7lb chub on first cast

Dai Gribble proved why he’s one of the UK’s best all-rounders when he turned his attentions to running water and landed this 7lb chub.
The Korum-backed angler from Staffordshire dug out some home-made cheese paste from his freezer and set off to a tough southern river.
He didn’t have to wait long before his legered hookbait was taken by the mint-conditioned fish on his very first cast. It was beaten with 6lb mainline and hooklink, and a size 6 hook.

New Match Academy will unleash hidden fishing talent

A group of top anglers has teamed up with the nation’s most famous commercial fishery to launch an innovative scheme that aims to find the sport’s stars of the future.
Warwickshire’s Makins Fishery has signed a sponsorship deal with tackle giant Guru that will see the brand’s sponsored anglers involved in a new Match Academy in a bid to unlock hidden junior talent.
Angling Times columnist Steve Ringer and England Feeder Team member Adam Rooney are among the big names to have pledged to provide coaching during the project.
Youths between the ages of 12 and 16  have been given a major incentive, with Guru promising a year-long sponsorship deal to the most impressive prospect.
Scheme leader Adam Rooney said: “There are thousands of budding young match anglers out there and we want to give them the chance to make that step up to the top level.
“It will give us the opportunity to pass on the team’s knowledge and skills to the next generation and hopefully give them a real shot at becoming future household names.”
Makins owner Alan McDiarmid said: “By joining forces with Guru we are giving juniors a real opportunity to show just how talented they are.”
It isn’t the first time that major manufacturers have stepped up to the plate to benefit junior anglers, with Preston Innovations-backed stars including Des Shipp and Tommy Pickering previously sharing their knowledge during the nationwide Fish Camp series.

LEARN MORE
Staff are working on the format of the Match Academy, with dates set to be pencilled in at the complex next summer. For regular updates on the scheme visit www.tackleguru.com

Two bests in just one week

It was a week to remember for Phil Taylor as he smashed two personal bests on his local rivers.
The Lincolnshire angler went in search of a big chub and started the session by legering cheese paste.
A 4lb brace was an early reward, but the best of the day came just as the light was failing, with a 6lb 4oz personal best (pictured) going into the net.
Days later he opted for a change of tactics, relying on floatfished breadflake to tempt a few bites.
A series of roach to 1lb 10oz were enough to put a smile on Phil’s face, but the icing on the cake came when an elusive 14oz dace provided him with his second record.

Big barbel worth the wait

Water bailiff Paul Oughton used his knowledge of the Warwickshire Avon to take this fine barbel of 15lb 6oz during a session with our own Martin Bowler.
The Birmingham AA official was fishing a weir pool near Evesham. After introducing bait-droppers of boilies, pellets and hemp, he cast two boilie halves.It took a few hours before the big barbel struck.

Decent nets of roach and skimmers on K&A canal

Sensas Commercial House Christmas Match
Kennet & Avon Canal, Garage Pond - Bathampton (27 pegs)

The canal fished extremely well, with the top 11 anglers all taking more than 9lb.
Martin Rayet, of Stand & Deliver Promotions, won from the Horseshoe Pond with an impressive 24-12-0 of roach taken on breadpunch at 5m, plus skimmers to 2lb on maggot over groundbait at 13m.
Jon Harvey was next with 14-9-0 of roach on punch and bloodworm fished at 5m and 13m and skimmers on caster from the Long Pond.
Result: 1 M Rayet, Stand & Deliver Promotions, 24-12-0; 2 J Harvey, Preston Innovations Thatcher’s Black, 14-9-0; 3 M Goodhind, M&N Electrical, 13-2-0; 4 K Dicks, Maver Bathampton Elite, 12-8-0; 5 S Townsend, Maver Bathampton Elite, 12-4-0; 6 A Britt, Maver Bathampton Elite, 10-5-0.

Another chub seven

Jamie Cartwright’s start to his chub campaign just keeps getting better – his latest capture saw him net this impressive 7lb 7oz specimen.
A boilie wrapped in matching paste did the trick for the former Drennan Cup champion from Northamptonshire, when he concentrated on a stretch of the Great Ouse – a venue that recently produced another huge chub for him weighing 7lb 3oz.
His rig consisted of a braided hooklink, 10lb line and a size 10 hook. His CC Moores Pacific Tuna boilies were broken into pva bags to draw the fish towards his hookbait.

Pike best smashed by a whopping 17lb

A decision to go fishing with a professional angling guide paid off handsomely for Kevin Meggison when he smashed his personal best pike by a massive 17lb.
The Kent angler contacted predator ace Rikki Cooper as he wanted to improve his best weight of 12lb and Rikki duly obliged as the pair headed to one of Kevin’s local stillwaters. A few hours later Kevin had achieved his goal by slipping the net under three fish weighing 29lb 10oz, 26lb 2oz and 19lb. All the fish were taken on legered smelt deadbaits.

Now that’s an eel... all 21lb 10oz of it!

A lamb’s heart, 6lb test-curve rod and 80lb braided line are not what you’d expect to find in a UK eel angler’s tackle box, but this is what Barry McConnell used to land this incredible specimen.

Weighing a massive 21lb 10oz, the giant predator was one of 14 double-figure eels banked by Barry and friend Peter Drabble during an unforgettable trip across the globe in an attempt to break a world record.

They travelled nearly 11,000 miles to New South Wales, Australia, where they endured six weeks’ camping in a bid to beat the species record of 25lb 12oz. However, their trip didn’t start as planned.

“After reading internet reports of anglers being snapped up by huge eels, we headed to a reservoir in the Snowy Mountains with high expectations,” Barry said.

“Six days later neither of us had a fish to show for our efforts and we realised that the Aussies had been releasing water from the lake into a river. Most of the previously landlocked eels must have escaped, so we used our back-up plan which was to fish some dams nearby.”

The move proved a masterstroke as they spent the remaining month fishing three lakes before tackling rivers in the State of Victoria, finishing the trip with 32 eels.

It wasn’t just their catches which raised eyebrows, though, as they used tackle that even a sea angler might find too beefy.

“We needed the heavy rods and strong braided line as we were pulling hard-fighting eels through weed which grew 14ft deep,” he continued.

“We used size 2 hooks, big enough to hook bait such as chicken fillet or lambs’ hearts from the local butchers, but soft enough so that they would straighten if they were snagged on the underwater trees.

“There was no time to minimise our gear. We slept in one-man tents with no bed chairs and had to cut the arms off the landing net so that we could fit it in the suitcase on the flight over and glue it together when we arrived,” he added.

Buoyed by their success, Barry and Peter are planning to return in search of bigger specimens.

“We have looked at  Queensland where the climate is hotter, so I believe there are much bigger fish than the record,” Barry added.

“However there are crocodiles in Queensland, so we would have to fish carefully,” added Barry. A video of their trip will shortly be available on YouTube.

Weather no obstacle to river roach

Severe weather cuts many fishing sessions short, but James Denison battled the wind and rain to bank this immaculate 2lb 10oz roach.
Fishing a centrepin outfit on an undisclosed stretch of a southern river, the electrician trotted a single maggot hookbait after initially putting down a bed of loosefeed.
“The bite came around 30 minutes before dusk and was from the only roach of the day in what was a tough afternoon’s fishing,” James told Angling Times.
“This was my third 2lb roach of the season, and the best months are yet to come.”
James’ specimen was taken on a 12ft Greys Prodigy TXL float rod and centrepin reel combination with terminal tackle consisting of a 6BB Drennan wire-stemmed float and a size 12 barbless hook.

Paste too tempting for 7lb 2oz Ouse chub

The Great Ouse is on top big chub form at the moment, and it delivered a fish over the 7lb mark for Herts-based specialist Leighton McDonnell.
A paste hookbait moulded around two 13mm cork balls did the trick when he hooked the 7lb 2oz specimen just as the light was beginning to fade.
 Leighton fished the paste in conjunction with 6lb mainline and a size 4 Nash Fang hook.
“I’ve been having loads of success with my paste recently, taking chub to 5lb 11oz,” he said.
 “But to have such a fish from a brand new stretch I’ve only recently started fishing is a great start to my winter campaign.”

Giant bait for giant barbel!

A boilie almost the size of a golf ball tempted the latest in an incredible run of big barbel for one of the UK’s most in-form specimen hunters – who landed a new personal best weighing 16lb 12oz.
Incredibly, this is Luke Ayling’s third different fish over 16lb that he’s taken in under four weeks. It came during a session on the River Thames.
To induce the bite from his biggest- ever barbel the Lone Angler-backed specialist used the same homemade bait wrapped in a matching paste that recently proved the downfall of a 16lb 1oz fish from the same venue.
“With this bait I know when I get a bite it’s going to be a ‘proper’ fish,” said Luke, who comes from Oxfordshire.
“Many anglers might be put off by using a bait this big, but it’s no trouble for barbel of this size.
“It’s just a case of getting a few bites and gaining confidence in a bait like this.”
His latest specimen fell to a rig made with 15lb mainline, a coated braid hooklink and a size 6 hook.
It proved to be the only bite of the overnight session.
Along with the added attraction created in the swim by the thin layer of paste wrapped around his boilie hookbait, Luke also introduced a few 14mm barrel baits into his swim.
“To have caught the two Thames fish and a 16lb 7oz barbel from its tributary, the Thame, was far beyond my expectations.
“It’s been a hell of a season for barbel and there are plenty more to come,” Luke concluded.

John Wilson joins the Thai ton-up carp club

This is the picture of John Wilson’s biggest-ever carp, topping the scales at over 100lb.
The legendary angler, who now lives in Thailand, won the battle with the personal-best Siamese carp after he floatfished a hookbait made from rice and breadcrumbs in a session at the famous Palm Tree Lagoon, south of the capital Bangkok.
“This is the fattest carp I have ever caught. It measured 15ins across its back and almost 2ft in depth,” John told Angling Times.
But this wasn’t John’s only epic battle of the day – for three-and-a-half hours he fought a giant Mekong catfish, estimated to weigh in excess of 300lb, before his trace gave way.
“In all my years of fishing I have never felt such devastating stamina and power from a fish. I rather think that if the trace had not parted I’d still be playing it now,” he laughed.
To find out more about the fishing at Palm Tree Lagoon visit:
www.palmtreelagoon.co.uk

Huge Thames bream haul by river rookie

The winter blues show no sign of affecting red-hot silverfish sport after countless personal-best weights were taken at venues across the nation.
Roach, bream and perch have continued to feed heavily despite the chilly temperatures, with both rivers and stillwaters producing well beyond what is expected in the run up to Christmas.
Arguably the most impressive catch of them all was Tom Downing’s huge haul of bream from the Thames, where the Devon rod shared more than 150lb with MAP-backed star Tony Curd during his first-ever session on a river.
Having been persuaded to make the 400-mile round journey to the stretch at Kingston-upon-Thames he was soon rewarded for his commitment, with slabs to 7lb falling to the groundbait feeder every chuck during the frantic session.
Tom told Angling Times: “I’m a big fan of commercial fisheries but after a day out like that I am definitely going to be doing more river fishing.
“Tony had assured me that we would get a few bites, but to share more than 150lb of bream at this time of year surpassed my expectations by a mile.”
Similar levels of success were also recorded on commercial waters, as Des Shipp proved with a 60lb-plus haul from Frant Lakes made up of roach to 1lb and skimmers and perch to 2lb.
The England international was performing a demonstration at the Kent complex and attracted a bite every chuck throughout the session. He said: “It was one of those days where the float never stopped going under and everything we tried worked almost straight away.
“The growing number of silvers in commercials means a good day is on the cards on even the coldest of days.”
Other silverfish highlights of the week included 250lb-plus of silvers being brought to the scales during the latest contest at Scunthorpe’s Messingham Sands, Dennis Pattinson’s 37lb 3oz net of roach coming out on top. Numerous pleasure anglers have also landed personal-best nets of silvers at Northamptonshire’s Wold Farm Fisheries, with 70lb-plus bags of roach and skimmers being taken.

Giant tackle shop set for 2016 opening

A giant tackle shop with floor space the size of two football pitches is set to open in the UK.
The new store, on the outskirts of Newark, Notts, will be one of the biggest in England, featuring more than 12,000sq ft of tackle.
The ambitious project is the brainchild of entrepreneur Tony Porter, owner of Future Fishing Ltd, who came up with the idea after his current tackle shop was struggling to cope with demand.
 He told Angling Times: “Our shop is just not big enough to house all the stock and keep up with the amount of custom we have been getting, so we have no choice but to expand.”
Tony’s plans for the two-storey shop include a lure demonstration tank, an advice desk and a bivvy village.
“We want to provide the help and advice of a small high street tackle shop with the stock and products of a superstore,” he said.
“I want to make sure that all types of angler, from predator to carp, have a range of products to view, try and buy. They deserve a decent shopping experience.”
Tony will open the store to the public in March 2016, with online sales already running. The company has a webpage for anglers to make purchases in the meantime. Visit: www.futurefishing.co.uk or call 01636 612654.

Harry Billing wins Garbolino Silverfish title

Festival season at Cornish complex White Acres was rounded-off with the Garbolino Silverfish event and the title went to a familiar name in the South West of the country as Harry Billing lifted the silverware. But only after the usual tallying-up of dropped scores when he ended up tied with three other anglers on a perfect 36 points!
The Garbolino man has tasted plenty of success at White Acres and surrounding fisheries, culminating in the 2012 Parkdean Masters, since he relocated to Cornwall from his native Manchester and silverfish are his game as Harry was a feared angler on the canal scene back in the North.
Racking up four section wins and dropping a four-point score from his worst day, Harry ended up clear of runner-up Adam Wakelin with Andy Power taking third, both men having poorer dropped scores.
Whereas previous Silverfish festivals have been fished on frozen lakes, this year saw mild and often wild and windy weather. That helped the weights, Harry kicking off on Day 1 with a section win thanks to 62-12-0 of skimmers, roach and a few F1s on maggot and caster over groundbait on the long pole from peg 7 on the Sycamore Lake.
It was a case of more of the same on Tuesday as he notched up 60-0-0 of F1s using caster in the margins of peg 6 on the Twin Oaks Lake. Day 3 gave him his midway section finish from the Trelawney Lake, which was ultimately to be binned.
It didn’t take long for him to get back in the groove though, Jenny’s Lake peg 15 seeing him work hard for 33-1-0 of roach and skimmers on maggot and caster to post another eight points and going into the final day, only a win would do – and Harry duly obliged.
The draw put him on peg 20 of the Pollawyn Lake and he won not only the section, but the lake as well, with 44-3-0 of skimmers using maggot on the long pole line.

Result: 1 H Billing, Garbolino, 36pts (dropping four points);
2 A Wakelin, Preston Innovations, 36 (dropping six points – 219-4-0); 3 A Power, Preston Innovations, 36 (dropping six points – 214-1-0); 4 M Godfrey, Pole Fishing Magazine, 36 (dropping six points – 195-2-0); 5 D Hammond, Drennan Oxford, 35 (dropping five points – 197-13-0); 6 C Hughes, Sensas/Rive, 35 (dropping five points – 196-3-0).

World angling champs set to return to home soil?

The world angling championships could soon be held on home soil for the first time in over 20 years if ambitious plans are given the go ahead.

In a secret meeting held by legendary former Drennan Team England manager Dick Clegg and the Angling Trust, officials from the Canal & River Trust (CRT) investigated the possibility of turning a section of the Aire & Calder Canal in Yorkshire into a venue capable of holding international matches.

The stretch being considered is the Boothferry Aire and Calder Joint Canal Committee-run section between Goole and Great Heck in East Yorkshire. It’s a waterway which is more than up to the job, according to Dick who is international events director for the Angling Trust.

“We have been working hard to get the world champs back to the UK for a while now. We (the Angling Trust)  have been looking at plenty of venues, but the Aire & Calder is one of the closest we have to making it happen as it’s wide and deep enough to satisfy international rules. We just need to sort out some of the issues and it could happen.”

The last time the world champs came to home shores was in 1994 at Nottingham’s Holme Pierrepont when Drennan Team England, led by Dick, not only secured team gold, but saw Bob Nudd crowned world champ for the third time.

“The stretch of the Aire & Calder we are considering is long, straight and full of fish, which makes it ideal for international events,” said John Ellis, national fisheries and angling manager for the CRT.

“The only problem is with access and facilities for spectators, but there are things which can be done to iron these problems out which we will work hard to do as we would love to see international matches held on our waterways.”

The project is just part of a nation-wide series of action plans recently created by the CRT to improve sport for anglers and encourage more people back to the towpath.

The initiatives, which were drawn up following numerous meetings with angling clubs, will see money being spent on improving facilities at venues, as well as increasing participation by holding events.

It’s a move that follows the recent revelation that the charity is being buoyed by a noticeable increase in anglers heading back to the canals in 2015.

“We have definitely experienced a rise in the number of clubs and anglers heading back to the waterways in recent years,” John continued.

“This has been helped by a big drive by us and other organisations and clubs to get people fishing natural water again, as well as an increase in competitions on waterways, which is encouraging match anglers to come back too.”

Events such as the CRT’s own Canal Pairs Championship have seen a remarkable rise in popularity, with record numbers of competitors taking part this year.

John believes this is a positive sign, but despite the increase the forward-thinking organisation is keen to continue efforts to get more anglers involved.

“We still have a long way to go to get back to the glory days when the towpaths were packed with anglers.

“The CRT will continue the drive, working with the other national organisations to help with coaching days competitions and events,” he added.

7lb 6oz chub on a size 18!

The benefits of fining down your tackle for big winter chub were proved by Nigel Davis, who smashed his personal best with a 7lb 6oz fish – topping a list of great specimens banked this week.
A size 18 hook baited with a single maggot was enough to overcome the powerful lunges of the big chub when the specialist, from Fordingbridge, Hants, targeted a Christchurch Angling Club stretch of the famous Dorset Stour.
After a biteless morning fishing with more robust gear and breadflake on the hook, he tackled up with his favourite centrepin reel, a 15ft float rod and a 3lb 2oz mainline tied to a 1.4kg hooklink to try to bring a response from the shy-biting chub.
“As soon as I began trotting I started catching small dace, then a chub well over 4lb,” said Nigel.
“I was so lucky that I had slack water on the inside of my swim, otherwise I wouldn’t have stood a prayer of landing it because the fish was so powerful in the flow and I had to keep it out of the reeds.
“It took me a good 10 minutes to land it, and as soon as I saw it in the net I knew it was a new personal best because it had a belly like a football.”
Moving further east, Jamie Cartwright’s first cast for chub this winter resulted in a 7lb 3oz chub.
It was the only fish of a short evening session on the River Great Ouse for the former Drennan Cup winner, and fell to a CC Moore boilie wrapped in matching paste and fished in conjunction with a PVA bag of crushed baits and pellets threaded on to a coated braid hooklink.
This is the second chub over 7lb to be taken from the popular waterway so far in 2015, and the Northampton-shire Specimen Group member beat it with a size 10 hook and 10lb line.
“This was my first cast of the winter and the best start to a campaign I could have ever wished for,” said Jamie.
“Many river anglers just nick their PVA bag straight on to the hook, but this can come off and just roll downstream in a ball.
“To ensure it stays in one place and that there’s no debris caught on the hook, I thread the bag on to my hooklink instead.”

Scottish loch springs surprise with a 35lb 8oz pike

Here’s proof that you don’t have to fish the popular UK trout reservoirs to catch monster pike. Dave Turley slipped the net under this 35lb 8oz predator – from a loch in Scotland.
The 52-year-old Scottish Pike Anglers Club member latched into the huge fish while fishing with his friend Stewart Mcmath during a pike fishing trial on Lake Menteith, near Stirling.
The pike, which was tempted on a small Bluey deadbait cast close to one of the 750-acre venue’s islands, set a new personal best for the Chapelhall-based rod, who caught a 27lb specimen from the same loch last year.
As well as raising eyebrows, the catch will no doubt raise questions as to the coarse fishing potential of the fly fishing venue, which only opens to pike anglers two days a year. Said Dave: “You just don’t know what’s in the lake as we only get to fish it twice, and one of those days is lure-only.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there was something much bigger lurking down in its depths.”

Connor Barlow beats the cold to take carp and F1s...

Partridge Lakes

Covey Canal Lakes (54 pegs)

Bitterly-cold conditions, coupled with a north-westerly wind, saw weights plummet, but the fishery still produced some consistent sport.

Top rod from peg 47 on Canal 2 was Connor Barlow, who started the match on maggot at 6m fishing in deep water, and then later switched to the margins fishing the long pole down the edge to take small carp and F1s to finish on 45-8-0.

Second place from peg 67 on Canal 3 was Jason Berry, who stuck it out on the long pole for most of the day, fishing single maggot to weigh in 40-2-0.

Result: 1 C Barlow, Daiwa/Guru, 45-8-0; 2 J Berry, Wigan Angling Centre, 40-2-0;

3 A Twist, Matrix Leigh Tackle & Bait, 38-11-0; 4 J Howarth, Tri-Cast Highfield, 36-8-0; 5 L Bamber, Matrix Leigh Tackle & Bait, 36-6-0; 6 T Madden, Sensas NW, 35-15-0.

More anglers join 2lb roach hall of fame

To catch a 2lb river roach is seen as ‘the holy grail’ for many anglers but to catch one on float tackle is special – this week two anglers joined this exclusive club.
Roach fanatic Billy McDonald used traditional trotting tactics with stick float and maggot on the River Test at Timsbury to bank a haul of big roach topped by a 2lb 8oz specimen.
The Milton Keynes angler made the long drive to the Hampshire venue a trip to remember when he netted roach of 1lb 1oz, 1lb 2oz and 1lb 10oz, followed by his biggest, which was just 1oz off his personal best.
However, the day could have been even better for Billy had he not lost an even bigger fish at the net.
 “I lost two other fish that looked about the same size as the two-pounder, along with a third fish that was much bigger. I was gutted at the time, but to catch so many stunning roach in a day made this one of my best-ever trips,” he said.
Billy caught all his fish, along with dozens of trout and grayling, by targeting a 7ft-deep glide with red maggots as feed and on the hook.
 His stick float rig was made up of 4lb reel line with an olivette positioned a couple of feet above a 2.5lb hooklength and a size 16 hook.
Big-fish man Lee Chatfield also used trotting tactics to bank a stunning 2lb 3oz roach.
The Sonubaits-backed specialist from Sussex  fished an unnamed chalk stream where, like Billy, he also used a stick float and maggots to record a bulging 65lb net of dace, perch and barbel to go with what is his first-ever 2lb river roach.
Lee’s tackle consisted of a 14ft Drennan Acolyte float rod, a Dave Harrell 12xNo4 alloy stick float, 3lb mainline, a 0.11mm Powerline hooklength and size 18 Drennan Wide Gape match hook.
Both fish follow the captures of a number of big redfins since the turn of the month.
The best of these was a 3lb 8oz monster landed by carp angler Jake Baxter from the Norfolk Broads last week.