Fishing Diary: Winter/Spring 2020

Lockdown

Well, I'm four weeks deep in to lockdown. The car, house and garden are pretty much immaculate. The dogs are now begging not to go out instead of the other way around. My bike has been stripped and in places, butchered in a drastic attempt to make it lighter and more pleasurable to ride. Note- this doesn't work, it's still torture.

I've had a few messages asking how I'm coping with not being able to go fishing. The honest answer is- it hasn't bothered me one iota. There are two reasons for this. The first is I can remember the close season proper. I went to Thornton reservoir very occasionally to fly fish when I could afford to go but other than that I didn't fish at all, you couldn't. The second is that I'm not a key worker, the only practical thing I can do to help the situation is to stay at home. We dropped notes through our elderly neighbours doors offering to help and the like but other than that the directive is clear- stay at home.

We all cope differently, I've had my moments over the last few weeks. Staying at home is, by its very nature restrictive, both physically and mentally. Stamping your feet wont help. Public protestations about not being able to go fishing while thousands of people are dying is not just embarrassing, it's shameful. Try not to be that person.

End of season

Just prior to lockdown I had the last three weeks of the season off from work. The final week in February was pretty horrendous weather wise but luckily the little river Bain was fishable in a couple of short windows. The only fish I had of note was this Chub...

5lb 3oz

While we're on the subject of the river Bain, our friend Dave Owen made a couple of visits with all his local rivers being out of sorts. He did remarkably well, some (me) would say aided by an extreme amount of flukery. First of all he needed a five pound plus Chub for a little competition we are taking part in. With the roach and perch not playing ball that day I packed up and took him to the middle reaches which has a few scrapers. I put him in a swim where I thought he would have a great opportunity to catch but the average size was small with only a slim chance of breaking his target, just a warm up really. He only went and landed a fish of 5lb 13oz on his first cast....

Golden Balls

A few days later he further compounded my astonishment by taking another five from a swim on the lower reaches where I'd never bettered four and a quarter. I told him to buy a lottery ticket on his way home.

5lb 7oz

He worried a few roach too, although conditions were never quite right for them to feed in earnest. He had a few fish to around a pound and a half.....

As for my exploits on the river, I had approximately one million perch and a few roach. Nothing massive, mostly returned without a photo. Roach to just under a pound and a half and perch to just under three pounds. Enjoyable fishing but not quite what the river has been capable of in recent years.

On my travels

A three day trip to see one of my brothers had been set months before. I couldn't move the date so I travelled down to Surrey knowing the Thames would be unfishable due to the intense storms we'd been subjected to. I arranged to meet our friend Nate Green on the first day, firstly at complex we had heard may contain some big perch. Or should I say 'have contained in the past'. I arrived first to be told very honestly by the bailiff that the complex hadn't thrown up any big perch for a couple of years. I rang Nate and we hastily switched venues to a place called Willinghurst fishery.

As mistakes go this ranks right up there. It was terrible. No facilities, no charm, no signs, no friendliness or advice from the bloke that genuinely asked for £19 (while keeping a straight face) for a two rod day ticket to fish the shittiest little puddle on site that the website suggested contained some massive perch. We didn't catch a single perch between us all day, some feat for two anglers that supposedly know what they're doing. Nate was determined to catch something so he dribbled a few maggots at his feet in the end and caught this sorry looking carp. Good luck to anyone who fishes there, if it were my only choice I'd take up bowls. Dreadful place.

The day after I had to myself and I spent it wandering the Chertsey Bourne, a tiny tributary of the Thames. Blimey that was tough going too. I had a few tentative knocks on cheese and was kicking myself because some of it looked very good for holding barbel and I should have taken some meat. Eventually though I did fool a small chub, maybe three pounds or so. On my way back I did have an hour on the Thames itself, bouncing a bit of cheese around a couple of slackish areas to no avail. Never mind I thought to myself, I was going to be ticking a box on my bucket list the very next day.

Dever Springs

Nestled alongside to the river Dever in Hampshire lies probably the most famous Trout Fishery in the country- Dever Springs. Screaming Reels aired on Channel 4 in 1993. From memory they did a feature on some giant Trout, pretty sure it was Dever Springs. Besides that it's been in hundreds of publications over the years, famed for massive trout grown on site. Remarkably, considering the distances involved seven of us met up that morning such was the allure of catching some huge spotties. Myself, Mike Lyddon, Dave Owen, Andy Lewis, Martin Barnatt, David Frame and James Hunt all expectantly paid our eighty quid (including breakfast). The business model is simple- the majority of stock is in the four to six pound range with the chance of fish much, much bigger, hence the astronomical price. As a one-off I could just about swallow it. Seems an awful lot now I've written it down though.

We had an hour or so of fishing time before breakfast was served so we all headed around the two lakes to try our luck. I'm a fairly proficient fly angler although with a background of mainly reservoirs and lure fishing. Guess what wasn't working that day? Yep, lures. Former England Junior fly angler James Hunt was quick off the mark and Martin Barnatt also had some early success, sight fishing through Polaroids. After playing a fish for a considerable amount of time (I very nearly lost interest holding the net) Martin upped his Rainbow PB to a very respectable 8lb 10oz......

After breakfast the fishing continued in much the same manner. Terrifically hard for me, Dave and David while the others caught sporadically. James and Martin had their limits as did Andy Lewis who also had the biggest of the day, a magnificent fish of 14lb 4oz.....

Nobody blanked. By the end of the day I had one in the bag and lost a couple. The weather wasn't great after lunch which spoilt it a bit but we did pretty well all things considered. Two PB's and as a stand-alone trip it was a nice experience.

Lure Match

In early March we had to postpone Specimen hunting UK's annual lure match. It was due to be fished on the river Nene but we had to delay it a week due to river levels. The week after it still wasn't great so we switched to the river Glen. Because of the date change numbers weren't great but eight of us fished that day. The rules were fairly simple- overall length of fish caught with a 30cm qualifying length to avoid it being a wasp fest.

Phil Kenny was quick out of the blocks, catching a seventeen pound Pike in the first half an hour......

I soon caught him up though with a couple of smaller pike......

At lunchtime I was leading with four pike and a qualifying perch. Most were catching but mainly small perch. Just after lunch Jamie Potts latched in to a bigger one, just over the magical three pounds...

He also added a decent Pike in the afternoon.....

At the whislte I'd had over four metres with a total of three perch and five pike. Somehow Phil Kenny had just beaten me while Jamie rounded off the podium with a solid third. It was a great day though and brilliant lure venue. It was still carrying a bit of colour when we fished and was still very prolific.

SHUK Round Up

Last time around I mentioned two friends having a very special session. James Hunt and Dave Owen kept an eye on the weather forecast and noticed a forecasted pressure drop a couple of days away. Perfect for roach they thought.

Getting to their chosen venue early they set their stalls out by fishing helicopter rigs with maggots at medium range. The only feed they put in was through the feeders. Dave was first off the mark just after lunchtime, followed by James shortly after. A truly remarkable session. Told you he was lucky.....

James Hunt 3lb 5oz

Dave Owen 3lb 6oz

Other members captures

Bobby Brookes with a 2lb 12oz Trent Grayling

Martin with a 1lb 12oz Welland Roach

Martin with a 3lb 1oz Perch

Mike Lyddon had 2 PB's in a day from the Thames. This the first at 6lb 4oz

Alfie Naylor with a massive Trent barbel of 18lb 2ozs

Dai Gribble bringing everyone back down to earth with a 3lb 8oz roach

In the last few days of the season I travelled over to the Trent a couple of times. The intention was to try and catch some barbel but sadly it didn't go to plan. I'm keen to have another few goes next season though. All I had to show for my efforts were a few bream and this solitary chub....

Links

My email- shukphil@gmail.com

Our friend Ash Bradley is doing some very nice pencil commissions. He's very busy but look him up on Facebook and message him for any enquiries.

https://www.facebook.com/ash.bradley.3

Finally for all your jig head needs our friend James Aris can help you out

www.facebook.com/Custom-Jigheads-386801728461171/

Tackle Talk

Greys Prodigy Luggage

This a cautionary tale of why it's favourable to buy from a tackle shop than it is online. After a visit to the purveyor of second hand fishing tackle on Skegness indoor market I came across a rather splendid Greys Prodigy rod holdall. I was so impressed with it I not only bought it but also ordered a matching carryall, tackle box and tackle bag. The carryall was fine and the bag very nice too but the issue was the tackle box didn't fit in the bag. So, I ordered the On The Move bag, which did accommodate the tackle box but little else. Finally I ordered the Greys compact tackle box to solve the initial problem. Had I been in a tackle shop I would have known all this. Now I am left with a surplus box and bag that I have no use for.

The Greys luggage really is very nice though. Highly recommended, just be careful when choosing items to ensure you get the right combination.

With the initial uncertainty of furloughed wages my outlook on tackle has actually changed somewhat. I approached the end of the season with plans of new rods and the like. The covid-19 pandemic has made me get off the gravy train and I no longer feel compelled by it. I've got more stuff than I could ever use, so I'll be making do this year. I feel as though I'm more likely to stick to a plan if I tell you about it. So, this year I'm not going to buy any more tackle online. My local shops are going to need all the income they can get when we finally get back to some sort of normality. So there you have it, in writing. I'd urge you to support your local retailers too.

Cars

With the lack of tackle to discuss let's look at fishing cars. My previous car to the one I have now was a Mondeo Titanuim X Estate 1.8tdci. Huge inside and quite plush. It was troublesome though. The majority of the toys broke at various intervals; headlights no longer tracked around corners; cd player refused to work; etc etc. The final straw was the cam chain snapping, despite Ford insisting they should last the lifetime of the car. They have both a chain and belt. Shame because despite its faults I really did like that car.

I've never thought much of Vauxhalls and kind of bought my current car on a whim. It was cheap and relatively local. It's an Astra SRi Estate 2.0 CDTi. Three years later I can report that it's been a brilliant car. Not as big as the Mondeo but I can still get everything I need in it, including my boat (obviously deflated) and kayak. Even though it had nearly 100k on the clock I've added 40k to that with no issues whatsoever. Nothing has broken and it is both faster (170ps) and more economical (nearly 50mpg) than the Mondeo. They can be prone to water pump problems so get that changed when buying one and you should be fine. There will be some horror stories out there but I can only speak as I find. It has been a great little fishing car.