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