The New Blogger

As other bloggers have noted the interface for writing these posts has been ‘upgraded’ - the new interface has a few glitches shall we say. For example ‘preview’ doesn’t work unless you disable your pop-up blocker, and let’s not get started on positioning photos.

The temporary fix is to click ‘Revert to legacy Blogger’ on the bottom left of the screen (or in the drop-down menu on an iPad). This will work until August 24 when this option will be taken away and we’re forced to use the new interface - hope it improves by then!

So this is the important bit: once you have clicked ‘Revert to legacy Blogger’ go to the address bar, copy the address into notepad* and save it. In most cases the legacy interface isn’t deleted - just our access to it is removed - we can use the saved URL to access it.

* Bookmarking it probably won’t work - may need some tinkering.

Quick Barbel Report (39)

Five barbel added to the challenge - total now 39.


Still not finding the bigger fish - but still a lot of fun.


Best 7lb 13oz - recapture, but 3oz heavier & tail is healing nicely.

Gudgeon Hunt II

The ponds I fish for carp in the summer and pike in the winter are closed to anglers - perhaps for the season. And I'm try to avoid public transport as much as possible - so fishing options are limited.

Fortunately the river is about an hour's walk from home - my route takes me through a park, over some waste ground and across a railway line - so there's often bugs & butterflies to chase about!

I needed to use up the remaining maggots from my crucian trip - so a walk to the river, stick 'n' pin, minimal kit and around 3 hours of fishing once I arrived - and only one target on my mind...

The mighty gudgeon! I fished three swims, about an hour in each - and found gudgeon in all of them - probably a couple of dozen landed along with a few roach and chub. Well worth the walk!

Bugs & Butterflies 5

Common Blue, it’s just butterflies this time.


Small Copper, I’m up to 28 species photographed.


Chalk Hill Blue, what a beauty.


Small Heath, bloody hard to get a photo of these!


Green-Vained White, my full butterfly list is here.

Quick Barbel Report (34)

Four barbel added to the challenge to about 4lb, plus a bonus 1lb+ eel. Season total: 34 barbel. Where are the bigger fish I wonder?

Quick Barbel Report (30)

Five barbel added to the challenge. Best about 4½lb. Plus 3 bonus chub. Season barbel total now 30. End quick barbel report.

The Farm Train

First time on public transport since March - Marsh Farm is too far away to walk and I fancied chasing gold! Masks on, me and Richard followed the one way arrows to our train - it was early and we had a carriage to ourselves. Off the train - alcohol hand gel - fishing...

One feeder rod with either halibut pellet or mini-boilie and a waggler rod with maggot or sweetcorn. And to cut a long story short; loads of rudd, roach and perch, 8 tench - and gold... Two crucians, the best going 2lb 1oz (mini-boilie) - brilliant - might have to do it again!

Kinky

There are advantages to stinging nettles - they show you where hasn’t been fished so far this season - the disadvantaged is, well, they sting. Most anglers cut a path through them, I try to disturb them as little as possible - only at the rivers edge will I make enough room to stand.

A couple of hours wading about in nettles and three barbel landed, the biggest going 8lb 7oz (above). And if you think this post is about a stinging nettle fetish - and there is one, I just Googled it (Urtication Fetish) - it’s not, the title refers to the kinky little barbel below!

Bugs & Butterflies 4

Gatekeeper (Male), England’s most common butterfly.


Peacock Butterfly, showing all 4 spots.


Comma, proper posers and easy to photograph.


Stag Beetle (Male), couldn’t resist a nice daylight shot.


Stag Beetle (Female), think the short stag season is over this year.

Quick Barbel Report (22)

Six barbel added to the challenge, best 7lb 10oz, season total: 22.

Hell’s Anglers

I should really be on the river, those barbel won’t catch themselves. It’s raining. Work is slow. Time to design some more t-shirts then. I sell about 5-10 t-shirts a week, and with around a 90p profit on each one - it equates to about two pints (when the pubs used to be open).


Still I like the fact people wear them - would be nice to bump into someone I don’t know wearing one of my designs. I occasionally see people on the tube or train playing one of my mobile games (but they’ve been downloaded 70 million times - so far better odds).


New design; large back-print based on the Hell’s Angels logo. Customisable bottom banner for your area/river. I’m deciding if it should have a name tag on the front. Available next week when the first person will try and put “Llandegfedd Reservoir” in the banner!

Edit: On reflection this t-shirt is not going into production. More here.

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...