Fantastic session for crucians

After what I can only describe as an ‘interesting’ day, I decided to disappear for a few hours to a local pool which I have never fished before, but have on good authority that it holds a good head of specimen crucian carp. It was whilst chatting to another angler who had done well on this water, that I had finally decided to give it a go. I arrived to find the lake to myself, just the way I like it, and after a quick walk around, I settled on the peg furthest away from the car park. It just looked right for a crucian or two.

The first fish of the session, a new pb of 2lb 1oz.

It’s not since my younger days that I have caught a decent crucian and have been side tracked by the wealth of other species on offer. This session really brought me back to my youth, fishing small ponds with a float rod and hoping for a bite or two. Only now, much older and perhaps a little wiser, the tactics are more refined, lighter floats dotted right down, size 18 hooks, 3lb line and a lot more patience! I always say that luck, time spent on the bank and fishing the right waters is the secret to specimen angling. I acknowledge that all of the above applies to me and skill (or lack of it…) is much lower down on the scale.

A 2lb 2oz specimen and another pb.

Fishing about 3-4ft from the bank in 4ft of water, close to a reed bed, I fed a small pinch of 4mm pellets every couple of minutes with a grain or two of corn. Hookbait started off as two 4mm pellets but this just brought bites from small roach and rudd so I switched over to a single grain of corn. The bites were frustratingly hard to hit, it would only be a slight rise or dip of the float or maybe a little twitch to the side. But after time and careful feeding the fish were rolling over my spot and the fish eventually started coming to the bank.

Another 2lb 1oz crucian.

By the end of the short session, a total of six crucians from 1.7 – 2.2lb were caught. Each fish smashed my previous pb and with three over 2lb, it was a most enjoyable session. But as I said earlier, to get the rewards all you need is the right water, the free time and a bit of luck. Even the best anglers can’t catch fish that aren’t there. And on that note i’ll leave you with a picture of one of these stunning fish returning to the mysterious murky depths that keep us returning time and again.

A productive few sessions for tench and bream…

For once I can’t blame the lack of blog activity on not catching fish! The last few weeks couldn’t have gone much better to be honest and it’s not lost on me that I do get my fair share of luck. The first session saw me visit a new water which is set in beautiful surroundings but is by no means easy.

This is one of the resident grebes engulfing an unfortunate roach, not the first it had taken but the only one I managed to photograph. Bream were the target for this session and an 8lb+ fish was what I was after. The first night passed without as much as a bleep on the alarms, but the second night was one to remember!

I managed to fluke four bream, two 7s and two 8s three of which beat my previous PB, with the best going 8.14lb.

Then as morning broke, a continuous shriek of the alarm signalled a take from what could only be a carp. With the carp stock very low for the size of the water, I was trembling whilst playing the fish, knowing these chances don’t come often. But I need not have worried as the light rod was just enough to bring in the fish. At 21lb, it was a real bonus to what was a great session.

My next session was to a Cheshire mere known for carp and bream, using the same set up as before, which is a 1.5lb barbel rod, 12lb line and a load of tigernut boilies as bait. It wasn’t long before the first fish was banked. But this just happens to be the same carp I’ve had five times now from this water! A mug fish if ever there was one. The disappointment wore off as I finally landed my target species, a bream of 8lb+.

The latest adventure took me back to what is by far my favourite venue, anyone who has read any of my musings (and there aren’t many of you!…) will know what a special water Lymmvale is to me. This year I’ve been after a big tench and in the last blog entry I stated that I would be happy with a ‘7’. Well you can imagine my absolute delight when the first fish of the day was a creature of 8lb 12oz! I can’t believe it either, beats my PB by over 3lb and I weighed it several times on two sets of scales just to make sure as I never thought it was going to happen. But somehow it did, as I said earlier, I do seem to get my fair share of good luck.

So that was that, the next targets until I move on to the rivers are a big cat, some more tench and a 4lb+ eel, which has been an ongoing campaign for a good ten years or so. I’ve put more time in for a specimen eel than probably every other species, except maybe carp, and had so few notable fish. But I did find a dead eel on one water the other day, which would dwarf my humble PB of 3.5lb.

So much fishing, so little time! Untli next time, be lucky and tight lines!

Tench, carp and cats…

Since the last blog entry I’ve been trying for more catfish with frustrating results. So many dropped runs that I’ve been starting to doubt my rigs. But I know that they are proven to work and in conjunction with the half tins of spam, history shows me they select the bigger fish. This was shown when finally I connected with a cat and it was a specimen of 27lb.

I’m almost certain the dropped runs are small cats or even carp, as I never land small cats from this water and i’m told it’s ‘full of ’em’, with the odd big fish which is what I have been catching. I had this problem on Shakerley Mere a couple of years ago, only a handful of cats in well over 20 acres and loads of dropped runs. One day I hooked into a 19lb carp on the big chunk of spam. That was my last session as I had realised what had been happening and that I was wasting my time.

With the cats mainly being nocturnal, the day time was passed with what is probably my favourite and strongest method, stalking carp with floating bread. As the pictures above show, these carp weren’t too interested in taking the bait, happily sitting right underneath the bread motionless. It took a lot of time and effort to eventually trip up these fish, but I managed a few including a very hard fighting PB grass carp of 8lb 14oz. Such power from a relatively small fish and great fun on light gear. You really can’t beat that moment when the fish, having eyed up your bait, slowly positions itself then slurps down the bread. That split second moment after the bait has disappeared and you time the strike and feel the weight on the end is for me the best moment in fishing. Repeatedly tearing yards of line off the reel, the fight from a grass carp is tremendous.

So catfishing has now been put on the back burner for the moment whilst I concentrate on my main target this year, which is a big tench. By big I mean i’ll be happy with a ‘7’. The ever magnificent Lymmvale is the place where my target fish lives and I hope it’s just a matter of time before the goal is achieved. For now i’ll have to ‘make do’ with stunning looking fish with an average size of 4-5lb. I can’t think of another local tench water with such a great head of fish in such great surroundings. Even if I don’t get the ‘7’, I can’t think of anywhere else i’d rather try.

So with luck, the next time I post my drivel on here, it will be to share the joy of landing a monster tench. Until then i’ll have to make do with these!

I made a short underwater Waterwolf clip of feeding tench which also shows the richness of the aquatic life below the surface. That can be seen on the following link… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hxEnQSopMYA

Cat time!

After finishing my pike season with a bang, I have been out of sorts to be honest. The rivers are closed, my first choice waters haven’t switched on yet and I’ve been lost for a target species. I’ve fished Lymmvale for tench on a couple of occasions with no success and been put off by how busy it has been this year. I remember last year, if you didn’t have the place to yourself midweek, it certainly wasn’t crowded either. So I’ve been roaming the canals looking for carp and popping down the specimen lake for the same species. Apart from pulling out of an orange koi on a piece of floating bread, a fish I caught a few years back, there has been no action. So with this warmer weather, and with a tip off from Smudge, I headed to a small pool after big cats! It seems odd for me to start catting this early in the year but I needed to escape the crowds and find my ‘own’ water to fish. Thankfully few have been night fishing and I have had the place to myself. Settling on a spot in the middle of the pool where any cat which moves up or down will pass my bait, I quickly got the gear sorted and was fishing in no time. A slurry of chopped pig liver, heart and kidney, grated spam, tins of sardines, tuna, and pellets bound in halibut groundbait was dumped on my spots along with a couple of pints of maggots to attract the prey fish. This was followed in by the rigs baited with the standard half tins of spam.

A question I get asked the most is what set up/ rig I use for catfish. So basically it is a standard carp rod and reel with 40lb line, mono for Lymmvale due to the braid ban, but braid also in 40lb breaking strain, for everywhere else. The reason being is that you need to stop a cat from rounding an island, finding a snag or taking everyone else’s rods out. Which happened to me once in the past resulting in a messy situation. The hooklink is 2ft of Catfish Pro kevlar Catlink in 40lb to a size 2/0 eagle wave hook also from Catfish Pro and a 150lb b/s swivel. This is accompanied with a 3oz running lead with a Fox pop up leger stem providing the all important resistance free rig. I use a piece of polyball or wine bottle cork as a bait stopper which also neutrally balances the bait and a section of a drinking straw is pushed through the centre of the spam, through which the hair is threaded, to stop it flying off on the cast. You can cast as far as you like with the bait rigged this way.

What really makes the difference though is these rollover indicators from Zandavan productions. http://www.zandavan.co.uk/rollovers.html  Without a hint of exaggeration, these have revolutionised my predator fishing, to the point where I wouldn’t consider fishing without them. Basically they allow you to fish with open bail arms and the slightest pull on the line makes them roll back and frees the line to run off the spool. I got them for eel fishing but my success with perch and pike this winter is down to the zero resistance offered by these indicators. I can’t recommend them enough, thanks to Bruce for getting me on to these. Anyway, enough about that. After several missed runs on the first session, I packed up and went to work, then finished work and went back to the pool! Maximum time spent on the bank is key. Baits back out, missed runs again, which I always put down to kittens, then at 8am, I finally connected with a fish.

It ran me ragged all round the lake and took a sustained cajoling to bring to the net. 20 minutes after the take it was finally bagged. I rested the fish for a good 5-10 minutes whilst I faffed about getting the scales and camera sorted. Taking the strain of the weighty fish, I knew it was a ’30’ at least, the scales read 37lb 12oz. Not bad for a first fish from this water, my 11th UK cat over 35lb, couldn’t be happier. I have a feeling they don’t go any bigger in here, so i’ll fish a few more sessions testing out some bespoke boilies courtesy of Mike at Viking Baits, before heading off to the next target.

Until next time, Tight Lines!    

A day of doubles

With last weeks pike trip being so productive, I decided this weeks outing would be to the same water for my last pike session of the season. Again it was eel head sections as bait which were punched through the powerful winds with the help of 5oz leads to get the distance I required.

The wind was so strong that putting up the brolly proved a real struggle, the water carried waves over a foot high and deposited mounds of foam on the bank. Once the gear was set and the baits out, the wind was shaking the rods and the waves rattling the line, causing endless bleeps on the alarms. But I didn’t have to wait long before the bleeps became a continuous tone as the line pinged out of the clip.

The first fish came in at 16.5lb, followed shortly by a 17 which I recognised as the fish I had last week, you can tell by the scar by the tail. The next fish was again 16.5lb and after checking the photos, it was the fish I had caught earlier on! 3 fish, 2 recaptures on a water this size. Bizarre.

The action slowed so I passed the time playing about with my new toy, a rather nifty camera with 20mp and a 50x zoom, which allowed me to take some incredible (by my standards!) close up photos of amongst other things, the moon and the RAF jets roaring overhead. An impressive sight and an even more impressive sound.

As the day progressed, the winds increased, joined by driving rain. I could just make out the sound of the alarm over the howling gales and immediately hit the rod feeling a weighty resistance. After a fair old scrap, the long shape of an angry pike was led into the outstretched net. It looked bigger than the others, with a massive head on it and huge mouth.

It was another 17 and a fourth 16lb+ fish of the session, another session to remember. After it was slipped back the rod was away again, this time it was a jack, though I didn’t get a proper look at the fish as it shed the hooks before being swept up in the net. Though with a result like that, I can’t really complain!

Spring pike

Despite the cold nights there is definitely a whiff of spring in the air, and the latest session saw long sunny periods with temps well in to double figures. It wasn’t just the thermometer hitting doubles though as I managed a few ample sized pike.

This fish was from a couple of weeks back on a first visit to a new water, another session since then drew a blank, but a little bird tells me it holds some very large pike so i’ll be looking forward to next winter and the chance to do battle with more of the lakes residents. Between then and now I’ve been around and about, a blank on the canal after chub was followed by a successful visit to the Ribble where having missed several bites due to not paying enough attention, I banked a brace of mint conditioned chub in the 3-4b bracket.

But it was the latest session which produced the goods. The water is a large, natural setting away from the crowds and I only found out about it due to a couple of kind anglers I met through the club i’m in, and they took me down there to show me how it’s done. The first session I blanked, but this time with the weather being warmer, I really fancied my chances.

The bait was eels, of which I used just the head section and the remainder was chopped up and catapulted as far out as I could, which was followed by the baited rig. The first day saw a small jack visiting the bank, with no night fishing allowed I ‘pulted out another load of eel and retired to a local hotel for the night. Returning in the morning, the rods were soon out and it wasn’t long before the first fish of the day was landed.

And what a fish it was! That in itself made the long drive worth while. But it wasn’t alone and was followed by several more, six pike in total. A most enjoyable session which was made even more welcome by the first signs of the end of winter and the start of another glorious summer of fishing.

Whilst on the bank I made a short video which can be seen on the link below, there would have been some Waterwolf footage had I not decided to have a cast around, mapping out the lake bed and somehow getting the line caught around the rod on a cast and cracking the camera off towards the horizon. I normally use the Waterwolf with heavy braid to prevent any mishaps but as it wasn’t on a ‘live’ rod I thought it would be fine. How wrong I was! The replacement has already arrived and i’m certain I won’t make that mistake again… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WQDlE2dT-g

On a roll

Hot on the heels of Friday’s pike bonanza I went back to the Dee again today to try my luck once more. Arriving before sunrise I was greeted by a frosty landscape, the wind increased throughout the day and brought persistent rain which turned the banks in to a quagmire. With high tides and few signs of fish, it had all the hallmarks of being ‘one of those days’. However seconds after the maggot feeder touched the bottom of the river, the first livebait of the day was secured, a plump dace. This was followed by another five in as many casts, normally it takes a few chucks of the feeder before the fish switch on. My optimism was further increased as a pb grayling well over a pound took a liking to the double red maggot.

Unfortunately the pike sport wasn’t as prolific, in fact I spent all day shivering under my brolly as the rain fell, with my enthusiasm for the session ebbing away. So much so I began packing away around 5pm, with all but the rods left, suddenly the line pulled out of the indicator clip. After having given up hope I was shocked but delighted to have a run and immediately struck the rod.

It felt small so I quickly gained line, then as it approached the net it woke up and off it went! Eventually it came in tipping the scales to a respectable 17lbs and a couple of ounces. This last two sessions has really seen my pike fishing take off and caught me by surprise as I’ve really struggled on the Dee this last few years, so to be banking fish like this is amazing and it is all down to the change of tactics I reckon, which I described in the last post. Which just goes to show if things aren’t working don’t be afraid to change it about until you find something that does.

Best session ever?

Well, not much has happened since the last entry. I’ve blanked a few times on the canal, blanked a few times on the river, blanked a couple of times on some lakes and blanked another couple of times back on the river. In fact I can’t remember when the last decent session I’ve had was. But as always you keep going hoping your luck will change. Today that is what happened!

The River Dee was really starting to get to me, I just couldn’t buy a bite. I knew there were pike there but no matter what I tried and how hard I fished the result was always the same. Blank. Today I decided to have a complete reworking of my tactics, out with the heavy braid line, the floats and all that, and in with a much more subtle set up with minimal components all geared to eliminating as much resistance as possible.

A 5oz lead to a pop up leger stem keeps the line out of trouble, the polyball keeps the livebait off the bottom and the rattle is there to get the pikes attention. I didn’t know if it would work but it looked right so once a few dace were in the net, out it went.

Without going into too many boring details, what happened today was probably the best session I’ve ever had for any species. I’ve struggled to get one Dee pike but four in a day with three big uns is unreal by my standards and a session i’ll never forgot. The two biggest fish, having studied the photos appear to be the same fish caught once at 10am then again about 4 in the afternoon. Either way they all count! Don’t know where to head next now, probably try for a chub before the end of the season before moving on to tench in the spring. Though I think I may squeeze one more session in on the Dee.

Busy week!

For a self confessed fishing addict, a week off work means only one thing, cram as much fishing in as possible! So that’s what I did. A blank on a very icy canal after pike was followed by a session on the perch lake, this was also mostly frozen only kept fishable with the use of an aerator to prevent the water from freezing. A small chub was the only fish of the day.

With all my first choice of still waters now with a lid on, I was down to plan ‘C’. The river Dane after chub it was, roving the banks of this small river, trying every likely spot, I eventually found some fish and ended up with 2 modest sized chub and a small trout. All fish falling to chunks of raw steak with beef mince in the feeder.

Having followed the river level charts of the Dee, I noticed that after a long period of flood, the river was dropping dramatically. So I once again picked up the reins of this on going campaign for a 20lb Dee pike.

Plenty of dace offered themselves as live bait via my maggot feeder rod and eventually as the light was dropping, a pike took the bait. Not the 20 i’m after but after many blanks on the Dee this last few months, very welcome.

The final stop of the week was Lloyds Meadow fishery which has been producing some incredible perch fishing, including 3x3lbers to one angler and other fish to 3.6lb, which is my target. As my long standing current pb is 3.5lb.

Fishing lobworm which is popped up by injecting it with air in conjunction with a feeder full of chopped worm and maggot, I managed to pick up a brace of twos. I’ve now had four perch from here and the smallest has been 1lb 12oz! So hopefully before the carp become active and spoil my fun, I can find the fish i’m looking for.

Perch magic

After the pike success, my attention has moved on to perch. The first couple of sessions have been on the canal with the only success being pike.

Not that I mind of course but my main approach for canal perch is artificial baits, lives and deads. Realistically these are only going to attract pike but using worms isn’t selective enough and will bring unwanted species such as bream. So with chub next on my list before the rivers close in March, I have decided to take the easy route and target small day ticket carp and match waters for the perch.

This 1lb+ fish came from such a water and if the rumours are to be believed, this is tiny compared to some of the specimens present. The water itself is very well maintained and picturesque with an abundance of wildlife, a far cry from the ghastly commercials I grew up fishing. Tactics are jigging and dropshotting on one rod and worm or prawn on the other. With little happening on the dropshot, boredom soon set in as relentless casting and retrieving produced not even a knock.

Not one to miss a trick, I tried using the dropshot rig as a leger, presenting the bait just off bottom. It didn’t look right and I assumed it wouldn’t work but it was a bait in the water if nothing else. Well incredibly it did work, producing both fish of the day whilst the ‘proper’ set up remained quiet.

The biggest fish of the day was this upper two. A great result considering the conditions, which had everything from sun, wind, rain, hale and snow all in freezing temperatures. Next stop is a ‘3’!