Monday 25 January 2016

River Culm Cullompton Free Stretch 23/01/2016

Really disappointed when my son Robbie went down with Tonsilitis on Friday as he was really looking forward to going fishing but i ventured out myself and settled for The River Culm a lovely little stretch just below the motorwat bridge.

I only took 2 rods 1 for float fishing and another for a small open ended feeder that i would be fishing at the bottom end of the run.

I opened my rod case to see i had somehow broke my lighter tip from my feeder rod so had to fish with a heavier tip than i liked.

I set this rod up with a small cage feeder with a 18" 11/2 lb hooklink to a size 18 hook baited with double maggot and flicked it to the bottom of the run.

I then set up a quick stick float to fis at 7 foot deep through the top end of the swim.

20 minutes and after catching a tree a thorn bush and other hedge material i finally had a little tremor on the feeder rod.
I struck and wound in a small roach of 4oz.
I quickly rebaited and cast again and immediately had a small chublet followed by another roach.
I lost quite a few fish and never got to grips with the float rod so changed that to a small lead and rolled some maggots through the swim this caught me a few small roach and Dace then i struck into something slightly heavier and a lovely roach of around 1lb came to the net.

I lost afew more fish and i believe 1 to a pike as when i was winding a  small fish in the rod lunged and i wound a snapped hooklink.
Packed up early as my kids were ill and felt i should be home looking after them but ended with around 3/4lb on my first river trip so pleased with that and will try again soon.

Tuesday 19 January 2016

Pleasure Trip Kia Ora lakes Cullompton. 16/01/2016

Decided to visit Kia Ora this week as the weather looked quite decent but cold
Arrived to find it's quite a walk from the car park to the lakes plus with it being quite boggy made it quite hard going.

When I eventually got to the lakes i couldn't decide to fish for silvers in the silver lake or Carp in the Gold Lake, my mind was soon made up as the gold lake was frozen.

I started to set up when a pleasant Chap called Stewart came along and dtold me everything i would know about all the lakes rivers and canals around Cullompton and Tiverton.

An hour later I managed to finish setting up only 2 rigs both for top 2 plus 2 at 3 1/2 ft of water 1 with a no 6 Elastic and 1 with a number 10 elastic in case some slightly bigger skimmers came around luckily the depth was quite uniform so i could use the same at Just Topkit or topkit plus 3 if needed.

Stewart started to catch small Roach almost immediately on a whip quite close in and tehn had a few small Tench and a Perch followed by some Skimmers I remained biteless for the first hour.

Stewart must have remembered something that he hadn't told so he came over for another half hour chat and i managed to get a few small Roach but i was really struggling to get more than a few fish before my swimd died.

Stewart came back over during his lunch break and I manged to hook what i believe was a smallish carp as my number 6 elastic tore off I thought i had the fish under control when the hook pulled.

Next Drop i had a nice Perch followed by a nice Skimmer and a few more Roach.

Not alot happened after that apart from Stewart telling me about the lakes around cullompton again so an early finish was had.

As it was early and on Stewart's advise i popped onto the River Culm to have a quick look and found an angler fishing a lovely spot and spent 15 minutes chatting and watching him land a Roach every chuck including a few over a pound and with the promise of Chub,Barbel and Dace also being present next week i may spend my first day on a River Coarse fishing and hopefully My son Robbie will come along weather permitting.

Monday 11 January 2016

Feneck Ponds Exeter association water 10/01/2015

My first trip of the year and a new water under my new Exeter association Licence.

I Thought I would Try Feneck Ponds as they were the closest ponds to me and seemed to fish quite well during winter.

I arrived and as no one else was around I had a quiet walk around both lakes There were a few fishing topping but I thought I would settle for an easy day as chose the peg nearest my car.

I had just finished setting up when another lad & Dad turned up they said there were no carp left in the bottom lake (so perhaps Exeter should update their handbook) but also said the bottom lake was a good silverfish lake withplenty of roach and Skimmers to be had along with some Crucians and Perch.

A quick re jig of my polekits had me set up with a light rig for fishing top 2 plus 3 straight in front in about 4 foot of water plus a margin rig for my left and right edges for the perch that I had been told about.

I also had a small method feeder set up with a size 18 hook.

I started in front and cupped in a few micro's some corn and a few maggots to try and start the swim off.
I waited for about 20 minutes before my first bite which resulted in a small hand sized skimmer and next drop a second was added.
Unfortunately the line died after that so I tried the feeder rod.

Almost instantly I had a few nibbles but nothing worth striking at then the tip nodded and dropped back I struck gently and felt some resistance I wound in believing I had a small skimmer until it close to the net then it woke up and I was most surprised to see quite a large Goldfish appear at around a 1lb and a quarter it was quite big it had a distinct look of a Crucian but totally Orange if I could work out how to upload photo'd from my new phone I  would do but as it stands I can't

Next cast and another tremor on the rod resulted in a lovely Roach of around 8 oz.

That was the last action I had on the feeder all day.

I tried the margins and caught plenty of small Perch averaging an ounce so gave up on that and went back to my topkit plus 3 and had a few small roach and Skimmers

Around 1 o clock the wind blew one of my topkits of my roost and I tried to retrieve it I left my pole rig about 2 feet from my box and just saw it being pulled into the water so I managed to grab it and pleased to have a lovely Roach of around 12oz on.

I decided to try just my topkit and hand fed a few maggots over the top the float sailed away and I had to paly quite a large roach but safely  netted it and at well over a pound was a lovely fish.

It was hard going for the rest of the afternoon but quality Roach would make the odd appearance and I had 6 over a pound plus a few 8-12 oz for an estimated bag of 15-18lb which isn't bad for this time of year and from a new lake.

I had a nice chat with Bailiff who gave good advise and said in the summer months it can be a fish a chuck so with quality Roach like I caught I will definitely be back.

First impressions of Exeter Angling Association are very good.

Next I will be trying either Kia Ora lakes in Cullompton or the lakes at Sampford Peverill and hope the rivers calm down soon as I really fancy a day trying for some Chub.










next cdrop a second skimmer was added.