JUNE 16TH BABY!!!!!

Nice little bit of crucian fun

Hi guys!

Well, it arrived and it went, just like that! Quicker than a speeding bullet! Its been rather busy as usual in my household this past week again. With the onset of the fishing season commencing and a lot of bait rolling required for customers, I confess to being a little late getting all my own kit sorted for the big day.

However, I did manage to get a few hours fishing in with my good friend Colin 'Taffy' Farnham at a little club lake on Thursday last week. We only fished the morning due to work and family ties etc but we caught shed loads of small crucian carp, tench, roach, rudd, bream, hybrids and even a few mirrors and some perch. In all a very enjoyable few hours spent with a good friend.

Craig with a stunning common he took off the top!

I also grabbed a very brief 3 hours with Lewis, Craig and Mathew down at another club lake on Sunday afternoon. We were all on floaters and managed a few nice carp to low double figures on mixers and bread. Great company and great giggles were had as usual. Lewis is currently on a serious mission to revamp the Nuts about Carp website with a host of really cool new features, a new feel and much improved webstore etc. Many thanks to him for all his hard work! Legend!

So, on to the big day then! Sunday was a late night for me and i hardly slept a wink whilst the wife was at work....Then Monday was uber busy with rolling and getting kit ready for the 16th. I knew i'd need to be up stupidly early as it was likely to be incredibly busy on the river bank, so the alarm was set for 1am Tuesday morning.

Despite heading off to bed at 4pm Monday afternoon, feeling totally exhausted....I just couldn't switch off at all! I lay there and lay there and lay there......and lay there! It just wasn't happening! Then around 12pm I eventually fell asleep only to be awoken an hour later by said alarm call. Oh, how rough did I feel?

What a great way to start the 2015 fishing season off! A brace for Jason and I!

I got up and got the last few bits of required kit ready, donned clothes, brushed teeth with eyes shut whilst yawning and then fired up the motor for the hour and a half drive to Hereford. The drive up was a nice leisurely affair, which I sort of somehow did with one eye open and a very strong Macdonalds coffee in one hand. It was all going swimmingly until I hit Monmouth and found that the council had road works on the A40 and the diversion took me about 18 miles out of my way!

Bloody numpties had shut the entire road and all and sundry were having to take small A roads to Ross and Hereford and the M50. This made me 20 minutes late and put a bit of a damper on the start of the day!

No 2

I arrived in Hereford around 4.15am and met up with Jason who I followed down to the car park by the river. We were 4th in the car park and followed 2 other blokes off down the bank. We traipsed across the very wet grass in trainers and 15 minutes later arrived next to the river, which looked stunning. Despite the wet feet and back pain from the rucksack and too many leads and feeders in my bag, I got set up reasonably quickly next to Jason and we set about putting some grass down on the bank around the swim as the mud was thick and very slippery. By 5.45am we made our first casts of the new season.

We had a couple of odd nibbles and around 6.10am I had the first one on. A really solid bite and a great scrap ensued. After a few minutes a stunning Barbel found the net and at around 6lbs I was chuffed to have caught one on opening day.....something I don't ever recall doing in my life time???
As I was unhooking the fish in the net, Jasons rod hooped over and he was also into a little barbel of 4lb 8oz. We decided to have a brace photo which turned out great!

1 of three nice chub I managed

Things continued to improve throughout the morning and despite Jason loosing 2 fish to hook pulls, he landed 2 barbel and I managed 7 before things slowed up a little in the afternoon sun, which was relentlessly hot! I decided to try and grab an hours snooze on the grass behind the swim in the shade but my mobile was hotter than a cooked kebab and calls kept flooding in from mates. I gave up on the idea of snoozing and went for a wander around the river bank on a fish spotting mission.

Mathew rang me and he decided he would come up and join Jason and I for the evening at Hereford instead of the original plan of me packing up and driving down to Monmouth at tea time. This proved to be no less than a perfect plan and at 4.30pm Mathew arrived in the car park. We left Jason in the original swim and headed slightly further down stream to a nice gravel spit on a corner in the river.

They kept on coming!!!!!

I'd put a few pellets and some pieces of paste in the swim earlier on and I'd seen a few fish turning on the gravel afterwards. We did 2 hours in that swim and had just a missed chub bite to show for our efforts. Jason packed up shortly afterwards due to ill health and we decided to go back over to the swim I had started the day in with Jason.

Incidentally Jason managed 3 out of there including a stunning fish of over 8lbs. I put Mathew in the downstream spot where I had taken my 7 fish from earlier in the day and I dropped into Jasons spot slightly above. The rods were baited with the ever reliable River Monster Boilies and out they went. It was less than 2 minutes before my rod slammed over and I passed it to Mathew to play it out.....It looked a cracking fish of well in to low double figures.

Well done Jason,,,,,,

Mathew was a little unsure of how to use my front drag Shimano reels and despite playing the fish impeccably he lost it to a hook pull half way through the battle. Great shame as it looked like a really good fish.

I recast and as the lead hit the water Mathews rod slammed into action. The fish ran around like a scalded 5 year old child! We netted it and despite it being a mere 4lb 8oz it fought like a demon! Happy days for Mathew as it was his first of the season. Things progressed well through the evening and despite my side of the swim being almost dead, Mathews continued to produce some stunning barbel. He finished up with 4 in the net as the light started to fade away.

Still on 7 fish, I was contemplating packing away, when all of a sudden my tip flew over and I pulled in what felt like a chub or eel to start with??? Certainly didn't fight very barbel'ish....I sunk the net under a barbel which I was confused about a bit but then I realized i'd finally got a bit better fish as all the others were peas in a pod around the 6-7lb mark. This beauty sat in the evening sun for her picture and weighed in at best of the day weight of 8lb 12oz. Very pleased with that for the first day.

I finally managed a better on of 8lb 12oz....What a great way to start the season off!

Mathew shortly followed up my capture with a fish that fought strangely similar and as I sunk the net under it I knew it was something a little bit special! Mathew looked at me and we passed a glance of surprise and excitement. He carried the fish up the bank to weigh it and photograph her. On the scales she went exactly 10lb 1oz! A new PB and first ever double for Mathew! He was so excited he started dancing around the swim...lol I couldn't contain myself and laughed at his happy antics.

Mathew had a great evening after work

We had a chat with the bailiff shortly after and it turned out that our day excelled way past that of anybody else who had been on that area that day. Many had spent the day biteless and fishless. So to sum up I had 8 barbel and 3 chub, lost 2 fish.....Mathew had 5 barbel and lost 1 and Jason had 3 barbel and lost 2 as well. A great day with great friends! One I will remember for the rest of my life!

Last night I went back up the Wye with Taffy to our club stretch at Monmouth and despite sitting it out for as long as we could, all that we caught were two chub of around 4 and a half pounds each. We hardly had a bite! The boat traffic was relentless as ever and the Rowing club were the worst they have ever been down there.

Despite continuously calling the rowers to inform them of our presence, they still came in too dam close! On boat of four men in their 60's crashed through our swim and proceeded to be very rude about us being there. They just seem to refuse to share without conflict. Needless to say they got back just as much abuse from myself and Taffy! Not on!

Absolutely made up! Mathew O'neill with a new PB 10lb 1oz Barbel on 16th June 2015. Well done mate 

Right that's my fingers worn out from typing and my brain fried from a serious lack of sleep and food intake. I'm off to replenish on all the above before I crack on with more bait orders.

Tight lines all and I hope the start of the new season has been kind to you all!

Regards Keith x

Barbel society conference

Well done Natasha!!!!

Hi everyone, not long to go now for all us river enthusiasts eh? Just a week of waiting left before it's a manic let loose day of enthralling  barbel chasing! In hindsight though it will probably be a poor show of fish as it was last year for me....The reason being I suspect last year, down to poor water levels, late spawning and low D.O (dissolved oxygen).

I just found the fish hard to come by for about the first month of the season and I started to feel like i'd made a huge mistake getting myself so deeply hooked back on river fishing. Last close season I was truly mortified to have to reel in for the statutory 3 month break but after such a poor end to the season I found myself not really missing it too much this year.....That was until I went to the 20th Anniversary Barbel Society Show in Warwickshire yesterday!

Let me start off at the beginning of how it all came about.... For those of you who've not heard, my daughter Natasha caught 7 barbel last year in 2 short evening trips on the River Wye. First session she had an 8lb 14oz fish and then on the second trip she managed 6 fish including a double for the first of the evening at 10lb 4oz. No mean feat for a 7 year old! She played the fish all by herself for which we had a lovely video off to prove her captures.

Well, short story long, it was noticed by a few people in the know and one particular friend Bobby Baker of the Barbel Society felt that the capture warranted a reward and certainly some kind of acknowledgment. Just the week before the show I received a link to the BS facebook page with a host of pictures of Natashas fish that had been uploaded by Bobby with a view to them being put forward for the prestigious Dave Mason award for the Best Fish Of The Year 2014/15.

Natsasha's amazing fish of 10lb 4oz that won her the runner up spot for the 2014/5 BS Dave Mason Award!

There were numerous high profile anglers and alike commenting beneath and it appeared that she was a popular choice for the award. Well, we drove the 160 miles up there on Sunday to the show and we weren't disappointed....We were made very welcome by all the members, committee and old friends alike. In fact I have to say one of the warmest welcomes I have ever had at a fishing meet. It was great to catch up with Peter Reading who i'd not personally seen for over 10 years and despite both of us being slightly greyer and balder, I don't think either of us has changed much! lol

3 legends in their own right! Natasha with Dave Harrell and Des Taylor!

Natasha was given a cap by top bloke Rob Hilton who does all the editorial stuff for the awesome BS magazine and we met further top notch guys all who made us feel very welcome. I had a great 20 minute chat with a chap called Christophe, who has created a wonderful bait distribution system which is the likes of nothing I've ever seen before....very clever. I will be testing it out in the coming weeks and then putting it up on the Nuts site for you lovely guys to get your mitts on!

Natasha and I picked up some great bargains including a cracking second hand Drennan 1.25lb tc Series 7 avon/quiver rod for a stealand the awesome 'Barbel' 'A lifetimes addiction' book by Trefor West (signed) for a bargain price as well!

Steve Pope, Bobby Baker and Pete Reading

We then went to see Des Taylor and Dave Harrell doing their thing on th big stage and both were not only very entertaining but also very informative and a lot was learnt from both of these incredible legends of angling. Both chaps found time to have a nice picture with Natasha too, which I was extremely grateful to them both for as was she. Top fellas.....I particularly enjoyed Daves talk on float fishing with a waggler for barbel, which is something I have to confess i'd never considered to be a useful or effective presentation, but it just goes to show how wrong one can be as he's done so well on the technique! Something I will be putting into my angling from the word 'go' this year on the 16th June!

After the talks I quizzed Dave about the length of line he fished over depth for his float fishing and it came to me as quite a shock that he suggested coming very slightly up off the bottom....this seemed alien to me for barbel fishing as it would be any bottom feeding fish like grayling etc.... But thinking about it, he's spot on. I mean lets think about it now. The more the feed trickles into the swim, the more the fish become occupied on feeding on it. There becomes jostling and competition for food and the fish will start to rise up off the bottom to gain the edge over the competition and get the feed first. Just as happens with carp etc in the lakes. Great thinking and again something I intend on trying this year.

I've now set myself a bit of a goal for 2015 and that is to try and land a double figure barbel on the float, something I've never done before. I got close as a young lad fishing on the Dorset Stours Throop fishery with fish to 9lb 10oz but never caught anything bigger than that on the float. Another great goal to hopefully aim for.

Who'd of thought a little common would spark a controversy?

We then sat back and listened to Peter Wheat who is just a pleasure to hear talk. A wealth of knowledge, a gentle old man with a huge love of the BS and of fish all round. He then brought up Natasha's fish and asked her to join him on the stage in front of literally hundreds of people. Well, to say she was shocked was an understatement...but she did really well and politely conversed with a member of Barbel angling royalty on her capture of her said specimen fish. He then told her that she hadn't won the trophy but she had won a very special prize of 2 days guided by Dave Mason himself on a private stretch of the wonderful River Teme! Both Natasha and I were totally shocked and in awe. A huge cheer went up around the hall and lots of applause as she shook everyone's hands.

Not long to go now!

We received countless congratulations after and are still receiving them on Face Book etc now. Thanks must go out to all involved, Dave Mason, Steve Pope, Peter Wheat, Peter Reading and of course the very man who put her forward....Bobby Baker, cheers my friend, I think I may owe you a pint! x After the show we received a few other goodies for Tash which included a rod and some tackle items as well. Thanks to all that made a special effort to make both of us welcome and to those that voted for Natasha.

I've not done a huge amount of fishing this last week due to having lots of work on but I did have a few hours free on Friday afternoon to visit a local club lake and try to grab a couple of fish off the top. I managed about 7 fish before landing a nice low double common just a yard from the bank. I grabbed a quick picture of her and slipped her back into the water.

Tight lines all and I hope you have the most wonderful start to the 2015 River Season
Much love
Keith x

Hello old friend!

Just one of many stunning doubles I caught in an evening

Hi guys,

With it being half term this week I was hell bent on getting some family time in with the wife and kids but in all honesty the weathers been a little crappy at times and none of us have been particularly enthusiastic about doing much.....I decided I'd pop out on my own for the night on Tuesday and toodled off down to one of my club lakes. I've not night fished the venue before, so it was an interesting evening.

The lake is set in stunning forestry land and despite having a path around it that attracts all sorts of dog walkers, bike riders etc etc...it's actually rather a lovely place to stay. The only real problem being the hideous midges that drive you to insanity! Luckily I was prepared this time around and went fully armed to the teeth with some serious midge and biting insect spray!

Beautiful surroundings

I was a little late getting a rod out due to 2 chaps being in the swim I really wanted, but they were lovely fellas and even offered me some coffee. Top chaps! I got my rods out just after 10pm and it wasn't too long before I was into my first of the night....a lovely low double ghost common....Things progressed nicely and by the early hours of the morning I was up to no less than 11 carp to mid double figures. When I awoke from a rather restless night I bagged a further 3 carp. Well chuffed with the results!

I had a quick few hours poaching on Wednesday evening on a little section of a local river i'd seen a while ago. The river flows through some wild fields and despite lots of research there was nothing to say it wasn't fishable. I gave it a blast on my 6ft 3wt fly rod and a few grey dusters and bagged a handful of lovely little browns in the fading sunlight.

I love wild browns!

Mathew and I had a day out on Sunday as well...We decided to do a session up at Glycorryg after the rainbows but we failed miserably and despite almost 5 hours of trying, we failed to see more than just 1 fish get caught by a 1 of the 14 anglers on the lake! Very poor fishing.....We then left the venue empty handed and £30 down to try our luck on the lakes around my village in the Garw.

We tried 3 of the 4 lakes and eventually found a handful of stunning chunky browns to try for in the extremely clear mountain water. We tried and tried and tried but despite throwing everything at them they just wouldn't hit the flies! Very frustrating to say the least.

Mathew had a cracking evening on the bread crust

After that we then decided to go to our club lake to see if we could bag a carp on the fly instead....This too turned out to be an impossible task and after an hour and just 1 fish to Mathew and 1 bumped off to me, it was time for a change of tactic. We both switched over to a bread approach and Mathew got into fish after fish. I struggled like crazy and managed to bag just 1 fish all evening, Mat had about 9 I believe. Well done fella, totally out fished again!

Friday arrived and Natasha asked me profusely if i'd take her out fishing for the afternoon. She can be very persuasive at times but it doesn't take much to get me out fishing! We popped over to my bolt hole venue first to try and catch some rudd off the top. This went quite well with a plenty of fish to about 12oz falling for Tasha's float fished bread. She then took a couple of micro sized carp which got her in the mood to catch something bigger!

All good fun for Natasha

We decided to up sticks at 5pm and down to the club lake that I caught the grass carp from last week. We set up a floater rod with just a hook on it and fished around for about 2 hours with very little to show for our efforts. The fish were very shy and just not in the feeding mood. I half felt it was time to call it a day around 8.30pm as the weather was cold and damp. Minutes later the day cheered up no end as Tash spotted the big old grass carp mooching past her rod tip some 10 feet out in front. Without further ado she plonked a mixer just in front of him and the rest is history!

The fight was epic and in fairness a lot more exciting than when I caught him last week. He didn't want to come in for love nor money! The rod was buckled double and Natasha did her best to keep in touch with the awesome beast.

I wasn't really prepared for catching fish that size and stupidly I'd bought just a river pan net I use for barbel with us. Luckily the chap next swim down from us came over and lent us his net and a helping hand. Thanks Mick ;) After a major tussle lasting about 8 to 10 minutes, Mick netted the fish for Tash and we all let out a huge cheer!

Awesomeness in hoards! Natasha could hardly lift her prize! 22lb 6ozs of pure gold! Well done sweetheart x 

I checked the fish over and confirmed it was the same one I'd had last Thursday. Natasha was shaking from the excitement and I couldn't believe she even managed to hold the fish up for a photo! Despite it weighing 22lb 6oz! Well done little miss great angling! Daddy is extremely proud yet again!

A Fresh Water Whale!

Lovely times with the lads and my little one x

Hi guys....Lots to talk about this evening as it's been a very busy fishing week this week. Well, where do I start? At the beginning I suppose??? As I wrote and the end of the last blog entry....Joel, Kris, Ceri, Natasha and myself all ventured up to Lampeter to fish Celtic Lakes last Saturday. The weather was clear but decidedly cold in the strong wind that was blowing straight into our faces.

On arrival, the boys had all beaten us by about an hour and were all bar a few items, set up ready to fish. Nats and I took our time and got the bivvy up and the rods all sorted ready to fish. The lake was at capacity with just a few odd swims free. I wasn't overly keen on the pegs we'd been given due to the booking system but you just have to make do when it's busy on a Saturday.

Windy and cold but at least the sun came out to play!

It was a lovely chance to see the lads and get some really good quality time in with Natasha again but in all honesty we might as well been camping in the middle of my village! The fishing was awful at best and despite Joel loosing a 20lb'ish Cat to a hook pull at the net, that was the only bit of real action we had over the whole 24hrs using 8 rods!

To top it off it cost us £140 for the 4 of us to fish!!!! Which we all felt was extremely steep! To add insult to injury Kris was charged a whopping £10 for a KG bag of 20mm halibut pellets in the site tackle shop!!! Not impressed....Anyway, we had a nice time with lots of good giggles and banter and we've decided next time we'll try somewhere a little closer to home that doesn't charge quite so much!

On Tuesday I met up with a good old friend of mine that I've seen very little of in the last 10 years we've known each other. Chris Price and I used to fish together a lot when I first moved to Wales but we kind of lost touch a little in that time. Well, we met up on Tuesday for coffee in Macdonalds and we went shopping for some new tackle for him so we could get back on the Fly together at some point in the near future.

My first of the day!

Needless to say we didn't have to wait long as Wednesday we decided as things were quiet enough for the both of us, that we'd get together and go fly fishing for the day at Cwm Hedd fishery near Newport. The weather was warm but blustery which made casting a little tougher than we'd have liked. The venue itself is very picturesque with rolling hills around it and a peaceful countryside setting. The lake is clear and weedy and contains some stunning Rainbows, Blues, Tigers and Browns.

There are 2 lakes on the site, the large main lake and the smaller lodge pool. The main lake was extremely tough fishing and despite 1 other guy catching a 5lb rainbow, we sat for 3 hours biteless! We decided to venture over to the smaller Lodge Pool and wet a line in there instead. It didn't take long for Chris to get first blood and a Gold Ribbed Hairs Ear did the trick for a nice little 2lb rainbow. He proceeded to get another couple of takes but missed them.

Chris managed a couple of lovely rainbows on a GRHE

Next up it was my turn and I managed a lovely rainbow on a Green Damsel Nymph of around 2.5lbs. I decided to swap over from a 7wt rod to a 5wt and floating line etc. Well it took a while to find the right fly but eventually I cracked it with a very bright yellow cats whisker. I managed to bag 4 in a row and when Chris swapped over he bagged one more as well. Great giggles were had and we even had a double hook up at one point!

This morning I had a lay in as it's not something that's been on offer for a few weeks now and despite the darling wife waking me to tell me she thought I should venture out fishing again, I slept until a delightful 11am! After having a quick 'cuddle' and a coffee I decided it was again time to wet a line somewhere. Where though, I couldn't decide????

Eventually after 2 hours of debating, I loaded the car and went off to my little bolt hole water which is about half an hour from my home. There's only about 6 more carp in there that i'm interested in catching but I thought I'd have a go all the same. I arrived at 2.30pm and despite walking around no less than 6 times....I couldn't see a fish that I could fish too safely...There were 5 fish tucked up under the usual tree roots but they are too tightly packed in under the snags. I opted to try my luck for a smaller Fully scaled fish that was floating around in the open. I plopped a nice chunk of bread crust out to it and it almost instantly gulped it down before motoring off around the lake!

Despite loosing a stunning Koi at least I got to meet this beautiful fish!

A few minutes of battling away with the mirror and eventually she was in the net ready for some pictures...Yet another absolutely stunning fish that didn't need to be big to be pretty. I couldn't believe my luck some 10 minutes later when I got the chance to have a go at a very large Orange Koi that was sat just in front of the snags. I did the same again and he instantly took the bait in....He then smashed his way off through the undergrowth with my rod bent into an alarming almost 180 degree angle! The hook then lost its hold as the fish made for the roots of the fallen tree. I was gutted!

That signaled the end of the day on the bolt hole for me and I decided to leave and try my luck for a few small ones off the top on one of my club waters instead. I arrived about 30 mins later at the lake to find just 3 other guys fishing. I went up the top end of the lake away from the strong Westerly wind and started to flick out plenty of mixers on the top. It took a while to get the fish interested and despite plenty of bait floating around, they just weren't that interested in it at all. I spotted a large old brute swimming around about 50 yards out and it looked too long for a normal carp. It had to be one of the few chunky grass carp that inhabit the venue.

I decided to have a chuck at the fish with a huge chunk of bread crust and it landed just a few feet away from the fish. It wasn't long before I had some interest and a chunky mirror went to investigate the bait. He turned away and was beaten to it by the grassy! I couldn't believe my luck as she engulfed the whole bloody thing! Whoosh went the line and she hit the surface some 60 yards out. The fight was typically bream'ish as most grass carp are. Then when she eventually arrived in the net she went mental!

Nothing less than a freshwater Whale!!!!!!! Epic

I had a good ten minutes of holding her in the base of the net while she flung herself all over the hop in a bid to get away. Eventually she calmed down enough for me to get some pics and weigh her. At 22lb 6oz she was a very welcome visitor to my net!

I've just had my gorgeous wife come back home after leaving for her night shift an hour ago, only to find out she's supposed to be on holiday for the next week! Result!

Tight lines all

Big Luv
Keith

A few good fish!

Good evening my friends....

Young Riley O'neill! Well done my son! Oh...and happy 9th birthday

Before I start off with my news reports, I'd like to say a massive congratulations to two lovely people.

First up we have young Riley O'neill who is the son of my good friend Mathew, who you'll remember was out with me fly fishing for carp last week.

Riley had a few hours surface fishing with his old man for his 9th birthday and he managed to catch this beautiful common carp for his efforts! Well done Riley...Star in the making son!

 Next up is the lovely Lucy Rowley. Lucy is the partner of one of my field testers and has never done any fishing before.





Her fiance Mat, took her out for 24hrs and showed her the ropes.

Well, needless to say she took to it like a duck to water and managed to not only land a handful of lovely fish but actually stalked one of them using a prototype bait I'd sent Mat.

Well done Lucy and may your enjoyment of our lovely sport grow and grow. Mat and Lucy are back out this evening fishing again I believe....so i'm hoping to see lots of great pictures flowing in from the pair. I hope the weather holds up for you guys, tight lines.

Happy 40th Stuart! xxxx

Finally, i'd like to say a few words about a very special person who's just turned 40 years old this week. Mr Stuart Andrews, my friend of almost 30 years. Stuart and I met at school when we were just 11 years old and our friendship formed immediately due to our shared love of fishing. Stuart and I have shared more adventures on and off the bank than I'm sure the both of us can remember.

Some that have made as extremely happy and some more sad times....all have been shared in some way, shape or form. Despite things that life has thrown at us and despite the fact that we now live some 150 miles apart, he remains and always will be, the closet thing I have to a real brother.

Thanks for being my friend Stuart and I hope we can spend many more wonderful years fishing together and enjoying life. Happy birthday my friend....Love you loads!

..................................................................................................................................................................

Well, it's been a very busy fortnight for me and my family. The wife did a shift cover for 8 days at the Reptile shop, while the owners were away on their holidays in Gran Canaria. I had lots of bait rolling to do and things were too busy to get out and do any real fishing to speak of.

Trout fun with Tash!

I did however manage an hours Dry Fly Fishing in my local village river and pulled out a couple of stunning little wild brown trout, with the help of my little angling guide, daughter Natasha! The fish were rather shy of just about everything I threw at them and despite trying everything in my fly box, they were all too big!

I popped into town and paid a visit to the local tackle shop for some smaller hooks to tie up a few grey gnats. I ended up tying up a half dozen or so Gnats on size 22 hooks! God only knows how on earth I was able to see the dam things, let alone tie anything that resembles a real fly!!!!

Anyway, short story long etc....I managed the task and even caught a couple of trout on them! Great stuff! The water was very low and very clear just as the upper Taff had been a week or so back. Speaking of which, I saw in the press this week that a young lad of 7 years old I believe? Fell into the river Taff in Mertyr right where Mathew and I were fishing last week. Terrible story and it claimed the poor kids life. My only question is to why on earth he was playing there in the first place? It's incredibly deep even in low water conditions and a kid of age 7 wouldn't stand a chance falling in there. Awfully sad and my heart goes out to the family and friends.

On a more cheerful note now and I've continued my success on my little bolt hole water this last week. I managed a quick overnighter last night and to be honest the heat was almost unbearable on arrival at the pool. I ended up having to strip off and seek solace under a big tree out of the suns rays as I was literally just cooking! Amazing! Despite the bright sun and heat, I went for a walk around the pool in search of any of my chosen target fish.

Target acquired and a very happy Keith!

The main target I had was a very pretty looking fully scaled mirror that had the girth of what looked like a fish of maybe 25lbs plus. I'd seen her on 2 other occasions and felt that she may well have been one of the lakes larger occupants. I went around with a sandwich and a cola and put my polaroids on. I did a full trip around the lakes and found the usual suspects sitting in their spots under overhanging bushes. There was no sign of the 'fully' though?

Who cares how big they are when they look like this!

I walked around again and all of a sudden she came into view at the back of a thick reed bed, some 20 yards out. I ducked down and cowered out of sight. I watched as she made her way along the reeds and then into the open water to the right of the reed bed.

She was now heading straight into the bankside to my right and would have been an easy target for a floater! My rods were back at the car though and not set up yet....Bloody typical I thought.


I sat for another 15 minutes watching her mooching around near the bank and then she made her merry way up the West bank towards the top end of the lake and out of view. I made the decision to grab my rod and net and try to find her again. I nipped off a small piece of bread crust and slid it over a size 6 hook. I then walked along the bank where I saw her last.....Not a sign of anything. I thought I'd have a look down the other end of the lake and see if anything else was about worth catching.

Peaches....every bloody one of them!

On arrival down the Southern end, the wind had pushed a lot of willow blossom on to the lake surface and there was a thick scum layer forming. Just below the film I could make out 3 shapes....All scaley mirrors in stunning form. The largest, near the back, was the target fish! In the open as well!


The fish seemed to be in a bit of a hurry and the 2 smaller mirrors were speeding across the top to vacate the area. Shortly followed by the big girl. I thought it was a very unlikely chance she'd look at my crust hook bait cast some 5 feet in front of her but to my complete surprise she turned and engulfed it all! Then spat it straight back out before I had the chance to set the hook.

Stunning.... stunning..... stunning!

I watched as she started to head away and then she made a swift 180 degree U turn back towards the crust and slurped the whole bloody thing in yet again! I wasn't missing the chance a second time and a swift upwards strike saw the hook grab a great hold!

The fight was rapid and dogged to say the least. There was blossom and all manner of debris flying everywhere and at numerous points in the fight I thought I was either going in after her or I was loosing the scrap to roots.


Despite the worries, she finally made the net rim and I let out a huge sigh of relief. Just shy of twenty pounds and probably one of the best looking carp to ever grace my landing net!

After returning the fish to the water, I went around the pools a few more times in search of another likely target to nab. I went for another nice mirror only to have it beaten to the crust by a very greedy 2lb Golden Rudd! A stunning fish and I wish I'd grabbed a picture of it now! My next encounter was with another very scaley mirror of just under 10lbs....more the stamp of present fish in the venue.

Eventually the sun started to drop below the trees and thoughts of getting prepped for the coming night stepped into my head. I set up in a spot I'd fished before and dropped baits into the middle of the pool where I'd had good success in recent times.

The fish haven't seen much bait in the venue and really seem to love bread and anything white. Bearing this in mind I had purposefully made up a kilo or so of some misshaped scopex flavour boilies in pure white, with a few seeds in. Nothing dramatic, just a very simple cheap base mix. Needless to say the fish absolutely went loopy over them and by morning and despite heavy rain and wind, I was up 18 fish in total!

Great fishing in any ones books and there was also the fact to consider that every fish was a real looker....including the small ones! I couldn't believe the change in the weather over night though and by 5am it had changed from warm and sunny to very wet and windy. The paths were sodden and so was my moral. I hadn't slept a wink from the continuous bites I'd received and my state of mental health was battered. Time to head home. I packed the kit up, all drenched through and headed for the hills.

Scales and perfection!

Well, this weekend's going to be a little different from the norm. Natasha and I are meeting up with good friends Joel, Ceri and Kris for a session at Celtic Lakes in Lampeter, in search of catfish and Sturgeon.

I have to say at this point that I'd made a vow some time ago that I wouldn't bother going back there due to reasons I won't go into publicly, but I have to say I'm looking forward to seeing the lads and if that means going somewhere I'm less than happy to fish, then so be it. Lets just hope the fish are obliging as I'll be a tadd pissed at paying £35+ for one nights fishing otherwise!!!

Hope your all in good health and here's to the summer finally starting to make an appearance with the coming fishing season just around the corner.

Tight lines
Keith

Flying every where!

Stunning upper River Taff

Evening peeps....

Smashing weekend this week. I met up with my good mate the Mat the 'Brummie'....we decided we'd get together and do some fly fishing on the river as Mat had been asking me for some time about showing him some river techniques and a bit on safe wading in the river etc.

I booked us onto a section of Merthyr Tydfil Anglings river Taff just below the Brecon Beacons. We arrived at the Taff Fachen around 10am on Sunday, after negotiating the incredible tight mountain roads down to the river and eventually finding a parking spot!

The river looked absolutely beautiful but exceedingly low and clear....we set up a couple of short 6/7 foot rods and some lightweight wfd 3 lines. I got Mathew sorted with a couple of Nymphs and showed him the ropes with a couple of exploratory casts into the narrow pool upstream. He jumped in and then took over and after getting to grips with being up to his waste or more in his chest waders.

Mathew up to his waist in it!

The weather was a little on and off but despite some rain to start off, things improved and it turned decidedly muggy as the morning progressed. The upper Fachen was tough going and despite the stunning water and surroundings, we struggled to buy a take. We opted to head down towards the center of Merthyr and some of the bigger pools of the main river Taff.

Not good!

Town center fishing was a little more interesting! The bridge supports of the main town bridge were clearly home to many homeless people and some serious drug use had clearly been going on under there. It was rather grotty to say the least but we had a mission to complete so ignored it and had a go at a couple of nice browns that were rising in a pool below the carnage.

We spent a good 2 hours trading places through the 'delightful' town pools but again we really struggled to get a bite. I had a take from a nice brown on a mayfly but it was short lived and spat the fly before I could strike. On the way back to the van I put my foot down on a round boulder, it rolled and my foot go smashed against a very sharp rock. A sudden sharp pain swept through my foot and right ankle. Not good! It seemed I may have broken something but I still had some fish to catch!

Well done Mathew boy!

Feeling a bit peeved, we decided to head further down stream to our Cardiff club section for a dabble. This was pretty as poor as well. The water was really high, dark grey and generally shitty! After an hour of flogging a dead horse in torrential rain we decided to call it a day at 5.15pm.

On the way home Mat suggested we go to one of our club lakes for an hour in search of a carp or two on the fly....This sounded a great idea to me as it's something i'd never tried before in 35 years of angling. We arrived at the lakes and found it devoid of people! A quick wander around to a swim Mat knew well and after 10 mins of baiting the swim with chum mixers we got a few nice fish up on the top.

My first double figure carp on the Fly!

Mat was first to get a take and after an epic battle on his 7 weight fly rod, he landed a cracking 13lb plus mirror. He had a second one of around 6lbs before I finally hooked my first ever carp on the fly. A measly 2lb mirror had scuppered my ideas of a double for my first one! A few minutes later I was again away after a ballistic take off the top. This one had other ideas about coming in though and took me for a merry swim around over the next 5 minutes. Eventually I sunk the net under a superb mirror about the same size as Mat's one. The action became frantic over the next hour and we had huge giggles landing 8 carp including 3 doubles on chum deer hair flies. 

Busy busy busy!

Not long before the big day now..... Role on June 16th 2015!

Hello everyone and welcome to May! Yep, summers finally just around the corner and so is that wonderful June 16th open day! I have to say at this point that I'm not as excited about the big day as I was last year and I think it's down to the fact that the end of the season was so poor on the Wye, that it kind of killed the vibe for me a bit. Needless to say, that I'm only now just starting to get the river/barbel bug back again and thoughts of center pin reels, flowing water and bars of epic gold are thundering through my mind yet again.....

This last week or so has suddenly become very busy for me personally and lots of orders have been flying in for big quantities of bait. I've managed to keep on top of most of the orders and despite a slight delay in rolling times, I think all bar a few are now completed and sent or ready to go after the bank holiday weekend break. Don't forget that if any of you need stuff for open day then give me a shout soon as we only have just over a month to go and this is silly season in the bait rolling unit! Get your orders in asap if you don't want to be disappointed.

Shed loads of bait rolled this week!

Fishing has been a little on the quiet side with the obvious high level of work load but I have been out on a couple of quick overnighters and a brief hours floater fishing. I cracked into another single night on one of my little quiet pools and despite the early season results of 2 nice commons from there, I blanked yet again in a different swim. A little annoying as I thought they were starting to get their heads down in there now.

My next chance for a dabble was last Thursday and despite a quick glancing trip over to Pysgodlyn Mawr in search of a floater fish which failed miserably due to crap weather, I did however manage a couple of nice fish from Treoes Pond after.

In my usual turn up, catch and then bugger off fashion, I turned up at 1pm, got the gear out and walked up the bank about 50 yards. Sat right next to the margins, less than a foot from the bank were 2 fish. A mirror and a smaller common. I bent down out of their vision and gently lowered a piece of floating crust onto the head of the bigger mirror. It shied away and up came the smaller common from nowhere! I lifted the rig clear to avoid catching the smaller fish and let him have the crust before I spooked them both out of the swim for good.

Within a few minutes the bigger mirror was back in residence and I gently lowered another piece of crust which the greedy common attempted to scupper again. I let him grab it but he only got half. He left just a tiny slither of bread on the hook which didn't even now float! I slowly jiggled it across in front of mr mirror and he snaffled it quickly before turning and making a run for it.

A nice mirror taken just inches from the bank on floating crust

Next thing I know all hell breaks loose and the mirror makes a charge for open water. I held on tight and watched as the rod tip buckled around the tree I was fishing in front of. Eventually after a couple of minutes of tussling for position, I sunk the net under a nice chunky mid double mirror. This was duly followed up with numerous smaller fish before I packed away for the day.

A stunning scaley torpedo!

This weekend should be a little interesting as Mathew O'neill and I have a day booked in together chasing river brown trout on the fly on the upper reaches of the beautiful River Taff in Brecon. Mat's only done a little fly fishing on lakes for carp and never river fished, so it should be a good giggle watching him learning the ropes on the little upper Taff! Fingers crossed for a decent day out and lets hope the weather holds up a bit.

I haven't as yet made any decisions on my whereabouts with regards to my fishing this coming season.  I really wanted to rejoin Farnham Angling AC but in all honesty I can't see me having the time or money to do the 320 mile round trip there and back once a fortnight like I would have liked to have done. Times aren't as free as they used to be and until the kids are slightly older I'm tied up to family daddy duties etc until then. I guess until then I'll make do with waters closer to home with smaller fish in but vary my angling as I have in the last 36 months or so.

Good fish welfare, Mat, sling and kept low to the ground. Standard

My club waters have reared ugly heads again this week and on our club FaceBook page there was a picture a chap had uploaded with himself and a small mirror carp. Nothing wrong with that and lovely to see him enjoying his angling. What was wrong with the picture though was the fact that said fella was stood up with the fish pushed out towards the camera at arms length some 5 feet from the ground. I made a comment on the fish welfare aspect and had my head bitten off for it....Apparently it was all because the guy has a bad back....He managed to sit there all day though holding his rod and fishing, so quite why he needed to stand for the picture because of a back problem is a bit of a poor excuse I'm afraid.

Please guys, think about how you approach weighing, netting and photographing fish. If your not sure about something then ask someone for help or advice! Look it up on the net or get a free DVD from the tackle shops. There is NO excuse for poor fish welfare skills and ANYBODY I see treating fish poorly will have a piece of my mind. Education is the key to all the recent issues I've raised on here with regards to poor rigs etc etc etc. Lets hope that some people start to see sense.

Tight lines guys
Love ya
Keith