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Another good chub fishing trip was had this afternoon.  It didn’t start out that way though i lost a possible five pound chub at the net and thought i’d blown it.  I rebaited the productive area and moved up river, had a small chub about a pound but nothing else.  Went back to the area i started off at and landed a cast around a foot from the far bank, chucked in a few cubes of meat and crouched down behind the reeds to pray that the lump was still in the area.

Ten minutes later and the tip quivered and then swung into a hungry chub, i struck and this time made sure the feisty fish was well away from the snags.  A few minutes later and i lifted my net to bag myself another 4lb specimen.  This time he was only just a four weighing in at 4lb 1oz, another meat loving chub was mine.  It certainly makes me feel that i’m doing something right and hopefully the five barrier can be broken soon.

This one fell to straight through 4lb mainline to a size 8 Drennan Super Specialist, 2 ssg shot on a link leger, the bait was a cube of luncheon meat.

I did have a chat to another fisherman whilst moving swims and he had it on good authority that a 5-14 was caught in the same area last winter so atleast i know i’m firmly in chub land.  Although i shant be using the same bait that the fish was caught on… a sprat with double treble meant for a pike.  Oh and on the mention of Pike i must have seen atleast five of them holding up in the clear water and i reckon atleast 4 of them were doubles.  Hmmm! 

With the weather looking perfect this bank holiday weekend the plan is to go out roving.  First thing tomorrow the plan is to go after my first carp on the fly rod, fingers crossed they will be up in the water in the morning sun.  Well thats aslong as the weather man has got it right!   Then its off to the River Medway with the fly rod with some muddlers and minkies to see if i can tempt a few fish.  The Spro ultralight is coming with me incase the flies don’t produce… i’ll update tomorrow evening to let you know how i get on! 

Damn i love the night before an outing!  Sorting through the gear and making sure i’m ready to go first light!   The alarm is set and i’m like a little kid at christmas!

Good luck to all for the bank holiday weekend!

Finally the off season lows are on their way out, its time to get excited and make some preparations for the new season!   The river kit gets a dusting down and the tackle box gets prepared for roaming again.  I simply love this time of year, its light until late, warm enough to travel lightly and cover some serious mileage on the river.  

After catching some nice chub at the end of last season i really am looking forward to targetting them for a while this season.  And of course i’ll out doing plenty of perch fishing, some pike fishing and not forgetting a few socials on the hunt for some nice carp.  Oh and hopefully i may even be able to catch a few river carp along the way!  I saw a nice 20+ cruising along in the sunshine two weeks ago and its given me the itch. 

I’ll be back to post again on the evening of the 16th to let you know how i get on!  Tight lines to all and may the 2010/11 season be a great one! 

Atlast it seems that the cold long winter is behind us and the weather is finally on the up!  The last month has been hard since the river season ended and my time was to be spent on nearby lakes whilst i wait for the return of the river.  This is without a doubt my hardest time of year, especially when travelling by the river each day and it starts to look more full of life as each day passes.  Only this saturday did i see a near 20lb carp cruise on past me during a quick stroll along the banks.  So frustrating!

So what has happened since my last post fishing wise, to be honest not a great deal except for the fact that i managed 3 4lb + chub.  The last being a PB from the river at 4lb 9oz on the last day of the season which was a great result considering there was work on the river that weekend and water levels were 3 feet down from the usual.  What made it even better was that the fish took a liking to my new homemade cheese paste!  I’ll definately be trying that again when the season re-opens.  The other two were taken on pop-ups whilst trying to tempt the odd carp!

Perch wise i’ve been trying a new pit to see what the numbers are like within.  I have managed to do a few hours over the last couple of evenings so far, and last night i finally managed to find one.   Not a biggie but at a pound and a half and coloured the way he was i was delighted.  The little spro ultralight rod really does come in to its own with the perch!   The lure that tricked this little fella was a little Salmo and i’ll be trying it out again down there very soon.   As ever last light was the key again…!   Last night i was losing the light very quickly and in the end i decided to stick it out for ten minutes more in to darkness and it thankfully paid off.   (Just be prepared a head torch is a must for unhooking at night)

I’ll try to update the site again should anything else come my way on this spring/summer evening trips! 

Tight lines and best luck to all

I’ll will send another update soon as to state of the medway in the upper reaches and hopefully soon the new christmas lures can be christened!

Good luck to all and I hope you all have a great 2010!

Its been a while since i’ve posted so i thought i’d post up a little update.  I’ve been hard at work finishing my pond off which is literally done now.  So hopefully back on the fishing as soon as possible!  If all goes to plan another night will be spent on the river this weekend to see if life is returning to a very low looking river.  Not much fish movement to report at all and captures… well even less so!

I’ll hopefully be posting up on here sunday of some marvelous captures, well probably not to be honest but i’m staying optimistic just in case something special comes my way!  If not i think it may be time to try somewhere else for a while until we have some real amount of rain to rejuvenate a somewhat silent river that is really struggling to produce at the moment.  Fingers crossed for the weeks to come!

I’m back on the hunt tonight, and thankfully a night to be spent on the river is ahead of me!  I’m going out to fish until its too dark for the stripeys and then out with the carp rods for the night to see if i can find anymore monsters! 

I’ll update the site again upon my return!  Wish me luck! 

The day arrived and i was down on the river by 4:15 ready to launch an assualt on the fish that lurked beneath.  The river was quite clear with a slow flow to it, not ideal conditions but i had to be there!  I baited with chopped worm and reg maggots on the edge of the reeds in the hope to tempt a stripey into biting!  I didn’t have to wait long and the first one was in the net.  Not a biggie but it was what i was after so i couldn’t complain.  After this i managed two more perch to a 1lb and a half on worms, a 4lb bream and a small chub.  Then the swim died. 

I put the rod down and a pike went for the float which was just dangling on the water… shortly after he then assumed his resting position right against the bank about 2 feet away from me.  I couldn’t help to see what he would like for lunch, so i tried a few worms and managed to get them on video dropping into the water, then i tried a few tiddlers to see whether or not he was up for the challenge of a fishy snack! 

Check out the videos in the forum to see what happened!

Ok back i went to the same location, it wasn’t quite as productive as the first session as it was a lot windier but we still managed around 15-20 perch.  Biggest again just below a pound… i’m sure there are bigger in there after seeing an easy 2 pounder last autumn.  Hopefully i will be back down there tomorrow to see whats about and try another very perchy area of the lake.  Fingers crossed - and whatever happens i cannot wait for the 16th to come around.  I’m counting the days now.  The new perch rods have arrived and the worms are on order to arrive Friday so i can get out and prebait a few chosen swims on my favourite section of river.

Good luck to any readers who like myself will be aiming for stripeys on the opening day!