Gudgeon Hunt

Going on a gudgeon hunt! I braved the ‘non-essential’ shop; half a pint of maggots. Grabbed the stick ‘n’ pin, minimal kit and wandered down to the river. I was expecting low and clear but when I arrived it was up, dirty and pushing through - spotting them was out!

I needn’t have worried I found gudgeon on a shallow gravel run - and bagged over 20 of them in 3 hours. Plus loads of dace, roach, chub and minnows - even a micro barbel. Really nice to see dace as they seemed to go missing last year. (Yeah, barbel added to the challenge).

Bugs & Butterflies 3

Marbled White, yeah more butterflies.


Dark Green Fritillary, who names them? It’s orange!


Speckled Wood.


Glanville Fritillary, the only one I’ve seen.


Peacock Caterpillars, hoping to get a decent photo of an adult.

British Summer

A return to the regular British weather - so I popped down the river in the rain. Perhaps the fresh water would spark a feeding frenzy?


Not really! I was watching the barbel spook off the bait - still two small barbel and two small chub slipped up - I’ll take it!


Going to have to brave the tackle shop - get some maggots and chase down a gudgeon or two - perhaps even a perch or dace...

The Shallows

Anglers like nothing more than a nice deep hole - actually they do - a nice deep hole on a bend! It’s where the fish hang out. But when they’re not at home where are they? Try the weedbeds close by - as long as they have cover and water over their back they seem happy.


A morning freelining meat and bread in the shallows. And some of the places you wouldn’t expect to hold chub and barbel - until one darts out and grabs a bait. Great visual fishing - and four chub to about 4lb and four barbel to 7lb 11oz landed before the heat put them off.

Bugs & Butterflies 2

Heath Fritillary, rare species for the collection.


Brown Argus.


Red Admiral, freshly minted.


Red Soldier Beetle, even though it’s green!


Fine Ass Babes 2 - the things you see when bug hunting!

Opening The Account

Had to check they were still there! Without using public transport it was a walk to the river, a wander about looking for barbel and home again - 13.4 miles! But a few hours on the overgrown waterway and nine barbel found the net - including this brace in consecutive casts (one was resting in the net). Love being back on this little river!

Deflated

Date Fished: 16 June. Opening day and me and James were on the road at 2.30am - heading for a marathon 48 hours floating about in the boat chasing rudd. Boat was pumped up, plans made, gear sorted and a ton of bread for bait loaded - 5am - let the season begin...

Shhhhhhhhhh... Air rushing out of the side of the boat - crap - and despite our best efforts to patch it the boat was beyond bank-side repair. A bit (lot) of swearing before packing it up and a hastily Plan B was put in motion - an underprepared 12 hour walk looking for rudd.

Shorts and Cons are ideal in the boat - not so good for wading about in thistles and nettles - but we put the miles in. Floating bits of bread down the river, looking out for signs of big rudd hitting them. And late morning James hit his target - but I’ll leave that story for his blog.

I struggled to find a big rudd; landing 5 small ones, a bream and a bream/rudd hybrid (my first one). But late afternoon I saw the swirl I was searching for - my next cast was nailed by a mint 1lb 14oz rudd - a new PB and getting close to my target weight - great season opener!

With the wind picking up and a big thunderstorm either side of us - just after 7pm we made a break for the car. We chucked the gear in just as the heavens opened - nick of time! Not the planned trip, but a big rudd each was a cracking result - we’ll be back with the boat...


Hard work but a 1lb 14oz new PB - stunning!


Not the target but a bream put a welcome bend in the rod.


My first bream/rudd hybrid.

Bugs & Butterflies 1

Meadow Brown, nearly impossible to photograph!


Common Blue, bit ragged but beautiful.


Small Tortoiseshell.


Small Skipper?


Ringlet. Nearly fishing time...

Hello Kitty

Date fished: 30/31 May (24 hours). Arriving about 5pm me, James & Richard found ourselves in a shallow bay with the wind pushing into it - and catfish showing themselves - everywhere! I couldn’t set the gear up quickly enough - seriously - there must be an easier way to thread rig tube onto the line - it took me about half an hour!!

Simple running ledger, 20lb Berkley Big Game straight through to a size 4 barbless hook, and double donkey choaker halibut pellets on a long hair rig. The other guys using similar setups. A healthy amount of free samples and PVA bags of pellets to create a bed of bait. Two rods, bite alarms and sit back and wait... But not for long...


Action was almost instant - my alarm screamed and I was locked in battle - eventually my first cat was in the net, a 24lb 4oz beast - way to open the account! The action continued across the bay and I landed 6 more before nightfall. Nighttime was strangely quiet, I think we had one cat each, plus I had 3 carp to 18lb 8oz - bonus!

As the sun rose the catfish switched back on. As dawn broke I was back into the cats, adding 14 more throughout the morning and afternoon - and upped my PB three times; 27lb 10oz, 29lb 2oz and I chipped over the magic number with a 30lb 3oz monster - brilliant! So that was 22 catfish and serious arm ache, what a 24 hours!!

My Total: 22x catfish (429lb 14oz) | 13x 20lb+ | 1x 30lb+ (30lb 3oz)

But this isn’t just about me, I was part of a team. A team that nearly always had a fish on the hook all the daylight hours we fished. We had numerous double hook ups and a couple of triple hook ups. Being each others net man and photographer - it was so hectic that many fish went back unphotographed - even twenties! (We weighed everything).

I had the most cats but James & Richard found some bigger fish - Richard landing 2 thirties and James a remarkable 6 over the magic number. A cracking trip, topped by a new PB each - it was going to be a one off - but with fishing like that we’ll hopefully be back soon... Once we have recovered... They don’t half fight!

Combined Total: 50x catfish (1073lb 13oz) | 37x 20lb+ | 9x 30lb+


Richard’s new PB at 35lb 5oz.


And James’ new PB at 39lb 9oz.

Stag Beetle

I’ve seen the stag beetles in the garden a few times over the past couple of weeks, mostly they arrive when it’s too dark for a decent photo or they are quickly off doing important beetle stuff...

But this one was a proper poser! There was another male in the bush - so this is one half of the standoff taking place on the shed. I took the opportunity for some nice sharp photos - got to love stag beetles!