Andy135

Yes, I've been invited to tour the Pot Noodle factory.

There's a school of thought in fly fishing that if you catch more than one or two fish from each mark the others will go off the feed - either the disturbance of the hooked fish or the sulky look on its face when it's returned puts them off. I've seen this happen myself and it's usually time to find a new mark when it does. I suppose it depends on what you mean by disturbance though. Some fish (trout & bass in particular in my experience) are inquisitive and quite happily follow a hooked fish to to the surface to see what's going on. Bass actively hunt the splashy noise and vibrations of a lure walked across the surface. But I do think that boat noise over multiple drifts across a shallow reef or wreck will make the fish more cautious, so to cast away from the boat should pay dividends.

No, but maybe I should have taken it home. Would have kept me in steaks and burgers for quite some time.

And walking the dog in the wood this evening, we stumble across a rather lost cow. Must have found a gap in the fence somewhere as the farm borders the wood.

Definitely not the sort of wildlife I had hoped to see today - this little blighter made his way in through my office window this afternoon. He was bloody massive! 😱

Yes.... err.... @Tadpole has...

What the hell is he dough-ing here?

Cheeky sod! @Davemc took that photo so he can confirm... 😝

Here's another tempting pool for you Jon. And here's one of the Spitfire fly-past we had. Rumour has it that it's been seen regularly over the last few days, flying out of RAF Fairford practising for the Jubilee Flypast next month. I heard it coming before I spotted it (guessing it's not just me that gets all misty-eyed at the sound of a Merlin?) but only managed to fumble my phone out of my wader pocket as it was disappearing into the clouds.

I let him have the day off and drove myself as it happens. As for worms, if I wanted to go bait fishing I can do that any time, any where 😜

Agreed, it's a lovely river. I've fished the public beat just below the bridge several times over the years. Definitely worth a session if you can.

Nice try, but I don't believe you.

Top fishing! Well done to your brother too. That last pic is a cracker - double-barrelled hounds 😁👍

Great result, well done. Plenty of fish in the sunshine 👍

Agreed. The bass in my profile pic came from Lepe.

Are we playing "Spot the Malc" then? Is he the one in the light blue T-shirt who forgot to put his teeth in for the photo?

@Geoff, he's done it again. All your effort is wasted on him 🙄.

We've been notified that the forum software provider will implement a rolling update at some point this week, resulting in a brief, planned outage. The site will be offline for less than 10 mins, exact timing uncertain. So, if you get a 404 error, this will be why. Try again a few minutes later and the site should be back up & running.

Clearly the beer got the better of them! Sounds like a nice day out, good fishing 👍

Today I was lucky enough to be invited to fish a private stretch of the River Coln in Gloucestershire for wild brown trout. Not having had a dangle of any sort for the last few months due to our recent house move and associated family duties it felt great to be back with rod in hand. The beat itself is very picturesque, and with temperatures reaching the high teens it was much warmer than expected. In fact the river has suffered a bit from the dry winter and was running about 2 ft lower than normal for this time of year. The fishing was commensurately harder, with less water making the fish more easily spooked. My host worked hard for a blank catch return, while I managed a single brownie, taken close to the bottom on a gold headed Gold Ribbed Hare's Ear pattern. He gave me quite the run-around, diving into a thick string of ranunculus and threatened to break me off. Some careful manoeuvring and a swift single-handed netting saved the day, and he was duly banked for a quick pic before being released. Despite the fish being sparse it was great to be on the bank again, catching up with an old friend and enjoying the sunshine. Just got to find the time to get back into the boat next... 👍

Well done Neil. Nice collection of dogfish pics there, and a welcome result for you in the father-son league. 👍 Mind you, I suppose on balance of probability you had to out-fish Leo at least once. Just. 😋

Tangfastics actually. And yes, they are the best. Starmix is just bland IMO.

And to you both. 👍

After the shock of the uninvite I've decided to give up sea fishing. Today I'm out fly-fishing instead.

Ah, bad luck @Adeolly. The pout should have moved off by now, so it's curious that they're still hanging around. Shame no bream - try Boulder next time, some good ones have been coming out from there in the last week or so.