Banter and bits!

Evening friends.

One of 7 cracking fish for Mat!

I hate to say it again but....bloody weather! What the heck is going on with our climate? Wet, wet and wet for weeks on end. Then we have a nasty cold spell, then it's mild and almost Spring'ish and now we're back to torrential rain and high winds??? To say the wildlife and plants are confused is an understatement! There's daffs springing up, flowers blooming and trees in blossom??? In January? Nuts!

The fishing has been all over the shop too with some great catches coming from waters that would normally have shut up shop in November. One of my field testers Mathew, had 7 carp including 2 over twenty pounds from a tough Bedfordshire pit in just a short weekend session! One of the other testers 'Shaggy' had a 29lb Grassy and a nice 20lb + mirror as well. Some great angling chaps, well done!

My week has so far been rather quiet....not much bait going out at present as many have decided to call it a day until the weather stabilizes a bit i think. Despite the conditions, myself, Mathew O'neill, Bob Willcockson, Lewis Seaborne and Dougie Hull ventured up to the Sharpness Canal near Gloucester on Sunday. Just for the day, in search of the elusive Zander.

A belting 29lb Grassy for Shaggy! Awesome!

The fishing I have to say was rather tough going and despite us throwing every lure we owned at the fish, we struggled to get so much as a few nibbles and Mathew got bitten off on the Drop shot by a jack.

The only way we could seem to get any interest was by using real baits for the fish, with roach seeming to be the going option! The other problem we had was the amount of boat traffic....our worst nightmare, rowers!!!

Just can't seem to get away from them! And these were almost as bad as the one's on the Wye at Monmouth! 'I know, I'll come as close to you as I can' .....retards! Bob got wiped out more times than any of us I think but one of them almost snapped both of my rods when they came through quickly. There's just no thought involved.

Anyway, I was first off the mark for the day and my roach bait was taken mid channel around 10am. I had a few bleeps on the alarm and went to investigate. The rod tip twitched a few times and I picked it up and waited. The line started to slowly pull from the spool of my reel and I struck into a solid resistance immediately.

A nice little jack for me

The fight was quite fun on my 2lb test curve rods and I have to say much more enjoyable than on my heavy 3.25lb tc rods of usual pike use. After a few minutes Bob netted a nice little colourful Jack for me of about 6 or 7 pounds. A good start to the day. After that it was just bloody hard work and despite 3 or 4 swim moves it wasn't much before 4pm that the next bite came.

Mathew was next in and finally we had target species Zander on the bank! Albeit the fish was about the size of his bait! He didn't care though as it was his first of the species and I have to say it was great to see him with a smile on his chops. Well done bro.

Bob's rod was next to go just a few minutes later and his fish was a little better. Also being a Zander virgin, it was great to see that he was also finally connected to a new fish species for him. He's had a few go's at trying to catch one and racked up a fair few miles in the process too. At about 3 and a half pounds it was a bit better. Well done matey! Great to see a couple of the target fish come out. That was unfortunately it for the day though and despite staying well into darkness, nothing else occurred.

Well done to the brumder! First ever Zed!

Lewis, Mat and I headed back to the van and by the time we got there we were all worn out...too much tackle taken as usual! We loaded up and stood next to Mathews van to chat for a moment or two. Mathew pulled out a new 2ltr bottle of spring water and went to put it up to his mouth. Being the good friend that I am, I felt he looked rather warm and needed cooling down a little...this caused a sudden urge in my arms to run forward and squeeze the bottle with some vigorous intent!

This caused about two thirds of the bottle of water to race out at breakneck pace covering his face! Mat in turn panicked and turned to face Lewis and in turn sprayed water all over Lewis from the waist down!

I made a run for it as I knew what was coming next, Mathew came over for round two, which of course ended up all over my chops! The three of us were soaked through to the skin but laughing so hard that we were almost crying! We must have looked totally nuts to any onlookers but who cares, we had great fun and all enjoyed themselves hugely! That's what it's all about though in my opinion....I know that the banter side isn't everyone's cup of tea but the day was kept alive with jokes, laughter and smiles. I hope my friends and I have many more days like this to treasure.

Well done Bob! First ever Zed for him too!

I've been a tad naughty this week and ordered myself a new seat box! I've needed one for some time now and in fact avoided going pole fishing due to the fact that my 2 current one's are at a point where they are a little tired and in all honesty I feel ashamed to take them with me as they're getting on a bit. I felt I needed a new fancy one, so I ordered a new Maver S4 Z-frame one in mango colour! Very techno! Can't wait for it to arrive now so I can get out and use it!

This coming year should be fantastic as I have lots of new waters to try and a ton of new challenges too. I'm going to try and not only beat my Crucian PB, but see if I can't get somewhere near to the British Record if possible. I have a water in mind and a few different ideas on how to approach it. I also want to get myself a new PB barbel from the Kennet and I'm going to do a bit more carping this year too. It involves the inevitable driving a bit further but with the lack of quality fishing in South Wales, that's nothing new!

Right, that's it for this week....off to fill out my tax return! My favourite bloody job! NOT!

See you all soon.
Tight lines
K x

GRAYLING!!!!!!!!!!!!

The beautiful River Test

Hi all....

What a sudden change in our weather pattern again! All of a sudden we've gone from hearing all about the poor souls who've lost everything in the last few weeks to floods all over the country, to now hearing that temperatures have been down to -10C and heavy snow in areas!

What a change! The weather here in the valleys of South Wales has been reasonable in comparison and for a change we've been far less affected by the weather than usual. Albeit we've had a couple of very hard frosts this week so far.

Fishing this year so far has been between little and no trips out and last Sunday was in fact only my second day out of the New Year so far! With the cold snap in tow it looked like we may struggle on our trip down south but all went according to plan, as I will discuss in a moment. Before I start with my fishing antics though, I'd like to take just a few lines up about the current issue with my local club which is now becoming a bit of a long standing joke between myself and my friends.

A wonderful start to proceedings!

It appears that the clubs committee pay attention to what's written on this blog with a fine toothed comb. This in itself is a miracle as the majority of them are anti-internet types. So i'm amazed they evening knew about these pages I write. It also appears that they find it very difficult to allow someone to have an opinion that doesn't match that of their little group. Since writing my last post, in which I published my feelings on the clubs demolition of a picturesque water.

I have received a letter from the club committee asking me to hand back my club key and permit and that I was now banned from the club for a life term!!!! The letter was worded very critically of my writings and went so much as to call me ignorant and that I had a personal vendetta against them. They also expressed that the club welcomes criticism despite the letter saying otherwise.

I would suggest to those involved that you should really have a think about what you've written in said letter as it not only very contradictory but also doesn't really give any reasons for giving me a life ban? Other than that I have criticized the running of the club and it's committee! Doesn't really feel that the crime fits the punishment....I have furthermore never received any warnings from the club asking me to not write about my feelings on club matters.

Unlike the behavior of 2 club committee members that feel it's okay to threaten paid up members with violence...Needless to say that this has been swept under the carpet and no further action taken!   I have also been informed by another club member of a recent incident in a local tackle shop, where by the Membership Secretary was spouting endless obscenities in front of customers, including ladies, about the clubs members! I cannot honestly believe that this is all allowed to go on....It really does show these particular persons up in a new light! Absolutely disgusting and they should be the one's with a life time ban!I have emailed the Club Secretary but as yet received any form of reply. I will also not be surrendering my licence until I receive a written reply with good reasons for the ban and also a full written apology from the two committee members that threatened me with acts of violence. I wait with baited breath!

Anyway, on to much more interesting and important stuff like fishing!!!!!! I have been lucky enough to be invited into a small group of like minded chaps who run a tidy group called SHUK. The Specimen Hunters UK. They're a very tight nit group of like minded fellas that just love fishing, great banter and generally having a good time on the bank side. The group is some 30 strong maximum and I already knew a few of the members from previous meet ups. The facebook group is just a riot at the best of times so I knew exactly what to expect at a social,

Last Sunday was set in the diary for a day out social on the wonderful River Test, Timsbury Fishery in Hampshire. I set the alarm clock for 4.20am and the wife and kids made the journey with me down to Salisbury first to drop them off at the mother in laws for the day while i fished. I eventually got to the river at 7.50am. The chaps all started to roll n about the same time and we had a brief quarter of an hour chin wag in the car park. The weather was cloudy, slightly chilly but at least not raining! Yet!

Nice perch too.

We all walked off towards the river and got tackled up for the day ahead. There were a few faces I recognized and some I didn't but all were extremely welcoming and I was really made to feel like one of the team! There was a good mixture of age groups from 30 upwards to about 70 and most were around my age 40-45.

This meant we were all of similar likes in most aspects and there was plenty to talk about whether fishing related or not. Some of the guys made a swim up for the day and others like myself went off roving. I took a couple of rods with me armed with center pins and a small fixed spool set up to a ledger rod.

I started the day just up from Baz Fisher who was having a dabble for a pike and his dad joined him in search of a grayling. I found a nice spot at the back of a corner. The current just changed slightly as it swept around the left hand bend. I started to introduce a few maggots by hand and after about 10 minutes I started to run a 10 x 4 wire stem stick float through the swim at around 3 ft depth. It wasn't too long before the action started. I started to get bite but mainly when I introduced less loose feed. My first grayling was about an inch long! The second about 3 inches. I was hoping for something a little bit bigger when the float pulled under and sped off down stream! The fight in the strong current on a 13ft float rod was amazing! Especially as I had fined right down to a size 20 hook and 2lb 12oz hook length!

The fish eventually found the net and I was the proud captor of my first 'proper' Test grayling of a pound. They then started to come like buses and after about an hour I had taken 9 grayling and 3 large brown trout to just under 4lbs! The trout were great fun but signaled an end to the grayling sport in my swim. Time for a move down stream. I tried numerous little hot spots on my way down. Eventually ending up near the tail end of the fishery where I found a stunning run under an overhanging tree.

A wonderful end to the day! Great fishing at Timsbury on the Test

First run through resulted in a cracking grayling around 1lb 8oz. Then I had another around 1lb. The fish seemed to be held up under the tree and for the next 40 minutes I made the most of the action and bagged about 10 more fish. I felt I needed a change of fish so I then headed for a sarny, coffee and a walk over to one of the carrier streams behind the main river.

I dropped a small 1/8oz lead into a spot behind a bridge with a size 10 hook and a small lobworm impaled on it. It didn't take long before the tip wrenched around and I was hooked into a nice pound perch! 5 more followed but all in a much smaller guise! I swapped over to the float and ran that through a few more likely spots on the carrier for 2 small roach and a minnow.

Lure boxes all ready to fly into action on Sunday!

Eventually I went back over to the main river and after doing battle with a bonkers brown trout in the carrier weir pool, I got back to the grayling fishing. I bagged another 12 before the light took away our fishing for the day. I ended up on 31 grayling for the day and to say I was well happy with the results was an understatement! Great fishing, great venue, great company! Thanks for arranging it Mike Lyddon! Top bloke....I look forward to next years event!

I've spent this week dusting off my spinning and drop shotting gear, as we have a lads day out planned for Sunday on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal. We've got Pike, Perch and Zander in our eyes and hopefully between the group of us, someone may catch something????The banter will be worth going for if nothing else!

Tight lines all and stay well
x

Welcome 2016!

Happy New Year everyone!

Happy New Year everyone!!!!

I hope your all recovering from a great week or so of festivities? It was a very quiet affair in my house hold....Just the way we like it. Turkey roast late afternoon, with wine and all the family sat around the table laughing and merry. The kids are what it's all about in our house and they had a wonderful day.

I on the other hand lasted just a few hours before passing out as I usually do!
The wife worked the majority of the build up to crimbo, so we were all a bit tired out from strange hours etc. I cannot thank her enough for all her hard work and what she does for our family...the woman is a trooper. A one of a kind lady that we are so lucky to be blessed with.

What it's all about....time with my awesome family! Love you guys so much xxxx

It appears that my 'friends' in the fishing club have been busy again trying to upset the applecart. They got some spotty little crater faced mong to write a horrible message to my wife just before Christmas.....Well, I won't go into details but needless to say it was a message full of inaccuracies and totally made up lies. Almost laughable to be honest....we know who you are and those involved. The names of those have been forwarded to the police and all I would say to you is get a grip you childish saddos.

A lovely end to 2015!

Anyway, enough of that crap...life's too short to be worried about 'Dicks' and their friends. My last chance of wetting a line this year was a little delayed due to the inclement very wet weather.

I had hoped to get out on either the Severn or Wye but the huge influx of rainfall scuppered that idea and I was forced onto one of my local bolt hole club waters.

I arrived early hours of New Years eve and got set up in a windy rain storm. I put a Fireball pop up out over a small bed of hemp and corn and the other rod had a small coverage of Euphasia boilies put over it.

This was first to go and a cracking common of 15lb 5oz found the net. In great condition too! The fish put up a really good scrap too. It was absolutely hauling it down outside and I sat under the flap of the bivvy door whilst playing the fish in my jumper! I tried to stay dry but it was apparent that I was going to have to get wet at some point in the fight! And so I did!

Lewis and Craig joined me about an hour later and as the day progressed so did the weather! The conditions slowly got worse and the wind became gale force at times. The lads managed a couple of bream, tench and a small mirror carp before succumbing to the horrid conditions.

I sat it out for the night then and had the lake to myself for New Years celebrations....It's the first time I've seen the New Year in on the bankside and it was rather interesting to say the least!

The fireworks were absolutely deafening as the bangs echoed through the forest and bounced back to make a sound that would have made a great soundtrack to the end of the world!

I managed to bag 3 carp and a bream before midnight and then around 2am I had my first fish of 2016 in the form of a nice low double common.

All the fish were in fantastic condition and despite the horrific weather I really enjoyed another nice little session. I hope your all well and that 2016 is a great year for you all.


Lots of love
Keith
x