Awesome action on artificials!

For the last few weeks my Dad and I have been preparing to fish the 6th Artificial Bait Boat Angling World Championships, and I can't remember ever having such a busy month! With just a few days to go before Team England head out to Ireland, the last few days have been a bit manic, so I've only just got round to updating this blog.

Following on from my last post, many of the Anglian reservoirs have now opened for lure fishing, and the Team England Lure Squad decided to meet up on Grafham on the first day of the lure fishing season. It was very warm, and flat calm, which made for a tough day's fishing, and much of the activity happened in the last two hours for us. We'd only caught 2 or 3 fish by around 5pm, but as the light levels lowered the fish seemed to switch on. We ended up catching 7 Zander and 3 Perch between us - Dad caught the biggest Perch right at the end of the day at 3lb 8oz on a jigged Berkley Ripple Shad.

It was great to meet up with the team members we've both never met, and discuss tactics, game plans etc. for Ireland, and also catch up with some other great friends that were fishing Grafham the same day too.

Since then we've made a couple of trips back, and temperatures have cooled down a touch. Although the Zander fishing has been quite slow, which, again, could be down to water temperatures still being quite high, we've caught some cracking Perch.

On our next trip to Grafham I was getting over a nasty cold, and wasn't quite sure whether to go or not. But, mad as we are, I decided to go for it! Within just a few minutes of fishing, venturing out was made worthwhile as my Dad landed a cracking Perch of 3lb 11oz.

From then on, we caught a few more Perch up to 2lb 11oz throughout the day, but strangely only one small Zander. With just an hour to go we decided to return to the area where Dad had his 3lb 11oz from in the morning, in the hope of another big fish. I'd been drop-shotting a Sébile Magic Swimmer Soft for most of the day, trying out a new stinger drop-shot rig (an idea my Dad came up with recently), and as soon as I dropped it down to the bottom I felt a good thud and set the hook. After a tense heavy-headshaking fight, eventually I got the Perch safely in the net, and it tipped the scales round to 4lb 1oz!

After photographing and releasing that beautiful fish, we had time to catch one more Perch before we had to head back in, otherwise we'd be late! We were so fired up for trying it again, we decided to return just two days later. Dad and I spent the first half of the day targeting Pike, but we didn't have a follow or a touch. Maybe as it cools down even more, the Pike might switch on a bit. For the last few hours we couldn't resist fishing for Perch and Zeds again, and almost instantly after dropping down my drop-shotted Magic Swimmer Soft I caught a Perch of 3lb 5oz!

However, in the end it wasn't as productive as the last trip, but I did land a nice Zander of around 9lbs.

On that same trip it was also great to bump in to Andy Lush, owner of the Friendly Fisherman tackle shop and top lure angler, who had a great day's fishing targeting Perch with his boat partner.

Just after fishing with the Team England Lure Squad on Grafham, my Dad and I met up with Steve Phillips of Total Coarse Fishing for a feature on targeting river Zander on soft plastics. I'd chosen to fish the River Ouse right in the centre of Ely, a place where I have some great fishing in the past catching lots of Zander, although mainly small, plus some nice Perch and Pike. The trouble was we hadn't fished it for around four years! So we had an afternoon trip there, just to get an idea on how it was fishing. It wasn't easy, but we had a few Zander, Pike and Perch, and were hopeful it would fish just as well, if not better, for the feature.

On the day Steve came along, the fishing was much harder than we anticipated - sometimes we'd catch upwards of 30 Zander in a day along there, but that wasn't the case on this trip!! We did catch a few fish though, mainly Pike and Perch, using a variety of different tactics to see what worked best. We even fished well in to the dark - one of our favourite times for catching Zander at Ely, but we struggled for only a couple of bites.

That's just the way it goes sometimes, but there hadn't been any rain for a while so the river was quite low and clear - maybe a good downpour might have livened the fishing up. But we had a great day with Steve and I might head back up there this winter to see whether the fishing is any better then.

A couple of days later, that good downpour finally arrived, freshening up the rivers. Dad and I decided to try some of our local rivers for Perch, and made an early start the following day - on first appearance I thought the river still looked a touch too coloured, but 20 seconds later we found out that wasn't the case! Dad made one cast, and within seconds hooked and landed a Perch of 3lb 8oz! I hadn't even cast out! What a start!

Over the course of the day we covered long stretches of river with a variety of tactics and methods, before covering all the areas we'd caught from again with a drop-shot. Drop-shotting a split tail was the tactic that fooled my biggest Perch of the day, weighing 3lb 13oz, and we ended the day with 21 others to nearly 3lbs.

Our next trip resulted in 16 more. The highlight of that day was when Dad had a Perch follow his jigged shad right to the margins. He let the jig fall to the bottom and stood like a heron. The Perch then eyed up the shad for a few seconds and then engulfed it! I don't think he knew quite how big the fish was at the time, but at 3lb 14oz it was a fantastic looking specimen! Watching a fish take the lure has to be one of the most exciting elements to lure fishing.

We've had a few more trips along our local rivers since, but none have been quite as productive. My biggest fish recently was a 6lb 4oz Bream, that was hooked in the mouth and took a drop-shotted split tail! I thought it was a huge Perch at first! But it was still a lovely fish to catch on a lure.

On October 1st, my local lake opened for predator fishing. As of late, we've both been very busy getting ready for the World Championships, but when the lake is just 150 yards from your house, it was hard to resist! The fishing wasn't easy, as the water was very coloured - out of all the anglers deadbaiting, I think only one fish was caught. We spent a lot of the day experimenting and trying new lures - I was also trying out a new Abu Garcia Veritas heavy jerkbait rod, and christened it with a cracking Pike of 15lb 1oz, which took a Sébile Koolie Minnow.

We ended the day with 10 Pike and a few small Perch, then right at the last knockings Dad caught a stripey of bang on 3lbs, to round off a really enjoyable day's fishing.

Now it's back to packing, and somehow trying to slim down all the lure gear so it fits in the car, before heading out to Ireland early Tuesday morning. I'm really looking forward to seeing the other team members and competing in the World Championships. COME ON ENGLAND!!

Team England Lure Squad

To be able to say that both my Dad and I have been selected to represent England in the World Championships is a dream come true. Back in November, an advert appeared in the Angling Times asking for any lure anglers that would be interested in representing their country in the first ever Team England Lure Squad, to enter the 6th Carnivorous Artificial Bait Boat Angling World Championships, to register their interest. It's always been an ambition of mine to fish in a large competition such as the Bassmasters and the FLW tour in the United States, and I really enjoyed being in the England Youth Flyfishing Team, so within hours I'd sent my details off. Seven months later, two letters came through the post, informing us that we'd both made it in to the England squad! As you can imagine, we were over the moon!

The team consists of Eric Edwards, Gary Palmer, Matt Netherton, Evaldas Skablauskas, my Dad and myself, along with the team manager, Mike Skipper. I'm very proud to be part of a team with such a great spirit and determination to bring back Gold. As newbies to the World Championships, England remain very much the underdogs, but preparations have been well underway for a long time now, and with the event just 7 weeks away, we're working very hard to ensure we can all do our best on Lough Erne this October. We're up against some very experienced teams but I'm sure we can give them a run for their money. I'm also really hoping that now England are in the World Championships it will help promote lure fishing here in the UK, and for it to grow further to the level it has in many other countries.

In the meantime, the squad are looking for sponsorship, and if there are any companies that are interested in promoting themselves globally in this world championship, helping the team and being in it from the very beginning, should contact Mike Skipper, Team Manager at teamenglandluresquad@gmail.com.

The last couple of months have involved practicing and preparing for the forthcoming World Championships. But although the spell of hot weather we've had for a while has been great for barbecues and ice creams, it hasn't been so great for targeting predatory species. Early morning and evening trips along our local rivers have been productive, with plenty of small Perch and Pike, but the bigger fish haven't been showing themselves. One species that the conditions have been suitable for are Chub, and we've caught some good fish from a few rivers recently on jigs and crankbaits.

Weirpools are great places to try, especially when it's been so hot, as they are usually well oxygenated. My Dad and I have had a couple of trips on the Thames recently fishing some of the many weirpools. On our first 'overnighter' this season on our small boat (starting at 3pm on a Wednesday and fishing until 11am on Thursday morning) we hardly got any sleep, but we had plenty of action boating 21 Pike to just over double figures, as well as plenty of Perch on a variety of lures.

The weirs are great for trying and testing different lures and tactics - some of the most effective were Texas-rigged Berkley Havoc Rocket Craws, Pit Chunks, Heavy Weight Thump Worms and the Sébile Magic Swimmer Soft, as well as a variety of spinnerbaits and crankbaits.

On another overnight trip to the Thames this month the fishing was much harder because of sky-high water temperatures, so we spent much of our time targeting Chub. We started earlier in the day and fished the same areas as last time, but only landed 2 small jacks and a Perch, so we relocated to another weirpool with about an hour of light to spare, where we'd planned to spend the night targeting Zander. Within minutes of arriving Dad hooked in to a good fish, which turned out to be an immaculate Chub of 5lb 8oz on a small crankbait.

It was soon dark and time to change tactics for targeting Zeds - I switched to a drop-shot, fishing vertically below the boat, whilst Dad fished an array of Spinnerbaits, Swimbaits and Crankbaits. At around 11.30pm Dad had an almighty take and he hooked in to a good fish. We assumed it was a big Zander or a Pike, and after netting the fish I turned on my headtorch and had a look, as we still didn't know at this stage what it was. We both got a shock as the fish was actually a huge Chub!! It weighed 6lb 12oz and took a 7.5" white Sébile Koolie Minnow, which is a mouthful for a Chub!

Dad then decided to switch rods and went back to a small jig, hoping for more Chub, and at around midnight he caught another of 5lb 12oz - this time on a Texas-rigged twintail.

By 1am we were both feeling quite tired, so after mooring up the boat, we tried to get some sleep. Waking up just before dawn, it was straight back to fishing and we returned to the area where we'd caught the Chub. Casting a Sébile Crankster right in to the whitewater, I had my first Chub of the trip, weighing 5lb 2oz, and then another of around 3lb 4oz.

After landing a few more Pike and Perch, it was time to head for home as the tiredness had caught up with us.

A few days later, after some heavy rain, we had a trip to Pitsford. Although we didn't catch any big fish, we did have lots of action, catching (and losing!) quite a few small Pike, plus a very greedy Perch which was no longer than 7 inches and took a lure the same size as itself! It was a great opportunity to try out a few new lures, which all seemed to produce fish.

A week or so later, we were back on another reservoir - Grafham. This time we were armed with our 9wt fly rods and Zander flies. It took a while before we caught our first Zed, and remained quite slow for the rest of the day, until we stumbled across a couple of areas where we were able to catch a few more, and ended up with 8 in total, the biggest around 7lbs.

The time is flying by and there's still lots of preparation to be done ready for going to Ireland in October. There is also the exciting prospect of many reservoirs opening up for lure fishing, although I'm not quite sure how they're going to fish as the warm weather seems set to continue - we'll just have to see!

Summer Sport on Lures and Flies

Last week I had a great weekend in Staffordshire at Fish'O'Mania XX, showing people different lure fishing techniques with the charity, Get Hooked on Fishing. They had a huge presence at this prestigious event, with experts from different fields demonstrating all types of fishing techniques. Adam Penning and Matt Rosenbloom were showing people how to Carp fish; Callum Dicks, Steve Tucker, Frankie Gianoncelli and Dave Swain match fishing; Scottish Youth International fly angler James Hek flyfishing; Karl Humphries fly casting; Frank Moors fly dressing; Steve Rowley dead baiting for Pike and Pike safety, Dave Smith targeting Catfish, and my Dad and I drop shotting and jigging. There were also other events being run by GHoF, such as the GHoF Fun Fair, 'Have a go' sessions, plus a Tombola with some fantastic prizes. The weather was extremely hot and sunny with temperatures topping 35°C on the Arena Lake where the matches were being held!

The weather was great for visitors and other types of fishing, but not so good for predators. The fishing was rock hard, but a few people managed to catch their first Perch on lures.

Well done to Jamie Hughes for winning the individual match on the Saturday, and what a comeback for England in the International match on Sunday to win! Congratulations to Will Raison and Alan Scotthorne!

A few weeks previously, my Dad and I were also at GHoF's complex of lakes at Ealing, at their official opening on the 22nd June with Keith Arthur and top match angler, Tony Curd. We were showing youngsters how to catch coarse fish using jigging and drop shotting tactics. The weather wasn't so nice though, with, at times, horizontal rain and gusty winds - but they still caught plenty of fish! Some of the species caught drop-shotting or jigging tiny soft baits included Rudd, Perch, Tench, Bream, and even small Crucian Carp! The GHoF complex in Ealing is a great place for people who want to start fishing and Sarah Collins, James Thornhill and the team there are very friendly and helpful.

I think targeting coarse fish on soft plastics has a huge amount of potential. On June 16th, my Dad and I set ourselves a target to see how many species of fish we could catch on soft plastics in one day within a two mile radius of our home. We started first thing in the morning, and fished right round until around 10pm - by that time we were pretty exhausted! We caught 7 species that day - Pike, Perch, Chub, Brown Trout, Dace, and even Minnows!

By far the most impressive capture of the day though was a Carp of just under 9lb that my Dad stalked on a jigged Berkley Honey Worm. I'd just caught a Dace, and we were wandering upstream to a weirpool where we knew we had a chance of a Brown Trout, when Dad spotted this Carp in about 3ft of water, rooting around in the silt. He dropped the Honey Worm right in front of the Carp's nose, and the fish was on it in an instant!

He also lost a good Roach too, which would have been 8 species, but you can't land them all!

Our next trip was an afternoon on our boat on the River Thames - it was the first time we'd been there since October, as we had so much rain over the winter, for much of the time the Thames was really high and coloured. The water was still very stained, with little visibility, and this made the fishing tough. We both managed to save ourselves from a blank though, fishing in and around weirpools - with a 2lb 6oz Perch on the 9cm Berkley Ripple Shad, and a small jack on a Sébile D&S Crank.

Two weeks ago, Paul Garner invited me and my Dad for an evening's fishing with the founder of Sébile lures, Patrick Sébile, and a few other people from the Pure Fishing crew, as they'd flown over to the UK for a business meeting that week. Paul took us to some fantastic looking stretches of the Warwickshire Avon. On his very first cast, testing a new soft bait, Patrick caught a Zander!

Then almost immediately after, he landed a Pike too! Paul joined in on the action landing a couple of small Perch, but after that the weir went a bit quiet. Soon after, we all moved on downstream to another stretch that Paul had caught a few fish from recently. I was using a shallow diving Sébile Koolie Minnow when suddenly, the water erupted as I watched a good Pike slam it just inches under the surface. It was a nice fish too, but that was the only one we caught there. Meeting Patrick and having him show us all how to fish the lures he designed himself was fantastic - it was just a shame we didn't have more time!

The next day, Paul, my Dad and I fished together on a couple of other stretches of the river, before returning to the same weirpool where Patrick caught his fish the previous day.

Each of us landed a couple of small Pike to start with, before Paul took us to another fantastic looking weirpool, where we caught Perch, Zander, Pike and Chub on various Berkley softbaits including the Flex Rib Shad, Gulp! Hellgrammite and the Havoc Rocket Craw. The biggest surprise of the day was when my Dad was targeting some Chub when he caught a small Barbel that was also mixed in with the shoal. It was perfectly hooked in the mouth on a yellow twintail!

Paul had to leave early but we carried on for another couple of hours in the weirpool where my Dad had caught the Barbel. We landed a few more nice Perch, Chub and Pike when suddenly I had a good whack, again on the Rocket Craw, and managed to land a cracking Pike weighing 14lbs on the dot! It was a really enjoyable day with some great sport - thanks Paul!

My Dad and I have also had a couple of trips flyfishing for predators on Grafham recently. On the first of these trips, we had quite a slow start, with just one Zed of around 3lb by lunchtime, but as the day progressed, the fishing got steadily better and better until we found one area when it was literally one Zander a chuck! By the end of the day we'd landed 36 Zander, all between 7 and 9lbs, apart from that first fish. I also landed a Perch of 2lb 15oz. As it was getting dark, and light levels decreased, it was interesting to watch the Zeds follow our flies up, literally only feet from the boat.

After such a fantastic day fishing, we were both keen to get back and have another go, but over the next week the weather got steadily hotter and hotter, plus, we were both quite busy, so in the end we returned a fortnight later for a half day. The water felt noticeably warmer than the previous trip and we knew we could be in for a tough day. We caught a few Zeds, but the fishing was nothing like the trip before. During the last hour I landed a nice Roach/Bream Hybrid of 4lb 3oz, plus my Dad also landed a cracking Brownie of 5lb 12oz.

To be honest, we both felt we would have rather taken our trout gear as the reservoir looked brilliant for some dry fly fishing. In fact, I don't think we've ever seen such as massive hatch of Daddy Long Legs - there must have been one every square metre! Apparently, it had been like that for a few days too!

The hot weather looks pretty set in for the next fortnight - which is not ideal for predator fishing - so we may try targeting a few more coarse fish on lures and flies.