A warm welcome to this week’s blog update and
what a difference a week can make and as I mentioned in last week’s mini update
you have to stick with it and eventually your luck will change and those bad
trips become trips to remember, more about that later on in the update.
Firstly this week I would like to declare utter
astonishment at the fact Warrington Anglers have managed to negotiate the lease
of a new water, sorry 3 waters in a complex.
I have to admit I nearly choked on my breakfast reading the news on the
Warrington Blog on Wednesday morning but then I read further and it all became
clear why Warrington would be so interested in this water, firstly it is not
very local with it being situated in Flintshire, secondly they have leased the
water without knowing the stocking levels of the waters and thirdly they were
asking for volunteers to clear out the overgrown swims so it seems it ticks all
the boxes needed to be a quality Warrington anglers water.
Joking aside it is great to see new waters on
the card, admittedly I would have preferred any new water to be of the
“flowing” variety but the club need to be commended for being positive in
looking for new waters for the card. I
really do hope the club decide to make these three pools into a mixed fishery
venture that accommodates the all year round fishing and don’t just continue
with their policy of filing the place in with 3lb carp. If my blog has proved anything over the past
few months it is that nature can cope with the predation from cormorants, there
are plenty of waters where silver fish are thriving and there is no reason why
these three waters wouldn’t be any different given the right amount of cover
and stocking levels.
For those interested the water is called Offa’s
Dyke Fishery situated in Flintshire, I have done a little bit of research on
the internet for anyone looking to go once its open. The first report was slightly worrying in
saying it used to fish well till the owner suffered a major fish kill one
winter but then I read further down and there are some positive reports with on
saying:
“Had a look at Offfas Dyke pools today, looks a
nice piece of water, very fishable.
Talking to one chap there said he had been smashed up a number of times with big carp
and had landed a few doubles, at £5 a day is not bad”
Talking to one chap there said he had been smashed up a number of times with big carp
and had landed a few doubles, at £5 a day is not bad”
That aside the other bit of news that
humoured me this week was the story in the news about the “jobs worth”
Environment Agency officer that ironically “opened a big can of worms” (sorry
couldn’t help myself) by fining a carp angler for not being in full control of
his fishing equipment! I had a quick glance at my calendar whilst reading this
story on the Angling Gazzette news page to make sure we hadn’t gone back in
time to April 1st but alas no this was a true story and the angler
in question had been charged with this offence.
I am not a night angler myself but knowing how much my dad likes to take
a nap whilst fishing I can see him struggling to keep his licence for a full
season.
The full story is here: http://www.anglinggazette.co.uk/sleeping-carp-angler-charged-by-ea-environment-agency-official-response/
Aside from humouring myself with internet news and
spending time with my little girl I have been fortunate enough this week to
have shared along walk with the new internet sensation that is “Otto” a dog
that has his own blog that is written rather wittingly as if through the eyes
of a young German shepherd and his thoughts on the walks his rather eccentric
owne takes him on. I and my little
companion Pippa decided to join otto on one of his adventures this week and it
was a joy to discover a part of my local area I never knew existed.
Here is a link to Otto’s blog: http://ottogoeswalking.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/the-pipster.html
And with that on to this week’s fishing:
The River’s to this point had offered little to remove the thoughts of
another failure on the bank from my head I was torn between venues and low on
confidence and it seems when you are in this frame of mind you can fall into
the trap of either trying too hard or jumping from one bad decision straight
into another and I must admit it was the latter that entered my head as I went
about completing my homework on a new stretch of river.
The word was the stretch held a good number of chub and barbel and
also a good number of dace, roach and perch to keep the day ticking over. I had seriously thought about giving the
fishing a few weeks off to let the rivers get a good flush through but I
decided to go with the old adage that a change was as good as a rest and with
that on Saturday morning we headed off on another aveture.
In the murky light of dawn we stalked the bank trying to assess the potential
of each swim as we arrived in it. The
dark hided the lack of depth in the swims but we both settled into a swims we
thought would produce a few fish. We
both started on our standard trotting setup of 4lb 4oz main line down to a 1lb
7oz bottom with a size 18 hook on the business end.
The first four trots down my swim resulted in four new rigs being tied
with me finding snag after snag with great ease and more annoyingly was the
fact I hadn’t trotted down the swim once without hitting a different snag,
frustrated wasn’t the word. Whilst
setting up for the fifth time I saw a few fish jump in the swim which gave me a
real confidence boost to keep going as I knew it was just about getting the
float going through the swim where I wanted it and not let it go down the snag
entwined inside line. I decided at this
point to get in the river as it was only shallow beneath my feet and wow what a
difference it made as the float disappeared right over my bed of hemp, a snag
for sure I thought as I struck into solid resistance, you can imagine my relief
as I felt the fish kick.
The fish thudded for the far side in a short direct pulls which
instantly gave this fish away as a chub but with a 1lb 7oz bottom where was
little room to bully this fish so I took my time and made sure I got the fish
in and boy was I made up as a big pair of white lips slip over the rim of my
landing net. The fish in the net I was
amazed firstly by the condition of the fish apart from an old scar on its back
it was in good nick but I was more impressed with its dark almost mahogany colouring
across its back which gave way to a tail fin that was as black as coal a real
lovely looking fish, 4lb 3oz of British wildlife at its best right there in my
hands.
The chub rested in the landing net and it was put into the keep net
for safe keeping, a quick look at the watch and it was a bleary eyed 6am, most
of the world was still in bed if only they knew what they were missing. A quick call to my uncle upstream revealed he
had been snapped twice and lost a small chub at the net so obviously the fish
where about.
I continued to trot away happily with no reward for the next couple of
hours hoping the fish would move back in but as time moved on so my
concentration lapsed and my mind wandered from the task in hand. I placed my rod on my bait waited and grabbed
my phone to ring home, no answer! A text would have to do so as I began writing
the text I saw the tip of my rod was suddenly pointing upstream and my rod was
fast on its way to finding a new watery home!! I grabbed the rod and felt the
fish on the other end but it was solid and in one run the fish torpedoed
upstream and the line just snapped as the fish made off. Whatever it was it was
big.
I set up again and with plenty of practice that day it wasn’t too long
before I was back trotting again and first trot down BANG I struck into another
fish that again snapped me clean, clearly it was time to do away with the
bottom and after all it wasn’t as if I was catching and small species. So with 4lb line all the way through I set
about trotting again hoping I hadn’t ruined my chances of another big fish
encounter. My uncle appeared in the swim
with his flask in hand as is the norm on our trips and I explained what had
happened as I continued to trot away, as luck would have it I struck at a
lightning fast bite which I was certain was the bottom will it accelerated out
of the swim and peeled off a good 20 yards of line as it bolted upstream,
clearly another good fish which at the time I said I thought was a carp.
With the lightest of hands I played the fish under the tuition of my
uncle and prayed it stayed upstream and in front of me away from the snags
downstream, I certainly didn’t want the fish coming near in while it was still
fresh. The fight now a good few minutes
long was no nearer its conclusion as the fish kept deep and made its way up and
down the swim in long hard runs that went from line oozing from the reel to me
reeling like a mad man to catch up with it as it swam towards me, just don’t come
off I prayed! Eventually the fish came
up in the water as she tired and a flash of bronze and orange confirmed it was
in fact a barbel and easily the biggest one I have ever caught.
Eventually the fish tired and came up to the net and like a scoop
though a soft ice cream my uncle scooped up the fish and I took a second to
compose myself.
The fish was again in beautiful nick, not a mark on it or a scale out
of place and again I was taken back at the beautiful colours of the fish with
its deep bronze flanks and giving way to a white belly. I don’t catch many of these fish so I took a
quick second the savour the moment before quickly taking my pictures and
weighing the fish, 5lb 5oz.
As I mentioned I don’t do much barbel fishing but it pays to do your
homework on these fish and I knew from reading the literature on the internet
that these fish are similar to grayling in they give all in the fight so time
must be taken to ensure the fish I rested.
As you can see below the first picture is the fish when it was first in
the edge resting and the second is the fish upright supporting its own weight
and pushing against the mesh to swim off, fully recuperated this took a good 10
minutes for it to get to this sage but us anglers have a risibility to treat
fish with the ultimate respect and I know this fish went back in exactly the
same condition as it was before I caught it.
Rest pic 1
Rest pic 2
The fish returned it was time to get back to it I didn’t fancy the
float rod to not only produce another fish but get another in, it was finally
time for my Shimano Purist BARBEL rod to be used for its intended purpose….catching
barbel as over the years it has been the most versatile rod I own catching me
carp, tench, pike and of course some other barbel from the river Dee. I cast I over my bait and sat back expecting
a relaxing last hour to the session little did I know just 10 minutes later the
tip of my rod would wrap round almost 90 degrees and line would rip form the bait
runner.
I lifted into a fish that I knew instantly form the previous fight was
a barbell but this time I was calling the shots a bit more as I was armed with
a bigger hook and 10lb line so this fight was certainly a lot more controlled
than the previous one but still had plenty of long runs that peeled line form
the reel. The fish was obviously bigger
than the previous one and it looked in my eyes to be a good two or three pound
bigger as it was so long and deep so I was amazed when it went just a few
ounces bigger at 6lb exactly.
’
That was it for my fishing and we called it a day not long after. My uncle added two nice chub to this tally
but lost a few fish to being snapped like I had on a light hook length. Still we both agreed we couldn’t complain and
would certainly be back to this new stretch.
I must admit as I walked the bank back to the car I was on cloud nine
and the past weeks tough sessions left my body they just flowed away just like
the water through the very river I had fished.
It is amazing what one session can do to your mind set.
Till next week its tight lines from me and even tighter lines from Boris
the barbel.
danny
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