Is There A Four?

Is there a four pounder lurking about in the Farm Pond? Three perch hit the livebaits - best went 2lb 2oz - great fish but on further inspection (of the photo) it's a recapture - bit unlucky. There's so many baitfish there must be a decent amount of perch - and hopefully a monster...

The Puddle

A tiny little pond found by a mate of mine. You can walk around it in a minute, it's only a couple of feet deep & full of life - and we've seen carp. So far we've spent about 7 hours fishing it (2 sessions) without a bite - the carp seem to ignore the free samples; bread, corn, maggots & boilies. I like a challenge, wonder what will tempt them?

Revamp & Revise

Too many missed runs / bumped fish last trip - so a few tweaks to my perch livebait rig and setup. Time for a test, back to the pond. Four runs, three perch landed (2lb 2oz, about 1lb & one about 10oz) - that's better - but there's always room for improvement...

Sunshine & Perch

Back to the Farm Pond, back to my perch quest. A couple of little livebaits out on the lead. And after missing a couple of runs I hit one - it was the one I was after. A beautiful, hard earmed 3lb 2oz perch was in the net - got my three pounder - absolutely fantastic!!


A few more runs but I either missed them or bumped the perch, so I thought I'd use up the rest of the (livebait-bait) bread before it got dark, and stalk a carp - or in this case two. Best was a 9lb 1oz common carp - love getting them off the surface.

Nice Blank

With a little livebait searching for a perch, I thought I'd try and stalk out a carp in the afternoon sunshine. And 4 little carp (to 8lb 1oz, below) slipped up - if you've got to blank for perch - that's the way to do it!

Mayday!

Typical May bank holiday weather - hammering down. And four carp managed to slip the hook before this beauty found the net - 10lb 7oz. Soaked through but job done; double number 3 on the scorecard.

Perch Starter

Beginning my search for a three pound perch - to the Farm Pond. Far too bright really but managed 6 perch to about a pound. Using worms I also bagged up on little roach, rudd & bream - nice to get a few bites. Did spot some larger perch chasing the rudd - livebait next time.


Couldn't resist stalking out a carp on floating crust before I headed for home (and a beer) - a fantastic 14lb 1oz fully scaled mirror - perhaps, given the conditions I should have just targeted the carp. But it's a perch start - and a lovely afternoon in the sunshine!

British Grass

I don't really know what's in the Farm Pond, which is nice when you stumble across a surprise like a big eel (and I've seen some lovely perch). But I'd heard there was a grass carp in there - just the one though. And wandering around I thought I spotted her...

So I put out a bait and waited, and waited - about 5 hours later the alarm signalled a single beep! Always better to be lucky than good - a stunning 13lb 13oz British grassy was soon in the net. Worth the wait, really wanted to catch one of these. New species, so a new PB - ace!

Ready Player One

Pretty rough conditions but I thought I'd knock the cobwebs off the carp gear - two light lure rods that have sat in the shed for a full 2 weeks! Three runs, two lost to hook-pulls - but one beautiful little fully-scaled mirror found the net. I'll take that. Season 2026/27 off and running...

Pre-Season 2026/27

Forgoing the usual break - cracking straight on this year. A change of summer target this season - carp will be the main focus (although I'm sure I'll hunt down a barbel or two). And I also feel I've neglected the perch and zander for far too long - back on the radar.

And my winter target will once again be pike. A few new venues explored last season - hopefully I've learned a few things and can put them into practice this time. A new river & ponds earmarked, plus whatever I bump into while targeting the perch.

• 50x Carp (including 10 doubles)
• 50x Pike (including 10 doubles)
• A 3lb+ perch

Well, that's the pre-season plan - if history is anything to go by - I'm not particularly prone to sticking to it (watch out barbel). Anyway, tight lines fellow bloggers - look forward to reading about your exploits over the coming year. Hope to see a few PBs pop up.