52lb of bleak secures win from unfavourable peg
A STAGGERING 52lb 5oz of bleak sealed victory in the star-studded Wye Champs for river ace Hadrian Whittle.
The contest, fished on a rapidly rising river, turned out to be the perfect storm for a big weight of bleak, which was Hadrian’s only real chance of victory after drawing an unfavourable peg.
“I was placed on permanent peg 28 on Belmont 1, which is known as one of the last places you want to draw!
“However, with a rapidly rising river I was fairly happy, because I knew there was a chance that the bleak would come into play,” he said.
After a slow start and a look on the feeder, Hadrian switched back to a 2.5m whip and caught 600 bleak before switching to a 1.6m whip and catching another 930.
“By this time, I was flying,” Hadrian added,
“and I checked my watch to see there was an hour and 20 minutes left. In this time I had another 530 fish!”
Hadrian Whittle and his 52lb bag of bleak
Session of dreams topped by 1lb dace
A DAY trotting red maggots under an overhanging tree took a superb net of dace for Steve Spiller – including this 1lb fish.
The 54-year-old jumped at the opportunity when his mate Matt Tann invited him to fish the Hampshire Avon, but had no idea he was about to enjoy the session of his dreams.
“I managed several fish around 12oz-13oz before I hooked this one,” he said.
Steve Spiller and his 1lb Hampshire Avon dace
Best grayling of the season banked at 3lb 8oz!
THE largest reported grayling of the year so far has been banked in the shape of this fin-perfect 3lb 8oz beauty.
It fell to the rod of environment scientist Adrian Pinder, who caught the impressive fish during an afternoon spent trotting maggots through the fast water of Dorset’s River Frome.
“On netting it after an epic fight, I knew it would go 3lb-plus, but I was absolutely gobsmacked when the scales went all the way round to 3lb 8oz,” said a delighted Adrian.
“Over the last few years I’ve put in lots of effort on the river and have had four grayling of 3lb-plus, but I can’t tell you how made up I am with this new personal best specimen.”
Adrian Pinder – 3lb 8oz grayling
How the RiverFest 2020 title was won
Paul Cannon lifted the 2020 Angling Trust RiverFest crown - and a £14,000 payout - thanks to a two-day 55-7-0 haul on the Trent.
Fished on the river around Burton Joyce, he finished over 12lb clear of Clive Fletcher on 42-2-0, with Darren Frost’s 40-4-0 third.
The Mosella man had the title in the bag with a day to spare after bagging 44-6-0 of bream on the Saturday, but Sunday still turned into a nervy affair with only 11-1-0 to take to the scales, amid rumours about who may or may not have caught him up. It turned out that nobody had.
Paul Cannon lifted the 2020 Angling Trust RiverFest trophy
“I’m chuffed to bits to win and it’s been worth waiting for!” said Paul.
“Even with a good lead after day one I didn’t assume it was in the bag. Trent bream are big fish and I was sure they’d feed on the Sunday, as the river was rising and should have coloured up. It didn’t, though, and not many bream were caught, but when they weigh up to 8lb you don’t need many to put 50lb together.”
Conditions on the Saturday were wet and windy, with a rising river. That, added to a peg that was ideal for bream on day one, made Paul a happy man going to his swim. Five hours and eight bream later, the job seemed more or less done.
Paul with a River Trent bream
“I got peg B37, the end peg on Nelson’s Field near Dead Man’s Bay. Normally on a low river it’s rubbish but when there’s extra water and a bit of colour, the bream show up. It was always going to be a bream job on the feeder and flat float,” he said.
“At the start I made several quick casts on the feeder about a third of the way over to get some bait in and then waited. My first fish came two hours into the match. After than I had a spell of six more, all big ones on three red maggots. The final few hours were slow, though, with only one more fish.
“I didn’t think the match was in the bag. The big danger was that on Sunday, the river was due to rise even more and perhaps colour up. If that happened, there could be massive bream weights from several areas. I wanted to be in one of those for day two.
“I got peg 33 on the road stretch, close to where I won a RiverFest qualifier from last year with 40lb of bream.
“Only 3lb had been caught off the peg the day before, so there was no point in fishing for dace and roach – it’d be a sit-and-wait feeder job. Double figures was the minimum weight I needed to keep ahead of the pack, and two or three bream would do it, so my approach was more or less the same as on the day before – feeder close in and then a flat float line for perch.
“Early on I caught a big skimmer, which helped settle things down, and the flat float gave me a little run of perch, but I still needed a bream or two.
“After that, it was something of a disaster. I had a skimmer come off at the net and was broken on weed by a big bream.
“Patience was important, though, and 30 minutes from the end I was on the phone to my wife, saying it was hard and I was bored rigid. Then the tip dropped back, and I was in! That was a bream of about 6lb and a real tonic. Even so, there were rumours going around that Simon Willsmore was going to catch 30lb-plus, and he might pip me.
“I weighed 11-1-0, so that bream must have been bigger than I thought! That made me feel a lot better, and shortly afterwards I found out Simon had only weighed in 18lb. There didn’t seem to be anyone who could catch me on total weight, and looking back, I didn’t need to fish at all on Sunday as my day one weight would have won overall!”
Paul in action on the Trent
Dawn not dusk the time for big perch - Simon Baker
“For the past few weeks I’d been slipping out for a few hours after work in search of big perch on the River Lea. Despite catching lots of moderate-sized fish I hadn’t snagged a specimen – but that all changed when I ditched fishing at dusk in favour of a dawn attack.
“I’d managed to located several small shoals while freelining lobworms. I also took time to familiarise myself with different swims, and the one I ended up choosing had few bankside features. With the help of a float and a 1oz lead I located a depression in the riverbed, which I figured was an ideal ambush point for perch.
“I spent several evenings fishing that spot, resulting in numerous perch between 1lb and 2lb. I was happy that it was producing bites, but I was after something bigger, and knew I had to change something if that was to happen, so I switched my evening sessions for early mornings.
“On my most recent trip I set my alarm for a time that only we anglers would be seen out and arrived in the swim for 4am. I began by catapulting in several pouches of dead and live red maggots before casting a free-running leger rig over the top carrying a lobworm tipped with a fake red maggot.
“The session began with a run of several small perch. I had just slipped one of these back and recast to the mark when my rod-tip tapped twice then pulled round… and didn’t stop!
“I asked myself ‘could this finally be the one?’ As I struck, I was met with a solid resistance and a fish that stayed deep. I played it in gently, and as it broke the surface and slid towards the net I got the shakes because I could see it was something special.
“Needless to say, I was delighted to weigh in my first river ‘four’ at 4lb 5oz.
“Not only was it a personal best, but as I stood on the bank as the sun rose I could really see it was an absolute beauty of a fish.”
Simon Baker and his new 4lb 5oz PB perch, caught at dawn.
1,184 fish make up remarkable river catch!
SOMETIMES the smallest fish can win matches – just ask James Robbins, who netted 1,184 bleak in five hours to prevail in a contest on the River Wye recently.
Fishing a RiverFest qualifier in Hereford, James made the most of low and clear river conditions from peg 76 in an area known as The Railings to put together a 47lb 4oz bag on his way to top spot.
James, who works as UK brand manager for tackle firm Cadence, had begun by targeting big perch, but quickly realised a change of tactics was needed.
“I was fishing a whole lobworm but it was getting destroyed by bleak!” he told us.
“After 25 minutes I made the switch and from then on it was mad fishing.”
James set himself a target of 1,000 fish, and after getting into a rhythm was on the road to victory.
“At the weigh-in, someone mentioned that the catch might be a new bleak record for the Wye. I’m waiting for that to be confirmed and looking forward to the final on the Trent,” he said.
James and his amazing Wye match-winning net of 1,184 bleak.
"Beautiful Colne barbel gave me the fight of my life" - Arthur Sines
“The tiny River Colne was not long ago believed to have been devastated by otters, but on a recent session I had a fish that I will remember for a long time.
“It’s a narrow, shallow and clear waterway, making the fishing challenging – however, this stunning barbel of 13lb 1oz took the bait just 30 minutes into the session.
“The quivertip slammed right round and I was into the specimen that gave me the fight of my life. It’s not a PB, but it’s a lovely fish from such a small river.
“A single halibut pellet was the winning hookbait.”
Arthur Sines – 13lb 1oz barbel
One barbel enough for 3k win
One BITE and one fish were enough to seal the Evesham Angling Festival title for Andy Richings, as the Gloucestershire man left it late to take the £3,000 top prize with a big Warks Avon barbel that took him from zero to hero!
Andy Richings with the Evesham trophy
The match was the second of three that make up the angling extravaganza on the river at Evesham and, after drawing his peg, Lobby’s Tackle man Andy decided on a big-fish approach that was all or nothing.
Pegged on 15, a swim that had blanked the day before, Andy was at least in a good area for catching a barbel and, with the river still coloured from rain, there was always a chance. With 15 minutes of the match remaining though, he was nowhere, but then one bite and a 10lb 4oz barbel later he was being installed as favourite to win! Added to a few perch, his weight of 10-6-4 beat Dan Abbott’s 8-0-0 from peg 2.
“I had Iain Jennings, the winner of the Wychavon the day before, next to me, and he reckoned my peg was a consistent one for barbel,” Andy said. “I had two choices – either fish for 3lb of tiddlers and come nowhere or try for a barbel, go for one bite and maybe win £3,000. It was no contest!”
Casting a cage feeder packed with halibut pellets and groundbait down the middle, he had little success with pellet on the hook. A change to a thumbnail-sized piece of meat did the trick and over went the rod tip with 15 minutes to go. Geared up with strong line and a big hook, the fish was soon landed.
The barbel feeder rig
“As soon as I netted the fish, the crowd behind me said ‘that fish is worth three grand – you’ll win with that’! It was only when the scales worked their way around the river that I knew the crowd was right!”
Double-figure bream target achieved in Ouse haul - Steve Cowley
“This season I set myself the goal of catching a double-figure bream from the Great Ouse Relief Channel in Norfolk. As the hot summer days arrived, though, my mate Keith and I discovered the bream’s feeding windows had shrunk, but by changing our time of attack I managed to catch 100lb of slabs and smash my goal!
“Between opening day and our latest session we’ve enjoyed several trips, including two special occasions where I caught more than 200lb. On June 16 I had my best result and caught 21 bream, including a PB 9lb 2oz fish, for 240lb.
“As the trips rolled on I upped my bream best further and took fish of 9lb 6oz and 9lb 10oz in quick succession, but that double eluded me.
“Keith managed one, and I’d witnessed a carp angler catch one too, so the desire to achieve my goal grew stronger.
“At the start of the season we were catching throughout the day but that stopped when the hot weather arrived at the beginning of August.
“The heat had an effect, so we decided our next trip would be an overnighter. The Relief Channel is vast, and it was a good 450m slog to our pegs, but we were set up by 7pm.
“We both fished the same line at 45m to which 30 balls of Bait Tech Omen and Kult Carp groundbait and corn were fed.
“As darkness set in, the isotopes on our quivertips remained still and did so all night. We decided then to get some kip on our bedchairs and be up at 3am with hopes of catching.
“The move paid off, as between 5.30am and 8am the bream moved in and I recorded 11 big slabs on worm and corn cocktails.
“Each bite felt like striking into a brick wall as the fish were solid and fought hard in the flow.
“When bites dried up we checked our keepnets and weighed the heaviest bream. It turned out I’d caught two doubles at 10lb 2oz and 10lb 9oz, along with another belter at 9lb 14oz…mission accomplished.”
Steve Cowley – 10lb 9oz river Ouse bream
Scaled-down barbel rig fools big river roach - Paul Houghton
“It’d been a few years since I’d last targeted the roach in my local river so I decided I’d have another proper go by fishing evening sessions.
“My approach was pretty much a scaled-down barbel rig with a trimmed-down wafter hookbait fished in conjunction with a feeder packed with hemp, small mixed pellets and crushed boilies.
“Half-an-hour before it got dark I connected with a big fish, which I knew was a roach from the tell-tale jags and glides. I knew it would be close to my 2lb 5oz best so I was made up when the scales read 2lb 6oz.”
Paul Houghton and his new PB 2lb 6oz roach
Strong Dove chub takes bait on dark - Steve Moss
“Just before it got dark I headed down to the River Dove hoping to catch a chub or two.
“To help draw them into my swim I baited it with a good helping of hempseed and chopped worm before casting out a bunch of worms over the top.
“The plan worked as later on my rod tapped over and I struck into what was clearly a big fish as it hugged the bottom for most of the fight.
“Needless to say, I was really happy to see this one go into the net!”
Steve Moss – 6lb 7oz chub
Locusts...a hopping good bait for fish!
LOCUSTS are top fodder for lizards and snakes, but Ben Ahmed has been using them to sack-up on perch and chub down his local river!
Turns out locusts are a great fishing bait
By nicking a dropshot hook through the tail end and using a single SSG shot for casting weight, the 28-year-old from Kent has been enjoying a bite-a-chuck by freelining the critters in the main flow on the River Stour.
He told us:
“I was shopping for my home aquarium at Pets at Home when I came across these alien-sized hoppers in the reptile food section.
“I remembered that grasshoppers worked for me when I was a kid so when I saw these locusts only cost £2.50 for a box of 10 I just had to get them.”
Similarly to a fly or a beetle stuck on the water’s surface, locusts give off lots of vibration and attraction which according to Ben is just too tempting for fish to resist.
“The kicks from their legs and the fluttering of their wings really provoke the fish to hit the bait hard,’ he adds.
“I’ve had some incredible takes from chub and pike to over 5lb which have exploded clear of the water to attack the locust.
“It really is exciting fishing!”
This chub couldn’t resist a locust hookbait
Big river ide fooled at dawn - Colin Hebb
“It was dawn and I’d just arrived at a stretch of my local River Hull when I spotted three fish on the surface. I crawled slowly up to the edge of the bank so I wouldn’t spook them, and started to feed chunks of bread.
“I could see that they were big ide, and they were coming up and slurping down the bread confidently.
“Excitedly, I nicked some flake on to a size 8 hook attached to 6lb line and lowered it on to the surface, where it was engulfed within seconds!
“The fight was powerful and jagged, but by keeping the rod high I managed to slide this cracking ide over the net – all 5lb 6oz of it!”
Colin Hebb with his giant river ide of 5lb 6oz
Boats, dogs and swimmers couldn't scare my PB roach - Matt Fernandez
“Fishing clear, low and weedy summer rivers is difficult enough at times, but add swimmers and boaters – plus their dogs – into the mix, and it can get all a bit chaotic.
You’d think that no fish in its right mind would hang around all this commotion, but on a recent trip to my local river I learned just how incredibly tolerant they can be.
“The stretch is a public water close to my home in Southampton that contains some huge roach.
I’d popped down at the start of the season and found a group of good fish, some looking close to 3lb.
I had just got them feeding when a load of kids jumped into the river. I was sure this would kill the swim, so I packed up and went on my way.
Returning a few days later, though, I realised that this may have been a mistake.
“The roach live in small clear areas amid the heavy weed, so in preparation for my session I prebaited a few of these with hemp and maggots.
Arriving the next day, I noticed a group of good roach feeding well over one of the spots… but then it all started to kick off!
“Dogs began jumping in, and swimmers were ploughing right through the swim, so I decided to pack up again. But then I noticed something beneath the surface… big roach! Incredibly, they were still in situ after all that commotion!
“I ran the float back over the spot and straight away it darted under. My rod hooped over under the strain of what was clearly a decent fish, but at that moment a group of kids came cruising past in a dinghy!
“I shouted for them to watch out, as I carried on playing the fish, at which point a big pike grabbed the roach!
By some miracle it soon let go, but then, just as the fish came within reach, I saw that my net was drifting downstream!
I wasn’t going to give up after all that, so I jumped in and grabbed it before finally slipping it under the fish. It weighed 2lb 12oz and is a new PB.
“I learned a lot from the catch, namely not to be too put off by disturbances on rivers where the fish are used to seeing them.
It doesn’t impact the fish as much as we might think. One thing for sure – I won’t be throwing in the towel next time a swimmer crashes through my peg!”
Matt Fernandez and his new PB roach, caught amongst many bankside disturbances!
Giant albino grass carp...from a river!
YOU won’t come across a more unusual river capture this season so far, than that of Kelly Crush. Who on her first session of the river season caught this clonking 20lb albino grass carp.
Not your typical river capture…a 20lb albino grass carp
Fishing a stretch of the River Rother, Kelly was lost for words when the fish that she had seen three years previous was finally in her net.
“To say I was on cloud nine wouldn’t come close to the elation I was feeling”, she said.
Reflecting on catching the giant river ornamental, Kelly told Angling Times:
“It’s a fish I first spotted back in November 2017 while deadbaiting for pike. From that day on it became my target, and come the beginning of the 2020 river season I was raring to go.
“I’d spent two months baiting a swim 1.5km from where I park my car, so after arriving on June 15 for a three-day session I used an inflatable dinghy with an electric outboard to take all my gear to the spot.
“The first two days of my session passed with nothing more than a few bream, so when the bobbin rose again I thought it was another of the same. But after striking I felt something powerful on the other end surge upriver. It fought really hard down in the depths and when it eventually surfaced I saw which fish it was. I screamed to my fishing companion, Ted: “It’s the albino!” and we slipped it into the net.
“I lost a shoe releasing it and went home sunburnt, covered in mosquito bites and silt – but it was all worth it!”
Kelly was lost for words after catching this 20lb albino grass carp
To follow more of Kelly’s fishing adventures, check her out on Instagram - @fishing_with_kelly_crush
First trip of the season results in 200lb-plus bream catch
“I spent the morning of June 16 on the lower River Thames, but with it running low and clear with next to no flow I was expecting it to fish poorly. That said, if you’re going to catch a big weight in bad conditions, then the very first night of the season is probably your best bet!
“As the river was so lifeless, I decided to feed with a Spomb and introduced a few kilos of mixed pellets and groundbait just before dark.
“I started fishing at midnight, and although it took an hour to get my first bream, once I’d landed it I managed a bite most casts and finished the session at 5am with around 45 bream averaging 5lb apiece for a total weight of well over 200lb.
“It was a great first trip, but as soon as the sunshine began to peep through the trees, the bites slowed right down.”
Tony Curd with his 200lb-plus haul of bream
Was this year's opening day the busiest ever?
BANKSIDE space on many of the nation’s most popular rivers was at a premium last week as Britain’s anglers returned to running water action with a bang.
As clocks struck midnight on June 15 to signal the dawn of the new season, the familiar sound of leads and feeders hitting the surface could be heard on stretches right across the country.
Nowhere was the remarkable turnout more evident than the River Trent, where chub and barbel fishing fans were queueing up all afternoon to bag a swim.
A busy start to the season on the River Trent
Newark and District Piscatorial Federation bailiff Alfie Naylor told us:
“We opened the gates to our Winthorpe Fishery at midday on June 15 and less than an hour later all 60-odd pegs were taken by anglers wanting to camp out ahead of the midnight start!”
“I’ve never seen it so busy down there before – it looked like a fishing match! I guess the surge in popularity can be attributed in part to many people still being on the Government furlough scheme, alongside anglers returning to the sport.”
Clubs that allow night fishing weren’t the only ones to witness the crazy opening day scenes either, with day-only fisheries also seeing record numbers of anglers.
Nigel Gray, owner of Davis Tackle in Christchurch, said people were queuing up outside the shop to buy day tickets for the Royalty Fishery on the Hampshire Avon.
“We opened our doors at 7:30am and were continuously serving customers for at least an hour and a half,” he said.
It was a similar story at many other tackle shops, with some unprepared for the sheer number of anglers wishing to buy bait.
“Between 9am and 2pm we sold 35 gallons of maggots and I had to go to our supplier to get 25 more!”
said Wayne Gray, who runs Top Tackle in Abingdon, Oxon.
“I’ve been here for 12 years and I’ve never seen an opening day like it.”
Dream end to greatest ever river season!
ANGLERS around the country enjoyed a prolific end to what may go down as one of the best seasons ever on the country’s rivers.
There was a host of big fish landed in the last couple weeks of the season, including these specimens reported to the Angling Times News Desk…
Robin Cave 9lb chub
WHEN Robin Cave embarked on his final session of the river season he had no idea he was about to catch a near British record chub weighing 9lb on the nose. The 59-year-old builder from Oxford latched into the clonking chevvin on a paste-wrapped boilie, which was fished next to a snaggy tree on the River Thames.
“I’m still buzzing now – I thought my 8lb 1oz chub from earlier in the season was special, but this was something else,” Robin told us.
Warren Hammond 8lb 1oz chub
NOT many anglers can claim their first chub on a new rod weighed 8lb 1oz, but Warren Hammond can! It was a personal best for the 51-year-old electrician, who trotted red maggots on his 15ft Drennan Acolyte set-up during a visit to the Dorset Stour. Warren says:
“I can’t think of a better end to my season than this!”
Garth Sykes 18lb 3oz barbel
IMAGINE smashing your barbel personal best twice in a single session – well that’s exactly what Garth Sykes did during his final visit of the season to the Tidal Trent. Using boilies to target a slack area of the river over a 48-hour period, the Leeds-based rod hooked and battled specimens of 15lb 10oz and 18lb 3oz. He says:
“When I saw that the reading on the digital scales had gone over 18lb, my legs started shaking!”
Phil Smith 30lb barbel brace
“Fishing boilies next to a tree at Castor on the River Nene, I managed to catch barbel of 15lb 1oz and 16lb 5oz between 10:30am and 3pm.
“I normally stay on the river until last knockings, but I drove home at 5pm with a huge smile on my face! Former PDAA bailiff Mark Smith got in contact later that evening to tell me that at 31lb 6oz, my barbel brace was the largest ever recorded from Castor. I was truly over the moon.”
James Champkin 4lb 3oz perch
“I’d been catching some nice 3lb perch on the River Lea, but a four-pounder eluded me for months. With a couple of days to go before the end of the season, I decided to have another crack in the area with lobworms fished over maggots and broken lobs. Within an hour I had lost a big fish, but just a few minutes later I received the all-important bite that resulted in my longed-for ‘four’.”
200lb of river bream - and some bonus carp!
ACCESS to our natural waterways is one of the biggest barriers to angling these days – but two anglers tackling Yorkshire’s River Don are proof that if you walk that extra mile you can have a red-letter day.
Paul Hardy and John Hopes enjoyed a phenomenal session on a stretch near Rotherham to bank one of the greatest-ever river hauls of bream.
The remarkable 200lb catch of slabs was taken near Deanby, right by a large housing development which poses a few difficulties for local anglers.
“We’d heard about this stretch of the Don for the past year and were eager to get down there with the river dropping down after flooding,” Paul explained.
“There are miles and miles of river here, the problem being that it’s difficult to get to. In places the track isn’t suitable for driving and the banks are steep.
“If you can make it past the building site, which often blocks access for cars, it can still be very challenging to walk along the muddy banks, which are regularly covered by floodwater.
“The fishing was incredible though, we had two nets in, and we caught so many bream we broke one lifting it out!”
Fishing partner and photographer, John Hopes, enjoyed the fishing so much he went back to the river a week later and had yet more success.
“I walked a bit further this time to a snaggy swim and couldn’t believe it when first cast I hooked into an 8lb river carp, followed by three more. I lost a few other fish, and something that felt like a submarine!”
The prolific stretch of the Don is run by the Rotherham & District United Angling Federation, with fishing available to members as well as day-ticket anglers.
A spokesperson for the club told Angling Times:
“We are continually working to protect and improve the fishing on this stretch of river, which we believe to be one of the best in Britain.”
"I couldn't get the net out fast enough" - Graham Stevens
“I’ve caught several big perch to 3lb 14oz but that four-pounder kept eluding me – until now!
With the River Thames still flowing hard, I knew there would be some fish holding up in the slack areas, so I fished into a 10ft deep area off the back of my boat.
I cast out a small roach on a fixed paternoster rig, but I didn’t have a bite until the sun started dropping below the horizon.
Catching a glimpse of this huge thing with stripes, I couldn’t get the net out fast enough!”
