Golden Paws

Just got back from a 48 hour session that was booked months ago and it was pretty grim with sweltering temperatures and little sign of feeding fish. Both mornings the bailiffs were out in the boat scooping up dead fish. I saw one fish swimming upside down and it tried to right itself but an hour later it washed into my margins dead. The one's I saw with my binoculars seemed to be around the 5lb mark and so hopefully the big girls will be OK.

Sounds like worrying times. Hopefully this intense heat will soon be over and I see that a fair bit of rain is forecast for Saturday and Sunday, hopefully that should help.

I think that you have to thank the Green Party for that! German politics have run on collisions almost as a default and subsequently the smaller parties like the Greens can wield an influence above their station. They hate fishing and try to ban it but rather than going for an outright ban , they try to do it by the back door like making the licence near impossible to achieve. They also tried to ban match fishing by insisting that all fish weighed in must be killed - very Green. The Green Party seem to be on a bit of a roll with the traditional big two of Labour and Conservatives being in free fall as the public kick back over their failures over the years. The Green Party should be a natural place for anglers or those who place place the environment high in their priorities but I would be very wary of them. The next time Jack Polanski says "look into my eyes", be very dubious.

1m of fluoro leader for me. Near invisible, pins the last metre down and reduces lifting scales during a fight. I use a helicopter set up but use it as a near lead clip! By that, I mean I have the bottom barrel bead just above the lead and the no trace bead literally just above it. I don't fish particularly weedy waters and so allowing the trace to slide to sit pretty isn't necessary but you get the instant bolt effect of the lead and the end tackle can slide off in the event of a cut-off but haven't lost a lead for a couple of years now - except when I lent a couple to mate who had forgot his lead pouch!

https://www.anglingdirect.co.uk/fox-captive-mk2-back-leads?itemId=111949&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=21966736211&gbraid=0AAAAAD_NdB5cC_jHX-VAImKGqQro1xmrr&gclid=Cj0KCQjwlqTRBhCBARIsANrkrxjVenr904uw0ZMAuntXYbEYwzTU7171tN7TDjWDrNmXdhD6Ds9I470aAgA-EALw_wcB Possibly this one?

I use 15lb main line but always use a Korda Safezone fluorocarbon leader (30lb) and back lead after casting to ensure that there is no tight line cutting through the feeding area. The leader also helps prevent scales lifting during the fight.

Another afternoon on my local park lake and 8 fish up to 18-4 chalked up. It's not the most difficult lake in the world but it's nice to have a confidence boost to compensate for a run of blanks on other waters. I was sending the boat out to the far bank tree line with a combination of boilies, pellets and crumb and topping up every hour and the fish certainly responded to the bait. I did chuck a little bit of crumb in the margins to see how it descended through the water column as I was worried it might be spreading out too far. A few hours later I saw a fish over the bait and it dropped down on it with it's tail waggling clear of the water as it mopped it up. Needless to say, my confidence on adding it to my baiting up has gone through the roof!

I had a visit from the EA about a month ago on a commercial miles out in the sticks, the first time I've seen them in over 30 years. At least a few years ago you used to get a printed licence with a David Miller painting that softened the blow a bit, now it's all done virtually. Mind you, the state of the Royal Mail, it probably wouldn't have turned up anyway!

Did an afternoon on my local park. After a slow start and by baiting little and often, managed to build up 2 spots and finished with 9 fish with two 18's and a 20-8 Common.

Just found this on YouTube. Its made by Pallartrax who make the Stonze weights. 9lb of lead in 1 square metre???? Personally I hate the thought of dumping leads and avoid it if at all possible. Partially because I'm tight but also because I don't agree with leaving a toxic metal in the environment. I don't fish particularly weedy waters but I can see the argument to those that do. I used to fish lead clips but lost too many leads unnecessarily, watching fish shake their heads at the net and the lead flinging off at the last minute. I did try in-line drop-offs and the thought of losing a lead on every fish didn't sit well and I abandoned it. I've been using helicopters for at least 3 years and can't remember losing a lead on a metal clip. If the line does snap, the trace bead will pop off and ensure that a fish isn't trailing tackle.I did use some plastic C-clips for a while but lost too many leads needlessly and gave them up as a bad job. What is the consensus of opinion on this?

My local park lake seems to be full of cricket bat commons when the sun shines hard and they are on top sunbathing. But by fishing on the bottom, I'm rarely troubled by them and the mid teen mirrors seem to be dominant. It might be worth a go, just don't do it if you are on a work overnighter!

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Great write up Yonny. Does the venue allow bait boats? I know that you're not a fan but it would make fishing a spot like that so much easier and by wrapping, you can always get it back on the spot, even after dark with the aid of the boats lights or a torch. I was a bit sceptical of boats at first but it's a case of it can't beat 'em, join 'em! One of my favourite venues has plenty of overhanging trees on the islands and it would be suicide to cast close to them. I'm sure that some venues quietly encourage the use of boats as they don't want to have to go out and remove trailing tackle that can cause a hazard to other wildlife.

Now very. You will need to freeze it otherwise it will turn into a stinking mouldy mess.

The first image is a wind up, unfortunately the second isn't! I would just like to thank the pair of clowns on Big Hayes last year for the inspiration!

I’ve recently started taking a pair of flood lights with me. They are absolutely brilliant as they provide a nice even light that makes tying rigs or cooking a meal dead easy and no more faffing about with head torches. I’ve got a 3kW portable power station with LiFePO4 batteries that will provide enough juice to run them for at least two full winter nights. The picture below is me on the right and my mate is in the next swim. He’s a bit of a wimp and only went for some cheap lower powered lights. The photo was taken by another mate who was fishing the far bank but I think he’s a bit jealous as he said it was like fishing at an airport! It will make landing fish after dark pretty easy but I haven’t actually needed it yet, the fish on my lake seem to have shut up shop since I’ve been trying it out.

I used to fish one trotting rod for pike and got to the river and couldn't find the rod. A 60 mile round trip found it propped up at the rear of the house against a wall. Well, it was dark when I set out! Another time I had 2 conoflex barbel rods but they were slightly different. I picked up a top and bottom piece and when I got there, discovered they were from different rods and wouldn't fit together! Just drove home and sulked but after that, always kept the rods made up and held together with bands.

24 hours is £35 on virtually all the waters I fish. Have you gone to a profession football match or played a round of golf recently? Me neither but you know what I mean. Unfortunately fishing is being treated as a business and it is a case of supply and demand. https://my.rkleisure.com/membership-options Do you fancy a black card? I used to fish some waters on the Cotswold Water Park many years ago on a club card that cost peanuts in today's terms but they got swallowed up by a multinational concern and the remaining waters on the old ticket now have a waiting list to get on and even allowing for inflation, aren't anyway as near as cheap. Unfortunately you can't do much about travelling and with the Iran war in progress, fuel prices are only going one way. Fishing can be as cheap or expensive as your expectations. When you read books of articles by top anglers, the amount of pre-baiting some do raise eyebrows as some are literally filling the place in to tip the odds in their favour.

I used to use Greased Lightening for barbel fishing on the Lower Severn years ago. Not because I had to cast stupid distances but because it helped to smooth out the line when I was casting 3 or 4 oz feeders with a 1.75lb TC rod. It did leave a bit of an oily trail in the water though but as I only squirted it on the spool with about 20 foot already out, I didn't unduly worry about it. I believe it was made of some sort of PTFE compound.

I also thought that although mono does absorb moisture if soaked, it dries out again and pretty well reverts back to it's original state. It definitely makes it easier to spool up and is worth doing. If you are going for the big chuck, it's probably worth pouring a bit of water over the spool or alternatively do a couple of test casts to get it properly wetted before going for the big one.

Years ago I used to take the water temperature in the winter virtually every time I went but with the warmer, wetter winters of the last 10 years, I got out of the habit. I was fishing a 4.5 acre lake in an enclosed wooded area which is about 6 foot deep. The water certainly felt warm enough but the weather was pretty non-descript and cold and I wasn't totally surprised to blank.

Probably not earth shattering news for most of us but it's worth spending 5 minutes on.

Two days after the full moon and moon set on Thursday was about 7:15 a.m. so according to the theory, it should have been a good time. I did my first 24 hours session of 2026 on Friday and started at 6:30 and within an hour saw 3 good shows close in and put a rod on it and the other 2 out tight to an island. I had 3 slight pulls within the first couple of hours on the close rod and that was as good as it got. The water has good night form but I didn't have one bleep or didn't hear one fish roll. I went in light with the bait, only about a dozen boilies and a small scoop of boilie crumb in the boat and poured some dip/oil over it so it was more smell than food. I also put on a small mesh bag of crumb on the hook and dipped that and the bait in the liquid before sending it out. I chatted to the bailiff earlier who confirmed it was hard going and I spoke to 2 blokes in the next swims up on the way out and they reported the same. The water didn't feel too cold for March as we have had a pretty wet and warm winter but I'll give it a bit longer before my next trip.

I used to fish some of the South Cerney waters many years, mainly Ham Pool, Bradley's and Hill's for the tench before Watermark took the last two over. The Bailiff they had then was a annoying old curmudgeon and he used to check my ticket every single time I was there. I think it was a 2 rod rule then and I had an old pike rod set up with Heath Robinson spod made out of an old washing up bottle. The good old days, if you wanted something, you had to make it, not like the kids of today........(better stop there, I'm sounding like one myself!) After he checked my ticket, he shouted that it was a 2 rod rule and so I fired back at him that it was a spod rod and he turned away laughing to himself - the old [censored] got me! One day when he was in a more agreeable mood he told me a funny story. At Ham Pool there was a club house and bar and it included a fruit machine and one of his jobs was to empty the cash from it. You could buy day tickets on the bank then and for juniors it was £1 in advance or £2 on the bank - I did say it was a long time ago! Anyway he came across 2 lads and they came out with the old "I've only got a £50 note trick". Quick as a flash, he went to his van and dumped £46 in pound coins on them! I bet they didn't try that again!