Sluice is still not producing the goods

I arrived at Sixfields for a session on my float rod. I was to find out soon enough that the sluice is still not fishing at it's best. In just over 3 hours I caught only one fish. There were Tench bubbling all over the place in my swim, but they didn't seem to want my hookbaits. I packed up and headed over to the canal again. I was rods in by around 6pm and stayed until 9ish. In this time I managed to land 26 fish, 25 Roach and 1 Skimmer Bream. Sollom is fishing really well at the moment. Rash also fished and caught 10 fish. My pupil is doing well and is starting to catch fish ;-) I quite fancy having a bash on the River Douglas as this is quite close to where I live. Some cracking Chub in there I hear. I'll try and have a go in the next week or so

Another Sollom Bream

I met Rasheed at Sollom to give him a few pointers and see if I could get him catching. He's been fishing at Sollom and not catching too many fish. It was quite easy to spot the problems. Basically he was fishing too heavy. I made him a hook length of only 2 and a half pounds and changed his hook from a size 10 to a 20. We had a fish within 30 seconds. I met him again around 7.30ish, the fishing was rather slow. I did though manage to catch 5 fish, the pick of the bunch was another Bream of around 3lb's.

Yours Truly with another Bream

A couple of hours on the float rod

On Monday when I was sorting through my Pole stuff, I found a Float rod that I'd acquired last year. It's a pretty old Diawa, i'd estimate from the 1970's. It has a bit of a retro feel about it. I headed to Sollom for a couple hours. I've not used a float rod for ages. It was good to get back to basics. I even caught a few fish, 9 in total. The best fish coming just before I packed up. A cracking Bream of around 3 pounds.

Another cracking Sollom Bream

First Pole session of the year

I finally got around to digging all my Pole gear out. At around 3.00pm I headed down to Sollom to get reacquainted with an old friend. It's around a year since I last used it. The bites were slow at first, and when they did finally come, my swim was disturbed by a constant stream of Narrowboats. They had all passed by around 6 ish though. I was getting a bite a chuck after this, but I was struggling to hit the bites. That was until I changed my technique. Instead of lifting into the bites, I started to strike to the side. The result was amazing. Instead of a bite a chuck I was getting a fish a chuck. I caught a lot of Roach. I'll take comfort from the fact that there is a saying in fishing. "If you're catching Roach then you're doing something right" This is because they're rather tackle shy. In total I caught 23 fish. I can't wait to have another go.

Not a bad mix of fish

Carp session

Went Carping. It was rubbish!

2 X Canal sessions = 21 fish

I couldn't resist another quickie on the canal this afternoon. I fished for a couple of hours. I caught a total of 13 fish, a good mix of Roach, Skimmers, Perch, and of course no trip to the canal would be complete without a traditional Eel....

Another sneaky trip back to the canal after work produced me another 8 fish. The pick of the bunch was a fabulous Bream of 3lb 9oz. There are some quality Bream at the canal at Sollom and are well worth targeting. This is about the biggest one I've caught from Sollom

3lb 9oz Breamthere so far.

Quick trip to the canal

A 3 hour session on the canal at Sollom produced me 2 fish. One small roach, and an Eel of around 1lb. I fished on my pole top section. It was good to get back to basics for a change.