Opportunity Knocks

Another short Saturday afternoon session this week on the Avon. The changing of the clocks signals the end of this routine for me, but it also means that some dedicated predator sessions are just around the corner (when it eventually gets cold).

I always like this transitional period. Dace and roach that were often hard to come by in the heat of summer are now eager to feed hard ahead of the winter months. It's like a different river and the silver fish are easy to catch in big numbers.

That's how it started this week anyway. It was great fun just trotting a couple of maggots on a size 16 below a home made Avon float, teasing it through the 6 feet deep swim with a centre pin reel.

Bites came instantly from both roach and dace. Four runs through yielded four fish and then came the all too familiar washing machine impression beneath my feet as the fourth fish went back.

It was a sure sign that a pike was in the swim. I didn't think I'd get through the day without seeing one and I came prepared to sieze any opportunities like this. Out with the pike gear, on with a smelt and wait patiently for the perpetrator to show up.

It took all of one cast for it show its hand. A small jack was bagged and taken away a few pegs upstream to clear the path for the silvers again.

And that pretty much set the tone for the day. Catch a few roach and dace, excite the pike, catch pike and start again. I had a dabble at the perch in between with worms and even a bit of drop shotting (a new one for me), but it wasn't a success.

I had a further 3 pike, but they were all jacks.

The final one was marginally the biggest and also fought very hard. It came at last knockings and I could barely see the float. After a bit of dentistry by headlight I called it a day as an owl begin to hoot in the background - too spooky for me!

It's amazing what a difference a few weeks makes. Three weeks previous I spent 4 hours solely fishing for pike across 3 swims (including the one i fished this time) and totally blanked.

This week I only had a deadbait in the water for maybe an hour in total and bagged 4 fish from the same swim, all from a similar area close to the bank.

I do feel that by feeding up a shoal of prey fish and having them regularly flapping through the swim as they are caught and then swimming back through it after release, is a kind of pre-baiting for the main course. It's the best of both worlds for me. I get to catch fish on the stick, all the time improving the pike prospects.

No big girls on show just yet though but I've learned that you just have to be patient and wade through the jacks. They will show up in time.

Next week sees us with some unseasonably mild weather again with southerly winds picking up and taking over at the back end of the week. Until we hit a proper cold spell I'll continue my two pronged attack I think.

Accidental Wormery

It's always nice to stumble on something really useful by accident - even more so when it's right under your nose.

I'd left it late to collect a few worms for my fishing session, so I wanted a quick solution. My usual panic method involves digging up whatever spare piece of land is available in my vegetable plots. During the main growing season this is impossible because all spare land is quickly planted with more crops.

Now, I did have a small free plot available on this occasion, but I tried something different. I'm an avid bird feeder and during the year the birds get clumsy and drop lots of seed from the feeders. This accumulates over time and begins to germinate, creating unwanted growth in my borders. When I've cleaned it out in the past I found lots of small worms.

The first shock was just how thick the growth was. From absolutely nothing, there was a thick, lush covering about 3 to 4 inches deep. A Hebe had been totally swallowed up! I pulled out a section of the green mass and amongst it were stacks of clean, immaculate worms of all sizes, including some big old lobworms. A positive worm bounty!

I pulled up a few clods and filled my tub with wrigglers, then patted it all back into place. Very easy, very clean and the most amazing quantity of worms in such a short space. I don't know if it will last, but for now I'll suffer a slightly scruffy section of border for this great cause. I'll monitor it over winter and see how it goes in the colder weather.

I guess it makes a bit of sense because we associate worms with lawns and between me and the bird life we've effectively created a small section of new lawn. The difference is that I can't dig up my main lawn in the name of fishing, but this little worm haven can be ploughed up whenever I need to.

On to this week's fishing and I headed off to the Avon for a short afternoon session. After my previous hopeless pike session I left the predator gear at home and concentrated on bream. The river was carrying a small amount of extra water, but had a nice touch of colour for a change.

I boshed out a few balls of bait and attacked it with red maggots to start with. I went with a braid mainline to help with hitting the bites. Initially they were easy to come by from small dace and chub.

A switch to worm brought a bream of around 1.5lbs straight away and I thought I was in for a few of them. A couple of perch to about half a pound followed but then a more spirited fight turned up something I wasn't after on this occasion - a pike. I very nearly landed it but the hook pulled clear as I went to net it.

From that point on the fishing seemed to change. Bites were harder to come by and I was plagued with leaves and debris fouling my hooklength. A few roach started to show eventually though and a surprise eel showed up at last knockings.

Not quite the session I'd hoped for, but with half a dozen species banked (and nearly seven!) it was a pleasant enough encounter. 

Lots of wind and some rain due this week, but still no sign of any real cold weather setting in.

Quiet Times

Fishing has been few and far between for me recently and what bits I have done, have been mostly forgettable.

A couple of weekends were wiped out by a holiday to Croatia. My return to the river last week was a short session after pike from mid afternoon into evening.

I alternated smelt and roach deadbaits beneath a float for 4 hours across 3 swims. Not so much as a sniff on a low clear river. On an adjacent peg a new club member was wobbling a sprat and suffered the same fate. For an area that holds plenty of pike it was hard to believe that they'd all shut up shop.

On to this weekend and I headed off to Herefordshire for another weekend away. The Wye looked spot on with a bit of extra colour and water.

Small fish were plentiful to maggot and stick float tactics, but the barbel proved more elusive. Between three of us only two were banked and they fell to the same rod. Beautiful scenery as ever though and a welcoming host.

A 7-11 barbel close to surrender

The next day saw us on a small shallow estate lake chasing carp and silver fish. A cold foggy morning greeted us, which wasn't exactly ideal. We toiled hard but for little reward on a moody lake. One carp, which did a great torpedo impression, was hooked and lost. Some roach offered a smidgeon of sport. Once again a lovely setting, but lacking in fishy activity.

I need a change of luck sometime soon. There's only so many swans and floats I can photograph! Maybe the wet stuff lashing down outside as I write this, will herald a change in fortune. Last week's rain did very little for the Avon but hopefully this week we'll have a more sustained downpour.

Temperatures are set to rise towards the weekend and I'd like to think I'll be tackling a river with a nice tinge of colour next time out.

Double Start

Last week was a tough one on the Avon. I went for big fish or bust for a change on a late afternoon into evening session. The result was bust! Not a sniff.

I couldn't decide where to go this week, but after much pondering the Leam got the nod. It wasn't anything to do with the prospects, but more a case of just fancying a few hours in the afternoon sun on a quiet stretch of river.

The fishing was absolute garbage. It's the first time I've really struggled to catch anything on this stretch and with little signs of fish moving, I feared another blank.

I'd sneaked in a few deadbaits just in case I fancied testing out the pike potential. I don't have any idea how many pike there are or how big they might grow to in this part of river. It does feel right though with plenty of bankside cover and some deep marginal swims.

A roach deadbait was dropped just beyond the lily pads and with no weight on the rig for a change, it was left to slowly flutter down through 8ft of water. Given the general lack of activity I didn't expect anything to happen, but suddenly the float twitched a couple times.

A line bite I thought, but then it moved again and I decided to hit it. The rod bent over and I was battling my first Leam pike by design. Despite hooking it amongst the lilies it came out easily enough and it was soon in the net.

At 10lb 8oz it meant that I'd sneaked into double figures at the first attempt - and it was only really a half hearted effort at that. I'm sure there are many days to come this season when I'll be targeting them properly and I won't get a sniff.

At the risk of cursing things, we desperately need a good dose of rain. I want to have a crack at the bream and roach over the autumn months, but until we get some colour in the river I'm not thrilled at the prospects.

More Shorts

Another couple of short sessions this weekend taking in the Leam and Avon.

First up was the Leam and I tried out a new pool that looked promising. The main flow was down the far side with a deeper and slacker area in front of it, going down to around 8ft.

Plenty of bites from the off with roach, perch and gudgeon all showing. Then a surprise with a couple of ruffe that increased my species tally on this stretch of river to a healthy nine.

When the swim died I headed off downstream to try an apparently hot peg that I'd last fished during the opening week. It was totally overgrown and clearly unfished for some time with waist high nettles.

A couple of minutes of gardening sorted out the problems.

The peg didn't prove too hot though - just a perch of about 10oz to show for it.

Oh and another one of these!

The Avon trip yielded plenty of fish on the stick line early in the session - mostly dace. I was hoping for the big perch to show up but my worms were only snaffled by small samples.

It was a late afternoon / evening session and when the light dropped I couldn't resist having a crafty hour of predator fishing. I've been told that zander have been caught last season on the stretch so I used that as my excuse to try for something bigger. A roach deadbait (left over from last season) was deployed.

A couple of bites resulted in hooks pulling out - I did strike very early though. I know it pays not to be too late with the strike but I was a little too keen in hindsight.

Third time lucky saw a fish stay on and it gave a good account of itself, treating me to a spot a tailwaking. It weighed in at bang on 9lb.

It's a bit early for me to move into full predator mode yet, but I'm itching to get into action - probably early in October. With so many prey fish around on this stretch, the prospects are looking good again. I have plenty of options this year though, so I will be more varied with my approach. I might even hatch a little challenge for myself!

Reggie

Just a quick evening dabble on the Leam this week. I didn't do any preparation apart from buying some maggots on the off chance that I might squeeze in a session.

I headed for the deeper end again but purposely wandered out into the fields to try some different swims. First job was to make some running repairs to my Bolo rod which I'd managed to snap the tip off between Somerset and my current peg. I don't know how it happened but it served me right for not securing the ring protector.

Six inches of rod removed and I was up and running. It was slow going and only a couple of gudgeon saved me from a blank in swim one.

In no mood to flog a dead horse I moved downstream and tried a couple of other pegs that were equally lifeless. Fish were moving over on the peg with a very deep hole so I dropped in few balls of bait and left it 20 minutes before returning.

I caught from the off - mostly the normal stamp of perch around 6oz. I then encountered a really odd bite - a lift bite but in real slow motion. I hoped for a bream but the culprit wasn't overly welcome!

It's my first and hopefully last from the Leam but I dare say that's wishful thinking.

I finally broke my bream duck but only with a very small sample. I'd like to get a proper slab from this venue - could be tricky I think but I'll keep trying.

A pleasant few hours with the river to myself again.

A few posts ago I mentioned that I'd drop in some reviews of tackle I'd purchased recently for roving. This time it's the landing net handle which is the Hardy Marksman Compact version.

http://www.tackleup.com/hardy-marksman-coarse-rods/hardy-marksman-compact-landing-net-handle.html

It's a lot dearer than any net handle I'd ever bought before but I quite liked the idea of an ultra compact handle (packs down to 30 inches) that still had enough length (extends to 8ft) to cope with most swims I encounter. It's done the job well enough so far - perfectly strong enough for my 26 inch net. I'm not a tackle tart by any means but it is finished off quite well too. A nice touch is the metal end cap - much better than the plastic ones that I've broken on pretty much every handle I've ever owned. I picked up mine for £45.

Cider Country

I had a few days down in Somerset last week with family. I managed 3 short trips to a couple of my favourite natural (well almost) venues.

The Somerset levels contain many artificially created drains but they are havens for fish and wildlife and are lightly fished for the amount of water on offer.

I fished at the wrong part of the day on each trip, but each venue was stuffed with silver fish (roach, rudd, perch, hybrids, silver bream) and I was happy to see the float dipping regularly.

River Huntspill - Withy Grove

My buddy for each trip

One of many rudd

King's Sedgemoor Drain - Parchey

On my travels I crossed the Rivers Parrett and Tone - the culprits for much of the devastating flooding in the region last winter. Dredging is underway.

I passed through one of the badly hit villages - Moorland. It was like a ghost town, with portaloos dotted along the streets, builder's vans at lots of properties and sandbags still piled up in various places. The struggle to get back to normal clearly goes on for those hardest hit.

Hide and seek!

An obligatory eel

Excuse the quality, but spot the kingfisher!

Back to the Avon or Leam next time...