The Sessions - Nov 2025
60th Birthday Surprises
October was a month of mainly very enjoyable guiding, and tough trips to Kings Weir and Bream fishing.
This year being my 60th birthday I had plans for November which included a surprise trip away with Julie and my annual trip to Spain for Catfish, so lots to look forward too.
01 November 2025 – Walthamstow
When the leaves are dropping, I’m never that keen to fish the rivers and I was still wanting a big Bream, (I don’t give in easily), so I decided on one more trip to Walthamstow before the cold weather really sets in. I arrived early not realising the opening times get later as the year goes on so I had to wait an hour before the gate opened at 08:00. There weren’t many people there and I got chance to have a good chat with the bailiff which sets me in good stead for a few nights next season 😊
It was mild at 11 degrees with a strong west / south / westerly wind, I had pretty much a choice of the whole reservoir but went for an area I know has done the big fish previously that was on the back of the wind.
The set up and bait up went to plan, which was a pint each of hemp, casters and 2mm pellets and I cast three rigs to 11 wraps. All on 70g method feeders, one of three fake casters, one on a 10mm boilie topped with corn and the third on a 10mm yellow wafter.
The day was quiet apart from my usual battle with the Tufties, they seem to love casters but so do the fish so it’s hard not to use them. I waited until dark for the evening bait up and put in two pints of casters, a little more hemp and a few 10mm boilies, I had the advantage when it was dark as the Tufty torch works well.
I felt pretty confident but didn’t get a bite all night, it rained heavily all night, so I stayed until mid-morning for the kit to dry and drove home after another blank. It’s been enjoyable but that will be it for my Bream quest now until spring.
5 November 2025 – NPS Speaker Evening
I look forward to this event every year and had been asked to do my Rig Clinic again so had got the car packed and ready and Julie and I set off at midday.
We like to make a day of it and have a meal at the Farndon Ferry and Julie had booked a table this year that made me a little suspicious, we drove up and got to the car park and there was Potty’s van in the car park, so unless he was barbel fishing in the car park he was in the pub 😊. We walked in and there he was smiling away, closely followed by Theo, what a lovely surprise Julie and Potty had arranged the whole thing. Unfortunately, Phil was taken ill so couldn’t drive and Judd couldn’t get away from work, but we had a great time and a lovely meal and sat in there chatting and laughing all afternoon, Julie even brought my favourite birthday cake 😊
We left the pub around 17:00 and got to the showground and set up the stand. As usual it was very well organised by Kev Stephenson with lots of trade stands around the room and it quickly filled up after opening. The speakers were good, with Dia Gribble giving a great talk on his Drennan Cup winning seasons, something I’d love to achieve if / when the stars align. My stand was busy again chatting to old and new friends and it’s great to hear people have been successful when applying my rigs and tactics.
We drove back via a diversion and were home again by 00:30 after a very enjoyable day.
13-18 November 2025 – Taormina, Sicily
Julie had more surprises planned ❤️, I knew we were going on a trip abroad but didn’t know where until about 5 days before we were due to fly. We were messing around after dinner one evening laughing and joking together when she said “I can’t wait to be silly in Sicily with you” and then instantly smacked her hand over her mouth laughing as if I hadn’t heard her, but I did and we cracked up.
Although I knew where we were going, I didn’t know what else Julie had planned so we were both excited as we landed in Sicily.
Julie had booked a luxury top floor apartment with balconies on both sides, it was lovely with great views over the town one side and the bay the other. Taormina is lovely and well worth a visit, great food, wine and friendly people, and the views of Mount Etna were spectacular.
We did a Godfather tour seeing the village, the square, pub and church from the first movie which was all pretty much the same as in the film in 1972, and then another village which featured in all three films, it was a great day out and again the views and scenery were brilliant.
Godfather tour
Godfather tour
We did a Mount Etna tour on my birthday driving up to 1500m and then a walk up a bit further with more fantastic views. The local people love and totally embrace the volcano and are very keen to tell you it has never killed a single person, the lava has never flowed below 1000m so they don’t build above it and live a very simple nice life. The last eruption was in 1971 and it is quite unbelievable when you see how far the lava flowed and how much there is, but nature does not give up and has recovered around it, an amazing place and well worth a visit.
Mount Etna
A fantastic trip spent with my special lady ❤️
Spain
I was due to fly out on 23rd for our annual session and had been keeping in touch with Colin as usual, the fishing had been really good in October into November with some good fish caught, but the weather had changed with some changeable days and very cold nights, this isn’t the issue this time of year, as we monitor the water temp and if that is stable we’d fish whatever the weather, but there had been some snow low down on the Pyrenees and this has affected the water temp quite badly dropping it from 14 degrees to 7.6 really quickly. This can be the kiss of death, and the river will appear devoid of life. We chatted daily on the phone, and the fishing had died with not even Bleak feeding and no signs on the sounder of Cats or Carp, so we decided to cancel the trip and re-schedule for late February if the temps warm up in time.
This was very disappointing as I really look forward to our sessions together, we‘ve been doing it for 24 years now and always have a great time so hopefully February will be ok.
28 November 2025 – River Trent, Cromwell
After not fishing for almost four weeks I drove up the A1 for a 48-hour Zander / Barbel session, once the winter kicks in fishing for both gives you a good chance of success, I Zander fish during the day and Barbel at night and in my experience that gives me the best chance for both species. I didn’t feel I’d missed much with cold weather, snow and lots of rain but that had settled down so I felt confident of a good trip.
I left home early wanted to arrive for first light to give me a good chance of the swim I wanted, I arrived to find the section empty and the level looked good for my favourite flood swim. The level was at 1.17m but with rain forecast I knew the level would rise during the session so the swim was a good choice.
I set the swim up, rigged up the Zed rods and put new hooks on the Barbel rods and then called Angling Direct, they had some deadbaits but not many so I quickly drove over to collect them; it seems crazy shops struggle to get freshwater deads but they all seem too and I don’t have time to catch my own.
I got back and put the Zed rods out on half Roach sections, not ideal but the only ones they had were large. The rain arrived as forecast and poured all day but it was nice to be out on the river again. I had three bangs on the rod tops through the day but nothing developed although it was encouraging, this is generally small Zeds moving through and snatching at the baits.
The rain cleared up late afternoon, and I changed the rods over to Barbel at 17:30 and put a few BBB through the swim, it went cold and clear, but the river had a nice tinge to it and looked great.
29-30 November 2025
Surprisingly I didn’t get a bite until 02:25 when the left-hand rod bleeped a few times and bent over, I jumped up and struck into a heavy resistance, straight away I felt it was a good one and wasn’t disappointed with a fat 15-10 laying in the net.
15-10
That was the only bite of the night, and I swapped back to the Zed rods at 07:00, it was raining again and well set in for the day. It was another quiet day with only a small Pike showing any interest and I swapped back to Barbel at 18:00 fully expecting a busy night with the river rising nicely.
But again, it was quiet with only one single in the early hours, I found that strange as the river was up to 1.54m, about a four-foot rise in real terms, and the swim I was fishing is great on a rising river, but that’s fishing and things don’t always go to plan….
Angling Times
Another nice surprise to finish a great month popped up on my FB feed, I’d been nominated for Specimen Angler of the Year alongside four other very accomplished anglers. 2025 has certainly been my best ever year with x2 Tench at 10-14, Barbel at 17-09, 17-10, x2 at 17-15, 19-08 and 19-14, being my best captures.
Obviously I’d love to be voted the winner, but being nominated is just brilliant and a great late 60th birthday surprise.
This will be my last blog before xmas, so I’d like to wish you all a brilliant xmas and happy new year ❤️
Until next, tight lines and be lucky 😊
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