The Fisherman's Tale

Can I keep a promise?

2011-06-12T10:09:00.000-07:00

Well like I keep telling everyone I really am a busy man and the only reason this blog is getting updated today is because I am house bound with the rain and since iv just come back from a session I thought I would get it typed up whilst it was fresh in my head.

A week ago I was lucky enough to have a week booked off from work and with a large number of big tench coming out of the mere it would be rude not to pay it a visit before they spawn and I miss out on there peak weight.

Home for the next 24 hours

If it isn’t broke don’t fix it so baiting up was the usual hand full of the magic mix pellets on each marker with a sprinkling of 10mm source boilies. Rigs well I do like to be Mr. secret squirrel every so often so ill let you use your imagination as to which rigs I was using ;)

Action was hot and heavy from the very start and within an hour two tench graced my net with a cracking fish full to burst with spawn (picture below doesn’t do it justice it had a belly like a football)

Having now spent a few years on the mere iv got used to the timings of the fish takes, and this session was no different, try and get to sleep around 11pm, usually get woken up between 1am – 2am by a pissballer run then alarm clock at 4am to rebait and recast the rods with fresh pva bags and you can usually get another take between 4.30am and 5.30am. if I didn’t rebait and recast you don’t usually get a touch, so early bird catches the worm.

Sun set on the mere.

I ended the session having caught 5 tench all of which over 5lb but non of the bigger ones, I couldn’t grumble though because I didn’t blank.

with the hottest day of the week fast approaching plans were made to pay a visit to a grass carp pond with Mr Stu. I visited this venue last year trying to bag one of its residents but with only 3 grass carp it can be very difficult.

Stu fixing me up with a dog biscuit

Despite the SAS style sneakiness these wary grass carp once again manage to elude my capture, best chance I had was a grass carp heading straight for my dog biscuit but was wrecked by a greedy rudd which engulfed it before the grass carp could get to it. All part of the chase I suppose.

Keeping low to the ground so the grass carp don’t spook.

the grass carp clearly did a disappearing act and we then moved onto a near by pond which holds some nice carp just so the day wasn’t a complete blank.

Kio carp caught between the pads on a dog biscuit.

11/06/2011

With the big tench opportunity fast running out a night session was once again in order. Phone calls had been made in advance to see if I could have a bit of company for the session and see if I could up someone’s person best in the process because the mere holds a few of them.

Mr Clive parry was the first to take up my offer and with his previous pb being at 5 and a half pounds I told him his first fish would smash this and I promised him a pb (was it wise to say this?)

You would swear we would be staying for the week

My plan was to head up to the stages that I caught on the week before and just hope that clive could bag a few. During the day though we started the session in the boat yard plugging away with maggot feeders.

Some accurate casting needed from clive

It’s a funny place the mere though and if something isn’t right you just won’t catch, on this occasion the wind was blowing in the opposite direction and from previous experience the tench won’t filter into the boat yard without it. So all we were left to catch was some quality rudd and roach between heavy showers.

4pm soon approached and we headed back up the mere to the stages that we were to spend the rest of the evening on. Same as last week, markers had been baited with some of the magic mix with added corn and maggots. With the heavy rain showers and no cover it resulted in me getting soaking wet trousers, when the sun did come out though I managed to get them half dry on the bivvy roof and I thought I would be safe for some dry trousers until the wind decided to blow them into the mere.

With the shorts on, whiskey cracked open and the BBQ lit all that was missing was clives promised pb.

“Beeb beeb beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeb”

Piss baller for clive and with his less than speedy actions he was soon connected with an angry tench in shallow water. But was it a pb?

It was ww0o0o0o0o0o00o0o00 ho0o0o0 6lb4oz

A few more celebratory beverages and I retired to the bivvy with a starting migraine starting.

4am and I was out the bivvy and all the gear was frozen solid! I was up to finally wet a line and rebait, Shorts made it all very uncomfortable but I did it and within half an hour I had a rip snorting run but unfortunately bumped the fish.

Clive had a fish at 11pm and also a few more throughout the morning.

Clive weighing his catch

From 8am till well until right now its still raining and there is nothing I hate more than packing up in the rain so as I type this all my gear is soaking. It truly was a challenge getting all the gear back into the car but it was made easier because I managed to put clive onto some fish.

Good man

Conclusion

Think that little window of bagging a final big un could have gone for the mere this year, but I really have enjoyed the tenching this year and had some great sessions with good company. Well done on the pb clive, we will up it again next season im sure.

What’s next well rivers open next week! I can’t make june the 16th but I may be out on the upper severn to see if I can get some big upper severn chub on the weekend

Until next time

Upper severn magic, I will soon be with you my sweet.

Down the mere

2011-05-07T08:16:00.000-07:00

Well its all hands on deck at the moment, after my last post the tench really have turned on with there feeding, the initial burst of sunshine really gave um a kick! And with a week off I had planned on taking advantage of this feeding spree!

My angling buddy stu

My first day off and i ventured down onto the mere with the man himself Mr Stuart, the Wrexham/Chester feud was put aside just for today as we are sporting gentleman. (although if he got a little close to the edge I would accidently bumped him in) falling in would have been a blessing though because the day was set to be a scorcher.

Me into a nice tench

We planned on meeting at the car park at a lovely sociable time of 10am and the idea was to plug away with maggots until we got into some fish. I hadn’t seen Stuart in a while so was looking forward to the sesh and when I got my first glimpse of him I noticed how much he has changed!! Flat stomach and lovely flowing locks (it was a wig) haha

I don’t want to go into to much detail about tactics because after all everyone holds a little back (secret squirrel ;)) but first tench came at 11am and action was thick and fast continuing right up until 3pm. Although I bumped a couple of fish and lost one around a marker the day ended on a high with 8 tench bagged. Two going 6lb and the rest being high 5s.

Team work resulted in a bumper catch of big uns

Few days later I once again found myself floating across the mere in the boat to my chosen spot which this time was to be the sandbar which meant me spending the day in the boat.

Fishing from the boat on the bar, check out the markers in distance

Now im not a massive fan of fishing from the boat, I love my space and having two rods out and all my gear in the boat leaves me cramped which leads to me getting naggy! space for casting was also very tight but being the welsh wizard it didnt take long for me to get the hang of hitting the markers which had a nice sprinkling of pellet waiting in front of them.

Police helicopter which spent the day circling the mere.

Now over the years iv started mastering the art of self takes, usually being alone I rely solely on that 10 second timer. Usually they do go to plan but whilst holding a fish and waiting for the 10 seconds to come to an end I had a screaming run on the left hand rod

Fish on!

Before I was rudely interrupted I was trying to take a picture of this 5lb+ male.

The day contuined with a few more fish making the total upto 6 tench and not a boilie or buzzer in sight.

nice female

As they say variety is the spice of life so a change of scenery was needed so a days stalking and floater fishing was to be my next adventure which came to an abrupt end. This time of year I have no choice but to share venues as the “fair weather” anglers pour out of the wood work and venues get cramped!

The venue I went to was a couple of big meres and I had aimed at targeting the carp, but with the car parks full and a busy road along side I didn’t stay around very long

Nice relaxing day by the waterside

This venue really wasn’t me, I haven’t been there before and unless I want a few easy fish I don’t think ill be back. Im after peace and quiet on a fully overgrown mere so I can creep about and spend hours up a tree, think im just a fussy angler these days

A victim of the day on the carp rig I swear by

So your all upto date, iv decided not to go out this weekend and instead get the blog updated. Although its all good fun catching decent sized tench the fire for me burns with the big girls of 8lb+ which will just about be ready to start creeping up and down them margins and when they do ill be there waiting.

also gagging to get back on the severn after some barbel! june 16th is just around the corner.

until next time

The one that got away?

This is how my fishing year begins

2011-04-10T11:42:00.000-07:00

Wow!! What a fantastic spell of weather we have been having!! And it’s only these past couple of days I have been able to experience it. As I type this I have already spent all day in the garden kicking back in a deck chair, reading some fishy mags with a couple of fosters.

Everyday it seems the grass is growing longer and the trees are looking fuller and the mere in which all my attention is on is changing by the day. The lilly pads have just broken surface, the weed is filling up and the reeds are starting to show.

Swan mussels and weed, crawling with grubs for the tench to fatten up on.

These past couple of weeks I have been down the mere every Saturday, putting bait in a few spots and raking the swims (as well as having a go for the pike).

if raking wasnt done this is what my hook bait would be lying in.

All though the tench have this buffet at there finger tips I have still managed to bag myself a few yesterday.

09/04/2011

For me I really do love the journey down and the journey home! It’s the anticipation of getting down there to unlock the meres secrets and it’s a nice steady chilled out drive home after a mission complete. I managed to find a “best of rock and role” cd in my car which made the journey even more pleasurable.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UWRypqz5-o&feature=related

my intention for the day was starting on a drop off swim I have really had my eye on for a couple of years then moving towards the boatyard at midday when the tench would hopefully be moving into the shallows to enjoy the sun shine.

6.30am at the boatyard entrance

Upon arrival the mere seemed alive with activity, everywhere I looked there seamed to be a tench topping and things really did look good for the day. The morning went by very fast though and I was unable to connect with any tench from my drop off swim. However I was still to fish the boatyard entrance where I could intercept them as they went in.

Drop off swim

i hadn’t even managed to get my 3rd rod in the water when I had a piss baller on the middle rod! In came a lolly olive green tench and she gave a lovely fight. I have decided on 8lb mainline this year over 10lb and you really can appreciate the fight you get from these fish because they just wont give up.

Between 12 and 3 it really was manic! On 3 occasions I didn’t have any rods in the water because I was either rebaiting a rod, unhooking a fish or trying to re clip the rod. I ended the day with 5 tench, 4 over 5lb and a 6lb fish. I managed to miss 3 violent takes because I was busy with other fish.

Its now early April and tench season hasn’t even started properly yet! I can see some crazy sessions in the future! Ill once again be back down on Saturday to try and against u amongst some more fish, at the moment size is irrelevant its just brilliant fun in a great surroundings

Until next week

"Blast from the past"

2011-03-17T08:49:00.000-07:00

Fishing Sywell Reservoir was the reason id booked my Friday off from work and I was planning to get down there for the weekend, but with sywell being closed, me and Steve were left with bait and an empty weekend but no venue to fish I said id sort Steve out with a guest ticket and we will jump on my syndicate mere (I secretly wanted to do this anyway rather than sywell because I have unfinished business with the little tincas on there).

I went down the mere around 2pm on the Friday onto the peg I usually fish and got all my gear setup, rods clipped up and baited up but I was off the mere again by 5pm to sort something out. With rods clipped up already it was just a matter of casting rods out and putting little bit of fresh bait out 10pm and I made my way across the mere with the sun just setting, I put some fresh bait out over the markers which I had left in the boat.

Bait I put out was a few handfuls of casters and maggots on each marker, I didn’t put to much in because before I left id put out half a bucket of ewe nuts covered in molasses evenly over the 3 markers as well as handful of corn and handful of party blend.

Rigs for the first night was 10mm solar pop up with pva bag casters, day glow maggots with pva bag casters and I decide to change a corn rig and I made up a double pop up caster rig with a pva bag of caster.

Sunset on mere

darkness fell and I was left hoping to be rudely awoken by a screaming reel, but instead I was rudely awoken by steve ringing me lol 3.30am and I boated across the lake to meet steve In the car park. After hauling a stupid amount of gear into the boat and plonking steve in one of the favoured pegs on the mere I went about putting some more bait out and getting my head down again.

Steve in his swim

Dawn rose and up until 12am I couldn’t even by a bite, I think by this time steve had already lost a tinca but I was still to get a run. I decided to cream up and enjoy the sun when I had a piss baller on the right hand rod, I got sun cream all over it before bumping the fish not long after doing it. This happened 3 times in the space of 2 hours and it wasn’t until id realised I had done the knotless not the wrong way around (what you get for drinking whilst your making rigs up the night before) that I knew the reason for me bumping the fish off, grrr I thought but at least I knew the reason.

I spent the rest of the afternoon chin waggin with steve over the phone and in person, cooking burgers on steves stove because my bloody stove ran outa petrol and caught 2 pike on a little perch shad. 6pm and I was back on the rods waiting for a fish.

Scared Pike

With getting up so early for steve and a mixture of boiling hot sun I wasn’t feeling to good and got my head down by 9pm hoping for a wake up during the night with a nasty fish on the end, instead I forced my self out of bed after waking up at 4am and put more fresh bait in with a recast.

By 5am the sun was creeping up and the mist was dancing on the surface, I had been back and to to the rods with drop backs from roach on my double caster rig before finally connecting with one which looked around the 1lb mark, really pleased with my first roach off the mere I put him in the net for a picture later on.

5.30am and I was wake but tucked up in the fart sack just watching for rolling fish when my right hand rod roared off, I knew this one was a tench not only because it took a boilie but because it was fightingKnowing how the 6lb fish fought a few weeks early I knew this fish was a lot bigger because I just couldn’t get its head, I decided to grit my teeth and continue to inch it to the surface as it headed closer but closer to the pads.

its head broke the surface and I thought “aghh its not that big” then it rolled and I seen its shoulders “holy shit” it was a really big tench, praying to the lord above I snatched the first opportunity I had to get him in the net and he was in Lifting him out the water it was an 8 I could tell by the weight of it, I unhooked him and put him back in the net letting out a wwawaahhho00oo0o00o into the mist knowing my mission was complete.

I franticly tried getting hold of steve but he was away with the fairies. I couldn’t wait any longer and I put her on the wheel of fortune¡!!!!.. 8lb6oz!!I jumped in the boat and boated down towards steve with the pressure off my shoulders that I had now achieved my goal I was able to take in the surroundings of how gorgeous the mere is this time off the morning, I drifted through the mist and into steves swim to find him flat out in the bag lol I told stevey the good news and I boated both of us back up the mere to my swim and to take some shots of this gorgeous fish

Back in the water and time for a brew to celebrate

A new year and a fresh start!

2011-01-27T00:37:00.000-08:00

First off, Happy New Year. My first post of 2011 and good luck to all those anglers reading this, hope you can achieve your 2011 goal.

For me my goal is still the 20lb river Dee Pike, but I think I’m going to change the rules a little here and rather than say a 20lb river Dee Pike, I’m setting my sights on a 20lb Pike from anywhere!! Hoping to achieve this before March so I can concentrate on the mere ready for spring and the tench. Got a few Pike waters I want to have a look at that have recently turned up on my radar and with the Dee at the moment being so unreliable I’d be stupid not to spread my wings a little.

So unlike most people I have been out and about fishing. First trip of the new year was a spot of grayling fishing on the upper upper Severn.

But as you can see from the picture it was far from grayling conditions, over an hours drive and it was unfishable!! Luckily half an hour back in the direction I came from and it’s my usual upper Severn haunt so a quick stop to check it out and run a float through was in order. But I suffered the same fate as before!

Both sides of the river were completely frozen and just a small channel in the middle for me to fish. I spent just over an hour in a few different spots before admitting defeat and retired to the car for some tea.

08/01/2011

A return to the river Dee was inevitable and I had my head firmly set on a big Pike! I headed out a lot later than usual and upon arrive at my live bait catching section of the Dee I was greeted by a hoard of anglers! I drove down but every single peg was taken! With only a small supply of dead baits I didn’t really want to target my chosen area of the Dee without the magic of a livey!! So I decided to take a trip down to the mere but this was also unfishable, the whole mere was completely frozen over and I felt I would be wasting my time even if I tried. I had no other choice but to head to the area of the Dee I was going to fish anyway but with the deadbaits.

An in flood frozen mere!!

An hour later I was sat in my swim on the Dee and had two rods cast out towards a sunken snag which had collected a large amount of floating debris. Watch the video below to see the results

I had no confidence all day because things just weren’t going the way I wanted it to but I managed to catch one. You might have been able to hear a machinery noise stopping in video and that was a farmer on his tractor who had seen the commotion of me landing the fish and came over for a look. He was nice enough to take a snap for me.

Worth its weight in gold on a day when nothing was going right

I stuck it out fishing the same swim for a little longer before a move back to the live bait section I had originally started. Upon arrival at the venue as expected most anglers had left because they can’t handle fishing into dusk. As I was fishing away I was approached by another angler and we started talking about how it had been fishing today. Apparently not one Pike had been caught and the Dace were not showing. He was right about the Dace because I failed to catch any! But it was nice to know that all the anglers in the same area failed to catch a Pike and I had one under my belt.

Quiver tipping into dusk, perfect way to end the session

21/01/2011

I had Day booked off work because the weekend before I had spent it helping my cousin plaster board his ceiling and I had a number of late nights throughout the week so I really was ready to switch off and get out fishing.

So the fishing! Same plan as before quick stop for live baits then move on!! I arrived just after 7 and was relieved to find an empty car park with only one other angler upstream. Feeder rod was set up and I was soon enough supplying the Dee with a constant rain of maggots. Unfortunately the river really was ripping through and it was up about four foot because of the recent snow falls. I went upstream to speak with the guy fishing and he confirmed that nothing at all was showing, he was stick float fishing for dace and he hadn’t had a bite in 2 hours.

My next plan of action then was a few hours on deadbaits!

Messy business on the Dee, my gear was caked in mud!

The night before I made a trip to Sainsbury and got some fresh mackerel and herring. Both really smelly baits and I was hoping the scent trail in the murky depths might entice a take! I spent a couple of hours there before my mind starting going into overdrive, I just knew I was wasting my time and I was soon set on heading back to the mere. The 20lb Pike would have to wait and catching any Pike was the mission.

Rods out on the mere and an afternoon on the boat, First brew of the day

This was my first session on the mere this year and I always forget just how much I enjoy it down there, peace and quiet, no other anglers and the chance of a few double figure Pike.

My favourite area of the mere is the boat yard for the Pike but today I just couldn’t produce a run on the deadbaits! The next area to try would be wooded area

I tried everything during the course of the day! Dead baits nailed to the bottom, popped up baits, wobbled a few dead baits, and even tried a suspended dead bait!

(Yes I did managed to get it all out of the tree, the beauty of using the boat)

The day had almost come to an end so all that was left to try was a little lure I’ve nicknamed the jack destroyer! Because it never fails to bag me fish. Only problem is that’s all it does catch is the little jacks, but it does save me from a blank! So with the last 40 minutes of day light and I managed to bag 3 jack Pike all from the boat yard

The jack destroyer in deep!! They loves it!!

I plugged away until the last flicker of light but was happy with my result even though non of the big girls showed to the deads.

Nothing beats standing in boat throwing a lure around with the sun setting.

That now brings you fully up to date.

Like I said at the start of this, my aim now before spring is going to be a 20lb Pike! If I manage this I will then set my sights onto Chub. I’ve got a few big Pike venues in mind so I’m really looking forward to the next few weeks. Mainly because I will get to join a few of my fishing companions who are mad as hatters! So even if I blank the day will still be enjoyable.

Until next time!!

Cormorants over the mere!! Lock and load!

Chasing Shadows indeed!

2010-12-23T00:45:00.000-08:00

First off this will be my last post of 2010!! Yayayay!! Christmas really has come around fast and so has winter!! I have been unable to do most of what I have wanted to do with the current weather as it is. We had a heavy frost, then snow then frost and now snow again! This makes planning my angling very difficult.

Which is what happened when Chris came up from Portsmouth, I was hoping some pike fishing would be on the cards but i felt it would have been a pointless trip after we had a hard frost, so the next best thing was to mix things up, we both enjoy walking and I do love the Upper Severn so……………………..

Back up Rodney’s pillar I went!! (I really think I should reword that?)

But as well as the pike fishing being pointless so was this because half way up a mist settled around us and made seeing any sort of view impossible, I was really looking forward to seeing a snowy background!

The following week was also a non angling week as I spent the weekend recovering after seeing the punk band *The Gallows* perform in Wrexham, was a great gig and if you watch the video on the link below you might just see a certain someone coming into the circle pit at 50 seconds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7_AZgbLqvI

With the gallows out the way plans had to be made to get some fishing done!! Firstly though I had to make up a fresh batch of cheese paste after my other batch had been mistaken for mouldy pastry!

That Saturday I went about sorting all my gear out and getting everything as light as possible to carry and i thought I would acclimatise myself to the cold weather by creating this In my garden………………..

A snow loch ness monster!

Sunday morning I made my way to the upper, it really is a different world to up there and upon arrival I was greeted with 6inchs of snow, freezing fog and a frozen padlock gate which meant my precious tea had to be used to defrost it.

Before getting all the gear out of the car though I went up and down the river putting balls of liquidised bread and lumps of cheese paste in chubby looking areas

I felt like Jack Nicholson in the shining!

As you can probably guess I blanked! Lol I did enjoy being out in it though and looking back at the pictures now it looks a lot colder than im sure it was, but I was dressed like an Eskimo. Below are a few shots of a snowy Upper and a video I did whilst I was out.

As you can see all the overhanging trees just scream chub!

The little video of my antics

And that just about concludes 2010! Iv had a lot of memorable fish and had some really enjoyable fishing sessions with some angling friends.

What now! Well im getting into the festive spirits by drinking to much and eating to much and not really beating myself up about not going out and fishing, im keeping in contact with some other anglers out and nothing much is going on. I have a session planned on the 2nd of Jan pike fishing with my fellow whisky drinker Clive at an undecided venue which im really looking forward to as iv only fished with Clive once this year which was a flying fishing trip.

So keep your eye out at the start of the year for that and enjoy Christmas! And have a triple on me.

A Little video of me and my attempt at trying to scare my dog who is passed out on the sofa! You might be able to make out Robson greens extreme fishing in the background (it takes a while for me to turn up but im trying to build up the suspense)

River Dee Crocs

2010-11-29T00:44:00.000-08:00

Finally winter is here! Happy why I hear you cry! Because I can finally start catching fish!! I’ve reached that stage in my angling where what ever species I want to target I know a venue that suits my specimen needs. Some far away and some on my very door step, and on my door step is where I have been the past couple of weeks on Dee.

I do love fishing my local venues and my aim this winter is my first 20lb Pike out of the Dee, now this is a very realistic target because there are plenty in the Dee its just catching them.

Mink tracks

To get my head into the Pike fishing I decided to fish a non pressured area away from most people so I could get to grips with avoiding the trebles and the Pikes teeth. The Dee was just coming down in level after a flood though and the banks were very slippery, learning from my mistakes boots were put on straight away.

Apart from its Pike, Dace is the firm favourite of a lot of the anglers in winter on the Dee, as there’s plenty in the area.

Perfect for live baiting

To be honest I was enjoying fishing for the Dace more than the Pike, keep hitting that same spot with the maggot feeder and they crawl up the line, even put up a half decent fight if you let them.

Surprise Grayling catch on the maggot feeder

So the Pike, I had a really good first session managing to bag one of around 7/8lb

7/8lb Dee Pike

Which also gave me a bit of bother which resulted in this

Hazards of the job

And for my troubles and pain I was rewarded with this

13lb8oz, I’m always happy to catch double because they do put up a great fight.

The following week was once again going to be spent out on the Dee in search of the treasures it holds. Unfortunately Wrexham was hit with snow on the Friday evening and I wasn’t sure if I would have to give up a weekend on my quest.

Sure was a cold start

As you can see from the picture above I did go out fishing!! I,ve always wanted a really nice photo of a Pike in the snow so I couldn’t just sit back in the house. Although I think that’s what most people did because this very popular area was deserted.

I’m starting to hate swans more than cows now! Nasty little devils

I wasn’t alone for long though and sure enough the place was getting very busy. Match men lined the far bank and went about drawing peg numbers (“IT’S A 6, NNOOO ITS NOT THAT’S A 9, IT CANT BE A 9 BECAUSE I HAVE 9”…..) I do hate sharing.

Dace live bait doing its job perfectly

I spent the morning enjoying my Dace fishing with a float out in the margins for the Pike, It’s rather tricky to watch the quiver tip for the Dace and the float for the Pike and when my Pike float shot away from the surface its all hands on deck! For its size it put up a fantastic fight, but my aim for the day was a Pike in the snow and irrelevant of the size here she is.

That’s what we like!! Smiles from me and the Pike

Not long after catching this Pike I ended up moving to the area I fished last week hoping that less angling pressure could mean some extra fish, but as soon as I arrived it just didn’t feel right and I felt I should have been back where I started. I gave the area a couple of hours anyway because you never know, had some dinner (which I’ll tell you about later) and went back to the other stretch.

Lovely deep margins for the Pike to work their way up and down

I fished the last hour of daylight in a tasty looking swim with some overhanging trees and listened to the match men’s antics a little longer. Interestingly the match was won with almost 30lb of silver fish!! Why stay in bed or at home with weather like this you should be fishing!

Well I didn’t catch anything else, the Pike just didn’t seem with it. The week before I was constantly getting runs and this time around it’s as if the Pike stayed in bed.

Right next week! My mate Chris is coming up from Portsmouth to visit his family so he’s getting dragged onto the banks Pike fishing!! Haven’t decided were we are going yet because it all depends on conditions, lets just hope the fishing continues to be just as good and I can get my hands on a 20!

Until next time

A new found winter warmer! Chicken soup and a packet of super noodles, Quality

Pompey

2010-11-18T00:40:00.000-08:00

First off id just like to say sorry for how long this has taken me to get up, Iv had it written a while but without the internet and limited use of a flash drive it makes things a little difficult

First pint in pompey

Well Portsmouth I really did have a brilliant time and I really didn’t want to come back to reality but all good things come to an end, but probably for the best for my health’s sake because we were on the pop everyday.

I didn’t actually do any fishing until a few days in, we spent the rest of the time around the town seeing the sights and basically just enjoying being out of work, on the Saturday though we did go for a day trip to London to see the landmarks and the pubs

Chris and me sampling some fine ale in a traditional English pub

Tower Bridge as the sun was setting

Right, the fishing.

Bury Hill

Home of mega Pike and monster Zander a well known predator lake in the angling world and one of the top venues in the UK to catch your first Zander, and as I am yet to catch a Zander as we don’t really have Zander up north that was my aim.

For the trip my mate Chris would also be joining me as he has a thing for Pike and I managed to help him catch his first Pike this season off the mere. Would also like to say that as a non angler he did very well at getting up at stupid o clock so we could get to the lake at the crack of dawn for first choice of swims and hopefully winkle a couple of Pike and Zander out before it got too bright.

Me setting us up with 3 rods

My standard Pike fishing set up

Bury hill is a little funny where they won’t let you use treble or barbed hooks for fishing, so single barbless hooks had to be used.

Bait selection - Prawns, Prawns soaked in crab liquid, whole roach and whole smelts

I decided on the prawns because I wanted to try and do something a little bit different to everyone else as I’m sure these fish have seen more dead baits than I have.

We fished it by having Chris float fishing and basically letting him do what he wanted with it, I had a float a couple of rod lengths out in front of me on roach heads or tails, and I also had a rod on my far left to a snagy area on a whole hair rigged prawn

Really does look the cats pyjamas

It didn’t take long before we started getting action, well not me but Chris!! Casting into a windy area his float was getting dragged around the swim and into feeding fish

Chris playing a Pike

Unfortunately with the barbless hook rule the fish managed to escape the net and also another fish after this managed to elude us.

The day its self was very grim but its exactly what I wanted, dark and overcast with dark rain clouds over us all day, luckily I thought ahead and I brought the oval brolly with me.

Me playing a Pike caught on half a roach tail, check out the fancy foot work

Result!! Pike of around 5lb and saved me from a blank

During the course of the day the fish were feeding in a pattern were we would get takes about 2/3 hours apart on each rod with no action in between.

That morning I went on to land another 2 Pike all on the ledger rod and then just what I’d been waiting for happened

Me just about to land……………………….

A ZANDER haha the face says it all

6lb7oz pb Zander and a happy bearded man

Well that just about summed up Bury Hill, I went to catch a Zander and I did, quality

Hampshire Avon - The Royalty

Well it shouldn’t need any introduction the famous day ticket section on the Hampshire Avon and I was targeting barbel. It’s not the first time I’ve visited as I did a day session on here last summer, I did blank then but at least it gave me some ideas to work on this time around.

Now for people who don’t the Hampshire Avon its very shallow in areas with gravel bottoms and steamer weed runs and you can at time actually spot the fish and specifically target certain fish.

I arrived just gone 7.30 and it was still very dark so I thought I would start in a deeper area of the Avon and that was the railway bridge swim.

Dark and overcast lovelyy Barbel conditions

I started off by fishing 1 rod with a large lump of meat with no other free offerings just to see if anything was knocking about. A few hours went by though without even a tap. So another rod soon found its way in with what I was hoping would be the winning formula

Known to only a few as “the magic mix” with added hemp and what Stu likes to call my “soy sauce”

I have full confidence in my mix and I know it can drive fish barmy but for some reason I just couldn’t get the Barbel on it! Grrrr. I was starting to contemplate a move as I know Stu would be shaking his head at me if he knew I spent all day blanking in 1 swim

No luck a move was on the cards

The peace and tranquillity in the railway swim, hmmmmmmm

I spent the rest of the day then moving about, trying lumps of meat, boilies and pellets but just couldn’t tempt a fish. I tried rolling meat, straight leads, Pva bags, stonze leads, feeders but nothing was having it, looks like it was another blank for me on the Avon! They aren’t stupid these fish

The final swim I fished, fishing PVA bags of pellets on the other side of a clump of streamer weed

Dorest Stour – Throop

Upon leaving the Hampshire Avon I was approached by a member of the fishing club that has the rights to the royalty and throop (Ringwood Angling) and this gentleman just so happened to be the manger on the Throop fishery which is famous for its giant Chub. Id already bought my day ticket for throop for the next day to save me going back to the tackle shop and I spent the next 30 minutes just picking the brains of the manager to get as much info as possible to give me the best chance of catching, his words “You don’t need half that shite” so no bag, 1 rod, chair and a few bits and I was on my way

When I first arrived at the venue there was already two other anglers on the fishery so I decided to walk as far as possible to try and get away from them to non disturbed water. I sat in the first interesting looking spot after my long walk and set up. It was only 7.30 and just the same as the royalty I couldn’t see the bottom and what I was fishing into, I could just make out some underwater cabbages and some weed. I didn’t want to fish into cabbages and get my rig masked so I decide to up sticks and move down stream

Upon standing up something shiny caught my eye in the water, a ghost carp of around 8lb was heading towards me, I kept watching it and my eyes started adjusting to the water and I noticed 4 other mirror and common carp swimming with the ghostie.

Back in the swim I was just fishing and I started introducing the magic mix. Before long mud clouds started to appear on the surface as the carp were ripping up the bottom after the mix. For an hour I kept my hand on that rod with my heart pounding as I knew the carp were in the area but I just couldn’t see them. Then from behind the weed a carp starts drifting towards the rig and into my line, it stopped the carp in its tracks as if it hit a pane of glass and it bolted into the depths. Chance gone

Typical looking stretch at throop

I went on to move several times and see a fair few chub but I was unable to catch anything. I was really disappointed as I was trying everything technical under the sun and the regulars down there were just fishing it like I fish the Severn, Groundbait feeders and nothing more and they were pulling the chub out one after the other. Lesson learnt I think

And that brings you up to date, I haven’t been out fishing since Portsmouth and I have around 50 meatballs in my freezer covered in crab liquid I need to get rid of because there stinking!!

with this drop in temperature looks like its once again a change with the seasons and its roach and pike for a while, Depending on the river conditions I could be out on the river dee in search of a river Croc

Until next time

Doesn’t take much to make me happy, Nice view, beer garden, ale and Zander

the patriot

2010-10-18T00:39:00.000-07:00

07/10/10 - the patriot

Another couple of weeks down and since the bream session on “Lake 55” I have been spending my time in the valleys of Wales in search of barbel on the “Upper Severn”

Anyone traveling to the upper would recognize this

The first session was spent on a club stretch where I caught the barbel a few weeks back. The biggest problem with the Upper Severn is finding the fish, so if I know an area I can catch them, then half the battle is won anyway.

I arrived on the venue around 7pm and the sun was starting to set fast, the river was up about 4ft and was ripping through. It was though starting to drop which means lovely conditions to barbel fish. But, I’m not a massive fan of fishing floods into dark because one slip and you’ve had it.

Just as the sun was setting

And that’s basically what happened to me! I started walking down the bank and because of the river dropping the banks really are treacherous with slippy mud. For some reason I decided on not wearing my boots because it’s not a massive walk from the car. I put my foot in one wrong place and it sent me on my ass hurtling towards the river. Nee up in a flooding Severn on what was supposed to be a stealthy approach! Ratttssss

Aghhhhhhhh!!!

With the light rapidly fading I had to run back to the car for a change of socks and to put my boots on.

Unfortunately that was to be the most excitement on the whole session. I fished from 7 till 11 and I didn’t have a single tap not even from a chub!!

On the far bank ………. make your own mind up.

16/10/10

This weekend I was once again heading down to the Upper Severn. Tactic for the day was to bait up a swim with pellets and boilies then return to it at dusk for “bait n wait” tactics. Hopefully over the course of the day fish would have been over the spot and would be hungry for more.

Pellets and monster crab boilies, Ready to be bait dropered into the swim

Whilst the bait was doing its job I was to head upstream with 1 rod, bag of meat and a net. Plan was to walk as far as possible then head back downstream putting a large lump of meat into long glides and under over hanging bushes, aka “Rolling meat”. By doing this I can cover a large a mount of water to find the fish and present the bait how the barbel would naturally see it which is rolling towards them in the current.

Planes over the Severn

Despite covering 4 fields worth of river and putting my life at risk by venturing into a field with 20 cows I was unable to tempt a barbel! 3 hours of walking and not having my fishing comforts like a chair and cake was taking its toll so I headed back to my bait and wait swim ready for the night time activity

Swans coming through my rolling swim

Back in the swim and I was ready for some action, and it looked in perfect condition. The swim itself was like a bottle neck forcing the barbel underneath the overhanging trees on the far bank and hopefully over my bait. So a single rod with my standard ground bait tactics was placed conveniently in the red zone!

Jobs a good un, all we need is fishies!!

Here it comes, unfortunately I didn’t catch lol I had a right session the night before involving whiskey and I only had a couple of hours sleep so after the long walking you plonk me in a chair and all I wanted to do was sleep. One minute it was light, the next I woke up to this

Fell asleep again and woke up to the moon. It had only just gone 8 but I had enough, and I needed my energy for the next day! There’s always another chance.

Now not really fishing, but, overlooking the Upper Severn standing proud is Rodney’s Pillar and I’m sure if anyone has ventured onto the upper you must be blind to miss it (although its not very clear in the picture)

After years and months of saying I’m going up there, today I finally scaled it to have a lovely view of the twisting and turning Severn and got to see all my stretches with a birds eye view. Would fully recommend it to any Upper Severn angler.

Conclusion

I wouldn’t do anything differently, I feel I fished both sessions really well but its just the upper, if I wanted to catch small 5lb shoal barbel all day I’d fish the middle like everyone else.

So what’s next…PORTSMOUTH!!! Wwwaahhoooo, I head out on Thursday and won’t be back till the following Friday. Zander, Pike, Barbel and chub are all the cards for the session and will be fishing some of the most famous waters in the country! With a little help from the bailiffs I have been in talk with I just might be able to winkle 1 or 2 out.

Until next time

They’re a nuisance but I have been looking into doing this because they’re making me jealous

01/10/10 – “Lake 55”

2010-10-11T04:03:00.000-07:00

Well I’ll be honest its been a very interesting week, something I’ve tried to stop myself from doing for years is from becoming a carp angler, because I know when it takes hold I won’t be able to let go. What made a little spark for me over the weekend was reading Terry Hearn’s book “In pursuit of the largest” and it’s these sort of stories I love, not what’s the best bait, what’s the best rig, what current bait is ripping waters apart, it’s the stories about old big wise carp and the trials and tribulations Terry went through spending weeks, months and years in search of these myths and making them reality and its all about effort = reward (which at the moment isn’t working for me) but also I came across “thecarpcatcher” on youtube, and it brought me back to when I used to fish the mere almost every other weekend with me carp angling mate mart.

(Terry Hearn) Could easily catch the bug looking at this

Right, this week I decided to head to “lake55” in search of its bream. I don’t know much, well I don’t know anything really about the stocking just that they’re in there and go big! So that’s all i need to book Friday off work and get out fishing for 24 hours

Now I had planned on getting to the lake as early as possible so I could have first pickings on a spot, get the marker float out and have a feel about, then get a bed of bait out. But as usual things don’t go as planned and after a manic morning of heading into the town centre twice I was back at home by 10am loading up the car

Everyone has a loading system

With the lake just being a short drive away I was soon lugging my gear around to a chosen area of the lake I was hoping the bream might travel to. There were 2 anglers already on the lake that were fishing for carp at range but so far without any success. This was there fourth session they had done on the venue and between them they hadn’t yet had a single fish. So things weren’t looking good from the start

I didn’t let that put me off as I know the lake has a reputation for being difficult and I went about putting up the “Hotel STI” because it was starting to rain and heavy!

Why on earth the tent is called “STI Rapid Erection” is beyond me

Next step of the session was to sort out where I was going to put my baits, marker float gave me a reading of 2ft of water close in sloping off sharply to 6ft then gradually declining to13ft 50yards towards the island. Now I’d planned on putting both rods on a big bed of bait in deep water so the 13ft seemed spot on.

Spod and Spod mix ready to be air lifted to my spot

The main base of the spod mix was party blend, which I had boiled up a couple of nights before, and added to that was 10mm boilies, half tin of corn, mixed pellets and the biggest mistake some method mix .

Why I put method mix in it I don’t know!! Because all that happened was when the spod hit the water the spod mix wouldn’t come out because it was to sticky! I probably managed about half the bucket emptied in an hour of spodding (bucket was only half full anyway) and I had no confidence in my spot at all! Decisions had to be made so I decided on a rod over the spodded bait, then put a rod on the 6ft shelf where I could catapult some spod mix onto it.

Pathway leading upto my swim

Rig for the session was something I have full faith in after catching three 8lb+ tench on it. Its something I was shown when I first started on my fishing syndicate by a very good bream angler and I haven’t looked back since.

Two of the 8LB tench from the past few seasons, both weighing 8lb6oz

The rig consisted of a coated braid which I strip back the last 3 inches, size 10 esp big t, some shrink tubing, size 10 popup and a piece of shot on the shank of the hook. The first 3 inches of the coated braid is heated over a kettle so it makes it solid which helps eliminate tangles, when the fish picks up the bait it hasn’t got much movement before the whole rig tightens up to the 2oz and at this point the hook has pricked the bottom lip because of the shot.

The Business End

With the rigs out and the baits in position all that was left to do was wait.

Wet and grim, but it did feel breamy

The evening went very quickly and I hadn’t had a single beep on the rods, bream are active nocturnal feeders and the light was starting to fade so to try and give me a bit more confidence during the night I decided to dampen down some ewe nuts, lace it with the remainder of spod mix, and ball it onto a kitchen table (small kitchen table) size area, hoping that any cruising bream will be lured into the area

There a carp anglers nightmare but it will be my dream if I wake up to a snotty in the dark!

The nearby road which had been deafening all day was finally starting to ease a bit the night light on the buzzers started glowing and I started getting sleepy, I got tucked up in the sleeping bag with a brew and contemplated what could happen during the night.

No bream, so a fresh brew to get my thinking

Tip to remember about night fishing is keeping everything you need to hand, and this example is the tea making kit. All I need is 1 arm to get the kettle on the go so I can stay nice n cosy and reflect on why I’m nice n cosy because I shouldn’t be. I should be covered head to toe in bream slime with eyes like pea holes in the snow because I’v been up all night netting bream.

I recast with fresh bait at 7am, made a few changes with the close in rod in which I changed over from a pop up to a bottom bait rig and put it 60 yards to my left towards the back of the island with 50 10mm boilies as free offerings over the top, I did this after seeing a few shapes disturb the surface, it could have just been carp moving about or maybe even bream rolling just under the surface.

With that job done I once again had to sit back, be patient, watch the water and eat a load of cookies

Well there’s another session down, nothing happened the rest of the morning and I packed up midday so I could go and have a stalk about the rest of the lake to see if I could find any carp. The 2 other guys on the lake paid me a visit as I was packing up and they hadn’t had a single beep between them either.

Conclusion

I still think this run of bad luck is because it’s a build up for a special fish capture when I take my trip to Portsmouth in just over 2 weeks! where I will be heading out to catch my first zander and get on the Stour and Hampshire Avon. Only annoying thing about all this blanking is I know I’m fishing really well. Sometimes you just know when you’re fishing like a plonker. Something good did come from the session though and that’s after 5 years of cooking eggs on the bank I think I have finally mastered the art of doing fried eggs with only a fork as a flipping tool!!

Next week, well I feel I deserve another shot at these bream now I’ve got 2 freshly spooled reels with 10lb line. But there is a lot of good barbel coming off the Severn at the moment and I really don’t want to miss their feeding spree! Sooooo I could be favouring the barbel. Until next week

O0o0o0o0o0o0hohhhh rrriighhhtttttt!!

If they won’t come to me, ill come to them

2010-09-23T04:18:00.000-07:00

12/09/10 – Vampire nights

Sunday evening I decided to target a local stretch of the River Dee which is fast becoming a river that is on my mind frequently. There’s not a lot known about the fish in the Dee after the fish kill so who knows for sure whats in its depths and for that reason alone I cant help but keep off there. So Sunday evening was going to be spent fishing a tasty looking marginal raft hopfully for a barbel or maybe even a carp

Both rods out on the Dee

Now up until this session I was having full faith in Sonu baits soft hook able pellets which I hair rig on, but for some reason every time I was reeling in the pellet was gone, not sure if little fish were just constantly eating away at it but I just couldn’t get them to stay on. I decided to switch both rods over to some 10mm boilies but before I had chance I had a screamer on the right hand rod, initially I thought it was a small chub but was soon greeted with an eel!!! Now I don’t usually mind eels but I hate bootlaces and I hate trying to unhook them

My attempt wasn’t very good and mr eel found his way all over my chair

Grrrrr pesky critters!!! Didn’t even give the feeder time to empty!!

I haven’t done a lot of time fishing the dee for its barbel so was playing it the same way with the severn hoping that they come on the feed into dark, that means warm cloths, head torch and isotopes

Lovely place to be in the dark, only person for miles around patiently waiting for the one

I fished from 6pm until 11pm with only the eel for my troubles but I don’t regret going because its only 20 mins away and iv got the chance of catching something special, I just have to sit it out a little longer.

And that brings me to the end of summer, whilst I was out there was a constant stream of leaves heading down stream which means autumn is on its way which for me means more barbel fishing into dark, bream fishing also in the dark and maybe a few more carp stalking sessions before they shut shop for the winter.

My indulgence for the end of summer, Fruit cider and sponge cake what could say goodbye better.

18/09/10 - If they won’t come to me, ill come to them

Saturday was set to be my main fishing adventure this weekend and I was planning on heading down the severn. With doing loads of over time in work id only been to the gym once last week so I wanted to spend the day moving from swim to swim to try and burn a few calories. Id planned on starting at 6am on a stretch I know produces in the morning then move onto another stretch just up the road and work my way along there

So to get down the river and fishing by 6am meant a 5am wake up

On the river before the sun was up. Best time of day to be out

The river was tea coloured and up by a couple of feet but it had been up a lot more the past few days so i was just on the end of the flood, these are my favourite conditions for barbel though and you can often catch them all day in floods

Couple of rubber ducks that came down in the flood

On this stretch I had 3 areas to target and decided to spend an hour in each swim to see if I could tempt any fish to take big meat or pellets. With the recent floods though a couple of swims I did want to get to were inaccessible because of the steep banks and slippery mudd which proved to be a problem throughout the session

This lark isn’t for you carp boys

By 11am the sun was blazing down and I scrambled my way into the very last peg on the stretch. The river really narrowed up hear and the river went straight underneath a tree that was hanging into the water, so a cast mid river would hopefully has my feeder swing around and settle right underneath it and into the barbels lair!!

The result of my fine casting, what im going to class as the start of my barbel season

4lb of bullet shaped autumn gold

I sat it out a little longer to see if there were anymore shoal fish hanging around before jumping in the car and moving upstream and the next part of the session

My attempt at travelling light, small chair, net, 2 rods and bag

Now I don’t know this section very well but I do no of a couple of areas that I really fancy to throw up a couple of fish so I intended on jumping in those first. But the best layed plans

That’s those swims out the window because I’m not going through there

Rats!! So upstream I went in search of better fortune but I never found any. The next few hours really was a grueler. The further upstream I went the less I fancied the swims, the banks were getting steaper with more vegetation so they were exactly difficult to get to with made up rods

The sort of swims I had to venture into to fish, it doesn’t look like it but on the right hand side lead to this

Fishy bliss and barbel heaven

The weather report for the weekend was bob on and by 4pm the rain kicked in and this teamed up with the canoeists to dampen my spirits I decided to call it a session

Im classing one barbel off the upper though in the day an achievement. I spent lots of hours now blanking in the dark on the upper so just one fish is magic

Conclusion

barbel really are now on my agenda so more trips to the dee and severn no doubt teaming up with my angling guru and co Wrexham supporter Mr Stu Maddocks. Bream though I do need a think, there’s always lake55 to see what bream will show there, there’s the flash for the big shoal of doubles or there’s always old one eye on the sindy lake. But he really is a crafty one so I will need to put some time and effort in for him. Until next week

I remembered why I fish in the dark

My Snags moving!?!

2010-09-08T04:48:00.000-07:00

06/09/10

Well to keep me out of a straight jacket a break from the catfish really was in order and a few weeks back I found out my mountaineering buddy mark had lived in preston a few years and being a fisherman he had never fished the Ribble!! Mmmaarrrkkkk tut tut tut, the ribble is home to some barbel of epic proportions and with it being 15 minutes from his home I was egger to get him fishing it, once he feels the might of this barbel I know he would be down every weekend ;)

Id arranged to meet mark at his for 7.30, and with Google maps telling me it was hour and 15 minutes away the alarm was set for 5.30am am, leaving me enough time to get out the house by 6 and get on the motorway

What a way to start the morning, sunrise and Hendrix

With me being a human Satnav I arrived at marks earlier than expected which gave us time to visit mc donolds for some breakfast before heading off to fish the day ticket stretch at Rib Chester Bridge, Not sure how well known the stretchis but the one most people knew about was “tickled trout” but with it being right on the motorway I voted against it hoping for some peace after a manic week in work.

We pulled up in the car park just gone 8am and we decide to scout out likely looking fishing areas

A Deer on the far bank, you won’t see him on the motorway stretch ;)

Mark with mc donolds finest coffee

We finally decided on what I thought was the best looking barbel spot on the whole river so we made are way swiftly back to the car to grab the gear and got to see some comical signs

Those chickens will leave there dogs running around tut tut tut :D

10pm and after running mark through the basics of barbeling we were all armed up and ready for take, i tried to cover as many things as possible hopefully to catch us one, mark was using groundbait feeder chopping and changing between meat and boilie mid river, I was also fishing a groundbait feeder with a small pellet mid river and I also had a rod out in-between streamer weed on a lump of meat near the margins

With barbeling though it has a lot to do with watercraft and that’s why I choose the swim I did, it was walking pace water, looked fairly deep with no boils just smooth glide and down stream of some rapids, it really was just the rule book swim for a barbel

The swim on Ribble

12pm and not a lot was going on, I know from my river severn antics that on my sections of severn they only really feed at dusk into dark. But all rivers and sections are different iv had barbel out of the severn, dane and teme midday in bright sunshine when you wouldn’t expect to catch anything, so sitting it out all day for mark was the best way to try and figure out when these fish are likely to bite for his next trip

Rib Chester Bridge

Ill admit, I didn’t have a lot of faith in us catching until dusk but I didn’t want to put a dampener on marks trip so tried to get him to regularly recast his feeder hoping it might entice a big un to feed, whilst I had several naps with a tea towel over my head because it was roasting and I forgot my hat

But whilst I was sleeping there was plenty for mark to see to keep him entertained

Dragon Fly

Geese just about to land in our swim, at one point we had over 100 in front of us

Gone midday and we were still to catch until mark wound in his feeder

Yay fry for mark stuck in the feeder lol never seen that before

not having a fish in weeks I was keen to get on the action netting this badboy

Look at them rolls n wrinkles, getting right old

We put the world to rights for a good few hours before mark was to get his first proper river fish, just about to make a recast and mark thought he had hooked a snag, we had this problem a couple of times earlier in the morning because there was some proper boulders in the area, but no marks response was “whys my snag moving!!!” lol yyyiippiiii fish on. I excitedly rushed for the net just in time to slip my net under a nice chub

Marks first fish out the river a quality looking chub, not a single mark on it

Lovely fish but I was a little bit disappointed it wasn’t a barbel i had been promising, the chub was followed by what looked like a proper barbel take on my rod, which I was also letting mark hit because I wanted him to get one, but what was reeled in was big dace, which was probably just under a pound. But for a dace it was clonker

Dusk came which is the witching hour, I got my head screwed on and started regularly re casting with the feeder hoping to sound the dinner bell for the barbel. But with me on a bad luck streak at the minute mark had yet another take on his rod and which followed put me in a laughing fit for a while

Eel for mark haha it put us in a right mess with the net being used as my river chub net it has some right holes in it from getting caught in barbed wire over and over again which meant the eels was able to fall through the holes several times, twist around and get line and slime everywhere

But with marks sharp eye he was able to get a quick strike on the take and hook the eel in the bottom lip, meaning easy release (Although I did hold him in the margins for a while because I do think there’s something special about the little critters)

We sat it out for another hour into darkness finally packing up with the score being mark with 3 rod caught fish, me with nill lol

Great session mate and iv promised a winter chub and grayling trip on the same section

05/06/10 -- “Lake55”

Well this venue has had me excited for weeks, 10 minutes from my home and contains some big bream and also some very large carp. Great thing about it is the club has a policy where you have to be in the club for 2 years already before you can fish it.

Luckily for me I have time severed (not in prison the club) so Sunday morning I delicately opened my letter hoping not to lose any bits revelling my pass and in big letters from my mate Russ on the committee

“HOPE YOU ENJOY IT, NOT EASY BUT BIG FISH”

Music to my ears, sounds right up my street I don’t do easy ;)

You couldn’t have got me down the venue quicker but I had already made plans to take my sister to Manchester airport so the lake which ill refer to as “lake55” just had to wait until I got to grace its banks at 4pm. three downsides to the venue

1. Rat infestation
2. Main bypass right next to the lake and railway behind
3. I have to be off by 7 unless im doing the night

The noise on the lake

All 3 bug me a little but it’s exactly the sort of venue I want, close to home which contains some big carp (30lb+) which I can stalk in the margins

So carp was the main target for my 3 hour session and I fished it the same way I caught my pb carp of 33lb, fishing the lift method close in with a big bunch of maggots

Centerpin, crystal waggler, swivel covered in putty, hook with bunch of maggots

I decided to try and fish a few areas just so I could get a feel for the place and see if I can see any fish moving around, I put bait into likely looking margins and rotated between them to see if I could bump into a few lazy fish, but I didn’t spot any fish moving around or have any indication on the float

I know you’re out there somewhere!!

Time on the bank is always well spent though and I know what to expect next time I venture down, im not to dishearten about not catching because I wanted this to be more of reccy trip after hearing so much about it (that’s why excuse for not catching)

Conclusion

Really enjoyed my trip with mark and love the look of “Lake55”, thinking a night session after bream down there on Friday could be well on cards, them catfish are making me sad so lets see if breams can put a smile back onto my face, I cant believe though how much bad luck im having on the fishing front, before I started this blog I had loads of fish under my belt, it’s a bad omen this lol o well until next week keep on searching :)

There’s always one!!

My time will come

2010-09-01T00:46:00.000-07:00

Friday night and that once again meant the catfish. For a few days I’d be stewing over the best line of attack for the catfish for this weekend. Bait wise I decided to stick with the fish cocktail, and also try a lump of spam on the other rod.

This week though I decided to go knocking on the catfish’s front door, which I was hoping would be the dark, weedy tree lined bay at the very bottom of the flash, which for me meant a hike with all my gear on barrow, and I am the worst barrow man ever, all my sh*t always falls off lol

At the bottom end of the flash

After such a long hike its always nice to sit back for a few minutes and just have a think and see if there’s any fish moving about, you’ve done the hard part why rush into getting setup.

I didn’t realise until I started casting in just how weedy the flash is. There are a few sand patches that have been cleared in the weed by fish or birds but with the sunlight fading its hard to see through the water to find the patches. So the next best thing was to bombard two areas with balls of pellets to try and flatten the weed so I could fish ontop of it

Just look at it, if I was a catfish I’d be right snug down there

With the rods out all that was left was to get some tea and avoid the cows.

Pan fried burgers at dusk, Nom Nom Nom

Next morning I was up crack of dawn to hopefully get the traps set with fresh bait to intercept the catfish as they left their hidey holes in search of food. Each spot had a couple more handfuls of pellets and each rod re baited. With that done it was time for breakfast which was another two burgers because I forgot to bring my sausages.

Grebes, moorhens and mallards which inhabit the flash

11 o clock had come around and from what the bailiff had been telling me late morning was the best time for the catfish to feed, and he wasn’t wrong! Because a few yards up the bank I could see another angler slipping a net under a catfish. From the way he was playing it I just knew it was a catfish and later on I found out it was a 35lb cat.

I was absolutely gutted, the catfish were on the prowl but I either wasn’t in the right spot, using the right bait or just not lucky enough. Really disappointed, it’s not to bad leaving the water when you know nobody else has caught but when you know they have it’s horrible. A well, I was chuffed for the angler and did stop to give my congratulations as I left. Why, because it’s the blank session that make the capture that little more special. Will be my turn soon.

So with it being the bank holiday as well, a long weekend I should have got another session in but I didn’t. Saturday saw me celebrating a friend’s birthday in the heart of Wrexham, then Sunday I was up bright and early sampling the Matthews Street Festival in Liverpool, which was fantastic. Such a surreal sight seeing all the streets closed and thousands of people carrying cans and crates around the town lol I was merry to say the least, then straight to Chester after that to hit the Chester night life……. So, bank holiday Monday was spent recovering, it was a lovely day and it wasn’t wasted with me falling asleep in the garden on a deck chair and getting sun burnt.

This song sums up my mood over the weekend, just makes ya want to boogie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P3ZdheRKzMk

Next week what will I be doing I hear you cry!! Well I’m not sure to be honest lol I had an offer a few hours ago for a trip up to Preston to fish the river ripple for barbel, but that depends on if I have to take my sister to the airport which I completely forgot about, but also my angling club as from Wednesday has acquired a specimen water just 10 minutes down the road so it would be rude not to do an evening stalking on there and get a feel for the place.

Until next week ;)

Just sit it out and keep on searching!!

The catfish hunt continues

2010-08-25T00:54:00.000-07:00

20/08/10

These cats are still making me climb the walls and I am not going to be happy until I get one. Even more determined am I now that when I come home every weekend and get asked if I caught anything, then I have to endure the disappointed faces from my mum and sister followed by a big sigh which is basically calling me a failure.

Experiencing this once again as I crawl through the door on Saturday morning after 3 hours sleep sent me into a rage, non anglers just don’t understand and I’ve explained countless times to them that these catfish are bigger than my dog, they feed less than lions and there’s only a few in the big lake. You have to be in league with the devil to be lucky enough to catch one.

But as I am a “Welsh Wizard” I am sure I’ll get one but it’s just a waiting game (I could I suppose fish an easier water but what’s the fun in that, I sure do enjoy a rant!)

So Friday evening I roll into the flash car park to be greeted by 3 cars, gutted, I hate sharing. I’m to use to being alone on rivers, but at least the area I’ve been fishing the passed couple of weeks was free. Next step was to get there before anyone else turned up, and just as I closed the boot to make my way to the swim a car turned up. I don’t think I would have got to the swim faster if a bull was chasing me.

Here kitty, kitty, kitty

Decided on a different approach to target the moggies this week, I can’t lose any confidence in bait because I haven’t caught one before so I can chop n change between baits. This week was a fish based attack. Taking with me Mackerel, sardines and the finest fillet of salmon to get those whiskers twitching

My favourite Nige Williams saying for a bait like this is “we’re not fishing for gudgeon down the canal”

The evening felt perfect for a catfish, it was hot, muggy and the wind on the flash was blowing an absolute hoole, things were looking in my favour for the night, any fish heading down the bay following the natural food would have to go through the bottle neck and past me and the cats would hopefully follow them.

The evening went by pleasantly and I got to watch cows in my favourite way, behind an electric fence (lol) darkness soon settled around me and I was ready for my Catfish!!

Cows and rainbows, makes them look so peaceful and tranquil, I know better

Despite regular castings and fresh bait top ups the catfish stayed elusive and I’m also finding it harder and harder to sleep on the bank! Think I need to invest in a new bed chair because I just can’t get comfy. For a decent nights sleep I think it will be money well spent, got my eye on one of the Nash indulgence bed chairs ;) I mean let’s face it at the moment I’m spending more time in my bed chair than I am playing fish.

£280 hmmm

20/08/10

So called confidence booster

Well if you’ve been following this blog you will know I haven’t caught a fish since my eel trip on the canal, I know, I know I cant believe it myself, 4 trips and not so much as a nibble so on Sunday I thought enough is enough its time I went out and caught something!!

Morning jobs done! Sunday dinner done! Centerpin, float gear and lobs done! And I was on my travels to a local club water in search of some margin carp. The weather on Sunday was surprisingly warm, the sun was beating down and of course what does this attract, fair weather anglers. How could I be so stupid, warm weather, small pool full of carp and, oh of course, yes 7 cars in the car park!! As I said in my last post I hate sharing

Back in my car and on my way to the jewel in the crown, Dead mans pool ;)

This water has a very good reputation for producing some vary large fish in many different species and fishing lobs on a water like this could get you a 30lb carp, 11lb Tench even very big chub. Luckily upon arriving there were only 3 cars in the car park, ok still anglers but I was expecting people to be on here. I was also expecting to blank because the pool is a very funny place to fish. One day they might be crawling up the line the next you can’t do a thing right.

This would be the second time I’ve fished the venue this season not because I don’t like the place but with it primarily being a Tench water I find it hard to drag myself away from my Tench syndicate during spring.

I set up in a likely looking spot just off the marginal slope by some over hanging trees fishing the lift float method. I kick started the swim with a few handfuls of mixed pellets, followed by my worm hook bait with the end of tail chopped off to release some of the juices

The swim on dead mans

It wasn’t long before I started getting indications on the float as it started dipping and swaying before finally being dragged under, I struck and felt no resistance at all until I had to pull my float out of the tree grrrrrrrrrr, first bite in ages and I didn’t connect

Oh well, there’s always another chance, rebaited worm and back out the float went. I haven’t done a lot of float fishing over the years because I feel like I’m missing out on something if I’m not using two rods, but until you go back to your angling roots of sitting back and watching a float you realise just how much you miss out on what’s going on under the water with all the float activity.

Dip, Dip, Dip and sail away, another fish!! I strike!!! Aaagghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh, what am I doing wrong!! No fish!!!! All I could think of was the same problem I was having with eels on the canal that the fish were just grabbing the worms by the tail and I wasn’t giving them though time to get it all in there mouth missing the take

Right! Worm chopped in half and I fished just the tail end on the hook, this will get one for sure!! Sunday soon started to fade away and I wanted to get off early so I could get some things sorted at home, I’d planned on leaving at 8pm and that time had quickly come around. I was starting to think I’d completely blew my chances of catching another fish when just like I said it would at 7.55pm the float vanished from the surface and I was met with a solid resistance

Fish on!! Haha, I’ve fished this swim a couple of times before and with it being a sharp shelve from the margin I’m able to drop the rod under the water and stop the fish getting into the branches of the tree. That’s also what I love about using the pin, with it being free spool its down to me to control how much line I give the fish by using my thumb so I cant blame anyone but me if it gets in the snag. I’d only had the fish on a couple of seconds when it all went slack and winding in revealed a break from a kink in the line

Throw the rod in or myself in

Its usually Stu Maddocks that loses all the fish but it looks like I’ve taken over. That was set to be my first fish in weeks and I lost him. Gutted

Although this cloud could have a silver lining because what most of you don’t know is, with 4 of my personal best fish (chub,carp,barbel,Tench) I also blanked for weeks until I finally had a fish which was a personal best!!

I’m after Catfish again Friday, will I get one ;)

Tight lines till next week

Starting to feel like a second home the flash

Sometimes it’s just an excuse to be there!

2010-08-16T05:22:00.000-07:00

(09/08/10)

My river angling guru Stu has done all his hard work and for him this week its now time to play with time off work, so I arranged to meet him after I finished work on a new stretch me and Stu have our eyes on hidden deep on the upper Severn on my home soil.

7pm and after battling my way through the hoards of drivers trying to make their way home after a hard days work for tea time, I finally arrived to greet Stu waiting in car park.

I had been to this stretch a couple of weeks earlier just to try it out fishing a likely looking barbel hold up. At the time though I was only after chub and after losing 2 good chub from the swim it was all the confidence I needed to sit it out and wait for a big barbel to come trundling through

Its not a bad way to spend an evening

The upper Severn in places isn’t very wide so I much prefer to use only one rod, this saves any hassle of fish getting tangled up in another line and potentially costing me a fish, another line in the water can also mean I am more likely to spook fish. So with just one rod it would be rude not to be the traditionalist and get the centerpin out to fish the swim Mr Crabtree style.

Was that a twitch!!

Stu not fancying any swims on stretch jumped in his wagon and made his way a couple of minutes down stream to find some more pacey water. With full confidence in my setup
I was able to sit back and enjoy the wildlife and watch the sun setting

I would love to carry this on now and tell you how I hauled a monster barbel out onto the bank by its tail but couldn’t weigh it properly because the scales bottomed out but I can’t lol the evening went by without so much as a tap!! But I can’t grumble it’s the upper, you either blank or you get something decent there’s no in-between

Now non anglers that are reading this are thinking, well what a bloody waste of time he caught no fish. Thing is I was chatting to Stu about this at 12.30pm the same evening about how lucky we are as anglers. Between 7pm and 12.30pm I witnessed, Buzzards, a hare at close range, a kingfisher, 2 swans with 6 signets, an otter less that 2 foot away from me, bats and got to gaze aimlessly at the thousands of stars in the Pitch Black valley lighting up the sky.

Waste of time eh, its not always about the fish ;), But I am an angler and I do want to catch some fish or I might as well start playing golf

It’s now Tuesday night (10/08/10) and all my gear is ready for yet another after work session tomorrow, meeting Stu once again this time on a very local river to us both in search of yet more barbel and chub (hopefully we will be fishing the Welsh side lol)

(11/08/10)

Unfortunately Stu couldn’t join me for another bash at the barbel and chub and because I don’t really like fishing for barbel and chub until autumn time because I feel like I’m missing out on something else my mind was torn. But it didn’t take to long for me to decide to fish for a big bream

With being an office boy its always difficult for me to get out fishing after work, but with gorgeous lakes like the flash it makes all the hassle of getting out worth while.

The flash from the car park

I arrived at 7pm and with both rods already setup they were soon flung out into likely bream patrol routes. I have done a couple of sessions on the flash over the past couple of years but am still yet to catch one. But there are a few in here and a lot that go into double figures.

With both rods out, all you can do is wait

Fishing on the flash though was difficult as usual and I have nothing to report from the session, despite my best efforts those bream once again just wouldn’t feed. I do know the bailiff on the water rather well and he had informed me that only a couple of fish had been out in the past few months. I’m not sure though if that’s because everyone that fishes the venue is after the cats or because the bream really are that difficult at the moment, either way I still blanked lol

At least the rats were feeding

Tick followed tock into dusk on the bream quest

(14/08/10)

Once again I had planned to get down on the canal in search of the illusive big eels, this time though with back up of my angling companion Clive. Although I wouldn’t know if he could join me until 6pm when his wife would be home from work, which was ok with me anyways because I don’t want to get on the canal to early.

6pm came around and it turned out Clive couldn’t make (hope you enjoyed your sailor jerry lol) all day I had been thinking about eels but now the time was right I just didn’t feel like it, not because I didn’t want to go fishing, but because I didn’t want to be up all night again netting 2lb bream. The only other thing I could think of to ensure a good nights sleep was fishing for Catfish on the flash. A quick call to the flash bailiff to see if anything was going on down there because it was closed that morning for an EA fish check. Cliff confirmed though that the venue was open and no anglers were on the flash when he left at 4pm. it was decided then

Arriving at the venue at 9pm because of the police closing a road and it was a race against the light to get the rods up and out. 30 minutes later both rods were armed with lobs worms and were making there way to the gloomy depths.

The area I decided to fish on the flash is where the bank comes back into the water causing a bay (you can clearly see this from the earlier picture whilst fishing for bream)
Hopefully so if any fish move from the bay into the main body of the lake and visa versa I can intercept them in this tighter bit of water.

I didn’t wait long until I was soon getting some action the rods having a sharp take at 11pm but the bait getting dropped before I had time to get to the rod.

That night the heavens really did open and it rained from 10pm until 6am making the fishing during the night somewhat grim but I did still get out of the sack during the early hours to recast because the venue is weedy.

Rig for a monster cat

I slept through the dawn period finally appearing out of the sleeping bag at 8am, but I didn’t mind to much because I put full faith in the bailiffs knowledge that the cats usually come out later in the morning and feed until around lunch time.

The bird life on flash really is something

For some reason this is only my Second visit to the flash this year, once after the cats and earlier in the week after the bream. But I can happily see myself spending a little bit more time on here over the next couple of weeks because it really is a nice venue to pass away the hours

Plant life on the flash

And it looks like I will have to spend some more time on the venue because once again I blanked lol that’s 3 after work sessions I’ve put in and I haven’t even been able to hold a fish.
Since catfish have been chipping away in my mind for a few years now maybe a trip next week might see one climbing up the rod. Until next week ;)

They’re out there somewhere!!

It’s what us coarse anglers are all about!!

2010-08-11T00:27:00.000-07:00

A few days before this session was to take place i was in the garden planting a tree when probably the biggest lob worm I have ever seen revelled its self in the soil in front of me

Ping!!!

The next day fork in hand and a little bucket and I was in the garden in lobworm hunting mode hopefully to get a few so i could go eel fishing on the canal the following day

Look at the tree behind me, planted rather well id say ;)

15 minutes of digging

06/08/10

Friday, 8.30pm and I was making my way through the lovely Cheshire country side as the sun was starting to set, I didn’t want to get on the canal to early because of people walking up and down and also the boat traffic.

After arriving I then spent the next hour just chatting with a couple of anglers who were already fishing the stretch who were looking to target the carp population. After exchanging some large eel stories of eels they had already accidently caught i was all fired up and rushed back to the car to get my gear

The light was starting to fade fast and with both rods out on lobworms I was ready to sit back, soak in the atmosphere and enjoy a bottle of dr pepper.

Notice the width of the tow path which I was very pleased about, saves anyone stumbling upon my gear

I started getting action on the buzzers almost instantly, but not from the eels I was fishing for but small bream, now I don’t usually mind bream but when you’re trying to catch something else they really are a nuisance

12pm and I had a visit from a friend of mine who had been in the local area terrorising the girlies, we put the world to rights and by 1am he was on his way, leaving me in piece and ready to concentrate once again on the eels

Last minute check before bed

By 3am and 6 bream later i hadn’t had a wink of sleep and every 20 minutes I was having screaming runs but was unable to make contact with any fish!! This carried on right the way through until 5am when I was finally able to suss the problem, I bunched all the lobworms up on the hook rather than all dangling thinking that the eels were just grabbing the eels by the tails and running off, meaning I wasn’t connecting with the eels.

The next run and I was into my first eel of the session, not the size I was after only around half a pound, but I went out to catch an eel and I did.

The session for me ended at 7am, with 7 Bream and 2 small eels. Whilst I was trying to unhook one of the eels one of the other anglers came over, they hadn’t caught many eels before so wernt really aware of there size but he said that the eels they have been catching have been 4 times the size of the half a pounder I had on the bank. Looks like im dragging my self back to the canal soon after one of those eels :D

There out there somewhere! Believe and Achieve!!

So it Begins

2010-08-03T00:47:00.001-07:00

First off welcome to my fishing blog! I’ve been doing session reports for a few years now on various websites so it only makes sense really to do a blog, hopefully on a weekly basis covering all aspects of Coarse angling to roach fishing on gravel pits in the depths of winter to Spring Tench fishing on secluded lily bed filled lakes on misty dawns.

The idea to start the blog came from Stu Maddocks one of my angling buddies. I’ve been reading his blog for a few seasons now (Roaming free) and been included in a few of them, so thought it was time I started my own so I can share the trials and tribulations I go through as an angler

Me and stu after a hard days piking on a semi frozen mere

I would also like to make you aware of the title “Every blank session will make the capture that little more special!”. That doesn’t mean I am always blanking lol just that it’s just a regular occurrence with big fish requiring your time, effort, determination and a little luck (or a lot) to catch them

Although fishing does take up a lot of my time, effort and determination I’ve still been issued with the nickname “Lucky Bruce” lol

Down to the important stuff and my fishing this season so far. I was lucky enough this year to catch my first double figure pike off my syndicate mere, very pleased because i had pike fished it a couple of seasons before this but only catching jack pike. A month later after catching the double I was cradling a pb pike of 15lb6oz on the boat of the mere. But on the same day a 16lb3oz pike graced my boat. So two pb pike in a day. Good angling I’d say not luck ;)

16lb3oz pike

15lb 6oz pike

Few days later I was back out, not on the mere but a lake in search of rumoured 4lb+ perch!! And a fish of that size is something I definitely don’t want to miss out on. I spent the day float fishing with worms and caught my first perch over 2lb, not just one but 6. Ending the day with a pb perch of 2lb11oz

2lb11oz perch

Spring is a very special time with being a member of a specimen tench syndicate, even more so now as I managed to get Sir Stu Maddocks a place on there. I’ve been on the venue a few years now and things have just started coming together for me. I had my first big hit of tench catching 9 tench all during day light hours which was unusual for the place, and also equalled my pb tench of 8lb6oz which I set the year before on the same lake.

9 tench all over 5lb

8lb6oz tench

Although those have so far been the highlights of the season iv still been out on little trips

Catching 5lb River Dee chub

Trying to avoiding big bulls in fields

And flood fishing the river severn for barbel

I do like to dabble into all species of fish and at the moment I’m sharing my time between catfish and eels, so hopefully by next week I will have a story to tell. But just before I go, this is never before seen footage or Sir Stu maddocks whilst we were stalking carp in the canal, this is the second Stuart strikes and fails to connect.

Until next time happy angling ;)

WARNING CONTAINS STRONG LANGUAGE