CARPING ON

Hello to all

As I mentioned in the last blog the river carp trail had gone very stale and we had been struggling to get a bite for a couple of weeks. I took a small break from the carping and enjoyed some more lure fishing with Moxy.We have mostly been roving the tidal on quick sessions catching small pike and perch and the odd sea trout.Neil however has been carping on. And catching in the process.

Good work Neil lad! Two lovely Exe doubles of 11lb 7oz (top fish) and 14lb 10 oz.The carping doesn't end there either.On a very hot afternoon I finished Work and had a hunch that a spot I sometimes frequent would  be holding a basking fish or two.I arrived at the spot and quietly crept up to peer into water to see if anyone was home.I slowly approached the edge making sure I didn't break the sky line and ruin a potential chance of a carp.As intuition would have it there were indeed fish at home and quite a gang too.I could clearly see five carp hanging in the shallow water enjoying the suns rays looking like they were not in a rush to go anywhere.

In such situations like this a standard ledgering approach is not the best option as a splash could spook the fish into leaving the area. The carp in question were quiet modest fish for the Exe with 3 of them around the 7-8lb mark and the other two being low doubles. I opted to use a my 1.75lb Fox Barbel rod and freeline a large piece of bread on the surface.The bait was flicked into the margin and drifted over the carp then held so it flutters on the surface. I know that the presentation is very unnatural looking but the carp haven't twigged. I find this by far the most exciting way of catching carp, Being able to see your quarry is real heart stopping stuff. It must have taken all of two minutes before a big set of slurping lips sucked in the bread.I bloo my cover with a very clumsy but well timed strike.The surface exploded as the carp realised his mistake, his shoal mates soon fled and battle commenced. After a dogged bit of hanging on I convinced the fish to get his head up and slipped him into the net.

The little fella ended a bit of a lean patch for me so I was well chuffed and playing him on the light barbel rod was great fun. I stuck around to see if the other fish returned but it seemed the whole ordeal had persuaded them otherwise. Meanwhile Neil was downstream fishing on the bottom with a paste wrapped boiley, He was later rewarded with a pb stunner of 23lb 6oz. I had left by this point so sadly missed all the action.

Aside from the carping I took on  a 48 hour Catfishing trip to Swallow pool to try and break my recent pb of 47lb 8oz. Swallow pool is a fairly recent project set up by Kieth Wesley, the water is home to some huge cats up to the 88lb mark. Keith welcomed myself and Julian Chidgey to his very unique water.

Watch this video to see how we got on.

Till Next time

Good luck

RUBBER WRECKERS

Hello to all

Searching for summer river carp has been a passion of mine for a few years now, our river Exe fish come in all shapes and sizes each of them bursting with power- character and charm.There are some truly stunning dark Commons that swim with the fat rugby ball shaped Italian style mirrors all going about there life largely undisturbed.This has been a bit of a problem for me over the last few weeks,I havn't interrupted a carps day  for a long time.I have fished multiple quick sessions over prebaited patches and caught nada! I have explored new area's and done a couple of over nighter's but still not managed to trick a carp into paying me a quick visit. Too much sitting behind a set off static rods can drive a man insane in my book. It was one sunny morning on the river I was doing just that, sat motionless with my traps set looking at the rods. In my mind willing them to do something.......

Then my phone rang with ol Mox on the line informing me he was off to the river Culm for a stroll with a lure rod to find a bit of action.Sounded good to me so I packed up and did one up to the Culm.It was a gloriouse day with blue skies and a warm breeze.Pepe went about  his ways ripping up sticks and hopping round the feild like a little deer whilst me and Mox worked some small lures through the trailing branches and nooks of this pretty little meandering peice of river.

                         

It must have been no more than my fifth cast when a Jack pike shot out from his hideout to smash upon my lure sparking an enjoyable tussle with lots of acrobatics.Sport continued with more hits from the jacks which are great fun when using light lure rods and braided line which puts you in full contact of the action.

Another big plus to this sort of fishing is that one doesn't need a whole truck load of gear which is a very refreshing change from lugging all the carp bits around on the Exe.Unhindered by a rake of tackle we explored many pools and slacks with most of them containing a Pike or two. For a While now I have always been an out and out bait fisher when it comes to the predators, and to be honest I have looked at lure fishing as a bit of a pub chuck and hope something happens method! I know I couldn't be further from the truth but personally I don't have the knowledge of the lures or the equipment to have appreciated it fully for myself.

Now that Mox has been turned into a Lure fiend by Steve Moore I have had the chance to get out and use a variaty of lures on some nice light spin stix rather than just slappin a spoon onto a stiff carp rod when the bait fishing is slow.To put it in a nutshell I'm getting into this lure lark so watch this space for more lure action and hopefully some monster pike and perch this coming winter.

Til next time

Good luck

RIVER RAIDERS

Hello to all

First of all let me apologise for the lack of posts lately,

As you may have already noticed I am a bit of a river fishing enthusiast, I enjoy fishing running waterways for a number of reasons regardless weather it be on the banks of my local river Exe or far far away in the jungle territory of  the Amazon.With river fishing there still lye's that degree of uncertainty, not knowing what will take the bait next is an exciting prospect but  rivers also offer us anglers fresh challenges.
Seasonal changes and the weather present us with varied conditions. each  condition or season will have  different effects on all species which changes where, how and what the discerning river angler may do.

The Exe has been doing a few fish for the boys recently including another double figure bream for Ty ( 10lb 8oz) and a couple of rather strange captures, Moxy  caught a 15lb Pike on a halibut pellet whilst fishing for Carp and during another evening session Neil landed a perfect condition 7lb 2oz Grass carp.This again highlights the mystery of fishing Wild waters.

I have been predator fishing for a far ol while now but in that time I have never fished for or caught a Zander I have always found them fascinating so I decided it was time to have a crack for one and planned a trip to the river Severn in Worcester.It was an early start which saw Myself accompanied by Ty and Neil caning our way up an empty M5 in the direction of Allan's fishing tackle so we could grab a few bits and the relevant permits.Once we had acquired the goods and reached the river we made the long slog down stream of Diglis weir to reach an area  noted for producing good catches of Barbel.

What about the Zander you may be thinking? the plan was to try and catch Ty his first barbel and gather some fresh baits during daylight then switch on to the Zeds once darkness arrived.The day was quite sporting producing a mixed bag featuring mainly bream along with perch, roach, bleak, eels a carp and a pike ( bizarrely caught on sweetcorn ).The Barbel were nowhere to be seen but I was sure we would grab one or two during the night or at first light. Any way the evening was drawing to a close and my thoughts turned the Zander whilst Ty continued with the Barbel fishing.

I have done a bit of research into the various methods used in modern day zander fishing, and from what I have gathered one of the most effective ways to catch them is to quiver tip a small freshly killed course fish such as a Bleak or roach ect.The advice I had been given was to hit the rod in the event of a mere rattle or tap.This may sound a bit strange and is a huge contrast to the way we fish for Pike in that we allow a small window of time once the line comes out of the clip or float goes under to allow the Pike to pick up and turn the bait before striking. It was whilst attending a PAC meeting I learnt from Dilip Sakur that Zander feed in a different manner to the pike and are very resistance shy snappy feeders making them rather tricky to catch whilst bait fishing using traditional pike methods.The photo's he showed us of the monster Zeds he had caught using the quiver tip method were enough to convince me that was the way to go.

I set up using a 12ft Fox Barbel rod of 1.75lb tc with a running 3oz feeder to hold bottom,The trace I used was somewhat different to standard snap-tackle. Using a length of the very supple trace that is Wonder wire I tied up a standard knot less knot round a size 2 Fox Arma-point leaving a hair of around 5 inches to which a small semi barbless treble was crimped on to complete the rig.The feeder was filled with chopped Bleak and oily ground bait to add attraction into the deep coloured water of the Severn.

Upon dropping the trap to the bottom of the nearside boat channel I settled down to watch the bright blue night light I had rather crudely taped to the tip of the rod for signs of Zander. after an hour or so the tip started to rattle slightly,I immediately swept the rod back over my shoulder briefly making contact with what felt like a decent fish...dam it!.I quickly re-packed the feeder and put on a fresh bait before recasting to the same spot hoping I had not just fluffed my only chance of a Zed .Not long after I received a positive pull on the tip which saw me connect with a spirited little Zander of around 2.5lbs. Far cry from a monster but I was happy to have caught my first Zed .Meanwhile Ty was up and down like a fiddler's elbow dealing with a shoal of Bream that had taken a liking to the banquet he had layed on for the Barbel.

I stayed up for a while searching for a larger fish but my efforts were not rewarded. After a couple hours of the most uncomfortable sleep I have ever endured We were woken up by a large dog howling at us,I proceeded to fish for Zander and quickly captured another school fish then the rain came turning the bank into an ice rink making it a dangerous prospect to carry on fishing.Unfortunately the Barbel were nowhere to be seen but hey that's fishing.


Til next time

Good luck

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

A GOOD WEEK IN THE OFFICE

Hello to all

As you may know I am not what you call a fair weather fisherman. I am what you would call an addict,An angler that will venture out in all conditions in order to scratch his ever tingling itch.So the river is rising and falling like a yo yo at the moment and the banks are treacherous quagmires of mud.this does not make for the most safe and comfortable fishing but the fish themselves don't just disappear and life goes on for our finned friends so why would I not continue to fish for them?.... Answer; I don't!

I have been quite busy on the banks lately fishing both still and running water.

On a rather over cast and muggy evening I met up with Neil for a spot of  fishing on the river.The water was very coloured and it looked good for a fish or two. Neil kicked off the session by feeding half a pint of maggot and caster via a bait dropper.I fed a line upstream With a few feeder loads of bread mash and casters.For my hook-bait I had a small pinch of bread flake on a size 14 whilst Neil went slightly heavier with a maggot clip rig.After a while the Dace and Minnows were proving to be a bit of a nuisance, it looked like they were the only fish in our swim. However I did have a good whack on my quiver tip but I some how missed the bite. A change of plan was in order so we decided to top the swim up but change our hook baits over to 10mm Factor 7 boiley's from Splash baits making them dace proof. As the light faded The tip of Neils rod wrenched round as a fish bolted off in realisation of its mistake.Neil was quick to grab the rod and from the way the fish was fighting we both assumed he was into a small carp.We were proved terribly wrong when I slid the net under the biggest Chub I have seen in my life.

The moment was like when Neil landed a 28lb 12oz pike last October! We were both gob smacked and could hardly believe what lay there in front of us. At 6lb 4oz this could very well be a river record but frankly it doesn't matter,The Exe has very few specimen chub which makes this a truly remarkable capture.

The next evening I was back on the river bank,this time on a different stretch where I have been pre-baiting a swim with boiley and pellet. A fair bit of bait had been previously thrown in so I was pretty confident I would get my string pulled by something. I used simple bolt rig set-ups with double 15mm Meateor tipped with a 10mm Splash pop up. I flicked out two baits over the spot followed by a scattering of freebies.The sun was out and I contently sat down to watch the water whilst hoping a Carp would spring the trap.I was in a very chilled state watching a Great crested Grebe going about his business when the alarm signalled an absolute screamer of a take.I hit the run and the fish continued to strip line from the melting spool ,classic river carp behaviour which is standard issue when hooking one of these powerful fish. I eventually subdued  a beautiful mint condition 14lb 2oz Leather carp. A similar event occurred the next day when I returned to the river and landed another carp in the shape of a perfectly formed 14lb 6oz Common.

With Luck on my side and a free evening I decided to give Zyg a call at Angler's paradise to enquire about the recent angling pressure on the specimen catfish lake.They had not been fished for in days and surly would be hungry.Luck was again with me when he told me that the lake was empty and I could come and have it to myself....Perfect. Well ,not so perfect as a heavy storm had been predicted to last the whole night.Thankfully Neil is just as stupid as me and we both decided to ignore the extreme weather warning and rocked on down to see Mr Gregorek.

We entered reception greeted by a smiling Zyg.Ahhh u come looking for pussy he joked, Joking aside I told him just how much I wanted to tangle with a big cat. They most definitely are my bogey species and I have put allot of time and money into a so far giant cat-less campaign.I have caught a few low doubles and a couple of giant Sturgeon along the way but the big cats have always eluded me. As the blanks stack up, each session mounts more pressure on me than the last.

We set up camp and got the rods out oblivious to the fact that the sky behind us was threatening to smash some bivvy's and flood us and the other angler off the complex.A simple approach was made using running rigs and popped up 21mm halibut pellet hook-baits.After topping each spot up with a really oily mix of whole and chopped monster crab boileys and pellets a hasty retreat to the bivvy was made as the clouds emptied lashing of heavy rain down upon our humble camp.It was a real lock down situation with both doors of the bivvy zipped up to stop the howling wind and rain making life very uncomfortable.The scene was in the making for what would be an epic battle set on a dramatic stage of a raging storm. Darkness brought anticipation along with heavier wind and rain,We were cooped up in the tent laughing at the whole ordeal when the unthinkable happened.The receiver alerted me to some interest on the rod I had placed off the island,I smashed my way out the bivvy splashing through the boggy terrain to investigate.the bobbin began to rise as the line slowly peeled off the reel.

I nervously wound into the bite and swept the rod back over my shoulder twice which set the hook into what was clearly a monster.My 3.25tc rod was fully bent into submission,This was a proper zoo creature of a fish which led me into a number of swims as I could not do anything at all about it.The cat was taking me for a walk and its a bloody good thing that there was no one else on the lake as I would have surly wiped everybody's lines out. 15 minutes into the fight the fish was showing no signs of mercy, my arms were aching and my clothes were ringing wet-not to forget Neil who was also flapping around on the bank looking like he had walked through a car wash.We had not yet seen what I was playing as every time I thought the fish was near it would make a mockery of my heavily set clutch and bolt off again and again and again.The fight was going on for a long time and I was beginning to think the hook-link might go when the fish started to slow up, Neil sunk the net as I walked backwards nearly falling down the bank into the carp lake.I heaved the fish up and Neil didn't let me down.

Finally,I had done it,a beast of a cat lay there snorting at us on the sodden turf. Yes I was soaked through to  my under garments but I didn't care,The search was over.

47lb 8oz

Til next time

Be lucky

FLOOD FIGHTS

Hello to all

The dream of us winning the European cup has once more ended due to the fact that England are cack! I could easily write multiple pages detailing my dispair of pretty much the entire squad, But I wont bore you with all the details so lets talk some fishing.

Rain rain and some more rain has been the forecast as of late which has seen our rivers assume winter-like conditions, running fast and thick with colour and debris. Actually, the words colour and debris are in fact a massive understatement; The water is like mud and I have witnessed actual trees flying down stream like Nordic longboats. Conditions like these can prove a bit daunting but with a bit of venue knowledge and adaptation one can still enjoy a bit of sport. By adaptation I meen stepping up your gear to tackle a large fish combined with the heavy flow in the event of a hook-up.(After all I wasn't going tiddler bashing was I? )

The session in talk was one of those" Oh sod it, I may as well give it a go" affairs which saw me jump in the motor late evening to grab an hour or two's carping before Dusk.I knew what conditions awaited me so I grabbed the relevant equipment to counter the swollen river. Here's a quick tackle breakdown-3.25lb tc rods, reels loaded with 20lb mainline,4oz leads and super strong hook-links made from 25lb coated braid. It may sound like I'm going Cat fishing but believe me river carp fight hard enough in normal water levels so for this occasion the heavy approach was necessity.

For hook baits I opted for some CCmoore Meateor boiley's which I had left to soak in the matching glug for around a month. I also nicked on a pva bag of crushed boiley's and again dipped the whole lot in the glug creating a highly attractive parcel which would leek scent into the murky water.Rods were fished barbel style with the tips sky bound to keep as much line as possible out of the rivers thundering flow. An hour passed when I began to think I was wasting my time, then out of the corner of my eye I caught a glimpse of what looked like a carp rolling on the surface.With my revitalised optimism I waited for another half hour or so when out of the blue the tip hammered down lifting up the rod butt as the free spool span like the wheel of a Ferrari going flat out....Fish on!!! the first run was unstoppable with the fish using the current to its full advantage. 50 yards or so later the reel was smoking but with a fully compressed rod I managed to turn the fish.To make things even harder I now had a 6ft tree branch attached to line and I began to think this was a battle I would surly lose But I hung on for 15 minutes and eventually bundled a beast of a mirror into the net.

This 18lb warrior gave me one of the hardest fights of my angling career so far.River carp are truly amazing creatures, just look at the size of its tail and fins.

Til next time

Good luck yall

SEASONS GREETINGS

Hello to all

At last! June the 16th has come and the river season begins. I have been looking forward to getting back to fishing running water for a long time. River fishing is most definitely my favourite form of angling and for a  while now myself and the boys have been trickling some bait into various spots on our local river Exe.
The idea behind this is to localise the fish and get them used to feeding on our bait prior to the 16th in the hopes of them being in residence when we return and are allowed to fish.

On the opening morning of the season I woke up late with a thick head after pissing it up a bit after England's miraculous win over Sweden. Surely old Woy won't start flippin Milner against the Ukraine after Wallcotts impact? But, with the general cretin-ology that is a credential of being an England manager, nothing would suprise me. On a positive whim, that Judas known as Rooney is off his ban now, lets hope he is on good form ay? Anyway enough of the footy and back to the fishing.
I phoned up Moxy to discover that him and Ty were already bank side and that he had captured his first fish of the season being a pike of around 14lbs. On that note I dragged myself down to the river, disgraceful I know but I really was feeling a bit slow that morning.

Due to all the rain we have had, the conditions of the water had slightly scuppered  plans to fish our pre- baited carp swims. The river was running fast and dirty and most of the day was spent walking around checking out various reaches of the river re-acquainting our selves with old mother Exe.
Even though I was fish-less it was good to be back on the river!

The next day I awoke early and clear headed; hungry to get a couple of carp rigs out on the river. I was greeted with slightly clearer, more gentle conditions to the previous day. Its amazing how quickly the water fines down on the Exe. A chalk stream it was not, but it was certainly a lot more favourable to present a bait in the flow without a ton of litter building up on the line.
And so it was. I flicked out a couple of traps into a nice spot that I had a hunch might be holding a fish or two. There was no tricky rigonomatory or fancy bits involved just a simple bolt set-up and a high attract hook-bait.

I threw a hand full of sweetcorn over each rig and settled down for all of two minutes before a full volume alarm let out a horribly pleasing screech scaring all the wildlife away and probably waking up half of Exeter. In the few seconds it took me to hit the run, the fish had taken a sprint of line and was heading straight towards one of the many snags it had to choose from in a bid to ruin my day. I disengaged the free spool and the rod assumed its full arc. My intuition was correct as I was into a decent fish that most certainly was no bream! I nervously played the fish in quite a tight area on a heavily set clutch, it took me a good five minutes of hanging on and praying the hook didn't pull before I convinced her to give up.When I finally bundled her into the net I was one happy and very relieved angler. I cut the line off and unhooked the fish in the net with no fuss at all.
I now needed a photographer and a set of scales. I stood in the water with the fish in the net for around 10 minutes before Dom and Neil arrived to take the photos and weigh the fish.

At 23lb 12oz I was very happy to have opened my river account. I must thank Dom and Neil for getting there so quickly so cheers boys.
Else where on the Exe Ty was in action testing out his home made garlic boileys. The afternoon was a different picture to the sunny morning I enjoyed but the capture off this PB 24lb 6oz common most definitely brightened up Ty's session.Great angling mate!

A great start to the season! lets hope that England kick on and the carp keep biting.

Til next time

Good luck