Tough Times on River and Pondip Tip card!!

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  The blog has been quiet of late and in truth i have really found it hard to find time to update the blog.  Friday nights are my usual slot but after a long week in work i was so tired on Friday night i just had to get some sleep before hitting the river the next morning.  There is nothing worse than going fishing tired and thats even more so with stick float fishing as it is so mentally draining.

Back to the normal routine now and this weeks update is one i have been looking forward to writing for a while as it covers a little project i have been working with pondip on, look out for that in the introduction.  The rest of the introduction covers a round up of how the fishing is going this year on the river so far and also a piece on how hard I'm finding it without my longer rod.  The fishing is a session on the river where the fishing is really tough but the day is saved by a nice fish right on last knockings.

Lets get into the update....

Pondip Rig Card...

At the beginning of last month i began working with the team at Pondip to create some pieces for their Pondip boxes.  The idea is to create a laminated card to go into each box with a carp tip on one side and a coarse one on the other.  My task was the coarse fishing tip and i thoroughly enjoyed putting the Rig card together.  The whole experience i found a challenge as it is a real step up from the blog in both the expectation in the quality of the writing and even more challenging for me an update in quality of the photos.

The writing i found quite easy if i am honest as i was well within my comfort zone talking about a rig for fishing the canal but i found it a real challenge with the pictures.  The problem is with coarse fishing rigs is the fact the line and hooks is so thin that getting a quality picture is so hard.  With the carp rigs you are dealing with thick line and big hooks that focus and show up nicely on any back ground whereas 1lb 7oz hook lengths are a different Kettle of fish all together.  These lines placed on a black background show well but the picture looks awful!!

The blog is all done on my iPhone and i take all the pictures on the phone and then upload them to an on line photo storage site via an app before uploading them to the blog.  This allows me to then use the IMG code for websites, any how i digress. The point being the images are ok for my blog and fit the purpose of use on here but for a company with a set image they are not, well good enough.  I really enjoyed working with the team and putting this together, working out styles and images and working to meet their expectations was interesting and now we have done it i can use that to make other ones in the future that are there or there abouts first time.

I was so proud this month opening my pondip box to see my rig card inside and knowing everyone who got a box this month will have seen this card!, so proud.

Tough Start To The Season....

Our time on the river dee a few years ago was spent really discovering this fantastic river and along the way we learnt a great deal about where the fish shoal up during the seasons to a point we had quite a good portfolio of locations to choose from all through the year.  The move to the river Dane and we set ourselves a goal of learning this fantastic waterway with the hope of extracting the best sport possible from its depths.  Last season was our first full year on this river and although we did deviate form time to time to other rivers this river was always our main stay.  We learnt a huge amount in that first summer to autumn but once the rains arrived progress slowed and we learnt that this river can not really handle a lot of water and still fish, not on the stick any way.

There is no doubting the river holds some mature chub, it has to given the amount of chublets, but we have time and time again found the same scenario, frantic bites for around a hour or so and then like a switch going off the bites are gone.  Pike where the chief culprit but with no fish taken it is getting hard to believe that mr pike is solely to blame.  Big fish is another option but surely with the amount of hours we have put in we would have connected with one of them by now? It is a puzzle that is proving hard to crack and i must admit is hitting the moral a little as we are not progressing with this river at all.  We have hit a brick wall and having tried new methods and tactics are yet to suss and crack this tricky little water way.

Not ones to give in we will continue to adapt and dig out new swims to find the areas the better fish are, we will crack it.  This is a glimpse at just how much hard work goes into our fishing to find the real jewels in a river.  One day we will find that area and with big nets of chub the reward for all this hard work, before that though i feel a complete change of direction is needed and a complete change of scenery.

Size Really Is Everything....

Having snapped my 17ft float rod at the end of the last river season i have started this one fishing with my 13ft Korum Flaot Rod.  The small waterway like the Dane it has proved a use able tool but i  must say you don't half miss that extra length...oooo err vicar....joking aside though that extra 4 feet of rod brings so much more to the party that makes trotting so much easier. 

First of all you have the fact that your rod reaches further across the river so in some swims the tip of your rod is almost behind the float all the time aiding that control of the float.  You then have that extra length of rod in the air to keep so much more line off the surface of the river, stopping line from dragging on the inside flow and ruining presentation.  The biggest problem though comes in striking, when that float is quite a way down the river your strike with a 17ft rod is so much more direct as you are in complete control of that float.

The part i have missed moat though about not having my longer rod is the fact it is halting our trips to the river Dee.  The river dee is a monster of a river compared to the small dane and with depths of 14 ft in places you need that longer rod to even reach the bottom, unless you fish the slider.  All in all i am praying for overtime to get this rod fixed and will not be making the same mistake again!.

On to the fishing...

Tough Session on the Bank...

The night before the session started like any other as the ritual of cooking hemp seed and making up rigs was enacted.  Mid way through a rig i heard the tapping of rain on the window sill, we have a small hole in the gutter on the new house and the rain drips down onto the window sill so any rain is heard straight away.  This tapping was followed by the window being illuminated by a flash of lightning followed by the long low rumble of thunder, we were in for an interesting session the next morning.

Waking up at 2am i was amazed not to hear the rain still coming down and even a hour later loading the car the sky was unusually clear, Accuweather, an weather app i use, was telling a far different story.  Heavy rain and thunderstorms where predicted in the early morning with it clearing up afterwards so in went the brolly and the seat box, this was not a day to be stood in the river or not under cover. 

The river looked in mint condition as we arrived, holding a tinge of colour with the margins just showing bottom it looked set for a good days sport.  I set up in a peg where previous trips had revealed a big snag at my feet but a clear run down the middle and the far run that shallowed up as it reached the tail of the trot.

Expectations where high but settled in the first few trots down the float trundled through without even a knock, strange i thought as normally the fish are crawling up the line form the off on this river.  I persevered with the line as with river fishing a shoal can arrive in the blink of an eye as your bait trundling along the river draws fish up to its source. 

Eventually the fish arrived in the peg and predictably they where small silvers, almost on their arrival the sky went jet black and in the distance you could hear loud claps of thunder as a storm passed by.  Luckily we seemed to be right on the edge of the weather front so barring a quick burst of heavy rain we escaped untouched.

The swim then was alive with these small fish but the bites where lightning fast as they battered the bait on the drop with the float on some occasions not even settling.  I put in a few droppers of bait to ensure bait in the swim on the deck and this did seem to settle the swim down a little and bring in the odd small perch.

All of a sudden the bites completely died, all the knocks on the float and the bites on the drop went and it was like a light going out in the swim. Pike? or bigger fish who knows but neither showed when i did finally connect with another fish.  A quick try down the indie line i had been feeding with maggot all session brought a few knocks followed by a better roach.  Then the float slid away and i was into a different animal all together, at first i thought it was an eel as was its strength but the jagged pulse of a tail gave it away to be a perch even before its green flanks and spiky shark like dorsal broke the surface.

A big snag at my feet i knew i had to pile the pressure on the delicate 1lb 7oz hook length if i was to lure it away from its obvious snaggy home.  Time and time again i put maximum side strain on the fish before eventually it broke the surface and flipped on its side, as it did so i took my chance and made sure its turn landed in the net.

On the bank it seems lay the apex predator of these waters and at 1lb 12oz a fish that turned the session round.

The session after this fish plodded away without much to shout about and the final net showed what a poor day it would have been without the perch

final net

Till next time i wish you all

tight lines

danny

Pallatrax Stonze Review, Chub fishing and some Pike Fishing

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you well and your nets wet.  I am now firmly back in the regimental confines of my 9-5 so as such i am now in a place where i can find a nice half hour slot each day for not only consuming food to keep my productivity levels for the cause up into the afternoon but also it gives me a set amount of time each day to write my blog and catch up with other commitments in the angling world.  One of those commitments is to Pondip and they are the first subject in this weeks blog introduction.  The next part is a little but of fun with a product review of my own and we round up the introduction by talking a little about my thoughts on some of the images and the responses on social media the images of carp being sold for food in our supermarkets.

The fishing this week includes a short write up of the session i did using the Stonze for Pondip, a short chub session and also a few very short trips for pike which proved very productive in the consistency of the fishing and there is a good reason behind it which i will cover at the end of the pike season.

On with the update...

Pallatrax Pondip Blog....

We are fast approaching 5 months now that i have been writing Blogs for Pondip Tackle Box and i do now feel i have settled into the style of blog writing that they are looking for, i know i am certainly finding them easier to write.  The time with Pondip so far has been very enjoyable and i have loved the freedom it has give me to explore a different style of writing that is more aimed around how i fish rather than the experience and my thoughts on fishing.

This months box contained a item of tackle i have been meaning to try out for a long time but with stick float fishing and maggot feeders being the main methods of attack if late its just an item of tackle i have not got round to using yet and as such was really excited when it featured in Decembers Box.

My thoughts on the item of tackle and to see how it fared on a session please take a second to read my Pondip blog on the link below.

link: pallatrax-inline-stonze-review

Also if you are on social media and facebook give it a quick share ;-)

Best Rod On Market...

Keeping on the theme of product reviews it was with great enthusiasm me and my daughter field tested the latest item to hit the shelves in what is the best revolution in angling technology to hit the market in decades.

It was an item of tackle that was bought for my daughter a few years ago but knowing the quality of this delicate item i felt it just to save it till she was at an age where she could appreciate it for the fantastic piece of kit it is.  Its delicate action offers the angler a cloud like cushion to play fish on and its plastic ergonomic blank giving an even action through its length.  The magnetic tip allows this rod to be used both for fish but also as a fantastic recovery tool for anglers, How many times have you dropped your metal disgorger in the edge or cried as your mobile phone fell in then this is the perfect tool to recover them items.  A must for any angler and come on just look at the picture its design is unmatched on the market.

Travel light for Piking...

Recent trips i have talked a bit about how little gear you need to take with you for piking with only two rods, a rucksack and a landing net but i have not really talked about the contents of the rucksack.  Again it is made up of only a few essential elements and they include a nice cheap cool bag for my dead baits, my tackle box, a unhooking matt and also a Fox rig container for my wire traces.  The top of my holdall also contains a weigh sling in case i should need to hold a fish for a bit of time or in case of a special capture than may need a larger weigh device.

As you can see in the picture it is simplicity itself and means you can keep light and cover a fair bit of water in a day.  It is in stark contrast to my river fishing where we tend to fish the one swim all day and that is one aspect of the fishing for pike i am loving.  A small part of my pike fishing but one that i think is worth a mention in these times where i see anglers taking everything but the kitchen sink.

And with that its onto this weeks fishing....

Pondip Stonze BlogTrip

So there i was sat in my living room with my pondip box in hand thinking about how to go about writing a piece on the Pallatrax inline stonze.   A review on such a piece of tackle is quite hard when you think about it, just take a second and think what you would write about a stone with a inline hollow through it, it does take some thinking about.

Like with all my blogs they start with a blank piece of A4 paper upon which a brainstorm ideas for blogs over a few days.  Many people in work have commented on my habit of pulling out a random piece of crumpled paper during conversations to quickly get down an idea, so rude but so necessary.

I think when you are writing in an informative way like my blogs are for Pondip it is important to stay true to yourself and the angling you do so as such these items of tackle where never going to see the waters of the local carp runs water and where destined for running water and it was there an then i decided on the review being wrote around a chub session.

It took a few days for the river to be right to give this item a decent test and it was an item i was happily surprised by and i was even more happy the chub played ball and i could get the review wrapped up for dinner and get home to my family.  Of course the full write up of the session is on the Pondip blog

 here: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/guest-post/pallatrax-inline-stonze-review/

So to read about my thoughts on the stonze and the chub session head over to pondip and check it out.

Two short Pike sessions...

During the beginning of January it was a case if making the best of any opportunity to wet a line no matter how small the window to fish was.  Little windows would open up where i would say have from 1pm till 4pm to nip piking and the beauty of this arm of our sport is sometimes that is all you need.

The first session covered here was a short session on a Friday afternoon where with all the jobs done an opportunity to nip pike was on offer from 12 till 4 and after a few days without wetting a line for pike and the last session being a long hard blank on a huge still water i was dying to see that float sliding away with a pike on the other end.  I rushed out of the house only to find the rain bombing down with a torrential down pour.  Not one who really bothers about the rain but this was really bucketing down but with chances thin on the ground there was no stopping me today.

The swim i was fishing did offer some cover from the elements and with the two rods cast in it was a case of waiting for my traps to be sprung.  The pike where there i was sure of that but would they feed?

Thankfully not long after setting up the right hand float produced a run and a solid one to boot this fish wanted a free meal.  I cant say it gave me much displeasure in denying him a free lunch and i was pleased to have the fish on the bank.

Only a jack but as always the first fish on the bank the pressure is lifted and you can then relax into the session.  It took another hour and half before i got more interest on the same rod but sadly despite twitching the bait and a recast the initial interest never developed and in-keeping with recent short session i left with just the one fish.

The next session out for pike came a day or two later when a morning session saw me arriving on the bank at first light and getting a run on my smelt rod almost instantly.  If i remember rightly i cast the rod in and turned round and in the time i had baited up the other rod and about to cast it in i noticed my float was over the other side of the waterway. 

Not seeing the run i had nothing to work on, sometimes you can tell from how fast or erratic the float moves if it is a jack pike or not, but with the float already lying flat on the shallow far bank i was clueless.  With no information to work on and the worry that the rod could have gone instantly i turned round i had no option but to strike.  Instantly on the strike up came a tiny jack pike with my bait in its chops so it had not been on the bait long and with that it spat the bait, not a great start.

Time passed by and as it was the anniversary of my mum passing away so did my thoughts on this session  as i spent some time alone with them to remember the good times.  My thoughts interrupted by a group of ramblers coming through and i decided to change one of my baits from a herring tail to a roach dead bait. Within seconds the roach dead bait was snaffled and was away at a rate of knots along the water.

There is no way that pike just happened to come along as i cast the roach in i do think that pike was there looking at the Herring and just didn't fancy it but the roach was then taken by it as the bite was so quick and shows just how much a change of bait can make a difference.  Striking into the run the pike felt a nice fish for the seconds it was one before again the hooks came back, "come on mum have a word" was my thoughts at this moment.

The roach dead bait back in position it was seconds before it was again on its way! roach was certainly on the menu today for the pike.  There was to be no mistakes this time i grabbed the net and was ready for a short sweet battle.  The run was right along the inside bank so i wound in slowly till i was above the run knowing striking up i had the best chance of setting the hooks.  The pike came right up to the top and as it rolled i scooped it up! As i said not prisoners with this one.

This capture was tarnished a but by the fact it was a recapture of the thin pike from a few days earlier so i knowing it was 6lb i did not weigh it and quickly took a picture before returning it to its home.  This capped of a eventful but morning and although i left the bank cursing missed opportunities i left all the better for being alone with my thoughts and looked forward to lovely meal and playtime with the family in the afternoon.

Chub Fishing On the Stick Float...

A few days later presented the opportunity of a short morning session and having spent the last two mornings watching the pike floats i craved the freshness of a river session and flowing water.  All the rivers where carrying a little extra water but crucially they where just on the drop.  I knew that on this drop the fish would come on the feed and if the clarity of the river was ok i would be in for some sport.

I decided on this session to leave my 17ft float rod at home and take my 13ft rod for a run out.  I always use my 17ft if i can get away with it no matter what the size of river as it gives you so much control and even if the river is only as wide as the rod i will still use it for this reason.  The river i was travelling to for this session was more adept for my 17ft rod but i do love the lightness and action of the 13ft one so it was this one i loaded my holdall with.

Walking the field to the river i passed the farm house and was greeted with my first glimpse of this lovely river and she looked mint.  A slight tinge of colour so she had the look of weak tea and the pace was not too bad, all in all i knew there and then i was about to get my rod pulled in.  I could not set up fast enough and threading the line through the eyes i had to take a second to compose my excitement.  During setting up i fed the swim with hemp and maggot and eventually the time had come to make the first trot down.

The float was shotted down to a mere pimple and with not a breath of wind it was a stick float anglers dream.  The float held back just before the hemp then i released the finger on the line and in that moment to float buried and over the rod hooped as the defiant solid resistance of a chub was registered.  There really is nothing like a chub bit for that heart stopping moment and i love the act of defiance these fish have in the way at first the don't run and just fight there and then.  Eventually as you get on top of them they do head for the snags and inside bank cover but i was well prepared for this and the fish was played into the landing net and the first chub of the session was in the keep net waiting for the rest of his shoal to visit.

I only had from 07.30am till 11am for the session and looking at my phone this bite came on my first run through at 7.55am right on day break.  The very next trot down and again the float went and i was into another chub, normally the fish spook after the first fish so i was shocked, again the fish was handled well by the rod and was great fun and this chub joined his mate in the net, two in two casts.

The fish on the feed for sure i made sure i kept the food going in and more importantly the hemp as they were certainly on that today.  In the next hour i put together 5 more chub giving me 7 in the net in a hours fishing and i was over the moon.   The next two hours did see things slow down and the chub move in and out of the swim.  This saw me catching two more chub in that time but during the lulls in activity the odd dace showed up which was great to see.  The fish are obviously there but being out competed by the bigger chub.

11 am and the session at an end i had 9 chub and a few dace for a total net of 21lb.  It really was one of those session where you have to pack in but it kills you!  I can only imagine what could have been on this session had i had the whole day at this as i am sure the fish would have gained confidence and come back on.  I guess we will never know but i left a happy angler.

Well that's it for another weeks fishing, no where near up to day so look out for more pike sessions and stick float fishing to come.

Till then

tight lines

Danny

Wobblin for Jacks And A Few Doubles......

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  In this weeks blog i hope to cover a little on how resilient a species pike seem to be with some examples from my travels,  my latest blog going live on Pondip and also an update on where we are up to in our fun pike challenge for 4 anglers to catch 400 pike, 30 doubles and a 20lb pike by the end of the pike season.  The fishing this week comes from a social session where its all beginning and the end of the session where the action happens and also a session wobbling dead baits hoping to get to grips with this new method, so on with the update..

Tough Little Critters....

Since specifically going out to target pike as a species with dead baits there have been a number of things that have astounded me about this species,  not least the fact they will actually pick up a tail of dead fish off the bottom, but it has been the sheer amount of resilience and ability to survive against all odds that has shocked me the most.  I think i remember reading somewhere that the pike is one of the very few species who's fossils are found from many years ago that have not evolved or changed from then till now as they are so efficient at what they do....surviving.

I have lost count over the years catching pike both dead baiting and on the river just how many pike i have caught that are blind in one eye but still are there feeding well and looking, apart form the eye, healthy.  Take this pike below i caught on the river dee, pug mouth and blind in one eye yet fat as a barrel and feeding well.

You of course see pike both young and old that bear the scars of a sinister liaison with a bigger pike at one time or another and i used to think to myself just how much these scars inhibit the pikes ability to feed as some can be quite bad.  Well this week during a social piking session you will read about below Ste caught a pike that bared some horrific scarring which could have only been caused by a outboard motor and the pike not moving out of its way.

The scars looked like they where healed up but it just goes to show what a battering these pike can take during their lives and still be efficient at surviving and finding food.  amazing creatures when you think about it.

Pondip Blogs Go live.......

Over the past few months i have settled into a rhythm of writing my blog and also writing a piece for the Pondip blog on their coarse boxes and a few on tips and hints for fishing.  I am really enjoying this little project away form my main blog and the freedom it gives for me to go into detail on how i do my fishing, methods and little hints and tips i have picked up along the way.  Some of the tips are probably not as refined or the tips you will see in the weekly mags but they are tips i wish i had known when first starting out, for example i wish i had known about asking the shop to elastic ate my first pole.

links to the two blogs are below:

Octobers Pondip box Review: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/2014/boxes/pole-fishing-box/
Tips on Pole fishing: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/2014/tips-and-tricks/pole-fishing-tips/

If you are interested in Pondip Tackle Boxes  and what they offer as a company check out their page and don't forget to make the most of the discount code off the first box great little idea and a item i always look forward to dropping on my welcome mat.

Update on Piking Challenge.....

So we are just over a month into the pike challenge for 4 anglers to catch 400 pike, 30 doubles and a 20lb pike, and we are really pressing along nicely indeed.  We are all getting out on the bank regular and catching pike on most trips, although i had a blip with 3 blanks on the bounce.  The scores on the doors before the sessions below where 54 pike caught in total, with 5 doubles and one 20lb pike.  We are a 1/6th of the way into the challenge and are just below where we need to be but if the journey to this point is anything to go on its going to be great fun trying to get as close as we can to the total.

In terms of the whole challenge it is going to be a case of seeing what the weather does, if it stays warm like it is now then i can see us putting together a good run of pike as they keep chasing lures and moving baits but if we get a sudden drop in temp and the snow and ice arrives things might get a little tougher and keeping the sheer number of pike we need coming in might see us falling behind. But as i have said its all about the fun of chasing such a high goal with your mates.

On to this weeks Fishing....

Saturday 1st November: Throwing a Wobbler....What have i been missing!.......

A email landing in my inbox the week before this session asking if i was interested in reviewing a pike rod on my blog so for Saturdays session i thought i would pack my little spinning rod into my holdall and have a bit of fun and in the process try and learn a new method.  Having watched Garry, an excellent lure fisherman, for the past few months casting his favourite lures and catching some nice pike i had again been spoilt by having such a experienced teacher and although we had never really sat down and talked about lure fishing he had shown me a few times about the art of wobbling with dead baits.

I don't know if lure fishing will ever be for me, i am far too clumsy and unorganised to keep a load of lures from becoming a web of tangled hooks, but sink and drawing or wobbling is something that has always interested me but i guess confidence in not getting snagged and again a pike taking a dead fish clouded my mind.

In the week leading up to this session one of the pikers in our group, Ste, had been asked to do a article for the anglers mail and it involved twitching "kinky" dead baits.  Like with Garry i had been on a few sessions with Ste and again like i had seen from Garry casting his lures, you could tell from the way Ste cast them with accuracy and how he worked them through the water he was good at it.  Its a bit like watching a good river man running a stick through, they make it look so easy and effortless and that only comes with practise.

I am always gratefully to have two fantastic pike anglers to call mates, my pike fishing has come on so much this past year, and hopefully as the work dies down in all our jobs i can begin to repay them back with a few trips to the river and maybe even Garry's first pike from the Dee, till then i will just have to agree to stop dancing and singing on sessions and keep the pot noodles rolling in.

Back to the session and i arrived on the bank armed with one dead bait rod and my small lure rod that i have had since a kid and cost me a whole £6.00.  This rod is as strong as an ox and was the only rod i took piking for many years on the Dee fishing lives for the pike and can boast pike to 13lb, not bad for a small rod, bends at the butt but gets em in.  I cast the dead bait rod out on a roach dead bait and then began to wobble a roach dead bait back though the swim.

In my eyes the bait looked a mess as it swayed from side to side coming through the water and it took me a few casts to get the confidence to let the bait twist and turn then let it go slack so the bait falls as if it where a dying fish.  I had cast in countless times and i could see the bait coming in and i thought if i can see it the pike can and then from now where BOOOM! a pike shot out from no where and absolutely nailed the fish.  Calm came across me as i resisted the urge to strike and let the fish take the bait as it it was a dead bait run and then gave it a countdown and struck.  Thankfully the fish stayed on unlike my bait that flew off in the fight and i was over the moon to have landed my first wobbled dead bait pike.

The pike released i set about recasting my dead bait rod which had remained strangely silent and to be honest would so all the session.  My next take came from utilising a cunning little trick for picking up a bite.  Basically it works on the principle that after casting around in an area you might not have had many takes but you may well have had a pike follow the bait right in and you not have seen it so after a few casts i let the bait sink the the bottom right under my feet and what you then do it let the bail arm off and watch the line to detect the bite.  It may seem like a hard method but in practise there is no missing the bite as the braid starts to tremble and move away and this method caught me the best fish of the day in this 7lb 14oz pike.

After fishing away for a few hours taking a break here and there from the wobbling with no results i decided in a change of bait for the wobbling and i think it was either the third or fourth cast on the retrieve i felt a solid bang.  You have to remember at this point in my wobbling i had seen a pike take close in and had one under my feet so i had no idea what a pike take felt like out in the water, in reality there was no missing it.  I gave the fish line and struck praying i was not setting my hooks deeper into a snag.  Thankfully my strike was met with the feeling of a fish rather than a sunken branch, only a jack but i did not care it was great learning a new method and even better catching on it.

Tuesday 4th November: Social Piking Session

With work levels low and the half term school holidays over and done with i jumped at the chance for a days leave from work and with a solid session behind me wobbling with dead baits on the Saturday the past three blanks where nothing but a distant memory, i felt i was cooking on gas again and it felt good. I was casting out with expectation of catching rather than expecting a blank which is always great.

My plan for the day was exactly the same as Saturday fishing a dead bait rod and use my lure rod to wobble a smelt.  The four of us where all in attendance all evenly spread along the bank and unlike the mere we where a lot closer and could all gather and have a chat.  My dead bait rod had not been in more than around half an hour when my oil loaded mackerel jack attracted some interest from a pike.  The float bobbed a few times before it sailed off at some speed and the float submerged and i struck into a fish that i new was a better fish as it made hard runs taking line from the reel as it did so.  Tilting the rod down and loosening off the drag to reduce the chance of a hook pull saw the tables swing in my favour and Ryan slid the net under a nice pike that surely had to go into double figures.

The pike swung the scales round to 11lb 4oz and we had another double to add to the list and my third of the season. Ryan was next to see his float sail away but his strike was met with an unsteady fight that saw the pike come off.  It did not take long though for his mackerel "tail" to attract the pikes attention back to this scrumptious sushi banquet and this time he made no mistake and landed his first pike of the day in this sublimely marked pike.

During the next hours till noon we all tried in vain to lure the interest of a pike on our dead baits and wobbling and it was not until a move to a completely new area by Ste saw more pike coming as he landed 3 pike in as many casts including the pike with the horrific boat scars.  It showed me big time how close you can be to pike and be so far away as with all that smell in the water you would have thought these pike would have smelt out our multitude of baits loaded with oil and moved onto them.

Ste had to get off to do a job at 1pm so it was decision time for the three remaining piking pirates did we stay put and move to the area ste had caught three fish or move to another location where we thought our chances where greater.  We arrived to find the venue gin clear and not very appetising and i knew there and then from my river fishing that it was going to be a few hours till we had any action as darkness closed in.

Around 3pm i moved my bait from beside a overhanging willow into the middle and within seconds the float was moving off along the top.  I gave the bite as long as i dared as i knew this could be my one and only chance.  I struck and knew instantly i had a bad hook hold by the amount of head shaking it was doing and i could feel them all suggesting the hooks where loosely hooked in the pike jaw.  A swift turn by the pike and it all went slack for a second as the fish parted with the hooks......but then all of a sudden the fish was on but it felt a lot bigger indeed and it wasn't until the fish came to the top we realised the fish was foul hooked in the tail.  The fish must have spat the hooks and then the hooks must have hooked the fish again as it has flapped its tail to move away, lucky indeed.

This luck instantly ran out as when being netted the hooks caught on the outside of the net, disaster and i guess it was a fitting end to the fight for the pike to then have the last laugh and come off the hooks to freedom.  That is the way it goes with pike fishing the margins between success and fail are so small.

The last hour loomed large and it was going into dark while preparing to recast my dead bait rod i heard a shout from Garry up the bank lure fishing to get the net.  Before i could get the net the fish had come off but speaking to garry he said he had just witnessed the biggest pike he had ever seen take his lure, i asked if he thought it was new Pb potential and he said yeah for sure, his Pb is over 14lb so we was talking a decent fish.

Garry continued to cast his lure around the area while i had a cheeky cast over the far side both to no avail.   The dark was setting in fast so we decided to call it a day and began walking back along the bank to Ryan to pack in.  I then did something i have done hundreds of times before and dropped my smelt in the edge and began walking back to the car.  One step, two, three BANG i was pulled backwards and halted in my steps as something grabbed onto the bait, no swearing on the blog but my words rhymed with hook me, I've got a take i said.  By the time i walked back along the bank the float was gone out of sight.

I stuck and instantly the rod hooped over and this fish was not messing about as it pulled line from the reel, i could not stop it.  Garry said give it some line and take your time its a nice fish i have just seen it and then it came up to the top, jesus it was nice fish all right!  Garry took his chance a slid the landing net under the pike and we raced no danced along the bank to get the fish unhooked and on the unhooking mat.  Garry instantly said he thought it was a 20 and i could not argue with him it was a deep fish.  We nervously placed her in the weigh sling and ryan read out the scores, not a 20 but at 17.8lb i was not complaining, a very very very lucky capture.

The fish capped off a memorable first month of the season for me and i month i could only have dreamt about, well lets be honest here it was a month i have never dreamt about because i never thought it possible.  I have had my fair share of luck along the way, not least with this 17lb8oz fish but as months go i had caught 22 pike with a 11.4lb, 15lb, 17.8lb and a 21lb 4oz fish accounting for my doubles within that.  A month i doubt i will ever repeat in my life and one i am fully aware does not come along too often.

After these sessions it left us on 68 pike with Ste and Garry both finding time to also get out in the bank between my wobbling session and the social one.

Till next time

tight lines

Danny

River Dee Fishing and First Pondip Article Published

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update I hope i find you well and your nets full.  In this weeks update we travel to the banks of the River Dee hoping to find the shoals of dace we found on our previous trips but things don't always go to plan so with a big decision to stick or move to be made will our choice pay off?? 

First Pondip Blog Published!!

Link to Article: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/2014/tips-and-tricks/5-top-tips-canal-fishing/

This week marked a huge milestone in my angling life away from the bank as my first ever piece of writing for another site apart from my own went live.  The long term sufferers of my blog know my stlye on here is very much a "as i would say it to your face" style with very little in the way of the normal This is how to catch fish or this is how you should be fishing information in there.  This is on purpose as I like my blog to be something that  comes across as relaxed and a blog people can read that is reflects myself as one everyday angler who likes to go fishing and share his experiences of the day and the fishing. 

The brief for some of the blogs i am going to be writing for Pondip is very different as they blogs are going to be more around my techniques and tips for actually catching fish and for me this presented a huge step away from my normal blog.   I decided to write the article on a type of fishing i have done all my life and where it all began for me, my local canal. I nervously submitted the piece last month and at the time i was unsure if the piece would be of a standard for them to publish so i have kept quiet about it on the blog and Social Media through fear it would fall flat on its face but early last week i received an email saying the piece had been published on their blog and they were really happy with it, i was over the moon and the day it went live was a really proud day for myself, i was over the moon and hopefully there will be more to come.

Royal Mail Problems!!

With the Pike fishing fast approaching my evenings when not fishing or writing my blog have been spent bidding on Pike terminal tackle on EBay and i have managed to snare the odd bargain.  Last week i mentioned that some of the tackle i have been ordering had arrived but the most important parcel had still not arrived in my possession and it was quite possibly the most important parcel of the lot as it contained the Crimps, Crimp Pliers and hooks to construct my pike rigs.  The Parcel reference entered into the Royal Mail order tracker revealed it had been posted fine and dandy on the 28th August and was in the Royal Mails possession.  Tuesday the 10th September i received the phone call the package had arrived at my home and about time it was too and although it was being delivered from Ireland in the past i have ordered stuff from China that has arrived in 2 days!! 

At this point i was just glad it has arrived and its contents where all as should be..

The Pike Trace Building Begins.....

All the component's ready and waiting I was like a kid in a sweet shop as late on Tuesday night after publishing the midweek blog update i say down at the table and laid all the different items of tackle purchased over the past few weeks out on the table.

Two items of the tackle have nothing to do with the construction of the rigs and are born from watching how a fellow piker, Garry, went about his piking last year and little tips picked up to make life easier.  Firstly a Rig Bin to store all my traces in, my god the amount of times i cut myself on rigs in those plastic packaging's or put my hand inside my tackle box for my forceps to be met with the tip of a stray treble!  Lesson leaned all my traces will now being stored in a spacious Fox Rig bin.  The next is the quick change swivels, a huge part of the appeal with pike fishing is how quick you can be fishing and i am an angler that loves leaving as much of the rod set up as possible and last year that included the trebles placed on an eye and the rod split in two, again loose trebles find everything especially when unloading from a car boot at home so this quick change link means i can easily unclip the treble at the end of the session and fold the rod up happy there are not hooks to catch anything and also on the plus side when setting up its a quick put together of the rod, attach trace and bait and I'm away.

 On a really short evening session after work that may only be a hour or hour and half this can make a huge difference.

My second ever attempt at a pike trace as i din one last year on the bank but this is my first on my own and apart form the trebles being just a bit too far apart i am happy with that as a first attempt and certainly a solid base to build from.

Mid-week Blog Goes Live...

The past few months i have been really fortunate to have not only got out on the bank quite a bit but also been lucky enough to have some really memorable trips along the way.  As such i have been in a situation where i have a lot of trips to write about but to put them all on a Fridays blog and it not be pages long would be difficult and as these trips where so different i wanted to try and capture the sesisons in full by writing an update for each.

These updates going live midweek some times go under the radar as they are only live for two or three days so i thought from now on i would include a link in the following Friday.  This midweek one was a trip to the River Dane where we hoped for a nice net of silvers, what we found was very different and more sinister........but great fun!!!

Link: http://satonmyperch.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/first-river-dane-pike-as-fish-go-crazy.html

And with that its on to this weeks fishing.........

River Dee: Being Prepared to move...

Heading out to the river we had a fair idea of where we wanted to fish and arrived well before sunrise to make sure we were all ready for setting up in the headlamps of the car.  We had travelled to the same are i had fished recently and done well for a double figure net of dace.  My uncle set up in a swim i had fished in the evening a few weeks ago and had trouble with line across the river and i set up in the swim below a bridge on a fast bend where i knew i would find it difficult but if the fish where around i could get a few.  

My uncle fishes a stick different to myself and also feeds his swim differently so he was confident of not having to risk snagging on the line as he hoped to get the fish where he wanted them under his feet.  The dawn breaking i made my first cast of the session and almost as to fit with the beautiful scenery a kingfisher shimmered upstream just as my float came to rest. 

The light barely enough to make out a float i under shot the float so i could see quite a bit of the tip and began trotting hoping that the fast flow would induce a violent bite that would see the float bury.  The first few trots down all that came back was a snotted maggot and not a sign of a bite.  As the light improved i shot the float right down to a mere pimple and i began to see the bites and they where like lightning a swift dip on the float and that was all you got, reeling in revealed a bait with just the tip taken, a sure sign of small fish.

I did hit the odd bite and was proved right with really small dace coming to the net and in the space of 2 hours of a bite a chuck trotting i had converted it to around 10 fish in the keep net with one proper dace.

net of fish

The nature of river fishing means that you can sometimes be out of sight of the person you are fishing with and only see them two or three times during a session as you visit each others peg for a brew.  The first trip to each others pegs is always a litmus test for how the session is going for the other person, if the fishing is going well it can be a few hours as the with trotting you never want to leave a feeding peg.  It also works the other way and looking up the river form my peg i noticed my uncles peg was vacant ans i could hear the swishing of his waterproof pants as he approached my peg, i knew then he was having the same poor start as me.

My uncle had hit the snag twice and was also getting the same fast bites and hitting the odd small dace like myself.  It was decision time, do we stay and hope the better fish come or do we move to a new area of river all together?  A quick look in the margins at the hoards of fry answered the question for us as they devoured maggots, if that was going on in the river and we had a big head of fry in front of us we were going to struggle and neither of us had enough bait to feed them off so we decided on a a change of venue. 

A quick chat in the car and we set off for a new venue on the River Dee and settled for some crazy mad idea we settled on Eccleston Ferry.  It may sound silly me saying its a mad idea but i have to say before this session here it was certainly mine and my uncles bogey venue where i think we could count the amount if fish caught on one hand between the pair of us. 

We left the car in the car park and walked the bank and the first thing that we noticed was the fact the pegs had been taken out, a walker told us and i don't know how true it is but an angler slipped on them in the ice and sued the land owner!if true the so called angler needs his or her head testing this is fishing and you are not on a commercial now you are at your own risk, so thank you for ruining some very rare comfortable river fishing, idiot., you cant blame the land owner for taking that action and a classic case of the minority ruining it for the majority, a common theme on the dee it seems with the loss of almere being linked to idiots being abusive. 

Walking the bank we finally found a few signs of fish topping and they were in a tight 100 yard length it seemed.  I set up in the margins with my box in the water while my uncle set up down stream on a small tuft.  I had just folded my 13ft rod in half when leaving the previous area but plumbing up i instantly hit a problem as with my float as deep as it would do i still could not fish on the bottom, a very deep area. 

After all the messing around in the morning the last thing i felt like doing was setting up from scratch but it had to be done so it was away with the 13ft rod and out with the 17ft rod.  I also changed floats at this point from a 8 number 4 to a 3 gram bolo float simply due to the depth.  Around a hour and half into the fishing my uncle popped a long and he had been doing quite well with around 2o dace in his net with steady bites to boot.  I at this point had around 4 fish in the net but what i was catching was roach and nice ones to boot but just not as prolifically as my uncle was catching.

while my uncle was at my peg i connected with a better fish and my uncle clocked me playing it up straight away but it was certainly pulling back and although i made it look bigger than it was we were both happy to see a nice chublet grace the landing net.

After discussing the choice to set up in the main boating channel on the River dee we returned to the fishing and after messing around with my shotting to get the float to settle so just the tip of the bristle was showing i began to put together a few fish in succession and it was obvious that there was a decent shoal of roach in the swim and it must have been a shoal of just roach as this was the only fish i was connecting with.

The general stamp of roach i was catching was quite impressive, not massive fish but put up a great fight in the depth of water.

At around noon to 12.30 my uncle nipped along for another brew and at this point i had gone a hour without a bite and so had my uncle.  The normal reason on the Dee for this is a pike moving in your swim but in such a depth of water presenting a bait to them down deep was something i was not tackled up for so i continued to persevere with the feeding and slow trot through the swim.  The odd cast further out did bring one or two fish but it was a good two hours till i connected with my next flurry of bites as three fish came in three casts.  The magic and wonder of river fishing is how quickly you go from nothing to catching it can be like turning a light switch one.

Again the fish were roach but with the fourth fish in as many casts splashing on the surface there was a swirl over the bait and there was extra weight on the line, a pike had taken the fish, as the fish was up on top i could quite clearly see the pike and it was only slightly bigger than the roach it had taken and had in its mouth.  I continued to reel in but at the last moment it spat out the roach. 

The picture below shows what damage even a small pike can do to a fish and looking at the bigger picture it could have been this pike in hunting mode in the swim why the swim dies for 2 hours.  The damage done by this small pike to this roach was terminal and shows just how veracious pike can be and more than likely the pike would have returned to claim the fish after it has died.

Nature in its most raw and brutal form.

I mentioned above that it might have been the pike that killed the swim and the rest of the session went to prove it as no sooner had i cast back out the swim was alive with roach and i got into a rhythm of catching steadily and thoroughly enjoyed a good hour and half's fantastic roach fishing culminating in this plump yet oddly shaped roach that put up a great fight.

On our fishing session me and my uncle normally pack in at the same time but on this occasion i admit to indulging in some roach fishing as i fished on for another 20 minutes.

my net

The final net was one of the best nets of fish i have had from the dee of 10lb 5oz, i say its one of the best as for me fishing the river my nets are normally made up entirely of dace with the odd roach.  This entire net was roach apart from one dace and one chub and maybe the odd gudgeon.

My uncles net was the opposite and was entirely dace with a few roach and a small chub and just shows how one stretch of river can have such different results.

uncle net

till next time i hope you enjoyed my write up of my fishing and let me know if you like the new layout with the introduction and how its more broken up.

tight lines

Danny

Water To Go Bottle Review and River Dane Stick Float Fishing

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update I hope i find you all well and your nets full.  A few weeks ago i was approached by a company who enquired if i was interested in writing a review of their product, the Water To Go Bottle, I do get quite a few product reviews and I base my decision on if i can relate this product back to my angling and it also has to be a product that excites myself and this product definitely was ticking box after box so below is my review of the Water To Go Bottle.

Water To Go Bottle Review

Info:

Company Name: Water to Go

Website: http://www.watertogo.eu/

Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/WatertoGoEU?fref=ts

Twitter Page: https://twitter.com/WatertoGoUK

Retail Price: £24.95

The Water To Go offers healthy clean water on to go using Space Programme Technology to filter water by utilising tiny pores in its patented filter that are created using nano technology to remove 99.9% of all contaminates from any water source excluding salt water.   The company say the water bottle will eliminate Bacteria, Viruses, Chemicals, Protozoa, Fluoride, Chlorine, Pesticides, Waterborne Diseases, Heavy Metals and Bad tastes and Odours in water.  The bottles filter is suggested to be an advance from the usual treatment of a chlorine pill to try and remove bacteria from a water source where the chlorine pill would kill but not remove the bugs and bacteria that you would then still go on to consume.

Europe alone consumes 50 million bottles of water a year and of that only 12% are recycled with the remainder dumped in landfill or left to pollute our oceans, killing wildlife and entering the food chain with this filter being able to treat approx 200 litres of water the Water to Go bottle is an Eco Friendly choice. 

My Review

Being brutally honest here the very first thing i did upon hearing from the company was to search the Internet to make sure it was genuine and did what it said it was going to do before i even thought about agreeing to say i would run a product review that would involve me drinking water from a river.  A simple search on google revealed a magnitude of positive reviews from walking sites and even a review from someone who took their bottle with them for a trek through the Amazon, good enough for that trip then surely the Rivers and taps of the Northwest of England would be no problem, so i happily agreed to do the review.  

As with all my reviews on the blog my review of the product and the whole package the company offers starts straight away with how the company present themselves via our emails and how easy they are to deal with and i have to say that yet again this company was a joy to deal with, very helpful and understanding and i imagine that if i did have a problem with the product their customer service would be spot on. 

I agreed to do the product review on Thursday morning and the product was there waiting for me after work on the Friday so delivery time was exceptional.  My next port of call was the packaging and even thought this product was a mere water bottle that could have been sent lose in the post i imagine it came extremely well packaged in a spacious brown box.  Inside the box was the bottle of course and also included were two letters the first containing important information on how to use the product and steps to prepare the filter before use and the next i nice glossy flier explaining in detail just what the bottle did, the flier looked stylish and very modern its appearance and was easy to understand. and again re-enforced the steps to take before use.

The bottle itself was packaged in a simple but cool looking cardboard holder utilising plenty of colour to draw the eye to all the main objectives and benefits of the bottle and on the back the packaging again goes into detail around the facts of what the product offers and benefits as opposed to buying water bottles.  I was really impressed with the look if the products packaging.

Removing the bottle from the case i was impressed with the sturdy feel of the bottle and i did not expect the rubber grips around the bottle.  The bottle felt of good quality and opening it up the filter, although bulky, reminded me of filter you find inside a bag less hoover.  The feel of the bottle did make me feel confident that the product was made of good quality materials and the filter looked up to the job.

The Tests: Test 1: Works Dodgy Water

My first test was the terrible water supply in the building i work in, recently my office has moved into new premises and being on the third floor the water supply leaves a lot to be desired, it has a strange metallic taste to the water and many people in work actually but their own water bottles in from the local supermarket instead of using this "funny tasting" water.   I was very aware at this stage that i was not going to be able to prove any of the things the product proclaims to do with science, my views would come down to basic taste and would i have confidence in the product at the end of it.

Before any tasting took place i poured myself a cup full of water on my morning break to remind myself of taste of the water without the bottle, it tasted like water but with a metallic after taste. Lunch break and time for the bottle, pouring the water into the bottle i set off to my desk, brought the bottle to my mouth and took a sip, the water tasted no different at first but then a second or two later after stopping drinking i did notice that there was no metallic after taste and the water was actually nice to drink rather than leaving you worried about what you was drinking.

Test 2 - Down by the River bank

Thursday afternoon and i headed off to the river for a spot of fishing armed with the water to go and two plastic cups i was all set to see what the bottle would do with a few muddy still pools on the sandstone lined and very agricultural banks of the river Dane.  Stirring up the bottom so the water resembled a dirty brown colour i tried to replicate what i would possibly find if this river was carrying some water and the water was coloured and i had come across this river as the only source of water to drink. The cup on the left is the water i scooped up and into the bottle it went and i quickly scooped up some more in the cup for the picture.  I then squirted the water inside the bottle into a second cup and it was almost like a magic trick as crystal clear water came out and into the other cup. 

Now for a taste and apart from being very warm the water tasted fine and being a hot day i took more than a couple of gulps.  As said the water did taste warm but that was nothing to do with the bottle but the warm conditions and tasted and tasted very palatable..

Final thoughts:

All in all i was impressed with the bottle to go and will certainly be taking it with me on my summer tips as it will surely save room in my holdall where my bulky flask takes up some serious space being a litre flask.  Would i have bought this had i seen it in the shops? Probably not as the £25.00 price would have put me off but now knowing how well it works i think i would buy one and have actually made my mates in work who regularly go climbing and mountain walking to this product for them to use. A stylish product with a nice feel and being a man who loves his gadgets i loved reviewing it.

On to this weeks fishing:

River Dane Stick Float Fishing - Low Flow But Fish Still Show...

This weekend we again headed to the River Dane for our angling fix but as we did we made the decision that barring some major rainfall leaving us with no other option that this  would be our last trip to the dane, at least for the next few weeks as a change is well over due.  Changing away from this river is really hard though, as is turning away from any river that's steady fishing.   The facts are in this river we have found areas where we can almost be guaranteed a net of fish of around 7-10 from a normal session and when you add to that areas where we have found exceptional perch fishing its very hard to justify going to other rivers that in some cases can be all or nothing on the day and further afield petrol wise to boot.

 I do feel now though since the season has started we have done out to achieve the goal i set out at the start of having a good go at exploring the full length and breadth of the river dane system although i had hoped for some more varied weather for us to learn how this river fishes with some water in her but i guess with this being England some heavy precipitation is not too far away and soon us river anglers will be complaining about instead of as it is now crying for rain.

On this session i was again desperate to explore if ground bait is the way to go forward on this river so i travelled to the river armed with a bag of Sensas Red Bream ground bait, 2 pints of maggot and a pint of hemp.  My rod of choice was my 17ft Carbon Active Rod paired with a Shimano Reel loaded with 5lb line with a hook length of 2lb Bayer Perlon to a size 18 hook and i think the float was a 8 number 4.

In the early morning light it is very hard to see what state the river is in and although i was not worried about levels i was concerned about flow as since our thunder storms last week, that lets face it just wet the floor rather than adding any real water to our rivers, there had been no rain at all to talk about.  I knew where to expect bites in the swim but i fed slightly up the line i was going to fish as i full expected there to be little flow and as such i hoped to get the fish within a 10 yard run from my position.  So that was my plan so the first thing i did when i arrived was my ground bait and while i set up my rod i began to feed the swim with maggot and periodically with a ball of ground bait loaded with hemp.

The first trots down the swim brought the usual chublets that had intercepted the flow of maggots, during these early morning exchanges with the chublets and tiny roach fry it was noticeable already the amount of fish up in the water feeding, never a good sign for a days trotting as normally these fish are in quite large shoals and with them being just the right size to feed on single maggots it can mean that little or none of your bait is getting down to where your bait is on or near the bottom and they are normally too high up in the water and their bites so fast there hard to hit, as predicted this was the case and led to a very frustrating open to the session for me.

I made a quick change and bulked my weights down the line and also fed the swim with a few bait droppers of maggot so at least knew some bait was on the deck.  These changes instantly changed my fortunes and the stamp of fish as first trot down i hit the nice skimmer above.  It never ceases to amaze me with not just river float fishing but fishing in general how slight changes can have such dramatic results and the struggle of the first hour and half was well forgotten.

By this time i had been feeding the swim for some time with ground bait so i was confident i had a nice bed of bait but knowing how bream can feed i was not going to hold back and i fed a small ball every other fish and this did seem to get the fish in and keep them coming as roach, skimmers and gudgeon haha began to come with regularity.

As always it takes time for the better fish and roach to establish themselves in the swim and i suppose the same can be said for perch as even the smaller specimens seem to only come in to the swim after a while of feeding.  The session was steady for the next hour or so and it built to me hitting two solid fish right over my feed, both were absolutely solid and had me convinced they  were big bream as i could not budge either off the bottom of the river bed, it seems weird writing about these two fights as one but they were literally identical.  Half way through the fight the resistance lapsed and a weird jagged fish endured with unusual vibrations down the line, my weight showing i was dying to see what i had hooked and then through the gloom came an eel and then the struggle to one get it in the landing net as it swam backwards out time and time again and then unhooking them, luckily i won on both accounts.

I of course knew i was in a prime area for a nice perch and this was not a part of the days fishing i was going to miss out on so and i have learnt a lot of their feeding has to do with the shadows on the water and the cover it provides so knowing where the shadows would be later on in the session i fed the area through out the morning and the time had come to try for one so same as the last session over the fed area i went.

As with last week the bite was not long in coming and as the float rested before slowly sliding away, a sight i have become addicted to i have to admit.  The fish was again a lovely specimen of the species and weighing 2lb 5oz would have equalled my river Dee personal best a few weeks ago.  These fish have some lovely marking on them and although not as bright as the ones from the clearer river dee once inspected on the bank they have an almost prehistoric dark colour to them.  I have got into a set routine with these perch now and it was into the neck of the keep net it went to rest before i captured a few pictures of the school yard bully.

The fish in the keep net as to not spook the rest of the perch i hoped were down there it certainly caused ructions with the shoal of fish i had in my net as they avoided the moody predator in their ranks.

Back out i went and sat like an kingfisher on his perch i waited for the float to move but for a good 40 minutes to an hour nothing happened and it was getting close to wrapping up time that the float shuddered, a movement that travelled up the rod and down my arm like an electricity bolt instantly pricking my attention and getting me glued to my float, one dip, "go on" i said, another dip, "have it!!" i begged and with that the float again skid away and another nice stripey of exactly 2lb was in the keep net ready for its picture to be taken.

After this one i did go to lose a third due to a hook pull but you have to look at the 5-8 other perch i have landed at this point and be glad you got the others in and you always know that one of these was going to come off at one point, i was a little gutted though.   The two together a joy to behold and i was privileged to again be given a chance to hold two lovely looking fish.

I have not had a second to think this passed week as there has been a multitude of things going on with the blog but i do hope to get a chance to sit down and have a good luck at the perch pictures to see if these fush are individuals or separate fish as although the weights are different it only takes the fish to have just eaten and digested a 3-6oz roach for their weight to be different.

My final net went just under 8lb of mixed silver fish with those two perch added taking the weight for the day to around 12lb.

my uncles net we forgot to weight but was certainly up an around the 8-10lb mark.

Till next time i wish you all tight lines and look out for next weeks blog where i will be featuring a very exciting product review of the products available from Pondip Tackle Box

Danny