River Kennet produces personal best chub of 6lb 10oz
A rising river greeted Ray Pulley for his latest session on the Kennet but it didn’t stop him catching a new personal best 6lb 10oz chub.
The fish is his third 6lb-plus specimen in the last two months and came from a spot tight to a set of nearside snags.
Using a bait dropper to introduce a mix of pellets, bloodworm, maggots and groundbait he left the swim to settle before presenting a piece of Sausage Sizzle paste wrapped around a 10mm pellet over the top.
“It was raining constantly and there was loads of debris coming down the river into my line, including a traffic cone! Just half an hour into darkness the rod wrapped round and I was into what felt like a barbel. When I saw a great big pair of white lips break the surface I knew it was a big chub!” he said.
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Norfolk stillwater roach an ounce shy of 3lb
Ken Fuller came within an ounce of catching a roach over the magical 3lb-barrier with this superb 2lb 15oz specimen from a Norfolk stillwater.
The fish is the biggest of four 2lb-plus redfins which the local rod has caught from the venue since March and came an hour after first light.
“It was so close to the magical 3lb-mark, but what’s an ounce or so when you have a specimen like that in your net,” said Ken, who fished two maggots on a size 16 hook in conjunction with a maggot feeder.
“The fishery manager was on the far bank and after much arm waving realised that I wasn’t just waving ‘hello’ but that I had something special in the net. He came over and witnessed the weighing and kindly took some photos for me.”
Forty-year-old carp tops four-fish catch
Baiting heavily helped Spencer Humble catch this 40-year-old mirror as part of a four-fish catch.
The 31lb 12oz fish was the best of the Kent angler’s 15-hour session at Lee Jackson’s Cotton Farm.
He said: “To catch four in such a short session is unheard of, so they were obviously rather keen on the 17kg of the new Nash TG Active I used that day.”
All the fish fell to 15mm pop-ups mounted on combi rigs tied with Nash Fang Twister Chod hooks and 20lb Combi Link and Chod Link.
New personal best in ten minutes
Ten minutes in the right area proved more than enough for Steve Medland as he bagged this Leney-strain mirror.
The 29lb 8oz fish gave the Portsmouth angler a new personal best at a water near his home. He said: “I saw fish showing in open water, followed by a stream of bubbles rising up from the area. I cast a Solar Top Banana pop-up to the area and it landed in soft silt.”
Ten minutes later the rod tore off and Steve landed the fish which can trace its history back to the stocking carried out by Donald Leney.
14lb River Severn barbel gives angler the run-around
A bit of extra pace and colour in the lower River Severn helped David Benfield bag this 14lb barbel.
The 29-year-old roof tiler smashed his personal best by 3lb after a surging fight. He said: “It hugged the bottom and I had to run up the bank and around some trees, but thankfully it wasn’t a long battle.”
David used dampened Sonubaits Cheesy Garlic pellets in a Korum open-ended feeder and fish two matching baits on a hair rig.
He added: “I lost another cracking fish as well, so I’ll be going for that one.”
30-year quest for double figure barbel ends
Reg Long has been visiting the River Severn at Bridgnorth for almost 30-years in search of a double figure barbel… and he finally achieved his goal last week.
This 11lb 11oz personal best specimen was the Bromley, Kent man’s well-earned reward and fell to a hair-rigged chunk of luncheon meat fished over a bed of hemp and micro pellets. The retired accountant used an 8lb hooklink and a size 8 Drennan Continental Boilie Hook to beat his prize.
He said: “Five of us have made the trip to Bridgnorth every year since 1985 to fish for barbel for the week and the winner is given ‘The Barbel Cup!’ This double has been a long time coming and easily beats my old best of 9lb.”
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Perch to 3lb 7oz top bumper Chew catch
Professional angling guide, Kenny Parsons, proved that Chew Valley Reservoir had more to offer predator anglers than the huge pike it’s famed for after banking a string of large perch.
The Bristol-based rod had seen perch crashing in to large shoals of fry around the Bristol Water-controlled venue and using lure fishing techniques banked around 50 fish in total, including three over 3lb to 3lb 7oz.
He said: “Using a braid line and a wire trace you can feel the perch hitting the lures all of the time. It rained constantly and the low light levels meant the perch fed all day.
“I also heard of some 4lb perch getting caught which will be huge later in the season.”
Slate Grey banked after four-year quest
A four-year, 150-night quest for the mirror known as Slate Grey finally came to an end for Aaron Hardy.
The 29-year-old banked the sought-after fish from a Midlands pit at a weight of 36lb 7oz after seeing it show just as he was due to pack up.
The Loughborough angler said: “This carp has been my target fish for more than four years, since I started fishing the venue. The age and the history of the fish were what attracted me to her.
“I’ve fished more than 150 nights and have caught most of the other stock over the years, but this one always seemed to elude me, until now.
“I was due to pack up and leave but I thought I saw the Slate Grey rollover on my baited area on the last morning of my trip. I just had to stay. A quick trip home for some more supplies and bait and I squeezed in one more night before I had to go to work. At 3.30am I had the one I so dearly wanted!”
The self-employed builder targeted an 18ft bar 60 yards out and fed 4kg of Sticky Krill boilies with matching pop-ups. He used helicopter rigs featuring 25lb Korda Mouth Trap and size 6 Atomic Chodda hooks.
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23lb 8oz pike from Grafham Water
A session targeting big water predators proved fruitful for Nathan Green when he landed this huge pike weighing 23lb 8oz.
The Kent based, Angling Direct employee paid a visit to Cambridgeshire’s 1,500-acre Grafham Water and used a Fox branded Dave Kelbrick finesse jerkbait rod, with a 40g Fox spoon attached via a heavy trace. Nathan’s catch followed a string of smaller fish including a cracking 3lb 8oz perch caught while dropshotting.
England's best ever silverfish match!
A little-known venue that produced almost 1,000lb of roach and hybrids in a match has been described by competitors as ‘as good as Ireland’.
Hurworth Burn is on the outskirts of Hartlepool in the North East and is part of the River Skerne system, and was the stage for an incredible charity match where 31 anglers averaged no less than 29lb-per-man.
The five-hour contest was won by Maver Newman Scott’s Graham Jones, who fished a groundbait feeder with worm and maggot hookbaits at 25yds to take roach and hybrids for an impressive 46lb 11oz total.
It headed up an incredible string of weights with the top six anglers all weighing in over 40lb apiece.
“I’ve fished this venue for the last few years and it’s always good, but this was truly incredible! I visit Ireland twice a year and the sport was on par, if not better,” Graham told Angling Times.
“The venue is connected to the river at both ends where it must have been dug out many years ago and is around half a mile long and around 200yds wide.
“The fish were ripping the rod off the rest and I started on a size 14 hook, but in the latter stages I changed to a size 12 as the fish were so confident and I fed my way through over a kilo of worms through the feeder.
“It’s a shame that the fishing here is restricted and only a few matches a year are allowed.”
Mosella Quaker’s Chris Gowling was at the other end of the results table but even he described his day’s sport as ‘incredible’.
“I’ve never had a roach fishing session where I’ve weighed in 15lb of fish and didn’t come anywhere,” said Chris. “You normally get a hot few pegs or a productive area in silverfish matches, but this was off the scale because everyone’s swim held so many fish. It was dream fishing.”
New personal best mirror for Harry Charrington
Unstoppable match winner Harry Charrington found time for some personal fishing and bagged this new personal-best mirror.
The 40lb 12oz fish, which beat his previous best by 6oz, fell during a 48-hour session on a southern syndicate water. It was only the second time the Fox employee had fished the venue since May following a hectic summer of carp matches.
In August, Harry and fishing partner Alexei Bygrave won £30,000 in the final of the Eric’s Carp Championship and, as we went to press, Harry was battling it out in the final of the UK Carp Cup at Linear Fisheries.
He said: “This was the first weekend that I had been fishing for myself, minus any competition, since early May.
“I did the first night in one peg they I had baited the week before, but absolutely nothing happened overnight. In the morning, I saw some fish showing pretty much at the other end of the lake.
“I found the fish feeding on natural food in the dying weed, so I fished over only about 50 or 60 boilies and had the bite at about 3pm. The line just pulled up tight and the fish was solid in the weed almost instantly. I managed to get it moving and then, with a bit of weed over its head, I literally just wound it in.
“It’s a fish that’s known to fight quite well, so it’s nice to have a big one come in without any problems!”
Harry used a pink Richworth S-core pop-up over Richworth KG1 freebies. His hookbait was balanced by a size 2 Fox SSBP hook tied to 25lb Fox Coretex Matt.
Haul of 2lb-plus crucians from Alderfen Fisheries
This cracking 2lb 9oz crucian was the biggest of four 2lb-plus fish caught by Lee Swords and his dad during a session at Alderfen Fisheries at Wroot.
The Sheffield-based chef took all the fish, as well as several smaller crucians, on a combination of floatfished pellets and small method feeder tactics.
He told Angling Times: “These fish might not be massive when compared to the beasts of Marsh Farm in Surrey, but they are very good fish for the frozen north!”
Amazing brace of perch from tiny waterway
Visiting a stretch of a Lincolnshire river that had been choked with weed paid off for Phil Taylor as he banked 16 large perch, including this stunning brace weighing 3lb 8oz and 3lb 4oz.
A series of cold and wet nights had helped flush out the vegetation on the waterway, providing the Skegness-based rod with the perfect opportunity to target several previously unfishable spots.
Using a link-legered worm on a rig consisting of 6lb Drennan Double Strength to a size 12 hook, it wasn’t long before he’d slipped the net under a trio of 2lb-plus fish.
“A pike then entered the swim which caused the shoal of perch to back off,” said Phil. “I always carry a lure rod with me and on the first chuck I landed the 8lb fish and returned it safely further downstream.”
By feeding a pint of red maggots he was able to encourage the perch back on to his spot and ended the day with seven fish over 2lb and five over 3lb.
Despite having landing specimens to 3lb 12oz in the past, Phil was in no doubt as to where the session ranked in his all-time leaderboard. “It was my best catch ever. It is only a tiny waterway but a 4lb perch could certainly be on the cards this winter,” he added.
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Huge haul of carp from St Ives
Liam Duncan made Cambridgeshire’s rock-hard St Ives complex look like a runs water as he caught four twenties, an elusive thirty and this 43lb 15oz mirror in a weekend.
Tackling Meadow and Fjords lakes, which are joined together and span more than 110 acres, the 23-year-old bivvied up on a flooded spit with water under his bedchair.
The Leicestershire rod said: “It was my 35th night on the lake and I had been baiting and fishing a flooded spit of land for a couple of weekends with Sticky Krill freezer baits. I even drove the 180-mile round trip down to Cambridge midweek on a couple of occasions to pre-bait the spot.
“The totally wild nature and huge size of the lake make it very hard fishing, the area that I wanted to fish meant that I had to brolly up on a flooded spit with water under my bedchair. Not comfy!
“It all came good after six nights in the peg spread over two different three-night sessions when my 14th bite from the spot happened to be the Round Brown, my target fish at 43lb 15oz. I was absolutely blown away.”
Liam added: “The 31lb 12oz mirror was uncaught for over two and a half years and is one of the really old originals in the lake.”
The fish came from a large gravel bar at 70 yards and were caught over a total of 10kg of whole and chopped Krill boilies. Liam fished snowman rigs made with size 4 Gardner Continental Muggas and Korda N-trap Soft.
River match series plans
The resurgence of river fishing across the country continued this week with plans to launch the second major national running water competition in as many years revealed.
Following the huge success of RiverFest the new event is the brainchild of top-flight matchman and natural venue expert Michael Buchwalder. He has teamed-up with RiverFest founder Dave Harrell to discuss the idea after a post on social media site, Facebook, gained the interest of hundreds of anglers.
The duo are just two of several river experts that will now attend a meeting to discuss the launch of the four-match event that will be modelled on the popular UK Champs, which currently takes place on some of Britain’s most popular commercial stillwaters.
But with more and more anglers returning to river fishing and an increase in running water matches, Michael aims to stage the new brand-new event on venues such as the Wye, Severn, Thames, Trent and Avon.
“There’s no doubt that river fishing is making a huge comeback and there needs to be more big river matches. I’d give up fishing if I had to go to commercials all of the time!” Michael told Angling Times.
“I posted the idea on Facebook and the response was amazing. Now that Dave is on board and we have a meeting lined up with loads of other river anglers I really think that we can get this competition off the ground.”
Michael wants to build on the success of Riverfest which, run by the Angling Trust, launched last year and is the UK’s biggest river competition with a first prize of £12,000.
“Michael asked me whether I thought there might be sufficient interest to create a new four match river series along the same lines as the UK Champs and I gave him a very confident ‘yes’,” said Dave.
“There is a significant amount of interest all over the country from anglers wanting running water matches and more river matches are being created to satisfy this need. I for one would love to take part if it gets off the ground.”
53lb common and 39lb mirror carp just minutes apart
The reigning Angling Times Carp Angler of the Year has been at it again with a 92lb brace that included this vast 53lb 6oz common.
Martin Pick caught the Chinese Common and a 39lb 8oz mirror within minutes of each other at Berkshire’s Wellington Country Park. The catch also came just a week after he had bagged a 46lb 2oz mirror from the same venue.
“I haven’t done much time this year, probably about 10 or 12 sessions since November of last year, which makes the recent run of fish even sweeter,” said the Korda-backed carper.
Arriving at a busy water on a Sunday morning, Martin took his time and eventually located some fizzing carp in a small channel between an island and the bank on his third lap of the lake.
“That was good enough for me,” said Martin, “although it did seem to raise a few eyebrows, with one guy asking, ‘why are you going in there?’.”
After a quiet night, Martin had a screaming run at 6.30am. He said: “It was raining, but I rushed out in my socks and bent into it. Straight away I could feel the line grating on the bushes, so I had no choice other than to plunge straight in, without my waders. The improved angle did the trick and the fish came free and tanked off down the channel. Looking back, I’d certainly have lost it had I not taken the action that I did.
“As it was, I managed to coax the fish back up the channel and netted it safely. I popped it onto the scales and they flew round to over 53lb, which blew me away! I felt sick and had to pop the fish into the retention sling and have a brew while I gathered my thoughts.
The kettle hadn’t even boiled before I was away again on one of the open-water rods. This time the culprit was a typical Welly mirror that weighed in at 39lb 8oz! I was completely bewildered now, unable to completely believe what had happened to me.”
The fish fell to reverse combi rigs and DT Baits’ Cold Water Mix boilies.
Meet the oldest bailiff in Britain
He's 90-years-old, he’s been patrolling riverbanks for over three decades, fished with World Champion anglers, England footballers and nearly died doing his job… meet Ira Stannard, Britain’s oldest bailiff.
After 32-years working for Kings Lynn Angling Association, Ira is finally hanging up his ticket bag and retiring as one of the club’s fishery bailiffs. Over the years the Norfolk based pensioner braved all manner of conditions from hurricane winds to thick snow, patrolling miles of what is some of Britain’s most remote waterways in the Fens. “I started back in the 1980’s when the club secretary at the time, George Beer, challenged me to do a better job than the current bailiffs after I complained about them. I like to think I have now proved him right!” he told Angling Times.
SEEING STARS
Having stalked the banks of venues like the Middle Level Drain, River Great Ouse and the River Wissey for many years, Ira has met all manner of people, many of whom he became friends with. But they don’t come much bigger than international anglers and Ira met at least five of them during his time. “I have fished with or met the likes of Bob Nudd and Alan Scotthorne as well as Ian Heaps who I once came across teaching Paul ‘Gazza’ Gascoigne how to fish the slider when he was just a lad down on the Ten Mile Bank. Prior to that I’d met Jimmy Randall a couple of times when I asked for his day-ticket money. He nicknamed me ‘the vulture’ as he could never get away with a free day’s fishing on my watch!” he joked.
However, his proudest moment didn’t come with a wad of tickets in his hand but with a rod and line. “I met the great Ivan Marks on more than one occasion but I will never forget the time I trounced him off the next peg during a festival match in Southern Ireland! He’s still my biggest hero of all time - I have never seen anyone as good since” he said.
ACCIDENT
It hasn't all been plain sailing for the 90-year-old, however, having nearly lost his life in a horrific accident while patrolling a venue in the early 1990‘s. “I’d parked up by a bridge but before I got out of the car, a sugar beet lorry ploughed into me and broke nearly all of my ribs, punctured a lung and knocked me unconscious. I was in hospital for weeks and lost some of my memory.” Incredibly, Ira returned to the scene of the accident several months after and found a prized possession. “I spotted my false teeth which I’d lost in the accident down the bank so I asked an angler who was there to retrieve them for me,” he laughed.
LIFETIME IN ANGLING
Ira started fishing when he was just aged 8 and continued to do so even when Britain went to war in 1939. “I tried to sign up to fight but wasn’t allowed as I was an agricultural worker so had to stay in Britain.
“I remember the days watching the bombers fly over my favourite venues and I even joined the Home Guard and Observer Core,” he said.
Angling became more important to him later in life, becoming secretary and member of numerous clubs and societies and having lived in Norfolk, the Fens is where Ira could always be found with a rod in his hand. “These stretches used to be far more popular than they are now, at any given time on a weekend around the 1970’s and 80’s every peg on the Middle Level was lined with anglers - they travelled miles to get here.”
Sadly like those glorious days Ira’s time as bailiff has come to an end. “It’s time to stop as the banks are getting steeper and I’m not so nimble as I once was but I will still walk the venues and I’m not going to stop fishing. I would like to thank everyone who has helped me or been my friend over the years,” he said.
Kings Lynn AA secretary Ashley Brown, added: “Ira has always been friendly and helpful to all the anglers he has met. No one has ever had a bad word to say about him. To sell tickets in all weathers and nearly losing his life bailiffing for the club takes very a special person.”
Ira Stannard’s Life In Numbers
22,000 - estimated total of day-tickets sold by Ira
32 - years patrolling the banks or 4,992 days
19,968 - estimated miles walked on patrols in 32 years
1,664 - editions of Angling Times produced since Ira began as bailiff.
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132lb catfish is biggest ever fish caught on the pole
This is a picture of the biggest ever fish caught on a pole.
The 132lb wels catfish is believed to be one of the first triple figure fish to be landed on a pole after it was banked by an extreme French angler called Sebnash. Incredibly, just days earlier he had banked a 112lb specimen on his 13m pole.
The 31-year-old adrenaline junkie specialises in catching huge carp and catfish on extra-heavy pole gear and his latest personal best from a gravel pit in the Champagne region of France was no exception.
“The fight was not as long as you would expect because the elastic and pole was very strong, so it only took 20 to 30 minutes. When the fish is quiet we get in the water, take it by the mouth and get it on the mat,” he said. “At first it was hard to land catfish on the pole so eventually I started using stronger hooks and 75kg braid. When you hook the fish you have to lift the pole and get off the seatbox. Then you walk backwards so you have the maximum pressure to pull on the fish. If you let the catfish get the upper-hand it will break the braid or the elastic.”
Seb fed his special catfish ‘soup’, which consisted of dog biscuits, a mix of 2mm to 20mm pellets and some additives. He then fished a large piece of paste on a size 2 hook with a 0.5g homemade float over the top. And to control each catfish he needed two strands of 6mm diameter latex elastic - the thickest available - through three sections of his pole.
A slightly scaled-down set up has also seen him slip the net under carp to 57lb and sturgeon to 62lb.
“It’s more fun and much more exciting!” he said when asked why he prefers a long length of carbon to fight specimen-sized fish as opposed to a rod. “You have no reel so you can’t give the fish any line. A rod is too easy!” he joked.
Bigger and bigger fish are now being landed on pole tackle. Earlier this year, Garbolino’s Jason Le Bosquet recorded the largest pole-caught fish in the UK when he managed to get the better of a 64lb 4oz sturgeon from Lindholme Lakes.
Massive zander caught from the River Trent
This is the exclusive picture of one of the biggest zander ever to be caught from the River Trent.
The huge predator – which topped the scales at 16lb 13oz - was banked Ian Wilson during a short evening session on a stretch of the waterway below Nottingham.
After flicking out a lamprey section into the margins, it wasn’t long before a slow confident take saw the 63-year-old set his size 8 Partridge trebles into the specimen and smash his previous personal best for the species.
It was also the second ever biggest to be reported from the river, falling short of the current river record of 18lb 10oz caught by Graham Hunt in March this year.
“I had a hunch that this stretch would hold predators because it is home to loads of silver fish at this time of the year,” Ian told Angling Times.
“It felt like a big pike at first but when I saw the light reflect off its eyes under the water I knew I had hooked something very special.
“Now that I’m retired I spend a lot of time fishing and during the last four years I’ve been concentrating on the Trent’s ‘zeds’. Even though it’s tough and a real challenge zander fishing is without a doubt my favourite at the moment.”
The Worksop-based specimen hunter used a simple leger rig incorporating a ‘weak link’ and a Drennan wire hooklink.
Like many anglers that target the Trent’s zander population, predator fishing legend Neville Fickling believes the river’s potential to produce a record-shaking fish is getting stronger every season.
“This is an incredible and very exciting river for zander anglers because big fish are being caught throughout the river system,” Neville told Angling Times.
UK Carp Nash Dwarf Rod Facebook Competition Winner
Congratulations to James Stevenson from Edinburgh! You have won a a Nash H-Gun Dwarf 9ft 2.75lb rod RRP £54.99 thanks to UK Carp Magazine in the latest Angling Times Facebook competition. Your prize will be posted out shortly.
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