Four-pounder smashes crucian target

Jack Pells smashed his target for this season of catching a 3lb crucian carp with the capture of this 4lb specimen from a local clubwater.

The Surry-based all-rounder came agonisingly close a few weeks ago with a fish of 2lb 15oz but his efforts were finally rewarded on his latest trip when he offered a caster hookbait over a bed of hemp and caster on a size 16 hook.

“I’d had a couple of tench and a few crucians to 2lb 2oz, when towards the end of the session my float dipped by just a couple of millimetres and the strike was met with a solid resistance,” he told Angling Times.

“At first I thought it was probably another tench. It plodded around before I was able to get it back towards the margin. When I got it in it made a few powerful lunges under the rod tip before and I saw that it was a crucian. At first, I didn’t realise just how big it was but when I got it in the net and I saw the width of it my jaw dropped. I was shaking as we weighed and when the scales settled on 4lb I had to pinch myself to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.”

 


3lb grayling highlight of trip

A recce trip to a stretch of river in the Wye Valley in search of grayling proved fruitful for Mike Townsend who landed a number of specimens - this fish of 3lb the highlight.

The Doncaster-based rod caught all of his fish on single maggots which he offered on size 20 hooks and 0.09mm hooklinks with just a couple of AAA shots pinched on the line due to the very shallow clear water.

“On my first trip I’d just caught a fish of 2lb 4oz when I stood in a wasps nest. After getting stung several times and chased 200 yards by hundreds of wasps I called it a day,” Mike told Angling Times/ “When I returned I caught a cracker of 3lb exactly and several others over 2lb to 2lb 10oz. I saw all the fish take the bait and if I didn’t strike straight away, they spat the bait out and wouldn’t feed again.”


Jester rig nets stunning 38-pounder

Last week Mat Woods was featured on our website extolling the virtues of his ‘Jester Rig’. Days later he caught a new personal best on that exact setup.

The Korum brand manager banked this stunning 38-pounder from Quarry Pool at Staffordshire’s Baden Hall on the maggot-topped foam rig.

Fishing a clear spot among the weed, Mat Spombed out a bucket of bait and put two rods on the spot.

After an uneventful evening, Mat was awoken by a dropback bite. He explained: “I wound down to the fish and played it in quite easily. Then, as I woke up a little, I remembered being told the big common doesn't really fight. My legs instantly started shaking. As I came into better contact with the fish, I knew it was a chunk. There's something about the way bigger fish move through the water and the way it feels through the rod, it's so obvious.

“After a tense tussle I saw my first glimpse. It was quite clearly a massive common carp! As I led the fish towards the net, I lifted the handle and the huge bar of gold was mine.”

Mat, who said the lake’s even bigger common crashed out as he was celebrating the capture, rounded off his session with a 22lb mirror.


Jigged shads pull big perch

Lure fishing expert Gary Edmonds once again proved the true pulling power of artificial baits when he banked this 3lb 14oz perch from a southern river.

The Abu Garcia-backed angler adopted a roving approach during a session with his son Sam in an effort to cover a number of likely hotspots and he struck gold when the predator fell for a 3.5 inch jigged shad.

Several other fish came to the duo in quick succession and by the end of the day they had taken 15 others to over 2lb.

“It was a really enjoyable day on the bank and the biggest of the session capped it off. The exciting part about catching this fish is that I watched it suck the lure up off the bottom before the battle began,” explained Gary.


14lb 7oz specimen barbel from the River Lea

After catching a string of chub from the River Lea, Joe Royffe decided to turn his attention’s to venue’s barbel and went on to land this 14lb 7oz specimen.

The fish came within 20 minutes of the 23-year-old warehouse employee casting out his 12mm Sonubaits Elips pellet which had been wrapped in halibut paste.

He said: “When I saw how much the river had risen and the change in colour of the water I knew that the chub would be unlikely to show so decided to fish it for the barbel instead. It proved to be a wise decision,” added Joe, who used a combi-rig tied with Riverge Grand Max fluorocarbon and 12lb Drennan Sink Braid.


Pure Fishing reveals new gear for 2014

Pure Fishing is a global tackle giant with household brands Shakespeare, JRC, Mitchell, ABU Garcia, Penn and Berkley in its impressive portfolio.

The company’s first trade show of the year revealed a stunning array of new gear right across the board, including the latest incarnation of the iconic Mitchell 300 reel, and what appear to be completely unbreakable Shakespeare Ugly Stik GX2 rods –these have to be seen to be believed, so watch the video on our YouTube site GoFishingOnline.

Other highlights included sea brands Penn’s first foray into the coarse market with a classy looking cult-black Affinity limited edition reel, and dozens of new lure patterns from Sebile, Berkley and Shakespeare.

Carp anglers were well provided for by JRC with its re-vamped range of Contact chairs and new Cocoon and Extreme models. And for the avid carp angler who drives a small hatchback, an ingenious Super Cocoon bedchair has a patented four-way folding system allowing it to pack down small and fit in the car.

Shakespeare Agility EXP Range
Distinctive four-piece EXP (short for Expedition) blanks will be introduced across the entire Shakespeare fly, sea and spinning rod ranges next year.
The Agility series, aimed at the pleasure angler, presently sees four new rods – two float and two feeder – although more are expected to follow.
Four-piece rods were once considered quirky unless for holiday use, and while these are perfect for that application, the clever design of the blanks allows them to be left set-up as standard same length two-piece rods. There’s no flat-spotting, as the rods have a perfect progressive curvature.
Watch out for the exclusive Angling Times live test on these superb concept tools.
Prices: £59.99-£64.99

Superteam Reels
Designed as the perfect foil for the Superteam rod range, these new Superteam reels are available in 3500 and 4000body sizes and are ideal for float and feeder work. Both are front drag models, with large diameter bail arms and oversized lined rollers, perfect for thicker diameter reel lines.
Price: £59.99

Mitchell 300 Series
Back with a bang is the classic Mitchell 300 reel.
This time around the million selling worldwide favourite features a modern cut-away skeletal design. This reveals an exposed rotor mechanism impeccably housed in an extremely strong egg-shaped polymeric body, looking not dissimilar to the original.
The precision setting front drag system was also styled on the Mitchell reels of the 1960s. The all-black 300 and the supercool metallic red-trimmed Pro 300 are sure to be among next year’s most popular reels.
Prices: £49.99-£64.99

Shakespeare Ugly Stick GX2 Rods
Shakespeare latest generation of Ugly Stik GX2 rods feature a carbon core surrounded by graphite, making them virtually indestructible.
Match that toughness with one-piece stainless steel guides and you have a rod that can be only be described as awesome.
Prices: From £29.99

Abu Cardinal Series Reels
The Abu Cardinal reel made its debut in 1965 and has become a hallmark for durability and value for money. The latest four-reel series has been upgraded and they now all boast slow oscillation, machined aluminium spools and an Everlast bail-arm system for longer life.
Price: £52.99 -£59.99

Shakespeare Agility Luggage Range
The affordable Agility luggage range features three rod holdalls, carry, stink and bait cooler bags and groundbait-bowls. Tailored from a robust waterproof material in a striking blue and red livery, all items look very well made.
Prices: From £7.99

Shakespeare Agility Bait Apron
This blue Agility bait apron has a padded neck strap, three compartment pockets, and a cover flap to keep your bait dry. Buckle fastening clips allow you to remove it quickly, should Nature come calling.
Price: £9.99    

JRC Super Cocoon Bedchair
This unique three-leg (six in total) bedchair provides instant zeds, and the uniquely designed frame concertinas down into four sections, making it one if not the most compact bedchairs ever made.
Price: £179.99

JRC Stealth X-Lo Chair
This super lightweight and compact chair is built around an aerospace grade aluminium frame weighing in at just 3.1kg.
It is comfy enough for the longest sessions and yet will hardly make a difference to the weight on your barrow.
Price: £69.99

JRC Spod Stand
Fed up with backache caused by bending down to scoop up a spodful of feed?
JRC has come up with the perfect answer in the form of this Spod Stand. The tripod design is stable on any surface and the clever top allows buckets of all shapes and sizes to be used.
Price: £19.99

JRC Stealth X-Lite and Contact Pods
These new pods are featherweight yet robust. The horizontal frames are immensely strong and easy to level on most surfaces, and will provide sturdy rod locations even for large big-pit reels. Each pod has height adjustable legs, while the X- Lite also features frame length adjustment.
Prices: £39.99 and £49.99

JRC DS3 Radar alarms
Produced with the help of a team of international carp anglers, the new JRC Radar alarms and receiver unit offer unmatched reliability and numerous key features that take bite indication to a new level.
Features include changeable LED colours, step-less volume and tone regulation, stealth mode and more. The most important of these has to be the alarm’s lighthouse function that serves as a white strobe beacon, should you need to go out in a boat to play a fish at night. The alarms come as a boxed set of three, including the receiver unit.
Price: £399.99

 














Mirror late in the day

This 30lb mirror arrived at the tail end of a day session for Jason Bindley.

The fish was taken from Nanpanton Reservoir near Loughborough over a bed of whole and crushed boilies.

Jason said: “This fish was caught at the end of the session on a day ticket. It was caught in open water about 80yrds out.  I put out about a kilo of crushed and whole Cell bollies soaked in Cell Activator at the start of the session and sat on them.”

Jason fished PVA bags of crushed boilies and mounted his hookbaits on KD-riged Korda Kaptor Kurv Shank hooks tied to the firm’s Hybrid Stiff material.


First forty on second session

Adopting a little and often baiting approach proved to be the key to success for Anthony Bonner who landed this 42lb common from Swan Lake on the Northants Bluebell complex.

It was only the second time that the 38-year-old security engineer had fished the venue – his previous trip yielding an 82lb catfish – and he targeted a small clear patch two rod lengths out.

“I fed the spot with 10-15 Mainline Cell boilies every two hours and on the final day of the trip I eventually received a very fast take,” he told Angling Times. “It took me 30 minutes to it through all the weed and in to my net. I was delighted to join the ‘forties’ club and beat my old pb of 38lb which I caught six years ago,” he added.
Anthony mounted his hookbait on a chod rig with a size 5 hook.


Two 6lb chub in two casts - from a kayak!

Roving by foot down a river bank is nothing new but Josh Fisher took the approach to another level when he banked a series of chub to 6lb 2oz from a Norfolk waterway from a kayak.

The keen all-rounder took to the small vessel in a bid to search a stretch of the local waterway that had previously been inaccessible to anglers.

Armed with minimal tackle he embarked on a short evening session using bright surface lures.

After making his journey upstream he spotted several large fish milling around between weedbeds close to a large fallen tree and a big chub took the artificial bait on his first cast.

“It was an explosive take and I was forced to pile on the pressure while trying to manoeuvre the kayak close to the bank. Everything went according to plan and a 6lb fish was soon in the net,” said Josh.

Another move further upstream paid dividends as the professional tattoo artist used his watercraft skills to spot another good fish taking insects off the surface.
“I knew that if I got the cast wrong it would almost certainly spell disaster but luckily I managed to land the lure in the perfect spot, leading to another bend in the rod.
“As soon as I hooked it I knew it was another big fish as I could feel its head shaking violently. Once it came to the surface my theory was proved right and the dial on the scales spun round to 6lb 2oz. I couldn’t believe it -two casts and a brace of 6lb-plus chub.”

With the predator season set to commence in the coming weeks, Josh has now set his sights on using his kayak even more to target uncaught specimens from unfished stretches. “I have landed countless big fish using this approach and I’m convinced I will have even more this winter once the pike and perch switch on.”

 


Plea to fish canals

A new campaign has been launched by the Canal & River Trust in a bid to revive angling on the nation’s historic waterways.

The ‘Be Inspired Go Fishing’ strategy has been created in response to the significant decline in participation levels over the last 20 years which has seen the number of clubs controlling canal stretches drop by almost a third from 490 to 350.

The scheme, which is being headed by the agency’s new Angling Development Manager, Becca Dent, will seek to encourage not only existing angler to visit canals but will also organise ‘taster’ days for youngsters and new comers to the sport including events to coincide with the National Fishing Month and Take a Friend Fishing.

Caroline Killeavy, head of community engagement for the Trust, said: “Angling has a role to play in contributing to healthier communities and better waterways. At the heart of our plans are the fantastic angling clubs that we already have on our network.  By working in partnership we’ll be able to reach out to new audiences; getting them angling and ensuring healthier, more enjoyable waterways for everyone”.

A recent survey of nearly 30,000 anglers by the Angling Trust, revealed that 23 per cent said the lack of local fishing venues was the main factor in preventing them going fishing. However, with nearly half the population of England and Wales living within a 5 mile travelling distance of a canal the CRT are also looking at improving access, particularly to inner city stretches of canals. Specimen hunter Dan Sales, who regularly fishes on urban waterways believes the strategy is a fantastic idea. “Canals are absolutely stuffed with fish and people need to make more of them as there is so much potential. The idea of more urban canal angling is great as these stretches are so local to many youngsters and fishing on them can be simple, like Light Rock Fishing is to sea angling, all you need is a small rod and a few lures or simple float rig and you can catch anything,” he said.

THE MAIN OBJECTIVES
1: Work with angling clubs to get more anglers on the bank and seek advice on improving the network.
2: Obtain funding from organisations such as Sport England for projects which encourage new blood into the sport such as street fishing.
3: Improve access and facilities for anglers.
4: Improve their website with more information on places to fish and how to go fishing.
5:  Encourage existing clubs to run more matches and new forms of angling such as with kayaks.


Big hit from Catch 22

Four twenties fell to the rods of Rory Mills during a four-night session at Catch 22.

The Norfolk angler managed eight fish in total, topped by this mirror of 28lb 12oz.
He said: “The lake was fishing very slowly, so I got my marker out and found a gravel bar at around 70 yards.

“I then baited on the back of the bar, which is a well-known patrol route. I put in a kilo of whole and chopped Natural Nut boilies by Ace Baits and then put two rods on the spot with hinged stiff rigs with Ace Plum pop ups.”


Old Lake in fine form at Bury Hill Fisheries

Anglers targeting the carp in Bury Hill Fisheries Old Lake have certainly been capitalising on the fishes autumn feed up with three different thirties reported in the space of a few days.

Wayne Davies decided to celebrate his thirty eighth birthday by fishing from peg 38 on the Surry day-ticket water and topped a six fish catch with a cracking 32lb 10oz common.

The Redhill-based rod also landed carp of 20lb 1oz, 18lb 6oz, 16lb 4oz, 14lb and 8lb using glugged 20mm Sticky Krill boilies tipped with a piece of Korda Pink Fruity Squid imitation maize cast towards a fallen tree at the side of an island.
Just days later, fishing at the opposite end of the lake, Colin Watson helped himself to a 32lb 2oz common.

The 21-year-old from Chessington put his faith in a trimmed down Mainline Cell boilie which he cast out in conjunction with a PVA bag of chopped freebies to a spot at 40 yards range. Over the course of his 24 hour session, he landed a further 21 carp between 12lb and 22lb.

The final angler to get in on the action was Malcom Bubb, who was rewarded for travelling all the way from Bournemouth with a 33lb common (pictured).

Fishing 12mm drilled halibut pellets over a bed of hemp and pellets he landed the impressive specimen along with five other fish to 20lb, from the margins of peg 75.


Severn salmon at 22lb

David Lister found himself with a fight on his hands when he latched into this 22lb salmon on the River Severn.

It led him a merry dance for 25 minutes and surged off on four 60-70 yard runs, before he eventually got the better of it using 10lb line. The 40-year-old from Newtown, Wales, fished a 10gr Mepps Fly and Sea spinner, cast to a deep channel on the far side of the river. Incredibly it’s not the biggest salmon he has had from the Severn – he banked a 34lb fish last year but kept it quiet!

“You never quite know what you’ll hook down here and the cast before this I had a 5lb chub. When I hooked this fish I had to jump into the river because there was a tree 50 yards down the bank which the line could have got tangled in. It kept deep and I couldn’t see what I was dealing with but then it jumped and I saw how big it was,” he said.


Another Nene double for Chris Mutton

Chris Mutton caught his seventeenth double figure barbel of the season in the form of this 15lb 3oz specimen from the River Nene.

After enjoying a series of good result from his local Warwickshire Avon, the product quality technician decided to turn his attentions to the Northamptonshire waterway.

Due to the amount of snags in the swim he used a running groundbait feeder approach with 16lb mainline and a short 10ins 12lb Korum Mono hooklink attached to a size 10 Drennan Barbel hook. On to this he mounted a 3 Foot Twitch 14mm Flaming Further boilie which was cast to a nearside twitch.

“I received a vicious take and as soon as I hit it I knew it was a decent fish,” he said. “After a few hairy moments when she headed for the snags she was in the net.”


Two doubles in big tench hit

Many anglers will have hung up their tench rods for the year, but Tom Allen proved they may well be premature in doing so with the capture of five specimens including a brace of doubles.

During a session at the 65-acre Haversham Sailing Club the Newport Pagnall-based rod landed fish of 10lb 8oz, 10lb, 9lb 8oz, 8lb 7oz and 6lb 5oz in the space of eight hours.

Targeting a an area of light silt next to a thick weed bed Tom baited up with around a kilo of Sticky Krill boilies and offered 16mm hookbaits over the top.

“I’ve fished the lake for the last three and a half years for the carp and to say it’s tricky is an understatement,” he told Angling Times. “To give you an idea, until three weeks ago I had not caught one! I did have a lake record bream of 18lb last year as well as a tench of 9lb 7oz which made up for all the blanks.

“In the past three weekends the lake has repaid me for my persistence and I have now had 22 carp. But it’s my latest session that I won’t forget in a long time, landing five good tench, including three new personal bests, in a short space of time.”

All of Tom’s fish were beaten with rigs comprising 15lb Sufix Stealth Skin hooklinks and size 8 Gardner Talon Tip hooks on running rigs with 3oz leads.

“I had to wade 20 yards to land each fish safely with the aid of my brilliant wife who helped me put my waders on on each occasion – even for the 3am fish!

“The length of the biggest three tench was unreal, I can’t imagine what they would have weighed pre-spawning. Some carp anglers see tench as a nuisance species but I love them and never grumble when they come along.”


43lb carp falls from the margins

The biggest fish in a Bedfordshire estate lake succumbed to Alex Bransby’s margin tactics after a “heart-in-mouth fight”.

The magnificent 43lb common tripped up just a few rod lengths from the bank in a silty gulley during a two-night session.

Fox-backed Alex explained: “It was a 48-hour session and the bite came during mid-afternoon after I moved onto a prebaited area in a deep silty channel just 15 yards out.

“The fish put up a great account for itself having nearly snagged me up on island margin vegetation a number of times. I eventually netted the venue’s biggest fish after a 20-minute heart-in-mouth battle.”

Alex has recently set up his own company, Raw Baits, and the common picked up one of his 16mm Nutex boilies that he had been introducing to the venue for a number of weeks.

“The results while fieldtesting this bait has been nothing short of phenomenal, having taken the venue’s two largest and most rarely caught fish out within weeks,” said Alex.

He presented his bait on 12 inches of Fox Illusion fluorocarbon and a size 6 SSBP hook, with a 2.25oz flat-pear lead.


Ireland 'best for 30 years'

Could fishing in Ireland be back to its former glory?

That’s the suggestion from several key figures this week after a bumper 2013 for fishing in the Emerald Isle, which has seen it billed as ‘the best for 30 years’. Roach, roach-bream hybrids and perch have been feeding in huge numbers and more visiting anglers are now returning to its shores.

In recent weeks there have been some incredible individual catches. A practice match for the King of Clubs event saw UK fishery owner Kev Johnson bag 450 perch for 80lb at Gulladoo Lake on a 4m whip to hand. Meanwhile, the biggest one-day weight in the World Pairs Angling Championship was 88lb of hybrids to overall competition winner Cathal Hughes from Upper Lough Erne. In fact this five day competition saw an average catch of 26lb per man per match over the 124 angler field. And there were several 70lb-80lb catches of entirely roach from Lough Muckno during its own pairs event last week. 

So why is Ireland fishing so well in competitions in 2013? More big competitions organised and more development work to fisheries is partly responsible, according to Dick Caplice, a former Irish National team manager and now chairman of the Irish Angling Development Alliance. At Lough Muckno in Castleblaney, a lakeside road and parking spots have allowed access to 220 pegs which have fished brilliantly for roach this year.

“The fishing here is currently the best I’ve seen for 30 years,” said Dick. “Government and the tourist board are now promoting angling again after the economic downturn. They’re spending money wisely in developments, protecting the sport for the future and there’s more interaction between politics and the angler on the ground in general. We’ve got access to more venues and pegs and we’re now getting prominent UK anglers turning up on our shores for the first time. I think there has been a shift from continental angling in Holland and Sweden back to Ireland and there has most certainly been a move from commercial fisheries back to Irish angling,” he said.

Francis McGoldrick is a popular angling guide and owner of the renowned Angler’s Rest guesthouse in Ballyconnell, Co. Cavan, and he said the fishing is currently the best he has seen in his lifetime.

“I wouldn’t say the anglers are flooding back just yet, but there has been a marked improvement this year compared to the last five or six. Visiting anglers are now realising that they can’t catch bream like they used to because the venues are so clear now. The bream are still there but you need to fish at dawn or dusk to catch them. The best day time fishing now is for the hybrids which are dominating everywhere. They feed all the time, a bit like F1s in England, and they fight very well for their size,” he said.

So what do visiting English anglers think? Former World Champion Tommy Pickering stopped going to Ireland in the early 1990s, because in his words he got ‘carried away’ with commercial fisheries which were taking over at that time. But he finally returned last year to fish the prestigious Classic event he once won and, after another four visits in 2013, he admits he has fallen in love with the place again.
“I started going again originally for the benefit of my position in the world feeder team, because it’s a special kind of feeder fishing over there with braid. But I’d just forgotten how beautiful Ireland is and how magical the people there are. The fishing is never going to be as good as it was in the 70s and 80s with those 100lb catches of roach and when I went last May sport wasn’t great because the fish were migrating. But the fishing in September has been fantastic. In the World Pairs my partner and I averaged 35lb of silver fish a day and we still came 23rd! I’ve had a bite every single cast for a week. The two most important things I’ve suggested to the organisers have been to get car parks near the pegs and to spread the pegs apart by 20m each. They are listening to this now and I think the anglers will soon be back for sure,” he said.

WORLD PAIRS IN NUMBERS
124 The number of competitors
16,278.7lb The total amount of fish caught
26.2lb The average catch per man per day
88.6lb The highest individual daily catch


New Angling Times Issue 3128 out now!

This week’s Angling Times is packed full of news and features to make your fishing week one to remember. It’s the start of the pike season and TV star Chris Tarrant gives us an exclusive insight into his love for the species. Also on the subject of pike, Bait Doc Paul Garner reveals his favourite deadbaits and we unveil a fantastic new range of lures from E-Sox. For match anglers, there the full rundown from the weekend’s big Angling Times Bait-Tech Supercup final, and we’ve also a huge Carp News section and brilliant tackle reviews. Angling Times is Britain’s No.1 fishing weekly – out on the iPad every Monday, in shops every Tuesday.

 


Angling Times Bait-Tech Supercup 2013

Find pictures from Angling Times Bait-Tech Supercup 2013 here. The tightest finish in the 14-year history of the event saw West Midlands side Decca AC crowned champions following a tense final at Barston Lakes that went right down to the proverbial wire.
 
For the full report on the Supercup, see Angling Times out now on the iPad and in shops Tuesday October 1.