Bluemoon Angling Thread

Did you get out ? Rivers a bit tricky after the last couple of days I should imagine.
Yes, I got out. I’m a football coach and got delayed due to incidents at the match, so I took on a different project as I only had a couple of hours. There’s a pond nearby fished by match type anglers. I saw a photo on their Facebook page of a 3lb 5oz perch, but I don’t think any “specialist” anglers have ever fished it.

I went up in the summer for an hour with lures (that’s all it takes as it’s less than an acre) and within 20 minutes hooked (and lost) what felt like a very big perch.

Today I judged that as all the reservoirs, rivers and canals would be like chocolate this might be my only chance of water clarity for lures. I was wrong. It’s fed by a stream and was muddy as hell and I blanked.

What was interesting was that the bailiff was there and he had never seen anyone target the perch. But had had one of 3.5lb himself that winter and he showed me a pic. He said that 20 perch were introduced 15 years ago and have never spawned, so he thought there might be one, or maybe two, left. There are no pike.

So the rather frustrating conclusion is that I almost certainly hooked and lost a 3.5lb perch there this summer, and may struggle to get another chance.

He did, however tell me of another reservoir I know and have pike fished where his mate caught several 2lbers the other day. So it wasn’t a day wasted.
 
Last edited:
Out on the Llangollen canal yesterday. Beautiful day and picturesque surroundings but nary a nibble between three of us over 6 hours. Leaves were a bit of a problem but not the cause of the absence of fish I think. Probably just because it's a very shallow canal.

Either way, it's the rivers from now on.
 
I can’t seem to get the time for a “proper” fishing trip, and conditions have been poor for autumn. I got out for my customary afternoon perch fishing/exploring, this time to the reservoir I mentioned above. There were two pikers on who make vlogs (which I watch for “leads”!) blanking, and another two pikers who turned out to be the blokes who caught the 2lb perch the bailiff tipped me off about. They were blanking too.

I did a circuit of the res not feeling confident but in a shady corner, a pike smashed the perch lure right in front of my eyes and gave me a good scrap on ultra light perch gear. It was about 5lb and not a perch but I was pleased with the little trip whist my wife cooked dinner.

I’m really hoping for a soft, mild spell to coincide with a free afternoon/evening, to have a last barbel trip on The Ribble, but I can’t seem to get the weather or the window.
 
A non-frosty night, lower river and slight temperature increase sent me out for a last chance of an autumn barbel. I went on The Ribble for the afternoon and took a roaming approach, fishing three different stretches. Had a few pulls at dusk which I think were chub, but no barbel even though I fished well into darkness.

Fishing is about more than just fishing, though, as I witnessed a rather wonderful sight: tens of thousands of starlings, flock after flock after flock, headed a few yards over my head at dusk to some colossal marmuration just behind me somewhere behind the trees.

Sunday I had a few hours exploring the local canal for perch and didn’t get a touch either. I’ve never known a worse autumn for fishing. We haven’t had an Atlantic storm, warm flood or warm weather spell since September. The rivers have been up and down like Prince Andrew’s arse with cold water, and the fish think it’s january.
 
Had a great day last Sunday. Holmstall Hall Tarporley. 8 carp between 1lb & 8lb all caught on float with a mixture of sweetcorn and bacon lardons(smoked) just getting back into this after a 25 year break, roll on the next international break!!!
 
Now that the biblical floods are receding I judged it time to make my first sortie since I moved down south as I'm going stir crazy. Venue of choice was the Warwickshire Avon at Wasperton. Feeder fished maggots for 5 hours and had some decent roach and dace but, most importantly, got to see some bites.

Banks were fucking teacherous though and more than once I found myself on the slippery slope down to the water. Great day though.
 
Last edited:
Got out for the second day running yesterday and opted for a different swim on the Avon. I was short of maggots after the previous day, so bought a loaf, rustled up some plain brown crumb groundbait and set out my stall for roach.

Used an open ended feeder plugged with the brown crumb flavoured with some Archie Braddock "spice surprise" which I reckon must be 20 years old. 3.8 lb hooklength with 14s hook and a decent-sized piece of flake pinched onto the hook.

Imagine my surprise when the tip popped straight (I was fishing upstream) and I caught a healthy 4lbs chub first cast. Re-cast and whilst I was texting my mates the glad tidings, back it dropped and there was a good roach in the net.

I've been around long enough to be wary of expecting a bumper day based on the first couple of casts and so it proved again. Plenty of action all day with small stuff but those were the best two fish of the day. Fantastic to be back on the the bank though and I've resolved that anything at 4 degrees or above this winter and I'm out there.
 
My weekly pre-dinner perch search: I went up to the reservoir with the rumours but there were so many pikers on it, and it was flat calm, so I sacked it off after ten minutes and decided to have an hour on a new section of canal nearby which I knew little about but was on the club book. Explored up a few locks and managed one jack pike.
 
I have got to send my salmon catch return to the EA

Rivers fished: Wye
Hours fished: Fuckin hundreds
Salmon caught: Never even saw one you bunch of cunts.
 

Don't have an account? Register now and see fewer ads!

SIGN UP
Back
Top
  AdBlock Detected
Bluemoon relies on advertising to pay our hosting fees. Please support the site by disabling your ad blocking software to help keep the forum sustainable. Thanks.