Old blog new start

I've decided to start my blog up again which I haven't touched in7 years, so I'm going to upload the last post I done which I didn't publish but from now on I will keep updated with my travels with the wife and my fishing disasters I mean trips lool hope you enjoy...…

Well I'm back blogging about my favourite pass time and there is no better time in the calendar of a mad keen angler than June 16th start of the river season and to say I am excited is like asking my Mrs does she fancy Tom Hardy.😚

Now my season is going to start on the mother of all rivers the mighty Thames in surrey, I've never done a campaign on a piece of water as large as this river so a lot of walking and observing is needed to even get near a fish. I don't get the same buzz from still water than I do from a running water, don't get me wrong I love fishing for all species like tench and bream roach and Rudd plus eels and best of all perch. There is something about running water that inspires me more the further away from civilisation the better, I would love to find a lake that hasn't been fished for 100 years and nobody knows what's in there, NOW THAT WOULD BE GREAT!!!!!

Now I know I have been through this once before but there is no getting away from this river!!!

7lb 1oz PB Thame's  Bream

The end of last season 16/17 wasn't a bad one for me as I had some really nice fish from my club waters and lost a cracking perch that I wasn't expecting at all so I will be going back to the top lake and having a few sessions on there. I was back on mother on the Thames on the very last day of the season and had a good few hours on the river, I caught a PB bream all of 7lb 1oz and another of 7lb plus a few smaller ones so altogether a very good day. Mother Thames always amazes me because you are never quite ready or sure what you will catch next!! If you set your stall out and stick to your plan then you will reap the rewards just like I did on that last session of the year, I made my bait up got my mark, clipped up the rod and hit the spot every time as it was not a difficult cast (normally I would be in the tree’s). Nothing happened for the first two hours and I was getting a bit worried I was going to blank but stuck with the plan and just as a boat went past and I dipped the rod under the water so not to lose all my end tackle and then sat it back in the rest pointing skywards the tip just pulled round and I thought B******S the boat had me snagged me up but no it was a big river bream. Now Thames bream fight different to their lake cousin they actually pull back and when they turn sideways in the flow it’s a good old struggle on light tackle, but not too light as there are plenty of underwater obstacle’s out there that will cut you off in the blink of an eye, but boy!! it makes me giggle every time. This year I have brought a lock and weir permit from the E.A at accost of £30 which is great value for money in my mind, most locks and weirs will be stuffed with fish you just got to know where and when and how to catch them so I've chosen one lock and weir to get some sort of campaign going but I will investigate the 16 others on the Thames you can fish  

                                10 Session's on the mole for 1oz of chub

Right one of the waters that my club has is a stretch of the river mole in Betchworth in Surrey and what a lovely piece of water this is but boy it has been so cruel to me over the last two season's I have tried so hard to catch a fish from there with no luck what so ever, maggots, casters, boilies, stinky, paste, halibut pellets, hand grenade's next!! I put a big net at one end and splashing my way down the river I might then get something lool. I'm ten(10) yes that's right 10 trips in and nothing but on my last trip at the end of this season I was on the slower deeper part above the weir I had moved about three times being very quiet and keeping of the sky line well away from the water’s edge I decided to plonk myself down on a lovely bend with some lily pads, I used the tree to my right as cover now surely there's something in this swim I said to myself quietly little did I know that my float was going to not just slide under but disappear with a very fast and positive splosh and my strike was going to meet with thin air NOOOOOOO I can’t believe after all that time the one bite I got and I F****D it up big time that was my one and only chance, I feel like a 5lb perch had just fallen off at the net what a disaster so I sat there feeling so so sorry for myself what to do next do I carry on or throw all my tackle in the bin and take up golf!!  No I'll have one more cast so fresh maggots on the hook and a gentle flick out and I sat there thinking I'm mad I've blown it but then the bobbled and slowly sunk under the surface tension, STRIKE I said to myself loudly and strike I did, the fight was epic and lasted all of 2 seconds but it felt like an hour and this fish wasn't going to get away so I used the landing net to engulf my 1oz chub yes you heard me right 1oz but it was the only fish I've had so precaution had to be taken so there was no hook pull or falling off at the net, fish landed so there was no giving away of fishing tackle or throwing it in the water. 

                                          My bait and water for 17/18 season                                                          

My bait of choice this season is CC Moore pacific tuna, I've read and heard a lot about bait and bait companies and it will get confusing what I say is choose one and stick with it and they will all catch you fish, and don't go mad with it yes you can hump the bait in and this can work as we have seen on the free DVDs and fishing programmes on sky, bait cost a lot of money now and I don't want to be humping the granny out of it I think small patches of bait or bags with just enough to get a fish to turn its head and think what's that and go down and have a look. Swim choice isn't that hard on a water like the Thames if you look hard enough you will see where people have fished which is not a bad back up plan, I on the other hand want to fish swims where there are no footsteps where the bushes are still over grown and then I make my own swim somewhere no one else has thought of trying to catch a fish then move on so not to cause a scene so I can use the swim again no good doing all the hard work and somebody else grabs all the glory.

It's not going to be easy far from it and I am going to have to put time and effort into this water and yes I will listen to other anglers and their stories but I want to try and forge a story of my own and not get too carried away with other people’s ideas and information, I know that might sound a bit off but let’s put it this way do I fish in the same spots as everyone else or do I find my own and tell a story that no one else has done I think it be the latter, my first trip on my new lock and weir permit saw me go to penton hook lock and weir not the best days fishing I have had but the river had no flow and everybody struggled. Nature is an amazing thing when you sit and watch it kingfishers going about their business and watching the chub feast on the eggs of the barbel spawning in one of the weirs that's right they were having jiggy and not interested in my feast of food, so I watched and left them to it.

We are now heading into the 23/24 season so my next post will have a bit more updated info about what I've been up to and where, tight lines everyone and good luck.

 

                                                                                     Gudgie