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.

Thank you for your comments very much appreciated. Two years ago I was regularly getting double figure Pike, my largest being 23lb. However the last couple of seasons I have not caught many, maybe a couple around the 12-14lb mark, where as two years ago they were more like 14-18lb. The big Pike are there, but not in numbers. Last year two of my mates caught two different Pike around the 24lb mark and I was told yesterday that a 29 came out from one of your favorite areas a couple of nights ago!! I have found that there are so many Jack Pike about this season, as well as numbers of small Zander compared to the last couple of seasons.

Thank you Hawk, didnt you fish in the good old days? just to **** you off a bit more, she was not my PB either

I am buzzing mate, when a plan comes together it makes it even better, add that it was my tenth double since September as well makes it special. One thing I had never experianced before until Saturday morning, is fishing with another angler who was as excited and happy as I was when I landed the Zander. John is a top top bloke and angler!!

Following a few conversations with my good friend John, a very competent Bream angler, we decided to try fishing some deeper and less accessible areas of the Fens in pursuit of the bigger Zander and the Bream shoals. This would mean that the numbers of Zander I caught would be far less, but the sizes should be bigger, well that is plan. All the Zander experts say find the Bream shoals and you will find the Zander, so with John’s experience of the Fens Breams I decided to fish the areas that John thought were right. To date we have had three sessions at three different areas. The first session I had one run and missed it, it was the same the second session as well, John also missing a run, but landing some nice sized Bream and skimmers. Last Friday nights session looked perfect, two pairs of Grebes feeding in the area and some Roach etc...Regularly topping. However it was very slow and I was beginning to think it was going to be another fish less session. However the Grebes, barn owl and other wildlife made it interesting. I finally got a bite just before 6am Saturday morning. A steady run was quickly dropped before I could get to the rod. I sat there thinking this big girl lark is going to be very hard work and try my patience, however, within twenty minutes I had a few bleeps on my right hand rod. The rig was the float sunken paternoster baited with a live Roach. I hoovered over the rod for what seemed ages and was just thinking of sitting back down when there was a slow gently pull on the line. I struck and connected with a fish, the first thing going through my mind was please don't be a Pike. After a good fight a Zander broke the surface. Once in the net I knew it was good fish. After letting the Zander recover in the net for a few minutes, John and I weight the beauty. Result was a stunning looking 13.12lb Zander John kindly took a few pictures before she was returned. Hopefully John will add the pics to the tread. A mega thank you to John, and roll on next week!! Darrell

As in all styles of fishing, it a confidence thing, Rigs, bait etc.... I have been using a bait for two years now in conjunction with a cage feeder and have some cracking catches of Zander on it, yet my mate...not John lol.....will not use the rig or the bait. He feels that the feeder could be picked up by a preditor and the rig is then lost...it has not happened in the two years I have been using the rig/bait. My mate says he is confident in his rigs that he has used for god knows how many years, I would say he is stuck in his ways!! The catches prove it!! Another mate swears by mackerel, yet I have not seen him catch on it and he has always struggled when I have fished with him, but he sticks at it....why? I feel you have to keep an opened mind and to try different ways to improve catches whether it is different rigs, swims, sea baits, live baits, dead baits etc... It works

I wondered if you would be on AN instead of watching your tips. An ambidextrous angler !!

While fishing the Ouse while it was up and coloured a couple of years ago, I tried Sprats as a hook bait with a cage feeder stuffed full of cut up Sprats. The idea being that the scent attracted the Zeds. I had a zander within half an hour and then struggled. I then changed the hook bait to a small Roach/Rudd, but kept the feeder stuffed with Sprat. I hooked and landed another six Zander over the next couple of hours. I did regularly go back to using Sprat as a hook bait, but did not have another run on it. I have not tried sea baits since and probably wont!! Darrell

concentrate on your tip and not this post Good luck mate

They can be, I have done very well this season on the areas I know, but the three trips on new areas, including last nights with John, I have struggled. I am wondering if john is a Jona LOL.

I believe the biggest are around 4-5lb. The Bream are regulary netted and removed from the lake. They grow and populate the lake so quickly due to the amount of pellet going into the place, There are some Carp in there as well, including some huge grass Carp.