Autumn/Winter 2023/24

 A Milestone

So, here we are. Blog entry number one hundred. Thank you to everyone involved over the years, it has been almost exclusively a positive experience. There have been a few ups and downs, not only in the fishing but also the writing. That said, I'm immensely proud of some of the stuff I have written so thanks again for indulging me. 

Sad news

When Daisy, one of our Labradors so sadly passed away I said she couldn't be a footnote. Such a massive part of this blog but also my life. The same, therefore must apply to her sister- Harriet. She passed just after I wrote the last entry. I didn't have a favourite but Harry was just fucking adorable. Some of you met her. She could raise a smile out of even 'I'm not-a-dog person' friends. Never again will I be fishing and have a big soppy head on my shoulder. Such an incredible companion, she died in my arms with me telling me I loved her.

The fishing

When Daisy died I was bereft for quite a while. On Harry's passing after the initial heartbreak I forced myself to get busy living. Martin and I always share an autumn perch fishing session on one of his local venues. It was a bit soon but I made myself go fishing. Little did we realise what was about to unfold....

We both got to the venue in question at first light. I quickly pumped the boat up while Martin readied all the bait and tackle. Dropshotting worms has proved by far the most effective method over the years and we were soon afloat casting to various likely looking spots. I had a good two pounder almost straight away and then Martin caught a beauty of 3lb 6oz....

Over the next few hours Martin incredibly added another five three pounders topped by this magnificent example...

3lb 11oz

On many occasions fishing doesn't make sense. We were both fishing in the same way, yet Martin took most of the spoils that day. So close to losing Harry I wasn't really present but felt I fished pretty well, there's really not a lot to that particular style of fishing. People often say they are pleased for someone else's success. They rarely mean it. Being part of one of Martin's red letter days was a privilege though. Seeing his enjoyment sprinkled a little sugar on my dour state of mind. I didn't leave that day without a big one myself, finally managing to get one over the magical mark....

3lb 6oz

We also had quite a few big twos that day too. Quite remarkable fishing.

2lb 10oz

As word got around among our peers a couple of them quite understandably wanted in on the action. Despite what you've just read and see on social media a three pound perch is still a relatively rare beast. It was an awkward situation as I had the boat but Martin had introduced me to the venue. Luckily and as ever he was remarkably understanding and gave us his blessing. 

Round two involved our friend Nick. This time I was first out of the blocks with a big perch on my second cast...

3lb 5oz

Nick then took over as a repeat of the previous session seemed to pan out. He caught three perch over three pounds in quick succession. This was the best....

Also 3lb 5oz

I've had a bit of abuse over the years for naming venues or making them a bit obvious and as Nick's other three pounders show a bit too much in the background so I'll leave them out. Should keep the self-appointed fishing police happy, if they ever are. I had another bang on three pounds too along with some more pretty twos...

3lb

2lb 12oz

Right, are you keeping count? I make that twelve three pound perch in two trips between us. 

Next up was James Truscott. With a busy work life and young family James doesn't get out nearly as much as he would like so he was a shoo-in for some instant perch action. Now all these perch aren't caught from exactly the same spot. When Nick and I went they were in different areas to my first visit with Martin. In fact Martin caught his biggest fish completely out of the blue a long way from where we started off that day. Such is the amount of fish present and the size of the venue there is almost never just one group of big perch.

With this in mind James and I moved the boat around frequently to keep the bites coming. He ended the morning with an incredible four perch over three pounds.

3lb 6oz x2

3lb 7oz

A new PB for James at 3lb 9oz

 I think from memory his previous PB was with me too, on Pitsford. Brilliant to share in his achievments.

 What about you Phil? I hear you ask. Well I fared a little better than before. What you're about to see is preposterous. I'm embarrassed by it. It's definitely not James' fault but I usually frame my own photos on a forward facing camera on a bankstick. More often than not I'm not too bad at it. Not being able to see myself and the fish produces variable results that I'm rarely happy with. Bear that in mind before you tear me a new one for holding it out, quite the most ridiculous example of, I'm sure you'll agree. Fine fish though..

3lb 11oz

A liitle better framing (not much) 3lb 8oz

Nice to see me smile. 3lb

Deluge

After those memorable perch sessions the rain came. It seemingly continued to fall for the rest of the autumn and winter. Nick joked he had remembered a year when he hadn't been able to fish one of the bigger local rivers all winter one year, so bad were the conditions. Little did we realise we were about to experience another.

With a new job for myself and the rivers so high I didn't fish much, certainly nothing like previous years. Nick and I did have a few trips out on his fabulous Linder boat though and while the main river wasn't fishable we found a few tributaries and backwaters that periodically held a few fish. Nick stumbled across a very nice perch late one session caught on a worm....

3lb 2oz perch

Nice two pounder

Despite some initial limited success we never found perch in any numbers all winter. They were impossible to find in the dirty water. After a couple of very poor sessions we decided to target pike which we'd seen at various spots on our travels. I don't know how many doubles I caught over the winter but it was a lot. The really big ones eluded me though and the best I had was this one....

17lb 2oz

A week after this fish we managed to find some clear water and I actually saw a pike shoot out from some structure and take Nick's bait. I instantly knew it was a good one, exciting stuff. As I write this now I realise I was with Nick when he caught his previous PB pike. Must be his lucky charm....

20lb 10oz and a very happy Nick

Such was the intensity of the weather over the winter Nick had to rescue his boat several times. Unprecedented river levels saw it break free from its moorings on one fraught occasion.  Luckily it survived and we had a few more trips when conditions allowed and while we caught lots more pike we didn't have any bigger ones. 

Kennet trip

After Christmas a few of us gathered together in deepest Berkshire for a return visit to the beautiful river Kennet. Another trip to an exclusive trout beat had been arranged by our mysterious 'fixer'. We were privileged the first time we went so when the chance of a return came up we snapped up the opportunity.

Made famous by A Passion for Angling this particular beat used to hold several coarse species of specimen proportions. Roach, grayling, dace, chub and pike. Sadly only the chub and pike remain in any numbers but while trout are the mainstay efforts are being made to return coarse stocks to the river.

Now there are people in this photo probably reading this that are wondering what I'm going to say next. Er, I don't really know how to explain but lets just say we all nearly got thrown off the beat before we'd even started. A very angry estate worker I'd managed to enrage soon calmed down and we all enjoyed a lovely day roaming about. 

The river was high, very high but remarkably clear. Sadly the chub fishing wasn't as prolific as the previous year. The carriers weren't even visible, lost in fields of floodwater. Someone got very lucky on his first cast of the day though and it really couldn't have happened to a nicer chap....

6lb 10 chub for Andy Wilson, his first and only bite.

Dai Gribble too had a bite very early on. Now if you're wondering what it takes to one of the finest specimen anglers in the land I'll explain in one paragraph...

Dai missed the bite but he was convinced a sneaky chub was the culprit. Over the course of the morning he tried various tactics to no avail. We'd walk by and Dai would be muttering about how sure he was there was a chub present, as he fiddled about with some new method or other. Fast forward about nine hours later to dusk. The rest of us were in the car park, loaded up ready to go home. The incredibly friendly river keeper asked if any one was left. It was a loaded question, he wanted to go home, we all did. Eventually Dai appeared through the gloom. "Did you catch it Dai?" we asked. "Of course, as soon as the light faded, a lovely chub just like I said" he replied. The weight apparently didn't matter. He was right, it was about twelve ounces. 

The iconic weed rack

Two dreaded crayfish clinging to my dead bait

I did have one chub of about three pounds and Darren Clarke had a few to nearly five pounds but the nothing else of note was caught all day. Richie Martin swears blind he saw an owl the size of a small Zeppelin. He thought for a split second it might be hunting him. It's that sort of place, quite remote and absolutely bursting with life. A truly special part of the country so thank you to the keeper Jimmy for letting us spend the day there.

The day after saw us head to a nearby stretch of the Thames that had been recommended to us by the Angling Trust's Martin Salter. Sadly there was a little bit too much water on for it to be productive although we did try. Story of much of the winter really.

A surprise

Andy Loble was keen to meet up for a fishing trip. Slightly odd as he's usually up a mountain or on a paddle board or cross country skiing or something similarly adventurous. Little did I know he'd organised a surprise for me. So six of us agreed to meet up on the Trent for a days chub fishing. The fishing was rubbish. Only Dave Owen redeemed himself with a couple of modest examples. Half way through the day though I was presented with a hand drawn picture of Daisy and Harriet. Arranged by Andy and paid for by all my lovely friends at SHUK.

One of the nicest things anyone has ever done for me. Thank you

A reluctant realisation of a dream I've never had

I remember writing about my desire to catch a two pound roach many years ago. I've had four since then. A roach of three pounds has never been on the agenda. So scarce throughout the country let alone Lincolnshire which friends will insist I rarely leave. 

Just before Christmas I got a message out of the blue. A friend had seen some very big roach on a river I was vaguely familiar with. I'd seen them too but many years ago and maybe a couple of two pounders in among hundreds if not thousands of smaller ones. Now he is a very experienced angler and freely admitted he wasn't the best at guesstimating sizes in water but said some of them had got to be three pounds plus.

I had a fleeting thought about fishing for them but I'd tried before, more than once and I'd surmised that the smaller ones made it impossible to get to the big ones. I knew others that had seen them too but nobody as far as I knew had ever caught them.

Three months later and a day before the end of the season Nick suggested the very same venue as it would probably be the only place fishable as it usually ran fairly clear. I wanted to go to the Trent but it was in the fields again, so begrudgingly agreed just to get out of the house.

I arrived before Nick as usual. He's not an early morning person. After a good half an hour walking around I settled in a likely looking spot. I set up a tip rod and fished a lump of bread flake on a size ten hook, I wasn't messing about, I wanted to deter the small ones. Sure enough as soon as I cast in the tip started tapping about while presumably small roach tried to pluck the bread off the hook. I'd pinched the bread on as hard as I could so sat on my hands until I got a positive bite. Over the next hour this resulted in a couple of net roach of about ten ounces. 

Nick appeared and we had a brief chat. Apparently I was in a noted chub peg. After a short while he wandered off and I carried on fishing. I don't think the tip ever sat still for more than thirty seconds. The small fish were relentless and I was getting itchy feet. I would have preferred far less bites but from bigger fish I thought as I started putting a few bits and bobs back in my little bag. I was preparing for a move. 

I was still watching the tip all the time and sure enough a couple of taps developed into a hittable bite. I struck and was met with considerable resistance. I immediately thought- oh it must be one of those chub Nick was on about. The fight wasn't chub-like though as it stayed resolutely mid river. A chub would surely charge about all over the place? After a while it surfaced a short distance downstream and it was the biggest roach I've ever seen.  The rest of the fight was the most tense few seconds I think I've ever experienced, praying for it not to come off.

With it safely in the net, I couldn't quite take it in. I rang Nick and he said he would come back to help me out. I sat there for the next few minutes in a daze not quite believing what had just happened. Soon enough Nick appeared. "That's three pounds all day long" Nick said as he peered into my net. I don't think he's ever seen a three pound roach but neither had I and I secretly knew it was over a weight I'd never imagined catching. It was just enormous.

3lb 4oz

Broad across the back

I fished on in shock. I knew the river held big roach and I was fishing for them but never expected to catch a three pounder. Not in my wildest dreams. 

I gave it another hour or so before finally having a wander. Nick dropped into my peg and caught a small roach every trot down on the float. They really are among hundreds of small ones. I was just incredibly fortunate. 

Final word

Thank you again to everyone that has been part of this blog over the years. People I really admire and am grateful to call friends. We've had some really really great adventures. There are ninety-nine other entries to this diary that are all still there. There are some great stories and some great fish along the way too. Feel free to peruse them at your leisure. 

Many people have me to continue but it's mainly people I know anyway so it could be the last but never say never. If I've got a story to tell, l might just fire up the laptop again.

Thank you

for Harriet, I miss you.