Bluemoon Angling Thread

Didsbury Dave said:
Currently on The River Wye. I’ve come down for a few days with my wife as all my kids are abroad. I thought I’d sneak a few short trips in. Yesterday was bright and sunny and I fished from 10-3, the worst time of all. I was quite amazed when the river started rising like lightning. I had two barbel but had to leave for family duty. Having dinner by the river last night it was close to full flood, with chocolate brown water and big logs coming down, so I kept the beer as low as I could and got up at 5 this morning knowing that dawn could be absolutely prime: a falling flood with low light.

So it proved. I had 4 barbel and 2 chub in the first hour or so before the sun came up. All 8-9lb and one of the chub, landed during a mad double hookup, was enormous. I’m leaving soon but this was a brilliant session.View attachment 90298
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Where is that DD? Fancy a trip to the Wye over the next 6/8 weeks. Fishing location close to your 'digs', or travelling involved? Cheers.
 
Scouse Blue said:
Where is that DD? Fancy a trip to the Wye over the next 6/8 weeks. Fishing location close to your 'digs', or travelling involved? Cheers.
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I’m a member of Prince Albert Angling Society, a big fishing club based from Macclesfield. They have a superb stretch of about 2 miles. I’ve had a few trips down here now and fished it lots of times. It’s excellent and not heavily fished. But there are loads of day ticket stretches on the Wye that are good too. You can book them online easily. It really is a lovely river.

There are loads of accommodation options. We are staying in a pub/hotel in Ross on Wye which is about £100 per night. But there are campsites, cheaper places, cottages, whatever you want really. What are you thinking? You can even bivvy up in certain areas.
 
Done a third morning on the Wye. Had four barbel and some chub and lost a couple including the elusive big one I was after. Lesson learned. I had one of 9lb 8oz (pictured here) which got snagged and free, but the lead was covered in a massive ball of weed entangling quite a big log. It made landing it a nightmare but I managed it. I forgot to check the line and recast, hooked a fucking submarine which raced across the river and the line parted at that exact point. Idiot.

Left at 12.30 to deal with a work situation but would have had more as I’d put a load of bait in and had two in the last two casts, and conditions are bang on. Had lunch with the wife and then had an hour trying out my new lure rod next to the pub. Had one quick hit but that was it. The rod is rubbish.

ABD82CC2-9BAA-4B52-B41F-AEB612AF1019.jpeg
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Done a third morning on the Wye. Had four barbel and some chub and lost a couple including the elusive big one I was after. Lesson learned. I had one of 9lb 8oz (pictured here) which got snagged and free, but the lead was covered in a massive ball of weed entangling quite a big log. It made landing it a nightmare but I managed it. I forgot to check the line and recast, hooked a fucking submarine which raced across the river and the line parted at that exact point. Idiot.

Left at 12.30 to deal with a work situation but would have had more as I’d put a load of bait in and had two in the last two casts, and conditions are bang on. Had lunch with the wife and then had an hour trying out my new lure rod next to the pub. Had one quick hit but that was it. The rod is rubbish.

View attachment 90454
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Look at the tail on that. The Wye is obviously still alive. Would love a week on there after Barbel.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
Look at the tail on that. The Wye is obviously still alive. Would love a week on there after Barbel.
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Every fish has been dark, well built and in perfect nick. All sizes too including one this morning about 1lb. I forgot what a super river it is but I’ve been really lucky with a big pulse of coloured water coming through on my first day and then slowly dropping. It’s still looking great for barbel even now and there’s not really any weed coming down, which did make it tricky yesterday. If I’d have had the time and inclination and fished all day I’d have had over a lot of barbel today and yesterday I suspect.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Every fish has been dark, well built and in perfect nick. All sizes too including one this morning about 1lb. I forgot what a super river it is but I’ve been really lucky with a big pulse of coloured water coming through on my first day and then slowly dropping. It’s still looking great for barbel even now and there’s not really any weed coming down, which did make it tricky yesterday. If I’d have had the time and inclination and fished all day I’d have had over a lot of barbel today and yesterday I suspect.
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Like anywhere else, the weather conditions and, hence the water conditions, are critical to those red-letter days. But, sometimes, you just deserve it to fall right. Reading your posts over the last few months you've put in the hard yards and definitely earned it.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
I’m a member of Prince Albert Angling Society, a big fishing club based from Macclesfield. They have a superb stretch of about 2 miles. I’ve had a few trips down here now and fished it lots of times. It’s excellent and not heavily fished. But there are loads of day ticket stretches on the Wye that are good too. You can book them online easily. It really is a lovely river.

There are loads of accommodation options. We are staying in a pub/hotel in Ross on Wye which is about £100 per night. But there are campsites, cheaper places, cottages, whatever you want really. What are you thinking? You can even bivvy up in certain areas.
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Sorry DD, I could have sworn I replied to this. Not really sure to be honest, but now I have retired, I will have a lot of time on my hands, perfect for spontaneous fishing trips ( and the missus is still working !!). I used to work in Ross on Wye many moons ago so know the area well. I have also treated myself to a fox xd bivvy with inner dome and a dogs bollocks bed chair, oh and a portaloo:-), so ready for anything really. Congrats on your trip, you put the effort in with cracking results.
 
Nothing to report from the lure trips this week. I had a short session on The Nidd in an attempt to catch a barbel on the float. Things got off to a bad start when I had forgotten my catapult. You really can’t bait properly by hand using hemp and caster which was the approach. In any case; the casters were stripped every cast by tiddlers. I gave up on that pretty quickly and reverted to a classic single rod pellet approach.

Action started straight away. Within minutes I’d had a big one only to find my scales had gone flat. Bloody electric scales have done this to me more than once. I’d say it was 9lb which is massive for this river. Had another barbel and lost another two. A very pleasant afternoon in lovely scenery.

3B0A77E6-1346-40CF-9463-2CB4BAC5EE80.jpeg
 
Didsbury Dave said:
I’m a member of Prince Albert Angling Society, a big fishing club based from Macclesfield. They have a superb stretch of about 2 miles. I’ve had a few trips down here now and fished it lots of times. It’s excellent and not heavily fished. But there are loads of day ticket stretches on the Wye that are good too. You can book them online easily. It really is a lovely river.

There are loads of accommodation options. We are staying in a pub/hotel in Ross on Wye which is about £100 per night. But there are campsites, cheaper places, cottages, whatever you want really. What are you thinking? You can even bivvy up in certain areas.
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It’s a cracking stretch of river and and holds some really good fish, worth the PAAS membership money just for that stretch of water!
 
3 of us just back from 3 days on the Warwickshire Avon. Fished Marlcliff, Fladbury Weir and Barton lengths. Poor fishing, one Bream about 4lb on feeder but mostly small dace and chublets to stick or waggler, nothing bigger than 8oz. The river is in desperate need of fresh water. Although the water was quite deep 4 to 6 feet you could see the botton right across, and the sunshine doesn't help. It was the first time we'd been there but good digs in Alcester and good access and parking for the pegs made us want to go back., hopefully when there is plenty of colour in. Off to the Brigenorth areas of the Severn back end of September, fingers crossed.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Nothing to report from the lure trips this week. I had a short session on The Nidd in an attempt to catch a barbel on the float. Things got off to a bad start when I had forgotten my catapult. You really can’t bait properly by hand using hemp and caster which was the approach. In any case; the casters were stripped every cast by tiddlers. I gave up on that pretty quickly and reverted to a classic single rod pellet approach.

Action started straight away. Within minutes I’d had a big one only to find my scales had gone flat. Bloody electric scales have done this to me more than once. I’d say it was 9lb which is massive for this river. Had another barbel and lost another two. A very pleasant afternoon in lovely scenery.

View attachment 91499
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What stretch of the Nidd were you on?
 
KnaresboroughBlue said:
Lovely stretch that. I used to fish it quite often. Plenty of barbel and chub and assorted silvers. Reminds me of my favourite stretch at Tockwith.
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Yes, it’s a lovely stretch and very prolific. I had the whole stretch to myself yesterday which was lovely. It’s good for trying different methods because it’s small and intimate and there are numbers of fish. I scale down my tackle a bit to make it more fun which results in some right tugs of war as they dive for the far back trees and snags.
 
A couple of short lure trips last week with little happening. One bumped jack is all I can remember. Friday afternoon I went to a half empty local reservoir with my pike rod and a big Salmo slider jerkbait. Fairly quickly I landed a nice pike and it was a bit of a nightmare. The mat was on a sloping bank and the middle trebles had impaled themselves , all three hooks, right into its gills from the outside. I couldn't chin it because of the trebles . Total unhooking nightmare, I had to perform surgery on this pike which at one point jumped back in the lake and I had to land it again. At one point I went to to cut the hooks off but my wire cutters were rusted up.

I eventually managed to unhook it without significant damage and the pike went back ok but it was a reminder of how delicate these fish are and, I'm going to be honest, how dangerous treble hooks are. On a less experienced angler this would have been a dead pike. I've never killed one yet but this was the messiest situation I've been in. I sometimes think that trebles should be banned or I should stop using them.

On Friday I go to The River Severn for a week. We've got a cottage on the bank of the river which is literally next door to a fantastic pub, Heaven.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
I sometimes think that trebles should be banned or I should stop using them.
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What you describe is the reason I don't pike fish although I caught one on a pellet last week on the Severn which was obviously, easy to unhook. The question I'd ask you is, what is the alternative to using trebles and how effective is it ?
 
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