Bah Humbug! it's the years end.

This is another one of those blogg's, an excuse, about why there's been a lack of blogging.

It's not that I haven't been fishing, I have, several times and the catches have either been very small and not worth talking about or I just haven't caught anything.

 

The last two trips should have seen fish on the bank but they just weren't there. A couple of weeks ago we were on the river, the Avon, fishing for Pike and Zed's. The first excuse was the river, it was near normal level after a flood but was fairly pacey with plenty of colour. Number two was that there was a match on the stretch we originally wanted to fish so the day's plans were straight out of the window, we moved to a stretch below where the match was being held but it was too snaggy, excuse number three, I think I lost more tackle than Bailey's sells.

 

Then there was Ryton for Pike, Barry's been catching plenty so things were looking up. Number 4, someone was already on the spot we fancied and had caught a very good Pike earlier on in his session so the chances of catching another along these few pegs on the same day were very slim, we gave it a go anyway. After an hour of bobbin watchin' we moved around to the back of the island but I don't really want to talk about why I didn't catch there. (5) You don't catch many Pike when you chuck your sardine up a tree and it's really embarrassing when you get seen doing it! We continued to fish the remainder of the session along the new road bank, first time for me and my baits were left totally untouched.

 

So much for the end of the year, I was hoping to have blogged about a double figure Zander or a two pound Roach but they'll still be there next year and fingers crossed, a little bigger. The one thing I am very pleased with is my new PB Pike, eighteen and a half pounds, very nice.

Roll on next year's 'Duck' challenge!

Loser takes home!

Barry has been introduced to his new fishing buddy!

Tales and Pastures New

Zander have been on the menu lately and I'm still catching but the biggy I'm after still eludes me. One of my last sessions was a bit of a catastrophe, I'd gone to Itchy for a late afternoon/evening session, the rods had been left tackled up after my last Zandering trip so I was ready to go, that's what I thought until I reached for one of my bobbins, it was missing and must have pinged off the line somewhere en route to the canal, these bobbins are little treasures of mine, one offs that can't be bought. What was going to be a peaceful session turned into a mini disaster as I walked the stretch from where I'd been dropped off to where I was fishing searching for a little glow in the dark. Devastated, I botched together another bobbin so I could carry on with the now shortened session. Despite the problems, it was a gorgeously clear night with a star filled sky which more than made up for the mini disaster and lack of bites, I wished on a few shooting stars and left fishless. The lost bobbin was later found at home, few!

 

A Frosty Start.

The following morning was a frosty start at a new venue, for several years, I've seen plenty of tantalising glimpses of this lake from the nearby road and I've always liked the look of the place. A couple of weeks ago, after a reliable recommendation, I visited the lake for a bit of a recce, it's very urban, it contained the target species we were after, Pike, so it had to be worth a go. There were plenty of signs of previous angling taking place and the lake looked tired after years of being fished by NED's and the E.E.F.E.D (Eastern European Fish Eating Disease) I suppose we have to expect this from such an urban site and it's what puts a lot of anglers off fishing such places but it still had an appeal to it with plenty of features to fish to, there wasn't any fishing pegs as such just sections of clear bank trodden bare by plenty of fishing feet. We started off at the far end of the pool and made our way down the bank to a couple of spots in amongst the frost covered reeds, it was shallow, so uncomfortably shallow that I think the local canal is deeper, we gave it a go regardless.

 

Settled in.

A few other anglers were working their way around the pool, all spinning and all local, we asked a few what the fishing was like and a picture of the lake became a little clearer, it contained plenty of smaller species like Roach, Rudd and Tench so plenty of food for a population of Pike. A few non angling passersby told tales of the lakes bigger inhabitants and where they were seen being caught (not where we were fishing) we nodded in agreement like we knew about the place, gave it ten minutes and made a move to the 'fishier' end of the lake. The tales continued as we chatted to other locals, angling and non angling, we both gave each other a smiling glance when we heard one dog walker tell tales of at least one 'Grandad Pike' residing here, that's got to be worth a good go this winter.

We kept at it, biteless, all session, I'm not sure if I can use the frost and the bright sunshine as a good enough excuse but the place looked dead, as I write this now the temperature outside is a little more favourable and overcast which I would have preferred but we can't book the weather can we? As the sun reached the horizon and the chilly breeze eased, parts of the lake looked as though it was being rained on as loads of small fry dimpled on the surface, a few larger fish topped here and there and we felt that a bite had been earned and was well overdue. Barry's rod was soon away as a little toothy critter made off with his deadbait; it didn't take too long to get it in the net, unhooked and released to sulk in the margins.

 

The small toothy one and his Pike!

Once again, I remained fishless but a new venue is a bit of a learning curve so role on the next session and watch out that Grandad Pike!

 

Mostly Zedding!

What have I been up to the past few weeks? Mostly Zedding, that's what. As well as fishing some of my usual Zander holes I've also tried a few new stretches of canal where I've heard of a few good fish coming out. Luck has been on my side and I've banked several fish, mostly small, I'm trying hard for a double and my best so far this year is a lovely conditioned six pound six ounce fish which is the largest I've had for a while.

 

Six pound six.

I fished an old haunt last week, a stretch of canal that has been very kind to me in the past and I was hoping to hook up with an old friend. I'd seen some swims that screamed 'Zander' on a walk along this stretch a few weeks ago and after having a rove around to check a few out I decided on one spot to settle down on and fish for a couple of hours into darkness. I thought it was going to be a quiet session but I wasn't alone for long, within the space of half an hour a stretch of bank to my left as long as a nine second sprint by Usain Bolt became occupied by five other anglers and by the look of things we were all after the same target. It became so uncomfortable with dead fish flying all over the place as anglers tried to hit their spots in the dark, with all the noise and commotion any decent sized Zed in the area would have packed their bags done a runner up Beduff. Something else that I'm never comfortable fishing around are overhead electric cables, they just happen to cross this stretch of canal at the best fishing spot in the area, whether that has anything to do with how well it fishes is another question to ask.
The drizzle filled air made the cables fizz and buzz overhead adding to the uncomfortable feeling I had about fishing this spot especially as now I wasn't alone. This feeling was soon forgotten when one of my glowing bobbins twitched and rose up towards  the rod gently and slowly, it was like a Zander take but in slow motion, I picked up the rod and waited for things to move, nothing, I tightened up and felt some resistance but it wasn't a fish of the variety I was after, it was a crayfish.

Zed bait?

Through the rest of the session I kept getting tugs on the bait which got rather annoying as I'd never come across this many Cray's in one area but having seen the amount of dead fish being thrown in the water in this stretch I'm not surprised there's so many. As soon as the bait settled on the bottom they were on it, might have to bring Cerys down here for a spot of 'crabbing'. I stuck it out for the rest of the session in the hope that a Zed would find the remains of my bait but ended up blanking.

I wonder if Crayfish would make a good Zed bait?

Rationed Luck and Junk!

My big Pike last week has put a dent in my run of luck; On Friday I was rationed to a single Zed on a visit to one of my favourite stretches of canal. I'd walked a fair distance to the spot that is usually a dead cert for a fish on the bank and it didn't disappoint. After this spot I made my way back giving each likely looking fish hold a good twenty minutes before moving on, I realised that it's been a while since I fished like this, cutting the gear down to the bare essentials making it easier to move around, I had a bag on my back, a stool, two rods and a net, a great way to fish.

Just the one.

I stopped at another spot that's been very good to me in the past and two baits were chucked to where I usually catch, a cross wind was moving my rigs downstream and with the floats nodding away I could see that the baits were just dragging bottom. I noticed one of them stop but it remained motionless for far too long for it to be a fish, I tightened down only to find that I was fastened solid to some bottom debris, "Not the mattress" I thought and walked up the bank to give a different angle to the pressure I was applying to the tackle, it worked, a big heavy weight was slowly dragged in to the bank, I lifted it out of the water and my first thoughts were that it was the part of a car as I could see the red lamp lenses and a few electrical cables but when I put it down on the grass all became obvious, it was the rear cover from an electric buggy.

What the!

Bait!

It was nice to see a few Zebra Mussels stuck fast to the plastic and it’s a good indication as to what bait to try for the Carp along here, the whole thing went back into the near margin but I think I should have tried to put it back in the main run where it came from as it was probably one of the fish holding features that made this spot so good. A couple of seasons ago I moved something similar to this in the canal near to the Foleshill Road, it was a big plastic shop sign, before hauling it in off the bottom this swim was another of my 'hot spots', I dropped the sign into the near margin as it was too big to lift out, since then I've never caught a Zed from that spot.

Despite the lack of bites I continued fish along this stretch until I couldn't see the floats anymore, might have to give these sliders a spray with some glow in the dark paint I’ve picked up.

What's the weirdest piece of junk you've hauled in from the depths?

Has it had an affect on the fishing there?

Something Alarming - Part 2.

My new Pike alarm has altered slightly and I think it looks much better, it's been fitted with a new and much louder buzzer, red LED's and it now screws onto buzz bar on my pod, it's also had it's first proper outing for Pike.

Now very loud.

I'm not going to make a big story out of this as I only had the one take all day and Barry fared better with two Pike and a bag of Zander. It was only the second chuck on this rod and the bait had only been on the spot for a few minutes, the take I had was vicious with line being snatched from the clip, the alarm worked great and was certainly startling as I wasn't expecting such a quick take but the scrap that followed was even greater. As soon as I lifted into the fish, the rod took on a curve and I could feel that this was going to be a good one. Several line stripping powerful runs followed with the fish almost tail walking at times, it took a while before it was safely in the net and on seeing it's size the numbers started rolling in my head.

 

It's a bit of an anti climax when you catch the biggest fish in the lake on the second cast of the first outing of the new season but I couldn't help smiling as I'd upped my PB, only by two ounces but I'd upped it.

 

My biggest Pike is now eighteen and a half pounds, next target has to be a twenty!

 

Something Alarming! - Part 1

The official Pike season is only a few weeks away so my thoughts have drifted in the direction of the toothy ones in preparation.

For a couple of years I've been using bobbins fastened to the back rest as drop back indicators but I've been thinking about an electronic version of the same. I've had a quick look around the Internet but with cash being as bit short I couldn't find anything cheap except for the 999 alarm from Zandavan. It works on the principle of a tilt switch as the break in a simple circuit, when the bobbin drops the tilt switch makes contact, completes the circuit and a siren sounds until it's switched off, simple.

(isn't it always the best)

I've always dabbled in electronics, taking things apart and re-soldering to fix something that was broken or finding a way for modifying a circuit to do another job.
(http://website.lineone.net/~daworldofdoj/pages/vlogic.html)

 

I thought I'd have a go at making my own electronic drop back indicator. I had a good grasp of how this circuit works and set about building one, A few simple parts were sorted from my electronics box and purchased from Maplin. After a bit of planning and testing the circuit was ready and put into a project box, I doubled up parts of the circuit so I was able to use two bobbins off the same sounder and save on parts, I ended up just using the one battery and one buzzer.

The cobbled alarm, version one.

The bobbins were the hardest to work out as I didn't want them to be fastened permanently to the box, this would cause a weak point in the cable where it exits the case and could cause problems later should the cable fail at this point, I opted for a connection more commonly found on the back of your hifi, a phono connection. The tilt switch was housed in a section of plastic from a pen with some old line clips glued into the end.

Hi fidelity connections!

Now, where did I put that pen?

I used a couple of Sharon's hair elastics to temporarily fasten the alarm to a bank stick for testing down the canal, it seemed to work fine although I think the alarm could be mounted slightly higher. With regards to detecting bites, they work a treat.

Fastened with hair elastics.

The Zed's I had nibbling the baits gave the bobbins a good shake and after a little adjustment they detached from the line and dropped to the floor with the alarm screaming.

The smaller of the alarm testers.

I missed a couple of takes adjusting the clips and concentrating on the alarms performance and not the fish.

 

Slightly bigger but not much.

I'm thinking of adding a vibration sensor to the bobbin with an LED that lights up when the bobbin is moved however the wind factor could make this a problem.

Boilie or Fly?

The mornings are getting a tad chilly now so in theory the Carp should have their heads down bulking up ready for the winter cold spell, but no, they don't play by the rules. After a lousy day sat behind bite alarms at Ryton, spending the whole day willing one of the alarms to sound or at least the line to twitch, the session turned into a blank. we felt we had to change to fly fishing for them. The boilies will have to wait a few more weeks.

Sunday morning we went to Jubilee for a couple of hours of fly fishing, a match was being held on the horseshoe pool so we settled on the Island pool at set about feeding a few swims to bring the fish up in the water. I had a couple of fish show including one fish with a head like a horse, when this fish started picking off the biscuits I thought I was going to connect with a new PB as this fish was huge, there was no slurping the biscuits down like the usual suspects, this thing just opened it's mouth and engulfed them, if the biscuits were the size of a satsuma it would have swallowed them, no problem. I had two refusals off this fish which really got my heart pounding, I'm sure Barry could have heard it the other side of the lake. Barry managed one Carp but it was tough going, all I could manage was a nice Roach.
 

A nice Roach to the fly.

We returned in the afternoon/evening and I was hoping to have another go for the horse but someone was in that swim, one for next time me thinks. Horseshoe pool it was and it wasn't long before we had several fish up on top feeding away but they were being so cautious, I lost count how many flies I changed before I connected with a half descent fish that gave me a 'stripped back to the backing' scrap, this fish had loads of energy but I didn't think it was that big when I saw it rise for the fly. On the matt, I could see that it was one of the usual suspects, one I've had before with the kink in it's back but it looks like it's put on a bit of weight.

 

Wonky Donkey!

I completely missed the second bite of the evening, I was too busy taking a picture of the sunset in front of my swim and felt the line pull through my fingers, I dropped the camera into it's bag and pulled up the line and lifted into the fish, it wasn't big but it still pulled the string hard.

The Sunset!
 



The Fish!

Barry had a fair bit of action with plenty of takes and several lost fish but he did get his net wet.

Barry applies some pressure.

Blog Drought.

There's been a bit of a blog drought on these pages of late, this isn't from not having time to write about my fishing adventures, I either haven't been fishing or just plain blanked.

The summer jolly trip to North Wales with plenty of planned fishing trips didn't quite go to plan, with a death in the family the week before, the trip turned out to be a rather sad affair. Eventhough the chances to go and wet a line were plenty I just didn't feel like going.

The Snowdonia mountain range, a perfect backdrop.

We had one sunny day which was spent on the beach where we used to go camping a few years earlier, the big Mullet were still taunting anglers inside the harbour and the tide was just perfect at the estuary entrance for a spot of Bass fishing, I put a rod out whilst playing and crabbing with Cerys on the sand but forgot about the wind this stretch of coast had had the week before, this stirs up the weed for a week at a time and my rigs were being wiped out by the stuff within a few minutes of being cast out, needless to say, I blanked.

I'm sure my nanna would have wanted me to go fishing more that week as it was my grandad that got me into fishing as a kid, I can't believe he's been gone for thirty two years.



College Animals.

I've never come across so fierce a fight from a small fish as the tussles with the Carp at College Pool, the takes are lightning quick and before you have time to react their gone, smashing your end gear in the process.

The first time I fished the pool was only a month ago as I've always headed across the fields to the nearby Avon instead of stopping at this small puddle to angle for it's inhabitants. Barry had heard of a few accounts of tackle smashing takes and suggested we give the place a go. True to the tales we heard from anglers fishing the far end of the pool our first few casts were smashed to bits before a single Carp graced the bottom of the net, when they did we could see that these fish weren't big at all, what is that lake feeding them?

Basking in the sun, no relaxing here!

I was under gunned on the first trip fishing a standard float set-up and a quiver tip feeder rod as a sleeper, it was leaving this rod alone that lost me two fish. The third take was lightning quick, the gear was stepped up for this cast and I held on with as much side strain as I dared to apply to keep this beast away from the tree's and lily pads, once out in the open it still fought with the strength and speed never experienced from any other Carp of the same size, a clump of weed helped things out and it was soon in the bottom of the net.

An amazing scrap from a single.

Barry managed to get some fish to feed off the top and we cobbled some gear together to give it a go, he'd been told that you can't catch them off the top here but it's so quick when it happens that some people just miss it, you don't see the take their that quick.

The next trip found me better prepared, tackle wise, the weather could have been a little kinder with thunder bolts and lightning arriving within an hour of starting the session. Barry had tried a fly rod earlier in the week as the pool offers the chance to fish in this way with plenty of room for back casts behind some of the pegs and the willingness for the Carp to venture up into the surface layers to feed. He'd been smashed to pieces fishing this way and fancied a good laugh when I told him I was bringing the fly rod on this session. I still got smashed up fishing on the bottom and after feeding some floaters and seeing a few taken, out came the imitation biscuits. There was no order to the movement of the fish like they are at Jubilee, it's just random takes all over the feeding area until your fly is nailed and that happens so quick, at jubilee I seem to have the time to lift into a fish as it takes the fly, at College there's a splash and the fish tightens up to you.

A couple of takes were spat out before I managed to connect, I then had my knuckles rapped as line was stripped from the reel at lightning speed, the Jubilee fish are usually subdued by the drag on the reel but even with this wound down tight I still had to palm the rim to slow this animal. Luck was on my side and I eventually found this fish in the bottom of my net.



Testing the gear to the max.



One of my all time favourite fly caught Carp scraps ever.

Holiday Snaps.

The rain that had dampened our wedding celebrations the day before followed us to Devon and we arrived to hear of flooding in the county, the heavier rain was to the south, not long after we arrived and settled into the caravan the sun was out. Even though it was a kind of honeymoon there were plans to do some fishing and passes had been granted, Peelers and Lug were collected on Sunday but the first trip required some smelly Mackerel as bait.

The foul stinking stuff was for Cerys's first fishing trip of sorts, we headed down to Appledore to join the crowds on the quayside to do a spot of crabbing, great fun was had by all and a bucket full of crabs were returned to the sea at the end of the session.

Crabbing fun with Cerys.

Pinchy!

I did an early morning session at the beginning of the week and did get some interest on the Crab bait, Smoothhounds, the baits kept being picked up and dropped just as I leapt towards the screaming rod, my main goal on this holiday was to get another one of these mini sharks onto the rocks.

On the rocks.

The onshore wind kept me from my target quarry in the middle of the week so I went in search of a bass or two in the estuary mouth but a mix up in tide times meant I didn't catch any until late in the session.

shiney!

They were small but still great fun to catch.

I was back on the rocks early on Friday with another bucket of peelers, after thinking about the dropped takes from the previous session I stuck an extra hook in the bait and fished with a pennel hook length. The first take was a little hesitant but it gradually built up steam and headed off towards Lundy Island at a great rate of knots. My old beach rod has a very fast taper and not a lot of fish can make the butt section bend, these hounds make the rod flex under my reel and you have to keep one eye on where you put your feet on the slippery rocks as these fish quickly change direction and head off on another run.

Ho! Hounds are great fun.

Pocket Rockets!

Just like fly fishing for Carp, catching Smoothhounds puts a huge smile on my face after I banked a second hound towards the end of the session I was grinning as I walked down the pipe to the Ho! (Westward Ho! that is)

While the cat's away!

You go away on holiday for a week when not a lot is happening at your local water then when you get back you find the builders have moved in, at last, the work at Ryton has begun. There's not a lot to see but I'm impressed with what they've done in such a short time. 

View from the car park.

The view back from peg one.

I like the look of the first corner already, if we could plant some reeds to create some cover it would look even better. I'm going to have to plumb the depth in front of the old information desk (Peg one) to see if the six foot of water is still there, the edge of the new bank is where it used to be.

Barry bids a fond farewell to the old peg one.

The work is scheduled for the next two weeks so should be a quick job, looking forward to getting on there and banking some fish.

Tying Knots

Fishing and blogging about it has been a bit quiet lately, no point blogging about blanks and we have been rather busy organising something else!

On the 6th of July, we got married.

The Booth's

Nothing lavish but a great day was had by all despite the inclement weather, it didn't half whack it down in the morning before we left the house, after the ceremony at the registry office in Coventry the rain eased so we could have photo's taken, then it was off for the nosh up at 'The Farmhouse', best curry house in Cov!

You know that feeling you get when you plan a good fishing session, get to the venue, then realise that you've left the bait at home or forgotten the landing net, well I discovered a worse feeling than that - try forgetting the rings at your wedding!

The Big Erection

The long weekend was a welcome break from work and was to be a weekend off wetting a line, hard to believe I know. Apart from going for a few days out with Sharon and Cerys and just spending time with my little girl, there was another underlying reason and that is my bait shack. All the sections have been ready for several weeks stacked under plastic but still getting either very wet or drying out in the hot sun, I've been waiting for the right time to stick all the bits together and find out if all my maths has worked and the whole thing fits together how it does on paper.

Being a bank holiday it had to rain, it was raining as I put the main shell together on Saturday but it did ease off through the day, the shack's erection was very smooth and very quick with only a couple of minor adjustments to the roof as it was being fitted.

Short back and sides.

Front on.

Roof in place.

Plenty of headroom.

The big test for the roof was with the rain on Sunday and it appears to have passed the test as everything has stayed dry inside since then. I only have windows and a door to put in next and the whole thing should be secure, that's when I can get some of the boilie making kit out of it's box and into it's new home.

The view from above.

It'll soon be time to make smells that I'm banned from making in the kitchen.

Bream - On the fly!

I'm playing catch-up with Barry at the moment, he had a really good day at Jubilee last week with ten Carp off the top to eighteen pounds. We headed up for a late afternoon/evening session and being four fish down my aim was to close the gap, I caught the four fish I needed to draw level but Barry had a single fish to stay one ahead and time ran out as we had to leave the lake.

I returned on Sunday with the intention of getting ahead as much as I could for Barry to play catch-up in the week. Things started slowly, the hot weather keeping the fish in a lethargic state. The constant feeding brought a couple of fish onto the feed and it wasn't long before one of them graced the bottom of my net.

The next take I had was very unusual and gentle, I lifted into the fish half expecting the water to explode but it didn't, there was a fish there but it wasn't big and came in very easily, it was a small skimmer Bream, a first for me on the fly.

Bream - On the fly!

I carried on feeding the swim and the fishing improved into the evening with another four fish on the bank to fourteen pounds and six ounces, the biggest of the session which fish stripped all the fly line off the reel, I ended up playing the fish on the backing praying that the join wouldn't slip.

Fourteen six of hard scrapping common.

At the end of the session I was four ahead but no doubt, as I write this, Barry has been bagging up again on one of his mid week sessions.

A break is as good as ......

In complete contrast to the weather we've had so far this week, last Friday's session was much colder. There was a cool north easterly breeze blowing across the horseshoe pool at Jubilee when we arrived for an afternoon/evening stint on the fly. Both myself and Barry fancied a go with the fly rods for a while but the way the weather had been lately it was just too cold to get the fish up in the water and by the looks of things, this session was going to be tough.

The peg I chose had the wind blowing from left to right with a calm area just in front of the peg, a couple of pouches of biscuits were put out amongst the surface crap that was littering this side of the lake, in amongst all the leaves, blossom and feathers one Carp found a couple of my treats and started to pick them off one at a time, that was good enough for me and I set about getting the tackle assembled ready for the first chuck. By the time I was ready for the first cast the my constant feeding between tying knots had payed off as there were now several fish in front of our swims, Barry was already chucking the fluff so I joined in. These fish were very wary of the fly and I struggled to see any pattern to their movements, I had several refusals and changed fly colour several times before I got a take. It was good to feel the carbon bend under my hand again as a Carp made off with my fly.  It's been over a year since I last cast a fly at a Carp and I can quite honestly say that I missed it, the fight was most enjoyable and I couldn't help smiling as a reasonable fish tore around my swim.

A thirteen on the fly.

Barry gave me thirteen pounds for this Carp but it wasn't about weight, it was about enjoying my break from Ryton.

The second fish of the day was slightly bigger Ghostie, it felt a good few pounds bigger and fought like it, testing my rod and reel control with some quick powerful twists, turns and runs.

A good scrap from this one.

I had another two fish that evening, one was very long and lean with a very recognisable scar near it's tale, I think I may have caught this fish a couple of years ago. I could see the fish confidently slurping biscuits off the top and I was trying hard to position the fly in the right spot which took a couple of lifts and recasts to be perfect, my 'Biccy' fly was next in line to be taken and within a blink of an eye the Carp's mouth appeared next to the fly, I instantly lifted the rod to tension the line and it was on, the water exploded as this fish tore off across the lake stripping line at a great rate of knots on the first of many runs.

Seen you before!

Come in number four, your time is up!

This session was great fun with four fish on the bank, I had to do it again!

Sunday afternoon I returned for another go with the fly but things looked bleaker, the air temperature was down and the wind was a little stronger, it took a good hour or so to find some fish willing to feed and it was to be a tad tricky casting into the wind, still, I love a challenge.

Casting was a little testing and as soon as the swim next door became vacant I moved in and was able to get a cast slightly across the wind increasing distance and improving presentation but it still took ages before I had a fish on the bank, just as I did, Barry and Jan turned up.

Worth the wait.

Barry wasn't fishing but it's strange that whenever he turns up at my swim I almost always catch a fish!

Whilst I was chatting to Barry and Jan I almost missed a take from my second Carp of the evening.

'Gummy'

This 'gummy' beast had obviously been mistreated at some point as it had a badly deformed mouth, and damage to dorsal, one of it's pectoral fins and tail. It seemed happy enough slurping down the biscuits though.

This change in the weather is what the Carp at Ryton have been waiting for, as I write this they are happily thrashing the water to a foam making new baby Carp and I've Just had news that their also at it at Jubilee on both pools, Barry was there today and had ten fish out on the fly, the little git's four ahead now!