Happy Sunshine Boy

By the time we got to the river it was already late morning, the sun was shining and felt lovely and warm on our backs. I had intended to would wander upstream towards the weir but Max liked the look of the car park swims so we dropped into the first one and it proved a good decision. 

Within minutes the quiver tip rattled and he landed a small Dace. Only the one rod out so I kept myself amused with the camera while the lad fished.

Fellow fisherman

'It was this big'

 The boy likes to talk and talk, mostly about fish and whilst I prefer a bit of peace and quiet I am not about to curb his enthusiasm.
It didn't take long before another fish found the red maggots to its liking and with some skill Max landed a new pb Chub weighing 2lb 9oz. He played it beautifully avoiding the nearside vegetation. With the hook removed I showed the boy the contents of the fish's mouth, he was amazed that the greedy blighter had literally hundreds of maggots down its throat.

A decent Chub that was followed very next cast with a cracking Perch. He has now started to realise that some fish cannot be bullied and need a bit more gentle persuasion- a valuable lesson.
I was nearly as excited netting these fish as Max was catching them and the winter sunshine really shows them off.

Not a lot more action followed and we soon left just after lunch, a satisfied gillie/photographer and a content angler.

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!

Parish Games Match

Whilst I enjoy the camaraderie that fishing a team match gives I don't want it to be any more than an annual event. Being told when and where to fish goes against my nature but this year I enjoyed more than ever before. That was mainly down to the fishing. Whilst the majority struggled I found myself in a half decent peg which gave me hope and when I missed a bite first chuck my confidence still grew.

Peg Twenty was my station for the five hours down in the middle of town and I started fishing maggot feeder about two thirds of the way across. Four Perch in the first hour was a start but I was gutted when I lost the biggest at the net, well over a pound it could have made a big difference.
Whilst feeder fishing I fed a line about a rod length out regularly with maggots and for a change I decided to give it a trot. First run through resulted in a Perch and after that followed a procession of Gudgeon.

They continued for the remainder of the match and I finished the day with quite a respectable net full of fish weighing in at 3lb 4oz. The fishing had been tough for most so much so that I had enough to frame in third place so ended up £25 richer. And the team finished a respectable fourth.

Strange Habits these Perch

The lighter evenings have opened up a few more opportunities for me to get bankside so late afternoon I set myself up in a very familiar Perch swim. About thirteen months ago I landed a pb Perch from this very swim and I hoped to better that in what is probably the last opportunity for a big Perch before they begin their annual mating rituals.

Martin joined me after work and set up on the side bank. As usual prawn hook baits were deployed and whilst they are excellent for big Perch there is a whole host of other species that find them extremely palatable. Carp, Bream and even a tiny Tench fell for them throughout the day but thankfully a few of the target species also picked them up. Sadly no monsters but the biggest was a respectable 2lb 1oz specimen that shone in the golden light. The mini Perch campaign has been disappointing with plenty of twos landed but no threes or the target fours.

We fished on into dusk but the strange thing about this venue is the Perch seem to feed better in the afternoon and switch off in the evening when you expect the best of the action. Strange but true.

A pb-I Think

Another afternoon spent chasing big Perch in a particularly pretty commercial fishery. 

Martin was already ensconced in a fishy looking corner and was catching regularly. Sadly not the target species. It didn't take long for fish to find my prawn hookbaits also and between us we landed a procession of Carp and F1s..........

and Chub to 1lb 12oz.

A few bonus points towards the bloggers challenge but that didn't make them any less a nuisance. I'm not sure I have ever caught stillwater Chub before so maybe I caught a pb (of a fashion) but not one I'm going to shout about. I really dislike Chub and especially Barbel being stocked into commercials, it does not sit right with me. They are river fish and should remain that way.

We fished long and hard but the Perch just did not want to play or weren't allowed to by the other fish. A hazard of fishing over-stocked match puddles! Fun though!

The Rumour Mill Keeps Turning

A Bank Holiday finally gave me the opportunity to spend a full day by the water however running your own business does not mean that the work stops completely, I didn't mind a few phone calls though when the view was as stunning as this.

Tazzy and I had ventured up the Cotswolds to a little known fishery that according to a mate of mine has the potential of a 'five'. It seems that every fishery now (allegedly) holds five pound Perch but I get a feeling a lot of these rumoured monsters may be unweighed fish caught by both pleasure anglers and matchmen alike. A big Perch always looks bigger than it actually weighs as Richard Walker implied.
Having said this I think that if any pool could produce a fish of a lifetime then it could be this one. All the right ingredients are in place: A little fished pond so the Perch are left relatively alone. There are very few Carp to compete for the available food, a fact borne out by my Prawn hookbaits not getting pestered by any today. And finally there is a good stock of stunted silverfish for the Perch to gorge themselves on.
The fishing today however was very slow. Cold overnight temperatures and a clear bright day don't generally accompany red letter days but whilst I waited for the fish to wake up I amused myself taking photos of my surroundings. It certainly is useful having two hobbies that can intertwine so perfectly.

I took snaps of the wildlife......although I missed a fleeing Roe Deer Doe!!

Backlit photos of the Spaniel....

Bankside flowers, not sure what they are...

some fluffy clouds...

and my Speedia centrepin....

Throughout the whole day I could only muster one bite, thankfully it fell to the centrepin rod meaning the fight was all the more pleasurable.
A youthful looking specimen of just over two pounds giving me confidence that bigger fish may be there for the taking. Just hope I can find the time to catch them!

Trotting the Wye

A day spent trotting for Roach on the glorious River Wye was an opportunity I was not going to pass up. The river was perfect having a few extra feet on, lovely colour and had been fairly settled for a few days.

The day started well with some lovely Perch, Roach and Dace finding the maggots irresistible but then the Bleak moved in in their thousands and absolutely mullered every grub thrown their way.

It was time for a move downstream. Thankfully the Bleak didn't follow and we were able to catch more quality Roach of about a pound, some small Chub and some more Perch.

It was such a pleasure to fish this stunning fish-filled river, I just hope I get to return soon!

One Bite Can Make All the Difference

I'll start this post the same way as everyone else seems to start theirs at the moment: River bank high, chocolate coloured, drop in temperature etc. Fishing time is precious so rather than flog a dead horse we headed to the local commercial in search of the elusive monster Perch that grow fat therein on a diet of stunted fish and left over match bait.
The fishery in question has a reputation for throwing up five pounders but funnily enough there are no photos to verify these massive specimen and I doubt they were even weighed. Anyone who is inexperienced in catching big Perch will no doubt be way out when trying to guess the weight of these fish. I've had a few now and I still never get it right.
The fishing was slow, tediously slow. We blamed the cold, not unusual for this time of year but this has not been a usual year for weather!

It took a good few hours before finally we had a bite, first blood to Martin. A decent sized double figure Carp. I'm not sure why, maybe because the fish was freezing cold but Martin thought he would give it a cuddle. Or maybe he's not been getting much lately!!

It obviously warmed the fish up as it gave a powerful flip and Martin ended up juggling it about for a while and then doing his uncanny impression of Keith Arthur.

Back under control he resumed some serious posing again.

Another spell of inactivity followed before I caught a Carp of my own. One of those fish that give commercial fisheries a bad name. So ugly that I did not even take a net shot. Half it's mouth was missing on one side. the other side not much better, it had three dorsal fins where there should only be one and a nasty sore just above it's tail. It had suffered enough and I felt guilty that I had put it through more!
An hour later, early afternoon the float twitched but didn't fly under, just edged its way away from the marginal tree towards the centre of the pond. A positive strike and it was obvious that this was no Carp as the rod tip jagged about in a way that could only mean Perch. Soon enough it surfaced and the hook which was only held by the tiniest flap of skin thankfully kept its hold. At last we had what we came for, Even though it fell short of the three pound mark by only one ounce I was still overjoyed at my biggest Perch for this fishery and believe me I have fished there many times.

I pulled my usual dour Yorkshireman pose before Martin said something mildly funny to make me giggle. 

2lb 15oz

And then he got all artistic with the camera but to be fair the result below was worth it.

Two more small Perch followed before we called it a day, we were cold to the bone but it only takes one fish to make a difficult day worthwhile.