Weight – 44lb 13oz
Catch – 72 Skimmers, 1 Tench
Weather – Sunny, blustery at times
A trapped nerve in my back, prevented me from fishing last weekend. I had booked today off with the intention of going to my club water, however Sue needed the car (I'll be glad when she gets her own). I decided to still have the day off and got Sue to drop me off at the duck pond for an afternoon session.
When I arrived, someone was already in the bus stop swim, but the water level had dropped about 1ft, so I chose the slip way off the dam wall, which would offer the most depth at 2ft.
Nothing complicated today, a roach 4x12, .11 bottom & 18 silverfish pellet hook & double 5 elastic, fished at 11.5-13m towards the island and 11m down the left hand margin towards the road wall. Initially started feeding 4mm pellet & maggot via a toss pot, but soon reverted to catapulting 4mm. After a slow 10mins I started catching nearly every put in on double red maggot. After 40mins I ditched the maggot switching to soft pellet and the skimmers kept coming , although after an 2hours the swim was slowing, which coincided with the wind picking up.
A switch to corn helped and for the remainder of the session, I kept swapping between pellet and corn. When the main swim went quiet, a look down the left hand edge produced the odd fish, including a lost carp when the hook pulled, but most fish came at 11.5m. A 2½lb tench went a welcome change from the skimmers which went up to 1¾lb.
In the end I had to get Sue to pick me up earlier than intended , because I was running out of 4mms, having fed 2pts. Whether the drop in the water level had concentrated the fish in the deeper water, I'm not sure , but this beat my previous best silvers weight from the venue by 9lb.
Showing posts with label Winterbourne Duck Pond. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Winterbourne Duck Pond. Show all posts
Saturday, 29 May 2010
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
03/08/09 - Winterbourne Duck Pond
Weight – 45lb 1oz
Catch – 52 Bream, 3 Carp, 1 Hybrid, 1 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy and windy.
Water Temp– 18.0c > 18.5c
This week I was suppose to be at Stafford Moor, however I still decided to take this week off as holiday, particularly since I’m waiting for decision about who my future employer will be.
Despite being my day off, I still attended the last consultation meeting and when it finished I set off the short distance for the duck pond.
On arrival the water looked a lot clearer than expected, which was a concern. Instead of setting up on the usual bus stop swim with the wind off my back, I decided to try the swim opposite where the water appeared to be a little more coloured.
The intention was to fish the waggler down the left hand side of the island and the pole at 11m down the left hand margin. Starting on the waggler, I had to skimmer straight away on maggot, but I wasn’t happy with my presentation. The gusting wind meant accurate casting was difficult and I knew I would hook on the islands willow tree sooner or later. Also the strong wind was pushing the waggler towards me, despite fishing overdepth.
Therefore decided to fish the pole instead at 11.5m, loose feeding 4mm pellet. The first hour was a little slow, fishing double red maggot and it wasn’t look before I switched to 6mm expander. After an initial run of fish decent skimmer, the average stamp began to reduce, so I switched to corn, which doesn’t normally work that well here, but today I started regularly getting better skimmers again. Whether it was due to the clarity of the water or the fact the corn sat better in the tow I’m not sure.
Based on my 3 previous visits, I have only managed to catch 1 small carp, so today, due to the strong wind and the usual lack of carp, I decided to use a soft 6 elastic to avoid bumping too many skimmers. So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I landed a 3lb carp. A 5 pounder hooked an hour later however took a little longer to land, it just wont give up!
The left hand margin only produced a handful of skimmers, but with the weather closing in I decide to pack early. This was in fact my 2nd best weight from the pond, which for free fishing isn’t bad at all. Once I put my i-pod on, you tend to forget about the traffic.
Catch – 52 Bream, 3 Carp, 1 Hybrid, 1 Roach
Weather – Mostly cloudy and windy.
Water Temp– 18.0c > 18.5c
This week I was suppose to be at Stafford Moor, however I still decided to take this week off as holiday, particularly since I’m waiting for decision about who my future employer will be.
Despite being my day off, I still attended the last consultation meeting and when it finished I set off the short distance for the duck pond.
On arrival the water looked a lot clearer than expected, which was a concern. Instead of setting up on the usual bus stop swim with the wind off my back, I decided to try the swim opposite where the water appeared to be a little more coloured.
The intention was to fish the waggler down the left hand side of the island and the pole at 11m down the left hand margin. Starting on the waggler, I had to skimmer straight away on maggot, but I wasn’t happy with my presentation. The gusting wind meant accurate casting was difficult and I knew I would hook on the islands willow tree sooner or later. Also the strong wind was pushing the waggler towards me, despite fishing overdepth.
Therefore decided to fish the pole instead at 11.5m, loose feeding 4mm pellet. The first hour was a little slow, fishing double red maggot and it wasn’t look before I switched to 6mm expander. After an initial run of fish decent skimmer, the average stamp began to reduce, so I switched to corn, which doesn’t normally work that well here, but today I started regularly getting better skimmers again. Whether it was due to the clarity of the water or the fact the corn sat better in the tow I’m not sure.
Based on my 3 previous visits, I have only managed to catch 1 small carp, so today, due to the strong wind and the usual lack of carp, I decided to use a soft 6 elastic to avoid bumping too many skimmers. So I shouldn’t have been surprised when I landed a 3lb carp. A 5 pounder hooked an hour later however took a little longer to land, it just wont give up!
The left hand margin only produced a handful of skimmers, but with the weather closing in I decide to pack early. This was in fact my 2nd best weight from the pond, which for free fishing isn’t bad at all. Once I put my i-pod on, you tend to forget about the traffic.
Friday, 19 June 2009
18/06/09 - Winterbourne Duck Pond
Weight – 33lb 9oz
Catch – 54 Bream, 2 Hybrid, 1 Roach.
Weather – Cool, cloudy & windy.
Water Temp– 18.5c > 18.5c
Absolutely fed up with work. Nearly 2 weeks ago, it was announced my department would be sold to a 3rd party, which means more uncertainty. Normally, change doesn’t bother me, since I have been through this process on a number of occasions, however this time around, if the rumours are true, about how is buying us, it could mean the end of time at my employer. Ideally, a healthy redundancy package would be welcome.
Since I found myself getting more & more wound up, I decided to take a day off and settled on a visit to the duck pond, simply because it was local and cheap.
When I arrived there were a few carp slurping in the scum that had blown into the road wall, so I was hopeful of catching a few. I started on the pole at 10m along the wall, feeding micros & 4mm pellet. I also started feeding 4mm towards the island ready for the waggler, as well feeding pellet into the corner – right in the middle of scum.
I had my 1st fish on the 10m line after 15 minutes, but it was slow. A switch to the waggler was also slow, but eventually a few skimmers turned up on double red maggot and later 6mm expander. After nearly 2 hours I had 25 skimmers, with nothing bigger than 1lb, but the waggler swim was fading.
The 10m didn’t produce much and I eventually gave up on it. However the corner swim was a surprise. The hoped carp didn’t turn up, but I started catching some bigger skimmers, plus a 1lb plus roach, all on pellet.
As the session progressed I simply rotated between the waggler and the corner swim, catching mostly on the pellet. This despite the attention of some of over enthusiastic on lookers. Although I had to smile to myself, when 1 bloke turned with his son in his push chair, proudly saying he fished my swim yesterday, fishing the same way I was (I was in the corner when he arrived) and he had 12 skimmers in 4 hours. He then asked how I was doing, "35 skimmers in 3 hours" was my reply. He then hung around for 1 hour asking all sorts of questions about fishing. Just as well I wasn’t expecting any peace & quite.
Catch – 54 Bream, 2 Hybrid, 1 Roach.
Weather – Cool, cloudy & windy.
Water Temp– 18.5c > 18.5c
Absolutely fed up with work. Nearly 2 weeks ago, it was announced my department would be sold to a 3rd party, which means more uncertainty. Normally, change doesn’t bother me, since I have been through this process on a number of occasions, however this time around, if the rumours are true, about how is buying us, it could mean the end of time at my employer. Ideally, a healthy redundancy package would be welcome.
Since I found myself getting more & more wound up, I decided to take a day off and settled on a visit to the duck pond, simply because it was local and cheap.
When I arrived there were a few carp slurping in the scum that had blown into the road wall, so I was hopeful of catching a few. I started on the pole at 10m along the wall, feeding micros & 4mm pellet. I also started feeding 4mm towards the island ready for the waggler, as well feeding pellet into the corner – right in the middle of scum.
I had my 1st fish on the 10m line after 15 minutes, but it was slow. A switch to the waggler was also slow, but eventually a few skimmers turned up on double red maggot and later 6mm expander. After nearly 2 hours I had 25 skimmers, with nothing bigger than 1lb, but the waggler swim was fading.
The 10m didn’t produce much and I eventually gave up on it. However the corner swim was a surprise. The hoped carp didn’t turn up, but I started catching some bigger skimmers, plus a 1lb plus roach, all on pellet.
As the session progressed I simply rotated between the waggler and the corner swim, catching mostly on the pellet. This despite the attention of some of over enthusiastic on lookers. Although I had to smile to myself, when 1 bloke turned with his son in his push chair, proudly saying he fished my swim yesterday, fishing the same way I was (I was in the corner when he arrived) and he had 12 skimmers in 4 hours. He then asked how I was doing, "35 skimmers in 3 hours" was my reply. He then hung around for 1 hour asking all sorts of questions about fishing. Just as well I wasn’t expecting any peace & quite.
Saturday, 25 April 2009
24/04/09 - Winterbourne Duck Pond
Weight – 17lb 0oz
Catch – 26 Bream, 2 Hybrid, 1 Common Carp.
Weather – Mostly sunny, but cool. Strong southerly wind.
Water Temp– 14.5c > 15.0c
At last the revision is over, the exam was yesterday and I’ll get my results in 6 weeks.
I organised a day off to go fishing with Mark on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Devizes to hopefully catch the resident tench & bream. Unfortunately being a canal to get the most from it, an early start was required, so the alarm was set for 4.30 and the car was loaded up the night before.
To be honest I really didn’t want an early start, because I felt wiped out from the exam and revision. So when I was woken up by a text from Mark at 2am saying he was ill (some dodgy sushi the day before), I was disappointed because Devizes offers some great fishing. However on the other hand I welcomed the opportunity for a lie in, assuming I could get back to sleep, which I couldn’t!
So I thought sod it, might as well go fishing. Mark had some of my bait, so I only had pellet available and I didn’t fancy driving too far.
Decided to fish the duck pond again, because I wanted to see if the carp were still around. Tactics were similar to last time and my only concern was, would only fishing pellet effect my catch?
As the session progressed, I caught mostly on the waggler, but the fish weren’t really turned on to the pellet and I was fairly certain that if I had a few maggots I would have caught much more. So I finished a little disappointed, particularly after last weeks session.
As for those carp, the 1 I caught only weighed a pound. A walk around the pond tells its own story. Being only shallow, the water colour used to be is very coloured with the carp churning up the bottom, but now there is a certain clarity, which suggests the volume of carp in the pond isn't as it used to be.
The pair of Canadian Geese pictured have 7 very young chicks. I wondered whether they were on some sort of sucide mission, because they seemed to think the road was an extension of the pond, stopping traffic on a couple of occasion as they wandered around. At one point I had to get up and usher them back to the pond.
Catch – 26 Bream, 2 Hybrid, 1 Common Carp.
Weather – Mostly sunny, but cool. Strong southerly wind.
Water Temp– 14.5c > 15.0c
At last the revision is over, the exam was yesterday and I’ll get my results in 6 weeks.
I organised a day off to go fishing with Mark on the Kennet & Avon Canal at Devizes to hopefully catch the resident tench & bream. Unfortunately being a canal to get the most from it, an early start was required, so the alarm was set for 4.30 and the car was loaded up the night before.
To be honest I really didn’t want an early start, because I felt wiped out from the exam and revision. So when I was woken up by a text from Mark at 2am saying he was ill (some dodgy sushi the day before), I was disappointed because Devizes offers some great fishing. However on the other hand I welcomed the opportunity for a lie in, assuming I could get back to sleep, which I couldn’t!
So I thought sod it, might as well go fishing. Mark had some of my bait, so I only had pellet available and I didn’t fancy driving too far.
Decided to fish the duck pond again, because I wanted to see if the carp were still around. Tactics were similar to last time and my only concern was, would only fishing pellet effect my catch?
As the session progressed, I caught mostly on the waggler, but the fish weren’t really turned on to the pellet and I was fairly certain that if I had a few maggots I would have caught much more. So I finished a little disappointed, particularly after last weeks session.
As for those carp, the 1 I caught only weighed a pound. A walk around the pond tells its own story. Being only shallow, the water colour used to be is very coloured with the carp churning up the bottom, but now there is a certain clarity, which suggests the volume of carp in the pond isn't as it used to be.
The pair of Canadian Geese pictured have 7 very young chicks. I wondered whether they were on some sort of sucide mission, because they seemed to think the road was an extension of the pond, stopping traffic on a couple of occasion as they wandered around. At one point I had to get up and usher them back to the pond.
Saturday, 18 April 2009
16/04/09 - Winterbourne Duck Pond
Weight – 35lb 9oz
Catch – 59 Bream, 1 Roach, 1 Common Carp.
Weather – Cloudy, showery. Heavy rain to finish
The Duck Pond is situated on a road junction, has 3 small islands the depth ranged from 1ft to 3ft and you only fit a handful of people around it. So why would I fish here?
The pond is only 10 minutes from the office and during a lunch break a few weeks ago a chance meeting with Dave Tierney revealed the pond was now free fishing. The last time I fished here was 5 years ago, when the pond was looked after by my former club Frome Vale AC. However it appears that Winterbourne Parish Council were making more demands on the club in terms of looking after the pond, that Frome Vale decided to give up their rights.
I caught my first double figure carp here and it was where I learned about fishing for carp. My best weight from the pond was 70lb of mainly carp and since the pond was only 10 minutes from the office, I thought it could be an ideal venue for a summers early morning session. However, was it still worth fishing? As usual I had 2 different opinions. Dave said there was still loads of skimmers in the pond, as well as the carp. Whilst someone else suggested loads of carp had been removed.
I had the week off to revise for my exam next week and needed a break. So decided on an afternoon session. I set myself up on what I call the bus stop swim, because it’s next to a bus stop. Settled on 2 swims, the 1st was 10m along the wall, which runs parallel with the road and the 2nd was 16-18m towards the island, fishing the waggler.
Bait was either double red maggot or Tony Rixons jelly pellets. Feed was 4mm coarse pellet. I prefer to use the waggler here mainly because it less likely to get in the way of the general public and for that reason I tend not to fish the pole any longer than 10m. Also I use my less expensive J27, instead of my N47.
I started on the pole and soon started to catch skimmers up to 1¾lb on maggot. A switch to the waggler resulted in more skimmers, but they were on average smaller than on the pole. As the session progressed, I started to catch on pellet, but this didn’t improve the average size, either on the pole or waggler. As the session drew to a conclusion I concentrated more on the pellet hoping for a carp, but other than 1 weighing 12oz on the waggler I had no others. You usually see the carp moving round, but I didn’t see any signs, so perhaps they have been removed.
Today was an enjoyable distraction from my revision and I will back to see whether there are any carp left.
Catch – 59 Bream, 1 Roach, 1 Common Carp.
Weather – Cloudy, showery. Heavy rain to finish
The Duck Pond is situated on a road junction, has 3 small islands the depth ranged from 1ft to 3ft and you only fit a handful of people around it. So why would I fish here?
The pond is only 10 minutes from the office and during a lunch break a few weeks ago a chance meeting with Dave Tierney revealed the pond was now free fishing. The last time I fished here was 5 years ago, when the pond was looked after by my former club Frome Vale AC. However it appears that Winterbourne Parish Council were making more demands on the club in terms of looking after the pond, that Frome Vale decided to give up their rights.
I caught my first double figure carp here and it was where I learned about fishing for carp. My best weight from the pond was 70lb of mainly carp and since the pond was only 10 minutes from the office, I thought it could be an ideal venue for a summers early morning session. However, was it still worth fishing? As usual I had 2 different opinions. Dave said there was still loads of skimmers in the pond, as well as the carp. Whilst someone else suggested loads of carp had been removed.
I had the week off to revise for my exam next week and needed a break. So decided on an afternoon session. I set myself up on what I call the bus stop swim, because it’s next to a bus stop. Settled on 2 swims, the 1st was 10m along the wall, which runs parallel with the road and the 2nd was 16-18m towards the island, fishing the waggler.
Bait was either double red maggot or Tony Rixons jelly pellets. Feed was 4mm coarse pellet. I prefer to use the waggler here mainly because it less likely to get in the way of the general public and for that reason I tend not to fish the pole any longer than 10m. Also I use my less expensive J27, instead of my N47.
I started on the pole and soon started to catch skimmers up to 1¾lb on maggot. A switch to the waggler resulted in more skimmers, but they were on average smaller than on the pole. As the session progressed, I started to catch on pellet, but this didn’t improve the average size, either on the pole or waggler. As the session drew to a conclusion I concentrated more on the pellet hoping for a carp, but other than 1 weighing 12oz on the waggler I had no others. You usually see the carp moving round, but I didn’t see any signs, so perhaps they have been removed.
Today was an enjoyable distraction from my revision and I will back to see whether there are any carp left.
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