Clickbait

Date fished 22/07/2026

13.30 until 16.30

Flexi in the bank, I decided to take some and go to the bank. 

I drove to Tilcon as it's less than 10 mins from the office. Quickly chatted to another member, then set up the feeder and cast in, soft robin red hooker on the hair. Fourth cast and the tip spun around. An ide.

Plenty of taps and knocks, but I was getting bored of the feeder. I switched to float fishing sweetcorn and feeding my corn and hemp mix.

It worked and was a wonder bait. For the next two hours it was great fishing. The lake really is fishing well at the moment. 

I caught at least 15 ide, maybe 20. I wish I had my clicker as I lost count. A tench, a bream and several good roach.

A double figure mirror carp with a distinctive scale pattern swam right in front of me. I hoped he didn't show an interest in my sweetcorn. 

I was fishing fairly close in, one rod, sweetcorn. It could not be simpler. It really was a great few hours. 

Eventually the promise of fish and chips for tea was too much and I headed home. 

Always time for one more ide though.

I really was glad my bait mixture worked, but I was annoyed I forgot my clicker. 

Mr Whippy

Date fished 5/7/2026

5.45am until 8.30am 

The house was quiet, people in the street were snoring softly. I crept out with Mr Whippy and the float rod and headed the short distance to Wydon. 

For those of you that dont know, Mr Whippy was my dads favourite rod. At a little over 5ft, he is diminutive in stature, but he is strong. My dad had caught carp to double figures on him a mere few inches from the bank. He is a perfect stalking opportunist rod, and seeing as most of my Wydon fishing is a few feet from the bank, I paired him with a hybrid feeder to do some close in ledgering for tench. Mr Whippy last featured on the blog in 2020 here. 

I arrived at 5.45am. I feed some hemp at 5.50am, cast ( well dropped in) at 5.51am. At 5.55am the float sailed away, two minutes in the fight and at 5.57am a tench lay in the net.

A roach on the float followed and soon the whole swim was alive with fish. I wanted to catch on Mr Whippy, so I dropped the feeder in the spot. It was 6.57am and Whippy pulled around. A short fight and a bream lay in the net! 

Wanting to get back to the float fishing, I swapped back. Two more tench, another roach and six rudd topped off a great few hours.

Long but skinny

The smallest, but equally welcome

The rain started and as I left a man and boy were just arriving. I told them the swim and where I was feeding, so I hope they could carry on where I left off. 

Getting home at 8.59am, I was annoyed it wasn't 8.57. The daughter was still sat on the sofa in her pyjamas. She said "morning dad, morning Mr Whippy'.

That made me happy! 

June 28th

8.50am until 12pm

Sadly, June 28th will always be the day Davey died. I remember dates, but try not to dwell. This year I wanted to fish.

Deciding to stay local, I opted to fish Wydon in Hexham. 

A late start and I drove up, very lazy!! I wanted it to be chilled though. Hopefully I would have a good few hours fishing the float, catch a tench, avoid the rain and all would be well. 

One out of three!! ( it also rained!)

Not long after I started, the float dipped and I struck. This was a big fish and it went out to the middle, not by the reeds. 

It felt breamy and to be honest, it felt foul hooked. I couldn't lift it and eventually it shed the hook. The hook came back with a small scale on it and the line covered in slime. I might of been correct!! 

Loads of silvers later and the float went again. Resistance for a nano second then up it popped. My first Wydon bream.

Chatting to a very knowledgeable child in the next peg, he said the bailiff said only eight were stocked. Who knows!? But it felt like a special catch on a day I wanted something. 

I fished on and after a few more roach and rudd, decided to call it a day. Happy, I drove home. Its not a sad day, its a day of memories. 

Enjoy making yours! 

Two barbel, five bream, six perch!!

Date fished 18/6/2026

7am until 3pm

Ellis and I went to the Ouse today. We had a great, great session. 

Two rods ledgered mid river or towards the tree lined far bank proving to be the tactic! 

I will let you into a secret, the bait today that worked was worms! Many other pellets laid unmolested, but not the worms!!

I actually can't remember the sequence of what we caught when. But I know, I did catch a couple of bream then a barbel and Ellis caught his barbel whilst I had my third bream in the net!! 

3lb 12oz

4lb 12oz

We have never both caught a barbel in the same session,  plenty of chub but never barbel. We wondered if we could top the day off with a chub each from the Nidd. This proved a touch too far for our luck, so we headed back to Ellis's house for a celebratory beer!!

RoboAngler

Date fished 4/5/2026

9am until 12.30pm

An unexplained but very painful wrist, thumb and forearm injury had me sporting specialist equipment. Would it impact my fishing?

After a leisurely morning, I headed to Tilcon. It had been red hot earlier in the week, but much cooler and wet yesterday. 

I just brought the waggler rod and a few different baits. I wanted to catch on 'summery' baits like sweetcorn in the hope it would make me forget about the bad winter fishing I had. I also wanted to try a new bait. 

I have been watching lots of YouTube recently and not just fishing either! And whilst I tell the kids to stop watching such nonsense, I am totally addicted to Geowizard and Jetlag the game. Check them out! 

Now, they do some cool things and challenges. I wasn't going to go so far, but decided that I could only use tackle from my dad's old box. I brought mine too, but left it in the car, I'm not crazy!! 

I tackled up and was soon fishing. The wrist was doing OK and bites started. I missed a few but with regular feeding, I could see the ide cruising just under the surface. They are not hard to catch and soon I had a few to corn and maggot. 

As long as my non injured forearm! 

I had another toy with me, inspired by watching Snagged bro on YouTube. I told you I am addicted!!

It actually ended on three but I missed a fair few bites, bumped off some fish and even lost a good bream at the net due to wrist failure! 

It was a good few hours on the lake, which was packed. Most anglers I have seen fishing on it, which is great to see. I didn't manage to catch on the new bait  but am sure it won't be long and I will have the bream eating out of my 'splint less' hand!! 

One eyed Willy

Date fished 5/5/25

10am until 3pm

No confusion on the date today with our American friends, the day equalled the month. All I knew was I didn't have to work, so after some childcare duties this morning, I headed to Tilcon. Determined (or just stubborn) to catch  on a bait, I have used once before but never caught on............

Armed with the float rod and the ledger, it was prawn on both! Loose feed for the float of breadcrumb, corn and prawns, the same mix in the feeder. 

I fished not my usual area today, I was hoping for a big perch and I think they live here...

The ledger was cast over by the trees, the float just beyond the bush to my right. Two biteless hours, but I was happy. Well, I hadn't got wet or frozen to death, I thought I might. It was actually a lovely morning. The lake was quiet, a few anglers down the other end. The wind was blowing into my corner though and soon it woke up. Fish topping like mad. Intrigued, I started chucking some bread on the surface and watched it get taken. But I was sticking to crustaceans! 

I soon got some bites on both methods, the prawn coming back shredded when I retrieved it. I decided to cast the ledger a bit further from the trees as lots of fish were showing here, this is not the view you then want to see on your reel...

I will put some more line on this next week

Settling into a feeding rhythm, it must have got the fish looking for food. I say looking, is that the action when you only have one eye? 

The float disappeared and I struck into Willy. A battered poor bream. A quick pic and he swam away strong, clearly two eyes are not always needed. 

No eye on this side, but healed over

As fish moved into the bay, I cast the ledger closer to the float and soon had an area I was able to concentrate on. A busy 20 mins of the ledger constantly rattling, unfortunately brought no more fish. Whilst touch ledgering though, I connected. A greedy ide taking a whole prawn! 

A few more hours of just watching the lake and I was relaxed and rested, I was so chilled a deer didn't even notice me as it noisly walked through the woods behind me, perfect.

I decided to head home. 

More of a entrance phrase than an exit one, and if you know, you know. So it's just left for me to say.....

Hey, You Guys!! 

Last day of summer!?

Date fished 31/08/2024

7.15am until 1.30pm

Autumn was fast approaching last week, but now summer has come back for the last few days. I was not sure where to fish, asking the daughter was no use as she replied "I dont care daddy". I took that to mean maybe try feeder fishing for bream on the Tees, so off I went. 

The car said it was six degrees, and it felt it. I stopped at the tackle shop and bought some back door bait! Awesome service as usual from Cleveland Angling centre!! 

A short walk to the river and it looked lovely, if not a little cool. I definitely regretted removing the legs from my trousers last night. It was not shorts weather!! 

A feeder with groundbait, smashed corn and pellets left over from my last trip was cast at 20 turns into the depths. I alternated with maggots, worm or corn on the hook. 

It was calm and cold first thing but soon the wind picked up. This changed it to windy and cold!! I moved my chair into the sun to try and get some warmth. Unfortunately the clouds stopped that. 

I missed the first few lightening fast bites, but by shortening the hooklink, I soon connected with something. It was a small skimmer, but made me happy. 

If I thought this one was small, the next made me laugh, not smile. Perfectly formed, miniature skimmer. 

By now the rowers had started and the river was not just alive with fish topping, it had a human presence too. I was the only angler on the bank, but a few went by on a boat. The dragon boat whizzed past with some encouragement from the cox. 

The fishing was slow but I kept changing things, mainly my position to stay warm. Maybe I should of trotted maggots somewhere? Then the rod nearly got pulled in, thinking it was something big was quickly quashed as a tiny perch came in. 

I watched something chasing fry in the shallows, so next reel in I jigged the worm behind the feeder. It is a new technique I call "drop feedering". I am awaiting the patent lawyer's call anytime now. Anyway, a perch grabbed the worm, so it must have some merit. 

The wind was now blowing straight at me and it was chilly. I decided to call it a day. 

19 degrees the car now said! 

Seems shorts was the right choice, but now I am looking forward to Autumn and winter, they separates the men from the boys!