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.

 

[WickerDave]

My first trip here yesterday afternoon/evening since lockdown eased. I had walked around it a few times recently with a bag of mixers and the most consistent area with rising carp was south of the island. There were six cars there when I arrived but fortunately no-one was too near to my intended spot. [Photo was taken when most had left].



A cool NE wind was rippling the water at the start but loose mixers soon had carp rising. Feeding the margin with pellets soon had tails boiling too. Both rods caught consistently throughout the afternoon with a total of 7 carp from the surface and 5 carp from the margin, from 9lbish to 2.5lb with most of the better fish from the surface.



Back home for a hot meal and the washing up and then back for the last 2 hours of light. After 5 minutes a lively carp was on and I had hopes of finally catching a double from here but it only went 9.12.



The margin swim died as it cooled rapidly when the sun dipped behind the hills and it only produced a 6lbish carp, but the surface carp continued to rise all evening and the evening tally was 7 carp with another 9lbish fish late on. As usual a pair of persistent ducks made loose feeding difficult at times, when they left there were plenty of rises.

 

[dc81]

I had a short evening session here last night, the bad news is that it rained intermittently and heavily at times and I forgot my brolly so had to end a little earlier, soaked to the skin and freezing cold!

Following @WickerDave 's lead I tried the method feeder close to the island and then a waggler in the margins. The method rod proved challenging in the wind and rain but got some knocks later on before producing a common of about 2lbs. The waggler rod (nice to be fishing the waggler again!) fished with maggots saw consistent action, mostly small roach and then this lovely specimen:



In the gaps between the rain you could see some tails up as carp sifted through the loose feed, one appeared right under my feed so I dropped the waggler in the mud-cloud and hooked into this lovely golden-coloured common (the bank was sodden and soft as anything, so forgive the lack of unhooking matt):



The lack of 'formal' swims and open nature makes this fishery feel a little strange to me, but it's a lovely setting and the sport is always great.

 

[Silverfisher]

Sounds like nice sessions for you both

 

[WickerDave]

Nice report and fish @dc81 .

Once the fish are rising to surface baits I don't fish the method feeder there as it is my least favourite method.

Yes the grassy banks are it's downside as this encourages the picnicking and tenting/camper van fraternity to drive and cram along the banks when it is warm, so you have to pick your session times carefully. It was packed when I walked down there late on the Easter Sunday sunny afternoon to see if I could have an evening session. There would have just been room but a large group of several cars worth of families were blaring out some awful ethnic music, so having suffered that on a previous trip last year I swiftly went home.

 

[Imperium]

Some of the roach on this thread are absolutely stunning - the carp are good fun but those roach would be a dream on a regular basis like you've had. Great dangling.

 

[WickerDave]

A bonus fish here yesterday evening. I walked down late afternoon expecting it to be rammed and noisy but although two banks were fairly full with quiet groups the dam bank only had a pair in one corner and the opposite free corner looked inviting. Mixers fired out there soon had carp rising, so it was home for a quick dinner and a return with the tackle.

On my return a pair of novices had set up on one side of the previously free corner but they weren’t fishing far out and with a big reed bed between us there was still enough room for me. The evening started badly, the first two carp hooked were lost to hook pulls with a big tangle on one of them. The session then settled down after that and a steady flow of carp were landed from both the surface and the margin, with a total of 16 between 9.5lb and 2.5lb, and a bonus roach of 1lbish that somehow managed to take an 11mm floating pellet.



There was lots of cloud drifting over from Wales but it managed to stay dry, so it was a very pleasant evening.

 

[WickerDave]

Another split afternoon/dinner/evening session here yesterday.

I couldn’t get the surface carp rising consistently in the main swim in the afternoon and only had three smallish fish. The roach were very active on the surface loose feed though and I had ten between 6oz and 12oz.



The margins were only producing roach too, mainly of a smaller stamp but with the odd better one to 10oz. There were brief hopes of a very good roach from something that clearly wasn’t a small carp, but it turned out to be an oddly shaped hybrid.



A late afternoon wander with the margin float rod along the east bank found some visible fish in the south corner and three fish to 9lbish were caught fairly quickly.

The evening session in a very cool wind was better surface wise and produced six carp to 8lbish. The surface roach weren’t as active in the evening but the last cast fish was a good one of 1.25lb.

 

[WickerDave]

An afternoon only session here yesterday. When I started at 2ish the fishery was flat calm and deserted so I decided to just wander round it with a float rod and drop a lump of luncheon meat to visible carp or disturbed water in the margins. This started well with several carp close in and then another four in a short spell of surface fishing before the ducks turned up. The session then slowed as quite a strong breeze developed which made fish spotting harder but finishing a full circuit of the lake back to the car produced a few more carp from a slightly sheltered margin. The final tally was 16 carp from 10lb to 3lb, the biggest common of 9lbish is pictured.



Three cars had arrived by 6ish when I packed up, so still much quieter than I expected.