2023 review

[riverman]

looking back at 2023 my fishing review is as follows.biggest fish a 14lb 3oz carp taken on waggler fished mussel.most surprising catch was an eel can you believe on luncheon meat of all baits around the 1lb mark.but the best fish from a personal point of view was a 5lb 10oz chub taken on the swale and was an absolute clonker.
the most frustrating session was when i had a carp on the waggler and was fighting it for a good 15 mins and even the fella in the next peg offered to net it for me and after losing it at the net made me wonder if that was mid to late double.

 

[Badgerale]

Eels love luncheon meat, I don't fish it on my local waters because it would for sure result in an eel.

 

[mikench]

Not been out as much due to a variety of reasons and I don’t recall catching anything special. I have caught far fewer tench this year than last but they are always welcome. I did break my record for the number of carp caught with 22 but none were heavier than 5lb. I have enjoyed some forays further afield with Gordon and we have had some good days. We are still here, still keen to go and still enjoying it and for that I’m happy enough.

 

[Mark_T45]

I've had good year by my standards. New PB barbel (river severn) 10.2, biggest chub 6lb, biggest carp this year 28.6. Still searching for a 2lb perch

 

[Alan Whitty]

I've had what seems like a poor year, things going wrong have lessened the amount of trips out, so my overall keeness has lessened too, I suppose if I wrote a diary I would have had some very nice days...

 

[Ray Roberts]

I’ve not had a bad year really. A few trips were very good. I had an excellent trip in Thailand, catching several new (to me) species: red tailed catfish, Siamese catfish and some large Siamese carp. That was fun.

I had some really good trips after roach on the Medway fishing hemp and tares and another good trip fishing liquidised bread and punched bread on the hook. A trip to Highley on the seven with a few good mates was fun, but it was very hot. I tried various methods. Fished jelly worms for predators and had four perch and a pike in a short afternoon. I had a very nice chub on the float and the last night I had 9 chub 8 of which were over 4lb and a couple of barbel to end the night.

I took both granddaughters fishing and they both caught decent fish. I had a few gruelers too. One was a night trip which I think was I January I fished into dark for one gudgeon and gave up only when my mashed bread froze solid and the bucket of water I rinse my hands in turned to ice, air temp was -4 degrees. A couple of pike trips were less than spectacular, but overall it was a pretty good year.

 

[no-one in particular]

Not a great year, one tench all year on the canal, but it has been out of sorts for some reason, no mullet despite being amongst them on a couple of occasions. I few chub to 4.5lb which are 6lb anywhere else. Still no 2lb roach so still something to aim for next year. Sea fishing hardly got out, one beach session produced a couple of small smooth hounds but that was it; no bass but but didn't get the hours in. Still enjoyed myself all round, a few fish here and there.

 

[seth49]

Not to bad a year considering the rained off days, and various illnesses this year, plus the death of Mick and I good friend Neale.
Fished approximately 30 days over the season, with a new pb tench of 4lb 15 ozs, only half the numbers of tench this year compared to last.
more crucians this year which was nice, best about a 1lb and a half.
And my pb F1 of just 5 lbs.
So here are the totals for 2023, thanks to the 5 clickers I use to tally my catch.
Carp 78 best 17lb 2ozs.
Tench 150
Crucian 29
Barbel. 17
F1s. 110
Roach 242
Skimmers 95
Perch 27
plus 1 pike which grabbed a roach and hooked itself in the scissors.

 

[chevin4]

It was reasonable years fishing I caught some decent fish but nothing outstanding and no PBs. Best fish for each species as follows.

Perch 3lb 4oz
Chub 4lb
Barbel 7lb 3oz
Roach 1lb 7oz
Bream 9lb 1oz
Tench 7lb 4oz

The Roach probably gave me the most pleasure as on the still water it was caught you couldn't catch a Roach over 8oz for love or money until recently. It did a 2lb 12oz back in September so really looking forward in getting back on there in the spring.