• You need to be a registered member of Barbel Fishing World to post on these forums. Some of the forums are hidden from non-members. Please refer to the instructions on the ‘Register’ page for details of how to join the new incarnation of BFW...

Linear Fisheries

Horseshoe is very well run - but it does get busy at times. The summer arm is the place for tench but they may well not be in that vicinity just yet. There used to be some superb rudd knocking about as well.

I pulled out of a planned trip to Linear last season because some of stories put me off, I'd rather fish a low stock mere in solitude then have to put up with Chaz and Dave either side of me spodding the granny out of the place, but that said two mates of mine have been having some spectacular catches from Linear over the last two seasons.

Interestingly they have been catching on lobbies, using paternoster rigs fished on a long drop. Back to the old ways.
 
Fished linear a few times now. It pays not to fish the more popular lakes like St John's and manor etc. Oxlease is quite nice but at this time of the year the complex is busy. I've fished horseshoe once and I won't be back. Although it is well run and a lovely fishery the bird life there is very abundant, making fishing difficult and sleep near impossible. Then there's the rats, scratching round you and your kit all night.

Thankfully I now fish a beautiful estate lake in Herefordshire with a good head of tench, wild carp and stunning crucian. This and very few people are allowed to fish it........Bliss.
 
Ahhh well that would be telling sir. Wouldn't get too excited nothing huge tench wise biggest just over 10. But it's the crucian that push the limit really. ;-)
 
Jeff, if it's where I think it is then the crucians really are something else and it's the home of my PB tench. Will be starting my spring campaign in the next week or two.
 
Jeff - now, when I am queuing for a swim at Linear, all I will be thinking about is this mystery lake with few anglers, big tench and big crucians!
 
Richard Booty said:
Jeff - now, when I am queuing for a swim at Linear, all I will be thinking about is this mystery lake with few anglers, big tench and big crucians!
Click to expand...

Ahh yes, over hanging willow tree's, lily pads in the margins. Tench bubbles fizzing over the feed. It's a fantastic venue.
 
Jeff. It sounds fantastic. I'm imagining it my mind.

The trees overhanging the mysterious depths. Lily pads trembling as the butter fat crucians nudge them.

The songbirds full of the joys of the approaching dawn as the mist slowly rises off the surface of the water. Suddenly the tiny bubbles rise, as a shoal of monster tench go foraging amongst the breadcrumbs finding the odd piece if corn.

Suddenly the float rises and dips in the confident way it can and the cane absorbs that first lunge as the reel spins and another specimen tench seeks to find refuge amongst the water iris stems.

Yes. Sounds nice Jeffrey.;):p
 
So, I took the plunge and went to Linear yesterday. Apart from anything else Horseshoe was closed for some tenchfishers event, the weather looked good and I had the day off, so why not. Anyway, I arrived at just as the gates were being opened, and drove through to one of the many car parks. Due to a combination of detailed research and expert watercraft (I phoned the Bailiff and asked him) I had a hunch were some tench may be.

The lake was RAMMED - there were the odd spare swims but only ones that were either 5 yards away from someone else swim or that looked utterly devoid of fish. I settled on the former, a swim in nice bay that looked tenchy. The bloke next to me (about 7 yards away) was a friendly carp angler and didn't have problem so that did it for me. Spent 20 minutes establishing that there was a load of weed in front of me but about 25 yards out this gave way to a nice bit of gravel. Went through the rigmarole of clipping up the rods and spombed out 1/2 pint of red maggots to start with. My tactics were very simple - two rods with maggot feeders with short hooklinks and fake casters on the hair. I taped up the feeders as it was clear that with the amount of anglers, these fish were not going to be going hungry. I watched as one bloke fishing off the point spodded bait out pretty much non-stop for an hour and a half. He had a bin - A BIN - of bait and his efficiency was to be marvelled at. It was virtually in one motion, scoop, wipe hand while other hand swings rod forward, dip spod in water, swing back and WHOOSH. I sat there smugly thinking that he's not going to catch anything.

After a quiet few hours the carp angler next to me had a take but was soon saying 'just a small one'. Minutes later he'd netted a decent Tench of maybe 6lbs. I started recasting every 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes and soon I was getting line bites and had fish rolling in front of me. I had one take that had the baitrunner whirring but when I picked up the rod there was nothing. 30 minutes later the same thing happened and after a short but spirited scrap I had a lovely fat Tench in front of me. At 7lb 7oz a new PB for me. Delighted. The next few hours were frustrating - loads of activity with liners and rolling fish but no takes. I kept to my plan of just keeping casting regularly and keeping things simple. I'd cast one rod back out and was just casting the second when the first rod started to disappear into the lake before I'd even had a chance of putting it on the rest properly. Again after a short scrap a slightly smaller, and definitely more raggedy tench was on the mat. At 6lb 12oz another nice fish.

The activity in the swim showed no sign of abating and a nice wind started to blow in my face which renewed my optimism further. Surely this could be a real red letter day as it was now 4pm and the heat was coming out of the sun so surely I was onto a hatful here. Anyway, over the next four hours things just died - no activity, no line bites or anything. As I was deciding to call it a day I noticed a commotion opposite. The guy on the point was just landing what looked to be an enormous Carp. After netting it and struggling to lift it out he went and got some people and they were all pointing excitedly as the poor fish was weighed, reweighed, witnessed, photographed and then returned. The successful angler was high-fived and someone returned with cans of lager that were cracked open. Anyway, I knew he'd put too much bait out.

So all in all a good day I think - however I should have caught more with that amount of activity in my swim. I'm confident my tactics and rigs were right but maybe they are just so pressured that you have to keep your goals realistic. Overall Linear is a well run place, but it is BUSY BUSY - all the lakes were rammed! It was kind of nice in a sociable way but definitely not the place if you enjoy solitude. It's also the first place where I've had various people delivering me leaflets informing me that I could order not only Pizza but Burgers, Curries, Kebabs, Pitta's and even Fish and Chips to your swim. Obviously a very bad thing, but not when you've eaten all your sandwiches by 11am...
 
Richard Booty said:
So, I took the plunge and went to Linear yesterday. Apart from anything else Horseshoe was closed for some tenchfishers event, the weather looked good and I had the day off, so why not. Anyway, I arrived at just as the gates were being opened, and drove through to one of the many car parks. Due to a combination of detailed research and expert watercraft (I phoned the Bailiff and asked him) I had a hunch were some tench may be.

The lake was RAMMED - there were the odd spare swims but only ones that were either 5 yards away from someone else swim or that looked utterly devoid of fish. I settled on the former, a swim in nice bay that looked tenchy. The bloke next to me (about 7 yards away) was a friendly carp angler and didn't have problem so that did it for me. Spent 20 minutes establishing that there was a load of weed in front of me but about 25 yards out this gave way to a nice bit of gravel. Went through the rigmarole of clipping up the rods and spombed out 1/2 pint of red maggots to start with. My tactics were very simple - two rods with maggot feeders with short hooklinks and fake casters on the hair. I taped up the feeders as it was clear that with the amount of anglers, these fish were not going to be going hungry. I watched as one bloke fishing off the point spodded bait out pretty much non-stop for an hour and a half. He had a bin - A BIN - of bait and his efficiency was to be marvelled at. It was virtually in one motion, scoop, wipe hand while other hand swings rod forward, dip spod in water, swing back and WHOOSH. I sat there smugly thinking that he's not going to catch anything.

After a quiet few hours the carp angler next to me had a take but was soon saying 'just a small one'. Minutes later he'd netted a decent Tench of maybe 6lbs. I started recasting every 20 minutes instead of 30 minutes and soon I was getting line bites and had fish rolling in front of me. I had one take that had the baitrunner whirring but when I picked up the rod there was nothing. 30 minutes later the same thing happened and after a short but spirited scrap I had a lovely fat Tench in front of me. At 7lb 7oz a new PB for me. Delighted. The next few hours were frustrating - loads of activity with liners and rolling fish but no takes. I kept to my plan of just keeping casting regularly and keeping things simple. I'd cast one rod back out and was just casting the second when the first rod started to disappear into the lake before I'd even had a chance of putting it on the rest properly. Again after a short scrap a slightly smaller, and definitely more raggedy tench was on the mat. At 6lb 12oz another nice fish.

The activity in the swim showed no sign of abating and a nice wind started to blow in my face which renewed my optimism further. Surely this could be a real red letter day as it was now 4pm and the heat was coming out of the sun so surely I was onto a hatful here. Anyway, over the next four hours things just died - no activity, no line bites or anything. As I was deciding to call it a day I noticed a commotion opposite. The guy on the point was just landing what looked to be an enormous Carp. After netting it and struggling to lift it out he went and got some people and they were all pointing excitedly as the poor fish was weighed, reweighed, witnessed, photographed and then returned. The successful angler was high-fived and someone returned with cans of lager that were cracked open. Anyway, I knew he'd put too much bait out.

So all in all a good day I think - however I should have caught more with that amount of activity in my swim. I'm confident my tactics and rigs were right but maybe they are just so pressured that you have to keep your goals realistic. Overall Linear is a well run place, but it is BUSY BUSY - all the lakes were rammed! It was kind of nice in a sociable way but definitely not the place if you enjoy solitude. It's also the first place where I've had various people delivering me leaflets informing me that I could order not only Pizza but Burgers, Curries, Kebabs, Pitta's and even Fish and Chips to your swim. Obviously a very bad thing, but not when you've eaten all your sandwiches by 11am...
Click to expand...

Curry and tench? Sounds like a match made in heaven - do they deliver cold beer as well?

Congrats on your PB.

Tench can really enigmatic little blighters - I think that's why I enjoy fishing for them so much. I gather that the Linear tench can be very circumspect which is understandable give the angling pressure. Perhaps worth trying lobbies on one rod next time on a fixed paternoster, with a long drop on your bobbin. Two mates of mine have been having some real results using that method during the last two seasons on one particular lake at Linear.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top