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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
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Venues & topics
Species
Archive

River Great Ouse - Offord (26)

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

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

Arrival time: 10:00 (at swim)
Weather: Once again a bright start but it soon clouded over and the wind freshened with strong gusts.
Tackle: 9ft Shimano Aero X1 feeder rod with 1oz quiver, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 5lb line with circa 3lb hook length to a 14 hook. Started with a small bomb leger. Tried float and maggot feeder before reverting to bomb leger. Also tried a micro lure.
Baits: Maggots and worms.
Fish: A good bag of perch with two notable fish at 1lb 2oz and a PB of 1lb 14oz.

With the chub proving to be a bit challenging over the previous weeks I decided to try for perch at the Top Stream at Offord Cluny. I had caught perch there before and had spoken to another angler the previous week who said he had had some success with perch and roach. I picked up some red maggots and worms on the way.

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Species: Perch, Roach

River Great Ouse - Houghton (8)

Trout Stream
Venue: River Great Ouse |Houghton |Trout Stream

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Arrival time: 08.15
Weather: Bright, sunny and a light breeze, with increasing cloud cover.
Tackle: 9ft Shimano Aero X1 feeder rod with 1oz quiver, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 5lb line with simple link leger and a 14 eyed hook tied direct.
Baits: Maggot
Fish: Small dace & perch.

I had about half a pint of maggots left over from my trip to the Offord mill stream and decided to go to Houghton for a few hours to use them up. I went to a spot I had fished once before where one of the main channels feeds the head of the trout stream.

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Species: Dace, Perch

River Great Ouse - Offord (21)

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: 07.30
Weather: Overcast & breezy - brightening later
Tackle: 10ft EFGear compact float rod, Speedia centrepin, Drennan stick float, 6lb line with Drennan 4lb pre-tied hook length and 14 'red' hook.
Baits: Maggot, bread flake.
Fish: Small dace & perch and a couple of gudgeon.

I returned to the Mill Stream having the previous week thought that the swim at the head of the stream would be ideal for trotting. In fact the cross-flow of the stream and a cross wind made trotting quite difficult.

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Species: Dace, Perch, Gudgeon

River Great Ouse - Offord (20)

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: 08.30
Weather: Overcast & breezy - brightening later
Tackle: 11ft 6" John Wilson Avon quiver, Shimano 5000RE baitrunner, 2/3xSSG link leger, 6lb line direct to 8 eyed hook (14 hook for a while)
Baits: Bread flake, cheese paste, worm.
Fish: Two chub including a PB for the stream + small dace & perch.

After visiting a couple of heavily weeded streams this season, today I went to the Mill Stream at Offord. Weedy, certainly, but nowhere near as bad as those other streams. It was a slow start, a usually reliable swim not offering up anything.

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Species: Chub, Dace, Perch

Rookery Waters (5)

Venue: Rookery Waters

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

Arrival time: 11.00
Weather: Sunny and mild with no noticeable wind.
Tackle: 12ft Greys Rova Float, Advanta Discovery centre pin with 6lb line, 3.5lb bottom & 16 hook. Insert waggler.
Baits: Maggot & worm.
Fish: Mixed bag of carp, roach & perch

A had a bad day at Rookery Waters last year, on that occasion on the Rook lake, but I decided to give it another try, this time on the Magpie lake. It turned out to be a good decision.

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Species: Carp, Roach, Perch, Crucian

River Great Ouse - Offord (17)

Top 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: circa 11.30 at swim
Weather: Mainly sunny with a strong westerly wind. But not too cold.
Tackle: Shimano 9ft Aero X1 with 1.0oz quiver, simple SSG link and later a small cube leger weight, 5lb line, 2½lb hook link, 16 hook.
Baits: Maggot with hemp as attractor
Fish: A number of small perch, 1 roach and 1 bream

After struggling for chub recently I decided today to try for roach in the Top Stream at Offord. I hadn't fished this stream before but had been advised that it held some good roach. I think they're best fished for with the pole but as I don't have one it was to be match rod and centrepin. However, on arrival not only did my planned swim look uninviting because of the strong wind but the idea of float fishing in such conditions wasn't appealing.

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Species: Perch, Roach, Bream

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