19/01/2012 - River Soar

Set the alarm for six so I could judge the conditions before committing my hard-earned flexi-time. Wandered downstairs and outside onto the patio to find it wasn't a.) freezing, or b.) windy. Good enough for me! Loaded up and headed off for the same section of the River Soar I fished last week. Got there just as it was getting light and wandered up to my starting point, spotting a few fish topping around the boats as I did so. Hopefully a good sign? Dropped float-legered deadbaits down the side and in the middle as before. Fished "to the clock", leap-frogging the upstream rod downstream every 15-20 minutes. Was an hour into this when the float in the channel set off towards the boats on the far bank, resulting in a nicely marked, fat fish about 7lb (it's already looking as if there's quite a few of this size about!).

Fatty 2

Wind had started to gust by now and was blowing straight in my face. The sky had also cleared. The resulting bright and sunny conditions probably weren't the best for deadbaiting in a clear river. However, continued leap-frogging the rods downstream and had nearly reached the bottom of the section when a chap walked up with a lure rod. Exchanged pleasantries and then watched him disappear around the corner, thrashing the water to no avail as he went. About an hour later he walked past again with nothing to report. He'd been gone 5 minutes and I was just contemplating my final move when the float on the mackerel rod bobbed and trundled off. Hit the fish, got it into the margins and briefly saw a spotty flank before it "unhooked" itself. Bugger! Popped a fresh bait on and dropped it in the same spot in case he had some mates with him. Didn't have to wait long as a few minutes later off it went again. This time it stayed on, but was just a small jack. Unfortunately work was calling by now, so packed up and yomped back to the car where I caught sight of myself in the relection in the window. My face was even redder than last week. Thankfully, it had calmed down a bit by the time I got to the office!

12/01/2012 - River Soar

Managed to put enough flexi-time together to have a morning off, so headed to a deep, navigable section of the Soar reputed to be a holding area for pike in the winter. Amazed myself by actually getting up when the alarm clock said so and getting to the venue well before first light. Twenty years ago that sort of thing wouldn't have been any problem at all - Tim and I used to religiously drive over to Lincolnshire most weekends to fish the drains around Spalding, leaving Nottingham in the pitch black at stupid o'clock in the morning. Things were so much easier then! No kids, loads of free time, understanding partners......Anyway, at the venue I tackled up in the gloom and plumbed the depth - 10 feet in the margins and about 13 feet in the channel. Baited up the margin rod with a joey and dropped it in the side.

Barges

Was trying to put the line in the drop-off clip, but it kept falling back. Happened a couple of times before I realised that I'd already got a fish on. Doh! Soon had a pike about 9lb in the net and it wasn't even fully light. Must have dropped the bait right on its nose. I try not to build up my hopes up when this sort of thing happens, but if I'd had any expectation that I was going to bag up from this point it was dashed by the following fishless two hours, which was punctuated by some squally showers that sent me running back to the car for a waterproof. Kept busy by leapfrogging the rods downstream, one in the middle and one down the side. It was the float out in the channel that eventually headed off towards Kegworth, resulting in a fat 7lber that had taken a small herring.

Fatty

Had one further take on the margin rod another hour later, again a 6-7 lber, this time on a roach. Packed up about mid-day. Although it had brightened up, the wind had switched around and was blowing almost directly upstream, putting quite a chop on the river. Had a very red face when I got home!     

04/01/2012 - River Soar

First "session" of the year. Well, more a snatched hour at lunchtime and really an excuse to try out a new lure outfit. Had decided that my existing gear was a bit too heavy to get the best out of the rubber lures I've been buying, so invested my Christmas money in a 7ft Okuma Hexana spinning rod with a 5-20 g casting weight, paired with an Okuma Trio FD reel (buying them as an outfit from Glasgow Angling Centre saved about £50). First opportunity to try them out was on the River Soar at Kegworth. Cast a 3" Big Hammer rubber shad (the baby bass pattern is a great minnow imitation) around the houseboat and the barges moored at the bottom of the section. Could feel the tail throbbing away nicely through the rod tip. Didn't have anything after the first few casts so, given the cold weather, slowed it right down until the shad was tripping bottom. A few more casts, then bang! A nice fat perch and job done. Five minutes later I was back in the car and out of the wind.

That's the rod christened then!

Made me feel a bit better about things after getting bogged down and having only one trip to my name in December. At least we're on the right side of winter now - those extra couple of minutes of daylight each day seem to make all the difference. Sessions after work will soon be a reality again, but the lure outfit will certainly be staying in the car for those opportune moments. Happy New Year!

22/12/2011 - River Soar

Was getting stir crazy from the lack of fishing this month so, with the weather forecast indicating a dry period with an upturn in temperature, I booked the morning off work, dusted off the pike rods and headed for the River Soar near Kegworth. Had done a recce there earlier in the year, so intially headed for a big overhanging tree at the top of the section. Had two float-legered deadbaits out shortly after first light, one up against the tree and the other in the margin in 6 feet of water.

Spot on!

Settled down in the early morning sun and was soon mesmerised by the float tops gently wafting in the current, so much so I nearly nodded off a couple of times! Had just got up for a walk about to wake myself up a bit when the float next to the tree fell flat and then started moving off. Wound down to meet only token resistance and soon had a small jack on the bank.

Where's Grandma?



Put another bait out for half an hour or so but didn't get any further interest, so worked my way back to the car dropping the baits into any likely looking spots. Unfortunately, I failed to trouble the scorer again. If I'd had the whole day to myself I probably would have upped sticks and headed somewhere else. However, come lunchtime I was back home and then reluctantly off to work. 

07/12/2011 - Bits and Bobs

Well, I suppose it had to end sometime - couldn't keep having double figure temperatures in November forever, could we? Did some retail therapy to cheer myself up. First of my early brithday/Christmas presents to myself hit the doormat with a thump last week - the new book from the Perchfishers, "Biggest Fish of All".

Weighty!

After a quick leaf through it looks to be another well-produced book that's sure to become a classic reference like the first one (see http://theperchfishers.org.uk/). I remember getting my copy of the first Perchfishers book from the cheap bookshop on Ashby de la Zouch high street. They had quite a few copies at the time and I wish I'd bought them all given the price they go for now! Had a quick squint at the big perch list at the back of the new book and had a suprise - a 5lb 1oz perch from the River Soar caught in July this year! Must have missed that in the press, but certainly something to aim for!

25/11/2011 - River Soar

Have to say that I really enjoyed this little session. Was out the door at 1215 hrs and was fishing within 45 minutes. Passed a couple of blokes on the way up to the swim. They were sat out in a stiff downstream wind and didn't look too comfortable, so I wasn't suprised when they said that the fishing was "bloody rubbish"! Wasn't put off as I knew where I was headed would be nice and sheltered. Once settled I got the float rod going and was into dace, chub and roach almost straight away. Soon had the paternoster rod nicely positioned at the bottom end of the swim.

Promising

Didn't have to wait long, but it wasn't what I was hoping for - a micro jack not much bigger than the bait! Had two more of these annoyances before I got a perch, but even that had eyes bigger than its belly.

Greedy!

Had been keeping the float rod going all this time and had increased my species count to seven with some bleak and gudgeon when the float buried and I was connected to something considerably bigger. By the head banging I knew it was a decent perch. Got taken over the other side of the river and back and had a heart-stopping moment when it dived into some reeds, but it was soon safely in the net - a dark, strongly coloured fish of 2lb 2oz and easily my biggest perch on "conventional" tackle.

First Soar 2lber

Carried on with the float rod until it was too dark to see. Added a small bream and a couple of minnows to push up the species count to nine. Left the paternoster rod in a bit longer, but apart from an aborted take (probably another micro pike!) that was it. As I said at the start, an enjoyable session just in terms of the number and type of fish caught. The river certainly seems healthy enough given that flows have been so low all year. The big perch was a bonus, but with just a bit of food for thought in that it came on red maggot. Might be time to bring out the lobs!

20/11/2011 - Trent and Mersey Canal

Arranged to meet Tim for another go for the zander on the canal, although he was still on Sunday lunch duty when I arrived. Set up to one side of the "hotspot" so he could slot in the other. Was fishing hair-rigged deadbait sections again, but this time with the addition of a Fox bait flag to stop the wire pulling through the bait.

Modified hair rig

Had got one rod in and was tackling up the other when the buzzer sounded. That was quick!Turned out to be a small, but perfectly formed zander.

Zed in a hurry!

Was expecting a few runs after this, but didn't get any other indications until Tim arrived. He'd just dropped his gear next to me when one and then the other bobbin started doing a jerky little dance. Although neither developed into a full blown take, we joked that it must be the aura of his golden globes attracting the fish. Unfortunately this turned out to be bang on the money as my bobbins never moved again! Tim, on the other hand, did a canal predator treble starting with a pike of 11lb, followed by a nice perch of 2lb 6oz and finally a zed.

Predator #2



Fished on for a couple more hours into dark without any further action.

As an interesting footnote to these zander trips, Tim dug out a paper recently on a study of zander in the Oxford Canal, a graph from which is shown below.

Basically, in the zander populated section of canal, anything they can get in their mouths gets a right hammering and in some cases this can mean whole year (size) classes. Ultimately this will have a knock-on effect on the rest of the predator population, so it could be a case of making hay while the sun shines!