Winter Chub Fishing on the Stick Float

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

Winter Chub Fishing on The Stick Float...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Danny

Happy New Year And Upper River Weaver Stickfloat Session

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope you are all well and your nets wet.  A few days left till i go back to work and i can honestly say i am dreading the thought of being confined 8 hours a day really doesn't fill me with the joys of spring.  A few trips to the bank before then hopefully will give me enough stored energy to survive till the next fishing trip.

On With This Weeks Update..

Happy New Year...

I would just like to take this opportunity to wish all the people who read my blog and follow my adventures online a Happy new year and the tightest of lines for 2017.  It has been quite a good 2016 for myself fishing wise.  I ended the pike season with a nice pike then launched a mini series on fishing the local canal which has been well received and then spent some magical trips on the bank with my little daughter catching her first few fish.  Summer days chasing carp on bread and corn and then autumn roach sessions on the river have all made a fantastic years fishing.


From the fishing blog point of view it has been a year of steady increase with numbers of views each month on the blog rising to record levels, facebook and twitter continue to be increasing and more importantly is becoming a place to share your adventures more and more which is the reason i set it up and then towards the end of the year the launch of the blogs youtube channel which has added a whole new dimension to the angling blogs.

It has been great over the year to work along side some fantastic companies such as Octoplus and Stinky Stuff to name ones that really stood out and i cant wait to work with these again in the coming months. 

Looking to the future and what it holds for the blog and my fishing i can honestly say i am as excited as ever for the adventures to come.  This year has been far from easy on the new cards we are on but in the coming year it has give us a huge bed to build on from.  There are a few irons in the coals with little product reviews and possible opportunities and i am excited to see where these lead but the plan for this year is to be a lot more proactive with the blog and maybe tweak the updates to be more informative as to how i fish.

Any feedback on if you like it how it is now or changes you would like to see let me know via email of private messages it really is appreciated.

Upper Weaver Silvers Session...

A few weeks earlier we had visited this venue and been met with a hard overnight frost.  If i remember rightly the temperature was minus 4 when we arrived and did not get over that all session.  The fish where still there on the feed but with line freezing on the reel never mind the rod rings it meant once the fish moved out of pole range i was a little stuck with chasing them.

A video of the session is here:

In keeping with this mad winter we are having it was only a week or two later we where again on the same pegs and where met with temperatures more like spring that early December.  Basking in the early morning warmth we set about sorting the gear out and the river looked in fine fettle after rain a day or two ago she was carrying plenty on colour but more importantly the flow was steady.

A six number four stick float fished shirt button style down to a Bayer Perlon hooklength of 1lb.7oz line to a size 20 hook was my set up for the day and it was a test for my new drennan acolyte.  When people say test you automatically think about if the rod can haul big chub out of rivers, that is all to come, but for me i wanted to test how light the tip and action was for small species like roach.  This for me is as important as the power the rod has and will be more so when i try it out on the canals in weeks to come.

The swim was an even depth along its length and the key here is to feed the swim right to keep the fish where you want them down the swim.  The last thing you want on the stick float is the fish coming right up to the feed in front of you.

Hemp seed as a holding bait and red maggot on the hook was my plan of attack and that all important first run through the swim of the day thankfully brought a fish, always the result you want on any session!

My confidence in this rod was increased in two casts with the small roach not being bumped and the second fish being a few year sizes larger also being well hooked and played on the rods forgiving tip action, but with the power to keep it from the safety of the reeds.  It was starting to become a rod i was loving using.

My previous rod a 4 piece korum float rod had also been a rod i had enjoyed using and still do from time to time but this drennan acolyte was i have to say starting to show its extra worth when balanced with my shimano reel.  Trotting where you cant feel anything in your hands is a weird sensation indeed.

As with all fishing the swim builds over time and picking up steady bites from small roach soon turned into steady bites from better roach as they bullied in on the action.  As with all fishing its all down to the way they want it on the day and on this session it was held back just after the hemp seed, let the line go and boom under the float went.  The 6lb net from a few weeks ago was surely going to be beat today as the stamp was so much better.

As the session went on the fish did back off and i had to chase them down the swim but in my heart of hearts i knew better roach where around so i decided to give hemp seed on the hook a go and was pleasantly surprised as after a few trots down i was rewarded with a cracking roach, my first ever on hemp seed.

After this fish the fishing went from strength to strength and it was good fishing until we packed in. We normally call it a day around 3pm and start the pack up but it was well on to getting dark when we eventually packed up and although we had no scales we both had  double figure nets and a great day was had all round.

A video of this session is now live on the blogs youtube channel here:

Till next time i wish you all

tight lines

Danny

Do Seasons Still Exist? And A Stolen Few Hours For Silvers...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Life is slowly getting back to some type of normality with me getting back in work and although there a huge loose ends to tie up there the schedule of 9 to 5 working life is setting back in.  The fishing blog side of things has never been as time consuming as it is now with the written main weekly blog, pike written diary and also the youtube videos arm of the blog now gaining momentum, its great fun to put it all together and really enjoying the video logs but i think next season the piking may have to reside in youtube only format or as part of the weekly written blogs with maybe the videos i do put together linked into the weekly main updates.

We will have to assess that come next year but for now lets get into the update.....

Do Seasons Still Exists..

Now i am nto for one second suggesting here that the 4 seasons we know and love are not there as we quite clearly have summer, autumn, winter and spring, what i am questioning is if those seasons still hold the same identity we assosiate with them.  For example we always link summer with hot temperatures and clear blue skies and for the past few years we have had what seems abut a 2 week period of what we would call a summer period of hot weather but we have also had deluges of rain.

Rivers in summer have been in full blown flood the last two summers as a result of pure heavy downfall.  Last week i recorded my first silver fishing video for the blogs youtube channel and it was done so in minus 2 degree temperatures, we forward to this weeks session and yesterday myself and my uncle where say with no thermals on at all in barmy 12 degree heat.....in DECEMBER!

Even today while i was doing a spot of piking in 11 degree heat all around be i noticed buds appearing on the trees, of course nature knows nothing of our calendar seasons so naturally they think its coming into spring.  I really do think the defining weather within our seasons is changing and long gone are the days of winter being a prolonged period of cold weather as we will now be looking at mixed weather seasons with severe fluctuations in temperature.

From my fishing point of view i just wish it would settle into a steady 1 or 2 degrees, odd frost here and there and then the fish will move into their winter haunts like they have now but will stay there.

Blog Media Pack...

Safe to say this week the blog took a step and dipped its toes into a serious world of companies.  Over the years i have always been contacted by companies with regard product reviews and other affiliate items.  Normally a few emails and all i sorted and ironed out with regards expectations.  This week a company asked for my "media pack", i was like "A whats??".  Long story short its a A4 piece of paper all about me and the blog.

So we are not very official and have our own "media pack".....it all sounds too much like blue peter to me when the presenters harped on about press packer packs....never got one of them either, not even a blue peter badge!

Youtube Blog Update...

So this week the first ever silver fishing video went live on the channel, to this point it had just been pike fishing, i have to say i was a little apprehensive as i didn't think the silver fishing would be a popular choice to do over the pike fishing but i was in for a surprise.  The silver video is well on its way to being the channels most popular video and im over the moon as it means i can cover all aspects of my fishing with confidence.

Check out the silver fishing here:

With regards the channel itself it is really doing well and well beyond my expectations.  As of writing the blog it is on 89 subscribers so only a few to go till we reach 100 subs.  As with all aspects of the blog i have no problem in letting the page grow slowly preferring a 100 people to like it because they like the content rather than 300 liking it to win a beanie!

Check out the video and if you like please subscribe..

On to the fishing..

A few Stolen Hours For Silvers...

Writing this i feel i should change the title to be more festive and call it a few Stollen hours but i fear some would not get it and the spelling police would be all over me.  I do digress, this session was around a week before the silvers video above.  Coming out of a period of heavy rain we had blanked big time on the weekend session and it really was not a surprise with the rivers all over in full flood which saw us trying our luck and failing on the upper reaches of the river.  We had hoped this would be the first place the colour would drop but in reality we where on there right on the rise and beginning of the fall.

A few days later and the river was still carrying colour but she had lost her pace and a few feet in depth and looked bang on for some bites.  A simple 6 number 4 stick float down to a hook length of  2lb kamasan perlon line and a size 18 hook.  Bait for the day as always red maggot and hemp.

I literally only had around 3 or 4 hours for this session and setting up i did not really know if the river was right for the fish to feed.  This section always does well with colour but i knew a few days earlier we did not get a bit in 8 hours fishing.  All set up it was time make the first cast and down the swim my float trundled.  Half way down i clipped bottom so a slight adjustment to the float was needed and back to it.  It took a while for the first bite and i did get a little worried but right at the end of the swim i struck into a tiny roach.

I kept the bait going in and this one tiny roach told me i could catch well.  Most would say how do you know from one tiny roach but? In my thinking if one small roach can see my bait then others can and these fish are never alone so i knew it was only time till the next fish.

With this better stamp or roach coming i knew it was going to be a decent session on the bank.  I steadily fed hemp and maggot into the swim and bites where soon coming regular and the bites that where right at the end of the run where soon mid way up on my hemp, where i wanted them.

The swim then died and the fish moved instantly right back to the bottom of the swim, i knew it was not pike as it would have nailed one of the small roach coming through the swim.  A hard hold back on the hemp revealed the culprit, a nice chub had muscled in the swim.

As the session went on this would repeat its self a few times,  Small roach and then it would die and a better roach or chublet would come, all a dream to catch on my drennan acolyte plus rod, i love this rod to bits what a piece of kit and a joy to use.

The final net was one that recharged my batteries for the week ahead and took away the blues form that hard blank earlier on in the week.

well thats another update to the blog rounded off,

till next time i wish you all

tight lines

Danny.

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

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

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

A Great Addition...

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

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

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

Bank Holiday Fun With My Little Fisher.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Morning Fun On the Acolyte...

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

till next time i wish you all tight lines

Danny

Rivers Open: Cracking Chub On The Stick Float...

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  The river season is well and truly open now and Facebook has been awash with mainly flood water barbel pictures.  The rain kept on copming down till late evening on the opening day and the only highlight was getting home from the carp to catch England pip Wales in the football.

We knew opportunities to get out on the river come the Saturday would hinge on a dry day on the Friday and with that we said a little prayer to the rain gods and prayed for a window of opportunity, in all honesty i feel like i am writing a winter blog here not a summer one, ridiculous weather we are having.

On to the update:

New River Season Preperation..

I have to say with all the stuff going on in work with over time and loads of jobs being done in the house the new river season really did creep up on me.  This season is without doubt the most unorganized i have ever been for the start of the rivers, normally by now i have spring cleaned my tackle box, replaced some weights and give my reel a through clean.

The beauty of the rivers is in their simplicity and in short its only a few components that come together to make up the stick float rigs i use so much and with my gear levels looking in an ok state i think i was only a new packet of weights away from being ready to go, so not too bad.

Although time to prepare for the season has not been there physically the mental thought processes have been working for some time and i did have a few changes i wanted to make in how i approach the rivers this season.  The main one is cutting down on the amount of gear i take with me, it has been ok carting my big Preston Onbox with its metal footplate to the banks of the river Dane these past few season as the walks have been quite short.  This season will be a lot different and long walks over rough farmland terrain are looking like being the norm, a wild river with wild surroundings will mean i will be lucky to have the luxury of having a peg where i sit on my basket at all.

The cutting down of gear started with me utilizing the Octoplus infinity box i was sent to review a few weeks ago, this box bos light and robust will be ideal for those river trips.  Its deep storage will spread the load i carry more evenly between my box and my net bag and should mean a more enjoyable walk to and from the river and if a swim is box friendly then i have a nice comfy box to sit on.

Of course terminal tackle would be an issue and i invested in a small tackle box above and in it is all the terminal tackle you need to fish a stick float.  This box will of course be built upon or joined by another box when we hit areas where bigger fish like barbel might be on the agenda but for my first session out this little box was ideal.  A huge reduction in weight carried losing the huge heavy box and the mountains of terminal tackle i carry but never use when fishing the river on the stick.

A Stinky Delivery...

I have really enjoyed the passed few weeks working with Stinky Stuff Bait Spray and incorporating it into my fishing for carp has been very interesting and rewarding.  Sessions where the flow on the lake has been towards the snag it gave me the confidence to know that smell was lapping into their hiding space and hopefully drawing them out.  Future blogs will show just how good this bait has been for the carp and it was great last week to receive a delivery from Stinky Stuff of two more bottles of their other products in the Stinky Stuff Match and Stinky Stuff Bubblecream.  The bubblecream is a really interesting one having spent most of my childhood next to a sweet making factory it brought back quite a few memories of summer nights where the streets where full of this sweet smell.

Excited to get out on the bank and a little teaser of sessions to come the Bubble cream is just as good as the crayfish for catching carp.

Glorious First River Session - Chubbin'

As mentioned in a previous blog June 16th passed by for me on a local lake fishing for carp, not the ideal way i wanted to spend the glorious 16th, but with rivers flooded it was better to be catching fish than struggling on a swollen coloured river.  Truth be told i had a nice day catching carp and thoroughly enjoyed my morning fishing for them and that will be covered in an upcoming blog.

Thursday gone and it was straight into a days work on Friday.  Looking out of the windows in work it was hard to judge temperature, dam air con, but i could see that the sky was cloudy but thankfully we had received some strong winds that kept the clouds passing over us and not dropping their rainfall.  It filled me with hope for the rivers the next day.

Fridays for me normally follow a set routine that see's me nipping into Widnes Angling Centre for my maggots and terminal tackle bits and pieces but seen as i already had 2 pints of red maggots left from the no go session the previous day it felt weird to fall out of this routine and not nip into the shop on my way home.

During the closed season hemp seed has featured in my canal fishing but i have to admit that despite having close to 10kg of hemp under my stairs i did take the easy option and buy some tinned stuff.  It splits nicely and is convenient for the canal sessions where you are not really using that much hemp seed.  The rivers are an entirely different animal and less care needs to be taken in the preparation for the rivers as i dont use it on the hook.  This coupled with the fact the batch we have at the moment is terrible and will not split well for us meant that come Friday night the kitchen was "high" with the smell of hemp seed on the boil.  I have to admit though i was in bad books as upon finding half a packed of chill mix in the cupboard and dded said mix into my hemp i was was soon busted by her in charge who had that put away for Saturdays tea!! House stinking like a drug den and using spices ear marked for meals i was not in good books, if the chub liked it though surely its acceptable. :-)

A quick sort of the tackle box and all the essentials loaded into the Octoplus box it was a chance to make up a few hook lengths and get the gear in the hall ready for a 2am wake up call the next morning, no rain i was excited to say the least. Over the past few years we have really put the time and effort in and now have quite a large portfolio of waters to choose from.  Time spent on these rivers in both high and low water and also time spent away from the bank studying how fast these rivers drop all pays dividends in the end when it comes to the fine lines between un fishable and fishable levels.  This info can not be gleamed just form the EA chart as it only gives you a number which means very little if you have nothing to refer that too as in how the river will be and fish at that level.

From huge spate rivers to tiny brooks all where looked at and we came to a decision to fish a river we knew would hold its colour and have some pace but we could also find a few fish willing to take a bait.  The walk to the river was quite a long one and i instantly felt the benefits of the new box, so much easier and lighter to carry than my preston seatbox.  Looking at the river in the darkness we could see she was still carrying a bit of pace, unexpected pace if we were honest, but we knew as the morning would draw on this river would drop and with it the pace would settle.  Setting up on opposite inside bends of an "S" shaped bend in the river we both had slack on our inside with the river moving fast around the outside bend.   It presented us with 2 main areas to catch, one just off the main flow as the river would naturally flow and two in the deep er inside slacker water under our feet, both i knew would bee good areas.

Setting up my 13ft Korum float rod i fed hemp right in line with some overhanging brambles as this is where i thought maggots fed at the head of the run would reach bottom.  A few hand fulls of maggots i knew would get the chub on the feed and in the flow, this huge influx of bait does quicken the process i have found on this river.

The set up a dave harrell 6 number 4 wire stem  stick float was the chosen float and with the extra turbulent flow i went with the dome top as i felt this would give me more control in the flow.  A size 18 hook to a 1lb 7oz hook length i was all set to go and it came a no surprise that second trot down the float buried and i was rewarded with my first chub of the season, it was great to be back on flowing water.

The chub in the swim and having had no pressure over the passed months i felt sure the next chub was not far behind.  Low and behold hald way down the run i was again into a aggressive and hard fighting chevin that made for the overhanging cover time and time again before giving me plenty of grief under my feet,  not a huge chub but two in the net in the first 10 minutes it was a great start to the session.

When the chub are in the swim every thing else barring trout i have found clear off and it was the same on this session you could tell when the chub had spooked or moved out the swim as i started to pick up smaller chublets and dace.  These are great to see as these are the next generation of fish coming through the ranks and although they dont always show its reassuring to know they are around and ready to make the jump into the main chub shoals when big enough. 

The dace and chublets came and went like the wind and after a few trots though without a knock i knew the chub had moved back in.  It took a few goes down but eventually i sussed it out and just holding the bait back slightly on my hemp would see the signs of a bite develop with shudders on the float, letting the float go would see it sail under with unmissable chub bites.  I can only liken chub bites on the stick to the bites you get from carp on commercials.

The action from these chub then was solid taking four on the bounce in what was crazy fishing as the cub really bullied in on the swim.

Fishing the swim i did i knew i was fishing for one shoal of chub as there was no way a shoal was moving through the rapids above and below this deep run.  The chub went and in came the dace and chublets again until eventually bites dried up completely.  My uncle had the same issue just down stream and had also had some chub and some nice roach.

The session finished for me with a 18lb9oz net of chub, dace and chublets and it was an excellent first session on the river.  Plenty of bites and had a few chub pull back so i left a happy angler.

Early Morning Carping Fun off the top......

The next carp session i got out was just after my 18lb pb and at this time i was treating carp fishing as something i would do when i wanted a challenge but at the same time some fun.  Armed with a loaf of bread and my floater rod i headed off to the lake.  Arriving at first light it was cold and many would be forgiven for dismissing floater fishing but i knew the carp would be in the shallows form the previous evening and being shallow i knew there was a good chance of them finding my free offerings of kingsmill.

upon arriving i threw in a few bits of bread all over the swim and under my feet.  Setting up the net and the floater rod it was a case of waiting for the carp to start taking.  Sure enough the rods was not even of its rod wraps before i heard the first swirl and slurp as a carp came up for its break fast.

I arrived at the water at 4.30am and i had to be leaving at 7am to get back, washed and showered before a full days overtime in work so it was a short session.  These short approaches seemed to see me do well with the early mornings also keeping the ducks away as they didn't seem to come to life till later in the morning.  The water colored i sprayed the crusts with some stinky stuff bubblecream to add some extra smell.

A cracking hour or so's fishing later i was leaving for work with 4 carp under my belt to just over 10lb.

Well thats another few trips on the bank caught up with and this format i think will continue for the next few weeks with carp trips added to the end of my other fishing,  I guess it adds loads of diversity to the blog as if you like rivers or carp fishing there is something there for everyone.

till next time

tight lines

Danny

23lb River Roach Net...Just had to Go Back!!

A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet.  Well after a long wet winter trying our best to make the best of the dire conditions low and behold the end of the pike and river season is knocking at the front door.  With only a matter of weeks left till the end of the season then its a case of making the most of the conditions you are given.

In this update i cover where i am at the moment with regards blogging and what is in the back log coming up and also a little bit on the rather predictable topic at this time of year, should we get rid of the Closed Season?  The fishing sees us back on the river chasing roach and a session that failed to let me down.

Little Update..

So from a blogging point of view i have two roach sessions saved up including the one you are about to read and also we are just at the start of  February so not too far behind on that one and as always when blogging it is never a bad thing to have a back log of trips where you have caught fish, so look out for them updates coming soon.

I have also been very fortunate in being asked to review a few products over the coming weeks and they are all really exciting products to be looking at and reviewing.  The one i am currently doing is a fantastic bait spray from Stinky Stuff, so far one trip out with the bait enhancer and its looking to be a great little product, check them out here:  http://www.stinkystuff.co.uk/

Licences still are a hot topic for me at the moment as i still need to decide if i want to stay with the clubs i am in or if i want a new challenge.  Barbel are a species that i have never really targeted, more down to the rivers i fish not holding them in numbers than anything, but it would be good to have the option to sit and wait it out for a big fish on the river.  I guess in time i will make my decision on that one.

The blog still continues to be popular with plenty of traffic coming to the site and good reviews being received in email and social media, this is despite me having time to fish and produce a blog.  Many would say just get the blog out no matter what but my aims with this blog where to set it aside from all others out there by putting the extra effort in to talk about all manner of things as well as the actual fishing session and if it means taking longer to produce the blog but maintaining that quality then going forward that is what i will do.

Abolish the closed season?? 

You can tell the end of the season is nigh when this topic starts generating heated discussions on social media and it is funny how some people who have businesses that are designed around river fishing sales are really pushing the EA to remove this "outdated" and "From the Ark" rule.  It does always seem to generate a mixed and as i said sometimes heated discussion.  I agree the reasoning behind the closing of the season is complete nonsense on that some river and lake species will spawn before the close or still be spawning long after the rivers have reopened in June.  Common sense all points at the rivers following the canals and lakes and removing the closed season completely.

Where do i stand on it? Well as much as i really love the river fishing i also love the break from it and the freedom to then go and do other angling like fish for silvers on the local canal or go and spend a morning behind bite alarms for tench.  That is all well and good but above all that i just love the night before June 16th, your gear all set in the hall and that special feeling where you can not sleep through excitement.  Sometimes this is the start of a new adventure on a new river or waterway and a complete step into the unknown and others it can be a walk to a old peg as you trace the steps you made a few months earlier.  The feeling of the damp air as you approach the river at first light on that first session.  The banks you left all brown and lifeless in winter are now abundant in a sea of every shade of green imaginable, its magic, its everything i love about fishing.  For me, this is why i hope they keep the closed season.  The opening day of the season has already been booked off work ;-) .

23lb River Roach Net On The Stick....

So with the nice net of roach the previous week still keeping the blood flowing through my veins at a higher rate than normal i found myself again packing the car for another go at these bars of perfect silver.  Normally a week in work takes a lifetime to pass and the weekend to arrive.  This week was different work passed in a the blink of an eye and before i even felt like i had packed in the previous week i found myself back.  My feet fitting perfectly into the frozen boot steps i had left the previous week.

The banks where carrying a slippery sheet of white frost and the level had dropped a few feet.  I half expected to see another angler on the bank as it was only through us fishing a river in flood we fell on these fish, i felt sure the drop and the fact no rain was due would see more anglers on the popular river.

To show how truly mad this winter has been we are currently experiencing the first frosts of the year, i know we have had the odd frost along the way but this passed two weeks has been the first sustainable period of over night hard frosts, a sight we normally see around November in this country!  Most species don't really get to hung up with the frosts, chub, dace and grayling, the three that come to mind.  Roach can be an all together different animal and sometimes frosts can really hit these hard and put them off so i did  not really know what to expect.

The stick float and my 13ft korum precision float rod would be my main form of attack in the session.  Stick float fishing is such a simple set up and really consists of a few cheap components,  hook length, weights, hooks and a float.  The real skill with stick float fishing comes from time on the bank and learning to fish a stick, it is not something that can be taught as such.  You learn it and get to a standard of fishing the stick through repetition.

A freezing cold morning without a breath of wind it was dream conditions for fishing the stick.  The float weighted down to the bristle i was then able to add another number 10 weight to bring the float down so it was a mere pin prick on the water.  I did think about starting off by hurling in a few hand fulls of maggot to get the fish in the swim but decided as it was so cold to ease myself into the peg, i didn't want to ruin the fishing before i started.  With rivers you never ever know whats in the swim of how they will feed.  Some sessions you get through pints of maggot for 20lb others you feed 5 maggots every other trot and still catch 20lb.  Feeding is all on the day and how the fish are feeding.

Drip feeding the swim i trotted through for a good half hour to and hour before right at the end of the trot i struck into a small roach.  I prayed this was not a straggler from the main shoal!  The next trot down i held the float back onto he same spot and upon releasing the line to float went again  with another roach coming.  Slowly but surely from nothing the bites where coming each trot down and as time went on they came further up the swim till i had the fish where i wanted them, right under my feet ad the end of the keep net.

For a while it really was a case of getting through the small roach as a ratio of one decent roach to ten smaller ones was being played out.  When the float is going under each cast right under your feet and at some points three roach a minute are going into the net you know you are on your way to a decent net, even if no better fish showed the sheer number of smaller ones would make a net.

Around midday i went for a walk and spoke to my uncle who was also going well on his peg for roach and a nice coffee and a chat later i returned to my peg.  The rest seemed to have allowed a better stamp of roach to move in as i put together a number of better stamp roach.  Of course this shoal was not going to be missed by predators and it was no surprise that the odd lull in action saw a nice perch being caught.

As the session wore in it did become noticeable that there was a shoal of better quality fish that would move in and you would pick up a few of them on the bounce before the smaller roach moved back in.  This continued until later on in the afternoon where the better roach took up residence.  None of the big pound plus roach showed on this session but i was not complaining, on a cold winters day it was a bite a chuck and fantastic fishing.  As i always say winter is the best time of year for sure, the fish are hungry and tightly shoaled.  

As the session drew to a close i had a feeling i had a good number of fish in the net but with no big fish like last week i had no idea on weight.  Lifting the keep net i was shocked as i struggled to lift it onto the bank.   There i knew i had some fish and knew the net was at least over 15lb so you can imagine my shock when the scales settled over 23lb!! I was over the moon!

Another nice day on the bank and it did leave us with an challenge, how just to get those better roach? A nice problem to have but with only a few weeks of the season left and a product review looming for chub finding time would be the one.

Till next time

tight lines

Danny