James' Angling Adventures.

 Our unseasonably warm winter has many down sides to it, the flowering of buds in mid-December and the appearance of certain animals that should be in hibernation as well as many other things, though it's not necessarily a good thing the warm weather has provided me with sport I seldom enjoy after October. Knowing that with the milder weather staying around for a short while the Barbel would be feeding fairly well, my hunch was right on my last outing on the float for the Barbel and I hoped for similar results.  When tackling Barbel on the float it's easy to think that you'd have to set up the gear to withstand the sturdy fight's that you can be met with, in my opinion that couldn't be further from the truth, of course the watercourse that the angler is tackling may mean that the stepping up of gear is absolutely necessary due to snags and other obstacles, if however as is in my case then only the occasional snag may cause issue you can fish light, just as if yo

 With last weeks trip firmly in the rear view mirror of my season I really wanted to get back on track with the Chub, Sunday's phenomenal haul of Barbel had really boosted my confidence and put me in a mood to try hard for a good result today. On the bank today I was joined by one of my work mates who shares the same passion for angling, both of us were on the float and hoped to get some fish feeding on the maggot.  Conditions again were changed from my last visit as a clear night gave way to a drop in temperature, just what we wanted.....but we were there and made the most of it. Initially we started on a section of river I'm fairly familiar with but the fish had other ideas as the first 4 hours drifted by with no enquiries at all, various swims of differing depths were tried but all in vein, the Chub were certainly there but simply could not be tempted, a change of venue was in order.  After eating lunch and planning our attack we headed back to the river with a new

 December the 18th, 9c at sunrise at 0802, is it really winter? it should be but it doesn't feel like it at all, the weather seems to be getting too familiar, just like Arsenal's season!. I digress anyhow and get back to the fishing....it was bloody Out. Of. This. World. Now on the likes of the Trent this maybe a regular occurrence but on many other rivers across the country this is unbelievable, a summer catch if you apply yourself well.  The conditions as I said were just too mild for what they should be but this along with the low cloud and the appetite of Barbel was the perfect storm and on Sunday morning I had two options, first was to get some livebait and go Pike fishing, or the second was target a Barbel, both of which were good ideas but the warmth put me off slightly on the Pike front so I choose to go with the latter, it was to be an inspired decision. I arrived at the river with just enough light to set up and within a couple of minutes I set off in search of th

 Fishing is seldom a catwalk of fashion and style but there is something about marching wader clad around town and along the river, the distant looks of almost complete disapproval entwined with the why would you wear that?, that answer is easy though....without them my last two days of angling (Thursday & Friday ) would have resulted in a complete disaster.  The need to remain completely flexible when fishing in my opinion is very important, had I not donned my chest-high's it would have been a very slow bit of fishing and knowing the Stour during the winter it's never easy and you need to give yourself every chance to catch what could be a monster, that next trot or lob out with a boilie could provide a 7lb plus fish and maybe even an "eight pounder" in some of the places I frequent of late, under no illusions that the task I set myself at the beginning of the season would have been testing and I am finding it out first hand.  Trotting maggots by day a

 Barbel fishing for me of late hasn't been particularly easy, my previous three trips have resulted in just a Chub. The Barbel seem to have disappeared from the river but this baron spell has also coincided with the change in bait, since joining the Lone Angler team I have fancied giving their baits a go, so the previous three trips I have been chopping and changing between the Ocean Pride and the Sausage Sizzle dumbells. When starting again with a new bait it takes a little while to get the fish to feed confidently on it even if you know where they are!  On Tuesday evening I finally made it out and after a days work and got to the bank with a snippet of light left so I could get organised. The river was in good order, but tap water clear so I felt a longer hook-length might pay dividends as the fish may pick up the lead (within view) and didn't want them to realise they were being targeted. The first two swims I chose didn't produce anything but after twenty minutes in

 Now, most of the things I post on my blog are usually of species of fish that grow to large proportions but rarely small fish that grow to large proportions. A Minnow is often the scourge of any trotting anglers day but when they reach the dizzy heights of 18 grams, or to put it into context it was 77% of the British record it's hard to feel frustrated. Simply enormous and here it is !  It is hard to not appreciate such an amazing creature, colossal Minnow and it's fair to say I won't see many like that in my life time. Needless to say it hammered my personal best for the species.

 My season has had quite a few dry patches as many anglers will experience over the course of a season but there has also been some real highlights too, for me the most prominent was the recent capture of a 2.11 Grayling and since that trip I have decided to put a little more time into the very river that gave me that lasting memory. Albeit a very long way from home I have embarked on a couple of days trips to a new section of the river, much further down but with equal possibility of catching some even more special than what I have already managed. Releasing my prize of a hard days work, much enjoyed I must say.  2½ hours each from my home in south London is a huge commitment and the efforts required to fish it are great but it's sport that simply isn't available closer to home. Over the past couple of years I have really enjoyed targeting Grayling and so the journey hasn't in truth been a bother or the financial's behind a trip like these I have made recently