End of season highlights...

After a poor last day of the season, without much to write home about, I thought I'd share my highlights for the 2013 / 2014 season. It's been a bit up and down for me this year, with certain targets achieved and others failed (notably, another year without a 5lb chub). 

Ironically, the biggest chub of the year came right at the start with a 4lb 12oz fish, and there have been a fair few other 4lb specimens (11 in total this season - which represents a big improvement on last year), including a river pb of 4lb 10oz. My favourite capture is probably the 4lb 4oz river tees chub that I caught in pitch black on boilie, simply for the experience of hooking and landing fish by torchlight (exhillerating). A target for this summer is to do more into dark sessions on the river, in search of chub and those elusive barbel. I also intend to be a bit more patient, and try for multiple catches of chub on the wag and magg rather than the usual roving approach.

 

 

 

 

A big success story for me this year is with the river grayling. Prior to this season I hadn't caught a grayling over a pound, now I hace numerous pound + specimens, including a personal best of 2lb 4oz. The nice thing is that I caught these with the centrepin, which is a great way of fishing. My target for next year will be to continue this, and hopefully capture another  2lber.

 

 

 

 

 

I have done very little piking this year compared with the two previous. I suppose the reason was that I didnt think I could better my personal best for the river, even though I know there are one or two fish that could do it. This coupled with difficult winter conditions meant that other species to precedence. I did, however manage a trip in between floods in the christmas holiday, and managed a fabulous pike of 24lb 13oz, just 2oz shy of my pb. My target for next season will be to bank another 20, a feat I've managed in the last three seasons - there is little to beat the feeling of a 20lb pike going over the cord of the net.

The perch fishing has been frustrating for me, simply because I know that the river tees is a fine perch river with fish to over 4lb. I did manage to up my personal best to 1lb 13oz, which I'm happy about, but clearly there is plenty of room for improvement. I have a couple of very specific pegs at very specific times of the year in mind for next year, and I hope to give them a good try. My target is a 2lb+ fish next season.

I always try to do a bit of plugging for bass in the summer, simply because of the challenge. Sometimes I can go for half a dozen trips without a take, but when they do hit the lure, its a brilliant experience and fight from the shores of the Yorkshire coast. Imagine my delight then when the first trip out provided two wonderful fish to the lures - well worth the 3am wake up call! I will be trying again when it warms up!

 

 

 

 

As well as the above targets, my aim is to really target the river next season. My first tees barbel and a 5lb tees chub are my ultimate targets, and I think the key to this will be switching from my usual fishing at dawn to fishing into dusk in summer.   

 

Now its time to get the fly gear out - just cant keep away from those rivers!