tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-91977781159178894212024-03-17T15:44:27.871+00:00Idler's QuestNext Cast...Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.comBlogger590125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-53280545062221636852018-02-11T16:10:00.000+00:002018-02-11T16:12:30.744+00:00Unfinished Business — The Width of a Circle
I assure you, the picture above is no joke. That is a real hook — the 'Mustad 39937NP-DT Giant Demon Perfect Circle Hook' — and one that will set the big game shark hunter wanting mako, hammerhead, bull, tiger and great white on his personal best list, circa £150. God forbid they should ever lose one!
It illustrates perfectly what a circle hook is and what a circle hook Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-69540941859002155902018-01-10T21:47:00.001+00:002018-02-11T16:07:29.234+00:00Unfinished Business - Numbskulls
I have a great deal of never-published-material in the IQ archive. This article was probably worth putting your way at the time of writing. But I started, and never finished!
It was supposed to be about fishing for Zander, and I intended to include pictures of both pike and zander skulls to illustrate my point (which was how to hook them efficiently).
I should have hit the publish Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-39794278443937460592017-06-29T12:32:00.000+01:002017-06-29T12:37:23.293+01:00Pociąg do PoznaniaAmong the six and a half thousand languages of the world, the Polish language is widely regarded as one of the most difficult to master, and the English language one of the easiest. As a native speaker of English now into his eleventh month of Polish language study but quite unable to string together a coherent spoken sentence, I tend to agree.
If, for example, I'd chosen to learn French last Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-36335454547381943262016-01-03T12:35:00.003+00:002018-02-10T21:43:50.330+00:00Clattercote Roach, Pike and Tench — Unexpecting
Yet another mild day forecast for the next. A piking session at Clattercote Reservoir planned. And, Tesco fishmonger's slab is a broad expanse of scrubbed stainless steel on New Years Day. Luckily, there's a single pack of sardines hiding amongst the smoked haddock and Vietnamese river cobbler in the reduced rack.
I'll take along a few worms. Should the sardines prove a bad bet, then I'll Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-47752559026811847162015-12-20T13:59:00.004+00:002015-12-21T07:38:53.184+00:00Canal Roach and Eel — Slow-n-Easy
A couple of spare hours Saturday evening just had to be used up fishing. The mild overcast weather demanded it. It won't last... Surely it can't last? But while it does it is an unusual opportunity that must be taken advantage of.
Grassy Bend once more. And further trials of the helicopter rig with lobworm bait.
I'd set up in the same swim as last time but was struck Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-67167053513780067852015-12-18T13:09:00.000+00:002015-12-19T13:16:33.634+00:00Canal Roach and Perch — The Grubs Don't Work
I could tell that the dogs needed their serious weekly walk but I had plans to get my serious weekly fishing done so I thought I'd combine both and take them to the open space at Grassy Bend where they could run themselves into the ground and I could get a few hours in . The idea of fishing bread was out of the question because it demands my full attention and having dogs about makes that Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-47295631838190304912015-12-17T18:24:00.001+00:002015-12-17T23:51:34.035+00:00Canal Roach — Forks at Dawn
Do anglers dream of electric roach?
Thinking about this challenge I've set myself. You know, the (catching the) impossible one of banking roach over two-pounds in weight from lake, canal and river and before March 15th. Well, it seems more and more possible the more I think about it. I guess that reducing 'the impossible' to the lesser rank of 'the improbable' is only a matter of thinking Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-44660362150154084572015-12-10T13:21:00.000+00:002015-12-11T16:23:12.762+00:00Dominic Garnett Crooked Lines — Life's a Ditch
The second greatest danger posed to those writers published by mainstream houses is that they may begin to anticipate the editor's scissors and cut their cloth accordingly, losing all power over their own creative impulses in the process, and churn out ill-fitting commercial rags that bring in steady predictable revenue.
The first great danger is that they may choose to turn Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-89121788937532953982015-12-06T10:28:00.001+00:002015-12-08T07:27:02.380+00:00Itchen Grayling & Roach — Chalk & Cheese
I'm on sure footed terms with the Lower Itchen Fishery now that I've completed my sixth trip. I'd call myself 'in training' till my tenth, but I'm not bemused by it these days. The sheer quantity of stock swimming there is no longer surprising. It is now a problem to solve. A brick wall in front of the worthwhile things it promises — the 3lb grayling and the 3lb roach. Neither of which Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-74465908570060607172015-11-27T12:54:00.000+00:002015-11-28T13:47:05.957+00:00Canal Zander & Pike — Embrace the Void
If there's one thing about living right by a canal full of zander that I consider a great bonus then it isn't that I can go catch loads of them at a moments notice, but that I can go experiment with hooks and rigs and baits and what not without incurring overheads. If you have to travel far and then pay for the privilege of fishing for them, then understandably you'll just want to catch if you Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-14722388874522455202015-11-24T08:50:00.000+00:002015-11-24T10:33:43.411+00:00Zedvember the 54th — Southern Fairies v Northern Monkeys
Originally a one-off 50th birthday bash never intended to be repeated, the Zedvember thingy has proven itself a useful social gathering for committed and casual canal 'predheads' alike falling as it does at the juncture between the very end dregs of the summer season past and the first fresh blasts of the winter to come. My birthday is no longer the point.
It was always an excuse Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-75078957922017608042015-11-23T10:40:00.002+00:002015-11-23T16:39:46.430+00:00Canal Roach — Highly Unlikely
In advance of the annual excuse for a blogger's chin wag next day, Russel Hilton and girlfriend, Beth, motored up from Exeter to stay over at ours the Saturday night. We all went down to Warwick for a Chinese sit down meal in the evening and then retired to bed prepared for an early morning rise and the gift of a possible two-pound roach courtesy of George Burton.
Judy enjoyed a lie in. Beth Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-37106494385470560822015-11-21T11:14:00.002+00:002015-11-21T16:12:34.556+00:00Canal Roach — American Boy
The second proper session of my winter campaign for a 2lb canal roach did not go at all well. To be honest. I'm sure something or other was worth going for, but I'm struggling to remember what exactly it was that was noteworthy about it...
I have to jot down my thoughts, though. Idler's Quest might be a vehicle of questionable roadworthiness to many but it's also a personal Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-28625381325024281502015-11-19T08:57:00.001+00:002015-11-19T10:05:06.473+00:00Commercial Perch — Marginal
Blogger's Challenge 2015/16, scroll the sheet above or click here to view the full spreadsheet
The bloggers challenge is reaching that point where scores are getting harder and harder to achieve. Where I began two months late and then raced up the leader board into a heady third place in no time at all just by going out and catching whatever I could manage, now it's all about Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-5227176730114899372015-11-15T11:05:00.003+00:002015-11-18T20:30:58.832+00:00Canal Roach — Ghosts
The roach campaign on the Oxford Canal is now well underway. Well, underwhelming is probably the correct word for it, because on Friday I uncovered a few home truths about my first port of call that I hadn't reckoned with. I got to fish bread at Grassy Bend without a boat passing by for an incredible four long hours. I packed up and went home frozen stiff by an increasing chill wind when the Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-83971340229348402772015-11-12T13:11:00.000+00:002015-11-13T16:52:22.878+00:00Canal Roach — NOXC2LB5OZ
The long cold wait commences...
It's just a mile distant but I haven't fished the North Oxford Canal much since the winter of 2009. Occasionally I'll roam out that way on a zander mission because heavy boat traffic really isn't a problem where that's concerned but otherwise I'll fish the relatively quiet Coventry Canal on the outskirts of the city.
I have ignored it since because IJeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-10177830886640000162015-11-08T12:13:00.001+00:002015-11-08T15:31:15.022+00:00Commercial Perch — Gimme Shelter
I don't usually endure atrocious weather if I can avoid it. However, yesterday morning we had a perching trip planned during what was forecast as a period of heavy rain and high wind. I remembered that I had a brand new fishing shelter that I'd never used stashed somewhere in the house so I thought it the perfect opportunity to test its mettle.
It was simple to set up. Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-33160237690015275962015-10-30T10:26:00.001+00:002015-10-30T16:59:20.367+00:00Avon Roach, Barbel and Pike — Tunnel Vision
Martin hasn't got over it. Fishing the Wye with Trefor West and Joe Chatterton, he hooked but then lost what all agreed was a huge pike and according to Martin, taking his hands off the steering wheel and making shapes in the air, one with "a head this big". He has my sympathy. I once lost a pike at Bury Hill with a head that size. After 20 minutes of fraught battle and withJeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-73247891066552553712015-10-18T17:00:00.002+01:002015-11-08T16:38:14.434+00:00Cotswolds Roach — The Seeking Wind
Once or twice a year we make a journey to the Cotswolds to pit our wits against the coldest fishery in all England. I think we've returned six or seven times now. The experience has never been an all out pleasure, let me tell you. And it's nothing to do with the fishery itself which is as spick and span as you'd ever like and stocked with a nice balance of species (and some of them Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-69307357694607562832015-10-09T12:17:00.005+01:002015-10-11T14:08:54.973+01:00Invasive Species — Of Couch Grass, Himalayan Balsam, and Signal Crayfish
COUCH GRASS
There's an allotment society down Cubbington Road. I used to hold one many years ago. At the southern end is where you'll find spare plots up for grabs. Going spare because they are overgrown with couch grass. Let's give one to an experienced and wise old gardener and that adjacent to a rather hot-headed young man, eager to learn, but new to the game. See who wins out...
The Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-80767555558572514622015-10-06T18:33:00.001+01:002015-10-18T17:35:10.979+01:00Canal Zander & Perch — A Turn for the Worse
The Avon was as clear as I have ever seen it be. Chalk stream clear is what it was, but that's not a good thing in a mud stream, let me tell you. What we Midlanders want, is 'a nice tinge of green'. It's what we'd engineer for every fishing day if only we could control the weather. But we can't.
Meat to the left of me, dead bait to the right
Martin and yours truly were to fish a newJeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com12tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-4222480400311585462015-09-30T22:17:00.000+01:002015-10-02T08:03:30.177+01:00Canal Perch — Chop! Chop! The King! The King!
I've seen a phenomenal thing. Mucky stuff chucked in a swim. The results are a particle, the captures remarkable. That mucky old stuff in a swim.
Chop! Chop! The King! The King!
Good grief I always knew it was very good but never realised how fabulous this filthy finger blackening mush could be. But I was about to see...
You get a load of expensive to procure lobworms (and I mean a Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com14tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-28112300028105998452015-09-26T10:41:00.000+01:002015-10-02T08:06:07.405+01:00Avon Zander — Our Accidental Jack
Martin finally improved and put his summer long 'double' dearth to bed the other night. Three in the one session he had, and all were ten-pounders. My theory that all the tens of eight and nine-pounders he'd caught beforehand had gorged on subaquatic lifeforms released from their weedy safe houses in the early autumn die-back seemed to be holding water.
I don't know. All barbel look Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-36705914806674277522015-09-23T07:33:00.002+01:002015-10-02T08:07:20.132+01:00Canal Perch — Signal Success
There's a popular stretch of canal way beyond walking distance from home where I'd heard a few independant reports of decent perch fishing. Lots of them available apparently. And the occasional specimen in the net, so I heard. Local news I always take with a hefty pinch of salt. But large perch reports are not like large roach reports which are invariably about hybrids mistaken for roach. I Jeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9197778115917889421.post-58495407119479060142015-09-22T09:07:00.002+01:002015-09-22T19:44:19.373+01:00Canal Zander & Perch — What Freddy Did Next (pt 2)
Freddy five minutes beforehand. He was no different afterwards
The hook was down his throat. Not far, because my traces are six-inches in length, but out of sight. He hadn't pulled on the line and I hadn't pulled on the trace so I doubted he'd got hooked in the gullet. Pricked perhaps, but not driven in.
Good grief! If only it had been the circle rig he'd eaten rather than the usualJeff Hatthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16164198326538064799noreply@blogger.com6