After some fantastic fishing on the local lakes and with in a blink of an eye the river closed season comes to and meaning there are many more places to try put.

 

As the weather has been so good it time for me to try out the rivers, so in the next few days I will be off out to a small basic river to see if I can hit some Roach or Dace. Not being to skilled on moving water I thought I would keep it simple by using the stick float in some shallowish water and trot a single maggot down the stream to see what i might hit.

Come back later and you'll be able to hear what I caught on the first of hopefully many river fishing trips.

 

see you later

Well I can't believe it ! ! It's only been a few months since I purchased my Korum Day shelter, when the mention of a Night Fishing session threw me into the dilemma of having to choose a bivvy (definately needed a ground sheet and front).  As you will know, trying to pick the day shelter was a task and a half, so trying to find a suitable bivvy was no small feat ! after much research, I eventually chose the JRC Defender 1 man bivvy - It was a weight that you could carry without a barrow (7kg), had the pram hood style which I knew would take the sort of English weather we usually see in the summer...High gales, Rain and snow and it was described as being "easy assembly" and most importantly was less than £120...

Well the fishing fools have been using day ticket waters now for the past few months, from a local 60 mile radius, and out of that we have really only found one or two venues that are "enjoyable" to fish.  The time had come where a fishing association waters were required to gain access to higher quality and less commercially fished waters.  After much research (believe me there was allot ! ) the decision was made to join a very well respected fishing association, the Ringwood and District - now they certainly aren't the cheapest, but they have access to some of the finest lake and river venues on the south coast - I've only been a member for a few weeks, but have already crammed some enjoyable day and night sessions in on their main lakes, and so far it's looking good...hopefully over the next few months I can learn more about the tactics needed for the vast stretches of water and start bagging some big fish. anyway catch you later

Well today was a recognisance day to try and find some new venues for Fishing Fools - A list had been compiled of likely locations, the car topped up and the GPS programmed with all the coordinates - Arriving at the first lake found it to be completely empty of fish and water..doh!  One of the lakes was at the end of a 3 mile green lane mud/dirt track that made me glad to have a 4x4 (I could of been stuck there for days otherwise ) There was a nice 4 acre lake over at Wainsford that went on the possible list, and the lakes at Whitemoor that got crossed of due to the size limit on hooks ! Once all the lakes had been viewed, a trip to the local tackle shop was on the cards to get costs for day tickets...unfortunately it was at this point I found out that all these venues had stopped doing day tickets Ah well, fun afternoon anyway, and it's certainly made me even keener to join an Angling Club to get access to more varied waters...

Now that the winter frosts and snow have disappeared the desire to fish has started to grow the hunt for the next PB just seems much more exiting. It was in my last trip out that I caught my best fish so far and here is my view on that great day.

It was a fairly mild weekend and it was decided that we would all attend, what has become a favorite at fishingfools, Turfcroft farm in the new forest. The night before was the usual double checking of  rigs, bait, equipment and documents.  That night I had decided I would be trying something slightly different from the maggots on the hook and I spent a good hour making a number of hook lengths with hair rigs. The process of making the hair rigs is fairly straight forward but the thinner the line the harder it becomes.

 

Since the new year I have had plenty of time to get out on the lakes and rivers. The cold weather has meant that the catches have been few but with the rain I have had plenty of time to try out another christmas gift.

When I first started fishing I managed to get caught up in a lot of rain and since then I have always dreamt of the day when I could sit in a dry shelter of some form and at christmas that wish  came true.

The shelter that I had choosen was the Chub Snooper Bivy lite and it has worth its weight in gold.

Well I'm still grinning from ear to ear after a new personal best landed today at Turcroft Farm Fishery, in the New Forest - A good sized 4 lb Bream fell to maggots fished from a feeder rig using an inset tip polaris float (4-10 feet deep) on a size 16 hook - Photos in the Gallery...

Since starting fishing  four months ago most of the fishing has been on still water lakes using the waggler and I have caught a number of silver fish and a handful of small carp.  Being my first winter as a fisherman I have now learnt the lesson not to go to a lake with out checking the weather first.

Once Saturday morning as part of a group I travelled to a new lake and as we walked to the location full of excitement we turned the corner to notice that the whole lake was frozen with no chance to fish. We promptly drove to a fall back option but as we drove up the road the gates were securely closed again most likely due to a frozen pond.

After driving around the fishing the group decided to call it a day and plan something for the following day. After hours of research we all decided that a river was our only option. With some input from a local tackle shop we decided to travel to the Throop on a day ticket.

When we arrived at our location we found it to be a fairly straight foreword walk to the river bank we started setting up ready to fish. As a beginner I had opted to fish maggots with a float a balsa to be precise.

Looking back over fishingfools I have noticed that I haven't posted for a while so I thought I would quickly update you all the action for me in the past month.

As the winter months set in the frosts started to hit hard and that impacted on the number of fish that were biting.  In December I did manage to bag my self a 2lb Perch which was a personal best for me.  I was so proud that I entered a competition to win some fishing gear but unfortunately I didn't come fist but I did win a hat and a badge take a look here.

Before Christmas I sent a letter to Santa asking for some fishing gear and to my amazement I woke on Christmas day to find under the tree a fantastic rod and bivy.

The rod was a Drennan 13ft carp waggler which I have only managed to use once hopefully as spring starts to move in the rod will become a valuable asset , and I will write a more detailed post once I have had the time to use the rod.

The Bivy was the Chub snooper lite and I have to say it's the business it comes with a removable ground sheet and removal front section so the bivy can be used for the  day or overnight . Its fairly straight forward to setup again I'll write a more detailed description.

January bought some heavy frost and it was time for me to venture out on to a river, mainly because the lakes were all frozen over. At first the river seemed a rather difficult prospect, trotting a float down the stream is not as easy as some make it look. With the high wind and winter conditions I didn't catch a thing but I am still looking forward to try river fishing again maybe when I have a little more fishing experience.

Now that the new year is here I have started planning the summer's actions hopefully I can see a double figure carp which is my current target fish.

Any way see you soon