Check it..

I post a bit on face book these days and have a "This Angling Life" face book page. It's far easier to use than blogger  especially on a mobile or tablet. Check it out sometime. 

https://m.facebook.com/thisanglinglife

Challenge photos

Here's a few challenge points photos of some recent fish. A Very modest campaign this year so far compared to the rest of the field but I'll be happy as an alsoran if I can finish with one or two nice fish. That's the excuses out the way - here's a selection of my results to date.

Smoothhounds abound

Since staying on the coast a few years ago I have been aware of Smoothhound. Whenever I visit the sea, like most anglers I expect our first thoughts are biased toward the fishing available in the area and what we can expect to catch ? The fishing pages mentioned smoothhound and that they would be running throughout the summer along the beaches where I would be staying, great  that's an easy one then.  Well you would think so but it's not so simple when you have to learn all about a new species and the methods and techniques needed to successfully target them.

Back then there were only a few pages on line that explained how to catch them and most seemed to insist on using  peeler crab, either freshly caught being better or frozen if not. The problem I found is that you need to either gather them yourself, not as easy to find on great expansive barren sandy beaches as they are down south in the secluded  rocky coves under racks of bladder weed. Alternatively you can pre order from the local tackle shops but I could never guarantee when I would be able to go fishing and had no way of storing frozen bait. Also at £5 for about 4 or 5 they are costly  To counter this I decided to try another option and use Lug worm which seemed to be more readily available shop bought, I even bought a £20 worm pump so I could hunt for my own on the beaches that seemed to be covered in them at low tide. This handful of attempts over a small series of visits to the area sadly bore no fruit and the idea kind of hit the back burner when I discovered there were some nice rivers,  drains and pools available to explore with my new forming passion for lure fishing.

This year however I thought about giving it another go as we would be visiting the area some more this year. Coincidentally some of the lads on a FB group I post on came up with a plan to have a go for smoothhound too and would be meeting near to where I stay.  I jumped at the kind offer to tag along and see what we could collectively come up with.

Meeting at Phil's house ( the host of the event)  just before eight in the morning, we were soon all gathered in his back garden discussing tactics and dividing up the packets of bait. After a hearty breakfast scoffed eagerly by six of us provided by Phil and expertly cooked by his better half we were soon heading to the beach, stopping off on the way to pick up some peeler crab and black lug worm from the bait man in the village. Shortly we were spread out in a line along the beach to Phil's lead.

The action began pretty quickly when the yell came from up the beach as Phil rod drew first blood with a small pup. I don't think it was long before Andy landed the next.  Not sure if I was next or if it was Dave but soon 4 of us had caught our target.




Chuffed with my early result of a small starry pup,  I was soon belting out the lead again to a comfortable 70 yards or more. I missed  another rod wrapping bite but confidence remained high.
Dave caught another fish, a bigger one this time that attracted an audience as we all gathered to see what he was bending into. Best fish so far.

 Leo and Phil K were getting a little frustrated by now, being surrounded by others who had all landed fish but not able to get any bites themselves. Leo remarked that he would try the black lugworm  for a better chance of  a fish, any fish would do, but he was sure that it would not be a smoothhound  that would take it.  Not 10 minutes later and he eating his words as he was bending into a good un.  I was on hand to tail out the fish of the day for him,  and what a cracking example it was too. Not a giant to the experienced sure,  but to us novices it was still pretty impressive non the less.

 

 

That was the end of the action for the day aside from a few dabs and flounder caught,  and the strange story behind the small thornback ray the was landed by Dave and Phil in a mixed up tangle of lines.

 

 

Fast forward a week and I was back down with the family for the weekend. The tides were not peaking at the best of times for me but I decided to go for the early start on the Sunday morning for a 5:00am kick off. Phil commented on FB that he would be there too so I aimed to get up at 4:30am to meet up. As I walked over the brow of the sand dune I was greeted by a calm sea and the sight of Phil bending into a fish already ! I thought he might just be dramatically reeling in a lump of weed but no the kick on the rod tip gave away the culprit. I was soon taking the photos for his new PB.  Quickly setting up and casting out my bait I was all set for the rod to hoop over any second. many seconds later I was still waiting as Phil was into another not more than 30 yards away from where I stood. Springing in ghillie action, I tailed his second fish and PB of the day.

 

 

 

As the fish was returned I noticed Phils second rod tapping away and shortly another pup was drawn up to the beach and quickly returned. A little over a week ago we would have both been gobsmacked at it.... now it was put back without a second  thought like so many a jack or  a schoolie zed ... such is the nature of progress.

 

In case your thinking well did he blank, yeah you'd be right, no rhyme, no reason that's fishing. I'll say this though, it was still worth the early rise to see those fish and re-affirm the tactics. Time fishing is never wasted  someone once said ........... till next time.

 

 

Oh and finally here's the 6lb carp I caught for the bloggers challenge points.. could do with feeding it a sack of pellets (its a joke..).

 

 

 

One little fish

So we're away for the weekend and Jacob asks if I will take him fishing. This was a bit of a shock as he's always been a bit reluctant to go with me in the past. Next morning we were out on the caravan park lake nice and early-ish at around 7:30am.

I set up two rods, one a waggler rod and second utilizing my medium lure rod as a crude sliding bomb set up. A few missed bites on whole worm to the bomb started the session off before I decided to abandon it and concentrate on helping Jacob land his first fish. I did the casting as i just wanted him to enjoy catching and not confuse him with too many of the technicalities.

The first fish came in  soon after casting out, much to Jacobs surprise and obvious delight. Next cast and it was his turn on the rod. The float dipped again and Jacob struck well, wound in the fish and lifted it out swinging it gently to my hand with good control for his first go.

A series of fish came until he'd reached 10 to my 2. Mind you it was difficult to get a look in on the rod once he'd realised he was catching all the fish with minimal help from me. Every fish had to be photgraphed with him holding it up (like father like son). That was until he got a handfull of roach milt on one occasion. I told him it was just milk - easier than trying to explain the truth. (Don't worry he went staight to the toilet block to wash his hands). Eventually the stiff breeze and hunger got the better of him and he toddled off back to get breakfast in the warm. I carried on and managed one more fish on the worm rod, a nice 10 oz roach before the smell of bacon butties cooking had me also retreating out of the wind for breakfast.

Closing time again

My river season has been a strange one this year -  I've hardly done any to speak of in comparison to previous years. Most of my time has been spent lure fishing the canals for zander and the odd perch instead. My visits to the rivers has been so few and far between I don't think I even fished for barbel this year which I aim to rectify in the new season ahead.

Well, in my usual last minute rush I tried to squeeze a few sessions in over the last remaining weekends in hope of a river pike, and maybe some trotting for grayling. Suffice to say this didn't quite go a well as planned and either the conditions were against me or the fish not obliging. And so we came to my finale on the river on Friday afternoon. Thursday night prior around 10:00 pm, tackle prepared, baits purchased for Pike and maggots for trotting for grayling so it starts to rain and didn't stop until well into next morning on Friday.... just bloody perfect timing.  So as suspected arriving at the first river venue that afternoon to find it chocolate brown and creeping over the banks. No good for trotting nor did I feel confident in searching for pike holed up in any slacks in that lot either.  Next venue and conditions were slightly better the river was up but not too much. A few other anglers were already down to try for barbel.  I found the swim I fancied was free and quietly set up my gear as a barrage of heavy feeders boshed down into the river around  me.  This river was still steadily rising as my carefully positioned banksticks indicated, starting on shore then soon to be surrounded by water.   After an hour of this and not so much as a twitch on maggot or Lamprey I decided to cut my losses and head elsewhere while there was still time. To a smaller river now that can usually be relied upon to throw up a few Jacks in a short session, with the outside chance of something larger. Again within the time allotted for something to have occurred, the same empty result on both maggot and deadbait. I was just not feeling it here either so with one last chuck of the dice I was off to the canal.

First cast on  the half Lamprey I had been using all afternoon and within 15 minutes the line started to tighten and the float sank away resulting in this lovely mid double to save my afternoon. (15lb 3oz)

 

 

The only other notable capture since the last update is this lovely 2lb 4oz canal perch caught at the beginning of March.

 

 

 

 

 

 So that's my end of season update, a season where I spent practically most of the time fishing the Canal and neglected the river, and now I can't fish it I am missing it already- roll on June 16th !



 

 

 

Jan to Feb round up

Lure fishing for canal zander  has taken up most of my fishing time since Christmas and It's been quite enjoyable, catching plenty of zander and the odd perch. I've even started to dabble with drop shotting finally but I'm not convinced yet. It does work well that's true but not sure it's anymore effective than jigs or lures not in my limited experience of it so far. It's all subjective though and you need to fish how you enjoy doing it and not by what current the trend is.

Not many pike to report this winter and as the days tick by I grow more and more consious of the fact that my winter river pike fishing will soon run out of time. I will of course continue to fish for the zander on quick after work sessions especially as there is enough light left now to fish the witching hour properly(light into dark).

I managed to get on the river today for an hour or two and while the result was a resounding blank it wasn't a complete waste of time. You see after sitting for the first hour with no action. I thought about how I could get my bait to a beter spot.  I soon discovered a new technique for those hard to reach spots downstream you can't quite cast to,  namely trotting ! Yes nothing new there and no doubt it's a standard tactic for most pike anglers, but this was the first time I've thought about using it myself for pike. I suppose the swim I was fishing lent itself perfectly to technique, indeed it is a very good roach and grayling trotting run.

The slack area on the near margin is mouthwatering for pike but is unreachable by cast alone due to the overhanging trailing branches of the first tree,  but trot a sardine down the swirling current to the desired distance then tighten up the line to swing the float and its cargo in towards the margin and straight into the mouth of a waiting pike. Well that was the theory. First attempt and the float glided into position in the slack water. It stayed in position for a while then 'bob bob' stop. "Better check that" I thought, As I wound down the slack line pulling up tight to the rig, the rod hooped round to a heavy weight then the pulse of a large fish kicked back up the line. I had to get it away from the branches quick so tried to bully it out into open water. The fish started to move and was just clear of the branches, I was now ready to fight her in the strong flow of the pool when that sickening shift in pressure from heavy to light suddenly occured as she let go ! Arhh ##@** she hadn't turned the bait yet and the hooks had not stuck. Ahh well at least the theory had worked and a good fish was hooked all be it only briefly, but I think i'll be back before the close.

December Catch up

lure caught PB

Not a lot of change in my fishing since my last update, I'm finding it difficult to be motivated to do anything other than a bit of lure fishing these days. Maybe I've just become a bit lazy and succumbed to the convenience of chucking a bit of kit in the car and grabbing a few hours a week here and there.

I've been fishing with my light set up mostly hitting the canal catching plenty of small perch, zander and the odd small pike to keep me interested mostly all have fell for my small 2" jigs.  Recently though I have started to find some better Zander. I also hooked a larger pike last week that was on for a few seconds long enough to see a glimpse of its long flank before the small 2" jig pulled.
I returned on Christmas Eve for a quick go for the pike after finishing work with my medium set up and a BBZ lure that just happened to have been left clipped on. First cast and wallop a zed of about 2 or 3lb, not the pike I was after but very welcome all the same.

Just in time for Christmas

 

 The next time I could get down wasn't until the 27th for a few hours in a more wintery landscape following a layer of snow on boxing night. While the snow had all but gone the temperature had dropped since my last visit a couple of days before, and this didn't deter the fish it seemed. Once again practically first cast in the same area and bang another zed on. The fish thrashed on the surface then gave a decent enough fight pulling line off the drag before doing the usual roll to the surface and a capitulating glide into the net.

 

you want some - I'll give it yer !

 

Looking down at my prize in the net I was pretty pleased with the size of this one, and happy when the scales registered 5lb 4oz.  A new lure caught zander PB and whilst not my biggest ever zander certainly a pleasing fish to catch from the canal on any method. The session didn't continue in this good form though and I struggled to both catch more fish and to deal with cold hands able to work the rod and reel effectively enough, so once my flask ran out I called it a day about half past ten.  Getting back home for some fresh hot coffee and toast to thaw me out was a welcome end to an overall pleasant mornings fishing.

 

 

Cutting it's fine...

A great way to break up the working day if you happen to work near a canal is to spend your lunch hour lure fishing. That's exactly what I have been up to in the last few weeks searching a stretch of canal that has been throwing up the a few fish for me already.



Get that down yer neck !

The most successful method by far has been trolling the lure in the edge whilst walking slowly along the towpath. This is how I almost landed a 2lb + perch the other day, and again at lunch today managed a small perch followed by a larger zander of 3lb or so.

The method is an excellent way of quickly locating the fish ( time being of the essence on a quicky lunch hour sessions) and over a few short weeks I have found the areas where I catch are proving to be consistent with fish caught on multiple visits, as opposed to other areas seemingly barren where no takes have been forthcoming. Interestingly I have only caught one fish with a standard cast and retrieve on this particular stretch, whilst trolling has had much more success landing the fish mentioned with a few missed strikes thrown in for good measure.

So far there are two fish holding areas I have located in a stretch less than half a mile.  The water is always pretty murky and brown, not the worst I've ever seen, but with probably just less than a foot of visibility at best. There have been occasional boats coming and going stirring up the muck on most of my short half hour sessions, but this has not stopped me catching.  In these conditions I expect the fish are probably sensing more than seeing, although even if  you can't generally see the lure yourself from the surface I'm sure if it passes within a foot or so of a predatory fish it is a target on both levels.   Big Hammer 3" lures have worked best so far with the ever reliable 2 " Kopyto's scoring well too.  I think the colour is not too important but I seem always go for a bright one. More importantly is to select one that your have most confidence in. Dark lures should work in these conditions too but as I haven't got any at the moment I can't back that up with fact - I will have add some to my next lure order and see for myself.

A small revelation

A cheeky 1/2 hour after work on a new stretch of canal.  I was using my recently purchased ultralight  Ron Thompson Flexide V2 4 - 12g rod working a 1" creamy white kopyto on a small jig head along the edge, I soon had my first zander on the bank.

More of a zedlet really but every one's a result. I continued along the canal for another 200 yards or so before turning around to head back. Occasionally I stopped to cast across the canal under some enticing bushes or feature and worked the lure slowly back along the bottom to my near edge and then, remembering what I'd read on the excellent  Artificial Lite from the waters edge web site by Eric Weight,  I decided to start dibbling the lure in the edge near the pilings and features.  I soon felt a knock and saw a nice size perch twisting on the line under the water but unfortunately it didn't hook up properly. A little disappointed I kept dibbling and managed to hook a small perch to the method - result.

On a slow amble back to the car I trolled a larger 3" hammer shad along the bank under my feet and felt the rod tip pull round near a slight indent of the soft bank, this was followed by a head shake and as I looked down I saw a large perch easily over two pounds, its thick back and bold stripes clear to see up on the surface. I tried to compose myself in those few important split seconds upon realising what I had on and attempting get the fish under control it was all over with a flick and a shake the fish broke free from the small jig head and disappeared !! That was easily a Lure caught PB perch for me but it was not to be today maybe the hook was a little too small?  I tried the lure again and felt a knock but subsequent casts met nothing more.
I moved back to the bridge where the car was parked and tried a few spots on the other side, catching another consolation zedlet on a 2" kopyto in flouro yellow. With the light fading fast and still licking my wounds a little after losing the big perch, I got back to the car and headed home feeling both pleased at the success of new techniques and the pain of lost chances. I think I'm going to enjoy exploring with this new rod. The extra feeling and sensation from a lighter set up allows you to naturally exploit subtle changes in your technique which can't be understood or realised until you try one out. In other words my old spinning rod now feels like a thick carp rod in comparison and just can't hope to give me the information I receive on the ultralite. If your thinking of investing in a lighter set up then I can highly recommend it.

Practice makes perfect

Back out on the river last night for another go at the Zander. I was hoping for something bigger but managed another nice 6lber amongst some other schoolies.  Plenty of bites came to both rods, some were missed because of dropped takes or fish stealing the bait of the single hook, others were just down to simple human error (note to self: remember to disengage the baitrunner before striking you bloody idiot !!).

Still the practice is done - now to head somewhere new to find the bigger fish !! 

Zander time again

With a dip in the temperatures of late I've been gagging to get the bait rods out after some Zeds. The last session I tried on the canal resulted in just the one missed take. This week I arrived back at the canal again for an evening session but on walking to the intended spot I had that nagging feeling that it wasn't right again and I'd just be wasting my time.  I needed to confirm to myself that my bait fishing methods were still OK and wanted to have a reasonable chance of a nice zed in the net, (there's nothing worse than lack of confidence to hinder your enjoyment of fishing).  I made a snap decision and headed back to the car, setting off for the river instead. When I arrived 50mins later it was good to see the river was slightly coloured and at a nice summer level so I was in an optimistic mood. A couple of groups of other anglers were dotted along the bank but they were far enough away not to interfere with my intended spot.

With the daylight due to fail in about an hour or so I had to get my bait caught quickly, so set up the float rod and went about catching a few suitable candidates for the keepnet. This turned out to be a struggle at first, not because I couldn't catch anything, far from it, I just couldn't catch anything of suitable size. A string of small dace the size of my little finger were all that I could muster no matter how deep or shallow I set the float. Very frustrating, but eventually the right size roach and bleak started to make an appearance and I built up enough samples to begin with the main event. However, before I could begin another angler had set up in the next swim downstream,  I checked where he was casting first  and had a little chat with him before setting up the zander rods to make the first cast as twilight descended.  With one bait cast to the crease in the flow on my near bank I sent the other out across the river to a slack area near a patch of surface duck weed in case there were Zeds hiding away under there. It was soon fully dark and the isotopes on the end of my rods remained still aside from the odd pluck from the bats. It was nearly an hour later before the first take registered on the rod tip. A typical quivering staccato pluck that could easily be mistaken for a line bite had it not continued for enough moments to warrant my instincts to kick in. I struck into a fish that stayed low until it was under the rod tip then with violent head shaking the shape of a zander loomed out of the depths towards my waiting net. It managed to swerve the net on another dive for freedom, then on the second netting attempt disaster stuck when, during another head shake as it reach the net chord saw it throw the hook and slide inches wide of the net and away back down to the bottom. "Ahh well it was no more than a four" I told myself and to be fair I wasn't too worried at least they were feeding.

I had to wait another hour until around 11.00pm for the next bite and by this time I was on my own on the bank. I had the baits repositioned further downstream where the mainflow from the weir widened slightly figuring that the smell of the bait would  be better carried along, the odour of fresh blood oozing out of the deadbaits might draw more fish upstream to me. Whether this was the case or whether it was just that the fish were already around and were feeding sparrodically I don't really know but it seemed to work and I landed my first fish of the night. Only a small one of a couple pounds or so.

The bites became more consistent from then on and I had the next fish on the bank soon after on the other rod out in the flow mid river, again it was just a small fish.  There was another take soon after that never connected on the downstream rod meaning they were definitely on the feed tonight.   Evedently I should have cast into the main flow earlier in the evening rather than searching fruitlessly in the slack areas for so long.

Time was pressing on by now and I was starting to think about packing the gear away, but the urge to recast the rods at least once more was too strong. Sure enough it  paid off and within ten minutes I was holding the best fish of the night.  By the time I had sorted out the photo's and put it back it was now 12.37am and the wife had text  asking "you still fishing? ".  I took that as my cue to call it a day and packed up and started to make my way back home. If I had stayed on how many more would I have connected with before I finally succumbed to tiredness and fell asleep in my chair I wonder ?

6lb 5oz (if your interested)

It was interesting that all the fish came from either the edge of the flow or right in the middle of it. At first thought this seems at odds with what you would expect from a predator. You might think they hide away under cover in the slack areas waiting to ambush unsuspecting prey that passes by. And this might be the case during the daytime feeding period where they would be easily seen by their quarry but at night they appear to skulk around in the flow picking up the scent of any potential meal being carried along on the current.

Picture this...

The river season has started.....



Eyes are bigger than belly !

Comma - taken on S4 mini

First river Jack this season

make sure you rest them first before releasing

Banded Demoiselle

A young goldfinch

Red eye damselfly male

 

Emerald Damselfly

 

 

More fish pictures in the next post I hope !!

Espania mullet and a big old roach

The last few weeks have been a bit hectic with both work and a family holiday in sunny Spain, I've not been out fishing a great deal really and to be honest I've been counting down to the fishing season opening day, I've really missed being on the rivers this closed season so now it's finally time to get back on the banks, I'm raring to go.

Mullet in Spain.....

In  Spain I packed a reel and a few bits including some jigs and lures in the case but needed to buy a suitable rod when we got out there. I managed to find one but only a cheap tourist shop telescopic effort, it would have to do. I looked at the fishing options on the net but was a bit disappointed to discover nothing much to go on in terms of info for the area. I took a walk within the first day or so and found some nice looking rocks to fish from. The first couple of 1/2 hour  sessions drew a blank though and I thought it might be a waste of time. However on seeing some locals fishing from the same rocks later in the holiday I knew it must be worth another punt. With my trusty "slap up fishing gear" rod I managed to get down for a quick couple of hours before sunset and searching for signs of life I found  a shoal of mullet in the swirling cauldron of deeper water directly below the end of the rock outcrop. I decided that the lures I had would not be any help for these fish and so I managed to cobble together a two hook paternoster baited with bread and waited for the rod tip to nibble. The nibbles came and went but in typical mullet fashion were nigh on impossible to hook at first.

Eventually I watched the bread on the bottom hook drift around in the current below me, it suddenly disappeared and a dark shaped could be seen moving where the bread had been. In a split second I had struck and the fish was on ! Success a last, the fish fought well but was no match for the "slap up rod"  and 20lb braid !

 

I caught a smaller mullet soon after, an sadly lost an even larger one that slipped the hook as it violently twisted and turned below me.

A big canal Roach....

Back in Blighty after a couple of  mediocre short lure sessions on the canal catching a couple of small perch for my trouble  I deciding that a change was needed. So at the weekend I set up a rod for canal carp and a float rod to catch bits and anything else that came along. Last time I did this I hooked and lost a carp so decided to beef up the line to 4lb straight through. With the boilie rod in I set about building up a swim. It didn't take long to start getting bites and soon a steady stream of bite size roach and small to medium perch were coming to hand. The boilie rod stuttered off  at one point and my heart was in my mouth until I felt the fish fighting and new it  wasn't quite a carp but not a quite a bream either ? Turned out to be what I suspect might have been a hybrid of about 2lb which probably explained the bit of fight it had in it.
 

 

The boilie rod remained quiet after that bit of action, but the on the float things were hotting up, - I caught a few more reasonable perch in between the blade roach and lost  a better one that had run me round the swim taking line off the pin before slipping the hook just before the net slid under it.

 

Then on the fifth or sixth last cast of the evening I hooked a slow plodder that hooped the rod tip round rather nicely. Thinking bream I just let it slowly nod around drawing it steadily towards me until I caught the first glimpse of red and sliver. Not panicking I readied the net and strangely just glided it over the rim on automatic pilot. I was now looking down at a huge roach. Well huge in terms of my previous catches - in fact it turned out to be my new Roach  PB !

 

I have witnessed bigger Roach before, like when I fished with Jeff on the Warwickshire Avon a couple of years ago, but now this fish was in the bottom of my net.  The photos were taken and the fish weighed and safely rested and returned back the water. Shame it was a bit of a battered old warrior or maybe just badly out of condition after spawning.  I'd heard some tow path rumours before but now I know they are here I can always try for another in the future.

 

1lb 5oz Canal Roach