Grafham Special

Group action

In days gone by like-minded individuals would meet a few times a year. They'd hire a room in a pub or just find a quite corner to discuss their shared interests. The smoke would hang in the air, beers would sit half drunk on the table while the guys chatted away in hushed tones. It was all very secretive, exclusive and to anyone not involved, maybe a bit sad. Fast forward thirty years and things have changed somewhat. The Internet and in particular Facebook has spawned hundreds of fishing groups in all manner of formats and sizes. 

Those of you that have followed this blog for years will know I started out as a bit of a loner. That all changed when I set up a small Facebook group to get away from the usual free-for-all of the larger angling groups where posts would usually end up in pointless arguments or start off with ridiculous claims. That was a couple of years ago now and people have drifted in (and out), most by complete coincidence and loose recommendations. There are nearly thirty of us now much to everyone's amazement we've become firm friends. We post and chat almost daily, mostly complete rubbish. We are not at all secretive or elitist, we are just those sad blokes sat huddled in the snug, the difference being- you are more than welcome to pull up a chair and join us........

Grafham

At the start of the month six of us had arranged a visit Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire. Built in 1965 it is the third largest reservoir in England by surface area at 1,550 acres. With water introduced from the Great Ouse it didn't take long to be colonised by coarse fish. Although artificially stocked with Trout Anglian Water lets predator anglers fish for the resident Pike, Perch and Zander in the winter months. 

Andy and Dave were paired together leaving myself and Carl in the second boat and Leo and Jamie bringing up the rear. After a five am start I was second to arrive, my boat partner Carl was already there, keen as mustard as usual. Now Carl wont mind me saying this- he is a bit of an enigma. Massively enthusiastic while at the same time incredibly laid back. Carl is a rig man, detail and finesse is his thing. Myself on the other hand, has only just learnt how to tie a palomar knot and that's only because modern braided line forced me into it. I thought we'd work really well together. After a quick chat I wandered over to the on-site map. I looked at it slightly bemused. I asked Carl where he fancied starting and although he had fished it before he gave absolutely no indication that he had ever seen the place let alone fished it. 

Ten minutes passed before the others arrived and we made our way down to the shop to purchase our tickets for the day. The boats had to be in for four-thirty pm so we were charged a reduced rate of £26 each, very reasonable. That included use of a boat with a petrol motor, a drogue and landing net. A killer shrimp apparently necessitated the use of their own equipment. I spotted another famous face in the shop too. None other that Steve Collett, lure angling supremo. It will be interesting to see where he goes I thought to myself with still no clue whereabouts we were going to fish. 

Carl and I headed blindly into the reservoir. The little I did know about the water was that, at times, the North tower could be productive. Carl was happy to try that first too. A biteless hour and half later and we rang Andy in desperation. He and Dave had caught a fish and had a few knocks which was good enough for us so we steamed over to them. On the way over we saw three men in a boat. Two of them looked remarkably like Leo and Jamie. It suddenly dawned on us where Mr Collett had ended up- in their boat the lucky sods! They were catching a few too........

Shaking our heads at each other we eventually spotted Dave and Andy. They were drifting out of a shallow-ish bay and were happy for us to join them. At the end of their drift neither Carl or I had received any interest in our lures whatsoever. While the other two motored back into the bay we decided to continue our drift into some deeper water. As we steadily drifted it did indeed get deeper, 30ft, 40ft, 50ft. In around 54ft of water Carl had a bite.......which he missed. I wasted no time in pilfering one of his lures from him. A ripple shad. I was sure I had taken it on permanent 'loan' but Carl must have sneaked it back off me so you'll have to make do with this library picture.....

As soon as I dropped it down I too had a bite. Up came a small Perch not much bigger than the lure. I had also brought it up too quickly and although it went back fine I vowed to take my time with any more should they be forthcoming. A few missed takes later and I began to think tactics. A stinger was out of the question. I didn't want to put a treble in a Perch no matter how small. A quick rummage in Carl's lure box provided me with a smaller lure in the same pattern as the ripple shad. I was also fishing fairly light (15g) so my line wasn't vertical but I fished a short distance from the boat. I was standing up and ripping it off the bottom both up and sideways before feeling it back down. I had five fish in quick succession. I'd cracked it. What the bloody hell was Carl playing at though? 

I swapped places with him in the boat. Mr laid-back was now under a bit of pressure. Luckily he soon started to catch. I was also started catching in his spot. It was just that first fish that we both needed to boost our confidence. We swapped back and Carl was flying, he very nearly caught me up. Andy was right, working together is really very helpful. They weren't big fish but it after our slow start it really was great fun......

After our first drift we rang Dave to share the wealth.....................

Two drifts and twenty odd Perch to our boat later and our lures were spent. Carl only had a couple of the small shads we were catching on so we were forced into using other patterns. You can see the effects of being almost constantly bitten on the top lure........

One of Carl's fish handily coughed up a recent meal so we matched the hatch albeit slightly differently. Carl used a small Cannibal Shad while I stuck on a Perch pattern Mini-Fry............

We had four drifts in total and took around forty Perch between us. In the end it didn't really matter what lures we used. There must have been thousands of Perch down there. I even measured one for any of you into that sort of thing.........

It was hard to drag ourselves away from so many fish but they were only small. Carl had a couple over the pound mark but it wasn't really what we had travelled so far for. We rang Leo. He and Jamie had caught a few small Zeds and Perch. Both had lost good fish and Mr Collett had caught a fine 7lb Zander, sadly they were just dropping him off at the lodge.

Carl looked quizzical. He was thinking. Somewhere in a dusty, dark corner of his brain he'd actually  found a couple of vague memories of his previous visits. He recommended a shallow corner where he'd caught some bigger Perch before. We had a steady motor over to the spot looking for any interesting features on our fish finders as we went. It would be fair to say neither of us are particularly proficient with the finders. Other than the depth the other signs may as well be sheet music to me. In fact come to think of it Carl is probably an expert, he either couldn't remember or just wasn't saying. Anyway we ended up in a nice little spot, plenty of depth variations and features........

Carl cast towards some overhanging trees and before his lure had hit bottom it was taken. His eyes lit up as his ridiculously expensive rod took an alarming curve. Whatever he was attached too wasn't happy and it gave him the right runaround. I didn't help by trying to manoeuvre the boat with an otherwise laughable lack of dexterity. The fish went under the boat more than once but Carl stayed cool and eventually boated this fine looking Brownie........

Despite a few more follows from turbo-charged Trout (including a Brownie of about 8lb that scared the bejesus out of me as I lifted my lure out) no more fish were hooked in the shallow corner. We were both keen to try for a Zander in deeper water before we went so we agreed to spend the final part of the day drifting over some really deep spots.

As we motored over I choose my favourite lure- the Hot Olive mini fry. Not a noted Zander lure but the limited experience I had told me it was a catch-all pattern and more importantly one I had confidence in. All three colours had taken Perch that day............ 

The finder soon began to show up some deeper water as we motored across the reservoir. 60ft, 65ft, 70ft. If the Zander were going to be anywhere they would be here we surmised with our limited knowledge. I dropped down my lure with a slightly heavier 20g jig head. Fishing almost vertical I was lifting a good way off bottom, holding for a few seconds and feeling it down again. Just a couple of minutes into our first drift and while happily chatting away I had a take. It was a decent sort of bite, I was feeling the lure down and I had one knock, I struck. This was the scene a few moments later.................

Whatever I was attached too was not only not very happy it was also seemingly very heavy. After a few mighty lunges and impressive head-shakes it sat defiantly just off the bottom and refused to move. Carl was talking all the way through the stalemate. I wanted him to shut up, even he wanted him to shut up. Despite our reluctant expansive conversation neither of us had mentioned what we both dearly hoped it would be- a big Zander. How big was big though? Neither of us had seen a big one in the flesh. Begrudgingly the fish was coaxed (expertly I might add) from the depths and it was some relief to actually put some line on the reel. "Maybe it's a British Record Perch," Carl added helpfully. We were both stood up when we saw a silvery flank about ten feet down. The conversation stopped and a deathly silence took over the boat. No words were needed, I just needed to get this fish in. It came to the surface and we both gasped. Annoyingly it shot back down to about ten feet again. A minute later I had it on the top for a second time. "Get that fucking net in Carl," I said as I drew it towards him. With the fish safely netted Carl and I both jumped up and down like kids at a party. If my gear hadn't been scattered all over the floor I'd have hugged him, maybe more.  Not big by some standards but easily the biggest Zed me or Carl had ever clapped eyes on and easily one of the most impressive fish I've ever caught........11lb...........

Back at the lodge Andy and Dave had done ok, lots and lots of Perch and worried a few Zeds, nothing massive but a fine day. We were informed nobody had caught the previous day and lots of people were predator fishing so we could be pretty pleased with ourselves. Leo and Jamie were late back much to the consternation of the boat attendant. I had been pre-warned some of the Grafham staff could be a little belligerant and this chap in particular was not happy. He was in a right old strop. When we left our boat he shoved the anchor off the bow with his brush and it hit the boat bottom hard. It was quite pathetic really. I his defense he may spend hundreds of days of the year waiting for returning anglers. Don't really know why I am trying to defend him, his behavior was terrible.

When Leo and Jamie finally docked they also had enjoyed a fantastic day (after a brief lecture). They had caught everything, Perch, Zander, Pike and Brownies. Jamie with a Brownie...........

That was that really. The bolshie attendant came and harrassed us in the carpark. Obviously he had a family member desparately ill in hospital that he needed to visit urgently (or he was just a vituperative prick). We departed to a nearby pub. Chosing to sit right in the middle, the locals eyed us suspiciously as they walked in. The guys got into an in-depth conversation about fish-finders and something called 'pelagic'. I was a bit lost to be honest but very satisfied. Carl and I had prevailed through a combination of many factors- watercraft, teamwork, a sprinkling of ability and a good old fashioned dose of lady luck. 

Andy's account of his day

Dave and I made for Grafham with a plan. To date this Autumn there had not been any kind of cold spell and unseasonably mild weather continued. We reasoned that perch, our primary target, could still be in relatively shallow water. The north tower has a track record and is where many head for, it's never been kind to us in the past so we decided to resist temptation and head for a large bay that had given us a few perch the year before in similar conditions. A few large seedbeds can usually be found in this bay where depths vary quite nicely giving features to fish to. On the day with the res being fairly full we were to find between 12 and 20 feet. Entering the bay, some fry was evident as were numerous predatory birds ie grebe, egret and an odd cormorant. We felt confident, the fishfinder was showing plenty of food fish present plus odd larger ones. After a couple of hours we had little to show apart from a couple of bumped fish, possibly perch and one solitary rainbow trout. We remained optimistic though and conveyed this to Carl and Phil when they arrived on the scene mid morning with nothing to report. Unlike us though they drifted out over deeper water and soon reported hectic sport from small perch. This proved too much to resist and before long we were following and getting our share of pristine little Percy's. When this happens you always hope that amongst the shoals somewhere a big job is on the prowl or even a Zander, but it didn't happen. Even the skoolie zeds which abound were conspicuous by there absence at first. Late in the afternoon a spot was found with fewer but slightly bigger fish showing on the screen and they revealed themselves to be zeds around the pound to two pounds before I lost a very nice brownie right at the boat and that was that. Conditions were fair and most fish for me came to vertically jiggled lures while Dave favoured the drop shot. As on our previous Grafham trips green or chartreuse lures both fork tails and spikey shads were most consistent fished relatively tight to the bottom

Links

Steve Collett's Blog

http://fishbashbosh.blogspot.co.uk/2015/10/marmite-man.html#comment-form

Leo's Blog

http://fishermans-journey.blogspot.co.uk/

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

October 2015- Perch Special

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....

http://www.trabucco-uk.com/

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...............