Opening day on the River

My opening day plans were changed but I did manage to get a few late evening hours. On turning up, and walking 20 mins to my chosen peg to find daz b aka barbelboi hogging it, I disappointedly settled for a swim further downstream. Mind, once I'd settled in, seen a bit of activity and located a lovely lie between two trees on the far bank I was happier.

First cast on pellet resulted in a typical knock knock knock of a chub saying "I'm here, please strike". Which I did but unfortunately lost halfway back. Seemed a big fish that.

It killed the swim for a while before an unmissable bite resulted in a bream - I was surprised given the fight it gave.

After hearing the whispers of a big barbel being caught upstream, I though to myself "I knew they were in the oxygenated water" and decided to concentrate on chub. First cast with the usual evening bait and the rod flew round resulting in this 4lb chub, which had clearly been having far to much fish loving for one season....

A little while later, as night drew in, the rod started giving me the tell tale knocks and I soon struck into this really hard fighting chub, which I would love to catch again in prime winter condition.

I walked back wth daz, congratulating him on his capture - well done mate!

Great to be back home

First bass session of the year on the stunning yorkshire coast

Went for the bass this morning, conditions just weren't right though, a bit too choppy with the wind coming at me making it hard to present the lures properly. Nice morning though, and a bit of exercise getting down to the beach and back up again......

It was quite interesting to see the different actions and suitability of the bass lures, some just couldn't cope with casting into wind but the action and depth was spot on, others went out like a bullet. 

An evening after tench...

Had a few hours spare yesterday evening, and with the clear skies and warmer weather i decided to try for tench. I've been fishing a new water without success to date but the fish in this clear water are mint looking so I was after one....

I was using my new greys prodigy rods with Shimano aero 4000s, and decided to try mussels on one rod and method feeder with boilie on the other - I had been pre baiting with a specific boilie for a month or so so was confident they would work. 

As the sun dropped below the horizon, tench activity became clear with big fish rolling and fizzing indicating feeding fish. After repositioning the rods, I soon started getting the odd liner as a fish was rooting around on the method feeder. With hand hovering over the rod, it soon shot off and a spirited fish resulted in this tench, nothing massive but happy to break my duck on this pond. 

The rivers will soon be open, but I'm quite happy at the moment fishing other places. Considering trying for bass at the weekend which should be interesting 

A personal best tench

I've been a bit quiet of late, mainly because of lack of fish! I've decided, whilst the rivers are shut, to tackle a couple of waters that are pretty difficult but known to hold good tench and carp. It finally paid off tonight after a run of 4 blanks, with this tench of 6lb 8oz, a new pb

Caught on good old meat. The fish fought extremely hard amongst the pads, forcing me to pull and cut through the pads on several occasions. 

Now to target a 20+ carp! 

Quest for a 20lb carp no. 3 - A fish at last

After blanking a couple of times at a difficult venue, I decided that a run was in order so a change in scenery saw me at a lake with a better head of fish, albeit smaller size (the largest would scrape 20 in there, with an average size of 8-9lb).

The place doesn't get many people carp fishing with boilies, so I decided to use meat on one rod, cast to a nearside margin adjacent an overhanging bush and a snowman rig with cell boilies cast to some pads towards the far bank. With the first rod in, I then flicked the meat to its position and placed the rod on the alarm, which tore off 30 seconds later...after a spirited fight this fish of 8lb ish came to the bank. Happy to bank something at least

The rod repositioned, I say it out for a few hours without a touch. There was activity in the pads, with a number of carp (very reasonably sized) launching themselves clear of the water. Shortly after, the boilie rod let out a sudden short burst of beeps which quickly stopped. Unfortunately this didn't culminate in any bites.

As the night drew in, I reeled in my baits, happy to bag something at least. A liberal scattering of cell boilies before leaving, I'm hoping to get them onto it. 

Probably back to the hard venue next time, had my 'fix'!

Quest for a 20lb carp no. 2 - different lake, same result

I fished a new lake yesterday evening. Up to my eyeballs in coursework, I decided the best place to do it was sat by a lake in the evening sun by a lovely lake.

The place holds specimen tench, bream and a few overgrown carp (in comparison to other places in the area), but notoriously difficult. The first rod was cast out with 4casters glued to a hair, over a bed of hemp and caster. The second was boilie over a stringer of boilies cast to any interesting location. 

A couple of beeps on the caster rig was, I imagine, small fish taking an interest. As the sun dropped to the horizon, the place started coming to life. Tench rolled on the surface, a pike attacked some prey fish, a kestrel hovered close by. Suddenly a big Carp launched itself out twice, enticing me to reposition my bait, which I did. As darkness fell, the bats came out to play, coming incredibly close to my head. It was a glorious evening, and surprisingly I got a decent amount of work done, mainly because there wasn't any activity on the rods.

We aren't blessed with big carp waters up here, unless your willing to join a syndicate which I'm not as I prefer my rivers when fishable. I'm also against fishing commercials, despite their potential, out of principal (unless specimen perch start turning up!). There are a few waters which fit the bill of holding 20lb+ carp, being nice to be around, and being local, but they are difficult places where a couple of summer caught carp would be a result.

Will have to keep trying, hopefully as the sun warms into the year, 'nuisance' tench and bream will show.

A short session trotting for chub...

A short session on the river this morning. Tactics were a couple of pints of maggots (white), 3lb Drennan supplex to a size 20 Kamasan animal, hoping for a few chub, I was using the drennan floatmaster and an Abu 506 due to the wind. 

After feeding for half an hour, my first cast resulted in a bit which I briefly hit, before it bouncing off. Next cast I latched onto this nice chub, which was great fun to play on the light gear. After a bit of patience, it came into the net, a nice looking fish. 

Next cast I missed a bite, I was getting a good rhythm going and thinking I may build a decent bag up, when an otter turned up!

http://youtu.be/crFPB7xXocc

After that, I caught nothing else! 

Warmer temps today, and it seems that spring is definitely just round the corner...

Pb chub smashed, target achieved

I've kept it no secret that I've been targeting a 6lb chub for a while now, and I've put a fair amount of effort in, sometimes in awful conditions. Today was one of those days, I had to go throw snow, rain, wind, and some bright moonlight in between. 

I lost the first fish of the night, and that looked all a pb. After another hour or so, the rod hoofed over, and I struck into a chub, but one a little different to the rest. This just sat there, in the current, commanding respect. Got him moving after a short while, and in the net, I knew it was big, and was chuffed when the needle went to 6lb 9oz!

Five chub from a short evening session...

I've just managed 3 hours fishing on the river. Tactics were a medium feeder to the middle of the river, nothing complicated, night light on the tip, and sit and wait. It didn't take long to get the usual indications as a chub tries to knock the food out the feeder, and then the rod just swing round, first fish landed. This happened four more times in the next couple of hours, and they fought brilliantly, seem to be in fighting fit condition.

Fish of 4lb 1oz, 4lb 5oz, 4lb 8oz, 4lb 10oz and 5lb 2oz (a new pb by 1oz!)

Got to be happy with that!

The bottom fish is the big one.

First trip on the river wear

Living in the north east, I tend to fish the river tees or Swale, which offers an excellent variety of species to go at. The rivers further north, i.e. the Tyne and Wear tend to be classed in the 'game fishing' category, and offer excellent sea trout and salmon sport. However, the last few years I have heard excellent reports of coarse fishing on the river wear, for chub, dace and more recently, barbel. 

Subs paid, and this morning I was walking the hard frosty ground in search of a river wear chub. The river was low, clear (although I'm told the wear tends to run clear because of the rocks it percolates through) and sun was bright. I had feeder tactics, but failed to catch on the usual baits. I was shooting myself in the foot slightly, and wishing I had some stick floats and two pints of maggots. 

I've had a taste of the river, and like the feel of it. Expect some future catch reports (hopefully!).

Another night time chub session

With snow melt in the river (albeit fining down) my initial thoughts were "not much chance here". To better the odds, I decided to fish at night, 7pm to 10pm, with smelly baits. The swim produced my 5lb chub the previous week so I was still confident of catching. 

Not being shy, I fished a 1.75lb Avon with 12lb line (no point in fishing light when it's dark and id rather bully them on past unforeseen snags). After a couple of casts without success, I was just about to rebait with I got a twitch on the rod, I call it the 10 second warning signal. You can almost guarantee a chub will tap the rod round shortly after, and it did, a pleasing 3lb 6oz

Two casts later, and within seconds of the feeder hitting the deck, the rod twitch a few times. Clearly a chub knocking bait out the feeder and it was a short wait for the next rap round, this time at 3lb 8oz.

This was very quickly followed by a chub of 3lb 1oz....

No more fish followed, but I was happy with that. A mouse spent the evening by my side each the grass! 

Happy days 

Nice chub in difficult conditions

After a day of graft at home, I had the opportunity to fish in the dark. A quick dash to the local river had me casting in difficult conditions, water still up a little with snow melt and temps below zero. 

The banks were treacherous in the dark but having settled in a swim, the first cast saw the night light on the rod fly round and I was into this chub, at a satisfying 5lb.

I only fished for a couple of hours, missing one more bite. It was a great evening, clear sky, stars out (and Jupiter), a fish made me jump out my skin as it splashed right next to me in the margins as well.  

Happy with the result though, now for a well earned beer!

January floodwater Barbel

After last nights low temps, I was unsure whether to fish or not today but had a feeling the water would be a degree or two up due to the fair few feet of water in. It wasn't easy fishing, wind was heavy still, and it was a case of roving about searching out the slacks. I had barbel on the mind (as I've said before, this year I'm really targeting barbel, carp and tench as I haven't given them enough time previously).

After four or five swims, spending half an hour in each one, the rod hooped over and I played what was obviously a barbel, it just hung determined in the current and was dictating where it was going. Eventually over the net, I was a happy man with a pb and January caught barbel of 9lb 4oz.

First fish of 2015....

Quest for a 20lb Carp mission no. 1 - El blanco

I've decided that it's about time I put some effort into getting a decent carp or two in 2015, and today saw me at a new pond that I intend to try. It holds carp to 25lb+, so I am hopeful (carp of that size aren't plentiful up here in the north).  

I had one rod on a multi rig with a fluoro pop up, and the other on a blow back rig with a stringer of boilies. Other than two beeps, I had no action, though there was another guy fishing who had a low double so they do feed in winter.

I'll keep trying.....

"Dad, I want to catch a chub....."

....were the words uttered from my nine year olds mouth this morning. We'd been talking about going fishing, and I told him in these conditions, his best bet was chub, pike or grayling. So after giving him a little fishing encyclopaedia, he decided on chub. 

Getting out after lunch, we set up, him with a trust john Wilson Avon and me with the drennan IM8 super feeder. I told him where to cast a big lump of meat, and just I was side hooking my bait he shouts over that something was dragging his rod in...."strike son". To his credit he played it well, and we soon slid the net under this chub of 3lb 10oz. He was over the moon!

After moving peg twice and me losing a big one in a snag, I had a consolation prize of 3lb 8oz (he's spent the rest of the day reminding me of the importance of catching the biggest of the day!).

Like I said before, bit of a new chapter in my fishing now as he's going to be getting a lot more involved. So far, so good! 

Waggler tactics for chub...

Armed with 2 pints of maggots, I intended to hit the river to try bag up on chub today with a mag and wag approach. Set up was a drennan float master, Preston pxr, 5lb drennan supplex and a 4lb supplex hook length, to a size 18 Kamasan animal. 

I got there to find the wind blowing a lot more than I'd expected, not ideal and I wished I had the feeder gear. Finding a sheltered peg (sort of), it was still a struggle on the float, I decided to opt for a me cope with the flow and wind. The first dozen casts resulted in 4 fish, two of them grayling and two trout. One of the grayling was a clonker, well over a pound, and just as I tried to take a photo it flipped straight into the river....never mind. 

I had a robin keep me company most of the morning, happy to gorge on the maggots.

After that the swim went very quiet for an hour. I paused the casting, leaving the bait out the water for 45 minutes or so whilst I trickled maggots in. I then scaled down to 3lb bottom and a size 20, as the water was freezing and bites were hard to come by. First cast in, I had a chub of 3lb 10oz, next cast I lost a 4+ at the net. Great fun on light float gear. 

I had to pack up after this, pretty bleak weather but happy to get a couple.

A cold biting wind and low temps - grayling time

Woke up this morning, with my alarm going off at 6.00, with a killer headache, blocked nose and sore throat - man flu....."potentially life threatening" I thought, so went back to sleep. After a good sleep in, I earned some brownie points by making a bunk bed for the kids and, at 1pm, left for the river. After getting there, I realised that my bait was tucked nicely away in the bottom of the fridge - crap. Drove back home, then back to the river, now 2pm.

Set up and wading for half past 2, I was using a drennan floatmaster, cheap centrepin, 3.2lb drennan floatfish, to a size 18 kamasan animal. Tactic was to wade a couple of feet downstream after every trot, with a pint of maggots in a bait pouch. For the short space of time I was there I was getting a bite every other cast or so, nothing special but a bend in the rod at least. I had about 15 grayling in the end (by the time it was too dark to see my float), with not one dropped. I'll be back after pike or chub next week (or even carp if the temps are decent), just fancied a quick change with a few bites after getting one fish in the last two sessions. Wind by the way - was awful. My hands were hurting by the end of it 

Deadbaits for chub

Over the last few weeks, I've hooked chub every time I've been piking. Most have been lightly hooked, mainly because I'm not giving them time to chew the bait, and have come off. I managed to land one today, 4lb on the dot, there isn't much that they won't eat!

In my experience, lamprey and smelt are taken with ease by chub, other baits tend to be ignored (though I've had a decent one on a whole sardine before now). Im certainly going to be adding lamprey / herring chunks to my armoury of chub baits, as they seem to be taken with gusto, and none of these quick bites either, they seem to sit there and chew the bait (as you can see in the picture), leaving a slow nodding on the rod tip. Today, I had a feeling it was a chub, so when I saw the nodding, I say and waited until the chub noticed it was hooked and bolted, which was about 20 seconds or so. Quite exciting holding the rod awaiting the slam of the tip, and knowing it's about to come. The use of baits that are rarely seen works very well with chub that are pressurised, and that have got used to the bread flake / meat / cheese paste / pellet baits. A clear sign of shy chub are quick, unhittable bites- if you are suffering from these, I would highly recommend a new bait, like steak or lamprey (or even pigs liver / heart). I've found that bites are, all of a sudden, very confident and unmissable.

That leads me onto my next point - how would I fish for chub safely, knowing the possibility of pike taking a bait. So, I'm going to give this stuff a try, apparently it can be knotted (dubious) but at the very least it's supple, which would be ideal for chub fishing. 

That leads me onto my next point - how would I fish for chub safely, knowing the possibility of pike taking a bait. So, I'm going to give this stuff a try, apparently it can be knotted (dubious) but at the very least it's supple, which would be ideal for chub fishing. 

Enjoy! 

Temperature - 6C, rising to 8Csteady. 

Air Pressure - 1010 hPa slowly rising

Levels - normal, a little coloured 

Review of Fox PS Mk II drop back alarms

These alarms seem to get some bad reviews online, so I thought I'd share my experience with them. I recently bought a pair of them, with the line gates, and read up on setting them up correctly. If you just clip them on and think ", ok, good to go", then there is a good chance they won't work properly.

In essence, the correct way to set them up is so that the drop back arm sits just underneath the spool, with the line gate clipped on and set to a vertical position - this is critical, and offers the most sensitive set up. The rod sits on the back alarm, pressing a sensor which allows the alarm to work. This means that, when you have a run, lifting the rod will immediately disable the alarm as the sensor is released. 

A bite is indicated when a pull bob the line releases it from the line gate, allowing the drop back arm to fall. A single tone comes from the alarm - and this is key for pike fishing as it means that the fisherman is forced to check things, rather than just leaving it when there's only a single bleep on standard alarms. Pick the rod up, the alarm stops, and you hopefully hook and land a fish.

I have found them to be very sensitive, releasing under the slightest pressure. Volume and tone buttons help distinguish between the two set ups, and handily, the alarm and drop arm both light up with a run. Overall, I'm very impressed - I have a feeling the negative feedback is due to incorrectly set up alarms. Here's some pics - 

Learn how to set them up here - 

http://youtu.be/xA8Xz84ecJc

A difficult blank in search of pike

I had the afternoon free to roam the river today, but with a foot of coloured water in, I knew it would be difficult. 

Tactics involved roving the bank, spending 20 minutes or so in each swim, and using big oiley baits. To cut a long story short, I didn't get a touch (well there was one half hearted run that was dropped). However, the positives are that I saw an owl, a kingfisher and a woodpecker, and I got the opportunity to visit a new stretch of river, and what a super stretch it is (I can see more visits there).

Temperature - 8C steady. 

Air Pressure - 1014hPa slowly rising

Levels - +1ft, fining down slowly