Wednesday 4 January 2012

My 2011 in Pictures







Piking on the Coventry Canal with a sixteen
 pounder the best of the lot...



Dace Fishing at the Saxon Mill with Keith Jobling



Cold Winds at Wasperton. Barbour ensemble of 
trapper hat, tartan scarf and fingerless mitts
fend it off. The waxed jacket is cheap shite though!

What a fishing fashionista I am...

... or tart if you'd prefer! 



Molly Investigates. It's her job in life...



Coombe Abbey after a big Zander. Zip.





Danny Everitt & myself after roach at Lucy's Mill 
 with my best fish at one-pound six-ounces 



Oxford Canal roach blanks...





With Lee Fletcher at Lucy's Mill. Easily my best 
ever bag of roach from any river with a one-pound-six 
fish amongst them and most around the pound mark. 

A nice stamp that can only improve with time ...




My first double figure barbel from Lucy's Mill







Old Bury Hill with Martin Roberts - lots of pike 
caught around the lake but later, my first ever 
double-figure zed. It was the only zander caught 
that day so not such an easy lake as you might think.

Do nice sarnies though!








Fishing the Pit Pool after perch and failing 
miserably but in compensation I did meet this 
solitary pet heifer with its mate, a great dane, 
who were both right pain in the arse...




My perch woes continue at Weston Lawns whilst 
Keith's run of success is only just beginning...



The first hint of Summer...



A specimen 'bream' from Lucy's Mill...
(April 1st)


The second great dane of the year, and new PB!
Just one member of the Weston Lawns menagerie



Bullocks to the Ashy Canal...




First silver bream of the Spring and a 15 lb
mixed bag of fish from the Coventry Canal







After crucians at Marsh Farm with Keith and 
Phil Smith, but I'm only catching tench...





Mike Duddy gets his first ever silver bream and 
next day I catch my PB for the species at 1lb 5oz

One of my hardest earned fish








Another session at Marsh Farm where I break 
two PB's in one morning for both crucians and 
tench, my crucian record falling three times in 
succession and topping out at two-pounds-five



After a big bream at a Kingsbury pit



Moulting swans on Wyken Slough




A tench session with Martin. 

Never have I seen such inviting lips... 

... on a fish! 






Lee and myself after silver bream on the Cov, 
but failing to find them though Lee gets a nice 
roach and I get two tench instead



British record silver bream, Keith's magnificent 
canal two pounder and my PB for comparison.
 What will this Spring bring? Can't wait to find out...



A big eel spotted at Kingsbury...





Discovering the joys and frustrations of fishing for 
roach with bread punch on the Coventry Canal




Two PB bream for still water and river but neither 
quite as big as those I'd hoped for...








Steve Philips & myself after a record perch at 
Hanningfield but instead having much fun 
with the crazy trout...

I want to go back this Spring to try again!



One of the Cov Canal's lovely roach






Steve and myself after a record zander on the Severn




Martin and I fishing floaters for carp at Monks Pool




Judy with a one pound roach, and a freak bream 
from the Cov Canal








Bloggers meet at Harvington. The company was 
great but the fishing was slow in the low, low river. 
Dave Fowler and Lee up to their knees on the weir, 
Joe Chatterton makes an appearance too.

My snazzy blue titfer for summer gets its debut airing in public. 
The 'Man from Del Monte' is what Andy Lewis quipped!




The local one-legged dog...







After bass at St Osyth. Managed just an hour's fishing 
before the BBQ called me away. Nice day out, even though
the fishing was really a side show. The bass get a lot bigger 
than this one here, which is still larger than those o
supermarket slabs and a good size to eat, but it was
 returned. I really miss my bass fishing...




Keith with his rod bent double at Weston Lawns 

Not a perch unfortunately...







Roach fishing at Lucy's Mill, and the rewards...





A day out in a boat with Lee at Blenhiem Palace 
ultimately results in these fine specimens...




My first ever sturgeon and an extraordinarily fat
 little perch doing an impression of a five pounder



A nice one pound plus roach from the Cov



Another member of The Lawns menagerie who 
thieved most of my prawns...




An osprey and Steve fishing at Seeswood Pool







Another extraordinary day's fishing on the Itchen 
though I failed in my mission to find a big roach

My hairstyle is most becoming. Becoming of a tramp on meths, that is!






More fishing trips to Stratford




An unsuccessful mission to catch a canal carp



Lee bends into his first ever double-figure zander
at a Midlands pit...




I love Stratford roach fishing, even when it's rubbish





Still failing to catch a canal carp but a stinky dead 
eel of an encouraging size...



The blankest of all royal blanks on the Severn

Nice trousers though...





Birthday bash. A blogger's roving zander 
match on the canals around Hawkesbury. 
Pressies courtesy of Danny and his missus

Felt fedora, headlamp, barbour scarf, bank-found 
Korum fleece under 'cheap shite' wax jacket, bank- 
found vest accessorised with dangling forceps and 
zip-top clear plastic clutch bag containing a bottle of 
moonshine pernod...

Oo la la!




Grappling for who knows what on the Cov?




This winter there's a distinct lack of fish...



Molly, before she freaked out at the Saxon Mill 
when the 'ghost' of the woods paid us a visit...

So...

8 overall PB's, 16 in total across the canal, stillwater and river categories, and a second place only to Keith in the bloggers challenge, which is a good year by my middling standards though fish were hard to find from autumn onwards, but heh! 

That's fishing...

A happy New year to you all, and may you catch the fishes of your dreams!







11 comments:

  1. Excellent photo thread, my friend. I am a huge fan of your blog and will probably end up viewing this post many times. Well done indeed. Best to you and yours in 2012.

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  2. A lovely variety of pictures and memories from 2011 Jeff, thanks for sharing them.

    All the best in 2012 to you and your family.

    Kind Regards
    Mark

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  3. A splendid selection Jeff. My favourite has to be the young lady in the shorts though hahaha!!!

    I hope the challenge continues old chap.


    Baz

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  4. Steve in Colorado6 January 2012 at 02:34

    Well done indeed.
    And yes, we're all fishing tarts!
    Only we're the ones who pay to often have a good time but occasionally are simply f@cked...
    ;)

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  5. Glad you liked them. Whittled down from thousands they were. It was good to get most of my fishing pals in there somewhere and it was those trips with friends that stick in the memory the most. It was a great year for that!

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  6. Happy new year Jeff.
    Very pleased to see "the legs of Lucy's Mill" made it into this retrospective!
    Looking forward to the book.
    Best wishes,
    Roy.

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  7. Good thread though I did wonder about that third shot reference the dace - with the bend in the rod has a pike taken it or did you have a dace on as bait? :)

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  8. Strangely enough, Phil, no pike has ever made itself known there despite all the hundreds of dace brought to bank. Downstream is a different matter with pike slashing at the flapping fish regularly.

    The bend does look extreme but it's just an effect of the wide angle and the rod bent against the feeder, I think? Unless it was that monster dace that slipped the hook!

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  9. Typically excellent, don't go wasting all your best shots in the blog!!

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  10. Now, I realise what you've being doing all year & why the landing lighting still isn't fixed...you're living on borrowed time my sweet, this book had better be a success...I want a holiday :-)

    ...as for the girl in the shorts!! Make you're own way home next time, matey! You old perv...

    J x

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  11. F-A-B-U-L-O-U-S!

    You're the best blogger in my angling blog list (and getting better: seriously, you're good at this stuff so stick with the book...the L'Oreal strapline applies here).

    Extra kudos for Molly being super cute.

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