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Dan's angling diary 2011 fishing sessions

Winter Skimmers at Wood Lane Fishery's
After not fishing for a few weeks due to the cold weather and frozen lakes, we decided to have a session at Wood Lane fishery. I fished the match lake as I enjoy fishing for the skimmers. I Decided to fish the peg nearest the van as we had heavy rain predicted for most of the day.
 The main rig I used was double 4 original slip elastic, 0.12 mainline to a 4x18 carpa chimp, I used an olivette and 2 no.11 droppers to pimple the float. The hook length was 0.10 and hook was a size 18 Drennan Silver fish maggot.
The groundbait was Sonubaits supercrush F1 and Brown Crum mixed 50/50. I loaded this with casters as that was my hook bait for the day. I like this mix for winter skimmers because its isn't to filling so it tends to keep the fish in your swim for longer. I started off by cupping in 3 balls at 11.5m and went straight over with single caster. It took about 30 minutes to get my first fish but after that I was catching steadily. The fish I was catching were roach averaging 3-6oz, a really good stamp of roach to be catching in these freezing cold conditions. It wasn't long before I hooked into a good fish, when I hooked it I was almost certain it was a big skimmer, but as it got nearer to the net the fish began to fight much harder. It wasn't long before I had it in the net, a lovely 1lb 3oz roach! I was over the moon with that fish. I went out again only to hook into a similar sized fish, this was another roach.....1lb 2oz this time. I had never caught such quality roach out of this lake before so It was a really nice surprise. Unfortunately after these fish it went a bit quiet, but after topping up with 1 ball off the mix, I was catching roach again along with the odd hand sized skimmer. I continued catching these for a while until a few bigger skimmers decided to turn up. These were lovely fish ranging from 8oz to over 1lb. It was really good fun on fairly light pole tackle.

Throughout the session we were steadily catching mixed sized roach, perch and skimmers all on single and double caster. I also managed to catch another big roach which went 1lb 1oz. I decided to try fishing over depth by a couple of inches and after a few skimmers I hooked into a better fish. I took it very careful as at the start I though it was a foul hooked skimmer but as it got nearer to the net I saw it was a carp. The Preston Original Slip 4 doubled up dealt with the smaller roach and skimmers but also was perfect for this carp. After a couple of minutes the fish was landed. It was a lovely little common carp probably nearly 2lb. After this the fish seemed to be more confident and I was catching a 3-5oz skimmer every drop. Unfortunately we started to get miserable weather, heavy rain and strong winds which were making pole fishing hard. We decided to pack up and call it a day.

It was an awesome session, we probably had 20lb of silvers and that 1 small carp, I will definitely be back here soon.
A winter session full of surprises
After fishing a silver fish match at my local club lake, I decided to go back and target a few roach. The match was won with 11lb, which was made up of 3 bream and a couple of small fish. Nobody could work out a way of holding the fish and we all found it hard to put a good weight of silvers together.
When we arrived at the lake, we immediately noticed that the conditions were much worse than on the match day, it was 7ºc and very foggy. The lake was low and clear due to the lack of rain we are having at the moment, it had probably lost 1ft of water. I was still expecting to catch a couple of fish.
I picked a peg that I had never fished before, I didn't want to practice on one of the best pegs as it wouldn't be a challenge and solve any problems. The only bait I brought were pinkies and casters, half a pint of each, I like these bait for winter fishing because I find switching between the two will help you catch a better stamp of fish. The groundbait was 50% neat brown crumb, 25% crushed hemp and 25% Sonubaits tiger fish. Sonubaits Tiger fish groundbait is a fishmeal based mix, fishmeal is good for bigger fish such as carp, bream and tench but is what I mainly use in the summer, it tends to fill the fish up to easily which is why I only add a small amount to my winter groundbait mix. I added a handful of pinkie and caster to the mix after I sieved it. The rigs were really simple to, 0.10 mainline to a 0.08 hook length with a 20 gamma black. The elastic was a no.4 and float was a 4x16 Colmic Jolly which I have cut down to make the float fish quicker when fishing on the bottom. I used a 0.4g olivette...two no.12 stotz and 1 no.13 which were my droppers. This shotted the float right down so the fish didn't feel any resistance when they take the bait.

I started of the session by cupping in 3 balls of the groundbait in my swim at 11.5m and then went straight over the top of it with a single pinkie. Its took about 20 minutes until I got my first bite. That was a small roach of about 1oz, the sort of fish you are after on cold days. After that I continued to steadily catch the odd roach every 5 minutes, they averaged 1-3oz but I did catch the odd tiny perch. We had been fishing about an hour now and had caught about 30 roach, I had a feeling there may be a better fish down so decided to try a caster on the hook. Its took a bit longer to get a bite but in the end I was rewarded with a lovely 6oz roach, the 1st net fish of the session. I tried that again but unfortunately couldn't repeat what happened before. I went back on the pinkie and was shocked at the lack of activity in the swim.....I couldn't get a bite for 15 minutes! I again switched baits to see if they wanted a changed. It wasn't long until the float dipped under and I was into a unexpected big fish. I new it was a Bream as soon as I hooked it because it was a very slow sluggish fight. I slowly shipped back and slipped the net under a 3lb+ bream. What an excellent surprise!

Instead of topping up the swim by putting another ball of groundbait down, I went straight over with a caster to see if there was another bonus fish down there. It took 5 minutes for another bite but it was another good fish. When I hooked it I though it may be another bream, but when it realised it was hooked, the 4 elastic poured out of my pole tip and I was certain I had a carp on. The elastic was nearly bottomed out so I had no choice but to hold on and wait until the fish tired before I could get it nearer to the net. It took about 5 minutes before I had any control of the fish, I had 7m of pole in the air to try and net the fish. I charged left and right trying to find the nearest snag possible. After a 10 minute battle, the fish finally popped his head up and I luckily scooped him up 1st time. It was a lovely common carp of about 3lbs.
After that the swim was dead quite, with only 1 more roach in 15 minutes. I cupped in 2 more balls of groundbait and then fished a single pinkie over the top to try steal a few smaller fish whilst the bonus fish get confident again. I managed to pick the odd roach out for about 30 minutes until another bonus bream pushing 4lb turned up. I really didn't expect to catch big fish in this cold weather especially at this lake!

I hooked another caster and lowered it into the swim, and would you believe it.....a big fish grabbed it instantly! This was a strange fight, it was fighting harder than the bream but not as powerful as the carp, I really was unsure on what I had. I got down to my top kit and carefully played it letting the soft elastic do its work, it wasn't long until a massive crucian popped up and was scooped in the net. This really was an awesome fish and possibly a new personal best. I got the scales out and dad read out the weight.....2lb 8oz! My new personal best crucian carp by 1oz. I was over the moon. We took a few photos then returned it back.
After that it was very hard, even topping up didn't seem to do anything. Its took about 30 minutes for another bite and this was another elastic stretcher. The elastic ripped out and the fish was desperately trying to snag me up, I added a bit more pressure and saw the olivette come up, I gave it a lucky scoop and luckily got him! This was another carp which was a bit smaller than the previous one.

Unfortunately the cold weather beat us today and we decided to pack up and call it a day. I really enjoyed the session...I managed 50 fish, 45 roach, 2 bream, 2 carp and that lovely 2lb 8oz crucian. We probably had about 20lb of fish!

To watch a video on this fantastic session, click the following link.......Catching big fish on the pole-Winter fishing at it's best.

Browning Youth Masters final
After qualifying for the browning youth masters a few weeks ago it was now time for the final which was held again at Tunnel Barn Farm.
After a long drive we arrived and met up with my mates Connor, Mitch, Morg and James who had also qualified. We had a walk round the lakes and had some fishing based banters all being careful about giving our plans away.
We made our way over to the tackle shop for the draw. I picked out New Pool peg 23 which was in an area which hadn't been fishing well recently, it helped that I didn't know anything about the venue because if I had drawn a bad peg I would be no wiser and still be confident with my game plan. We drove the van more or less next to the peg and carried all the gear up the steps, the peg looked nice as I could fish it exactly how I hoped....Method feeder across, pole short and down the edge.

Down the edge was my main attack as I knew the bigger fish would be down there and hopefully respond to a heavy feed. The baits I brought were 2 pints of dead maggot, 1 pint of caster, 1 tin of corn, 2kg of groundbait and 1mm and 4mm fishery pellet. The groundbait I used was Sonubaits Tiger fish and Sensas IM5 natural mixed 50/50. I mixed up all 2 bags of this groundbait as I was going to keep potting it down the edge constantly and try get them competing.

The whistle blew and we were off, I potted in 2 balls of groundbait and a pot of dead maggot down the edge at 5m and half a pot of pellet and dead maggot across and short.
Then I decided to chuck out the method feeder tight to the far side. In the 1st 30 minutes I had 3 F1's and was really struggling so decided to go short. It was really hard work I only had a further 2 fish! I had no choice but to now go 14.5m across on the pole with double caster and feeding caster over the top. The float was flying under but they were only 6oz F1's! This was hard work fishing 14.5m for these small fish. I new I wasn't going to come anywhere if my match carried on like this.... everyone around me had caught more than me, I didn't worry as I new I would catch fishing in the margin in the last hour.
We were now 3 and a half hours into the 5 hour match and I had only 10 fish!, by this point in the match I probably had fed more than 1kg of groundbait and a pint dead maggot down the side. Out of no were I saw a tail come up over the feed. I had no choice but to hook at piece of corn and go down there. It wasn't long until my double 6 elastic ripped out and I had a 2lb F1 in the bag. I went down there again just to make sure there wasn't another down there, I couldn't believe it! I was in again, I was fishing in 10 inches of water and didn't even see any signs of fish!

I continued to put good sized F1s in my net until something much better came along. The fish shoots out of my swim and rockets up the lake, I slowly shipped back whilst keeping the pole tip under the water. I managed to get to the top kit and stripped some elastic out of the pulla bung, after that it was game over for the fish and I scooped him up in the net, a cracking 6 or 7lb mirror carp!
I managed another two 4lb mirror carp and a few more F1s before the final whistle was blown. I had 29 fish (3 mirror carp and 26 f1s) in total with 19 of them in the last hour and a half on corn down the side. I had used all 2kg of groundbait and both pints of dead maggot! The fishing was mental at the end and I really enjoyed my self.

I couldn't believe I had came from being bottom in my lake to possibly winning it! It was now the nail biting wait for the scales and to see how the other lake had fished.
I packed all the tackle away and then saw a familiar face walking along the lake....Bob Nudd! I shook his hand and then had a chat about how it had fished. He reckoned I had done enough to possibly win the lake! The scales came shortly after that and I had weighed 57lb. I was chuffed to bits with that as I don't very often get to go to a lake were I can catch that sort of weight of fish.
It wasn't long until everyone on both lakes were weighed in....I couldn't believe it! I had won my lake and came 2nd overall missing out on 1st place by 5lb! I was over the moon!

I had my picture taken with Bob and he handed over my prize which was a browning goody bag, a rod, reel and luggage carryall! This was a brilliant day and it was nice to meet up with my mates that I don't get to see very often.

I would like to thank Nick Worrell at Browning for organising this event, the final was very well run, and the strict rules about no parental help was a breath of fresh air, hopefully all junior events will be run this way in the future ....Well done Browning and thanks to all at Tunnel Ban Farm fisheries!

Short session on the Grand Union Canal
We decided to pop down to the Grand Union Canal for a practice session and practice for up coming matches. The stretch we fished was in Milton Keynes- Pattison Lane, it is a nice stretch with lots of over hanging trees. The swim I fished was about 15m wide and looked ideal for catching a net of silvers. I plumbed up a line on the far bank only to find it was 5 inches deep at 13m! I forgot about that line and decided to fish at 11m where there was a flat spot....depth wise it was about 3ft which is a perfect depth, canal fish feel really comfortable in that depth of water. I set up a rig there and also one in about 6ft of water at 5m for fishing bread. The rigs I used were the same, 2 elastic, 0.09 mainline, 4x10 Fox MP6 shotted with a bulk and 2 droppers and a 0.08 hook link with a size 22 B511. These are my favourite rigs for canal fish and will cover 90% of my canal fishing.

I started of by potting 2 balls of Super Cup and Super Match mixed 50/50 loaded with squat on the 11m line, this mix is spot on for squat fishing. I potted a small ball of liquidised bread at 5m and then went straight over it..... I had 1 small roach straight away but nothing else. I then looked on the squat line when I immediately hooked.............. A paper bag!
I put 2 more balls in as that probably disturbed the swim. I had bites immediately, small roach most under 1oz. It wasn't long until my 2 laccy was stretched all over the place, after a couple of minutes, I landed a lovely perch pushing 1lb, after that fish it was slow, I went mid depth and fired squat over the float, this helped me pick up another 5 or 6 roach but it was very slow.
I caught the odd fish over 3 hours, it was nearly time to pack up and go for some lunch so I went on the bread line and threw some red maggot and laid a maggot on the bottom, I managed one 5oz perch and lost one about 10oz. The fish kept backing off, which is unusual for the Grand Union. I put a big pot of hemp in for the last 30 minutes, straight away I got a bite. The elastic flew out and I carefully shipped back, a cracking 10oz hybrid. I was expecting to keep catching over it but it was really quiet. In fact, my next bite was 20 minutes later, I had an elastic stretcher. The last fish of the session. It was a lovely skimmer same sort of size as the hybrid.
It was a really enjoyable session, although very hard I had to try different things to constantly catch fish. In the end I had 35 fish for about 5lb.


Browning Youth Masters Qualifier at Tunnel Barn
Today was the day for the Browning Youth Masters qualifier at Tunnel Barn Farm Fishery. We arrived nice and early to get some breakfast in the cafe and also to get some canal elastic for my national in a couple of weeks time. The lake we were going to be fishing was extension pool which is mainly F1's, it looked a nice lake with lots of features to fish to.
I got all the gear out of the van and soon it was time for the draw.
We all lined up in the tackle shop and picked out our peg numbers, I got peg 15. Arriving at my peg was a shocker it had logs, leaves, rubbish and to top it all a thick layer of surface scum the island was only 6m away!, I couldn't have picked out a worse peg. I had no choice but to fish it as best as I could so I got my head down and set up all my gear.

The rigs I set up were a shallow rig set at 8 inches deep with white hydro, a rig for fishing to the island in 1ft of water again with white hydro, then I had a stepped up island rig with a heavier 11h elastic and last of all was a throw away line for fishing down the edge at 8m.

I just finished getting set-up and the whistle went for the start of the match. I potted in half a pot of 4mm pellet on the 6m line to the island and a full pot of hemp and meat down the edge. I hooked a small 6mm expander and placed it on my 6m line, straight away I was into a fish, I threw the pole back quickly before the fish snagged me in the island reeds .... a small F1 came to the net probably wondering what the hell had just happened !. I then went out there again expecting another quick bite, but that didn't quite happen. In fact, it took me 30 minutes to get my next bite and that was a tiny F1 of about 8oz.
I plugged away for another 30 minutes but it just wouldn't got under so I had no choice but to go down the edge. I hooked a piece of meat and dropped it where I had fed, the float zipped away and I hooked a half decent F1 but lost it right at the net. I managed to catch an F1 next drop in but after that it was dead!

I continued flicking pellet over the 6m line and saw a couple of swirls, I managed to catch an F1 and a small mirror carp and lose 3 in the snags. 11h was ok for getting them out the reeds but was to harsh and I pulled out of every fish so I decided to fish white hydro and risk losing a couple in the snags.
We were now 3 hours into the 5 hour match and I was way behind a lot of people, I only had 5 in the net! It was all or nothing now so I picked up the shallow rig and worked hard flicking a couple of pellet at 6m non stop to try and bring them up in the water, I managed 6 fish in an hour on this line which helped me boost my weight a bit but I had to make something happen in the crucial last hour. I went back on the deck, it was solid! I managed to get in about 10 1lb F1s and lost about 15! The peg should not have been put in, they don't put it in on a adult match so why put it in on a junior?
After taking an hour to weigh nearly everyone in, it was my turn. I pulled in my nets and weighed nearly 25lb! I was fairly pleased with my catch out of this awful peg and found out I had beaten the people either side of me!
You have to come 1st, 2nd or 3rd in your section to qualify, and guess what, I came 3rd and secured my place in the Browning Youth Masters final.
What a result!!

Junior National at Heronbrook Fisheries
After weeks of preparation, it was time for the Angling Trust Junior National at Heronbrook fisheries.
We woke up at 6:30 am and met up with our good mates John and Brad and drove to the lake to get some breakfast before people arrived. It wasn't long until the juniors were flooding in behind us, it was a massive turn out with 126 juniors in my age group fishing. Soon after breakfast our team captain Tom went to queue up to draw the pegs for the 6 juniors in our team. Out of 4 lakes, there was 1 lake I didn't want to be on, Match lake.....and guess what, I drew Match Lake peg number 2. I was gutted and had a long sulk walking to my peg. I set up all my main bits of tackle only to be told I was setting up on the wrong peg...DOH! We didn't know that we weren't using the same peg numbers as usual, we were using the new pegs allocated on the day, so I actually drew peg 42(ish).

I quickly got all my gear back onto my shuttle and walked round the other side of the lake to the correct peg. It was a better peg with an island chuck.

The island was about 25m away with a small patch of reeds with a tiny recess in them about 1ft square. I decided that was were I was going to place my method feeder, as tight as I could get in that small hole. I set up 1 method rod, 1 pole line at 13m, 1 line for fishing shallow over it, 1 at 5m in front and another for fishing down the edge. I was all ready to fish and used all my 2 hour setting up time wisely, it wasn't long until the whistle was blown.

I quick stopped a 6mm cube of meat and moulded pellets on my 15 gram Preston Method Feeder. I chucked it out right in the small gap in the reeds, about 1 inch off them. 30 seconds later the rod flew round and what looked like a 15lb common jumped out and screamed off, unfortunately, I had no control and the fish came off. I re-baited and got straight out again, it wasn't long until I landed a good 3lb mirror. After that it slowed down a little probably due to the pressure around the lake.

I was the 1st person to have a fish and continued to catch small F1's fairly constantly and 1 nice 4lb carp. Half way through the match it went dead, I saw a some bubbles on my long and short line so I had a little drop in. I started short at 5m filling my cad pot with 4mm meat, the float bombed straight away and I had a 1lb F1 straight away. I had nothing else in about 8 minutes except 1 more bite which was a foul hooked carp which I lost. I fished long constantly pinging meat, I had nothing on the bottom so I tried my shallow rig and had two 8oz chub. I was pinging meat where I was fishing the method and saw a few tails, I put my rig down and had another cast. I started catching the odd fish regularly until the last half hour of the match.


Pic above showing the small recess in the reed bed

It was very slow at the end of the match, I had 5 minutes down the edge with no luck. The method went out again and I sat on it for 10 minutes with hardly any taps.....the rod suddenly ripped round and I had hooked a good fish. I played it very carefully and after 10 minutes scooped the net under a lovely 10-11lb common carp! It seemed like I was about evens with lots of people on the lake but this fish would definitely come in handy. Time was running out, 5 minutes to go! I quick stopped another 6mm cube of meat and chucked it out. The rod flew round on the drop and with 1 minute to go I landed a nice 6lb mirror.
As soon as I cast out again, the whistle blew and I started to pack up.
The people weighing in on match lake came to my peg, I pulled in both nets and weighed in my 20 fish. The nets felt heavier than I was expecting, I estimated 12kg but the actual weight was 19kg 780grams. I was told that it was 2nd overall all so far and definitely enough to win my lake. I didn't believe that as I saw many people catching around me. It turned out they were catching small f1s and skimmers....not many people had proper carp! I couldn't believe what was happening, I was so happy about winning my section last year and it would just be incredible to win my lake again this year! Everyone finished weighing in on my lake and I was told 2nd on my lake was just over 10kg! I was lost for words, my first 2 nationals and I have picked up full points for my team. I was sure weights off about 30 or 40kg would come out on the other lakes.

We drove to Baden Hall for the final presentation, the man doing the speech read out the cadets results 1st, I think 12kg won that age group, then it was time for ours.
I won my section 1st and I went up to collect my medal for the lake win. I was chuffed to bits.
Then the other sections were read out, I couldn't hear the weights as it was very loud in the club housewere the speech took place, I thought I heard the top 6 who would qualify for the junior fish o mania in 2 weeks time. 1st he read out 6th place, I didn't hear this to well either, then he said 5th....it was my good mate Michael, suddenly I remembered, he weighed in 18kg.....which means!!! I've qualified for fish o mania!!!!! I was lost for words, my name was then read out, 3rd place! This was the best day of my life, 3rd out of 126 anglers and a lake win. I honestly couldn't believe it. I was talking about it for the whole 2 hours driving home and calling all my family. What a cracking result! I'm really looking forward to the fish o mania in 2 weeks time.......More preparation to do.

Hard lake...Cracking Result
In the morning me and my dad decided to take a trip to our local club water; Its a big hard lake but there are some awesome fish to be caught. The thing I like about this lake, its not all Carp, in fact the matches are won with big Bream and tench or large weights of silvers. When I say big Bream, I do mean BIG....all fish averaging 7lb.

The way I decided to tackle it was to fish the bomb as far as I can accurately catapult 8mm pellets. I set up the pole as back up but didn't focus on it considering the water was clear and only 2ft deep at 13m due to the hot weather and little rain. I fed half a pot full of meat and then threw out the bomb catapulting 3-4 8mm pellets around where I cast every 2 minutes.
Not a touch in the 1st cast but on the 2nd the tip flew round and I had a nice 8oz skimmer which was part of the few which were stocked earlier this year. The 3rd cast was similar but this was a hard fighting roach bream hybrid of about 14oz. The next hour and half was slow with no fish but another small skimmer.
I decided to take a look at the pole line for 30 minutes whilst still pinging over the bomb line..... unfortunately, I didn't get a bite. I sat it out on the bomb and finally 3 hours into the session I hooked a half decent fish, it swam towards me and then started shooting towards the reeds. After a short fight I landed it, a small 2lb tench.

I then potted a small amount of meat on the pole line and 20 minutes later dropped over to see what was down there. 5 minutes later, the float slammed under and I was into a big Bream. You know when you've hooked a bream when they plod around carelessly using their weight to get free. I played him carefully as I was on black hydro....prepared for a big carp or tench !. After its poor attempt to fight back, the fish was landed. A small Bream for this lake at 6lb 2oz. After a few catch shots, we returned him into the shallow margins.

I was thinking this was a fluke and was tempted to chuck out the bomb again but a small patch of bubbles persuaded me that it was worth another drop in. And that was the right thing to do, a few minutes later, another bite, and another Bream! This fought a little harder and had an attempt at pulling my pole to the right. I had a feeling it could have been a tench at first but it wasn't, the Bream used all of his power in the 1st run so came in like a sack of potatoes all the way to the net. This was a bigger fish; A big dark Bream weighing 7lb 8oz! Now we new there were a few down there, the camera was set up and we decided to film the action.

I go out and straight away and missed 2 good bites, luckily the 3rd one was hooked. I played it carefully but after 10 seconds of hooking it the fish came to the surface and the hooked pulled. It was only a small fish about 2-3lb and I think the black hydro was to powerful for that size fish. Next drop in resulted in another fish!! A proper one this time a little bigger than the 1st at 6lb 8oz.
I got straight out and instantly hooked another big fish, black hydro poured out my pole and then came flying back. I was gutted, I shipped back and saw a scale on my hook. Probably the reason why it came off. The carp screaming off must have spooked my swim as it went completely dead after that.
The light was fading and it was nearly time to pack up, it was now my last drop....I was praying for another Bream to finish off the season. The float finally bombed under and it felt like another big slab, it came straight to the surface and then started nodding around on the bottom, a bit like how Crucians fight except from 10 times the weight. I slipped the net under this slab and it was the biggest off the day at 8lb. What a cracking fish!

It was now time to pack up.... it was a fantastic session and I sussed out how I am going to fish the match here in a couple of weeks. Its shocking that you can have such a great session all on a tin off meat.

Why not watch the video by following this link.......Catching big Bream on the pole and meat.

Punch fishing on the Grand Union Canal
It's been a while since my last canal visit, I felt like I needed to go back and practice on a different stretch. The area we chose was probably the only stretch out of the biting wind commonly known as the Grand Union in Wilsden, and a part of the Aylesbury arm, bridge no4 to be exact.
On our arrival we saw that the Tring Anglers were having a working party cleaning up all the litter. It's good to see that they are really trying their hardest to make the canal as good as possible. I know from fishing the Grand Union a few times in the past that there are a fair few fish to be caught so I was expecting to catch a.....I new I wasn't going to bag up as it is still very cold and the fish aren't as active as they are in the summer.
After a 10 minute walk, I found a lovely peg which had a fairly wide foot path and a nice flat piece of grass to put my box on. My set-up was very simple, I had 2 tops set up with exactly the same rig and elastic just a slightly heavier .3 float. The float on the other rig was a .2 and on both rigs I used a Sackup DB Aqua Wire 3 which is a float which has been designed by me especially for canal fishing. I had a no.2 elastic set nice and soft, 0.10 mainline, 0.08 hook length and a 22 gamma green hook. The punches I used were 2.5mm and 4mm Drennan Brass Head punch.



I kick started the session by feeding a golf ball sized nugget of liquidised bread and then shipped out to 5m with a 2.5mm bread pellet on the hook. It took 15 minutes for the first bite which was a small Gudgeon. After that I had 7 more Gudgeon until I hooked my first bonus fish, a 3oz skimmer. Then after that I had a 4oz roach....I was certain we were in for a great session.
The next drop in resulted in a very nice Gudgeon....but the next was something much better. My 2 elastic flew out the pole, I slowly shipped back onto my top kit and saw a lovely big skimmer twisting in the water trying to get away. After a couple of minutes, the fish was safely in the net.....A lovely fish of about 1lb. After that nice fish, I decided to stick with using a 4mm punch to see if there were anymore down in the murky canal channel. What a great move it was, the next few put ins resulted in skimmers ranging from 6oz to 14oz but with one over the 1lb mark. I also had a couple of surprise hybrids which were roughly 6oz in size. I was catching a real nice mixture of fish and it was one of those sessions when you didn't now what you were going to catch next.

I caught steadily for the 2 hours but then they seemed to back off the feed, I decided to try fishing over depth I managed to get an 8oz roach , 1 hour later with only a few more Gudgeon being caught, I decided to top up and feed another small nugget off liccy bread. It took 15 minutes for the fish to get confident over the bread but when they did, it was a Gudgeon every drop. Unfortunately we only had 30 minutes of the session left as we were soon going to loose the light.

On the plus side, we had the skimmers back, I was having small 3-4oz skimmers with the odd bigger 10oz ones thrown in. Neil Williams , one of the Tring Anglers bailiffs, had a walk up to see how I was getting on. He wondered if I had any big Gudgeon.....''whys that ?'' I asked. He said they have a Gudgeon society where they weigh specimen Gudgeon in grams. I got my biggest Gudgeon out off my keepnet and Neil weighed it. "That's a beast!" he said, 35g....the biggest recorded on this stretch and biggest weighed in this year. I was surprised at how fun it was weighing Gudgeon so I ordered myself a set of Gudgeon scales and soon will be in search of a monster!!!

Have a look at the Guggs web site


www.guggs.net

It was now time to pack up and weigh the fish. In total I had 78 fish which went to 8lb 12oz which is a very respectable winter canal bag.

Me and Neil the Gudgeon master My catch of the day



To watch this session, click the following link........Punch fishing on the Grand Union Canal