12/09/12 - River Trent

Met up with Tim for a session on the River Trent near Swarkestone. Tim had expressed a desire to trot for roach, whilst I had perch in mind again. Arrived to find Tim already trotting away in the swim I'd directed him to. Set up next to him and we were soon both trotting down the same crease, me with maggots and Tim with hemp and tares. After a while it was apparent that, whilst I was probably bettering him for numbers, Tim's seed approach was certainly accounting for the better fish with some quality roach and dace falling to his rod. That wasn't really my game plan anyway so, as soon as there were a few suitable baits in the bucket, the perch rod went out along the side of the weed bed just downstream of us. Had not been in long when the tip was wrenched over and I connected with a decent stripey. Tim did the honours with the net, landing a fish that went a pleasing 2lb 6oz on the scales. 

Wet, but happy!

A quick snap in the rain and the rod was put out to the same place again. A few minutes later the process was repeated, but this time the resulting fish was a few ounces heavier at 2lb 10oz.

 

Even wetter, but still smiling.

 

Tim took the hint and got a perch rod out as well after this. However, whilst the action continued for both of us with several perch up to 1 lb plus, nothing matched the stamp of those first two fish. Great sport nonetheless with Tim continuing to catch on the float rod as well, switching between tares and caster on the hook for a mixed bag of bleak, roach, dace, chub, perch and the odd skimmer. With a couple of jacks thrown in for good measure it was a good indicator that the Trent is in pretty good nick as a fishery at the moment.



07/09/12 - River Derwent

Well.......

I didn't think I would really write a whole summer off, but that's exactly what happened with work, holidays and a back injury all playing their part. The latter was the worst. You don't really realise how much you depend on your back until something goes wrong with it. Simple tasks like tying shoelaces are impossible. Apart from planned lure fishing for bass and wrasse in Wales, I'd been persuaded to come out retirement and do a triathlon (not done one since 2006) with my friend Simon. Needless to say, both went out of the window so I was not in the best frame of mind for most of July and August, a period my wife dubbed "the summer of misery"! However, by the start of September I'd improved (with the help of an excellent physio) to the extent that I thought about fishing again. First step on my rehabilitation was a trip to the Derwent after a big stripey. Had actually gone the week before to find the river dropping, but still too coloured for perch. Weather was cold and wet, but had a play with the float rod anyway and winkled out a few roach. By contrast, the river that greeted me this time was low and clear. That coupled with the bright, sunny conditions wasn't ideal either, so I headed for a section shaded by bankside trees.

"Under the (pipe) bridge"

Soon had a float working down the crease about two rod lengths out and it wasn't long before the loose feed brought the silver fish on. The bleak arrived first in their droves, followed by the roach. A sprinkling of dace and a few chublets kept me busy until it was too dark to see the float. The perch rod had been out for the majority of this time. However, it wasn't until the last hour of daylight that it came alive. Four runs resulted in a stolen bait, a very mangled and very dead roach and two perch about three quarters of a pound each.

Left the river to the night shift, already planning the next step in my fishing rehabilitation.

11/07/2012 - Trent and Mersey Canal

Went to meet my mate Dai down near Burton upon Trent to exchange some bait and tackle and have a quick look at Branston Water Park. Was a fairly pleasant evening for once, so threw the lure rod in the back of the car. Whilst Branston pit was low and clear, the canal next door was still coloured up (coming straight off a rain-affected River Trent only a few miles upstream). Decided that I might as well have a go so, after a quick chat with Dai, I drove back the other side of Burton to Stretton. Had thought that the extra distance and a few locks would have dropped a bit of the colour out, but it was pretty much the same. Still had the Texas rig on so, given the poor visibilty, changed the crayfish for a 4" MegaBass Xlayer in pearl. Had a few casts over to the far-bank bushes, bumping it back slowly along the bottom. Had a few knocks, then a proper clonk that resulted in a greedy, little perch.

 Ambitious!

Carried on for a bit, but my confidence was waning in inverse proportion to every minute that went by without another bite. It was finally shattered when a hire boat came speeding along the canal towards me with four blokes on the back, each with a can of Fosters in their hand. The resulting wash churned up the bottom, making the canal even muddier than before. Voiced a quiet word of thanks and set off up the canal after them back to the car!   



27/06/2012 - River Soar

Another meeting in Leicester, so another opportunity to snatch a couple of hours on the way home. Dropped in at Kegworth again and headed up to the weirpool at the top of the section. Whilst still above normal level, the clarity was good and well worth a go, especially given that thunderstorms were forecast for the next day. Rigged up a crayfish and started hopping it across the bottom of the pool. Was probably into the 'teens in terms of number of casts when I had a definite clonk on the end of the line and tightened up into a fish.....yes, a fish! It did it's best in the flow to elude me and a bit if tail waving convinced me I'd got my first chub on a crayfish, but it turned out to be a jack with a liking for seafood.

Cray muncher

Swapped the crayfish for a shad and worked my way downstream, dropping it into any likely spots, but got to the tail of the island without any further action, so went and had a few casts upstream of the Deep Lock. Again, the weed growth meant the shad was out of the question, so it was on with the Magic Swimmer. However, even this was coming back trailing weed, so tossed it up into the lock itself before moving on. Happened to see a perch with eyes much bigger than its belly following it back on the retrieve so changed yet again, this time to a dropshot rig. Worked down the lock - casting over to the far side, "shaking" the lure, then lifting the rig so it swang into the near bank and repeating. Had done this a couple of times when the tip pulled down and I was into my first perch.

First to the "dropshot"

Winkled out a couple more of his mates before I got to the end of the lock cutting. Moved downstream onto the main river having rigged up the crayfish again. Had a couple of tentative pulls before I had another proper clonk as I hopped the cray past the base of a willow. The fish snagged me almost immediately. Again, I thought it would be a chub as that's the sort of underhand thing a chub would do. However, after wading out and putting some pressure on to get it out of the cabbages it was stuck in, I was suprised to see a big, spiny dorsal and a deep, stripey flank. Stepped backwards as the fish started to move out into the river and.........the hook pulled out. That was the last act, but headed home at least having caught something for a change! 

  

24/06/2012 - Beeston/Nottingham Canal

A frustrating month to say the least. With my fishing tackle spread between the garden shed, the attic and the boot of my car (the garage having been taken away in preparation for a house extension), I was relying on a spot of lure fishing to fill the gaps. However, the unsettled weather had prevented me from even doing that. A trip down to Burton to meet Tim had ended abruptly as I arrived. In fact I didn't even bother getting out of the car, such was the ferocity of the wind, rain and hail (!) that rolled in from the South. So, after dropping off the daughter at Nottingham Tennis Centre for her lesson, I decided to make the best of an opportunity and headed to the Beeston/Nottingham Canal. Arrived to find it tonking through and pretty coloured from the rain (the canal comes straight off the River Trent only a mile or so upstream) and boat movements.

Down the cut

Wasn't too put off as I thought I had a good chance by fishing the dropshot and holding it in the many little slacks and holes in the far bank reeds and lily pads. Was using a Zoom 4" Fluke in pearl on a size 2 standout hook.

The rig - simples!

The theory worked in practice. The action of the lure just from subtle twitches of the rod top looked fantastic. Unfortunately the fish - if they were there - didn't respond and my hour and a half window I had left before I had to pick up the girl again soon evaporated. Back to the drawing board..........

06/06/2012 - North Devon & Pembrokeshire

Had a couple more opportunites for a lure-caught bass. Firstly, met up with Joel Squires, aka "Joel Soul" for a social in North Devon. Went to one of his marks near Saunton for the last couple of hours before high tide. Conditions looked good, but we couldn't get a sniff at the first spot, despite going through the lure box, so moved up to the point.

Shiney, but any good?

Again, nothing much happened until a couple of leaping mackerel heralded the arrival of a Grey Seal and probably the end of our chances of a fish from this spot. However, at this point a decent wrasse glided over the rocks under my feet, so it was on with a texas-rigged senko, but even this failed to get a response. Eventually wandered back to the first spot, where we had a few more casts as the tide dropped away again. A shout from Joel indicated he was in - only a small one about 2lb, but a bass none the less and a bit of a relief for Joel as he'd had a pretty slow start to the year. Fished on with renewed enthusiasm, but that was it for the day. A highlight on the way back was a male Wheatear that let us get to within a few feet of his perch on top of a sheep turd before he flew off.

Second bite of the cherry was in Pembrokeshire. Tide times and weather had been all wrong until the very last day, when I was able to get onto the estuary at first light with about two and a half hours before high tide. Conditions weren't brilliant as the river was coloured up after recent heavy rain

Cleddau Estuary

Fished surfaces lure as the tide came in over the rocks. Was concentrating like mad on the Sammy (second from right in lure box above) when I saw a fish subtly swirl behind the lure. Stopped it dead, paused for a few seconds, then started "walking the dog" again. Another subtle swirl and.......that was it!  Carried on, but had to give up as the rapidly rising tide picked up all the loose weed, making presentation impossible. Roll on Summer!



22/05/2012 - Kegworth Cut

Had a meeting down in Leicester, so was able to stop off at Kegworth for another couple of hours. Headed for the area around the Deep Lock again. The cabbages and in-stream weed had really taken hold since last visit and it was difficult to fish the Big Hammers effectively without snagging up. Therefore switched to a small Sebile Magic Swimmer softbait from Harris Sportsmail.

Weedless

Rigged up, the hook point sits in a little groove in the back of the bait making it 99.9% snag free, so you can chuck it will relative impunity into all sorts of places, even twitching it over the top of lily pads. By altering the number and position of the belly weights threaded onto the hook you can also change the sink rate and action. I was impressed with it anyway! Pike were too, it was just a case of keeping the bloomin' things on. Had three solid takes, one literally as the lure hit the water, but had all three come adrift in the fight. Seems there's a knack to fishing with weedless lures that I need to get the hang of. Ideally you should pause after a take to allow the fish to take the bait into its mouth and compress the body to fully expose the hook. Oh well, live and learn. Fishing isn't meant to be easy!