Tring Resevoir's

[StalkingLuke]

Best piece on here for ages, superb!

[Sandgroper]

Thanks for those lovely comments about my piece guys, they are greatly appreciated. They make writing for this site a pleasure and I look forward to submitting some more work in the future.

[Isis]

Great memories Ian. The cat weighed 43.1/2 lbs and was caught by Richard Bray in 1971 I think.
Having enjoyed, if that's the right word when you get lots of blanks, the Res's on and off for half a century, they still bring back lots of happy memories. Coincidentally my mode of transport in those days was also a RE a Crusader Sports 250.

[Isis]

Have just found the cat in question

[JimmyR]

thought these would fit here just fine, this is what those fine Bream that sandgroper have turned into at startops, mighty fine Bream all those years ago, and still going strong.




And this very large Roach/Bream Hybrid.

[BendSomeCane]

what a great tale , thank you for sharing
BSC

[Sandgroper]

Thanks for posting those pictures Jimmy, there were some beautiful fish there, what were their weights? On the Sunday before Rod and I had our bag we went out on one of the boats and we saw a shoal of bream that must have included some twelve pounders, but nothing as big as those you show. Being as it is nearly forty years since we caught ours, there is a fair chance that yours are descendants of the shoals we saw which bodes well for the bream fishing for time to come. You can see at a glance that they are healthy growing fish. I don't know how things are these days but at one time there used to be a lot of years between the big bags and being as it is nearly 40 years since ours, perhaps the time is near for a big bag now. I can't imagine what forty odd fish of the size of yours would weigh, it would certainly make our bag look silly. Perhaps a good concerted effort at the beginning of the next season might work for you. Best wishes if you try and if I can be of any help, don't hesitate to ask.

[JimmyR]

Thanks for the reply Sandgroper, I was hoping that my Bream were those bream that you had caught 40yrs earlier but after searching the net i find that they live to just 20yrs, so yes descendants of your bream Sandgroper it is.

What made it special to me was the fact it is the species we were fishing for and caught nothing else but Bream, we witnessed why people found it hard going on several occasions whilst they were trying for the carp, we would watch the carp following the swans round in the margins and as the swans were pulling up the grass the carp were getting tucked into the little shrimp and worms that were being dislodged from the bottom, we even threw some loose fed sweetcorn and other treats in their path but all were completely ignored.

Back to the bream. Well the first in the picture is well over 16LB, the one underneath, 17.9Lb and the Hybrid was over 9LB , all were weighed on the day, we managed the haul from mid June till mid October into the freezing rain and cold and as if by magic it all stopped and have been back a few times with no results at all.

Jim

[Sandgroper]

Hi Jim,

It's a good thing that the bream are much newer than ours - if I was you, I would be delighted. The fish you caught will still be repreducing and they are obviously in superb in condition. All you need to do now is get a shoal in a feeding mood and hold it there while you catch them. In my experience it doesn't happen very often, but if you snag it, you will have a memory for the rest of your life. When Rod and I had our bag, the bream record was around eleven and a half pounds I believe, and we had four doubles in our bag and the average weight of the 46 fish was about eight and a quarter pounds. We could have had a record as a big fish slipped the hook at the net. However, if you are catching fish of that quality I think that a twenty pounder could well be on the cards and I would expect that to be a record. (? )

[Trainset]

very interesting reading, that photo of the canal is a stretch I have fished many times until last year. I think the pitstone stretch was emptied and drained for work required to the locks. I was told by the EA that the fish were put one lock up toward Aylesbury. Tring anglers run that stretch so they may have more info on that.