Cheerio 2011
Entry posted by Rusty
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You can guess where, Saturday 31st December 2011
The last session of this year and I look back on 2011 with mixed feelings. From a personal point of view the year could’ve been better but from an angling viewpoint it’s been fantastic.
Tenching started in April, fishing during the close season isn’t something that I normally do but I wanted to try bait and tactics in preparation for the Wingham trip. I had some success too with Tincas weighing 4lb 8oz and 5lb 7oz, monster fish for me;
I didn’t know it at the time but I’d stumbled upon a combination which was to provide me with a ‘fish of a lifetime’. A cliché perhaps but I’m beginning to realise that a 10lb 2oz tench is just that for a lot of anglers and it makes me appreciate the fish that much more. I won’t ever forget the May 2011 Wingham event;
Later in the year I was the guest of Steve (JV44) on his narrowboat. We spent four days messing about on the Thames doing all the stuff blokes do when their other half isn’t present, activities included drinking, curry eating, drinking and angling. It was during this trip that I caught my first ever pike drop shotting (a PB, unweighed but it was a lot bigger than any other pike I’ve caught) and a 2lb 8oz perch using the same method;
The perch was blitzed by Steve’s 3lb’er the next day……he was using my rod so it doesn’t really count!
I didn’t have to wait too long before I had my own ‘3’ in the bag. A juicy lobworm presented during an afternoon session on the K&A Canal was too much for this PB 3lb 7oz perch;
A feat recently repeated at the venue where Steve had trumped me some two months earlier, 3lb on the nose;
That’s it for my 2011 angling lucky highlights, other achievements have been a bit more subtle and that brings me to today’s Speen Moors account. I’ve been battling with this venue ever since I joined NAA and I think at last I’m beginning to see a pattern in a couple of swims (famous last words). Today I was using bread as hookbait and whilst trotting it in the large weirpool produce nothing taking off the float and ledgering with a couple of SSG tempted this 2lb 13oz chub;
I didn’t weigh it but I know it was 2lb 13oz because I caught the same fish on the 22nd December. The conclusion reached is that at least one chub is resident in the large weirpool and he likes bread. Next spot was the Mr Crabtree Designer swim where the same tactics tempted this little beauty;
This is only my third success at this swim but all three chub have been different fish so I’m heartened that it’s still a place where they like to hang out. The swim has been slotted in to my Speen circuit.
I’m now looking forward to 2012 particularly as the new Kylie calendar gets opened tomorrow.
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