Last month was all about one huge fish, a Kings Weir monster Barbel at 19-14, a PB I’ll struggle to beat but with three fish in the section bigger than that I’ve got a chance if I fish it regularly enough in the right conditions.

With the weather changing constantly with warm wet periods with lots of flooding, and then cold snaps with temps into the minus I had to get out when I could around work and family life and then life took another twist and turn in early Feb….

Christmas and New Year has come and gone and we’re into another new fishing year with much to look forward too, but it seems as I get older the years slip by very quickly and I can’t believe as I sit writing this piece, we are into February already…crazy!!

December was a lean month with a good fish early on and then not much else to report due to cold weather and not getting out as much as I’d have liked. Christmas week was a lot warmer and with a cold snap due I knew I had to get out on New Years Day.

In November I made my annual trip to the River Ebro to catch up with my pal Colin Bunn and have our yearly fortnight together, we’ve been doing this for 22 years now, sometimes three times in a year, but with the business of life nowadays it’s mostly once. We always have a good time even if the fishing is bad and long may that continue.

I finished last month’s piece having just watched a match at Espanyol and looking forward to the flight home….

October was another difficult month; with more flooding at the start of the month, too much work meaning I only managing three sessions, but I did trip up a cracker on Kings Weir and another good fish from a new section on the Trent.

November is generally my time to go to Spain hunting the big Catfish as they pack on weight for winter and I was due to go on the 17th the day after my birthday…...

September was a tricky month with some serious flooding, getting hammered by Crays and Crabs, a devastating loss on Kings Weir and a lot of driving, but it all came good at the end of the month with a 16-03 from a flooded tidal Trent that was rising rapidly.

Due to work and family commitments I knew I wouldn’t get out much in October so hoped to make the most of the sessions I had planned.

My river season took a turn for the better in August with a Barbel at 16-08, but the fishing continued to be challenging on the tidal with the Mitten Crabs very active, I did an overnight stop on the Derwent and found the fishing impossible there due to Crayfish….

Despite all the challenges I had a good month with 20 doubles and had some good trips planned for September.

My difficult start to the river season continued in July with the bigger fish eluding me again, I had a good Crucian guiding session with Steve Dawe where he broke his PB four times during the trip which was the highlight of the month. I was looking forward the Barbel trips planned for August which included another session on the stunning Kings Weir.

With last month’s difficult start to the river season and just not getting out enough I was looking forward to July with a Crucian guiding session booked in and my own Barbel sessions planned on the Trent and Kings Weir.

I enjoyed a reasonable start on the Walthamstow Bream but the highlight of last month’s fishing was a wonderful return trip to Jurassic in Thailand, catching lots of the huge Siamese Carp, it’s something I can’t recommend enough if you’re planning a trip over there , this was enjoyed with some brilliant family days out to make it an excellent holiday.

June soon comes round again and I was really looking forward to being back on moving water again.

Last months Crucian fishing didn’t go to plan with the Carp following me around Johnsons and a number of good fish landed to over 34 pounds. I finished the month with my first visit to Walthamstow chasing the big Bream that reside there and wanted to fit in at least one more visit in May before heading back to Jurassic in Thailand.

March saw a poor end to the river season for me, and my early spring Crucian and Bream trips didn’t go to plan with very cold rough weather at Johnsons, and Carp and Catfish pouncing on my Bream bait. April has been kind to me in recent seasons so I hoped that would continue this spring.

In a month where we saw some huge fish caught that included a British record Pike and some very big Barbel from a number of rivers, I suffered a very poor month with nothing of any note gracing my net, I could only hope things would improve in one of my favourite months to be on the bank.

The start of 2024 had been poor for me fishing wise and expensive with van repairs so I could only hope things would improve in Feb, little did I know it would be my worst month in many years with bad weather and poor choices.

I finished last month’s piece having returned from a session on a very flooded River Trent fishing a new section for me on the middle, the river was thick chocolate and raging through, but the swim I was fishing had a big slack in front of me where I felt sure I’d catch, but it was a blank to finish a brilliant 2023.

I finished last month’s piece half way through a two week trip to Spain having just landed a huge Catfish of 200 pound and I was really hoping for my target fish of 100kg but the weather was due to get colder making the task all the more difficult.

I finished last month with the Herts police acting out a Carry On scene with their stake out of a traveller site and pulling me over by mistake, and me getting my back side handed to me by a big Barbel on the middle Trent.

I had lots to look forward to in November with the NPS show and a trip to Spain where I was hopeful of beating my long standing Wels Catfish PB of 206 pound.

Last month was filled with hospital visits, two surgeries and a nasty fall leaving me with a very swollen right arm, but I still managed to get a few trips in and landed 70 Barbel with a rolling meat PB at 16-07.

As much as I love Autumn fishing I do think that the annual leave fall has a negative impact on our rivers and puts the fish off for a while and as we roll into October that time has arrived so swim choice would be vital.

Last month was a good one with lots of fish caught and the highlight being two fish from the stunning Kings Weir on the river Lea, I had trips planned for this month but also had surgery booked to remove my kidney stones so that will keep me house bound for a bit.

My summer wasn’t going to plan due to regular hospital visits but I was managing to fit sessions in and had plans to fish the stunning Kings Weir on the river Lea later in the month following a recce trip with Julie in July.

It’s amazing and quite scary that June has come and gone already and we are already over half way through another year and into another season on the rivers. June was a good month for me with lots of early season Barbel with many caught rolling meat, a method that is very quickly becoming my favourite way to catch them.