Bluemoon Angling Thread

Newman Noggs said:
Funnily enough, I definitely agree with him to the extent that certain days in certain conditions "smell" fishy. And when my boys were young they could smell it too. We'd come out of the house some mornings and they'd say "ooh, smells fishy today" and it was a smell nothing like that of an actual fish, more musky and earthy.

I also agree with him that after a period of inactivity you can "sense" the approach of a fish and your senses suddenly heighten for no apparent reason. Could that be to do with smell ?

I've also noticed, in fact my girlfriend noticed first, that when we walk our German Shepherd along the canal, she'll (the dog, not my girlfriend) sometimes just stop and stare intently at the water as though she can smell something. It could be imperceptible movement, of course, but I'd be more inclined to believe it's smell.

Anyway, I look forward to the result of your research. I always admire those guys (and girls) who can identify "notes of raspberry, plum and vanilla" in bottles of wine. You could be the first person to do that for fish.
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Just be be clear, when I said “log” I don’t mean write down. I just meant to try to recognise them. But I wouldn’t be the first person to do that. Yates already has but I can’t remember which book. He describes and compares the aroma of all fish in the way a wine buff would. It’s classic Yates and is what made me more aware of the smell of fish.

Fishing is an assault on the senses. Other noticeable and incomparable smells are: an unemptied maggot box from last season, your sleeping bag after a five day summer carp session, a rucksack where you cracked your bottle of Lamprey Oil. The most evocative of them all for me is a car which has spent a week trawling around Ireland in hot weather containing keepnets full of bream slime. Oh my word, that takes me back to the early 90s.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Just be be clear, when I said “log” I don’t mean write down. I just meant to try to recognise them. But I wouldn’t be the first person to do that. Yates already has but I can’t remember which book. He describes and compares the aroma of all fish in the way a wine buff would. It’s classic Yates and is what made me more aware of the smell of fish.

Fishing is an assault on the senses. Other noticeable and incomparable smells are: an unemptied maggot box from last season, your sleeping bag after a five day summer carp session, a rucksack where you cracked your bottle of Lamprey Oil. The most evocative of them all for me is a car which has spent a week trawling around Ireland in hot weather containing keepnets full of bream slime. Oh my word, that takes me back to the early 90s.
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Also, the unique cocktail of honeysuckle, dry earth, grass, sweet river water and halibut pellets will always evoke Barbel to me.
 
Didsbury Dave said:
Just be be clear, when I said “log” I don’t mean write down. I just meant to try to recognise them. But I wouldn’t be the first person to do that. Yates already has but I can’t remember which book. He describes and compares the aroma of all fish in the way a wine buff would. It’s classic Yates and is what made me more aware of the smell of fish.

Fishing is an assault on the senses. Other noticeable and incomparable smells are: an unemptied maggot box from last season, your sleeping bag after a five day summer carp session, a rucksack where you cracked your bottle of Lamprey Oil. The most evocative of them all for me is a car which has spent a week trawling around Ireland in hot weather containing keepnets full of bream slime. Oh my word, that takes me back to the early 90s.
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Ah, the smell of bream slime. The nasal elixir of the coarse angler. I remember the faces of the customs officers when they searched the van when we were coming back from Ireland just after the Deal bombing. We haven't been searched for years, I think they've wised up.

It's also the bane of my girlfriend's life when I forget to dry my nets off in the garden and she goes into the garage to load the washing machine. Makes me laugh every time.
 
Newman Noggs said:
As it's a bit bleak out there I thought a picture of a nice warm day in Portugal might be in order with old Noggs posing with one of his better Guadiana barbel.

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You're lucky Noggsy because Guadiana Barbel are rock hard to catch, well specimen size fish are. I spent a week fishing in Extremadura and failed to catch one. Caught plenty of weird catfish that croaked though. Nothing like a Wells Catfish in shape and size.
 
BlueMoonRisin' said:
You're lucky Noggsy because Guadiana Barbel are rock hard to catch, well specimen size fish are. I spent a week fishing in Extremadura and failed to catch one. Caught plenty of weird catfish that croaked though. Nothing like a Wells Catfish in shape and size.
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Those catfish are spiny little bastards. They have completely ruined a lot of the fishing both in the river and some of the dams. And you are right about the barbel. Our biggest to date is about 5lbs. In May we're due to go further North, see if we can get something bigger.
 
Newman Noggs said:
Those catfish are spiny little bastards. They have completely ruined a lot of the fishing both in the river and some of the dams. And you are right about the barbel. Our biggest to date is about 5lbs. In May we're due to go further North, see if we can get something bigger.
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Extremadura is the place to go mate for big Barbel mate. The Comizo is the species I was thinking of that is hard to catch, not sure if the Guadiana barbel is the same species, difficult to tell from that pic but the real biggies go to about 35lb!

A couple of mates of mine have targeted Comizo in Extremadura region on some of it's vast waters. They know a guy called Colin Stag who was one of the first pioneers in catching them. I've been told winter night fishing for them is best and that if you do catch one fish it's extremely rare to catch another from the same swim. Here's something my mate Ian put on YouTube.
 
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Winter fishing Idaho style. Mackay Reservoir today
 
Bloody hell ! Watching City and fishing at the same time. Pleasure overload. Just one bite so far and one very large chub. After bragging last week about carrying two sets of scales I decided to "travel light" today and jettisoned both sets. Typical. My mate and I agreed it's bigger than the 5lb chub I had the other week but couldn't get a photo that does it justice. This one gives some idea though.20210110_142819.jpg
 
Newman Noggs said:
Bloody hell ! Watching City and fishing at the same time. Pleasure overload. Just one bite so far and one very large chub. After bragging last week about carrying two sets of scales I decided to "travel light" today and jettisoned both sets. Typical. My mate and I agreed it's bigger than the 5lb chub I had the other week but couldn't get a photo that does it justice. This one gives some idea though.View attachment 8061
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lovely fish mate
 
My plans to get a photo of a grayling in the snow this morning were scuppered when I got up because it had melted. Never mind, I was on the River Calder about 10am with my centre pin, waders and stick float. I searched for deep, steady water because with snowmelt in the river I knew the grayling would be shoaled up as deep as they could be.

I hit the jackpot in the very first swim and was catching grayling from the off, of all sizes, with several big ones that I didn’t weigh. After an hour or so it was quieting down so I moved downstream. First cast here and I had a big one which I weighed at 1lb 9oz. Next cast was bigger at 1lb 10oz and is a new PB. I had plenty of others from this swim all between about a pound and a pound and a half.

I must have had 20 fish but had to leave about 12.45pm to give myself time for a bacon butty and a shower before the match. Very pleased with this session and it’s a PB I wanted to beat this winter after never really focussing much on grayling. I think I’ll stick at it a bit this winter to see if I can crack the 2lb benchmark, but I’m hearing the call of the predators again as it gets milder.
 

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