HAPPY DAYS WITH FRIENDS

                         

Christmas - a time to celebrate our days of joy with family and friends during these past years and to look forward to many more wildlife and fishing adventures during this next year.

Yes, we’re well aware that a virus is running riot so for now, all of us will keep ourselves isolated from our nearest and dearest and try to stay alive … and if Sue and I don’t succeed, this could serve as a goodbye!

But before we leave … and contrary to most people’s attitude to writing Christmas cards, I really enjoy the process because it means our friends are instantly on my mind and the more I write in each card, the longer I’m with them in spirit, regardless of not having seen them for years. This enables us to pass on our news and love and every card is rewarding because for a moment, they’ve been right there with us.

Sue and I are blessed to have so many to write to and I for one know it’s a privilege to share the fun of fishing with all my worm dangling friends. So I hope you enjoy sharing this selection of catches they’ve made during these past few years. And I'll start with those I fish with most, my computer guru and good pal Chris Wild, with whom I shared the excitement of stalking this beautiful 22lb common carp in the shallows of a local lake.

Next up is Steve Derby for he allows me the privilege of sharing his rig for mullet fishing in Christchurch Harbour and we had a splendid year of success, catching quite a few up to six and a bit pounds, along with some lovely roach. I know I’ve banged on about how hard mullet fight but if you’ve ever tried to land one, you’ll know that they never give up and in shallow water, the battles can be seriously exciting.

Also a fan of mullet madness is Steve’s long time friend, Brian Naylor, an ace angler who delights in making me jealous by telling stories of battles with giant sea trout in South America. We’ve shared a few scares together too as the feisty mullet try to break our line among the anchor chains.

Another fish that pulls a bit is the Indian Mahseer and I enjoyed some wonderful holidays there in winter sunshine, having been invited to join Steve, Brian and not least that ace barbel angler who helped us with our TV series ‘Catching the Impossible’, Pete Reading. 

He caught us a twelve pound barbel to order and had lots of big mahseer during our adventures and it’s such a shame that those holidays together are no longer possible because the great wildlife and birding we enjoyed was only matched by our laughter.

Another friend sharing our Indian trips was Gerry Higham. He got lucky and caught a fifty pounder that for half an hour, dragged him all over the river in his coracle. He's an all rounder so is just as keen on catching delicate crucian carp in one of our local lakes.

Gerry is a lifelong follower of Manchester United and he kindly invited close friend Chris Yates and I to enjoy a match with the club we support, Southampton. Being in ‘The Theatre of Dreams’ was dramatic, with 70,000 fans cheering their teams and it must be very odd for the players today to compete in front of empty stands.

Chris and I love our crucian fishing and have shared many memorable days trying to spot their sneaky bites ... and sometimes succeeding.

Chris also loves his perching but on this occasion he’d forgotten his rod so, shock horror, he had to fish with one of my carbon ones and I promised not to tell anyone that he’d broken his tradition never to use such a modern monstrosity.

Though I do enjoy crucian fishing, especially with Chris, my first love is roaching and I particularly like this pic of Stuart Wilson, the legendary keeper at the LAA’s Britford fishery with a sparkler. 

I have many friends who love their roaching, including Malcolm Swinfen and luckily we've shared several two pounders. We also exchange fishing stories by email and with Malcolm being a good writer, they make enjoyable reading.

Many of our friends love catching big roach - of course they do, they are the best fish - and one who has done more than most for us anglers this last year by enabling us to start fishing again after lockdown is pal and Angling Trust guru Martin Salter. I was pleased to be alongside him when he caught this great big roach from the River Test. It wasn't quite a two pounder but it looks it!

I can't mention roach without acknowledging the lifetimes work of Trevor Harrop and Budgie Price and it's partly due to them that we can now trot the Hampshire Avon for roach again and stand a reasonable chance of catching one. Here they are landing a big chub! Sorry about that but I couldn't find the one of Budgie landing a roach of nearly two pounds.

I have friends who sometimes prefer bigger fish than roach and I was so lucky to be invited to join those ace angling archivists, Keith and Sandy Armishaw for a holiday sturgeon fishing in Canada. What's more, we had such a good time I was invited again and boy, did we catch a lot of big fish. 

This monster of Keith's took him 1hr 28mins to land and I caught one close to that size. We got very wet when it flapped and being  stuck in the mud, we had an early bath - cue laughter.

We also visited Vancouver Island, fishing not far from where Prince Harry and Megan lived for a while, and the salmon fishing was a bit special, Keith landing this monster King Salmon on trotted salmon eggs and I caught several beautiful fresh run silver bars on a fly.

Luckily I'd been taught to cast by John Slader, an Orvis guide on the Test and stalwart of the Salmon and Trout Conservation Trust, so I was extremely fortunate to catch fish instead of trees. We had shared a grand bone fishing holiday out west and now we share roach fishing on our poles alongside the Avon and enjoy that just as much.

I have other pals that love fly fishing too, non more so than Jim Wreglesworth. He catches some gorgeous big brownies from our local rivers on the fly, loves roach fishing and shares a love of tench, catching lots of fiesty smallish ones with me one evening. He was quite happy!

I have another great friend who I've fished with for many years and he's an inspiration because he makes such a commitment to achieve success and nearly always does, Mark Woodage. Only two years ago he caught a roach of 3lb14ozs from an 'impossible' water and helped me to catch one of 3lb10ozs so we were both rather happy chappies. He loves his tenching too and we've shared many happy days in the summer sun along with blanking on frosty mornings.

One angler I always look forward to joining for our trips down memory lane is Martin Bowler. We spent four years together creating our Ch4 series 'Catching the Impossible' and amazingly, after all that pressure to catch big 'uns, we remain the best of friends. 

I helped him out with a bit of filming for one of his productions a few years back and we will never forget the day when he caught giant perch of 4lb5ozs, followed soon after by a true monster of 5lb4ozs. He is arguably the finest all round angler in the UK and a lovely bloke too so I count myself lucky to call him and his wife Jo friends.

I haven't been fishing much this last year due to a need to hide away and I've missed our journeys into the wild, not least to the Hebridian Island of Islay where nearly thirty thousand barnacle geese spend the winter, the scenery is stunning and the malt whisky from the islands' eight distillaries is delicious ... but dangerous.

Here we are with our close friends, ace wildlife cameramen Michael and Penny Richards and the legendary John Aitchison who was trying to film golden eagles catching geese! They do you know.

We go to Islay together as often as possible, along with other birding holidays but our annual New Year celebrations with Michael and Penny and Rick and Jen is cancelled this year for obvious reasons. It's sad as we've never missed the get together for the last thirty nine years. This pic of us on the West Somerset Railway makes me think of that exclamation in panto "it's behind you"!

We'll just have to be patient and wait for 'together time' when the worst of the virus is over. Finger's crossed it won't be too long, but in the meantime, Sue and I are lucky to have a lovely big garden to look after and keep us fit. Our wildflower meadow is butterfly heaven.

Our daughter Katie and partner Simon love their gardening too and are joining us for Christmas lunch from just up the road but very sensibly, our Pete decided it was too risky to come from Plymouth as he didn't want to kill the old folk!

 

We'll hopefully be seeing him in the Spring when everything is smelling of roses and our world slowly returning to normal. ... and it won't be long before summer glows with life and we're picnicking on the top of Dorset's Golden Cap. Until then, have a great Christmas and stay safe always ... and thank you to all my fishing pals for their great company and all the laughs. 

With our love and best wishes, Hugh and Sue.

 

Tenching at Bradleys

a chunky one nearing the net

What a great season it’s been for big tench this year, in spite of what seemed to be a cold and dodgy spring … and as for our ‘summer’ … best not to mention that at all. We all want to catch a ten pounder don’t we and I’m no exception but any tench is a good one in my view because they are such beautiful fish.

Martin with a ten plusser from Kent

I’ve seen many big ‘uns, especially while filming for ‘Catching the Impossible’, Martin Bowler and Terry Lampard catching several at Mid-Kent Fisheries and awesome they look too. I’ve been lucky enough to catch ones of 8/9 from five different waters so felt it was time I tried to up my PB and even catch a double. Trouble is, not only did I respect the old closed season, we also have a large garden and spring is a busy time out there.

view from the office window - nice!

the wild flower meadow is a wildlife magnet

Added to those obstacles to success is my preference for float fishing and it’s clear from the angling press that the way to bag a double is to bolt-rig maggots behind bite alarms. Not quite my bag. However, nothing ventured, nothing gained, so I sought access to the Cotswold Water Park’s Bradleys Lake and was granted the privilege of a Spring Ticket.

My long time friend, Mark Woodage fished it last year with good results, my mate Martin Bowler too, so thought that with luck I might at least up my PB and even catch a double, for most years Bradleys has produced one or two tench of my dreams.

Mark waiting for action ... for weeks this year

It’s a beautiful lake, all 120 acres of it and though some might be daunted when faced by this open ocean, I love the challenge of fishing into the unknown. What’s more, the place is jumping with wildlife, the water dancing with insect life and the skies filled with birds. On one memorable day this spring a thousand sand martins and hundreds of swallows were hawking over the waves to replenish their fuel reserved burnt off during the long journey from Africa.

so many sand martins the huge expanse of water was covered with them

... just say agh ...

There are ducks galore and the trees and bushes bounce to the songs of returning warblers that have survived their perilous flights from south of the Sahara. Terns from even further away dive for small fish, great crested grebes too, so even when the buzzers stay silent, blanking is a delight!

the grebes certainly caught a lot more than us

My first visit in late April coincided with one of Mark’s early attempts … he’d blanked on the previous two … but I felt a need to start putting some effort in and try learning a little about the place and it’s fish life if I was to earn my stripes … and catch a tench. We arrived in time to plumb our swims and bait up before dark and though we saw no rolling tench, we were optimistic that next days sunshine would encourage them to feed.

I think I was warmer in the Arctic with the ice bears

I slept in my old VW nearby but by 2am I was so cold I had to get up, put pullovers and coat on, light the gas, drink tea and read a book. I hadn’t been so cold since filming polar bears and wished I’d packed my arctic sleeping bag. The only consolation was a nightingale that serenaded me all night from just outside the window. Delightful.

Mark in Arctic mode - by 'eck it was cold

Dawn came as a blessed relief but when I reached my gear at the swim and lifted the covering tarp, the shards of ice splintering off convinced me that even grayling would be difficult to catch on such a day. However, Mark and I soldiered on, sustained by numerous cups of tea, coffee and sausage sarnies. We blanked of course, not even a liner raising our hopes … but the wildlife and banter ensured it was an enjoyable day.

these naughty red-crested pochard were forever diving on my ground-baited spot

I didn’t return for three weeks but Mark fished at least one day each week and in the end he did actually catch a tench! Now if you’re thinking he’s a plonker, think again. He’s a really tidy and skilful ex. match angler and does know how to catch Bradley’s tench, so I guess his excuse would be that a large deep lake during a cold Spring fails to warm up like the shallower waters that were producing all the doubles. What’s more, carp anglers were bait-boating their bolt-rigs and feed out unbelievable distances, 150yds. or more, so I guess the tench had no need to venture nearer the edge and in range of our feeders to fatten up for spawning.

there was otter spraint on those rocks by my swim

I’d decided on a two day mission, picked my spot next to Mark and waited for a bite … and waited some more. I had the occasional hint that there were actually fish in the lake but maybe they were crayfish tugging at my baits?

a perfect fat lady for Mark ... but will the singing even start

In the meantime, Mark caught a chunky female tench of 5/14 so despite the fact that I am a plonker, I was confident of some action, especially when I was told it was this very swim where my pal Martin Salter had caught a beast of a tench only two weeks before. At 9/4 it was an impressive fish.

what an awesome beast - the tench is quite chunky too!

Failing to raise a smile, let alone a bite, I packed up at 20.30 for a bite of my own and a celebration of the joys of fishing with Mark and his pal Matt. We empted various bottles in the old VW and it was just like the days when making “A Passion for Angling” with Bob and Chris, lots of banter, laughter and as good a fishing night as you could ever wish for. 

location caterers for both A Passion for Angling and Catching the Impossible

Bought in 1989 as a location base for our filming, the campervan is held together with rust now but still serves me well. It's been my escape hatch from the world for twenty five years … and long may it continue!

my escape hatch from the world, hidden in some far off corner surrounded by wildlife and wild skies

the black swan was lonely so fell in love with his white cousin

We were up at 04.30 on a cool morning, the water temp. having dropped over-night from 58f to 54f  and the only rolling tench about 200yds. out into the ocean. I fiddled endlessly with my rigs and baits as did Mark and it was he who caught a tench after a thirst quenching lunch, a fat female of 6/6. Then after a tea break he caught a lovely looking male of 5/14.

a muscular beauty ... no, you'll be relieved I won't repeat that gag

I was still fishless and biteless … I told you I was a plonker … but not for long as at 18.30 my bobbin rose sharply and held there and upon raising the rod I felt that very unfamiliar sensation of a fish on the end. 

praying the hook won't pull at this critical moment

After a suitable length of time praying for it not to come off it was in the net, my first Bradleys tench and a cracker to boot, all 8/2 of immaculate female.

a 'proper' tench of 8/2 and a good 'un to start my tally at Bradleys

back the beauty goes

It was tricked by two fake casters and a speck of plastic corn and I was just a bit pleased that I’d fiddled around to achieve the right amount of buoyancy to create a balanced bait. Childs play to a seasoned campaigner but a new challenge for a roach angler like me. I tried for another but retired to the van at 21.00 for a snack while listening to the dulcet tones of a nightingale close by.

despite dramatic declines, this is still a star bird in the Cotswold Water Park

It was still singing next morning, along with a persistent cuckoo but the most surprising wildlife was a large hatch of mayfly. 

a tasty meal for birds as well as fish

We all associate them with shallow chalk streams but here they were, rising in dozens from a deep gravel pit.  The swans, ducks and terns were delighted by this feast of tasty morsels.

always on the scrounge

Gerry, Bob the catcher and John over acting!

Other old friends arrived to fish and a great bunch they all are too, but Bob was the only one to catch … so the lake was well below par compared to the previous year. Mark only managed 4 tench this year when during the same period last year he caught 38 to a best of 8/10. I told you he was good!

I was fishless on my final day and by 19.00 I was home, having spent 39 hours waiting for one bite  … but what a tench I’d had the privilege of catching … and what a lovely place to blank! As Arnie says “I’ll be back”.

a windy evening sky taken through my Polaroids