THE NATURE OF THE BEAST

Oh dear Moyes'y what are you playing at?! Our boys looked scared of the ball and seemed to have the  confidence of Frank Spencer! Yep, Stoke city are more suited to the WWF wrestling league rather than the premiership; how they get away with the dirty shirt tugging and man handling is beyond me. As you may have gathered, my beloved Everton made complete bell-ends of themselves at home on Sunday and lost to the most boring team in the history of the premier league. The last time Everton played Stoke I was there to soak up the victory with the Goodison faithful with my lady and my little brother who came away from Goodison Park with a number of new obscenities learnt from the good folk of Everton, lol. On a fishing note my brain is still filled with thoughts of huge pike. It has been a long ol' time since I last caught a 20lb plus pike and to be honest I'm gagging to get one!

There are a number of rather popular swims on the Exe where it is common knowledge of them producing big pike. I'm not going to divulge and reveal these spots but I expect a lot of readers of this blog know exactly the places I'm talking about. I have been lucky enough to have caught some big fish from these spots, but the reality is over fishing can ruin these places and is rather unkind to the poor old pike to be honest.

Recently I've been doing a fair bit of exploring on the river from a birds eye view. No, I have not taken up hang-gliding, or purchased a helicopter, I have been using google earth. It's amazing how much detail the images gives us anglers; the perfect tool for spotting bars and deep spots and more importantly revealing access to some of the more untapped areas of the river. Moxy and Neil have also been doing a bit of research and have pin-pointed some areas that just scream PIKE!

With the groundwork already done we formed a posse in the shape of myself, Neil, Mox and Ty. All armed to the teeth with everything needed to extract big crocs from their lairs, we set of on our safari in search of old Esox.

Exciting stuff and with four of us all angling for pike we were confident of seeing a pike or two over the course of the day. The first area we tried looked very promising with a large deep slack spot.
Simple running ledger rigs and deadbaits were the order of the day. The rivers current was running at pace which can often see pike move into the slacker quieter areas to avoid the heavy flow.

First bite of the day went to Moxy's rod,  fished in an area that can only be described as a top class home for any pike but a very tricky place for the angler indeed. What followed was a top bit of fish playing from Mox in a spot that was tighter than the avarege ducks arse and what was clearly a big pike attached.
An amusing battle commenced that I wish we had filmed. Moxy had no choice but to play the fish on a tight clutch in a bid to stop the pike making it into a snag that most definitely would have spelt game over. I've never seen a 3lb tc rod bend so much! As moxy plunged the rod beneath the surface to avoid the over head branches, it looked like it was going to be ripped from his grasp, but finally he turned the pike and gained control.
With bugger all room for my rather cumbersome carp net, I had to get on my belly and chin the fish out.

One hell of a good fish from a new area unfamiler to us.A cracking upper double the result of some good angling from Mox and a well deserved fish as old mox has not had much fishing time as of late.We covered many swims only spending half an hour or so in each area.The Next and final fish of the day fell to Neil, a whole mackerel presented in a far bank hole on a paternoster rig tempted him a lean low double which put up a spirited fight which lasted a good 5 minutes.

Well, I never managed a pike of my own but it was good to have fished a new area and see the potential     these forgotten waterways have to offer. Needless to say I'll be back!

I also suffered a blank on the Weirfield stretch of the Exe. A few years ago I would have said this was my favourite stretch of all on the river with great mixed-bags fishing on a feeder; lots of decent sized chub, carp and absolutely tonnes of good Dace for those fishing the stick-float. Even the odd big roach would put in an appearance but one June the 16th I set up in one of my banker swims, in perfect conditions expecting a rake of fish. But the unthinkable happened and I didn't get a single bite. Quite distraught, I was left wondering where the hell all the fish had gone. A lot of anglers who I would regularly see on the stretch had also been suffering the poor catches the EAA swims had been producing. This continued for many sessions before I lost the love and abandoned old Weirfield.I hope the fish are still swimming the stretch, I learnt nearly all my river fishing there and it used to be more than kind to me.Neil sneaked a plump brown trout on maggots

Next in store was a rather grueling session on the canal,joined by Mox and Neil we roved the banks searching for a hungry pike, It apeared the pike wearnt feeding we tryed all the tricks in the book to no avail but sometimes thats just the nature of the beast.We ran across a couple of the gents from the PAC who had not a jiffy for all there efforts.As dusk drew near a wave of black clouds crept over threatening a serious shit storm.The clever thing to do would be to pack up and get the hell out of there but i was desperate for a fish and dusk is always a good time for a bite.As the clouds opened up,battering us with heavy rain my alarm beeped as the line was pulled out of the clip.Fish on! a small pike saved me from a blank taken on a live roach presntend paternoster style.

Til next time

Good luck

A WATERY WEEKEND

On a grey and rather cold Saturday morning I took the dog for a stroll along the Exe. The river looked in good nick with a decent bit of flow and a tinge of colour. I decided to return in the afternoon and throw a dead bait around for a bit in the hopes of a pike or two.

After meeting up with Neil and acquiring some perfect size fresh mackerel from my fishmonger mate Del boy I made my way back to the banks of the river. Ever hope full of a big pike and and a win for Everton (who were playing Bolton) I started the session by trotting a whole small mackerel under a large pike bung.
This tactic can quickly catch any active pike but on this occasion I had no such luck!

A change of swim was made along with the tactics. I switched onto a static dead bait in a slack pocket of water no more than 3ft deep. Again I used a whole mackerel with the neck cracked to release attractants into the swim: the bait was fished a foot over depth beneath a float with a 1oz bullet to hold bottom.
10 or so minutes passed before my float started to gently bob, seconds later it popped right up and disappeared as a pike made off with the bait. I hit the run and was met with a weight on the end, but to be honest she turned out to be a bit of a lazy old girl when it came to the fight. Apart from a crap attempt of a tail walk right at the end of the ordeal she just plodded around around like a fat old bream. Anyway she turned out to be a  lovely looking dark lean double that didn't show any signs of sickness or bad health just a bit of a lazy fighter I guess.

              No more pike for me or Neil but Everton won 2-0 so it turned out to be a crackin afternoon.

                                                               A CHANGE OF SCENERY

The next day Neil invited me to go sea fishing off the rocks at Hopes nose with a couple of his chums Chaz and Todd. I must say I don't really know much at all about the old sea fishing lark, so I was hoping the boys could show me how to catch a few as they have fished this mark a fair bit over the years.

As you can see the weather was spot on, Neil set me up a paternoster type rig with a gripper-lead attached to a rotten bottom to counter the generous amount of snags the sea has to offer. The hook was baited with a small fillet of mackerel and banged out around 70 yards or so. The fishing started off very slowly on the low tide with only one mackerel for Neil. To pass the time we explored the rock pools which held some cute little mullet fry, blennys and all sorts of crabs and such, like little mini aquariums, marvellous!

As the tide started to come in so did a school of whiting bringing lots of action with a bite a chuck. I did try to avoid them after a while by using very large baits but the toothy little gits still managed to engulf the bait every time! Neil also caught a Pollock along with Whiting and Mackerel. Todd filleted and cooked up a couple  of fish and a few were kept as pike baits. Some lucky ones made it back into the sea.

Overall a bloody good fun day so cheers lads.

Til next time

Tight lines

                                        

SEARCHING FOR STRIPES

Finally a victory for the mighty but very dodgy Toffees! I had forgotten what a win felt like it has been that long. But my god I was relieved when Baines smashed in that pen to put us 2-1 up in the dying stages of the game, who knows we may go on a bit of a run now ( I hope!)

Last weekend myself and Neil reactivated the perch hunt. Around a month or so ago we were doing a fair bit of perch fishing but frankly our results had been piss poor. The day we took a break from the perch quest Neil landed a 28lb 3 oz pike. This somewhat side tracked us and pretty much all of my recent angling has been in pursuit of pike; after seeing the giant Neil landed I just had to get me one of those. Yes, I've been catching a fair amount of pike lately but the big girls have evaded me so far.

Anyway the heavy rods and trebles where put aside as I opted for some lighter more sporting tackle.
Big perch can fight very hard so a nice long match rod to cushion lunges and a reel loaded with 6 lb line is advised to give you a good bit of sport, but enough power to give 'em a bit back if needed.

We planned our attack around live baiting, worms and prawns alike make great perch baits but there are far too many carp in my chosen water for the perch to even get a look in. My baits were presented on a paternoster rig with the float on the surface for visual bite indication. I also employed the aid of a bite alarm when using this rig as I often get distracted, and bites can be quick and silent as I fish with an open bail arm to minimize resistance to a taking stripey.

To spice up the rig a bit I add a 28g Kamasan black cap feeder as the paternoster anchor and fill it with chopped worm and red wrigglers.This adds fodder fish attraction and scent directly beneath the live bait, simply deadly!

Not long after the baits went out Neil had an absolutely screaming take resulting in him landing a plump 2lb-er. 5 minutes later I was into a fish which also turned out to be another 2lb plus perch. A good start indeed!

The action grinded to a halt and we had to wait until last light for another bite, Neil had a take on a free roving bait but unfortunately pulled out of the fish. I landed another 2lb-er before we were forced to call it a day. The next morning we returned, the weather was alot more favourable with a dark overcast sky and a slight ripple on the water. Again early success was enjoyed. By midday I had captured 3 good perch (they all fought like little pit bulls) but the afternoon produced nothing.

As the lighted turned off the perch turned on and I was into another angry stripey which again broke the 2 lb mark.

Big perch fishing is by no means easy and I've put in a buttload of time trying to catch them suffering many blanks but sometimes things go right and the perch bite. As they say....you gotta earn your stripes.

Til next time

Go catcha fish!

TOOTHY TIMES

I sacrificed Saturdays angling to watch the early kick off. Obviously an Everton match, which saw Moyes and the boys travel up the road to St James park to take on the ridiculously over achieving spawny gits Newcastle United. To sum up the game I wish I had gone fishing instead of putting myself through 94 minutes of frustration. Some classic Everton really; shit passing, missed chances and dodgy defending combined with a referee who's probably a life long Liverpool fan.
As you,ve probably gathered from this boring old rant we lost. My faith in Moyes is wearing thin!

On a lighter note the following day awoke to a glorious morning. There was not a cloud in the sky; not the best fishing conditions according to the old fishing handbook, but hey if we all waited for the so called perfect conditions to come along we would barely wet a line.
Anyway you get the picture you've gotta be in it to win it.

Pike fishing on the Exeter canal was the order of the day and the anglers were out in numbers taking advantage of this unseasonal pleasantness. I was joined on the busy banks by Nate and Ads who would also be spending the day pike fishing. Traveling light and roving was the plan of action.

After a slow start and 4 swim changes Nate tempted a small pike on a live bait.

We fished a few more swims before Nate had a stuttery take resulting in the fish coming off. However there were no signs of teeth marks on the bait. Although it was clearly picked up, perhaps a big perch was the culprit, but we'll never know.
As the light faded and temperature dropped I finally had a take. I hit the run straight away, thankfully the rod hooped over as I hooked into an angry pike that provided me with a great fight punching well above her weight.

Til next time

Be lucky

COMMON PLEASURES

Although I have spent alot of my recent time predator fishing for pike and perch I have still been trickling a bit of bait into the Exe in the hopes of banking a late season river carp.

Today I had a couple of spare hours to get down to the river and fish my baited patch. The weather was unseasonably warm for November which saw myself and Matty (aka The Golden maggot) led down the track by my ridiculously naughty dog Pepe. (He knows exactly where he's going) The river looked in good nick with a bit of colour and no flood debris coming down stream to fowl the lines, (last week the Exe looked more like the Amazon!)

Two rigs were flicked over the bait with a dozen or so freebies scattered over each rod. Hook-bait wise I've recently (with great effect) been using something a little bit different in the form of garlic and cheese lumps from Sonubaits. Believe me these things absolutely ooze attractants and stink to high heaven! In the short time I have been using them I have taken numerous carp from the river and still waters as well as other fish such as chub and barbel. Today I tipped each bait with a micro pop-up to add a bit of waft and colour in the murky water.

About an hour into the session my daydreaming was disturbed by the sound of a screaming alarm.
I quickly hit the run resulting in a very satisfying resistance. The fish was very powerful and gave me one hell of a scrap. Thankfully after ten or so minutes I had tired the fish out allowing Matty to slip the net under her. Bingo a late season carp, I love it when a plan comes together.

Til next time

Be lucky

SCHOOL OF CROC!

As you may have gathered by the ridiculously cheesy headline of this blog, this weeks angling adventure is again in pursuit of pike. A grey but very mild Sunday saw me making an early start to gather a good amount of live bait for an afternoon's croc fishing on the Exeter canal.

I was joined by my like minded skate and angling pal Ad Wallace, thankfully we were able to grab some decent sized baits fairly quickly which left us a good window of time to try and tempt Ads first pike. I was hoping we would hook a few over the course of the session so I could teach Ad about handling and unhooking; a practice that is essential for the well being of the pike. They may look tough and mean but the reality is they are a very delicate and fragile species that don't take well to being ponced around with on the bank.

We decided to travel light, dropping into each swim for no longer than half an hour in a bid to cover a decent amount of water, with a rod each and all the necessary tools (unhooking mat, forceps etc...) we made our way up the tow path. Rig wise I opted for the ultra effective sub-float paternoster.

This presentation may sound very complicated and technical but it is very simple to set up.

With a pike each during the first half hour we were onto a flyer! A small jack pour moi and a lean eight pounder for Ads; who was very happy to capture his first pike! Onwards forth to our next spot where we bumped into Ty and Neil who had caught bugger-all fishing dead-baits all morning.

After a bit of a chat and a brew with the lads, me and Ads made our way to another swim. We passed 2 more pike anglers who were also finding dead-baiting to be very slow with one jack on the bank between them all day.

I'll try not to sound like to much of a smug git now but we dropped into a swim about 50 yards up from them and banked 3 pike in quick succession! 2 more for Ads and the greediest little pike I have ever caught.
What a  beauty!

I was very pleased with the days outcome; a hatrick for Ads which is a good result on a day where others had struggled. With 5 pike banked Ads had gained some good experience and was very confident with handling and caring for the pike during the unhooking process. I'm sure he will go on to do alot more pike fishing this winter.

This week I also attended my first PAC meeting where local angling writer Dominic Garnet provided interesting musings and photographs focusing on alternative methods such as fly fishing and wobbling naturals,(A method I will be trying soon) Check out Doms website http://www.dgfishing.co.uk/

                                     Here's a dusty old picture of my live bait pb for ol' times sake.

                                                      Caught from a secret location.

                                                                           Til next time

                                                                              Be lucky

LOCKED GATES AND SHARP TEETH

It would seem summer has passed us by in the blink of an eye. (not that we've had much of one) Soon the clocks will go forward stealing another hour of daylight from our lives. My recent fishing trips have been in pursuit of giant still water perch. I have fished a variety of local waters which I know from past experience contain good perch. My main approach has been fishing with live baits to avoid the other species.Yes I have caught a few stripeys but nothing worth shouting about. Over the last week, I've put in alot of hours perching with not much success.

I needed a day off the still waters so with the new pike season kicking off why not have a crack at a croc or two on the Exeter canal. I was joined by fellow addicts Ty and Neil and we had spent the majority of the morning catching live baits which I find have a much quicker response than deads on the canal especially early on in the season.With a decent selection of roach in the live well and a good supply of dead baits we set about our way to spend the afternoon on the Lime kilns when shock horror... the flippin' gates have been locked to stop pikeys tipping shite all over the shop. Well bang goes that plan which will play its part later on in the story.

With the weather on the turn we decided to try the pensioners stretch and shelter under the trees but catfish man Malcolm was bivvied up in the spot; change of plan again, we finally settled right at the top of the road. As we started to set up the heavens opened up, hailstones poured down as we rigged up in hurry before taking shelter in the car.

On one rod I used a live roach presented paternoster style with a sub float under the water ( a good way of presenting baits over a weedy bottom ) on the other I set up a simple running rig with a popped up mackerel; again to keep my bait away from the weed.

Half an hour or so later the roach rod was away, I was into my first croc of the season, a very powerful pike which I presumed to be a double whilst playing it. I was wrong when a pike of around 6.5lb was slipped into the net. A good start to the session! however over the next hour we constantly had to move our rods to avoid the plague of Exeter uni students in there big ass canoes. I'm not generalising people that go to Exeter uni but the majority of run ins I've have had with the rowers, they've turned out to be rude dismissive upstarts that seem to look down at anglers as inferior beings. Anyway after some divvy ploughed through Ty's rods (even though we had warned him!) enough was enough.

A short hop across the road saw us treading mud on the banks of the tidal not far off the sewage works; not the nicest of places to fish but no rowers would interrupt us down these parts. A bitter wind started hacking down stream and it started to get very cold.

Winter is definitely on its way, my fingers were starting to go numb when a faint shouting was heard drowned by the heavy gusting of the wind. Upon investigating the noise it turned out Neil was into a good fish.The coldness left my body as the excitement took over. I ran back to my rods to wind in so I could take some photos of Neils fish, (if he lands it that is) at this point we had still not seen whatever had taken the sardine but the bend in the rod and crunching sound of a heavily set clutch indicated a heavy fish was on the end.

The pike eventually decided to show itself and its acrobatic abilities by tail walking a couple of times before she was safe in the net. MY GOD!!! there lay the biggest pike I had ever seen in my life, it didn't look real. She looked every bit a 30lb-er, We all started dancing around the bank like idiots. Neil looked absolutely gobsmacked!

I piped up saying "you've got a 30 and a new river record I reckon mate" as we lay the beast in the sling "here we go". I lifted her up for Neil and Ty to check the scales. The needle span round and round before settling on 29lb 2oz. I couldn't believe she wasn't a 30 but hey its only a number. After subtracting the weight of the sling she turned out to be 28lb 3oz ( we used 3 different sets of scales ) As Neil held her in the water for one final perv; the look on his face said it all (he was having an internal joygasm) before she powered  off to go and have a sulk.

  A new pb which is gonna take some beating,On another recent visit to the tidal Neil also caught a small sea bass.The River Exe has been very kind to us this summer and it seems she just keeps on giving,

I'm glad the gates to the kilns were locked!

Til next time,

Tight lines y'all

RIVER ROMANCE

As I write this piece I am unfortunately in some pain. Earlier this morning I had an operation on my knee to remove some broken cartilage which was causing my knee to lock.Hopefully the surgery has done the job and I may be able to start skating again in the near future. Further pain was caused by some shocking refereeing from that serial card-brandishing twonk Martin Atkinson; with Jack Rodwell being sent off giving the SCUM! the upper-hand and duly costing the Blues the match in the legendary Mersyside derby.

Well you cant win them all, and with the amount of dirty money them lot have spent, they are still nothing special. Breathe! On a fishing note I have recently been on a 5 day angling binge tackling both still and running waters.

First stop, A 48 hour session at Emperor Lakes.

                               

Me and Ty arrived at around 11.00 am. The heat was sweltering for this time of year which I hoped would stir the cats into a night time feeding frenzy. I went for a quick chat with the head bailiff Paul to see what had been happening on the lake.

He was brutally honest and I quote "the lake had been fishing like a bastard! one fish caught this week".The fish was a 34lb mirror. A fine specimen indeed but that's gonna make for one empty weekly catch report. Paul said it was up to us to show 'em how its done an get him some material for his weekly write up.

I set out to cross swords with one of the big cats, my approach being nothing more than beefed up carp tactics using 3oz leads on a simple running set up. The hook-links were tied using 35lb Nash missing link; a coated braid perfect for combating the catfish's abrasive mouth. At the sharp end the hooks I chose where size 2 ESP Raptor which are razor sharp making them perfect for snagging the tough mouth of the Wels catfish.

I hoped the fish had stopped fasting and would get right on the munch as I went about depositing piles of pre soaked mixed size halibut pellets into 3 different tasty looking spots along the channel between the 2 main islands.

One rod was baited with 4 lob worms, the other 2  rods with double Meteor boiley from CC Moore.

The traps were set it... was now time for some other serious business of getting the radio on to listen to Everton vs Man titty. For the last few seasons we've given them a lesson in football and team spirit beating them both home and away.

Anyway we lost 2 nil which mildly vexed me before I drifted back into the calmness of the lake and my surroundings.To be honest I fully expected city to win this time. The whole day and night remained quiet until a spell of heavy rain hovered over the lake for around 2 hours battering all the lads in bivvys as I watched on through the window of the shed I was camped in (the benefits of swim 2).

With all that rain refreshing the lake I fully expected a bite or 2 during the rest of my stay. As intuition has it I was correct; 2 hours after the down pour one of the boiley rods beeped twice before the bobbin slammed up to the base of the rod as the alarm screeched like a fat tart on the Jeremy Kyle show.

I was sat beside the rods and hit the run instantly. Brief contact was made before the fish did me in a snag I was unaware of. No more action for the rest of the session for us or anyone else fishing on the lake for that matter so sorry Paul.

I think the lake has seen far to much bait as off late and could do with a rest. (Well that's my excuse for blanking anyway).

It was now time to make the transition from still to running water. My dad had planned a two day trip on the rivers Severn and Wye in search of Barbel. We were accompanied by 2 other fishing pals Jordy and Jimma. After a reasonably hassle free trip up the motorway to Worcester we tracked down Allan's fishing tackle shop to purchase the relevant paper work to get on the waters.

The ticket for the Severn only costs £5 and covered all areas down stream of Diglis weir. On arrival we discovered that to get to the river banks its one hell of a walk. after a 'reccy' up and down the banks I decided to fish a swim opposite an old water tower; this being a noted barbel haunt.

The water was clear, deep and had a deceptively strong current flowing over a clean gravel bottom.

The swims along this stretch are hardly accommodating at all with steep banks and not much room to move or sit comfortably. This was jungle warfare but the standard of the fishing greatly out-weighs the bank side niggles. First fish went to our man from the Toon Jordy in the shape of the scabbiest little bream in the river. (bless it).

My first reaction was 'hmmm this is meant to be a barbel swim', I hoped all the hemp I had offered  the barbel was not being mopped up by a shoal of bream.My doubts soon went away as my rod was literally ripped off the stand.I grabbed the butt just in time and waded out a few feet to avoid the line cutting through the marginal vegetation as a strong fish shot down stream like a bullet. I must say that these barbel bites are nothing short of savagery and pretty much unmissable.

The fish fought a valiant battle making a series off long powerful runs. My god can barbel smoke some drag! My reel was singing at the top of its voice- very exciting stuff. After one hell of a fight I had a beautiful Severn barbel lying graciously in my net.After photographing the fish I held her in the water to let her recover from the whole ordeal. Moments later her tail started to kick as she surged from my grasp back to her watery home.

The fish fell for a chunk of my homemade paste which was very pleasing to me. I topped up the swim with more hemp and sent the paste back into the drink. 30 minutes later my rod was in action again with more of the same fight-wise, but a smaller fish this time.

Next in was Jordy with a brutal wrench of a take that took off downstream and parted itself from the hook to our disappointment.We soon lost the light and had a long trek back to the car.

The next morning we headed to Hereford to fish the river Wye.Conditions were far from ideal with beaming sun and low clear water levels. I struggled on the day and had to wait til dusk for a bite which turned out to be a chub around the 4lb mark which took a liking to the paste. I now had one more day before my operation to grab another fish. This time closer to home back on the Exe.After having results on the paste up country I wrapped a Sonubaits garlic and cheese chunk with a golf ball size of my magic paste. I flicked it out into the water followed by a few boileys and pellets. An hour or so later I was into a stubborn fish intent on hugging the bottom and plodding slowly with power towards a danger area of my swim. I tightened the drag and held on. Luckily the fish turned with the pressure and was led into my waiting net minutes later.

A cracking common and another river result.

The past few trips reminded me of  my passion for catching wild fish rather than those cooped up in a lake.

I find it so much more satisfying and rewarding, not to say that still-water fishing is a bit pants (just my personal opinion gained from my own experience).

Til next time

Go make some luck!

JUST THE TICKET

It was a Sunday morning,i awoke with a bangin head and ringing ears after playing a drum n bass set for the Reform Records anniversary party at the Exeter Phoenix.

I needed some fresh air and some fishing to take my mind away from the fact that i felt like crap.After spending 99% of the summer wielding heavy carp rods and reels loaded with rope,i needed a change and something all a bit more light hearted.

A Quick phone call to that man called Moxy saw us head up the motorway to meet up with our pals Ads and Nate. (who also happen to be skaters that have caught the fishing bug) We met at Kia ora which is one of the club waters belonging to the Exeter angling association,A good place for a mixed bag and easy fishing.

From the off i was enjoying some serious rod bending action from small carp on my light Quiver tip rod,whilst Ads was getting some action using his dads special boilies.

The highlight of Moxy,s Catch was a lovely trio of Crucian carp, float fished bread flake doing the business,Whilst Nate enjoyed a hell of a scrap with what turned out to be a pb carp at 11,2

 We decided to take full advantage of our EAC tickets and move on to the Exeter canal in search of Ads and Nate,s first pike.unfortunately the weather had other idea,s and after roving the banks for around an hour we were all soaked and ready to call it a day,Over all we all had a great day,but a big croc for one of the lads would have topped it off nicely,you,ll just have to wait till next time boys.

Til next time

Go catch some feesh!

GOOD THINGS COME TO THOSE WHO BAIT

First of all I forgot in my last write up to thank Les Wallace. He lent me a set of very nice Century carp rods for the weekend after I snapped one of mine so cheers Les and here's to you catching the Ashmead 50 sooner rather than later.

I must also thank thank Moxy for continuing to bait our carp swims on the Exe whilst I've been elsewhere targeting Cats. Good ol' Mox; must have thrown in nigh on 10,000 boilies into the drink this season. Anyway, this brings me to the main subject of this post.

Last night I nipped down to the river to grab an hours carping; it must have been only ten minutes before my tutti frutti offering was eagerly lapped up. I imagened the river bed looking like someone had spillt a packet of skittels on the floor! With all the bolies that had gone in, the prebaiting had clearly paid off! So nice one Moxy lad.

The culprit turned out to be a very pretty fully scaled mirror, sorry no scales again but when they look like this who gives a rats!

So it would seem i,m now getting back amogst the fish and on a bit of a roll,a big catfish and a wild 30lb carp are still on my wish list so we,ll just have to see what happens next.

 Til next time tight lines