Langport & District Angling Association
Fishing News
River Parrett
River levels
The Angling Trust has put a useful website on the internet for finding river levels; one I use when planning a fishing trip on the river.
The web address is www.fishinginfo.co.uk.
Click on the 'Find A River Level' tab and enter 'Langport' in the search box.
This will show a map of river level measuring stations in the Langport area.
I find the 'Monks Lease Wq' at Combe and the 'Oath' at Oath Lock locations give meaningful levels for the river.
Beware the level at 'Westover' which is the river side of the Westover Pumping Station opposite Cocklemoor in Langport. When the river is low, this measuring station shows a smooth horizontal line which suggests the level sensor is probably above the current water level and so not showing the correct level.
I hope this site is of some use to you.
Monday 28th January
Club member, Julian Chidgey, has been making a concerted effort to find the bigger perch on our club waters on the River Parrett, resulting in this specimen of 3lb 12oz caught on a lure.
Friday 22nd February
Fran fished peg 35 on Cocklemoor. After the early fog, it was a nice sunny day with above average temperature but a rather cold breeze.
There wasn't much flow on the river.
Fran fished with a 7 metre whip and a 2 gram rig.
He loosefed caster and hemp over a couple of balls of groundbait with maggot on the hook.
After 30 minutes, he start catching roach. Later, he changed to caster on the hook and continued catching through the rest of the session, finishing with 7lb 14oz.
Tuesday 26th February
Fran and I fished the first two pegs on Stuckies.
After an early frost, it was a sunny mild day with a light south-easterly resulting in a downstream breeze which was also in our faces. Water temperature was 8°C. The Parrett was at its low winter level with a bit of pace and a bit of colour.
Fran started with a 7 metre whip with a 2.75 gram stick float but didn't get any bites. He then fished a waggler across towards the opposite bank and found a few bleak.
When bites ceased, he went back onto the whip line, loosefeeding caster and hemp with maggot or caster on the hook. He started catching roach, a couple of rudd and a few perch. He finished up with 5lb 10oz.
I started on a light link leger, loosefeeding caster and hemp with maggot on the hook. No bites were forthcoming so I switched to a waggler fished across towards the opposite bank but couldn't find any bites.
I then fished a 7 metre whip with a 1.5 gram rig. I fed two balls of groundbait and loosefed caster and hemp over the top with maggot on the hook. I topped up with a couple more balls of groundbait later in the session and fished pinkie on the hook. I caught six small roach for a total of 4oz.
The water in my peg was half the depth of Fran's swim and I was further from the Town Bridge than Fran. I don't think I had many fish in front of me and certainly no quality fish like Fran's.
Combe Lake
Please make sure you shut the gate securely in the otter fence when entering and leaving the lake.
If you are fishing Combe Lake, why not let me know what you caught; photos of your catch would also be appreciated. We'd love to know how it's fishing for our members. Email me.
WEED
I know some members aren't happy about the weed in our lake. However, the weed is very beneficial to our fish and the waterfowl. It contains lots of food in the form of invertebrates. It provides shelter and protection for our fish. It also helps to keep the algae levels down and improve water quality.
Most of our fishing can be done in front of the platforms so we only need to clear the weed from where we want to fish. This is easily achieved by spending a few minutes raking before we tackle up. This gives a short period for the swim to settle before fishing. Raking also stirs up the silt which attracts the fish into the swim.
A simple weed rake (as shown above) can be made by joining two garden rake heads back to back and securing with cable ties. A length of strong nylon rope can be securely attached.
Saturday 30th March
Liam Clipson fished the lake and had a good day.
He caught this mixed bag of tench, skimmer and roach on pole-fished worms over groundbait.
He also caught an 8lb common carp.
Sunday 7th April
Match Secretary, Chris Sandford fished the eastern side of Combe Lake.
He fed pellet with sweetcorn on the hook.
He caught four carp, all around the 10lb mark, three tench at about 3lb 8oz each, and a 3lb bream.
Thursday 11th April
Fran and I fished Combe Lake today.
After a cold start, it was a warm day in the sun, apart from the cold easterly breeze.
Water temperature was 12°C.
Fran fished on the eastern side of the lake.
He fished a 6 metre whip. After introducing some groundbait, he loosefed maggot and hemp.
On the hook he fished a variety of baits; maggot, caster, bread and hemp.
He caught roach, rudd and a few perch for a total weight of 6lb 8oz.
I fished on the eastern bank of the 'Island', opposite Fran. It was a bit 'jungly' but I've caught from here in the spring in previously years.
I fished a 5 metre whip. I also put some groundbait in with maggot and hemp loosefed over the top during the session.
I started fishing double pinkie on the hook and later changed to maggot.
I caught roach, rudd and a couple of perch for a total 8lb 4oz.
Wednesday 17th April
We've just finished putting six bales of barley straw in the lake. These straw 'sausages' will break down over the next six months and reduce the risk of algal blooms which reduce the water's oxygen levels.
You can also see in the photo that we have a lot of blanket weed (which is a filimentous algae) at the moment. We have removed some and we are assured that as the water temperature rises, it will die off. The lake is still fishable, you just have to pick a clear peg where any breeze is blowing the blanket weed away from you!
Thursday 18th April
Fran and I fished the eastern arm of the lake. It was a nice sunny, warm day and the water temperature was 15°C.
Fran fished a 6 metre whip, loosefed caster and hemp over groundbait, with maggot on the hook.
He caught roach, rudd and perch and a nice tench for a total of 6lb 6oz.
I fished a waggler float, loosefeeding hemp over groundbait, with maggot on the hook.
I caught roach, rudd and perch for a total of 2lb 2oz.
Friday 19th April
Club members Liam Clipson and Stuart Clarke fished Combe Lake.
Liam described it as a 'Red letter day'!
Liam pole-fished on the western arm of the lake and Stuart stalked carp in the margins.
Liam fished sweetcorn on the hook over a bed of micro pellets to take tench like this.
Liam caught a total of seven tench up to a best of 3lb.
Stuart with one of the two mirror carp he caught on a bunch of worms.
Stuart with a lovely plated mirror.
Monday 22nd April
Club member, Dave Shire, fished an evening session on the eastern side of the lake and caught these two nice tench; one on sweetcorn and one on luncheon meat, over a bed of micro pellet.
Thursday 25th April
Club member, Bryan Meredith, fished the eastern side of the lake, close to some lilies.
It was an overcast day with some heavy showers.
He caught these five tench on bunches of red maggots fished over a bed of micro pellets. He caught perch, rudd and roach as well.
Tuesday 30th April
I fished the western arm of the lake. It was a lovely warm day with hazy sunshine. Not much colour in the water but most of the blanket weed has now disappeared. Water temperature was 16°C.
After first raking the swim, I fed to the reed bed to my right and straight in front of me. I fed micro pellet and 4mm pellet, mixed together, to both spots, plus a few grains of sweetcorn.
I put a leger baited with sweetcorn close to the reeds and fished a light waggler float in front of me. I alternated between sweetcorn and red maggot on the waggler but I only caught on maggot.
I caught rudd just under the surface. One nice roach showed on the sweercorn close to the reeds but that was all.
I finished up with 2lb 5oz.
Saturday 4th May
Club member, Liam Clipson, fished at Combe Lake.
He pole-fished sweetcorn over micro pellet and caught ten tench.
He also caught common carp of 2lb, 8lb and one of 4 inches!
Thursday 9th May
Fran and I fished the eastern arm of the lake.
It was overcast with a cool, fresh breeze in the morning and sunshine and warmer temperature in the afternoon.
The water had a bit of colour and was 16°C.
I fished the pole, for a change, close to the corner of a lily bed. At odd intervals, I potted in some micro pellets, 4mm pellets, hemp and a few grains of sweetcorn. On the hook, I tried worm, sweetcorn, banded pellet and expander pellet. I hooked one larger fish but the hook pulled free and came back with a couple of small scales on it. I caught four roach for a total of only 5oz.
Fran fished a waggler float in open water, a couple of rod lengths in front of him.
He fished maggot over groundbait to catch roach, rudd, perch and a nice tench for a total of 5lb.
Tuesday 14th May
Club member, Ian, caught these four lovely tench on sweetcorn over micro pellet.
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