What have you had then Mr?

Well I went to pick up supplies today so decided to divert to the Upper Severn for a couple of hours before collecting my stock. Got smashed up by a barbel at the start so I had to re-tackle and baited up with a 14mm 3-B boilie and had a nice 5lb 1oz chub a few minutes later. Followed that up with a 2nd chub at 5lb 4oz so very pleased for a couple of hours fishing. Actually, it was my first chance to fish this season so made it well worth the wait

Sweet Fanny Adams thus far. Been in the right place at the wrong time almost every trip, Thames is in desperate need of some water and the fishing`s suffering for it.

Still finding my feet on the Loddon and the section of the Kennet I like has been invaded by bivvy dwellers doing 60 hour sessions ( seems a bit like cheating to me, sad dinosaur that I am.)

Roll on the autumn and bitter cold winter nights, might get the river to myself again.

Mic

not a lot of fish about,only had 3 chub so far,yesterday had a barbel of 15lb 9oz on arctic red boilie fished direct onto the hook,only fish short sessions due to commitments (2 hrs) and 5 mins is taken up walking to the river and back,loads of duckweed and in some places stretches 15ft into river,needs a good flush through,dont think i can make it to the do as i have to go to a kids party instead, so while you lot are wiping fish slime on your trousers, i will be wiping jelly and ice cream from my face and hair,
tight lines Kev,

Nice fish Kev, you will have to include a photo for us to gawp at mate! Well done. I would rather be fishing than coping with kiddie sick, jelly and ice cream!

Hi Darren,could not figure out how to put pic on forum as i am useless with computers,even a calculator baffles me ,Ihave sent you some pics to your e mail adress if you can stick them somewhere for me
kev

Kev's barbel of 15lb 9oz from Gt Ouse caught on Arctic Red boilie.[/img]

Cracking whiskers Kev, you seem to have also mastered my "rabbit in the headlights" look too!! Was it a self take? thats my usual excuse.

I still haven`t had hardly a sniff of a chub and only a coulple of small barbel to show for my efforts. Mind you I am catching a number of sizeable roach by accident at the moment, most trips to the Thames see at least half a dozen 1lb plus roach banked. No 2lbers yet but I`ve had them to 1lb14oz and all of them on 18lb fluoro mainline, 2oz inline lead, 15lb braid hooklink, 15mm paste wrapped boilie hair rigged on a size 10 or 12. Fish for them with proper gear, flake or maggots etc and all you catch is about a thousand 2 to 8oz silvers, chuck out a boilie and the bigguns just hang themselves. Maybe I could write a book about roach fishing now, everybody else seems to be.

Mic

3-B Mic, 3-B

Yes it was a self take,photography is not my strong point and in spite of getting a decent camera they are still crap,will have to practise a bit more but because it is used so infrequently i keep forgetting what all the buttons and knobs are for,so i just point in the general direction and if the fish and me are in the picture then it is good enough for me,also dont like fish being distressed for too long ,many years ago when i used to fish the Kennet it was a regular thing to see barbel floating past upside down where people had either put them straight back or had them out of water for long periods just to get a photo to prove what a good angler they were.
best of luck for the weekend kev.

Working in Nottingham all week so decided to pop down to the A1 section of the Trent at Newark for a few hours after work on Friday. Set up with 12mm 3-B boilies and flicked out 15 yards onto solid gravel. Certainly a lot slower pace to the river due to the lack of rain, and I thought I was going to be in for a bit of a slow session and so it proved until the last hour when I managed chub of 4lb 3oz and 5lb 4oz plus two lively barbel of around 7lb a piece. Brilliant river, maybe a contender for an over-night sortie for a future Hook Baits Social?

Have hardly had the chance to fish this season but last Saturday realised I had 3 hours before work so nipped down to the Exe in Exeter with a bag of 3B paste. With my tip rod and 8lb Maxima had a great time catching a 7-3 Barbel, 3lb Chub then a Mirror of 19-5 and a Common of 16-9. The nature of this area means I am fishing off a 5 metre high sheeted concrete bank and have to walk the fish about 30 yards dowmstream to land them!
First time on the site and trying to work out how to add a photo though they are on my facebook page.
Simon

Hello Simon, glad you joined the group. Good result for a few hours fishing, sounds like you need mountain boots though! To add a photo you simply go to your profile page then click on avatar to upload a photo.

Hi all,
Just back from a visit to chub central, Dorset Stour and Hants Avon. Not a bad trip, had an interesting trip to the Itchen and had a few average chub. A day on the Avon at Bisterne again produced just fairly average chub. I had two trips to Throop and the first produced a nice catch of 16 chub, including five over 5lb and a good fish of 6lb2oz. All on freelined naturals. The second visit to Throop found the fish less forthcoming and I managed a few lesser fish on freelined 3-B boilies.
I did have a rare bash at a carp session a couple of weeks ago, unfortunately failed on the carp front, but did manage several decent bream to over 9lb which seemed to appreciate the old 3-B!
Tight lines all, Martin

Well done Tim
I'm off to the Royalty for the first time in my life next week, looking forward to it.Fishing the Parlour Pool.
Is it only CSG members who report fish?!
S

Well, our man Eric has been having a bit of a purple patch of late...Amino Crustacean accounted for this superb looking 20lb common from the Warwickshire Avon. Absolute stunner!

Another cracking fish from the Warwickshire Avon to the rods of Mick Foreman. A belter at 12lb 8oz caught on the ever faithful 3-B

Had a short session after a few carp in a local pit today and managed to snag one on 3-B. A new pb for me of 22lb9oz. Not massive I know, but a result for me none the less! Beat my previous best that had stood for over 13 years! Shows how often I target carp (or how bad I am at it!)
Martin

After after a disappointing day on The Royalty, I had a great weekend in Yorkshire with the Chub Study Group, having 9 chub to 5-1 on the Saturday.
Last Saturday I had a go back on the Exe and was delighted to have a fine 11-1 barbel on Simply Black, Darrens new paste.
I need some more but this weekend will be back on the 3B for the carp and barbel on the Exe.

Our man Eric has reported a cracking chub of 6lb 1oz off the Warwks Avon on Natural Crave. Followed it up with a nice barbel at last knockings. Well done that man.

Down in Exeter for a few days so decided to call on Simon Cooper to see about getting an end of season fish on a new river. Simon very kindly arranged a guest permit to fish his club stretch of the Exe and showed me the swims that produce chub, barbel and bream. Well Monday I could not buy a bite, but I returned again this evening and after about an hour of not connecting with five swift bites I finally latched into a nice heavy lump that took a good 5 minutes to land. On the scales she went 5lb 7oz and I was truly amazed to catch a five as my first fish off a new river, absolutely mint. Fellow chub study member Paul Forshaw walked by and offered his services to rattle off a few pictures for me, thanks Paul.
Tomorrow I am going to try for a big river bream as Simon has shown me a few hotspots and maybe a bonus barbel as well. I will keep you posted

Well done Darren, on a bit of a roll as the season ends mate.

Mic

Popped back again to fish another stretch of Simon's river yesterday evening as a final fling for seasons end. No chub this time but I did manage a new personal best bream of 7lb 7oz on 3-B paste so that was a nice end, and Simon, Paul Forshaw, Keith and myself retired to the pub for a few pints to toast the end of season. Lovely place to fish and I plan to return in the Summer.

Darren

If you`re back in the summer get Mr Cooper to put you on some mullet. Nothing you ever hook, pound for pound will ever fight so hard. By the way, I blanked, surprise, surprise!!

Mic

Well done to anyone that managed a decent fish or two at the end of the season. My winter was pretty poor to be honest, if it wasn't for one decent stretch of the Ivel I'd really have struggled!
A couple of concerted efforts on the Welland on Monday and the Ivel on Tuesday produced very little. Fortunately a more relaxed approach on Wednesday produced half a dozen Welland chub on wagg'n'magg in fairly quick order to at least end on a few fish.


Last day Welland chub of 4lb+.

Now, where are my Tench/Bream rods and a bag of Darren's blueberry bolies?!

Had this lovely 5lb 4oz fish to link legered cheese paste from the Waveney in Suffolk. To be honest the Waveney has fished pretty poorly until we had a nice flood about a week before the season ended. The chub fishing after the flood was absolutely fantastic, with multiple catches from a fair number of anglers.