River On Form

[NEWKID 27,047]

Enjoyable read that, brought back a few memories of bygone trips to the middle Thames, Medway and Mole. Can't beat getting them going on a river.

Had some cracking roach out of the mole ( molesey near Hampton court) fished the Thames around there too. And the ember,

Fished them quite a bit as a kid.

[johnny boy68 11,726]

Cracking stuff Kev, never really been into fishing the river tbh(not for coarse fish anyway) but I'm gonna give it more of a bash in the future.

[northern lad 2,292]

Good bag Kev,nice to see a decent roach,something of a rarity now...beats the F1s hands down Nice looking river too

[torchey 1,300]

It's been a few years since I fished the river Tone in Tanton, I really fancied a days chub fishing and this is probably the best river close to me to get at them..

So yesterday I dragged my ass out of bed later than I wanted too, and after walking the dogs made the 40minute run up the M5, I had a walk along the river in the town stretch and opted for a pretty swim up with a nice big willow on the far bank, very chubby!!

aimage.jpg

The river here is around 5ft deep, I chose to fish the waggler across to the far side and the stick down the inside,

I fed only hemp and caster on the stick line ( hoping to drop onto some decent roach) and fed maggots on the cub line on the far side.

Starting on the wag I had a chub about a pound on the 2nd run through then it went quiet after 40 mins or so I dropped onto the stick, which id been steadily trickling the bait in, straight away I had a nice roach, then a small chub. I only fed caster and hemp down this line and it kept producing, inc some nice brown trout.

image.jpg

All the while I was putting a pouch of maggots across to the far side, then I noticed a swirl when the pouch went in. Time to shallow up and go for it.. Fishing between 2ft and 8" deep it was at times quite frantic.. Pouch full in, cast over the top.. And at times the rod was almost pulled out of your hand.. Best chub was around 3 1/2 lb.. They averaged around a pound with 5 or 6 fish over 2lb,

At times it would get difficult to hit a bite, I'd rest the swim for 10 mins and pick a few fish out of the stick line.. Then when you went back over they would hit it well again..

It was a cracking day on the river, finished with around 30lb of fish around 20 chub, half a dozen roach and a few dace plus a little Rudd... Oh and a few trout..

. Nice write up new kid and a good days fishing,,,did you mean Taunton ??

[NEWKID 27,047]

Yes mate, I meant Taunton... Unfortunately my I phone is dyslexic

 

It's been a few years since I fished the river Tone in Tanton, I really fancied a days chub fishing and this is probably the best river close to me to get at them..

So yesterday I dragged my ass out of bed later than I wanted too, and after walking the dogs made the 40minute run up the M5, I had a walk along the river in the town stretch and opted for a pretty swim up with a nice big willow on the far bank, very chubby!!

aimage.jpg

The river here is around 5ft deep, I chose to fish the waggler across to the far side and the stick down the inside,

I fed only hemp and caster on the stick line ( hoping to drop onto some decent roach) and fed maggots on the cub line on the far side.

Starting on the wag I had a chub about a pound on the 2nd run through then it went quiet after 40 mins or so I dropped onto the stick, which id been steadily trickling the bait in, straight away I had a nice roach, then a small chub. I only fed caster and hemp down this line and it kept producing, inc some nice brown trout.image.jpg

All the while I was putting a pouch of maggots across to the far side, then I noticed a swirl when the pouch went in. Time to shallow up and go for it.. Fishing between 2ft and 8" deep it was at times quite frantic.. Pouch full in, cast over the top.. And at times the rod was almost pulled out of your hand.. Best chub was around 3 1/2 lb.. They averaged around a pound with 5 or 6 fish over 2lb,

At times it would get difficult to hit a bite, I'd rest the swim for 10 mins and pick a few fish out of the stick line.. Then when you went back over they would hit it well again..

It was a cracking day on the river, finished with around 30lb of fish around 20 chub, half a dozen roach and a few dace plus a little Rudd... Oh and a few trout..

. Nice write up new kid and a good days fishing,,,did you mean Taunton ??

Yes mate, I meant Taunton... Unfortunately my I phone is dyslexic!

[RubyTex 1,957]

Excellent Kev. You're not a bad fisherman are you really....

[jonah. 775]

Nice bag kev.

[NEWKID 27,047]

Cheers all

 

I'm not sure if your taking the piss Tarqs lol..

[Mister Gain 1,764]

 

Enjoyable read that, brought back a few memories of bygone trips to the middle Thames, Medway and Mole. Can't beat getting them going on a river.

Had some cracking roach out of the mole ( molesey near Hampton court) fished the Thames around there too. And the ember,

Fished them quite a bit as a kid.

 

 

Used to belong to Dorking and liked to fish the Deepdene stretch, mainly for chub. Had to work for them mind. The chub were not massive, 3½lb was a fair fish, occasional 4lbs, but mainly chublets about ¾lb to 1lb but on the bonus side of things I used to get the occasional big dace which were a similar size to the chublets, cracking fish indeed.

 

My best nets of river roach came from the Medway just upstream from Barming Bridge in a swim called The Bomb Hole (there's always a bomb hole swim ). I used to fish it with about 4 metres of pole and start off with hemp and caster, feeding the occasional tare, and when the smaller 4-6oz ones started coming I would switch to tare on the hook, and stop the casters. One day the bailiff asked me what I'd caught and when I pulled the net out he couldn't believe the size of them, mostly 1lb to 1¼lbs with the odd larger one, nothing near to 2lb though unfortunately, about 60lbs in the net. halcyon days

 

Used to like fishing the Thames at Chertsey just above the M3 moterway bridge, 55yard chuck with a feeder and maggot for the chub, and a stick down the inside with maggot and hemp for the roach and dace, used to get some big old 'pongo' gudgeon as well as some cracking perch. Desborough Cut used to fish quite well at times as well for a bag of fish, 'til you connect with one of those cranky barbel on a 2lb bottom Had my first barbel 8lb 10oz, and first chub 2lb 2oz from Romney Weir at Windsor, in 1974, with the future wife in tow... she wasn't as impressed as me . Canbury Gardens used to be a favourite choice in a cold snap or if the river was pushing.

 

Had some good days after the chub and barbel on the Kennet as well fishing a maggots under a chubber using a rapidex centrepin, needed about a gallon of hemp and 5 - 6 pints of maggots though, so not a cheap day out.

 

Ah! sweet memories. Newkid, if you don't mind I'll put up a couple of pics of some Kennet barbel, when I was a young lad of 43 .

Please excuse my pixelated gob.

 

 

 

[Ossie n Arch 1,682]

Fecking Barbel.............................................

 

 

 

 

:laugh:

[NEWKID 27,047]

Cracking tales and pics mister gain, really enjoyed that.

I wonder if the lads that plunder the puddles for 100's of pounds of stunted carp will look back on those days with such find memories.. Quantity over quality in my opinion.

 

I have family in molesey, so when we were up there I'd be dropped off beside a river and left for the day, it suited me and my parents I reckon lol.

 

There was a small bridge over the mole somewhere towards esher, I was around 14 and when I looked over the bridge into the water I couldn't believe the size of the roach below me. The shoal ( if you could call it a shoal) consisted of 5 or 6 fish, but they were monsters.. I had to catch one, I stood on the bridge and trickled bait into them, maggots to start with, but the bleak were hitting them before the roach had a chance ( you could clearly see everything), so I put in a few grains of corn, very slowly the roach came out and nosed the grains, then fast as lightning sucked them in and blew them out again.. It was staggeringly quick.

The small shoal would go back against the weed then slowly out and suck in the grain and out, I was spell bound after watching this for a good while I tried my luck, I fished with very light link ledger, just a Bb shot, on a small loop, and a bounces a grain of corn towards the fish, slowly one of the giants came out and sucked the corn in, before I could move my arm to strike the corn was out... I'll be honest the next couple of hours was a killer, I just couldn't get them to commit properly.

Then it happened by luck, chance pure bloody mindedness the hook stuck, the fight was nothing to speak about but the fish in my landing net was and still is the biggest roach I've caught.. I never weighed it ( I had no scales) but it was all of 2lb and probably a bit more, I've caught loads of roach, and some very nice ones on rivers and still waters, but this one was the most special..

I managed another a bit smaller the following day, in a slightly deeper pool just below the bridge, I had to climb out into a branch of a willow, to run a stick float down as the bank was so overgrown, I was steadily catching bleak and gudgeon, the occasional dace etc, when I hit into a real nice fish, it was around a pound and half id guess, but sat in a tree unhooking it Is a great memory lol..

 

I honestly think that's what fishing is all about, I don't like to decry other men's sport, and we're all different but learning to fish he hard way taught you more IMO..

I never caught a carp until I was late teens, out of a small farm pond where we used to ferret,

We'd watched the bubbles and occasional rolling fish and decided to give it a to, the land owner) said there was sone fish in there but didn't know what ( she had a big equestrian centre) the pond was an overgrown mess.

I had a carp about 3lb out of it and the thing went mad, I'd never known a fish to pull like it, I loved that little place, there was always 2 bream together if you caught one sure as eggs you'd catch the other next chuck lol..

 

Nice memories though..

[northern lad 2,292]

Great posts Kev/MG...I have wondered that myself Kev,constantly fishing the commercials how would that create memories...carp after carp....Im same as you didn't catch a carp for years,then got a 7lb er on sweetcorn off sale water park,can still see my bottle top shooting up Felt like a lottery win...3lb rudd in 12ft of water fishing for tench in a tiny drain that apparently only held tench and perch So many stand out days for allsorts of different reasons not just size of bag or individual fish,this is what will ruin the game eventually,theres great waters local to me,nobody fishes them anymore,all on the carp puddles,clubs wont lease the waters much longer as the revenue from tickets/licenses doesn't cover the cost,the waters will be left to their own devices,decline is inevitable

[Mister Gain 1,764]

You're bang on 100% Newkid regarding the commercial carp puddles. It used to be that catching a carp, or tench for that matter, was a special achievement, be it by design or by luck. Although the carp puddles do undoubtedly serve a purpose and have probably brought a lot of people into fishing, I don't get as much enjoyment fishing them as I used to when fishing a proper old established mixed fishery, or fishing a river.

 

Well done with the 2lb+ roach , I've not achieved that, came close a couple of times from the River Beult, thought I had at Horton Kirby but sure it was a hybrid.

 

One of the lads I go shooting with was telling me that he used to do a bit of coarse fishing, but had never seen, let alone caught a tench. This was a couple of years ago, and I suggested he try Monk Lakes in Kent. I told him it held barbel as well, and he said he'd not caught one of those either. In mid september he texted me and asked if I'd take him and show him the ropes.

As he only had a few bits and pieces of tackle I told him I would bring a spare float rod he could use, he said he had a reel. Got in touch with my old fishing buddy from bygone years and he said he'd meet us down there.

Although I've renovated and repaired quite a few split cane rods in my time I have never fished with one, so decided to fish with the Mordex one I bought off myself in the Dymented auction, and marry that to an old wooden centrepin I had also renovated, and a porcupine quill float as a nostalgic tribute to the first float I ever bought back in the 60's to go with my Intrepid 'Black Prince' reel and my tonkin cane rod with solid fibreglass tip, which was a jumble sale jobbie (probably cost me 3d or 6d .)

 

Set my mate up with my old 14ft diawa kevlar waggler rod, and gave him a size 14 forged spade end hook. Set my own gear up and tied on my hook. " 'ere, there's no f**king hole in this hook" PMSL. Tied his hook on, much to his astonishment, and showed him how to plumb the depth. Stayed with him for about ½ and hour, and he managed a couple of small carp and seemed to be fine so I left him to it, I was only in the next swim anyway but was keeping an eye on him. See him bend into a better fish, and he landed a carp at about 7lbs. He was well happy.

A while later He hooked another fish and whilst playing it, it swirled on top and I said to him "Take your time, it's your first barbel". He landed it, a small one about 2½-3lbs. He was like a dog with two tails. Was made up for him. No tench were showing, so we moved lakes. He caught his tench, 3 of them in fact, although only small ones. I managed a 3½lb one and loads of the small ones, and also had plenty of carp to about 5lbs, as did he. I was hoping one or two of the golden tench would put in an appearance, but it wasn't to be.

That old split cane rod and wooden reel performed well enough, and I was giving those carp a fair bit of welly, don't know how it would have coped with one of the larger fish though.

All in all a very enjoyable day out, and not a boilie in sight.

 

Reckon between us we could probably write a book of fishing yarns :laugh:

[ratbuster 807]

Cracking stories from the both of you. Fishing wise you have it sooooo good in the UK, every freshwater fish you can imagine, envy you a lot !

[robbo 828]

Cracking days fishing kev. Thats the main thing i miss about living in cornwall, no decent river coarse fishing. Havent touched my coarse gear in more than two years, i cant bring myself to go to white acres or any of the other puddles round here. I used to fish a small river near home and got more excited about catching grayling and brownies than any double figure puddle carp.