December Predators

So December started with my now annual pairs lure match which I organise on the Trent and Mersey canal each year. This year it was kindly sponsored by ecogear and they sent an enormous box of prize goodies especially for the occasion. 18 teams turned up on the day and it was clear from the outset that the fishing was going to be tough. An overnight frost had put cat-ice on the water in some parts and the canal bottom was clearly visible along most of its length.

 

With the extremely clear conditions I said beforehand it would be pike that made all the difference and so it proved with several being landed throughout the course of the match. The perch were being difficult to tempt and overall lengths remained low for the first half of the match. A couple of boats came through late on and people began to catch a few at last knockings. In the end it was won by Vidar Thomassen and Alan Brown with a fantastic 2.7m which was a great result in the conditions.

Next session of note was a trip to Rutland just before Christmas with Potto, Andy and Dave. Conditions were chilly with no wind which meant for a flat calm lake with no drift, casting it was then! We landed on fish straight away and everybody caught within the first 20mins of fishing so we were confident of a good day.

 

Andy managed a couple of lovely 60cm plus Zander both consecutive PBs but as ever these things don't last and the bites tailed off considerably. I had a run of missed bites and lost a couple mid morning but a change of retrieve style finally managed to snare a few small consolation prizes late on. It was Dave and Andys first time out on the ressies and to say they are now hooked is an understatement!

 

 

A few days later I had a window for quick two hour session into dark on a local river which gave me a couple of Perch with shoulders! About time too as it seemed like ages since I last bagged some decent ones! It was tough going and I only had three bites but I made them count at least.

 

Soon enough Christmas was upon us and due to family commitments I was struggling to get out although I did manage a trip to the Severn with Potto where I bagged a fine conditioned Pike from my only bite of a very tough day.

So that rounds off 2016 then! Not a great year for big fish, I've certainly had many better years, but I've broadened my horizons a great deal by trying lots of new tactics and fishing a good selection of different waters at home and abroad . I've fished with old friends and met many new ones in my travels and I feel my fishing has been enormously enriched as a result.

I'm very positive going into 2017 as I have big plans, with various matches and a couple of European trips hopefully on the cards. Outside fishing I have settled into my new job and am looking forward to a house move and a fresh start which I'm certain will carry through into my fishing and help me bank some kippers!

 

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Mega update! I'm back!

Crikey, it's been a while!! A few months back my blog kind of fell by the wayside it appears and it's been one of those things where the longer you leave it, the harder it is to get back into it! I've had one or two ideas to completely change the direction of this blog anyway but until I come up with a format I'm happy with then I shall just update it normally as and when.

A lot has taken place in my fishing and personal life since my last update so rather than giving a blow by blow account which would take forever to write and somewhat bore the reader I shall just put a few pics on with a bit of background info so you can flick through to anything of interest more quickly.

Ok, starting from early summer which is where my last entry kind of finished I enjoyed a couple of cracking days on Pitsford reservoir with the SHUK (specimen hunting UK) lads in pursuit of its predators and it didn't disappoint. Pikewise I never managed anything decent but there was plenty of them to keep a bend in the rod . I did catch some nice perch however and was most privileged to be on hand to photograph a cracking 4lb pb for my buddy Carl and witness another PB in the form of a 24lb pike to another friend steve. The other SHUK lads fared well also with numerous big perch landed on the other boats.

 

 

A trip up to the Lake District to fish an event organised by the Lure anglers society on esthwaite water proved interesting. We camped on the shoreline and got eaten alive by midges but after Potto managed a lovely double figure fish just casting from the bank upon our arrival we were hopeful of a good session the following day. Unfortunately it wasn't to be and we managed just one fish each between us. It turned out it fished pretty hard for everybody and our two modest Pike were enough for third place which was a result considering neither of us had even seen the Lake before! A truly stunning place to wet a line though.

 

 

I also joined a little carp syndicate this year with the intention of getting to grips with the lakes bream population, however, my burgeoning lure fishing obsession got in the way of those plans for the most part. I did mange a couple of trips though and had some nice doubles, no PBs but I have little doubt that I've found the right water to nail my biggest bream at some point.

 

Around this time I got notice that my unit at work was to be closed down as the powers that be decided a move to Scotland with its cheap labour would be more profitable. This threw all my plans into disarray as I had only recently put my house on the market with a view to upsizing. After the initial panic I decided to continue with the house sale and forsake any meagre redundancy payout in favour of getting a new job as quickly as possible so I could get enough time in my new job behind me to enable a smooth transfer into a new mortgage when I needed to. Trouble is the house wasn't selling and finding the right job wasn't easy!

In the meantime on The fishing front it was early July and the Cornish lure festival was beckoning so myself and Carl headed to Cornwall for a long weekend of camping and fishing. Registration at the art of fishing tackle shop in wadebridge was quite surreal, I was five hours from home and it was like being in the local tackle shop, everybody that walked through the door was a familiar face from the midlands!

Our target for the weekend was to catch as many different species as possible and From our base in fowey we covered a lot of spots all around the area from Looe to Mevagissey. The main problem for us was lack of local knowledge, we knew where we wanted to fish but really struggled to get to most of the marks and not being sea anglers whatsoever we knew nothing of how the tides affected the different species. We did manage a few fish though and it was a real eye opener catching fish on lures in tiny rockpools that you wouldn't normally give a second glance to!

 

A couple of weeks later I was in Cornwall again on a family holiday so I got chance to revisit some spots with my daughter charlotte. We had a great time and the mackerel fishing was mental!!

Within a week of returning home I had a couple of successful job interviews and accepted a new role with a company that designs and builds industrial machines for the food industry, I started there in August, things were looking up hopefully!

Soon enough it was time for the opening of two big boys of the UK reservoir fishing scene, namely Rutland and Grafham. I was booked to fish the Zandermasters competition on Rutland to kick things off and I came a very respectable 6th place out of a large field of very good anglers. My target had been to beat last years 11th place and I had blown that out of the water, really pleased.

 

A couple of days on Grafham again with the SHUK and perch hunters lads was next on the list and what a trip that turned out to be! Carl and I really got stuck into the perch and we lost count of how many we caught over the two days, it was ridiculous! Most averaged around the pound mark with numerous twos and whilst the real monsters eluded us I still managed fish to mid three. Carl found some small 3-4lb Zander and seemed to be catching them for fun whereas I couldn't get one to save my life! I even resorted to the same lure and fished right next to his yet still no joy. Some of the other lads in our party got amongst some monster Zander with one boat landing six doubles on one day! Fantastic fishing, no wonder they call it the theatre of dreams.

 

 

Much canal and river lure fishing filled in the gaps between the ressy trips and September also saw my appointment as an ambassador for Japanese lure company Ecogear. They manufacture some great lures and no doubt you will be seeing a lot more of them on here in the coming months. They sent me a few bits to play with and I have to say they certainly catch a few!

Backend of September and early October saw me back in a boat again with my old mate Potto. Firstly a trip to Rutland to celebrate my 40th which turned out to be much tougher than I'd expected. We'd spent a good portion of the day drifting over fairly deep water for very little action indeed, all the usual spots seemed devoid of fish and we were scratching our heads a bit. On one drift we overran into shallower water around 35ft deep and immediately started getting pulls and catching. After this we concentrated on the 25-35ft depth band and caught well for the rest of the day, the consistent warm weather had obviously moved the fish into the shallower areas.

 

The next trip out with Potto was a couple of firsts for me, it was my first trip to the river Severn and my first time fishing a river from a boat, I had no idea what to expect but Potto assured me of a good day and he didn't disappoint! My second cast produced a Zander and from then on we caught consistently throughout the day. Several Pike and Zeds plus a ruck of Perch made for some great fishing and I was amazed to catch fish below the boat in less than 10ft of water. I was previously convinced they would've been spooked straight away but the reality was far from it. Another thing I learned was the need for good boat control, pottos skills on the leccy motor worked wonders and certainly kept us on the fish. The ability to tackle snags from different angles was also a massive bonus and saved us loads of lost gear. After that trip I'm now determined to get a boat of my own now to tackle my local bits of soar and Trent.

 

 

Since then I've had a bit of a grueller on the fishing front, yes I've caught a few littleuns but it's been hard work. The weather has cooled dramatically and all the leaves seem to have come off the trees at once filling up my local waterways with crap.

I did have a fairly impromptu grafham trip last weekend but the wind was horrendous and for the first time since I've fished the ressies I actually got a bit seasick. I don't think anchoring up in the waves helped the situation because I was fine once we started fish the drift again. I lost a good Zander just beneath the surface and managed a couple of decent brown trout but bites were very hard to come by.

 

 

Going forward, I have my own DRAC match to look forward to in December, the LACC predator pairs next week and a whole load of ideas for new waters to try. Oh and my house is finally sold and I'm looking forward to a January move to my new house which just happens to have a fish filled stream at the end of the garden! Tight lines all :-)

 

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The Zander theme continues!

What's this? Another post within a month of the last one? I'd better steady on a bit, don't want to push myself too hard!

Ok firstly, following on from my last entry, I'll just give a quick run down of my Rutland antics towards the end of last month. The first trip I had on there since the Zandermasters was one of our Facebook socials and it proved to be a tough day fishingwise but very enjoyable with loads of banter and mickey-taking. The actual write up of the day can be found on my good friend Phils blog which is well worth adding to anybodies reading list, http://everyday-angler.blogspot.co.uk/ .

Myself and boat partner Nate managed a fair few bites but the choppy conditions is what made it hard work and we were forced to find some slightly more sheltered water in order to fish effectively. Trouble is the fish were out in the wild stuff but despite this we still managed a nice mixed bag of around 20 Zander and Perch between us and, as I always say, whether you catch or not, there's no such thing as a bad day afloat!

 

Talk about greedy!

 

My next trip to Rutland was a bit of a birthday treat to myself and I was joined by my old mucker and regular fishing partner Phil K. on this occasion. Conditions couldn't have been more different for this session than the last one, bright sunshine and flat calm, I wasn't sure how the fish would react as I'd not fished there in such conditions before.

Calm!

 

Out we went straight to our favourite spot in the south arm which was between 50-60ft deep and usually pretty reliable. There really was hardly any wind and when we deployed the drogue in an attempt to keep the boat from spinning around it jus sank straight down! The water was too deep to anchor in so we just sat there dead in the water for a bit.

 

Never a bad day afloat!

Phil struck first blood with a Zander but bites were hard to come by as we weren't moving much. I fined everything right down and eventually managed a Perch at which point a gentle breeze started up, it wasn't much but it was enough to get a slow drift and we could finally start exploring the area.

We soon started hitting fish, lots of them too! The finer tackle made a real difference with bite indication and we had a few double hookups between us. There seemed to be a gully on the bottom stacked up with fish and our drift was taking us along it perfectly.

 

 

The wind gathered strength as the day progressed and our drifts were covering a lot of water. despite having to uprate the tackle to account for the conditions we managed to stay in contact with the fish. We had a dalliance in the north arm for a couple of hours and we did catch but the south arm certainly seemed more prolific so we resolved to spend the rest of the day there.

 

 

By the end of the day we had amassed over 50 fish between us and my shoulder was actually aching from so much hauling! Red letter days like that are always welcome and are one of the reasons that's keeps most of us doing what we do.

The obligatory sunset shot......

 

Tiling the bathroom and other DIY jobs around the house took precedence over the following weekend although I did manage a bit of 'wasping' on the Trent one evening and was pleased to record 28 fish in just 2hours fishing, the practice is paying off!

 

I decided to leave the lure gear at home for my latest trip as I had been meaning to try a certain canal with deadbaits for ages in a bid to find some bigger Zander. I'd never used deadbaits there before so I was going in completely unsure of what to expect.

I started fishing float paternosters but the tow brought on by the nearby locks was akin to the flow on the Trent so I switched both rods to straight leger. I backleaded to avoid the boats and it seemed to work fine although there was a lot of debris being pushed around on the bottom by the tow and boatwash which meant I had to recast fairly regularly.

A good take early on had me striking into thin air but certainly filled my confidence reserves. As the afternoon became evening the boats died right off and my next bite was soon forthcoming. I struck a very stuttery take and was surprised to land a 2lb+ Perch.

 

That was followed around 30mins later by it's brother! Maybe I was onto something here and deadbaits could be the way forward with these better canal fish?

 

Darkness began to close in and I could hear some hefty splashes out in the darkness, sounded like the resident carp were on the move anyway! A very late boat came past which forced me to check the rigs and recast but shortly afterwards my right hand rod was nearly pulled in! After a typically poor fight I soon had a shiny Zander on the bank of 3lb-odd and was most chuffed to have finally got off the mark.

 

I only had one roach left and was in two minds whether to bother casting back out but I thought another half hour wouldn't hurt so out it went. I was just contemplating packing up when I had a couple of bleeps on my right hander once again. I hovered over the rod and 10seconds later the tip properly buckled around and I was in, These bites were mental!

This one definately felt heavier than the last although once again the battle was pretty one sided. When it came up for netting I could see it was much more thick set and I hurriedly slipped the net under it pleased to get a proper one on my first trip.

Canal PB :-)

 

At 6.4 it was easily my best canal Zander and it left me cursing myself that I'd not brought more bait to stay on for a bit longer! It was certainly an interesting trip and I have a feeling I will be back down for more of the same very shortly!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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