Stait Lake SCAC on a swap ticket.

It was only recently that I realized that Chippenham AC had South Cerney AC on a swap ticket. Not only did they have some wonderful lakes but SCAC is where it all began for me as an angler. As a young boy my first memories are of the Cotswold water parks. We lived in a small village called Ampney Crucis which was within spitting distance of many of the gravel pits including Top Pit and the Large Lake.

Fish included Roach, Perch and the occasional Tench. After a little bit of research online there were some good noises coming from a small lake by the name of Stait Lake. It is perhaps 2 acres in size but match weights have included several weights over 200lb and there were also several mentions of Tench, apparently even fabled double figure fish.

I had to investigate such a claim so I took my girlfriends Dad, keen match-man John Garner with me for the trip. I purchased a couple of loaves of bread which I liquidized, a tin of sweetcorn and 2 pints of Maggot, I felt this would be a good armory of baits for any Tench fishing occasion. We arrived at the lake on the Spine Road and passed several lakes on the way including Dab Chick Lake which is also on the swap ticket. As we pulled up through the gates we noticed that there were perhaps 8 cars present which wasn't a great number considering there were 3 lakes next to one another.

John had fished the lake once before in a match and had bagged up on Roach but felt the opposite side proved to be the match winning area of the lake so we headed in that direction. We got to the swim and unloaded our gear. I fished close to the margin under an over hanging tree and John used a method feeder to target the island in the middle of the lake.

I was catching a few small Roach and John was getting no action at all. He was however continuously dropping bait closer in the margin and about 20 foot out, a good match fishing method. I couldn't help noticing the bloke next to us pulling in Carp after Carp all on straight sweetcorn. Not a species I was after however. I continued to spray in Maggots and finally got a more telling bite, it felt fairly sizable and then began to shake its head, a Perch. After netting and unhooking the fish I realized that it was a good 1lb 8oz and thought I may have been onto a shoal? John changed methods and began targeting the area that he had been baiting previously.

Almost straight away John was onto the fish, the swim was alive with bubbles. Perhaps there were finally Tench on his bait? He had put in several droppers of pellet and luncheon meat so we were both hoping so. The float sailed away and the first fish in was a Carp. This action continued for a half an hour catching several Carp in the process. Amongst those Carp were a few Bream in the 2-3lb bracket. In this time I had caught another Perch of perhaps 1lb 12oz when John had hooked yet another "Carp" on his pole set up. "If only this was a Bream" he chuckled. No sooner had he said that than a bream surfaced from the depths. After netting the Bream, he realized that it must have been at least 6lb, a good sized Bream by any account!

Fishing began to die down so we both changed methods, I had caught one more Perch of about 1lb but an hour had passed without a touch so I changed to sweetcorn. John brought his pole in and began changing back across to his feeder rod when I heard a shout. I looked to my left and all I could see was the last remnants of Johns pole top section disappearing into the depths of the lake. He had done what he said he tells everyone not to do, left his bait in the shallow margins whilst changing to his feeder rod  thinking nothing would take it. A hungry Carp had come along and hungrily snaffled the bait in the shallows and took more than it bargained for. In desperation John tried to catch the pole/carp by casting out his feeder rod and reeling in roughly where he hoped the pole would be to no avail. That would be the last he would see of that section and most definitely the last time he would be leaving a bait attached to his pole whilst not fishing with it...

As the day turned to late evening the Carp appeared on top of my baited area, after several runs resulting in lost fish I caught a couple of Carp about 5-6 lbs a fish and we called it a session. John had perhaps landed 35-40lbs of Carp and Bream and I'd probably caught about 18lbs of Perch and Carp. Not a bad session but no Tench to show for our troubles. We would certainly be coming back to Stait Lake very soon.

Next stop Dabchick Lake.

Tight Lines.

See Links:

SCAC

Stait Lake Info

Wrong Species right result - The River Kennet

As my local river the Bristol Avon continues to decline through Otter predation my hand has been forced to look elsewhere for specimen Barbel and Chub. I truly believe that catching a specimen fish from your local river cannot be beaten, however, with so few specimens about my patience has been exhausted to the maximum.

After a few great Barbel catch reports on the River Kennet from my good friend and specimen hunter Martin Hooper I thought it was about time that I had a go at one of these leviathans. The Barbel on the River Kennet are at their peak right now with double figure fish not uncommon and teen Barbel frequent. Martin is not one for reporting his big fish these days but what I will say is that he has caught an astronomical amount of big Barbel and in recent months gone by some huge fish. I will not say anymore about that however.

The time had come for me to head to the Kennet. I got to Martins at around 8am, after our usual chin wag, McDonalds Sausage and Egg McMuffin and a Tea we hit the road. I always get excited at the prospect of fishing a new piece of river, especially when there is the prospect of 15lb + fish swimming around in front of you!!! We unloaded our gear and walked toward the swims that Martin had decided would hold the fish of our dreams. As we arrived we were greeted by Martins friend Jem and also a friend of Jems. By now they had already had Barbel to 7lb and explained that the fish appeared to be feeding heavily on Maggots.

We walked on for another 50 yards or so and staked out our swims for the day. I was going to fish two Leger rods, both with pellets at the end of the line as tempting offerings to the monster Barbel. One was placed under an overhanging tree and second was placed to the left, three quarters of the way across and in a deep area full of silt.

The first thing I noticed once I had cast out was that although this river held giants among Barbel, it was no different really in appearance to the Bristol Avon. Fairly narrow, snaggy and also very picturesque. The banks perhaps were not as steep and if anything less worn.There are a couple of obvious key differences however, one the number of non indigenous Otters and two the Cray Fish. Cray fish have become a staple diet for many fish including Barbel, Chub and Perch to name a few. The fish gorged on this high protein diet with aplomb and they grew into super fish accordingly. More recently however, cray fish are being trapped, in fact one trapper over a period of a year had pulled out as much as 4 tonne of them so they were certainly there in numbers!!! Will this affect the Barbel growth, time will tell...

Out of the blue there was a shout from upstream, Jem had just equaled his PB Barbel with a stonking 13lb 10oz fish. A truly stunning Barbel in every sense of the word. Golden, muscular and in mint condition. I was envious but happy for him at the same time as he has fished this river for a few years now, I was fishing this stretch for my very first time. I was still confident though...

My method for Barbel fishing is not to keep moving from swim to swim, try picking a likely looking area and stick with it. The fish are moving all of the time as the same Barbel have been known to have been caught miles apart. For that reason it is inevitable that Barbel will eventually cross swords with the bait you have put out for them, whether or not they take up your offer of a hook bait is another question. Secondly, reeling in and casting out is a big fishing sin of many anglers. You see it and more than likely hear it all the time "Sploosh!!!" Its not just you the angler that is hearing it but the fish feel and hear the vibrations. Chucking a bait out into the river can only disturb the fish and it can take sometime to get the fishes confidence back. I tend to reel my bait in once every hour, sometimes 2 hours and put a fresh bait on along with a PVA bag of smaller pellets. If the initial cast spooks the fish, leaving your carefully positioned bait out for a longer period of time will often increase your catch rate.

The day progressed very quickly without a fish for either of us, I was beginning to think it was going to be a blank for me when my rod seemed to spring into life. First of all a nod, then the line slackened completely then it it went tight and kept going round. I struck and felt resistance, was this what I had came for? It plodded around for perhaps a minute or so, I shouted for Martin to come across and witness what was coming in, a head appeared not of a Barbel, but that of a big pair of rubbery lips, a specimen Chub nonetheless.

After another dive or two the fish rolled over and was duly scooped from the river by my Gillie for the day. It was certainly more than 5lbs, was it a new PB though? My PB stood at 5lb 4oz which I had caught from the BA earlier in the summer. I pulled a set of Avon 8lb scales from my bag for true accuracy. The sing was zeroed and the fish was placed ready for weighing. "It could go 6 mate" predicted Martin. 1,2,3,4,5,6 nope. 5lb 15 and 3/4 oz. Not a 6lber but a new PB and a beautiful Chub to boot.

After releasing this stunning fish back into its home, the baits were released back into the water and I sat back behind the rods. Although it wasn't the target species for the day I had a big grin on my face. The day turned to evening and there was still time for Martin to catch his obligatory Barbel. Perhaps 7lbs he said. We packed up and hit the road.

There was still time for us to head back again as the season door slammed shut on us but to no fruition.

I have to recap on this season as my first true Specimen hunting season with Roach to 2lb 5oz, Pike to 19lb and Chub to 5lb 15 3/4oz. If anything I have actually fished less than previous seasons but caught more. This is down to concentration and treating each session with more care and thought. I mustn't forget my girlfriend who has been very supporting of my fishing habit and has even given me a few tips along the way...

Here's to next season and hopefully more big fish.

Tight Lines

Vince Cater - The Fish Botherer

__________________________________________________________________________________

Piking on the Hampshire Avon - Britford

It's that time of year again where the Pike rods are dusted down and readied for a Pike session or ten. I am fortunate that I am one of four anglers in my family and my brother booked us to fish Britford for a couple of days fishing.

I decided to take one float/feeder rod for the Grayling and one Pike rod. We bought a nice selection of baits for the Pike, Mackerel, Sardines and Sprat and a pint of Maggots and a few loaves of bread for the Grayling. I loaded the car the night before as I really didn't fancy doing it in the early hours of the morning.

The Alarm sounded and I rolled out of bed to the dismay of my Girlfriend, "it's way to early to get up" she said. After persuading my brother to get out of bed and picking up my father and youngest brother from their house we hit the road. The weather reports suggested wind but no rain.

We arrived and were greeted by the lively and extremely helpful river keeper Stuart and his dog. He told us the biggest pike to come out so far this season was 19lb 4oz and may Roach over the 2lb mark had come up to 2lb 13oz (there are 3lbers there if you know where to find them). He advised us on which swims to fish and we went our way. Me and my Father headed off in search of Grayling and my brothers went off in search of the freshwater crocodiles.

We arrived at the swim advised and began by trotting maggots, the pace was spot on although the river was a little shallow. After trotting for perhaps only ten minutes the heavens opened and we got absolutley soaked. The trees were trembling, the line began wrapping itself round my centrepin and the rings of the rod like a Boa Constrictor and I had to stop ths method as did my Father. I swapped tips on my rod and moved across to ledgering for the Grayling and whatever else fancied a pair of succulent red maggots.

After a couple of minutes this method appeared to be paying off as my father landed several Grayling to nearly 1lb. I followed suit with Grayling to 12oz and a Brownie of a 1lb 8oz. A quick call to my brothers and they had a Jack Pike of around 5lb between them so fishing for us was fairly slow.

The rain seemed to get heavier and my clothes were clinging to me, my nose was running and I was getting rather cold. We decided to have a break, regroup and decide what the next step would be. We all decided to go for the Pike for the rest of the afternoon and continue in similar fashion the following day. We all sat in a line, 4 swims 4 anglers and 4 rods; surely one of us would catch a Pike I concluded? My assumptions were correct and my Fathers Pike rod twitched for a few seconds and then arched around. He was into a good Pike by the looks of things and it fought for a good couple of minutes before surfacing. Once netted we all witnessed perhaps one the fattest Pike we had ever seen. In the Bristol Avon a pike of this length would struggle to hit 10-11lb.

15lb 8oz

After a weighing and discounting the weight of the landing net the pike registered a weight of 15lb 8oz. A great start to my father's piking session. The rest of the afternoon and into the evening faded into dusk and it was time to head back to our lodgings.

On the way we were diverted to Salisbury District Hospital as my youngest brother fell ill and was being sick profusely with sharp pains in his stomach. We guessed it could have been food poisoning and after two hours and a bottle of painkiller in his blodd stream later he was out and the conclusion was most likely a dodgy Turkey sandwich.

We were staying at John Searl's The Swallows cottage; it's a perfect getaway from the hustle and bustle and is only about a 20 minutes drive from Britford so ideal. Not only that but we always end up in his house recounting fishing stories, looking at his cased fish on his walls and I even ended up fixing his computer for him. I was rewarded with a signed print of a Tench for my troubles; suffice to say I was more than pleased.

I rose at 6:20am and got the frying pan on the go, sausages, bacon and egg are the only way to start a fishing session. I woke everyone else up by simply turning on the lights in their rooms and walking back out again; mean but fair. After wolfing down our sumptuous breakfasts we packed ourselves back into my car and hit the road for Britford once more. Were we going to catch or fail?

The conditions again looked spot on and we started where we left off the previous night on the carrier. In 2 hours we managed one Jack between us, the same pike my brother had had the previous day!!! We decided that it was time to get back onto the Old River. My brother had one to 19lb from this stretch the previous year (see below) so anything aprroaching this size would be fantastic.

19lb Exactly

We fished in pairs with my brother and me fishing one area and my youngest brother and Father fishing another area about 150 metres further along. My Father struck first with a cracking Pike of 16lb 8oz and we caught in quick succession with a couple of 10lbers between us.

16lb8oz

10lb 5oz

Me and my brother had a couple of knocks each but things went quiet so we moved about 50metres up to a likely looking spot. After wondering up to photograph my fathers 16lber I found a perfect little swim with a dead tree in the water, it screamed Pike so I settled there and my brother fished about 20 metres further along. I was fishing perhaps 20minutes when my rod signalled a take, to twitches and then the rod heaved round. I struck and everything went solid. I thought I had hooked the bottom but it started moving, it was a pike and it was definitely a PB (my previous best was only 12lb8oz so fairly easy to beat) it held firm but i was well equipped with a strong 2.75lb tc rod and 15lb bs line. After a couple of deep dives the Pike came in fairly easily. To me this fish was massive, a very long Pike and also quite chunky which seems to the norm along this stretch. 

19lb Exactly

The scales settled on 19lb and it as I had guessed it smashed my old PB and what a stunning fish it was. I believe it will definitley top 20lbs judging by the chunkyness of the Pike my Father had caught and there is most likely a 30lber hidden away somewhere.

Not to be trumped, my father shouted out that he had hooked into a "big" pike and my little brother confirmed this by saying "it's bigger than yours". After weighing the fish we decided on 18lb 4oz so not quite as big as mine but a great brace of Pike for him in around 1 hour. 

18lb 4oz

I didn't feel the need to cast in as I was over the moon with my Pike, I was confident I couldn't better it but the angler in me took over and after 15minutes I got bored and cast out another sprat. The weather was now settled and it turned out be a nice last hour to our fishing trip. I caught one more Jack Pike of around 6lb as I reeled in my dead bait and we called it a day and trip.

To conclude it was a great weekends fishing with 9 Pike being caught and 6 of those being doubles. I would highly recommend a trip to Britford and hopefully see you on the bank sometime.

LAA - Britford - More Info

John Searl's - Swallow Cottage - More Info

Monster Roach on the Bristol Avon

Big Roach are perhaps considered the hardest of all species to catch, and by big Roach, I mean anything over the 2lb barrier, and the Bristol Avon is no exception!

I know several very good anglers who have never caught a Roach over 2lb from the BA and not for the want of trying. One guy I know spend several weeks in a row after the species resulting in a few near to the 2lb mark but not quite making it.

One venue, very close to where I live happens to contain this very rare species, one shoal I know of contains perhaps 6-8 2lb + roach and two of them more like 3lb!!! These really are monsters, legendary fish that we hear of but are seen once in a lifetime.

Now last season (2010-2011) resulted in 13 roach all over 1lb, these were all caught on a rather suprising choice of bait... Halibut Pellet. This went on from June through to September, after this the Roach on this stretch seem to become invisble, completely dissappearing from sight until the following June. As it happens, this season started for me in July as unfortunatley I had to miss it whilst on Holiday in Florida... I have a hard life don't I ; )

The season started for me on a high, two casts and two wonderful fish. A 7lb 9oz Barbel and 5lb 4oz Chub in consecutive casts on the same Halibut pellet!!!

Not a bad start by all acounts, in fact the Chub became a new PB for me so I was over the moon!!! I continued to fish for the following couple of weeks somewhat sporadically catching Barbel and Chub to to 7lb+ and 4lb+ accordingly. I wasn't prepared for the fish I was about to catch however, smashing my PB and catching a fish I never thought possible in my wildest dreams.

It was my girlfriend Mandy that persuaded me to head to my local river, July 9th 2011 to be precise, a lovely summers day without a cloud in the sky. I packed the car with all the neccessities, rod kitted up, landing net, food and drink, and my camera - just in case...

I began fishing one of my usual swims, the same swim that I had caught the Barbel and Chub mentioned earlier. I set up, cast out my bait just under an over hanging tree and then chucked a couple of free offerings on top of it; 30 minutes went by and I had a wrap around. After a short but spirited fight I scooped out an impressive Chub, perhaps 4lb. As lovely as these fish are to see, they in all honesty destroy the swim for up to a couple of hours with their thrashing so it was time to move on.

I had scaled my tactics down, lighter line, a very small ledger weight and a small halibut pellet. I was after a Roach, one of the big ones that I had spotted right at the beginning of the season. I began by trying a swim just before where they reside, hoping that trickling in a few micro pellets would pull the bigger ones upstream and away from the smaller "nuisance" fish. After an hour I started getting anxious, I started questioning whether I was in the right swim. My girlfriend Mandy made the decision for me, "if it doesn't feel right then it it probably isn't right, move swim". I followed her "expert" advice and moved swims with immediate effect.

The swim I moved to wasn't known for producing remarkable Roach, but in all honesty the entire stretch wasn't, it seemed like I had this shoal of monsters to myself and I couldn't wait to catch one!!! I once again cast out, a light under hand cast to my left using the world famous Wallis Cast with my beautiful Allcocks Aerial. As the bait went in a couple more offerings were chucked around it in the hope of pulling in a couple of the members of the Monster Roach Shoal. It must only have been 20 minutes of the bait going in the water that I got a twitch on the end of my fishing rod, it changed from a twitch to a tug and all too soon a wrap around. Now for a Roach to take a rod round would for one be rare but two perhaps suggest it may be one of the Monsters (or a nuisance Barbel/Chub). I struck and felt resistance, a nice steady resistance, then a tell tale roach tug, juttering (is this a word?) through the water, it was then that I caught a glimpse of her. I said to Mandy WOW. This is the fish I have been after since I was a little boy, I was attached to a 2lb Roach. It was then that I backed off. The clutch was off and the fish would be given the freedom to tire itself out. I wasn't going to loose this through a hook pull as big Roach are synonymous for doing, often at the net!!!

It slowly tired itself, Mandy passed me the net which was now rested in the water. It slid over the net beautifully. I just shouted "YES, I have done it!!!" Although Mandy was no angler, she could understand my passion for specimen hunting and she was as happy for me as a girlfriend that gets dragged along to fishing can be...

Scales were readied and the net was zeroed for the weighing of this beautiful fish. I lifted and the scales settled on 2lb 5oz, a new PB and 3/4lb  bigger than my previous PB. I was a lucky man and I had my girlfriend to share my joy with. She took some wonderful pictures for me which were published in the Angling Times the following week:

http://www.gofishing.co.uk/Angling-Times/HomepageArticles/Match-Fishing-News/Catch-Reports/Monster-roach-taken-on-barbel-gear/

A proud moment for me and I recently found out that this Roach was one of the biggest Roach to come from the stretch in question on the Bristol Avon and perhaps the biggest! So my advice that I would give to you is to try something a bit different. Pellets are very often overlooked for smaller species such as Roach but they have aquired a taste for such baits as they are used consistantly day in and day out for the larger resident species such as Chub and Barbel. As long as baits and tackle are scaled down and the your bait is well presented there is no reason why you can't do the same as me. Now for the 3lber...

Tight Lines!!! 



The River Prince

I could write for chapters about the River Prince also known by some as the Barbel. A powerful, golden and elusive fish and most certainly one of my favourite fish. It wasn’t until very recently that I began capturing Barbel consistently, by constantly I mean fifteen to twenty Barbel in a season. Before this I was lucky to capture one!

It wasn’t that I wasn’t fishing the right places, to be fair it is certainly tougher to catch a barbel now than it was five years ago. It was simply poor judgement, wrong bait choice and ignorantly, poor presentation.

I have been fortunate enough to have fished alongside some very good anglers, in particular a good friend Martin Hooper. He has opened a whole new door for me and my fishing. He has taught me that it’s not about putting your bait in the water but working out where the fish are at that specific time. The Bristol Avon is synonymously, weedy water but at the same time fairly shallow and clear. This enables the angler to spot the fish and get them “on the feed” by throwing in a few offerings.

Although I caught my biggest Barbel on Luncheon meat I find my staple bait to be Dynamite Marine Halibut Pellets. I find using a 10-14mm on a hair-rig and throwing a mix of 4mm, 6mm and couple of 14mm pellets is my most successful approach. I very rarely throw in more than a handful and it frustrates me to watch other anglers throw in kilos of the stuff. It seems obvious science, especially on small water such as the Bristol Avon that throwing in tons of bait might catch you one fish but after that they will be stuffed to the gill plates. This can be the case not for just those few hours but lead to the fish not feeding for several days!!!

Enough of the facts and figures and onto a Barbel fishing story.

My season till now had been great, my first full season and I was on 18 Barbel by January. I had never expected this many beyond my wildest expectations. I had up to this session had 4-5 night sessions on the BA and had located the perfect spot for me and my brother to plonk ourselves down and into the night.

We arrived at the desired spot for around 6:30PM

Pin pointed our spots and placed our baits carefully in position. As I mentioned earlier I tend to use Pellets, in this case though I was using Luncheon meat laced with Garlic. The reason for this was for once reason; flood water conditions. The river was up a good 6-7 foot and belting through. It is important to use a fairly significant lead weight of at least 2-3oz.

Barbel in these conditions just love smelly baits so garlic meat made complete sense. Hardly 10 minutes had gone before my Allcocks registered a screaming run which ended in me pulling out of the fish. Barbel!

 It was very chilly so I was well wrapped and was very thankful for the luscious khaki green thick woollen scarf that my beautiful girlfriend had knitted me. Brrr.

After a re cast and a couple more chunk sof meat thrown out I sat back and was sure I was finally going to catch a Barbel. Weirdly my brother predicted that in the next minute he would catch a double figure Barbel and suddenly SLAM, my rod went round.

My rod was doubled over, but there was no big run which I normally would expect from a Barbel. I had been told that a big one just sits and holds hard, using the flow of the river to its advantage. Could it be one of those mythical double figured fish? I gained a bit every now and again but the rod stayed doubled while the hook held firm. The fish suddenly moved towards the surface and I caught a glimpse of what looked like a big fish. It dived back down again and this time screamed off. I tried not to give it an inch but I was struggling. It was a cat and mouse fight for another minute and then the fish seemed to lose the fight. My brother readied the net and he scooped my prize from the water. He lifted the net and said DOUBLE. Could I finally have caught my first ever double figured barbel. A weigh in was required. After zeroing the scales, my brother lifted the net containing potentially my PB. It went 10lb 8oz. I was ecstatic!!!

The rest of the night was a blur. I picked up a celebratory cheese burger from McDonalds on the way back through and slept well that night.

Perch on the Bristol Avon

I have always had a thing for Perch as discussed earlier. They are in my eyes the most attractive of species and as Richard Walker once said the biggest of all fish in appearance. Even a 1lb Perch looks big, and when they get to 2lb and above they really begin to look spectacular. They develop a hump on their back and look both beautiful but threatening at the same time.

Living in Wiltshire I am surrounded by both lakes and rivers and perhaps all of them contain Perch; untapped specimen Perch potential surrounded me. It wasn’t till I read Chris Yates’ How to Catch Fish that I began to hunt down the elusive monster Perch. He described them beautifully…”with its vivid colours, its striking markings and its superbly bristling demeanour, can send an otherwise dull angler into raptures. The caught my eye and since then I have landed dozens over 1lb and more recently several over 2lb.

After heading over to my girlfriend Mandy’s house I got into a conversation with her father, a keen match man. We began discussing the differences between specimen anglers, match men like himself and the average pleasure angler. We then got onto Perch when John told me that he had once witnessed our clubs record Perch of a colossal 5lb 4oz. At this stage I was plain shocked, I didn’t believe our river held 4lbers; let alone 5lb and above!!! More was to come however. He once to a friend out for his first fishing session where he duly landed a perch which John believed to be a British record; in appearance it was much bigger than the 5lb 40zer he had witnessed. Unfortunately they had no scales and the guy that had caught the Perch didn’t even know what species he had just caught. Quite painful for me to hear!!!

We then got onto locations and the town stretch come up, a place John regularly fishes in matches and when the Roach aren’t feeding he often chucks in a handful of worms and waits for the stripeys to come in. He said bags of 4-5 Perch to 10lb are quite common. That sounded like an average of 2lb a Perch. As soon as I heard this I was itching to cast bait into the river. I then had the offer of a free bag of worms; ten minutes later and I was heading off to river with Mandy in tow.

Mandy got bored fairly quickly and headed into town. I chucked several handfuls of chopped worms in and sat in anticipation. The float looked quite delightful sitting amongst some old leaves and a perfect reflection sat in front of it. A young lad walked over the bridge with his Dad and they stopped and watched me sitting heron like; “what’s he doing Daddy”, “He’s fishing Son”. Seconds later the float bobbed and sailed away and the centre pin reel began to tick. I struck and felt a tug back, could it be a Perch I began thinking. It held deep, and then I saw a flash of silver, by now the young lad and his Dad were behind me watching me battle with this monster. I landed the fish, a Chub of perhaps… 1lb. “can I touch the fish” shouted the boy, “I’ll show you in the net” I told him. By the sounds of it he wanted to start fishing just from witnessing this spectacle. Hopefully I have hooked another fully paid up member of the angler association.

Next minute I heard someone over my shoulder “alright”, I turned and in Mandy’s hand was the most welcoming of gifts in such cold conditions; a cup of Coffee. I grabbed it from her grasp in seconds and began devouring its contents as if I hadn’t drunk anything for days. Pure magic. It then came up that Mandy had never actually witnessed me catch a fish either she was pain unlucky or I had be lying to her about catching anything at all. I began assuring that I had actually caught something when the float stirred. It started moving across the surface but refused to dip under. I was confident this was a Perch, unsure of whether to fully take down the suspicious looking juicy worm. STRIKE. I didn’t let it think. The rod arched round and I was into what felt like a very good fish. By now Mandy had her camera taking action shots at every opportunity and witnessing her first “fish fight”. Coincidentally the same young lad were just going back home as I was in mid battle. Perhaps a good omen. The fish held deep and slowly I worker it to the surface. Stripes. It was definitely a Perch, perhaps a PB? Mandy passed me the landing net and I scooped up my prize. It was a deep bodied, thick set and perfectly proportioned Perch. It looked all of 2 1/2lbs. I rested it back in the river and fetched my scales and sling. All zeroed I placed the perch into the sling and lifted the scales. Past 2lbs but only by 3oz. It settled on 2lb 3oz, My PB River Perch but not my new PB. Later on in the year this fish would certainly reach 3lb; when full of spawn. I let it rest then released it. Swoosh and old stripey disappeared into the depths. I sat back, looked up to Mandy and gave her a cheeky wink and smile; “told you I can catch fish”. I fished on for perhaps another 20 minutes and then decided it was time to head back; brrrrrrrrrrrr. Winter was certainly upon us. Tea time.