November 26th Chew Valley lake
This is the second time on Chew inside one week and was feeling excited at fishing for the pike again. Andy Cowley my guide for the day thought that things looked good and he had plenty of good feedback from the previous day anglers. We arrived a little early and had to wait for the full english breakfast as the lodge →
November 23rd and 24th Willow Lake Linch Hill
Knowing that cooler weather was coming towards the end of the week, I decided to try another session on Willow Lake. The forecast was for a warmish day of 7c going down to -3c for the night. The weed has not fully died back yet and there is still plenty to hang your baits up in. I was fishing a →
November 19th Chew Vally lake
So having lived in many villages so close to Chew Valley Lake for most of my life and even bird nested there in my young youth I finally fished there for the very first time. I've been there with fly fishermen friends and at one time even thought about fly fishing for the big perch that swim there. I met with →
Novemeber 17th Willow lake Linch Hill
My weekly trip to Linch Hill's Willow lake was scheduled for 36hrs starting on Wednesday 17th. I arrived on the lake at 10.30am and was greeted by the two swims that I wanted occupied by some carpers who had been fishing on the opposite bank the week before. It had been raining heavily in Bristol all morning and I wanted →
November 16th Swindon Barbel Society
Des Richardson the “Ring leader” for the The Barbel Society (Wiltshire Region) invited me along to one of their meetings. I took along an old friend who I hadn’t met for a good few years, Andy Cowley. There Martin Bowler was giving a talk on his new video and book, A Fish For All Seasons. He took →
SPOMB a good tool for baiting up
While I was talking to the carp guy's on Willow lake they were using this newish method to bait up. I was really impressed with the ease of use and the fact that there is no spillage. I'm not one to promote tackle, but this would be good for all particles and also slop type food items too. I'm going to →
November 10th to 12th Linch Hill Willow lake
The forecast was for strong winds and heavy rain for the next few days but who cares when large roach are the quarry. Linch Hill Willow lake was to be the venue again. The last sessions disappointment was put behind me. The day was bright and sunny as I made my way to the lake. On arrival I off loaded the →
November 1st to 3rd Linch Hill Willow Lake
Well this is going to be one of my winter pursuits, after the large roach and rudd that swim in the 7 acre lake. I’m fishing it with Dan Williams who I’ve known from my time fishing for tench with him on an Oxford lake a couple of years ago. We arrived at 10am and looked around the lake. There were →
October 31st Preparation
After a few phone calls during the week I secured a ticket for both Dan and myself to fish the Willow lake on the Linch Hill complex. So the ticket starts on the 1st of November and not wanting to waste anytime Dan and I agreed to meet on Monday the 1st November and start our roach campaign. We are unsure about →
October 27th excited at Linch Hill
Well the last time I ventured out was at the beginning of the week, but it's not all about fishing. Wednesday I met with Dan Williams a young man I fished with a couple of years ago for tench, to look over the Linch Hill Willow lake. Inspried by reports of roach to almost 4lbs albeit 10 years ago or →
October 25th Great Somerford
Well that was the worst frost of the year so far! The grass was still white on the lawn in the shade of the house as I set off at noon. the objective of the day was to fish for pike on some of the trout beats. I was using some sprats as wobbled baits. The river here is very →
October 22nd Lacock
I only had a couple of hour's again to wet a line and I wanted to go and look at the area around Lacock. There are some good chub and roach that frequent a few swims. It was these that I wanted to just have a look and see what the swims looked like. My tactics/approach was to be banded →
October 21st
Was invited along to the Oxfordshire & North Wilts PAC meeting by Vince Williams. Well just had a great evening listening to Julian Chidgey on his epic pike sessions as a youngster and then as he grew older stretching himself to include new waters as far away as Scotland and Germany in the Baltic sea. It's good to see that his humble →
October 17th Dorset Stour Throop
First I need to share a joke from the late Tommy Cooper. “I was in bed with my new girlfriend last night, and she said I‘d got the biggest willy she’d ever laid her hands on” I said “You’re pulling my leg.” Well the alarm went off at 6.30am and from a cosy warm sleeping bag I found the cold stark air of →
October 16th Dorset Stour Throop
Well after last Thursday efforts on the Bristol Avon and catching a few chub on the banded pellet it was good to be heading south. I was due to be guiding on the Sunday with two Andy's from London way. So I hadn't seen the Stour for 3 weeks so I thought it best to go down the day before to →
Great Somerford Bristol Avon
Well I've just had two weeks break one was on holiday in Dubai and the other was for a cold that I contracted whilst there. That will teach me for having such a good time. I was desperate to get out and wet a line again after what seemed like an eternity. I had missed the rain we had a couple →
29th Sept Lacock again
The forecast was for rain in the morning followed by a sunny pm. Well the sunny afternoon didn't appear until 6pm.I was after a stunning pike that had taken a chub about 4 weeks ago. I had been guiding a young man (Jason) to catch a pb chub. We had the chub feeding on the hemp and there were a →
28th Sept Back on the Bristol Avon
Well here I was returning to the Bristol Avon and it's very average sized chub. It was a case of getting out and fishing combined with having a look at the river. With this in mind I decided to fish at Lacock. Here the chub are of a better average size but nothing like the D.Stour and H.Avon. True there →
September 24th Throop
I arrived at the allocated time of the fishery opening 6.45am. The night had been a little cooler and there was a threat of a cold N/W wind later in the day. I decided to fish the same swim where I had caught the barbel on Wednesday. There was a really heavy dew on the ground as I made my →
September 23rd Throop
Well after a good nights rest I returned for another day. The weather forecast was for heavy rain possibly 20mm early in the day. So decisions were made to fish a swim where I had seen some large chub under a willow branch and bunker in for the morning and see what happens. I droppered the normal 1.5 pints of →
September 22nd Throop
Well here I was again on the banks of the Dorset Stour on the Throop fishery. The level showed me to be .38m on the EA link. I intended to fish some different swims to see what was about and I had 3 hours of fishing time available to me that evening as I had travelled down late in the →
Emerald Lakes
I was invited down to fish this commercial fishery in Bridgwater by a friend of mine. I've not fished there before. I believe there are 4 lakes there which hold mainly carp. With this in mind I fished two rods one with a waggler rod and the other was a short inline lead and a elips pellet. The waggler had →
Day Guiding Steve on the D.Stour
Had a great days guiding on the D.Stour. Steve wanted to better his pb chub with a 5lber which is realistic at this time of year. The river is still low and clear with some of the weed clearing away. It tells me on EA river level sight that it was .36m which is at the low end of the →