Tuesday 30 July 2013

Second 4lb chub of the season. 30-07-13

Another couple of hours on the Frome
near Frenchey,
Having feed 4 swims as I
walked up stream
it was good to see a little more flow
and colour.
Also I saw more fish on the surface
so I now have more swims to check out
on another trip.
The first 2 swims produced some
nice small Chub and Roach.
I was using my usual Centre Pin Reel and rod,
5BB Crow Quill Avon float
to size 14 hook and red and white maggot.
The Maggots had been sprinkled in a 
spicy flavouring.

My third swim produced Small Chub, Roach
Minnows and wonderful Rudd.
Then the float just sunk slowly and
trundled out to the far bank.
The ratchet on the centre pin
singing nicely.
The end result was this 4lb 2oz Chub.
Short but chubby fish.  
Nice little Dace
And pretty little Rudd.

Making Crow Quill Avon floats

Having run out of 5BB
floats I decided to make 
some of my own.

I got the the balsa bodies 
from ebay,
the Crow Quills from Eastville Park
crows
and the rest from stock I already had.

Left to right
Crow Quill dressed
Crow Quill undressed.
Balsa body, I'll will make my own during the winter.
Balsa body glued to undressed Quill
Paint pot, Daglo paint and 
Rod eye whipping cotton.
Final product.
After all the Crow Quills had
been undressed
and had their bodies glued on.
Part 2 to follow soon.

River Frome, Eastville and Vassles Park. 24-07-13

Sorry no photos today.

I've been busy at home so no time for fishing
DOH!.

Managed an afternoon out and wanted to try the Eastville lake 
stretch of the Frome. This is just about as far
down stream that can be fished before
it dives under Bristol.

Tried four different swims but only managed
a few Dace and Roach.
Its quite snaggy, I lost 7 hook lenghts, and shallow.

I will try some more of the swims later in the year.

I then went up to the stretch below
Vassles Park and Oldbury Court.

Tried three swims here, including the one
I caught some nice 2lb Chub in the winter.

As expected there were a lot 
of people walking there dogs.
Even so I tried a deep swim under a 
large overhanging tree.
There were no bites at all,
this used to be a cracking spot
for Roach up to 2lb.

Well short story. Blanked in all three swims.

So I headed down stream towards
the Snuff Mill
for 1/2 an hour in 
one of my favourite
Chub swims.
No Chub but plenty
on Dace and a couple of Roach.

All in all a nice 3 1/2 hours fishing. 

Tuesday 23 July 2013

Summer sunday at Lacock. 21-070-13

With a little maggot left over
and wanting to try out
my own home made paste.
I tootled up the M4
and arrived around 06.30.

Setting up near a swim I intended to fish latter
I put in some Hemp, loose maggot
and a few bits of paste. 

[I also noticed what looked like
someone sleeping / hiding (from the cows)
under a plastic cover on the opposite bank.
Little did I know how that would change things later.]

Anyway In the swim I had just baited up I noticed some
activity over the free offerings.
Possible Chub I hoped.

Well I fed a few more swims as I walked 
up stream, I fed more swims than I intended to fish
hoping to slowly get the fish to
get used to my flavourings
without being caught..
Time will tell.

Well up in the first field I set up
 and just used a maggot feeder 
and trotting a float.

This produced the usual Dace, Roach
and Chub.
I do really enjoy this style of fishing.

Back to the second swim in the second field
I set up a small running ledger with
an 8m boillie covered with some
of my paste.
Not touch. Not a good start on my flavourings.
Hhhhmmmmm!
I tried to left under that bush and under that tree to 
right.

Same in the second swim,
one rig to the left
and the other  to the right
in the flow between
a mid stream snag and the 
part collapsed bank.
In both of these swims I alternated
to using the float rig, a Crow Quill Avon float
fished over a bed of Maggot and Hemp.
All small fish up to about 1/2lb.
On to swim 3 and this time just the feeder rod
as it was to tight for float fishing.
Same result not a touch.

Now to my (what should have been my final swim)
and the people across the other side
had got up and been for dip.
Yep! a young lady and boy friend
had been in for a swim and were now drying off without a towel?
Clothes on a branch with the cows showing a lot interest 
in them. Very funny to watch.

In this swim is a fallen tree, the raft of rubbish
is growing quickly.
The bank on the other side was covered
with plastic bags, bottles, Pringle tubes
and so on.
I had just cast my first rig into the swim
when  more kids turned up
and that was it swim killed. They jumping in the water 
walking over the top of my baits.
I gave up on that swim
and moved further down, under a big tree
where I caught the 4lb 6oz Chub 
on an earlier trip.
Same result small fish on the float nothing on the ledger rig
A Mink passed under my feet 
carrying a Stoat, what a sight.
By now the other bank was getting
really crowded wit dog walkers
the bites dried up.
So packed up.

Having had a good thunder storm last night,
I hope it freshens up the rivers a bit. 

Thursday 11 July 2013

Frenchay Frome 11-07-13

Despite the Hay Fever I had
a few hours spare
so down to the Frome I popped again.

Fishing 12 noon till 2.30.

Float rod and centre pin in hand
I tried 6 swims.
Baiting the swims while walking up stream.
I then tried each swim on the way down.

Roach were caught in all the swims
which were between 2ft and
8ft deep.

This was a fine 5oz Perch 
that fell for red and white maggot,
which was the only bait taken.
 This 1lb 7oz Trout was caught in
in the final swim.
 It really pleasant down there 
but a bit tight in places.
By 2 pm I was in trouble
with the pollen,
so it was just as well
I had to home.
I  was quite poorly
by then.

Not sure when I'll 
be out again as the 
Hay Fever is a real problem at the moment,

Hay Fever

What the heck is going on 
with the Pollen.

This has to be the worst year for 
Hay Fever in more
than 15 years.

Bait making morning 11-07-13

Decided to try making some
home made baits today.

Below are some
Betane and Spice boillie
bits.
 In this photo below
are three bags of paste.
Left is Spicie Krill
Middle is trout pellet and Spice
Right is Spicie Betane.
I will let you know 
how I get on.

Wednesday 3 July 2013

Another visit to Lacock. 02-07-13

Popped back up to the Abbey
for another try for some Chub.
It was a dull warm morning when I 
got to the bank at 06.00.

I fed a few swims in the first two fields
with a mix of hemp, groundbait,
crushed high oil pellets,
casters and maggot.

Then started on an
a swim that had 
a nice flow running into
an over hanging tree 
and raft of debris.
I tried various baits
on the trotted Crow Quill Avon Float
and feeder rod.

Well the result was a number of
small Chub, Roach, Dace
and Minnows.

Unfortunately
That was the same for all my swims.
Don't get me wrong I love
catching these smaller fish.
However I had hoped for something
over a 1/2 pound.
Just being there was great,
Some of the swims looked very fishy
The wildlife was very entertaining.
I guess when there is a bit more flow and colour
the scaly ones will start to show. 
I tried to pull something bigger out from this
mass of fallen tree.
This strange coloured duck
and her ducklings
decided to feed in amongst
the branches.

I also tried fishing under
a couple of large trees
where it was quite dark,
especially as it had started to rain.
Again nothing of any size
showed up
but
around mid day the bites stopped.
Just as well as I had to leave by 1pm.

Another very relaxing morning.