Winter 2021. Spring/Summer/Autumn 2022

 A refreshing dip

Last week I was pike fishing on a local river. Having rained for much of the day the river was rising and the flow increasing hour by hour. I'd taken my umbrella though so remained satisfyingly dry. The rain eventually stopped and as ever I started to get itchy feet. A short distance upstream I found a few small fish in a slack on the far bank. I was pretty sure perch were attacking them. I returned a short while later with my float rod, some worms and big pike net. I crouched down on some flattened near-bank reeds with the main flow right by my feet.

Sure enough I was soon expertly playing a decent Perch. I drew it into the reeds to hand it out as I didn't want to have to unfurl it from the folds of my cavernous pike net. As I leant down to pick out the fish my balance shifted slightly and I put my hand down to stop myself toppling over. As my hand went onto the reeds they instantly parted and my arm shot into the cold, muddy torrent followed by much of the rest of me. A brief panicked melee ensued and by the time I'd removed myself from the water the Perch had somehow ended up in the net anyway. My fishing wife for the day Nick was mortified he hadn't witnessed the carnage. I fished on, wet but somewhat revitalised by the experience.

Catching up

After reminding myself not to leave it so long last time, it's been even longer this time. In my defence I needed a new laptop which I'm writing to you on now. You owe me for it obviously, no doubt you'll lavish me with cash when our paths cross. Some highlights from last year...

Winter 2021/2022 

Trent perch 3lb 1oz

Back a week later with Alfie Naylor, best of a multiple perch/pike catch between us.

Lincolnshire river 3lb 13oz perch. Taken second cast of the day on a TRD, caught nothing else of note from there the rest of the winter.

Lincolnshire drain. 3lb 6oz perch on my first visit, again nothing else of note on multiple return trips.

Nate Green always visits from a distant Kent at Christmas. Here with an expertly caught 5lb 10oz Chub from the river Bain right at the end of an otherwise uneventful day.

I know that place!

Scrolling through my news feed on Facebook one night I came across a picture of a chap with some rather large roach. Ever the opportunist I thought I recognised the venue and so I should have done, it turned out to be in my village. Something wasn't quite right though. From experience I knew most of the fish weren't true roach but hybrids. I studied the photo again. He was holding one that looked about right but the others laid on the unhooking mat in front of him were dubious. Only one way to find out I thought and rather than fish from the almost suicidally steep banks I lobbed my boat in. They certainly weren't put off by it and I caught some magnificent fish on trotted bread. Not one of them was a true roach. 

2lb 9oz was the biggest and I had several 2's. They look suspicious as soon as you see them, mouth and fins not quite right to be true roach but lovely to catch regardless.

I was still catching a few pike all winter. Modest fish to mid double-figures, either on my own or with.....

....our old friend Benidorm Dave, 

The back end of the river season was spent chasing chub, unsuccessfully for the most part. Not for my mate Nick though who caught a really remarkable fish. Like me he endured plenty of blanks and missed bites but joined the uber exclusive Lincolnshire 7lb club. That's as much of his secret I'm giving away.

Spring 2022

Every year I have a few very half-hearted goes at trying to catch a catfish. Night fishing isn't really my thing but this year I was aided by some mates from work- twins Zak and Josh. Avid carp anglers I joined them at a local lake for a few sessions. They fished for carp and I fished for cats and carp. I did catch a few of the latter but nothing massive. The cats proved allusive though.

The chaos twins, hogging the facilities

On one memorable night, just after dark eventually my cat rod alarm rang out. I'd caught a few rogue pike on squid but as soon as I lifted into this fish I knew it wasn't one of those. Luckily both brothers were there to help and they wound in my other rods and readied the net. Even with 50lb braid the fight was fairly fraught and I basically just held on for dear life until it got fed up. It's difficult to put into words because for most of the fight I was just praying it didn't come off or get snagged. After what seemed like an age the boys finally netted it for me, I can't remember which one but give me a break, they're virtually the same person. Joking aside that shared moment of your mates being pleased for you and the elation of finally catching something significant by design is one I'll never tire of. 

37lb 8oz Catfish, handily impressive for when any non-fisherman friends ask what the biggest fish I've ever caught is. 

Other than a few carp I spent most of the spring trout fishing at the excellent Withern Mill. I even tempted my friend Nick out of fly fishing retirement to have a go despite his protestations about having a bad back. I caught loads of trout, mainly rainbows from the lakes but had a few brownies from the river too. A lovely way to spend a few hours.

Nick in action

A few of us also had our annual Ide fishing trip, which if truth be told I'm a bit hopeless at. They swim around with hundreds of ravenous carp you see. Very frustrating trying to pick them out.

For the first time ever I can't actually remember the weight. 3lb something I reckon

Richie Martin had the best of the day at an impressive 5lb 1oz

Summer 2022

The drains and rivers of Lincolnshire tend to be smaller and shallower than the proper fens further south. As such they can get pretty much choked with weed. With the exceptionally warm conditions we experienced this year the weed seemed to be as bad as I can ever remember.

The river Steeping, totally unfishable.

There's an almost scripted calendar proper specimen hunters stick too. Early summer for most means Rudd. Fortunately a few friends were catching some really nice ones that were in my range for a visit. I took Nick up on his kind offer of a lift to a venue he'd already been to a couple of times. We arrived to find an almost arrow-straight drain, impressively wide and deep, thankfully almost completely free from weed. 

We both headed downstream and soon found small pockets of fish, visible just under the surface, some quite large ones too. Being a newbie I struggled for the first hour or so but after making a few mistakes and the loan of a heavy, stumpy float I sussed it out. They were mostly on the far bank and the odd one I did find close-in were super shy, even with a free-lined bait. Loosefeeding didn't seem to make much difference to the likelihood of tempting one either. My first fish was in a group of three fish milling about on the far bank. I didn't feed anything and just made a speculative cast towards them. One of them grabbed the bread almost instantly. It went 2lb 1oz, a lovely start. 

After walking a good couple of miles in the searing heat I was beginning to flag somewhat but the promise of stumbling across something special kept me going. Indeed I did see a really big fish that was frustratingly hanging around a far bank staging that I just couldn't reach. Later in the day though I struck lucky. It too was out of range and I must have had six or seven casts at it before it took pity on my efforts and swam over to swallow my bait.

The best one of the day- 2lb 6oz

Sea round up

Despite my relative rudd success I didn't go back because at the start of the summer the sea always takes priority. I was really keen to better my 13lb Smoothhound PB and had several trips out in my small inflatable trying. As usual I caught plenty but sadly no really big ones. Fish to 11lb were great fun though. Even the smaller ones are able to strip 30lb braid from the reel and fight all the way to the boat.  

Such experiences are always better shared and I had a couple of great trips out with Zak and Josh from work too. 

Zak with one of several that day, including rays, whiting and bass.

Myself with a modest example

Rays were abundant this year, often catching more of them than hounds

Zak's twin brother Josh

Braver than his brother who wouldn't hold the prickly rays

Despite some very hot weather the summers hound prospects were actually pretty poor, offshore winds roughing the sea up for weeks on end. The opportunities to catch them soon whittled away and all the gear put away for another year. There's always something else to do though and although not as productive as usual I bothered a few caravan park carp on the float.

22lb 4oz

With it being too hot for most of the summer I only went barbel fishing twice, both times with Josh who was keen to get his first river barbel.

I failed miserably to catch the target species although I did get a few chub

On our first trip Josh waited patiently and kept plugging away, feeding and re-casting finally to be rewarded with a 9lb 12oz beauty. 

That just about rounds up the summer action but I did have a few early perch trips

3lb 2oz from a short window when the Witham was free from weed

Oh I nearly forgot. Bear with me. For a few years now I'd been meaning to visit a commercial reasonably close to home that had a history of throwing up the very occasional big perch. I'm talking genuine 4lb+. I was probably a bit late to the party but everywhere else must have been fishing pretty terribly for me to finally have a go. 

I went with Zak, also keen to catch a decent perch and he'd come with just the right man, or had he? I fished with two float presented lobworms, one in the margins and one in open water. The margin one produced an eel in the first couple of hours. Zak was catching some tiny perch from the edge of his swim while my open water bait had produced nothing. Not a tap.

I must have recast it around a dozen times during the afternoon, spraying maggots around and generally trying to create a bit of activity. On my last cast I set my rod down to fire in some maggots and it ripped off the bank almost immediately, disappearing far faster than my reactions into the murky water. A carp must have taken the worm on the drop, along with one of my beloved perch rods. More importantly I couldn't have a fish towing that around so after much consternation and despite not having a clue where it was, I had to go in. 

Shameful, but ultimately no harm done. 

Autumn 2022

I had a rather fraught feature for Improve Your Coarse fishing where I really struggled to find any decent perch locally. Just the day before I had a 2lb 13oz fish from the venue in question which was new to me....

A week or so later I met up with our old friend Martin Barnatt for our yearly visit to the south of the county. Strangely enough we couldn't fish in our usual spot due to someone being bivvied up on the river for days at a time. Martin assured me he'd found somewhere to fish further downstream. In fact he'd had numbers of perch to 3lb 6oz a few days before. 

In essence the river is wide and featureless. I was pleased to see a few bait fish dimpling in our chosen spot though when we arrived. To cut a long story short I had a disaster. Martin couldn't stop catching perch all morning, some good ones too. Despite fishing above and below him at much the same range with the same tactics I could barely buy a bite. It was bordering on ridiculous. In fact, looking back now it was. I still can't really fathom it. 

Martin with two perch from the tightest shoaled perch in the world

Luckily for me Martin started to get pestered with small fish and being the host suggested we might have time to try elsewhere on the way home. It was a venue I was familiar with and I was slightly disappointed to find the first spot we stopped at lifeless. A match angler confirmed our fears by informing us he hadn't had a bite in two hours. Upon arrival at the second spot I instantly saw some fry priming in the water. That'll do I thought. Indeed it did. Ten minutes later I rescued the day with a reasonable specimen.

A very welcome 2lb 13oz perch on a tough day

A day with Dave on another river produced lots of Pike between us. This 15lb 10oz fish the best of the bunch

I had a perch that day too. Unbelievably it was also 2lb 13oz. 

Nick and I had agreed to meet locally to try for both perch and pike. I took my boat and we were soon afloat. Nick caught a perch almost straight away, I'm almost embarrassed to write this as you'll never believe it- it was 2lb 13oz. He took it from some structure a fair distance away so I decided to move the boat closer. On striking the engine up I heard a strange noise. It turned out to be the drag on my reel and as I looked down to the side of the boat my dropshot rod was bent double eventually snapping clean in half before I'd had the chance to shut the engine off. 

A Favorite White Bird, my favourite dropsot rod. 

It turned out my rig had become entangled around the propeller, ripping the braid from my reel. When I finally untangled it all there wasn't anymore perch in that spot anyway. Then on the way back to pick up a spare rod Nick was loaning me I dropped my new vape in the river. Not a good start. Pretty terrible in fact, I really liked that rod.

For the next couple of hours we drifted and motored about trying to find some fish to no avail. In the end we went to a spot neither of us had any joy from before, just out of curiosity really. Amazingly we caught a couple of small perch so we anchored up. What happened next proved to be fairly significant.

Nick hooked a decent perch, probably just under 2lb and a Pike absolutely torpedoed it on the way in. The pike weighed 17lb 8oz and the perch swam off seemingly uninjured. With the pike returned to sulk upstream the perch really came out to play and we started to catch on every drop down.

There's a famous sports psychologist that explains something called the beat. A period in an activity where everything becomes almost effortless. I've experienced it when I was swimming regularly, runners experience it all the time. A sort of serenity where every action becomes automatic. Without wanting to sound like a wanker I've experienced a few times when I have a big shoal of perch in front of me, lost fish and missed bites become distant memories and I hook and land every one. I had ten that were comfortably over 2lb and two that weighed 3lb 2oz. Nick caught plenty too but sadly the 3s evaded him. 

3lb 2oz

3lb 2oz

As a brace

Final word

Looking back it's been a good year. I've really enjoyed my time with my friends, none in particular, I'm not fussy, they're all my favourites. Two of them, Nick and Benidorm Dave I met through this blog so it's only right I keep it going (and they pay for my laptop). Thanks for reading. 

Till next time....

Summer/Autumn 2021

Note to self....

Don't leave it so bloody long next time you big red idiot, you can barely remember what happened last week let alone five months ago. Apologies to myself and much more importantly- you.

One thing etched in to my mind was an early summer trip out on my boat. I did say last year watch out for our friend Paul who after a session in my boat got his own and sure enough, took it out this year had caught Smooth-hounds up to the magical 20lbs. We've both been shore fishing for a few years now trying to get one of that size with results being sporadic to say the least. From a little further out though sport was proving to be much more reliable.

The beaches of Lincolnshire are gently sloping and the water quite shallow. This, combined with certain weather conditions sometimes results in a bit of lumpy surf close in while beyond remains relatively calm. Paul and I met up mid-morning on a warm July day and the beach was awash with sunbathers, children playing and families picnicking nearly all of whom were taking an interest in what we were up to. I set about pumping up the boat while Paul readied the tackle. We were soon ready to launch. 

We dragged the boat down to the water and the usual tactic is to get around knee deep, one gets in while one starts the engine also gets in and away we go. The sea had other ideas. I clearly remember saying to Paul- "Let's try not to look like a pair of tits, we've got a big audience here". As we pulled the boat a few feet out in to the surf a big wave hit us, jarring the boat upwards and taking us with it. It knocked us both off our feet and we sat chest deep in water picking various items of tackle and bait out of the retreating surf. 

Paul's 20lber

We finally did get out that day but it wasn't easy. A couple of hundred yards out the sea was tantalisingly calm but we had to negotiate the inshore waves. After waiting around twenty minutes trying to work out the wave patterns and frequency we had a short window of around twenty seconds. We quickly heaved the boat in and Paul sat on the bow. I started the engine and gunned it while jumping across the inflatable tubes, lying horizontally until over the rough stuff. It was a great session though......

We had around thirty fish to the boat to around 10lb

Hard fighting gummy sharks

When you hook a hound from the boat they mostly strip around thirty yards of line from the reel. Sometimes the bigger ones will move up against the tide which is spooky because the tide run can be fairly savage. 5000 sized fixed spool reels with 30lb braid and short 6-12lb boat rods offered fantastic battles without ever wanting for more power. 

I had several trips, all around three hours in duration and largely it was a bite every cast. Rays, hounds and the odd dogfish and bass were the main captures. I had nineteen hounds one day, really tremendous fishing. I bettered my old PB of 12lb 2oz twice over the weeks. First with a 12lb 4oz fish and then a magnificent 13lber. Sometimes the average size was around 6lb but 8/9lb fish were usually there in abundance. Echoing a conversation I had with Paul, I doubt I'll ever get the beach casters out again. I just wish I had taken more photo's but as you can probably see I was having difficulty on my own......

Handheld selfies weren't quite adequate

Eventually I worked it out, sort of. My 13lber.

Small rays were plentiful 

Something that  has resonated with me since I read it is hapless celebrity angler Bob Mortimer whose supposition is that the success of angling should be based on how much they enjoy it rather than what they actually catch. This may seem odd but after a few trips my interest began to wane. There's only so many 5-10lb smooth hounds you can wrestle with in a session before you long to get something else. I reckoned some of my more land-locked friends would love the experience though and I had a couple of nice outings with them. Annoyingly with my first guest, James, we got absolutely plagued with dogfish, tiny rays and very few hounds....

Andy Lewis was more fortunate and we had a marvellous time and without breaking any records we had a plethora of wonderful sea dwellers.....

One thing I get asked regularly is what is my favourite type of fishing. Now I'm conscious of the fact many of you have zero interest in sea fishing so don't worry, this section is almost over. Anyway, one of my favourite experiences has to be catching mackerel last year on a little drop shot arrangement. The fight from a 1lb mackerel is equivalent to a turbo-charged 3lb perch. Sadly they didn't turn up this year and I missed them. Hopefully next year will see them return.

Ticking some boxes

Every year about thirty of us compete in a specimen cup which involves trying to catch specimens of various different species. A few months ago now around ten of us met up at a venue that had a good head of both ide and crucian carp, both of which would score in the competition. 

There are two lakes on site and being a fair distance to travel to for everyone we wanted to fish both, one contained the ide, the other the crucians. This wasn't possible apparently as you needed to specify which lake you wanted to fish, ticking both boxes was beyond comprehension for the albeit very friendly staff. When I say it wasn't possible, it was, I just swapped tickets with someone else but please don't tell anyone, I wouldn't want to get in any trouble.  

4lb 3oz

I was off the mark first with a scoring ide. This rather messed me up to be honest. I was constantly flicking maggots in and initially caught fishing shallow. I added another over 3lb and then they wised up. They would only take a falling bait and started darting in and out of the swim, mostly out of mine and in to other peoples. Anything that didn't fall naturally through the water column was ignored. With more of us arriving the fishing got progressively harder and I went over to the other lake (arrest me) to try for crucians. That proved to be a waste of time as they were remarkable in their absence. Only one of us caught one that afternoon on a lake that usually gives them up with gay abandon. 

Carp

Over to the local caravan park now. I have to rein in my thoughts sometimes (not obvious, granted) but after my last blog I received a very polite email asking where this particular place was. I happily told the enquirer. A simple reply of thanks would have negated the need to write this. Like not signalling when you're turning left at a roundabout, being ignorant isn't the worlds greatest crime but it does warm my urine slightly. Just saying.

Anyway, you know the routine, turn up, get as far away from everyone else as possible, throw some bait in the margins and wait for something to happen, usually about five minutes. At times it was a crazy tails-out-of-the-water, clouds-of-mud-pluming, tearing-up-the-bottom feeding frenzy. As ever with (often counter-intuitive) angling it turned out the more fish I had feeding the harder they seemed to catch. I still can't fully rationalise that concept but even when seemingly suicidal they were exceptionally cautious. One brush of the line or sight of the float and they would spook. Despite this I'd fool a few each time. I forget the individual weights but most were between 12lbs up to a biggest of just over 19lbs. Here are some of the better ones.

A bit later in the summer I got invited to a rarely fished water by a friend. Reports were obviously scarce and as such it was somewhat of an unknown but we did know from the owner that there could be some decent carp present. 

When I arrived my mate was already fishing. I had a walk around the lake and couldn't really see any activity so set up next to him to be sociable. A couple of bite less hours later I knew I needed to try and make something happen. I walked round to a windward corner and trickled in a bit of bait. Sure enough ten minutes later the float buried and a caught a perfectly unmarked common of 15lb. I believe the correct terminology is 'minter' or 'woodcarving'...... 

Probably uncaught

I added a couple more smaller examples before the light faded. What piqued my interest more than the carp was the frequency of bait fish scattering throughout the day. There's no knowledge of any perch in there but I'm fairly certain they were caused by them. As of writing I haven't yet been back to find out.

Barbel

My first two trips to the middle reaches of the Trent proved quite productive. On the first visit I was disappointed to find dogs were now unwelcome on the short stretch I usually frequent. With it being a good distance for me the chaos twins always accompany me especially on a week day so they aren't left at home alone all day. They're old now but still enjoy a day by the river, chiefly in the warmer months when they can had a paddle and lounge about in the sunshine.

 I decided to set up just below the no-dog section and I happened across a dog walker who informed me I was in totally the wrong place and pointed me to a more in-form area a short distance downstream. He left and I did fish for an hour or so with no joy before his advice finally got the better of me and I moved. Sure enough he was right and I caught five barbel that afternoon to just in to double figures. The average size was quite impressive too....

Keen to return I had another trip a week or so later with much the same results. After that trip it became trickier to get in those pegs. The dog walker was a regular, a daily visitor and he obviously hadn't just told me. The river also became very low and clear so, even for those in the hot pegs it was fishing unusually hard. 

The month after I had a social to arrange at Collingham and after ringing the bailiff a couple of weeks before we booked ten pegs in the going area. Five of fished all day and night for one tiny barbel between us. The fish had obviously moved and we abandoned the trip early. At the time of ringing people were enjoying bumper catches of multiple fish, some good ones too. Bloody things. 

My final visit to the river was to a totally different area. Alfie Naylor kindly tipped me off about a few fish coming out on a supposedly little fished area. I arrived at first light, no mean feat after an hour and a half drive. I wanted one peg in particular but one downstream would do. After a bit of a walk my heart sank when someone was already setting up in the hot spot. To add insult to injury someone else was below him too. 

I went through the motions in the next available spot before packing up in a huff, intent on trying to make something of the day somewhere else. Remarkably as I walked back upstream the chap in the best peg was already packing up, too cold apparently. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth I dropped in after him. It was a tight spot so I just fished one rod. In the next couple of hours I had six barbel, again just in to double figures. It was a lovely session, fishing tight to a snag and persuading them out. With 15lb mainline and hook length I wasn't likely lose any.

10lb 5oz

Perch

I've never known any river as frustrating as the Steeping. I've been trying to locate some decent perch for a while now with no success. This coupled with the ridiculously hard effort to finally catch a 20lb pike at the start of the year left me with an almost self-destructively stubborn resolve to try and crack it. I'd been out for a day trip on the boat in the summer while Mrs P paddled about on her kayak and located a few small examples but I did lose one half-decent fish at the net. 

The following week I returned and after a bit more searching I finally had something to show for my efforts. Just a single fish but the one I was after, bang on 3lbs.

I was pretty sure the river had more to offer and with the amount of bleak and small skimmers present, maybe much more. Sure enough though it shut up shop again and I struggled on every, albeit short return visit. I'll keep trying but it was nice to get one, especially as it's such a tough nut to crack. 

One place that has always been kinder to me is Pitsford reservoir. Our friend James Truscott was struggling a bit with his fishing mojo and I knew he'd probably be tempted back in to the fold with a trip there. We arranged to meet early on a late summers day. It was unusually busy, especially for midweek but luckily with mostly fly anglers. 

For the first six hours all James and I had to show for our not inconsiderable efforts was one tiny perch between us. The fish seemed to be in a dour mood and to highlight this when we did eventually find a few fish they were incredibly finicky. I was first off the mark with fish of 2lb 12oz and then took a slightly better one which gave me the right old run around before succumbing to the net..... 

3lb 8oz

With a nice fish in the album it was important for me for James to have a memento too. He cast over to the dolly hole and caught a couple of disappointingly small perch before finally coming good with a 3lber of his own, which sadly marked the end of the days frustratingly short action.

Being first when pursuing predators isn't always imperative but it often helps. With a few years experience now under my belt I knew the bait fish would start to shoal up on a tributary of the river Witham. It's a bit of trek so when I arrived I was pleased to see a few fish dimpling on the surface and untouched banks. In fact I had to trample down a pathway down to the river. 

I had half an hour with lures with no success before settling down with my favoured float and worm approach. There were so many bait fish there the lure approach wasn't ideal, which is where a big lobworm often scores. I had a few small perch to start with before they gradually got bigger. I had one of 2lb 10oz and then straight after hooked a fish that took me all around the swim, shaking its head angrily in the clear water. Fortunately it failed to shake the hook and it turned out to be the biggest perch I'd caught there for a couple of years.

3lb 3oz

A month or so later I went perch fishing with Nick. I think he's been reading this blog for a while and he emailed me with a view to going fishing together. I was only too happy to oblige and we met on the banks of the Witham one lunchtime. Sadly conditions weren't ideal and we motored a fair distance before finding any fish. I started catching a few modest perch while Nick concentrated on pest control. Try as he might he couldn't get among the better ones. We were both fishing pretty much the same, it just works out like that sometimes.

Towards the end of the session I looked across and Nick seemed to be in to a decent fish. He was standing up and I was sitting down as I readied the net......

"Let it go you bastard!" Nick shouted. 

There just near the boat was a bloody great pike right on the surface, with Nick's perch in its jaws. With Nick's higher vantage point he'd seen it actually take it in the clearish water. I jabbed the net at the pike hoping to get both fish in but it let go at the last second. The perch was unharmed and well over two pounds. A funny end to a very nice day. Hopefully we'll be out again soon.

Pike

With the perch stealing pike on my mind I was soon back. On this particular day the water was even clearer than before I noted as I motored in to position and dropped the anchor. Almost immediately she appeared, right under the boat. I quickly dropped a bait near her and she took it straight away. She shot downstream, twisting me around in the boat at the same time. I soon got her under control and after a couple of tense, brutal minutes drew her over the cord of my net. She was 4/10ths in when the hook pulled and despite my frantic efforts slid back down in to the depths. Bugger.

That day I had eleven other pike, including a few doubles that I barely glanced at before returning them. When I got back home I had a bit of a reality check from my friends. For example those perch and even smooth-hounds above represent a tiny percentage of the fish I caught during that period. I wasn't counting but looking back I probably had thirty+ two pound perch while searching for the elusive threes. Again I had eleven of those one day without taking a photo of any. I'm very fortunate to have gotten to this stage but needed reminding that they, like double-figure pike are still very good fish. 

The next couple of trips out I caught a few more and briefly stopped to smell the roses with the slightly better fish.....

Over to a different river now and one that gets quite busy. With that in mind I arrived at first light so I could have a choice of where to fish. It soon became apparent why it gets a lot of attention. Fish were striking everywhere. The bait fish were concentrated in a tight area of a few hundred yards. On a twenty mile watercourse that's tight. I had a great morning catching six pike to around thirteen pounds, my seventh fish though felt a little different. The flow was strong and as soon as I picked up the rod the fish started moving slowly but purposefully against it, a sure sign of a better fish. It hugged the bottom and just sort of plodded up and down before I finally gained the upper hand.....

22lb 2oz

And, that my friend brings us about up to date. I did go back with Benidorm Dave the following week and despite the fish still being there they resolutely refused to pick up dead baits. Which brings me to some other sessions I haven't told you about. Like the two times I set up my boat on the beach only for the surf to beat me back in to submission and back home without wetting a line. The time I got up at 4.30am to get to a pike venue only to find a chap setting up in the half light while an absolute feeding frenzy was occurring right in front of him and nowhere else. Fishing for specimens can be and often is fruitless. For every great session you'll have a dozen reasonable ones, a dozen so-so ones and a couple of absolute stinkers. Just remember to keep enjoying it. 

SHUK Round-up

I'll keep this brief and it's only really to appease any carp anglers proper that are still here after all the years of me poking fun at them. A few of the guys went to France for a week taking a raft of 40's, 50's and few 60's......

Andy Wilson

Dave Owen

The effervescent Mike Lyddon

Outrageous Wilson

Dave makes 1lb roach look massive so that is probably about 14lb.

Links

I did a couple of features for Improve Your Coarse Fishing over the summer. One on the Steeping fishing for bream and one on Chapel Boating Lake fishing for roach. Subscribe here....

https://www.anglingtimes.co.uk/iycf/iycf-magazine/improve-your-coarse-fishing-magazine-2/

I get all my pike baits from Online Baits-

http://www.onlinebaitsuk.com/

All my worms from Willy Worms

https://willyworms.co.uk/

Don't forget to support your local retailers too. Mine are Lakeside Leisure, Trunch Lane, Chapel St Leonards and Wags Angling, Roman Bank Skegness. 

My email-

shukphil@gmail.com

Till next time......................