Bluemoon Angling Thread

Saddleworth2 said:
sounds very similar to our trip. They have changed the stocking policy and the number of points they stock - hence the concentration of fish. Where were they? Barnsdale and Yellowstone?
After our trip this year we decided to bin it off for a while. We will be trying Clywedog in May next year for a change. I hear Draycote is fishing well but its been well stocked fort he reopening. It remains to be seen if it stays like that with Anglian Water getting their mits on it.

Anyhow, we have been on a new (for the club) water this season a couple of times- Cobbinshaw reservoir just south of West Craigs in the middle of a peat hag. Its a private club that are now letting other clubs fish it on certain days. Well run water with good boats. The first time we fished was in 20mph winds, last Saturday in monsoon rain and thunder and lightening that had us motoring back to the lodge bdq. Irrespective of the conditions, it fished really well on both occasions with our rod average over 10 each time. The difference between this water and the others I fish was very notable, the fish eager to chase and not nearly as shy coming to dries and fabs/blobs like nobodies business. I put it down to much less fishing pressure than say Lake of Menteith (which is still far more consistent with better quality fish than the Anglian Waters).

Anyway, talking of the Lake, I was out a couple of weeks ago and got absolutely stuffed in the boat 12-0 :-(
I dropped half a dozen fish, I couldn't believe it. The days highlight for me was watching an osprey no more than 20 metres away, dive and catch a trout right in front of us. The bird had clearly underestimated the size of the fish because despite four attempts in couldn't take off and proceeded to swim to shore. It did so by working its wings very much like a butterfly stroke, it was the most bizarre sight. Having got to shore it stood on the trout, in the shallows figuring out what to do next. After numerous attempts it got airborne but only a couple of feet from the lake surface and finally disappeared into the trees, still very close to the ground. The trout which must have been a good 3lb will have been beheaded and the inedible bits discarded to get the weight down b efore taking it back to the nest.
It was almost worth the blank.
In other noteworthy news, one of our number caught a Tench on the Lake. On fly?!?!
First one I have seen caught and can now be added to the growing list of course fish. Pike and Perch (natch) but also Roach, Dace and now Tench. Rumours of a few Carp abound. Global warming? What next? Bloody Bream?

Glencorse tomorrow in 30c heat. Di7 and Booby Basher at the ready.
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The osprey strike is one to take to the grave. Brilliant stuff.

A night after the barbel for me tonight. I absolutely love a sulty night's barbelling and always fish on the solstace.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
The osprey strike is one to take to the grave. Brilliant stuff.

A night after the barbel for me tonight. I absolutely love a sulty night's barbelling and always fish on the solstace.
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Nice one. I remember one time in Ireland, in weather like this, we resolved to fish from dawn to dusk on the longest day. Got to 5 o'clock in the afternoon and couldn't manage another 10 minutes.

Tight lines, let us know how you go on.
 
Lovely summers night barbel fishing. Is there anything better than a still, luminous, atmospheric dusk watching the tips whilst immersed in nature? I used only one rod and intended to rove but didn’t need to. I landed two barbel and a chub and had a hook pull and a snag loss. Also had a sight which, whilst not quite the ambitious osprey, will stay with me forver.

There was sporadic thrashing in the margin up the bank and I wondered if it was maybe an otter. Crept up there and witnessed the incredible sight of a huge pike trying unsuccessfully to devour a medium sized pike. They were locked in a death grip and I got my phone out and tried to record it at close range. Eventually the pair of them drifted downstream, rolling around in a sort of dance of death, and I got back to my peg and found I hadn’t pressed play. Still, I witnessed it and that’s what matters. I wonder how it ended up? Possible death to both.IMG_0606.jpeg
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Lovely summers night barbel fishing. Is there anything better than a still, luminous, atmospheric dusk watching the tips whilst immersed in nature? I used only one rod and intended to rove but didn’t need to. I landed two barbel and a chub and had a hook pull and a snag loss. Also had a sight which, whilst not quite the ambitious osprey, will stay with me forver.

There was sporadic thrashing in the margin up the bank and I wondered if it was maybe an otter. Crept up there and witnessed the incredible sight of a huge pike trying unsuccessfully to devour a medium sized pike. They were locked in a death grip and I got my phone out and tried to record it at close range. Eventually the pair of them drifted downstream, rolling around in a sort of dance of death, and I got back to my peg and found I hadn’t pressed play. Still, I witnessed it and that’s what matters. I wonder how it ended up? Possible death to both.View attachment 160642
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Heaven. Reminds me of a quote that I often come back to and which you'll be familiar with from Casting at the Sun.

"The Gods do not take from a life the time one spends in fishing"

As for the pike, hard to see how that would resolve itself other than mutual destruction. A sight I've never seen in 60 years.
 
Newman Noggs said:
Heaven. Reminds me of a quote that I often come back to and which you'll be familiar with from Casting at the Sun.

"The Gods do not take from a life the time one spends in fishing"

As for the pike, hard to see how that would resolve itself other than mutual destruction. A sight I've never seen in 60 years.
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I certainly do know that quote and all the others.

“With silken line and delicate hook, I wander into a myriad of ripples and find freedom...”
 
was out on Menteith on Saturday against my better judgement. After the hot weather the trout were down deep. Unfortunately I have a bad back just now and flinging heavy duty sinking lines 40 yards out is impossible. I tried it for 20 minutes and had to give up. So there was me with fish down 40 feet fishing dries because a floater was the only line I could cast. I blanked. Quelle suprise.

I gave up just after lunch and had a snooze in the car waiting for my fishing buddy to finish. Those that caught were all down very very deep which is not the most satisfying way to fish and not really advisable for catch and release either. Must give it up in hot weather methinks.
 
Newman Noggs said:
Out on the Severn yesterday in pretty evil weather which led to us curtailing our day. Still managed chub, Roach and a very welcome bream and my mate lost a barbel. Quite awe-inspiring sitting in the eye of the storm (waving a carbon rod around !!)

View attachment 163660

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been caught in that kind of weather a couple of times recently. Lightning all round makes for a pretty quick exit off the water.

I read somewhere that Lee Trevino once started waving a long iron club in the air at the start of a thunder storm. When asked what the hell he was playing at he responded, 'I'm safe. Not even God can hit a one iron".
 
idahoblues said:
View attachment 163035View attachment 163036View attachment 163037View attachment 163038View attachment 163039
Nice day on the Teton, fishing starting to get hot, caught lots of various different trout today all on very small dry flies, took a while to see what they were eating, they were probably emergers. As the day went on I had most luck with caddis and pmd’s, in the 16-18 size. Fun but not always easy to track the fly with aging eyes
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lovely clear water. You must be able to spot fish to cast at rather than prospect. How deep is that mate? It only looks a few feet but that could be the clarity.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
lovely clear water. You must be able to spot fish to cast at rather than prospect. How deep is that mate? It only looks a few feet but that could be the clarity.
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The river varies from an inch or two up to maybe ten feet on a few corners. You can’t really spot fish them other than when they’re feeding on the surface. Went again today, another outstanding day on tiny caddis and May flies, caught one 17” Rainbow right up against the bank. A few pics as usual but can’t quite understand the Eagles, the odd one out looked like an immature Bald but it’s size said different, trying to get some answers if it was maybe a Golden.
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idahoblues said:
The river varies from an inch or two up to maybe ten feet on a few corners. You can’t really spot fish them other than when they’re feeding on the surface. Went again today, another outstanding day on tiny caddis and May flies, caught one 17” Rainbow right up against the bank. A few pics as usual but can’t quite understand the Eagles, the odd one out looked like an immature Bald but it’s size said different, trying to get some answers if it was maybe a Golden.
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Wonderful pictures as usual, thank you. Let us know if you find out for certain what sort of eagle it is.
 
idahoblues said:
he odd one out looked like an immature Bald but it’s size said different, trying to get some answers if it was maybe a Golden.
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my guess is its an immature bald. In many species of bird the youngsters look bigger than the adults for a while, mainly because of their juvenile plumage and fat reserves. The beak to me is the giveaway. A Golden Eagle beak is thicker at the base - that one looks more typical of a bald eagle. But that is a guess.

Great pictures as always.
 
Saddleworth2 said:
my guess is its an immature bald. In many species of bird the youngsters look bigger than the adults for a while, mainly because of their juvenile plumage and fat reserves. The beak to me is the giveaway. A Golden Eagle beak is thicker at the base - that one looks more typical of a bald eagle. But that is a guess.

Great pictures as always.
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That has been the general consensus, I put it on a local birding site
 
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