Warrington Angling Centre Consultant Role and Heatholder product review..

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and you nets wet.  We are now well into January and for me it has been more of a case of whats going on away from the actual fishing than time on the bank.  If i am honest time on the bank has been hard to come by what with overtime and other commitments and even then when i have had a window of opportunity mother nature has either dealt me a flooded river of a gin clear canal.

That is fishing and if blogging for over 5 years has taught me anything it is to take the rough with the smooth in the knowledge that all will come good in the end.  In this update i talk a little on a exciting role i have accepted, a product review and then a brutally honest look at the disaster that has been my post November pike fishing.  The fishing is a session on the River Weaver where it didnt go all to plan.

Angling Consuultant Role Warrington Anngling Centre..

I am excited and over the moon to announce that i have been asked to become an Angling Consultant working with Warrington Angling Centre.  Its a role i saw advertised over Christmas and thought on for a day or two as it is a huge commitment to take on especially with this blog being already quite time consuming as it expands onto Youtube but it was an opportunity that both excited me and one i just had a good feeling about.

I will be joining a small team of Angling Consultants of which there are two i know and have spoke to over facebook from time to time and are both fantastic anglers.  The team will give us all opportunities i feel to learn from each other in aspects of fishing that we might not try a lot.  For myself i am looking forward to the challenge of producing different content to this blog and trying to produce content for them that is more tactics and tackle i use based as opposed to the blog writing that is more about how i perceive the fishing and how it was on the day.

I will post links to any content that goes live on their page in these updates i would really appreciate any support you can  give them with  likes and shares.

Thermal Sock Product Review...

Product info

Price: £4.99
Link to Site: https://heatholders.co.uk/products/socks
Tog: 2.3

"A fit for purpose product to be proud of. 

It swiftly became our single-minded mission to make the warmest thermal sock on the planet.

What followed was two long years of experimentation and innovation, re-tooling equipment 

and routinely discarding yarn mixes until unique 3 stage knitting process was perfected.

Due to specially developed construction and our intense brushing process,

trap more warm air close to the skin keeping you warmer for longer!

Whether pursuing outdoor activities, working in a cold climate or simply for that extra confidence

and comfort in those cold winter months will help ensure NO MORE COLD FEET!"

On the Bank Review:

The morning of the review and it was away with my trusty Skee Tex Thermal boots and in came the thermal socks and to give them a thorough test i wore a pair of normal every day boots with them.  The day of the  test was quite mild compared to the recent snow flurries and frosts we have had but ti was still in low single figures, so it would be a test.

Adding to the test was the fact that i was pike fishing which by its nature is very much cast in and sit and wait for the pike to make the next move.  The session passed by without much activity on the pike floats but whilst i whittled away the hours hoping the float would move my feet remained OK.  I don't judge how well a thermal piece of kit does in keeping me warm by how warm my body is kept or saying "yes these thermals where amazing i was sweating buckets all morning"  I always judge them by one simple test and that is:

"Was i sat there thinking my feet are cold? And the answer
to that question was a solid No"

Not once during the session did i think my feet where cold so they certainly passed the test for me.  As a product they did the job they where asked too on the conditions provided.

The price of this sock i think is reasonable and i was impressed with how thick they where which made walking in the boots easier.  They will be fitting into my fishing come that period as we move into spring where its too warm for the skee tex but you still feel you cannot risk a trip out with a pair of boots with normal socks on.

All in all a solid product that does the job its asked to do in keeping your feet warm, they certainly have worked while i have typed this piece in my cold kitchen ;-)

Piking Hard Spell

For those keeping up with the pike videos on youtube you will have seen the video around the blanks coming to an end with a nice pike.  I thought this would be a line in the sand but quite frankly the piking has been really really tough.  In the few years i have been piking i can honestly say December to date has been some of the hardest pike fishing to date.  It has been a huge challenge to get a bite and when takes have come they have been tiny jack pike that have either come off or been of the micro variety.

The only consolation at the moment, small consolation at that, is that everyone is struggling so you can kind of not beat your self up as much about it.  It seems the pike, for one reason or another, are just not in  the normal spots.  I do believe they are still in the vicinity of the normal winter haunts but are not as yet tightly packed in and i think it has to do with the weather.

Extreme cold is certainly a factor in why fish shoal in deeper or sheltered areas and i believe the reason we are not getting numbers of pike is the fact the shoals of prey fish are still so spread out with the mild temps.  A few days of freezing and snow is soon replaced with barmy 10 degree temps.

Eventually the big girls will have to show up for spawning reasons but if that is the case its looking like a short frantic sprint towards the end of the pike season.

On to the fishing

Tough Session on The River weaver....

video of the following session is here to view: 

A freezing cold morning with all the puddles carrying a thick lid of ice as i loaded the car for a days fishing.  Sat in the drivers seat i began thinking of where to go on such a cold day.  It had to be a river as there was no chance the local canal and ponds would not be encased in a icy tomb.

The river Dee and River weaver where my two choices and knowing the circus that goes with the river Dee at this time of year i opted for a quiet day on the banks of the River Weaver.  I say quiet i knew the match stretch i was heading too would be far form quiet given its close vicinity to the main road.

 The gritters had certainly been slacking the night before as i made my way slowly to the venue, some of the roads completely iced white with the ice it made for a event full slow trundle to the river.

Arriving it was complete day light and i began walking the stretch looking at the pegs.  It was already noticeable there was little topping.  Fish topping was not a disaster in my opinion as i was fishing the bolo which by the very method you want the fish down deep to catch them.  The abundant predatory bird life gave away enough of a clue to the shoals below for me to get excited.

I had already fished a few swims on this beat so i decided to try a swim i had never tried before.  It was a swim where the river narrowed slightly so in theory i was thinking i was closer to the deeper water down the middle which would make for easier line control and an enjoyable days fishing, how wrong i was.

A 3gram bolo and my 17ft float rod set up i began to plumb up and found a deep run just this side of the middle with the river shallowing up along the far bank with also a deep channel under my feet where i had already spotted a pike grabbing its breakfast.

Feeding caster and hemp and with a red maggot on the hook  i began and the first run through brought a small roach to the net with the second run through bringing a slightly bigger roach in what was a great start to the session.

Unfortunately that is where the good news story ended as form that point till 1 pm i hit snag after snag after snag.  I tried a bit closer in on the middle line, a bit further out, down the far side and literally off the rod tip and every time i would trot through get a fish and then hit a snag.

This is river fishing of course so days like this do come along but i have to say days where you can not find a line at all are rare and i pitied anyone who got this peg in a match.

i thought about moving but you learn nothing by moving from a peg and was determined to learn the swim for future session and it paid off as around 1pm i found a line i could trot about a foot down stream of the Rod tip and it was clear.  I put together the final net of fish in between 1pm and 2.30pm where a pike marauding through the swim killed it.  I knew i had no where else to try in the swim so it was the killer to the swim that was impossible to remedy.

Not the greatest days fishing i have ever had but time spent after the session thinking it over saw me draw the positives and i knew in future to one try and avoid that swim and two if i have to fish it i know know a piece of the jigsaw as to where i can at least fish a line.


Danny

River Dee Bolo Session and The Little Daley Angler...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Settling back into a routine with the blog and other commitments now on Youtube and it does seem to be knitting in nicely.  I have found as long as i get the videos out of the way and scheduled early in the week then it leaves the rest of the week to put together the corresponding blog update,

That said this week has been a week where the Internet in my house has been down so the distraction of other peoples content so time will tell in the coming weeks if there is still scope for this routine.  One thing i can say is look out this Friday for a special capture in a pike video!  Its a video for me that i think shows what pike fishing is like for most people around the country, hard work, blanks and moments of joy as you come out the other side.

On to the update..

Trip Down Memory Lane....

This week i snagged on bottom whilst wobbling a roach on the river which involved me pulling hard to straighten the hooks out but after only moderate pressure on the line the line just exploded.  Doing some tests on the line i noticed the line was fragile in places and must have literally gone all of a sudden as i certainly had no issues in previous weeks.  A trip to my dads was in order to pick up a new spool of braid to replace the reel with.

While i was there my dad pulled out a box he had found at the bottom of the cupboard during a recent clear out, what it contained saw memories come flooding back form my youth.  Firstly the two lures in the picture tell quite a different story, with the rainbow one being, as i remember it, absolutely useless  on the local cut.  On the opposite side of the coin the Abu Garcia "Terminator" was a killer lure as the scars down its flank are testament to.  Shallow diving and flashes of silver i remember it being the best lure for the canal as it did not dive deep and kept out of the way of the trolleys, bikes, dead bodies and traffic cones in the local cut.

Now this picture of the pike bobber brings back memories of my teenage years fishing with my dad.  Pike had just started to appear on the canal and where becoming a regular appearance on our trips for roach and bream.  My dad always had a cantilever tackle box and in one of the compartments was this old school pike bobber float and some may remember when pike traces came in a see through bag with a yellow that i think where made by kamasan.  How pike fishing has taken off from these days when a live bait was presented under a float that was held in position only by the tension form the stick through the middle.

I always remember me getting one pike on a live perch, quite a funny story and one maybe for another blog.  In my head it was certainly a double but at the time it was my PB pike and with no pictures back then when we went fishing i have the best image of the pike you can have, in my memory.

A Little Angler Called Camie...

From my memories of  my childhood to a father and son creating their own memories right now, a journey that will create moments in time that, like mine with my dad, will last a lifetime and will need no pictures to recreate the magic.  I have had the pleasure over the past 2 years to have met a polite young gentleman called Cam he is a cracking little lad who already has developed a love for catching the fishy's that live beneath the water.

Under the wing of his dad Ste he has been placed firmly on the right path to becoming a cracking little angler, learning his trade on the local canal and ponds this summer it was not long before he had bagged his first silver fish on the whip and moved up to tackling some carp later on in the warmer months.

Winter has come and after seeing his dad catching some "sharks!!" as Cam calls them he decided himself the time had come for him to catch one for himself.  In what is a cracking feat for an angler so young he hooked and played from start to finish his first pike.  Not happy with catching one he then went on to catch another with his PB now standing at 8lb6oz!!.   Showing the grace of a gentleman he let his dad have the last run of the day having fed his appetite for shark catching for another week :-)

A side bet of a quid with Ste has me betting he has his first 20lb pike by the time he is 12 :-)  At this rate it will before his next birthday! Well done Cammy!!!

Forget Me Knots....

A quick final piece before we get into this fishing is a cracking little diagram a company sent me this week and asked me to share on the blog.  Noticing how great this little picture is i quickly agreed and below is a collection of fantastic knots for all your fishing needs i know i certainly have saved it for my own personal use.

River Dee Session on the Bolo...

A video of the session below is available here on the youtube channel:

Early evening and with hemp seed cooking on the stove myself and my uncle discussed out plans for the following day.  A weekend where weather conditions in the week meant all of our venues where in prime fettle to wet a line on and to be honest all would have produced the goods on the day.

We had spend a good amount of time on one or two venues this season but one that had not saw our foot prints was the banks of the muddy river Dee.  A big decision for us to visit at this time of year as it involves a very early start to get there in time to get a peg so its a venue we love to fish but the jaunt of going there is a little off putting to say the least.

Arriving under the cover of darkness we where met with the familiar sight of a number of pegs already taken so we both settled on pegs we knew would be an awkward fish but we could catch from.  Not wasting the hour before first light i got to work using the car light to tie up a few hook lengths.

First light revealed a river in fine fettle with not a breathe of wind and a cracking pace to her, it looked bob on for a few bites.  

The video explains this a little better but the swim was situated to the Right of a tree that over hanged the water causing a big slack behind and the flow coming off the end of its branches.  This tress over the years had diverted the flow as such that a deep hole had been created behind the tree so for about 10 to 15 metres of the run it was deep and then of course it shallowed up slightly as the normal bank side depth was found further down the run.

It left me with two options. 1, feed heavy with hemp and castor on the tree and try and control my feed to catch in the deep water or 2, feed downstream on the shallow run and completely miss out the deep water. On the day i felt fishing the deep water would be the best as i felt this is where the fish would be and also striking up i did not have to worry about my 17ft rod becoming a 12ft rod on the tree to my left. 

A 3 gram bolo fished with a bulk shot and two number 8 droppers to a size 20 hook on 2lb 1oz bayer perlon was the set up for the day and  feeding castor but fishing maggot on the hook i was soon catching dace of all sizes steadily.

The bites where coming right on my hemp and with the fish coming in with a mouth full of maggots it also told me i was getting my feeding right and my castors and hemp where both getting down to the bottom. The fish will always tell you if you are feeding right/  The bites go then maybe you are feeding to heavy or too far up the swim and the fish are above where you rig is settling. 

Alternating between maggot and castor saw fish coming all morning and when bites went funny on castor a change to maggot would always give me two bites at the cherry at catching on the trot rather than the one bite and done scenario with the castor.  This is a approach that can work well and when using red maggot you can get away with as they kind of resemble the castors in colour, more so than say a White maggot.  

The castors of course brought better fish like the roach above and i did hope at the time that a shoal of these fish had moved in, a scenario that can turn a good days fishing into an exceptional one.  

Into the afternoon and the bites did start to dry up on the out side line.  Experience had taught me to expect this so i had purposely fed the swim in a way that the feed covered both the outside line and slightly into the slack.  This tactic i knew would mean some maggot would be falling into the slack behind the tree.  

Dropping in here kept the bites coming and remembering to keep feeding the outside line meant i knew fish where building up confidence out there with no line going through.  The fish where of course not as big in the slack but it kept the net ticking over.

After around a hour i moved over to the outside line and it worked a treat as a shoal of small chublets had moved in and although i was travelling now onto the shallows for my bites i was getting a bite every run down.  The final net of 15lb showed how it had been a day of many bites and also that i had not really attracted caster stamp sized fish into my swim.

I left the banks happy with a days fishing that saw me only use the one hook link all day and have an bite packed session on the bank.

Till next time i wish you all a very merry Xmas and a safe and prosperous new year

Tight Lines 

Danny

Where I Fish? and Top 30 Fishing Blog Award....

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Last week i mentioned i had been off work the past month and although i wont be going into any detail about the reasons its again fishing that shows its worth for proving that there is so much more to getting out on the bank than catching fish.  That's not to say i have been out every day fishing, parental duties still have to be completed, but when i have managed to get out to wet a line i have to say those few hours alone with my thoughts have really helped me these past weeks and of course the company and support of good family and friends.

I generally keep family off this blog to keep the fishing and that separate but the good friends side is easy to share, this session for pike took my mind off all my problems, just for that day, thank you.

On to the blog.....

Top 30 Fishing Blogs on the Web Recognition...

It was great this week to get an email from Feedspot in which they congratulated me for the blog making the top 30 on their best fishing blogs on the web.  Starting the blog all those years ago for a bit of fun its amazing to see where it is today and how its developed and almost taken on its own identity as time has gone on.

The blog has been mentioned before in such lists but when i had a good look at the list it was blogs from all over the world and the majority of the top ones where all american, not a bad thing, but showed it was a list compiled form blogs all over the world.  Dannys angling Blog come in at a respectable number 28 on the list and i was proud to have even made the list never mind the top 30.

I would like to thank the organisers for not only putting the list together but also show casing angling blogs as i do think as we move into an age where anyone can write a blog or create videos of their fishing experiences that bloggers and video loggers will be the face of angling in the future.  As paper sales of the weekly magazines decline we will see them unable to pay such high salaries to their stars and as such we will see a decline in variety in the papers and thats when we will see these companies go full out paperless and online and part of that will be embracing bloggers and video loggers int he angling world.

You only have to look at the quality of videos out there and i even my little bit of the world is regularly getting 10k a month views,  in short its great that finally the people putting their heart and souls into their blogs and videos are getting some recognition and long may it continue.

Where do You Fish Danny??

If there was one question i get asked more than any other it is this one.  Dont get me wrong you put your fishing out there for all to see, you should expect it, right?  As much as i disagree with this there is a bit that is right i do put my fishing out there for all too see and if you go back to my very first blogs i cover the main reason i started this blog, the lack of information out there on fishing and i hoped tis blog would inspire people to get out there and find fishing based of what i share that proves the rewards are there.   Of course the internet is now approaching saturation point with information to the point you can get the low down on any venue out there before you even see the place and if we look at the carp word on some venues you can read how many doubles, 20's, how many 30's and then a roll call of their names, such is the world we live in.  To first know where i fish you need to get into my frame of mind, simply put its as far away from these places as i can get.

My fishing involves hours of looking on google earth for places to fish and although we do from time to time fish match lengths or popular haunts i would say the huge majority of my fishing is done on places that have no queue in the car park, no rush to get a peg and certainly places where the fish have no names.  When i do visit the busier places i almost leave with a headache from the constant reams and reams of absolute drivel some anglers find it necessary to shout to each other on the bank, some anglers i am sure don't know how to be quiet.

Have you ever drove down the road in the car or looked out the window of a bus and caught a glimpse of a spit of a pond or gone over a bridge and thought that "i wonder if there is fish in there?".  Well this is where you will find me fishing, i looked out the window and didnt just think i went out and found out.  It baffles me how people actually pay commercial prices in winter to catch silvers when most to get to the gates in time to get "the peg" they must drive past hundreds and thousands of silvers in their local canal.

Fishing the local cut or river you are not going to leave the superstar angler you will after catching a tonne from the commercial but what you will leave the canal or river with is a sense of achievement.  How many times do we hear in matches, "well hes won hes on the peg" or "billys on the flier"  we hear this all the time dont we? Well believe me once you have saw a water, got on their first light to look for fishing topping and then fished the area, you will have found your own flier! And you know what? Its all yours to enjoy, no queuing up at gates, no paying a land owner to fish.  I would say over 50% of my fishing is done for free.

So in short, where do i fish?  I fish all those crap places that people see day in and day out but turn either  their nose up at or pass wondering what if......Dont thin what if get out there and wet a line trust me its the best feeling in the world.

On the to the fishing...

Long Rod And The Bolo...

The rain had been falling hard all through Friday and it continued to tap against my bedroom window as i tried to get off to sleep, a hard enough task the night before a fishing trip as it is, waking up at silly o'clock in the morning i quickly went about my pre fishing routine part of which involves opening the back door the check what mother natures mood is.  In short she was in the same stubborn sour mood she left me in the night before with steady rain falling still.

A quick check on the EA levels page revealed them all to be on a steady rise and carrying water.  We decided on the river we where going to fish, a good depth and the fact it normally has a slow pace at best we knew with the extra water in it might have a decent flow and there was a good chance of a fish or two.

Arriving on the banks there was a few fish topping and we took the lazy option of the first two pegs we come too.

My plan for the session was to fish rod tip on the bolo float and the picture above shows just how simple the components are for river fishing.  My rod of choice was my 17ft Preston Carbon active rod teamed with my shimano reel loaded with 4lb line down to a 2ft long bayer perlon hook length.  The bait on the day was 2 pints of red maggot and about the same of hemp seed.

My plan was to fish rod tip and finding around 8ft under my feet i did think about putting a stick float on.  I fished this line from the off and started to pick up the odd small roach but i soon began to notice a snag or some sort of weed on the bottom i kept hitting.  Time and time again i would go down and right where i wanted to get my bites i would clip a snag.  Some of the time it was a fish and the bites

The times is was bites i was rewarded with a roach.

With silver fishing the basic tackle is simple, for this session it was a simple as putting on a float and adding a hook length with most of the shot in a bulk using a 2.5 gram olivette, skill in this form of fishing comes from repetition and learning the method and the art of bolo or stick float fishing.  As you trot the peg you begin to map out the line you want to fish, parts of the peg where you need to hold back to get over a depth change or a rock.

In this peg on the line i was fishing the bite dropped back below the snag on the bottom and despite me trying the feed further upstream to draw them back up the peg it was to no avail and the snag on the bottom was becoming the end point of the swim as it became a case of get a bite before the snag or no bite at all.

I eventually hit the snag solid and there was no moving it so it was game over with the hook length.  At this stage i was a tad frustrated by striking at, and missing, bites so i decided to abandon the line completely and go just this side of the middle.  It was a case of my regretting not doing it sooner as i was quickly into roach on the bolo.

This is where the beauty of owning a long rod comes to its own.  At 17 feet long i had amazing control on the inside line as i was right behind the line of the float but when it come to then going down the middle the extra length of the rod meant it was as easy fishing as it was under my feet.

Settling into a rhythm of under arm casting out, feeding maggot and then feeding hemp.....run it through, hold it back and strike.  I was quickly putting a few better roach in the net.

I got chatting to a guy and as i did i managed a run of skimmers to around a pound and a half which really boosted the final net.  No pictures unfortunately as i was too busy nattering to take one of the skimmer.  We ended the session with two nice upper single figure nets of fish on a day where most rivers in the country where in flood.  Location and knowing your rivers and picking the right one from your armory is the key.

till next time i wish you all tight lines

danny

18lb River Net On The Bolo....Great Fun!!

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Car troubles have plagued last weeks build up to the session and this has continued into this weeks trips to work, nothing serious to report yet but you know the old girl is not right and its a matter of time.  Fingers crossed she get me to the river and back this weekend.

Serious update About Canal Featured Recently In Blog:

It has been a mixed week this week weather wise and i am at this moment unsure just what conditions will face us come Saturday.  There has been one piece of disturbing news this week and it is around my canal fishing.  A stretch of the Bridgewater Canal i have featured heavily in this blog of late has recently been the scene of a viscous assault and mugging.  A woman was attacked by three men who beat her up and then mugged her.  It is sad we live in such times it really is and i wish the lady a speedy recovery.

From a fishing point of view it has made me think twice about sessions on this part of the canal.  One person causing you trouble is one thing but three is another matter and at the times of the day i fish there i feel its just asking for trouble from people who have no care of their fellow human beings.  I thought it worth a mention as well just in case local anglers who read the blog had read my exploits and where thinking of trying the stretch for themselves.  Please take care.

Social Media Update:

Its great to see the blog steadily doing well on Social Media and from its creation on sites like Twitter and Facebook i have never been one to run endless competitions and pay to advertise the blog on these platforms as i much prefer 10 people to like the page through finding it and finding it interesting over 200 just liking it to try and win a competition.

With that mentality the Twitter page recently hit 2000 follows and the Facebook this week reached the landmark of 750 likes.  Thank you to all who follow the blog on these pages and please remember these pages where set up for followers to share their angling exploits.  The Ban list on these pages remains at zero which given the shenanigans on other pages i see is a credit to the people on the page.  Again a huge thank you to all who keep up with the blog on these and again feel free to share your angling exploits.

On to the Fishing:-

18lb Net Fishing the Bolo Float...

After our success the weekend before these was only ever going to be one place we where fishing come Saturday but it was not all plain sailing a decision it sounds as rain on the Friday and reports of heavy rain and severe thunderstorms on the Saturday making us question if we should even bother.   Weather very rarely comes into my decision making process as to whether or not to bother going fishing but i have to admit i am in no hurry to become a human conductor.

I must admit as well that i am not a huge fan of fishing under an umbrella i find them cumbersome an irritant when trying to cast out and also then when concentrating on the float i find myself worrying more about my brolly blowing in than the fishing.  Add to that the extreme extra weight added to your holdall to take such apparatus it really puts a downer on my fishing and normally i just sit in the rain and fish through it but with severe weather warnings i knew we where in for a rough ride.

We crossed the river a few times on our way to our chosen destination and on one of the more lit spots we decided to jump out and take a look.  There was already a strong wind blowing down the river and i quickly worked that our section of river would be at the same angler so there was a good chance we would be facing a strong down stream wind with the odd gust in our faces, exciting stuff.

Set up wise it was a mirror of last weeks set up.  My 17 Preston Innovations Carbon active float rod fishing a 3 Gram Maver Bolo down to a bulk shot of weights all attached to a 1.7lb Kamasan Bayer Perlon hook length and a size 16 hook.  The major difference on this  session was the amount of bait.  Last time i fell short and actually ran out so this time i was taking no chances as i went armed with nearly 3 pins of maggot and nearly the same of hemp.

The river alive with fish topping we knew we where on fish but it was also clear from the sky above we did not have long to get set up before our first soaking.  I had a fair idea of the peg from last week and i knew the inside line had a decent snag on it and the main line was about 2 rod lengths out in about 8-9ft of water.

From the off i was getting plenty of bites but hitting them was another matter, they where lightning  quick and a far cry from last weeks solid bites.  There was a huge head of fish in the swim as the float was getting banged all the way from casting in to half down my swim to the hemp and all of a sudden it would be a fast bite, hit it small roach miss it a mashed maggot.

There was the odd better stamp of roach around but not in the numbers as last week and certainly not of the stamp.

It got to a pint where the fish where lifting mt float clean out of the water as the 3gram bolo was not getting through and although i was getting bites i was hitting about one 1 on 4 of them.  River fishing is a real thinking game and i had to change something about my approach.  I moved my box so i was facing more down stream and i started feeding my hemp further down the run and i also started casting down stream.

The difference in sport was dramatic and that change of angle and striking at a float down stream saw the missed bites turning into fish and it seemed the better stamp of roach where around but where holding down the swim.

The bites turned into fish i was soon putting regular fish into my keep net.  The odd better fish was was about in the league of last weeks but the majority of fish where small roach.  I then struck into something that straight away zoomed down stream taking line form the reel.  It was a strong powerful fish that put up a great fight on light tackle.

A cracking hybrid was the reward and was easily the best fish of the day.

The fish showed the potential of the area to produce even better nets than last week, a net full of those hybrids would certainly be something.  I continued to pick up bites steadily and suffered through the odd rain shower but luckily the weather man got it wrong on the thunderstorms.  Towards the end of the session the wind turned and blew violently upstream causing some huge waves to come lapping up the river.

Thankfully this came around 3pm when we planned to pack in so it was not too much of a problem.

Weighing the nets i felt i had around 10lb of fish and i was shocked to weigh the net and find i had caught 18lb of fish.  It was a hard worked for net where i had to swap and change and really think about the fishing to get the fish.  I could have easily been there missing those bites and ended with nothing.

I left the river feeling i had certainly come on as an angler from season to season as i think last year i would not have had the confidence or know how to change and get the bites and may have even given in through frustration.  It is a great feeling leaving the bank with a sense of accomplishment.

Till next time

i wish you all tight lines

Danny

Roach on the Bolo....

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  From a blogging point of view i am currently two trips behind schedule.  This is not necessarily a bad thing as a back log means i have plenty of content there stored ready to write about and also means when i do get some free time i can write a couple of updates at once and schedule them to go live over time.

At this moment in time i am into my pike season and loving it i have had some tough times already and had a nice capture already but most of all i am enjoying my pike fishing.  As you will read in coming blogs i now have my 17ft rod back in action and feel prepared now for any river we tackle.

In this weeks update i will be covering a very very special session by long time blog follower and good friend Garry had on the bank recently and we finish the introduction with a little bit on a gift i was sent by a fellow blogger to review and develop, a product i am really excited about. 

On to the update...

Pike Heaven for Garry...

Two years ago struggling on the canal to get a bite and with the wind howling in my ear i was close to giving up on my new pike dead bait adventure.  I was wet behind the ears in this branch of our sport and as always my blogs at the time where brutally honest in reporting the blanks i was going through.  It was not long after returning home i received a message from Garry offering to help me out and through a number of messages he got me to a stage where i was confident in what i was doing was right and given time i would catch pike.

Over the coming moths a few messages developed into actually going out on the bank together and again Garry was really help full in showing me how to tie my own wire traces and what knots i should be using.  Always happy to help i discovered he had helped many people over the years and with piking and it was great to see someone willing to give so much back into the sport.  I was very lucky last year to catch a fish of a lifetime and looking at the set up i caught it on it was so much more refined from the set up i was blanking on in those early day, hell i caught it on my own tied wire trace for one.

Garry's target since i have met him  has been to beat his personal best pike of i think 14lb 10oz and through the two years he has come so close with huge pike that where hollow to catching obvious 17-20lb pike that where low on weight due to hooks stopping them feeding.  Well on the 14th October at 5.30pm it all came together for him, it all came good, here is your blog mucka...

Leaving work at 4.30pm i was undecided as to whether or not to make the 40 minute journey through reams of traffic to see how Garry was doing on his day off pike fishing.  A early morning call on my break had revealed he was struggling and it was no surprise with temperatures rising to 15oc!  A quick text revealed he had moved from his morning haunt and when i arrived on the bank i was met with a man frustrated having tried every trick in the book to get a bite.  "last time i was here it was all tiny jacks" was a comment from me that in hindsight did little to improve the situation.  It seemed like i was there only a few seconds before Garry's left hand rod bounced once, causing a circular ripple to erupt across the surface in all directions around his bubble float, a slow move to the right and the float slid away.  A hard strike saw the float staying in the water and his rod bent into a nice curve, i moved his other rod into the margin and grabbed the net.  The fish at first seemed to just stay in one spot coming slowly up a little in the water columns.  I think this suddenly awoke the pike to the fact all was not well and in one long run the pike zoomed off taking line from the reel as it went.  This fish was not messing around at all and its size, unknown at this point, was added to by the fact Garry had no choice but to walk along the muddy banks with the fish to keep up with it.

"Got to be a nice fish Garry" and then she came up for the first time, "Jesus she wont fit in the net!" was the general consensus and this confirmed to me Garry was connected to a certain pb and at this point i knew it was at least a mid to upper double.  The fish came into the waiting net and her head about to grace the mesh she violently turned away on another run!!.  Holding the net i had flash backs of a lost fish where the hooks got stuck in the net and the fish flipped to safety, taking no chances we waited for the fish come in but time and time again the fish shot off at the sight of the net!. 

Walking back we knew we needed to get the fish in this time and walking back Garry eased the fish in and with a deep scoop she was in the net and Garry had his long awaited prize!.  The fish on the unhooking mat she was a fat fish with plenty of depth and width to her, to not be a personal best at this point she would have needed to been made of balsa wood, a proper pike.  It sent me straight back to a year ago for me and i wanted to make sure i captured as much of this special moment as possible for Garry so he had plenty of stuff to look back on and remember.  A few videos and a plenty of nice pictures we rested the pike in the net while we set it all up.  At 19lb 4oz he had demolished his personal best.

All the hours on the bank and numerous pike captures to get to this moment and i was privileged to have shared this moment with Garry given the fact he had helped me so much with my pike fishing. It was amazing to see such a nice pike on the bank but also see Garry bouncing up and down the bank full of excitement and jubilant at his new personal best.  It en captured everything that is so special about fishing for me, nothing in this wold can beat that feeling of walking on air after the capture of such a beautiful pike.

The session did not stop there for Garry as for the next hour his rods went mad with 3 more pike, 2 jacks and a pike of 15lb that would have been his personal best 30 minutes earlier.  Again another cracking fish.

Looking at these pictures I'm right back there on the bank with him sharing that moment and it was a privilege to have been there.  Well done mate and here's to the rest of the season to come!

Pike Float Perfection..

The blogging fishing world is at times just like one big community we all share the same passion for writing about our catches and all kind of have our own niche.  One fellow blogger, mike Cootes, writes a very good blog around his adventures on the bank but he also makes his very own floats.  All his floats till now have been stick floats or wagglers aimed at silver fishing but he recently we got into talks about me possibly looking at his new prototype pike float with a view of using it and feeding back any improvements.

As you can see from the pictures above the floats are as pretty as a picture and i was really excited to receive the float in post.  The float was fantastically packaged and protected so when i opened it up it was as beautiful as as the pictures suggested.  The float felt as light as a feather and at first i thought a little small, i was expecting it to be a lot bigger from pictures, i did wonder as to what the weight capacity of the float would be, the ultimate test being getting it out on the bank.

The line threaded through the float fine and sat on the line i could feel no weight at all on the line, everyone bangs on about resistance in this game and if that's the case no fish was feeling a thing from this float.  I went out on the bank on Sunday with this float for the first time and my usual 18 gram weight took the float to the red on the float so it gives me the option to fish on the bottom of a bait suspended.  You will read about the trip in coming blogs but as a sneak peak it has already claimed its first pike....

All in all i feel really privileged to have been sent the bespoke and personalised item of tackle it really does feel good to use it, my only worry now being losing the float!  A few more trips and i can give a full feed back report on the float but if you are looking for an item of tackle with that special touch whether for fishing a river or lake check out mikes blog on the link below!!

Mkes Blog: http://purplepeanut007.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/purple-peanut-float-caught-fish.html

on to this weeks fishing...

Roach on the Bolo!!

A new venue always gets the blood flowing with me and even more so when that new venue is a river!  Most of the fishing i do and new venues we fish is down to our hard working in scouting them out but on this occasion it was a nice tip off from a friend.  We hit the bank at dark thirty like we always do and with the mist rising from the river and the sun peaking over the horizon it was a magical moment to get on the river bank.

I only had my 13ft rod on this session and i just hoped and prayed the water in front of me was manageable for me.  Pluming up i found a nice run on the shelf dropping into a deeper channel around 10-11ft deep.  I started off on the stick and was instantly into fish and nice ones to boot which got me thinking if this was the average stamp we were in for a good days sport.

Although the float was going under regular i was missing or bumping a lot of bites.  I had a quick visit from Ste and despite speaking to him a lot on the blower and on Facebook it was great to have a face to face catch up and of course talk turned to the pike season.  I quickly changed over to a bolo float and as the sun was getting up and the sky was clear made up some ground bait to hopefully get some colour into the water.

The change over to the bolo certainly made all the difference with the bumping bites of missed bites suddenly being turned into fish on the bank and at around 5-7oz a piece some of the roach where a pleasure to catch.  I plodded along and was genuinely amazed at the quality of the roach as time and time again a palm sized roach graced my welcoming hands.

My uncle was having trouble with pike taking his fish so i decided to take a break from the trotting and see if we could land the toothy piscator from his swim.  A roach fished mid water was soon picked up and despite it not being the start of the pike season, it felt fantastic to be playing a pike again and had me looking forward to the October pike season.

The pike returned i returned to my peg and resumed my quest for roach and it was some of the best fishing we have had this year.  It really gives me great pleasure catching in deep water as it was large depths where i struggled so much in my early years so to be able to go a new venue and not be daunted by 10-12ft of water was a great feeling.  The roach continued to feed confidently and what was even better was they fed right on where i was feeding my spicy homemade chilli hemp, maggot being the hook bait.

The day drew to an end and it was time to look at the nets we had caught, with all the pike activity i expected a empty net with a hole in if i was honest! A 13lb net of red fins for me and 11lb for my uncle, a top days sport.

my net

 uncle net

Well that wraps up another week of fishing on the blog, till next time,

tight lines

Danny

River Dee Fishing: Dog Roach On The Bolo and Pole

A warm welcome to this weeks update i hope i find you all well and your autumnal nets wet.  General observations this week are that summer is not going without a fight as temperatures of 26oc being still a common midday temperature which has presented a few problems in my fishing of late but more on that later in the update.  Before we move onto the main update i would just like to say a huge thank you to all the people who have taken the time to email this week either to comment on their liking of the blog or for some hints and tips on how i go about catching the fish on my blogs.  These emails are very welcome and if you have sent one this week i will do my best to get back to you ASAP but this week the email has gone made but i will get to them all.

Pondip Time and My Second Blog......

The 18th of the month for myself is fast becoming associated with a small Brown box called a Pondip Tackle Box as its the time when i come home to the box of goodies on my door mat.  There certainly is a lot of fun with these boxes and i am loving how varied the boxes are with Septembers containing items that cover all aspects of coarse fishing from pole fishing margins or commercials to night fishing a river.  This months blog was all around the contents of the box and writing about them  and as soon as i opened this months box it just screamed Autumn fishing to me either fishing into darkness for that special big fish or using a fine hook and pole float on a slow river for roach and bream it looked a fantastic little box of fishing tackle to really get out there and tackle an autumn session.   A link to my review is below.

Link to my Pondip Blog: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/2014/september/coarse-tackle-box-autumn/

Full Steam Ahead....

It has taken the best part of two months buying a bit her and a bit there and of course a huge bait order but this week i finally got to the stage where i now have two pike rods rigged up ready to go.  The sessions pike fishing are ones i love but not only for the fishing but the fact i get to leave my heavy seat box, clunky net bag and chunky holdall behind and just grab a landing net, my ruck sack and two made up rods and i am away for a days pike hunting.  Pike fishing and my silver fishing are so far apart in this respect but in reality they go together like cheese on toast as the sheer act of silver fishing a river attracts the pike to you,  any how i do digress it feels great to know that at any moment from now on i am only a few minutes away from finishing work to being on the road to a pike swim.

Hitting The Ground Running....

With all the pike gear set to go i am planning on hitting the ground running next week as i have booked off two days from work on the 01st of October and the 3rd October and at least one of these sessions will be dedicated to just piking with the other i am hoping to sneak in a cheeky pole session as well as sneak out a pike rod with all being well. 

These two days off work will make the start of a bumper few days as i will be fishing my normal river session on the Saturday and will finish the few days off with a session piking on a water with fellow piker Ste on the Sunday.  The weather at the moment is far from ideal, in fact for piking its diabolical, but i am hoping for us to put a few pike on the bank and as always with a few social sessions planned a some great banter a long the way to mark the start of my first full season in the pursuit of Esox Lucius.

Fail to Prepare, Prepare To Fail.....

There is a well know saying "Fail to Prepare, Prepare to Fail" and it is so true.  How many times as anglers have we fished a session and at its end said well i should have done this or got to the venue and found you have no tackle to fish the swim in front of you, this all comes down to preparation.  Over the past few months i have been reading up and trying to understand the world of the pike, how and where they feed, underwater videos of them taking baits so i know where is best to put my hooks and general tactics that other anglers have published on the Internet to how they go abut their dead baiting for pike.

I am also very fortunate that in the past year i have met three guys who are well into their pike fishing and share a mutual enthusiasm for the species and targeting them in the coming months.  It is safe to say that my piking has come on leaps and bounds in the short time i have met this group of piking pirates, from tying my own rigs to general help and tips on piking it really has seen me at a stage where i am feeling not only prepared but confident when i load up the car.

All in all from where i was last year struggling on the canal and not really knowing if what i was doing was right or wrong it feels good to be looking forward to a season knowing i am prepared as i can be,  i will go more into my terminal set up as the season progresses but for now, lets get out there and have em!!

Piking Gods Look Down On The Piking JetSetter....

As i mentioned above the rods set up it is now a quick run in the house to get changed and grab my gear and i am away for me now for my piking and this was certainly the case on Monday this week.  I knew two of the lads where out piking on a local river from first light and although the news from them i received on my break was bad in only one run and that coming off i was dying to get out and wet a line for an esox. 

I pondered my annual leave sheet in work for a few seconds before making the decision that in the year of our lord 22nd September 2014 was not going to be a day Danny spent a whole day in work and a hastily booked the afternoon off.  Eventually the clock creeped its way round to 12.30, i am sure someone makes time go slower when your looking at the clock, i was off out the doors or work and on my way home to load the car and before i knew it i was walking the bank to place my two floats alongside the four already in position. 

With 6 baits in the water spread evenly along the length of water and pike in the area was spoilt for choice as a banquet of the best sushi in the world dangled tantalisingly in their faces.  The midday temperature was 26oc and there was a few clouds in the sky but nothing that was making any difference.  A hour in and we had not had so much as a tap on any of the rods despite a few recasts so we settled down and Garry began to go through some rig making with me as i had come across one or too issues making them myself at home. 

Just about to thread the hook onto the line and Garry twitched and a urgency appeared in his eyes as out of the corner of one of them he spotted the slight movement on his left hand rod.  Another dip on the float confirmed the presence of a fishes interest before the fish fully committed and the float slid away, 1, 2, 3 and strike and his rod hooped over as he connected with a feisty fish that we all thought was a lot bigger than it was on the bank.  The fish obviously still full of life in the warm weather had energy to burn as it made run after run and continued to fight in the net and on the bank.  The pike was a welcome start to the fishing and we all gained confidence from this capture as the fish might just be going on the feed.

At this stage we were all spread along a short area, it was a bit of a social after all, but with bites not forthcoming and no activity on the floats we decided to spread out a little.  Garry was again first to reap the rewards of a move as in the space of half an hour he banked another two pike which both grabbed his baits as he was bringing them in.  Three pike in a short spell and Garry was having a good session indeed and getting a very good send off for his upcoming break with a pike of 6lb and another smaller jack pike. Great to see so many in the area.

These pike released i returned to my rods.  I placed one static on the bottom in front of a reed bed but having seen them taking a moving bait i shallowed right up on my other rod and began casting and slowly reeling in the bait.  It took a number of casts but eventually i felt a aggressive tug on the bait as a bike lunged out and grabbed the dead bait.  Letting the line go slack so the fish could take the bait for a second i watched as the float sunk away and just as i was about to set the hooks the float shit right back up in the water, dam the fish had spat the bait out!.  In hindsight maybe i should have stuck as the float was moving and not waited for it to go under but i guess that's fishing.  I cursed as i thought my chance had almost certainly gone!

In all honesty i was just about to move back down to the main group before this fish struck but the fact i knew i had a feeding fish in my swim spurred me on to stick it out.  I kept twitching the bait back with no success so i decided to shallow up and cast the bait fight tight along the reeds when the fish had struck.  When fishing shallow you are always susceptible to the bait drifting so it was only the fact i saw the float moving slowly towards the reeds that alerted me to the fact a fish was having a go at the bait and sure enough the float slid away as the pike took its dinner back to its dark lair. 

I struck and was met with one of the most energetic pike i have ever hooked, only a small jack pike, but Jesus did it fight with tail walking and head shakes galore during the fight.  The tackle you have to fish with for pike does make you the boss in these fights with small jacks but still great fun and i was glad to pick up a fish.

We stuck the session out till dark hoping for Ryan to pick a fish up and i have never seen a guy put so much effort into it, he had been fishing all day and even on last knockings he was still going strong, if ever a man deserved a fish it was Ryan on this session.  There are plenty of more sessions earmarked in the coming months together so i am sure Ryan will have his day where he catches and catches well and we all struggle, i only hope i can match his enthusiasm.  Great day out and a nice catch up with Garry and Ryan and looking forward to the sessions to come.

River Dee Dog Roach On Pole and Bolo.......Smashing Session!!!

Saturday morning and i don't think i have ever done so much preparation for a session in my life before as i set about making up pole rigs to fish a swim i knew was around 15-16ft deep.  This depth equated to the bottom of my number 5 section of my pole and a swim this deep certainly called for some heavy gear so i set up with a 3 gram float fished with a Olivette 2ft from the hook with a hook length of 1.7oz Bayer Peron.

Inspecting my pole at this point as i put it away i did notice a little tiny crack in the bottom of my number three section but it was a knock that had been there for some time so i didn't pay it too much thought and continued to pack the gear away. 

Walking the banks of the river in the dark we were both startled but a own flying low to the bank close in as it turned and a ghost like flash of white let off a terrible racket as it flew off upstream.  I settled into a swim and my uncle set up just down stream form myself, its been a while since we have fished close enough to have a natter all day so it was good to have a nice social fish.

A rare sight for regular blog readers, danny fishing a river with a pole, but i guess with the River Weaver on the card its a sight that we will be seeing a little more.

Setting up in no time at all i was feeding the swim and running a float through in no time at all and it wasn't long before i got my first bite on the pole which saw me land this nice little roach, i always take a picture of the first fish of the session as i know one day it will be the only fish of the update.

The next few put in saw similar small roach and perch but after that i connected with the first fish of the standard i had hoped for in a fin perfect roach that must have been up around the 1lb mark it was a stonking roach.  In fact this first roach marked the start of a precession of 3 roach that all came on the pole rig and i was excited for a good, if not exceptional, session ahead.

The next bites after the three nice roach saw some smaller roach come to the pole rig.  I was fishing away over the moon with me really getting to grips with a new method and i was delighted that my plan to eradicate the missed bites you get striking upwards on the bolo was coming into fruition.  Fishing 67 sections of pole i was comfortably fishing just over the ledge and to land fish it was simply an act of removing one section of pole and it was then fish to hand unless the net was needed.

Sadly whilst striking a bite i heard an almighty crack and upon inspecting my top two section i noticed a split right up the blank, that little crack was not a big crack and this certainly marked the end of the session on the pole as this was the only top kit i had packed, gutted was not the word.  At the time i was more upset at the fact i knew i was doing well and was on for a nice weight of roach had it continued, of course later on you are upset at the financial loss.

I took a second to lick my wounds before setting about making up my 17ft trotting rod, set up wise it was the same weight bolo float just moved over on to running line.   Moving over to the rod and fishing so deep does have its problems both with presentation and also with the line wrapping around the tip all the time, both very frustrating.  It took a while to get the bites going again as i struggled with accuracy of the line i was trotting.  Eventually my persistence was rewarded as i began to again pick up some nice roach.  In fact once i got to grips with the swim and putting the float through i caught some cracking roach steadily for the next few hours with palm sized roach coming between a few smaller roach.  A few are below and looking at the pics i think a few could be mixed with chub.

From 12 noon till around 2 pm the swim completely died of death as the roach just seemed to do a disappearing act.  It has been a while since we have been on a river where pike trouble is a regular occurrence and as such i spent a long time thinking i was doing something wrong rather that having my mind homed into the fact there was a pike in the swim.  It all clicked when right down the swim i connected with a small fish that suddenly went really heavy.  I had the fish on for a while and in typical pike fashion the jack spewed the bait at the last minute.  What a mess even a jack makes.

I knew in the back of my head this pike had no clue it was being fished for so i quickly reached for the pike rod and presented a bait at 12ft as to miss the snags.  It did not take long for the float to bob away and i knew from the erratic bobbing and the fact the float would not go under i had a small jack at the bait, i struck, but again the fish was too small to turn the bait as it had clamped across the fish and just spat it out, very frustrating.

After this fish come off i moved back onto the bolo and it must have been this fish that was putting the fish off as over the last hour i picked up a few more nice roach.

There really is not enough space to post all the separate roach i caught that i took pictures of and there was a few i did not photograph and it really was one of those sessions you look back on when you write your blog and think that was some session.  I put a little video of all the fish i took a photo of on the little slide show below.

My final net went just under 14lb.  I have had some of the best fishing of my life on this river and some nets of dace that i could only dream if years ago but as i took a second to look at this net of roach i knew i had just had a special session, i was on cloud nine.

My uncle just upstream also had got into the roach but had also connected with a nice shoal of dace as well and this will certainly be an area we visit again.

till next time thank you for reading,

tight lines

Danny