Sunday 23 February 2014

A clearing river 22-02-14

Well the call of the river bank was calling,
so I trundled up the M4 to Lacock.
The Avon was well down and clearing fast,
the flow was steady.
I decided to head up stream and fish a couple of new swims.

The first was a total waste of time as it was
full of snags. So with four hook lengths left behind,
I moved down stream to a swim I had fished before.
This one did show a bit of life
and after 45 minutes
I landed this 4lb 14 1/4oz
Chub.
That breeze was a bit chilly at times

I then moved down stream
fishing 4 further swims with out even a touch.
All these swims had produced before 
but not a touch.

This photo is another swim I had not tried before
which proved to be quite shallow.
Again nothing showed any interest.
So for the last hour I popped into the swim I caught
my Barbel in the summer.
This proved empty as well,
but did show that the floods have
cleared a lot of the rubbish and cover.


Thursday 20 February 2014

A break in the weather. 19-02-14

A break in the weather coincided
with an other chance for a longer break from caring. 
 So off to the Avon I went.
Fishing from midday till 6pm.
I was using boilies, (shock and horror,) this time.

When I got there I found the the Avon in a lot better
condition then I expected.

So using P.V.A. Stocking and string to
add some free bits and pieces to each
swim.
 In the first swim I had a few
knock and pulls before
a proper pull and a nice plump
3lb 7oz Chub came to the net.
More pulls and cloncks 
only produced a lost hook length
to a hidden snag.
In total I fished 4 other swims 
which give e any more sings of
activity,
so I headed back to the first swim
for the last hour.
This swim continued show some
fish were still active.
This included a really good
take, this was a Barbel 
which pulled really well
and used the flow to good effect.
Unfortunately some how it managed to escape the hook.

I think I will go
back to using the back wind
method instead of the drag.
Since I changed styles,
I have lost too many fish. 

Monday 10 February 2014

Frosty Frome. 10-02-14

Trudged my way up
to my favored peg.

With frost on the car and on the ground
it did feel colder and the river felt cold as well.
I guess the hail yesterday
cooled it down.

Still, feeding a couple of balls
 of ground bait, and then
setting up my pole, I
used a ground bait feeder
with size 18 hook to 1lb hook length.

A Roach was on the hook straight away,
quickly followed by a Minnow.
I felt that I was in for a good day now,
BUT!
How wrong could I have been.

That was it for over an hour,
the bites were few and far between
and in the end, I ended up with
4 Roach, 3 Dace 1 Gudgeon
and 6 Minnows.
Total weight was 2lb 13oz.
In the end a maggot feeder was
slightly better at picking off the
hungry fish!!!!!

I did loose 12 hooklengths
to a snag that was not there on my last
visit.

On a positive note 
I saw a Dipper fly past,
The first I have seen since 1998! 

Saturday 8 February 2014

Where next!

I think its time to
to take the pole down
to the Frome again
on Monday.

Looks great this afternoon.

Monday 3 February 2014

River Frome 03-02-14

With a window in the weather
this morning,
I went down to the Frome
for a few hours of pole feeder float fishing.

I spent the first fourty minutes
 with a six gram float
trying to trott the swim.
This did not work,
so on went the feeder float rig.

This a standard pole float rig except
the feeder is attached where the hook
usually goes and the hook
length is attached above
the feeder. Either patternoster style
or running hook length style.

 I used a ground bait feeder
with maggot and caster 
mixed in.
I had a size 18 hook on running 1 1/2lb
hook length, main line was 4lb.
Any float can be used as it just a maker
to show you depth of water and not really for bite indication.
The idea is for the feeder to stay still and the
hook length to pull through
pulley style.

 I used red and white maggots and caster
plus a mix of them.
 I gave it about four minutes
between each put in, unless I had a bite.
After about 1/2 an hour the first
rattle and pull on the elastic,
Resulted in a plump Dace.

This 1lb 4oz Roach was next in the bag,
Really pulling out the number 5 elastic.
I packed up at 12 noon
having had a four hour session.
This produced  10 Minnows,
4 Roach, 4 Dace
and a Skimmer.

The river had fined down nicely,
but the dogs were there usual
pain in the neck.
Some of the owners were even
worse.
But I did have a good chat with others.
Another really nice short session.

Sunday 2 February 2014

WET! WET! WET!

It was 04.30 this morning
and I had just woken up.
WHAT DID I HEAR?

Drip, Drip, Drop!
Yep it was raining again.
I got out of bed at 05.00
and looked out of the window.
Raining still falling and the wind rattling 
the chimney pot.

Still not good.

Its now 06.50
and still the rain is coming down,
this means that the Frome will start rising again.
So I won't be going there.

I won't be going to Duchess
either as that is a horrible
mud hole at this time of the year.

I can't fish Baltic Wharf
as the wind is a bit strong.

I don't have any 
sea baits 
because the forecast had been for
much stronger winds,
which with the 14.5mtr tides
would have been a
bit to rough for my liking.
So that's out the
window as well.

So off to Tesco
at 10.00.

I'll try again tomorrow morning.

So I'll have to unpack
the car when it gets light.