Please rotate your device

This page is best viewed in Landscape orientation
(or tap anywhere to view in Portrait orientation)

Diary of an average angler

Who favours traditional methods & baits

fisherman

This diary dates back to a holiday in 2003 when I think the urge to get back into fishing took off. From around 2007 the trips became more frequent with 2010/11 probably being the peak of activity.
Things again pick up in 2020 - a sort of rebirth!

QR code

YouTube channel

Venues
& topics
Species
Archive
Venues & topics
Species
Archive

Houghton (24)

Back Channel
Venue: River Great Ouse |Houghton

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 10.00
Weather: Bright start with increasing cloud cover. Still quite warm.
Tackle: 14ft Shimano match rod, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 4.4lb line, 3.8lb Supplex hook length to a 12 eyed hook. .
Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn & bread.
Fish: Roach, perch, bream, dace & bleak.

I had fished this spot back in July having moved there from the weir pool further upstream. On that occasion I was using a light quivertip rod and caught a few fish, including some perch. I had thought at the time that the swim would fish well by trotting a float so that's what I tried. There was more flow after some decent rain and there was more water in the channel. The flow actually increased while I was there as did the depth, but unfortunately this seemed to have a negative effect.

Read full report

Species: Roach, Perch, Dace, Bream, Bleak

River Great Ouse - St Ives (2)

Dolphin Meadow
Venue: River Great Ouse |St Ives

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 10:00.
Weather: Sunny with gathering white clouds and a gusty easterly breeze.
Tackle: 14ft Shimano match rod, Shimano Exage 1000RC reel, 5lb line, 2.5lb pre-tied Drennan hook length to 16 fine wire hook.
Baits: Maggots, worms, sweetcorn & hemp as attractor.
Fish: Dace, rudd, roach, a small chub & bleak.

I had fished the Dolphin Meadow stretch of the Great Ouse soon after I joined the St Ives club back in 2020 but had blanked. My approach back then was to leger, hoping for chub, but I've since learned that winter is the best time to seek that quarry. I had also learned that the match men fished the float out in the stream. So this time it was the match rod with maggots and worms, the quarry being anything that turned up. And a few species did, although the expected perch were absent.

Read full report

Species: Dace, Rudd, Roach, Chub, Bleak

River Great Ouse - Offord (54)

Top Stream
Venue: River Great Ouse |Offord |Top Stream

You can view the video on this page or open YouTube by clicking the YouTube icon above.

Arrival time: 08:00.
Weather: Cloudy start - brightening late morning and becoming hot.
Tackle: Greys 12' Prodigy TX Float rod, Allcocks 4" centrepin, 4BB waggler, 6lb line with a 3.8lb Supplex hook length to a 16 eyed hook.
Baits: Maggots, sweetcorn & hemp as attractor.
Fish: Roach, perch, small chub & bleak.

I had cut short my previous session on the Houghton back channel because of the heat and had maggots left over. At the same time another very hot spell was forecast so I decided to go to the Offord Top Stream to try for some perch before it once again became too hot to get out. On arrival the amount of surface weed on the car park pool was unbelievable and the top stream was also affected. But fortunately a gentle flow had kept the middle clear and I managed to find a spot where it was possible to fish over the marginal weed.

Read full report

Species: Perch, Roach, Rudd, Chub, Bleak

Page 1 / 1

© 2025 Robert Bassett

Report bugs to webmaster

Built in RapidWeaver
with Shaking The Habitual's
Source micro framework

Your privacy
Cookies are only used for the correct functioning of this site and to prevent you seeing this message every time you visit.

Read more about third party cookies ☞

Note that links to third party sites can result in cookies being loaded. For example, there are links to YouTube to display the embedded videos from my channel.