well whilst I appreciate its been 7 years since the last post, i thought that I would make my posts like buses… wait 7 years and then 2 come at once. Here is a quick video i took when i had 2 hrs spare in early January at an undisclosed location. The pike weren’t really playing ball, the lakes were flooded and the river unfishable due to heavy rain and snow. Still I managed to winkle one out on a rubber shad.
Category: News
A few quick updates on the site
I thought I would put up a quick post about some of the changes that have recently occurred on the site. A long time ago in a country far far away I decided to start a blog. I had a server, I had wordpress so I made it happen. Well a lot of water has flowed under the metaphorical bridge since then and just recently I made the decision to either close the blog (boo) or move it to a new host and re launch it. I chose the latter and have now moved my blog to wordpress.com and will start to actively blog again (yay!).
As part of the migration some of the content may not have migrated perfectly so if you see an image missing drop me a line in the “contact me” section above and I will fix it ( I have all the underlying content).
Anyway, whilst this blog started as a carp fishing blog it will be taking a different turn. My fishing had evolved whilst I may have spent 3 nights a week on the bank in the past I simply can not justify it now. I also wasn’t enjoying it as much as I thought I would. Now I prefer much more mobile much shorter session fishing.
This year I will focus on predator fishing in the winter and stalking carp and specimens in the summer. I hope you agree this will be a much more exciting and fulfilling blog where I can share much more useful experiences.
I hope you are along for the ride !
Please comment below
Remember your License
Just a quick post to remind you all in the UK that your rod license will expire at the end of the month. Go here to get a new one sorted out and remember that if you fish 3 rods you need 2 licenses.You can also get your license at the post office or by calling 0844 800 5386 there is no excuse for not having one.
Considering that it is a criminal offence to fish with out a rod license, do you really want to take a chance for the sake of £27 ? Remember that whilst some of you might not exactly agree with the EA, they really do do lots of benefit to the nations rivers and if there is a disaster they will respond. Get your license now and secure the future of our sport.
If you are a river fisherman also remember that your season expires in 10 days time ( so I will be seeing you all on the lakes then 🙂 )
End of the pike season
well it is the 3rd of March and that means for most of us that the pike season ended 3 days ago. Sad really that we have abandoned closed seasons on most waters in the UK ( though not in Norfolk) but we still cling to this antiquated idea that October – March is the pike season.I think some lobbying of my local water owners may be needed.
Anyway it is time to unload the lure kit out of the car and any quick sessions will now require a whole load more planning to sure that bait is fresh before setting out. One of the huge advantages of pike fishing is that you can just “grab and go” as lures are always ready.
Now on with the carp campaign 2011, hopefully it will be better than the carp campaign 2010 as the UK has not been kind to me yet fishing wise.
The Guardian… how can you get it so wrong
Just a quick piece of reflection on a blog in the Guardian News paper on the subject of eating UK freshwater fish. The article that can be found here by Nick Weston, espouses the idea that as the fish stocks in the sea surrounding the UK are dwindling that we should start to consume the fish in the UK waterways. It even goes on to state that “the British angling press is frequently peppered with tales resourceful eastern Europeans taking prize carp,“. Lets read that again, “ resourceful Eastern Europeans talking prize carp” I imagine he is talking about these ones, or perhaps these, or even this one, I could go on. I wonder if the journalist who wrote the piece would describe car thieves as “resourceful” perhaps shop lifters are not criminals they are just “resourceful shoppers“. Continue reading “The Guardian… how can you get it so wrong”
Fishing live bait in the Netherlands ?
As I have a lot of readers from the Netherlands ( and I have written a section on the expats guide in the rules in NL) I thought I would make you all aware of a tweet by Hsfvissen ( re tweeted by Pikemasterlures ) where they stated,
“Boete vissen met levendaas verdubbeld!” ie the fine for fishing with live bait ( which is illegal in the Netherlands) has now doubled. Going to the referenced page ( Google translate, Original ) I can now see that the fine for fishing with live bait in NL is now 180 Eur ( up from 90) per offence. Considering that I have seen *a lot* of anglers live baiting in NL if the police really wanted to they could crack down and crack down hard… In fact some shops over there have large tanks outside selling…. live bait.
The moral of this story, follow the local rules else your holiday might be a very expensive one. Remember that the fine for fishing 3 rods in a 2 rod water is larger at 230 Eur
Scar caught again from Les Graviers
In what is not really the shock of the century “scar” from Les Graviers has come back out, matching the previous record from Rainbow lake by Martin Locke, the Solar head honcho. Strangely it is the Daily Mail who has reported on it again rather than the forums or the angling media.
Paul Roberts from Dorset caught scar at 94lbs down from the previous capture of the same fish by Ambrose Smith at 99lbs ( Martin Lockes Rainbow fish was 94lb’s ) from Les Graviers in Dijon in France a few weeks ago. The night before his friend Richard Middleton also caught the famous “Brown fish ” from the same lake at 83lbs a feat in its self, then eclipsed the next night when Paul Roberts caught scar at 6lb’s below its current record weight.
My congratulations go to Paul for the capture of this fish but I cant help but think that if it comes to the bank too regularly it will be like Benson, then again I haven’t had a carp in the 90lb bracket so it could just be the green eyed monster speaking 🙂
By the way if you have caught something notable and want to publicise it, drop me a mail and I will see if I can do a catch report here. I am just waiting for confirmation from a friend but I may have a picture of a 5lb perch to be able to put up soon and that is a real achievement.
you think you can cast a fly ?
To all those carp anglers who boast about 200 yard casts… try with a fly rod ?
I came across this video today showing Steve Rajeff casting a fly line over 120 foot with an obstruction behind him… I am amazed, simply amazed. Like all masters of their art he makes it seem all too easy. To all coarse anglers, next time you get a chance to have a go with a fly rod, give it a try. You will get such a sense of achievement in just getting the fly vaguely where you wanted it, catching becomes a secondary goal
The video curtesy of you tube
Think you can do better ? why not post it up here 🙂
Its been a bit quiet recently
Sorry it has been a bit quiet recently, there has been a lot going on personally namely that I have become a parent for the 1st time ! Baby Ellie was born a few days ago and both she is Mum are doing fine. For all those people out there who are considering being a dad, do it ! it is really fulfilling and though it is early days ( and we have loads of support at the moment) I think we will be OK.
The above picture shows me with very little sleep about 5 mins after she had emerged into the world. The new regime of feeding, burping and nappy changing has started in earnest ! Whilst she will have a serious dent in my long stay carp fishing this year ( well for the 1st 6-8 weeks) I can still go for short sessions and as the winter is coming in this may be for the best.
Fishing wise whilst the articles front has been a little slow recently, fear not there are articles on :
- Arbor knot – used to attach your line onto the spool
- A pike fishing session report
- Fluff chucking for coarse fish
- The back lead article I have been working on for ages
- Review of the Blue Sky Angling Pocket Rocket
- Competition ( with actual prizes )
Stay tuned for the above and the 1st 2 and last 1 should be ready this week
Do anglers have small rods ?
A friend of mine pointed me to http://doanglershavesmallrods.com/ the latest Peta rubbish to grace the Internet. They started off with Sea Kittens and migrated to attacking the sexual prowess of freshwater anglers directly in the UK. Considering that Angling is the largest participation sport in the UK I am amazed that the loons have taken this long to refocus their attentions. Anyway i thought I would post it here just for your amusement and if nothing else I will get plenty of use for stickers / images like this
The Masterblanker 
