A very cold (-2°C) day and the forecast was clear but cold for the whole day. Nevertheless I was determined to get out even if exposure was an option and having dyed and flavoured my sweet-corn (red, turmeric), I took the usual flask and also another with hot food, and set out.
Arriving at the water around 10am, I wondered around to swim 12 thinking that where three channels of the water met might be worth a try, if for no other reason that there is always some flow which will carry the bait scent a good way. I set up both my Avon and Carp rod, and bunged spam on the carp rod and a red sweet-corn/pepperami cocktail on the Avon. Both sets of tackle on hair rigs, and a simple 2 swan shot running ledger (no bolt rigs!). I put on a couple of bite alarms, which allows me to keep hands in pockets or gloves. These are "Fox Microns", which are good, but have a silly battery size, and are WAY TOO LOUD. Even with the LOWEST VOLUME AND PITCH settings. So a happy hour (at home) saw them to bits and the back of the speakers covered with self adhesive foam and also a layer over the holes on the outside of the casing and the sockets on the bottom. Better. I may even put a 'scope on them and modify the speaker drive...or perhaps not.
60 minutes later there was not even a sign of a fish and I went for a wonder with the 'shades on to enjoy the clarity of the water - I took the opportunity to scope out the features on the bottom - the most interesting part of which were the clear trails in the leaves on the bottom, showing regular routes for the fish. I spotted pike and perch in the main (and off limits) lake and after following the far bank opposite swim 11, spotted both carp (certainly 15lb+ some of them) and a bunch of good tench (4lb+) under the trees. Both schools hanging mid water motionless. I also spotted one of the larger "ghosties" having a wander which was encouraging. As fishing from that bank is verboten, I moved to swim 11, and opted to fish each rod about half-way across, working on the basis that late afternoon would see some movement, if there was any. It was that or worms and stalking pike (which I hadn't seen any of on this lake). A nice shiny "popped up" sprat might have been useful though.
Until 1 o'clock the sun was out and warmed things through (relatively speaking) and while the temperature did not move over freezing, it was out of the slightest of winds. Even so, the line froze to the rod rings, and I needed to tweak the line too-and-fro every ½ hour or so to ensure it was free. Frost hung on all the vegetation, even in the weak sun. I made friends with a "starving" robin, who could barely fly once stuffed with spam slivers and maggots. The best of uses for old maggots.
Nothing could have tasted quite so good as the hot beans and sausages in the second
flask. Better than Christmas dinner even.
The afternoon passed and despite small roach "topping" in the middle
and one big swirl under the trees with the carp (the red branches in the
picture below, tench are out of shot to the right), nothing happened.
About 3pm the slightest of tweaks on the Avon made me jump, but nothing
developed. To wile way the time I broke spam up into lumps and put it
in with the sweet-corn, and making it RED (tackle tip - ONLY a few drops
of red food colouring are needed for 2 tins of sweet-corn. NOT a teaspoon
full). At 3:15pm I re-baited both rods, and added a worm to each bait for
luck. More loose feed.
At 4:15, with frost forming on the tackle box and rods, I poured the last
cup of coffee, and stood up to rock on my heels and warm up a bit before
tackling down. While slurping, I noticed the end of the carp rod had taken
a strong set to the right. No bleep. Odd. Clucking bell, the line's frozen
to the rod. Coffee down, rod up.
Something exploded on the surface of the water, and headed fast for the tree on
the right. I put on a lot of side strain but it still made 5 yards, but
once round the corner, thing gets awkward. Back it came, straight out
into the middle, more strain. Back to the right, and more side strain.
Not huge but feisty The fish took off to the left, went under the other
line briefly (bleep!), and then suddenly under the net, a pike. 6lb maybe,
hooked right in the scissors. That's red spam and a worm for you. I weighed
it in the net and snapped it and put it back. A cracking pike, 6¼lb
beautiful colour and condition, more like a river fish. And a longer fight
than you normally get. As an aside...
Still, a fish is a fish, and not a blank...I'm going to start coming for the
last hour only I think, as that's when I seem to catch all my fish this
winter. Still at -2°C when back at the car. Tchaikovsky's Piano Concerto
No. 1, 2nd Movement. Just right.
A cold (-1°C) Saturday, and one Christmas present to get. Having got
and a pint of mixed maggots, I decided as I passed the junction of decision
that I fancied a change and headed for Revels rather than "Still
Water #4". Getting there about 10am, I had a quick look around, handed
over the lucre, was advised on places and method, then picked myself a
spot on the "Main Lake" that looked (and was advised to be)
promising.
I was surprised, in a good way, to find 6 feet deep water in front of me,
which I think is always good. After setting up a smallish antennae on
the Avon rod, and a size 14 with treble maggot (one of each colour) and
baiting up with a few loose maggots, I had a bite which entirely spoilt
my first coffee of the day. After about 30 minutes I had another missed
bite and 2 smallish perch to show for my trouble, which is nice.
However, with the seasonally low sunshine reflecting hard in my face and not wanting
to finish fishing an hour later with a splitting one, I switched to a
spot at the top end of the excellently if obviously named "Dead Tree
Lake", opposite a small island with several trees and a bank behind
me.
An hour later I'd 'ad another 2 cups of freshly brewed and no other bites.
I decided I might as well set up the carp rod, and making up a simple
link ledger, with a size 8, 10lb Kryston, and 2 very large worms (held
on the hook with a sliver of cork), flicked it 20 yards to my right and
set up the bite indicator. 10 minutes later, it twitched a good bit and
stopped. This went on for 20 minutes or so. Speculating small perch, I
shipped the Avon tackle in, swapped the maggot for a small worm, and got
a small perch right away. Another one followed 5 minutes later.
Now I like small perch, but the wind had got up and was curling nicely round
the corner and freezing my enthusiasm, among other things. So I changed
the Avon setup for a second link ledger, on 8lb mono to 8lb Kryston and
a size 8 Raptor, which I baited with two grains of sweetcorn and 2 slices
of hot pepperami, alternated. I nearly ate it myself. I changed the carp
rod bait to luncheon meat and a small worm. Set up both bobbins and put
hands in pockets. Better. 20 minutes later the luncheon meat bobbin jumped
hard. Then stopped. 10 minutes later I reeled it in, and found the worm
gone, the luncheon meat un-nibbled. I returned it.
As the afternoon drew to a close, pheasants started appearing and several
made there way to the trees on the island to roost with the usual charking
making me wonder, not for the first time, if it was possible to build
a slim air rifle into the butt section of a carp rod.
The cocktail bait was getting regular twitches and at about 3:30 I got a twitch
that turned abruptly into a slamming bite, which I hit - when I say "hit"
I picked the rod up and tightened the line. Everything else pretty much
happened by itself. Anyhow, I found myself playing a solid lump, which
after a few minutes surfaced enough to prove it was a slender carp, which
came to the net easily enough, until it saw it. And then it went off on
a good 20 yarder. Nice again to see how the slender Avon soaks up the
lunges. Netted I found I had a decent Leather, which slightly to my surprise
went to 10¼lb. Story of this season, the "slightly over 10lb"
carp. Still at least it wasn't on the last cast.
I re-baited and recast,and stuck some pepperami on the other bait with the luncheon meat. More coffee (and a pepperami or 2, well I was hungry). A couple of twitches on each rod was my only reward from then on. At 4:35, with the landing net stiff with frost I quit for the day.
No pictures in this entry. The shaggy dog version would involve an open tin of sweetcorn and the open plastic bag with the camera in as evidence. Had to take it to bits, wash it and dry it. Cheaper than a new one. Oh well.
26th November 2005, Ben's Lake, Bishops Green, Berks. Just another "last cast" Carp...
It's 8 years or so since we last went here, and found the lake more or less unchanged, but for some taller trees and a well developed hedge providing shelter on the North and West.
The lake runs roughly North to South and is perhaps a bit longer than 100
yards and between 30 yards wide at the southern end and 40 yards near
the northern end. When we turned up it was cold (around freezing) with
a keen North wind. That's keen as in "biting". As there had
been a whole week of frost it was not a surprise to find some patches
of ice on the water, and these were at the North end, making these swims
unfishable. After some discussion we went for half way down the East bank,
with the wind in our face, really working with what we thought we knew
about where the fish might be and also assuming the depth of water would
be reasonable. The South end might be 4 foot deep in places, dropping
to less than 2 feet for quite large areas of the West and North sides.
After an hour or so of biteless float fishing (almost impossible, due to the
wind creating a quite strong current moving from right to left) we'd had
enough, with even small worms and bread failing to get bites even from
the gudgeon we knew were in there. Decamping to the south-west corner
out of the wind we tried again. I tried to float fish for a while, but
the current persisted, making it a waste of time.
At this point, we were both doubting the wisdom of the venue, but I speculated
that if the wind was warmer than the water, then the water would be a
warm as it was going to get around midday. In the meantime I switched
to ledgering, and set up my carp rod as well as my avon with simple link
ledger rigs which mimicked the bro's set up. With us stood by my tackle
at 1:30, I had a Zen moment, and got very interested in my carp rod, which
by now had a popped up pepperami and worm cocktail.
My brother announced I would get a bite on that rod. We were both right,
and a tentative bite developed, which I obligingly missed. I re-baited,
and the sibling had a couple of bites, one on a marshmallow, provided
by one of the 2 other anglers on the water, on his way home, having blanked.
He did fill us in on the stock, which still consisted of a good lot of
hand sized carp and crucians as well as silver fish and gudgeon, which,
with maggots in warmer water would guarantee to catch. Carp up to 23lb
apparently as well. A carp angler had appeared mid morning, and headed
straight for the North end of the lake and setting up, tucked himself
into the lee of the hedge. The ice had gone by now and if we'd thought
of that, we'd have gone there first! While we were missing bites, he landed
3 fish to 7-8lb in a 3 hour session...drat.
The action at our end tailed off and with the whole lake free we moved to
within 20 yards of the North end for the last 2 hours. I tried float fishing
sweet-corn again, and despite a bite that might have been, fared little
better. I ledgered some luncheon meat on the carp rod. At about 4pm, I
had another "Zen" moment, and voiced a belief that something would happen
- and while attending the call of nature, brother missed a fairly fierce
knock on ledgered luncheon meat. Arrgh. "Duck it".
It went quiet, and around a quarter past, packing up commenced not 200 feet
from my right elbow. Well the rugby was on. I got a twitch on my bobbin.
Hmm. a few minutes later, another. I sat on the tackle box and held the
rod. This persisted for the 10 minutes it took to pack up, and I decided,
familiar with the take pattern on tentative carp (although usually float
fished), to hang on. "dink" pause. "dink" pause, "dink" short pause "dink-dink".
After a good 10 minutes of this stuff, a knock, and a smooth rising of
the bobbin gave me the excuse to strike. I got the solid thump of a decent
fish, and on trying the reel, discovered my "Powerpro" was tangled
around the bale arm. "Lugger bit".
Luckily I had fleece gloves on, so I pulled line manually to keep in touch with
the fish, and held it with the hand on the rod. When I had 6 feet of slack,
I opened the bale arm, pulled the tangle away,and then cheerfully wound
the line, tangle and all onto the spool, while simultaneously playing
the fish manually. Back in contact I got some very dogged resistance for
another 5 minutes, and in almost complete darkness landed the fish, which
went 9lbs, and in nice condition. (no boilies here, no pot belly on the
fish) Very lucky it wasn't a bigger fish, that went for a long run. Not
a blank, which is always good.
With hindsight a moments thought and an earlier dip of a cold hand in the water, would have told us that the wind was warming the water, and a warm layer would build up across the whole lake. With the prevailing winds' end being shallowest, the place to fish was the shallow end, as it would have been the first to have the warm water layer on the bottom. If we'd ignored the thin ice, I think we'd have both caught several fish. Live and learn...
20th November 2005, Fiddleford Mill on the Stour. A teeny blank.
I decided to dust off my pike tackle (and pike fishing in general) with
a trip to Fiddelford Mill on the Stour, in several degrees of frost. Time
pressed as usual, so arriving at 10am, in expectation of fishing until
around 2pm, with the usual Sunday stuff to do on getting home. As I made
my way to the water in the weak sunshine, the grass and frozen mud crunched
and my breath clouded in the air in front of me. Classic frosty morning,
and it felt really good to be out in it. I sat myself under the retaining
bank of the mill leat with the weir on my right and the sluice on my left.
The bank was frozen solid mud, and with no sun on this part, it would
remain this way until I left.
I set up a couple of dead baits. For reasons best known to myself I neglected
to bring other than sprats and sandeels. I went for a ledgered bait toward
the overflow of the mill leat and a float fished sandeel, with which I
planned to search the water from the weir area "downstream" as it were.
I put the floated bait on the 2lb t/c through action, 15lb Powerpro main
line and the ledgered on an 11ft 2½lb t/c mid action rod, on 10lb b/s
nylon mono. Both baits on a single VB trace rig. After about 45 minutes
of floating around, I went to move my ledgered bait, and discovered it
was snagged solid - so much so I broke it off. Having let the float rig
drift, I got that snagged and broke that off as well...
Not good. I decided to take a short coffee break. I reset the ledger rod with
a sprat and cast out toward the middle and set the bobbin on the line.
I decided on a further coffee, and set a sprat to pop up with balsa wood,
and cast it to my left into the swirling water just downstream from the
weir.
For an hour nothing happened. I watched the gentle twitching too and fro of
the bobbin on the rod in the heavier flowing water. I got a knock on the
other rod, and watching the bobbin travel briskly upwards, tightened into
the bait and hit it, and for a second thought I had a fish on. The fish
metamorphosed into a solid snag. Drat. That's "drat" rhyming with "lugger
bit". Just in case, I treated this with circumspection, as the impression
of a snag can occasionally be a large fish.
Yes it can. I kept light pressure for a 5-10 minutes, and then returned
the rod to the rest for another 5. Then I broke off the line, losing the
3rd trace of the day.
Ah well. I went for another coffee and re tackled. I had no result by 2pm
so called it a day, not dispirited, oddly.
Setting out with the intention of fishing a new water, with the majority of my
past piking on still water, today's blank was in many ways preparation
for the next trip - and partly expected. Here's what I got from it (apart
for a nice morning in the fresh air).
There were a couple of gents on the far side, who caught a couple of small pike
(2-4lbs) fishing in the slacker water, with static bottom fished dead
baits, (I'm guessing sardines and mackerel). Some small pike are to be
found over there (I've nothing against small pike), which might suggests
that if there are any bigger they are wiser, or somewhere else. Also,
the current here is not as heavy as you might think (today anyway), but
there is a clear need to keep baits of the bottom, to avoid snags, but
in the main to present baits where they can be seen. I sort of of knew
this already.
While sitting there I mulled over how to do this - I like to float one bait
and ledger another, but in this case I thought one way of getting baits
to a sensible depth, and making them attractive is to float-fish them.
I have adapted the looped construction of 2 hook traces, to include an
extra loop pointing towards the hook end of the trace. This is to be 12-18"
from the end hook. To that I'll add a a small disposable ledger weight
(or "stones" as I like to call them) to a length of 6lb nylon. The length
of this will determine the bait depth, and it ought, if dangled below
a float set correctly, give me a bait fluttering in the current off the
bottom. To ledger I'd turn the rod pod round, putting the rod front end
as high as it will go, and put the rod butt under the back supports -
the rod/line will then be a steep enough angle to keep a paternostered
bait fluttering in the current. Bite indication might be interesting....to
be tried next time. A useful blank if there is such a thing. On balance
I'd rather catch fish.
We elected to give the Hordens Mere a go for a couple of hours (nothing if not persistent), and if nothing came of it, whip up to Bucklebury Ponds, which is a nice environment, and had a good record of producing fish even in the dead of winter. At least when I went in the early nineties it did. Guess what?
After 2 hours with no bites at Hordens' (on the north side of the Pit, towards the west end), we went to Bucklebury.
The lower lake has weeded up a good bit since my last visit. But we got into
2 swims on the east side, and with small waters the percentage is often
on "bait and wait." After an hour I had a bite and missed it, and having
missed another couple, switched to a pole rig and double maggot on a 14.
In a couple of hours I caught a perch, and a couple of roach, but for
rusty striking... (or perhaps just bad). I certainly missed about half
a dozen bites, all told. Some tentative. Again the water was still, with
no wind, but all day carp clooped and slurped in the weed, splooshed and
rolled under the south bank. Some floating crust might have been handy,
but we'd not thought of that.
Brother had a couple of roach on sweetcorn, and towards the end of the day a bronze
bream about a 1lb on a big lobworm. He also had a couple of knocks on
ledgered luncheon meat to no avail. By the by, brother was using "Stren
Gold", which is even more obvious that the "Blue". Again,
in the water it vanishes. Weird, but handy.
Eventually at about 4pm, I moved to an East corner swim, which in the past had yielded
carp. I cut down some beech branches, to get into the "left to nature
swim", and fished more or less under my rod tip with the Avon rod, pole
float, 6lb mono, 6lb silkworm trace, size 10 raptor and luncheon meat
liberally spread around. And zoned out. Or is that in?
After 30 minutes I noticed ripples coming from the left, and peeking through
the bush, saw a carp in the corner of the lake gulping air. It was about
8lb, and a really well conditioned "Wildie", full set of scales,
slender and no "pot" (maybe that's the "no boilies" rule on
the ponds?). I watched. After a bit it was joined by another a couple
of pounds heavier, as equally well conditioned as the smaller. And they
nosed about, gulped air, and generally didn't feed. They made their way
along to me and at one point both fish were 3 feet from my left foot -
the left side of this swim had a beech sapling/bush which gave good cover.
With maximum stealth I cut up luncheon meat and flicked bits off my leg into
the branches and the fish ignored them. I persisted, and after 10 minutes
of the 2 fish moving up and down, eventually one vanished, and some tiny
disturbance around my float got me interested, and the fish reappeared
from the depths by my left foot. Rats.
That was the closest I got. I spent the quarter of an hour watching and flicking
bits of bait, and quite enjoying the spectacle. If they were feeding I
could see what on, and often it appeared just be air gulping. Occasionally
they'd suck at a branch hanging in the water. Actually the highlight of
my weekend. Sibling was ready to call it quits, and as I had no strong
feeling I was going to catch one, I went along.
14th October 2005, Hordens Mere, Thatcham, Berks. Rat? Oh that rat.
After some messing around with permits, I descended on Pike Pit (now known as Hordens Mere) for a days fishing, ahead of my brother joining me. The weather was still and overcast, with almost no wind.
For October it's unreasonably warm, with temperature really not having dropped
under 10C at all yet. The lake has changed a lot since I was last here.
The photos show more growth, better tended swims and although not obvious,
the path around the back of the lake is now well kept. What hasn't changed?
Well for a start they are still overrun with American Signal Crayfish.
Dead ones in the bushes give you a clue. The sideways sidle of the float,
and occasional landing of one, another clue. I saw one and got the other.
There was a notice about the recent rat problem. Since 1994, judging by the
rats when I was last there. And litter. <RANT>I HATE litter. How
hard is it to take home? The odd bit is one thing, but carrier bags, dumped
and stuffed in bushes? On a club water, it's simple enough. Walk round
and ban a few people with littered swims. The message will get around.
Zero tolerance on litter.</RANT>
I fished from 11 to 3:30 on the third swim on the south bank - this has
a nice screen of growth around it now (as opposed to then). The water
was still 9 feet deep though. I baited 2 areas with sweetcorn and maggots,
and fished both on and off, float rigged on the bottom. I basically got
not a touch in the whole time I was there, on either bait, that I would
put down to a fish. I tried a popped up worm bait for 3 hours as well.
Not even a jack pike. Zippo. Nada.
When brother turned up I moved around the back of the lake, purely for a change
(I try not to move on every time I catch nothing, for one thing, you'd
never stop moving), and even though carp continued to jump and roll, nothing...from
4 to 6:30 the float never moved, not once, except for a crayfish. Extraordinary.
Major blank. Saw a few rats on the other bank though. Now I know where
they live.
btw I was trying out a 6lb Stren mono today - this line is very limp, and
while invisible in water, fluorescent blue in daylight. A bit odd, but
- it's very easy to see what you line and tackle are doing, in those inevitable
"line around the rod" moments, and secondly, if you leave even a snippet
on the ground it sticks out like a sore thumb. Which is a very good reason
to use it. Sadly, the "no effing fish" thing, has made it tricky to judge
the catching potential at this time...onto Saturday.
1st October 2005, Whitemoor Lake, Dorset. Rat? What Rat?
The Eldest daughter (9) having expressed an interest, was taken for an afternoons
fishing at a local commercial coarse fishery. This is a better one of
the type, although mostly quite shallow and inevitable clay lined, the
swims are well kept and defined, litter is sparse, and nets need to be
dipped, which is no bad thing. Braid is banned here which I think a pity,
but the water owner is entitled to make the rules. (If it was me I'd ban
boilies and pellets but allow braid).
I set up a whip rod with a 3lb line rig and small pole float and a size
14, and plumbed the depth at a whopping 18 inches, to at least a couple
of rod lengths out. Even a couple of inches down the float became invisible,
another feature of shallow clay lined ponds. I loose fed maggots under
the whip tip, with the novicelle at the other end. This is as close as
you get to guaranteed fish, and I proved it by catching a small perch
while adjusting the line at the whip end, with the bait dangling in the
water.
It all worked out rather well, with a reasonably steady bite and catch rate.
Striking turns out to be a hard thing to teach, as you would think (if
you're 9) that most of the time the hook will stick in somewhere, but
this is not the case...I reckon a bite was missed for every fish, and
probably half a dozen fish came off, as the strike never happened or the
line was slack after the fish was hooked. The concentration needed to
keep watching the float is under estimated by us regulars as well.
But I was impressed with the concentration and technique. However, the end
tally was a reasonable 9 fish, with 7 roach (biggest about half a pound),
a skimmer bream and a perch of 3-4 ounces.
Oh yeah, I caught a bream, and lost at least one carp and a bream that
cleared the water on striking, but watching 2 floats doesn't really work...but
"Marmite" managed to get the landing net under the bream for me, so that
was good as well.
I was reminded several times who had caught the most fish.
By-the-bye we saw a pair of kingfishers (which is always a pleasure) and collected
a brace of floats tangled in trees, and did see "one or two" bold rats.
When I say "one or two", I mean, they have a rat problem for sure. At
least 4 individuals in our area, and not worried about being 6 feet from
us. That's not good for your peace of mind, where did I put that Black
Widow...?
On our way down the track, a red deer hopped out of the trees and stood in
the car headlights for a few moments, before loping, unconcerned, over
the road and into the trees. Another bonus.
23rd September 2005, "The Brickyard", Sturminster Newton, Dorset.
I went here on the recommendation of a friend, and had some misgivings that it might be a bit of a "puddle". In truth it is a bit, although in it's defence there is a little variation in depth likely due to it being an old brickyard, the lake being the hollow that the brick-clay was extraced from. But there are poorly prepared swims and litter all over the place. I don't mind picking up rubbish (especially discarded line) but if I'd set to here, that's all I would have done for a couple of hours. The lake is mature though with plenty of margin vegatation, and some small islands, giving it plenty of features.
Anyhow, I picked a point on the North of the small lake (½ acre perhaps). From the edge to 3 rod lengths out the depth was a shade under 2 feet, and the water had the dense even colour that clay lined lakes with too many fish in them often have. In it's defence there are trees around the edge and several beds of bulrushes.
There was plenty of fish movement, so I tackled up 2 rods, a carp rig, with a pole float, large chunk of meat on a size 6, and an Avon Rod with another pole float and a 6lb b/s rig and a size 10 for single grains of corn. I baited up 2 areas one alongside small clump of the bulrushes with predominately meat chunks and the other area an inshore swim just to my left, under an overhanging bramble clump. I spent an hour trying to turn bumps into bites with the Avon in the near swim, and then switched to the far swim and the carp rod. After the best part of 2 hours with only a bump or two to show, I switched back inshore.
I had my first firm bite about 10 minutes later, and got a hard run into the left, which I turned and the fish made of to the right and the hook came out. I may have said something rude. Certainly 5lb+. I stuck with the near swim and alternated sweet corn with half slices of pepperami, and was rewarded with a small roach about 1 ounce. These are present in large numbers and hoover up most of any bait thrown in well before it hits the bottom. A light pole rig and maggots would have cleaned up on these.
I carried on and over the next couple of hours caught6 crucians up to 2lb (none of which was free of "battle scars") and another little roach, and lost at least one other crucian. It was about 7pm then, so I put down the Avon and fished the near swim with the carp rod for the last half hour.
I did have a bite which was quick and missed it, and as the light was fading, and the air was getting quite damp, I moved the float to within 2 feet of the bank, so I could see it. Well you never know. 5 minutes later the float slid away, and I struck and my only reward was a big swirl and a large bow wave heading into the middle. Certainly never know for sure what that was. Time to go.
18th September 2005, Stillwater #1, Dorset.
So back to Peg 11. Chosen today for it's depth of water and tendency to produce carp (I've had several there myself). I set out today to catch carp, and tackled up with the carp rod and a 10lb through rig, with a 10lb b/s Kryston braid trace, size 6 hook (mental note must get some 4's and 2's), luncheon meat and a small pole float (2 x no.6 in theory, but a bit of meat that big gives you all the weight you need) to give bite indication. I put one no. 6 by the float and one about 6 inches from the hook, and fished about 8 inches over depth.
The weather was calm and started off sunny, as the picture shows, but clouded over early in the afternoon, which I prefer. Fishing was slow (and has been hard here lately, high pressure weather), but I was treated to a dragon-fly spectacular, which I totally failed to capture on camera, best effort below. There was a kingfisher about, which is nice. The non-fishing highlight of the day was it streaking right to left (in the picture) just in from the far bank. A large school of rudd scattered in a line under the blue streak, making it look as if they had been strafed. I'd have paid money to get a good picture of that.
My bet with myself at the start of the day was that I would get three bites if I was lucky. I wasn't far wrong. I started at about 11am and plumbed and baited up. I had a bump on the float at 12 ish, and another about 1pm. And that was it until just before 3pm when the float bobbed and vanished. I may have hit the bite a little over hard. Well I'd been waiting a long time.
I only needed a few seconds to know I might have the carp that I hoped for - I have to say no great fight (for a carp), it kind of barrelled about with no great length of run, and made little attempt to get into the weeds or round the corner. After a shortish tussle, I slid the net under (new landing net), and putting an also recently acquired unhooking mat to it's first use. On the scales 13¼lb, my biggest for this water.
Far more pleasing is the setting out to catch and then catching. I was going to call it a day at 3pm, but decided to give it a bit longer (yeah, well). I had another bite about ten past four, which I missed. Very annoying. I called it a day at five, with children to roast and a chicken to bath. Or something like that.
I've had worse days. Haven't we all?
22nd August 2005, Rosscarbery, Cork. Anotheranglers first mullet.
At Rosscarbery there is a large estuary, which has more mullet in that I have ever seen in one place at one time in my life. Certainly at the west corner by the hotel there are fish of 10 lbs and more, as well as bass of similar size. The problem with fishing for them there could be the swans, which are equally numerous.
Notwithstanding that I decided to do some mullet fishing. Earlier in our holiday, I'd sat on the harbour wall at Glandore and crumbled wholemeal pita bread into bits and dropped them into 4 feet of (at the time) clear water, only to see the circling mullet stir up the bottom into cloud of silt to get it. Having arrived at the conclusion that bread was a viable bait, this suspicion was later confirmed in a tackle shop, somewhat skeptically by the man behind the counter.
When I say skeptically, I refer to the apparent chance of a mere mortal like myself catching a mullet. Undaunted (and possibly even a bit incited), one evening I set out to fish in a small area towards Warren Strand, which is enclosed by roads on 2 sides and has an inlet into it from the main estuary at the seaward end. A lagoon if you like.
With the tide out, I arrived in time to watch the flow start and almost immediately the appearance of a school of 'smallish' fish in the scooped out area in the sand behind the inlet pipe. I watch the fish for some time and settled down to tackle up a small crystal waggler - at this point, 8lb main line and an 8lb braided hook-length, with a size 10 hook. The flow was strong, and while tackling up I flicked a steady stream of pellets of rolled up white bread into the depression the fish circled in. It didn't help the concentration to note that more and more fish were entering and occasionally breaking away from the rolling ball of mullet, over the lip of the inlet pool and streaming off into the the main body of water. Like a stream of tea leaving a swirled cup. The water was shallow over the lip of the pool (at first) and the streams of mullet broke the water with their backs make a continuous rippling noise.
But after getting the tackle up (Avon Rod), I dropped in the waggler with it's 3 foot depth, at the head of the inlet - it traveled the 20 feet to the far side of the pool in a few seconds, but on the third trot through I got a bite and was quite surprised as something streaked across the pool and then circled it at some speed, while I hung on and waited. Eventually, I netted a (thick lipped) mullet of 2lbs or so. Amazing. The fight was quite something and the out of the water the last thing you would call them is "grey".
Whether this was beginners luck or not, I fished and baited until no more fish entered the pool and almost all of them had exited under my feet or over the lip at the far side, without another bite. My original plan had been to station myself towards the landward side of this inlet and float-fish bread for the cruising mullet, so having exhausted this possibility, I returned to plan A and set up 100 yards down the road, in a gap in the grass. I changed the float for a loaded crystal waggler, as the current was slight, but the wind over my left shoulder was very strong, giving quite a chop on the water, which on balance was a good thing (harder for the fish to see me), but I needed an overcast to sink the line on retrieve to keep the float on station. I set up, cast in and with my left hand produced a steady stream of bread pellets which I flicked at the float some 30 feet away. I had the sun low behind me also, which gave me an extra incentive to keep still, but made visibility very good.
50 minutes later at 6:20 I had a positive bite which I missed. 10 minutes later I had another which I did not. Now, if you've never caught a mullet before, you may have been told they are impossible to catch (well they are with "normal" sea tackle) and fight "quite hard". I thought the first fish had tried hard, but discovered it was merely limited by the pool it was in. This one took off with like a wild carp on nitrous oxide.
The fish made long runs, 30-40 yards and fought very hard. I would say it took 10-15 minutes to bank and as the fish hurtled about I gained a small audience of holiday makers. As I eventually steered a grudging mullet to the net, I luckily remembered to slacken the clutch - which is a good plan for any fish, as the sight of the net can provoke some furious last minute struggles. The mullet was no exception to this and took off again...
When re-steered to the net, the fish was landed (to a small round of applause). As previously a shade over 2 lbs, but I'll not quibble with the result. Excellent.
Of course my family turned up 10 minutes later, so had to be content with a picture, both fish being returned.
20th July 2005, Highbench, Dorset. Good evening by any standards...
Looking for a repeat of Monday (rather optimistic), I return, and as the same swim still has fish feeding signs, go for the same rig and method. Well why not?
Fishing tonight though is harder, and while bites are there, they are fussier, and harder to hit. After an hour on worms the bites dry up a bit, although I have 7 or 8 fish banked by then, with several bream and crucians, and a couple of rudd. Interestingly the bream are a larger stamp than before, in the 1lb bracket and are hitting the bait hard on the drop. If you can imagine bream hitting anything hard.
I start to alternate hook bait from worms to sweetcorn to cocktail of both. This helps, and I keep catching, and after another hour or so, I move a single no. 8 shot to within 2 inches of the hook. Today, this doesn't affect the quantity of bites, but makes them easier to detect.
As the light fails, the bites become fewer and further between, and the landing flock of geese at 10 past 9, pretty much kills it off. The final result, as it were, was 13 crucian, 7 bream, 4 rudd and a lone perch. Another good evenings fishing (2½ hours) - but the outstanding result from Monday made it feel like less than it was...
The trip home tonight faced a full and orange moon, caught as it was in the vestiges of the setting sun. More Shiraz.
18th July 2005, Highbench, Dorset. Almost Perfect.
This water I know a little about having fished here about half a dozen times. The evening was warm, and overcast - and on arriving I notice at the South-west corner, where there is a bed of rushes that extend along the South bank and up the West, there are masses of needle bubbles plus movement in the reeds to indicate fish. That's normally a good sign, so I tackle up. This being a water where the biggest fish is a 4lb tench, I stick with the Avon (well, I packed in a hurry this morning before work), plus a 5lb main to a 6lb braided trace, a size 10. (I know this is sea fishing tackle to some.) As I am fishing only a rod length to the left, up against the reeds, I put on a modified pole float. I have a number of these, to which I have added an eye on the bottom - a whipped loop of 15lb braid. This gives me the sensitivity of the float, but allowing "bottom end only", which if used with a rod, and not having the rod-tip over the float, works better. I stick the 2 x no.4 shot by the float and put a no. 8 about 3 inches from the hook.
I plumb the depth (about 3 feet, or from the reel seat to 2 inches past the second rod ring), and start of with a grain of sweetcorn, which gets me bites - which I can't hit. Hmph. After about 10 minutes I get a small rudd on the drop. Then more missed bites.
OK. I try smaller grains, just the skins, moving the bottom shot and varying the depth a bit. No change. I try a small red worm. I get a more positive bite, and "bump off" a fish. Rebait, same result. Aha. Third try and I get a small crucian of about 4-6 ounces. Things looking up. I continue to loose feed sweetcorn, as the fish are there still, evidenced by the needle bubbles in tracks and clumps. And jumping out the water in front of me.
After catching a half a dozen fish or so, I notice the bottom shot has gone. So I replace it. The bites stop. Aha. remove the shot, bites and fish. While they are not exactly hitting it on the drop (well some are), the fall of the bait to the bottom, perhaps needs to be slow and natural. Perhaps with the very limp braid the feel of the dangling shot is putting fish off. Either way it comes off, stays off, goes on by the float.
Having cracked it, I cheerfully catch fish in a steady stream for the next 2 and a half hours. With an hour to go I swap the float for a smaller one, taking only 2 no 6. I sit there on a warm and calm evening, with a dog barking in the distance and the sound of livestock close by, and end up with 30 crucians (the biggest maybe a pound), 6 bream, 3 rudd, 3 perch and a roach.
I drive home down the Winterborne Valley, with a near full moon in my face with "The Mighty Rearranger" on the stereo. Perfect. All I need now is a large glass of Shiraz.
8th July 2005, Stillwater #1, Dorset. Drowsy.
On to peg 5, which is nicely tucked away from the main body of the water which had several anglers on it, ("crowded" today). The water here is a little under 4 feet, where I was fishing and the water had plenty of colour, which compared with some other swims on the lake was a bonus. Just under the line of the pictures I regularly saw carp swim past, in no hurry. A good reason to keep still.
The plan here was to stay on until dusk to use the new blue Beta lights. Just
as well really, as the first three hours yielded a only couple of knocks.
Very frustrating, as there were fish moving all day, and feeding as well,
around the float, beside it, surprised they weren't on top of it. I varied
the hook length, the hook size, the bait, the size of bait. Nada. It's
good for the soul to be reminded occasionally that you are not as good
a fisherman as you think...I told myself, as another tench bubbled past
the float.
I've skipped the usual description, for pictures. Well it's easier, and nicer to look at.
Nevertheless I persisted. Well it wasn't dark yet. About 9:30 I had a bite which I
missed in astonishment, and then in the next half an hour had a bream
(1½lb), a tench (2½lb) and a roach (½lb) in quick succession.
Good oh. Then someone dropped by for a chat, and killed the swim stone
dead. I changed to a beta light, and after an hour (including that annoying
20-30 minutes when it's too light for the beta light and too dark for
a regular float), I had another bream and another tench.
Got used to the betalight after a while. It seems to be easier to see
if you don't look right at it. But that might be my eyes. At 11:30 or
so, with it quite dark I called it a night.
The saga of the braid comes to an end. After tying and testing (with scales)
about 6 traces, during the afternoon, and getting 1 good one the
Drennan braid goes in the bin. The black thread/outer sheath seems to
go quite often. It's as if the braid has a mix of fibres, some of which
stretch a different amount to others. More research needed, but PowerPro
looks good. Any feedback gratefully received...
26th June 2005, Stillwater #1, Dorset. One, two, three...
Warm day, (25°C), some sun some cloud.
Peg 11, because a lot of fish hereabouts. The water is very clear and
flotillas of roach are patrolling the margins. With hindsight the water
was too clear - but baited up to the right (where some colour was in the
water, with s/corn and chopped luncheon meat (really). Watched the roach,
and varied the hook bait, (hung under a 2 x No.4 antennae) from one to
the other of the loose offerings. Added on worms to both hook baits. After
2 hours with the sun in my face (despite my Oxford waxed wide brimmed
hat, excellent Fathers day pressie...), with one "tweak" to my credit
(and that a curious roach butting the float I expect), I decide enough
is enough. It just doesn't feel right. Even loose worms are ignored by
the roach, and that can't be good.
I wander around to Peg 7 where the water is cloudy and the sun is on my
back. More baiting up. More coffee. 2 hours go by, sat in amongst the
purple loosestrife and mint, broken only by a shrew running across my
foot and a small group of geese, all seemingly guarding the 2 remaining
goslings. Not even a nudge. There are hordes of roach patrolling this
edge as well, and a lot of splashing under the trees. A swift recce shows
the roach are in full-on spawning mode, and this explains the complete
indifference to any bait, loose of otherwise, as well as the huge splashing
commotion under several trees both on my side and the opposite bank. After
2 hours of this, I decide I may as well lob a bunch of worms over to the
trees to see if there are any perch (or even pike) around. I change the
float for a 2BB antennae, which has a bit more weight, and off we go.
Searching from right to left, I get to the far left on the fourth cast and get a
hit, which results in a decent 5-6oz perch. Always good. Sadly, this promise
is not matched by any further fish, although a float did appear on the
right about 4 yards from the tree line, and after dithering about for
a bit, vanished again. Odd. Fish loose with someone's float. Not good.
Being alone on the water, I wandered around to pegs 8, 9 & 10 to try my luck
with the worms and after 15 minutes of this, and not getting a sniff of
any other perch, returned to my seat, at about 10 past six to try sweet
corn* hook bait for another 10 minutes.
Re-setting the depth (slider knot braid float attachment, markers on the rod, it's
a good system), I cast in. Five minutes in, off went the float, and a
2½lb bream. OK, so another 10 minutes then... 5 minutes later, a sharp
bob, a 60 second pause, and another. Another longer 60 seconds then the
float vanished. I hit it and small bag of sand hurtled off to my right.
It made about 15 yards on that run, and with the rod bent right over,
headed off into he trees to my right, boring hard along the bottom. Not
a bream then. For a few minutes the "to and fro" went on with no sight
of the fish, and I was beginning to think I had a very big tench
on. "Alas" on first sight, the bag of sand had transmuted into a common
carp, which took another 5 minutes to net. Leaving the net in the water
I whipped out the hook, whipped of the handle and put the scales on the
net. A few seconds to drain and less the net, 11½lb. not a bad fish at
all. (fish out of the water less than 15 seconds, mental note: start packing
camera).
It is noticeable that when carp are around, they'll often have a few experimental
pulls at a bait. They can spread those pulls out over 20 minutes sometimes.
This can look like small stuff messing about, especially when you have
a largish (3-4 grains on a size 8) type of hook bait. Tench can shove
a bait around a good bit as well, but the float tends to move around when
this happens, and adjusting the length of the line from the last shot
to the bait will often sort this out, and get you more positive takes.
I have watched carp circle a bait (or a float for that matter) several
times, often higher in the water, before descending. They give every appearance
of checking it out. I digress.
6:35pm, things to do, tea to cook... called it a day, despite the deep suspicion
that the swim I have so carefully baited for 2 hours was starting to come
alive. Not a bad day's fishing*, but as I packed up, it seemed that I
had caught fish in spite of the way I'd fished, not because of it. It's
like that sometimes. The Drennan braid earned a reprieve. Must get a rig
bin for braided hook lengths...
*Oh, come on - we've all had days when we'd have sold our souls for a 5 ounce
perch, a 2½lb bream and an 11½lb Carp. On some days just one of those
would have done it.
17th June 2005, Stillwater #1, Dorset. Warm.
Very muggy and hot today - when I opened
the door of the car the warm air enveloped me like a damp blanket. Still,
must be good for fishing? Right? I decided on peg 8 which has the advantage
(for me anyway) of not facing the setting sun. While it's not a great reason for choosing a swim (likelihood of catching
fish being a better reason), I cannot stand the sun in my eyes, which
goes past mere discomfort - even with shades and a hat, I often have to
move on. Still, a beautiful evening, if close. I managed to take a good
45 minutes to get into the water and get fishing for real. This was a
combination of problems with braid trace (see last diary entry, one more
time and the Drennan braid goes in the bin) and discovering after the
first cast, that the line around the reel area was quite roughed up -
I had assumed a coating of slime or scum from the last trip out, but actually
the line was abraded. Nuisance. Odd.
So down with the tackle, check all the rings on the rod (no problems, last
time it was a cracked ceramic rod ring), back up with tackle and cast
in. Now 6:45. Nowt. Zip. Nothing doing. Quiet. I should mention the 4
No. 4 antennae and braided hook length, no. 8 raptor barbless. Sweetcorn*.
I was fishing about 4 inches over depth in a little over 3 feet of water.
By 8pm I'd had one twitch. At 8:10 pm I had a classic lift bite.
Bob-lifffffffft-bob, and was rewarded with a bronze bream of about 3.5lb.
Which is OK. Perhaps not in as good nick as the previous weeks, but a
nice start nevertheless.
Between then and 9:30 I had a few twitches but nothing more. Very odd, given that
there was plenty of fish activity, many rudd around the surface, which
just HAVE to have a nibble of the shot near the float (well you never
know, they might be food). After a bit you learn these are not bites,
well, most of the time. You can catch these quite easily with a small
worm, but today I didn't have any with me...had I that foresight, I could
probably have caught the pike or perch that scattered these rudd on a
regular basis, admittedly a bit away from where I was fishing. Next time
- I usually carry a few worms, they are free and every fish in the water
will eat them. This is the another advantage of a braid hook length -
if you stick on a bunch of worms to move a pike on, you are not going
to lose your end tackle to "dental erosion". Maybe too warm to feed? Or
a pike in the swim...
For completeness a water vole went past. This always seems to happen. Certainly
here, where there is a good population of them. Gratifying, and worth
taking the time to tell the difference between a water vole and a basic
rat. (Clue: don't hit the water vole with a bank-stick. Don't feed the
rats by leaving bait and litter behind). I also has a visit from a shrew
of some sort, which was new to me, normally they are so shy you only ever
hear the "rustle" as they go about their business. At 9:30 I have a quick
bite, which revealed a roach of about ½lb, and at 9:55, with the light
fading fast, I could see enough of the float to hit a bite which turned
into a 3lb tench, in very good condition. At 10:10 I couldn't see the
float, and went home, after toying with the idea of free lining the bait,
with a hand as a bite indicator.
3 good fish. I've had worse days. So have you. Mental note: get new "beta"
light floats, as the old ones are too dim to fish with (well I've had
them 16 years - since ordered 2 new beta lights in blue, on the basis
that most fish are better at seeing red. And I like blue better).
27th May 2005, Stillwater #1, Dorset. Bream on.
Today was a cloudy and warm day with
little wind. I went for Peg 11 on the basis that 8 and 12 were taken,
(which represents crowded here) and also while walking round I spotted
a school of what looked to be bronze bream under an alder to one side
of the swim (I fancied my chances of getting them feeding), this coupled
with good colour on the water (which is only 2-3 feet deep here) made
it an easy decision. Peg 11 faces a small open area of water where three
arms of the lake converge, and on some days there is a distinct flow to
the water, caused in part by the water flowing into the lake from the
top, and in part by wind currents. I always feel more confident hen there
is a slight flow in the water, no reason. Today there was a slight movement,
right to left
Moving like a ghost lest I disturb the bream, I invoked the well known
"inverse noise rule", which broadly speaking means that the
quieter you are trying to be, the harder it is to keep you balance while
loaded with tackle, unpack without rattling anything, or avoid dropping
anything on the ground. Maybe, the fish are hard to spook I told
myself as the flask, carefully and gently placed behind my tackle box,
fell over.
I went with the usual small crystal antennae, bottom end only and an 18"
braided trace of 10lb b/s, a size 8 hook, three grains of corn on the
hook. I baited the swim, to my left (and towards the, no doubt still resident,
bream...not so confident now). I fished about 5 yards out, the plan being
that the vegetation on my left would give some cover. The water was smooth,
as this swim is well sheltered on three sides by mature trees, but covered
in the little bits of fluff that come off the alders, and today it was
like a gentle continuous snowfall, with a flurry on every gust of the
breeze. Poetic eh?
The "inverse noise rule" continued to follow my every move.
Putting the rod onto the rest, I knocked the butt on my chair which cause
the tip to hit the water. The chair frame suddenly relaxed half an inch.
I dropped the can opener into the tackle box.
Nevertheless, despite my best efforts to scare any fish that might be
near me, after about 45 minutes I got a "dither, wobble, lift, wobble
dither, plunge" type of bite. Which turned out to be a bronze bream
of about 2½lb. This for some reason cancelled out the "inverse noise
rule" and I found that was easily concentrating on the float, with
that sort of "buzz" you get sometimes when you are completely
focused on the fishing. In the next 4 hours I caught 7 bream to 3½lb,
all in cracking condition, no missing scales or split fins. I am not a
bream fan, but I enjoyed these - they justified their name the derivation
some say is the old Saxon word "breswan" which means to glitter.
Wonderful. I also had a tench about 2½lb, and lost another when the hook
came out (an ill fated experiment with a size 10 rather than size 8 Raptor
hook, I returned to a size 8), plus a roach about ½lb and "bumped
off" another. Then suddenly at 5pm or so the "buzz" went,
and after another half an hour with nary so much as a twitch I decided
to call it a day. It felt like the fish had packed up and gone home, so
I followed suit.
The other point of note was a little problem with the braid. I am a big
fan of the "Palomar" knot, but twice on this trip the outside
threads on the brad snapped exposing the core. My theory is that I use
some less that sharp cutters to cut the braid and pulled some of the fibres
through, hence making them tighter than the others. I have used the 10lb
braid for some time now with no problems, and have had a couple of double
figure carp with no problems (and no easy fight either), so will be watching
(and checking my traces). I still have half a spool of 11lb BS "Black
Spider" after all....
20th May 2005, Stillwater #1, Dorset. From first to last cast.
An unremarkable day for weather, windy
with showers. Choosing Peg 1, with a chestnut tree behind me on the basis
that my wife would be able to see me when dropping by (which is to say
the peg was visible from the car park. Not a smart way to choose a swim,
but the method for the day. The wind was behind me (mostly, with gusts
from the left), and a steady stream of chestnut blossom clouting me and
my tackle on a regular basis. 5 Canadian geese and about a dozen goslings
grazed the bank some 30 yards on my right. Drat.
I decided to fish in the direction of the island, some 15 yards out and
baited up with a few handfuls of sweetcorn – put on the weighted crystal
antennae, bottom end only (did I mention the wind left to right) and an
18" braided trace of 10lb b/s, a size 8 hook, three grains of corn
on the hook, and set to plumb the depth - first cast, I got a hard take
while reeling in - and after a few interesting seconds with the clutch
let off a bit, found myself attached to a ¾lb jack pike, which has snatched
at the moving bait... well not a "blank" then. Depth was about
2.5 feet in the end. I settled for about 4 inches over depth with a no.
6 shot 3 inches from the hook, with another by the float and fished about
halfway to the island that is to say about 20 feet away.
Onward and upward. Half an hour later, my better (and some say better
looking) half and No. 1 son visited for a bit (still no more fish). The
boy pinched one of my apples. He even drank some of my green tea (on principle
really, he can't possible like it, it's not fizzy for a start). Then I
was left to myself again, and briefly contemplated moving to one of my
preferred swims, but decided, mainly out of idleness, to stay put (one
eye on the clouds and occasionally spots of rain).
The next 2.5 hours went more or less as follows. Loose feed, check bait,
recast, wait. Pour cup of tea. Remove chestnut blossom from tea. Drink
Tea. Spit out overlooked bit of blossom. Repeat every 30 minutes. There
were bubbles that might have been feeding, but as the float never budged
I twiddled with the over depth setting and the shot position (well you
never know). I took a break at 5:30 to eat my remaining apple. It didn't
actually rain, and a kestrel was making hunting flights from a tree just
behind me. That plus the attentions of a water rat kept me amused. I enjoyed
myself.
At 6:15pm I had a bite (which I missed, of course). Then the geese started
a decoy action with one of pair of swans. The pair of swans here are aggressive
and not the brightest of birds (no change there then). Last year they
systematically stalked and drowned a whole brood of goslings. One went
to harry one of the earlier mentioned geese - which allowed itself to
be chased well away from the goslings. When a good distance away it spread
its wings and the swan would head back to the bank, where decoy no. 2
was already in the water. Repeat chase, decoy no. 1 circles back round.
See the plan? This was kept up for an hour... I like geese better and
swans less now.
In the meantime I had 2 more (to be fair) tentative bites. Plenty of feeding
bubbles. However with only a small pike (4.5 hours ago), I had set myself
a "packing up time" of 8pm. So clearly it was planned when I
hit the bite I got at 7:59, which was not tentative. The attached fish
belted towards the bank on my right and under the small willow there,
and I could do no more than keep the line tight - by the time I had a
decent curve on the rod I had the tree in the way, and ended up with the
rod parallel to the water, a foot above and at right angles to the bank
- I should mention the 1lb 10oz Avon rod at this point - which was pretty
much in best "battle curve" mode. Assuming I was going to loss
the fish if I didn't get it out of the tree, I tightened the clutch, stopped
the fish and leaned back, and after a few seconds of (anxious on my part)
head shaking out it came. You really have to watch that sprint start...
It took me another 5 minutes or so to net the (as it turned out) common
carp, by which time my children had telephoned twice to bid me goodnight
[my pocket was vibrating and while I like catching fish it's not that
much ;-) ]. I do not always weigh fish, but this one dropped the scales
round to just over 11lb with the net, which makes it a shade over 10lb.
"Quit while you are ahead". 2 fish, first and last cast. Packed
up and went home. Good day.
13th May 2005, Stillwater #1, Dorset. First time for everything.
The first diary entry for "Just". Luckily I finish work early on Fridays, so I took my new "Avon" out
for an airing. The rod's acquisition story is a "shaggy dog one", as it was
ordered in January, and the first try turned up with cork handle in March (I
prefer the black foam stuff) and it had to go back and then I have to whip
rings and varnish it. No reflection on the shop though, who were decent
about it and gave me a discount on the rings for good will. Hopefully the
rod will be worth the pain...
I went to Dorset Stillwater #1, as Summer-time (well alright, late Spring
then) it's my favourite water, at least in this part of the world. The
weather was warm and sunny and ideal really.
The Avon is a 4 piece based on an unground Harrison's blank with a 1lb 10oz test
curve and I chose it to do the job my Carp rod has done, but it is lighter,
both in the fishing and absolute weight sense. I went to Peg 12 (no reason -
it's got a decent depth of water, which this time of the year is mostly all
coloured, enough weed to cover fish, but enough clear water to catch them)
and baited up some sweet-corn with a 2BB crystal antennae, 8lb main line and
a 8lb soft braid hook length and a size 10 Raptor. On 2 previous visits
within 20 minutes of casting in, I have lost a carp that headed hard to my
right before the hook pulled out, so I was wondering if a slightly softer
rod would help if I was to get a repeat. Or I could pay attention and strike
at the right time...
I bait and cast only 10 feet from the bank to my right. So it is that
after about 15 minutes I get a positive bite and hitting it, feel the now
familiar run to the right. I dig in, and turn the fish out toward the middle
of the lake and after a shortish tussle with a lot of curve on the rod net a
common of about 11lb. What are the odds?
It is perhaps a good omen that the first fish on the new rod is a good
carp and I fish the afternoon out, and end up with 7 tench and couple of 1lb
roach, plus one more carp. This second carp took some landing - it took
three times the effort to bank and made several long runs heading out to the
middle of the lake, boring along the bed and collecting weed in huge clumps
on the line. Again the rod was well up to the task. The fish itself was
6½lb and I may be wrong but it seems to me that all the hardest fights I
have had from carp have been from fish around that mark.
Maybe it's the optimum power to weight ratio for carp? So the final tally is 2 carp, 7 tench and 2 roach, which is a good
Christening for the new 4 piece. Not a bad days fishing at all. (It is a way short of my best tench bag on this water, which the previous
summer was 13 tench to 3½lb, 2 bream and 2 roach, in a 4 hour session one
evening. Lucky pick on Peg 11...)
