Castle Angling Club

[Andyac]

Hi All
Hope everyone is OK.
I have just received my new Castle AC membership for the costly sum of £0:00p due to no group fishing and limited fishing on your own. I had several blanks in March and the 12-13c was replaced by 3c. Chub are the last spawners of proper river fish usually around 31st May . I did catch 2 chub on the 19th June a they were well past spawning because of the warm spring but this year they will be late and our first evening summer league match is on the 16th June.Even though the maximum time in a keep net is 3 1/2 hours I hope the weather warms up quickly.
Tight Lines

[Andyac]

Hi all
Two weeks ago we had the 1st leg of the presidents cup on the Roding at High Ongar . Everyone who stayed caught. The winner had small Chub. I caught 9 ozs of Roach and even a worm didn't increase the small size. One member had 1 Roach of 14ozs , great concentration as he had only two bites!

[Aitch]

I'll be joining Castle again next season... life and Covid has got in the way the last 2 years, always loved the Roding

[Ian.R.McDonald]

Great to see the Roding in good health.

Fished in the 70s and remember some of the shallow runs having more roach than water.

Stunned and saddened at Abridge seeing the size of the fish lost with a pollution

Good that its back

[Andyac]

Hi Aitch , Ian and everyone
I am over the Roding today fishing castles upper stretch. I am using 2 rods and have caught a Perch on the first cast on both. The water level is dropping at just below my walking pace and very warm for Dec. The bobbin moved slightly on the left rod and I thought crayfish then it shot up and I laid the other rod down to land a perch about 12ozs and when I retrieved the other rod there was perch on already on at about 8ozs. That was at 10.40. I should move further up to the snaggy swims with a better chance for a Chub maybe in a hour.

[Andyac]

I did move to one of the last swims near the club boundary after catching a pair of football shorts. Inside the shorts was a Bullhead. If you hook a twig you chuck it behind you however plastic bags and shorts are rubbish and need to be removed when you leave i'm claiming the Bullhead for that reason . At the 2nd swim I caught another perch under a pound around 8-10 ozs. I had my rods on a tripod pointing upwards as the flow inside and middle was fast however this caused many missed bites so I cast out and let out some line and used bobbins and the baiterunner set to light. There was a few crayfish in this swim as I would get a couple of taps and all of my worm or half would be gone. Next time the Presidents Cup 2nd leg which has been cancelled for 2 years.

[Liphook]

Short changed on the bullhead Andyac, hopefully the match will see the river fish it's socks off

[Andyac]

Hi all and Liphook
I came 2nd with a pole feeder Chub 1lb 3oz and 2 float pole fished Roach for 1lb 4ozs and the winner had two Chub and a 6oz Roach on breadflake pole fished float for 2lb 14ozs.
I have booked my Birthday off from work and as I was born on the 29th of Feb I have booked two days off.
On the 28th I want to plumb above the weir and find any deep holes 5ft+. A experienced Castle angler had his clutch set too high and had his 5lb hook length snapped and I want to beat my person best. The 2003 polution had a total fish kill of this area and it would be good to catch a specimen of any species. I have also booked off the 14th March for a last go with the knowledge I hope to gain . The bottom stretch has the Cripsey Brook entering and maybe some of the rare fish may have escaped up the Cripsey in the 2003 pollution.I have caught every fish caught by other angler's either stocked or natural except one, a Brown Trout which was caught by a Woodford AS member in the pylon swim in Mitchell's farm when i was a member. Barbel ( stokies not 5lb they grew to before the 2003 pollution) Goldfish, Leather, Common and MirrorCarp, Tench .Bream and Rudd
I love the Roding and it has held the Gudgeon record once and if my friend bullied his hooked Dace better it would easily beat the record after snagging him around a reinforced concrete steel.He snapped off before could I reach it.My friend at the time did not realise the huge mistake
being a Chub angler.
Good luck to anyone going out anywhere and I hope to report on my success or failure on the Roding in the following weeks before the end of the River season which I support.

[Tengisgol]

I can report that I have caught a Roding brown trout…in about 1979!

[Andyac]

Cool
I don't think this is likely unless some were in Cripsey Brook.
I think a Gudgeon would be a challenge at the moment.