Its been a while since i last blogged, partly because my fishing has been restricted since sept and partly because i need a usb lead for mobile phone camera to download the pics and i keep putting off buying one.

In general my session from Sept - Nov have been:

3 short sessions at the WDAA stretch of the Ribble : No beasts to note, some chublets, a stoneloach or is it a bullhead, i cant remember which is which (on 3 mags) and a few trout around a 1lb,

Blackleach - in desperation i fancied a piking session, quick 3 hours no sign of fish, too much weed (mid Oct)

Birkacre (Oct) - desperate for one last attach at the bream, with mild weather i decided to give it a go, the place was full of pikers - looks like this place is off my pike venue list, far too much pressure, Any a few roach aside, no bream.

I have been suffering from a lack of enthusiasm lately - i think Manchesterfishinfiend latest post shows you dont know what really is happening under the surface and with skill, perseverance and a little luck anything is possible - as i lack the first i will focus on the last two and see what happens.

First Ribble Barbel

After missing a trip due to a stag do i couldnt wait to get to the swim i had tried last time out,

3 rods between the two of us, 2 feeder/method and one maggot feeder - i was ready for some chub /barbs

The trip started well with bites on the light maggot feeder - but after hitting a small chub about 8oz(well i thought it might be a dace see pic below) all went quiet.

the swim looked perfect but it was shallow (about 2ft at its deepest) and weedy in places - which meant if i didnt avoid it on the cast then i had no chance of catching,

Time moved on with nothing but i kept plugging away at the channel - then in the last 30mins of the 4 hr session i was into a small chub (about 1lb or so), then as my wife was on the phone telling me politely (not) that i would be late for a pm wedding (not mine), my rod bent over.

It was a good fish and straight away i thought barbel !!! - 10 mins later and as it went over the frame of the net i thought yes!!!!

a 6.5lber - not massive but my first ribble barbel

dad finished off with a small chub to avoid a blank - feeding spells eh?

Ribble return

tried the other farm, far busier but many good pegs where its was easy to get to waters edge, lots of nice fish topping but we struggled for a bite of the barb rod,

dad had loads of sliver knocks on the feeder and managed to hit a chub - a guy passed and told us if we wanted good silvers to get on the float - he did and in 30mins we saw him nail a fair few.

so not a great session but a good lesson learnt

at the waters edge!!!

well after the last post i did a 2 hour session on the basingstoke canal - anglers were struggling when i set up at 7pm

a quick chat to a walker got me to up sticks and go nearly 1 mile in the opposite direction - there i saw more fish on the surface than i every expected to see in this section of the canal

shoals and shoals of roach, upto 1lb, bream rolling and carp, many of them

i only had corn so i was fishing the bottom - i had loads of knocks from small roach and 2 good bites - 2 bream around the 1.5lb mark, and a roach which must have nudged 12oz.

I went back to my initial peg next to the road side, which i had baited up - with 10 minutes light left - i saw this carp swim up to my float and my god it must have been a 20+ - on my lite tackle never before had i hoped a fish would not take my bait.

Next - Ribble at Elston

i went to the top(left) farm - it was a recce really but we managed 2+ hours in one swim - my thoughts - excellent!!!

dad had bite a chuck on maggot but only managed to land 2 chublets about 8oz

i had one good bite on the corn/pellets approach for a 2.5lb chub (main pic)

i did change to maggot last 15mins and had a chublet with a few bites thrown in .



Missed this w/e cos of a stag do - but will be back at w/e - 5am.

more of the same

Last weeks fishing.

A quick few hours on the Kennet saw me take the usual chublet/roach - with no whackers showing on the town centre stretch - bread was the bait (as usual).

Another attempt at the Birkacre tench sunday morning saw me hit 1 for 5plus - the odd thing was the action on the spare float rod, dad and i chucked it out with maggot on and saw constant action.

We gave it about 1hrs attention out of the 4 hrs fishing and i think we got about 10 roach/perch/skimmers between us.

probably the last time i visit Birkacre this year - one for next year - one young lad i spoke to had a red letter day this season, of 30+ tench in a session, - so they are there -waiting for me.

Next week will see my Ribble @ Elston campaign get underway!!!

Variety is the spice of life

Its the same with fishing :

After a couple of frustrating sessions at Birkacre where bad luck and (bad) skills cost me good fish i wanted to sample some fun!!!

Middlebrook - a quick session to fellow bloggers fav little stream with my grandson soon saw him into the roach/perch/trout on maggot using a 5 ft woolworth type rod great fun to see him smile.

Birkacre - then its is back on the clock, a quick 3hr session saw me with two fish on the bank, not the best session, but enough to keep me humgry for more and for the moment its keeping me away from the Ribble.

Kennet Town Centre - saw me attach it for 1.5hrs after work, small roach and a fair chub were all i could muster, had the predators taken all the better fish? whoknows,

its a great sport but it can be frustrating

i have done a couple 0f short sessions lately and however well you do (or dont) you always think

if only - hindsight eh?

BASINGSTOKE CANAL

A two hour session on bread saw me anticipating a few pulls from the resident small carp that were protrolling the surface but in 2 hrs i had 3 quick bites all bream around 12 oz

BIRKACRE

I visited the lake on sunday 13th with the intent to follow the fish - light tackle and rod saw me fish the bottom end where most of the fish especially carp were showing.

After a disasterous start losing a rig / float caused by a duck (and a concerning moment until the duck got free) i decided to but the float away and use the method & feed bread.

although i had to wait for bites - probably 1 per 45 mins i managed to hook 5 tench in the 4 hrs - the sizes well who knows but on 4lb hook length and a light kevler feeder rod with thick weed in front of me (i didnt know this when i brought very light gear) i was totally bullied by the tench through the weed.

I lost all but one in the weed - was any big fish - i dont know but i couldnt stop the runs, the one i did kited to the left and i managed to get it through a channel - its weighed £5lb+

god know what the others would have been

Dad had a stronger rod but spent 3 hours failing on maggot before switching to bread and missing a couple of pulls before hitting a 5lber.(main picture).

I was mega frustrated at not taking advantage of the tench feeding - i have had to wait 2 weeks (on hols) to get back ,

i will be there on the soon - come on the tench

WELL DONE DAD - great tench

BIRKACRE
I decided to go back as soon as possible as I was hoping to get into the bream again - so we ended up going on the tues for 3 hrs - same peg same tactics
It was a lovely evening and I was surprised we struggled for bites - I had 2 and hit the first fish within 20 mins of getting my float fished bread in the water - a lovely tench of 6lb graced my net.

Again the weekend came and i was struggling with a cold but I managed to get myself out of bed at first light and off to Birkacre - this time we moved around the lake - I wanted to target the margin tench but needed to get towards the main body of the lake hoping to intercept the bream.
With my dad and myself feeder/method fished corn/meat to the far side with little success - the only bite before the sun started to beat down was on the shared float rod on the nearside margin on bread again - dad then went on bread and fished the near side and spent 2 hours missing a few bites - I was convinced these were roach.
I brought my feeder rod in only to hit resistance - I thought that’s it I am snagged - a little tlc saw me free it and wow a lovely 4.12 bream

I then decided to have a got on the nearside float rod - dad was missing a couple of bites on this and his feeder both on the bread.
I missed a bite and immediately put fresh bread on and sent it straight out - and the float went straight down - I was desperate to hit the bite and prove to my dad he was missing fast roach bites when I was into something a bit bigger - a lovely 4lb bream came to the surface and my dad was getting mad by know.

on his very last cast he got another bite and well he finally struck into a fish - it roared off - a great fight saw us slip the net under a lovely 6lb tench.(main picture)
What a way to finish - well done dad
Maybe if you would have hit all those bites you would have bagged up on tench - who knows