Diary of a Thames Fisherman

Having a look back at what I have done through 2013 fishing wise, I realise I haven't done that much. I started the year very positive, new blog and facebook page, the promise of regular updates and regular sessions, and yet here we are in 2014 and the year has flown by!! I started the year replacing any used and tired bits of tackle, aswell as some newer gear to target a couple of local commercial lakes. A few sessions at my local MBK Leisures Barons pond had me catching some fish again, a rarity as I had spent the previous year solely on the River Thames after Barbel, so to go out and have some fun and get a few bite and some fish on the bank was good. I took the kids out maggotdrowning a couple of times, far less than the amount of times I wanted to get out with them, but weather and floods put pay to getting out more. I have found a couple of local lakes now where they can enjoy year round sport and one of them is free to fish :) I also had ago at making my own boilies, it

Below are a few pics from todays session on the thames. Simple methods, 3 and 4mtr whips with 4bb wagglers, 3lb mainline, 2lb bottom with size 20 Drennan silverfish barbless. Feeding with maggots and a few grains of hemp, we were catching bleak all day. I took advantage of the offer on www.takeafriendfishing.co.uk which allowed a free day licence between july 21st and 28th. So I applied for 5 for the non fisherpeople in my family. A good day was had by all, with plenty of bleak obliging to make the kids happy. posted from Bloggeroid

This weeks session was at a lake I have not fished for well over 15 years, I couldnt even remember where it was!! A mate of mine was already fishing there, and has been for a while now. So with him moaning at me constantly to go with him, and with me having an afternoon free due to a cancelled appointmemt, I joined Jamie at Royal Berkshire Fishery to see what the lakes were like. There are 3 lakes and a stock pond on the site, as well as a cafe and toilets. Upon arrival, I paid my £8day ticket and made my way round to lake 3 to meet up with Jamie. He had been there for a few hours before me, and had already had a few carp, he has quite a strange way of fishing (to me anyway), it involves 20mtrs of pole and 6inches of line, and thats it! He ships the pole over to the island laying it on the water and then just sprays pellets over the top. I find it really hard to comprehend that the method would work, but it does! He caught fish throughout the day ending with the same amount o

I have not been to Holme grange in Crowthorne for about 12yrs. On my last visit it was just a hole in the ground with open banks and a mud car park. However all these years on and the lake looks to have come on leaps and bounds. There is more bank side vegetation now seperating swims, as well as a small tackle shop, tuck shop, and purpose built car park. The purpose for my visit was an open day, run by crowthorne angling and holme grange, also korum, preston innovations, sonubaits and avid carp were also in attendance. 0 All 4 of the companies are owned by one parent company but are different arms, sonubaits do the baits, korum the specialist side, preston the match side and avid the specimen carp guys. They had all their latest products and baits on show, korum also had some float rods set up for the youngsters to have a go at catching some fish. My kids and 2 nephews were enjoying fishing with maggots and waggler set ups, catching roach under the rod tips, under the wat

Below are a few new items I have not long started using. I will review them once I have used them for a longer period of time, normally a half a season or so. Guru waggler hooks I was looking around for a decent hook to use for pellet waggler fishing, I had been using kamasan hooks but felt they were not quite up to the job. After much searching around, I found the guru range of hooks. Guru do several different hooks in their range, but the waggler hooks looked like they fitted the bill. They are very sharp, (and stay sharp, even after several fish) and look very strong. I have bought them in sizes 18, 16 and 14 which are the only sizes I use for pellet fishing. I have only used them on one trip out so far, but will update when I have used them for a few more sessions maver pellet floats I was in need of some pellet wagglers as it was a form of fishing that I had not done much if in the past. There are literally hundreds of different varieties on the market, lo

I have been using the Guru catapult for a year now and despite some early problems with it, it is without doubt the best catapult I have used. I first brought it to use for pellet waggler fishing, my first trip out was pretty much a disaster. See, I chose the guru pult because it offered plenty of spares, it is adjustable, and it looks good too! I bought the pult along with a spare packet of elastic and pins, to replace my knackered old drennan one. First trip out, using a pellet waggler, to an island about 20yds out, feeding 6 and 8mm pellets every 20seconds,  I snapped the elastic and broke countless pins on both the pouch end and the other end. When I got home I immediately went onto the guru website and emailed their complaints department. I expressed my concerns regarding the shape and sharpness of the pins and received a reply back the next day explaining that guru were aware of the problem and were sourcing some stronger pins. The problem was that the pins were to

I went barons ponds for a float fishing session this week. I have neglected fishing this way the past few years due to my pursuit of Thames barbel, however my intention is to keep myself sane by having a few sessions with the feeder and float rods to catch a few in between my barbel fishing. I took a drive down to the lakes on the wedsnesday to have a look around as I hadnt been to the lakes in around a year. There were 3 people fishing so a quick chat to them revealed a few nice roach were being caught but not many carp. I walked around both lakes and saw plenty of fish moving about, and plenty of areas with fish bubbling up from routing around on the bottom. I sat in one swim for about 20mins and saw enough for me to give it a look the next day, plenty of fish bubbling up the bottom in several areas of the swim. On my arrival the following morning, Im glad to say the fish were still all over the swim, with more being up cruising around the surface than bubbling up the b