A Tough January Draws to a Close

The sun sets on a very quiet month

January has been a struggle and not for a lack of trying. Freshwater, saltwater, river, lake, beach and pier, we've tried it all and with very little to show for our efforts. Toby has caught the most fish out of all of us. His visits to local stillwaters have produced some half decent nets of skimmer bream and the odd small carp. Dan and I have just about managed a dozen fish between us. Highlights included a number of nice roach and some sizable dace. I should mention that my dad managed to up his personal best dace to 10oz and my friend Dave showed us all how it's done by landing a whiting on Clevedon Pier that was actually big enough for his dinner! So it hasn't been a complete disaster. That said, as a pretty unproductive month comes to an end, we're all hoping that February will bring with it a few more fish! My plans for the next few weeks include a bit of carp fishing, some more sea fishing and hopefully, if we get mild weather, a visit to the River Wye for a spot of late season barbel fishing. Dan has his trip to Cuba coming up and Toby will be out trying to fill his keepnets. Check back to see how we get on!

Making the Most of a Mild Winter

The last couple of weeks have seen Dan, Toby and myself all making the most of the mild weather. Dan is still searching for a 3lb perch and although it remains elusive he has had some very good fish. Toby has been out several times visiting Acorn fishery and has enjoyed some good catches. Decent skimmer bream and small carp have been falling to his pole, groundbait feeder and method feeder techniques. Finally, I enjoyed an excellent day fishing the stick float on the River Chew. Small brown trout and dace to 10oz made up the bulk of the catch, with fish coming to red maggot or caster on most casts. I was also lucky enough to land two grayling, one being a personal best of 11oz. If you have read my previous blog posts you will know that the grayling is a species that I have only recently started catching and so it was great to catch a couple from a local venue! Slightly colder weather is forecast for the coming week so sport may slow up a bit, but we will all still be out regardless, doing our best to put fish on the bank!

Dreaming of Sun, Sea and Sand. Fishing in Cayo Coco, Cuba

With shop trade slowing down a little in January and February, my thoughts turn to far flung destinations. This year I am returning to Cayo Coco in Cuba, where I spent a couple of weeks last February fishing for bonefish, tarpon, barracuda and jacks. I had a brilliant time and enjoyed some fantastic sport, taking some good sized, hard fighting fish on a variety of tackle and bait. (See the pictures below) Jon is also planning his return to Spain for a week catfishing and to defend his title of CatMaster Tours record holder! So dont let the winter blues get you down, book a trip for a bit of fishing in the sunshine!

A 12lb jack, caught trolling a sardine from a catamaran

The front half of a barracuda, bitten in two by a larger barracuda,
 estimated to be 70lb - 80lb, during the fight!

A Few Hours on Clevedon Pier

A grey December day!

Dan and I decided to spend an afternoon fishing from Clevedon Pier on Tuesday. Some good cod and whiting have been caught recently, as well as some decent conger eels and thornback rays, so we thought we would give it a go! We arrived two hours before high tide and set up two rods each. End tackle was pulley rigs and two hook flapper rigs. Bait was ragworm, lugworm and squid and we were soon making some short casts from about half way along the pier. A lot of other anglers were also trying their luck but nobody was catching much at all. Just before high water Dan had the first bite of the day and was soon unhooking a small whiting. We both hoped more fish would follow but we were to be disappointed and the next couple of hours produced nothing but a few shy bites. No need for us to peel any potato's on this occasion but we will return on another day! For information on fishing from Clevedon Pier visit www.clevedonpier.com

Not big enough for dinner!

Winter Fly Fishing on the Hampshire Avon

A wintry looking Hampshire Avon

On Saturday I fished the Hampshire Avon with Dave, our Drennan sales representative. He is a member of the Salisbury and District Angling Club, who control a couple of miles of fly fishing only water at West Amesbury and I was his guest for the day. After a hearty breakfast we made our way to the river, where a very wintry scene greeted us. A hard frost from the night before glistened on the fields and trees and a chilly breeze reminded us both that autumn had come and gone. The river was running very low and clear and the water was very cold, but our target species, the grayling, is well known to feed happily in such conditions, so we set up undeterred. We both opted to fish size 16 foam Klinks with Holy Grail nymphs on the point. The first fish came after an hour, from a deep run under a tree and as the morning temperature slowly increased more grayling followed. After some lunch, the day continued with further success, both of us regularly taking fish and by late afternoon, the temperature now dropping, we were ready to head for home, both happy we had enjoyed a good days sport. My biggest fish of the day was a grayling of about 1lb 8oz and I caught a total of twenty six fish. For more information on fly fishing for trout and grayling on the Hampshire Avon, visit www.salisburydistrictac.co.uk

Biggest of the day!

A size 16 Natural Holy Grail did the trick

More Big Perch

More perch fishing for me this week. After some good fish last time, I was back on the bank in search of a bigger one! Worm and red maggot fished close to marginal cover was what I hoped would fool a big stripey and I wasn't to be disappointed. Six perch between 1lb 8oz and 2lb 8oz, plus a few smaller fish made for a brilliant day! The biggest perch coughed up a 4oz roach in the net, but this wasn't the only surprise of the day, as I even hooked a decent pike of about 8lb. The pike put up a spirited fight and after giving me the run around for over ten minutes, eventually bit through my 6lb breaking strain line. I'm not the only one who has been getting in on the perch fishing action, Toby targeted the species in a match at the weekend and had some good fish too! The Angling Times recently published an article stating "There has never been a better time to fish for big perch!" So get out there and give it a go!

Greedy stripey!

Another Great Day on the Kennet

Biggest grayling of the day.

After the recent success of catching my first grayling, I returned to Barton Court Fishery on the River Kennet. I had brought dad with me, he needed to catch his first grayling and I felt confident that this was the place to do it. We arrived to find a frost on the fields and the maze of carrier streams flowing quickly, textbook grayling conditions. Our first casts were in a small weir pool that had produced fish for me on my previous visit, but after half an hour we were both without so much as a bite. A change of swim was needed but dad tried one last cast and to our surprise the float slipped under. A lively silvery fish darted around in the clear water and as dad guided it over the net we could see that it was what we had come here for. A small but beautifully coloured grayling and dads first of the species. Well done dad! After some lunch we tried the swim where I had caught my first grayling the last time I was here. On his first cast dad hooked a much bigger fish, a very good grayling was soon in the net, the scales settled on 11oz, a cracking fish! Several more grayling followed for dad, including one of 9oz and two small brown trout. He was getting too good at it! I was still to hook a fish and so I moved to a lovely looking pool below a fast, shallow run. I caught fish straight away, small grayling, several decent roach and a lone dace came my way, before I hooked a big trout which spooked the fish and then snapped my delicate hooklength. Time to move on! Dad was now fishing in another weir pool and continuing to catch well so I left him to it and settled in to a small weir pool of my own. Two large brown trout were the result of a dozen or so casts and were to be the last fish of the day. The sun had set and as it got dark we made the journey home, both very happy with our days fishing. Visit www.riverkennet.co.uk for information on the Barton Court Fishery.

Great fun on light tackle!