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Diary of an average angler

Who favours traditional methods & baits

fisherman

This diary dates back to a holiday in 2003 when I think the urge to get back into fishing took off. From around 2007 the trips became more frequent with 2010/11 probably being the peak of activity.
Things again pick up in 2020 - a sort of rebirth!

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Venues
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Species
Archive
Venues & topics
Species
Archive

Fields End (104)

Venue: Fields End

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 08.30
Weather: Dry and bright start after a wet night with a strong freshening breeze.
Tackle: Hardy 11' 6" Specimen Avon, Shimano Exage 4000RC, link leger, 8lb line, 10 hook
14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, Rapidex 2400 centre pin with 5lb line, 4lb bottom & 12 hook. Insert waggler.
Baits: Spam, bread paste.
Fish: Three small roach

I was hoping that Fields End would be quieter in October with the peak holiday season over, but anglers are a hardy bunch and there were quite a few around the lake. There were also some bivvies indicating some serious carp fishing in progress.

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Species: Roach

River Great Ouse - Offord (6)

Mill Stream
Venue: River Great Ouse |Offord

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 08.45
Weather: Dry after a wet night with a strong freshening breeze.
Tackle: Hardy 11' 6" Specimen Avon, Shimano Exage 4000RC, link leger, 8lb line, 10 hook
Baits: Spam, bread paste.
Fish: Blank

After days of rain I was keen to get fishing but was weighing up whether to go to the local lake at Fields End or the river at Offord. The Fields End lake is very exposed to the wind so in the end I opted for the river. I wasn't greatly surprised to find the level up with a forceful flow through the mill stream.

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Species: Blank

River Welland (30)

Venue: River Welland

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 08.30
Weather: Early rain but brightening later.
Swim: Roving.
Tackle: Hardy 11' 6" Specimen Avon, Shimano Exage 4000RC, link leger, 8lb line, 8 hook
Baits: Spam and bread flake
Fish: Blank

Having had some reasonable success in producing videos of my fishing trips I decided on a visit to the Welland at Stamford. It's always been a very reliable venue for me. I had only previously blanked once when the river was in flood. But today was to prove fishless despite conditions seeming to be good.

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Species: Blank

River Great Ouse - Offord (5)

Mill Stream
Venue: River Great Ouse |Offord |Mill Stream

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Very warm for September. 26℃ when I left!
Tackle: Hardy 11' 6" Specimen Avon, Shimano Exage 4000RC, link leger, 8lb line, 10 hook
Baits: Spam, bread paste.
Fish: Two chub best around 2lb. Lost two fish.

Today didn't start well. I left my landing net handle at home and wasted an hour going back to fetch it.

The idea today was to revisit the two spots where I had lost better fish on the previous visit.

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Species: Chub

River Great Ouse - Offord (4)

Mill Stream
Venue: River Great Ouse |Offord |Mill Stream

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 09.00
Weather: Bright with a bit of chill in the breeze. Warmer later.
Tackle: 11ft Masterline 'John Wilson' Avon, 2oz quiver, link leger, 5lb line, 12 hook
Baits: Spam and bread flake.
Fish: Four chub best around 1¼lb. Lost two better fish.

After videoing my trip to the Chubb Stream I again set out to video this outing. I headed for the swim just below the weir outflow where I've fished previously with the hope of a quick fish. But it wasn't to be and I waited a quarter of an hour before taking a small chub of around ¾lb. I had left the video running and captured the bite and the landing of the fish.

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Species: Chub

The Chubb Stream (4)

Venue: Chubb Stream

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 08.30
Weather: Misty start before a very hot day.
Swim: Roving
Tackle: 11ft Masterline 'John Wilson' Avon, 2oz quiver, link leger, 5lb line, 12 hook
Baits: Spam.
Fish: Two chub and one lost eel!

Today was a bit of an experiment. The second of two extremely hot days so I planned only to stay for a few hours. And I thought I would try videoing parts of the session using my iPhone. I had bought a holder for my tripod and a remote bluetooth shutter control.

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Species: Chub, Eel

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