Back to the R.Blackwater.

 

 I have a strong desire to chalk off at least one river this month and with a toss up between a few the Blackwater is one river I think I will focus on, the Kentish Stour of course will always remain an option but not finding it easy on there as I've extensively documented on here.

 Yesterday afternoon I finished work and jumped on the M4 westbound via Chiswick A4. For an early Friday afternoon the traffic was very light and chewed through the 45 miles at a pace, a Barbel of any size would always be welcome but a double figured fish of course was my target.

 I walked this section for the first time and started dropping bait in a few areas that looked good for a bite and drifted between pegs, spending around 30-45 minutes in each before moving. Around 6pm I had a brilliant take on the pin and it screeched into action, straight away I could feel the weight and knew it was a very good fish, I started to get nervous and it took 2/3 mins of constant lung busting runs upstream and back down into the pool I was fishing before I saw it, I could have swore blind it was a Barbel, alas a few minutes later it revealed itself, a nice river Carp but I can't lie, I was a tad deflated if I'm totally honest.

 A couple of quick pics and slipped it back to whence it came and hoped the next interaction wasn't from a Carp or the pesky Crayfish that seem to be there in great numbers, annoyingly.

 I spent the following 6hrs moving between 5 swims I had baited and fished them on rotation until my eyes started to close, I knew I had to get away, still with 64 miles of driving ahead of me, of course I was fine to drive, just a motionless rod-tip was hypnotising me. I will be back soon enough for another go!

I do love a James Denison, very mourish.

Barb wire is your friend...mmmmm BEEF!

Ruddy Fabulous!

 

 With a start of the season planned in search of Rudd I have a few venues earmarked, these venues vary from narrow pacy waterways to wide expansive river systems, neither straightforward to extract the sized fish I desire. Now the target has been a three-pound specimen for a few years now from a river. Back in my youth I was lucky to have access to a public lake at the right time when a handful of old Rudd reached peak condition and weight where my father and I caught specimens to nearly 4lbs (my best weighing an incredible 3lbs 13oz with back up fish of 3lbs 11oz and 3lbs 8oz, where my father went one better with a specimen of 3lbs 14oz, unfortunately we lost these images from 1996 and were never found (the digital days are so much better for this reason!).

 But those moments in time are still etched in the memories museum forever. One day I hope to emulate that special time in my angling life once again. However on the rivers I don't think such specimens exist but you just never know. 

My first outing was on the glorious 16th of June and my task, to find a big Rudd! I only had a few hours as I had to collect the other half and kids plus spend a few hours at the beach to chill out. When I arrived at this specific location I was surprised to see how little had changed since I last visited, back then big Rudd existed and very few people knew they were present, I didn't at that time manage any massive Rudd but had a few good ones, but the reeds now are even bigger and very little access can now be gained along the windy narrow waterway, it really is a lovely looking piece of water and although after 5hrs I didn't see a single Rudd I did manage to locate a solitary Common carp of about 20lbs which after much persuading I did manage to hook and after an epic five-minute battle my fight was finally lost as the hook pulled, a gallant effort to get that far but thought the fight was nearly done and the net was readied, shame I could not get it over the rim of the net. 

 For the 16th, there wasn't to be a grand opening, so all eyes on to the 17th as I went up north in search of big Rudd instead. To somewhat familiar grounds where ghosts of epic proportions show themselves for just a heartbeat before vanishing to never being seen again. 

All cleaned and ready!

The new equipment for SS Rudd.

 So Brian and I set off yesterday morning for a couple days in the boat, boy was I excited, a new engine, new battery held much promise and it didn't disappoint, much more powerful, for much longer. I was having so much fun and the Rudd didn't disappoint as we both found good fish early on to 1lb 11oz but we were really hoping to find bigger fish, with plenty of smaller fish showing and long dead patches where no fish were present, the task was to try and find the small pods of big Rudd and once found to get them confident into taking the bread before the smaller ones could intercept it, a tough task as you couldn't get too close as it would put them on edge so it was a gamble each time as to whether the big fish stuck around or shot off downstream beyond our trotting capabilities (which happened often). 

Upper 1 in the bag :)

 But, a five minute spell unfolded that we have both dreamt about. We found some good fish rising at crust but we didn't see anything much over 2lb, but a couple of the swirls seemed to be made from decent fish, so we both trotted down to the "hot zone" where my float slipped away after the crust was steamrollered.

 Initially I thought it was a good fish but when it rolled about 20m from the boat as it headed for some lily pads I got a glimpse and I knew it was a very big fish and she wasn't coming in easily as I played her in and out of pads and thick eel grass before finally succumbing to the net and I breathed a deep sigh of relief, my best Rudd in years and a river PB weighing a superb 2lb 11ozs, that will certainly do.

EPIC!!! my best Rudd in 27 years!
And river PB.

 But that 5-minute spell wasn't just mine, Brian also got in on the act with a beautiful specimen of his own Brian' Report. It is these moments we make all this effort for. 

 We fished on for the remainder of the day up to 10pm where we still had a little light on the horizon but the mozzy activity meant we had to call it a night, by which point we were planning on doing Sunday (today) but the weather was not what was predicted and heavy rain / thunder and lightning storms meant we had a decision to make, either risk it and stay out for Rudd until it got to risky or wrap it up last night and back home which reluctantly we decided upon, somethings are not worth risking and yes there was no guarantees it was going to be terrible weather, however I think we made the right call and will go back up in a couple weeks in search of more!!!

End of Season Glut.

 

 For the final fews days I had many plans in my head but the weather made things very difficult to set plans in stone. In the end I did a session on the R.Loddon for a night and blanked, of course. Then the following day I set my stall out for Chub, that was when I got a bit giddy with excitement.

 I did think long and hard about where to go, the Dorset Stour was in the running until a couple days previous when we had loads of snow and then rain to follow which bought up the river into a swirling cauldron of brown freezing cold water, it was a no-go, so I had to fall back on plan B, as Plan B's go this was a wonderful session all told, but it didn't start off in the best of ways.

Chub conditions!

 Having waded through cold waters to get to the areas I wanted, ( nowhere escaped the floods ) I made my way to a couple of likely looking spots, marginal trees which looked ideal to hold some fish, as I made my way up I kicked an unseen rock and lost my balance, hence falling forward with the gear on my back and rod, landing net pole and keep-net bag in my hands, I got soaked and before I'd even setup my gear I was contemplating going home, that was not pleasant and found myself soaked and waders 6inch deep with cold water (8.7c).

 Needless to say I got myself together and mercifully the sun was warm and winds light so I did get to dry out a bit and the fishing once I got started was terrific. In my first hour I had banked four Chub with one settling on the digi's at 5lb 10oz and my best of the season ( in truth its been a lite season for the species ) a real big framed fish that just lacked length otherwise it would have been comfortably over 6lbs. 

Best of the day, should have been a "six" all day.

 The average stamp was great with mid 4's to mid 5's coming in at fairly regular intervals as bread flake was clearly the winning tipple. Fishing for the first time with my new Drennan Acolyte Plus 12 ft Feeder rod I was very impressed by its responsiveness to very shy bites and when connected to fish it performed so well, even when a little beauty of a carp decided to get in on the act!

 Not to be outdone another of the rivers inhabitants, one that I would never have expected to find, ( well it found me ) let or lone land on such fine balanced gear, not sure it was designed to tackle fish of this stamp but after a ten minute war of attrition I finally slipped the now very small looking landing net under what was surely a twenty pound plus river Carp! Bonkers right? 

21lb 1oz River Common Carp 😜

 A real turn up for the books on what was already turning out to be a great outing for Chub now had the added bonus of two Carp, one of which was a big fish. After that a few more Chub averaging 4.08 came to the net but a real big one was remaining elusive and as the day was starting to draw to a close the warmth of the sun was now wearing off and the adrenaline of the days sport done the cold set in fast and found myself scrambling back to the car to get stripped off and warm. 

A quartet of five pounders.

 Oh what a day. 17 Chub from four snags best five weighing over 5lbs ( 5.00, 5.04, 5.04, 5.06 and 5.10 ) with the remaining fish all over 4lbs bar one ( 3.07 ) plus 2 Carp and also lost one too! which I didn't mention above to keep it fairly short as I have so little time to do any blogging as you may have all noticed, as Spring starts to wake up the Bream and Eels I'll be back out and hopefully plenty more fishy goings on will be scribbled here.

Borderlands Pit, Part One.

 If anyone is familiar with the game "Borderlands" then the title of this will give you a good idea of what idyllic surroundings this small disused clay pit is set in and feels like. A scent of danger does permeate the air, what with the various foreign objects littering the margins and indeed the middle, along with the obligatory disposable barbeque scorch marks!

 My number one task here however is to see what fish call it home, never to turn a good opportunity down I walked it one morning to get a feel for what morning conditions may throw up and to my excitement a few carp seemed to show themselves in a sheltered bay and in the teeth of the wind on the surface which I found to be quite unusual but carp can't be second guessed as to what they may do or where they will do it.

 That morning I saw a white and black bird on the far bank margin and when a couple of Mallards spooked it she came over my head and it dawned on me what it was! An Avocet! to say I was shocked would be an understatement. Never seen one before and its not a place I thought I'd see my first. You never know what will happen next.

Look closely and the upturned bill can be clearly seen.

 I was champing at the bit to get back down and a couple of days later I slipped down at first light and started where I saw numerous fish and threw out a few dog biscuits ( larger ones on this occasion owing to the wind strength as the small ones were drifting far too quickly into the windward bank ), for this I use these.

 These are a decent size and stay on the hook fairly well or banded even better, plus they let off a nice little oil slick which fished in windy conditions has the same effect as when fishing oily pike baits and the ripple seems to not effect the baited area giving you a clear sight of your hookbait (however, any windier and the effect is lost). I had another errand to run in the morning so I had about an hour or so before shooting off. 

 An hour it would seem is all I needed. Carp started to find my biscuits within 20 minutes and as each biscuit went I got even more excited. Given the gusto within which the biscuits were going I flicked mine out with a size 6 Korda Mixa hook, side hooking the biscuit as I forgot to pack mixer bands and drew it back to the feeding area. Just a few minutes past and as a procession of common carp drifted in and out and in again a carp eased up behind my mixer and slurped it in without hesitation. With no line in the water whilst they got confident really helped.

 I watched the carp close its mouth and I struck firmly to pull the hook through the mixer and set the hook, it was on! Not to tempt fate I didn't set up the net so I ended up playing the carp with the rod jammed between my legs on a light clutch, done it many times before so it wasn't a problem and within a couple of minutes a lovely dark mirror carp eased over the cord. For possibly ten to fifteen fish that went through my swim I didn't see a single mirror so it was actually a nice surprise. 

 Not a monster, weighing 14lb 4oz and probably older than myself, built like a mini torpedo. 

 I didn't get any further enquiries and that for the morning was that. But a success all the same and back to it soon I hope for round two.

Season 2019/20 Top Six: Part One.

 It has to be said, its not on of my best for sure. Targets were set, barring a couple achieved most were missed owing to my lack of time on the bank.

 My best six catches here were probably about as good as it got, starting with my canal ventures which culminated in landing a stunning old linear just under 20lb and with a few heart in mouth moments got the chance I needed, not that the Coots and Moorhens read the script!

 16th May 2019:

 I was out working as usual and my last job was in Hackney where I normally jump on the A102 south, with the conditions as good as they were I put a few spare hours to good use, with my stalking gear in the van from mid-March onwards the only hurdle tackle wise was to find a shop to get a loaf of bread. Three shops later and twenty minutes used up I set about my task in seeking out a towpath tiger.

 I parked up in an area I know only has restrictions up to midday and beyond that it wouldn't cost me anything and could just wander to the canal without worrying about only having one or two hours max stay which gave me freedom of the system. Choosing where to go is often a tough one, previous trips earlier in the spring told me where a few fish were loitering around and normally you can't take that as gospel but in the earlier months they tend not move as much, once the waters begin to warm and spawning is firmly in their minds then they will typically swim 2-8 miles a day, that includes slipping through locks should they be operational.

 The wind was light with the occasional breeze and with not a cloud in the sky gave me almost flawless stalking conditions and armed with the most important asset a stalker could need, polaroids, I was in the game. Typically the canal was busy with joggers, walkers, narrow boats and general chatter boxes, as I am forever being asked whether I had caught anything, to which the answer is usually no. The miles clocked up will inevitably give me chances at catching these very wise creatures and seldom caught monsters, some of which have been in the systems possibly longer than I have been alive.

 By the time I had probably clocked up 5 miles I finally came across a Carp, in fact two of them. A common and a mirror drifting sub-surface on the search for bugs and seeds gave me the perfect opportunity. Centre track of the canal (easy casting distance for me with minimal gear) these two carp drifted in and then out continuing their search for food, given their confidence in people the nature of my attempts wouldn't seem out of place on the canals. I was able to stand at the edge to allow cyclists and runners go behind me. To start with I got a big lump of crust on a size 8 wide gape hook and waited for two Coots to pass through, annoyingly they sensed free food was on the menu and decided to hang around, making my attempt at the Carp all the more difficult.

 Being mindful of many passers-by I had to be extra careful to pick my time impeccably, the birds after twenty minutes seemed to have noticed Gulls getting excited 400 yards or so to my left and the birds hindering me flew off to gorge on the bread buffet, I knew this was my chance, my bait went out and the cast couldn't have been better, no wind, no ripple and......a Moorhen came out of the bushes on the far side who must have been sat on a nest and shot out, straight to my crust! I could not believe it, the Carp were on course for it immediately. In a flash I got the crust in, being careful not to strike anything off to keep it waiting around.

 Just before I cast back out I squeezed a big bit of bread and launched it into the cover the Moorhen came from and the plan had its desired effect when the bird shot straight to the cover for the food, before the bird got there I cast my freshly moulded piece of bread out and within half a minute I had the common circling underneath the crust, beginning to shake with excitement the common began to slip away and the mirror followed in behind and eased up to the crust, looking straight at me she gently tilted her body so now the mouth was tantalisingly close to the crust, I could watch it waft backwards and forwards on the surface and the eyes focused on the bait, the carp was no doubt processing whether it was cosher or not, given these are very clever fish.

 Possibly the longest minute of my angling life ensued as the mirror then slowly dropped away, only about 6-12 inches but enough to make me think she had worked it out, then out of my left eye I could see the birds to my left had exhausted their latest loot and I was back in the frame. A wave of Gulls were starting to work their way up to me and knew I had very little time left, with the mirror hovering just behind she began to slowly make its way back to the crust, fins giving off subtle little movements as it gained the distance and she opened her mouth just a little, enough for her to suck the now sodden crust between her lips and with the common now completely out of sight there was no competition. The lips slowly closed and with that I put a healthy bend in the rod watched the mirror break the water immediately, then off on a 40 yard run, stripping line off a pretty tight clutch, no room for errors around where boats are concerned.

 A towpath tiger was on, a fight I always want to be up for if only I got more chances on such sparsely populated canals. Three powerful surging runs had an audience forming around me and the pressure I guess was on to make this one count, possibly twenty people standing on the grass verge cheering me on, asking questions as I continued my battle and a battle it was!, for over five minutes she did everything possible to escape. Doing what I could, in the end the net was shipped out and the rest as they say, is history, this impossibly stunning canal linear mirror lay resting in the net.

 You never know what will be put before you when trying on the canals, I have grown very fond of the task and resilience required to fish such vast bodies of waters, often with no reward!

Simply superb.

Picks of the Decade.

 Choosing candidates for this is pretty tough, so a few of these may not strike you as being particularly big for the species but in terms of its size relative to where it was caught it. Some of these places would surprise many anglers as to where the fish came from. Over the years I have been extremely lucky as to what I have managed to slip the net under, others have required the utmost skill and patience, often pushing me to the limit.

 Here are just a handful of fish from the 2010's and yes there are so many that some catches that mean a lot to me won't make this but I have to draw the line somewhere. Most of these are actually personal bests too.

This bream was my first double figure fish off a canal, since then I have been lucky enough to do it again, special fish and very special waters that certainly make you work for the rewards, a truly special fish for its environment.

Almost an entire days trotting culminated in coming away with one grayling, that one grayling weighed 2lb 11oz and still the fight gives me nightmares. The fear a big grayling puts in you when they turn broadside and power off downstream is quite something, you struggle to find words to describe it.

The river Cam is home to some special fish, this is one of them, March 13th, bitterly cold and bare footed holding one of the most awesome wild carp I'm ever likely to catch, 27lb 12oz, caught on rudd gear in the boat. Quite a fight indeed, Brian deserved a knighthood for getting that in a 22'' drennan landing net.

Having witnessed a 13lb 3oz zed to the boat the day before I had a burning desire to get back out. Less than 24 hours later I was posing with this incredible looking fish, again in the boat and with all light gone the take was so powerful the rod jolted to simply let me know it was time.

Not a personal best but my best lure caught pike off the mighty Wye, a Rapala X-Rap minnow was the savour to what was fairly tough fishing. A couple of shows just off some sunken trees indicated where the lure had to go, ten minutes later and a few casts she was in the net.

One of the best looking barbel I have ever caught, a comfortable double that fought so hard I had to rest afterwards. Just twenty feet wide and 2-3ft deep hardly seems the sort of place one would target barbel but it certainly doesn't bother them.

Two years on Newdigate with the sole purpose of catching one of the two big golden orfe had finally come to an end. 6lb 12oz of a brilliant looking fish, shame they fight so poorly but it can be forgiven. Ten trips after starting and a faithful buoyant maggot on the method feeder was the orfe' downfall.

Opening day on a sun swept Stour gave up a couple of its gems, this chub being the largest at 6lb 8ozs, there was a time I'd had two six pound chub ever, fishing the Avon/Stour that figure soon crept up quite nicely.

Canal rudd very rarely get up above 4oz and often are the bane of a surface anglers session, however this corker at 2lb 5oz certainly put a smile on my face, perfect in every way, just one day hope to follow that up with a 3lber from a canal, that would be something to rival any capture during a season. Especially off the somerset levels.

Enton....does that place need an introduction? such an awesome place but not as easy as anglers make out, many hours I spent on there in search of crucians and managed just a couple, my best here at 3lb 8oz, during all that time I didn't lose a single fish.

Possibly the shock of the decade, the river will remain nameless as I hope to one day cross paths with this incredible common once again. On my MARKIV split can rod and pin, freelined bread it really was the best way I could hope to catch such a carp, no name, wild and at 28lb 3oz she is my biggest common and river personal best, quite a fish. I still dream of that fight in my head at night after seeing the photos again.

Having literally stepped off a plane from Asia just six hours earlier this immaculate double figure barbel took a fancy to a trotted piece of meat, one of the prettiest specimens I've been lucky enough to catch, just over a foot of water, a tiny bush just hiding the front half, first cast...easy.

A snow carp? my only one of the 2010's and what a fight, 2.8lb bottom, 15ft float rod and pin, chub were the intended target. A double figure carp though certainly wasn't quaffed at.

Two hours and possibly six miles of marching the towpaths put me in touching distance of achieving an incredible feat, that being catching a cut carp. Over the last few years I devoted some considerable time to targeting canal carp with varying success. Carp however do not come better looking than that fish above, 19lb 9oz and possibly a lot older than I. 

My personal best carp and a fish known as the "ghostie leather", 35lb 8oz and on bream gear including 6lb line was not just the envy of myself, a few onlookers clearly appreciated its capture and after a couple of photos she went back like a trooper. Names and fish aren't my kind of thing, but this lake I'll make an exception to as it holds some iconic carp, this being one of them.

My first twenty pound pike (21lb 9oz) and thee prettiest I have caught, from a river too made this catch so much more impressive, I shook like a crapping dog for ages after I had landed her too, I was physically terrified! But not long after realised just how fantastic it was, simply superb.

Possibly the craziest catch from anywhere in 2010's, roach x bream hybrids are very rare throughout london and this was the first I'd caught since the late 1990's. Whilst stalking carp on a really cold morning I noticed a flash of silver under my feet as I walked along the towpath and realised this awesome/freaky creature was feeding on the weed clinging to the canal wall, a nice flake of bread soon captured its attention and forever opened my mind to the real possibilities these canals can produce. 5lb 1oz.

The last decade bore witness to some fantastic years after roach. My personal best of 2lb 15oz remained comfortably out in front but was joined by an additional 7 fish over the two pound barrier, all from Thames tributaries fishing a range of tactics. My favourite species and its not hard to see why.

My one and only dace of the decade that surpassed the 1lb barrier and fish that was immense, the images of this fish do not do it justice and have always found big dace difficult to convey in shots, however, at 8 drams over the pound mark I had numerous fish one winter over 14ozs, since then they have disappeared almost entirely.

When it comes to looks this towpath mirror has it all, black as your hat, a little battered as you'd expect a big wild carp to be, but also represented a personal best mirror off the canals at the time. 25lb 4oz and what was even better is I got to share the moment with my dad who was taken aback by its sheer size and the fight? of course it was of biblical proportions as it always is. Escape is the only plan.

I saved possibly the best barbel I'm ever likely to catch to last. First ever visit to the H.Avon and I decided to settle in the top swim on the pipes. Half an hour before dusk I popped out my 18mm pellet tipped with a grain of buoyant corn and just hoped for the best. As the light faded over the fields my tip slammed round and was locked into battle with a big fish but with no headtorch I couldn't tell what I had or how big it was. My mate Stuart made his way upstream to assist me with the weighing and photos. Having finally landed her she was resting in the net and could only make out a portion of the body, still not fully appreciating what I had just caught.

Once Stu had arrived with me I lifted the net out the river and then it hit me at what I'd just caught, she was a truly Hampshire Avon giant at 14lb 6oz and is still my personal best. The feeling of seeing that fish for the first time and holding her still plays back in my memories museum. 

What a first fish to catch off the most iconic of our rivers. Luck and skill in perfect balance and the reward was much greater than I could ever have hoped for.

 What are your favourite memories from the last decade of angling? feel free to pop a comment in the box. I am intrigued to hear your stories.

A Carpy Post.

 With my sights set firmly on Carp next year it prompted me to have a look through a collection of photos that have been accrued over many years. For a large portion of that time physical images of past captures were lost, but with the rise of digital media it is almost impossible to lose such images and thankfully so!

 Yes all those captures will live in the memory for many years, however having the ability to scan over so many images just makes you remember so much more, some that have been marginalised by other catches, but by no means not worth remembering. My back ruled me out of action for half of this year but just before that happened I was slipping into my groove on the carp front and catching some corkers, some of which were from very tough venues, venues that many seldom catch from, regardless of approach/tactics employed.

 For me, right place and right time coupled with a persistence I've not felt for quite a few years and that includes my more recent ventures into multi-species specimen fishing. The buzz of achieving mini milestones always gives you that impetus to continue and looking back at these images it has reaffirmed my initial idea of a Carp year, which to tell the truth would have been this year if it wasn't for the set back.

 Here are a few images I selected from the Spring/Early Summer spell I had on various watercourses.

17+

20lb 5oz

23lb & 18lb brace for my brother Richard.

Mid twenty in the net.

21lb 9oz

A canal 15lb 10oz mirror

Low twenty

Badass ghostie.

18lb+

My only canal Linear Mirror 19lb 9oz

25lb 10oz

Little torpedo.

21lb+

2oz shy of twenty pounds.

An almost perfect common, 15+

Chunky canal common 16lbs 8oz

20lb+

17lb 12oz

22lb+

23lb+ scaley badness :) 

A stocky powerhouse of a common 17lb+