Quick Cast 01

Afternoon on the river - two barbel 4lb 0oz and a stocky 8lb 9oz fish, best of the season so far. Plus half a dozen chub to about 3lb. Said it was a quick report!

There's A Storm Coming

You can feel it build and fade daily - it hasn't broken yet - but I have a feeling it's going to be thunder and lightning and lots and lots of rain. I'm hoping it's tropical and I'm watching from a pub!

The rivers really need some water but I thought I'd take advantage of the low, clear water and go barbel spotting. They are easy to spot but getting wise - about 90% avoid the bait or spit it out so quickly you don't stand a chance.

Beautiful afternoon in the sunshine and I managed seven barbel to 7lb 2oz plus a few chub. I also spotted a few carp which are now on the target list. Roll on the storm...

Wye Not?

Where is the water? A few days on The Wye, hoping to land Paulos on a barbel - and it was going to be tricky in these conditions...


The chub wanted to play, watching them home in on the 'plop' of freelined luncheon meat was an exciting way of catching them...


Free sweets - well, wild cherries anyway. Hawks, hedgehogs, foxes - it's great to be away from the city in the summer...


A few perch and chub on Mepps and Rooster Tails, a couple of lost tiny jacks and only one propper pike showed any interest...


The American fish hold! As the light was fading the chub and eels became ravenous. And I'm sure the barbel were there...


In fact spending more time on the water than the American I landed four barbel - Paulos had a lot of other commitments...


But I couldn't let him leave without one - and this one really put up a fight - mission accomplished! Coming back for a pike?

Summer Rudd

I'm on a mission to up my PB list - but when it comes to rudd I want to beat it (aiming for a 2lber) with a fish in it's summer golden colours - just to add another level of difficulty.

I'm told they turn silver after the first flood, so not sure exactly how long I have. But it wasn't today, the best two went 1lb 5oz and 1lb 4oz - beautiful fish, I look forward to catching some more soon.

Melting

A midday mission to the river - the worst time for catching fish but the best time for spotting them, I also wanted to see what features had changed - new weed beds, shopping trolleys etc.

And it was hot. Bloody hot. My Spam was melting, really soft and didn't want to stay on the hook - need some co-op luncheon meat, that stuff is pretty indestructible!


The fish were at bottom weight but were really on the munch despite the weather, and fought hard! Ten barbel the best two both weighing 7lb 12oz each...


I lost count of the chub but I landed five over 3lb with the best going exactly 4lb 0oz...


Fed up with the meat I went and bought some bread and landed four roach, weighing one at 12oz. Plus a bonus trout about 2lb...


I could have had more but it was hot. Bloody hot. So there was only one thing for it..!

Glorious*

The day we've been waiting for was finally here, the kit was prepared and alarm set for 2.30am...

Opening day and I was on The Stour for sunrise to continue my quest for a 7lb chub, but as the light began to reveal the river I could see the chub were still spawning - they weren't interested in feeding...


By 7am the sun was already strong and a couple of hours later I thought I'd switch to lure fishing, aiming for a back-up perch my first fish of the season was nearly a big trout before he spat the hook.

The first fish was the mini-perch above, followed by several more of his (slightly) bigger brothers. A couple of follows by jacks - but even they wouldn't commit in the hot daylight...


The only option was a bait 'n' wait into dusk, would a chub or two slip up? Yes they would - but only fish up to about 12oz - not the ones I was here for - I'll be back for them...

*The title 'Glorious' refers to the weather, not the fishing!

Gold Mine

With a job cancelled and a break in the British weather I thought I'd head down to The Farm, crucians were the target and I was soon into the fish.

I landed fourteen crucians, five of them were over a pound to 1lb 14oz, no monsters but 14 bars of gold - I'll take it!


I also added 40+ tench to 3lb 4oz, a load of roach to 8oz, six gudgeon which maxed out at 1oz and a 6oz rudd - in fact I really got value for money out of a 99p bag of frozen sweetcorn!

Reactions fine-tuned, getting ready, the river season is nearly here...

Urban Perch

While searching for pike (and bream) on the local canals I have spotted a few shoals of perch, no monsters - they seem to max out about 12oz - but it was too much to resist, time for a couple of hours chasing real urban bullies this evening...


Spot and dropshot was the method - and when I did spot them they soon gathered around the orange fry above. But I had to scale down to 3lb line, a small red hook and a natural pattern before they would have a go - they're not dumb...


I landed half a dozen, and many more spat the hook at the surface - I weighed one of the bigger ones at just over 9oz - it's just fun catching them - size is not the point here. Or is it?

What's that following my little perch in? Hello Mrs Pike, you're who I've been searching for, very nice to see you - I'll be back...

Pre-Season 2017/18

It's funny writing my traditional pre-season post as I haven't stopped fishing. I've hit the stillwaters in search of some personal bests - and I've been on a roll, adding three more:


Rainbow Trout 5lb 3oz - Previously 4lb 0oz


Golden Orfe 5lb 1oz (61%) - New entry *Upped twice


Tench 7lb 12oz (51%) - Previously 6lb 4oz (41%) *Upped 3 times

But on to the new river season. Still on the personal best mission the initial target is a monster chub, I got close to cracking the seven pound mark last season - lets see if I can go 4oz better this time.

The next major target is a twenty pound pike, haven't caught one over the magic weight since 2011 - it's time for another. Not just limited to The Wye, I've been searching out a few new venues.

Roach, dace, gudgeon, perch... To be honest it's just going to be great to get back on the rivers, stillwaters tide me over for the three months but main event is just two weeks away...

Flight Night

Last night the stag beetles took flight, this was the main event and the epicentre of Stag-Fest was my back garden - and what a spectacular sight it was.

There is a limited stag beetle flight-night most years but the main event - the really big ones and lots of them - only happens once every seven years...


It takes a stag beetle 7 years to reach maturity (spending most of its life as a grub) and when they take flight they only have about a week left - fight, breed and die!

So the next big event will be in 2024 - hopefully I'll have a better camera by then. But a rainstorm last night may have interrupted proceedings, so they might be out again tonight - fingers crossed.


What has this got to do with fishing?

They don't normally fly until mid-June, nature is about 3 weeks ahead of itself. The last of the spawners have spawned (carp and barbel) - everything is ready for the new season - just over 2 weeks.

And I've uploaded a couple of videos of these mini-monsters to Instagram (no login needed), awesome creatures.