Your most memorable session...

[JV44]

Tis on the same Estate as the Weedrack swim - nearly all of the Midwinter Madness episode was filmed on this one venue (all be it they control several miles of bank). The early sequences (weirpool and kelly kettle sweetcorn chub) are now on club water...

 

C.

 

 

Is the Weedrack still there Chris or has it been modernised ?? I will remember my first visit there forever when Rusty sold his soul to get me an invite and the army surplus special otherwise known as the purple Fiesta won the bun fight from the car park to get us to the weedrack swim first ....first put in and the pike float slid away but for 10 seconds the adrenalin dump was immense goose bumps down the back an all....sadly it was possibly the smallest Jack in the Kennet .

As an asside we met a old fella called Pete Cranstoun whilst Chubbing in the winter on the Thames and he regailed us with tales of fishing the weedrack and others many years ago with big Roach aplenty loads of streamer weed and a different river from today....think he kinda guessted it back in those days and i am talking the 60s from memory ...believe he was a bit tasty on Redmire in his day as was his fishing partner on the Thames that day a certain Len Arbery .

Soz went a bit off topic there interesting guys though .

[Anderoo]

Tricky one this, I've had lots of very memorable sessions for lots of different reasons, but - probably because of the time of the year - the one that sticks out was my best tench catch. Not just for the fish caught, but also the dramatic weather.

 

It was the end of May 2008 and the session coincided with a warm air temperatures, a massive drop in air pressure, and associated stormy weather. The track to the venue was flooded and I half wondered whether I'd even make it, but eventually I was there and managed to set up in a dry spell. I'd travelled down after work for a 3-day session, and it was late, so I got the bivvy up and got some sleep for a dawn start.

 

At dawn it was still windy, warm and stormy. There were slugs EVERYWHERE. I was up at 5am to find the spots and put a little bait in, and started fishing at about 6am - little fruity boilies on one rod, fake maggots on another, and real maggots on the third.

 

Without going into a blow-by-blow account of the first day, I had my first bite at 6.30am and they came quite steadily until about 2pm. Nothing that unusual there, except the size of the fish and the amount of rain that was falling and the strength of the wind! My PB before the day started was a respectable 8lb 4oz, and I'd already had 4 fish bigger than that, it was amazing. I was soaked through from having to stand out in the hammering rain as the big tench refused to give in. By 2pm the rain got even heavier and I'd run out of dry clothes, so I admitted defeat and sloshed back to the clubhouse until dawn the next day, to dry some clothes and reflect on the morning's fishing. I'd never had to run away from weather like that before.

 

Next day at dawn the rain had eased, so I got back to the swim, put out a little more bait, and cast the rods again. Luckily the old bivvy had stood up to the weather and hadn't leaked, which was a relief. Rain came and went in heavy downpours and the tench carried on feeding. By the end of the second morning I'd broken my PB several times again with big, fat, hard fighting tench. The fish just kept coming, one-toner screaming runs, even the rod on the running maggot feeder. It was so exciting.

 

I didn't have to retreat to the clubhouse again thankfully, although the rain kept coming and going and the wind remained strong. Once again the tench stopped feeding early afternoon and I was able to have a nice quiet evening and night. I remember vey clearly sitting out at dusk in a dry spell when the wind died down, with a 'glass' (mug) of red wine and a bacon roll, watching the lake steam and the red sun set behind the trees on the far bank, thinking that life was perfect.

 

I picked up another couple of tench early the next morning before heading home from a really eventful and memorable session. At the time it was my biggest ever hit of tench (I'd caught 22 in total), and is still my best ever catch of big tench - of the 22, there were very few under 7lb, four 8lbers, and four 9lbers, with a biggest of 9lb 7oz. I had broken my previous PB no less than 8 times in the session. Amazing memories

[robtherake]

Tricky one this, I've had lots of very memorable sessions for lots of different reasons, but - probably because of the time of the year - the one that sticks out was my best tench catch. Not just for the fish caught, but also the dramatic weather.

 

It was the end of May 2008 and the session coincided with a warm air temperatures, a massive drop in air pressure, and associated stormy weather. The track to the venue was flooded and I half wondered whether I'd even make it, but eventually I was there and managed to set up in a dry spell. I'd travelled down after work for a 3-day session, and it was late, so I got the bivvy up and got some sleep for a dawn start.

 

At dawn it was still windy, warm and stormy. There were slugs EVERYWHERE. I was up at 5am to find the spots and put a little bait in, and started fishing at about 6am - little fruity boilies on one rod, fake maggots on another, and real maggots on the third.

 

Without going into a blow-by-blow account of the first day, I had my first bite at 6.30am and they came quite steadily until about 2pm. Nothing that unusual there, except the size of the fish and the amount of rain that was falling and the strength of the wind! My PB before the day started was a respectable 8lb 4oz, and I'd already had 4 fish bigger than that, it was amazing. I was soaked through from having to stand out in the hammering rain as the big tench refused to give in. By 2pm the rain got even heavier and I'd run out of dry clothes, so I admitted defeat and sloshed back to the clubhouse until dawn the next day, to dry some clothes and reflect on the morning's fishing. I'd never had to run away from weather like that before.

 

Next day at dawn the rain had eased, so I got back to the swim, put out a little more bait, and cast the rods again. Luckily the old bivvy had stood up to the weather and hadn't leaked, which was a relief. Rain came and went in heavy downpours and the tench carried on feeding. By the end of the second morning I'd broken my PB several times again with big, fat, hard fighting tench. The fish just kept coming, one-toner screaming runs, even the rod on the running maggot feeder. It was so exciting.

 

I didn't have to retreat to the clubhouse again thankfully, although the rain kept coming and going and the wind remained strong. Once again the tench stopped feeding early afternoon and I was able to have a nice quiet evening and night. I remember vey clearly sitting out at dusk in a dry spell when the wind died down, with a 'glass' (mug) of red wine and a bacon roll, watching the lake steam and the red sun set behind the trees on the far bank, thinking that life was perfect.

 

I picked up another couple of tench early the next morning before heading home from a really eventful and memorable session. At the time it was my biggest ever hit of tench (I'd caught 22 in total), and is still my best ever catch of big tench - of the 22, there were very few under 7lb, four 8lbers, and four 9lbers, with a biggest of 9lb 7oz. I had broken my previous PB no less than 8 times in the session. Amazing memories

 

The tench fishing locally is rubbish, mate; I can only dream of such a session. A terrific feat of angling

[Anderoo]

The tench fishing locally is rubbish, mate; I can only dream of such a session. A terrific feat of angling

 

It's pretty poor here too - don't get me wrong, there are stacks of gravel pits with plenty of big tench, but they are all busy and noisy with carpers. So I travel 150 miles each way for my tench fishing now, just for the peace and quiet! The tench are big but not as big as in many local pits, but I refuse to fish some places, no matter how big the fish are.

[Bobj]

All,

 

"memorable" - strange word. My most recent "memorable" session was my first after the stay in the hospital from the stroke. Got SKUNKED.

 

Phone

 

Most memorable for me, my son and I fishing Peter Faust Dam, Queensland, at night and we landed 7 barramundi, each over 1 metre, including two double hook ups, smallest barra being 113 cm and the biggest was 119 cm.

[robtherake]

Most memorable for me, my son and I fishing Peter Faust Dam, Queensland, at night and we landed 7 barramundi, each over 1 metre, including two double hook ups, smallest barra being 113 cm and the biggest was 119 cm.

 

How big do they go to, Bob? They look like pretty mean SOB's to me, mate.

[Bobj]

How big do they go to, Bob? They look like pretty mean SOB's to me, mate.

 

Biggest caught was about 135 cm and 44 kg.

 

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland...1223-19602.html

[the_big_carp]

only last year i was fishing a private lake with one of my uncles and while he wasnt catching much, in 6 hours i caught 86 crucian carp to 2lb, 12 tench to 5lb, 8 roach to 1 lb 4oz, and 2 proper carp to just over 7lb, he hasnt asked to take me there again yet.

[crumpercatcher]

My most memorable sessions both took place in Ireland. The first one was catching Bream, Roach and hybrids on the Shannon. The main river was in flood and an old fella in the pub told us of a backwater in the middle of nowhere some miles away. It took some finding and then some carting of gear as the fields and tracks leading down to the river were too boggy for a car. I ended up fishing in the mouth of the backwater in an area of slack water. We all caught fish after fish after fish, big Roach over a pound a piece, big Bream averaging five or six pounds a piece and hard fighting hybrids of two or three pounds a piece.

 

My dad hooked something that could not be brought up in the water on an avon rod and 6lb mainline. He played it for over half an hour before it snagged him and broke his line. We carried on fishing 'til we all ran out of bait. Many of the fish I hooked made it into the main flow of a flooded Shannon and gave me a right old battle, my arms ached as I packed my feeder rod away. We bought a load more bait the next day and spent the last two days of our holiday covered in Bream slime and groundbait bagging up.

 

On another trip to Ireland the weather was terrible and anglers even blanked on the famous Lanesborough hot water stretch. Towards the end of our trip the weather improved and we decided to fish a lough mentioned in the guesthouse comments book as being excellent for Tench. Floatfished corn, maggot and worm just off the rod tip saw each of us catch thirty to forty five fish each from first light 'til mid morning when it went quiet. We took advantage of the lull to fuel ourselves up and have a rest before the evening session. Come 6pm floats went back in over the top of a generous helping of bait and til darkness we took another fifteen to twenty Tench each, averaging between three and a half to five pounds each.

[Andrew]

Loch Ardan, Ireland, tench after tench after tench on the tip.

 

My mate Al Peters prebaited the swim for me. He had well over 200lb of tench on the pole.