Summer part 2

Count to ten

I knew Archie was trouble as soon as I saw him. He was far too interested in what I was doing, nosy bugger.........

 I'd travelled fifty miles to fish a Perch venue for a couple of hours. It was a fact finding mission for an upcoming project. The plan was to walk along the stretch with a lure rod to try and find some fish. Being a canal type venue I took the Chaos twins, my Labradors Daisy and Harriet. They never stray very far and are well used to the fishing regime, keep quiet, no paddling and most importantly- definitely no swimming.

We had walked about half a mile and left the towpath to fish a secluded spot behind some thick undergrowth next to a bridge. "Sorry, sorry, he loves fishing. He's obsessed with it" came a voice from the bridge above. I felt something on my leg and looked down to find a young Collie by my side, ridiculously excited. His name? Archie. He craned his neck with every cast, teetering over the water. His owner was a nice enough chap but had no control over him. None. 

For the next twenty minutes Archie was a right royal pain in the arse. The Chaos twins barely noticed him. Being typical Labradors they view these jaunts as food hunts, looking for anything remotely edible (Goose poo anyone?). Eventually I decided to head back to the car. The water was as clear as I have ever seen it and just as I was about to head into the carpark I saw some dark shapes near the far bank. 

The first cast produced a Perch of around a pound. The next cast saw a slightly bigger one come to the net. I soon hooked another one and this one was better still. It put up a respectable fight but was soon on the surface ready to be netted. At that moment Archie came bounding down the bank. He could see the Perch in the water and without hesitation launched himself at it, doing a huge belly flop as he hit the water. With my help the Perch escaped. Archie had a frantic swim all over the canal before he had to be rescued by two passers by. The owner was all of a fluster. I didn't have another bite.

On the long journey home with just the sound of snoring Labradors emanating from the back seat for company I consoled myself with the thought that no matter how many more times I go fishing in my life, save for personal injury, no other session will be as disastrous as that.

Species Hunt

August isn't typically great for the specimen hunter, not this one anyway. Last August the members of Specimen Hunting UK had a species hunt competition and very refreshing it was too. As such we decided to do it all again. The concept is relatively simple- catch as many different species as possible with points awarded based on their rarity e.g A Roach would be worth 10 points, A Sea Trout 40 etc, etc.

As soon as the starting gun was fired last years champion Nate Green was out of the blocks like a miniature rocket. Along with most of the easier-to-catch species he was soon into the slightly more difficult to locate ones, this Eel being a fine example.

Followed by a sneaky Sturgeon.......

Despite the rest of the field being somewhat shocked at his lightning start, gradually all the usual suspects started to get some points on the board, myself included. My local drain provided a lovely Rudd of 1lb 6oz along with some decent Roach. The boating lake provided a 2lb 6oz Perch which fell to a jig in inches of water. No points were awarded for size but I was going for quality as well as variety. After taking an Eel, Bullhead and Stickleback I hit my first hurdle. Another local lake contains some sizeable Ide and usually they are very obliging. One my first visit after spraying a few maggots around I started to catch. Unfortunately the resident Carp were in no mood to let any smaller fish intercept the bait..........

It was, quite frankly, ridiculous. I couldn't stop catching the bloody things. After ticking off Common, Mirror and Ghost Carp I gave up. A Carp angler on the other side had not moved from his bivvy in the couple of hours I was there. He didn't catch anything whereas I couldn't stop catching. A sign of the times I'm afraid. Probably had the best bait and best rigs but if the Carp are in the surface layers you wont stand a chance. He didn't seem bothered, they never do. Strange folk. I went back a few days later with much the same results although I did manage a Tench and small Bream in between the Carp, both caught a foot deep in eight feet of water. 

My next targets were to be Gudgeon and Dace from a nearby river. I quickly caught a Gudgeon easily enough but the Dace were proving tricky. The resident Roach were on the feed though and I had a absolute beauty that went 1lb 14oz.......

  

With two weeks of the competition gone the leaderboard looked like this....

Nate Green      350
Jamie Potts      330
Martin Barnatt 290
Mike Lyddon    270
Me                    220

Nate continued to pull away in week three. With my time limited due to work and after catching that big Roach I decided to quietly sit back and let the others jostle for position. The only spare hours I had in the last two weeks were spent trying to catch some more Roach. It proved to be the right decision with four more beauties landed along with a feisty Chub......

My final species tally for the competition (along with the Chub)..........Mirror, Brown Trout, Common, Bream, Gudgeon, Stickleback, Ghostie, Tench, Perch, Bullhead, Rainbow Trout, Roach, Rudd, Eel.......

First through the four hundred point barrier was, you guessed it, Nate Green. He ended up with a magnificent total of twenty nine species which gave him a points tally of four hundred and ninety points. He had led from the very start, showing a massive amount of dedication and determination and no small amount of angling skill. On the very last day of the competition it was all over bar the shouting. Or was it? Unfortunately for Nate a certain Mr Mike Lyddon put in a late burst. At the final hour he'd also managed the same number of species but had managed to catch a Salmon Parr which was worth ten more points than Nate's Sturgeon. Species Hunt 2016 winner, Mr Mike Lyddon.........

His catches.......Gudgeon, Mirror carp, Minnow, Dace, Brown trout, Ruffe, Rainbow Trout, Grayling, Rudd, Catfish, Bullhead, Pike, Stoneloach, Perch..... 

Bleak, Golden Tench, Barbel, Roach, Grass Carp, Salmon Parr, Crucian Carp, Eel, Stickleback, Tench, Chub, Common Carp, Bream, Ide and a Ghost carp. All in one month. Amazing.....

Twenty nine species in one single month is some achievement. I don't consider it hyperbole to say both Mike and Nate put in incredible performances. A special mention to Martin Barnatt and Dave Owen also. Martin came a respectable third while Dave was forth despite (yet again) spending most of the month trying to catch a Stoneloach. The final standings......

Mike                500

Nate               490

Martin             380

Dave Owen     340

Jamie Potts     330

Grafham

The 1st of September saw us all descend on Grafham Water for the start of the predator fishing season. We've been here before of course.....

http://everyday-angler.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/grafham-special.html

Not wanting to travel early in the morning Mrs P and I stopped at the nearby Holiday Inn next to Huntingdon racecourse the night before. Some parts of life I have trouble understanding. Booking Hotels is right up there. It's cheaper to book through an online agent than if you ring them directly. It's cheaper online even if you are actually standing in reception at the desk as we were when we inquired about a second night upon checking in. Its one of those things you are told are true yet every sinew in your body tenses up in incredulity. Like Bradley Wiggins needing a powerful asthma treatment (and banned steroid) three times in his life, all just before major races. I digress.....

Anyway onto the fishing. Check out Dave Owen pictured here with a surprise double-figure Bream..........

Carl Arcus had one too, slightly smaller..........

In one particular area it was carpeted with Bream. Even so Carl's and Dave's were hooked fair and square in the mouth. Leo Heathcote got stuck into some big Perch and his line was thick with Bream snot such was the mass of fish below. One of Leo's Perch, a touch over three pounds......

"What about you Phil" I hear you cry. Well I met John from my local tackle shop (Big Catch Tackle). John has fished all his life and all over the world but he had never caught a Zander. I was my honour to try and help him put that right. After a few Perch each he finally caught one.......

He then had another, only small but very welcome. The sun was shining, everyone was catching, it was turning out to be a great day. Ash Bradley with a nice Perch......... 

I finished up with four Zander and about twenty Perch. Nothing massive but good fun. I was just pleased that John had managed to get some. We did see some bigger Zander caught, all by one pair in a boat and they all died. Ash and Patrick noticed the Zeds floating by and set about trying to save them. I saw what was happening and sped up to the culprits boat as they made their way around for another drift. They were fairly unconcerned "Yeah, some die, that's how it is", they said. Meanwhile three Zander are washing up dead on the shore, one of them a double. Unbelievable. These weren't beginners either but seasoned lure anglers. They tried to placate me but I wasn't having any of it. They had kept them out of the water for too long. A silly, unnecessary error. Faffing around with cameras and lenses. 

Day two

The second day saw me sort of guiding again, this time Mrs P. Who started out by catching probably the only branch in fifteen hundred acres of water, pretty impressive...........

The weather was gloomier than the day before and the wind had picked up. Fair play to Mrs P though she didn't complain once and happily fished away. She finally found some small Perch.........

The real story of the day weren't the Perch though. Patrick and Ash concentrated in the area we had seen the bigger Zander caught the day before. They were soon into fish and by the end of the day had caught an incredible seven double figure Zeds to 12lb 9oz between them.......

James Aris had a couple too including this one of 10lb 6oz.......

Not wanting to be left out I joined in with a Zander of 10lb 4oz........

That made it ten doubles between us. Quite remarkable and that's the sort of place Grafham can be when they are in a feeding mood. All the fish went back strongly and were out of the water for a minimum amount of time. A real red letter day and one we'll all remember for a long time.

Last but not least were the pairing of Phil and Martin. They pretty much ploughed their own furrow all day, exploring a multitude of spots. That's not an easy thing to make work at Grafham so credit to them. They caught plenty of Perch up to around two pounds and Zander to nearly six.........

Up for grabs on the day was one of our infamous SHUK trophies, awarded to the captor of the biggest fish. This one was the best yet having been lovingly crafted by Mrs P over a number of weeks. It was great to see it take pride of place on Paddy's mantelpiece.........

P.S The hotel was marvellous, I can highly recommend it. The breakfast buffet was a particular highlight. While we are on the subject of food after the first day we all dined at The Wheatsheaf in the village and that too was very nice. Good service, nice atmosphere and the beer wasn't bad either. 

http://www.thewheatsheafperry.com/

After being amazed by the quality of fishing at Grafham a week later four of us found ourselves back there. Unfortunately the big Zander had all but disappeared. The weather was pretty rough too. I managed to catch a few small Zeds and Perch again along with an absolutely enormous Ruffe. Foul hooked but marvelous to see. My boat partner Patrick went all out for big Zander to no avail. Andy and James fared a little better with James taking a near nine pound fish. It was to be the only decent fish of the day............

Closer to home

Obviously I had to come back to reality sooner or later as going to Grafham every week isn't economically viable. I have always championed local waters. Wherever you are in the country there will be somewhere nearby that harbors some worthy specimens. Lincolnshire isn't exactly famed for specimen fish but seek and you shall find. That was only half the battle on this occasion as I had to endure a couple of hours waist deep in water to reach the fish. Two three pound Perch and plenty of big two's. The group photo is already one of my favorites. Stunning river fish....... 

Take a friend fishing

I briefly mentioned 'guiding' earlier and was more than happy to offer some of the excellent Roach fishing up to a couple of friends. Fishing is my hobby, I have no need or interest in making money from it. That said I was more than happy to give up the best spots to my guests doing little fishing for myself. I feel sorry for people that actually pay for a 'guided' trip and have their guide fish all day. To me that's just going fishing with someone, why would anyone pay for that? Moan over, how did they do. In summary, good but not great. Martin had been before so he knew what to expect. We had a great morning watching shoals of fish in the shallow, clear water. After a typically staccato start (he does miss a few bites) Martin eventually got the one he wanted. A fine fish of 1lb 10oz.......

Dave Owen was next to join me and after a longer than expected journey he arrived late morning. For me this was a most frustrating day. We'd missed the early morning feeding spell and the fish were in a skittish mood. We saw an absolutely enormous Dace that refused to be caught. It wasn't until very late on that Dave finally got a worthy fish. Another fine Roach caught along with a few smaller examples.....

We headed upstream some distance to try and break his Chub PB but they too proved to be in no mood to be easily caught. I do hope Dave makes the journey again sometime as he barely scratched the surface. That's fishing for you though and as I detailed right at the start of this blog, it doesn't always go to plan. 

Tackle Talk

The excellent Big Catch Tackle at Chapel Boating lake has taken the new DAM range on board this year and I was impressed with the stuff that was filtering in. I've actually ended up with three of the Yagi range of rods. Very good value at around £30 and perfect for slinging around a boat all day.......

The actions are nice and crisp. The blanks are well finished and slim along with fittings that belie their low price. The Ultra-light is my favourite and when conditions allow is ideal for reservoir work. The medium is a real power tool and for handling all day in a boat is probably the heaviest you'd want to use. The Light has a nice feel to it and strikes a happy medium between to two. I wouldn't recommend anything to you without trying them out extensively so if you are in the market for a good value rod that wont let you down then check them out........

My next purchase was a rod to use on my usual Perch haunts. As ever there are no secrets here and the first Perch Special I had broke at the tip on my very first cast. That's why we buy from shops though and after a quick call to the rep they replaced it for me straight away. After that initial hiccup I'm pleased to report the second rod has been faultless. It took me a few sessions to really appreciate its subtleties. Nearly all my Perch fishing is done with 2-5g Jig heads and this really has proved to be a delight to use. The ringing is perfect and it is super-light so you can use it all day if you so wish. I actually caught that big Zander on mine and while I wouldn't recommend targeting big fish on it regularly, it handled it admirably. The rods real forte is delicate jigging work on intimate venues. Aim to pay around £60.......... 

Next up is the Contrast reel. I have to be honest when I saw the 408 version I just had to have it. I have never seen a reel so small. It is absolutely tiny. However, after what started out as a bit of a joke purchase I have taken perch to over three pounds on mine. Perfectly usable. Its a little too compact to be entirely without fault. The bail arm doesn't quite open wide enough for my liking. It is nowhere near as flawed as a Korum Snapper or Fox Rage Ultron mk1. I like it. I don't know what the larger sizes are like but after hearing a whisper they are made in the Okuma factory I'd imagine they will prove a admirable companion to the rod ranges. For the more wealthy among you they do several other ranges of reels in the mid range price bracket. The contrast range......

That's about it for now. It hasn't escaped my attention that someone else in the fishing world has stolen my sign-off line. No bother, I'll take it as a compliment. Besides I stole from someone else too. 

Till next time............