Lost pb

Date fished 8/8/2026

11.30am until 2.30pm

I am too annoyed to:

Tell you about the new 11ft Map Generation Pro float rod I bought and wanted to try out today.

Tell you how I float fished sweetcorn under a pellet waggler, probably not correctly but it was Davey's float and I wanted to use it.

Mention that  a carp grabbed my single corn on a size 14 and sped across the lake, under an island and I lost the hook and the float. All the weights were still on the line. Odd.

Show you the seven small roach that did christen the rod.

I will tell you what annoyed me though.

My float dipped, I struck and it stayed low. Pulling back. Carp, I thought. Then it popped to the surface like a bream. It didn't know it was hooked. It had stripes though and red fins. A massive perch had fancied my corn. It was hooked square in the lip. 

I played it carefully as now it realised and dived under the weeds. The new rod did well, lunges and runs absorbed. I got the net ready and started to bring the two together. I wondered what it would weigh!?

Disaster, the hook hold gave way. No line break, no rubbish knot. A good old fashioned hook pull. I was gutted, I actually swore. 

As my daughter has just pointed out, how did I know it was a pb? I have seen many big perch and this was well over two, if not three pounds. 

It was a bream sized perch.

Actually annoyed typing. Bye. 😃 

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. 

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! 

Chub or dace? Who cares?

Yes, I know its a perch 

Date fished 17/09/2023

8am until 5pm

I had not fished with or seen Ellis since December last year. DIY, work and Dorset being the reasons.  Today we met up on the Tees, travelling light with float gear, a few different baits and plenty to catch up on. I arrived at my usual 'early' time and Ellis was already parked up and sorting his gear! What was going on?? 

I needn't of worried, I was ready first and waited for him to faff about, just returning to the parked cars once.

We walked down to the river, to see how it looked. 

Perfect! The answer.

We walked a way and soon found a beach area where we could tackle up then both fit in and fish. The river was fast but we started to fish. Second trot through, I lost a fish. A good sign! 

As we fished a few metres apart, Ellis saw an otter spring from the bank and plunge into the river between us! We watched the bubbles as it swam away. 

A few chublets each here and it was time to move on. I still question every dace or chub but they never confirm what they are!

The second swim we tried again produced fish. It was also quite fast. A fast channel with a slower still bit by the bank where some trees had fallen in and to the left side of the fast channel cut towards the main flow in the river. It turned out to be a fish highway. 

I fished the left side, Ellis the right. I lost a fish whilst Ellis got snagged and had to tackle up again. A size 16 being the best!  I caught a roach from the faster bit that looked like it would only produce grayling. I also caught grayling.

The second much bigger than the first, caught on worm

Ellis tried bread, I have watched many a youtuber catch a lot of fish on bread, it looks so simple. It didn't prove effective today.

A change to worm on the hook, and my float buried and something bigger pulled back. The fast water helping the fish. I played it a while until the 2lb hook link snapped. Gutted.

Ellis was back and fishing, we were both catching fish, then it was his turn for a big one. He played it longer than I did, but then his hook came out. Gutted times 2.

Our luck changed and soon bigger fish found the net, we both had some nice perch from the fast water. 

Ellis noted the fallen trees in the now slack water, the river was dropping. He was sure the perch would be here. As I trotted he cast a worm to the still water and lake fished on the river! It worked and his float sailed away at least five times and a perch his reward every time. 

The faster section was still producing, and as a bird of prey, we are gonna say buzzard, but we "don't know our birds of prey" circled above us my float dipped away. A big smile on Ellis's face as he saw before me. A gonk the surprise! 

As close to a Tees barbel as we have ever come! 

We were chatting and laughing as hard as we were fishing, putting the world to rights as the maggots tumbled through the water. The sun broke through the clouds and the fishing didn't stop. A crazy 10 minutes brought chublets (everyone questioned about being dace) on a bite a chuck basis. Roach also kept featuring. 

Such was the fishing or maybe it was being out of practice, but my arm started to ache. We could of emptied the river here, that was my answer to Carole's question "have you caught anything yet?" But we decided to move on. 

We walked to the swim Ellis fished last time. In those conditions on that day, it was the first fishable swim we got to. Today was very different. We fished a swim each, shouting distance apart. Both from the bank now, allowing our waders to dry, glad my trousers were still dry, gotta love my new waders! Casting mid river and feeding breadcrumb, as it was much slower here, we both caught roach, chublets and perch. Nothing massive, but it was nice in the sun and great to be out fishing with Ellis again. 

Ellis thought we had some dace, I thought they were all chublets. On reflection, who cares? We certainly don't. We just had a great time fishing!

N.b I actually think Ellis was right, I think some were dace!! Ffs, seems I do care...........

Spot the difference

Date fished 7/4/2023

7.30 am until 2pm

More of the same at Tilcon today. Looking at the match results from Sunday, 19lb won it. Been a while since I caught more than 19lb in a session. 

I have been thinking of bringing the kitchen scales so I can weigh some of the smaller fish for some time, but always forgotten. I don't know how much they weigh, the fish not the scales!! Today was the day I found out....

I had dead maggots, worms and sweetcorn along with the float rod. I caught on all three, but the better stamp (accurate, because I know) came to sweetcorn. 

Not wanting my blogs to be the same, I wont give a blow by blow account of todays trip, I will just highlight the differences, and provide you with some (small) weights!

3.7 oz

4.3 oz

5.0 oz

7.5 oz

4.6 oz

3.6 oz

So, what did I learn? 

Pretty much that my general estimates are "accurate", but as with bigger fish its quite hard to be spot on. 

I would like to do this again and catch some of the micro perch, as I am sure they weigh next to nothing! 

Secondly, I learnt that I won't be entering any matches soon! I watched a host of much better than I (match) anglers today fishing the pole. They smashed it, really good fishing. But I enjoyed myself, and incidentally there were no differences worth highlighting! 

£5.50

Date Fished 10/9/2022

8.30am until 1.30pm 

Northern fishing was back on after my exploits down south. What was trying to scupper my fishing was (much needed) rain, two teeth extractions yesterday and the sad passing of HM Queen Elizabeth II. 

All that aside, I planned a Tees trip with Tom, he was new to the club I fish, so it was to be a tour as well as a fishing expedition. The levels were touch and go. I got up at 5am to check, they were OK, so away we went. I collected him via a road closure and we headed to Rambo's so I could buy bait. A pint of reds and a small tub of dendras and we were away. 

Patriotic rod

I was going to float fish and Tom was lure fishing. I fed some maggots and set the rod up. Tom chucked some plastic into the river,  that's lure fishing not littering! 

We leap frogged upstream until I eventually found the fish. With the river being quite high, they were not a rod length out from the bank, more like a match stick length out. 

I caught half a dozen small roach and some even smaller chub. Chub that would be scared by minnows, they were so small. 

Micro chub

Tom had bites, connected but sadly the fish got off. It was promising they were finding his lures, so surely it was only a matter of time. We walked on, me showing Tom the area so he would know for next time. 

As this was an explore combined with fishing, we jumped in the car and I drove to another club stretch. We fished a few swims and was soon separated as I trotted and Tom lured. 

When we finally came back together there was a story. Tom had caught a nice perch but it jumped out the net whilst he was getting ready for a picture. 

We believe him though, a "one that got away" story usually is a 5lb perch not a 0.5lb perch! This is not a nod to the title, just a coincidence. I managed to leave the tackle shop by only spending £5.50!! 

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!