The new season arrives!

I'll start this update by saying that an awful lot has happened in my angling and personal life since my last entry, way too much to remember even if I wanted to so I'll start with the now, my most recent trips out, which also happen to coincide with the start of the 2017/18 season!

I had originally planned to start the season with an opening night session in my favourite Barbel swim on the Trent but when the time came to pack the car I really wasn't feeling it at all. Instead I opted for an early morning Lure session with a couple of mates, Pip and Jacob. It was their first time fishing on my local bit of Trent and I was looking forward to putting them on a few nice spots. They were looking for some topwater Pike action and I was confident of finding them some.

When they said they wanted to go early they weren't wrong and it was 4am when they turned up at mine! Soon enough we were on the river and the lads were chucking some pretty hefty pieces of wood and plastic around. I decided to stick with a lighter jighead setup in the hope of a nice Perch or Chub.

There was plenty of fish moving all over the river but the first few swims proved fruitless catchwise. To be fair we were fishing pretty deep water but I was confident the shallows further up would produce something. Once we got there Jacob had the first fish of the day, a small pike which wasn't much bigger than the lure he was using! Within a minute or so I also had my first of the season, a small Perch.

 

 

Jacob started casting a large rat imitation around and the action of the lure really was something to behold, I had a feeling it wouldn't be long before something nailed it. Sure enough, in the next swim along, the rat disappeared in a big vortex and another slightly larger pike came splashing angrily into the net.

 

 

Over the next half hour I maintained a steady stream of small Perch and Pip finally got off the mark with what was to be the biggest pike of the day on a Mark Houghton topwater lure. Pip was just commenting on the lures 'walk the dog' action when a Pike launched itself vertically like a missile, clearing the water by a good 2feet with pips lure in its mouth! Truly one of the most spectacular surface hits I've ever seen.

 

 

As the sun began to gather strength towards mid morning the action was decidedly stale, I lost a really nice Perch to a hookpull and Pip lost another Pike but at around 10.30 we decided to leave the Trent, get some breakfast and make a plan for the afternoon.

The afternoon plan was to head to a lake I knew which has completely unknown potential other than that it contained predators. On the way however we got distracted by a small river we passed which looked like it had some fish moving. After rapidly scaling things down as best as we could it didn't take long before pip nailed a tidy little Trout and I managed some more small (very small) Perch.

 

 

Onto the lake and the lads were soon chucking their big surface lures about and it didn't take long to get some interest as Pips lure was hit 3-4 times by the same fish and he still didn't hook up! I found Wasp heaven on the light tackle as every cast was a coconut! A seemingly unending string of tiny Perch fell foul of my dropshot setup and after around 3meters of them I got a bit fed up at which point we decided to call it a day.

 

 

The following day I took my lad Lewis back over to the Perch lake has he had been badgering me to take him fishing all week. Considering it's the first time he's ever shown a real interest in going fishing I wanted to take him somewhere he would definately get a few and the recent find fitted the bill nicely. After a few initial tangles he was soon casting confidently, getting bites and even catching a few!

 

 

The sun was out in force and the heat really was starting to get a bit savage, I kept asking Lewis if he'd had enough yet but there no stopping him! In the end I literally had to drag him away from the pool before we got too burnt. Thankfully he loved our little trip and is pestering me to take again as soon as possible.

 

 

 

 

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December Predators

So December started with my now annual pairs lure match which I organise on the Trent and Mersey canal each year. This year it was kindly sponsored by ecogear and they sent an enormous box of prize goodies especially for the occasion. 18 teams turned up on the day and it was clear from the outset that the fishing was going to be tough. An overnight frost had put cat-ice on the water in some parts and the canal bottom was clearly visible along most of its length.

 

With the extremely clear conditions I said beforehand it would be pike that made all the difference and so it proved with several being landed throughout the course of the match. The perch were being difficult to tempt and overall lengths remained low for the first half of the match. A couple of boats came through late on and people began to catch a few at last knockings. In the end it was won by Vidar Thomassen and Alan Brown with a fantastic 2.7m which was a great result in the conditions.

Next session of note was a trip to Rutland just before Christmas with Potto, Andy and Dave. Conditions were chilly with no wind which meant for a flat calm lake with no drift, casting it was then! We landed on fish straight away and everybody caught within the first 20mins of fishing so we were confident of a good day.

 

Andy managed a couple of lovely 60cm plus Zander both consecutive PBs but as ever these things don't last and the bites tailed off considerably. I had a run of missed bites and lost a couple mid morning but a change of retrieve style finally managed to snare a few small consolation prizes late on. It was Dave and Andys first time out on the ressies and to say they are now hooked is an understatement!

 

 

A few days later I had a window for quick two hour session into dark on a local river which gave me a couple of Perch with shoulders! About time too as it seemed like ages since I last bagged some decent ones! It was tough going and I only had three bites but I made them count at least.

 

Soon enough Christmas was upon us and due to family commitments I was struggling to get out although I did manage a trip to the Severn with Potto where I bagged a fine conditioned Pike from my only bite of a very tough day.

So that rounds off 2016 then! Not a great year for big fish, I've certainly had many better years, but I've broadened my horizons a great deal by trying lots of new tactics and fishing a good selection of different waters at home and abroad . I've fished with old friends and met many new ones in my travels and I feel my fishing has been enormously enriched as a result.

I'm very positive going into 2017 as I have big plans, with various matches and a couple of European trips hopefully on the cards. Outside fishing I have settled into my new job and am looking forward to a house move and a fresh start which I'm certain will carry through into my fishing and help me bank some kippers!

 

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Mega update! I'm back!

Crikey, it's been a while!! A few months back my blog kind of fell by the wayside it appears and it's been one of those things where the longer you leave it, the harder it is to get back into it! I've had one or two ideas to completely change the direction of this blog anyway but until I come up with a format I'm happy with then I shall just update it normally as and when.

A lot has taken place in my fishing and personal life since my last update so rather than giving a blow by blow account which would take forever to write and somewhat bore the reader I shall just put a few pics on with a bit of background info so you can flick through to anything of interest more quickly.

Ok, starting from early summer which is where my last entry kind of finished I enjoyed a couple of cracking days on Pitsford reservoir with the SHUK (specimen hunting UK) lads in pursuit of its predators and it didn't disappoint. Pikewise I never managed anything decent but there was plenty of them to keep a bend in the rod . I did catch some nice perch however and was most privileged to be on hand to photograph a cracking 4lb pb for my buddy Carl and witness another PB in the form of a 24lb pike to another friend steve. The other SHUK lads fared well also with numerous big perch landed on the other boats.

 

 

A trip up to the Lake District to fish an event organised by the Lure anglers society on esthwaite water proved interesting. We camped on the shoreline and got eaten alive by midges but after Potto managed a lovely double figure fish just casting from the bank upon our arrival we were hopeful of a good session the following day. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and we managed just one fish each between us. It turned out it fished pretty hard for everybody and our two modest Pike were enough for third place which was a result considering neither of us had even seen the Lake before! A truly stunning place to wet a line though.

 

 

I also joined a little carp syndicate this year with the intention of getting to grips with the lakes bream population, however, my burgeoning lure fishing obsession got in the way of those plans for the most part. I did mange a couple of trips though and had some nice doubles, no PBs but I have little doubt that I've found the right water to nail my biggest bream at some point.

 

Around this time I got notice that my unit at work was to be closed down as the powers that be decided a move to Scotland with its cheap labour would be more profitable. This threw all my plans into disarray as I had only recently put my house on the market with a view to upsizing. After the initial panic I decided to continue with the house sale and forsake any meagre redundancy payout in favour of getting a new job as quickly as possible so I could get enough time in my new job behind me to enable a smooth transfer into a new mortgage when I needed to. Trouble is the house wasn't selling and finding the right job wasn't easy!

In the meantime on The fishing front it was early July and the Cornish lure festival was beckoning so myself and Carl headed to Cornwall for a long weekend of camping and fishing. Registration at the art of fishing tackle shop in wadebridge was quite surreal, I was five hours from home and it was like being in the local tackle shop, everybody that walked through the door was a familiar face from the midlands!

Our target for the weekend was to catch as many different species as possible and From our base in fowey we covered a lot of spots all around the area from Looe to Mevagissey. The main problem for us was lack of local knowledge, we knew where we wanted to fish but really struggled to get to most of the marks and not being sea anglers whatsoever we knew nothing of how the tides affected the different species. We did manage a few fish though and it was a real eye opener catching fish on lures in tiny rockpools that you wouldn't normally give a second glance to!

 

A couple of weeks later I was in Cornwall again on a family holiday so I got chance to revisit some spots with my daughter charlotte. We had a great time and the mackerel fishing was mental!!

Within a week of returning home I had a couple of successful job interviews and accepted a new role with a company that designs and builds industrial machines for the food industry, I started there in August, things were looking up hopefully!

Soon enough it was time for the opening of two big boys of the UK reservoir fishing scene, namely Rutland and Grafham. I was booked to fish the Zandermasters competition on Rutland to kick things off and I came a very respectable 6th place out of a large field of very good anglers. My target had been to beat last years 11th place and I had blown that out of the water, really pleased.

 

A couple of days on Grafham again with the SHUK and perch hunters lads was next on the list and what a trip that turned out to be! Carl and I really got stuck into the perch and we lost count of how many we caught over the two days, it was ridiculous! Most averaged around the pound mark with numerous twos and whilst the real monsters eluded us I still managed fish to mid three. Carl found some small 3-4lb Zander and seemed to be catching them for fun whereas I couldn't get one to save my life! I even resorted to the same lure and fished right next to his yet still no joy. Some of the other lads in our party got amongst some monster Zander with one boat landing six doubles on one day! Fantastic fishing, no wonder they call it the theatre of dreams.

 

 

Much canal and river lure fishing filled in the gaps between the ressy trips and September also saw my appointment as an ambassador for Japanese lure company Ecogear. They manufacture some great lures and no doubt you will be seeing a lot more of them on here in the coming months. They sent me a few bits to play with and I have to say they certainly catch a few!

Backend of September and early October saw me back in a boat again with my old mate Potto. Firstly a trip to Rutland to celebrate my 40th which turned out to be much tougher than I'd expected. We'd spent a good portion of the day drifting over fairly deep water for very little action indeed, all the usual spots seemed devoid of fish and we were scratching our heads a bit. On one drift we overran into shallower water around 35ft deep and immediately started getting pulls and catching. After this we concentrated on the 25-35ft depth band and caught well for the rest of the day, the consistent warm weather had obviously moved the fish into the shallower areas.

 

The next trip out with Potto was a couple of firsts for me, it was my first trip to the river Severn and my first time fishing a river from a boat, I had no idea what to expect but Potto assured me of a good day and he didn't disappoint! My second cast produced a Zander and from then on we caught consistently throughout the day. Several Pike and Zeds plus a ruck of Perch made for some great fishing and I was amazed to catch fish below the boat in less than 10ft of water. I was previously convinced they would've been spooked straight away but the reality was far from it. Another thing I learned was the need for good boat control, pottos skills on the leccy motor worked wonders and certainly kept us on the fish. The ability to tackle snags from different angles was also a massive bonus and saved us loads of lost gear. After that trip I'm now determined to get a boat of my own now to tackle my local bits of soar and Trent.

 

 

Since then I've had a bit of a grueller on the fishing front, yes I've caught a few littleuns but it's been hard work. The weather has cooled dramatically and all the leaves seem to have come off the trees at once filling up my local waterways with crap.

I did have a fairly impromptu grafham trip last weekend but the wind was horrendous and for the first time since I've fished the ressies I actually got a bit seasick. I don't think anchoring up in the waves helped the situation because I was fine once we started fish the drift again. I lost a good Zander just beneath the surface and managed a couple of decent brown trout but bites were very hard to come by.

 

 

Going forward, I have my own DRAC match to look forward to in December, the LACC predator pairs next week and a whole load of ideas for new waters to try. Oh and my house is finally sold and I'm looking forward to a January move to my new house which just happens to have a fish filled stream at the end of the garden! Tight lines all :-)

 

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Canals, rivers and the big G

This is going to be a busy update as I've been covering a lot of water in recent weeks! The canal lure fishing has continued unabated as have my quick 1-2hr trips to the local river. I did break the habit one Saturday with a bait fishing trip chasing chub before embarking upon my first ever trip to the theatre of dreams, or Grafham water as it is better known.

I recently joined the lure anglers canal club (LACC) and have been down Warwick way sampling some of their Zander and Perch sport. The grand union there is deeper and wider than the canals I'm used to and although the sport wasn't hectic we still caught a few. Dropshot tactics with micro lures seemed to be most effective although we did bump into another angler on one occasion who had caught a few on much bigger 4inch lures and jigheads.

 

Urban angling

 

The average Warwick stamp

 

The perch seemed bigger than the usual 'wasps' too

 

 

Unlike those at the other end of the LACC stretch!

 

 

Another area of grand union canal I visited recently was out towards Northampton. I had attended the annual Milton Keynes Specimen Group shindig in Newport Pagnell the previous evening where we were treated to a fantastic talk by well known big fish man Terry 'Theo' Theobold. Having booked into a local hotel I had taken my lure gear with the idea of exploring some waters in that area the following day. The locals directed me and Phil towards a couple of promising areas.

Although We awoke to the first decent frost of the autumn and had to scrape the ice off the car, the fishing didn't disappoint and plenty of bites were forthcoming despite several other lure anglers also working the stretch.

At one point Phil caught a perch which was followed right up to the bank by another of a similar size, I dropped in next to Phils fish and caught the other Imediately!

 

Double trouble!

 

A lovely stretch indeed

 

There was even some zander to be found

 

 

The following weekend I had a massive urge to go chubbing on the Trent so I packed my feeder rod, liquidised some bread and got myself down there! It was absolutely chucking it down which made for some uncomfortable fishing and bites were Initially hard to come by. After dropping in a couple of different swims though I managed to locate a few fish and even caught some before the rain finally beat me back to the car and home.

4lber, nice to watch a quivertip for a change!

 

Bread caught Bream

 

 

I'll never tire of catching these!

 

 

I used a couple of short trips to my local river soar to experiment with some flex-head jigs I'd recently aquired. I figured the extra joint in the rig would help impart more movement into the lure whilst possibly improving hookup rates, early results have been promising!

One of four in less than an hour

 

 

A hastily arranged trip to Grafham water was next on the agenda. Its not a water I've fished before and has a tough reputation but I figured my experiences on other large Trout reservoirs would stand me in good stead and I would be in with a chance at least. My boat partner Jamie had never fished it either but as luck would have it we met up with our old mucker Steve who was meant to be guiding on there but his client had cancelled due to bad weather in his part of the country stopping him flying down. His loss was our good fortune however as Steve agreed to come out in our boat for a couple of hours and hopefully show us the big G way.

We went straight to a mark Steve had found on previous trip and started to get the odd tap from the off. It turned out that these were mostly small perch but I was well chuffed when the first bite I connected with was my first Grafham Zander albeit a small one!

We had more Perch after that, Steve also nailed a Zed of around 7lb and I managed a feisty rainbow trout but it was tough going despite trying several other spots. After dropping Steve off at the boat dock around lunchtime Jamie and I headed back out to the first area as news filtered through that a couple of the other boats had found a few fish out that way.

It wasn't long before Jamie hooked what we initially though was a huge Zander or maybe a Pike but we were surprised to find he'd caught a lovely brown trout of maybe 4-5lb. We caught more perch and both lost what felt like good sized Zeds before all to soon it was time to head back in. I did snag another small Zander before hometime though which was pleasing. Upon our return to the lodge we were pleased to discover that Phil, another of our party in another boat, had caught a new PB zed of over 11lb which was a happy end to a most enjoyable day. It illustrated perfectly that Grafham has so much potential to obliterate those PBs, I've a feeling that I will be fishing there a lot over the next couple of years!

 

First one from the big G!

 

Typical grafham perch

 

Jamie bending into a good fish

 

Result!

 

Another little one at last knockings!

 

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