A Proud Moment

I have been waiting quite a long time for my son to show a real interest in the sport I hold so dear, he has been with me a few times but has never shown a real interest...until now.
A real moment happened a couple of days ago when my son asked me to take him fishing, I nearly shed a tear.
Then came the hard decision of where to go, we have a lot of great fishing available around this area and I wanted somewhere my son hasn't been before, we have fished Bishops Green as it suited both of us, Liam fished for the Gudgeon and Roach whilst I fished for the Carp, it worked, but Liam told me he would like to move up the fishing ladder and catch something like a Tench.
We trolled through through various venues to choose one we thought would be appropriate and settled on Marsh Farm in Godalming, a venue with a great reputation and somewhere I have fished a few times and loved it.
So Friday came round and as I was off work we set off for Godalming and arrived at Marsh arm at 7:30am, popped into the brilliant and award winning onsite tackle shop Apollo 2 to get some Maggots and purchase our day tickets.

We decided to fish Hill pond due to its high stock of fish which should guarantee a great days sport.
I set Liam up in the swim next to me to the right of the pond from the entrance, Liam was going to be using a standard waggler type setup with 4lb line to a 3lb hooklink and size 14 hook, I didn't want to set him up quite as light as I was fishing just in case he hooked into a big Tench.
We baited the swims right in the margins either side of the peg with a little ground bait and micro-pellets whilst we setup, I was using 3lb mainline to a 2lb hook link using a very light pole float with a size 18 hook using a single maggot, caster or pellet.

It was soon apparent that the lighter approach was by far catching more fish, Liam was catching the odd Rudd and Roach but I was getting into a few Crucians and Tench too, so with that I swapped Liam over to a pole float and a 2lb hook link like mine and he was soon into a few more fish. My main intention for the day was for Liam to catch his first Tench and Crucian but with sun really beating down the bites were getting harder to come by.

Liam soon hooked into something a bit more serious which I thought was a Tench but as I saw it roll I thought he had a huge Crucian on, he was playing it very well, but his dreams where soon shattered when we realized it was actually a small Common Carp, gutted, but a great fight on light tackle, this was shortly followed by a small Tench of about 9oz which as it was his first so he was over the moon with it. The day was going well I had a fair few fish with Crucian to 1lb 7oz and Tench to 2lb 12oz and I even had a big Gudgeon of nearly 2oz but was still trying to get Liam his first Crucian but we was running out of time so I put some bait in for the last stretch and let him fish in my swim on the right of me where I had a few Crucians throughout the day, and the next fish he hooked was a 1lb 5oz Crucian, JOB DONE.

We packed up and left having had a fantastic days fishing and I had one happy and very hooked boy, Marsh Farm delivered as usual and it makes me even more impatient about joining the Godalming Angling Club in July, cant wait.

Another eve at Ashmoor

With the Wife finishing work at 2pm and me still continuing my week off it was another perfect opportunity for a fish.
Ashmoor again for no other reason really than its fantastic, by far my favorite fishery.
I decided to start on the flat bed feeder method on lake 2 fishing the close margin and the odd cast to the far margin.

Both areas seem to be fishing well and I was having a ton of Carp, Bream and the odd Roach/Bream Hybrid from the off.
The flat bed feeder method is a cracking way to get a bite, I was using a small to medium feeder with a short 5lb hooklink to a size 14 with a plastic Caster on a hair berried under the grounbait, the groundbait itself was part swimstem, part Roach and Part Bream groundbait, basically the left overs from the last few sessions.
Feeder fishing is one of if not my favorite form of fishing, I simply love it, and its a method I feel most confident in so I was really enjoying this session, plus I was doing a bit of filming for a YouTube channel both me and Steve are setting up.

As the sun started to drop it was time to put the feeder gear away and get the floater kit out.
The gear I use for Ashmoor is the same every time, a Barbel rod and medium sized reel, 6lb line straight through to a size 12 hook baited with a lump of crust, I use a bucket bag with all my kit in, a mat and net conclude my gear, simple yet very effective.

As the fishery was now empty, bar me and Steve, its easier to walk around and just drop a few dog biscuits here and there and wait for Carp to turn up, which they did, not quite as explosive as the last evening I fished here but there was still a fair few had off the top up to about 5lb so nothing huge but great fun.
As the sun really dropped we put the banger on for the night and left.
As usual a cracking few hours fishing but where to next....

A Well Deserved Fish.

After a very stressful day at work and now with 9 days off I decided to pop to Ashmoor for an evening's surface fishing with Steve in toe.

I wasn't going to bother to be honest as I was knackered by the time I got home about 6:30pm and was wondering if there was going to be enough time for a fish, but I shouldn't of worried.

We pulled into the car park about 7pm and had the lakes to ourselves, which was nice, tackle could not have been more simple, Barbel rod, medium sized freespool reel and a size 12 hook baited with a bit of crust, no floats or shot etc, simple fishing, just how I like it.

As time was limited we walked around the lakes baiting all the areas we know to produce, after the lap it was time to grab the gear and find some fish, which took about 10 seconds and I had a Mirror on, only a couple of pounds but any fish after the day I've had was very welcome.

The bites came steadily throughout the couple of hours fishing, I had so many I lost count after 10.

As usual Ashmoor provided some cracking sport with Carp to over 8lbish and an unbeatable way to relieve stress.

And with a few days off hopefully I can get a few more days down here as its always been a home from home and the fact its owned by my good friend Steve's Grandparents makes it just perfect.

Family Fishing at Bishops Green

Today was a family fishing day, which can be a right faff.

I had a struggle deciding where to go to cater for all, we needed some small fish for my daughter Ellie as she hasn't done a lot of fishing so starting her off small, my son Liam has done a bit and was progressing through the different styles of fishing and he wanted to try some feeder fishing, and as I was going to be helping the kids most of the time I wanted a venue which catered for me having a couple of rods out on alarms.

We left home at about 8am which for me was very late, but as there was women in toe they needed more beauty sleep.

We popped into Frobury farm and it was rammed and looking very strange with recently astro turfed swims, so we decided to pop further up the road to Bishops Green where we decided to fish.

After a quick walk around the lake I decided to fish the car park end as everyone else was fishing the far end, after paying we set up, Liam on the feeder, Ellie on the float with her little bright pink Princess rod, and my rods set on alarms fishing PVA bags in the margins for Carp.

Ellie was soon in on the Gudgeon and the Carp soon sprung into life with long lean Commons soon on the mat one after the other.

The feeder was producing nothing so I switched Liam to a float so he could get a few Gudgeon and maybe a Roach which he did.

My Carp setups where producing the goods throughout the day fishing solid PVA 2ft from the bank with a handful of pellets every 30 minutes or so with fish to around 10lb, great fun.

I decided to try and catch one off the top just to finish the day off, and after feeding the ducks off I started feeding the Carp little and often with some dog biscuits, after about 15 minutes I had a small Common of about 6lb on the bank.

With that we packed up and left, a cracking day fishing and Bishops Green producing as always, not huge Carp but they go like a train due to the fairly shallow water.

Barbel Bashing at Ashmoor Lakes

At long last it was time for the start of a weekends fishing. First up Saturday was Ashmoor Lakes, lakes stuffed with fish of all sorts of shapes and sizes, I was just going to target all that swims as its been a while and just need a bite or two.

I was not going to delude myself, it was pretty cold so was not expecting a massive amount of action, I decided to start o the feeder, towards the car park corner on Lake 3 using a flatbed feeder and fake caster for bait. I was getting bites but nothing much so I changed over to a maggot, I had a couple of small Bream but nothing else so I moved behind Steve onto Lake 2 with instant results, first fish was a Barbel, which was the last fish I thought would be on the feed, but in the next couple of hours I had 4 Barbel only up to a pound or so but an unbelievable fight for it size.

Sadly the weather soon changed and it got very cold, all it took was a slight wind and it was enough to turn the fish right off.

After an hour or so of the freezing wind and no bites we decided to call it day, we had had a few fish between us so all was good and we left in high spirits.

The BIG ONE approaches.

After having a year out from the big one fishing show last year, this year I can't wait to return.
Some anglers say its just a jumble sale of cheap fishing tat but I really like it, the whole atmosphere is great, you get to meet angling celebrities and yes there are some stands selling some real cheap stuff but there are some great deals to be had.
This show has a lot to live up to and with VIP tickets for both days I can't wait.

Basingstoke Canal Lure Fishing....

After getting to grips with Lure fishing at a recent trip to Anglers Paradise Lure weekend it was decided to have a go on the Basingstoke Canal.
With my fishing partner in crime Steve (thepassionatepiscator.blogspot.com) we set off at a leisurely 8am and decided to start at the Great Bottom Flash in Ash Vale.

Perch fishing was the idea on this section as its known for throwing up a lunker.
Only problem was it was quite bright at times and bitterly cold, not excuses honest.
After a couple of hours chucking the soft plastic lures about we had caught loads.........of trees and branches that had fallen in.
We decided on a move, so we left and drove up to Church Crookham on the Chequers Bridge section, this time we was going to target the Pike as I had some on lures on this section before.
Using the soft rubber jig head lures we headed of to towards the lock past Poulters Bridge to then walk our way back.

Right up near the lock was where I had my first interest, a very small Pike followed and nipped the lure a couple of times but then disappeared, we continued all the way back to the car chucking in along the way but to no avail.
This was turning into a very difficult day.
Last section to fish was Odiham, as we arrived we noticed a lot of cars in the car park with boat racks on the roof, meaning only one thing, bloody canoeist, that coupled with some weird algae bloom meant a total blank for me, but the stunning scenery along the canal plus seeing a big shoal of massive Bream and a big Koi meant it was still 100 times better than being stupid at home or even worse working. 

Free Fishing on the Thames.

Today we had decided to fish the fantastic River Thames on the Kingston stretch, its a part of the Thames we have wanted to fish for a long time and decided its time to pay it a visit. But after being told by 2 different people that it will fish hard unless we get some rain did we waste our time...

We decided to leave nice and early so as to have plenty of time to search for decent swims, so I pulled up outside Steve's house at 5am still in the pitch black and we set off to Kingston.

We pulled up in the small turnout next to the start of the stretch about 6am and still dark, we went for a walk along the path looking for some good looking areas, a couple of swims down there seemed to be quite a lot of disturbance on the surface so we got some gear and started to set up, I decided to use a Barbel rod on a quiver set-up with a medium fixed spool reel loaded with 6lb line, cage feeder with a 4lb hook link to a size 14 hook baited with either maggots, worm or corn. I also had another Barbel rod same set-up but size 10 hook baited with a big worm as a sleeper rod hoping for a bonus Perch.

As we started to be able to see the River it was obvious we was going to have our work cut out as the River was low, slow and very clear.

Sadly it was becoming obvious the fish were not really playing ball, with no bites in the first few hours, but I was watching all the Bleak jumping out in front of me and could take it no more, I had a backup float rod with a centre pin on and 3lb line so decided to go for some Bleak, and I caught loads.

The Thames is a quite unique place to fish and can be hard to concentrate on the fishing with so much going on around, by midday we had had a bike rally/race behind us, probably over 2000 bikes in total, there was a small boat with a huge speaker on the front blasting out reggae music, and we still had a few hours left.

By about 5pm we decided to pack up, mainly because there was some eastern Europeans starting to fish next to us and they were so loud I couldn't handle it anymore.

On reflection the fishing was very hard, Steve had one Bream which was our target fish, I had a lot of Bleak and a few small Perch, but the place itself is so different to fish that it was enjoyable even with a lack of fish, loved it, and looking forward to returning with a bit of pace and colour in the water.

Stalking around 7 lakes

Although the weather was looking pretty shocking, very wet, it was fairly warm with a nice warm wind, so I decided it would be a great day for a couple of hours stalking at 7 lakes angling, and a great opportunity to show my son how its done.

We left for the lakes around 2pm after my wife had returned from work. It was absolutely hammering down and I was questioning my sanity but he who dares wins, hopefully.

The sun had broke and the rain had stopped whilst we was walking around the lake looking for likely spots to drop a few doggies in. Once we had done a circuit and dropped the bait we walked the lakes again to spot feeding fish, we located a few fish on lake 5 so we got some gear, just a 10ft rod, small reel with a decent quick drag and 6lb line and a size 10 hook, net, mat and bait, simple.

We crept into positions on lake 5 and I under armed a bit of crust next to the feeding fish, it only took a few moments and it was fish on and after a spirited fight the little Common of about 3lb was in the net, and although only little was a stunning fish.

Next was my sons turn, a little way along the lake there was another pod of Carp so we crept into position and my son under armed the bread onto the Carp and within moments he had one on.

And must admit ii was very proud with how he played the fish away from the snags and once on the bank how he handled the fish, was a moment.

With a fish each and the rain now pouring we left and returned home.

7 Lakes is one of the best places to take kids an learn the sport or just for a day out whilst you fish, and as an added bonus under the age of 12 fish free with a paying adult.