Where did the time go?

As I type this it looks like Summer is making way for Autumn, Carp are getting their heads down and feeding hard in preparation for Winter and in the sea the Summer species are moving on and the annual Whiting infestation has already begun.

The reality is I haven't been able to do much fishing and when I have been able to get out it's usually been pretty hard going!

I spent a week down Cornwall with friends and though I fished every day and a couple of evenings I didn't have much success. I went down there dreaming of giant Bass, Turbot and Small Eyed Rays but the reality was small Pollack, Wrasse and my first ever Garfish on LRF gear. I did manage this Ballan Wrasse of about 2 lb whilst fishing a beach in the evening:

Other than that I had a day fishing lures down Brighton and managed to catch Mackerel, Garfish and Bass. The Mackerel and Gars took a Dexter Wedge and the Bass were caught on surface lures, at 1 lb 10 oz and 2 lb 14 oz they weren't monsters but it's always nice to catch something different.

After a bit of a break I'm also getting back into my Carp fishing, my first trip to Roosthole since going to France in May resulted in me catching eight fish with the biggest being just over 10 lb.

I started the year with all these plans to catch big fish and new species but it wasn't to be, I still have hopes of catching a few Flounders from the Adur and maybe a nice Pike from the Thames but the Small Eyed Rays and Turbot will have to wait until next year. The good news is I'm now on 4 on 4 off shifts so I plan to fish much more next year.

So much for doing more fishing this year, if anything I've actually done less, summer has come and gone and when I have managed to get out the fishing generally has been very poor.

Other than a week at the Labyrinth in France I haven't done any Carp fishing. Record rainfall the week prior to our visit caused the lake level to rise at almost an inch an hour which meant for a very tough week. It wasn't until the fourth day after I had moved swims and the lake level had stopped rising that everyone started to catch. I went on to finish the week with a double, two twenties and two thirties including two thirty pound Commons, not big fish for France but my first ever thirty pound Common and an enjoyable week nether the less.

 

38 lb 8 oz - Common Carp (France)

 

35 lb 0 oz - Common Carp (France)

29 lb 12 oz - Mirror Carp (France)

 



23 lb 4 oz - Mirror Carp (France)

In terms of sea fishing I've only done a couple of trips shore fishing and most of those turned into tiddler bashing as the bigger fish eluded me, looking back I really was spoilt last year with all those big Hounds, Rays and Cod I managed to catch. I fished at Samphire Hoe for the first time and can't wait to go back there as I caught a nice haul of Pollack on the float, nothing over a pound in weight but good fun on light gear and the first time I've caught sea fish on the float.

Nothing much to report on the boat fishing front with the only notable catch being this Bream.

 

Black Bream - 2 lb 0oz (Kingsmere Rocks)

 

I've recently invested in some LRF gear so I can't wait to give that a go targeting all the mini species and tiddlers around the coast and I'm still optimistic about catching my first ever Bass and Sole before winter arrives.