Monday 3 July 2017
Saturday 1 July 2017
Tuesday 27 June 2017
Saturday 24 June 2017
Hinders Superstore
Just down the road from us in Oxfordshire is the Hinders Superstore in Swindon. I have occasionally ordered bait from them by mail order but today I thought I would have a trip down and actually buy a load of bait to see me through the coming weeks.
On the shopping list was 40kgs of small halibut pellets, 20 kgs of bigger halibut pellets, 20 kgs of squid boilies, (on which I caught my 15-04 barbel years ago), various other barbel baits, a new landing net, two spare catapults, PVA bags, various other bits and bobs, etc. Not much change from £250 - lucky it has a sale on at the moment
But I am all set for my next trip which will be an all-dayer on Monday at Duxford on the Thames - still my favourite fishing spot.
On the shopping list was 40kgs of small halibut pellets, 20 kgs of bigger halibut pellets, 20 kgs of squid boilies, (on which I caught my 15-04 barbel years ago), various other barbel baits, a new landing net, two spare catapults, PVA bags, various other bits and bobs, etc. Not much change from £250 - lucky it has a sale on at the moment
But I am all set for my next trip which will be an all-dayer on Monday at Duxford on the Thames - still my favourite fishing spot.
Tuesday evening - June 20th
I'm still not organised with hemp seed - several large sacks are on their way - and so I am not currently planning to fish for the barbel that I saw the other day, But what I did do tonight was to put a can of sweetcorn onto the gravel along with some fish meal pellets and boilies. The barbel weren't there when I arrived about 6:00, so I would see if they appeared later on.
Instead, I would concentrate on a swim further upstream. I had baited this on Sunday with some pellets and boilies and I repeated this when I arrived tonight, and then spent a couple of hours having a look at some other spots on the river, before starting to fish around 8:00.
All quiet for about 30 minutes and then a fast take that I connected with. What ever it was, it charged off downstream despite the clutch set very tight, but then everything went slack after just 10 seconds of contact with the fish - the braid hook length had broken for no good reason - maybe it caught on something - an under water branch perhaps. I tested the remaining hook length and this seemed fine, so I don't know why this one gave out. My guess is that it was probably a carp rather than a barbel, but you never know. Big disappointment
The pic below is from the video I shot and is just before the line gave out
Meanwhile, further downstream, there were 6 or 8 barbel on the gravel and they had thrown up a huge amount of dirt as they will grubbing around. I assume this meant they had found the bait I had thrown in for them.
The pic below is from well downstream and you can just about make out two barbel on the far gravel bar mid-pic.
But I am not going to fish for these until I can get them feeding on hemp.
No more takes in the swim I was fishing nor in another I tried, though it has to be said, I am a little out of practice in casting, etc, and did rather make a mess of fishing these two spots after I lost the big one.
Instead, I would concentrate on a swim further upstream. I had baited this on Sunday with some pellets and boilies and I repeated this when I arrived tonight, and then spent a couple of hours having a look at some other spots on the river, before starting to fish around 8:00.
All quiet for about 30 minutes and then a fast take that I connected with. What ever it was, it charged off downstream despite the clutch set very tight, but then everything went slack after just 10 seconds of contact with the fish - the braid hook length had broken for no good reason - maybe it caught on something - an under water branch perhaps. I tested the remaining hook length and this seemed fine, so I don't know why this one gave out. My guess is that it was probably a carp rather than a barbel, but you never know. Big disappointment
The pic below is from the video I shot and is just before the line gave out
Meanwhile, further downstream, there were 6 or 8 barbel on the gravel and they had thrown up a huge amount of dirt as they will grubbing around. I assume this meant they had found the bait I had thrown in for them.
The pic below is from well downstream and you can just about make out two barbel on the far gravel bar mid-pic.
But I am not going to fish for these until I can get them feeding on hemp.
No more takes in the swim I was fishing nor in another I tried, though it has to be said, I am a little out of practice in casting, etc, and did rather make a mess of fishing these two spots after I lost the big one.
New stretch re-con - downstream end
So I packed up late morning on Sunday and made my way down to the lower end of the fishery - and what a treat! Loads of fish on view.
The stills below are from a series of videos that I shot - hence the slight fuzziness of the images where the camera's auto focus has trouble with the surface of the water.
First up, three carp basking in the sun - the big one in the foreground is a mid to high teens double, low twenties at the most, while the smaller two are around 10-12 lbs each.
Next, a view of one of the spots that I have my eye on, the channel in front of the bushes is about 5 ft deep and looks perfect - and there is another double-figure carp moving downstream mid river.
The picture below shows 5 or 6 barbel on a gravel bar. At one point while I watched, the gravel patch had 11 barbel on it. About 8 were doubles with the biggest about 15lbs. They were rooting around in the gravel, apparently feeding happily - just wait till I have some hemp seed!
The picture below shows the same gravel patch as above. There are four or five barbel on it, several chub, one or two perch and a double figure carp (the dark shape just moving across on the left)
Finally, two more huge barbel moving through a weed bed - these fish are both doubles, maybe 12 to 15lbs!
Amazing that this stretch is not fished!!
The stills below are from a series of videos that I shot - hence the slight fuzziness of the images where the camera's auto focus has trouble with the surface of the water.
First up, three carp basking in the sun - the big one in the foreground is a mid to high teens double, low twenties at the most, while the smaller two are around 10-12 lbs each.
Next, a view of one of the spots that I have my eye on, the channel in front of the bushes is about 5 ft deep and looks perfect - and there is another double-figure carp moving downstream mid river.
The picture below shows 5 or 6 barbel on a gravel bar. At one point while I watched, the gravel patch had 11 barbel on it. About 8 were doubles with the biggest about 15lbs. They were rooting around in the gravel, apparently feeding happily - just wait till I have some hemp seed!
The picture below shows the same gravel patch as above. There are four or five barbel on it, several chub, one or two perch and a double figure carp (the dark shape just moving across on the left)
Finally, two more huge barbel moving through a weed bed - these fish are both doubles, maybe 12 to 15lbs!
Amazing that this stretch is not fished!!
Sunday June 18th
Yesterday, my early morning baiting had seen quite a number of fish gather in the swims and I was hoping to repeat that this morning.
But oddly enough, I barely saw a fish this morning whereas I bet I saw over 50 fish yesterday. Maybe they were all out of sight feeding furiously. But whatever the reason, I only managed a couple of average chub
The main swim I fished was a large raft swim - I can't believe this isn't choc-a-bloc with fish.
Lastly, fishing under some far bank bushes
So mid-morning, in the great heat, I decided to stop fishing and spend another couple of hours exploring the stretch further downstream.
And that is worthy of a new blog entry of its own
But oddly enough, I barely saw a fish this morning whereas I bet I saw over 50 fish yesterday. Maybe they were all out of sight feeding furiously. But whatever the reason, I only managed a couple of average chub
The main swim I fished was a large raft swim - I can't believe this isn't choc-a-bloc with fish.
Looking downstream - it is all rather picturesque
Lastly, fishing under some far bank bushes
So mid-morning, in the great heat, I decided to stop fishing and spend another couple of hours exploring the stretch further downstream.
And that is worthy of a new blog entry of its own
Saturday June 17th
My wife is away visiting her parents in Norfolk and I have the opening weekend of the fishing season free. My plan was to visit the river early on the Saturday morning and put some bait in, then fish in the evening. One problem is that I haven't got my bait organised yet and so have no hemp seed, the staple of my fishing. What I have instead is some sweetcorn, some small fish meal pellets and some 15mm fish meal boilies.
So I got to the river around 6:00 and it did look very good. I put a couple of handfuls of sweetcorn into a couple of gravel runs and a mix of pellets and boilies into two other swims, and then went for a walk. When I got back 90 mins later, things looked quite promising. There were bream on one of the sweetcorn swims and chub and bream in the other. And there were chub and two or three carp in the pellet / boilie swim.
In fact, I was rather excited by the appearance of the carp and have decided that they would be the focus of my first evening. Back home mid-morning and I spent the rest of the day sorting out tackle and then was ready to return to the river around 5:00. It was a swelteringly hot day, so I didn't want to get there too early.
Peeping into one of the pellet / boilie swims when I arrived, and there was a carp still in residence. I had intended to re-bait all the swims when I first got here, but was tempted by seeing if the carp would take a boilie straight away. The answer to that was, no! At one point it did rather surprise me by rolling directly in front of me, but it wasn't keen to take my bait. A shame as it was perhaps 15lbs.
So I did re-bait with pellets and boilies and then settled in the first sweetcorn swim for the early part of the evening. Over the next couple of hours I caught a number of chub (biggest just under 4lbs) and a couple of bream (biggest just under 5lbs) A very pleasant early part of the evening.
Fishing the sweetcorn swim
Back in the boilie swim and no sign of the carp. But I thought I would just put out a bait on the pellets and wait and see. The result was two more bream, the biggest of which was 5-07. Years ago, while fishing the Cherwell, I caught a huge river bream of over 11lbs, and am not totally against fishing for them. But they are not my main interest.
Battling a bream from the boilie swim
All 5-07 of it
I took some video footage and might make up a film (if I can remember how to edit the footage and how to upload it, etc)
So I got to the river around 6:00 and it did look very good. I put a couple of handfuls of sweetcorn into a couple of gravel runs and a mix of pellets and boilies into two other swims, and then went for a walk. When I got back 90 mins later, things looked quite promising. There were bream on one of the sweetcorn swims and chub and bream in the other. And there were chub and two or three carp in the pellet / boilie swim.
In fact, I was rather excited by the appearance of the carp and have decided that they would be the focus of my first evening. Back home mid-morning and I spent the rest of the day sorting out tackle and then was ready to return to the river around 5:00. It was a swelteringly hot day, so I didn't want to get there too early.
Peeping into one of the pellet / boilie swims when I arrived, and there was a carp still in residence. I had intended to re-bait all the swims when I first got here, but was tempted by seeing if the carp would take a boilie straight away. The answer to that was, no! At one point it did rather surprise me by rolling directly in front of me, but it wasn't keen to take my bait. A shame as it was perhaps 15lbs.
So I did re-bait with pellets and boilies and then settled in the first sweetcorn swim for the early part of the evening. Over the next couple of hours I caught a number of chub (biggest just under 4lbs) and a couple of bream (biggest just under 5lbs) A very pleasant early part of the evening.
Fishing the sweetcorn swim
Back in the boilie swim and no sign of the carp. But I thought I would just put out a bait on the pellets and wait and see. The result was two more bream, the biggest of which was 5-07. Years ago, while fishing the Cherwell, I caught a huge river bream of over 11lbs, and am not totally against fishing for them. But they are not my main interest.
Battling a bream from the boilie swim
All 5-07 of it
I took some video footage and might make up a film (if I can remember how to edit the footage and how to upload it, etc)
Friday 2 June 2017
New Stretch Re-con - Upstream end
I grew up in a small town called Kenilworth which is between Coventry and Warwick. My local stretches of river, that I first fished from when I was 12 or so, were the upper Warwickshire Avon at Stoneleigh and Ashow and the River Leam upstream of Leamington. The first fish that I caught were mainly gudgeon, followed eventually by roach and then finally chub.
I was thinking the other day about my first landmark catches of each. There was a day when I was about 13 when me and my two fishing friends caught over 300 gudgeon in about 3 hours. We fished next to each other and thought we were having a little match.
Then there was a trip in February 1977 when the river was up and coloured. I used a swim-feeder in a slack just off the main flow and caught a 1lb 10oz roach, about 1lb bigger than any fish we had ever caught by then.
And then there was a summer trip later that year, when I was 14. I was fishing a streamy shallow stretch and was ledgering a piece of luncheon meat between the weed. It was only my second attempt at ledgering and I had the line looped over my finger. I can vividly remember even now the tightening of the line and the strike that connected with a good fish. This was my first ever 3lb chub and was my new largest fish.
For some reason, I have been drawn to the idea of fishing a stretch not dissimilar from these stretches of my childhood!
And I have located what looks like a promising stretch. It is about 3 miles long and seems to be little fished. This is surprising as I have had a long walk along the upstream end and thought it looked very promising.
It is quite a shallow stretch and with the continuing absence of rain, it is painfully low. This does make fish spotting easier though. Among the highlights were lots of chub up to around 5lbs, a huge shoal of bream (some of which were pretty big) and, perhaps oddly, one or two decent carp. There were never carp in the rivers I fished when I was growing up, so that might be an exciting addition.
I have decided that this stretch will be my starter for this seasons fishing.
I was thinking the other day about my first landmark catches of each. There was a day when I was about 13 when me and my two fishing friends caught over 300 gudgeon in about 3 hours. We fished next to each other and thought we were having a little match.
Then there was a trip in February 1977 when the river was up and coloured. I used a swim-feeder in a slack just off the main flow and caught a 1lb 10oz roach, about 1lb bigger than any fish we had ever caught by then.
And then there was a summer trip later that year, when I was 14. I was fishing a streamy shallow stretch and was ledgering a piece of luncheon meat between the weed. It was only my second attempt at ledgering and I had the line looped over my finger. I can vividly remember even now the tightening of the line and the strike that connected with a good fish. This was my first ever 3lb chub and was my new largest fish.
For some reason, I have been drawn to the idea of fishing a stretch not dissimilar from these stretches of my childhood!
And I have located what looks like a promising stretch. It is about 3 miles long and seems to be little fished. This is surprising as I have had a long walk along the upstream end and thought it looked very promising.
It is quite a shallow stretch and with the continuing absence of rain, it is painfully low. This does make fish spotting easier though. Among the highlights were lots of chub up to around 5lbs, a huge shoal of bream (some of which were pretty big) and, perhaps oddly, one or two decent carp. There were never carp in the rivers I fished when I was growing up, so that might be an exciting addition.
I have decided that this stretch will be my starter for this seasons fishing.
Monday 29 May 2017
The River Boutonne in France
The main river close to our house here in France is the mighty River Charente, which gives its name to our department, the Charente Maritime. This is a very wide river that meanders slowly through our area. Most of the local french fishermen seem to be only interested in pike and perch which they fish for by spinning lures, but to be honest, I hardly ever see fishermen - hunting is far more popular than fishing here.
French fishing is totally different to the UK. Here, most fishing rights belong to the State, unless the bank is part of the garden of a residence. So by buying an annual permit for E95 per annum, I can fish more or less anywhere. There are fishing clubs but they don't own the rights to their own waters, which seems odd.
I have been looking at one or two stretches of the Charente itself with a view to a hemp-pellet-boilie approach - unheard of in France. Local fishermen don't normally fish for chub or barbel but the occasional one is caught in matches. Remarkably, the local stretches of the Charente has had barbel to 12kg caught in it - that's 26lbs in English money! And the chub go to 5-6kg - 11 to 13lbs. There have been carp caught in the river to 35kg (> 75lbs) and there are also some large catfish. So definitely worth a good go, especially as it is only 6 miles from our home.
(In fact, in the Charente where it passes though the centre of the town of Cognac near here, I have come across shoals of chub basking in the sun where the biggest fish might have been 7lbs)
Five miles from home is a tributary of the Charente called the Boutonne. In the main, it is a medium sized river of medium flow averaging about 5 or 6 foot deep. But it also has a few stretches where it is split via weirs into two or three streams separate from the main river. Yesterday morning I spent a couple of hours on one of these side streams and was amazed at what I found.
Like the UK, France has had a very dry winter and the side stream is currently only about 2 foot deep and crystal clear. As a result, loads of fish are visible and I have seen some great fish. Firstly, the stretch contains a good head of chub with one or two fish perhaps running to 5lbs. Secondly, there is a good head of barbel. These are not huge fish, most seem to be about 3-4lb, but there was the odd one that might have been 6-7 lbs. There are also some quite small barbel. I caught a 15oz barbel once on the river Severn in the late 1970s and that is the only one I've ever caught less than 2lbs, but I would guess that some here were under 1lb - I could break my low after nearly 40 years!
Finally, I spotted a small shoal of what I think were big roach. There was maybe a dozen fish in the shoal, with the best well over 2lbs. It is ages since I have caught a 2lb roach!
The real thrill will be fishing a crystal clear river that is only 2 foot deep for such fish. Until I can get more bait in the UK (the hemp-pellet-boilies that I plan to use on the Charente), my likely bait is sweetcorn. I bought four large tins this morning and the fish seemed very happy to eat it straight away (including the roach). So that is my current plan - put 3 or 4 tins of sweetcorn into half a dozen spots where I have seen fish over a period of a few days, and then give them a go.
And there is no river close season for barbel and chub (there is for trout, pike and perch though) but you can't fish nights - indeed the times you can fish are set every day for the year - on May 30th it is 5:48 to 22:16, which seems very precise!
A typical view of the Boutonne side stream
Several good chub on the shallows - biggest of these was probably pushing 5 lbs
At one point, there were 15 barbel on the patch of gravel above - then they holed up under the tree roots on the far bank. Biggest was perhaps 6 lbs - but how to catch them in such a small, shallow stream?
Two possible swims on the main bit of the Boutonne - five foot deep and slow moving and full of snags. Ideal for barbel and chub?
Can't wait to give it a go soon.
French fishing is totally different to the UK. Here, most fishing rights belong to the State, unless the bank is part of the garden of a residence. So by buying an annual permit for E95 per annum, I can fish more or less anywhere. There are fishing clubs but they don't own the rights to their own waters, which seems odd.
I have been looking at one or two stretches of the Charente itself with a view to a hemp-pellet-boilie approach - unheard of in France. Local fishermen don't normally fish for chub or barbel but the occasional one is caught in matches. Remarkably, the local stretches of the Charente has had barbel to 12kg caught in it - that's 26lbs in English money! And the chub go to 5-6kg - 11 to 13lbs. There have been carp caught in the river to 35kg (> 75lbs) and there are also some large catfish. So definitely worth a good go, especially as it is only 6 miles from our home.
(In fact, in the Charente where it passes though the centre of the town of Cognac near here, I have come across shoals of chub basking in the sun where the biggest fish might have been 7lbs)
Five miles from home is a tributary of the Charente called the Boutonne. In the main, it is a medium sized river of medium flow averaging about 5 or 6 foot deep. But it also has a few stretches where it is split via weirs into two or three streams separate from the main river. Yesterday morning I spent a couple of hours on one of these side streams and was amazed at what I found.
Like the UK, France has had a very dry winter and the side stream is currently only about 2 foot deep and crystal clear. As a result, loads of fish are visible and I have seen some great fish. Firstly, the stretch contains a good head of chub with one or two fish perhaps running to 5lbs. Secondly, there is a good head of barbel. These are not huge fish, most seem to be about 3-4lb, but there was the odd one that might have been 6-7 lbs. There are also some quite small barbel. I caught a 15oz barbel once on the river Severn in the late 1970s and that is the only one I've ever caught less than 2lbs, but I would guess that some here were under 1lb - I could break my low after nearly 40 years!
Finally, I spotted a small shoal of what I think were big roach. There was maybe a dozen fish in the shoal, with the best well over 2lbs. It is ages since I have caught a 2lb roach!
The real thrill will be fishing a crystal clear river that is only 2 foot deep for such fish. Until I can get more bait in the UK (the hemp-pellet-boilies that I plan to use on the Charente), my likely bait is sweetcorn. I bought four large tins this morning and the fish seemed very happy to eat it straight away (including the roach). So that is my current plan - put 3 or 4 tins of sweetcorn into half a dozen spots where I have seen fish over a period of a few days, and then give them a go.
And there is no river close season for barbel and chub (there is for trout, pike and perch though) but you can't fish nights - indeed the times you can fish are set every day for the year - on May 30th it is 5:48 to 22:16, which seems very precise!
A typical view of the Boutonne side stream
Several good chub on the shallows - biggest of these was probably pushing 5 lbs
At one point, there were 15 barbel on the patch of gravel above - then they holed up under the tree roots on the far bank. Biggest was perhaps 6 lbs - but how to catch them in such a small, shallow stream?
Two possible swims on the main bit of the Boutonne - five foot deep and slow moving and full of snags. Ideal for barbel and chub?
Can't wait to give it a go soon.
Re-reading Tony Miles and Course Angling Today
I am still amazed how sad I feel about the death of Tony Miles just before last Christmas. I first met Tony on the banks of the river Leam, close to where I grew up in Kenilworth, back in the late 1970s and we met perhaps a dozen times over the years at various fishing spots. Way back in the 1980s I assisted him in writing three articles that he did for Practical Course Fishing - a piece of the Hampshire Avon after chub, a trip to the upper Ouse for perch and a trip on the Thames after barbel. My role was to fish and take photos of Tony. It is far to say that I was out-fished on all three occasions though I did catch the biggest barbel at about 8lbs
I have been re-reading a couple of Tony's books recently. 50 Years on the Ouse is perhaps my favourite of his books
Then there was Elite Barbel, his accounts of fishing at Adam's Mill and Kickles Farm.
And finally Search for Big Chub which has a photo of me on page 116 (trotting bread flake for chub on the Hale Park Syndicate water on the Hampshire Avon back in the mid 1980s)
I can't believe that a magazine about general course fishing (i.e non-carp) can't survive in the UK market
I have been re-reading a couple of Tony's books recently. 50 Years on the Ouse is perhaps my favourite of his books
Then there was Elite Barbel, his accounts of fishing at Adam's Mill and Kickles Farm.
And finally Search for Big Chub which has a photo of me on page 116 (trotting bread flake for chub on the Hale Park Syndicate water on the Hampshire Avon back in the mid 1980s)
I have followed the Tony Miles reading with quite a number of issues of Course Angling Today. I am also quite dismayed that this is no longer published. The overall affect of all this fishing reading has been to get me enthusiastic about going fishing again soon.
So I will be researching the local fishing here in France and will have a couple of evenings on the river Thames when I am back at the end of June
I can't believe that a magazine about general course fishing (i.e non-carp) can't survive in the UK market
Walking the River Thames
I was back for a few days in the UK and we called into our Oxfordshire village to see a few friends. While my wife attending an exercise with her friends (!), I had a couple of hours down at the River Thames at Duxford, the first time for over two years that I have seen this stretch.
So armed with some bread crust, I wandered down the stretch all the way to Shifford. So many happy memories of fishing here. Indeed, I am now thinking that when I come back to the UK in late June for the next trip of a few days, I will try and have at least two evenings fishing. I haven't been fishing for over two years now - amazing
Just below the weir
A chub taking floating crust in the "long glide"
Never fishing this raft - surely it is full of chub and possibly barbel and perch?
So armed with some bread crust, I wandered down the stretch all the way to Shifford. So many happy memories of fishing here. Indeed, I am now thinking that when I come back to the UK in late June for the next trip of a few days, I will try and have at least two evenings fishing. I haven't been fishing for over two years now - amazing
Just below the weir
A chub taking floating crust in the "long glide"
Never fishing this raft - surely it is full of chub and possibly barbel and perch?
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