A quick one

A quick hour before work, the river levels seemed fine but I couldn’t be sure about the colour so I grabbed the chub gear instead of the pike gear.

1.25lb Avon, 3oz tip, 5lb hypersensor straight through to a size 8 bread and cheese paste for bait.

The river looked great for this time of year but it was pushing through fast, which didn’t really matter that much as I was fishing the near bank margins. 3 pegs fished, 20 mins in each without a touch. Never mind, I don’t expect to catch on short off the cuff sessions like this, on the odd occasion I bank something I class it as a bonus.

Chub rods

I purchased an original Drennan medium feeder (a bargain at £25) for my chub fishing this winter, the main reason being you can store spare tips in the butt section of the rod. I’ve found fishing as light a tip as conditions allow a massive help when winter chub fishing. 

During a chub session on the final day of last season, on a different river but similar tactics, using a 2oz tip I was getting very delicate bites, very difficult to see and not something I would of usually struck at when chub fishing. However I did strike at one of them and it was a good chub. I went on to land 3 on that final session including a river best, would I of even seen the bites with a heavier tip? Probably not, I’m almost certain that if I was fishing with the 1.25lb Avon top (like I always used to whilst chub fishing) the bites wouldn’t of registered on the tip.

That’s where the medium feeder comes into play, one tip on the rod and another 2 in the butt, giving the option of changing tips to suit conditions. I’ve had a few chub on the medium feeder and it’s a lovely rod, lightweight with enough backbone to keep chub away from the snags. The medium feeders only downfall is that it doesn’t break down into equal lengths and is a pain in the arse to store in the back of the car built up, ready to go with a rig on.

I prefer carrying minimal kit whilst chub fishing trying to stay as mobile as possible, carrying a tube with a couple of spare tips doesn’t really fit in with this, maybe I can customise the newer rod to hold spare tips in the butt....

First sessions of 2018

12/01/18

My first session of the year, first session for almost a month and a first visit to this river.

The morning didn’t start too well as we couldn’t get access to our chosen stretch and had to head to another one blind.

We needn’t of worried as the fish seemed to be on the feed from the off, Mick lost one and had a dropped run before I’d even cast a bait.

The first fish landed came to my rod though, a nice 12lb 8oz fish to a ledgered smelt.

Mick was up next, a jack taken on a ledgered sardine.

Both fish were covered in leeches, obviously laid up on the bottom during the extended cold spell.

After a couple of hours in the first pegs we moved downstream to a double peg for an hour. I had one rod on the bottom with sea deads and a margin fished live in a float paternoster. Surprisingly the live didn’t get any interest, all interest on baits hard on the bottom, so I reduced the height of the paternoster so the bait could  just get to the river bed.

Shortly after the live was taken.

Smaller this time, unweighted, but definitely welcome.

Mick had another dropped run in the double peg before we moved again. Plenty of appealing pegs on this stretch, deep margins and willow lined banks, spoilt for choice really.

No interest for a good hour in my last peg, a change to a full lamprey cast mid-river and an immediate response from a jack. 20 minutes later the margin live was taken by a similar sized jack.

And that was that, back to the car just as the last light was fading and home 50 minutes later. A good first session back and a good first session on this river. 

19/01/18

A week later conditions were completely different. A few days of below zero temperatures and heavy snow followed by a slight rise in temps. I was struggling to decide on which species to target, chub or pike, the pike usually win and they did this time.

I was hoping to get on the river before any significant snow melt made its way in. Tactics for this short session were trotting baits.

Arriving at the river I could see that I had things wrong, a nice level but pushing through fast and coloured not ideal for trotting baits and as I had minimal gear with me I didn’t have the option of changing tactics. A blank.

26/01/18

A big winter flood carrying warmer water saw reports of a couple of winter barbel showing. The rivers swelled and were well up,16ft higher than usual on some stretches. I went down with Mick the day after the flood had peaked, the river was still up a good 6ft and pushing through fast. 

We didn’t have a great choice of pegs as the flood left the banks covered in slippery silt and we didn’t fancy taking a dip. 

I didn’t get a touch all day, Mick had a bit of interest in the second peg and the tip flew round as we were having a brew.

A small but welcome chub.

That’s things finally upto date, I’m still having problems with photobucket as I’m not willing to them pay $400/year to host my images. There are plenty of free options (google images seems decent) however most of my older posts (2014 and older) still the have photobucket ransom link instead of the intended image.

Catching up with the blog I’ve also realised how incompatible blogger and apple devices (iPhone/iPad) are. Trying to compose a post of a reasonable length is difficult as you can’t scroll up or down on the blogger editor. A limited work around is the app ‘BlogTouch Pro’ it works reasonably well but some functions are limited.

A better work around will be shorter more frequent posts.... 

A brief round up of 2017

Trying to get the blog up to date, so a very brief round up of 2017.

January 

A great start to the year, landing chub and pike regularly, beating both p.b’s

A new p.b of 5lb

19lb 2oz, getting closer to that elusive 20!

A 6lb 6oz chub which smashed my previous best

Four nice chub from five casts, caught on the same night as my first '6'

February 

No significant captures during February, a struggle compared to the previous month, average chub and jacks was as good as it got.

March

5 Pike to low doubles, chub to 6lb 3oz from my local, also a new venue best of 5lb from a smaller river.

6lb 3oz caught during a pike session on a flooded river

2 of 3 chub caught on the last evening of the season, the largest going just over 5lb, my best from this river.

April

No fishing ! Plenty of work and a stag do in Lisbon.

May

Best man duties at Ben’s wedding, a family holiday to Lanzarote and one eel blank.

Half a day trolling, without any interest, which I've found is pretty standard when fishing tourist spots. 

Plenty of these whilst bottom fishing

I also had a few different species whilst shore fishing, nothing of size but good fun.

June

A days holiday for opening day, a single 4lb+ chub for my efforts during a red hot day on a very low river. More chub and a few small barbel towards the end of the month.

July

A few blanks on short sessions locally and a hectic first trip to the tidal Trent.

A 9lb 4oz fish caught within 10mins of arriving

Two doubles caught in consecutive casts

August

Back on my local waters with a river p.b barbel of 9lb, then a first visit to the Wye with a short stop over on the Warwickshire Avon.

My best from this river, exactly 9lb

One of 8 barbel I landed on the Wye trip

September

Chasing barbel locally, fish to 7lb, chub to 4lb + and a jack on my first pike outing of the the season.

October

Another trip to the Trent, a flying visit this time, a 2.5hr drive for only a 12hr session. Targeting barbel locally was becoming more difficult, only one local fish landed during a flood. A nice 12lb pike caught on a short pre-work session, my first double of the season.

Trent doubles

Ben with a solid Trent fish, we both thought it would easily be 13lb but it 'only' went 12.02lb, a couple of ounces short of Ben's p.b

My first double of the season, 12lb from my local river.

November 

A bit of a struggle both for time on the bank and results, a jack, a 3lb (ish) chub and a blank during my 3 sessions this month.

December 

Two sessions in December. A first session on a Lincolnshire river which took 3hrs to get there due to the winter weather. Only two jacks landed, but two locals I had bumped into had both blanked so I classed it as a decent result. I’ll be revisiting again, hopefully before the season ends.

A session on my local river which was full of snow melt (water temp of 0.5°) and a lost fish, maybe a double. I was gutted at the time as I’ve never caught in water that cold.

No fishing over the Xmas period as I was laid up with Aussie flu, then had a wisdom tooth removed, not a great end to the year.

2017 highlights

Barbel - 11lb 1oz

Bream - d.n.w

Chub - 6lb 6oz*

Dace - d.n.w

Eel - 1lb 8oz

Perch - d.n.w

Pike - 19lb 2oz*

* personal best 

A mixed year with some good results at times. Often a struggle to spend as much time on the bank as I would like, I had around 40 sessions but the vast majority of these were short 2/3 hours sessions usually during the least productive times of day (in between school runs!). However I did achieve one of my targets of catching a double figure barbel from a new river, although the Trent is probably the easiest river to catch a double from, it’s still one ticked off the list.

Six pound chub are very rare on my local river, many a dedicated chub angler haven’t seen one, so catching two in a season was great. Large chub are such an impressive fish, they have definitely moved up a few places in my favourite species list. 

Trips to the Trent and Wye were brilliant, plenty of fish, plenty of laughs and plenty of memories, I’ll try and put a post up about these at some point.

Highlight of the year was my p.b pike, 2 double takes in 20 minutes, with last fish being the largest. The best 20 minutes of my angling year.

After recovering from that flu I’ve been out a couple of times this year, hopefully I’ll get the time to put something up before 2019!

Another catch up....

Well another extended period without adding to the blog, lots of reason why, but mainly the usual family and work commitments leaving little time to fish let alone write something on here. Being held to ransom by photobucket also hasn’t helped.

Since my last update I have fished fairly regularly except from the close season when I only had one session. Losing access to a water I had been planning on spending the warmer months eel fishing was  a bit of a blow and I lost enthusiasm for a couple of months. My only session during this time was an eel blank.....

As the river season approached my enthusiasm returned and I was out on the banks as much as time would allow. I spent the summer and early autumn targetting barbel mainly on a local river but with a couple of trips to the Trent and a visit to the Warwickshire Avon and the Wye.

One of my targets for the season was to catch a double figure barbel from a new river, ideally a local river. I caught a decent number of fish locally increasing my river p.b to 9lb, however heading south provided better results. Plenty of fish from the Trent with 17 fish to 11.01lb landed in two trips. A barbel blank on the Warwickshire Avon but a nice session the following day on the Wye made up for that, 8 barbel to 9.01lb and 4 nice chub to around 4lb.

11.01lb tidal Trent 

My largest Wye fish of the trip 9.01lb

A midsummer fish of 9lb from a local river

Pleasingly I managed 4 doubles from my visits to the Trent so one of my targets for the season has been ticked off. My chub and pike targets are still very much a work in progress....

A nice low double from my one of my local rivers

Not a lot to report on either species really, chub to just over 4lb and pike to 12.08lb. Working long hours in the lead upto Christmas, then catching the Aussie flu meant that I didnt wet a line for almost a month. Hopefully things will pick up for the rest of the season....

Currently under maintenance

iPad, laptop and Photobucket issues!!!

Well that's me done until autumn

After the rivers close I usually have a couple of sessions on canals or still waters before calling time on my pike season. This time around I was planning on heading north to fish a large water for the first time. Not knowing a great deal about the venue the bait boat and sounder would come in handy, only problem being that I hadn't bothered to repair it.

What a pain in the arse !

What a pain in the arse it turned out to be, over 3 hours to remove the adhesive just to get inside the boat. Luckily the repair was easy enough, 2 minutes with a soldering iron and it was sorted. Seal with the correct adhesive and good to go for the next day. Somehow whilst putting it somewhere 'safe' to dry I slipped, the boat split and I ended up with thick black adhesive everywhere! Needless to say I didn't bother going the next morning.

A quick review of my 2016/17 pike season

Number of pike caught - 28

Number of doubles - 6 (19.02, 13.06, 12.06, 11.10,11 and 10.06)
Largest pike - 19.02lb (new p.b)

Pike on bait - 27 (14 on deads, 13 on lives)
Pike on lures - 1

Different venues - 4 (2 rivers, 1 canal, 1 drain)

Overall I'm pleased with how my season went, despite going through a period of losing a lot of fish I managed a reasonable number including a new best. The majority of my pike came from my closest river which isn't the easiest venue. On this river I'm generally happy to avoid the blank, I consider catching a double or landing more than one jack a good day. I have concentrated on this river for years trying to get a twenty, however I think I'm ready to move on.

I have access to two other rivers, both within a reasonable distance from home and both are generally easier fishing. Both of these rivers seem to hold more pike and in contrast to my closet river blanks seem less frequent. I have already been out for a few recces, visited a new stretch for the first time, and found a few deep holes with a castable sonar. Hopefully next season I can finally land a river 20, until then I'll be concentrating on my other nemesis, a specimen eel.

A hectic finish

I usually struggle during February, especially on the rivers and this year was no different. A couple of reasonable chub early on in the month was my best result. Other sessions were a struggle in often difficult, hard to predict conditions. I had a first session on a new river, which is a good 40 mins drive away but seems to hold a much greater number of pike than my local. The river was up and pushing through fast, hard going for a first session, which was quiet and was more of a rod 'recce' session as nothing was landed. Some bait snatching and a recce of a potential eel still water kept me busy as the month ended.

A hectic finish

As the end of the season edged closer I made a decision to get on the bank as much as time would allow, short sessions before or after work, even if it was just for an hours fishing. Despite working ridiculously long hours I managed to fit in 7 sessions before the season ended. A quick round up below will bring the blog up to date as I haven't felt the need to get out now the rivers are out of bounds.

02/03/17

A return visit to the previously mentioned river but a different stretch this time. I was fishing with Mick, he has spent a fair amount of time on this river this season and has done quiet well, so I wasn't fishing blind as he shared what info he had gained. Plenty of action (compared to my closest rivers anyway) with 8 takes between us, 6 to Mick and just the 2 to my rods. We both landed 2 each, nothing of size but it was nice to get off the mark on a new river.

A first from a new river, always pleasing regardless of size

06/03/17

Back on my local river, which wasn't in the greatest condition, pushing through hard and coloured. In previous seasons I have really struggled when targeting pike in these conditions, but this season I have persevered and managed to land a few.

A short roving session with float ledgered sea baits, 5 pegs fished with the only coming in the last peg.

The mackerel was lost during the fight so I was down to my last bait, a bluey, a bait I don't have a great amount of confidence in. 10 minutes the float was bobbing, another take from the same spot, however excitement got the better of me and I went arse over tit down the slippy bank! With 17 stone crashing down the bank the pike sussed that all was not as it seemed and buggered off.

07/03/17

A quick detour on the way home from work for an hour after dark chub fishing. I shouldn't have bothered! As soon as I closed the gate behind me the heavens opened and despite having decent waterproof gear I got soaked. One bite from 5 pegs, which I struck far too early and blanked.

09/03/17

I had planned on trotting lives on my local river and was en route to a favoured stretch but a quick call to Mick to find out how the river was called for a change of plans. Despite daily checks of the levels and weather conditions the river had risen and was heavily coloured. I decided to head to a slack bay and sit it out with a couple of dead baits.

Conditions were crap and although I have caught in worse this season I wasn't very confident. Around midday there was a single bleep from the delkim, the line was pulled from the drop arm but none was taken from the spool. I couldn't feel anything on the braid, whatever was there had gone.

After retrieving the bait it looked like an eel had been at the mackerel. I recast to the same area and 30 minutes later the bait was taken. A screaming run this time, the most confident of the season, I was convinced it was an eel until after I struck. The rod went round and a healthy curve was put in the 2.75lb blank, the fish wasn't really fighting just plodding around in the heavily coloured water. I didn't have a clue what it was until I netted it and surprisingly it was a chub, a good one.

6.03lb - my second six from this river in the last few weeks

Six pound chub are scarce on this river, I know of (very) dedicated chub anglers that are yet to land one despite decades of trying. Somehow I've managed two this season, both different fish, caught on very different stretches of river over 5 miles apart. The first was 6lb 6oz and was legitimately targeted and caught on chub gear, this one was fluked on pike gear but I'll take a six any way they come!

11/03/17

As fast as the river rose and coloured it dropped and cleared, the best conditions for a while so I took advantage and went for that trotting session.

I usually lower the bait in a rod length out, allow it trot downstream then edge the bait back slowly along the near bank margin. This means that the bait is fishing 100% of the time and also the bait lasts much longer as no casting is involved.

The session was hard work, 7 or 8 pegs before I got any interest. The pike fought hard, I knew it wasn't massive but thought it might sneak over the 10lb mark, which it did. 10lb 6oz.

13/03/17
Two days after near perfect conditions the river was up and coloured again, down to around 12" clarity. I was roving with a float ledgered mackerel again and despite fishing the slacks I had to fish the rod tip high and keep all the line off the water, which meant fishing off the baitrunner.

It was hard going, no interest during the first couple of hours and I was expecting the blank. Last peg of the session, just as sat down to remove a stone from my boot, the rod went, a barbel-esq take. The fish put up a good fight on my lighter roving gear, but it didn't take too long to net.

9.06lb

14/03/17
My final day plans were to fish my local river for the pike, come home for a few hours, then head out again once the kids were in bed to target the chub on a different river.

In the end I only managed time for the chub session. Mick had been on this stretch for most of the day sitting it out in the hope of a late season barbel. After a brief chat with Mick I was on my way, searching out likely pegs for the chub. It was my first chub session there this season so I didn't really have too much to go off. 30 mins in the first peg before any interest, but it was a very delicate bite, nothing that I would usually strike at. Another similar bite 10 mins later, which again I sat on my hands and left. An otter drifted down mid river, very aware of my presence but it didn't flinch until I moved.

At this point Mick had given up and he called in to say he was going, the delicate bites started again, gentle nodding on the tip, nothing compared to the usual violent chub bites on my local river. Mick stayed to see if I could get anything and within 5 mins I had a nice 4lb'er on the bank. The chub was sacked and I had the rod back out quickly to see if I could tempt another. Within 5 mins I was playing another decent chub, the fight was a little longer but after a a few hairy moments with a marginal weed bed the chub was netted. Just over 5lb on the avons, my best chub from this river.

Mick, 4.03 and 5.0lb

Again the chub was sacked in the margins whilst I tried for another. The bites had stopped, nothing after 20 mins so I got a couple of photos and moved on. After a couple of moves I started to get some interest in the baits, again very delicate bites, even on though I was only using a 2oz tip the bites were hard to spot.

The first was bumped as the hook bait masked the hook point, missed one then landed the next.

4.12lb the last fish of the season.

A hat-trick of decent chub, a great way to finish the season. I'm planning on spending more time next season on this river. It has a greater head of chub than my local and usually they are a larger average size. A six pound chub is a good target on this river, a challenge but should be achievable if I can put the time in.

Chubtastic

26/01/17
Lincolnshire jacks
A trip down down to Northeast Lincolnshire, a good 2 hour plus drive, so a very early start was needed to make full use of the daylight. I was fishing a river which was transformed into a canal, became disused and typically of the area is now used as a land drain for the surrounding farmland.

Ben has had some success on this waterway but we both struggled, temps had plummeted in the preceding days and it didn't make it past 1°C all day. Despite the fishing being hard and conditions equally shitty we worked hard but could get anything other than jacks, I managed 4 and Ben had 2.

Typical of the fish we managed on a tough day, both predator and prey on the small side.

Not the session I was hoping for as the pike usually average around the low double mark, I might head down for another try before the season ends, if not I'll be back next season.

Local chub sessions
28/01/17
Out on my local river, the same tactics as the beginning of the month. Some instant interest in the first peg but I missed it. Nothing further in that peg, or the next two. 5 minutes in the last peg and I had a text, Lindsey asking if I could pick her up after a night out, just as I put my phone back in my pocket the tip went round. Fumbled the strike and missed the fish. Started to get some interest again but I had go....

30/01/17
Again another late evening chub session, simple tactics again, cheese paste and meat as bait. A minute after casting I started getting interest, then the sound of an otter slipping into the river put a stop to that. 'Here we get go again' I thought, the tip then flew round and before I knew it I was playing a good fish.

A cracking scrap, at times I thought I had a barbel on, then after getting a glimpse I thought carp, but after the tell tail attempts to get to the undercut bank I knew it was a chub. Once on the surface I thought it was a good five, however after netting and seeing the flank I knew it would go past the six pound mark.

Longer than the rod handle!

And it did, 6lb 6oz, a new p.b get in!!

I sacked the fish so I could try and tempt another from the peg, but the excitement got the better of me and the next cast went into the bush and I caused too much disturbance trying to get it out. Never mind, after a quick re-rig, re-weigh and some photos the fish was slipped back and I headed to my next peg.

No real features here just open water, after spending ten minutes trickling bait mid river I had my first cast. One hour in this peg, five casts, five bites, four quality chub landed.

4.15, 4.04, 4.03 and 3.00lb

Bites became less confident and less frequent so I moved on. The river seemed to be on the rise and my 2oz tip wasn't really upto it, two quick rattles of the tip on the first cast and I decided to call it a night.

A new cracking session, a few chub during a full days fishing is generally considered a result so I was chuffed with how things turned out. Two chub bests within a month, not bad for a non chub angler!

05/02/17
After that last session I left my chub gear just in case I got and chance after work, I was working Sunday and Lindsey had the kids at a birthday party, an early finish meant I could get a quick hour in before meeting the family for a late Sunday dinner.

3 pegs fished, I missed a sitter in the first, next peg produced a nice clean chub of 3.09lb, nothing in the third so I decided to revisit the first peg for 10 mins. The tip flew round after a few minutes, nothing massive and it seemed to have had a lucky escape from an otter in the past. Half an hour later I was in the pub for my Sunday dinner.