A Bar of Gold.

 The title is almost a dead give away as to what species that I targeted on Saturday and after Brian's amazing bag last Saturday he couldn't say no to another trip down to Marsh Farm Fishery, so we were both up bright and early, by half 8 we were all set, both of our tactics were to float fish and mine wasn't dotted and fished the float on the lift and it worked very well but most of which weren't my target species.

 After some fairly cold nights recently and a very keen easterly wind the fish of all species weren't feeding very hard and it didn't really start to improve until around midday, it improved then massively, with a quick succession of Bream, Gudgeon, Roach, Rudd and a couple of Tench, this was then much the same throughout the day but I still couldn't find a Crucian, I was getting the bites off of the Cru's and did lose two both of which were roughly 12oz with the hook popping out as they hit the surface, neither of them were big but I certainly would have loved to land them.

A skimmer or a Silver Bream?

 More than 10 hours of fishing was coming to a close as we had to get ourselves packed up and over to the train station to head back to London, Brian had 3 Cru's to 2.4 which was a beautiful specimen and after the day I had just one would have been perfect but unfortunately it was time to finish, so as you do when fishing you reel in your line and prepare to leave but after more than 10 hours of fishing with no Crucian's you don't expect with no bite the rod to hoop over, but that is exactly what happened, I simply wasn't prepared for it and then after a brief encounter a bar of gold rose to the surface, with which I reached for the landing net and in she slipped, I have never been so elated to catch a fish, it was a tough day and I did every thing that I know, float sizes, shotting patterns, baits and depth.

 So this is what I came for in all it's glory.

1 lbs 12 ozs of pure gold, never wanted to catch one so much.

My prize gleaming in the evening sun.

 During the session I had 15 Tench to 3lb 8oz, 4 Bream to a 1lb, 1 Rudd, 2 Gudgeon, 5 Roach, a couple of Hybrids with the surprise last grasp Crucian so all in all a good day, I'll just remember next time I go fishing to wear trousers as I shivered pretty much all day and made things rather uncomfortable, until next time, Tight Lines.

Trout on the Fly Part Two.

 A quick post for a short session this morning in search of some more Trout on the fly, the weather today was perfect for fishing and sunbathing it has to be said but that wasn't on the agenda although I'm partial to a bit of lazing about in the sun home or abroad, the Trout were my target for the morning and within 2 casts out I was into a nice Brownie on the retrieve, I was testing out some new tippet ( 3lb ) breaking strain and it did quiet good but the test of time will no doubt be the ultimate one, the Trout was of an average stamp at 1lb 8oz and fought very well as they always do.

Just one of the weirs that the Trout have to traverse.

1.8

On it's way back to the watery home.

 After a couple of failed attempts to set a hook in two more rises I managed another Trout of around 8ozs roughly an hour later but the fish weren't really showing themselves as they do normally but after Stu joined me on the riverbank we did see around half-a-dozen more Trout most of which were 3lb or larger and two of which were well over 4lb maybe even 5lbs, I will be back for them and one of the larger fish had three follows of a Orange Flash Damsel but everytime I thought it was going to nail it, it shied away, damn, damn, damn, another time maybe. Tight Lines until next time.

Number two on it's way in.

Pristine specimen of a Brown Trout.

Sunbathing weather.

But also good fishing weather too.

Some fantastic fly fishing river.

Your host on the prowl for a spotty.

 Next session up is a trip to Godalming Angling's Marsh Farm Fishery in search of some Spring Crucian Carp with a target of 3lbs 2oz.

Trout on the Fly Part One.

 Trout fishing on the fly, a very interesting way of fishing and something I want to expand on and maybe head out to a reservoir or lake in search of some larger specimens, on the outskirts of London there are a few places which fit that description and will be certainly visited but on Saturday I only had a few hours available, so I tackled up and headed down to the river in search of Brownie.

Typical pool's, perfect Trout habitat.

 I caught one last week but could have had more but the Trout only followed, I thought through the reasons as to why, whether it was fly selection, retrieve speed, depth of where the fly was fished or and most importantly whether the Trout actually feeding, yesterday though I seemed to have got it all right, with a Brownie caught on my second cast, albeit around 6oz but perfectly marked.

Pristine condition little Brownie.

 Within 20 minutes I had a second on and it was certainly bigger, a proper scrap on such light gear, I love it when the rod bends double and this was no exception, a good 2lber and on the scales at 2.4 it was a good guess, after that Trout another followed shortly after and I was on a roll but it was another juvenile Trout maybe only a year old which is very encouraging and seem to take the flies with much more gusto than the larger ones that just seem to follow the flies in curiosity.

Biggest of the day at 2.4, another good fight on the fly gear.

 The day didn't finish with 3 either as I had another two Trout further down the beat biggest of which was 1.11 the smallest around half a pound, I did find a couple of large Trout amongst the growing amount of Ranunculus but couple be tempted enough to nail the fly but they certainly knew it was there, on a couple of occasions coming up the water column to investigate but not pursuing any further unfortunately, but I'm sure another day they may slip up or my selection will be right for them, or maybe just weren't feeding at that time, I will give it another go soon if they are still there.

The winner of prettiest Trout award.

Last Trout of the day.

 Another good days fishing though, hope to have a few of those this month and then the hatch of the Mayfly will surely see some more captures and maybe some bigger ones.

 Tight lines until then guys......

2013-2014 Season's Personal Best's.

 This is a record of the fish caught between 1st April 2013 and March 31st 2014.

 After all the horrific weather that we had, mainly over the winter and the late spawning of just about all species the fishing was by no-means easy but I achieved a couple of targets that I wanted to but the Grayling did evade capture this time around but with a couple of trips planning for the Autumn and Winter I believe it will happen.

 Last season I also managed to set 4 new Personal Best's, Mirror Carp, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Rainbow Trout and Lastly the Esox Lucius. So a great season and let's hope for another year of Record Breaking Catches.

Bream	8 lbs 2oz
Barbel	13 lbs 12oz
Carp Common	20 lbs 7oz
Carp Mirror	35 lbs 8oz PB
Carp Koi	0 lbs 0oz
Chub	5 lbs 11oz
Crucian Carp	1 lbs 13oz
Gudgeon	4oz
Tench	5 lbs 14oz
Roach	2 lbs 6oz
Rudd	1 lbs 7oz
Roach/Bream Hybrid	4 lbs 13oz PB
Ruffe	0oz
Dace	8oz
Perch	7oz
Pike	19 lbs 5 oz PB
Zander	0 lbs 0oz
Eel	2 lbs 3oz
Bleak	0oz
Silver Bream	0 lbs 0oz
Rainbow Trout	3 lbs 2oz PB
Brown Trout	4 lbs 14oz - 4lbs 9oz (fly caught)
Grayling	0 lbs 0oz

Positive Start to the Fly Season.

 With the coarse season having closed a couple of weeks ago and the fly fishing season only starting today, there has been a distinct lack of fishing but now that I'm able to grab the fly rod after work and head off out fishing I'll be doing just that, the last couple of seasons have been very good and I have only recently learnt to fly fish so it has been a good learning curve and even today has been an education.

Springtime + Trout = Happy Days.

 Fly tying has been something again that I have started to get into but not so much this year, websites selling flies have been my source of addition to my already healthy collection, so after spending all that money it was time to use them, a nice evening in the spring sun was all that was required......well apart from a Brown Trout of course, the tackle was as light as I dared, 7ft 2-piece ( 4 weight ) rod along with a ultra lightweight reel filled with a floating line with a 3lb tippet, fished with a mix of flies, my chosen type were dry's as during the evening the Trout could be seen rising as hatches were being sucked in constantly.

Typical glides for Trout.

4 feet of water, but gin clear.

 The river was looking in great condition and the vegetation was growing everywhere and gin clear, so visibility was perfect and spotty's could be seen in alot of swims which filled me with confidence but even with the fly's presented at the best of my ability I could not arouse any interest, more than an hour was spent seeking out a willing Trout when all of a sudden, the monotony of casting with no rises or follows was broken when a Chub of about 2lb nailed it, after a tussle of a minute or two a short Chevin popped into the net, although it wasn't a Brownie it was most welcome.

 But it wasn't long before I finally got a Trout tempted and after all the casting, a Cat's Whisker was the difference but by the time I got the Brownie in the fly was shredded, a good size though and my first of the 2014-15 season, at 2lb 10oz it is average sized, but it's a positive start, long may it continue.

1st of the season, target is a 6lber this spring.

Early Spring Tench.

 On Saturday morning I made the trip down to Marsh Farm, a fishery I had visited last year twice in search of Crucian Carp and got plagued by Tench, this time round it was in search of Tench as it's probably too cool for the Crucian's to be feeding hard, April onwards will certainly be the time to target them, but in the meantime even though we have cold nights and rain/hail storms passing through the Tench should still be on the feed.

Not the biggest but probably the most pristine.

 I was joined by Richard and Brian for the days fishing where we had no real expectations and simply went for a day out and relax, my personal best Tench of 7lb 15oz caught in 2010 is still the number to beat but even though there are Tench at the farm that can beat that I simply wanted to enjoy the sporadic sunshine and get my line pulled, on the other hand Brian and Richard's Tench PB's are not as large, hence a PB here for them both could have been easily achievable.

Not breaking any records.

Nasty looking weather.

 The day out did provide us with quite a lot of fun and all of us were catching fish but we were made to wait until the afternoon, with a hail storm seeming to be the catalyst, float fishing maggots over a big bed of loose maggot feed, Brian and I managed 9 and 6 respectively each, even Richard got in on the act with 3 Tench but the Bream also showed up with almost a dozen caught between the other two, apart from the Tench for me, a solo Roach put in an appearance and for all my hard work on the Harris Lake which didn't pay off it was Richardson Lake that delivered, which is why it is the match lake and much easier to catch from, but come the warmer months Harris Lake will see me a few times as I try to achieve a new personal best for the species which coincidentally was set in 1998 (3lb 1oz).

 A good day out and we were also joined by a pair of Red Kites which unfortunately stayed very high up in the sky, but was constantly reminded of their presence through the loud squawking and occasionally stooping much closer to the ground but still too high up for me to not get a picture, until mid-late April Crucian......

Winter Pike Challenge Final Chart.

My accumulated list of Pike caught this season, my objective was to catch 200lbs and also trying to catch five doubles amongst that total weight, of course it's my first season that I have targeted this species in particular, so I had already caught a new personal best and caught more than all my years in angling, I hadn't been disappointed at all by the amount caught, due to the awful weather and inability to reach the rivers as they were out of their banks as I know they were all through the British Isles, hopefully next season the weather is alot better and we don't get bombarded by rain.

September:

5.13, 2.1, 5.3, 11.3, 2.6 ----- Total: 26lb 10oz

October:

4.14, 2.13, 3.1, 2.8, 2.3, 19.5, 6.0 ----------Total: 40lb 12oz

November:

8.13, 6.0 ---------Total: 14lb 13oz

December:

10.11, 5.0, 5.6 ----------Total: 21lb 1oz

January:

5.15 ------Total: 5lb 15oz

February:

4.10


Overall Total : 113lbs 13oz, unfortunately I did not reach my target but it was exciting all the same, more of the same for next season.

Previous season 12-13 Barbel Capture Chart.

Barbel caught since June 16th 2012 to March 14th 2013.

2lb  +  2
3lb  +  6
4lb  +  7
5lb  +  10
6lb  +  13
7lb  +  11
8lb  +  7
9lb  +  2
10lb + 2
11lb + 1
12lb + 1

Total caught since June 16th stands at 62 Barbel.

16.06.2012 - 2lb 7oz
17.06.2012 - 5lb 2oz
23.06.2012 - 8lb 1oz, 4lb 4oz, 8lb 3oz, 5lb 11oz
24.06.2012 - 2lb 14oz
26.06.2012 - 3lb 10oz, 4lb 4oz
29.06.2012 - 7lb 13oz
30.06.2012 - 6lb 10oz, 6lb 2oz, 6lb 7oz, 4lb 2oz

05.07.2012 - 7lb 6oz, 6lb 4oz
07.07.2012 - 4lb 10oz, 6lb 5oz
19.07.2012 - 9lb 3oz, 5lb 10oz
22.07.2012 - 8lb 6oz
25.07.2012 - 6lb 12oz, 6lb 9oz, 5lb 8oz, 3lb 1oz

02.08.2012 - 6lb 8oz
11.08.2012 - 6lb 4oz, 5lb 13oz

06.09.2012 - 6lb 6oz
09.09.2012 - 7lb 7oz, 7lb 2oz

13.10.2012 - 6lb 14oz, 7lb 6oz, 10lb 8oz, 4lb 7oz
25.10.2012 - 6lb 9oz

03.11.2012 - 10lb 8oz
24.11.2012 - 3lb 13oz, 7lb 7oz
27.11.2012 - 7lb 1oz

01.12.2012 - 4lb 3oz
09.12.2012 - 6lb 10oz
15.12.2012 - 7lb 5oz
29.12.2012 - 3lb 9oz, 4lb 2oz, 11lb 1oz, 7lb 2oz

10.01.2013 - 8lb 14oz, 7lb 0oz
23.01.2013 - 9lb 13oz, 7lb 4oz, 5lb 0oz, 5lb 4oz, 8lb 1oz

09.02.2013 - 3lb 0ozs
23.02.2013 - 3lb 8ozs

03.03.2013 - 5lb 5ozs, 8lb 10oz
13.03.2013 - 12lb 6oz, 8lb 15oz, 5lb 7oz, 5lb 4oz

Season's Total: 402lbs 1oz.
Average weight for the season: 6lbs 5ozs

So Long To Another Great Season.

 Since the 1st of April last year I set myself a few goals some of which I achieved with a few more personal bests to boot, but the likes of the Grayling had slipped my grasp, much to the fault of the erroneous weather but these things happen in fishing, another time.

During the past 12 months I have had a number of quality fish, from a 35.8 Mirror Carp to a 13.12 Barbel whilst trotting and a couple more 2lbs plus river Roach (2.6 & 2.2), fish that are still fairly rare in the river systems by the standards of the 1980's, not also to mention my best season for Pike which culminated in a 19.5 specimen being banked on the Avon, fly fishing during the spring months for Brown Trout also proved very successful with well over 30 Trout caught up to a shade under 5lbs and lastly my first Crucian Carp for over a decade which was caught at Marsh Farm Fishery in Surrey during a session targeting them during a lovely spring day and funnily enough that is where I will be heading next weekend for a fun day out, no expectations day out with James Snr and Brian from Pike Blog....touch wood the weather stays warm.

As usual, I am not glad to see the back of this river season but all good things must come to an end, I will enjoy this next three months and the start of the season will start later for me as I will be soaking up the sun in the middle-east for a few weeks and due back into the country at the beginning of July, so I will head off out on to the rivers come July but I will be in search of some Brown Trout between now and then on the fly come the 1st of April, until then.....tight lines.

My Personal best Pike.

Biggest Roach of the season at 2.6

Seasons best Barbel at 13.12

A 5.9 Chub, one of a dozen 5lb plus Chub this season.

Another 2lb river Roach (2.2), 21 now for me and slowly growing.

A large Brown Trout caught on the fly

Last but not least my record Carp at 35lb 8oz, a special moment.

 At times the season that has just passed has been difficult and my Pike challenge unfortunately I didn't achieve as the rivers for a large swathe of the winter were almost un-fishable which was a great shame but I did manage nearly 114lbs, so for me it was still a very good attempt and my best season for Pike yet, but I have learnt alot and will hope to put that knowledge into catching more and bigger ones too.

A No Show.

 Wednesday and Thursday were reserved for Roach fishing and with my hope of catching a 3lb Roach firmly in mind that was the species I targeted, but to put a long story short the two sessions didn't go to plan as the Roach must have had their heads down and clearly not feeding on both occasions on two different rivers, but on the Thursday it wasn't a total blank.

Amazing speed of the Kingfisher.

Blink and you've missed it.

 Basking in the lovely sunshine whilst quiver tipping for Chub as it turned out, as the Roach weren't feeding the Chub as usual were and I had three Chevin's to 4.14, the others at 4.0 & 3.10, all put up good fights but not the species I set out for and the trip out didn't end there as I had given up hope of attaching myself to a Roach I headed off down to the Thames after dark and went cage feeder fishing for Bream where I was very successful, with 14 caught to a weight of 7lb 14oz and another four of which were over 7lbs, I accrued over 50lb of Bream in just over an hour, they were certainly on the chew.

Nearly mine.

The biggest of the day at 4.14

The biggest Bream of the night at 7lb 14oz.

 But the session didn't end there either, a good fish crashed out just in front of me and my hunch was that it was a feeding Pike, I didn't need a second invitation, within 30-40 seconds of casting out the rod slammed over and whatever it was that crashed out had now grabbed my small diver, I powerful fight ensued on the 6lb line I was using but I've overcome many Pike on lighter gear so I wasn't praying for it to stop and come in as it was fairly impressive, but I had not yet seen it but I knew it was a good one.... Then all off a sudden it came careering out the water and done a brilliant tail walk in front of me, showing me it's full length and as I had just seen the entire fish for the first time it was to be also the last time as it worked the lure loose and flew off into the night, the Pike was gone..... I estimate it to have been around the 14lb mark, quite disappointed to be honest but it wasn't the first time that has happened and won't be the last, nearly time up....one more session today.