Fishing News

Fran fished a whip over loosefed maggot and some groundbait but couldn't find any fish in the swim. He then trotted a stick float and eventually caught this one small chub!

I fished a stick float in the morning, loosefeeding maggot and hemp with a single maggot on the hook and caught two small chub long-trotting about forty yards.

Before packing up, I cast a block-end feeder filled with maggots to the deepest water in the centre of the river and caught another small chub.

Walking back over the footbridge at the end, we noticed some fish topping about fifty yards upstream in the wider part of the river where it's a bit deeper. They must have been shoaling up there.

Bryan Meridith caught this nice 4½ lb chub on breadflake. He says he's still after that elusive

5-pounder!

Fished for a few hours above the Footbridge at Oath.

It was a bright, frosty morning. It clouded up lunchtime and a cold southerly breeze blew across the river into my face to make it rather cold in the afternoon.

As you can see, the river is at its lowest level at the moment but there was a slow steady flow. There was a bit of colour in the water.

I fished a 17 foot rod with a centrepin reel and a pencil float. I fed liquidised bread with punched bread on the hook. On the first run through, the float buried and I hooked the first of a succession of small chub. Around midday, the chub disappeared and the roach moved in. I also had a small skimmer bream.

I had a total weight of 2lb 4oz. Not a great weight but considering the cold water temperature, I was glad to catch! And it was nice to catch on breadpunch for a change!

Adrian Rogers fished opposite Stuckies, just above the island. Fishing was difficult with the downstream wind but he managed to catch these two chub on a 5 metre whip. The larger chub weighed 2½ lb.

Liam Clipson has been targeting carp on the River Parrett this season. He ended up with nine fish with the two-tone weighing 20lb 8oz and the other common weighing 21lb 5oz.

We've noticed members have been propping the gate open recently with bricks while they drive in or out.

For the last few years, there has been a wire loop fixed to the fence which hooks over the top rail of the gate to hold it back. The wire loop can be bent tighter around the rail of the gate if required.

You'll find this is more reliable than propping the gate open with bricks. I've now taped the wire loop to make it more visible.

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.

I fished at a couple of rod lengths from the bank in open water. I used a 13 foot match rod and centrepin reel with a 1 gram insert waggler rig. This was set an inch off the bottom and after ringing the changes on the coloured pinkies, I settled on two red pinkies on the hook which caught fish all day. I fed an occasional handful of groundbait but didn't need to loosefeed.

After midday, when the water had warmed slightly, the bites dried up so I shallowed up a few inches and found the fish again. By the end of the session, I was fishing about a foot off the bottom and still catching.

I caught roach and rudd for a total weight of 3lbs.

Nice to chill out on a warm spring day! Next day it turned very cold!

The lake's looking good; there's some colour in the water. Plenty of Daffodils in full bloom and the odd tree in blossom. There is quite a bit of blanket weed floating around but it can be dodged.

The two trees blown over into the water by Storm Eunice will be cut up and removed by the tree surgeons sometime.

Raked out a small amount of weed before tackling up.

I fished a 13 foot match rod and centrepin with a fine tipped waggler float rig, set a couple of inches off the bottom. I fished a single pinkie on the hook over an occasional few handfuls of groundbait. No loosefeed.

I caught roach, rudd, and a perch for a weight of 1lb 13oz. Early afternoon, I also caught this nice bream weighing 5lb 3oz.

We have a pair of swans nesting on the west side of the 'island' near the north end of the lake, something I've not seen there for about twenty years.

Please don't go anywhere near the nest; we'd like them to breed successfully. Any disturbance and they might abandon the nest. Please respect them.

I fished a 13 foot match rod and centrepin reel with a canal dart waggler float rig set two inches off the bottom. I fished over groundbait and lightly loosefed maggot and caster. I started off with maggot on the hook but with no bites, I changed to a single pinkie and started catching. Later, I changed back to maggot and continued to catch. Then I tried a caster and started catching a better stamp of roach and rudd.

I caught roach, rudd and a small perch for a total of 3lb 2oz.

There was less blanket weed than last week, probably washed to the bottom by rain. Some patches of it are still drifting around but not enough to cause much trouble!

Fran fished an 8 metre pole with a fine-tipped waggler float rig. He fished maggot over groundbait to catch roach and rudd for a total of 2lb.

I again fished a 13 foot match rod and centrepin reel with a canal dart waggler float rig. I loosefed caster and maggot over groundbait with caster on the hook.

I caught roach and rudd  and the odd small skimmer for a total of 3lb 15oz (however, I did fish for an extra two hours after Fran packed up!). 

A lot of the blanket weed has disappeared and there is a nice colour in the water. The lily beds are start to re-grow and the willow trees are turning green with new leaf growth.

I fished a 13 foot match rod and centrepin reel and a canal dart waggler float rig for sensitivity.

Loosefeeding maggot and caster over groundbait, I fished single or double caster on the hook which was set at about an inch above the bottom. When bites dried up later, I shallowed up to find the fish again and ended up fishing 12 inches off the bottom.

I caught roach and rudd for a total weight of 2lb 13oz.

I was pleased to see that the eastern arm of the lake is now clear of blanket weed with a small amount in the western arm. The lillies are growing well and there's tadpoles everywhere.

I fished my 13 foot match rod and centrepin reel with a canal dart waggler float rig. I loosefed maggot and caster over groundbait with caster or maggot and caster cocktail on the hook.

Bites were slow; fishing up in the water only produced a few fish. Fishing on the bottom produced an occasional bite but they were better quality fish and worth waiting for. I caught roach, rudd and a perch for a total of 1lb 10oz.

Just after midday, I caught this nice tench, weighing 4lb 12oz, on caster.

I fished a 13 foot match rod and centrepin reel with a canal dart waggler float rig about two rodlengths out. Bait was maggot on the hook over groundbait and loosefed maggots. I couldn't get a bite on caster!

Fishing dead depth, bites were slow but I steadily caught roach, rudd and perch for a total weight of 1lb 8oz.

Just before midday and after a lot of fizzing in the swim, I caught this tench of 2lb 8oz.