Heres just a thought on what I'd like to achieve this year. Whilst I try and not focus on wieghts too much (mainly because I'd be constantly dissapointed) heres some targets.
Barbel, having never caught one any will do but I'd like to aim for 8lb
Carp, it shouldnt be that hard to find a 20 these days should it? More than that though I'd love to bank a river carp........ any river carp.
Bream, my local water holds em up to 8lb so that seems a realistic target.
Perch. A 2lb perch from either the trent, my local water or the new lake I've come accross is easily on the cards.
Tench. The north East isnt renowned for its tench but the new water does hold a couple, 4lb would see me grinning.
Pike. I've already had an 18 from the trent so the next logical step is a twenty, not an easy one though.
Roach. I reckon this couldbe the hardest of all and I'm going to keep it realistic and say 1lb 8oz.
Chub. At just over 5lb my pb isnt massive but I reckon many anglers wont have seen one, I'd be happy with anything over 5lb 8oz.
I wonder what I'll be thinking looking back from the end of 2009?
Friday 2 January 2009
December
Well its been a while since I either wet a line or managed to get 5 minutes free totalk about it!
I DID get acouple of short sessions on the bank of my local water back in september. I picked the corner furthest away from the enterance and fished one bait down the margin to a reed bed and the other straight out to some weed. The reed bed rod could be walked down to reeds then passed back up the bank and around a tree back to the peg. It was obvious by the undergrowth that no one had done this in a long long time.
Within an hour, as happens in carp fishing, an old mate turned up out of the blue. We'd been chatting for half an hour when the reed bed rod signaled a big dropback,after a short and dogged scrap my first reservoir carp for 20 years and a personal best of 17lb 2 oz was in the net. Not only that but a mate from my early days was there to wiegh and photograph it. Fishing is full of surprises!
My next trip and I tried exactly the same tactics, the result was the most perfect common I've ever seen. At only a shade over 10lb it wasnt going to set the world on fire but I cant wait to meet up again in a few years. On a subsequent trip I noticed the grass where I pass the rod back around the tree trampled, ever get the feeling you've been rumbled?
My final trip of the year was squeezed in inbetween Christmas and New Year. To say the least it was bloody freezing and I was almost without confidence. I decided to hedge my bets and put 2 carp rods out and a light ledger on lob worm for the perch. Other than a linebite towards the end of the session on the left hand carp rod and a screaming unmissable take on the lobworm, which I missed, it would be fair to say that I blanked. In mitigation I must add that mid afternoon I came under heavy barage from a pheasant shoot, got showered with hundreds of lead shot (remind me why anglers cant use lead shot but shooters can?!) and finally had an over eager labradour swim straght through my swim..
Ah well as they say "here comes the summer!"
I DID get acouple of short sessions on the bank of my local water back in september. I picked the corner furthest away from the enterance and fished one bait down the margin to a reed bed and the other straight out to some weed. The reed bed rod could be walked down to reeds then passed back up the bank and around a tree back to the peg. It was obvious by the undergrowth that no one had done this in a long long time.
Within an hour, as happens in carp fishing, an old mate turned up out of the blue. We'd been chatting for half an hour when the reed bed rod signaled a big dropback,after a short and dogged scrap my first reservoir carp for 20 years and a personal best of 17lb 2 oz was in the net. Not only that but a mate from my early days was there to wiegh and photograph it. Fishing is full of surprises!
My next trip and I tried exactly the same tactics, the result was the most perfect common I've ever seen. At only a shade over 10lb it wasnt going to set the world on fire but I cant wait to meet up again in a few years. On a subsequent trip I noticed the grass where I pass the rod back around the tree trampled, ever get the feeling you've been rumbled?
My final trip of the year was squeezed in inbetween Christmas and New Year. To say the least it was bloody freezing and I was almost without confidence. I decided to hedge my bets and put 2 carp rods out and a light ledger on lob worm for the perch. Other than a linebite towards the end of the session on the left hand carp rod and a screaming unmissable take on the lobworm, which I missed, it would be fair to say that I blanked. In mitigation I must add that mid afternoon I came under heavy barage from a pheasant shoot, got showered with hundreds of lead shot (remind me why anglers cant use lead shot but shooters can?!) and finally had an over eager labradour swim straght through my swim..
Ah well as they say "here comes the summer!"
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