A Stunner

 The moor hens chicks have hatched, the margins are full of tadpoles, spring is now well-progressed.

I seem to have caught the Carp fishing bug but not the three rods, spodding, bite alarm type of bug. As far as I'm concerned if I can't stalk them off the surface I am not interested. For that I need non-commercial peaceful venues preferably with quite a low stock and the Carp need to be stunning too.

Like last week I managed just the one fish and also like last week it was a 'twenty', this time 23lb 2oz.

And I think you will agree it is a stunner. Getting addictive this Carp fishing lark!

Close Season-so far....

Not been out as much as I would like as is always the case but managed to sneak in a few short sessions.
While the weather was cold I had a couple of attempts at the Perch. Firstly at Willow Farm where I managed two smaller specimens the best going 1lb 8oz.

Then the next session Max joined me. The Perch did not play ball but we did manage one Carp which was fun on light tackle.

I then moved venues to try a lovely farm pond in glorious sunshine. First up was this lovely Eel that was thankfully hooked in the lip.

That was soon followed up by this 2lb 9oz beauty of a Perch. It was still early in the session so I felt confident more would fall to my prawn hook baits but sadly the action tailed off as quick as it had started.

Again a session with the boy followed and he took several Roach and baby Perch on maggot.

My rod remained untouched and we made an early retreat.

Yesterday I managed to sneak in a couple of hours before the school run. Not having much time I grabbed some dog biscuits and one rod, more in hope than expectation as I didn't fancy my chances. It wasn't sunny and not that warm but you never know I thought.

Initially it took me ages to find the fish, I don't think I even cast out for the first 45 minutes! Eventually I managed to get a few interested but they weren't exactly feeding with gusto.

Then just as the rain started I got a big surprise, the floater disappeared and I ended up attached to a powerful Carp. To be honest I gave it a lot of welly. By now it was absolutely pissing down, I was not prepared clothes-wise and this lake is weedy so I didn't want a drenching with only a lost in the weed fish to show for it. Eventually after a fantastic struggle I squeezed the fish into my not big enough landing net.

I love the colour of these fish, dark backed, long and lean, solid muscly beauties. A battered old warrior that went 21lb 9oz on the scales. Result.

I had no time left to fish on as I needed to detour home to change. I couldn't pick the kids up looking like a drowned rat and stinking of fish-what would the scrummy mummies think!!??!

A Tough 'Test' of Tackle

I have definitely lost my fishing mojo this year having only been out on a handful of sessions but, Martin and Andy persuaded me that the annual end of year trip to the wonderful chalk streams of Hampshire was an absolute must. I'm glad they succeeded.

This year we changed venue but we were still on the famous river Test, the Godfather of all the chalk streams. Much lower downstream than last year so as well as the Grayling and Trout there was the chance of some good coarse fish. 

I plonked myself into the first likely looking swim, dispatched a few handfuls of mashed bread and when the float dipped on the second trot through I struck in almost misbelief. I expected bottom as I was still working out the various depths but the rod bucked and a powerful fish in the strong flow gave me quite a scrap. As it is a new venue I had no idea what I was attached to but when it made several bids for the nearside snags the culprit could only be a Chub.

What a start to the day, 5lb 1oz of chunky Chub, I collared Martin in the next peg for photo duties.

The big man was soon back in my swim with a large Brownie worthy of a mugshot, out of season so it went back unweighed.

What followed was a fabulous day's sport with four more Chub all over four pounds...

A surprising amount of river Bream the biggest of which I weighed at 4lb 4oz...

The unavoidable Trout, all Brownies and a pb which I shouldn't have weighed but it was over four pounds

A couple of deer grazed nonchalantly over the far side...

when the float dipped and I struck into something completely different from anything previously hooked during the day.

My first thoughts were Salmon but it stayed low so I changed my mind to Barbel....

Martin went click-happy with the camera taking plenty of shots of the fight...

and finally after more than twenty minutes I slipped the net under a stunning Carp. Not what I suspected in this fast flowing river, they really are everywhere!

The smile hides the relief

Not the biggest Carp I have ever caught but a stunner in all her winter glory and she 'test'ed all my skills on three pound line, a trotting rod and fast water. 

One of New Years resolution is definitely more Angling like this!!

More Max Fishing

My blog is in danger of being completely taken over by a small boy whose passion for angling is showing no signs of waning. He has however started his own blog now, check it out.
Thursdays (cut short by the weather) afternoon session again at Willow Farm was highlighted by Max's first Carp. A pretty apple slice scaled Mirror that led him a merry dance. Max float fished maggots while I plonked a prawn down by the lilies to give us a back-up option. The Carp picked up the prawn and made the boys day.

His next session was scheduled for Saturday but we gave storm Brian a wide berth and postponed until Sunday morning. The wind was still blowing a hooley so we kept the rod tip as low as possible while feeder fishing maggots. The swim took some getting going but after an hour or so the fish started to oblige.
Ever since our first session Max has had a weird obsession about catching an Eel. I have told him that the time of year meant that it was unlikely and that the numbers of Eels are not what they used to be, trying to soften the blow of disappointment. Well I shouldn't have wasted my breath. We had already landed a quality netful of Perch, Roach, Dace, Chublets and the biggest Bleak I have ever seen, when the rod bent over and stayed bent over. Max laid into the unseen adversary, I thought he was attached to a decent Chub so imagine our surprise when an Eel appeared at the net. Excited high fives followed. It was not going in the keepnet so we weighed and photographed it and put it straight back.

Max insisted he was going to hold it for the trophy shot, he obviously had no idea what is involved in holding an Eel. His expressions speak a thousand words.

Eventually he got it under control.

And it took him about half an hour to get the slime off his hands.

Posing with the biggest Perch of the day was much easier!

Six Sessions, One Post- Close Season Catch Up

Recently it has been a bit of a struggle to find the time to fish and when I have managed to get bankside the results have been poor. I cannot find the motivation to write about fishless sessions or ones involving tiddlers so hence the blog has been quiet.

Several weeks ago I took some floaters to my favourite Carp venue. The avian life were extremely interested in my offerings, especially the goose and swan pictured and I struggled to get the same response from below the surface. One missed bite was all I could muster and I went home cursing our feathered friends.

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Session Two and some very inclement weather gave Tazzy and I a proper soaking.

The cold rain made the sport sporadic to say the least. I was targetting silver Bream but only managed a few small roach and a couple of Bronze Bream and nothing special to boot.

Session Three was good fun, got the fly rod out and chased the Carp in the local puddle. Two small battling Commons landed made for a pleasant evening distraction.

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Session Four was a blank chasing Tench, the weather was still quite chilly and I don't think the Tincas had woken up properly from their Winter slumber. Even Tazzy looked bored that day.

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Session Five and the fly rod came back into play. A social evening with the big man at the picturesque Lenches lakes chucking bits of fluff at rising Trout.

The warmer temperatures have made the fish more active and I managed a brace of Trout up to 2 1/2 pound. The first one fell for a black gnat type pattern with buoyant white wings (I must learn the proper names of these things!), the second a large grasshopper type thing, it was getting dark so needed something big that my old eyes could see in the gloom.

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Session Six saw me back Tenching but this time on a red hot day in glorious sunshine.

The Carp were thrashing around in the margins obviously starting to get amorous and they gave me a constant barrage of line bites making it difficult to tell if I was getting actual bites. The Tench were conspicuous by their absence and after five bite less hours I was beginning to get frustrated.

Finally I had an unmissable run and after a bit of trouble with a weed bed I slipped the net under by far the best fish I have caught this year. A stunning female Tench pulling the scales down to 9lb 3oz. All the frustrations of previous sessions forgotten with one fish- gotta love this sport!!