another blankety blank

[greencard1]

Fished the big trout water today.
Went everywhere, tried everything; jigs in the main basin, cranks and jerks all over the place; spoons and spinnerbaits too.
Even tried a luhr jensen amazon prop bait that I have had for 30 plus years and never used before over the top of weed beds.
Never saw a follow or had a knock. Never saw another predator angler have a fish; or trout angler.
The only fish we saw was a dead zander that had probably been caught a few days ago.
The water has been open for a week and a half; so maybe we should have gone earlier.

Never going again.
(I have said that every year for at least the last 10 years.)

[greencard1]

Read Dave Pugh's book.
Did the 'magic pause' and everything.

I suppose some waters are just jinxed?

[Steve Le maitre]

Never give up
Did you fish where your feathered friends were filling their gullets ?

[Cyprio]

J, bid on this it’s the answer to your Nemesis

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/184437193153

[greencard1]

Don't know what went wrong.
The place is supposed to be full of zander. but we could not get even a small one to hang itself'.
Usually there are trout leaping about, especially when you are moving the boat at speed; but we did not see any at all.
Fished the weed beds below the sailing club where the coarse fish usually are, and never saw a fish.
I even took into account Mike J's theory that if you desperately want to catch, the fish tune in on this, and you will not catch. As a distraction we talked about football. enlarged prostates, and what a t**t Boris is; but still no takes.

I am not blaming the water, I just think that for some reason we are jinxed on that particular one. We used to make sure we fished on the first day, but that did not seem to make much difference in recent years.

[Muskie]

The water in question has slowed massively in the last 2 weeks. I had 2 trout yesterday fishing for big browns. Noticeable very few follows from trout. Fish appear to be cruising without feeding too much. A warden advised me huge bait fish in noted areas for predators. Water quality is good so not a factor. Maybe the weather is. Cold on Friday and now it is warming up again. We are in a transition period. The reservoir gives up its specimens reluctantly, but that is its allure.

[suffolk si]

if its the one starting with G ive been told its fishing very poorly as i was gonna give it a go this week, secondly on resse's that size location is a huge factor, did you take fish finder?

[Muskie]

Yes, location is a huge factor. I never use a fish finder. Not my thing at all. I like to work it out fishing as i learn more and it all adds up. It is probably the hardest water i have fished to understand for sure. I don't fish lures so on fly it is a lot harder.

[Steve Dennington]

if its the one starting with G ive been told its fishing very poorly as i was gonna give it a go this week, secondly on resse's that size location is a huge factor, did you take fish finder?

Given the description, I'd say it's the bigger one

It's seldom an easy water for pike, unless you get the timing just right. You get days when all they want to do is follow.

[greencard1]

Yes it is the bigger one.
No we do not have a fish finder, but the hours we have put in over the years.....we should have stumbled on pike. Best we have had is 2 in one day.
I remember some years ago Neville and Mick Brown were let out a week earlier than us lesser mortals. They allegedly found the pike on day 2 and bagged up on dawgs. Even the local paper reported on it.
We have never had a day anywhere like that.

The place had a strange attitude to Pike anglers back then. One time we got back to the jetty and the boatman asked us if we were coming the next day. We said 'no' , and he said 'that's a shame, cos if you were I would give you this filthy boat!'. There was a tiny strand of streamer weed on the bottom of the boat, otherwise it was perfect. We even coiled the anchor rope.

[greencard1]

Yes, location is a huge factor. I never use a fish finder. Not my thing at all. I like to work it out fishing as i learn more and it all adds up. It is probably the hardest water i have fished to understand for sure. I don't fish lures so on fly it is a lot harder.

If we are talking about the same water, then yes it is soul destroying.

P.S. I made some traces using large egg crosslocks. Spent too long changing lures because they were so heavily tempered, and fiddly to use, with hardly any 'spring' to them. Won't be buying those again.

[Mark Phillips]

I find it's usually a total waste of time this early on most of the trout waters, unless you luck out with the weather that is or you're happy to catch nano zander all day long I suppose. Oh and it's really not that a hard water once you get to know it, which I appreciate can amount to a lot of years fishing it (20 years plus in my case); don't forget that you have three species of predator to target, so options abound. The best fishing now comes a lot later in the year, when most people have been and gone. Right now all you'll mostly likely catch is sun stroke Plenty of time for pike and zander later on, no hurry... in fact, they really shouldn't be letting people target these fish until at least November IMO, but they want your money (sadly)...

[greencard1]

You are right about them wanting your money.
One year we went on the first day and there was dense fog.
Everyone was lining up on the jetty, but the boatman said no boats could go out until the fog lifted enough for him to see a red buoy out on the water.
As soon one pair stated that they were going back into the shop to get a refund and go elsewhere, the boatman could magically see the buoy, and boats were allowed out.

Cash was more important than safety.

[Mark Phillips]

You are right about them wanting your money.
One year we went on the first day and there was dense fog.
Everyone was lining up on the jetty, but the boatman said no boats could go out until the fog lifted enough for him to see a red buoy out on the water.
As soon one pair stated that they were going back into the shop to get a refund and go elsewhere, the boatman could magically see the buoy, and boats were allowed out.

Cash was more important than safety.

I was there on that day... it was probably me who complained Had the same thing happen when it's been a bit windy... just take Blithfield as an example of how to do it... boats out at first light? Check. Trolling under power? Check. Boats in at last light? Check. Foggy? Go slow then... too windy? If you can handle a boat, crack on - if not, fish from the bank.

[JohnCopeman]

It fished well day one on a flat calm....fished poorly on day 2 with a good blow...then went rapidly downhill as every one was on there rather than the other one....cos that's even harder at the minute.

[Mark Phillips]

You may get the odd Red Letter day early doors, it's happened for me a few times, but for the most part it's too much like hard work. Usually you see a bit of action on the first few days and then it quickly goes stale. Been there, done that and now save my money for later on. The only downside is shorter days and bad weather I suppose.