Trip #20 – Highbury Pond

This session was going to be my first experience of fishing on a Leeds ASA water. I have walked around the pond previously, hoping to see some features, some fish moving or even some fish being caught. Given the time of year there were no real features to speak of, no fish (that I could see) moving and only one angler sitting very quietly looking down on to one of his quivertips. On my return visit I decided I would give the maggot feeder a try. The cold weather also gave me an excellent opportunity to fully test my recent winter purchase of an Avanti Cyclotherm Suit.

Cheese Paste made easy!

With the definite onset of winter, we begin to use baits which are generally associated with catching fish in the colder months. Moving away from pellets, meat and worm and using the more traditional baits such as bread, maggots and cheese paste. These baits are also used very effectively during the summer months, but tend to come to prominence during in the colder seasons as they have the potential to pick out the specimen fish, whether your quarry be Chub, sizable Roach or maybe the occasional winter Barbel. However, speaking to one of my friends who often fishes for winter Chub he seemed uncertain on how to make cheese paste. As it is a method I intend to use very shortly in my own fishing trips I thought I’d describe a very cheap and easy way to make bait which is suitable for freezing and will last you for plenty of winter fishing trips to come.

You will need;

This is all you need to make Cheese Paste!

The recent flooding and it's cost

Moving steadily on the from a balmy autumn to a (until recently) mild winter has left the water levels in many of the UK rivers and Lakes precariously low. So the recent storms offered the rivers and lakes a chance to take on some of the water which they may have lost over the summer and autumn months. At the time, the Environment Agency and MetOffice released flood warnings on all rivers in and around Yorkshire. So now the river is back to its usual level I went for a short walk to my nearest nature reserve (Kirkstall Valley Nature Reserve) to see if the recent flooding had an impact bank side.

Trip #19 - Predatory Practice - Take 2!

Having an afternoon spare meant that I was able to get out of the house and down to the canal for a few hours sport chasing an elusive Pike. Being cold it also meant that I could give my new Avanti Cyclotherm suit an outing in the hope of keeping warm and dry.

This is a heavily fished peg, the float in the rushes gave that away!