Let's see your river catches 2019

[Daniel cain 42,861]

glad your back up on your feet and out and about

[comanche 2,799]

On 30/09/2019 at 19:18, Nicepix said:

 

"

It is now cooling off in my freezer. I'll use it as a dead bait for granma"

I feel your cunning plan is in motion

Glad you are on the bank and catching!

I just had to try "the rod". Only with an hour or so on the local mill-stream where the chances of a pike over jack size are  pretty remote . As it was the river was in that  in-between stage of mucky flood without being high enough to form interesting backwaters. I was rather over equipped with a stout rod and 5" reel loaded with 30lb braid but I wanted to get a feel for the set-up. First task was to catch some bait. So I tied a light float and size 16 to couple of feet of nylon and looped it onto the braid.  The first fish was too nice to use as bait but it was soon joined by a few gudgeon .

After changing over to a wire trace armed with a couple of barbless rider-style hooks ,I made the gudgeon draw lots and plopped the unfortunate loser into an unpromising looking eddy . About three seconds later the rod tip jerked. Now, it is a thick rod-tip ; the little gudgeon couldn't have moved it without help.  

         So I  gave the de-rigour,long ,classic ,side-swipe to set the hooks. And my end-tackle just followed through. Despite the Herculean dimensions of the rod I could tell there was something on the end though. A perch perhaps? 

Ah.....

I had two more eels in as many casts,luckily all lip hooked too. Then nothing for half an hour until I was reeling in to go home and another eel actually struck the bait halfway back to me! 

[Nicepix 5,650]

The eel looks a good size. In the olden days that would have made a nice meal.

I thought that kitten of mine was an eel the way the line went round and round. It is the second smallest I have had. The littlest was about the size of the gudgeon you sacrificed. A couple of years ago I caught a gudgeon and so took the opportunity to mount it on a wire trace to a 16 treble. Five minutes later.....

I'm hoping that the Capella De-Luxe will account for larger specimens in due course.

You might have noticed that I have joined the TFF. Whilst looking through the posts I came across a few old names from my past. I'm looking forward to catching up with them.

[comanche 2,799]

The TF is a pleasant forum. A lot of it is above my head but I  love the way everyone is so polite. When I managed to drop a vital bit of my other half's boy's old reel in a lake I asked if anyone had a spare part I could buy and one kind chap on the forum sent a complete reel and wouldn't accept payment. 

[Daniel cain 42,861]

here you go @tombarras ...after the rain the big girls come out

[Nicepix 5,650]

Had a few hours on the River Vienne today. The river is still too low and clear for my liking, but I did manage to get a rod bent.......

There is a large catfish living in those weeds in the middle of of the river. It keeps showing itself whenever I am fishing this swim. It has been there all summer and last summer too. It isn't an easy prospect as the water is snided with weeds and there is a fair current towards the near bank that means the line will have to be elevated. It will take a 30 to 40 metre cast and if hooked there will be as much weight of weeds on the line as fish. And the fish alone will be at least 80lb. Another week or so though and there will be a lot less weeds so I'm hatching a plan of attaching a 100g weight using just a paper clip and putting the weight along with the bait, some pebbles, the hook link and a few free offerings in a solid PVA bag .  That should get the hook and bait to the bottom without snagging the weeds and if push comes to pull the weight will come clear leaving just the 100lb braid and mono hook link to slice through the weeds.

Watch this space!

[sam r 354]

I caught a large cat in France what a fight ,never seen anything  tear off like it apart from a shark ,dug itself in for a bit that was entertaining ! was knackered after half an hour felt like 3 hrs ,enjoy your pursuit of it

[comanche 2,799]

Its gone bit quiet on the Let's See Your River catches forum,possibly due to the weather.  Anyway ,a friend and I dressed defensively and braved the heavy rain on Sunday . According to my accomplice my over-large ex-army poncho made me look like a giant camouflaged condom but at least I was dry. 

        We caught plenty of grayling,roach,chub and even a couple of bream-it was amost a bite a cast- but nothing huge. Then I hit a patch of quality gudgeon! One of which morphed from being a plucky wriggler on the line into a heavy toothy dead-weight when a pike took a fancy to an easy meal.

          I had come prepared though,and a quick rod change to some beefier tackle brought a take within seconds on the first dangle of a deadbait.

    The rain even stopped long enough for my mate to do the photographic honours though he seems to have caught me looking like a total gimpAt least I look happy ,and I was!

 

[Phil Lloyd 10,736]

You have a PM...

[tomburras 2,721]

On 06/10/2019 at 18:13, Daniel cain said:

here you go @tombarras ...after the rain the big girls come out

Very nice daniel

[Daniel cain 42,861]

I had a few hrs but had to get home as wife had work.... So me mate jumped in my spot.... Just sent me this... 12lb 2 oz

[forest of dean redneck 11,190]

1 hour ago, Daniel cain said:

I had a few hrs but had to get home as wife had work.... So me mate jumped in my spot.... Just sent me this... 12lb 2 oz

Must been your  prebaiting  

[Lenmcharristar 9,180]

On 06/10/2019 at 18:13, Daniel cain said:

here you go @tombarras ...after the rain the big girls come out

That’s a beezer of an eel, did ya eat it? I’d love to try it

[Daniel cain 42,861]

No mate, any green eels I catch I always release, the big ones are getting rare here, all the otters, cormorants, people netting them.... I do like a bit of eel tbf, but only eat congar

[Daniel cain 42,861]

Last fish of the year...