Double double............

Whilst i lay in bed feeling sorry for myself with some horrible virul man flu Womble was out catching pike. The intrepid river angler managed to bag himself two pristine doubles inbetween shifts.

Womble gets a local lump!

Stu braved the stormy weather and went Esox hunting today and was rewarded with this stunning 16lb 13oz beauty.........He will fish when others stay by the fire watching re-runs of John Wilson this fella. Well done mate.

Scotch strips

Last weekend i travelled just over the boarder to one of my favorite perch venues, a small Loch at just over a mile long that is just stuffed with small pike 4 to 8lb being the average and good shoals of big perch, all good fun on light lure rods. Here are just a few of the perch we caught, both my brother Jeff and my good buddy Neil from Coventry breaking there pb's with fish just short of 3lb

Last winter glory for Womble...........

Stu 'womble' Maddocks holding a stunning 22lb Esox in the snow last winter. Here's hoping he adds to this stunner this winter. I would prefer less snow myself but it does make the photos more impressive..........

Buzzz and Noddy River fun

My old mate Darren and his trusty companion Noddy get a couple of nice Dee fish trolling.

The long wait over!

This is a very happy thing for me to report.....My old mate Stu McMorrin has at long last got himself a lump over the magical 20lb mark. Stu has put some hours in for this monster and as you can imagine is buzzing after the capture. Hope this is one of many to come..........

David gets a couple of beauties off the top.........

My turn to play guide this week after womble did me proud last week on the Severn. This session it was in pursuit of carp off the top. My mate martin's nephew is a fanatical angler but hasn't had alot of success with carp off the top. So we hoped to turn that around. Fish were moving and feeding as soon as we arrived and it wasn't long before david was bent into a lovely double and quickly followed that by a smaller but very hard fighting single. Sadly the session was spoiled by the arrival of 3 adult novice anglers who were shouting at each other and disturbed the fish and they never showed again. We did move on to another pool but sadly we weren't rewarded with any more fish. But David went home with a big smile and so did uncle Martin and me........

Whiskers wiv da Womble

After a failed attempt at whiskers wiv Stu the previous week in that torrential rain that fell on that dark Tuesday we weren't to be put off and returned to the River Severn once more for the thrill of the mighty Whisker; They don't half hang on in the words of Matt Hayes. This time after failing at our first venue; Stu decided on a midnight change of location. Scrambling across fields in the moonlight and with the feint illumination of Stu's torch i managed to find a hole in a field which nearly snapped my ankle. Prob the same hole his mum broke hers in last season. Anyway the burning pain and subsequent days of agony still were worth it after the 2 little splashers i managed to net; well actually not net because the net was still in Stu's shed. He had to clamber down the bank and into the mud and water and net the whiskers with his bare hands. A super job he did as well although he nearly lost/destroyed another camera in the process. How many cameras this angler has destroyed i have forgotten. But the fella knows where the barbel live that is for sure. It has been a while since i have felt the power of a barbel; and although these little chaps weren't the doubles i dream of they still gave a good account of themselves. I was being guided and using Stu's tried ,tested, proven method and also with his tackle. His barbel rods are actually salmon worm/shrimp rods and are awesome. Beautifully balanced, with the perfect synergy of strength and give which make playing powerful fish both a pleasure and instilling confidence. There was an early disappointment when i lost a decent chub but i went home a happy angler.................

Low 20's in the high 30's

Due to the very wet winter in Spain the lake had risen over 100ft from last years lowest level almost doubling the surface area, this along with a very successful spawning of bleak resulted in the pike being both well spread out and well feed. The fishing was tough going this year but dispite this my brother Jeff made up for being the only person not to bag a 20 on a Chesterpreds trip last year by not only smashing his pb with a fish of 22lb, he also took two other specimens over the 20lb mark, a great achivement for his first week of self guided fishing. Also pictured above are new pb's for my dad Geoff at 21lb 12oz and for Dawn at 23lb 6oz, Myself and Paula managed fish to 18lb and Paula even plucked up the courage to hold one herself for a photo.

Mally's record livebait..........

Mally has just beaten his personal best livebait record with a a huge common carp of 21lb 14oz. What a cracker!

Walking on water

Chester preds can walk on water!