Early Morning Session on the River Kenn, Clevedon

With the weather improving a trip to the River Kenn in Clevedon for Bream and possibly a Tench presented it self a early Session just 10mins down the road from my house ,
So prebaiting a swim with 2kg of sweet corn the night before and rigging up a pair of 1 1/2lb TC rods just in case there was a carp about , I was ready for a 5'o' clock start ,
The day was all ready heating up as I arrived at the waters edge and swung out two ledgered rods of artificial corn hair rigged to size 12 gardiner specimen hooks on 9lb guru hook length to the bait on the far side I had put in the previous evening,
I had to wait until 8 30 for my first fish a bream of around 6lb which unlike lake bream put up a thumping fight to the net , this was followed by a smaller fish of 5 lb ish
by now the sun had risen and so had the temperature so time to pack up,
Clevedon AA control the Kenn on a £20.00 a year ticket which besides the Bream has good Stocks of Roach ,Perch the occasional Tench and a few Carp,  

Biggest of the morning

Tench and Perch in the Cotswolds

Spurning the pull to fish the rivers on the first day of the season, I decided to give the tench fishing on my club gravel pit in the Cotwolds  another go, the approach was to be the same as before spodding out dead maggot and hemp and fishing 2 rods one with rubber maggots and maggot feeder one on a method feeder and 10mm boilie ,but unusually for me I made an early start arriving at the lake a 6 am. I didn't have to wait long for my first fish a tench of around 4 1/2lb   on the maggot rig , then a surprise perch of 3 lb  6oz, a PB for me and a lovely fish which made my day ,
I followed this up with 5 more tench , 3 on the boilies. A great day proving the early angler catches more fish!

Not a bad photo for a selfie -
My 3lb 6oz perch

A tench of about 4lb 8oz

    

June 16th 2015 on the River Wye, Courtfield, Lower Lydbrook

One of the River Wye's smaller residents -
Great to know that the big barbel of tomorrow
are thriving in this fantastic river

June 16th, opening day of the river season! A day every keen river angler looks forward to and although for many, with expectations set high, it can often be a disappointment, for some it can be a great day. I have been lucky enough to go fishing on this special day a number of times but I have never had what I would call a "good" June 16th. This year I hoped to change that and it was back in January that I booked a place each for me and my dad to fish my favourite stretch of my favourite river on opening day! The Courtfield beat at Lower Lydbrook on the River Wye. We arrived late morning and I was pretty excited despite the less than ideal conditions we were presented with. Bright, clear skies and a very low and clear river are not exactly what you want when targeting a river full of barbel and chub, but that's what we were faced with and so we would have to try our best and cross our fingers for a little luck. Fortunately, I'm pleased to say, luck is something I usually enjoy plenty of and as our baited rigs splashed in to the river I sat back quietly confident that today was going to be my first "good" June 16th. After only half an hour dads rod hooped over and the reel screamed in a way that could only mean a barbel had slipped up and picked up the hair rigged halibut pellet that they just can't seem to resist. A good scrap resulted in barbel number one, a great start and weighing in at 7lb 15oz. My turn next for a fish, a chub of about 3lb. Another followed soon after, bigger this time at 4lb 1oz. Dad was soon bent in to another barbel, another good fish at 8lb 9oz. My first barbel was next and I was really chuffed with it, not because it was a big fish but because it was a small one, the smallest barbel I've ever caught in fact. Weighing no more than 1lb 8oz it was proof that the Wye barbel are thriving, ensuring good fishing for hopefully years to come. The hours ticked away and we continued to catch well. Dad landed the biggest barbel, a beauty that weighed 9lb 1oz, I wasn't far behind with a 8lb 12oz fish. We both caught decent chub, with fish to over 4lb. So there we go, my first ever "good" June 16th! Courtfield rarely disappoints and it's for this reason that I have another six trips booked between now and October. For information visit www.wyeuskfoundation.org

A 4lb chub - Average size now for this part
of the River Wye

English Channel Cod Fishing is Spot On!

The cod fishing in the English Channel at the moment is the best it's been in years! South coast charter boats are all reporting boat loads, with fish up to low doubles in abundance around both inshore and offshore wrecks and reefs. I was lucky enough to get in on the action recently during a day out with Ross Parham aboard his Brixham based boat Spot On! As I've mentioned on here before Ross is a fantastic skipper and he put myself and nine others right amongst the fish recently. All on board caught plenty of cod, the odd pollock showed also and a few ling and whiting were caught too. It wasn't uncommon for all ten of us to be hauling up fish all at the same time! Not something that happens every time out and so something to be thoroughly enjoyed when it does. Tackle and tactics used by all were pretty similar with either 12lb or 20lb class rods matched with decent multiplier reels holding 30lb to 50lb braid being the preferred choice. On the business end, lures of varying shape, size and colour were tied to long, strong traces and sent down to the depths using 10oz or 12oz ball leads attached via long tube booms. A reasonably tangle-proof, cheap and very effective fish catching set-up. Pretty standard wrecking gear really! A bit of barbel and chub fishing is next on the list. I'm fishing the River Wye at Courtfield, Lower Lydbrook tomorrow. June 16th! Opening day! Very exciting! Next week should find me out bass fishing with John Wallington and Devon Bass Pro Charters of Seaton, Devon. Then it's back to the Wye before heading off to Skjervoy, Northern Norway for a week targeting the cod, coalfish and halibut that this part of the world is famed for. Lots to tell you about hopefully, so check back soon to find out how it all goes.

A Day at Sea With Spot On! Charters - The Highlight of a Successful Start to the Year

Right, let me see if I can remember how to write a blog post! It's been a long time since I last told you all what I've been up to. It's been a busy start to 2015, with moving house taking up a lot of my time. I've managed to get out fishing too though and I've enjoyed success with both freshwater and saltwater species. Roach, dace, grayling, chub, barbel, carp, tench, bream and pike have all found their way on to the bank and in to my hands. Places I've fished have included the River Chew, the River Wye and a few local stillwaters. Sea fishing in the Bristol Channel and from the South Devon coast has been productive too. Codling, whiting and wrasse have made up some good catches. It was however, my trip out with Ross Parham, aboard his Brixham based charter boat Spot On! that produced the best days fishing of the year so far. Fishing some thirty miles offshore, all on board had a great day. Plenty of ling, decent pollock, some cod and a few whiting were all keen to take lures or fresh pouting baits dropped down to the wrecks littering the seabed below. My best ling weighed 15lb, the biggest caught that day went over 20lb. Pollock to low doubles were caught by all and one lucky chap slipped the net under a cod of 14lb. I can't recommend Ross and Spot On! Charters highly enough. Visit www.spot-on-charters.co.uk to book yourself a trip. The rest of the year promises to remain busy with further boat trips booked, holidays to Norway and Spain and the usual days out a little closer to home. So with all that to look forward to you should find that I write on here a little more regularly than I have been doing recently!





Catching hard fighting ling is tiring -
I can't even stay awake for the photo!






 

Tench Fishing in the Cotswolds

With the weather finally on the turn my thoughts turn to Tench fishing, I am no longer a member of Somerford AA so a new venue needed to be found.

Asking around a  Lake in Fairford seemed to fit the bill, a 20 acre gravel pit in the Cotswolds, So Tuesday morning gear loaded I set off to explore a new water.

I arrived at the lake late morning after making a small detour to purchase a day ticket.

And did a quick circuit of the lake, it’s a crystal clear lake with marginal tree cover and weed beds, being a bright sunny day with a slight northerly wing blowing I opted to fish into  the wind and soon found a swim with a gravel bar showing at around 20 metres.

My approach was to be two rods on ledgered feeders, one with maggots the other corn, these I cast out to the gravel bar and spoded a mixture of dead maggots, caster corn and hemp over the top.

Bringing in the rods every half hour to top up the feeders , this continued until 4 o clock just as began to have thoughts of blanking or moving swims , when the right hand maggot rod screamed off at last ,this run produced a small Tench of 2 ½ lb small but very welcome.

Soon to be followed by 3 more 2 of around 4lb and the biggest of the day at 5 1/2lb, all on the maggots.

All of which fought well above their weight in the deep clear water, so a very successful day in all I will defiantly return.

 

5 1/2lb the days biggest

A Couple of Hours on the Upper Avon

It’s not often a fishing trip goes to plan, but Tuesday was to be the exception,

I had decided to fish the Upper Avon near Malmesbury for Grayling, not a species that is prolific on this river, my plan was to trot maggots staying mobile to cover as much water as possible, 

A good size Brown

Setting up with a small Drennan chubber as the river was low and clear and a size 16 barbless hook  

With two maggots  one pink one red my favourite combination , I soon caught an out of season Brown  trout which although good fun on light tackle was not the target species, in fact I was to be pestered by these all day ,
Until I reduced the amount of loose feed maggots into the swims, I did catch 5 roach up to 1/2lb in one swim but determined to catch a Grayling, I moved on,
As the light started to faded I settled into a swim with a run between overhanging trees, On my first trot I bumped a fish which is usually the kiss of death for a small river, but I gave it another run though anyway to be rewarded by a small but perfectly formed Grayling of 20cm, mission accomplished the next run though produced a small chub then the trout moved in and I decide to call it a day,  

Small but very Welcome

Low and Clear