Well, that's another season which has flown by and sadly come to an end. Looking back though, I had many great times and experiences, like fishing with Keith Arthur for Tightlines, plus also fishing for my country with the England Youth Flyfishing Team last July on the Lake of Menteith. I've also managed to catch some lovely fish, a couple of which were new PB's, so I can say I've been pretty lucky!
One of our aims before the end of the season was to try and catch a big Barbel. My Dad had lost a good one a few years back and we weren't sure if it was still around but wanted to give it a try anyway. We knew roughly where it hung out if it was still there, but because we'd been doing so many other types of fishing throughout the season we just hadn't got around to it. So on the eve of my Dad's 50th birthday, off we went for a late afternoon trip and to stay an hour into the dark.
After about three hours in the same swim without a bite, I decided to move to another spot before it got dark. As I wandered downstream I heard an almighty yell from my Dad further up the bank. It sounded like he'd hooked in to a very good fish. As I rushed back I could see it had rooted him in to some snags on the other side of the bank, but after keeping some steady side strain, he managed to steer it free. However, the fight wasn't over and it motored on a long run downstream. After a while of knocking knees, the fish tired and I finally scooped up his prize catch - all 14lb 9oz of it, which had fallen to a couple of lobworms! What a present for my Dad's 50th!
Another present that my mum and I had organised with Keith Arthur as a surprise for my Dad, was a trip to Sky Sports studios to watch the making of the 'Tightlines' TV show. It was a great experience, going to the new studio (on the same day Sky Sports F1 HD launched) and watching Keith and his guest, John Horsey, film that week's show just before it aired in the evening. We were even on Sky Sports News for a moment in the background, walking across to the Tightlines studio! It's like a spaceship in there with hundreds of TV screens, computers, lights and cameras - it's amazing what goes on behind the scenes of Tightlines with Mick (the producer) and his fantastic team. Keith, John and Mick are some of the friendliest people I've met in fishing, and it was great to meet them again. Thanks for a brilliant day Keith!
On the last couple of trips before the end of the season, we continued quivertipping different areas of the river, and although Dad's Barbel, previously mentioned, was the only one we caught, we did manage to bank a few more Chub on breadflake plus a couple of Carp to 14lb 2oz.
This isn't normally the sort of fishing we do towards the end of the season, as I love jigging and drop-shotting for Perch at this time of year, but we'd taken advantage of the conditions better suited for chub and barbel, although we did slip in one last outing before March 15th for Perch. They didn't really seem to want to play ball, but we were kept busy with plenty of small jack Pike instead, which are still fun on lures. It took me a good couple of hours before I hooked the first Perch, which unfortunately, I lost and was pretty sure it was a good one. My Dad and I both left the area for a little while, returning later where, on his first cast, Dad hooked, and this time landed, what we think may have been the same Perch that I'd lost earlier. It was a fish of 3lb 5oz which I hooked first on a drop shotted split tail shad, but this time took a jigged shad.
Unfortunately, that was the first and last Perch of the day as we packed up early, deciding to fish the last couple of hours for chub instead. We caught no chub but I did manage to catch a nice Common Carp of around 9lbs which was great fun on my quivertip rod.
That sort of rounds up our season - one I will look back on in the future as one of the most enjoyable I've had. I just hope next season will be just as memorable! Now I'm focusing on trout and practising for some matches, having already had a couple of good trips to Grafham - but that's for the next blog next month!
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