Trip #79 - Broadleaze (Baker's Mill) Fishery

I've been desperate to find local venues (within 15 - 20 minutes) as they enable me catch a sneaky hour or 2 while walking the dog in the summer evenings. I've never bagged a lump (15lb+), so when I found a fishery which only takes 8 minutes to drive too I was very excited. Finding it seemed easy enough, even if the verbal instructions on how to get there seemed incredibly vague. With my smart phone set to the location I left, I planned to give the water a good once over on pole tactics before trialing it later on in the year for something bigger.

Trip #78 - Lyons Gate Fishery

A family visit with a new dog meant it was only the one trip out for me this Easter break, and after some recent contact I was asked about fishing Lyons Gate fishery. Having never fished this venue and not really able to turn up much up to date info on the venue, I thought I should probably head over there and drown a few maggots so I could respond properly. Easter Friday was a bit of a murky affair and driving down the A356 with fogs and full beams seemed a bit of strange contrast to the blue sky and sunshine I had left less than 5 miles ago. Fortunately this started to lift as I passed over the A37 and by the time I got to the venue, it was very clear - albeit overcast. The overnight downpour also hadn't dampened the campers spirits, the site was a hive of activity. There were loads of people walking back and forth and a lot of dogs being walked (but all on leads). It's a fairly small campsite and I soon found the car park, and was walking around the lake surveying the options.

Trip #77 - Revels - Canal Lake

Today was part 2 of my fishing weekender, and to be honest I got off to a bit or a foggy start. Catching up with the rugby the previous evening while celebrating a glorious Welsh win meant that plans of a very early start were off. I had a few things I needed to get done in the evening so I opted out of fishing Avalon or Sedges and the hour+ drive that that involves, and went for something a bit closer to home. Revels is a venue 30 minutes away and with several lakes to choose from I was curious to see how this venue would fair after the cold spell. Having fishing the "Dead Tree" lake previously I also wanted to see what the other lakes had to offer.

Despite the dead tree, this lake was the Canal Lake

Trip #76 - Lands End Specimen

A solid weekend of fishing was going to begin on Lands End Specimen Lake. I was up and out the door very early (I had to take my wife to the train station for 6am), and manage to arrive at the venue just after 7. Unsurprisingly I was the only person at the complex at that time, although I was aware that a match would be held on the ones of the other lakes. I had read Tony Rixon's blog back in Feb, so made a beeline for peg 34 and began unloading ... once I'd had a cup of tea. A quick note on the drive to Lands End along Jack's Drove. I have never seen so many herons, massive blue ones and smaller white ones all busy spearing fish from the road side rhynes, I really should have brought a proper camera. 

Peg 34 on Lands End Specimen

How to Guide – The “Twizzled Loop”

Looking forward to this season I need to improve several aspects of my fishing, they include;

• The long pole – All to often I fish at 9 or 11 meters and when required to fish out at 13m+ I find all skill packs up and leaves and I repeatedly slap the water or spill my feed from my cups, disturbing the fish and missing vital bites.
• Waggler Fishing – I aim to fish venues which are more than X number of pole sections wide, hopefully it will help improve my cast accuracy too!
• Feeder and straight lead fishing -  I need to fish the feeder and straight lead more often and practicing it in the summer, when the fish are up and feeding is essential. It can be a deadly method in the winter, but all too often I fall back on the pole for those sure fire winter fish.

Trip #75 - End of Season Thuggery

It was the last day of the river season and I had been getting more and more excited as the week wore on, thinking about where I was going to go and what I was going to do. Unfortunately the weather had other plans. I checked the EA river levels website before I left and saw the ominous spike, but I still left with my gear and hoped to find somewhere that I could tuck myself away. 

The river was very high all day!

The constant rain from Wednesday onwards meant that when I arrived at the river at Hambridge, I saw straight away that I wasn't going to fulfil my plans of fishing the river. It was as high as I had ever seen it this year (although it has been much higher), and looking over the bridge and down at the bank, the bankings were water logged and were an inch or three under water. Getting back to the car I had a re-think of my plans and decided to give Dillington Pond a bash instead.

It was flying through

Trip #74 - A Thorney venue

I'm always weary of venues which advertise stocking levels, as follows "We have Carp up to 25lb's". What this generally means is there is 1 token big double in the lake along with a few little ones. Still I am not one to shy away from trying new venues, and with winters hold on the seasons slowly giving way to spring, I was quite hopeful that today would be a real confidence booster. I found Thorney lakes on a recent trip back from one of the local rivers, and after some internet searching I saw a lake that looked really promising.

Ignore the dates on this sign.

Trip #73 - Clear as Mud

As I only had a few hours to spare so today’s trip was going to be a short one. I'd spoken to one of my piker mates who told me the key to catching pike in (like anything really) is to put the hours in. Walk the banks, build a mental picture of their habitats and haunts, and when you've covered enough ground and cast a lure or bait enough, you should know where they are most of the time. Arriving at the river today it was clear that most of my day would be spent building that mental picture, as the water was the colour of mud! I'd kept an eye on the EA river levels website, (an invaluable tools as far as river fishing is concerned) and watched the river steadily drop.  What I didn't account for was the length of time it took for the river to lose its colour. Still, I was there on the river, so I’d give it a whirl.

Product Review - Savagegear 9' Parabellum Spinning Rod

As a blogger I get asked to review products from time to time, so when I was contacted recently by NETS, and asked to review some fishing equipment I didn't know what to expect. After a few emails, it seemed as though they wanted me to review one of a range of spinning rods. In this case the 9ft Savagegear Parabellum spinning rod. Wanting to do some predator fishing over the coming months it was fair to say that when this rod arrived in the post I was overjoyed at the prospect of getting it out on the bank and putting it through its paces.

Trip #72 - A Tale of two Halves MKII

As the end of the river season is fast approaching I've aimed my focus on many of the local rivers. To be honest I have a lot to choose from, and being a member of Ilminster Angling Association means the SLAC waters I can also visit have me spoilt for choice. This weekend I opted for the early approach and was up and out the door by 06:45. I aimed to cover a fair bit of water today and was intent on employing a lesson I had learnt from a previous session - "Be stricter with your time". With that in mind I arrived at the venue and intended on fishing a static bait, while wobbling another - moving on every half an hour. A short walk down a muddy lane and I had arrived, I had set up and was casting my first line before the sun broke the horizon, now let's see what’s about!

I held high hopes...