Secret Squirrel
It had been a good first couple of hours, I had a 12lb Pike at my feet resting in the margins having just taken it on a lure. I also had a keepnet in about a hundred yards upstream with a few Perch in, some big ones too. In addition to this I had two other pegs baited up with red maggots and worms. All of a sudden I sensed someone approaching. I turned around to see two chaps directly behind me. "Caught owt mate?" The least pierced/tattooed one asked. "No, its been rubbish this morning," I lied. Glancing down I remembered the Pike sat in two feet of crystal clear, chalk stream margin. Ray Charles would have noticed it. "Er.......I have just had this Pike though," as I encouraged it on its way with my hand. The two men looked at each other quizzically. After a brief chat discouraging them with tales of woe about this, the most barren of rivers, I declared I was leaving shortly. "Oh well, we are here now we might as well get the gear out, we'll move our car for you so you can get out," one said. Talk about backing yourself into a corner.......
An old friend
As I approached the river my heart rate increased and an air of expectation took over me, silly really but every angler hes that one place they'd like to fish just once more before they die, not that I was planning to keel over anytime soon you understand. It had been a while since I had seen the secret river and all the usual thoughts raced through my mind- would the weed have gone? What would the level and colour of the water be like? Would anyone else be there? Luckily it was in perfect order with not a soul around. It was to be a brief visit as i had just finished work so I just happily cast some lures around for an hour or so. No Perch were forthcoming but I did latch onto this rather fine looking Pike of just over twelve pounds.
At the next opportunity I returned to the river. Things weren't quite right though as it was incredibly low. It soon became apparent why, some distance upstream they were dredging to remove the summer reed growth. Despite this I was still fairly confident and baited a couple of areas with maggots and worms. After two biteless hours my enthusiasm began to wane. As happens all too frequently I had my first bite just as I was contemplating packing away. I had six Perch all on worm in the next hour before I had to leave.....
The best one went 3lb 2oz......
A few days later I was back and this time the dredger had made its way to just above the stretch I intended to fish. Not only that they had a tractor with one of those bush cutters on it which was massacring the far bank. I did attempt to fish but it was a dead loss. One of the guys from the Environment Agency came down to me though and we a had a slightly disturbing chat. "Do you get many fish in that weed drag?" I asked. "Oh yes, loads," he replied matter-of-factly. "I was throwing loads of Perch and Pike back yesterday and more than anywhere else we drag- Eels, loads of them" he added. As I glanced up to the dredger it was working away furiously. I wondered who was throwing the fish back this morning while he was busy talking to me. I tried to argue the case for the fish and talked about water levels and the river in general. "We are governed by our own nature people," came the response. It was then I realised the Environment Agency exists to protect humans from nature not the other way around. Very annoying.
The next day I was back and the E.A were gone. I struggled again in my first peg so I put some bait in to prime it for later on. The next peg I tried was more productive. Again I took all the fish on worm. After about eight fish the bites tailed off and I went for a wander with the lure rod. Rewind to the start of this months blog and that's where we are. I caught the same Pike as above and it was resting nicely in the margins. After a slightly embarrassing chat with the two blokes that came down to me I disappeared upstream to discretely photograph my Perch. This was the best of them at exactly three pounds........
I couldn't resist one last go in my primed spot though and I crept down to it as stealthily as I could. The two other anglers were Piking about thirty yards away. I cast my link-legered worm down the edge and had a bite straight away which resulted in a fine two pounder. A minute later as I was re-baiting a big deadbait was launched right into the spot I was fishing. Whether they had done it on purpose or not was irrelevant, it was time for me to leave. It was slightly frustrating as I was sure the fish were lined up down there. Fortunately a few days later they were still there and I had twelve Perch and another Pike. The best Perch went 3lb 4oz..........
Toft Newton
News via Facebook came through that Toft Newton Trout Fishery was allowing people to fish for Perch with lures. I had a quick ask around and some of the gang decided to join me for a day afloat. I was paired with Andy while Dave and his friend Martin took up another. As it happened we were the only people afloat that day. The bit of research we had done suggested the tower was the place to target so we all started off there. After a disappointing hour trying a multitude of methods it became obvious the fish had either moved from the tower or just weren't feeding. The weed was also quite problematic.
We decided to drift around for a while to see if we could locate some fish. The first drift was a bit of a disaster as the drogue wrapped itself around both propellers. Delving elbow-deep in the cold water I eventually untangled it much to Andy's amusement. The Red Arrows started practising overhead which took my mind off my freezing cold arm for a few minutes. When we managed to drift properly Andy eventually took a few Perch to around a Pound and a Half..........
For some reason I was really struggling. With hindsight most of Andy's fish came on the drop and I think they were sat quite high in the water column. The wind was also getting stronger by the minute which made things tricky. After Andy got bitten off by two Pike I decided to target them. I quickly tied Andy a trace and he got one straight away. A nice chunky fish.......
By now I had a sizable lure on and was soon into a fish. Surprisingly it turned out to be a Perch, the best one of the day..........
While not big they were in fantastic condition. I had a couple more along with two small Pike. We had found the fish but they were in a really awkward place. They were all around the drop-off which was quite weedy and the wind was pushing us directly over it all the time. I tried going very slowly along the slope with the electric motor. It was proving quite successful, at least for Andy. I couldn't fish effectively and hold position in the strong wind at the same time. Tired of my boat partner getting all the spoils we anchored up which proved to be the kiss of death. It wasn't just us struggling though and Dave and Martin had little to show for their efforts too. Maybe it was just one of those days?
Cost for two in a motor boat and a days fishing worked out at a very reasonable £20 each. The boats leave a little to be desired and the motor isn't really a necessity. Being relatively small at only forty acres we just used the electric motor all day. Some Perch guys have seemingly done really well there with a hundred or so fish coming to a single boat. It is definitely worth a visit. There must be some big old warriors somewhere in there. The smaller fish are far more common and like I mentioned before- in great condition.
Monthly round-up
First up is fellow Lincolnshire angler Martin Barnatt. He spent the first half of the month chasing Chub including an absolute beauty of 6lb 12oz. This being a Perch special though he did get one from the upper reaches of his local river for us. A fine fish of two and half pounds.......
Our old friend Leo Heathcote also spent most of the month chasing stripeys and buying new tackle......
Down to Kent now to catch up with diminutive young superstar Nate Green. Here he is with his months best, a magnificent fish of 3lb 14oz........
The 1550 acre Grafham Water provided group member James Aris with this superb brace weighing 4lb 6oz and 3lb 13oz......
He might be a newbie to our little gang but Mike Lyddon is a well established big fish specialist. He has certainly been around a bit and rarely even knows what day it is. Credit where credit is due though he had the biggest Perch of the month from a Thames tributary at 4lb 9oz.................
This months round up wouldn't be complete without showing you an example of several Puffer fish caught by our very own Andy while on a romantic break with his beloved (long suffering) wife.........
Last but definitely not least is Dave's little lad Jack who thoroughly enjoyed a day out with his dad resulting in this fine looking Barbel......
Tackle Talk
After thinning out my reel collection I had a bit of spare cash to spend. I've had my eye on a few new models for a while but my first purchase was a couple of Airblades from Italian firm Trabucco.......
They really are quite striking. I have the 2000 and 3000 models for lure fishing. As ever I'll let you know how I get on with them. They offer free delivery on orders over £100 and also a 5% off offer if you use the discount code NEWBIE. Have a browse here....
For general fishing I've used Drennan hooks for as long as I can remember. When my local shop stopped stocking my favorite wide gape specialist pattern I was at a bit of a loss. Howver I found some similar looking offerings from Korum and they have proved to be just as good as my old favourites. I used the micro barb version for all my worm fishing this month.....
Thanks for reading and as ever I'll leave you with a couple of photographs from this month. These were taken on our day at Toft Newton.......
Till next time...............
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