Looking back as a new year begins .....

Ill start by wishing all followers of this blog a very happy and prosperous new year. Ive really enjoyed keeping this blog going and it seems to have been pretty well recieved by you guys too judging by conversations ive had with some of you. At the end of June i added a counter to monitor the traffic visiting my blog and in six months its registered 600 hits which i find staggering. A big thankyou to all of you who have stuck with me so far!


I said this entry was going to be a bit of a look back so here goes, what of 2010? It wasnt a great year for me in terms of big fish, in fact it was quite mediocre compared to the couple of years previous. Despite this, I was still pleased to beat 3 PBs which included Grayling, Eel and Perch . The Perch one in particular was probably the highlight of the year for me because it came from a very tough venue and was the culmination of a lot of hard work for both me and my old mucker Paul who also caught his PB within 10 minutes of mine!

I fished several new venues last year which is something i like to do as learning about new spots always increases my options and im never stuck for somewhere to go. I never discount a potential venue until ive fished it and can then gauge if its one worth sticking with in the future or one not bothering with at all. Its all part of the bigger jigsaw for me.

The weather and water conditions proved to be the most troublesome things to affect my fishing last year. It started with heavy snow and lots of ice and ended with the same which is never great for the angler but the thing which got me most was that god awful drifting blanket weed which plagued in the Trent over the summer. I purchased my tickets last year with the express intention of fishing the Trent heavily for both Zander and Barbel. This was all well and good but it quickly became apparent that the weed was gonna make it extremely difficult and it got worse as the summer continued. Keeping a bait in position for any length of time was nigh on impossible as the line would be festooned with weed in about 15-20 minutes on some evenings. 

I gave it up as a bad job in the end and headed for other rivers which, due to the lack of rain and very low water levels, proved to be pretty tough cookies in their own right. I didnt have the ticket for the one venue i knew id do well on in those conditions either which peeved me somewhat.

Im quite pleased that ive managed to keep a few bites coming my way over the recent cold snap though and it just shows that you can never write a trip off until youve been out there and done it.


So what will 2011 bring fishingwise? Well, for the time being i will be sticking with the Chub fishing until February when i will then switch to Perch until the rivers close. Im planning a Bream assault on a large local pit during the old closed season with the express intention of beating my PB and also a spot of Tenching too if i can squeeze it in. 
Ive already worked out which tickets i will be having next year and once the rivers open again in June itll be Barbel, Carp and Chub all the way through the summer months. Ive not done any serious Barbelling for a couple of years now so its about time i got amongst a few i reckon. Come the Autumn ill probably have a hankering for a Trent Zander and ive got a couple of ideas for some areas to target for a big Pike or two as the winter approaches. These plans will no doubt change due to my fickle nature but it gives me some sort of path to work to in the coming months. 


Good luck to all you lads in 2011 anyway, tight lines and bulging nets to you all