04-01-10

Well I hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and didn’t fall out, get ill, and Santa was kind to you.
For me it was work up until Christmas Eve, then chilling out with the Duchess and two not so wee bairns, loads of lovely grub and a few glasses of Chilean red.

The weather has been pretty hopeless for fishing, heavy frosts, lying snow, frozen lakes, and rivers carrying loads of cold snow water, so personally I was not going to miss it.

That said, I had earmarked the xmas stages rally at Pembrey, South Wales on the 28th December for a bit of fresh air and photography and duly left at 6am on roads covered in ice for the long trek down, soon picking up the M5, M50 which was ice clear, and quiet save for a few other nutters like me.

All these events are more enjoyable when you meet up with like minded folk and it was great to shake a few hands and have the banter as we walked into the stages, or should I say very carefully trying not to fall on the sheet ice covering the tarmac and gravel in the wonderful, cold, bright frosty conditions.

The stage was set for some superb photographic opportunities and high speed action, and with great light all day, committed driving, and good banter, a brilliant day was had by all and just the tonic to shake off the cobwebs of the festive season. There was a huge turnout of spectators and photographers, definitely the most I have see down there.

A couple of days later myself and Mark Rogers were meant to be going to the Wye, but the forecast was dreadful, Armageddon, though instead of the snow forecast it chucked down freezing rain, and as the river was flooded with snow melt, we gave it best drinking loads of tea, and eating nice leftovers whilst watching England stuff the Proteas in the cricket.

My governor rang up offering lunch and a meeting with colleagues who were leaving, so it was off to say goodbye and have another feed, steak this time!

Have you been watching the darts on SKY, reckon I could fit in well there, great athletes! Barney the Dutchman was in a right state against Kevin Painter, virtually collapsing in the heat, trudging around like a sloth, reminisant of Andy Fordham a couple of years back who nearly died on stage. Turns out he has diabetes, so I can understand.

Mind you, Barney’s fellow countryman, Co Stompe is the splitting image of ex BS committee man Phil Bettelley, stick thin, and playing well.
Who will bet against Phil Taylor, still an absolute phenomenon?

My fulltime work with the EA is going to impact on the guiding, along with continuing DVD projects, writing and photography, family breaks, and catching a few fish for me, so time is going to be precious.

As a result, I shall still be doing it, as I love the craic but not as much, after all there are only so many hours in the day, and have a few new projects on the go as well, including a lovely old English sports car to enjoy the weather warms up.
“One “ has the Biggles leather coat, the British Racing green pedigree car, so the Teme valley will have other attractions on a summers eve, like a pint or two of Old Rosie, before retiring to Dave Masons Teme summer retreat.

 Another compelling thing, is to lose a little weight, a couple or three stone  would not amiss , which will also mean dieting and eating healthy food ,and getting down the bleeding gym ,plus riding the old boneshaker …………………what a nightmare !

The Korum ,Prestons Innovations,Sonubaits brand continues to grow ,and the tackle trade seems to be surviving, but there have obviously been casualties ,some major tackle  retailers  and  the mags have been pushed to hold readership, that said the Internet,youtube,google etc are going on a pace, so what is the future ?

Goodness knows, but we have to embrace the changes and adapt, massive worldwide markets are there at a touch of a button on a keyboard, not forgetting the nightmare scenarios after 911, where folk willingly strap high explosives to themselves in a unreal and to me totally futile action destroying innocent lives and families.

These are crazy times, and this on top of feral youths seeking respect at the point of a cheap, but deadly knife or easily obtained gun, fuelled by cheap booze and drugs.
Bring back National Service, never has it been more needed.

Well it looks like the cold snap is forecast to continue, so it’s hopefully low clear rivers and Chub and Pike, maybe a Perch or two, perhaps a Grayling.

My next piece for Coarse Fisherman will be about catching Roach and Perch on Commercials, this months is due to be a Barbel special, and I shall be letting a few gems out of the bag for you to hopefully use and catch an end of season whacker.

Spring and close season will see me out on the gravel pits after a few big tench, maybe a Carp too, and hoping it is not too cold, either way it will be to take the best option weather and species wise.

Not sure if we will get too many great opportunities to catch Barbel before the end of the season, or if I am very bothered, as there are some great places quite local to me that could throw up a specimen perch or pike, and further a field, the Gt Ouse is beckoning me to try my luck for a giant end of season Chub. That would be nice.

Are you fed up with Internet Fishing Forums?
I know I am.
What a load of twaddle and hot air, and dare I say it totally misinformed most of it, causing just one thing, rifts and bad blood.
One that runs and runs is whether to join the Anglers Trust ?Well of course you should and when an organisation like the Barbel Society ,who are always preaching for this and that re Barbel don’t join, I really despair .

What the hell are they waiting for?

Seems like most of the problem is Steve Pope, the Chairman, who flatly refuses due to old grudges with certain Barbel Specialists members, to see the bigger picture, and seemingly putting  his own aspirations and prejudices before his members, but that is fairly typical of the man and yet another reason the BS continues to have a very tarnished reputation. 
Soon there will be no big Barbel left on the smaller rivers, with predation from otters, cormorants, eastern migrants pot fishing, pollution, and still waters will be more popular than ever.
By the way the BS also says there is no otter problem.
Wake up and smell the roses, chaps, you are living in cloud cuckoo land, and wearing rose tinted spectacles.

I do belong to the Barbel Specialists Group, headed up by Ray Walton, Bob Church and Dave Mason and we have joined, Angling does need unity, not for folk to bury there heads in a hole like field mice thinking they cannot be seen and are safe.    

My old chum  Bob Roberts  recently married the lovely Sue and I wish them all the best and cracking new year, check out his prolific website and prose, he pulls no punches does our Bob !

We both did talks at the Barbel Specialist meet before Christmas ,me on photography ,Bob and Stuart Walker on their new  Barbel DVDS ,details on Bobs site, and the meet was a great success ,plenty of great food ,stands and goodies, and above all great rapport and friendship amongst the assembled, invited crowd.

Seems like Barbelfishingworld  has been forced into an invited Forum due to the faceless numpties that have spoiled it, so now all posters will have to post in their real names, about time, sad cyber trolls with multiple aliases have had there day.

Good luck Andy Frances and team on the new venture.

Another bit of news is that  Original videos have finished my two latest DVDs and they came out this xmas,the first is a Fen Piking one with my old mate Mark Barrett, where we ended up  catching some huge toothy Pike, on cold, straight, featureless drains deep in flatland.

All methods are properly explained and filmed as is the action, and trust me you will not be be disappointed, some truly memorable fish are caught.

One of the best Pike films you will ever see and learn from, Mark is a seriously good angler and  prolific angling journalist and author, so have a look .

It is priced at £11-95 inc pp,mail me on chrispons@talk 21.com for details.

The other one was also another collaboration with Mark on Tench, he did the section on large gravel pits at the wonderful NACA complex at Bawburgh near Norwich, catching some lovely fish ,showing the modern ,almost carpy style approach .

My section was at Estate lake Dudmaston Hall, run by the Kinver Free liners club, as a guest of Steve Williams the hon. sec who joins me catching plenty of Tench on this prolific water, all during the day, and on methods and water available to all.

A really good guide on catching this wonderful species, and a good watch, I reckon, but I am biased.

This winter we are hoping to get out a film some  Chub footage, time permitting, and the summer  plans are with Dave Mason my very good chum ,and fellow Barbel guide to join me on catching a few summer whackers on very advanced ,sneaky tactics ,a sort of Barbel master class  showing stuff never before revealed on camera.

Will be a blast!

A recent highlight for me was two trips to Heathrow as a guest of management, being escorted round and also been allowed to take a few photos.
Needless to say without revealing too much it was awesome, and I was like a kid at the sweetshop.
My sincere thanks go to another best mukker, Nigel Lumbar, Big Marky, John, the Portuguese and Tiger Russ, not forgetting Stretch and Justine, diamonds all!

Nigel and the boys are all mad keen anglers who love catching a few Barbel and having the craic, long may it continue chaps, and let’s hope 2010 is as good!

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17-11-09

Two blogs in a month, going mad now. All Bob Roberts’ influence!

The weather is proper autumnal at the moment, not cold, but certainly windy and very wet at times, and the rivers are in flood all over the country.

The job is fulltime now and I am in the middle of seven days on, so… not much chance for fishing. And I am damned if I am going to go out on a flooded Severn in the dark with banks like they are! That’s for foolhardy and crazy folk. So it’s watching a bit of telly with the Duchess, and doing a bit on the photography forums.

Check out www.talkphotography.co.uk or www.nikonuktalk.com , or www.photography-on–the–net/forum, or www.dpreview.com. All great sites and worth a look.

I did go mad last week on my day off. After sourcing a 70-200 2.8 VR Nikon in Bristol for sale, I went armed with loads of money and bought it. A sweet lens and the VR will come in useful for my shaky old bones. This is probably the best all round Motor sport lens you can have. The Canon equivalent is the L series 70-200 IS, another superb performer.

My 80-200 will now go for sale, and that is one sharp piece of glass, but the funds will go back into the D3 pot, now a bit lighter. Another bit of glass I bought recently was a bargain 20mm 1.8 Sigma, a very wide prime and super, super sharp. Don’t believe folk when they say Tamron, Tokina and Sigma cannot be as sharp as the Big guns; they can get very close and are an awful lot cheaper.

The other day off was spent catching up on things and going up the Teme valley to try and photograph a few Salmon leaping the weirs. As bad luck would have it, the light was rubbish and it was raining, but I did manage a few reasonable shots with the 50mm and flash combo. My D2H wont flash synch at more than 250th, so they were good, but can be better. Roll on the D3 and it eats up the high ISO facility, and as for the upcoming D3S … well, that’s just blooming awesome in every sense of the word, oh, but only about £4000 plus.

At Tackle and Guns - a big trade show - I had the pleasure of talking to Dave Lumb, a master rod builder and great fisherman, and a thoroughly nice guy. Check out his cracking blogs in at www.lumbland.co.uk, loads of great stuff on there.

www.bobrobertsonline.co.uk has added tune play lists to his blogs. Nice one mate, you the kiddie!

We are sharing the stage at the Barbel Specialists gig on dec 6th at Northampton Town Football club - him to give one of his famous talks with Stu Walker about upcoming underwater DVD footage, mostly Barbel, lots more stuff mentioned on his latest blog. All I do know is it is going to be amazing as he spends weeks preparing them. Get along if you can, contact Dave Mason for details and tickets, on 07792922464 or davetememason@ntlworld.com.

My talk will be about taking better Fishing photos, and understanding your camera better. Nothing too hi-tech. I will try and keep it simple as no doubt folk will be nodding off as eyes glaze over and the effects of lunch wear in, which is usually provided!

Can you believe there are still leaves on the trees and so many colours? Must be the lack of frosts, as it cannot be the lack of wind.

Fishing wise I am waiting for another day or two off and a chance to have a crack at a big Pike or Chub, even a few silvers on a commercial, might even get the pole out!

I forgot to say, when I went to Bristol, I popped into Veals new shop to see some very old friends, boss Jeremy Salisbury, Steve Ace in the Sea Fishing dept, Dave England in the Fly, what a fantastic shop with two hours free parking in Gardner Haskins Superstore, complete with excellent café. Check out www.veals.co.uk. Full of great goodies to tempt you, with real quality gear from all over the world. Most of the staff have been there for donkey’s years, so absolute credit to Jeremy for creating such a cracking and secure atmosphere. He took over from his dad, Mike, himself an absolute Diamond.

Fantastic to see the shop has only got better, so go and have a look, the guys really know there stuff and a warm welcome is assured, as well as hot coffee in the machine.

Pons

04-11-09

OK, I will take it on the chin - which is certainly big enough, much like the rest of me. Big Bad Bob, the albino gunman - remember the film Judge Roy Bean, with Paul Newman, AKA the silver tongued, silver haired tall bloke from sunny Yorkshire - old mate Bob Roberts has told me off for not updating my blog, and my great mate Mark Barrett.

Check out Bob’s site for unbelievable amount of info, fun and general stuff.
www.bobrobertsonline.co.uk

Make no mistake, Bob is the master blogger - and he must be glued to his PC researching and writing when he is not filming, as well as fishing, travelling, talking, and I bet the phone is to his ear a bit regular too.

He is right, of course. Fourteen-thousand hits on his site is proof of how busy it is in this last month - wow! Bet Gordon Brown would like that many votes this year. Do you think Jeremy Clarkson is Bob’s long lost Bruvver? They are both mega tall, certainly not lacking in opinions, and both from Yorkshire, and both prolific writers and broadcasters... what do you reckon?

You know I am rubbish at updating, but I will try harder. I do enjoy doing it, but one of the main reasons is I have got this thing for photography lately - blooming obsessed with it, because I absolutely never do things by halves. Full on or not at all As a result, it has taken over as I go at it at 100mph… a bit like the cars I photograph!

And another thing, I now have a fulltime job! My EA bosses made some changes and I am one of them, so time is even more precious and busy - another pitiful excuse.

-

So what of the summer? It’s definitely gone now - the autumn rains are here, the trees are starting to lose the colours fast, the winds now blowing hard from the Southwest, and the rivers now racing through, flushing the debris to the sea.

The Barbel fanatics are rushing down as the fish feed up for winter, and the armchair anglers retire for winter.

My good lady, the Duchess has been demanding my time on some weekend jollies away, making up for my lack of time here this summer as I have been on the road down the Wye, or driving all across Wales following and shooting rallies, or going to Loton Park, Shelsley Walsh or Prescott.

Filming has been quieter this year, just three, A Pike film this spring, plus a Tench one this summer, both with Mark Barrett, and due out for Xmas… oh, that will be soon then.

Tons of action, Big Fish and great company.

Korum, my main sponsor and good mates also made one which I featured - my role was catching Bream, never a chore and great fun, filmed at Old Bury Hill Lake in Surrey. You can see them here, courtesy of Youtube!

The Wye has been kind to us again this summer. Loads of fish most trips, and some fantastic company as usual in amazing surroundings with magnificent wildlife.

The site will be changed slightly this winter, and I will get a gallery back up and running - the main problem before was it was linked to my Photobucket account which I was not happy about, and as a result we are building a designated photography site as well, mostly for the motor sport. A very good chum, Rhodri Lewis, a talented young tog from Wales, is going to share it with me. You will like his pics if you like high speed motor sport action. I dare say there will be other stuff on there as I have really enjoyed shooting allsorts this summer.

Photography wise I have switched all my stuff to Pro standard Nikon equipment, not compromising on quality in my pursuit for great photos, support systems are by Gitzo, and Manfrotto, bags and storage by Kata.

More news soon, and thanks Bob for prodding the big fella…!

Pons