| #1  10-21-2006, 05:21 PM | ||||
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| Old Bones Well I decided to wimp out of going to Magazine lane this evening, have been feeling the old bones play up (bust 3 vertebrea as a young man, find beach casting VERY tiring) so when I saw it was going to be blowy and possibly damp saturday evening I bought a pint of maggots on the way home and decided to stroll up to the Kennet and Avon Canal again and have a try on Allington Bend for the tench I have been told are there. After the appalling week at work I have had , a total chill day on the canal was just what I wanted. Day got off to a bad start, got into the car at 7 am only to find one of my headlights had blown, so I fitted the spare in the pouring rain and dark thinking to myself " if this is an omen then I am not going to enjoy today". Luckily I have a spare bulb kit from my last trip abroad! Got to the canal about 8 and found a nice little spot  Set up a leger rod, chucked a handful of maggots into the water, plonked the leger right in the middle and went to set up a float rod when the leger rod started started banging in the rest. First fish of the day was a 7 inch long roach, the first of many. The day continued with a fish coming in every 5 minutes, Skimmers, Roach, Perch and of course the ....  ... obligatory Ruffe At about 10 the fish seemed to go hookshy so I moved about 50 yards further down and set up again just as the heavens opened. Here I hit a shoal of large bream but I lost half a dozen as they spat the hook, one was a good old size, getting on for 4 lb which spat the hook 6 inches from the net, I was gutted! But still they put up a good fight so it was good sport. By midday this spot seemed to die so I moved a further 50 yards along and at last the elusive Tench showed himself, bubbles all around so I went into tench mode, a size 10 hook and a dozen maggots on it, still one leger and one float. Within 20 minutes the first tench of the day was in the net, a nice nearly 3 lb according to my pocket scales.  I later managed a near 4 lb one, this one took the bait on the drop, I was trying to tighten my line up to the leger weight and it started travelling sideways!  Switched to two legers as the old bones where ahcing and finally packed up around 4 pm. I managed to catch 6 tench, 5 ruffe, 7 perch ( all around the 3/4 lb mark), and too many skimmers and roach to mention. one of the smaller perch  It really was a good day for the relaxation of the brain. Good Luck to all the Magazine lane anglers, including Claudia, and apologies for wimping out Mike     |
| #2 10-21-2006, 05:33 PM | ||||
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| Re: Old Bones well done mike,know what you mean about the old bones mate  you got some nice fish there mate don't let ian see the ruffe pics  , did the guvnor go ? |
| #3 10-21-2006, 05:56 PM | ||||
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| Re: Old Bones Paul She who must be obeyed had a long lie in and has just left to go fishing at Magazine lane tonight, so I had a day of solitude too, was nice to just chill, but I did miss having a fishing partner! So now I have a saturday night to myself, should I go out on the town? get the little black book out and phone around?? more likely I will get a couple of tinnies and fall asleep watching some cr***y movie on tv!! Oh how the party animal has died in me !! Mike (retired from life!!) |
| #4 10-21-2006, 06:01 PM | ||||
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| Re: Old Bones Great days chilled fishing -- great read mate __________________ Richard|Sea Fishing |Carp Fishing| Spud Gun | Zander fishing | Fishing Reports | Hunting Reports |
| #5 10-21-2006, 06:42 PM | |||
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| Re: Old Bones great read mike and nice to see some nice tench coming out as well one fish i,ve not been able to tempt at all this year . well done on a great day .  tightlines kevin  |
| #6 10-21-2006, 07:07 PM | ||||
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| Re: Old Bones Great report and pics Mike, sounds like you had a real fun day. Well done. __________________ Dan `·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸ Big or small, look after them all! ¸.·´¯`·.¸ ><((((º> |
| #8 10-22-2006, 12:01 PM | ||||
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| Re: Old Bones great day there! started to get a bit "ruffe" to go to magazine lane eh?  __________________ "Alright Jack, we all ready to fish?" "Yeah!" "Did you bring the rods?" "Errmmm...." |
| #9 10-22-2006, 04:16 PM | ||||
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 Re: Old Bones Nice report & pics Mike. It looks as though you've got the K & A canal well & truely sussed now. Bet those tench gave a good account of themselves. No need to rub it in about the Ruffe though.... I,m gonna get one soon. __________________ One man's fish is another man's poissons http://www.deepsea.co.uk http://www.wildtrout.org |
| #10 10-22-2006, 04:27 PM | ||||
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| Re: Old Bones The K & A seems to like simple fishing, I was only using maggots, I do not think it gets heavily fished and the fish go for simple stuff, I thik the devizes angling association are match fishermen so the fish that have seen hooks have also seen all the match techniques of baiting and are wise to those, that is why simple seems to work. And yes the tench were really good fun to play in, was like pulling in a double figure carp! and the bream I missed were extremely good fighters, better than me! Next vist to the K & A is going to have to be in search of pike, the stretch I was in this time screamed it as they seemed to be very few small fry, the ruffe were the smallest fish I had on the line. I have just ordered some 30lb braid and some wire traces, just want a frost now then it will be pike hunt on! Ian we must get together down there and see if we can get you one for the species hunt, a man of your calibre cannot be beaten by such a small fish, so get your rods together and we will meet for a beer in the Barge inn and a bit of ruffe! Just name the day. Mike |
