The shapes of things...

With Sunday and most of Monday to myself, I thought carefully about how best to spend my precious time. I opted to visit Vale farm on Sunday and to stay local Monday, mostly due to having to ferry Jessica to and from nursery. 


I arrived at Vale shortly after 7am and after making my way to the left hand pool ducked for cover as a brief but heavy shower passed over. I walked the empty banks a few times, made myself a new pair of banksticks along the way too, but saw no signs of fish. I was looking for that sign for a good half hour, and then it came to me. 

Captivation...

I was really looking forward to today's session. There was no fishing last weekend and a clear, bright crisp winters day was forecast. Lakeside was my chosen venue, the big roach there have shunned me for a good while now, but with most other species present, if the right spot is chosen it can provide a tremendous day's sport. 

I never got there until after 10, a few things to see to beforehand and a visit from my brother delayed things. As you would guess, most of the pitches I had in mind were taken. I pulled over to check out a couple of other spots and was taken aback at just how clear the water was. Really clear, and for a long way out too. I didn't see much in the way of fish, but some really peachy fishy looking areas to remember and try once the warmer weather comes. 

A New Horizon

Already I'm looking forward to what this year has in store. Such exciting times lay ahead, some still in the pipeline, some coming to fruition, but I can tell you that it'll be one of the most interesting years for a while, that's for sure.


Along with my usual piscatorial jollies, the annual pilgrimage to the hills of Wales in search of wildies, etc.. There will be a search for that 2lb roach that still evades me, a 3lb crucian, as well as stalking stunning carp on my local waters, and at venues not so local. And those summer days spent following carp around various pools will be done so with something very exciting indeed......I'll explain.

 

I was recently approached by my friend Andrew Davis. Andrew is among the best rod makers of our time, with his many his works of art up there with the best I've seen and handled. And let me tell you how humbled I was to be asked to help out with designing and testing the Ultimate Split Cane Carp rod. Between us we've bounced ideas off each other, length, tapers, strengths, aesthetics, the works. And I think, without divulging too much, now there is enough for Andrew to work his magic and, all going well and alongside his busy schedule, we should have the finished article by June 16th for me to begin the testing process.

 

This testing process, putting Excalibur through its paces, will be well documented here so keep a look out come the summer. For more info on this project and the other exquisite works of art Andrew produces, check out Andrew's website....

 

http://www.ajdsplitcanerods.com/



 

2014 - A Review

So I thought I’d do a little round up of what I caught last year.

Started off early January catching some carp whilst float fishing with Sweetcorn from Lakeside…





Went back a few days later and caught some more. It was great fun.

Winter on the Avon...

I’d been looking forward to fishing with Chris for a long while. We’d conversed for a while, but that fishing trip was proving elusive for some reason. That was until he invited me to fish as a guest on his club’s stretch of the Hampshire Avon at Somerley. I’d only ever fished the Avon once, and drew a blank, but thought it was the most seductive river I’d ever cast into, so the decision was a very easy one.

The trip was planned for New Year’s Eve, and we were to be accompanied by mutual friend Steve Frapwell and Chris’s good friend Neil. The forecast was for a frosty one with temperatures of below zero the night previous. Some friends of mine fished the day before on a more local river, and experienced temps of minus 4 on arrival, but the photos they captured were outstanding.

A Hamble Ramble...

Every once in a while a few of us Wallyboys get together for a day's angling. This was our Christmas get together held on the local river Hamble, home to a great variety of species. It's not a big river at this particular section, you could probably jump across most of it should you feel inclined. Our day though was more about the gathering, the camaraderie, and the tea.

Yet More Stripes...

I had the day to do pretty much what I liked. Just a couple of days before Christmas, and with most things done already, presents bought and wrapped etc... I was free between dropping Jessica at Nursery at 7:30 and picking her up again at 4pm. So, as you can imagine, I had the rods in the car. 


I left the Nursery and headed for Asda, there were a couple of things I had to take care of, as well as purchase some English Mustard to accompany the Game Pie I had for lunch. A quick stop at the tackle shop and soon I was on my way with a pint of finest extra wriggly maggots. 


After my recent success angling for perch, including a 3lber on each of my last two trips, I couldn’t see myself angling for anything else so my bonnet was pointed in the direction of my favourite perch pool in the hope that nobody else had the same idea. 

Spikey Miracles....

What is it about big perch that makes them so very impressive? Perhaps it’s the fact that you just don’t see many of them. Take carp for example, spread all over the interweb, sprawled across the covers of magazines, big carp are everywhere. Apart from a few exceptions, the old good lookers, big carp don’t really float my boat, or cause me to say “Wow” very often. Big roach are very beautiful, and when over 2lbs, a dream fish and a target I’m yet to achieve, they are a much sought after specimen indeed, but even big roach don’t have that same impressiveness as a big perch. Big rudd, with their ruby red fins and 24 carat flanks, do come very close, but for me still don’t have the same wow factor a big perch has.

Perhaps it’s because as youngsters we caught so many finger sized perchlings, etching the fact that ‘no perch is bigger than your hand’ in your mind forever. Believe in something long enough and nobody will tell you different, but then one day you see a fish of a pound lying in the bottom of your net, how can this be? All reasoning is blown away, the things you always thought you knew to be true are shattered instantly, just like Santa Claus or the Tooth Fairy!

I think it’s a male thing too; we all wanted to be that tough boy at school, the one everyone respected and wanted to be around. Nothing scared him, nothing fazed him, he had his crew around him, and even if he didn’t, he could take care of himself anyhow. I think perch have the same characteristic, frightened of nothing, bold, respected with a do anything I want go anywhere I like attitude, and nobody can stop me. If we really think about it, if we could be a fish, we’d all want to be a big perch.