Winter Chub Fishing on the Stick Float

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you well and your nets wet.  After a drab Christmas period fishing wise the arrival of Double overtime at work to start 2018 did nothing to help me find time to hit the bank to rekindle my fishing spark.  Fishing can be many things from addiction to part of a routine and for some like myself it is almost a necessity, a place where the hectic and sometimes frantic 9-5 week can be washed away.  I needed to get out on the bank and have a good session, venue would be key in this, as it always is in winter, but with all the waterways finally fining down i knew of one such spot that might just see me scratching that itch.

Winter Chub Fishing on The Stick Float...

Nothing quite scratches a fishing itch quite like the rod bending round into a chub and it was this species i hoped to find on the session.  A few jobs to complete on Saturday morning i quickly set about completing these tasks and finally packed the car around 11am.

A cold over cast day with plenty of grey cloud cover greeted me as i loaded up the fish mobile who's skirts still sported the brown splatters of mud from the weekly commute the day before.  The car loaded with the bare essentials a warm glow of excitement inside polarised the cold air nipping at my nose, i felt confident of a bite.

Meandering along the B-Roads to the river the car bounced as it emptied the winter pot holes of their overnight rainfall, a salute to the buzzard on street lamp number 3 as i passed his usual station.  He looked as fed up of the weather as all us anglers of late but funny how this same bird sites on the same post every week.  The fields adjacent to the roads bare of their autumn crops that lay wrapped up tightly in bales next to the farmers barns and the whole landscape just had the mid winter feel to it.  A complete contrast to the greens and bright yellows of summer but none the less beautiful, fishing in all seasons is such a pleasure.

The river i was heading too was one we had not graced in a while but it still felt like i was heading to an old friend and the car, on auto pilot, knew the path to take.  Arriving at the venue and opening the car door for the first time you could feel that cold wet breeze hit your face, not an unpleasant winter breeze but the cool refreshing clean air breeze that only comes when beside running water.

The river looked in fine fettle her margins clear but more akin to weak tea than Gin,  the pace just faster than walking and not a breath of wind around it was a perfect day to be fishing a stick float.  The calm nature of the river now certainly had not been the case weeks earlier as the rivers raging dark side during the floods had deposited a whole tree upstream that pushed the flow more into the middle of the river than before but did mean the flow now pushed into and alongside a far bank overhanging tree.

The overhanging tree looked similar to our Christmas tree that we let our 3 year old lad and 5 year old daughter decorate, a mess! Its overhanging branches festooned with twigs and branches held in place against the tree by the constant flow it created a nice raft that just said one thing, Mr chubs home.

Tackling the swim would not be easy as the flow down the middle had created some slack water on the inside and keeping the line out of this would be crucial to presenting the float as naturally as possible.  I had my 14ft Drennan Acolyte in the holdall and i was aching to get some proper chub on it but i knew time was of the essence and every trot down had to count.  It was a day where the functionality of my 17ft Preston Innovations Carbon active float rod would rule of the style of the acolyte.  Its extra length would keep as much line as possible out of that slack.

My reel loaded with 4lb4oz Drennan Float fish on which sat a 6 number 4 dome top stick float and all this went down to a 1lb7oz Bayer Perlon hooklength and a size 18 micro barbed hook.  As i have said before on the chub blogs you don't need big hooks or heavy lines to catch chub and when the video of this session goes live hopefully it will show just how much pressure this set up can take, balanced tackle and a correctly set drag are key.

Long term blog followers will know i have used Cheshire Particle products throughout last year and such is the quality of the hemp seed that will continue through 2018's adventures.  As always with my blogging i wont be sat there head to toe in all the gear i will simply mention when i use the product and what i catch while using and if you like what you see head over to Cheshire Particle and try it out. You will not be disappointed, Marks puts a huge amount of time and effort in creating his particles and it shows in the final product and the fish it has help catch.

I knew the chub would be sat under the raft and ideally i did not want to have to go hunting them underneath the raft.  My plan was to feed the swim heavily with maggot and hemp and create a baited area of hemp just up and to the side of the snag to lure them out and feed heavily with maggot to have a steady stream of maggots going past their door.

Chub by nature are as crafty and cautious as them come, almost like the carp of the river, but once you break that cautious barrier they can be quite easy to fool and catch and their main down fall is their greed.  While setting up the gear i fed the swim heavily with 3 good pouches of hemp and the same of white maggot and at periods while setting up continued to feed well with the maggots.

By the time i come to make the first cast the swim had been primed for a good 20 to 30 minutes and as such it only took around 5 or 6 casts before the float buried and the rod arched round solid as a bold brassy chevin held station in the fast flow.  As defiant as they come the drag on the reel gave line slowly as it ticked over as a battle of wills was played out.  The key is remaining calm and making sure you do not lose the fish right in the zone you are fishing.  Eventually the chub kicked into the slack and i knew, as long as the slack had no snags, it was a case of playing it out under my control and a few seconds later the first chub was in my palms.

Chub fishing is the ultimate game of chess and this chub a pawn in the early exchanges and one that gave me great confidence as i knew where there was one there was like a shoal.  The key is not to be in too much of a hurry to cast back in.  The shoal will have spooked and needed luring back into participating in the game again so rather than casting back in i fed the swim heavily for a good 5 minutes with hemp and maggot.  The mindset early on is to pick off as many as you can preying on the sheer greed of the chub to feed.

The time for another cast came and after a few trots through the float again bolted under and a smaller chublet bundled its way through the flow.  It lacked the brutality of its earlier brother but still had the cunning to bolt for a tree stump under my feet.  This small chublet was followed by a small grayling that of course went straight back after its capture.

A close up of the small chub showing how small a hook you can use for chub.

Reading the swim is key but so is reading the captures and i knew the arrival of a grayling meant the shoal was still not in residence, simply put the chub would easily out bully this fish.  Keeping the flow of maggots going through the swim and the odd pouch of hemp seed patience was key.  Getting into a rhythm and inching the bait through the swim it took a good half an hour before the next fish and instantly i knew it was a better one as it swam up against the flow till level with my peg.

Solid on the bottom it lazily kicked its tail and moved over in the flow the rod bending in tandem with the fight and the clicks from the reels drag increased in frequency as the chub glided across the flow.  I knew this was the best fish so far and this was confirmed when a big set of white rubber lips broke surface the only issue was it did so mid flow.  Inching the chub closer in slowly it came into netting range and a proper chunk of a chub was mine.

After this fish a change of tactic was used, i went from feeding a huge amount of maggot to just 3 or 4 every trot through.  I knew the shoal was there and all the chub had mouth fulls of feed so i knew the fish where hungry and on the bait the reduction in amount of feed had them fish now competing for just a few maggots.

Under the water the chub where sitting picking off the maggots and hemp at will now they would be searching out the maggots as they competed and this tactic worked a treat as a few more chublets came in quick succession as this game of chess was played over the next few hours.

3pm came round as quickly as the float was burying with a chub bite and before i knew it we where moving into the last hour of the session.  The famous witching hour where i expected the chub to really come on.  In that last hour they did just that as bites came on successive casts that culminated in a proper barrel of a chub showing up.

The final net went just under 16lb of fin perfect chub and capped of a very enjoyable few hours on the bank.  The 17ft rod was really put through its paces and come through it still in only 3 pieces.  joking aside hopefully this session and the video on the blogs youtube channel shortly shows how robust this set up can be.

Till next time i wish you all tight lines, please check out the blogs youtube page on the link below, over a years worth of weekly videos on there.

link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCogqlnE3gK_Re7vdU5bv8sw

Danny

Morning Fun on the river with Acolyte Plus....

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Its been a mad week this week in work so i find myself on a Sunday morning putting this weeks blog update together, a cold wet day on the river yesterday where i forgot my umbrella means i am just about drying off now! Id like to say it was worth it but as you will read in next weeks update it was a fruitless trip.

On with this update and we start with a addition i have made to the kitchen, yes the kitchen! A place i thought was only for boiling hemp seed and preparing luncheon meat turns out there is more too it than meets the eye.  I do jest of course but this addition could turn out to be a bit of a game changer.  The next part of the update is a little trip on bank holiday Monday with my little daughter who madly turned 4 last week!!  The main bit of fishing is a short trip on the river where i literally had a hour or so to target its occupants, sit back grab a brew and lets get into the update.

A Great Addition...

As regular blog readers will know i am quite fond of my winter pike fishing and at the start of each season a few of us put together a bulk order of dead baits from a website. I myself am now moving into my 3rd season on the run piking and as such i feel i have learnt a good number of lessons about the venues i fish and more so around what baits i will probably be using this season.  My first bait order back in 2014 i was like a kid in a sweet shop and ordered a multitude of different baits but only a few samples of each and i spent around 20 odd quid.

This year is a lot different and i will go into more detail on the contents of my bait order and why i have chosen these baits in next weeks update when the order is here but it is safe to say a bait order of near £50.00 has presented its own problem.  Till now i have been splitting my bait order between two fridges at my house and my dads and i have to say its caused a bit of friction, not least last year when my partner defrosted half a kilo of roach instead of chicken for tea!

Problem was resolved on Friday when i collected my very own bait freezer! The bait order due on Tuesday it will soon be full but it also offers me some great time saving opportunities as i am planning on boiling up pint sized bag so f hemp so i can literally gab a frozen bag on  Friday evening rather than having to boil it up after work.

Bank Holiday Fun With My Little Fisher.

Bank holiday Monday and with the other half in work i asked my little girl if she fancied going fishing with daddy, of course she jumped at the opportunity to catch some little fish.  The weather was not ideal as it was quite windy and to be honest heading for the canal at 10am is never a great time as there is a good reason you see my canal blogs are from first light till 10am and this down to one thing..boats! Boats don't really do much damage to your fishing but on this canal it is not just the one its four or five at a time when they get going.

My daughter is only 4 this week so i am knew to the whole taking her fishing but i have picked up one big lesson over my years fishing and that is KEEP THE SESSIONS SHORT.  Over the years i have lost count how many times i have been fishing and seen dads taking their kids fishing and a hour or two in the dad is pulling his hair out, kid is crying to go home bored and the whole thing is not fun at all.

A short session on the local canal using up some maggots on the short whip.  The development is there in here fishing as last year she knew she was catching fish but was not really understanding the whole float going under where as in the sessions this year she has put two and two together and on this short session of only a half an hour she struck all these bites herself!

She was more than made up with her little net of fish and she left the water full of excitement from the little amount of fishing she had just done.  Right now half an hour to an hour is about right for her to go and not lose interest.  It might be the last session of the year for me and my little girl fishing as i dont think she is ready to be sitting waiting for a bite.

Packing up we where rewarded with a visit from the local swam family,

One of the things i love about fishing is the development of the wildlife through the year, my how they have come on.  Well done mum and dad!

Morning Fun On the Acolyte...

Having purchased my 14ft Acolyte a few weeks ago i have found opportunities to get some use out of the rod few and far between and with my car also playing silly beggars with spare wheels being employed till pay day and such like it has meant long distance trips have been out of the question.  The recent roach nets as the bolo method suggested have been on a deeper rivers so the 17ft rod has been my tool of choice giving my that extra control.

A few days off work last week for a short family trip to Blackpool i arrived back with a day to spare before the return to work on the Thursday.  I was determined to get out on the river so a slow drive to the river was in order.  I arrived to find her as low as i have ever seen her and to be honest i knew the length of the session would not be down to myself as much as how long the fish would not spook from the dark deep recesses they where residing in.

Reading the river in these scenario really is child's play and about as easy as watercraft comes.  Anywhere you can not see the bottom there will be fish and all the spots that look lovely and serene with wavy green weed dancing the the rivers methodic beat forget about as the fish in such low clear conditions just wont be on these shallows.

I settled in a nice swim on the inside of a bend.  The water rushing round the out side of the bend had created a 10 to 15ft deep run with the back eddy and slacker water on the inside under my feed carving out a deeper whole in the river bed.  I knew the fish would be under there and it was a case of how many not if i would get a bite.

The first few casts brought two really fat plump dace that in february could go on to be very special fish indeed.

The dace kept popping up one by one at a time and bites where hard to come by and i was working hard each time to get a bite, holding the float back as much as a dared to prolong the time my bait was in the killing zone of darker water.  The swim did go through a lull and i knew straight away the big chub had come into the line of feed and muscled out the dace.  A theory that was confirmed seconds later when the float buried, as only chub do, resulting in a more than healthy bend in toe acolyte rod.

I can not express enough just how much of a joy these rods are to use they are as light as air and the action in them when you get a better fish is fantastic.  The have you on the edge of your box as you play a fish and you do need to play the fish.  If you are an angler that is hit and hold and give no ground in  the fight type of angler then you are certainly going to end up with a three piece rod becoming a five piece rod really quickly, you have to actually play the fish with these rods.

The chub was soon followed by the next family member in the shoal and then as predicted the chub show was over and the dace packed up not long after them.  It left a swim full of gudgeon and oh my god what a joy it was to bag up on these mini barbel for a good half an hour of so and there was some lumps among them!

Eventually the sun came over the trees behind me illuminating the whole swim in its warming glow.  We live in a world full of electrical alarms and clocks when the truth is that if you spend time on the bank you kind of fall into a time when there was no break down of the beautiful day into hours and minutes and learn to follow natures own time zone.

In short it was an enjoyable little few hours on the river before the bustling world around me awoke for their daily musings, i was gone long before the roads became busy and back home in time for a warm break fast.

Sat drinking my coffee and tucking into a bacon buttie i reflected on a morning of bliss spent beside a beautiful river as i watched the last of my worries from my working life float off down stream and left feeling refreshed and ready to attack the two days in work before my next angling adventure into the unknown.

till next time i wish you all 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

Stinky Stuff Review And Final Rive roach Session

Stinky Stuff Review - 

Product Information:
Link To Site: http://www.stinkystuff.fishing/index.php
Price: £9.99
Available Flavours: Original, Crayfish, Bubblegum cream, Original Sea and Peeler Crab.
100ml Bottle

Little info on Stinky Stuff: 

Stinky Stuff has been in development for the past two years. Starting from a concept of breaking down other baits and finding the core amino acid from each bait that was attracting fish to feed.We also looked at the natural environments of fish, natural food sources and circumstances that trigger a fish to feed. These circumstances are not always associated with the actual food or bait, they might be climate or other chemical and nutrients in the water. All of this information was collated into a database, now locked away in safe.

We are proud of the fact that Stinky Stuff has gone through in depth research, development and testing and through to achieving an off the shelf product. Stinky Stuff is aquatically safe, environmentally safe and in balance with a fish' digestive system.

My Review:

'Impressed with Development"

For my review i requested a bottle of the Crayfish Stinky Stuff.  This was down to the fact i planned to test this bait spray for chub on a river and this river also contains crayfish.  As with all product reviews i do some research on the product before writing the review on it and i was shocked when reading up on the Stinky Stuff just how much effort went into making this spray and more importantly all the science behind how this bait works.  Seeing the bait being developed in a science lab really added that layer of depth to how much time and planning went into this bait enhancer.   Time science behind what they where trying to achieve is broken down well to allow understanding at all levels and i though this was a excellent way of getting the message across.

'All About that Smell'

So as you can imagine with a bait called STINKY stuff the product has to have a bit of a smell to it so i was eager to get my nostrils around this bait enhancer.  When i got home and saw the parcel on the floor of my hall i was dying to see what it smelt like.  I had seen this product getting a lot of attention online and there was plenty of fish captures already coming in so stood in my hall came the first smell test!

"Smells like an Explosion at a Beef Monster Munch Factory"

Before we go any further with this review i would like to add my partner is now speaking to me.  So in the hall i spay the can and straight away it hit me, literally right between the eyes!  This bait is so strong it smelt initially to me like the small you get when you open your bait box on the bank that is full of freshly cut up luncheon meat you know that really heavy meat smell.  Commenting on the products facebook page i saw the quote above and it really does hit the nail on the head, an explosion at a beef monster much factory.  The stuff really does stink, but in a way only an angler would find appealing.

So the spray test done i set about my normally after work routine and it was not until around 2 hours later my partner came home, walking int he door she straight away said "what is that smell".  There and then i thought this has got some potential. It was then i noticed on the products webpage a funny story about the bait in development where people trailing the product had got it on their hands and rang up 3 days later saying they could not get rid of it.  

This product for me was ticking all the boxes for me, a strong meaty smell that we know fish from carp to roach love and whats more for my river fishing a long lasting one that just had to leak of smell over a long time.  It was time to get this product out on the bank.

Proof is in the pudding: 

Stinky Chubbin'

This river season has been the worst season so far and its all about taking small windows of opportunity so with that in mind i headed off to the river with a tin of luncheon meat and a bottle of the stinky stuff.  I only had an hour on the bank and the river was carrying colour so it was ideal conditions as the chub would not be feeding on sight.

It took literally a minute from placing the rod on the rod rest for the tip to tap once and wrap round and i was connected to the solid resistance of a chub.  This chub in the net as to not spook the shoal it was back out with another piece if meat sprayed with stinky stuff.  Again it seemed like no time before the tip shot round again and the second chub had fell to the link ledgered luncheon meat. 

I then lost two chub on the bounce and this is normally the kiss of death for the swim on this river for a good hour and half in some instances.  The swim did die but after around 30 minutes the tip again wrapped round and the third chub of the session was in the net.  I only had a hour for this short chub session and i left with 5 bites and 3 chub.

With product reviews on bait its always a hard review to write as there is no solid facts you can work with as to if it was the bait why the fish took the bait, all i can say is i know this river well and 5 chub in a hour is good going and the fish did come back on the feed a lot quicker than normal after a lost fish.

Something a little different..

So the river for chub was a completed mess every weekend i planned to get out so and i really had to think on my feet as to how to test this product.  Fishing a local commercial for carp on meat i would catch a lot nice roach so i decided to see how if this would be any good in catching roach from a river mixed in with the ground bait.  I mixed my ground bait up as normal, mixing it slightly in the dry side before spraying a liberal amount of the stinky stuff spray into the mix and giving it a good mix.

I fed the swim with a few large balls of ground bait laced with pinkie and fished a morning session using maggot as a hook bait.  As expected the river was carrying a fair amount of colour from recent rain and again i think this is where this bait comes into its own.  It will of course attract fish in clear conditions but i feel its edge will certainly be seen in waters that are coloured.   The fishing was really good and the ground bait fed in small nuggets kept the roach coming.

Summary:
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There are many different bait additives out there on the market and by design this steps outside the box being in the form of a spray.  The smell of this product and its long lasting smell has got to add something to your fishing.  I can see this being a bait that would do really well in my local commercial for carp in the margins and next season when i hope to target barbel.  The proof really is in the pudding and there are already some fantastic fish being caught using this product.  Thumbs up!

Last Session of the River Season -  Stinky Stuff Roach....

So the end of the season has been slowly creeping up on us for a few weeks now and with one week still to go of the season little did i know on this morning i would be on the banks of the river for the last time this season, my car breaking the following Thursday putting pay to my final week river plans.  The river i was fishing was not my initial plan for the session, i had planned a nice day fishing for chub with meat and a can of stinky stuff. In an ideal world i would see how the bait enhancer did over a full session for chub and give me some ideal opportunity to test it out for how i intended to use it, for chub and carp.

Rivers are wild beasts though and over the years i have learned to take no planned session for granted.  The day before the session it had rained none stop and even waking up in the morning of this session there was still some rain around.  The chub swim i had intended to fish was a complete mess and un-fishable with a torrent of filthy water pushing through and the odd unfortunate sheep to boot, it was a no go.

Thinking on my feet and with time on the river season running out i came up with the idea to hit the banks in search of roach again and lace my groudbait, like last week, with stinky stuff.  The water had plenty of colour but i felt i had more chance of catching roach on this day than a chub on the other river.

I mixed up the same ground bait as i normally would then left it to settle and when i come back to it it is always slightly dry this is when i gave it a good blast with the stinky stuff and this really mixes in well and gives the ground bait a unique smell and texture before i added some pinkie and balled it up.  In went 4-5 good balls of ground bait and i left the swim to settle while i set about setting up my stick float and pole line.

From the first run through the fish where lined up in the swim, small fish at first and then the better stamp began to muscle in on the lose fed maggots.  The roach where certainly on the feed and in the murky water they where picking out the maggot hook bait with ease as time and time again i went through the swim and come back with a bar of silver.

Like previous weeks i kept on feeding the swim every so often with a small nugget of ground bait and pinkie.  Once you get into a rhythm with stick float fishing you begin to get a feel for where the fish are feeding in your swim.  You ideally want them between 10 and 15 yards down stream as this gives you bait enough time to get on the bottom where you want to be catching the fish and also enough time for your float to settle and mend your line ready to hit the bites.  Too far down the swim and through the course of the day you wont draw the full potential from the swim and too far up the swim catching the fish is a nightmare.  This is where time on the bank is essential as you learn just how much to feed the swim to keep the fish where you want them.

The river during the session was falling slowly and as it did so i could see the clarity slowly dropping from the water and with clear bright skies now over head i knew this would present a new problem.  I made a huge change and added extra ground bait to the mix and then a lot of water and a good spray of stinky stuff.  The mix was really wet and almost sloppy and this was purely down the toe fact i no longer wanted the ground bait to draw the fish into the swim, i was confident the smell and bait on the deck was doing that.  I now wanted the ground bait to cloud the water up for me and keep an almost artificial cloud in the water.  I fed this into the slack so it was not washed away so fast and i am sure it got me a good hour and a half extra fishing from the swim during that time some nice roach showed up.

The final net was a nice way to send of the river season and i left happy with my efforts and happy i made the right choice.

Looking back over the sessions i fished with the bait i am sure there are not many people out there writing reviews who have used it the way i have and sometimes thinking out side the box can prove to be the best thing and i think in this case it showed how versatile this can be.  I will be of course using this bait mixed with meat and corn in the coming sessions for carp on commercials and i can not wait to see what it can do.

till next time

tight lines

Danny

River Roach and Dace Brace To Remember!!

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Well finally the temperature has dropped and unlike the rest of the non anglers i am over the moon.  This update i share my thoughts on going fishing in the cold and then look back at some of my favourite memories of fishing in the cold and the snow. The fishing this week see's us heading out to take advantage of another window of opportunity on the river and this time i remember my scales.

On to the Update...

4 Below Are You Mad To Go??

The news is full of all manner of stories telling of the "Storm of The Century" is on its way or "brace for the Icy Blast" and although from time to time they are right on most occasions the weather is no where near as bad as they mention.  Angling is a sport that has many divisions and sub divisions but the biggest way to divide all arms of angling is into two brackets.  Anglers who fish all year round or anglers who fish in the warmer months, commonly know as fair weather anglers, there in my eyes is nothing wrong with being in either camp.

I am most certainly in the All Year round camp and one of the things i love most about angling is experiencing the great out doors in all its forms.  I find the sight of a canal path laden with ice covered puddles and snow covered river banks just as exciting as the sight of the first daffodils rising in spring and the new lambs in the many fields as you travel to your location.  Each season is as magical as the other in my opinion.  Winter is not a season to be afraid of, many look out and think "as if I'm going fishing in this" but others also look out and think they wont catch in the cold and in my opinion that is the thought process i aim to challenge in this piece.

Winter for me fishing wise is a season i love and although the bank sides are barren and died back it really is in my opinion the season of plenty and actually the easier months fishing for me.  Fishing can be hard don't get me wrong but if you have put the time into learning where the dace will shoal up or taken the time to walk a lake at first and last light to see where the silvers as topping then you are already half way there.  At this time of year location is everything and being on the fish is paramount as the distance fish will travel to their winter haunts can be huge but the difference between catching and not can be minute.

 A great example of this was a session me and my uncle fished on the river dee.  We both fished an area known to hold huge heads of silver fish in winter.  My uncle pegged below the bridge and me above it a gap of only 100 yards and both swims an even depth.  All above the bridge netted up to and above 20lb of fish while my uncle had 3 bites.  Again once you find the fish the lines of success can be so thin.

You have to be prepared to fish in the colder months with the right gear but with good thermal base layers and solid thermal boots you should be fine.  Target fish you know will feed in the cold and you will be amazed what great fishing you can have.

Cold Sessions To Remember...

So when the cold really sets in the excitement levels really start to rise and there has been a few times we have headed out with snow on the ground and had some fantastic sessions but the river Dee sessions really do stand out for me.  The first i remember was a session when me and my uncle headed off to the river in search of dace.  The roads all the way there where a nightmare and it was more out of relief than anything else when we pulled up to the pegs.

The weather for the day had forecast freezing rain, what the hell is that we thought, we ll later on in the session the rain hit and as it hut the floor it froze instantly.  I remember being warm in my thermal gear but my hands where sooo cold and every time i had to put my hand into my hemp that was no mixed with a freezing cold slush i regretted it.  The dace really showed up on the session and i remember us both bagging up on dace, a real show of what can be caught even when the temperature goes into minus figures.

full update of this session here: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/ice-ice-baby.html

The next species normally on my mind when the cold and especially when the snow arrives is the pike.  A few years ago i set my heart on a pike in the snow and off i set to try and achieve that goal.  A stop of first for a bit of stick float fishing to catch some live baits and it was off to the spot i had in mind, same river mind.

The mighty river dee was my river of choice and i arrived at a spot i had caught some pike in summer.  The pike in summer where all jacks around 3-5lb but my target was a pike in the snow i did not really care about size of pike.  The bait lowered into the slack i waited and it didn't take long for the float to disappear into the depths.  A good hard strike and the rod hooped over, at this time i was not really into my piking and was using my 1.75lb barbel rod so you can image the bend.  Certainly not the tiny jacks of summer and yet not a monster, in the net i had my pike in the snow.  Was there more to come though? find out in the update.

link to update: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/dreaming-in-winter-wonderland.html

There are of course many other sessions over the years where we have gone out in the snow but these and the ones that spring to mind.  Having been out yesterday as well in the snow with not so much as a touch you really appreciate the sessions you make the effort and it all comes good.

On to the Fishing...

Brace To Remember On The Stick Float...

The night before the session we had a good look at the rivers and decided to fish the same river as the previous session and in a twist we decided to just take one set of gear and fish the same swim taking it in turns of around 30 minutes to trot the swim while the other fished a lead into a deep hole. 

We arrived on the bank full of expectation and hope.  The swim we knew from experience held a good head of chub with the potential to give us both a bend in our rods for most of the day.  We expected to get the full day as there was no rain forecast and although the river was up a foot or so it had a nice clarity so we expected to catch.

Feeding the swim as we set up i was excited as i sat in the hot seat for the first half an hour stint.  The first trot down and i small little dace was my reward, a good sign as these fish in the swim would only increase the amount of fish In the net s.  A trot down again and the rod hooped round as i struck, a chublet came up in the water and into the net.  Two casts and two bites a solid start.  The nature of this swim is that you normally hit a few nice chub and then the swim can die for a half hour or so and then they come on again.  By fishing the way we did we hoped for one person to catch, then stop catching and then time it so the other person took over right on bite time.

The third trot down i hooked into  fish that felt like another chublet, this was till it came up int he water and i noticed it was a dace and a big one to boot!.  Fighting in the clear water i could see my prize right in front of me and it was a dace i did not want to lose.  A few anxious moments as the dace held in the current and then moved flank on in the current giving you that horror feeling of slack line and a lost fish.  Eventually she came up and slid into the net, a clonking dace and this time i had my scales, 14oz!

The next trot down i decided to go along the fast water to the snag and inched the bait down the swim.  Reaching the snag i held back and the float zoomed under, a nice bend in the rid again and in the fast flow it put up a great fight.  Again an unusual fight that had force but lacked the brute power of a chub.  Up the fish came and revealed itself to be a massive Roach!  Another big silver and a fish i did not want to lose.

My hands trebled as i lifted the roach from the landing net and marvelled at its beauty, a very rare fish indeed and one that certainly a new personal best for myself.  On the scales she went 1lb 5oz, although in the roach world a long way off a monster fish, for me, was two trots down the river i will never forget.

Handing the rod over to my uncle i sat back and thought about the two fish i had caught and was over the moon.  The only thing i love more than fishing a river is watching my uncle trot a float through, it takes me back to when i first started trotting and i would spend ages just sat in his swim watching how he fished the river.  Asking questions about why he fishes that line and why he holds the float back in that place in the swim was all a vital part of the stick float angler i am today.  Able to read a river and approach a swim on my own and feel confident i can catch fish is all down to those early sessions.

Trotting the float through it was no surprise that he was soon into some chub and a good standard to boot.  He took a number of dace and chub during his stint.  Taking over i caught some more but the bite had become really patchy.  The fish where not moving out and the river had gained pace.

For the next few hours we really struggled for bites with my uncle picking up the odd one on the float and a lead fished tight to the snag accounting for another.  Come pack up time at 2pm we had put around 15lb in the net, not the 30lb plus we had hoped for but a nice day on the bank with plenty of banter. 

This session will aways live in my memory for the two trots down in succession early on with a 14oz dace and a 1lb 5oz roach looking as pretty as a picture together on the mat.

One happy angler wishing you all tight lines till the next update

Danny

Lets Talk Blanking And Monster Dace Scale Regrets...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  To be brutally honest i have tried to put a blog together a few times since new year and each time my mind has just been blank.  Just like fishing blogging can have its peaks and troughs where blogs like fish either come easy or seem to be a struggle.  A day or two off work i find myself with time on my hands and suddenly it feels right, laptop booted and here we go.

So in this update i am going to really concentrate on one main topic and that topic is blanking but before we get into that i would like to take a second to wish you all a happy new year and i hope 2016 is a year filled with success both on the bank and in your family lives, all the best to you all.  The fishing sees a trip to the river and boy do the fish turn up, sadly it is the one and only trip i have ever forgot my scales and boy do i live to regret it.

On to the update..

Blanking, A story or woe? or good lessons learnt? 

I am very fortunate to be an angler that gets on the bank at least once a week, madness some say and others will call it passion, me? I call it a necessity for my sanity.  Fishing offers me all manner of benefits, time alone to think through problems, relaxation and with a ever increasing amount now companionship and comradeship towards a common goal.

Getting out on the bank this much you experience peaks and troughs in your angling, the times where you feel like an angling god where it seems no matter where you out your bait you catch a fish, you never tangle and no fish come off.  You then have the flip side of this where the float can be as stagnant as the very still mill pond you are fishing, every cast down the river is a snag and it seems that no mater what you do the float not go under.

Blanking, a word that seems to send chills down any anglers spine, a word loaded with a sense of failure and almost embarrassment as each trip seems to be a quest to avoid "the dreaded blank..  I know when i first experienced a dip in my angling a few years ago it really hit me hard and fishing turned into something that was not a pastime filled with excitement and relaxation and became more a chore that built into fishing becoming frustrating.  As time has gone on and i have matured and grown into fishing these dips i know are times to not to be too hung up upon, i know from experience to keep doing what worked before and in time the tide will turn.

Blanking is part and parcel of fishing, we all do it and at times its to be expected and this is all forms of angling.  In mine when i try a new area of river or a completely new river then finding the areas the fish congregate especially in winter can lead to a string of hard sessions but in the long run these hard sessions make the good ones even the sweeter.  Pike fishing of course has taken off with me the past few seasons and these early lessons learnt trying rivers have put me in a good mindset for dealing with the blanks that come more often with the pike fishing.

Pike fishing does present a new set of problems with blanking as you might only get one chance on a session so that chances of a blank are high.  I feel the key to dealing with these is to evaluate if the area you are fishing is still where you think the pike will be as pike can be so seasonal in their movements as they follow the silvers and then also remain confident in your tactics.  Very rarely are huge changes in tactics needed i feel, the tactics and baits that caught pike before will catch pike now and as mentioned location can be reevaluated but in essence time is the only healer here and keeping positive, the fish will come.

One thing we should try to avoid is beating ourselves up as this only leads to you making more bad decisions on the possible bad decisions you are already making.  Try to avoid looking too much at what other anglers are doing and concentrate on your own fishing.  When blanking it is never a good idea to go looking at groups or pages on facebook of other anglers catching as remember only catching anglers really post so it will seem like the whole of the world but you is catching. Keep concentrated on your own fishing and in time the bites will come.

On to the fishing....

Monster Dace, Big Chub and Scale Regrets.....

So with the majority rivers around all in the fields we had a good sit down on Friday night and evaluated our options.  The river Dee was in the fields and most would say un-fishable but if you find the areas where there is a slack and the colour is not like chocolate you have a chance.  Most people look at the river charts, as i do, but from this chart only see the numeric level.  The chart is there to show you the trend of the level, if a river is in the fields then it is deemed un-fishable yet if this river has been in the fields for 10 days then the clarity of the main river might be good for fishing and its a case of finding the right spot.

We went through our options looking at the blog and past trips, yes the blog is my main tool for looking at passed trips over the years haha, we settled on a venue where we knew the level was i would say "ok".  In reality it would be the highest level we had ever fished this river but it had been dropping for a day or two so we knew we where in with a chance of a fish.

My plan for the day was to spend the morning in one swim where i was hoping to pick up the odd chub and if it died, it normally does due to the low stock of fish in this swim, then move and spend the afternoon in another swim where i knew there was a good head of chub.

The swim i was in was a stick float anglers dream, a nice even pace, even depth and fair bit of cover along the banks for the fish to feel safe around.  The first trot down brought the expected trout, greedy and always willing to feed i had a feeling this would be the first fish in.  Either that or a chub, i would have preferred the latter.  Trout are lovely fish but their erratic fight and flapping allover the swim does little to help your dace and chub swim.

half an hour into the session and i was pleased to see the dace hard on the feed as i knew it would prolong the longevity of the swim.  The swim being positioned where it is i knew the shoal of chub would be around eventually when the maggots proved too much to resist but in reality i would be happy to catch dace all day.  The quality of the dace seemed to suddenly improved with a me losing a nice dace and putting this dace on the bank.

I took a minute to admire its beauty, scale perfect as its mirror like scales glistened in the mottled light coming through the trees.  A few more trots down brought a few more dace and i was in heaven and then i hit a fish that felt nice.  You can normally tell from the fight what you are connected too, dace seem to thug and give a gliding fight, dace you really feel the tail, chub feel like your connected to the bottom and barbel leave you feeling like your in trouble from the off.  This was a weird fight and at first i thought chublet and even more so as it came up as it was a nice big fish, chub i thought, then i saw it on the top!  "jesus its a dace i thought!!"  in the net i was in ore at its beauty it was a really big dace.  I then thought scales which hit me where in my pike gear! gutted.

A fish i will never know the size of although i will always have the memory of its capture and this photo.

After this dace was in the net it seemed the dace died off and over the next hour or so i picked up the odd chub but as predicted around midday the swim seemed devoid of bites.  All my tricks to tempt another bite attempted i decided to take a picture of the net and move on, not a bad mornings work.

The move of swim brought me closer to my uncle and i looked forward to an afternoons banter as we fished the last two hours of the session.  The swim i was in i knew held a good head of chub and i had experienced some phenomenal sessions in this swim over the years with nets of chub over 30lb but the next two hours i have to say shocked me.

The pace of the river was more than i would have liked here and at first i thought i was wasting my time as the bait float trundled through the fast glide down to the snag.  A few trots down and nothing to show i started to experiment with feeding and presentation and it took a few changes here and there before i unlocked the key to the lock on how the chub wanted the bait on this session.

Trundling down the swim i feathered the line through my fingers along the swim slowing the bait right down and then right before the snag a gentle hold on the line and as soon as i released the float buried!  Solid resistance as only a chub gives and the 13ft korum float rod was bent double.  A tense battle i the extra flow and the chub came up to be netted.

The tactic nailed i went on to have two hours fishing to remember taking 11 chub and a few dace for a net estimated to be around 25-30lb.  A cracking two hours sport and fishing does not come much better than that on the stick float.  All caught on maggot and hemp.

That brings us to the end of this weeks blog update i hope the talk on blanking and the nice river session where a nice introduction to 2016.

Till next time i wish you all

tight lines

Danny