I had an email recently from a fisherman who was concerned by some of the Gallery pictures, where it is obvious that fish mats have not been used. This is a fair point and hence forward I shall be actively encouraging the use of fish mats for unhooking fish and also for pictures. So please, if you have’nt already got one, add a fish mat to your tackle bag and use it always.
February 15, 2012
Best Practice
January 18, 2012
Pike now showing
Since my last post on pike it has to be said things have been pretty quiet on the pike fishing front. But then very few people have fished. The river conditions until the middle of last week have been difficult with constantly rising and falling water, which peaked at 13ft. So although we have had plenty of water there still has not been a major flood over the road at Lydbrook, which brings huge sighs of relief to the local residents, but is an event which is happening less frequently in the last few years.
My local friends Gareth and George have given the good pike spots a regular going over during the last fortnight. A fish about 20lb and a 15lb from Legg Meadow and a double from the stream mouth at the Tump have been the best. Gareth, not prone to get excited over anything under 30lbs, let on that they lost a pike which was’nt seen and which felt huge in the depths, when the river was around 6-7ft. This is probably the huge fish which was seen by barbel anglers in the autumn and quite likely the 36lb fish caught by George from Little Dean last winter. Rumours have come back to me that this pike was 39lbs – it seems difficult to get exact records of pike weights.
I would say the time is now. After a mild winter there should be some well fed, well conditioned females becoming heavy with spawn. River levels are now back to below 2ft as I write and clear. We have some bookings for pike missions but there are loads of booking opportunities for the rest of this month and February or just book on the day. There is almost cerainly a pike in the Legg Meadow stretch of the Courtfield which is heading for the magic 40lb mark.
December 4, 2011
Rudi’s fishing successes
Rudi’s had a good year for fishing, here are a selection of his fish from the year.
Rudi lives locally and is perfectly placed to keep an eye on the Wyebank and Courtfield fisheries and he helps me enormously by looking after fishermen and watching for poachers. He fishes both beats regularly and is very well acquainted with the best places to catch fish. As the feedback pages for both Wyebank and Courtfield show he has had some superb fishing this year, with quality chub, barbel and pike. These pike pictures, in particular, are stunning and show the wonderful colouration of healthy Wye pike.
Beautiful Chub caught on the Courtfield water
Another good sized Chub for Rudi
Barbel caught on the Leggs Meadow beat in September
9lb 12oz Barbel from Courtfield
Typical Courtfield beat pike
Beautiful Pike caught on Courtfield
Big Pike caught from Courtfield
November 17, 2011
Wye pike at the Courtfield Holy Grail
The 2011 pike season is now with us. The first movement was on the 31st October when several large pike were seen moving along the Legg Meadow stretch, arguably the Holy Grail of Wye piking. Several smaller pike and fish to15lb have been caught. The 15lb fish caught by friend of Neil Lissaman on Friday 11th November.
Last winter Gareth Hart guided his friend George, and down the lower end of the meadow helped him land a 36lb monster. Gareth has the distinction of “years ago” catching a witnessed 42lb pike from Legg Meadow, possibly the largest pike ever landed on the river by rod and line. Gareth, whom I’ve known for over 30 years, and his friends from Little Dean have quietly fished the “meadow” and many other stretches of the Wye for a lot longer than the piking afficiados and his catches have always been kept quiet from the angling world.
The most famous pike from Legg Meadow was the fish known as Lydia by PAC anglers Rob Shallcroft and Steve Bown. Renowned as the Queen of the Wye, this fish was caught by Ashley Meek in 2005 when she weighed 36lbs. This fish can be seen on the “Courtfield Fishing page” of this site. Subsequently and after many stake outs Steve took Rob to the magic spot, where one late winter’s day Rob caught the magnificent fish when she weighed 33lbs 12ozs.
It is generally thought this fish is no longer alive. Although Steve did not get exact measurements he estimated her length from scaled photographs at 48 – 49 inches. So it is significant that Rudi Lighert’s pike caught in the winter of 2009 at the lower end of Courtfield measured 48 inches. This massive fish was “well below its potential weight and long and lean”.
The question has to be, was Rudi’s fish Lydia and is it the same fish that Gareth Hart caught at 42lbs? Fred Buller’s table for pike length to weight gives the following for a 48 inch pike. The average variation is shown at 39lbs which is the weight of the massive pike which first showed up on the radar at Leggs Meadow. With an extreme expectation of weight at 53.25 lbs and mean of 44.5 lbs it seems to me that these catches, including Gareth’s 42lb pike, do in fact all relate to the same fish, which against the belief of the members of the Pike Angling Club of Great Britain was still alive in 2009. The second question has to be, is George’s fish of last winter an up and coming contender for the Queen of the Wye crown?
| length | probable common variation (pounds) | average of probable common variation (pounds) | probable mean weight (pounds) | extreme expectation of weight (pounds) | |
| 48 | 29.5 to 48.75 | 39.125 | 44.5 | 53.25 | |
Over the last decade there has been one and possibly two dead pike recorded as being over 30lbs, suggesting that there are other monsters here and pike in the mid to high twenties are caught annually. Jonathan Wright, guided by Gareth Hart had a fine bag several years ago including a 27lb fish and two other doubles to 16lbs and several good jack pike caught in the swims towards the top end of Leggs Meadow. The late Martin Lane of Lydbrook caught many big pike along the Courtfield beat and fell in to the river in recent times whilst landing a fish in the low to mid twenties. A salmon angler had an 18lb pike this summer fishing the Legg Meadow crib.
If you are a specimen pike angler seeking a big Wye pike then I humbly suggest you give the Courtfield a go this winter. Book as usual for a coarse ticket through the WUF and drop me an email donmacerwright@gmail.com while you’re about it, to plan your trip. If you want to make the added investment for a guide we can probably significantly increase your chances of a lifetime fish.
November 9, 2011
Couple of more fish for Roger Knife
Here’s a couple more beautiful fish caught by Roger Knife and friend on the Courtfield water.
10lb 5oz Barbel from Leggs Meadow
9lb and 14oz Barbel
November 8, 2011
Kraig Mcleod’s fish
12 and a half Pound Barbel
It got to be worth starting with the best! This is Kraig’s 12 and a half pound whooper caught from The Legg Meadow! I think the smile on his face says it all.
10lb Barbel
Kraig said “that day i had 5 chub, 4 caught before i had any barbel. then i had 7 barbel two 10s one smack on 10lb, one 10.4lb. two 7+. two 5/6+. the big one was 12.8lb. i only weighed the doubles but Ive had plenty of 7s before. we checked the weights against my friends scales to make sure the scales were correct, he also had similar amounts of fish, fishing right next to me including doubles. I’m sure i beat the 12.8lb the night i met you but my brother had taken my scales but it looked BiG!!! HUGE mouth. the night i met you i had 8 or 9 barbel mainly between 4pm and 11.30pm 5 chub i left to go home at around 12/ 12.30.”
Another Barbel
Just landed Barbel
Chubb
Shining in the flashlight - night time Barbel
November 6, 2011
Roger Knife’s Barbel 2011
Here is a selection of the Barbel caught by Roger Knife and Oli Dormer throughout the summer and autumn on Courtfield. They ranged in size from 6lb 2oz through to 10lbs 3oz, including eight 8 pounders and six 9 pounders. His season’s catch illustrates the steady growth of the 8lb class of fish in June through to 9lbs in August, which have shown up in September/October’s catches as 10lb Barbel which have been caught in significant numbers.
8lb 2oz Barbel
8lb 11oz Barbel from the Wood Stretch
8lb 13oz Barbel
8lb 15oz Barbel from Legg Meadow
9lb 4oz Barbel from the Wood Stretch
9lb 6oz Barbel
9lb 12oz Barbel
10lb 3oz Barbel
Thanks to Roger Knife for the use of his great photos.
October 24, 2011
Shaun Hodges of Hinders leash of 10lb barbel
Tuesday the 18th October was one of the last days for memorable catches, with Wyebank producing a good bag for Adriano Mercato and friend, including barbel to 8lb plus and chub to 6.25 lbs and Courtfield producing a good bag of barbel and a great get together for Dean Macey, Les Westbeach, Nigel Botherway and Shaun Hodges.
Shaun, the manager of tackle shop Hinders of Swindon took the day with three consecutive ten pound barbel at 10lbs, 10lb 4oz and 10lb 8oz. These were caught on Hinders Blitz boilies wrapped in Blitz paste with Hinders Barbel Bomb in the feeder, proving in Nigel Botherway’s words that Hinders of Swindon “sell the best barbel bait known to man.”
10lb 8oz Barbel
Another beautiful 10lb plus fish
The third of the 10lb plus Barbels
After a fantastic run of doubles over the past few weeks it looks like the barbel fishing is winding down now.
October 21, 2011
Dean, Ali and Richard on the River
Dean Macey, Ali Hamidi and Richard Stewart had a day on both Wyebank and Courtfield as part of a feature for TV for Improve your Coarse Fishing Magazine. In Dean’s own words “it was by far the most productive days barbel fishing that Ive ever had“!
Below are some of the pictures taken by Richard for the magazine article
Ali hooked into a fish
Dean hooked into another!
Bringing a Barbel in
Ali with a lovely fish
Dean with a large chub
Another chub for Dean
Ali with another Barbel!
Dean in amongst the Water Buttercup with a Barbel