Due to some new restrictions put on the app I use to update my blog I have had to create a new whole new one with a new email address.
You can read all my old blog posts at http://www.tonusstonus.blogspot.com although this page will not be updated from now on.
You can view my new blog at http://thamesfisherman.blogspot.com/
I have also created a facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/DiaryofaThamesFisherman
Please feel free to join the page and add comments or your own blog entries and fishing pictures.
tight lines....
Sunday 19 May 2013
Tuesday 19 February 2013
River Thames
Today was my first session out in a few months.
I decided last minute to chuck the gear in the car for an afterwork session as the temperatures had been around 1º for the past 3 days and then there was a sudden temp increase up to 10º for a couple of days so I thought this could trigger a brief feeding spell.
I fished the same area as where I lost the fish at the beginning of the season.
I decided on just one rod, fishing in a semi slack area off the main flow.
Its around 10ft deep here normally, however the river was carrying an extra foot or so of water causing it to come up over the bank.
I had seen some posts online that the water temps earlier in the week had been 3.8º so upon arrival I took the temp which showed around 4.7º so the increase in air temp had definately made a slight difference to the water temps after only 12hours.
Upon arrival there were 2 guys just packing up. A brief chat revealed they had just one fish, a sea trout.
This area of the Thames is extremely popular, so any catches from the area would need to be kept discreet.
Anyway I spent 3 hours fishing heavily glugged boilies in the crease to no avail.
There is only 3 and a half weeks left of the river season so im gonna try and get out as much as I can in the next few weeks to try and bag a fish before the seasons end.
I decided last minute to chuck the gear in the car for an afterwork session as the temperatures had been around 1º for the past 3 days and then there was a sudden temp increase up to 10º for a couple of days so I thought this could trigger a brief feeding spell.
I fished the same area as where I lost the fish at the beginning of the season.
I decided on just one rod, fishing in a semi slack area off the main flow.
Its around 10ft deep here normally, however the river was carrying an extra foot or so of water causing it to come up over the bank.
I had seen some posts online that the water temps earlier in the week had been 3.8º so upon arrival I took the temp which showed around 4.7º so the increase in air temp had definately made a slight difference to the water temps after only 12hours.
Upon arrival there were 2 guys just packing up. A brief chat revealed they had just one fish, a sea trout.
This area of the Thames is extremely popular, so any catches from the area would need to be kept discreet.
Anyway I spent 3 hours fishing heavily glugged boilies in the crease to no avail.
There is only 3 and a half weeks left of the river season so im gonna try and get out as much as I can in the next few weeks to try and bag a fish before the seasons end.
posted from Bloggeroid
Tuesday 12 February 2013
Photos
I have not been out fishing for a while, but was recently looking through some photos and having a play around with them in photoshop and an app on my phone.
posted from Bloggeroid
Thursday 3 January 2013
Loss of motivation!!
After my determined start to the season, renewing tackle, plans etc I seem to have fallen into a severe lack of motivation when it comes to actually getting out and putting the time in.
Work and my family play a big part in the amount of fishing I do, so its not always easy to get out when the conditions suit, more a case of going when I have the chance whatever the conditions and deciding what to fish for based on when im going.
Losing the only fish I had hooked in a long time then losing it to tackle failure didnt help my cause either!!
I have had a couple of sessions out since my last blog entry, both after barbel, both were when the river was carrying extra water from the rain, and both resulted in the same result.......BLANK.
I like to keep in touch with whats going on at the river, whats being caught, conditions etc, but as I now live further away its not always easy for me to get there to check, as I used to drive and walk the river a couple of times a week checking on areas / seeing if anglers were catching etc.
So I use the internet to keep an eye on captures and river condition. Barbel captures from the Thames this year have gone mad, with fish to over 17lb being report and hundreds of fish over 10lb.
The rain has made it one of the best years for them by far, yet I have still found it hard to muster up the encouragement to get out and do more than I should.
I use several barbel pages on facebook
Barbel Fishing (The Prince of the River)
Thames Barbel Anglers
The Barbel Society
As well as forums
Cemex Angling
Barbel Fishing World
Heres hoping I can get out alot more during 2013, I have alot of catching up to do, having not caught a barbel from the thames for several years now!!
Until next time......
Work and my family play a big part in the amount of fishing I do, so its not always easy to get out when the conditions suit, more a case of going when I have the chance whatever the conditions and deciding what to fish for based on when im going.
Losing the only fish I had hooked in a long time then losing it to tackle failure didnt help my cause either!!
I have had a couple of sessions out since my last blog entry, both after barbel, both were when the river was carrying extra water from the rain, and both resulted in the same result.......BLANK.
I like to keep in touch with whats going on at the river, whats being caught, conditions etc, but as I now live further away its not always easy for me to get there to check, as I used to drive and walk the river a couple of times a week checking on areas / seeing if anglers were catching etc.
So I use the internet to keep an eye on captures and river condition. Barbel captures from the Thames this year have gone mad, with fish to over 17lb being report and hundreds of fish over 10lb.
The rain has made it one of the best years for them by far, yet I have still found it hard to muster up the encouragement to get out and do more than I should.
I use several barbel pages on facebook
Barbel Fishing (The Prince of the River)
Thames Barbel Anglers
The Barbel Society
As well as forums
Cemex Angling
Barbel Fishing World
Heres hoping I can get out alot more during 2013, I have alot of catching up to do, having not caught a barbel from the thames for several years now!!
Until next time......
posted from Bloggeroid
Friday 17 August 2012
River Thames - lure fishing - 6/8/12
I was going to take my barbel rods for this weeks after work session, but decided instead to grab my lure bag and take wander along a stretch I hadnt fished before.
Lure fishing the stretch offers me a few benefits, one of which is I can obviously target pike and perch with lures. However is also offers me the chance to map out the water fairly quickly, by regular casting from each swim with lures you will very quickly establish snags, weed and depth of water. Once I have found areas I think I would fish for carp or barbel, I will clip on a lead and map the area out in my head then later on a note pad or a google earth print out.
So I chose a favourite Thames lure of mine, the spinnerbait.
These spinnerbaits are brilliant on the thames for working close in around the cabbage weeds.
The design of them means they rarely snag, and the blades really throb on the retrieve, creating alot of vibration through the water, and the pike that sit in and around the cabbage weed, attack these lure with massive ferocity sometimes clearing the water as they grab out at them over their heads.
I spent the first hour along a stretch I have fished in the past before jumping in the car and driving a short distance to an area I have not fished before. This area is very shallow close in, if I had wellies or waders on I could have waded out quite away before the water shelved off.
I was casting lures out over the drop off and working them back over , expecting the pike to be laying on the bottom over the drop off and attack the lure as it came over its head.
The first 3 swims didnt produce anything.
The 4th was downstream of a large fallen tree, which created a big slack area close in as the flow pushed past the end of the tree, maybe 20yards out. Within this slack area there were plenty of small fish dimpling the surface, probably eating the many flys and bugs that were everywhere. First cast in this swim was right through the middle of them, and bang the lure was hit!!
The fish was very small and came in very quickly, I chucked the unhooking mat down in the margin and drew the pike over the top of it.
I wandered along the remaining stretch (probably half a mile) but had nothing else.
The whole of the stretch aside from the last 200yards is very shallow close in, before shelving off into the main gravelly channel, as well as 2 marinas and some moored abandoned boats, so definately an area im going to have a few sessions with my barbel / carp rods.
Lure fishing the stretch offers me a few benefits, one of which is I can obviously target pike and perch with lures. However is also offers me the chance to map out the water fairly quickly, by regular casting from each swim with lures you will very quickly establish snags, weed and depth of water. Once I have found areas I think I would fish for carp or barbel, I will clip on a lead and map the area out in my head then later on a note pad or a google earth print out.
So I chose a favourite Thames lure of mine, the spinnerbait.
These spinnerbaits are brilliant on the thames for working close in around the cabbage weeds.
The design of them means they rarely snag, and the blades really throb on the retrieve, creating alot of vibration through the water, and the pike that sit in and around the cabbage weed, attack these lure with massive ferocity sometimes clearing the water as they grab out at them over their heads.
I spent the first hour along a stretch I have fished in the past before jumping in the car and driving a short distance to an area I have not fished before. This area is very shallow close in, if I had wellies or waders on I could have waded out quite away before the water shelved off.
I was casting lures out over the drop off and working them back over , expecting the pike to be laying on the bottom over the drop off and attack the lure as it came over its head.
The first 3 swims didnt produce anything.
The 4th was downstream of a large fallen tree, which created a big slack area close in as the flow pushed past the end of the tree, maybe 20yards out. Within this slack area there were plenty of small fish dimpling the surface, probably eating the many flys and bugs that were everywhere. First cast in this swim was right through the middle of them, and bang the lure was hit!!
The fish was very small and came in very quickly, I chucked the unhooking mat down in the margin and drew the pike over the top of it.
I wandered along the remaining stretch (probably half a mile) but had nothing else.
The whole of the stretch aside from the last 200yards is very shallow close in, before shelving off into the main gravelly channel, as well as 2 marinas and some moored abandoned boats, so definately an area im going to have a few sessions with my barbel / carp rods.
posted from Bloggeroid
Wednesday 1 August 2012
Maggotdrowning - River Thames - 30/07/12
Summer holidays are here and with came the promise to take my nephews and son fishing again.
I chose somewhere different from the last trip out. The spot needed 2 things,
1, be flat and comfortable to minimse the kids falling!
2, have a decent depth close in to target smaller fish on the whip.
I arrived at my chosen area shortly after 11am to find most of the area taken. The guys to the left had rods out on buzzers, and the guy to the right was float fishing. I dropped in between them having more than enough water out in from of me.
Plumbing the depth I had about 7ft at my feet, and about 8ft further out.
I set up a 3 and 4mtr whip, the 4mtr fished with a 4no4 stick float set just off the bottom in 8ft of water, with the bulk shot a foot from the hook to get the bait down quickly.
The 3mtr whip was fished with the same float but this rig was set about 4foot deep and the shotting spread equally down the line to create a slower fall and to target fish up in the water.
A tin of hemp and 2 pints on maggots were all that was needed bait wise and off we went to catch some fish.
My nephew started to catch first, with bleak being the dominant speices he was catching with maggot up in the water
A pinch of maggots followed by the rig was all that was needed to be getting a bite every put in by him
Next up was my son, who isnt quite as keen as my nephew, but is still happy to have a go as long as hes catching, but gets bored exremely quick if hes not. (I remember being exactly the same when I was younger!!)
A rare moment when he was actually watching the float :)
I was fishing the 4mtr whip with a slightly different approach.
Feeding hemp slightly upstream and fishing maggot or caster (the maggots were quite old and turned quite quickly) a few inches off the bottom. I was also catching bleak, but also a couple of nice dace, and the fattest perch I have ever seen, he was as wide as he was long pretty much!!!
We fished for several hours catching fish on a fairly regular basis, before bites dried up. I had a pike rod set up with a bleak deadbait lobbed in the margins in the hope of a pike, but nothing came, much to callums disappointment!
We ended the day with a small bag of fish, caught mostly by callum and myself with jake and ray adding fish to the net through the day too.
And finally, photo of the day
Such a happy smile after an enjoyable afternoons fishing.
To end on a bad note the only other action I saw from either side of my was the guys up to my left who caught a pike. I took the boys up so they could see it, and to be honest, I wished I hadnt.
There were 3 guys fishing, each with 2 rods. One was carp/barbel fishing the other 2 were pike fishing.
They had a keepnet out, which I had seen them regularly pulling in and.throwing back out. I wasnt sure why from where I was fishing but when we wandered into thier swim I could see why!!
They had just landed a pike, which was laying in the net on the concrete floor (no unhooking mat), once unhooked, the guy then stood up and held the pike (about 5lb) about 4foot from the floor and at arms reach whilst his mate fannyed about trying to take pictures on his phone, the pike then flipped and this guy dropped the fish to the floor, crashing onto the concrete!!!
He then left it where it landed and walked off to his bivvy and produced a thick gardening glove for "a better grip". He then held the pike in the same way again and managed a couple of photos, before putting the fish into the keepnet. He then produced a slightly smaller fish from the net before throwing the keepnet out into the water, pike and all!!!
I saw him bring the net in several more times for random photos before throwing the net and fish back into the river.
Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of pike will know that they dont stand for this type of treatment, and chances are that once they were finally released they will probably have died shortly after.
I really should have said something, but with all the kids there and there being 3 of them, I didnt fancy confrontation with them.
Idiots like this are not needed in our sport, and give it a bad name.
I chose somewhere different from the last trip out. The spot needed 2 things,
1, be flat and comfortable to minimse the kids falling!
2, have a decent depth close in to target smaller fish on the whip.
I arrived at my chosen area shortly after 11am to find most of the area taken. The guys to the left had rods out on buzzers, and the guy to the right was float fishing. I dropped in between them having more than enough water out in from of me.
Plumbing the depth I had about 7ft at my feet, and about 8ft further out.
I set up a 3 and 4mtr whip, the 4mtr fished with a 4no4 stick float set just off the bottom in 8ft of water, with the bulk shot a foot from the hook to get the bait down quickly.
The 3mtr whip was fished with the same float but this rig was set about 4foot deep and the shotting spread equally down the line to create a slower fall and to target fish up in the water.
A tin of hemp and 2 pints on maggots were all that was needed bait wise and off we went to catch some fish.
My nephew started to catch first, with bleak being the dominant speices he was catching with maggot up in the water
A pinch of maggots followed by the rig was all that was needed to be getting a bite every put in by him
Next up was my son, who isnt quite as keen as my nephew, but is still happy to have a go as long as hes catching, but gets bored exremely quick if hes not. (I remember being exactly the same when I was younger!!)
A rare moment when he was actually watching the float :)
I was fishing the 4mtr whip with a slightly different approach.
Feeding hemp slightly upstream and fishing maggot or caster (the maggots were quite old and turned quite quickly) a few inches off the bottom. I was also catching bleak, but also a couple of nice dace, and the fattest perch I have ever seen, he was as wide as he was long pretty much!!!
We fished for several hours catching fish on a fairly regular basis, before bites dried up. I had a pike rod set up with a bleak deadbait lobbed in the margins in the hope of a pike, but nothing came, much to callums disappointment!
We ended the day with a small bag of fish, caught mostly by callum and myself with jake and ray adding fish to the net through the day too.
And finally, photo of the day
Such a happy smile after an enjoyable afternoons fishing.
To end on a bad note the only other action I saw from either side of my was the guys up to my left who caught a pike. I took the boys up so they could see it, and to be honest, I wished I hadnt.
There were 3 guys fishing, each with 2 rods. One was carp/barbel fishing the other 2 were pike fishing.
They had a keepnet out, which I had seen them regularly pulling in and.throwing back out. I wasnt sure why from where I was fishing but when we wandered into thier swim I could see why!!
They had just landed a pike, which was laying in the net on the concrete floor (no unhooking mat), once unhooked, the guy then stood up and held the pike (about 5lb) about 4foot from the floor and at arms reach whilst his mate fannyed about trying to take pictures on his phone, the pike then flipped and this guy dropped the fish to the floor, crashing onto the concrete!!!
He then left it where it landed and walked off to his bivvy and produced a thick gardening glove for "a better grip". He then held the pike in the same way again and managed a couple of photos, before putting the fish into the keepnet. He then produced a slightly smaller fish from the net before throwing the keepnet out into the water, pike and all!!!
I saw him bring the net in several more times for random photos before throwing the net and fish back into the river.
Anyone who has the slightest knowledge of pike will know that they dont stand for this type of treatment, and chances are that once they were finally released they will probably have died shortly after.
I really should have said something, but with all the kids there and there being 3 of them, I didnt fancy confrontation with them.
Idiots like this are not needed in our sport, and give it a bad name.
posted from Bloggeroid
Friday 13 July 2012
River Thames - Barbel - 05/07/12
I went into this weeks session quite confident, the river was still carrying extra from all the rain we have been getting in the south (3 months of rain and still a hose pipe ban, whats that all about!?!?)
I decided to concentrate my efforts on an area just downstream of a weir. The main flow was pushing through nicely, and I finally settled on an area of slack water and fished 2 rods in the crease.
I was fishing just my side of the white water in the above photo.
Fishing this way you are fishing right on the edge of the main flow, so you dont need as much lead to hold bottom, 3oz leads were being bounced along in the main flow and coming to rest just on the edge, this is the area that any food will gather that is being washed downstream.
I fished both rods in this spot, one with 2 x 11mm pellets, the other with a glugged boilie.
Around an hour late the boilie rod (fished slight downstream) absolutely ripped off, as is always the case, I had my back to rod at the time answering the call of nature!!
I picked up the rod and didnt flick the baitrunner off at first as the fish was still taking line, instead I cupped the spool to slow it down. I then flicked the baitrunner off and almost immediately the fish was off again, yanking the 2.25lb tc rod down again and the clutch on the reel screaming before the hook pulled!!
I stood there for a moment trying to think about what had just happened. First barbel session of the year, first take and first loss!
I wound in and found that infact the hook had straightened out!!!
The hook is a new one I was trying out, the kamasan b583. The hook certainly looked the part before casting out, just not on the retrieve!
I have no doubt the hooks would be up to the job under normal thames conditions, but when its carrying extra water, a stronger hook is definately needed.
After losing that fish, I tied up 2 new rigs with stronger hooks and recast both rods.
I stayed until 23:00 and aside from a few knocks later in the night, I ended the evening fishless!
I was gutted about losing that fish, and kicking myself for changing.the hooks instead of sticking with my usual hooks, thing is, I was using korda wide gapes, but have found them difficult to stay sharp.
So after some searching around online and asking a few thames regulars, I decided to upgrade my hooks to the Drennan Barbel specialist range, these look a very strong yet not overly thick hook.
I also found some Pallatrax hooks aptly named "The hook",
Their belief is that this one hook will cover all fishing situations, from carp to catfish to barbel using a variety of methods.
So with this in mind, I purchased the drennan barbel hooks in size 10 and the pallatrax in size 8.
I'll be using them on my next trip out so will report on my findings
I decided to concentrate my efforts on an area just downstream of a weir. The main flow was pushing through nicely, and I finally settled on an area of slack water and fished 2 rods in the crease.
I was fishing just my side of the white water in the above photo.
Fishing this way you are fishing right on the edge of the main flow, so you dont need as much lead to hold bottom, 3oz leads were being bounced along in the main flow and coming to rest just on the edge, this is the area that any food will gather that is being washed downstream.
I fished both rods in this spot, one with 2 x 11mm pellets, the other with a glugged boilie.
Around an hour late the boilie rod (fished slight downstream) absolutely ripped off, as is always the case, I had my back to rod at the time answering the call of nature!!
I picked up the rod and didnt flick the baitrunner off at first as the fish was still taking line, instead I cupped the spool to slow it down. I then flicked the baitrunner off and almost immediately the fish was off again, yanking the 2.25lb tc rod down again and the clutch on the reel screaming before the hook pulled!!
I stood there for a moment trying to think about what had just happened. First barbel session of the year, first take and first loss!
I wound in and found that infact the hook had straightened out!!!
The hook is a new one I was trying out, the kamasan b583. The hook certainly looked the part before casting out, just not on the retrieve!
I have no doubt the hooks would be up to the job under normal thames conditions, but when its carrying extra water, a stronger hook is definately needed.
After losing that fish, I tied up 2 new rigs with stronger hooks and recast both rods.
I stayed until 23:00 and aside from a few knocks later in the night, I ended the evening fishless!
I was gutted about losing that fish, and kicking myself for changing.the hooks instead of sticking with my usual hooks, thing is, I was using korda wide gapes, but have found them difficult to stay sharp.
So after some searching around online and asking a few thames regulars, I decided to upgrade my hooks to the Drennan Barbel specialist range, these look a very strong yet not overly thick hook.
I also found some Pallatrax hooks aptly named "The hook",
Their belief is that this one hook will cover all fishing situations, from carp to catfish to barbel using a variety of methods.
So with this in mind, I purchased the drennan barbel hooks in size 10 and the pallatrax in size 8.
I'll be using them on my next trip out so will report on my findings
posted from Bloggeroid
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