Headless

Stunning river and some beautiful Barbel BB, what an end to the season, well done

After reading Dave's thread "Angler Net Regulars" I thought that I had better had put a bit more effort into the forum. I booked Wednesday off work and decided I would have a quite days fishing at Jimmy's, after a few Catfish, a four acre pit near Grays essex. At the last minute I called my sixteen year old son to see if he wanted to spend some time with his old man. I don't see Jordan very often, as his hormones are sky high and girls are more important than his dad, so I was gob smacked when he agreed to have his first ever go at Catfish Jimmy's is basically a boilie and pellet only water, no live baiting, not fish baits etc...As I have very limited experience of Catfish fishing, I went on line two night before the trip to try and gain some info. I ended up watching a clip on youtube where a Carp angler was using fish meal ground bait with halibut oil. Perfect I thought. Next day and 20 quid later, the bait was brought and mixed up ready for the trip. We arrived at the venue at 7.00am and chose a swim. Out came the spod, the first time I had ever used one. Out went the fish meal ground bait with halibut oil into a tight area. We fished one rod each, one baited with 20mm Halibut pellet and one with boilies on free running rigs. After twenty minutes or so, the pellet rod screamed off, but was dropped before we could react. Another hour or so passed with little interest, so I decided to change one of the rigs to a home made worm rig popped up around 15" off the deck. As the venue is very silty, I fished the worm rig with a fox ledger stem that had been cut down to approx 4". The worm rig was a made from a red Fox poly ball with a korda maggot clip glued into position. This was hair rigged to a size 4 Raptor barbless hook. Three large lob worms where hooked onto the bait clip and out went the bait. Within ten minutes the bobbin shot up as the worm rig took off. The result was Jordan struggling for five minutes to land a 10lb Catfish, not a big fish, but Jordan was over the moon. We suffered with the odd dropped run on the worm rig over the next four hours or so, without anymore luck. Nothing on the pellet rig, what a waste of 20 quid on the fishmeal and halibut oil ground bait At 2pm I decided a move was needed. Off we went on a trek that seemed like miles, but it was only several hundred yards to an area at the far end of the pit. I made up another worm rig, but this time I made the hook length shorter, approx 8". Thirty minutes later the worm rig with the shorter hook lenght went off, resulting in Jordan landing another Catfish of approx 14lb. We missed several more runs before I decided to fish a tight line, no bobbins, with the baitrunner set tightish. What a transformation, over the next three hours we hooked eight more Cats, two were lost when the hooks pulled free. The six landed wieghed from 16lb to 39lb. Not a bad ending to a very slow days fishing. Jordan went home happy after landing his first ever Catfish, including the 39lber...which beat my best by 9lb. I was over the moon that we had caught. I wonder if Jordan will make more of an effort to go fishing no......I doubt it Sorry if I have rambled on Dave Darrell

An interesting thread. Its a shame that the breakdown of the spending is not broken down in more detail! I would like to know how much is spent on policing the fishing, how many EA bailiffs, etc....etc... Darrell

Dave, you have far too much time on your hands mate:P

Well done mate. a good read and a stunning looking Perch Darrell

Well done John Some cracking Bream and a nice Roach your self take pics are getting better Darrell

Well done mate Small but beautiful Darrell

Well done mate, Cracking Chub Darrell

Hi As I'm getting older and planning to fish some remote areas of the fens, I am thinking of purchasing a power barrow. I know of two makes, with Prestige seeming to be the no1 in the market. Has anyone owned one of the Prestige Power Barrows or any other make in the past? if so, what do you think of them? Darrell

Whats with the name change?? was you banned when you was Hawk!!!

Working ...and recovering from an enjoyable, but hard three days and nights fishing on the Fens For tight swims, I use a Daiwa mission brolly with an overwrap when its cold. It cheap so can be put in bramble infested areas. The brolly works well with the steep banks On slightly larger swims, this winter I purchased a Korum Mk2 day shelter with a overwrap, again fairly cheap. I am well impressed with it. It has handled the fens winds well. Darrell

Thanks mate Darrell

That is mental!!

What a fish, well done the youngster. One fish I would love to try and catch.

Thank you for your positive comments. I am sure John would say as well that they are appreciated. I would say though, I don't class myself as a specimen hunter, I am as happy trotting a float for small Chub and Dace or quiver tipping for Bream etc.... I do have to admit I am a zander freak, whether they are big or small.