River Derwent barbel record broken

A 30-YEAR love affair with the Derbyshire Derwent was capped off in fine style by Ian Hartley when he landed the UK’s biggest barbel of the season and smashed the river record with this stunning 16lb 12oz fish.

The Earl of Harrington’s AC member has dedicated his angling career to targeting specimen fish on the waterway and gained his biggest reward to date when he obliterated his personal best by over 3lb from a club controlled stretch.

Having fished the venue several times a week since the beginning of the season, he was fully aware of the hotspots and set his stall out in a shallow peg that he had netted a brace of double figure specimens to 11lb 8oz just days before.

A bed of pellets were fed over a gravel bar before his straight lead rig – which comprised of 15lb mainline, a short 12lb braid hooklink and a size 8 hook – was placed over the top.

It took less than an hour for the action to commence, with the silence being disturbed by a screaming take just before midnight as a big barbel fell for his 16mm halibut pellet hookbait.

“It initially felt like a small fish but as soon as it got under the rod tip I gained a glimpse of it and it charged off. It was at this point I knew I was attached to a new personal best,” explained Ian.

“Around 10-minutes later it came to the surface and I quickly netted it. My friend was literally jumping for joy when he saw the size of it and it soon became apparent it was a very special fish which broke the previous river best by 6oz,” he added.

Determined to better the record again, Ian has already made plans for another assault and said: “I’m confident that even bigger fish are present in the venue and I’ll be upping my efforts to make sure I land one.”


71lb Thames tope landed

AT 71lb, this tope was a true ‘fish of a lifetime’ and came during a session on the Thames estuary for Stewart Morrell.

The impressive specimen is just 11lb shy of the British record for the species and one of the biggest caught from the area for decades.

Malden-based Stewart was fishing aboard Ron Angel’s boat ‘Why Worry’ out of Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex,  uptiding with a mackerel head attached to a 7/0 circle hook and a 130lb nylon trace. Skipper Ron said he had been seeking a fish like this for a long time for his clients:

“The last 70lb-plus tope caught here that I can recall was in the 1990s and a fish over 50lb is considered a specimen. The really big tope are females and we usually only get a six week run of them between May and June. They’re a bit later than usual this year though and there’s a really good run of them,” he said.

For more on his trips visit www.whyworryanglingcharters.co.uk or call 07956 439244.

 


Thirty on the float

BEN Dowers bucked the trend in modern carp fishing by tackling a 120-acre reservoir with a 1BB float to land this 30-pounder.

The 30-year-old Felixstowe angler flicked his rig just 10 yards out on the expansive local venue and was rewarded with the 32lb 14oz fish during a six-hour session.

Ben tempted the big mirror on two grains of sweetcorn over a clear area beyond marginal weed baited with free offerings of corn and a handful of Sticky’s chopped Vor-Tex, Bloodworm and Krill boilies.

He said: “I’d baited the spot and noticed there was a fish on there but I didn’t want to spook it off with a lead and it didn’t seem to be moving away to give me a chance to get a rig out there. So it was a case of sneaking a rig on the spot with a little float, being nice and subtle.

“I got the bite within five minutes and it put up a really decent fight on the light gear. There are two or three 40s in there but that one was one of the better fish in there.

“I actually had a 40lb common on a float earlier in the year so it’s definitely a tactic to use when you can’t risk waiting for a fish to move off an area.”

Ben tamed the fish on a 2.5lb-test-curve ESP Floater rod, 12lb Korda Kruiser Control line and a size 10 Korum Xpert Power hook tied to a 12lb length of Drennan Double Strength.


Mixed nets to a ton on Brookside's Snake Pit

One of the best match waters in the north-west the Snake Pits at Brookside are producing some excellent weights at the moment with mixed nets to 100lb coming out over the past two weeks with the carp feeding shallow.

These fish average around 5lb and are currently being caught by anglers using floating bread or pellets, fished anything upwards of two feet deep, in five feet of water. However, this is a mixed venue which holds tonnes of skimmers, ide, perch, roach, chub and tench and these can be caught one a chuck, on pellet, maggot, corn as well as chopped worm and caster. Nets to 40lb can be made up of silver fish so if you don’t fancy catching carp all day this lake is worth a visit if you fish the right way as to avoid the carp. The lake is canal shaped so fishing across at around 13m as well as in the margins works well. The anglers who do best here keep the feed going in through-out the session to keep the bites coming. At weekends and on Thursdays the lake is closed to pleasure anglers so if you can only visit the venue on weekends there are other options.

One of them is Kingfisher which is fishing its socks off at the moment. This lake is predominantly a carp water with fish averaging 1-2lb. Nets over 50lb are commonplace so expect plenty of action. Paste is currently working well on here but pellet or corn will also provide plenty of action. The pole or waggler will both work on here with simple rigs.

TIP: Find a peg where the wind is blowing into your face as these tend to produce more fish, best pegs are the early pegs

Brookside Fishery, Warrington, Cheshire

Prices: £7 a day or £5 concessions. Night fishing on Linear Lake is £25 booked in advance

Contact: 01925 730893, 07817 271087, www.brooksidefisheries.co.uk

Location: Brookside Fisheries, Beaumont, Tarporley Rd, Whitley, Warrington, WA4 4DT

Rules: No keepnets, barbless only, unhooking mat required on carp lakes, no nuts, no live/dead baiting

Facilities: Café, toilets

Brookside%20snake%20lake%20resize.jpg

Matrix Facebook competition winners

Congratulations to the following ten winners who will each receive £60 worth of assorted Matrix tackle as pictured:
 
- Chris Hire from Swansea
- Gren Headdon from Kent
- Steven Taylor from North Lanarkshire
- Barry McPherson from Lancashire
- Duane Wyllie from Reading
- Jack Williams from Wrexham
- Jon Scott from Dudley
- Paul Thompson from Hertfordshire
- Lorna Anderson from Ayrshire
- Shaun Pickles from Lancashire

Your prizes will be posted out shortly.

For more information on Matrix's products go to www.fishmatrix.co.uk

 


Legend's big barbel

TRADITIONAL floatfishing tactics have accounted for the biggest barbel of the season – this 16lb 8oz specimen from the River Nene.

Well-known angler and former fishery owner, Duncan Kay, landed the huge fish while targeting one of his favourite stretches of the local waterway with a telescopic 15ft rod.

The 65-year-old from Chelveston, Northants, is famous in the carp fishing world - not only for his own success with the species, but for also owning the Mid Northants Carp Fishery which held the

British record in 1995 - and he showed his ability to turn his hand to any species when he edged his 10mm pellet hookbait downstream under a Bolo float.

It’s the Northamptonshire Specimen Group Members’ second biggest ever barbel, having caught a 17lb 4oz specimen from the same stretch in the past, and he is now just one fish shy of catching 100 double figure barbel.

“Most people associate me with carp fishing, but I’m a fanatical angler that loves catching every fish that swims - especially on the float,” Duncan told Angling Times.

“This isn’t one of the ‘known’ stretches of the Nene and I landed a 13lb 8oz fish on my very first cast of the new season, which really was a dream start.

“I look for slacks or creases in the current down the inside of the river and then use a long rod to edge my banded pellet down the swim. I find that this gives me great control over the fish – especially when they are as big as this.”

Duncan’s successful presentation consisted of 10lb mainline tied to a 9lb hooklink.

His brace of barbel caps a very productive period as he recently banked a 10lb 1oz tench from a local club water.

Duncan%20Kay%20-%2016lb%208oz%20resized.jpg

Two bream for over 30lb

THE decision to fish over a large bed of bait paid dividends for Tim Gulliver with the capture of two bream for a combined weight of 30lb 12oz.

His huge brace - which featured a new personal best of 16lb 12oz and a 14lb specimen - were taken from an ultra-tough southern gravel pit which is home to a small population of very large slabs.

And throwing caution to the wind, the Daventry-based rod used a small boat to row out 20kg of corn and Blake’s Baits Ellipse pellets which he fed with a catapult to create a carpet of feed at the end of a weedbed 80 yards from the bank.

It proved to be a wise move and both fish came to simple rigs tied with 12lb ESP Strip Teaze hooklinks and size 10 Gardner Mugga hooks baited with three or four pieces of imitation corn.

“Fishing is all about confidence and I just got a feeling that a big bed of bait was the right method for this session – and thankfully I was right,” Tim told Angling Times.

“When you’re baiting up with a boat the temptation is to overdo it and just dump the lot over the side. I like to feed with a catapult, though, to produce a more evenly distributed bed of feed.

“This gives these fish, which can easily eat vast volumes of particles, quite a wide area to graze over confidently.”

Tim also revealed that he hooked into a fish that he believes was even bigger than his new personal best, but unfortunately he lost it in the weed as it approached his landing net.

“I was gutted when the hook pulled and I watched it swim off through the weed, but it just makes me want to come back and keep trying,” he added.



Solid bags score for Navitas boss

NAVITAS Apparel owner Mark Munson has caught his first forty of the season – this cracking 40lb 1oz mirror from an Essex syndicate water.

The local carper had struggled over the spring on the venue and although he’d been able to find the fish on a regular basis he’d failed to put any on the bank.

Undeterred, he kept baiting several little spots around the lake and his perseverance was rewarded on his latest session.

“I found a few fish close to one of the areas I’d been baiting in a quiet corner of the lake and I carefully got my rods out in position,” Mark told Angling Times.

“After being plagued by ducks throughout the afternoon, I decided to recast one of the rods and a fresh rig inside a solid PVA bag went back out on the spot. Within a minute of slackening the line off the rod hooped round and I was into a fish.

“It was a hit and hold situation and the fish was boiling close to a snag but slowly I managed to ease it into safer water and within a few minutes a decent looking mirror rolled over the net cord.”


50 year old mirror landed

A 21LB carp may not sound big by today’s standard, but Ian Lewis proved that weight can be immaterial when he landed this ancient mirror believed to be 50-years-old.

The Berkshire-based Gardner Tackle consultant had fished the private estate lake which the fish resided in over a decade ago but despite catching most of its residents, failed to land ‘the daddy of the pond.’

And so, while waiting for his new syndicate water to open in August, Ian decided to return to the venue to try and settle the score.

“On arrival, I had a quick lap of the lake and decided on a slightly overgrown area behind an island.,” he said. “The morning turned into a real red letter session with no less than 13 bites. Despite the frantic action, the old boy still managed to elude me.”

His next trip produced three fish and he then returned a few days later following an early finish at work.

“No more than 20 minutes after casting out, one of my rods fished to a rhododendron lined margin was away. After the first roll I knew exactly what I was attached to and I breathed a sigh of relief when I led the fish over the cord – my dream had come true. For the record he went 21lb 4oz, but the weight was irrelevant as he’s an extremely old carp. This, and the fact that he had eluded me all those years ago made the capture far more desirable.”

Ian’s successful tactics consisted of a Mistral Purple Plum pop-up on a hinged-stiff rig tied with a size 6 Gardner Covert Chod hook, 20lb Wire Trap and a 15lb Sink Skin boom section.


Its Nets Of Silver Or Gold On Walters Lake

Hidden in the magnificent surroundings of the Cotswolds, Walters Lake on Ridgeway Fisheries is a prolific commercial venue where anglers can enjoy not only huge nets of carp but some excellent silverfish catches too.

This summer visitors have been bagging up on the 73-peg venue with carp nets to 200lb as well as silverfish nets, made up of skimmers and roach to 40lb. The Lake is split into four canals, all connected together with a depth of around 5-6ft and a width of around 17m. The carp in here average around 3lb with the odd lump to 8lb. Good weights of these fish can be caught by fishing the method or bomb tight across with banded pellet, paste or meat on the hook. Alternatively you can fish on the inside ledge as well as right up tight to the near margins, which are all worth targeting at some point during a session. The best anglers here work between two or three lines taking fish from each. A mainline of around 0.12 with black hydro or Preston 15 elastic should be fine for anything you should encounter in here.
There are also tonnes of silverfish which can make for an enjoyable session themselves. To catch these simply feed one or two lines down the middle of the lake or closer at around 4m with caster, simply loose-feed little and often and fish over the top coming off the bottom once the fish get going. You can also use a bit of groundbait to concentrate the fish if you wish. Use a single caster on the hook and wait for the action to begin. However, do not fish too light as carp will more than likely take the bait at some point during your session.

TIP: Plumb –up carefully to find the shelves as these are good fish holding features and knowing where they are is essential when it comes to feeding different swims.

Prices: £8 a day, £5 for children sharing with an adult.
Contact: 01285 860412
Location: Ridgeway Fisheries, Wickwater Lane, South Cerney, Gloucestershire, GL7 5UQ
Facilities: Café, toilets, disabled toilets, bait shop (no casters or maggots), accommodation
Rules: Barbless only, all nets to be dipped on arrival, no floating baits, no bite alarms, no boilies, one rod maximum


Catch Your PB Carp This Weekend at Taswood

Considering the quality of fishing on offer and the size of the complex, Taswood Lakes is a relatively unknown fishery to those outside Norfolk. However, a visit is highly recommended, whether you’re a specimen carper or a more traditional or match angler.

With ten lakes to choose from, including four specimen carp lakes, Taswood is every anglers paradise. One of top carp lakes on the venue is Heron. The fishing on here has been excellent this year with over 25 recordings of carp over 30lb. There is also a massive head of fish around the 25lb mark making this ideal for those who like a challenge but at the same time want to catch fish. Boilies are the top bait this year with Cell, Sticky Krill or New Grange versions working well. Some recent catches have also been made on the surface. Avoid spodding as it spooks the fish so feed by catapulting or throwing out some chopped boilies and fish over the top. Only ten tickets per day are available for this water so pre-booking is advised.
For pleasure anglers there are a number of choices depending on what you want to catch. For a nice mixed net to 100lb we recommend Grebe Lake (12 pegs).  Carp in here average around 6lb and can be taken on traditional baits such as corn, pellet, paste or even maggots. The Method feeder works well on here as does the pole in the margins. For bigger fish you can visit the 15-pegged Osprey Lake which contains bream to 13lb, tench to 8lb as well as chub and barbel to 5lb. The feeder works well on here, fished with pellets or corn on the hook.

The complex also has two waters with tonnes of double-figure carp, suited to carp anglers with less experience or who want a confidence boost. There are Grove and Spring Pools. The other carp lake is a harder water named Broadwing, which has carp to 43lb. More information is available on this venue in our carp news section this week.

TIP: When fishing on Heron with boilies, try tipping your bait with corn or a hi-viz pop-up making a snowman rig.

Prices: £7 a day, for the coarse lakes, £12 a day or £24 for 24 hours carp lakes except Grove & Spring which are £10 a day and £10 a night, pre-booking is essential on the carp lakes
Contact: 01508 470919 www.taswoodlakes.co.uk
Location: Taswood Lakes, Mill Road, Flordon, Norwich, Norfolk, NR15 1LX
Facilities: Café, tackle shop, toilets, disabled facilities, microwave, kettle, accommodation lodges
Rules: Max two rods per angler, barbless only, no leads over 2oz, no leadcore, no braid mainline, no carp sacks, no keepnets, no particle baits


Ultimate Guide to Coarse Fish competition winners

Congratulations to the following ten winners who will each receive a copy of The Ultimate Guide to Coarse Fish:

- Steven Cutbill from Surrey
- Anthony Martin from Norfolk
- Fred Brown from North Ayrshire
- Julie Watson from Cambridgeshire
- Kevin Blood from Staffordshire
- Lewis Eklund from Lincolnshire
- Nicholas Bamford from Lancashire
- Anthony Brogden from Hampshire
- Phil Dickenson from West Yorkshire

Your prizes will be posted out shortly.

Want to buy a copy yourself? Go to http://shop.gofishing.co.uk/product/619/the-ultimate-guide-to-coarse-fish

Keep your eye on the Angling Times Facebook page for more great competitions. Go to www.facebook.com/anglingtimes


Great start to the season for Macey

DEAN Macey has enjoyed  his best-ever start to the new river season with the capture of 12lb-plus barbel from two different venues.

The Guru Tackle-backed all-rounder is a great believer in the ‘bait and wait’ approach and he used the tactic to devastating effect when he targeted a stretch of his local River Lea in Hertfordshire.

After the introduction of several bait droppers full of Hinders Salt ‘n’ Chilli Pepper Hemp and a few changes of swim, Dean finally settled in a spot where he’d heard a big fish roll. After carefully laying his bed of feed, he lowered in a hair-rigged 11mm pellet wrapped in his home-made paste which was duly taken by the 12lb 5oz specimen.

A change of tactics was required, however, when he turned his attentions to the River Kennet in Berkshire. He used the same rig and hookbait but on this occasion he introduced Mainline Baits New Grange pellets in a PVA bag and flicked a few freebies over the top at 20 minute intervals.

This was a ploy that soon saw him set his hook into a pristine 12lb 6oz barbel.

“This early success has all been down to patience as during these two sessions I’ve probably spent over nine hours on the bank and preparing swims, but my rig has only actually been in the water for about an hour,” Dean told Angling Times.

“When I’m using the ‘bait and wait’ method I’ll start with five droppers full of hemp and then spend two or three hours gradually reducing the amount of feed I introduce to really make the fish compete for the hemp because this is when they are at their most vulnerable.

“I also try to spend as little time in the swim as possible before I make a cast because the fish can pick up on any tiny vibrations made on the bank.”

Dean’s rig was made from 10lb Korda SUBline, a 10lb Korda IQ2 flurocarbon hooklink and a size 10 Guru Tackle MWG hook.



Heavy leads trick Kingfisher forty

ADAM Towers proved that doing something a little bit different can often be the key to success on pressured day-ticket waters when he landed this cracking 42lb 8oz mirror from Kingfisher Lake on the Bluebell complex.

When the 32-year-old arrived at the popular Northants venue he was fortunate enough to find an angler packing up in the popular Point Swim, and with fish showing out in front he wasted no time getting his gear setup in the freshly vacated peg.

With lots of thick onion weed present, the Bourne-based window cleaner located a clear plateau which he baited with 2kg of Cambridge Carp Baits Goldfish boilies.

“The carp in Kingfisher come under a lot of pressure and are used to dealing with rigs. To try and trick a few of the warier fish I decided to ditch the standard 3oz leads which most anglers use and instead use heavier ones of 5oz.”

His tactics paid off and the first day of his trip produced a mid-double and then he hooked in to the huge mirror, one of the lake’s most sought after residents, the following afternoon.

“The fish rolled around 20 yards out and I when I saw which one it was my legs went to jelly. There’s a picture with Frank Warwick holding this fish at the entrance to the fishery and it’s one I’ve always wanted,” he said.

Adam mounted pop-up hookbaits on Korda Kurv Shank hooks and 8ins ESP Strip Teaze hooklinks.


Three bests in one trip

SINCE opening as a day-ticket venue, Eric’s Willows Lake has provided numerous anglers with new personal bests - one of the lucky visitors being Blake Eastwood who actually broke his pb three times in one trip.

After doing a lap of the 25-acre water the local rod set up in a swim where he’d seen fish showing at around 140 yards range.

“I was fishing with my mate Anthony Roughley and we decided that we would fish as a team, using the same bait and similar tactics,” Blake said. “As the first evening approached the wind picked up and made the long cast almost impossible so we decided to move swims in the morning.”

Just after first light the pair upped sticks and settled in the swims near an island where they had seen a few fish moving.

“We both sprayed out a few kilos of Richworth S-Core 14mm and 18mm boilies along the channel and cast out three naked chod rigs over the top. It took all of five minutes before centre rod screamed off with my first pb of the session at 26lb 5oz. I then managed another upper-twenty before landing a cracking 36lb 10oz mirror.”

The duo tied their rigs with Gardner Chod Hooks and Korda Mouthtrap.


Hayfield, Still One Of The North's Finest Fisheries

It may no longer play host to the Fish O’ Mania final but Hayfield Lakes in Doncaster still offers some fantastic fishing for both match and pleasure anglers and currently nets close to 300lb are being recorded.

The venue has two lakes, the larger of the two with a huge central island is Dannie’s Island Lake, and the other is Adam’s Lake which is divided by a walkover bridge.

Around the two lakes there are over 160 pegs and match weights of well over 100lb are regularly recorded. In last week’s match the top four anglers on Island all registered over 100lb while on Adams a recent match catch of 295lb was recorded.

Both lakes are similar in stock as both are predominantly carp orientated including fish to 32lb, although on average they weigh-in around 8lb on both lakes including some amazing looking hybrid fish. If carp are not your favourite species bream to 6lb, tench to 6lb, chub to 6lb, perch to 2lb and roach and rudd to 1lb 8oz can also be caught in good numbers. With up to 12ft of water found on some pegs, the lakes fish well all year round, but sitting with the wind in your face, or on the bank the wind is blowing into is a recognised requirement. The top tactic on Island is to fish the method or pellet feeder with 8mm pellet, corn or meat on the hook. It is the same hookbaits working on Adams where to pole dominates, although waggler also enjoys some success. On here feed pellet with a bigger version on the hook. Start on the deck but come up to about 1ft from the surface during the session. The margins are also worth targeting on both lakes.

TIP: On this venue where pellet dominates, try flavouring your pellets with a product such as Dynamite Source to offer something slightly different to the fish.

Prices: £6 or £5 for concessions, extra rod tickets £2, an evening ticket (after 4:30pm) are £4

Contact: 01302 864555, wwwhayfieldlakes.co.uk

Facilities: Toilets, bait shop, pub. Coming soon: Showers, new tackle shop and café as well as touring pitches and lodges.

Location: Hayfield Lakes, Doncaster, South Yorkshire, DN9 3NP

Rules: Fishery own feed pellets, barbless hooks only – maximum size 10. Inline Method feeders only. No braid, no fixed rigs, no keepnets except for in matches, no floating baits, bread, boilies, trout pellet, cat or dog meat.

Hayfields%20scenic%20Adams%20resize.jpg

Teamwork in White Water II boats 235lb porbeagle

THE UK’s most famous shark fishing skipper made a dream start to the season and christened his new £170,000 boat with the capture of his biggest- ever porbeagle weighing in at 235lb.

Earlier this year Andrew Alsop, who operates out of Milford Haven in Wales, predicted that 2013 was going to be a record-breaking year thanks to what he calls his ‘Ferrari of the sea’.

And his claims look set to become a reality after one of his most dedicated customers boated the huge predator during White Water II’s maiden voyage.
Shark fishing fanatic Andy Griffith makes the 12-hour trip from his home in Kent twice a month if the conditions are right and his dedication was rewarded when he won the battle with the new personal best.

Armed with a 16lb-20lb class Shimano travel rod, 60lb braid and a size 10/0 hook baited with a whole whiting, the property investor had to use all of his strength as well as relying on the skill of his skipper who was forced to reverse the boat to stop the shark from stripping all of the braid from Andy’s reel.

“I was absolutely blown away and it truly was a dream come true. I’ve been fishing with Andrew for seven years and I’ve always had faith that he would help me find a shark like this,” Andy told Angling Times.

“It took me almost an hour to get it to the side of the boat and the fact that I was using quite a light outfit made for an unbelievable fight – Andrew even had to grab me by the scruff of the neck at one point to stop me getting pulled over the side. I will never forget the day as long as I live.”

Andrew’s first few days of the new season also saw him locate a number of blue shark and he helped a group of anglers land five specimens to a best of 90lb in one outing.

“This boat is so quick and handless rough conditions so well that it gives me at least two hours more fishing time which allows us to cover water that was previously out of bounds,” said Andrew.

“I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season as every year my catches and individual specimens have just got bigger and I believe there is the possibility of tuna and other species of shark such as the Mako.”

 



Stunning 12lb 2oz barbel landed in Nottinghamshire

A SHORT afternoon session on a small Nottinghamshire river produced this stunning 12lb 2ozs barbel for Stuart Walker.

He spent the first hour feeding a selection of swims with several baitdroppers filled with assorted pellets and then offered two small hair-rigged elips pellets just off his rod tip on a 4ft 12lb braid hooklink and a size 12 hook.

“I targeted each swim in rotation and had a total of three barbel, with all of the bites coming within five minutes of casting out,” said the Caught in the Act DVD star. “I wasn’t actually intending to fish as I was heading out on a trip to the Gambia for Tiger Fish a few days later and the river was low and very clear. But in the end the lure of June 16 was just too great and I couldn’t resist. I’m glad I did,” he added.