Mike's Angling Diary

 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.

The image at the top of this post could have been so different..... Having switched from trotting to free-lining a lobworm with a couple of split shot I was feeling the line for bites when the rod nearly jumped out of my hands. As I struck it became clear that I had hooked something massive....I lifted the rod to apply some pressure and the line broke just above the hook. The fish didn't break me, the line just broke. Gutted. Still at least I have ascertained that a free-lined lob is an effective bait - and rekindled my faith in Wood Mill as a promising venue (sob). I saw a beautiful sea trout of around 2 - 3ft long jump out right in front of my nose - wonderful.

 Not a very successful trip to Whinwhistle. Got a 30lb scale just in case though - caught one small perch. Started off float fishing with maggots then sweetcorn then luncheon meat to no avail. Lost my float due to the line breaking for no apparent reason so used my feeder to leger for a while. Cast the feeder into a tree the other side of  the Rail and so drove home feeling rather despondent. On the plus side I saw some lovely views of common darters perching by my feet in the sunshine. At times it was almost too hot in the sun but a little chilly when it went in....

 I spent some time this morning trotting at Wood Mill with a stick float for the first time. Much easier to control the float than with a waggler. Then I lost it on the far bank so I tried a lobworm with just a couple of split shot on the line. All this time the sea trout were jumping spectacularly in front of me. Didn't catch anything but met a guy who was fishing 'my' spot with a lure when I arrived. Nothing today but he had had a couple of pike from there a week ago. All in all though it was a beautiful day to be on the river - mainly sunny with only a light breeze most of the time. As I walked back to the car park I had a look over the side and saw a lovely little sea trout in the main part of the river before the barrier.

  Was at Wood Mill today from 11.30 to around 5.30. Caught nothing. Many small bites. None connected. I'm thinking about trying a stick float rather than a waggler to see if this makes a difference. The guy in the tackle shop said a two and a half pound roach had been caught here two days ago and that an otter had chased the fish up this end. Spoke to a young lad who said he'd caught 12 and 15 pound sea trout this afternoon with legered sweetcorn. I chucked the float and switched to a spod feeder with maggots and a maggoot hook bait but no results today. Had the best views of a kingfisher yet on a bush opposite me and up and down the river. Sea trout you'd measure in feet rather than inches were jumping throughout the afternoon. It was great to see Andrew join me for part of the morning - all in all a lovely day on the river despite the absence of fish .

At Wood Mill today the river was still quite high but less fast flowing, and a lot clearer than it had been earlier in the week. I may do some trotting here tomorrow or over the weekend. Down the White Swan end I saw a chap trotting who caught a small sea trout as I watched - on maggot by the look of it. I really want to trot some luncheon meat down here in the hope of a barbel or two. I spoke to a guy from Brighton as he was just setting up and an old guy who'd been fishing the river for 60 years who couldn't sing its praises enough. Said he'd seen a 25lb pike landed from where he was sitting and talked of chub, barbel, sea trout, brown trout and so on. Apparently the adjoining stretch of river to this free section is £200 per day. We're very lucky to have this to fish.

 I arrived at the fishery midday-ish in great conditions, sunshine and cloud, no wind. Completed the formalities and then set up to fish on The Rail, a long thin lake with no-one else fishing it. Size 14 hook to 5.6lb line straight through with 5 maggots on the hook and feeding loose maggots. Fished a run between the lilies and the bank - it was hard to control the float position with a 9'6" feeder rod - I would have liked to be a bit closer to the lilies. Quiet to begin with then I began to catch a few small perch who did well to get the float under. After some time had passed I lifted my rod in preparation for checking the bait and recasting when to my surprise I connected with something very solid. There followed a hectic few minutes round and about and in and out of the lilies before I could bring it to the net. A beautiful common as you can see from the photo above. Grounded an 8lb scale with no trouble whatsoever so I'm confident in calling it as a double. Sadly that...

  I have also been giving Mansbridge Old Reservoir a little more thought recently as it is also free to fish. I have seen a couple of decent fish basking in the sunshine and one or two jack pike lurking. The trouble is it is very weedy indeed and extremely shallow as well. There were a couple of lads packing up what looked like an expensive multi-rod carp setup as I arrived and I have seen several people fishing on my visits here. Maybe they all know something I don't! Was lucky enough to catch a glimpse of a kingfisher as it flashed accross the water - second day running!

  The weather was pretty decent this morning so I went to investigate the upper stretch of free fishing by the White Swan pub and down to the bridge. It looks extremely promising - this is the patch where I've been told the barbel can be found....  It's a shame that most of the fishing is over a metal barrier but it looks perfectly feasible to get a net through the bars to land a fish. I saw a couple of chub lurking in weed by the bridge and a couple of lads the other side were I think live-baiting for pike. You can see the barrier above. A chap started fishing a rubber style lure just as I was leaving but I really fancy trotting the runs between the weed.

 No pictures today - I was trotting at Wood Mill for a few hours from 8.30am. The river is still very high and running fast but is beginning to clear - it was a very muddy brown a couple of days ago whilst I was plugging. The only fish which showed any interest weren't strong enough to get the float under! Beautiful views of a kingfisher flying past first up and then downstream. 

 On the third of October I spent a couple of hours plugging for pike on a river swollen with torrential rain and bursting its banks in places. No pike but I didn't lose any tackle which I consider a personal triumph.

 On the first of October I went to Wood Mill on the river Itchen - first fishing with lobworms and then 5 maggot on a size 10 hook. No luck with the worms but after a couple of hours I did manage to catch a minnow with the maggots! A small rudd followed and then my bait was taken on the drop and the float shot under - 'this isn't a minnow' I thought. There followed a second or so of total stillness during which a log on the bottom came to mind but then the creature at the other end of the tackle began to move off taking line as it went. There followed a very spirited few minutes before I had the fish safe in my landing net. It was a chub of over 5lb - I can't be any more precise than that as I was using two 4lb scales to weigh it with.  It pulled a single scale right down to the bottom with no trouble whatsoever. As you can see it was a beautiful fish in it's prime with not a scale out of place, neatly hooked in the corner of the mouth. An added bonus was the exhile...