A detailed examination of a John Wilson fishing programme

One of the many sound pieces of advice which I learnt from reading Go Wild with your Camcorder was that you should watch programme similar to what you are trying to achieve with your own films.  In particular, closely examine the time spent of each shot (surprisingly low), what angle the shots were taken from and whether they were far, mid or close-range.

So today I have made a detailed study of a John Wilson Go Fishing programme on catching grayling on the River Test.  This was an excellent example of what I would like to make, subject to the constraint that I don't have two camera men with me each time I go.

I have discovered that the programme lasted about 22 minutes and contained 193 separate clips of film, an average of just under 7 seconds per clip.  The longest clip was the re-cap clip at the end, 33 seconds, while there were a further 4 clips of 15 seconds or longer.  The shortest clip was 2 seconds, a splashy strike when the float disappeared.  Most clips were 4 to 6 seconds long.

But often there were clearly some extended clips taken from the same spot that were then cut apart afterwards.  And while some of the clips were ones I can't take myself (the occasional pan shot of playing a fish - all my shots are clearly fixed), many of the clips were exactly the sort of view I could take.  For instance, the shot below is the sort of thing I should manage ok.

John Wilson, long trotting for grayling on the River Test

But also by reading Simon King's book Wild Life, his autobiography of his life as a wildlife photographer, I have begun to learn something of the tricks employed in making such films.  Most importantly is the insight that finished films are not made chronologically.  Instead, once an important clip has been obtained, clips are then built to fit around it.

So, for instance, suppose I started off in the position John Wilson is above, and caught a fish long trotting.  I would have taken one long sequence with the video camera.  But having caught a fish, examined it and popped it back, I could then move the camera and take some filler shots from side on, then maybe a few clips from way downstream, including one that looked like I was striking.  Then perhaps I could focus on the float and film just it going down the glide.  And so on.  Then these other clips could be inserted afterwards, though they make it look like a continuous, multi-camera operation. 

Finally, I need some filler clips for each trip.  Clips of me walking the bank, baiting up, etc, or clips of wildlife seen (JW has swans, a buzzard and some sheep, and even some snowdrops).  These are used in the John Wilson programmes to break the sequences of actually catching fish and to mark his move to the next spot.  And I'd need some introductory remarks - where I am, what time of year it is, what I am fishing for, etc.  And maybe some wrap-up remarks.

Such a lot to think about but I am definitely making progress in getting it all straight in my mind.

First post - introduction

With a bit of effort, I have managed to create a new blog from my existing fishing diary.  This was a little more effort than it might have been, but then perhaps I should have started planning a fishing blog earlier!

I am hoping to fish several times a week from June onwards, with specific targets for barbel, chub roach, perch and pike.  I am also planning to film as many of my trips as possible, so this blog will also act as a link to my Youtube account.

All very exciting - I can hardly wait for the start of the new fishing season, five and a half weeks away now.

The Thames in flood

A brief trip down to Standlake to visit Barnes Lake, a local trout fishery that I am planning to fish for an afternoon / evening in the next few days (weather permitting).  It has rained virtually everyday for the past few weeks and the Thames has finally burst its banks at Newbridge.  What a contrast to the end of the fishing season when the river was really low and slow moving.  On the plus side, this might have finally cleared out some of the debris accumulated over the winter.  On the negative side, it might disrupt spawning.

Yet we remain in drought.  The effect of April's rain has been to just about contra out the lack of rain in March.  But the drought started two winters ago and ground water levels are the real issue, not vast flows in rivers and associated flooding.  I read somewhere that April's rain has only reversed about 10% of the drought's effects so far.  It is really down to next winter to clear the drought.  Another poor winter for rain and the summer of 2013 could be exceptionally bad.

The Thames at Newbridge, over the fields on the right bank.  The regular bank is where the faint line of vegetation is in the near foreground by the trees in the garden of the Maybush pub (to the left)

Walking the Thames - Northmoor

After several days of heavy rain, it is just about bright enough today to tempt me out for a walk along the Thames.  Today's chosen route is from Bablock Hythe back to Northmoor Weir following the Thames Path.  Years ago I used to sometimes fish this stretch, when I think it was on the Newlands ticket (or some other club, not sure).  So a slight surprise when I started walking was the occurance of signs for Reading and District Angling Association.  When I was on their website somewhile back, I don't remember seeing this stretch mentioned.  But it would be very interesting if it was.

The other side of the river is owned by David Gow, who may be the "Farmer Gow" of Appleton, though that actually may be his sister.  We used to take Daughter to their farm to see the spring lambing when she was about 5.  Today the lambs are out in numbers in the fields and are charging round like lunatics as lambs do.  This far bank is quite overgrown with unpollarded willows along much of the stretch.  But this is a good thing for fishing, providing lots of cover.  It could be fished reasonably well from the Northmoor side though.

Northmoor weir is one of those old fashioned weirs based on lowering wooden slats down alongside groved wooden posts.  Some time ago, there was a plan to replace it with a modern automatic weir, but that plan seems to be on hold at the moment.  I had a brief chat with the lockkeeper at the weir and he said that in his 8 years of work there, he had only sold a handful of tickets to fish the right bank, but that such tickets were still in operation though the stretch being shared with another club. 

It is ages since I last fished a weirpool and I have Northmoor weir as a possible candidate for next season.  Today's weir configuration resulted in two main flows, left and right of centre, which produce a calm area between the two flows.  Were I fishing today, I would be ledgering in this calm area, on the edge of the fast water.  I have been watching more of the fishing videos set on the river Swale and noting the bolt rig methods he uses.  There was also an article some years ago on fishing at Burghfield weir on the Kennet which suggested something similar - so-called "codding" set ups with semi-bolt rigs, baitrunner reels, etc.  Northmoor weir might be a good spot to adopt such a tactic.

It rained quite hard on the walk back to Bablock Hythe but the wind was behind me and it wasn't unpleasant.  The river is up about a foot on recent levels and has quite a rich chocolate colour - the first time I've seen that for some while.

I called in at Barnes Lake on the way home.  This is a small trout fishery just down the road from where we live.  No one was fishing there today and the thought has occured that this could be the venue for a fishing video test.  So I have re-stocked with trout flies this afternoon - my usual early season order of daiwl bach nymphs, plus red, black and orange hoppers.  I rarely use any other type of flies.  Maybe I could go Monday or Tuesday next week?

And back home I confirmed that Reading DAA have taken a new lease on Northmoor after a year without it on the ticket.  I have been looking at some of their other waters - famous stretches like Upper and Lower Benyons on the Kennet - and I might well join them this year.  I suspect that the stretches I've just mentioned are very popular, but my fishing niche remains that I mainly fish during the week, so maybe they wouldn't be so busy then?

Another Sunday morning on the river

Wife and I had spoken of regular trips to the river and nature reserve to see the development of spring, but the lure of extra sleep was too much this morning for someone.  But I made it out before 7:00 on what was actually a really nice morning - a brief gap in the recent rain.

Armed with another bag of bread crust, one aim was to see what might be tempted to rise this time.  In the first swim I tried, at least 10 pieces of crust were taken, but downstream, interest seemed to peter out and very few takes occured.  I haven't caught a chub on floating crust for about 20 years - that would make a good video later this year.

My goal at Chimney was to get some film of deer, but none appeared in the 90 minutes I was at the hide.  I did get a brief film of a blackcap in the hedge, plus a short clip of a moorhen leading 3 chicks along the stream.  A couple of sightings of deer, but too far away to film.  And then when I did get close to one, I accidentally switched the record function off and missed a decent few minutes of film.

Back by the river and an odd sight - 45 swans gather together at the bottom of the field, all feeding on the grass.  Quite rare that you see so many together.  This gave me an idea for another video clip of just them, so I shot about 20 minutes of them from a variety of view points, which might be interesting.

Further upstream again, I managed to get about 20 seconds of a heron sitting on a branch in the river, including a shot of it taking off.  Attempts to get a clip of ducks taking off have proved quite tricky, but I may have got a single clip of about 5 seconds.  I also attempted to film a kite in the air, but had difficulties keeping it in view and in focus.  Still not really sure how the auto-focus works.

So now I have enough film for about 3 more video projects.  Firstly, the various birds coming to our feeders in the garden.  Secondly, the swans.  Thirdly, the current Chimney Meadows film, though this needs more deer and perhaps another heron clip.   

My second video project - chub taking floating crust.

Last time at the river, my attempts to film chub taking floating crust rather failed.  I managed to get just one take on camera and that was 30 yards down the river and barely visible.  But a second trip has produced over 20 takes caught on camera, a sign perhaps that I am beginning to think more about video recording and am getting better at it.

The most surprising set of takes occured in the second glide on the stretch, just downstream from one of the spots that I have floatfished for chub.  I have never fished this spot but it produced a dozen takes of which I managed to film six or seven, including one really big, splashy rise at the downstream end of the swim.  So this spot will definitely be added to my fishing plans for the start of the season.

On a couple of occasions I was able to see the fish concerned and they looked a nice size.  One was certainly over 4lbs.  My best ever chub caught on crust was something like 3-08 from the Cherwell years ago, so this is a target that I have a good chance of beating next season.  And one fish that I was able to watch closely for 10 minutes or so, resolutely refused to rise to a piece of crust despite something like 30 pieces passing over its head.  Still, much of this bread then became the free samples in the next swim down and were taken there instead.

It took me a day or two more to edit the video - I am not very good at this at all yet and will be putting much more thought into this going forward.  But it has turned out ok, and I was especially pleased with the captions I used this time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjdwQ3sMW3k&context=C498e460ADvjVQa1PpcFOSWvR1If_Bz48TItOyaBWDvllCLRJc5v4=

A rather extreme chub take from my video

More practice video - feeding chub

Another video testing day, this time mainly about comparing the two tripods I now have. I suspected that the heavier, but taller tripod would turn out to be best afterall, but a decent test was worth doing to confirm this. So off to the river again.

But this time I have a couple of slices of bread crust and one aim would be to see whether I could attract and film some chub taking the crust off the surface. I felt my best chance would be a relatively shallow glide which is slowly filling up with lilies as spring rolls on. So sighting the camera at the head of the run, I threw a dozen or so pieces of crust across the river and lo and behold, several pieces were taken. The photo below shows a few pieces of crust over to the left of the view, while the chub that took the bread were all down by the raft on the right hand side.


I followed the crust downstream about another 100 yards and one or two more pieces were taken, but I managed to film none of the them well. What I did discover is that it is better to move the camera as little as possible while tracking the crust, and also that a tiny piece of crust is quite hard to find using the little viewing screen. Focusing is not easy either.

One chub was actually seen - one about 3 lbs which had a very good look at a piece of crust as I was watching. Maybe tomorrow, armed with more bread, I will get some better video.

My first video upload to Youtube

After a few days studying some notes on how to work Movie Maker, I have produced my first video for Youtube, 8-55 of wildlife footage shot at Chimney Meadows over the last few weeks. I am actually rather pleased with this, especially the footage of the two mallards and the coot and moorhen. This is a practice for when I try and shoot some fishing videos later this year.

http://www.savetubevideo.com/?v=WAU2CzBOeAg&context=C4486d00ADvjVQa1PpcFPek9EzK7fIvLTrmkfSlSzmOgPWt1ziqs0=

The first of many I hope.

More filming at Chimney Meadows

Early Sunday morning and a trip along the river to Chimney Meadows with the video camera - the main aim being to test out a travel tripod I have bought as an alternative to the trusty but heavy tripod I have had since I was 16.

I am the only one about at this time as one might expect and before 7:00 I am settled in the hide that Wife and I visited the other week. Over the next couple of hours I shot film of two muntjac deer, some mallards, a coot and a moorhen, and a roe deer. No heron this time, and the roe deer film was very distant. But the footage was reasonable and the tripod seemed to work ok.

The other test I wanted to do was of various fishing spots to assess ease of filming there. This showed up some problems as the tripod is quite low and is unable to fit in much of the river. At times I will need the camera to be at about 5 to 6 feet high and the travel tripod is barely half that. So perhaps I will end up having to carry the older one.

Next task is to work out how to use the basic editing programme I have on the PC. I will put together a 10 minute extract from what I shot today and post it on Youtube, hopefully by the end of this week.

The first of what I hope will be many nice videos over the next few years.

Day out at Chimney Meadows & a fishy pub

Wife is not working for the next few days and we decided that today would be our "wildlife" day for Easter, with a trip to Chimney Meadows, the local nature reserve. Over the past few months, I have seen loads of interesting wildlife down there while fishing - my hope was that Wife would also get to see some today.

As it was, we were in luck. On the walk down there were loads of birds around which we were just about able to pick out in the trees. We saw a hare close up, which we startled as we rounded a corner and entered the field it was in, plus lots of ducks and swans as usual. By Shifford lock we spotted the three female roe deer which I have seen loads of times over the past few months. At the time, I thought this was a shame as I'd have liked us to have made it to the bird hide before they had appeared, but soon after we got to the hide, two other deer, probably males appeared and were happy to feed for the next twenty minutes in the open space. I had brought my video camera with me (but don't yet have the travel tripod) and did take about 10 minutes of film of them. Later a heron flew in and settled quite near us and I got some decent film of that too. Over the next couple of days, I will use this footage to learn how to edit film and how to post to youtube.

We then drove on to Burford and then back round to Faringdon by the scenic route that took us past the Swan Hotel at Radcot. We stopped here for a drink and I was delighted to find that it had a bar with loads of stuffed fish in it - a pike of 15lbs, two cases of bream (around 5lbs each fish), two trout of up to 7lbs, a perch of 2 1/2lbs, two cases of chub (5-07 and 4-10) and a barbel of 8-02. All caught locally as well and dating from about 1950 to 1962. I wonder how much a cased barbel costs.
One of the stuffed chub from the fishy bar.

Brian Clarke's Angling piece in The Times

Monday's Times has a thoughtful article by Brian Clarke on whether success at fishing is a matter of luck. It focuses on Neill Stephen's recent capture of a 9-05 chub and the preparations that went into this. The essential economy - economy of action. Pretty much all the effort goes into preparation. The cast itself is no random event. Clarke contrasts Stpehen's approach, where fishing has to take a back seat to the normal pressures of life, with those anglers who are said to "bore" fish into the net by fishing days and nights at a time.


I was reminded of a famous Dick Walker set of principles which were mentioned in something Tony Miles wrote recently. There are five such principles, and all successful captures involves compliance with them.

1. Location. The fish must exist in the venue and you must fish for them where they are in that venue.

2. You mustn't scare the fish

3. Your technique must fool the fish and, once hooked, enable you to land it.

4. You must fish when the fish are feeding

5. You must use a bait they will accept.

A successful catch means you have fulfilled each of these. But a failure can be down to any one (or all five). And there are dozens of ways in which each point can fail. Most anglers are principally concerned with rigs and bait - factors 3 and 5. Location is mainly sorted out by fishing commercial fisheries. Factor 2 is usually ignored by adopting a bait and wait approach (where the initial disturbance is inevitable but just sat through). Factor 4 is met by being there all the time and using bite alarms.

It is for these reasons that I don't fish commercial fisheries.

DIY fishing videos

While looking for fishing videos on youtube, I stumbled across a series of videos called "Barbel fishing on the Swale". These are filmed and presented by an old guy (would "codger" be the right word?) called Charlie. He has the video camera fixed on a tripod and he gives a little bit of commentary on what he is up to, then is usually seen catching a fish or two. Remarkably, he is up to video number 89 in this series, each about 10 minutes long and covering in total about the last two years fishing.

I think these videos are really good and I have been inspired to dig out our video camera and finally get round to working out how to use it properly. I have just bought a light travel tripod, an upgraded memory card and am about to buy a bigger battery, so I would be able to film about 2 to 3 hours in one set up. For my type of fishing, which is based on fishing spots for about 30 mins each time, this could suit this video set up quite well. So next season I am planning to film my fishing year!

Charlie mainly fishes the style of barbel fishing known as "codding". He typically uses two rods, pointing high in the air, and doesn't bother with quiver tips, just using the standard rod tip and baitrunner reels - so his bites are huge pulls on the tip and line running off the reel - the Stef Horaks approach. He seems to use pellets for most of his fishing. And he has certainly caught some great fish. It would be really good to have somewhere relatively nearby that offered such consistent barbel sport. And wouldn't it have been amazing if I had filmed the capture of my big barbel!

Over the next few days - when I am doing most of the trading while Jerome has his kids for the first part of the holidays - I shall watch a few episodes a day, focusing on learning as much as I can about how he shoots the videos. Excellent stuff. Well done Charlie!

Charlie addressing his fans and with a typical Swale barbel.

A long walk in the country

I have had a cold for the past week but have finally felt like doing some exercise. The weather has continued to be unseasonably warm and it occured to me that a long walk might make a change from going to the gym. Six miles later, in the very hot midday sun, I might have a different view of this.

So I went down through the village, over Harrowdown Hill to the bottom of the Pickfords stretch on the Thames, then along the Thames path to Chimney and back to Hinton up the farm track that Bernie the crayfisherman uses (and which I'd like to park my car on next winter). Three hares spotted in these fields.

With the fishing closed season now in force, it is rare for me to see the river in its spring glory. Many of my favourite chub swims have trees in blossom on them - quite a change from the bleak mid-winter or even the last week of the fishing season. By June, the river will be lush and green and very different to how it has been. I was also struck by the huge amounts of lilies that were coming through.

I'm not sure if I will fish the Thames in the summer. I might wait until late September / October when the boats have more or less stopped and the vegetation is dying back.

Chub lurk under the raft and by the near-bank reeds

I had my best catch of float-fished chub from this swim, just against the bushes on the far side.

Lilies coming through - or "cabbages" as us fishermen refer to them

The whole of the inside bank will be full of cabbages come the summer.

My picture in Angling Times

Following Stewart's enhancements of my barbel photo, I had sent it off to Angling Times in the hope of winning a Drennan Cup hat and badge. It would seem I was slightly late in sending this in as it missed last week's issue but is in this week's instead (which is after the Drennan Cup has finished) So I am immortalised next to a 4lb perch and 7lb chub.

No hat and badge then!

A better picture of my big barbel

When I caught my big barbel, I had only got my mobile phone camera with me, rather than my digital SLR. I sent a rather poor photo to Stewart Moss, the author of the two excellent recent articles on Oxfordshire barbel fishing. It turns out that he is also rather an excellent fishing photographer and he has done some photoshop reprocessing of my original picture. I am very pleased with this, it must be said and a good excuse to show it again!
But the picture below remains my all-time favourite barbel photo - Daughter aged 6 with her personal best barbel of 6-05 caught from the Windrush at Ducklington back in 1995.

Last four fishing days - the last day of the season

It would have been very tempting to return to the scene of yesterday's capture, maybe to try the swim where I lost the big fish on Monday. But actually, I decided on a change of venue, returning to Duxford where my 2012 fishing really got started. This is a far more beautiful stretch of the Thames than the one further downstream I have been fishing and I feel this is an important consideration on the last day of the season.

In addition, I had said that one of the last four days would be a chubbing session with bread, so that's today's plan. And a new method for me (or at least one I haven't used for years) - liquidized dry bread fished in a feeder. I have been very impressed by the catches that other anglers have made using this technique. Indeed that occurs today as well.

A guy I met a month or so back, who I now know is Mark from Witney, was fishing that way today, starting at the large bay at the downstream end of the fishery and slowly making his way back upstream dropping in ever likely spot. When we met up late morning he had already had four, including two 5 lbers, and he then caught another 5'er as I sat chatting to him, a 5-11 in fact. He has caught a couple of 6'ers at Duxford and his three fives by lunchtime is better than anything I have managed all year.


My fishing never really got going today. I tried a few new spots and had a couple of fish, but after yesterday, I was mainly just there to pass the time and watch the wildlife. Three deer, two hares, a heron, a kingfisher, and so on today. Lots of owls hooting throughout the day as they do down here. My catch totalled three chub, 4-04, 4-07 and 4-12. And I was off home by 1:30, for a lovely hot bath and an afternoon's work!

So no 6 lber this year - that will be my target for next winter.

Last four fishing days - day 3 - Best fishing day ever?

6:00am finds me tackling up 30 yards upstream of Hawthorns 1, the scene of yesterday's lost fish, which I have now fully convinced myself was a barbel. No new free baits, just a freelined boilie under the Hawthorns by my own bank. 45 minutes fishing produce no bites, so more bait goes in and I had planned to return every few hours to fish this spot again.

Further downstream I added more free bait to swims 3 and 4, before settling in my current "chub banker" swim, which today produces my best chub of the year, a really fat fish of 5-12. I am rather pleased with this although it is not my targeted 6lber and in the next swims are rather content to watch the wildlife for a bit. Swims 5 and 6 are fished with no new bait having been adding, but no bites are forthcoming. They are baited and then its back to Hawthorns 1 and 2, where another 45 minutes in each produced nothing.

A very fat 5-12

.

It was now about 1:00 and I settled in swim 4, a swim dominated by a fallen tree. I cast to mid river and let the boilie swing round on a light ledger till it settles well under the branches. I planned to leave it there for around 45 minutes, but after 25 minutes or so I got a huge bite that lifts the rod butt off the ground, pivoting on the rod rest. A strike meets very solid resistance and there were a few worried moments as I eased the fish out from under the snags. Soon after, it dawned on me that the fish was hugging the bottom surprisingly easily and I soon saw why - it was my much sort after barbel, which I got a brief sight of before it powered off upstream, thankfully now well away from the major snags. Gradually it came back to me and after a further two or three powerful runs that caused a few worries as line spilled off the reel again - given yesterday's experience, were all my knots ok, etc - it finally allowed me to net it.

.

Only then then I really realise just what a huge fish it was. In the water I had thought a definite double but it was clearly well above a "mere" double. I had nothing big enough to weigh it in, so it went into the landing net. I'd not zero'ed the scales for the net and my initial weighing was 16-10!! Weighing the net next gave 1-06, so the barbel was 15-04. I re-zeroed the scales with the net attached and re-weighed the fish, this time getting 15-05. But I have stuck with 15-04.

.

Luckily there is an angler fishing just downstream from me and he took a couple of pictures on my mobile phone. These are never great but it was all I could do. It really was an incredibly fat fish, with the most enormous girth (as shown by the net photo below). It beats my personal best by nearly 3lbs and combined with the 5-12 chub earlier is by far the best brace of fish I have ever taken or are ever likely to in the future.

.

The fish was returned in the net and took a few minutes to recover, but it swam off strongly settling under a near bank tree for some minutes before powering off.
My most incredible barbel of 15-04!!

Look at the girth!!

Totally amazing!!

.

I did stay on at the river for another few hours but only fished about half of that, remaining in the same spot in case there were others there. Didn't even bother to try the Hawthorns again. But really I wasn't that fussed. This has been my finest angling day ever, and I doubt any fish would have made it better (unless perhaps I had caught a 7lb chub!).

.

I wonder what the biggest Thames barbel have been. I suspect that 15-04 is among the biggest ever. I shall resist the temptation to send a picture to the angling press - I wouldn't want to breach any club rules on no media contact!!

Last four fishing days - day 2 - afternoon

So I am back at the river by around 4:00pm. My first cast is into Hawthorns 1, a swim I have never had a bite in but which looks perfect and so I fish it most times. It certainly looked good enough to be one of the six swims baited with hemp and boilies anyway.

About five minutes later, the rod loops round and I am attached to something which it quickly becomes apparent, is the most powerful fish I have hooked all year. The fish sets off across the river away from the Hawthorn bush snags, taking about 5 yards of line, but a few seconds later, as I applied some side strain to begin to bring it back upstream, the line goes slack. Winding in, it turns out that one of the knots on the hooklink gave way - the first time this has happened for years.

What a nightmare! I have prepared beautifully, spending five days baiting six swims, then get a bite in the first one I fish, only to lose it after maybe 15-20 seconds. Of course I can't be certain what the fish was. Sometimes chub can start fights like this, but they then soon give up. It could have been a very large and very fit chub. But I have to say, I think it was more likely to have been a barbel. The type of bite, the power of the run. . . . Or it could have been a carp I suppose. There are some in this stretch I understand. For now I'm sticking with the barbel theory as this supports all the work I've been doing to catch one.

Around 4:30 the sun comes out and soon after, my spirits are lifted somewhat as a barn owl flies slowly up the field opposite.

I wander downstream, putting more bait in swims 3 and 4 and moving down to one of the regular chub swims. I am cheered a little more by taking a 4-15 chub here to add to this mornings tally of chub.
Later, a mist starts to appear in the fields opposite. The stars come out, including Jupiter and Venus which approach very close to each other tonight. Around 6:30, I am back in the first swim after the barbel. Two very large bats are hunting over the river. The mist thickens gradually. I don't get a bite in 45 minutes here so move back down to swim 4. By now the mist is thick my side of the river as well. Stars near the horizon are disappearing and soon I am enveloped in a thick pea souper. This is all rather spooky. When I finally pack up around 8:30, the fog is really thick and I can barely see 10 yards with my head torch on - its like driving in fog with high beams on, everything is just white. It takes an extra 10 minutes to walk back to the car tonight.
The approaching mist.

Last four fishing days - day two - morning

The weather forecasts suggested that today would be like yesterday - really hot from mid morning - but I was somewhat surprised to find at 5:30 that there was a thick, damp fog. If this took time to burn away, fishing could be better today than I was perhaps expecting.

Today's plan has yesterday's FFS2 as today's "Float fishing swim 1" and I have a new FFS2 further downstream. Visibility was just 30 yards or so as I walked across the fields to the downstream end of the fishery. Hemp and corn into the two prospective float fishing swims, hemp and boilies into five others for later.

I had really enjoyed yesterday's float fishing so it was with some excitement that I started this morning where I'd caught the 4-15 yesterday. But for some reason I don't get a bite in the first hour - maybe the two swans that went through the swim as I was pre-baiting the other spots had an adverse effect. So off the FFS2.

This next spot is a far more challenging float fishing proposition. The focus was on a huge raft on the far side of the river. The main flow is about 3/4 across the river, and a cast here should ensure that the float travels just past the raft, maybe just inches away from the trailing branches. Baiting is a bit tricky as the corn tended to disperse in the air and land all over the top of the raft. But there isn't much I can do about this. After half a dozen casts I have worked out how to manouevre the float just past the raft, letting it move down past 10 yards of hanging branches. I am rather impressed by how well I seem to be fishing this. I am even more impressed when I hook a fish about half way down the raft and, after quite a tugging battle on the light-ish tackle, I was rather pleased to land another 5lber on the float. It was quite a short fish, but had a very solid stomach (early spawning?) and went 5-02. No further bites in the next half hour so I thought I would rest the swim and have another go at FFS1, where I blanked again in the next hour.

Back in FFS2, the wind had changed a litle and I could bait a bit better. Not sure how much difference this makes, but after 20 mins or so I had a bite at the downstream end of the swim and landed another chunky fish, this time 4-07. I was thinking of packing up for the morning then as I had to get back to check in with Jerome and in any case I was running low on bait. But I decided to give it another half hour and was rewarded with a third chub from this swim around 10:30. I thought this would also be another 5lber but it was actually4-15. A really nice fish though, in great condition.

So I baited the five swims again and returned home to make some more bait and have some food and drink. I planned to be back around 4:00pm.

Last four fishing days - day one - chub on the float

Up and away from home at 5:30am - even on a Sunday! - loaded down with a large bait tin of sweetcorn, plus the hemp and boilies that I would be pre-baiting with for tomorrow. "Float fish swim 1" is a short walk from the car, a 30 yard glide, though one where the bottom shelves up as you go downstream. I have put in some bait and am tackled up by 6:00. Three roe deer on the opposite bank stand watching me for a few minutes.

Now I am definitely not the world's greatest float fisherman, and rarely fish this way. In the 1970s I once saw ace matchman Ken Giles fishing a match on the Warwickshire Avon where he caught over 50lbs of chub fishing a stick float. It was quite amazing to watch. Or there was the time in the early 1990s when I was fishing the Hale Park stretch of the Hampshire Avon and watched a guy fish a long glide with a centre pin reel. After seeing this I actually bought a centre pin reel and then discovered just how hard it was to fish that way. I don't even own a proper float rod and am using an Avon rod today, my usual Shimano Aero reel with 4 lb line, a 3AAA Avon to a size 14 hook. But this late in the season, it does seem a nice idea to float fish and I did ok the other week.

First casts are critically important in pre-baited swim as you expect fish to be there from the off and already feeding. But this does raise the issue of correct depth and I start with a run down set at about 6 ft. This produces a bite about 10 yards down the swim, and a fish which fights really well but turns out to be a mid-3lber. Was this an impetuous smaller fish, while the bigger ones are down below? I reset the depth by 6 inches and keep adding a little more every second cast till I seem to have located the bottom at about 8 ft.

I then hook a second fish but it falls off when about half way in. This could have finished the swim but I stuck it out for another 45 minutes and got a second fish of 3-15. So an ok start to my short session.

I dropped off my tackle at "float fish swim 2", put in three or four catapults full of corn, and then went for a walk downstream to bait the swims I intend to fish for barbel tomorrow. On the way down I spot something about which anglers have very mixed feeling. An otter is swimming downstream through my first chosen swim. It is nice in some ways that otters are more common but they are killing huge numbers of large barbel, so anglers generally aren't keen to see them in their rivers - still it is the first wild otter I have seen for years.

Back at FFS2 and what a fine float fishing spot it is. Another 30 yard plus glide, but this time of steady depth. The all important first cast produces a bite straight way and this time it is a pretty decent fish of 4-15. I have a second bite two casts later which I missed and then hook and lose a fish at the very far end of the swim. One other curious incident was when I was just starting to wind in and I suddenly seemed to be connected to a fish. However a moiment later it was gone and I wound in to find the hook missing. My guess is that a jack pike took the sweetcorn as I started to wind in, attracted to the surface disturbance. I fish on for another hour but no more bites.

I then spent an hour ledgering in one of the chub raft swims but with no bites. It was very hot by 10:00 and this remains the case for the rest of the day, suggesting a change of plan for next few days. I now plan to fish first thing each day, then come home in the middle of the day, going out again late afternoon.

Preparation for the last few days of the fishing season

I have the chance to fish bits of every day until the end of the season and I've been pondering the various choices. An inventory of bait reveals I have about 4 gallons of prepared hemp, several loaves approaches peak staleness, about 10kg of boilies and six or seven kilos of sweetcorn. So plenty of choices.

Overall, I would like to have at least one session float fishing for chub, at least one using mashed bread for chub and at least one dedicated purely to barbel. So with these in mind I was off to the river this morning at dawn to prep a few swims. I am still focusing on the stretch a few miles downstream from my house rather than Duxford, but might have a trip to Duxford before the season ends?

The first surprise is that the river is already fining down after the rain this week. I had thought it might have stayed up two more days and be fining down on Monday and Tuesday, the days I can fish most. But the colour is fading rapidly and some of the swims I use to test clarity now have visible bottoms. Will that make a difference? Not sure yet.

So I have baited two swims with hemp and sweetcorn for float fishing for chub, and six other swims with hemp and boilies. Tomorrow will be a float fishing session as I only have the morning available. I will also rebait the six swims tomorrow. Monday may well be the barbel day after two days of pre-baiting. Hopefully if there are barbel about, they will have found at least one swim's worth of bait and will recognise it when they see it Monday - if they are there. If not, maybe a big chub would like a boilie.

Nice to be out at dawn before a busy day. Two roe deer, some hares, plenty of birds. Back home by 7:30 as Daughter is home for the weekend and we have sorting out to do for her forthcoming trip to Peru and have nice food to cook throughout the day.

Blanking after barbel again

My focus for today's fishing was to try and catch a barbel from one of the far downstream swims. Bait was a mix two types of boilie fished over hemp. Arriving at about 2:00pm, I baited four spots, including two that have produced chub in the last couple of weeks. Then I settled in a swim opposite a large raft and fished this for the next hour or so. No touches at all.

A second round of baiting at about 4:00, then a walk to the downstream limit of the fishery for the first time in ages. Three of four very promising chub swim by nearside rafts, and some static bays on the far side - the sort where Thames carp might hang out if you wanted to fish for such things. Another fishless hour spent in one of the swims while I waited for the bait to do its magic - or not.

More baiting, then a move to one of the chub swims. First cast, after just five minutes wait and with no preliminary indications, the rod slammed round. My first thought was that this would far more like a barbel bite than a chub bite. The fish had taken the bait from the top end of a raft and gone downstream so far that it was well under the raft by the time I had struck and got contact. I few hard pulls but then everything went rather solid. Some heaving from several angles at least confirmed the fish was still on. After a minute or so more, I was beginning to think the fish was too well snagged, but then to my surprise, it came free. This also confirmed that it was a chub, not the hoped for barbel, but it was a nice fish of 4-10. Still, now I know that the chub on this stretch will take 14mm seafood flavoured boilies.

No more bites tonight in any of the baited spots, though I fished on till 9:00pm, so the wait for a barbel continues.

A poorly thought out fishing trip

I rather messed up today's planned fishing trip. After the rain on Sunday I had been pondering a day targeted at just barbel. Two rods, lots of hemp, pellets on one rod, boilies on the other, and so on. Three swims primed for this, fished from 2:00pm till 10:00pm in 30 minute rotation.

But overnight, there has been a heavy frost. My immediate thought was that this would not be good for barbel and that I should target chub again. So I topped up the mashed bread mix I had left over from a few day's ago - a most beautiful mix of mashed white bread, crumbed white and brown bread, the water from previous hemp boiling, and about 4 pints of hemp. Off to the river with that and a bag of crust, some flavoured with a sweet nectar syrup that I got from a health food shop over the weekend.

However I had forgotten that the river would probably be up from the previous rain. Indeed it was up about 3 inches and the sort of lovely brown colour that barbel anglers love. As expected, the temperature was down a little on Sunday, so it probably wouldn't have been the best for barbel, but the coloured water also suggested that chub might not go for standard bread mash and crust. Instead I should have luncheon meat, or lobworms or cheese paste - but not crust (even super duper flavoured crust)

I did have a single half full bait box of spam and hot dog sausage left over from a week or so ago but this had gone into a rather gooey mix. But that was all I had that might be suitable, so from 2:00 until 6:00 I fished with that in a number of swims without a single bite. By then I had decided I might as well bait a couple of swims with some mashed bread and so I finished the evening like that. The result? One chub that might have scrapped 3 lbs from my single bite (and on plain bread, not the flavoured).

So not good. I am now looking towards Thursday when I might aim to stay till well into the evening. And I might plan for that on Monday and Tuesday next week when I actually plan to stay till midnight both nights. Weather forecast is for more rain, so perhaps barbel will come back into consideration. Perhaps a fining down river on Monday and Tuesday will turn out to be perfect?

A mobile morning fishing session

For family reasons, only a very short fishing trip is possible first thing today. At 5:30 it was actually raining but I decided it wasn't enough to be overly unpleasant at the river. A different approach for today. No pre-baiting swims, just a piece of crust tried in as many possible spots as I would manage in the 3 hours I had available.

First spot was the swim nearest the road where the other angler was fishing last time. This is an interesting swim with a near bank slack area and a tree in the water at the downstream end and could bear a decent effort. I had a couple of little taps on the tip, but not enough to stick it out longer.

Next stop, the long glide/crease swim. I had intended to skip this swim, but then thought it might be interesting to try and search the swim by upstream ledgering from the downstream end, not an approach I often use, but one which I would like to get better at. I used a 2/3oz weight, which might have been a tiny bit light as the tip deflection was only an inch or so rather than the 2-3 that perhaps it should have been, but the actual technical fishing went ok, and second cast I had the classic slack line bite and landed a chub of about 3lbs. Very pleased with that, given that I rarely fish upstream ledgering.

Inspired by this, I did have a look at a couple of other swims that I would usually have ignored and gave them a cast or two to again test the upstream ledgering idea. If I can get this right, there are quite a few other swims that might respond well to the technique, especially far bank raft swims which can be very good fished this way.

A bite in "Hawthorns 1" which produced another 3 lber, then nothing in "Hawthorns 2" which rather surprised me. I baited one of the top raft swims and the "inside crease", but left them till later, instead moving well downstream to a couple of the deeper swims. It is this stretch far downstream where I really want to put much more effort in the last week or so of the season.

One swim that could be very good is where there is a line of reeds on the near bank, then a raft ten yards further down. This produced a 4-02 today.

By 9:30 or so the rain was getting heavier, though I remained warm and dry. Bernie, the crayfish netting farmer came down and we had a quick chat - rumours of a big barbel caught recently are of great interest, especially with today's rain. I haven't fished for barbel for a week or two - perhaps the rain is a sign I should. But by mid-morning the rain has a heavy sleat component and the overnight forecast is for a mild frost. So maybe barbel aren't on the cards. Maybe Tuesday's trip can be more barbel orientated?

Another five pounder, but what a wait

A damp, misty start to the day and only 1C outside first thing, so I was not absolutely sure I would go fishing today. But during the morning I made up a bucket of bait - mashed bread made with the liquid from my hemp making, plus 4 or 5 pints of hemp and a mix of white and brown crumb. Delicious - what chub could resist? The mist finally cleared around lunchtime and it became a bright sunny day - also not great for fishing, but at least it would be warm out.

First surprise was two cars already parked in the layby. The first angler was fishing in the first swim below the car park. He said he had fished here a lot over the past five years or so and had managed two 6 lbers in that time. He'd had a 5-10 from the swim he was in today on his last visit. We talked for about 20 minutes about prospects for a Thames barbel, how we both disliked commercial stillwater fisheries, and how great the chub fishing now was.

Again my plan was to bait half a dozen swims with my "magic mash" and fish each for 20 minutes or so until well after dark. But in the field where the last two swims were, there was an angler in the far distance, so I went for a wander down to see him, perhaps to keep him away from my baited swims. It turned out that he sort of knew who I was - he was one of the friends of the guy I had met a couple of weekends ago from Windsor. He was fishing in a similar-ish manner to to other guy - extremely mobile, not bothering to bait swims first, no more than 10 minutes in any spot. And he had done pretty well, having had 5 fish - one of exactly 5lbs, 3 other 4s and a 3. He was fishing with a friend who was actually just upstream and who I had not seen when I walked down. We all chatted for another half hour or so about local river fishing - the state of the Cherwell, Evenlode and Windrush - the prospects for a big Thames chub (they have had a few sixes on this stretch and one of them had a 7 a few years back). They were both retired and described themselves as doing more or less nothing other than fish. Apparently they first fished this spot in the 1960s when a 4 lb chub was a great rarity.

So finally I started fishing around 4:00, by which time I was expecting my baiting to have done the trick, despite the fine sunny weather. But for the next couple of hours I was untroubled by fish completely. However by the time the two other anglers were leaving (about 6:00pm), I was starting to get the odd small tap on the quivertip - not enough to strike, but a sign some fish were around. The other two had finished with one extra fish each, for a catch of 9 between them.

Finally, around 7:00, I had a small chub of about 2 1/2lbs from the inside crease swim, so at least I wasn't going to blank. The sky remained clear and with a first quarter moon out it was actually a really nice night to be by the river. Several roe deer had appeared as it got dark, owls were hooting continually, and one flew over the river as I fished.

By 8:00 I was in the deep raft swim at the downstream end of my baiting, casting most of the way across the river and letting the bait swing round full under the raft. A slight tightening over my finger then the classic pull round and a solid resistance on the strike. I suspect that the fish was initially further under the raft than I had thought it would be, as after some heaving I thought I had the fish well clear of the raft, but it surfaced just above the top branches. But no other troubles and I soon had a decent fish in the net. It looked quite a solid fish, but didn't feel particularly so, and scaled 5-02, whereas I would have put it at 5-08. It had some bread mash and hemp in its mouth when I landed it - had it really only just settled on the bait I'd put in? By then there had been three earlier baitings of the swim. Hard to think it had all been ignored until well after dark.

No more fish tonight, but a lovely night to be out. Venus was just setting when I packed up in the top swim around 8:45. Quite cold again by then, and a mist forming as I walked back to the car.

Next time - maybe Sunday - I am planning to go about 5:30 and be there, fully set up, by first light. Then I plan to fish loads of spots with no pre-baiting. Daughter might be home that day so I will only have until 11:00 or so, but I might be able to fish 20 spots in that time. A radical lightening of my kit will be required for this to be effective.