Am not after carp

Date fished 2/8/2026

6.30am until 10am 

The best decisions are made at silly o'clock. 4.48am and I decided I would go fishing. 

Float rod, sweetcorn, Tilcon.

In truth, I was after carp. Well, crucian carp. I have wanted to catch one for ages as I have never caught one. 

I set up in a swim I have never fished before. I fed some bait and cast out the float. It wasn't long and it sailed away. Striking into what I thought would be an ide. It was not. It headed for the far bank! A proper carp had picked up my single grain of corn on a size 18 and was heading out of Gateshead. I played it around in the open water, fortunately I was not fishing close up to the bushes and soon it was in the net.

7lb 1oz

More feed and it was a bite a chuck. Have caught many bream from the lake but not many smaller, skimmer sized bream. 

Mostly roach followed and a few ide and tench. Playing one fish, I saw a flash of gold. Was this it? 

My first ever crucian. I was buzzing.

I stopped the clicker on 24 as my wrist was sore and I needed to rest. I am sure I would of caught a good few more fish, but sometimes you have to settle with what you have! 

A perfect morning. 

Uncley Adrian

Date fished 7/8/2024

11.15 until 14.15

I am currently in Dorset with the kids. We had sea fishing booked for today but some wild weather put paid to that. Rupe and I took the youngest cousin, Eddie for a few hours on a lake. See if we could christen his new rod and catch him his first proper fish!! 

We headed to Mangerton Lake, a few miles from home. A small (ish) lake with carp to 20lb but also some roach, which should keep Eddie entertained. They also did a three hour 'day' ticket ideal for short sessions with youngsters. 

Float rods with sweetcorn for the kids. A ledger sleeper rod with pellets for me. Although I was kept busy elsewhere. Eddie caught his first two fish before I even sat down!! His first one jumping back in before I could take a picture, so this was his second ever fish. 

Rupe fished in his own peg and was also soon on two fish. It was now we stopped for lunch. Very civilised, Eddie properly stopped fishing and ate all his lunch. What a lad!! 

A few line bites on my ledger kept my eyes flicking towards the sleeper. However, I had to keep landing fish for Eddie. He was soon on four roach for the day!! His float shot under and he struck, he quickly said "what's this Uncley Adrian? It's much bigger!!"

With some expert guidance and assistance from said Uncley, I mean uncle. We soon had a much bigger fish in the net. 

At 9lb 1oz, Eddie's fifth ever fish was a pb he may have for a while.  We packed up and headed home. Not sure what the six year old equivalent of a pint is, but I am sure Eddie will be having a couple tonight!! 

Fishing with Stan

Date fished 9/8/2022

8am until 2pm

Six anglers (five spectators) descended on Potwell fishery in Broadwindsor for our annual family fishing trip. Our holiday had already been fish related when the Dawson's moved house and I was asked to "catch" the fish from the pond. Just a small net was needed, unfortunately! 

The three Northern Chumbleys, one Southern, the eldest Dawson child and his mate Stan were the anglers. Plenty of pellets, sweetcorn and some stale cheese scones that were crumbed filled the bait boxes, whilst float rods, ledger rods and a 4m whip was the tackle.

Rupe started on the ledger whilst I set up float rods for the others. A quiet start but as the hour approached, Rupes rod whipped around and the spool started spinning. Rupe played the fish to the net and the net was soon full. A 5 lb common carp the first fish of the day. 

Several small roach then took a liking to the sweetcorn and soon the anglers were getting a good few lightening fast bites, most were missed though. Stan then arrived, he had never fished before and was keen to learn. I had not started to fish yet and became "teacher" to set Stan up. He was soon casting with great accuracy and feeding too. The fish, not himself, he didn't eat until he caught! More to come on that. 

Davey's fish

Sam was getting lots of bites and I was jumping between the kids as each called louder than the last. ( Reminds me of a game we used to play at school). Sam connected with a bite and caught his first fish, he allowed his brother to hold it too. 

Sam

Eddie

Finally Stan caught a roach, but it came off whilst we were landing it. We would of called that his first ever fish, but we hoped more was to come! 

Lunch was started about 10am and Eddie helped to polish off everything on offer! Hats were very much needed today, even under parasols. The hats were swapped about and soon I was wearing Martha's. But not until after she had caught her first fish of the day, she actually did it all on her own. 

As the morning turned to afternoon, we fished on. Stan stayed in his spot and kept up the feeding. He was soon rewarded as his float sailed away, this was no roach. He played it well and after a few long runs from the carp it was soon ready for the net. Stan played it over the waiting net as Rupe held it steady. 

Hat swapped

We weighed this fish, a lovely mirror carp of 7lb 4oz.

We let the fish rest a long while after the battle

Stan was now able to eat his lunch! Everyone had caught something except me by now and as our numbers dwindled to go visit the horses, I got a go with the ledger rod. I needn't of bothered, the early afternoon temperature was boiling and we decided to call it a day. Technically I blanked, albeit I only fished for less than an hour during the hottest part of the day, that's my excuse! 

Call it beginners luck, I call it skill and persistence. Stan was patient and kept casting and feeding in the same spot. We never got round to using the whip, maybe I was too scared to try. Stan had already given me a whiping with the rod, I didn't wanna be shown up anymore!! 

Hooked on fishing! 

Supersize me

Date fished 4/6/2022

6.30am until 12pm

I can hear the running water calling for June 16th, but today's water was still. 

An early morning walk with Tom yesterday followed by a celebratory McDonald's (or two) without having to leave Hexham was enough to plan a return trip to Tilcon. This time Tomald was also coming. I better get the camera ready, I thought as I got the same kit from Thursday ready again.  

Tom picked me up at 6am and we headed to the lake. A barmy 10 degrees on the thermometer. There was no one on the lake so we had plenty of options. Tom fancied fishing in his corner, he has not been there in a while, so we walked around that side. I opted to fish in the next swim which was shouting distance. 

I had the usual float rod, flask of hot coffee and sweetcorn, Tom had two rods, groundbait, toilet paper, pellets and pop up boilies with feeders. (All the essentials).

The thermometer had not taken the wind into account, it was alot cooler than 10 degrees. I swapped my cap back to my wolly hat, Tom had to go get his big mac coat from the car and still complained of being a bit cold! 

A few nuggets of loose feed next to the lillies and I was soon fishing. It was my rod that took first dibs, a perfectly formed tench scrapping all the way to the bank and beyond. Flipping between my hands a few times. Quickly followed by its twin, although I wished they had gone large.

The first

Second tench

Despite the cold, we fished on past breakfast. Tom catching a little skimmer before finally getting a proper bend. An old friend, a Carp Tom has caught off the surface previously, easily recognised by its small, non food stuffing mouth. 

There was a flurry of activity for me next, several roach and silvers coming in quick succession. With a quarter of the lake to go at, Tom soon started to cast further from the lillies. This paid off and a good sized F1 found the net. I netted my smaller hybrid/skimmer and prepared them for a double hook up shot. 

A steady run of fish and missed bites on the float kept me warm, between sporadic glimpses of the sun which really heated us up. The brilliant golden colour of a rudd had me thinking about blog themes. Mmmm, I wonder.

One such dip of the float was met with solid resistance, the fish actually going off in the lillies. I played it carefully not really knowing what it was. Eventually it popped to the surface, a nice male bream, still with spawing tubercules.

4lb 4oz

Tom and I chatted and joked to warm up, the best moment being when we wondered if Tom's net was regular, medium or large!? It certainly made us happy (without the toy!).

Whilst we were loving it during today's trip not all of the golden arches products got a mention. Of course I deliberately left out chocolate milkshakes because as so often happens, "we've run out of milkshakes!!" 

Crap (anag)

Date fished 2/6/2022

6am until 1pm

As the above showed nothing relating to Hexham to Ryton (not including County show traffic on Friday) I was free to get in the car and travel the 17.6 miles to the lake. 

Fishing a bank Holiday that wasn't a Monday was still confusing, but Liz said it was fine so Thursday and Friday it was to be. I was enjoying the float fishing so much, I decided not to change anything today. The float rod, sweetcorn and some micro pellets my companions for this trip. 

The weather was supposed to change, it had been on and off rain since the weekend, but with warmer, sunny weather forecast I went early morning to be finished by early afternoon. A match was scheduled for the evening too, so I wanted to be out of their way.

I arrived at 6am and another angler was in the swim I was going to fish, not to be deterred I went round the other side of the lake and fished Tom's corner. It was only five degrees when I had left the house, but now the car said eight, I hoped it would get warmer, although not by too much as I had no sun cream with me. 

I fed some corn and pellets and started to fish. Plenty of bites and fish showing but nothing was being caught by me as yet.  An angler opposite caught a bream but still I was blanking. 

After two hours the float buried and I struck, this time the fish was hooked. It went straight into the lillies, the drag giving line as a powerful fish kept swimming. The five pound mainline to three pound hooklink meant I played it carefully. Soon, the fish was out in the open and again I played it carefully, I was hoping to see a big green tench. I got it in the net, and eager crossword participants amongst you will already know what it is!? 

My first Carp from Tilcon, and a 5lb 10oz blank saver.

Thanks to Nick, who took the pictures whilst he was setting up in the next swim! 

The remainder of the session brought the usual suspects:

A Perch caught on sweetcorn

Roach

Rain!

Ide

Cracking Silver's 

Yes, you read it right. After some fierce sun which was clearly cooking my arms, it started to rain. A good 10 minutes of coolness but the blue sky soon returned. 

By the time the cricket started, I was in a steady routine of catching and soon had a good (metaphoric) net full. 

This day was getting even more unusual, England had taken six wickets by the time I left. There was nothing crap about this session, I just love a (not) difficult anagram.