New PB Chub for young Raphael

The scoring power of maggots for large chub has been proven once again this week with a fish over the 7lbs barrier landed.

Raphael Kyte demonstrated experience beyond his years when he tweaked his hookbait across the bed of a swollen River Great Ouse to bank a cracking 7lb 11oz specimen.

The 14 year-old Northants based schoolboy found his favourite stretch of the river way above its normal level due to the recent heavy rains, so headed to an area off the main flow where he thought some fish might be holding up in the slacks.

After tackling up in a swim with an overhanging tree on the far bank he cast a simple maggot feeder rig set up over to the feature and repeated the process every 15 minutes in a bid to build up the peg with some loose offerings and to tempt any resident fish out from the snags. With a triple maggot hookbait Raphael made the presentation of his set up even more appealing by slowly edging his rig back towards him before reeling in.

“After about an hour I felt a very heavy fish pulling back against the rod tip,” said Raphael. “It took me about 10 minutes to get it to my own bank and even then it kept trying to bore under the rushes by my feet. I finally got the better of it and called my dad, Patrick, to come and help with the weighing. On the scales it smashed my old best of 4lb 9oz which I caught from the River Nene in the summer.”

New PB Chub for happy Raphael

If you have been successful with some big chub catches why not let us know by emailing russ@tacklefanatics.co.uk or duncan@tacklefanatics.co.uk

Tight Lines

Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.

Ex-Premier League Footballer Still Hitting The Back Of The Net!

Daiwa Dorking’s Jimmy Bullard won the Royal Berkshire Silvers Festival overall with an impressive combined weight of 62lb 12oz. This consisted of bream, skimmers and roach in an event that produced many bites for all the competitors.

Day One winner from peg 16 on Lake 3 was Jimmy Bullard with 50lb 2oz of skimmers and bream, caught on pellet and pole at 14.5m. The winner on Lake 1 on the Day was Milo Bordon’s Andy Gregory on peg 6, he had another impressive bag of 36lb 6oz, which consisted of all roach to over 1lb. Andy caught on Maggot and Caster over ground bait at 13m on the pole with a few coming out on rod and line waggler tactics.

Day Two fished slightly harder as you would expect from this time of the season – on Lake 3 not as many skimmers and bream fed, however this didn’t stop Garbolino Banstead’s Terry Molloy bagging 27lb of Roach off peg 13 and this was enough to win it on the day. Second was England International Steve Gardener on peg 5 who managed 21lb 8oz of all roach which were caught shallow on pole and maggot at 13m.

All in all it was a terrific event organised by 15 year old Marukyu backed angler Bradley Gibbons who recently showed his class by individually winning the Surrey Winter League with three section wins and three section seconds against top anglers including the Dorking squad.

Jimmy Bullard with part of his Silvers Festival win

Result, Day 1:

1. Jimmy Bullard, Daiwa Dorking, 50lb 02oz
2. Andy Gregory, Milo Bordon, 36lb 06oz
3. Geoff Vallance, Preston Delcac, 27lb 12oz
4. Dave Guntrip, Browning Crowsport, 27lb 09oz
5. Steve Gardener, Daiwa Dorking, 26lb 05oz
6. Mark Goddard, Daiwa Dorking, 25lb 07oz

Result, Day 2:

1. Terry Molloy, Garbolino Banstead, 27lb 00oz
2. Steve Gardener, Daiwa Dorking, 21lb 08oz
3. Simon Willsmore, Daiwa Dorking, 20lb 08oz
4. Andrew Quarmby, Middy Tackle, 18lb 06oz
5. Russell Grimes, Milo Bordon, 18lb 02oz
6. Thomas Morreti, Browning Crowsports, 18lb 00oz

Result, Overall:

1. Jimmy Bullard, Daiwa Dorking, 62lb 12oz
2. Andy Gregory, Milo Bordon, 49lb 14oz
3. Steve Gardener, Daiwa Dorking, 47lb 13oz

Tight Lines

Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.

Big weight shows roach potential of the Fens!

The first leg of the Maver Bait Tech Pairs Competition took place this weekend, with big weights showcasing the brilliant roach sport that can be had on the Lincolnshire Fens. Conditions didn’t look too good on the Town Welland; the river was looking chocolate brown and stood virtually still with all the main river flow going down the Coronation Channel. Luckily the roach decided to have a real feed with over 750lbs of quality roach tipped on the scales. The twenty-six pairs fishing averaged over 14lb a man and to be honest you can’t get much better than that for quality sport!
Winner on the day with 30lb 2oz was Joe Oakes, who fished bread punch short, and hemp and tares on the pole at 11 metres. The latter method bringing him some real quality roach up to 1lb 8oz with these big fish tipping the match in his favour. Runner-up was Town Welland master Bob Nudd who after a slow start slipped 180 roach into his net for 28lb 4oz, again on long poleand bread punch. Third with 27lb 7oz was Steve Winters who had over 200 fish on punch, but couldn’t quite catch Bob Nudd.

Bread the was the winning key

Match organiser Wayne Swinscoe expects the river to fish even better for the second round this weekend if the colour fines off slightly and the mild weather continues. For more information, or to book on one of the forthcoming matches, Contact Wayne on 07737 056767.

Results:
1 Joe Oakes (Wigston AS) 30lb 2oz
2 Bob Nudd (Browning) 28lb 4oz
3 Steve Winters (Maver Bait Tech) 27lb 7oz
4 Sam Merry (Bait Tech) 26lb 11oz
5 Rob Wooton (Shimano/ Dynamite) 25lb 6oz
6 Alistair Ogilvie (Maver Bait Tech) 24lb 11oz

Winning pair on the day was Joe Oakes and Pete Jayes, with a combined weight of 44lb 12oz

If you have any match news to share with us please email in your reports to russ@tacklefanatics.co.uk along with any photos of the day!

Tight Lines

Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.

Glugged pellet fools 16lb 11oz Thames barbel

A short evening session on the River Thames resulted in a cracking personal best 16lb 11oz barbel for Ian Brooker.

With the Thames fining down and holding plenty of colour the Oxfordshire-based Drennan International employee felt there was a strong chance of getting a take from one of the venue’s elusive and hard fighting specimens.

Arriving at a local stretch after dusk he cast out two large glugged pellet hookbaits in conjunction with a PVA bag of pellets and hemp just a couple of rod lengths from the bank. To hold bottom in the strong flow Ian had to use a 5oz lead and fished with a large bow in the line to present his terminal tackle with any plans of success.

“Because of the pace and the amount of rubbish coming down the river I was only able to keep my rig in position for about 40 minutes before it began to move,” said the  28-year-old angler.

“It wasn’t that long in to the session when it started to slowly bounce round again and I was about to reel in to recast when I received quite a subtle bite. I struck into it and knew immediately that I was into a good barbel. I thought it was probably a low double but because it was dark and the water was so coloured I didn’t actually see the fish until I lifted it out of the water – I then realised my initial estimation was a little on the low side.

“The stretch only holds a handful of big barbel but it does get very busy so I’ve only managed about six sessions on there. Before this I’d managed barbel to 12lb from it along with a few chub and bream so I was delighted to break my old pb with this 16lb 11oz specimen.”

Ian, presented his hookbait on a size 8 ESP T6 hook and a 4ft 10lb fluorocarbon hooklink and said he has now turned his attentions to specimen perch for the rest of the winter.

“So far I’ve managed perch of over 3lb from a local commercial Stillwater and another from a southern river,” he added.

Tight Lines

Ian Brooker 16lbs 11oz barbel

Tackle Fanatics stock a massive array of angling tackle and bait from a huge range of the leading manufacturers. We now have a carp, coarse & match and fly website to cater for a number of angling disciplines. You are more than welcome to browse our website by clicking here.