Medway Barbel 2017

22/08/17 - I have been putting in quite a bit of time fishing recently and with August rapidly coming to an end I thought It would be nice to mix things up and have a couple of sessions on the upper Medway in search of some Barbel. I have fished this stretch of the Medway many times before (please see previous posts) and I was confident that I could winkle out a couple of fish and get a bend in the rod. Although there are no monsters in this particular stretch a double figure Barbel is a real possibility and my PB Barbel was from here weighing 11lb 7oz.

For my first session I decided to fish with 12mm pellets  on a simple hair rig of around two feet in length. I used a lead clip system to allow the 2oz lead to eject if it got snagged and opted for 12lb Drennan braid to a size 8 Barbel specialist hook. With an underarm flick I cast two baits out to each margin, sprinkled some freebies around the area and waited.

It wasn't long before the bobbin was jumping up and down and the baitrunner triggered into action as a small but energetic chub of around 3lb found the bottom of the net. I actually let the fish go directly in the swim in hope that it would shy the others of the bait and I would have more chance of hooking a Barbel. The small chub can become a nascence especially if you are fishing through the night and three pounders keep taking your bait. It didn't take long for another chub to fall victim to my hook bait but following that fish the rest of the night was quiet and I slept like a baby. I awoke to lifeless bobbins and a beautiful sun rise which sounds lovely but I would have rather woken to a screaming bite alarm and stumbled down the bank to catch a double figure Barbel. Something was wrong and I knew what it was. The bloody crayfish had nicked my bait and I had been fishing most of the night without a single bait on the hook. To be honest I didn't think the crayfish would be a problem but with the hot weather I suppose they were more active then usual. For my next session I would have to change my tactics.

My next session was a few days later and I arrived at the river after work around 7pm. I had come prepared this time with a few pre drilled spicy meat boilies that had been air dried specifically to fish waters that hold crayfish. I had previously used them on the River Lea and they seemed to do the job. Both rods were baited with the rock hard boilies and with a 12mm pellet. I made sure that the boilie was the top bait and that the bait stop was flush with the boilies surface to stop the crayfish from picking the bait of the hair. I scattered some free baits around the swim and put the kettle.

Within an hour I had a violent take and after a short scrap I landed a 4lb Barbel in perfect condition and definitely one for the future. My next take was at around 10pm but this fish seemed much heavier than the first and after a manic battle it turned out to be another scale perfect Barbel weighing in at 7lb 6oz. I took some self takes and settled down for some sleep which was much needed due to the fact I had to be up at 4am for work the next morning. I didn't get much shut eye when at 11.30pm my left hand rod again screamed into action. This fish felt even bigger than the last and my suspicion was confirmed when I netted another Barbel weighing 8lb 12oz. What a session this was turning out to be and the Barbel were just getting bigger and bigger. Again I drifted into the land of nod when the inevitable happened and my bait runner went into melt down. After bringing the fish back from thirty yards downstream she managed to snag me up and this resulted in a lost fish. I placed the other rod in the spot where all the takes were coming from and jumped into the sack.

 It didn't take long and the rod was away again. I stumbled out of the bag, forgot to put my boots on and rolled down the steep bank to the rods. Lifting the rod up and connecting with the fish I could tell this was a better specimen and the fight it put up was incredible. My rod was bent round double with the fish peeling line from a tight clutch. The power was truly immense but eventually I won the battle and landed a proper Barbel. She went 11lb 3oz on the scales, only a few ounces short of my PB but I didn't care. What a fish and what a session.

I packed up two hours later absolutely shattered and headed to work with a smile on my face.

2016 Korum Cup Runner Up

Tenching ... In Construction

A Spot of Carp Fishing - The Dead Pit

12/08/17 - After having spent a good ten nights fishing for a massive eel I felt it was time to have a break and decided to fish for some carp in a local wild and weedy lake. The lake is only about 2 acres in size and is packed with Canadian pond weed making the fishing a little tougher and the water crystal clear. The dead pit, as I’ve named it, contains around twenty or so carp to about 19lb but size is irrelevant as the fish are stunning fin perfect specimens. The reason for the nick name “the dead pit” refers to an incident at the lake a few years back when all the carp died and it had to be restocked.

I decided to fish to clear spots within the weed and opted to fish with only one rod to make landing any hooked fish easier. My hook links consisted of eight inches of 12lb Drennan braid tied to a size 10 super specialist barbell hook in conjunction with a two ounce inline lead. I fished a 12mm hair rigged robin red pellet with a PVA bag of pellets complete with some loose feed over the top. It wasn’t long before the swim was alive with bubbles from fish feeding in the silt.

 

The first take came at around 8pm and after weeding itself up I patiently dragged the ball of weed complete with my prize into the waiting landing net. Peeling back the weed I didn’t know what to expect and was happy to be greeted by the sight of a scale perfect common as black as tar. After some pictures the rod went back out and it didn’t take long for it to be off again. This time a beautiful mirror of 15lb was in the net, result. My last fish was caught at 1.30am and turned out to be a stunning little linear of around 8lb. Following this flurry of catches in quick succession I decided to reel in my rod and bait the swim before settling down for some much need shut eye. I set my alarm for 5am and cast the rods back out in the morning but no more fish were landed. I will be back down the lake for another session and feel there could be surprise or two waiting. I wonder if any of the original fish survived?.

To be continued....................................................

Fishing For Rudd But Catching Carp

05/08/2017 - Its August and I couldn't help but have a go for the species most associated with Summer, the beautiful Rudd. I decided to fish a lake that I managed to catch a cracking 3lb 8oz specimen from 2014 (pictured below)and hoped that I could repeat my success and maybe even up my PB. The Rudd have been caught to 4lb in this particular lake and it could hold some even bigger uncaught bars of gold.

I had planned to fish a two night session and arrived on the lake at around 5pm, had a quick chat with the fishery manager and head over to my chosen swim. It was a lovely evening and I watched the water for signs of Rudd as the sun set behind the silhouettes of the chalk cliffs. Unfortunately I didn't see a thing and I settled down for the night dreaming of holding a 4lb Rudd!!.
                                                                                    3lb 8oz PB, 2014
Suddenly I awoke to a screaming bite alarm and made the treacherous journey of eight feet to my rods stumbling over large boulders and hardcore. Who would have thought that moving such a small distance could be so difficult however I made it and grabbed the rod engaging the bait runner and connecting with the fish. The fish just kept on going and there was no stopping it until I felt the horrible sensation of grating on the line which indicated that it had found sanctuary in some snags. Blimey I thought, that's got to be one big Rudd. The lake bed from around 20 yards out is covered in thick sunken trees and a fish in this is usually a guaranteed loss, it was not looking good.

After twenty minutes or so with no movement and after trying every trick in the book I decided to have one more go at getting the fish to move. I applied a bit more pressure then I originally wanted to and then held the rod until I felt a kick and then applied some more heavy pressure. I have used this many times for weeded fish and catch loads that bury themselves deep. Slowly she started to move and after ten more minutes she was out and in open water. I couldn't believe my luck but patience had prevailed and now the battle began. The fish plodded around for the next ten minutes and eventually she was in the net. Result! I should mention that I was using 1.5lb test curve rods, 6lb mainline and a size 12 hook.

The fish was a special one and in the light it revealed its true beauty. A mahogany coloured fish carved from wood and an extremely rare catch from this water. There are only a few carp in the lake and the bailiff confirmed this one had never been caught and was one of the originals stocked in the mid 1960s. What a special catch, immense battle and one I will always remember. I decided to go home the next day and although I hadn't caught my intended quarry I was a happy man.                                   

Quest for a SIX - Eel fshing 2017

Four years on and the quest for a 6lb Eel continues. I have had a number of Eels from my local lakes to just under 6lb but I have never managed to surpass the magical 6lb barrier. Eels as a species are one of the most interesting fish that swim our waters and they are not given enough respect in the angling community. I make this statement based conversations with other anglers and the responses I get when I say that I'm fishing for Eels. Yuk, Urrrr & "why the heck are you fishing for Eels" are the most common which is a great shame as the Eel is one of the most impressive fish that live in our waterways.

As I write this I have fished around eight nights on 90 acre sand pit in search of the elusive six pounder and have caught only and handful of Eels with the biggest going 3lb 8oz. During this time on the water I have changed my rig and set up regularly to refine my approach and put more Eels on the bank and most importantly put more Eels on the bank hooked in the lip. As we all know deep hooking an Eel can be dangerous for the fish as its vital organs are high up in its body so it is imperative that you use the correct tackle when fishing for theses delicate creatures. To really dive into my Eel campaign I read a couple of books and articles to try and pick up any information that could give me an advantage and one article in particular by Mark Salt in the Osprey Specimen Group book really changed the way I fish for Eels. I would recommend to anyone that wishes to fish for Eels or any species of fish to read about the species and understand your quarry in depth.

My set up used to consist of long hook links and large hooks but now I tend to use short hook links of around five inches and smaller hooks. The reason for this is quite straightforward but hard to explain but I will give it a go. It is necessary that you strike on an Eel bite quickly as possible to ensure the Eel does not swallow the bait and this means that you require instant bite indication. If you have a long hook link of ten inches the slack in that hook link will not allow delicate bites to register where as a small hook link will be in direct contact with the mainline for instant indication. Small barbless hooks are another element of my set up that is increasing my catches. Size 12 longshank hooks seem to be the perfect pattern for hooking lobworms and the Eels. My choice of rig material in usually a 40lb snag leader braid tied to a small swivel followed by a large bead and then an extra large rig ring to minimise resistance. Attached to the rig ring is a snap swivel to which I attached a 2oz lead. I used to use one ounce leads but ironically the lighter the lead the more resistance it can cause. The small lead, if the large ring is in light weed or silt, may actually lift up on a take causing more resistance then say a larger lead that is solid on the bottom of the lake bed allowing line to pull though the large rig ring easily.

One of the main problems I have had when Eel fishing is actually netting the fish due to the length of the body it can be extremely difficult to get into a 42 inch carp net. I recently purchased a metal framed 38 inch spoon net and this has made netting an Eel a much easier task.
The problem with 42 inch carp nets is that the back of the net which is in tension via the spreader block is not solid and the Eel keeps sliding back into the water because there is no substance in the net frame to apply pressure. I would definitely recommended the largest metal framed net you can find if you wish to Eel fish. I also ensure I have two head torches so that I am never in the position of netting an Eel in complete darkness. I usually leave one near my bed chair and one by the rod bank sticks. This is so that if I forget to grab the first one in the rush and excitement of a take I will always have one to hand by the rods.

For sensitive and direct bite indication I feel that nothing is better than a Delkim in conjunction with extremely light bobbins, slack line with the bobbins laying on the ground and the reel bail arm open. You must ensure that the line from line swing is direct to the lead but not under tension.
 

Anyways enough of the technical stuff and back to my actual quest for that six pounder. The lake I'm fishing had no record of Eel captures until I started fishing for them intentionally and I have had some cracking fish to just under six but never managed to get over the 6lb threshold. I am positive there are Eels of over 8lb swimming in the depths but I cannot seem to track them down. To increase my chances of catching a Python I have been moving swims regularly and trying different areas of the lake. This approach has highlighted the areas of the lake most preferred by the Eels. The shallow weedy bays ended in blanks but the deep margins seem to produce fish regularly and although no monsters have yet to make an appearance this seem the best area of the lake to target.

QUEST PENDING, TO BE UPDATED

PB Roach 3lb 11oz - Highbridge Fishery

08/12/2016 - I have been targeting the big roach that call Highbridge home for a couple of years now and have been lucky enough to catch so cracking fish up to 2lb 10oz. Located in Norfolk the venue is not down the road from my Kent home and it takes me a good three and a half hours to get there but the trip is worth the effort for the possible rewards.

I had planned to do a three night session and set of on the Thursday trying to beat the darkness. Unfortunately I arrived on dusk and after scanning the lake it was almost pitch black so I quickly loaded the barrow and headed to a swim I had previous success when fishing. The rain was now moving in and it was a race against time to get the brolly but eventually my home for the weekend was constructed and I could start getting rigs tied up.

I stuck with what I knew best and I think its important to use methods that you are confident with. All three rods were tied up with really short 3-4 inch hooklinks of 5lb fluorocarbon trout leader helicopter style. On the business end was a size 12 Drennan wide gape hook and this was fish helicopter style in conjunction with a 30g oval stainless cage feeder. The feeder was filled with a dark hemp seed based groundbait mixed half and half with some dried bread crumb. The hook bait was sweetcorn and I baited up with a generous amount of dead maggot, sweetcorn and hemp before swinging the rods out to my spots.

I had joked  earlier in the day with the fishery manager Dale about catching a big roach and having to call him up early morning waking him from his sleep and little did I know that was exactly what would happen.

After have a few beers and a Tesco curry I conked out in the bag dreaming a massive roach. I was woken at around 1am by a screaming bite alarm with a take more like one from a carp ripping line from the spool. I jumped out of the bag and with savagae heartburn made my way to the rods. I wasn't too excited about the take at first as there are quite a few fish in Highbridge including a generous amount of bream that on light tackle take line but as soon as I picked up the rod I could tell it was a decent roach. After a hairy fight I finally netted my prize and looked into the landing net mesh to see a monster roach that clearly smashed my previous PB of 2lb 11oz.

I text dale immediately and he came down to do the pictures and weighing of the fish which went and astonishing 3lb 11oz. I decided then to cut my trip short and went beck to spend the weekend with the kids and have a few beers to celebrate. Fishing can be really unpredictable at times and this session proved that. All those nights and days targeting theses roach and then seven hours into my first session of the session I had caught a fish of a lifetime. The roach also netted me a Korum monthly win and Drennan weekly win.

Until next time tight lines