2013 A fresh start in many ways!

Hi all and welcome to my new Blog...... Well, as many of you know I have spent the last 6-7 years chasing shadows around a few of the countries famous pools in search of their famous and tough specimen carp that inhabit them. I've had a tough time and a wonderful time too. I can honestly say that my time spent on the bank has taught me so much that it has not only improved my angling skills but also improved me as a person all round. The highs were obviously the amazing captures and making some life long friendships too but the lows were beyond bearable at times.....The driving long distances (380 mile round trips) to and from my chosen venues was the real killer and the obvious expense involved with running a car to get there and back. Where I live in the valleys of South Wales there is very little quality carp fishing that would excite someone who grew up in the mecca of carp angling, Jurassic Carp Ringwood!

The inspiring and wonderful Crayfish Pool

This meant that i'd have to travel if i wanted to find that kind of fishing again. Well, I have to say it was worth it for the best part and my favourite adventures were up to Horton Complex near Heathrow and the very lovely CrayFish Pool. A 3 acre pool steeped in angling history, containing just 30 or so carp to 38lb+. I spent a couple of seasons on there and after a rather quiet first season with just 4 fish to my name after 46 nights of fishing, I figured I'd have to up my game to start catching a few more of the lovely inhabitants! This I managed to do in my second season on there after having a years break from the place. In that year I put around 100 nights down on the bank at 2 other well known waters for very little in return! I managed just 4 Tench and an eel in all that time and started to question my sanity and of course my angling skills too!

The awesome 'Bulla' from the Cray at 38lb 2oz.
My second capture of the fish in a
3 year period and this time a new PB!

When I returned to the Cray I had around 3 months to get things right before winter stepped in to knacker my angling....I managed to get among the fish fairly quickly on this time though and within tens nights I was started to locate and catch on a regular basis, sometimes multiple captures were on the cards! In short I had one of my best carp seasons to date with 15 fish finding the bank including 7 over the magic thirty pounds and a new PB of 38lb 2oz. I left the venue late October as the water temps dropped and the fishing slowed up to the point of non existence and decided for the first year in ages that I'd hang up the rods through the major part of the winter.

It wasn't until the middle of February and after the majority of the snow and storms had past that I eventually succumbed to the need to get out and dangle a line in the wet stuff! I decided that the long distance angling should take a brief respite as my wallet just couldn't keep up with the expenses involved with the long distance angling! This left just one option open to me and to join a local fishing club near my home....I'd looked into it before but there was very little for a guy with such high expectations of his fishing....what to do?

I spent the colder months fishing for alternative
species from roach and perch to carp on light gear!

Well, I thought long and hard and decided i'd spend this year doing some fishing  for alternative species or targeting the carp in other ways, such as floater fishing or even pole fishing etc...some of the dark arts I felt that i may have forgotten how to do??? It didn't take me long to find my feet and within just 2 trips to a local still water, I had already made some really good friends and started to get a feel for the kind of angling that this year would hold for me. The first part of 2013 was spent doing some very basic match fishing techniques and relearning the finer arts of float, pole and feeder fishing which I had all but forgotten about whilst engulfing myself in the carp fishing over the 10 year period past. This I have to say was extremely enjoyable and reminded me that it's all about much more than just sitting behind my buzzers waiting for the fish to come to me! I could at last start to make things happen in the swim again with practical feeding patterns and using lightweight gear felt so nice after using 3.5lb tc rods and 15lb main lines!

I caught shed loads of carp off the top, pole, float rod, center pin etc and even enjoyed having a dabble at fishing for silvers on really light kit too! It was just heavenly to be just enjoying angling again and not feeling under pressure to catch or being after specific big fish too! Come July I was gagging to venture onto the rivers again after such a massive break away from them and after finding out my club ran a stretch or two of the Wye and the Taff, I just had to choose one to spend a bit of time on. I decided this year I would concentrate on the River Wye from Monmouthshire upstream. This turned out to be one of the best things I've ever done and you'll see from my coming reports how good the rivers been to both myself and numerous friends Iv'e taken to sample it's delights!