Stewart Bloor

Field Tester

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 I had a varied month during December, certainly as an all-rounder anyway variety is the spice of life, but more so over the end-of-year period this time round. I always focus on a species when I go fishing though, I find that helps my angling, plus I enjoy doing that. As with any type of fishing it should all be about enjoyment and one thing I can say for sure is that I’ve really enjoyed every session in 2013. In fact I managed 227 in all, ranging from an hour spinning locally for perch to five-night sessions on a gravel pit after specimen tench.

An overnighter on a small lake

I also fish nights right through the year and the photograph you can see above was taken on a small club venue where I fished through till next morning. I often get asked if I am frightened fishing in the dark on my home, and the answer is always a resounding ‘no’. I have actually done thousands of nights over the years and not being a nervous person my mind isn’t affected once the sun sets. Of course you always have to be careful when you set up somewhere on your own, but that’s common sense, nothing to do with being spooked.

A small carp on the overnighter 

On the overnighter in question, my bait approach was a pellet shaped boilie (tutti frutti) on one rod and an M1 pop-up on the other. The latter out-fished the former and as always I gave it much thought as to why. On a number of waters I fish, a pop-up consistently out-scores a bottom bait, and on this venue I think that’s the case. It’s important to constantly be thinking through our fishing. ‘Why is this working and not that?’, ‘Why does this bait do better on this venue as opposed to that one?’ No matter what the question, there’s always an answer.

Lights, Camera, Action 

There was also another reason for doing the overnighter on the small lake, as opposed to just fancying a session on there. I had been approached (along with someone else) by a television company about doing some filming. We needed a venue where we could at least have a chance of getting a few fish, as the idea was to produce a short trailer which the company would then use to try and get a commission. Anyway I knew the venue, having fished there before, but it is hard to find. So to refresh my mind I decided to do the visit. Any excuse to fish!

The one that got away 

The filming itself went well and as you can see from the couple of photographs, I was wearing my SBS hat. I have seen the trailer that the company has produced and after weaving their magic on it, it looks pretty good. They have a meeting with a TV executive in January and they’re quite positive. My attitude is that if it comes off, great. But if it doesn’t, then I won’t be disappointed. The shot above, by the way, was a carp on corn-shaped poppers that a few moments later resulted in a hook-pull!

Chub on Barbel Stix 

One of the top SBS products as far as I’m concerned is Barbel Stix. Available in Frankfurter, Undercover and Squiddy, I use all three as well as the respective bait dips. Don’t let the species name put you off though, they are an excellent bait for a number of fish. As well as barbel I also use them for chub. Most anglers wouldn’t think of hair-rigging for chub but what I find is that while the smaller ones will drop the bait, the larger ones will get hooked. As I’m a specimen angler, that suits me.

I ended the year after pike 

My first fish of the year was a perch and my last was a pike. No SBS involved, as I fished with sardine deadbaits. Although I suppose that’s strictly not true as I did use some SBS groundbait predator mixer that was on the UK market some years ago but not any longer. Finally though, I’d like to wish everyone a wonderful fish-filled New Year but above all be happy and blessed in every area of your life, not just angling.

By: Stewart Bloor