Langport & District Angling Association
Fishing News
River Parrett
River levels
The Fishing Info website appears to have been taken down by the Angling Trust and replaced with something inferior.
I've since found a very good alternative called riverlevels.uk.
The list of Somerset river level monitoring stations can be found with the following link:-
https://riverlevels.uk/levels/somerset#.X9NUk-a2Jpg
I find the 'Monks Lease Wq' at Combe and the 'Oath' at Oath Lock locations give meaningful levels for the river. Scrolling down a page with show a chart of the variation in river level for the past week.
I hope this site is of some use to you.
Thursday 16th June
Opening Day! It was going to be hot but we had to fish the river!
Fran and I chose to fish at the footbridge at Oath.
The grass in the field had been cut as well as the grass and nettles along the bank; we didn't have to do any clearing, which saved time.
I fished in the first swim above the footbridge and Fran fished just below it.
There was some weed on the bottom which meant you had to fish about 18 inches up to stop the float dragging under too much. Depth must have been about 15 feet.
Fran started on a 6 metre whip but changed to a 7 metre whip later. He loosefed hemp and maggot but struggled for bites in the first few hours. Then he started catching on maggot and even caught on hemp. He caught roach and skimmers for a total of 3lb 4oz.
I fished a 7 metre whip with a 2 gram pencil float rig. There was some flow of the water. I fished maggot or caster on the hook over loosefed hemp. I started catching, first cast, and caught a few roach, but mainly skimmers and chub for a total weight of 6lb 12oz.
Sunday 30th October
Harry Stott caught this very nice perch at Black Bridge. It wasn't weighed, unfortunately.
Combe Lake
Combe Lake is now closed to allow maintenance work to be carried out during the winter.
The Lake re-opens on 1st March 2023.
Keepnets
During extremely hot weather spells resulting in low dissolved oxygen levels in the water, please leave your keepnet at home and just carefully return the fish to the water as soon as you've unhooked them.
Coronavirus Pandemic
Remember the 2-Metre Rule, keep your distance from other anglers and we'll all be safe.
Hand sanitiser is available at both gates for your protection.
The virus can live on metal for up to 72 hours so I spray the padlock and parts of the gates and latches with my disinfectant spray before touching them. A good habit to get into!
Shutting and Locking
Please make sure you shut the gate securely in the otter fence when entering and leaving the lake.
We are finding, all to often, that the main gate is being left unlocked.
When you leave by the main gate, please make sure the padlock is correctly attached and locked securely. Scramble all the numbers on the lock.
Protect the lake, and your fishing, by ensuring that the gate is securely locked.
You are not allowed to fish with boilies at Combe Lake. Please read the Special Rules For Combe Lake in the Season Ticket and make sure you comply with all of them. If you're found breaking any of the rules, you will be asked to leave. The rules are there to protect the fish and 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.
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.
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.
Carp in May
Liam Clipson caught these two nice carp in early May!
Thursday 18th August
I haven't fished for a while so I thought I'd have a session at Combe Lake for tench.
It was a nice warm day, sometimes sunny and sometimes cloudy. Water temperature was 21°C.
I fished the south end of the lake in the swim to the left of the gate, opposite the point of the island.
As usual, I first raked the swim to remove any odd weed and stir up the silt before tackling up.
I fished a match rod and centrepin reel with a lift-style float rig. This consists of a shot, which was just heavy enough to sink the light insert waggler float, placed a few inches from the hook. The float is set a couple of feet overdepth. When cast out, the shot rests on the bottom to anchor the rig and the float will lay flat on the surface. Put the rod in the rod rests and gradually tighten the line so the float cocks and it is then pulled down until only the tip is showing. When a fish takes the bait, either the float will rise up as the shot is lifted up off the bottom or the float will go under as the fish moves away; in both cases - strike! This is a traditional and very sensitive method of fishing for tench (or any other bottom-feeding species).
Bait-wise, I started with small redworms and caught a small perch. I was getting lots of fast bites from small fish taking the worms off the hook so I changed to two grains of sweetcorn and things settled down. I loosefed a handful of hemp now and then together with a few grains of sweetcorn.
I caught one small tench weighing about 6oz and this tench of 1lb 11oz.
There's a fair bit of blanket weed sitting on top of the weed in the lake. Both weeds are helping to maintain sufficient oxygen levels in the water. As you can see, there are clear areas which are fishable.
Club member, Wayne Mitchell, caught this nice 3lb 8oz tench just by the edge of the weed in front of him. During the course of the day, he caught several more of either similar size or smaller. He said the age of this fish was about 15 years.
Thursday 25th August
Fished the north-east end of Combe Lake. Raked the swim before I tackled up. Incidently, it's nice to see some anglers are raking , judging by the piles of weed alongside some of the platforms. There are now a few platforms with clear swims.
The day started warm, overcast and cleared to sunshine in the afternoon.
I fished an Avon rod and centrepin reel with a light insert waggler float rig fished lift-style.
I fished cheesepaste, meatpaste or sweetcorn over loosefed hemp and sweetcorn.
I caught a couple of nice rudd on cheesepaste but the tench didn't show up.
Still, it was a nice day to sit back and chill out!
Wednesday 31st August
I fished at the south end of Combe Lake in the swim to the left of the gate.
The day varied between overcast and sunny with a north-easterly breeze blowing down the lake into my face. Water temperature was 19°C.
I raked the swim to remove any odd pieces of weed and widen the swim slightly.
I fished an Avon rod and centrepin reel with a waggler lift- style rig.
I loosefed hemp and sweetcorn with either cheesepaste or sweetcorn on the hook.
I didn't get any bites and didn't see any bubbles to indicate the presence of fish in the swim.
The lake had, for some reason, gone very quiet!
During the day, I counted a total of eight anglers; one angler caught a small linear mirror and another angler caught two roach. That's all that was caught while I was there!
Before I left, I walked up to the river, having heard that it was low, but it looked to be at normal summer level. There was some duckweed in the margins but the river looked very fishable at Combe. The bank has been cut but a bit of clearing of vegetation on the edge of the bank and in the water is necessary to open up a swim.
Tuesday 13th September
Wayne Mitchell fished the west side of Combe Lake with a feeder in a hole in the weed.
He caught four tench (the largest was 4lb 3oz, shown here) and two carp (largest 12lb 6oz, shown here). They were all caught on prawn and cheesepaste.
Wednesday 14th September
David Churchill recently caught these 5lb and 3lb tench on different days.
Tuesday 11th October
Thought I'd get another session in on Combe Lake before it closes on 1st November for the winter.
It was a warm, sunny day. Water temperature was 12.3°C.
I fished a swim on the west side of the lake that I'd raked and cleared in September.
I raked again before setting up and it was quite clear.
I fished a 4 metre whip with a sensitive light canal dart rig.
I fed now and then with loose groundbait to create a cloud and loosefed maggots over the top.
Hookbait was a single maggot. After half an hour I had the first bite which was a small perch.
With no more bites for a while, I changed to a small redworm tipped off with a red maggot. This resulted in a couple of missed bites before I caught a second small perch. And after that there were no more bites! At least I didn't blank!
With the dropping water temperature, the fish are probably feeding up on natural food in the weed and slowing down for winter.
The lake is still covered in blanket weed but there are still clear, fishable swims. More rain should start washing it down to the bottom.
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