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

River Roach and Dace Brace To Remember!!

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

On to the Update...

4 Below Are You Mad To Go??

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

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

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

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

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

Cold Sessions To Remember...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

On to the Fishing...

Brace To Remember On The Stick Float...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Danny

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

The Right Time To Fish The River and Cold Weather Top Tips...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet and speaking of wet how good is it to finally see a bit of the wet stuff falling from the sky! more than overdue and will do our rivers a world of good.  The mild temperatures of late have seen the fish still spread wide and far as we eagerly await the first frosts of the year, all the signs of them coming are there with dew on the windows of the car of a morning but we just need to come out now and find that sparkle of a first glistening on the tarmac as we leave the house, i, like many other anglers can not wait.

In this weeks update the fishing see's us hitting the river just at the right time for it to fish its head off and we both bag up on a morale boosting session on the stick.  The introduction sees me looking at the upcoming weeks fishing i have planned and also an update or recap on my piking to date and we finish with a little bit on how i prepare for winter and cold days on the bank with a few tops tips.

On to the Update...

The Weeks To Come....

November is always a difficult month fishing wise i find as the fish we associate with summer and autumn begin to shut down for winter and the fish like dace, roach, chub and pike are all in transition into their winter quarters it is a time of change, as drastic as the arrival on spring if you look closely, which means fishing can be very hard to predict and as such very hit and miss.

From a river stick float point of view it can be a hard time with leaves coming down the river and with the ground still hard rain can have a huge effect on rivers and see them going from really low and on their bones too completely in flood, just look at the Ribble this past week.  The piker in me is unsure what is going to happen if i am honest with it being only my second full season targeting pike its a bit of a unknown for me as to what to expect as we go through this transition.

The coming weeks will see me targeting the new area i have found to unlock its secrets, im sure there is a pike there that could be very special and in the next week or so i have a social coming up on a huge piece of water with my mates Garry and Ste.  A session i am looking forward too but at the same time i know its a huge step up in my pike fishing, a huge one, just one fish would be a dream come true for me on the day.

River wise i am hoping to spend some time on the banks of the River Dane to again try and fisnd the areas the fish go in winter and best ways to catch them and i am also looking forward to trips on the Dee and other smaller tributaries.  I am certainly going top bite the bullet this year and have a session aimed at catching pike from the Dee.  Having moved away from fishing this river consistently i have missed my run ins with the pike that seemed such a regular occurrence in the past.

Piking Blog Update

The decision to move all my trips to one link is still one that is playing on my mind a lot as it does take a lot of pushing on social media for it to get noticed as there is no space to add links of tags to the post for it to show on search engines.  Actual views do not really matter to me but i do also put a lot of time into catching these fish and it does play a huge part in my fishing so i do want it to be noticed as it is kind of tucked away in the corner of the blog page.

The pike fishing for me is going great i am really enjoying the fishing and getting my teeth into the new challenge this year is presenting with 10 doubles my target and finding and fishing my own areas the next i could  not wish for it to go any better.  There has been an update this week to the blog and there is also one wrote to be added this coming week its great to see my hard work paying off with plenty of fish to blog about, the blanks will come but that's fishing.

I will go into more detail in the coming weeks about the new spot and how it is fishing but at this moment in time i have done 4 morning sessions on there equating to 2 full days fishing time and it has produced i think 9 fish with two of these double figure pike so its going better then the blank i envisioned.

Keep up with the pike blog here: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/201516-pike-seaon.html

Preparing for Winter

A common question i receive on the blogs email is around what i do to prepare for winter fishing.  Tackle wise i don't really change any thing as i fish all year with light hook lengths and size 20 hooks so not much changes there and the main place you should be focusing your time on is on LOCATION.  Away from the actual fishing the other main area you should be spending time and investing in is in the stuff you wear on the bank at this time of year as it can be brutally cold at times on the bank especially if you are out in the sticks.

For me i wear thermal socks as well as thermal lines boots, your feet is always the first area to feel the cold for sure and keeping your feet warm is vital.  I do feel having a foot plate on my box really helps as it keeps your feet off the cold ground.  I wouldn't say my set up keeps my feet warm on the bank but i don't sit there thinking my feet are cold which is all you can ask for in the depths of winter.

Working up i probably look like i'm wearing a pair of jeans a hoodie, which i am, but under neath then jeans is a pair of thermal pants and under the hoodie is a tee shirt and a thermal top which at times can see me sweating like mad in the snow but its a lot better than being cold.  A buff for my face is normally just kept for the piking where you can be really inactive waiting for a bite and a thermal bob hat stops you losing heat through your head.  All in all it keeps me warm in the coldest of days on the bank.

Top Tip:  When pouring a brew from your flask fill it to the middle recess in the cup, this way you get twice as many brews and can spread the drinks through the day at closer intervals.

Cracking Session On Stick

From the moment we looked at the chart in my uncles house and saw the Dane was not yet showing the rise in level from the rain over night we knew we where in for a good session.  The river would already be starting to show a bit of colour and would rise during the session which the fish would get on to and feed well, we also knew there was not enough rain for the rise to be mega and push the fish off the feed.  The lovely red sky as we joined the motorway, a perfect start to the days fishing trip.

The main choice on the day was what swim to fish, one swim a fast glide around 4ft deep had the potential to throw up nice nets of roach and dace but on the other hand if the fish where not there it also had the potential to throw up a net full of gudgeon!  The other swim was a deeper swim on a bend that offered a nice slack on the inside, not as much a comfy swim as the first but did again offer the chance of a nice net of fish. 

The fact this swim held a bit more depth and also had a slack on the inside off a sunken tree to try if i was wrong about the amount of rise we would get i chose the second swim.  My uncle settled in a swim down stream, a new swim for us both and one that the extra water would see him able to run a stick through. 

My swim a uniform depth of around 5ft i opted for a 6 number 4 alloy stick and to sum up the autumnal feel of the day with plenty of cloud cover and grey skies the float sat nicely on a bed of autumnal leaves.

The rod set up i began to run the float through and the extra little bit of pace in the river was not yet evident, it would come.  One thing i have learnt about this river is the fact the fish can come right up on the feed so i fed the swim lightly and down stream of there i was casting so my float was settled by the time it reached the area i was feeding, planing to hold back to simulate bait falling through the swim here.  My hemp seed was placed further down stream where i thought the maggots would reach the bottom.

The customary madness of the first bites was instant as fish came quickly to the net, nothing of any size but it was frantic.  It is always like this on this river and the test would come if the bites continued passed the frantic feeding period.  This type of fishing is seen as a special art and although it takes practice to master the actually amount of gear you need is minimal.  This is my side tray for the session and apart from my float and bait that is all i use.

The swim eventually settled down and to my relief the bites started to come on my hemp but the bites where a bit hit and miss to say the least and the session was not looking good.  Around 10am i noticed the odd twig and bits of Himalayan balsam coming down and not long after this the whole flow on the river changed.  The trot gained pace and with it the bites came on strong, it was fantastic fishing.

The type of fishing i love where you can chuck your maggots in, then a good but of hemp and then the float and you hold back right on the spot knowing the bite will come, its stick float fishing at its best.  The float going down and i held the float back just a tiny bit right before my hemp, the finger released of the line and BANG the float would bury and this continued for the rest of the session as dace roach and chublets came one after to the net.

It was evident i had a big shoal of fish in front of me, not of any huge size and certainly nothing to warrant a landing net, but the bites where steady and it was more than i could have asked for.  My uncle down stream was also having a good day and i could hear him striking regular into fish and he had also caught a few nice chub.

The session moved on in to the afternoon and the bites would drop off a little as the shoal spooked but a good pouch hemp saw the fish coming back on the feed.  A session i really enjoyed and come the end of the day it was a shame to pack in.  These sessions go by in the blink of an eye they really do but we have to make the most of them.

My final net went over 14lb and contained quite a lot of individual fish to make that weight up.

My uncle had also caught well and had the extra fight of a few chub to boot.

All in all a session to remember and both rewarding in the fact we had put the time in to learn the river and fish the right swims at the right time to catch the fish and also rewarding  in the fact the fish also turned up.

Till next time

i wish you all tight lines

Danny

Tale of Two Rivers and Pike Blog

LA warm welcome to this weeks blog update and it finally feels like i am finding time to get stuff together with the blog.  I have found as the evenings have drawn in my evening jaunts have gone for pike so it has gave me scope to start getting back up to date.  As such i have one blog already ready to go this coming Friday and i am writing this one to go live the following week.  This has come at a great time for me as i do have quite a bit of fishing planned over the next month so finding time could again become a problem so its good to have some backed up.  Commitments to companies like Pondip have been full filled and i have again accepted a product review request from a company as i feel i have the time to put to it, i was declining some interesting opportunities but hey ho i need to be honest with them and myself, the times was just not there.

In this weeks blog update the fishing see's us travelling to two rivers in one day in search of silvers and what an adventure it was, a proper road trip.  The introduction includes a bit about piking in the form of how i am going to blog my pike trips this year and also a little on my thoughts on pike etiquette and how i see the unwritten rules being openly flaunted.  We finish the introduction with my dad going the extra mile for his son piking in the bitter cold.  I hope you enjoy the update so go put the kettle on make a brew and enjoy the update.

My Pike Blog....

I was thinking a lot this year about how to go about blogging my pike fishing and i mulled over a few ideas.  Pike fishing is a lot more relaxed than my river fishing and as such you can go into detail about rigs and different set ups for each location you are on.  The spare time waiting for a bite does also open up the opportunity for some video blogging which is also something i have looked at and hopefully will be able to do this year and include them in how i am going to blog my piking.

I have decided to move the piking onto its separate page within the blog and it will sit at the top bar of the page under 2015/16 Pike Season.  This allows me to write a smaller recap blog of each trip and hopefully document the whole season as it happens.  There are a number of potential stumbling blocks with this idea though and it might end up with some duplication on this blog and that one.  Potential problems could be if the rivers flood and i go out solely pike fishing that weekend away from the river then i would have no content for the main blog.  The other stumbling block could also be the sheer amount of writing on one page as you can not split the page down into bits it is one continuous living document with the most recent trip added to the bottom. 

It does though allow me to divide my different fishing up and allows people visiting the blog to go to the area that most interests them.  With no tabs or labels its going to have to be promoted by myself for it to be noticed as i don't think it will show on google searches like my other updates do.  Either way i hope you enjoy the diversity i am trying to put into the blog and enjoy reading about my adventures on the bank in search of pike, of course the ups and the downs will be featured.

The first few trips are live here: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/201516-pike-seaon.html

The First Rule of Pike Club

As mentioned above i have toyed with the idea of putting together a few video blogs and putting them on here or Youtube but the number on thing that has stopped me has been the fact it would be nearly impossible to put together a decent video blog without compromising the locations i fish.  I have had many comments over the years that i should name the venues i fish and i don't for the safety of the pike and of course the fact that with piking there is a huge amount of hours put in learning good spots and tactics that work and i think recently some people are forgetting that we should not be naming locations where pike are caught.

I read only this week about a club member who had gone out fishing caught a few pike yet the report mentioned the exact location he had fished to catch them, why? the number one rule of pike club is you don't talk about the locations you fish publicly.  By all means report a member had a fish on such a location but then do not go on to mention the exact place.  This does no favours for the pike safely from people looking for areas to target pike for the pot and also is disrespectful to the anglers who put huge amount of time in and in fact goes to show how far these people are detached from real angling, wrong so wrong.

Love my Dad...

So I'm away fishing recently and sat there on the bank i was travelling light hoping to cover as much water as possible.  A quick look to my right and threes a guy huddled up sipping coffee while the guy to my left looked to be breaking out some refreshing soup!  The wind howling in my face and not even a chair to sit on i had no choice but to make the call, the call for supplies.  My dad answered and asked where i was, a despondent sigh at my out of the way location was received.  He said he would put me a flask together and run it through for me, what a star.,

Well 40 minutes later on the horizon i saw my shining night, carrier bag in hand.  He then began pulling from the bag all manner of tin foil parcels!  Got to say he went the extra mile for me, two rounds of door stop toast and 3 choccy biscuits i was one happy camper!  Washed down with a nice warm brew and even had a pike to grace the moment.  Fantastic stuff, the best dad in the world.

On to this weeks update

A tale of two Rivers.....

Autumn and its a time of year we always associate with pike but it is also a time where my trotting senses start getting into the mind set for Roach.  This time of the year roach seem to start shoaling up, maybe they are the first silver fish to do this, maybe not, the mystery of angling is where the magic is.  All we knew was there was a good head of roach in the River Dee and last year we had done well for them so we set the sat nav for the banks of the Dee and headed off into the night.

Arriving on the banks we where met with an angler, also eager to wet a line, but also it seemed eager to deter possible competition,  "fishing rubbish here passed few weeks only small dace" was his line.  My head was thinking he was very eager to get on the bank to chase these small dace given  it was still dark.  We unloaded the gear and made the 10 minute walk to the swims. 

It is an area of the dee that is super deep under your feet and my memory serving me right i was at the tip of my 17ft rod last year.  Pluming up this year i was finding depths of longer than my rod could manage so i was already not happy to not be fishing bottom.  The swim seems to be a huge depression in the river bed as the river does shallow up further out and further down the swim it seemed.  I plumbed up and found a run there i would be on bottom where i thought my hemp was hitting the deck.  It took a while to get the first fish but when it came and it was a nice fat plump roach my enthusiasm went up a few notches.

My uncle slightly down stream was getting plenty of knocks but nothing solid to strike at.  He then landed a Roach that was to say the least massive, easily the biggest roach i have seen.  The splash at it hit his keep net confirming a sizable bar of silver.  I managed to put a few more roach in the net but nothing like my uncles of the first fish i had caught early on.

The morning wore on and our swims completely died, there was not such much as a knock or even a sign of fish around and the river looked dead with no fish topping like they had earlier.  It was time to make a decision as even leaving now by the time we had packed up and loaded the car and reached the river it would be getting on for midday.  We decided to make a move and drop on the River Dane on the way home.  Mine and my uncles roach from the morning shown below.

Travelling down the A roads we where soon on the banks of another river and to be honest it looked as low as i have ever seen her and really clear, i didn't hold out much hope arriving in the middle of the day.  Setting up in the closest swim i had a snag to my left but the trot was just off rod tip around a sweeping slow bend with plenty of water and slacks that could hold fish.

I was into fish from the off with dace being the main quarry and i was amazed at the sport if i was honest i was expecting a really hard session and again goes to show how you think you know a place and them boom nature throws what you think out of the window!  The fish took some messing around to keep them coming like following them right down to the extremity of the swim and changing depth to try a deeper line kept the bites coming.

Feeding also plays a huge part in it as well and i love nothing more than throwing hand fulls of maggots at a swim and getting a positive response from the fish with a bite a chuck but on this session i really trickled the bait in, literally 3 maggots every run through.

The final net was quite good considering the short amount of time we spent on the actual river

Till next time i wish you all tight lines and i hope the fish gods are good to you all.

Danny

Pondip Blog Live and New Swim Trecks!

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Well i arrived at the bait shop on Friday and unfortunately there was no replacement rod section waiting for me, no fault of the shops just no Preston orders had come in that week, fingers crossed for this week.  A tough start to the working week today as i feel the pain from a weekend trampling through the undergrowth and of course that monday morning blues feeling of no fishing for a few days.  A third cup of coffee of the morning just arrived on my desk so fingers crossed that this much needed caffeine gets me through this afternoon.

Since the birth of our children my fishing has remained structured but the writing of the blog has been all over the place but i finally feel that i am finding some much needed structure to my week with writing my blog on my dinner hour in work.  Jotting my ideas for the blog down over the weekend while fishing means i am now starting writing the blog on the Monday and hopefully this will see me starting to publish my blog on Friday evenings.

On to this weeks blog update.. http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/coarse-fishing-2/canal-bait-2/

Down at the Bottom of the Garden....

Now we all remember the famous program as kids called the poddington pea's,  respect to those currently signing the theme tune!! But this week i was literally down at the bottom of my garden amongst the birds and the bees, i didn't see a lot of Little people but i did find a gem right at the back of my garden that i never knew was there.  This gem is a elderberry plant and although not yet in full bloom it soon will be and for me as an angler it means i can now have a go fishing with elderberries over hemp seed.  A great little find!

I will be leaving this a few days to come into full bloom and hopefully i will beat the birds to this bounty, do they even eat them? sure they do.  The first session they are ripe i will be taking a few to the bank and trying them out.  The end of the garden is a right little Aladdin's cave of surprises though with a Apple tree currently laden with apples, any ideas on variety appreciated in the comments section.  There is also some form of berry tree as well and i am informed its not the best thing to make cherry pie from so i will be giving these a miss but the apples might get a look in if they are edible.

All in all with the bird feeders up the garden has been a real surprise this year.  What started out as a overgrown wild garden is slowly getting to a managed state and the wealth of wildlife is astonishing from robins, finches and sparrows to hedgehogs, frogs and squirrels.  These have mainly come from the bird table but most have had little don't to attract them in so i can only imagine the oasis we could have if we really directed some energy towards their habitat.

Natural History Museum.....Great Day Out!!

Bank holiday weekend and we decided to make a trip into Liverpool town centre to visit the Natural History Museum.  All i can say is WOW! what a fantastic day out and set up they have there it really was a great day out and i have to say it was done in the right way.  The exhibitions are set over 5 floors with aquariums, space rockets, dinosaur bones, preserved animals and a bug zone to name a few areas they had.  As an angler i was of course pulled by the aquarium bit and it was fantastic to see so many children fascinated by the fish on show.

We had recently visited the Blue Planet aquarium and it was a nightmare with every room containing children's rides or sweet vending machines, all these do is distract the attention of the children and you are left with kids crying to go on rides rather than looking at the fish, in short had we wanted to go the fair ground we would have gone Alton Towers.  This place had none of that and it showed in the fact all the kids where looking at the fish and reading the information on show.  This spoke volumes for me and it is a place where entry is free!.

Parking right outside the place and i think it was £3.00 for a few hours parking.  All in all a great day out and a place i fully recommend for taking the kids too.  I know its not angling related but thought it worthy of a share.

Pondip Blog Goes Live.....

My most recent blog for Pondip Tackle Boxes went live this week.  It is the second instalment of my canal baits series i am writing for them.  This blog looks at castors and hemp seed for fishing the canal and the results it can bring.  We all live close to a canal and even the most neglected of waters can hold a decent head of fish, in fact waters that are gin clear and you can see the bottom all the way across are not always the best quality for fish to survive.  Why not have a read of the blogs and try your local canal and even better drop me a email or message on facebook and i will feature it in one of the blogs.

link to Pondip  Blog: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/coarse-fishing-2/canal-bait-2/

On to this weeks fishing

What is going on!

So Saturday morning and we pulled up on the banks of the river dane and in the gloom of the early morning light the river was looking in tip top shape.  We walked the banks looking at all the swims before deciding on where to fish.  We are always out on the bank at first light and are very rarely beaten to a peg if we really have one in mind but on this river that is not even an issue as the gear stays in the car and we walk the banks looking at the swims before even getting the gear so confident are we no one will be on the peg when we arrive back.

By the time we walked back to the car the river was fully visible and she looked in mint condition in fact as rivers go she was bang on!  The river was carrying a little bit of water, had a nice pace but more importantly she had a lovely colour.  You could not see the bottom in the middle and the edges where just visible.  Having fished the rivers for a few years you begin to understand how they fish and in both mine and my uncles opinion it looked class and we expected a decent days sport.

I set up in a swim where i placed my basket actually in the water and fished a few yards into the river.  The main glide on this swim was on my side of the river so it was nothing more than a two rod length cast to be on the line i wanted to fish.  I fed the swim with maggots and fed it slightly down stream so i was confident the fish would not be right up on the feed and my float was settled by the time i got to the swim.  A few pouches of hemp seed and i was all ready to set up my 13ft float rod loaded with 5lb line and a 1.7lb hook length.

The fishing from the off was frantic as the fish moved right onto the feed and a shoal of chublet where obviously in residence as the early exchanges where dominated by these fish with their mouths laden with maggots.

At this point it was looking like we were set in for a good days sport as i could also hear my uncle some 50 yards down stream confidently striking into bites.  Chublet and the odd roach coming each cast you begin to think it could be a good days fishing with a decent net.  The float rarely made it to my bed of hemp seed at this point and i must admit alarm bells where ringing as the bites where beginning to feel frantic and not the settled swim you really want when trotting a float.  I persevered with it but slowly i could feel the bites ebbing as i went further down the swim and onto my hemp seed where i found the odd skimmer had taken up residence.

This was around a hour into the day and i will never forget this skimmer as it was literally the last fish i caught on the session as the swim died.  From a bite a chuck to nothing and the float going through the swim with not so much as a knock, "it can not be right this" i thought in my head "all these fish can not just go!".  This time i was determined to do all i could so out came the maggot feeder rod and ground bait and i began fishing on the tip where i had fed my hemp.

The tip remained as motionless as the float and i even decided to risk a cast right on top of a over hanging tree where there just had to be a fish lurking but still the tip remained motionless.  My head ticking over i could only imagine a predator had moved in so i set up a small live bait rig.  If any predator was in the swim it must have been blind as this live bait was doing all you would want it to do making a commotion and frantically moving all over the swim.

I have said in previous blogs this place is getting me down and i have to admit on Saturday i finally gave up.  I literally said stuff this and packed my gear away and went to see how my uncle was doing.  He was a good 50-100 yards down stream and his swim had literally mirrored mine and he was going through with not a knock.  I took a picture of my net and thought about what to do next.

Not one to waste time

We had plenty of the day left so we decided to pack in and do some investigation into some other areas of the river i had researched in the last few weeks.  The first was a stretch miles upstream and upon getting out the car we where met with head high balsam and nettles.  We grabbed the bank sticks and began hacking a route through to a point where we could at lease see the river.

like with most rivers you get through some of the under growth and you find big open expanses of bank behind it and so was the case with this.  The river was really neglected so a lot of fallen trees had gone into the river and had not been removed but the whole area screamed fish and had some really nice glides.  Getting the gear to the swims was going to be a nightmare so we made our way back the car and vowed to return another time to hack a route through and fish the swims we found and we headed off to another area we had explored the previous week with a view to seeing if it held any fish at all such was its remote location.

Armed with a shovel we began digging in some foot holes and a place to sit on the steep banks.

We fished the swim for a hour or so in the blistering heat, not the best time to be wetting a line on a shallow river but we knew these fish would not have seen a bait so we where confident of getting an idea of species present.  My uncle set up just upstream and we took it in turns to trot the swim.  Early trots down saw us catching bottom as the swim gradually got shallow but eventually we found a line and to our surprise some stinking dace came to the net!!

By the end of the hour or so on the bank we had caught a few nice dace that showed us this area does have some potential and is worth us dedicating time to this area.

We left again a little frustrated with the days action and we are yet to find an area that can sustain a day session and produce a decent net of fish.  Moving and picking around is not how we fish and its really becoming a problem.  Hopefully this coming weekend my rod will be here and we can make some moves to other rivers.

Till next week i wish you all tight lines

Danny

Go Outdoors Talk, River Dane fishing and Piking...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Well what a weekend it has been for me i have just got back from my day at Go Outdoors where i was asked to appear at the opening of their New Store in Shrewsbury.  It has been a fantastic weekend and a great experience for myself and one i will never forget, more on that in a moment.

This weeks blog introduction covers the day at Shrewsbury and our time down there, spring arrives and i cover a bit on a short trip to Chester Zoo.  The fishing sees us on the banks of the River Dane trotting a stick float and a pike trip that shows why being in the right place is better than cumulative hours in the wrong one.  Please remember if you have any questions on any of my fishing or just want to share your fishing experiences with me the blog is on Facebook, Twitter and you can also email to Dannysanglingblog@hotmail.co.uk.

on to the update

Go Outdoors Opening....Amazing where a Blog Leads...

Friday evening and the day i had been looking forward to and been a bit nervous about was finally working its way round i had spent many hours practising for the event making sure i had a fair idea what to say when it was called upon.  The morning came and we set of on our journey to Shrewsbury and it was rather apt on the the way we passed all the landmarks of my fishing life to this point, first the bridgewater canal where i grew up as a kid and was taught the basics of angling by my dad then the River Dee where i have spent a great deal of the last 10 years of my life learning a new trade and falling in love with moving water and the joys its brings and then finally we passed many rivers like the Severn which i have only fished a hand full of times,  in my head these represented the journey in angling and the unknown adventures to come.

Arriving at Go outdoors there was a whole host of events going on outside with a huge climbing wall and rescue boat both visible for customers to go up and see.  On the door there where plenty of Go Outdoors staff who where really friendly and informative.  I met up with the ThisIsMission who where organising the event for Go Outdoors.  The team gave me time to look around before our event meeting so it was great to have time to look around the Fishing Section and also take in Ray Mears Question and Answers Piece on the main stage which was really interesting and a little piece of the talk is below.

A quick meeting with the team and it was time for me to meet up with Ray Mears and ask him some questions i received over Facebook and Twitter.  All these experiences where new to me i have been to events before but very much as a customer never as the person asking the questions.  I was really surprised by how easy going and easy to speak to Ray was he took just as much time and went into the same amount of details with my questions as i had witnessed him doing earlier on the Stage.  The transcript the questions will be in an upcoming blog introduction.

A few pictures with Ray and it was time for him to move on to other commitments.  My time for my Questions and Answers on the main Stage was 12 o'clock so that gave me a hour to look around and take some pictures of the Angling Section.  I was genuinely impressed with the quality of the tackle on show.  Anyone who was listening in on the Questions and Answers would have heard me say this but i remember 20 years ago if you did not go a dedicated angling shop for your tackle you where very limited to those small rods with the plastic reels and very thick white line, these are probably the reason angling never took off with people who where never taught by parents, now we have stores that are not dedicated angling shops but the section they devote to it has the quality for new anglers to catch with names like Shimano, Shakespeare, Dynamite Baits and Savage gear to name a few brands, see collection of pics around fishing section.

My time came to appear on the main stage and handing the microphone over to me the reality of what was happening did hit me but i walked on the stage confident if a little nervous.  The first question came in and replying i could hear my voice echoed through the speakers, my first time speaking on a microphone ever it did throw me a little but after a shaky start to the first question i got into it and as the questions progressed and we delved deeper i felt my confidence increasing as the quality of my answers showed this i feel. Fifteen to twenty minutes into the section and i felt i could have talked forever as we covered all aspects of my fishing from early trips with my dad to the delights and benefits of fishing near unusual spots like sewer outlets.  As the section drew to a close a talk that i had worried and been nervous about for weeks i felt like i didn't want it to end i was in my element talking about my thoughts and my own opinions on fishing.

After this talk my commitments i had signed up to on the day came to a close.  Having two children under three years old and me spending one day a weekend fishing means in the past few years time just for me and the other half has been very hard to come by and this trip down to shrewbury we decided to turn into a over night stay so after the event we got the ball rolling with a lovely meal at Chiquitos and a well earned beer.  We hit the town in the evening and made our way back on Sunday morning.

All in all looking back i am so glad i decided to go completely out of my comfort zone and do this talk the buzz once i got into it and afterwards was amazing and it is something i would do again.  Parts of the QA at the beginning where not perfect but being my first time on a stage talking in front of people it was never going to go completely word for word perfect but it will certainly set me in good stead if any other opportunities like this come along.  All in all i am so glad i did it and will always look back on that weekend with fond memories and a sense of personal achievement.

Spring has Sprung!!....

It has now been two weeks since i have hit the bank and i am thoroughly enjoying a well earned break away from angling although i must admit this week seeing all that tackle in the Go Outdoors store and stopping in on Gary pole fishing it has started off a need to get out there again in my mind.  Tonight i will be picking up my Environment Agency Licence and this act always is a sign that spring is here for me and to start thinking about days tench fishing and long mornings chasing roach and perch on the canal and local ponds.

Springs arrival need not be signalled by any set date in the calender as all around us for the past few weeks spring has been in a battle to break through winters sold clasps.  All the roads now have been taken over by flowers with crocus plants and rows and rows of both planted and wild Daffodils lining all the local roads.  My dads house is always the first place i look though as not only is it surrounded in trees that blossom at this time of year coating the ground in a carpet of white and pink but we also have a family of sparrows that nest in the guttering each year and their arrival and collection of twigs being transformed like only a mother can into a safe heaven nest is the start of the spring for myself.

Chester Zoo Trips....

I try and incorporate a little bit about myself in my angling blog and my family life as much as i can and this week we made our annual visit to Chester Zoo.  This was a very special trip for me as it was the first trip to the zoo where my little girl would know what the animals where and have an interest in seeing them!  I have always grown up with a real love for all types of wildlife and would spend many hours watching recordings on Wildlife on One, nature has always been a huge part of my life and still is to this day.  A huge part of why i go fishing is the wildlife i see on the banks and the journey to the water and it is something that i want my family to grow up with and have a respect for animals and the wildlife on our planet as its the next generation that the worlds wildlife fate will be left too.

Chester Zoo trips have been an annual trip for me since i was old enough to walk and i love how much this Zoo reinvests its money into improving the Zoo itself and the facilities the animals live in.  They also do a fantastic amount of work in with conservation all over the world which is great to see.

Arriving at the gates of the Zoo the magic was there in my little girls eyes she knew all the animals she wanted to see, Elephants and Giraffes being top of her hit list.  It was really warming to see her be excited by the animals and asking loads of questions as we moved form species to species and it was a great family day out that left me with lots of happy memories and i am sure left our little girl with more.

With that picture its onto this weeks fishing....

Stick Float Fishing River Dane...

With two weekends to go till the end of the River Season it is the time where all your hard work during the season should really pay off for you.  Having worked out where the fish are holding up in their winter haunts these last two weeks of the season as the fish are feeding hard ready for spawning should be the time where you are reaping the rewards.

Sadly for us our winter of exploration and discovery on the River Dane has been a little stop start with the regular rainfalls keeping the river running coloured and every time we thought the levels where right snow melt from the hills would flush through and make the river a torrent of brown.  It meant we had little chances over the past months to learn about this river but we did know where the better swims where from the end of the last season so we decided to take a risk and hit those swims.

The swims we set up in looked mint with plenty of visibility for trotting a float and the pace of the glide was bob on.  Casting in we expected roach and dace with a splattering of chublets but a hour and half in and we had little to show and certainly was not meeting out one a chuck expectations.  We moved to an area that had been good to us in the past but it would mean me doing a little pruning of the bank side.

The second to last weekend of the season is not the time you want to be digging in a new peg but it was a glide that i had wanted to fish all season and with a big snag in the main swim i really had no choice. Half a hours digging and i had enough room for my box and bait waiter.  I had been lose feeding the swim with maggot and hemp while digging in the peg hoping that food would distract the fish from the loud noise i was making.  I need not had worried as first trot down the float buried and i was rewarded with a palm sized silver dart.

The swim i had dug in was just above some really fast water so it was not the longest of trots and what happened on this session truly shocked me.  I returned the fish and began my next run though and instantly the float was getting knocks and bumps going through, eventually it went under and another dace was in my palm.  This knocking on then line as it goes through is a sure fire sign of plenty of fish in the swim and the key here is not to get carried away and think you need to feed heavy as you run the risk of the whole shoal coming up in the water and hard to catch, you want the fish taking 5-10 yards down the swim at a comfortable striking distance.

The fishing was a bite a chuck, some of them lightning fast and hard to hit but it was a chance of a fish each run through which is all you can ask for.  Some times the float would bury and a chublet would be the obvious culprit.  Among the smaller fish you would find the odd better dace show and these where either rough to the touch like sandpaper or really plump and slimy and bursting with spawn.  It was obvious these fish come into this area to spawn as we have not run into as many dace before in this location.

This area was a real find for us and in a season where we uncovered very little about this river it showed its hand to us right at the very end and i guess almost tipped her hat to us as a reward to all our hard work.  It will certainly set us in good stead for the season coming up.  Back to the session and the bites kept coming steady right though the middle of the day and into the afternoon but the size of the fish certainly deteriorated.

It was a weird feeling as the afternoon moved into time to pack up as i knew rain was planned during the week and i guess deep down i knew that would see this river colour up and not be worth the risk the next weekend and as such this would be my last session on the banks of the River Dane for this season.  I had left my scales in my pike gear, a problem that has happened a few times this season and one i will have to sort out with another pair of scales, we estimated them to be around 10-12lb nets and if the torrential downpours in the week did materialise it was a nice way to sign off.

my net

uncle net

Pike Fishing: I will Never Learn!!!!........but worth it haha

Regular readers of my blog will recall last weeks update where i dared the wrath of her in doors by sneaking off on a Sunday Morning for two hours pike fishing before the house woke up and although i picked up two pike i did pay the penalty when i returned home to cook my own breakfast!  In school my report always said the same thing, clever, easily distracted and does not learn from his mistakes, well some things have changed i am now not clever but others have remained the same, easily distracted and does not learn from mistakes as Sunday morning the fishing devils returned and off i went with a pike rod and a bag full of smelly dead baits...at least the freezer was empty...for a bit.

This time there would be no getting out of it i knew exactly what i was doing so ignorance was not an excuse this time.  I had to be stealthy and my clever side had to return.  6am and i arrived at the bank and set the alarm on my phone to go off at 8.30am to give me a warning to pack in and get back in the car and home.  Casting in i was confident the water was like a glass pane and there was not a breath of wind, my only company was the solitary robin looking expectantly for his anglers free breakfast.

A two hour window is hardly any time in piking but i would say in the time i have been piking this season the first two hours are the time to be on the bank.  You can often spend many hours on the bank piking but i would say the majority of my bites have come in the first two or last two hours.  The floats cast out into the gloom i sat back on a tree stump to await the pike to play their part.

The first swim produced no signs of fish so i moved into another swim and withing 5 minutes the float was showing the signs of a pike coming to dine.  A few tentative bobs on the float showed me a pike was interested in the bait but it took a good 10 minutes for the pike to actually commit to taking the bait and move off.  Reaching for the rod it was a slow run that pulled line steadily from the reel and then the best moment in pike fishing came, time to reel down on the fish and set the hooks.

In that moment of striking your excitement of the run has built and there is no going back, after the strike your either going to pull clean out of the fish, strike into a jack and the fish will normally come up in the water or in some cases you strike and the float gently bends over into something with a bit of fight.  This was the later.  The fish put up probably the best fight of the season it made long hard runs and i just hoped it stayed on.  Knowing the fish was a double i reduced the drag a little as to not pull the hooks but as the fight drew on i knew with each minute and head shake the tide was turning towards the pike escaping so i decided to try and take some control of the fight and upped the drag and the fish did respond and soon came to the net.

The fish went 11lb on the scales and it was a great start to the short session.

The pike returned i was smiling like the a Cheshire Cat, a quick look at the clock and it was 7.05am, i had around a hour max left but it already felt like mission complete.  The hardest part of piking this year for me has been letting myself not get complacent and lose my drive when i get an early bite.  so many times i have had a early fish and not had a touch the rest of the session just because i have been happy with the one fish.  Maybe these shorter sessions at the right time of the day are the key.

I leap made my way back to the car and leap frogged the rods as i did.  Right on the alarm for packing up going on my phone i was about to grab the rod and reel it in when i got a run on it.  This run was far more erratic that the first as the fish shot off with the bait.  The fish a jack of 8lb was the complete opposite of the first pike and i reckon it moved more in the run than in the fight!  The fish in the mat the hooks came out in the net, such small margins with this game.

The second pike returned it really was time to beat a retreat and with pike fishing its a simple task of clipping off your traces folding the rods in half and putting your gear in the back of the car.  Home and the gear stashed away i lobbed in some bacon and toast and a cuppa tea and it was mission complete!

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to read my blog and all the people who constantly like and share the updates it means a great deal!, Thank  you and till next week, tight lines.

Danny