15/06/2013 - Leicestershire brook

Had a couple of lure sessions on the canal after coming back from Wales, but struggled with just a few small perch on the Kopytos.

Better than nowt!

 

Therefore decided to do something completely different and headed off to a small brook in Leicestershire with the fly rod. Had gleaned some information from work that suggested there was a reasonable head of brown trout present, even though it ran very close to housing on the outskirts of a town. Got there nice and early to avoid the dog walkers to find the brook low and clear despite the overnight rain. However, as I stuck my head over the bridge there was a big puff of silt in the margins as something shot off, which certainly raised my hopes.

 

 

Small, but full of promise!

 

Walked upstream looking for likely spots, before staring to fish back downstream. The brook was generally less than a foot deep with a couple of deeper holes, but with lots of bankside cover. Not a lot of casting was involved, more flicking or dropping a gold head GHRE into the margins and letting trundle past the overhanging vegetation where I hoped the fish were lying up - more trotting than fly fishing! Had tried a couple of spots before I got a good thump on the rod tip and found myself connected to a fish that charged straight into the side. Slid bum first into the water and scooped it into the net. Back on the bank  I was able to have a good look at my first wild Leicestershire brown trout, all spots and buttery yellow belly.

 

 

Spotty

 

Then missed three chances (doh!) in a little pool, before latching onto a slightly bigger "LBT" just upstream of a shallow ford, again fin-perfect and beautifully marked.

 

 

Little beauty

 

Missed another chance a bit further down then added another of a similar size. By now the dog walkers had started to appear and a blustery wind started getting up, which was making presentation difficult, so headed back to the car avoiding the dog mines. Didn't think that was bad for a quick recce and was fully deserving of the bacon sandwich I had when I got home.



31/05/2013 - Cleddau Estuary, Pembrokeshire

A surfing trip to North Devon earlier in the month gave me another opportunity to meet up with Joel Squires (aka www.joelsoul.co.uk) and a chance to break my bass duck. Unfortunately the weather had other ideas. The cold, wet conditions and howling onshore wind had virtually knocked the surfing on the head and the fishing didn't fare much better despite Joel's usual optimism. Gave it an hour or so with soft plastics before the weather worsened and we were forced off the rocks by the incoming swell. Another time, mate!

Next opportunity was a few days down in Pembrokeshire. Weather had improved significantly, but a brisk, northerly wind saw me looking for some shelter down on the South coast. Had spotted a nice, rocky headland near Manorbier whilst out on the coast path earlier in the year that looked promising. Spent a couple of hours flicking soft plastics into likely looking holes and gullies for wrasse with no response, so moved 'round to the adjacent rocky bay and changed over to surface lures for the bass. However, that failed to attract anything either. Was beginning to think it wasn't ever going to happen!

Looks good, but where were the fish?

Next day the wind had dropped significantly, so it was down to the estuary at Lawrenny. Had timed it just right - the boats were just swinging around on their moorings to face the incoming tide and the water level was starting to creep up the shore, lifting the empty mussel shells and sending them floating off upstream like miniature coracles.

 

 

Down on the estuary

 

Started off with a popper, but then spotted some small bait fish and spooked something bigger in the shallows. Had a look in the box and found a Megabass X-130 in sardine that seemed to fit the bill. Fourth or fifth cast out into the channel I had a satisfying clonk on the rod tip and after a short, spirited fight I was looking at my first bass in the shallows - only about 1lb, but all spines, flared gills and attitude. Popped him back and a couple of casts later was looking at his twin brother. Had two more, biggest about 2lb.

 

Bass!

 

By now the tide was really pushing in and the jellyfish were flying past my knees. That seemed to herald the end of the action, but went home happy and a bit relieved! Next day saw me down in the same spot, albeit an hour later to catch the same state of the tide. Stuck with the X-130 and it did the business again. Had three bass up to about 2lb  again before the flow picked up and the fish were gone, presumably off upstream.

 

 

X-130 strikes again

 

Stopped off briefly on the way home to watch some impressive-looking mullet bow-waving and feeding in a few inches of water, right on the margins of the incoming tide. Maybe next time?!



30/04/2013 - Kegworth Cut

Happened to be down near Leicester during the day and had thrown the light lure rod in the boot of the car on the chance of stopping off somewhere on the way home. Things went to plan for once and first stop was the Loughborough Navigation, but I was put off by the colour and turbidity that I assumed (wrongly) was down to boat movements. Therefore headed off to Kegworth Cut next only to find it similarly coloured. Could only assume that it was down to the bit of rain that we'd had a day or so ago. Had some newly-purchased 2" Kyoptos with me so dug out the brightest I had, a red and red yellow version, and coupled it with a 3.5 g jig head.

New toys

Visibility was only 6-8", but I figured that if I could work the lure slowly enough I'd be in with a chance. A few branches courtesy of recent towpath tree pruning were the only highlights of the first hour and I'd begun to start to lose confidence when I had the first proper hit.........and failed to connect! Luckily that heralded either a little feeding spell or I happened to drop on a small group of fish. Whilst I was probably expecting perch, these turned out to be micro pike. Had three of these little beggars in quick succession.

 

Nuisance!

 

Had a few more casts, but with time ticking on and no more interest, headed back to the car.

 



07/03/2013 - River Soar

Well, this has got to go down as my worst winter ever. Any brief window of opportunity that appeared in a hectic work schedule invariably coincided with sub-zero temperatures or flooded rivers. The building works at home had dragged on with the result that most of my fishing gear was still stored here, there and everywhere and largely inaccessible. Frankly, I was prepared to write the season off altogether but, with a rare empty day in the diary and some 20+ hours of flexi time, I decided to try and salvage something with a trip to the Soar. Got there at first light and was pretty optimistic. It hadn't frozen overnight and the rain the previous day had made little difference to the river, which was running at a nice level with a tinge of colour. The only immediate dampener was seeing the carnage alongside the towpath.

 

Short back & sides!

 

Hopefully being willows it will do them good in the long run, but there wasn't much to stop the breeze whistling past my ears all morning. The bonus was that I could spot anybody breaking into my car from about half a mile away! Walked upstream to my usual starting point and soon had the two deadbait rods out in the channel. Things looked even better when the left hand float waddled off within minutes of casting. Unfortunately, whatever it was somehow manged to snatch the joey mackerel bait whilst skillfully avoiding the hooks. However, literally two minutes later the smelt on the right hand rod was off. This time the resulting jack of about 3 lb managed to stay on. A few minutes later and another two jacks were on the bank, leading me to believe I was in for a bumper session.

 

 

My name is Jack

 

What a fool! Fished all the way through to 1 o'clock without any further interest despite leapfrogging virtually all the way back to the car. After a leisurely lunch I decided that both a change in venue and species was in order, so headed over to the Trent with perch in mind. Found a nice swim with plenty of cover downstream, droppered in some maggots and chopped worm and dropped a fat lob over the top. Spent the next two hours watching a motionless quivertip in the drizzle. Gave up when I caught myself nodding off! Didn't get any better when a glance at the weather forecast when I got home indicated a return to subzero temperatures for the last week of the season. Oh well, roll on June.........

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!