This last week's been very busy all round with a few days spent in Milton Keynes at our VW Training centre, where I had some team building and personal experiences. The whole trip was very entertaining and enjoyable, getting the chance to meet some fantastic lads and lasses from our Audi Family all round the UK. We were given a few tasks to do as teams and some personal training aspects to complete as well.
Lot's learned and then a fantastic afternoon long driving experience where we got the chance to drive many vehicles from the range. There were 3 standout vehicles for me which were the RS6, eTron GT and the stunning A8L. All three cars being utterly fantastic to drive! The RS6 is just a savage beast and gives serious smiles per mile! I've included a short video of the insane sound etc.....
Despite being exhausted I got there and set up in a fairly good peg. The day was tough going and despite putting everything into it I struggled to make much of a dent in the fish stocks other than some nice sized Dace.
Day 2 was a lot better as I slept in the van outside the fishery and got first choice of swims for the day.....I jumped into a well known hot peg that I've done well in before and got straight onto the float. I set up a 15ft Acolyte with a 12x4 stepped balsa float, 16 hook to 3lb 8oz hooklink and 2 reds. The first few trots saw me miss a bite before the next chuck threw up a good 1'6 roach. I started to introduce a handful of maggots every chuck and kept the line as best as I could through the swim.
Just below is an overhanging tree which is usually good for a bite but the weather had left its branches hanging a bit low and there were a few bits of line hanging from it making a trot under very tricky! I continued the same line through and each time it was almost a bite a trot! Every fish was almost a pound and things were going well.
By lunch I had taken 30 plus roach from the swim but I felt a better one was surely on the cards soon. I had a couple of visitors pop in to say hello and after they'd left I restarted the trot through confident it would keep fishing. Around 1.15pm I had a bite 3/4 of the way down the trot and I hit into a very solid lump! This fish felt like nothing else I'd hooked that morning. It clung to the bottom and just nodded its head in typical roach manner.
I held my cool playing it gently and after 5 minutes I started to make some headway with it. I saw the fish flash and it was a huge roach! Easily a PB! I got the net ready and pushed it into position ready to pull the fish over the lip. As she came to the surface, she rolled over and out came the 16 hook! I was utterly sickened! I felt like I had been punched in the guts. I retrained my thoughts and put fresh bait on, trying not to think about the one I had just lost!
Next few trots were fishless then finally a nice 1'10 showed up to the party. A few minutes later I had a visit from friend and Club Carp Sec Ian Stone. We chatted for a bit and I continued to work the swim. As he was about to leave I had a bite and the tip sat solid! A good fish was on! We both stood silently as I held on to the fish which sat deep down in the water column. It took a good few minutes to get her up and Ian readied himself with the net for me. Eventually he sunk it under what looked a belting good roach! In very dark bronze colouration a stunning roach of 2'1 bettered the days catch rate!
What a result, target achieved. The fishing continued to be excellent all day and by close of play I'd caught around 65 roach and about a dozen dace including 2 of 14oz! Day 3 was a similar early start and setting up in the dark in the same swim as day 2. On arrival I was met by my good friend Ruppert who introduced me to the legendary Alan Storey....
Now Alan is as far as I'm aware, the only human alive to have caught a 4lb plus river roach and a 4lb plus still water roach too! What a fantastic bit of angling to catch them both! He has the river Frome record and has numerous other big 3lbers to his name as well. The bloke is literally roach angling royalty! What a lovely fella too, very nice to have met him and chatted for a while. He's a wealth of knowledge and I feel very privileged to have met him and listened to his great stories of big roach captures I can only dream of emulating!
It was also great to see my old pal Ruppert who isn't shy of catching a few big roach either! The blokes a roach fishing machine! Almost certainly the best roach angler I personally know and a bloody great fella too. Ruppert has been great in helping to push my roach fishing skills further each time we speak. He's like Alan, a wealth of knowledge, skills and has brilliantly developed his own feeder techniques that I have posted on here some time ago to capture more big roach than I can conceivably believe! Both him and Alan are legends in their own right!
The fishing was a little tougher than day 2 but plenty of pound plus fish found the net once again up to 1'12 and included an epic battle with a 6'8 sea trout that took a liking to my double red maggot hookbait! I finished the day with a total of 129 roach for the 3 days including 17 over a pound, a 2'1, a sea trout and 3x 14oz dace!
Day 4 I decided to change venue and headed over to my beloved Stour at Throop in search of a 6lb plus chub to finish off my week down south. I knew it would be a tough call but set out to try and bag one on the float. I set up initially in a spot I've done well in in the past and after around 8-10 trots through, I finally got a small chub of 3lbs.
I continued to keep the maggots going in and had another 5 chub to 3lb 14oz. I then lost a small sea trout and the swim then died on its feet. I couldn't buy a bite! I moved up river to a corner swim with less flow and started on the feeder to no avail. I then switched over to the float and started regular trots down battling a very awkward face on wind that pushed the line into the nearside marginal reeds. Despite feeling like I was making no headway towards getting a bite, 20 minutes in I finally had a good bite that I hooked.
This fish felt much bigger and just hugged the bottom of the river. I kept the pressure on and just gently played her to the waiting net. On the scales she went 6lb 1oz! Another target achieved for the trip. I couldn't believe my luck....a 2;1 roach and the a 6'1 chub! Fantastic! After that the swim died and I left for the journey home.
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