Ground Baiting for Robins

Thursday's fishing trip, originally planned some time ago, was a bit of fluff chucking for pike on the A & C Navigation with a couple of other people. By this time an area the size of Lake Windermere had flooded along with several roads in the area. Although it didn't affect the canal as such it was decided to stay away from the area as we were really just unnecessary traffic that the emergency services could do with out. Pock canal was over it's banks. The rivers that were back within their banks were tanking through and any still waters we had access to were surrounded by trees, so his little adventure was postponed.  I decided to head to the gravel pits for a spot of dead baiting. The pit had filled up nicely now despite that the water was remarkably clear. I decided on a corner swim that scrams predators, but which I'd avoided due to it been very shallow until now. I wasn't sure if the bright sunshine would cause problems though.

Tactics to start with were a float fished roach near tree roots to my right and a headless sardine out in front near a dead weed bed. Some chopped sprat was also thrown about to foot from the roots in the hope of tempting the pike out from among them. An hour after I'd cast in small fish scattered near the sardine rig. There seems to be two distinct feeding periods here, although you can get the occasional run at any time. The first is around midday until two and the second around five. Sure enough, just after midday the roach rig moved away. A quick strike was called for as it was heading towards the tree roots. Nothing, the only marks on the bait were from the hooks slipping. Swung back out to the same spot the float moved parallel to the trees the moment the bait hit bottom. This time I contacted with what felt to be a small fish. Then a big fish. Then a branch. Then up popped a dinky little jack apparently hooked in the belly. The front hook was in it's mouth, but the rear one had snagged it under the belly as it had turned. Quickly unhooked an returned. Another roach was tossed out to the same spot. A while later, just as I was tucking into lunch, the float bobbed about, but nothing came of it. In the mean time I'd moved the sardine further to the left where there was a bit of ledge.

Another angler had popped down who'd been fishing the estate lake for pike, but blanked. There had been several people piking but nobody had had a run as far as he knew and nor had they on previous occasion he'd fished there. I had heard anglers had tried night fishing for pike, but with no real success. Not sure what's going on there as the pike are still present. Fish are seen scattering and those fishing for silvers report pike attacks or follows. Meanwhile it had all gone quiet at the gravel pit. No sign of any fish activity at all. There was though a marked increase in water fowl since last week and now I'd finished listening to the new  Fly Culture podcast a robin took up residence to the right of me and started singing. It quietened down when I put a little pile of groundbait out for it.

Just before five the float by the tree roots bobbed about before moving away. What felt like another little jack turned out to be bigger than it fought and felt heavier than it looked. At 80cm and 8lb 7oz it was quite a chunky little fish. Another angler that had popped down was quite surprised at the weight. I assured him I'd checked the scales recently as a couple of previous fish had weighed two pound heavier than they'd looked. Just after he left the float above the sardine appeared to move. After giving it a Paddington style hard stare it disappeared and a strike momentarily contacted with something which nicked the sardine. I put both rods back out for the last rather cold hour, as the sun had now dropped behind the trees and the breeze had got up again. Nothing else happened, even the robin had given up singing.

It had been quite a peasant day in the sun, despite the chill breeze. A couple of anglers popping down for a look and a chat helped the day along as well. There are one or two spots that may well fish better now the level has risen to it's normal winter level and the pike appear to be packing on weight ready for spawning.

I must sort out starting the action cam. I keep setting it to photo mode and not video mode. I also need to make sure it's pointing in the right direction. One bit of video was just white out as it was pointing straight at the sun.

Music while typing provided by Electronic Music Radio

A Couple of Right Logs

With local rivers still well up it was back to the gravel pit again. The water level there is still rising, it was up another 6" or so. With this in mind I attempted to fish a swim that needs that level of water to work. The problem with it is that it it's at the windward end of the pit and the debris tends to get blown in there. The first couple of casts produced a couple of sunken logs. The third produced a lot of bubbles from a very large branch before the twig I was connected to broke away.  I moved to another swim, but the problem here was debris piling up against the line. I then moved to the swim I was in last week.

Using the same tactics as last week I settled down and continued to listen to The Yorkshire Gent podcast. All remained quiet. No sign of any fish activity at all, but a couple of geese came crashing in at one point. Having had some lunch I was just boiling some for a cup of tea when the baitrunner started to scream . by the time I got to the rod and struck the fish was two thirds of the way across the lake. After the initial charge I thought I'd lost it as it felt like a branch I was winding in. Once it got near the bank it woke up and tangled it's self rod the line from the other rod before coming to the net quietly. Thankfully it was hooked in the frint of the mouth and the barbless hook came out with ease saving me from untangling the mess before unhooking it. A tidy looking fish, bar one scar, of 74cm and 6lb 8oz.  That was it for the day. I did move to another swim and fished until dusk.

If you look at the video you can see the steam coming from the pan as I didn't turn the stove off when the run occurred.

What state the rivers will be in as we approach the end of the river season I've no idea. I've even booked the fourteenth off work to fish the last day. Quite way I don't know as it usually ends up being a bit of a let down.

Music while typing provided by Punky Radio

It's A Sign

Back to the gravel pit for want of anywhere better. Where to fish was answered by the splash of panicking roach in one corner of the pool. As I was setting up another shoal broke surface in a panic just to my left. Clearly a sign. A headless sardine was dropped over to the right where the first shoal scattered and a roach to the left where the second shoal scattered. There they sat for quite some time save the occasional twitch from me. Another angler had turned up to fish a bit of bread punch for roach and was doing quite well. His catch included a couple of roach/bream hybrids, something rarely seen in this pit.

Around twelve the float above the sardine bobbed and shot away about two yards. I struck into nothing. I retrieved a slightly chewed bait which I tossed back to the same spot. Five minutes later the float above the roach did the same thing and again I struck into nothing. Back it went to the same spot. Ten minutes later the sardine rig performed the same trick. Cursing to myself  I popped the somewhat chewed sardine back to the same spot having injected a little oil in it. A little while later the roach angler popped over to say he'd had a pike lunge at a couple of fish as he retrieved them and his swim had died. I thought maybe that would be feeding time over and that I would have to wait to dusk for another bite.

I could see the other angler catching again when, around one thirty, the float above the roach bobbed. I struck straight away and contacted with something solid that came in like a wet blanket, until presented with the net. At this point it made several short runs as it tried to avoid the net before seemingly giving up. A healthy looking fish which kindly spat the hooks out in the net. At 85cm it weighed in at 10lb 1oz. Apart from a well healed scar on one side a very tidy looking fish.

I stayed on until nearly dark, but that was it. The chap fishing bread had quite a nice haul of pristine looking roach and hybrids all around the 3-4oz mark.

Music while typing provided by The Eternal Now with Andy Ortmann

Not My Original Plan

With the rivers out of sorts due to Ciara and Dennis about to reek havoc still waters looked to be the only choice. The clay pit had been my intention as I set off, but I stopped to look at the gravel pit on the way and found it had an extra foot of water in it compared to my last visit. Still needs another foot, though, to get to full winter level.  After a bit of  dithering I decided to stay. This turned out to be a good choice as an angler arriving later told me he'd had a look at the clay pit and it was a horrid brown colour as water was still draining off the fields. Ciara had brought down a lot of dead branches and the wind seemed to have blown them into one corner. With the aid of the landing net I was able to clear them which allowed me fish there.

A small roach was dropped in to my left in three foot or so of water, a spot that has produced a few nice doubles in the past. A headless sardine was punched out to the bottom of the bar. Every now and then the sun would pop through the clouds for a while, enough to take the edge off the chill breeze. The odd larger fish rolled on the surface and small fish would dimple the surface in small shoals. About lunch time the sardine float did that is isn't moving thing before moving off and disappearing. Striking met with a solid resistance. After a brief fight a chubby 8lb pike was in the net. At 83cm it looked more like a 6-7lb fish. It was one of those fish that didn't seem to want to leave the comfort of the landing net when I tried to return it and took a bit of coaxing. Another sardine went out to the same spot. Despite the occasional twitching and recasting the next bite didn't come until gone five. This one didn't put up much of a struggle and was netted by another pike angler that had turned up in the afternoon. Our guesses were a fish of 5-6lb and we were surprised when it weighed 8lb 4oz, especially as it was 3cm shorter.

Quite a pleasant day all in all and as I was the only one to catch it made it better. Where to go Friday is the next big decision. The clay pit will take a while to clear and the estate lake has not been fishing well so I may well be back here. With Dennis due over the weekend, while I'm working, I would imagine the rivers will be as bad as ever next week.

As you can see from the video I don't seem to have the camera pointing in quite the right direction and for some reason I keep hitting it and knocking it. I'll get the hang eventually.

Splodgeness Abounds

No forgotten appointments Friday so it was breakfast, tackle in the car and out into the fog heading the opposite direction to Thursday. With the cold night and the sun not yet over the trees the ground was pretty solid under foot. First thing I did was have a wander with the lure rod. All I managed to do was mangle the hooks pulling out of snags. There are basically four swims on this little stretch. The bottom three I've taken pike from. The top one is the one everybody tells you to fish if you tell them you're piking here. I've never had a pike from it, nor have I seen anybody else take one. I spent an hour in each swim working top to bottom and back again. Roach and Lamprey to start with. One on top of the shelf and one one them bottom of the shelf, both float-legered. 

As I was having lunch, in the top swim, the lamprey at the bottom of the shelf moved away. As I lifted into it I thought I was snagged, but it soon came adrift. With no more lamprey I put on a mackerel tail and out it went. By two there was enough heat in the sun to warrant taking the big coat off, which entailed removing the camera harness as well. Just as I got the coat off the float went under with a bit of a pop. I lifted into something heavy and fast moving. It took the best part of twenty yards of line before I could turn it. It doggedly stuck to the bottom, raising occasional clouds of bubbles, as I pumped it back. A large fish with a red looking tail, it then did the net dodging dance as I got stuck in the now thawed mud. Once on the bank it was remarkably well behaved, maybe he soothing effect of my unhooking glove, which I'd remembered to bring for a change. 21.63 on the scales, minus 1.64 for the weigh sling, so a 19.99lb pike. Taking the height above sea level into account I think we can call that a twenty. My efforts to film an underwater release were thwarted by the speed with which she swam off. I've fished that swim for X years (where X is quite a large number) and never caught so a twenty was quite pleasing. One strange thing though, was the number of intact casters in her throat. There were no other anglers about, that I could see, and oddly they were floaters as well.

After another hour and a half it was time to put the big coat back on as the sun disappeared behind the trees and guess what, the float shot away. This time I lifted into a lunatic of a fish. It fought like a large summer jack, apart from a lack of acrobatics, it wa all over the place. The sticky mud again made life a tad awkward as I was landing it. Kindly it ejected the barbless hooks in the net. I still had a look down it's throat in case there was anybody else's lost rig in there. At 104cm it was just 2cm short of the twenty, but weighed in at 17lb 10oz. Again I attempted to film some underwater shots, but she got her teeth into the net. As I slipped my hand under the gill plate to open her mouth she flipped and shredded my knuckles on her gill rakers. It looked like I'd been attacked by piranha the amount of blood in the water. I remember my unhooking glove and still end up with piker's rash.

I chucked out half a herring next which sat there for another hour or so with out any action. The roach, which I was told was the top bait hereabouts, had not been touched all day. Not a bad day. The twenty would have done me as a river twenty is always a special fish, nut adding a high double was the icing on the cake. Apart from my failure with the underwater shots the only other calamity was scolding my thumb with boiling water when I sneezed pouring it into my cup. The swim was a absolute horror of sticky squidgy mud after the sun got to it and made landing fish a bit of a mare and didn't help when packing up as everything seemed to be covered in it. It was not unlike the mud you get on a tidal river at low tide. How I didn't end up losing a wellie I don't know.

One strange thing I only noticed when I got home was the pictures of the fish look like they were taken in fog. Yet others were clear. they didn't look fogy on the screen as I was taking them and the lens was clean. Oh well. Storm Ciara is due to arrive as I type this. What havoc it will reek on the rivers we'll have to see.

Music while typing this provided by Copperplate Time

Applied Stupidity

Up bright and early to a crisp frosty morning, intent on a spot of pike fishing. This was my first mistake that saw me look like I was practising for my GCSE in Applied Stupidity. After breakfast I loaded up the car and the phone alarm went off to remind me of an appointment.  I could have had another couple of hours in bed. Eventually to got to the river and setup. The first bait, a lamprey section,  was tossed in upstream. As I setup the second rod the float disappeared and I struck. What I hadn't noticed was that the line had wrapped around the end of a branch. After a bit of piddling about and nearly ending up in the river when I attempted to step on a bit of bank that wasn't there I got it free, but the fish had gone. Just after I put some water on to boil I got another run. Switching the action cam on as I made my way to the rod. After a brief bit of acrobatics at the net a jack of 5-lb was landed. As I made my way back to the unhooking mat, as the pot I was landing the fish was rather small and not suitable of wrestling a jack, I kicked the stove over. Once returned I reviewed the footage only to find I'd not pressed the record button.

I boiled some more water and had my cuppa before moving swims. I then moved again after an hour. This swim was equally unproductive, but I did have a spot of lunch after another calamity. Top tip - don't step over an opened pot noodle with muddy boots. The mud that falls off the boot does not enhance the flavour in any way. By now there was a fair bit of heat in the sun and I'd removed a couple of layers. I spent an hour or so throwing various lures about which resulted in a follow from one very small jack not much bigger than the 10" lure. I moved back to the first swim for the remainder of the day where I was visited by a local otter which I managed to get a photo of. Can you see it? As I was having a natter with another angler the downstream float disappeared. This time I remembered to press record on the cam, only I didn't hold it long enough and only got a still of a couple of out of focus fingers. Another jack of similar size to a roach. A stuttering run an the lamprey resulted in nothing. By now the sun had dropped behind the trees and layers were been put back on. Within half an hour I had the big coat back on. I stayed on to nearly dark and was only half way back to the car when I realised I'd left the bait bag behind.

Back at the car panic started to set in as the car key couldn't be found. I rifled through the pockets several times. Emptied the tackle bag. Checked the doors to see if I'd left it in the car. After a bit of a pause and thought I remembered the "secret pocket" in the coat intended for keys as it has a little clip in it to attach them to. I don't need Google maps to get me home, but it is useful for warning about traffic jams and accidents. This proved useful as my thirty minute journey started to increase to forty minutes and beyond I was able to avoid the worst of it. It transpired that a double decker had attempted to go under a low bridge and failed. This is not the first time this has happened with this bridge. In fact one driver managed it twice.