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

River Great Ouse - Offord (55)

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

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

Arrival time: 09:00.
Weather: Bright start clouding over later with rain. Troublesome upstream breeze.
Tackle: Greys 14ft Shimano match rod, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 5lb line, 3.8lb Supplex hook length to a 12 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots, worms, and sweetcorn.
Fish: Dace, roach, rudd, small chub, bleak and perch.

Following significant rain I decided to go back to the Top Stream at Offord hoping that the duckweed would have been washed through. Unfortunately while there was water running out of the Top Stream over the small weir, a bank of rushes had blocked the flow of duckweed. This had resulted in a blanket of the stuff backing up, which was covering the swim I fished last time. I settled in the next swim along, which I had fished in the past. Expecting some early bites from small fish, I was disappointed. In fact I had to work hard to catch a few little ones.

Read full report

Species: Dace, Roach, Rudd, Chub, Perch

River Great Ouse - St Ives (2)

Dolphin Meadow
Venue: River Great Ouse |St Ives

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

Arrival time: 10:00.
Weather: Sunny with gathering white clouds and a gusty easterly breeze.
Tackle: 14ft Shimano match rod, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 5lb line, 2.5lb pre-tied Drennan hook length to 16 fine wire hook.
Baits: Maggots, worms, sweetcorn & hemp as attractor.
Fish: Dace, rudd, roach, a small chub & bleak.

I had fished the Dolphin Meadow stretch of the Great Ouse soon after I joined the St Ives club back in 2020 but had blanked. My approach back then was to leger, hoping for chub, but I've since learned that winter is the best time to seek that quarry. I had also learned that the match men fished the float out in the stream. So this time it was the match rod with maggots and worms, the quarry being anything that turned up. And a few species did, although the expected perch were absent.

Read full report

Species: Dace, Rudd, Roach, Chub, Bleak

Earith (18)

Venue: Earith

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

Arrival time: 08.45
Weather: Bright start clouding over later with increasing southerly wind.
Tackle:
Hardy 11' 6" Marksman Specimen Avon, Speedia centrepin, preloaded waggler, 6lb line direct to 12 eyed hook.
Home built fibreglass 2lb TC rod, Shimano Exage 4000RC reel, small bomb leger, 12lb line to #6 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn, Spam & bread flake.
Fish: Roach & dace, bream and 2 tench. Four fish lost.

After two blanks my hope for this session was simply to catch a fish. I took maggots to be on the safe side and sure enough I quite quickly caught a fairly decent roach. Smaller fish started taking the maggots on the drop resulting in a few smaller roach, a couple of dace and a couple of tiny bream. Changing to sweetcorn improved the quality of the fish but I unfortunately lost a few decent ones. I ended up staying far longer than usual in the hope of making up for the lost fish.

Read full report

Species: Bream, Tench, Roach, Dace

River Great Ouse - Houghton (17)

Six Gate Weir
Venue: River Great Ouse |Houghton

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

Arrival time: 9.15
Weather: Last chance before another very hot spell. Temperature increasing after early cloud cover. Hardly any wind.
Tackle: 9ft Shimano Aero X1 'Finesse Feeder' rod with 1oz quiver, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 5lb line direct to 14/12 hook .
Baits: Maggots & bread flake
Fish: A fair number of dace and a few small roach

I had fished the Six Gate Weir pool the previous week after giving up on the Trout Stream. On that occasion I had caught one very respectable roach but missed most of the bites since my Trout Stream chub tackle wasn't really suitable. So I decided to return with a lighter and more sensitive rod, which at 9ft was also better for fishing under the trees. The river level was up after some welcome rain and there was a good flow over the weir. I did indeed manage to hook more of the bites but the better roach eluded me. There were however a lot of very hungry dace!

Read full report

Species: Roach, Dace, Perch

River Great Ouse - Offord (43)

Mill Stream & Main River
Venue: River Great Ouse |Offord

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

Arrival time: 09.30.
Weather: Warm & windy with strong gusts.
Tackle: Korum 12ft 'Multi-feeder', Shimano ST2500FB baitrunner' simple 2SSG link/cage feeder, 6lb line to 8 eyed hook.
Baits: Bread flake, cheese paste & prawn.
Fish: A dace & a chub.

A return to Offord a week after the opening day and on this occasion I got the swim at the head of the Mill Stream. It had been occupied the previous week. It's probably the best looking swim on the stream and always looks promising, and I had seen numerous chub there a few days before the season opened. But I guess some early season fishing had taught them to be a bit wary as I was unable to tempt one.

Read full report

Species: Chub, Dace

River Great Ouse - Offord (38)

Top Stream & Car Park Pool
Venue: River Great Ouse |Offord

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

Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Cold & damp with a chilly north-westerly wind. Mainly overcast with occasional sunny intervals.
Tackle: 9ft Shimano Aero X1 feeder rod with 1oz quiver, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 5lb line direct to 10 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots and worms.
Fish: One decent bream, a very small roach and a minuscule dace.

The EA website and the OBAS club Facebook page suggested that the river level at Offord had returned to normal so I decided to take a gamble and give it a try. I headed for the Top Stream as I thought it would probably be the least affected by the extra water, but I was to be proved wrong. It had a strongish flow and was very coloured. What's more the bank was slippery and quite dangerous. I had hoped for perch, thus the choice of maggots and worms as bait but I soon doubted my chances.

Read full report

Species: Bream, Roach, Dace

Page 1 / 5 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.