15th December
Went out for a couple of hours on Monday after pike from 2-30-4.30pm and didn't have a take. Although I did see a few pike swirl on the surface nothing was interested in my dead roach and herring baits. I'm pleased I packed away at 4.30 as the rain really poured all night and for most of the next day. →
December 6th Bristol Avon
It's been a while since I've been out fishing mainly to do with something to do with helping out the other half with shopping for Xmas. It didn't stop there either as I dismantled my old summer house and put a log cabin in the garden. So the electrics had to be done plus moving all the stuff around it took →
30th November Bristol Avon chub
I was going to fish for the day today but at the last minute yesterday I ended up at Watford watching Bristol City. Not the best match in the world but still unbeaten in 6 games now and a 2-2 draw see's us out of the relegation zone. So I was up later than planned. I decided to fish with cheese →
Pike fishing with Gerry on the Bristol Avon
Gerry had contacted me to learn how to catch pike and more importantly how to handle and unhook them on the bank. We had a couple of days to do this. Gerry is primarily a fly fisherman. He sometimes fly fishes for bass in Ireland something I've not done before. He clearly enjoys his fishing. We started off with explaining the rigs →
Hampshire Avon, Dorset Stour and a 6lb 13oz chub
Since my last visit to the H.Avon a couple of weeks ago and luckily catching a 6lb chub, I was just hoping the river level would stay about the same as I knew some swims that could produce that 7lber for me. I was late leaving home as I had been guiding the previous day and was knackered. I boiled the →
18th November Bristol Avon
Today I was fishing with Alan who wanted to learn to catch some pike from the Bristol Avon. The method for the day was to be a sink and draw method with a smelt as bait. The method is really good for attracting larger than average pike, say rather than lure fishing. Why this should be I'm unsure. The only benefit →
15th November River Itchen and the Lady of the river
Colin, Alan, Tony and me had been planning this trip for a while on the Lower Itchen Fishery. Alan and Colin had fished it before and were not rewarded with many grayling but this was a good few years ago and there were rumors of a fish kill etc. I fished it last year in December in the really cold snap →
13th November Bristol Avon pike fishing
Ian had been waiting for some pike fishing and we made arrangements to fish for them. The weather looked none too promising cloudless sky, 18c and little wind. It would have made for a beautiful September day. But this was mid November and we still have not had a good frost. The river has not been in flood since last winter, →
10th November Hampshire Avon and another chub
Well there I was on the banks of the river quite late at 3pm. I can only fish for a couple of hours so time is important. I ended fishing the original swim of Tuesday where I only had a couple of pulls from eels. I baited with hemp and boilies and sat back and waited for the chub to move in. →
8-9th November Hampshire Avon
I'm staying down in Hampshire for a family holiday and unfortunately the fishing gear seems to have jumped into the back of the car. To be fair I normally fish for a few hours at dusk on some of the area's that I intend to fish during the winter, as this gives me some idea on the situation in each →
Something great and then something sad.
My mate Alan from Bedfordshire has been amongst the barbel and chub this year and has started his predator season with his mate Colin. Alan was after pike and Colin was looking at perch. And Colin certainly found a beauty one of 4lbs 3oz, what a great fish. What a lovely perch. It will get much larger towards March. He also had →
Ist November Bristol Avon and a painful experience
I went to a seafood disco last week and pulled a muscle!!!!!!! I decided to spend the late afternoon and evening fishing for barbell as it had been very mild with temperatures at 17c. The swim I fished had produced a couple of barbel for me over the last couple of weeks so my thoughts were very high. I put out the →
31st October Bristol Avon and some fun
I decided to have some fun this week by making a short clip of video on crust fishing for chub. I've been meaning to do this for a while but have not got round to it. Have a look at the clip and enjoy. I had fun making it and will a little more in the future.
26th October Bristol Avon and more chub
I could only fish for the afternoon today and an hour or two into darkness. I was going to a stretch where there are a good few chub and some large barbel. I was going to use two rods for a change. One baited with pellet and the other with a boilie that I've used over the last couple of years. The →
24th October Bristol Avon and plenty of chub
I did manage to get out last week on Wednesday to use up some dead baits from the chew trip. River low and clear but still caught a few pike but only jacks. I'm sat here now and the rain is falling however it's not to last long and further east on the upper Bristol Avon hardly any fell during the →
October 18th Chew Valley lake in a boat with Andy
A guy walks into the psychiatrist wearing only Clingfilm for shorts. The shrink says, 'Well, I can clearly see you're nuts.' The lake has not been fishing very well for pike since it's opening. Sure enough there have been some good pike an even 30's but not in the numbers of former years. The lake is very weedy and the water temperature →
16th October Bristol Avon Fishing with Laurie and Ian
First of all a bit of news. Phone answering machine message - '...If you want to buy marijuana, press the hash key...' Ian had contacted me to say that he and Laurie had been fishing further down the river in the deeper parts on the Bristol Avon and had been catching lots of smaller fish but wanted to do a bit of →
14th October Bristol Avon
I was going to fish a different area this afternoon to see what was about barbel wise. The sky had turned bright blue, or perhaps the best definition is that the cloud had gone leaving the sky empty. Arriving at about 3pm I walked and looked at several swims and there were a couple that caught my eye. First was a deeper pool →
13th October Bristol Avon
Well here I was trying for those barbel. I arrived at 3pm As I walked along I came across Paddy whom I had not seen this season so I spent the best part of an hour chatting and finding out he has caught some huge fish during the summer both chub and barbel. He was fishing away with bread flake and worms →
11th October Bristol Avon piking and a little fun.
I was in the deepest South West when the SMS came from Andy Cowley saying do I fancy an afternoon out on the river. I was on my way back up the motorway when I remembered this and got the better half to phone him. Well I never I soon got that special pass that allow me to drop her →
10th October Bristol Avon and a rare double figure barbel
I had a couple of pints of casters and hemp which needed to be used up from my fishing fridge in the garage. It's a great time of year where small baits can catch barbel and chub. My choice of swims was one where there was a snag which contains some good size chub and a few barbel. The aim was to bait →
7th October Bristol Avon
I guided a couple of good anglers Nick and Steve today, they wanted to catch chub and barbel. The main objective was to learn about swim selection and read the water and try and find some. Followed by learning a few different methods. We met early in the morning and made our way to the river. We fed a few swims with pellets →
6th October Bristol Avon
I'm planned to guide tomorrow with a couple of anglers and since I had not been on the river for a while I though I had better look around and see if the fish were still in the normal places. This time of year can sometimes be difficult with the water being cooler and the weed beds dying back the →
4th October Chew Lake piking
I had just returned from a weeks holiday in Cornwall where the temperatures reached summer Mediterranean standards of almost 28c in October. Has the world gone mad? It was time to get back to the fishing again. What could be better than the 2nd day of the pike fishing on Chew for the year. Andy Cowley and I arrived at 8am and had →