Lovely morning in Alders, I arrived last night to find a few already camped up

Environment Agency East Midlands Fisheries Team​

It’s about to get really hot and while this could affect all fisheries, we know that species such as barbel, pike and grayling will be more susceptible. Warm water carries less oxygen, which means sensitive species could be stressed, and if caught might struggle to fully recover. We have seen some brilliant practices in recent years by local clubs and fisheries taking measures to protect their stocks – for now and the future - and we want to support similar action that may be required through this hot spell.

Angling Clubs and fisheries may want to:
• Think about reducing access to highly pressured waters/sections
• Where possible prevent barbel and other sensitive species from being retained – (in matches barbel could be weighed by officials as they are caught, a two net rule could be applied or simply not counted)
• Reduce bait limits

Anglers can take care of fish welfare by -
• Take particular care when playing, landing and releasing sensitive species during warm weather
• Avoid fishing for larger fish or sensitive species if the water temperature exceeds 19°C by mid-morning. (Clubs may choose to update their Social Media accounts with daily updates)
• Unhook fish in the water if possible and only take them out of the water for unhooking if absolutely necessary (in rivers hold them facing upstream to recover)
• Avoid taking photos. Where absolutely necessary, take photos in the water - keeping a fish in the air, even for a few seconds, can greatly reduce its chances of surviving after capture and going on to spawn successfully.

Everyone should be vigilant, keep a close eye on river flows and look for any signs of fish in distress.
If you see dead fish or distressed fish, call our incident hotline number, 0800 80 70 60

For more guidance on warm water fishing please head here:

Match five of the season was the Hall Cup – held for as long as I can remember on a Friday evening – and for the last few years on the smallest pond at Dromonby Farm Fishery. The same venue also plays host to out three match evening series and after the first two rounds it couldn’t be closer at the top – both George and Juliet having five points, George leading by virtue of catching just one ounce more. This is a standalone match and not part of the series, the final round being on June 22nd.

I’d lost a couple of entrants earlier in the week but with a seven strong field it did mean we could spread out a bit. After a couple of sharp showers as we were unloading it ended up being more or less dry and sunny for the remainder of the day. I pulled out peg eight which is in the far corner of the pond from the entrance. I drew the same peg in an evening match in 2004 – when the pond looked very different 2004

Catches have varied wildly over the last couple of evening matches – 35lb being needed to win the first round and just 4lb 10oz the second, so I planned to drop some cat food under the large bush to my left and fish maggot and corn at top-kit range and 10m. I also had a small method feeder rigged up to fish tight to the bushes along the left-hand side of the peg – the fence that I fished against all those years ago is still present but inaccessible due to undergrowth.





I dropped some Coshida and well-soaked micro pellets under the tree, some corn and 4mm pellet out at 10m and then flicked out a light top-kit rig for the lakes hordes of voracious rudd. It didn’t take long to get a response from them and with single maggot hookbait I was soon catching at two or three fish a minute – problem was many of them were tiny. After fifteen minutes and probably a couple of dozen fish in the net I had a look over my other lines – neither appeared to contain any carp. Under the tree I was getting the usual knocks and taps with Coshida on the hook that indicated that small fish were playing football with the bait.

Elsewhere I could only see Ian who I hadn’t spotted being attached to anything substantial, Rob was hidden behind the bush opposite, but I could see the tip of his pole. I believe he lost this one.



After seeing Rob successfully land a couple of fish I stopped fishing for the small rudd – they weren’t large enough to do a weight of them – certainly not enough to beat a
couple of carp.





Another look under the bush to my left saw the float remain stationary – usually an indication that the small fish had scarpered due to the presence of a carp or two. Sure enough the float buried and I found myself attached to what appeared to be a sizeable carp – sadly after a couple of minutes the hook pulled – the scale I retrieved indicated where I’d hooked it.

Dropping back into the same spot there was still no movement of the float, so I was confident there was possibly still a carp about. I went through the various hook baits I had with me without provoking any response until I dropped the single maggot I had attached to my light rudd catching rig into the same spot. Float flew straight under and after a short scrap I landed a small carp of a couple of pounds or so. Sadly that was the only one and next drop I got a little rudd which kind of indicated they’d gone. I dumped a big pot of feed in and had a look on the method feeder, flicked over towards the bushes to my left. Three changes of bait and thirty minutes later I hadn’t added to my total so I went back under the tree but succeeded only in picking up odd rudd until I shouted time at 9pm.

I was pretty sure Rob would be top weight but had no idea what else had been caught. Starting the weigh in at George on peg 1 he had 1lb 3oz



Ian on peg 3 had 1lb 7oz



Rob had four carp and weighed 15lb 2oz to pick up the trophy by a big margin.



Mine was the only other carp caught and helped me along to 3lb 12oz



Juliet pipped partner Ian by just an ounce



Steve weighed 4lb 12oz for third spot



And Peter clinched second with 6lb dead from end peg 12


We’re back here for our late start match this Sunday – draw at 12.15, fish 1.30-7.30pm – currently we’ve got room for a guest.

Final round of this years evening series is 22nd July – room for a guest on this one too.

And ending the month we’re back at Rising Sun on 24th July for our Annual Cup in conjunction with Guisborough AC – this one’s fully booked though.

Simon

…. great opportunity. I run matches on this lake, it’s a snake lake mainly carp, tench and skimmers, 11-14m across. Chance of a good days fishing with top class coaching thrown in.

I’ll do a bit of a write up with more pics tomorrow evening when I have more time. I’m sure most will be more interested in todays results so weigh sheet pics below. A tricky day for most I think but some good weights still be had on some pegs.

All in all, a great day out, great weather and great company… well done the framers and thanks to everyone for getting there in time (Monday mornings ain’t the best for travelling I know, so your efforts were appreciated). Thanks also to all those who helped to weigh in, all done in good time

After yesterday’s mostly fishless day, I still had the urge to feel a bend in the rod so I popped down to the local River Dearne. A short session, again with barbel in mind but also to be content with anything.

I arrived ready to fish at 7.45 and stopped by my favourite ‘barbel banker’ swim from last season. The overhanging were trees long gone and had been replaced with reeds and bushes. I don’t think I’ll find many barbel here again now their cover has gone.

Worth a cast though, right? You never know what might be lurking under the steadily paced surface.
I did have three casts here, same set up as yesterday. The first chuck with a pva bag of mixed pellet, the second two with just loose feed. I gave myself 20 mins a cast and ended up with a lost chub that slipped the hook and a landed chub that didn’t…



I decided to move on after an hour and headed down to the slightly deeper water below the footbridge. The river is looking really low and there’s long stretches that only look a foot deep. This time last year I was spotting shoals of bream, chub and carp with my polarising glasses. I haven’t seen a single fish in the shallows this year.

Swim number two:

Same approach here, 8mm spicy sausage pellet hair-rigged to a size 12 Guru MWG, I started with a 3ft hooklength but reduced to 2ft after getting lots of plucks and taps on the tip. The bites weren’t developing into hook ups, as you can see here:



Would you hit that?

The shorter hook length made the difference, I had two chub from here between two and three pound.




One was a slow steady pull, the other bolted downstream stripping line off the baitrunner. Nice to be into some action at last. The next bite was a fairly confident one, I assumed it was a chub for a few moments, only to be surprised to see this had taken the 8mm pellet.

To be fair to the roach, it’s mouth was pretty much 8-10mm wide. I eat pizzas bigger than my head and nobody complains.

I wanted to be home by 11am, so I decided to have one last cast at 10.45. I set a timer for 7 minutes and started packing some bits away. With 2 minutes left the tip bent over and I was into my last fish. Alas not a barbel, nor a chub, it fought like a bream but wasn’t. I was very pleased to slip the net under what was my biggest ever Ide! I weighed it as it seemed really long, it was 4lb 4oz and a cracking fish to finish on.


So a decent first trip to the Dearne. The barbel will be a whole new challenge now the landscape has changed but thats all part of the fun. I won’t be fishing it quite as much but I will look forward to every trip.