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.