BRYANS ANGLE

I,,ve been fishing a few times this year but to be quite honest the fishing has been a load of crap. I,ve blanked for pike on two venues, both stillwater and rivers. I,ve also blanked once for perch in my banker areas. Whats going on??? I have managed a couple of fish but nothing to jump and shout about. A nice chub of around a pound or so on my floatfished lobworm. Had this lovely 2lb perch as well. Why the fishing has been so poor I just cannot say. I,ve fished in banker swims at the time in the perfect conditions, but on the whole its been really hard going for very little reward. Maybe it,ll pick up in the new year, heres hoping.................................

A few weeks ago Ryan and myself fished the Fens for a weekend with our expectations high with the thoughts of big pike and glass eyed zander rolling through our heads. We opted to fish a drain that we havn,t ventured upon before to see how it fairs compared to our usual haunts. After a bit of driving around we found a nice looking stretch and set about roving along its length. After a couple of moves I had a run on my livebait but totally missed it as I was day dreaming. We moved along to the start or a reeded area and swung out our baits, my two being a free roaming livie and a deadbait and Ryans being two deads. Within 5mins I had the shout from Ryan to signal he was into a fish, as I got closer to him the shout turned into a more urgent "hurry the fook up its a goodun" tone. And she was a goodun too, after a couple of runs I deftly, I,m getting good at netting other peoples fish, scooped up the pike and proceeded to carry her up ...

After waiting for ages I,ve finally managed to get my custom fishing dinghy afloat. My Dad has made this from scratch in glassfibre to my specifications, its only a small easily manageble 8ft 6in glassfibre dinghy which has been built to take two big blokes and a bit of tackle. The idea being that I can use it on a couple of local rivers as well as take it up the Fens and use it on a few of the drains and smaller rivers there. It may look small but its perfectly formed. Its got a flat floor which has glassfibre sealed epu foam beneath it which gives it exceptionally bouyancy so this baby isn,t going to sink. With the moulded ribs its also really stable. And thats a 4hp yamaha on the back which pushes it along lovely. We used it on a local river and poodled of to fish behind some boats at a near by marina christened her in style with Ryan managing 2 perch over 2lb to just under 3lb. I had 2 pike of 3lb and 8lb on my livies as well as a lovely perch of 2lb 10oz. Oddly I caught thes...

Midday i arrived at a local club stillwater to have a go for the big perch i,ve heard rumoured that live there. I,ve fished it a couple of times last year but as yet have not managed to bank any perch over a few ounces but I keep thinking that there must be some biggies in there as its teeming with stunted silverfish. Anyway I set up half down the right side bank as the other two swims that I was hoping to get in are taken, this doesn,t bother too much as last time I was here in the next swim, which I can easily cast to, I found a deeper hole in the lakes bed close in and had some good fun catching double figure carp on my perch gear. the weather was overcast but mild with quite a strong breeze, jumper weather really. I mixed up a nice dark groundbait mix of 50/50 van den eynde super black and sensas red magic along with chopped worms, maggots, liquid worm and grub juice and feed an area close in along the bank and another  two rod lengths out where the at the bottom of the margi...

A few weeks ago I couldn,t contain myself anymore and had to point the truck Cambridgeshire way and fish the mighty Fenlands for their predatory inhabitants. I normally go for the weekend but unfortunately i could only do the one day so on Sunday 16th October I made my way North at stupid-o-clock to get to my chosen destination at first light. I arrived at my chosen river before light and set about carrying my kit to my first swim, a well known big fish area once upon a time. I set up two rods on floats, one as a deadbait and the other as a free roaming livie rig, cast out the deadbait and them proceeded to winkle out a few nice silvers for the other. When I had enough of them I cast my float to the near margin to my left fishing 3ft deep over a bed of heavy weed. Over the next couple of hours I had 2 mid single figure pike and bumped of a good double on the lives. It was great fishing the lives as the water was really clear and I was fishing just over the top of the reeds and could ...

Few weeks ago i took delivery of my new toy, a second hand viper icon bait boat. I bought this because i,m planning on fishing a large water this winter for pike and its hopefully going to help me fish some of the distant areas. Well as you can guess i was gagging to try it out, especially as i also bought a fish finder for it as well, so on a rainy sunday morning i was set up on a local gravel at first light with everything ready for her maiden voyage. I took her for a trip around my swim to get a feel for the controls and also to see what the bottom was like. This really surprised me as the contour of this lake is a lot more uneven than i thought, with troughs and humps rising and falling by 2-3ft here and there. I located a nice channel about 60 yds out which was behind a weed bed which i dropped a bait on. Then a hole 20 yds out which you wouldn,t guess was there as it was in the middle of a weedbed, so a bait went there as well. Finally i sent a floatfished roach out to an area...

This sunday just gone i was up before it was light and winging my way to the local River Chelmer for a wee spot of dangling. Unfortunately i got my timings wrong and actually arrived a good 30 minutes before the sun even starting to rise. So in darkness i loaded myself up with tackle and set of to the area that i fancied fishing for perch and maybe a pike or two. Carefully i set up in my chosen swim trying not to make too much noise as i knew there could be a predator nearby in the bankside reeds waiting for the sun to rise and highlight his prey. Well i got my float rod set up ready to catch some livies and also my perch rod set up ready to fish said livies just as it started to get light. Looking up the river it was a bit foggy which looked great and just added to the serenity as i sat there sipping on my cup of rosie. As soon as it was light enough to see my float tip i started to fish single maggot on a size 22 in hope of some nice mouth size silver fish. Well the theory was ...

I,ve decided that i,m going to be running a species list to keep track of what fish i have caught over the coming years. I remember a while ago there was a chappie interviewed in Anglers Mail who spent his time fishing around the world amassing a huge list of different species and i have to say it was awe inspiring the amount of fish he caught and the effort he put into it. Well i,m not saying i,ll go to those extremes but i,m going to be keeping my own list from now on, both coarse and sea, and maybe some game if i ever do any fly fishing again. Should be quite good fun i reckon............

Last sunday i couldn,t sleep too well and was wide awake at 4.30am watching the bedroom curtains flutter in the breeze. What was i to do being awake at this ungodly hour!!! A rather impressive fart from the missus shook my senses and had me jumping out of bed getting dressed in the dark, promptly tripping over the dogs, and stumbling down the stairs to make a cuppa before getting my kit ready for a couple of hours sneaky dangling. The problem was what should i fish for... I have deadbaits in the freezer ready for the pike but it was forecast to be hot and it still felt too early. I had worms in the fridge which i could use on the perch or even chub on my local river, nah didn,t feel that. Then it hit me, ultralight lure gear for jack pike and hopefully a perch or two. Now that sounded like a good plan so i grabbed my kit and a box full of shads and alphabet lures and away i went to my local river arriving before the sun was even up... My first spot was my banker swim in between t...

A couple of weeks ago i decided to have a couple of hours after the bass that i,ve been hearing rumours about that have been getting caught on the River Blackwater near to where i live. I chose a nice evening tide giving me high water at 9.30pm, ordered 3 packs of ragworm and waited for the day to come round. As it luck would have it i nearly didn,t go as the other half booked me in to have my tattoo finished off and a cancellation had come in and i was next on the list. So thinking that my arm was going to be smarting like a mofo i opted to give the fishing a miss that evening. It turned out that the tattoo was finished quicker than i thought and it also didn,t hurt half as much as the rest did so i rushed to get my gear together shot off, arriving at my chosen mark for 7.45pm. It was a gorgeous evening with barely any wind and what turned out to be a cracking sunset. As i was tackling up i could hear fish splashing around about 100yds or so out and about 300yds further up the bank....

Last week i actually had a whole 7 days of off work and took the other half on holiday to Devon. We started of spending the first night in Dartmouth, a favourite place of mine as its absolutely beautiful as you stand on the quayside and look across the river to the opposite bank. After our night in Dartmouth we went of to spend a few days with my family in Torquay as my sister was getting married there. All went well with the wedding and after a few days with the family we moved on to spend a couple of days staying in Longleat, where we visited the safari park and generally chilled out. Whilst in Devon i just happened to find a rod, reel and bag of tackle stashed away in the car, so what was i supposed to do other than grab said gear and head down to Brixham breakwater with my Dad and have a wee dabble for the day. It was roasting hot as we set up stall half way along the breakwater, tying feathers to our rods we hoped to bag some mackeral. We both only had lightweight spinn...

Hi everyone, just thought i,d drop this in to let you know about a recent trip i had on the 26th to a local river in search of the mighty stripey.... Well i arrived at my destination about 7pm on what was a very hot evening following a scorcher of a day. I was all revved up to try for a nice fat summer perch so i started of in an area between some boats with a few lures to try and tempt anything with teeth. Well after an hour i hadn,t even had a tug which i was a little disappointed in as this stretch is usually jack pike alley during the winter months. I then decided it was time to target the species i had come for, The Perch, so off i went and sneaked into my favourite swim in front of a big live-aboard boat. Your not actually allowed to fish this area but as long as your quite, don,t leave any mess and generally behave your ok. Thats unless some toss bag of a boat owner doesn,t telephone the lock keeper who promptly comes round and kicks you off, as happened to me this time. Why a...

Hi all, its been a while since my last post because i,ve been so busy with work. Everyones ponds are having problems and its yours truly who gets the job of fixing them. Nevermind it pays for the fishing i guess. Anyways on 21st June myself and my Dad pointed my truck in the Norfolk direction and set of at 5.30am bound for wroxham broad. I,d booked a days lure fishing with my old mate Allan Griffith owner off Predator People and he was going to take us out in search of some nice lure munching pike and perch. We arrived an hour early and found Allan already with boat in water waiting so we loaded up quickly and away we went. We started in the river by slowly drifting while there was little boat traffic around. The aim being to cast our various lures into any likely looking areas. It started of an overcast day with a little breeze which we thought would be perfect conditions for a toothy attack on our lures. Well after a morning of doing this all we had to show for our efforts was a ...

Hi all, i havn,t been fishing much of late due to work commitments so havn,t had anything to report on really. I,ve spent my spare time, which there hasn,t been much off, either doing the dreaded diy or just sitting comatosed on the sofa watching the big flashing window on the wall. I did actually manage to get a mornings fishing on bank holiday Monday at a local club water. The weather was due to be nice in the morning and wet and horrible in the afternoon, so i opted to get up early and beat the rest rest of the anglers and arrived on the bank at 4.30am. OOOOOhhhhhh that was hard to do.. I set up in a nice swim with a big bay in front of it and lillies also 5 yards out. My approach was a small method feeder cast to the far margins of the bay in hope of a passing tench and possibly a carp, and float fishing tight to the near lilly pads primarily for tench again but basically anything that came along. Within 15 mins my method loaded with dark groundbait, hemp, corn, micro pellets a...

Yesterday one off my fishing clubs opened up their gates again after a months closure. Considering it had been a sunny day and i was really in need of a bit of fishing R&R I grabbed some kit and popped over to my local club water no more than a mile from where i live. As was expected it was pretty rammed with anglers, well carpers actually, but i didn,t mind as i was going surface fishing for some of the carp population in some sneeky out of the way swims that never see a boilie, pellet or hair rig.  My first couple of swims saw a couple of carp slowly rise to my oiled floating trout pellets but not actually taking them with any gusto. So i set of around the complex taking note of any likely looking areas for future trips. This complex has 8 gravel pits to choose from 3 around 3/4 acres and the remaining 5 are only small, small enough to cast a float across. By about 6.30pm i had located a swim on pit 5 which had a fair few carp readily taking my pellets so i sat myself down ...

Last week Sharon and myself took the dogs for a walk along another estuary river close to where we live. The weather was sunny with a nice wind which kept you cool as the temperature started to go up. The tide was just starting to come in as we reached the top of the sea wall which meant I could see where the deeper water was. We walked for about a mile until we came to a sharp bend in the sea wall and where the deeper water looked to be closer in. As i walked round a bush saying to myself how this area looked ideal for a spot of fishing in front of me were 2 old boys waiting for the tide to come in some more. After a good chat with them some good local information was given and greatly received. Apparently this is a good area for bass, with some good size fish being caught too, as well as mullet. Throw in some flatties and eels and alls good. Well that made my mind up to give it a go here in the next couple of weeks when the tides right, as not only is it barely fished, its also p...

This morning i was up at 4.30am and drinking a cup of tea whilst making my sausage sandwiches in anticipation of a good days tenching at a local club water. It was misty outside which added to the excitement as i started the truck engine and set of to my destination. Upon arrival, a little later than i hoped for, the sun was rising but shrouded by low mist and the water had a lovely whisp floating above it. A classic tench fishers morning. I spent the next 45minutes watching the water for signs of tench activity but unfortunately all that was showing was a few silver fish, not even a carp was seen to bosh out. Pretty odd really as this is quite a visual lake as you always see fish of one sort or another moving around in the upper layers. A decision was made and i was loaded up and making my way around to the opposite side of the lake where there was a large gap between the slumbering carpers. It amazes me how most carp anglers sleep in late while they are fishing. Early morning is th...

I,ve come to the tough decision that i have to sell one of my fishing boats as i barely use it any more and i need the space. The boat is a Shetland 535 Fast fisher 17ft glassfibre jobbie with a tuned 40hp yamaha outboard on the back. The boat itself is ready to go fishing with all steering and morse controls working fine. The gelcoat is a bit flat but sound, theres no holes or osmosis and just needs water.  The outboard is a Yamaha 40hp and was rebuilt a few years ago and has only been used for a few hours and is in immaculate condition and runs fine. Its electric start and needs an external fuel tank. As the pictures will show its immaculate. The trailer needs a little bit of work, new wheel bearings and possibly a little welding here and there. All in all its ready to go and is ideal either for sea fishing or pike fishing. I,m after £1200 which is a good price considering what i,ve seen them going for on ebay. The boat is stored near to Basildon in Essex and you c...

I had a spare morning this sunday gone so i,d planned to have a few hours after the tench at a local club lake. I,d cooked up some hemp and giant maize the night before  in preparation for laying a good bed of bait out. I,d already soaked the hemp in water, hemp oil, salt crystals and some liquid betaine to add a wee bit of sweetness, then boiled the life out of it for an hour until it split. My plan was to bait up a margin spot liberally with the hemp and then find a nice clear spot further out and give it a good carpet of the little seed. Then i was going to fish a nice hempy, oily method mix with lots of molasses over the top of both, probably with sweetcorn as hookbait. Well i arrived at the lake just after sun up and found a nice corner swim with lots of over hanging bushes in the margins and i also spotted a couple of bream rolls about 30yds out so they made a good bet for one area. I set about spodding out my bait and had two rods fishing within 45 minutes of arriving. Wi...

On sunday after work ( yes i had to work sunday, horrible, horrible, horrible) i thought i,d take the dogs out for a nice long run. I had an area in mind for us as i wanted to check out the local sea wall for a couple of areas that have been recommended to me as being good spots for bass and ray fishing. When i arrived i was quite surprised at how many people there was walking, it was a lovely day though so can,t blame them for disturbing my peace lol. Well we had a lovely walk of roughly 6 miles along the wall, with Harry the retreiver and Oscar the springer having fun splodging around in the thick, black, stinking estaury mud. They were both totally knackered by the time we got back to the truck and i even had to lift them into the back. Harry loves swimming now, he never used too but last year we managed to get him swimming at Bradwell and now you can,t keep him out of the water. Its a bit of a pain really as i can,t take him fishing with me. Oscar on the other isn,t too bothe...

Having been thinking about it for a while now i finally decided to get my ass in gear, order some worms and have a few hours sea fishing this tuesday just gone. It was only a wee trip to blow the cobwebs out so to speak as i havn,t cast a line into saltwater for over a year now. My intended quarry was going to be the humble flounder, with maybe a late whiting thrown in. The venue was to be one of the floating boat pontoons situated along the front of Burnham as its only a couple of miles from home, is nice and comfortable to fish and puts you over 12-15ft of water so you don,t really need to cast that far, although i do. With a couple of packs of lugworm picked up from Angling Essentials and a couple of mackeral from my freezer i set of for Burnham at 6.30pm. By 7pm i was set up and had both rods cast out, one cast as far as possible and the other around 30 yards out. No action occured until just before high tide when a rattle on my short cast rod resulted in a tiny pin whiting. Well ...