April 24 May 1
Next in line were Mick
and Steve Ho from Liverpool. As always these two are great company and love
their fishing (and Kim’s food) . Mick was first to score with a lovely 29lb 6
oz common, quickly following it with a 34lbs 12oz mirror. Over what was a quiet
week by Rushes standards, they put together a catch of 12 x 20s, 3 x 30s and a
few doubles along with Mick’s favourite, a 22lbs catfish, just what he always
wanted !!!
Over in Goffees and
Beatties, complete with the white trainers and hoodies lol we had Essex boys
Kenny, Tony and Kenny’s dad Pete. Kenny and Tony came last year with their
girlfriends, but managed to escape them this year, and bought beer instead . over
the week they amassed a total of 23 x20s and a couple of 30s including a PB
33lb mirror for Kenny. Tony weighed in with a 27lbs 12oz mirror amongst a load
of mid 20lb fish. Peter chipped in with several 20sand a couple of small cats
The weather has been
very changeable so far this year, with a very cold, wet start, then warm, sometimes
hot days and freezing frosty nights. Now we are having still warm days and
warmish nights, although today we have the longed for South Westerly wind and
the promise of rain so hopefully things are ‘about to kick off’
May 1 – May 8
The Hoopers have just
arrived and on the first night Jase has had a PB 31lb mirror and a 25 so
hopefully that’s a sign of a good week to come for the boys
Well, the weather didn’t
do the boys any favours with the cold Northeasterly wind blowing for most of
the week and quite heavy FROST on the ground most mornings. Mark, fishing in
Stumps had a haul including 10 over 20lbs with no less than 3 x 29lbs + fish
but couldn’t quite get the thirty he wanted, along with a further 12 doubles
around 19lbs
Jason, in Blue Camp had
a further 3 x 20s and a beautiful 34lb common whilst over in Goffees Stuart had
just 3 x 20s, and some doubles. Dad Martin,next door in Beatties took 7 x 20s
to 28.04 (mirror) and a lovely spawned out 26.07 common
All 4 of them went away
with new PBs (trouser sizes that is) after Kims cooking and we look forwards to
seeing them again next year
May 8-May 15
Gareth and Tim from Wales arrived next and set up
in Blue Camp. Gareth being fairly new to carp fishing surprised everyone,
including himself, when his first run resulted in a new PB (by 22lbs !!) common
of 31.02. Sadly the fish were not playing ball in this normally productive swim
and they finished the week with just a few more doubles and 2 x20s to 25.08
Dominic went in Stumps
and after a pretty slow start, got amongst the fish with a 32.08 common, a
further 12 x 20s up to 28lbs and 18 doubles. Finally on the last evening, the
long awaited catfish picked up his double 24mm halibut pellet and proceeded to
give him the run around for 20 minutes, with Dom praying out loud that it
wouldn’t fall off…it didn’t and a 29lb 7oz catfish was soon smiling? for the
camera..his first decent sized cat and was he ever pleased with it?
Meanwhile over the other
side Alan and David, who only fished til Friday due to having a wedding to
attend on Saturday, had 25 x 20s to 29.06 and 3 x 30s. Sketchy reporting I know
but we are still waiting for their pics and catch report (well they did have to
shoot off in a hurry for the wedding) Oh yeah they also had several 20 -30lbs
catfish….more news when it arrives here
May 15-May 22
Up next was the
Courtnell party, made up of Rob, Ash, Bill, Ken and Dave
Dubai Dave pitched up in
Stumps and was the captor of the weeks biggest carp, a beautiful 38lb mirror
along with 2 other 30s and 3 big 20s. All the time he was playing the 38 he
kept telling me it was just a small one, and was quite surprised and delighted
when the big mirror rolled into the net, a new PB by over 20lbs, for him after
his long trip from Dubai (apparently there are no carp waters in Dubai)
Rob (Dubai Daves son)
and his mate Ash from Norfolk, set up in Blue Camp where Ash helped himself to 2 x 30s (1 mirror, 1 common) and
7x 20s and a 20lbs+ catfish (his first cat). Rob in the meantime couldn’t quite
get his 30 but came close with carp to 29lbs 12ozs (common) amongst a catch of
9x 20s and a rake of doubles
Over in Goffees and
Beatties were Bill (Dubai Daves brother) and Ken . Bill managed to land 29 fish
including a lovely 27lbs common, loads of other mid 20s and 4 cats up to 31lbs
Kenny, had less fish than Bill but topped him
on the weights with a fabulous 33lbs common , several upper 20s
including a 29 lbs mirror and a few catfish to 28lbs
All 5 of them went home
very happy with their weeks fishing and eating, after booking for 2011
Heard from them the next
day and it seems it took them 26 hours to get back to UK, due to an incorrect
spelling of Boulogne in the satnav (which took them in completely the wrong
direction) and a small problem at the toll when they ran out of cash to pay the
nice lady……..
May 22 – 29
The Crafty Carping
French Social trip was next and although reduced in numbers due to some
personal problems in UK, the guys who did get here had a great weeks fishing
and some lovely weather
In Blue Camp we had Rob
and Tim, who, despite the very hot weather amassed a total of 12 x 20s with the
biggest at over 28lbs to Rob, both smashed their pbs by over 15lbs also had a couple of cats, the best being a shade over 20lbs
John moved around from
Stumps after a having a 26 & a couple of quietish days and landed up in
Goffees, where he turned into Catman, having 4 cats to 31.5lbs, another of just
over 30 along with a number of carp
to 26.5lbs