Turn the volume to 11!

A bit of my writing in Barbel Fisher 38

Hi guys, just finished reading the latest edition of Barbel Fisher magazine in which I have a nice article on the Wye and the story of the capture of my first double from the river. It's all beautifully written in that mag and I love the overall layout.

It's always a pleasure to write for because you just know it'll all be done great justice by the lads who put it together. Special thanks to Rob Hilton for all his hard work and for getting my copy out to me specially. Hope your back to good health buddy x

Stunning stripeys!

I've been on the lake side this evening for a few hours drowning a few tiger prawns for the old stripeys. Not been after them much this year to be honest....Not sure why I haven't?

It's probably down to less time, poor weather and a few other aspects thrown into the equation. I didn't get down the pool until 4.15pm today but in my opinion there's no better time to fish for perch than just as the light is fading.

They came thick and fast!

We'll I didn't prove that opinion wrong tonight as in just 3 hours fishing time I landed no less than 11 perch to 2lb 2oz on a combination of methods.

The best technique by far seemed to be to use a Drennan Crystal glow tip insert waggler on a 6lb main line tied to a piece of Drennan Suplex 4.9lb hook link material and a size 6 hook.

To this I presented a nice fat, juicy tiger prawn and fed a few of those and some maggots over the top.

The other rod had a light weight presentation of just 3 BB shot on a bottom set up with just a size 4 hook to accompany the rig. The same bait of a large tiger prawn being introduced to the swim.
Both set ups caught fish but the float set up out fished the split shot rig 8-3!

All the better fish seemed to be to the float bar one as well. All of them over the pound bracket with 3 nearly knocking 2lbs as well. Not bad for an evenings work!

The weathers been too wet this week to his the Wye, which is now hanging around the 3M mark and will be pushing through like a chocolate rocket!

The Taff wasn't looking much better but that should fall quite quickly and hopefully give me the chance to get back on there for a few more nice Grayling before the end of the season on the 14th March.

What a great evening!

I've really got all my fingers and toes crossed for decent weather for the last ten days of the season as I have a few days booked in with my buddy Bob on the Kennet, hoping to break my River and canal Carp virginity!

Then it's back up here for the final 2 days on the Wye in search of Herefordshires finest gold bullion! Between then and now I might just grab a swift 48hr session next week in on a local club water in search of an early season clonker. Weather allowing of course!

See you all soon
K
x

Top 10 tips!

Hi all, I thought i'd do a slightly different post this evening with regards to a few simple tips and things that we should all be aware of to improve our angling experiences and that of others too.

Yep, it looks shit hot, but do we all need to hear your alarms?

Ok so this may all sound very simple first day at school stuff to some of you guys but on a recent few trips out I've been absolutely gob smacked at the total lack of knowledge by a few.....

Whether this has to do with coming into coarse fishing from Sea angling or not reading etc, I don't know??? So here's just a small list of things to help you maybe catch a few more fish.


1) Keep noise to a minimum and wear drab clothing. I've seen numerous guys wearing glow in the dark work wear! :(


2) Turn down your fishing alarms....Nobody else wants to know you have a bite or that your setting your bobbins! I'm also a firm believer that sound travels down the line and can be felt in the water! Think about the two tin cans and string telephone!

3) Put your bait where the fish are feeding! So many times I see people ledgering when the fish are up on the top. Fish under your feet too, why cast to the far margin?

Do your home work on a venue, remember that location is half the battle won!

It's exactly the same under your feet, keep quiet and fish close in. You'll get better presentation, tighter feeding and stand more of a chance of landing your fish. You may even get lucky if the waters clear and see you quarry taking your bait!! 1 rod placed in the right spot is better than 4 in the wrong spots! Be respectful of other anglers and where they are fishing too. Give each other some room and ask before dropping in next to them.

4) Do some homework. Study the venue a little. Work out what the bottom of the lake looks like by scooping a little up from the margins if possible. Match up your terminal tackle, tubing, leads, line etc to the colour of the lake bed. Camouflage is the name of the game.

5) Use sensible tackle for your quarry. 3.5lb tc carp rods are no good for tench or perch fishing and Aiming to catch 20lb plus carp from a weedy venue is equally a no goer with a float rod and 3lb main line!

6) Boilies are not the b-all and end all! Yes I run a bait business and i love to use them but I regularly use alternative baits too, such as corn, nuts, peas, worms and prawns etc. Naturals have so much appeal its hard to beat them.

7) Make sure you are fully equipped to deal with your quarry if you actually catch it! Forceps, disgorgers etc and most importantly a BLOODY UNHOOKING MAT! God knows how many times i see fish held over gravel and wood etc. When having a picture taken with a fish, keep it low to the ground over a mat and please please please don't stand up with fish at any time! If you drop it, it will die!

8) Respect the fish. Don't keep them out the water for long periods. Keep them in the net in the water while you set up mats, pics etc. Don't fight them too hard and ensure you hold them in the margins to recuperate after a long battle....(especially important with barbel and grayling on the river) Face these fish upstream and hold onto them upright until they are ready to go under their own steam!

9) Safe rigs.....My pet hate! Insure all rigs are free to jettison the lead if the line should break. Use lead clips or free running rigs for both sensitivity and safety too.

10) My final tip for better results is to go and enjoy yourself! Be safe and always let someone know where you intend to fish and what time to expect you home, wear sensible footwear, warm clothing (remember you can take it off but you can't put on what you haven't got with you!) Polaroid glasses will help to cut out glare and enable more chances to see your quarry in the water. Location is 90% of the battle won! Be quiet on the bank and tread carefully.

That's it....my ten tips plus a few! Enjoy everyone!

Regards
Keith

First of 15!

Natasha's first proper pike...well chuffed!

Hi all. 

Well, at last there appears to be a slight break in the weather at last. The last few days have been rather damp and dreary but at least it's starting to feel a bit milder. In fact on a trip out this week there were plenty of snow drops popping up around the place. Always gives me a feeling that spring is just around the corner and winter is a thing of the past! Yipeeeeee!

Wednesdays trip out with Natasha was a bit colder and blustery and our chosen club venue looked rather bare and desolate. Despite the cold we set up on a small point that enabled us to have a good view of the lake and plenty of choice spots to aim at. We spent 2 hours in said swim but to no avail. We couldn't get so much as a nibble in the shallower water. We then had a move around to the otherside of the lake and fished midway along the bank into about 6-7 feet of very clear water. I swapped over the roach and mackerel dead baits and traded them for smaller hooks and a couple of Smelt hook baits instead.

All the rods were placed in likely spots using a free running lead set up and we sat back to await results.....It took a while before there was a hint of any action and the left hand rod started to bleep on the Delkim. A few more bleeps and a gentle wobble on the tip of the rod signaled a pikes intention rather than that of the wind. A few seconds later and the line started to peel from the spool of the reel. I gave Natasha the rod and she struck into a solid resistance. The fight was brief but great fun for her and within a few minutes she was the proud captor of a lovely male pike of around 7lbs.

That was the only take of the day and we decided to pack up and head home at around 4pm. I popped into my local tackle shop on the way home to grab 2 pints of mixed maggots and a few blockend maggot feeders for the following day on the Wye!

5lb 14oz barbel...not a monster but who cares when it's tough going. My first of 2015 too!

I set the alarm for an early start (4am).....The alarm went off and I lay there listening to the rain slamming against the window pain. I thought for a few minutes as to whether I really wanted to spend the day sat in the cold wet conditions or whether to just stay in bed until mid morning and be a really lazy bastard. I switched off the alarm and went back to sleep! I awoke again at 6.45am and it was still raining but not as hard as before. I then systematically got up and went to the bathroom. I was up and ready to go. I packed the car with my gear which had spent the night on the lounge floor awaiting departure.

A nice little Wye chub

Next thing I knew was that I was in the car and on the motorway.....A quick stop at the junk food station saw me tucking into a MacyD's sausage and egg Mcmuffin and a fresh coffee. By 8.50am I was setting up on the river in a spot I've done so well in in the past. The river looked absolutely bang on for a fish and was despite all the rain, rising only very slightly. I placed a maggot feeder on the upstream rod and a straight lead setup on the lower one with a River Monster boilie on.

Well, I sat there and sat there and sat there! Not a twitch all bloody day! It got to 4.45pm before I got my first bite of the day! A very steady pull that sprung back and then piled away at full pelt. The fish was hooked mid river in heavy flow so it gave a great account of itself. I grabbed the rod and flipped the back wind off only to smack my knuckles on the spinning spool. The scrape bled all over the place and made for a bit of an uncomfortable scrap with what was clearly a barbel.

I couldn't believe it that I had been right about the fish starting to feed again. Yes it had been tough and there wasn't exactly a lot of fish to go at but here I was hooked into my first barbel of 2015! I sunk the net under her and let out a sigh of relief that I had got her in on the 6lb hooklink I was using. I set up the usual bits and bobs and hoisted my prize clear of the water. 5lb 14oz on the scales....Not a monster by any standards but my first of the new year and only barbel since late October last year!!!

A great end to the day. 5lb 3oz Wye chub! Happy as!

My next chance came just as the light was fading away and a nice little chub of 3lbs scoffed the river monster boilie....This was swiftly followed up with a much better one of 5lb 3oz. All 3 fish taking the boilie rather than the maggots or pellets. Just goes to show how bloody good that bait really is! Even when it's fishing stupidly hard and cold the bait still does the goods. Very proud of that one!

Well, that's about it for now. I may have an odd day out next week but I've not got a huge amount in the diary between now and the last week of the season. Bob and I are hoping to fish together the last week of the season as he's booked the time off work. I'll be driving down to him to try and bag that illusive first ever river carp and my first Kennet Barbel! We'll then be hitting the Wye for the last 2 days of the season. Fingers crossed it fishes its balls off!

Tight lines guys
x

Winter blues and damp shoes!

Wonderful winter nights and mega star shows!

Bonjour Mes Amis!

After the cracking Grayling session I had on the Taff last week, I really fancied a bit of carp fishing action! I decided to pay a visit to Hartleton Pool again and try my luck with the lovely golden commons. I set up on the Sunday morning after a nice early start. The lake had a couple of match anglers set up on it but the majority of swims were free and no other anglers could be seen. My first choice swim was the spot I had caught from just before New Year but the track was heavily muddied up and pretty much impassable in my low car. I decided I'd settle for the swim opposite on the other side of the island. I set up a couple of rods and positioned baits about 2 feet from the island margins. The water depth was a little over 18 inches and within minutes I was being wiped out by pesky bird life. The ducks, coots, moorhens, swans, budgies and parrots were all having a bloody field day out there!

On the money?????Nope, on the Bream!!!!

I decided to move swims and opted to fish the deeper end of the lake near the dam wall. I chose the corner reed lined swim and went about placing baits in good looking spots. Things started slowly and it wasn't until after dark that I started to get any action. The only problem being it was from now 'pesky' Bream! Slowly but surely they lined up one after another and despite continued attempts to fool them with double 18mm hook baits and tigernuts, they made mincemeat of everything I threw at them. 1 after another they kept coming over the course of 3 days! It was torture wading through them and just one pick up result in a hooked carp which then stitched me up good and proper on some underwater roots. Typical!

The first nights temperature dropped away to minus 8 and yet again I thought I was going to end up being frozen in. Despite the freezing fog of the Sunday night, things started to warm up on the Monday and the weather was quite pleasant. I finished on the Wednesday feeling a little deflated and rather battered. On well, that's fishing for you!

I had a few hours on my local club lake with old friend Colin 'Taffy' Farnham on Thursday and the weather was again feeling rather cold in the swift Easterly breeze. I dropped in next to Taffy and spent the next 3 hours biteless on the float! I couldn't believe it! Taffy managed a couple of small carp and a few bream on the method feeder but I just couldn't get a twitch. Very frustrating.

Ian is slowly working his way through all the species of coarse fish...

The weekend arrived quickly and Sunday had a days pike fishing and guiding penciled in the diary with another long time friend Ian Oxley. Ian and I have much history together from being on club committees together and we have fished together a very many times in the past. Only in the last 2 years though had we lost touch a little. It was great to finally get the chance to get together again as we get on so very well. We always have a good giggle, have lots in common and he's just a very genuine, loveable guy, who I think the world of. I introduced Ian to the dark side of coarse fishing about 10 years ago as he's always been a pretty die hard fly fisherman. He's had numerous good carp sessions with me in the past and I'm keen to help him build up his tally of different species.

Ian asked if i'd take him piking after seeing the few special fish the lads and I had caught recently. I picked him up Sunday morning and we headed up to the Wye in Herefordshire for a lovely day out. I chose a swim to put him in that had done numerous good fish for both myself and other clients in the past. We set up 4 rods with similar free running leger rigs on and a mixture of ever faithful herring, smelt, half mackerel and roach hook baits. Things were a little slow to start as the river level had spiked a bit over night due to some heavy but brief rain fall and it was carrying about half a meter more water than planned. This brought with it a dirty brown colour that was always going to make things a bit more difficult. Despite the conditions we ventured on and we got our first bit of interest about 2 hours into the day. The rod with the Herring on started to jiggle around and after a few seconds I struck and was met with fresh air! Story of my life recently!

Another first for Ian.....a nice Wye pike! Well done my friend!

Our next opportunity came knocking about 12.30pm and a really solid take on a 'bluey' resulted in another missed opportunity as the hooks came out the fish mid fight. Ian was left feeling rather gutted and so was I! Finally around 3pm the rod to our left with a half herring on started to come to life. A few bleeps from the Delkim and a wobbling tip saw me paying out a little line for the fish to take the bait with as little resistance as possible. This worked and a few seconds later I was able to hand the rod over to a very excited Mr Oxley who then proceeded to do a great job of guiding the croc over the net top. It wasn't as big as we would have liked but at 8lb 9oz it was a first for Ian. I took a couple of nice pics for him and we gently returned it to the river. Great to see someone catch their first of a new species to them!

I'm hoping to get Natasha on the bank this Wednesday as the kids are on half term this week in Wales. May do a bit of lake piking if it's not too cold out there. May try and grab a few hours trying for a barbel this week too.

Hi's and Low's

The Wye looked the nuts but just left me wanting!

Hi all.... Hope your all doing swinging! Lots happening in the Nuts about Carp household this last few weeks. I just completed my first large order for an Austrian chap. Loads of lovely bait went out there without a hitch. Customer very happy and for once, very little issues with couriers! (Result!) With numerous other bait orders and new bits and pieces to try out this spring, it's been a great few weeks. This despite the stupidly cold conditions we've endured this last fortnight or should I say every Sunday to Wednesday (my fishing days!) lol.

It appears that every time I book in a few days away with friends to do some carping, the weather goes all ape shit and the lakes freeze over or I have an attack of the jitters and realize I'm not the young spring chicken that i use to be many years ago. This cold weather fishing malarkey isn't getting any easier the older I get! I'm sure there are body parts randomly failing me each day???? Anyhow, at least I can still breath I guess.....As much to the dismay of many I'm sure?

Bishopswood. £7 a day! That'll do!

Fishing wise it's been tough out there this last few weeks and the cold weather as I said, has really stopped me venturing out too much. I did a brief half day session on the Wye on Wednesday at Bishopswood after a snapper or two. I arrived a little later than I had planned due to morning commitments getting sprogs to school etc. The first swim I fished had a beautiful slack to the down stream end of the swim and around 7-8 feet of water in it.....It looked bloody perfect for a fish. Well, I sat there for about an hour before my first indication of fish activity and a few trembles on the tip signaled that a pike was showing some interest in the Herring hook bait. I waited for a few seconds before picking up the rod and did my usual of opening the bail arm and allowing the fish some free line to run a little before striking the hooks home. The strike was met with no resistance at all and a set of empty trebles came back at me????

God knows what happened there but I never even saw a fish? That was all the action I had for the entire day and despite trying some half dozen or so swims, I never received another twitch. The light faded away and so did my hopes of catching another Wye monster croc! Still, I can't complain as the river had been so good to both Joel and I in the prior weeks.

It'd been a while since I last caught one!

I struggled for motivation a little this week and despite the inkling to want to get out there, I just couldn't get into the groove and pack my gear to go. I slept a lot heavier this week which I put down to some sort of bug or just winter hibernation???? Same thing happened last year around the same time....I worried myself to death that it was something incurable as my blood counts were lower than a vampire drained lost boys victim! Not good! Despite lots of check ups and specialists appointments, nothing was really found out? I suppose that's good news. Anyway, enough about my aches and pains and back to at last a red letter days fishing!!!!!! YIPPPEEE

Friday saw me venture back out to the River Taff in Cardiff. Now, at this point I will add that the Taff is probably one of my least liked waterways. It's a bit on the grotty side at the best of times, with shopping trollies, tins, litter and general garbage and dog shit coated banks. All this being said, it does seem to have a bloody good head of Grayling and some monstrous Barbel! Now, many of the guys fishing it for the barbel fish it in a manner suited more to carp tactics on the Thames than that of the little Taff and I'm not wholeheartedly interested in fishing like that myself. I guess if I did blend in a little more then I would catch a few myself but I just don't want to blend in down there. It's really not my cup of tea, full stop!

2lb 5oz beauty and a very happy Keith!

The Taff does however seem to contain a huge level of almost nuisance Grayling. Now, I love these little species and pound for pound they fight like trojans on light weight gear. I'm a little bit of a traditionalist and I prefer to fish for them with Fly tackle and tactics rather than the more preferred local methods of maggot feeders and trotting for them.

I chose a section down near Sophia Gardens Cricket Ground through the advice of Ryan who regularly fishes down there. Only trouble was, do you think I could get parked? Could I heckers! £10.40p for  3 hours!!!! No chance! I decided after an hours driving around looking for a space that it was probably best to just head for an area I knew I could park near the river safely and of course free of charge. The spot I chose was near Radyr Weir and after a short 5 minute walk I was stood in the river up to my waist in freezing cold water! It took around 20 minutes to get myself back into the swing of things as it has been a good 7 or 8 years since I last fished the Czech Nymph for Grayling.

Peas in a pod....they kept on coming!

A lovely technique which in all honesty is fairly easy to master and teach. My light weight 5 wt rod and reel were perfect for the job and my first River Taff grayling hit the net within half an hour of starting to fish. They then started to come quite regularly up until about 12.30pm. I then made a move down stream to try a few other spots. I tried around 10 different areas but to no avail...The fish seemed to be held up just below the weir area and that was about it. So, I headed back up to the first few spots and re-entered the river. A chap sat behind me to watch and with some pleasant conversation going on I started to pull fish out more regularly than during the morning. By around 1.30pm I was up to 12 fish with the biggest going 2lb 5oz.

I had my permit checked by the bailiff and after a nice chat I started back at them again....It was as if the swim was alive with fish and the next 2 hours saw me land another 20 plus fish!!! It was literally a fish a chuck out there and it seemed I could do no wrong! In the end I had to swap over from a green nymph to a pink shrimp gold head and that just emptied the swim. I ended the 3 and a half hour session with no less than 41 grayling and 1 out of season brown trout!

Bloody cars! I love them but hate them at the same time! Arrrgghhhh!

I'm looking forward to another session down there at some point soon and I was hoping to do a session down at Yateley next week but my cars clutch has started to slip today, which is probably down to numerous factors (age, uprated bhp and the fact my wife is learning in it too) All these factors and the stupid hill we live on have taken their toll on the poor girl. So, it's off to the garage for yet more expense! Bloody cars, I love them but they are just poxy money pits at the best of times.

Right time to sleep and dream of monster fishies! Hope your all in good health and lets hope the weather soon breaks and we get some hard earned warmer sun shine and carpy weather!

Love ya
Keith x