The Fly Fishing - And Now All Types of Fishing Thread!

[wc98]

otolith said:

My best was a low double figure carp on pound bottom and a #22. Took a long time but it was a water supply reservoir with no snags. A lot of line was given and retrieved!

That must have been epic , great achievement to land that even in snag free water, one slip under a scale or rub on the bottom and that's it gone. Only carp i have had have been small ones when fishing matches years ago. A good friend is all over the place doing it, goes to France for two weeks at a time and is on some good waters down south. In winter he comes cod fishing with me.

[otolith]

wc98 said:

coppice said:

And here's one I caught earlier - isn't she lovely ?

Beautiful fish, fin perfect and lovely markings.

That is rather lovely.

I'm a bit jealous seeing photographs of the trout they're catching in what was pretty much an open sewer in my youth in my home town. Some absolute beasts, especially to the guys spinning for them, but some on the fly as well. I think it's likely to be transient, I've seen similar before on recovering rivers which eventually settle into a more balanced population structure. It does suffer sewage pollution, though, so it's a bit of a knife edge whether it will continue to improve or go back. Barbel coming out of the lower reaches too, would be nice if they took out the weir that is restricting their movement upstream.

[otolith]

wc98 said:

otolith said:

My best was a low double figure carp on pound bottom and a #22. Took a long time but it was a water supply reservoir with no snags. A lot of line was given and retrieved!

That must have been epic , great achievement to land that even in snag free water, one slip under a scale or rub on the bottom and that's it gone. Only carp i have had have been small ones when fishing matches years ago. A good friend is all over the place doing it, goes to France for two weeks at a time and is on some good waters down south. In winter he comes cod fishing with me.

Still remember it a good 35 years later! I've only ever deliberately fished for carp with floating baits - which is fun, I would like to fly fish for them too - but they do tend to stick their noses in when tench fishing. I liked carp when they were mysterious monsters, these days they are ubiquitous and all that a significant proportion of anglers are interested in.

[dickymint]

Some cracking 'non fly fishing' posts and stories lately so I've finally got off my fat arse and requested to the Mods a thread title change to encourage more support of our fantastic sport

[dickymint]

There you go thread title changed so fill yer boots............you heathens

and remember - “The gods do not deduct from man's allotted span the hours spent fishing” - tight lines all.

[otolith]

[coppice]

otolith said:

Ouch! Not cheap rods either. I know a few people who have had them fail in use, but pretty sure that they had given them a knock on something previously. Not sure any rods are Coppice-proof when armed with a Yeti, mind

What's the replacement section service like with Drennan? I've got a few of the older tench and bream rods and a specialist Avon duo which are now out production. They are pretty robust things, but I'd hate to lose them over a broken section.

You cant buy direct from Drennan so I use Bobco in Leeds, who are a Drennan dealer. My section will arrive with the next scheduled delivery - which are frequent as they sell a lot. They do need care, but Acolytes are just gorgeous rods to use. I have an 11ft Feeder I use for winter chub and perch and it is divine. Anyway, as it's all fishing now , here's another pic - I think this is my PB perch of 4-1

[otolith]

Wow, that’s a hell of a perch!

I have the Acolyte Plus in 15’ and a matchpro ultralight in 14’, fantastic rods.

[otolith]

otolith said:

That is rather lovely.

I'm a bit jealous seeing photographs of the trout they're catching in what was pretty much an open sewer in my youth in my home town. Some absolute beasts, especially to the guys spinning for them, but some on the fly as well

This is what I’m talking about!

https://www.anglingtimes.co.uk/news/stories/10lb-b...

[wc98]

JFReturns said:

Absolute clunker! Great catch congrats.

Thanks, the last two seasons have seen a real drop off in numbers of 5lb plus fish, we have had more that size and above in a day than we had the last two years so it was good to see a decent one and nail it on a home made lure. It's a big area we fish but it gets a lot of pressure on all the marks so i am constantly trying to put something in front of them that no one else has.

[wc98]

coppice said:

You cant buy direct from Drennan so I use Bobco in Leeds, who are a Drennan dealer. My section will arrive with the next scheduled delivery - which are frequent as they sell a lot. They do need care, but Acolytes are just gorgeous rods to use. I have an 11ft Feeder I use for winter chub and perch and it is divine. Anyway, as it's all fishing now , here's another pic - I think this is my PB perch of 4-1

That right there is a dream fish for me, i love Perch and really should spend more time on them. I have a free to fish water nearby that holds 4lbers but the pressure it gets and it's used for water skiing mean putting a lot of hours in and it's hard to get that time with the summer Bass fishing and the odd comp thrown in.

[wc98]

otolith said:

This is what I’m talking about!

https://www.anglingtimes.co.uk/news/stories/10lb-b...

That's a proper lump of wild river Brownie ! I will need to tell my best mate, he lives in Manchester when he isn't working abroad. He was on the phone the other night to arrange a trip up here on the aforementioned rivers we used to fish as teenagers, we try and do it when he is in the UK and is a great way to spend a couple of days reminiscing. He will stay at my place and our wives will have a catch up while we go fishing

Loch Leven has been throwing out some absolute stunners since they stopped the stocked rainbow madness, it really seems back to its absolute best these days.

[coppice]

wc98 said:

That right there is a dream fish for me, i love Perch and really should spend more time on them. I have a free to fish water nearby that holds 4lbers but the pressure it gets and it's used for water skiing mean putting a lot of hours in and it's hard to get that time with the summer Bass fishing and the odd comp thrown in.

I loathe fishing waters that get any pressure . I fished a local canal for perch between 2013 and 2020 and for the first four years I saw just one other lure fisherman and the odd piker. I had lots of good perch to 2-14 and lost one much bigger. But the last time I walked it , I counted 8 lure guys , most of whom didn't have a clue. Fish thrive on neglect so I decided to explored my local rivers more - the Ure, Ouse and Swale. They are much harder to fish than shallow and stationary canals but I've had some amazing sport once I've found the perch . I have spent countless winter afternoons catching next to nowt and covering miles of river but once you find a shoal of perch sport can be amazing. It's worth exploring and getting away from the crowd.

[otolith]

The increased popularity of light lure fishing, particularly amongst young people and especially in urban areas has been an interesting development, though.

[coppice]

True - but I do get tight lipped when I ask, in time honoured fashion, if they're doing any good and the reply is - "Yeah , we've had some perch - 1.55 metres so far " . If that is 5 perch I'm impressed and if it's 20 ...well not so much The articles I read about light lure fishing may as well have been written by AI too- the same old drivel about always targetting "structure"(or 'features' as I call them ), and fishing dawn and dusk , as if they were the only shows in town . I've had nearly 100 twos so far and nearly every one has come from open water , often between 12 and 3 ...

[wc98]

coppice said:

I loathe fishing waters that get any pressure . I fished a local canal for perch between 2013 and 2020 and for the first four years I saw just one other lure fisherman and the odd piker. I had lots of good perch to 2-14 and lost one much bigger. But the last time I walked it , I counted 8 lure guys , most of whom didn't have a clue. Fish thrive on neglect so I decided to explored my local rivers more - the Ure, Ouse and Swale. They are much harder to fish than shallow and stationary canals but I've had some amazing sport once I've found the perch . I have spent countless winter afternoons catching next to nowt and covering miles of river but once you find a shoal of perch sport can be amazing. It's worth exploring and getting away from the crowd.

That sounds like how i fish the open coast I spent a lot of years fishing comps, both pegged and open rovers in close proximity to lots of other anglers. When i go pleasure fishing i am in antisocial mode and we will just keep walking and climbing until we get some peace and solitude. It stood us in good stead as we found some marks that so far we haven't seen anyone else on although others may favour other tides/tide states for them.

My crazy mate has another option to get away from other anglers, extreme wading. He terrifies the life out of me at times, especially at night in the dark. Some of the areas we fish have 30 ft spring tides and the water moves fast, especially when you are this far out, spot the angler in the pic, zoom will be required.
Think he had one Seatrout about 2lb out there, first time we fished it.

[wc98]

coppice said:

True - but I do get tight lipped when I ask, in time honoured fashion, if they're doing any good and the reply is - "Yeah , we've had some perch - 1.55 metres so far " . If that is 5 perch I'm impressed and if it's 20 ...well not so much The articles I read about light lure fishing may as well have been written by AI too- the same old drivel about always targetting "structure"(or 'features' as I call them ), and fishing dawn and dusk , as if they were the only shows in town . I've had nearly 100 twos so far and nearly every one has come from open water , often between 12 and 3 ...

The younger lot in a few disciplines crack me up. I am a stickler for accurate weights, i'm not so big on measurement due to weight of the same fish varying throughout the year, the post spawn Bass i posted being a good example. Many would have claimed 10lb plus due to it's length and stated weight on the official conversion chart. We have three sets of calibrated scales between us though i think mine have just gone out of date and will need sent off. We have people we accept the weights they tell us without question and others i would check for weights in the fish even if they let me weigh them myself !

You're giving too many secrets away there, it's amazing how many people fish by numbers and miss some real tell tales that are outside the accepted norms. I think many forget the 3 D aspect and miss the water features although anglers that have a good river background tend to pick up the shore fishing pretty quick .One of my best local Cod marks looks unfishable at low water and featureless at range. Every single person i have seen fish the area walks right past it out onto a section that meets all the textbook definitions of a Cod mark. The lad i now do most of my winter Cod fishing had a pb of about 3.5lb when i took him fishing with me there for the first time. He had an 11lber first chuck and nearly wet the bed, will never forget the look on his face when i lifted it out the surf.

Ps , that is some going on 2lb plus Perch. You have 99 more than me and i was 12 when i had it. 1lb 13'5 oz is the best since then.

Edited by wc98 on Saturday 8th June 23:18

[wc98]

I'm possibly going to have a go on the coast locally tomorrow. It's a bit inconsistent on the Seatrout front and there has been a fair bit illegal netting in recent years but when it's good it can be really good. Dark fish was 6lb 12 oz and the Lighter hen fish 7lb 6oz and my pb. Both fish spent as much time in the air as in the water with huge cartwheels, they really do go well and are beautiful fish to look at.

[otolith]

Stunning!

[coppice]

Seconded...

And later today it's time for tench - lift method , of course .