeoutput_523.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>CANADA GEESE</b></td></tr>
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The stretch i was walking runs alongside a golf course and considering the amount of golfers walking around the amount of wildlife going about its business was astounding. There was a couple of Buzzards constantly circling a small copse of trees as well as 2, i,m pretty sure they were different birds, kestrels hunting over the bushes and scrub on the opposite bank. A kingfisher was regularly heard, and seen, flashing up and down the river and there was a couple families of canada geese drifting along with the flow. I spend so much time marvelling at these sights that i forget to try and take pictures of what i,m looking at.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwa8-70-Xm_4QQMAubgq80GZo_lRnP4QB2NXMMc9rPN0_vG3bGS3jWiD66r16nfoAM_rOU5trLrtXuZcoPbBEEZ3MGaSjsOMEhdrKr0cz7T6rFmah3R54EIB6dM4IqBBVGD4VJcMdDuBp/s1600/fullsizeoutput_524.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="856" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlwa8-70-Xm_4QQMAubgq80GZo_lRnP4QB2NXMMc9rPN0_vG3bGS3jWiD66r16nfoAM_rOU5trLrtXuZcoPbBEEZ3MGaSjsOMEhdrKr0cz7T6rFmah3R54EIB6dM4IqBBVGD4VJcMdDuBp/s400/fullsizeoutput_524.jpeg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>ROACH/BREAM FRY</b></td></tr>
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Later in the afternoon i arrived at my syndicate and couldn' believe how many roach/bream fry there was hiding around the marginal weeds. The picture doesn't do justice as to how many there actually was, thousands of the wee things i reckon. Hopefully a good percentage will survive to bolster the, already increasing, fish stocks.<br />
I love being an angler, you get to see sights that the 'average Joe' doesn't get to witness....BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-14344928810888970702020-05-16T14:57:00.000+01:002020-05-21T16:23:18.576+01:00DANGLING AT LAST<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr4-fj59Ygc4-1n2f_gP6QjdmLOcEfzKpkBQCTLK1zTrzmlel1E-vNju5Abl0nfM-0Uff27JuX29j6g5unp8It8JzXFk3MDqIGJZ4ofYiwE5PWtou0TuJ3Lp3Sc-ZCVJb1p7wY0eDBD9XS/s1600/fullsizeoutput_4d4.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgr4-fj59Ygc4-1n2f_gP6QjdmLOcEfzKpkBQCTLK1zTrzmlel1E-vNju5Abl0nfM-0Uff27JuX29j6g5unp8It8JzXFk3MDqIGJZ4ofYiwE5PWtou0TuJ3Lp3Sc-ZCVJb1p7wY0eDBD9XS/s400/fullsizeoutput_4d4.jpeg" width="300" /></a></div>
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So due to the Covid virus lockdown, and prior to that being too busy, i actually haven't bee fishing for over 4 months, and i,ve been gagging to get back out and wet a line. Fortunately this week good old Boris started a 5 stage lockdown lift and this week was stage 1 and allowed us back out fishing as well as other hobbies which can be carrie out whilst applying the social distancing rules. This meant that i could dust down the fishing gear and get myself out there fishing. I just had to decide what i wanted to fish for as i have a quite a few options locally. In the end i opted to go to the local saltwater river and try for a thornback ray before they moved out of the river for the rest of the year. Luckily enough i had prepped all the necessary gear, and stocked up on frozen bait, before the lockdown was brought into force. So yesterday armed with 3 rods and a rucksack i walked the half mile to my chosen spot which was a marshy platform which jutted out into the river and is a popular mark for the thornies. Half hour later i had 2 rods set up and fishing for the rays and an old carp rod set up as a scratching rod in hope of luring anything that might swim by.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4S3VD4YigBK_rmpavBCrS6bgf2v5UREeGKHphriHHHWYc9yehgSZHNDoaR1X6Q8nveoNOA2NF22G8bjz-Yt2XOb7mFI8AVKi0FZG5K9amjQ8SaeqCkrEBpuKH84GMCHv0WqQLy4ci4Uzm/s1600/fullsizeoutput_4d5.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="879" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4S3VD4YigBK_rmpavBCrS6bgf2v5UREeGKHphriHHHWYc9yehgSZHNDoaR1X6Q8nveoNOA2NF22G8bjz-Yt2XOb7mFI8AVKi0FZG5K9amjQ8SaeqCkrEBpuKH84GMCHv0WqQLy4ci4Uzm/s320/fullsizeoutput_4d5.jpeg" width="174" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>SQUID AND HERRING COCKTAIL</b></td></tr>
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Baits were whole squid, herring chunk or a cocktail of the both fished on pulley pennell rigs for the rays and just a basic 2 hook flapper baited with frozen black lugworm and strips of squid, herring and mackeral fished on the scratching rod hopefully a school bass or maybe even a flatfish. I,d only just got all the rods out when my rod fished to the righthand side registered a pull down followed by a slack line, text book ray bite, which i duly grabbed and wound in the slack line until i felt some resistance followed by a small knock, signalling there was life on the other end, which i then pulled into. A heavy weight was felt followed by a couple of knocks and something pulling back, fish on. Heart thumping i carefully played the fished to the marsh edge, fortunately there was no dramas getting the fish to the shore, before being able to hand line it up the final couple of feet of marsh 'cliff' and place my prize at my feet. Result!!! I had caught what i had came for, a beautiful little male thornback ray of maybe 4lb. Neatly hooked in the side of the mouth the hook was easily removed before i took a few pictures and slipped him back to his watery home.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZKn9824wwBckTtNFdek7n6cML2qSV-F7tw9mGkmtbHRUM3A9ogCt117GTUCIwQE-dh-4N3xhsTxtu_kpUYUiKoqpqROhGxWIcegMojXU4phzgHRu-BSZPVHDwhYitEt6AKUfSY6rGKIlx/s1600/fullsizeoutput_4da.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="748" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZKn9824wwBckTtNFdek7n6cML2qSV-F7tw9mGkmtbHRUM3A9ogCt117GTUCIwQE-dh-4N3xhsTxtu_kpUYUiKoqpqROhGxWIcegMojXU4phzgHRu-BSZPVHDwhYitEt6AKUfSY6rGKIlx/s320/fullsizeoutput_4da.jpeg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>WHOLE SQUID</b></td></tr>
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A quick rebait and out went that rod again in anticipation of further action to come. I,d love to say from that point on it was constant bite a chuck but unfortunately that wasn't to be. Every 15 minutes or so i,d reel each rod in to check if there was any bait left but most of the time the hooks were bare, stripped by the crabs. Its only to be expected on this river as the river bed is alive with crabs of all sizes not to mention all the micro fish species that must be living in its depths. I,d arrived shortly after high tide, and it was only a small tide too, so really didn't expect to be able to fish the marsh spot for more than a couple hours as there is a big shallow area in front of the marsh drop off which does dry out at low water. So just as i was thinking of packing up as the mud was showing in from i noticed a little judder on my lefthand rod followed by the tip pulling steadily downwards. Initially i thought some weed might of snagged my line as there was quite a lot of it floating with tide but i then noticed a couple of knocks on the tip and quickly picked the rod up ready to feel if there definitely was a fish attached to my line. After a few seconds i felt another 'knock' on the rod tip followed by a steady pull so i reeled tight and pulled into another fish. A similar fight to the previous fish, heavy weight felt with a few knocks, and after a couple of minutes i had another small male thornback beached on the mud to the left of the marsh area. Happy happy boy was i.....<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8D-V_xcClhY9EEZF-gQ1HNe-wc-qjd9kpAg1DYKAJ9FodENEJvjvq4QNHHGq47QgO48-zIBMsB5Zd6hwEXEe00kEc6-r3Zy5sb4qj9gLMzymYItlLjLdkZKDL6kVgfd9_v_gKkR21LFuF/s1600/fullsizeoutput_4d7.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1454" data-original-width="1600" height="290" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8D-V_xcClhY9EEZF-gQ1HNe-wc-qjd9kpAg1DYKAJ9FodENEJvjvq4QNHHGq47QgO48-zIBMsB5Zd6hwEXEe00kEc6-r3Zy5sb4qj9gLMzymYItlLjLdkZKDL6kVgfd9_v_gKkR21LFuF/s320/fullsizeoutput_4d7.jpeg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THORNBACK NUMBER 1</b></td></tr>
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After that fish i decided to pack up the kit and make my way back to the van as the water now pretty low and the sun was getting pretty hot. I,d enjoyed my few hours fishing and managed to catch 2 of my target species which is always a bonus when you set single species fishing. The one thing i did find strange was that i didn't even have a little knock on my scratching rod and that technique pretty much gets some action every time i use it in the river. Oh well i,m not going to complain though, two skate and a morning fishing in the sun in beautiful surroundings was plenty good enough for me.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_y4XXQLeCh4deMAp-MsmF0OyYiGVDWgZIpX1jWTe7YgcN1c0VwS63qSCldjqd2pM_Ug1c5FHtCDAiRI8KoxXDpXg6cXyCW0yZQLKWcx4SxyPB5TnWVoI_FS1suRFS5BbyYZfCryOW97EA/s1600/fullsizeoutput_4d6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1545" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_y4XXQLeCh4deMAp-MsmF0OyYiGVDWgZIpX1jWTe7YgcN1c0VwS63qSCldjqd2pM_Ug1c5FHtCDAiRI8KoxXDpXg6cXyCW0yZQLKWcx4SxyPB5TnWVoI_FS1suRFS5BbyYZfCryOW97EA/s320/fullsizeoutput_4d6.jpeg" width="308" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THORNBACK NUMBER 2</b></td></tr>
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The tides are getting later into the evening next week so I'm hatching a plan to fish one evening into the dark at a location on the river i found a couple of years ago. I fished it last year and had some good bass fishing on a bright and breezy day but i reckon that fishing there into the hours of darkness could result in a bigger bass or two being present. Its a cracking spot with an outflow from a small lagoon which spills over some rocks into the river on one side and a lovely big slack water, on the dropping tide, area on the other as well as access to deeper water close in. It screams big bass to me so i,m planning on giving it a good try this year. The only downside to this mark is that its a 2 mile yomp to reach it, which isn't too bad if i don't have any kit with me but when laden down with all my fishing gear makes it a bit of a grueller.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqbn2A0y__joH3zOXaPLqcklQkihYb4Z_2NVruXFSxZx9XpVF9u0uGveQJnZppPCpcFMynoJWT-J-FwMnkyyAzQ_OTZYqfNlxmmX8yv36feOfx_mpVcEJ_Mo8JKQFgC9z0N5Zq6z0Ukih/s1600/fullsizeoutput_4d8.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhqbn2A0y__joH3zOXaPLqcklQkihYb4Z_2NVruXFSxZx9XpVF9u0uGveQJnZppPCpcFMynoJWT-J-FwMnkyyAzQ_OTZYqfNlxmmX8yv36feOfx_mpVcEJ_Mo8JKQFgC9z0N5Zq6z0Ukih/s320/fullsizeoutput_4d8.jpeg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THORNBACK 'SNOUT'</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THORNBACK</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THORNBACK</b></td></tr>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b>THATS ME</b></td></tr>
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BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-44912296817042795832019-12-02T15:15:00.001+00:002019-12-02T15:15:13.112+00:00WALTON PIERAfter my whiting bash a couple of weeks ago i decided that i fancied another trip out sea fishing but somewhere different to my normal stomping grounds. A venue was chosen and a plan was hatched to take my Dad out for the day to fish Walton Pier as it was meant to be fishing relatively well for whiting, dabs, maybe the chance of a ray, possibly a dogfish or two and even the remotest chance of a 'sea unicorn'. That will do for us i thought and i set about thursday evening tieing lots of different rigs for me and 'old boy' to use.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">RIG PRODUCTION</td></tr>
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Friday dawned and as predicted by Metcheck the weather was sunny with a slight breeze, instead of the drizzly rainy days we had prior to this trip. Gear in the van, Dad collected and off we set to the North Essex coastline. Just over an hour and half later we were all set up three quarters of the way along Walton Pier, which i forgot to take any pictures of so here's one i took a few weeks earlier.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WALTON PIER</td></tr>
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Straight from the off we were getting knocks and rattles on our rod tips, indicating that there was some hungry fish swimming around the pier. I proceeded to catch a couple of whiting and the odd pouting on lugworm tipped with either squid or mackeral pieces. Rigs were 2 hook flappers with the bottom hook being relatively long and low on the rig body so as to flap a little better on the sea bed. My aim was to hopefully catch a flatfish or two with this technique as i haven,t had one for a few years now and i do love flattie bashing. Dad and i were only talking about how good the fishing was for flounder and dabs years back and how poor it is now and how they rarely show up in our catching anymore, and that we probably wouldn't see one on this session, as we were driving our way there.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaSCRz0p1DK5x__zsmW3kCTylLtRAHSBxZd3h0FWvOy5Gnz_Wpq0gxg8Htqrc3dYplwN5MUKvMU8qUwkEtEWKf3tfYQGGouL0zi8Tj9N3yg-XeWAkcSPp5AFEBbcldL3Bf8t9plpwaceZU/s1600/Q8bo05b%252BSISEDhhCDhpkQQ.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhaSCRz0p1DK5x__zsmW3kCTylLtRAHSBxZd3h0FWvOy5Gnz_Wpq0gxg8Htqrc3dYplwN5MUKvMU8qUwkEtEWKf3tfYQGGouL0zi8Tj9N3yg-XeWAkcSPp5AFEBbcldL3Bf8t9plpwaceZU/s320/Q8bo05b%252BSISEDhhCDhpkQQ.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">DAB</td></tr>
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After a couple of whiting were landed i had an odd little rattle on a rod i had cast 50 yards or so out and upon lifting into the fish i felt a familiar rattly, fluttering kind of fight on the end of my line. Could this be what i was hoping for? Yes is the answer, and i was over the moon when i lifted a small dab over the railings, neatly hooked in the lip. A couple of quick pictures and a check on Google just to check, flounder and dab look quite similar when small, and the lovely little thing was sent back to its watery home. After that literally every cast resulted in either a whiting, or two, a pouting or a missed bite as we kept ourselves busy for the following few hours. A few of the whiting were over the legal size limit so they went in the bag for my Mums dinner and the rest went back home to the sea. I also had one rod fishing a big bait of herring and squid cocktail in hope of maybe a ray or even a cod but this didn't escape the hoards or hungry whiting either.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">FLOUNDER</td></tr>
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After a while i decided to set up a light carp rod and just drop a small bait down below the pier alongside one of the many legs to see what else might be swimming around down there. I've reading, and watching on Youtube, a fair bit about fishing for micro species and have been getting quite interested in giving it a go. My first couple of drops resulted in the usual culprits, whiting and pouting, then a more rattly bite resulted in me hooking and landing a beautiful little flounder, i,m pretty sure it was a flounder and not a dab. Another species and a cracking fight on my carp rod, i was over the moon. I continued to fish beneath the pier but the tide was on its way out by now and was pushing through pretty hard so i kept having to up my weight to hold bottom. I started to think that maybe i wasn't fishing very effectively, as the tip had been quiet for a while, when the rod tip started to get little plucks. With rod in hand i waited for the next series of rattles to which i replied with a small sharp strike, i was using braided mainline so didn't,t want to strike too hard or i may well have pulled the hook out of the fishes mouth. A little fight ensued, well actually just a few stronger pulls on the rod, and the fish was lifted over the railings and swung into my waiting hand. A beautiful little rockling lay across my hand as my reward. Again i was over the moon as this is another species i havn,t caught for years and another for the species list.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">ROCKLING</td></tr>
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Just before dark we packed up and made our way along the pier and back to the van, knackered and happy from our days sport. I think we landed in excess of 30 whiting, along with a few pouting, a couple of dabs, a flounder and the one rockling, not too bad for a couple of anglers who havn,t sea fished properly for a good few years. I'm getting a bit more into my sea fishing at moment and rather than thinking about braving the cold in search of pike my mind keeps wandering to fishing the cold seas for whatever lives within. I,ll keep you informed on how i get on whatever i may fish for. tight lines guys...<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">MY DAD</td></tr>
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<br />BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-76672116660591876092019-11-27T20:00:00.003+00:002019-11-27T20:00:38.220+00:00WHITING, WHITING AND MORE WHITING.......Last week i fancied a spot of sea fishing on my local River Crouch so one evening set about getting the gear ready for a little first light dangle at a local mark. I like to tie a few rigs at home so i don't have to fumble around by the water so a few 2 hook flappers, for the whiting and small fish, were made up as well as a couple of big hook pennels for anything larger swimming by.<br />
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The temperature gauge in the van was reading 0 degrees as i drove the short distance to the river and the heavy frost crunched under foot as i walked to my chosen spot just as the sun was just rising over the horizon making getting out of bed early worthwhile. The tide was already 3 hours down from high water and i had only planned to stay for a couple of hours so the rigs i,d tied the previous evening were quickly attached and launched out at various distances. Bait was strips of mackeral and squid as well as some frozen black lug on the small fish rigs and a cocktail of large fillets of mackeral and squid for the big fish.<br />
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From the off the rods were rattling away and after missing a couple of bites i connected with a small whiting. A quick unhook and back out went the rig. I then proceeded to catch at least one, sometimes 2, whiting on every cast to the flapper rig with only the odd whiting to the bigger bait, but they were bigger whiting.<br />
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One of the larger whiting had this small 'goby' protruding from its throat so i carefully eased it out and thread it onto a hook and cast it back out, and i caught another whiting on it too. The bites started to slow down as the tide flow eased and after 2 hours of quite busy fishing i packed up and headed home for my breakfast and a nice cup of latte. I lost count of how many fish i caught but it had to be a couple of dozen with a dozen or so sizeable fish taken home to make into fishcakes for 'Her Ladyship'.<br />
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I was quite surprised that only whiting showed up in my catch, i would of expected a couple of pouting or maybe a basslet or two as well.<br />
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A beautiful couple of hours spent by the water catching a few fish, what more can a guy ask for.<br />
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<br />BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-85607370815510103922019-11-08T12:37:00.000+00:002019-11-08T12:37:30.685+00:00SMALL RIVER ROVING, RETURNAt the beginning of this year i fished a small river in Essex, which i had been meaning to try for a few years, in hope of catching some nice perch and chub as i,d heard a few reports and walked the river and it looked good for both species. Luckily i did pretty good on that session and caught both my target species, and not bad sized ones too. Well last week i decided i fancied another trip there to see what else this tiny little river had to offer.<br />
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My target for this short afternoon session was the perch, probably my favourite species to fish for over the past few years. Now that i know the river holds a couple of decent specimens i feel that its worth putting in the effort to see what size these sergeants actually grow too. Arriving at midday i set of on the 1.5 mile trek to a small side pool, which i had caught small roach, rudd and gudgeon from on my last trip, to tempt out a few small silvers to use as live bait on the main river. Arriving at the pool it was obvious that no one else and fished there in a long time as the bankside vegetation was untrodden so after a little clearing i had a lovely flatfish spot to stand and fish from safely. I say safely as i knew the water was quite deep, turns out its around 6-8ft at your feet, and there was an inlet pipe running heavily into the pool next to where i was standing so slipping in would of been quite a serious error.<br />
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Quickly setting up a little trotting rig a dropped the bait just out from my nearby bank at a depth of roughly 3ft, baited with a single red maggot, and literally before the float had time to settle it slid away and i happily swung in a tiny chublet, result. Over the past hour i caught a good few dozen chublets, roach and rudd with 10 or so going into the livie bucket and the rest being returned. I was enjoying myself immensely catching these small fish and for some reason thought i,d deepen the rig and see what was lowered down in the water column, now that was a real game changer. First chuck in and my float side away as per usual but as i lifted into this fish i was met with some good resistance and something pulling back hard on the other end of my line. A short battle and up popped a lovely roach off around a pound or so in weight but as i went to slide the net under it the hook pulled, bollix. Annoyed at losing a decent fish i dropped the bait back in roughly the same place and almost immediately the float shot of again and i was into another strong fish which turned out to be another good sized roach. The next half hour was spent catching quality sized roach upto three quarters of a pound, wish i,d taken pictures of them now, until the action just stopped for no apparent reason. Now for some reason i again decided to deepen the rig and first drop in i hooked and landed the reason, i was soon to find out, why the bigger roach and the smaller fish earlier had 'done the offs'.<br />
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It had turned out that deeper down in my swim was a hoard of good sized perch, probably curious as to what all the commotion had been over the past couple of hours. Every drop down with single red maggot resulted in perch upto half pound snatching the bait. Now this was great fun catching perch of this size but i did wonder if maybe there was any bigger specimens swimming amongst its smaller brethren so i changed tactics and dropped in a small live bait to the same area as an experiment. First little trot and the free roaming chublet attracted a slightly bigger perch of maybe just a pound in weight, great i thought and persevered onwards with another little livie. More perch followed but nothing over a pound in weight and i was beginning to think that maybe 1lb was the ceiling weight for them in this tiny little pool.<br />
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I,d just turned to grab a bottle of drink out of my rucksack when out of the corner of my eye i saw my float shoot under again and a quick strike met with a pull back at the other end of my line. Now this fish pulled back a lot stronger than the previous fish and too be honest by the way it was fighting i thought i,d hooked into a small jack pike, but i was over the moon when just below the surface i saw a big perch twisting and turning trying to tangle me in the nearside vegetation. Eventually i slid the net under a cracking perch or possibly 2.5lb in weight, it was exceptionally thick across its back, quick picture and i slide her back and i was happy. I was tempted to up sticks after this fish as it had run around the swim a lot and my thoughts were that maybe it had spooked everything but i had noticed another perch below it as i netted it so though ill have another cast just in case. Straight away my float disappeared and i played another good perch in of around 1.5lb. Happy days, thought i, ill carry on fishing but for the next 15 mins or so there was not even a tug on my line.<br />
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Have you ever had that feeling that something was wrong in your swim, when for no apparent reason you feel as though the area had just emptied of fish? Well that was how i was feeling now so thought it was time to give the main river a try when out of the blue my float slid across the surface of the pool. Now this was different as all the other bites had been sharp pull under bites but this time the float was sliding along just below the surface, i was pretty sure i knew who the culprit would be. I applied pressure in the opposite direction to which the float was going and all hell then proceeded to break loose. Whatever was on the other end shot across to the other side of the pool, then back to me, then back to the other side before trying to snag me in the nearby reeds. I was right in thinking that a pike had taken my live bait but i wasn't expecting it to be one this size in such a small body of water. It took a good 15 minutes to finally get this powerhouse of a pike into my waiting landing net, which it only just fit in as the net was only meant for perch, after numerous attempts at wrapping me around the weeds at my feet and a couple of overhanging branches nearby but i eventually managed it. What a beautifully conditioned, well proportioned pike of 13.5lb she was too with not a blemish on her flanks and a full mouth of needle sharp teeth, i,m pretty sure that she's not been caught before. I was one seriously happy bunny after this capture and after a quick photo session i slipped her back into the pool and then proceeded to flop down in the grass and have a breather as i needed it.<br />
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I fished a couple of areas on the main river afterwards, with no joy, but to be honest my heart wasn't in it now after the sport i,d just had in the previous few hours, i was already more than content with what i had caught and the 'need' to catch anymore was just not there. I got back to the van just as it was getting dark and sat in the back reflecting on the afternoons fishing whilst sipping a latte and thinking how can such a small piece of water produce so many good size fish in such a short time. The eco-system must be perfect in there as all the fish caught were in excellent condition and fighting fit. I will return to fish the river again soon but ill rest the pool for a while to let it settle back down.<br />
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Tight lines guys.................<br />
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<br />BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-65040776754124116772019-10-20T16:46:00.000+01:002019-10-20T16:46:38.841+01:00France 2019So last week myself and a friend took the long 12 hour drive to the lake we fished so successfully last year. Thoughts of big fat carp crawling up our lines were foremost in our minds. I,d had a good session last year landing 17 fish, if memory serves, upto 42lb and was looking forward to hopefully a repeat performance. Once the long haul was over and we had arrived at the lake it was time to set up all the usual paraphernalia needed to survive a weeks carp fishing. After a couple of hours lugging bags from van to swim, setting up bivvies and generally getting sorted it was time to relax. First order of the day was to have a little perch fishing with lobworms from the dam wall as last year a few large stripes were seen following marker floats so it was decided to try for them. After an hour or so we,d had half a dozen perch to half pound and a couple of small jack pike, no big perch showed but it was a bright sunny day so we weren't expecting much anyway. A short walk back to our swim and it was time to get the rods out for the carp.<br />
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Nothing happened that night or the following morning and i,d reeled in my rods to have a little walk around the grounds before the forecast rains set in. Upon getting back to the swim i,d put my rods back out, bar one, when the heavens opened and i took shelter in the avid base camp we had set up to sit under and cook in. The rains stayed for a couple of hours and in the end i thought i,d just 'pub chuck' my last rod 30 yards or so out infront of the swim with a bright single pop-up on just to get it fishing. A couple of hours later an alarm sounded and up i shot running to the wrong rods before realising it was the 'pub chuck' rod that was having line stripped from the reel, i had been having a wee snooze at the time so was a bit dazed and confused. I picked up the rod and leant into a strong fish which decided it wanted to swim to the far end of the lake no matter what. A nice fight ensued with me gaining and losing line regularly before i slipped the net under a nice size mirror carp. It turned out that not only was this a nice sized carp but also my new PB at 45lb 14oz, i really was a happy bunny. Not a lot happened for the rest of the day and night, but it didn't matter to me.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">45lb 14oz mirror carp</td></tr>
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The following morning was nice and mild with only a slight breeze and perfect for a spot of stalking at the shallower end of the lake. We,d booked the whole lake to ourselves so we weren,t restricting to fishing from one area. Before the trip i,d got it into my head that i wanted to catch a French carp on a float fished lobworm, it didn't,t have to be a big carp any carp would do. Well this was the perfect day as the evening before we had seen lots of bubblers showing which obviously gave the carps location away and today i was going to try for one. Quietly walking along the track i could see a few bubbles here and there and once arriving in the first swim there was a few definite feeding fish chucking up bubbles as they grubbed around in the silt. Just to the right of the swim was a big patch of bubbles only a rod lengths out from the bank so i quietly dropped my float a foot away and settled down to see if it got any interest. Within 60 seconds my float slowly slid away and i lifted into a carp that took of across the lake. This wasn't,t the usual low double figure carp i,ve caught in the past, back in England, using this method, this was a beast and it let me know it. I think i played the fish for 15 minutes or so, not really sure to tell the truth, and in that time it took numerous powerful runs across the lake flat rodding me on a couple of occasions. Thoughts of a big 20lber or maybe even a scrapper 30lb were running through my mind as the fish got closer and closer and finally it rolled into my waiting landing net. Shit, that's huge was my next thought.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">39lb 10oz floatfished worm caught mirror carp</td></tr>
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Lifting the net out of the water and placing my capture on the waiting mat was no easy feat i can tell you. Opening the mesh of the net revealed a beautiful, big, mirror carp far bigger than i expected to catch and she was in fine condition. Quickly unhooked, slipped into the sling and onto the scales she weighed in at a very pleasing 39lb 10 oz. A few quick pictures and she was away back into her watery home and i flopped onto the grass knackered and elated. I could of packed up fishing there and then and come home as i was that happy, in fact i walked back to our main swim made myself a coffee and just chilled out for the next few hours, happy and content. A few people on hearing about this capture have said 'shame it wasn't a 40lber as it was so close' but to be honest it doesn't,t matter to me one bit, it was a massive carp caught on 'old school' tactics and was caught by design. What more could you ask.<br />
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Nothing much happened on my rods for the next couple of days, a couple of upper 20lb carp tripped up and took my bait, but everything was exceptionally quite not what i,d hoped for really but i was already happy with my previous captures so it didn't,t really matter to me. My fishing partner on the other hand was catching at an astonishing rate including fish in the 50lb and 60lb bracket.<br />
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Bites for me had been practically non existent for a while and the couple i had resulted in a hook pull and getting snagged on a sunken branch. Thats until i had a slow take at 2.30 in the morning and after a rather un-spectacular fight i landed a big grass carp. Not only was this a big grass carp but it was also the only grass carp in the lake, and it was at its biggest weight too resulting in a lake record of 41lb 12oz. It may not of done much in the water but once on the mat it proper beat me up. These fish look huge, and sp impressive, on the bank as they have such a length to them.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">41lb 12oz lake record grass carp</td></tr>
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I,d like to say that i caught some more spectacular carp, but i didn't, i only caught the 5 fish. But what fish i had caught though, a near 40lb carp caught on a floatfished lobworm, a mid 45lb carp caught on a chuck it and chance it cast, and a massive lake record caught grass carp. I might not of set the angling world on fire but i am more than happy with my catches that week.BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-80748003712778284042019-09-01T18:08:00.001+01:002019-09-01T18:08:41.620+01:00BIG WATER BANGERA spur of the moment decision saw me pulling up to my syndicate water just as it was getting light 2 weeks ago with a mind to catch a carp, well lets face it to try and catch a carp. I opted to fish an easily accessible swim because, to be honest, i was in a lazy frame of mind and didn't really fancy pushing my barrow full of kit very far. I have fished this swim once last October and unfortunately had lost a fish late one night due to a hook pull so know it has form.<br />
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I,d brought Choccy along to keep me company and he was quite content chilling and soaking up the sun as i went about setting up my home for the night and making myself comfy. Once this was done out came the marker rod and i started to thrash the water to a foam as i searched for 3 likely areas to target the old mud suckers. I wasn't too bothered about the disturbance i caused as my marker was dragged through the swim countless times, or with the depth charge water eruptions as my big balls of boilie crumb and goundbait hit the spots, or even with the splashing and clouding up of the water as i waded around baiting and casting, as i wasn't expecting any action, if any, until later that evening going into the night. Once all the disturbance was over i sat back and promptly fell asleep for a few hours.<br />
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Nothing happened throughout the day, as i expected, but coming on 7 o'clock i decided to recast the rigs and rebait the areas ready for hopefully some night time action. I had my left rod cast across a bay to my left to the area where i lost a fish last year, my middle rod was only 20 yds out in front of the swim just past the weed line and my 3rd rod was cast to the base of a bridge leg which screamed fish. All rods done and it was time for a nice dinner of italian meat stuffed pasta in a creamy cheese sauce washed down with a nice latte followed by bed as i couldn't keep my eyes open. About midnight my middle rod let out a few bleeps followed by a slow run, which after tripping out of the bivvy, i eventually lifted into. A nice weight was felt on the end of the line which kited to my left followed by a couple of head nods and everything fell limp, i was gutted, i,d lost another fish. Upon reeling in and inspecting the broken hooklink it was pretty obvious that i had hooked a pike and it had bitten cleanly through the braid. Not so gutted now i tied on a new blowback rig using a virus bottom bait and trimmed down pastel yellow pop-up and recast to the same area.<br />
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Just before first light my middle alarm burst into action waking me from a deep sleep and by the time i had reached the rod my spool was slowly ticking away as it gave line to whatever was on the other end of my line. Lifting into the fish it was pretty obvious it was a carp as it powered off away from me taking line of my tighten clutch and flat rodding me in the process. I loosened the clutch a little as i didn't want to bully it and pull the hook out of it's mouth. A few minutes passed before i saw the beastie roll in the weed and wading out to my knees a carefully slipped the net under my first carp from this huge water. I was elated at this capture and to be honest was a bit dazed as well so i sacked him up, made a coffee and set up the unhooking, camera and weighing gear. A quick weigh, a few photos, an admiring glance or ten and i slipped him back to his watery home. He weighed slightly over 17lb, not that his weight is of any importance as he was a little beauty and i,d managed to catch a carp from over 350 acres of water. I've been walking on cloud nine ever since.<br />
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Shortly after returning my prize and downing another latte i packed up my kit and made my way home a very happy man indeed.<br />
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As a little side note, the margins of my swim were littered with dozens of empty snail shells and as you stood and watched the edges of the marginal weed you could see hundreds of snails of all sizes slowly moving around on the gravel and weed fronds. Perfect food for any hungry carp passing by and i reckon that the fishy, oily ground bait i was using around my hook baits would probably of been covered in these snails making it even more attractive to them.<br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3h2cC5B7bBaP01vkaCFDRSrLySESNOg38HhjlUKVOZX7lzIAPJm_vTt9TBpUEoQz-JDN7FSI-bA_iHCVZbUmF_zBVC01NF-HRAfGCtEa0qaBydvUxwa5xQEcORhfMHz4BgNcaqkpcCCQQ/s1600/fullsizeoutput_2ba.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a>BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-51959055977362613882019-09-01T17:12:00.000+01:002019-11-27T20:09:09.181+00:00BASSTASTIC....So a couple of weeks back i had some time of work to do some more work on the house but decided that i needed to have a little dabble for some bass on my local River Crouch as rumours were they had been showing in good numbers. So armed with a couple score of ragworm and a pack of squid i made the long walk to a mark i,d fancied fishing for quite a while now.<br />
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On the way to my chosen spot i stopped at a nice creek which i have seen fish topping in before when i have been waking the dogs along there. Out went a 2 hook flapper to see if there was anything lower down as well as another rod fishing a ragworm 3ft or so below a float. I've been wanting to try catching a bass by float fishing for a while but just hadn,t gotten around to it. I only gave the area an hour, as i wanted to get to my main spot, but didn't have so much as a tip dip.<br />
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Another 1.5 mile walk and i was at my chosen mark, a point in the river where it bends, and also alongside a nice inlet/outlet for a wildlife pool behind. This spot has water at all states of the tide and is a lot deeper than i thought it was. I,d arrived just about high tide so the tide was proper pushing through, as it does on the Crouch, but it was still fishable as to my right a lovely crease had formed as the tide ran out which created a nice big slack area close in to my bank which screamed 'fish me'. First rod out was my flapper rig, which i cast just to the inside of the crease where i thought the bass might be patrolling, and before i had picked up my other rod the tip was rattling away, unfortunately i missed that bite but it was good sign that something fishy was about.<br />
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As the tide was still pretty strong i changed the float rig for another flapper, as the float was shooting off with the current at such a rate that i thought it would be too quick for a bass to notice, and dropped this rig in 10 yards out just past what i thought would be the rock/weedline. Just past the rocks and weed is one of my favourite spots to fish for all species of saltwater fish and is usually my banker spot. It does produce smaller fish most of the time but does throw up an unexpected lump now and then. Anyways this rod had not been in the water for no more than a few minutes when the tip whacked round and i was attached to a fiesty little bass. Result, target achieved, and expectations were high for a couple more fish.<br />
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More bass of the same stamp took a liking to my ragworm and squid cocktail as the tide was on the way and gradually easing up in strength. Bites were quite even between the close in rod and the one along the crease. I was actually hoping to catch a flounder or possibly a dab but didn't manage any, just basslet after basslet. At one point i had a huge slow pull down on the crease rod and upon lifting into the it stayed deep, heavy and slow moving for a minute or so before it got snagged and my hook link parted, bollix. I reckon it was probably a thornback due to way it was moving, but seeing as i was only using a lightweight bass rod it would of been a struggle to get in to the rocks in the heavy flow.<br />
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It wasn't long before the current slow started to slow down so i changed rigs on one rod to float fished ragworm as i did earlier in the day. I started to fish this along the crease but after a half dozen or so fruitless trots i opted to fish it just out past the rocks slightly to my left where the inlet/outlet from the wildfowl pool behind had left a channel in the visible mud. First couple of tries and nothing then the a couple of quick dips on the float got my heart racing, this was then followed by no action for 10 minutes. I was still getting bites and landed a couple of bass on the flapper rig whilst i was watching the float. A recast just a little further out with the float saw it slowly trotting down stream on the inside of crease when all of a sudden the float was gone. Shocked it took me a couple of seconds to realise what had happened before i struck and was met with a sold resistant and a head thump. Game on i thought as the fish gave me a good battle on my old carp rod until up she popped a few feet from the rocks. Carefully i guided her to a nice spot in-between a few rocks where i would be able to reach down for her and with a couple of final thrashes i beached it on some seaweed before stumbling down the rocks to grab my prize before it escaped back into its watery home. I was over the moon as i really wanted to catch a bass on a float again, i hadn,t caught one on a float for over 20 years, and weighing 3-3.5lb it was the biggest of the day.<br />
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After that fish i had a couple more small basslets before calling it a day wit a total of over 15 small bass and the bigger one, which i took home for the 'other half's' dinner. All in all i had a great few hours fishing, best sea fishing i,ve had for quite a while now, and Sharon got the pleasure of eating fresh sea bass steamed in foil with spring onions and lemons. She was impressed....<br />
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<br />BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-43299913324368903912019-07-20T12:50:00.001+01:002019-07-20T12:50:21.441+01:00ESSEX JELLYFISHSo a few weeks back i was returning from a nice walk with the dogs and as i was crossing a tiny little tidal creek i glanced down and saw, quite to my amazement really, a solitary jellyfish 'swimming' along with the current. Now i,ve seen plenty of jellyfish whilst on holidays down in the South West as well as when i have been out boat fishing, i,ve also seen the odd one washed up dead on the shore but i have never seen a live one swimming up a creek in Essex.<br />
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I had to get a little film of it so out came the trusty iPhone and i captured a couple of minutes of the wee beauty and put it up on my Youtube channel. The link is below if you fancy a looksie.<br />
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Cheers guys, tight lines and have a good weekend......BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-47783497449689662222019-06-15T16:31:00.000+01:002019-06-15T16:31:31.748+01:00LOCAL DANGLINGSo lately i havn,t had a lot of spare time to go fishing due to work and the ongoing attempts to complete the extension i,ve built on my house, this has meant that i havn,t been to my syndicate for a few months so the limited fishing i have done has been very local and only for a couple of hours at a time. Now i,m not complaining too much about fishing short sessions locally as there is some not too bad waters nearby, and i have caught ok, but its meant i,ve had to scale my tackle down considerably to allow me to be more mobile and chase fish down rather than wait for them to come to me. This has been good fun as i used to be very mobile when i first started fishing and its quite nice to do so again.<br />
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With two waters being within 1 mile away, another around 3 miles, and miles and miles of the River Roach and the River Crouch starting within 2 miles away i thought it would be a good idea to kit out the old mountain bike to use as my mode of transport for fishing these venues. I purchased a set of panniers for the back and also some luggage straps to hold the rods and set about converting a knackered old bike into a prime fishing vehicle. The bike needed a bloody good service first as it hasn,t been ridden for nearly 10 years, so once that was done on went the panniers, front and rear lights, mudguards, new pump and my now scaled down carp kit. I was ready for the off the following weekend to the local park lake.<br />
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A little after first light saw me gently cycling around the water before pulling up to my chosen swim and damn near falling off the bloody bike as i swung my leg over the back and got caught up on the rolled up unhooking mat. Fortunately there was no-one around to see this minor mishap as i chuckled to myself whilst setting up my rods. I could see a few carp moving 20 yards out in front, hence me choosing this swim, so out went a ronnie rigged Eclipse Virus pop-up coupled with a small pva bag off crumbed virus boilies in hope of attracting a carp down in the water to have a munch. Once that rod was sorted i started to catapult out some mixers as this water is always good for a bit of surface action. After 15 mins or so i had a couple of carp regularly feeding on the mixers that the masses of ducks weren,t nicking when my alarm sounded and the clutch started to tick. Leaning into the fish i thought i,d have a small carp attached as it wasn,t really doing much when all of a sudden up popped a bream of around 4lb with my bait hanging out of the side of its mouth. Not my chosen quarry but at least i had caught, unhooked, returned and back out went the rig.<br />
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I was having a lot of trouble with the parks ducks getting to my mixers before the carp, and even going for my bait, so i had to put the old thinking cap on to try and stop the little thieves. The end result was a virus pop-up super glued to a Fox floater hook and then attaching a pva mesh bag with 6 mixers inside to the hook and casting this to any rising carp. This resulted in the ducks not really noticing that there was any freebies floating around, also i was catapulting some mixers of to my left to help deter the beasts from my hookbait. This worked well with a few rises to my bait but no hookups until i had a couple of bleeps on my alarm which i glanced over too before turning back to see my floater rod nearly disappearing over the reeds it was resting against. Grabbing the rod and leaning into the fish just made mr carp very angry.<br />
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FISH ON GAME ON...<br />
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After a cracking fight on my 9ft Sonik stalker rod i finally landed my prize, a lovely mirror carp of around 12lb. Unhooked, a quick piccie and he was slid back into his watery home. This disturbance basically killed the swim so after another 30 mins of firing out mixers and very little showing i decided to pack up and head home for some breakfast.<br />
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A nice little result for a couple of hours dangling.....<br />
<br />BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-46073077072069171072019-06-15T15:34:00.000+01:002019-06-15T15:34:37.741+01:00THORNIESAround May time thornback ray start to show up in catches from the shore and boat, in my local River Crouch, as they migrate into the shallower water to spawn i believe. This gives us the chance to catch a few for a couple of months before they drift away to wherever they go to. For the past few years i seem to of been too busy to fish for them locally and on the the odd occasion that i have had the time to wet a line i havn,t been able to connect with one. Well i thought i,d have another try a couple of weeks back as the weather was due to be nice and i just fancied having a dangle in saltwater. Weighed down with all my kit i stumbled the mile or so along the sea wall to my chosen marsh area that i thought might produce the goods. After nearly falling 'arse over tit' over a bramble and then having to 'hop' over a small adder as it crossed my path i finally dumped my gear down at my chosen spot and sat on my bucket a huffing, puffing sweaty old man.<br />
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After a few minutes i,d gotten my breathe back and set about getting my rods tackled up and fishing. When the tide isn,t pushing through too hard here i like to fish with 3 rods to give myself a better chance of catching something. I set 1 rod as a close in rolling rig with 2 hooks baited with cocktails of worm, squid and herring, and drop this out no more than 10-20 yards so it can fish at the bottom of the rocks and quite often catches some nice bass when they are in the river. The other 2 rods were baited with herring and squid on pennell rigs and cast from 75-100 yards out in hope of a thornback or even a decent size bass.<br />
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The sun was strong and there was a slight breeze which was lovely to sit in but like most fishing situations not great conditions. After 3 hours of tide up and another hour of tide down i hadn,t even had a rattle on the rod tips, most disappointed was I. Sharon had come down with the dogs for a walk and had just walk further along the bank when my distance rod baited with a nice big herring fillet registered a nice tap followed by a steady pull down. I grabbed the rod and lent into whatever was on the end of the line, half expecting it to be a big clump of weed, and whatever was on the other end pulled back.<br />
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Fish on - Game on..<br />
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After a few minutes of giving and taking line, i played it like a pussy as i was sure it was a ray and i didn,t want to lose it, up popped a nice little skate at the bottom of the marsh drop-off. I hand lined it up the clay and lay it on the marsh before unhooking the lovely prehistoric looking creature. I,ve not caught many thornback rays but always admire the beautiful patterns across their back and the evil looking thorns along the length of their tail. Fortunately Sharon had returned from her walk and took some nice pictures before i slipped the wee beauty back to its watery home. Before anyone asks, yes you can eat them, sold as skate wing in the chippy, but i don,t like the taste of fish and would much rather return them to grow on and breed to produce more fish to catch at a later date.<br />
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I fished on for an hour or so after the capture and possibly had another bite that didn,t materialise into anything before packing and going home for dinner.<br />
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MISSION ACCOMPLISHED...........BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-46289920255935815812019-03-31T09:31:00.000+01:002019-03-31T09:31:09.721+01:00FISHING BUDDY CHOCCIE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So any of you who have read my Blogs before will know that i have 2 spaniels, Paddy a Sprocker and Choccie who is a Working Cocker. Well i,ve always wanted a furry fishing buddy so have decided that i will have a go at teaching Choccie the ropes at being a 'carp dog'. He has the right temperament for it as he is very obedient, doesn,t roam too far and can quite happily keep himself entertained. i,ve taken him, along with Paddy, on a couple of sea fishing excursions on the local tidal river and both have behaved well so thought it was time to take it to the next level.<br />
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Instead of just throwing him in at the deep end i thought it best to ease him into fishing so i took him along for a mornings walk around my syndicate as i marker float around a few areas to get an idea of whats under the water. Well i have to say i am really impressed with him as he settled in nicely as i spent time casting around various areas, i did originally think he might be jumping up at anything i was trying to cast but he wasn,t bothered really and just looked on with a 'what ARE you doing Daddy' look on his face. Obviously his favourite part of the morning was walking between fishing areas but he was quite content with snuffling around and chewing sticks while i thrashed the water to a foam. I,m really happy with how he handled the day and will be taking him with me soon for my first carp session of the year.<br />
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<br />BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-86609495037019262812019-03-30T09:02:00.001+00:002019-03-30T09:02:55.722+00:00ROCHFORD, RIVER ROACH <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So just up the road from where i live is a small public park with a nice lake of a few acres which is run as a day ticket water. I,ve fished there a few times for the carp as it is relatively easy fishing and you can always manage to winkle out a fish or two in a couple of hours dangling. Alongside this lake is a small stream, the River Roach, which is only shallow and an be jumped across quite easily, but at the far end of the lake the is an inlet from this stream to keep water flowing into it and to do this a small weir has been built. above this weir is a small pool of no more than 50ft long and 20ft wide which also flows out of a small tunnel beneath the railway track above.<br />
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I,d heard rumours that there was a small head of silver fish in this pool and thought that i would have a little explore one morning, so armed with a little ground bait, a pint of maggots and my feeder rod i made my way along the path from the road, then along the lake itself and finally over a small railing to an area that i could set up and fish comfortably. The water was pushing through quite fast as it exited the tunnel and all manner of debris was floating by so i opted for a small swim feeder approach stuffed with a little grounbait and maggots with a size 18 hook loaded with 2 maggots. First chuck to just in front of the tunnel resulted in a couple of knocks on the tip followed by a good pull down, which i missed. A couple more of the same gave me confidence that there was indeed some fishy life in this small pool.<br />
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I concentrated more and when the next rattle happened i struck and was met with a good little bit of resistance which turned out to be a lovely pristine roach. A few more tidily roach followed being another half decent roach ended up in my hand. I was pleasantly surprised with the results for the first half hours fishing as i was getting a rattle on the tip almost every cast and the roach that i did catch were in a beautiful, bright silver condition. <br />
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I decided to flip the feeder along my bank tight to the wall of the bridge to see if there was anything lurking there and found it was a bit deeper also. After a couple of minutes i had a rattle and set the hooks into something that just powered around the small pool, i began to think it was a really big roach when up popped a small carp of 1.5lb or so, who,d of thought there would be a carp in this tiny river but being next to a lake stuffed with the things i guess its possible. After the disturbance created by this little brute the bites went quiet for a while and i was contemplating going home for a bite to eat but thought i,d have a cast to the opposite side of the tunnel first.<br />
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The feeder had hardly settled when the tip wrapped over and i was attached to another powerful fish running around the pool. I presumed i was playing another small carp but i could,t believe it when eventually a big pair of white lips appeared just in from of my landing net, it was a chub and a half decent one at that. On the bank and it weighed around the 1.5-2lb mark as it was a proper little fatty and, as with the roach, it was in mint condition. After a quick photo and a final admiring look i slipped him back into the pool before packing up my gear and heading back to the van.<br />
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So from a tiny little stream/river that no-one but the ducks pay attention to that runs alongside a park lake a stones throw from a town centre i managed to catch a couple dozen beautiful silvery roach, a chunky little common carp and a pristine gorgeous looking chub and its only half a mile from my front door. What more can i ask, i will return...BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-56332339801619141972019-03-01T15:34:00.000+00:002019-03-01T15:34:02.955+00:00SOUTH FAMBRIDGE<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So as i was still convalescing i decided to take the dogs out for a mornings fishing for dabs and whiting at a local mark i know. I didn,t realign have high hopes of catching anything as the sun was shining and there had been a good bit of rain for the previous couple of days. Also i,d opted to fish low water, which i,ve not done here before, and the local reports were that next to nothing was being caught locally. Sod it, thought i, i,m going anyway.<br />
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Well the sun was definitely bright and there was also quite a breeze blowing, bit nippy too to be honest but i, and the pooches, were dressed for the occasion. I set up three rods and cast them at different distances and areas with different rigs and bait on each. On rod had a whole squid with a fillet of mackerel whipped to it thumped as far as i could cast in hope of an early season ray or maybe a bass. The second rod had a 2 hook flapper set up and bait with lugworm and fish strip and was cast around 50 yards out. And the final rod was a flowing trace and light lead set up baited with lugworm and tipped with either squid or mackerel and was flipped out 20 yards so it could roll around just past the rocks and hopefully pick up anything that was swimming close in.<br />
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Well in a nutshell i blanked big time, i don't even recall seeing a knock on any of the 3 rod tips. I was quite disappointed to be honest as i was hoping to at least catch a tiddler but the fish weren,t playing ball. Its a very hit and miss venue to fish as you,ll blank as much as catch for some reason. It does throw up some really big fish at times but i think its just a case of being in the right place at the right time, most frustrating. I,ll still fish it though as its a beautiful place.<br />
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I did have this trawler dredging for shellfish constantly, while i was there, a few hundreds yards away from me so maybe there was too much disturbance for any fish to come near. There must of been some good shellfish off that point as this boat was proper going to town in this area.....BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-37018412072732558822019-02-28T15:27:00.001+00:002019-02-28T15:27:52.423+00:00PIKING.......<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So i,ve been suffering from an Incasserated Ubilical Hernia since christmas which basically stopped me from doing much, fishing, walking, working, so i have basically been moping around the house. Fortunately i had an op to repair the hernia mid January which was good but meant that for a couple of weeks i was even more house bound as the wound healed up. I was meant to stay of my feet for a couple of weeks and no activities for a couple more, but i could,t wait and as soon as i was fit enough to walk i packed my pike fishing gear and headed of to a local water for a 'gentle' couple of hours dangling.<br />
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Upon arriving in my chosen swim i dropped a float fished half herring in the near margins and turned round to set up my other rod, my rods were already tackle up but just needed the rod sections putting together a trace clipped on and bait hooked. I,d just finished hooking up a small roach deadbait, horizontally so it could drift around the swim, when i noticed my margin float start to slide away. I gave it a chance to get the hooks in its mouth as it was playing around with the bait a bit before the float then disappeared and i set the hooks home, or at least i thought i had. A good scrap ensued as the fish powered up the margin and it felt like a good fish when all of a sudden the hooks came out and i was left with that sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach that you may have just lost a decent size pike, BOLLIX.....<br />
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Well i fished that swim hard for a couple of hours but to avail as nothing even sniffed at my array of mouthwatering deadbeats whether they were static, drifted or wobbled, so i upped sticks and moved to another swim in a small bay which I've been meaning to fish for years but never got round too. One bait was cast to some reeds and the drifted roach was dropped in the near margins where it slowly drifted on the breeze underneath a lovely over hanging bush. As soon as the drifted bait touched the outer branches, so to speak, of the bush the float shot under and after a spirited fight this little fella popped up to save me from a blank. That was it for my couple hours fishing but i wasn,t complaining as it got me out of the house and into the fresh air again. As always i learnt a little more about this water which again is stored in the memory banks for my next visit whenever that may be. One thing i did learn was to not wear my welly boots when i have to walk up and down wet, muddy slippery slopes as they are shite for getting a grip. Three times i lost my footing and ended up on my arse, and not just little slips either, proper legs up and out and crumpling on the ground like a sack of old potatoes. Lucky there was none else fishing because i must of looked a right tit......<br />
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As usual i was having a mooch around the banks, while i was waiting for the bites that never came, and i found this half a shell of a swan mussel. Look at the size of the thing, its definitely the biggest that i,ve seen, and i used to sell them many years ago. I wonder how old it was before it died, i,m not sure if you can count the rings on the shell to tell its age, i,ll have to look it up.<br />
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Anyway i had an enjoyable couple of hours and it blew the cobwebs out. Roll on next trip.....<br />
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BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-65876959647920676162019-01-12T19:33:00.000+00:002019-01-22T16:54:41.826+00:00SMALL RIVER ROVING<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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With Christmas out of the way and copious amounts of food consumed i needed to get out in the fresh air and stretch my legs so of down the local tackle shop i went and came out with a couple pints of maggots and a box of lobworms. A good few years ago i had a little explorative walk along a small river 15 or so miles away from me, as i had heard a couple of chub had been caught, and thought it would be worth a try at some point but had never really got round to it. Well i had an itch to roam a river and seeing as the River Chelmer is such a shadow of its former self a new venue was needed, and seeing as i didn,t have the time to venture upto Peterborough and fish the River Nene this tiny little water would be my chosen venue.<br />
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I arrived on the banks at first light after a short walk and set up a chubber float to fish a tiny little weir pool, of off the main river, which fed a tiny stream which ran through a nearby golf coarse. First trot down and the float sinks away and i,m into a nice roach, happy days. Countless cast produced countless roach and small perch to my float fished maggots, i was a happy bunny but it was time to move on and try my luck for something a bit bigger. Big perch and hopefully a chub were firmly in my mind.<br />
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A short walk along the river and i came across a nice looking fallen tree which screamed perch so i set up a link ledger and settled in above the fallen tree, slid a nice fat lobworm on the hook and flicked it out to the opposite bank close to some reeds. Just as the rig was about to land in the water a small silver fish flicked out of the water a couple feet away from my bait, a good omen i thought. I,d only just tightened down and set a slight bend in my rod tip when it rattled away and i struck into a fish. Only a small perch but i was happy that my swim choice had been good, after all i,m really not a river angler more of a stillwater kind of guy. On went another lobworm, out went the cast and on went the kettle. With a latte in hand i was happy, looking around at the local wildlife and revelling in how quiet it was as the low hanging mist stayed for most of the day. As i was daydreaming the rod tip pulled and after spilling my cuppa down my leg i struck into a bigger perch of around half a pound. This little tyke put up quite a scrap before being netted so i opted to fish the down stream side of the tree to rest the area i had already fished. First cast against some reeds just out of the main flow and i had a very quick heavy pull down which resulted in me getting snagged up. It was shame as i had felt a couple of heavy thumps as i picked the rod up. A quick re-tackle and dropped another juicy lobworm in against some over hanging branches a little further downstream. After a couple of minutes the rod tip pulled down and i was attached to something pretty powerful and very angry. After a spirited fight in the stronger current up popped a cracking perch of around 2lb with dorsal bristling in defiance, i was now a really happy bunny. My aim had been to see if there was any decent perch in this tiny river and my hunch had paid off. I could of packed up there and then but i wanted to try my luck see if i could tempt a chub as well.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40IalXMkPU_xt8IpiZpO6e4rWiO_zu_mt19iKZpUGC8GsSJzll2A_Kq8eDRDQEGyAjPMWv9eatSGdWHYktlIvVHCidrUXwUkERwGZPBjowxm7NpfDyhkgxkt5crORS5ooI8pfA06tmZDq/s1600/IMG_3568.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1203" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh40IalXMkPU_xt8IpiZpO6e4rWiO_zu_mt19iKZpUGC8GsSJzll2A_Kq8eDRDQEGyAjPMWv9eatSGdWHYktlIvVHCidrUXwUkERwGZPBjowxm7NpfDyhkgxkt5crORS5ooI8pfA06tmZDq/s320/IMG_3568.JPG" width="320" /></a>After a couple of pictures i packed up my tackle and walked another half mile or so up river to what looked like a chubby looking area where the current run across to the opposite side of the river leaving a nice long near bank slack which ran along some nice reeds, perfect thought i. In goes another juicy lobworm and straight away i started to get little plucks on the rod tip. Small fish thought i, but every now and then there was a bigger pulldown which had me striking at mid air. This kept going on for 15 minutes before i had an odd little quiver on the tip followed by a couple small pull downs which i stuck at and was rewarded with a heavy thump as whatever i was connected to did its best to snag me in the nearby reeds. Initially i thought i,d hooked into a good sized perch as i didn,t really think i,d actually catch a chub. Imagine my surprise after a minute or so of give and take when a big pair of white lips appeared beneath my rod tip followed by the body of a good 3 lb chub. After another short tussle i slid the net under my prize and released a sigh of relief. I couldn't weigh the chub as the battery was flat in my scales, schoolboy error i hadn,t checked it when sorting out my kit, but my guesstimate was 3-3.5lb. A beautiful looking fish it was too and after a couple of pictures i slid her back into her watery home. I was now walking on air. I fished another few areas with just a few plucks on the rod tip but caught nothing else, not that i cared.<br />
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Overall my hunch about this little river, you could jump from one bank to another in some areas, containing some decent perch worked out and actually catching a chub, a good one at that, really put the icing on the cake. I will return to see what else i might be able to winkle out from this tiny waterway but to be honest i,m not actually that bothered as i,m more than chuffed with what i have already caught. BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-26994697576616943342019-01-07T18:24:00.000+00:002019-01-07T18:24:15.985+00:00DOGGIES........<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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End of November i had a week of work to do some work around the house and as the weather was due to be mild, for this time of year anyway, i thought it would be a good idea to have a mornings fishing on my local River Crouch for the whiting that reports had said were there in numbers. And i thought it would also be good to take my pooches along for the session as they love it down there. After dropping the other half at the train station first thing i drove the 5 minutes it takes from my house to Fambridge with tackle and dogs in the back of the van ready for our little adventure. Loaded up with my gear and two nutcase dogs running amock in front of me i trudged the 2 miles, yes my chosen area was<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-bmBq9pAq_ZHdJML2V9ec3_sI51A8WM_vXSeUjxTIzJ5ivtS4NmKEI33Hdiv9MosqawQerCZXi41xihhvwwMeLh1o6FK7xQJhPvbJ6VdsRGROYzP_0OtnXfyUTBZelASWfa6YPtYvZkd/s1600/IMG_3253.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1200" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgp-bmBq9pAq_ZHdJML2V9ec3_sI51A8WM_vXSeUjxTIzJ5ivtS4NmKEI33Hdiv9MosqawQerCZXi41xihhvwwMeLh1o6FK7xQJhPvbJ6VdsRGROYzP_0OtnXfyUTBZelASWfa6YPtYvZkd/s320/IMG_3253.jpg" style="cursor: move;" width="240" /></a>2 flipping miles from the van, to a nice bend in the river which narrowed the river quite a bit and also had deep water at the bottom of the wall. i,d walked the dogs to this area a few weeks previously when the tide was out and it scream fish as the river narrows up considerably at this point as it bends slightly, and also theres a big shallow bay type area to the left which also looks good for a bite during the summer. Out with the rods and on with the kettle and it wash,t long before my right hand rod started to knock. Leaping up to the rod it was rattling away like a goodun by now and a switch strike and couple of steps backward had me connecting with something fish like thumping away at the end of the line. </div>
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It had a bit of weight to it so my thoughts were either a good size whiting or possibly a sea unicorn, cod to those not in the know, but i wash,t expecting a writhing dogfish 'Doggie' thrashing away on the surface. I was really happy with this catch as although i,ve caught hundreds of dogfish of off boats when i used to boatfish a lot back when i was younger, i had only ever caught 1 doggie from the shore and that was further up the River Crouch at Wallasea Island. Rebait and a recast and the other rod was rattling away now as tightened down to the lead of the recast one. Same procedure, strike walk back a couple steps and reel down to feel for some weight, and i was into another fish. Low and behold in comes another dogfish, i could,t believe it. Over the next hour i had rattles on my rods regularly with a few more dogfish being landed. High water saw the bites stop for an hour or so, i,ve often found this anyway, before action resumed with more doggies chewing on my worm and squid baits. Action slowed so after another hour i packed up and made the long walk back to the van.<br />
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In total i had 9 dogfish, if i remember rightly, and had at least twice as many bites. I was really surprised that no other fish were landed, maybe the pack of dogfish that was in front of me had scared them off. All in all i had a great session, as did Paddy and Choccie, and also had a seal follow us as we were walking to the spot. It an amazing area along the River Crouch and i intend to explore more of it with rods pooches over the coming year........BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6692211539564542751.post-495779223302237772019-01-07T17:32:00.001+00:002019-01-07T17:32:31.698+00:00CATCH UP<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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So since my last post not a lot has happened on the fishing front unfortunately. I have managed a few early morning 'before breakfast' trips in search of pike to a local and have blanked twice and managed a couple small jacks on a third trip. Its strange as the conditions seemed bang for all of these trips but the pike have had other ideas. Ive fished this water on and off for over 15 years and have caught on nearly every trip, even if it was just a small jack, but since trying back there over the past couple years i have been struggling. The only thing that i can think of that is different is that i used to fish late afternoons to last light instead of the first light sessions i do now. I reckon i,ll switch back to the afternoons and see if that will help me catch more than i have been. I know of a good few areas which i have pike in the past which i have been fishing again so maybe switching to the afternoons is the answer. I,ll keep you informed on how i get on.<br />
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Although i,ve struggled catching pike on my local the couple i have had, and the odd aborted take, have come to my good old favourite technique of drifting a deadbait long the wind lines and into likely looking areas. The way i do this is to set the float at roughly half to three quarters of the waters depth and put on as light a lead as you can get away with to cock your chosen float with your chosen deadbait. I then hook my bait so it hangs roughly horizontally, slightly head down i favour, in the water so it looks a little like a slow moving injured fish. I personally like using coarse deads, pierced to release more juices, for this to 'match the hatch' so to speak, but i,ve had good success with smelt as well. Its not the best casting technique but plenty good enough for 30 yards or so. When the wind is putting a good chop on the water is best as it jerks the bait up and down as the float rides the waves. Its my go to method nowadays.<br />
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Staying on the pike fishing theme, i had a day chasing Esox on the big water mid November, my first pike trip there and what bagrueller it turned out to be. I arrived before first light, as i like to do, in my chosen section of this behemoth of a water and took the long walk to the first area to try. This was at the entrance to a bay area where a small point jutted out into the water so i could cast into the entrance to the bay to my right and out into open water in front and to the left of me. As the sun was coming up the open water was alive with silver fish dimpling and splashing as well as some bigger fish 'rolling', possibly bream or big roach, and my expectations were high as the pike had to be close by to all this activity. After a little marker float work i found out it was a gentle slop from margin to deeper water with a little drop of 15 yards or so out. Soon as i could i had a ledgered deadbait cast as far as possible towards the fish activity, which was slowly moving further away from me, another rod with same technique was flicked to the right along the slight drop and the third rod was set up as a drifter as the wind was blowing over my shoulder away from me, perfect. Well i fished hard here until midday using everything in my arsenal to catch a fish but to no avail, i did have a little run on my rod cast </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXbZ0q3j3x1QoJqpWkNYbZYYpaufyEkvbAwR80KENDD639GThJkpJqkFeTObqtlhYxLb9tUfsz6FzWPmvq_JN04YytlbVSK9rbCQbuKx2u5XG7AbI3jEJyRoOD73WvAoH2VuJd3MmDQ21/s1600/IMG_3292.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxXbZ0q3j3x1QoJqpWkNYbZYYpaufyEkvbAwR80KENDD639GThJkpJqkFeTObqtlhYxLb9tUfsz6FzWPmvq_JN04YytlbVSK9rbCQbuKx2u5XG7AbI3jEJyRoOD73WvAoH2VuJd3MmDQ21/s320/IMG_3292.JPG" width="320" /></a> to the right but there was no teeth marks in the bait and there was a lot of grebes around so maybe one of them had grabbed it. I moved further along the bank, i say further but should say a lot further as it was over a mile trudge with all my kit, and fish the mouth of another bay for a few hours but again had no joy. The wind was stronger here and was great for drifter fishing but no pike wanted to play ball. An hour or so before sun set i made the long walk back to fish in the bay nearest to the van for the final light. And boy was it a long walk. As the sun was slowly going down and the bay started to get pretty dark as it is surrounded by trees one of my alarms burst in to life making me jump and spill my coffee. Unfortunately whatever had picked up my bait had also dropped it without the hooks taking hold. Bait checked and re-cast to the same area and just as i was clipping up the drop off my other alarm sounded. being on top of the rods this time i watched as a slow trickle of line run through the rings before i picked up the rod and struck into mid air, Bollix. Well i fished until it was too dark to see before walking back to the van and setting of for home.<br />
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It was a cracking trip on such an amazing water but the conditions were against me as it was very bright and sunny which has never bode well for me. As with all trips though i learnt a little more about the water and hopefully i,ll be back there soon chasing the toothy critters. One thing is for sure even if i don't catch anything fishing here it should keep me fit doing so as i,d walk just under 6 miles in search of fish while i was there........<br />
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<br />BRYANS ANGLEhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03515756651875044931noreply@blogger.com4