I have had a difficult start to the year with my dad passing away in April after a year-long diagnosis of cancer. He passed away quietly in his sleep at the St Joseph Hospice in Hackney.

On the fishing side of things, I've had a few trips, some good some not so good, but I have savoured every last one of them. I've fished on the smallest of ponds with my 3 year old son for the first time, catching small Roach and Rudd on maggot, I've been to Ireland with Greys, down to The Royalty, a couple of trips to Old Bury Hill and last but by no means least - the River Chelmer for my local fishing.

I had never been to Old Bury Hill before so I was right up for it, the day came round and as usual I was first at the meet, we were on the road by 4.30 and at the gates before they were open.
I had booked two punts the day before and we were like kids pushing each other out of the way to get to them. We finally got sorted and made our way to the horizon, well not quite the horizon, but as far into the jungle as we could, as we had been told this was the place to be.

Unfortunately my two pals struggled and caught nothing, but on my own with my secret bait (so I told them), I had a reasonable day considering it fished hard all round. I managed a tally of 6 Tench to 6lb. I lost a estimated 30lb plus Common in the snags that took me a bit by surprise, I let it have too much line - but I still managed to get another one interested - a nice 21 lb Mirror, I was lucky not to lose that as well, as the snags are lethal but I was confident that my 15 lb Braided Mainline and 12lb Flouro hooklenth would hold and as my centrepin has no clutch it was down to me to stop the fish from escaping. It was a bit hairy for a minute but I landed it with a sigh and returned it as quickly as I could.

The Irish Trip was a change for me, I had never been there and had heard so many conflicting stories about the fishing, the people ect, so when I was invited to go out with Hardy/Greys to do some work for the Irish Tourist Board, I gave it a lot of thought before making my decision and felt it was good for me to experience it for myself.

It didn't get off to a brilliant start as I got ripped off by the Ferry Company for an upgrade I purchased, I eventually managed to get my money back when I got home but only after complaining in the strongest terms.

We were in Ireland working for the Tourist Board and if I am honest, I was disappointed with the trip as a whole. I felt that they let themselves down really, the hotel they put us up in was not the best, the view out of my two windows was a escape staircase from one and a row of back gardens that resembled a scrap yard from the other. The fishing was hard but we caught fish (nothing special) but it should have been better, as we were told over and over again.

I never had any problems with the food which was a relief as I am really fussy, in fact I would go as far as to say it was probably the best thing about the trip, bar the company I was in. The people I met out there were great, but I just felt that if the Tourist board employ people like me to go out there and want me to come back shouting from the roof tops, they need to show me what they want me to shout about. I am sure with all the power they have they could have sourced better accommodation/venues. I haven't got any pictures because I didn't see anything worth taking.

If you are thinking of Ireland as a possible Fishing/Holiday Destination, maybe you should consider Holland as an alternative, there is less travelling on the road, bigger bags of Bream and the night life is something to be believed - and the people can't do enough for you.

I had a good week on the Middle Lake at Churchgate a couple of weeks back and managed three Twenties with three casts in three days.
The first one was mid afternoon on a warm Saturday when every peg on the lake was full except No 10. I was walking past it and saw a big tail break the surface and the water was like dark brown tea, so I trotted round to the office grabbed my Prodigy Float Rod and free-lined a bit of paste right under the step. Within 30 seconds or so I felt a fish pick the bait up and I lifted into a solid fish that took off on a run, I managed to subdue the fish and weighed it in at 23 lb 6 oz


The Second fish came the next day late in the afternoon after most of the anglers had gone home for their roast dinners. I was walking around getting ready to lock up when I noticed one of the guys packing up on No 1. I know he was fishing a Parti blend via a Spod and that usually means spoils on the floor and around the margins under where he was resting his bucket, so I grabbed my rod walked round to his swim and free lined a bit of paste about 6 inches off the step just below where he had rested his bucket. Iwas away almost immediately, the fish gave a great account of itself before I managed to land this stunning looking Common at 22lb 4 0z


The third fish came from me just trying something different. On our match lakes the Pellet Waggler has been accounting for some great bags of fish and I thought I would give it a try for the bigger fish on the Middle Lake, I grabbed my G Tec 12 ft Carp Bagger and set it up with a Pellet Waggler and walked up on the Top Lake to have a look down over the Middle Lake, there were a lot fish milling about in open water. I went around to No 11 sat down and started to fire out a steady stream of 4mm pellet into a concentrated area at about 30 meters, I continued to do this for about 20 minutes when I saw the first bit of movement below the surface so I kept on firing the Pellets out and the movements became more and more frequent. After about an hour I decided that I would risk a cast... I cast right into the middle of the baited area and as the pellet hit the water the rod was nearly ripped out of my hands, the fish powered off into open water and gave a fantastic scrap and after a very spirited fight I managed to land this prehistoric looking Mirror at just over 26 lb. If you look closely you can see this fishes ribs, I have never caught a fish with the rib cage as visible as this.


I have had a great response to a new method I am trying at the moment for the Bream on the Chelmer - it is working really well with some fantastic results. The big old slabs have been coming consistently on every session I have fished. I love to fish with my tips high in the air and recently saw a product that looked really interesting, so I made some enquiries about it and through the post the other day one magically appeared. This stand has impressed me so much that I filmed it on my phone and put it on u tube - so follow the link below and have a look, it's a great Tripod Style stand that's been made by fishermen for fishermen, it's called the TBR2 Barbel Tripod!
This stand is great and if you love your Barbel/River fishing you really need to get one of these, they are fully adjustable and I can see me using this a lot, I am even thinking of taking it sea fishing with me to fish from the rocks. Its three legs are all adjustable, there is a weight hook in the centre to give it a good centre of gravity, rods are kept safe and clean up out of the sand/mud ect., by being held securely into the bottom cups and the build quality is top notch. Check out their website and have a look at the vid, it's not the best filming you will ever see but you will get the gist of it. http://shop1.actinicexpress.co.uk/shops/traffordangling/index.php
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=mu54ULL_u_4&feature=user

I have got lots of trips coming up over the next couple of months and as the fishery slows down my fishing picks up and I can get some quality fishing in.

I hope you can look in from time to time and catch up on what I am doing.


Tight Lines

Tony Runnalls www.churchgatelakes.co.uk
www.greysfishing.com