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The Week Ahead...
The Prospects…
Well overall last week wasn’t too bad at all, the early part of the week wasn’t the greatest, but as we headed towards the weekend things really started to improve Thursday, Friday and Sunday were glorious and apart from the odd sharp shower Saturday wasn’t too bad either.
Decent spells of sunshine were common place and temperatures remained high, pushing into the twenties. On some days it could have been described as ‘muggy’, which probably explains the sharp, sometimes thundery showers that were dotted around the region.
At first glance this week looks very promising indeed, temperatures are consistently forecast to be around the 20 degree mark, with a peak of 22 on some days, however in the sunshine it wouldn’t surprise me if they reached even higher than that. High pressure is expected to be well and truly in command, with light, warm winds and sunny spells, overall I guess you could say it’s going to be a proper summery week! Which, considering we are nearly half way through June, is fine with me!
What could these conditions mean for the fishing?
According to our friendly fishing app, it’s not only the weather that looks good this week, as the fishing prospects look superb too, with Wednesday through till Saturday showing a fishing efficiency rating of over 70%, with both Thursday and Friday hitting a maximum peak of 100%!
As well as the good weather and high fishing efficiency this week also see’s a set of big tides and a full moon, so everything is looking good for anglers of all disciplines, infact this week could be the best for some time! I’m definitely going to get out and wet a line somewhere.
If you are planning a trip this week and have spring species on the brain, then good luck and of course don’t forget to let us know how you get on! Send any pictures and reports to: contact@anglingdirect.co.uk
My Fishing…
Through one reason or another I didn’t manage to get out at the weekend but I did enjoy a trip after work on Thursday evening.
The tides weren’t anything special, but the weather was forecast to be good and my fishing partner Jack Mills had enjoyed some Smoothound success just a few days earlier, so I was keen to try and get in on the action.
With high pressure and clearing, flat calms seas, things looked absolutely spot on for a Smoothound or two and confidence was high! Arriving on the beach around seven, the plan was to fish the last 4 hours of the flood, with the expected catch time to be around two hours before the top of the tide, just as darkness had fallen.
The first three hours passed with incident, but this wasn’t a surprise and as we came up towards ‘bite time’, unusually things went to plan, as the first fish of the session hit the beach! However it wasn’t a Smoothound it was infact a Bass, a nice plump fish around 3lb. This buoyed confidence and another Crab bait was soon prepared and sent out into the darkness. Less than one minute later Bass number two was on the beach, another fish the same size as the first.
What happened in the next couple of hours is something that will stay fresh in the memory as we enjoyed some of the finest Bass fishing I’ve ever experienced, as we landed fish after fish, nothing massive, but fish pushing 4lb.
As we reached the top of the tide, the fishing eased and it was obvious that the large school of fish that had moved into feed had passed through. With our bait supplies running low and with time getting on (for a school night) it wasn’t a bad thing and we decided to call it a night, packing up and taking the long walk back to the car with an added spring in our step, it had truly been a session to remember.
Looking back it was all very strange and almost surreal, as we probably couldn’t have picked any worse conditions for Bass, but I guess that’s just the unpredictability of fishing!
With that session fresh in the memory I’m hoping for another session this week, where I’m extra confident this time we’ll connect with the target species, conditions look spot on and I’m hoping there’s a big Hound out there with my name on it! Fingers crossed I’ll be able to report back next week with the pictures.
Pictures Of The Week…
June’s picture of the month competition is now well and truly underway, and already we’ve seen some fantastic entries and some great interaction. If you’d like to view all the entries and if you’d like to vote for your favorites then you can do so by clicking the link below…
June’s Picture Of The Month
And of course if you want to get in on the action and stand a chance of winning a £50 voucher then get sending your pictures in!
Also it’s worth remembering it’s a picture of the month competition and not a just a fish of the month, so it’s not all about the biggest Carp!
If you want to enter June’s competition and appear on our blog and social sites then feel free to email your pictures and reports to…contact@anglingdirect.co.uk you can also share them with us on our Facebook and Twitter pages.
In The Press
Biggest Bream Brace Ever
The biggest ever brace of bream has been caught by Coarse Fishing Answers expert Alan Stagg. The Gardner-backed specimen ace has had a mega run of for with the species of late, but banking two fish for a combined weight of 34lb 11oz has propelled him into the history books.
Weighing in at 17lb 6oz and 17lb 5oz the fish were caught by Alan during a session on a large southern gravel pit. Alan targeted showing fish on a gravel bar at 85yards range, feeding large amounts of 4mm pellets, corn and crushed CC Moore Odyssey XXX boilies via a spod before casting hi rig over the top.
Consisting of a Gardner size 8 Covert Wide Gape Talon Tip hook to 15lb Camo-Brown Trickster braid and a 3oz lead on a lead clip. Amazingly Alan actually had both fish on the bank at the same time, leading to possibly the most impressive bream catch shot ever taken. The first fish, a male of 17lb 6oz, fell first and just after put the monster snotty in a retaining sling for it to recover his other rod went off with the 17lb 5oz specimen. The incredible catch sees Alan’s bream total for the last month or so to 16 fish in double figures, four of those being over 16lb.
Norfolk Tench Hitting The Headlines
Over the last few weeks it seems that Norfolk has been the hub of big Tench as we’ve been inundated with some cracking catch reports and pictures of specimen Tinca’s. Just this Saturday AD regular and good friend Nathan Long sent through a picture of another fish over the 10lb mark, with a lovely fish of 10lb 3oz. He’s the third AD angler who has landed a fish topping double figures and joins the same doubles club as other local rods Darryn Stolworthy and Josh Fisher.
In Store & Online
Last week was another busy week both in store and online as anglers were out in force making the most of the summery weather.
On Saturday in our Norwich store we welcomed Keith Williams of Mainline Baits and Angling Technics, it was a superb day and we hope everyone who attended enjoyed it. We’d like to say a huge thanks to Keith who was excellent from start to finish, who answered everyone’s questions, showed off the full Angling Technics range and even demonstrated his rolling skills in a Mainline Baits, bait demo.
If you missed the day, then don’t worry as we have a similar event happening in our Chelmsford store, full details will follow this week on our Facebook page.
Online we added a whole host of new products, including the excellent new range of Carp Couture clothing, the whole new terminal tackle range from Nash and Fox as well as products from Taska, you can check out all the new arrivals online.
Whilst on the subject of all things, last week we refreshed the website with a whole new batch of promo boxes and special offers, we also released a brand new email newsletter which you can see by clicking the link below…
Angling Direct Newsletter June
The new stores in Colchester and Birmingham (Halesowen) are coming along nicely and I’m being told that the shop fronts are being finished this week and that the first stock should arrive on Wednesday. We haven’t got exact opening dates for the stores yet, but I know everyone is working hard behind the scenes to ensure this is as soon as possible. Be sure to keep you eyes peeled on our blog and social sites as we’ll release further details on there.
On the blog front we added our usual tackle Tuesday (Carp Couture Clothing) and Wednesday review (Daiwa Cast’izm) posts as well as a nice catch report from regular blogger Rob Shanks, who’s been bagging up on his local syndicate water. If you want to check out the latest news, reviews and catch reports you can do so here…
AD Blog Home
What’s In store for this week? Well I’m guessing it’s going to be another hectic one, as we near the start of the river season. Even though the magic of June 16th has perhaps slightly warned off in the last ten years, it’s still a special date in many angler’s diaries and I’m sure there’ll still be thousands out there dusting down there river tackle!
Whatever you have planned for this week, have a good one and be lucky.
Product of the week…
Carp Couture Clothing
We’ve recently added a brand new range of Carp fishing clothing online! The angling garments manufactured by Carp Couture, are new for 2014 and offer a wide range of clothing items for both men and women.
Carp Couture hits the market as a clothing range specifically designed by Carp anglers, for Carp anglers. Believing there was a gap in the market and that some other Carp fishing clothing didn’t quite cut the mustard, with the quality of materials, features and suitability they decided to act and produce there own range of angling apparel…… To read the full review, click the link below…
Carp Couture Clothing Review
