Another year to remember - month by month look at the year.

Well that is another year coming to an end, but what a year.  This blog has come of age with the followers now at 100 and the total pageviews at over 66,000, it makes it all worth while to keep up the effort of the diary.

I am considering publishing a book which would be a record of this blog from its inception and your thoughts on the idea would be appreciated.  Initial figures suggest perhaps £10 for B&W and £25 for colour.

Recent weeks have proven very hard to get any consistant sport and most trips have in fact been a total blank, fortunately the year has a whole has been quite satisfactory so lets have a look at the highlights.


The 2012 year has been an exciting year with both highs and lows that I have shared with you through this blog.   Although I’ve only caught one new personal best of a species, I have increased the number of rivers where a double figure barbel has been caught as well as improving other river bests.  Improving a personal best is only one measure of success, and I was very pleased with getting my target fish in chub, and tench along with the barbel already mentioned.  The crowning feature of the year was almost the last when my crucian claim was accepted as an equal British record at 4lb-9oz.  No BRFC certificate yet, but I am advised that it will arrive early in January and once framed it will find a place on the wall.  So let us look at some of the highlights of my year, month by month.

January.

The month had started much as the previous year had ended floods with very cold snaps to interrupt consistent sport.  I had been fishing the River Anker for a couple of seasons, not often, but enough to have hoped for better results in that I had not caught a single barbel up to date.  This visit towards the end of the month put that right in the form of another different river double and a river record at the time of capture going 15lb-4oz.

                                                                   15lb-4oz Anker pb.

 February.

We sometimes have mild months at this time of year, but this was not one of them.  I struggled to catch fish at all, a few perch and an odd smaller chub was the reward for a fair bit of effort.  Then I decided to go south to the Hampshire Avon for a few days and I got my reward in the form of a 7lb 2oz monster chub along with other fish made smaller by comparison.

                                                        Magnificent Avon Chub

Although not a monster by today’s standards I was pleased to land a 20lb-12oz Common Carp from a canal on a match rod using gear suited to the silver bream I was trying to catch – the rod broke but I did land the fish.

                                                                Canal specimen

March.

Not a particularly successful month by my own standards, a chub of 6lb-1oz caught along with a 2lb-7oz perch off the Avon and a 3lb-7oz perch caught from a local commercial being the better fish landed.

                                                               Best of the season at 3lb-7oz 

April.

Always a chancy month and this one saw the start of the tench fishing produce fish to 6lb-3oz for me, and a 46lb-9oz catfish caught by Curtis from Orchid Lakes.

                                                          With a little help to hold it.

May.

This month saw me get a brace of catfish at 41lb and 34lb-4oz, but the highlight by a long way was a 10lb-5oz tench from a new water, this being the third different venue where I’ve taken a double figure specimen.

                                                                      A real gem. 

June.

A good month for me with a 12lb-4oz barbel off the Dove and a brace of tench off a local water at 9lb and 9lb-4oz amongst a 15 fish catch, the first time the venue had done such a brace.  This was topped off by a brace of roach from Lochnaw at 2lb-13oz each.

                                                                  12lb-4oz Dove double.

                                                        Best of the tench brace  9lb-4oz.

                                                          First of the brace of 2lb-13oz roach. 

 July.

Lots of barbel from different rivers with yet another different river double, this being the River Soar and an 11lb-1oz specimen.  Although I had caught barbel from both the Ribble and Goyt they fell short of that double figure target ensuring I still had plenty to go at.

                                                                    11lb-1oz Soar double

August.
This month started with a bang when a trip north to do a barbel talk gave me the chance to fish the River Swale and I was rewarded with yet another different river double at 12lb-2oz, bringing the total rivers to 23. 

                                                                       Swale monster. 

September.

A return trip to Lochnaw saw me improve the previous brace from the last trip by one ounce with a pair of roach at 2lb-14oz.  Lots of barbel for me though nothing spectacular, but Curtis upped his personal best to 10lb-15oz from the River Severn, his first ever double.

                                                                       He looks pleased.

                                               The second of the 2lb-14oz brace.

October.
Again lots of barbel off different rivers topped off by three 11lb fish, two off the Kennet and one from the Severn all within a four day spell.  Very pleased with the barbel but a new English pb put extra dimples in the cheeks when I landed a very hard fighting sturgeon of 75lb-5oz.

                                                                   It was this long!

November.

My third trip to the north for roach finally paid off with a Lochnaw 3lb specimen taken along with a 2lb-14oz backup fish.  I did not know it at the time but that was to be the last of the better fishing for this year as the weather went haywire and floods and frost made fishing difficult. 

                                                                      3lb At last.

December.

As mentioned at the start of this piece my 4lb-9oz crucian caught in 2004 has been accepted as an equal British record.  This came about as a result of a correction of an anomaly where the current 4lb-9dram fish could not have been weighed on the scales being used.  That 9 dram only came about through the Weights & Measures Dept. checking scales in the metric system and needed a conversion back to imperial.  Whatever the reason I’m delighted to have my name added to a rather exclusive club having twice previously come fourth in the bream list, once from Queenford with a 15lb-14oz fish and then again with my 17lb-15oz Broadwater specimen.  Happy days, even though they fell short of a record.

                                                         A British record at 4lb-9oz.

 

Looking at the blog for last December I can see that this was a repeat in that there were very few fish with a lot of hard effort, but yet again the year as a whole has been kind, hopefully your results have met with your hopes as well.

Christmas.

Well the run up to Christmas has been hard work.  One perch trip and two pike trips for one jack pike of maybe 4lb.  I'll be back out Boxing Day to try for pike again on a heavily coloured water affected by the floods but at least the lines will be in the water and just maybe that big girl will visit.

                                                      A male bullfinch that paid me a visit.

I wish all the blog readers and their families the very best wishes for a great Christmas and I hope all your dreams and wishes for 2013 come true.

The Barbel Challenge

This is the opening chapter of my book -Target set and Achieved - lots of barbel but plenty of other specimen fish of all species to read about. Get your copy for Xmas at philsmithangler.co.uk

 

                              *The Barbel Challenge.*
 

It all began with a simple thought: ‘How many different rivers could I catch a double figure barbel from in one season?’  After some consideration I decided on seven. It seemed reasonable bearing in mind my results in the preceding seasons.  With that target in mind I began the challenge.  Little did I realise how much time or how many seasons would pass before the challenge would be met.  That said, I did quickly upgrade the seven total to eight and then finally upped that to 10 to make the challenge one I thought was both worthy of the name yet attainable with effort.

 

It was the start of the 2004/5 season that saw the beginning of my barbel odyssey with sessions on a number of rivers capable of producing that elusive double. My main effort would be placed on the Great Ouse, and since I was a member of the Adams Mill syndicate it was there that I started.  A lot of rubbish has been written and spoken about the Mill, along the theme of: ‘Easy fishing for tame fish held between two weirs just a few hundred yards apart.’  Nothing could be further from the truth, the fish can and do run between the two weirs but they are the best part of two miles apart.  When I first tried to catch these barbel the water was a normal club ticket at about £25 per season. In my first year I took a total of one barbel for a lot of effort, so easy they are not.  Then the owner realised what a gold mine he was sitting on and in the way of life he maximised his profits by offering it to the highest bidder at the first opportunity.  That led to the controlling club setting up a 40-man syndicate.  There was an eight-man limit for anglers fishing on any given day but this were rarely, if ever achieved, and the fishing settled down to a very relaxed style of obtaining a blank.  Over the following season I developed my skills in catching difficult fish and also my knowledge of the water, giving more chance of locating the fish.  By the 2004 season I was well able to find and entice these giants and hence it made a good choice to begin the campaign.

 

I arrived at Adams at about 11am on July 1^st, and although the start time was quite late there was only one other angler on the venue.  Fortunately he was fishing for chub and did not interfere with the choice of barbel swims I would need to make.  From the car park there is only a short section up to the top weir, I had decided to fish in this length and only needed to choose between the three or so known holding spots it contained.  Probably the two best places were The Top Hole and the weir pool itself.  A quick check showed that there were barbel in the weir. The other swim appeared empty, although that could change very quickly.  With no one waiting to move into either swim I decided I would take the chance and bait both areas, fishing one and leaving the other to see if fish would move in.  Should an angler come that wished to try it then he would have the advantage of going into a ready baited swim.

                                                                Baiting Adam’s Top Hole

 

A favoured method for barbel is the aptly named ‘bait and wait’ tactic where one will bait up a swim without fishing for several hours in order to allow the fish to feed in confidence. So, having mixed three pints of casters with two pint of hemp I introduced about half of it via a bait dropper into the Top Hole. I had done well in the past in this swim with the method, now it just needed time to mature.  Over several hours I returned at regular intervals to add more caster/hemp mix via the bait dropper.  Still no sign of fish, but not to worry, back to the Weir, where the same bait and wait tactics had encouraged the barbel and chub to feed with a vengeance. 

 

The time had come to try and catch one of those big fish that could be seen with their tails waving as they scoffed the feed I had put in.  My tackle comprised of a Drennan Power Barbel rod with a 1.75lb action.  This was teamed up with 10lb Pro Gold main line and a 15lb Powerbraid hook link, a 2.5oz lead fixed onto a safety clip would then give the bolt effect I was looking for on the set-up.  Barbel, more than a number of our coarse fish species, are not tolerant of feeling the fishing line across their body when over the feed.  In order to alleviate this problem I used a half inch round bullet stopped three-feet up the main line. This ensures that the line will lie on the bed of the river and hopefully the fish will be less aware of its presence. A size 12 Drennan Super Specialist hook tied with a knotless knot to leave a hair completed the rig.  Three casters were then superglued onto the hair in a torpedo fashion as this style also helps to make the set-up a little more resistant to the attentions of the small fish such as dace and minnows.

 

                                                              Torpedo casters.

 

My baited area was at the head of a clear channel amongst the streamer weed that danced in the flow.  The cast was a simple requirement of laying the baited hook at the downstream end and allowing the line to settle along the channel upstream of that position.  This was accomplished in one of the spells while the fish were on their guided tour of the weir so I then settled down to await their return.  As is so often the case with bait and wait, the bite came quite quickly once I had cast in.  With the rod wrapped round in a great attempt to snap it, I struck into a defiant fish that was certainly annoyed at being hooked.  One big advantage of barbel fishing is that once hooked the barbel, unlike chub or carp, will not consciously make for the safety of the nearest snag.  Unfortunately that does not mean that they never get snagged; this fish proved the point as he charged through a cabbage bed and almost by chance found himself wrapped around one of the stems.  I could see the fish and estimated him at about 13lb but although I got him free of the stem, he threw the hook as he came towards the waiting landing net.  Very disappointing, but you win some and lose some; just make sure the first option beats the second by a considerable margin.

 

The battle had spooked the other fish, so with another baited swim waiting it was time for a move.  This time when I returned and again bait dropped into the Top Hole it was in the knowledge that my last visit had shown barbel to be present.  Pressured barbel can be quite spooky and I still needed to get their confidence in feeding freely.  They would come and go from the swim but each time they returned their stay would be little longer.  I would bait drop each time they left putting just caster in the swim, no need for hemp as it had done its job of bringing the fish into the swim. Then having decided it was time I bait dropped yet again, but this time I laid the baited hook down and across the swim back to my position.  Because of the nature of the swim I needed chest waders to get to the front of the rushes in order to bait up and cast the baited rod out.  Now having put the rod on the rests whilst I was still in the water, the reel was spinning in response to a take before I could get back on terra firma.  Total panic just about sums up the next few minutes as I scrambled out of the water and tried to get control of the fish.  He had torn off downstream into the streamer weed that flourished there, now I would have trouble bringing him up to my position through that jungle.  Standard practice when dealing with this situation is to get downstream of the fish, then pull him down out of the streamer.  This I did but once out into the open he just shot off back upstream into the hole where he had taken refuge.  I went back upstream and he moved back downstream in parody of a dance routine.  Some fish you can bully into doing what you want, but not this one, at the moment he was in charge. 

 

This game continued for some minutes with my worry that he would come off as with the last fish.  Obviously with their extra strength and power it is the bigger fish that are likely to gain their freedom.  As the minutes passed it became obvious that my efforts were having an effect, his runs became shorter as he spent more time in front of my position instead of forcing me to follow his. At last he slipped over the net and the Adams monster was mine.  Stef Horak came along the bank in response to my phone call and soon had it on the scales giving me a weight of 16lb 14oz.  It is the second time I had caught this fish, the previous capture still stands as my personal best at 17lb 1oz, but that is well short of the best recorded weight when it took the record at 21lb 2oz.  That was it then, one down with nine to go, but as with all plans it did not work out that way and I finished the season with seven different river targets acheived.
 

                                                          16lb-14oz.  The Traveller.

 

The following season 2005/06, I set out to do exactly the same target of ten rivers, but again I failed with just six successes.  Probably the barbel that stood out from this season’s catch was that taken from the Kennet, a beautiful river in picturesque surroundings.  It was the middle of February 2006 and my intention had been to go down south to fish for chub on the Dorset Stour.  One of the problems of travelling good distances for your fishing is that of changeable weather.  It had been quite mild but the south-westerlies had brought rain over the country.  A call to Terry Lampard confirmed the upper river was coming up fast and the extra water would be down to the Bournemouth area by the following morning.  With the plans to travel already made it just meant a change of venue.  A discussion with Stef soon came up with the option of the River Kennet and the choice of Burghfield.  That put the final stamp on the plan.

 

The Kennet is a slightly different river in that for much of its length it runs in conjunction with the Kennet & Avon Canal.  The section to be fished was one where the river came through a weir as it left one of the canalised lengths.  Stef had said he would be going downstream to a swim where he had previously enjoyed some success, while I decided to fish the weir.  The first ever barbel I caught was taken from Rushey Weir on the River Thames, and I think these features have held a special interest since that date.  Although they all have the same basic function, that of allowing a water level change, they are all different, and even the same weir changes from day-to-day as the flow rate changes or the different weir gates are adjusted.  This time, with flood water coming downstream, the gates were open and the weir resembled a whirlpool.  The diffent currents charged through the open gates to swirl around and finally join together into one flow leaving the weir to continue its way downstream.  Having come along the towpath I arrived at the weir and stood obsevving the flows and currents in order to pick the most advantageous place to fish from.  At this time the open gate set- up had given a heavy flow under the nearside bank but the far side appeared to have far less current passing it.  Moving to that side I could see the flow coming through the nearest gate going down the middle and then turning back in an eddy.  My interest fell on the dead water left in the middle where the flows separated to go their different ways, and I decided that would be my pitch for the day.
 

                                                               Burghfield Weir.

 

First order of the day was to lay the table, so out came the bait dropper and I began to introduce the hemp and maggots that I had brought along.  With the water quite coloured I would not normally use maggots.  These had been left from a previous trip and would change to caster quite quickly so I might as well use them up and hope the barbel would come across the meal they would provide.  One rod would be fished with maggots and a swimfeeder; the other would be on my usual Dynamite Monster Crab shelf-life boilie fished in conjunction with a PVA bag of mixed pellets.  Tackle was fairly standard, comprising of Drennan 1.75lb Power Barbel rods combined with my preferred Mitchell 300 reels loaded with 12lb Pro Gold line.  The hook link is a combi-rig of 10-inches of 15lb Pro Gold tied to 3-inches of 15lb braid and a size 8 Drennan Continental Carp hook.   With the rods cast out I could sit behind the brolly and soak in the winter sunshine waiting for the typical slam round of the rod top that signals the barbel bite.  That said, I could foresee that with the different flows it might not happen like that.  Having cast into the slack water the flow was actually coming straight towards me and in all probability this would resulting a slack line bite as the fish picked up the bait and moved off in the direction of the flow.

 

Throughout the morning I kept up the feed by the simple method of recasting at regular intervals.  The feeder rod would be filled with fresh maggots and the other rod would have a new PVA bag attached.  At last! I watched as the line went completely slack on the boilie rod. The fish was moving across the flow quite quickly, and I had to reel in quickly before I caught up with him and the rod bent over as I at last made proper contact.  The power of big barbel never fails to amaze me and this was no exception. I hoped it was a barbel since at this stage there was always a chance it was a carp, the power was certainly enough for that to be the case.  After a good five minutes of the fight I called for Stef, by the time he arrived the fish was cruising back and forth just in front of me, then his back broke the surface and I could at last confirm it was a barbel.  The fight was almost over by that time and shortly after I was bringing a large barbel over the net. I had thought it would be a double but when I saw the depth of it I knew I had a new Kennet best.  Once he had been unhooked, I put the net back in the water while I got the camera and scales ready for the exciting bit.  Stef and I often play the guessing game at this stage and this time Stef won with his try of 14lb, maybe 15lb.  At 15lb 5oz it was, and still remains, my equal second best river fish behind the Traveller off the Great Ouse.  Yet again fate had stepped in and instead of fishing for chub on the Stour I had taken a magnificent fish off the Kennet. I’ll take those presents any time she wants to pass them out.  That fish gave me a total of six river doubles completed for the year, but it was a figure I did not improve on. Not a failure, but disappointing not to have improved on last season’s result.
 

                                                       15lb-5oz of Kennet barbel.

 

 

Escape to the country and fishing.

British weather is perhaps unique in the variation that can occur in such a small spread of time.  Just hours can separate the sunshine from snow or thunderstorms.   The forecasts seem wrong most of the time but who would want their job in this country, I’ll have it in Egypt, ‘tomorrow will be sunny’ – I would be wrong once or twice a year but that’s ok.  As mentioned in previous blogs I would take no note of weather some 20 years ago, now I hesitate when it looks like the mix we have at the moment but eventually I have to go.

It appeared there would be a slight window of better weather on the Monday and Tuesday of this week so I made plans to get out then, zander and perch would be the target species.  According to the EA and many of our fellow anglers the zander is an alien species to be exterminated at the earliest convenience and without mercy.  I think otherwise.  Along with other predator species the zander has now found its appropriate level in the food chain, it is possible that in the early days of its introduction to a new venue it does run wild, but nature soon finds a balance and food supply controls all living things including ourselves.  My choice of venue was varied in that I could fish a lake that has produced a double in the past for me, a river that I’ve yet to get my double from, but it would be high in flood, or one of the local canals difficult to get the double figure specimen, but local and most likely to produce a fish, that would do.

From Coventry I can easily reach one of many canals, Grand Union, Coventry, Oxford and Ashby canals all pass within a few miles and all hold zander.  I have already fished the first three with some success but the Ashby as always been on the back burner, today would be perfect for that first trip.  Out came the high scale map and a quick look soon identified an area to begin my search.  I’m looking for an access bridge away from main towns etc.  This is because they are less likely to have been targeted by our European cousins who with set lines can decimate a section quite easily.  The EA used to run regular culling sessions on the canal but I do not know if this practice still continues, it did seem a total waste of time in that it made very little difference with too much canal to cover.  It does seem to me that the best control of small zander is a big one, they have to eat and the same applies as with pike – take out the big fish and you end up with lots of small ones.

                                                          Surely there are zander here.

I had passed a couple of my selected bridges where there seemed no access to the canal but then found one with good parking and a nice track down to the towpath.  At first sight the venue looked promising, plenty of bushes growing out into the waterway and when I checked the other side of the bridge there was even a small marina that could give the fish that little bit of sanctuary should a cull come past the section.  I had the rods set up and this would be a simple float over a trace with a single size 1 hook and either a section of roach, lamprey or sea bait to try and tempt the fish into a take.

                                                      My float amoungst the branches.
Even in the depths of winter I was not the only idiot out for the day, a canoe went past just minutes after my arrival and was full of apologies when he went back after his return some twenty minutes later.  Three barges were also on the move where I had for some unknown reason not expected any, no problem there since often the zander take just after a boat has passed but not this time.  As darkness fell I put the tackle away and walked the 50 yards back to the van, at least I had got out of the house even if only for a few hours.

                                                                  Dinner for a perch.

The next day was a trip to one of the commercials in the hope of tempting a big perch, this time Merv would come along as well.  It was slightly colder but with the sun shining it seemed quite pleasant and I could sit there looking at my float dancing with the attention of the small fish trying to take the full size lobworm without any success.  For the last hour I dropped the bait size down to the smaller worms but nothing took those either.   Merv did manage a perch of about 1lb-8oz on a smaller hook with two red maggots, perhaps I should have tried that as well but I felt the perch I was after could easily take my offering I’ll never know now if I was wrong!

Perch, pike, trout and big roach - a good week.

Well as you will know it’s been a wet and windy week, I tried pike, perch and roach fishing with varied success, but at least it has been fairly mild for November.  Going by the different weather forecast pundits we are going to have an ice age winter or a repeat of Noah’s Ark, this being the case I’ll expect a fine, mild and dry winter since they never seem to get it right even for the next day.

On Tuesday I went pike fish and although I never set the angler press lines buzzing I did get three jacks on various deadbaits, mackerel and sardine; probably that’s because that is what I had on the hooks.  I think we often put too much emphasis on the bait, where-as the fish just find food and take it whatever it is.

On Thursday I travelled south into the Kennet Valley with plans to fish with John Found for a couple of days and then one day on my own since John had plans to attend a book launch for Pete Springate’s new tome.

                                                Perch fishing on the canal section.

With no need for an early start I met John at the car park on the Kennet and Avon Canal at 11:00am ready for the day’s sport after the big perch known to swim in the area.  For those not familiar with this region but thinking they might like to try it out, then the Reading and District book give dozens of miles of both river and canal fishing along with numerous lakes.  The name says it all in that the river and canal flow side by side over the distance between Newbury and Reading.  Often they have separate waterways, but just as often they join and run as one until the next weir and they go their separate ways again.

John had identified a couple of swims where perch were caught and I dropped into one of these for the afternoon.  Although this section of canal can often have quite a flow on it, there seemed little movement today as there were no boats on the move.  The swim itself was a section where the far bank had overhanging brambles which gave shelter to the fish keeping the boats away from the bank.  Fishing with a pole would be the ideal since that would allow you to go into quite tight spots and place the bait right against the bank but casting had its obvious problem of the slightest misjudgement going into the brambles and possible breakage.

                                                                   The perch's home

I chose a slight hollow where the brambles formed an arc and at least I had a few feet to play with although I still hit the brambles on one occasion and was lucky to get the tackle back intact.  The tackle was an open-ended feeder, fished paternoster style with the size 8 hook on 4lb fluorocarbon line attached so the hook hung just above the feeder when I was ready to cast it out.  With the rod held vertically in front of me and a pendulum style swing away from my body directly at the chosen spot for the tackle to land was the way to hit the swim with regular consistency.  Casting with the rod held to either side and then a swing towards the swim will end up in disaster, a split second error in releasing the line from the spool sends the bait to either side of the intended spot and the waiting brambles just say ‘thank you very much’ and on most occasions they keep your free gift to them.

My hookbait was a lobworm and within the feeder was a mix of casters, chopped up dendrobaenas, and prawns all held in a light method mix.  A dozen casts at the beginning of the session soon had a bit of feed laid down to attract the perch if they were in the area.  I waited about an hour for the first bite on my quivertip and hooked a nice fish only to have it come off the hook about half way back to my side of the canal.  Disappointing but at least there were fish feeding.  Over the next few hours I took two others of 2lb-4oz and 2lb-7oz as well as missing a couple of bites, but that will often happen with lobworms as bait.  An interesting start to my break but what would tomorrow bring?

                                                             A nice Kennet & Avon canal perch.

For the Friday it was arranged that we would visit Dave Steuart’s section of the River Test again in the hope of a big river roach.  With all the current rain in the area we knew the chances would not be good, but Dave had suggested that legering might produce the goods with the odd swim still available for float fishing in the slack water.   As expected it was hard going, I got a grayling from  a comparative slack water on the far side of the rive while John managed a roach of about  1lb from the bottom weir pool.  A few brown trout fell to both of us but they do tend to be a bit stupid so no surprise there.  We had left the best chance to last and although I got a couple of small roach, it was John who took first prize with a 2lb-4oz specimen roach that makes these trips so worthwhile.  A short walk away was slack water that allowed the fish to rest and photos to be taken before returning them to fight another day.

 

                                               The River Test runs through the garden.

                         John with the 1st prize of 2lb-4oz.

           One of the big browns we caught.

The Saturday proved to be a total washout, rain from the start to the finish, and my thought of a return trip to tempt a bigger perch from the section of canal failed miserably with total blank.  That’s what fishing is about in my eyes, the chance of a monster fish, but it needs work and effort to succeed and those good days have to be treasured to make up for the blanks.

A return to the Lochnaw roach.

The trip was booked and paid for, Lochnaw roach were the target for all of us but my personal aim was the 3lb fish that so far had eluded me.  Two at 2lb-14oz at the top of my list on the last trip and two at 2lb-13oz at the top of the list on my first trip in June, now for that 3lb to top the list.

                                                  Castle and boat house across the loch.

That was the plan, but as the date approached it looked less and less likely that we would even catch, the reports were dire.  Our four man group in June had caught 52 roach over 2lb, now that seemed beyond any possible dream as group after group struggled to even catch any fish and one or two of the 2lb plus roach became the normal result.  We seriously considered cancelling our planned trip and fish in the south instead, but the group before our trip reported two over 2lb and we decided to go, but maybe not for the full week.

                                                       Lots of weed has been dragged out to make swims

Kevin, the fishery bailiff had been busy with lots of work on the banks to open areas within the tree lined banks to make space for swims.  Then there was the ever present weed that almost defies any attempt to drag it clear to create an open swim, but he had succeeded in a couple of areas, one of these being off Sir Stairs Island where John and I had caught in June.   It was decided that I would start on the island, and John Found along with David Cook, my companions on this trip, would fish on the road bank swims that had produced so many fish in the past.  The two large roach of the previous week, 2lb and 2lb-9oz, had come from these swims, one from each, it had hardly set the world on fire but we were hopeful in that at least the weather forecast looked positive, even if a bit wet.

                My swim with the landing net resting on some of the weed that has been removed.

Arriving on the Saturday at about 3:0pm did not give me long to get my gear around to the swim, the lads were not going to start early Sunday so they helped me with my tackle.  The recent rain had the loch up at the top of its normal level and in places the ground was extremely muddy, in some spots I had to take the tackle through the mud bit at a time, the weight would have sunk me to my knees.  With darkness falling by 4:15 it was indeed dark before the camp was up and rods set with just the hook-links to be attached.  I would be starting at 6:30am which was about 45 or 50 minutes before dawn since I think this can be an important time to have baits out.

I did my part in that the baits were fishing well before dawn, but other than a few small roach I saw no action.  My tackle set up was very similar to that used on previous occasions, 3 inch hook links on helicopter rigs, 4lb fluorocarbon to a size 10 Drennan Carbon Chub hook for boilies and artificial corn, then size 18 super specialist for the maggot rigs.  The rods I used were the Drennan Medium Feeder with a 3oz quivertip attached.

Sport has been very slow of late on the loch so I kept the loose feed down to a minimum, 3 pint of hemp; one can of corn and perhaps 500 gram of method feed.  Add to this a couple of handfuls of boilies and that was it over the four days of the stay.

The Sunday passed without sight of even a 1lb plus roach, lots of smaller fish but nothing big and the following day went along a similar pattern.  Then about 5:30pm the right hand rod indicator shot to the top of its reach and the reel spun backwards, the strike was good and the fish was hooked.  A 200lb catfish can pull very hard, but it is no more exciting than a big roach on the right tackle, this one gave me some heart stopping moments before he came to the net.  At first I thought it was one of the remaining brown trout, but then I saw the silver flash in the torch light and immediately worried about the hook hold.  I have already said he went into the net and when I looked in I could see he was indeed a very big fish, but I’ve had a few from here now that fell short of the 3lb mark, would this one make it? 

                                                    A Lochnaw Castle big roach of 3lb exactly.

As with so much of this trip it was raining but I took little notice of that as the digital scales settled on exactly 3lb and I shouted to John across the lake to celebrate achieving that target figure.  Once the fish was safe in the landing net I called John on the two way radio, no phone signals here, and confirmed the weight inviting him and Dave to come around since I had a Queenford net that would safely keep him if they wished to.  Both decided that the trip was too difficult in the dark and left me to take the photos with self-take facilities.  No problem there, it just meant that the camera was set up in the brolly camp and I positioned myself just outside the door.   With self-take it is just a matter of taking your time, make sure everything is in place and ready for the photo before you bring the fish from the water.  The unhooking mat gives you your position and the distance from the camera lens is experience, fire away and adjust your potion to suit what you see, it cannot be more easily done and achieved.  With the photos done I settled back and waiting until the 7:00pm mark, this was the time I had decided to return to the lodge for a social break until 10:00pm, I would then return to my camp and put the rods back out again to fish through the night.

At 6:30 am the following morning the alarm rang out and I was up to re-bait and recast fresh for the morning feast as I hoped, it was not to be and yet again the day passed without a big fish showing.  Strong winds and consistent rain made it hard going, but at least the temperature was good and I believe we had higher temperatures than those in the south of the country.  This time I waited until 6:30pm before I got the positive bite and fight off the big fish, but at 2lb-14oz it was worth the wait.  Specimen fishing is generally hard going, and good fish can at times be easy to catch, but I believe that when they come as hard won as these have done, you appreciate them so much more.  By the time photos had been taken it was social time and I retired well happy with my results.

                                                         A 2lb-14oz specimen roach

Following that there is little to report, the night and following day gave just the usual suspects of smaller fish to about 1lb, dusk saw the 1000 plus rooks that descend on the loch to roost each evening and yet again I had a positive take at about 6:00pm.  Problem was I had been folding the camp away and for some reason the drop back bite did not sound on the Delkin.  I looked up and saw the bobbin on the deck but no fish was hooked when I reeled in so I’ll never know just what I missed.  Lady luck had smiled on me twice so I’ll forgive her the lapse on this occasion saving a bit for the next trip or two.  I left the lake that evening with mixed thoughts, we had agreed on a Thursday morning departure and indeed the other two lads had suffered the big fish blank that had occurred for so many of the guests here of late.  Hopefully by the time our Spring trip rolls up the fish will have grouped up and respectable catches will again being made, we can only hope.

             Blurred by movement but all the visible sky looks like this small section full of rooks. 

Chew Valley piking session.

At 4:30am Sunday morning I was wondering if I really wanted to go pike fishing on a boat at Chew Valley, my early start days have never been good and with the passing years they have got even less interesting.  Still the boat was booked and paid for, and John would be travelling from the Oxford area to meet me there and since I had the tickets, I had got to go!

For me the 115 miles are fairly good being an easy drive mostly on motorway, the Tom-Tom system makes the smaller lanes at the far end more easily accommodated, but one thing did bring home the need for attention when driving.  The rain had started about Tewksbury and just got heavier as I went further south, by the time I was travelling through Bristol it was a definite downpour.  The roads near Chew Valley are only just able to take that name, they are more like little lanes, often one way, with a hedges or stone walls to confine you and give a slight case of claustrophobia.  Driving along the lanes there were little rivers of floodwater travelling down any slope and then out of the blue, I drove into a river!   At least it seemed that way when the front of the van disappeared into a spray of water where the rain had collected in a dip in the road to a depth of two foot or more, my speed got me through it but it also definitely woke me up.

I arrived at the lake and with the rain still falling so I sat in the van waiting for the club house to open, they do a nice English breakfast here and I would have one to set me up for the day on the water.  Then to crown it all it began to snow, just a few flakes at first but slowly it developed into a proper snow storm and looking out over the reservoir I really did think I was in the right place at the wrong time.  Fortunately I did not have to decide whether to venture out since by the time the 9:00am start came the snow had stopped and although the was a little drizzle still going it was ‘now let’s get out there and catch a thirty time.’

                                                   Snow on the hill on a gray, misty morning.

 

With a mist over the snow laid hills around us, we travelled across to Wick Point our chosen starting position.  Fortunately John had better information than I had, and although not recent knowledge he knew that the pike were still in the shallow water rather than what I would have expected being cold and I would have gone for a deeper choice.  Discussion with other hopefuls in the lodge had indeed shown that this season the lure fishing had been poor and the lodge bank, normally first choice, was not producing the goods.  Knowing what was going on it came as no surprise when nearly all the boats also made their way to the far bank, but plenty of water so that when we finally settled the nearest boat was some hundreds of yards away.

                                        My Chew double, note the tag near the dorsal fin.                                           

 

We soon had four rods out with a mix of mackerel, herring and sardine baits in use and it was not too long before we had evidence of fish in the area.  Trout can always be a problem when fishing for pike on a trout reservoir, but when they go 5lb or 6lb a time it is still an interesting fight which we had several times over the course of the day.  The first pike came to my rod and when weighed it went 13lb exactly, not the size we hoped for but it did show that there were pike in the area and that is always a good thing.  Throughout the day we continued to get the mix of sport, trout and pike ending with three doubles and lots of trout.  John took the prize for double with two of 11lb-10oz and a second of 12lb but that big fish evaded us again, maybe next time.

                                                      John's best pike on the day.