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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 & topics
Species
Archive

Fields End (74)

Venue: Fields End
Roach 1lb 4oz

More photos in the full report

Arrival time: 08.00 (started to fish at 08.45)
Weather: Started clear and reasonably mild. Colder later.
Light SW breeze during morning but calm after midday.
Swim: Tree Corner.
Tackle: 14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, centre pin with 4lb line, 16 hook tied direct. Insert waggler.
Baits: Bread flake and sweetcorn, with hempseed as an attractor.
Fish: Carp of 8½lbs, two tench, best 3lb 10oz, a few roach, best 1lb 4oz, and a 1lb 11oz crucian.

Second time at the lake this week. Taking advantage of reasonably mild weather and lack of wind. The Tree Corner was calm being protected from the light SW breeze. The morning was bright and mild; almost spring-like. The birds were in song and it was difficult to believe it was mid February. The wind dropped completely at midday after which it became colder.

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Species: Carp, Tench, Crucian, Roach

Fields End (73)

Venue: Fields End
No photo message

Nothing worth photographing today

Arrival time: 08.00 (started to fish at 09.00)
Weather: Clear and cold (4-6 〫C).
No wind at first but a light S-SW breeze blew up.
Swim: Tree Corner.
Tackle: 14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, Avanti fixed spool with 5lb line, 16 hook on 2½lb line. Insert waggler.
Baits: Sweetcorn and maggots
Fish: Roach to 14oz and a tench of 1¾lbs.

Not quite as cold as last Monday but still a bit chilly. The previous few days had been quite a lot warmer with high winds so I had hoped that a brief interlude of calmer, if colder weather would prove rewarding. I took some maggots this time to see if they may provide more hittable bites but unfortunately the small perch were a nuisance. I also fished sweet corn. There was only one other person on the lake.

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Species: Tench, Roach, Perch

Fields End (72)

Venue: Fields End
Roach 1lb 5oz

Only one photo today.
Larger light-box version in the full report

Arrival time: 08.00 (started to fish at 09.00)
Weather: Clear and cold (2-3 〫C).
No wind at first but cold NW breeze after lunch.
Swim: Swim to the left of the Tree Corner.
Tackle: 14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, centre pin with 4lb line, 16 hook on 2½lb line. Insert waggler.
Baits: Sweetcorn
Fish: Roach to 1lb 5oz.

Arrived to find a frozen lake. I tried to break up the ice in the Tree Corner by casting a leger weight but it was too thick. The swim to the left had some open water so I moved there. Plumbing the depth showed there to be quite deep water 2-3 rod lengths out. I used sweetcorn again, baiting the swim little and often.

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Species: Roach

Fields End (71)

Venue: Fields End
Common 8lb

Only one photo today.
Larger light-box version in the full report

Arrival time: 08.00 (started to fish at 08.30)
Weather: Light NW wind, mainly dry and about 7-9 〫C.
Swim: Tree corner
Tackle: 14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, centre pin with 4lb line, 16 hook on 2½lb line. Insert waggler.
Baits: Sweetcorn and worm.
Fish: Roach to about 8oz, two tench, best 3lbs, and a carp of 8lbs (on 2½lb line!).

The weather looked threatening when I arrived but other than a couple of very short light showers it remained dry. The tree corner was sheltered from the NW wind so I had almost calm conditions within my casting distance throughout the day.

I decided to stick to sweetcorn and bait lightly but regularly. I did try worm for a few casts but other than missed bites and a couple of small perch, they didn’t produce anything memorable.

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Species: Roach, Tench, Carp

River Welland (6)

Venue: River Welland
Chub 2lb 1oz

More photos in the full report

Arrival time: 11.30
Weather: Overcast and cold. Some bright spells later.
Swim: Roving
Tackle: 12ft Korum light feeder rod, 8lb line, 8 hook. Two SG shots on a short link.
Bait: Bread flake.
Fish: One chub of 2lb 1oz but some silly misses.

I had a couple of tries on the Welland last winter but failed on both occasions. However, another angler had caught fish so I knew it could be done.

I went straight to the large bay where I had success on my very first summer visit. I fished close in on the edge of the faster water but didn’t get a touch.

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Species: Chub

Fields End (70)

Venue: Fields End
Tench 3lb 8oz

More photos in the full report

Arrival time: 08.30 (started to fish at 09.00)
Weather: No wind, lots of rain but not too cold.
Swim: Tree corner
Tackle: 14ft Shimano Speedmaster match rod, 4lb line, 16 hook on 2.5lb line. Insert waggler.
Baits: Sweetcorn
Fish: Two tench, best 3½lbs, a few roach to 10oz and what I think was a dace.

First trip since 19th November! The lake was very coloured. Hard to believe that this was entirely due to fish movement. Perhaps the high winds over the past few days had stirred things up.

Forecast was for 7-9 degrees and calm. It didn’t mention rain, which started at about 10.00 and carried on until around 13.30. January rain is chilling and quite unpleasant. It also made it difficult to spot pre-bite float movements, causing me to miss some of the few bites that I actually had.

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Species: Tench, Roach, Dace

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