Some more pics from the trip

Just added a few more photos of the trip. As you can see the weather was un-seasonably beautiful; except for a couple of days it was glorious sunshine. Very strange!

1st Photos from Gulper Goes West in October.....

Here's a taste of Chester preds recent trip. More juicy pics to follow!

A Classic!

A classic clip of Adam taking a breather..............

May 2009 Part 4.............

Just can't wait to go back there on Sunday.............Bring it on!

May Part 3...........and there's more!

More images of stunning Esox caught on a magical trip. I have to give a special mention to Chester Predator Group Regional Organisor Steve Lewis for yet another super trip; He organises everything, books our accomadation which is 5 star, the ferries and has vast local knowledge of the area which he has gained over many years on these waters and un-selfishly he goes out of his way to make sure everyone catches fish and enjoys great food and has a marvellous time. On behalf of everyone involved in the Chester predator Group I would like to express the gratitude for the efforts and passionate attitutude Steve has demonstrated. He is responsible and can take credit for alot of my big fish over recent seasons. The joy he gets from seeing someone smiling ear to ear holding a big lump of a pike is a rare thing in specimen angling which is littered with glory hunting egotists.

A little message to some in our region who dismissed his suggestions and input a while ago............... Big loss and Chester predators gain!

More May Photos.......

May photos part 2.............some absolute beauties. Wes Ballentyne, Ian Porter, Steve 'Gulper' Lewis our RO, Adam Caulfield and myself put together one hell of a series of big pike...Part 3 to follow.

Piking is a very sociable pastime!

After a tough day afloat catching hard fighting Irish Pike it is time to raise a glass or two or 7. Above are a selection of photos of 'Gulper's Gang' of very merry Pikers enjoying the local hospitality.

No wheels on my wagon

Last weekend after months of threatening i finally got round to taking out a couple of pals Justin and Nigel from my local pub for a day piking onboard the Fury, also along for the ride and a bit of rod bending action we were joined by Justins seven year old son and top rod Harry. After an hour and a half of are we nearly ther yet from a very excited Harry we arrived at a large Welsh lake the boat was soon in the water and i decided that we would start by slow trolling a couple of replicants over an area that i have caught a lot of smaller fish from in the past. After only about twenty yards one of the rods bent over as a lively Jack hit and almost instantly threw the lure. One hundred yards on we had another strike on the same rod and Harry was into his fisrt pike, a beautifully marked fish of around 4lb. We crossed the lake to a favoured hot spot a and changed tactics to bait was in order, within the next hour my three guests shared five more fish to 5-6lb mark. With everone having caught something it was time to move up the lake, i explained to the boys that where we were heading the runs would not be quite as frequent but there was more chance of a bigger fish. After about forty five minutes one of the floats slipped under the surface and Harry bent into an hard fighting double figure fish, after several strong runs Harry brought the fish to the boat, quickly chinned and onto the scales the fish almost as big as Harry himself pulled the neddle round to 13lb, a quick snap with proud dad Justin holding the business end and back into the lake she went. Two more smaller fish and a sligthly one sidedly shared multi-pack of wagon wheels later it was time to go home, an enjoyable day had by all.

Esox Espania

Due to work load and a broken internet connection Mike has not been able to update the blog since we returned from Ireland so he has entrusted me (Gulper) update you on the past months catches. A full report on Ireland will follow soon but in the mean time i just returned from my yearly trip to Spian and although we did'nt have the numbers of fish of prevous years, between us we did manage to take some good lumps. This years trip was quite a family occasion as myself and Dawn were joined by my dad Geoff, my brother Jeff and his partner Paula who had never held a rod before so her first fish of 8lb was bound to be a PB. About two hours after she almost trebled this with a magnificent fish of just over 23lb. Not finished there, later in the week Paula also took a nice big double. Jeff managed to boat a fine 15lb specimen which was quite an achivement if you consider that the bulk of fishing took place on a boat with all the beginners luck on board. Geoff had a good fish of 17lb 4oz but the luck was not with him this week as he did loose two much larger fish. I struggled at the start of the week only taking a few fish to low double figures, this all changed on Wednesday afternoon when trolling lures through an area more renound for smaller fish the rod buckled round and i knew that this was a good fish and it was'nt long before i boated a fin perfect 25 and a half pound Spanish monster. The next day i hooked what looked like a mid double as i brought it towards the boat, it was'nt until i had chinned it into the boat that i realized it was larger than first thought and it sent the scales round to 21lb 8oz.

On the last day i finally got to fish with Dawn and with lady luck on board we set out to try and get her 20. First fish was a jack, this was soon followed by a mid double, by this time the previous nights excess had caught up with me and so ihad to pull to shore for a much needed half hours kip. Back on the water for about 3 o'clock, the hottest and oddly the most productive part of the day. I covered a large arc on the sounder and just as it disappeared from the screen Dawns rod loaded up in way that could only mean one of two things, it was a snag or a good fish. Being that we were trolling lures at 28ft deep in 40ft of water it had to be the latter and no stranger to big pike it was'nt long before Dawn boated a new PB of 23lb.

After another hours trolling we decided to call beer o'clock and i turned the boat for one last run into shore. Just as the depth reading crept slowly towards the point where the lures would run into the bottom signaling the end of our trip the clutch on my reel screamed and i was into a fish that was very reluctant to come of the bottom. It finally surfaced and came straight to the net. Into the sling and onto the Avons the needle settled at 26lb 8oz, quickly photographed she was soon returned to the depths from where she came.....

What a trip!

Here is a selection of photos from the 'Annual Gulper goes West' trip in May. Full write up to follow............5 20's to 24lb 13oz landed and around 20 upper doubles. Wes and Ian had 10 19lb fish on their boat alone to 19lb 14oz. Watch this space for more amazing pictures and funny stories!

PB Barbel to add to Adam's specimen list

When Adam sent me his pike photo below he included this super photo of his PB barbel of 13lb 8oz from earlier in the season. I thought you would all love to see this stunning specimen. Again well done mate!

Adam's New PB Pike

Last week i received an excited message from Adam Caulfield...........and it was a new PB for the Pike fanatic. What a stunning fish weighing over 24lb! Adam has had a good year with a number of big fish but this highlight must have been extra special. He explained the big Pike even tail-walked to add to his pleasure. Well done mate. Keep em' coming!

Time to catch a few carp before ireland...........

I have to admit i do like carp and many other species. Yes i am totally obsessed with Pike but it's nice to catch other things too. This one is a bit too big for a live bait though................chuckle.

Jon get's another 20!

Region 31 organiser Jon neafcy has added another super looking 20 to his tally with this nocturnal predator. Caught on a Cumbrian lake which doesn't produce many 20's this is Jon's 2nd fish over the magical mark. Well done mate!

Season continues with a convoy of boats full of lures!

As you know i usually have my carp and tench gear out now but after that fun session on lures last week i had to have another go. This time 5 of us headed to this super fun lake in convoy with 3 boats loaded with lures. The fishing had slowed since last week but we all still enjoyed a great day with plenty of banter coming from everyone on the boats. Looking forward to Ireland and lots more Pike and more of the same banter. Above is a selection of yesterday's fish caught from 'The Fury'...........