Calm Before Storm

More river action this week and for the first time in a long while I was greeted with perfect conditions for my intended quarry. Bream have eluded me this year on the river but this time everything seemed stacked in my favour with the river carrying a few inches of extra water, nicely coloured and temperatures on the mild side.

The club stretch I was fishing benefits from being very sheltered when the mild south westerly winds are howling through. Across the river in the distance I could see trees being bashed around, while I sat in a little oasis of tranquility.

I had a good few hours in hand so I gave it the full baiting treatment. Several balls of groundbait laced with casters and some mollasses were plopped into a 10ft deep swim that has thrown up decent bream in the past. I was confident they would show, but it proved to be totally misplaced as I drew a total blank with them yet again.

The coloured water is good for most species and the roach that are often very hard to find to were very obliging. I caught a good number of nice quality fish with the best one falling to a lobworm and just failing to reach the pound barrier at 15oz.

Dace were one a chuck to maggot, but the lobworm sorted out the better fish. The best fish to worm was a perch that went 1lb 9oz, but I managed to make a balls up of the photo. I was trying to be clever with a different angle close to the water and the fish made good its escape.

Despite plenty of fish being caught, I didn't get anything chomped by a pike. I did have one watching me very closely though and it stayed in place for a good part of the session just beneath the landing stage.

One downside to the day was when I was packing up and I heard a splash behind me. I assumed it was a pike, but I was faced with a cormorant. Then another one appeared out of the water. They saw me and flew off upstream. I've never seen any before on this stretch and I'd like to think I won't again. It's currently stuffed with fish though, so I think it's wishful thinking.

With a storm brewing and talk of possible flooding we'll have to see what damage it does to next week's prospects. Hopefully things will settle down by next weekend and I can have another crack at putting my bream hoodoo to bed.

Decisions

I was itching to get on the river this week when I saw the weather forecast. The problem was what to fish for!  As it turned out I had some other commitments from midday, so it was going to be a short and sweet morning session. That ruled out a crack at the bream, as I 'd prefer a longer session when targetting them. I settled on perch and pike.

I'd already got pike rods ready to go, so I picked out one of those. The other rig would be a light bomb on a short 8ft quiver tip set up. The short rod was perfect for fishing just beyond the platform I  intended to fish and where I know the perch (and pike) often hang out.

I was on the bank for 7am, struggling to see what I was doing through the gloom, but basking in the double figure temperature. Was it really mid October?! I popped out a deadbait a little upstream and initially ignored my plans and spent 45 minutes catching dace, roach and chub on the bomb rig slightly downstream. All the time I was also feeding the swim directly in front of the platform, but biding my time. Initially the maggot approach had been slow, but after 10 minutes the fish switched on and it was one a chuck - nothing of any size though.

I then plopped the maggots down in the platform swim and got an instant take. Then a whooosshh, as a pike propelled itself from beneath my platform and towards my fish. Luckily for the dace I reacted quickly and it was lifted to hand. Clearly the predators were present, so I moved the deadbait across and switched to a lobworm slightly downstream.

The worm didn't really yield a lot on this occasion though - the best being a perch perhaps a shade over a pound. The static deadbait rod wasn't working, so I ditched the float and tried wobbling the bait around the swim - again no takers. I then went for legering and it did the trick. I had a take that resulted in a lost fish, but half an hour later I managed to stay connected to my first pike of the season, which fell to a smelt enhanced with some red coloured liquid worm flavouring. I have no idea if the enhancer helps, but I think it makes the bait stand out nicely. It wasn't a huge fish by any means, but at 7lb 6oz it gets the pike season moving for me.

If the weather and river both stay half decent and I get the chance of some longer sessions, I'll probably put the pike on hold for a while. I really want to give the bream and perch some serious attention for hopefully another month, to see if I can crack a couple of personal bests.

Welcome Autumn

Summer is now consigned to history I don't think it will be lingering long in my memory from a fishing perspective. The same applies to the Spring before it!

I haven't done a huge amount of fishing since my last post, but I did sneak a few short sessions in while I was on a family break in Somerset. I took in most of the usual haunts on the Rivers Axe, Huntspill and Tone on 3 different club day tickets.

The Axe (at Bleadon) was miserly, but the Tone (at Ham) and the Huntspill (at Gold Corner) were full of fish. The landing net stayed pretty dry though, with just plenty of small silver fish on offer. I was accompanied by a new fishing partner, Luke (daft name for a dog if you ask me, but he's not my dog so what do I care!).

He was totally fascinated by the whole fishing experience and seemed to be happy just staring at the water, with the occasional excitable look when a fish was swung to hand. Unlike many dogs, this one seems to dislike water, which is a bit of a bonus when you want to do some fishing. His predecessor spent more time in the river than out of it!

A dog rest!

I had a couple of Pike sessions on the Avon in early September - I'd got fed up of the poor fishing and decided on an earlier than normal dabble. It was pretty hopeless though and two sessions threw up just one bite, which resulted in a small jack slipping the hook.

I then got away from the fishing for a couple of weekends courtesy of a Western Mediterranean break. Just before I left, a friend had informed me that the river was now fishing well and he had his eyes on big perch. He was claiming to have seen one of 4lb+ at the end of his keepnet. Optimistic thoughts perhaps, but he's had them to 3lb 5oz from the same stretch and there's certainly enough prey fish in the river for the perch to grow fat on.

Today saw my first session back on the river for 3 weeks and I was itching to have a bash at the perch, with the aim of breaking through the 3lb barrier some time this Autumn. The day before I'd dug up part of the garden to accommodate some broccoli that I'm going to over-winter. It was a good excuse to collect a few lobworms, instead of raiding the compost bin.

The weather was beautifully mild (19C when I called it a day), but the river was still as low and clear as ever. There was a big difference though. Fish that has previously kept their heads down during much of the daylight hours, were now topping everywhere. It was a fish fish a chuck on maggot tactics, with mostly dace showing, but with the odd roach and chub thrown in.

Peering just beyond the platform I started to see some darker profiles moving through the clear water. First a small pike of maybe 5-6lbs, followed by a decent perch. The pair of them kept sweeping through the swim (at the end of my rod), almost as if they were intent on teasing me. I tried a soft small rubber lure to start with, but that didn't succeed so I switched to a lobworm. After much trying I eventually got a take, but that resulted in half a worm coming back and no fish. I quickly dropped it back in and got an instant take - but only from an 8oz perch. I'd wasted too much time by now.

I didn't have a big supply of worms, so introducing chopped worm wasn't an option. In a bid to liven things up I put in a few balls of groundbait at the end of my rod. The idea was to draw in the small fish to a tight area and hope that the perch would be watching and waiting. I rested the swim for a while and went back to trotting for roach and dace on maggot, bread and corn for a while.

When I could see that the groundbait had drawn in the small fish, I switched to a legered lobworm on a light rig (my Shakey Wand was out of retirement!). First drop in over the bait and the tip pulled down hard and stayed put. I struck and could see that I'd got a nice perch on. I took it gently and it popped into the net. It was my best river perch at 2lb 8oz.

I persevered with the remainder of my worm supply, but didn't manage anything else of size. Just a few more perch up to 8oz and several greedy dace.

Hopefully I'll now settle into a more regular fishing (and blogging) routine for the rest of the season and things will improve from here onwards.

Thank Heavens For Rain!

Time for a long overdue catch up, but don't expect to hear tales of great success. I've suffered one hell of a lean spell since the season started. In all honesty I haven't spent that much time on the bank due to various events I've attended, most of which involved a few beers and ruled out fishing the next day for obvious reasons!

Springsteen at the Ricoh

A meeting with former Pakistani cricket star and pie eating champion Inzamam-Ul-Haq

The time I have spent fishing has all too often been short sessions at the wrong time of day. I probably haven't done myself any favours by stubbornly sticking with tactics and venues that were all wrong in the conditions - a fatal combination of blind hope, lethargy and ineptude on my part. I'm blaming it on the heat!

The Ashes has been a pleasant distraction though and I've got my stall set out properly when I combine cricket and fishing. I've found that my DAB pocket radio which can sometimes struggle to retain reception, works a treat when secured to an extendable bankstick:

The Avon has yielded precious little for me. I really want to bag myself a decent Bream from there this year, but things haven't fallen into place yet. The water has been far too low and clear, coupled with bright days.

I had a bit of fun with a rather dumb Pike during the latter part of a session. It attacked my feeder and managed to grab the hookbait, duly biting it off after a brief tussle. I reached for the telescopic rod that I keep on standby for these moments. First run through with a plug and the Pike showed itself again. Time after time it appeared to show interest but it wouldn't take the moving plug.

I slowed the plug down and eventually ground it to a halt at the end of my 8ft rod - static plug fishing! The Pike got closer and closer until its nose was practically touching the plug. The stalemate ended with the Pike snapping wildly at the plug, followed by me yanking the plug into thin air!



Pike centre, plug top centre

One more failed attempt was followed by success though - again with the plug absolutely static.

 

I had a couple of sessions on the River Wye also, but that was in blistering heat. The river was very low, clear and canoes were out in force on one of the days. Being on the bank very early and/or very late was imperative, but as often happens on these weekends a few beers turns into a gallon+ and bang goes the fishing. Just one Barbel to my name and a small one at that:

I've never seen so many swans either. At one point a continuous run of 43 came through the swim!

During the slow hours on the second day, I heard some loud snoring. I looked across at the next peg and assumed it was Brian, as it's par for the course for him. He'd heard the same noise though and just assumed it was me! After all we were the only ones fishing in that area. Eventually Brian realised that I was actually awake and went investigating. Behind his van (which he'd conveniently located behind his peg to act as a wind break), he found the answer:


Charlie doing some Chub fishing!

As I write this, the heavens have opened for the second time in a few days. The downpour in my part of the city was very intense and should see a good drop of water going into the river. It's currently a few inches up anyway, but will likely be more like 2ft up on the stretch I usually fish within 24 hours.

I'm already sensing a renewed optimism for the weekend ahead and fingers crossed I'll be fishing a river with a tinge of colour and a ravenous shoal of Bream or Roach in front of me! Hopefully the season will kick off from here...

If not, I'll just sit tight, admit defeat, enjoy us bashing the Aussies at cricket and wait for the Pike season! I'm certainly not waiting for the football season - being a Coventry City follower, it's over before the season begins this time!

Keeping Busy in Anticipation

I've remained quiet on the blogging front for the past month. In that time I only managed a brief afternoon session at Snitterfield Reservoir which didn't yield a great deal.

I haven't abandoned my fishing altogether though - I've been turning my hand to bank duties down on the river for the Alveston Village Association Angling Club (AVAAC) that I'm on the committee of.  Last year's floods had all but wiped out the ageing pegs and I wanted to rebuild things as far as possible. Around 30 hours of toil later and I've managed to rebuild the pegs I set out to restore this year. I have more plans for next year, but there's the small matter of doing plenty of fishing before then!

If anyone is interested in some quality fishing on the River Avon just above Stratford, season tickets are available for AVAAC at £20. There's a link to their Facebook page on this blog. The contact details can be found through that page. Mark Pitcher is the secretary and he issues the tickets. All of the usual Avon species are present and the section is boat free, apart from the very occasional canoe. Access is good and there are no stiles or gates to negotiate. There are no matches, which means that the water is available every day of the season for pleasure fishing.

After a quiet May, I'm eagerly anticipting what lies ahead in June/July, with plenty of things to look forward to. It kicks of this week with something not fish related. My brother (Kev) has a TV date this Thursday evening on Sky Sports in the UK Open Darts. He's what you'd class as a semi professional player and having qualified for the event through the PDC pro tour, he's landed himself the plum opening draw of current world champion Phil "The Power" Taylor! It's a round 2 tie and should be on TV some time after 9pm that night.

I have plenty of fishing lined up once we reach the glorious 16th, but I'll save the details for another time.

Changing Fortunes

I've been quiet on the blogging front recently. A couple of weeks ago I suffered another blank at Ryton and I couldn't bring myself to post about another poor session. I gave the fishing a complete miss last week and concentrated on pushing ahead with some long overdue bank work down on the river. That condemned me to a fate that I didn't see coming - a totally fishless April!

This week I decided to head back to Snitterfield Reservoir for a Saturday afternoon / evening session. I'd struggled there back in March in pretty awful conditions, but things were much better this time around. I wasn't going to kid myself that it would be easy, as it can be slow to get going each year. Once it does pick up, it can be a cracking water though.

As it turned out I was right to be cautious and the bites weren't exactly plentiful. I was in two minds whether to set up a sleeper rod, but the lack of instant action pushed me to reach for the trusty Avon Quiver rod which would plunder the margins. I dropped in 4 balls of groundbait and a couple of handfulls of hemp and caster. A large piece of bread flake was the bait.

I pressed on with the main line on the float and I wasn't having any luck with the silver fish. I turned to pick up my pocket radio to catch up with the latest sports news when my margin rod screamed into action. Luckily I'd had the sense to slacken the clutch right off and a fish had started to take plenty of line.

A lengthy battle ensued and it dawned on me that it was probably a potential personal best. I eventually got top side of it and Brian helped with the netting duties. It was a nice fully scaled mirror which weighed in at 14lb 15ozs and it beat my previous best by over a couple of pounds.

As the day wore on, it didn't get any easier on the float rod - just a few Perch to show for my efforts. The margin rod threw up a couple of other fish though.

The first was a Crucian Carp which also took a big piece of flake on a size 10 hook. Not exactly the tactics you would normally use for catching shy biting Crucians! It weighed 1lb 9oz and was also a pb as it happens.

The last fish came on my final cast and was a Bream of around 2lbs. It was as rough as sandpaper in places and was well into spawning mode.

It's nice to report some fish on the bank again and hopefully things will push on from here.

Ryton - More Blanking

After a week's break I had a brief return to "action" this weekend. I only had a small window available on Saturday afternoon, which pretty much saw the worst of the weekend weather.

With time against me I stayed local and figured on opening my Tench account at Ryton. I stopped off to renew my club book and headed off to the pool in good spirits. The wind was howling across the pool but a peg at the far end was free and quite sheltered, so I opted for that one.



3 hours into the session and it wasn't going to plan. Biteless across both rods and getting increasingly wetter and cooler. Propects were poor and time was running out. Then the float dipped and slid out of sight. I had one of those bemused moments where after a few hours of nothing and having already accepted a blank, you can't quite believe that something has happened!

I came to my senses and struck into a fish. Not heavy or insane enough to be the Tench I'd hoped for, but a fish nonetheless. It just plopped up on to the surface long enough to be identified as a Perch - at which point the hook pulled free and I was back to blanking!     

Where there's one Perch there's usually more around and I pressed on with renewed hope for the last few minutes. A pair of  Canada Geese were not exactly helping now though and at one point I thought they were going to take me clean out! They had a full on clash in the heart of my swim for a good minute or so and it scuppered any hopes of a late change in fortune.

I bumped into Barry the bailiff in the car park - another fellow blanker! He said he'd had a few fish in the week though and was just looking for the weather to settle down again.

The forecast for next weekend is looking quite promising though, so hopefully I'll open up my April account next time.