Showing posts with label pole fishing. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pole fishing. Show all posts
Saturday, 3 June 2017
Wednesday, 22 March 2017
River Season End, Cheshire Fishery and Xchange Landing Net Review
A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet. Its safe to say that spring is well and truly here now and its fantastic to see all the little changes i spotted a week or two ago no bursting into full life and all around it seems like the world is coming to life.
Recent trips to the bank have seen the ducks starting to pair of and "do their thing" if you get me and a recent trip for an evening session on a a pond i was greeted to the margins alive with toads all preparing to spawn. The morning commute to work is now done to the back drop of bird song and i know i always say that i love winter as the best time of year for myself enjoying my time on the bank but i think the reality is i love all the seasons for the little bits of magic they bring.
It is at this time of the year i find myself just heading out with just my camera on my phone to take some shots of nature and leave the rods tucked away at home. The venues are always water related in some way but its just good to be out in the fresh air. The Monday to Friday job as i have always said is simply just a means to an end to putting food on the table and pay the bills. Its 4 walls and 5 windows do get you down so time is needed alone out in the wilderness with your thoughts or just by a river to wash away those stagnating days in the dungeon.
There have been some good changes recently in work and one of them has been the introduction of a late shift every week till 6.30pm. The late is not great news but with a late finish comes a late start so it has meant i can take my time and after dropping the kids off at nursery i have a hour or two to burn. This week i am writing this piece for my main blog but last week i took a leisurely walk along the local canal.
The walk was on a warm Wednesday morning the sun on my back and my camera in my hand it was a great start to my day. Daffodils lines the path and fish where topping on the end of the wind i was heading into work in the next half hour but that was firmly at the back of my mind.
A lovely spring day
On to the update...
Time To Spring Into Life....
This week my next article for my role at Warrington Angling Centre went live. I always try to keep these articles in a different style to this blog with them being more about the how i fish than the fishing as such. I have always tried to keep this written blog about the experience of my fishing and not so much about the diameter of the line used.
In this latest blog i look at how i prepare away from actually fishing a session as spring arrives. How and why i travel to the venues before i even wet a lone and the best times i have found for visiting that water you are looking forward to fishing in the coming weeks.
Here is a link the the article: http://www.warringtonangling.com/time-to-spring-into-life/
There are links at the bottom of the article to rate it out of 5 stars and to share it on your social media platforms. It would be great if you could suport the articles in any way.
Xchange Landing Net Review
Product Info:
Price: £20.00
Link to product: https://www.tincafishing.co.uk/xchange--interchangeable-landing-net
Product description:
The XChange Interchangeable Landing Net Head is a landing net with a difference because you can change between different mesh sizes, depths and materials with ease. It comes supplied with a set of 3 different varieties of mesh, and two more can be purchased separately. Not only does this provide you with an all-round net, that is more cost effective, but it also means that if one mesh was to break or get a hole in it, you could easily put on a new one without having to buy a whole new frame!
Review:
A few weeks ago i was contacted by a company asking if i was interested in reviewing one of their products. A landing net that allowed you to change the mesh to either a deeper one or a rubber one depending on the size or species you where fishing for. It looked a really exciting product so i agreed to take a look. What came really did capture myself as i think it is a fantastic bit of thinking outside the box and innovation.
Like with all things the best ideas are almost always the most simple and this one i no different. A cut in the metal allows you to slide off the widget on the landing net mesh and pull it completely off the metal rim. Attaching the new net is a simple as sliding the next net onto the gap into the metal.
I found this net really useful on a a recent session on Cheshire Fishery where i knew the carp had woken up so i wanted a deeper net in case some of the carp showed. Luckily i did as in the last hour 27lb of carp appeared under my feet.
The net offers fantastic versatility whilst only carrying the one net. The rubber net will certainly come into its own for predator anglers fishing for perch who want a lightweight net with some depth in case an esox makes an appearance.
All in all a great product and below is it up close on the bank with my first ever video review.
Cheshire Fishery Silvers On Pole...
The river season in truth came to a drab and wet conclusion with most of the rivers carrying a good amount of water as we moved into the closed season. At times like this it can be hard to decide what to do as the natural still waters are still slowly waking from their winter hibernation. It can mean we are left with a period of quite hard fishing and this is when i firmly turn my attention to the commercials for some action.
A fishery we headed to last year was Cheshire Fishing in Tattenhall and it served us well for both silvers and the odd rod bending carp. We decided to again head there again in search of the fantastic roach that reside in this venue please check out the session below.
The plan for the session was to fish two lines, one on caster and hemp for the silvers and the other for carp on a heavier elastic and bigger bait in corn. The first few hours we sat in a cold corner of the complex struggling for bites and we soon decided to have a move onto one of the other pools on the lake. It was a move that would remind me just how mad fishing can be. Two pools on the same complex with the same conditions and same water depth yet one was dead and the other was alive.
The fish where soon coming regular to the hemp and caster and with this type of fishing you really do get into a rythm. I find each session is different with how the fish want you to feed, sometimes it is better to lay your rig in and feed over the top and others its best to feed and then follow it in with your rig. On this session feeding first was certainly better.
The fish in the swim in good numbers i knew competition for the bait would son see the fish coming up in the water to the castors so i quickly set my rig to half depth and i certainly saw the quality of the silvers improve. Testament to the competition i started to even get the odd skimmer on the drop.
Just a quick update this one really but there is some exciting news coming in the next update along with the regular videos on youtube.
Till next time
Tight Lines
Danny
Recent trips to the bank have seen the ducks starting to pair of and "do their thing" if you get me and a recent trip for an evening session on a a pond i was greeted to the margins alive with toads all preparing to spawn. The morning commute to work is now done to the back drop of bird song and i know i always say that i love winter as the best time of year for myself enjoying my time on the bank but i think the reality is i love all the seasons for the little bits of magic they bring.
It is at this time of the year i find myself just heading out with just my camera on my phone to take some shots of nature and leave the rods tucked away at home. The venues are always water related in some way but its just good to be out in the fresh air. The Monday to Friday job as i have always said is simply just a means to an end to putting food on the table and pay the bills. Its 4 walls and 5 windows do get you down so time is needed alone out in the wilderness with your thoughts or just by a river to wash away those stagnating days in the dungeon.
There have been some good changes recently in work and one of them has been the introduction of a late shift every week till 6.30pm. The late is not great news but with a late finish comes a late start so it has meant i can take my time and after dropping the kids off at nursery i have a hour or two to burn. This week i am writing this piece for my main blog but last week i took a leisurely walk along the local canal.
The walk was on a warm Wednesday morning the sun on my back and my camera in my hand it was a great start to my day. Daffodils lines the path and fish where topping on the end of the wind i was heading into work in the next half hour but that was firmly at the back of my mind.
A lovely spring day
On to the update...
Time To Spring Into Life....
This week my next article for my role at Warrington Angling Centre went live. I always try to keep these articles in a different style to this blog with them being more about the how i fish than the fishing as such. I have always tried to keep this written blog about the experience of my fishing and not so much about the diameter of the line used.
In this latest blog i look at how i prepare away from actually fishing a session as spring arrives. How and why i travel to the venues before i even wet a lone and the best times i have found for visiting that water you are looking forward to fishing in the coming weeks.
Here is a link the the article: http://www.warringtonangling.com/time-to-spring-into-life/
There are links at the bottom of the article to rate it out of 5 stars and to share it on your social media platforms. It would be great if you could suport the articles in any way.
Xchange Landing Net Review
Product Info:
Price: £20.00
Link to product: https://www.tincafishing.co.uk/xchange--interchangeable-landing-net
Product description:
The XChange Interchangeable Landing Net Head is a landing net with a difference because you can change between different mesh sizes, depths and materials with ease. It comes supplied with a set of 3 different varieties of mesh, and two more can be purchased separately. Not only does this provide you with an all-round net, that is more cost effective, but it also means that if one mesh was to break or get a hole in it, you could easily put on a new one without having to buy a whole new frame!
Review:
A few weeks ago i was contacted by a company asking if i was interested in reviewing one of their products. A landing net that allowed you to change the mesh to either a deeper one or a rubber one depending on the size or species you where fishing for. It looked a really exciting product so i agreed to take a look. What came really did capture myself as i think it is a fantastic bit of thinking outside the box and innovation.
Like with all things the best ideas are almost always the most simple and this one i no different. A cut in the metal allows you to slide off the widget on the landing net mesh and pull it completely off the metal rim. Attaching the new net is a simple as sliding the next net onto the gap into the metal.
I found this net really useful on a a recent session on Cheshire Fishery where i knew the carp had woken up so i wanted a deeper net in case some of the carp showed. Luckily i did as in the last hour 27lb of carp appeared under my feet.
The net offers fantastic versatility whilst only carrying the one net. The rubber net will certainly come into its own for predator anglers fishing for perch who want a lightweight net with some depth in case an esox makes an appearance.
All in all a great product and below is it up close on the bank with my first ever video review.
Cheshire Fishery Silvers On Pole...
The river season in truth came to a drab and wet conclusion with most of the rivers carrying a good amount of water as we moved into the closed season. At times like this it can be hard to decide what to do as the natural still waters are still slowly waking from their winter hibernation. It can mean we are left with a period of quite hard fishing and this is when i firmly turn my attention to the commercials for some action.
A fishery we headed to last year was Cheshire Fishing in Tattenhall and it served us well for both silvers and the odd rod bending carp. We decided to again head there again in search of the fantastic roach that reside in this venue please check out the session below.
The plan for the session was to fish two lines, one on caster and hemp for the silvers and the other for carp on a heavier elastic and bigger bait in corn. The first few hours we sat in a cold corner of the complex struggling for bites and we soon decided to have a move onto one of the other pools on the lake. It was a move that would remind me just how mad fishing can be. Two pools on the same complex with the same conditions and same water depth yet one was dead and the other was alive.
With only 3 hours of the session left it did feel like it was only a case of hoping to get a few bites if we moves. I set up on pool 5 and literally went down to one line on castor and Cheshire Particle Hempseed. My plan was to try and make the most of the time we had left and just enjoy getting a few bites.
The rig was a simple light float that took 3 number 8 weights and i spread them evenly down the line to allow me to target fish in all the water layers as the bait fell. The bait was introduced via a Preston soft pot.
The fish where soon coming regular to the hemp and caster and with this type of fishing you really do get into a rythm. I find each session is different with how the fish want you to feed, sometimes it is better to lay your rig in and feed over the top and others its best to feed and then follow it in with your rig. On this session feeding first was certainly better.
The fish in the swim in good numbers i knew competition for the bait would son see the fish coming up in the water to the castors so i quickly set my rig to half depth and i certainly saw the quality of the silvers improve. Testament to the competition i started to even get the odd skimmer on the drop.
Why is it with this type of fishing that when its good the time flies bye. As the session came to an end the fishing went from strength to strength as the swim built up and the dusk set in. I knew i had caught well but i was not ready for the final net to go over the 20lb mark!!
My first session out with the Cheshire particle hem seed and hemp oil, more on that in the coming weeks blogs but as first outing s go, well 20lb of roach in 3 hours speaks for itself!
Just a quick update this one really but there is some exciting news coming in the next update along with the regular videos on youtube.
Till next time
Tight Lines
Danny
Thursday, 13 October 2016
Roach Pole Fishing and Autumnal Carp Hunt..
A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet. Writing this angling blog over the last few years has been such an enjoyable experience, going fishing then sharing my adventures on this format. Finding the words to say without sounding repetitive is a constant challenge but i think over the years i have managed to keep it all both interesting and varied. I just wanted to say a huge thank you to all the people who have ever taken the time to read the blog and a special thank you to the ones who religiously come back to keep up with the adventures.
This weeks blog see's the pike blog go live and with it a few videos to kick start the Youtube channel and i will cover a little bit on why i write the blog the way i do as it has been a subject that comes up quite a bit in the comments and on websites. The fishing is a session for roach, cant have too much of a good thing right? And then a chase for an autumnal carp to end the season on.
Lets get into the update....
Pike Blog 2016/17 Goes Live....
As you can see form the top bar of the blog the Pike Diary 2016/17 is now live to view. It will again run in a rolling format reading top to bottom with new trips added as it goes down. Its a format i have found works well in previous years and with the odd video log added in it will also act as a kind of archive and play list location for these videos.
link to Pike Diary: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/pike-diary-201617.html
I know the writing is not for everybody so i have set up a Playlist on the Youtube page so if you just want to follow the VLogs then you can watch them all on the play list or subscribe and they will fall into your subscription box as and when each goes live.
I have set up a spreadsheet for this years piking so i know exactly what trips i have done on, what i have caught and what trips i have video logged and uploaded. This should mean the pike diary this year will certainly be a lot more structured in the updates. I am thinking of weekly updates on a Friday night and trying to include a video every 2 weeks.
There is currently 3 sessions live now on the youtube page and i have done this to kick start the channel, get a bit of content on there and then settle into a structured format. Lets just see where this new part of the blog takes us and if it is feasible to continue both given amount of time and effort it takes, especially if vlog lengths increase.
For those looking to subscribe a link to the Channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions
Lets Talk Locations and Secret Squirrel Blogs....
So this week i have again been defending my stance on not sharing my locations i am fishing and again been met with accusations that i just write my blog to show off and believe it or not "make money". I can assure you there is no money to be made in blogspot for writing an angling blog so we can clear that one up right away.
Locations i fish, i do not share them for a number of reasons and i will cover them now. The first reason i dont share exact locations on my coarse and pike fishing is fish safety, i believe the Internet is the prime area for people poaching our waters to find the good places to go and catch fish for the pot. I have no problem in people sharing the locations of when they have fished a commercial or a syndicate water as these waters are well protected and it is in the interest of the owners to keep it that way, its their lively hood.
As you will see looking back over the last few years of blogs i am an angler that tends to avoid the popular spots and the places where its like a circus of anglers and prefer to fish the canals, lakes and rivers getting right out of the way. As such i do fish waters where i see evidence of this poaching and fish being taken, a few years back i witnessed the decimation of the pike stocks on the Dee and right there and then i promised myself my blog would never be the source of this disgraceful act.
Sights like this now are rare on the dee:
We then move over to actual time and effort i put in, i put a huge amount of time and effort into my fishing and subscribe to the moto "fail to prepare, prepare to fail". If you are willing to put the time into you fishing then you will get the results and this blog proves that, how long is it since i wrote a blog on coarse fishing and blanked?
Roach fishing is a common blog of late on both the rivers and a huge canal that's 22ft deep in places, the blogs show the final result, methods used and a recap on the session but what it doesn't show is the week i went without a dinner hour in work looking on google earth for accessible water and places to park the car, the trip then to the bank at 6am on a Sunday morning to see if any fished topped to give the location and in some cases even the presence of fish. Then comes the risk and sacrifice, do you not go a water you know you can catch this time of year on in favour of possibly walking a few fields with your gear to blank? The inner angler in me is an explorer and always want to chase that new adventure.
A swim there somewhere
Maybe with these vlogs i might look for a water and vlog the amount of effort i put into it and have that water as just one water that when its location gets out its done and dusted but it will show the amount of effort i put in. why should i then just from someone putting a comment on facebook saying "where" give all that effort away to someone who can not even be bothered to say nice net, well done just a "where". They then proceed to call you all the names under the sun when you don't share it.
Rant over ha ha its been a while and i am still waiting for this person to post their net up as they where adamant my help was not needed and they could use their own water craft and match my nets....i feel i may never see the fruits of their Internet fishing labour....
i feel liberated now lets get into the fishing...
Roach On The Pole...Never Too Much of a Good Thing...
This new area certainly has produced the good the passed few weeks with mid teen nets and a 28lb net for me last week. When you suss a venue like this the challenge for me then comes in trying to get the best i can out of the venue. The first week i fished castor on the hook and did not really get a better stamp of fish for my efforts than my uncle on maggot, I fed little ground bait on this session and did feed heavy on the hemp. Last week i decided to try and get the bream so i went heavy on the ground bait but i packed the ground bait full of maggot, hemp and micro pellets.
This week i toyed with the idea of again taking castor but decided on a different approach. I decided to mix up a greater amount of ground bait adding a full kilo of Van Den Enyde Roach to the bucket and riddling before ten adding to it around 3 pints of mole hill soil. It gave me a lovely fine but heavy mix containing the attraction of the smell of the ground bait but with the fact that at least half of the mix in the moil hill soil was neutral, e.g contains no feed content at all but would add colour.
The mix ready it was time to answer the call of nature and what a view i was met with as i walked the bank, a beautiful morning to be on the bank.
Back to the peg i set up the gear while the ground bait settled, i added a small amount of maggot to the mix as i hoped to attract the roach in with smell but them find my bait quickly. This week we had moved down stream slightly and was in a new swim. I got to work with the depth plummet and found the same depth as i had last week on a general slope but it was five sections of pole out and not the three i had fished the previous week.
My uncle had come with a altogether different approach as he decided to fish the whip to hand. Madly enough we fished around 10 yards apart on this session and it took me right back to when i was a kid on the canal watching him fish the little whip snatcher to hand as so many of my early trips with my dad where on such a pole.
The session started off and i fed three balls of ground bait into the swim, it being a new area i didn't want to ruin it before i started. My uncles fishing closer in was feeding sloppy ground bait with maggot on the hook. He was soon into fish which was great to see in the new area. My swim was really quiet though as i waited it out, my float was set a floats depth over depth to hopefully pick up a bream but for the first part it seemed like i would be lucky to get a bite.
I made a slight change and came up a float depth so i was literally dead depth bit the bottom on the venue and straight away i was into razor blade roach. It really is amazing how much a small change like that can make, from no bites all to literally a bite a chuck!
For the first part of the session the fish where quite small in size but every so often a better fish would show its head. I was soon into a rhythm of catching roach steady and i was keeping to a set routine of feeding three big balls every 30 minutes and i was feeding a little top up ball every 15 minutes in between like the one shown below.
Keeping the feeding accurate on the spot the fish kept coming and form thinking i would be lucky to get a bite i was soon moving into the afternoon thinking i had into double figures in the onion sack. My uncle catching steady on the whip was madly enough 10 feet away also bagging up, huge amount of fish in the swims.
As the afternoon wore on and the feed built up my average stamp of roach grew in size and i would say most put ins i was coming back with a roach around 4oz and knowing how the weights last week had come around due to average size and numbers of fish i was confident of a ok net. My uncle was knee deep in fish and was also getting the odd better roach and a lovely bream around 3lb mark, the challenge now is to work out how to get the shoal in to feed.
As the afternoon wore on towards packing in we had both had a cracking days sport and it was noticeable this week that the fish had kept in the swims all session. Previous weeks i was adding a section of pole here and moving closer in there, feeding two lines etc etc to keep fish coming but today the fish where in the swim and hard on the feed.
I think this was sheerly down to the drop in temperature this past week and the fish have really sensed it and got their heads down on the feed. We have a new venue to try next week but i am sure as the weeks tick on the fishing will go from strength to strength here as the cold kicks in and the fish come hard on the feed. I am sure the bream will start to show in more numbers and i am sure this venue has a surprise or two in store for us.
We finished up with two fantastic nets both we agreed where over the 20lb mark and we left made up
The Hunt For Autumnal Gold.....
So a week or so back i set off on a little adventure to try and catch one more double figure carp to finish of the season. The water in question holds a lot of singles a sprinkling of low and upper doubles and of course the rumored "twenty pounder". It was one of these mid to upper doubles i was targeting to end my season.
Arriving at the water there was no signs of fish on the top so i went with my trusty micro pellets and corn approach with an added liberal spray of Stinky Stuff Crayfish. The swim soon was a jacuzzi of bubbles with a number of carp in the swim on the feed and in no time i had a few single figure carp on the bank as the delkims danced a merry carp tune on a regular basis.
As the sun came over the water and finally began its decent leaving only a mottled light through the brown and orange leaves i spotted a few nice fish up on the top, they where all nice fish and all in the target bracket. The long summer of being caught had took its toll on these fish and they where in the area full of snags with deep undercut banks and tree roots providing ample areas to relieve themselves of my hook.
A crust of bread was my approach and there was no feeding up to be done here i was hoping to catch the group of guard with one morsel of bread cast in their patrol route. The first fish came up and turned away, a nice common as well, the next two swam ignorantly under the free offering......"mud pigs?" slurping up anything they can find? not exactly fitting that profile here.
At the end of the group appeared a dark shadow and like as if laser guided it came straight up and took the bait. Instantly my line went tight and the rod hooped over and in seconds all was solid. The line whistling in the wind and that awful feeling of line grating against a snag. Braid was great for floating on the water but i knew its abrasion qualities where not as great.
A change of angle and i felt a kick, i was still attached, i let all go slack for a second and used the oldest trick in the book to wait for the fish to think it was away and swim out of the snag. A good minute i waited before he line headed out into the middle and the fight continued. I had the advantage now though as lunges for the same snag where prevented and eventually i slipped the net under her golden autumnal flanks.
A perfect end to a perfect summers carp fishing...
Till next time
tight lines
Danny
This weeks blog see's the pike blog go live and with it a few videos to kick start the Youtube channel and i will cover a little bit on why i write the blog the way i do as it has been a subject that comes up quite a bit in the comments and on websites. The fishing is a session for roach, cant have too much of a good thing right? And then a chase for an autumnal carp to end the season on.
Lets get into the update....
Pike Blog 2016/17 Goes Live....
As you can see form the top bar of the blog the Pike Diary 2016/17 is now live to view. It will again run in a rolling format reading top to bottom with new trips added as it goes down. Its a format i have found works well in previous years and with the odd video log added in it will also act as a kind of archive and play list location for these videos.
link to Pike Diary: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/p/pike-diary-201617.html
I know the writing is not for everybody so i have set up a Playlist on the Youtube page so if you just want to follow the VLogs then you can watch them all on the play list or subscribe and they will fall into your subscription box as and when each goes live.
I have set up a spreadsheet for this years piking so i know exactly what trips i have done on, what i have caught and what trips i have video logged and uploaded. This should mean the pike diary this year will certainly be a lot more structured in the updates. I am thinking of weekly updates on a Friday night and trying to include a video every 2 weeks.
There is currently 3 sessions live now on the youtube page and i have done this to kick start the channel, get a bit of content on there and then settle into a structured format. Lets just see where this new part of the blog takes us and if it is feasible to continue both given amount of time and effort it takes, especially if vlog lengths increase.
For those looking to subscribe a link to the Channel is here: https://www.youtube.com/feed/subscriptions
Lets Talk Locations and Secret Squirrel Blogs....
So this week i have again been defending my stance on not sharing my locations i am fishing and again been met with accusations that i just write my blog to show off and believe it or not "make money". I can assure you there is no money to be made in blogspot for writing an angling blog so we can clear that one up right away.
Locations i fish, i do not share them for a number of reasons and i will cover them now. The first reason i dont share exact locations on my coarse and pike fishing is fish safety, i believe the Internet is the prime area for people poaching our waters to find the good places to go and catch fish for the pot. I have no problem in people sharing the locations of when they have fished a commercial or a syndicate water as these waters are well protected and it is in the interest of the owners to keep it that way, its their lively hood.
As you will see looking back over the last few years of blogs i am an angler that tends to avoid the popular spots and the places where its like a circus of anglers and prefer to fish the canals, lakes and rivers getting right out of the way. As such i do fish waters where i see evidence of this poaching and fish being taken, a few years back i witnessed the decimation of the pike stocks on the Dee and right there and then i promised myself my blog would never be the source of this disgraceful act.
Sights like this now are rare on the dee:
We then move over to actual time and effort i put in, i put a huge amount of time and effort into my fishing and subscribe to the moto "fail to prepare, prepare to fail". If you are willing to put the time into you fishing then you will get the results and this blog proves that, how long is it since i wrote a blog on coarse fishing and blanked?
Roach fishing is a common blog of late on both the rivers and a huge canal that's 22ft deep in places, the blogs show the final result, methods used and a recap on the session but what it doesn't show is the week i went without a dinner hour in work looking on google earth for accessible water and places to park the car, the trip then to the bank at 6am on a Sunday morning to see if any fished topped to give the location and in some cases even the presence of fish. Then comes the risk and sacrifice, do you not go a water you know you can catch this time of year on in favour of possibly walking a few fields with your gear to blank? The inner angler in me is an explorer and always want to chase that new adventure.
A swim there somewhere
Maybe with these vlogs i might look for a water and vlog the amount of effort i put into it and have that water as just one water that when its location gets out its done and dusted but it will show the amount of effort i put in. why should i then just from someone putting a comment on facebook saying "where" give all that effort away to someone who can not even be bothered to say nice net, well done just a "where". They then proceed to call you all the names under the sun when you don't share it.
Rant over ha ha its been a while and i am still waiting for this person to post their net up as they where adamant my help was not needed and they could use their own water craft and match my nets....i feel i may never see the fruits of their Internet fishing labour....
i feel liberated now lets get into the fishing...
Roach On The Pole...Never Too Much of a Good Thing...
This new area certainly has produced the good the passed few weeks with mid teen nets and a 28lb net for me last week. When you suss a venue like this the challenge for me then comes in trying to get the best i can out of the venue. The first week i fished castor on the hook and did not really get a better stamp of fish for my efforts than my uncle on maggot, I fed little ground bait on this session and did feed heavy on the hemp. Last week i decided to try and get the bream so i went heavy on the ground bait but i packed the ground bait full of maggot, hemp and micro pellets.
This week i toyed with the idea of again taking castor but decided on a different approach. I decided to mix up a greater amount of ground bait adding a full kilo of Van Den Enyde Roach to the bucket and riddling before ten adding to it around 3 pints of mole hill soil. It gave me a lovely fine but heavy mix containing the attraction of the smell of the ground bait but with the fact that at least half of the mix in the moil hill soil was neutral, e.g contains no feed content at all but would add colour.
The mix ready it was time to answer the call of nature and what a view i was met with as i walked the bank, a beautiful morning to be on the bank.
Back to the peg i set up the gear while the ground bait settled, i added a small amount of maggot to the mix as i hoped to attract the roach in with smell but them find my bait quickly. This week we had moved down stream slightly and was in a new swim. I got to work with the depth plummet and found the same depth as i had last week on a general slope but it was five sections of pole out and not the three i had fished the previous week.
My uncle had come with a altogether different approach as he decided to fish the whip to hand. Madly enough we fished around 10 yards apart on this session and it took me right back to when i was a kid on the canal watching him fish the little whip snatcher to hand as so many of my early trips with my dad where on such a pole.
The session started off and i fed three balls of ground bait into the swim, it being a new area i didn't want to ruin it before i started. My uncles fishing closer in was feeding sloppy ground bait with maggot on the hook. He was soon into fish which was great to see in the new area. My swim was really quiet though as i waited it out, my float was set a floats depth over depth to hopefully pick up a bream but for the first part it seemed like i would be lucky to get a bite.
I made a slight change and came up a float depth so i was literally dead depth bit the bottom on the venue and straight away i was into razor blade roach. It really is amazing how much a small change like that can make, from no bites all to literally a bite a chuck!
For the first part of the session the fish where quite small in size but every so often a better fish would show its head. I was soon into a rhythm of catching roach steady and i was keeping to a set routine of feeding three big balls every 30 minutes and i was feeding a little top up ball every 15 minutes in between like the one shown below.
Keeping the feeding accurate on the spot the fish kept coming and form thinking i would be lucky to get a bite i was soon moving into the afternoon thinking i had into double figures in the onion sack. My uncle catching steady on the whip was madly enough 10 feet away also bagging up, huge amount of fish in the swims.
As the afternoon wore on and the feed built up my average stamp of roach grew in size and i would say most put ins i was coming back with a roach around 4oz and knowing how the weights last week had come around due to average size and numbers of fish i was confident of a ok net. My uncle was knee deep in fish and was also getting the odd better roach and a lovely bream around 3lb mark, the challenge now is to work out how to get the shoal in to feed.
As the afternoon wore on towards packing in we had both had a cracking days sport and it was noticeable this week that the fish had kept in the swims all session. Previous weeks i was adding a section of pole here and moving closer in there, feeding two lines etc etc to keep fish coming but today the fish where in the swim and hard on the feed.
I think this was sheerly down to the drop in temperature this past week and the fish have really sensed it and got their heads down on the feed. We have a new venue to try next week but i am sure as the weeks tick on the fishing will go from strength to strength here as the cold kicks in and the fish come hard on the feed. I am sure the bream will start to show in more numbers and i am sure this venue has a surprise or two in store for us.
We finished up with two fantastic nets both we agreed where over the 20lb mark and we left made up
my net
uncles net
The Hunt For Autumnal Gold.....
So a week or so back i set off on a little adventure to try and catch one more double figure carp to finish of the season. The water in question holds a lot of singles a sprinkling of low and upper doubles and of course the rumored "twenty pounder". It was one of these mid to upper doubles i was targeting to end my season.
Arriving at the water there was no signs of fish on the top so i went with my trusty micro pellets and corn approach with an added liberal spray of Stinky Stuff Crayfish. The swim soon was a jacuzzi of bubbles with a number of carp in the swim on the feed and in no time i had a few single figure carp on the bank as the delkims danced a merry carp tune on a regular basis.
As the sun came over the water and finally began its decent leaving only a mottled light through the brown and orange leaves i spotted a few nice fish up on the top, they where all nice fish and all in the target bracket. The long summer of being caught had took its toll on these fish and they where in the area full of snags with deep undercut banks and tree roots providing ample areas to relieve themselves of my hook.
A crust of bread was my approach and there was no feeding up to be done here i was hoping to catch the group of guard with one morsel of bread cast in their patrol route. The first fish came up and turned away, a nice common as well, the next two swam ignorantly under the free offering......"mud pigs?" slurping up anything they can find? not exactly fitting that profile here.
At the end of the group appeared a dark shadow and like as if laser guided it came straight up and took the bait. Instantly my line went tight and the rod hooped over and in seconds all was solid. The line whistling in the wind and that awful feeling of line grating against a snag. Braid was great for floating on the water but i knew its abrasion qualities where not as great.
A change of angle and i felt a kick, i was still attached, i let all go slack for a second and used the oldest trick in the book to wait for the fish to think it was away and swim out of the snag. A good minute i waited before he line headed out into the middle and the fight continued. I had the advantage now though as lunges for the same snag where prevented and eventually i slipped the net under her golden autumnal flanks.
A perfect end to a perfect summers carp fishing...
Till next time
tight lines
Danny
Wednesday, 5 October 2016
Roach Fishing on Pole and Pike Vlogs go live...
A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet. Been a bit of a week for the old Dannys Angling Blog in terms of expanding into new areas and also a new blog sponsor but there will be more on that in the coming weeks. The fishing this week is another session for roach on the pole but this time i have a game plan.
Pike Videos Go Live on Youtube......
So yes i finally bit the bullet last week and headed off into the night with my phone and a phone older in tow. Driving along the road i pressed record and began speaking. It came surprisingly easy the first recording and it seemed to flow nicely, a few fish on the session helped greatly to put together a nice video. As i mention in the video it is going to take time to get to grips with the new format and learning to capture little clips on the bank that will fill the gaps between fish and give the video another dimension.
First Pike Session Video:
After publishing the first video the second soon followed and you can find that on the channel there as well. There will certainly be more videos coming on the channel so subscribing is also an option if you so wish. The videos have done better than i could have imagined with over a few hundred views between them and some nice comments on the videos. It really has taken me back to when i first started this written blog and remember getting 100 views in the first months blogging and being over the moon and i am hoping in time and with patience this addition to the blog will develop the same way.
Pike Blog 2016/2017
I have decided to again write a pike blog of the season in diary format. It makes the season read as a story from start to fishing and the weeks where i do a vlog will make putting the pike blog together really simple. It keeps the piking on its own little bit of the blog and gives it the respect the time and effort i put into it deserves. I put as much effort into my piking as i do my other fishing so for it to be just a add on bit on the end of the normal weekly blog feels a little like i am doing the trips an injustice. Keep your eyes on the top bar of the blogs page for the 2016/2017 pike blog going live in the next week or so.
The pike season so far has been really fun with a few pike on the bank despite the barmy warm day time temperatures we have been experiencing of late. Some mornings have been as low as 44 degrees rising to close to 70 degrees when i was leaving at 3pm, it might have been bad for the piking on dead baits but wobbling has put fish on the bank. More on that in the pike blog though.
on to this weeks fishing...
Roach Fishing on The Pole
As we walked back to the car on the previous session we got talking to a guy who had fished the area extensively and he did mention a few interesting bits of information that added weight to our findings during the session. Our session had thrown up over 30lb of mainly roach with the odd perch and gudgeon thrown in for good measure. This guy mentioned about bronze bream shoals and having to put the bait in to get them to come in and feed.
With this information still ringing in my ears i set about a plan of attack for the venue. I was going to try and ignore the fact the fish could be in the really deep water down the middle and hope that the fish would be willing to come up the shelf in the warmer conditions to find my bait. Speaking of bait it was 2 pints of maggot and a pint of hemp seed all to be mixed into my ground bait mix which was 2kg of ground bait with about 40% of that being mole hill soil mix.
Again moil hill hunting gained a few funny looks..
Sat on my box i took my time in setting up and getting my ground bait mix right. Plumbing the depth i found around 8ft on my top two plus one section of pole and it slowly went out before it really dropped away. I knew i had to keep my feed on the inside of my line and knew i would probably end up chasing some bites down the gradual slope as the session went on.
So lined up where a few big balls of ground bait laced with hemp and maggot. to me it was quite a lot of bait to be feeding before i had even started fishing but i was a man with a plan today and i knew from the previous session that the river held enough fish to clear this little big of bait up.
Although only fishing my top two kit and my number four section out i knew accuracy was key so i fed with the large cupping kit on the line and fed in line with a tree on the far bank. In went to balls of ground bait and in two of the cups i also added a good helping of maggot.
The swim fed it was time for the first cast and i remember the first 10 minutes being really frustrating with me hooking fish but them coming off. I then remembered i had used the rig from the previous week and checking my hook it was about as sharp as the thick end of a piece of wood, no good. A quick chance of hook and i was soon turning bites into fish.
Roach after roach was coming on the line i had fed and i was now left with a huge question, how do i feed the swim? Remember this river fishing on the pole and ground bait is all new to me and although ground bait plays a huge part on my canal fishing but i have not done much fishing on rivers with ground bait and certainly never mixed up 2kg of ground bait for a session!
I decided i would set myself a routing of feeding and every 30 mins regardless of bites or the swim i was going to feed the swim with 1 or 2 balls of ground bait. I started to pick up the odd small skimmer adding fuel to the mans comments the previous week about the river holding bream, not that i didn't believe him of course.
As the swim developed and progressed some nice Rudd began to show shallow and with them some better roach. There was signs of fish feeding in the swim with bubbles coming off my ground bait area but to this point none had found my bait.
I was catching steadily and the lulls in action where short before i began picking up fish and i knew i was amassing a nice net of fish that i hoped would beat last weeks total of 16lb. A hour or two of the session to go i was thinking i had done so and when i had a chat to my uncle i was thinking around the mid teens in weight in the net.
During the last hour i upped the feed rate to every 15 minutes a big ball of ground bait went in and in it a decided to mix some micro pellets and this made a huge difference. I began to catch some skimmers to around the pound mark and these extra fish in the sack i felt confident i had beaten last weeks total.
That dreaded time of the week came round, 3pm this time of year on a Saturday, time to pack in and begin the trek home. Always a time of the week where you know the adventure for that week is over. Lifting my net out i could tell i had a decent net when i strained to lift it out the water, into my rubber mesh landing net on the scales they went, just under 28lb of fish. I was over the moon.
My uncle had also caught steady all day on the pole and his net added 16lb to the total. A combined weight of over 40lb of silvers form a completely new waterway. I had recently been in a conversation with someone on facebook who claimed to know how to fish, so didnt need my help, despite them asking where i was fishing, i am still awaiting his net to be posted with the co-ordinates of the swim ;-)
till next time
i wish you all tight lines
Danny
Pike Videos Go Live on Youtube......
So yes i finally bit the bullet last week and headed off into the night with my phone and a phone older in tow. Driving along the road i pressed record and began speaking. It came surprisingly easy the first recording and it seemed to flow nicely, a few fish on the session helped greatly to put together a nice video. As i mention in the video it is going to take time to get to grips with the new format and learning to capture little clips on the bank that will fill the gaps between fish and give the video another dimension.
First Pike Session Video:
After publishing the first video the second soon followed and you can find that on the channel there as well. There will certainly be more videos coming on the channel so subscribing is also an option if you so wish. The videos have done better than i could have imagined with over a few hundred views between them and some nice comments on the videos. It really has taken me back to when i first started this written blog and remember getting 100 views in the first months blogging and being over the moon and i am hoping in time and with patience this addition to the blog will develop the same way.
Pike Blog 2016/2017
I have decided to again write a pike blog of the season in diary format. It makes the season read as a story from start to fishing and the weeks where i do a vlog will make putting the pike blog together really simple. It keeps the piking on its own little bit of the blog and gives it the respect the time and effort i put into it deserves. I put as much effort into my piking as i do my other fishing so for it to be just a add on bit on the end of the normal weekly blog feels a little like i am doing the trips an injustice. Keep your eyes on the top bar of the blogs page for the 2016/2017 pike blog going live in the next week or so.
on to this weeks fishing...
Roach Fishing on The Pole
As we walked back to the car on the previous session we got talking to a guy who had fished the area extensively and he did mention a few interesting bits of information that added weight to our findings during the session. Our session had thrown up over 30lb of mainly roach with the odd perch and gudgeon thrown in for good measure. This guy mentioned about bronze bream shoals and having to put the bait in to get them to come in and feed.
With this information still ringing in my ears i set about a plan of attack for the venue. I was going to try and ignore the fact the fish could be in the really deep water down the middle and hope that the fish would be willing to come up the shelf in the warmer conditions to find my bait. Speaking of bait it was 2 pints of maggot and a pint of hemp seed all to be mixed into my ground bait mix which was 2kg of ground bait with about 40% of that being mole hill soil mix.
Again moil hill hunting gained a few funny looks..
Sat on my box i took my time in setting up and getting my ground bait mix right. Plumbing the depth i found around 8ft on my top two plus one section of pole and it slowly went out before it really dropped away. I knew i had to keep my feed on the inside of my line and knew i would probably end up chasing some bites down the gradual slope as the session went on.
So lined up where a few big balls of ground bait laced with hemp and maggot. to me it was quite a lot of bait to be feeding before i had even started fishing but i was a man with a plan today and i knew from the previous session that the river held enough fish to clear this little big of bait up.
Although only fishing my top two kit and my number four section out i knew accuracy was key so i fed with the large cupping kit on the line and fed in line with a tree on the far bank. In went to balls of ground bait and in two of the cups i also added a good helping of maggot.
The swim fed it was time for the first cast and i remember the first 10 minutes being really frustrating with me hooking fish but them coming off. I then remembered i had used the rig from the previous week and checking my hook it was about as sharp as the thick end of a piece of wood, no good. A quick chance of hook and i was soon turning bites into fish.
Roach after roach was coming on the line i had fed and i was now left with a huge question, how do i feed the swim? Remember this river fishing on the pole and ground bait is all new to me and although ground bait plays a huge part on my canal fishing but i have not done much fishing on rivers with ground bait and certainly never mixed up 2kg of ground bait for a session!
I decided i would set myself a routing of feeding and every 30 mins regardless of bites or the swim i was going to feed the swim with 1 or 2 balls of ground bait. I started to pick up the odd small skimmer adding fuel to the mans comments the previous week about the river holding bream, not that i didn't believe him of course.
As the swim developed and progressed some nice Rudd began to show shallow and with them some better roach. There was signs of fish feeding in the swim with bubbles coming off my ground bait area but to this point none had found my bait.
I was catching steadily and the lulls in action where short before i began picking up fish and i knew i was amassing a nice net of fish that i hoped would beat last weeks total of 16lb. A hour or two of the session to go i was thinking i had done so and when i had a chat to my uncle i was thinking around the mid teens in weight in the net.
During the last hour i upped the feed rate to every 15 minutes a big ball of ground bait went in and in it a decided to mix some micro pellets and this made a huge difference. I began to catch some skimmers to around the pound mark and these extra fish in the sack i felt confident i had beaten last weeks total.
That dreaded time of the week came round, 3pm this time of year on a Saturday, time to pack in and begin the trek home. Always a time of the week where you know the adventure for that week is over. Lifting my net out i could tell i had a decent net when i strained to lift it out the water, into my rubber mesh landing net on the scales they went, just under 28lb of fish. I was over the moon.
My uncle had also caught steady all day on the pole and his net added 16lb to the total. A combined weight of over 40lb of silvers form a completely new waterway. I had recently been in a conversation with someone on facebook who claimed to know how to fish, so didnt need my help, despite them asking where i was fishing, i am still awaiting his net to be posted with the co-ordinates of the swim ;-)
till next time
i wish you all tight lines
Danny
Wednesday, 28 September 2016
Roach On Pole and Blogs Youtube Channel Live...
A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet. A week on and a week closer to the official start of the pike season. As i write this blog i already have two trips under my belt and with a week in work till a long weekend on the bank chasing pike i am sat here wishing this week away.
This weeks update see's me talk a little on developments around expanding the blog to Youtube and then a little on asking you, the blog readers, for feedback on how you want me to cover this years piking. The fishing sees us out on the banks and in true "Dannys Angling Blog sytle" we are on the banks of a new water looking to continue to explore the unknown waters with unknown rewards.
On to the Update
YouTube Channel Live...
So Friday night i decided to get on the laptop and rather than settling in to write this update you are reading now i decided to act upon my words in a previous update and set up the blogs YouTube Channel. The first video on this channel is now live to view and i thought i would dip my toes into the water with a subject i could record in controlled conditions in my house and that is how i tie up my wire traces for pike fishing.
Please take a second to watch the video and feel free to add to the comments section with any thoughts. I recorded the videos in two parts and did them both in one take. Please remember that i am completely new to this and it is going to take time and be a little raw in its make up till i improve at editing and putting the components together to make a "enjoyable watch". If you are looking for the odd bit of content on top of the weekly blogs then please subscribe to the channel for more videos.
link to channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCogqlnE3gK_Re7vdU5bv8sw
There will be a video up soon documenting this weeks pike trip on the bank. Again these videos are going to be very raw and to start with literally might be a 5 minute video of me talking then clips of what i catch posted on the screen. An example being i did a little bit of speaking in the car on Saturday and hit a problem straight away in that i travel to the venues before sun rise so the intro to this blog is very dark. At this stage i have no idea how i can combat this as putting the in car light on is going to get me in trouble with the law and to say im blogging is not going to go down well ha ha.
Again look out for videos coming shortly and do bear in mind they are new to me and they will hopefully improve.
Piking Blog Feedback Needed.....
In recent years this blog and my fishing has developed into two branches i feel, my river, lakes, canals and pond fishing for silvers and my Winter pike fishing adventures. It is giving me a great headache at the moment deciding how i blog my piking this winter and i need some feedback from you the blog readers.
The first option is to write is in the weekly blog update and if i go out chasing silvers and pike that week then in that update there will be both covered in detail. This is the easier option to do for myself the writer as i always write the blog any way but i do feel you lose out here on the the main part of my pike fishing and that's the season told as a story you can follow.
The second option is to cover it like i did last season in its own page at the top of the blog. This option allows me to cover each and every trip in chronological order but the way pages are set up you can not split them down into individual blogs within a page. It means the reader scrolling through content they have already read to reach the new addition to that blog. The nature of the page and it covering a few months means updates are not as in depth but as the season goes on you can follow it as a story of how my thoughts and actions change as the season goes on.
There are many ways you can leave feedback, you can message me on the blogs Facebook or Twitter page @satonmyperch or drop the blogs email a message at Dannysanglingblog@hotmail.co.uk. Thank you for any help and feedback.
On to the Update...
New Water New Adventure....
Long time blog readers will know how much of my fishing involves trips into the unknown. Myself and my uncle are certainly not scared of exploring places with unknown potential. Watercraft can play a huge part in selecting these places but getting out there at first light to see if any fish top is just as important as any gut instinct.
Sunday morning the week before this session we made the trip to the venue. Walking the banks we scouted out some likely looking swims and areas to target. The waterway looked a deep venue with really dark water but with some nice clarity. Experience as a kid swimming at other areas of this waterway and my dads experience form working on the boats here told me there could be potential depths of 22 feet. Not an easy proposition but having fished deep rivers in the past its not a depth that i would be really scared of, a few fished topped early doors so we knew it at least held fish.
The night before the trip was spent again on the hunt for mole hills and i have now scouted out a good area for these earth dwelling rodents. I say rodents i remember speaking to a mole catcher, yes a mole catcher! a few years ago on the canal and i was shocked that the numerous mountains of soil behind me at the time where caused by just one mole.
I sincerely hope my local moley doesn't pop his clogs any time soon.
This mole hill soil would be a key ingredient in adding weight to my balls of ground bait. Arriving at the venue i found the depth to be around 12ft plus in the middle but the shelf was a nice flat 9ft around my top kit and one or two sections out, I was more than happy that i could catch fish in this depth down the margin. My mix for the session was ground bait mixed and passed through riddle and i normally add 50/50 with molehill soil but on this trip i probably mixed it 60% moil hill to 40% ground bait as i wanted the extra weight the mole hill soil would give me.
The hook baits on the day was half a pint of caster and around a pint of red maggot with hemp seed also as a feed in my ground bait in case i felt like i needed to try and get the fish on the bottom. The key with new swims is to ease yourself into the session, you dont want to over feed it before you start. I fed the swim with two balls of ground bait around the size of my big MAP pole cup. To my shock i did not have to wait long for bites to come as small roach like the one below where straight on the the balls i had fed.
With bites coming solid you can then judge how to approach the swim. It was very apparent there was a lot of fish in the area as in front of me and down stream fish where topping and the odd bubble was coming up. The odd better fish was also starting to make an appearance on my line as well.
At this stage i was just feeding the odd few Castor's by hand into the swim and was quickly settling into a rhythm of feeding and catching fish and it was clear the Castor's where slowly grabbing the attention of the odd better roach.
Around midday i had steadily pickled up fish and i decided the time had come to test the area out and i really really upped the feed. I was feeding both hemp seed and red maggot by hand into the swim and also feeding balls of ground bait into the swim every time the signs of the ground bait working disappeared.
When i upped the feed i did not not see a huge increase in fish or stamp of fish i was still catching small roach as well as the better ones and the swim was also going through a few lulls which i later worked out was the fish coming up in the water to the feed.
The session ended with nice nets of fish with my uncle catching 15lb and me 16lb10oz.
As first sessions go on the venue we had caught over 30lb of fish between us and it was a great first session on this venue. The session provided us with enough information that there was fish to be caught and provided enough questions for us to go away and come back with a different game plan.
Another enjoyable week on the bank
and till next week i wish you all
tight lines
Danny
This weeks update see's me talk a little on developments around expanding the blog to Youtube and then a little on asking you, the blog readers, for feedback on how you want me to cover this years piking. The fishing sees us out on the banks and in true "Dannys Angling Blog sytle" we are on the banks of a new water looking to continue to explore the unknown waters with unknown rewards.
On to the Update
YouTube Channel Live...
So Friday night i decided to get on the laptop and rather than settling in to write this update you are reading now i decided to act upon my words in a previous update and set up the blogs YouTube Channel. The first video on this channel is now live to view and i thought i would dip my toes into the water with a subject i could record in controlled conditions in my house and that is how i tie up my wire traces for pike fishing.
Please take a second to watch the video and feel free to add to the comments section with any thoughts. I recorded the videos in two parts and did them both in one take. Please remember that i am completely new to this and it is going to take time and be a little raw in its make up till i improve at editing and putting the components together to make a "enjoyable watch". If you are looking for the odd bit of content on top of the weekly blogs then please subscribe to the channel for more videos.
link to channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCogqlnE3gK_Re7vdU5bv8sw
There will be a video up soon documenting this weeks pike trip on the bank. Again these videos are going to be very raw and to start with literally might be a 5 minute video of me talking then clips of what i catch posted on the screen. An example being i did a little bit of speaking in the car on Saturday and hit a problem straight away in that i travel to the venues before sun rise so the intro to this blog is very dark. At this stage i have no idea how i can combat this as putting the in car light on is going to get me in trouble with the law and to say im blogging is not going to go down well ha ha.
Again look out for videos coming shortly and do bear in mind they are new to me and they will hopefully improve.
Piking Blog Feedback Needed.....
In recent years this blog and my fishing has developed into two branches i feel, my river, lakes, canals and pond fishing for silvers and my Winter pike fishing adventures. It is giving me a great headache at the moment deciding how i blog my piking this winter and i need some feedback from you the blog readers.
The first option is to write is in the weekly blog update and if i go out chasing silvers and pike that week then in that update there will be both covered in detail. This is the easier option to do for myself the writer as i always write the blog any way but i do feel you lose out here on the the main part of my pike fishing and that's the season told as a story you can follow.
The second option is to cover it like i did last season in its own page at the top of the blog. This option allows me to cover each and every trip in chronological order but the way pages are set up you can not split them down into individual blogs within a page. It means the reader scrolling through content they have already read to reach the new addition to that blog. The nature of the page and it covering a few months means updates are not as in depth but as the season goes on you can follow it as a story of how my thoughts and actions change as the season goes on.
There are many ways you can leave feedback, you can message me on the blogs Facebook or Twitter page @satonmyperch or drop the blogs email a message at Dannysanglingblog@hotmail.co.uk. Thank you for any help and feedback.
On to the Update...
New Water New Adventure....
Long time blog readers will know how much of my fishing involves trips into the unknown. Myself and my uncle are certainly not scared of exploring places with unknown potential. Watercraft can play a huge part in selecting these places but getting out there at first light to see if any fish top is just as important as any gut instinct.
Sunday morning the week before this session we made the trip to the venue. Walking the banks we scouted out some likely looking swims and areas to target. The waterway looked a deep venue with really dark water but with some nice clarity. Experience as a kid swimming at other areas of this waterway and my dads experience form working on the boats here told me there could be potential depths of 22 feet. Not an easy proposition but having fished deep rivers in the past its not a depth that i would be really scared of, a few fished topped early doors so we knew it at least held fish.
The night before the trip was spent again on the hunt for mole hills and i have now scouted out a good area for these earth dwelling rodents. I say rodents i remember speaking to a mole catcher, yes a mole catcher! a few years ago on the canal and i was shocked that the numerous mountains of soil behind me at the time where caused by just one mole.
I sincerely hope my local moley doesn't pop his clogs any time soon.
This mole hill soil would be a key ingredient in adding weight to my balls of ground bait. Arriving at the venue i found the depth to be around 12ft plus in the middle but the shelf was a nice flat 9ft around my top kit and one or two sections out, I was more than happy that i could catch fish in this depth down the margin. My mix for the session was ground bait mixed and passed through riddle and i normally add 50/50 with molehill soil but on this trip i probably mixed it 60% moil hill to 40% ground bait as i wanted the extra weight the mole hill soil would give me.
The hook baits on the day was half a pint of caster and around a pint of red maggot with hemp seed also as a feed in my ground bait in case i felt like i needed to try and get the fish on the bottom. The key with new swims is to ease yourself into the session, you dont want to over feed it before you start. I fed the swim with two balls of ground bait around the size of my big MAP pole cup. To my shock i did not have to wait long for bites to come as small roach like the one below where straight on the the balls i had fed.
With bites coming solid you can then judge how to approach the swim. It was very apparent there was a lot of fish in the area as in front of me and down stream fish where topping and the odd bubble was coming up. The odd better fish was also starting to make an appearance on my line as well.
At this stage i was just feeding the odd few Castor's by hand into the swim and was quickly settling into a rhythm of feeding and catching fish and it was clear the Castor's where slowly grabbing the attention of the odd better roach.
Around midday i had steadily pickled up fish and i decided the time had come to test the area out and i really really upped the feed. I was feeding both hemp seed and red maggot by hand into the swim and also feeding balls of ground bait into the swim every time the signs of the ground bait working disappeared.
When i upped the feed i did not not see a huge increase in fish or stamp of fish i was still catching small roach as well as the better ones and the swim was also going through a few lulls which i later worked out was the fish coming up in the water to the feed.
The session ended with nice nets of fish with my uncle catching 15lb and me 16lb10oz.
As first sessions go on the venue we had caught over 30lb of fish between us and it was a great first session on this venue. The session provided us with enough information that there was fish to be caught and provided enough questions for us to go away and come back with a different game plan.
Another enjoyable week on the bank
and till next week i wish you all
tight lines
Danny
Thursday, 7 April 2016
Cheshire Fisheries Pool 5 - Bags of Silver And Gold...
A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet. First of all before we get into the meat and potatoes of this weeks blog update i would like to thank everyone who contacted me or commented on social media around the last blog update. The comments where really nice and welcome and considering it was a step in a completely new direction for me i was really made up it was so well received.
In all i am very fortunate with the blog on social media as in the years i have wrote the blog i can only remember one occasion having to receive negative comments which is really great to see. As a person you who updates the page on their you also see the same names liking and sharing the updates and although i try to take the time to comment on all the updates i would like to say a huge thank you to all who read, share and comment on this blog, thank you.
So onto this weeks blog update and in this weeks introduction we look at an update to my tackle i am hoping to make and any possible feed back would be greatly received. The next part of the introduction is a quick look at my plans for the coming weeks and where i am hoping to wet a line. The fishing See's me going back to Cheshire Fisheries but this time with a bit more knowledge and a game plan to tackle this venue, a new pool and a new challenge.
On to the Update...
The New Pole Lottery...
So a few years ago i investing in my first ever pole, a margin pole called the white knuckle by Middy, it was a fantastic introduction into the world of fishing and playing fish using elastic. In that early period i learnt to go from buying ready made rigs to tying my own from scratch and learn the basics or pole fishing. As any pole angler knows the use of a margin pole soon develops into the purchase of a proper pole.
So then came the purchase of my first proper pole, a MAP TKS 125, a 13 metre pole that come with a few top kits and a good reputation. This pole has been great to use and has done me well for both silver fishing and for carp. My time using it has allowed me to build on the middy margin pole knowledge and become more accustomed to which elastics to use and the introduction of puller kits.
This being my first proper pole it has also taught me the hard way about how much care you need to take in looking after a pole. Grit and mud from fishing the river now being removed each time i shipped out and not cleaning the pole after fishing sessions saw me purchasing a new number 4 section. Towards the end of last summer season an accident on the canal where my number 8 section rolled in the canal after a gust of wind saw me needing a new section. Not needing this section in the immediate future i left the purchase of this till this season where i planned to pick up a new number 8 and a number 4 section of pole but unfortunately i have found out the pole is no longer in production and searching on line it is almost impossible to find a replacement number 4 for this pole.
So it now leaves me in the4 situation where in the coming months i will be in the market for a new pole. All of my fishing to this point has never really seen me needing to go further than 13metres so i am happy with that length of pole and my budget for the pole is probably around the £400.00 mark. Ideally I'm looking for a package that comes with 2 match kits and 2 power kits and ideally a cupping pot and more importantly i feel is a pole that i can get plenty of spares from or at least interchanges with other poles on the market.
If anyone can point me at a reliable pole in this range i would be most grateful.
So Many Ideas So Little Time
So the weather is really beginning to hot up and with it the fish are really spreading out on the canals and commercials alike and my head is full of all the things i want to cram into this closed season. Sessions on the canal are calling in my ear but also there is a bit of me that really fancies some old school margin fishing for carp and tench on the centre pin right under the rod tip. the thought of that float fished over depth right in the margin and seeing the bubbles slowly make their slow path to where your float is and then that moment of extreme excitement as the float begins to sway as the fishes flank pushes against the line and then the piece of corn disappears into the fishes mouth and that zooming bite registering on the float and your connected to an early morning hard fighting carp.
Contrary to popular belief i do actually work a 9-5 job and at times life does completely take over and starting the weekend just gone is an opportunity for two days over time at the weekend, a offer i just can not turn down. Getting up in the mornings is going to kill me as I'm heading down the motorway with no fishing tackle in the back and the thought of a days work. It will be worth it in the long run though and its only for a few weeks. This will of course put hold to any fishing on those weekends as i am not a person who is going to go out for a few hours here and there, least not till the really late nights arrive.
I have been having the odd trip out to the canal with lures with little, well no, success recently but it is something that can see me getting a few minutes on the bank from time to time but i must admit i can not see me developing a love to the point i will be out all day on the lures, it just doesn't do it for me. This may of course all change if i find lures i like to work rather than just casting and reeling in and of course as soon as that first pike comes thinks might change.
In other good news i found out today that Cheshire Fisheries have extended the use of keep nets till end of April which is great news and i ma looking forward to a few more sessions for the carp and silvers on this venue. The drive is a bit long but if you can use keep nets then its worth it for me. So plenty of ideas for the coming weeks so fingers crossed we see a few nice fish on the bank!
On to this weeks fishing..
Cheshire Fisheries Pool 5 - Silvers and Carp Fishing...
So the bank holiday weekend was here and it was time to make some decisions around what fishing i wanted to do over the next few days. I decided i was not going to go out more than two times over the 4 days and the rest make the most of some family time so through the week i mulled over a few ideas and by Thursday evening at the bait shop i had it narrowed down.
Friday was to be spend either at Cheshire Fisheries or on the canal so i picked up 2 pints of maggots and a half pint of pinkie for my main bait, a packet of roach ground bait and bag of micro pellets. With this i could decide that evening whether i wanted to go the fishery of go the canal. The Sunday i planned a session fishing under my rod tip for carp on bigger baits, this session will not be in this update and that's purely down the fact the car is playing up again and is in the garage this Wednesday, if its off the road then i have a session in the bag for next weeks blog update.
The more i thought about the session the next day the more my head was talking me out of the canal visit. My heart wanted to be fishing a light pinkie float on the local canal but my head was saying go the Fishery and it came down to a few points. Going the fishery meant i could fish a swim and build it up over the session with no worry about a regatta of barges turning up at 9am, there was also no need to keep checking for cyclists, walkers and joggers each ship out and more importantly a huge part of me wanted to see just what i could do silver wise if i put my mind to it on this fishery. The keep net in and my tactics right it could produce a nice net of fish.
So that was my mind made up and i began getting some gear ready for the session the next morning. A few rigs made up to fish the bottom of the shelf and i was ready for a early start. I say early it was light when i awoke which for me on a fishing day is odd. A leisurely breakfast and a quick stop off on the way to the Fishery to pick up some corn and i was off along the A49 to Cheshire Fisheries.
By now i was set on my plan for the day and going along the A49 i began to get it all sorted in my head how i wanted to fish the swim. I was travelling alone for this session and only had packed the one keep net so i needed to come up with a some sort of plan that would allow me to get a picture of the nets at the end without causing myself all manner of problems with getting a picture.
I decided to fish all out for silvers till 2pm and at this point i would empty my keep net, weigh the silvers, then spend the rest of the session fishing all out for the carp knowing i now had an empty keep net to put them into. Any big carp over 1lb while fishing for silvers would be put back in and when fishing for the carp if i hooked any silvers i would then put these back to avoid them getting crushed. I sounded a solid plan in my head and you know what it worked a dream.
Arriving in the car park i unloaded the gear and left it right in the middle of all the pools and decided to go for a walk around the fishery. A few lads where setting up on the pool i wanted to fish and where already at this early hour making a right racket so that was a no go, i had already fished pool 3 so that was out of the question and even if i had wanted to there was already someone setting up on there, so this left pool 5 or the ones down the bottom of the hill. Being a bank holiday weekend i decided to fish the corner of pool 5 i had a over grown marginal bank between pool 5 and the pool next to my right that looked like it was a no fishing bank and also some marginal reeds to my left if i fancied to try them.
My plan was simplicity itself and i knew the skill on the day would be feeding the swim so i kept the silvers in the swim but did not put too much in that i ended up with a swim full of carp, how odd does that sound! A angler fishing a commercial not wanting to catch the carp! I found the bottom of the shelf at my top kit plus my number 4 section, excellent i thought as this close in i knew if i could get them going i could get a decent net i also had a plan to feed corn down my right hand margin every half hour right on top of the shelf and this would be my line after 2pm. A nice quiet corner where i hoped the carp would keep come in and feel safe.
Feeding on the day would be crucial and i decided to mix up a bag of roach ground bait and added a few hand fulls of pinkie to the mix. This would be over kill on the canal but on here i knew i had to feed the fish to keep them coming. I was no going to feed any maggots by hand into the swim as this would only draw the silvers up in the water and the noise would certainly attract the attention of the carp. All feeding of the swim would be by cad pot and eased into the swim silently.
Two big jaffa sized balls of ground bait in and i left the swim to settle while i paid my day ticket and while i did i got speaking to a cracking chap from the Fishing in the North West Page on Facebook. Turns out he was the angler on pool 3 and after chewing the fat about some pools we both fished we went our separate ways and agreed to meet up around 2pm for a catch up.
The ticket paid i made and straight away the silvers where onto my double maggot on a size 16 hook. The roach to begin with where only small but i knew better quality fish would move in. The hope was to catch roach and rudd steady through the session and hopefully try and get some of those skimmer bream into the swim that would boost the weight. The fishery all around me began to fill up a little but i still had my little corner and all around me it seemed people where all out for the carp.
I was in my head talking to myself to keep concentrated on the fishing and not look around at others and i was surrounded by anglers but for me there was only that float right in front of me. I fed the line with a ball of pinkie laced ground bait by cad pot so i knew i was right over my bait all the time and after catching well for the first hour the skimmers began to move in and that's when it felt i was putting some serious weight in the net.
The bream moving in the swim was great news and they began to really show up in between the roach at this point. I had no doubt that if i began feeding by hand i would get the fish competing up in the water. I also knew though that the extra noise would certainly attract the carp. The float was not settling long before a bite and to be honest i missed loads of them. This frantic action i knew was silvers in the swim feeding on the maggots but i knew eventually this amount of feed would attract some attention.
The bites died and the float settled in the swim for longer than a few seconds, lifting the float and dropping it back in again saw the float settle again. I moved a few extra feet past the feed and picked up some roach that had backed off but thus then died. I fed a big ball of ground bait and fed my inside line for the carp later on and settled back on my top four line.
Looking back at the session i knew what was happening and i should have made a move there and then to another line. The inevitable followed and a succession of carp to 6lb came to the bank, a few silvers also but it was clear the carp had bullied their way in. I had managed a good amount of time though on this line and i was proud how i fed the line and got the most out of it before they did take over. I felt i fed that swim in a way that i got the maximum out of the silvers. Could i have used corn to single out the better silvers? Or would i have ended up with the swim i had after 2pm?
It was clear the margins close in where not seeing carp moving along them as although not gin clear i could see the bottom slightly and there was no clouding up. I made a bold move and found a slight shelf right under my feet on my top section of pole. I fed this swim by had and mixed my ground bait sloppy so the roach felt confident moving so close in, it was a good move and it was a bite a chuck fishing for the next few hours until the stamp of fish completely went and most of the fish where small rudd like below.
The time 1.30pm i decided enough was enough and having hit some more proper carp close in and returned them i knew the time had come to weigh my net of silvers and return the net ready for a hour or so after carp. I went to lift my net out and i knew I had made the right choice there and then as had the carp gone in it would have been impossible on my own. The net in the 30 inch rubber mesh net it was a sight to behold and on the scales went 45lb.
Astonishing fishing and shows how many bites are there if you want some constant action through day, i had set out to see just how i could do if i set my stall out for them and fed in a way to try and just get the silvers, barring a few intruders i had done it.
I fed the line again down my margin and put my keep net back in so there was no disturbance on my return back to the peg. A stretch of the legs and a good chin wag with the guy i met earlier on, he was also catching well.
A return to my peg at 2pm and i was ready to go all out for carp. I went straight down the edge on a few 3 sections of pole to a plateau i had fed all day with corn. The float remained still, i was shocked! I expected the float to go in an instant but there it remained, stubborn and irritatingly visible. A look to my side table and i had quite a big amount of maggots left and some ground bait. I made a change that saw my fortunes change dramatically.
I fed a swim with the cad pot right under my feet on the top section of pole, heavy with maggot and corn. I then added loads of water to my ground bait so it was close to being water in texture. I cupped this into the swim causing a huge cloud under my feed and put the corn in over the top. The float barely settled before it was away and i was into my first carp.
There is not really more i can say here other than over the next hour and half till i packed in a 3.30pm i rinsed and repeated this tactic of heavy feeding and cupping in this watery ground bait over the top. It was a carp a chuck. I caught most of them but also lost a few as well but it was fantastic fun.
Calling it a day around 3.30 i weighed the net of carp and again i was shocked at how many you could catch right under your feet. It was obvious on the day who the anglers where and who the day trippers where on the lake i was on. Nothing to do with angling skill or technique the anglers who where catching where quietly going about their business where as the ones blanking and sharing sly remarks about the ones catching where loud and stomping along the bank. They wonder why they don't catch, nothing to do with gear as i proved that i was using my top kit. Some people just do not know how to be quiet.
All in all i left feeling on top of the world in i had set my goals and stuck to my guns and it had all gone to plan. A thoroughly enjoyable days fishing.
Till next time
tight lines
Danny
In all i am very fortunate with the blog on social media as in the years i have wrote the blog i can only remember one occasion having to receive negative comments which is really great to see. As a person you who updates the page on their you also see the same names liking and sharing the updates and although i try to take the time to comment on all the updates i would like to say a huge thank you to all who read, share and comment on this blog, thank you.
So onto this weeks blog update and in this weeks introduction we look at an update to my tackle i am hoping to make and any possible feed back would be greatly received. The next part of the introduction is a quick look at my plans for the coming weeks and where i am hoping to wet a line. The fishing See's me going back to Cheshire Fisheries but this time with a bit more knowledge and a game plan to tackle this venue, a new pool and a new challenge.
On to the Update...
The New Pole Lottery...
So a few years ago i investing in my first ever pole, a margin pole called the white knuckle by Middy, it was a fantastic introduction into the world of fishing and playing fish using elastic. In that early period i learnt to go from buying ready made rigs to tying my own from scratch and learn the basics or pole fishing. As any pole angler knows the use of a margin pole soon develops into the purchase of a proper pole.
So then came the purchase of my first proper pole, a MAP TKS 125, a 13 metre pole that come with a few top kits and a good reputation. This pole has been great to use and has done me well for both silver fishing and for carp. My time using it has allowed me to build on the middy margin pole knowledge and become more accustomed to which elastics to use and the introduction of puller kits.
This being my first proper pole it has also taught me the hard way about how much care you need to take in looking after a pole. Grit and mud from fishing the river now being removed each time i shipped out and not cleaning the pole after fishing sessions saw me purchasing a new number 4 section. Towards the end of last summer season an accident on the canal where my number 8 section rolled in the canal after a gust of wind saw me needing a new section. Not needing this section in the immediate future i left the purchase of this till this season where i planned to pick up a new number 8 and a number 4 section of pole but unfortunately i have found out the pole is no longer in production and searching on line it is almost impossible to find a replacement number 4 for this pole.
So it now leaves me in the4 situation where in the coming months i will be in the market for a new pole. All of my fishing to this point has never really seen me needing to go further than 13metres so i am happy with that length of pole and my budget for the pole is probably around the £400.00 mark. Ideally I'm looking for a package that comes with 2 match kits and 2 power kits and ideally a cupping pot and more importantly i feel is a pole that i can get plenty of spares from or at least interchanges with other poles on the market.
If anyone can point me at a reliable pole in this range i would be most grateful.
So Many Ideas So Little Time
So the weather is really beginning to hot up and with it the fish are really spreading out on the canals and commercials alike and my head is full of all the things i want to cram into this closed season. Sessions on the canal are calling in my ear but also there is a bit of me that really fancies some old school margin fishing for carp and tench on the centre pin right under the rod tip. the thought of that float fished over depth right in the margin and seeing the bubbles slowly make their slow path to where your float is and then that moment of extreme excitement as the float begins to sway as the fishes flank pushes against the line and then the piece of corn disappears into the fishes mouth and that zooming bite registering on the float and your connected to an early morning hard fighting carp.
Contrary to popular belief i do actually work a 9-5 job and at times life does completely take over and starting the weekend just gone is an opportunity for two days over time at the weekend, a offer i just can not turn down. Getting up in the mornings is going to kill me as I'm heading down the motorway with no fishing tackle in the back and the thought of a days work. It will be worth it in the long run though and its only for a few weeks. This will of course put hold to any fishing on those weekends as i am not a person who is going to go out for a few hours here and there, least not till the really late nights arrive.
I have been having the odd trip out to the canal with lures with little, well no, success recently but it is something that can see me getting a few minutes on the bank from time to time but i must admit i can not see me developing a love to the point i will be out all day on the lures, it just doesn't do it for me. This may of course all change if i find lures i like to work rather than just casting and reeling in and of course as soon as that first pike comes thinks might change.
In other good news i found out today that Cheshire Fisheries have extended the use of keep nets till end of April which is great news and i ma looking forward to a few more sessions for the carp and silvers on this venue. The drive is a bit long but if you can use keep nets then its worth it for me. So plenty of ideas for the coming weeks so fingers crossed we see a few nice fish on the bank!
On to this weeks fishing..
Cheshire Fisheries Pool 5 - Silvers and Carp Fishing...
So the bank holiday weekend was here and it was time to make some decisions around what fishing i wanted to do over the next few days. I decided i was not going to go out more than two times over the 4 days and the rest make the most of some family time so through the week i mulled over a few ideas and by Thursday evening at the bait shop i had it narrowed down.
Friday was to be spend either at Cheshire Fisheries or on the canal so i picked up 2 pints of maggots and a half pint of pinkie for my main bait, a packet of roach ground bait and bag of micro pellets. With this i could decide that evening whether i wanted to go the fishery of go the canal. The Sunday i planned a session fishing under my rod tip for carp on bigger baits, this session will not be in this update and that's purely down the fact the car is playing up again and is in the garage this Wednesday, if its off the road then i have a session in the bag for next weeks blog update.
The more i thought about the session the next day the more my head was talking me out of the canal visit. My heart wanted to be fishing a light pinkie float on the local canal but my head was saying go the Fishery and it came down to a few points. Going the fishery meant i could fish a swim and build it up over the session with no worry about a regatta of barges turning up at 9am, there was also no need to keep checking for cyclists, walkers and joggers each ship out and more importantly a huge part of me wanted to see just what i could do silver wise if i put my mind to it on this fishery. The keep net in and my tactics right it could produce a nice net of fish.
So that was my mind made up and i began getting some gear ready for the session the next morning. A few rigs made up to fish the bottom of the shelf and i was ready for a early start. I say early it was light when i awoke which for me on a fishing day is odd. A leisurely breakfast and a quick stop off on the way to the Fishery to pick up some corn and i was off along the A49 to Cheshire Fisheries.
By now i was set on my plan for the day and going along the A49 i began to get it all sorted in my head how i wanted to fish the swim. I was travelling alone for this session and only had packed the one keep net so i needed to come up with a some sort of plan that would allow me to get a picture of the nets at the end without causing myself all manner of problems with getting a picture.
I decided to fish all out for silvers till 2pm and at this point i would empty my keep net, weigh the silvers, then spend the rest of the session fishing all out for the carp knowing i now had an empty keep net to put them into. Any big carp over 1lb while fishing for silvers would be put back in and when fishing for the carp if i hooked any silvers i would then put these back to avoid them getting crushed. I sounded a solid plan in my head and you know what it worked a dream.
Arriving in the car park i unloaded the gear and left it right in the middle of all the pools and decided to go for a walk around the fishery. A few lads where setting up on the pool i wanted to fish and where already at this early hour making a right racket so that was a no go, i had already fished pool 3 so that was out of the question and even if i had wanted to there was already someone setting up on there, so this left pool 5 or the ones down the bottom of the hill. Being a bank holiday weekend i decided to fish the corner of pool 5 i had a over grown marginal bank between pool 5 and the pool next to my right that looked like it was a no fishing bank and also some marginal reeds to my left if i fancied to try them.
My plan was simplicity itself and i knew the skill on the day would be feeding the swim so i kept the silvers in the swim but did not put too much in that i ended up with a swim full of carp, how odd does that sound! A angler fishing a commercial not wanting to catch the carp! I found the bottom of the shelf at my top kit plus my number 4 section, excellent i thought as this close in i knew if i could get them going i could get a decent net i also had a plan to feed corn down my right hand margin every half hour right on top of the shelf and this would be my line after 2pm. A nice quiet corner where i hoped the carp would keep come in and feel safe.
Feeding on the day would be crucial and i decided to mix up a bag of roach ground bait and added a few hand fulls of pinkie to the mix. This would be over kill on the canal but on here i knew i had to feed the fish to keep them coming. I was no going to feed any maggots by hand into the swim as this would only draw the silvers up in the water and the noise would certainly attract the attention of the carp. All feeding of the swim would be by cad pot and eased into the swim silently.
Two big jaffa sized balls of ground bait in and i left the swim to settle while i paid my day ticket and while i did i got speaking to a cracking chap from the Fishing in the North West Page on Facebook. Turns out he was the angler on pool 3 and after chewing the fat about some pools we both fished we went our separate ways and agreed to meet up around 2pm for a catch up.
The ticket paid i made and straight away the silvers where onto my double maggot on a size 16 hook. The roach to begin with where only small but i knew better quality fish would move in. The hope was to catch roach and rudd steady through the session and hopefully try and get some of those skimmer bream into the swim that would boost the weight. The fishery all around me began to fill up a little but i still had my little corner and all around me it seemed people where all out for the carp.
I was in my head talking to myself to keep concentrated on the fishing and not look around at others and i was surrounded by anglers but for me there was only that float right in front of me. I fed the line with a ball of pinkie laced ground bait by cad pot so i knew i was right over my bait all the time and after catching well for the first hour the skimmers began to move in and that's when it felt i was putting some serious weight in the net.
The bream moving in the swim was great news and they began to really show up in between the roach at this point. I had no doubt that if i began feeding by hand i would get the fish competing up in the water. I also knew though that the extra noise would certainly attract the carp. The float was not settling long before a bite and to be honest i missed loads of them. This frantic action i knew was silvers in the swim feeding on the maggots but i knew eventually this amount of feed would attract some attention.
The bites died and the float settled in the swim for longer than a few seconds, lifting the float and dropping it back in again saw the float settle again. I moved a few extra feet past the feed and picked up some roach that had backed off but thus then died. I fed a big ball of ground bait and fed my inside line for the carp later on and settled back on my top four line.
Looking back at the session i knew what was happening and i should have made a move there and then to another line. The inevitable followed and a succession of carp to 6lb came to the bank, a few silvers also but it was clear the carp had bullied their way in. I had managed a good amount of time though on this line and i was proud how i fed the line and got the most out of it before they did take over. I felt i fed that swim in a way that i got the maximum out of the silvers. Could i have used corn to single out the better silvers? Or would i have ended up with the swim i had after 2pm?
It was clear the margins close in where not seeing carp moving along them as although not gin clear i could see the bottom slightly and there was no clouding up. I made a bold move and found a slight shelf right under my feet on my top section of pole. I fed this swim by had and mixed my ground bait sloppy so the roach felt confident moving so close in, it was a good move and it was a bite a chuck fishing for the next few hours until the stamp of fish completely went and most of the fish where small rudd like below.
The time 1.30pm i decided enough was enough and having hit some more proper carp close in and returned them i knew the time had come to weigh my net of silvers and return the net ready for a hour or so after carp. I went to lift my net out and i knew I had made the right choice there and then as had the carp gone in it would have been impossible on my own. The net in the 30 inch rubber mesh net it was a sight to behold and on the scales went 45lb.
Astonishing fishing and shows how many bites are there if you want some constant action through day, i had set out to see just how i could do if i set my stall out for them and fed in a way to try and just get the silvers, barring a few intruders i had done it.
I fed the line again down my margin and put my keep net back in so there was no disturbance on my return back to the peg. A stretch of the legs and a good chin wag with the guy i met earlier on, he was also catching well.
A return to my peg at 2pm and i was ready to go all out for carp. I went straight down the edge on a few 3 sections of pole to a plateau i had fed all day with corn. The float remained still, i was shocked! I expected the float to go in an instant but there it remained, stubborn and irritatingly visible. A look to my side table and i had quite a big amount of maggots left and some ground bait. I made a change that saw my fortunes change dramatically.
I fed a swim with the cad pot right under my feet on the top section of pole, heavy with maggot and corn. I then added loads of water to my ground bait so it was close to being water in texture. I cupped this into the swim causing a huge cloud under my feed and put the corn in over the top. The float barely settled before it was away and i was into my first carp.
There is not really more i can say here other than over the next hour and half till i packed in a 3.30pm i rinsed and repeated this tactic of heavy feeding and cupping in this watery ground bait over the top. It was a carp a chuck. I caught most of them but also lost a few as well but it was fantastic fun.
Calling it a day around 3.30 i weighed the net of carp and again i was shocked at how many you could catch right under your feet. It was obvious on the day who the anglers where and who the day trippers where on the lake i was on. Nothing to do with angling skill or technique the anglers who where catching where quietly going about their business where as the ones blanking and sharing sly remarks about the ones catching where loud and stomping along the bank. They wonder why they don't catch, nothing to do with gear as i proved that i was using my top kit. Some people just do not know how to be quiet.
All in all i left feeling on top of the world in i had set my goals and stuck to my guns and it had all gone to plan. A thoroughly enjoyable days fishing.
Till next time
tight lines
Danny
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)