The 2013 river coarse fishing season starts on Father’s Day, and Environment Agency annual rod licence holders can take a friend or family member fishing with them for free on the 16th of June.

The Father’s Day special promotion is part of the annual Take a Friend Fishing campaign, run by the Angling Trades Association and supported by the Angling Trust.

All you need to do is to download and print out the rod licence voucher (HERE), fill in the person’s details, validate it online, read the Terms and Conditions, grab tackle, bait and voucher and go fishing!

Please email the Take A Friend Fishing team any stories and pictures from your day.  Please include the venue name, catch details, captor’s name and daytime telephone number. 

Rod licences make a fantastic gift for the rest of the fishing season, and they are valid on over 5,000 rivers, lakes and ponds across England and Wales. It’s quick and easy to buy a rod licence online or at your local post office.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Enough about the weather, this month has been an exceptional one for us. Despite the spawning being disrupted and the bad weather the fish have continued to feed and the results have been record breaking. The first week we were joined by Kees and his son Jarno up on swim 8 and with a mixture of Pro Line Pineapple or Garlic and Robin Red they landed some lovely fish to achieve new PB's with a 52lb mirror on their 4th day. Also a 51lb for Joeri on swim 10 to top off his session with his Dad including 2 40's to 45lb again on Pineapple. Everyone was fishing between 60 and 80m out on either chod or combi rigs mainly.

Another PB for Simon and Russell fishing on swim 8 the following week when Simon had a 42lb and a 48lb and Russell his first grass carp at 34lb. The Verberne family in the chalet also had 3 40's to 44lb.

Then came Jaap! If you follow us on Facebook you will have seen already the daily posts detailing his progress through the week. But for those of you who don't we were very pleased to see Japp back again for the 5th year running, this year on swim 10. He has managed to set a new PB here each year except for last year so we were crossing our fingers for a good week for him, We needn't have bothered because he smashed it. His first 40lb came on the second night, his 7th fish of the session, and a nice 2-tone fish she was to. The following night his18th run produced a whopping 54lb 2oz mirror and a new PB. He continued to haul fish having several runs each day some double and triple runs, beating his PB for a common too with a stunning fish at 35lb 10oz on Friday. He went on to finish his week with 49 fish from 51 runs, a new record for one person (and he didn't fish for 3 nights as the rain was so bad)a total weight of 1460lb average weight 29lb 13oz, 19 x 30's, 3 x 40's and the 54lb. Pressure is on now for next year!

And last week we welcomed back the Bakker group on swims 7 and 8 and Barry and Charlie on swim 11. The weather last week consisted of torrential rain every day till Wednesday when the sun did finally come out for a while. It didn't dampen their spirits though so well done for their tenacity. They were rewarded though by some superb fish. Charlie had 2 carp at 46lb, and 12 x 30's between him and his dad Barry amongst the 30 fish they landed. And the Bakker's had 47 fish from nearly 60 runs between the 3 of them including 18 x 30's, 3 x 40's and 3 x 50's to 59lb so an incredible week for them. The chalet swim was very quiet but Mario's first fish was a 52lb mirror on a Cell boilie at 40m then having lost 3 runs he landed a beautiful 35lb mirror on one of our Banana crème boilies.

So a good month despite the rain. It has played havoc with the spawning of course so we are unsure as to how many have or haven't spawned as yet but that has affected us moving the fish under 25lb out. This has, of course, been put on hold until they are less stressed but we will continue to move them once it all settles down a bit.

We would like to take the opportunity to welcome our newest member of the team, Simon Stuart, who has joined us as the new bailiff. He will be with us a couple of days a week and being a carp fisherman himself for many years he has a wealth of knowledge to go with his boundless energy and motivation. He is also adding his input and helping us to expand the shop with a bigger range of bait and tackle. The shop is now located in the conservatory along with a large drinks fridge from which you can buy soft drinks, beer, chocolate etc all for sensible prices of course. We will also be stocking English snacks and nibbles for those attacks of the munchies. French biscuits just don't cut it!

We have also been giving the outside a real facelift going crazy with the strimmer and the lawn mower now the rain has stopped. New signs are going up too so when you arrive you will see our logo, green on black, on a large sign hanging from the lamppost in front of the house. Also new reception sign, toilet and parking signs all in green on black. So along with new pots of flowers and the old boat outside the mill has been filled with earth and planted up everywhere it is really looking pretty.

You can now follow us too on www.carpforum.co.uk under foreign venues so we would welcome any photos, comments etc that you would like to make on our thread.

As you can see lots of exciting positive stuff going on, with catch reports like these our first 60 is not far off, so which one of you lucky lads or lasses is going to catch it?

Till next time, take care

Andy and Tracey Jones
Etang de Brigueuil

Fishing close to the islands and margins seem to be where the majority of the fish are getting caught from, although the Old Lake also saw plenty of fish taken from the open water. With natural foods also increasing as water temperatures rise, the winning method at present on both lakes is to fish good quality boilies tipped with a small bit of pink over a bed of bait.

All the lakes are looking good for the coming bank holiday weekend and with temperatures set to increase a little further over the next few days, expect to see some good catches reported.

Lee Norman had a great 72hr session last week when he fished peg 12 fishing up the channel and tight to island landing 4 fish on Cell and Icelandic Red. Catching mirrors weighing 21lb 8oz and 21lb 10oz and a 21lb 40z common, the highlight of Lee’s session was a stunning new PB in the shape of a 33lb 12oz common.

Last weekend saw some great sport for two Temple regulars Dave Hopkins and Kevin Nash with both anglers reporting multi bags. Fishing swim 11, Dave Hopkins fished 18mm Cell boilies tipped with yellow corn tight to the island over a few loose baits catching a brace of mirrors weighing 32lb 4oz and 25lb 10oz as well as a 23lb 7oz common.  

Dave’s brother in law Kevin Nash fished next door in swim 12 and soon after casting out Kevin was quickly into a lively 23lb 11oz mirror carp which was followed by a 26lb 2oz PB common and a brace of mirrors weighing 25lb 1oz, 27lb 4oz. See pictures below. All of Kevin’s carp were caught fishing tight to the island margins using a snowman boilie presentation.

Aaron Smith also had a 30, a mirror of 32 lb 7 oz, along with other fish of 28 lb and 21 lb. All took 18 mm and 15 mm Cell combinations with yellow corn cast tight to lilies and reeds over a handful of freebies at peg 9. Another angler to catch was Terry Wood, from Sutton, who had a 26 lb mirror from peg 7 on 10 mm and 15 mm CC Moore Live System boilies fished as a snowman.

The Old Lake carp are also firmly in a feeding mood, as Gary Nichols found out when he landed 30 fish including a common of 27 lb. Gary, from Leatherhead, started at peg 15 and later moved to peg 2, catching fish of between 12 lb and 19 lb in addition to the big common, all on half a Mainline Cell boilie over a scattering of Cell freebies.

Another great catch from the Old Lake was Si Watters cracking boat caught 29lb common from the jungle. Fishing with his buddy Dan Roberts, Si caught the stunning big 29lb common when the pair shared a boat for the day. Fishing the top end of the jungle, the big common fell to a balanced Cell boilie with Cell pop up combination, which was presented on a ledger rig. In all the pair landed 5 fish in total, which included three upper doubles.

Old Lake regular Mark Potterton, from Westcott, landed seven carp of between 15 lb and 20 lb, the biggest a 23 lb common. Mark was fishing the far margins from peg 2 using SAE Bait Developments B1 boilies tipped with Scuds, and he loose fed a kilo of freebies.

Frank Davison, from Guildford, landed six carp to 22 lb 8 oz float fishing meat from peg 49 whilst Frank Wenman, from Godalming, caught five carp, the biggest a common of 23 lb, along with bream and tench. He fished peg 35 and cast tight to the island with Cell baits tipped with Banoffee pop-ups.

Discussions are now underway with the Environment Agency about rolling out the VBS to the rest of the country. Any members interested in applying to become a Volunteer Bailiff should in the first instance email their full name, date of birth, address and contact numbers to bailiffs@anglingtrust.net. Your details will then be added to our database - we'll be in touch immediately recruiting starts in your area.

We are now investigating how sea anglers can become involved with the VBS to gather intelligence about illegal netting. The Environment Agency is working with the Angling Trust to train volunteers in pollution reporting and monitoring flood defences. The VBS is not just about poaching - it's about making the most of the role that we anglers play as the eyes and ears of the bank & beach.

Our Fisheries Enforcement Manager, Dilip Sarkar MBE, is working closely with the police. Dilip sits on the national Poaching Priority Group, along with other organisations like the Wildlife Crime Unit. The Angling Trust is also represented on the Defra backed, Poaching & Wildlife Partnership, and the SE-based Poaching & Fishery Crime Group - the latter working with the Metropolitan Police on Project Ghillie, a crack-down on crime and anti-social behaviour on London's waterways.

It is absolutely crucial that all anglers report incidents and information concerning poaching to the Environment Agency on 0800 80 70 60. Fish theft is a criminal offence and must be reported to the police. The importance of reporting incidents and information cannot be over emphasised - the system will only work if we anglers provide the necessary information.  Ask the Environment Agency to keep you informed about progress following your report.  If you don't hear back from them, please let us know.

For further information about the 'VBS', or any other matters related to fishery enforcement, please contact dilip.sarkar@anglingtrust.net.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

There’ll be some great competitions running throughout the day so we at Team Crabtree recommend an early start - get out an enjoy a perfect Crabtree misty dawn and spend a few hours reminding yourself why you love river fishing so much. Then head back home for a bite to eat and an afternoon with the family watching Crabtree. We’re smiling already…

Quest TV can be found on Freeview 38 / Sky 154 / Virgin 172

Announcing Series Two and The Quest for ‘Peter’

‘Fishing in the Footsteps of Mr. Crabtree – The Quest’ will bring viewers back into the world of Crabtree, but this time we’ll be setting ourselves some new and greater challenges.

We’re kicking off with The Quest for ‘Peter’ – a nationwide search for SIX young anglers who want to follow in the footsteps of Sam, Henry, Tadhg, Michael, Jaynie, Claragh and James, joining John bankside to achieve their own personal targets.

‘Peter’ may have been depicted in the book ‘Fishing in the footsteps of Mr. Crabtree’ as a boy but in The Quest for ‘Peter’ we want to encourage just as many girls to step up and demonstrate that the future of fishing is inclusive and gender-neutral. 

With a very cold North East wind blowing from across the new lakes and low overnight temperatures for the past few nights most attention focused on Maple and Cedar to offer the best opportunity which was the case in the final results. Drawing peg 55 on Maple put James on the more sheltered side of the lake, and using his knowledge of the venue he fished a pellet baited method feeder across to a bush on the far bank to put together 37 kilos 500 gm of carp to take the match and secure his place in the 20th Fish ‘O’ Mania grand final at Cudmore Fisheries on the 13th July.  James said after the match that he had a great day and now had the grand final to look forward to.

In second place was Colin Scott, a Compressor Sales Engineer from Ainsworth, Bolton who crossed the Pennines to fish this qualifier, he also was drawn on Maple, peg 16.   Colin fished pellet on the pole across to the far bank sedges for mirrors and commons to put together his weight of 25 kilos 750 gm.  All eyes were on Nathan Watson, a past Fish ‘O’ Mania winner and regular competitor who drew next to the last and pulled out the always fancied peg 1 on Maple.  Nathan from Louth in Lincolnshire swapped between pellet and meat hook baits towards the corner of the island and the aerator as well as long pole down the margins to the tight corner to finish the match with carp and an odd barbel and tench to give him 24 kilos 750 gm and third spot in the match.

Lee Brockbank an Electrician from Redcar fished his first Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifier and drew peg 65 on Maple, fishing 4 mm pellet tight to the mud line on the far bank for carp, perch and ide for his fourth place spot with 23 kilos 500 gm.  Two anglers tied for fifth place, regular Fish ‘O’ Mania angler Lee Bragden from Chapeltown in Sheffield drew  peg 80 on Cedar, and Manchester Builder Mike Thompson drawn on Maple 63 both finished the match with 23 kilos 250 gm.

With only seven Fish ‘O’ Mania qualifiers left for 2013 the next qualifier heads to Barford Lakes, in Norwich on Saturday 18th May.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Again as is usual for this event all three lakes were in use, Specimen, Match and Arena, but strangely the fishery staff could not predict where the winner was likely to come from.  Many of the competitors fancied Specimen Lake being the favourite due to the high numbers of large carp that the water held, and if these decided to have a go then a big weight was on the cards.  Unfortunately, the big carp never fed in numbers on Specimen, and the expected winning weight never materialised from this lake, but from Match Lake.

Drawn on Match Lake peg 43, on the burr bank side and end peg on the island, Gary Hick, a Gas Engineer, who had made the long trek from St Martins near Oswestry, ran out the eventual winner, netting carp to 8 lbs.  Fishing meat down the edge for most of the time and catching the odd fish at 9 metres he amassed a total weight of 136 lbs 3 ozs to become the seventh qualifier for the Fish ‘O’ Mania final and make his long journey worthwhile.

In second place and just behind the winner with 133 lbs 4 ozs, drawn on Match Lake peg 37 was Jamie Hughes, an Angling Coach from Wirral.  Fishing pellet shallow and groundbait and maggots down the edge he caught a mixed bag of carp to 10 lbs and F1’s.  Third place, again from Match Lake was Lee Kerry, fishing for Barnsley and District, from Leeds.  Drawn on peg 27 he alternated method feeder to the island and pole at 11 metres to weigh in 120 lbs 13 ozs made up of carp to 10 lb.  In fourth place and this time from the fancied Specimen Lake was James Hawkins a business owner from Kegworth, near Derby.  He drew peg 2 and finished the match with a weight of 101 lbs of carp, with his biggest fish weighing 19 lbs 9 ozs.  Fifth placed angler, again from Specimen Lake was Kevin Dicks, Maver Bathampton, from Bristol.  Drawn on peg 72, he weighed in a total of 84 lbs of carp and skimmers with his biggest carp weighing 17 lbs 13 ozs.

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

Joining the Trust after more than a decade in senior roles managing large complex transport and infrastructure organisations, Richard comments: “I am really excited to be joining the Canal & River Trust at such an important phase in the future of the nation’s magnificent waterways.  The scale of the opportunity is huge as what we and our supporters do in the next five years will help shape the waterways for the next century.

“I bring a track-record of managing similarly complex and challenging networks, together with experience of working closely with a wide range of interested and passionate people.  I’ve got bags of enthusiasm for the waterways and have seen first-hand the shot in the arm that canals provide to the communities they flow through.  Out on the towpath I have witnessed the hugely committed staff, volunteers, boaters and other supporters, and I look forward to the challenge ahead."

Currently at FirstGroup, Richard headed up First's bid in 2012 for the InterCity West Coast line and more recently has been leading First's highly-regarded Hull Trains company as well as other wider development programmes across First's rail businesses.  Before that he spent 19 years at London Underground (LU) and Transport for London (TfL) where he had a range of senior roles, spending eight years as a director of LU, including a year as interim LU managing director (2009-10), and then a further 18 months as deputy managing director, TfL Rail and Underground (2010-11).

Richard is also a trustee of People 1st – the sector skills council for hospitality, passenger transport, travel and tourism – which works to transform skills in the sector, particularly in the areas of

Tony Hales, chairman of the Canal & River Trust, said: “I am delighted to welcome Richard to the Canal & River Trust.  He joins one of the newest, biggest and brightest entrants in the charity sector – an organisation that shares his passion for the waterways.

“He has fantastic experience of managing complex infrastructure – something which is crucial for our network of lock flights, embankments, soaring aqueducts and other engineering feats of the industrial age.  He has a strong record of leading organisations through change and recognises the importance of growing the engagement with the boaters, anglers and millions of others in the community who use and enjoy our wonderful waterways.

“I’m very pleased that Richard is moving from rail to water recognising the renaissance that has seen our canals and rivers come to life and the opportunity we have to give them a bright future.”

Richard, 46, married with two teenage daughters, lives in the West Midlands.

Source: Canal & River Tust

The lake at Ragley Hall, Warwickshire, will take centre stage at the CLA Game Fair, from Friday, 19 July to Sunday, 21 July, providing the focus for the new contest.
 
Everyone who catches a fish over the weekend – in an allotted timeslot – will be entered into a prize draw which will be made on the Sunday of the show by former England goalkeeper and keen angler David Seaman.
 
CLA Game Fair Director Andrew Crawford said: "Fish for a Fortune is a fantastic new competition and is set to be a major attraction at this year's event.
 
"Fishing is at the very heart of the CLA Game Fair. The show gives fishing fans the chance to visit an array of manufacturers and retailers from around the world, meet and learn from the experts and also to have a go at the sport."
 
Mr Crawford added: "With so many keen anglers in the UK, it is vital we promote the sport and give the industry the opportunity to encourage new participants."
 
“The CLA Game Fair Fishing Village is set to be a big attraction at the 2013 show. Visitors will walk past the lake on arrival, and plenty of seating and improved catering are being laid on to encourage visitors to enjoy the spectacle of fishing at the lake."

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News

An application to build the tunnel has finally been submitted and the public have until May 28th to register as 'interested parties' - this the only way that the Planning Inspectorate can now hear views and opinions.

The Thames Tideway Tunnel will intercept 34 of the worst polluting Combined Sewer Overflows and help put an end to the scandal of 39 million tonnes of untreated sewage polluting both the tidal river and the estuary and killing tens of thousands of fish in an average year.

Angling Trust Chief Executive Mark Lloyd said:
"It is self evident that anglers are 'interested parties' which is why we are making it dead simple for as many people as possible to complete the registration form. Sadly there are people out there who don't care about dead fish and wildlife or polluted rivers and who are trying to stop or delay this vital project. They will be raising their objections during the planning process which is why those of us who care for our rivers and the environment must make our voices heard loud and clear."

He added:
"We are contacting each and every individual member of the Angling Trust and all affiliated angling clubs in the region to register as an 'interested party' for the examination of the Thames Tideway Tunnel application. We have some model text to help the process which can be done entirely online in less than five minutes."

Dave Harvey, Chairman of TAC, said:
"The tidal Thames could be a world class fishery and wildlife superhighway right in the centre of London if we fixed the sewers and ended the pollution and fish kills. We urge every angler to stand beside us in fighting for a clean river for ourselves and for future generations to enjoy. "

Source: Angling Trust Fishing News