The first few months of 2021 were dominated by COVID-19. I took advantage of the time to think, plan, and prepare for the better times which were ahead. Navionics relief shading was one of the things which turned out to be a bit of a game changer for me, and many others. The detailed topography which it provides on the Navionics Boating app and on the Navionics Platinum Chart cards for fish finders, allowed me to locate a lot of new fishing marks – Brilliant!
Over the years, I’ve been fortunate to write for many different angling publications. One of my favourites is Catch Cult International. In March I felt humbled to be featured on the front cover.
I always look forward to fishing at Wimbleball lake. It is becoming something of an annual pilgrimage. A stunning location on the edge of Exmoor National park, and a large head of fighting fit rainbow trout courtesy of Wimbleball Fly Fishery manager Mark Underhill. Mark and Trudy also run the nearby George Inn.
Myself and Charlie made an early visit to Wimbleball in the kayaks, and it didn’t disappoint. The rainbow trout are always in such fine condition, and we also managed to catch quite a few wild brown trout too. As you can tell, I absolutely love the place, and I cannot wait to go back in 2022 – maybe a kayak fishing meet might be in order?
April, and the winter storms had blown through. The spring sunshine was starting to kick-start mother nature. A settled spell saw me visiting Salcombe to try a fishing method which has fallen out of favour recently . I can’t for the life of me understand why? Drifting in a kayak using light spinning tackle and a baited spoon, is a deadly, exciting and highly productive method for catching numbers of plaice. I moved up the estuary and caught numbers of plaice, but made the mistake of moving back to the mouth of the estuary.
“Don’t Leave fish to find fish”
Dizzy
The good weather continued, and I traveled to Swanage. A stunning sunrise greeted me, and I decided on a beach launch, rather than the usual town launch near the pier.
A lovely bream was quickly returned, and a pretty spotted ray put me on cloud 9. I always seem to do well on the spotted rays, and I know others struggle. I would be back in a few weeks when the Swanage reef would be alive.
May, and still the weather was good. I raced to Blue Anchor bay in Somerset for a quick kayak fishing session. There were rays and conger everywhere. The action was non-stop, it was hectic, and a huge amount of fun, as the fish were hitting both rods at the same time.
My local river comes alive for a couple of weeks every year during the annual mayfly hatch. This year’s hatch was no exception, and myself and Charlie took full advantage. I am so lucky to live within walking distance of this beautiful stream. Matching the hatch (not that it matters during duffer’s week) with the mohican mayfly pattern as tied and demonstrated by Oliver Edwards.
Back to Swanage. Ben and Mark were also there and the bream were out in numbers. It seemed they were everywhere. We were paddling around and catching them on shrimpers and mini sabikis baited with small strips of squid. Mackerel were also in the mix – the fish were mostly small, but they could clearly be seen on the fish finder. Later we anchored up near the reefs, and picked up more bream, and some really nice rays, including some undulates. The other guys returned for an ice cream, and I moved to the other side of the bay, where I caught some bigger bream, and even a conger eel.
West Wales is a long journey for me, but one I like to make when the conditions are right, usually at short notice. A weather window appeared in May, and I quickly packed the car and made the long journey. When I got there, Stu Evans and Steve Henry were already there… great minds think alike! The previous day, they had a really good day afloat catching a number of tope. After a rough night sleeping in the car I set off in the kayak. The fishing wasn’t as good as the previous day, but we managed to catch some tope from the kayak. I even managed to hook into one using my BONE Voyage lure spinning rod – what a rush! Unfortunately the hook straightened, otherwise I think I would have stood a half decent chance of landing the tope on the spinning rod and reel. I did catch a decent tope, and also had a bunch of fun catching bass on topwater lures – the white tackle house feed shallow seemed to be picking out the better fish. And as always, there seemed to be an endless supply of big snarling huss to keep everyone amused.
Flaming June had arrived, and I made a trip to Tanners Lane with Steve Loftus. It is a venue I had wanted to fish for many years, and Steve kindly showed me the venue. Steve also caught a stingray that day from the kayak, which was amazing to see. I would love to go back again and fish this venue. As it was, I still caught smoothound (hardbacked crab work well here), and also hooked some bass on lures. The tackle house feed doing the business again.
Back to Wimbleball lake, and this time Lee Harwood joined me. It is always good to meet up with Lee, he was there when it started all those years ago. And this was to be his day. He caught a stunning brown trout which was over 5lbs. I caught some beautiful little wild brown trout. What a day.
The mayfly were still hatching on my local stream, so it would have been rude not to…
Salcombe again, and this time some sublime wrasse fishing. Catching them on lures is simply the best fun. This session included some really brightly coloured beasts. They don’t half scrap!
July ended up being probably the busiest month fishing-wise, I can remember for a long time. One of the biggest game changers for me this year, was the purchase of my new Hobie Mirage Lynx. I traveled to Poole to visit Steve at Shore Thing (The Hobie Center). This is a new and innovative fishing platform, which is kind of like a cross between a paddle board and a pedal kayak. It is light, stealthy, fast and maneuverable – everything you could want in a fishing machine. It was no exaggeration to say that it transformed my kayak fishing in 2021 – particularly lure fishing for the chub, as you will see from the following pictures. The river fishing season was now open, and the chub and the Hobie lynx were on my mind.
July was also the date for the inaugural Sea Angling Classic competition organised by Ross Honey. This was to be a boat fishing competition based at Northney marina on Hayling Island. I was fishing on board an incredible vessel Smartfish25 skippered by Will Parkinson and Ollie Taylor. We were part of the Navionics fishing team – myself, Mark Radcliffe and Simon Gibson. The first day was tough. Everyone struggled, and I don’t think I registered a fish on the board. On the final day, I couldn’t stop catching fish – I registered a full card of smoothound, including one over 100cm, bass and tope. It was a fun event, which I am sure will go on to be bigger and better.
On to another competition organised by my kayak fishing buddy David Morris. This was the KAOTY kayak fishing competition at Pitsford reservoir. The freshwater competition scene these days, is dominated by kayak fishermen who own and run high end fish finding technology, so I was pretty chuffed to pull out the biggest perch of the competition at 46cm, and 3.5lbs, closely followed by 2 other big perch. What a fish…
July was also the first time that I had fished Christchuch harbour. This venue is now a firm favourite of mine. It is a superb fishery, holding specimen bass, sea trout and mullet. on this visit I caught a stunning 5lb sea trout and a whole bunch of mullet. Such great sport, it is a kayak angler’s paradise. Check out this sea trout…
August, and the river was in fine fettle. The Hobie Lynx was absolutely smashing it, and the pike, perch and especially the chub were providing great sport using crazy topwater surface disturbance lures. These lure look insane, you would never think in a million years that wily chub would find them irresistible. The sport was highly visual and hugely spectacular…
August also provided some more top drawer lure action on the kayak with mullet but especially bass. Catching 5lb+ bass on surface poppers and sub-surface lures in only a few inches of water, is so exciting. I also caught a few flounder, including one proper lump whilst fishing with a baited spinner. it was also good to catch up with Adie, Sam Baxter, Graham, David and Charlie.
September is probably my favourite fishing month. The saltwater fishing is at its peak, and the freshwater fishing can be fantastic if the weather holds. First off was a visit to Cornwall to meet up with my buddy Ian. We fished the manacles, and although initially the fishing was slow, it is always good to catch up with Ian. He sneaked out a 7lb pollack whilst I wasn’t looking! I caught a few small bass, and a handful of wrasse, and after Ian left, I moved back to the reef and snagged a better bass, and a half decent wrasse before bagging up on mackerel and Cornish sardines (pilchards). The place has so much potential, and I always look forward to visiting.
Next, a trip I had been waiting for all year. Scotland is such an amazing location, the landscape, the fishing and the wildlife. I met up with Mark, Martin, Ben, Liam, Kyle and Stu. The weather was awful, but it didn’t stop us having a fantastic time. Liam, Kyle and Stu caught common skate; such incredible creatures. I caught a chunk of a pollack whilst lure fishing in 15 feet of water – what a great scrap that gave me. Then myself and Mark found ourselves surrounded by dolphins as we paddled close inshore. The stuff of dreams. When the weather wasn’t so good, we spent the time fishing for sea trout, foraging for Chanterelle mushrooms, eating, drinking and watching the sea eagles gliding around.
Back to the river, and the mini sub chub were coming thick and fast to the deck of the Hobie Lynx. The surface disturbance lures were devastating, with one session throwing up 4 chub over 4.5lbs.
A hastily arranged trip to Salcombe. Charlie joined me, but we were not convinced we were going to be able to fish it. As it tuned out, the conditions were better than we expected . We caught a good selection of species, but no sandeels. Hopefully we can return and Charlie can experience the venue when the fishing is good. We did manage some decent wrasse, including one of 4lbs 8oz I think.
October – back to the river. This was one of the sessions which sticks in my mind for many reasons. The session was going really well, with several lure caught chub over 4lbs. Then I hooked and landed a much bigger one. Unfortunately at the most inopportune moment, my digital scales failed. I ended up measuring the chub. It measured 60cms long (23.5inches), but the girth on it was insane…. it measured 38cms (15iched) around its body!! The last chub I had just weighed before the scales packed up, went 4lb 9oz, and this one felt loads heavier. When I got home, I did some research, and using the measurements, the chub weighed between 6 and 7.2lbs – Wow! I also found a scale from the chub in the net, and when I looked at it under the microscope, it looked like the chub was about 20 years old. Fascinating stuff, and very cool to think that fish is still swimming around in the river.
This was to be my last trip to Salcombe in 2021. I was on my own, and conditions were very good. I caught some sandeels and launce, and some pilchards. I saw a couple of giant bluefin tuna breaching, and I also saw a couple of big fish on the fish finder directly under the kayak. The tide was running hard, and I was struggling to paddle uptide to fish a canny spot in between two rock pinnacles where the water drops from 20 feet to 40 feet. I put on the biggest live launce I had, and gently lowered it over the side of the kayak. The kayak was drifting quite fast, when I had a bite. I struck, and the fish just kept going, and going. I was using robust lure fishing gear with a van staal reel, and I put as much pressure on the fish as I could. It didn’t stop. If anything, it just moved away from me even faster, until after what seemed like an eternity (but in reality was probably only a few seconds), the line parted. I wouldn’t have minded as much if I had at least seen the fish…. next time! Consolation was some half decent wrasse on the lures.
The Llangorse European Freshwater kayak fishing championship is an event I look forward to every year. Usually the event takes place in March, but due to COVID-19, the event had been cancelled for the last couple of years. Ed Gibson the organiser, had decided to re-schedule the event for the end of October, and change the format to a lure only competition. It all turned out well, and in true pre-fish princess style, I ended up catching a really cracking pike during the practice day! No matter, I still made top 10 on comp day, and a good time was had by all. Good mate Hewy came second, and this caused much banter in the caravan after the event. Bring on next year’s event.
Apart from some interesting drop shot trips on the river in November, and the Ben Saville memorial flounder meet in Poole, that was about it for me this year.
All that remains is for me to wish you all the best for 2022. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my adventures. If COVID has taught me one thing, it is not to take anything for granted. Make the most of life, and enjoy what spare time you have. When I look back over my past 40 years of fishing, much has changed. But I enjoy my fishing now more than ever. Stay safe, have fun, and I hope to see you in 2022 – I have some epic adventures planned.
Finally a big thank you to all of my supporters, and especially my sponsors, who make this all possible…
Hobie Fishing Kayaks, Steve and the team at Shore Thing.
Lance, Emma and the team at Navionics UK.
Craig and the team at Lowrance.
Andrew and the team at Reuben Heaton.
Gary and the team at American Tackle Company
Bone Fishing World, Veals Mail order, Premier angling, Kyle at Penn Europe and all of the others who have supported me.