RIVER ROUND UP

Hello to all

After last weeks cracking angling which ended with me finally landing a big catfish I decided to take a week off  and spend some time doing other things. Of course I didn't stay away from the banks completely, I just didn't wet a line. I walk Pepe along the river most days which gives me an opportunity to top up a few spots  with boiley and pellet to hopefully attract and hold some fish in the swims for when I'm on the spots with a rig in the drink. Pre-baiting is a massive edge when fishing for carp and other species in large expanses of water such as rivers.

Myself and the boys have been busy little bees on the river this week.I fished a short session with Ty one  afternoon and the weather was actually quite nice for a change,We decided to fish one rod each over a spot laced with pellet and cheap tutti fruity shelve-life's.The afternoon passed rather uneventfully with no signs of any fish in residence so we decided to give it another hour before calling it a day.A short while later Ty had a rather stuttery take resulting in a huge Bream of 10lb 7oz.

That's one hell of a bream from any river,Ty has had doubles from both the river and the canal now which I think is quite an achievement so well done mate.For all you hardcore bream haters out there just remember to be nice to them,there only having their dinner and I know there guilty of snatching carefully placed carp traps but that's just part of fishing. I have been catching a few myself whilst carping this season but the tackle I use is not exactly what you would call a bream fishing outfit so they don't really argue much when being led to the net.

On a rather hot and grey afternoon I was once again lugging my tackle towards the river in the hopes of a carp.The clouds were lying low with a very humid feel and jungle like atmosphere.With sweat beading off my brow I arrived in my chosen swim and started off by throwing in 30 or so boiley's to tickle the appetite of any carp that may be near.I quickly put a rod out over the spot and settled down to listen to talk sport whilst watching the water for any signs of fishy life.I was in a bit of a trance when I spotted another angler walking towards me which turned out to be (angling veteran)Paul Hamilton.We got chatting for a bit then he made his way down stream to try and catch a few for himself,My ear was bent listening to some rather speculative transfer bollox when the alarm burst into life switching my brain from football back to the matter at hand.The stinking run let me know this was no Bream followed by some textbook river carp punishing lunges and fast deep ploughing motions,the tackle passed the test and I netted another chunk of a mirror.I had left my scales and camera at home so I briefly sacked the fish and ran downstream to interrupt Paul,kindly he reeled in to weigh and photograph the fish for me which turned the dial to 23lb 7oz-Cheers Paul

A very strangely marked fish indeed,I have never seen this before so if anyone has an explanation for this please let me know.The river has been very kind to me this season and all my results have come from quick daylight sessions. It has been years since I last did a night on the Exe so it was about time to see what she would throw us during an overnight session.Myself and Moxy put together a plan to fish a heavily pre-baited swim under the cover of darkness.The water ate around 10kg of the usual boiley's and wot nots before we dropped on the spot with our bed chairs and rods to see if anything was on the bait.

Tactic wise we both used bolt rigs with 3-4oz spod-like open-ended feeder's instead of a standard lead. We had a huge bucket filled with a halibut ground-bait mix loaded with a variety of goodies like sweetcorn boiley's and mixed size pellets.After casting our traps the excitement and expectations where high as we sat back to drink a few cold ones.Two hours passed with bugger all signs of any fish but the sun was yet to go down and to be honest I'm a bit of an impatient angler at times.my unnecessary  doubhs were ended as Moxy's spool started to melt and after a good scrap he landed a  lean common of 11lb  kick starting the session nicely.

My rods remained lifeless in the daylight but as darkness came I landed 4 bream to 9lb in quick succession I thought I was in for a real haul of bream but it went quiet for an hour before I was in again this time landing a stunning mirror of 19lb 8oz.

What a cracking start and it wasn't even midnight yet!,We whacked out another load of bait and sat back for around half an hour feeling rather chuffed then Moxy's rod belted over.Mox lifted into the fish and the bend in the rod signalled it was again a gudden.The fish bolted down stream like a bullet but with some steady pressure the fish turned but was far from done and ten minutes into the fight we had still not seen it.I was poncing round with the torch trying to catch a glimpse of the action whilst moxy had a very nervous look about him as he hung on.The fish eventually came close and I lit up the water with the torch light,our jaws dropped to the floor when we caught sight of a huge Barbel! Moxy's knees turned to jelly and we were both praying that he had a good hook-hold.Luckily we maneged to get the stubborn beast into the net.

The Barbel weighed in at 12lb 13oz and is a first of the species for him the jammy git.The session wasnt over as the night produced an 18lb common followed by a 17lb 2oz common at first light.The morning produced another few smaller carp and remarkably the same 19lb fish I caught at night ,this time falling to Moxy's trap which took the tally up to 7 carp 4 bream and 1 monster barbel.

Til next time

Good luck