A great finish to a great season.

 With the season drawing to a close on Thursday, I wanted one last trip out for the Barbel before I change tact and head off to the lakes in search of other quarry, today I used the same tactic as I usually do as it works so effectively even in this late part of the season, rolling meat is by far my favourite method when fishing rivers and over the last 9 months I feel I've come on leaps and bounds with the technique, but no where near perfection.

  I got on the river quiet late by my standards, roughly 11am but I wasn't planning to be out for long due to training in the evening, 5 hours I felt was enough time to do some good fishing, with the passing snow showers and constant wind over the last few days today was a stark contrast with plenty of nice warm currant bun and the wind had died off considerably, much better for fishing.

 Over an hour had passed and plenty of walking with no fish spotted and plenty of rolling had been done but nothing was on the feed but the one thing I love about rolling and roving light is that if you don't get a bite in 3-5 rolls then move on unless you see them, I had reached a nice looking swim with a deep gravel run that was ideal for rolling and it wasn't long before I saw a Barbel on the clear sunlit bottom roughly 5lb, seeing the Barbel doesn't always mean you are going to catch them and this small but wiley whisker proved that can be the case, 10 minutes of constant casting into the run and no take I thought I'd leave it and come back later. What happened next will stay in my mind for a long time to come.

 I crept up to a swim just downstream and spotted a good sized Barbel probably around the 9lb mark laying up on the sandy gravel bed, needless to say I got into a position to cast and rolled the bait straight up to it when it turned right at the last moment and ignoring it, then I lost sight briefly of the bait and then my finger felt a slight pluck followed by an almighty wrench around then noticing a huge Barbel storm off with me in tow, on 6lb line and that silly match rod again I was connected with a big Barbel and started to feel understandably nervous about fighting such a large fish on let's face it very puny gear designed for Roach!, but the lighter the gear the more exhilarating the encounter and I certainly found it exhilarating, long powerful and meaningful runs, up and down river for a good 5 minutes, the longest 5 minutes I think I've ever experienced in fishing.

 That five minutes had come and gone, my net submerged and waiting as a thick set, oak brown Barbel glided in, immediately I knew it was going to be the second biggest Barbel I've ever landed.

 12lbs 6ozs of pure brilliance, a very happy me and still smiling now. A massive Barbel and a massive result, the colour of the Barbel is one of the best I've seen, immaculate bronze flanks.

 

Head nearly the same size as a set of Avon's.

 

 I could easily have packed up then but my last Barbel session I couldn't finish after about hour and a half, so after I had weighed, photographed and revived the specimen beast I sat back and took stock of the capture and spoke to James snr ( dad ) to let him know what I'd caught, 20 minutes later I decided to have another cast in the same swim but further down and on my first roll in about 6 feet of water along the far bank I had another take within seconds, I was connected to another good sized Barbel but it hung low in the water and didn't see it until it was ready for the net, the session was getting better, if it could, on the scales she went 8lbs 15ozs another quality fish.

 



Another pristine river prince.

 

 The day didn't finish at that either, I managed another two Barbel both in the 5lb bracket and one of those at 5lb 4oz was the one I saw earlier in the day that didn't want to feed, but the persistence paid off with that one which took my total to 4 Barbel for the day at over 30lb in weight.

 

 A day I won't forget in a hurry and it's these days on the bank is what makes fishing so special for me, a 12lb Barbel is a big fish one that I will remember for a long time to come.

 



At last.......A Decent Chevin.

 For the last couple of weeks at work I have been looking forward to doing some serious fishing and un-interrupted, so I could spend the last 4 days of the river campaign in search of some specimen fish to see out this already ground breaking season.

 Today's target was one of which I have done some serious searching for and as of yet haven't picked up any real big ones and I didn't think it was the best of days weather wise, for the whole session I was constantly bombarded by strong gusty winds and snow which made fishing quite difficult in regards to presentation and not to mention my hands.

 Because of the cold weather I wasn't planning to stay out for long and it wasn't long before I was connected to my first Chub (3.10), it was good to get a fish on the bank and after that fish the swim died off and I had to move on, the next swim screamed Chub with a deep pool behind a fallen tree and I managed to cast a lump of bread flake under float straight up against the tree and trotted it around the pool and it must have been about 4 or 5 casts before I got an enquiry, when the float slightly dipped I struck into it and was met by quite a powerful fish that lunged a few times into the tree line and it took a bit of battling to keep it from ploughing through the branches and breaking me off, but after a couple of minutes it came up from the depths and rolled up on the top, as soon as I saw it roll on the top I knew it was a 5lb + Chub so I grabbed the net instantly and it slipped straight in.

Finally...... 5lb 4oz. A pukka result.

 

 



 It's taken a long time to finally catch one and I've fished plenty of good Chub waters since the new year and not managed one until now, once I had taken a couple of pictures and weighed it I moved swim-further up river to try to find some more, the swims today seemed to be only chucking up one fish each.  My next swim looked about as Chubby as it could possibly get.

 It wasn't long in this swim until I got my first fish out of this swim, within five casts I had two Chub to 4lb 6oz which was a short but chunky fish and the other was just over 3lb, then the bites started to dry up when I deepened up the float and held it back in the flow, after doing that for a couple of trots I got another take which felt pretty strong in the flow and a powerful fight for a brief period then it just plodded around in the current until it decided to come in, it was another lump.

 

A very short but thick and deep. 5lb 7ozs.

 

 I had waited more than 3 months for a 5lb Chub and now I had caught two in a day, so typical of fishing but grateful that it has, on the scales the latest of the two Chub went 5lb 7oz and not to mention the biggest Chub of the season and with only 3 days to go, it took about 10 minutes to get my camera working before this picture, it is getting on a bit ( 7 years to be exact ), time to get a new one, but unalike the other swims I started to build quite a large bag of Chub with 12 in total coming to the net, with a majority of them around the 3lb mark but the longer the day was getting the more unbearable the cold and the wind was becoming, it got to about 4 o'clock when I had decided enough was enough, I had reached my target now and a couple of Roach before the end of the season would be great. Until then........tight lines. Back out today to do some more fishing, make hay.

 

  The only other angler on the river.........

 

  Unfortunately couldn't get closer to the Kingfisher perched on a branch shaking off it's feathers.

 

Spring Rolling and Roving.

 After the recent sessions on the Great Ouse and on some of my more local rivers in the south of England and not really catching many of my targets I decided to do go fishing for a different species that I haven't targeted very much over the last couple of months, this year so far I've had a Barbel from the two tributary's of the Thames and also the Thames itself with the biggest at 11lbs 9ozs, so with a good start to the year and with the season coming to an abrupt close I needed to get out for a session of light roving.

 Normally Sunday's is the one day that is strictly used to spend time with my girlfriend but today I decided to head out early so I could get over to central London at a decent time, my plan was simple, start at the top of the beat and walk down to the bottom, today's bait was a few cubes of meat and half a loaf of bread.

 The session started off well on my first cast and rolling I managed to snag up on some submerged debris and lost my hook and my last 2ssg shot, great start!, so I tackled up again and carried on rolling but no joy, the next swim down I found a couple of fish one being a big Chub which was sat side by side with a Barbel of about 9lb, needless to say I cast out and the Chub ignored it and the Barbel nailed it, I managed to bump it, where it must have just hit the bait rather than swallowing it.

 One failed attempt, I moved down further where I was scanning the river bed in the bright sunlight which was illuminating the bottom showing almost everything and that also included a Carp that was laying up behind a fallen tree, where the river was so clear I had to stalk the Carp for a little while and remain very low it surely would have spooked, I flicked a few bits of bread out in the water held up behind the tree and watched them swirl around the eddy, where the Carp started looking at one and then hoovered one up and quickly chased the rest down and ate them too, all the while I was getting more confident that I'd catch it, so I cast out about 4 foot in front of it and it gained that distance in a matter of seconds and sucked up my bait, the fight that ensued was typical of a river Carp with a crazed scrap and charging around aimlessly for about 3 minutes, after tiring it out I slipped a lovely Koi Mirror Carp into the net.

6lb 3oz of solid river Carp albeit not native.

 A lovely Carp but not a Barbel, so I decided to head down river and keep trying, with the knowledge that I have of my local rivers I did get the opportunity to catch a Barbel when I found a shoal of them laying up on a gravel run, on my second roll through I got a pluck on my finger and I struck, Barbel on but I had to try and draw it away from the shoal so it didn't spook the remainder of the fish, for once a Barbel did exactly what I wanted and it charged up river and frolicked around until it came in.

5lb 5ozs, not a beast but a good fight all the same.

 After releasing the fish which spent 5 minutes recouping, I sat back and watched the Barbel feeding on the gravels for about 20 minutes whilst I waited for them to regain a bit of confidence, when I felt the time was right I cast back out and within 30 seconds my rod slammed over and I was in again, the waiting paid it's dividends, this Barbel felt a lot bigger and when it came up river closer to me I saw it was a bigger but not a large one, ie: a double. A couple of minutes later I banked a pristine 8lb 10oz Barbel, a couple of photo's aswell for a good fish, my first over 5lb for a few weeks.

A real winter powerhouse.

 My targets for the remainder of the season will be hopefully some Roach and maybe even find some Thames Bream and try to bag up on them as March is always a good month for them to feed in mass.

My return to the Great Ouse

 Last Saturday I decided to head back to the Ouse in search of Chub, when I got there accompanied by my brother Chris I noticed that the river had come down drastically and lost all of it's colour since I was there two weeks ago and I must admit, I really fancied catching a few fish, the conditions were perfect if not a little too perfect, for the Chub I think a little bit more colour in the water may have been an advantage but you can only fish what is in front of you at the time.

 So we both set about roving around me after anything on the float and Chris was hunting down the Pike with a collection on spinners and sprat on the float, it wasn't long until I spotted a couple of Pike to about 6lb but Chris didn't manage to persuade them to feed and my chance of a landing my first Ouse fish came when I trotted a piece of bread flake in a back eddy which was taken by a nice Roach of about 6ozs, task done - a fish off of the Ouse on my second trip and not necessarily a beast but I was happy with a fish.

 As the day went on I persevered with the trotting and feeder fishing bread, fishing every snaggy swim and run that looked like it would produce a fish, with a good walk put in up the whiting's beat in search of Chub I bumped into Trefor West and an angling partner of his, Ray, who gave me some very interesting information on the river and the Whiting's beat in particular, Trefor had a 4lb Chub earlier in the day but apart from that one Chub everyone on the beat had blanked and the time was passing really quickly for me and it was becoming more and more difficult to see where my next bite would come from, meanwhile Chris was still chasing Pike with no joy and another two or so hours passed with no more bites we both decided to pack up and head back to London, but vowing to come back next season to try our hand at catching "the impossible", or so it seems for me, a 5lb+ Chub not to mention that the Chub here go up to 8lb, with also a good stock or sixes and sevens to be had. But until next time.

A very Chubby looking swim, they were there! I know it.

A glorious day in the end, even managed to take a fleece off.

Sunset through the arches of the Wolverton viaduct, but no Chub and one Roach for my troubles.

Flashback.

 From one of my trips to Turkey. I bought a cheap rod set-up for about 20YTL and grabbed some bread from the breakfast hall, even being on holiday I found every which way to go fishing, hiring out pedelo's, walking off the beach, boat trips you name it. In the 40c weather the fishing wasn't unbearable but it was bloody hot and the fish did enjoy the bread and had a range of fish, some of which were pretty ugly and some with an abundance of colour.

The man from Atlantis.

A spiny and a very toxic fish.

Lunch time for 1.

Where are you fishy's???

After feeding them a slice of bread.

The calcium cliffs (Pummakkale) in 51c weather and the water was ice cold.

The celsius library at Ephisus.

Still searching for big Chub.

 My recent attempts to locate and catch some Chub over the 5lb mark has been alot more challenging than I thought when I decided to pursue them, my quest has taken me to 6 different rivers in a 70 mile radius and still not managed to acquire my target in 2 months of trying, today I decided to stay closer to home and have a go at my most local of tributary's.

 I had been selected for a home match in a league fixture, so I had to get out early because I had to be off of the river by 11:30 at the latest to get home and grab some bits and then meet up with the squad, on the bank for sunrise I had travelled light and only armed with some Chub favourites, a few casts in each swim and with no enquires I would move, my first swim certainly looked good for a Chub but for all the cover, gravel bottom and running water with slacks not a sniff, my next swim I had a Chub wrap and nothing, normally rolling will get the attention of the greedy ones first but even they managed to not hook themselves, next cast and a Barbel sideled across the river clear as day heading straight for the bait and I was brimming with confidence that it was just about to suck the bait and run, but no that wasn't to happen when it appears to nudge the bait and I struck thinking it took it, clever sod must having been testing it!

 So the Chub my target and the Barbel were playing smart today, another mile or so downstream I walked along the bank and spooked off a Pike about 7lb from a snag under the bank, the next swim I did finally catch a Chub but not a big one of about 2lb.

  Today I was also trying out a centre pin I bought off ebay, a Marco cortesi centre pin, for only £20 I wasn't expecting much but so far it's okay, in regards to spin my Okuma Sheffield is so good with a small flick of the wrist will give it a spin of about 45 seconds and the Marco cortesi reel maybe 7 seconds, far different by comparison but the Okuma is about £120-£160 on average so the price gap is what you would expect, but it's light and the ratchet is okay and for rolling so far I have found okay.

 Another half a mile or so downstream I found a shoal of Chub sitting in mid-stream and about 3 rolls through another Chub was hooked and after a brief fight a larger fish slipped over the net but it wasn't a big one either at 3lb 4ozs which was quiet heavily scarred on both sides like it had been attacked by just about everything in the river.

 

Definitely got plenty of room to fill out.

 

 Still no large Chub showing themselves, but as time was closing in on me I headed further down and rolled around a pool and spotted a Barbel at the tail end of the swim of about 9lb maybe a bit bigger which spooked so I naturally followed it, one Barbel turned into about 6 if not more, the longer I looked down into the water more appeared and on one of my first rolls I felt a tug and I struck into the smallest of the shoal, but not to sell it short it certainly gave a great account of itself, not a Chub but a fish all the same. Another one for the future, without these there is no future for this river!

 

 

Photography by Stu, who after seeing the Barbel wanted one himself.

 

 After that fish I packed up and headed home. 5 hours later and home grabbed the gear, got transport out back to river, we drew 2 - 2 at home unfortunately having been 2 - 0 up at HT so none of us was happy with the full time result but that's football for you, you don't close out games you run that risk.

 

 Back out and in search for Chub so effectively starting from where I finished in the morning but I fished a number of swims and some at length with not a touch and at 8:30 it was a long day I needed a rest. Home time it was. Another trip to the Great Ouse me thinks, I'm going to crack this big Chub target before the 14th of March, I will!  Tight Lines until then.



River Great Ouse Chub fishing

 Today I decided to have a change of scenery and head off to one of the Chub mecca's of the country with the hope of catching one of the large specimen's that call it home, so with a 2 and a bit hour journey needed to get to the river I had to leave early, journey done on the train, my target stretch was the Stony Stratford beat controlled by the MKAA and where a decent head of Chub reside and at a pretty good average of 5lb +, with the occasional 7lb Chub coming out.

 The river when I arrived was with in it's banks and maybe a foot up on usual levels plus it was very coloured for it isn't always like liquid sand but I was here so I had to make a go of it, so a go of it tried, my tactic today was to have a feeder rod out with meat, cheese or bread cast in around snags where the Chub will normally congregate and the trotting rod I used my centrepin with a 6BB trotting float using meat mostly and sometimes alternating to rolling meat with 1x 2SSG shot.

Looking down to Wolverton wier.

 



A good looking swim with a large back eddy in front.





 

 

 

  To say the least though unfortunately the trip wasn't going to plan with a plethora of swims and different tactics used I couldn't muster a bite and tried just about everything to find a fish and after 6 hours of fishing I finally managed to hook up something whilst rolling meat which turned out to be a Pike of about 4lb or so but it broke free when it turned on itself and one of it's teeth must have brushed the line, it then charged back off into the depth's to sulk and my time was coming to a close so at 5:30 it was to be my only shot at landing a fish, but this trip was to get an idea of what is available to catch and ask some questions to fellow anglers to try and build a mental image of what the best times are to get down, what bait's work, where the fish hold up and then just using the knowledge I already have of the species and count on their sheer greed to successfully bank an Ouse Chub.

 

 On a different note I also found fresh Otter foot prints in the mud and scales off of what must have been a Roach or a Chublet which also had fresh blood on it, so the dreaded Otter has made it's way up there after they have mullered most of the Barbel and Chub stocks down the Newport Pagnall stretch of the Great Ouse. Not a good thing to discover if they are left uncontrolled.

 

 With the session coming to a close I bumped into one of the baliff's where he shared some good knowledge with me for a later trip down which might stand me in good stead to not blank the next time I go up there in search of a Chub of a lifetime.

 

 At the end of the day though it was nice just to be out in the fresh air with lovely weather and relaxing in a nice part of the country in amongst nature with the rods and at anytime getting that all important bite that could just be my target fish....     ........But until next time.

Off on the trots.

 With the impending freezing cold weather on course to hit us on Sunday onwards I had to get a session in, so Friday night I packed my gear ready for an early start on the river this morning, with the constant light rain the river was up slightly and a bit coloured.

 My tactic today was to trot maggot and bread for anything that fancied feeding, early part of the session I drew a blank and I didn't get my first enquiry until 2 hours into the day when I landed a small Chub around a pound which was quickly followed by a nice Dace of about 6ozs, then all went quiet again.

 After the two fish the swim died a death so I had to move on down river looking for more fish, but I didn't have a dead Barbel in mind which was unfortunately what I saw on the river bed in a back stream around a pound n alf, never good to see dead fish but I guess it was of natural causes rather than angler error, it wasn't too long until I found some more fish, 3 Carp and a couple of Barbel were cruising around and I put a bait out right in front of them and the float slid away with what I thought was one of the Carp ended up being a Barbel of around 4lb if not a little larger but unfortunately wangled free of my hook thus spooking everything else off.

 10 minutes later I had this lovely Chub on the bank. 4lbs 2oz.

 But the most interesting part of the session was coming up, with what seemed to be an attempt to catch a white Koi Carp of maybe 3lb, so I had got into position creeping very slowly and close to the ground to keeping a low profile not to alert the fish but I only saw one Carp laying up close to some debris, so I prepared everything and cast about 15 foot above it's position and let it trot in front of it, but the bait passed the target and no touch and could visibliy see the fish and then my float buried itself and I struck, then all hell broke loose, a large Mirror Carp had slipped the radar and nailed my tasty morsel with my very light tackle I quickly found myself in a spot of bother, lucky I was on a stretch that was fairly clear so I could grab the gear and follow it down river as I couldn't battle it back up river as it was far too powerful on 4.7lb line and a size 14 barbless hook not to mention a very light match rod designed for Roach and Dace.

 Surprise..... this definitely was after a hard fought fight and after 5 minutes I slipped my net under what has to be one of the biggest surprises of the season. An extremely fat almost leather Mirror Carp that weighed..

...13lbs 12ozs of pure power and obesity.

 Well I certainly didn't wake up this morning thinking that could be on the cards so, very chuffed to say the least and she went back as if nothing happened soaking my jeans in the process, later on in the session I did also manage two Brown Trout both about 8ozs, both of which decided to leap back for the river without a piccy, plus I got my obligatory Barbel that weighed 3lbs on the nose.

Just have to have one a session almost my birthright.

More tackle for the collection.

Over the last few days I've managed to build my lure collection by raiding the lots on amazon and ebay in a bid to have every post covered in a last gasp bid to catch some predators before the season end, some of the gear that's turned up so far.

 

Chevin hunting.

 Recently I have been searching the rivers for a 5lb plus Chub and so far it has produced more Barbel, over the last few sessions with the large Chub as my target I haven't managed to hit my target with my best weighing 4lb 14oz which in fairness is close enough but one a little bigger would be great.

 Today was no different, I spent the day catching Chub with some of them giving me a decent fight compared to what they normally provide you with and some smaller skelly's thrown in, throughout the day, I tried a range of different spots and with the river up a few inches and carrying a lot of colour it allowed me to rove around almost undetected.

 Armed with all the baits you would associate with Chub, finding the Chub was the hardest part once I found them they were practically throwing themselves at it, with a few hours out in the nice sunshine I finished up with a nice tally of fifteen Chub with the largest at 4lb 5oz not quiet a monster but for this small system a fairly impressive size but the 5's do live here, so I'll be back to find them.

 

Biggest of the day at 4lb 5oz.

 

 

Another 4lb Chub almost pristine.

 

 

Connected to a decent Chub in the coloured backwaters.

 

 

A typical swim, plenty of Chub around and it looks ideal for a big Chevin.

 

 My Chub scorecard for the day:

 

3lb 8oz

3lb 5oz

4lb 5oz

2lb 15oz

3lb 14oz

3lb 7oz

2lb 13oz

3lb 10oz

4lb 4oz

4lb 1oz

2lb 2oz

4lb 0oz

2lb 6oz

3lb 2oz

3lb 8oz

For a total of: 51lb 3oz of Chub.