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Older news (1)
Aug / Sep (1 Oct 2012)
WaBi (Bill Ward) took the August and September GotM awards with fish from well outside our usual area. He caught 32.7g Julio from the Shropshire Union on August 12th and 30.2g Jelly from the Staffs & Worcs on September 9th. WiNe made trips to both venues but failed to find any clonkers although he did manage his first UK cana eel from the Shroppie!In Septemer HaSt (Stuart Harris) sent us a report about gudgeon catching at Redmire along with a pic of one of his successes. We hope the large nuisance fish in there didn't spoil his enjoyment too much.
May / June / July = MORE cr*p weather, lots of gudgeon (5 Aug 2012)
WiNe (Neil Williams) topped PuGa's Jackie by hauling out 41.0g Jiminy from the same spot just a few days later, thus winning the May GotM award. Marshcroft Lane gave BuDa (Dave Burton) his first forty of 2012 in the shape of 42.2g Jasmine and that was good enough to give him the June award. Since then, plenty of gudgeon have been caught but most of them of have been battery wasters with only the odd fish topping the 20g, as witnessed by the fact that WiNe's 25.7g fish put him at the top of the July list. BuDa has already reported a 29.8g fish caught on 3rd August so maybe we'll see a few more decent-sized fish this month along with some better weather, or is that too much to hope for?Bank Holiday weekend = cr*p weather, great gudgeon hunting (6 May 2012)
New member PuGa (Gareth Pulley) gave the Society its first forty of 2012 when he caught 40.1g Jackie from MarWat under the watchful (and envious) gaze of WiNe on Saturday afternoon - see the Pictures page for shots of Jackie and PuGa.On Sunday afternoon BuDa (Dave Burton) caught FIVE specimen fish from DixBel - 31.7g Joseph, 32.6g Jo, 32.9g John and 33.9g James all topped by 35.1 Julie, plus 33 other gudgeon in just two hours.
So, can one of us take advantage of the current excellent sport to get the magical mystical 50g specimen ?
April GotM list topped by WiNe (1 May 2012)
34.2g Juan Two Three gave Neil Williams his first monthly award since June last year and was also the third fish in our first-ever specimen hat-trick, accompanying 30.5g Juan and 32.9g Juan Two in a single session on MarBla in the middle of the month. A couple of weeks later WiNe repeated the feat on the same stretch with 31.6g Joaquim, 32.1g Jupp and 33.0g Javier.GiRi gets the first 30 of 2012 ... and wins the March GotM award (1 Apr 2012)
It took nearly 3 months for this year's first specimen fish to be caught but that's nothing compared to the 30 months that GiRi (Richard Gibbs) has had to wait to join the Thirty Club. As he lives in Ireland he has had to put a lot of air miles and hours since joining the Society in September 2009 but he got his reward on 25th March when he landed 31.8g Jorge from the MarBla stretch of the Aylesbury Arm. Go to the Pictures page to see Jorge and a smiling GiRi. Jorge remained the biggest fish caught in March so GiRi topped the Gobio of the Month list, also for the first time. For those of you who missed GiRi's award acceptance speech, he has kindly provided a textual copy:
"Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking I thought it appropriate on this occasion to at least try to profer a few words of thanks to all those who have supported me in my somewhat lengthy and distant quest to secure a specimen Goby which would, at last, enable me to be able to hold my head up high amongst other noteworthy Goby hunters. I am pleased to say that not only did the capture of 'Jorge' enable me to take the March best Goby award, but also increase my PB, so big thank you to 'Jorge' for that!! (More power to your fin, Jorge!!)
I would like to thank my wife and family for their undying support in my quest for bigger and bigger Gobbies which i hope in time, will not only improve my spelling, but hopefully attract large-breasted women where ever I go.
Thank you all.
GiRi"
BuDa & ReAl head the January & February GotM lists (1 Mar 2012)
Following on from his success in the 2011 Gobel Prize list, BuDa (Dave Burton) caught January's biggest gudgeon when he landed a 29.8g fish from DixBel.ReAl (Alan Reason) snatched the February award at the last minute with a 24.1g fish caught on the 29th, just topping WiNe's 24.0g fish caught the previous day. To rub salt in, Alan's fish also won him 50p from Neil (and 50p from BeTo, Tony Beadle) in the 'Biggest gudgeon of the afternoon' stakes.
2011 Gobel Prize goes to BuDa; BeTo tops the December GotM list (1 Jan 2012)
Dave Burton has won the prestigious Gobel Prize for the biggest Society fish of the year, 42.5g Intolerant which he caught back in February. Tony Beadle's 27.1g fish was good enough to give him the December Gobio of the Month award.2011 wasn't a great year for specimen gudgeon, especially the second half, and sadly we didn't move any closer to the elusive 50g weight - in fact Intolerant was the only forty recorded throughout the whole 12 months. We must try harder in 2012 !!!
PaRo joins the elite band of GotM winners (1 Nov 2011)
Rob Payne took the October 'Gobio of the Month' award with 30.9g Idunno caught from MarBla towards the end of the month. It was his only gudgeon of the session but his second-best October fish, 30.7g Itchy caught the previous week would have scooped the award anyway.New member HoRo (Roger Hough) and old hand WiNe (Neil Williams) got November off to a good start with fish of 25.5g and 19.9g respectively during a first-day-of-the-month session on DixAbo.
Just two specimens, Ingrid & Intense, in August & September
Another couple of disappointing months for large fish so the only two 30g-plus fish caught during that period put WaBe (Ingrid, 33.2g, TriMar) top of the August GotM list and BuDa (Intense, 32.1g, MarChu) top of the September list.On a happier note, we enrolled plenty of new members including our first two GUGGSters of Russian descent, the Pastukhov brothers PaBo (Boris) and PaDm (Dmitri).
WiNe & BuDa top the June & July Gobio of the Month lists (1 Aug 2011)
June wasn't a brilliant month for big gudgeon so Neil's 28.5g fish caught from WilGud took pride of place. Some better fish came out in July with Dave's 34.6g Imperfect (named because of the nick in its tail) from WilJef topping other specimens from RoMa (Martin Rodwell, 31.7g Imran from GamMil) and BoTi (Tia Bowen-Swain, 30.2g Ian from DixAbo). Tia's specimen was the most remarkable though as it was the first fish she'd ever caught !GUGGS gets its very own HeRo (26 Jun 2011)
Roger Hester was enrolled yesterday afternoon when he was witnessed catching a gudgeon from Jeffreys pound (WilJef) - welcome to the Society, HeRo !On Friday we had the first reported captures of gudgeon on blue maggots from new members WrPa and ShCh. Paul & Chris both caught their first GUGGS fish on this unusually coloured bait.
First 'foreign' fish to win GotM (3 Jun 2011)
Whilst helping with our Taster Sessions at the Bank Holiday weekend Boxmoor Canal Festival, BuDa caught 38.5g specimen Imp. That remained May's biggest fish so it's the first month in which a fish from a non-TTA stretch has topped the list. - well done, Dave ! Perhaps a few more sessions are needed in that neck of the woods to see if we can at last find the elusive canal "50", maybe in June when the Society celebrates its second birthday.Some other good news - the gudgeon stream stretch (WilGud) is fishing well again after a few relatively quiet weeks.
WaBi comes over from the dark side (7 May 2011)
Carp Society vice-president Bill Ward yesterday became GUGGS member WaBi when WiNe witnessed him catch several of our target species from the gudgeon stream stretch at Wilstone. Bill had tried to meet our entry qualification on Thursday evening when his brief session in the same spot produced only a 2.5lb bream and a roach - he did also hook what looked like a real clonker but sadly it fell off before being banked. Bill's largest gudgeon yesterday was a respectable 22.4g fish (after taking specialist advice to swap the #12 hook for a #18) but having seen WiNe's 31.1g Isambard and 37.4g Imabigun he will try to up his PB again this evening, weather permitting.A great April for gudgeon (3 May 2011)
Last month saw gudgeon aplenty being caught from most canal stretches with lots of specimen-sized fish reported. Nine of the top ten in the Gudgeon of the Month list were over 30g with the largest being WiNe's 36.2g Icarus and ALL of the 2011 Gobel Prize list's top ten are now over the specimen weight.A reliable source reports a few gudgeon being caught on the Wendover Arm between Little Tring bridge and the outfall (LitOut), previous thought to be a gudgeon-free stretch, but none have been caught or witnessed by a Society member ... yet !
March Gobio of the Month result (1 Apr 2011)
36.3g Iestyn from MarBWY put WiNe at the top of list (and also won him 50p in a Best Gudgeon of the Afternoon challenge with BeTo). Other March specimens included BrTo's 32.4g Invicta, MaPh's 35.0g Insecondo and WiNe's 35.8g Iorwerth.Seemed like the carp were playing April Fool's pranks on WiNe today as he hooked two of them whilst gudgeon hunting. MoCo had the day's best fish of 22.4g to set the April standard.
Dydd Gwyl Dewi Sant hapus ! * (1 Mar 2011)
Sunday's TTA match at Marsworth saw BuDa catch 42.5g Intolerant to take the February 'Gobio of the Month' award and put himself firmly at the top of the 2011 Gobel Prize list. BrTo, WaBe and WiNe can also welcome Dave as he joins them as the fourth member of the the elite 'Forty Club'.* That's "Happy St. David's Day" in Welsh, by the way, so if a specimen comes out of the canal today it just has to be named Ianto or Iorwerth
First 30 of the year ! (5 Feb 2011)
New member BlDa (Daniel Blackwell) tempted 33.3g Isaac with bread punch from a swim to the right of Wilstone wooden bridge today. He also had several other gudgeon over 20g plus around 8lb of nuisance fish. Welcome to the Society, Daniel !ElBr wins January Gobio of the Month award (1 Feb 2011)
A 25.6g fish caught during TTA's match at Wilstone was good enough to give Brian Elliott the award.First gudgeon of 2011 caught on the first day of the year ! (1 Jan 2011)
An 18.8g fish caught by WiNe from the gudgeon stream swim.2010 Gobel Prize and December 'Gobio of the Month' winners (31 Dec 2010)
Caught back in May, 45.9g Hugh Mungous wasn't topped in the following seven months so the prestigious Gobel Prize goes to WiNe (Neil Williams) again this year.The bad conditions in December meant that only two gudgeon were recorded, both caught from the gudgeon stream swim in the final couple of days of the month. The bigger of the two was HoPa's 16.0g fish - well done, Paul !
November 'Gobio of the Month' award goes to WaBe too (1 Dec 2010)
Ben's 29.9g fish which took the monthly award came very close to being a specimen but didn't quite make the grade. The recent weather has meant that canal fishing is virtually impossible and that looks like carrying on into December so any gudgeon at all would be very welcome. Some of us will have our GUGGS hoodies to keep us warm after Christmas though !WaBe wins the October 'Gobio of the Month' award (1 Nov 2010)
No surprise that the specimen mentioned in the previous item remained our biggest October fish. Well done, Ben - we have a very appropriate prize for you !And so to the November list. Will we see even more 30s and 40s this month, or will the weather and the cormorants scupper our efforts ?
The 'Forty Club' gets its third member ! (26 Oct 2010)
A 43.3g lunker named Halliwell has today given WaBe (Ben Ward) membership of the elite 'Forty Club'. Ben caught the fish somewhere on CooTop although he won't say exactly where as he reckons it's a gudgeon hot-spot having already produced two other 30g+ specimens in the last week. He did confess though that the fish brought a tear to his eye so maybe he's not just a hard-nosed glory-hunter.BrTo joins the 'Forty Club' ! (9 Oct 2010)
Tony Bradbury became only the second member to record a 40g+ fish when he landed 41.9g Hazel from Jeffreys pound of the Aylesbury Arm (WilJef) on Wednesday afternoon. She fell for pole-fished bread punch and, according to Tony, "was twice as thick as my thumb". This puts him well in the lead in the October GotM chart and second in the 2010 Gobel Prize list. Well done, BrTo !!!Congratulations also to McMi (Mike McNamara) and RoJu (Jude Roust) for upping their PBs to 27.1g and 18.3g respectively during today's GUGGS Get-together at Marsworth.
There ARE gudgeon at Red House! (2 Oct 2010)
This afternoon PaKi and PaRo both caught gudgeon from RedHoE, Tring's stretch of the Aylesbury Arm at Aston Clinton, previously thought to be a GFS (gudgeon-free stretch).Well done to Kim and Rob for succeeding where many more seasoned GUGGSters have failed, even if their biggest gudgeon was only Kim's tiny 8.4g. Maybe they'll manage a "double" if they go there again.
Last day winner for the September 'Gobio of the Month' award (1 Oct 2010)
WiNe's 29.8g fish caught in the afternoon of the 30th topped the list for September. The catch was witnessed by non-angler Ken Martin of Wilstone and his dog (who doesn't fish either).At least one 30g+ specimen would be good for October so to hell with the forecast, get those gobbies on the bank !
MoDa wins the August 'Gobio of the Month' award (1 Sep 2010)
Congratulations to Dave Moore on topping the list for the new monthly award. We only started accepting entries towards the end of the August but subsequent awards will run for the full month so surely the September GotM will be bigger than Dave's 21.1g tiddler ...Ton-up for GUGGS ! (17 Aug 2010)
Society membership passed the 100 mark today when three new members were signed up by WiNe during a session at the top of the Aylesbury Arm. RoCr (Chris Rowlands) became member number 99 then the excitment built as two female anglers tried to catch a gudgeon for the honour of being our 100th member. RoCr's girlfriend NiEl (Ellie Nicholas) won the race but KeJi (Josie Kempster, ex-TTA bailiff) caught one soon afterwards to become member 101.New official term - gudgeon-free stretch (15 Aug 2010)
We hate to admit failure but there are two canal stretches where we've still failed to catch a single gudgeon despite brave & prolonged efforts by various members. These stretches, Red House on the Aylesbury Arm and the outlet side of Little Tring bridge on the Wendover Arm, have been declared 'gudgeon-free stretches' (GFS for short) although we'd love someone to prove us wrong by catching a gudgeon from either of them.Happy birthday to us ! (29 Jun 2010)
GUGGS celebrates its first birthday today. To commemorate the occasion we will be giving a special prize to the angler who catches the most gudgeon in today's TTA Evening Series match at Marsworth.New record, same person, same place ! (24 May 2010)
Our specimen record was nudged even further towards the magical 50g mark this evening when WiNe tempted 45.9g Hugh Mungous from the top pound of the Aylesbury Arm - see Pictures page for a close-up of Hugh. The session produced plenty of other gudgeon, including another clonker that fell off before reaching the net, all caught on single red maggot under a waggler, A nuisance carp ended the session a tad early by removing the hook and leaving WiNe's tackle in a tangle.Filling in the gaps (20 May 2010)
There are still some TTA canal sections where we don't have a single fish recorded and we've been doing our best to remedy that situation. HoPa in particular has been trying very hard to crack our least-loved stretch, Red House, but despite several sessions all he's managed is a solitary perch ! Maybe the better weather will have improved sport down there but we're still not expecting a gudgeon fest, sadly.We've had more luck on the Marsworth reservoir flight. On Tuesday this week, HoPa caught lots of gudgeon to 21.4g (plus other species) from the first pound up. Wednesday evening's joint effort by HoPa and WiNe on the second pound up eventually produced 32.5g Hopper, the only gudgeon of the session.
GUGGS mugs are here ! (28 Apr 2010)
The delivery arrived at Wilstone yesterday and the first mugs are already sitting in the hands of a few lucky members. In the next couple of days we'll contact everyone who ordered a mug to arrange collection / delivery.Official specimen weight definition changed (26 Apr 2010)
As suggested by several members who have pointed out that we're seeing plenty of fish in the 25g > 30g range, the official GUGGS specimen weight has today been raised to 30g. This means that only fish of 30g or above should be given a name from now onwards, although all existing names can stay in place.GUGGS mugs (14 Apr 2010)
We are pleased to bring you the opportunity to own one ( or more ? ) of our limited edition mugs. Standard-sized white pottery mugs with the Society logo, motto & website address on the front and the text "I'm a GUGGS mug" on the back, they are bound to become collectors' items in the future. Why not buy several to surprise your friends and relatives when birthday / Christmas time comes around again ?The current price is £3.50 per mug (*) which includes a single bulk delivery from the pottery to our Wilstone HQ and we'll arrange collection / distribution from there on a person-by-person basis. We believe we've struck a very good deal for such a customised product - we found other potteries charging over £8.00 for the same type of item. Any profit on the overall order will be donated to our usual charity, the Iain Rennie Hospice at Home.
If you're definitely interested please eMail us or call us on 01442 823579 telling us how many mugs you would like to order. The offer is not restricted to GUGGS members but numbers will be limited so don't delay, order today !
(* This has dropped due to the size of our first bulk order which we will place early next week. Subsequent orders will again start at £4.00 per mug.)
New Society record - in exactly the same place as previous one ... (24 Mar 2010)
Last week it was difficult to get a bite in the top pound of the Aylesbury Arm and WiNe found it hard going at first in a session there this afternoon. He persevered though, the gudgeon eventually turned up in numbers and he was finally rewarded by a 44.5g clonker which tops the GUGGS previous best 41.4g he caught in exactly the same swim just over 6 months ago. This time he had a reliable camera so we have a picture of Hermione - click here to see it.Also today, BuDa reported catching a 38.2g specimen from Cooks Wharf, his PB and the best ever from that stretch - nice one, Dave. He also caught two seemingly stupid gudgeon while he had no bait on the hook !
First 30 of the year ! (4 Mar 2010)
RoMa provided the Society's first 30g-plus fish of the year today when he caught 35.8g Herbie opposite BW's Marsworth yard, setting a very high standard so early in the year. The same session also produced first named specimens of 2010 for MoDa with 27.2g Hughie and WiNe with 29.8g Henry.The race for the 2010 Gobel Prize has started (2 Mar 2010)
WiNe had his first session of the year today, opposite the BW yard at Marsworth. Despite catching lots of perch he very nearly had a gozo but a single gudgeon of 24.2g spared him that fate.So, the bar has been set and it's not very high so get out there, catch some bigger ones and let us know about them.
A quiet couple of months for the Society (20 Dec 2009)
The worsening weather has seen a drop off in GUGGS activity, proving that most of us are fair-weather anglers, I guess. Nothing wrong with that though - angling's a hobby to be enjoyed and even the most hardened matchman would admit there's little enjoyment in being soaking wet, freezing cold or both !We look forward instead to next Spring when gudgeon catching can start again in earnest although before then there will no doubt be a few short sessions attempting to get names on the 2010 Gobel Prize board, and trying to get the first H-named specimen of the year.
In the meantime, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to everyone out there from GUGGS !