14/11/2012 - Trent and Mersey Canal

Headed off to the Trent and Mersey canal near Burton in the afternoon with the knowledge that I could extend what little daylight I had left into dark for a couple of hours and still have a chance of a nocturnal predator or two. Was mild and overcast and, whilst the canal was firmly in the grip of autumn with leaves strewn across its surface, things were looking promising.

 

 

Autumn on the cut

Started off with the usual hair-rigged roach head on one rod, but fished a lobworm and an open-ended feeder stuffed with maggots and chopped worm on the other to hopefully target a big perch. However, apart from a few twitches on the worm, I found myself fishless when the sun went down an hour and a half later. At this point I put deads out on both rods and had my first proper interest a few minutes later, the bobbin doing a jerky little dance that unfortunately never developed into a full-blown run before the bait was dropped. Had to wait another 30 minutes before the bobbin finally jerked its way up to the rod, the subsequent stirke meeting resistance in the form of a small zander.
 

Where's your mates?

Thought that might have been the start of things but, apart from another dropped bait, it wasn't to be. Was starting to pack up just before 7 o'clock when one of the alarms indicated some last minute interest. Thought it was another small zander, but it turned out to be a very nocturnal perch of a pound and three quarters. 

 

Dirty stop out!

Was a bit disappointing given the conditions, but I suppose it's just that funny time of year. 

As a postscript to this session, Tim fished the same swim with a friend on the following Friday. In his words the fishing was "cr*p", but they saw an otter in the marina entrance opposite. Amazing given the nature of the location, but might explain the dip in the fishing!

09/11/2012 - River Dove

Mad dash to the Dove today for last couple of hours - two reasons, firstly to wipe out the memory of a terrible session on the Trent at Swarkestone (couldn't settle for some reason, fished really badly and suffered a complete blank as a result) and secondly because Tim had managed to drop on a few reasonable perch on his last couple of trips there. Headed for a spot that's proved reliable in the past and was soon running a large lobworm down the side under a two swan chubber, trickling red maggots after it. Had been doing this for half an hour or so when I got a text from Tim. He was also on the section and had spotted me from upstream. Had just texted back "nothing doing yet" when the float shot under. Grabbed the rod and felt a decent fish nodding on the end. Was just composing my next, self-congratulating message to Tim in my head when the hook pulled out! That'll teach me (won't repeat what I actually texted him in the end). Carried on with the float until it was too dark to see, at which point I got the medium feeder rod out and dropped a lobworm over the bed of red maggots I had built up downstream. A few minutes later I saw the isotope twitch a couple of times, then keep going as the 1oz glass tip bent right 'round. Gave this one a good thump and immediately thought I'd snagged bottom, but then felt a heavy weight move slightly. "Pike", I said to myself. A war of attrition then followed, with me easing the fish towards me only for it to head off downstream again. Another angler appeared behind me and stayed to watch proceedings. After about 5 minutes an outline of a decent fish showed briefly on the surface. "Could be a big barbel", my one man audience said. At this point the 4.4 lb hooklength suddenly seemed very fragile and vulnerable! Tim turned up a few minutes later and got into position next to me. At this stage the fish was just plodding around under my feet, so gave it some sustained pressure and up it popped. Flicked on the head torch to see a very big barbel disappear into the landing net, expertly wielded by Tim. Got it quickly into the weigh sling and onto the scales - 12lb 6oz. A new PB and absolutely mint.

 

Not bad for a nuisance fish!

 

Can't deny it was anything but a fluke, but I for one don't care!

 

01/11/2012 - River Soar

Had half-term at the in-laws' holiday cottage in rural France. Main object of the week was to get some miles in on my road bike but on this occasion I also threw in my light lure rod, as I had discovered that you can now buy your holiday permits online (www.cartedepeche.fr) in advance. I'd like to say that I subsequently emptied the local River Charente with my fancy gear but, despite being assured by locals that there were sandre (zander), brochet (pike) and perche (obvious!) present, I didn't get a sniff. I did see some sad little 2oz perch in a bucket destined for some Frenchman's supper, so guessed anything bigger was probably well gone. For my first session back in the UK, work had me heading over in the direction of Loughborough, so I threw the lure rod in the car and stopped off to steal a couple of hours on the Soar at Sutton Bonington. However, was dealt a double blow when I got there. There was a match setting up downstream of the carpark and I was told that the towpath upstream was going to be closed in less than an hour as contractors were tree cutting. Legged it up to the top of the section to make use of what time I had. Thankfully, third cast I had a small jack on the Savage Gear "Real Eel", hooked on the stinger.

First one on the Real Eel

A few casts later I had another slightly larger one that had completely gobbed the lure (he also looked as if he'd had a recent encounter with one of his bigger brethren judging by the jaw-shaped crescent across his back).

 

Hungry!

 

Waited for a boat to come past then ran the eel down the marginal reeds. Bang! Another one, which again had "inhaled" the lure. They seem to like them! Saw flashing amber lights down the towpath at this stage, so that was that. Thirty minutes fishing and off to work!

14/10/2012 - Trent and Mersey Canal

Arranged to meet Tim on the Trent and Mersey Canal for hopefully another mixed predator session. Finished my chores, cooked and ate Sunday lunch with the family and was away down to Burton by late afternoon. Arrived just before 5 pm to find our usual spot vacant. The canal was carrying quite a bit of colour and floating debris, not suprising given the Trent was up again, but things looked hopeful for the zander at the very least. Tim arrived a few minutes later and we soon had four deadbait sections spaced out along the far margin. Had toyed with the idea of going down the route of mini snap tackle to sort out those pesky little zeds, but didn't fancy the idea of leaving a set down a big perch's throat or the consequences of hooking something big, so stuck with the size 6 Korum S3's. My left hand rod was the first to go, resulting in a perch of about a pound and a half. Tim was away next, cranking in what he believed to be a small jack until a big perch rolled on the surface causing a squeaky bum moment! Turned out to be another cracking canal specimen of 2lb 11oz (first glance at the line pattern and split anal fin seems to indicate it was a different fish to the one I had two weeks ago).

 

That's not a jack, Tim!

 

We both had a couple of missed runs as it got dark before I landed the first zander of the night - less than 1lb of it! Tim then pitched in with a pike of about 9lb. Soon became obvious that it was not going to be as frenetic as my previous trip with just two more zander, biggest about 2lb, falling to my rods over the next couple of hours. Tim had actually started packing up about 9 o'clock when I had another twitchy run on a roach head. Again, it was a case of mistaken identity as the weight but lack of any real fight led me to I believe I had a decent zed on the end. Was therefore a bit suprised when a pike popped up onto the surface and was bundled into the net and onto the bank by Tim (where it promptly woke up!). Was a short, but very broad and solid fish of 13lb 12oz - the first canal double I've had for a very long time.   

 

And that's not a zander!

 

Whilst it had been a lot quieter than the last trip I was pleased to sneak in a predator "treble" again, particularly with an enforced break coming up (well that does include a week in France, so not all bad!).

11/10/2012 - River Soar

Indulged in a spot of "smash and grab" lure fishing as advocated by fellow blogger Lee of "This Angling Life". Dropped in on the Soar near Sutton Bonington on the way home from a meeting to find a group of lads just packing up after fishing all day on the pole. One of them mentioned that he'd had pike trouble in his swim and that I should try there, so didn't need a second invitation. Was soon casting a Storm wildeye roach over to the far bank and working it back across the river. However, the first take when it came was right under my feet as a pike shot out from the marginal reeds and completely gobbed the lure. Led me a merry dance on short line, uprooting cabbages as it did so.

   

Feisty!

 

Moved down to the next swim and cast the lure down the edge of the weed to my left. Had an immediate take from a slightly smaller, tail-walking pike that again put up a good fight on my light gear. Would have stayed a bit longer, but it had started raining quite heavily and it was getting uncomfortable, so headed back to the car. On the subject of lures, I'm eagerly awaiting the arrival of some Savage Gear real eels (read fellow blogger Paul Bosworth's review here http://riverpiker.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/savage-gear-real-eel-review.html), so will be trying them out somewhere soon.

04/10/2012 - Trent and Mersey Canal

The specimen hunter's lament probably goes along the lines of "so much to fish for, so little time" (thanks for that, Rob!). My own fishing time is certainly at a premium, so I try and plan with military precision where, when and what I'm doing next. The fact that the Trent was still too high for a return to Swarkestone therefore put me in a real quandry. Go back to the Soar at Kegworth and have another bash there, follow up a lead into some big perch from a different section of the river or have the first session of the year after some canal zander? In the end I opted for the latter so, after a pleasant pub lunch with the wife, I set off to the Trent and Mersey Canal near Burton.

Was nobody else on the section when I arrived, so soon had two hair-rigged deadbait "chunks" out in the prime spot. Some kind person had even cut the grass, which meant I didn't have to do any gardening around the rods. The downside to this was that you could smell the dog mines but you couldn't see them! Had to play hokey cokey with a few boats to start with (including an idiot in a hire boat that did a 10 point turn in the swim, making full use of the piling on each bank!), but the traffic soon fizzled out. First run came while it was still full daylight. By the feel of it I was expecting a zed to pop up. However, it turned out to be an absolute mint perch of 2lb 10oz (look at the fins and the hump on it!).

 

Predator No.1

 

As the light began to fade the action began in earnest as the bobbins started twitching and jumping. However, turned out to be most frustrating. Lost count of the number of times I watched the line peeling off the spool, picked up the rod then either struck into nothing or bumped off a fish. Didn't think it was going to be my night. Eventually had two almost simultaneous runs and somehow managed to hook and land both fish, one a pike of about 7lb and the other a zed of less than a pound. Suspect it was these little pests that were giving me all the grief. However, with full darkness a shoal of better fish must have moved into the area as I then had three over 3lb in quick succession, best going 4lb 8oz.

 

 

Predator No.2

 

Was back to being frustrated by the little zeds after this, although last fish turned out to be a nocturnal, tail-walking pike (had missed the bite alarm with the line in the dark on the previous cast, so only noticed I'd got a run when the baitrunner went into meltdown!). Not quite a canal double, but at 9lb 13oz it was a good way to finish the session.







 

Predator No.3

 

Think I might treat myself to a haircut now looking at these photos.......







01/10/2012 - River Soar

Had been champing at the bit to get back to the Trent last week, but work and the wet weather conspired against me. Had therefore been watching the river levels dropping over the weekend with a view to getting out after work. Unfortunately it was a bit too soon for the Trent, which was still too high, so headed for the River Soar near Kegworth instead.

Found a swim at the deeper, slower end of the section that offered a bit of shelter from the blustery wind and applied "the method". Soon had bleak, roach, dace and small perch crawling up the float rod and was able to put the paternoster down the side of a bed of whips. Didn't have to wait long before it was away, but turned out to be the wrong species.   

 

Not you again!

 

Dropped in again and a bit later a stuttering, drop-back resulted in a micro-jack that had done well to get the whole bait in its gob. A move downstream into a small bay saw another one of the little pests snaffle another bait. Despite a final move into the best looking spot on the section, that proved to be the last of the action.