Just a quick post update about 2 sessions on the Thorney-Weir and Lizard complexes. One was for pike and was a blank and one for carp ( which was also a blank) but strangely the largest pike came on the carp session… sadly not to us but it was a fine picture all the same and shows that there are big pike in Lizard 2 ( see later).
Continue reading “Piking on Thorney / Carping on the Lizard complex”
Just a quick piece of reflection on a blog in the Guardian News paper on the subject of eating UK freshwater fish. The article that can be found here by Nick Weston, espouses the idea that as the fish stocks in the sea surrounding the UK are dwindling that we should start to consume the fish in the UK waterways. It even goes on to state that “the British angling press is frequently peppered with tales resourceful eastern Europeans taking prize carp,“. Lets read that again, “ resourceful Eastern Europeans talking prize carp” I imagine he is talking about these ones, or perhaps these, or even this one, I could go on. I wonder if the journalist who wrote the piece would describe car thieves as “resourceful” perhaps shop lifters are not criminals they are just “resourceful shoppers“. Continue reading “The Guardian… how can you get it so wrong”
With spring right around the corner and temperatures rising the carp season 2011 is almost upon us ( though some of you are already out as I saw today..) and it is important to start the season running. I have condensed a load of tips that I have worked out over the years to help you get off to a good start. If there is something that I have missed please let me know and I will be sure to add it, or just pop a comment at the bottom. On to the list
Check your tackle
Sounds easy but how many people forget to do it ? they pack up in a winter session in December and then the next time they open their tackle box it is a mouldy mess in January. If only they had checked their tackle. Do it over a few evenings in front of the TV in the warm. Get a notepad and make a note of things that need to be replaced or things that you are running short of. Better to know now that you need more choddy hooks in size 5 rather then finding out on the bank. Continue reading “Preparing for the new carp season”
Recently I popped up to the tidal Thames at Teddington for a session with Richard Crimp and one of his friends. I has been encouraged to fish the Thames when I looked into the Thames Anglers Conservancy website and forum. The chosen section was at Teddington Lock and when I arrived I could see that it was popular with anglers with many already setup on the island in the choicest swims. Even through the best angling is to be had at high tide when the river flow slows to a crawl, anglers were there in numbers several hours before this.
As some of you know I have been lurking at Thorney Weir quite a but this year for very little results (which will change next year… I will get a 30 out of there), so as it is winter and the pike season is in full swing I thought I would give it a crack for pike. I had been fishing the river Colne that runs between Thorney Weir and the Mets lake for a few weeks but with the ice levels receding on the main Thorney Weir lake I thought I would also give that a go as there are several likely looking areas.
Anyway arriving at Thorney a little later than planned I was surprised to see the road bank completely full. Not sure why people were fishing this side as I would have been at the other end ( which is what the bailiff did) as that would have given the best chance of a fish (IMHO) but I suspect many of them just wanted to get out and go fishing with the minimum amount of hassle.
As I have a lot of readers from the Netherlands ( and I have written a section on the expats guide in the rules in NL) I thought I would make you all aware of a tweet by Hsfvissen ( re tweeted by Pikemasterlures ) where they stated,
“Boete vissen met levendaas verdubbeld!” ie the fine for fishing with live bait ( which is illegal in the Netherlands) has now doubled. Going to the referenced page ( Google translate, Original ) I can now see that the fine for fishing with live bait in NL is now 180 Eur ( up from 90) per offence. Considering that I have seen *a lot* of anglers live baiting in NL if the police really wanted to they could crack down and crack down hard… In fact some shops over there have large tanks outside selling…. live bait.
The moral of this story, follow the local rules else your holiday might be a very expensive one. Remember that the fine for fishing 3 rods in a 2 rod water is larger at 230 Eur
Just a quick session report and this time it actually contains fish !
Continue reading “Piking on the river colne – in the snow”
Note this blog is a stub for the main blog post here
Due to a massive fish kill in Amsterdamse bos in the winter of 2010 this post is short as I really doubt there will be much in there worth fishing for for several years.
Please note that this is part of a larger post on Fishing in Holland an Expats Guide,and covers the water called Bosbaan in Amsterdam the Netherlands. Note that when I use conventions like right and left I am referring to the north ( right) and south ( left) banks ( see google map below)
Welcome back, to this multi part series on fishing in Holland primarily aimed at expats or visitor s to Holland. As you can see in part 1, Holland offers a rich variety of species to fish for though as stated earlier this series will focus primarily on Carp with a nod to predators such as pike and zander. In this articles I will give a brief overview of the waters I fished, this is important to note, these are only the ones I fished or looked at… there are literally thousands of others. This brief tour will be a quick look at the places that I fished just to get you on your feet should you arrive and think “where the hell do I fish…?”
Please note that over time things change, you should always check the legal status of a lake before you fish. If I have listed a water here that is now prohibited from fishing or there has been a rule change please let me know and I will correct the article. If there is a lake that you would have expected to see but haven’t drop me a mail and I will see if I can add it.
Continue reading “Fishing in Holland, an expats guide ( Part 2)”
The Masterblanker 
