The end of June and almost into July but not quite July, fishing blog
Well…
This time last year I was being a right maungy ( a Sheffield word that is pronounced “morn-ji”) bastard about not winning a Drennan Weekly Award in the 
Angling Times for a catch of double figure barbel and a fine brace of double figure Trent bream…
Yes, I was being very bloody maungy indeed.
Well …
A whole year has passed and here we are again, excepting this time I have actually been awarded a “Drennan Cup Weekly Award”
I know, I said that wasn’t going to enter anything else and I was just going to trundle along doing my own thing and on the whole that is what I have done…
And if truth be told I did not enter my recent big chub, it was entered for me.
All I did was ride the wave that was created on Facebook when the news broke that I had bagged a proper lump of a fish and was as the saying goes
“filling my boots” with a fair few barbel as well.
When I finally got home I was pretty quick onto Facebook to see what was being said ( if anything)
and posted the following introduction to the catch pictures
Well, I have finally bagged my 7lb chub from the Trent with 4oz to spare…I set the camera on 10 shots and set about putting this fish into posterity, I started seriously and then the true emotions set-in…Eventually I reckon I look like Jack Nicholson smashing the door in with an axe.
To say I was/am happy with this fish is an understatement of epic proportions, the fish in itself is all the reward I need but I am a sponsored angler therefore it would be a bit off for me to go all secret squirrel and shut up shop. and so I posted the following comment opening the door to any editors out there that wanted some column inches filling with what is a very nice fish indeed.
“I won’t be entering it for a Drennan as I think I have shit my pot full on that one and therefore I would be a bit of a nob sending it in, that said however this was just one fish in a big haul and if any editors want to run with the story they are more than welcome to contact me for the details. The catch also included 5 double figure barbel to 13lb 7oz .”
Anyway as it happens the Angling Times were quick off the mark when a sharp witted young lady called Abigail made first contact via Facebook
Hi Lee, we’d love to get your 7lb 4oz chub catch in Angling Times next week. If you’d like to get it in the paper please email it over with some details to our news editor It will be submitted to Drennan for consideration for a weekly award too. Kind regards, Abi, Angling Times
Right, now I am in a quandary…I have Gary Knowles pulling my leg on Facebook about me not using a “tip” to bag my biggie as well as a host of “struggling” anglers suddenly popping messages up wanting to know where it is I go fishing, I don’t mind helping people who ask honest sensible questions about rigs and stuff but a couple were wanting to know the river lengths and pegs I fish…Bollocks to that.
I now have an e-mail to send to the Angling Times…
How do I play it?
Do I go all “it was deliberately targeted after getting some cagey knocks” or do I go with the straight John Bull answer?
I cannot do crap and so I told them at AT how it really happened…
Hello,
Abigail has asked me to send a few shots over to you and some background story.
I opened the river season on the Trent as is usual, the river was a little up and just a shade coloured, I arrived at 5pm on the 15th to make sure I had a good chance of getting the peg I wanted. I started feeding straight away and so by midnight I had invested about 4-5kg of the 10kg of mixed pellets and paste samples I had with me ( Hook Bait Company )
As my mate Gary Knowles says “feed them and they will come” and what he says is correct, I was not targeting chub specifically nor was I after barbel, I was fishing a style to catch the Trent’s ”big four”
Barbel, Carp, Chub, Bream
The killer bait was a Hook Bait Company stringer of red arctic boilies 
wrapped in a paste of HBC Stimanol and powdered salmon crumb bound with a couple of eggs fished over a loose mix of wet HBC pellets bulked out with 7kg of small Scrittens pellets from the animal feed wholesalers.
I had barbel of 13lb 7oz 12lb 9oz 11lb 6oz 10lb 7oz and 10lb 1oz as well as two smaller fish that did not look anywhere near doubles ( I generally only weigh barbel that look well over 8lb)
I had Chub of 7 lb 4oz, 3lb 14oz and lots in the 1-2.5lb category ( these did not get weighed as only 4lb chub count in the Chub Study Groups records and as they were nowhere near they went straight back in)
The rig was a 6 foot Kryston Incognito 11lb combi-rig tipped with 6 inch of soft Kryston braid to a size 6 Drennan Super Specialist ( my favourite hook for barbel..and has been for more years than I care to remember)
The chub obliterates my PB of 6lb 12oz and is my first “7″, I am truly elated to have finally joined a very select group of anglers that even Dick Walker wasn’t allowed in to.
best regards
Lee
And that as they say was that, I did not butter it up, I did not fib nor stretch the truth, I told them I was not targeting chub specifically but instead just let the fish do all the talking and I feel better for it, there was no need to bend the truth to get a better chance of winning the Drennan Cup Weekly Award.
People that bend the truth to get their face in the papers make me spew, adding pounds of fictitious weight onto their catch just to be sure of getting into the press is the actions of a wanker, I wouldn’t have the brass neck to do such shit.
If I catch a 
12lb barbel I say its a 12lb barbel regardless to the fact that I could make a number up and add 12oz for good measure.
If I catch a 14lb barbel that is the weight it was, this way I keep my credibility because make no bones about it lies always come out because liars always make mistakes.
Anyway I am drifting, I will try to stay on topic :O)
So…Where were we? Right…I have sent the email off but me being me after a few days I am beginning to forget about sending the chub into Angling Times, if truth be told having fished a few nights my skin had suffered and I had a face that made me look and feel a little bit like a burns victim. My skin does not do weather of any type at all well but it especially hates warm and damp.
I have a major flare up of psoriasis and I am feeling pretty bloody shitty about it and then out of the blue I get an e-mail from AT which reads like this…
Hi Lee,
You’ve got a weekly Drennan Award for your chub in tomorrow’s paper, so could you email your address so I can forward it on to the chaps at Drennan.
You know that e-mail could not have been better timed, it has really cheered me up , I have finally done it, the one contest that I have never won, happy days.
Thank you Angling Times!!! Thank you Drennan!!!
The contest win was celebrated in the fashion of a Dragon King with an ice cold Duvel Ale from Belgium, an absolute beast of a drink that comes in at 8.5%, which means as an afternoon pre-work drink it is a “oner” rather than a short session beer such as Carling.
Do you enjoy writing letters into your local newspaper?
I love writing letters into my local paper the Sheffield Star, it gives me a sense of happiness and fulfillment if I can piss on the parade of Sheffield Council and their Socialist conglomeration of associated parasitic wankers . Councils are great at self promotion and spin but they are not that good at dealing with the actual day to day reality of life unless they can use bucket full of the tax payers money to make it functional.
So if you are like me and you enjoy pulling people up and telling them where they have got it wrong I want to hear from you, I want you to contact me on Facebook as I have just started a little group of like minded individuals, in this group we can plan, polish and organise our correspondence so that it scores maximum damage points against our chosen targets.
Reyt…I will see y’all in July…TTFN!
PS If you have enjoyed this blog do me a favour and press “share” on you Facebook and Twitter feed
Cheers!
Nice one Lee it’s good to see your putting the feeders to good use F.F.F.
There are no feeders as good as Triple F’s
I agree but have modified some feeders used on the Trent with a larger cage to allow me to feed the swims a lot quicker. I rarely fish longer than 6 hours now so time at getting to feed in is at a premium
Have you seen Fiskies special feeding feeders…They are huge
No I have not, I will email Paul about them. Cheers for that!