The Thames Anglers Conservancy - Join now!!

The Thames Anglers Conservancy (T-A-C) will be officially launched mid January 2010 by a group of like-minded anglers who fish the river Thames and share the concern of the seemingly uncaring, even cavalier attitude shown by the several different agencies, PLC’s and other authorities charged with the duty of maintaining and improving the environment of the river.
The development of this web site is on-going and hopefully will become the main focal point when officially launched mid January not only the anglers who fish the river but for ALL who have an interest in the river Thames.

To assist the T-A-C in realising its ambitions the Committee will be working towards the Conservancy being a member of the Angling Trust.

The Angling Trust:
Angling Trust is the new, single organisation to represent all game, coarse, specimen and sea anglers and angling in England.

The formation of Angling Trust brings with it a positive new future for angling. For the first time ever, there is a single body to take cohesive action to solve all the problems that affect our sport.
This came about when the four major angling bodies, the National Association of Fisheries & Angling Consultative’s, Specialist Anglers’ Alliance, National Federation of Anglers and the National Federation of Sea Anglers together with the Anglers Conservation Association agreed in January 2009 to pool their resources and became the single unified body with the intention representing all anglers and fisheries, The Angling Trust. A new separate organisation, Fish Legal, was established to take over the work previously carried out by the ACA

After decades of fragmented representation the Angling Trust, in less than 12 months from being formed, has recently been recognised by Sport England as the governing body for angling and angling development throughout England


To join the Thames Anglers Conservancy, please visit - www.t-a-c.webege.com

Barbel blanking part with the rat pack! 24 Sept

This session saw me on a very popular stretch of the Thames, the same section where only the week before a very large catfish had been reported as lost at the net after an hour long fight.

Upon arrival at around 1930, there was one other guy just packing up further along the stretch, but other than that, there was no one else around.
One thing I noticed immediately was that the water level was up to almost over the bank, which I think was probably down to the EA holding the water back from the weir upstream. The water was still crystal clear, I could pick out bits on the bottom about a rod length out, thats how clear it is!!

I set about setting everything up, as the water was so clear and not moving at all, I decided to fish with a slack line and bobbins resting ont he floor, just as I would for carp in a lake, coupled with a flying back lead, I was sure that I had laid the line along the bottom.

Hooklengths again, 8lb mono, size 8 hooks, on one with 2 glugged 15mm boilies, the other a standard 18mm straight from the packet, both rigs were cast out with PVA bags full of mixed Halibut pellets.
I put a scattering of boilies out mid river and fished one rod over these, the other rod was fished "roving" style, and cast around the swim every half hour.

Darkness came and with it as did the rats, now I dont know what it is abot rats, but they freak the hell out of me, and with one running back and forth under my rods, setting my alarms off due to the slack line, it did nothing to calm me!!!

A fish would have taken my mind off of it but that was not to be, I packed up at 2200, fishless!!!

Im not too bothered about blanking, after all it seems 90% of the people I have spoken to are all in the same boat, so it seems being in the right spot at the right time is something I have not achieved yet!!!

Another spinning session 19 Sept

This weeks session was a return to our perch / lure spot that we seem to have discovered.

Im sure its the massive amounts of fry that congregate this area that keep the perch, chub and pike there.


We arrived early afternoon, (Claire's sister and boys were already there with a bucket and net trying to catch tiddlers) and Claire began setting up her rod with her now very popular Mepps aglia spinner.

Again the spot produced chub and perch to me and Claire, along with a bucket full of roach fry and a single, fin perfect perch of probably an ounce!!

There is still no one else fishing the spot despite it being very popular with kids etc, so its still an area marked out to explore further with a feeder or barbel rods.

Barbel Blanking 13th Sept 09

This week finally saw me out with the barbel rods to the same spot I fished a few weeks back.
I was working all day but managed to get out half hour early, so it was home, grab a bite to eat and the rods and out.
My original plan was to fish and area I have not done much barbel fishing before, but due to romours of a big fish being lost doing the rounds on the internet forums, it was packed there with all the decent pegs gone.
I decided to drive to a spot a little closer to home, and an area that I have caught from in the past.

I arrived to find the swim empty, in fact the whole stretch was empty, which was a little strange to say the least as there are normally at least one or two anglers there.

I set up 2 rods, identically, with 10lb mainline, 8lb hooklinks,korda flying backlead and size 10 hooks with a 1inch hair rig and 2oz gripper leads. Bait wise I stuck to tried and tested, glugged source 15mm and Prawn & shellfish 15mm on the other. The close in rod was the prawn bait and was followed by around 30 freebies, and 50 8mm trout pellets. The source rod was attached to a PVA bag of mixed halibuts soaked in source liquid andcast just past mid river.

I decided that as I have faith in these baits and methods, I would cast them out and leave them there for the remainder of the session, knowing how hard the river has been this year I didnt want to risk spooking ay fish that may have been in the area.

Well I would love to say that I bagged up, but I didnt, the wind was pretty bad bouncing the rod tips all over the place so I couldnt see any indications on them, I had to rely on the alarms to alert me, but they remained motionless!!

There was a distinct lack of fish topping last night, normally the river comes alive at dusk with fish rolling all over, but I saw 2 small fish top when I first arrived then nothing for the rest of the evening.

I think on my next session I am going to spend time leading around to find any features.
I normally just presume that the middle of the river is gravel and just chuck the rig out, but as last night proved when I reeled in to find my bait gone and my hook attached to a swan mussel, it shouldnt be a chuck and chance it approach.
So Im going to search out some fishable features to see if it improves my catch reports at all.

River Thames Tuesday 25th August

This weeks session was to the same stretch as last week. Knowing that there were a few of Claire's target fish in this area made it an easy decision as to where to head.
We arrived early afternoon just after Claire finished work, tackle was no different to last week, even down to the same Mepps spinner!!

Claire started the session off, myself again chosing not to take a rod so that I could help her out with unhooking and snags etc.
A few casts in and she was into the swing of things, but decided to let me have ago!! Not wanting to take any fish away from her, I had a couple of half hearted chucks about, and first cast I was into a fish. Not massive, but a small perch had grabbed the spinner.
I quickly unhooked and returned him none the worse for wear.

I decided to let Claire fish out the session, so that I didnt catch anymore!
I cant remember exactly, but I think a few casts in she may have hooked and lost a perch. Anyhow, several casts later and Claire was all excited as she had hooked something. I was only a few paces away but I could still hear the tell tail signs of the clutch ticking away. Thinking she had hook the bottom, I wandered over to discover it was the bottom, but her first ever pike.

She played it expertly after I had given her a few
tips last week, I was soon bending down to land
the pike. It wasnt massive, but she was very
excited, at a little over a pound, it was in
immaculate condition, probably never having been hooked before.

Still not wanting to hold the fish a few pics were snapped on her mobile of me holding the fish.

I was very proud that I had taught her all she knew about fishing and here she was all excited about catching her first pike, just as the week before with the perch.

Several more casts and she was in again!!

I told her that as soon as that first fish was caught, plenty more would follow and sure enough after many blan sessions, she was playing her 3rd fish in 2 sessions!!

I still had not seen the fish as I was making sure Jake was secure so he didnt fall in the river, but I could hear Claire saying "whats that" and "it looks like a roach" looking over the side to lift the fish fron the water I was greeted by another immaculate conditioned fish, this time a chub.

Again not a massive fish, but then it didnt need to be, the massive grin on Claire's face said it all. She was well happy to have caught 2 different species.

Taking her tally of different fish caught to 7, having caught perch, pike, ruffe, dace, roach, bleak and chub, topped by her personal pest Perch of 1.06.

This week may see a change in approach, I am collecting my feeder gear so I can enjoy some small fish sport with the possibility of a bream or 2, plus Claire fancies trying worm and maggot for some more perch.

I have 2 killos of partimix seed at home to make up and freeze to us through the feeder. The small fish really do go mad for this seed, and I have had several good sessions from the Thames using seed as feed and maggot on the hook. The good thing about the seed is it offers plenty of change baits, as there are so many differnt sized seeds in the mix and once soften can quite easily be used on the hook.

I have still not been out with the barbel rods. Maybe ill wait for Autumn and give it a go, aswell as dusting off the pike gear for autumn and winter.


Until next time..........

River Thames 17th August

The session this week was one a bit different in that I didnt actually take a fishing rod with me, instead preferring to concentrate on helping Claire to catch on her rod and lures.

The rod I brought her is a telescopic Berkley light lure / jig rod, rated to 35 grams its perfect for working small lures, plugs and spinners aswell as jelly worms on jig heads.
I coupled this with a small Shimano 500 reel, which is a tiny front drag reel, light as anything, so ideal for Claire. The reel is loaded with 14lb berkley fireline braid, and traces are made from Drennan 10lb soft wire.
I was going to do away with the wire, but with the amount of pike in the Thames its probably best to keep it, as pike will bite through most materials, but not wire.

Claire's lure box is filled with small plugs, shads, worms, mepps spinners. All aimed at catching perch, which, up until now, we had failed to do.

The only real experience of catching large perch I have is a few years back up on the River Ouse, I managed to catch a couple of fish over a 1lb on spinnerbaits intended for pike in a weir pool, followed later that same afternoon by a perch of an ounce under 3lb taking a bleak that had taken my feeder fished maggots. The perch fishing that day was very good as I was catching fish of 1lb on the feeder, upto 2lb on lures and then the near '3' effectively on a livebait.
Its something I really need to do more of, perch fishing on the Ouse, its home to some monster fish.

Anyway, back to the session. We arrived early afternoon, after Claire had finished work and after resisting the temptation of taking my lure rod, I set hers up with a small bladed spinner. I then told claire where abouts to aim her casts, which, of course, she missed, lol. Its not her fault though, she is more used to fishing with a 3mtr whip!!

After about ten casts and she whacked one up the tree on the far bank! This resulted in a lost trace and lure. It didnt even "just" catch it, it was embedded half way up the tree. (Maybe she was trying to cast over the island) After tying on a new trace and attaching a larger Mepps Aglia, The casting began again, a little gingerly at first due to the lost tackle before, she was soon back in the swing of it though, cast into the shadows on the far bank.
I presumed this would be where the perch would hold up as it was out of the sun, and there were masses of fry from our margin to about half way across, so it figured the perch would be sat just past halfway in the deeper water, waiting to ambush the fry as it travelled over head.

This plan was executed perfectly when claire said her line didnt feel right when she was reeling in, looking into the water I could see a perch shaking its head to try and rid itself of the hooks.
Being the first fish properly hooked on a rod and reel by Claire is was a little confusing for her, and resulted in the perch falling off right in the edge just as I was about to pick it from the water. Ah well, 1-o to the perch!!

A few more casts resulted in nothing, so we move up a few yards, and almost straight away from over on the far bank Claire said she had hooked another one, learning from her previous mistake, she was unhurried and a bit more relaxed, bring the perch into the edge where I picked it from the water. Her first fish on a lure was on the bank, as I lifted it fron the water, Claire let out a scream, of "yes!!"
Weighing about half a pound, maybe a little more, claire was very happy with it. A couple of pics of me holding the fish (Claire has not yet got to the point of holding the fish for pictures) and it was released.
Several more casts in the same swim resulted in one more hooked and lost fish.
We fished the remaining swims, but no more action was forthcoming.

I did managed to have a couple of casts myself, the first was into a sunken branch which resulted in me losing the very lure Claire had just caught her perch on!!!
Looking into the box I had no more 10lb wire traces made up, so I had to make do with a 30lb one I had made up for my piking. Several most casts and I somehow managed to hook the same underwater branch I had lost the tackle on!! My god, what was going on!!!
Pulling for a break, I felt something give, and proceeded to pull in a branch from the underwater obstruction. To my amazement, there lodged in the branch I was pulling in was the lure I had just lost!! Claire was happy I had managed to get here now favourite lure back.

That ended the session.
The cabbage weed did not seem as pronounced as it did, a few weeks back when we fished there, I dont know if it is dying off already, it may have been due to the slight tinge of colour in the river and relative lack of sun which meant I just couldnt see into the water as I had been able to last week.
I have seen Chub right in the edge on previous ocassions, so im sure there will be carp and barbel in the area also, and so far on around 6 visits I have not seen another competant angler, plenty of kids and day "noddies" but no one that actually looks like they know what they are doing, so it might definately be an area to investigate further.

River Thames Sunday 9th August

After returning back from my honeymoon the week before I was itching to get out and get some fishing in, so it was after a healthy tesco breakfast, that we decided to swing by the tackle shop and get a couple of pints of maggots and spend a few hours drowning them down the thames.

We drove to a swim that we regularly fish for small stuff, but that swim was taken, so we drove to another area a few miles up the road, but being the weekend, everywhere was packed. It was then that we decided to fish a spot that we hadnt done before.
We had fished lures and wobbled deadbaits in the past there and caught pike, but nothing with maggots.

To be honest I wasnt expecting to catch much, its a small bit of water round the back of an island, with depths around 5 foot, the cabbage weed covering most of the bottom came up a couple of feet, plus its quite clear water. But with maggots and a few hours to kill I decided to give it ago anyway, beats being at home cleaning up, even if I dont catch anything!!

I set up a 3 mtr whip with 3lb mainline, 2.6lb hooklength, size 18 hook, and a small 3bb stick float set about two and a bit foot deep, so I was fishing over the top of the cabbages.
It was simple fishing really, 10-15 maggots each cast, flick the rig out and within a few seconds I was getting bites. From there on I was getting a bite a chuck, litterally.
I wasnt hooking fish every cast, but I would say I hooked about 1 in 4 bites, mostly resulting in bleak, then I started catching some nice dace, which were well over half a pound. A few perch, roach and a few more bleak and the swim went dead.
Knowing that there were a few pike in this bit of river I used claire's light lure rod aith a small mepps spinner and first cast through the middle of my swim I hooked a perch which looked about half a pound in the water, but that came adrift amoungst a swirl on the surface and it was gone!! I had several more casts which all resulted in nothing.

Switching back to the whip resulted in bites again and I continued to catch bleak and dace until we left.

Claire was very happy to finally get some action on her lure set up, which saw her hook, but lose, several perch. So Im sure she is desperate to get back there and see if she can land one or two of them!
I quite fancy the area for barbel and carp too, so I may well have a session there very soon, with some heavier gear, as although the area is behind an island, you can cast out into the main river a few swims down, so im sure it would be a good place to target them. Who knows, we shall see.


I also have a tip for a small stretch of river not far from me, that may contain some carp and a few barbel, so thats something else I need to look into as its virtually on my door step!!