Friday 16th May

Fishing at Brooms at last.  A bit slow, fish just seem to be coming on.  Two small commons and a decent ide (perhaps 1 ¾ lb) on prawn feeder.

Later went into the margins but missed fish for various reasons, probably due to weak hook straightening out as well as difficulty getting out of chair. But managed three skimmers, one of which was over 3lb, and another small common on pellet.  Worm was starting to work late on but a lot of finicky bites.

Need to fish more often - feel I'm quite rusty.

Friday 20th September

Bit of a disastrous session on Queensberry Peg 14 at Brooms, where it drizzled steadily for half the day contrary to forecast.  Started with prawn on feeder thinking to change onto pole late afternoon but only got twitches and one decent run fishing towards the tree in the corner.

So switched to pole early, having found an interesting drop off between two patches of aquatic plants to my right.  Thought meat might work in the colder conditions, but switching to prawn was far more productive and had a couple of commons and a slightly damaged mirror by teatime.

Then it all went wrong.  Started losing fish on the way in and eventually one took the lot with it, having snapped the elastic, which must have been fraying.

Switched inevitably to feeder in the same swim, which if anything accelerated the rate of bites, but still kept losing fish. Part of the problem was the wet wooden planking in front of the peg as I was apprehensive about slipping over. One of them snagged the line on the platform when I was slow to stand up, then another got off as I was gingerly getting the landing net out. Others shed the hook at some point during the fight. Eventually the ide moved in and I packed up.

Monday 22nd July

Fishing trip to Brooms. Fished end swim on Queensberry south bank in still very hot conditions.  A total of around fifteen fish but included mainly roach and what I until now thought were chub but may in fact have been ide, plus a couple of perch and a gudgeon.

Only two carp of not much above 1lb even though one was a very pretty golden mirror, plus a late barbel that was about 3.5 lb.  On last cast elastic snapped as a fish powered across the lake - presumably another barbel but only one other better fish lost.  Small fish dominated throughout and obstructions rendered the end swim unfishable.

I should perhaps have moved. Interestingly a bloke opposite was pumping out fish of a better size on a swimfeeder fished half way out.  Maybe this is the way to go at the peak of hot conditions (25 C) rather than sticking in the margins.

Tuesday 13th March

11 degrees  today so first spring fishing trip, although wind off sea sent me back to car for extra pullover by mid afternoon.

A mixed day ending with four barbel, four chub and three common carp (two small) but the frustration was that several decent fish got off and many, many bites were missed.  Alternated with short pole and method feeder but only one serious pull on the latter that looked like a line bite.

The first fish hooked was a decent barbel but appeared to be foul hooked and came off under the pole tip.  Big fish were in the swim for an hour or so around 3.30 pm but all came off early in the fight, including a snap off.  One in particular was going like a train.

I'm starting to have doubts about bacon grill as a bait, as, although popular with  the fish, they seem to have no trouble stealing it however it is hooked.  As on other trips there were any number of lighting bites that were impossible to hit, some of which may have been shot bited from fish looking for hemp.  Worm or meat/worm cocktail was more successful plus one fish on worm/sweetcorn.

The chub moved in heavily towards dusk.  Unlike the barbel, they are nothing like their river equivalents - elongated with soft, slimy flanks and above all soft, flabby mouths.  Nothing like the hard-fighting ones I once caught in the Trent, which were at times impossible to unhook without a disgorger, so tough were their mouths.