James' Angling Adventures.

 The Dace fishing had been a blast but it wasn't the only thing that enabled me to get my flowing fix, many species were tempted but the Roach fishing was also very good. Hard at times but if it's worth catching it's worth working for. Over the years I've made it clear that Roach are my favourite species and whether they are 8oz or 2lb 8oz I get a serious amount of satisfaction from catching them.  I started the season on the first day with a massive haul of Redfin's, seventy-one of them to be precise, the average weight was around 10-11ozs to which a handful were over the pound mark, the sight of the float burying itself on what seemed like every trot was a real treat. Session's don't always pan out like that but it was clear they were hungry and particularly foolish. That wasn't my only red-letter-day for the species, but the trips that I ventured out and caught very little were often the trips that I contacted the jewels of waterways. Again, I'

 With the river season now consigned to the history books I can safely say it has been a joy, many amazing catches had been made and managed to spend a healthy amount of times walking the banks whilst immersing myself in the beauty of the English countryside. What could be better?, It's an answer I can't give, but as an angler you will know.  The catches that I've experienced this season have been some of my best in my career spanning more than two decades already. This season that has just ended was a success on many fronts but none more so than my quest for specimen Dace. The "Silver Dart" has always been a favourite species of mine, this season I targeted a couple of different sections on a couple of rivers, both of which I hadn't any information on, stocks and location were unknown, my seasons main target lay on a hunch, not something for the angler who's imagination and determination lacks, patience was required by truck load.  Summer was in ful

 The season is nearly up with one more session to embark on before another action packed year is committed to the history books. Before tomorrow comes though I'll give a quick run through a trip from the back end of last week, it was initially in search of Roach but they were difficult to locate and ended up with nothing to show for our efforts which included a 5am start.....doesn't always workout for the best. Male. Female.  Instead of giving up though I felt even though the Thames was in a shit state the misty conditions were too intriguing to ignore, amongst a multitude of Swans I managed to get myself amongst some sturdy river Bream in fairly challenging circumstances. It was good fun, an hour or so later I had bagged a dozen slabs to 6lb 8oz which was fairly decent going, maybe around fifty pound of snotty's was good and all on the trusty bread flake. Enough of that though, Myself and Brian headed off to continue with our faff of a session to catch som

 Not long left now, the season is nearly done. It's been quite a season with many quality fish caught and finishing off armed with a lot more knowledge to hopefully aide me in having another great season. I for one always wish the season was longer, but one simply can't complain with the amount of time spent on the bank, any spare time not spent with the missus has been spent on the banks of canals, rivers or lakes.  Yesterday I snuck out for a little while even though I'm trying to shake off the flu, maybe not everyone's first choice but I simply couldn't sit and what another second of the drivel on television nowadays, so the Dace were my port of call and although it wasn't easy I managed three weighing 13.06oz, 13.03oz & 11.01oz, again these were big Dace and from yet another new swim but on the same mile beat that I've narrowed the fish down to. 13.06oz best of yesterday.  Now to today, again maybe I should have been curled up in bed feeli

 Today I had a bumper session planned with the morning in search of Grayling on the River Frome and the afternoon on the mighty Dorset Stour. Both of these rivers are still largely unknown to me, I've only fished the Stour a handful of times and the Frome only the once, so this trip today was as much exploratory as it was a fishing trip. The weather was almost perfect, the wind a little stiff at times although not enough to get annoyed at, the Frome was chugging through still, this made fishing difficult still in some swims but there was life.  First blood was a baby Grayling around 6oz which took ages to follow up and when I finally connected with a bite I lost it just 4-5ft from the net, a Grayling certainly approaching 2lb which really knocked the wind out of my sail as it was fishing hard, but I wasn't to be annoyed for long as I landed a powerful fish that I thought was a lot bigger than it turned out, although I thought it was a "two". Alas it just missed ou

 Here is something a little different. This was a journal I kept under my fathers tutelage, many sessions spent catching Carp, Tench, Bream and Roach. My first entry was back in 1992, I was just approaching five years of age when I started unleashing James Snr' knowledge in my own way on to a selection of lakes I used to fish. By 1996 ( aged 9 ) my personal best Carp was a fully scaled mirror at 27lbs. Not much has changed in 20 years. I missed many entries so it was very patchy but it also had the entry of my first two-pound Roach which are to date my only 2lb from a stillwater all the way back in 1992, how I must have been envied as a four year old with two 2lb plus Roach under my belt.