Venue: Tidal Dorset Stour, MEXE Pool to upstream Swim: MEXE Pool and the Emplacement Swim Time: 10:00 to 12:00 Weather: Mild for October but with a stiff easterly wind blowing across the stour in to my face I may as well start where I ended the last post. With access to the car for a second consecutive day the tug of war between seeing a steam train and going fishing resulted in a win for fishing. Once that was decided the intention was to head to the Tidal Stour and fish the straight below the railway bridge by wading and … Continue reading A BAD DAY FOR NOAH Dorset Stour, Around the MEXE Pool, 14 October 2020 (Session 40_2020)

Venue: The Tench Lake, Orchard Lakes Swim: Western end of the North Bank, I’ve decided to adapt my own numbering system, so Peg No. 4 Time: 10:00 to 12:30 Weather: Very Calm and sunny peaking at circa 12C with a rainy squall towards the end of the morning There is an element of deja vu about this session as it is basically of a repeat of last week’s visit to the same venue with a few tweaks. Some of those tweaks come about from suggestions made by fellow Word Press bloggers ‘Stevetheangler/Manwithrod’ and ‘Jacksonb1/wheatnot casters’. I’ve mentioned this before but … Continue reading WITH A LITTLE HELP FROM MY VIRTUAL FRIENDS The Tench Lake, Orchard Lakes, 13 October 2020 (Session 39_2020)

Venue: The Royalty Stretch of the Hampshire Avon Swim: Roving in the Barlins section Time: 10:15 to 11:30 Weather: Calm and sunny peaking at circa 15C Time was always against me, I knew the car had to be home by lunchtime so my son could get to work, but the rain had stopped and it was relatively calm, so I decided to fit in a very short morning session. Obviously it made sense to keep the journey time as short as possible so I left it until the work and school traffic would be over and headed down to Davis … Continue reading FISHING WITH CAPTAIN LASH-UP The Royalty, Christchurch, 9 October 2020 (Session 38_2020)

Venue: The Tench Lake, Orchard Lakes Swim: Western end of the North Bank Time: 10:00 to 12:15 Weather: Sunny peaking at circa 16C with a breeze developing The first challenge is to keep going fishing as the cold days kick in, but if that hurdle is cleared, then a few different venues will hopefully start to appear in this blog. Orchard Lake is not so much a new venue for me, more a venue that I’ve eschewed since about Autumn 2018 based on my attempt to get the maximum bang for my buck out of my club books and to … Continue reading TRANSITION, TRAFFIC, FLOODS AND PLANS The Tench Lake, Orchard Lakes, 7 October 2020 (Session 37_2020)

Venue: Mudeford Woods Swim: Peg No. 7 Time: 09:00 to 11:00 Weather: strong winds, sunny but at best 13C, but the seasons are changing This may be an overlong post for one midget perch, but we are definitely at the beginning of autumn now. At times there is a nip in the air and my stated intention to keep the sea swimming going in to October is looking, well exactly that, an intention not a reality! I decided on a short session at Mudeford Woods this morning to effectively bring my summer pleasure fishing on this lake to a close … Continue reading STATISTICS, REFLECTIONS AND TRANSITION Mudeford Woods Lake, 25 September 2020 (Session 36_2020)

Venue: Bickerley Mill Stream, Ringwood Swim: Hampshire Hatches Lane Time: 18:00 to 19:45 Weather: cooler weather was predicted but the wind had dropped and I fished happily in shorts and a fleece Do I concede that once again I headed off under prepared or do I maintain that this was an impromptu session. In truth it was probably 50-50. Sunday was the end of Mrs. Sidestream’s week off work and she wanted to just chill round the house and I knew I could go fishing in the afternoon or evening. My intention was to head to Beat One of Ringwood’s … Continue reading A RUN OF THE MILL STREAM SESSION Bickerley Mill Stream, Ringwood 20 September 2020 (Session 35_2020)

Venue: The tidal Dorset Stour, Tuckton Swim: The bank facing the pontoon Time: 19:35 to 20:45 Weather: still, overcast, but the days have been progressively getting warmer this week, today being warm enough to tempt me to go for a dip in ‘blue wobbly stuff mermaids live in’. Many argue that Covid-19 means routine is missing from our lives, but the various relaxations in social distancing mean Wednesdays now follow a familiar pattern. I cycle in to Bournemouth, meeting a friend along the way at Tuckton, for the running club’s socially distanced social five mile run and then cycle back. … Continue reading APPEARANCES CAN BE DECEPTIVE The Tidal Dorset Stour, Tuckton, 10 September 2020 (Session 34_2020)

Venue: Everton Grange Swim: Swim No. 12 Time: 15.30 o 17:30 Weather: Still and relatively mild. First a digression about blogs and blogging and also about change. A few bloggers that I follow have used recent posts to address questions along the lines of ‘why do I maintain a blog?’; is it to instruct and inform, is it a craving for ‘likes’, or is it simply to maintain a record? I’m a simple soul and such philosophical questions are not for me. My main reason for starting this blog was over the years I’ve lost numerous paper fishing logs in … Continue reading NEW POST ON THE BLOCK Everton Grange Lake, 7 September 2020 (Session 33_2020)

Looking downstream from the by-pass road bridge Venue: The Royalty stretch of the Hampshire Avon, Christchurch Swim: The ‘Beach’ Swim (‘Barlins’) south of the road bridge Time: 19:15 to 20:45 Weather: overcast, mild with a gentle breeze I cannot remember exactly where I read this, nor who the author was, but I can recall reading an article a few years back that suggested August is the hardest of all the months for the angler. The premise was that river fish have lost their close season nativity by August, the school holidays mean ‘commercial’ lakes are pressurised, tench fishing becomes less … Continue reading BITS AND PIECES – PART TWO Hampshire Avon, The Royalty, Christchurch 23 August 2020 (Session 31_2020)