looking forward and the Dace Chase

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update and forgive me now as this blog is more of an update blog that about the fishing i have been doing although it still features just not in as much detail as normal.

 In past weeks i have covered the RiverFest Tournament in great detail and it was great this week to see it got s mention on Tight Lines and even better that that video is making its way around the angling world via all the social media sites.  All the anglers interviewed, whether they fished the match or not, agreed that this competition will go from strength to strength and i firmly believe this will be the case and with plans already in place for next year i am sure  even more sponsors will jump on this competition given the excellent manner at which it was received and promoted this year.  The video is available on the link below:

Link: http://www1.skysports.com/watch/video/9077019/angling-trust-riverfest-championship

This competition, as i have said before on this blog, is a breath of fresh air to the river angling side of our sport it is literally history being made in front of our eyes as never before has a competition been held on running water for such an amount of money and as participation increases and the need for more venues past the 20 is sought who knows we may see rivers like the River Dee used and maybe just maybe the tales my uncle tells of the meadows of the dee lined with anglers may become a reality in years to come,  the river dee certainly has the fish in the autumn moths to produce good weights and make for a fair competition before the fish shoal up making the match winning location a formality.

Still on the theme of next year and followers on Facebook and Twitter will no doubt know this but i have been mentioning a lot about next years Quest for the blog.  The quest will almost certainly centre around Carp fishing and i have been busy drawing up a list of items so that i am fully prepared for this quest this year in terms of mentality and of course tackle.  I will go a lot more into my tackle choices closer to the time when the quest is a lot closer but for me being able to put together a in depth blog post each week involves a great deal of planning and forward thinking and also lessons have to be learnt and built upon from the previous quest.  The previous quest was a steep learning curve and maybe i bit off more than i could chew asking for a 10lb fish from a non commercial, natural water for my first double but i did it and one thing you can guarantee from myself is dedication.

One of the biggest factors i noticed in the first quest was the amount of times i saw two spots i wanted to fish but only fished one rod, that has been addressed now with the purchase of two new carp rods and this weekend i also visited Stapley Water Gardens and picked up some bank sticks and bars.  I am no tackle tart as long as it does the job it will do for me, money spent on the tackle under the water is money better spent that money spent on how your gear looks above it.  Sunday saw me taking a step into unknown territory again:

These purchases are also an investment in my wider vision for the all round type of angler i want to be as these rods bank sticks and future bite alarms will also cross over into my winter pike fishing and also my tench fishing, both areas i want to get more involved into and learn more about so i am able to just grab a ruck sack and a chair and head off for a relaxing day by the bank and it will no doubt see me being able to capture more wildlife for the blog and add some much needed variety.

Moving back to the quest and it is looking like next years quest will be sponsored by a local bait company, all being well and it is the first time i will be working directly with a a company that wants to sponsor an idea of mine and i have been approached in the past by other companies to do such things but opted  against the idea but this time the guy who runs the company is a guy that has been around my blog since it started many years ago and someone i have shared many emails and location conversations with and is someone who's type of fishing is quite similar to mine and all these together made it the right thing to do from my point of view.

It also got me thinking about opening this up to other companies as well, of course not bait related, but if you have a item of tackle, terminal tackle, PVA bags systems or leads you want featuring in this quest by all means feel free to contact me on the blogs email address, facebook or Twitter.

Moving away from the quest on onto the impeding festive period where we all get a chance to relax and reflect on the year gone by and as is customary with the blog i will be putting together a few highlights of 2013 from the blog in next weeks blog update.  Christmas falls at a nice time of year this year for any angler as Christmas is sandwiched right in the middle of two weekends so it should see me getting out at least twice over the festive period.  I also aim, if i get the missus's present bought that is, to spend some time refreshing the look of the blog, not so much the colour but the layout and removing some dead blogs that are on the list that do not get updated and also updating some of the links to companies that i feel really help me out on twitter and really help the blog to grow like it has over the past few years.

These people help me out for no monetary gain for themselves of self promotion but just because they like reading my blog and believe me i read a fair few angling blogs in my weekly breaks and its amazing how many blogs i promote on my page that do not even have the courtesy to have me mentioned in the sidebar or blogs they follow list.  I spend a lot of time on my blog and i see the regulars who comment, comment of facebook, re tweet, mention me on their blog and really help me out and i think i should be doing more for these people and companies to scratch their back.   There will be also more added to the still waters, rivers and commercials i fish sections if i get time.

Moving along but still on the theme of Christmas i have put together a little fun video for the blog to say Merry Christmas to all the people who take time to read my weekly blog.  Merry Christmas and a Safe and happy new year from Myself, Dad and Uncle.

The weather of late has really surprised me and how mild it is of late was confirmed by the fact Martin Bowler commented on his Facebook page this week that he had just released his fourth barbel of the day back to the river and also another angler i keep in contact with who follows the blog got in touch to say he had caught his first still water barbel from Flushing Meadows Fishery, again in December which is crazy!!  The temperature has creeped down towards freezing but it has not stayed low for ant considerable amount of time, certainly not for more than two days with the daytime temperatures reaching up around the 7oc mark, methinks Santa might be delivering his presents this year in his under crackers at this rate.

and with that we move onto past fishing trips:

Winter and that hunt for Dace Perfection

Expectations of winter normally fill the mind with images of snow covered fields, iced rod rings and friendly visits from plump red breasted robins but this year has been unique as although the pages of the newspapers seem to be full of horror weather reports of the worst storms since records began the reality has been much different.  the morning commute to work has seen me met with fiery red skies with the early rays of sunlight providing a claret tinge to the morning clouds.

The majority of the country wakes and breathes a heavy sigh of relief as yet another promised overnight frost fails to materialise, myself, my heart sinks as yet another day passes by with mild temperatures and rain free days.  The rivers wait in expectation of their yearly refreshing winter deluge of water and subsequent cleansing floods but its a wait that has seen our rivers run clear and low for the majority of the winter of 2013.  We now are fast approaching the middle of winter and the day with the shortest amount of daylight hours is right there in our sights and the majority of river and still water predator anglers hope and pray for the second stanza of winter to be glistened with jack frosts ice cold touch.

My angling confidence of late has been as changeable as the seasons of the year with it being as high as a buzzard in the midday summer sun a few weeks back too it being as low as i can remember of late and the past two sessions i mention in this update have been some of the most difficult sessions i have been on in a long time.  My tactics have not changed from previous dace trips to the river dee and although there has been some really nice fish to remember these session for, such as this pristine roach below that weights just over a 1lb, in reality the sessions as a whole have proved frustrating.

The first session i was well prepared for the fishing to come with hook lengths lined up like soldiers next to a hard boiled egg all waiting to be called upon to be dunked into the murky depths.  The session started off great with me straight into fish and nice ones to boot.  The roach mentioned above was one of these fish that came early on in the session and for the first hour or two i put a decent weight of fish in the net, so much so it had my uncle coming over to check my progress as he was struggling.  I ended the session with 9lb off fish and i would say around 7lb of that came in those two to three hours as from 3 hours in i could not buy a bite, it was like someone had knocked the switch off altogether.  The fish where there but i could not catch them and when preceded to occur was the odd fish capture here and there over the rest of the session.

I say the odd fish here ant there but the fish when they came were worth catching as they were generally fish over 6oz the frustration came in the fact i could not keep more than one or two coming.  The river dee and especially dace fishing on this river is always an ongoing battle with the pike that love to sneak into your swim but i really think this was down to me not doing something right and the answer does not normally show itself till you are back home thinking over the session and this was the case on Saturday.

The reason i feel i struggled after 3 hours of the session was bad feeding of the swim, i basically fed too much which drew the fish up the swim and up in the water and as they where drawn up in the water so my bait was passing down the right line but not the right area of the swim so rather than changing float and line during the session maybe i should have changed depth and not fed as much maggot to bring the fish back down over the hemp where i had caught them in the first few hours.  Over feeding a swim is something i suffer from quite a lot with my fishing as i am an angler that really likes to attack the swim i am in and even more so when the fish are coming thick and fast but in reality once i have the fish in the swim my feeding should change from feeding a lot to drip feeding it into the swim to create competition for bite, fishing is a journey where we are constantly learning in my opinion and although this may not be the reason i caught next time i am in that situation i will have another option to test rather than plodding on with the way i was doing for the first few hours.

My net

My uncle is the master of putting together a net of fish and his feeding and way he catches the fish is a joy to watch and this was the case on this session as although he did not catch much for the first few hours he had almost doubled my net by the end.  The dace on his swim where strangely coy for dace in the river dee and he found that he only got bits when he trotted really close to a downstream snag, he had no bites anywhere else in the swim all day.  Normally when dace fishing the fish grow in confidence and you bring them up onto the feed where you want them during the session but on this occasion these fish where not leaving the sanctuary of the snag.

My uncles net:

The session this week was a complete disaster of a session on the River Dee.  These sessions come along from time to time and in angling terms it was "one of those days".  Sat in the car park with a hour to go till sunrise i got on my phone and loaded up the Blogs Facebook page and began posting about my excitement for the session ahead and the really windy conditions i would be faced with.  I had a plan for these conditions and it was to fish a heavy bolo float as i knew if i could present a bait in the correct depth of water the levels and more importantly the clarity of the river where spot on for a decent weight of fish.

First light came and i set up my box in the swim and set about getting my float rod ready for fishing, line threaded i went in my box for a float and that is when the nightmare began, no float tube!!  I began searching in my side tray for a float and the heaviest i could find was 6 number 4, not ideal and with the wind gusting through i knew i was in trouble but as always i was optimistic, i very rarely am not confident with my fishing especially so when dace fishing the river Dee.

The wind at this point was just coming in gusts with prolonged gaps where i managed to catch some nice dace and roach but it did not last long and by 9am the wind was so strong it was bending the tip of my float road around towards 90 degrees at times.  It was time to make a change so i went to my holdall to get my feeder rod but alas the feeder rod was not to be seen and that is when i realised i had left it on the table at home with my float tube, things could not get any worse surely, or could it as from this moment on the wind got so hard it was blowing the float and rig into the edge as soon as it hit the water, i wasn't even going down the river but trotting back into my bank, side wards haha.

 I persevered for 3 hours on the float rod without a fish to show for my efforts before a gap in the wind saw me in with a chance, i quickly trotted the line further out and hit a fish fist time, a nice dace as well, well lets just say it WAS a nice dace as no sooner had the fish broke the surface a pike came from the depths and took the fish and bit straight through the line which shot into the air and into a birds nest around the float.  Enough was enough, there where all manner of better things i could be doing than struggling on the river so i called it a day and spent the afternoon with my fiance and little girl.

This makes the session sound all doom and gloom when looking back at the better fish from the session it was not so bad.

Well that concludes another blog update, this week i doubt we will get on the dee with this rain but i am sure we will be on the banks somewhere in this wonderful country of ours, might even get on the canal for some piking!!

till next time

tight lines

Danny

Carp Quest Blog Completed and Rixon Clay Pits tenching

A warm welcome to this week’s blog update and what a week as the blog’s mini quest to catch a 10lb+ carp reached its climax on Wednesday night and what a relief it was to finally complete this chapter in my angling life.  To whole quest is now complete and you can access it from the main tool bar at the top of the blog or on the following link.

Link to mini blog: http://www.satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/10lb-carp-mini-blog.html

Thank you to all the anglers who have contacted me via email, on twitter and the blogs facebook page with their tips and support it has been really appreciated and has helped me in a bog way to keep going on this quest and keep my focus.

The blog last week was set in stone as it was always going to be the week the Calor Grill to go review was to go live but there was a major incident that happened last week I was wanting to cover and that was the disgusting robbery at gun point if an angler on Grey Mist Mere.  The lad just pursuing his hobby was robbed at gun point and his all his tackle and mobile phone stolen, just what is this world coming too when someone fishing a venue in the middle of a housing estate with a secure car park is not safe. 

As readers of the blog will know I was on Grey Mist Mere on the Monday evening when I had a nice tench and I loved the place it was a venue I felt quite safe on and with a good number of passers bye I felt quite happy.  I was looking forward to many more visits to this lovely venue but I have to say this incident has put me off big time in my opinion gun crime pooping its head up in our industry marks a whole new low in our sport and I hope the people who committed this atrocious crime are caught and the lad involved isn’t put off enjoying his hobby.

On to this weeks update

This week’s update will be short compared to normal as I only managed to get out on the bank for a short 4 hour session on Saturday when I took advantage of a short window to try and get a fish on the bank.

The missus making sure I don’t go thirsty with my very own coke for the fishing trip J.

The venue I chose was Rixton Clay Pits as I was fairly confident I could connect with a tench on Rixton given the amount of time had at my disposal.  The seat box, holdall and keep net bag where all left back at home as I decided to take the bare minimum of kit with me as I fully expected to have to walk a fair distance to get a peg with me arriving in the afternoon.

I arrived at the secure car park to be met with only a handful of cars and was really pleased to bump into a long term follower of my blog for the first time on the bank and was pleased to hear he was having a steady day catching some nice bream. After chewing the fat for a while I began my hunt for a free peg and my hunt did not take long as I spotted a peg free not too far down the track.  Setting up took a matter of seconds as my rod was already set up and baited so it was only a case of putting the two halves of the rod together and placing them down on the bite alarm , a scattering of bait and I sat back to enjoy my few hours on the bank. 

This is a swim I have fished before so I knew where to cast to but just as a back up I placed a small hand full of bait in a margin swim.  One of the beauties of this place is how the fish let you know they are on your bait by sending up plumes of tiny bubbles up to the surface as they feed and may times I have seen a line of bubbles go all over the swim and the rod rip off as soon as they reach where I have cast, it does however mean this place can have you tearing your hair out it the bite doesn’t come.

The rod had not been in more than 30 minutes when it screamed off and I lifter into a fish that made a steady run to the right before the line went slack and the hook pulled.  I inspected the line to see that like last week the line was cut clean half way down the hook link material, not another pike surely, what was the chances of catching a pike on a boilie in two separate swims a good 200 yards apart?  I could offer no other explanation so I tied up another rig and cast it out.

Rixton clay pits is one of these venues where if you get the bait right and the feeding you can almost guarantee some bites and again the tench in this venue could not resist as in no time at all I was playing another fish.  The fish came right in under the rod tip and fought link stink but did come up to the surface during the fight to reveal it to be a nice tench around the 4 or 5lb mark.  The fish was nearly beat when it turned suddenly and the line snapped and flew back at me and upon inspecting the line again it cut half way down the hook length so after all the wracking my brain it turned out the 10lb shimano Antares line I bought last yeah has failed and for some reason has become really brittle, luckily I have some ESP striptease so I tied up another rig using this material.

The ESP braid line is a line I use mainly for my river barbell and chub fishing and I was really apprehensive about using it as it is in a weed green colour which I didn’t think would be concealed well on a clay bottom.  The next hour of so trundled by and I say back and just relaxed and took in the peace and tranquillity that comes with this venue and let me not forget my new friend I made on the session in this feisty little fellow, i know robins are really territorial but this guy was seeing off everything!!.

It was during watching Mr robin see off another foe the bite alarm went off again and this time I played the fish really light as I was desperate to get this fish in but like all tench it was not playing by the book at all and put my 1.75lb test curve rod to the test.

Eventually the fish tired and like with most fish as soon as they are up on the top taking big gulps of air they are as good as yours.

The fish went an impressive 6lb 7oz on the scales and is a seasons best for me so far.

This sole fish was as the last of the action for the session and after an interesting chat with Ade about his river Wye exploits I made the short journey home.  My number one job for thi week is to sort out some fluorocarbon line to replace the line that has failed on me this week as I really do have more confidence in it as opposed to the braid for my carp and tench fishing.

This session wasn’t the only time I got out over the weekend as I hit the bank once over that weekend in pursuit of my first double figure carp, please take some time to check it out.

Till next week its

Tight lines

Danny

Early Mornings Are good For The Soul

A warm welcome to this week’s blog update and I would like to open this week’s blog update by talking about the emulsifying branch of our sport that is carp fishing and my quest for one over 10lb.  I am now around a month into this quest and I am beginning to think that I have bit off more than I can chew by choosing such a natural venue to target for my very first taste of carp fishing and maybe I should have cut my teeth on waters with a higher stocking density.

I knew that carp fishing would mess around with my head a bit but I dint think the demons would set in so fast, is nyt rig tangled?? Have they eaten any of the bait?? If they haven’t am I fishing over a 100 boilies?? Are there any carp in this pool?? All these questions go round and around in your head both when you are on the bank and while you are away from it and thinking about this place, it does really get into your mind carp fishing.

The time had come to stop sticking and start twisting and questions needed to be answered, fortunately for me the most important one was answered late on Friday evening when a local lad dropped into my swim for a chat and confirmed, to my relief, that there are a good number of carp in the pool peaking at 24lb with a good number of doubles and plenty of smaller carp so really good news on that front.  I was at the time of his arrival around 5 hours into another blank on the boilies and starting to think they were not going to be the way to go on here and this hunch was confirmed by my visitor who informed me that boilies are not the way to go and more natural baits perform better and as you will read in the update later on this was confirmed the next day when I returned to fish maggot and hit a carp.

This only leave two questions unanswered in is my presentation ok and has the bait I have already put in been eaten, well, the second of these I will just have to cross my fingers and set my mind set to the fact the bait has been eaten and is all gone but still be a bit conservative with my new baiting approach for the first few weeks on the new bait and the first question will be worked on this weekend when we fish flushing meadows, I will be solely fishing a one rod approach on the bite alarm for the carp given the stocking density of this water it will let me know if my rigs are working or not.

My hope is by the end of this week to be in a situation where I have complete confidence in my rigs I am using in that they work and catch fish to out my mind at ease when fishing Curlston Mere in the future.  It does leave me with a surplus of boilies and I intend to spend some time on the local Warrington Anglers waters like Moore Quarry and Grey mist mere when I have some free time of a weekend. 

This blog has always been a true and honest representation of my angling life and will always be that way, the lows are just as important as the highs in my opinion and to give a true idea of my thoughts and actions then honesty is always the avenue I will go down.

The world of social media this week landed an amazing video into my news feed and I have to say it took my breath away at what this group of people fishing in America have managed to capture it surely puts the pike on the Dee taking your dace as you bring them in into perspective that’s for sure, people who follow the blog on Facebook will have already seen this and for those not following the blog on Facebook take a look for yourselves below:-

 Blogs Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Dannys-Angling-Blog/282860255069146

Away from angling but still keeping “jaws” in mind we visited the theatre this week to see the Lion King Musical at the Palace Theatre and I have to say I was amazed by the production quality and atmosphere created by this most magnificent of productions from start to finish you are left gobsmacked by what is being created in front of you and their representation of this classic film from our childhood.  The end of the show and n ot a single bad word could be heard from anyone with everyone you spoke to saying just how good of a show it was, I think it is coming to the Liverpool Empire Theatre next year and I highly recommend anyone who hasn’t seen it to go, you will not regret it!! Unfortunately cameras were not allowed inside the theatre so I couldn’t get any pictures for the blog.

On to this week’s fishing….

“The Early Bird Catches The Roach”

Saturday morning and hunched in my armchair I tentatively sipped a strong cup of coffee as tried to jump start my body into action a job I had hoped would have been accomplished by the shock of a 4am alarm clock going off in my ear but a few late lie ins since the river closed had left my body well out of routine and like I craved the caffeine kick of the dark cup of coffee my body craved the warmth of my bed.

The coffee finished I set about loading my car for the fishing trip ahead, in the pitch dark I clumsily shuffled the gear into the back of the car my body working on auto pilot.  The past two weeks I had not left the house till around 7am and arriving a few hours after sunrise I felt I was not only missing out on the best time of day for fishing but the best time of day for the soul.

The car loaded and I had no destination dilemma’s this week as my mind was set on a session on Curlston mere for its silver fish but unlike most weeks on the bank I was limited to just a morning session.  I set off on my way just as the sun was beginning to illuminate the horizon with its ochre glow and I decided to stop off on the way to capture the sun coming up over the River Mersey Eastury.

As you can see from the picture the overnight skies had been clear and it meant we had been exposed to an overnight frost, not good for fishing but created a beautiful moment as the sun caused the grass to look like it had been bejewelled as the early morning rays gave the grass an almost glistening effect.  A quick few snaps and I was back on my way to my chosen destination as I already felt late but I had no one to blame but myself.

Arriving on the banks of the pool the sun was already in full view and the water was reminiscent of a witches cauldron as the steam rose from the water’s surface creating the an almost haunting atmosphere and cutting through that mist was a badelynge of ducks and in true spring fashion their numbers where heavy on the side of the drakes.  Excited for the session ahead I hastily unloaded the car and set up in a swim that allowed me to fish close in whilst presenting a boilie bait for the carp on spot number one.

The overnight bone chilling frost was cutting through my thick jumper and I was left regretting my decision to cut down a layer of clothing for the spring months although I did still remain thankful I had decided not to part with my Skee Tex thermal willies as they kept my feet warm at least.  The frost did come as a real surprise to myself as I had been on this same place the previous evening for the carp quest and had basked in glorious sunshine so I was left I no doubt that this shock drop in temperature would affect the fishing quality.  

The swim I chose, in Hein site, was a huge mistake as it was situated in the last place to receive the warmth from the sun’s rays due to the thick tree line to its rear but it is the only place I can fish spot one from as all the other swims don’t give you the angle to stop the fish from reaching the safety of the snags should I hook one that is.   I went about my setting up routine which I have to admit is so set in stone I am sure there is an air of OCD about regimental agenda but eventually I was in a situation to make a start a deep breath and I began to build the swim with 2 or 3 maggots every few minutes always remembering the golden rule “you can never take out what you have put in but you can put in more if their having it”.

My setup rig wise was simplicity itself utilising some home-made polystyrene floats that take only two number eight weights to make them cock perfectly this allows the bait to fall naturally and also the fish feel no resistance when it picks up the bait, deadly for both small and larger species of fish.  The rig already made before I set out I was fishing in no time and I expected to wait a bit for my first bite due to the cold but before I could think twice the poly ball shot under and my first fish of the day was ion the bank a small but very welcome roach.

I waited what seemed an eternity for the next bite to the point I felt it wasn’t going to happen and this was in my mind purely down to the being in the cold shade as all along the far bank fish where topping.  In true fashion I missed the next bite, was it the shock of the flat going under or was it that I am getting older I pray it’s the penultimate one.  As I waited for the fish to move in I was treated to the unmistakable calls and flight patterns of a pair of lapwings in the field in front of me, their unusual call and their unmistakable plunging dives making them easy to identify.

The sun eventually penetrated through the tree branches and almost instantaneously the bites came and I managed to string together a few more roach and again missed as many as I connected with.  I was beginning to think the swim could really come alive when I struck into something solid that certainly wasn’t a fish and was a pretty decent sized snag and on 2lb line I wasn’t holding out much hope but thankfully it came to the top and I managed to snag the branch in the mesh in my net and get it in, least I now know there is a clean bottom in this swim.

The session moved into late morning and again the lack of activity in the swim was made up for by the local wildlife when I was treated to the local pair of crows seeing off a low flying buzzard and for a good 5 or 10 minutes they battle to see off this predator from their territory.  I kept drip feeding the swim and eventually the float bobbed into life and gently moved away and I struck into a fish that held deep and was certainly better than any fish I had caught that morning a real arm wrestle ensued and eventually the metallic flanks of a superb 14oz roach graced the net and I was more than made up, it was in mint condition and a joy to have caught and in that one fish the session was made.

The fish returned safely I settled back into that last hour of the session and managed to catch a few more roach but one thing did happen just before I packed in that made my mind up about my approach to carp fishing this pool and that was the fact I hit a carp on my pole rod on a single maggot, now it wasn’t a massive carp and certainly wasn’t over 10lb but it was big enough to eat a boilie I would have said.   The fact I hit this carp on maggot from a single morning session whilst I have done numerous hours on there on boilies not to mention I had a carp rod out on boilie the whole of that morning as well without a touch has made my mind up that boilies are not the way to go on here.

I leave you all with a sunrise picture I took on my way to work this week…

Till next week I wish you all

Tight lines

Danny