Winter Chub Fishing on the Stick Float

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

Winter Chub Fishing on The Stick Float...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Danny

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

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

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

A Great Addition...

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

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

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

Bank Holiday Fun With My Little Fisher.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morning Fun On the Acolyte...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

till next time i wish you all tight lines

Danny

Stinky Stuff Review And Final Rive roach Session

Stinky Stuff Review - 

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

Little info on Stinky Stuff: 

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

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

My Review:

'Impressed with Development"

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

'All About that Smell'

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

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

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

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

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

Proof is in the pudding: 

Stinky Chubbin'

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

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

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

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

Something a little different..

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

till next time

tight lines

Danny

River Flooding and Fishtec Top Pike Blog Recognition!!

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update and that welcome thankfully is a lot warmer than the weather i experienced on the way into work this morning...Brrrr.  Winter is finally here and with the first frost hitting the windscreen last week it finally feels as if we might be heading into winter.  I just hope this winter is a lot more settled than last year, a nice over cast calm spell with temperatures just above freezing will do me nicely thank you.

On to the update and this weeks we look at a piece written by fishtec where the blog is picked out by Fishtec for recognition on a bloggers list, we look at the current state of the rivers and how they have effected my fishing of late and we finish up with a bit of bad experience i had lately while fishing for pike which could potentially ruin all my good work in the new spot to date.  The fishing is a session on the river dane where we again find the river on the rise but this time she doesn't stop rising!

Grab a brew and a rich tea biscuit and its on to the update...

Fishtec Top 13 Brilliant BLogs from British Pikers....

It was with real pride an excitement i read a recent email from Fishtec explaining that they wanted to feature my blog in a post they where publishing around blogs written by pike anglers.  I was more than happy for my blog to feature and my picture to be used in the post and it filled me with a huge sense of pride to have my blog featured among some of the biggest pike blogs in the UK, many of who i myself regularly read thier blogs.

It is always good to receive feedback as a blogger as you never truly know how your content is being received.  We all make decisions with our blogs that influence how the blog is perceived and navigated, one such one for me was to write a pike diary about the whole season, a decision that i knew would see it get less views but would also see it read as a story rather than weekly dribs and drabs in each post.  Pike fishing on this blog has only really been blogged about seriously for the past two seasons so its great news it is being seen in such high regards by a company like Fishtec and thank you to them for featuring my little blog in their list.

The final post can be found here on all blogs featured:  http://blog.fishtec.co.uk/13-brilliant-blogs-from-british-pikers

Flooded Rivers and Rollercoaster EA Charts....

Whether you feel the rain on your fingers or you feel it on your toes..the only way to sum up the weather of late is Wet Wet Wet (even laughed at this one myself, sat in work on my dinner hour!!)  it is safe to say our rivers have had the good flush through we all asked for and then some.  I have been keeping an eye on the EA charts on a daily basis and every time they have come down to a level that might be fish able the rains have come and up the river has gone again resulting in EA charts like this one for the dane below.

Last Friday the levels where just below the magical levels where we knew the river would be too high, fishing would be hard, we knew this, but we where willing to try the muddy slacks hoping for a fish.  I finished work at 4pm and as i did the heavens opened and a quick phone call to my mate who works close to the dane who revealed it had not stopped all day scuppered our river plans for last weekend.

This was the case a few years ago and after two or three weeks not getting out i decided to try my hand at dead baiting for pike and what a decision that turned out to be as it certainly has turned out to be a branch of our sport i really like participating in.

Seeing the charts as they are now though is a reminder to all how fast our lovely serene rivers can turn into raging torrents, just take a look at this chart here of the river in kendle,  forget the fact the river is up out of the chart take a look at the rise compared to time and how quickly it went from just a bit of water to off the chart, scary stuff.

Back closer to home and the rivers i fish and it could be another week before the likes of the Dane are at a clarity where its worth wetting a line and the river dee, well considering that has been in the fields for a week now it could see us not going here till after the Christmas period.

Bad Experience Pike Fishing....

Well i am now well into the pike fishing season and the goal this year of using my water craft and pike skills picked up over the passed two year to find my own pike was going well.  17 different pike with 3 doubles i was out there doing it for myself and catching.  Sadly a recent incident has put all that hard work in jeopardy.  Whilst fishing recently i was sat back sipping a brew and waiting for one of my pike floats to go when a lad appeared to me left on his phone.  Looking a bit shifty i just thought he was up to no good but ignored it.  Next minute his mate turns up and i clock the odd glance over to me whilst they where talking. 

Ok i thought, nothing in that might be looking where i have got my baits.  This is when a third person appeared 10 yards to my right, i suddenly felt uncomfortable.  It had a horrible feeling of something was not right.  A glance to my right i saw a dog walker coming my way, i took my chance and reeled in the rods.  Thankfully being the nice man i am i had spoken to this guy at length before so he stopped for an update on recent captures, i quickly explained and he thank fully hung around till i had packed the gear up and i walked with him to the end of the path to make sure he was ok.

Not a nice feeling at all and i am an angler that does get out before first light to be sure i have a bait in the water for those magical moments where the world comes alive around you.  Birds singing in the trees and the flash of a kingfisher out for its breakfast are all things i live for and moments in every fishing session i enjoy.  It has put me off the whole area now, having two kids and a family to support there is no way i could replace the tackle i had out that day with me.

Not a nice world we live in as is shown in the news all around the world but within our own society we are littered with people who think its ok to do this thing to people, not a nice feeling. 

On to the Fishing

New Spot Holds Great Potential......

So with the normal areas of the river not providing a solid chance of a days fishing we decided if we where going to take a risk then why not on a completely new section of the river.  So we headed of literally into the unknown to try a stretch we had been thinking about fishing for some time. 

Fishing or should i say sustainable "success" of catching fish only comes with hard work and time on the bank and many times over the blogs existence we have delved both feet first into the unknown, as anglers it really is the only way you learn.  You can read all the books you want, watch the angling videos and refine your rigs based on the latest killer fish catching rig but all of this is useless if you are not willing to get out there and fish the waters.

This trip was one of these steps out to the unknown and when i say unknown it looked like no one had been near this place all year with brambles, himilayan balsam and fallen trees all obstacles to get passed.  We walked the stretch at first with just rod rests to beat a track through and eventually found two swims that could hold fish.

Back to the car and it was travelling light to the spots that as always lay right at the end of the stretch.  I must say trudging through the undergrowth it was like the scenes a few years ago when we discovered all parts of the lower dee and it felt great.  Set up in a swim right before i bend i began to feed hemp and maggot as i set up the rod.

It took a while for the first bite to come and a nice dace i was made up.  I have said it a number of times before on the blog, i love catching that first dace as you know where there is one there is certainly more.  The second as predicted was not far behind that one although they where not coming easy and it took some holding back to get the fish to take.

The river when we arrived was already carrying some water and the last thing we wanted was rain but not ling into the session the heavens opened and we where hit with a heavy down pour.  At first i thought it would just be a passing heavy shower but when it persisted for around a hour i knew trouble would not be far behind.

The fish of course went mad for a short spell where it was a bite a chuck as the fish sensed the rise in the river and we both had some steady bites but soon there was the odd sign of things to come as first grass and then the odd large twig started to come through the swim.  When this was followed by some larger logs and the river had gone a chocolate colour i knew we where in trouble.

We had scouted out a new area and caught fish so its a spot we have earmarked for future visits, lets just hope we get a lull in the current weather conditions.

till next time its tight lines from me

Danny

Stick Float Fishin' For Chub...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Life at the moment is about as hectic as it comes with the little mastering crawling at speed and also learning to climb its all go keeping tabs on him although my plan to test my delkims for the coming pike season by typing line to his feet and running it though the sensor seems a sound one!  Away from home and i recently applied to be deputy in work and that is just starting to involve my devoting my attention to this, all this along with making preparations for the coming pike season its safe to say every aspect of my life is really chaos at the moment, its good to be busy though.

Sometimes i have no choice but let this blog take a back seat, something has to give and as this is a hobby and does not really put money on the table as such it is always the first thing i have to drop, there literally is not enough hours in the day to get it all done.  As such it has meant my normal schedule for uploading on a Friday evening and writing my blog on my dinner hour in work is not possible so the updates for the foreseeable future will be a bit sporadic.

That bit of life trivia out of the way lets get into this update...

First Pike Social Booked!!

So we are literally days off the start of he new pike season and i had booked the 1st of October off work with the view of a early attack on the waterways that had produced for me last year.  The blog is there for me to share my fishing adventures with the world but it does also offer me and journal of my visits to the bank.  Although i do not share locations on the posts, through fear of it attracting the wrong type of people in poachers, i know myself where i have fished on each session so as such i can look back through my own blogs and look at locations that fished well at certain times of year.

Work came up to me a few days ago and mentioned that the leave was really low on the day i had booked so i agreed to come in on the 1st October and swapped it for the following Tuesday.  Garry, a fellow piker, is not able to get out on the bank till the 6th October so it will be a great social for us both to start our piking campaign.  Talks have been on going for the past week but we have settled on a location and a plan of action for the day.  I will of course be heading out with the same mentality i did last year, aim for one fish on the bank and go from there.  Writing this now i am really excited to get out and although it is not mentioned in this update the weekend just gone i managed a pike on the bank and it really has lit the torch for the piker inside to be released again!!

Pike Season Ahead - My Plans and Mindset......


So we sit on the cusp of the start of the new season and looking back over October last year i really did hit the ground running.  My fist session on the bank saw me banking 5 pike, nothing massive but with the target of 100 pike it got the ball rolling and i was on my way.  October was a month to remember for me with me breaking my Personal Best twice with one pike going over 20lb and shortly in November i had days where i caught multiple doubles in one day.  This is fantastic and great memories but what i have to do this year is keep my feet on the ground, continue to build on lessons learnt last season and always know that this season may be very different and it may be a season where i don't land lucky on bigger fish and i do not have half as much success as i did last season.  I have to remain realistic about it and be prepared to work a lot harder for my captures whilst also remembering to enjoy what has become a time of the year i look forward to so much now.

This season i will obviously be continuing to share the bank with my piking mates Ste and Garry and although Ryan has moved further afield now i am sure he will make the odd appearance on trips with his supermarket jumbo mackerel baits.  Towards the end of last season i was really happy to spend some time on the bank with one of Stes mates, Dave, a man who was coming back into fishing after a gap and was keen to try pike fishing.  Me. still wet behind the ears in my piking baptism, was happy to help him as much as i could and i was really impressed by his determination and passion for the sport and i can not wait to see him catch his first double.

The target last season of 300 or 400 pike, 30 doubles and 1 twenty pound pike did give us all focus during the season with us all working towards a common goal but i myself did find i was going places to catch numbers of fish rather than going places where the chances of less fish but of a larger size was possible.  The list also unavoidably took over and really at times did dictate locations i fished and also, especially towards the end where 100 was i sight, developed a unhealthy obsession with getting out fishing.

This season is slightly different as we have done away with the huge total target of hundreds of pike and also the twenty pound target has also been done away with and we have set a fun, but achievable goal, of 40 double figure pike between us.  That equates to 10 doubles each and this gives us all freedom to devote a days fishing to a 1 take but a big fish water without worrying the pike total is not moving.  Moving into my second year of piking i am really seeing this as a target i should be achieving but i fully know how frustrating piking can be so if i don't reach it then that's life as they say.  My own personal goals for the year are to have fun and utilise methods i picked up last year and put them into practise.  Here's to the adventures to come.

Chubbers Delight.....

Fishing for me now is like a ritual, its part of my weekly routine and as such it is very rarely that sequence is broken.  Saturday morning comes around and loading the car i head to my uncles to pick him up, a quick chat and we set of in search of new adventures on the bank.  This week was different as an opportunity of overtime in work saw my uncle missing the trip out this week.

Regular blog readers will remember my blogs about piking last year where i openly documented how i found it hard heading out on my own and spending time on the bank.  A big part of my fishing is the craic and laugh we have and the sharing of achievements or sussing out new areas, this session was different as the seat next to me was empty and the tackle fist easily into my boot with no need for tactile persuasion. 

No rain for a week saw all the rivers running low and clear so it was a case of picking the best of what was available.  It may sound unusual but i chose the part of the river where it was really shallow and running low and it was for good reason.  Why would you not head for the deep areas with plenty of cover from the sun? That is a very good question but think about it like this, when the river is at its normal level or has some water in the fish can be in any swim along the length but on a shallow river running low the  natural deep spots and dark areas where you can not see the bottom are where all the fish will be crammed into.  So you will have all the fish from one area of the river in one deep hole and this includes the trout, chub, dace and gudgeon.

Fishing these holes in the river you will get quick results but the fish will spook eventually but what you have straight away is competition for food and this not only helps you get the fish out with minimal disruption to the shoal but when they do spook you are literally running bait right through them, they have no where else to go so eventually the will to feed and not turn up a free meal takes over and the fish come back on.

I moved away from my normal mantra of taking my tackle box and sitting in one swim all day and decided to lighten up my gear and walk the bank trying to land on a nice shoal of chub, i would know it once i found the swim to stay in.  The first swim i arrived in i knew held some nice chub and setting up in the light of my head torch i could see the slow was going directly where i wanted it to and where i would expect to find the fish.  Feeding the swim as i set up the first trot through i eagerly awaited the battle of a chub.  Rivers are weird animals and despite fishing a 4 number 4 stick float the flow that looked steady held no power to even pull the float through the swim!!  A change of plan and a move to approach the swim from a different angle saw me trotting away for a good two hours with a dace and chub to show for my efforts.

Knowing the potential of the river and sat there knowing the chub where there i stubbornly remained in station before admitting defeat.  Moving on down river it was great to travel light with just a rod, landing net, keep net bag and pockets full of bits i was up and away in no time.  I hit the first swim, a short glide along some overhanging blackberry bushes i caught a few nice dace but after hitting a big trout and losing it i knew it was time to move on.

My hopes of fishing a deep bend where dashed by a herd of cows and a big bull in the field who i knew would not welcome my intrusion so i settled in on the bend upstream.  The flow right under my feet i had the option to run right along the inside snags but it was filled with risk.  Hooking the fish would be no problem but getting it out would be the main issue.  The fast flow on my inside had gouged out a deep run but it had also created a deep slack on its inside and i targeting this as my main point if attack.  In went a good handful of hemp and i began feeding maggots, building up the fishes confidence, first run though and a dace fell to the baiting up tactic.

The next few trots through the swim brought the ever confident but ever annoying bites from minnows as one by one i ploughed through these fish.  Its a game i first played on the banks of the river dane on the Warrington anglers stretch many moons ago, anglers would turn up with all manner of big baits like cheese paste, worm, bread, meat and so on and i armed with a few pints of maggot would head off.  I knew i would be getting bites every time down from minnows but i also knew that once the minnows went it was CHUB TIME!.  So these minnows although a irritant gave me great insight to what was happening below the water and sure enough all of a sudden the minnow bites went and i struck into the bottom or as us river anglers know them a chub.  The swim i was in allowed no room to give the fish an inch and like all chub it knew where safety was, in this swim, all the overhanging brambles.  Plenty of side strain and the tip of my 13ft float float well under the water she bent round in a smooth satisfying bend

The chub in the net i was one happy angler and after a quick picture it was into the keep net as not to spook the shoal that was down there.  I was proven not to be wrong either as the very next cast the bait dropped of the ledge into the deep dark water and bang under the float went and i was into another chevin.  A great battle with plenty of hairy moments along the way but with the drag set right and my 1.7 bottom holding i was in control and waited for that first opportunity to net the fish and reduce commotion in the swim.

These two fish came at 11.10 and 11.14 am and a good 20 minutes passed till the next chub at 11.37.  This marked a landslide of bites from the chub as fish came one a chuck to the net for the next half hour with chub coming at 11.45am, 12.01am, 12.08am, 12.16am.

After weeks catching dace and roach an not much else having the carbon bend double was an amazing feeling and boy did that feel good!  I decided to call it a day there as in the warm conditions i was fully aware that the chub had been in the net four a good 2 hours.  Releasing them i new would kill the swim completely so i packed down the gear and prepared my camera and unhooking matt for a quick picture of the net of fish.    Seven chub in total i was over the moon and even more happy as to how well behaved the chub where for the picture, a first time shot was acquired for the blog and back the chub went. 

Not out fishing for another week the maggots where looking a little worse for wear and certainly would not last till the next weekend so as a thank you gesture i deposited a good half pint of maggots into the swim.  They, and the minnows, would get through them in no time.

Well that's another blog update completed, i am a little far behind on trips, purely down to life away from angling.  Finding time to blog is so hard at the moment so please bear with me i will get them out as soon as possible.

Till next week

Tight lines

Danny

Week In The Life Of A Blogger And Dane Pole Session

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update, i hope i find you all well and you nets wet.  Well its certainly been a change this week in the weather and as most of the world around us curse at the rain arriving, i looked out of my window at the thunder storm overhead and like many river anglers rejoiced in its arrival.  The rivers will get a good flush through, clearing snags and dropping off new ones and of course giving the river a good run of clean fresh water what will reignite the life of the river.  The fish will go heavy on the feed as branches laden with insects fall into the water and those big black slugs get washed into the river making that unmissable plop that sees the chub go on a ravenous hunt for food.  All in all as an angler I'm looking forward to the good fishing to come.

I thought this week i would do something a little different in the introduction.  I always try and put as much of myself into the blog as possible so i had an idea this week to talk a little about myself in this weeks introduction, from a blogger and fisherman point of view.  The blog may seem to many like a simple 20 minutes writing but there is a lot more that goes into putting this blog together and getting it to a standard i am happy with.  I will also be going into detail at the work i put into my fishing a long side the blog, finding new locations and researching new methods to try.  So join me into the normal weekly life of an Angling Blogger.

A Week in the Life of a Blogger....

As this blog is testament to i am a great lover of angling and all things that go with it but away from angling i work a 9-5 job Monday to Friday and along with my very understanding and fantastic partner Lucy we also have two wonderful children to look after and find time for.  With so many commitments away from angling finding time to write a blog and put in time to find locations to fish can be quite hard and many times Lucy will remind me not to spread myself too thin.  In this update i cover my weekly life from a fishing point of view.

Saturday - After a late Friday evening adding the pictures i look at the clock and find its 2am, i normally get my uncles for 4.15am at this time of year so it was basically pointless me going to bed for a hour so i poured another Coffee and set about making up a few hook lengths for the session on the River a few hours later.  The rigs done it was getting on for 3.30am so a quick check on the EA Charts to see if the rain that had come down steady all Friday evening had showed on the Charts, a slight rise but nothing mad so it was still a session on the river Dane.

A quick load of the car and i was off to my uncles to pick him up and with that we enjoyed the fruits of all the work the previous weeks research and the session you will read about below.  The fishing is the meat an potatoes of the blog, without it there would be nothing to write about.  So getting it right is important, but, and this is a huge but, catching it never a priority as the blog will cover the fishing that week whether it was good or bad, i blank then its a blog about blanking.  In short the fishing is never ruled by the blog, i do my up most to make sure we are going the best location for the conditions we are faced with of course but if we blank then that's fishing and i will blog about it to give a true representation of my fishing. Returning home at 5pm im a shattered, a quick nap and its a evening with the kids before spending a few hours catching up with my brother on the xbox.

Sunday - I had planned on taking my daughter fishing but with thunder storms all evening and the rain still coming down we cancelled the session and settled for an morning relaxing in the house.  I reviewed the pictures on my iphone from yesterdays session and uploaded them onto the blogs Facebook page and on a few other pages i post on.  I love writing my blog and sharing it on all formats but i also love the interaction away from anything to do with the blog where i post my fishing from that day under my own name.  A simple post of my net and where i have been and sit back and enjoy chatting away in the comments.  A few jobs in the afternoon for my nan i get home and after the kids go to bed i set about publishing this week blog update, ideally i like to get it out on a Friday but with life so hectic any time over the weekend will do at the moment.  The blog goes live, i share it on a few pages and spend the rest of the evening watching the Carp catchers latest Youtube video and message the lads about all things piking.  (certainly got me in the mood for the season)

Monday - Up for work as normal, it kills me and leaves me wondering how i can be up at 3am Saturday but I'm scraping myself out of bed come Monday for work.  A quick few posts on the blogs facebook page and Twitter and a check on how the views are going on the blog after last nights update going live and its off to work.  12 noon comes round and my dinner half hour and i make a start on writing this weeks blog update.  There is no writing on the blog physically at this point just a pen and a scrap piece of paper to write ideas down as they come to me.   The current format of an introduction and then my fishing is a format that provides a great structure and diversity to the blog but as the months go on keeping it fresh with ideas is the challenge.

Tuesday - Dinner time and i begin writing my ideas down on the blog page, chipping away like this certainly helps but i have noticed one problem with staying at my desk blogging on my dinner hour, people don't know you are on dinner and you get piled with work! Getting home i do a bit of research on a local river i have been hearing a lot about, the river Alt, it throws up very little but is a project that is on the back burner at the moment.  I check up on the social media side of the blog replying to comments before turning in a 1am after scouting out a new potential area of the river Dane, parking being the main issue but there are certainly some deep glides from what i can see that have potential.

Wednesday - Another dinner hour chipping away and i also receive email around a possible product review in the coming weeks.  All these i take time to consider if they are relevant to fishing and if i can use them and give a review.  I night in with the kids watching TV before they turn in and i turn on the laptop.  Wednesday is my evening for replying to all the emails and messages i get via social media, private emails and comments on the blogs page.  I also begin to put together my monthly piece i write for Pondip Tackle Boxes.  (again on scrap before putting it onto a word document.)

Thursday - I make a point of taking this dinner hour away from desk.  In the evening i put my hemp into my flask before i go bed so its ready for Saturdays session.  Although nothing physical is done on the blog today i do check Accuweather for the forecast and also the EA charts to see what level the rivers are at.  My  mind is now fully looking forward to the weekends fishing on the river, after a week in confinement of an office i am dying to get out, craving that fresh damp breeze of the river as you approach it.

Friday - Finishing touches to the blog, all the words are in place as i add this bit to the blog.  All that is left is the dreaded spell check, in American haha and to add the pictures to the blog update this evening.  Working week is done at 4pm, my early dart, its off to the bait shop for two pintos of maggot and a pint of castor.  While there i finally order my replacement for my 17ft rod! The evening is spent with the family before publishing the blog on time and then the whole ritual of tying up rigs and preparing for the session the next day begins!

So there we have it a week in my shoes as a fisherman and blogger.  It does take a lot of my time but most of these tasks are hour here and a hour there rather than a huge amount of time that day.  I would say fishing is never too far from my thoughts.  I hope this gives some insight into how much time goes into these updates and making them as good as my ability can.  I do take on a lot of stuff, to much in fact, but it keeps it all interesting for me as a publisher and angler.

on to this weeks fishing...

Tandori Hemp and Red Hot Redfins!!

Its safe to say that stick float fishing is my passion when fishing the river, i just love everything about it from the decision about what float to use in each swim to working out the best line and more importantly feeding the swim to the conditions on the day.  Its a way of fishing that constantly keeps you thinking each and every cast and every swim is a new adventure. That said i fancied a change this week and for some time now i have been hoping to get out on the pole.  A small river like the river Dane offers only a few locations to fish a pole as many of the swims are fast running glides but there was one swim i have had my eye on for some time now.  A fast run down the middle with a big slack on the inside, winter floods have carved out a deep hole on the inside which looked ideal for a short pole to be fished.

You can never just reply on one method on this river so i set up a stick float rod as well but rather than fish it down the obvious line down the middle my plan was to fish it on the edge of the slack water so the bait trundled through slowly.  I fed the swim with hemp seed and maggot while i set up and i made a point of taking my time and getting both set ups how i wanted them.  My only problem was my float on my pole line was a 3gram bolo float and My concern was that was too heavy but with only canal floats to fall back on i had to make do.  Finally set up it was time to make the first cast.

The swim had been steadily fed with chilli hemp seed and maggot for a while now, more on the hemp in a bit! First put in and the float shot away and i had blue hydro elastic shooting out of the end of the pole tip, a nice fish first put in i just hoped it didn't come off.  With the pole you just dont know what you are connected too as the elastic takes all the movement from the fish out of the right and leaves you with just a feeling of a fish pulling.  When fishing the rod you can tell by the fight what  fish you are connected to, roach seem to have a jagged fight where as dace live up to their name and dart more form side to side where as chub are like hitting a brick wall of defiance.  You do lose this feeling with the pole, but i have to say i was over the moon with my first put in producing a roach of getting into the teens mark in ounces.  It was a fantastic start to the session and although one fish it had me thinking i had stumbled on a decent swim.

Next put in was a series of lightning fast bites what i kept missing as time and time again a strike was met with either a bumped fish or thin air strike.  I made a slight change at this point and reduced the amount of line between pole tip and float and instantly saw rewards for my change and i was shocked to see the fish where not the small fish i thought they were but more nice roach.

The early exchanges saw a number of these roach fall for the bronze maggot approach but i think it was the hemp that was getting them into the swim.  The hemp though was a story in itself as i had placed the hemp in the flask on the Thursday night with, what i though, was a suitable amount of chilli powder.  The day of the session and i emptied the flask and as i did so i could feel my eye brows burning as the heat from the flask rose and this sea of chilli red hemp flooded out of the flask.

The morning of the session and throwing the hemp in my finger tips where literally burning as i did so with the heat.  It might be an idea in winter to keep me warm haha.  The picture below shows the molten lava hemp i was fishing with.  The swim at times was bubbling and there was more than a few jokes around the origin of these bubbles.  Joking aside though the fish loved the hemp and it is something i am going to keep doing but maybe add a little less, for my sake.

I continued to pick up the odd dace and roach as the morning wore on.  I had made one big change on the pole rig though and instead of my normal size 20 hook i had gone with a size 16 and this was because i planned to feed and fish with corn on the pole line at some point.  I had been drip feeding the odd grain here and there and after a few hours i decided to try a piece on the hook.  I missed the first bite but there was no missing the second as i struck into a fish that was solid and then went out in the flow.  Not a mega fight but got the elastic coming out of the pole and my reward was a nice chublet, should i have gone on this earlier when the big roach where about? maybe.

The bites began to die a little on the pole line and i noticed a decent amount of fish showing in the main slack to my right so i began then to feed some hemp and maggot onto my stick float line in preparation of fishing it in a  hour or so.  The weather at this point was dark over cast sky's with the odd shower showing and i remember it being quite cool.  Thunder storms where predicted in the afternoon and i thought to myself if a warm front moves in then we are bang on for some storms.

The pole swim slowed right down and when a daddy ruffe came to the net followed shortly after by a gudgeon i knew the game was up.  A quick visit by my uncle and he was catching well and again it was roach making up his net.  Over to the stick and the float slid away first run down, another puzzle, why where the roach back there and not willing to move up into the pole line? Was some of my bait trickling down into that water and the fish had dropped back there to feed.  Either way  had found the fish again.

None of the roach i caught rivalled that early one but i was catching small roach with the odd better one thrown in and the better bites where coming when the float rose as my weights lay on bottom.  This seemed to pick out the better fish but in all honesty i was happy to be catching steady and the bites at this point where coming right on the hemp.

Around midday the sky completely cleared and a wave of heat came in, it was baking hot.  Compared to the cold morning it was heat you struggled to sit out in and a complete contrast.  The fishing at this point slowed right down and i think the fish just moved out the swim and into the far bank cover, certainly the roach did. 

I continued to persevere and picked up bites here and there but not with any consistency.  I quick turn on of the radio and listening to the match passed the next hour and half and we were there or there abouts for packing in time.  My uncle had done well with a 11lb net of nearly all roach and i ended on just over 9lb.  A net i was happy with given it was a new tactic for me and i felt i fished it well and only regret i might have is that i did not go down the middle but then again i would not be sat here saying i had tried something new then so its swings and round abouts.

A day on the bank where i added another piece to the jigsaw and tried a new method and caught well so i left a happy, if a little sun burnt, angler.

Thats about it for another weeks blog, i hope this blog has given a little insight into my world and how i go about my angling and all that remains is to wish you all tight lines and i will see you all next week.

Danny