Wall to Wall Rays at Kingston Seymour Sea Wall (Bristol Channel Sea Fishing)

the first fish of the evening

The tides on the 20th of April looked good for a spot of ray fishing of Kingston sea wall, with a high of 12.4 mts at 19.30 and although there was a north easterly wind I had reasoned that it would be just fishable, my approach was to be  2 rods 1 pulley rigged with Bluey ,and one fished with a 2 hook flapper with rag  worms tipped with Bluey , arriving at 6'o' clock  I cast one the pulley rod 70yds and the flapper rod 40yds, By 7.30 I had a knock on the pulley rod leaving it to develop into a proper bite didn't take long as felt the tell tale resistance of a ray on the end of the line ,this turned out to be a fish of between 6 to 7 lbs which gave a good scrap trying to dive under the rocks in front of the wall,next just as I recast the pulley rod I had a knock on the two worm rod which also turned out to be a ray of roughly the same size, then 15mins later another bite on the pulley rod ray number 3 a smaller one but very welcome ,so a busy half hour followed by a couple of small whitting on the worms but nothing else all evening,

ray no. 3

2nd fish of the evening on rag
 

Kingston Seymour Sea Wall (Bristol Channel Sea Fishing) Cod at Last!

 Since before Christmas I have made numerous visits to the sea shore of the Bristol Channel in search of a PB shore caught Cod,

Which stands at a Lowly 2 1/2lb caught some years ago, so with the tides spot on this week and rumours of fish being caught I planned a visit Tuesday evening my approach was to be two rods one with a whole squid fished at range and another two hook flapper rig with rag fished closer for a flounder or smaller fish,

First cast at around 6.30pm produced a couple of small rattles on the rag worm rigs which I left followed by an almighty drop back which I promptly wound down too, this was no flounder not what I need a good size fish on a size 2 thin wire hook pumping it in from 60yds the fish kited right then tried to make for the rocks under my feet by this time, I still hadn’t Seen the fish but was now convinced I was connected to a Cod, not massive but certainly a PB,

It’s at times like this you need some luck and tonight I had some a freak wave lifted the fish out of the rocks right to my feet where I pick it up and carried to the shore,  it was hooked by the most tenuous of hook holds with the thin wire no.2 practically straight ,

Between 4 & 5 pounds

Not a Breath of wind

Sadly I had not packed any scale’s but put the weight at between 4 and 5 pounds And feeling so pleased with myself I decided to return it alive , I fished on until 8.30pm with only a couple more small pin whiting to show for my efforts , and not a bite on the whole Squid , so if your struggling for a Bristol Channel Cod go Flounder Fishing ,

A Winter Session on Barrow Tanks Reservoirs, Bristol

Bristol water who control barrow tanks 3 concrete bowl shaped reservoir's just south of Bristol, this year they have decided to open all year for trout fishing ,
So at a  loss on Tuesday where to go a few hours  a local venue not to far from home it seemed to be a ideal choice,
Loading a 5# 9 rod and reel loaded with a slow sink intermediate line and a pocket full of lures
I set off arriving a 11'0'clock ,my tactics where to be walking around reservoir 2 casting every 25 steps covering as much water as possible, and by 12.30 I had caught one fish and dropped 2 the bites being very timid with just a very slight indication on the line,

Biggest of the Day from Barrows no.2

 Time for a move to Barrows no1 the biggest of the 3 reservoirs tactics where the same using black and green damsel patterns fished mid water ,the wind by the afternoon had dropped to a breeze and fish where showing but to far out  to cast to so fishing short I managed one more fish and a couple of pulls before the light faded, so a very productive day and a ideal outing on a short winters day ,
tickets are purchased from a hut in car park  a 6 fish ticket is £14.50

Sun setting over Barrows no.1

  

Pike Fishing at Cheddar Reservoir

Cheddar reservoir is a 400 acre concrete bowl,  set in the shadow of Cheddar Gorge. On the right day the venue can be a very pleasant location so taking advantage of a unseasonably warm December day I set off with my friend Roy for a spot of pike fishing. We had chosen a swim on the south side of the reservoir with the wind to our backs enabling us to use our Fox Rage Predator drifter floats to their best advantage. These we set these up at 22ft with sea baits, we also fished a popped up ledgered bait close in. 

fishing the south bank

First cast I had an instant take which turned out to be a small pike of around 3lb on the drift float, followed by one of around 8lb. Roy also had one of similar size on the ledgered rig them a 15lber at distance on the drift float, a very nice fish and fighting fit, so in all a very productive day.

Cheddar day tickets are only £6 a day and can a bought in advance along with all relevant tackle and baits from: 
Cadbury Angling 
Within Cadbury Garden Centre
Smallway 
Congresbury 
BS49 5AA
01934 875733

Roy with the days biggest fish

A Bumper Day With Spot On! Charters

Two Boat trips in a row something of a record for me , this trip was to be an inshore wrecking trip mainly for bass but hoping for other Species as well , Kicking off from Brixham at 7'0'clock the day promised to be a good one weather wise and expectations where high , 50 minute's motoring to the first wreck and we where in to fish from the off , Bass off around 3lb up to 6lb being brought to the boat,

My best Bass around 6lb

 All methods and Lures where tried over the day from bass wedges to multi coloured shads fast retrieve and slow , all caught fish to varying degrees ,so a bumper day was had by all with 40 odd bass a couple of Cod to the boat, its worth noting that the new rule of only keeping 3 bass each was strictly observed and it was good to see them swim off back to the Depths,   

A Bonus Cod

A pod off 30 plus Dolphins followed us home,

Barbel Fishing on the Wye at Bishopswood

Its been a while since I have fished the River wye , And its was certainly nice to be back to this lovely part of the country, I would be fishing the Worcester Angling beat at Bishopswood, with Friend Roy ,
we travelled up after lunch arriving at the River at 2'o'clock, giving us time to walk the stretch,
after an hour of searching we settled on a couple of swims a 100yds apart with deep water and settled in , I for one was not expecting any action until later in the evening and usually for me set up 2 rods to start with on feeders with Halibut pellets ,

A view Down Stream

 Around 5.30pm I had a text from Roy he had caught 2 barbel a small one of 2lb and one of 8ish just goes to show they will feed all day in the right swim , as I had had only one small chub of around 12oz's I decide to give my swim half an hour then move , packing down 1 rod I moved along the river looking for faster water which I found nearing the end of the beat a long walk but it was to prove worth the effort , between 7.30 & 9.30 I caught 4 Barbel and 3 chub all which fought really well in the fast water reminding me want I had been missing ,so in all a very successful day cannot wait for my next session in September,

The first of 4 Barbel

Early Morning Session on the River Kenn, Clevedon

With the weather improving a trip to the River Kenn in Clevedon for Bream and possibly a Tench presented it self a early Session just 10mins down the road from my house ,
So prebaiting a swim with 2kg of sweet corn the night before and rigging up a pair of 1 1/2lb TC rods just in case there was a carp about , I was ready for a 5'o' clock start ,
The day was all ready heating up as I arrived at the waters edge and swung out two ledgered rods of artificial corn hair rigged to size 12 gardiner specimen hooks on 9lb guru hook length to the bait on the far side I had put in the previous evening,
I had to wait until 8 30 for my first fish a bream of around 6lb which unlike lake bream put up a thumping fight to the net , this was followed by a smaller fish of 5 lb ish
by now the sun had risen and so had the temperature so time to pack up,
Clevedon AA control the Kenn on a £20.00 a year ticket which besides the Bream has good Stocks of Roach ,Perch the occasional Tench and a few Carp,  

Biggest of the morning

Tench and Perch in the Cotswolds

Spurning the pull to fish the rivers on the first day of the season, I decided to give the tench fishing on my club gravel pit in the Cotwolds  another go, the approach was to be the same as before spodding out dead maggot and hemp and fishing 2 rods one with rubber maggots and maggot feeder one on a method feeder and 10mm boilie ,but unusually for me I made an early start arriving at the lake a 6 am. I didn't have to wait long for my first fish a tench of around 4 1/2lb   on the maggot rig , then a surprise perch of 3 lb  6oz, a PB for me and a lovely fish which made my day ,
I followed this up with 5 more tench , 3 on the boilies. A great day proving the early angler catches more fish!

Not a bad photo for a selfie -
My 3lb 6oz perch

A tench of about 4lb 8oz

    

Tench Fishing in the Cotswolds

With the weather finally on the turn my thoughts turn to Tench fishing, I am no longer a member of Somerford AA so a new venue needed to be found.

Asking around a  Lake in Fairford seemed to fit the bill, a 20 acre gravel pit in the Cotswolds, So Tuesday morning gear loaded I set off to explore a new water.

I arrived at the lake late morning after making a small detour to purchase a day ticket.

And did a quick circuit of the lake, it’s a crystal clear lake with marginal tree cover and weed beds, being a bright sunny day with a slight northerly wing blowing I opted to fish into  the wind and soon found a swim with a gravel bar showing at around 20 metres.

My approach was to be two rods on ledgered feeders, one with maggots the other corn, these I cast out to the gravel bar and spoded a mixture of dead maggots, caster corn and hemp over the top.

Bringing in the rods every half hour to top up the feeders , this continued until 4 o clock just as began to have thoughts of blanking or moving swims , when the right hand maggot rod screamed off at last ,this run produced a small Tench of 2 ½ lb small but very welcome.

Soon to be followed by 3 more 2 of around 4lb and the biggest of the day at 5 1/2lb, all on the maggots.

All of which fought well above their weight in the deep clear water, so a very successful day in all I will defiantly return.

 

5 1/2lb the days biggest

A Couple of Hours on the Upper Avon

It’s not often a fishing trip goes to plan, but Tuesday was to be the exception,

I had decided to fish the Upper Avon near Malmesbury for Grayling, not a species that is prolific on this river, my plan was to trot maggots staying mobile to cover as much water as possible, 

A good size Brown

Setting up with a small Drennan chubber as the river was low and clear and a size 16 barbless hook  

With two maggots  one pink one red my favourite combination , I soon caught an out of season Brown  trout which although good fun on light tackle was not the target species, in fact I was to be pestered by these all day ,
Until I reduced the amount of loose feed maggots into the swims, I did catch 5 roach up to 1/2lb in one swim but determined to catch a Grayling, I moved on,
As the light started to faded I settled into a swim with a run between overhanging trees, On my first trot I bumped a fish which is usually the kiss of death for a small river, but I gave it another run though anyway to be rewarded by a small but perfectly formed Grayling of 20cm, mission accomplished the next run though produced a small chub then the trout moved in and I decide to call it a day,  

Small but very Welcome

Low and Clear

Pike Fishing on the Bristol Avon

With Short Day light hours and Christmas to prepare for an enjoyable way to make the most out of your winter fishing is a short session on the river lure fishing for pike,

So armed with a selection of lures both soft plastic and hard lures,
 I sent off on Tuesday to explore a section of the Upper Avon I had not fished before,
The river was in perfect condition slightly up with a tinge of colour,
Moving down stream fishing every 20 metres soon produced the first fish of the session a small Jack pike of around 4lb , on a gold Savage gear shad one of my old favourites sadly not made any more ,

Time to change to a fox replicate, 5’’5,    working my way back along the river the lure was hit by a bigger pike which put up a spirited fight making 3 runs down stream before I netted it, this one weighed just over 10lb a nice size for a small river,   
so well worth making the effort , will return to this section of river to try it for Chub in the new year,

 

Korum River Feeders on Test. Bristol Avon 18/11/2014

River

A quick visit to the upper Avon on Tuesday to perhaps catch a Barbel and to test the new Korum River Feeders ,

Met with mixed success while the river which happened to be flowing a touch too high proved a good testing for the river feeders I would be using ,

Fishing with a 12mm Halibut pellet and Sonu baits Hemp & Hali ground bait, produced a couple of small Chubb of around a 1lb plus a 2 lber, so not a blank and I will be back to re try the feeders in the near furture,

Korum 60gram River feeder

A Chubb of 2 lb ish  

A Day Wrecking With Spot On! Charters

 

It was touch and go whether the trip on Tuesday would go ahead with threatening north easterly winds

But after a brief chat to Ross the skipper Monday night he was willing to give it a go , so a rather early 5am start was on the cards to pick up friends Geoff and Roy for the trip to Brixham,

This was to be my first trip out on a boat for 30 years since having fished the Kent and Sussex marks when living in London,

We arrived at Brixham by 7.00 am and where soon off to the first wreck some 1hour and 20mins motoring time away and his boat does motor, a 10M Cougar Catamaran which he built last year,

We had all tackled up with 12oz ball weights and various shads  and started catching fish on the first drop , plenty of Pollack with a nice cod came to the boat, after 4 drifts it was off to the next wreck which pretty much how the day progressed ,

A Nice Pollock of around 9lb

By wreck three I decide to change to one of the new snowbee coailie pearl stinger skad lures and managed 4 Pollock from 9 to 12 pounds, there was also a number of Ling caught from this wreck on baited hooks and Shads , so in all a really good days sport the Skipper Ross worked really hard all day to put us over the fish and was there when ever anybody needed help so I will definitely be back for more, and even the weather was kind to us with a  hot sunny day and all most no wind ,

A Blast From the Past. Bury Hill Fisheries, Dorking, Surrey

Its been over 15 years since I last visited Bury hill lakes in surrey, when I had previous lived in Reigate I fish the lake and the River Mole weekly ,
Today I was to fish the lake with friend Tony and we had decided to fish Milton one of three lakes that make up the complex which is mostly stocked with Tench , Crucians carp & rudd its lake of around 4 acres with an island in the middle and plenty of Lille pads,

Milton Lake

   We both opted to start on the float hoping for a crucian feeding pellet ,hemp & sweet corn next to a set of Lille pads, within a hour we had both had bites Tony landing a tench  my self losing one,
I went on to lose 2 more fish time for a change of tactics, I had been fishing light hoping for a crucian but as they where not playing ball I set up my feeder rod with a small method feeder and cast out close to the pads, this proved more successful , I landed 5 tench to 4lb over the next 2 hours by which time the rumble of a thunder storm approaching caused us to hastily pack up  and head for home,

One of Miltons Fighting Fit Tench

Round Two of the Chew Valley Lake Evening League

On Wednesday afternoon, I had booked myself on to the 2nd round of the Chew Valley evening league , its a friendly competition  run over 10 evenings on Chew and this year Blagdon as a Floating line only Comp at 2 per month starting in April and at £25.00 for 4 hours fishing  is real Value ,
I had drawn to fish with Tim Wellman a friend and Customer who unlike me had fished chew a number of times this year ,
We started with  a drift off Nunnery point on washing line set up, I was using 2 red dawlbacks and a black booby on the point as Tim had said the fish where up in the water, after 2 drifts although we had spotted rising fish we had not had a take so Decided to motor down to Herons green bay  ,
on the first drift across we both struck in to fish ,
We carried on for the next hour drifting across Herons but only had a couple of knocks to show for our efforts so thought we should try a different tactic drifting right across to the far side bank our thinking being boat pressure might have pushed the fish in the cover this bank provides ,
the results where instant we had 7 more fish to the boat in the next 2 hours ,
a finish at 8.45pm gave me 6 fish for 16lb 4oz good enough for 3rd place on the evening with
 John Humpries  on 19lb for first and Andrew Hedger 17lb for second , so in all a great evenings fishing roll on round 3 which is the 14th of may , Contact Woodford Lodge o 01275 332339 for more details,

Tim in to the  last fish of the Evening

Trying for Tench

It was off to my club lake at Great Somerford on Tuesday with Jon and his dad, Tony. The tench have been coming out in recent weeks and there is always a good chance of quality roach, perch and large carp. We set up in swims not far from the car park at the deep end of the lake and baited up with Sensas 3000 Tench groundbait, laced with casters, sweetcorn and a few other tasty bits tench are fond of. Feeder and straight lead were our chosen tactics and it wasn't long before my alarm was sounding. After a good scrap a tench of about 4lb was in the net. A good start, hopefully more would follow. Unfortunately though, they didn't. Despite trying our hardest we struggled to tempt another and so we amused ourselves catching small perch and roach to pass the time. The day passed quickly and it was soon time to think about packing up. With only ten minutes to go Tony got lucky and hooked a tench, a fish of similar size to the one I had landed earlier. An enjoyable day but maybe the weather needs to warm up a bit before the tench really get on the feed. We'll give it another try when it does.
 

My lone tench

Spring is in the Air and Tench go on the Feed

After enjoying a day on the river last week and with a trip to the Wye booked for next Tuesday, I thought I'd try my luck on a stillwater this week and see what I could tempt on maggot fished on both the waggler and feeder. After arriving at 11.00am I soon baited a couple of swims with a bit of groundbait and a few casters. Conditions looked good, a very slight breeze, an overcast sky and the temperature remained mild throughout the day. Very spring-like! I fished the waggler at about twelve meters and dropped an inline maggot feeder a few feet beyond this. Bites were instant and some nice roach were the first fish to wet the net. Things went quiet for a bit before the quivertip of my feeder rod twitched and a hard scrapping fish was soon taking line off the reel. A surprise tench of about 2lb 8oz was the culprit and just added to the spring-like feel of the day. Next bite on the float produced another decent tench! Great sport on the light gear! Four nice perch followed, the biggest must have been about a 1lb. Bites did slow up after this flurry of activity and so I packed up, but with a smile on my face having enjoyed a great day.
    Next week sees Jon, Jon's dad, friend and customer Steve and myself all fishing the Wye at Courtfield, Lower Lydbrook. This part of the river has been unfishable all winter due to very heavy rain and high water levels, but as I write this the river is fining down nicely and we're all hoping that the barbel and chub will be hungry after not seeing a bait now for over three months. Mild March's in the past have produced excellent sport here, so our fingers are crossed for a good day. Check back next week for a full report.
  

First tench of the year

Making the Most of the Last Weeks of the River Season. Chub, Dace, Roach and Trout on the Bristol Avon

Kenny with a cheese paste caught chub

Like many of you I have been dying to get back on the river this winter. Bad weather has prevented anyone from doing much for months. So with an improvement in the weather forecasted I packed the car on Tuesday and was off to the Bristol Avon with friend and fishing guide, Kenny Parsons.

Upon arrival Kenny reported that even the half inch of rain on Monday night had pushed the river up! (If only we had been here yesterday). But we were here now so best give it our best shot.

We both set up trotting rods and fished with maggot. The river was coloured more than either of us would have liked but it was not long before we had a couple of chub to 2lb and a decent brown trout which fought very well in the fast current.

After lunch we decided to try feeder fishing in the slower section up stream. Focusing our attack with maggot, caster, bread and Kenny's famous cheese paste, we trekked to above the weirs to give it a go. The river here is around ten feet deep and much slower. Kenny started with bread and I tackled up with a groundbait feeder and caster. This produced a couple more brown trout, four small dace, a roach and star of the day - a silver sea trout. So not a bad day at all and well worth the trip. I'm off to the Wye in a couple of weeks so fingers crossed for a successful day then too.

A welcome sea trout of around 1lb 8oz 

Trout Fishing to Beat Those Winter Blues

With Christmas upon us, time to go fishing can be limited, add to that the very short days and a few hours is all most people can manage. Fly fishing on my club lake is a quick fix for me at this time of year, travelling light with one rod, tactics are a slow intermediate line, an 8lb fluorocarbon leader and a single lure.

I had tied some 3’’ snakes which I was keen to use, these lures seemed to be doing the business on other small lakes, tied with olive rabbits fur, the brilliant action of these flies would surely be irresistible to any hungry trout.

I arrived at the water around 11am, the day being one of those rare winter days with no wind and a bright sky. After only two casts a trout hit my lure, playing these winter trout on a light 5# rod is very enjoyable and the fish was netted and returned to the water in tip top condition. Moving around the lake produced another six rainbows plus a small brown trout. Great quick fix fishing!

Below is a list of good trout fishing venues that are open this winter. Get out there and give it a go! 

Cameley Trout Lakes BS39 5QA, Burton Springs Fishery TA51QB, Jacklands Fishing Lakes BS21 6SG, Avon Springs SP4 8HH, Mill Farm Trout Lakes SN10 5UW, Lechlade Fishery GL7 3QQ and Farmoor Reservoir OX2 9NS

A very colourful winter rainbow

 

Red Fin Heaven. Roach Fishing in the Cotswolds



Biggest of the day

It was off to a gravel pit in the Cotswolds on Tuesday for a day targeting roach. Friend, Tony Sweet and I arrived early morning and set about pre-baiting a couple of swims at the northern end of the pit. A bag of Sensas Gros Gardons groundbait laced with hemp and caster was introduced and left to settle. We had a cup of tea and tackled up. Our chosen tactic was to fish float rods with wagglers, fished slightly over depth and on the business end, size 18 hooks with single caster as bait. We didn't have to wait long for bites and fish seemed to be lining up, with quality roach and some good sized perch coming nearly every cast. Regular top ups of bait kept the fish interested and we caught well all day. The biggest roach was just over a pound and it wasn't alone, I had half a dozen pound plus fish! A great days sport!

A bag of quality roach