Winter 2016

Enjoying the ride

Winter is here. You will of course have noticed that. Frosty mornings, storms with silly names, rain, hail and even a brief glimpse of snow. You'll all have goals whether it be your first three pound Perch; a big match win; Swampy the biggest Carp in your lake, a shore caught Cod, a specimen Zander. The list is almost endless. Three years ago my river goals were relatively simple- a two pound Roach, a six pound Chub, a four pound Perch and a twenty pound Pike. The Roach and Chub are done and almost impossible to better locally, the Perch is further away than ever with the really big three's of a couple of years ago on the missing list which just leaves the Pike as a realistic prospect. 

I started bait fishing for Pike a couple of winters ago, I served my apprenticeship with our friend Benidorm Dave, an experienced Piker. He regularly caught more than me but I was learning all the time. I'm fairly proficient in most aspects of angling but at the grand age of 42 it was rather nice being a novice at something. The river in question had done big fish in the past but recent information was scarce due to the dearth of other anglers. Few people have the spare time or desire to find fish negotiating mile after mile of overgrown banks while enduring many blanks along the way. It's easier to ask on Facebook these days- "Where did you catch that?" Is the norm. 

Time for a rest

We left off last time around with Dave Owen and I targeting a few Roach. I was very pleased when he decided to join me again for another day on the river. He travelled over with Andy Wilson and we had a great day wandering about. Andy was the first to get among the pound fish but it was hard going. The river was low and clear and several areas didn't produce anything at all. Dave eventually found some redfins including these two which made the journey worthwhile......

In the end Andy resorted to maggot tactics and had a few Perch which gave me an idea to have a go for them on my next visit. Sure enough on my very first cast I had a decent one. Now on my normal perch river I wouldn't have batted an eyelid but there is something about the mystery of a new venue that makes even modest fish a bit more special. 2lb 10oz.......

After that I was continually pestered by Pike, even on lobworm. Luckily I had some bread in the car so I went after the Roach again. As before they were very hard to find and more than a little cagey. I don't think there is any doubt that the river needs a break. The really big fish haven't shown this autumn. We'll have to wait until the depths of winter to see if they reappear. 

One of the rogue Pike........

Lure Match 2016

A tackle company has recently adopted a rather exclusive tagline- 'Only for those that know'. Quite what knowledge is required is a mystery that I neither have the will or desire to try and decipher. Inclusivity is our mantra here so for those of you that don't know I'm part of a group called Specimen Hunting UK. Sounds very grand but really it's just a bunch of social misfits, ne'er do wells, chancers and (whisper this bit) some very talented anglers. 

This years annual Lure match was held on the River Nene. A neutral venue that was adjudged to be a level playing field for all. We had twelve members attend and in honour of our underachieving talisman Mike Lyddon we all donned ginger wigs. We caused quite a stir at the meeting place in among all the trainspotters at the Nene Valley Railway........

As you can probably tell from the photograph the weather was horrendous. Torrential rain for most of the morning. Luckily the river looked quite attractive, until we turned up that is......

The scoring system was far too complex for anyone to be interested but basically your best three fish counted with some concessions to Perch and Zander. I got off to great start with a couple of Perch and a small Pike in the first hour. I also had a lure bitten clean in half by an unseen predator. Very frustrating. Most of the others had wandered off and being more of a social day than a serious competition I joined them further upstream. Everyone was struggling, mainly with the conditions. Andy Loble had a small Chub admired here by his companion for the day Neo.........

Phil Kenny then chipped in with a small Pike......

When we all reconvened at lunchtime the returns were very modest. A few small Perch and Pike between us and Andy's solitary Chub. We were all soaked and hungry but spirits were still high. After some food and a chat with the bailiff we decided to move downstream. 

To cut a long story short it proved to be much the same. Seemingly the resident Predators were in no mood to feed. At least the rain had stopped and I soon found myself well away from all the others. A Cormorant working the near shore far upstream was sign that maybe I had stumbled across some fish. Not only was it getting late in the day but I was about a mile away from the start point. After a few casts I made the decision to be a bit more sociable. In hindsight I should have stayed put. The winner on the day only had three modest Pike to declare, beating a disappointed Nate Green into second place. Who was it? Only bloody Mike Lyddon, the insufferable oaf.......I mean deserved winner.......

Fat heads

With my Roach venue needing a break and a busy work schedule I had a couple of short sessions targeting Chub. It was very slow going Chub-wise but typically I couldn't stop catching blooming Roach. Nothing massive but they gave me a few welcome bites. Eventually I did fool one of the ridiculously wary Chub. a modest four pounder.......

If you had to rely on person to catch you a Chub it would be our friend Martin Barnatt. The Angling Times joined him for a feature and he didn't disappoint. He even made the cover.......

The one

During my Piking exploits I've had some great fun but also a couple of disasters. You don't have to look too far back in this diary to find tales of woe, lost beasts and teasing glimpses of what the river contains. The Roach and Chub weren't obliging and with the first frosts of the year it was finally time to break out the Pike gear. An evening was spent at home rigging up my rods. I was taking no chances. Forty pound braid spooled, new traces made up and rigs fine-tuned. 

A quick visit to the excellent Horncastle Angling Centre saw me leaving with a bag full of deadbaits, Lamprey and Smelts mainly before heading down to the river. It was slightly coloured, perfect really and it was a lovely morning. My hopes were almost non-existent. Still feeling a slight Piking fraud I merely wanted to see that magical sight of those ripples emanating from the float as an unseen predator grabs the bait before it moves off taking the float with it. I placed a full Lamprey next to an overhanging tree mid-river and one further downstream. Twenty minutes passed and my legendary impatience started to niggle me. 

I decided to move. Importantly I left the upstream bait in place. As I moved a short distance down river I flicked the baitrunner on and brought the rod with me. This moved my float slightly but it was still close enough to the tree for my liking. Within a couple of minutes it had gone, no ripples from the initial bite, it just vanished. With such a long bait I'd spaced my trebles well apart so I was confident at least one would hold even with a quick strike.  

My 2 3/4 lb Forcemaster hooped over and stopped it in its tracks. After an uncharacteristically turgid fight a went to net what I though was a reasonable double-figure Pike. It's a big net but even so it wouldn't go in sideways. That's when I realised this could be the one. It was. 20lb 11oz..........

After two hard winters learning and all the highs and lows I'd finally done it with my first cast of the season. I've caught twenties before but when fishing for Perch and always from stillwaters. This one means the most. It always will. I packed up after I caught it. Are there bigger ones in there? I would bet on it. For another time though, I'm going to wallow in the warm satisfying glow of this one for a while longer.

Round up 

After the Pike I turned my attentions to Perch. They are always so obliging. I had a couple of low three's on lures but the majority have come to worm. The best one went 3lb 5oz,,,,,,,,,,,,

There's nothing like a new venue to get the imaginary juices flowing and Andy Wilson kindly invited me along with him to another river where we took a lot of Perch to a still impressive 2lb 15oz. Here's me with my best ones of the day. The biggest is 2lb 13oz.......

 Now time for the usual round up with the rest of the gang. Andy Loble is featured in both the lastest editions of Lure and Sea Angler magazine. Here he is shortly after our lure day getting stuck into some nice Pollack in Runswick Bay.........

 Our very own Jamie Potts with a 13lb Zander from Grafam Water.......

The effervescent (and slightly nuts) Carl Arcus with a stunning canal Zander........

An uncharacteristically stoic Dave Owen with a 15lb 9oz Pike.....

Darren Clarke with a fine snappper........

Phil Kenny with one of many canal Zander he has taken recently.......

These next captures deserve a bit of a build up. For the last few years Nate Green and Mike Lyddon have been making the short hop over to France to sample some of the superb Carp fishing over there. For an outsider to the Carp world it is a no-brainer for me. The Carp are bigger, they feed for longer etc etc. That is not to say you can just go over there and expect instant results with little preparation. These guys put in all the work to reduce all the odds and even then they aren't guaranteed to catch. Forget Carp having any kind of intelligence, they don't. They are incredibly cautious though and everything has to be right for any chance of success. Mike with a 52lb Mirror..........

 Nate Green had three Common Carp during his trip. At 53lb 4oz this was the smallest............

The largest was this incredible fish that weighed in at a mind boggling 87lb............

The lake they fished is open to anyone. Here's the link

http://lakeserene.co.uk/

Last but not least is Ash Bradley with his new Pike Pb of 29lb 12oz...............

Tackle Talk

I was out on Benidorm Dave's boat recently and I managed to burn a hole in my coat via a dodgy battery connection. This proved to be a blessing in disguise because I now have a far superior coat. Even better still it was half the price of my old one. I will never ever experience conditions worse than during our lure match. If it weren't for the company I'd have gone home. My new coat didn't let in a single drop of water. It's warm too. Remarkable on two counts. It's a fishing branded coat and you can get them for a measly £40. One of the bargains of the year. The IMAX coastal jacket.

 I use wire a lot. All of my Perch fishing is done with wire when Pike are present. Drennan 7 strand is a bit of an industry benchmark. Reliable, thin, cheap and durable. No frills but I wouldn't be without it.

One of my biggest bugbears in angling is the thought that cheap tackle must be rubbish. I've been using cheap braid for beach casting, heavy lure fishing and Piking this year and it has been nothing short of amazing. If the 20lb strength can stand upto the rigours of Smoothound fishing there isn't a coarse fishing application it wont cope with. The only problem is it only comes in 20,30 and 40lb. Price? From £4.99 for 400M...........

Lastly we have the DAM rolling dropshot weights. They are a unique design and very versatile. Perfect for when you don't want to fish static........

Final word

Fishing can be bad for your health. Mike Lyddon wont be doing this again in a hurry........

On a slightly more serious note safety is very important on a boat. One thing to consider though is the effect of waves, even on reservoirs. Anyone who had ever had bad motion sickness will know it is a horrible feeling. Big Leo Heathcote is the last person you'd expect to suffer from it but it caught him out recently at Grafham. It's always worth taking some sickness tablets as you don't want to pay all that money to hang over the gunwales all day.......

I don't know why he has had so much attention this time around. Probably because he spends most days tugging at my trouser leg like a needy child. It's Mike Lyddon again. He caught a gudgeon and expected everyone to be impressed. We weren't, it's rubbish..........

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

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