Seeing as its snowing yet again...............

.......... I might as well write a little bit about my thoughts on the season just gone and my hopes and plans for the year ahead! I can categorically state that I WON'T be fishing this weekend as I can barely drive up my street let alone get to the bankside!

For me the fishing year now runs from March 15th to March 14th the following year, this encapsulates the four seasons nicely and the end of the river season marks something of a turning of the page. Spring time is an exciting time as everything begins to wake up from its winter dormancy and from a fishing point of view its when the so called 'winter species' take a bit of a step back and allow the 'summer species' to the fore. From an anglers perspective spring is also a good time to plan ahead especially as it usually coincides with ticket renewal time.

So what of the 2012/13 season? My spring Tench campaign wasn't as prolific in numbers of fish as the year before but the quality of the fish was better and a 9lb5oz PB was a good result. The fact the water went private with no night fishing was nice and getting a swim was never a problem like it had been in years previously when Carp anglers used to stitch the lake up. Seeing as tickets are so limited I will certainly be renewing but I won't be fishing it as much because I have other plans for this spring which I will come onto later.

Ill be leaving these alone this year I think

 

I have to say my summer Barbelling was a big disappointment in terms of big fish and also that areas which have always produced for me in the past seemed devoid of them. I did however 'rediscover' the Trent and I'm looking forward to fishing there a lot more this year. My big target this coming season is a 13lb+ fish which is perfectly achievable considering I live within 10-15 minutes of the Trent, Soar and Derwent and 30 mins away from the Dove. In fact I'm trying to work out why I haven't been able to break the 13lb barrier already but that's fishing I guess, you just get the cards your dealt!

My 43lb Catfish from last summer was a highlight and this year I have a couple of sessions booked on other waters contain fish nearly twice that size but I'm under no illusions that ill have to be pretty fortunate to latch into one. I can dream though cant I? :-)

One was messy enough!

 

Although I have embarked on Perch campaigns in the past and had some good fish its been Chub which have been the mainstay of my winter fishing in recent years but last Autumn I decided to really go for it on the Perch front for a change. Calling on wealth of local knowledge built up from spending many many hours on the bank over the years I was able to identify areas which gave me the best chance of what I was after and that, combined with more than a little luck, led to some of the best Perching I've ever had. Although it was hard, very hard in fact with lots of blank hours put in, with a crowning glory of two 4lb fish the final results went way past my expectations.

A 3.12 from the winter just gone

 

That pretty much brings me up to date, I've already mentioned a couple of things with regards to future plans but just to throw something else in there I intend to beat my Bream PB of 11.4 this year also. I've identified a couple of waters which will almost certainly do it provided I can find the fish in the first place. I've never fished either before and info is pretty thin on the ground so its going to be a nice challenge to get to grips with.

 

My current PB, not for much longer though......

 

I also intend to do a bit more Carp fishing this year, nothing serious but I just fancy going out and catching a few. Ill be happy enough just to catch a couple of twenties but it won't be the end of the world if I don't. A couple of waters on my club ticket are starting to throw up some pretty fish to a reasonable size now so it should be interesting and help mix things up a bit.

 

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