Bits "N" Pieces

Since my last blog my family and i have not had a great couple of months, my Grandfather passed away in October then my Grandmother this month in November. They would have been married 71years this December and they were the reason why we traveled to Devon on a regular basis, because of their age 90+ we knew that time wasn't on our side it still doesn't make it any easier and we are going to miss them very very much!! xxxxx

                          R.I.P Mr William Henry & Mrs Clara May Hamilton gone but will never be forgotten xxxx
                                                        
                                                                     We love you Nan and grampy duck  

This will probably be my last post of the year unless my luck changes and i start catching some half decent fish to blog about. Saying that i have had a 2lb 4oz perch from The old quarry and to be honest that was more of a fluke than planned, i mean i was fishing for perch i just saw them in the shallows, i flicked out a lob worm and the biggest one snaffled the bait. All the other tactics i tried wouldn't work, I suppose they all count, apart from that and a few jack pike it really has been slow for me, i'll keep trying, the buzz of not knowing what I'm going to catch is to strong not to. I want to get out and fish with The PerchFishers next year, they really do fish some great places and are always willing to help anglers like me.

2lb 4oz

My good friend Andy (@awgheating) told me about a stretch of a canal not far from where he lives which is home to some decent size pike. Andy has had a few out, not to pass up an opportunity the boy and i went and had an inspection, we blanked no surprise there, I caught the one below on another trip and a smaller one the next time i went.

Now this stretch is only 2-2 1/2 feet deep and because of the mild weather we've  had, the canal was still choked with weed in November, which is really strange and makes the fishing hard as you can't get a lure to fish the correct way. So the best way I found to fish was by dropping my lures in holes in the weed, which did work but the pike was very small, but another section of the canal, you can see the bottom as you walk a long the tow path. This gives you the advantage of spotting fish and casting on too them, now i did see a beast of a pike say 10 to 15lb which made me try and act as if i hadn't seen it hoping it hadnt seen me, but these fish are not stupid. Casting every lure i had in my box at the pike and it just sat there as if to say keep trying mate i'm not interested and swam off and disappeared.

It just sums up my fishing really the small rivers i fish the canal and the old quarry. Clear and small venues you have to be very quite and blend into the back ground i try my best but you can't account for other people. These places must have been stocked at some point (i know the quarry has) but the river and canal probably haven't so you are going for fish that have grown big and old on being smart dodging predators them self's so it is always going to be hard they are not stupid unlike the angler!!!. I know i can pay to fish at lakes and other places with a much better chance of catching say commercial stuffed with carp, but these more wild not looked after type of places gives me the buzz, so i suppose blanking comes with the territory.
I will one day crack the code and have a so called red letter day and believe me you will here my screams of happiness across the country......

A canal jack pike  

There's going to be a new chapter in my angling journey for i am buying a boat in April of 2015 a £1 million yacht, no i'm not really it's a 12ft Jon boat with a 6 hp engine for one purpose and one purpose only and that's to fish the mighty River Thames as much as possible. There are some real big monsters in this piece of water and i think (hope) it's where the boy and i are going to break a few personal best's and really get into them whackers.
Now i've fished the Thames from the bank and caught some nice fish but walking up and down the river i can see lots of places that you can only explore by boat, and a couple of well known anglers(who will remain nameless)  have tried to put me off but that just makes me more interested in why!!!.
Plus i will be purchasing a fish finder so i can map out and find the hot spots, spend time baiting up and give myself and the boy the very best chance of success.( yes and you Andy)

              

           The boy jigging a jelly

   

His still trying

I love fishing with my youngest son his such a character and we have

At last!!

a good relationship, if we blank as often happens we still chat about how

we fished and what we could do next time. I think you want to take dynamite with you dad or drain the canal might give you a better chance of catching, will be some of the comments the boy will say and we end up laughing our heads off.

See i get the point now it's about time on the bank with friends and i class "STICKZ" (that's his nick name because of his long skinny legs) not just my son but my best friend and my fishing buddy so we didn't catch, but learnt a little bit more about the venue/venues we are fishing.

   

Some people still don't get it, no matter how many times you say it!!!!!

The Gudgeon say's

This is my sport and i'll like to do as much as i can to protect it.

Environment hotline:(24 hrs)
0800 80 70 60







Now there is one thing that gets up my nose and a lot of anglers i know and speak to on twitter, and that's LITTER. We have to get the message across because it's killing our sport the mindless morons that think it is acceptable to bag up rubbish then hide it in the bushes, discard old line hooks and weights with no thought to others or wildlife. How simple is it to take a spare carrier bag and put the trash in it, i'm not going to follow people around to clean up after them, i don't do it for my sons nor does their mother so why should i have to do it for you. I don't get it more needs to be done name and shame thats what i say, it's as simple as this PICK UP YOUR LITTER AND TAKE IT HOME!!!!!!!

Now on a more of a happy note i'd like to share with you some floats i had made for me by a very good friend i've made on twitter, he goes by the name @_squirrel01 i know he won't mind me saying this but he is a complete FRUIT & NUT CAKE. Now you could go out and spend alot of money on a set of floats made by a professional float maker "if there is such a thing" and have them sitting in a case on your mantle piece, but these little beauty's have got a lot more character.

 As you can see by the photo's he can make bobber's, reed stems and quill's, I truly am grateful for his time and communication in getting them right for me. They are not perfect (he would say the same) their like the floats your grandad would give you that he made in his shed, that's exactly what i wanted from something hand made. These floats are design to be used, and when i get the chance now that everything has settled down i will be trotting them down a river or fishing a live bait under one of the bobbers, close to some bushes waiting for that big 4lb perch to snaffle the bait. So i thank you Mr Squirrel.

I just want to give another fella a mention from my twitter friends and that is @northernnev he is a bait guru on boilie making, his extensive knowledge on ingredients and base mixes is second to none so if you are in the market for a base mix look him up!!!.

Well thats about it for me this year, it hasn't been great but life must go on, i am deeply honoured that you taken the time out to read my blog and  wish you a very merry christmas and a happy new year see you in 2015, lets hope that it's a big fish year for the boy and I!!!.  

          

            The Gudgeon.

                                                                             

 

      

Advertisements

                                                                 http://www.leadshed.co.uk/

                                        http://www.catandcarp.co.uk/

                                                                beechwoodbaits.com

                             

                                 http://www.customfishingrods.co.uk/  

                                                  m.facebook.com/tightlinezclothing

                                                            awgheatingltd.webs.com

                                                                thorpeleafishery.co.uk
                                                                         

readyrigs.co.uk

                                                                http://www.midlandcarpers.com/ 

                                                         http://www.cbtackleshop.com/

                                                                    Driving Lessons

                                                        https://m.facebook.com/BarkerBaitBoats

                                            https://www.facebook.com/TheGudgeonsGadets

https://www.facebook.com/karpkandi?ref=hl#!/karpkandi

https://m.facebook.com/Dld-Floats-Hand-made-floats-941275222618517/

             

                                          

Fishing with a friend pt 2

I just wanted to go fishing again and catch some fish anywhere would be nice, so when the opportunity to fish back at TheOldQuarry came up I jumped at the chance. This time I'm going with not just a mate but what I class as a good friend Mr Gibbs (@Awgheating1) someone I can bounce ideas off and just generally chat and have a laugh with "at my expense most of the time" but it's all good fun.

Now the plan was to get a day off which is not that easy at the moment as we are very busy at work, so when someone cancel a days holiday I jumped at the chance and said I'll have that thank you. Thursday 2nd of October it is then I couldn't wait got my tackle ready about three times, my plan of action was tiddler bashing. Let me explain now my son Louis (@Frychaser) has got this method down to a fine art fish shallow 2 ft max with one maggot to start with, you can up the hook size and how many maggots you use on the hook as your session progresses, but just keep spraying maggots over the top. The small fish come easy and the more you feed the bigger the fish get well that's how it's meant to work (it does for him), my attempt was not that successful don't get me wrong I caught fish but they were very small and there was millions of the little blighters but I was catching. I'd forgotten how much fun it was just to be there and fish, I think it's safe to say you can get caught up in all the hype about specimen hunting and I did, not saying I don't want a big perch or carp or any other fish but you can just forget what you are actually meant to be doing. "JUST GO FISHING".

Andy with a beast at 2 lb 6oz

           

         Not as big, but a cracker 1 lb 15 oz

I arrive at 6.15am its still dark, just shows you after all these years of fishing the excitement is still there. So i text Andy to see how long he was going to be and say hurry up i think i can here a banjo playing in the background he said that i'll be a couple of minutes and true to his word he was, i think he was just as excited.We stood in the car park and chatted about what swims we are going to fish and what method would be best, and it wasn't long before Andy start digging me out about how many times i re-tweet stuff on twitter and telling me how he was going to out fish me with his skill. I have written about this lake before with it's feeling like know one has been here for years it's a lovely old deep pit with some big fish in it. Now this is the place where i had a couple of hook pulls from some big perch last time i was here but i'm not going to dwell on that i am just going to chill and see what the day brings.

 Plenty of these critters in here

My first pike in 20 years

Now after catching a ton of tiddlers no bigger than an ounce or two, and with all that splashing around i knew it wouldn't be long before it caught the attention of Mr Pike. And there are some very big crocs in here both Andy and i have witness them at very close quarters, So low and behold while Andy and myself was chatting about what was going on and thinking of what to do next a pike all of about 4lb smashed the small roach i just hooked right by the bank, which made the both of us jump and laugh Luckily hooked on the outside of the mouth i was able to land the monster predator in question.
It was a funny old day because the swim just seemed to go dead after that, i thought it would of come alive with the pike sorted out. So a swim change was needed, i moved into the swim where i had the dreaded hook pulls last time, will it happen again not if i can help it. A step up in terminal tackle is required, now my main line was 6lb and my old hook link of 3.1lb and a size 18 hook, this time i'm going to up that to 5lb hook link and a size 14 hook, stronger and with my soft float rod i got more chance of landing a beast or two. Iv'e lost interest with the tiddler bashing method for now, i need Louis to show me how to do it again" LOL".
 I'm going to fish a lot deeper now but have no weight on the lower part of the rig so the maggots slowly sink past the snags with the free offering i'm catapulting over the top hopefully that will get the fish feeding again. After what seemed like ages i eventually caught a small perch then it just went dead again, had Mr pike moved in or was it something else. Well let me tell you when the float bobble and slid under the surface it was meet with a swift side ways strike, and i knew that the fish on the other end was a perch because of the head shakes, and at 1lb 15oz it was my best of the day. So after losing the next fish which felt a lot bigger, i tried everything after that but nothing seemed to work at least i didn't blank and it was good day and nice to be out.

I ask my good friend Mr Gibbs to write a few words on how his day went and what he thought of the fishing......

Started off well....

Gudgey and I had decided to fish The Old Quarry again. I'd offered him The River Thames in search of bream but we decided to hit the lake. After all , it had fished well last time we came here in May, so let's give it another bash.
I set up in peg 4, the corner swim, just where I fished last time so I had half an idea what to do.

Out went the pole to 7 metres by a clear patch in the weed next to a very fishy looking bush. It's deep out there, around 12 feet finds the bottom.
  I'm set up on a 1 gram float, 4lb mainline to a 3lb hook length, all finished off with a size 16 barbless. A few cups of 4 mm pellet and a few maggots later and I'm swinging in my first fish, a small skimmer. 
A  few small Perch followed along with a Rudd and a couple of Roach. All good do far but I knew bigger fish were hiding out there. 
On goes a lob worm tail and almost straight away the float dips and I'm in. Straight away I know this is a proper fish. Loads of 8 elastic flies out the end of my pole as this fish seeks the sanctuary of the weed. Which it makes. Easily. 
It's gone well in the weed and feels like it's off.
All I can do is pull back the gear, along with a bundle of weed, Gudgey scoops the whole lot in the net and lo and behold, the fish is in there! A super Perch. Quickly in the sling for a weigh and she went 2lb 6oz. Well pleased with that. Took a couple of quick pics and popped get back into the depths.  
This is all after no more than 10 minutes angling and I'm thinking I'm onto a right flyer here. Then......

Petered off in the middle......

So I'm on a high after that cracking perch and expecting to have a few more, so I stick with the lobs as bait.
Nothing. Not a touch. So I'm back on the maggot again for a few more micro Perch and similar sized Roach. The fish are coming but not thick and fast. 
I'm having to change depth and down a hook size to an 18 with a single maggot just to get any interest.
There's some good bream and tench, not too mention the carp in this lake so I carry on dropping in the pellets and loose feed corn going one will turn up.
Still nothing and now it's getting harder to catch even a small roach. Such a far cry from earlier in the year when it was a fish( or at least a bite) every put in. 
Time for a break so I wandered up to Gudgey to see how he was getting on and have one of his lovely cups of tea.
I watched Gudge land a pike that took a small Rudd he was reeling in then got back to my swim in the hope that a rest may have done it some good. 
More nothing. The odd micro Perch and that was it. And even they were becoming hard to catch.
Half an hour later I hear a yelp from Gudgeys swim. He's into a proper one. By the time I get there he's got a lovely perch in the net. Not as big as my specimen but at 1lb 15oz still a great stripey and one that put a smile on The Gudgeons face!

The less said about the end, the better.....

Now I'm struggling. Properly struggling. I can't even buy a bite. I've tried the lot and the best I can do is the odd micro Perch. Not good. So I borrowed one of Gudgeys incredibly well made weed rakes (available to order at very reasonable prices)  and cleared myself another swim. Once cleared I dropped in a few balls of groundbait, some pellet, corn & maggot in the hope one or two of the tench might appear. 
I'm pretty sure I don't need to tell you what happened next as you can probably guess that this killed the whole thing dead. Not even a touch. Nothing. I went through the whole bait selection once again.
I suffered the newly raked swim for an hour or so, then back to the original bush swim, by this time I'm ready to pack up and go, a bite every half an hour from a see through perch is driving me crazy. 
Gudgeys delightful tea keeps me going along with some spectacular banter keeps me going until I've properly lost heart in it and packed up.
Overall it was a disappointing day on what we know is a great venue, punctuated by my specimen 2lb 6oz Perch and Gudgeys small 1lb 15oz effort. Oh and his lucky jack pike.
And if he tells you about the one he hooked  that got away, you'll be there for hours as he regales you with the whole story. It was massive, apparently.
Cheers for letting me have a go on your blog Gudge, and thanks for a fun day and some great cups of tea, looking forward to the next time already.

Andy

I hope you enjoy reading our story, until next time Tight Lines.                                                                                                                            

                                    

                                           
  

Still trying!!!!

BREAM FISHING:-

I was going to write about my bream fishing but I've only been once so there's not alot to talk about, so i thought i will let you know and keep you up to date in what i have been up to.
Now the one time i did go bream fishing was on the mother Thames, i was meant to be going with my friend Paul (@spikeydorsal), but unfortunately his beloved dog fell ill and had to have surgery so there was no way of him driving up from Aldershot, and as I've said before it is only fishing.
But all went well and the dog is on the mend so good news all round. Now loaded with my tackle i went fishing on my own with the knowledge i had and the swim i was in which had produced fish just the other week surely i was in with a chance of my first Thames bream. Right i got my self comfortable, mixed my ground bait up and tackled up, my end tackle is easy 30 gram feeder on my 8lb main line and a long hook link of 9lb. Now the hook link is stronger because of the snags in the river, the baits i will be using are pellets, corn and red maggots. Now little did i know what i had to put up with fishing this river, i mean boats, canoes, people letting there dogs run and jump off the bank into the water and shake off under my umbrella and laughing, rubbish and lots of it and just generally abusing this beautiful piece of water. I witness a lot of stuff go on and this was my first time fishing this part of the Thames, "just stay calm" i said to my self and fish that's what your here for no good getting the hump and ruining my day.
So i start my days fishing by picking a marker on the island in front of me and lobbing out the feeder to just over half way and clipping up. Accuracy is the key today, building up the swim and getting them bream feeding, now you would of thought i should of piled the ground bait in and build a mountain of bait because bream will munch through loads of it. I wasn't really sure about doing that
so i'm just going to keep the feeder going out and build up that way, safer i think.
Now where I'm fishing there is a big old willow tree to my right hand side so i think I'm going to keep the maggots going in there during the course of the day and try and build a second swim as back up.
Here we go ground bait is ready I'm using a medium tip today because i think with the pull of the river current and the weight of the feeder i need a stiffer tip. Whether that's right or not i don't know so only time will tell, maggots are my first hook bait choice and the first cast goes well stray so does the second and third now i got to stop as I'm spraying bait everywhere. I re-position my chair and try again, see that's another thing I've learned sort your position out first don't just get comfortable, get in the right position once. Now i hit the spot on fourth cast not bad, but nothing, so i reel in after 10 minutes to fill the feeder back up and keep the bait going in. My maggots are sucked dry every time, the tip is to strong as I'm not seeing the tiny bites from the small fish, this happens for the next hour or so as i persist with maggots so change of plan is needed. A pellet tipped with a piece of corn is my next plan of action, i'm going to have to sit here and wait for the tip to pull round as I've just found out my other tips are not in my bag, I've been fishing all my life and it doesn't get any easier for me.:(
Now I've  re-baited and cast back out, 10 minutes go by and not a single bite, so i reel back in and fill the feeder up again. I have to keep that bait going in, then 10 minutes go by and you get the picture. 40 minutes later; there should be quite alot of bait out there now, with that the tip pulls round and i miss it because i'm not paying attention give me strength, and its at this point the tip goes round again your no going to fool me twice Mr fish. I lean into it like i know what I'm doing, only hoping that there's resistance on the other end rather than a swim-feeder flying back at me, bosh!! I'm in and it don't feel like a bream surely me TheGudgeon hasn't connected to something big and strong there's no way I'm going to land it. HELP!!, please be a bream of gigantic proportions it was after an epic fight of three minutes a 4lb 8oz monster Thames bream rolls over the net cord yes!!

                                                    PB 4lb 8oz but not for long

I punch the air in delight with people looking at me as if i am a nutter???

With renewed enthusiasm i re-bait and hit the same spot yet again, "get in" i mumble to myself because when things are going good make the most of it and i haven't blanked, that was the only fish from the middle of the river. Time for a different tactic, maggot feeder and yes i brought them with me, after the switch had been made i prepare myself to flick it out under the willow to my right which has been fed copious amounts of red maggots the whole time I've been here. First cast and a small perch is on the end, then another and another, more and more keep coming getting slightly bigger but nothing to shout about. Then all of a sudden the tip rapped round and I'm into something a bit more larger and with the head shakes, I'm wondering whether i have connected to one of the large perch that inhabit this river. No it wasn't but after a short battle another bream rolled into the net and at 4lb 12oz, ha ha I've broken my Thames PB again "what a top angler i am" i say making sure people are not staring at me again lol and that was the end of the action but i had an enjoyable day and i will be back........

                               New PB 4lb 12oz

CARP FISHING:-

Now i am a newbie to carp fishing so indeed i need all the help i can get sure, the DVDs and the magazines have helped alot but a friend I've made on tweeter call Gary (@thebudgetfisher), has been absolutely fantastic sending me rigs and helping me prepare my tiger nuts and just generally being a top bloke and answering all my questions. Don't get me wrong there are loads of helpful people on social networks, but if you listen to too many your brain will explode, because everybody has a different opinion of how things work what i'm trying to say is don't copy people as it might not work for you but to use bits and pieces to help you figure it out for yourself.

                        The lake I'm fishing

Next I'm going over one of my club lakes to try and sneak out a whale or two, but it was not going to be that easy as i was to find out when i turned up to the swim i was baiting up on previous visits. which was free but somebody was fishing in the swim next door and didn't want me fishing there. This was because he was casting right a cross two swims and didn't want any newbie like me cramping his style, so after a few cross words, not to mention his dad and brother sticking there big fat noses in,  i told him to naff orf (i used a stronger words but they didn't listen). I had to move round to the other side of the lake as i was worried if i did fish there something was going to happen to me or my car, anyway when i got to my swim directly opposite the moron, i notice the mud was being turn over and there was bubbles i thought to myself "the fish are here not there, so if only i could catch a fish now and show it off and say thank you for making me move lol."
So now i need to get set up without scaring the fish which for me is going to be so hard because when i am trying to be a mouse I'm more like an elephant with a limp. Crawling around on my knees and hiding behind bushes, this had the morons looking but i just thought "get on your fishing", now my plan of attack was to fish one rod down to my right because that's where this fizzing was going on and the other rod was a roaming rod. Now i know when you just trickle a bit of bait in the fish will move away from your target area then you can lower your rig onto your chosen spot, this is what i did and it worked because i hadn't spooked the fish because i saw them come back wow it works. I'm a clever boy but how am i going to get the other rod out now without spooking my swim, i'm not i'll leave it for a while and put it out just before dark i better set up camp for the night.

                                                               sleeping under the stars

With the other rod out in the lake i wasn't to confident that this rod was fishing that good but i didn't want to keep casting it out and scare the fish because i knew they were really close. My best chance was the margin rod, i knew that a blank was very much on the cards (that's how my mind set is always prepare for the worst) but it was nice to be out and doing it. With that i decided to cook my dinner a pot noddle (curry flavor) which was rudely interrupted but a couple of bleeps on my margin rod which had my heart pumping thinking it was going to roar off, but it didn't so they are in the area again so a bite could be soon. So now its really getting dark and i have to check under the bed chair to see if there any monsters about, I'm not a great lover of the dark on my own I'm scared that a monster from the Muppet show is going to get me, so now i crawl into my bed and it starts to rain. I get my umbrella put up, getting wet at the same time, the brolly is up it stops raining and my buzzer sounds again and i have trouble getting it because of the brolly lol why oh why. Still i know the fish are in the area so i tidy up and I'm going to sleep under the stars, with nothing to get in my way i fall asleep and woke up about 6.30am. Sitting on the edge of my bed chair my margin rod signaled a take which i jump up and grabbed the rod fully expecting a resistance on the other end, but all i felt was well nothing, the line went limp and a big bow wave went out across the lake, the fish had done me like a kipper that was my big chance and the carp had got away with it. Well that's fishing and its why i do it because of the chase, i love it, the excitement grips me like nothing else ever has, all i got to do is keep up with learning and i will succeed......
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Just one more thing as you know i love my perch and that time of the year is coming, when the call of them big old stripey's is ringing in my ears. I've got a date with ThePerchfishers to fish the Great Ouse in October so i'm so looking forward to that and they published parts of my blog in there magazine i am as proud as punch thank you so much Tony Meers editor ;)

                                                       My work published WOW

           So until next time my friends be safe, be cool, tight lines and most importantly be happy. :)




















   

Part 7 The Glorious 16th June 2014

I just want to start this blog off by saying i was meant to be carp fishing but every time i go to pre bait my swims there seems to be people in them. They must be the most popular swims on the lake so that's it ill wait until the weather starts to change and the fair weather fishing man naff off and my carp campaign can begin again.
Guess what i'm going after that's right them perch again can't get enough of the Sargent's but this time I've had a little help from a good friend of mine Mark (@markchapsout) showing me some very good places to fish on the Thames and its tributary's.

The problem you got fishing the Thames is that it's a big piece of water that goes on for miles and can be 100 feet wide in places and 15 feet deep, a lot of the good places you want to fish are only accessible by boat as i was going to find out on this trip. I was having a chat with a fella getting out of a boat asking him how he got on and he was telling me that he had some good bream and some big perch and later finding out that he was a reporter for angling times and a picture of him and his prize perch on twitter, made me realize i need to save up all my money and buy a boat and change my name to Captain Gudgeon. For now I'm just going to have to do with walking up and down the river as much as can, so the glorious 16th will be the first session on the Thames I've had in many years.

Now as i said before the Thames is massive so the best way of attacking it is by sectioning it up, and that's what I done, now the part i was investigating first is the part above and below Molesey lock.
So my day begins by getting up and catching the 4.40am X26 bus from west croydon bus station changing at Kingston station and then changing onto the 411 which is going to take me to Hampton court bridge. Then a short walk to the train station where i'm going to meet my mate Paul, who has driven up from Aldershot, now a short drive in his car down the road to East Molesey cricket club which backs on to the river, after all that we prepare our tackle which consist of light lure rods for drop shotting and slightly heaver rods for jig fishing.

                                                     Molesey lock  NO FISHING :(

                                                     The weir only accessible by boat

                                                           View from top of the lock

Right slowly walking towards the bridge we stop off and drop our lures into likely looking spots, little over hanging bushes and trees, drop shotting is a slow process but you can explore every nook and cranny and doing this that i get my first bite on this method. Just above the weir Paul and i are slowly moving along the edge of the river and enticingly dancing our little paddle tail jellies along the bottom when something grabs hold of mine. Not sure what happened next as i struck far to late then peering into the water with my polarize glasses i could see a perch not a big one but it was a fish it followed for a short while then disappeared into the depths, at least i had a bite so i'm getting something right. Moving along the river we came to the lock now you can't fish the lock but just down from it you can and it's here i had a small pike follow my lure, this is the most action I've had on this method of fishing in many years now i'm starting to believe i'm getting the hang of using artificial baits to catch fish.     

                    Top of the lock just behind the sign is where i got my first bite on drop shotting.

But that was all the action we had even after going over the road which was the other side of Hampton Court bridge walking down the river, here it didn't produce anything, as we came up to the river mole that come into the Thames just along from the bridge and opposite Hampton court palace, as you can see from the picture below it just screams perch and pike but we couldn't get a nibble it looks like a jungle. Now one thing i forgot to tell you is that Paul has a YouTube channel he has only just started but there are some good videos on there, now i was being film by Paul doing a bit of jungle fishing which at one point i slipped and could of fallen in. As i turned to Paul and said did you get that on film he just laughed and said yep and put the camera back in his pocket, not once sticking a hand out and helping me but saying that's going on YouTube oh i can't wait.
At this point we decided to walk back to the car and have something to eat and drink and chat on what to do next and we decided to go away from Hampton court and walk towards sunbury on Thames doing the same thing we have been doing.         

                                                                       River mole

                                                          There's alot of this on the Thames

Now the Thames changes a bit down towards sunbury, the banks are more sloped and the river widens but there's not a lot of difference and its walking down this way that i'm am drop shotting around a bush that i hook my first fish and i mean first fish of the day of the season and first ever drop shotting. So now i'm playing this fish which is a perch and Paul said ill get the camera and video you playing it great i said so off he runs to the next swim to get the equipment and he takes an age to get it, while i'm trying to drag a fight out with a 4 oz perch its lucky i'm cool and professional but Paul is taking to long so i shout come on, George Lucas made star wars quicker. With that he gets back to me and points the camera in the direction of the monster that's now laying on the waters surface yes you've guessed it the hook pulls out and i lose it, no photo of my achievement Paul just points the cameras at me and we just laugh at each other, but he did say that fish counts as i would of landed it if he was quicker cheers mate.
So that's my first tester of the Thames and i must say i'm well impressed with this piece of water and will be spending a lot of time on here so keep an eye out for more of my blogs and thanks for reading so until next time good luck and tight lines......  




 

I think you call it carping.......

It's mayday bank holiday and i'm carp fishing on Yately complex while i'm sitting here waiting for something to happen i decided to put pen to paper and keep you updated on what has been going on with my fishing. Now this is not my first session on this lake that was near the beginning of the season 12th April 2014 with my boy Louis (@frychaser) now that session was a big fat blank, and we fished for different species to try and find out what was feeding at the time. Louis was after the tench and i went after the carp but as we found out later we were on the completely wrong side of the lake because of a problem with some mink which gave my boy a fright of his life when it came out of the bushes right beside him, dragging a bream of about 4lb making a horrible growling noise as if to say to Louis back off go catch your own fish.

                                mink with a bream

                                                     the boy trying his best to catch a tench

                                           Me trying to look like i know what i'm doing.

I go with a open mind now yes its nice to catch but its not everything, there's alot more to fishing, now the reason i joined this club is because i deliver alot in the area so for prebaiting i got the upper hand. The next time i'm down that way i'm going to pop in and spread a bit of my bait little and often over my spots but its also going to give me an opportunity to have a good look round and to see whats actually in there. I mean this lake has everything snags, bit of open water, over hanging trees and bushes, loads of Lilly-pads and that's where i found Mr carp.

                            there you are

They were all there i mean there had to be 20 plus carp just lazying around in the pads minding there own business and some of them were lumps i mean 20+ that's big in my books so how on earth was i going to fish for them what tactics did i have to use. So many questions so little answers, i'm going to need help and twitter will be the place to get what i need, but first lets get some bait in some spots so i can get them use to my bollies. Now the bait i'm using for my campaign is Nash monster squid in purple,black and red and in three different sizes, the reason why i'm doing this way is to confuse the fish i hope because it's not going to able to work out which one has the hook attached.
Now before i go and start asking question of what, where and when i'm going to have a 24hr session on my own to see what happens and how the carp like to play, another reason is I can get some more bait in.
So i turn up on the mayday bank holiday fully expecting the car park to be full up but it wasn't and there was only 3 people on the lakes and two of them was only fishing the day, so now not only am i doing my first night session for many years, i am now going to have to do it on my own in the dark, i'm scared LOL.
Right that's enough of that lets get down to the fishing, I told you I was fishing the wrong side of the lake well this time I'm sat in the last swim round the other side, now i have Lilly pads to my right, the point swim straight out in front of me and some snags down to my left. This seems a good swim better than the last one so i'm going to put a balanced bottom bait as close to the pads as i can and the ever faithful chod in a bit of open water, now i know that my chances of catching are slim so it was more of a recon session rather that a full on attack.

                  My swim number 2

                  My swim again.

Now to say the carp were showing off was a understatement there was fish boshing out all over the right hand side of the swim and these were lumps aswell. I decided to stay where i was so i could take note of what was happening you might think that's a bit of a waste of time if your not on the fish but i wanted to see the carp doing what they normally do without any lines in there way. Now that i spent the night watching and taking notes i'm ready to move on to them i know where they are now and i know what swim i got to be in, so i'm getting closer and closer my next trip is on Monday 12th for 24 hrs.

                      Beautiful swim 

     

    This little fella wouldn't leave me alone.

Well i just had my third trip with my brother @mastermonkey66 and that has ended in a blank, but as i keep saying i'm learning all the time, so now i'm in the right swim on the right side of the lake and i'm fishing in the right area. There's to much noise from the pair of us and my rod tips are sticking to far out over the water making shadows, but it's not until you are there doing it that you can see what you are doing wrong, now sitting at home pounding the keyboard and going through things in my head the picture becomes alot clearer. So the next session i will be on my own in the right swim on the the right part of the lake and i will be fishing in the right place, rods back from edge and creeping around no noise minimum amount of tackle, stay away from the waters edge no shadows. Can you see its all falling into place and there will be only one outcome; and that's me falling over and breaking my rod and blanking so until the next installment tight lines..................