Update....what I can remember!

To say things have not been great this summer would be somewhat of an understatement in many ways.

I have fished alot within only bits and bobs to show for it, for the hours dedicated.

With the challenge in mind I have spent hours/days on my local stretches of river searching out the very allusive barbel....with absolutely no reward! On one occasion watching 4 or 5 double figure fish swim throughout the area but having no interest in my bait..a nice spectacle it must be said. My efforts will continue until I do land one, I am considering a trip to either the Severn or indeed the Wye.
In terms of other fish I have landed my PB Zander from the Avon of 4lb 14oz, though small in comparison to some, I am always happy to catch new species and obviously new PB's.

I also managed to bag a couple of additional species when on a trip to the river Windrush with Danny, bagging a nice dace of 10oz and a grayling of 4oz!!!

We will see what happens over the next few weeks, I am determined to bank a barbel soon! It is becoming a very much love hate thing at the moment.

On the plus side I fished my first match in years and finished 4th! Just outside the money!

Tight Lines

First ever night session...

After speaking with Danny early on in the week we decided that we could fit a midweek session in on the canal and fish into dark. Even though I have fished for years I have never fished past dusk, so this was something new for me.

I had purchased a lot of lobs for last weekend but ended up far to hung over to fish on Sunday....of course "never again". So with lots of worms at the ready I set up one perch rod with a rig that I have been working on recently,and a floating leger dead bait rig for zeds or other preds!!! Though I persevered for about an hour with the chopped lobs nothing showed any interest, this though was not the case for my dead bait which after about 15 mins started to bob and then slid away with a small jack pike taking my small roach. A good start in the new swim.

I re baited and cast to the same area. Due to no attention on the worms, I decided to change the set up and put a low resistance leger rig together with a single hook trace. Whilst doing this the float on the dead bait started to bounce once more, I picked up my rod and waited for ages for the bite to develop before slowly winding down to feel resistance. The culprit was the second pike of the evening this one being slightly bigger at about 5 lb. As I unhooked the fish Danny arrived, which I have to say felt good.

Danny had decided to fish in an area that we both thought would be a definite fish holder, this allowed me to concentrate on an other area that proved to be slightly more productive. By the time darkness fell I had landed two more fish, both of which were small zander, in fact one of which Danny described as a pilchard!!!!....better than nothing...:-)

Later on after missing two cracking runs on the legered bait, the float went away once more to produce my new PB zander. Though not as big as many anglers zander records was pleased to hear Danny say 3lb 8oz. I can only imagine how large the fish that Jeff caught must have been as though this fish only weighed in at the size of a small carp is appeared a lot larger. New Pb and something to work from!!

Shame that my face was not under full control during the photos!

Take two on the cut!

I had a couple of hours to spare on Saturday so I decided to take my left over bait to the canal with my focus being on predators. I set up two rigs, in being a dead bait with a Drennan Zepler and a light bullet sinker, with roach and a single circle hook pattern. The other being a weird one which involved pellet waggler, float stops, a bullet sinker, and a size 6 hook to a short trace...not the norm I know but when fishing for the perch I have been snapped up on lots of zander as they can easily cut the mono.

I put the deadbait on the far reed bank and the perch rig down the nearside under a boats hull, adding some choppy to get things started. The rig can only have been in the water for a matter of seconds when the float started to move and they slide away, I had my first perch on the bank after being at the swims for no more that 5 minutes in total, a very nice fish which weighed 2lb 1oz. Luckily the boat owner was talking to me at the time so took the picture for me....doing my bit for angler and boating relations!!!

Nice hat!!!!

Moments latter the deadbait rod started to to show signs of action..in fact the float raced down the far margin before sinking fast down into the water, a great bite. The culprit of this was a small Zander of 1lb 10oz. Though not a big fish it really wanted that bait.

I had now been there perhaps 10 minutes! Whilst talking to the barge owners the nearside worm rig was away again this time a smaller perch of about a 1lb. Then once again it slipped away to a Zander of just over 2lb....(later from the photos it may seem this was a fish I caught last week in the same area??)

With only around 20 minutes gone I had banked 2 Zander and 2 perch. This seemed like a red letter day.....but there was a sting! The boat started up and bloody well moved! Gutted just as things started off so well it was all over.

I moved down to the next boat which looked empty about 50 yards away, and set up in the same manner... to my surprise I had an immediate take, excellent another 2lb plus perch! I was a bit concerned at this point as something looked familiar about it..there was a damaged area between it dorsal fins, and on of its anal fins had a spotted pattern on it....It was the same fish that I had back only a matter of 30 minutes earlier!!!! Doh! I thought I had done the brace but I really can not count one fish twice.

This swim seemed die as quickly as it started, and this was the only fish that I had for the next 3 hours, though I was getting runs I did not bank anything. One of which pulled my rod round into the water and still managed to get away! I found myself back at the swim where I had started the day, as the rain came down and the light fell I started to think of dinner and a beer.

But, As with all fishing situation...just one more cast then I will be off.

The inside line had gone quiet but the far margin one had not, with my newly adapted Zepler now adorning a small nightlight, It bobbed and moved around constantly, with what I suspected were small Zander picking up my roach but not committing to taking it. When one did it unfortunately spat the hook when its head shook on the surface. Just on last cast... I watched more of the Zepler ballet for the next 10 minutes before it ripped up the canal, diving under the water..I wound down and struck into a much better sized fish...only to loose it after a short fight..bugger!

Though I did put the deadbait out again for a further 10 minutes my mind was now thinking Budweiser and my belly that of balti, so at around 6 I headed home. I will be back!