Three Day Bender - Day 3

 Sunday I arrived first light at another stillwater. Nobody else about until I started setting up, when another angler arrived and headed round the pond. I'd decided where I was fishing on the way there. It's roughly square and I'd caught on three of the four sides in the past so decided to fish the side I'd not so far caught from. There was a nice overhanging tree to my left and a small corner to my right. A bluey went to the left and a sardine to my right.

Around mid morning, as I was contemplating a cuppa, the righthand float bobbed and moved away. A feisty little pike had taken a fancy to the the sardine and was soon bundled into the net. A pot bellied little piggy of a thing covered in leeches. A new sardine was tossed out to the same spot.

As I set about boiling the kettle for a cuppa the 'pin stated to scream. Another. slightly longer, little piggy pike had snaffled the sardine. This one put up a bit more of a struggle but was kind enough to spit the hooks out in the net.

Another sardine was plonked into the same spot. This time I was allowed to make my cuppa in peace.  After my cuppa I move the baits about a bit. When the breeze got up I tried drifting a bait about but nowt else bothered me. The rain had stayed away, but started around lunch time just as I was packing up. Two more to the tally but the average is still under one per trip.



 

Three Day Bender - Day 2

 Saturday I was at another lake at daybreak. One man and his tent was in one corner carping. I setup in another corner with the same rigs as last time. The sardine plonked by an overhanging tree to my left and a roach over to the tree to my right. As the day wore on the floats were moved about. The sun got out and made for a pleasant day. Three other anglers arrived at various points. None caught while I was there. Nor did I either. The bright sunshine, clear lake, and very low overnight temperatures probably weren't the best combination. Still it was nice to be out on a sunny day and not be getting wet.

 The blank didn't do my average per session any good as it still remains under one.

Three Day Bender - Day 1

 After a bit of a lay-off from fishing do to the appalling weather and not knowing if the rivers were going up or down I was ready to get back to it. I'd planned a couple of sessions on stillwaters over the weekend, but a change of plan meant I could also get out on Friday 13th. While the weather over the weekend was predicted to be quite good, including the threat of sunshine, Friday didn't look so clever. Luckily for me the drizzly sleet eased off as I arrived at the empty carpark. By the time I'd setup camp the sleet and drizzle had returned.

A float-fished sardine was placed under the tree to my left and a float-fished roach over to the other side of the bay. These were moved about as the morning went on. By lunch time the sardine was under the tree to the right. As I started to tuck in to my Cheese and Broccoli Pasta the sardine rig bobbed about. As it was now sleeting quite heavily I found myself saying out loud " You can stop that", and it did. I wound down but there was nothing there so I left it where it was. Lunch passed with out any more interruptions. An hour later the float boobed again but this time it started to move away. By the time I'd got to the rod the float had stopped. Tightening up showed there to be nothing there again. No sign of damage to the bait either.  For some reason I decided to chop the head of the bait and tossed it back under the tree. A little while later the float moved away. By the time I'd picked the rod up it was heading back towards me. A sweeping strike contacted with a fish that darted all over the place before being bundle into the net. A well fed little beast of 71cm.

I had another hour before I had to be away, but nowt else showed up. The soggy kit in the back of the car soon misted the windows up. With the heater on full blast it eventually cleared by the time I'd got to the gate and undone the lock.

 

 

Perch Fishing For Pike

 Recent weather really hasn't been conducive to fishing, not for me anyway. I did. however, manage a short session on the canal initially for perch. After flinging small jigs and things about for an hour or so the perch appeared to be rather uncooperative. The scattering of small fish and a large swirl showed the jack pike were on the feed. The largest softbait I had, a 80mm white and glittering thing was put on. A couple of casts into the area and I was in. A feisty beats of 48cm put up a good struggle on the perch tackle.

Further on, above the lock, in the clearer water I spotted a similar sized jack. It wasn't a fan of the white glittery thing though. A root round the lure box and a small spinner bait was put on. I reckoned that something entirely different may persuade it to attack. The lure landed some way from the fish but once it started moving the pike was across and on it's tail. Speed up or slow down is always a dilemma. I stopped and allowed the lure to fall though the water. As I sped it up again it grabbed it. The little jack came in very easily until it was near the net. It then decided to perform all manner of acrobatics. I just managed to scoop it in the net as it spat the lure out. Slightly shorter than the previous one at 46cm.

I had another twenty minutes wandering along the canal before the drizzle started again. A robin accompanied me as I wandered back to the car. Clearly the the hope of been fed. It seemed happy with the crumbs from the bottom of the bag of cheese & onion crisps I had while waiting to see if the rain would ease off. It didn't.

Faster Warmer Poodle

 Another trip out to the Vale of Mowbray again in rather chilly conditions, along with a nasty cold breeze. I'm sure there are more sensible things to do on a day like that. Never the less there I was on a frozen river bank. Despite the welcome sunshine the wind took away any heat it provided. Even the ice at the edge of the river didn't melt.

 

 

A quick cast about with the Deeper showed 10' next to the snags downstream and 12' by the overhanging tree upstream. Tactics were to be float fished dead bait and a float ledgered dead bait. A sardine went on the float set up. This is set so the bait is just on the bottom which allows it to drift up to the snags. A headless bluey was put on the float-ledger rig. Out they went. They would be recast every 30-40 minutes. The bluey head would be chopped up and chucked about the swim once it had defrosted.

I'd recast the Bluey for the third time and was about to do the same with the sardine when the float above it started to move nearer the snags. A quick strike and I was in. Much to my surprise it shot out into the the river rather than into the snags. That run was it though. It came to the net with barely a struggle.  91cm 8lb 10oz of pike. It woke up when I started to unhook it successfully drawing blood.

The sardine was replaced with a roach and went back out near the snags. Time for luncheon. My old stove has been struggling to function for a little while now and really struggles when its cold so I'd replaced it with a shiny new OEX one. I must say it is rather good boiling water in next to no time and isn't really effected by the wind. The only problem with it is it needs a canister stand. Something the manufacturers recommend but has to be bought separately.  I'd also repurposed an old sock as a Pot Noodle cosy as it had got rather cold before I'd finished it the other day. 

With no more action I moved downstream to the next swim. Snowdrops were starting to appear in this one. With similar depths not much readjustments were needed. The roach was positioned under the downstream tree and a new bluey was placed upstream at the bottom of the drop off. Despite moving the baits several times there was no more action by the time I left. A somewhat scenic route had to be taken to get home due to an accident on the main road. Thankfully no deaths. The average pike per trip is now 0.86.


 

 

 

 

First Fish of the Year

 Some people fling themselves into the icy North Sea for fun on New Year's Day. I decided on something more daring. I ventured to the Vale of Mowbray to fling dead fish into a river while sat on a muddy river bank in what purported to be a moderate breeze. What was moderate about it I don't know as it was a damn cold northerly blowing straight downstream.

 

A quick chuck about with the Deeper showed there to be 16' of water from a third of the way out nearly to the far side. The first third was just over 6'. A small smelt under a float was dropped downstream near an overhanging tree and a half Bluey tossed nearly 30yd to the far side. Over the next couple of hours they were recast to different spots but all to no avail.

 

After a spot of lunch I moved on to another swim not far away. Fresh baits were chucked to similar spots. The old baits were chopped up in to small bits and flung around the swim. Just as I sat down the downstream float moved away. I tightened down to something but the strike hit nothing, and the bait was gone. The something happened again then minutes later with the same result. I brought the far bait back across the river until it was at the bottom of the drop off on the near side. I was beginning to think I may blank the float stated to head upstream. The strike hit a fast moving fish. After a bit of a battle a nice fish was in the net. The pike round these parts a quite powerful for their size. Given it's barbel territory it's not surprising really. A slightly battle scared fish of 12lb 15oz and 101cm. My second double of the pike season so I was well pleased.

 

I didn't recast the rod as it was nearly time to depart. The other float trundled off towards the middle of the river as I was just about to wind it in. Again I contacted with nothing. Not sure what was taking the little smelt, Jack, chub, barbel could all be to blame. The first half of the season hasn't been great with an average of 0.75 pike per session and only one double. Hopefully the second half will be better.

Nearly Cut Off By Flood Water

 When I arrived at the river it was up and slowly rising. By the time I'd found a swim it started to rise a lot faster. The swim I found had a slack on the far side and a large eddy on the near side. Initially 3oz was enough to hold on the far side, but very quickly 4oz then 5oz weren't enough especially given the amount of debris coming down. With the eddy slowly disappearing I dropped a 14mm pellet down the bank on the corner of the eddy. The 8mm pellet went down the bank under the rod tip to the left. Over the next three hours the river rose around four foot.

The rods were regularly dragged over by debris during this time. Much to my surprise I found a small gudgeon had attempt to swallow an 8mm pellet and managed to get itself hooked. I had seen some knocks on that rod but I assumed it was the twigs drifting around that were hitting the line. A while later while talking to a chap by the name of Ian, a reader of the blog, he pointed out that the other rod had lurched over. I had my back to it. After a brief but hectic fight a nice barbel was landed. We estimated around 7-8lb. It weighed in at 7lb 2oz.

Ian wander upstream to try a slack up there. I carried on for a while before noticing one of the banksticks was surrounded by water. The branch in the first couple of pictures was now drifting around in what was left of the eddy. I thought that if the river continued to rise it wouldn't be long before it was well and truly over the bank and into the meadow. Time to pack up. As I was packing up I discovered that the bottom of the rod holdall had a hole in it and the umbrella pole was poking through. Given it was nearly twenty years old the holdall hadn't done bad. Ian haddn't caught anything as I passed. When i got to the stile it was surrounded by a foot or so of water. I let Ian know and we both managed to get over it before we could be marooned, ended up filling our wellies.

 

Not a bad day considering. Nice and warm with the odd kite and buzzard drifting about. I'm sure the bag is repairable.