THIS YEARS GOALS

I,ve been thinking lately about how i go about my fishing, how i plan trips, what species i fish for, where i fish, how i fish etc etc. I,m come to the conclusion that i don,t actually do myself any favours really as i normally just grab my gear and go whenever the need grabs me. I guess that part of this is down to the fact that i have quite a busy lifestyle. I run my own business building ornamental fish ponds and landscaping, see my website www.waterbouy.co.uk, and anyone who has done so will know that even if you are not actually physically working you are still mentally doing so. Due to my workloads i spent most weekends and evenings last year at work so little fishing went on. Add to that the fact that we,re currently trying to "do up" our house means that any spare time is quite often spent diy,ing. Then theres the dog walking, the general house work, and the fact that my girlfriend has thousands of friends that seem to have birthday parties, get married, and keep inviting us round for dinner, means that i rarely get any time at all. So this year i,m going to go about my fishing differently......

My plan is to have a good look at what species i actually want to target and when will be the best time to do so. I know this is quite obvious and has been written about plenty of times before in the fishing magazines, and i always read the articles and say to myself that i need to do what i,ve just read, but i,m actually going to take the advice this year. I,m going to target fish by the seasons and by how much time i actually have to fish for them. I,m also going to plan a bit better, which means making sure i have the right tackle at hand and that i have ample supply of bait, also organise my spare time better so not to waste time getting ready or deciding where i,m going to be fishing. PLAN, ORGANISE AND ARRANGE.......

I,m going to keep tabs on how i get on fishing for various species both fresh and saltwater through out the year and post on here so maybe it might help others to give it a go..

Well my first goal is to carry on after the beautiful perch. Once the season ends i will be targetting a couple of club  stillwaters i know that hold good sized specimens in until the club closes for a couple of months at the end of April.

 I,m also going to target the local bass and thornback ray population of my local estuaries, which will be carried out during the hours of darkness as this is when they feed best and closest to the shore. This means that i can get a few hours fishing in after work, an added bonus as it means more weekly fishing hours. I,ve done quite a bit of bassing a good few years ago but have yet not caught any thornbacks from the shore. I,ve had them from a boat, which was great, so am looking forward to trying from the shore. I,ve been told that the estuaries near me are a good bet to catch them so i just need to do some research into the best areas, techniques, baits, times etc and away i go. Anyone with any tips are welcome to email me and i,ll keep you informed as to how i get on: www.waterbouys@hotmail.co.uk.

Well that,ll do for now as i think i,ve rambled on enough. Its only a couple of species i plan to try for, but theres plenty more. Mullet in the local harbour, tench at a club lake, eels at a pond just round the corner, catfish from a commercial fishery close to where i work, carp from a local river along with hopefully some chub too, some summer lure caught pike and perch, and just enjoying myself no matter what i fish for.

Tight lines everyone!!!!!!!!