Ian Welch's Big Fish Column: Allan Tyson lands biggest rainbow trout of the season

ALL SMILES: Allan Tyson with the biggest rainbow of the season to date from Haywards Farm, 11lb 8oz.

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A mild spell in the run into Christmas, followed by a sharp cold snap, brought mixed fortunes for local anglers during the first few days of the holiday season.

As far as the pre-Christmas fishing was concerned the biggest fish was an absolute belter from the River Thames with Neil Wayte continuing his run of successes on the barbel front, but this time with a huge chub.

A Christmas Eve roving session on a local beat of the river legering a piece of bread crust under a raft did the business for Nelly.

Staying with chub and a fish of exactly 6lb was the Boxing Day present for Pat Davis who fished a free section of the River Loddon with a paste made from a mix of cheese and ground pellets.

Pat fished several different swims with a tiny cage feeder packed with dampened pellets and fooled the fish with a size 8 hook to 6lb line.

On the predator front the Thames continues to throw up some excellent sport for both pike and perch with lures scoring for both species and sink-and-draw dead baits tempting a few reasonable pike.

The best pike reported was a Marlow fish of 14lb 4oz to local rod Keith Porter who tweaked a smelt deadbait through a swim close to the town on a wire trace comprising a size 2 barbless single hook and a size 8 semi-barbed treble.

Keith also netted a couple of ‘jacks’ in the 3lb to 5lb range during his morning session.

Local stillwaters have mostly been quiet throughout the holiday period, although there were certainly a few carp to be caught in the pre-Christmas conditions, including one of 12lb to Tim Walsh who legered a meat hook bait at Royal Berkshire.

On the trout front Haywards Farm Lake re-opened after a two-day closure for Christmas and one of the first fish out was the biggest of the season to date, tipping the scales at 11lb 8oz.

The captor was venue regular Allan Tyson and the big fish was quickly returned after a quick snap. 9lb 8oz Riverge Grand Max leader and a chartreuse fritz Montana fly did the damage.

Finally, if you are looking for a bit of fun over the rest of the holiday period local angler Will Hatfield has just launched a quiz app called ‘The Big Carp Quiz’.

It's free and available in the App Store for iPhones and will be available on Android as well in January.

Having had a quick look, I’m sure that our local carping community will have some great fun with it and Will informs me that the quiz will also be giving away prizes from January, including lake tickets, bait and tackle bundles and gift vouchers to both online and bricks and mortar tackle shops.

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Any anglers wishing to report catches may contact me at ian@bigfishtrail.com