Jounrney Into Angling

New Year

2012-02-01T20:15:00.001Z

Well its been a while since I managed to wet a line but I'm looking forward to getting some time to get out and errrr not blank again.
I've got my eyes on Pride lakes near Nottingham for the season and I'll let you know how I get on.

A week of 2 Halves

2011-09-01T22:09:00.003Z

I managed an evening session last tuesday on The Embankment near Trent Bridge and against all my instincts had high hopes. I planned to use my new centre pin and fish a feeder after dark. I may be biassed but the pin is beautifull and looks the business, its got such a smooth action as well. the first thing i noticed was weed in the margins and the second was how clear and sluggish the water was.
I kicked off with with some small roach and perch but not for long before the bites dried up on both the stick float and the feeder.
To make matters worse the local kayak club were out in force and with a 50m wide river to choose from they insist in litteraly clipping the rod tip. It drives me mad. No wonder fishermen and kayakers dont get on. I decided the river needed some extra flow and colour and hoped we'd get some rain before my next trip.
Rain was forcastfor wednesday night so I got my gear ready for thursday night and decided on the Trent Lock stretch.I was surprised after a couple of hours of rain the night before that there wasnt much extra flow or colour. I discovered that the maggots from tuesday had conveniently turned into casters so mixed half a pint of casters with hemp and pellet and fed a few bait droppers onto 2 spots near mid river. I fished feeder and 12mm pellet on one spot and worm and feeder on the other.
As with all previous stints at this venue I had to wait till dusk was approaching till things got moving. Most of the action happened on the worm rod taking 4 or 5 bream to 3 or 4lb and a perch around the pound mark. Finally the pellet rod went off and with my headtorch not giving a beam that reached the net it was a little hit and miss guiding the fish in. When I lifted the net it was apparent it was larger than usual and sure enough went 7lb 2oz . Whilst not a huge fish it was a)my personal best bream and b)not bad for a river.
Within minutes the worm rod went off resulting in another slightly smaller bream at 6lb 14oz. The worm rod had no isotobes on the tip and i had to try and silhouette the tip against the distant glow to the south. Several times the first I knew of a bite was the but lifting almost horizontal.
It was a great night and and a decent result, i was glad I had my jacket and made a mental note to bring my bib and brace over trousers next time.
There is still no sign of any chub or barbel and I'm begining to think I'm barking up the wrong stretch but the big bream and possible carp keep me coming back.

At last!

2011-08-03T23:15:00.004Z

I errr decided work could do without me again and snook off to my local hole in the ground. I arrived on a hot and sunny afternoon and to think themissus predicted rain.....never.
I set up my carp rods and and looked around for where to drop them, as the weed has all been killed it seemed a bit pot luck. I cast one short and to my right so it was somewhere near the bottom of the slope and the other went out in front of me about a third of the way accross. Before attaching the baited rig I cast out, clipped up and checked there was no weed. I then wound in, baited up and cast both rods. It occurred to me that none of my replacement gear had been tested and wondered how it would stand up.
Next I set up my waggler rod as a bit of entertainment fishing a single maggot on a size 16. I'd put a couple of roach, skimmers and small perch when the heavens opened and a thunder storm errupted. I have to addmit that I havent seen rain that heavy or sustained in a long long time but to its crepit my Conquest waterproofs kept me comfy and dry even when stood in the heaviest downpour dealing with a troublesome bream.
Once the rain had passed I swapped the size 16 for a size 12 and swapped the maggot for a prawn. Within a few minutes the float slid away and a perch about 6 oz came to the net. A few minutes later and the float went away again and this time the fish went off on a spirited fight going through my carp lines and still managed to stay on. I was relieved to say the least to slip the net under a gnarly old warrior of a perch which pulled the scales around to 1lb 10oz my best by a fair margin.
A couple of bream about a pound took the prawn and with the sun heading rapidly for the horizon I decided it was about time to pack up.
Minutes later my nearest rod roared off and at last I was into a carp. It came in reasonably easy and decided to put up a spirited fight under the rod tip. With the complete absence of weed I was able to back the drag off and alow the tip and drag to do most of the work. It was about 10 minutes before I even saw the fish and was a definite releif when I lifted the net around it. A beautiful 16lb 1oz common was the perfect end to the short session.
My fox reels have come in for some raised eyebrows but the drag is exceptionally smooth with a really good line lay. I cant fault them.

Trent

2011-08-01T23:10:00.003Z

I snook off early again a few weeks ago for an evening spell just above Long Eaton on the Trent. I chose the peg which blessed me with the bream last season and settled in with a single rod. Before tackling up I used my old Conoflex carp rod with a newly acquired GTE 6000B Baitrunner, you cant help loving those reels, with a bait dropper to load up a patch of river bed with hemp, pellet and corn loosely bound with pellet groundbait.
I let the swim rest for a bit while sorting my kit out then set to work........ yep not a touch all evening. Did I over feed the swim? Was the garlic infused hemp not right? Was it too cold (boy was it cold when the sun went down)or is it that the swim choice was wrong and the fish just weren't there or all of the above?
Anyway I'm already planning my next trip!

Prawn Sandwiches.

2011-05-10T20:57:00.002Z

So here it is, May already and I havent even wet a line yet. I put that right last night on a quick trip to the canal in Beeston after work. Being the first trip I thought I'd go out on a limb and fish punched bread under a waggler. It wasn't such a risk considering the last time I fished maggot there I didnt exactly set the place on fire.
Bites came from the very first cast with small roach and chub coming to hand. They were only a few ounces but made for a interesting couple of hours. I kept waiting for the stamp to increase but it never really did. As the sun went off the water the bites slowed down and all but stopped, was it a pike or had the fish moved on?
As dusk fell and I fished half a king prawn on a quiver tip under some bushes in the vain hope of a perch or 2. And a vain hope it was too!
So the result was a small haul of roach and chub and the odd bleak in sun, rain, wind and calm. The end result was a pleasant if not cinterlating evening........ well what else would you do with some prawns and a couple of slices of bread?

Hardest day

2011-03-08T18:52:00.002Z

It comes eventually to everything and everyone and theres no avoiding it but it doesnt make it any easier. The day finally came for my ever faithfull dog to move on and leave his pain behind. It was the hardest descision and the worst day I can remember but right for him if not for us. He was the best dog anyone could have hoped for and I pray he walks beside me.

A new year

2011-03-02T20:26:00.002Z

Well its been a rubbish start to the year for 2 reasons, firstly I haven't managed a single trip to the bank so far and secondly I had some gear stolen including my carp rods and holdall. Dealing with the insuance company has been a real eye opener, the break in happened on the 4th of january and I'm still waiting. Asda insurance you fail! We'll see what the replacement rods are like when they arrive!
On the possitive side I bought a set of waterproofs and a new centre pin so hopefully I'll get to put them through their paces.

when to call it a day

2010-07-27T22:05:00.002Z

I've never had the good sense to know when to call it a day, as such I usually end up packing away in the dark. My last session was no different except I intended fishing well into the dark.
I chose the stretch of the Trent above Long Eaton for an evening session as its out of the way, cheap and full of promise. How many times do you decide which swim you're going to fish even before you leave home? I know I do and it takes an earthquake to change my mind. On the way down the bank to my pre chosen swim I passed a guy just leaving who told me he'd been there all day and had a few bits and pieces and even lost a carp in the reeds. At that point 2 things should have occurred to me 1,he's been pre baiting all day for me and 2.theres carp in this swim!
Sadly it didnt occur to me and I walked on! I got to my swim, tackled up, dropped a load of bait in, cast out, sat back and thought....... what the hell is going on on the opposite bank and why have I only just noticed? A mediaeval reinactment show was being set up with cars and people and vans all over the opposite feild. In a rare descisive moment I grabbed my gear and walked back to the now peg I'd missed on the way up.
Finally I was set up where I should have been an hour earlier. I used a bait dropper to introduce pellet, hemp and sweetcorn and an open ended feeder semi fixed with a short hook link and size 6 hook. Bait was a pellet with a grain of plastic corn to keep the hair stop in place. I got many usefull tips from my Pete and one that came to me that night was casting the feeder often, settled for every 20 to 30 minutes.
Bearing in mind I've never had a single fish out of this stretch it was no surprise for mytip to remain motionless. Around dark something strange happened, the tip began to bounce and finally sprang back. i tightened up a turn to see if the feeder had been knocked and couldnt get it tight. I struck and met a satisfying thump, a minute later and a bream about 4lb slid out of the dark and into the net. Duck broken!
In the next 2 hours another 6 followed upto 5lb 4oz. I was on a role and there was almost constant activety on the tip when I reached a crisis point, there was no let up in the activety and I only had a feeder or 2 worth of ground bait left so do I mix more or do I tear myself away and do the grown up thing for work in the morning. Grown up? Responsible? Me? No chance! Then in a strange way I was saved, on casting out I got clumsy and caught my hook length in a bosh behind me and bust it off. That was the deciding factor, I wasnt goingto be tying up a new hook length So I packed away and left.
I reckon in the 2 hours since dark I'd put 30lb of bream on the bank and reckon I could have easily reached 100lb.
Lessons learnt? well always use quiet spells to tie an extra rig or 2 and never march blindly to your pre chosen peg!

Thursday

2010-07-10T14:02:00.002Z

For my second trip of the week I headed up stream to Long Eaton. I decided to concentrate solely on the feeder rod and once again used the bait dropper. The river if anything looked even slower. Despite my best efforts I couldnt muster a single bite even fishing long into the dark. It occured to me that this is supposed to be a very productive stretch and I have yet to put a single fish on the bank. Any tips?

Monday

2010-07-10T13:44:00.002Z

Well its been a week of 2 halves. I knew I had a week in Nottingham and decided to take advantage of the good weather and try my luck on the Trent. Monday say me on the Embankment stretch of the Trent opposite the flats. I like this stretch because its reasonably easy to fish and I've had varrying degrees of success there. The draw back is that the banks are concrete and its very busy and open.
I set up a feeder rod with a ground bait and pellet and fished a pellet topped off with a grain of plastic corn (mainly to stop the pellet coming of the hair). In addition I used a bait dropper to bait up the area.
To pass the time out came my float rod and centre pin and ran a stick float through the bottom of the swim. The water was crystal clear and really sluggish and throughout the evening I struggled to get bites. By dusk I'd managed about a dozen perch from a few ounces upto about half a pound/ By dusk I couldn't see the float anymore and decided to concentrate on the feeder rod.
As the light faded the interest in the pellet began and finally the tip went round and resulted in a bream about 5lb. A second smaller bream followed and by midnight I decided enough was enough.

First trip of the year

2010-04-01T21:14:00.002Z

Its become a bit of a tradition for me to score a big fat blank on my first trip of the year, a trend which barely improves as the year continues! This year I'm proud to say I once again maintained the trend.
As ussual I missed the end of the season and just when I was looking forward to an afternooon on the river. With the time available and having to fit around work it was a toss up between an afternoon at Hackets Lane, a comercial fishery outside of Nottingham, or Beeston canal for an afternoon roving with a pike rod. In the end I opted for the pike option but in the back of my mind I had a feeling I'd made the wrong choice.
I set up a pike rod with a simple sliding float and a dead bait, fishing likely looking spots for 20 to 30 minutes. Sure enough the float refused to move and I spent the hours wishing I'd tried my hand at Hackets Lane.
I've got some time off work coming and I've planned in a days fishing. we'll see!

Its never easy

2009-07-31T22:49:00.003Z

I managed a quick session on my local water today and it occured to me that I havent had a single carp yet this year! To be fair though I havent really had chance to put the nescesary time in either. This time I at least managed to get myself and my car to the lake without incident. I picked a swim in the furthest corner and decided to drop one bait in the corner against a reed bed to my right and the other slightly right and tight to weed bed. As a bit of a distraction I also set up a float rod with a single magot on a size 18 hook under a small insert waggler.
The float rod was a minor success from the word go bringing small roach and perch to about 4oz and a couple of small skimmers to 8oz.
The weed rod gave a couple of line bites before finally screaming off. Even though I was on the rods the fish was well into the weed before I was bent into it. Predictably with my luck a few moments of holding it hard the hook hold gave and it was gone. Should I have given some line and tried to win it back later or hold it hard?
After recasting both rods I was seriously contemplating recasting the bait against the reeds into a bay in the same weed bed as the other when the swinger twitched and dropped back. On striking I thought I'd managed to miss it but on winding in I discovered a bream of just short of 5 lb had taken the bait.
The reed rod was duly recast to the weeds and shortly showed a rapid line bite. It wasnt long again before another screaming run developed out of nowhere. I picked up the rod and struck.... nothing. I rebaited and was just about to recast when I remember something that Pete R had told me about a recent trip of his. On checking the hook point I found it turned out. I could have kicked my self and as far as I'm concerned that would have been a fish on the bank.
One day I'll remember to check all the small things that make for a succesfull session. Lesson learnt, THE HARD WAY!

sell sell sell

2009-07-27T22:32:00.003Z

I've got my cynical head on today. If you read back through some of my ramblings you'll find me ranting against real tree cam and such like and I'm afraid I'm at it again.
I was reading through the Angling Times today and finally reached crital mass against advertisement dressed up as advice. Des Taylor and Martin Bowler are the two culprits who spring to mind but there are plenty of others.
Now we all know someone (not just in fishing) who will buy, go or do anything that is recomended, in angling its worse because we have such little time on the bank that we want to try to eliminate any dead ends to maximise our precious free time. The part that really annoys me is that angling journalists drop sponsered products into articles disguised as good old free advice. Mr Bowler went through a phase of recomending anything produced by Drennan, even floats. Now call me a cynic but providing it floats its a float. Good old Des is constantly plugging his own bait line. Now not only are these people pulling the wool over our eyes but theyre on a double whamey earner to boot. They get paid to write articles by the publication and in doing so also get paid by their sponser to get their products named and recomended.
Phew I'm nearly done. Dont get dragged in to following names and trends, take the methods on board, use them as part of your armourey and shop around. I'll give you one last tip, in the late 80's and 90's there were at least a dozen brands of line all advertising and drawing you in, but there were only 4 manufacturers producing them. Look around your tackle shop, the same item in the same design and many manufacturers but whats the difference between the most expensive and the cheapest? NOT A LOT!
Spleen vented.

Trent

2009-07-23T21:59:00.002Z

Its been a funny old day and it will come as no surprise that although I managed to get onto the bank it wasnt a raging success. On my way to the River Trent above Long Eaton a car cam out of a side road and clipped the front of my van. And so the theme for the night was set and it didnt put a smile on my face. Now much as I rattle on about enjoying being on the bank a little success wouldnt go amiss. I opted for an open ended feeder with a pellet sandwhich and a 12mm halibut pellet on the hook.
There was interest from the off but it took a while for the tip to wrap around with any conviction, I struck...... and nothing. I reeled in and lifted the rod tip when I guessed the feeder was a rod length out, There was a lange bronze swirl and then it was gone. I dont know if it was a chub or a barbel but I guess it was swimming directly towards me, in an instant it was gone.
And that would be it for the evening, well almost. There was almost constant activety on the tip with some sharp raps but nothing else. A series of raps made me strike again only to find a bream about 8oz had manged to squeeze the size 8 hook into its mouth.
The swim I'd chosen appears to be full of snags and I lost 2 feeders in the proccess of the evening and was forced to switch to a lead and PVA bag approach. Interestingly the action seemed to stop when the feeders were no longer beeing used.
So, any lessons learnt? Well a couple I suppose, open ended feeders created more interest than pva bags, large pellets are a nightmare to keep on nylon hairs (I ended up threading on a piece of silicon tubing between the pellet and the stop), dont forget your torch and if you need to move.....move.
Grrrrr next time!!!

Darn it!!

2009-07-20T22:56:00.002Z

I managed to grab a couple of hours on my local water tonifgt and came over all Mr Crabtree esque! I settled on fishing a waggler lift method style against reeds in a corner. Only, unlike Mr Crabtree I blanked! I did get a couple of lifts and dips on the float but I'm guessing they were just small stuff licking the bait about. Anyway back to semi fixed leads next time!

Everyone needs goals

2009-01-02T23:45:00.002Z

Heres just a thought on what I'd like to achieve this year. Whilst I try and not focus on wieghts too much (mainly because I'd be constantly dissapointed) heres some targets.
Barbel, having never caught one any will do but I'd like to aim for 8lb
Carp, it shouldnt be that hard to find a 20 these days should it? More than that though I'd love to bank a river carp........ any river carp.
Bream, my local water holds em up to 8lb so that seems a realistic target.
Perch. A 2lb perch from either the trent, my local water or the new lake I've come accross is easily on the cards.
Tench. The north East isnt renowned for its tench but the new water does hold a couple, 4lb would see me grinning.
Pike. I've already had an 18 from the trent so the next logical step is a twenty, not an easy one though.
Roach. I reckon this couldbe the hardest of all and I'm going to keep it realistic and say 1lb 8oz.
Chub. At just over 5lb my pb isnt massive but I reckon many anglers wont have seen one, I'd be happy with anything over 5lb 8oz.

I wonder what I'll be thinking looking back from the end of 2009?

December

2009-01-02T23:20:00.002Z

Well its been a while since I either wet a line or managed to get 5 minutes free totalk about it!
I DID get acouple of short sessions on the bank of my local water back in september. I picked the corner furthest away from the enterance and fished one bait down the margin to a reed bed and the other straight out to some weed. The reed bed rod could be walked down to reeds then passed back up the bank and around a tree back to the peg. It was obvious by the undergrowth that no one had done this in a long long time.
Within an hour, as happens in carp fishing, an old mate turned up out of the blue. We'd been chatting for half an hour when the reed bed rod signaled a big dropback,after a short and dogged scrap my first reservoir carp for 20 years and a personal best of 17lb 2 oz was in the net. Not only that but a mate from my early days was there to wiegh and photograph it. Fishing is full of surprises!
My next trip and I tried exactly the same tactics, the result was the most perfect common I've ever seen. At only a shade over 10lb it wasnt going to set the world on fire but I cant wait to meet up again in a few years. On a subsequent trip I noticed the grass where I pass the rod back around the tree trampled, ever get the feeling you've been rumbled?
My final trip of the year was squeezed in inbetween Christmas and New Year. To say the least it was bloody freezing and I was almost without confidence. I decided to hedge my bets and put 2 carp rods out and a light ledger on lob worm for the perch. Other than a linebite towards the end of the session on the left hand carp rod and a screaming unmissable take on the lobworm, which I missed, it would be fair to say that I blanked. In mitigation I must add that mid afternoon I came under heavy barage from a pheasant shoot, got showered with hundreds of lead shot (remind me why anglers cant use lead shot but shooters can?!) and finally had an over eager labradour swim straght through my swim..
Ah well as they say "here comes the summer!"

Farlows

2008-05-25T18:58:00.001Z

Well it has been a while since I last got a line in the water so I made the most of an early finish at work and headed off to Farlows. As usual I dropped on to the motorway bank for ease of getting back to the car once the gates were locked. I planned on dropping one rod out against an inaccessible bank about 30m away and the other flicked around a bush. As I scanned the water I saw fish roll over both my chosen marks. It seemed that this was going to be too easy. I really must stop saying that!
I chose to fish running leads on both rods to give myself a good indication of any impending action. PVA bags of pellet and broken bollies were attached to both rigs and the closer rod was chucked over a bed of hemp, pellet and more broken boilies. All I had to do was wait. It wasn’t long before the bush indicator started giving some twitches, see I told you it wouldn’t take long! Then off it went pulling line off the baitrunner. Too easy. I hit it hard and……..nothing! Not even a slight bump. I rebaited and recast, topping up the loose feed too and it wasn’t long before the same rod rattled off again. Once again I hit the run and resulted in grabbing fresh air. A change to semi fixed leads made no difference and the runs proved un hittable. Anyone got any ideas?

Part 2.

A few days latter and back on the same bank but a peg or 2 further up I was back for another evening session. This time I went for semi fixed leads straight away with short hook links and 3 or 4 bait PVA stringers. This evening there were even more fish moving, spawning or post spawning troughing session? This time to avoid a complete blank I also set up a float rod to try my luck on the corn for roach and skimmers.
The first problem I found was that a family of Moorhens locked onto my bait and over the next 2 hours repeatedly raided my trap nicking every last freebee, from time to timeI even got a twitch as one of the adults tried and thankfully dropped the far hookbait.
Meanwhile to lift my spirits out came the light float rod with a 2.5lb bottom and size 16 hook. To begin with all went well and despite a difficult cast (well it was for me) I got a steady stream of bites from the margin under a tree catching roach and bream upto about 8oz. As usual the float wavered, lifted 2 or 3 in and slid away, I struck and hit bottom then the bottom moved slowly and deliberately off towards some tree roots. Carp? Tench? Either way my light tackle was no match and I mentally kicked myself hard for leaving my avon float rod and 6lb line in the holdall. Amazing my self the fish turned, now if only I can get the fish into open water I might stand a glimmer of hope……..oops no now it headeded into the tangle of branches. More pressure and the hook link parted. Flip flip flip!
Annoyed with my lack of fore thought I put the float rod away and dropped a running lead with a boilie and stringer on the spot where I’d been feeding the corn. Just after dark this 3rd rod slowly lifted the ultra light bobbin to the butt. I wanted to hit it early before it developed into a screaming run straight into the snag. True to form I lifted into the fish and once again found fresh air. It wasn’t too long after that I packed away and went home.
2 short sessions a real dilemma about my tactics and no decent fish to show for my efforts. The only saving grace was that on both occaisions the bailiff failed to relieve me of my day ticket money! I need to put some fish on the bank and soon.

Indicators

2008-02-26T17:52:00.004Z

In the beginning there was floats, these in my opinion when properly set up are the most sensitive form of bite detection. Unfortunatly watching a motionless float for more than a few hours quickly becomes tiring and float fishing isnt always ideal. For ledgering one of the earliest bite idicators was a piece of silver paper on the line between the first 2 rod rings. The main problem with free hanging bobbins is that they can blow sideways and make bites difficult to spot.
I've seen all sorts in the chase for bite detection from pennys rested on reel handles balenced over tin cans and washing up bottle tops as bobbins.
This problem was initially solved by rolling the silver paper into a tube and slotting it onto a rod pushed into the ground to prevent sideways motion. In later years this technique was refined to a plastic tube which slid up and down on a PTFE coated needle and gained the name 'Monkey Climber' and was the be all and all in carp fishing. And thats where I left the game.
When I re entered 12 years on I found things had changed somewhat and instead I was led in a different direction. Thats when the Fox mk2 swingers made it below my optonics. I found the swingers had 2 main advantages 1, they are unaffected by side winds, and 2, with a sliding counter wieght they can be set for a huge range of resistance. The attention to detail is great with a low friction line clip and a resessed drilling for a luminous isotobe. At £15.99 each in my mind they make the most reliable and versatile option on the market.

Farlows

2008-02-23T13:07:00.002Z

I managed a day off from work in early february and managed a late day session at Farlows. As usual I picked the motorway bank near the entrance gate for ease of getting out once the gates were locked. I set one rod up on a running rig and one as semi-fixed and baited up with shelf life dynamite baits spicey chicken tipped off with plastic sweetcorn for a bit of visual attractant. I PVA bags of pellet groundbait, pellets and tuna Were finally threaded up the hook length. Both rods were chucked into the far side off the channel in front of me though I wasnt particularily confident because of the cold but bright conditions.
Once chucked in I sat back to wait for a run I was reasonably happy wouldnt come but iy was good to be back on the bank again. Within 20 mins the semi fixed lead rig was off! It felt like a decent fish, bearing in mind my pb is currently 13lb, and was played carefully into the bank. There were no real dramas untill I reached for the net only to realise that although it was out of the holdall it hadn't been set up! I eventually managed to spread the arms and mesh and draw the fish right upto the front of the platform, on the 3rd attempt the mesh finally closed around it!
On the bank the scales went around to 16lb 10oz, a new pb which is a coincidence because my previous pb had come early last year from the same water. Unfortunatly my camera lense had some crap on it so the pics didnt come out too well.
A short while later a pair of bream around 3 to 4lb threw themselves onto the other rod.
On a day when according to the balif no one else was doing much I was fairly pleased with myself and packed up around 9pm as the temperature fell again. I returned the next day to the same spot with the same bait and rigs and couldnt buy even a twitch. The only difference being the second day was amorning session when maybe the water still hadnt warmed up.

Trent in flood

2008-01-18T22:53:00.000Z

I havent been on the bank since before christmas so I snatched a quick session on the river Trent this week. The bad news was that it has been raining for nearly a week solid and the river was about 8 feet up and full of debris.
I set up a float road and a ledger rod with a lump of meat. I was gambling that the fish would be in the margins out of the main flow so I started off running a stick float through but the current was so quick that the float was dissapearing into the gathering evening gloom within seconds. The float rod was quickly sidelined in favour of the ledger rod wich I dropped more or less under the rod tip. The quiver tip kept giving what looked like big lunging bites but I failed to conect with any and decided it was just debris hitting the line.
Needless to say my confidence was completely gone and it wasnt long before the gear was back in the van.
I still reckon the fish were in the edge!

New Boots 2

2007-12-22T00:09:00.000Z

The new boots were half tested at Willows, I say half tested because I didnt have any distance to walk in them and spent most of the day slumped on my chair with only the heels in contact with the ground!
That said though, they were comfy and warm on a bitterly cold day. I'll reseve full judgement till I've done some walking and some standing around in them but so far they look like being worth the tenner I paid for them.

Cold and frosty!

2007-12-21T23:27:00.000Z

I managed to sneak off for a day at Willows again last week right in the middle of a cold snap. I arrived about 7.30 and found only a single set of tyre marks in the frost and luckily they led to the far side of the lake to my intended spot. It was nearly 8.30 before I had both rods out and the kettle on. I was fishing pva sticks of tuna in oil and hallibut pellets bound together with pellet groung bait, a few brocken boilies finished off the bags. The sticks as usual were threaded onto the hook length then conected to the main line with quick release clips. The difference this time was that I was fishing one rod on flourocarbon hook links with size 12 hooks on a d ring rig and the other on a standard braid link with my usual light braid longish hair.
Pete was due to join me later in the morning after rattling off a quick plumbing job (that'll be £500 please missus!) so I settled down to make a brew and contemplate which would arrive first a fish or Pete. I lit the stove and 10 seconds later it went out. Picking it up I gave it a shake, plenty of gas, and lit it again. 10 seconds later it went out! It was so cold that the gas wasnt vapourising in the canister, PANIC!!! No tea! I was now willing to see Pete come around the corner with the remedy!
About an hour into the session the right hand rod with the new fangled flourocarbon link give an almighty twitch and I was surprised to see no movement on the swingers as I was fishing a running lead, slack line and a light indicator. Shortly after a second twitch managed to yank the rod tip around and I sudenly realised the line was frozen into the rings! Unfortunatly no run followed.
My confidence was dropping rapidly on acount of the temperature when thankfully the left hand rod on the semi fixed lead rattled off. I knew this might be my only fish of theday and played it carefully into the net. Opening the net on the mat revealed a mirror of about 8 or 9lb which was quickly returned.
Recast and settled in the sun my wait for tea finally ended when Pete arrived. He didnt have a liquid fuel burner which would run in the cold but in his bag I knew he'd have his brazing torch to heat the gas cylinder to run the stove!! It doesnt look very safe but it works a treat and I certainly wasnt complaining. On arrival he looked witheringly at my pod and comented, as I have, that it could do with being 18 inches longer. The last laugh was mine though as i watched him trying to get a bank stick into the frozen earth. Oh how I laughed as an hour later what looked like a series of twitches turning into a run actually turned out to be the rear bank stick falling over!!
We both had a few twitches and short lifts which only Pete managed to conect with a couple of bream with one going a good 4lb. We sat chatting and drinking tea untill at dusk we both started getting odd twitches. Like a coiled spring I was ready for the off, that is untill Pete pointed out that the lines were trapped in ice and the ice was moving. By 2 hours after dark we called it a day, the ice was now right accross the lake.
So what did I learn from the session?
1. Tipex as distance marker on the line doesnt really work, it rubs off onto other parts of the line giving false marks. Casting to a marker float and using a marker knot is my next plan, if I think the knot has moved I'll recaster the marker and check my knot.
2.Geese are as sneaky and sly as swans.
3.Camping gas stoves dont work in the cold, which I already knew but tried burying my head in the sand.
Next year I'm going to try the farm lake at willows where the stamp of fish is slightly better but first I'll have a cast around with the marker rod.

Cheers everyone and Happy Christmas

New Boots

2007-11-19T22:46:00.000Z

I saw some boots advertised in Angling Times and decided to take a chance, a few cold and wet sessions and many more to come have spurred me into action. They seemed like a bargain, £9.99 from Used Tackle in Nottingham 01159 631777 and I picked them up from the courier today.
So, there I sat in my dinning roon with my brand new Conquest Moon Boots on and what did i think? Well the removable fleece inner boots seem quite snug and theres a thick insulating insole to keep you off the cold ground so all well so far. Looking at the actual boots themselves and I'm not so sure, the rubber of the boot seems really thin,soft and without much shape. I could be wrong but I think where the upper meets the heavily moulded sole is a definite candidate fot splitting. I reckon their life is going to be measured in sessions rather than seasons but hey what do you expect for a tenner?
I'll let you know.

Willow Lakes

2007-11-19T22:09:00.000Z

Back in early october I managed a trip to Willow lakes, its a venue I quite enjoy because of the high likelyhood of getting a run which sort of restores my confidence after some knocks. I arrived nice and early in the hope of getting a good swim and being set up and ready for first light. Finding the gates locked was the first of many surprises of the day so I decided to get some sleep ready for them opening at 7.
Once on the bank I made my way to the far bank of the match lake and positioned myself mid way along the bank. The sky was like lead and the rain fell relentlessly so up went the brolly! Next my new Warrior rods and new Baitrunners went on my new(ish) pod. I opted for shortish hook lengths on semi fixed leads attached with corda safety clips on both rods. The hook lengths attached via a loop to a quick release clip rather than a swivle, this allows PVA stockings to be threaded on and sit just above the hook bait. These can be tied up prior to reeling in to save time.
I cast both rods into the gully short of the bar which runs down the centre of the lake seperated by 30m and settled down to wait. And still it rained!
It didnt take long before the left hand rod screamed off, I reached down and struck........ and that was my first mistake! Having never used a bait runner before I had forgotton to disengage the free spool, I was gutted to see the resulting birds nest. Luckily I managed to untangle the mess and was amazed to find the fish still on!After a short scrap a small mirror of about 6lb was in the net.
Frustratingly the next 4 runs , all on the left hand rod, all seemed to slip the hook after a few seconds. A switch to inline leads and fresh hook lengths saw the next 3 runs result in 3 fish on the bank, the best being a common of 11lb 6oz. Not bad considering I was the only one who seemed to be on the fish, even stranger is that all 8 runs came to the same rod. Was I landing on someone elses bait from a previous session?
About 3 in the afternoon the skys cleared and the temperature plumeted and runs seemed to stop immeadiately.
in an attempt to more accurate with my casting I'd wrapped small pieces of electrial tape around the line just beyond the tip ring when I'd initially cast but not wound down so evry cast could be feathered down when I heard the tape going through the rings. Sounds perfect in theory but in practice I found that when playing a fish on a taught line the tape catches on the rings and gets pushed down the line.
So what did i learn? Well firstly I need a better shelter as my feet got soaked sticking out of my brolly, anyone got a secondhand bivvy for sale??!! Secondly the tape trick doesnt work, you can never be 100% sure the tape stays where you put it. I'm considering painting the line with tipex, does anyone know of any reasons why this isnt a good idea for nylon? And finally the right hand rod stayed more or less silent all day, I should have experimented with different positions, rigs and baits to bring about a result.
A great day and a good test for the new gear

Getting there

2007-09-08T09:07:00.000Z

Tuesday night saw me back on the Trent. It was a lovely evening and I had already decided to dedicate all my time and attention on the carp rods leaving the float rod at home. I baited 2 areas with hemp and corn and placed a halibut pellet hook bait over each. Recasting every hour or so with a topped up feeder to keep the bait going in. An open ended feeder with small pellet and ground bait plugs was the method used to introduce the feed and keep cost down. Basically for duration of the short evening session the swingers failed to move. Now the doubts crept in - are there any fish here or do they just pass through, am I on a working bait, is my bite indication correct? The local canoeing club didnt help, they must have passed in both directions within inches of my rod tips. Fishless and frustrated I packed up.
Thursday saw my return to the river, yeah I know..... another early finish! Back out with the same set up and baits. About 7 pm my mate Pete rang and as is always the case while I'm in conversation the downstream indicator crept up, phone in one hand and rod in the other I missed it completely. 'Have you only got pellet?' he asked. 'Afraid so' I replied. I could see his reasoning, if pellet isn't working try soming else.
Shortly afterwards I went back to the van to get some more pellet feed, while rumaging around for the pellet my hand came out with a tin of corn I didnt know I had. Back on the rods I changed the up stream rod to 2 rubber grains of corn on the hair and replaced the pellet feed with corn. A few twitches occured but nothing to change my lack of optimism. Aroud 9 pm I was seriously thinking about packing up when at last the upstream rod swinger dropped right back and I hit it, the feeling of a series of thumps on the other end was such a relief. The fish kited down stream then held its ground before kiting back upstream again. I quickly slipped the net under the still unseen fish, pulled back the mesh expecting to see a small carp, barbel or reasonable chub and was surprised to see a large bream. Yes, a bream which actually fought! The hook had come out in the net and he looked about 3 to 4lb. I quickly recast and a a few minutes latter the same rod was off again, this a small bream about a pound had taken the bait.
Now it really was time to leave and as I did so I pondered the lessons learnt.
1. Dont place all your bait eggs in one basket unless youre confident in the bait.
2. Accurate and regular feeding is required. Although I was fishing fairly close in a piece of tape on the main line would have gaurenteed the same spot every time
3. Dont fish the Trent embankment on a tuesdat night, you'll never compete with the canoes!
I do feel I'm getting closer to the carp, bream take the same baits from the same swims as carp and ussually where theres bream the carp wont be far away. I also have more faith in my set up, though maybe the pellet hook bait might be back on the subs bench.

River Trent

2007-08-24T21:42:00.001Z

My good friend Pete happened to mention last time we were talking how my posts were mainly made up of what I wanted to catch but didn't. So this tiime Ive tried hard not to disapoint and I've struggled again!
Its long been my ambition to catch a river carp as I believe these are as close to wild carp as we're likely to catch. So it was back to the river Trent to try my luck. Just upstream from trent bridge is a stretch known as the steps, its a popular place to feed the swans, ducks and geese and its my theory that the carp cruise up and down the stepped banks looking for food.
I set up a pair of carp rods but struggled to get a bank stick in but finally managed to get a single rest wedged in. I kept my rod tips high to keep as much line as possible out of the water and this is where i met my second problem. It would seem that its not only the carp that cruise up and down the steps but also the swans. I'm not sure what the Nottingham swans get upto but they all seem to have bad sight, the few that did spot the rod tips certainly didnt see line and ploughed straight through them. Twice I had hairy moments where the birds stripped line from the reels. Those that know me know my views on these bad tempered vain overgrown ducks and thursday evening did nothing to change my mind!
I was fishing 14mm pellets on one rode and rubber corn on the other and pva bagging small pellet, corn and dry ground bait. Needless to say with the few hours I had, the learning curve to climb and my dubious skills another blank was the only possible outcome!
I did however come to some valuable conclusions for next time
1. I need a rod pod (and now have one!) to have the adjustability on those concrete steps and other solid pegs like Farlows complex.
2. For peace of mind and so I dont have to usher every swan around the lines I'll fish with the rod tips submerged. Good job I now have a pod isnt it!
3. To save money on pva, open ended feeders filled with small pellet and corn will deliver the freebies.
4. I'll stick to the margins as this is where the food the carp are looking for is found, maybe I was casting over their heads
All sounds simple huh?!
The one saving grace was my float rod and stick float, double maggot on a 16 hook. I managed a fairly regular stream of small roach and perch, nothing huge but enough to keep a smile on my face.
Sorry Pete but I'm afraid the news isnt great. Maybe next time.......

Jounrney Into Angling: Recomended web sites, Fish Southwest

2007-07-29T21:56:00.000Z

www.fistsoutheast.co.uk

Jounrney Into Angling: Recomended web sites, Fish Southwest

2007-07-29T21:55:00.000Z

Jounrney Into Angling: Recomended web sites, Fish Southwest

Chasing carp

2007-07-29T21:32:00.000Z

Work is a bit thin on the ground at the moment which apart from the obvious financial drawbacks means its good news for fishing.
Last week I hit my local venue just after dawn, I arrived to find that I had the whole place to myself and was supremely confident. I picked a spot with a short cast tight against a weed bed and the second rod walked down and placed in front of a bed of reeds. Both rods were armed with small PVA mesh bags and surounded by a bed of pellet and broken boilies. I've recently switched from placing the lead and hook link into a bag along with the freebies to a tube and stocking arangement. The larger bags I found floated too long and melted on or near the surface dropping their contents over a larger area. The new ( to me ) system is smaller in volume and sinks faster. My only reservation is I'm not confident that merely hooking the bag is secure enough for anything more than a gentle lob, hence I use a small piece of PVA tape to secure the bag to the lead then pass the hook into the mesh bag.
So with Mainline active 8 and halibut pellets I went to work! Other than the odd twitch against the weed bed my rods stayed silent untill about 3 pm when off went the weed bed rod. At first I thought I'd missed the run untill I saw a flash of silver and a bream rolled just under the surface. The venue does quite well for bream and many of the old fish reach double figures athough this one was somewhere around 3lb. And that was that for the day.
I'm fairly sure that it was just a case of no fish in my swim as untill I was nearly ready to pack up there was no sign of a carp anywhere near my baits and certainly no line bites.
If the lack of work persists then I'll be back on wednesday for another go only this time I'm going to fish black eyed beans on one of the rods, I remember 2 very good friends of mine doing very well on the venue with them albeit nearly 20 years ago.
We'll see!!!

Farlows, July part 2

2007-07-23T13:29:00.000Z

It appears the gods were still shining on me because the next evening brought a similar early finish and good weather.This time though, still with no bollies I knew it was tench I was going to target. I still Favoured the bottom corner because its close to the gate where my car would be and while talking to one of the regulars he recomended a peg opposite a reed bed. I set a ledger rod on a sliding paternoster and a float rod both baited with corn. The ledger rod was positioned against the reeds while I fished the float rod off a large bush to my right.
Right from the off the light wieght bobins were on the move but eventually I got a positive bite and hooked into something reasonable. Tench? Small carp? Within a few seconds the fish managed to shed the hook in some submerged weed and was gone.
A few small bream came to the float and fought reasonably on the light tackle along with a couple of roach.
Around mid evening I started to see the reed stems moving, a sure sign a carp or 2 had found the bed of corn freebies. Sure enough a few minutes later the indicator whacked into the rod and a bow wave made off down the reeds. as soon as I conected with the fish the hook came adrift.
The reed line never recovered from that incident and although I took a few more bream I again had that wasted opportunity feeling. Oh yeah and still no tench.
So, any lessons learnt? I was fishing 2 rods and with activety on both rods I feel my attention was divided, maybe I'll stick to 1 rod next time. Secondly I feel I was fishing a bit light for what may come along so I'll upgrade to 6lb line with 5lb hook link. I also seemed to get my ledger bait twitched and hung up in the weed stems so I'll use a float instead.
Wonder what time we'll get finished this week!!

Farlows, July

2007-07-23T13:17:00.000Z

Last week for once work was kind to me and I managed to get two early finishes and with Farlows only being around the corner it was a simple choice. All day I had struggled with the choice between carp and tench, the descision of where to fish was fairly simple as the gates are locked at 8 pm and I wanted an easy walk out as my car would be on the road so the bottom corner it was! Carp were rolling off the tip off one island and instantly the scales tipped in favour of carp. I rushed to the on site shop to get some bollies only to find it had shut!! At this point I should have re-thought my plan but foolishly I didnt. In my bag I always keep some meat and some corn so although I had no faith in the meat it went on as bait. The whole rig plus corn and pellets went into a PVA bag and was cast towards the island.
All evening I got small twitches but nothing more and I came to the conclusion it was only small fish pecking away atthe bait. And so it was at dusk that I packed away kicking myself over a wasted fishless evening.

Perch and more perch

2007-07-02T22:10:00.000Z

Its been over a month since I last wet a line and a trip has been long over due. I managed to snatch a few hours tonight at my local venue, the reservoir. With the venue selected ( its closest! ) all I needed to do was decide what I was going to be chasing. In a round about way Pete and little Jim decided for me, they are currently in in Germany chasing huge carp and have taken my swingers and optonics so it was a fairly easy choice to go for perch and what ever I could muster on a float rod with magots.
A large lob worm on a size 12 finished off a sliding paternoster rig ang and this was fished against a likely looking weed bed, an optonic and ultra light bobins were the final touch. I also fished a float rod to see what else might come my way and this was baited with 2 maggots on a size 16 hook.
From the word go I had action on both rods with small perch on the maggots and more small perch harrassing the worm. The bites on the ledger set up were fairly wild though the amount i missed led me to believe they were only small perch scurrying about with the worm. My plan was to wade through the smaller fish in the hope of picking up some better ones but alas it never quite worked out and the best I managed was a couple of fish about 6 to 8oz.
I had been feeding a small amount of corn and pellet alongside the maggots on the float line and mid evening the float slid away again but this time it was something a little different. I managed to gain a little line but then the fish turned and ran leaving a huge bow wave and me minus a hook.
The small perch kept coming untill nearly dusk when both rods went quiet. All in all it was a great night and felt great to be back on the bank.

Loche Park

2007-05-21T15:06:00.000Z

I was given an update to the newly opened loche park in Redcar the other day, 'its full of small carp mate' they said, 'you cant go wrong!'. So I loaded up my gear and headed to the lake this morning. Having never tried method feeder fishing I thought I'd give it a go. The lake is shallow, no more than 3 foot, and a narrow island running down the centre of most of it means you never have to chuck it far. I tackled up a light feeder rod with 4lb line, a small method feeder and a short 3lb hook link to a size 12 hook. The groundbait mix was tuna, black groundbait, corn, meat and pellet.
Full of confidence I cast in and set the buzzer. Within 5 minute I had a screaming line bite and thoughts like 'too easy' sprung to mind. it was a full 2 hrs later and half a dozen casts before a got a positive take and a common of abaout a pound slid into the net. And that, as they say, was that!
It was a good reminder that if something seems too easy then it probably is! however it was nice wetting a line again. On the way home I dropped into the resevoir to have a look around and found it completely deserted and looking fantastic. I know where I'll be heading next time!

New River

2007-05-15T22:16:00.000Z

I've been away working down near Ware in Herts, damming up what is essentially a concrete lined canal which carries water to treatment plants in london. The idea was to dam off a section then drain it to fix a leak and today was the pumping out day. The reason I mention it was because my final job was to get in with a net to rescue any fish which could be found in the mud. The main point of interest other than a few jack pike were a pair of reasonable sized perch, maybe a pound and a half in wieght. Talking to the British waterways rep I learnt that there are quite a few pike to double figures and several larger carp further downstream.
The only down side is that for safety reasons there is no fishing allowed, I'm sure though that if a quiet stretch could be found .........!

Work!

2007-04-23T13:25:00.000Z

As I write this I've got my dog staring at the apple core in my hand, he's so easily pleased. Me on the other hand I've got work and other commitments that seem to keep getting in the way of my fishing. Do you ever wonder when you'll be back on the bank? I'll let you know when I get back. Good luck.

Recomended web sites, Fish Southwest

2007-04-12T09:47:00.000Z

Another site by Paul Orford giving great information on venues, news, tackle and all the links you would expect. www.fishsouthwest.co.uk

Recomended web sites, Fish Southeast

2007-04-12T09:42:00.000Z

After surfing around on the internet I came accross a site run by Paul Orford called Fish Southeast. Its a gtreat site with loads of usefull links and tips. Theres also a great selection of venues and a diary of his exploits. Its definitely a site to keep returning to. The site address is www.fishsoutheast.co.uk

Adverts

2007-04-06T22:30:00.001Z

Concealment

2007-04-06T21:00:00.000Z

One of the biggest surprises on my return to the sport has been the 'real tree' pattern on just about everything. Now I'm a bit of a traditionalist and favour the militarys DPM pattern. On a recent trip to Willow Lakes we got around to discussing the pros and cons. Let me start by explaining how I believe fish in general behave. I dont believe they are inteligent enough to pick out our outline from the background but rather they respond to movement. A good friend told a story of hooking a huge barbel and played it for quite a long period, during this time he believes the fish didnt know it was hooked. The sudden end to the fight came when his accomplice moved his arm to point at the fish at close range, spooked it and instantly parted the line. They had been in view of the fish from the begining but the barbel responded not to thier outline but to the sudden movement.
Responding to movement is merely a reflex designed to avoid predetors whilst identifying an outline is a lot more sophisticated. There are things we can do to avoid this motion from being detected, we can stay low and definitely avoid being silouheted on the skyline, move slowly and wear clothing to break up our outline.
This is where camaflage comes into play. DPM (disruptive pattern material) is a good all round pattern which works well against many differnt backgrounds. Real tree patterns are amazing BUT only against bush and tree backgrounds, horses for courses I suppose but I do believe that DPM will give a better break up against a greater range of backgrounds.
A few weeks ago at Farlows Lake I manage to creep up on a pair of pike hard up against the bank, I stood over them for about ten minutes and the only thing to spook them was when I moved my arm to flick a boilie (I was just testing them!) in front of them. There was and maybe still is a matchman who I believe may have been called Jan Porter who dressed every time in red. He caught a huge number of fish and was extremely successfull without a single hint of dark clothing let alone DPM or real tree!
This is the direction our conversation took and we questioned the point of real tree or even DPM rod holdalls, bait buckets and luggage. These after all are items which spend most of their time in the grass not moving and if the fish are close enough for their concealment to be of importance then a million other things will have given the game away long before such as hands, face, rods, reels, bite alarms......
Finally the other main thing to spook the fish other than movement is sound, maybe even more so. I believe careless footfalls spook more fish than anything else. Bear in mind that a footstep can be 'heard' by fish through ground and water for tens of meters.
Next time you are on the bank think about your position, movement and noise. Its a good habit no matter what range you are fishing.

Day Tickets

2007-04-06T20:52:00.000Z

No fishing this week as work has well and truly got in the way! Hopefully I'll be back on the bank in a week or two. Does anyone have details of day ticket waters in the Nottingham area which can be fished in the close season? If you do could you either place them in the comments section or email them to catchemall@hotmail.co.uk . Infact if anyone would like to send fishery details I'd be only too pleased to post them on here as one of my main aims for this site is to swap ideas, solve problems and to broaden horizons.
Hope you're all fishing more than me.

Willow Lakes

2007-03-31T12:19:00.000Z

Wednesday dawned cold and foggy in Nottingham and at just after five am its was dark too. Into the car, carefull not to wake the dog on the way out, and drive two and a half hours down the M1 to Willow Lakes near Hatfield. I was planning to be there by dawn but due to traffic I actually saw the sun rising on the motorway. It was 7.30 by the time I arrived and reached the swim and found my good friend Pete Rutledge waiting for me. Willow Lake is a gravel pit and has a very good head of carp along with most other species but it is the carp that seem to attract most of the attention. carp from a few pounds to well over 30lbs are to be found along with some very large uncaught fish.
Although the sun was shining strongly there was a thick frost on the ground. PVA bags are a well tried method so my first rod was set up on a bolt rig in a PVA bag filled with broken boilies and koi pellets and chucked just short of a gravel bar. The second rod I decided to try something a bit different and used a stringer with loose boilies pulted around it. Pete arrived with a cup of tea as I was tackling up the second rod just in time to see the first rod scream away. A mirror of about 10lbs put up a good fight before sliding into the net. 'Hmm' I thought 'this could be an interesting day!'.
Finally both rods in the water and it was time to time to catch my breath. Not for long though as about 10 minutes later Pete was in and landed a common of about the same size. 'Hmm, a very interesting day! Wonder if we have enough bait?'. About thirty minutes later I was in again and another small mirror graced the net, now I knew we didnt have enough bait for this pace.
And then it stopped, not even nine am, three fish on the bank and it all went quiet! Pete managed another two small fish in the afternoon and we both landed a couple of bream but that was that.Dusk was going to be the time to catch we decided, but come the failing light our indicators barely twitched.
I fished the venue in early february in the cold and it fished better. Pete informed me that he and his nephew Jimmy fished it the week before in a blizard and it fished better. So what went wrong? Also I only managed one twitch all day on my stringer rod, how come PVA bags of smaller feed was more successfull than 4 or 5 boilies on a stringer with another dozen in a loose area? Anyone have any ideas?
On a different theme, I was using my new bite indicators,FOX mk2 swingers, and must say they are excelent but more of them later.
I will be back to Willow lakes and very soon because I do know the fish very well on most sesions...... just not last wednesday!

Adverts

2007-03-31T12:18:00.001Z

Items For Sale

2007-03-26T14:23:00.000Z

To advertise any items for sale for free email your details and a brief description to catchemall@hotmail.co.uk and I'll post them as soon as I can. Items will stay on the board for 8 weeks and can then be resubmitted. Thanks.

Clothing

2007-03-24T11:26:00.000Z

With the winter still fresh in my mind and some cold wet sesions still a vivid memory I thought I might share some rambling opinions on keeping warm and dry. Firstly let me explain where my experience comes from. After leaving colege I joined the army and one of several postings saw me working and training in Norway during the winter, my next posting took me to Bosnia over winter too, how lucky is that!!!! On leaving the forces I was drawn into the world of comercial diver. So as you can see I've made a living from being cold and wet and feel reasonably well placed to talk about it.
Lets start off with some basics.

1. Clothing works by trapping air within its fibres and allowing our body heat to warm it up. Different clothing has different jobs, a base layer traps a small amount of air very close to the skin, thermal layers (often made from fleece) trap more air within them, windproof out garments prevent our warm air being displaced by wind and finally waterproofs do exactly as they describe and keep the rain out.

2. Affects from the elements depend on three factors COLD, WET and WIND. Any two of these conditions can really cause us trouble, therefore if we can excluded them from our person then we stay warm and dry.

Whilst traing for winter in Norway the main rule for clothing was to dress loosly and in layers, in this way we trap lots of air to be warmed and the layer system means we can add or remove layers as conditions dictate. The army has even adopted the system accross the board with what they call their 'onion skin' design in their '95 kit. The other thing to remember is to avoid tight boots.
Clothing can be bought from lots of outlets depending on your budget.
Army surplus shops have everything you will ever need and cheap too.
Tackle shops and mail oder companies sell a good selection of clothing.
Walking and climbing outlets sell some excelent though pricey gear.
And finally, diving shops do a great range in thermal under suits.

Just put all this into perspective let me give you an idea what I'd be dressed up in on the worst possible day. First on is a long sleeved vest, on top of that is a T shirt (extra layer around torso without adding bulk to arms), a jumper (ussually fleece), fleece jacket, army issue windproof artic smock and finally if nescesary a set of army issue waterproofs. If its really cold a pair of Ron Hill running bottoms can go under my combat trousers. This selection is topped off with a good fleece hat, gloves of your choice and boots to suit the ground.
The beauty of this system is that layers can be removed to match temperature and weather conditions or inside a bivvy or behind a brolly etc.
If you decide to go the army surplus route for waterproofs there are three main choices; goretex, waterproofs with a black coating inside and then those with a thicker clear coating inside. Incidently, that is the order in which I would choose them too.

Most of my gear is army surplus because is very good and well priced. Better clothing is available from walking and climbing shops but the prices start to rise very steeply. I would recomend steering clear of thick undersuits for all but the worst weather but if you decide you want one try one the many diving shops for a different angle (mine is an Arctic 2 piece from Fourth Element and its brilliant but far from cheap) Northern Diver would be a good place to start.

So there it is my ramblings almost complete! Dress in several thin loose layers instead of one thick one and keep your head and hands covered whenever possible. Try to avoid overheating while carrying all your gear to your peg too. Finally my favourite piece of clothing is an arabic type of scarf called a Shamagh, warm and versatile. If anyone has any queries or comments then please post them in the comments section. Roll on summer!
Stay warm and dry!

Farlows

2007-03-21T11:35:00.000Z

As I expected work did take me south again as it ussually does, hence my absence for 10 days. The thing I didnt expect was that my day off changed from wednesday to thursday or in other words the last day of the season to the first day of the close season! So the intended trip to the Thames fishing for pike was off but where was I going to go?
My work is usually in Uxbridge and a quick look through the Yellow Pages brought me the answer, Farlows Lakes near Iver which is litereally 10 minutes drive away. Even better than the proximity they even have a shop on site with all the bait you could ever want and free advice and inside information too.
By 10 o'clock I was set up in the top corner of the motorway bank well away from everyone else and baited up with Dynamite Baits 'Spicy shrimp and Prawn' boilies. Because of the presure these fish receive I opted for a running lead with a 14 inch hook length and size 8 hook. An island ran diagonally in front of me about 30 to 40 m out and as recomended the 2 baits were cast reasonably tight against this feature. Again because of the presure I avoided PVA bags and pulted 15 to 20 boiles and some loose Koi pelets around each bait. The other reason for avoiding PVA bags was that I knew with my rusty casting and the accuracy needed I'd probably need 3 or 4 attempts to get the baits in the right spot.
By 2 pm I was begining to loose a bit of faith when off went the right hand rod and I pulled nicely into a fish. All seemed to go too well untill the fish arrived under the rod tip and seemed at last to wake up and plunged around on a short line for a few minutes. Finely with a sigh of relief i slipped the net under a well conditioned mirror carp that pulled the scales around to 13lb 2 oz. Not a massive fish by any standards but my biggest for a very very long time.
That was to be my only action for the day, because the gates get locked at 6 I had to pack up early before dusk to avoid being locked in.
The attached picture is the carp of the day, my question is though, how can you take good photos when on your own which give a sense of scale? Anyone have any ideas?
Next week sees me off again and with any luck my good friend Pete will be meeting up with me at Willow lakes inHertfordshire. Fingers crossed, be lucky.

Return

2007-03-09T22:19:00.000Z

As the forcast predicted it was indeed cold and windy for my first trip back to the reservoir where I really started fishing. What surprised me most was the excitement I felt as I drove up the track.
Things hadn't changed much though there were more trees and overhanging bushes than there had been on my last trip, that was more than 15 years ago. I chose a swim out of the wind and was pleasantly surprised by how warm it was in the sun. My original plan was to fish only a float rod for roach and perch but on seeing the old place I couldnt resist putting a carp rod down the margin. Throughout the day there were several dips and lifts on the wagler but nothing to call a solid bite, a blank was definitely on for my first trip back. With only an hour or two to go I made an effort and dropped to a size 22 hook and dotted the float right down, this resulted almost imeadiately in a bite. Relief! A small roach was swung to hand followed by 2 more which manage to shed the hook and a few that didnt. Then the perch seemed to move in amongst the roach but not one was over 4 inches long. It also appeared that the bites came within a few minutes of being cast.
So the lessons learnt today? Well when its quiet it definitely pays to keep busy and go fine with the tackle with regular recasting. I also learnt that all the carp lads are fishing boilies on stringers with no sign of any particles .................. that'll be 10 kilos of black eyed beans then please! I reckon that doing something completely different on the bait front will pay off.
Apparently theres some good perch in the water too but no one seems to target them so that'll be another trip.
Work is taking me south for a week or two, I might just scrape a day piking on the Thames at Chertsey before the curtain goes down on this season but I'll let you know!

A Journey Into Angling

2007-03-08T22:39:00.000Z

This should maybe titled 'A Journey Back Into Angling' as I've recently rediscovered my passion for fishing, a sport I effectively left 17 or 18 years ago. I cant really say why I stopped fishing but I suppose it mainly had to do with the end of my teenage years and joining the army meant that I was no longer at home with my gear. Does that sound familiar? Like most lapsed anglers, though, I never stopped looking and wondering every time I passed a pond, lake or river. I was never the greatest angler so hopefully this time around will be more successfull.
So here I am again! Having started up a few months ago I'm still using the gear I owned when I stopped though I have bought some new stuff over the last few months my old Conoflex glass fibre rods and Ryobi reels are still in evidence. Its a strange thing to say but after all these years away things have completely changed and at the same time stayed exactly the same. Bolt rigs are still the order of the day and used unquestioningly, pike rigs are identical and maggots still catch almost everything.
I've had a few sesions over the winter with enough fish to keep me happy mainly on the Trent where I took a few pike including a personal best 18lb fish on a sardine. The rivers have been very full this winter making fishing them a bit hit and miss. I fished a late afternoon sesion on the Trent, the steps section just upstream of Trent Bridge in Nottingham, I spent hours trotting a single maggot under a stick float trying in vain to catch anything at all from a river flowing about 5 to 6 foot above normal. I would have been happy with anything of any size that afternoon, my one and only bite resulted in a heavy slow dogged fight which plodded around for 5 minutes or so before I slipped the net under 5lb 8oz chub. I was nervous to say the least with a size 18 hook on a 1lb 10oz bottom!
I'm off to a local reservoir tomorow but the weater isnt lookin very good, cold and windy. It holds a special place in my memories as its where I spent most of my spare time as a kid and where I did most of my carping. Its only 3 1/2 acres and esentialy a square concrete hole in the ground! Roach, bream and perch are my target tomorow but I'll be back for the carp later.
I hope to use this space for you to answer my queries and maybe to post some of yours to get answered too. I also hope to be able to write up on new bits and pieces I buy and post a list of tackle and bait supliers and venues.