Chilly Chubbing in January

Over the last month I have been predominantly focusing on the Warwickshire Avon around my local area. To say that the weather has effected this has been an understatement, with floods, freezing and run off. I have though managed to snag a few. My tactics have been very simple, with processed bread in a small cage feeder on a short pat link to a size 8 super specialist hook. I did from time to time change the feeder for a couple of swan shot to improve my presentation , allow the bread to find its natural resting place in the flow etc.

This was the largest of the fish, caught from a swim in which my rod tip almost touched the opposite bank!!

And then the snow came!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unsure why the is one came out blue?

 

The fish have ranged between 3lb 7oz and 4lb 8oz. The best tactic that I have found is to keep moving , as bites usual come within the first 15 mins. Would really like to bag a 5 from here. Though I am more than aware a 5 is not a massive fish, it is not all about that for me. I could fish many areas that have a reputation for large chub but fishing a section of the river which is no more than 5 metres wide has a more rewarding feeling.

All in all I am really enjoying it, having caught in many different swims and thus far not blanked, landing 17 fish in 8 outings.

As the water clears and settles I aim to fine down and fish the stick in suitable swims.

Bit of a catch up....bits and bobs

It has been a while since my last blog past but I have been out and about fishing. Lets see what I have done or should I say what I can remember...
After the trip down south to the Itchen I met up with Keith to try and catch some perch at a local pool that contains some very large fish. I tried all tactics in search of the Billies but nothing  seemed to be switching them on. I had though got a pair of carp that regularly patrolled my marginal area. So I had a play and saved the blank by landing one of them....Keith I think may have landed the other one!

 

The next session I went on was with Danny, both of us being invited to fish a private stretch of the Wye. It was my first visit to this river and must say how impressed I was with both its beauty and the natural environment in which we fished.Things started well for both of us with fish coming to the maggot feeder. I had a mix of barbel, grayling and trout. The best barbel was just under 7lb(pictured) the barbel of the Wye are I feel as Barbel should be, that being long, muscular and very powerful. In other rivers I feel a fish this length would have weighed a lot more. As these fish feed predominately on natural food I feel they put less girth on. Amongst the trout was one that had a very close encounter with a "Tarka" (otter) as on its tail was what can only be described as a paw print. In my imagination its like the footage of bears feeding on salmon at water fails as they swipe them for their flight....how ever it happen this fellow was very lucky!

 

 

 

 

 

This brings to half term in which myself and my wife went away to Cornwall for the week, to Bude. I as always had packed some basic tackle, "just in case"? On the first Sunday we walked down into Bude to find a local match being fished on the last section of the canal prior to it entering the sea. I was interested to see the catch, so returned for the weigh in. I must say the local "Bude Pirates" a very welcomingclub. I fished the canal twice in the week and had a mixed bag of bream, roach,eels and surprisingly a scale perfect mirror carp. It was nice to fish in such a bazaar area, 50 yards to my left was the beach, in front of me were sea fishing boats, and to my right was the canal...very strange!


My last excursion was a visit to Rutland water to try vertical jigging. This was planned to be with my usual boat buddy, but I regret to say "The Man in Red" has not been well in recent times and had been admitted to hospital. Get well soon mate. I did some asking around and Rob Thompson said that he fancied joining me on the boat. To cut a very long story short, though we searched the hot areas and tried various jigs and lures, the day fished hard. I did not land a Zed and Rob only managed a small one. i did though manage to hook a trout in the pectoral fin, I can tell you it went mental and tested my new little Drennan Spincast 7ft rod. I intend to give it another go and it was great to meet up with Rob, but for now its on the back burner...

An issue with me Itchen!

After being invited by the lads to join them on their jolly trip south, to fish both the Stour and the Itchen I jumped at the chance. Normally these trips fall during term time so this was a opportunity that I could not ignore.

The first day to be honest was a bit of a wash out...literally the Stour was on the rise and pushing through at a right old rate of knots and to be honest was boarderline unfishable. We decided after a while to make our way to the Itchen to have a look and do some prospecting. This was again very hard. I managed a small ell from a slack on lob worm but apart from this the day past event less. That was until the final cast of the day !!! On which I managed to snag a chub on Dannys rod with the last run through and the last pouch of maggots.. Though Danny claims it was 2lbs I beg to differ!!!

 

 

The night before the morning after seemed to pass with a blur...and 10 pints of Guinness!!

On arrival to the Itchen I was amazed. Lovely long run with a mix of gravel and weed, making it great for a long trot!

 

I walked to the very top of the beat and started of with a chubber, bulk shot and double red. I did have to move around a little but after a while a seemed to get the knack.....Feed trot,feed trot, change depth, feed, trot, feed trot, etc I started to catch on a regular basis both grayling and trout.

 

 

 

After about an hour I decided to move 100 yards down stream to a long glide, which after feeding a couple of pouches of maggots saw my float drive straight down the hole and my new PB grayling was netted at 1lb 9oz.

 

 

 

 

Though I felt I fished quite well I could not top it, I would like to return to the river again ,,,this time minus the rain and also the booze!

On the lake....few bits and pieces!

After agreeing with Dan to take on ticket with him on the lake I have made a few journeys to try to bag some fish. the first session produced a nice female tench of 6lb which though not a large fish it was fin perfect and looked like a picture book fish.

This was then followed by a pleasing bream of 7lb 6oz, this fish had very interesting mark on its caudal fin which looked like an eye. I am sure if I capture this fish again this will be a noticeable mark. (this picture though did not take well).

 More fin perfect fish followed in recent weeks, I must say not only have I been impressed with the husbandry shown to this fishery but also the quality of the fish is surprising on a busy local water. I have included a few more pics from the adventures including plenty of Bream, Tench up to 6lb 8oz and yes probably the smallest carp in the whole lake!!!(all 1lb 5oz of it!!)

Open wide

6lb 8oz

Fin perfect

Smallest carp in the lake??

New location, new PB perch!

Thought I would catch up with a post of my new PB perch. I had been told of a water that is rumoured to hold some very good sized perch. I really enjoy perch fishing, so decided to give it a go. It was very windy, and the lake for its size was quite busy with lots of lads fishing for the large head of carp that the lake holds. So I settled a swim out he way a little and started to prebait with red maggot and some choppie.
After about 30 mins I introduced my rigs, whilst feeding on regular basis. I waited about an hour before my float bounced and then dissapppeared. Slowly I tightened down and then hit into the fish. It flew off, in fact I thought it was a carp! As I knew the lake had no pike in it, I had only opted for 6lb line straight through. The fight went on for a good 5 mins, which I know to many does not sound that long by for a perch fight I class this as 12,3 minute rounds of professional heavy weight boxing!
When it broke the surface I knew I was in with a chance of a good weight, as though the ones I have caught from the river have been big in length this one looked an overall larger fish. On th esclaes it went 3lb 6oz. A very pleasing first session on a new water...I will be back!

The self take is not great but I like the one on the matt as it had better focus etc.

Pixie hunting!!

When Keith suggested a road trip in search of pixies , I jumped at the chance. I have always enjoyed fishing for crucians and though I have caught many of them over the years, I have never really had a big one. With the overage size in the pools being high I knew I was in with a chance.Just a shame the weather did not know of our plans!!!!
 I had decided to take a couple of float rods and a 9ft bomb road to cover my options. The rods (one 13ft,one 15ft) were set up with pins loaded with 4 lb supplex, a maver indestructible .5g pencil pole float (I really rate these) , .5g olivette set 10 inches from a size 16 wide gape pellet hook, then a couple of 10 and 11 stot shots to present the bait on dead depth. This is a set up I have used for a few years now and have alot of confidence in when detecting small movements on the bait. I also like to use a bit of grease on the bristle to keep it  just above the surface. The bomb rod was set up with a simple small flat bed feeder on which I intended to fish 2mm micro and perhaps soft pellet on the hook

To kick off the swim I fed some 2mm feed pellets, chopped worm and also a few grains of green giant. I decided to start with a small section worm in order to get a feel for what was in the swim, as fish just adore the dendras! It was not long before I found out, whilst looking at my bait table I heard the ratchet on the pin scream as my line shot into the lilies. Unfortunately the fish got to far into the bed and I lost it. 1 bite;1 new rig not ideal!

After sorting a new rig I was back into the fed spot. Dib, dib and away..... tinca time! Throughout the session I found if I fed choppie the tincas moved in. Catching a pleasing 14 between 1lb and around 5lb throughout the session. Also bagging roach up to 14oz and a rare bream.

A sample tinca from the session

In between I did though manage two crucians, weighing 1lb 9oz and a new Pb weight of 2lb 10oz.
I will be back there I as am confident on a day with bettter conditions I can bag a 3lb'er or 4!!!!

Linear Mirror saves me!

Having decided to fish Linear with Keith for tench, I was on the blank until my Delk screamed fish at me!
It took me a while to land on the tench tackle; as Keith reminded me my hooklink was not heavy! I was pleased as punch as it slipped over the net. Though Joe was determined to put the kibosh on it with his commentatory.."whats your pb carp???... it was banked. A real beauty of a lady.

20lb 3oz!! My scales must be wrong!

That was it for me but KJ had the time of his life the next day. I will report back when  I bank some tincas!