Ollerton Pool - March 27th

My first visit to this pool, which is a new water for BMAC, with the aim of dusting off my stillwater gear after months of river fishing.
I was not too condfident as the last few days have been blisteringly hot and sunny and today was no exception . I arrived at about 9.15am and had a walk around the pool. It is a fairly shallow (3.5 - 5ft) with coloured water and lots of lilly pads emerging but not too much activity. I selected a peg in the bottom left hand corner between some lilly pads, this was the only are that I had seen any bubbles.

I set up my pole, plumbed up and started to fish at about 11m near some lillies using bread.

View across the pool from my peg

 
I fed hemp and pellets sparingly and changed between bread & corn with no luck.

After an hour or so Pete Merry came round and had a chat, telling me a bit about the history of the pool etc. but also said that maggots had been fishing well...not really what I wanted to hear as I did not have any maggots with me, I did try some fake maggots later to no avail, he also suggested trying the margins as well.

Float nicely set...this is how it stayed - above the surface!!

I set up a second rig for the margins, again fed hemp & pellets and fished both the left & right margin again nothing.

I packed up at 13.00 having blanked, 2 bites both on bread and both missed!!

One other chap was fishing and he had 2 Rudd all morning both on caster...not exactly fishing its head off!! Walking round at the end I saw a number of carp basking in the middle of the pool and also under the overhanging bush on the right bank all around the 6-8lb mark.

Will I go back....not sure its really my cup of tea!!!!!!!!!

Final River Session of the Season - March 13th

Back on the Severn again for a final fling before the end of the river season.

I had decided to go back to Arley R/B at Hextons Farm with the intention of fishing further downstream. I was not sure what to expect but had a bad feeling as the drive down became a mare, due to a mega traffic jam going into Wolverhampton.

When I finally got to the car park I found it full up, lots of people out for a last fling before the close season. The Bailiff came over to see my card, the first time in years, and we walked down to the river together. I decided to fish the swim just upstream of the confluence with the brook, I was told that this had been fishing OK recently and the swims that I had fished previously were occupied.

I had just started to tackle up when two blokes came into the swim directly upstream and started to cast out bomb trying to rescue a rod which had been pulled in....but they gave up after a few casts! I was worried that it would mess up my swim so I went and tried to get the rod out...fortunately I got it hooked it on my second cast, but the guilty barbel had slipped the hook.

I set up two rods:
1.50 T/C. 10lb main, maggot feeder, 8-15 powerline hooklink & S14 specialist wide gape hook.
1.75 T/C. 10lb main, open end feeder, 10lb sinkbraid hooklink & S12 barbel super specialist hook.

First cast out on the maggot feeder and I had a bite within the first 5 mins.....landed a 6-8 barbel. Second cast out and another fish within 5 mins, cute little fish of about 1-8.  Finally I cast out my second rod with a 10mm pellet with no response.
I switched over to a caster on both rods and had two further fish (4 & 5lb ish) in quick succession.
A little lull was broken by a fish on one of the rods, when I had netted the fish the other rod went off and l was into another fish, fortunately the bailiff was passing and unhooked and released the first fish whilst I played the other one.

Good start to the day, 6 fish in the first hour and a half, but the guys upstream were starting to get on my t**s casting every few mins and shouting to each other, it felt more like a commercial!!

In the next half an hour I pulled out of a fish and was snapped on the strike on maggots...this time it was the mainline that broke at the swivel knot. With hindsight I should have changed to 12lb main...but didn't and paid the price later!!


Over the next couple of hour I tried to get the waggler going but couldn't get it to run through properly! I think the swim started shallow then got deeper which caused problem with setting the depth. Whilst I was trying the float a bloke jumped into the swim immediately upstream of me, which was way too close, despite my protest he started to cast in front of me!! I caught a Chub on the maggot feeder (about 3lb), carried on for another half hour then packed up and headed off downstream to find a quieter swim.

The Dead Tree Swim

I found the 'dead tree' swim further downstream, were the bailiff was fishing, he pointed me to a swim in the next field.

Fished caster on one rod and maggot on the other, after 15 mins I had a fish on caster on the upstream rod (4.5lb). Switched the upstream rod to pellet and had no further bites. On the downstream rod I alternated between maggot and caster, I was snapped on both baits over the next hour, both times at the swivel knot on the mainline....should have changed to 12lb mainline.

4-8 lb Barbel on caster

A nice looking riffle downstream...roll on the summer!!!

I recently switched from 10lb Diawa Sensor to 10lb Diawa Tournament ST mainline, because of ST's thinner diameter, I never had any problems with the Sensor breaking, tests later showed that the ST broke at around8lb. it may be OK for commercials but not for rivers....new line required for next season!!!

Packed up at 7.00pm...7 barbel & 1 chub...but very frustrated with the breaks!

Look forward to coming back next season.

Back on the Severn - March 8th

Decided to return to Arley right bank and see if I could winkle out some Barbel, specifically on the waggler. Arrived by 11.00am to find no one on the stretch so I managed to get onto the peg that I had seen a chap using the waggler last week.

Since my last visit I had started a thread on BFW to get info on how to improve my rigs so I was keen to try out some new ideas. ( maggot feeder, hooklinks & hooks)

I set up two ledger rigs and a float rig to start with:
1.5 TC, 10lb main, 11lb Powerline hooklink using a no slip loop knot & size 14 wide gape hook.
1.75 TC, 10lb main, 10lb Sinkbraid hooklink using a fig 8 loop & size 12 barbel super specialist hook.
Power Float, 8lb Supplex main, 3.5g loaded peacock waggler, 7.9lb Silstar hooklink attached with double uni-knot & size 14 wide gape hook.

View downstream, waiting for first bite!

First couple of hours tried boilie on one rod & maggot on the other, only one bite on the maggot, main line broke on the strike. Probably need to increase the main to 12lb if I am using an 11lb hooklink.

First fish was on the maggot feeder, about 8lb, then went quiet again.

First fish of the day.

Changed to waggler & maggot and kept the maggot feeder out.
Managed 7 barbel & 3 chub on the waggler, the first one was about 4lb ish:

First Barbel caught on a waggler!!

What a great feeling my first barbel on the float from the Severn. The largerst on the waggler went to 9-04. Waggler technique was to cast upstream, fire out maggots, pull waggler onto the same line and let it run through at river speed, seemed to work once I had found depth.

Switched the maggot feeder to caster hook bait and hemp & caster in the feeder, caught two barbel one was a double hook up with the float, bit of a challenge but managed to land both fish, the other was after I had packed up the float rod.

Packed up the waggler rod about 5.30 and recast the feeder rig with a 10mm halibut hook pellet, landed 3 barbel with the last , at 6.45, being the largest at 9-12. Tried to take a self take photo but the camera had run out of battery power, so I returned the fish and packed up.


All in all a great session 13 barbel & 3 Chub, my first barbel on a waggler rig, two 9's & two 8's, and much improved rigs. Met a chap on the bank who said that this stretch was very busy during the summer months with many fishermen staying in the lodges, worth giving a wide berth in the summer.

Hopefully one more river trip before the end of the season!!!

Finally out on the River.....2 PB's..March 1st

I finally managed to get out on the riverbank yesterday for the first time this year and what a day it turned out to be.

I had decided to fish the Arley stretch of the Severn, on the BAA card, with the intention of fishing the Harbour inn stretch. Unfortunately I got a bit lost and ended up in Highley so I thought I would fish the bottom end of the Hampton Loade section, however when I approached the Colliery Bridge car park I saw a police helicopter over the river and several police cars heading towards the river. It turned out that they were looking for someone who had gone missing, so I hightailed it out of there and ended up at Coombys farm at Stanley. Later I found out that it was an old man who had gone missing, I had assumed that it was a bad guy!!!

I walked along the stretch, initially I was not impressed, and thought about going on to the Harbour Inn stretch, until I found the only other angler on the stretch who was fishing the waggler. He put me on to a good swim so off I went to get my tackle. It was also my first chance to try out my new Korum Tripod, Christmas pressy from my wife, it worked out really once I figured out how to set it up!

I set up my 1.5 GTx with 10lb mainline, drennan blocked feeder and a size 14 drennan super spade to 6lb mono. First cast out to mid river with maggots on the hook and a bite within 3 mins....barbel on...then off!! Snapped hooklink. Next cast I tried 8lb mono with size 14 barbel super specialist hook....same result..snapped again. Next cast I tried a 10lb braid hooklink with a maggot clip..same result...snapped again Bait used was dead maggots, gassed with AB's flavouring and live maggots for the feeder flavoured with AB's flavouring.

I finally got the second rod out, 1.75 GTx with 10lb mainline, 12lb ESP coated braid and S12 Korum S5 hook with an Atlantic Heat boilie and paste wrap. After the 3 quick snaps on the maggot rod all went quiet for an hour or so until the boilie rod goes off....8lb 8oz barbel in the net...lovely fish..photo taken by some people passing by. This was the only bite on the boilie rod all day..tried Monster Crab boilies & large Halibut Pellet all to no avail.

                                                      8lb 8oz Barbel - Atlantic Heat Boilie

Another quiet spell finally broken by a chub on maggots 3lb ish on drennan size 14 wide gape hook & 8lb mono, trying to but a bite, a 5lb barb quickly followed...I was pleased to land it on the hooklink. Next up was a PB chub of 5lb 2oz, I thought it was a small barb until I saw it...Nice condition fish, stuffed with maggots, took a couple of photos with it in the net then I slipped down the bank into the river whilst trying to put the fish back in, water up to my waist, bait all over the place and fish gone. Managed to drag myself out of the drink, fortunately I had some spare clothes and wellies in the car so I got changed and continued.

Another couple of chub, about 3lb ish, followed in quick sucession, then normal service..barbel on...snapped hooklength. Tried a size 14 BSS on 9lb Fluoro with no luck so switched to a size 14 specialist wide gape & 10lb braid, short while later and I am into a big fish, very worried about the hook!! What a fish a new PB of 10lb 14oz..immaculate condition. Couldn't find anyone to take a photo and whilst setting up a self take the camera crashes...'zoom error' No further action so I packed up at 18.15, what a day two PB,s...3 Barbel & 2 Chub and a pile of wet clothes!

I definitely will be back but would like to try the waggler, the guy who was fishing had upwards of 15 chub and 10 barbs on the float, all on maggot, feeding maggots, hemp & casters. Can't wait until my next trip out!!!