This Angling Life

Pike .. elusive so far !

2012-01-22T18:30:00.003Z

Not much to report for this year as yet, I've been out on three mornings after pike and landed one little pikelet that wasn't much bigger than the bait I was using!

I've tried the canal and a local pit twice but that has not produced as much as a run yet. I'm looking forward to the time when I can arrive after work just before dusk, and be able to get in a few mid week sessions which shouldn't be too long away now.

Icy

On the first canal session I endured icy conditions from dawn till just before lunchtime and at one point the float was trapped by forming ice in what was the only ice free patch when I arrived.

Frozen in time..

Needless to say I suffered a blank that morning and had to pack down early to avoid a break off had I received a pick up.

This week however conditions were slightly improved except for the extreme westerly winds blasting along the canal that nearly blew the rods off their rests and me off my feet. The wind creating 4 " high waves to form along the canal more akin to those seen on a vast lake than on a narrow channel of shallow water.

The Cov Canal Bore !

The windy conditions didn't put off this greedy little chap trying to swallow a mackerel tail, which saved another blank at least.

My visits to the local pit to try for some of the big girls that reside in its waters has been a futile effort so far. I know they're in there I just haven't found them in feeding mood yet. An afternoon to evening session might be a better bet as they haven't seemed interested in the early mornings so far. I'm watching the nights draw out slowly and surely and as Keith recently mentioned in his latest post, it won't be long till I can fish there after work for a hour or two at least.

Its been Bleak so far...

Spot the gravel bar !

My little review of 2011 too ..!

2012-01-05T00:52:00.000Z

So 2011 closes and we're finally into the long awaited Olympic year of 2012. Shame fishing won't be featured as an event, as Britain might have a good chance of securing gold based on our history of producing world champions in a fair few forms of the sport.

Perch..
My year has been quite productive really and I've broken a few PB's along the way. Some of them without really trying like the pike I caught at Blenheim Palace in September, but then some of them are the fruits of years of trying, failing then finally unlocking the secrets that result in the fish of your dreams. The perch is a fish that I have only been targeting seriously for a few years but in that time I've had some modest success before finally exceeding my target of 2lb and then following it up with a stunning 3lb'er a few days later as part of a four fish catch. To see fish of that size slide over the rim of your net is a site to behold and one I don't think I will ever tire of.

2lb 12oz

biggest 3lb 3oz

Barbel...

Then of course there was the capture of a new barbel pb in July, a target species that brought me back to fishing in the first place nearly 10 years ago. This was a time when I really started to learn how to fish and then went on to catch my first double a few years later. This is something every budding barbel angler dreams about of course, but to then eventually catch what may be a fish of a lifetime for me is truly an incredible feeling. Of course this means there will now be the increased pressure I will inevitably inflict on my self to push those numbers up further still, but if I never achieve anything better, I will still feel happy and privileged to have held such a creature in my hands. I don't tend to fish for barbel as often as I used to these days because of spreading my time in various ways in pursuit of other species, but weirdly I've found this has only helped my barbel fishing results when I do target them. Maybe it's because I used to get too hung up on my tactics, tackle bait, etc etc. Now I just fish more simply and more importantly with total confidence in my methods, which can only be gained from going through all those difficult early years of struggle whilst on the learning curve.

13lb 8oz

Zander...

If you happen to follow my posts regularly you will know that Zander have taken up quite a bit of my time over the last few years and I have quickly grown to love these strange and fascinating beasts. There is always something mysterious and intriguing about targeting these fish that I never seem to tire of. 90 percent of my zed experience so far has been fishing on the local canals, which stands to reason as I live smack bang in the middle of miles of the canal system thanks to the legacy of our once empire building industrial past here in the midlands. I would of course love to spend more time fishing on rivers like the Severn hunting down a nice big river double, but having a young family and wife to ~~obey~~ look after, my time is usually limited only to short sessions. I hope to get in a few more evenings after them in the coming year on rivers like the Trent and Severn though if time allows.

Lake 11lb 1oz

There are quite a few lakes in the midlands that hold them, indeed this is how I managed to catch my current best but I don't think I will be content until I have a river double ticked off the list. Why a river fish should command more kudos to my mind is simply down to the skill involved in tracking down and then enticing one to feed on your bait in what is literally miles of wild river. They will only be in that stretch because they want to be and not artificially stocked unable to escape of their free will. Catch yourself a river double and it's truly a natural wild fish grown by natures own hand. Alien species it may be, but then so are carp and even some of our barbel stocks in a few well known non east flowing rivers. We may as well accept the fact that they are here to stay and stop the persecution of what is a wonderful fish to target and for us to have adopted into a 'multicultural' England.

I read Mark Barrett's article in this months CAT (Jan 2012) with interest and whilst I agree with most of what he said, I found his advise against the use of small section baits and single hook tactics for zander a little short sighted. He is coming from a situation where he targets only large double figure zeds on vast rivers or drains and we'll fair play to him I say, but if like me you usually target smaller single figure fish such as inhabit the midlands canal system, then a single hook rig sporting a roach head or tail section goes down very well with the local zander population thankyou very much. I have never deep hooked a fish this way like I have a couple of times using traditional snap tackle on larger whole fish baits. There is no point hoping a big double will come along just because you're fishing with bigger baits on a canal, it will be totally futile - there are just too few really big fish and just too many smaller 'shoalies' to get through to even bother trying. The only way to get yourself a good fish on the canal is to play the numbers game and hope one comes along eventually in my opinion. However I totally agree with Mark that there's absolutely no reason not to use a wire trace, so don't worry about zander being tackle shy, they are definitely not and I've caught plenty to be able to testify to this. Just avoid sudden changes in resistance, so bigger weights can be used on a good sliding ledger rig or even a float ledger with the bait laid on the deck works a treat on the canal.

canal 6lb 10oz

Pike...

Finally to old exos lucious. I have only been seriously targeting them since this year and my pb is now 18lb 10oz, not too bad but when you consider of all the pike I have caught in recent times I have only caught a handful whilst actually targeting them. Luckily this pb was on one of those occasions on the trip down to Blenheim Palace in September for Keith's 40th. With Jeff Hatt handling the net and an audience of my fellow bloggers surrounding me able to witness first hand the epic battle, then the eventual capture of my largest fish to date. A surprise fish indeed and totally unexpected. Jeff didn't fair too badly either landing his pb 3lb perch from our little vessel out in the lake.
I will be on a bit of a quest for a twenty into the new year as I am finding pike to be a really enjoyable and an obliging fish to target especially in these cold winter months.

All in the challenge..

Finally the bloggers percentage points challenge this year was an interesting aspect to my angling year. I enjoyed achieving some fairly good results although my ultimate 7th position was a little disappointing. This was my own fault though as I spent too long in the the middle part of the year fishing for fun, after barbel and zander etc when I should have been building points after carp, rudd and dace. I did finish with two top spots for species though with my barbel and pike captures, and a close second position with zander so not all bad results. My problem was I just didn't get round to ticking enough species off the list. (excuses excuses....)

Well done to all the others though especially Keith (Terry Lampard ) Jobling who completely stormed it by obliterating everyone in his wake. With Jeff and Joe taking second and third spots respectively with some good tactical point building. Not sure if I would do it again in the same way, but I might be tempted to a top four species challenge next time. Leaving you to concentrate on only your favourite targets instead of worrying about the species your less interested in or indeed have good access to.

Have a great 2012 and hope you catch some of your dreams..

Pike - Not you again !

2011-12-29T14:06:00.002Z

Quick session again this morning, had to be back before lunch so headed to the local river again.
I fished bread flake and crumb in the feeder for an hour at first but didn't get a single bite.
Decided to put the pike rods out again as I've not blanked for pike here yet.
Caught the same fish as last time but in the next swim 30 yards down and on the opposite side of the river. I've not hooked one of the elusive doubles that are supposed to be in here yet ! I'll try another part of the stretch next time as I don't see the point in repeat captures of Jacks.

Nearly lost it at the net as the hooks pinged out but luckily I was quick enough and scooped her up as she flailed on the surface not aware that she was momentarily free.

Thought it would be the same one as a couple of weeks ago when the weight seemed familiar

Caught today at 8lb 11oz on sardine tail

Caught 13/12/11 at 8lb 12oz on a 5oz roach deadbait

The markings and the two wounds between the dorsal and anal fins confirmed it.

Short small river session

2011-12-28T15:29:00.000Z

With Christmas out the way I was itching to get out on the river again yesterday. I had been given a new rod for Christmas from the wife, so was eager to back out into the countryside to give it a test. I headed out at dawn to the small local river that I usually fish every winter in search of some roach and chub.

On arrival the weather was calm and mild with clear skies. The water was a bit clearer than I had expected since all the recent rain, but I was still hopeful of some action. I baited up the reliable chub hot spot with some bread mash but then headed to another area upstream where the water is usually a bit more coloured, in the hope of finding some roach.

The new Drennan Red 9' 6" mini carp feeder rod was put into action. It comes with a 1oz and 2 oz glass tip, perfect for this type of fishing in confined areas.

The swim is on a high bank with a drop of at least 3ft down to the surface, so a long handled net is essential. The shallower gravel run drops into sandy clay in slightly deeper water of about 3- 4ft just in front of a raft that bridges across the river here. The roach are usually found in the deeper water a few feet in front of the raft.

Fishing 4lb line straight through to a size 10 hook and a sliding link ledger, I started getting bites on bread flake from the first cast, the tip of the 1oz feeder rod tapping away then giving a confident pull forward of about an inch or so. I missed the first few of these bites but then hooked a roach of about 6oz that fell off at the net. It seemed to kill the swim for a while, but then I found the bites again a further foot or so towards the raft and into the near bank. The first fish to be landed was a small chub of less than half a pound, this was followed by four more exact copies. Obviously a shoal of small chub had been attracted and were beating the roach to the bait. I gave it some more time but no larger fish turned up.

After a while I decided a move was in order so I started heading to the chub hot spot. On the way I could see that someone else had arrived and was heading that way too an was infront of me. Plan B was a small pool on a bend. I have never really done that well on here before although there are certainly fish here to be found. Unfortunately I never managed a proper bite in the hour I had left in the spot, just a few slight taps of iterest from small fish I expect. I made a mental note as it does look good for a pike in the hole below the tree where the water drops down to least 5 or 6 feet deep. That will have to wait for another visit though.

Finally a short book review for you ...

I've just read this book on zander that was one of my stocking fillers from the wife.
Zander, How to catch them, by Barrie Rickards 2011.

A great little book full of history, tips and methods on all aspects of Zander fishing, and for about £10 it's well worth a look at. I found it confirmed the methods I'm already using are pretty much what Barrie recommends although he made some very interesting and considered arguments on hook choice that I think I'm starting to be swayed towards. The list of big zander was a surprise to me in the fact that there are quite a lot more massive fish from the Severn in that list than I was aware of - maybe I'll be looking at a new ticket this year !! ..hmmm.

Fish porn

2011-12-22T00:55:00.001Z

Here's some footage of a nice group of chub feeding greedily on pellets, filmed from a bridge over a local river back in August. I've finally got round to uploading it - well I might as well while there's nothing else to blog about !

Enjoy ...

Pike's rights - River pike pt 2

2011-12-11T14:01:00.001Z

I was originally heading to the Dove this morning to trot for grayling, but last night in bed the wife reminded me that her dad was coming round to help me fit a carpet in the box room at lunchtime.
So a quick change of plan saw me heading back to the same venue as last week.

The weather was cool but not freezing at about 4 deg C and there was an upstream breeze putting an nice ripple on the slow moving deep section of river I would be fishing. The pike float went out first with a nice big 5 or 6 oz roach dead bait on. I'd tied some new traces the evening before, so one of them was clipped on to the mainline with a treble and a single so I could present a larger bait than the small fish I usually use for Zander.

The float rod was set on an alarm so I could take my eye off the float, I was just running a line through my trotting rod ready to attach the float wen I noticed some movement on the pike float already. The float was away in that beautiful way they glide across the surface then slide under. I wound down to feel a satisfying weight and after a little struggle another pike was in the net.

8lb 12oz

After I had returned the fish a chap stopped to enquire as to whether I'd had any pike ? yes came my reply.
"Hope you killed it". " No, I bloody well didn't ".
The conversation then slid into a lively debate . "Too many pike in the stretch and their numbers should be culled as there's no silvers left". Verses my argument that pike will live in balance if left alone and that I never have any trouble catching roach, chub, bream or even silver bream along this stretch of river. It's one of the most diverse stretches I know of. We agreed to disagree, but both agreed that the cormorants, gooseanders, and now otters were the main threat to the fish stocks here.

That pike was all the action I had for the morning, the other rod failing to produce any silvers ironically. I'm sure they're still there, just not feeding today.

A lake chub and a river pike

2011-12-04T14:16:00.001Z

Saturday afternoon on the lake

With the bloggers challenge heading swiftly to it's conclusion (just four week to go now) I was out again yesterday to try and get my Carp points at a local commercial. Any carp would do, but a double would be pretty satisfying. Unfortunately the carp were not in the mood for responding. Serves me right for leaving it so late I suppose, I should have bagged one in the spring or summer when I had plenty of time and the carp were well on the feed!

With a rod out to my left fishing meat or soft pellets, I hoped it would fish for its self leaving me to concentrate on my float rod, with only the task of picking it up when it went off. If this was last month, then that probably would have still been the case, but as the temperature has now dropped off considerably in the last week or so the carp are probably lying up lethargically and only feeding occasionally.
I fished the float rod out to my right under a bush with a juicy lobworm to see if there were any Perch about, I only managed this lake chub however.

Later, and despite a series of missed takes on the ledger rod as dusk drew in, I just couldn't connect up to any of them. I suspect they were from smaller fish trying to take the hair rigged pellets but not able to get the hook into their mouths too giving me those dreaded false takes and missed runs.

Sunday morning on the river

This morning I headed out to the river for a bit of a pleasure session. I only had a couple of hours to play with so I just chucked out a pike float off the rod tip with a hair-rigged bait (a skimmer) laid on the bottom down the shelf. The perch float rig that was still set up from yesterday, was duly trotted down stream under an overhanging tree. The pike float was the first to show any signs however, after about 40 minutes I noticed it twitching, then lift, and then finally plop under. Winding down to a satisfying bend in the rod as it hooped over, the fish powered off towards a fallen tree opposite me, and as I tried to turn it I felt the sudden jolt of a hook coming free !

99% foolproof !

The hook had pulled cleanly so was just a bad down t a bad hook hold which is the first time that's happened to me since I switched over to using hair-rigged single hooks. I guess you've just got to take it on the chin sometimes, no method can be guaranteed a 100% foolproof.

Next came a bite on the trotted lobworm just as the float was at its further limit downstream. I saw it bury and I certainly hooked into something but the line went slack for a second or two. It was one of those occasions when your not quite sure what's going on, I couldn't feel anything. Then winding the reel I caught up with a fish that was heading upstream steadily towards me. The fish felt pretty big and hugged the bottom like most large fish do. I'd only had proper contact with it for a few seconds, but long enough to know it was a 'goodun' and as I tried to apply a little pressure to steer away from the snags opposite me the second hook pull of the day reared its ugly head ! Damn, that was definitely a good fish what ever it was? I was either a very good chub, a barbel or maybe even a pike - they do love worms. Of course I'll never know, which is probably best as it would most likely make the agony worse. Another dozen more trots down to the very spot failed to produce even the sniff of another bite.

So that would have been it, a blank session had it not been for a snap decision to re-position the pike float inthe front of the snag across the river. I started packing away all the other gear and only had the pike rod left to do. As I was folding down my chair, I did another quick every 30 seconds float check, and noticed there was line falling from the spool as I turned my head, with the float nowhere to be seen, I wound the rod down into this nice little jack to save me from being a billy blanko ! A nice way to end a couple of hours out on the river, and it made up a bit for the earlier lost chances.

Canal Zander - At Jeffs Birthday Zed bash

2011-12-02T21:46:00.001Z

We all met up at the Greyhound pub around 3:30pm, and after a bit of gentle banter we headed off in three directions down as many arms of canal from Hawkesbury Junction. I had fished here with Jeff on a couple of occasions and had my canal Zander pb of 6lb 10oz on my first visit here. So I naturally headed for that area with Joe in tow. As he had never fished the canal, my optimism obviously had him convinced enough to follow me.

We found that the local boaters had taken up residence in most of the likely looking spots but luckily enough there was a patch of dying reed beds opposite a gap either end of the boats just begging for baits to be cast at. Joe set up one end and I headed to the other. Within minutes I landed a little scamp and so expected more action soon after. Jeff soon joined us and set up in between the two boats.

1lb - enough for a win ?

It always seems to be that when you allow yourself to become so complacent and overconfident like that, then fate slaps you in the face to remind you that " you know nothin " and so it turned out that it was to be the only run I would get all evening. It seems that the others had a similar experience with all the action coming within that window of action between the light and shade of dusk going into full darkness - the witching hour.
Phil Smith and then Merv and his grandson all stopped by for a chat before dark, and they informed me that I might be in the lead with my one pound fish ! Unfortunately though, I later found I had been beaten by Andy and Danny who were "baggin up" near the marina with two fish each. Gary had equalled my effort with another pound zedling. These were to be the only fish caught by all 10 anglers and about 20 rods in the water during our 4 hour match.

Phil chats tactics with Jeff

Andy had the contest sewn up with 5lb something on some new secret tactics he and Danny were employing (stewards enquiry !!) and the bloggers challenge multiplier reel zed match trophy was his. ( I think it should become the traditional trophy complete with engraved winners names, and passed on to the new winner each time we have a contest) We soon headed back to the pub for a pint and more banter and I think the evening was enjoyed by all. I'll certainly look forward to the next one.

Learning to fish for carp again ..Pt 2

2011-11-05T12:52:00.003Z

I made a quick visit back to the carp lake again last Sunday. The baiting didn't seem to work this time although the fish were still active and were seen drifting over the clear gravel area near the reed line. I used two rods this time, bringing my 2.2lb TC floodwater barbel rod into action. One rod near the reeds the other out to a patch of gravel in the middle of the bay, both sporting popped up baits.

The lake was a bit busier this week so I couldn't bait any other pegs nearby as they were all taken. So sticking it out in one peg again, I hoped the fish would find my pop ups of interest, they didn't, well not in the four hours fishing time I had anyway. I think a whole day spent in the swim would give me a good chance of a pick up though, but I'm acutely aware of time running out with the Carp in this lake. I will probably have turn to plan B and fish a match type commercial if I'm going to bag myself a carp for the challenge before the onset of winter. I'm kicking myself that I didn't try a bit earlier in the year instead of concetrating on zander a bit too early. I'm not really that interested in carp fishing through the winter, but I will probably be back in the spring to try again as there are some stunning fish in the lake.

Learning to fish for carp again…Part 1

2011-10-24T22:42:00.000+01:00

Stalking of sorts...

I need to catch a decent carp for thebloggers challenge, one of about twenty pounds or more will give me therequired amount of points I’m looking for. Not as easy a task as it may sound to some, especially for someone likeme who rarely, if ever fishes for carp. I don’t really know why this is as Ihave always been fascinated by them, and in my earlier years as an angler was quitehappy catching them up to about 10 lb on various methods during the rise of thecommercial water in the late eighties and early nineties. I seem to have developed some kind of mentalblock with them over recent years though and have just not developed any desireto buy some modern carp gear suitable to either tackle them with, or befashionable enough to be seen on the bank with.

On a recent zed session with Andy I happened to mention that I still needed acarp for the challenge but didn’t feel I had a decent enough rod to handle abigger fish of say 20lb plus. He kindly offered to lend me a Wychwood Rogue thathad been gathering dust in his shed, seemed a decent enough rod and better thanany carp rod I have, which is none.
So with no more excuses I headed out onSunday morning to tackle a local water known to contain a good head of fish upto 30lb. I arrived at dawn and walked acircuit of the lake sussing out the swims, wind direction and generally lookingfor any signs of fish showing. I decidedto target a few areas on the windward bank as I knew fish visited these areasand with a warm breeze blowing that way it seemed a good place to start.

I opted for a semi stalking approach baitinga few clear spots in the weed that I could see close to the margin at no morethan an under arm cast away. The first peg would be base camp and the other twoI would rotate round to as and when any signs of fish appeared.

After about an hour the first signs in anyof the spots were some carp breaching half out of the water at about 40 yardsalong the marginal reeds from my spot in peg one. I couldn’t get any closer to the fish than thepeg I was in, so I went for broke and hoofed the bait out to the area wherethey were breaching. The cast landedpretty close and I hoped it was clear of weed. The line was laid slack to keepthe fish from spooking and the end rig equipped with a pop up on a short helirig (chod style I suppose you’d call it). I sat back and waited for the rod to tear off.

Iwould be waiting a long time until eventually curiosity got the better of meand I wound back in to find the rig weeded up. I re-baited and cast back out a bit nearer (asmuch as I dared) to the marginal reeds hoping to land it on the clear gravel. Iwas just answering a call of nature by the tree to my left when I noticed ashape near the baited area closer in. I froze and stared slack jawed as twolarge dark shapes drifted in under the overhanging willow branches onto thebait. It’s difficult to be accurate but I would guess them both to be near thetarget weight. Two lovely looking darkmirrors less than 20 feet from me and they were feeding confidently on my bait totallyunaware of my presence. Only one problem, my bait was 40 yards away!

I carefully wound it back in and quickly re-riggedwith an inline 1oz lead and 4 in braid hooklink baited with a pop up. The fish had drifted back under the branch bynow so with a smooth underarm lob the bait was positioned neatly on top of thegravel patch. I watched as some more carp slowly made their way along the reedline towards the willow branch, but turned and headed back out over the weedwhere I lost sight of them. Time was nowmy enemy and so with 5 minutes left before I had to leave to get home in time totake my daughter to a birthday party (I was already pushing it), I had recastto the other side of the willow branch where the two mirrors were slowlydrifting in and out of view. Sadly thefish never fed over my bait and time was up. I packed the rods away with thefish still visible along the reed line.

Although a blank it definitely wasn’t awasted trip, I had successfully managed to find and bait a spot, attract and observecarp feeding from it confidently and then cast a bait to the spot withoutspooking the fish. You know, I think I could get into the carp fishing lark.

A zander target done !

2011-10-08T23:05:00.004+01:00

I finished work at just after 12 and headed towards Melton Mowbray home of pork pies and stilton cheese (according to the signs). I arrived at one pm and started looking for Steve and Jeff, not an easy task, as the lake was a lot bigger than it looks on google maps. Eventually the bailiff turned up and pointed me in the right direction. Steve was already set up on the windward bank in a nice bay fishing towards some overhanging trees around the mouth of a shallow inlet. I set up nearby with open water in front. Jeff had gone "off piste" looking for roach and chub on the nearby river wreake.

Bearing it out on the windward bank

After an hour or two of battling the strong 20 mph westerly winds blowing straight into our faces, forever giving false bleeps on our alarms, I took a quick reccy up the lake where we soon decided to move to a more sheltered spot. Rods were cast back out and hopes were raised as we chatted about the lake and its potential. Soon, Jeff arrived with the bailiff (Chay) just as Steve landed a small jack pike, a couple of single bleeps alerting him to the take. I decided to recast both rods again, a rudd tail to the right hand margin and a small skimmer out towards an island. Both baits were hair rigged with a single size four hook set to hang free near to the tail fin.
The bailiff left us to it, so we stood behind my rods chewing the fat about tactics and fish we'd caught or wished to catch, as we fishermen do. Suddenly without warning there was a triple bleep on my alarm and the drop off indicator fell to the bankstick.

Line was being taken slowly from the spool so I flicked the bail arm across, wound down and struck. The rod took on a good bend and a decent fish was on the end, it kited right hugging the bottom. I said to the lads it might be a pike as at first there was none of the head shaking that you usually get with zander, just steady smooth power. After a short while the fish headed in closer towards us and now I dd feel a bit of headshaking just before it rose up in the water. A large green and white flank rolled confirming I had a big zed on (squeeky bum time!).

I gingerly drew it up to the surface again and held my breath as it smoothly slid across the waiting net cord. "That's a PB" I blurted out excitedly. The estimate was between 8 and 10 lb from Jeff and Steve, as she was lifted up in the net she started looking bigger. I hoped for a double at least but until the scales confirm it you never know. Steve did the honours and read off a very satisfying 11lb 1oz - my target of a double figure zed was well and truly done.

11lb 1oz

Crucian match .. pipped at the post

2011-10-03T23:19:00.002+01:00

Arriving on the car park at the lakeside it was still dark at 6:30am, I switched off the lights and cut the engine so I didn't wake up all the bivvy boys sleeping around the lake. Andy and Danny were already set up on the dam wall, saving me a swim alongside them. The lake, misty and dark still in the slowly emerging dawn, looked the same as I remembered from about 3 years before. Would I be lucky enough to catch a nice 2lb crucian, I would soon find out.

Danny challenged me to a little friendly match with the honour of the pound trophy at stake. Rules were easy, biggest crucian wins, no problem then!

After setting up my crowquill float I was soon into the first fish, a skimmer. Soon to be followed by another, and another, and another, and another .................. and another, and ...

Plenty o' Skimmers

.... another

The other lads were reporting the same problem with a never ending stream of skimmers coming to any bait that was put in front of them, from pellets,corn, caster and worm etc etc, until eventually TFFT I landed a crucian !

1lb 6oz (moving up a whole percent point!)

With this single fish caught I was in the lead, and so it remained until I had to pack up and go at around 11:30am (family commitments beckoned). I kept in touch with the other two by text to see how they were fairing. Andy said he'd eventually had one by 1:30 but not bigger than mine. Then just as I thought the prestigous trophy was in the bag ... Andy declared himself victorious with a 1lb 12oz fish..............denied !

We probably had over ten pounds of skimmers each, which was a little bit annoying to say the least. They would have been preventing the crucians getting to our baits in time. Still it was nice to know there are some crucians around. The lake could do with some of the skimmers being cut back a bit though, which I'm sure the carp lads would welcome judging by the couple of runs I saw one lad have, both were from skimmers.

Blenheim Palace... "It's a funny old game"

2011-09-25T02:08:00.003+01:00

Blenheim Palace - a grand view indeed

Friday morning and we were off to Blenheim Palace for Keith's 40th Birthday fish-in. The day started early at Jeff’s house with a cuppa and a bacon sarnie at four inthe morning! The car was quickly loaded and we headed off down the M40 towards Oxford.Obviously the only topic of conversation on the way down was of fish and all forms of fishing, so much so that we only went and missed the bloody turning off the M40 for the A34!
Luckily this didn't matter as the rest of the lads were a bit late too. Wefinally arrived at the gates about 6am and met up with Keith, Pete, Martin andDavid. Tackle and bait was hastily loaded onto the boats, and walkie talkies handed outfor direct contact with each other during the day (great ploy Keith).

Jeff was first to man the oars as we headed out onto a misty lake full ofoptimism. The others, being slightly quicker to organise themselves, meant we werelagging behind slightly but followed the other boats up towards the grandbridge.

Anchored up near to Keith and Pete’s boat, we began by fishing a light float for perchwith a sleeper rod out each for pike. Pike floats on and with baitrunners set sothat any run would be sounded by the clicking of the clutch alerting us to a taking fish. Keith duly caught his first pike of the day within minutes of usarriving. The fight was quite an amusing affair as the fish swam around the anchorchain, but Keith skilfully threaded his rod under the chain to untangle thefish landing it safely, and without further incident. He caught another smallerfish a little while later.

I'd love to say that plenty of bites were forthcoming for us too, but therewere no definite indications for hours that could be undeniably confirmed as afish. Jeff said he had a bite at one stage and I thought I did once too, butthey were hardly what you would call sail away, if they were bites at all? Jeff’spost covers the morning in more depth but suffice to say that in the grounds of sucha fine palace we pretty much royally blanked from 6:45am right through to about 3pm. Jeff's brace of crayfish later on the only catch madeon our intrepid vessel all morning.

"next bite and your mine"

got ya!

After a stint down the other end of the lake over lunch, where we were thouroughly entertainedby a grebe feeding small perch to her 3 adolescent chicks, we eventually came up with an inspired decision."Let's head back to the bridge and see if there are any more fish up there -the winds blowing up that end of the lake after all". This turned out tobe the best decision we made all day.

Back in position by the bridge I lobbed out a roach deadbait on the pikerod, and turned my attention to the float rod with a worm on a size 10 hook intended forperch or tench. I picked a position just a rods length out from the boat andbaited it with a few handfuls of casters and maggots. It wasn't too long beforemy first proper bite of the day happened; I struck it clean and felt a heavythud, thud, thud feeling as the fish hugged the bottom. I quickly made a grab forthe landing net for the first time in about 8 hours of fishing, but before Ireally had time to think about what was happening the fish had woken up and had shot off under my pike linetoward the middle of the lake. The clutch, being set a little too tight for 3lbline verses a strong fish (most probably a nice tench), meant the inevitable result- it quickly parted at the hook!

I tied a new hook on and got the float back in position checking the clutchagain, gutted that I may have lost the only real chance of the day. It was onlyminutes later though, that Jeff alerted me to the fact that the reel on my pikerod was starting to turn and rather quickly too, I struck and had a fish on! On my request, Jeffmoved my other rod to the back of the boat so it was out of my way, leaving me to play the hooked fish. A welcome 8lb pike was the result of the take,saving my day from the dreaded blank we had been expecting since the mornings results.

A minute or so after this photo was taken, one of those totallyunexpected events that can sometimes happen in fishing from time to time unfolded on ourboat. Remember I said Jeff had moved my other rod, well he shouted outsomething about my rod? I turned round to see the rod hooping over just asJeff was picking it up. "Feels like a tench" he said, the fish stilldeep and out of view. As it rose up through the surface layers I had a feelingit wasn’t, but I must leave it to Jeff to tell the rest of this part of thestory. A mad 10 minutes had just ensued to lift us out of the doldrums and hopeswere now high for more action.

I started to get more bites on the light float rod but I somehow kept missingthem, not that I was too worried as the pike rod did its best to keep me occupied when a ticking clutch indicatd it was off again. This time a gentler run which stopped after a second or two. With the float still moving across the surface of the water, and with rod already in hand line wound tight, I struck intothe second fish of the day. A short fight brought the fish closer to the boatwhere it surfaced in front of Keith and Pete. "Bloody hell it's a tench!"Keith blurted out...and he was right.

4lb 8oz (sardine lover)

This fish was hooked fair and square in the mouth where it must have beenmouthing the sardine tail at the cut end and picked up the trailing hook. It's the firsttench on a deadbait I've ever caught that's for sure. I don't think I'll beswapping from my traditional tench baits though; the nuisance pike might be a bit ofa problem!

Pete (left) and Keith

Keith and Pete joined us again after my news update on the walkie talkies, and had some nice fish, both landing tench, Keith with a 7lber and Petea new PB at 5lb 8oz. Keith also landed yet another Pike at 15lb.

It was approaching 6pm when my pike rod was suddenly away again on anothersardine tail. I hit the fish, and so began one of the most epic battles with afish I've ever had. This fish felt in a different class to any previous pike I'veever played before as it went off on several powerful runs, stripping line off the clutchat will. Now I'll freely admit that the clutch was set quite light, as I didn't want to risk ahook pull especially after losing that fish earlier on the float rod. The fishmanaged to take out some of the other lad’s lines during the fight. Jeff's pike rig was first on my righthand sideand was collected on my line dangling like washing. Then the fish surged across to the leftover towards Keith and Pete's boat taking out one of Pete's floats ( I think hemanaged to free it though somehow).

The water still being quite warm at this time of year meant the fish was quite energetic, displaying some exhilaratingtail walking, throwing the bait dramatically in front of Keith. Finally, it was in close toour boat but it wasn't happy, surging off on several more runs each time Itried to get its head up. I managed to get it towards the net that Jeff had waiting;the fish coming in on the surface like a large croc, gliding nicely over thecord. Jeff wasn't quite quick enough lifting it up though and the fish tail-walkedout of the net ever so slightly more pissed off by now! My knees started to knockI think, and I was just waiting for it to throw the hooks. Luck was on my sidethankfully, and as it came in again I guided it across the net cord again I shouted "lift, lift” to Jeff. Faultless this time he lifted the net up with precision,engulfing the largest pike I've ever seen in the flesh, and a hard wonprize was eventually mine.

After some speculation by the other lads the final weighing revealed my newPB of 18lb 10oz smashing my previous best by a cool 7lb. What a turnaround this day of two halves had been,and in the end was a very special one destined to live long into thememory I'm sure. Thanks to Keith for the idea of getting us all together and for the invite.

Martin & David plus "Blackie" the Antipodian Swan

Finally, commiserations must go out to Martin and David, who I know tried damn hard all day toget into the fish, but were just unlucky. At least they got to see the potential thatthis beautiful lake has to offer though.

Zeds again

2011-09-20T23:14:00.001+01:00

Here's the pic of a zed I caught last week on the Avon while fishing with Andy Lewis (piscatorial pastimes) . It was a funny old session with lots of weed snagging our lines at times. We both had our rods pointed skyward to try to avoid the weed, but this wasn't ideal for my bobbin approach, I still managed to get it to work somehow.

4lb 8oz

We both caught, Andy landing a new PB at 4lb 14oz and I had two fish, the four above and a small 2lber. Both my fish were taken on hair rigged baits the hooks holding in the bottom of the mouth right at the front, making unhooking a doddle. I'm liking this method so far, although there were a few missed takes the first time I used it, I put this down to takes from smaller fish ( that's what I tell myself anyway !)

Looking forward to the next zander session in a week or two, just the small matter of a trip to Blenheim Palace to get out the way first, and maybe another quick go for the crucians, that's if the wife lets me nip out for the morning this weekend.

Better late than never ...

2011-09-18T23:30:00.000+01:00

Crucian fishing is a summer sport I know, so leaving it till the leaves have started to turn was always going to be a little risky. This wasn't the plan earlier in the year of course, in fact I had trips to Marsh farm and other known crucian waters planned for this summer, but for some reason I haven't been able to get motivated enough to go for it until now.
The plan for this morning was to try a well known local lake where I've fished in the past for a morning stint bagging a few 2lbers and with an outside chance of something bigger. For the challenge I also need to catch a king carp of some kind, so a sleeper rod complete with pop up would have been lobbed out in hope of a nice bonus fish. Unfortunately when I arrived there was a match on, bugger !

So onto Plan B - head to a club ticket lake to fish for cru's of a smaller stamp, but they'd be crucians at least. After waisting over an hour driving round the Midlands I was finally set up and ready to fish for about 9:30am. Using a float rod and pin with one of my own crowquill float efforts ( they're actually rook quills), crude but as I found out, perfectly functional and sensitive enough for these shy biting scallys.

A swim on the deepest side of the pool along the dam wall was chosen, in a quiet corner next to an overhanging bush. A few balls of some old method mix I had knocking around in the shed with some added green betaine swim stim combined to make a nice seedy, crunchy ground bait that would get any fish in the area picking over the tasty morsels it contained, hopefully they'd home in on my hookbaits too.
A few roach and rudd, no more than bait size, were first to the table taking caster on the hook, which was pleasing as I knew the float was doing the job it was designed for. After a while though, I started to think that I would go home with out landing any crucians. I changed the size 16 hook for a small red drennan size 20 maggot hook and stuck on a red maggot. It wasn't long before I was hitting a sudden sharp bite, the float disappearing and the rod bending into a thumping fish that circled round and round in a familiar motion. Was it a tench, was it a crucian ? the first boil on the surface didn't give away its identity until a sudden flop on the surface as it gave up and I quickly slipped the net under my first buttery bar of gold of the summer.

1lb 5oz

A badly over exposed shot, rescued slightly by a bit of grey scalling !

After a little trouble with the scales during the weighing, the battery running out at a crucial moment, I swapped it for a spare and was able to give the fish a number. Shame it wasn't the prettiest crucian I've ever seen, with an old injury or deformed tail and a bit of a manky mouth !

A small tench came to the net next, one that also took a red maggot.

The sun finally came out about 12 noon and it was almost as good as a summers day, it didn't seem to affect the fishing as I managed four crucians in total and a few more roach and rudd.

It was interesting when the bites started to get more and more finicky as time wore on - as if they were learning that something was up. Changing the bait to corn or caster didn't help either as I could only hook any fish using red maggot. They did play about with other baits at times, but the bites were so miniscule it was near impossible to decearn them as bites. Proves the point that it's always a good idea to have a selection of baits to see what works best on the day.

The average stamp seems to be about a 1lb in this pool now with me landing three at a pound or more and just one under that mark. This is a nice improvement since I last fished for the crucians here about 3 years ago. Who knows, if they are still on an upward trend and keep packing on the weight they could be averaging 2lb plus in the coming years.

A mixture of fortunes

2011-09-09T23:44:00.000+01:00

Listening to the traffic report as I got in the car to leave work meant a quick change of plans had me heading down the A46 towards the River Avon at Stratford, instead of heading up to the Trent on the M1, that had now ground to a halt on the section where I would have been travelling along it.

The river looked low and clear, lower than my last visit a few weeks ago and the vast beds of weed could be seen clearly from my view crossing the foot bridge. The swim I fished last time was occupied with a couple of hapless noddys, all plastic bags and cheap folding chairs, but luckily the other swim I had in mind was free, so I set up there. Roach was the first target, so the feeder rod was quickly set up and cast in, bread on the hook and a crumb groundbait mix in the small cage feeder.

The action was pretty slack in fact I struggled to get any bites in the vastly reduced flow of the weir. The fish were there though, they were topping left, right and centre of me but they just couldn't be induced to take the bait. I switched over to a smaller hook to try maggot and redworm and this gave instant results from the shoals of small perch. Soon though I hit something that felt a bit better and I quite expected to see a 4lb bream rise up through the top layers and into my net. I was surprised and then quite pleased to see a small eel wiggling its way towards me instead. Just a shame it was one of the smallest eels I've ever caught, not many points for that ! I contemplated using it as bait for my zander fishing later but decided to do my bit for eel conservation and let it go back.

A whole 7oz of wriggly slime !

Darkness was now drawing in fast so I thought about getting the zander rods ready. I realised that I'd left the deadbaits in the car ! not to worry though as the noddys had now vacated the other swim where I thought I'd have a better chance at some zander. I packed up the tackle and made my way all the way back to the car, dumped the gear I didn't need to lighten the load on the way back, remembered to collect the deadbaits then headed back to the zander swim.

I set up the rests for my preferred long drop bobbin indicators and cast the rods in both together. Just as I was just settling the second bobbin the first rod was away already. The rod hooped round into a satisfying fish and I was into my first river zander. The fish was hooked right in the front of its mouth, the whole rudd engulfed down its throat, thanks to the suggestion from merv to try hair rigged baits - it works, and no deep hooking!

4lb 10oz

After the first fish it was a hectic next half hour that saw me miss the next take on the second rod, then I connected to what I thought was another small zed. It was only when I peeled back the folds of the net that I realised this second fish was very spotty and brown, my first ever brown trout was banked. Not by conventional methods I know but it still counts to me. Shame it's not worth any challenge points though, maybe we should include all the game fish next time eh!

1lb 11oz Brown Trout

That was the last of my fish for the night, apart from one more aborted run that didn't hook up. I think the hair was too long on the second rod, the hook just a little too far from the bait to be as effective - note to self, check length of hair next time.

Your time is never wasted...

2011-09-08T01:35:00.000+01:00

I'm aware that some of us bloggers have been slowing down with the frequency of our posts lately. I don't know whether it's down to us all struggling or just that were running out of fresh ideas and interesting stuff to write about ? I've still been fishing here and there but admittedly haven't had much to report, a few more canal zeds, a roach and chub from the avon, and some more failed attempts at sea fishing have kept me busy over the recent weeks through August and into this current month.

Chub

Roach

Micro Zed !

On the subject of canal zeds, I've been wondering about the effects of the fish culling that BW have carried out during their electrofishing campaigns in recent years on stretches of the midlands canals. If they are taking out numbers of the larger zander and also pike to appease the match anglers then this may explain the numbers of small zeds that we encounter on these systems.
I just wonder if they were to leave nature alone to do her thing there might be less of these smaller zander, as their numbers would be kept in check by these larger fish, giving a chance for the smaller roach, gudgeon and other small canal species numbers to recover?

On to the Sea Fishing in Lincolnshire...

Blow lugg territory

lets pump it !

I also spent some time on the Lincolnshire coast trying in vain to catch firstly smoothhound, then when I couldn't get any peeler crabs I fished for anything that would take my bait. The bait in question now being freshly dug lugg worm. Well I say dug I actually bought a bait pump and used that to pump out some blow lugg on the low tide, with some limited success. The locals round these parts all seem to pump for worms, but as I learned they go for the larger Black lugg that will only appear on the lowest tides of the cycle and will bury themselves in vertical holes. This is where the pump comes in, the pump is placed over the black lugg cast and the worm sucked out of its lair before it knows what's happening.

blow lugg cast and blow hole

The blow lugg however lives in shallower tunnels that loop round in a U shape from cast to blow hole, so the most effective method is to dig them out with a fork to avoid breaking them. I didn't have a fork with me only a kids plastic beach spade and after some considerable effort I failed to find any worms with it. So, instead I tried angling the pump at 45 deg to the hole to try to get some worms out intact. I as able to extract a few as well, enough for the session and without ripping too many to pieces.

it's a fish delacacy round these parts

This was not the right tide for black lugg so the blow luggs were the only option I had anyway. I 'd bought my bait pump from a local man who also happens to sell frozen baits to the tackle shops and anyone who managed to find out abot him. His frozen baits would always be my back up option, but I was determined to find my own bait. He told me how to go about it and where to find the beds of black lugg ( on the right tide). Alhough this didn't help me on this visit, I am all set for my next visit in the Autumn when the bass and codling will be in, along with hordes of whiting. Shame there were no fish about during my 4 days there ! Appently there had been little caught for the past weekor so. And it was also noticable by the lack of other anglers on all the popular marks - which says it all really.

One thing I realised whilst spending most of my available fishing time (early mornings) hunting for bait rather than fishing, is that despite blanking during this trip, time is never wasted especially while your learning about new styles and techniques of fishing and even new bait gathering methods. In fact lugg worm digging could be a pastime in it's own right !

A few summer Zander sessions...

2011-08-13T13:10:00.008+01:00

Since the last post I've been out a few times and although I've caught fish, there has been nothing too exciting to report. I'm also finding it difficult keeping a focus on the challenge points. I still have a few species to attempt yet which should not be a problem in catching them but I'm strugling to get motivated for them. I'm also conscious that time's slipping away for a some of the summer species especially eels and catfish also crucians and big rudd. I will have to get my act together if I'm going to try to claw a few more points back on the board.

I'm still itching to catch a river zander and my recent attempts on the trent have been fruitless although I did seem to have a fish pick up the bait on my last river session. Winding down to feel for the fish, I felt nothing! This is an area of the river where they are more of a rumour than a fact, and hence not exactly prolific, so I shall probably try some more likely areas as we head towards the Autumn to give myself a fighting chance at least.

I have also been trotting for roach and bleak, which kept me occupied for a couple of hours building up a fresh stock of deadbaits and quietly hoping for a bigger sample of roach - although one never came I was really enjoying trotting a line in the upper layers of a deep 10 ft stretch just before dusk, watching fish topping all around and competing for my regular introduction of casters. Some of the roach I saw were certainly pushing the pound mark, however I could only manage a string of their smaller brethren like this one above. There were some monster bleak too.

A specimen bleak?

Friday 12 Aug 2011

A canal side Damsel fly

Having not caught a zed for a while I popped down the Birmingham Fazeley canal for some easy gratification. I found some moored boats in my first choice of swim and from my position near the bow end of the furthest boat, I was still able to cast to the far bank trees where there would certainly be some zander lurking,

My home made bobbins are set to sit just on the waters surface to help stop them swaying in the wind, I find it so much easier watching two of these together, rather than two floats along the far bank. I can get straight onto the bites, sometimes setting the hook as the bobbin is still rising towards the rod blank. With a float set up I have had more deep hooking issues than with this method, although it is very important to keep a taught line when using a ledger rig so that the take is registered straight away. The bobbin doesn't always rise up very far, in fact any movement can be a taking fish. It's harder to explain than to see in real life, but you soon learn to tell the difference between a gust of wind moving them and movement by a fish. The bobbin may only jerk or vibrate which in my experience will be a fish picking up the bait. You should treat it as a take and don't wait for it to develop further, but wind down and feel for the fish then strike it. If the bobbin is moved by the wind it will just sway from side to side and settle back to it's starting position. Of course on most takes the bobbin will rise straight up to the rod confidenltly, making these pretty unmissable.

I usually give it no more than half an hour before moving to the next area as the fish will generally take the bait within 10 minutes or so if they are there or in feeding mode. It was soon time to move on so I decided to head for the next patch of trees about a 100 yards down the tow path. Gathering up my gear, as I pulled in the second rod I noticed that the roach dead bait had some tell tale slash marks in its flank. Oh well at least I could come back and try here later if I had no success further down.

The rods were straight out in the second swim, it took literally 10 minutes before the left hand rod was away the bobbin dancing a jittery dance towards the rod. I hooked into a solid feeling fish, zander tend to have about 30 seconds of strong fight in em before giving up and surfacing before reverting to some hectic head shaking in an attempt to shed the hook. Sometimes it works too - as I found out when this one shed the hook as I drew it towards the net !

about 2lb or so

I soon had another take on the same rod in the same spot, again this one shed the hook. It was third time lucky before I got one in, although it fought harder than the previous two even taking a little line before I netted it. I checked the single hook which was still sharp the fish being hooked clean in the scissors, so I was happy to re bait and cast back out to the spot.

I had fish number two on the bank shortly after, the biggest of the night but still only about the 3lb bracket. It was interesting that all the fish came from a small gap at the end of the trees, any cast made by the other rod was ignored. This might be explained by the theory about these fish packing into a tight shoals all huddled together. A cast made anywhere else nearby, and you would think there were no zander to be found !

bigger at about 3lb

The final take of the night came about 11 o'clock from the same spot again, this fish slipped the hook again, such is the fate of a zander angler sometimes. I don't like to use trebles as they just make life too difficult especially with these smaller canal fish. You could argue that I would land more fish with them maybe, but when I started out zander fishing a few seasons back I still lost fish on trebles anyway, and got in some right old trouble with deep hooking and trebles getting caught up in the net. You get none of that problem with a single hook. There must be the perfect single hook out there for my style of fishing I'm sure, one that will never lose me a fish, but as yet I haven't found it. For now I will have to hope my luck holds out if I ever hook into that monster zed I'm waiting for !

The Bloggers meet on the Avon

2011-08-02T23:23:00.004+01:00

Saturday 30th July

After a hectic morning cramming all the last minute bits in the car, I finally dropped off my kids at Mom and Dads and headed to Harvington's Anchor Meadow to meet up with the other midlands bloggers.

I finally arrived about 3pm and after a little hiccup in finding the campsite I eventually met Steve and Gary setting up their camp. I ditched the car and headed to the river to find the rest of the bloggers already fishing with a few reports of small barbel and chub landed so far.

Not long after I'd arrived Andy managed to catch a 6lb Pike then followed it up shortly after with this nice 12lber.

and the winner of the biggest fish is ...

I set up my tent....well it set itself up really. I'd bought a new argos pop up job, which sprang out of the bag and was all ready to peg down. Well worth the £20 and very snug too, but I think 2 man is stretching it a bit though, more like one & a half man, but being a short arse I fitted it a treat.

"compact and bijou"

The fishing was pretty slow for all and I found it hard to get motivated once the cans of beer were flowing, in fact I was just as happy chinwagging with the others rather than wet a line. My plan was to fish for Barbel and zander from evening so after a few hours I'd just caught a few bleak ready for the zed fishing later.

Keith, who'd arrived a little while after me suggested that we venture across the weir to the pub, so off came the shoes and socks and we waded across.
In the pub the landlord was not the most welcoming of sorts, and after two quick pints laced with strong hints to basically just go away from the owner, we left him to ponder his pretentious and no doubt overpriced menus whilst waiting for his empty covers to be filled ( lol), .. what a tosser.

Jeff prepares to join Keith and Martin for some extreme fish spotting !

We crossed back over the weir to find that Joe Chatterton had turned up too. After we'd all introduced ourselves, I decided to head off to get ready for the evenings fishing.

I fished a barbel and a zed rod but the only action after an hour was this small bream.

After a while I headed back over to Danny and Andy's camp on the point of the island so I could get some food cooked. David was in the next swim and had a nice BBQ going, he kindly let me use it to rustle up a sausage sandwich as I'd managed to bring an empty gas bottle for my stove .. doh! After eating and more drinking I never made it back to my swim, in fact my fishing for the weekend finished there. I ended up sinking a few more cans and chatting with the lads before heading to my tent about 1:00 am (I think?)

I woke about 6:00 and headed back over to the lads but never managed to get the rods back out. It was soon time for breakfast so I pooled my resources together with Danny and Andy who cooked up a breakfast fit for a king on their cookers, washed down with plenty of tea. Sometime during the morning Dave caught a little Barbel, the only one I saw all weekend, then we all slowly started packing up and heading home except of course for Jeff whose better half was meeting up with him to stay for a few more days.

It was a great weekend, not for all the fish caught of course but certainly for the craic and the chance to meet up with all the lads. I'll look forward to the next one, and maybe I'll even get some fishing done as well ?

Back of the net ...

2011-07-23T19:41:00.009+01:00

I've decided to try and fish a different river each week over the last few sessions. It makes things a bit more interesting and stops you getting in a rut. I'm only getting out on a Friday evening at the moment, so I've been visiting areas that I know already, but trying to fish new swims to discover their potential.

Last nights trip, I headed to the Trent to fish for barbel and zander, one rod out for each. Two swims were baited up with caster and hemp just a slight chuck out off the margin shelf into probably 6ft of water and the zander rod was cast to an overhanging tree to my right up stream a few feet.

The bites started straight away and I soon had a small skimmer bream heading in to the bank. As it broke surface near the margin, a largish pike, maybe a low double, shot out from virtually under my feet and tried to snatch it. I quickly whipped it out the way but it fell off the hook onto the bank and slid back into the water. It sat on its side for a second or two then swam away into some marginal reeds where it was duly snaffled by the waiting pike, a shower of scales in the water the last I saw of it. I contemplated fishing for the pike with a wobbled dead bait but decided to leave the dead bait out in case any zander did turn up.

On the barbel rod, I swapped to pellet on the hook as I didn't want to bring about another skimmer slaughter by continuing with the casters. The pellets were soon getting the chub and roach excited, but they were either not able to engulf the bait and hook or were especially cute and trying to free the pellet from the hair? I struck a couple of these lighting jabs on the tip, but none connected to any fish.

The rain had been falling lightly on and off all evening but it was not uncomfortable, the brolly was up but I was just as happy sitting away from it near the rods by the waters edge. Darkness eventually fell, and I had just recast the pellet rod after changing the pellet as I normally do after around 20 minutes to be sure that there's a decent bait on the hook, wafting it flavours into the current. I was contemplating packing up and heading home when the rod suddenly wrapped round, alarm and baitrunner screaming off.

I hooked into a strong fish that continued to power off on the clutch downstream under the overhanging branches of a nearby tree. I lowered the rod to the surface with it hooped right round and pumped the fish back up stream towards me. The fish played ball pretty well and was soon on the surface. When I first glimpsed it I wasn't sure if it was in fact a good chub, because the length of it seemed smaller than that of a barbel. It was actually just a very short but fat fish, kind of the front half of a double all big head and barrel belly, but the tail half of a mere 5 pounder, - weird. The fish attempted to slip the hook with a few more power lunges in the margin, then was safely in the back of the net.

After a quick photo and a visit in the sling, this last gasp cheeky 9lber was slipped back into the dark depths of the upper trent.

The zander were only noticeable by there absence !

9lb 11oz

I headed for home just as the rain started to turn torrential !

That's barbel from three different rivers so far this season, not bad going for me.

Taming some Teme tiger cubs

2011-07-16T13:43:00.006+01:00

All day at work I had debated whether to head back to the Dove to try to up my barbel tally from that river, or to trek south again to the Teme for a better chance of netting a few rather than fishing for just one or two bites on the dove. I chose the latter and headed to Worcester again.

It was forecast for rain about 7pm and shortly after arriving on the bank it started raining right on cue. I baited two swims about 400 yrds apart with casters, hemp and a sprinkle of micro pellets. Back at swim one I swung the feeder and braid hooklink into position and waited for some action.

4lb of power

It didn't take long before the tip started twitching until it eventually pulled round enough for a strike. A powerful fish took off downstream but was soon brought up stream to the deeper pool out in front of me. After several lunges from the fish it was eventually netted. I'd forgotten how powerfully these teme fish can fight, it was only small at about 4lb, but fought like a fish far larger.

And this a safer peg !

To swim two next, and the same tactics were employed. This time the first fish was a small chublet that snaffled the casters. Darkness was just decending now and the second patch of rain forcast began to fall (first time I've know the BBC weather to be so accurate !). I swapped the hooklink over from caster to pellet and lowered the rig into the swim again, just a rods length out. The tip pulled round after no more than 5 or 6 mins and another hard fighting fish was on. I stopped it heading under the tree I was fishing against and soon had it netted but not without a struggle, the rod hooping round alarmingly at one point, it was real hit and hold. Another smallish fish at 6lb 8oz that still gave a solid fight. Both were certainly more of a test than last weeks fish that was more than twice the size !

Back at swim one I got some more taps and plucks that were probably just chub, but no more fish.
The baiting plan seemed to have worked OK but in hindsight I should have found a couple of swims closer together. Not always easy on the teme though as the banks are treacherous when wet, so I'd chosen two swims that were as safe as possible to get in and out of especially once it was dark. I didn't get as many fish as I'd wanted really but at least I didn't blank either.

You might have noticed my photos have a strange fog in the centre of the picture. This is the result of a moisture smear left inside the lense after the camera was dropped in the drink a little while ago and then dried out on the radiator. I am now looking at new cameras so I can get back to achieving some decent pictures again. I think the focusing has been affected too, especially at low light levels. So unfortunalty my Canon is no longer able to produce the quality I want. That new float rod will have to wait a little bit longer !

Back on the Dove with a bang...

2011-07-09T01:56:00.149+01:00

I visited the dove for only my second visit to a river this season. It's been pretty difficult to get out recently, what with family life seeming to block every attempt I made to plan a trip. Family must always come first of course, so I am left to bide my time just waiting for the opportunity to arrive.

My plan for this short evening session was to fish hemp and caster in the hope of getting a few barbel feeding confidently early on well before dark, then maybe switch to pellet later on. I got to the areas I wanted to fish and baited up a couple of swims with a few droppers in three locations quite close to each other, so I could rotate easily without having to move my kit around too much.

I had to rescue my kit from a herd of young bullocks at one stage, just as I finished baiting the final area a bit further downstream. I started fishing here while I waited for them to move on. Now I'm not generally scared of cows too much, growing up in countryside and working on a dairy farm one summer as a teenager, I am well used to them, but I'm not an idiot either so I treat them with the caution the deserve. One angler against 20 + cows getting a bit lively, there's only one place your going to escape and that's in the river ! not a scenario I wish to experience thanks. A chap I met in the car park wandered up checking out swims, we chatted about the weather the river conditions and the cows and I pointed out where I had baited just to test his response. Luckily for me he was a respectful sort and wandered off back down stream to leave me to it.

I made my first cast near to the tree on the far bank that I'd just baited up, but my rig fell a little short of the baited area, I left it anyway to see what would happen. Shortly though, I looked up to see the cows had moved on so I quickly made way back there where I hoped the other two baited swims would be drawing in the fish by now. Predominantly though If anyone did come up to fish this length of the river I wanted to be here rather than the second swim.

A small feeder was filled with more hemp and caster and then positioned into a nice crease upstream in the mid river. It didn't take too long before the tip dropped back, I struck and hit a fish. It headed downstream but was stopped and turned quickly. I was convinced it was a chub, but rather than a big wide, white lipped gob, a pointed snout surfaced with barbels on it instead. The fish flopped into the net and I'd caught this little chap ..

A small Dove scamp at 2lb

There's been a few small barbel showing in the dove so far this season which is a good sign, and I was really pleased to have landed it despite its small size. It saved me from the expected blank anyway.

I continued with the caster rod for a while, alternating between the two baited areas. I eventually put out my pellet rod into the upstream swim as well. The mini pellets leaking from the feeder obviously attracted attention quickly as the tip started pulling round a little, eventually making me air strike a good strong pluck. As darkness enveloped around me I pulled in the caster rod that had been dormant since landing the small one.

I wondered if the pellets would work for me this time and was thinking about moving the rod to the second baited area when I noticed the tip pull round a few inches in a steady manner, it stopped then carried on again. By now the rod was in my hand and hooping over, and this was result !

A new PB 13lb 8oz

The fight was pretty slow and steady, the fish only pulling line off the clutch for a few seconds at one point, but I gained the upper hand quite quickly and soon with a bit of grunt from the rod it was safely over the rim. I wasn't sure how big it was until I tried to lift the net ! Wow, I knew it was a double at least, but then carrying it to the mat I thought my PB had might even have fallen. The scales pulled round and revealed their result, a seasons ambition was achieved in my first dove session of the summer. This is my biggest ever fish, one that weighs more than both of my children's birth weights put together. If I don't manage to catch anymore barbel from the dove this season I will still class it as a good one (it can be hard on the dove you know !). However despite this daunting prospect, this result just goes to prove that it only takes one good cast and one bite from one good fish and your fortunes can change in a second.

Back she goes

First foray for a while

2011-07-02T15:25:00.008+01:00

Wed evening, straight after work saw me heading down three motorways to a medium sized midlands river that holds lots of barbel and is situated in the Worcester region. I haven't been back down here since the floods of 2007, so it was nice to be back on its steep and precarious banks once again.

I decided to start in a known fish holding area near to some fast flowing water. Using just the one rod today I cast in with a bunch of mini pellets glued to hair and waited for the tip to pull round. Not long after I saw a movement in the fast water flowing along the far bank of the pool I was fishing. I soon realised that it was a huge dog otter that did a sort of butterfly swim upstream through the fast broken water, It was the first one I've seen clearly in broad daylight and was quite and awesome beast. I always have mixed feelings seeing them and it does worry me about the sustainability of our fish stocks, but its also a privilege to witness one of these animals naturally in the wild doing what it should be doing.

I had a few short taps on the tip so wasn't too concerned that the fish were spooked, well at least the chub were feeding it seemed. I did an air strike to one of these stronger taps so pulled in to re bait. As I was attaching the next made up hook length, I heard a squeak and looked up to see another otter no more than a rods length away, a female this time, we looked at each other eye to eye for a second or two then she casually rolled and dived back under, emerging a safer distance away upstream towards the head of the pool. She swam on her back studying me with some amused contemplation, I squeaked at her by sucking through my pursed lips which made her ears prick up and her eyes lighten. Then as suddenly as she appeared she seemed to snap to remembering her instincts, then rolled over and back under the surface disappearing again. I quickly pulled out the camera phone to film but by now she had decided I'd been more than privileged by her presence and so my encounter was over.

I decided it wasn't a brilliant area to be fishing here, if there were at least two adult otters fishing the same pool, so I moved down stream to another spot. Here, I was just checking the scene to make sure I was happy to cast in when a barbel of about 8lb leapt clear of the water three times, in what I can only guess was some kind of spawning ritual or even evading action from some unseen subsurface predator. I didn't see any giveaway otter diving bubbles so I'm not sure really why it was leaping out like that, but barbel are prone to odd behavior aren't they?

The swim was snag city both to left and right but I knew if I could at least keep them away from the snags and out in the middle or far bank it would be fine. At least I knew there were fish here so I cast in a soft oily pellet and waited. It wasn't long before the tip pulled down and my strike was met with a fish pulling back on the end. It was not the usual powerful steam train run and screaming clutch that I was expecting however, more like a bang then a quick fizzle and so when a spirited 2lb chub was netted it was no surprise.

Snags to the left ! Snags to the right !

about 2lb of chub

That was the only fish of the evening and by darkness I had moved again to try the last swim of the evening. I clambered down the bank and stood studying the water deciding on where my cast should go and then spooked yet another Otter !

This one dived and swam away across the river, I thought I might be waisting my time again and as I couldn't see where the snags were in the now pitch darkness, I decided to call it quits and come back on another day when I would have more time to bait the swims in daylight before fishing them in rotation. Hopefully the otters will have spread thenselves out a bit more too !

More tales and some tench...

2011-06-17T01:01:00.004+01:00

I've fished a couple of times since my last post but had nothing really significant to report, well except for my attempt on a new stretch of canal for zander. I spent most of the session watching carp bubbling all around me even under my rods whilst I was blanking for the zeds!! Then last Sunday morning getting caught out during the rain, I landed a 5lb bream and whilst dealing with the fish, watched my chair get blown over by a gust of wind and my trusty camera that was sat on the chair roll off and straight into the lake. Unlike Jeff and his phone saga, I did manage to save it but it isn't really working now. I fear the cost to repair it might not be worth the expense, so I expect I will be looking for a new one soon instead of a new float rod or some reels ! I've had to resort to using either my phone camera or an old 2 mega pixel job, so you'll have to excuse any grainy looking shots for now.

Possibly the last shot ever from my trusty cannon A650IS

The reason behind the cameras demise !

Yesterday however, I decided to give the tench lake another go for an after work session, after a short rest from it recently. By 7:00pm I had the bait spodded out and the maggot feeders cast in position, all I could do now was sit back and hope the fish would play ball. Thankfully it didn't take long to find out as one of the rods ripped off on a vicious take, the rod hooped round on the strike and I was finally into a tench again. The fish fought well for its size but was soon safely landed.

A lovely little 4lb honeydew tench, a colour of tench I've only ever seen in this lake.

The next fish came shortly after on the other rod, nicely christening my new (old style) fox micron alarm. Slightly larger than the first it was still a way off this years target of 8lb.

practicing my anglers serious face !

The new hook patterns and increase to the hooklength I'd made recently seemed to be doing the trick, with both runs connecting without a problem so far. The third run then convinced me further still, I hope I've solved the problem of dropped takes that I've been experiencing this year ?

Fish number three took off down the lake to my left taking line off the clutch, leaving me worried it would head under the overhanging trees and snag me. I tightened the clutch up and got it under control again, it came in as good as gold now and I soon had it scooped up in the net. This one looked a better stamp, a nice fat ball of a fish that looked ready to go pop any day now. At 6lb 6oz she is a years best and helped notch a few more points on the board for me.

That would be my last fish of the evening, but not the end of the action.....

As darkness drew in I started to get some stuttery bream takes but they just wouldn't connect for some reason? A few of these takes were struck at and a few left to develop but none resulted in any fish. I ended up swapping over to corn on both rods but this didn't change the results as they still managed to avoid capture. As far as I know my line was as flat as possible, being kept slack and with flying backleads on. I can only put it down to a problem with the hook and rig mechanics, either that or all the takes were line bites ? I doubt it's the latter and think it's the former that was at fault here though. I will have to have a tweek with the rig and see if I can resolve this one on my next opportunity. The rigs were all working fine on the other bream pool I've been fishing, so it's a bit of a mystery.

As I write the new season has already begun, and I know the draw of running water will soon take me away from these lovely fish again for a while. There's my first river zander to catch, or maybe a river carp and not forgetting the obvious barbel, chub and grayling of course. Bring it on ! but I still hope to stick at it with the lake's beautiful tincas and bream at least a few more times though the summer.

Bream pool magic

2011-06-05T01:25:00.004+01:00

I headed out this evening to have a go on a small quiet pool that hold a number of bream and tench. It's a pool that I've fished in the past but not seriously for bream or tench for a while as the draw of bigger and better sized specimens in venues elsewhere have colluded to keep me away. However it is still one of the loveliest natural pools that I know of, and today was no exception. With the pool to myself again I selected the most comfortable swim and took in the view.

The first fish came quickly to the worm rig, and was weighed at 4lb 8oz, then returned straight away.

4lb 8oz

Soon a steady stream of fish hit the net one after another, mostly to worm with only two to the corn rig. I had taken my keep net in case I decided to fish for rudd if the feeders were not active. I had no chance of even getting the margin pole out of the rod bag, let alone set it up. The keep net came in handy as I didn't have time to mess about weighing fish or photographing them as they were landed, so in the net they went to be sorted later.

As daylight was starting to fade quickly due to some incoming cloud, I decided to take the fish out for a group photo before it got too dark, they must have been getting a bit crowded in the keep net anyway.

5lb 13oz

After the fish were returned I went on to net another one that was the largest of the evening, it came minutes after losing another fish to a hook pull, this fish actually fought back and I was convinced it was a tench until it did the old fosby flop on the surface as it came within a couple of rod lengths of me and then was safely scooped up in my net. These last two takes (again on worm) were both viscous rips more akin to tench takes, they almost shocked me compared to the previous diddly little bobbin dances from the earlier fish. After landing this larger 6lb fish I wondered if the bigger fish were now coming on the feed as darkness closed in?

6lb 10oz

I packed up just before it got fully dark though because I wasn't really equiped to stay out any longer (no food, drink or shelter) and some rather ominous clouds had gathered overhead threatening a downpour. I'd had my fill really anyway, but it would have been nice to have been able to carry on to see if any of the bigger girls would come out. Not sure what the upper limit is but I've heard they go bigger than the fish I landed. Not a bad little session though with over 37lb of fish, maybe I'll try it again soon.

On that canal again...!

2011-06-04T00:14:00.006+01:00

Jeff on a mission

I'd threatened Jeff that I'd stop by on the way home after work one evening to have a go at plundering his hard found silver bream swims. Luckily Jeff was more than generous and hospitable in accommodating me in my pursuit of a new pb, and so at 6pm we were heading down the towpath to find the swims and talk tactics. Jeff put me in the 'most consistent' swim and he started fishing a few yards up from me. After looking through my float selection I opted to set up the rod with one that had 'far bank canal waggler' written on it and was lurking unused and unloved at the bottom of my box. Well I was aiming to fish the far bank on a canal after all, so it seemed a good choice to me !

First cast with a flake of bread on, the float settled then sailed under instantly resulting in this old stalwart of a roach weighing in at a reasonable 13oz. A new years best and an increase of 8 oz to my challenge score.

Unfortunately that was to be my one and only bite all evening. I tried sticking it out in the same swim but I must have either over fed with bread mash or had spooked the shoal away up the canal into Jeff's swim !

Jeff fared better after losing a couple of bream whilst chatting to a passing native, he managed to land a nice male tench in another swim to my right that he'd pre baited when we arrived.

I carried on hoping the silver bream might come on the feed in my swim as dusk drew in, but it was not to be. The towpath behind me was busy all evening what with with bike riders, joggers and then Jeff traipsing up and down swim hopping till he'd managed about three bream and two male tincas to my one solitary roach.

Ah well there's always next time ..!

Two bites of the cherry....

2011-06-01T23:56:00.055+01:00

My Tench campaign has pretty much stalled at the moment, well it's ground to a halt really with just a couple of blank session to report of late. I decided a quick change was needed, so after work and visiting my parents was completed, I made it to the canal and set up the rods in time for a quick Zed session, with only an hour left till darkness fell.

With the rods both out fishing half roach each on the far shelf, I was expecting some quick action but nothing had happened after the first half an hour. I started to leapfrog the rods up the canal along some reeds on the opposite side. I settled one rod in a gap between the reeds and was concentrating my gaze on the float rod about 10 feet further along, when the bobbin on the ledger rod suddenly sprang to life, a steady take resulting in a strong and somewhat weighty fish pulling back.
As is often the case, the fish rolled on the surface quickly, but then headed back down and hugged the bottom. From the glimpse I got of her it seemed a good fish and I could feel it heading for the cover of an overhanging bush. I tried to steer it away but the the hook pulled and the fish was off, arghh. !

Now in my limited experience with zander, you can often get another take from the same fish if you get the bait back in position quickly, which is exactly what happened. Within minutes the bobbin rose up again in a steady jerking movement. I wound down into the fish then pulled the hook home hard, I felt a familiar solid weight again, then suddenly the fish was up on the surface again and I was slipping the net under her.

At 5lb 2oz its not a massive fish by any stretch of the imagination, but for the canal it's not a bad one and it's my second largest to date. In fact the fish looked spawned out and felt pretty flat around the belly, so it could have been nearer six earlier in the year.

With the river season imminent, I can't wait to get out there to try some river spots for a bigger and better stamp of zeds.

Unlucky for some....

2011-05-14T09:59:00.010+01:00

....Not for me this time however, when I fished an after work evening session on Friday the 13th.

The tench lake was empty on arrival, due probably to the sporadic showers that were falling intermittently. With the fall in temperature I was a bit concerned that the fish might be off the feed. Keith and Danny had been down the day before and I'd not heard any news, so I presumed they'd not fared well?

I chose to fish the same swim as last time, predictable maybe, but I have unfinished business there now after the fish I lost last time. Also the snag has been removed so I hoped I'd have more chance of landing any hooked fish. The rods were still clipped up so I just had to get the bait spodded out and get fishing. As I was setting the bobbin on the first rod, it ripped up to the blank signalling an indication, then settled back down again. This wasn't just the rig settling but definite signs of fish. I raced to get the other rod set up and in the water.

Half an hour later the second rod ripped off after a few single bleeps minutes before. The fish came in quick to the right hand bank under an overhanging tree. I tussled with the fish to keep it from snagging on any trailing branches, feeling a sickening grinding on the line for a second. Luckily it came through and was in front of me in 6 ft of water off the marginal shelf. I thrust the net out and drew the fish up and in first time.

5lb 9oz

I had to wait two hours for the next fish, but with a dropped take and a few indications in between to keep me hopeful it was worth the wait. This second fish came in to the right again and headed for the same tree, it was a bit more powerful and threatened to head for any snags that might lurk near the bank. I had to drop the rod tip down into the water and heave the fish out. Thankfully this worked and again the fish was out in front of me, but I still had quite a tussle as it did a couple of powerful dives to try and break for freedom. The clutch took the strain and the fish finally succumbed and was netted.

another stunner hits the mat..

6lb

I spoke to Keith soon after and whilst chatting to him the same rod was away again, but it was another dropped take, the strike only meeting with the weight of the feeder and not a powerful tench ! I wondered if this might be a problem with my rig set up? I read an interesting article in C.A.T. where Dan Williams talks about the same problem, putting it down to the use of short hook links. His observation is that the feeder will swing about near the head sometmes causing the hook to pull free when playing the fish. My problem is with dropped takes so I'm not sure what was happening for me, as the hooks were coming back sharp and the bait was pushed far enough back on the hook to not be a hindrance to achieving a good hold in mouth of the fish.

My links were 12lb ESP Ghost Fluoro as I wanted a reasonably stiff link to keep them from tangling on the helicopter rigs I had been using. However I had changed one rig over to my usual inline feeder so the need for the stifflink would be less important. I usually use amnesia on this set up which is more supple allowing more movement of the hook and allowing it to lift up easily off the feeder and into the fishes mouth. So I wonder if the use of a stiffer short link was preventing a good hook hold as the fish took the bait and belted off, the weight of the feeder might be dragging the hook back out at some critical pressure point during the run. I will be experimenting over the next few sessions to see if I can eradicate this problem, especially considering any of the fish that take my bait could easily be a possible new pb !

This week - some ups, some downs

2011-05-08T23:56:00.010+01:00

I returned to the tench lake this morning to pit my wits against the lakes residents again.

After setting up in a somewhat awkward swim, I spodded out a healthy bed of freshly cooked hemp, almost two pints of maggots and a few balls of groundbait laced with casters, corn and molasses.

With the table set I punched out the feeders, maggot aligner on the right, popped up corn on the left and sat back to contemplate what might be. I didn't have to wait long as the maggot rod was away within half an hour of casting in. After slipping on my arse on the way to the rod I managed to get back to my feet with rod in hand bending into a nice heavy lump that kited steadly to my left. The fish came in quickly but was reluctant to come up in the water. It hugged the bottom and felt nice and heavy. Soon it was close in and I reached for the net somewhere up the bank behind me, I stumbled around grabbing for it.

With the net now in my left hand, I was readying myself to claim the prize. Giving the fish some side strain I got it up on the surface, a huge golden flank emerged, looking every inch a PB shaker if not breaker of somewhere between 7 and 8lb I would estimate. Suddenly it lunged down hard and fast as they tend to do, but stupidly I'd forgotten to check my clutch and it was set way to tight. The rod hooped over as the fish plowed down to make a break for it - the hook pinged free and the fish was lost. I was just ever so slightly gutted as the realisation of what had just happened sank in.

The next take resulted in another hard fighting tench, this time the clutch was good and the fish was played in carefully, after a tussle trying to get it off the deck it was finally on the surface. This was a big male, very dark and lumpy, I was ready with the net, the fish not yet ready to be netted headed for a snag to my right, I'd almost stopped it but it managed to reach some thin wispy top twigs from a sunken tree branch. Somehow the hook was transferred from the fish to the twig and another fish was gone. Arrrgh.

I was pretty deflated by now and thought I'd surely lost my chance of any fish. But after a couple of hours of moping and cursing my luck, I was suddenly fighting another tench and this time it was actually drawn all the way over the rim of the net for once. But before I had time to think, the other rod was away and I was now faced with the problem of how to get a second fish in with one already in the net. I somehow scooped the second fish in without the first escaping. I'd quickly gone from losing two fish, to havng two in the same net in what was a very hectic couple of minutes.

A brace of average females......

These were both females of similar size, I weighed the biggest at 5lb the other was a good four I'd say. The next feeding spell came about half an hour later, when the next shoal came through my swim and brought two males to my net, again both at the same time.

.... the males to match

My morning session was up soon after and it was time to pack up and go home. There were still some indications happening on the rods, so maybe there would have been a few more fish, who knows?
I can't wait to get back on the lake for an evening session during the week.

Biggest Male at 4lb 5oz

Earlier this week....

For my first session of the week, I fished a new water to try for some crucians. After checking out the likely swims I picked one and started setting up the float rod. I pulled out the centrepin as I'd been waiting for an opportune moment to put it to use. Unfortunately I'd left 6lb line on it, hardly light tactics conducive to crucian fishing. Luckily my margin pole saved the day, so i attached a made up rig and fished as close in as I could. After a few hours I ended up with a small net full of roach bream and hybrids, no crucians but it was a pleasant enough session all the same in nice surroundings, I vowed to return in a months time when there would more chance of them feeding consistently.

Back on the tinca trail ...

2011-05-01T21:21:00.006+01:00

After a few weeks without much fishing time, I managed to get back out on the bank this morning.
So back to the tench lake it was to try and net my first of the year.

I arrived at about 6:30am with the weather sunny but cool in the strong easterly wind, making it a bit uncomfortable in my position tucked in the shade.

Bites were hard to come by, but I managed to induce a take late on in the morning resulting in this very welcome 5lber. The fish was pretty flat spawn wise, but I would expect they will be mooching around looking for suitable protein rich food to fuel their egg production by now. So they should pack on more weight in the coming weeks.

5lb 4oz - not much spawn yet.

I packed up around lunch time after one more dropped take, both that and the landed fish coming on lob tails. The maggot and particle rod didn't produce, except for a few bleeps that I put down to wind action or maybe even undertow on the first few feet of line off the rod tip. I always try to make sure my lines are pinned down as much as possible to avoid annoying liners. That way the alarm only bleeps to a taking fish (well sometimes).

I'm not sure the lakes fully awake yet and I suspect there's been a bit of a false dawn with the high pressure and warm temperatures so far this spring. The night time temperatures are still down to low singles so it might be a week or two before good multiple catches are likely. The tench in this lake are always late in emerging from their winter hibernation, so there's plenty of time yet, in fact this is the earliest in the year I've ever caught a tench from it so far, although I know others have had fish here and there during April. I think it'll switch on pretty soon though, and then it's a race to fill your boots and beat the weed growth before the best swims become a pain to fish.

April so far...

2011-04-16T11:43:00.005+01:00

Due to one thing or another (new job & family holiday) I've only managed to get out a couple of times since my last post. I float fished caster and corn on a small pool one Sunday morning to see if the numerous tench in there were active yet, but only caught roach.

Then last night I rushed from work to get to the Tench lake I usually fish to have my first session of the spring on there. By the time I got back home to collect my tackle, changed and headed down to the lake it was already 6:45pm. Some of the lads that fished last year were there too, so after a bit of a social chat I finally got to my swim just after 7pm. This didn't give me much time, still I was there now and as the fish do tend to come on the feed in the last hour of light on this lake, I hastily got the rods out into the water. There was not much action in my swim and apart from two line bites on one rod there were no takers. I stayed on till about 9:30pm as it was a cloudy mild evening and I was hoping one of the big slabs might put in an appearance after dark.

It was one of those sessions where your not really feeling into it, probably because I was in too much of a rush. I couldn't take my time to search the swim with the marker rod and build it up with careful baiting, so it was chuck it and chance it affair really. As it turned out the session was more useful to me in blowing the cobwebs off. I just needed to re-accustom myself of all the small intricacies that are involved in this style of fishing. What with using critically balanced baits, marker floats, clipping up the line etc etc.. Now that my mind has had a chance to re connect myself with the lake and how I want to fish it this year, I can get better prepared for my next session. I think it's a little too early for the full on - fill it in particle bait & spod approach yet, so I might experiment with pva sticks and with my usual maggot feeder over the next few sessions, and see how they compare against each other.

Being only mid April it's still pretty early for the Tench on this lake, in fact I don't think I've yet caught one this early in the year from here. So it was encouraging to hear that there have been a handful of reasonable fish out already this month to some of the other lads, and a few nice bream too.

I can't wait to get the chance for a proper session on there now.

Finding the time for a canal carp...

2011-03-26T00:22:00.005Z

greeted by the setting sun.

One evening about 8 years ago whilst walking along the canal at Fazeley, I happened to spot what I thought must be a good carp create a bow wave on the surface near to a mooring. At the very next opportunity I was back with rod and line to try for that fish. I never did catch it or anything near its size, but I did manage to land a small (baby) one on my first attempt, which I was more than chuffed with for my first go, and it proved conclusively that there were some carp around.

My only canal carp to date (circa 2003) - I haven't really tried that hard to catch another yet though...

Since that time I’ve been nagged by an urge to fit in some time trying to land myself a decent carp from the canal. With this in mind and along with the recent mild spell we have been having, I had a couple of attempts this past week.

Nothing to report as yet (except for a few small bream) I just hope I can keep the focus going until I land one of these enigmatic wild canal fish, that is before the call of other spring species takes my attention away again.
.

This is the largest of the bream I caught tonight at 2lb 11oz. It might have edged more towards the dizzy heights of three pounds if it wasn't for the nasty chunk gauged out of its side !

Down the Anker ...

2011-03-13T14:06:00.004Z

I headed to the Anker again this morning for what will probably be the last session on the rivers this season, unless I can get a pass out for a few hours after work tomorrow.
I've enjoyed trotting a float down this stretch so decided to have one more go in case I managed a nice chub or roach etc.. for the challenge.

After a slow start I ended up with a few perch to 1lb 4oz and some gudgeon, missed a probable chub bite on the sleeper rod too. The roach were not interested at all today, maybe the rain put them off ?

Still, not a bad mornings fishing despite the rain.

The best of the perch

Perch and Pike bonanza

2011-03-06T19:47:00.024Z

After the session on Wednesday last week, I couldn't resist the chance to try for another Dove perch.

On Sunday morning 6:45 am sharp I arrived on the bank ready to fish, the float rod set up with my pin. I quickly droppered plenty of chopped worm in the spot before I did anything else, then set the floats depth and got myself into position. First cast, and after a few minutes the float had disappeared. I hit a solid weight that slowly and surely plowed its way around the swim and out into the middle of the river. I knew a pike was the likely suspect and so it proved when this 6lb jack hit the net. The mono had held firm, the hook nicely in the top lip towards the scissors.

First cast 6lb 4oz

After dealing with the pike I was soon back in position, but had no expectations of any more fish. Before long though, the float bobbed again moving purposefully across the water and sank away, my strike met with another solid weight that did a jag, jag dance under the surface - perch ! It wasn't long before a stripey football of a fish rolled on the top then sank back down again. After an uneventful fight I had the fish under control and quickly in the net. When I lifted the net up the thought crossed my mind that it might even be a three ! Sure enough the scales confirmed it, and in the space of five days another PB was bettered. I'd only been fishing for half an hour.

Second cast 3lb 3oz - new PB

The wind had now picked up making casting a problem with the float and centrepin (I need more practice). I knew a light ledger would make things easier so changed the rig over for a simple two swan shot link and a braid hooklink.
Next cast and this double figure pike picked up the juicy lob worm, my biggest pike from the river. The braid was completely intact despite the the fish being hooked fairly deep. (Of course I don't recommend it for pike fishing though) With the hook safely removed the fish was photographed and returned.

3rd fish 10lb 4oz

I then proceeded to catch the remaining perch, one of which I thought would make it a brace of threes, but this second largest of the fish fell a bit short at 2lb 8oz.

I noticed an unusual thing when playing one of the smaller fish in the way it's colours were extremely bold and vivid during the fight, but less so after landing. It was as if it was flashing a warning at me, in the way a marlin glows bright, almost neon colours when ripping through shoals of fish. (unless I imagined it of course)

Final perch tally - 3.3lb, 2.8lb, 1.8lb & 1.5lb

Soon enough it was time to go, but if I could have stayed I think the fish would have fed all day long.
Just an unbelievable experience really, I don't get many opportunities like this - a red letter day indeed.

The brace !

- all the fish taken on worms, hand picked out the garden.

A long time coming ....

2011-03-02T23:07:00.025Z

With the River season drawing to a close in less than two weeks, I've been trying to make the best decision on the day as to where to fish. The draw of other venues is strong but I am trying to remain focused on the rivers till they close. With this in mind it was a toss up between the Avon for another go at the roach and maybe a barbel, or head to the Dove to have another go at landing a nice winter grayling, and maybe a perch if I could find them ?

I mixed up some sweetcorn and ground bait mash to feed the swim then trotted through it to see if the grayling would oblige. I know where they can be found so I wasn't worried about the location. Finding them is one thing but would they play ball.

The short answer is no they didn't, I tried a few swims, ran maggots and corn through at different depths - tripping the bottom, holding back but nothing showed any interest. I decided that at 4:30pm I would call it a day and head to a perch swim I know of. But before I did, I tried dropping a worm into a small slack/eddie that I'd just discovered. This didn't produce any signs and after only a few minutes I abandoned it but made a mental note for future. I was too eager to get to the spot up stream where there would be a better chance, I hoped.

At the perch swim it was still as I remembered from two years ago when I first spotted some big perch here and I soon had a dropper load of chopped worm in position, hopefully drawing the fish from under the small snag downstream. My simple rig consisted if a link ledger with two swan shot and a juicy fat worm hooked through the head, cast into the slack. I positioned the rod on the rest and waited for an indication. First the tip trembled a bit, then small bites started to come but were short, sharp taps and pretty un-hittable. I wondered if these were from small fish pecking at the worm?
Soon one tap became a stronger pull and I hit it, but the rig just flew toward me minus the worm. This happened a couple more times, but I was still encouraged that at least the fish were not being spooked by the activity. After missing about four of these bites, the worm deftly robbed each time, I started to wish I had set up a float instead, thinking this would have given me a better chance of connecting up with them.

I decided to try just half a worm instead, hooked through the cut end. I cast it into the spot and waited. A couple walking their dog caught my attention on the far bank, the woman was wearing a bright red coat that contrasted drastically against the green background of the fields, which must have broken my intense concentration and my attention, ( it's funny what makes you look away from the tip !). Snapping my mind back to the task at hand, I looked back to the tip just in time to see it pull down enough for a strike, again I hit the take and the rod hooped round.

I assumed it would be a jack pike from the resistance I felt, and then a fish surfaced. In that split second I didn't see it clearly enough to confirm, but then I started to feel a familiar jag, jag, jag sensation. "This ain't no pike" I thought. The fish pulled hard for the bottom but I drew it up to the surface again. The perch was big, I could see that, but I wasn't allowing any panic to set in yet.
Meanwhile the dog walkers had stopped to watch... great an audience, no pressure then !! The fish came up again and the net was ready, I drew it closer "don't come off, please " I repeated in my head, gradually she neared the edge then flopped over the rim into the net, and was mine.

I showed it to the spectators across the river, to get rid of them really so I could concentrate on sorting it out and allow myself a small whoop of joy !

The fish was weighed and managed to go 2lb 12 oz on the scales, despite me willing them round to the magic three, it just wouldn't quite reach that far. Of course I am still over the moon, and a new PB was finally realised displayed in vivid colours in my hands.

Here's a few indulgent pictures (well it is a new PB after all, and one I've been trying to break for a good while)

Just another little one....

2011-02-28T12:56:00.007Z

Not much to report on this week really, I fished a small river for chub earlier in the week and despite a couple of tentative taps the fish just didn't pull the tip round.

I then proceeded to come down with a heavy cold and chest infection (not quite full blown man flu but it was touch and go !) so the rest of the week was spent indoors mainly.

I did manage to attend my graduation ceremony at Symphony Hall in Brum which was a nice day out for me and the family, if not a bit surreal. It was a bit like being on the set of the latest Harry Potter at Hogwarts, what with all the pomp and ceremony.

Birmingham's Mayor meets me

Then yesterday, after an afternoon spent decorating (hence the paint on my fingers), I decided to fish the canal arriving just before last light. I planned to fish for perch on one rod and zander or pike on other. The perch set up didn't start too well, as I managed to forget the rod rests so had to lie the rod on some dead reed stems. Meanwhile I set up a zander float rig and fished that out in the marina. A juicy lobworm was cast out on the perch rod to the edge of the shadow cast from a small pedestrian bridge across the marina.

After a while I noticed the tip pull round on the worm rod, and when I struck into a fish, it didn't feel too bad. Unfortunately not the nice pound plus perch I'd hoped for, but a foul hooked zander of less than a pound !

As full darkness fell and with no takes on the zander float, I moved swims to the Pike spot I've been successful in recently. As I was busy re-arranging my tackle, I heard the distant rumble of a barge engine down the canal, surely that can't be one on the move can it? However, sure enough the boat came chugging up the canal towards me in the pitch black darkness. He had no lights on, which I realised was either because it's illegal to travel the canal at night ? or to allow him to see with his own natural night vision rather than use a headlight? Anyway, as the vessel passed me I was more surprised to see that he was actually towing another barge behind !! I thought to myself "you must be even madder than me, out here in the dark".

I had a small zed of 1.4lb first cast, then strangely missed a couple of bites later on, and that was it for another week.

Currently on the score board and Mr Hatts week was just ever so slightly better again, (you do know it's not the Drennan cup don't you ! ). I notice that Keith is still managing to sneak his nose into the lead, despite Jeff's haul of recent specimens, which gives an insight into how these percentages will play out once we all get some more species, especially now the spring is coming. There's still 10 months left to go for us stragglers to catch up, so who knows what results will be revealed by the end ? Right now I'd just be glad to get in the top 10 for the moment !

Pike removal from OUR canals

2011-02-25T01:06:00.006Z

Picture Source / 2010 / Trev Grant / http://www.flickr.com/photos/10096171@N04/4446019752/

This may be old news to some of you ? but it seems the BW are at it again and Pike are also a target.

They have been electro fishing the B'ham & Fazeley Canal to remove numbers of pike. Their only reason appears to be to appease the match anglers on this stretch, who are complaining about pike snaffling the roach and gudgeon on the way to the net. The fish have been allegedly killed and sold on to market.
I find it sad and despicable that BW are allowed to do this on our midlands canal network. It's common knowledge that they do the same with the Carp that are then used to stock other commercials like their Blythe waters in Knowle. Small Zeds are also culled periodically by BW and sold to market, the larger ones (doubles) sold on to the likes of Bury hill for stocking in their now famous zander lake.

This is a canal I know well, fishing it since boyhood and feel it shows no respect firstly for the fish themselves or secondly the anglers that like to fish for them.

Just Shocking !!

Picture Source / 2010 / Trev Grant / http://www.flickr.com/photos/10096171@N04/4446019752/

F.Y.I

here's the links to some current petitions

http://www.petition.co.uk/stop-the-removal-of-pike-from-our-canals

http://www.petition.co.uk/to-stop-the-de-stocking-of-carp-in-uk-canals

I don't know what good it will do? but it's nice to voice your opinion.

Angling for Roach.....

2011-02-17T22:32:00.010Z

I picked up Jeff Hatt (Idlers Quest) around 12 noon and we headed off to the Warks Avon to plunder the roach stocks that he's found there. Due to the fast approaching end of the season lay off on the rivers, I rightly or wrongly decided to "hedge my bets" by taking nearly all the tackle I own with me to cover all eventualities. This is never really a good idea I know, and so it proved when I got loaded up at the car ready to walk to my swim !

Somehow, I didn't collapse with over exertion, and made it to the chosen swims with my small mountain of rods, reels and bags of bait and tackle. Jeff headed off to fish his banker swim and left me to explore a similar looking area. He told me where he had landed a solitary roach from previously and left me to find the shoal.

I set up two rods initially, but quickly realised one rod would be the only way to detect bites with any chance of hitting them. I soon began systematically searching areas of the water in front of me to find any signs of fish.

Soon into the session, no more than say an hour, Jeff popped over to see how I was getting on, he seemed surprised that I'd had no bites to his 3 fish ! I felt the same but for the opposite reasons. After Jeff went back to build up his tally leaving me with more tips on locating the fish, I was left gripped by a desperate need to catch something and save myself from a blank and certain embarrassment.

Still struggling a while later, having only spotted a solitary tremble on the tip once, I headed down to see what Jeff was doing right that I wasn't. Jeff had landed about five or six fish by now and showed me the stamp I could expect in his keep net. They were all pushing a pound or just over and I was quietly astonished at such a collection of prime Avon roach. As I stood there, he was getting proper taps on the rod tip that were more akin to the chub taps and pulls I am well used to hitting. He confirmed the need to sit on your hands a bit and wait till you get that good pull on the tip that is an unmistakable take.

Now re-invigorated, I rushed back to see if I could get a similar reaction going in my swim. Within minutes of trying I'd found the "dining table sized hotpspot" and the bites started coming, the only problem now was that unmissable though they were, I somehow managed to miss every one !!

I did eventually hook and land a fish and punched both hands in the air to signal to Jeff, but then as I checked the net, joy quickly turned to slight despair as I realised that my roach had a distinct look of the Abramis brama about it ! You bounder - I said, or something similar, trust me to land a bloody hybrid. Nice little fish though it was, it was not going to get me any points on the score board.

I soldiered on, missing more and more bites, until I decided enough was enough so moved further upstream in an attempt to get a better angle on the line at the point where the fish were biting. This was because of the strong flow coming from across the river towards me on the near bank at quite a pace. I was fishing against this crease upstream in the slacker water and therefore any bites would effectively become drop backs. I don't claim to fully understand the mechanics of it, but I think this was causing me to strike against a slack line even though the tip was being pulled forwards in the usual way, by fish that can be notoriously finicky to hit at the best of times. Once I'd moved 20 yards upstream, I recast to the spot and waited for the pull down on the tip. When it came soon after, I hit it and connected instantly with a nice little roach of about 5oz.

Spot the difference

Great I thought, I've got it sussed now, the angle on the fish is in my favour. Unfortunately that was to be the last of the bites. I tried back at my original position to make sure I was hitting the right area but the feeding spell had finished. The light levels had now started to fall and I guess the roach were retreating to safety to avoid the marauding predators that would be emerging from the cover of shadows to savage any stragglers left out and exposed. I headed over to photograph Jeff's fish for him and to witness the total haul of nine prime fish including an equal Points challenge Roach best of 1lb 6oz. Those fish were pretty damn breathtaking to behold (to me anyway).

As the roach had now definitely gone to bed, I set up a zander and a barbel rod to try to maximise the session. Jeff did the same except for barbel only and was soon into a fish, but I'll leave that story for him to tell. Me, I couldn't really get into it as I was just mesmorised by those roach I'd seen. I'll be back for another crack at them before the close season that's for sure.

Stick-ing with it...

2011-02-11T01:28:00.011Z

Thur 10th Feb
2:30pm - 5:30pm
Ave Temp - 8c
Pressure - Steady, with slight fall 1009 hPa
Cloudy - Light Drizzle

I managed another short session down on the River Anker again. Fishing till about 5:30pm, I managed a nice little net of roach, gudgeon and a solitary chub.

Trotting a 5BB stick in about 10ft of water down the same run as last time, I was soon getting bites and started catching fish straight away. They were only small roach in the 2 - 3 ounce bracket so nothing to trouble the scoreboard, but is was nice to just be out catching a fish a chuck for once.

As the session progressed I put a sleeper rod out with cheesepaste on for the chub, then later after no interest and as the light started to fade, changed to worm in the hope of anything really, but a good sized Perch was the target.
As dusk drew more towards darkness, I tried a piece of flake and caught this 3.4lb chub first run through. It had a face that reminded me of the parrot fish you see in warm coral seas. Unfortunately that was the last of the fish and it was soon too dark to see the float well enough.

A face only a mother could love (oi the chub not me ! )

On the last few run through I looked up to see the tip on the sleeper rod tap forward a little, but I was too busy on the trotting rod to react. When the rod was brought in the worm had lost a good 80% of its length ! Damn.

An enjoyable few hours really. I don't do this kind of fishing nearly enough and playing that chub on light tackle reminded me of how I started off years ago fishing all day on small commercials for anything that came along, catching all kinds of species from roach, chub, crucians, tench and carp. There's a special feeling to be had when you get a good fish on just 2lb bottom, knowing you've had to work to coax it to the net.

Finally back in business....

2011-02-07T01:15:00.031Z

A beautifully marked double

After a shaky start to my Sunday afternoon session which had me changing plans at the last minute, I finally got off the mark for 2011. These last four weeks have been some of the toughest I've known since I got back into my fishing a few years ago. You know the drought will end eventually, but the wait can be excruciating at times.

Since Saturday lunch time and after checking the forecasts for the next 48 hours again, I decided to head to the Trent to fish for roach and dace, also with a Pike rod out until it got dark. Then because its been so mild for a number of days, I would switch over to barbel on one rod and leave a paternostered roach on a starlight float out for zander.
When I arrived at the river however, I found it running like chocolate and surging through with at least a foot or so on, plus the wind was still at gale force level in the Derby area. I didn't fancy my chances apart from maybe the barbel and then only if I could keep a lead down on the deck. What with the way my luck's been recently, I decided it was better to cut and run and head back to the River Anker, which I had noticed looked in fine form on my way up the A42 travelling towards the Trent.

At the Anker - I set up the centrepin on my float rod with a 5BB stick, the pike rod went out to a marginal bush on my right up stream. The centrepin was again a challenge especially in the gusty wind but I still managed to get a bite almost straight away. Soon enough I'd caught my first roach, so small I thought it was a minnow at first. This was followed by more micro roach and then the odd ' bigger' sample up to 2oz, that amazingly I managed to weigh for the 'bloggers' percentage record weight challenge. I had to smile when I 'hauled' this ruffe in, and on the pin too. (Keith - I don't know what it is mate, I just attract em ? )

"Taking the ruffe with the smooth "

Darkness fell all too quickly, but I wasn't ready to go home yet. So, with a few fresh baits in the keepnet that I could use, I headed for the nearby Cov Canal to try for some zeds.
The swim I had planned to fish was occupied ! but it was one of the local lads I met down here at the end of the summer ( funny how you don't mind when it's someone you know, but you feel peeved if it's a stranger). We caught up on each others fishing news, then I headed to the next spot along the canal about 70 yards up. First cast on the float produced a small zed that must have sat chewing the bait for a while as I hadn't even noticed a dip register on the float. The fish was weighed but only managed to scrape a mere 9 ounces on my scales. I hoped I wouldn't have to put that score on the board !

The other rod was set up ledger style with a bobbin to alert me to any takes, unfortunately there was nothing for the bobbin to do all evening ! Back on the float rod however, I was getting some movement from the float as it danced the telltale bobbing along dance, I wound down to strike but pulled out of the fish. This happened about 2 more times within only a few minutes between bites, until on strike three I felt the rod hoop over nicely. The fish came in towards me but hugged the bottom, the way only a large weighty fish can do. I thought if this is a zed it could be the magic double? but at the same time I realised that the familiar head shaking that zeds usually give was not there. From the feel of the fight I decided it would most likely be the other candidate - a pike. Sure enough a spotty green flank glided up through the water in the light from my head torch. The fish took off on another powerful run before finally being subdued and brought over the net cord. The duel single hook rig did the business, hooking the fish nicely in the edge of the upper mouth near the scissor on the bottom hook, I didn't even need forceps to remove it.

11lb 10oz canal pike

It seems I have lost my weigh sling so had to weigh it in the net. The total was 13lb 4 oz with the net weighing 1lb 10oz, so by the power of my vast mathematical acumen, I calculated it was 11lb 10oz and a new PB for me - by just 10 oz (OK, OK I did check it on a calculator too - just to be sure I'd converted the ounces correctly and wasn't diddling myself). This is the second pike I've caught at night and from virtually the same spot (it's not the same fish). It's also ironic that I always catch my pike PB's when I'm zedding ! (I suppose I could try catching zander whilst piking and see if that will bring a bigger stamp of zed !)

I landed another zander again on the float rod, this weighed in at exactly a pound. (weighed in the blue plastic bag) My scales have been checked against several avery scale brass bell weights in 4oz, 8oz , 1lb and 4lb and are pretty much bob on !

So I'm finally on the score board with a few species, the roach and zed are pretty pathetic percentages I know but it's a start at least, and a damn sight better than I had on the board this time last week.

Chuffed with the pike though - thanks go to Sean who was on hand to take the photos once again !

Session 3:30pm - 10pm
Ave temp 11c
Pressure steady 1015 hPa
Wind dir SSW 20km/h
Cloudy
Moon - made of cheese !

New pin - but same result

2011-02-02T00:46:00.005Z

Well another week and the blanking continues - I only managed to get about four hours over 2 sessions so you could say that's part of the reason although it could also be argued that you only need a minute in the right spot to catch a fish !

I received delivery of my first centre pin reel this week so just couldn't wait till the weekend to try it. With some time this afternoon free I managed to squeeze in a couple of hours on the dove to try it out trotting for a nice winter grayling.

After about an hour of frustrating casts, I'd just about managed to stop the terminal tackle tangling into patterns only explained by chaos theory ! I found the best method for me was to cast by grabbing line from between the first three eyes then side cast and release the line as normal. This was enough to get the float half way across the river to run along a nice crease down to where the fish could be seen occasionally showing on the surface.

After about ten minutes I even connected with a fish, only for it to shed the hook shortly after, as grayling are prone to do. That was to be the only take of the session, but I certainly didn't feel down, blank or not, I'd got to grips with the new pin and found it to be a joy to use. The casting still needs work but it's surprising how quickly you can adjust to a new style.

I also fished on the previous Sunday morning for a very quick session from dawn, before rushing home for 10:30am to take the kids swimming. I fished a small pool in the hope of one of the pike that inhabit it. There are a number of jacks but also some better fish to double figures in here, not that any were willing to put in an appearance.

waiting ... in vain

It's February now and the first signs of spring are appearing in the form of buds on the trees and bulbs like daffodil are sprouting, well on their way to flowering. The fish will be packing on some weight now in preparation for their spawning season, I just hope I can shake off my current run of blanks and quick so I can capitalise before the river season ends !

Positive thinking..?

2011-01-21T00:58:00.007Z

We're well into January now and the fishing so far this year has been crap to say the least. I have been out four times and blanked on each occasion. It's starting to feel like anyone who can catch a fish of any kind or any size must have some superior knowledge over me !

The weather has played its part of course but I think it's my watercraft that is letting me down. I have walked away from a couple of venues recently realising too late that I should have tried a better area or swim - the deeper water where the fish would probably be lying up perhaps?, or nearer to where the grebes are diving where the pike will be waiting to attack the roach ?

I'm also guilty of trying too hard possibly, which often only leads to inaccurate decision making and frustration. In contrast to this how many times have you just turned up without a care and landed on the fish instantly or gone with a simple gut instinct that has paid off. It can be very demoralising when you are in a run of blanks and you are convinced you've adopted the best tactics to suit the conditions and species etc. The thing to keep reminding yourself of is that a run of blanks will often be followed by a 'purple patch' of success.

I must admit though, I got so desperate today I even tried two venues, first was an uneventful lake piking session, then secondly onto the river for last light where I'd recently caught a 4lb chub on New Years Eve.
When an otter swam through the swim fifteen minutes in, I realised there wasn't going to be any points on the board for me again today!

Despite this realisation I felt quite privileged to have witnessed the otter swimming on the surface less than 10 feet from me, it was unaware of my presence until I switched on my head torch to get a better look. The creature gazed up at me for a moment, eyes glowing amber in my torchlight, before making a swimmers dive underneath the water on its way downstream towards my presented bait.

There were other pleasures whilst out today despite the lack of sport, I saw a male Bullfinch in a tree a few feet away ( first one I've ever seen in the flesh). It was also a beautiful sunny winters afternoon, and then there was a spectacular golden moon rise to complete my evening, something I don't get to witness too often.

Things keeping me occupied whilst I've been blanking.....
I've been testing some functions on my camera whilst waiting for a bite over the last couple of sessions, I'm no photographer by any stretch, but I do like to have a dabble with the functions on my jazzed up point n' click, here's some of the results.

close encounter !

Rush

Moonstreak

How Constable would have seen it ?

Could be a line from a song...?

Taken with manual functions on my canon powershot A650 IS ( Tv mode 15")

A reflection on 2010

2011-01-16T03:33:00.001Z

Now I just need to shake of my current run of blanks to get 2011 kickstarted !!

Starting slowly

2011-01-12T00:50:00.002Z

We’re already approaching half way into January and I haven’t caught a fish as yet, mind you I’ve only had two little sessions so far, 3 hours out for pike and 2 hours for chub and roach.

The pike session was on the River Anker during the morning it had decided to snow again. I arrived before the snow, but once it had started, decided that I would stick it out for an hour or two in the hope of a nice’ pike in the snow’ shot. It wasn’t to be though, and despite my best efforts, a margin rod out sporting a sardine and a roach or perch wobbled on the other, it just never really happened.

The only slight chance came and went without me even noticing it. A wobbled 5” roach had been side swiped by something on the first cast into a new swim. I didn’t feel a thing, the roach however came back nearly disembowelled, obviously something had had a go, the teeth marks missing both the hooks – typical.

There were plenty of predators to be seen while I was on the river; unfortunately they were of the avian kind. Over the three hours and in less than one mile of small river I spotted 4 cormorants, 2 pairs of goosander (one a male - green head), 1 white breasted juvenile cormorant, 1 great crested grebe, 1 kingfisher and a flock of tuffties. It’s little wonder that the fish were a bit edgy even the pike I don't doubt. Hopefully the lids will stay off the still waters for a while now to give the rivers a respite.

A quick session on another smaller river after chub and roach a few days later also drew a blank. Was this purely down to the river not being in the mood I pondered to my self during the session?

I’ve been trying to keep an eye on pressure systems lately and what affect they have on my results. On this occasion, checking Weather Undergrounds site, the pressure was rising steadily coupled with falling temperatures, was this the reason the fish were not interested this time- who knows?
I find I’m more bothered about the effects of sudden high pressure changes on the fish, than whether the moons in its first quarter or whatever (that’s just witchcraft to me !)

The only pressure I can feel at the moment is getting some points on the board in the Bloggers Record Weight Challenge.

Jeff’s already sprinting ahead leaving most of us standing, but I’m sure some of our blank cells will get filled in soon, especially with the milder weather due to set in from this week. I think it will certainly become interesting quite quickly once we all get going.

My last fish of 2010

2010-12-31T21:16:00.005Z

Went out to the small river for a last blast in 2010

not so frozen this time !

Fishing first for roach, I had a little success with link ledgered breadflake...

The roach swim

Roach about 7 oz

The bites soon became very finicky and impossible to hit - my Greys barbel rod is a bit too stiff even with the 2oz tip on - think I need to invest in a lighter rod for this sort of fishing.

Next onto the chub swim downstream...

Chub 4lb 11oz

and this fine chub obliged late on to my three season old cheesepaste (it stinks).

Happy New Year everyone - Roll on 2011

Reasons to be cheerful....1 2 3

2010-12-28T01:43:00.002Z

Venturing out on Boxing day to fish ....

1. The first river I visited was completely frozen over but I got some nice wintry pics.. ahh

2. River two (the Trent), and a blank fishing one rod for chub and one for pike. Forced to find a spot with less of the margin ice, I discovered a few new swims that look good for future visits.

Margins frozen with thick ice, over a rods length out

This sweeping reed lined slack drops to a nice depth, predator heaven ?

3. Today, and the snow is quite noticeably thawing, which although might scupper the rivers for a bit, the lakes and canals might just be fishable again while we wait for the snow melt to run out the rivers !

Just think in three months time it'll be spring ! (OK that's four but you get the gist)

More snow ...

2010-12-22T09:59:00.003Z

We finally got a proper dumping here this morning ..

I postponed my plans to go for a mornings chub fishing - I'll more likely be taking the kids out sledging instead !

a pond - somewhere?

Pond aerator - that doubles up as a handy kids golf putter !

6cm and it's still coming down.

Have a great Christmas !

In the snow ...

2010-12-20T00:15:00.006Z

I've had two short little sessions in the snow so far this winter, both have been blanks but it hasn't put me off trying again while the severe conditions persist.

Today's little trip out to the River Anker was with the intention of trotting for a few roach, but with a sleeper rod out in the deep margin for any pike that might be stirred from the bottom by an hors d'oeuvre of sardine or roach.
Most of the margin was covered in ice to more than a rods length out in places. Luckily I found a swim where there was good depth and cover to my left where it would be safe to land any decent fish hooked.

The ice froze in my rod rings and without any glycerin I was forced to try the grease from my face and nose to fend off the ice. Surprisingly it worked a little but soon the ice returned and the process had to be repeated again.

On the way home I stopped by at my parents where I managed to get a bottle of glycerin from mom, bless her, she said she'd had it years and couldn't think of when she would ever use it anyway. It was probably past its best for icing but would still be ideal a rod de-icer.

Just needs a 2lb Roach and this picture's complete !

As dusk started to draw in, I called it a day and headed back into the warm

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Victims of the ice...

Just a little mention in honour of my two koi that sadly died over the last week. The garden pond has been frozen over for a number of weeks now and this has coincided with my pump packing up just before the cold weather kicked in. Interestingly it's only the Koi that have been affected, the two commons and an orange ghostie are fine at the moment, as are the tench and all the goldfish. I have stepped up my efforts to aerate the water though by maintaining several holes at intervals throughout the day.

_________________________________________________________________

A cold and sobering morning on the Dove

Waiting in vein

I fished the Dove on the morning after our bloggers night out. After arriving about 8am I soon discovered I had forgotten my reel that I'd taken the trouble of reloading with new 3lb line, ready for trotting a float after grayling. Thankfully I'd bought a feeder set up which was cast out with maggots in earnest.

A pike rod was also cast out after a while into the slack opposite me and also down the margins, but neither rods produced any sign in the two hours I spent fishing.

Freezing ...

2010-11-28T20:14:00.003Z

I woke up at 6am this morning all ready to go out to the River Dove after some grayling, but on stepping outside and checking the temperature I decided -8deg C was a bit too much to be out for a mornings fishing. So having chickened out, I drank some of my flask of coffee and headed back to bed to snuggle back up against a nice warm wife.

Frozen river !

At about 3pm I headed out again to try a small local river for a nice winter chub, but this was not to be as most of the limited swims were frozen over on this fairly inaccessible stretch. I walked the whole area to seek out somewhere with enough running water to allow a cast, but in the end I decided against it as mostly all the accessible areas were frozen nearly all the way across, just being out and enjoying the frozen landscape was enough for me today.

When I returned to the car as darkness fell I checked the temp and found it was -8 deg C !
I hadn't felt cold at all and only my hands had suffered from the biting cold, gloves had soon revived them. I'm sure I would have easily coped with the cold this morning after all. Whether the fish would have been feeding is only left for me to wonder!

I had a trip out with Jeff earlier this week on the canal but drew another blank, I think we'd picked the first night of the rapid temperature drop so four rods over 3 hours failed to attract a single bite.

Timing it right

2010-11-21T12:28:00.010Z

I've been struggling for fish over the past few sessions, so I've not really bothered to report on them. I think it's just down to timing my sessions during a feeding spell, especially now the temperatures have dropped to low single figures and the first few frosts of the year have already happened. Choosing the right conditions are definitely more important at this time of year as the fish will feed for shorter periods at a time.

My latest session was this morning, and with an air temp around 3 deg I hoped this would not put off the fish. I started the morning hoping to catch some more baits from the nearby pool but I couldn't even get the roach to feed. I also had a float fished lobworm out for any perch that might be lurking next to the weed bed on the left. After an hour of complete in-action I gave up and moved back onto the canal to try for a morning zander.

That should be - " No Chance of Catching " in my case

Despite my best efforts it was a futile session ending with another blank. I tried all the known spots with no results, I just hope I can do better on my next trip out when I meet up with Jeff again.

These are all pretty reliable areas - but not today !

Even this mouthwatering roach kebab was not enough to entice !

My set up never really changes, in fact its pretty easy to catch zander if your location is correct. I think my conclusion over these past few sessions is that there's no real way of knowing if the fish will be feeding or not, it's ultimately a case of right place and right time.

A security incident and the missed feeding spell

2010-10-30T13:23:00.011+01:00

After leaving work about 5:15pm I was soon heading up the M1 towards the river Trent. With the radio on it was apparent there was an international security incident unfolding at East midlands airport, which is off the junction I was heading for! Sitting in the tailback on the motorway I noticed a convoy of both marked and unmarked police vehicles rushing past on the other carriage way, lights ablazing. I hoped I'd be able to get to the river before dark, as it turned out I didn't. The reports went on to say that a suspicious package had been taken away for scientific examination. I wonder what was in that convoy of vehicles I saw ?

I was fishing for both zander and barbel with a rod out for each, what with the recent mild conditions I figured I had a reasonable chance. A roach head was cast under a overhanging tree to my left in about 6 ft of water and a lump of meat was cast to a near middle crease just out of the main flow. To cut a long story short neither twitched nor moved for about three hours despite several bait changes on both.

I had a number of 4 or 5" roach left in the cool bag and wanted to make use of them so decided to cut my losses and head for the canal on the way home. Arriving about 10:00pm, I found parts of the canal covered in autumn leaves so decided to try a bait under a large raft of these first. One was was cast under the leaves, and the other to the shelf under a far bank tree. After 20 mins - nothing so I moved back down towards the marina stopping along the way to try the occasional likely spot.

I eventually ended up at the hot spot in the marina, but even here a take could not be enticed. The fish must be already past their evening feeding spell was my conclusion, as I have experienced this two or three times before. I think you have about three hours after dark then the fish seem to go off the feed. I'm not sure if they have another go during the night as I've never stayed out past about 11:30pm to try. I know there is another spell before and into dawn but again I have rarely tried at this time either. If I can get a pass out I might just forgo my extra hour in bed tomorrow (Sunday) due to the daylight saving ritual and try a dawn session for them.

On the way home the radio reported that President Obama had confirmed explosives had been found in packages loaded onto planes at East Mids, Dubai and at an Airport in the US !

A new area - a new PB

2010-10-23T01:14:00.025+01:00

I met up with Jeff for a zander session on his stretch of the Coventry Canal, so after a quick pint at the meeting point we decided to try a new area that he'd not fished before further up the canal towards Bedworth, I wasn't fussy as it was all new area to me.

I fished my usual sliding light lead and bobbins and Jeff was using his home made floats. My first rod had a two hook pennel rig, both singles, which soon produced a small fish of about a pound.

The other rod was fished with a half bait of rudd tail or head end on one of the Mustad ultimate bass hooks, I was eager to see if they would perform better than my pennel rigs which have so far been very hit and miss in terms of successful hook ups. Jeff has been using the bass hooks for a bit longer than me and has been having some good success with them and more importantly less deeply hooked fish (this is an aspect I'm most interested in, after a couple of deeply hooked fish lately on singles).

Meanwhile, back at the pennel rig, I hit a run that met with a solid force, the rig sprang back minus the bait though as the hooks had dissapointingly missed their target. I attached a fresh rudd and cast it back out near to the boat channel, more due to a fluffled cast than any other reason. The wind had picked up a bit by now and was gusting down the canal making the bobbins swing sideways pendulum fashion, they could really do with bit of putty or blu tac to make them heaver in this situation, thus aiding stability.

Shortly, I noticed the bobbin rising up again but in a more staccato fashion, I waited a second to make sure it was still moving before lifting the rod. It met the same solid resistance as before however this time the fish was on and on the move. It stayed deep and I could feel it was probably quite a decent fish. Jeff realising it might be a better one had picked up the net and after a bit of a tussle she was safely landed. My reward, this new PB, and a really solid, plump fish.

6lb 10oz

A short while later we decided to move up the canal back towards the pub as the bites had dried up a bit, Jeff was soon into a fish, landing one of around 2lb in this new spot. He managed another one slightly bigger after another move when the bites had dried up again, but my action was over for the night as it transpired. Not that I was bothered, it was good just chewing the cud with Jeff about all things fishy and for me to go home with an new PB was totally unexpected.

One of Jeffs fish

Night time on the canal

2010-10-14T14:11:00.003+01:00

I fished with my Dad for the first time in ages, he's not an angler but he'd kept saying he would come down with me on my next canal visit, as it's not far from his house.

After casting in the first rod I told Dad to keep an eye on the bobbin while I sorted out the second rod. He was mesmerised by the little glowing stick and warned me of every slight movement. I quickly pointed out that he would know if there was a fish taking line as you couldn't mistake it !

Soon both rods were in and fishing, and we both sat back to wait for the action to start. The blue bobbin was first to show signs but only for a dropped run. Shortly after and the red was away with a fish between one or two pounds.

Red was to be the leading rod tonight with the another fish of 2lb 11oz taken that fought well above it's weight. The blue rod finished the session with another small zed around 9 pm, Dad acting as ghillie to expertly net the fish and swing it onto the bank.

It was time for Dad to go after this last fish, but I stuck it out for another 45 mins, the fish however were not interested in any more of my baits by now.

Best of the night

Pike and bait session

2010-10-10T23:49:00.009+01:00

The bait freezer was running decidedly low on contents, so I headed down to a pool that I know contains lots of Rudd and Roach to stock up. The morning was overcast at first and a cool breeze was blowing into my face, I was glad I had a jumper and fleece on.

I used a margin pole for ease and started getting bites soon after starting. The first fish was a 4" Roach followed quickly by another, then the Rudd started to make an appearance. I continued catching throughout the morning and soon built up a good number of fish to restock my deadbait supply.

I initially thought a Rudd/Roach ...eh?

There was a surprise when I landed this hybrid which for some reason I thought might be a Rudd /Roach at first, (I expected the anal fin to be longer in a bream/roach - i.e. more bream like) but then after studying Jeff's picture of a Bream/Roach, it's most definitely a "Broach" or a "Ream" - (make your own mind up on that one).

I had also brought a Pike rod along so decided to set it up and cast it to an area in my periphery vision, so I could continue with the pole but have the pike float just a half glance away. There was a sunken weed bed to my right so I cast in front of this with a fresh caught Rudd live bait to roam around in front of the weed.

The Rudd and Roach continued to come on the pole, but soon the Pike float had started to stir too, it bobbed and moved off , I wound down and pulled into the fish. The first Jack Pike was landed and after a quick snap was taken it was returned.

Jack one

I put on another livebait and cast it back to the same area, it was soon away again with another fish a twin of the first. After returning this second fish I decided to try a sprat deadbait to see if they would spark any interest.

Jack two ..... Like peas in a pod

Meanwhile on the margin pole the bites had dried up a bit, I had been fishing up in the water and getting consistent bites, but now it was clear the fish had dropped lower down now that the sun had burned the clouds away and was glaring down onto the water, and into my face. I adjusted the float and caught a few more fish from the bottom, but not as consistently as before.

The sprat was being ignored so I wound it in and packed up the Pike rod to concentrate on getting a few more baits before it was time to go home to get mower out and cut the lawn (whoo hoo, domestic chores ).

On a lake in Autumn

2010-10-07T23:55:00.007+01:00

After catching a new Pike pb while Zander fishing recently, I was keen to try my luck on a local lake to see if I could catch one by design. The day had been fine but now cloud was just gathering across the sky to blanket the previously bright sunlight. Ideal conditions I thought, the baits were cast in on float rigs and the lake was scanned for activity from any diving birds or topping fish.

A shoal of fry erupted from the surface a few feet in front of a marginal tree, some unseen  marauder terrifying them en mass (a perch perhaps or jack pike ?). The floats remained still, aside from the occasional drift when the depth was not set for the bottom. Various baits were tried but nothing could raise the interest of my intended target.  Perversely the cyprinids were completely on the feed, rolling Bream occasionally seen in a corner of the eye, and bubbles fizzing on the shelf of a nearby bar 40 yards out.  Scenes witnessed rarely when I'm fishing for them, funny that !

Eventually darkness fell and the lines were reeled in, baits thrown to the waiting ducks and decisions made about where to head for part two of the evenings predator session. The Coventry or Fazeley Canal ?  The Fazeley just edging it as the drive was shorter and I had plans on a new swim.

The rest of the evening was pretty uneventful, culminating in one take which happened just at the point I'd decided to take a leak ! The fish was taking line well, so that even the baitrunner had started to kick in as I got to the rod. I disengaged and lifted expecting to feel a force of some kind but there was none, the pair of single hooks missing their target yet again.   I wondered if I still had any sea hooks at home, being that little bit larger they may be better for presenting sections of or even whole baits without the point being masked or compromised in any way? Seems Jeff had already tried with some good results.

That was to be the evenings only take and soon a text from the wife tempted me home with news of fresh homemade pizza in the oven.

Two canals for two fish

2010-09-29T01:04:00.010+01:00

I ventured out to the Trent & Mersey Canal to try and locate some of it's Zander. The result was inconclusive as I failed to find any fish in the stretch I tried, although there are Zander in the canal. There was quite alot of slimy weed around on the bottom, so I wonder if it put them off this area as it looked perfect otherwise with lots of overhanging vegetation. Either that or they just were not interested in my offerings ?

Lots of cover but where are the Zander?

I packed up early and headed back to the Coventry Canal instead to get my Zander fix for the week.

I landed two fish in a short 2 hour spell, the first an emaciated fish that I reckon would have been a good four or five pounds had it not had such an empty concaved belly. Not sure what was wrong with it but I got the feeling it was on its last legs, it seemed very listless, maybe just an old fish? As it was, it only weighed 2lb 8oz being in such a sorry state.

Only 2lb 8oz but a long fish

The second fish was a nice 3 pounder that fought well taking a perch head on a single hook rig. In between fish I had a few dropped takes that I put down to hook up issues. I'm not sure if it was the new traces I'd tied over the weekend or the fact I was using single hooks but I must have dropped four or five runs, one small fish dropping off at the net. Last week I only had one fish spit the bait, but to get four or five drop off is a bit worrying.

3lb

Fishing from 9 pm the bites dried up at about 11 pm, this was probably the end of the evenings feeding spell as I tried moving the baits around to pick up the shoal again but couldn't induce any further action.

Four in the hand .... ( or a few from the bush)

2010-09-21T23:46:00.022+01:00

After Fridays successful session, I couldn't wait to get back out to try for Zander again. This time I chose to fish a different Canal to see what it would throw up.

The Fazeley Canal is very familiar to me as it's the first canal I ever fished as a teenager back in the early 90's. I've had many enjoyable sessions here over the years but until today I'd never tried it for Zander or even knew if they were in this section.

The tactics would be the same as used on Friday and so I eagerly headed down the canal to a likely spot to set up but on the way down the tow path I noticed a stretch of overhanging bushes on the far side that just screamed Zeds. It was still fairly light but the shade of the branches created a nice length of dark water. If there were Zander about surely there would be some under these bushes. I decided to find out before going to my intended area near to the locks as the light values here would certainly be lower.

I set up the rods, the left rod with a single hook and a Roach tail, the right rod with two single hooks and a whole Roach. Both rods were cast to gaps at each end of the bushes. It only took about 10 - 15 mins before the first signs of action. This came from the left rod, the bobbin sailed up and a nice thump thump transmitted up the rod as I bent into the fish. The fish fought well and as it slipped over the net cord I thought "this could even be a new PB". On the scales it was just 3oz short but at 3.5 lb still the second biggest I've caught to date. This was a good sign, I might be onto a better stamp of fish here I hoped. The next fish came from the right rod and was near the 2lb mark I guess.

3lb 5oz

Fish two (not weighed)

After the second fish the bites dried up so I moved further down to the next set of bushes on the far bank. This is a spot I know very well as it used to be my favorite peg for Bream and Roach, I also had my Perch PB from here back in 2004. I hoped the area would be kind to me still, sure enough a few minutes later and the right rod was away again. I felt the fish on but it spat the bait out.

By the look of the teeth puncture marks on the roach it seemed like it had been taken side on as opposed to head or tail first. I re-adjusted the hooks in the bait and recast it to the same position again. The bobbin was soon gliding up to the rod blank again, this time the fish was well hooked and came in on the surface. As I got it towards the net it went berserk, luckily I had it safely in the folds of the net before it could shed the hooks. Whether this was the one I'd just lost I don't know but there were no more takes from that spot.

3 lb 1oz

The left rod failed to produce any takes in this area, with the final fish coming from the right rod again after I'd moved it down to a gap in the centre of the bushes. The bobbin was soon on the rise again and fish no 4 was netted to end the session on, at 2lb on the nose.

2 lb

The bobbins worked perfectly again and for me they are far more efficient in indicating takes than a float set up does, I seem to get more dropped takes with a float rig although it is a very useful way of gaging depths. Because the cast is only a short swing across I was able to scale the weight down further by using a sliding link ledger with just two SSG's giving even less resistance. The only problem I had with such a light rig was tightening up the line to set the bobbin as I worried about shifting the bait out of position. This was only a minor issue though, and was easily overcome by feathering line on the cast to straighten it out as it settled. All the takes were confidant ones and apart from that one lost fish, the rest were all hooked nicely in the scissors or in the front of the mouth.

On the way back to the car the tow path was dotted with Toads every few yards, obviously attracted by the hoards of slugs. I had to be careful not to step on them as I went.

Another successful session and I'll be back to see if the average stamp of fish is better than my results from the Cov Canal. So far these Fazeley fish seem to average about 1lb or so above what I usually catch. My target is for a 5lb fish, I know I could go further a field and more or less guarantee myself one first fish, but it would be nice to achieve it on my doorstep if I can.

Saying that if my results don't increase over the next few visits no doubt I'll soon give in and find myself on the G.U. canal or one of the well known midlands rivers sometime over the Autumn, for now I'm happy fishing short 2 - 3 hour sessions locally and just enjoying the thrill of catching Zander small or otherwise.

Predators of the Canal

2010-09-17T23:48:00.025+01:00

The Canal was the venue, Zander the target and the rods were set up and ready prior to leaving the house. Once I'd cooked tea for the kids and a pass was granted from the better half, I was finally able to set off.

Crude but effective

I figured there would be enough daylight left to get the rods positioned before it was fully dark, although my first swim choice was a little more challenging than I'd hoped. I wasn't happy with the way the rods were positioned lying on flattened reeds and my new home made bobbins wouldn't hang correctly.

After about 20 mins and no takes, I decided enough was enough so moved back up the canal to the next area I had in mind where the rods could be laid on open tow path. Here there were some reeds and overhanging bushes on the far bank. I leapfrogged the rods along the first section of reeds until I had a rod positioned under a small tree with a roach head on one single hook.

It's hanging off a rod - honest !

It was the rod left in front of the reeds that was the first to see some action. As is usually the case, I was looking at the wrong rod when the take happened and only just looked over in time to see the bobbin gliding up to hit the rod blank. I lifted it quickly and felt a resistance on the end, the fish moving quickly across the canal towards me. Just as I was making a grab for the net handle the fish spat the bait out and was gone, Bugger ! The bobbin method worked very well I was pleased to see.

I quickly replaced the whole roach, this one was on two single hooks and cast it back to the same position. I don't think it was too long before it was away again. This time if felt quite a solid fish and I hoped my Zander PB would finally be beaten. I quickly realised that if this was a Zander it would be a very good one. As it surfaced my heart was in my mouth but as it glided over the net cord realisation struck. I hadn't broken my Zander PB but I'd just thrashed my Pike one.

A new PB

While the Pike was waiting in the net I noticed the bobbin on the other rod rattling against the blank, I quickly reeled in the first of the nights Zander. I took a quick snap for the blog before it was returned so the Pike could be dealt with.

With the help from some nearby anglers who had heard the commotion I must have made landing the Pike, she was unhooked and weighed. I was a bit nervous about removing the hooks as I've only ever dealt with small jacks before and the end hook was quite far down. One of the lads held her by the gill cover to open her mouth so I could get in with some long forceps to remove my pair of single size 2 hooks. All went well and she was eased into the sling going exactly 11lb on the scales. After weighing she was quickly photographed and returned, swimming off nicely with a strong powerfull flick of her tail (thanks for the help lads).

With the adrenalin still running high, I carried on fishing the same spots to see if there would be any more action. Sure enough no sooner had the rod been cast back out to the reed swim, that it was away again with another small Zedlet of about a pound. The rod positioned under the small tree was quiet for the rest of the session, it was the rod in front of the reeds that produced the bulk of the action adding one final Zander, the best of the bunch at about 2 lb or so.

I decided to pack up soon after as I'd had some good sport and had already stayed longer than I'd planned. I had another good chat with the other two anglers, before leaving them to thier Bream fishing. I headed home pretty chuffed with the way things had gone. My bobbins had worked perfectly (credit to Roger Ryton Carp) although I adapted his idea a bit to use some chemical lights instead and clipped them to the mainline with simple swivel clips.

Hit the beach

2010-09-13T23:42:00.011+01:00

A recent trip to the Lincolnshire coast with the family during late August, so inevitably I packed suitable tackle for some sea fishing. This consisted of an old Shakespeare beachcaster and large fixed spool reel loaded with 20lb mono. Terminal tackle consisted of bits and bobs I'd collected over the years, including a whole pulley rig and weight I'd found while jumping over waves with my daughter in Cornwall earlier this summer.

I researched the fishing in the area and found that, commercial carp puddles aside, the best option would be to try for the smoothhounds that swim these waters at this time of year. As soon as I got chance I visited the local tackle shop and bought some more rigs, wired gripper leads, bait elastic and some frozen soft crabs for the hook, not ideal maybe but with little time free for hunting out my own peelers, it was bait at least (more on bait later).

I headed for Chapel Point first as it was one of the recommended marks in some of the articles I'd read about on this stretch of coast.
I fished for about two hours up to high tide but the session ended with nothing to report, still it gave me a feel of how to deal with the roll of the waves and the casting distances though.
An old chap down on holiday from Scunthorpe stopped for a chat while walking his dog along the beach, as a seasoned Smoothhound angler himself he gave me a few good tips, one of them being about bait. He recommended Morrisons as the best place to go for their fresh Mackerel, squid and even langoustines if you can get them, good peelers are still a prime bait but not absolutely necessary, noting that these are all good baits for Smoothies if they are on the feed. ( if only I'd known this a day or so earlier !)

Next day and I still hadn't been able to get to Morrisons. I tried another area nearby at Huttoft using the soft crab again, the old boy told me of a sweeping channel to try at the end of the car park, so I headed there.

I was at least confident of being in a good area, my bait cast about 50 yards out as suggested but after another couple of hours blanking at the top of the tide I left empty handed again. I suppose I felt a bit like being in the banker swim when Barbel fishing and still drawing a blank, you know the rod could hoop over any minute so the anticipation level is kept up. Fishing being the natural time warp that it is, before you know it it's time to pack up again.
I wasn't alone in my lack of sport though, I met another angler in the car park who told me that there had been no smoothies caught for a few days now, as they must have moved out to deeper water while the weather had been a bit too rough for them inshore recently. Despite the blank I enjoyed my first real attempt at beachcasting and shall be giving it another go when I can get back here, especially as I can have the use of the in laws caravan.

Dove - Two short sessions

2010-08-24T00:52:00.005+01:00

I headed for the River Dove this weekend for a couple of short sessions after recently renewing my ticket.
Fri evenings session saw me head for a stretch where I hoped I might be able to coax some fish into feeding on hemp and caster close in to the margin. On the way to the swim I stumbled across this Puffball in the middle of the field. At first I thought it was a football as I approached, until I got closer and realised what it was, strangely it now looked like something entirley different.

Life's Peachy !

The session was only short in the end and pretty uneventful with nothing in the first hour before sunset. Then the rain started and was soon hammering down. With no brolly, I just couldn't get into the fishing so packed up earlier than I'd planned to stay out.

Sunday turned out a bit better and arriving at about 6:30am, I had a little walk to get to my chosen swim. After the bait had been dropperd in I prepared the rig and waited to see if any fish would feed. It didn't take long as within ten minutes there was a thick shoal of Chub greedily burrowing into the gravel after the hemp and caster. Flashes of silvery flanks, some decent fish too, were clearly visible without the need for any polarised glasses. I had also baited another swim a couple of pegs downstream, so went to check if fish were present before making any casts.

This swim had fish feeding over a small patch of clear gravel the size of small round garden table just outside of a crease between the fast water in the calmer flow. I decided to head back to the first swim and start there however. The first cast was made with the feeder hitting the trailing branches of some overhanging trees, luckily I got away with it and the rig landed in the perfect spot. After a few tentative plucks however there was no pull round as I'd hoped. I recast but had the same results but after a while I could see the chub shoal were now a little further down stream.

I thought there might be Barbel down there in amongst them although I couldn't make any golden flanks out in the pack of Chub. I made a cast a rods length or so further down stream and within a minute I'd hooked a 2.5 lb chub. I followed up with this 3lber that ripped the rod almost out of the rest !

A tentative bite followed, the culprit a large Bream of maybe 6lb, I had it almost up to the net but found it really hard to move in the strong flow. The fish used its wide flank to broadside in the current so it was like trying to fight a canoe paddle working against you. The fish was nearly upstream enough for me position the net downstream of it, allowing it to sort of fall into the waiting net. Suddenly it flipped out and turned side on again into the current. The pressure pinged the hook free, the rig flying back into the hawthorn bush upstream (why are they always hawthorns !).

That was the last of the fish, I had a few more casts and tried a further few in the downstream swim, but had to leave shortly after when time ran out ending my morning session.

On the way back to the car I spotted a couple of Barbel holding station in a marginal swim about 2 feet deep. I reluctantly resisted the urge to set the rod back up as I was already a few 'last casts' over the time I'd promised to start heading home.

Drawn to the pool again..

2010-08-10T00:57:00.006+01:00

I headed out early on Sunday morning, well 5:30am is early enough for me. The morning was misty and overcast on arrival and looked perfect for a perch or two. The float was set and cast against the raft of duckweed gathered by the overhanging branches of the tree opposite. The worm soon attracted attention from a small perch.

My gaze was soon drawn to a large bow wave that rocked the river, with very little flow it was more noticeable because of the flat calm surface. I was aware that something quite big was in the margin to my immediate left and heading toward me. The unseen thing moved closer, there were masses of bubbles moving forwards underneath my rod, then past me and to the right of my swim.

It was an eerie experience but I realised quickly what it was. I grabbed the camera and rushed quietly round to the next peg to see if I could catch the otter surfacing. My bumbling movements blatantly obvious to the shy and secretive creature as it had completely disappeared. My first encounter with one of Britain's once rare and elusive mammals. Now not so rare but still quite elusive, as an wildlife lover and angler, I couldn't help having mixed feelings about the encounter.

The top pool beckoned, so I headed up there to see if I could tempt any more Silver Bream. Another string of perch followed with this 8oz fish the best of them.

I also added to my list of species from this pool with some Bleak and the tiniest Minnow I've ever caught on rod and line, bringing the tally to 7 different species so far. The Silver Bream didn't show this time.

Bleak (but not in appearance)

A 'minnow' Minnow

back to blank

2010-08-07T00:17:00.012+01:00

A session after work tonight resulted in a blank. The nearest I came to a fish was the couple of sharp chub taps early on in the session.

The river was very clear and low but there were plenty of fish topping up until dark.

It was nice to be at the river again, despite a blank.

Here's a tune I thought about while I was sitting there, just waiting for a bite, looking at the sky and watching the martins swoop for insects.

Hi Ho Silver slime-ing

2010-08-01T01:23:00.009+01:00

I'm having a bit of a fishing bonanza this weekend while the wife and mother in law have taken the kids to her caravan. :)

I spent the late afternoon into evening fishing the lovely pool on a local river again. This time the aim was to fish caster in the feeder and see what turned up. I'd really hoped to get some chub but that was not to be, in the end it turned out even better really.

First came another procession of Perch like this one...

These persisted for an hour until I started to get some silver action, first a Bleak then a chublet, until finally about an hour before dark I hit something that fought back a little. When it surfaced I thought it was a nice Roach until I saw the anal fin, I knew straight away what it might be.

Sure enough when I got home I checked it against the pictures on Jeff's site Idler's Quest to verify what I had suspected.

The large eye and long pale anal fin were all clues leading to......

....my first Silver Bream ( that I'm aware of )

A lovely looking little fish, not massive just a few ounces maybe 3oz. My scales are way too over gunned to to give an accurate reading.

I continued fishing and caught another ...

and another !

That was to be my lot as the perch started making another appearance before darkness fell. The last few casts finished up with some gudgeon for good measure before I called it a night happy with my little haul of silvers.

That's another species ticked off the list.

The Silver Bream (Abramis bjoerkna or Blicca bjoerkna)

Silver Bream Identification Ref: (Jeff Hatt / www.idlersquest.blogspot.com 2009)

Thanks Jeff, I would have assumed it a skimmer or hybrid if I hadn't read your posts on the subject previously.

Barbel Gathering

2010-07-30T23:56:00.009+01:00

I headed down the A46 once again to the wonderfull Warwickshire Avon.
Fishing in the same area as last week but this time I tried fishing the hemp & caster filled feeder across the river as close to the overhanging trees as I dared. First cast and within two minutes the rod ripped round and produced this fine 6lber, my first on caster and my biggest from the Warks Avon to date.

The next cast brought a nice 6 oz Perch but then the caster line went quiet for the rest of the session.
I put the pellet rod out after a while, casting it further downstream to separate the baited areas. I soon had a bite after about 15 mins, but like an idiot I forgot to disengage the baitrunner and fluffed the strike completely. The rig came back without a fish.

A bit later on I caught this Bream though, which may explain the earlier missed fish, as Barbel generally hook themselves I find.

That was it for tonight, a session with its own soundtrack provided by the Global Gathering festival in the distance, the bassline pounding out and being carried over the fields to me on the wind. It made me think back to my raving days, another lifetime ago. Some 18 years earlier and I'd have also been in a field in the dead of night somewhere dancing like a lunatic (has it really been that long !). Now I'm still out in a field in the dead of night, but it's fishing that I go 'loco' over these days.

Lights in the Sky = Global Gathering at Long Marston Airfield

I also fished the canal on Thursday night for an hour, that produced just one small Zander of about 2lb.

I hit another fish at the end of the session that was on my single hook for a second or two. It felt more substantial than the usual stamp I get here, but it was not to be as it must of spat the roach head out, the hook missing its target.