Top Stick Float Tips, River Season Hopes and Reflections..

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you well and your nets wet.  Planning for the written blog is going well, i find myself on my dinner hour again putting together this written blog and so far so good, i am half way through the first paragraph and writers block has not set in yet. There is time.

So i thought it would be good in this blog update to have a look at my hopes and ambitions for the upcoming river season and at the same time a bit of reflection on the 3 month closed season.  What went well and what i could have maybe done better.  The blog update finishes with a session in search of tench, a species its been far too long since it featured on my blog.

Top 5 Stick Float Tips...

So this week the second video in the midweek vlog series went live on the youtube channel.  I had received a question in around my tips for stick float fishing for someone new to the rivers and as its my main type of fishing i thought i would devote on midweek blog to some basic river tips.  Stick float, rod and line choices feature as does some tips on plumming up the depth and some basic watercraft at the end.

If you read this blog and like the river fishing but are a bit daunted by the thought of fishing a river then give this midweek vlog a watch and get yourself out on the bank, you will not regret it.

A Closed Season With Cheshire Particle Hemp Oil..

So here we are at the end of our three month exile from running waters and the freedom and tranquillity they bring.  I am far from anti social but at the same time i can only take so much shouting and "banter" when i am fishing and i have to say thet my listening to "banter with mates on the bank" from the anglers around me is just teetering on the edge of madness.  That said though i have had to endure far worse closed seasons with regards dealing with idiots on the bank and this season they do only seem to have arose on the commercial scene.

"Cheshire Particle Hemp Oil The Find Of The Summer"

With the closing of the river season I normally move over to the canals for my fishing but as you have all read and witnessed on the youtube blogs fising has led me down a different path this closed season.  The finding of my Drennan Puddle Chucker and my unexpected thirst for wanting to get to grips with commercial fishing has seen my canal fishing plans fall by the side.

This diversion onto commercials and method feeder fishing has seen my use of hemp seed in my fishing go with it too but what this change did do is highlight to me the fantastic Cheshire Particle Product that is Cheshire Particle Hemp Oil.  When this oil is added to their fantastic hemp seed before a session it can be hard to judge how much impact the hemp oil is having, this last 3 months has shown me just how much fish pulling power this oil has.

Added the oil to my pellets after they have been prepared ready for the method feeder has provided me with a pungent heady hemp based pellet mix that when tested in the margins leaked for well over 50 minutes off one small nugget of pellet.  This fantastic addition to the pellets along with watercraft in placing the bait in the right place has seen me cross paths with some fantastic fish this spring and early summer.

Below just a handful of fish i have had the joy in sharing a few special moments on the bank side with..

In short this summer has shown me how good this hemp oil is on its own so when the season arrives for the rivers and its added to the fresh hemp seed Cheshire Particle are famous for it will be done with 100% confidence.  A little goes a long way and at just over 4 quid a bottle it will last you ages.

Grab a bottle here:https://cheshireparticle.com/collections/liquid-range/products/hemp-oil-250ml

The Season To Come...

The season is now literally days away and the reels are loaded with new line and the tackle box has been given a nice tidy up and organised.  The bag of hemp seed has been split down into pint session bags and i am all set for the season to come.

Early season will be all about getting back into the groove of river fishing with a few stick float sessions on the smaller rivers but this year i am alos going to try my best to devote time on the bank to targeting the barbel.  The barbel is a fish that has featured very sparsely on the blog and i have tried on one or two occasions to change that but not being really close to a barbel holding river it can make finding time very hard.

So barbel are certainly on the agenda for sure and i am also hoping as the season goes on to also delve deeper into a bait that i have never fished before in tares.  A lot of rivers i fish are abundant in roach so it would make sense for me to try and expand into this area to try and get the best from  the river i fish.

Fishing for me is all about learning and trying the develop my knowledge of all aspects of fishing so i can try and be the best anger i can be and along the way share that learning journey with yourselves through the blog.  This year has plenty of promise and i am excited to see what adventures lie along the way.

Summer is far from finished and i am hoping to also get out on the bank still for the tench and carp as i have really loved the adventures so far this year.  On that front a 20lb carp would be a lovely milestone to achieve and is at least a possibility now with the waters i am fishing, so that might happen any time which is exciting.

With regards content on the blog i don't think the blog has ever been so diversified with regards species and content as well as formats to follow it on.  I am hoping to introduce more live streaming on the blog on facebook so that's something else to look out for.

A Tench Session On The Tip....

All spring and summer i had spent time on the bank targeting carp on method feeder tactics and over that time i had began to notice a few things that worked with regards my baiting approach.  The hook bait aside for now and talking about the mix of pellets i had noticed that the micro pellets along brought bites but the addition of  4 mil pellets into this mix certainly brought the better carp onto the method.

Additives to the mix over this period have been stinky stuff sprays and Cheshire particle hemp seed oil and i have found both to be beneficial in attracting fish into the swim and are additives i certainly have confidence in when i cast them out.

The main feed sorted i now look to hook baits and one bait has been doing the business for me this season and it has been Bait Techs's the Juice dumbells.  What can i say about this bait other than it has caught me so many fish it is untrue.  It has caught me fish on commercials and natural waters.  So in these two paragraphs lays the trap i have been setting up till about two weeks ago for all my carp fishing.

A new card and a chance to try new waters and early on Saturday morning i found myself on the banks of a new club water.  Out went a method feeder and with it out went an approach i have so much confidence in.  The bait presented in an area i seen as a patrol route for fish and where they would feed confident in feeding i was out to play the waiting game and leave the feeder there until the tip pulled round on my drennan puddle chucker.

The sun creeping over the horizon to my right and its rays just starting to illuminate the bank behind me i sat listening to the early morning bird song.  A heron circling above out looking for its breakfast soon landed a few yards down the bank, good enough for him good enough for me.  A tap on the feeder alerted me to something in the area and over excited i went to grab the rod.  It can be hard to sit on your hands with this but you really have to wait for that wrap round.

Eventually it came and lifting the rod i was instantly locked into a battle of wills as a fish made hard for the reeds.  Persistent pressure soon turned the fish that by now knew it was in trouble and made for the lillies.  At a fair distance it was a tough battle but soon the power in the puddle chucker brought the fish into open water and then i knew, baring a hook pull, a fish would soon be on the bank.

Played out nicely a lovely tench was soon posing for the camera.

The fish returned i was straight back out and knowing how fast the bite had come i was optimistic of more.  A passer by stopped by for a chat and he was lovely to speak to and was intrigued by how the method feeder works.  The mechanics explained the wrap round on the tip soon showed him the results and what a fish to show someone how good a method feeder can be as though us both laughing at the battle this fish gave me as it went hard for any dark snags it could find.

A had said moments earlier if i hit a carp it would be interesting and so it proved as one hell of a tussle was played out in front of us both.  A lovely dark common carp of 9lb was my prize.

It was a fantastic start to my first session on here and i was pleased my confidence in my set up had come through.  Confidence in angling is huge i feel, it means you leave the bait longer in the good spots you find and you know that time is the only deciding factor in getting a bite.  The time it takes a fish to find your trap.

Over the next few hours a few more tench and bream fell for the trap set, check out the video below for the full story and the end of this adventure.

Till next time,

Tight lines

Danny

Barbel Blues and Sneaking on the Pike Shoes...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Pike, Pike, Pike and more pike has all that's been flowing through my mind the past week.  The excitement to get out there and catch them is there, even if it only seems seconds ago the season finished, but the weather at the moment is making it really difficult to imagine casting out a dead bait in earnest for these fish.

In this weeks blog i look a little more at my ideas and thought for the upcoming season and incorporated in this will be a little bit or reason as to why i decided to hit the bank with the idea of catching a pike this weekend.  The other fishing is a session on the river for barbel, a species i have not really given enough time and attention to if i am honest over the past month or two.

Lets get into the update..

Piker with a Plan

So we stand on the cusp of another pike season and with it a whole host of memories are waiting to be created and lived and i can not wait to find out what this season has to hold for me.  The past few seasons we have always had a numeric target for the three of us to aim.  Past seasons have proved this idea to be a fun target to aim for but needing numbers of pike it does put you off trying those areas for quality rather than quantity so this year i wont be getting involved in chasing a numeric total of individual pike.

Last season i did set myself a target of 10 double figure pike and i think given the venues i fished last season this 10 doubles was an obtainable and nice target to go at so again this season i will be setting myself a personal goal of 10 double figure pike.  A target I hit last season and a target i actually enjoyed chasing.  In my piking i think as the season goes on it gives you that push to keep on getting out trying for pike even on the days where it seems a complete waste of time.

10 doubles will be a nice target to chase and I'm hoping will also fit in with my change of direction with my piking this season.  The past two and a half seasons i have been very lucky to share the bank with anglers who have been piking a good number of years and there is no escaping that hours spent on the bank with experienced pikers has seen my learning and understanding of pike fishing drastically truncated.  Although my main focus of going fishing with other pikers is for the laugh, chin wag and hopefully catch the odd pike while there you can not go fishing with someone who has been piking over 20 years and not learn and improve yourself as an angler.

This season i hope to start on a new adventure on a bigger waterway and take some of the lessons learnt and try and adapt them for fishing for pike on my own.  Using my water craft mixed with my determination to put the hours in i'm hoping i will find some success.  Last season i tried a new area of water and managed to bank some small pike and a few doubles so i would  ecstatic to replicate those results but as with all fishing you don't know until you get out there with a bait in the water, right now? I am chomping at the bit to get out, lets hope the pike are as veracious.

On to this weeks fishing...

Barbel Blues...

So far i have done two evening trips for barbel fishing into dark with two eels and a lost barbel to show for my efforts.  I say efforts loosely as in all honesty i do not deserve to put a barbel on the bank right now, i have put minimal effort into it and the time just has not been there to travel to the river to try for these fish.  I think there are a number of factors surrounding why the effort hasn't been there but mainly it just hasn't grabbed me like new adventures normally do and i don't think it has helped that i have enjoyed and had success in my carp fishing adventures this summer.  A venue a lot closer than the river as well.

That said recently we decided to go back and try the river again.  My uncle on the stick float and myself sitting it out for a barbel or chub.  My bait for the day was luncheon meat that had been cut at home and frozen in a food bag that contained a mixture of chili flakes, hot chili powder and garlic granules and i planned to fish this over a big bed of hemp seed so i boiled up 3 pints of chili flavoured hemp.

The day was going to be a warm one so i picked a swim that on paper looked a dream.  It had bags of cover and a good depth, in fact it would make a cracking winter swim i reckon.  Settled back in the swim i made my first cast of the day and sat back.  No action for two hours but i continued to drip feed hemp into the swim and a good hand full of hemp every 30 minutes.

Out of the blue with no warning the tip walloped round and striking i expected to feel the reistance of a fish but the rig just come back at me.  Casting back in i fed hemp again and sat back in my seat waiting for a second chance.  The chance came sooner than i thought around 15 mins after casting in the tip again went round but again nothing was on the end.

A change of tactics to a bigger hook, size 4 instead of a size 6, i was back into the swim.  A long wait till our midday pack up saw the tip go round again with the same result.  A frustrating day on the bank to say the least, i would say at least one was a barbel judging by the how hard the tip went round but not knowing barbel fishing i don't really know where i went wrong.  I upped the size of hook which was buried in the meat i can only think maybe increasing the weight of the lead maybe bit all the books say fish with enough to hold bottom and my one ounce lead was doing that easily.

All part of the learning curve and with piking coming up soon i think the barbel may well have to wait for next summer now and a rethink on tactics as it seems location is nailed in me getting bites.  This update should please those followers who believe we catch every visit we go out lol.

Sneaking on the Pike Shoes....

I have been doing my homework for some time now with regards the upcoming pike season.  I have been scouring Google earth and printings out maps of my destinations for the coming months whilst making the odd visit to plumb the depths of the areas in want to fish.

Baring rain fall and the water being up and coloured i have earmarked one location for a visit come Saturday 1st October.  It has a nice summer depth and a few features on top and beneath the water that really interests me with regards pike and with that in mind we decided to visit it for a day session on the pole recently.

My plan for the day was simple, fish the pole for silvers and put a rod out to the side on a live bait paternoster for a pike. Prepping the Paternoster rig the night before it felt weird prepping a pike rig as it only feels like 5 minutes since i packed the pike gear away.

My main focus on the day was to fish the pole to the best of my ability and as such preparation for the pole was as in depth as the preparation for the piking.  I must admit though i got some really really funny looks this week collecting my molehill soil.  I knew rain was coming in the evening so it was on my way home from work i decided it best to collect the dry soil form the molehill.  There i was, dressing in my work shirt and pants, at the side of the road at rush hour riddling molehill soil into a bucket.  All in the name of fishing, some of the looks where priceless.

The preparation done it was time to see the next morning if the location had any legs in it from a pike point of view.  I know this should really be the session on the 1st of october but excitement got to much for me.  The first fish caught won the prize as a live bait and the pike rig held up well in the water as it allowed the fish to move freely around a centre point and the bigger float was enough to hold it there with a weak bit of 5lb line as a rotten bottom to a lead.

The whole process of adding molehill soil to my ground bait is new to me but i am learning a few lessons and will be posting a in depth blog about this in the coming weeks.  The ground bait mixed i added the soil till i got the mix i was looking for.  I was aiming for a 50/50 mix as i wanted there to be feed as well as colour in the mix and i think i achieved that.

The bites where steady on the pole line bit there where not many better fish showing on the line.  The swim as producing mainly roach and the odd perch at around 5 metres.  I was hoping for the odd bream to show and as i fished the pole line i kept one eye on my pike rod and on the water for signs of pike striking.

It was becoming clear that the area held a decent number of silver fish at this time of year and with one predator in the perch already here in numbers i knew the apex predator would not be far behind.  It took around a hour and half but eventually one found the bait and the paternoster float began to move off into the deeper water.  Temperatures warm it was a quick strike, in fact it was an instant strike, trying my best to avoid foul hooking the pike.

Worth remembering here i was not really out pike fishing i just wanted to gauge if the area was any good for pike come october.  A nice pike around 6lb was soon on the bank and one treble right on the tip of its mouth it was soon unhooked and back int he water to rest.  A quick lift out for a picture and back in till he was fully recovered and ready to go.

A fantastic result so far with plenty of bait fish and a lovely marked pike showing.  The fish continued to bite on the pole line till our midday pack up.  The ground bait did not bring any bream in but the perch did muscle the roach out in the end and it was a perch a chuck for the final hour or so of the session.

I decided to try a perch as a live bait just to prove to myself that pike will take these fish as well as roach and this plodded away on the paternoster that again showed itself to be a great rig and one i will certainly be using come october, especially if the temperatures are still high.

The final net showed a great number of bait fish in this area.

This was proved when the pike rod went again while we where drying our nets in the sun.

All in all a worthwhile exercise and one that sets me up nicely for october 1st.  I now know the area holds pike and come that opening days session i am going to be hitting the bank confident in this area and if i get the same result then i will be over the moon.

Till next time

tight lines

Danny

Day to Remember on the River and Pike Order Arrives...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Finally this week the weather seems to have settle slightly and we seem to be moving out of the constant period of heavy rain and then baking hot sunshine.  The mornings are starting to have a crisp edge to them from time to time and the Conker trees now laden with their autumnal larder of fruit are starting to show signs that Autumn is most certainly with us.

This weeks update sees a little bit around a huge milestone the blog has reached, some info on the bait order and my thought processes and finally a cheeky plug of my diary around piking from last year.  The fishing sees us back on the river fishing the Bolo on a session where the roach really did turn up.

Lets get into the update...

400k Not Out...

Checking the blog on Monday i noticed in the views section that we where very close to reaching the barmy landmark of 400,000 unique views on the blog.  I remember fondly the days when i first started writing the blog and that first month where i was over the moon that a 100 people read my blog in the month.  The blog really has grown in popularity form those early days and now consistently reaches over 200 views on a daily basis rising to the thousands when a blog goes live.

I have tried my best to keep it to weekly updates and sometimes life has got in the way and there have been the odd gap here and there.  Sometimes its down to just not being able to find the words to write on the page, i will be honest, others its purely down to family life taking over and not having the time.  Over the years its become part of my week as much as the fishing on the Saturday and its been a pleasure to write this diary of my fishing adventures the passed few years and it has let to the making of some very special friendships both online and in real life.

It begs the question where does the blog go from here? I always promised myself i would write the blog for as long as i felt i was enjoying it and the content was interesting enough.  I must admit to thinking recently of taking a dramatic leap into the world of video blogging my trips on the bank and publishing them on Youtube.  The main concerns here are obviously the amount of time it takes to edit a video and also being able to record consistently with content.  Pike fishing and carp fishing would be easy but trotting a river presents it own problems with keeping it both interesting and the actual recording of the session.  Watch this space there may be the odd pike video coming this winter.

Pike Bait Order Arrives...

A baking hot day early in August and a text message arrives form my mate Garry as to if im interested in again ordering bait for the piking.  At the time piking was about as far away from my mind as ever as thoughts of carp slurping down crusts of bread on the surface dominated my mind.

Moving into my third year of piking i spent some time looking over my records and looking at what lessons i had learnt and what baits had done me well at certain times of year.  There was one huge trend that stood out and this year i was looking to capitalize on this.  I will go more into my plans for the pike season closer to october but from past seasons i had used and struggled to source smelt later on in the season so i went heavy on the smelt and also i had seen great success in present a certain sized bait in a particular way last season so the rest of my order is taken up with bigger baits.

In total the order accounts to 38 packets of dead baits made up of Smelt, herring, sardine and mackerel primarily with a fantastic Recession pack added that is 8 packets of dead baits for 9 quid and this pack gives me some variety with eels, trout, bream, roach and sprat giving me that option of a change bait.  One other huge lesson learnt is that one pack of lamprey will do you all season!  These are all baits i have caught pike on before so casting them out i have confidence in its ability to catch fish and to be honest although pike can be finickey with baits they want i am a firm believer in the main part of pike fishing you need to get right before bait is location, location is key, especially when dealing with a huge river like i will be this season from time to time.

Previous Pike Seasons..

As mentioned above i now moved into my third full season piking and it has proven to be a bit of a headache with how to document the trips.  The first season i did the whole season bit by bit and included the trips in this main blog and then did a season summary at the end.  Last season i devoted a page to my piking and this worked very well but it being written top to bottom i feel reposting the same link didn't get it the views it deserved.  Once the season is finished its a great read through the season and good for me to look at what venues i did well on at certain times of year.

I have also been playing, like mentioned above, with the idea of video logging this season and thinking about it i might try it on the early sessions, see how i feel it goes and if content is publishable and build from there.

Link to First pike Season: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/my-first-pike-seaon.html
Link to 2015/2016 Season:http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/201516-pike-seaon.html

On to this weeks fishing

25lb of River Roach on Bolo....

So with two sessions on this river under our wings we decided to again pay this little place a visit.  This time there was no worrying about wind, rain and thunderstorms as almost perfect conditions awaited us as we walked the bank.  As with all my fishing the preparation for this session had began in my head early on in the week buy physical preparation had started on the Thursday night with a trip out with a bucket and riddle to harvest a some moil hill soil.  It is safe to say you get some funny looks from cars passing by when your sieving mole hill soil.

Arriving at the peg i mixed up some Van Den Eynde Roach Secret ground bait, a ground bait i have found you have to be very very careful when adding the water as its very easy to over wet this mix.  The mix done i left it to settle while i set up my 17ft float rod with a 3gram bolo float, it is a combination that has done me well the past few weeks so i decided not to change and i kept this same mentality with my bait using red maggot and hemp.

The dawn just breaking i was set up ready to go.

Admiring my beautiful surroundings for a few moments i breathed in the fresh air and took a second to just live in that moment.  A week spent facing a beige wall soon was washed away by mother nature herself.  A fish topping in the swim soon brought me to my senses and i quickly riddled off my ground bait and then added the moil hill soil to bulk it out and add some weight.

The session started off well and the fish where on me straight away although they where not of the size of the first week.  During other sessions the fish have come on a certain line around two rod lengths out but in this session i was able to get the fish going right on the end of the rod tip.

A quick phone call with Ste to catch up during which the true extent of the bites i was getting became apparent.  I was not catching fish of any size but i knew a rhythm of feed maggot, cast in, feed small ball ground bait, hold back...strike would see a big net come the end of the session.

While i was catching under my feet i kept the normal line fed with the off jaffa ball of ground bait and sprinkling of hemp seed just to keep that line fed in case the fish went from under my feet.  The odd better fish would show itself and it is amazing just how close in you can catch fish if you are quiet.

The swim continued to go from strength to strength as the fish really did come on the feed and for a good hour or so i was catching fish steadily.  As i mentioned earlier that can all change in an instant and like i thought the fish soon backed out of the swim, disturbed by a pike? or just spooked in general i dont know but it completely dried up.

The swim i had fed from the start was there for me to try so i quickly fed a few balls of ground bait and went for a chat with my uncle.  Returning to the swim i was into the odd fish from the start but it took a good hour or two for them to really get down on the bait.

I followed every few fish with a ball of ground bait shown above and it did seem to keep the fish down on the bottom and feeding confidently.  Going into the end of the session i knew i had a few pound in the net and i was hoping it would pass the magical 20lb mark.  The last hour though left me in no uncertainty around hitting that mark as a whole better stamp of roach moved into the swim.

For the last hour these fish muscled into the swim and i am sure they accounted for the amount of fish over the 20lb mark it was really a killer to pack in.

Palm sized roach coming quite quickly i felt had we stayed on for a few more hours we would certainly be looking at a 40lb net of roach and not the 25lb2oz one that hit the scales.

Although its always a killer leaving a swim where the fish are heavily on the feed i was over the moon with this net of roach.  In my angling i love my chub fishing and my pike fishing but there is something magical about a big net of roach.

Pike Ruins Play on River and New Purchases

A warm welcome to this weeks angling blog i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  This week we left the month of June 2016 behind, officially the wettest June since records began, boy did us river men know it.  No doubt this weather has been fantastic for the anglers out there chasing the big barbel and chub but for anglers wanting to run  a stick float down the river in June its been a nightmare.

This weeks blog is  session on the river where we fishing a new area of river we hit the bank hoping to learn a little about this new area, an enjoyable session but ruined by an unwelcome visitor.  After the river session is another one of the short trips i did recently for carp.  These carp sessions have been well received and thank you to all who emailed me to say they enjoyed this diversity in the blog.

The introduction looks at some purchases i made last week when all the over time came good and my reasoning behind the purchases.  I have also made the decision to start reviewing the tackle i use form day to day.  I have done many reviews on the page for company's but i think it will be fun to write some reviews based on the tackle i use day in and day out.

on to the update

New Purchases - Overtime Comes Good....

As i mentioned a month or two ago i have been hoping to replace my obsolete pole and also pick up a new trotting rod.  The budget of £500 i knew was not the greatest but in all honestly i have no need to spend a fortune on a new pole given how much i use them.

First up was the pole and i had the choice to either spend the whole £500 on just a pole knowing i would prob get a pole slightly lighter and certainly with more top kits for my extra money but i would have to sacrifice a new float rod.  After looking through the Internet at all the reviews of numerous poles and more importantly taking into account when they where released i went with the MAP 101 2G 13m pole.

The main reason for this, apart from price, was the fact that this pole was only released in 2016 so i know i will have a good number of years where i will be able to get spares for this pole, my main problem with the one i have now is the fact i can not replace lost or broken sections.

The MAP 101 2G is an entry level pole and with that i knew i wasn't getting the best pole in the word but, for me, its all i need.  I fish the rivers most of the year and when not doing that i am normally piking.  I only really use a pole in the closed season where i fish the canal or this year a commercial.  I will go into more detail when i write a full review in upcoming blog but it comes with 2 power kits and a match kit so i will be purchasing one more match kit and then i am set for all the angling i do with two top kits for each.

I enquired at the tackle shop if they price matched and they said they did although i don't think they where ready for the price match i had found on line, a whopping £50.00 quid off the RRP.  This extra cash gave me the scope to go from the bottom end of the pole market to purchasing a creme De la creme of stick float rods in the 14ft Drennan Acolyte Plus float rod.

from the first moment i held this rod in a tackle shop i just fell in love with it, so light and a lovely sort action.  Weighing in at 4 grams at 13ft and i think 5 grams at 14ft its feather light to hold and i can assure you having fished with this rod all day Saturday just gone its a beautiful rod so light you could trot with it for a week and not have your arm ache.  There are going to be some fun times ahead when i hit chub i can tell that but what a great piece of kit.

Two pieces of kit bought for just over £500 in the MAP 101 2G and the drennan Aculyte plus i think i did well to get them both for the price and am over the moon.  The pole i was out on the canal on Sunday using and as said above the rod i used Saturday.  The hours and hours of overtime where well worth it, house sorted and now a cracking addition to the fishing gear.

On to the Fishing..

Pike Ruins Second River Session On Stick

The second weekend pf the river season and finally it seemed like the river we wanted to get on would be at a fish able level.  As ling time readers of the blog will know we never really let our feet settle too long in one spot we love to find new areas, try and work them out and then move onto the next adventure.  A lot of time over the passed two years has been spent at the lower end of the river Dane but this year we have moved up into the middle reaches hoping to find better and ore consistent sport and also there is a good chance of me connecting with a barbel, a species i have wanted to target for a while now.

Heading off i again slimmed my gear right down to the bear essentials.  The octoplus infinity tackle box contained all i needed tackle wise and bait wise for the session ahead while my rods and bank sticks in the holdall and my nets in a net bag meant i was travelling as light as i could for a comfortable days fishing, or so i thought!

Assessing some of the swims i decided on fishing a nice glide leading down to a overhanging tree.  It looked fishy although not the comfortable peg i had hoped for and it soon became apparent on getting to water level i would be standing using the bait waiter.

Muddy under foot i knew i was in for an uncomfortable day but hey the passed few years we had been spoiled with the comfy fish on your basket swims.  This was back in at the deep end and that was no joke as literally off the end of that mud it was a good 4-5 feet deep!  Joking aside it was good to be back sliding down banks and making swims as we went, it really can be the beauty of fishing a river, the freedom and the feeling of that is a good spot i will make a peg there.

The good news was i got a sure footing and the first fish was not ling in coming, always a good sign

As i always say on these blogs, i love catching a dace early on, reason being is with dace where there is one there is most certainly more.  The swim an even depth all the way across i started out down the middle loose feeding maggots in front of me and hemp at around 2 oclock.  It soon became obvious there was a snag or some streamer weed right where i wanted to get my bites as the float would slide under and all would go solid before it would pull off.

With trotting its all about building a picture of the swim as you go, swims can change from session to session and seasons to season, over the first hour of the session you do begin to find a line you can fish where you avoid the snags and can get from point A to Point B in one go.  This might need you to hold back over rocks or even mean you fishing a line you never thought you would right close in but over time you do build that picture.  you also build a picture of how the fish are feeding on that session or "how they want it" and that can be the difference some times between catching and not catching.

Holding the bait back just on the hemp was killer on the day and soon chublets with gobs full of chub where coming.

The swim building nicely with fish coming thick and fast i has ideas of a fantastic days fishing.  Getting into a bagging up rhythm of cast in feed maggot sprinkle hemp hold back, let go hold back let go and then strike.  This type of rhythm you soon start putting a weight in the keep net and all the time i was thinking about if those better chub where knocking about ready to move in.

The bites then died a little and i thought here we go.  A change over to corn to see if i could pick up a better fish but alas a float that had been zooming under time and time again was trundling through untouched.  Right down the swim i finally struck into a bite and up through the swim i reeled in a dace twisting and turning in the current.  All of a sudden form no where a flash of green and gold came from nowhere as a pike struck and missed its target.  One lucky dace in the net.

After this it was like the chains ad been released form the pike i next disturbed it in the margin down from my keep net as i think me moving spooked it, all i saw was a bloom of bottom come up.  10 minutes later with not a bite i saw another swirl at my keep net and it was clear this pike was not giving up.  Sods law i left my pike rod at home as that is one down side of going light and splitting your gear you leave stuff.  I always carry a pike rod for this reason, catch the pike and move it on upstream away and you catch again.

This pike was to put it bluntly a right pain in the £$££ trotting away it would take around 20 mins get a bite and on two occasions this veracious pike claimed it as its meal.  I had him on twice but both times the line was bit through.  After the second attack i tied another hook link on and trotting away i could see him lying at the tail of my net.  I called it a day at this point as there was no way he was giving in and the whole swim was spooked.

It was a case of what could of been and next time the river is fish able i will be on the bank but this time armed with my pike rod for sure.  Packing away i was consoled by a very inquisitive heard of bullocks in the field opposite who seemed to stand and stare for an eternity.  Second trip back on the river and an optimistic back to raw river fishing induction, love it.

3 and half Hours Manic Carp Fishing...

By the time this carp session came round in the closed season it was safe to say the carp fishing bug had bit but i dont think it was actually the carp that was drawing me back more the exploration and fun of catching fish on a new water.  When a water gets under your skin it takes over with me and in this scenario i always want to keep on going to try and get the best i possibly can from that water.  In this case it was a case of the venue being so atmospheric and the fish being so much fun to catch.

I was keeping my tactics simple and i do think this is lost hugely in modern carp fishing, its all very complex and in depth when in reality does it really have to be?  To this point and to be honest continuing at the way through i was fishing two rods, one on the top on crust and one on the bottom in a method feeder and corn with the addition of stinky stuff being the added attractant i wanted in the coloured water.

On these early morning sessions i would always start off by introducing some free offerings of bread in the margins and likely looking spots to see if the fish would come up.  The norm was then for you to hear a slurp long before you had even set up the landing net.  Like with the trotting above you soon build up a picture of a water and although you are not making a mind map of the bed of a river with carp fishing i feel like you tap into the day to day lives of the fish within the water.  you learn by how they take the bread if they are having it proper or not and you learn things like how the better fish seemed to go around together so if 3lb carp where slurping up the bread you knew it was a good idea to move.

In the first swim a few fish come up erratically taking the bread swirling as they took, cagey and on edge i knew these would be hard to hook.  There was one fish though coming up slowly taking the whole crust of bread confidently, she was right at the back of the group and i knew if i could get a bait on her line she would be a nice fish to start.  A peach of a cast and rod in hand i was not at all prepared when the line shot across the surface and the rod hooped round.  Making a hard run for the snags i was in trouble from the off, i kept the rod low and prayed and god knows how but she appeared right at my feet swimming right under all the trees, when your lucks in eh!  On the mat a nice 11lb mirror carp.

Taking pictures i could hear the carp behind me slurping down the remaining bread so out went a few more freebies to keep them occupied.  Mainly smaller carp,again swirling at the bread i noticed a fish right in the margin under my feet taking bread confidently and it looked a double.  In complete contrast to the first long distance cast this was a stay well back from the water and placing the bread right on the edge of the Lillie's.  The crayfish stinky stuff colouring the water around the bread it was not long before the carp came out of the Lillie's and seconds after returning one carp i was into another fighting double.  Arriving at 4.30am it was not even 5am and two doubles had graced the net i was buzzing, 3 weeks earlier both would have been a new PB!

This early success was a fantastic start but i was learning on here the smaller carp do move as a shoal and before i knew it 3 smaller carp to 8lb had bullied their way in. Madness as 3 weeks ago they would have tickled my pb and i would have been really excited.

A move was in order and i decided to try and target the bigger fish.  In went a few crusts of bread laced with the crayfish stinky stuff and i sat back and waited for the carp to find the free floating banquet.  Soon enough the swirls started and excitement levels increased as i realised these where proper carp feeding well.

I noticed if the bait was presented tight to an overhanging far bank bush and left to drift down to the waiting fish i soon was getting bites.  Getting the cast right would result in a chance of a fish but hooking up was proving the issue.  A slight refinement in the placement of the surface float turned chances into fish.  Over the next 2o minutes i picked up two more commons both doubles at 11lb and 14lb respectively.

A morning of doubles and leaving a happy angler i tipped my hat to an angler just arriving on the pool, my thoughts where of how much action he had missed and was baffled by his comments of how bad the water was fishing!  Agreeing a headed off on my way...

Till next week

tight lines

Danny

Rivers Open: Cracking Chub On The Stick Float...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  The river season is well and truly open now and Facebook has been awash with mainly flood water barbel pictures.  The rain kept on copming down till late evening on the opening day and the only highlight was getting home from the carp to catch England pip Wales in the football.

We knew opportunities to get out on the river come the Saturday would hinge on a dry day on the Friday and with that we said a little prayer to the rain gods and prayed for a window of opportunity, in all honesty i feel like i am writing a winter blog here not a summer one, ridiculous weather we are having.

On to the update:

New River Season Preperation..

I have to say with all the stuff going on in work with over time and loads of jobs being done in the house the new river season really did creep up on me.  This season is without doubt the most unorganized i have ever been for the start of the rivers, normally by now i have spring cleaned my tackle box, replaced some weights and give my reel a through clean.

The beauty of the rivers is in their simplicity and in short its only a few components that come together to make up the stick float rigs i use so much and with my gear levels looking in an ok state i think i was only a new packet of weights away from being ready to go, so not too bad.

Although time to prepare for the season has not been there physically the mental thought processes have been working for some time and i did have a few changes i wanted to make in how i approach the rivers this season.  The main one is cutting down on the amount of gear i take with me, it has been ok carting my big Preston Onbox with its metal footplate to the banks of the river Dane these past few season as the walks have been quite short.  This season will be a lot different and long walks over rough farmland terrain are looking like being the norm, a wild river with wild surroundings will mean i will be lucky to have the luxury of having a peg where i sit on my basket at all.

The cutting down of gear started with me utilizing the Octoplus infinity box i was sent to review a few weeks ago, this box bos light and robust will be ideal for those river trips.  Its deep storage will spread the load i carry more evenly between my box and my net bag and should mean a more enjoyable walk to and from the river and if a swim is box friendly then i have a nice comfy box to sit on.

Of course terminal tackle would be an issue and i invested in a small tackle box above and in it is all the terminal tackle you need to fish a stick float.  This box will of course be built upon or joined by another box when we hit areas where bigger fish like barbel might be on the agenda but for my first session out this little box was ideal.  A huge reduction in weight carried losing the huge heavy box and the mountains of terminal tackle i carry but never use when fishing the river on the stick.

A Stinky Delivery...

I have really enjoyed the passed few weeks working with Stinky Stuff Bait Spray and incorporating it into my fishing for carp has been very interesting and rewarding.  Sessions where the flow on the lake has been towards the snag it gave me the confidence to know that smell was lapping into their hiding space and hopefully drawing them out.  Future blogs will show just how good this bait has been for the carp and it was great last week to receive a delivery from Stinky Stuff of two more bottles of their other products in the Stinky Stuff Match and Stinky Stuff Bubblecream.  The bubblecream is a really interesting one having spent most of my childhood next to a sweet making factory it brought back quite a few memories of summer nights where the streets where full of this sweet smell.

Excited to get out on the bank and a little teaser of sessions to come the Bubble cream is just as good as the crayfish for catching carp.

Glorious First River Session - Chubbin'

As mentioned in a previous blog June 16th passed by for me on a local lake fishing for carp, not the ideal way i wanted to spend the glorious 16th, but with rivers flooded it was better to be catching fish than struggling on a swollen coloured river.  Truth be told i had a nice day catching carp and thoroughly enjoyed my morning fishing for them and that will be covered in an upcoming blog.

Thursday gone and it was straight into a days work on Friday.  Looking out of the windows in work it was hard to judge temperature, dam air con, but i could see that the sky was cloudy but thankfully we had received some strong winds that kept the clouds passing over us and not dropping their rainfall.  It filled me with hope for the rivers the next day.

Fridays for me normally follow a set routine that see's me nipping into Widnes Angling Centre for my maggots and terminal tackle bits and pieces but seen as i already had 2 pints of red maggots left from the no go session the previous day it felt weird to fall out of this routine and not nip into the shop on my way home.

During the closed season hemp seed has featured in my canal fishing but i have to admit that despite having close to 10kg of hemp under my stairs i did take the easy option and buy some tinned stuff.  It splits nicely and is convenient for the canal sessions where you are not really using that much hemp seed.  The rivers are an entirely different animal and less care needs to be taken in the preparation for the rivers as i dont use it on the hook.  This coupled with the fact the batch we have at the moment is terrible and will not split well for us meant that come Friday night the kitchen was "high" with the smell of hemp seed on the boil.  I have to admit though i was in bad books as upon finding half a packed of chill mix in the cupboard and dded said mix into my hemp i was was soon busted by her in charge who had that put away for Saturdays tea!! House stinking like a drug den and using spices ear marked for meals i was not in good books, if the chub liked it though surely its acceptable. :-)

A quick sort of the tackle box and all the essentials loaded into the Octoplus box it was a chance to make up a few hook lengths and get the gear in the hall ready for a 2am wake up call the next morning, no rain i was excited to say the least. Over the past few years we have really put the time and effort in and now have quite a large portfolio of waters to choose from.  Time spent on these rivers in both high and low water and also time spent away from the bank studying how fast these rivers drop all pays dividends in the end when it comes to the fine lines between un fishable and fishable levels.  This info can not be gleamed just form the EA chart as it only gives you a number which means very little if you have nothing to refer that too as in how the river will be and fish at that level.

From huge spate rivers to tiny brooks all where looked at and we came to a decision to fish a river we knew would hold its colour and have some pace but we could also find a few fish willing to take a bait.  The walk to the river was quite a long one and i instantly felt the benefits of the new box, so much easier and lighter to carry than my preston seatbox.  Looking at the river in the darkness we could see she was still carrying a bit of pace, unexpected pace if we were honest, but we knew as the morning would draw on this river would drop and with it the pace would settle.  Setting up on opposite inside bends of an "S" shaped bend in the river we both had slack on our inside with the river moving fast around the outside bend.   It presented us with 2 main areas to catch, one just off the main flow as the river would naturally flow and two in the deep er inside slacker water under our feet, both i knew would bee good areas.

Setting up my 13ft Korum float rod i fed hemp right in line with some overhanging brambles as this is where i thought maggots fed at the head of the run would reach bottom.  A few hand fulls of maggots i knew would get the chub on the feed and in the flow, this huge influx of bait does quicken the process i have found on this river.

The set up a dave harrell 6 number 4 wire stem  stick float was the chosen float and with the extra turbulent flow i went with the dome top as i felt this would give me more control in the flow.  A size 18 hook to a 1lb 7oz hook length i was all set to go and it came a no surprise that second trot down the float buried and i was rewarded with my first chub of the season, it was great to be back on flowing water.

The chub in the swim and having had no pressure over the passed months i felt sure the next chub was not far behind.  Low and behold hald way down the run i was again into a aggressive and hard fighting chevin that made for the overhanging cover time and time again before giving me plenty of grief under my feet,  not a huge chub but two in the net in the first 10 minutes it was a great start to the session.

When the chub are in the swim every thing else barring trout i have found clear off and it was the same on this session you could tell when the chub had spooked or moved out the swim as i started to pick up smaller chublets and dace.  These are great to see as these are the next generation of fish coming through the ranks and although they dont always show its reassuring to know they are around and ready to make the jump into the main chub shoals when big enough. 

The dace and chublets came and went like the wind and after a few trots though without a knock i knew the chub had moved back in.  It took a few goes down but eventually i sussed it out and just holding the bait back slightly on my hemp would see the signs of a bite develop with shudders on the float, letting the float go would see it sail under with unmissable chub bites.  I can only liken chub bites on the stick to the bites you get from carp on commercials.

The action from these chub then was solid taking four on the bounce in what was crazy fishing as the cub really bullied in on the swim.

Fishing the swim i did i knew i was fishing for one shoal of chub as there was no way a shoal was moving through the rapids above and below this deep run.  The chub went and in came the dace and chublets again until eventually bites dried up completely.  My uncle had the same issue just down stream and had also had some chub and some nice roach.

The session finished for me with a 18lb9oz net of chub, dace and chublets and it was an excellent first session on the river.  Plenty of bites and had a few chub pull back so i left a happy angler.

Early Morning Carping Fun off the top......

The next carp session i got out was just after my 18lb pb and at this time i was treating carp fishing as something i would do when i wanted a challenge but at the same time some fun.  Armed with a loaf of bread and my floater rod i headed off to the lake.  Arriving at first light it was cold and many would be forgiven for dismissing floater fishing but i knew the carp would be in the shallows form the previous evening and being shallow i knew there was a good chance of them finding my free offerings of kingsmill.

upon arriving i threw in a few bits of bread all over the swim and under my feet.  Setting up the net and the floater rod it was a case of waiting for the carp to start taking.  Sure enough the rods was not even of its rod wraps before i heard the first swirl and slurp as a carp came up for its break fast.

I arrived at the water at 4.30am and i had to be leaving at 7am to get back, washed and showered before a full days overtime in work so it was a short session.  These short approaches seemed to see me do well with the early mornings also keeping the ducks away as they didn't seem to come to life till later in the morning.  The water colored i sprayed the crusts with some stinky stuff bubblecream to add some extra smell.

A cracking hour or so's fishing later i was leaving for work with 4 carp under my belt to just over 10lb.

Well thats another few trips on the bank caught up with and this format i think will continue for the next few weeks with carp trips added to the end of my other fishing,  I guess it adds loads of diversity to the blog as if you like rivers or carp fishing there is something there for everyone.

till next time

tight lines

Danny