Firstly i would like to give a big shout out to two guys on Twitter caller Richard Penny @Richspur and Lee Power @power_mr who are aiming to raise money for the Stacey Mowle Appeal and are looking to hold a Carp anglers social get together on the 13th to the 15th of September and it will be held at Barston Lakes in the West Midlands. The price of a ticket for the weekend is £45 and the owner is only charging for the first 20 anglers so any they get over the 20 the whole £45 will go to the appeal. This is certainly a great cause and good luck to the guys in raising as much cash as possible and i hope this plug goes some way to helping you guys out.
The Angling Gazette has again shown its links with the community by already running this story on their website so full details on how to enter or donate money is available on the following link: Angling Gazette Barston Charity
Moving on to news closer to home for myself and looking forward to the next few weeks and it is looking like it is going to be a really busy September for me with a few days away with my family to kick it off followed by a few things relating to the blog that will certainly be occupying my time on my return. Some of the things i cant go into much detail on now as the date for them has not been set in stone but needless to say i am really excited for one of them that relates to what i have been writing on my blog and i see it as kind of recognition for the effort i put into writing my blog to a certain standard every week so i am super excited for that is September.
The second thing i cant go into much detail either only to say i was contacted in the past week by a company to do a product review for them. This year i have had quite a few companies contact me with regards reviewing their products, some i have accepted and others i have declined and it all comes down to a strict criteria i set on my part in 1) is it something i would generally use and this would be able to give a honest review on and 2) is it something that actually grabs my attention and something that i think the readers of my blog would find interesting. The past year i have turned down a few opportunities because they have not met this criteria, some would say that is silly and you should take all you can for free but i feel it is important to be honest to the company who are going out of the way to give you something if you cant give it the honesty it deserves.
The company who contacted me this past week are looking for me to review a cool looking gadget that is yet to go on general sale to the public. The power point presentation they sent me was professional and the product looks really interesting in its concept and i cant wait to test it out and give it a review on the blog, more on this review during September if it all goes through smoothly.
So with a small get away coming up it will mean a week with no blog, or does it? I have a little idea of a update i could write from my phone as a bit of a fun update from our trip and if it comes off lets just say it will certainly be different to anything you will have seen on my blog before. All in all i am really excited for the coming few weeks for the bog and i hope you all like what is in store.
On to this weeks angling adventure:
Being Adaptable Puts A Few Fish On The Bank
We arrived on the majestic River Dee just as it was getting light and was greeted with the sight of a river in fine fettle she looked as beautiful as i have ever seen her, she was flowing through at a steady pace and had a tinge of colour that was not enough to stop you seeing the bottom in the margins but enough for me to know we should be in for a few fish. I have to say i never get out of my car on the banks of the river Dee and am not taken back by the beauty of this river, having fished her for a few years now its like a second home for me of a weekend any after the pollution events of yesteryear's i cherish every moment i spend on her
I started off on the stick float and decided to fish it right under my rod tip as the swim i was in was a slack behind a tree. I knew from experience that i would have to build the swim from scratch which normally means a fair few gudgeon but sticking with it can produce some nice roach and if i was really lucky a nice perch. As normal it was a maggot and hemp approach and straight away i was into the gudgeon which gave me a great deal of confidence as although its a fish that is never going to fill your net when you catch a gudgeon with a few maggots in its mouth it lets you know your doing it right as your bait is going down the same line as your free offerings. The endless line of gudgeon was followed eventually by some better fish in some small perch and one or two small roach and dace so in my eyes the swim was building nicely for me and i was expectant of a steady mornings sport.
None of these fish where the better fish i was expecting to turn up but in all honesty given what was about to happen it was never ever going to be the case. The plop of two roach hitting the keep net in quick succession marked the end of my silver fishing as from there on out i could not but a bite the swim died instantly where there was knocks on the float all the time form when it settle there was the eerie sight of a motionless float sliding through the swim. A few more trots down and still nothing, deep inside i began to feel that sense on inevitability that was only compounded by the dimpling of the water in my keep net where all its inhabitants had come to the top then a small shoal of roach shimmered close in tightly knit like sheep marshalled by a farmer's collie, all the signs where there and this week my senses where honed into the river and i instinctively had set up a pike rod the previous evening.
The float rod was retired for the day and i decided there and then with the clarity of the water and the presence of what i thought was a number of jack pike i was going to have some fun trying for a late summer pike or two for the remainder of the session. A small roach bait will always be my go to bait for pike as i think the light shimmers better of the fish and they are a bite i have real confidence in and that confidence was boosted even further as no more than 5 minutes after introducing the bait i was locked in battle with a really hard fighting pike that tried all the tricks in the book to escape from trying to spit the barbless treble hooks to tail walking and when that failed it made long hard runs for the tree to my left.
A year or so ago i was given some really sound advice from a fellow dee pike angler who pointed me i the right direction for what strength line and rod i should be using so i was more that equipped to deal with this pike that i estimated as still being in the "jack" category and knowing how hard these fish fight in summer i began to exert some pressure on the fish the reduce the length of the battle as there is a fine line between having fun catching the pike and prolonging the battle so long it endangers the pikes ability to recover later on. I quickly got the pike in and the hooks being barbless came out really easy, it was then quickly placed on the scales for a reference point for the rest of the season and a few pictures taken before i took it a few swims down and rested the pike in the margins in the landing net till it was holding itself upright and showing me some of that tigerish attitude it had demonstrated in the fight. At this time of year if you are fishing away from weirs or rapids the oxygen levels in the river are really low so it takes the fish a while to recover and we really do owe it to the fish to give it the respect it deserves and who knows that fish in 10 years time could be that 20lb fish of your dreams.
At 6.5lb this fish has got some growing to do till its boxing in the heavyweight class but it certainly has every chance of making it in such a rich river. The fish returned safely it was back to the pike fishing and i did not have to wait long for another take although this one certainly had eyes bigger than its belly as it hounded the bait before grabbing it across the flank. In the water with its gills flared it looked a bigger fish but in reality on the bank it was a really small jack pike but goes to show that even at this young age they are more than equipped and the only thing on a pike this sizes mind is getting big enough so its not on a bigger pikes menu.
I returned this pike downstream just as the local church bell sounded out that it was 11.30 and it was time for us to think about packing away and making our way to our second venue but before we did broke camp i decided to have a cheeky try in my uncles swim for a pike as he had also had a period of inactivity from the silvers and with the pike obviously in the mood it was rude not to try for a third. I have done a fair bit of pike fishing in my life on the local canal and on the river in the past few years and i can honestly say i have never seen a pike take a bait like i did on Saturday as the pike came up from beneath the fish grabbed it, came out of the water and turned in the air with the fish in its mouth it was breathtaking stuff to witness.
This pike was pretty much in the same bracket as the first one and at first i thought it maybe was the same but on closer inspection of the pictures they are separate fish. The fish again gave a good account for itself but as with the first i tried to reduce the length of the fight as not to endanger the fish going back so it was quickly netted, had a picture taken, rested and returned and with as quick as the pike darted back into its lair we jumped into the car and headed back towards home.
The canal beckoned and although this venue is not normally prolific fishing it can have its days but what it offered us on Saturday was a nice easy fish only a small walk from the car. We set up the customary 12 yards apart and both chose to fish the far side on the pole to avoid the heavy boat pressure, this was a bank holiday weekend after all.
The reed bed between us offered some structure that we hoped hold some fish and we was not disappointed as we both caught steady for the full two hours we were there and my uncle even got snapped by a rogue fish which had it snapped before he even had chance to ship back, a rogue carp or a tench where at the top of my betting sheet. As i mentioned we both caught steady for the few hours we where there and that showed in the combined final net. I have promised myself to return before our holiday for a proper go at this canal with ground bait and pinkie.
well that's just about it for this week and i leave you with a tweet from twitter that made me chuckle this week.
"its 50 years since martin Luther king said that famous fishing phrase,I HAVE A BREAM!"
till next week its tight lines
Danny
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