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That’s that then...

Had one final session on the Upper Trent tonight,1 bite,1 fish.............14lb on the dot.........roll on the 16th
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Didn't fish the Trent as much so numbers were well down but achieved my aim of upping my PBs on four Yorkshire rivers including a maiden Nidd double. Concentrated on areas that produced fewer but bigger fish, the plan worked.
 
Managed a blank on a out of sorts Warks Avon, but to 13's last week..can't complain...But some scrote keyed my car in the car park!!! What is their motivation? :mad:
 
Neil Smart said:
Managed a blank on a out of sorts Warks Avon, but to 13's last week..can't complain...But some scrote keyed my car in the car park!!! What is their motivation? :mad:
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Gutted mate. Just can’t work out what goes through people’s heads at times can ya. No need to do stupid stuff like that
 
Season started poor with the hot weather and not going much but had the best October ever with new pb of 12lb 6. Most fish I caught that month were doubles with fish of 11.14 and 11.12 to go with a few more 11’s and 10’s. Went a bit quiet after that but not gonna complain. Looking forward to next season now
 
Jon Young said:
Gutted mate. Just can’t work out what goes through people’s heads at times can ya. No need to do stupid stuff like that
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Thanks Jon, funny thing was I was trying to get to my usual stretch and it was heaving so went to Pershore just upstream and the stretch was empty, it was a municipal car park but no CCTV. There was you normal 'hoodie' clocking be from the footbridge for a long time while I was fishing. Insurance want £325 plus vat, excess, I might try a DIY with fine grit and polish. Normally would take my old banger, but that was scrapped recently....Anyway plenty of DIY to do before the Tench make a show.
Personally a good 90% of my fish were doubles, but that doesn't delight me really, would like to have seen some younger stock.
 
Brilliant news Trevor my very good friend, well and truly deserved for your tenacty and perseverence in your Barbel angling approach.

great pic to boot, many thanks for posting.
 
Neil Smart said:
Thanks Jon, funny thing was I was trying to get to my usual stretch and it was heaving so went to Pershore just upstream and the stretch was empty, it was a municipal car park but no CCTV. There was you normal 'hoodie' clocking be from the footbridge for a long time while I was fishing. Insurance want £325 plus vat, excess, I might try a DIY with fine grit and polish. Normally would take my old banger, but that was scrapped recently....Anyway plenty of DIY to do before the Tench make a show.
Personally a good 90% of my fish were doubles, but that doesn't delight me really, would like to have seen some younger stock.
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If you can feel it with your nails it’s probably too deep to polish/sand out. Try some G3 polishing compound, if you can borrow a mop all the better. Less aggressive and risky than sanding but may be enough to make it less obvious.
 
Thanks for the tips...been looking on you tube and there is some contrasting advice, I was going to go down the route of 2000/ and 3000 wet and dry, and buffing with rubbing compound, this is really a black art for the common man.
One tip was that any scratch forms a ridge, a bit like running your finger on a frosted window. The advice was flatten the ridges with a 2000 paper, and then apply a clear finish thinners, apply the paint with a touching up pen, and run a razor blade over the excess to form a smooth surface , buff and polish.:cool:.

This could go pear shape...

Which reminds my late Brother In Law Dave, who told me that as a young man, he and his mates 'borrowed' his Dads car, this was way back in the 70'S. Anyway they thought it a good idea to go off to Weston Super Mare, just a short drive from Bristol. On the way they hit a lamp post, he was mortified, but they bought some filler and went to work botching up the dent with this stuff. But the filler didn't dry too well and the motion of the car turned the 'repair, into something resembling a rock hard Pear :D
His Dad was was not impressed.
Forgive me Mods (again) I transgress.;)
 
I have a friend who was a Cop, many years ago he was on night patrol in his white Panda when a moments carelessness ended up with a very crumpled front offside wing.

Luckily there was another vehicle available in the small unsupervised station he worked from, by 6.00 am the damage could not be seen, mainly because he had had the wing replaced and sprayed by his brother who had a vehicle body shop.

More to the point, my last session was banjaxed by the weather, I was hoping that maybe, just maybe I could squeeze in a last knockings, but not to be.

My season has not been great, but then again, I have no complaints, a week on the Wye was very productive, my main river , the Ribble also was good to me , the Trent not so good, even having said that I have not had a "splasher " at all, most being between 9 and 11 pounds..

Now looking forward to a lay off and a chance to concentrate on other species when the time allows. I am not a great lover of fishing ponds , commercials make my stomach churn, but a very occasional session on large waters do provide a challenge .

There is always the sea, which I love, but the next three months give slim pickings there also, unless we get a spring run of Codling.

David
 
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Neil Smart said:
Thanks Jon, funny thing was I was trying to get to my usual stretch and it was heaving so went to Pershore just upstream and the stretch was empty, it was a municipal car park but no CCTV. There was you normal 'hoodie' clocking be from the footbridge for a long time while I was fishing. Insurance want £325 plus vat, excess, I might try a DIY with fine grit and polish. Normally would take my old banger, but that was scrapped recently....Anyway plenty of DIY to do before the Tench make a show.
Personally a good 90% of my fish were doubles, but that doesn't delight me really, would like to have seen some younger stock.
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Iv caught plenty on fish between 1/2lb and 1 1/2lb the last couple of seasons so they are there on the middle at least
 
For the first time in over 20 years I have not caught a single barbel. I managed to get out once but had to leave early due to having left my head torch at home. 2018/19 has been a terrible year for me, I lost my dear mum and have been plagued with back trouble (bulging discs/ annular tear), which prevents me from sitting for any length of time. To keep my spirits up I’ve done a bit of trotting locally and recorded some nice roach., and I’m now focusing on getting better and planning for next season, when I aim to up my barbel pb. Although my wife probably thinks I’ve been a miserable git for quite some time, she’s no idea how miserable I’d be if I didnt have my fishing to look forward to.
 
My fourth barbel season was a strange one for me, where I caught half my season's total (i.e. 7 of my 14) in June, and hardly ever found a river in the right conditions after that. But at least I landed my first ever end-of-season barbel, March 1st, losing 2 more in the same session and thereby finding where some barbel are to be found when conditions are right on the River Aire, a few mins from where I live -that's after 3 long years of looking for them since the floods in my first season moved the fish i knew back then. I'm not too bothered about the size of the fish i catch, but it was noticeable that this was the first season I didn't take my camera out of my pocket, and in the end I even stopped taking it with me at all.

Also my worst winter for chub & grayling, but my best for perch! Had pike a-plenty, but I only fish for pike when I'm bored and when they ask for trouble! That just about sums up my season. My seven or eight days on the Wye were the highlight as they always are.
 
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