Andy Spreadbury's Fishing Blog

Thursday 2nd. July 2020 Paddlesworth, Pollard, peg21 13.00 Sitting in my pit absolutely exhausted. I got to the lake to find half of it closed. Apparently, the bailiffs had been round and decided the Carp were spawning in the top part of the lake and fishing should be shut down. I can see the sense in this because the welfare of the fish comes first. However, I couldn't see the argument for allowing fishing in the other half since the Carp are able to travel to the half the anglers are fishing! Anyway, restrictions were placed on swims up to peg 21 on the car park bank and peg 46 on the house bank. Since a fish had come out of 21 I chose to go in there. But what a ball-ache getting in there! Up and down a very steep slope at least six times - there was no way you could haul a barrow up it so hand-ball it was. The prospect of hauling this lot up and down a steep slope did not inspire. I think it took me six trips in the end and by the finish of it I was exhausted! It's left me c...

Tuesday 16th.June 2020 Paddlesworth, Pollard, peg32 12.00 Another complete re-think after last week's session. The issue on the lake at the moment is the weed. Although I have complete confidence in Ryan's wafters, I think they are unsuitable to use where weed is present. Consequently, I have gone for pop-up presentations on all three rods.  Peg 32. Are there any fish in it?... Apparently not. Now I have never been a fan of Ronnie rigs, successful as they are. I can't abide all that ironmongery. I much prefer my tried and tested Stiff Hinge rig. I have had so many fish on these in the past I don't need to worry about confidence in them. I tie them very short, using the stripped back coating of the braid as the 'hinge'. Putty on the Albright knot acts as ballast. Stiff Hinge Rig. Tests at the end of the session showed the whole lot collapsing in a heap instead of straightening out nicely as shown in the videos! All three baits are on the same mark. Five wra...

Tuesday 9th. June 2020 Paddlesworth Pollard, peg 36 (The 'W') 13.00 So-called because the mark is at 9½ wraps at the 'W'. I came with empty bowels and a new approach (see my previous post of 9th. June). I had a complete re-think and decided to go back to square one and start again. The 'W' peg. The mark is to the right of the two depressions formed by the W. My previous captures on Pollard had been during the autumn and winter, fishing at between 12 and 18 wraps. This put my baits into relatively deep water - 14 feet plus. I began the post-lockdown trying to emulate what I had found to be successful in the past, but found these tactics unsuitable.  My focus now is on fishing shallow water up to ten feet deep and this corresponds with margin fishing (mostly). Plumbing reveals the following: I had a thorough plumb of the peg at the end of the session (in the pouring rain!) The entire area goes down to 17 feet so the mark is on a distinctive plate...

Wednesday, 3rd.June 2020 Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 40 (The End Peg) 14.00 At the end of last week's session, I packed the car and walked up to the top end to scope things out. It's relatively shallow at this end although still fourteen feet out in the middle. With the sudden influx of members after the long lay-off I suspected the carp were subject to angling pressure and might seek the remoter areas of the lake. The top end is one such remote place. There is only one peg on the far side near this part of the lake, down to the left, leaving a considerable area of unfished water in front of The End Peg. I passed by this peg often last summer but never had the chance to fish it so this is my first go. Peg 40 - The End Peg The swim at the end of the lake. When they're here, they're here. When they're not... There is a big area of shallows on which you can see the bottom, against the right-hand tree-line. It then suddenly drops into deeper water; it is ...

Tuesday 26th.May 2020 Paddlesworth, Pollard, Peg 43 Peg 43, Pollard The margin bait was under-arm chucked to the right, behind the bushes. 14.15 At last I’m back out on the bank giving it my best shot. There has been a change of seasons since I last fished, from Winter to Spring to Summer. There are reports spawning has been taking place off the Road Bank; unusual, generally it's the other end in the shallows. Whatever, I'm here and loving it.  Swim choice has been random I'm afraid. I've seen fish at both ends of the lake so I assume the Top End shoal and the Bottom End Shoal are active but are they feeding? Apparently not. Members report nothing out this week although fish were caught last week, the first after Lockdown. My choice is based on previous observation. I fished P 30 opposite on many occasions last year and as I looked across to this bank I often thought what a good peg to fish in the warm weather it would be. The margins are deep ...

* Lockdown * Bait, Feed, and Rig With news today that Angling is being considered a safe activity because of its inherent social distancing, let us all hope they relax Lockdown sufficiently so that we can be back out on the bank before too long. I don’t know about you, but the enforced Angling shutdown has caused not just frustration about not being able to go fishing - but has provided plenty of time to be able to think about re-evaluating Strategies and Tactics when things finally get going again. Good times... Social distancing rules are likely to prohibit this sort of thing - even when we finally do get back out on the bank. Typically, previously, when I fished a new water or even a new swim I’d never fished before - or even one I hadn’t fished for some while, the first thing I did when arriving was get the ‘leading’ (as in lead weight) rod out to find out where the weed was. The bottom strata determined what rig I wanted to use, so if there was th...