New House Farm, Church Stretton, Shropshire

[WickerDave]

A continuation of the tiny roach bagging here today on a blustery afternoon. Maggot on the waggler rod produced nearly a bite a cast from the off and it finished with 99 roach plus a solitary (and rare for here) tiny perch, with nothing over 6oz, for a 9lbish total.

About the smallest roach is pictured, plus about a quarter of the catch with nothing there over 4oz, for a 2lbish subtotal.





The method feeder rod remained almost motionless throughout the session with just a few roach tugs and a 2oz roach.

It looked like it would be a carp less day but in the last hourish of light there were some swirls in the bay some distance in front of me so I switched the size 18 hook on the waggler rod to a 10 and wandered down with that rod to drop a lump of luncheon meat where there was movement. This produced a 7lb mirror fairly quickly, and a 3lb mirror soon after.



There were even a few rises there to loose mixers and the last cast produced a 5.5lb common on banded mixer, my first surface fish of the year.

The method feeder rod finally produced a 3lbish mirror late on, so it was a decent end to the session .

 

[Silverfisher]

Nice day to be out at least and better lots of small fish than no fish

Is certainly unusual to get bitted out by that many tiny roach though, something way more associated with Rudd

 

[WickerDave]

Nice day to be out at least and better lots of small fish than no fish

Is certainly unusual to get bitted out by that many tiny roach though, something way more associated with Rudd

Never had a rudd there, so the roach must be taking their place . Apart from the carp and roach, I've only caught five small perch and two decent roach/bream hybrids there. I suspect the hybrids were initially stocked with the roach, rather than breeding naturally in the pool.

 

[Tristar]

Lovely bag of Roach. Looks a good place.

 

[WickerDave]

A cold, calm but sunny afternoon here yesterday after the persistent mist had eventually cleared. Once the sun dipped down it felt cold, down to 3 degrees at dusk.

The waggler roach were a bit slower than the last couple of trips and this rod finished up with 58 roach to 7oz for a 6lbish total plus a 2lb carp.

The method feeder rod had a slow start as the carp seem to have deserted the island margins. Casting out into open water produced 4 small carp to 3.5lb and 6 roach to 12oz, mostly on some old 8mm hard robin red pellets I’d dug out from the bottom of the seat box. A couple of the carp were only 1lb+, so there were brief hopes of a good roach until they flashed bronze not silver .



I’ve my covid jab on Friday further away than fishing local, so will probably visit the nearby Teme on that trip for some much needed variety.

 

[Silverfisher]

Some nice fish again there

Good idea the teme trip when you get jabbed. Bit ironic isn’t it that for a lot of us our ‘local’ hospital is not local so far as the implication of the local rule suggests!

 

[WickerDave]

A return here yesterday afternoon to a deserted fishery. For variety I decided to fish a cornerish swim on the dam wall that I’ve not fished in the cooler months. This produced much the same results as recently on the waggler rod with 66 roach to 7oz. Single maggot produced mostly tiny roach, caster and double maggot made little difference to the size but corn deterred the smaller fish without slowing the bite rate too much. Corn did produce a much better fish that flashed silver so I was expecting a 1lb+ roach, but was surprised when a chunky perch of 1.5lb came to the net.



The method feeder rod remained almost motionless throughout the session with just a few roach tugs and a 2oz roach. Changing baits and area made no difference. A couple of bite alarm carpers did arrive soon after me and fished the island point and margins but they only managed one carp late on between them.

 

[Silverfisher]

Sounds like another nice session and a lovely perch

 

[Jimpanzee]

Cracking looking perch - another lovely session again from the sounds of things

 

[WickerDave]

Another trip here yesterday afternoon. A strong northerly breeze and three small groups of carp anglers spread around meant I set up in the same swim as last time for some space and to avoid a cross wind.



The waggler roach were obliging from the start but after a few better fish in the first dozen the size decreased back to mostly tiny. The final tally was 89 roach for 10lb with an early 10oz fish and then nothing over 6oz, plus a 2lb common.



The carp anglers were all catching a few throughout, but my method feeder rod started slowly. A brief switch to a maggot feeder made no difference. The method feeder finally produced a run of fish at the end of the session and ended up with 6 carp with a best and last fish of 7.5lb.



A late switch to a bigger bait on the waggler rod resulted in very few bites, a decent carp lost to a hook pull and a last cast 4lbish carp.

 

[Silverfisher]

Nice looking fish again

 

[Silver fan 82]

Another trip here yesterday afternoon. A strong northerly breeze and three small groups of carp anglers spread around meant I set up in the same swim as last time for some space and to avoid a cross wind.



The waggler roach were obliging from the start but after a few better fish in the first dozen the size decreased back to mostly tiny. The final tally was 89 roach for 10lb with an early 10oz fish and then nothing over 6oz, plus a 2lb common.



The carp anglers were all catching a few throughout, but my method feeder rod started slowly. A brief switch to a maggot feeder made no difference. The method feeder finally produced a run of fish at the end of the session and ended up with 6 carp with a best and last fish of 7.5lb.



A late switch to a bigger bait on the waggler rod resulted in very few bites, a decent carp lost to a hook pull and a last cast 4lbish carp.

Lovely looking fish as always Dave.