Barbel, Warks Avon

The title and aim of the session were both Barbel but the Chub were a lot more obliging. Fun at first but becoming a nuisance. Following an opening day blank it was pleasing to get a new season off and running with a Chub on the bank. But after that there followed another eight, all between 3lb and 4lb. Normally that would be an excellent days angling and I am not that short sighted as to realise this but I was only wanting Barbel. Probably sounding like a miserable old Yorkshireman having an unnecessary moan but sod it.

I did manage one example of the target species which took the secret flavoured luncheon meat, I did not weigh it but would guess at between 6lb and 7lb tops. 

The minnows seem really abundant this year and they were a menace, stripping the meat off the hair in about 20 minutes, so I changed to boilies and that caught more Chub plus an impaled Minnow with a size nine hook in it's cheek. Swam off ok though!

Trout, Lenches Lakes

A first fly fishing trip for over twenty years to the Lenches lakes. Accompanied by Uncle Ken a breezy day made for difficult casting conditions for an amateur but perseverence paid off with a brace of Trout weighing 1lb 6oz and 1lb 10oz. Several tangles and a few expletives but a happy angler at the end of the session.

Tench, Hardwick, Linear

A final Tench session before the rivers reopen, the close season seems to get longer each year. A slow and difficult day resulting in a brace of Tench weighing 7lb 2oz and 8lb 4oz respectively. Both fish were taken in the morning as the action ground to a halt in the scorching midday summer sunshine. The usual tactics of chopped worm feeder doing the damage. Bored of still water now and cannot wait to sit by the flow.

Carp, Stubb's Pool

A short evening session with our lad, one rod, a net and some dog biscuits results in over 40lb of Carp on the bank. First blood to me with this low double, followed by a simultaneous hook up which saw us both land small commons.
Then right at last light a large common wolfed down my floater and a glorious battle ensued. After a good twenty minutes the big girl was in the net and I was looking down at a new pb. 22lb 4oz of lean muscly Carp and a trip to the pub was decided upon to celebrate.

Tench, Manor lake

A peaceful corner of Manor lake which was like an aquarium. Plenty of voluntary visitors to the margins including a brace of Pike, several Tench, Carp and a shoal of Roach. A few forced visitors also via the rod and line, seven Tench to 8lb 8oz, a 5lb Bream and a 1lb Perch. An unexpected visitor gave me a real shock. I was just sitting there peacefully taking in the surroundings when suddenly my right foot began to move. Mr mole was burrowing his way across the peg right under my chair.

Tench, Hardwick, Linear

A tough day spent battling more with weed than fish. A succession of hook pulls and lost fish in the weed made for a frustrating morning. However a change in fortunes in the afternoon saw a Carp and a Tench in the landing net. The Tench was the first fish and after a spirited fight pulled the scales down to 6lb 15oz.

The battle with the Carp was without incident which was surprising considering the amount of weed in the swim but this pretty Mirror weighing 10lb 10oz obviously does not like the stuff.

Tench, Hardwick, Linear

It is supposed to be spring with nice warm days and gentle breezes. Instead we get strong northerly gusts and a cold, shivering angler, despite a coat and two jumpers. No excuses needed for the fishing though as another bumper haul is enjoyed from the Linear complex. Seven Tench in total, most were in the 6's and 7's but one female did nudge the 8lb mark.

What was most pleasing was the 'nuisance' fish, as some anglers call them, but I do not see them that way. Bonus fish more like. A new pb Bream which was the first fish taken of the day and weighed 10lb 10oz.

Around 12.00pm my alarm signaled a slow but steady take. I struck into a fish and thought it was a bream, not much of a fight but in fact it was swimming towards me. Then everything went solid. Bream do not dive into weed beds so I thought it must be a Tench. Steady pressure for about 20 seconds and the fish came free. There was a lot of weed draped over the line but the fish was coming closer. Then it's back showed out of the water and I could see it was a Mirror Carp. This was the point it decided to find another weed bed and bury itself again. I pulled and pulled but no good, it was solid. I gave it some slack and put the bait runner back on and replaced the rod in the rests. One quick brew later and I gave it another tug. The fish was still on and I pulled a bit harder and prayed the size 12 hook and 8lb line would hold. Finally, with the steady pressure the fish started to come my way. After a 20 minute fight she went into the net and was mine. An epic battle from a stunning 16lb 4oz Mirror.

Tench, Horseshoe Lake

Trying to find a swim to fish on a bank holiday weekend was a lot harder than I thought. The intention was to try for Tench at Linear but there was literally no space on St. Johns, Hardwick, Manor and Oxlease. A fact finding mission to Linch Hill yielded a lot of information but the fishing was left for a quieter time so Horseshoe lake was were a line was finally cast some 4 1/2 hours after leaving the house.
The shortened session was still a success as a first (and second) ever Horseshoe Tench was landed.My first was probably one of the smallest in the lake and although it was a pretty fish it never got weighed.

The final fish of the session weighed 7lb 2oz and both fish fell for chopped worm-feeder tactics.

Tench, Hardwick, Linear

A red letter day at Hardwick lake on the Linear complex. This collection of day ticket and syndicate lakes was voted the best in the country by a Carp magazine but they offer so much more than that. Many an hour has been spent sat behind motionless alarms waiting for Carp, but refine the tactics and some spectacular sport can be had with the various other species that reside here, and there are some specimens.
There is not many people would do this for you. The first fish of the day went through the other line and then got stuck just out of reach of the landing net so our Nathan threw off his shoes and socks and waded out to land it.

I would have done the same for him, I think. The Tench was safely netted and weighed 7lb 5oz, a good start.

A gradual succession of Tench followed, nine in total up to 8lb 3oz, pictured below.

At about 3pm the bite alarm signaled a screaming run and I assumed another Tench had taken the worm hookbait but the fight died and became sluggish about three rod lengths out. A large Bream came to the surface and I knew my pb for the species at only 6lb 12oz was about to be beaten. 

At 8lb 8oz it was not a big example of the species as there are bigger residents regularly caught from Hardwick but I was pleased non the less.

Carp, Stubb's Pool

A beautiful sunny day at last after the longest winter ever. Stubb's pool lost a lot of fish in the great flood of 2007 but there are still some left and they are pretty but difficult fish to catch. They do have a slight weakness though and that is flavoured dog biscuit or pedigree chum mixer. 

 A chilly morning was spent flogging away with Boilies to no avail and fighting off the cold because I dug the shorts out too early. Once the water heated up and the wind dropped the action became hectic with all fish coming within an hour and a half of each other. 

First to fall was a 9lb 10oz Common.

Followed by the biggest of the day, this 13lb 6oz Common.

Next a 7lb 10oz Mirror.

And finally a stunning 9lb 2oz Ghost.

Rudd, Hailes Fruit Farm

Sometimes you have to kiss a lot of frogs until you get a prince but my brother took it a little too literally. Early afternoon and his float started to slide away, he struck and felt a slight resistance. The frog which he had hooked squarely in the back leg put up little fight. He shouted me but I have a phobia about frogs and told him between giggles that he was on his own and I was going nowhere near it. Look carefully at the photo below and you can see Kermit hanging just to the left of the tree!

I also hypothetically kissed a lot of frogs but did land a prince, not literally. Highlight of my day was this 14oz Rudd which was interspersed with about a hundred smaller fish including Roach, Perch, more Rudd and one Carp weighing 5lb 14oz, taken on a lobworm.

Carp, Twyford Pool

I do not think this aided the fishing in any way. An hour into my weekly fishing session and the owner of the pond turns on the pump and proceeds to try to fill it up. The river water coming directly from a coloured Warks avon. Thats this weeks excuse done but I did have a couple of fish too. The Carp came off the top on chopped down Boilie, the Bream took a worm on a straight forward leger rig.

Roach, Linear

A beautiful early spring day spent beside Hardwick lake at the Linear complex. The temperature is beginning to rise now, almost to T-shirt level but every time the sun went behind a cloud an extra layer was required. The Snow drops are dying off and the Daffodils are only a few days from blooming. Our pet sheep Isobel gave birth to two lambs so spring is definitely here, or at least almost here.
No one told the fish though! A whole morning and most of the afternoon fishing chopped worm and feeder and not a single fish, or bite even. I started the session thinking Roach and gradually thinking Tench, Perch, Bream anything! I would have been happy with a bootlace Eel but sadly it was not to be.
Still if you are going to blank then at least do it in a peaceful corner of countryside in the sunshine!

Roach, Willow Farm Fishery

At last some settled warmer weather, just as the season closes! Time to move on to the stillwaters and Roach to begin with. A day at Willow Farm fishery following a cold night but the guarantee of some fish. Maggot, caster and worm was to be the bait with float and bolt rigs the approach. The overnight low temperature put paid to a fast and furious session but a slow steady succession of bites was had and the keepnet held about a dozen fish. A solitary Tench of about 2lb put up an excellent fight on the light line and a heavily pregnant Perch was returned immediately. The biggest and only weighed fish of the session was this 12oz Roach.

Barbel, Warks Avon

The Avon with an extra few feet of coloured water in it. Perfect Barbel conditions you might be saying, but try as I might I could not tempt one. Meat and pellets were cast into all the likely places, along creases, into eddys, into slackwater and even into the next river, the Arrow! Still not a sniff. 

Barbel, Warks Avon

Only a mad man would have gone Barbel fishing in these conditions. Having checked the forecast all week it was never going to be easy. The day before my only opportunity this week it goes and snows and then just to cap it off upon arrival at the river the snow is melting double quick. Low water temperatures and Barbel do not mix but I gave it a go anyway, nutter!
A couple of hours in and things did not look good. I started with cheese paste as the possibility of Chub as well as barbel evened out the odds a bit in my favour. However the raised water levels brought a lot of crud and weed down with them which kept dragging the lead and the Cheese would inevitably come off.
I decided to change tack and went for flavoured meat on one rod and maggot on the other. That kind of worked as I could now reel in my bait but still no bites.
Eventually about 3 1/2 hours into the session the meat rod showed a bite and it was fish on. The speed of the current made the fight above average for Chub and after a hairy moment in the reeds I managed to land all 4lb 11oz of Chub.
That turned out to be the only fish if the day, in fact only bite of the day too.

Pike, River Wye

The river Wye looked in perfect condition and the weather was chilly but bearable. It did not matter what or where I tried though, another Wye blank was endured. There were bites but the fish must have been semi dormant as they were little twitches and nothing more. Still, never mind, the scenery was stunning and peaceful and I could have been at work.

Barbel, Warks Avon

Barbel
The Warwickshire Avon was in perfect trim, about a foot higher than normal following a week of warmer weather. It just screamed Barbel and they did not let me down. Flavoured luncheon meat works a treat in winter and first cast the rod started screaming. An anxious moment with a weed bed and the first Barbel of the day was safely netted. Only a small one for this part of the river but a good start weighing 5lb 10oz.

Less than half an hour later and the same rod was away again. A spirited battle led me to think this was a better fish but I was always in control and the weed bed was avoided. It was a better fish going 6lb 15oz but not the one I was after.

Another half hour and the same rod leapt about for a third time. From the off this felt like a good fish. The battle lasted a good ten minutes but the outcome was the same. Barbel in the net. A solid fish, fairly short in length but well fed. On the scales it went 10lb 15oz. A quick shake of the scales and it still went 10lb 15oz, never mind, worth a try. Still a cracking fish. 

An hour of inactivity prompted a move to a different swim but no more Barbel were forthcoming. A 3lb 10oz Chub took a liking to the meat and that was the final fish of the day.