Bob Goes Fishing | Welcome

Please rotate your device

This page is best viewed in Landscape orientation
(or tap anywhere to view in Portrait orientation)

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!

QR code

YouTube channel

Venues
& topics
Species
Archive
Venues & topics
Species
Archive

Fields End (60)

Venue: Fields End
No photo message

Arrival time: 10.15
Weather: Cloudy bright with a south westerly breeze. Breeze freshened in afternoon and cloud cover increased.
Swim: Reed-corner swim.
Tackle: 12ft barbel rod, 12lb line, 8/10 hooks.
Alternated between sliding pre-loaded waggler, small Arlesley bomb leger and controller float for surface fishing.
Baits: Luncheon meat and artificial 'biscuit'.
Fish: Three carp, best 5¾lbs, and a small roach.

A late night meant that I got up late and arrived at the lake later than normal. I expected the reed-corner swim to be occupied and had set my sights on the reed bed at the southern end of the lake, which is rarely fished. So much for planning; the eastern side of the lake was fully populated, including the swim I had expected to fish. Perversely, my reed-corner swim was vacant, so I went there.

Read full report

Species: Carp, Roach

River Welland (5)

Venue: River Welland
Chub 4lb 4oz

More photos in the full report

Arrival time: 12.00
Weather: Sunny with white clouds. Very warm but with a strong breeze.
Swim: Roving
Tackle: 12ft Korum light feeder rod, 8lb line, 5lb Fluorocarbon hook length, 10 hook. Used two SG shots on a short link.
Baits: Luncheon meat
Fish: Three chub, best 4¼lbs.

I’ve been promising myself a trip back to the Welland since the season opened on 16 June. I went today, over a month later . I had the stretch to myself with only a couple of other anglers arriving later in the afternoon. I started in the swim where I caught two nice chub last July but not a touch today.

Read full report

Species: Chub

Fields End (59)

Venue: Fields End
Mirror 11lb 6oz

Only one photo today.
Larger light-box version in the full report

Arrival time: 07.00
Weather: Cloudy bright with a south westerly breeze. Brighter intervals developed and it became warm with the breeze freshening.
Swim: Reed-corner swim
Tackle: 12ft barbel rod, 12lb line, 8 hook.
Alternated between sliding pre-loaded waggler and small Arlesley bomb leger.
Baits: Bread flake (seedy bread!) and luncheon meat.
Fish: Nine carp, best 11lb 6oz and a roach. Seven lost fish!

An odd sort of day really. The night before I was in two minds whether to go because of the forecast wind. Then I didn’t sleep too well, but as I was awake at 05.30 I decided to go.

The other thing is that because of a bit of bad organisation I only had one rod with me.

Read full report

Species: Carp 10lb+, Carp, Roach

Block Fen (12)

Venue: Block Fen
No photo message

Arrival time: 16.30
Weather: Bright and very warm with a breeze that dropped during the late evening.
Swim: Reed corner
Tackle: 12ft Barbel specialist, 12lb line, 8 hook.
Baits: Luncheon meat
Fish: One carp of 4½lbs.

After the relative ease of catching fish at Fields End on Tuesday, Block Fen brought me back to reality. It had a been a very warm day and even at 16.30 it was very hot. The breeze hardly affected the sheltered corner I fish but there was some line drag. More annoyingly there was a family of moorhens that emerged, tiny chick in tow, every time I cast, obviously looking for titbits. Unfortunately they often snagged the line forcing a re-cast, and the whole process started again.

Read full report

Species: Carp

Fields End (58)

Venue: Fields End
Tench 3lb 10oz

More photos in the full report

Arrival time: 07.00
Weather: Hazy bright with a slight westerly breeze. Remained bright cloudy and very warm throughout day with wind freshening to south-westerly.
Swim: Reed-corner swim
Tackle:
12ft barbel rod, 12lb line, 8/10 hook
11½ft Hardy Avon Marksman, waggler, 6/8lb line, 12 hook.
10ft compact float 6lb line, pellet waggler, 16hook.
Baits: Bread flake/crust, luncheon meat and floating biscuit.
Fish: 13 carp, best 7lbs, three tench, best 3lb 10oz, two barbel, best 4lbs 2oz, a crucian and some small rudd.

Because of work on my pond and going on holiday at the end of June, I actually didn’t go fishing during June. Last outing was 27th May. To get me back into the fish I decided to go to Fields End, where catching is almost guaranteed.

The reed-corner swim was available and it now sports a new platform as the old gravel-filled base was collapsing.

Read full report

Species: Carp, Tench, Barbel (lake), Crucian, Rudd

Block Fen (11)

Venue: Block fen
Mirror 18lb 3oz

Only one photo today.
Larger light-box version in the full report

Arrival time: 15.15
Weather: Sunny with clouds and a south-easterly breeze that dropped during the late evening.
Swim: Reed corner
Tackle: 12ft Barbel specialist, 12lb line, 8 hook.
Baits: Luncheon meat
Fish: One carp 18lbs 3oz

After a couple of blanks at Block Fen I went back today to try my luck. I had been waiting at home for the delivery of my pond liner but as Helen was in for the afternoon I decided to grab a few hours fishing.

My reed corner was free when I arrived just after 15.00. There were a couple of ‘carp’ anglers on the opposite bank; multiple rods, big feeders and rather too much bait being fed in.

Read full report

Species: Carp 10lb+

< Previous Page Page 52 / 68 Next Page >

© 2025 Robert Bassett

Report bugs to webmaster

Built in RapidWeaver
with Shaking The Habitual's
Source micro framework

Your privacy
Cookies are only used for the correct functioning of this site and to prevent you seeing this message every time you visit.

Read more about third party cookies ☞

Note that links to third party sites can result in cookies being loaded. For example, there are links to YouTube to display the embedded videos from my channel.