Bob Goes Fishing | Welcome

Please rotate your device

This page is best viewed in Landscape orientation
(or tap anywhere to view in Portrait orientation)

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!

QR code

YouTube channel

Venues
& topics
Species
Archive
Venues & topics
Species
Archive

Houghton (23)

Back Channel
Venue: River Great Ouse |Houghton

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

Arrival time: 09:30
Weather: Full sun becoming very warm throughout the day
Tackle: Korum 10ft 'All Rounder' 1.1lb TC, Shimano Exage 1000 reel, small bomb leger, 6lb line with a 4lb Drennan short hooklength to a 16 red fine wire hook.
Baits: Maggots, worms, corn & hemp as attractor.
Fish: Roach, perch, gudgeon, bream.

With an overcast day forecast following days of endless sun I decided to try the Six Gate weir pool at Houghton. I had fished it a couple of times last July and caught predominantly dace with a few roach along the way. So I set up a light feeder rod and made the around 20 minute walk from the car. I arrived to find a barrier of nettles and other plants obstructing access to the pool. Another 20 minutes was spent clearing an opening using just small scissors from my tackle bag. Not a great start!

Read full report

Species: Roach, Perch, Gudgeon, Bream

Earith (20)

Venue: Earith

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

Arrival time: 08.45
Weather: Bright start clouding over later. Swim largely sheltered from gusty wind.
Tackle: Hardy 11' 6" Marksman Specimen Avon, Speedia centrepin, waggler, 8lb line direct to 10 eyed hook.
Baits: Sweetcorn, Spam & cheese paste.
Fish: 2 tench and a bream.

After mulling over whether to go to Fields End I finally decided to revisit Earith. My catches at Fields End over the past couple of years have been mainly rudd with the occasionally large carp, whereas Earith offers more mixed fishing with tench, bream, crucians and carp. The lake was quite busy but my preferred spot around the back was free, being too far to walk for most people.

Read full report

Species: Tench, Bream

Earith (19)

Venue: Earith

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

Arrival time: 08.45
Weather: Bright start clouding over later with no noticeable wind.
Tackle: Hardy 11' 6" Marksman Specimen Avon, Speedia centrepin, waggler, 6lb line direct to 12 eyed hook.
Baits: Sweetcorn, Spam & cheese paste.
Fish: A few bream, a roach, a crucian hybrid, a lost tench & two lost carp.

Back to Earith as I thought it might be the least busy after the bank holiday weekend, and for most of the time I was indeed the only person on the lake. With no discernible wind the conditions were far easier than on my previous visit and I was hopeful for a tench or two. There was a lot of bubbling when I arrived along with carp thrashing about in the lilies and reeds. They had apparently started spawning the day before. I groundbaited and set to catching my quarry.

Read full report

Species: Bream, Roach, Crucian

The Clay Pit (26)

Side pond
Venue: The Clay Pit

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

Arrival time: 08.30
Weather: A bright day with a cold easterly wind that freshened and became a nuisance.
Tackle: Greys 12' Prodigy TX Float rod, Allcocks 4" centrepin, 4BB waggler, single shot, 6lb main line to 12 eyed hook.
Changed to link leger for last few hours.
Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn & Spam
Fish: A large bream, a tench and a few small roach, rudd and perch. Two lost fish.

With sciatica still troubling me and gusty wind forecast I went to the Clay Pit side pond where I could park next to where I was fishing, while hoping that the more sheltered location would afford some protection against the wind. But in reality the wind became so gusty that it proved to be quite a problem. I had also done quite well on this little pond in the past so I was hoping for a bit of easy fishing. But as it turned out the fishing was as challenging as the wind!

Read full report

Species: Tench, Bream, Roach, Perch, rudd

Earith (18)

Venue: Earith

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

Arrival time: 08.45
Weather: Bright start clouding over later with increasing southerly wind.
Tackle:
Hardy 11' 6" Marksman Specimen Avon, Speedia centrepin, preloaded waggler, 6lb line direct to 12 eyed hook.
Home built fibreglass 2lb TC rod, Shimano Exage 4000RC reel, small bomb leger, 12lb line to #6 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn, Spam & bread flake.
Fish: Roach & dace, bream and 2 tench. Four fish lost.

After two blanks my hope for this session was simply to catch a fish. I took maggots to be on the safe side and sure enough I quite quickly caught a fairly decent roach. Smaller fish started taking the maggots on the drop resulting in a few smaller roach, a couple of dace and a couple of tiny bream. Changing to sweetcorn improved the quality of the fish but I unfortunately lost a few decent ones. I ended up staying far longer than usual in the hope of making up for the lost fish.

Read full report

Species: Bream, Tench, Roach, Dace

Earith (17)

Venue: Earith

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

Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Cold with a troublesome easterly breeze. A short sunny spell midday was welcomed.
Tackle: 14ft Shimano match rod, Rapidex II 2400 centrepin, 6lb line, 3.5lb pre-tied Drennan hook length to 16 fine wire hook.
Baits: Maggot & worms.
Fish: A good bag of mainly small roach, a couple of rudd & a bream, possibly hybrid.

With more rain having again caused rivers to rise and in places break their banks, I decided on another trip to a lake. I went to the small lake in Earith that I would normally fish in spring. I hadn't fished it in winter before but a call to the owner confirmed that silvers at least should be feeding. It turned out that I was the only angler on the lake. Exclusive or what!

Read full report

Species: Roach, Rudd, Bream, Perch

Page 1 / 6 Next Page >

© 2025 Robert Bassett

Report bugs to webmaster

Built in RapidWeaver
with Shaking The Habitual's
Source micro framework

Your privacy
Cookies are only used for the correct functioning of this site and to prevent you seeing this message every time you visit.

Read more about third party cookies ☞

Note that links to third party sites can result in cookies being loaded. For example, there are links to YouTube to display the embedded videos from my channel.