Late summer Perching

With the August bank holiday upon us it means that we now find ourselves on the cusp of autumn and the great fishing it brings with it. With this in mind I decided to try some new perch swims out in preparation for the colder months. I've had my eye on some swims for a while but never got round to giving them a bash so, after finding myself with a free morning on Sunday, I headed out there.
We'd had a lot of rain in previous days but the river looked to be in fine form, carrying a couple of inches with a slight tinge of colour. Rain had threatened my whole journey over there and once I got out of the car and halfway across the field it decided to hammer it down, great start!
Livebaiting was to be my tactic for the day and it didn't take me long at all to catch a few dace and bleak for bait.  In fact I was quite surprised that I was getting a bite a chuck as the river has suffered badly through cormorant predation in recent times yet today it was like fish soup, they were everywhere. A float-paternostered bleak was soon bobbing about in the margin to my right and after half an hour of inactivity I was starting to think the Perch weren't home.
Suddenly the float shot under and stayed under and my strike met with solid resistance, straight away I knew it was a Pike. Sure enough after much tailwalking a lively jack of around 5lb was quickly unhooked and returned a few pegs downstream. That pike must've been putting the Perch off because not long after I received another take which proved to be a nice stripey of 2lb6oz which pulled every bit as hard as the Pike.

2lb6oz, a fine start

The swim went a bit dead after that so I moved a few pegs downstream. Within minutes of casting I started to get a bit of interest and soon enough another jack, this one about 3lb was on the mat. Once again it was as if the Perch were holding back from the Pike and almost straight away upon recasting I hit a nice one of 2lb4oz.
After that things slowed up and I noticed that the river had risen around three inches since my arrival. It was also getting pretty coloured up and I assumed that the previous nights rain must've finally started to filter downstream. I busied myself catching bits whilst contemplating packing up. experience told me that the Perch don't like coloured water much in this river and this was manifesting itself in the total lack of any further action on the paternoster.
As I started to slowly get a few bits of kit together in preparation I received a take on the livebait. A strike met with resistance which suddenly went slack amidst a big swirl on the surface. I reeled to find that the bait had masked the hookpoint hence no hookup, cursing my luck I put a fresh bleak on and dropped it back in. Immediately there was a large swirl where the bait hit the water and I found myself connected to a powerful fish. After a quick tussle I was pleased to see a bucket mouthed head pop up off the end of the waiting net followed by a large spikey dorsal fin, it looked a good perch. On the bank it had the length of a monster but no belly on it, I was still most chuffed to record a weight of 3lb4oz though. I'd like to catch that fish around March time as it would be a new PB for sure! After that I packed up happy with a good mornings sport, even more so that I'd caught from a couple of new spots.

3lb4oz, a future monster?

Club lake Cats - another PB

My main trip this weekend came about due a to a conversation i had with Phil Smith whilst fishing the Tench lake a couple of months ago. We were talking Catfish and with Phil having such great success on Orchid lakes club lake in recent months we decided to arrange a trip down there. A motley crew in the shape of myself, Phil, Rob Thompson and Merv Wilkinson was eventually assembled and on Sunday we all met up in the carpark at Orchid lakes.
Orchid lake is very well known in Carp fishing circles and has been producing monster carp for many years but in recent times its smaller brother next door, the club lake, has really started to come into its own due to the monster Catfish which reside in there. Stocked around 15 years ago with a handful of small Cats they have really flourished in there and now fish to well over 50lb are available for the price of a day ticket.
We met Marsh, the lakes owner in the clubhouse and after a quick brew we ferried our gear around to the pool. There was a few other anglers already fishing but most were packing up later in the afternoon which would leave the entire main body of the lake available to the four of us. A quick coin toss chose our swims for us and soon enough we were getting set up.

A view of our swims, mine was the one in the right foreground

We were down for 48hrs and as usual i had brought way too much gear with me and it seemed to take forever to sort everything out in the sweltering afternoon heat.  I was hoping to do battle with some leviathans and had geared up accordingly, 18lb mainline, 85lb hooklinks and size 2/0 hooks were the order of the day. Baitwise we had a large selection between us in the form of luncheon meat, halibut pellets, squid, mackerel and worms, how could any self respecting moggy resist!

The rigs werent shy........

As dusk arrived the lake came alive and fish seemed to showing everywhere, most were from Carp but wishful thinking had me convinced that some of the bigger splashes were caused by Cats striking at the numerous Rudd on the surface.

Nothing happened until dark when Merv struck into a heavy fish, it gave him the proper runaround going through both Phil and Robs lines before it was eventually netted. The scales settled on a clonking 39lb2oz and Merv was over the moon as were the rest of us, we all returned to our bivvies for the night with our confidence sky high.

After seeing Mervs fish on the bank i was buzzing and couldnt sleep at all, the heavy sounding splashes from out in the lake didnt help matters either! At around midnight the water just in front of my rod tips erupted as something rolled very close in. I didnt need any more prompting and quickly repositioned a bait just out in front of me.

As the early hours slipped by i could finally feel myself slipping into a slumber but it wasnt to last long as suddenly my baitrunner went into meltdown on the repositioned rod! As i threw myself out of my sleeping bag and down the bank to my rod It suddenly occurred to me what might have picked my bait up and i have to say i was actually a little bit frightened of what awaited me in the coming moments!

I didnt have time to think anymore and i picked up the rod, disengaged the baitrunner and heaved into the fish to set the hook. It was like striking into a moving car and the rod immediately buckled over alarmingly. Rob heard the commotion and came over to assist, the fish at this point was very much in control. Whenever it wanted to go i had no choice but let it, all i could do was hold on keeping the rod well bent until hopefully it began to tire.  Eventually i could feel it relenting and i began to gain line slowly but surely and soon enough i had one hell of a Catfish wallowing in the landing net.

After unhooking it we hoisted it up on the scales and i was blown away to see the needle fly past the 40lb mark and settle on a cracking 43lb12oz, my old PB was blown out of the water!

43lb12oz

The photo session was something of an ordeal and one ill never forget. Big fish equals lots of slime, couple that with one of the most difficult species of fish on the planet to hold up for the camera (especially at 3am in the morning) and you get a recipe for a right old mess!

Good job i had a change of clothes!

After returning it and getting changed i lay there on my bedchair in a state of happy shock, drinking in the moment of having just landed my heaviest fish of all time, absolute magic!

The rest of the session passed completely uneventfully for myself but i couldnt have cared less, id caught what i went there for and it was mission accomplished as far as i was concerned. The following night i slept soundly all night and didnt actually get out of bed till around nine the following morning. Merv had lost one in the night and Phil had landed a 22lber. Mine and Robs rods had stayed silent.

Many thanks go out to Phil for setting the whole thing up and to Marsh for his hospitality, that was certainly a session to remember!

Trent Carbelling - The long walk

It was Friday evening, my favourite time of the week and i had arranged an evening trip to the Trent with Keith. The area we had chosen was one id not fished for a few years due to the club losing access and it being one hell of a walk. With the distance involved it was decided between us that we should take my carp barrow and take turns pushing it. The weather was overcast but hideously humid and the sweat was pouring of us as we manhandled the barrow throught the undergrowth. It was bloody hard work but ten times better than carrying the gear on our backs  and we were setting up in our chosen swims in next to no time.
Nobody had been up there for ages and we both had to beat a swim out to get near the river. The flow in front of me was very powerful and i found that i needed 6oz to hold bottom only a third of the way across. It was a bit better along the margin and 3oz was more than adequate. After casting in and baiting up it wasnt long before i began to get a few indications as the downstream rod tip began to show up the odd chubby tap. The river appeared to be rising a little and there was quite a bit of flotsam coming down which kept snagging my line on the upstreamer and moving the lead out of position.
Despite the knocks, no proper pulls ensued and the evening was fast becoming night-time. A couple of Bream and a Carp head and shouldered over the downstream rod and i was confident of a bite at any minute. Suddenly the upstream rod buckled over and i found myself connected to an angry Barbel. It made full use of the heavy flow and had me thinking it was bigger than it actually was but on the bank it went 9lb exactly, a fine start!

A pristine 9lber

Shortly after returning that fish i heard a whistle from upstream and went up to find Keith doing battle with a lovely Barbel which turned out to be 10lb9oz, his first Trent double of the season. I headed back to my swim but nothing more was forthcoming and it wasnt long before Keith whistled once again. I got there just in time to net a nice Trent Common of 14.8, the man was on fire!

Keiths Carp

He went on to lose a fish to a hookpull  just prior to packing up which was a slightly disappointing end to a pretty successful evening for us, it was certainly worth the walk and i saw more than enough to make me head back up there again sometime soon!

Up all night!

After last weekends night session I was well up for another trip this week and although we'd had a bit of rain over previous days the river was dropping and looked to be in fine form. Phil joined me once again and we headed to a different area which looked a bit more Barbelly this time around.
We got to the river during a heavy rain shower at around 5.30 and made our way to our chosen swims. As you would expect, the rain stopped just after we got setup leaving all the gear soaked and it also left another major irritation in its wake, mosquitoes and flies! The air was thick with the little blighters and I gave myself a very liberal dose of insect repellant to keep them at bay.
Fishingwise I had decided to opt for a boilie and particle approach with idea being that I could hold any passing fishing in the swim a bit longer. Maize and chickpeas don't immediately spring to mind as top Barbel attractors but they are bigger and heavier than hemp and corn and I hoped that they would hold station in the powerful currents a bit better.
As expected the remaining hours of daylight were completely uneventful and by 10pm I hadn't even had a sniff. If it was going to be anything like last week then the period from midnight into the early hours would be the hot time for a bite so I was quite surprised when my upstream rod suddenly signalled a one noter! The fish put up a spirited fight and looked deceptively small in the torchlight as I netted it. On the bank it looked bigger than I thought and it registered a pleasing 9lb13oz on the scales.

After returning it I was just getting ready to recast when my downstream rod tore off and I found myself connected to another Barbel. This felt like a much smaller fish and upon netting it I was proved right, at 7lb1oz it was the smallest Barbel I've had this season by quite a margin. Nevertheless two fish under my belt before 11pm was a good sign and hopefully there would be more to come.
A few sizeable fish could be heard splashing out in the darkness and other than the occasional shot ringing out from somebody lamping rabbits upstream, all was silent. It didn't stay that way for long however as my downstream rod once again zipped off. Soon enough another small Barbel was on the mat and it tipped the scales around to 7lb10oz. Three fish caught, a good result for the upper Trent,  this was starting to have the makings of a memorable session!

After that last fish I decided to turn in for the night and made myself comfy in my sleeping bag. I lay there contemplating things and considering how many decent fish are currently present in the upper Trent, based on what I'd already caught, the odds of my next fish being a double were very much stacked in my favour I thought.
It was somewhere around midnight when the Delkim on my upstreamer warbled frantically as an angry fish smashed it's way downstream at a rate of knots. It felt like a decent fish and it kept low and deep even when I got it under the rod tip. Once netted I knew it was a double straight away and the confirmation soon came as the dial spun around to 10lb11oz.

After returning the fish I felt knackered and just wanted to sleep but the fish had different ideas. Over the next hour both rods kept getting intermittent bleeps as fish bumped the line and pulled at the bait. There was a lot of activity out there and I was very much on edge and unable to sleep. It was gone 1am when I found myself playing another Barbel which felt very similar to the last one. After gaining line on the fish it suddenly managed to find a previously unseen snag and everything locked up. After a quick tug of war I managed to get the fish moving again but the line was grating on something. Without warning the hooklink suddenly parted and left me with that horrible sunken feeling that only comes when you lose a nice fish.
I decided not to retackle that rod and just concentrate on the one remaining rod in a bid to get some sleep. Once again though the fish had other ideas and It wasn't long before another Barbel decided to put in an appearance, that one went 8lb10oz. Jeez, it was nearly 3oclock now and although i was five fish up I still hadn't been to sleep!
The  rod still kept getting bangs and knocks after recasting and I was seriously contemplating reeling it in. At about half three I heard Phils alarm sound and a few minutes later he came down in need of   some assistance with some pics. A 10lb4oz Barbel was a fine result for his first bite of the session and as he returned it in my swim my buzzer suddenly sounded. I thought Phil had caught my line to begin with but the hissing baitrunner soon brought me to my senses and I struck into another fish. It came in surprisingly quickly and I netted it before Phils double had even recovered. Fish number six went 7lb12oz.
By the time everything was sorted after that there was signs of fast approaching daylight, i recast and crawled back into my pit. Mercifully that was it as far as i was concerned actionwise and i did finally manage to sleep. I awoke and made a brew at around 8am and when Phil finally stirred his stumps he informed me that hed had another Barbel just as it got light, only a baby at around 2lb but a good sign that the different year classes are coming through. I began a slow packup and managed to get off the river and home for mid-morning, my bed was well and truly beckoning!

Trent 'Carbelling'

After my Zander session the other night I was fired up for doing a full night for them on my next trip out. My old mate Phil was also keen to have a bash for them so we arranged to hit the river on Saturday night. By the time Saturday morning came around the Zander bug had waned somewhat and we decided to try a different stretch of Trent with Carp and Barbel in mind instead, fickle or what!

We got to the river at around 5.30pm and set about baiting our chosen swims and getting the camps put up. The stretch in question very rarely produces during daylight hours and you could be forgiven for thinking there are no decent fish to be had there whatsoever. After dark though it's a completely different story and the river literally comes to life in a way that I've never seen anywhere else. My swim, although very wide, had no more than 3ft of water anywhere in front of it and a clean gravel bottom. I'd not fished it before myself but it's noted spot for river Carp amongst the regulars down there so it had to be worth a go. Phils swim upstream was around 6ft deep and a little slower paced.

As expected neither of us had any indications up until dark when suddenly my upstream rod tip started banging around. It was a very Chubby bite but I bumped it off on the strike so I'll never know for sure. A similar bite occurred around half an hour later and I struck at thin air. By now it was properly dark and fish could be heard splashing all over the place, the atmosphere was electric and we both felt that a proper take was imminent. Nothing happened though and at 11.30 I decided to turn in for the night. I'd just made myself comfy and was gently nodding off when suddenly my downstream rod was nearly pulled into the river! The rod took the strain as I desperately tried to pull the fish away from the snags downstream and fortunately I managed to turn it. Phil had heard the take and he suddenly materialised next to me with the landing net in hand. The fish surfaced in the torchlight and turned out to be a nice Barbel which was soon netted. At 9lb12oz it wasn't quite the double we both thought it might be but still a very nice fish anyway, I was certainly pleased!

 After that I was buzzing and really struggled to sleep, in fact by the time my next bite came at 2am I don't even think I'd actually slept a wink. Another rod wrenching tug had me thinking I might be on for another Barbel but upon picking it up I was instantly disappointed. The strange jagging on the other end meant only one thing, Eel! I really wasn't looking forward to getting the thing on the bank and wrestling with it in the dark but it had to be done. Five minutes and 2lb of writhing slimy mess later, the offending creature was back in its watery home leaving me with the angling equivalent of a car crash to sort out, nice. Once sorted I was just drifting off to sleep when I heard Phils buzzer go. I could hear splashing and sounded fairly sizeable so I headed up to assist. I got there just in time to net a nice double figure common, a good result from what was another new swim to us.

By the time that was done and dusted it was gone 3am and I was dead on my feet. I hit the sack and once again my rod signalled a bite as I was drifting off. I hit into something decent for a few seconds before it came off, I reeled in to find a couple of large barbel scales on the hook and I cursed my luck. After recasting I heard Phils alarm shrieking again but I was too tired to care, I finally went to sleep. My slumber was broken a little by a couple of knocks that didn't develop into anything further and it was around 8.45 when Phil eventually came round and woke me up. He'd had a Bream and a Barbel of around 7lb just before first light and nothing since. The sun was shining as I had breakfast and once again the river looked dead. Darkness is definitely the key factor when it comes to catching on that stretch and i will certainly plan future trips accordingly.

Summer Predators

After an enforced blogging layoff due to a balls-up at the not-so-wonderful institution that is BT i finally find myself able to get back online and post something. My shiny new fibre-optic connection still isnt what it should be and i await an engineers visit next week but for now i do have an internet of sorts so here goes....

Summer has finally arrived over the last week with wall to wall sunshine and soaring temperatures, a complete contrast to the extreme wetness weve seen in previous weeks. Hot conditions have never been kind to me Barbel-wise in the past and not having the time nor inclination to stay out till the early hours i decided to get the lure gear out and try for a few Predators.

In the early part of the week the local rivers were still carrying a little bit of extra water and colour so i headed to a local canal for an early morning assault in a bid to beat the boats. I went straight in with my favourite Mepps to which id whipped on a few red fibres around the hook to hopefully increase its appeal. I dont know if the red stuff made a difference but i had a hit on my third cast from a small Jack so i wasnt complaining!

 

I had several taps and bangs on the lure over the next few casts so there was obviously a few interested fish around. Someone had obviously opened the locks around half a mile away from where i was stood as there was suddenly a strong tow in the water heading that way, i didnt have long before the days first boat came through. The canal is very shallow and it quickly becomes the colour of chocolate once the boats start stirring the bottom up, not great for lure fishing in my experience. With so much fish activity though another hookup was inevitable and soon enough a small Perch was soon posing for a quick pic.

Youll notice a common theme in most of my pics this week and that is the grey Musky armour gloves i recently aquired. Although thin, they are brilliant for use on fish with teeth and other sharp bits. They allow a very firm grip without fear of raker-rash or spikey gill plates, id recommend them to anybody.
Back to the fishing anyway, i had another Perch drop off before the first boat appeared around the corner and as i expected it killed the fishing stone dead. I stayed on for a short while to no avail before heading for home.

On my way back from that session i stopped off for a quick butchers at the Trent and although it was carrying a bit i reasoned that it would be good for a few chances by the time my next session came around in a day or so.........

.......... which is how i found myself stood on the banks of the great river on Weds evening. The area i was in is a favourite summer haunt of mine and is usually a good bet for having your string pulled and there always a chance of a decent fish aswell.  My second cast saw a confident pull and i struck into what turned out to be a nice sized Perch. It was worth a weigh and at 2lb6oz it kicked off the evening nicely. Apologies for the picture quality, i literally placed the camera on a nearby fence post and the results speak for themselves!

The Perch were certainly very active and i went on to land a succession of smaller samples to around a pound and even a couple of small Chub. It was still early evening and very hot and sticky, this coupled with the thick undergrowth and the myriad of flies, midges and mozzies made for some pretty uncomfortable fishing. The fish were feeding well though so my comfort was of little importance and i pressed on sweating through the nettles. Heres a couple more Perchy pics anyway,  as you can see the Mepps was slaughtering them ..........

As the evening drew on and no more big Perch seemed to be showing i decided to switch to fishing with Shads in an attempt to latch into something a bit bigger. I found a swim with a deep slow margin on the edge of a crease with some much faster water and as i worked the lure along the bottom a slow but heavy pull told me a Pike had decided to put in an appearance. At around 7 or 8lb it put a good bend in my light lure rod and was a perfect end to a great evenings sport, or so i thought at the time anyway.........

Another crap pic im afraid, travelling light i dont carry a tripod so i kind of lodged the camera in the fork of a nearby tree this time! On my way home i passed by one of our club carparks for the river and noticed a car parked outside the gate. Past experience tells me that usually means someone is fishing without a ticket so i pulled in to do my bailiff bit. A couple of cars were in the carpark and i recognised one as belonging to Rob, a mate of mine. As i made my way to the river i was passed by a young couple who werent fishing but who confirmed the offending car belonged to them. With that cleared up i headed back to get my tackle and then made my way to where Rob was fishing.

Rob and his friend Mike were both about to pack up and had caught several nice Perch to well over 2lb on quivertip tactics although they had experienced several bouts of Pike trouble. Seeing as they were packing up and it was starting to get dark i took the opportunity to have a cast or two. I chose the most garish coloured shad i had (see pic below) to make it as visible as possible and cast it out. Third cast in and i felt the familiar tug of a Pike and struck into a heavy fish. After a brief tussle Rob netted a fine fish of 11lb6oz which really did cap the evening off nicely!

I had a pass for another evening out on Thursday and rather than lure fishing i had a mind to catch a Zander or two. After a brief stop to catch some bait i made my way to my favoured Zedding area and got tackled up for around 6pm. I had around a dozen small Bleak and Roach to use although they were smaller than i wouldve liked theyd have to do. 

After around 20 minutes my downstream rod tip slowly nodded as a fish showed an interest. I picked up the rod and held the braid between my fingers, the line plucked decively and i struck. Straight away i knew it was a Zander from the perchlike jag jagging on the rod and soon a small one of around 2lb was lying on the mat.

Sadly it wasnt to be the first of many, another bite shortly afterwards resulted in a small Perch, only the second ive had on deadbait from the Trent. A missed run just as darkness fell was the only other action i had which left me scratching my head a bit. Conditions looked perfect and there was small fish showing everywhere, i did expect the Zeds to be more active than they were but there always next time i guess.

Double Double

The fishing for this weekend was to be dominated by the effects of the torrential rain we endured all day on the Friday. With widespread flooding occurring all over the Midlands and beyond it was probably for the best that i found myself headed to the Tench lake on Saturday. I had arranged to meet Phil there for a bit of a social and to find out what the state of play was with regards to the fishing. There had been conflicting reports as to whether the fish had spawned or not so we were hoping to find out for sure.
Although there was plenty of fish showing early on in the day the action proved to be extremely slow. It was so slow in fact that between four anglers only one fish was caught and that was a Perch of about a pound which fell to my rod. Another chap missed a take but that was it and we were all left scratching our heads as to what the fish were doing.

A river Barbel session was on the cards for Sunday and i hoped to get on the Trent or the Soar. Reading the latest EA river levels prior to leaving however wasnt exactly encouraging as the rivers appeared to be as high as ive seen them since the infamous 2007 floods. I packed the kit and headed to the Soar but as i drove down i could already see the river was in the fields so i kept on driving towards the Trent.
The Trent was also in the fields in places but the area i fancied didnt look too bad. After parking up and heading along the track to the river i was disappointed to see water flowing away from the river through the undergrowth and onto the track in front of me. I tried an alternative route and after wading through a great deal more waterlogged nettles and foliage i eventually made it to the riverbank itself. I must admit i fancied it for a Barbel but the river was still coming up and there was no dry land to fish from so for safetys sake i headed back to the car.

The Derwent looked to be fishable based on the level given at Church Wilne so i headed there for a look. It had been at near record levels on Saturday but had dropped an unbelievable 2-3ft overnight. Upon my arrival the fields around the river were full of large puddles and the grass was flattened everywhere. The levels had certainly been well up but now the river was back within its banks and looked pretty good for a fish or two.
The first couple of hours passed without event although a did see a couple of small Barbel repeatedly leap clear of the water like minature dolphins right out in the main flow, they were obviously in their element in these conditions! Lots of splashing in the nettles by the river in one spot also caught my attention and that turned out to be three Carp chasing each other around almost as if they were spawning.
My third spot produced my first bite in the end, A slight tap followed a couple of minutes later by that lovely Barbelly wrap around had me connected to a heavy fish. After a couple of strong runs it seemed to give up and allowed me to net it fairly easily. Upon lifting it out of the water i could tell it was a double straight away and the scales confirmed a weight of 11lb4oz, brilliant! first double of the new season!
I set the camera for the self-take shot, 5,4,3,2,1,please change the batteries, aarrrggghhh!!! I couldnt believe it, i forgotten to charge the batteries after the air show last week! I was gutted and ended up snapping a couple of crappy phone-pics.

11lb4oz

I stayed on in the swim for another hour with no further action and headed down to another spot just downstream. The new swim proved to be a slow starter but after around 45minutes i finally had a pull. This fish proved to be a real powerhouse and did its best to pull my arm off in the flow. I netted it before it was ready and it proceeded to beat me up good and proper on the bank. At 10lb8oz it was another good fish but once again i was cursing my lack of camera!

10lb8oz

I tried a couple of other swims on my way back to the car without any more action but i was well chuffed with what id already caught. After since checking my records it turns out that thats only the third time ive managed two doubles in the same session, the other two times being on the Soar. Seasons average so far is well over 9lb now thanks to those two fish, defo gonna have to pack some spare camera batteries in future though!