Bluemoon Angling Thread

I was out on an angling club owned reservoir east of Dundee on Saturday with my club. It was a warm and breezy day, not ideal conditions for fly fishing for Rainbow Trout. You really need a bit of cloud cover and rainbow (unlike brownies) don’t like wind that much. It puts them off the feed and deeper in the water. So it was a hard day but our three boats landed 16 fish to about 3lb. It took us a few hours to work out what the trout responded to and it was small diawl Bach’s retrieved slowly, then quickly in the top two feet of water. We had a few on boobys which I think the trout were taking because they were feeding on small minnows (one or two regurgitated minnow soup when they were landed). It’s days like this, which throw up challenges that I love. Working through different methods, depths, flies until you find success. It’s like 3D chess. The other outstanding element of the day was how fit the fish were. The first I connected went off like a bloody rocket, stripping line out of my hand and then off the reel. It took about 30 yards and I thought I must have hooked something special. When I finally landed it, it was only a couple of pounds but with a tail like a shovel. All the fish fought like that. They must be putting steroids in the water!

I was moaning a week or so ago about waterproofs that aren’t. In my research to replace the ones I have I have come across a couple of options which look good but are pricey. One is a company called Halkon Hunt who do made to measure goretex kit. The company was formed by an ex lady world champion match fisher and they specialise in supplying course and pole fishing clothing. I’m sure looking at the kit it would work well for fly fishing and 1) it’s goretex and will be super waterproof 2) it’s made to measure so as an ahem larger than average body size I don’t need to put up with the usual 34 inch inside leg on an XL size. Has anyone experience of this company?

The other option is to go full on offshore boating gear - Musto and Gill Marine. That costs a lot but you can get deals if you shop around. Am going to look at some stuff this week.
 
peace frog said:
got a trip booked for my first sea fishing trip, dont know where at the moment but really looking forward to it.
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Its something id love to try myself.Whilst i consider myself a half decent angler,there are many aspects ive never even tried,fly fishing,sea fishing,never pole-fished,only tried spinning a handful of times.Ive always loved float fishing and quiver tipping so that and carp fishing is all im really competent at! My aim over the next few years is to broaden my knowledge of all the various disciplines,sea fishing is definitely on the list.
 
wantinittodropitdoes said:
Its something id love to try myself.Whilst i consider myself a half decent angler,there are many aspects ive never even tried,fly fishing,sea fishing,never pole-fished,only tried spinning a handful of times.Ive always loved float fishing and quiver tipping so that and carp fishing is all im really competent at! My aim over the next few years is to broaden my knowledge of all the various disciplines,sea fishing is definitely on the list.
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Definitely want to try my hand at spinning for pike
 
peace frog said:
got a trip booked for my first sea fishing trip, dont know where at the moment but really looking forward to it.
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Apparently the mackeral have finally arrived. Got a call of the guy who's doing our bathroom and he reckons he's caught loads about a mile offshore, they weren't in last week and have been late arriving. Going out on sunday to try my luck.
 
I did an overnighter midweek on the Trent over in Newark,the stretch was absolutely hammered and settled for the only remaining peg available.Tried all the usual baits on lead and feeder and was biteless from 5pm to 7am.In the morning i walked the bank and found that no-one had caught.I decided id give it an hour rolling meat along the near bank to an overhanging tree.Within an hour id had 4 barbel.None were massive by any stretch with the biggest going around 6/7 lb,but i think with the river being low and the sheer amount of lines in the water,the fish are currently staying in the snags out of the main flow.Even at night when they generally feed with a bit less caution,they seem reluctant.
Has anybody had any joy on the rivers? I NEVER thought id be praying for rain!
 
wantinittodropitdoes said:
I did an overnighter midweek on the Trent over in Newark,the stretch was absolutely hammered and settled for the only remaining peg available.Tried all the usual baits on lead and feeder and was biteless from 5pm to 7am.In the morning i walked the bank and found that no-one had caught.I decided id give it an hour rolling meat along the near bank to an overhanging tree.Within an hour id had 4 barbel.None were massive by any stretch with the biggest going around 6/7 lb,but i think with the river being low and the sheer amount of lines in the water,the fish are currently staying in the snags out of the main flow.Even at night when they generally feed with a bit less caution,they seem reluctant.
Has anybody had any joy on the rivers? I NEVER thought id be praying for rain!
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I think it is about locating the fish. As I was saying a couple of weeks ago, the barbel were very spooky even on water that hadn't been hammered. If you found where they were holed up, however, they were ravenous and fed all day to the point where it was all a bit samey.

Good call by you, though, trying something a bit different and a bit more effort than sitting behind a legered pellet.

Off to Ireland next week and also praying for a bit of rain. Not too much though.
 
wantinittodropitdoes said:
I did an overnighter midweek on the Trent over in Newark,the stretch was absolutely hammered and settled for the only remaining peg available.Tried all the usual baits on lead and feeder and was biteless from 5pm to 7am.In the morning i walked the bank and found that no-one had caught.I decided id give it an hour rolling meat along the near bank to an overhanging tree.Within an hour id had 4 barbel.None were massive by any stretch with the biggest going around 6/7 lb,but i think with the river being low and the sheer amount of lines in the water,the fish are currently staying in the snags out of the main flow.Even at night when they generally feed with a bit less caution,they seem reluctant.
Has anybody had any joy on the rivers? I NEVER thought id be praying for rain!
Click to expand...

I’ve had a blank on The Trent, a blank on The Ribble but then last Friday I caught two barbel at once just on darkness, just after 11pm. I’d Sat for 5 hours stripping silk weed off the line and tackle every 5 minutes, so had worked bloody hard.

Just as the first went in the landing net after a long battle, the second rod roared off. I was in a bit of a two and eight in a tight, steep peg with both rods tangled, silkweed everywhere and two big fish in the net together.

The first was 9-12 and the second 8-4. It was everything that’s brilliant about barbel fishing on a beautiful warm luminous night.

This week I blanked lure fishing for pike in a short trip to a local res.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
I’ve had a blank on The Trent, a blank on The Ribble but then last Friday I caught two barbel at once just on darkness, just after 11pm. I’d Sat for 5 hours stripping silk weed off the line and tackle every 5 minutes, so had worked bloody hard.

Just as the first went in the landing net after a long battle, the second rod roared off. I was in a bit of a two and eight in a tight, steep peg with both rods tangled, silkweed everywhere and two big fish in the net together.

The first was 9-12 and the second 8-4. It was everything that’s brilliant about barbel fishing on a beautiful warm luminous night.

This week I blanked lure fishing for pike in a short trip to a local res.
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Its certainly tough going at the moment with water levels so low,but the rewards are there if you persevere.Ive never had two takes at once although i imagine with Barbel shoaling up,it can be quite common,at least they had the decency to wait till one was netted!
 
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