New start and how life has change.

Wow has it been that long since I wrote an article for this blog, pls accept my apologies so much has happened since my last post, I have grandchildren 4 to be exact. life has been hard at times but generally not too bad I have the support of my beautiful wife Michelle who has kept me fed and watered plus encouraged me to get out and fish.

So in the last post, I was talking about joining a fishing club and trying my hardest to catch fish out of some very large and hard lakes, well that didn't go to plan as I couldn't catch a cold plus it wasn't the type of place you can turn up and sit there with a float rod and a tub of maggots, which I found out, no matter how hard I tried no matter how much time I put in just couldn't catch anything of a specimen size and it was getting me down thinking it was the way I was fishing, but one year I got myself together I had a plan and knew this was it my year then COVID hit and knocked me for six completely lost my way with fishing, see I had a plan and when I couldn't put that plan into action I just hit a brick wall, I was lost and didn't know what to do and nearly sold my gear, I was told by a lot of people don't sell your gear it will be a big mistake but I couldn't see the wood through the trees and I felt so down and lost I didn't know what to do. Hardest time of my life when your down your down and all the bad memories of life just seemed to pile on top of you all at once, I won't lie it was a dark time I felt completely useless and alone I needed help but how, just when I thought all was lost an arm reach around me and whispered in my ear I'm here for you and I love you and believe in you so much don't give up you must carry on no matter what as you have people relying on you it was my wife Michelle and from that point I wasn't on my own and I can do this so with a new desire I'm going to give it one more go so I thought but the fish had other ideas, first session I actually hooked a fish and I knew it was a good one by the way it was slowly plodding and not charging around so my heart was in my mouth then the dreaded hook pull, well it wasn't a hook pull when setting up I notice the hook link wasn't quite right but I thought it be ok AAAAAHHHHHHH MY FAULT and I kicked myself for that and it still haunts me now, that hit me hard but I had to carry on. My next session went even worse foul hooked a very large Tench and I even see the fish on the surface but then ping the hook popped out of its underbelly but I wouldn't be able to claim it as I knew it was foul hooked I thought to myself what the F**K do I have to do to actually land a BLO**Y fish from this water next trip I'll try another swim this time my line got snagged on underwater obstruction and it was at that point I knew my time was up I had to get away from my old club get a fresh start go back to basics enjoy my fishing again and stop so that is what I have done.

To start again from the beginning was not as easy as you think but I did with the help of my wife who kept at me to get out and try again I joined a new club Godalming Angling and boy has it kicked off in style with Tench carp and crucian carp all coming to my dry net lol boy I'm buzzing going every Friday after work and spending 24hrs fishing not just one lake but two absolutely having a smashing time. Now we are in September the kids are going back to school and the hot weather is slowly going away we are heading into probably the best time of the year so I'm going to get out a lot more now down the river Wey and more perch fishing.

 So, as you can see, I am getting old and hairy plus I have a nice little crucian carp, not my biggest but my self take photos that are horrendous and quite embarrassing but that will change in the second part of my angling adventure this year as I got a good little setup, I'm just waiting to catch a fish worth photoing lol  

The beautiful Marsh Farm, on my club ticket and probably one of the best crucian carp fisheries in the south, had to bring my rods in on this occasion as they wouldn't shut up lol was an amazing session and hopefully be a lot more.

This is Wood Lake and is stuffed with tench and bream plus sizeable perch and millions of little Rudd, so I will be having a go for the perch later on in the year, and this is where I'm currently carp fishing as you can see from the pictures below.
     

As you can see from the above photo not the greatest but my first carp on my first attempt at a new lake, so I was happy with it, it just shows you 6 years at one club and not doing very well but then 3 sessions in and I’ve caught a net load of fish already so happy I changed venues. now my main plan of attack will be PVA bag fishing for the carp on my club lake, I'm not one for pilling in the bait because it's quite expensive and you can't take back what you've put in so my thinking is small little spots of crumbed boilie and 2.3mm blood worm pellets with a match the hatch wafter, got all the components that I need to tie the bags up now it's just putting it in to practice. So that's the carp side of fishing sorted now In in-between sessions for carp I will be trying to catch perch from the river Wey, not sure the size they grow to in this small river but you never know, I know of a 3lb specimen that came out of the Eden so there is always a chance a monster could be swimming around in the Wey, now I always take maggots and worms plus I'll be trying out live baits as well, not a fan of lure fishing so I'm just going to roam around with my selective baits trying my luck.

Right enough talking about fishing, the wife and I will be going to Brussels in October for her 50th birthday and I'm really looking forward to having an exploration over there yes before you ask, I will pop into a fishing tackle shop just to see how they do things in a different country, didn't take long to mention fishing did it lool.

 Lots of things have been happening during the time I did a blog I've been married to my beautiful wife Michelle for 12 years now we have two grown-up sons with 4 grandchildren who keep us very busy, but we love spending time with them we have been getting out quite a bit, Oxford, Milton Keynes, Cambridge, Hungerford and a lot of exploring in Wales, Tenby being my favourite but Wales as a country is just so beautiful and can't wait to go back and explore more. 

    Ok short and sweet don't want to drag on too much save some for the next blog, tight lines, and good luck in your fishy travels.

The gudgeon.  

P.S. Don't forget to visit the best tackle shop in Surrey and they sell the "G" rake large and small, plus I have some very special trips coming up so keep an eye out for the next post buzzing for the end of the year TBC.