Fishing

Btw if you’re ever down Devon way, John Dawson is a great instructor based near Tiverton and would be able to provide gear etc. Very reasonable rates and a really nice guy.

For YouTube stuff I’ve found the Simon Gawesworth videos for Rio/intheriffle channel most helpful.

If you’re interested in having a go on rivers once you’ve tried it, I think there’s a couple of free stretches on the Dorset Frome near Dorchester town centre and wareham you could check out. You’d just need a rod license (trout and non migratory coarse @ ~£30/yr) and to be careful you didn’t go onto any privately owned bits

The 'infallible' mayfly impersonator.

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Incredibly several trout were daft enough to fall for it, plus it doesn't twist the tippet AND I didn't lose any in the undergrowth.

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Beauty. Guessing the deer hair means it floats like a cork too?

Correctamundo, it wasn't even too difficult to cast in today's gusting wind, would recommend using but not necessarily tying.

@jupiz @ColinTheBald
Thanks so much for the helpful info.
I’ll stop by a tackle shop and look to book some lessons in the near future.
The rivers round this way really are beautiful.
This was yesterday’s spot on the Avon at Downton.

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Try the Orvis shop in Stockbridge. Pre-covid they did free fly fishing lessons near/on the Test, think they used the 'Greyhound Pub' over the road to fish from, or at least have some tie-up. Cannot think of a better place to start.

https://www.orvis.co.uk/pages/free-learn-to-fly-fish

https://thegreyhoundonthetest.co.uk/

That's precisely where I was thinking of, but not sure how far it was for Matt.

In other news, I got a surprise invite onto my mates boat out of Eastbourne yesterday evening. Bass and cod on lures, dinner was caught!

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@ColinTheBald looks idyllic, how'd it taste?

Just caught my first river carp, over the moon. First day on my new club's water, gets my approval.

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That looks an absolute missile of a carp!

Absolutely delicious, eaten simply shallow fried in breadcrumbs with a squeeze of lemon at 10.30 last night, they're unbelievable when only 2 hours out of the sea, still a meal for 2 from that one in the freezer. Good old fashioned cod in beer batter and chips tonight. We were catching so many small cod that we decided to only take 2 each, they're a bit of a rarity down here, so let them grow.

Thank you Cod.....

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Saw this recently on Instagram and reminded me of everything I hate about fishing. Wasn't even ironic, says it all.

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You just don't understand, that's the height of fashion for ModernCarpAngler. It is impossible to catch ModernCarp without perfecting the look (particularly the 1,000 mile stare). Remember, all ModernCarp can see all of your kit from 12 feet below the surface and are extremely critical. If you dress correctly and have matching kit it doesn't matter if you hammer in your (perfectly matching) bank sticks with a (Nash) lump hammer.

It's a bit like wearing Rapha and riding a Cervelo, which everyone knows is the only way to go fast.

It's so funny, as a recent newcomer this probably put me off fishing for a decade. It all seems so complicated and even the amount of 'specialist' products in your average tackle shop is bordering insane. And don't get me started on the Packaging! Sorry, rant over. Thank god for normal people like Chris Yates, that Graeme from TA fishing and even John Wilson.

Went out this evening but didn't catch, but here's a chub from a few days ago. I'll probably be failing to net that river carp's bigger brother on Sunday, can just see it happening.

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Don't worry about it, all that matters is the last few feet nearest to the fish, as long as the rest of your gear is up to the task it's fine. A stealthy approach catches more fish than matching luggage. Feel free to mock the latest specialist kit, it's mainly there to catch anglers not fish. What you do matters, what others do doesn't. Think about why you're doing what you do, ModernCarpAngler doesn't, he merely watches videos and copies.

Nice chub!

Fishing is serious business, don’t let Colin convince you otherwise.

Does seem like a lot of camo though for what I can only assume is a session of extreme picnicking.

ModernCarpAngler came out to play last Thursday. I didn't hear him arrive on a point swim 250 yards from me, but I sure as hell heard him set up.

Repeated thwack of NashLumphammer: banksticks in.

Ditto: 2 man marquee erected.

Fadosh of marker float for 30mins.

Kersplash of spod for 1hr 5mins.

17 casts (I counted) to get 3 rods out. Clearly either using 5oz leads, or grenades.

I noticed the water level rise with the amount of bait that went in. If the guy had bombarded Mariupol the siege would have been over in a day.

On Friday he came round to chat, admitting to blanking and probably leaving his lines out.

I wasn't about to tell him that I had 5 carp overnight, biggest 24.8. My approach? 150 baits pinged to 45 yards with a catapult, 3 casts, 30 bait top up for each fish caught.

I might fish his swim tomorrow, the ModernCarp should have recovered from concussion and returned by then.

No pictures, sorry, I don't retain fish caught at night for photos.

Nice result! This is pretty much always my tactic. Fish for a bite at a time. I use a PVA bag on the hook with a few crushed boilies, some stick mix and some pellets. I'll occasionally throw in a couple of handfuls of bolies over the top, but mostly I don't.

In fairness though filling a swim in with bait can work on occasions. Particularly if there aren't many features to cast at, the pile of bait effectively becoming the feature.

Kersplash of spod for 1hr 5mins.

I hate people using Spombs/Spods. The young guy next to me the other week (he blanked, as did everyone else, I caught) was Spombing for his life. It's an 11 acre lake!

Carp really don't respond well to noise and disturbance. I don't even let my rig and terminal tackle break the water surface on the retrieve...

There are at least 4 features in his swim, from 30 yards to 65, unsurprisingly he was casting to about 90. I will get round to showing my ultra complex rig (virtually unchanged in decades) sometime soon.

Finally caught the 'one cast' trout from the Darent, I gave it this name because it lives under an alder branch and that's the number of chances you get, it's taken nearly 2 seasons. 20" long and 3lbs plus, a giant for a stream which is rarely wider than 20ft.

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In case anyone wondered, she is a wild fish not a stockie, she swam away strongly. It would be stupid to kill prime breeding stock.

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Christ, what a unit. Happy to hear she’s back safe.

Back on the 50 acre syndicate lake and had an excellent 24 hour session, 4 doubles and 3 20s (2 caught at night so shit ID photos only), topped by this rather lovely 27:1 common. No rig was brutally hurled further than 30 yards.

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Stunning, that looks like a proper chunk.