River bream and AGM.

This was to be my last trip before the season closed so I thought get yourself down to mother Thames and have a go for the slabs, I'm fortunate to follow and be followed by some very good anglers on twitter and one of them is Tony curd and it was he who posted a picture of himself with a net full of Thames bream up to 9lb from a stretch just below kingston bridge. I know this as he was good enough to tell me where when and how he caught them So with it being the last weekend of the season it was going to get busy so I needed a plan and that was to get there at silly a clock and that's the one thing I'm good at getting there to early and not being able to see a thing.

Now I didn't fish in the same spot as Tony because I wasn't sure where to park so after a bit of homework on Google Earth and talking to my mate Andy (@awgheating1) I worked out that lower ham road in kingston just down from where Tony was fishing and it's free parking and there was a famous peg that I didn't know about but I was just about to fish it. Bait wise was simple a good ground bait which was bait tech omen, hemp sweet corn and dead and live maggots tackle was my ever faithful Matt Hayes all rounder set up to the power feeder at 13ft my fox stratos fs7000 reel loaded with strong 8lb drennen feeder line 30g swimfeeder and a guru N gage hook link in 9lb breaking strain line with a smq1 size 12 hook great setup and very strong so no messing around on such a big river where there's lots of under water snags and a shelf just in front of me with all manner of rubbish and rocks.

My plan was hatched and I was up and out at just gone 4am, there's no traffic that time in the morning and I got to the section I was going to fish in pretty good time in fact it was still dark and I had no Idea where to fish what I mean by this is which swim as there are quite a few to chose from and i couldn't see a dam thing until another car pulled up and shone his lights in my direction which lit up everything. This guy jumps out of his car and headed towards me and said you fishing there without looking i said yes if you were here five minutes earlier and before i could finished my sentence he said if you would of got here five mins later i would of been in that peg because that the steps swim you'll catch lots in there if you know what you are doing, bingo i got the flyer!! Then his attitude change did you over take me on the way here? mate i drive a citroen c3 you drive a scooby, thats when he said to me that the peg i was in wasnt very good and the next one down was the better as he fish a match in the steps swim and didn't do very well hoping i would change my mind and move, i said to him ill take my chances in here and turned my back on him before i told him to get knotted, talk about a spoilt little boy throwing his toys out the pram because he couldn't fish the swim i was in now i just hope i catch or i'm going to look like a right plonker.

so after getting my chair and tackle sorted out and got myself comfortable i thought i'd done a pretty good job as it was only starting to get light. Once i was sitting in my chair getting ready for the first cast i need to be halfway across to be in with a good chance to catch which isn't a great distance so I was comfortable with that and as long as I got the swim feeder in and around the same spot I would catch.

If you want a big net of bream you are going to have to put the bait and time and effort in but you will be rewarded,for this session I'm just going to swing the feeder out and refill every 3 min and get a bit off bait in there nab a couple Which is what happened straight away cast the rod out sunk the line put the rod in the rest and bosh the tip just swung round and the first bream of the day Was dragged kicking and screaming into the landing net and that's how it went on until 2pm almost on the dot  the fella that said the next swim down was better weren't happy as every time I caught a fish I let him know about it.

A net full of Thames bream

Now these Thames bream are a different bred to their still water cousin  they actually fight back and use the flow to their advantage which makes for really exciting bream fishing. Now I know these fish go upto and over 9lb and that's a big slab so it would be nice to set my stall out to see if I can get a double figure snotty. It's not impossible I will just have to do my homework and have a plan before I start So that was my last session right at the end of the season.
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The best magazine out there

I've been a Perchfisher for just over a year now and I've not done anything with the group no fish ins couldn't go to the last AGM so this year I'm going to make the effort and that's exactly what I did I'm going to make what I thought was the long drive up to Haversham which is just north of Milton Keynes but only an hour and forty five minutes later and I'm sitting outside the gate waiting to be let in it is 7am and the gate didn't open until 8 lol, well it's better to be early than late. Paul Howkins who is the chairman of the group let me in just before 8 and we had a good chat to find out the best places to fish.

My home for the weekend

To cut a long story short I blanked but I did help another fellow member land a two 2lb perch from my swim lol, so all was not lost it was just great being around other people and talking fishing and i really enjoyed myself let's hope I can catch one next time year thank you for all your help Paul see you soon!!!!

I drew a blank

So that's it another post  but just before I go I did have another trip to framfield park caught a couple of pound and a half perch but the surprise was at the end when I struck into something very different and after a spirited fight I landed a 4lb 1oz eel the biggest one I've ever seen but the bad news is after taking a photo or two I stumbled and drop my phone in the water I did get it back but it's not working so a trip to the apple shop is in store hoping they can retrieve my photos so hopefully I can put some pictures up in the next post. It's not easy being me so until next time tight lines....

TheGudgeon

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Cheese paste fishing.

This is my first post of 2015 i'm hoping that everybody had a great festive season and the new year has started how you wanted it to i'm just glad to see the back of 2014.

I am still plugging away at the same venues as last year basingstoke canal and the river eden, it's been hard very hard with not a lot to talk about but there has been some success. I just want to talk about cheese as a bait for a moment, bear with please.

Many years ago I use to fish the river wandle a hell of a lot I mean this river is small and urban as you're going to get, it all started when my eldest son (luke) and I were fishing a part that runs through an industrial estate with what we thought was the two best baits for chub, bread and luncheon meat, we couldn't get a sniff it wasn't until a fella turned up with his Woolworth rod and tesco's mild cheddar and showed us how to empty the river, we just stood there in amazement these fish were big 4lb plus. So next time we went with cheese as our bait my son and I had 10 chub up to 3lb 10oz we were gobsmacked how can this normal everyday food item catch so many fish when probably the best two baits didn't get a sniff.   

Now roll forward 15 or so years my eldest son is at uni studying criminology, and I am fishing a
small urban river no bigger than the wandle with my youngest son (louis) @FryChaser, I've had a 4lb 2oz fish out of this river on cheese (just normal cheddar) but I wanted a larger one, and they go bigger in here over six pound.

4lb 2oz of old warrior my only fish from the river eden 

Since that last big chub I haven't had another one nor has the boy, this piece of intimate water does get a lot of pressure from anglers so the fish are very weary of bankside noise. The local bellends don't help either throwing rubbish in the water and parking cars up at the rivers edge playing loud music, and just generally being a nuisance to the wildlife and the people trying to enjoy this place. This could be one of the reasons for blanking or they are just very hard to temp, it's not just me but a few other anglers I know fish this stretch and they've blanked as well, and a couple of them use maggots they can't hook anything. I'm not giving up though and it's this type of attitude that's going to serve me well in the next few weeks, trust me it's hard to keep going fishing at a venue where you keep blanking and there has been many a time I've turned over and switch the alarm off and gone back to sleep.

My wife and julian

I'm in need some inspiration so me and my family have a day at the carp society show at sandown racecourse in november 2014, great show with lots of bargains and yes i spent all my pennies near dinner time we sat down and listen to what julian cundiff had to say. Now i don't have to tell you who this man is as most of you should know if not get researching as he is one of the very top carp anglers out there today, and you might be thinking what has this got to do with fishing a small river with cheese paste and your be right it has nothing to do with it until you've sit down and listen to how dedicated his is to his fishing 100% focused on catching carp when his goes or it's not worth going his words.

So after taking these words in and using his enthusiasm to boost my own fishing mojo i want to get back out there and keep trying. The reason julian is so good at what he does is the commitment and focus he puts in i could learn from him and so could you.

This is where it's get interesting because I wanted a bait which is going to give me that edge, we've spoken of just plain cheese which i used last time and caught but now i need to change something, i need not just a cheese that's going to hum really bad like your dads socks!! But something i can use and change easily like a paste. I turned to twitter and that's where a fella called @anthonywood58 who I have spoken to on many occasions and is a bit of a guru on bait not just bollies or naturals but all baits, he is a member of Bait-Tech street squad and has published four books so he knows a thing or two about home made bait.
So the question was asked have you got a recipe for cheese paste, five minutes later i had what i needed.
                           
340g frozen ready rolled shortcrust pastry
160g extra mature cheddar
160g stilton or blue cheese.

My saviour garlic flavor

New version stop the wife cooking it lol      

Right grate the cheddar and the blue cheese mix together roll out the pastry and place cheese on top fold over edges and knead until you've got a good smooth paste, and that's it. Wow simple or what i'm not going to tell you anymore but check out the fella's blog!
 anthonysanglingcorner.wordpress.com

This is where it get interesting because i made up the first batch and as i'm fishing i thought to myself not only have i got a recipe for cheese paste but a base to add any ingredients as i like. Now my brain is in overdrive, i never caught on the first batch (but the misses made plenty of cheese straws up and they went down a treat lol..) so i decided to leave the blue cheese out and add garlic puree.
This is great as i'm making my own paste now with my twist and i've only got Anthony to thank for putting me on the right path.

The only problem is trying to keep the misses from cooking the dam paste as a snack they did taste very nice but i didn't make it for her i made it for my other love Mrs Chub xxx. Two trips later and i'm still blanking and getting very frustrated, but as jules says you must keep at it so that is what i doing and i am rewarded with 2lb chub, yes there are fish still in here.

scene of previous capture, no fish here!

at last theres life in the river

P/B chub

5lb 2oz of monster chub
the smile says it all

The thing was i had to keep chopping and changing, i.e:- hook size plus the hook link length and i eventually found what combination worked as i had a fish in the bottom of my landing net.
No more fish came out of the swim all the casting and bankside noise seemed to kill it dead so another move is on the cards. Walking up the river there's a couple more people fishing i had a quick chat and apart from a few small perch nothing else had been caught. I carried on walking up the river past the men throwing large rocks into the water for their dogs to jump in and retrieve. While standing there thinking to myself was it time to go home i noticed a rather large bend further up the river, i never notice that before it wasn't until i got up close to the swim i realised how far i had walked There was no one around it felt like i was transported to the spot was i meant to be there.
Then thats where the magic comes in i'm here so i'll have just one more cast thinking i will give it 30 mins then i'm going home. Well to say i was surprised to see the top of my rod smash round in a matter of seconds caught me completely off guard, i didn't have to strike just catch the butt of my rod as it jumped up into my hand let the battle commence. This fish whatever it was dived straight into the weed bed got it out then again in another this went on for what seemed a lifetime eventually a beast of a chub rolled on the surface but i couldn't grab my landing net as it was just out of reach so i had to try and get the fish to swim up stream which it did diving into the weed bed i just got it out of i grabbed the net and made a mad lunge and boy was i lucky.
Lying in the bottom of the landing net was the biggest chub i have ever seen in the flesh, i zeroed the scales twice and i weighed it twice just to make sure it was what it said and at 5lb 2oz it is a new P/B for me. But the story doesn't end there i couldn't take a photo as the camera wouldn't stand up so i can take a selfie, there was no one around so it looks like i'm not going to get a picture of my chub, but then in the distance i see a figure of a man jogging with a dog so i frantically wave at him for help he obviously thinks i'm in trouble and sprints over and asked if everything is ok i reply yes but ask him to take a photo for me. When i show him my catch his words were F*** me thats a monster you never caught that from here, i did mate and he gladly took my photo and patted me on the back to congratulate me on an awesome fish after releasing my prize i sat in the chair and laughed out loud and said to myself i never gave up i never gave up. So thank you to the jogger and Julian, until the next post Tight Lines..
p.s my new ingredients are not going to taste so nice to us so i'm hoping it will steer the misses away ;)

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