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No pigeons so what are the alternatives?


JDog
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In the last two weeks eleven fields within five miles of my house have been drilled with peas. There are loads of peas on top in some fields but the only bird activity is from corvids. By the time the pigeons wake up to the free feast there will be no peas left on top and the wait until the peas emerge begins.

It is fifty years since I last caught a Tinca tinca. This virtually pointless fact was passed on to Clodhopper who promised that I would catch one in his company this month. Note this was a promise. He has never said we would shoot 100 pigeons together (our best to date being 91) but he has said with some degree of certainty that he would get me a Tench.

Thursday is the day and I thought I had better get some practice in before the big day so off I went to a bit of paradise three miles from home armed with bread, sweet corn and worms and Jasper. Floated bread crust was most effective and I caught five mirror carp between 4lbs and 7 lbs on that, sweetcorn accounted for the largest at about 8 lbs and a worm took the common carp of 6 lbs. Then I had a bit of fun and changed to 3 lbs breaking strain line and a small hook and maggots and I caught some lovely roach to 1/2 lb.

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i watched a programe years ago about 2 blokes and their spaniel flyfishing for trout....they put a camera underwater to show how the spaniel retrieved the fish as it came to the bank

 

me thinks you have a very very interested dog there............i would dearly love to know what is going on in his brain....all this new excitment his dad is involving him in....:lol:

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5 minutes ago, ditchman said:

i watched a programe years ago about 2 blokes and their spaniel flyfishing for trout....they put a camera underwater to show how the spaniel retrieved the fish as it came to the bank

 

me thinks you have a very very interested dog there............i would dearly love to know what is going on in his brain....all this new excitment his dad is involving him in....

Jasper helped to catch every fish. The amount of salivation was incredible.

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6 minutes ago, Mice! said:

why haven't you caught a tench? When i fished years ago we used to catch tench regularly with the reward being a lovely fish and slime everywhere, this was on a variety of different waters in different places.

tight lines

I have never fished for them since I was a teenager.

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fair enough, me either, got all my dads tackle in the garage now waiting to get wet again, can't wait to see the kids faces when we go and catch something, probably be a roach or rudd in the river at the back of us, so not too much slime.

Good luck.

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They say the boy in the angler never dies or words to that effect and I believe its true. That passion for fishing is always there. I haven't fished in a long while but I would never get rid of my gear as I know it will come back one day.

Another pointless fact for you most of the best Tench I ever caught {4LB+} have been caught on dead baits! The bigger fish are quite the predator as are many fish. I discovered this whilst fishing small dead fish for big perch in lakes just like the one pictured where very little if any angling takes place.

 

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34 minutes ago, aga man said:

They say the boy in the angler never dies or words to that effect and I believe its true. That passion for fishing is always there. I haven't fished in a long while but I would never get rid of my gear as I know it will come back one day.

Another pointless fact for you most of the best Tench I ever caught {4LB+} have been caught on dead baits! The bigger fish are quite the predator as are many fish. I discovered this whilst fishing small dead fish for big perch in lakes just like the one pictured where very little if any angling takes place.

 

some of my biggest carp I caught in my teens were on Sprats. 

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14 hours ago, Clodhopper said:

This is indeed a promise I made. I am now a little nervous. Please remember I said we would meet at 5 on Thursday. I did not specify when we would go home, it maybe Friday, or Saturday.?

Dragging the swim and a little judicious pre-baiting with casters, maggots and a little corn and stewed wheat, preferably cooked in a little diluted molasses, the night before will help matters.

Edited by Penelope
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12 minutes ago, oldypigeonpopper said:

hello, the Tench is a majestic fish despite its old fashioned name the doctor fish, use to fish in some old gravel pits that was full of tench but alas now a housing estate, fresh water mussel was a good bait back then, and a pint of maggots for less than a shilling

When I used to fish I loved gravel pit tench fishing in the late spring and early summer. Taken many to 11lb 7oz, including multiple catches of big fish, 16 over 7lb in a morning being one of many red-letter days.

Edited by Penelope
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Dragging the swim first would be ideal, as would pre baiting the night before. Unfortunately it is an old brick pit which is now a day ticket venue and may have a few Angler’s there. Hopefully by fishing Thursday we will avoid the Bank holiday Angler’s and will get the choice of pegs. If nobody is there early afternoon I will bait up with chopped worm and red maggot with a view to fishing the evening.

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I had not caught a Tench for forty years until I went down to my local canal to catch some small roach to take them on holiday to a local Pike pool in November. The first fish I caught was a Tench of approx four pounds which was retuned. 

Well done JDog some nice carp, Julia and myself helped to organise a fishing trip for under privalidged children to day and the pool we went to was full of stunted crucial carp which made easy fishing, the kids loved it.

The other alternative to Pigeon Shooting is corvid control, I've found that you can obtain more pigeon shooting via corvids.

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