DECIDING to avoid the rivers on opening day in favour of a forgotten Fenland drain paid off in fine style for Mark Barrett and Chris Ponsford when they struck gold in the form of some huge rudd.

After adopting simple floatfishing tactics with sweetcorn on the hook, Worcester-based Chris came up trumps by landing this enormous 3lb 11oz specimen, plus another over 3lb and several ‘twos’, while Mark weighed in with a cracking specimen weighing 3lb 3oz.

“While my big rudd isn’t the best-looking fish I’ve ever caught, it’s still a huge specimen. I had another of exactly 3lb which was one of the most beautiful fish I’ve ever seen.

The pair fished maple-flavoured Van Den Eynde corn to catch their rudd, while Mark also tempted a brace of common carp weighing 21lb 4oz and 18lb 4oz on Mainline Maple-8 boilies..

ONE of the biggest pike to grace the pages of Angling Times has been landed by an English angler during a fishing holiday to Ireland.

The mammoth 40lb 1oz specimen was banked by Lincolnshire-based rod Nigel Greaves from the mighty 20,000 acre Loch Mask after he fished a small copper spoon in a shallow area of the venue.

The catch comes as no surprise to the nation’s leading predator anglers, among them pike supremo Nev Fickling, who knows about Mask’s potential having caught a 38lb 8oz specimen from the water a decade ago.

“Mask is a venue that will always be worth fishing. It’s a ‘man’s’ water,” said Nev.

Labels: Biggest, Ireland fishing, pike

Angling duo Sean Howard and Matthew Kirk had a bumper session catching 12 fish between them, which included a thirty each.

Fishing the lilies and margins from peg 12 on Temple, Sean Howard bagged 6 fish, which included a 32lb 6oz common. Sean fished plastic corn and a Banana food boilie over pellet to tempt the big common and 5 mirrors weighing 27lb 13oz, 26lb 6oz, 25lb 12oz, 23lb 7oz and 23lb 6oz. Fishing in the next peg 13, Matthew Kirk also bagged 6 fish, which included a new PB in the shape of a 31lb 11oz Ghost. Fishing Richworth KG1 baits over hemp and pellet, Matthew also caught 5 mirrors weighing 27lb 5oz, 24lb, 23lb 5oz, 23lb 4oz and 19lb.

Regular Khi Gregory also managed a 5 fish bag during his weekend session catching a very pretty mirror weighing 31lb 10oz, a ghost weighing 21lb 4oz and commons weighing 28lb 4oz, 25lb and 22lb. Khi fished peg 9 fishing his Icelandic Red baits to the island margins and lilies.

Other anglers to catch were regular Ray Harding who bagged 4 fish topped by a 25lb mirror. John Breen who caught a 24lb 8oz mirror and a 17lb common, David Evett who caught two fish, the best a 24lb 4oz common and Duncan Ansell who caught a 20lb 10oz leather.

Turning to the Old Lake, there were a number of multi bags reported in the week, which included two fish over 25lb, however we are still waiting for details of these fish. Other catches included Mark Savage who caught a 22lb 3oz mirror, James Lilley with a mirror weighing 22lb 8oz, Ben Laverton who caught a 4 fish bag topped by a 20lb 6oz common and Sean Youlton who managed 3 fish topped by a 21lb 8oz mirror.

Ten-year-old schoolboy Bradley Evans got his river season off to a flying start on the Glorious Twelfth - he tempted this 8lb barbel from Dick’s Hole on the Royalty Fishery in Christchurch with a luncheon meat hookbait.
Bradley, whose father Mel runs the popular Royalty View Guest House overlooking the famous venue, had a helping hand from barbel guru Ray Walton who was fishing nearby.

BRITAIN’S chub record has been beaten again following Andy Maker’s capture of a 9lb 5oz specimen from the same southern Stillwater which produced Steve White’s 9lb 3oz specimen a month ago.
Carper Andy and his son Tom, from Maidstone in Kent, spodded big beds of bait to target the venue’s prolific stock of big carp only to end up scaling down their tackle after they started catching some of the lake’s huge chub.
Fifteen-year-old Tom was the first of the Greys-sponsored pair to get in on the action as he banked four 7lb chub to a new personal best of 7lb 14oz – incredibly he had never caught the species before this, their first trip as members to the exclusive water.
But it was 40-year-old roofer Andy who made history when the massive chub picked up his Mainline test boilie fished at range over a huge spodded bed of chopped boilies, hemp and mixed pellet.
“This venue could well produce the first-ever double-figure chub,”
predicted Mainline and Korda sponsored Andy.

Labels: Andy maker, Chub, record

An angler has been banned from fishing for two and a half years and fined a total of £400 after leaving a rod unattended and fishing with three rods whilst only holding a single licence. Khan Marshall, 21, of Temple Dene Avenue, Staines, appeared before Woking Magistrates Court on February 9, 2007 and was fined £200 for leaving a rod unattended and a further £200 for fishing with three rods but only holding a single licence. In a rare move reserved for persistent offenders, the court banned Marshall from holding a rod licence for the next two and a half years after taking into account a string of prosecutions dating back to 2002. The court heard that on the July 10, 2006 Marshall had left his rod unattended at the Twynersh Fishing Complex in Chertsey, Surrey contrary to a national byelaw. A month later, on August 13, Environment Agency enforcement officers discovered Marshall at the same fishery using three rods but with only a single rod licence which contravened Section 27(a) of the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975. "Mr Marshall has a long history of flouting the laws of fishing in this country," explained Fisheries Enforcement Officer Graham Haynes. "From his first warning letter in 2002 he has appeared before magistrates three times for failing to hold a rod licence and giving false names and addresses to officers, racking up a total of £650 in fines and costs. "It is very rare for an angler to be banned from holding a rod licence, but this extreme measure was taken because of Mr Marshall's persistent offending. If he is caught fishing within those two and a half years he can expect his equipment to be confiscated, as well as finding himself in court again." According to the Environment Agency, more than £600,000 was paid in fines and costs by more than 4,400 illegal anglers during 2006 for fishing without a rod licence. In addition, 40 anglers received cautions from the courts. In the first month of 2007 more than 500 cases of fishing without a valid rod licence were brought in front of the courts by the Environment Agency, resulting in nearly £70,000 in fines and costs. Cautions were also issued to eight anglers. Fishing for salmon, trout, freshwater fish and eels in England and Wales requires a licence from the Environment Agency. Failure to have a licence is an offence and those caught fishing illegally face penalties including fines of up to £2,500. The protection of vulnerable fish stocks and increasing fishing participation are among the Environment Agency's key environmental objectives. The money raised through rod licence sales; some £ 19 million a year, is invested directly in fisheries work that benefits all anglers as well as protecting the environment.

Source - Fisheries.co.uk