New Target

So it has been like for ever since I posted anything up on the blog, well sometime absence makes the heart grow fonder.

To be honest the fishing and the writing had become a tad boring and whilst I enjoyed being out, the lack of catching bar stunted fish was again getting boring. So I stopped, regrouped and went tench fishing for the last 2 months. But alas, this has to be the worst tench season I have ever had, so again I stopped and regrouped.

I couldn't decided what to do or where to go, so I looked back at last summer to look for inspiration to the lack of mojo. It was last September when after much deliberation that I was encouraged to go rudd fishing a few times and I kinda enjoyed it.

Whilst never specifically targeting them I had caught my far share of rudd to half a pound, but I never found that as a species that they grow to a size locally that could mean they were worth targeting as species. This was all to change after chatting to my good pal John W who is an out and out specimen hunter, but you'll never heard him call himself that. John is a man in the know, on the grape vine, in the inner circle of anglers who get put onto other species but other anglers in the know.
So when he put me onto a water that had down rudd to 3lb+ I had to have a go. Well last summer I caught a few to a 1lb 8oz within a few sessions, then the autumn came and toothy species then came back onto my radar so the rudd go put on the back burner.

Well with the tench fishing being a trifle pants and me being me and needing a new challenge, I decided that I ditch the tench fishing and target some rudd. So early on Saturday I drove for a hour and a bit to a lovely gravel pit where the rudd grow quite big.
On arrival there was a few cars parked up. Most of these are likely to be carp anglers as this water has a decent head of carp to 30lb+ plus some good silver fish numbers. I wasn't worried by the number of cars and I knew that the carp anglers would be in there favourite carpy swims, which would leave the rudd swim alone. Upon arriving on the bank I was right, the carpy swims were indeed taken and the rudd swims were vacant bar one.

I set up in the best swim and soon have the baits out by the lillies. After much deliberation the night before, I gone set up with running rigs rather than bolt rigs to see if this made much of a difference to the  finicky bite rudd can give. Baits were simple 10mm boillies on one rod and 2 grains of corn on the other.

With the baits in position and a few freebies scatter over the top, it was time to get the stove on for a morning brew.

The morning was warm and muggy, just they type of morning were you could expect some thunder and lightening, but the only rumbling was the sound of the mosquitos that were buzzing about my head. Every so often, one of these blood suckers would land on my neck or hand to see if they could get a free meal.

With the tea warming me, the sounder box bleeped and the bobbins jangled whilst being pulled to the rod. Upon setting the hook and fish could be felt at the other end. It was soon netted and a nice pound plus rudd to boot.

This was soon unhooked and returned.

The early morning rushed by and the rudd seemed to be on the feed, but not enough to trouble the angler to much. The bobbins would jangle, jump, pull and drop but this was most likely small fish trying to take the large baits.

The clock turned 9am and the rain started as I feared it would, so the brolly went up and this seem to make the mugginess even closer.

The rain didn't last long and as the last few drops feel the sounder box was bleeping again. Something was snaffling the corn. The bobbin did it usual dancing and then steadily rose to the rod. Upon setting the hook this felt a better fish and soon a nice 2lb+ rudd was in the folds of the net. What struck me was that this fish was a lot fatter than the other rudd I had previously caught from here and it felt like a monster fish.

I rest the fish in the net and went for the weigh sling and scales from the rucksack, but there was a issue. No scales! I searched the sac and found nothing so they had either been left behind at home or lost on the bank when I was last out roach fishing last autumn. I quickly nipped to see another angler and borrowed a set of scales, but I must admit to being abit weary of there ability to give me the right weight. They final weight was set as 2lb 6oz, but the rudd looked a lot bigger than a near 2.1/2lber. Anyway, it was a new pb and a first 2lb+ rudd for me, so the bar has been set for the coming summer.
The 2lb+ rudd was soon returned and I wish now that I had bothered to get a better snap of it with me, but with all the toing and froing with the scales I kind of wanted to get her back.

The bait was replaced back out and soon another fish was hooked, this was a small skimmer. This was followed less that 10 minutes later with a bigger slab of the 5lb mark. Good fun on light tackle, but they do mess up the braided hooklinks with the slime.

11:00 came and went and the day got hotter and brighter, this killed the rudd fishing and everything else. It wasn't until near on 16:00 that the bites started again, but this was getting late in the day and was time for me to venture back home.

But there is always next week....

Looking Back and Looking Forward

Well its time for a round up of last year and it was eventful for the first 6 months of the year then it all sort of went down hill.

I decided early on to only target a few species rather than chase around. I did managed to caught some nice specimens from different venues, some new, some old, but all had stories attached to them.

Specimen list 2017

Pike 24lb 2oz
Rudd 1lb 8oz
Tench 8lb 6oz

Whilst I may have only targeted a few species, it didn't stop my have loads of other session on various rivers and stillwater too.

Other eventful moments during the year have been helping with the creation of the Crucian Chronicles which is the Association of  Crucian Anglers first publication, coaching a junior piker to his first 20lb+ pike and taking my nephew out fishing again.

So not a back year all in all and I hope that 2018 will be equally enjoyable and I'll be back out after the tench and the rudd during the spring/summer with some additional trips for crucian's too.

Pike are Predators Busted!

If you have the time, watch this great video produced by pikers in Ireland. IFI are continuing to cull large numbers of pike on the back of game anglers hysterical crying that the "wild" brown trout are on the point of extinction due to the presence of pike in the loughs and lakes.

Reality check, pike are predators and if you stop messing around with the predator prey ration and starting creating habitat for trout to spawn, feed and have refugee from predators, then they will thrive in a balanced fishery rather than a over stocked stock pond.

Franatic

So I haven't posted since July and it not because I haven't been fishing. In fact I been out on a variety of still and running waters over the summer, learnt a lot, caught a few fish and really enjoyed trying different things.

One of the new water is a stunning venue which can only be describe and unique. It is a mixture of a broad, a river and a still water all rolled into one. Its not only the place that is stunning the wildlife is to and you also have the chance of caught a lump.

I had a midweek piking session on my mind, so at rather short notice I picked a day and booked it off.

At dawn, I slipped the rope from the mooring and started to row to the first swim of the day. It was a breezy day which put a nice ripple on the water. The temperature was warm for October, but not warm enough to dispense with the fleece.

After a good row, I was soon in the first swim of the day and sent a herring to the reed line on one rod and drifted a sardine down the wind lane.

With the baits out, it was time to put the kettle on for the first brew of the day. like clock work, this task set in the wheels in motion for a run on the reed line rod and a lively double figure pike was on the net.

The herring was still attached and as it was pretty good, so it was sent back out to the same spot whilst I drank my brew.

With the downing of the last drops from the mug, the herring was away again and after a spirited fight a second low double was netted. All before breakfast too.

Could I manage a third from the spot, turns out that it didn't and a move was in order.

The second spot of the day was a along a stretch and featureless looking stretch, but in fact it does have a number of features to fish to including a side stream that come in. The vane drift was sent out first and the float was then positioned at the mouth of the side stream inlet.

As the float settles, I noticed a elusive visitor to my right, a Bittern had landed in the reeds and was doing a dam good impression of being a reed. Its not every day that you get close to these birds and normally you just hear their booming call or spook then when settling into the reeds.

The Bittern sat in the reeds for a long time and it allowed me to get a few shots on the camera

This was the last moment of serenity of the day. Whilst enjoying the sight of the bittern, the vane drift slid under. Only issue was that the other float with the sardine attached was also sliding under at the same time. I connected with the running fish on the vane drift and once the hooks were set, I set about the other rod and set the hooks on this one too. Feeling this one was small, I put the bait runner on and went back to the first fish. First number one was soon by the boat being unhooked and release, so I turned my attention to the second smaller fish which was soon subdued and unhooked in the water again. Turned out they were both low doubles.

Time for tea, so with the stove on, it was time to rebait both rods and get them back out again.
The float next to the reeds dropped on the money and the vane drift was sent on its way and was soon drifting nicely.
The kettle boiled and steam pouring out and as I started to tip the water into the cup, I noticed that the float next to the reeds was coming towards me, then the pain hit me as the boiling water poured on to my hand.

The scolded hand was plunged into the cool water and the rod grabbed with the other hand. With the pain easing I then set about landing the pike that had interrupted the tea break. I wound down connected with a tail walking pike and it went airborne before splashing down, it was then that I noticed the bait runner on the vane drift starting to chug away. Oh feck, another double hook up!

I flicked the bait runner level and grabbed the rod, and set the hooks on the running fish. they felt about the same in weight, so I played the first pike in to the boat, quickly unhooked it at the edge and let her go, before sorting out the other rod.
the second fish came in like a bag of spuds and was soon at the boat, unhooked and gone back to the depths.

Finally, I managed to sit down, re boil the kettle and try to cool the throbbing hand. It was badly scolded and very saw, but not enough to stop the fishing. After some tea and lunch, I upped anchor and moved to another spot.

I dropped anchor in a new spot and decided to fish both rods close to the read line but at different distances from the boat. I still had a few sardines in the box, but the herring was gone, so this was replaced with a large smelt.

The sardine was away again within minutes of the float settle and another low double was netted and returned, but as she swam off the other float went under and before long a better pike was by the boat.

Now I not one for netting all the pike and taking a picture adds undue stress on the fish. If I can, I bring them to the boat and unhook them in the water. Using double hooks makes it a simpler job and most time it is only the head of the pike that pops above the surface. Far to many times anglers bring small pike on board their boats to thrash about and injury themselves.

Back off the soap box. With both bait rods in I decided to have a cast about with a lure. Surprisingly it took a long time to snare a pike and in fact it was the smallest of the day at a couple of pounds in weight.

I got tired of thrashing the water with lures and the hand was hurting too, so back out with the baits.

No instance action this time and it was a further hour before another pike took a liking to the smelt on the drifted bait. Again a low double, but this had one came to the boat before shedding the hooks at the edge. Well it saved me unhooking it. With the sport dying down, I decided to head back to the mooring. I did stop off at the first swim of the day and winkled out another couple of small fish and I think in total it was 11 fish in five hours.

It was a decent start to the season and allowed be to get know the water that little bit more.

Feeder Improvements

I'm all for making life easier and buying bits and bobs off the shelf is of course the easiest option. However, when the tackle firm balls up and change something for no reason, then I feel that I have to do something about it.

The feeders are of course functional as they are, but I find the plastic loop on some feeder a pain in the arse, so rather than chucking them, they get modified.

Now there is a few ways to do this and the very simplist option would be to buy some nitrate O'rings and replace the plastic with one of them. The O rings are tough as hell and usually results in you not only loosing the feeder but also the rig. So I have found that if you construct a loop using power gum you get the feeder back or the power gum knot pulls free under moderate tension, thus getting at least the rig back.

Net Full

Its always a good thing to keep on learning at any age or at any level angling experience and with river fishing I constantly learning all the time from a good friend whom is a very good river angler.

So when the weekend came and I had the chance to put some of learning points gleaned into affect on my second trip to the river of the season. Whilst I have fished this river a bit on an off I have always felt like I'm not fishing it effectively and have not capitalised when I've found the fish.

So with the car loaded I head up for a good hours drive to the river. I wanted to fish the opposite bank to last week, but after an hour walking the bank, I admitted defeat with 8ft of marginal reed hampering my efforts. Whilst I did have some tools that would help create a swim, I did have the tool that I needed aka a throw able reed cutter. So it was back to the layby swim for me because time was getting on.

The ground bait bucket was out and after consulting the book I mixed up a couple of kilo's of crumb and black Supercup laced with hemp, maggot, crushed caster and some pellets. Rather than balling out a load at the started, I put in five balls to get the fish going, the rest would go in via the feeders.

Next on the list was the rods, gone was the still water tip rod and out was the Avon rods with a 2oz tip. Both coupled with 400 reels and 6lb mainline. Rig wise it was to be a paternoster and a semi running rig nicked from a Nisa video on river feeder rigs.  In essence this was a sliding float stop, followed by a link swivel, I then formed a loop to connect the hook link to. Two size 6 shot was placed just above the loop knot to form stop and help pin the mainline to the bed of the river. A 14" hook link of 3lb material was added This rig can be used as either a bolt or running rig so is quite adaptable depending on the fish being finicky or not.

The big changes were the change of hook thickness and rod positioning. I opted for a thin gauge long shank 16's and 18's for the maggot/caster of The rods were how vertical beach caster style with the tips slightly under tension to form a shallow curve so that both pulls, taps and drop back would be shown.

I was all set up, feeders clipped on, hooks baited and out they went. The right hand rod had the big baits on, a corn and caster cocktail, the left hand rod had the standard double reds. I didn't have to wait to long for bites to start and soon a small roach was netted with after a confident bite on the tip which was easy to see. The small roach was soon followed by further roach and small perch too and bite continued nice a steady during the first 2 hours. A couple of 4lb bream took the corn/caster cocktail and I soon had 10lb weight of fish in the net. I took a break for a brew and head back to the rods, with a streaming mug of tea. The rod ere recast and action was resumed for another hour or so whereby a ten skimmers came along in quick succession. This was shaping up to be a good morning.

The action then slowed and I decided to mix up the hook bait, a small worm was hooked onto the left hand rod tipped of with a red and the bites started again. The big bait rod was slowing up, so this two was changed. This time it was double corn soaked in molasses and this started a run of a better stamp of bream self hooking them self which resulted in the rod being lifted off the back rest.
This problem was quickly solved with the baitrunner being engage to allow a hooked fish to run if hooked.

Morning was soon midday and I must have had near 20lb of fish in the net. Lunch was soon consumed with anther mug of tea and then back to the action. A large worm replaced the double corn and I continued with the worm/red cocktail on the other rod.
Now eels arnt my thing really and on light tackle they are a pain in the area, so imagine my job as the nodding tip was a sure sign one had been hooked. As it came in it dive and ducked, spun and coiled before I managed to get it to the edge unhook without it leaving the water. There was simply no way this snake was going to get its slime on the keepnet.

As soon as the small eel was away, I just had time to look up and see the big bait run being pulled off of the rests either with the baitrunner going. I clamped down and it was quickly apparent that another bigger, stronger eel had taken the lobworm. It completely flat rodded me and it took and age to get it under control and nearing the me, but every time I thought I had it beat it was off again. I was not looking forward to wrestling with this water snake and I was quite thankful then the critter finally bit through the light line in the margins. The rig was in a mess, so it had to be re rigged, but no further worms would be going on the hook.

The afternoon pushed on and further bream graced the
 net and added to the total. The rain started as a drizzle and this didn't put the fish off and for a further hour I had another 10lb of fish ranging from small skimmer to a couple of 4lb bream.

On the horizon the rain clouds gather and with the wind continuing to blow into my bank I decided enough was enough and this along with running very low on ground bait made my decision for me.

On loading the last bits on the gear into the car the heavens opened and it lashed the car as I drove off of the bank and onto the road.

The final net weight was near 30lb of roach, skimmer, perch and bream plus a slippery eel which didn't get into the net. This has to be my most successful day on any UK river with regard to overall weight and the constant action on the tip rods was a welcome change to sitting behind a bank of rods on alarms.

Back to the River

Well the tench fishing has been very slow due to the exceptionally high temperatures over the last month, which has prompted huge weed growth in the lake. So a change to the rivers was in order to feed the fix, but there was a real issue, I'm the worlds worst river angler.

I started with a short morning session on my local river, but bar the first two bites resulting in a single roach and perch, the rest of the morning was as dull as dishwater.

So Sunday came and a early morning run over to the Ouse was in order to try to tempt some river monsters. I decided that I wanted to fish either the tip or the float so one of each was packed into the car. I arrived nice and early and set my stall out on a car park swim and soon had the gear up packed, the ground bait mixed and the tea brewed.

Whilst most experienced river anglers will have there various different setup for river feeder rigs, my is a simple paternoster feeder rig utilising 6lb mainline, 2 or 3lb 2-4ft hooklinks and think gauge size 14 to 18 hooks. the feeders are either Kamasan Black Caps or their open feeders. One thing I do change on their feeder is the plastic attachment. I hate it and I open up the lead and insert my open elastic loops made from power gum.

It took a good hour before the fish bite was registered on the tip rod and I hooked small roach to get me off the mark, this was soon followed by a small perch.

Now normally, I have fished the tip horizontally along the bank, but off the ground so that the tip points to the sky. To date it has always worked and I've not had a issue with hitting bites, but for some reason I started to miss quite a few bites. In fact, out of 20-30 decent bites from 8am to 11am I landed only 3 fish! So I consulted a very good friend who is a very good river angler and after a bit of messaging I changed the position of the tip so it was pointing out in front of me and at a higher angle like you would if beach fishing. This small change resulted in two things a) I could actually see the bite better, and b) I could connect to the bite.

Soon I had a further four roach into the net and my confidence started to grow a bit.

A quick lunch was had and the feeder went back out, this resulted in a couple of skimmers and a better single bream pulling the tip over. I must admit to be quite amazed that this change to the tip position actually made such a big difference to connecting with the bites. I did look to also fish the slider, but I realised that I had packed the wrong rod and reel, so that idea was soon quashed.

Soon it was time to call it a day and the net came in and a small mixed bag of around 10lb of roach, rudd, perch, skimmer and bream was returned to the river.

So this has wet the appetite for more river action, so I hope to get back to the Ouse with two tip rods and this time the slider rod.

Reel Value

There are times when you really think that some isn't worth repairing, but the idea of binning the Shimano Exage 4000RC filled me with dread. Not that it was an expensive reel judging what others will pay for a lure reel, but this one had been used for a number of years to catch alot of pike.

So, after getting a recommendation about a company who repaired reels from a the pit members, I decided to contact John at Reel Value and see what he could do.

The reel was sent off after agreeing a price for the service and with the understanding that the sticking clutch and bizarre handle wobble maybe able to be sorted.

Ten days later and I get a call speak to John will the news on the repair.

Well all I can say is it was returned and feels better than it was when it was new and the price paid from the repair and service, plus return postage/packing was under £15.00.

So it you have reel that looks like it destine for the bin give John at Reelvalue at call.

Crucian Chronicle

Thought you guys and girl maybe interested in the new annual ezine from the ACA which I have helped produce.

Crucian Chronicles

Gotta Start Somewhere

A late start on a new water is like a kid not being able to open his Christmas presents at 6am on Christmas morning.
So instead of a early morning tench fishers dawn, I had to settle for a tench fishers sunset instead, but I had to find them first.

I had been out on the boat during the week to scout out some likely looking areas but this is a water like none I have ever seen or fished. It is a hybrid of different water body types, in some places its like a broads river, in another section its a farm pond and then you have a mere. To me it id idyllic, one of a kind and a special sort of something that I have lusted after for a good few years, and now I can fish it.

So I was on the bank this time and selected a swim on the broads river and I begun raking spots on the far bank. the cast able weed rake is an invaluable tool for a tench angler, I not a fan of raking out tonnes of weed for two reason 1) it bloody hard word 2) it really not necessary in my humble option.

With the spot raked and the distance marked, the far bank rod was clipped up to the required distance using a piece of electrical tape on the spool. Pinpoint casting was important otherwise I'd end up in the overhanging trees.

The magic of the place is the wildlife, its not uncommon to see a number of birds of prey plus warblers, cockoo's and even the change of a bitten.
On the drive in I had seen a hoby and a tawny owl and that was before I even got to the lake.

With the rod taped up and ready to go the close bank rod 90 degree rig was swung out into position, it was baited with a boilie and fake corn over a mix of hemp, dead maggot, and corn all marinated in its own juices

The far bank rod was to be another bolt ring, but the inline maggot feeder had been changed to a inline method feeder couple with a short hook link baited with three fake maggots on the hair. With the presents of a very active population of silvers, I wanted scent to go in with small morsels of bait rather than a particle bed. The plan was top up the scent with a recast every 45-60 minutes. The feeder dropped on the money and was set onto the alarm.

The third rod out was a simple float rod rigged so I could fish on the bottom using anything that wouldn't attract too much attention from the silvers.

The day was warm and sunny, even with the blustery wind blowing down the lake and control of the float was difficult, but not impossible. What was impossible was to stop the attention of the hordes of rudd and roach which intercepted the bait big or small before it had change to hit the bottom and before long ten or more had been landed and returned.

 With the attention firmly on the float, I missed the first couple of bleeps on the margin rod, this soon change when the bleeps got quicker and the baitrunner spun. Something had self hooked its self and was running along the bank. I clamped down on the spool and the rod took a healthy curve, could it be a good tench or even be a carp. I started to get control of the fish and clawed back line against this weight. The water clarity wasn't good so I didn't get to see the fish until it was underneath the rod tip. The long cream under belly soon gave the mystery fish's identity away and it seem that a pike had take a liking to the fish meal boilie tipped off with fake corn.

I tried to bully the pike into the net as I didn't want to exhaust it. It was neatly hooked in the scissors so a bite off was unlikely, but as the  pike came toward the sunken net, it surge and the hook pulled free.

With the boilie and fake corn still attached and with not much damage, it was swung back out.

The feeder rod had been cast every 45 minutes and hadn't been touched, so the mix had bit of molasses mixed in to give it something else before it went out again.

It was time for tea, and not a cuppa, but the evening meal. A nice tin of curry with some pre prepared rice was on the menu and this was to be washed down with a mug of tea.

The sun was pleasantly warm this evening and it was a pleasure to be there enjoying the sights and sounds of the lake. The hoby had returned, but a barn owl was also out hunting out over the farmland. I watched the barn owl as it swoop down from it hover, but my attention was drawn away by the sound of an alarm screaming. The feeder rod was away and again the spool was spinning. I clamped down on the spool and connected with another running fish, but this felt different and I hoped it was as it felt. The fish stayed deep on the bottom and I couldn't make it out in the brown tinged water what it was. Even the surface swirl didn't give its identity away until the paddle tail broke the surface. It was a tench and a nice one too. I played it carefully not wanting to loose it on my first outing and I had the net submerged and waiting for the tench to come to it. I had the tench near to the net only for it to use its large tail and it was away again. I extended the net so I could reach further out, so when or if I got it close there would be no mistake.

One last surge and it was with range of the extended net and was in.

The next few minutes I just stood looking at the lump in the net. It was hooked neatly in the edge of the mouth and didn't take much to unhook. Next was the weight.

With shaking hands, I weighted it and settled on 8lb 6oz of female tench. Final job was the photo's which I was very grateful of a helping hand.

With the photos done and the tench rested, she was slipped back into the lake and soon gone leaving only memories of the capture.

The next three hours were uneventful and nothing else graced the net anywhere near the scale of the tinca and with the sun setting it was time to leave.

Catch Cult Edition 1 - Review

Well my copy of Catch Cult arrived in a "something for the weekend" brown envelope and with a great sense of joy it was opened and flicked through.

First impression is that we have a quality angling magazine in my grubby mites.

I have now read every article and it didn't disappoint me, in fact it was better than I expected.

The feel of the magazine is great, every time you pick it up, it has a newness to it, like when you get a new car. The editorial is no nonsense and there is a comfortable amount of advertising in it which in most publications is now the main focus of the publications.

The writers are mostly guys ones that I have heard of from my days as editor of the pike pool, from other magazines or books, but some are untried and fresh. The articles that stood out for me was
from the stables of Danny Taylor and John Costello, whom really went to town and produced exceptional pieces of angling literature.

One thing, is it a magazine or is it a book? No its both its a magbook, the readers digest of angling publications. Not as high brow as Fallons Anglers, and not tacky or over run with adverts like some of the mainstream publications, but a happy balance of quality articles, nicely places adverts and stunning pieces from a various angling disciplines.

Looking forward to edition 2 already, so a big well done to Messrs Shallcroft and Mumby.

Check out the website www.catchcult.co.uk

Brenching

The alarm was off and I was up and out of the house like a mad march hare before daybreak.
Well the first part was true anyway.

I arrived at the lake later than planned due to a) not setting the alarm correctly and b) because of the slow old boy taking a early morning Sunday drive on a Saturday.
So it was not at day break that I got to the swim but about 40 minutes after, so I hastily set about getting the spombing due as quickly as possible. The spomb was put to good effect and in quick time two around some 3/4 rod lengths out was baited up. This was then left to rest while I had a quick chat with the overnight carpers. They'd not seen much action bar some mid doubles and I was soon back in the swim getting the rods out.

The first rod out was the reliable in line maggot feeder with a 3" hook link and the second was to be a in line lead baited with a sweet boilie and a PVA bag. Once out it was time for breakfast.
Breakfast has become a bit of a thing of late, gone is the gulping down a bowl of cereal at home, gone is the porridge bot on a winters morning and hello to the bank side butties!
After breakfast and only a hybrid to show for my endeavour, which had hung itself on the size 12 maggot bunch, I noticed that during the many retrieves, on a number of occasions the maggot had either been sucked or taken off of the hook.

The in line feeder rig consists of a in line maggot feeder taped up to reduce the flow of maggots, a quick link, 3" fluro hook link with hook sizes varying from 10-16 depending on whats on the hook or hair. To start with I had used a size 12 with the maggots bunched on to it, but due to the issue of bait being nicked off of the hook I decided to change to the fake baits.
So off with the hook rig and on with the hair rig. The hair had two fake bait red maggots hooked in a V shape rather than the T shape that a lot of other tenchers seem to favour. Whilst I've found the T shape effective, the V shape seem to deter the small silvers.

So with the rig change sorted, the feeder when back out and it brought a near instant result. The bobbin rose and the was pulled tight to the alarm before it dropped back. I connected with something, but it was soon evident that it wasn't a tench and the nodding of the tip signalled a bream had come into the margins.

The bream was soon netted and whilst not a monster by any means, it did show that something was feeding over the baited area.

It was soon returned and the feeder was back out and I settled back to enjoy the sights and sounds around the lake.
A  pair of Great Crested Grebe's were on the water courting in their normal head bobbing manner, three pair of buzzard were using the thermals to climb the thermos, a pair of kestrels were roosting on a branch on an Oak tree.
On the ground signs of plant life were spied and I took a couple of snaps of the wild flowers Primrose and cowslip, were taken around the lake.

Whilst enjoying these sight, it was noticeable that the insect life was not as abundant as previous springs, but this way to due more to the chill in the wind.

After an hour enjoying just being out there the maggot feeder rod was away again. This resulted in another bream taking a liking to the fake bait.

Fake baits are flooding the market and I've noted that with this there is a massive difference in the shape, appearance and feel of them. I'm in the mind that the fake bait needs to feel and look right to fool the fish or maybe its just to fool the anglers so I've stuck with the original and still the best in my opinion.

The morning drifted to midday and a few more bream took a liking to the rubber maggots and it was soon evident that a shoal had moved over the baited area and that they were hoovering it up every last piece of bait. Bream could be seen breaking surface and ever so often I get line bites too.

Just after lunch the boilie rod alarm was screaming and a fish was on the run, but there was one issue, the baitrunner was too slack and the running fish made a tangle mess of the mono before I even got to the rod. I lifted the rod and the fish was already gone. I was left untangling the spool before recasting.

By the time the session end, I had had seven bream and a small hybrid all from the margins, but not a sign of the tench that I had been targeting. With the weather turning milder, I'll soon be able to do short evening session on the pond so I'm hopeful of snagging a few over the coming months.

Back home and preparation are started for the next session and 2kg of hemp was bubbling on the stove.

Catch Cult

Order your copy here www.catchcult.co.uk

Change of Tact and New begining

With the pike now spawning, I decided that this should make the end of the season for them, so a change of species was in order.
Another chance to wet a line came my way and it was back to the pond for another crack at the roach.

The alarm didn't have to sound and I was up and out before dawn. After having a mooch about I decided on a spot were as it had been reported that the larger fish were starting to head there with spring upon us.

I arrived in the car park and not a sole was about, so I had my choice of swims and settle into one that had been kind to me this time last years. It was also a spot would give me shelter if the impending wind starting blowing.

Instead of the usual tactics of ten ball of bait crashing out into the depths, I opted for a little and often approach utilising just the 35g feeders. The bait for the feeders was to be kept simple too, brown crumb, a dash of maggot, and corn plus a lot of hemp.

Whilst I settle back and enjoyed the first brew, I looked out across the water and in front of me was a few grebes feeding and a buzzard cruising on the thermal.

The feeders were refilled and recast in 15-20 minute intervals. It was time for breakfast. It was a bacon butie sort of morning so the new frying pan came out for a trial session. I found this one in the camping section again, the beauty of it is the folding handle . I had suspected that I need to really build up the swim before the first bite would come, but surprisingly I didn't have to wait too long and soon the roach were upon the bait and the alarm sounded giving single bleeps.
With the bacon cooked, the first real bite came and massive drop back of the bobbin that I missed by a million miles.

The morning drifted on and there was sporadic bites on maggot and caster baits, but most of the time the bites were un hittable.
Morning turned to afternoon and I finally managed to get a roach landed.Not a massive roach by any means but a blank saving fish and this was followed up with a few more until the bait ran out.

 What was nice bout this special place is that roach was a species that some would say were in decline on this water, but since 2011 they having been making a come back and it does just go to show that natural can sort its self out if given time.

There is also something new on the horizon with respect to a angling publication. Two very passionate anglers have come up with a unique printed magazine which will appeal to anglers whether they are coarse, game or sea, if the fish for roach, pike, carp there will be articles that everyone will enjoy. So here is a taster of Catch Cult.

Long Time Coming

The blog has been neglected since the last post, this has been for a variety of reason including pike fishing most weekends, long hours at work, studying, DIY, pestering the Environment Agency (EA) with FoI/EIR's and writing for others.

Pike Fishing, So far...

I been fortunate to have been out most weekends for a day on the banks in pursuit of my favourite species since October, but I have been surprised but the lack of sizeable pike considering venues I've been targeting should hold bigger pike.

Most session have rewarded me with a number of pike, but sadly nothing bigger than mid double. This have been
Whilst the size may have been small the average per session is three or four, so that not a bad average considering some of the venues are very difficult.
One of the most memorable session so far was on a local still water. I ventured down for dawn and had decided that I need to catch a few pets to using during the session. It was a bitterly cold day with a heavy frost on the ground and I was expecting a slow day.
Out with a mackerel tail first in area were I'd caught being and a lamprey on a float ledger next to the reeds. The float was just settling on the float ledger when the alarm sounded on the rod baited with the mackerel tail. I wound down and I could feel a weight at the end of the line. After a short scrap a low double was netted. At little over 13lb she was not a monster but was most welcome. The mackerel was still attached so it got chucked out again.

I quickly tackled up the float gear and baited with a couple of maggots. After about an hour, I had a few pets in a bucket ready for the session and soon had one out underneath a float. This plodded around the swim for a while before the float started dancing and then when sailing under. Tightening up a lively jack was soon at the edge and as the trace only had a single treble which was neatly in the scissors it didn't take much to nick it out and release the jack.
Another pet was attached and cast back out.

The float had hardly settled being it was buried again and another jack was soon reeled in and attached. This scenario went on for most of the morning, sling a pet out get a run, attach another cast it out get a run.

It was then the turn of the mackerel tail to have another run and and another jack decided that it would try to swallow a bait half as big as its self. This was soon returned without its meal.
The final run of the day was late in the afternoon on another pet. This time the pike was not a jack but another low double.

Finished the day with seven pike landed and two runs missed. Nothing huge  but very entertaining.


Pestering the EA with FoI etc

For the last year, in the region where I reside, its been noticeable that the EA are simply not spending money on the rivers in these parts. So I wanted to find out more. Que FoI and EIR for some answers and answers is what I got. F*ck all. I'm not going to go into depths as this is forming evidence for a show down with EA, but quite frankly it is a disgrace how much of the rod license money is not going back towards improving the rivers or angling.


Writing for others

I have also been trying to get some answers for an article I've written for Pikelines,which is the Pike Anglers Club quarterly club magazine. The article is about Windermere and its declining pike populations. I was asked by the Club's Secretary, John Currie to find out as much as I could about the water going into Windermere from United Utilities treatment work. The article was published in November 2016.

This has been quite time consuming article and it wasn't helped by the long time its take to get answers from both the Environment agency and United Utilities, but the end result was very rewarding and enlightening.

There is also a new magazine on the horizon so watch the news stand for Catch Cult which is being producer by Rob Shallcroft.

Afternoon & Evening

Haven't had time to write a blog entry as been busy with writing for others and a nasty summer cold so the fishing has taken abit of a breather over the last month.

I did manage to get out for a short afternoon session last weekend in search of some specimen roach.

I arrived at the lake around midday and had a mooch about to see what was about. The weather was warm and overcast with a light blustery westerly wind and soon I found a spot to fish.
Back to the car, grab the gear and mooch back to the swim to set up. With the ground bait prepared at home, was easy to get ten balls rolled and catapulted out about 40 yards were the weed becomes less dense.

It was to be a two rod on buzzer type of day, one on a maggot feeder heli rig and one on a ground bait feeder paternoster rig. Hook bait would be mixed up during the session to see what preference the roach had.

The first rod out was the heli baited up with a couple of maggots and no sooner had the bobbin been attached than it was jumping about with a snared roach attached. This happened a number of times over the next 15 mins and I was surprised the number of baits by the roach, but when I looked out across the water I could see that the roach were boiling over the baited area.

Once there was a break in the action, the second rod was baited and cast out with a couple of casters on the hook.

With the rod settled the kettle went on and the first brew was in my hand, but not for long.
The caster rod was away and a nice roach of about a pound was landed, happy days.

The action on both rods was frantic and not what I expected. In the first couple of hours I must have landed 8lb of roach which on rods on buzzers is quite noisy. With the stamp of roach not being huge, it was time to switch things around and put on some bigger baits to try to limit chances of smaller roach snaffling the bait. So off with the maggot and casters and on with the corn and mini boilie.

The bigger baits did have the desired effect to a point, but whilst the micro roach didn't get the bait even with double corn on a size 12 hook the 8-10oz roach were able to take the bait with relative ease. Meanwhile the boilie remained untouched but I was hopeful that something would take it before it got dark.

Alas nothing did, but it was great to be back out.

PAC Convention 2016

Feeling Rather Proud

Feeling rather proud today, it has been announced that I will be the recipient of the Pike Anglers Club Colin Dyson Award for 2016 in recognition of my work in pike conservation.

I will be presented with the award at the Pike Anglers Club convention 2016 on Saturday 17th September at Kettering conference centre.


Full details of this and the other award winners can be found here:- Pike Anglers Club Awards 2016

Like Buses

The weekend couldn't come fast enough as I was eager to get back out on the bank and fish again.

This time I was more prepared and got down to the waters edge for dawn and spombed the usual sweet mix into my familiar swim.
I did contemplate a different swim on arrival, but having seen more tench in this area then anywhere else on the lake, why go else where.

The morning was warm, but overcast and no one else was about. Perfect. The spombing was efficiently done after abit of raking was undertaken, the swim was rested until everything else was setup and ready.

The rigs were to be the same on the rods, but the bait on the boilie rod was to be the new handmade bait given to me by the bailiff to try whilst fishing fake maggots on the inline feeder rig.

With both rod now baited and cast out, it was time to boil the kettle, prepare bankside breakfast and enjoy the first cuppa of the session.
With the kettle bubbling aware the inevitable happened. The bobbin on the boilie rod was jangling , then swiftly lifted to the rod. Stumbling down the bank, I grabbed the rod as the reel started to spool. Lifting into a moving fish I was confident that this was a tench and that it was making off at pace across the lake. The fish fought well and gave a good account of itself before appearing in the upper layers. It was no tench, but one of the bream the resident bream.
After netting, unhooking and muttering about the slim it was slipped back to continue to pester the tench.


The bait was still intact and it was cast back out and I went back to enjoying the breakfast that was slowly getting cold. Alas it was to go cold, because no sooner had the next spoonful been put in my mouth and the Delkim was bleeping, bobbin was rising and the reel churned. This was certainly no bream. The line sung in the breeze and a paddle tail slapped the surface as it boiled and turned over before taking line. Weed floated to the surface as the tench made a bid for freedom down the margins. The tench turned for open water and was doing its best to shake the hook, but it was within the range of the net and soon in its folds.
Not a monster, but a good size for the water and another over the 5lb mark for the season.
It was soon unhooked and returned with a slap of the might paddle, but yet again it had mouth damage.

The early morning drifted along and the day was turning pleasantly warm. The float rod was un packed and soon I was watching the tip for shy biting roach or hopefully tench.

The float was soon dipping and I connected with a number of hungry rudd, roach and hybrids, nothing to write home about in relation to size but good fun.

Whilst enjoying the float fishing it was evident that there was alot of bream in the area, the bobbins lift and the alarms bleeped, only for the same to happen in reverse on repeated occasions. In between this there would be proper bites and a number of bream graced the net.

Mid morning came and I had a decent run again on the boilie rod, from the head shaking it wasn't another bream and a second tench was hooked. This one played out like the first heading along the margins disturbing the weed beds and then making for open water. Being slightly smaller it was soon in the net.

The pattern of bream to tench is on this water very high, a ratio of 1:10 won't surprise me and they home in on the bait very quickly. On a dawn you can see them rolling out in the middle of the lake, feeding or ascending insects, only for them to move quickly over the baited area with 15 to 20mins once baiting up has finished. These bream do seem to feed first and once they have had their fill, move on which allows the tench and occasion carp to pick up the scraps.
If I could isolate a single component of the mix that was particularly favourable to bream, I'd remove it, but its a simple particle mix with a additional 1/2 pints of dead reds, corn and pellet.

But its not just the fish that like the mix, the resident water fowl likes it too and they too home in on the sound of the spomb hitting the water and it become a game of cat and mouse with them.
I can usually get away with the initial eight spombs, but that next five area the ones where the duck get there fill. There is also the inevitable mix that get dropped or spilt in the margins and this is soon snaffled by the old bill.

The day was becoming hotter and I could feel the burn on the neck through the collar. With the rising temperature the bites steadily dropped off and by early afternoon even the float had stopped dipping so I packed and headed for home.

Long Time Away

Its been well over a month since I wet a line due to ongoing work,life, home balancing act that us anglers have to endure, so it was finally nice to get to the bank.

I had set my stall out for a afternoon/evening session on a local water in the hope that the tench would still be about in the weed beds, so a banquet of spomb mix was mixed up the day before and left to ferment in a sealed bucket ready for bank side.

Upon arrival, there was only one car parked up and I hoped that it wasn't a lone carper with their lines spread all over the place. Thankfully it was a single rod pleasure angler who was happily catching on the float rod.

I setting into my usual swim and started the sweet, sticky spombing process. The spomb is underhand swung out to about 5 rod length out into the weed bed abit like a bait dropper but on a grander scales.
Ten spombs later and the bucket is 90% empty and I can rest the swim before putting the hook baits out over the top.

After a cuppa was brewed, drunk and a chat with the old boy along the bank, the rods were finally baited and placed out over the dinner table. First out was the inline feeder with the fake maggots attached, then the double hair rigged boillies on a bolt rig, with a pva bag with a few free offerings.

I noticed on the last outing that a number of the rigs hooks had become blunted or the link a bit frayed, so it was time for an overhaul.The evening before and whilst home alone, I had decided to ditch the year old tied rigs and re-tied a whole set of new ones in braid, stiff and supple hooklink material in various length, hook sizes and fake bait.

The afternoon was a mixed bag of wind, rain, sun and more rain so the brolly was erected to make the affair more comfortable and allow the stove to cook my lunch of rice and chicken in white sauce.

The third rod was kitted out with a float on the lift method, this was to be fished a couple of rod length out with abit of corn on the size 15 hook. I was hoping that if the tench got muscled out of the baited area that they might be up for taking small morsels of bait closer in and away from the masses.

With the baits out and the sun on my back it felt quite pleasant bar the odd spot of rain, infact it was so nice the Ray Band copies had to come out!

The first fish of the day fell to the float rod and the float lifted like a rocket and lay flat on the surface. I struck and a fish was on, but it wasn't a tench but a plump roach which was quickly subdued and netted. Not exactly what I was after but rather nice to see.

The fish roach was quickly followed by a second and third before the rain came and I decided to sit under the brolly for a bit. The rain fell heavily and ironically the bites started on the maggot feeder rod. The bobbins danced around for a bit before being swiftly lifted to the top and the baitrunner churned. The rod hooped with progressive curve and the fish on the other end made an attempt to pull my string, alas it wasn't big enough to take line and plodded about before hitting the surface and coming in like a wet sack. Alas no tench, but a reasonably sized bream which was unhooked in the net and release without getting covered in slime.

The feeder was refilled and cast back out, whilst I got steadily wetter in the heavy shower, hopefully this was only a passing shower and not a prolonged thundery storm as forecast by the Met men.

Rain was still falling when the boillie rod was away and just as the kettle was boiling too.
The baitrunner was churning nicely and I thought my luck was in with the tench. Again the rod hooped over and again something pulled back, but again the fight was short and un tench like and again it was a bream.

The bream had mashed the double boilies and they were unusable so were replaced with a fresh pair from the pot and cast back out to the dining area.

By this time the rain had abated and I pulled the seat out from under the brolly and recast the float out whilst settling down with the cuppa tea after reboiling the kettle.

I love float fishing especially on the lift method and it fills me with alot of joy, I'm just abit lazy and when the rod was a three piece it hardly came out of the bag. So with the new rod effectively being a two piece, it stays tackled up in the quiver so it can be thrust into action more frequently.

The float settled nicely and I scattered bits of corn around the tip of the float and waited. I didn't however have to wait to long and a small hybrid was soon swung in, unhooked and returned. This was followed by a couple of 8oz roach before things settled down.
The rain came again and went again, this was to be the pattern for the afternoon and  whilst I did land a few nice roach up to 1.1/2lb, no real monsters appeared. As with all roach fishing, the commotion did grab the attention of fishing with a predatory nature and whilst playing a 12oz roach a pike bolted out from the cover of the margin bushes to grab one for their dinner.

More bream came came to the boillie rod and maggot feeder, but alas no tench. But they did give their presence away with some area of pin sized bubbling, so they are still about and feeding.

The bailiff came around for a chat too and he confirmed that the tench were still coming out to the carpers and in particular to higher protein fresh baits which he rolls himself in various sizes.
Upon packing up, a damsel baring gifts appear at the umbrella, the bailiff had sent her up with a kilo of frozen boillies to try on my next session.

They smell quite good, so I look forward to giving them a try.