Paul, Alex and a few friends on the Carp Societies Little Farriers
Paul and Alex had decided to hire Little Farriers for a week to see if they could improve on some pb's and also have some quality time together in Alex's summer holiday. They asked me to help them with a few things as I had fished it before. So it was there where we met with Miles from the Society at 8am →
River Wye Double figure barbel and several 9lbers
I have been exclusively guiding on the river Wye for the last two weeks. The river has been lowering in level for each visit and now at the lowest level that locals have ever seen. This is despite the record rainfall for the winter and spring. Although this level in some swims has had little effect however other swims are now →
This is a three session blog of good tench barbel and a day on the Wye
The tench fishing had not been going to plan......most others having similar problems with the tench not playing ball. I had arranged to fish with my mate Graham again at the Cotswold Water Park. It was to be the normal 48hrs stint. I arrived the previous afternoon to Graham who had some last minute sorting to do. There were a few →
Back again on the Water Park and more big tench.
Having arrived home at 1pm from my session on Little Farriers and those big brown monsters and the beautiful lake that it is. I was soon going to an afternoon party to friends to celebrate their younger son first class masters degree and the leaving of the older son who will be living in Australia with his girlfriend. Well this turned →
Little Farriers lake and big brown monsters
I had been asked by David and Miles from the Carp Society whether I and 3 other mates could test a new water they were going to open to anglers. The water in question was next to Farriers lake in the Cotswold Water Park aptly called Little Farriers. The reason they invited me to test fish was to try and evaluate →
Bradley’s Tench fishers fish-in June 2013
Time does fly by as they say. I’ve had 10 days now tench fishing without a bite. It’s not a very enjoyable experience. However when you are fishing difficult large waters it’s sometimes like this. There must be an abundance of natural food that they are feeding on somewhere on the lake. A few have been caught but nothing like →
Cotswold Water Park again.
Graham and I had arranged to fish the gravel pit again on his return from holiday. Our session was to be 48 hrs Tuesday through to Wednesday. I managed to get up there a little earlier as in Monday afternoon. The wind had been blowing consistently from the North for a few days which is not the normal S/W. So →
A tenching session with Tony
Tony's wife had contacted me some time ago asking whether I could show him how to catch tench. Now after reading my previous blogs where for 6 days I had blanked and hadn't had even a slight nibble I was thinking this is going to be difficult. One of the benefits of being a guide is that venues can be found to match →
Up’s and down’s of the Spring
The tench gods have been smiling on me over the last two visits to the lake, 23 tench was a good return. So the next session was to be fishing at Horseshoe with the Tench Fishers. It was wonderful to see so many old friends, well I don't mean in age, although most of us are well past 21 years old. I met →
Tench fishing with Colin and Ollie and 8 for me, oh and pb for Ollie
Just a quick blog to say that I fished with Ollie and Colin of the Tench Fishers Sussex area today as a bit of a social. They stopped off at one of the lakes I fish for tench in the Cotswold Water Park before heading off to Horseshoe lake later in the week so I decided to join them for the →
Some good tench at last. May 7-9th
Well it's been 3 weeks since I fished last. Since that time I've been on holiday in Tunisia for a couple of those. My last visit to the lake produced not one single bite in 48hrs of fishing. I assumed that the tench were not feeding. I was in the right location but they were just not there. Well I'm not →
First 48hr tench fishing session of 2013
Call me foolish or what it seemed a good time to start the tench fishing. The warm air had been around for something like one week now and it must be warming the lakes inducing the tench to start to feed. So I decided to start on the lake of my choice. It's well over 100 acres in size and about →
Early April feels more like mid January. And the one that got away!
Having just returned from a week in Dorset walking the Jurassic coast line and looking at several historic houses there is little to report on the fishing front. The previous week I took Trevor and his lad Archie fishing on a gravel pit the weather was very cold with a bitter east wind gusting. It was supposed to be a taster →
Fishing with Tyler and two PB’s
It must be school holidays again as Tyler wanted to go fishing. Usually we arrange a session or two over the holiday period. Looking at the weather and incessant cold nights and biting cold easterly winds things didn't look particularly good. We eventually decided on a commercial fishery where we could buy a few bites from carp and perhaps a perch →
Perching heaven, another 3lber and 7 over 2lb.
In my last blog post I said that I had messed up big time on one of the fisheries last week fishing for perch. So I need to get back and prove where I think I went wrong. As I have said perch fishing has been a steep learning curve for me. My thanks must go to Andy and Archie →
A week of perch fishing and almost a 4lber.
Earlier in the month I had decided to duck out of fishing Willow for the big roach. The lake levels had been up making it difficult fishing some of the more productive swims. To be fair it would have been difficult in beating my pb of 3lbs 13oz. And paying nearly £300 for a months fishing didn't help the situation. I →
Last couple of river sessions of 2013
After taking Andrea fishing and catching 9 chub I couldn't wait to get out on the bank again. I was only going to fish the Bristol Avon and not travelling very far. The weather was still really cold with the temperature way below zero each night and a chilly strong easterly wind blowing. The river was clearing even further after Monday →
March 11th with Andrea and 9 chub
I had met Andrea at the Oxford pike talk I gave in January. He asked me to take him chub fishing later in the year as he was desperate to fish. So we arranged to fish the Bristol Avon for chub before the end of the season. Andrea is a mature student completing a PHD and is studying in Oxford for →
6th March Throop and fishing with Steve
I fished with Steve and his mate Bob during the summer/autumn on the Wye where we caught a few barbel and chub. Steve asked if I could help with catching a few chub from the Stour at Throop. Trotting was his preferred method and how could I refuse some help as it's one of the best ways of catching chub →
Monday 4th March with John Dutton on the Bristol Avon
I had given Somerfords Fishing Association a free days fishing on the river Stour at Throop for an auction prize to raise money for fishery improvements on our stretch of the Bristol Avon. John Dutton was the angler who bid the most and so therefore in the summer we had planned to fish down at Throop during the winter. We continued →
February 26th and 27th and yet another 6lb chub from Throop
The river conditions are just about getting back to winter levels and are running clear. This is about one of the first times over the winter period that the conditions are spot on. I spoke to my mate Alan the night before about how excited I was about journeying to the river Stour to fish for the chub. You just →
Alligators in Cuba and back to perch
Well where did those two weeks go holidaying in Cuba. I took my traveling rod there hoping to get at some fishing, however the area I was staying had few fish in the sea. The people are so poor they tend to over-fish the sea for food. They will take any size fish. Each morning I would wander down to the beach looking →
Oxford PAC talk and a 3lb 3oz perch
Thursday saw me give a talk to the Oxford PAC on everything other than pike, well I did show one slide of a pike. A good friend Vince Williams had asked me about 6 months or more ago whether I would like to give a presentation to the group he organises and how could I refuse. The date was fixed for →
28th January Perching and a good result!
A girl I know said the last time she had sex, it was like the men's Olympic 100 meter final. I laughed, "Over in 9.5 seconds?" "No," she said, "Eight black men and a gun." Not PC I know! The month is not just passing by but has practically gone and the fishing has been disappointing. Rain, snow then more rain has →