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!

Holiday fun on the reefs

Thought I would do a quick round up of the sessions that I had recently on my honeymoon to Mauritius. When I say honeymoon I mean fishing holiday! ;-) I had been kindly lent a travel rod by a friend with a Shimano link, which just fit into my suit case, along with a small reel and some lures etc.
On arrival at the hotel in the north of the island,  I immediately looked out from the window to see probably the most amazing sea scape I have ever been privileged to set my eyes on; also noticing the mullet and other fish moving around the lagoon.

I had days of fun catching all kinds of small reef fish ranging from small grouper, curang, captain fish and other somewhat bazaar fish. All of which where caught on bread and jelly worms a few below show these days.A few pics below to help illustrate the area and fish..

The most enjoyable session of the week  many will find bazaar. I spoke to a local guy in the day at the bar, he had seen me fishing and was interested in the tackle and techniques that I was using. After a few beers he told me he owned a boat and would be happy to take me out night fishing outside the reef as many of the larger fish feed at night. Being out about a mile from shore, with a man I only met that day, with only a torch, a hand line; was interesting to say the least. Out of the glow form the hotel it was truly amazing looking up at the star scattered night sky. We caught some small reef fish on squid but nothing readily kicked on...until i struck into something a bit larger....in pitch darkness it was a fight which I can only describe as blind! The fish came up close to the boat, Steve (good Mauritian name) shouted shark! His torch beam showed a fish of about 4 ft long, estimated at about 35/40lb....... it was at this point that my line pinged clear and the shark disappeared into the dark depths. True catch and release! Though it would have been nice to have a photo, I feel Steve would not have wanted it to be returned, so the fact it bit through the line was meant to be. Sharks are best on the reef where they should be. Reef fish examples.

The second week was spent at the south of the island in a swish 5 star hotel which had an even more exciting area to fish. Whilst scuba diving I noticed a group of small barracuda which were to much of an attraction to ignore. ...much to the holiday sunbathers amazement I landed a couple within my first few casts. The locals do not fish like us as the lures in Mauritius are very expensive so seeing the cuda hitting the surface lures also bought some attention from the hotel staff and beach workers. They live virtually only on fish and were also very happy recipients of my captures. They feel that cuda/tazar are more dangerous that sharks, so are only to happy to see them out of the swimming area! They are very aware also of not over fishing and only taking what they need on a day to day basis.

I also had some time on a sport boat for a day in which I managed to scrag a Dorrado which was a beautiful fish but to be honest the crew wanted in in the fish well asap so I did not really have the chance to play the fish to enjoy the fight. It would seam they make money from these sop they do not mess around!

I spent most of this week on a pedalo around the reef, i can recommend this as the fish fight like stink and it saves you a lot of money! Many of my fish were given to the lads who worked in the boat house whom went out of their way to get me access to the boats every day.More pics of the week.

 If anyone is thinking of venue in which the wife can sit in th esun and you can fish...this is the one!

A red letter day... with red as the word!

On Monday I had the great pleasure of accompanying one of angling's true gents, on a predator trip. The day was one of my best days in my fishing life. I will try to write a brief summary.

We arrived at the location for around 8, it felt great from the get go, with low light conditions accompanied by a nice temperature rise. We spent a while preparing the boat prior to getting acclimatised to being afloat. I am quite good on water as I have spent a lot of time with the kids in kayaks and canoes,as well as trips out to Blenheim etc. But this was like nothing i have been in before though very ,it felt very close to the water, the first wobble shocked me a little but it did not take long to settle down. It felt so different being able to maneuver into position and present the bait around areas almost inaccessible to others, whilst also being silent in your approach.

The tactics that we had decided on where chopped worm, bait droppered in then fish big lobs over the top. Though first cast did produce a sarg of about a pound, it did not really kick on.

So we changed are tactics, a very decisive move. the reaction was amazing with both floats getting movement straight away.....Esox everywhere!!! I personally have seen or witnessed pike action like it. Though the fish averaged between 5 and 7 pounds there masses of um! I think I would airing on the conservative side if I said that 50 pike were caught during the day. Again, another bonus of being in the boat meant that non of the fish saw the landing net and by using single hooks were very easily disgorged still in the water. Fish care does nit get nuch better.

It was interesting that though we caught a shed load of pike non were large...there must have been some big mommas in there somewhere but the smaller fish must have been beating them to the bait.

Amongst the pike were also some perch! I managed to land 3, all of whcih broke my previuos PB! at 2lb 13oz, 2lb 7oz and 2lb 4oz! These are pictured below.

2lb 13oz....new PB.

2lb 7oz...this one had a huge dorsal fin! Would recognise it again

This was the final and smallest at 2lb 4oz, also a very distinctive fish, as it had a large mark behind its dorsal fin.

Oh yeah... I also managed to catch my first every silver bream a whopper of 4oz!!!

A superb day fishing which I am still struggling to get my head around. Very pleased and most of all very grateful for the experience. Cheers buddy

Few wets lines and new targets for 2012

It seems like an age since I really concentrated on blogging, for which to those who follow it I

apologise.

I have been out and about but without a massive amount of quality fish being caught. Visiting gravel it's for zander with no results, the canal for stripe's when it's frozen etc. The most productive sessions that I have had, have been to small sections of the Avon at which I have caught some nice quality roach, dace and chub.

On the 27th I landed the fish pictured below as the winter sun warmed me on the river, whilst all the other members of the club fished the pools with little results.

I feel the swim that I am concentrating on might well throw up a few surprises. Already when float fishing I have lost two large chub, mistakenly put a very large dace back thinking it was a chub and had roach up to about 11oz.

My next task was a planned visit to the river test, in Southampton to put a few last percentage points on the board, but my fathers health has been very poor recently so this will have to be postponed.

I am now having thoughts of the next angling year, in which I am aiming to achieve the list below, with my focus now being on more specimen style fishing instead of pleasure/ match style.

Roach over 2lb

Perch over 3lb

Bream over 10lb

Tench over 10lb

Pike over 20lb

Zander over 10lb

Carp over 25lb

Grayling over 2lb

Crucian carp over 3lb

Barbel over 12lb

Whilst fully realising that these targets are high, I honestly feel that with the correct techniques and the correct water I can achieve these goals. I have spent time and money on changing my tackle to suit a more specialist approach, and along with getting told I can no longer play contact sports, have more time to dedicate to my passion.

Below is a picture that makes me smile. Whilst visiting on New Years day, I had a chance to take my nephew fishing. Whilst my brother visited our dad in hospital.We visited the same swim as I had caught from earlier in the week. Within about ten minutes he had landed his first ever chub,of 3lb 4oz. The photo was sent straight to his grandad who though in intensive care managed a smile at the photo also. Perhaps a future blogger?

I wish you all the very best for the new year .....tight lines.

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

Fishing on the Nile

As some of my angling friends will be aware I have recently been lucky enough to visit Africa with work, based in Kamapla, Uganda. Though the work that I was involved in took up the vast majority of the time, and to be honest was both physically and at times physiologically difficult to deal with. I could not go their without finding time to cast a line into the Nile!

On the last but one day of the visit I managed to get my hands on a very basic outfit made up of a 12ft foot rod, reel and a Mepps spinner! I had spoken to a few members of the hotel staff who had told me that in the area there were Nile Perch, Yellow fish, Talapia and many species of catfish. Prior to going I had already checked that the challenge I am involved only covers home water, as if could land a Nile perch then someone would struggle to beat that from the cut!!!

I went down to the river which was only 100 metres from my tent and gave it a go. To be honest though I did want a fish, the setting was mind blowing and the rationale of why people fish did not need any explanation. I have included a couple of images which captured the scene.---well a lot better than me rambling on anyway!

The two below are short videos but I am not sue they will work.... as you might hear the pupil that was videoing for my sounds happy to be up on his day off! At the end a snake appears just past the jetty!

After about 30 minutes, as the sun rose,I noticed some small fish had moved back into the shallows nearby. In fact they had all moved into their respective territories which were visible, as concaved clearings in the silt bottom. It did not take long and one of the fish took exception to the spinner and grabbed it.

From its appearance I could see it was a Talapia (as I had eaten one the night previously) which I think is a member of the Cichlid family. Perhaps no surprise with Lake Victoria so close? No monsters but I can now say that I have fished...and caught on the Nile!!!