A Return to Paradise

The haunting sound of the owls and green woodpeckers, although eerie, gave me a warm feeling of belonging; it was as though after my long absence the creatures of the pool welcomed me back with open arms. I had a battle on my hands trying to keep the Kelly Kettle burning as soon after lighting it the rains came making the kindling damp, but with much persistence on my part, along with lots of huffing and puffing, the shower passed and soon enough I was enjoying a steaming pot of tea.

Rich Crimp's Memorial Social

Rich Crimp was my friend, I guess thinking about it we only knew each other for 3 years or so, fished together around a dozen times and lived the best part of 70 miles apart, but you didn’t have to live in Rich’s pocket to be a good friend. Always available on the phone for a chinwag, perhaps you had something to get off your chest, perhaps just to chew the fat, whatever you needed, he was always there.

He had a way of making you feel at ease, perhaps he’d be telling you to stop being a silly bugger (or words to that description), he wasn’t one to mince his words, shot from the hip so to speak, but it was always sound advice, one of his traits I really miss. He was a great wordsmith too, his scribblings being enjoyed by everyone who took the time to read them, with each new posting being eagerly anticipated.

An excellent angler too was the Cap’n, a thinking angler who loved the Thames with a passion I’d never seen before. He knew his roots, and stood by them through thick and thin, seeking not to educate but to open the eyes of those who only saw the Thames as a once dirty river. They say all anglers have a book in them; well Richard’s would have been epic.

Surface Magic..

When the wife asked if I fancied going fishing after work today, I thought intensely for all of half a second, swerved past Dad’s to collect a rod and couldn’t wait till 4pm. The plan was to visit Carron Row, wander around with my bucket of dog biscuits and hope the carp were hungry.

I set the rod up in the car park, just a size 4 hook and with my unhooking mat under my arm and camera over my shoulder I set off in search of ripples. I stood on the causeway and spotted some rings of water leaving the bank practically under my feet. I stepped back, looked closer and spotted a carp just under the surface between the fallen reeds.

With two mixers on the hook I gently lowered the hook-bait into position and only had to wait a few seconds for the take. As it rolled on the surface I clocked a wonderfully coloured flank with irregular scaling, it lunged off away from the causeway but I soon gained control and before long had her ready for the net.

TFF at The Moat

I’ve been lucky enough for a good while now to have been able to fish one of the most stunning fisheries I’ve ever had the pleasure to cast my float into. If it dips then great, if it doesn’t, then there is no better place to pack away empty handed. Over the past year or so I had shared my experiences, captures and photos with a group of friends on the TFF (Traditional Fisherman’s Forum), who very strongly expressed a wish to cast a line there themselves someday.

So, with this in mind I asked the question. Mark, Iain, and the rest of the gang told me they’d see what they could do, and came up trumps when they said they could help. So the date was set, with 5 club members each signing two guests each the opportunity was there for 10 TFF members to attend, and as you can imagine, filling those 10 places was never going to be an issue. Saturday 13th September was the date with a 7am meet for breakfast followed by an 8am brief at the moat before a day’s angling amongst beautiful surroundings.

Koi Pool....The Return

I fancied something a bit different, something I don’t fish for very often, and after a visit to the Koi Pool a couple of weeks back to show dad around, my mind was made up. I booked the Friday off work in the hope it might be quieter, when I pulled up and found I was the only one there I was bouncing.

The Bottom Bay


The owner told me of someone who had recently caught some good perch, showed me the spot and left me to it. Float fishing prawns I caught 2 eels first, horrible things when you’re using fine lines, and how they swallowed those big prawns I’ll never know. Anyhow, the next cast after releasing a slimy resulted in the float dipping practically as soon as it hit the water, but this was no eel.

Prawns to the Rescue...

Dad wanted another day out, somewhere he could catch a few fish, and a variety of species not just carp. I had just the place in mind, somewhere that would be familiar to him as we used to visit there years ago, but somewhere that contains good specimens of most species, including some monster perch; so we were armed with a nice big bag of prawns, along with other favourites including maggots, worms, meat and corn.

We had to source our tickets from a local newsagent and then dash to the venue in the hope that not too many beat us to it, there were a few spots I had in mind that I hoped we could secure. We needn’t have worried though, there was one chap fishing opposite the causeway on the smaller pond and he was our only neighbour throughout the whole day. It was really misty when we arrived, and wonderfully atmospheric.

WIGG 2014

The Wallington Invitational Gudgeon Gala was in its second year. 2013 saw a group of friends visit their local River Wallington on a cold November’s day, and although spirits were high and many laughs were had, there was only one gudgeon caught. The trophy sat with Jonny for the ensuing year, and he wasn’t about to hand it over this year without a fight.

We are very fortunate, in as much as we have some of the most wonderfully intimate stretches of river right on our doorstep, the fish might not be massive, but they are huge in their own rights as this year’s event proved. So with an earlier scheduled event now taking place in early September, we felt confident that it would be a case of the largest gudgeon deciding who’d be champion, rather than if somebody actually managed to snare one.

Dreaming....

Lakeside

On Sunday last I decided to stay local, so a visit to Lakeside was arranged and armed with 2 pints of fidgety maggots of red and white I headed to the point with the faint hope there was nobody already there. The sky was amazing, no less than three times I stopped before reaching my final destination just to take photos. The sun was just beginning to climb above the large white buildings of IBM Headquarters and eventually I pulled up in a(thankfully) very empty car park.