Canal Bream & Hybrids - A Stuck Record

Despite the fact that the swim I found once promised so much, it seems now that it is becoming something of a bore. It was discovered when searching for my first canal carp and finding not only plenty of bream and tench, but some very encouraging silver bream and roach too, and those last species were the real reason I've spent so much much time on it, of late.

Blabbermouth...

The local patch is under seige! The local anglers are up in arms! The local gossip is of someone blowing cover! The local culprit, is me!

Me & my blabbermouth...

Bound to Fail - The 'Knotless Knot' Demolished

Wrecking ball at the ready...

Bound to Fail - The 'Knotless Knot' Exposed

I've used the knotless knot only during the course of this year's fishing. Before, I 'd always tied my hair separately and then tied hook to line with a palomar knot, a knot that has never once failed me. I decided to try it out because of its convenience, it being hair and knot in one swift, neat tie up. I have banked plenty of fish with it, but have lost quite a few too, and not necessarily the biggest or strongest.

Warwickshire Avon Barbel - Knotless...

Let's not beat about the bush with pointless preamble, the first was a either a middling barbel or a good chub, the second either a very large barbel or a feral carp. Both were lost to tackle failure, but both while the clutch was slipping and under what I would term 'half-pressure.' The culprit in both cases was the knot. A tell-tale wisp of compressed and curled mono told how the stresses of the fight, or indeed the stresses of previous 'fights' with weeds and snags, had cumulatively weakened the joint between hook and line, resulting in its inevitable failure.

Monster Pike!

Well it was for this bunch of lads, and their mum and dad..!

River Roach & Barbel - Airless

Harvington's Anchor Meadow looked good on arrival. Car windows are deceptive lenses though, and closer inspection of the water revealed a river in poor condition. The water ran low, but well-coloured with a dirty grey/brown tone I just didn't like. Water clarity was a foot at most, where I'd have far preferred gin clear and to see the bottom in hot weather, and when a few grains of corn thrown into the water sank out of sight in moments, it did not bode well...

Canal Bream & Tench - Brief Minutes of Lengthy Hours

Approaching good weather upsets fish. They'll respond to changes we might see as positive, negatively. I'm sure of it. The weather we've complained of over the last few months has been settled in its unsettledness, but the fish loved it. Lots of water about makes fish feel good, because water is all they know of the entire universe. I can't fathom what life must be like for a fish...

Imagine if we were confronted with a progressive lack of air whenever the weather turned hot and dry, and knew that if that weather continued and continued, there'd come a time when all the air, would be gone...

Canal Tench - Solid Gold!

What's the last fish you'd recommend a beginner hook? And, what's the first?

Judy's son, Ben, home for a few days in his university summer break, went out fishing with his mates last week. I loaned them a pair of my best rods and reels to share, not having any I'd call 'disposable,' and out they went to a local pool to catch rudd. One of the trio had his own gear and knew something about fishing, but Ben and the other lad had no clue how to go about it.

River Roach & Silver Bream - God's Own Billiard Table

An exploratory mission this. To Oxford, and Old Father Thames. Judy went shopping, but I of course forwent the attractions of Bicester Shopping Village, and with a heavy heart denied the spurious pleasures of burning cash at the Altar of Mammon, went off light-stepping to a spot of fishing with half a loaf of Warburtons Blue instead.