Short Sesison on Dane, Evening Piking and River Dee tides.

A warm welcome to this week's blog update I hope i find you well and your nets wet.  In this weeks update i cover a session we did at the weekend on the River Dane and a few evening trips for pike i have been doing of late, a little early but the urge to get out was too much! Also featured in this weeks update is some information around staying safe on the banks of my favourite river the River Dee.

The feedback i received from the change in layout of last weeks blog was all positive so i will be looking to continue with the blog in this format for the foreseeable future.  The breaking up of the Introduction and my rambling can only be a good thing haha.  With that its onto the update and i hope you enjoy....

Something Fishy.......

Pike fishing is something that has always captured my imagination and are a species that do get me excited when i know i am heading out fishing for them.  Last year my dead baiting for pike only started in the new year and that is something i am looking to change this year as i aim to be all set for October 01st.  Looking ahead pike fishing is certainly going to feature heavily on this blog this winter and my hope is to dove tail short pike trips with my normal stick float and pole fishing on the rivers. 

A while back on a trip for pike with a friend i was asked if i was interested in joining his bulk order for bait he puts in every year as it would save me a Lot of money buying in bulk and also would get me Free Postage.   With a lot of piking planned on both still waters and rivers and also knowing the price i was paying last winter for individual packs of bait i was more than happy to take up his kind offer.

On Sunday i left the order in his experienced and capable hands with a limit of between 20-30 pounds.  Wednesday morning and a picture arrives of my order and i was taken back by the sheer amount of dead baits that came for the money, flowers where ordered on the way home for my other half with a nice note about her now not having a bottoms shelf in the freezer.

Thanks again mate, now to see these in a pike mouth as it comes to the surface to be netted!!

Troutin' About.......

Late on Sunday night with nothing really to do and a pint of maggot left over from the previous days session myself and my uncle decided on visiting a remote out of the way part of a local river that a friend had whispered to us could hold a nice fish or two having been seen off a few times on recent visits.  The venue being a nice stroll from the car and with unknown fish it was going to be a risk to devote our full Saturday river session too so this short two hour scouting mission was aimed at filling in a few blanks for us to judge its potential for a full days fishing.

The river was low and clear but seemed to go into a deep hole and then continue round a bend.  The swim afforded a snug fit for two people trotting and the result of the session was a nice selection of perch, dace and gudgeon with the ever present minnow but we also had a trout a piece and i was left gutted at leaving my scales at home with the beauty above which was certainly a personal best trout.  I also had a hook pull on two better fish so plenty of potential for a full trip soon.

The Tide is High Don't Get Left Holdin' On..

I make no attempt to hide the fact that the River Dee is by far my first love when it comes to rivers and one of my hopes is this blog in some way makes up part of the jigsaw that See's anglers being interested in my captures to get on her banks and enjoy her beauty and plentiful fish stocks.    I always love to hear form anglers who have made such a decision based on reading my adventures on the bank and that they have normally been left surprised by their experience of such good fishing.

I do worry sometimes though that a lot for a lot of these people it is their first trip to the River Dee and I don't think i do enough to promote the dangers that go with this river.  One of the main dangers on the river dee are the tides and i am filled with fear when i read comments on forums where people say not to worry about the tides as they don't reach as high as Farndon! The not only reach farndon but go above it.

Whenever i know i am visiting the River Dee the first thing i check is the Tides chart at Liverpool and i use the link below:-

River Dee Tides: http://www.ntslf.org/tides/tidepred?port=Liverpool

A simple rule is that if the tide is higher than 9m on the chart above then it will incoming tidal bore will reach over the weir in Chester and start to back up the river.  A lot of the swims as you move up the river can look very appealing, a shingle bank at Almere ferry is a prime example when you can get caught out easily.  

My best advise if you see tides over 9m:

1. Know what time the tide is expected

2. Be sensible and if swim is low don't take too much gear to peg

3.  Place a stick on the water level when you arrive so you can spot the rise happening

4. Don't be put off by the river backing up and flowing the other way this can offer some of the best sport.

Congratulations On First River Dee Barbel.......

A good month of two ago i received a message on social media from an angler who had put in a few sessions on the river dee hoping to connect with an elusive river dee barbel but was just after a few pointers on tactics and if he was going about it the right way.  The question around river dee barbel is one i get asked about a lot as i have been quite fortunate to have crossed paths with one or two in my tine fishing the dee.  These fish are spreading more and more each year but still remain a challenge for any angler looking to put a tick next to the River Dee barbel box.

I have receive a lot of emails around river dee barbel and past experiences of anglers asking for exact swims, bait, length of hook length and even where to cast in the swim left me wondering just how much effort they have already put into doing it like i did for myself.  Some emails anglers had not even done a single session or even fished the dee just wanted the glory of saying they had caught one, where is the achievement in that?

Ian was different this guy had put in more than a few trips to the dee for these fish, blogging his trips through facebook and on his email he didn't want to know any of the above that others had asked only if what he was doing was right and if i thought he was in the right area, he was ban on on both counts and i knew it was only a matter of time.

This week after i think it was 6 blanks in the same area he got in touch with the news of his capture, a well earned fish and i know Ian said to me he know wants to catch a proper one but no matter of size this fish is a priceless capture, well earned and well deserved.  Well done mate a fish caught the proper way and a lesson to all about how to go about achieving goals you set and i am sure Ian would agree had he been told the exact swim etc etc and not had the blanks the capture would not have felt as good.

Piking Sessions With Some Bite......

In the past week or so I have managed to get out on the bank for two evenings pike fishing with Garry in search of some pre season pike action.  The first session the dead bait rods where left at home and this was simply down to the hot conditions.  The day time temperatures where still well into double figures and with plenty of fish topping it just felt like deads where going to be a waste of time.  It was a one rod approach from me and Garry went armed with a pike rod and a lure rod hoping to lure a fish to the shimmer and dazzle of his trusted lure, the Judge!

I don't know what it is about pike fishing but as soon as that bait hits the water i am expecting a instant reaction from a pike.  I guess this comes from my pike fishing rivers where most of the time i am fishing for a pike that has found me not the other way round.  The first two swims showed no signs of fish despite our exquisitely placed baits in obvious pike lairs but alas the pike where conspicuous by their absence.

We moved swims again leap frog style and eventually a pike was coaxed into following a lure in and pulling away at the last minute.  A hungry pike in the area both rods where placed in the margin and the lottery of which rod would go began.  The pike gods shone on my bait as the float slid away and i struck into the fish only for it to let go, line relaxed i waited for its return and again the float went and this time i gave it a little longer before striking and thankfully the fish was on.  Only a jack but it was more than welcome.

We fished on into dark but we only managed one more take and it took until it was so dark we could only just make out the floats in the darkness.  The run went to Garry and he had the fish on for a a while before the fish spat the hooks.  I must admit i was gutted as when a few of you head out you always hope you all get a fish for your efforts.  Thankfully a few days later he was out again and i nipped up to meet him with my daughter and he settled the score with the pike and put this nice jack on the bank, a capture my little girl loved and called "Big Fish!!"

The next outing we had came on the Wednesday and it was a right spare of the moment session arranged in the afternoon in work.  We travelled light and with one dead bait rod each a lure rod for Garry and a simple wobbled sprat rod for myself we set about covering some water we had done well in last year.  The evening really warm and the midge flies out in force biting us at will we persevered through the pain barrier in search of an esox.  The warm sticky evening left me feeling less than confident in the deads but i was optimistic on the wobbled sprat but alas it was not to be and it was "the Judge" lure that again sparked a reaction from a pike as it nailed the lure.  A epic feisty fight endured with a pike that had quite clearly had its weetabix and then some.  Some pike you can just tell they are going ti be trouble on the bank, you can see it in their eyes and this one looked full of mischief and i was not wrong as he did his best to make a mess but confident and assured handling and unhooking soon saw this jack tamed on the bank as it had in the water and ready for its picture.

It always great to see the pike feeding so well but it has been obvious from speaking to pikers and also our experiences on the bank that the pike are not interested in deads at the moment and are still up for a moving bait.   We endured the midge fly bites into dark before calling it a night and checking my face in the car mirror i looked every bit like the elephant man.  A great catch up session and one of many this season i hope.  The next day in work my best friend was a tub of Anthisan and Germolene, i was itching off and bit all over, even on my legs through thick jeans, how is it even possible?

Short Dane Session.....

Saturday saw us returning back to the banks of the River Dane for our normal fishing session and we chose to target an area we had done well in earlier in the season.  This river is so quiet with anglers we took our time selecting our swims for the morning session we had planned.

All set in i settled in a swim i had done well in before while my uncle tired a new swim further down stream hoping to discover some new fishing.  knowing the depth quite well from recent trips i set up my 17ft rod and the reason for this was simply down to control.  Experience in this swim has taught me that from first light till around 9am it can be a bite a chuck but from then on in you need to be fishing right far over to get the fish.

The early exchanges for me where good, bites wise i was getting a bite a chuck, only problem being the fact the fish where small chublets, you know the ones you cant tell if there dace or chub there that small. The problem with a big group of chublets in front of you is the sheer amount of bait like maggots they can eat.  A decent shoal in your swim and very little of your bait, if any, gets to to the point down stream you are putting your hemp.

The only way around this i could think of was to mix up some heavy ground bait and lace it with hemp and maggot.  This was fed where i was feeding my hemp and this combined with casting a bit further down stream saw me starting to pick some different species up as they settled in bed of bait, one such fish was this perch shown below.

When you can get a better bed of bait down on the bottom on this river you start to attract the better fish as the session goes on and the inclusion of ground bait i have found brings the bream onto the bait as well.  Over the next hour or so the skimmers started to come with regularity, never one a chuck but the odd one sprinkled between roach and dace.

The swim continued to tick over till around 9am when all action completely died and it is happening a lot on this river, whether its pike or the fact the low conditions spook the fish i am left with no solid evidence to this only it happens more often than not.  The odd fished being picked up was nothing compared to the fish i was getting earlier on and even the small chub on the far line had dried up.

There is one fish that you do not catch too often on the river and to be honest its a fish that most river anglers never like to see as it is synonymous with a completely dead swim, that fish is the Ruffe.  The fish is very much like a perch only smaller and lighter coloured.

We decided to call it a day not long after this capture as no more fish where forthcoming.  My final net was quite a good result for the short session on the river.

As i was bringing my net out there was an almighty stink coming from it and it was one of those smells that makes your instantly feel sick.  Looking in my keep net i saw a unusual fish in the mix that was almost pink.  Looking closer revealed it to be a part digested fish and i can only imagine it was spewed up by one of the small perch in the net.  The fact the perch where not massive and had spewed up such a fish shocked me but there can be no other answer.

Well that's it for this weeks blog, i wish you all tight lines this weekend,

Danny





The Rudd, The Barbel And The Really Ugly

  This weekend saw the final of Fisho-mania grace our screens and having never watched it before I decided to plan this weekends fishing trip with a view to watching this competition as it unfolded on sky sports.  Being an all round pleasure angler myself it was truly an eye opening experience to see the amount of bait they used and also the amount of tackle each angler had assembled at their disposal ready to swap and change in a moments breath should the conditions change.

 The main thing I will take from watching the final is how important taking your time when you arrive at your venue is,  taking time to make sure your set up is the best it can be and making sure you have everything to hand before you start fishing,  all too often I am guilty of rushing to get a line in the water as soon as possible.

  Listening to the commentators during the event revealed the momentous weights of fish that needed to be caught by each angler to qualify for the final, with at least one angler catching a weight of over 200lb!!  It is no wonder when I visit the river I see so many empty lay byes along the roads that run adjacent to the river, why would people want walk a few farmers fields to a peg, to sit, most of the time uncomfortably, on the banks of a muddy river trotting maggots for silver fish when they can pay a few quid at a commercial fishery where they can park right next to the water, sit on spacious level fishing platforms and be almost guaranteed a decent bag of fish due to the high stocking densities of some of theses waters.    I hasten to add I have nothing against that type of fishing or the people that choose to fish these venues and will be doing some if it myself in the near future,  but it does go a long way to explaining why most of our local rivers are vacant of anglers.

On to this weeks fishing a a quick look at the weather forecast on Tuesday morning showed we were in for a big change in weather from Thursday onwards, so with that in mind and also the fact I knew I wouldn't be going out on Saturday I booked a half day off work on Wednesday to try out a local pond that I hadn't fished for a few years.  

To say the morning shift in worked dragged was an understatement, looking out of my desk side window my mind was already sat by the side of the pond watching my float and eventually my mind was joined there by my body as I arrived at the pond around 1pm to find it bathed in bright sunlight and fish topping all over.

My plan for today was to fish on the bottom just off the reeds using my margin pole, to be as accurate as possible I also used my home made cupping pot to introduce my bait of maggots and sweetcorn.  First put in and the float buried straight away and it was a really nice Rudd that put up a really good fight and showed me that this place has potential.

First put in Rudd

  In with some more maggots and you could see the small Rudd on the top fighting each other for the bait if I had shallowed up to under my float and fired maggots in I could have caught these little Rudd and roach all day,  but I was after finding out what bigger fish called this place home and as the maggots went in so the better fished moved in and of course my next decent fish was a ever hungry stripey perch.

Lovely marked Stripey

The fishing was a bite a chuck with either a small Rudd of roach taking my bait as it was dropping through the upper layers but it was the amount of decent roach and Rudd I was catching that had me amazed at this venue as well as the condition they were in, they were all in top nick.

Another Hand sized Rudd

  In the sunlight I kept getting a glance of a big bream cruising the upper water layers on the edge of the weed, dropping the bait on his nose wasn't going to be the way to catch this wary fish and after a few attempts it was back over my baited spot for some more fun with the silver fish which by now I had weaned onto an all sweetcorn diet and was rewarded with the best Rudd of the day a really fat fish with blood red fins a real ambassador for the species or was it??

plump rudd
Looking at the fish now it looks like it may be a possibly a roach/Rudd hybrid.  I continued to catch more of these nice sized fish and was spoilt for choice for pictures to use for this blog update for these fish.  At around 3.30, just before I was due to be joined by my mate Ian from work and his dog zook, I struck into a fish that came straight to the top with no fight at all and when I got a sight of it I must admit to contemplating cutting my line,  the fish that I had seen cruising need the weed had found my bed of bait and he didn't look as handsome out of the water, a proper zoo creature!!!

It wasn't long after this fish that I hooked into a fish that had the elastic right out and was doing its best to get into the thick weed on the other side of the pond, with no carp showing themselves in the bright sun this was a fish I definitely did not want to loose!! After a short battle the fish came to the top and with a flash of olive green as it dived I knew I was into a tench and it was doing all it could to snag me, fortunately for me i managed to get it to the top again and quickly scooped it into the net.

  I called it a day around 5pm but not before catching another good roach.

Not bad for a few hours fishing and right on my doorstep as well a venue I will definitely be visiting again this summer.

Sunday - River Dee

Sunday saw both me and my uncle back on the banks of the river Dee, my plan was to wait it out for as barbel while my uncle was set up for a mornings trotting for silvers.  The weather going down the M56 was wet to say the least and the prospects for the day ahead looked bleak.  We arrived in the swims and the weather broke and for a good few hours we avoided all the really bad weather with only the odd small shower.

  As the swims were quite far apart I can only report on how my day went, but judging by my uncles net of fish at the end he had a good day. To be honest I am on a steep learning curve with this barbel fishing, my main problem is striking too early when the fish pick up and drop the bait and not waiting for the fish to hook itself.  It wasn't till around 11am when I was all ready to sign that dreaded "blankety Blank" cheque that I hooked into a fish that headed straight into the fast flow and felt a good fish but with one shake of its head and the hook pulled....Gutted!! would that be my last chance of the day with us leaving at noon?? I hoped not but for the next hour the barbel tormented me by knocking the bait and it wasn't till I was began packing my gear away that the rod finally hooped over violently and I struck into another babel, this fish was nowhere near in the league of the previous one I lost but still welcome all the same.

Welcome Blank saving Bertie:

Uncles Net of fish (it is so hard to take a picture of a net of fish and the pictures never do a session justice)

A quick update on the blog sections I made a start on the River and Still water venues on Saturday whilst watching fishomania, more will be added as and when I get time. 

till next week

tight lines

Danny

 

You never know what else is fishing in your swim........

  As I write this blog now sat in the glorious evening sunshine in the garden I like many other river anglers are praying for a bit of rain this week to give our rivers a good flush through for next weekend.  These low water conditions over the past few weeks have made me put off going to one of my favourite rivers, the river Dane as its painfully low so much so on our opening weekend visit some swims you would dread falling into you found yourself standing in without getting a welly full.

  Having suffered lugging all our rods, bank sticks, umbrellas and rod rests around all clumped clumsily together me and my dad decided on Friday night enough was enough and we purchased a rod holdall and after a quick browse of the tackle shop we decided to go with the Korum Total protection 3 rod holdall and after using it both days this weekend I am really impressed with it and made the walk to the river so much more comfortable and I'm sure it will become a priceless bit of kit when we travel in the coming weeks to the River Dane and hopefully to the Warrington Anglers stretch of the River Ribble which I read is a bit of a hike.

  Anyway on to this weeks fishing as Saturday saw me and my dad back on the banks of the River Dee and we were greeted by an ice cold dense fog as we approached our chosen swim, down the banks to the river and she looked painfully low but running through nicely and with our chosen swim being around 5-6 foot deep I knew we would be in for a few fish.

  I was busy setting up my trotting rod when my dad, due to now being able to leave his feeder rod set up in the new holdall was already into his first fish a fin perfect small dace.  I was still trying to thread my line through the last few eyes on my rod in the early morning gloom when my dad hit a decent fish that like last week stayed deep until the last minute, briefly showing its self to be a nice chub before unfortunately, like last week, shedding the barbless hook.

  We had been using barbless hooks all summer on the still waters on the Warrington card and had no problem at all but on the river last week we lost so many fish we decided this week to purchase some barbed hooks to combat this as again my dad had lost another nice fish due to the fish throwing the hook. 

  On with a new whisker barbed hook and back in and it wasn't long before he was again bringing in another nice dace and by this time I was also getting into some plump roach and for the next hour or so we both enjoyed catching roach, dace and salmon Parr.

  Around half eight my dads puddle chucker was bent over and he was into another decent fish that went  straight out into the main flow with lightning speed, ripping the line the 4lb line from the reel as it went.  I instantly knew what he had hooked from the past few sessions on there but knowing my dad had never caught this species of fish before I didn't want to jinx him by informing him he was actually fighting a barbel.  A few moments later and my dad was slipping the net under his first ever barbel which again illustrates the diversity of species you can catch on the Dee.

My dad posing with his first ever Barbel:

  Not long after this I lost what looked like a barbel of around 2lb in a bank side snag as it made a last dart for freedom and with that the baking hot sun began to burn through the mist and my swim became stuffed with small dace greedily eating as many maggots as I could throw in and consequently no bait was getting down the swim to hold the bigger roach and for the next few hours we caught the odd better roach but mainly small dace and salmon par and we called it a day around noon happy we had done all we could and looking at the bag at the end we hadn't done too bad.  One side note from Saturdays session was seeing a massive eel swimming on the surface down stream in the edge and was a real sight to behold.

Saturdays bag of fish:

Sunday 03rd July

  Sunday saw both me and my unlce again visit the banks of the River Dee and I was set up to go all out for a barbel on a bigger bait while my uncles approach was to fish to a deep hole in the shadows of a bank side tree on the pole. 

  It very quickly became apparent I had a massive snag in my swim and after loosing two hook lengths on it you could say things were not going to plan for me,  mean while my uncle was building up his swim nicely with some really mint condition roach being taken on a variety of baits.

  I quickly set up another rig and cast on the same line but further down stream of the snag and it wasn't long before my rod rattled round and I struck and it all instantly went solid whatever it was had me well and truly in the snag and knew exactly where it had to go in times of danger.  A quick change of angle and the fish kicked out of the snag and came in quite easily and it was no surprise it was a chub and a river Dee personal best at that, she turned the scales to 1lb 8oz but looking at the pictures she looked and felt alot bigger but i cant complain my first proper chub from the Dee.

Proper River Dee chub:

  This for me was all I had to show on the feeder rod but my uncle was really building up his swim and catching big roach and some really big gudgeon.  The slow action on the feeder had me soon trotting a glide close by using up the remaining maggots from yesterdays session and in the meantime catching some nice dace right at the bottom of the swim.

  My uncles swim was going through some really long lulls with alot of fishing coming in a short time followed by nothing, like last week I said its either big fish or a pike and just as I said it my uncle hooked a fish and the line snapped, a clean break in the line.  Instantly he was again into a better stamp on roach and dace and I continued to catch a few on the the trotting rod.  As I was talking to him as I put a small dace in the net he was bringing in a small roach which as it was just about to be lifted in a massive swirl and the fish was gone, definitely a hungry pike. 

  This marked the end of the session as it was time to pack up and we quickly weighed the net of fish we had caught, the lions share definitely caught by my uncle with a total combined weight of 10lb 11oz.

Net of fish:

  With the pike in mind I quickly set up a pike outfit an it wasn't long before the hungry pike came to out of its gloomy sunken tree lair to dine and with that I was in to a small jack pike of around 2 to 3lb that did its best to get back to where it had came but in reality was no match for my very stout barbel rod and was soon having its picture taken the unhooking mat, incidentally my first ever river pike and just goes to show how much these fish eat with this one eating at least three fish during the session and goes to show how just a small pike effects the fishing and you never really know what else is fishing in your swim!!

First ever river pike:

And with that we called it a day two very happy anglers and topped of a good weekend on the River Dee.

Till next week

tight lines

Danny

A few strikes on the dee.........

  As many of you will have noticed today, all public sector workers walked out on strike in protest to changes to their pensions that will see people working longer and paying more contributions for less money when they retire.  I am a civil servant but I wasn't going to be wasting this opportunity walking the streets protesting or on some picket line, my protest would be made on the banks of the River Dee.

  The plan today was to concentrate on trotting and looking to be back home around midday as unfortunately there was still a busy Friday in work to attend.  Today also gave me a chance to test out a piece of equipment I bought last night from stapley water gardens, a FOX bait waiter and I am impressed with it, it made the feeding and fishing much more comfortable.

  Arriving at the bank I quickly set up my 17ft float rod and began trotting a steady glide I had noticed the previous week and instantly the float was going down the swim a dream with no snags to hinder my line and a good even depth. To my amazement the float was going through untouched and it took 4 or 5 trots through to get my first fish which was a nice plump roach followed by another and slowly but surly the swim was getting to the stage where I was getting at least a knock every trot down, with either a nice roach or dace being taken and then I caught a roach of a much better calibre that I knew when I hooked was a better fish and gave a lovely jagged fight as only roach do.

Nice Roach:

    With roach of this calibre around I decided to introduce a few grains of sweetcorn every few casts and continued to catch more roach and dace with the odd rogue salmon par.  On my first trot down with sweetcorn I hooked a proper zoo creature and after a tough fight a Pb trout was on its way to the net and with its last dart and turn for freedom the hooked pulled, gutted!! its bad loosing a big fish when you don't see it but to see the prize there and to loose it was even worse,  lesson learned from this is make sure the fish is on the bank before you have already caught it and photographed it in your head.

 Back in and the roach where still there waiting as was the dace and it was a big dace that was next to have its picture taken and with this being such a large specimen I decided to weigh her, exactly a pound.

Fin perfect silver dart:
                                                 


 At around 10.30 the swim just went dead, I suspected all the commotion of the fish splashing on top had attracted the attention of a hungry pike or had some bigger fish moved in?? in this scenario these two reasons are what all anglers think and usually on the river Dee nine time out of ten its a hungry pike. I still cant explain what made me do this but I decided to just feed corn and stick with it and for the next ten to fifteen minutes the float just went through untouched but just as I was about to reel in at the bottom of my trot the float buried and I struck into something solid that stayed deep and demanded I gave it some line and it made its way into the flow, on four pound line and a stick float rod there was no rushing this fight.
 
  In my head I thought its either a chub or a pike has taken a fish as I have hooked it,  slowly but surly I began making ground only for the fish to angrily make an aggressive dart for the middle of the river,  eventually the fish began to tire and I got a glimpse of the fish and to my amazement it was a barbel after a few more darts for freedom the fish was mine and I was even more chuffed than last week as this had been caught trotting.

another river Dee Bertie:

 
  After this fish it marked the end of the sport and for the next hour and half I just picked up the odd small roach and I called it a day around 12.30 but not before I took a picture of the net of fish, there must have been at least 20 roach over half a pound. The picture below really doesn't do it justice.

net of fish:
   
  

  With the River Dee holding some real specimen barbel and with the way they are breeding hopefully in years to come a barbel in a days trotting will be common place they really do fight at any size and with stocks of roach and dace this high the future for the River Dee is bright.

till next time

tight lines

Danny