Another year to remember - month by month look at the year.

Well that is another year coming to an end, but what a year.  This blog has come of age with the followers now at 100 and the total pageviews at over 66,000, it makes it all worth while to keep up the effort of the diary.

I am considering publishing a book which would be a record of this blog from its inception and your thoughts on the idea would be appreciated.  Initial figures suggest perhaps £10 for B&W and £25 for colour.

Recent weeks have proven very hard to get any consistant sport and most trips have in fact been a total blank, fortunately the year has a whole has been quite satisfactory so lets have a look at the highlights.


The 2012 year has been an exciting year with both highs and lows that I have shared with you through this blog.   Although I’ve only caught one new personal best of a species, I have increased the number of rivers where a double figure barbel has been caught as well as improving other river bests.  Improving a personal best is only one measure of success, and I was very pleased with getting my target fish in chub, and tench along with the barbel already mentioned.  The crowning feature of the year was almost the last when my crucian claim was accepted as an equal British record at 4lb-9oz.  No BRFC certificate yet, but I am advised that it will arrive early in January and once framed it will find a place on the wall.  So let us look at some of the highlights of my year, month by month.

January.

The month had started much as the previous year had ended floods with very cold snaps to interrupt consistent sport.  I had been fishing the River Anker for a couple of seasons, not often, but enough to have hoped for better results in that I had not caught a single barbel up to date.  This visit towards the end of the month put that right in the form of another different river double and a river record at the time of capture going 15lb-4oz.

                                                                   15lb-4oz Anker pb.

 February.

We sometimes have mild months at this time of year, but this was not one of them.  I struggled to catch fish at all, a few perch and an odd smaller chub was the reward for a fair bit of effort.  Then I decided to go south to the Hampshire Avon for a few days and I got my reward in the form of a 7lb 2oz monster chub along with other fish made smaller by comparison.

                                                        Magnificent Avon Chub

Although not a monster by today’s standards I was pleased to land a 20lb-12oz Common Carp from a canal on a match rod using gear suited to the silver bream I was trying to catch – the rod broke but I did land the fish.

                                                                Canal specimen

March.

Not a particularly successful month by my own standards, a chub of 6lb-1oz caught along with a 2lb-7oz perch off the Avon and a 3lb-7oz perch caught from a local commercial being the better fish landed.

                                                               Best of the season at 3lb-7oz 

April.

Always a chancy month and this one saw the start of the tench fishing produce fish to 6lb-3oz for me, and a 46lb-9oz catfish caught by Curtis from Orchid Lakes.

                                                          With a little help to hold it.

May.

This month saw me get a brace of catfish at 41lb and 34lb-4oz, but the highlight by a long way was a 10lb-5oz tench from a new water, this being the third different venue where I’ve taken a double figure specimen.

                                                                      A real gem. 

June.

A good month for me with a 12lb-4oz barbel off the Dove and a brace of tench off a local water at 9lb and 9lb-4oz amongst a 15 fish catch, the first time the venue had done such a brace.  This was topped off by a brace of roach from Lochnaw at 2lb-13oz each.

                                                                  12lb-4oz Dove double.

                                                        Best of the tench brace  9lb-4oz.

                                                          First of the brace of 2lb-13oz roach. 

 July.

Lots of barbel from different rivers with yet another different river double, this being the River Soar and an 11lb-1oz specimen.  Although I had caught barbel from both the Ribble and Goyt they fell short of that double figure target ensuring I still had plenty to go at.

                                                                    11lb-1oz Soar double

August.
This month started with a bang when a trip north to do a barbel talk gave me the chance to fish the River Swale and I was rewarded with yet another different river double at 12lb-2oz, bringing the total rivers to 23. 

                                                                       Swale monster. 

September.

A return trip to Lochnaw saw me improve the previous brace from the last trip by one ounce with a pair of roach at 2lb-14oz.  Lots of barbel for me though nothing spectacular, but Curtis upped his personal best to 10lb-15oz from the River Severn, his first ever double.

                                                                       He looks pleased.

                                               The second of the 2lb-14oz brace.

October.
Again lots of barbel off different rivers topped off by three 11lb fish, two off the Kennet and one from the Severn all within a four day spell.  Very pleased with the barbel but a new English pb put extra dimples in the cheeks when I landed a very hard fighting sturgeon of 75lb-5oz.

                                                                   It was this long!

November.

My third trip to the north for roach finally paid off with a Lochnaw 3lb specimen taken along with a 2lb-14oz backup fish.  I did not know it at the time but that was to be the last of the better fishing for this year as the weather went haywire and floods and frost made fishing difficult. 

                                                                      3lb At last.

December.

As mentioned at the start of this piece my 4lb-9oz crucian caught in 2004 has been accepted as an equal British record.  This came about as a result of a correction of an anomaly where the current 4lb-9dram fish could not have been weighed on the scales being used.  That 9 dram only came about through the Weights & Measures Dept. checking scales in the metric system and needed a conversion back to imperial.  Whatever the reason I’m delighted to have my name added to a rather exclusive club having twice previously come fourth in the bream list, once from Queenford with a 15lb-14oz fish and then again with my 17lb-15oz Broadwater specimen.  Happy days, even though they fell short of a record.

                                                         A British record at 4lb-9oz.

 

Looking at the blog for last December I can see that this was a repeat in that there were very few fish with a lot of hard effort, but yet again the year as a whole has been kind, hopefully your results have met with your hopes as well.

A near brace of double figure barbel.

With the rivers still calling, I though another day on the River Severn was in order.  I could go every day, but I learned a long time ago to work on the idea that it is the times you don’t go fishing, that makes the ones that you do so much better.  Anyway, I checked the EA river line and found that the Severn had dropped about another 6ft, no problem in one way but on the Severn a big problem in another.  In a lot of areas of the Lower Severn where you may be fishing on natural banks without the interference of anglers making steps and platforms, the height of the river can be important.  In high flood you can sit on the top and with a long landing net handle still reach fish perhaps 6ft or even 8ft below your position, once the level falls below that you need to go down the bank.  Any angler that fishes spate rivers or those like the Severn with high banks that get covered on a regular basis will know the problem, silt that gives a layer of mud over everything in sight.  On steep banks where footing can be dicey at the best of times this adds an extra danger since falling into a flood river is definitely not recommended.

All this means that I cannot return to my previous choice of venue mentioned in the last blog and instead I chose one where I knew of a few spots that would allow safe access the lower levels down the bank all be it still covered with think mud.  Once at the venue I chose a swim and then from the field behind my choice I managed to collect straw that the combine harvester had missed, then I used that to make the swim just a little bit safer.  It was now mid-afternoon and whilst talking to another angler that had just arrived I made my first cast with a boilie bait and the usual pellet loaded feeder.  The lad went off to get his swim ready and mentioned if I needed a photo just call, He was still cleaning the mud from his pitch when I was there to ask for a photo.  I had been loading pellets into the second feeder and looked up to see the rod just wrapping round in response to the usual violent barbel take, a definite 3ft twitch.  In line with my usual practice I had made the landing net safe to let the barbel recover after the fight before I removed the hook so when I returned with my cameraman we weighed the fish having both suggested a definite double.  Wrong again, and the scales came in at 9lb-15oz a weight that was to deny me the brace of doubles on the session.

                                                          At 9lb-15oz the smaller of the brace.

 

With a nice fish already in the bag I continued and the next bite produced a different result.  This indication was almost an apology for a bite, just a gentle tug-tug that went on to produce a 7lb-10oz bream one of two that I had before I finished the day.  Normally I am inclined to dismiss the river bream as they will fall between the 1lb and 4lb range, but this one just looked big and only the lack of thickness in the body stopped it going into doubles figures that I so prize off the stillwaters.

                                                Too much hand showing on this 7lb-10oz bream

The afternoon was proceeding quite nicely and I was well pleased with my catch already landed, but then it got even better.  The rod went round and I struck into solid resistance, my first thought was a big fish, but there seemed no thump that you normally get and the pull was getting stronger by the moment.  I had almost convinced myself that I had hooked into a passing log or tree branch when I felt that tell-tale thump and now I got excited – this could be very big.  Following an interesting fight that was totally different to the first barbel in that this fish did not charge round, just solid power, I landed a very pleasing barbel that was to turn the scales to 11lb-10oz.  The photographer was equally impressed and although he had taken a couple of barbel as well they did not need my photography aid being a best of 8lb plus.

                                                               11lb-10oz of power!

 

It did seem a little strange that these fish had come in daytime and although we both fished until 8pm there was no barbel caught in twilight or darkness as is usually the case on this fishery, maybe next time.

Perfect conditions for a new pb barbel.

With all the recent rain we have experienced the rivers have been singing their songs again, and the sound I hear is ‘The barbel are feeding.’   Being one not to ignore such good advice I have been out trying on a couple of different rivers with varied success.

My first effort was a return trip to the local Tame for yet another attempt to catch a barbel off yet another river.  As always my hope is for a double figure specimen, but initially I would be quite happy to just catch a barbel of any size, I have not succeeded yet but I will.  This trip saw me arrive just after the river had returned inside its banks having been well over the top and back into the surrounding fields.  It does seem amazing how quickly the seagull descend onto these new feeding grounds and the sky was full of the screaming birds of all different varieties.

                                            A small section of the birds in the field.

My previous two trips had been well dogged with drifting blanket weed and this was with a low river and little flow conditions, I did wonder what this trip would be like with that extra water rushing through.  After an hour I knew the answer and the floods had done a great job in removing most of the problem.  I now had less weed on the line than previously experienced and I could leave the bait in place for a good 20 or 30 minutes before recasting with a fresh load of mixed hemp and pellet in the feeder.  I know the tackle and tactics were capable of catch barbel, I  havehad enough of them, but this was not the day for success, and next time I’ll try a different swim again until I find them.

A day on the River Severn with Merv early in the week before the rain, saw the river very low and clear with just chub being caught despite our best efforts.  Now, with this rain the river had come up and over the banks so I waited until the EA river levels site gave the indication that the river would be back within the banks and fishable again and then made plans to go.  Being a Saturday I invited Curtis along and he jumped at the chance of improving his barbel best of 9lb-5oz off the River Teme.

                                                                 9lb-5oz beauty.

 

We arrived mid-morning to find the river in perfect condition for babel fishing, just inside its banks and lightly coloured as you would expect for a river in flood.   We would both use similar tackle and tactics, these being a swimfeeder loaded with 6oz of lead used on 1.75lb test Drennan rods and 12lb main line to the usual 15lb braided hook link.  The baits would be boilies, Dynamite Shrimp and Prawn for me, and one of the Pallatrax range for Curtis, we both would alternate with Elips pellets on a regular basis just to see if there was any preference being shown by the fish.  The feeders would be loaded with the usual mix that I’ve used for some time now and fould it quite acceptable.  I mix up different sizes of pellet and types of pellet, and then load in drained hemp particles at a rate of about 50/50 into the mix.  The hemp holds just enough dampness to cause the pellets to hold in the feeder without going completely in to a soggy paste, which is not what I want.

The morning passed by without result and it was well into the afternoon before Curtis got the first action of the day.  I had been surprised at having had no fish as the River Severn is definitely on its way back in terms of barbel being caught, but once this fish was landed Curtis did not worry about having no previous action, he now had a very big fish on the bank.  As it came to the net I had suggested maybe 12lb, but on the unhooking mat I adjusted my guess to 11lb.  Curtis was understandingly very pleased with his new barbel pb at 10lb015oz, but I need to get my eyes re-calibrated!

                                                            A new pb at 10lb-15oz

 

Following the action that Curtis was still celibrating I did get a couple of barbel myself, one of 5lb and another of 6lb, I suggested we were equal on weigh but he would not have that for some reason thinking his fish was better than mine?

                                      My Severn average barbel with the moon over my shoulder.

 

A poor week for results.

Been hard work this week trying to catch barbel, a trip to the River Teme procuced one barbel of 7lb-6oz and I took a few photos to show the effect of the major floods there has been.  Then after downloading hundreds of pictures in the past years I somehow managed to delete them - lesson learned and fortunate not a big fish.
Days on the Trent and Severn did not produce any barbel, just roach and bream that took double 10mm boilies to at least put a bend in the rod.
Today I make my way up to the Wetherby Social Club to give a talk on barbel fishing.  Come along if you fancy it  post code LS22 7DN  and start at 7:00pm.

Blank sessions and talks.

Following my trip to the Goyt I've had a further two afternoon trips after barbel, one to the River Severn and one to the River Derwent, unfortunately neither lived up to my hopes and I left with no fish caught but as always there is always another day.

                                                  Severn in flood with 16ft of extra water

I have two dates in my diary for arranged talk/slideshow where I am the guest speaker.  These can be great fun and a good way to meet potential new friends and contacts so it could be worth your effort to attend.   My problem is that I need to sort out a new Powerpoint presentaion to give to the guests that come along, not too much of a problem once I've decided on the theme.  Since it is a Barbel Society evening I will use barbel as the subject, I'll go into how I approach my fishing when travelling to so many different venues all over the country in the search for double figure barbel.  With 22 rivers now completed it should be interesting to say the least.

The first date to put in your diary is 2nd Aug 2012.

Details as follows.

guest speaker will be
author & all round specimen hunter

Phil Smith

there will be trade stands on the night
confirmed are
fff fiskys fantastic feeders
Chris Lythe centerpins
Barbel Society merchandise hoodies polo shirts etc
also there should be a local tackle dealer attending

there will be the usual raffle with some great prizes to be won

doors open at 7pm for a 8pm start
come early to get a seat

members £3 with your card
none members £5
oap,s juniors and ladies free

venue
Wetherby social club
Sandback Way
Wetherby
Ls227dn

The second event is near Tamworth so more local for me and it is on 14th Sept 2012, I'll give details nearer that date.

Floodwater barbel fishing.

   With the rain we have had this last few days all the rivers are now very high and some had been heading towards record levels.   This seemed a good time to check out the local tench to see whether they are still carrying spawn, if they are I could perhaps catch that prize of a double figure fish.  With this in mind I contacted Leo Heathcote and we made plans for a 6:00am start on the Saturday, going to the estate lake where I had taken a brace of 9’s just before the trip to Scotland.    Conditions seemed quite good for tench fishing.  A slight ripple to break the surface of the lake and it was very mild although rain had been forecast for the afternoon.  I had arrived to find one other angler already fishing, but he reported no action so no help there.  I would be using an inline maggot feeder with a short hook link and a couple of maggots on a small hook, I had been thoughtful about the possible weed that might have grown since my last visit, but it was still fairly sparse so no problem there.  

Being a social to catch up as well as fishing, it did give a chance to chat about past events and future plans, this passing the blank hours as the tench declined to cooperate in out attempt to catch them.  Another angler who we knew came and we invited him to fish in the immediate area but although he was using totally different tactics he got the same result, a blank.  He did advise us that as of the previous Wednesday he had been catching tench still carrying spawn so there is every possibility  there is still a big fish about and this was just one of their moody days.

The rain came as promised and not long afterwards we decided to call it a day and we left the sole remaining chap who was going to fish until the 7pm sort of time, I hope he was rewarded for his efforts.  Depending how things pan out I will return later this week to try again, you never know what fate has in store.

Last week I had made plans with Ryan Tippet to have an afternoon fishing the River Severn on the Sunday, I checked the local conditions with him when I got home after tench fishing and he said that although the river had broken its banks in many places it was still fishable so the trip was still on.   I arrived about 2:00pm and set off on the walk to the swims that were still fishable in flood conditions.  Many of the normal fishing spots I passed were well under water with the river coming way back behind the normal tree line.  Bearing in mind the normal level would be many feet below the bank and it requires the angler to climb down to the swim, it gives credit to the EA river line that gave the height at 5.21m above normal level.

 With a river in flood you have two main options, use a very big lead and cast into the main flow trying to hold out there, or use a lighter lead and cast out with the intent that the lead will swing into the base of the bankside and hopefully some barbel will be searching for food there.  In extreme conditions you can even take this approach one stage further and cast onto the bank that is now under water, here you may well find fish out of the river taking advantage of this new area of food supply.   I chose the lighter lead option and put on a 2oz bomb to hold the meat offering down at the bottom of the 16ftplus of water that now rushed past in front of my position.

Next time you are on the river bank give some thought to these conditions, put a flood into your mind and try to figure out where the river will have moved to.  Find a high spot where you can get close to the normal course of the river and look for the bankside snags that would now be under water.  This way when you arrive in a flood you know exactly where to fish with the least amount of hassle, it is annoying to think afterwards what you could have done to make life easier.                  

Fortunately I was familiar with this section of the Severn and I could choose a suitable swim with the best chance of no problems when I retrieved the tackle after each cast, and I began fishing very hopeful of success.  The river at this spot was literally with two inches of the top of the bank, but that is as good as a mile and my feet were dry rather than many of the swims where I could be in a foot or more of water.   The sun was shining as it should in mid-July and the top coat, hooded top and jumper all came off as I roasted in the afternoon sun but those fish refused to oblige in taking the meat offering.  The rain came in short, heavy showers that would have drenched me if I had not taken the umbrella along but they soon passed and the sun was out again.  I noted that a lad on the opposite bank had caught a couple of barbel and when he caught the next one I decided to follow his example and cast further out into the flow. 

                                           Long and lean at 8lb-15oz off a flooded R. Severn.

Unfortunately not expecting to cast into heavy flow I had reduced my tackle down for the long walk up to the swims and hence I had no big leads with me.  Never mind, a 4oz and a 3oz were clipped together and these were cast out more towards the middle.  The difference was obvious, now the rod bent over with the power of the flow against the line.  Then as the small amount of rubbish coming down the river built up on the line and soon over-powered even the 7oz of lead and a recast was needed.  A lot more effort than previously required but when the rod finally gave the lurch in response to a taking fish it was all worthwhile.   Not a tremendous scrap but a very long fish finally went into the net and my first thought was it could be another double to follow the one from last week.  Then as I opened the landing net to give a clear view of my prize I could see how slender this one was and doubt came into the equation.  That doubt proved to be well founded as the scales gave a weight of 8lb-15oz, but this fish will certainly go well into doubles at a later date, hopefully I’ll catch it again at that time.

I left the river later that evening with just that one fish, feeling I had somehow missed a chance and equally thinking to return in a few days as the river dropped a foot or two.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  

Another big barbel hits my landing net.

With all the rain we have been suffering it seems that there will be no summer for those going on a normal holiday, but for the barbel angler it is a permanent holiday.  Every day you have perfect conditions with high water and no rubbish, since that has been cleared by the constant high levels.  I had been sorting the new van out and missed a few days, but those conditions demanded that I fish so I made my way to the River Severn to sample what that lady luck had in store for me there.

It rained, no surprise in that since it seems to have rained every day since I came back from Scotland.  At least the river level seemed to be falling since the banks showed signs that the level had been at least 4ft higher, the problem that gives is the muddy silt it leaves behind over everything.  Swim selection on the big rivers like the Severn is mostly by chance or previous experience.  I used the second choice and dropped into a swim that had previously given me catches of up to ten plus barbel on the day, but that was in bygone times and now I would be happy to catch any barbel.   My plan for the day was to use a mix of both my recent tactics in that I would use the bait dropper to load the swim with hemp, and then use the big feeders with a mix of hemp and pellet to attract the fish into my feeding area.  Casting about five rod lengths out into the powerful flow, I had a 5oz feeder in use since it is important for it not to move once it has landed.  At other times I might want the bait to roll round into the side but normally in that situation I would not be using a feeder since I only want my baited area to be in one spot, not an arc such as would be left when it rolled around.  The hook bait was to be a boilie John Found and I had made up a couple of seasons ago especially for barbel.  The last fish I caught on this was my River Lea 14lb-10oz beauty and for some reason I did not really use it after then and it has lain in the freezer waiting to see the light of day.  One rod would carry three halves of a 15mm boilie, the other would have just one 15mm wrapped in a paste of the same flavour.

Right from the off I was getting knocks on both rod tops.  There are numerous bream in the section and I felt sure one of these was responsible, but then the rod slammed over and the bite was definitely not off a bream, they cannot move that fast.  As soon as I struck I knew this would be a better than average fish, it bored deep and ran the line off the clutch as it made its way downstream.  I have mentioned previously that for me the most exciting part of fishing is the fight I get off a specimen fish be it a roach or a sturgeon, this one gave full value.  Many of the rivers I fish are comparatively small and they do not generally have much depth, this of course dictates the type of fight you experience.  The River Severn on the other hand in this region is quite wide and has depths of 12ft or 15ft sometimes even more, and that produces a totally different battle.  Even with the extra floodwater the fish had gone upstream and I had to battle it back in front of my position, great and then it tried to get under the fishing stages that were now under water, it all adds to the excitement as there is a chance to lose a monster that has not yet been seen.  Fortunately I got it away from that danger and at last it went into the net and it was safely mine.

Very carefully with all that mud and silt about I made the fish safe in the landing net while I went back up the bank to comparatively clean ground above the flood level and got the gear ready for weighing and photographs.   Only my second barbel of the new season and I thought it would go into double figures again truly an exciting time.  The scales confirmed my thought when it came in at 10lb-10oz, a great welcome back to this mighty river.

                                                      A 10lb-10oz welcome back.

I could not help than reflect on an odd fact that within the 2012 year I had only caught three barbel at this point.   This 10lb-10oz fish, the 12lb-4oz fish off the Dove as related in the previous blog and of course the River Anker record of 15lb-4oz I caught in January.  Three bites off three different rivers giving three doubles, you cannot ask for better than that!  Of course that average could not last and I was brought back to reality with the next capture a couple of hours later when a 6lb barbel came to the net.  I had lots of knocks during the session and although I thought it was bream there is just an outside chance they were off roach.  Lot of swirls had been seen along the inside edge of the river and Curtis, Merv’s grandson had taken a new pb with a 1lb-14oz roach from this section just last week, next time here I will try tactics more suited to catching them to see if they will respond.

                                                    Only 6lb but the hook hold was good.

Those plans and eggs.

So after nine months of walking the river banks and having success at different levels we finally came to those last few days and decisions had to be made.  I could have returned to the south, but as the last blog mentioned I had already decided not to go there.  With good barbel catches being reported in numbers off the various rivers in the area I have favoured I could have returned to the Teme or the Derwent with a fairly good chance of bagging up, even the River Severn was fishing well for the barbel, but I had made plans that way which I will come to shortly.  All this went through my mind as the dying days of the river season approached but I finally decided on a return trip to the River Goyt at Stockport.

As regular readers of my blog will have already seen I do like to vary my fishing, no matter how successful any venture might be I will quickly tire of it and move on to fresh pastures with a new challenge, perhaps to return to previous success at a later date.  My earlier one day’s fishing on the River Goyt a few weeks ago had given me the taste of the river, but not the reward, perhaps I could go one better than that and actually catch a barbel, preferably a double but in the first instance just a barbel would do.

Getting up early on the Monday morning - I would be fishing by just after 5:00am - I was soon on my way and pleased that my choice was another new challenge that if successful would complete 22 rivers where a double figure barbel had been caught.  That would be great, but we have all heard of the problem of counting chickens before they have hatched.

                                                                  Plans just waiting to hatch but will they?

I was pleased to pull up in the car-park and find myself the first to arrive, but less than five minutes later another angler who introduced himself as John Young pulled up beside me and whilst getting the tackle ready queried if I minded him fishing the next swim to my position.  No problem and we set of for the bankside together to see what the day would bring.

Setting up he advised me that he was a comparative new comer to the river and he had always fished where I had chosen as my swim but events were to give him a new perspective for any future trips he might make.  The early morning passed without any action and then at about 8:30am John got a good indication and his strike connected with a powerful fish.  Following quite a fight I slide the landing net under what was obviously a big barbel, well into doubles and I could only look with understandable envy as we prepared it for weighing and photos.  The weight came in at 13lb-3oz and later checks showed it to be the same fish that currently holds the river record at 14lb-8oz.  John was not concerned at that, it was a new personal best and then he went on to make it a really memorable day by landing another barbel of 10lb-5oz.  Meanwhile between netting his fish I blanked!

                                                               John's new pb of 13lb-3oz.

I had intended to do just the one day but with fish coming to the bank I decided at the last minute to stay over, an advantage of having the bed in the van, but the effort was wasted as the three anglers on the bank that day all blanked.  I drove back to Coventry very disappointed but determined to return next season and I will get that double off this river.

Now we arrive at the last day of the season and plans were already in place for this to be a trip to the Lower Severn after a big zander.  Again I knew my chance of a barbel would be better but I’ve caught lots of Severn barbel to over 13lb, I’ve only had one little 6lb Severn zander and would love to get one bigger.  I fished in the company of Ryan Lippet a successful young angler who I had met in the summer on the River Teme, the time passed quickly as we talked of the local fishing scene and meanwhile my indicators showed that at the very least there were fish in the swim.  With open bail-arms and Roll-Over indicators I could not have used a better system but never the less the zander would not keep hold of the bait and on over ten occasions the strike met nothing!  At close of play the frost came down along with a very heavy mist and at 8:00pm it was decided that the season was finished.

Those eggs of mine did not hatch, but that’s the nature of fishing and next week I’ll be after the bream full of ideas with eggs waiting to hatch.

Another first.

By definition there is only one chance to do anything for the first time, and I always take care to record the event with an appropriate photograph if possible.  Last weekend I caught my first double figure zander for many years, and since that came from a lake, although very pleasing, it was not a true 'first'.

One of my targets this season was a double figure zander off the River Severn or Warwickshire Avon, just one trip so far had resulted in a blank, but now another trip was planned for an afternoon/evening session on the Severn.  A quick trip to the freezer and I soon had a few 3 inch roach/rudd type baits, perfect for the zander as they seem to prefer the smaller coarse fish.  I know that they can be caught on sea baits, sardine and the like, but experience suggests that if available your chances of success are far greater with the fresh-water type baits.

I had decided to use my Drennan 2lb Bream and Tench rods for the task in hand, far too often the name on the rod dictates its use, but I go by the suitability which is more to do with the test curve and action.  With 12lb main line, and wire traces made up using size 10 trebles I was ready and off I set.  Conditions could not have seemed worse, a heat wave was coming across the country and with temperatures hitting 26C or 27C I was going to melt.  Bright sun blazing down from clear, cloudless skies, did not encourage the thought that the fish would be going barmy on the feed, but it would still be nice to sit on the banks and watch the world go by.

I arrived at the venue to find one obvious effect of the dry summer, while smaller rivers and streams have dried up, the River Severn has all but stopped flowing.  A one ounce lead could have easily held in the minimal flow on the far side of the river but in order to make sure of a positive indication I would use a 2.5 ounce leger weight.  This is to make it more likely that when the fish takes the bait and runs, the line will go though the leder ring rather the moving the weight.  With two of the small roach attatched to the traces and sent out into the river, one about a third of the way across and the other two thirds, I could sit back and relax in the small amount of shade offered by the bush next to my chosen swim.  Looking at the river it definately gives concern that if we have a comparatively dry winter as well, then next year will see major problems of water shortage.  These thoughts soon disappeared as the line came out of its clip, then with the bail arm open it just trickled slowly away as I picked up the rod to tighten down to strike.  All too often this becomes an anti climax as there is nothing there, eel, chub, perch, small zander or pike, we never know, but this time the culprit was still there and the rod bent over in response to its presence.  In that bright sun I was soon looking at my first ever River Severn zander, not big, in fact under 5lb, but hopefully the start of a quest that will see many more and a lot bigger fish coming to the net.

                                                           First of many - I hope!

With dusk settling in I hoped for further action as the darkness came, but it was not to be, and about 9:00pm I decided to call it a day and packed up well content that at least I had broke the duck!

                                                              The sun setting over the Severn.

This Saturday I shall be at the PAC conference with my book, if you have not already got one then maybe that will be the time to correct that slight omission, otherwise you can order it through my web page at http://www.philsmithangler.co.uk/.

Phil Smith just keep trying.

A day on the Warwickshire Avon resulted in yet another blank - 5 trips for one fish although that was a 12lb-1oz double.  The previous day on the little River Arrow had me looking for water that was actually moving, not much of that about on this river.  I finally chose a spot where a bullrush bed had taken over 2/3rds of the river and the stream that was left did move all be it at a snail's pace.  A few hours half hearted effort did result in a 5lb barbel, always better than a blank.

                                                        River Arrow in summer
Up to the River Severn tomorrow with Merv for our first try for the zander, that will be one of my main targets this Autumn so here's hoping for a result, but whatever happens - I'll keep on trying!