It is as good a time as any, with the traditional fishing season now at an end and this blog very nearly a year old, to take stock, look back at the year gone by and lay down some achievable aims for the months ahead.
Last season was very much a learning curve for me as I haven't fished regularly for quite a few years and things have changed markedly in my absence. A variety of new waters have added to my confusion and found me struggling to catch on several occasions.
Fishing in general has changed with the emphasis very much on carp these days and naturally baits and methods have moved on, I have quite a bit of catching up to do in this respect.
Ryton Pool, Jubilee Pools, Stockton Reservoir and Phil's stretch of the Warwickshire Avon were all waters I had never seen let alone fished before and each presented it's own problems to be overcome. Although I caught fish from every venue and I was successful in catching both a 20lb carp and a 10lb barbel along with some smaller carp and numerous good tench, I feel that there is certainly room for improvement particularly with regards eliminating blank sessions.
There are one or two methods in mind which I may experiment with in the near future and I will be using a greater variety of baits too, I may fish a match or two as well if the opportunity comes my way.
What I did do last year was achieve two of the targets I set for myself as a teenager. While I will always be happy to catch big fish of any species there was four in particular that captured my imagination and three of the four eluded me in my teens. The capture of a roach of exactly two pounds from the river Leam at Hunningham was the only real specimen fish of my teens and remained something I was very proud of until I bettered it by four ounces some years later.
Last Summer the capture of a carp of over twenty pounds from Jubilee fitted the bill as another of my four targets and this was followed by a barbel of ten and a half pounds from the Avon which made three. Top of the list however is, and always has been, a bream of ten pounds or more. The fourth and most highly prized of the quartet, bream are, for reasons even I don't understand, my favourite fish and a double figure fish would be amazing. I think the blame lies largely with the impressionable age I was at when the angling press were reporting the bream catches of the likes of Alan Wilson, Phil Smith, Tony Miles, etc. Stunning bream of thirteen, fourteen and fifteen pounds featured on the front page most weeks, fish from legendary waters such as Queensford Lagoon and tc pit. One particularly iconic picture of Smith behind a bag of four bream each over eleven pounds still sticks in my mind today.
Over the years I have of course fished waters which hold bream of the target weight and above, Napton Reservoir, Coombe Abbey Lake, Ryton Pool, Jubilee Pools, Overstone Solarium to name a few, but really big bream are scarce in each case. In order to get after a real whopper I will probably have to extend my search area, this is one place I've got my eye on http://www.bluebell-lakes.co.uk/ and may try to take out a 24hr ticket at some point this season. It strikes me also as a good place for a get together later in the season, a Bloggers Beano if you like!
Last season was very much a learning curve for me as I haven't fished regularly for quite a few years and things have changed markedly in my absence. A variety of new waters have added to my confusion and found me struggling to catch on several occasions.
Fishing in general has changed with the emphasis very much on carp these days and naturally baits and methods have moved on, I have quite a bit of catching up to do in this respect.
Ryton Pool, Jubilee Pools, Stockton Reservoir and Phil's stretch of the Warwickshire Avon were all waters I had never seen let alone fished before and each presented it's own problems to be overcome. Although I caught fish from every venue and I was successful in catching both a 20lb carp and a 10lb barbel along with some smaller carp and numerous good tench, I feel that there is certainly room for improvement particularly with regards eliminating blank sessions.
There are one or two methods in mind which I may experiment with in the near future and I will be using a greater variety of baits too, I may fish a match or two as well if the opportunity comes my way.
What I did do last year was achieve two of the targets I set for myself as a teenager. While I will always be happy to catch big fish of any species there was four in particular that captured my imagination and three of the four eluded me in my teens. The capture of a roach of exactly two pounds from the river Leam at Hunningham was the only real specimen fish of my teens and remained something I was very proud of until I bettered it by four ounces some years later.
Last Summer the capture of a carp of over twenty pounds from Jubilee fitted the bill as another of my four targets and this was followed by a barbel of ten and a half pounds from the Avon which made three. Top of the list however is, and always has been, a bream of ten pounds or more. The fourth and most highly prized of the quartet, bream are, for reasons even I don't understand, my favourite fish and a double figure fish would be amazing. I think the blame lies largely with the impressionable age I was at when the angling press were reporting the bream catches of the likes of Alan Wilson, Phil Smith, Tony Miles, etc. Stunning bream of thirteen, fourteen and fifteen pounds featured on the front page most weeks, fish from legendary waters such as Queensford Lagoon and tc pit. One particularly iconic picture of Smith behind a bag of four bream each over eleven pounds still sticks in my mind today.
Over the years I have of course fished waters which hold bream of the target weight and above, Napton Reservoir, Coombe Abbey Lake, Ryton Pool, Jubilee Pools, Overstone Solarium to name a few, but really big bream are scarce in each case. In order to get after a real whopper I will probably have to extend my search area, this is one place I've got my eye on http://www.bluebell-lakes.co.uk/ and may try to take out a 24hr ticket at some point this season. It strikes me also as a good place for a get together later in the season, a Bloggers Beano if you like!
Hello Sir,Very nice blog you have here.I must admit that all the specimen Bream anglers that I know are absolutely obsessed with the species and not a little eccentric.I don't know how far you are willing to travel but some waters in my neck of the woods hold very large Bream.The famous reserviors at Tring (british waterways controlled) and Brogborough(Ampthill and District AC) both hold huge specimens.regards Gurn
ReplyDeletehttp://theintrepidpiscator.blogspot.com/
Hi Gurn, Hopefully this won't become an obsession but it would be nice to bag a double. I am aware of Tring obviously but not familiar with Brogborough, they would both be a bit of a hike from here , thanks for the info though.
ReplyDeleteRegards Steve.