Well here we are right at the very end of the coarse river season. It’s been an eventful one in more ways then many others. Covid rules and regulations were still around throughout the season making life difficult. I managed to organise the Tench Fishers national fish-in on The Carp Societies Horseshoe lake happen with some social distancing etc. So that was in May. As we progressed throughout the year restrictions became less. Then at Christmas numbers of infections went through the roof but the UK held it’s nerve and with the vaccinations and the milder symptoms of the latest variant we moved to some sort of normality. Here I am writing this in May 2022 there are no restrictions at all. That’s not to say another variant may come back and bite us on the rear.

For me the end of the river season marks the end of my angling year. Sometimes I do fish for perch for a couple of weeks, however not this year.

I was talking to Andy (you should have been here yesterday ) Cowley about what a poor season I had had. Then on reflection I said that a pb carp, zander, chub over 7lbs, double figure barbel, tench to over 9lbs, also perch to 3lbs was not a bad season at all. Plus all the clients had pb chub, perch and tench I was feeling reasonably pleased. Sure because of covid I hadn’t fished as frequently as I had wished but I enjoyed fishing new venues, species and watching people with big smiles on pb’s.

The number of chub over 6lbs for the season was about 10 I think. But I guided about the same number to other anglers so happy days.

I’ve stated my tench fishing this year with some success but that’s for the next blog in April.

So here is a short video of the last few days on the Hampshire Avon.

Oh and good luck to you all for the coming season.

There was little to report for December as covid was rife again near Xmas plus I had a cold which slowed things down. Plus the river conditions on most of the rivers I fish were not inspiring me. They were in flood with plenty of rain in the systems. I hadn’t properly got my perch […]

I have done little fishing over the month of October mainly as the last 6 weeks has seen me taking Mrs. P on holiday. Firstly a week in Cornwall kicking the sand around on the beaches and some wonderful time walking the coastal paths. Then after a family wedding mid October a few days later […]

It’s refreshing though to fish the crystal clear waters of the Avon or Stour I wonder how much longer this might be the case. I’m no expert however with the water companies allowed to release untreated sewage into rivers at permissive levels and frequency cannot be helping particularly with low flow levels during summer levels. […]

The weather continued to be hot throughout August with some very hot conditions. The barbel wouldn’t come out to feed very often. You could locate the same fish in the same swim. Although it was unfair to target the same fish. I had found a great shoal of chub which enabled me to obtain some […]

July was an exciting month for me there were plenty of insects around and so my wildlife pond provided some wonderful video work. The fishing was truly magnificent with some big chub and barbel caught. The summer was extremely hot at times 32c plus. The river Wye has been so disappointing this year with low […]

I sit here writing this blog it’s July 11th and England are playing Italy in the final of the Euro 2020 and I can’t believe I’ve not written much about the start of the season. Andy (you should have been here yesterday) Cowley has joined me for the first few days of the season. We […]

Much as the previous post my recollection of exact details other then weights is lost in the past. I have had to rely on the video taken at the time. The only thing I can say is that it pays not to be complacent about swim knowledge and assumptions. As I fished an area that […]