Seasons merge

As I write this is now the middle of May and I'm wondering where the rivers closed season has gone! It doesn't seem like five minutes since I was chub fishing on the dove but I realise now it's been nearly two months! Winter has given away firmly to spring and now daytime temperatures are right up we find ourselves on the cusp of summer and the angling delights it brings.

Since my last post lure fishing has absolutely dominated my time on the bank culminating in a pretty significant event in my angling career, more of which I will come onto later.

In these days of being able to fish lakes and canals in the closed season it doesn't seem quite so 'closed ' anymore and, although I long to fish running water, there are still opportunities to be had all over the place.

Towards the end of March I started doing the odd evening session after work on a local canal and it quickly became apparent that the perch were still well grouped up for spawning. There would be long stretches seemingly devoid of anything until suddenly a pocket of fish would be found and several would be caught in quick succession. More often than not these fish would be fit to burst with eggs which was the obvious clue as to why they were shoaling. One memorable evening gave me several half decent fish up to a very creditable 3lb2oz which, for the canal in question, was a true specimen!

I also dabbled in a little bait fishing in an attempt to catch a big perch from a commercial I'd been told about. Sadly, although I caught several small(and spawnbound) perch, the big ones weren't forthcoming and I had to make do with several nice carp and Tench instead. They really pulled the string so I wasn't complaining.

As the weather warmed slightly through April I noticed a lot of nice Trout suddenly appearing on the timelines of some of my lure fishing Facebook friends so naturally I wanted a piece of the action. I wasn't at all sure about the legalities of it all and after a few enquiries I managed to get permission to fish a small stretch of Derbyshire Dove.

If your reading this and fancy some trout action yourself, please note that all angling clubs are different in their rules regarding trout fishing during the closed season with most either being fly only or not allowing it whatsoever so it's worth asking the question before rocking up to the river and starting to chuck lures everywhere. You could save yourself from being banned or ending up in court!

It was an overcast day with a biting wind and the river was carrying slightly but it was good to be back fishing running water again albeit in a somewhat limited way. I started the day fishing tiny jigheads with creature type lures such as micro shrimps and crayfish with little success other than a few gentle taps. As lunchtime approached I switched to a dropshot setup and caught a small browny straight away and I really thought I'd found the method of the day, how wrong I was!

Nothing else happened for an hour or so so I decided to change to a tiny crankbait I had in my bag. It was a mega cheap thing I'd ordered on eBay for about £1.50 and to be honest I'd only brought it along to see what action, if any, it had. As you can imagine I was somewhat shocked when my first cast resulted in a savage thump and a lost fish!

 

Over the next hour I hooked several Trout and the takes were properly violent. I missed several good thumps in various swims but still ended up landing five fish so the day turned out to be a good one after all!

Since the back end of April the lure match calendar has really begun to kick in and my first one for a while was the 1st round of the LACC pairs league which was held at knowle locks on the GUC.

After an initial gamble didn't pay off, myself and partner in crime Carl had to think on our feet as we were seriously trailing behind the leaders at the halfway point. Eventually we managed to find a few tiny Perch to amass a total length of 2.38m for a hard earned 4th place overall which gives us some decent points to build on throughout the rest of the series. 11 points puts us in 5th place leaguewise at the moment but it's tight so still all to play for!

My most recent match was the International lure challenge run by the CRT and angling trust building bridges initiative. Teams from England, Poland, Romania and Lithuania were to battle it out on the GUC at leamington with prizes for both team and individual glory.

To be honest I wasn't sure about this one as my only previous dealings with Eastern European anglers was from a bailiffs point of view if you know what I mean! The point of the match was integration with a competitive edge and Each competitor had to team up with a member of one of the opposing teams and in my case I drew a Polish guy called Robert who turned out to be a really nice chap as it happened. There was over 70 anglers on an 8mile stretch of canal, the weather was set to be a sunny scorcher and the boats were out in force before the match even started,this was going to be tough! To add to the difficulty there was minimum size limits on qualifying fish, 20cm for Perch, 25cm for Zander and 45cm for Pike, anything under these sizes wouldn't count.

 

Fortunately we were drawn 4th or 5th out of the bag and got an early start. Seeing as the stretch was so long the organisers allowed driving so I persuaded Robert to head straight to the car and we headed straight to a spot I knew would hold a few. Great minds think alike because my SHUK teammate Carl and his Romanian partner were already at the spot when we arrived!

The size limits meant that wasp fishing was out of the question so my opening gambit was to be dropshotting 3inch plus lures in an attempt to find some Zander. 90% of the opposition seemed to be using 2-5inch shads on jigheads so I figured the different presentation of a dropshot approach might make the difference especially with the bright sunshine. The lure up off the bottom creates more of a profile in the murk for the fish to see, that was my thinking anyway.

I hooked on my lure as I approached the canal, dropped it in and had a sharp pluck within seconds which resulted in a 22cm Perch, a great start I couldn't believe it! Next spot I tried was a similar story and 37cm Zander was hurriedly netted and quickly followed by a 25cm fish! 30mins into the match and my length was up to 84cm already. Our team was keeping in touch via Facebook and it was quickly apparent that very little else was being caught.

 

As I expected with the boat traffic the canal got very coloured very quickly and the fishing became mega tough all round. I was keen to build on my early good start however and kept plugging away at it. Over the next four hours I had just 4 bites which, fortunately resulted in 3 more qualifying Perch included 2 over 30cm.

At 7hours the match was a long one and with 2 hours to go I was on 1.74m total length. The towpath was exceptionally busy with walkers and cyclists and by mid afternoon the fish had all but switched off, I really couldn't buy a bite and dispondancy was setting in a little. I knew I had a good total as the information which was creeping in was telling me that most were struggling badly. A Romanian guy had found some Zander though apparently as had a polish chap who had jumped in my original spot and camped there. I was kicking myself for leaving it but I had found fish elsewhere so couldn't be too upset about it, a look at his total gave him 1.63m so I was just in front! A 69cm Zander was reported as I headed back to base but I was quietly confident of a top 10 result.

As people rolled in it turned out that one or two people had a few fish but many more had really struggled and even blanked. I started to get twitchy as several people reported multiple Zander catches. I tried to sit back and relax with a beer as we all waited for the results to be announced but it was no good, people kept telling me I was in the lead and the tension was killing me!

Finally, after a few group photos, the individual results were announced. Third place with 1.63m is ............... Blimey! I was Second! .........second place with 1.66m is ........ Bloody hell! Bloody hell!!! ..... First place with 1.74m is ........ I was already in a daze and My teammates were already shaking my hand as they announced my name, I don't even remember walking up to accept my prize I just remember standing there grinning like a moron with a certificate and the best part of £300 in my hand, speechless was an understatement!

So there it was, my first ever match win! The only comparable feelings I've had before in my fishing was when I caught my first 30lb carp and my first 4lb Perch!

Despite my win and Carl managing a fantastic 4th place overall the English team was beaten back to third place behind Poland and Romania in the team event. Everybody had a laugh and an enjoyable day out of it however and I would certainly attend next years event if given the opportunity again. In the meantime I have new rods to buy .......... :-D

 

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Back to some proper fishing - part 2

....... The next evening I found myself on yet another different area of Trent in pursuit of a Barbel. It was quite late by the time I arrived and I didn't get much time to setup before dark. Straight away I was getting taps on the rodtip so there was obviously fish out there.

I didn't have to wait long to get an idea of what they were however because within minutes a large bream rolled out in the middle where my baits were, then another and another, the place was alive with them!

It didn't take me long to catch one, a typical Trent stamp of 6-7lb, and realise that I would be struggling to catch a Barbel amongst them. It was too late for a move so I resolved to stop till around midnight and hope a whiskered beast would be able to bully it's way through.

Of course it wasn't to be and after catching a more than respectable bag of several Bream to 8lb2oz I packed up still frustrated at the lack of barbellage. Looking at my records I now realise that I've never done great for Barbs at this time of year and my best results by far have come in late august through till early October, I'm not giving up just yet though!

I decided upon something completely different for my next trip as I'd recently acquired permission to fish a very private estate lake. I had no idea what to expect and even the gamekeeper couldn't tell me a great deal other than he reckoned there might be some carp and tench in there. The only way to find out was to fish it I guess so I planned a short Saturday afternoon session on there.

Armed with bread, maggots, sweetcorn, worms, ground bait and pellets I think I had all bases covered and upon arrival I settled into a nice looking corner swim fishing off a boat jetty. It was overcast but very muggy and a lot of Rudd could be seen milling around under the surface. A couple of balls of groundbait introduced alongside a overhanging tree soon turned that area of the swim into a jacuzzi as the tench homed in on it.

A good plumb around revealed that the lake was no more than 18inches deep all over and after casting a grain of corn into the jacuzzi it didn't take long to get an enquiry. A small Tench was soon swung to hand and that was followed up by several more and some Rudd aswell.

 

After around half an hour I finally managed to hook something a little more substantial which turned out to be a small carp. Well so far the lake certainly wasn't what I was expecting, it was stuffed with fish but they were all small!

 

I could see some bow waves and other signs of larger fish moving out in the middle of the pool so I decided to setup a small bolt feeder rig baited with a large pellet in bid to catch something better.

I placed the rod down on the edge of the boat jetty and before I even turned away the tip was pulling round! After a spirited scrap another little carp was soon netted.

 

And so that set the tone for the next 3 hours, cast, catch, net, rebait, cast, it got to the stage where I wasn't even putting the rod down, I just held it till it pulled round. It was still very shallow in the middle because every bite resulted in a splashy swirl out where I'd cast to.

 

I even attempted to fish two rods at one point but gave that up as a bad idea after three double hookups on the trot! The place was absolutely heaving with small stunted carp.

 

Eventually I ran out of bait and although I'd just had one of the maddest few hours fishing of my life it was a bittersweet end because I was almost expecting such an old estate lake to hold some really special fish. I'd enjoyed my trip on there though despite small carp not really being my thing, every one pulled like a demon and every one had a perfect mouth and was in great condition, certainly a lake to rival any commercial I've ever fished.

Anyway, having had my lake fix, I was soon back on the river with the lures for my most recent trip .....

 

 

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Filling the void

All of a sudden the closed season is upon us and, for me at least, that time when something is badly needed to fill the angling void between the rivers shutting and the weather warming up for the summer species. Ordinarily I'd turn my attentions to bream and tench at this time of the year but a total lack of preparation and a reluctance to revisit waters of the past has conspired to put a dampener on things a little. Instead I decided to split my time between carp and lure fishing until hopefully a flash of inspiration or a better offer came along!

On the carp front things have been exceptionally slow, in fact as I write, a month into the closed season my tally stands at just a couple of fish to mid-double figures.

It's not for lack of trying though and although they've started to show on my regular water they've proven incredibly hard to tempt. Some Other anglers have reported catching one or two but the vast majority, myself included, are going home with dry nets which is most frustrating! Whilst we have had some warm sunny days it has still been very cold at night and the sunshine I think has put me into the mindset that everything should be feeding but in reality I think they are still only just waking up after the winter.

On a trip last weekend I suffered a lot of liners which told me there was fish moving about around my baited area but it wasn't until the evening when I finally received a proper take which turned out to be my first tench of the year, which was nice, but it wasn't my hoped for carp!

Even the lure fishing has been tough! I don't know what's going on with the perch of late but they certainly aren't in their usual areas and seem to be very finicky when it comes to feeding. I've caught a fair few of course, mostly on the dropshot, but certainly not as many as I was expecting from the conditions. Other lure anglers I've met on the bank have been struggling too so it's not just me.

 

The canal I mostly fish has been very coloured up due to the sudden increase of boat traffic brought on by the warmer weather. As a result bites have been hard to come by and lure fishing in coloured water never fills me with confidence at the best of times. To this end I started to think about what other attraction could be used to attract the fish to my lure besides action and colour and decided to experiment with rattles. Obviously, to get the loudest rattle, I would need to go down the hardbait route and after a bit of research (and asking those in the know) I settled on a couple of rapala and bill Lewis patterns to try.

My most recent session was to be my first with the new lures and upon arriving at the canal it looked fairly coloured and good test for the lures attraction. The first cast gave me an opportunity to check the rapalas action which proved to be what I can only describe as a rapid shimmy! On the next cast I was just admiring the feel of the lure through the rod when a gentle tap had me striking into a nice fish, result! It proved to be a Zander of around 4lb but as I fumbled about with the landing net it threw the hook leaving me somwhat disappointed! I needn't have worried though because a hefty thump right at my feet on my next cast saw me land another Zander of around 2-3lb .

After that I began to struggle with all the debris which was floating in the canal because my lure was like a magnet for it! More often than not I was bringing back twigs and other rubbish so, having already proven my rattle theory to myself, I decided to switch to the dropshot setup and went on to take around a dozen small perch over the course of the morning.

I've got a fair bit on at work and home over the next month so time will be limited but fishingwise I've got a few ideas in the pipeline so I'm hoping things take a bit of an upturn and I can start banking a few more!

 

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An interesting new pool

I managed to find a new water for this weeks briefest of fishing trips. Rumour had it there are some nice crucians and Rudd to be caught there and with no king carp present whatsoever to ruin things I figured it might be worth a look. I only had the afternoon to fish and upon arrival at the lake I was a little disappointed to see a sign stating the gates would be shut at 8pm on the dot which meant I had even less time to get a feel for the place. It wasn't very encouraging either when the three anglers already fishing told me they hadn't had a bite between them and that the lake was hard going at the best of times!

Nonetheless I pressed on regardless and set up in an inviting looking spot next to a large reedbed. Floatfished maggots was my plan of attack but that soon fell to pieces as the lakes entire population of baby Rudd appeared to be in front of me and were ravenous. No matter what I put out baitwise they were literally boiling on the surface for it! I was finding it hard to believe that the other anglers hadn't had a bite, this was ridiculous!

I had to find a way through the Rudd and after a good root around in my kit bag I found a mini pepperami stick. I upped my hook size and soon a small chunk of the questionable meat product was fishing away happily and Rudd-free out in front of me. The float still bobbed about as the little Rudd attacked it but I decided to sit on my hands until a proper bite materialised.

I didn't have to wait long and soon enough the float buried and stayed buried. A swift strike had me latched into something quite substantial and I got a brief glimpse of a nice bream just beneath the surface before the hook pulled. At least it proved there were one or two decent fish out there in front of me.

My next bite came pretty quickly and again it was a nice fish. A flash of gold in the murk had me thinking but when it surfaced I was pleasantly surprised to see a sizeable Rudd roll into the net. It looked worth a weigh and at 1lb8oz it was the best Rudd I've caught in ages. Theyre pretty thin on the ground in my part of the world!

After that the bites kept coming, I was having to feed pretty heavily to get the loosefeed through the little Rudd to the bigger fish below but over the next hour or so I managed to latch into a trio of bream in the 3-5lb range which were good sport on the light float gear.

As the sun got lower in the sky I was becoming more and more aware of the time and that gate being locked. I was really hoping my next bite would be from a chunky crucian but when it came and I struck into something which made for the far bank at a rate of knots I wondered just what it was I'd hooked into.

The fish pulled like a demon and I have to confess I actually thought it was a carp all the way through the fight until it surfaced at my feet ready for netting. I've caught many many tench over the years but never one that pulled like that fish did, it pulled like a barbel and upon inspection it was shaped like one too! Long and lean it wasnt a monster but was certainly a worthy adversary.

Another tench and a bream shortly afterwards pretty much brought my session to a close and I packed up full of ideas on how to approach the place next time. I've since heard that one or two monster perch reside in there aswell, no doubt growing fat on those tiny Rudd, so a return trip is a certainty!

Incidentally the other anglers who blanked were all fishing pellet on the method feeder out into the middle of the pool. I'm told that's the going method on there but the only other guy to catch was fishing the float down the edge like me, strange that :-)

 

 

 

 

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Crystal clear!

As is usual these days I was very limited for fishing time this weekend and could only squeeze a Friday evening session in. All week at work I'd been thinking about where to go and my mind kept thinking back to a local gravel pit where I'd caught the odd tench whilst carping. It's not noted for its tench but I just couldn't get it out of my head and I decided to set myself the challenge of catching one of its red-eyed devils by design on the float.

The weather was sunny and well over 20degrees by the time I got lakeside, carp were cruising about on the surface all over the place and there was millions of those little white fluffy seed pods carpeting the surface. A walk around the lake didn't fill me with confidence tenchwise, the water clarity was like tap water and it was like looking into a swimming pool. Apart from a couple of small jacks and a few carp nothing else was visible, not even any fry, I was stumped as to where to start. Another walk around and I decided to setup in a swim where the marginal reeds extended out into the lake a little bit further than the rest . I could still see the base of the reeds furthest out clear as day with the Polaroids and there were definately no fish there! Hopefully with a bit of stealth and baiting up I could tempt something in from the deeper water further out, that was the plan anyway.

Shockingly, when I plumbed up off the end of the reeds I was surprised to find it was 7ft deep and I could actually see my plummet on the bottom! At that point two nice tench swam past within feet of my float which did wonders for my confidence. I baited with a mixture of hemp, corn and red maggots and settled back into the reeds to await events.

A biteless hour later and I gingerly stood up to check out what, if anything, was going on in my swim. All my bait was still there untouched. Earlier I'd watched several carp come through the swim but not one of them even paused as they passed near the bait, maybe I'd got it all wrong?

As I racked my brains to work out what I needed to do, the weather began to cloud up a little and my fortune changed for the better. The float bobbed and shot under and my strike met with a formidable adversary, I stood up just in time to see the back end of a large carp disappearing into the depths on the end of my line. The outcome was inevitable really and within seconds I was reeling in a very much straightened size14 hook.

Within minutes of recasting another carp was hooked and lost, at least they were eating the bait! With the sun still hidden behind a thin layer of cloud my float wouldn't keep still and again I stood up for a quick butchers. This time there was a couple of large Carpy tails waving at me from a thin cloud of silt and at that exact point the pair of them suddenly bolted out of the swim and one of them was attached to my line! I actually played this one for a couple of minutes before once again the hook pulled.

I thought about beefing my gear up to land a carp but knew that doing so would seriously damage my chances of getting a pickup from a tench in the clear water. I was using 6lb mono straight through to a size 14 heavy gauge hook, I didn't dare go heavier. The disturbance from the carp had put a little more colour in my swim at least and with two hours of daylight left, time was fast running out.

The next bite was a much slower affair. The float bobbed a bit, nearly going under but not quite before eventually sliding away properly. My strike met with something much more tenchlike, thump thump thump right from the off. Sure enough a nice male tench was soon nestling in the net and at 5.2 it wasn't a baddun either, mission accomplished!

I managed to foulhook a carp in its tail shortly afterwards which gave me a good run around before swimming into the reeds and snagging me up and then, Just as the light began to fade, I banked another tench to round the session off.

Considering the water clarity I was surprised to get as many bites as what I did to be honest. I think the cloud cover helped a lot as did the carp stirring the bottom up a little. I know how I'm going to fish for the carp next time I'm down there that's for sure, float fishing maggots with a barbel rod and 12lb line should bag me a few I think!

 

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Bank holiday bagging

The bank holiday weekend was upon us I was stuck for somewhere to fish. I fancied a day out catching quantities of fish as opposed to quality ones but really didn't fancy catching loads of carp. I have three regular tench bagging waters but for one reason or other they weren't fishable on this occasion so I needed to find somewhere else. A quick Facebook appeal and internet search gave me a few ideas and I eventually settled on a reservoir on the outskirts of Rugby which, to be honest, I'd never even heard of before let alone fished.

A little digging and some good advice from friends who had fished it gave me a solid platform to start from and I was pretty confident of a good day. Phil joined me and although neither of us knew what to expect we were both looking forward to fishing a new water.

We arrived nice and early at the lake to find a few carp anglers bivvied up in the popular areas so we headed up to the other end which was empty. My chosen swim gave me an easy chuck to some reedy bays which screamed fish and soon enough I had a couple of method feeders in position, one baited with maggots, the other with mini boilies.

The first couple of hours were fairly uneventful apart from a couple of liners and a bumped fish on the maggot rod. To be honest it didn't look great, bright sunshine, clear water, no fish showing, the only saving grace was the healthy ripple on the waters surface. News filtered around the lake that everybody was struggling so I decided a change of tack might be called for because this wasn't anywhere near as prolific as I'd convinced myself it would be!

I'd had a tipoff about using dog biscuits as a bait there and fortunately I'd had a pot of them glugged in dynamite baits source liquid since last year, this was a good opportunity to try them out. After a little thought about how I was going to present them I opted for a kind of scaled down naked chod-rig. Once tied it looked the part and seeing as the reeds hadn't produced, I belted it out into open water where it was a little deeper.

It didn't take long to get a bit of interest and a searing run resulted in a lively little tench which pulled well above what it's actual size indicated!

Two more fish in quick succession had me setting up another mini chod and putting it in the same area as the first. The action really began to heat up from then on and even though I lost a couple, my tally really started to mount up.

Going into the afternoon The action continued and I even had a couple of double hits, landing a fish on each rod at the same time. The fish in there must have soft mouths because I lost a fair few to hookpulls despite changing my rigs for fresh ones after every couple of hookups.

Eventually by late afternoon the tench action had slowed to non existent. This wasn't the end of it though because the bream had arrived in place of the tench and the bobbins continued to fly albeit mostly from liners!

By the time I packed up I'd lost count of how many fish I'd had but my aching shoulder was a good sign that I'd had a good few! The day had passed as a blur of hauling fish, baiting up and tying rigs, I was knackered! Rightly or wrongly I'd retained a few of the later fish in a keepnet to photograph for posterity and was quite surprised how many I'd caught, certainly a venue I will visit again next time I need a bagging session!

 

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Ton-up Tenching (and Breaming)

Thursday

 Flushed with success from the session of the previous day i met up with Rob back at the Tench lake to see if any more specimens could be tempted. The wind was quite mild and we setup with it coming towards us even though torrential rain had been forecast. It actually started spitting as we made our first casts and it got heavier and more persitent as the day wore on.
Within half an hour my indicator began to twitch and i struck into my first fish of the day, a Bream of 6.8 which set the precedent for the rest of the day really. Bream after Bream fell to my rods and id already caught five of them before i even caught my first Tench of the day, a fish of over 5lb.
The action was pretty much non stop throughout the entire session, the fish were really on the bait and on a couple of occasions i had double hookups. Rather than bore you with the details of every fish captured heres the session in numbers;

28 fish hooked in total,
23 landed and 5 lost,
13 Bream to 7.14
9 Tench to 6.6
1 Perch

The Tench averaged over 5.8 and the Bream averaged over 7lb which means based on the averages i had over 140lb of fish, certainly  more if the ounces were added up. Pretty good going and although nothing big was caught it was a hugely enjoyable trip. Theres nothing like a good bagging session to restore some confidence!

Heres a couple of pics from the day;

Friday

I was in two minds whether to bother going today but i still had bait to use up and my old mucker Phil said hed drive so how could i refuse? Rather than heading back to the Tench lake we decided upon a days floatfishing for Crucians to break things up a bit.
Theres a distinct lack of Crucian waters in our area and we were racking our brains as to where would give us a good chance of a few pound plus fish and maybe bigger. Nowhere sprang to mind until i remembered a pool which i used to Perch-fish a few years ago. Id had a couple of Crucians on lobs in the winter there and they werent a bad size so we reasoned it was worth a look.
Its a tiny pond of probably 1/3of an acre but its deceptively deep and has some nice beds of lillies dotted around it. Today the wind was howling across it and the imminent threat of rain was hanging over us so we got setup as quickly as possible. Upon plumbing the depth i had around 7ft of water next to the pads and it was here i decided to fish. I had Bread, Corn, Maggots and groundbait to throw at them and it wasnt long before i started to get a few indications.
The fish were proving to be extremely finicky and despite getting lots of knocks on the float, full blooded bites were pretty thin on the ground. The had rain arrived with a vengeance by now and the wind had really picked up making for some nasty conditions to be floatfishing in.
I eventually started to pick up a few Roach on breadflake and they were of a  decent size too with some nudging a pound. After a while i hit my first Crucian of the day, not big at around 12oz but it was the first of its kind ive had in ages so i was quite pleased with it. Another slightly bigger sample came along shortly afterwards and that weighed in at 1.3.
After that the fishing got tougher and bites even harder to hit, Phil did catch a Crucian of 1.8 but that was it as far as they were concerned for the rest of the day. Despite having to work for every bite i enjoyed the session and Id like to go back in more favourable weather conditions to see if theres anything of any size to be had there.

A new PB

It was around ten oclock in the morning by the time i arrived at the Tench lake and a quick look around told me there was only three other anglers on. This meant i had a choice of several swims but reports from those who fished the previous day werent exactly encouraging. A few fish had come out but by and large it turned out that most had struggled and the fish seemed to be very localised in certain spots around the lake.
The wind had changed direction since Mondays visit and seemed fairly mild, the sun too was shining as i made my way around to a couple of swims on the far side of the water. I picked a spot, got setup and cast in . No sooner had i done so, a chap with a chainsaw started cutting some trees up about 30 yards behind my swim, Jesus it was noisy! I stuck it out for all of half an hour before moving to the next swim along slighty further away from the commotion.
A couple of actionless hours later the din ceased so i decided to head back to my original spot as something about it seemed to look right. Shortly after my move, chainsaw boy started up again but this time it was to be short lived as the heavens decided to open and he decided to bugger off thank god. The rain continued on and off throughout the afternoon, not too heavy but enough to keep the water dripping off the trees around me and soaking everything.

 How do our baits compete with this lot??

Whilst i waited for a bite i got to having a look in the margins to see what kind of natural food the lake contains, there must be something in there which makes the Tench so much bigger than the majority of the other lakes in the area? Within a couple of minutes id found a good selection of titbits right beneath my rods and i dread to think at just how much other natural food the lake holds.
At around 3.30pm i decided to change tactics as my boilie and PVA stick approach obviously wasnt doing the business today. I changed a rod over to a maggot bolt feeder rig and cast it back out. Twenty minutes later i had my first bite of the day and after a decent scrap i landed a Tench of 5.8. She was very skinny and looked spawned out despite the fact that there has been no signs of them spawning in the lake yet, nevertheless it was a fish and it got me off the mark.
A thunder storm followed soon afterwards accompanied by some very heavy rain which turned my swim into a total mudbath. I dont know whether the drop in air pressure had anything to do with it but the storm seemed to have a profound effect on the fish as , no sooner had it finished, i had another bite which resulted in a nice Tench of 6.12 which was followed within minutes by an even better fish of 7.8.

7lb8oz, my session was looking up!

My next bite was an absolute screamer and i was backwinding from the second i hit it. The power of the fish told me it couldnt have been anything other than a big Carp and i really couldnt do anything with it on such a long line. I really leaned into it to try and turn it and the hook pulled. 

A mad spell of action followed and i went on to catch more Tench of 6.8, 6.5, 6.3 and 7.10 aswell as losing three others. All the fish were females which i found odd as males seem to dominate most catches on the water.  Unfortunately the pics of the 7.10 turned out shite cos of the wet weather but i neednt have worried because the lake had definately saved the best for last!

It was around 8.15 and my session was rapidly drawing to a close when i recieved a slow and steady take on my right hander. I struck into what felt like a heavy fish and after kicking about in the open water for a minute or so it began to kite towards some snags. I could feel my line grating on something and the fish swirled just beneath the surface. Although everything was still moving I decided to change my angle of pull and was most relieved to feel the line ping clear of the unseen obstruction. The fish came across the open water without incident but when i got it close in it made for an overhanging tree to my left and managed to get the line hooked around a branch. Fortunately i managed to  reach it with my landing net pole and tease it off, no mean feat with one hand whilst holding a rod connected to an angry Tench with the other!

Once netted i knew it was a decent fish but it wasnt until i lifted it out of the water that i realised just how decent! i lay it on the mat, unfolded the net and stared! the fish was enormous and i was 100% certain i was looking at a new PB. When the scales slammed round past the 9lb mark and settled on 9lb5oz i was stunned, this was the fish id put the hours in for, one of the tiny handful of lumps in the lake which keeps even the most seasoned specimen anglers coming back for more year after year.

 9lb5oz, a new PB

After putting the fish back i didnt feel the need to cast back out and fish on despite there still being feeding fish out there. The sun had finally come out and the lakes surface was like glass, the occasional green back gently broke the surface and patches of pinprick bubbles could be seen here and there. It was all in complete contrast to the hellish weather id experienced over the previous few hours and was a great backdrop to end my session to.

Jubilee Tenching - Its starting to come good!

This week i have mostly been fishing for .....er, Tench surprise surprise. The permit setup on my favourite Tench water has changed dramatically this year with only limited season tickets being issued . Fortunately ive managed to secure myself one but it only recently came through which means ive been going at it hell for leather to try and make the most of the tiny window of opportunity to catch a lump or two.
My first trip back to the water was a Thursday evening and i met up with fellow SVSG member Rob on the bank at around 5.30. I dropped in next to him but shortly afterwards another angler whod just packed up from further along the bank came by reporting a good catch of 11 fish. There was obviously a few fish moving up there so Rob and i moved around to try and grab a slice of the action.
After about half an hour the wind dropped and the lakes surface became flat calm which was great for spotting bubblers and spot them we did. Straight out in front of me at about 40yards we could plainly see a couple of good patches of bubbles fizzing up so i quickly moved a rod onto them. 10 minutes later, just as i was extolling the virtues of casting to signs of fish, the same rod hammered off and a smallish Tench of 4-5lb was quickly landed.

Its good to be back!

That proved to be all the action i was to recieve that evening, Rob too ended the evening on just one fish and we were both slightly bemused as to why it was so slow, conditions seemed perfect.

My next trip was to be a full day session on the Saturday and upon my arrival i was most surprised to see only one other angler present as i was fully expecting it to be packed. There had been a good few fishing on Friday and quite a few fish were landed so i was hopeful of a good day.

Hoping for some action

Once i finally got settled in a swim and fishing it took a good couple of hours before i had any indications. A drop back on my left hander resulted in a hookup but straight away i could feel the line grating through something. Within seconds everything had locked up solid and despite my best efforts to free it i ended up winding in minus my rig. I quickly retackled, recast and spombed some bait out.

Hour after hour ticked by with nothing happening whatsoever, the place looked dead. The weather had taken a turn for the worse and aswell as there being rain in the air the temperature had dropped dramatically too due to the cold wind. It was 3pm and i was just considering packing up when i suddenly had a bite and struck into a fish. The excitement was pretty shortlived however as the hook pulled after just a few seconds leaving me feeling gutted.

I had the very real prospect of a blank hanging over me but i thought that lost fish might herald a change in my fortunes so i decided to delay my pack up for another hour or so just in case. I was glad i did as, twenty minutes later, i finally landed a fish! it was around the same size as the one i had on Thursday evening and i was well relieved.

Two bites in quick succession was a good sign and an exchange of texts with Phil who was further along the bank revealed that he too was starting to get some action aswell. Mine continued another 20 minutes later when i recieved a slow run on my right hander. This time my strike met solid resistance and i knew from the lack of head shaking that i was into a good fish. It kited around some pads to my right and then buried in them, i had no choice but to bully it hard to get on the surface so i could pull it over them. The fish rolled on the surface amongst the leaves giving me a good look at it and i prayed it wouldnt fall off. Thankfully it didnt and my first decent Tench of the year was soon in the folds of the net. She went 8lb2oz and was a just reward for trusting my instinct and staying on despite the fishing being a grueller.

A lump at last, 8lb2oz

Nothing else was forthcoming over the following hour or so and the weather began to close in a bit so i headed home already making plans for my next trip down.

Bank holiday Monday was my next chance to have a crack at the lake and, anticipating a lot of other anglers getting down there, i set off extra early to try and bag a swim. I neednt have worried because there was only two already there and they didnt have tickets so it looked like i had the lake to myself.
There were fish showing all over the place so i was somewhat surprised when it took nearly two hours to get a pull. At 6lb4oz it was a fine start and it came just as the sun was beginning to make an appearance, even better! The wind was an easterly so it was quite chilly but certainly not enough to put the fish off i thought. Despite this, another long lull followed without any indications and it was late morning before my boilie hookbait was finally picked up by another fish. This one went mental and did its best to pull my arm off, after landing it i could see why, its fins were enormous! It punched well above its weight and was worthy of a pic.

Paddles!

Morning slipped into early afternoon and the sun was about as strong as it was going to get. Families of people were forming a steady procession around the lake and i was getting a little tired of the screaming kids and thoughtless dog walkers. There was plenty of bird activity to keep me occupied though and it seemed that they all wanted to eat my bait!

A cheeky bait thief, one of many

I was just taking a phone call from headquarters when i suddenly recieved a fast take and had to cut her short. Even at range the fish felt heavy and wasnt shaking its head much, just like the biggun from Saturday, so i played it very gingerly. I caught a glimpse of the fish as it rolled on the line about 20 yards out and the tiny pelvic fins coupled with a rather rotund belly confirmed my suspicions, it was a good fish. No further dramatics ensued and it wasnt long before i was hoisting my prize aloft on the scales. They sailed  past number eight and settled on 8lb8oz, my joint biggest from the water, well chuffed! I collared a passer by for some pics and although photography wasnt his forte i managed to get a couple of useable pics in the end.

8lb8oz, my best of the year so far

An hour after that fish i managed another one of 6lb exactly which rounded the session off nicely. When i returned to the car i realised id made the fatal error of parking under 'Pidgeon shit tree' and it looked like an Albatross had crapped all over my motor. People laughed and small children pointed as i drove through town on the way back but it was a small price to pay for another quality fishing trip.