Media Whore!

 A few weeks back yours truly featured on the front cover of the 'Angling Times' which was a fantastic surprise after agreeing to do a feature on a technique used primarily for Barbel, however other species can be fooled too when conditions dictate, below is a few photo' of the article.

 This front cover is my second as I first featured on the front cover of 'Coarse Angling Today' which unfortunately like many angling publications is now defunct, the AT cover shot is certainly my favourite for two reasons, firstly it was a perfect self take that really captured the mood but secondly the sheer fact that it is my new personal best Chub, what could be better! 

Thats A Wrap!

 My 2018/19 season was certainly my least intense for as long as I can remember. That said I had plenty of great trips in good company and on solo missions primarily in search of carp to achieve my challenge that I set myself back in April last year which is the point the new season for me starts.

 April: I set out early doors on the Tench in the vein hope of finding some good fish with a view of revisting in late May, the ultimate thinking behind that being a double figure specimen is on my wanted list. Apart from the Tench, Carp took centre stage as I looked to get hunting down an elusive canal beast which in just a couple of attempts I achieved, albeit not a thirty these were almost of the same calibre simply for reasons that those who fish these canals will only know.

First of an incredible brace. 23.4

A great afternoon on the towpath. 25.7 and my best to that date.

 May: Carp were still very much in my focus and with the weather improving the fishing improved too. Plenty of carp made it to the net with these two being the pick of the bunch. Also a trip out to Tenerife on holiday with the mrs gave me a great opportunity to target a Marlin but with it still early season I didn't manage to achieve that goal but I will try again.

 , But these cracking carp couldn't be left out, one of which was an awesome canal warrior.

 June: Now this always seems to be a busy month in terms of work, birthdays etc so I was pleased to get out a little and with that time I made my efforts count as I tracked and captured my largest canal carp yet at a staggering 27lb 9oz! Along with that were more carp, a 31.10 mirror, TWO!! personal best Bream off of a river! which weighed 11lb 15oz and 12lb 7oz!  and a few river carp to make sure that my challenge was taking off in all directions. What A Month June was! and that was only what happened in England. I also spent four days in the Netherlands in search of grass carp and I was to be spoilt rotten by the sport provided. 9 grass carp to 24lb 4oz, mirror carp to mid-doubles, my first ever Ide at 3lb 9ozs and a new PB Asp at a little over 4lb. What A Month indeed!!!

Canal PB carp.

Personal best Bream at 12lb 7oz

And what a backup fish! 11.15

31.10 mirror

Second best at 23lb 14oz

PB at 24lb+, from Holland with much love!

A cracking Ide from the tidal Waal river. 3lb 9oz

My best river carp of the season as it turned out, two ounces shy of 20lb.

 July: June was so good I knew it would be a tough act to follow, over that month I managed carp off of three different rivers with the best just over 17lb and 23lb+ from stillwaters, although I tried hard my attempts to tempt one of the biggest river carp I had ever seen were dashed, a ten minute battle became a stalemate and after much head scratching and endeavour I finally lost what can only be described as a true river giant, my chance of a river thirty slipped away right there and then.

A Mole 17+

A stillwater 22+

 August: For me time got really hard to come by and as a result I fished very little but when I did manage a couple of hours I invariably got a couple of fish to oblige, here is an old friend at 11lb 2oz, funnily its the same weight I caught her at three years ago! Thankfully for her I caught four months previous this time around so there is some progression being made.

A big smile, always satisfying to see an old friend.

 September: This was always going to be very light in terms of angling, after nine months of developing my little angel arrived into the world, with this it was understandable that I didn't get out much. A couple of short visits to my club lake were made but the blanks were beginning to mount up as plenty of angling pressure made it difficult fishing. This mirror probably the prettiest of the fish, although not the biggest.

19lb+ built like a breeze block.

This awesome common made a 4am start worth while.

 October:  During this month I managed a couple of trips out, this was for a days fishing on my birthday, 31 years of age and still thoroughly enjoying it. After 6 hours I netted a haul of chub any match angler would kill for, over 200lbs of fish with the best weighing 5lb 6ozs, a day me and my 15ft Greys Toreon trotting rod won't ever forget. The other trips were guiding my friend Yannick who made his way over from The Netherlands to sample some of what we have to offer and it didn't disappoint.

Best of a very large haul, emptied the keepnet twice!

The tourists first ever Barbel. 8lb 1oz

My Thames PB, 17lb 13oz

Another nice chunky Esox.

  November: Was spent on the predator front and it was a month to remember where I broke my personal best zander three times in about 30 hours, the first two going 7lb 13oz and then 9lb 1oz. Having witnessed a 13lb 3oz monster come to the boat that evening I found that fire that recently has dropped away a little bit. The result was my third PB of the two days! 11lb 9oz. Awesome!

The smile was a permanent fixture for days afterwards.

  December:  Pike dominated the proceedings and I capped off a good month with banking my third river twenty in the shape of a 20lb 8oz beauty, what a fish and I have to say somewhat surprised by its girth. Another half a dozen fish came over this month with most being double figure fish.

What a beautiful pike.

  January: Was much of the same as I continued my predator assault, more pike came to the net with the best weighing 18lb 9oz which avoided a proper photo by ploughing through my net at breakneck speed (thankfully I got a mat shot and weighed her first), these were joined by a few barbel from just a couple of quick fire trips, no less than two doubles were tempted in just 5 hours of fishing over two afternoons, quite a return when you take into account where they came from!

18lb 9oz escapee

First of the two doubles. 10lb 4ozs.

A not a bad back up either!!!  10lb 3ozs.

 

Oh and this happened too! 9lb+Bream on a 3-D Roach lure!

 February: Dace are always in mind when the back end of the season approaches and I wasn't disappointed either, although I didn't catch a pound plus monster this peach of 13oz 00dr made it in to cap off my efforts on the silver dart front. Pike again featured with my best going 16lb 0oz, but the best catch of Feb was a catch of Roach which was topped by a brace of 1lb 14oz and 1lb 15oz, my best two of the season.

Best Dace of a brief campaign.

A lovely 16lb 0oz female

1.14 & 1.15

  March: As work dominated the last month of the season I only got out a couple of times but I came up trumps with a nice river carp, a few chub, a couple of barbel and plenty for me to mull over for the closed season.

11lb 3oz mirror.

A mint winter barbel.

A plump 5lb+ chub to finish off my season. Not bad at all!

Wrapping Up On the 2017/18 Season.

 At the beginning of the season which had just finished the "Blogger's challenge" was resurrected for a part two. The previous one I found very interesting and almost forced me, albeit willingly in the end, to target various other species that I typically wouldn't give much attention to if any, that includes watercourses for that matter.

My canal PB @ 10.04.

 Canal systems where I spend most of my time are unfortunately not what they used to be twenty to forty years ago. However, I found out to my pleasure that they aren't dead and buried entirely. Stocks are low, fish are extremely nomadic but through all of that, a little patience and watercraft paid dividends way beyond my comprehension when first visiting these waters just three years ago.






My season actually began at the start of last May, this was to coincide with the bloggers challenge. Obviously with the rivers closed to coarse fishing I stuck to abstracting what I could from the canals and improving upon some of my stillwater personal bests.

 This proved to be successful at times, where other species like the Tench simply did not want to know. Golden Orfe, for once did show in good numbers and in one day I broke my PB of 5lb 2oz twice in a day (5.10 and 6.12 ).

The reminder of the spring and early summer was hard going and it took until June 16th to banish a few blanks which had began to accrue. By the close of play of the opening day I had banked Chub to 6lb 8oz which was only two ounces shy of my fairly long standing personal best. By the end of the summer/early autumn the fishing had picked up no end when I hit a purple on various venues around the southern half of the country.

Canal rudd to 2.05, river rudd just shy of 2lb, my first ever golden rudd all came within four manic days, more canal bream were tempted on slow sinking bread and crust to an eye watering 10lb 4oz which is a new canal best for the species. Then a procession of good chub were taken on the D.Stour to 5.15 and H.Avon to 6.04 which was topped off with a 9.09 Stour barbel which showed awesome power to evade capture which ultimately was a battle I won.



 Big gudgeon to mid 2 ounces began to show in the latter part of the autumn along with some decent dace over 12oz, a new personal best crucian carp of 3.08 with a back up specimen of 3.07 and a monster of a river carp (common) which whilst I was playing could have bet a thousand pounds that it would be a thirty! it transpired that she would miss that mark but at 28.03 I could only pinch myself to feel if it was real! the circumstances to its capture and the tackle used filled me such adrenaline I struggled to compose myself and the experience went by so quick I don't remember some of the goings on afterwards. I was a wreck and easily one of the most nervous battles I have ever had the pleasure of experiencing.

 If only all seasons were this good! it took some effort and not to mention miles of driving!

 With everything bore in mind it was time very well spent and I could have done better at times, yes.

My winter was punctuated by five weeks abroad travelling south-east Asia. This was a great adventure that opened my eyes to a little bit more of a world that I sometimes wish I had not seen but to build a more broader perspective of how other cultures live you have to see it for yourself to understand, the three day and night trek through the jungle was incredible and would love to do it again, but, for longer and more off the beaten track to immerse myself in what is one of the most picturesque places I have had the pleasure of seeing. It's not all bad!!!

 Before and after that travelling my fishing mainly consisted of trying for a 7lb chub (unfortunately I missed out this season, again.), a new personal best pike which I achieved, with a stunningly long and thick specimen at 22.15. My new PB was paired with a mint 18.03 specimen which had attributed to my best days piking ever in what is a fairly fledgling attempt to become a decent pike angler having barely targeted them in my 25 years of angling.

Other sessions consisted on targeting a 3lb grayling, which again did not materialise. Three grayling over 2lbs did slip up with the best weighing in at 2.03. Chub were becoming difficult to track down but when I did manage to get amongst them I was blessed with two cracking bags, the best of which consisted of sixteen fish with four over 5lbs, the best weighing 5.08.

 Roach, now this a species that has tormented me for almost two seasons in regards to my quest of a 2lb specimen to add to my collection of awesome catches, it took all the way up to the second to last day of the season to finally cross paths with one that I was lucky enough to land. Flashbacks of the summer where I lost a right monster that could have beaten my long standing personal best were playing in mind, but there was to be no sour end and a beauty of 2.02 lay on the mat in all its glory. Simply splendid!