August 2012 Barbel stats.

02.08.2012
6lb 8oz

11.08.2012
6lb 4oz, 5lb 13oz

Total weight of Barbel caught in August was at 18lb 9oz.

Roach Fishing Figures

A chart for Redfin sessions 18^th and 23^th august 2012

Date:	Roach	Rudd
18.08.12	1 lb 6 oz
	1 lb 11 oz
	1 lb 7 oz
	15 oz
	1 lb 5 oz
	1 lb 9 oz
		1 lb 14 oz
	1 lb 7 oz
	1 lb 6 oz
	2 lb 1 oz
	14 oz
	1 lb 10 oz
	1 lb 15 oz
	1 lb 9 oz
	1 lb 9 oz
23.08.12	1 lb 10 oz
	13 oz
	1 lb 13 oz
	1 lb 7 oz
	1 lb 9 oz
	2 lb 2 oz
	2 lb 0 oz
	1 lb 9 oz

Also had another 8 Roach around the 10oz mark that were not counted.

Roach Fishing Re-visited.

 After my enjoyable day of Roach fishing last Saturday I couldn't resist in going back, so with a day off of work and having been selected for a match on saturday, today was my only chance to do some fishing.

 With that in mind last night I packed everything and headed out this morning hoping for just a glimmer of what I experienced 5 days ago, when I got to the river I took my time in setting up and also getting some groundbait out to get the fish feeding and build up their confidence.

 The session looked to have got off to a good start when after just 5 minutes I had already had a Roach bite and latched into, very quickly it was in my net but not a monster at 13oz, but after that fish the day took a nosedive in action and I tryed everything in my tackle bag to get the fish feeding again but it wasn't to be, I was thinking that I must have just turned when they finished breakfast, so I stuck around for about 2 hours when I got another take which again I connected to and it was a better Roach which weighed 1.10 (one of the bigger Roach).

 4 hours of fishing had passed with 2 Roach in the keepnet, not the session that imagined but I guess I just expected more, but looking on the face of things the 3 trips before that one on saturday over a year period I only caught 1 Roach about a pound, so I was already doing better than those previous outings. But up came the Roach dinner party that I did hang around for and glad I did as the action really started to pick up with takes coming thick and fast, the sort of action I was hoping for.

 The first Roach that came in was a 1.7 quickly followed by a 1.9 and a 3.1 Chub within 3 casts, 10 minutes later I had another Roach on which put a real good fight up and ducking and weaving in the weed so I knew it was a good fish and when it came over the lip of the net it was a definite 2lb + Roach with the scales confirming at 2.2, target aquired and enjoy the fishing as the more evening drew in the more feeding that was happening, that 2.2 was swiftly followed by Roach weighing at 1.13, 1.9 and just to put a gloss on it I caught another Roach at 2lb on the button, there was a slightly annoying situation that arose at the end when I hooked a lovely Rudd between 1.4 and 1.8, I did the hard work in navigating the weed and then lost it about 2 foot from the net!

My brace of 2lb Roach.

The biggest of the day at 2lb 2oz.

Happy days only 3 weeks until the Hampshire Avon gets a visit from me.

A Redfin Letter Day

Saturday I had a good day planned which consisted of packing my feeder rod and feeder fishing gear, the plan was to sit up in a swim out of the sun as it was very hot weather to be sitting out in and at 30c the fish would probably feed better in the shaded, cooler water where they might be a little more indusive in feeding.

 My tackle comprised of an 12ft quiver tip rod with a 1oz tip, with 6lb line through to a 15g cage feeder and then a small swivel connected to a 1 foot leader of 3lb line with a size 12 barbless hook.

 First off the session didn't really go as planned because the Chub were just getting to the bait before anything else could get to it and not before long I had a bag of Chub in the keepnet weighing at 26lb 9oz with the biggest at 4lb 7oz.

 So with the Chub reigning supreme in the first swim after about 90 minutes I had decided that the best option was to move and try a different swim about 500yrds downtream and see if I could fish through the Chub and maybe get a Roach. The spot that I had choose to fish was very extremely weeded up and the only bit I could fish was a gully about a foot wide between the 2 banks of weed which was pure gravel in the clear so that was where i cast my feeder which was crammed with white crumb and the hookbait was a small piece of brown bread.

 Within 10 minutes I had a solid take on the feeder rod and latched into a good fish and because it was quite strong I thought straight away it was a Chub, but after about a minute I saw a redfin cut through the water where I started to play it alot more carefully I didn't want to lose it, but after a brief fight I had it in the net.

1.6 a proper Roach.

 Biggest Roach for a long time and it makes me wonder why I don't fish for them more often as they are a fantastic species and to catch them wild in a river like this is great stuff but it got even better as the session progressed and the feed increased with the intense feeding of the fish, my next Roach went 14oz and then quickly followed by one at 15oz and then after just a short period of time the swim started to really come alive with takes on the drop, 2 hours later my keepnet started to fill up with some absolutely quality Roach but then out of the blue a big Roach took my bait and immediately surfaced, it was a lump of a fish and fought very hard with every dive it aimed for the weed beds but I managed to persuade it to not come off, a two-pounder! the first one for a while and a pb on this river aswell, 2lb 1oz.

 Another 4 hours of fishing and a lovely bag of Roach later I had decided to pack up with the Roach still feeding after I had packed up and my Dad had come down to take some pictures for me.

Roach - 1.14 and 1.10

2.1 and 1.15



          A pick of the best 8 Roach between 1.11 and 1.15 on the mat and holding a 2.1.

 Another nice duo of Roach 1.14 and 1.10 with the top one which at some point in time had been attacked by a cormorant but had survived albeit with a lump missing out of its back.

 A total of the days fishing was 13 Roach over 1lb and 1 Roach over 2lb, also I had a massive Rudd at 1.14 that in the excitement of it all I forgot to photograph, along with 2 chub and an 11oz Dace.

 A redfin letter day!, absolutely amazing day out on the bank, I can't wait to catch some more Roach that size.

Back on the river

After a week off of the river it was time to get back on in search of some Barbel, early doors it has to be said as I had prior engagements later on during the day so the session was not to be long either. With the sun out very strongly it was lovely weather expected to hit 29c in London, normally when I come back from holiday or travelling the rain follows me into the country, but this year it has been very good and not to mention the topping up on my already tanned skin and the Barbel even in the early morning were already sun batheing and it wasn't long before I stalked one out of a deep gravel run on my first cast which in the deep water fought really well.

6.4 usual stamp of fish.

The day did produce one more Barbel later on in the session with the company of Stu who very kindly landed the fish for me whilst we nattered about all things fishing and football also of the same stamp of fish that have made up a majority of this seasons captures so far with a double still eluding me.

5.13 second Barbel of the day.

Someone with a sense of humour.





Tiddler Bashing

Not all things this season have been about chasing double figure Barbel, I do at this age still enjoy having a match with my brothers and have a little match where it was the amount of fish caught and the prettiest fish that would win the day not the biggest and the day did fly by with a good little bag caught by each of us boys, the only thing that did taint the day was a strong head-wind all almost the entire match which at times did test our patience but we stuck to it.

The biggest of the day.

The prettiest of the match.

Both the biggest and the prettiest fish of the day went to yours truly but the match was tied between my brother Chris and myself and my other brother Richard bought up the rear with a respectable bag though. Great fun to catch small stuff now and again and very relaxing aswell.

Some shots from Rhodes

Sunset from our hotel balcony



A large cricket



A lazy pair of Parrots



A view of the bay at Lindos, Eastern Rhodes

Me - Relaxed for once!

A couple of pictures from my break in the 35c weather and it is a quiant little island, I also had the pleasure of some dolphins and a volcano throwing a load of smoke up.

Back to Reality

Having arrived back into England at 6am this morning I did'nt feel there was much point going to sleep so I grabbed my trotting rod and a tube of avon wire-stem floats armed with a warm tiger loaf and do some trotting in the murky water in the hunt for anything that fancied a lovely bit of breakfast.

Today was pretty difficult due to the extra water and the fact that I always locate and stalk my fish as I feel it adds to the fun of fishing, but the conditions did'nt allow for that tactic so it was a case of simply trotting through the swims that I know fish frequent and within 20 minutes of roving my float slid under but in the murky water it was impossible to know what it was and after about 10 seconds it woke up and a Barbel for sure was tugging on the other end it obviously did'nt know it was hooked but when it did it made a dive straight for the bottom and held down hard in the current for what seemed an eternity to my arm, with a little bit of bullying the Barbel came up off the bottom and rolled on the surface and spat my hook, fortunately it was'nt a large Barbel at around 5lb but I don't like losing fish full stop but that's fishing.

 During the session the river got darker and higher, the chances of catching fish was getting harder but I did manage to get a break when I looked in a swim further upsteam when something floated downstream and a Barbel about 9lb came up to the surface and sucked in whatever came down, I baited the hook and cast downstream and my float sailed away on the drop, the bait must not of even touched the bottom when my rod slammed around, another Barbel on and this one did grace my net after a cracking scrap.

6lb 8oz.

 I would'nt mind catching that fish in 10-15 years time for it will certainly be a good double and from there on I only managed a Chub about 3lb with a fresh cormorant gash on its side that was still bleeding, but it looked in good health apart from that. Good to be back on the bank catching.

Barbel Fishing.

 A brief catch up on the fishing front, on the 25th of July I did manage to sneak a couple of hours and had a good mornings fishing with 4 Barbel banked, the biggest weighing at 6lb 12oz the others at 6lb 9oz, 5lb 8oz and 3lb 1oz with also a Chub caught at about 3lb.

 After landing the last of the Barbel it was time to catch my plane and I know in my last post that one was going to be my last session but as all of us fishermen will have experienced at some point when you have a couple of spare hours, grab a rod!

6lb 12oz

6lb 9oz