2010 part two !!

Well its February now and still the fishing is not looking to great, a very large snowfall, temperatures plummeting, and the fish not biting old fellows !!

So what do we do when us "blokes" are not out fishing, well I tell you what I get up to, that's the whole idea behind this blog, I spend money on crap, tons of crap and old tat, ebays best customer, and of late I have decided to ditch modern tackle and go "retro", gone have my delkim txis to be replaced by the Heron bite alarm, then add a few "old school" optonics, and I have gone back to the early eighties, I might just start a trend here !!!

Anyway, last time I had a dabble at this blog I went through a few items of kit that I found worthy of a mention, and these are the next lot of goodies, that I shall be spending my hard earned on, or already have !!

6. The Savage gear folding boat net.

Now if any of you do a fair bit of fishing on boats, for pike, zeds ect, you will be aware that the net is the biggest pain in the bottom, I have experienced first hand recently, how much of a pain these essential items can be, after snagging my camera and throwing it in the Severn un insured !!! So when I came across this I just had to get one, and at 39.99 it seemed a bargain.

When the net arrived, and I took it out of the packaging I was amazed that such a simple idea had not been mass marketed before, it folds up out of the way so you can stick it over the seats in the middle, or under the seat, a really well thought out bit of tackle, and a essential for the boat fisherman. I got mine here "Savage gear folding net"

7. Wychwood Solace Bucket Carryall.

I don't know about you, but I do a lot of fishing, and a lot of different types of fishing, I could be fishing a Fish o Mania qualifier one week, troutmasters the next, a 3 day carp session, chub, barbel, perch fishing ect ect, so my tackle is always all over the place, and my short sessions end up with tackle mixed up from my long sessions, and so on.

What I was after until I found this, was something I could throw everything in, for a short session, so I tried one of these. I haven't put a bucket in it, instead I just throw everything I need in the back, bait in the main compartment, and the side pockets are big enough for a set of avons and unhooking tools. Carrying the thing over long distances is a doddle, as the straps are very comfortable, and it comes with a shoulder strap to put on your back. a great bot of tackle and for £22 quid its very well made and should last me a few seasons, for a multiple of uses.

The Wychwood Solace Bucket Carryall £22

8. Greys kliplock bait tubs.

I tried to work out the other day just how much over the years I have spent on purchasing bait boxes, it must be into hundreds of pounds, and all my years in the tackle trade tells me that I am not on my own, lost lids, crushed boxes, lids coming off !!! you know the score, they are an essential piece of tackle that is often overlooked, that is until now. The new greys bait tubs are a little more expensive than most, but already I can tell that these will see me out a season or two, and the added feature of the klip lock lids, make these little beauty's worthy of seeing a bit of my cash.

9. Chub Snooper chair.

My chair is something that gets a lot of abuse, as I am a fat lazy git !! I have had one of these for as long as I can remember, and during that time it has endured mud, sand, grit and everything else mother nature has had to throw at it, and I can honestly say not one thing has gone wrong, you might ask well what can go wrong with a chair ?? I have had a chair that the legs slipped of and on and could not be secured, one that the material ripped through with hardly any weight on it at all, and one that's gone rusty !! so this one is worth its weight in gold, and talking of weight its not that heavy at 5kilos, and I have added a shoulder strap that lets me take it anywhere, without any fatigue. The price is not bad either for a chair that will last you years mine cost 60 odd quid from here

10. Viper Icon bait boat.

Now before you throw rocks at me, and cart me off to the wicker man, I used to be dead set against these things, after seeing "idiots" using them, for 10yards ect, and general misuse on public waters, so I never thought I would see the day that I owned one of these things. My mind changed whilst fishing a syndicate water, with a island at 45yards and trees overhanging, these trees were also decorated with lots of rigs, leads, ect ect, the carp new this, and fed heavily under the tree on crayfish, and anything else that ventured near the roots, i needed to fish this spot but could only do it with a bait boat, so after a lot of research, i went for the one with the best reviews, a reliable boat that I haven't got to fanny around with, just take out drop my rig and bait where I want it, put it away, and pretend I have cast there !!!!

The boat that ticked all of these boxes was the Viper Icon Bait boat and for 400 quid with a made in England sticker it seemed reasonable value too. I wont dwell to much on the bait boat, as I am still embarrassed at having to use it !! but if i was going to buy another it would be one of these.

Well thats about it, for my goodies talk, and talk is all I seem to be doing these days, i have been out on lots of short sessions, but its been tough these last few months, apart from a few jacks, and small perch, that have saved otherwise blank sessions, it has been the toughest start to a year I have ever known, hopefully my next bolg insertion will be about some huge fish !!!

All the very best and tight lines to all !!

2010 Happy New Year

Well, its been crap fishing of late, and I have only managed to get out a few times and the latest venture saw me loose my beloved canon 10d !! to a watery grave !!

I was out fishing on my boat when I had just had a great run, and then my other rod went, so I struck at the first and that resulted in a dropped run, then my second rod hooped over into a healthy bend, and thinking it was a pike I gave it some welly, only to see a big Zander appear, so I quickly reached for the net but it was stuck, so in a fit of rage I grabbed the net by the head and ripped it from whatever it was stuck on ............. Sploosh as I lifted the net a lowepro bag went into the water along with my camera and its bits and bobs :( that camera had been all around the world and was a great workhorse so enjoy your watery grave Mr 10d you shall be missed.

Goodbye my old friend !!!!

Anyway, after loosing that I went back to using a powershot SX10is after a recommendation from my good pal and professional photographer Ian Chapman, So when he recommended a small non dlsr I had to take notice and ordered one straight away while I think about venturing to the dark side (nikon) !!! And I must say after owning a 1d a 1d mk2 and a 10d I was really impressed with this little beauty, a very good camera indeed for an angler anyway, as the flip round screen allows for good self takes.

Thinking about new kit, I thought I would take a look at 5 items that really impressed me in 2009 that shall be coming out in 2010, and Ill have a look at another 5 next blog.

1. The Mitchell Mag Pro Lite.

A pal of mine "swampy" who works for Pure Fishing told me about this reel early 2009, and after taking a few guys from Pure Fishing in France fishing on the Severn, I had a look at there reels and they were using these great reels, and I was very impressed, the drag was so smooth, the quality and looks of it really stood out, and at a guess, I said they would retail at £299 quid, so when they were released in the UK at around £129 they were definitely on my list, a very very good reel,and after using one for a few months, another pair shall be appearing in my tackle shed soon !!!

2. Spro BBZ 8" lures

I wont go on about these to much as I have covered them elsewhere in my blog, but after years in the Lure fishing trade, these are a real innovation and in my opinion the closest thing to a "live bait" a stunning piece of kit, expensive yes, but can you put a price on a PB pike ??

3. J W Young Rolling Pin

now these have been knocking around for a couple of years, but I finally managed to get a hold of one, after giving the "pons" one of my earlier models. In fact I got a pair of them to fish for Barbel on the Teme, as the ratchet is strong enough to set, with a ounce or two of lead, and a big lump of meat ! The only downfall I found was line twist, and after a bit of investigation this was due to me using mono, and not braid as recommended, so after loading it up with a few yards of Whiplash Crystal a clearish braid, I have had no problems whatsoever. The unique system of adding a simple release mechanism allows "noddies" like me to cast as far as we like, before locking it back in place, and using it as a normal pin. The way the reel is made will also ensure it will last a lifetime, and with a bit of care now and then will provide you with many years of free spinning fishing.

4. Van Staal Titanium pliers.

These are really special, and unfortunately they do come at a price, wait for it ........ about £250 !! for a pair of pliers, but they are awesome, and will last you for ever, so if you worked it out, which I did, in my brief fishing lifetime I have probably got through 7 or 8 pairs of pliers, costing on average about £15 quid a pop so £120 already spent on pliers, and hopefully I have a few years left in me, so the price ain't that bad (so I keep convincing myself!) and when you get your hands on a pair you will realise that the quality and the features warrant that kind of price tag, they are totally rust proof, will not wear, and the tungsten cutters on them are replaceable. go on get some !!

5. Berkley Skeletor series one

My favorite rod of the year, its sold as a drop shot rod, but I needed a light jigging rod for the river Severn Zander, fishing in 16-25ft of water and with enough backbone to set hooks at these depths, and after trying at least 6 rods over the last two seasons, I was beginning to look down the route of making one myself or getting a custom rod made, but then Marc from Harris Sportsmail sent me this one to try, and wow !! well I am sure you will hear a lot about this rod as I have heard from a number of editors that their product testers have raved about them. This is THE rod to throw the small 2" to 4" soft plastics that are in abundance today. the only rod I have ever given a 10/10 to, I think this is part due to the aesthetics of the rod and the functionality, especially the "skeletor" type handle that really does put you in "touch" with the rod and line.

I shall save my other top 5 for next week, when hopefully I should have time to use my new camera, and some of the new gear I have yet to try.

The Holy Grail

Every now and then as fishermen we get to some fantastic off the beaten track places, and witness some spectacular wildlife displays, and as this weekend proved I finally found the holy grail in waterproof clothing !!

The fantastic place I have rediscovered is Dudmaston Hall in Shropshire, one of the waters that the Kinver Freeliners Angling Club run, and what a place it is !!! I decided to have a look round the place this weekend and take a rod with me just in case the mood takes me !!!

Its been a few years since I have fished Dudmaston, and that usually involves a early summer campaign for some of the amazing Tench that lurk in this gorgeous estate lake.

I set out at 2.30pm and with only a hour or two of sunlight left, I had a walk round and I was amazed to see that nobody was fishing !!!! My own estate lake at last, I suspect this was down to the weather as it was heavy showers and high winds on Sunday, but that gave me ample opportunity to try on my new suit, but before I do my home shopping channel bit, I would like to share with you some of the amazing views to be had on this stunning lake, a few minuets away from the hustle and bustle of the west midlands, and for the price of a tank of fuel nowadays this club represents superb value, have a look at www.kinverfreelinersac.com

A view from the bottom of the Big Pool

The Boathouse at Dudmaston, a "must" for any estate lake.

Along with the beauty of this lake I was treated to a private falconry display, as a Peregrine falcon decided that a blue tit would make a nice Sunday lunch, and after a alarm chorus from every bird within a mile radius, the display was over as the peregrine munched his way through a snack, truly great site, and one I wouldn't have seen sat in front of the box.

After a great day of sights and sounds mother nature decided to throw everything she had at me as the heavens opened for a hour leaving me and my poor dog in the middle of it, but I had my new suit on !!! A new drennan suit under the ESP banner, the Drennan Super Grade, and when I was told that this suit had a hydrostatic rating of over 25,000 I was determined to get it wet, and get it wet I did, but this suit remained dry and even dispersed the water, even in over a hours worth of rain.

After trying nearly every suit on the market I think I have now found the Holy Grail of suits, they are worth every penny, as far as a long term test, I shall keep you posted.

Frustrating Floodwater Barbel

Its that time of year again when my favourite rivers become unfishable, and I start to travel to pastures new to grab a few hours fishing on running water that has not broke the banks and entered the fields. I have been trying a very small river in the Midlands a lot this year, and it never fails to throw up the odd fish here and there, nothing massive but you never know !!

When the river is up,coloured and the outside temperature falls below 10degrees barbel fishing becomes a little easier, not that easy, but things start to go in our favour, you may not think it when your freezing your knackers off sitting by a river but have a quick think, natural food has started to become more scarce for the barbel, anglers food (not that many on the bank) has become scarce and the coloured water tends to give them that little bit of confidence that has been missing in the low clear levels of the summer. The only thing that holds me back in the winter is the weather, its great to get out, but I am sure that we have all lost the plot somedays when a 20mph easterly is blowing rain in our faces, we have all been there, but as I always say, youll not catch owt in the house.

I decided to make my way down onto a small west midlands river that has only just started to show a few barbel, small they may well be, but I am sure I have been one of the first anglers to catch them out of there, and it wont be long before others catch on, the bait starts going in and these fish start to become bigger.

Unfortunately when I get there the conditions are against me, this river runs grey when flooded and has a lot of road water going into it, but never mind I am there now and decide to go through the motions anyway.

I step up my 1.25lb test curves not by much and move onto a 2lb set up with a bigger Korda Gripper lead and a basic running rig, with a couple of pole elastic stop knots above the rig to ward off evil leaves !!! and decide to feel rather than put the rod on a rest, just to get an idea of whats hitting my line, and if there is any new snags in the swim.
I have opted for a braid hooklength and 15lb mainline, on baitrunners.

Baitwise I am taking no prisoners, nor investing in the tackle trade, two tins of meat ripped up and put in a plastic bag !!!

The swim I am fishing has a sandy bank when it is at normal level, and this is where I intend to put my bait, I have also popped another rod in to fish upstream if the going is really slow, and I had a feeling it would be, I also put a stick in the bank to see if the river was rising or falling so I could reference that mark.

Throughout the day the river had risen only an inch or two, so as time was getting on I changed swims to one nearer the car and put out both rods, one upstream, one down, whilst I sat in the middle and emptied my last bit of bovril from the flask, and no sooner had I poured a cup the downstream rod went, a proper wrapround, and as I am playing it the upstream rod dropped back, so cack handedly I picked that rod up and put the baitrunner on while I dealt with the 1st bite, with that in the net I took hold of the other one and after a few mins I had 2 barbel in the net, at the same time, in a crap swim, after fishing hard in a banker all day ?

fishing eh ? I suppose thats what makes us go, the unknown and the ability to always surprise !!!



they were not big fish but very welcome on a cold day, and to think that I had walked past this swim twice today, shows you that they do move around, and its given me the confidence now to fish more swims on this tiny river.

Tackle stuff

After working in the tackle trade for as long as I have, you tend to develop a few opinions on whats hot and whats not, I have always used the superb blog by Dave Lumb as a yardstick for quality products, but occasionally I try out a few bits and bobs, and get a few people emailing me asking if they are any good, so as well as going fishing I shall combine the two and let you know warts an all if they are any good or not.

The first products that I have been fiddling about with are from a relatively new company to the UK called Spro.

The Spro 8" Swimbait first came to my attention at the Pac conference in September this year when a few well known pikers were parting with their hard earned to grab a these realistic looking swimbaits. Now I have to say I am no expert lure angler, I catch my fair share of biggies, but I don't preach to be a expert by any means, and I have never been a great fan of these "real looking" lures especially at around 20 quid a pop.

The first thing that strikes you when you get them out of the packaging is that they are a very well made lure with good hardwear (hooks and splits) and the sheer weight at around 130grams, they need a fairly substantial set up to be able to put them in front of Mrs pikey, I use a Dave Lumb Axiom and team this up with a Abu 6501c3 and some 100lb power pro for good measure.

Before my first throw with this, I looked around the boat to make sure no one was looking, just in case I managed to crack of twenty quids worth of sinking lure !! and also gave it a little swimming lesson along the side of the boat to make sure A: the lure looked good and B: I looked like I know what I'm doing !!!

Along side the boat it became apparent that this is a serious lure and the swimming action has to be seen to be believed its so life like.

After a few chucks out towards a jetty the swimbait was hammered by a pike, and after a short battle a stunning 20 pounder was on the mat with this big plastic trout hanging from the side of her gob !!! fooled by this great lure I felt pretty sorry for her, I think the lure managed to catch the fish, not my skill !

So after a few outings would I spend another 20 odd quid on one of these, well yes, I have, and I would have no problem with recommending them.

The lost files !

Its amazing in this digital age how easy it is to mislay old images, if it was in the "olden days" we would have a album tucked away in a box, now we can easily loose a old favourite image on a corrupted drive ect, whilst this weekend had been a washout, I have tried to mend a old laptop and come across a few great pics that bought back some happy memories, so I thought I would pop them on here and share!!

This pic was taken by Gareth Purnell from total coarse fishing, as you can see by the headtorch, I had been on a very low river all night and caught nowt, not that unusual on opening day of the season, so I decided to trot a big worm on the pin and was rewarded with a small chub, not a biggie but very enjoyable when you have had a few biteless hours.

This carp was very special carp for me, my first river Severn biggie !! I had heard about big fish coming from this particular area but having never seen one or seen a picture of one, the only way to find out was to fish it, and fish it, and fish it, in fact I spent 12 sessions on the river before catching my first fish, I had everything else, salmon on pop ups, barbel, chub, bream even pike, but the huge carp that people had talked about had eluded me, I also began to wonder whether I was in the right place, the talk was of 20 pounders coming out every week you would have thought this place would be full of bivvies, but in 12 weeks I did not see another carp angler ??? strange, had I been thrown a curve ball, well yes I had I was fishing the wrong part of the river, but it didn't matter because I had caught a few and decided that I did all the groundwork and I was going to keep this spot to myself, hence the photo shopped background.

I have no idea what this fish is, I have had it confirmed that it is definitely not a trout and its very similar to a char, the fins were absolutely massive and it was like nothing I have seen before ??? It was from a English river and caught on the fly whilst after grayling in January its still a mystery to this day, but most experts that have seen the pic say its a char.

Carrot dangling !!! this was my first and last go at fishing for golden orfe !! a day blasting maggots at a waggler fishing resulted in loads of fish that day but not many orfe, so a change of tactics and baits (caster) saw me catching this beauty, and at the time a 5lb fish was unheard of especially in the midlands, a great day and superb weather, seems like this autumns gone on for ever and its only November !!!

During the summer months I tend to spend a lot of the time match fishing, and this picture was taken during a feature for a match fishing magazine, on the very beautiful patshull park, the lady barbra to be precise, and what a wonderful venue it is, but amazingly hardly anyone fishes it !! the day in question saw us have the whole lake to our self, no special treatment, its just that I don't think these "harder" venues appeal to a new F1 generation, I dont mind these venues at all, I just wonder sometimes whether or not it is creating a generation of commercial anglers that may well struggle on "natural" venues such a this, where there is not a piece on black hydro in sight !! anyhow me and my pal Ian chapman had a fantastic day taking over 50lb of bream and tench on a gorgeous place.

This Barbel was taken on a rising lower Severn in 16foot of water but the surprising thing is it was caught in the upper layers in fact around 10ft deep, I was fishing a heavy lead and 4oz kamasan black cap all day steadily firing pellets out into my swim and noticed on a recast the tip bounced, at first I though it must have been debris in the water, but after another biteless hour, I wondered if the fish had actually come up in the water feeding on my steady stream of pellets, so I changed to a very light 10gram black cap and threw it a few times filling it up with 3mm pellets each time. About 10 casts later I counted the black cap down feeling the line, counted to 10 and wallop this superb barbel was the result, I am now convinced that these fish don't necessarily feed exclusively on the bottom, I have seen it in the summer months on the Severn and the Teme.

Mythical creatures

We have all heard the stories, the pike that ate a Jack Russell, a catfish that carp anglers have lost on 85lb line !!! bla bla bla, well occasionally these creatures do exist and a bit of time and effort can prove them correct, sometimes its a load of crap and I end up catching nowt !! I have added a few pics of the fish that have made an appearance.

Also I haven't been fishing much this week, lots of shooting days, and real bad weather have forced me into digging up a few pics from last year.

I though this pic had gone for a burton it was a 3.15oz perch from a fly only water that I had seen and returned with a fly rod and big bushy lures, I remember hooking one straight after putting this one back, only to see it munched by a huge pike !!!

This was one of my favourite carp pics, again a fish I had seen on several occasions and was dying to catch, and after a few visits I managed to catch her and on my favourite method, a centrepin with a freelined lump of bread.

This Albino cat was definitely a mythical creature, a small commercial fishery near Ludlow, had match anglers tongues wagging about a "banana" coloured creature that they had seen a few times, and lost a few times and averaged from 6 feet long, and ate ducks !!

Well lots of time was put in to this lake and I was beginning to write this myth off, when on a boiling hot day I had a screaming run, that resulted in a superb albino cat, I am not sure to this day whether or not it has been caught again.

This Elephant was definitely not a mythical creature, it appeared just before me legging it, and a angry bull elephant charging !!! a scary moment I can tell you, the Elephant then decided to grasp all bits of tackle and throw em up in the air !! an experience I shall never forget.