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Britain's biggest blanker

S

Steve Double

Senior Member
As I'm enduring a fairly dire run on the Loddon at the moment, I was heartened to hear of a carper who had chalked up 55 nights of nothingness on a local gravel pit.

It cheered me up no end.

Anyone heard of a run of blanks to beat that?
 
A friend of my father in law's fished Emborough Pond in Somerset exclusively (as in he didn't go anywhere else) 2-3 days a week for 2 calendar years when it was a small syndicate (it is now completely privately owned) and reputedly caught absolutely nothing, not even a minnow.

It sounds ridiculous, but I can actually believe it with Emborough - there have never been that many fish in there and it hadn't received any new stock at all until the last couple of years when the new owners bought it. And it's also been incredibly silted up for the best part of 25 years (the actual depth of the lake at its deepest point is about 15ft, but apparently about 10ft of that is silt - I noticed a couple of months back that the level was very very low, so the new owners were probably doing some major de-silting), so there haven't been any successful spawnings for years and some of the few fish that were in there no doubt died due to the poor quality of the water.

I suspect that what was left were the last remaining generation from the last successful spawning back in the late 80s/early 90s.

Nothing for 2 solid years!
 
At a BFW fish-in at Dintons a few years back :) I spoke to a guy carp angling and asked him how he had done. He said he'd not had a fish yet, then went on to say he'd been fishing there for three seasons and not had a fish. I don't believe he was being secretive.
 
I remember that Paul.

At the time I believe the Black Swan lake held the bream record.

Strangely enough on a walk around the lake that summer I spotted more than 20 carp, mostly 20lb and much larger sunbathing in the shallows. They were there!
 
33 blanks on the trott for me on the Pats one season Steve.

Mind you, some nights it was so cold i had to snap a dog off a lamp post :)
 
had some terrible long runs at times. Worst I have heard was a River keeper who has been fishing the Kennet for over 40 years. On a stretch where 4-5 years ago you could still catch 15 or more barbel in a session 3 years ago he had done 64 sessions, without a bite. He had exchanged letters with the EA about the woeful state of the river, there answer was there would be no specimen fishing available on the Kennet.
 
Blimey! I once went 15 blanks after pike one winter, that was pretty soul destroying. Feel like a piking king though after reading some of these!
 
Rhys Perry said:
Blimey! I once went 15 blanks after pike one winter, that was pretty soul destroying. Feel like a piking king though after reading some of these!
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I know what you mean Rhys, I have had some rough times myself, but not in that league :eek:. However, much of this could be down to the slow but sure demise of many of our rivers. If the EA are complacent enough to respond to queries about the dire state of the once prolific Kennet with a cynical response such as that related in Roberts post, then you can be in no doubt what the future holds for angling, especially on rivers.

Cheers, Dave.
 
i did 4 months on the loddon at a tough stretch fishing daytime only for one 5lb chub

i know people were catching at 3am but i really don't enjoy fishing at that time of night!
 
Tony Carter said:
i did 4 months on the loddon at a tough stretch fishing daytime only for one 5lb chub

i know people were catching at 3am but i really don't enjoy fishing at that time of night!
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Always good for a daytime struggle that was, then one day my mate had 3 in bright sunshine to 13+. :cool:
 
John McGough said:
Always good for a daytime struggle that was, then one day my mate had 3 in bright sunshine to 13+. :cool:
Click to expand...

And that's why I keep telling myself that there are no "rules" when it comes to barbel fishing (or any species really).

Quite often bucking the trend will catch you some bonus fish.

My mate had 2 decent sized perch and a 10lb pike on boilies the other day - all within an hour of each other.
 
Does vary.

I had 13 blanks on the Dearne in winter, questioning my sanity a few years ago, and 1 total blank on the Trent recently felt nearly as bad , those red letter does should be savoured!
 
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