Earning your Stripes 21-215

After not fishing for perch for a while,today I was back on them.The weather forecast looked good until I got up,rain.I arrived at the water and decided to fish a new swim,tactics chopped worm in feeder and lobs for bait,feeding reds little and often.I decided to fish one rod close in,feed and not recast,the other rod I would cast every hour.

Chris joined me a little later,he was targeting Roach.As the morning went by,we had rain,sleet and hail

as soon as it looked like it was goin to cloud over,the sun shone,making fishing difficult in bright conditions.Chris was doin well with a few bream and smaller roach,my swim was producing liners and nothing else,not a beep on the margin rod.About 1pm Chris was into a nice bream ,that's when the hail came down again.Maggot and hemp was producing the goods as Chris was catching steady,then boom,a PB Roach for Chris.

1 Lb 4, made up for you mate.

things slowed down for Chris,we slowly packed up as I had to be home ,a few beeps on my rod,c,mon go I said,I had a drop back and a slow rise of the bobbin,I struck,perch on.

Not massive but well earned in tough condition,earned them stripes today.Well done to Chris,great fishing.

Till the next time bloggers,Tight Lines.

Flanesford Priory

I reached the half century last week,and normally we go somewhere for Julie's birthday,I decided to go somewhere.I chose flanesford as it is situated at the side of the river Wye ,and I've also fancied fishing it for a few years now.Im never really bothered about going anywhere in February but Julie said your only 50 once,so here goes.

We arrived late Friday as the traffic was bad on the way down,don't you just hate travelling through brum,I do.we settled in to the castle apartment and then went out for a meal at the inn on the Wye ,it was raining pretty hard,and I didn't know what to expect for my morning session.

I arrived at the river just after dawn,a short walk from the property.I spent the first 30 minutes walking and looking at swims,the river was coming through at a fair pace,coloured as well.Tactics would be liquidised bread,flake or crust on the hook,straight lead,running ,2 foot hook length size 4 hook.

As I made my way down the bank side it was slippy and muddy.I fished two swims,with one rod in the first swim,and two rods in swim 2. I had decided to fish till around 12, so I could spend the rest of the day with Julie ,I moved to the last choice swim,the muddiest of all,I got down to the waters edge,saw a nice crease coming off a fallen branch,trouble was casting to the spot,due to trees and over hanging branches,a nice side cast saw me high the spot and 5 minutes later,a lovely chubby.

Was well pleased,a tough morning in deed.

Sunday saw me venture further down river,I fished 4 swims and caught two more chub,one to flake the other to crust.im having problems with my lap top so I can't post the pics.

Flanesford priory.

Very high ceiling in our apartment .

The White House above the river,an enjoyable two mornings fishing,not easy by any means.very good rates to stay at flanesford,fishing is extra,with 4 sections of the Wye to fish,downside,poor mobile signal.

Tight lines bloggers,hope to get a new lap top,till the next time .

British Lure Angling Championship 1-2-15

 Today would see me enter my first lure competition .This was the 2 nd qualifier held at salford quays
An urban location with plenty of water to go at.The draw took place at 8-30, my partner was jarek dabrowski,a polish angler.

we headed over to the basins first,my set up was drop shot and lures.The water was gin clear,the weather was very cold ,not great conditions at all.The fishing was going to be a difficult day,I had an idea the pike wouldn't play today with lures,so perch was my main attack and throwing lures were going to be small working up to bigger stuff .

During the morning word was goin round that nobody was catching,maybe one fish could win ,well that's what I was thinking.Myself an jarek moved about and ended up on the canal section,it looked better,I spent a lot of time around the bridges and other structures ,still nothing.

We headed up the canal and fished the bigger basin,by now I was throwing bigger lures,just hoping for a jack ,nothing.So back on the drop shot,word had gone round,one perch had come out.I was so determined now to carry on drop shotting .

we moved to an area we hadn't tried yet,time was running out,10 mins left,I was just chucking lures now,anything will do at the point,just hoping for a bite.

3pm had arrived,all out..........26 anglers took part,25 blanked.........that was solid fishing today.

1st place Steve Collett ,1 perch 13 cm.
Thank you to Jarek,good company ,enjoyed it .


A dissapointing day all round,1 fish would of got me to CHEW, never mind.......