Lockdown Part 3

To the river, armed with soft lures and a new reel to christen - and the target was a perch. On arrival the river was high, dirty and pushing through - perch fishing was out - but I had a bag of bread and a back-up plan - a January barbel or two...


I was soon into the barbel - conditions were perfect for them. Including a walk to my office to pick up the reel, walking too and from the river and wandering about on the riverbank I walked a total of 19.52 miles - and 7 barbel found the net - totally worth it!


I can't recommend the Mitchell Tanager reels as I broke them both in less than a year (but a hell of a lot of fish), the new ones are Shimano Sienna 2000 FG. They're heavy and don't come with a spare spool - but on the initial test they felt fantastic - let's see how long they last.


I'm hoping to get out once a week or so over the rest of the lockdown (unless they tighten restrictions). Conditions permitting I'll target the perch - and there are also roach, chub, carp and gudgeon to target - and always a barbel back-up plan!

Jack’s Pike #319

*Written in a simpler time.

Happy New Tier

Lockdown again, but the end is in sight - roll out that vaccine. A month or two watching TV is a small price to pay. And hopefully we'll get out again before the season ends - I'd love a few pike & grayling.

Plenty of great blogs to read (or re-read) on the right, scroll down a bit. And I'll go back and look through some past glories - the advantage of blogging for over a decade. Stay safe - nearly there...


Edit: The Angling Trust has just announced that fishing is allowed during Lockdown 3. Check their website for rules and restrictions. They changed it a few hours after I posted this - to the river...

Lazy Fisherman 2020

The stats are in - it's become tradition - time to see how far I walked with my lazy hobby in 2020. Not a lot of walking during lockdown - but avoiding public transport and walking to and from the river afterwards made up for it - a total of 2,340 miles - lazy hobby?!!

Distance Walked 2020


Distance Walked 2017-2020 (4 Years)

River & Rock

I'd like to be out chasing pike and grayling - but it seems Tier 5 is on it's way. Hopefully I'll still be able to fish the local river - but while I'm waiting for the gudgeon, roach & perch(?) to acclimatise to the recent cold spell I'll crack on with a couple of books I got for Xmas.

I'm about half way through Monsters Of River & Rock by Adrian Smith, so far it's excellent - combining stories about fishing in London as a kid, being in one of rock's biggest bands & fishing all over the world - it is 90% fishing - and detailed - technique, bait, size of hook etc...

Next up will be The Book Of Trespass by Nick Hayes, I don't know anything about this book - given to me by my girlfriend - but the title makes me wonder exactly what she thinks I get up to when I'm fishing?! Right, bugger off Covid - it's pike time!

Jack’s Pike #318

Decisions...

What to target next? With 1,000 barbel in the bank (I love the comma in the number) it's time to find a new target. Covid, lockdowns and travel are restrictive factors - otherwise pike would be my target - I thought I'd have a sit on the riverbank and a bit of a think...

Jack’s Pike #317

Merry Christmas!

A Wye Christmas

As I can't get back to The Wye this Christmas I knew the conditions would be perfect for pike; water is low and clear, frosty mornings and mild afternoons, baitfish everywhere... Oh wait, it's in the fields as usual - the traditional Wye Christmas flood! Hopefully I'll get back before the season ends - fingers crossed. (Photo by my Mum).

One Thousand!

Early start and out into the rain - presuming lockdown 3.0 was about to be announced - and I only needed one more barbel. Barbel first cast - barbel number 1,000 - f*cking brilliant! I said it out loud "barbel one thousand" wow - I've talked about it for long enough and here it was resting in the net!! Not a monster but who cares?!


It was too far to walk for just one cast - and I had a whole loaf of bread - I fished on for a few hours. A chub and five more barbel found the net, including this 9lb 7oz beauty. I couldn't help refecting on the amazing little river me and Dan had stumbled on 10 years ago - Dan I hope you're reading this. Anyway, here's a few barbel...