Mike's Angling Diary

 Enjoyed a spot of fly fishing on the Test with Tony and Andrew. Fish rising all over. They both had fish on which were lost - I enjoyed it but wasn't particularly good at it. We saw a water vole. Sue kept us supplied with cake and scotch eggs - a really lovely evening.

4lb mirror 5lb common I had a lovely day at Greenridge Farm fishery today beautiful sunshine and lots of incident. Above is a 5lb common carp I caught toward the end of the session, below a 4lb mirror from earlier on. Before I caught the mirror I lost a good fish when the hook came free, and after the common I again had a good fish on when the line broke near but not at the hook. A truly beautiful day. I spoke to one chap when I arrived who told me bluntly ' Whinwhistle's dead'. The guy fishing next to me caught a lot of fish - he was practicing for a match on Saturday. He was using 14 and 16 hooks with carp pellets. Ollie told me 6lb to 8lb line is fine for the top lake. All in all a very useful day. My fish were caught on 5 maggots on a size 12 hook. I also tried corn, spam and expanding pellet.  For the first carp I had cast long and looked up and thought 'I'm sure I had a float out there last time I looked'. The fish was making a sharp exit along the lake bu

 Today was beautiful - sunny and with no wind. River still quite high though.  Mostly I legered with a 1oz lead. Whilst I was trotting I lifted my rod at the end of the run bringing the maggots to the surface and a big sea trout jumped clear of the water and snapped at them but missed! Best views yet of a kingfisher - catching a fish from the far bank and then flying across to a bush a few feet away from me. Wonderful.

 I spent 5 rather draughty hours at Wood Mill today with little success. One small perch was all I caught. At least I was wrapped up warm in my new coat and overtrousers. Mostly I legered lobworms, occasionally changing to maggots or sweetcorn. The river was high and fast flowing and it was very windy. All in all an enjoyable session.

 Another session on the lob at Wood Mill. Arrived about 8.45 to lovely weather although it did cloud over and spit a bit later. The river was pretty high after the recent rain and moving quickly. With the shot all my casts were ending up at or around the near bank. After a while I turned to trotting to try and explore more areas of the river but to no avail. Would have had a short leger session but having set it  up I discovered I'd run out of worms - doh! The trout werent jumping today but I did see acouple of swirls on the surface to remind me they were in the vicinity.

 Spent a very wet at times session at Wood Mill today - mostly lob and shot to try and reconnect with the fish from yesterday or one of its chums. Had a couple of knocks but no substantial bites. The river was higher and faster than yesterday which may have been something to do with it. Autumn colours are really beginning to show now. The trout are still jumping.