| December 31st - A draw...!!! and let's leave it at that eh. Back in Jan I predicted that we'd break 40 species in the year and so we have... it's just that two of you broke 40 species by 1 more than I did. Dammit. Congratuations therefore go to Dad and John. And to Jack and Hazel for tying on three in the kids league..! Anyway, 2009 starts tomorrow and with 50 species realistically on the cards I'll let you know how I get on tomorrow affy... Paul |
|
|
|
Act of Desperation Part 1 - Sitges Harbour Wall and very quickly I was into a shoal of White Sea Breanm...
... then it all went wrong. My bait and tackle were right but neither were up to the strength of what was biting, there may be monsters out there...more |
Act of Desperation Part 2 - Banyoles Reservoir is set in a wonderous mountain valley location below the French Pyrenees. Anongst other things it reputedly holds Carp, Pike, Black Bass and Zander...
... they just weren't biting today. |
|
|
||
| December 27th - Springwood Reservoir... a place where expensive fishing tackle, carbon fibre rods, Shimano baitrunner reels, new line, expensive Japanese lures and the freshest bait all count for nothing. All you need to catch Pike there... a daft hat and a silly grin..! ... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
December 21st - River Ribble... and some people clearly never learn their lessons, or decide to learn them the hard way, because just like the last vist there back in November the results were exactly the same... cold feet and no fish... more | |
|
|
||
|
December 20th - Sitges Harbour Wall... and today the sun finally set on my lure fishing for 2008. Was down there this morning at first light and again as the sun set and although the sea looked perfect not one of my plugs or lures could get a take.
|
|
|
|
November 17th - River Ribble in Winter... and given the stupid o'clock time this pic was taken it comes as no surprise that someone was, "...desperately trying for a Gudgeon". No surprise too in the outcome either. The River Ribble... at times I hated that place...! more
|
|
|
|
November 15th - Mum and Dads visit to Sitges... and although the weather was kind to us, it sadly looks like the fish we were hoping for have now moved offshore into deeper waters. Neverthless, the Fish Tank was fully stocked...more
|
|
|
|
November 12th - Bosley Reservoir... is well reknowned as Prince Alberts Premier Pike water. I'm not too sure it's Premier Angler went today though...! more
|
|
|
| November 2nd - Sitges Harbour... and today the weather wasn't that much different than it was at Morfa Nefyn. With the water as clear as it is off Blackpool and with seaweed floating about everywhere it was certainly no good for plugging. I think it was even a bit too rough for surfing in too. Luckily there were plenty of fish taking shelter in the quiet corners of the harbour though....more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
October 31st - Morfa Nefyn... and during the week preceding Halloween I can't decide which was the scariest...the weather or the monster found asleep in the chair...more
|
|
|
| October 14th - Sitges Calm After The Storm... and along with this small Comber who took a tiny plug close in by the rocks came the fish we were looking for all weekend - Barracuda, four of them too...! And for a change interrupting phone calls from work were a welcome distraction... with three of them I stopped winding when the phone rang only for the Barracuda to hit the lure as it paused. Same lure by the way... a purple and green Yo-Zuri Crystal Minnow now looking decidedly worse for wear..! |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
October 11th to 13th - Sitges Zombie Weekend... and whilst the half dead walked the steets a bigger menace prowled along the shorline chomping its brethren in half. Like many fish before it though it was slayed with my magic plug, the Yo-Yuri Crystal Minnow ... more | |
|
|
||
|
October 5th - Sitges Aiguadolc Beach... and in amongst the waves I spotted a couple of "new species" lurking today. And we weren't coming home till I'd caught them..more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
September 25th to 28th - Shell Island... and although Tope were sadly absent the weather and fishing couldn't really have been any better. With seventeen species between us over the weekend, including Dads Golden Grey Mullet, someone absent missed the chance to only go seventeen behind...more
|
|
|
| September 24th - River Ribble... and "fishing a single maggot on tiny hooks in the expectation of Gudgeon" produced instead this tiny Stone Loach. With no hook visible in its mouth I think it might have been "paddling in the shallows, turning over stones with a kiddies fishing net" that actually caught it...more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
September 14th - Morfa Nefyn... and although there was a Cuckoo about it was going nowhere near the Birds Nests that Dad was making...more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
September 11th - Escaan Schoolgirls Fishing Trip Part 2... and unbeleivably fishing for girls is now officially quite cool. Especially when it involves catching something new and beating boys. Look at the kids section on the left. Hey, are you listening Jack...? ... more | |
|
|
||
| September 11th - River Ribble... and not that he needed it Dad got another new species for the year today, one of those fish that I can't catch in the UK. A bit like Golden Grey Mullet I suppose...! With 35 species already, no Ruffe from Rossmere, no Bass yet and visits to Shell Island, Morfa Nefyn and Sitges looming surely failure to reach a record of 40 species would be a tragedy...more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
September 10th - Escaan Schoolgirls Fishing Trip... Hazel and her two Dutch friends Sarah and Fleur decided fishing would be cool. Trust them to catch our first Golden Grey Mullet..more
|
|
|
| September 7th - Rossmere... and being rubbish at football and so not being picked for the pub team was a great idea for Mark to get time off to go fishing. Although the pub team lost 5-1 it was a similar result at Rossmere as despite the opportunity for Crucians, Tench and Ruffe he also came away with just one, this Carp...more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
September 1st - Sitges harbour wall... Lure fishing in the dark in seems a strange concept as the fish shouldn't really be able to see the lure. Somehow they can though...more
|
|
|
| August 31st - Sitges... and after a hard six days at work it was time for a rest and another visit to The Fish Tank. Although I was really hoping for a Rainbow Wrasse it just wasn't to be... must've been a fluke that last one of Dads. Anyway, some of the usual culprits made an appearance but I also got a nice bonus with a couple of fish we've never seen before... Amberjack..! more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
August 26th to 31st - River Ribble... and I think someone else is fishing during works time with three visits in a week. More huge fish that I can't catch plus something a little unexpected...more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| August 29th - River Wye... and I still think fishing during works time should be banned. More fish that I cant catch and the name of the small fish caught in the margins might just well describe Neils chances again this year... Bleak..!... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
August 26th - Shell Island... and yet again the weather gods put a limit on the fishing. I've no doubt the list of potential captures was a lot longer than those that were actually caught, no Tope or Mullet I see, but was good to see there were plenty of these...more
|
|
|
|
|
August 22nd - Sitges Harbour Wall... well, with you lot down at Shell Island, the competition now split between adults and kids - Hazels idea - and the prospect of Jack and Oliver catching loads of fish there was no way our Hazel was content to sit at home today. In quite Shell Island like weather, strong wind and rain, we set off down to the fish tank where we both had some success this afternoon... more | |
|
|
||
| August 20th - Sitges Fish Tank... and with Hazel adamant that "there is no way Oliver is beating me this year" the children came down to the harbour today. Hazel was first in with a mullet, trouble is she's already got one, then I got a couple more nice ones. But with news that Jack has caught Smelt today and that Oliver is on his way to Shell Island I think it's time to get down there again sometime soon... more |
|
|
|
|
||
| August 13th - Late report from The Isle and Rossmere... where certain anglers have been keeping quiet about the lack of success. Seeing as there's still no gudgeon been caught lets hope the looming visit to Adlington Canal proves to be third time lucky..! |
|
|
|
August 15th - River Ribble... and it looks as if nobody has has told Joe this is all about catching fish...! Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario and Luigi, Kungfu Panda and animal crossing characters just don't count. more
|
|
|
|
August 15th - River Ribble... and with mist hanging low in the valley the river looked very picturesque and fishable when John arrived today but the resident Gudgeon had other thoughts. A visit to Adlington canal looms, but are they there...? more
|
|
|
| August 5th - River Ribble... and the curse of the Ribble is nearly complete. Eels and chub I'll let go but there were no "fish that Paul can't catch in the UK" tonight. Not too sure how Mark managed this Dace though, I'm sure it looks like a small Chub. Guess it must've been dark... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
August 4th - Sitges Harbour Wall... and although there's still no Barracuda yet there were plenty more of these around...
|
|
|
|
August 3rd - Banana Pit... saw the beginning of the end of the world. And the capture of yet more scary Roach. If Westhoughton was infested with aliens like in "Invasion of the Body Snatchers" I know what earthlike form they'd take...more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
August 3rd - Sitges Harbour Wall... was damn hot today. As was the fishing, as it looks like the summer species are well and truly here now. And you can forget all the debates about which fish fights the hardest, Bass, Mullet, Mackerel or Barbel - there are fish down there that think they're birds when they're hooked and which put all of them to shame... more | |
|
|
||
|
August 2nd - Abersoch... and whilst Chris went to Neil Higson levels of stupidity in efforts to catch fish this Welsh trip proved a lot more productive than Marks last one, this time he remembered to take some pictures of his fish before throwing them back, or eating 'em on the barbecue... more
|
|
|
|
July 29th - Roach Heaven... at Top Bonnies where more fish were caught in one day than Neil will probably catch all year...more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| July 26th to 28th - Sitges Harbour... and who'd have thought that The Poacher came on his holidays too. He admittedly didnt't give it much effort but with Damselfish and Gilthead Bream ended up with more fish than Neil did all weekend. At one point I'm sure I saw someone with a flash camera phone in his back pocket muttering something along the lines of "...stupid rules, stupid rules, I'm only after big fish anyway" ... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
July 18th - River Ribble... and thankfully, at last, the Ribble jinx is mine no more... more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
July 12th - Pwlhelli and Morfa Nefyn... were both a bit like Shell Island was on this day... WINDY..!!! Whilst the UK Mullet tally rose over at Shell though three rods firstly fished the Welsh hotspot of Gimblet Rock yet struggled to connect, landing just one fish - a weaver. The three amigos then did what anyone with any sense would do next - go to the pub...! Part two, at Morfa Nefyns Red Mullet Rocks proved a little more productive with Wrasse increasing Dad and Marks tally... more | |
|
|
||
| July 1st to 15th - Shell Island... and our holidays this year really didn't go quite as we expected beforehand. Undoubtedly the weather gods conspired against us and limited boat trips to just a couple but that's just the way the dice rolls. Admittedly there were many more species out there that we could have potentially caught but Bass and Gurnard made a welcome appearance. Plus another couple of those "Sea fish that nobody can catch in the UK"... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
July 10th - River Seven and Nutwell Pool... proved productive today as John skipped work and got Dace and Carp. I'm just not that sure that fish caught in official working time should count though... more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| July 7th - River Ribble... and lessons in fishing don't come any harder or crueler than this one. I reckon it's just the opposite of mullet fishing but in my defence my peg was rubbish, there were too many trees around me, logs and branches kept floating down the river and hit my line first therby clearing the river downstream for John. And the boilies I were given were the wrong flavour too... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
July 7th - Top Bonnies... and a little kids fishing pond it may be but this place is Roach Heaven unlike any other. Although there are undoubtedly other fish there such as Crucian Carp, Perch and possibly Tench they are nearly impossible to get to because of the abundance of suicidal, small Roach prepared to take anything, that you have to get through. During the afternoon some kids walked past John who told him they caught 127 of them the previous day, I think I caught twice as many as that... more | |
|
|
||
|
July 6th - Adlington Canal... what was Kates favourite fishing venue still holds the usual species... more
|
|
|
|
June 26th - Rossmere... and a quick hour this morning saw John hit a rich seam of Gold... more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
| June 23rd - Rossmere... and whilst Marks further efforts on the River Ribble look to be somewhat misguided the best efforts of Manchesters conjested motorways didnt stop Dad and John getting there and increasing this weeks fish count, and size... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
June 20th - Rossmere... is a place quite unlike the River Ribble where the water tends not to drop to low levels and where green algae doesn't clog the line. Although it also has a nice lack of eels it also hadn't many new fish today... more | |
|
|
||
| June 16th - River Ribble... and its obviously raining more in Spain nowadays as low water levels and an abundance of weed meant that the only new fish today were those we aren't usually in much of an an hurry to catch. Eels.. more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
June 10th- Sitges... and although todays efforts, using big plugs, were more in the hope of something a little bit bigger like a Bass or a Barracuda this other entirely new species, well for us anyway, a Comber, was quite welcome. Even if it was little bigger than the plug I caught it on..! more | |
|
|
||
|
June 8th - Sitges... and a brand new species for Dad today, the first ever Rainbow Wrasse... more
|
|
|
|
May 31st - June 1st sHELL Island... a once peacefull, tranquil place that now abounds with the most unimaginably evil creatures from the depths. Greater Weevers in an abundance never seen before, Lesser weevers, grotesque Deadliest Catch style Spider Crabs, even the bottom of the ocean itself... more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
May 6th - Down In Toyland... it was such a really, really horrible day today. All the toys became terribly upset as those nasty grown ups came down to the local pond and paid out lots of their money so that the kiddies could no longer fish for tiddlers there anymore... more
|
|
|
| April 24th - Sitges 4th May... and thankfully, since last weeks rainclouds, the weather has brightened up during the last few days. The sea has also cleaned up nicely too. So, it was about time to try something new, a deep water rock mark which is only a mile or so up the coast road, it just needs a climb down a steep cliff to get there, not really best done in total darkness, however the results of Sundays expedition proved it was certainly worthwhile... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
April 28th - Sitges... As clouds came off the sea and it started to rain on the hills it looked perfect conditions for a Bass tonight. But it wasnt to be. i blanked.
|
|
|
|
|
April 26th - New theory time... Seeing as I've probably already caught most of the fish down in the harbour I had a wonder down for an hour this evening in the hope that theres other fish around in the darkness. Took a while for the patented breadfeed to draw them in but soon had several takes... firstly a small Bogue, secondly a small Salpa, next something bit through the line then I got this nice Salpa on the left. Probably pulled harder than all your small Roach and Rudd combined...! | |
|
|
||
| April 24th - There be Monsters... at Rossmere today. Well, compared with the fish that were caught yesterday I guess they could be called Monsters. The only Monster around I reckon though was the one who came round and kicked over your bait box and left fish slime all over your hands.. more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
April 23rd - Rossmere... and a magnifying glass looked usefull for two things today, firstly to tie those 20's hooks onto 2lb line and secondly, to see what you'd caught...! more
|
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
April 18th - Sitges harbour... and after some recent blustery weather and showers it is now getting hot, the sea has calmed, and fish are now starting to feed in the harbour channel. Especially on my homemade breadfeed... more | |
|
|
||
|
April 18th - Morfa Nefyn and Great Expectations... as beforehand the list of potential captures at this time of year looked to be enormous... Bass, Mackerel, Pollock, Black Bream, Whiting, Dogfish, Bull Huss, Cod, Garfish, Plaice and Wrasse. Maybe even Red Mullet and Dragonet. Where did it all go wrong...? more
|
|
|
|
April 12th - Shell Island and Morfa Nefyn... and with snow on the mountain tops it was all a bit too cold for the summer species yet. Except Smelt. Coalfish were still around at Nefyn though... more
|
|
|
| April 3rd - Rossmere... and although I rushed home from work this afternoon and hurridley checked the reports for the earlier predicted "...lots of new species" they sadly just weren't there. But with hooking monsters on tiny hooks and thin line it seems that "the curse of the schoolboy error" is still alive and well... more |
| |
|
|
||
|
|
March 20th - Sitges Harbour... and a second attempt at the "supposedy" easy fishing down at The Fish Tank. Anyway, just like the thermometer now climbing, so has the rate of fish capture as today yielded a further three new species for John plus one for Sarah effectively now putting Neil behind two girls in this years Fishing Race. But then again that's not unexpected really, is it..?... more | |
|
|
||
| March 16th - Sitges Fish Tank... and just like last week when Dad came across it seems theres a bit more to catching fish here than at first appears. Again I ran out of fingers to count on while this weeks visitor took more than a couple of hours just to catch his first fish today... more |
| |
|
|
||
|
March 16th - Rossmere... and judging by the results I can only ask was Neil giving you all lessons...? |
|
|
March 8th - Sitges... and although you might call it "The Fish Tank" being able to catch fish is evidently not quite as easy as you might think. In between long spells either fast asleep, listening her ipod or playing with the kittens down the harbour Hazel took a couple of minutes out for a spot of fishing just to match what Dad had caught. I lost count... more | |
|
|
||
| March 1st - Offshore from Sitges... Luck was certainly with us this week as Max's boat trip planned for last weekend was seemingly cancelled due to bad weather, (they obviously ain't been to Shell Island recently), only to be back on again this weekend. Although we weren't exactly on the best ever fishing boat we sailed out 5 miles or so towards those big flash sportfishing boats from the harbour, saw they were trolling for Tuna along the 100M depth line then adopted similar tactics... more |
| |
|
|
||
|
|
February 23rd - Shell Island... and pre-trip expectations of all the various winter species like Cod and Whiting failed to materialise. One of the fellow boaters, on seeing us going fishing Saturday morning remarked, "...you must be mad." How right he was..! With dirty water the colour and clarity of hot chocolate, rough seas that even 6oz grip weights couldn't hold bottom in, torrential rain, freezing temperatures and howling gales only one fish between us saved a triple blank... more | |
|
|
||
|
February 19th - River Wye and Sandmere... and bad luck continues as Mark suffers yet another blank in freezing sub-zero temperatures. Thats if he really ever bothered to get out of his van... more
|
|
|
|
February 18th - Bosley... A gathering of birds in the sky is often known as "a flock of birds", likewise several fish go under the phrase "a shoal of fish", and in fields across the country you'll often see a "herd of cows." English language changed slightly this weekend as a collection of school boy errors is now known as "a visit to Bosley." more
|
|
|
|
February - Holiday in Abersoch... and although the weather was perfect could you honestly say that the standard of the fishing was also so high..?
more
|
|
|
| February 11th - River Ribble... and unlike last years prolific early captures on the Ribble, success this years seems a little harder to come by than in the smaller rivers like the Dean. This years leader, so far, showed you the way though... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
|
February 2nd - River Dean... and seemingly we've now got two more fans of the small River Dean. I just wonder how long it'll take Neil to wake up and get down there. Anyway, three new species for Mark today, including this Grayling on the left. Although he also caught some fish theres potentially none counting for Dad as without pics soon The Poacher is having 'em... more | |
|
|
||
| January - River Dean... and unless you blank like I somehow managed to do this is probably the best small river and pleasurable fishing you'll find in the North West. With a claimed capture of over 30 fish, (well they do say all fishermen exaggerate), the trout on the right is just one of the several species John managed to catch today... more |
|
|
|
|
||
|
January - River Ribble... and no doubt this is only the start of, "...fish you can't catch in the Med." It is a fish I can catch at the River Ribble if I come back for a quick weekend though..! more
|
|
|
|
January 19th - 24th Sitges... and no doubt like fishing the whole world over it's clear that the fishing in Spain changes with the onset of the seasons. Although we kept faith in both the tactics and favourite pegs, see below, the fish were somewhat less keen than us. Neverthless there has been some highlights over the past few days with seven different species between us... more |
||
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
January 18th - First Fish.. to The Poacher as somebody made an early schoolboy error in forgetting to take a picure of the Bream he claimed to have caught at Springwood today. |
|
January 6th - Lets go..! Seeing as the thermometer had just passed 24degress at midday, the wind was barely moving the leaves on the trees and the sun was cracking the flags though I'd start us all off with a few hours down the harbour this afternoon... more
|
|
Firstly, congratulations to John on winning 2007 with a record number of 36 species. It may well have been 37 it heīd kept hold of his boat rod at Nefyn though...
2008 now marks the end of 5 years of The Fishing Race and proof of it's success is that we're all catching more fish than ever before. In doing so itīs nice to report that the laughable statements have continued this past year, none more so than Neils, "...you can chalk me up for a few more this afternoon Harry Boyle. Easy this, easy...", and also Kates claims that at 6pm weīre packing in, "...because itīs already midnight in kids world." I donīt suppose itīll change in 2008 so feel free to start us all off again Neil... |
One of the highlights of 2007 was undoubtedly Dads Shark captures at Shell Island where with just one fish he eventually graduated from catching doggies and in doing so finally put to rest the memories of many years of schoolboy errors.
No old line, rubbish reels, striking too soon, weak traces, stupid tangles or clutches set wrong this time...
So, with 2008 now effectively being open season, with all fish worldwide counting, the breaking of the magic 40 barrier is now surely on the cards. Get fishing..! |
