Welcome Back To Fishing For Memories

You know there is a special bond between father and son`s with fishing,you may not always see eye to eye at home at times,but this is always soon forgotten when your down by the lake or river bank and the atmosphere soaks into your whole being and you melt as one into the setting and scenery,time is a very limiting fire in which we burn,if you like fishing and get time to go with your old man,try to go as much as you can,they are special memories which will live with you forever.






We have been fishing and catching with some regularity on the Thames since the start of the season,however it has so far been a very very wet June and no signs of abating yet,rivers are high and coloured with some serious pace,meaning for some of the swims we have fished needing 3 1/4 oz weights just to hold ground,an odd feeling for summer.


We arrived at our swim late evening,my back had been playing up bad the previous night so I didn`t get the sleep I would have liked,the river was up very high pacey and coloured but thinning down nicely at times,only to topped up by more rain and more colour.We both opted for 2oz weights on the near margin rods and 3 1/4 oz for fishing on the gully runs of the river,baits were to be 15mm Mistral Rosehip Isotonics and 15/20mm halibut pellets.

After surveying the flow we both settled down in our swims,amid a light shower my right rod was cast to a near margin overhanging tree and the left rod down stream into one of the gullys.Not too long after and it appeared the bream were about and my right rod trundled off resulting in a plump bream of 7lb8oz






Then a few moments later the right boilie rod was off with another Bream this time a nice sized bream of 8lb8oz,Having had stillwater Bream to 11lb8oz I still always find River Bream to put up a so much fitter fight then their lake counterparts,as ever due to the fact that they are quite toned due to having to swim against the current,like any river fish.






Later that evening Roberts left rod screamed off and he was into a hard fighting fish
after calling me down for some assistance it was clear this fish was not going to give up easily and headed off with the current downstream,it hadn`t headed for any of the cabbage patches as so many Barbel normally do so we both felt it was one of the Carp,20 minutes later with some serious calculated playing a lovely 20lb8oz Mirror was sitting friskily in the net.





The Rest of the night was quiet,until 2am when my left rod hammered off downstream
single toning my alarm in the process,I was at the time filling my face on a sarnie,how many times have you had a run when eating?It always seems to occur. So I jumped up and was into a solid fight which started taking me downstream in the flow to a nice set of underwater roots on a nearby tree,so I applied some extra pressure bearing in mind i was only using 10lb sink braid and managed to bully the fish back up into my swim,that was when it decided having used the current and saving its energy,to surge off upstream on a Linford Christie sprint,15 minutes later and a lovely pristine Barbel of 9Lb was sat in the net.






Thus ended a very happy albeit very wet,productive session for both of us.

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Start Of The River Season Beckons



Well the river season has just kicked off and have the rivers ever looked better?In a simple answer not in my opinon,with the extra rain fall we have had has made them look lush and rejuvenated,dragon flys and kingfishers graced the bank and of course a few boats as is usual.Robert and I were both chomping at the bit to get down on the river and had been trickling in a little bit of pre-bait on and off,in a few spots.


We got down early on the opening day and decided we would fish into the night a little,as the action always picks up just after dark,especially when the boat traffic dies down,the river was coloured and pacey so we opted for 3oz weights,one rod each on power reflon of 8LB and one of Robert`s rods on 9Lb Black Braid and my other rod on 10LB Drennan sink braid.Bait on Roberts rods consisted of 15mm Mistral boilie on one rod and 15mm Halibut Pellet on the other.For myself I opted on loosely baiting with some mistral but fished two halibutpellets 15mm on both rods.

The day past without incident apart from being a tad windier then we would have liked,mid-afternoon saw Robert have a run on his left rod only for the fish to head down into a cabbage patch and then slip the hook,it seemed like a Thames Barbel.For the rest of the dayour rod`s remained silent,we was graced with the presence of a Kingfisher nearby and as the afternoon wore on two doormice whom apperently now owe me part of the material in my groundbait bag,come back here you thieving vagabond`s!

Evening drew in and at 10pm Robert had a raking take on his halibut pellet rod and the fightwas on as the fish opted for an excusrion downstream and to the nearest cabbage patch he could find.Well the battle of attrition lasted a total of 15 minutes when the fish was finally landed and weighed in at a nice 10LB Barbel a nice fish and our river season account was deemed well and truly open.





As we landed this fish my right rod rattled off,thud I into a bullish fighting fish that felt a reasonable weight,a short sprint and dash fight later and I had an immaculate summer Chub,better still it was a 6Lb summer Chub,I was very happy to say the least.





This was building up for one mad hour on Old Father Thames.Not long after the
Chub,then Roberts left rod was off yet again,the fish this time was smaller Barbel yet with a nicely proportioned girth and weighed 8LB







25 minutes later and during a slight downpour of rain my left rod screamed off downstream to a marginal weedbed and I was into another sprint and stop fight with yet another Chub,6 minutes later it was sliding into the net and out into the weigh sling this fish tipped the scales at 6LB 8oz an absolutely cracking brace of Summer
Chub.







Then at final bells for us,my right rod ripped off downstream and a short powerful fight later I was into a smaller Thames Barbel at 7LB a real torpedo shaped slim Jim that put up a very good fight.






That thus ended our first session of this river season and a reasonably productive one at that.

Gone Fishing


Gone fishing is a short compilation and slideshow of some of the fish Robert and Mark have caught comprising of specimen Carp,Bream,Tench,Chub and Barbel, I hope you find it enjoyable.

Spring & Summer on the Tinca and Carp Trail

Ah do you smell that? That`s the smell of spring time and all the beauty that it holds.

Robert andI got our Tickets for the lake in question and after acquainting ourselves with its occupants the previous season,we had a plan of action and decided to stick to it.


April was one of the driest on record and seemed to set the Tench on the feed nicely and also had the carp on the move and they could be spotted in the more secluded areas of the lake at times either basking or just cruising about,despite being nice and dry the nights as per usual in Arpil were cool ou first session I decided not to take any particles whatsoever as the Tufted ducks were being their usual fun selfs "dive dive" We settled on loosely scattered free offerings and fished one rod on 15mm halibut pellet and the other on a new boilie mix for this season in 18mm sizes.We set up in one of the arms of the lake and loosely baited with 18mm boilies.




all rods were out on running rig slack line setups with 1.5oz flat pear leads and 10 and 12lbdrennan sink braid hooklinks to size 8 Kamasan animals,the Afternoon came and went without much incident and we sat back and just absorbed the atmosphere,the evening came and as it did the usual Tench activity started a few shy rolls from near the far margins with some nice sized fish around the 8lb+ bracket but alas no bites were to be had during the night,once morning approached my right hand rod let out a single bleep and then went quiet till 9am when it thendecided to single tone,I lent in and this fish felt good,not a carp but one of the big Tench which inhabit the lake,could it be one of the double figure ones? it decided it wouldnt play ball and kept running,for every metre i put of line back on my reel it tore of more,now i decided to bully harder,even then it carried on,I was beginning to think it was perhaps one of the carp as it was just having none of what I was trying,next thing I knew it had me snagged in a sunken willow tree further down which stretches about 12 metres out over a very deep margin as much as I don`t mind swimming out this did not look a wise option,so I moved up the bank as far as I could to the snag,only to see what was a double figure Tench of what i estimated at at least 10LB on one of the branches unfortunately it was not to be and the hook hold in the end parted with me and what would have been my first double figure Tench,I was not happy to say the least, knowing I had lost what would have been a very nice and hard to better pb Tench.

later that day however at 3pm my left pellet rod took off and I landed a new Pb tench of 7lb 10z this went some way to cheering me up.




Next it was Robert`s turn his boilie rod which was cast to a nearby gravel gully slowly took off he was into a good solid fighting fish,which put in a good fight and turned out to be a new pb Tench for Robert at 8LB 5oz



we took a total of 19 fish in this session,mainly Bream and Tench,those two being the pick of the bunch,alas the carp were not playing ball.


MAY



Well if April was the UK`s driest on record May certainly was a good Noah`s Ark,high winds and lots of rain didn`t deter us from getting out on the lake,always nice to be outthere whilst many other anglers who prefer the sunny days are not willing to venture forth. We decided on the same area of the lake again as the wind was blowing heavily into it and we felt the fish would be on the end of it.

The same tactics and bait were employed once again but this time we decided on one bucket of hemp and one of partiblend which were only lightly spodded on the first night,along with a loose scattering of the boilies over each boilie rod only 20/30 per rod.The weather was absolutely hellish,during the day,gusting winds and heavy rain with just the odd dry spell between each battering.


As expected though,the winds were having a desired effect and I took 6 Tench including three just under 8LB new and a new PB just off 8Lbs at 7lb13oz, all on the boilie rod,the session was starting great now all we needed is one of the lakes carp to come calling and we had high hopes for this as the Tench were really on the munch.






No more bites were had later that evening except for a single solitary bleep on Robert`s right rod,early morning beckoned and at 6am as the rain had eased and we dozed roberts samerod went into hyperactivity his mx couldn`t seem to keep up with the run of this fish,he lifted in immediately and said "it`s one of the carp" she wouldn`t budge and decided to slowly plod off out of the arm of the lake,not good at all as snags and a gravel bar further out were looming and Robert decided to just tighten up and hook and hold and let the rod do as much work as it could without giving any more extra inches to the fish,this payed off and she turned again this time running back into the area we was fishing and cruised in across my rods which were fully pinned down,so there was no worries of her wiping out my rods and us losing her,she then made another dash for a sunken tree in near bank margins,thankfully this was her last ditch effort and 2 minutes later I slid the net under her,it was one of the lakes bigger mirrors but not one of the orignals which we sought,but we was not going to moan and were smiles all round as i weighed I mentioned she was at least 30LB,the scales tipped to 32LB a job well done Robert and I were both very happy chappys,admittedly I would have prefferred said fish on one of my rods ( haha) but either way we was both happy that our hard work had paid off.







This ended what was a good session for us,unfortunately I couldn`t get a take from one of the carp on this session and since the end of May and start of June both of us are struggling for runs from Tench or Carp possibly the combination of heavy rain and spawning.

Either way you have to be in it to win it and this month so far (start of June) has been very slow with the other lads on the lake blanking solid on all fronts (Carp Bream Tench) and it is unusual to not see the odd Bream feeding as I am sure most of you will agree.