2016 Review / My top five catches

Hi Everyone and sorry for the long silence. I seriously damaged my knee in the Summer and have only recently come off crutches and am braving my first fishing trip of 2017!

As for 2016, well first of all a huge thank-you to those of visited, a total of 19,782 of you and those that commented on my website and and even bigger thank-you to those who joined the Rod Race League in 2016. 

I was fortunate enough to break a four PBs last year, Pike, Crucian Carp, Roach and Bream and it is the Pike capture that will stand as my top catch of 2016. My previous best was 17lb 6oz so I was delighted when the scales went well past 20lb. In fact the first time the Avon Scales went to 29lb however when I took the sling off the scales they didn't zero back correctly, I reset them and reweighed, this time showing 26lb. Again the scales didn't zero back correctly. Knowing that my father was only 15 minutes drive away I put the Pike in the landing net while she recovered, in the lake of course and phoned my dad to come over ASAP with his fishing scales. Not long after he arrived with a set of luggage scales, I was so disappointed! All he could tell me was that the fish was somewhere between 20-25lb. We reluctantly agreed on 23lb but I knew is could well have been more. 

My PB Pike of 20-25lb

On a plus, the fish did win me the Intertype Pike Trophy which also entitles me to a free permit the following year, so there was a silver lining to it. No doubt I will be back again this year hoping to catch the pike again, this time with my new set of scales!

The Intertype Pike Trophy

One thing that I have missed over the years is river fishing, yes Intertype Angling Society does have stretches of the Thames, but thay have heavy boat traffic and yes they have a small stretch of the River Colne but it is fairly unaccesable so when my work colleague who is a member of Godalming Angling Society told me they had eight miles of the River Wey I was very intrigued, especially as it contained Barbel, Grayling and Brown Trout, three species I was yet to catch. Knowing that I was getting a free permit for Intertype next season I paid up for permit for Godalming. 

It is the Godalming water, Broadwater Lake where my second top catch came from, and it wasn't a Common or Mirror Carp that reside there in abundance. It has been a long time sine I caught a decent Crucian Carp and it is a species that takes me back to my childhood, before the Carp fishing world took over. I was actually targetting Roach as I was getting a few 1lb Roach taking my boillies, so on one occasion I float fished some sweetcorn a rod length out under the shade of an overhanging tree. Amongst the numerous roach and rudd I caught I also caught my PB Crucian Carp, which by all accounts is a rariety in this lake. The scales went 3lb 8oz, my new scales if you are wondering! I later heard that the British record Crucian Carp once came from this lake so I will be targetting them again in 2017. 

My 3lb 8oz Crucian Carp PB

My third top catch, and some people will argue why it's not my top is a 27lb 4oz Common Carp. Not the biggest carp as far as the Carp world goes, but it was caught from a notoriously difficult water, one that I had blanked for the previous two seasons, I'm talking about Wapsy's Lake. A lake rarely fished so the word was that they only take naturals. On a hot summer's day in May I fished without any success, then as I was walking around the lake back towards my car I noticed a few large carp cruising around the weed in the near corner. I stopped for a breather and threw out a few floaters, which one of the carp curiously nosed before gliding back down. 

For about an hour the carp were circling with the odd carp detouring of track to prod one of my floaters and when one finally took one I decided to cast out hoping that the carp would come back for more. Come back it did, but with my freelined bait it poked and prodded without any conviction. Suddenly the heavens opened and it poured with rain for half an hour. Once the rain stopped I cast out again as I saw the carp rise back to the surface, again they were curious but not taking it. I decided to add something else to my bait that would cover more of my hook. I turned over a few fallen logs and found a small slug which I added to the Baker Mixer. The weight of the slug meant that it was partially underwater in full view of the carp and within seconds a carp took the bait like it hasn't eaten for months!! Once hooked the carp turned and dived into the thick week, fortunately for me this meant that the carp didn't know where it was going and I literally dragged in a sack of potatoes.

My 27lb 4oz Common Carp from Wapsy's Lake

Once in the net I removed what must have been about 10kg of weed to reveal a huge dark common carp which looked like it had never been caught. Although a shade under my PB, the fact that I caught it from Wapsy's was a huge achievement amongst my carp fishing friends. I felt that they finally took my tactis seriously once I caught that beauty! 

In fourth place is another Crucian Carp of 3lb 2oz from Johnsons Lake, again from the Godalming Angling Society, home of the UK Crucian Carp Record. This was definatley a case of third time lucky as my first two sessions on the lake resulted in blanks. As a new member on a new lake it is always nice to catch your first fish and a Crucian Carp over 3lb is a quality fish in anyone's books and like Wapsy's Lake it can be "very moody" as the regulars put it.

A 3lb 2oz Johnsons Crucian

Finally my fifth choice is a toss up between my Bream PB of 6lb 4oz or my Perch PB of 1lb 10oz. Given that I specifically was targetting the large Perch I am puttting the Perch above the Bream. Up until now I have never seriously fished for Perch and after a couple of sessions with float fished prawns and catching a few around the 1lb mark again on Broadwater Lake I decided to fish a relatively unfished part of the lake. Despite the carp moving onto the bait I did manage to catch one Perch and when it's a PB one is all you need. Following my success with Perch I hope to try some drop shotting for the first time. Stay tuned to see how that goes!

Until my next blog, Tight Lines eveybody for 2017!