A New Venue On A Nice Drying Day

 Having kindly offered to provide a free taxi service I was going to be stuck with nothing to do for a couple of hours, so diced to try a new venue and fling a lure, or two, around a lock. While Google tried to get me there, the new road, new houses and road works did confuse things somewhat, but I got there in the end.

What I hadn't taken into account was the wind. According to that Beaufort chappie it was a Fresh Breeze. According to me it was blowing a hooley, straight down the canal. This meant the usual 3-5g jig head was out and on went a 7g jig head with a fire tiger shad type thing. Fishing above the lock was hard work getting buffeted about by the wind. Below the lock there was a bit of shelter and I was soon into that sometimes fought like a perch and then like a pike. Eventually a 64cm jack was in the net. So not a blank.

A couple of casts later and another take which ended with the tail been bitten off. Things went quiet after this. A bit of a wander and a couple of changes of lure and I started to get hits but couldn't contact. A downsized the lure and the hits stopped. Back up a size and they started again? A change to a crank bait didn't make any difference. By now the wind had increased to a Strong Breeze and it was becoming dangerous to stand to close to the edge as the gusts could knock you off your balance. A couple more changes of lure didn't improve things and time was now running out so time to give up.

Quite what was hitting the lures I don't know but I think it'll be worth a return visit in more clement weather.

 

Alarming Pike Fishing

Yesterday I set my alarm for the early hours of Thursday so I could get out before the traffic built up. Remarkably this proved to be rather useless as I was going fishing on Friday. Even so I woke reasonably early and was able to get to the venue before the worst of the traffic. The trudge up to the first swim I intended to fish wasn't too bad as it had been cold enough to freeze the ground. My intention was to start there and work my way back towards the car.

The tactics to start with were a float fished trout in the slack behind an over hanging tree, and a ledgered half a small mackerel out to the feeder line. An hour later and not much had happened so I was contemplating moving when the drop-back indicator hit the bank stick. Nothing big but it felt like a pike. Everything came to a halt and I was proper snagged. I left a slack line for five minutes but nothing happened. I couldn't feel a fish so went for a pull and out the rig came replete with a slightly bent hook. After a bit of straightening it was back out with another manky looking bit of mackerel. I'm still using up last year's baits.

As I brewed a cuppa the drop-back went again. A fish around the 60-70cm mark. This time I got it to the net. I was about four foot above the river so wielding a heavy net with a slightly dodgy shoulder wasn't easy. I hadn't seen the trailing hook which snagged the edge of the net. My faffing about trying to get the fish over the net soon unhooked it and it was away. The next mackerel hard been in a couple of minutes, enough time to get the boiling water into the cup for my cuppa, when I got another run. This time a fish of 65cm was actually landed. I'm assuming the photos of it are among the four that are corrupted on the SD card. Despite their size they'd put up a good struggle zooming about like mad things.

I settled back with my cuppa and a biccy. I'd no sooner finished it than the float moved away. This was something considerably heavier. After hauling it out from under the tree it headed straight for the snag. Turning it had it heading back towards the overhanging tree. Side to side it went three or four times before giving up. At 110cm and 18lb 14oz it was quite a weight to lift up the bank. Out went another trout. Not long after the drop-back dropped back and another feisty little jack of 75 cm was kept out of the snag and into the net.

I wondered whether to stay or move. You can only push your luck so far in one swim. A tip rattle on the ledger rod persuaded me stay. It then rattled again but I failed to contact with any thing. The slightly chewed mackerel was slung out again. I'd just got the water in my Mac 'n' Cheese when the float moved away. Something heavy but dogged was on the end. While it made no fast runs it took some time to get it up out of ten foot of water. At 108cm, 2cm shorter than the earlier biggy it weighed over 5lb less at exactly 13lb. By the time I'd dealt with it my Mac 'n' Cheese was ready. That had been my last trout so a rather old looking piece of lamprey was the next bait used.

The pike gave me time to eat my lunch and have a cuppa before the float bobbed about. All I contacted was a sunken branch. After tossing the bait back out I didn't have another run for about 45 minutes. As I started to gather things up to move another swim the drop-back dropped again and a somewhat larger jack of 87cm and 8lb 14oz soon graced the net. It was one of those that puts up more of a fight on the bank. As this was the last mackerel I put the other half of the lamprey on. It was another hour before I got my next run. This time on the float. A real loony of a fish that was all over the place both in and out of the water. At 70cm it had certainly been entertaining, and I still had my bait. While I had my afternoon tea I had a dropped run on both rods

I decided to sit it out in that swim but got no more runs. The walk back to the car was a bit trick as the slippy mud had now thawed out and made the return journey hard work. Six fish landed, two lost and a few dropped runs made the slippy trudge worth it. Quite why there were so many jack two thirds of the way across the river I've no idea. Maybe gathering ready for spawning?

A Canal Quickie

 As I had to collect something from the land of the Goolies and I'd also got reports of some nice catches of perch coming from the canal I thought I'd give it a go. The report was that the perch were shoaled up and once you found them a good number could be had. Texas rigs seemed to be the killer method, so that's what I started with. A 2½" crayfish was soon been twitched along the bottom. I worked may way along quite quickly to cover as much water as possible.

Eventually I arrived at the locks. As the crayfish hadn't worked I changed to a tube lure and worked it along close to the walls. I'd just about worked my way round the lock complex when a little jack followed the tube. I wiggled it about in front of it's nose but got no interest. Changing back to the crayfish got similar results. Shock tactics were called for so on went a Salmo Rattlin Hornet in firetiger. First run through and the jack was on, but I hadn't thought about the strike and and was unable to set the hook properly due to lack of room. Nor had I set the net up and I was too high above there water to chin it. As I dragged it along to a lower section it came adrift. A couple of perch appeared as I lifted the lure from the water. Another run through and the smallest of three perch hit the lure and was swung in. A fish around 25cm which made the other two over 30cm.

I gave it another 20 minutes with various lures but to no avail. Not wanting to be late for my appointment I set of back towards the car trolling a lure along the edge. This only produced a couple of twigs. Another lure angler had turned up but wasn't having any luck. A couple of blokes were getting the odd little roach on pole. A chap on the bridge informed me that somebody had been getting quite a few out yesterday and the day before. To emphasise how tight the shoals had been he said that the previous week 5 people were fishing but only one was catching.

Cardboard Guards and Hedge Laying

 I must admit I wasn't too confident as I headed to the river. It had dropped to below a metre up, but the temperatures had also dropped again. I quick wander round showed only a couple of swim to be safely accessible in the freezing conditions. The current was quite fast and coupled with a downstream wind float fishing would be near on impossible out in the main river. So, I opted for a ledger rig, something I don't often do. A float rig was still used in the inside slack though.

After casting out the ledger rig nearly half way across on to the feeder line I tried to set up the drop-off indicator but some thing was pulling the line. Eventually my brain switched on and realised it may be a bite. The strike suggested something heavy but it didn't really feel like a fish. About half way back everything went slack. Don't know what it was, maybe some debris. Out it went again with another half a small mackerel on. The float was dropped into the slack with a smelt on. I recast every 30mins or so but nowt showed.

After lunch I moved swims same tactics as previous but this time the ledger rod had a large piece of lamprey on and the float a small trout. Again the baits were moved every half hour or so. Around mid-afternoon the float moved away. As I wound down a branch near the float started to move towards me. The line had been blown into the overhanging tree with the pike trying to pull the branch one way and me pulling it another. The line eventually came free but the ensuing slack line allowed the fish time to shed the hooks. Bugger! At least one fish was feeding so there may be more.

That was it for the day. First blank of the year. As I left I discovered what the noise of chain saw had been doing. I'd seen that a couple of hundred metres of hedging had been planted with cardboard guards rather than those dreadful plastic things. The chainsaw, though, had been used for a bit of hedge restoration. A nice thing to see. Don't know how the cardboard guards will cope with the rabbits and/or deer.

Plan A - The Brick Ponds

 I'd been informed the muddy colour had dropped out of the overfull Brick Ponds so decided to give it a go. My intention of arriving at first light was cocked-up by my inability to set an alarm. On arriving at the car park I thought it best to have wander down to  the ponds to see what state they were in before carting the tackle down. The colour had dropped out but it was far from clear and it really was high. With 18" of extra water in it one of my favourite swims was inaccessible and the bankside path to the other half of the pond(s) was underwater in places.

Two float rigs were readied, one with a herring with a rather bad case of freezer burn, and the other with a small headless mackerel. The herring was placed to the left bay an overhanging tree and the mackerel over the dead/dying lilly bed. As I tucked in to a biscuit to go with my cuppa the herring float bobbed and moved away. Contact was made with a very fast fish which shot about all-over the place. It obviously wasn't heavy but did put up a great scrap for it's size. Only 64cm but fun none the less. A smelt was attached to the rig and dropped in the same place.

I'd moved the mackerel about a couple of times and found the old lily bed still had plenty of green stuff protruding above the bottom so had been shallowing up hoping the bait would just settle on top of it. As I wound the smelt in to reposition it I saw something swirl under the water as I lifted it out. I drop the bait in some three foot from the bank just over the shelf. Having finished my lunch I popped for a quick piss. As I turned came back the float by the bank shot way towards the other float. By the time I'd grabbed the rod the other float was moving away as well. Not content with this the little beastie decided to down somersaults and tangle things even more. A presentable little thing of 55cm.

 

Unclipping the traces I found things weren't as bad as they first appear and was soon back in action. The mackerel went a bit further out this time and  another smelt was dropped under the tree to my right. Around 3:45 I was thinking of packing in as I didn't  fancy the very muddy walk back in dark.As I lifted the smelt from the water the other float moved slowly across the surface. I wasn't quite sure what I'd contacted with. It felt like a dead weight that occasionally wriggled a bit. By the time I'd got whatever it was to the bank all I had was a pile of semi-dead lily bits. I fished on until I could no longer see the floats but nothing else happened. The walk back was a bit nasty in the dark but I made it out intact. Despite being small the two jacks maintained my average of two pike per trip.

Time for Plan B

 Having acquired the code for the lock to the estate lake it was tome to put Wednesday's Plan B into action. Arriving around first light I initially contemplated fishing near the island, but there was a good breeze blowing down the lake from the far end which meant I could drift a float over a large section of the lake. The only problem was the lake being 150m long and I hadn't brought a reel with that amount of line on. Mine only had around 75m as most of my piking is done quite close, rarely more than 20m. I'd be able to cover quite a bit of the lake even so.

A vane topped float with a roach deadbait was soon drifting slowly down the lake. I managed half a dozen drifts down the lake on different lines before the wind died. Not only did it die but when there was a bit of a breeze it had changed direction and was now blowing across the lake right to left. This would still allow me to cover  a fair area though. Another angler turned up and went into the swim I originally thought of going in. Then a huge gaggle of Canada's finest crashed on to the lake making a right racket.

I got the other rod set up with my last small mackerel on and dropped that into the bed of the stream that used to be there before it was dammed. The roach was very slowly drifting towards the trees to my left. Just as I made a cuppa the mackerel bait was on the move. No contact, no sign  of any teeth marks. Back out it went. A couple of minutes later it was away again. A rather lethargic and very skinny, almost eel like, jack of 74cm had taken it. The drifting roach then started bobbing about. A very small but much more athletic little jack was soon at the platform. As I grabbed the leader it shook it's head and came adrift. 'Leader touch' so it still counts.

Another roach was swung out having increased the depth slightly. On the other rod went a small trout as I'd run out of mackerel having forgotten to top the bait bag up. Thankfully I'd put the lid on my mug as there was bit's of alder on it which I don't think would have added to the flavour. As I finished my tea while watching the crows and buzzards engaged in a bit of aerial combat the trout was away. I'd clearly missed the initial take as the float was a good 10m further out in the like. Thankfully I struck and was in contact with some thing lively. Another slightly skinny jack of 75cm was soon chinned.

Another little trout was dropped in the stream bed. and the roach recast.  As I was preparing my Hoisin Duck Noodles for lunch a sparrow hawk shot low over the rods, dodged the fence and some how whipped through the trees. No sooner had I finished lunch than the trout rod was away again. This time it was some more substantial. A chubby 8lb 7oz 80cm pike was eventually chinned after a couple of runs. A nice healthy looking fish, unlike the others. Another frozen trout was dropped in the stream bed and no sooner had the float settle then it was away. A rather tatty 70cm jack was quickly wound in and released. It was while having my mid-afternoon cuppa that I got my next two runs, one on each rod. I both cases I never felt anything and both baits were undamaged.

As usual I stayed until I could barely see the floats but nowt else happened. Not a bad day. Eight takes five fish that seemed to rather like trout. Maybe they've not seen it before.  So that's four trips for an average of two fish per trip. Don't think I'll keep that up. One can but try. One thing I keep forgetting is a container for water to wet the unhooking mat. On a trip round GoOutdoors the previous day I found a 5l collapsible bucket for £3. It takes up very little space tin the tackle bag and saved me from having to chuck the mat in the lake each time I caught a fish.

Plans A to C

 My original plan was to fish the Brick Ponds, but I'd been told they were still rather coloured from the run-off . Plan B was to fish the Estate Lake , but I don't have the combination for the lock yet. I'm sure there's somebody I could get in touch with while I await my card, but there was nobody at the pit as I drove past so I opted for Plan C.

 

As I unloaded the car I was greeted by a robin. As the liquidised bread was handy  I sprinkled a some about for it. That would be the last I saw of it. I headed round to the far side and set up the rods. A trout to the right by an overhanging tree and a small half mackerel to the left under an overhanging tree.

Just as I got a cuppa made the left hand float trundled away. I lively little jack was contacted with that decided to show off it's acrobatic skills under the rod tip. I didn't want to net it as one of the hooks was flapping about. Strangely it was hooked on the upper hook that was in the tail of the bait. A tidy little fish of 66cm.

The mackerel was replaced with half a small herring and the head part chopped up and chucked around the swim. I spent the rest of the day moving the baits about the swim or being showered with birch twigs being blown down in the wind. Staying until dark didn't bring any more runs. A couple of maggot drowners popped down for a short while but didn't appear to catch.

Mid afternoon there had been a might crack somewhere over to my right. This turned out to be a dead tree about 9" in diameter which had fallen over the path. The phone camera decided an arty shot was needed. Not sure what went wrong as the flash fired. I managed to move the tree out of the way easy enough. Four out of four so far this season. I'll have to go elsewhere for my next session as I don't want to push my luck at the pit.

Three Out Of Three Thanks To A Friend

New Year's day and I was heading towards the pit half expecting it to be busy. If it was I had an alternative. To my surprise there was nobody there. No anglers, no ice, and most surprising of all no robins. I had half a mind to fish the far side, but lacking conviction I opted for my favourite corner swim. A small spotty in the tiny bay and half a small mackerel under the overhanging branch. A bit of liquidised bread around each float and a bit on the bank for the robins that still hadn't appeared.

I moved the baits every half hour or so as you have a large area available to you from this spot when it's not iced over. Just before lunch I gave the baits a bit of a stab with the knife and moved them back to their original positions while I had my lunch.

With no bites forthcoming I contemplated moving to the other side. By the time I'd finished contemplating another pike angler had materialised on the far side. I decided to stop put and just cast a bait further out towards the middle and keep one in the shallows near me. Half past three and the robins turned up and stated feeding on the breadcrumbs. Don't know what had kept them, perhaps they'd taken my advice and got a decent job. As I tried to get a picture of the paler one the float out in the middle slowly moved away. After quite a hectic fight I had what looked to be a familiar fish in the net. It was the same fish as last Tuesday but now five ounces heavier. Oh well, a blank saver at least.

A sardine replaced the missing mackerel and I fished into dark but nothing more was forth coming.  Three out of three but two different fish. The other pike angler didn't appear to catch anything.