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.

Sunshine & Rain, Oh and Hail

Well I was penning a piece about a dismal failure on a lovely SSSI, but I forgot to finish the piece and publish it, so I won't bothered.

So instead, I went out with the tench rods again on another chilly April hopeful of more tinca action.

I arrived at lunchtime with a lightened load and trudged along to the reed swim which was thankfully vacant.

The midday sun was shining and I was sweating buckets as I set down the gear to take a walk about and chat with a couple of carpers. Both had seen early morning action from nuisance fish aka tench and I was feeling quite positive about my chances of snaring a fish or too.

After being pestered by bream during my other visits to this particular water I decided to go with a full on particle approach rather than my prefer ground bait. So I baited up an area with a hemp, maple and corn mix which I'd fish over using mini boilies and a maggot feeder.

It wasn't long before I was cooking lunch whilst enjoying a mug of team and enjoying the sights of Black caps, Long Tailed Tits and the resident Robin in the willows.

The bobbin on the maggot feeder rod was the first to rise and soon the baitrunner was spooling with a hooked fish. Nothing massive and a 8oz roach came to hand.

The roach was soon unhooked and returned, only to be followed by a similar sized roach, then a rudd before the feeder had even hit the bottom!

Lunch was cooked and the maggot feeder was attracting alot of attention so was reeled in so I could eat the curry and rice.

After lunch the maggot feeder was put back out, but I changed from a bunch of maggots to a single worm tipped off with a single maggot, hopefully this will entice the bigger fish in the shoal and stop the smaller ones from gobbling the bait.

The inclusion of the worm had the desired affect and the bites dropped off.

The sun was beating down and it was proving to be a pleasant day on the banks, but alas on the horizon was a dirty big black cloud and I was soon erecting the brolly to shelter under from the rain, hail and snow fall.

The hail stones were pinging onto the line and the sensitive Delkims were going nuts.

The storm passed after an hour and I returned back to the sun and with the change in the weather the fish began to feed again. The mini boilie rod was off and with the bait runner churning I was hopeful of a tench, but alas it wasn't to be and the the third species of the day, a bream, was soon netted and unhooked in the water.

The boilie rod was rebaited and another bag of freebie's attached before it was swung out over the baited area, but it found its way over the margin shelf and I could feel it descending into the deeper water. It could stay there fore a while, while I had another cuppa.

The stove was bubbling away and the worm rod bobbin was dancing up and down like a whores draws, before the fish moved off and gave a positive run. Not a roach, but a better rudd was hooked and netted. At a scapper 1lb it was the first rudd of this size I've seen for a long time.

The rudd was slipped back and I noticed a disturbance in the reeds to my left, something was lurching.

The afternoon started to pass and the bites dwindled, but for a scraggy perch (species number 4) that decided that the worm was just too juicy to leave alone. It was a washed out old warrior and looked to be in not to good a state.

Afternoon turned to evening and there was s nip in the area as the sun started to fall, the rain started again and I was wondering when the dash for the car would occur. As the last few drops it the brolly, the worm rod was off again and a nice plump roach was hooked. As the fish came up in the water the reeds rattled and the roach disappeared into the jaws of a predator. The rod hooped over and the 10lb line was stretched before I loosened the clutch a tad and let it sing. I played the the pike for a while fearing that the hooklink would be severed by this toothy predator, but as the pike spotted me, it let go of it price and I was left with a wounded roach.

The roach was full of spawn and bleeding from the a slash across its tail, but it was still alive.

All I had managed to do was bring in both the prey and the predators, but not the intended tench

Happiness

There is something nice about teaching others to enjoy the sport we love, and on a sunny Friday it was my nephew's chance to have a day out.

My nephew, who is now six has been asking for ages to go out and fish again after trips last year. We had tried to go out in March, but it was just too cold for him and the pole fishing trip was soon abandoned.

They only question today was little pond or big pond and he choose the latter as it held a larger variety of fish for him to catch. So after picking him and his lunch up we headed for a commercial club water to introduce him to rod and reel fishing.

We arrived mid morning and the there was a number of others on the water, so were catching and some weren't, but I was confident that I could get the roach and rudd on the feed on a short float line.

I picked a swim big enough for the both of us and I soon had him sat with with a 10ft float rod and fixed spool reel. I started feeding a short line with a mixture of hemp and maggots in order to get the silver fish on the feed. Once he was sat happily watching a float, I decided to set up a rod on an alarm with a 10mm boilie on a bolt rig with a pva bag.The rod was soon case out, placed on the alarm and attach the bobbin, but there was an issue. No bobbin. I rumaged around the rucksack and couldn't find the them and remembered that there were sat with the third alarm in the tackle room. Plan B, make a bobbin. I soon made make shift bobbin using a length of braid, 2 SSG and a bent out quick change clip. Bingo!

In the meantime, the nephew was starting to get bites on the waggler and after a few aborted strikes, he connected with a small roach. Mission accomplished.

Once he had started catching perch, rudd and more roach with uncle help, he wanted to do catch more himself, but that involved more teaching around casting, baiting the hook and baiting the swim. The first few casts where a dual effort, but he soon grasped the idea, just the timing was out and we had a few short casts due to releasing the line to early or to late. Luckily we only had one cast to retrieve the float set up from the tree and he was happy catching steadily.

This left his uncle to muse over the other rod and why were weren't getting any positive takes. I decided to have a change on the rigs hook length and the length of the hair. The hook length was lengthened by 4" and the hair increased to 2". The pva bags were left off and a scattering of whole boilies were thrown out around the baited are near the pads.

15 mintures latter and the first positive take on the bolt rig resulted in a bream with the hook neatly in the edge of the mouth.
Bait was still ok,so it was recast back out and another half a dozen freebie scatter around it. This resulted in a near instant take.This was not a bream and after a short fight a small common carp came to the net. Uncle was happy too.

The nephew continued to fish with my guidance and we soon had him tackling the baiting of the hook with the wiggly maggots. He was a happy lad and was soon doing most of the fishing himself and relishing the challenge of catching a fish all on his own.

Another short run on the bolt rig and another bream came to the net, abit bigger than the first, but this was unhooked at the edge.

The bream had mashed the boilie, so it was rebaited and recast. This time to the edge of the lillies where I spied some slightly bigger carp moving the pads. in the afternoon sun.
We continued to fish the float and the nephew continued to cast roach, rudd, perch and the odd hybrid.
He was started to want to catch bigger and bigger fish, but ever time a larger fish took the bait, he either slacken the line letting his prize escape or pull the hook (must remember to slacken the clutch) and his monster evaded him.

Late afternoon was soon upon us and we were in the process of sorting out a float muddle in the margins when the alarm sounded a single bleep. Then the alarm screamed and the tightened bait runner churned slowly as a hooked fish powered into the lilies.
The float rod and muddled rig was left in the water as I grabbed the rod with the muscular fish attached and the rod hooped over nicely. With full pressure on the fish, I managed to convince the hooked fish to head out into open water and the battle continued. We had it at the net only for it to power off and with 10lb mainline and a 8lb braided hooklink there wasn't much I could do apart for let it tire itself out.

After a epic (nephews word) battle the carp came to the net, but as I slid the net underneath it it powered to the left and into the float gear muddle in the edge. Oh Sh*t, thought, what a pickle.
Bail arm was soon opened on the float rod and we'd sort the tangle of lines out if we managed to land it.

After much heaving and huffing we slid the net under our prize, along with a tangle of float and bolt rig to boot.

We'd won the day and our mid double specimen was on the mat being admired by its captors. After a couple of snaps, our prize was released with a flick of its tail.

We packed up soon after and within ten minutes of leaving the lake, two weary anglers were on their way home. One asleep in the back of the car and one luckily not asleep at the wheel as we heading for home happy for so many different reasons.

TL

Quickie!

A small window of nice weather saw me getting out with the feeder rod at the weekend for a few hours.

After lobbing in a few balls of groundbait, I set about the task of enjoy just being out for a few hours next to the river.

Bites came quickly but most were just rattles of the tip by small roach and even with the 1oz tip and size 18 hook I was struggling to connect.

The wise old river owl next to me came over to offer some advice rig and soon have me changing from my standard paternoster feeder rig to running ledger rig. Rattles became bites and I soon had a handful of small roach and skimmers.

With only and an hour of my session left, I decided to change the double bronzer to a small worm to see if I could increase size of the fish.

Bite came less frequently, but the stamp of fish increased and I finished up with a nice mixed bag.

Sadly no camera was packed, so I only took one shot on the phone.

Getting the "Fix"

Decided to go out on the river for a couple of hours last night to get the "fix" I have longed for, for several weeks.
Even thought I have still immersed myself in angling stuff for the last few weeks with blog updates for others and catching up with correspondence on burning angling issues, nothing gives you the same fix or hit as getting out on a river or lake with the rod

So armed with the UL gear, a bottle of water and a couple of snack bar I headed out for a section of river I'd not fished for a while and certainly not with any real conviction with small lures.

I parked up in the modest car park and grabbed the gear along with the bailiff's card and penalty book and headed off.

First swim was a shallow section where the cows that graze the meadow have created a shallow edge and have created a refuge for this years fry.
I clipped on a HRT small fry crankbait and started casting about the edges. I could feel the lure hopping along through weed and silt from the shadows of the trees and into the light were with the polaroid's I could clearly see the micro predators following it it.

It didn't take long before one of the bigger predators in the shoal to take a liking to the lure.

Good fun on light gear and a welcome sight on a warm barmy evening.

Couple more cast brought a micro pike into the area and whilst he had a couple of hits at the lure, he did stay on long.

Couple for spots tried and lots of micro pike about, must have been a good year for the pike along with dace and roach, plenty of perch too and before long a shoal turn onto the feed and snaffled the crankbait.

I could bore you with loads of picture of the 6oz perch, but I won't. The 2hrs soon passed by and I must have ended up with a dozen perch, a few micro pike and a couple of chub to boot.

Must do this again soon.

Funny Looking Perch

A change of plans saw me whizzing off to the tackle shop for bait for the following morning. I had planned to fish on the Sunday, but a 360 degree turn around of plans saw me fishing on the Saturday instead.

Having had a 2lb and a number of 1lb perch from the small club water, it was time to turn my attentions to a more challenging venue. Saturday morning soon arrived and I head off to the pool for some serious river perch fishing.

After an hours drive I was by the pool and set about setting up the rods and caught some bait.
The dace were very obliging today and I soon had a number in the bucket which should last me the day.

The morning wasn't as forecast and it became apparent that the brolly would be required, but I was hoping it wouldn't be as wet as last weekend.

Once the rain had abated, and with the alarms staying silent, I decided to get the UL lure rod out.
After the breaking of the last Abu Vendetta UL rod and being unable to get a replacement top, I've moved onto another UL rod, a Shimano Beastmaster. It the same casting weight, but Ive already found it to be more robust that the Abu.

The UL was coupled with the old faithful Biomaster 1000x reel with Sunline braid (20lb) and Knot2kinky wire trace (12lb). Now some of you will be saying, "but perch don't like wire" or "Fluorocarbon will catch you more". Well either way, it pike are present, they make easy work of anything other than wire, simple.

Anyway, I tried a number of shads and jigs, before the first hit came to a 3" jig worm on a 2g jig head. The rod doubled over and the clutch whizzed as a pike powered off into the pool, but with constant pressure, the tackle held true and a large single figure pike laid on the mat with the tiny lure engulf in its mouth.

Mr pike was told off for talking a lure intended for perch and was soon bad in the river. I continued with the lures and started picking up some perch to 1/2lb on on jig flies and shads. After a while the rain started up again and I went and sat under the brolly with a cuppa.
The wind was swirling around and it was making life difficult with the bobbins swinging on the chains, so when the dace baited rod alarm started beeping, I thought it was just the wind, until I spied the float sailing away. At first I thought it was a half decent perch on the other end, but alas a micro pike have engulfed the dace, but the size 6 specimen hook was neatly in the pike's scissors.

Micro pike was unhooked and told to go play somewhere else and leave the perch baits along, but I was starting to fear all the baits were going to attract pike and not the targeted perch.

The paternoster was rebaited with a dace and cast back out, then I returned to the comfort of the brolly and steaming cuppa. The rain had stopped and the sun ways trying to crack through the clouds, and with its first rays, the hawkers started flitting about the air above the pool.
The dace baited rod was away again, I had suspected another micro pike was the culprit and tightened up to the dipped float. It went solid and the head nodding fight of a perch was felt on the rod tip.

A spirited fight was upon me and a big framed perch came to the net. Nice. As I lifted the perch out of the net and laid it on the mat, my thought wander back to the 2lber from the weeks before on the still water, another 2lb? It certainly had the length judging by the pocket scales laid next to it.
The perch was slipped into the weight bag, but it only registered 1lb 4oz. I did recheck, the weight but notice that whilst the the perch had the length, it certainly did have the depth.

Still it was a handsome perch and come the winter it maybe a 2lb.

I fished on the rest of the day and whilst I did managed a few small perch on the worms and small lure, they became alot more finiky and I suspected that either the bait fish had moved out of the pool, or an even bigger predator had move in.

On a side note, the Drennan Super Specialist 25 litre rucksack has been put thought the passes since Christmas and I truly believe it to be one of the best small packs on the marked. Drennan certainly make good gear.

I must be becoming abit of a Drennan angler, because I becoming a firm fan of their super specialits 3m landing net pole and also of course the pair of 1.1/4tc avon rods. Its just a shame I had to buy them LoL

Tightlines

We Are Not Alone

Another weekend and another quest for perch was in order. So after sorting out the usual at home and explaining to the dog why he was being left at home today, I ventured out of the house.

The morning was breezy, with slight chill in the air and the occasional drop of rain from the pasting storm. It could go either way, so I quick got the brolly out and packed it into the car, just in case.

It didn't take me long to travel along the back roads and soon I was down by the lake side, but I wasn't alone.
As I approached the bank a huge swirl erupted in front of me and a black shape turned up and over into the lake. I had my suspicions and I followed the lines of bubbles along the margin. Soon enough the monster of the pond emerged again and the shimmering body of a dog otter was eye balling me.
Well, all hell broke loose,  and I began cursing and swearing, whilst screaming like an banshee to try to scare the living daylights out of the fish eating terror that was residing in the lake.
After five mins of demonic behaviuor the smooth criminal had disappeared from my sight and with mission accomplished, I ventured off to my tackle.

All was quiet again.

I soon went about setting up the rods. The first was baited up with a large lobworm on a running ledger, and cast under the trees on the far bank. Bobbin attached, Delkim on and the bait snatching gear was put into action.
It didn't take long half a dozen roach and rudd to oblige and take the bait and soon one was being cast out on a paternoster into the shade.

With the rods baited and carefully positioned, I sat back in the chair with the first cuppa to take in the sights and sounds of the lake. A Green Woodpecker  with its looping flight and screeching call, pasted along the far side in the wooded area, whilst the resident pair of Buzzard had found an early morning thermal. With each graceful turn, the pair gradually gaining height on the column of hot are, whilst offering a reassuring calls to one another.

The morning was still cool, but the first rays of sun started to break above the treeline and cast a shadow onto the lakes surface. All was still, including the bobbins.

After an hour or so of inactivity on the rods, a recast was in order, but with the lobworm looking a little worse for ware, I decided it needed to be changed. The morning sun had defrosted the king prawns and with there pungent smell wafting out of the bait box, it just seemed rude not to hook one up.

Resting back in the chair, I was starting to loss myself in the quiet when one of the alarms starting to wake from its slumber. Those bleeps turned into a continuous tone and the reel fizzed,  but didn't need to strike as the fish was hooked.After a hectic fight, a small Common Carp was landed.

Rebait and recast, but the bait had hardly settled before another carp snaffled the whole prawn. Not quite what I was intending to catch, but it showed that something was feeding other than the small 3" Roach and Rudd.

The other rod was surprisingly quiet, and I wound in to check to see if the bait was still intact, which it was so it was cast back out to the far bank.

Midday came and when and I noticed that other anglers were catching the carp too on various methods from simple float fished bait to zig rigs. With the first bite of a sandwich, the prawn baited rod bobbin was twitching, but suspecting another carp I didn't give it much attention. That was until the bobbin started to rise to the top and the baitrunner started to click. Dropping the salad and chicken sandwich, I struck and felt something other than a  carp.
It didn't take long to have the a solid perch of a pound in the net, but it was a first on a king prawn, so I felt quite chuffed with the change of bait.

After slipping back the perch, and attaching another prawn to the hook, I finished lunch and sat in the midday sun.

By early afternoon, the sun had moved over the lake and the shade was now on the near margin. So sensing the fish were keeping out of the sun, I decided to have a little play with the 4m pole.

I introduce a few pieces of chopped prawn around the float and it didn't take long for a series of small perch to snaffle the bait which was just touching bottom. But along with the perch, there was also a couple of other species of fish.

Fish after fish after fish came to the prawn and in between the crucian's, tench and countless perch, the pole elastic was stretch on a number of occasions by carp in the 3-5lb bracket.

Most were landed, but one wasn't. The float had hardly settled when the float slide away and the line went solid. But as I started to exert pressure on the fish, it move off at a pass and before I could react, the hook pulled.

By 5pm, with the prawns running out and the carp playing havoc with all bar the rudd baited rod, I decided enough was enough and headed for home.

TL

Out with the family

Today was to be a short session with the nephew to catch as many fish as possible. So after a trip to the tackle shop to buy a small 4m whip for him. We ended up getting a lovely pole made by Middy for under 20 quid and also purchased some made up pole rigs.

So with the tackle purchased we headed of to a local lake. We soon parked up and soon was were on the bank. I quickly rigged up the pole and soon had my nephew fishing with the new pole.

It didn't take long for him to catch his first rudd of the day, this was to prove to be one of may along with small roach and perch.

With my nephew happily catching small bait size fish, I decided that I'd snaffle one for the perch rod.

Soon I had a lovely 3" dead rudd out on a paternoster on the far bank and this was set up on an alarm.

So back to the tiddler bashing with the nephew, but after an hour the perch rod was away. After a decent scrap this lovely 2lb 4oz perch graced the net. "What a whopper!!"my nephew exclaimed.

Not bad for a two hour session tiddler bashing session.

Tightlines

Ouch!

With the weather being as hot as it is currently, it was difficult to decided whether or not to fish at all this weekend. But the thought of not wetting a line was a grim though, so an early morning crucian carp session with the float rod was necessary.

I arrived a little later than I want to, but had the lake to myself. Soon I have plumbed the depth and I was depositing some pellets and casters on to the lake bed via a bait dropper on a spare rod.

Some weeks ago, I had been think about how to get a carpet of bait on the bottom without attracting the attention of the large shoals of nuisance rudd that inhabit the lake.
After a chat in the local tackle shop a plastic bait dropper was bought and put into action.

This worked a treat and soon I had a lovely bed of bait out and had the first cast over the top.

It didn't take long for the first nibbles to start on the casters and soon a number of small perch and roach were caught.

After a couple of hours with no sign of the crucian's, I decided to stick a second rod out on an alarm, bait was to be a lobworm cast to the fair side under the tree's in the shade. It didn't take long before this was taken by a perch.

The nibbles on the float was continuing, but this time the nuisance rudd were intercepting the casters on the way down. Time to change the bait to sections of worms. This had an immediate affected and a crucian carp decided to oblige. On light gear a the crucian put up a scrap but was soon netted.

A nice pump crucian carp of about a pound.

With the float gear back out, it was the turn of the sleeper rod to spark back into life and the first of three better fish were landed in quick succession.

Soon the heat started to burn and after the second and last crucian had snaffled the worm section, I decided to retire to the shade and put two rods out on alarms.
I continued with worm on one rod and decided to use one of the deep hooked rudd as a deadbait for the perch. The paternoster had hardly settle before the bobbin was jangling . Having not done must deadbait for perch, I was quiet surprised for this rod to be inaction and made a complete hash of the strike and missed it.
The 3" rudd was cast back out and even before the bobbin had been attached it was nailed. Guess what happened? Yep, missed it. So out it went again. This time the bait settle for 10 minutes or so, but soon the bobbin was jangling and the float sailed away. I lifted into a fish and soon a nice perch of 12oz was landed with the whole rudd in it mouth.

With the perch returned, I realised I had no fish baits, so out with the float rod and I soon had a couple of 3-4" rudd for bait.

A further two 1lb+ perch decided that the fresh rudd where just too nice not to consume, before they too decided it was just too darn hot.

Whilst packing away, I noticed a lots of litter including wrappers, tubs, sweetcorn tins etc. So I had a tidy up. Trouble is one of the tins had a razor sharp edge. Soon blood was pouring out of my finger. Four plasters later, I managed to stem the flow.

TL

It's Been a While, but....

....I have been fishing.

The fishing has been hard for the majority of the sessions I've been on and they haven't gotten any easier since the start of the river season on the 16 June.

Towards the end of May/early June, I was still fishing hard for tench on a variety of waters. Some big, some small, but they only rewarded a 4lb, but lots of bream to the 7lb mark.

The rivers opened and I went out nice and early to one of my local rivers tip fishing. I managed a few fish including roach, perch and skimmers, but again it was very hard fishing.

Since the opening day, I've managed a few short sessions, but alas my reward has only been a few small perch.

The only consolation to it all has been the stunning views of wildlife that I have encountered. From Hares to little owls, from waterboatman to common hawkers, its simply been outstanding.

I did do a spot of crucian carp fishing at the weekend to0, managing two small fish of about a pound. But the highlight was the emergence for my fishing partner.

 Good dog

Tightlines

Lure Anglers Society - Charity Match

It's that time of year when the finest of lure anglers from the Lure Anglers Society (LAS) descend onto Suffolk Water Park for their charity predator match.

The charity that benefits is  Children with Cancer UK .

We arrived nice and early for the 8am draw and the conditions seemed favourable for lure fishing

If you wish to donate, here is the organises (Keith Edmunds) justgiving link https://www.justgiving.com/Keith-Edmunds2

Learning a Lesson

 Sunday was a bright day, but the temperature was cool with the easterly wind not ideal tench weather. So with only a narrow window to fish, I decided that a day on the perch water was in order.

Perch are becoming one of my favourite species and this small water is becoming a challenge. It contains lots of silver fish and carp, but its main predator is the perch and they seem to grow large on the mass of food.

An early morning run along the lanes yielded very little in the way of wildlife, or was it I was just in a hurry and didn't actually notice it (?). 

Soon I was in the car park of the lake with another angler. After a brief chat, we parted our ways and headed off to either ends.

I'd brought three rod out with me, the avons and the new Shimano Beastmaster UL rod. But it was the avons that were baited up with lobworms on running rigs and cast one to the far bank and the other tucked up along the margin. 

Groundbait laced with chopped worm and maggots was placed over and around the rigs and I settled back in the chair to enjoy the sound of the dawn chorus.

The lake had a calming feel about it and all around me the wildlife was making its presents.

The noisy geese that seem to have taken over the lake were even noisier than usual and a group had goslings in tow.

With early morning turning to mid morning with nothing to show for by endeavours, I decided a change was in order. One of the leger rigs was changed over to a float and this was set to just touch bottom in the margin. This was baited with double reds and swing out.

The maggots had hardly started to sink before they were attacked by small, gold flanked rudd.

Soon one of this impaled its self on the hook and they second plan was hatch.

The other untouched bait was brought in and quickly changed over to large chubber float to which a size 6 hook was attached. Bait, once guess, yes the rudd.

Rudd plus chubber was soon out in the left hand margin and I continued to fish for a few more bait sized rudd.

With a few rudd set aside for bait, a worm replaced the maggot and soon a slow steady bite ensure and a small tench found its way to the net.

This was quickly returned and another worm placed on the hook. This soon was snaffled up on the drop and the first perch of the day was landed.

The rudd on the chubber remained untouched along and with prospects of nothing elese materialising on the other float, the new lure rod was put into action.

After going through a number of lures with little joy. As small spoon was hit close to the bank, but this dropped off soon after being hooked. The very next cast and another hit and a perch found its way to the net. Nothing huge, but very welcome on a slow day.

The rudd under the chubber float started to move and dip. Soon this was bopping across the surface and was away towards the a submersed branch.

The fish was strong and was taking line and after seeing it was my quarry, I applied pressure to stop it getting into the snag. It was too late, the perch had gotten into the confines of the branches and was wedged in there. I continued to apply pressure but to no avail, so decided to slacken off to see it if would swim out.
After several minutes, I wound up the slack to find that the rig had come free from the snag, but alas the bait had been spat out by the perch.

I continued with a fresh rudd under the float and the spoon. Nothing else came to the 4" rudd, but a nice perch of just under a pound did fall to a lure to finish off the session.

Whilst it was frustrating to loss a monster from the lake, it did open my eyes to the potential of the place and also the way I need to target it.

Tightlines