A mixed bag

Date fished 26/9/2019
9am until 6pm

The day started early, really early. 1.30am the alarm went off. I was heading south. Proper South, home counties, South. Pulling away at 2am, I was heading to the Thames at Hampton Court. This was not just a silly long fishing trip, I was heading South to celebrate a 40th Birthday. Shhh, it's a surprise!

270 miles done in 4 hours, I was nearly there. Unfortunately the M25 and other such beasts lay before me. The final 48 miles then took me 3 hours! Nightmare.

Arriving later than planned, I walked to the river. The swim I fished last time was occupied, so I walked to the end and found a nice looking swim where another river flows into the main river.
I set up one rod and then I realised I had left the specially prepared ground bait in the car!! In my haste to get to the river, I left it. I didnt want to leave my gear as it was quite a walk to the car, and I didn't want to have to walk back with all the gear. Decisions, decisions. This trip was going to be sans specially prepared ground bait!!

I set up the other rod and contemplated the feeder situation. Trying to travel light, I had no micro pellets or anything. I had 6mm and 12mm Robin Red Pellets. I wet some of the 6mm and decided  to use them in a feeder with a 6mm on the hook. The 12mm I would ledger with a lead and I had a few pellets in pva mesh bags tied up to give a few free offerings around the hook. It would be ok.

I used the korum bait bands for the first time. The bait is banded and the hook goes through the little bulb of plastic on the side. They are easy to use and worked well.

Soon, I was getting bites on the 6mm pellet. Striking, I was not able to hit the bites. Roach I thought, not Bream. I shortened the hooklink and carried on. Finally I connected and I brought the fish to the net. It got off!! Again. Things were not looking good.
A few mins later, the same. But this time I netted the little blighter and the Chublet (Ellis says Dace?!) Was in the net.
I had not blanked and all was good.

Next the 12mm pellet rod started to tap, thinking it must be a bigger fish, I was straight on it. A lovely Roach made it to the net, but came off. I need to practice ledgering for silver's as I tend to let the weight sink near the net, and if it's shallow and bangs on the bottom then the fish gets off. I need to sort this!!
Disappointed with missing the nice Roach, I fished on, re casting regularly to get some bait in the swim.

The heavens opened, and the brolly went up. This was proper fishing in the rain Davey!!

All the action started coming to the 6mm pellet rod, so I switched both to this with shorter hook lengths. Soon I was catching some nice Roach ( 3 in total) the chublet and then a dace. I wished I had some different baits and more gear, but then remembered this was an improtu session!

Seeing half of a worm crawling ( can you crawl with no limbs? ) sliding across the ground, I picked it up and put it on the hook. Soon that rod was knocking away. And as I thought, a perch was my reward.

The river here is very different to the others I fish. There was lots of boat traffic and 2 row boats from a nearby school.  One group of eight (the boys) came to say hello as they crashed into the bank under my rods. Their teacher looked a little sheepish as the boys explained it was only their second time rowing!

As I packed up to leave, I chatted with another angler who was settling down for the evening. He commented on the water level as I relayed the groundbsit story. As I walked back to the car, nearly every swim was occupied, very different from what greated me 9 hours before.

It was a good day on the river, 6 fish caught, a few lost and plenty of bites to keep me awake. The elusive Thames Barbel evaded me, but I will be back. Maybe next time the groundbait won't stay in the car all day and I may even smile!

London Blanker

Date fished  22/2/2019
0630 to 1500

Today's venue was 3.1 miles away but the sat nav said 20 plus minutes! This must have meant I was in the South, South East, London, West London, Teddington to be exact.
I was staying with Pc and Nikki for the weekend to watch the rugby with the boys, so I brought a couple of rods and planned a trip on old father Thames for the day.

Alot of planning found me a free fishing stretch day or night containing just about all species, but notorious for Barbel. A Thames Barbel would do nicely!
The venue was Albany Reach in Thames Ditton.

As we went to bed the alarm was set. The phone plugged in and the sheep counting started. As the alarm went off, I jumped up like a coiled spring. Picking up my phone, I noted the 50% battery, it seems in the South you also have to turn plug switches on to work!! Doh.

Making my flask of coffee, I noted the screw cap was not from this flask. It did not do up. I had a flask of hot coffee, but no cap!! Double doh!

I hoped this was the last of the calamities as I set off for the river. Arriving in double quick time, I was parked (free, in London this is rare!) and headed for the bank. A short walk and I was there. It looked great. A mist rising off the river. I didn't know where the features were along the bank so I opted for a swim that looked comfortable.

I was soon fishing. Pellets, bread crumb in the feeder. Waiting for a Barbel. There was little to report for a few hours other than I had drunk all my coffee as I had no lid and the fog did not burn away!!

There were a few other anglers on the banks, some leaving having been fishing all night, some like me arriving. It was one of the leavers that came to say hello. It was nice to get some local info and after I said I lived in Northumberland, this fellow angler was happy to help me out. He told me, him and his brother had 110lb of bream over night to 6lb plus and several Barbel to over 10lb. I was in the right place, but the wrong swim!!
He helped me with my gear, and took me to the swim they were vacating. He looked at my baits and tackle (non eupho)  and was happy to give advice. A quick change of hook and a new pellet, of the robin red variety and I was ready, again!

As we chatted all things fishing and his brother carried their gear back go the car, my rod twitched. It was the first bite of the day and I was happy. A few more knocks and then it bounced. I hit the bite and was in. Playing the fish towards the bank, my smile was only surpassed by my new teacher! Sadly the fish came off half way to the bank. "Bream" was the response from teacher, expletives from me!
I quickly re cast and was trying again. We chatted about feeders and after giving 1 of the 60 away, it was the least I could do to my teacher,  it was time for them to leave. They left happy that I was nearly catching.

A few hours passed and there were a few more knocks but no fish. There were birds though, heron, kingfisher, cormorant and of course parakeets!! Bright green and yellow, residents of West london flew over head.

It was soon afternoon and nearly time to pack up. Another knock and I was in again. I played the fish to the bank. It was a nice sized bream, a proper river Bream. I had the net ready, and slipped it under the fish. I put the rod down and the weight of the feeder slipped over and out the net. I scooped up the net and it was empty! I picked up the rod and there was no resistance. The bream had slipped away. I was gutted!

I put the bait back on the spot, but sadly nothing happened.

It was time to pack up. There was one last thing to do. Like passing the baton, it was my turn to offer the swim to a couple of new anglers planning on doing an over nighter. They were happy for the swim and the info and I left with a teacher smile on my face too.