A Mixed Bag of a Season.

Another fantastic season is firmly in the rear-view mirror but will be remembered for a number of memorable catches, rivers, lakes and streams. Every season that approaches I always promise myself more time on the bank and if you'd believe my partner I never leave it, well that's not true but close....we all have work don't we!

 So here's a brief rundown of the last 12 months:

 April was as always wasn't fished alot and when I did head out it was after Brown Trout on the fly and a Crucian trip to Surrey, best Cru' was at 1.13 and I had numerous Brownies to 4.6.

 May is usually a good month as the water in the lakes starts to warm up and a plethora of species decide to awake from their winter slumber, I broke my PB Perch on my first trip out on one of my lakes in the form of a 2.13 specimen, apart from that loads more Trout to around 4lb were taken on the fly as were plenty of Dace to 6-8oz plus a bonus Rudd. Also a few Carp to mid-doubles were taken but nothing spectacular.

Pb Perch....2.13

 June is always my favorite month as the weather is more consistent and the fish tend to respond to that, plus the river season is in sight, but my first half of the month saw a brace of good Tench including my current PB of 8lb 3oz and also a monster Brown Trout of 5.7 which will always be remembered for the brutal fight that it put up.

Totally brutal, best of the season.

My PB Tench, I hope to catch some more this spring too.

 July I'm normally away on holiday but last year we did it a little earlier so I was back for the beginning of the month and I was straight back into the Carp and as the river season opened so did some of my ticket waters, 3 double figure Bream including my PB of 11.4 were bagged, this was along with some Barbel, Chub, Carp to just under 20lb and a 14oz specimen sized Dace. Plus a very rare pair of Thames Sea Trout to 3.5 were taken (not home) whilst trotting for Roach.

 August was a great month for me as I made various trips around the country in search of different species and was successful in possibly all of them, Crucian's from Marsh Farm to 2lb 9oz, Carp up to 23lb, big Dace to 15oz, my first ever Grayling and chalk-stream Perch over 2 1/2 pound.

First ever Grayling.

 I usually love September for Roach and that was justified by the capture of two 2lb plus Roach (2.1 & 2.5) with a few more under 2lb, although it wasn't all easy going, a trip to the river Wye with Brian was organised and this was in search of the legendary Pike along with quality Perch too, both of which were captured, Pike to 14.12 & Perch to 2.8, a great 4 day trip and I was champing at the bit to get back, with a few more lake Perch nabbed out to 2.8 on the spinners.

2.1

2.5

River Wye Esox at 14.12

Defiant Wye Perch

Another quality stripey at 2.8.

 During October I fished the Royalty in Christchurch and only managed a few jack's, on the Thames I faired better with a brace of doubles to 15.1, also a few Barbel just under the magic double figure mark and lastly I headed over to Bury Hill in Dorking and banked myself a PB Zander of 4.7, not a monster by their standard's but I didn't care as it was a tough day indeed.

 November is usually a quiet month for me as work gets busier before the Christmas rush, this year I managed a decent amount of time out but it wasn't easy going, a few good Chub over 5lb were banked, good Barbel to 10.10 and lastly a trip to the Coventry canal where I blanked yet again but the journey up wasn't all about catching fish. 

5.5 skelly which was part of a brace of 5's.

Plenty of blank hours were suffered before this beauty of 10.10.

 In December the 5lb Chub were still coming out, the Avon at Britford was yet again very hard as a -3c night knocked the fishing on the head, some very good Gudgeon started to show aswell with plenty of the Gonks coming to Roach tactics, I visited some prime Grayling rivers hoping for a PB, I didn't wait long as I had them to 1.7 on my first attempt. Not just the wonderful are banked as the weird does also make an appearance, this time in the form of a chunky Goldfish.

 A turn of a new year and the Grayling kept coming to over a pound which included an improvement on my previous PB by 2oz, a few rivers were tried and bagged fish on all of them, during January it was only the Grayling that I targeted primarily but I did also catch a nice Roach of 1.11.

Stunning fish aren't they!

My favorite fish of all, not hard to see why.

 February was a great month for me as I found a few good shoals of Roach and also some brilliant Grayling, a 2lb fish was the target for both Grayling & Roach, the lady of the stream didn't take long to achieve, on trips before I saw 2lb plus specimen's this time it was on the bank and in fact 2 of them in 2 trips to 2lb 2oz, the Roach didn't reach that weight but weighing in at 1.8 it's not bad.

A good Roach.

2lb 0oz.

2lb 2oz my current PB.

My Dad with his new PB 1.14 after 30 years since setting his last.

 March doesn't last long as the river season cuts it in half, the month though was highlighted by a brilliant catch of Barbel with 7 caught in 5 hours to 11.13, great way to spend the morning, more Roach came to 1.9 and also a few more Gudgeon plus a nice spinner caught lake Perch of 2.2.

My last Roach of the season at 1.9.

Chalkstream Perfection.

 This winter was meant to be in search of Pike and other predators but instead have found myself searching through southern England's plethora of chalkstream's for the chance of another shot at Grayling, this species of fish is unbelievably great to look at regardless of size but the bigger ones do look amazing and having had a 1.9 last week I wanted to improve on this record and aim for a two-pounder. With last week's successful trip a return visit was decided upon with Richard and Brian joining me for a trip into a picturesque part of the Hampshire countryside.

 Surrounded by nature at it's best we organised ourselves before dawn and headed off in search of fishy looking spots and as the water was so clear spotting individual fish to target was possible all day and what a way to fish, stalking your quarry is the most exciting way of fishing I believe when conditions permit this - as I found out to great effect during the day. Shoals of Grayling were littered with Trout of all species and smaller Grayling, stalking enabled me to avoid any "unwanted" disturbances and although many angler's wouldn't be able to turn their nose up at 5lb plus Trout these today were not my target.

First Blood, a pound Grayling on almost the first cast.

Feisty Rainbow's do fight very well on 3lb line.

 First up was a "fin perfect" Grayling of exactly a pound which put up their customary scrap before slipping into the net, five minutes of fishing and I had a good fish banked, that was the sign of things to come as a further 6 fish were caught on maggots within the first hour of fishing, a great conditioned Rainbow did manage to avoid my sight in a slightly deeper run and lead me the merry dance before going psycho in the net.

Stunning and obviously hungry.

 Between 9am and 1pm it was much of the same as Grayling were caught to 1lb 5oz with the rest just shy of the pound mark which is very encouraging for the future plus a cameo appearance from a lovely Perch and a Jack Pike caught on a little jig.

1.5

 A couple of meets with the rest of the party during the day were used to exchange catch reports and where they were being found, whilst Rich was with me I was stalking a very big Grayling of 2lb plus and as my bunch of maggots approached it my float buried itself with that fish still on station, whatever it was I hooked it fought hard and only became visible as a huge sail came up to the surface, I called over to Rich to head over with the net and after 3 or so minutes I could regain my breath, a monster Grayling lay in the net, it had to be a certain 2lb fish but if this was 2 then the other was at least 2.8 if not heading for 3lb it was much bigger in comparison to my one, but I couldn't care less as the fish I travelled down for had been caught, Overjoyed? you bet I was.

2lb 0oz and a brilliant new PB, what a beautiful specimen.

Chalkstream Grayling perfection.

 What a cracking fish she was and in great condition, I have certainly missed a lot in regards to Grayling and before Christmas 2014 I had only fished for them once, well let's just say that I'll be looking to capture more as of October onwards. Angler's that have caught 2-4lb Grayling must be very proud of their captures as they are probably equal to the large Rudd in how they look, never felt so scared though of losing a fish!, I spent that time it was on chewing my ticker.

 As the afternoon wore on I was still having a great day and caught another three 1lb plus fish (1.1, 1.5 & 1.8) but Rich and Brian were also having a great day too as Brian also caught a new PB with Rich catching plenty of fish but unfortunately no Grayling over 12oz, the Trout seemingly impossible to avoid, I'm glad I had as the absence of Trout enabled me to get the Grayling confident but that enormous Grayling I saw when I hooked my 2 didn't fancy a chew having seen what happening to it's pal.

1.8, second biggest of the day, 1oz off my PB before Kick-Off.

 Roach time was starting to approach and I had bagged as many as 25 Grayling, next up was hopefully getting amongst some monster Roach, mashed bread in a 20g cage-feeder and a generous pinch of flake was cast out ahead of a deep trough where I would expect red-fins to be present, I allowed the rod to settle and began to clear up my bag when my rod tip lurched over, a typical Roach bite turned out to be a Roach but not a "biggun" at roughly 12oz, I thought that the jackpot was landed and all I had to do was to hope that the Trout would stay away, that were the kiss of death as a Rainbow and a very good Sea Trout hammered around my swim causing all sorts of havoc, these two fish sealed the proverbial coffin as the swim died totally and the monster Roach will have to stay a mystery, I know they exist as Bri and I have seen them, 20-30 fish with the average being probably 1-2lb but a couple bucked that trend easily as I saw one that was getting on for 3lb!. I will be back for them.

 An absolutely fantastic day as was last weeks trip and many thanks Chris for the opportunity.

Angling For Grayling Part Three.

 It's been a while since my last post, with work very busy at the moment time is hard to come by but over the last week I have been planning a trip out for Grayling with Brian, so with the weather looking good last night we made the plans final and set off at 0540 and hit the M3 with Grayling firmly in our minds, the journey down went by in a flash as we spoke all things fishy and talked up our chances. When we arrived the river looked in fantastic condition and could not wait to get fishing.

 Initially I had rigged my 11ft trotting rod with a 3SSG chubber float and aim to find the slightly deeper runs where the fish maybe laying up, my usual baits that I've used on the Test didn't work for the opening couple of hours so a change of tactics and bait started to prove pivotal as bites came more frequently. One of the biggest aims of the day was for Brian to catch a PB Grayling and after an hour or so this was accomplished with a lovely specimen, to view tap here - (Details) and his day got even better.

Mint condition Rainbow.

Average on the day of 10oz roughly.

Another hard fighting pristine Grayling.

 My day was rather slow in comparison and a pound plus Grayling decided to hop-off early doors which set the tone but as the day wore on and a few Grayling were banked I felt confident a larger one would be found, although we were enjoying our trip out immensely the conditions, the river were all perfect, by around 2oclock I had caught 6 rainbow trout, as many as 15 sea trout and a lot more brownies, these were accompanied by 9 Grayling to 1lb when just the fish I was looking for popped up on a deep gravel bed, my 4 maggots fished straight in front of it, the float buried itself immediately and that was all I needed, the fight was great in the pacy water and I played it as carefully as I dared without allowing any slack, with the net waiting I guided her in. Happy days!.

A new PB of 1.9. Fantastic.

 When they approach 2lb they change totally from a young fish and get noticeably darker and the colours on them are absolutely brilliant, after that fish was returned I had a couple more to 1.1 and as dusk approached I turned my attentions to Roach. The Roach are known in this stretch to grow over 2lbs, with that knowledge and an uncanny knack for catching good Roach I set about targeting one or two, within twenty minutes of fishing I had this beautiful Redfin in perfect winter condition, something that I'd never tire of, especially when they look like this.

An immaculate 1lb 11oz chalk-stream Roach.

Ready to fight another day.

1lb 2oz.

 It wasn't my only one either as I managed another at 12ozs in great nick too. After I had caught the 1.11 Roach I had located the shoal that I wanted to find and the shoal consisted of as many as 10 fish over 2lb with a couple in the high 2's with a very healthy number of sub 2lber's aswell, but sadly after catching two of them time ran out. My day went from strength to strength, new PB Grayling and a Roach approaching 2lb in one trip is a great return. With that said a nice jack pike also took a liking to a hard-body lure of mine which coincidentally was in great condition just like everything we caught, as night settled in we decided to call it a day and we had thoroughly enjoyed ourselves in a great place in probably the most pristine fishery I've had the pleasure of fishing.

Toothy critter at 6lb.