Wow, what a month. I sent the Angling Times details of my last Perch catch and they only went and published it.....
I was made up and to catch something of national significance is a real honour and also a reward for all my endeavours. I'd like to dedicate it to all of you. It's often just the thought of my fishing diary that gets me out into the cold in the hope that somebody, somewhere will be interested. Now running at over five thousand hits it shows you clearly are and I thank you. I also won a mug in a Perch of the month competition on the Internet. You can't have that though, it's mine.
Back to reality
I spent the next few days in a bit of a daydream. "What you thinking about," Mrs P asked as I looked vacantly at the TV one night. "Perch," I replied. She gave me one of those 'I'm going to book you into a secure unit' looks and sighed.
I really couldn't wait to get back to the river and on my next day off I was back there at first light. To my surprise there were two other anglers there. I paid little attention to them and made my way to my chosen spot. The river was still low and coloured but I was supremely confident. Two hours then passed without a bite on either rod. Just as I was losing all hope I had a tentative bite which resulted in this beauty of 2lb 13oz.....
That's it I thought, they have arrived and I'm in for another bumper catch. Sadly it didn't pan out and another couple of biteless hours passed before I decided to call it a day. On my way back to the car though I got chatting to the two other guys fishing. They were from Manchester way and I suddenly clicked that these two guys had been on the stretch at the last day of the season earlier in the year. To cut a long story short one of them has family connections down this way and they came along to the river one day to see if it was any good for piking. Quite by chance they saw a pole angler catch a Roach and persuaded the captor to weigh it on their scales. It went 1lb 15oz. Ever since that day they have been coming over four or five times a year and very nice chaps they are too. No doubt our paths will cross again soon.
In the week that followed I still had Perch on the brain and after another good stint at work I returned, again making it too the river at first light. A real difference from last year when I'd roll up at lunchtime. With extensive reed cutting upstream it paid to get there early though before all the debris started floating down. I'd got 1/2 kilo of worms from Neil at the Skegness tackle shop and some maggots in the hope of sparking the Perch into life with some heavy feeding. I was sure this would work and as usual when I have a bright idea I ended up nearly blanking. This suicidal Roach saved the day........
As you can see it was a bit battered but it was perfectly healthy. With so many predators on the river a lot of the silver fish have battle scars on them. Cormorants, Pike, Perch and maybe the occasional Otter all reside on or in the river. This is surely one reason why the fish grow so big with the predators thinning out stocks giving the remaining fish more to eat. Anyway I moved two or three times and only added a small Dace to the days tally and left frustrated.
A few months ago I put my email address on here. I didn't check them as often as I should because someone had got in touch and had to wait weeks for me to reply. It was great to hear from someone though and he inspired me to go down to a different river and try for some Roach. As it happened I didn't catch anything special but I had a very pleasant afternoon wandering around and casting lumps of breadflake in likely looking spots. I had bites in most pegs but the stamp was quite small. The next picture may give away where I was and may end up costing me. I fully intended to buy a ticket but couldn't for the life of me find the tackle shop in the village. I fished it anyway with my twenty pound note at the ready for the bailiff. He never came. Some would call this poaching, I prefer 'try before you buy'. Nice stretch though, maybe next year I'll find somewhere that sells a ticket and have a more serious go.......
With my trips to the rivers the Partney Pike had been put on the back-burner. Word came to though that it had been caught and alarm bells sounded in my head. Some people have form in hanging onto other people's coat-tails so to speak. While I can't be sure the captor is deliberately gleaning info from my diaries I have taken certain precautions such as not naming some of my visited venues, especially the Perch river. I have even gone back and removed the river name from previous dairies which is annoying but it only takes one person to ruin it for the rest of us. While I will tell you more or less anything the consequences of me slaving away at work for five days straight dreaming of big Perch and then arriving super early, bleary eyed and ever so slightly bad tempered to find somebody in my favourite peg don't really bear thinking about.
Talking of Perch I went down to my favourite river again on my next trip. I'd fattened up some worms nicely in my worm box in the garden. Bananas, wet newspaper and some crushed egg shells seemed to be to their liking. Again I rose early much to Mrs P's annoyance. After loading up the car I headed out into the gloom. The thick fog made for slow progress and it was almost light by the time I had nestled down into my favourite spot. Again it took ages to get a bite and a disappointing Perch of around 4 ounces came to hand. The next cast I had a really tentative bite again and struck speculatively. This was met by some resistance and a fat two-pounder thrashed around under the rod tip while I slipped the net under it. Quickly popping it in the keepnet I repositioned my worm in the same spot only for another 4 ounce fish to take the worm.
On the next cast I tightened up to the swan shot and the tip curved around ever so slightly as usual. I bent down to pick up my water and noticed the tip was straight and the line was slack. Again I struck half expecting nothing when the rod hooped over into a satisfying curve. It felt big and I saw it fairly early on into the fight. I wished I hadn't as it was clearly a beast and I spent the next couple of minutes crossing everything I could for it not to fall off. It didn't........
Weight? 3lb 12oz and another new personal best. Pleased doesn't really cover it. Although I stopped for another couple of hours no more fish were forthcoming and I left for home in a kind of uplifting daze. It was turning out to be a fantastic month. Could it possibly get any better?
The next time out I rather greedily had a four-pounder in my sights. I knew just the place and it was back down to the river for a serious try for one. I got there super early again and tried a spot I have seen big Perch in before. It was a fair old struggle to get down to the river though as I negotiated a series of obstacles. I finally got into position and started to set up. It gets light remarkably quickly this time of year and the bright conditions sapped my confidence a little and resulted in me moving about a bit for the first couple of hours. I even got into the car to try another potential hotspot on another river to no avail. In desperation I even had a cast around some likely looking spots with some lures but still no joy.
At around 10 o'clock I had finally settled into a peg I hadn't really caught anything from before. I cast a fair old distance downstream with a worm while I set about baiting my other rod. To my surprise though, I had a vicious bite on the first one. Although only around eight ounces it was my target species- a Perch. This did my confidence no end of good and I eagerly cast out again. Sure enough I had another bite straight away. It felt a little bigger too until it got close to me and it suddenly gained some serious power. Looking down into the margins the remnants of a large swirl were evident and it seemed whatever I had been bringing in was taken by a predator. It didn't hang on long though and shortly after it let go I netted a rather startled skimmer Bream of around twelve ounces. Weird thing was it had not a single mark or puncture wound on it, not even a dislodged scale.
After a few more Skimmers and odd Roach I decided to abandon the Perch quest for a while and have proper go for the silver fish. I hurriedly set up a float rod with a small, clear 2AA waggler and a fourteen hook. Two maggots went on and I started to feed and fish the far bank. I say far bank but typically disorganised me hadn't checked my reel line for some time and apart from not having a clue what strength it was it also had a knot in it that curtailed a few casts well short of the far bank. It didn't seem to matter though as the next three or four hours were a blur of stunning fish after fish. Roach to a pound, the odd Perch and Dace and best of all some highly unseasonal Rudd including an absolute beauty of 1lb 11oz. It really was quite incredible. Now I'm no slouch in matches and my best weight for three hours this year was 34lb (in an artificially stocked lake). It was the best weight of the series and, as you know I was really on form this summer. I weighed my catch on the river (tiny and totally wild) and far from being 'on it' I was pretty untidy and casual. I had 35lb in the net and I hadn't even really tried. This says far more about the quality of the venue than my ability. I was stunned.
The catch....
The Perch.......
The bigger Roach....
And finally.........the Rudd.........
I only stopped fishing so I could move to another Perch spot for when the daylight started to fade. The bites were still coming thick and fast when I stopped. There must have been thousands of fish in those few yards of river. A quick drive in the car saw me unloading my tip rods for the last hour in a tried and tested Perch spot. The wind was really howling by now though and I had to lay my rods on the bank behind some reeds to stop them from moving about. My first bite didn't take long although I missed it. The tail of the worm had been bitten off and I began to have my doubts. Sure enough after another missed bite I finally connected.........with a Rudd.
Despite the lack of specimen Perch it truly was one of the best sessions I had ever had. It also highlights why I will never make a dedicated specimen hunter, I always get distracted and if there are fish in front of me I have to have a go for them. Incidentally I have replaced the line on my float reel with some free 4lb stuff on the front of the angling times. Might be rubbish but it doesn't matter as I wont remember what it is or where it came from in a few weeks.
Before I sign off and it being Christmas and all I have a few extras for you this month.
Some top tips
Have you ever heard people say 'I had to go down to a size 20 to get a bite'. I hear it all the time from my match buddies. Even Ivan marks used to fish with tiny hooks in the belief it would get him more bites. Well I've done well this year and I've never gone below a fourteen. It is all down to what you think and confidence. Using a fourteen with two maggots on a clear river in December for Roach? You bet.
I have a super posh mountain bike. It is perfect for my off road trips with the dogs. No doubt I could career down a mountain on it quite safely. Despite this it would get roundly bested on the road by a thirty year old racing bike from a car boot sale. My point? Keep your bloody fancy pole in the holdall on the river. The amount of times I see people pole fishing in quite the most inappropriate spots infuriates me.
Some years ago I broke my pride and joy- a original Drennan Waggler rod. I was keen to replace it and even had a chance meeting with the Preston Rep in the tackle shop and he showed me a few new models. He handed me a two hundred pound float rod and began to talk about all its features. "Feels a bit heavy," I said. "That's because it hasn't got a reel on it to balance it out," he snapped as if was an idiot. It was rubbish. I continued searching for a replacement and came across a heartfelt advert on eBay. "For sale due to bereavement, bought new just before my late husband fell ill so hardly used and I'd like it to go to a good home". Melted by the sentiment I won the auction and it came to me a week later. It cost me thirty quid and is THE best float rod I have ever used. If you ever see one buy it (13ft Shakespeare Odessa Gold Match).
If you have some new gear bought for you at Christmas and you get a nice day you should try Woodlands in Spilsby. Hawthorne Lake will see you get plenty of bites even on the coldest day. The pegs near the bottom of the Lake are deeper and fish well in the winter. The owner, Eric is ever helpful and a smashing chap. Just as good is Toad hall at Candlesby. Superb fishery this and the pegs in the in the section nearest the car park are the deeper ones and reliable for some great mixed catches. Once again it has a fine owner in Vance and he'll put you right on anything from fishing to politics.
Afterword
As some of you know I have another blog and I wrote a piece with another angler (Rob Thompson) for it. The story is how I started fishing and about our fishing mentor. If the TV or family is getting too much over Xmas then be my guest ....................
Any advice, a chat or just to say hello you can contact me anytime via my email-
the.power@tesco.net
Last of all thanks so much for all your support and interest, I really am flattered and here's to a fantastic Xmas and New Year. Cheers
Till next time........................
