An Afternoon on the Float.

  

Given my recent difficulties in locating and catching Barbel I have decided to target other species until conditions are more conducive to catching. Having visited the dentist this morning and having an extraction at 940am I wasn't feeling up to much. But you can't put a good man down! 

 The fire still burns deep even with my mouth in absolute bits and the temps not predicted to go above 2c all day ( which for once they did get right ).  I quickly shot home, grabbed a pint of maggots and the gear then headed out for an afternoons trotting. 

 The tackle I was using consisted of a Greys Prodigy specialist float 12ft 2-piece, Greys Bewick 4¾ inch centrepin loaded with 3lb Maxima Chameleon and a beautifully made drake quill trotting float rated at 6BB.

 Swim selection on a cold day with cold water is always key and I thought I had hit the nail on the head from the beginning as my second trot resulted in a mint 7oz 3dr Dace. The next half hour was a complete waste of time. Was there just one Dace in that entire 40 yard trot? I am inclined to think not and that shoal just switched off immediately, even though I had fed the swim for 15 minutes before trotting it. I did however have another idea and that was that shoal pretty much ended where I had that Dace, so I packed the keepnet and everything up and moved another 25 yards upstream and began my feeding regime as before.

 Bites again were instant, only difference this time is that they came almost every trot and plenty of quality Gudgeon came to the net, along with Chublet, Dace and a solitary Perch (which was a surprise - highest I've had one on this river). Once the bites dried up I weighed up my bag which totalled 4lb 6oz of hard worked fish, the Gudgeon came to around a pound with the best not far off 2ozs which is a very good fish.

1oz 12dr. My best for some time.

An hour or so in the right spot, 4lb 6oz.

Awesome! Got to love a Gonk.

 Then I continued on upstream to try and find some bigger Gudgeon and maybe a Roach or two as they had been conspicuous in their absence, I normally pick up a few among Gudgeon shoals. Next up was a couple of fantastic looking trots on nice gentle bends where I have done well in the past. Bites once again weren't forthcoming, fifteen minutes spent trying I upped and moved, as I looked downstream to where my trots were roughly finishing I could see two lovely carp, both sifting through the sandy/gravel bottom and really looked like having a bait, so off came the maggots and pinch of Warburton's went on and no sooner did the bait get to the bottom the smaller of the two carp it took it. The bread vanished and with the float dipping simultaneously I struck and the rod slammed over as the carp charged off past me at a rate of knots, I simply couldn't touch the pin and allowed the pin to do its job, but bad luck crept into my game as I suffered yet another hook pull to a river carp, my third in five attempts this season.

 For me, the gear was standing up to the task, albeit fairly outgunned given the fact the carp was around the 14-15lb mark ( not that its stopped me succeeding in the past ). Had my luck not evaded me on this occasion I felt quite confident that I would have eventually won that battle. But as said above, you can't put a good man down and I hoped that another chance would materialise which thankfully, it did and what a beauty it was too! In very similar fashion to the first attempt, the only difference was I would win this battle got the chance to marvel at what a stunning little creature it was, estimated at roughly 6lb I took a couple of snaps then let it head back into its watery world. Sometimes numbers matter not. 

No words.

The last grasp of Autumn slipping away into an icy coma.

Gudgeon Fest.

 There aren't many more species in our rivers that trump these awesome little creatures, spirited fights coupled with very bold biting, everything about these fish raise the question, where would they rank in terms of desire to catch them if they grew to say five pounds?

 For me, I thoroughly enjoy catching them regardless.

 Here are a few snaps of a little batch of Gonks that I had roughly 6 weeks ago.

Time For Fat Dace.

 As February the 1st comes along my mind starts to wander from what I have been targeting and slowly the want to target Dace kicks in. They are great summer sport with bags often weighing 10-20lbs can be had on good days with smatterings of Chub and Roach thrown in. Now is the time though for anglers serious in attempting to achieve the dizzy heights of specimens of the pound mark and possibly beyond.

 In my lifetime lady luck has shone brightly as I approach double figures for pound plus specimens (currently eight) and many back up specimens from 13oz and up. It was time for lady to shine once again. It is time once again. This time I want to see if some of my past leviathans can be beaten or will they simply be a memory, to never be beaten. A loaf of Hovis certainly is the sort of bait to winkle them out.

A 6gr avon wire stem, just to keep on the creases.

 I got down fairly late as all the people on the damn roads didn't realise I had fishing to do! inconsiderate people I tell you! After finally battling my way through the hoards the river trundled through in front of me as I parked up. Gin clear but carrying a nice bit of water which wasn't surprising as since 1st of Feb came along we have been catching up on all the rain we should have got from January. It was from recollection the 7th driest since records began and it did seem that way.

 The conditions filled me with hope and not before long my 6gr avon wire stem was hurled out towards the far bank where I hoped Dace would be holding station, just out the flow, hugging the creases. My plan sounded great but the Chub didn't get the memo as I netted one after another, good sport, not the target. Try as I did they would not leave me alone..after the third or fourth run I started to think the Chub were simply in a ravenous mood and that Dace simply wouldn't get there first and I was very nearly right, that was until this cracker turned up. Best of the year so far and hopefully the first of many (If I get the time).

My one and only of the day at 13oz flat.

 Not to cut it short but for the Dace, that one fish was my lot, so much so that I changed target and headed downstream. It wasn't just a big Dace that I'd get my hands on. It took nearly half an hour to start getting bites, hitting them was another problem, the sheer speed that the bait was being hit in the fast pace of the water provided another problem that I had to negotiate, I'm all on for problem solving but I did very nearly give up nearly an hour in until one finally slipped up and it was a lovely Roach of 1lb 7oz, then I had obviously done something different, as I hit another five in the next dozen or so trots, a couple more around the pound mark. The best was to come and just as dusk was settling in too. Oh and this little fella popped along too.

Love a gonk.

 Doing nothing different by this point it was obvious that the bigger fish were switching on as I connected with a ripping pull of the float, in the flow all the fish felt good but this one didn't feel like a Roach at all, such was strength. As she rolled on the surface I could see it was a very good one and looked to be over the magical two-pound mark, the remainder of the fight was played with caution. In she went !

 Excited to see if I had caught my first two pound plus Roach of the season I put her straight on the scales...

 ...One Pound Fourteen ounces...oooooohhhh that was close and if I had lost her I'd have sworn it be a "two". Full of excitement I slipped her in the keepnet and got the bait back out there. Three trots later the float began to reach the end of the run where it shallows up to a weedy/gravel bar, as I began to retrieve the float some 25 yards it dipped and vanished, for a split second I thought it was a little fish as it swam upstream, straight up to me. I didn't think for a second that I'd be connected to yet another Roach of fantastic proportions! This one looked bigger than the fish, not in length but the girth was nothing that I have seen the likes of before! With jelly legs still only just recovering from the first I had its sister in the net! This one felt heavier and again I wasted no time in weighing her.

 One pound fifteen ounces.....oooooooohhhhhh thats even closer :), I didn't know what to do with myself, to know and catch Roach like that is good for the soul, especially where they came from and it's past pedigree is slowly being rediscovered and enjoyed. The light was failing fast and I really wanted to get a couple of pics before the sun set, disaster set however when I had a flat battery which I possibly ran out photographing my Dace earlier on...I must charge them as a matter of habit because its not the first time...

 What a day it was, challenging is certainly a way of describing it, trotting 15-40 yards with 25-30mph cross winds and 6-10 inches of additional water to contend with, not to mention a very achy arm after a day of constant trotting, been a while since I fished that hard and I had to. It was a case of effort equals reward.

 A brace of Roach for 3lb 13oz and a few drams, 13oz Dace, Trout to 3lb+, Gudgeon to 1oz made for an enjoyable trip.

Happy as a pig in....

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!

Gracious Gudgeon.

 Is there a more enigmatic species than the Gudgeon, for months on end they vanish, as if they aren't even in the river at all, its a complete mystery as to where they go, yet in the blink of an eye they appear. Last week Wednesday I popped down the local for an hour after work, with the intention of christening my new acquisition which is the new Maver Reactorlite 12ft feeder rod 2-piece, super lightweight and looks the business, it comes complete with three tips for varying targets.

 The plan was just to sit behind the quiver until dusk, Gudgeon the main target but Roach and Barbel were also a possibility and after 30 mins or so of basically nothing more than a few tentative touches a fish finally slipped up, funnily enough it was the species I was after, a big one too at 2oz 6dr, best of the season and unfortunately my only fish of the brief trip. Short and sweet, over and out.

Bit of a Mixed Bag.

 Fishing isn't always about catching big fish, or at least actively, the sight of an autumn Gudgeon cuttings its way through the gin clear river on a crisp morning is just as nice. Catching this morning was pretty slow to start with, the overnight winds culled a lot of leaves along the river bank and the river was full of them, even trotting was made difficult. This particular run has provided me with some great sport over the years, the first hour was poor but the consistent feed got the fish moving off the bottom and into the upper layers where they became more confident, I fished a simple 4BB stick float and fished about 6inches over depth and held back the float in the ceases which produced steadily for the remaining 3 hours I spent there.

 A mix of Gudgeon and Minnows kicked it off with my best Gonk weighing exactly 2ozs on the mini scales, my first over two ounces this season that I have weighed, the minnows were relentless to begin with, however the Dace began to get a look in, three came in a short spell, all of which were over 8oz! the best weighed 12oz 2dr, my biggest Dace from this particular section, something I did not expect. The Roach didn't show up until well into the third hour when a nice pound plus fish made it's way through the swift current and into the net, 1.03 the verdict, a few of them and it would be a good morning's fishing.

Mint Roach.

Clonking Dace!

Little stunners.

 By the close of play I managed a bag of 6lb 13oz of Dace, a Chublet, Roach and Gudgeon mix, the Dace and the best Roach making up the bulk of the weight, not as prolific as I have experienced in the past but a nice few hours faffing around, a two-pound Roach is a possibility so you can never tell what is in store when I arrive on these banks.

 Not a terrible substitute for my failed trip down south as the storm would have made conditions tough, the Avon probably would have been carrying colour thus not ideal conditions for stalking a big Esox, maybe next week.

A Slight Change of Species.

 Back on the Gudgeon hunt after a few weeks off I felt a bit more of an urge to try and break the 2oz barrier, so far this season I've not even seen one approaching that weight and with half a day spent fishing for them with trotted bread I still hadn't seen one, a few caught to 1oz 6dr which looked a shadow of it's winter self, a huge head with no body, a certain 2oz fish in February, I know where it lives now I'll be back.

1.4oz=1oz 6dr, seasons best.

 Plenty of Roach, Chub and Dace caught too it made for a nice day out with no real objective barring the Gonks, however I did manage to rescue a Poplar Hawkmoth from the river just before it went over a small weir and into the lair of half a dozen hungry Chub, no doubt the Moth would not have survived, after fishing it out I snapped some close up's and allowed her to dry off, within five minutes it gathered the strength and lifted off like a small bird! amazing how big they are in the flesh and never seen one in the day time, fishing.....it's not all about fish.

Awesome looking creature.

Gudgeon Hunt Part Two.

 The competition is hotting up and I feel I'm getting closer, plenty to go at and starting to see some bigger fish in the sandy holes, for now though I'll have to settle for a season's best of 1oz 3dr, lovely little fish.

Stunning little creatures.

Gudgeon Hunt.

 Now this may not warm the cockles of many specimen anglers, however for me this little species represents it's own challenges in catching a specimen, equally as fun minus the arm wrenching battles that maybe the Barbel and Carp may inflict upon you or I. Knowing where to catch big Gudgeon is tough and once location is rounded down to small dustbin lid sized holes in the gravel then you have to wade through the tiny versions of the little fish you seek, as I said before, it's all fun, believe me.

 Over the years I have caught enormous Gudgeon well over the 3oz mark, infact approaching the 4oz barrier, this is a specimen seldom seen on even the most prolific of Gudgeon territories, the River Nadder being the most prominent to my mind. I know a couple of little rivers where big ones do frequent but over the last few years they have become much harder to find. Having joined in the fun of the Blogger's Challenge one target is the "Gonk", from rivers, lakes and canal, so with this added incentive I have managed to get out for a few very short trips touch ledgering bread flake and maggots plus trotting which is my preferred method.

 Although I haven't caught anything to set the miniature world alight there have been some very pretty specimens being caught, my best so far, 1oz 3dr.....love it.

My 2015 Overview.

 It has been quite a year, as ever I simply enjoy getting on the bank but catching specimen fish of various species enhances my enjoyment, can't think of any other sport that I could enjoy more.

 January: The first month of the year was fairly quiet, plenty of Grayling were caught on the Test over a few trips along with some healthy sized Roach, although nothing large came out it was enjoyable.

 February was spent doing pretty much the same, Grayling were high on the agenda and managed to crack the two-pound barrier twice with the best nudging 2.02, larger were seen but never tempted. Also wangled out a stunning wild river Linear Carp using the technique of stret-pegging. Plenty of other fish also fell during the colder days of the month but that monster Grayling did evade me. The Roach were also on form and I had a couple of very decent bags, one of these was edging towards 30lb.

Beautiful fish aren't they.

 March is always a strange month but things weren't too bad, again a few good Roach came to the net and I had a real red letter day on the Barbel front with a 7 fish haul topped by a 11.13 specimen. Plus I started my canal campaign which fast-forwarded it turned out to be very successful.

 April for me is always a month of transition, the river season is over and the other waters don't usually start producing until it begin's to warm up, but the month's stand out trip was a very short, quick fire spinning session in search of Perch and banked a new personal best weighing in at 3lb 6oz. The rest of the month was a combination between Gudgeon, Trout and Tench with some Crucian's chucked in for good measure.

Stunning creature.

 I do like May, one of my favourite month's as the temp' starts to improve and a lot of species come out of their winter slumps to feed with gusto, my canal fishing took an upward curve as I banished the disappointments of numerous difficult blanks by overcoming a stunning 25.03 Mirror Carp, accompanied by a 7.02 ancient looking canal Bream. A few other species were caught but the canal fish were the highlight of the month.

 On to June, I continued on the canals with more success, I was catching at a rate of a fish every two sessions, fish were hard to locate and even more difficult to catch, the opening couple of days I managed a bumper haul of Roach and Barbel on consecutive days, it was great fun but nothing massive again. My Bream campaign started but it didn't go off like I hoped and missed out on a double-figure fish by a fraction too. Also I had banked some lovely pristine Tench along with a new species to the list in the form of a 4.07 Golden Orfe.

 Usually in July my Mrs and I tend to go away on holiday so I don't get as much fishing in but still made a concerted effort to get on the bank, the Loddon proved to be a little tough but had Chub to 5.09 but the larger specimen's remained elusive, I smashed my PB Brown Trout with a 7.2 animal and I started to locate some great shoals of Dace by taking some to a shade over 14oz.

 August was fairly quiet as I didn't do much fishing but the stand-out trip was travelling to Somerset to track down canal Rudd with Russell Hilton, we were both successful and on the second day I topped my haul with a 2.01 specimen through much hard work and plenty of selective angling.

 September is another of my favourite month's as the days are still longish but the slight chill in the air gets certain species feeding better, namely the big Roach, only the one came in this month but it was a good omen. Double-figure Barbel and large Dace. I travelled around abit but whilst visiting the Stour and Avon fishing was tough.

Beautiful fish. Magical fish.

 October was always going to be interesting and it didn't fail me, the capture of a PB Roach/Bream Hybrid from the canal, some more very large Dace slowly approaching the pound mark, along with my second Roach over 2lb of the season.

 Now November, by this time I'm starting to realise winter should be settling in yet it wasn't even cold, at times I was still out in a t-shirt!, again I wasn't particularly successful on a few trips but when I did catch they were fantastic fish like this stunning Autumn Common of 23.09 from one of my local canals, plus another "fish of a lifetime", this clonking fish pulled the dial around to 2lb 10oz which is the largest Roach for quite a few years.

 Then December, where do I start. It has been quite a month, having been off work for a couple of weeks leading up to Christmas I stepped up my efforts on a couple of fronts by putting in some serious legwork and I certainly reaped the rewards, Chub to just under 6lb, beating my PB Zander four times to finish on 7lb flat with Brian Roberts, a lovely days trotting with Tom Aldous on the Itchen for Grayling and Roach, some big Dace on the Avon, catching my fourth 2lb Roach at 2.06, double-figure Barbel and last but not least, I realised one of my angling dreams as I successfully targeted a twenty-pound Pike and from a River too, at 21.07 I was and still am so made up, a truly wonderful experience and what a creature she was, I'd love another one just to prove it wasn't a fluke!

That's it from me, I hope you enjoyed your angling journey's in 2015 like I did.

Tight lines for the new year and be lucky, make those dreams, reality.