Snotty Baggin'

 With Wednesday morning's activities cancelled due to the previous days precipitation I decided to nip up to a local pond, with the half pint of maggots I'd got left, for a couple of hours. I set up a simple paternoster feeder rig. With a couple of maggots on the hook. First cast resulted in a bite before I'd properly tightened up. A little roach.

Next cast the same thing, but the little roach dropped of into the margin as i swung it in. A little jack then shot up of the drop off and nearly beached it's self trying to grab it. Things then went quiet for a while. I then got a rattling bite that I missed. As one leg of the chair had sunk slightly I dropped the remains of the maggots in the margin while I sorted myself out. When I lifted the feeder back out there was a little perch attached to the hook. I dropped the fresh maggots back in the margin and soon got another one. Again the little jack made a charge for it bit missed out as I'd lifted it well above the water. I went back out to the swim I'd caught the roach from to find the little skimmers had moved in. 

A few more quickly followed before one came in at great speed followed by a bow wave. Again the little jack missed out on a meal and nearly beached itself. The skimmers seemed to have disappeared as I got no more bites. Soon after a short sharp downpour swept over. While I didn't get wet while it rained due to the trees. I had to suffer the occasional shower every time there was was a gust of wind. By the time it got to be time for me to be elsewhere I'd had no more bites. As I stated packing up the tip pulled round and another little skimmer turned up.

If it hadn't been for the hungry little jack(s) I think it would have been a better haul for the couple of hours I was there. A nice way to waste a couple of hours though.

More Lazy Maggot Drowning

With Agnes on it's way making the coming weeks weather a tad unpredictable I got myself down to the estate lake for a spot of maggot drowning. Dry and windy was the forecast. One other angler was there when I arrived in the car park after trying every combination lock code I knew and still getting it wrong. The number of combination locks, doors, fire alarms, cards, etc. that I need a four digit code for is getting silly. Admittedly I don't need some of the codes any more but I've used them for so long those are the ones I remember. I've only got three months to remember this one before the club changes it again. Really it would be easier just to get my ticket out and look at the code on that but I'd forget it by the time I got to the gate.

 

After a bit of a wander I decide to fish the down wind end near the island. Despite the number of times, over the years, that I've fished here I've never fished this part of the lake for silvers. I've only ever fished for carp or pike. Two float rods were set up. One to fish about a rod length out with maggot over hemp and the other to fish the deeper channel near the island with maggots over ground bait. Two more anglers arrived during this time both intent on a spot of maggot drowning like myself. Having tossed several small balls of ground bait out towards the island I started on the inside line and had half a dozen very small roach and perch quite quickly. Before it went quiet.

I then went over to the island and had a skimmer first cast on half a dozen maggots on a size twelve. After waiting for the next bite I changed to a similar number of dead reds but this failed to elicit a bite. I chucked out a couple more balls of groundbait and  returned to the inside line Eventually I had four small roach. Slightly bigger than those I'd caught previously. After a couple of very small perch there was a scattering of bait fish and the swim went dead. As previously I went over to the island and caught a skimmer nearly straight away. The wind had now got up a bit more making bite detection a bit of a problem.

This is how it continued for the rest of the session. The skimmers never seemed to settle and the predators kept attacking the inside line. Unlike previous visits it took a long time for the fish to come back. After five hours I had four skimmers and three dozen small roach and perch. Reports form the other anglers were similar although had had a decent bream.

A pleasant five hours was had even if the fish weren't very cooperative. The weather had been reasonable warm and the breeze not too troublesome. Strangely I didn't catch any rudd this time. Nor would the skimmers take dead reds. We'll see if the rest of the week allows for any fishing as it appears it's going to continue to be wet and windy. I don't mind either, it's both I dislike.

No Leaves, Leaves

 I'm always a tad concerned when I arrive at a popular fishery and there's nobody else there. Do they know something I don't? It does give me the choice of swim though. The gravel pit was nice a clear unlike the other day at the estate lake.  started in a corner swim with a waggler setup and a feeder rig. The waggler fished close in with maggots or casters over hemp. The maggot feeder was cast out to the middle. The first fish out on float was a small roach with a rather bright orange patch just behind the mouth.

Small roach and bream, with the occasional perch followed in fits and starts. I'd catch two or three fish then it would go quiet for ten minutes or so. It didn't seem to matter whether I feed a few maggots and hemp or a handful. I tried casters as well but that just lead to a longer wait between bites. I was recasting the feeder every ten minutes or so but hadn't even had a chewed maggot on it. After an hour I'd had seventeen fish. Just after the hour mark the tip pulled round and I had a small bream. The pattern with the float fished maggots and casters continued as before. At the two hour mark I'd added another 18 small fish. At this point a really strong gust of wind shook a lot of leaves from the trees all over the pit. making it nearly impossible to cast the float in with out catching a leaf.

I had a wander along the bank and found the other corner swim clear of leaves so moved down there. I continued with the same tactics as before. The first fish out this time was a slightly larger roach with a injury on its side.

 
The bites were a bit more consistent in this swim but mainly from small perch. The feeder rig produced another small bream. On the float rig I tried hemp and elder berries to see if I could avoid the small perch but couldn't get a bite on them. After an hour I'd caught thirty three fish twenty five of which were small perch. Another hour passed with the leaves slowly creeping into this swim. The bites slowed down and I managed twenty four fish before this swim became unfishable as well. The feeder rod had given a couple of rattles but only produced chewed maggots.

With the pit unfishable due to the leaves I decided the frustration of trying to get the float in was not worth it and retired gracefully. Ninety four fish in just over four hours had kept me amused so not a bad day. The leaves falling from the trees are going to be a problem where ever you fish at this time of year.

The Right Pellets?

I'd been to the tackle shop yesterday day for for some maggots and a couple of other bits.  The consensus in there was that the rivers weren't fishing well so I decided another trip to the pit was in order. Rather than suffer the horrible clammy windless heat of the afternoon into evening I decided to try an early morning session instead. Besides the pit generally fishes better of a morning. I double checked the pellets to make sure I had the right ones. I also had groundbait, worms, maggots and casters with me.

It was thick fog on the way to the pit and as a result dawn was nearly twenty minutes late. This gave me time to mix up the groundbait and lace it with chopped worm and crushed casters. Half a dozen balls went in next to the lilly pads. I then catapulted out a mixture of Source pellets into a deeper spot. I had two float rods set up, one for pellet and one for maggot or caster. I started on the pellet line and got a reasonable bream first cast. Would this be a first cast jinx or the start of a good day. It turned out to be the former. After that first fish I couldn't get another bite on that line no matter what bait I tried.

It was the lilies that produced all the fish mainly to double red maggot or single caster. Small perch, little skimmers and roach of various sizes and a single rudd were caught intermittently. Three or four fish were caught then things would go quiet. While it was quiet I'd try different baits on the pellet line to no avail. The other problem was that the little jack pike were active and every now and then there be  a scattering of small fish and things would go quiet. A couple more balls of ground bait would eventually get them feeding again. Sometimes though the jacks were a blessing as tiny roach or bream would move in and just nip at the maggots and make a nuisance of them selves so I didn't mind the jacks scattering them.

The fog finally lifted around eleven and as it got brighter the bites tailed off which seemed Like a good time to pack up as it was also turning clammy. Why the pellets were steadfastly ignored, except for that first fish I've no idea. I'm sure If I'd dropped to a single maggot on a twenty I'd have caught a lot more fish, but I couldn't be faffed with the tiny little things.

Third Session of the 2022 River Season

 Tuesday's session was to a stretch that I've regularly fished for pike but not done any maggot drowning in for years.  It didn't get of to a particularly good start though. I found a nice swim with a six foot shelf a rod length out, just beyond some weeds. A couple of rod lengths further out the depth doubled. I set up a stick and 'pin for the inside line as it was protected from the downstream breeze. The deep line I set up a waggler rig with an ABU 506 as waggler fishing with a 'pin is a pain. By now the hayfever had kicked in. My nose was streaming and sneezing so bad I thought I'd dislocate my head. Still I persevered.

Hayfever like that doesn't do much for your concentration. Three time I snagged a tree when casting forcing me to re rig. I developed a total inability to throw groundbait with any form of accuracy other than hitting the river. Just to ad insult to injury one wellie had developed a leak. The inside line produce nothing but bleak, not the perch I was expecting. The waggler line also produced bleak, but by bulking the shot well down the line I was able to bypass them more often them not. Despite scattering groundbait all over the place I was into bream pretty quickly. Between sneezing and a streaming nose I managed to bump off three of them and lost another three in the weeds. At this point I decided a cuppa and some medication may be the order of the day.

While partaking of a cuppa I chucked a feeder rod out. All this did was bounce about and I'd wind in some chewed maggots. Eventually a small perch hung itself on the hook. Admittedly I was far too busy trying to get a photo of an egret chasing fry on the far bank, I failed. I did manage a, poor, photo of some of the four dozen gooses that same past. A couple of lambs charged them as they arrived at the cattle drink. The lambs weren't as brave when a couple of gooses flew at them. A heron was also chased off by the gooses as well.

After forty five minutes or so the sneezing and streaming nose had stopped. After a few trots down the inside line only to find the bleak were still there. I chucked some more groundbait in, this time with a lot more accuracy. First up on the waggler line were roach and the occasional perch. Much to my surprise the odd, three to the pound, chub turned up. This was nice to see as chub have notable for their absence in recent years. Late on I started to pick up skimmers, most of which I managed to get to the net. I still managed to bump more than I should have done.

I think if I'd not scattered groundbait everywhere early on I could have put quite a nice bag of fish together. Still it wasn't a bad day in the end. It appeared I was on an Oyster Catcher's flight path as it came backwards and forwards across the river. Whistling just before it came over the flood bank it never really gave me enough notice to get a photo. There was also a surprising amount of salmon leaping about. Some coloured and some still a shiny silver. On the way back to the car I also saw a very large hare zig-zaging across the field. Not seen one that size for years. There was also a quite a few hedgepigs wandering about. I nearly stood on one as it came out of the long grass on to the path.

Roadworks, Diversions and Lies

I thought I'd deciphered the various signs littering the area around the ponds indicating when the roads would be closed for resurfacing. Things appeared to have changed somewhat as I headed to the estate lake. That road was closed even though the signs said two days previous. The road to the gravel pit was supposed to be closed today but was still open, so it was back to the gravel pit. As I arrived I witnessed a crow doing it's osprey impression, picking a dead fish from the surface. There was also a heron in among the trees trying it's luck in among the roots. I was also on my own.

After a bit of plumbing around I found a couple of spots the same depth. One four rod lengths out in front and three rod lengths forty-five degrees to my right. The font one was to be baited up with groundbait, a mixture of brown and red crumb in a ratio of 51:49. This was to be laced with dead reds and chopped worm. To my right I was going to loose feed caster and hemp.

The set up was to be a crystal insert waggler with a long insert. I'd picked up a section from the tackle shop. I alternated between red maggot, caster and worm as hook bait. Bites were few and far between but nice and positive due to long insert the lift bites were easy to see. The odd skimmer, tiny perch and similarly small roach were picked out equally on maggot or caster. Worm failed to elicit a bite.  After lunch I decided to ball it in on the line in front of me as the few small balls of ground bait weren't attracting much. This didn't really change things as the bites were still scarce. I'd fished on the bottom, off the bottom, on the drop. None of which were any better than the other.

There was clearly some pike activity as every now and then great clouds of bubbles would suddenly rise to the surface and occasional small fish could be seen scattering. Mid afternoon another angler arrived and fished to swim opposite taking the odd small fish very now and then. The changing wind direction didn't help either as various bits of debris got blown backward and forward through the swims.

A heron returned swooping over the edge of the pit causing a few fish to scatter and swirl before it landed it a tree where it spent the rest of the afternoon. Strangely the robin never appeared to demand maggots. There were, however a very large number of tadpoles around the edge of the pit. At first I thought it was just some black silt on the bottom until I looked closely.

With rain predicted for the evening I packed up the moment the drizzle started which was good timing. I'd just got everything in the car when it really chucked it down.  It was a bit of a disappointing session, I'd expected  a lot more. There's plenty of fish in there but the pike just seem to prevent them for settling.

It Rained

 Back down the gravel pit for another match hours session.  Waggler fished maggots or casters over groundbait laced with dead reds and chopped worm was the plan. Like a twit I'd forgot to put the tube of insert wagglers I'd sorted out back in the bag. The only ones I had with me were straight wagglers for river fishing. I dotted it down as far as I could and still see it. At least the was only a short burst of sunshine and very little wind so the float was quite easy to see. After a spot of plumbing about I set the bait just on the bottom over a little ledge. The ledge handily lines up with an over hanging branch so you have a marker for casting. A dozen small balls over groundbait went in. It wasn't long before the noisy little robin turned up demanding to be fed.

First up were a couple of perch which gave quite positive bites. Alternating between double red maggot, single didn't get any bites, and single caster a couple of roach followed. The first sign of pike activity then followed when a few fish scattered under the over hanging tree. Twenty biteless minutes later and the swim started to fizz. A couple of skimmers took a liking to red maggots. Another pike turned up grabbing a skimmer as I brought it in ripping it from the hook. this is how it went for the next couple of hours, the odd fish or two the nothing for a while. I kept topping up the swim with groundbait.

Around lunch time a second angler turned up. I then started to get silly bites which occasionally turned into little roach. The lack of sensitivity on the float started to show. As it got into the afternoon it started to drizzle then turned to quite heavy rain. This slowed the bites down considerably and the last couple of hours produced very few fish. The other lad, who'd happily been catch a few skimmers then had his swim disrupt by a battle with a double figure pike. Which he managed to land on a whip.

 

I reckon that the answer to the pike problem is to have two lines set up and alternate between the two. This would allow time time for one to settle after a pike attack. I also need to remember to put the insert wagglers in the bag as well as I reckon the long tipped ones will show the bites from the roach a lot better. The rain, though, came as a complete surprise. All I'd expected was a little bit of drizzle. Not that it would make a lot of difference as five miles south west at my house it hadn't rained at all, according to the neighbours.