Back fishing on the grand western canal

30th November 2013 

            Welcome back to another blog after fishing on the river yesterday and not doing very well so today i am back on the tiverton canal fishing for the roach on the bread punch.So it was Saturday 30th november 2013 i headed out and up to the canal i made my way back down towards the tiverton canal basin end .I had a good look around on the way down through the towpath and dident really see anything moving or showing any were but i had made up my mind i was going to fish some were between the broken bridge and the turning bay in the basin.I had a good look around the broken bridge i decided the best looking area was half way down along the stretch it was on the corner that i decided to fish just about 4 pegs before the turning bay in the basin.On the far bank there was over hanging trees all along the far bank and it looked one of the better swims along the canal i have fished this area before and had a few good catches along here .So i set my gear up i was only going to fish one swim on the pole today so i got out one of my match kits a top 3 kit with a number 3 browning latex elastic in the top one section i also decided i would try fishing the whip again as it can be a match winning way on the canal this time of the year for little roach and shimmers ect so with all my gear set up so all i had to do now was get 2  rigs out and i was ready to get the rigs plumbed up and get fishing.I started off by setting up my match top 3 kit i plumbed it up at about 6 to 7 meters straight out in front of me it was about 3 foot deep i plumbed this rig up so it was at dead depth i was using a maver elite 4x12 pole float on a size 2.4lb mainline to a 1.5lb hook length to a size 22 fine wire hook i started off by feeding a small cup of liquidised bread on this swim i left it for a while i while so i was going to set up my whip i plumbed my whip slightly to my right hand side at around 4 to 5 meters out.feed about 4 small 50p size nuggets of bread on this line i left it while i sorted the rest of my fishing gear out then i started off by fishing on the pole line on a single maggot i had a fish within 3 Min's it was a good skimmer of about a pound or so i carried on by catch most put ins and it was not bad size fish around the 6 to 7 oz fish and the odd skimmer but a few were really small roach of only 1 to 3 oz i also caught about 4 fish on the whip but was catching a lot better on the pole line i carried on feeding little and often with the liquidised and a few maggots i went on to catch for most of the day i had another good skimmer so after having a chat with a couple mates that popped up to see how i was getting on it was now 2pm so i decided it was time to pack up i ended the session with 2 good skimmers and about 40+ roach and skimmers so i packed up slowly and headed home so until the next blog be safe and if your on the bank over the next few days tight lines 

lee

         

River Culm Paddleford Pool

29th november 2013

welcome back to another blog from me today we are not on the canal for a change i planned a trip on the river we had a look at a stretch that runs off of the river culm 
killerton stretch you turn left as you head through rewe on the A396 just half a mile off the rewe turning over the first railway bridge and the next bridge is the river we were going to fish.I met up with a mate at my house at 8.30 am we loaded the gear in the car and headed down to the tackle shop at westexe it called exe Vally angling tiverton we had to wait a bit as it didn't open until 9 and once it was open we were through the door we had a chat with nick the owner he as not owned the shop very long but he is a angler his self and a top bloke very helpful and welcoming chap if you in the area head in and say hello we had a look around as i have not fished the rivers much for a very long time  so i had to buy a few stick floats and some float rubbers and we both got half a pint of red and white mixed maggots we paid and headed out the shop jumped in the car and headed to the river after about 15 to 20 mins drive from tiverton via the A396 we turned into cullompjohn and head down to the second bridge and we were at the river we had to park just the other side of the bridge in a small lay bay but the car was safe and off the road before we got our gear out  we walked up and had a look off the bridge because this stretch is a flood relief channel running off the river culm and kilerton stretch as we didn't know what state the river would be in high or low coloured ect but it looked perfect to me .So we got the fishing gear out the car i put my waterproof trousers and boots on and we headed down to the river and through the gate it was very muddy just as we got in the gate because of all the floods a while ago when the river was at its highest and in flood it was so bad it managed to wash the bridge away which the farmer used to get his live stock from one side of the river to the other i started off by fishing the slow moving pool which is the first swim inside the gate which is know as paddle ford pool.I started by feeding a couple hand full of maggots on the pool i wanted to feed a run down through the middle of the pool as it looked the deepest i trotted the stick down i was excepting to get a bite quite quick as it looked a great bit of water very slow deep and perfect bit of colour but after a hour trotting the stick and no bites i only saw one fish rise on the left hand side of the pool in the slack water but with no luck i moved down onto a slow running narrow stretch i did the same as in the pool i fed 2 small hand full of maggots i put on a red and a white maggot and trotted ti through and kept flicking a few maggots every 5 or so runs i trotted through 40 or 50 time at different depths this run was very shallow and was a fair bit of weed still in the river i feel i fished this run the best i could and again with no luck i headed down to the last pool were my mate was fishing he was changing from the stick to the feeder we had a chat i told him i had not had a bite he informed me he had only had 1 fish a very small trout.I ran my float through my mates swim while he had some food and a coffee i had one bite but no fish we decided to walk across a shallow part of the rivers and fish a couple of good looking small moving pools on the far bank as you can fish both banks for about 300 meter both ways as long as you can cross the river safe now it is well Worth a try but there is no bridge At the moment but a lot of small narrow slow moving areas were you can safely wade across so when we were on the other bank we stoped on a few spots which were looking good to run a stick through a couple times stayed here for about half and hour and nothing we both ended up the day back at the bridge and fished a couple swims that we though could throw up a chup or even any fish would have been nice .After an hour it had started getting dark it had also started drizzling and the wind was getting up we wadded back across the shallows bellow paddledford pool were the farmer moves his live stock across we washed out boots off and headed out the gate and back to the car packed the gear in changed out boots and headed home with my first river trip under my belt and also a blank i will be back on the river soon i hope the rivers will not get the better of me i will beat it on the next session i hope so until the next blog if your on the bank tight lines and be safe 

lee  

River Culm Paddleford Pool This is a very small stretch continuing on from the Association’s Killerton Estate fishery. This is a very popular water with many fish being present in a relatively small area, it is particularly good in the winter months when the main river (Culm) is coloured. Unfortunately, there are not many swims available here; this in turn can at times cause it to be crowded, especially at weekends, whereas on week days sees very little pressure. Quality roach and bream are in residence along with the occasional good chub. Well worth a go, especially if other local waters are in flood. The fishing starts at the bridge and continues downstream for 60 yards. Directions: From Exeter, head for Tiverton on the A396, you will come to the small village of Stoke Canon, continue on for approximately 1 mile and you will come to the village of Rewe. In the middle of the village turn right signed Columnjohn, go on this road for a short distance and after you will pass over a railway bridge, just down from here you will come to another small bridge with Paddleford pool being found immediately below it, our fishing extends from the actual pool and downstream on the main river for 60 yards. Note: If you continue on the road you will eventually come to Killerton. Rules: As per the Association handbook. Season:16th June – 14th March. Boundaries: Fishing is on both banks downstream, looking down from the small road bridge continuing for 60 yards; parking is on the road.

ROACH FISHING ON THE CANAL

11TH NOVEMBER 2013


     Welcome to another blog from my fishing on the grand western canal it was the second session on the canal fishing for the roach.I decided to head down toward the basin end of the canal when i got up there i had a look around i didn't see much moving a only a couple of jack pike but this did not put me off as i did know this end of the canal did hold a large head of jacks but over the years i have fished this end for the roach and not really had much trouble from the jacks but its just something you have got to put up with this time of the year.I decided to fish about 3 pegs up from the turning bay down in the basin i set up just to the right of the dead weedbed on the far bank i got all my gear out and set up i got out 2 match top 3 kits and placed on the roost.I started by plumbing up the first top a match top 3 kit a number 3 white latex with a browning elastic through the top 1 section i had a lake 0.4g float with a 2lb 4oz main line to a 1lb 5oz hook length to a size 22 micro barbed hook i plumbed up straight out in front of me and put out a small cup of liquidised bread.i then strated to set my other top 3 up which was a 3-4 purple middy hi-viz elastic again through the top 1 section of the match top kit i used a maver elite 4x12 pole float with a 2lb 4oz mainline to a 1lb 5oz hook length to a size 22 hook i went on to plumb this Right up at 11.5 meters slightly to my left off the dead weed bed i did the same on this line by putting out a cup of liquidised bread.
I started off by fishing on my short line in the middle i put on a small 4mm bread punch and shipped out within a min or so i had my first bite it was a roach of about 4-6oz i stayed on the 4mm bread punch and was getting bites every put in it was all really small roach and skimmers of  3 to 4 oz i did miss a few bites but i think the reason for this was that the fish was so small after a hour or so i decided to feed another cup of bait on the middle swim i then decided to go over and fish on the 11 and a half meter swim i stuck to fishing on the 4mm punch same as i was on the middle swim i started catching straight away on this line the same as on the middle line but the fish was smaller i then decided to go back on the short middle line the bites had slowed a bit but i was still catching small fish i did go on to have 1 skimmer around the half a pound mark right at the end of the session 2pm had came and i decided it was time to end the session for today as it had got very cold and there was a bit of drizzle in the air so i packed up and looked at my catch i had one shimmer of about half a pound and 30+ small roach and skimmers .Until the next time if your on the bank tight lines

lee

PUNCH FISHING ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL

10TH NOVEMBER 2013


      Welcome back to the latest blog it as been a while since i last got out fishing in fact its been over   14 weeks since i last got a rod out so it was a Sunday morning the first bright sunny day we have had for about the last 3 weeks as the weather as been  very wet and Windy i left home at around 9am and headed up towards the canal.I decided to fish half way between tidcombe bridge and William Arther's foot bridge on the stretch know to local anglers as the dead stretch i stoped half way up along the stretch were there is a tree over hanging the water on the far bank to the left of the swim it did look a good are to fish as i was not sure what areas are fishing and what areas are not fishing well at this time of year it can be good fishing in this area but some pegs are hit and miss.So i set my gear up and got 2 match top 3s out one with a number 3 browning latex elastic through top 1 sections and the other top 3 kit was a number 3-4 purple elastic again through the top 1 section i fished 1 at around 6 meters and the other top at around 10 and a half meters slightly to my left to the overhanging tree i plumbed the first rig up in the middle it was a carp 4x12 on a 2lb mainline to a 1.5lb hook length to a size 22 hook i plumbed this up at dead depth i then plumbed up my other rig just off the tree on this rig i was using a maver elite 4x12 again on a 2lb mainline to a 1lb hook length to a size 22 hook i started off by putting in 2 cups of liquidised bread one at 6 meters and the other on the far back swim.I started off fishing on a 4mm bread punch and started catching stright away i caught a few roach and a skimmer on the middle line i fed another cup of liquidised on the middle and went out on my other line off the tree to my left also had a bite on this swim withing 30 seconds or so.I went on to catch the rest of my by swapping between both swims i ended the session with 40 to 50 roach a couple good roach and a skimmer it was a very enjoyable day and  great to get out fishing again for a change until my next blog if your out on the bank tight lines

lee

MATCH FISHING ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL

                                               TIVERTON BASIN

17TH JULY 2013

             WELCOME BACK TO ANOTHER SHORT BLOG WITH A HEAT WAVE OVER THE WHOLE OF THE UK WITH TEMPTURES UP TO 30 DEGREES I HAVENT SPENT MUCH TIME ON THE BANK .I PUT MY NAME DOWN ON THE MATCH LIST IN THE LOCAL TACKLE SHOP EXE VALLY ANGLING TO FISH A SHORT EVENING CLUB MATCH IN THE BASIN OF THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL THIS WAS A 3 HR MATCH THE DRAW WAS AT THE CAR PARK OF THE CANAL BASIN AT 5PM AND FISH FROM 6 TO 9 PM. I GOT UP THERE WAS 13 ANGLERS FISHING WITH PEG 1 RIGHT DOWN IN THE BASIN OFF THE FIRST MOORED BOAT AND PEG 13 WAS DOWN IN THE NEXT TURNING BAY KNOW AS SCHOOL BAY. WE ALL PAYED OUR £5  AND PICKED OUT PEGS I PICKED MY PEG IT WAS NUMBER 11 WHICH WAS JUST THE OTHER SIDE OF THE BROKEN BRIDGE EVERY ONE SAID OH YOU GOT ONE OF THE BEST PEGS OF THE MATCH YOU WILL PISS IT IT WAS A WELL KNOW PEG OF THE SKIMMERS AND BIG BREAM BAG AND IT THROWS UP THE ODD TENCH THIS TIME OF THE YEAR I WAS GOING TO SET UP THE 2 TOP KITS ONE AT 8 AND A HALF METERS STRAIGHT OUT IN FRONT OF ME AND I SET ONE UP IN CLOSE TIGHT THE THE WEED BEDS TO MY LEFT.WHEN THE MATCH STARTED I FED GROUND BAIT IN THE MIDDLE SWIM A MIX OF BAIT-TEC OMEN AND BROWN CRUMB AND I ALSO FED SOME WHITE BREAD CRUMB ON THE INSIDE I WAS GOING TO START OFF ON THE MIDDLE SWIM OVER  OVER THE GROUND BAIT ON THE MAGGOT BUT I DID NOT HAVE A BITE IN THE FIRST 15 MINS SO I DECIDED TO TO COME BACK ON THE INSIDE AND FISH OVER THE WHITE CRUMB ON A 6MM BREAD PUNCH I HAD A BIT STRIGHT AWAY AND HOOKED INTO A SKIMMER WHICH I WENT AND LOST BY DOING A SILLY THING TRYING TO SWING IT IN AND IT DROPED OFF SO ANY OTHER FISH I CATCH I WILL BE NETTING AND NOT DROPPING HAHAHAHA.I WENT BACK ON THE INSIDE LINE AND WAITED ANOTHER 15 MINS FOR A BITE AND AFTER THAT I HAD A SMALL ROACH WITH HALF AN HOUR GONE 2 PEOPLE TO MY RIGHT HAVE CAUGHT A FEW FISH SO BY NOW I WAS MATCH BUT I DECIDED TO CARRY ON FISHING THE INSIDE LINE TO MY LEFT AND CAUGHT A FEW MORE FISH INCLUDING A BREAM OF AROUND 2LB BUT STILL HAVE NOT HAD A BITE ON THE MIDDLE LINE WERE I FEED THE GROUND BAIT AT THE START OF THE MATCH BUT I WAS CATCHING ON THE INSIDE STILL BUT I WAS NOT CATCHING LIKE THE OTHERS TO MY LEFT THE MATCH ENDED AT 9PM AND I STARTED PACKING UP LEAVING MY NET IN FOR THE WEIGH IN I WAS SECOND PEG UP AND PAUL WAS DOING THE WEIGH IN I WEIGHED IN WITH 1KG450G AND FINISHED 5 OVERALL OUT OF 13 ANGLERS

1ST PLACE WAS PAUL WITH 4KG 800G

2RD PLACE STEVE WITH 2KG 250G

3RD PLACE COLIN WITH 2KG 40G

4TH PLACE  PETE WITH 1KG 800G

5TH PLACE MYSELF 1KG 450G

6TH PLACE DONT KNOW WHO WITH
1KG220G

SO WITH THIS CLUB MATCH OVER WE ARE HOPING TO FISH A FEW MORE SWEEPS OVER THE NEXT FEW WEEKS SO IF YOU ON THE BANK OVER THE NEXT FEW DAYS  OR WEEKS UNTIL MY NEXT BLOG

TIGHT LINES

LEE

FISHING ON THE GRAND WESTERN CANAL

6TH-JULY/2013

Welcome back to another one of my fishing blogs on the grand western canal in tiverton it was 4 am on a Saturday morning and i decided to fish on a local stretch of the tiverton canal in tiverton the canal is only a couple minutes walk from my house i walked up and was on the stretch were i was going to fish by 4:15am i decided to fish on a peg that was a open peg with reeds on the far bank in which i decided i would fish up tight to the far bank at 11.5 meters i only set up one top kit with a 6 to 8 orange elastic on a 3lb main line to a 2.8oz hook length to a size 18 wide gape barbless hook i was using a roach 4x14 pole float i plumbed up at around 11.5 meters and it was only around 8 inches but i fished slightly to my left it was about 17inches deep  and i decided to fish there .I fed my liquidised bread on the spot were i had plumbed up i ended up feeding 2 cups of bait and left it for about 10 minutes while i was sorting a few other things out.
I was going to fish just the bread today also it was all i took with me so i had no choice really i started off on a 6mm punch and had my first bite after about 5 minutes it was a good fish i got it up to the net and the hook pulled out i went back out on a larger bit of bread and it was a bite straight away it was a bream of about 3lb i put it in the keep net and was back out fishing i chopped and changed from small bread punch and larger punch and bread flake i ended up with 5 bream and a tench with half a dozen roach and small skimmers it was a good session but it had got  very hot and it was only 10am so i decide to pack up and head off home so until my next blog tight line if your on the banks

tight lines

lee

KIA ORA PONDS PART OF EXETER AND DISTRICT ANGLING ASSOCIATION

 4th july 2013            

Welcome back to another one of my blog the weather is settling down and warming up again we decided to get a day ticket and head off to a pond about 10 mile away with is run by exeter and district angling club. we wanted to make an early start as it was forecast that the temptures could hit 25oC or more by mid day so we left home at 5:30am and loaded the gear in the car and headed off we got to the car park at about 6 it was nice clear sky's and cool breeze we got the gear out and headed down over the fields to the lake and had a look at a few swims Steve had a look and decided to fish peg 6 so i fished peg 8 to my left there was a island which came round to the right of me were there was a shallow area with bushes and over hand fallen branches in the water. So i set my gear up and fished the method on a 11ft drennan feeder rod and a reel was a dawia z500 match/feeder reel on 7lb main line with a 6lb guru hook length and a size 14 Preston wide gape hook.i mixed up a mix of van den eynd method mix with 50% of brown crumb i added about 1kg soaked micro trout pellet i then let it rest for 10 Min's while i was getting all other bits sorted and it was time to start fishing i started by packing the drennan method feeder with the mix i had made up using a drennan method mould and hair riged a 8 mm pellet and cats it out to the island in front of me tight to the snags within about 10 Min's i re cast and as soon as it hit the water i was into my first fish of the session it was a common of around 5lb i cast back out and hadn another within 30 seconds of it hitting the bottom this time it was a small mirror of about 2 to 3 lb i decided to change the bait to a 6mm red strawberry ringers boilie and went on to have a few more smaller carp but Steve was now catching around 4 carp to my one i was well behind him after a couple hours i carried on changing from the 8 and 10mm pellets and the micro red boilies and also managed a few fish on the worm but had to fish it up as tight as i could cat to the island to my right we fished on until 4 pm and after we packed up Steve had around 140lb and i managed about 95lb in the end so not to bad as it was slow when i started we headed up the steep path back to the car park and headed home until the next blog

tight lines

lee