Fishing down Duchess Pond, 21-12-22

Decided to pop down to my

local Muddy Puddle and do a 

bit of practice.

I had a pint of Red and mixed

Maggots, Casters, Worms

and Sweetcorn,

I also wanted to start 

feeding some of the

swims.

As can be seen below

the pond is over some 

of the banks. 

 Unfortunately I failed to get a single

bite.

I was using a feeder rod 

and float rod.

While I there this Cygnet

landed.

It had a very strange neck. 

The local pair of Mute Swans

chased it onto the bank

and would not let it

back into the lake.

A bit like beauty and the beast.

Back to the Severn Beach.

I fished the Severn Beach

on Wednesday 30 October.

Well what's to say,

Blanked as did six other rods

I was using up

left over Lug and Rag

from the Sunday before

as well as Squid and 

Black Lug.

As can be seen it was flat calm

and overcast.

Better luck next time.

 

Severn Beach, first visit for a long time . Sunday 27-11-22.

Headed down to Severn Beach

with left over Rag, Lug and Squid

from Fridays trip.

Got down there for 6am.

My chosen spot was taken by some one

who got there 5 minutes before I did.

DOH!

So set up on the right of the slipway

I sat up with Pennel Pully rig 

and a Wish Bone rig.

Those boulders are still

as dodgy I remember. 

Just as well I had my studded 

boots on. They are well 

worth the extra money.

About 20 minuets before 

high water,

which was at 09.12,

I caught a 42cm Codling on Lug bait.

About 10.15 I caught a second Codling

at 45cm, to Rag worm.

After that no more interest.

I had to wait till 11.15

when I managed to find two rigs I had lost to 

snags.

 

Back down Stolford. 26-11-22

Headed down the M5

with a brief stop at 

Reel Fun

for some bait.

Then on to Stolford.

Set up with Lug, Rag, Squid 

and Sand Eel.

Rigs were 

Long and small Pully rigs

and wish bone rigs.

12.4 mtr tide, as at Clevedon.

Fished from 4.30 till 8.30.

Result:- BLANK

Not a BITE.

South west wind with the odd light shower.

Very pleasant evening.

And the motorway traffic

was very quiet.

 

Forgot to post this trip to Ladye Bay,

Saturday 19-11-22.

After a journey of over 2, 1/2 hours with a stop 

at Reel Fun which usually takes 

40 minutes, due to the M5 being shut from 

Junction 19 Portishead due to an accident.

I set up on the ledges in my usual

spot with the tide well on the way in.

I used the usual Pulley rigs, as well

as Pulley Wish bone rig 

and 2 hook Flapper rig.

Baits were 

Frozen Black Lug,

Squid , Sand Eel and Lugworm.

Not a touch for 3 hours when this

tiny Whiting took Lug on the Wish bone rig.

Half an hour later

this Conger took a 

Squid - Lug Wrap.

 Well that was all that I caught.

So packed up at 4pm.

Chatting to the other anglers 

who were left they didn't fare any better.

Using up the left over bait. Monday 14-11-22

Another early start but

only a short drive to Ladye Bay.

I got there at 5.30am.

High water was at 9.55.

Baits were nearly rotten Lug.

OK Rag and Squid.

 

Rigs were Pennell Pully rigs,

with 3/0 and 5/0 - 4/0 Hooks.

I used straight Rag on one rod 

and Lug / Squid wraps.

The Lug on its own wasn't an option.

First bite at 8am produced

this 31cm Codling.

No more bites till 40 minutes after

high water, when this Conger

took the Squid / Lug wrap.
 

I guest it weighed around

6lb - 7lb.

No more bites for the next hour, 

so I headed home.

So ended two great trips at totally 

different venues. 

Roll on the next trip.

Chesil Beach not coming up to expectations. 12-11-22

Headed down to that beach 

of broken dreams.

Arrived there at first light,

the waves could be heard.

So unloaded the car, put

the box and bits on the trolly

and walked for about 15 minutes.

My son turned up as I

got to the chosen swim.

I took my tackle down the

shingle and helped my son with

his.

I set up shop while he took his car

back to the car park.

My son caught first, a nice 

in size Codling. It was released

as we expected / hoped to catch more.

Sunrise was pretty spectacular.

Well for the next few hours

we had Doggies,

Whiting, Pouting and Conger.

It looks like we were fishing at

the fish kindergarten.

In total I had about 12 fish.

The sea state was a bit choppy

with some larger waves

coming in at times.

Baits used were,

Squid, Rag, Blow Lug, 

Black Lug and mixes of all of them.

There were very few bites after mid day.

Except this buoy,

It spent the morning heading east 

towards Portland.

Then later it returned 

and dragged one of my

lines into my sons lines.

Eventually we managed to 

get it onto the beach.

It weighed about 64lb.

My main line was badly damaged

and has had to be changed.

Shame I had only respooled

the day before and has now been replaced.

It had a shed load of Barnacles

hanging off the netting and line.

  

All in all a very enjoyable

days fishing with my son.

Icing on the cake was

my youngest Grandson 

dragged is Mummy down, 

he is only 2. 

Another very enjoyable

day.

 

First session down the Ledges, Clevedon, on Friday 04-11-22.

Popped down to the Ledges

High water was at 15.40.

I fished from 11.30 till 17.00.

I think it was Kindergarten

time.

Weather was warm but breezy.

Baits were Rag, Squid, Black Lug

and Sandeel.

First fish was this tiny 

Conger, 

taken on Rag.

Next was a nipper Doggy

again on Rag.

Tiny Codling was next

on Rag and Wishbone rig.

Then another two

small Dogs.

Diddie Whiting next,

by now every cast the bait was

being obsoletely wrecked but

I couldn't hit them. 

Last was this tiny

    Codling, as can be seen,

                                                    on a Wishbone Rig and Rag.                                          

 

Headed down to Stolford yesterday

afternoon.

Should have known, as it was bonfire night

and Bridgewater Carnival, 

that things wouldn't go to plan.

Arrived down there early and found my 

favorite spot was taken.

 So set up further along and waited for the tide.

 So 4 rods out using 

Squid, Lug and Rag on

Wishbone, Pennel Pully and 3 hook

flapper rigs.

Well was more or less dry with some heavy rain

 passing over the Channel.

The fishing was very slow.

One very small Whiting and Conger.

Heading home I managed to bypass 

the tail backs in Bridgewater.

Fished down Hinkley Point way. 29-10-22

Popped down to this Somerset  venue,

high water was at 09.55.

Started fishing at 07.30,

baits used were Ragworm,

Squid, frozen crab and Sand Eel.

First bite was almost instant,

a 2lb 8oz Dover Sole on a 

Wishbone rig with Rag.

Then a 3lb 7oz Thornback Ray

took Squid Rag wrap on a short 

pennel pulley rig

.

Shortly after this

another Thorny arrived

weighting 5lb 9oz on a long

 pennel pulley rig.

Again shortly after, this

8lb 8oz 

Thorney took the short

pulley rig baited with

lug worm. 

About half an hour before

high water,

this small Whiting

took the 

Wishbone rig with rag.

I used four rods and

2 had Wishbone rigs

and 

the other the pulley rigs.

 The weather was damp

and calm at first,

with the cloud clearing

to sunny spells.

Light wind, picked up after

high water.

Packed up at 11.30.

Back down the Pond. 18-10-22.

It was a wee bit misty

yesterday morning for my

walk down to Duchess Pond.

Quite warm for the time of year

and flat calm.

Usual rods and reels were used,

Maggot, Sweetcorn, worm and 

bread were the baits.

From the off small Perch

were starving, the float line

catching the most.

The sun managed to burn off 

the fog which left a really lovely 

calm morning.

Now the Roach came out to play,

white maggots caught the most

Roach, red for the Perch.

The feeder rod was board,

nothing showed any interest in it.

So by midday a nice little bag of 

Roach and Perch, about 3.1/2 lb

was in the new small keepnet.

 The local Little Grebe passed

through the swim, really

nice to see it up close.

The float swim would go dead 

when the Grebe was about.

As there was a Cormorant 

out in the middle, I wonder 

if that kept the fish out of the middle.

Not Bristol area bur the Chesil Beach

 Fished the big shingle bank down 

Abbotsbury way.

After a long walk I set up 4 rods.

2 cast in close,

and 2 out at varying distances.

Saw the sun rise,

sun set,

and Moon rise.

As for the fishing

not a bite seen.

Varying rigs were used.

Squid and Blow Lug were the baits.

Result was 1 tiny Pouting

was wound in on the very last cast.

So a long walk back to the car.

Back to Duchess Pond during the week,

I hope.

 

Bites were few and far between. 28-09-22

Couldn't escape till 7.30

so walked  down and chose the

south bank.

From the start I could not get 

a bite, Maggots, Casters and Sweetcorn

could not tempt any interest. 

As can be seen, the sun was out 

but soon went back to bed. The wind gradually 

got stronger and I soon

had to put the float rod away

and used a maggot feeder 

along side the usual ground bait feeder.

Ended the day with 12 small Perch

and 6 small Roach.

Very slow morning down Duchess Pond. 24-09-22

Later start than usual usual

down the pond.

Cool and calm at first then the breeze

picked up.

Fished a different swim,

this one didn't have any Lillie's

and is a bit deeper. 

I did my usual start,

5 tennis ball size balls of my ground bait mix

on the float rod line and cast out 10 

full feeders to my feeder swim.

No live Maggots this time but some frozen

ones. Loose worms and Sweet corn

were also added to the swims.

Well trying to get bites was really

difficult.

Just a couple of small Perch on the feeder 

line and about 2lb on the float.

All in all very pleasant,

shame the fish didn't show.

 I now know which swims I

will fish.

I might try another venue

next time dependent

on free time and weather. 

A couple of hours down Duchess Pond. 19-09-22

Trundled down to Duchess 

for a couple of hours this 

morning.

Fished 07.00 till 12.00.

Baits were Worm, Caster, Maggots and Sweet corn.

Used a feeder cast out to the trench and

a float rod , cast to Lillies on the my right

and about 10 meters further out.

Plenty of small Roach and Perch,

to the float rod and 

a couple of Perch on the feeder.

This 1lb 9 1/2oz Skimmer Bream

was the biggest on the day.

 Flat calm all the time,

over cast at times.

Chilly at first but eventually

it warmed up.

Catching something with something different. Duchess Pond,

Caught this morning by the camera lens.

The local Grey Heron in iconic 

Heron fishing pose.

Then it flew over to

the north bank,

It managed to keep it's catch

a small Roach.

 

Nothing big down Duchess Pond.

It was quite atmospheric on the

walk to Duchess this morning,

Again using my old float rod and Quiver tip,

I set up on the east bank this time.

Again I set up the Quiver tip with a cage feeder

 and size 14 .

I made 10 casts before hooking on sweet corn

and red maggot.

Then a Peacock 2 1/2BB float,

 again to a size 14 hook.

It was a very slow start with out

much interest.

Again I tried Sweetcorn, Red Maggot 

and Worm.

Started at 6am and it wasn't till

after 9am that the swims started 

coming alive.

In the end I managed about 5-6 pounds 

of Roach and Perch.

This photo shows the last 20 or so minutes

before I packed up at 11.00.

 A very pleasant mornings fishing,

with plenty of wild life to keep me

entertained.

I didn't take a keepnet so put these in

my landing net.