A lovely encounter with a special lady before the close..

Me and Si Hartop have been arranging a roach session on the itchen for a while now and with the close drawing in we finally pencilled in a day in the diary! After counting down the days and exchanging texts about tactics and swim choices the day was finally upon us! With the rivers due to close for the season it was make or break for that magical 2lb river roach! The forecast couldn't of been any worse bright conditions and not a cloud in the sky.. Not ideal for the roach! But we set out at first light anyway! We started off my favourite roach spot. I put si on a likely spot and I started above a snag. I baited gingerly as I knew the roach have been fished for and have been very finicky so I kept the bait going in at a minimum. After half hour or so of baiting with a pinch fulls of maggot I decided to have my first trot through. Again I was using my 13ft acolyte plus coupled with my JW YOUNGS pin loaded with 3lb Drennan float fish, I used a 3bb wire steam Drennan float and a size 18 super specialist hook with a single red maggot as the hook bait. After a few few fruitless trots I decided to move up stream and rest the swim. Neither si or I had any bites.. With the sun rising and the mist burning away rapidly I moved back to the snags.. First trot down I was into what felt like a roach and it wasn't long and I had my first Redfin in the net! Quickly followed by another about the same size! Confident I'd found the shoal I concentrated on that area. Si asked if I ever get plagued with trout.. I wish I didn't answer as I well and truly jinxed myself as a super charged browny turned up and ruined the party.. Quickly followed by one of his mates.. That was it! The icing on the cake! No more bites fell to me in that swim so we decided to move down stream. We started off at the bottom of the stretch. I carried on trotting and Si carried on with his bread flake feeder tactic. I had several grayling to the pound mark but sadly no roach.. We both started working back on our selves but the majority of the swims proved to be fruitless. With the sun high in the sky by this point we knew the odds were against us! I decided to try and target the grayling in one of my favrioute swims. This swim was deep wide and the river flowed very fast through it an area you wouldn't expect the grayling to hold but.. There's a lovely slack that ran off of the bend and I loved using the maggot feeder in this slack! My tip rod set up for the river is a Drennan match pro feeder and a 2oz tip, tip depending on the flow, 4lb mono on a small daiwa ss1600 reel, a small maggot feeder and a 2lb hook link with a size 18 hook with a single red to tip it off.. I never bait when using the maggot feeder I just count on the maggot to do there job in the feeder and not over feed the feeding fish for there were any. I lowered the feeder into the slack and the finicky bites began.. Usually with the set up I use the grayling hang them selves on the rig but today the bites were extra finicky.. It wasn't long before the tip hooped around and I was into a hard fighting grayling! 

Securely in the net I put the feeder back out and again it wasn't long before another grayling was in the net falling to the deadly maggot feeder method! 

The bites soon dried up so I decided to try trotting through the faster water as I thought the grayling could of dropped back due to spooking from the disturbance from the previous landed grayling landed. First trot through and the float dipped.. Striking instantly I was into a fish.. At first I thought it was a trout by the fight! But I saw a glimpse of a big sail from a big grayling! I knew this was a big fish! I clamped down on my pin and gained what line I could guiding the grayling out of the flow back into the slack.. It wasn't long and the special fish was in the net!! After weighing the grayling and getting a quick snap I rested the fish in the net and waited for si to do photos.

With a new personal best in the net I couldn't wait to do the photos! Si was just as happy as I was and he took some epic shots for me!!! 

After a few snaps I released the grayling back to the chalk stream watching with a big smile on my face! What a way to end the river season.. Until June 16th.. 

Thanks for reading! Be lucky out there 

After work Redfin session..

I'm lucky enough to finish work early on a Friday afternoon so it gives me the advantage to get on the bank early and miss the weekend rush. On this paticular afternoon I decided to have some lunch and head down my local stretch of river the itchen. My set up for this occasion was a 3lb mainline straight through, a 2BB Drennan stick float and a size 20 Drennan super specialist hook. The reason why I used a light stick float is the flow is nice and slow and the stretch is nice and deep. So With only my light acolyte rod and centre pin a net and tackle bag I set off down the itchen.so 

I always start off at the bottom of the stretch and work my way up. I fished a few of my favourite spots sadly only producing small grayling and a few trout. With time getting on i decided to get to my main roach spot. There's been a few other anglers targeting the roach at this location so I knew it was going to be tricky. I baited a few areas with maggot and let the roach "if" they were about have a few free offerings and gain there confidence. After baiting for an hour I decided to have a trot on my first favoured area. After a few trots the finicky roach began to bite! Glad I'd found them in quite quick time i baited with a pinch of maggot and trotted down with the free offerings. I was getting bites along side a big set of snags.. As the float maruded past the snags the float disappeared and I was Into the first roach of the season! After a spirited fight the first roach was in the back of the net! After baiting and resting the swim shortly I trotted through again and the bites began again.. After a few trots through the swim and a few finicky bites the float disappeared once again and I was into another Redfin! The bites continued and I ended up landing six lovely Redfins to 1.4lb, five where also  over 1lb, sadly I lost two good fish. But I was happy with catching six roach in such a short time! If you fish for roach you'll know how finicky they are. 

After a few photos memories were made and I slipped the beautiful roach back to there chalk stream home. 

The season is drawing in and I'm hoping to have one or two more roach sessions and I'm praying that magical 2lber slips up.. 

Thanks for reading my blog and be lucky on the bank! 

First river session of 2016

With the temperatures plummeting and the majority of the lakes freezing I decided to hang up the perching gear and get out the river gear! With a week of cold weather dropping down to -6 and no rain I knew the river would be prime for a grayling or two! Maybe even a roach or two! Like normal I set my rods up the evening before. My first set up consisted of my 13ft Drennan acolyte plus coupled with a JW YOUNGS BJ centrepin loaded with 3lb Drennan mono. I know the river was a bit pacey and up so I opted to use a 3BB stick float not to heavy and not to light. Perfect for the long trot on the spots I had in mind! I always fish 3lb straight through due to the number of trout in there and snapping up numerous times gets very iterating and expensive. And I don't like the thought of a trout swimming about with a hook in his gob. I use a size 16 Drennan whisker barbed super specialist hook to obtain a good hook hold. For my second rod and set up I use a 12ft Drennan medium match pro feeder rod with a small reel loaded with 4lb Drennan feeder mono. I use a small 1oz maggot feeder tied on a double not system so it acts as a bolt rig system so the grayling in particular don't gut hook. I use a 3lb hooklink with a size 18 spade end hook. With both rods set up and my maggot lightly dusted in some pure liver powder I was ready for the days fishing ahead. It wasn't long before I was on walking the river bank. I stopped off at my first spot where I like to use the feeder fishing in a nice slack In about 6ft of water where the grayling usually like to hold up in this particular swim. The water was higher than normal and slightly coloured so I knew it wasn't going to be easy! After a few casts around the swim I finally started getting a few line bites. And soon enough the tip hooped over and I was into my first grayling of 2016. And it was a lovely one at that!

After a few shots in the mist she was realeased back to her home. The swim went on to produce a few more grayling around the same size. I moved onto the next swim where I knew there were usually some roach about and of course some grayling. This swim was ideal for trotting. I baited the swim for a little while with a pinch of maggot encouraging the fish to feed without any angling pressure. After baiting for half and hour I trotted through the swim and immediately started getting finicky bites which to me looked like roach bites! After every trot I baited and left the swim for five or ten mins getting the fishes confidence up, on the next trot I struck into a finicky bite and I was into a good fish! Yup it was a roach! Which half way in decided to drop off! Classic roach! I left the swim for a while and began baiting again. And it didn't take me long to hook into another fish and loose it! These fish were being very finicky! I went on to catch a few grayling before the swim dried up and the fish moved on or just stopped feeding.

I spent the rest of the morning into the afternoon trotting through various swims catching lots and lots of different sized grayling but nothing massive but brilliant fun all the same! I ended up catching some nicer sized grayling whilst trotting which brought the tally to twenty plus grayling landed! 

I ended up in the swim I first feeder fished and started again by using the feeder and wasn't long before I had another nice sized grayling in the net. The bites were longer between and much more finicky. But I stuck at it and caught a further more three grayling. 

Eventually that swim dried up to! And by this time it was getting late into the afternoon.. Time for some roach! I spent a good few hours trotting some swims but no luck. Eventually I found some roach and was lucky enough to catch and land one before calling it a day. 

It was a enjoyable first session on the river with conditions not being the best and the river flowing very high and coloured but I caught some lovely fish and had a lovely days fishing. Thanks for taking the time to read my blog I hope you enjoyed it. 

Commercial perch fishing

Commercials have become very good perch venues due to the neglect to other species and I think specimens such as perch, roach and Rudd get ignored by the day ticket anglers in search of a quick bite from the many carp stocked in the venues. I've fished a particular commercial a couple of times now which is hordle lakes near the forest both Jim and rich the owners are lovely blokes and are always on hand to offer great advice. I've had some good results each time I've visited the venue. Although commercials have become very popular in the perch fishing scene there hard to ignore. my first session was more of a taster but on my second visit I knew the zones where the perch liked to hang about. Swim choice was quite easy really, you just look for any cover or snags or any other features such as monks or aerators which provide cover and good ambush points for the perch. Me and my mate ended up fishing next to each other with snags either side of our swims. On one rod I fished the classic running rig set up on a drennan Avon quiver 1 1/4 test curve rod and a small daiwa SS1600 reel loaded with 6lb mono and the rig itself which consisted of a size 5 ESP barbless raptor hook, a 12" 4lb drennan supplex hook link and a one once lead.

For the Hook bait I started with a king prawn soaked in pure krill extract to give the hook bait that extra pulling power over the free offerings which I scatter around the hook bait. This rod was tucked right under the snag and placed on my alarm. For the second rod I used a waggler set up with my light acolyte float rod coupled with a centrepin reel loaded with 3lb mono. I fished the waggler further out with a nice juicy lob worm.

I sprayed maggot over both rods regularly to attract any small fish which in turn would attract the perch. I also mix up a ground bait consisting of chopped prawn, worm and red maggot mixed with a blood worm mix and ball it up and introduce it to the spots.

It didn't take long for the bobin to hit the blank on the prawn rod! And after a spirited fight the first perch was in the net and weighed 2.8lb! A lovely specimen perch and a good start to the session!

I carried on fishing the waggler but only to get plagued by roach so I moved the float closer towards some snags to my left. And balled in some more ground bait in hope that some more stripeys may come along...

Feeling more confident with my approach with the waggler I was happy! But sure enough it was the prawn rod again which was away! With the bobbin hitting the blank and another spirited fight on the light tackle and  a lovely 2lb perch was again sat in the net!!! And a angry one at that! 

I persisted with the waggler and lob worm approach by roaming it around but no bites fell to the float method. But More bites fell to the King prawn rod! And I ended up landing a further three perch and loosing a couple to! Another good session! 

I returned to the venue after Christmas this timed with more king prawns soaked in pure krill extract and four pints of red maggot and some juicy lob worms. As no bites fell to the waggler on previous sessions I fished two rods on the running rig both mounted with King prawns. I fished one down to the left tight to a snag just off the marginal shelf. The second rod I fished it a little further out as I saw lots of small fry being chased by perch. 

I regularly topped up both spots with red maggot and chopped worm and King prawn soaked in krill extract. 

It was a very slow morning resulting in a few aborted takes and loosing a couple of fish which was really frustrating. By this time it was 3.30pm and the venue shuts at 4.30pm I knew time was running out and I hate blanking! So I upped the amount of chopped bait mix I was feeding into the swim. Anxiously I kept looking at my watch knowing that it'll be soon time to reel in and begin the dreaded pack down! I hate blanking as I rarely get out these days so a blank leads to fustratation but also makes me more eager to up the Anty for the next session. But.... Out of no where my left rod which was placed close to a snag just went into a melt down and line was peeling off the spool at a alarming rate making me think a rogue carp could be the culprit. So I lifted into what I thought was a carp! My mate heard the take and came over into my swim and asked if I knew what was on the end? My reply was if its perch it's a big perch! I knew deep down it was due to the viscous head shaking and sharp lunges! The fish stayed deep! I didn't want to give the fish any slack! Eventually the fish rolled on the surface and the Dorsal gave its identity away! My mate went silent as did I both knowing this was a good specimen! I didn't want this perch to drop off!!! After a few more lunges eventually the perch rose to the surface and My mate swooped the net under her and in the back of the net was a rather festively plump perch! This fish was 3lb easy and a possible new personal best! I was overwhelmed as I didn't blank! We unhooked the perch and let it rest whilst I got the rod back onto the spot and again baited with a generous amount of maggot hoping for another last minute take! We got every thing ready, sling, scales and the camera, my two mates helped with the weighing... The perch spun the needle round to 3.4lb I was overwhelmed and overjoyed! A new personal best! A brilliant late Christmas present! My mate took some beautiful shots for me to! So big up! 

I returned the perch with a big smile on my face!!! and it was a good late Christmas present! I had some really good fun fishing the commercials with some mates who were also lucky enough to catch some lovely perch. I hope you enjoyed the blog and maybe learnt something new on how to target perch. Be lucky out there. Here's a link to the website for hordle lakes. A venue well worth fishing if your after big specimen perch. 

http://m.hordlelakes.co.uk

Commercial perching to be continued....

Red fin chasing part 1

As the colder weather is moving in and the clocks going back its time to get back onto the rivers targeting the roach and grayling. I'm lucky enough to bailiff a stretch of the river itchen, I also grew up living opposite the river itchen when I was a youngster I was either swimming in it or fishing it! So bailiff'ing the Itchen was a honour really! I love it so much and luckily it's not fished a lot. 

My fave time of year on the river has to be January when it's really cold and frosty! But there's always an excuse to get out and try and target those finicky red fins! I've found a few different shoals of roach all as finicky as the other to catch with the smaller fish always being the easiest to catch. I call them the body guards! I've been lucky enough to get a few good hits through the years but none of the real bigguns I've found yet. 

Late summer of 2014 

One session every thing came right and will be a session to remember for some years to come! I was house sitting for my mum who was away on holidays for two weeks and being that she lived opposite the itchen meant I could pre bait every eve and keep an eye on one particular shoal. Right stubborn buggers they were being! I didn't have to much luck I had the odd roach but nothing to shout home about! On the last Sunday I was house sitting I popped out for the old classic "I'll only be an hour" I crept up to the shoal and threw in a few red maggot.. Something was different today? They all started to feed! Rather than the smaller roach feeding whilst the bigger roach held back in the reeds and watched they were all at it! I decided to wait a bit and continued to feed little and often and the roach still fed! My favourite tactic is to bulk the shot under the float so the maggot on the hook slowly drift down with the free offerings I chuck over the top as I found the roach like to snatch and flee. I threw out the free offerings and cast the float out.. I watched my hook bait slowly drift towards the hungry roach and the first body guard slipped up and was sitting in my net so he couldn't return to his mates to tell them about his ordeal! Again out went the free offerings followed by my float. I was working through the shoal and surprisingly the bigguns still weren't spooking but we're holding back in the weed. This cast I was the one and I watched the maggots drift towards one of the bigger roach and he swam out grabbed my hook bait I instantly struck and I was in! But sadly for a few seconds and it was all over shoal spooked! Such intelligent fish are roach! 

 

I continued angling for the roach In 2014 but not catching anything over the magic 2lb mark but still had plenty of lovely red fins! 

This Autumn/winter I was really up for trying my hardest in beating my personal best and catching my first 2lb+ roach! I spent a lot of time feeding and watching the different shoals through the close season spotting out the bigger fish dreaming of maybe one day catching them! But like always come opening they disappeared! My first roach session was early October on a Sunday bailiff walk. I found one shoal and targeted them for a few hours before a hungry jack pike moved in spooking the shoal but landed fiver roach with three of them being over 1lb+ not bad for a few hours angling!

I look forward to my next session and maybe I'll be lucky enough to catch a 2lb+ red fin! 

Last session of the season whacker

After my previous big crucian haul I thought I'd leave my crucian fishing there for the season and move onto other species. But I just had a feeling to return to the crucian Mecca just one final time for the year! I enjoyed it so much I wanted one last go. After a long week at work I couldn't wait to get down the lake. My partner Amie and daughter River came along for the afternoon/evening again. We arrived at the lake to find it packed with carp anglers. 

This proved to be a problem for me as I wanted to fish as far away from pressure as possible. Luckily I dropped in a swim close to the same zone as I had my previous haul from.

The conditions where almost spot on other than the temperature had dropped a fair amount at night.. Had I pushed my luck? I clipped up my two rods to the same area around 30 yards and had a little lead about before deciding on a nice firm area in the silt. I clipped my spomb rod to just under 30 yards and introduced a few spombs of bait to see how I got on. I then cast out the feeders and sat back and waited for the first bite... 

Unlike my previous sessions no bites came to the rods not even from tench or Rudd or even small carp? By this time my partner and daughter had left and the evening was drawing in! I was beginning to think it was to late in the year and the cold snap of Autumn had finally put a close on my crucian fishing for this year! After a few teas and dinner it was dark and yet still no bites had fallen to my traps.. It was 7.55pm and the bobin on my right rod slowly lifted up and held position.. Once I lifted into the fish I knew what it could be! Being pitch black by this point I didn't want to turn my head torch on and spook the fish and potentially loose it! Was it a small carp or a crucian? The fish was finally in the margins and rolled on the surface.. It was a huge crucian my heart was in my mouth and I played the monster sized crucian very gingerly! After a epic fight the crucian was in the net! I laid the crucian on the mat and I couldn't believe how big it was! A very deep and thick set fish! This could be a new PB! 

I called the carp angler over from the swim next door to help with photos and weighing. The needle bounced between 4.1 and 4.2lb I called it at 4.1lb another PB broken in a matter of weeks! After a few shots I returned the beautiful old crucian. 

After a few calls to my mates to let them

Know of my good fortune I made a few teas and got my head down! Around 3am I was woken by a little mirror around the 5lb mark. I left the rod out and decided to get it out accurately at first light. It wasn't long before the sun was rising lighting up the beautiful lake. 

I had some quick breakfast then I re cast the rods accurately back on the spot and put out a few spombs over the spot. Whilst spombing my right rod melted off and I lifted into what I thought was a tench but to my surprise it was another crucian! Another hairy fight in the margins and it wasn't long before the crucian was safely in the net! Another good sized fish eaily over the 3lb mark! The needle on the scails jumped round to 3.9lb another epic session for me! 

After taken some lovely photos the fish was slipped back and more precious memory's were made! No more bites came that day! Not one! Not from any Rudd tench or small carp! That was to be my final crucian session of the year but I was made up! Forty six  crucians landed in total from my few months crucian angling! Countless 2lb+ crucians! Six over the magic 3lb+ mark and two over 4lb+ what a season! All caught on different methods ranging from float fishing off the tip of the rod using a Centrepin reel to casting feeders at thirty yards using bite alarms. I learnt a lot and most of all caught a lot. With the shorter days approaching and the cold weather creeping it was time to move onto the rivers and still waters targeting other species. Be lucky in your ventures and thanks for reading another addition to my blog 

Autumn gold

After fishing the beginning of the year over the day ticket lake and catching plenty of 2lb+ crucians my thirst was getting worse to venture for bigger specimen crucians. After securing a new ticket the targets were set and I was already mapping out in my mind a plan of action! After counting down the days at work until the weekend I was finally on the banks in search of the magical crucians which reside in the overgrown beautiful looking lake! Not knowing to much other than where the crucians like to feed during the warmer months I set out wondering the banks in search of any tell tail signs. I ended up fishing a corner swim where the wind was hacking in! I opted to fish one rod on the usual method the delicate pole float off the tip of the rod using my light float rod coupled with my centre pin. I plumbed a nice depth beside some pads and baited up with caster and ground bait whilst I set up the second rod. For the second rod I set up a Inline flat method and fished around 30 yards out. It didn't take long for the bites to come to the float but they were from tiny carp. These became a problem so much so I had to stop using the float rod. 

So I ended up using two rods on the method feeders re casting every half hour to keep the swim topped up and hopefully attract those big crucians. 

I was on a tight schedule this session and I only ended up having lots of tench and a few Rudd. Sadly no crucians turned up that session but I was eager to return. 

It wasn't long before I was back walking the glorious banks trying to find a suitable swim to have another go for the crucians. This time I had a night and a days fishing so I was in no rush to find a swim and the lake was quiet to. I had Amie and my little one with me for the eve so I was looking forward to having some quality family time at the lake. And hoping to catch a crucian with my little one there. 

I ended up dropping in a swim where the wind was hacking into. There were no real features to fish to just open water which was quite daunting really as its a big old lake and the crucians could be anywhere! 

After leading about I found a nice hard spot within the silt at 30 yards out. I mixed up my spod mix which consisted of caster, hemp and ground bait and I spombed out 10 spombs and fished two rods a rod length apart. I used to inline flat methods and little 3 inch hook links and for the hook bait I used Immation casters. It didn't take long for the tench to move in! I had a lovely evening with my partner and my daughter before they shot off. 

I ended up taking the hook links off as the tench were to relentless but I  just stayed up through the night topping the swim up then at first light start fishing again. I topped the swim up with a few more spombs Before putting the rods back out.

It wasn't long for the tench to start biting again! I was beginning to loose faith but then the bobbin rose up slower and i lifted into something which felt completey different to the tench! After guiding the fish in slowly and playing it very gingerly in the margin it finally rose and it was a monserteous looking crucian! As soon as it was in the net the second rod was away!!!! It was another epic sized crucian! I had to take a breather I couldn't believe what I was looking at in my landing net! 

I weighed the smaller fish of the two which swung round the needle to 3.8oz a new PB! My heart began to beat even harder as I knew the fish in the net was even bigger!!!!! The needle swung round to 4lb but was bouncing between 4lb and 3.15oz so I did the honest thing and called it 3.15! 

I was overwhelmed! And on cloud nine! Two fantastic fish and it was still early! I gave my mate a txt and he was soon over to take the photos for me! 

          3.8lb

            3.15lb 

My mate did epic epic photos! I just couldn't believe my luck! 

A lovely brace of specimen crucians 

I was on cloud nine and made a phone call to a couple of mates and my partner Amie to inform them of my news. The bites continued but not from crucians from the tench and carp. Before long the takes dried up so I put out another few spombs of caster and mixed ground bait. It went quiet so i decided to leave the rods out there and it wasn't long before I was into another crucian playing it as gently as possible in the margin with my heart in my mouth.. I got him in the net! A beautiful crucian at that to! And again the second rod tore off! Another crucian to! At first I thought it was only a two pounder but once in the net it again dwarfed the other crucian! I couldn't believe it! The first one went 3.10 and the second well... It went 4lb I immediately started shaking and phoned my mate again! I was bouncing around the swim like a mad man! What a session so far!!!! My mate turned up and took some really beautiful pictures! 

A lovely old specimen! 3.10lb

I simply couldn't believe what I was holding in my hands a 4lb crucian! a fish I've only ever dreamt about let alone catching one! My grandad would be so proud! In fact I know he was right beside me in spirit. 

The magical 4lb crucian! What a specimen! 

We had to do some more brace shots! I Just couldn't believe what was happening!!! 

After slipping back the beautiful bars of gold I didn't expect to catch anymore crucians but if I didn't who cares after the morning I've had so far! After topping up the swim once again with a few spombs of bait it didn't take the tench and carp long to move in making it a very busy fishing! Spombing over the rods whilst getting takes! Crazy angling! I was really enjoying myself I hadn't even eaten anything I was literally burning off of adrenaline! Again I was waiting and wondering if the crucians would move back in? Tench after tench I was beginning to think the crucians had Deff moved off but the bobin on my left rod dropped back and I was once again Into what felt like another crucian after guiding it in it wasn't long before it showed itself I was into another decent looking crucian! After a hairy battle under the rod rip I guided the bar of gold into the back of my net! And before I had time to have a look at the fish the other rod was away! Another savage take but to a

Crucian! Another heart in the mouth battle I didn't wanna loose anything I hooked crucian wise from here as I knew it holds so many special fish! Luckily the crucian was met by my net! Again my net was filled with gold! 

After sending my mate another txt like the true gent he was he was back in my swim doing the photos! These two went 3.2lb and 3.8lb smallest of the session so far but still over the magic 3lb barrier a true red letter days angling! So far! 

The 3.8lb crucian was a real character out of the pair!

I think that smile says it all! 3.2lb 

After slipping back the fish and taking a breather I just sat on my bed chair in ore! Truly overwhelmed! By this point I was beginning to feel tired and my session was drawing to a close but I still angled hard! Continually topping up the swim every hour and re casting the rods every half hour battling through the continuess tench and carp! Slowly but surely my bait bucket of spomb mix was getting lower and lower and my session drew to a close! My Mrs Amie even suggested I did another night but I was happy enough with my days angling and the results! The tench did me out of bait before my Mrs arrived. So I just left the rods out and sat down and took the session in!

 

It's rare when things come together so well for me with my angling especially in this manor anyway but this year I had a bee in my bonnet and targets I wanted to achieve and so far so good! I'm in two minds whether to return to the crucian Mecca but it was so much fun they'll be one or two more trips this year before I move onto my new Perch winter ticket in search for a 3lb+ stripey or even a 4lb stripey! Thanks again for taking the time to read my blog I hope you enjoyed it and liked the imagery. Be lucky in your ventures... F