I’ve set myself a few goals for this year’s fishing season, some more difficult than others, but all quite challenging.
It’s taken me quite a while to hit upon realistic goals and these are those that I consider to be the best way to spend enjoyable times on my local rivers.
As a reminder, my rivers are the Berounka, Mže, Radbuza, Úhlava and Úslava with the Radbuza being the river I fish the most followed by the Úslava.
The Challenges
So my challenges or goals are based on different species present in all five of Plzeň’s rivers, some more prolific than others but all worth hunting down.
I’ve decided to concentrate on just five main goals with a couple of bonus goals which I will not attempt directly but which would be very welcome.
Main Challenges
These are the 5 goals I’ve set myself for the 2024 season.
Roach
Last year I caught a number of Roach from the Radbuza river, they weren’t big but I’m sure there are bigger examples in the stretch I like to fish. My current PB is just 0.5kg which I caught on the river Colne in Iver in the 1970s.
This goal is to catch a personal best Roach
Tench
Catching Tench from my local rivers is perhaps my biggest challenge. To date I’ve only caught one Tench back in the 1980s, it weighed just 0.5kg.
My goal is to land any Tench.
Chub
It’s no big problem to find and catch Chub in the areas I fish and last year I landed many up to 47cm (probably my personal best).
My goal this year is to catch a Chub of 50cm or more.
Barbel
Never having fished for nor caught a Barbel, it seems inevitable that this will be one of my goals in 2024. I know they are present in the local rivers and I have a fairly good idea of where to try for them.
So this challenge is to land any Barbel.
Perch
Although I’ve caught many Perch in the past, none have been what I would call big. Last year, while fishing for Chub, I landed two small Perch and, although neither was a ‘specimen’ they were probably the biggest Perch I’ve caught to date.
The challenge is to land a Perch of 0.5kg or more.
Challenge Success?
I don’t know if this one counts, for two reasons:
1: The fish was caught accidently and slightly out of season.
2: Because it was out of season I didn’t weigh it – I thought it would be better to pop it back asap – I did take a photo though.
I was fishing for the in-season Roach with sweetcorn and this handsome guy took the bait.
Looking online, some sources say a 12 inch Perch (this one was 30cm) would weigh in at around 1lb.
Did I meet my goal? Maybe. Does an out-of-season fish count? Probably not.
But here he is in all his glory
Bonus Goals
Additional Goals that I probably won’t target separately but which I’m hoping to reach ‘by accident’ while targeting my main goals.
Brook Trout
I’ve never caught a Brook Trout but last year saw them in the Radbuza river. It’s therefore not surprising that the Brook Trout should be on my wish list.
Ruffe / Pope
An unusual one this. As a kid I caught many Ruffe both on the river Thames and in still waters. They were, at the time, more of a nuisance than a prize as, when fishing maggots on small hooks, they would often swallow the hook.
This year I am not intending to use either maggots or small hooks so, should they take my bait, I’ll have a better chance of setting the hook cleanly.
Challenge Success
He may be a little fella, but he’s beautiful. He took a small worm on a size 12 Delphin Bait-holder hook and was nicely hooked in the corner of his mouth.