Giant bream and even better crucians.

The following couple of trips after the capture of the 13lb-8oz bream reported in the last blog I was just day fishing and I caught a few perch but no sign of the bream.  Then that good luck factor came in again and the next bite, mid-afternoon on a sunny day, I got a bite typical of bream, the bobbin dropped and then slowly rose again and the fight certainly suggested it would be a bream although with the power it would be big.  Sure enough it proved to be just that and the lad from the adjacent swim confirmed a weight of 15lb-4oz, yet again the target set and achieved.

                                                           15lb-4oz Giant bream.

It was now fast approaching the 1^st of May and the club water well known for its large crucians would become available for fishing again having been closed for six weeks.  Plans were made and I arrived on the evening before only to find the place already packed out.  I dropped into a small out of the way swim prepared to wait until a better choice became available and since anglers are always coming and going to their own personal timetable I got my chance midmorning next day.  The rules only allow the anglers to stay for two nights and then they must leave for a minimum of 24 hrs. Though this can be awkward for the travelling angler I’m in total agreement with the rule since it does allow swims to become available on a constant basis with no long term occupation of good areas.  I stayed in the swim for 36 hrs, but with no success so I moved to the opposite end of the dam to try a totally different area.  The results around the lake were generally very patchy with a blank or one or two fish the normal catch, one angler did very well with 15 crucian to a best of 3lb-13oz, but amongst the other anglers fish being caught were odd specimens of 4lb plus including samples to challenge the current record of 4lb-9oz held jointly be myself and two others.   My  move proved to be worthwhile when I caught a succession of tench to 6lb-11oz and two crucians of 3lb-6oz and 3lb-12oz a fish equal to my best for the venue, then I had to leave having reached the end of this session..

                                                  Equal pb for the venue at 3lb-12oz.

                                     The best of well over 50 taken over the 9 days at the venue 6lb-11oz.

My tackle and approach would be the same throughout my sessions here, two 12ft 1.25lb Drennan Avons were matched with Mitchell 300’s loaded with 6lb line going to flatbed method feeders.  Very short hooklink of 4lb Fireline with Kamazan size 14 hooks carried a single artificial caster on the hair rig.  I would use one pint of caster per day along with a similar amount of 4mm pellet put out with a Spomb at regular intervals, this to allow for the tench and rudd that invariably would be cleaning them up. 

My next three day session proved equally as difficult with the first day and a half almost totally blank so again a move to a different bank altogether.  Yet again the same potential record fish came out and again I was called on to witness it but I also saw a 4lb-2oz fish caught in the swim next to mine this giving me some hope and sure enough I again caught two crucian of 3lb-2oz and 3lb-5oz along with another load of tench to 6lb-9oz.  All the time I’m getting reports of lots of blanks but the average crucian being caught is up from last year by perhaps 4oz and that gives the chance for a good number of high 3lb’s plus fish into the 4lb range.

                                                              3lb-5oz best of the day's brace.

Again the 130 miles back home to recharge the bodywork and I’m back again hoping to beat the time when the crucians will spawn, last year I only got one trip and by the time I returned they had spawned.   Dawn saw me walking down the bank to find a vacant swim and I soon had my tackle in place and cast out.  There was quite a strong wind blowing into the bank and the wind chill factor made it quite cold until the afternoon when the sun got past the surrounding tree.  Fortunately the cool conditions did not stop the crucians and at about 11am I got one of 3lb-11oz to give a very pleasing start to the trip.

When fishing you never know what is waiting just around the corner and at just after 2pm I finally got my long await 4lb crucian, this one weighing a very pleasing 4lb-6oz to make the previous effort on the venue well worthwhile.  That said fate was not finished with me and just a couple of hours later I was calling Mark from the next swim again to confirm the weight on his scales and  photograph a magnificent sample of 4lb-8oz to give me the best confirmed brace of crucians in the country.

                                                       4lb-6oz smaller of the brace.

                                                          4lb-8oz larger of the brace.

The following day I topped the catch up with a 2lb-13oz and yet another big fish of 4lb-2oz though after that fish the next 30 hrs were dead but Of course I did not mind that, yet again target set and achieved.

                                                Third of the 4's at 4lb-2oz.

Spring means specimen tench and crucians.

Spring is a great time for the serious specimen fisherman and although it arrived late this year it did come and the big fish have come with it.  As a general rule we measure our success by the weight of the fish we catch and the location the fish is caught from, I’m lucky in that I can afford both the time and the money to travel to distant places others have to fish locally and hence catch mostly smaller sizes of fish.  It is an undeniable fact that to succeed in catching specimen size species across the range to need to travel.  Lots of anglers are fortunate in that they live near to venues that hold big fish but even these will need to travel since it is unlikely that there are more than two or three of the species locally that are of specimen size.  Of course living in the south of the country gives the angler a big advantage over those in the north both in the general size of fish available and the number of venues holding each of the different species.  That is not to say that they are not available in the north but there will certainly be less of them. 

If I could move to say the western end of Kent or into the Colne valley area, the Kennet region or the Ringwood area it would be perfect.  All these would reduce my need to travel and put venues with specimen fish local to me that I could fish for a few hours in the evening without breaking the bank to get there.  I would still need to travel since many of my chosen venues would lie outside those areas, but the difference would be significant.  I now class anything less than 50 miles as local and rarely fish at less than 20miles.  Many anglers never travel more than 15 miles and even at that they feel they have gone a long way, suggest 50 mile to them and they think you have gone mad.  Unfortunately that is how it is so I travelled the 125 miles down to the Johnson’s Lake on the Marsh Farm complex yet again to try for the elusive 4lb crucian that is one of the targets for this year. 

                                                          Spawned out but still 3lb-10oz.

With the late spring it appears the tench fishing is way behind and I think I still have the chance of the very big tench for some weeks.  Unfortunately I’m sure that, one of my crucian catches on the last trip was a repeat capture after spawning, 3lb-5oz the first time and 3lb-1oz the second but that fish had definitely spawned.  This trip was a gamble, we had very nice and sunny weather over the previous weekend, it was almost certain that the fish will have spawned but just maybe one or more of them will still have the weight and will be that little bit behind, I thought it worth a chance.

                                     Willow herb off the trees just begining to cause problems.

 

I arrived to find the bank empty where previously it had been packed out with expectant anglers, there was just one angler on another bank and he seemed to be catching tench, lots of them and they had not spawned.  By now it was about 10:00am and by 11:00am I was in place with rods out fishing ready for the next fifty hours or so although I had already got it in mind that I could pack up early if things were not going right.  I mixed up some method and send out a few Spomb loads to give a feed area for the fish and I did not wait long before the first tench was heading to the net.  Although the venue can do a nice fish of 8lb or 9lb they are very rare and the majority are between 2lb and 5lb, this one was perhaps 5lb and in good shape, not yet ready for the spawning effort soon to come.  Not long after that I got my first crucian and it was spawned out but at 3lb-10oz it left me wondering just how big it had been the previous week.  With the damage on the tail you may recognise it as one of your captures, let me know if it is.

                                                    7lb-3oz tench the best of 17 over the session.

As the day went past the bank filled up with arriving anglers and I continued to catch both tench and crucians to specimen sizes.  By midday on the following day I had quite a catch with a 30 fish total, 17 tench and 13 crucians with five of the crucian over 3lb.  Included in the catch was two tench over 7lb the first of that weight I’ve had from the venue so a pleasing result but still not what I was after.   With the best three crucians at 3lb-10oz, 3lb-9oz and 3lb-6oz they were fish I was very pleased to catch, but they were all spawned out and I felt my chance of the 4lb fish had gone so as strange as some might think I decided to leave and go after the big tench elsewhere.  For me just catching fish is not enough, I need to feel the extra big fish is available and that bit of the equation had gone on this venue for the moment, but I’ll be back in the autumn when they will be back to their normal weight and a 4lb fish is a possible yet again.

                                                        3lb-9oz second largest weight.

                                               The best photo of the crucians and 3lb-6oz.

                                     

Returning home meant I could go to the local tench water, just over 30 miles away, and try for the big tench.  Here ‘big’ means 9lb plus with a very slight chance that if I could catch the right fish on the right day it might be a double, but on the way to that target I could hope for a couple of 7lb or 8lb fish.  It appeared that they had at last turned on and sport seemed a bit more consistent compared to that of late.  I fished for the day and ended with two tench and a bream, none of which went over 5lb but even though I know I would have caught bigger tench at Johnson’s I still enjoyed this session more that I would have there. 

A perfect Spring photo of a medium tench

 

                                         Sunshine brings out hatching fly life in numbers

 

Two things can spoil the enjoyment of fishing for me.  The first is it becoming too easy, the other is where there is no chance of my target fish on that venue.  I have packed up when catching big fish on a number of occasions when it became obvious that I had found the killing method at that time on that venue and the fishing was easy.  I could guarantee the next fish and the one after that, so to me it was no longer sport.  The other point is just my quirk – I want to catch nationally big fish and although I will fish waters where I’m not sure they hold such fish I prefer at least an outside chance that such a fish is present.  Just as an idea I’ll mention some of the weights that I need to feel that there is at least the chance of catching, double figure bream, barbel, and zander, 2lb roach and 3lb perch, 3lb crucian and 20lb pike, 50lb catfish and 30lb sturgeon though I like to think even bigger for this species. I don’t fish for carp but I’m pleased to catch the occasional 20lb specimen on finer gear intended for smaller species.

This blog has rambled a little but I would be interested in your thoughts on what I’ve said, how does it reflect your ideas and fishing?

 

 

Crucian tactics and success.

With May approaching fast my thoughts return to these beauties and I hope I can get some of this sport again.  This is last years blog of a successful session.

With this weather pattern that seems to be stuck in the late winter mode the fish would seem to be at least a couple of weeks behind in their development towards spawning, this can be an advantage as long as they will feed and that seems to be the rub.  My local tench water is fishing very patchy, but most of the time poorly, that is the report I get from all over the country, odd good catches and fish, but lots of blanks or low numbers of fish caught.  With this in mind I decided to concentrate on the crucians at Marsh Farm and leave the tench until a later date when they still might have the spawning to complete.

                                                              Home for a few days

                                                                   Baiting up as always

I’ve already given a report of my first trip and since then I’ve returned twice with varied results.  The weekly papers gave a very good report of a couple of great catches made in the recent weeks since the lake opened again on May 1, but don’t be fooled into thinking it’s easy, they were exceptional results.  The fish seem to be in small groups, get a swim with one of these groups in front of you and you can catch half a dozen crucian, but next door on either side of your position could be a total blank.  The tench are prolific and by and large the crucian anglers don’t count them at all since the size range tends to be quite small at between 1lb and 4lb most of the time.  The occasional nicely coloured rudd puts in an appearance and these can run up to around the 2lb mark to make an interesting diversion.

                                                                    Colourful rudd

My return for a second session resulted in just two crucians with another one lost and I was beginning to wonder what I needed to do in order to get a reasonable result, but as with most times when you are not catching it was just a case of getting onto the fish.  These sessions tend to be about of 50hrs duration over three days and for my next try I arrived about 10:30am on the Tuesday and began a walk around to see what was happening so I could choose a swim for the next couple of days.

                                                          Ready for the crucians

One big advantage of staying on the same venue and within a narrow band of end rig change is that the same tackle will be used making starting up again simple.   The rods are still made up and everything is ready to go.  Mix up my feed to go into the swim and a method mix for the feeder, only slightly different since I want one to break up while the other needs to bind on the method feeder.

                                                        One of the hookbait versions.

I, along with many other writers have written thousands of words on rigs for the different species we fish for, that said the one I’m using now will catch nearly species very efficiently and without any complicated tackle needed to construct it.  When looked at the flatbed method feeder is only a slight variation on the helicopter rig used with a swimfeeder, both use a short hook link to place a hook bait next to the feed that goes out into the swim.  If I only had one method I could use this would be it.

As before, the tackle is Drennan 1.25lb test 12ft Avon rods with Shimano 5000RE baitrunner reels loaded with 6lb line.  30grm method feeders and size 14 Kamasan B980 hooks are used with 4 inches of 4lb Fireline braid to make up a killing combination.  My method mix is based on Dynamite Green Lipped Mussel method mix with a few extra bits added and the hookbait will vary from sweetcorn,  6mm soft pellet to artificial casters.

I had arrived to find most swims taken with just one left so it removed the need to choose, sometimes a good thing as I am a firm believer in fate and she certainly looked after me this trip.  The story on the bank was bad, several anglers after the crucians but only two fish caught over the previous thirty hours or more.  Even the tench that are normally such a nuisance were slow with just a few wetting the occasional net.  I was all set for yet another low score with a blank the most likely result.  With the marker float out to give a reference point the Spomb along with the other two fishing rods were marked up for distance using a suitable elasticated thread,  then the feed went out, a mix of groundbait, mixed pellets and corn and I’m ready for fishing.

I cast the two baits out and continued to set up my camp, I always have the rods out first unless it’s raining, I was still doing this when the bobbin rose and I struck into my first fish of the session, a terrific start even if it’s a tench but as it came to the net I could see the flash of gold – it was a crucian.  Not only a crucian but at 3lb-12oz it was my best from this venue beating a 3lb-10oz fish taken on Harris Lake over behind my current position.  Following that my sport continued fairly evenly through to dusk with fish of 3lb-8oz, 3lb-5oz being the better crucians and a number tench to a pleasing 6lb-3oz.  I brought the baits into the edge at either side of my swim once darkness approached, just off the bushes since although the depth is only a couple of feet they do move in to feed on occasions, but not this night and dawn broke without any interruption to my sleep.

                                                 Very pleased with this 3lb-12oz crucian

                                                                          3lb-8oz gem

The following day started well with a couple of early tench but then nothing until 2:30pm when a moderate crucian, at least for this venue, of 2lb-8oz came to my waiting net, sport was on again and it continued through the afternoon into the early evening.  Mostly it was those smaller tench between 2lb and perhaps going up to 5lb but there were enough crucians to keep me on my toes.  I kept a little feed going into the swim using the smaller of the two Spomb to just top up the swim follow ever second fish, it seems reasonable to assume that there are more fish out there than you catch and it needs a little feed around to keep them interested in coming back to the swim.  I say coming back since it does seem they go off on a route march and eventually return when you again catch a few fish before they move away again.  In-between the feeding spells the swim can seem quite dead until they return.

                                                         Yet another 3lb plus specimen.

My total of crucians slowly built up which seemed quite strange since most of the other anglers were struggling for a bite, I’ve been there over the last two trips so they had my sympathy, perhaps their turn next time.  That second night the close in rods did produce with a big 2lb crucian followed at about 11:00pm by a fish that left no doubt that it was not a crucian.  As I played this fish on tackle not intended for the job a friend came up to ask if I fancied a cup of tea, I declined the tea offer but encouraged him to help with netting the fish.  My net was one of the smaller pan nets not intended for this size of fish and when it finally came to the side after much argument it smashed the fork without mercy leaving us to net it by the lad holding the remains of the frame and guiding the fish into the net very carefully.  The carp weighed in at a very pleasing 23lb-6oz and the net was easily repaired with a normal metal spreader block after the remains of the original plastic spreader had been removed.

                                                The net was not up to the carp's size.

                                                                 23lb-6oz hard scrapping bonus.

                                    3:00am and with the setting moon all is well with my world.

The following morning went much the same and by the time I left to beat the M25 traffic I had raised the crucian total to twelve of which seven were over the magical 3lb bench mark.  My trip back home was through some quite nasty weather and it was the prelude for what was to come, I definitely chose the right days to fish but that is part of the equation of success.

                                                                   A very successful session.

More gold medals.

Amongst the many species of coarse fish that I devote my angling hours in pursuit of specimens, the crucians hold a special place.  They can be the most frustrating of fish when fishing for them with float tactics which is my preferred method.  One minute they give suicidal bites and the next you are hardly aware of the floats movement even when the shot is applied to take it down to the slightest dimple on the surface film of water.  I was going down south in order to fish on a Barbel Society fish in arranged by John Found on the Kennet, so I thought to take advantage of that trip to drop in on a crucian water and spend thirty hours or so in an attempt to get the prize of a 3lb plus specimen.  No sooner thought than decided I loaded the van with the multiple types of tackle needed and set off mid-day Thursday.  

The early part of last week had been showery and overcast but the temperature had held quite reasonable, by the time I set out the temperature had gone into the high twenties and the sun shone out of a clear blue sky, not ideal conditions.   I arrived to find the lake well in use though most of the anglers were more interested in the king carp rather than the crucians so little problem there.  It was quite interesting to watch some of these lads casting 100 yards into the middle of the lake while carp swam on the surface 30 yards out in front of them, there must be a reason but I could not figure it out!

John had already arrived, but had not got set up when I walked up the bank and found I had left my landing net head in the van.  Having been back to collect it and returned to my swim I saw John had already completed his tackling up and was now playing a crucian.   The fish went 2lb-3oz and of course it gave both a big lift towards the expected catches, but that was to prove a futile dream as the afternoon hours passed without a single sign of a fish.  Several hours later we had a touch of sunburn, but no fish of any description to our name, so we went into darkness hoping that would make the difference.  It did to the degree that I took a crucian of 2lb-12oz but no other fish came our way.  As midnight approached John packed up with a great deal of disbelief in that earlier that week he had taken loads of tench, roach of a good size and four crucians, all in the same time as this visit.  It seemed the fish did not like the sunshine in a big way.

                                                                  2lb-12oz Crucian.

By 5am the following morning I was back in place having spent a few hours asleep in the van and then making two flasks of tea to get me through the day.  My tackle was the usual Drennan 14ft Matchpro Ultralight rod which can handle the bigger tench at the same time as allowing a good scrap of the 2lb crucians.  With a mainline of 4.5lb and a Kamazan B520 giving 2lb-12oz to a size 14 hook for taking the variety of bait I would be trying.  Various pastes and soft pellets along with prawn were tried and eventually fish were caught on most of them.   I had taken a bag of Dynamite Swim Stim Red Krill as a carrier for a few particles and although I did not use for the first afternoon I now set out my stall to include it in my attack.  Yet again the surface of the lake was quiet with none of the usual crucian showing them as they tail splash or roll over the ground baited area, I wondered if yet again I would struggle for a bite.

                                                                     My near gold medal fish.

At 6:40 I got my answer as a strike hit into a nice fish that surged all over the place as it tried to evade the hook in its lip, fortune was on my side and I slipped the waiting net under a fine sample of crucian that showed on the scales at just under that magical 3lb figure.  That gave me heart and throughout the morning a slow but steady trickle of fish came my way.  More crucians were joined by roach to around the 1lb-8oz mark and tench to 5lb to give an enjoyable session.  Listening to the Olympics on the radio and the gold medals that were coming Britain’s way with some frequency, I could not avoid the thought that each of the fish was so similar in a golden way.  I failed to improve that first fish of the day and hence did not get my hoped for 3lb specimen, but the next best thing was to be invited to photo graph a 3lb-10oz giant for a lad fishing along the bank, it did show they were there to be caught.  At the midnight hour I left the lake to the many anglers that had arrived for their weekend session and got my head down for yet another early start to join up with the lads to fish the Kennet the next morning.

                                                               At 3lb-10oz a real giant and proper gold medal.

Recent reports from the river had not been good with most anglers struggling to catch, as always if there are enough bodies on the bank then someone will either get a very big fish or alternatively a number of fish, but on average it was hard going.  The anglers attending the fish-in ranged from very experienced to almost complete novices, but it made no difference as all methods and anglers failed to put a single barbel on the bank over the two days we were fishing.  Following the summer floods of 2007 we experienced a dramatic drop in barbel catches; I’m hearing all too much that this is happening yet again as many rivers are not producing the expected catches at the moment.  I hope this is a temporary thing and the fish will return onto the feed shortly, but at the same time I’ll be keeping my ear to the ground to see if things change.

A known Kennet tree snag but no one home.

Unexpected results on Tench and crucian fishing trip.

The weather experienced in England must be close to unique in the range and speed of change we get.  It seems just days ago I was freezing in a easterly wind whilst tench fishing, ice would cover the landing mat by the end of the day, but now I needed my factor 25 sun cream and sweated my nether regions off in the sweltering heat of 29C.  I had thought that this ‘improvement’ in the weather would bode well for both the proposed tench and crucian trips I had in mind, wrong again!

With the success of a double figure tench last week it seemed an obvious choice to return and try again, so Tuesday morning saw me heading back down the M40 to the Colne Valley gravel pit that was the scene of that success.  I must admit to being a little bit excited since this improvement in the weather should improve the sport.  Last week I had sat with an easterly wind blowing into my camp, and although it was not the coldest of days over the last few weeks it did require extra clothing to keep warm.  The fish had given a good surface display as to their numbers present in the lake and now I thought it was guaranteed I would catch, I should have learned by now that fishing does not work that way.

Terry Lampard along with myself and another friend sat for the next 48 hours without a touch from a tench.  The odd tench showed on the surface but it was one or two a day at most, they had just gone into hibernation mode.  While that was true for the tench it not apply to carp and they drifted around on the surface without a care in the world.  It just did not make sense, but phone calls to other contacts on different venues suggested the same story all over the place, carp maybe spawning or at least near to the act, but the tench were very quiet.  I had given a try to the eels known to be present, some of them to a good size but although I caught two they were both under 2lb, maybe better luck next time.  Fortunately throughout the two days at this water I was camped in the shade of a quite large tree, but I feared the worse on my next venue Marsh Farm, very few trees there to give shade and temperatures forecasted to near 30C.

I had arranged to meet John Found at Marsh around the 1:00pm sort of time and in fact we pulled into the car park just moments apart.  There was no hurry to begin and we had a chat to catch up then went into the onsite tackle shop and passed some more time getting all the latest gen on events.  It seems that one angler had a very nice catch of crucian off Johnson’s Lake, this is for full members of Godalming A.S. and it is positioned just to the far side of the day ticket waters.  With 18 fish over 3lb and fish of 4lb-2oz, 4lb-3oz and 4lb-5oz caught over a 48hr session it makes my mouth water at the future potential.

With the guest ticket sorted out which gives me the chance to fish at night, we made our way around the lake finally settling with the light breeze coming into our chosen swims.  Hopefully this would move the fish down to us, but at the very least it cooled the strong sun effects down a little.  As previously mentioned I float fish here even though I know that method feeder tactics could produce more fish.  I spend so much time behind rods stuck on the rod-rests that it makes a very nice change to look at a float that hopefully will dip and slide away into the depths.

                                             Damsel fly rests on the float even as it lifts up.

I had the float just inches away from the bankside rushes this being a place favoured by these little gold bars although they seem to be avoiding my soft pellet offering quite successfully.  I rang the changes with various baits going on to the size 16 hook, but all to no avail and as darkness fell I had just one apparent chance that fell off at the net.  I always work on the basic principle that if a fish falls off unexpectedly then it was probably foul hooked, this is never truer than with crucians who make a regular habit of getting the hook caught in many places not near the mouth.

                                            Flat bellied crucian - maybe spawned out.

In the dusk the crucians began to sport themselves all around my feed area, they rolled over my float, next to, and generally everywhere about my fishing area but only one took the bait in its mouth.  I did lose another fish which again I put down to foul hooking and that was my sum total for the night having packed up at midnight.  Meanwhile John again did no good with the crucian target but he did get a couple of nice bonus tench with the best a really fat 7lb-8oz sample that was just a few inches too short.

                                                         One very fat tench of 7lb-8oz.

I had been up at the 4:00am dawn for the previous two days in order to bait up for the tench, but the following morning I again decided on an early start but other than a small tench and a few smaller perch and roach I finished about 1:00pm total washed out in the heat of the day.  Harris Lake is not what it once was, but it is definitely better than this result and I’ll be back for these gems sometime soon.

                                                              Prelude to a very hot day on Marsh Farm

Nine days in April.

As mentioned in the last blog this has been a hectic 9 days with my fishing covering four venues and something like 680 miles.  Very mixed results, mostly poor with an occasional highlight to brighten the days and make the trips and effort worthwhile.  This period is probably typical my of fishing in that although the angling writers tend to miss out their blanks they do all have them in equal amounts to myself.  Right then, let’s look at the detail of those nine days and see what came to the rods.

Monday 9^th I set out in the afternoon to go down to the Colne Valley pit where I do my bream fishing.  I intended to fish for two nights and then move onto the next venue but I always leave the door open for a change of plans just in case the fishing comes alive and I feel I must maximise the chance.  No need to worry about that since yet again the bream failed to show.  Terry Lampard joined me for a couple of nights, fishing a different area of the 100 acre lake he suffered the same total blank, never mind, maybe next time.

The next move was to Marsh Farm in the hope of a sizable crucian of 3lb plus.  I intended to fish into dark so there was no rush to arrive and I fished the bream water through to midday, there was always the chance of a big tench though that did not happen either.  As any angler knows the weather plays a big part of our fishing and with the current big changes of conditions over the last month or so it has made sport very patchy.  The near freezing temperature of the previous night did not bode well for the coming two days effort, crucian like most fish prefer it quite steady and mild.  I had arranged to meet up with John Found and we would fish through to midnight using various different baits, but all under a float which would have an isotope attached once darkness descended.

As expected the sport was slow, the onsite manager had suggest that the previous week had given reasonable returns but this week it had slowed down almost to a stop.  I once brought a fishing book totally because of its title; it is actually a fly fishing book from New Zealand with title of ‘You should have been here Thursday.’  That sums up so much of our fishing days, last week, yesterday, next week or tomorrow, anytime but now!

John did manage one crucian but it was in very poor condition and we did not even photograph it.  The thought was that it could be on its way out being old and one of the original stock.   Tench and a few bits were caught but the fishing is definitely not what it was four or five years ago though there seems to be another group of crucian coming through and making the 3lb mark again.  Three other anglers had decided to fish through to 11pm and they had just one crucian of 2lb-11oz between them so a disappointing night.

I slept in the van, quite comfortable but getting up in the morning I feared the worse when I could see the ice layer on my van windscreen.  Not a good start and I seriously thought of leaving straight away.  I had planned to fish though into dark again, but decided that although I would fish it would only be until 2:00pm or so, and then I would leave for home.  Most of our bites the previous day had come on the prawn so I started on that and quickly took a perch of over 1lb to be followed later by two tench and a few bits.  No crucian and I left thinking yet again of the next time.

Arriving home earlier than expected did give the chance for another trip to be arranged and an invite to Curtis, Merv’s grandson, was quickly accepted and the Friday afternoon say us making our way down to Orchid Lakes after the catfish that reside in the Club Lake on that complex.  With frosts forecast yet again we were both well prepared for the overnight cold though the days were to be bright and quite mild.  This trip was for the Friday and Saturday night, returning first thing Sunday morning, with the known stock of four cats over 50lb and another six over 40lb plus other back-up fish we were hopeful of at least one cat between us.

                                                                 A meal for the cats.

The first night was fairly uneventful with just the occasional rattle as a carp tried to take one of the 30m/m pellets.  We were using a mix of the big halibut pellet I showed in a previous blog and a Dynamite pellet that is labelled ‘Eelblood’ that stinks like hell.  Last year I was fortunate enough to catch the lake record at 55lb-9oz during the daytime so the daylight hours passed with us both hopeful of a take though it was not to happen.  With line clips and open bail arms holding the 15lb line we were not looking for a twitch so the fishing can be quite relaxing.  Teatime came and went and about 9:30pm Curtis decided it was about time to get into bed where it was warmer, those freezing temperatures were returning with a vengeance.  Lest than 30 minutes later I heard his call ‘I’m into a cat,’ that smelly pellet had worked its wonders.  These fish are very powerful and for a 13 year old lad he played the fish like a veteran.  I adjusted the clutch to ensure it could not drag him into the lake on one of its runs, but all was safe and from beginning to end he seemed pretty much in control.  As it slipped into the waiting 50 inch landing net I told him he had got his 30lb cat, then I lifted it out and revised that to 40lb!  Weigh sling and camera was ready and I soon confirmed a weight of 46lb-9oz, but not without difficulty, I don’t lift that weight easily now adays.   After six night of trying he had caught his first catfish along with being his largest fish of any species, terrific effort.  With Marsh’s agreement I made the fish safe on a stringer such as used for the Spanish Cats ready for daylight photos in the morning, I retired to sleep but I don’t think Curtis got much of that!  We returned home with him planning on relating the story to his parents of the big one that didn’t get away!

                          Curtis holds his 46lb-9oz prize with help from a fellow angler.

Members of the Barbel Society will be familiar with the Research & Conservation Fund and the auction that is held yearly to raise monies that will be used to improve the stocks and habitat for the barbel.  As part of this I had offered two day guiding on a roach water that I fish on a regular basis and the next two days had been arranged with the anglers who had contributed their money for that service.  This year the auction raised in the region of £5000 so you can imagine that many others offered both goods and their time to this great cause.

On the Monday I met up with the first of those two anglers a chap by the name of Malcolm Davey.  He was intent on returning to angling following a serious illness and a long term absence from the sport and the day passed brilliantly. Tackle and tactics to catch the roach, both float and leger were discussed but the down side was the result.  As previously mentioned when making long term arrangements we are in the hands of the gods and the elements, Malcolm was not to be lucky.  A heavy frost on the Sunday night was followed by a bright, sunny day with flat calm conditions, just about the sum total of everything that could be wrong.  It was a real struggle to get a bite off anything, even the small fish would not play the game and with only a dozen or so chances it came to about 7:00pm and Malcolm had to retire because of the cold that was descending.  We both knew the next hour or two might be important with small fish finally dimpling the surface of the lake, but there was no choice.  Following the usual goodbye at the car park I returned to the tackle and of course the inevitable happened as I caught a few roach in the dying daylight up to a pleasing 1lb-15oz.

                                                       My 1lb-15oz Silver Gem.

The forecast for the next day was far better from a fishing prospective, heavy rain overnight [no frost] with this to continue into the mid-morning, then a 3 hour dry window followed by showers of varying intensity.  I met the next guest, Simon Asbury the following morning in that pouring rain.  Fortunately I had erected a day shelter the previous evening so we could get the tackle, bait and ourselves into shelter while we got ready to fish. Simon is a well experienced angler and he needed only the simple guidance of my experience as to the best method on this lake and hence the feeder maggot with its short hooklink on a helicopter presentation was soon sailing out into the fishery.  Straight away we could see the difference from the previous day as fish after fish came to the net.  Not all big but enough to keep the interest and anticipation for a big one approaching or at the 2lb mark.

John Found arrived a little later and set up just along the bank from us and again he was soon fishing away, but all the time he was preparing a trial with a different method.  I had read in another blog of an angler who had success in December on this water with float fished prawn and John set about giving this a serious try.  Whilst he started on the feeder rig he kept a near side swim topped up with soft pellet and bits of prawn, a small handful of the feed going into the swim at regular intervals to try and get the fish interested.  By the mid-afternoon he was ready to check if it was working and it did not take too long to get the answer, a 1lb-10oz silver gem lay in the net as positive proof.   A couple of missed bites then a roach of 1lb-10oz again, and a real beauty of 1lb-14oz soon followed.   Simon’s sport had gone very slow at this point and John offered him the chance to try the float fished prawn approach in his swim, and although a little reluctant I encourage to take the genuine offer.  Both John and I have caught many of these fish and we would like Simon to experience the joy of a big fish.

                                                              John's 1lb-14oz specimen roach.

Now Simon had told us that his pb roach was a fish of 1lb-10oz caught when he was about 16 year old, it takes no genius to guess what happened.  His first fish was a roach of exactly 1lb-10oz and this was followed by two others of 1lb-8oz, after that the smaller fish came in and he finished the day with a pleasing total of 19 roach to that equal pb of 1lb-10oz.

                                                         Simon with his 1lb-10oz equal pb.

                                                             A showery day on the pit.

Both Simon and Malcolm are determined to return to the water and get amongst those bigger fish and I’m sure they will succeed.  I travelled home that evening thinking it was a good job that I had no plans for today – I was knackered!

The next two weeks in my diary have already been booked.  This coming week will be two days on the Colne Valley pit for bream with an outside chance of tench;  then two days at Marsh Farm for the crucians where yet again a tench of over 7lb would be a possible catch.  Maybe a day perch or tench fishing could be added upon my return but that remains to be seen.

                                                  A fish of this size would be very welcome.

I’ve been sorting out the basic gear for Marsh Farm and with those bits shown in the photo along with my 14ft Drennan Ultralight Matchpro rod, a few other different pellets both hook bait and feed, I feel hopeful of a result.  My target will be 3lb plus crucian, but although still a good venue it is not what it was 5 years ago.

                                                                  Ready for the crucians.

The following week I will again be at the roach pit for a couple of days guiding two anglers who put money into the Barbel Society’s Conservation Fund for that chance, I normally do not do any guiding but this is a special occasion and the work that is carried out using that money helps us all.  I will follow that up with days either sturgeon or cat fishing to round off a quite interesting spell of fishing.

Sunny days

So it is 3:30am and I'm on the first of two pick-ups for the trip down to Marsh Farm.  With a 2.5 hrs journey it is fortunate that the three of us have plenty to talk about and the trip goes by like a flash.  Turn into the site and we are one of the first anglers to arrive, good that it gives us lots of choice of swims but we don't know where is fishing so not so good.

I chose a swim that has produced lots of crucians for me in previous seasons and just hope it will come up trumps again.  Indeed things looked good when I landed a fish of exactly 2lb just after 7:00am, but little did I know what was coming.

                                                           Marsh Farm 2lb Crucian

I look at crucian fishing as a chance to relax, I've caught enough big ones for it not to be too important to catch another, although the hope is obviously there.  To this end I always float fish for them even though I know that method feeder is probably a more efficient method in their capture.  A small, fine topped float and a range of soft pellets and sweet corn will complete my attack.  I have a small bucket of mixed fine pellet just to add a little bed of extra attraction, little and often being the mantra.

                                                                 Crucian requirements.

After that great start I was hopeful for a few more but the hours passed and the lake appeared to die.  Just one angler seemed to break the mould but I'll leave Jeff to tell his own story.  One thing is very apparent Marsh Farm is not the venue it was two or three years ago.  At this time of the year I would expect a good number of 3lb's to be showing, of the several fish that were caught that I know of they all fell between 1lb-14oz and 2lb-5oz.  Great fishing and still a venue that can produce a 4lb plus crucian, that said it can also produce a blank more easily than previously the case.