Return of the river king !

My apologies for not having been on for such a long time. a dodgy Internet connection and lack of time have kept me away, but now I'm back with even more determination.the last couple of months have seen me hang up the carp rods, mainly due to lack of time. i have however been on the Taylor boys yearly migration up to grant town on spey to fish on the spey.I can happily say that all three of us landed a salmon and sea trout. My salmon was my first ever and weighed in at a respectable 10lb, I'm well chuffed as the picture shows.

my dad and Taffy also managed salmon of around 8lb each, what a result!

The spey is a magical river like no other, it has the ability to lure anglers back every year from all over the UK, its a big journey but its well worth it!

There arn't many place where you can take pictures like this at 4am in the morning.

I know that the river has shared a 25 year romance with my dad (so far) and has got me hooked, i cant wait until next June now when the 3 Taylor boys accompanied by Matt Eastham (Author of Northcountryangler) will again migrate up through the caingorms to a little caravan by the legendary LONG POOL.

Away from the game fishing i managed a couple of hours wandering our local canal with Dave in search of a few jack pike, with plenty of action this was the biggest of the day!

what a whopper!

I arrived back in Manchester at 4am Saturday morning from a week long holiday in Bulgaria with my girlfriend, who still can't get her head around this fishing lark but puts up with me because shes amazing.

three hours sleep and i was away, the passion for carp had been relighted whilst away, i don't know why but it was and that's all that matters.arriving on stannings after a match i wasn't to keen but it payed off because i landed 3 fish and lost another 2 plus i got a cracking tench for my efforts. this fully scaled mirror was my nicest fish at around 10lb.

thanks Carl for that pic its a cracker.

so what now? well I'm still working so i have to balance my free time out accordingly, i intend on taking Dave up to cav dock in a couple of weeks in search of its hidden treasures.But for now I'm quite content in catching any fish be it carp, salmon, pike and even the chub and dace on my local little river lostock. I'm just trying to enjoy the time i get on the bank as much as possible.

Finally i would just like to say well done to sarge (a shruggs regular) who recently banked Benson from bluebell at over 56lb well done mate that's massive.

tight lines

nige

carp on the fly rod !

No I'm not barmy(that's debatable) yesterday i did indeed have a quick few hours on shruggs. after recent success on bread i had been working on a new method of presenting it and i can quite happily say that on the first test session it proved very effective :)

a 12lb leader (12 feet) attached my pollyfuse line and a nice through action rod were my tools for today, paired with a small home made sight bob, white so's it didn't spook any wary carp about six inch above a size 8 hook.

First cast !

on arrival i found a group of fish in the pads under the big oak tree, i set up further up the bank and practically crawled into position. i led there glaring down through the surface film at my quarry, a lovely plated mirror i estimated to be about 12lb, what a great start that would be i thought as i flicked out my simple rig baited with a piece of bread flake. the fish stayed motionless as my bait landed about 3foot up wind from it, i could see its dark empty eye checking for the cause of the disturbance but it didn't seem to notice me only feet away led flat on my chest, heart pounding as is always the case in these situations. I inched my bait back so slowly that it looked natural to the fish as it sifted through the surface debris , it sat and watched my bait for a couple of seconds and engulfed it in one swift movement. Striking the pads erupted like a volcano, water exploded form the surface as fish scattered in all directions. I was attached to an express train within seconds it had made its way through the pads, i was just a spectator holding on for the ride. I could see the backing on the reel and was getting worried, i hate playing a fish on the backing, a fear of the knot slipping.so i decided to try and stop the fish, and stop it i did ! with my hand firmly gripping the reel i started to fight back, rod butt dug harshly into my gut and rod hooped over tip to butt. The fish was soon to be mine though and weighed in at a respectable 11lb.

my prize for good angling :)

i wandered round the other side of the pond where i once again found a group of fish sifting flys off the surface from the lilly pads, a fish named ruby ( a linear mirror) who was last banked at 19lb 80z appeared out of nowhere and engulfed my bait. i struck and found myself climbing the yew tree behind me to retrieve my tackle, big fish are my downfall i think I'm jinxed ! but my confidence was high and very next cast i hooked a nice common which weighed in about 9lb after another enthralling battle.

i still had fish in the pads infront of me and it wasn't 20 seconds after until i was into another fish.

the bread had no sooner hit the water than a mirror launched at it from about 6 feet away ! IT WANTED IT THAT'S ALL I CAN SAY :) and weighed in at 9lb 120z .

three fish in as many hours at this time of year is quite good going on this water so i was well chuffed. i think i may go and have a dabble tomorrow after work see if i can get into a lunker who knows?

tight lines

nige

Using One's loaf !

After a mid week evening session on shrugs which resulted in a small common and a 'gud un' lost i was quietly confident that i could winkle at least a fish out yesterday. Only arriving at 11am meant that my best chances were already dead, this is a early morning venue. I was pleasantly surprised to find the pool free of anglers on arrival as confidence oozed through my veins i set up in a peg amongst some lily pads to find straight away that half of the stock of carp were sat in them in front of me. The fish in here are very fond of bread however the ban imposed on floating baits early last year meant that catching them was impossible. Or was it ? After several texts begging my aunt to run me some bread up i was ready to try my luck. I moulded rig putty around the hook to weight it then added a good piece of bread this produced the desired effect of a piece of bread which i could free line that would flutter down through the water in front of the carp.

My first cast was unbelievably poor due to the excitement and ended up in the tree above me !
second time round though it was perfect, i watch the bait land 3feet in front of a fish which obliged by picking the bait up after about five seconds. I was in ! A short scrap pursued as the fish wasn't at all keen on being dragged from its watery home and in the net i could see that yet again it was one of the lakes small fish, a fully scaled mirror of about 5lb. Not huge but not a bad start.

a good start .

while waiting to see another target fish move back into the pads (they had spooked) my rod on an alarm screamed off . The fish boiled at the surface and set off, on striking i swore, i thought i was stuck solid, dumped again by one of the decent fish. With my 3lb blank arched over i managed to get the fish moving and once out of the roots that battle really began. Every time i thought i had the upper hand my clutch screamed again, this fish hadn't been caught in a while, it wasn't having any of it. this carried on for a good ten minutes before i finally managed to slip my net under her. This fish was awesome all 14lb 12oz of it, my first double of the year and probably one of the best fights ill get all year.

This fish possessed a tail like a paddle. no wonder it fought so well.

not long after fish were present in the pads again and another piece of bread was being flicked into them, again another almost instant response resulted in another small mirror which ended an afternoon off nicely, i wouldn't complain if i was to catch 3 fish every time i went.

my apologies for the poor photograpghy but its quite difficult using the self timer in the rain :(

As i write this I'm preparing for an evening session On banister farm with my dad after tea where hopefully carp will be taking off the surface :) i shall update in the morning with a net full of fish i hope .

tight lines

nige

Another short session.

Another short session was on the cards yesterday afternoon, i finished work at 2pm, I had my rod licences and the weather was reasonable. Carl (my cousin) has been asking me to take him carp fishing as he would like to start but doesn't really know how to kick start his chances. So after a trip to carters with a list of terminal tackle he would need he joined me in the afternoons sunshine (and rain.)

Having not caught caught many carp and his biggest only being about 6LB i thought a trip to shruggs would be a good choice.

Within ten minutes of arriving two other anglers had had a couple of fish so my confidence was sky high, sure enough it wasn't long before my right hand rod was bent over into a fish which Carl finally managed to net (third time). i was looking down at a pretty little mirror of about 8lb.

not a monster but it gave a good scrap !

At 6pm Carl's right hand rod gave a single toner and i thought we had managed to get him amongst the carp at last but it turned out to be a tinca or which Carl was somewhat disappointed despite it being a good tench.

This was unfortunately the only action his rods would see on this session but there's always next time mate :)

my right hander produced a bream and when recast produced a screaming take which resulted in me doing duel with a decent carp in his territory ( the Lilly pads) needless to say that after a good five minutes of me gaining line and the fish taking it back he won. The hook pull ensured that my lead and rig hurtled towards me at a hundred miles an hour. i was gutted because it was a good fish but that's fishing and we cant win them all. Can we ?

i intend to return on Sunday afternoon after work to try and bank my first double of the year, although i have had a fish every time I've fished shruggs this year i haven't had anything remotely decent but with a cold spell supposedly on its way maybe things will slow up and the decent fish might have a chance to get at the baits before the four pounders. you never quite know when a big fish is going to grace your net at shruggs which is one of its attractions.

tight lines

nige

My Blue Surprise !

Isit here tonight after just arriving home from an afternoon session on shruggs. i can happily confirm that i didn't blank but also that the fish i caught were on my home made squid and oct pop ups, which gives a carp fisherman an intense satisfaction.
the rod that had my own bait on caught all three fish while the other two remained silent has given me a huge confidence boost.

my first fish of the afternoon came about teatime in the form of a small (but welcome) 4lb common, i must admit that i was under the impression that it was a tench until i had it in the net.

after re baiting and flicking back out to a submerged Lilly bed it was half an hour later just as darkness was beginning to creep in all around me that the same rod tore off again, this take was much more carpish apposed to the tip bouncing take i received from the first fish. The bait runner clicked in and i was in ! This fish had other ideas and made several bids for freedom, firstly burying itself in the pad roots then wrapping itself around the other line at the net. Again this was a small carp of about 7lb but again was a welcome visitor to the bank.

I'm not sure about the black eye ?

I cast back out and within five minutes my alarm was making beautiful noises again, odd bleeps every thirty seconds usually indicates a bream but when i struck this one it would have been impossible to predict what had taken my bait. it was only once on the bank and under torch light that i actually realised what i had caught. It was a big BLUE surprise ! A blue orfe well over a pound couldn't resist my squid and octopus, my dad guessed what id been using on arrival home, suggesting that i stunk of them.

well it was a great end to an enjoyable evening session so i packed up and trudged home.

tight lines

nige

my possesd mind

I'm not actually fishing at the moment I'm sat at the PC, nor have I been fishing earlier in the day due to work. As I sit here my mind wanders back to the side of one of my favourite waters. It was there that I sat perched in a tree with Dave watching a group of about a dozen fish which were all good fish of which I'm sure two were at least low twenties. They were no more than three feet away yet we managed to stay perfectly motionless. Our heart beats could probably be heard from the other side of the lake as we sat there for nearly an hour admiring the sheer beauty of the creatures. There were commons, mirrors and a couple of koi around the 15lb mark (they were nice fish). I am desperate at this moment in time to get out on to my favourite water in fact I'm desperate to get out onto any water. It seems that I haven’t had time free recently to go fishing mainly due to the Mrs and work, my mind is still possessed by carp! There’s just something about them which triggers a reaction in my brain. They are so baffling sometimes they can be just feet away yet so silent and elusive that you don’t see them but on other occasions a blind man couldn't’t miss them! I often wonder if they deliberately make me aware of there presence just to show me that they are there, uncatchable except on the occasions when they let their guard down.
When a fish does feed on bait at close quarters I wonder if they can feel the tension and suspense in the air as it draws ever nearer to the hook bait. So often this is the only bait the fish will leave untouched after dinning for free on my loose feed. This leads me to despair but also gives me motivation to carry on trying to catch my quarry. I know Ive already posted today but i found myself writing this in my journal so i thought it may as well go on here too.

tight lines
nige

A Wintery Day At Shruggs.

After arriving slightly late (2 Hours) due to oversleeping i found that Dave was tackling up beside me before i had set up. i managed as usual to jinx the weather, setting up it was quite warm and sunny but by 11am the snow and sleet showers were becoming more frequent.My bait for the day was my 12mm home made boilies, this was a session to try them, Dave went with pop ups a foot off the deck on chod rigs.

2 of my baits on a size 6 mugga.

We sat all day watching the fish sunbathing out over the sunken lilly bed in the middle of the pond as is the norm at this time of year. We waited all day in the freezing cold and it was cold the northerly wind made sure of that. Dave got the first action of the afternoon at about 4pm which resulted in a small common of around 5 lb which fell to his pop up approach.

He also caught the next carp another pretty little common this time about 9lb, again this fell to the zig style pop up. At this point my home made bottoms had only managed a couple of the resident bream (gutted). So i decided to put a pop up on my right hand rod, 20mins later away it went again a pretty little common.

Dave with his bigger common. Me and my last minute screamer.

Please excuse the blank expression on my face, by that time i couldn't feel my fingers or toes.

I think my bream bashing boilies will catch carp, it just seemed that the fish preferred the single, visual pop up on the day. it may be that its still a bit early and cold to start feeding a food source into the lake but i shall try again if we get i nice patch of weather might try and sneak a short session in between shifts at work, preferably an evening if i can. At this time of year when the Lillys are still submerged it is possible to predict when the fish will come , by this i can maximize my short sessions by fishing while the fish are having it. A take is practically guaranteed between 4pm and dark. When the pigeons fly in to roost in the trees it is time to get everything ready for a fish, as proved yesterday as all 3 carp came between 4pm and dark.

I learnt a valuable lesson, whist it would of been nice to catch a carp on my own bait there is always next time, fish on the tactics that are going to catch the fish.

tight lines

nige

Taffy the trout master !

I haven't been fishing yet but i cant wait to get my rods out first thing Monday morning. My girlfriend wont be happy as it will mean i wont be stopping at hers on Sunday night :( but a man must do what he must do .

i have just been uploading pictures off my camera onto the computer and found a rather good picture of an enormous rainbow trout, with its captor my dad (the trout master)i thought it deserved to be on here for all to see. It was caught on an orange fritz lure just before Christmas from bank house fly fishery ( a truly magical place).

unfortunately the picture doesn't do this fish justice ! We estimated that it was somewhere in the region of 18lb which is the biggest trout I've ever seen on the bank . (let me know what you think ). It was one of about 20 fish my dad land that day ( as usual i was thrashed ! ) this is always the case when fly fishing with my dad as he is quite the trout magnet. In modesty he will say that its just luck and he can hold his own but in reality its unusual for him not to be top rod on the water where ever we go !

anyway back to Monday. I'm going to my local runs water ( shruggs wood ) to test my new boilies :). with the forecast snow i think a fish will be a good result so we shall see.

tight lines

nige

my first post !

Spring is well on its way and with it I'm sure the carp in our country's lakes are awakening from their winters slumber. With this in mind this past week I have set about my bait preparations for this years campaign. My hemp is maturing nicely in two ten litre buckets, as is my maize and my tiger nuts are fermenting as I write. Yesterday i had a play around with a batch of boilies in the form of the club mix and koi rearer squid and octopus. They are hung up drying now and seem to be just what i want :)

But will they catch fish ? Wells there is only one way to find out i guess. I will test them on my local runs water Shruggs Wood first to see if the carp in there are fond of them. The fish in there will eat practically anything, iv caught them on haribo sweets before now just to prove a point. I put this down to the high stocking levels of this small park pond (about 100 carp) considering that the pond is less than an acre in size i consider this to be high. Along side all the other species in the pond. The carp in here are by no means monsters but average around the 10lb mark with a few fish exceeding 20lb. I have spent many a day (and night) on this water, its was the first water that i started carp fishing on and provided me with some good sport although in my first year i only managed one fish at 11lb all year ! Now i can usually get a couple of fish a session, although I'm still yet to catch either of the big fish in there but that's fishing i guess.


An average shruggs common .

I intend to fish a water at Withnel heavily this year, this is a pretty little water and at couple of acres in size its not too daunting. This is a water with a good stocking of carp which average mid teens and above with a good number of fish over 20lb so i am told. I fished this water in November for three nights, i managed two fish of 14lb 8oz and 15lb 14oz and lost two others. This was a good result as it was the fist time i had seen the water .



An old warrior from withnel very welcome at nearly 16lb.

The other water which I'm baiting regularly this year is farrington lodges. This is a more difficult water and is requiring a different approach. As pellets are banned and this water is sparsely stocked I've been baiting with hemp and tigers although ill be putting in some boilies in the warmer months. I fished this water a few single night sessions last year and managed to bank a wonderful common of around 10lb aswel as a cracking tench and a few bream one night. So my hopes are high for this season, you never know i might be writing about a monster that Ive landed this time next year or maybe even sooner, who knows ?


tight lines
nige