| #1  08-31-2008, 11:10 AM | ||||
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 An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! I'm back to work tomorrow but the last week has seen me fishing a few different venues, in different styles and in excellent company. Saturday Sneaked a few hours late afternoon/evening down on the Stour where I eventually spotted some barbel. Quietly introduced a few pellets which got them apparently feeding quite confidently. Waited for over an hour before casting a line and......... they disappeared in a hurry!  Sunday Didn't intend to fish today but again went out to Gold Valley for the last few hours. Soon got bored with catching carp on the feeder so switched to the float/centrepin combination. Managed a few including a couple of nice doubles but then foulhooked one in the tail. Whatever I tried, I just couldn't get it close enough to the landing net, so piled on maximum pressure..... but too much as the rod tip shattered! .Packed up, went home via the off licence! Monday Back on the Stour at Throop for an afternoon and evening session. Did manage a couple of nice chub and the obligatory eels but then at about 8:45 pm hooked a superb barbel. Eventually got it into the net, it was a good double, perhaps close to 12lbs and potentially a new PB (currently 11lb 06ozs). But I'll never know, having safely unhooked it, I reached for the scales and camera only to realise they were back in the car! On the spur of the moment, I had decided to travel light and had stuffed my pockets with all the bits and pieces and left my rucksack in the boot complete with scales and camera! I briefly toyed with the idea of going to get them, but that would have been stupid. So back she went, I even had to wade out knee high in the dark to revive her properly. Just to cap it all, as I splashed my way back to the bank, another angler appeared.... "any good mate?"  Wednesday A "chill" day with a mate in a boat. Ringwood & DAA have a boat which members can book for a small fee to fish the Waterloo &/or Garden Pools which are two good looking areas of the lower Royalty Fishery smack bang in the middle of Christchurch town. Trotting with a centrepin was the order of the day and anything and everything was the target. We had loads of mainly small dace and roach plus a couple of sea trout. I also managed a nice perch of over a pound. A really enjoyable day out.   Thursday Back to the Royalty for another afternoon/evening session but this time on the upper reaches of the fishery and with barbel the target. Heavily fished with lots of weed and very clear water makes this venue a daunting prospect. The swim I chose was also not for the faint hearted as it would need "hit and hold" tactics. But once my personal bait delivery service turned up, the fish went on the feed:   I ended up with 5 barbel around 4lbs - 5lbs with the best one going about 6lbs+:  Friday/Saturday Two days on the River Severn at Worcester with my good friend and local expert, Dicky. Again barbel were the target but the first fish I had was an eel! It seems I can't avoid them .A couple of small chub followed and then something a little more spirited turned up, a superb little barbel, power packed in miniature:  As the light faded Dicky proved once again local knowledge usually pays off:  Saturday (the day after the night before if you know what I mean) was a leisurely start but proved to be a superb ending to my week. We had to wait until well into late afternoon before the fish arrived. I had a couple of nice chub, topped by a chunky 4lb+ specimen and Dicky landed several chub and bream:  I then had the privilege of texting Dicky ("to come and have a look at this and bring a camera"). I had a tremendous tussle with a big barbel which eventually pulled the scales around to 11lb 04oz (it seems it is the heaviest barbel to come out of that stretch this season):  I was more than a little happy but then went on to land two more barbel of around 6lb/7lb as did Dicky with two of his own:  A tremendous days fishing in marvelous company, Jeff from Bristol also joined us, and capped off nicely with a pint or two in the pub afterwards. I eventually arrived home at about 2:30am but it was well worth it! What a superb way to spend a week!   __________________ "I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" Eric Morcambe     |
| #2 08-31-2008, 11:21 AM | ||||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! Cricky Neil, you have been busy .....lovely report/pics......specially the Perch, very pretty thing and good size too.Sounds like Sabrina has been kind to you again, 11lb 4oz, that is one superb barbus barbus, very well done. We are hoping to spend a weekend there with Dicky after our France trip, maybe fish for chub and barbel one day and Zander the other day. Did Jeff catch some berties too? __________________ There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of the mind." - Washington Irving |
| #3 08-31-2008, 11:41 AM | ||||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! Quote:
Jeff turned up late Saturday afternoon and went even further down to fish the Teme (on his new club book). He had a 8lb+ barbel as well, so everyone was very happy. __________________ "I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" Eric Morcambe |
| #4 08-31-2008, 12:05 PM | ||||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! Quote:
BTW I think I may recognize nice the swim where you caught the bigun  __________________ There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of the mind." - Washington Irving |
| #5 08-31-2008, 12:27 PM | ||||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! Quote:
Dicky was several swims even further down! __________________ "I'm playing all the right notes but not necessarily in the right order" Eric Morcambe |
| #6 08-31-2008, 12:58 PM | ||||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! Quote:
__________________ There is certainly something in angling that tends to produce a serenity of the mind." - Washington Irving |
| #7 08-31-2008, 02:20 PM | ||||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! what a lovely week and a great finish thanks for shareing neil fanrtastic pics as ever dave __________________ www.exmouthsaa.co.uk 24 beers in a case and 24 hours in a day simples You won't know unless you go :D...and if you do go!! please let us know :D as thats how the forum thrives |
| #8 08-31-2008, 04:58 PM | ||||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! great fish and good pictures , well done mate __________________ Craig |
| #9 09-01-2008, 03:38 PM | ||||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! Top Report Neil, I bet seeing the planes was a nice treat. it makes realise how impotant they were to secure our way of life. Weldone on all the fish  __________________ Born to fish made to work |
| #10 09-02-2008, 02:00 PM | |||
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| Re: An Interesting Few Days On Holiday! wow! great report and photos well done |
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