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Diary of an average angler

Who favours traditional methods & baits

fisherman

This diary dates back to a holiday in 2003 when I think the urge to get back into fishing took off. From around 2007 the trips became more frequent with 2010/11 probably being the peak of activity.
Things again pick up in 2020 - a sort of rebirth!

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Venues & topics
Species
Archive

Houghton (25)

Back Channel & Trout Stream
Venue: River Great Ouse |Houghton |Trout Stream

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Arrival time: 09.45
Weather: Light cloud cover and feshening wind. Still very warm for time of year.
Tackle: 11'6" John Wilson Avon with 1.5oz quiver, Shimano ST2500FB baitrunner, link leger and 6lb line direct to 8 hook. Changed to 12 hook during session.
Baits: Bread flake & worms.
Fish: One small roach and a smaller perch.

My third visit to a swim on the back channel having walked the stretch the previous week and seen how it had improved, weed clearance having been carried out. Previous visits had produced only small fish so this time I decided to try for something better, taking bread flake and worms rather than maggots, as was the case previously. Unfortunately the better fish didn't show up. In fact catching anything was a challenge. I later moved on to the Trout Stream.

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Species: Roach, Perch

River Great Ouse - Offord (56)

Mill Stream
Venue: River Great Ouse |Offord |Top Stream

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Arrival time: 09:30.
Weather: Overcast and no wind but becoming hot later as the sun broke through.
Tackle: 11'6" John Wilson Avon with 1.5oz quiver, Shimano ST2500FB baitrunner, link leger and 6lb line direct to 8 hook. .
Baits: Bread flake and cheese paste.
Fish: One decent chub

With the rivers still low and sluggish after the summer drought I decided to try the mill stream as it usually has some flow and the club had recently cleared rushes to improve the flow and clear a build up of surface weed. And in fact there was a good flow that seemed to increase a bit during the session, which didn't help bait presentation. It was also gin clear.

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Species: Chub

The Chubb Stream (20)

Venue: Chubb Stream

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Arrival time: 09.30.
Weather: cloudy and drizzly start but becoming sunny and very warm. Extremely humid.
Tackle: 11'6" John Wilson Avon with 1.5oz quiver, Shimano ST2500FB baitrunner, 6lb line direct to 8 hook.
Baits: bread flake & cheese paste.
Fish: 3 small chub.

After a couple of sessions on still water I decided to try a few hours on the Chubb Stream, after chub of course. We had had recent rain and there was a bit of extra water in the stream, but although it had a good flow it remained very clear. I walked to a favourite spot in the second meadow and was proposing to then fish another couple of swims at the end of the meadow before making my way back upstream. The banks were more accessible than on my previous visit in June but there remained only a few spots that were truly accessible.

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Species: Chub

The Clay Pit (27)

Side pond
Venue: The Clay Pit

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Arrival time: 08.30
Weather: Cloudy bright and chilly to start but warming up later with a freshening wind.
Tackle: Greys 12' Prodigy TX Float rod, Allcocks 4" centrepin, pre-loaded waggler, single shot, 6lb main line to 12 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn, bread flake, custard bread paste
Fish: Nine tench and 3 crucians.

I fancied a trip to the side pond at the Clay Pit while the weather was still warm in the hope of a tench or two. On arrival I was truly shocked to see how low the water was. It's not a deep pond anyway but when I plumbed the depth it was no more than a couple of feet. Knowing that tench were fairly tolerant of shallow muddy conditions I didn't lose hope but I was certainly a bit sceptical of catching any. But my fears proved to be completely unwarranted.

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Species: Tench, Crucian

Fields End (127)

Venue: Fields End

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Arrival time: 08.00
Weather: Bright and warm clouding over later with a westerly breeze.
Tackle: Greys 12' Prodigy TX Float rod, Allcocks 4" centrepin, 4BB waggler, 6lb line with 3.8lb Supplex hook length to a 12 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots, spam and bread flake.
Fish: A lot of small perch and a few roach and rudd.

After three quite challenging trips to the river I wanted something a bit more relaxing so headed for my local commercial at Fields End. I had quite a lot of maggots left over from the previous river trip so decided to make them the main bait with some spam and bread flake as alternatives. I couldn't remember ever fishing maggots on the lake and the predominance of small perch came as a bit of a surprise. Roach and rudd got a look in but only just !

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Species: Perch, Roach, Rudd

Houghton (24)

Back Channel
Venue: River Great Ouse |Houghton

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Bright start with increasing cloud cover. Still quite warm.
Tackle: 14ft Shimano match rod, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 4.4lb line, 3.8lb Supplex hook length to a 12 eyed hook. .
Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn & bread.
Fish: Roach, perch, bream, dace & bleak.

I had fished this spot back in July having moved there from the weir pool further upstream. On that occasion I was using a light quivertip rod and caught a few fish, including some perch. I had thought at the time that the swim would fish well by trotting a float so that's what I tried. There was more flow after some decent rain and there was more water in the channel. The flow actually increased while I was there as did the depth, but unfortunately this seemed to have a negative effect.

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Species: Roach, Perch, Dace, Bream, Bleak

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