This is angling

Now this is angling and what it should be about.

Brian (my dad), Jason (son) and Louis Lee on a recent trip to a local lake fishing for anything.

All day long was spent catching small roach and perch on mixed methods while being harassed by Mr pike!! Eventually late on in the day they nailed him and the picture below says it all.

These smiles are ANGLING.

 

 

Stripes

Since my last postings I have visited the river a couple of times more, only to find it very different on both occasions. On the first it was a raging torrent with all kinds of debris and flotsam coming through and although I did manage a few small perch to around the half pound mark and a couple of chub of roughly two pounds or so, it was difficult angling and only slacks could be fished semi comfortably.

My next two trips coincided with the school holidays so a couple of days early in the week were booked off and I then planned for myself and Jason to have one day on the river and the other on the Grand Union. The river was totally different to the previous week as it was low and clear and it was bloody cold!!! We kept on the move and did manage to stumble upon a few small stripeys and again a small chub that all fell for a couple of juicy lobworms.

1lb 12oz for young Bob Nudd

On the cut the following day the fishing was a tad calmer and more of a relaxed affair but Jay was taking it very seriously. He was on the float fished maggot and after anything that would take his grubby offerings, I on the other hand refused to even touch a wriggler let alone impale one and used the pin,berry and pole float approach. Now, he was whipping probably ten fish out to my one but as I kept telling him "I'm after quality young un" . Small perch, roach and gudgeon were falling to his method and he was happy and content thank god as there's nothing worse than a impatient 13 year old!!

I was bringing the odd roach to hand with an average size of about 6oz I guess but in all honesty it was a slow job. The ribbing then got worse from my left as the 'young un' netted two perch of 1lb 4oz and 1lb 12oz. "keep up dad and get on the maggot old man". I laughed and let him have his moment then I swiped him round the back of the ear!

                                                                

Bang on 2lb

In my quiver was my specie tip rod that had been used the day before for the chub on the river, I had a plan!

It was already set up with a light link ledger complete with a size 10 hook so all I had to do was load it with two of the biggest lobworms I could find in the pot before flicking it out to the far bank in likely looking spot which turned out to be a small bay between some rushes and a trailing tree branch.

I then reluctantly pinched a couple of pouch fulls of 'his nibs' maggots before spraying them above the hook bait. After a good half hour or so I was sitting there snatching the odd roach when from the corner of my eye I just managed to see the thin white tip pull round in a savage manner that could only spell perch.  It soon become apparent that this was not a tiny fish with eyes bigger than its belly either and as I played it to the net I could clearly see that it was worth having. I kept my mouth shut for a change as I knew that it looked slightly better than the two that young Bob Nudd had landed to my left. 



Sure enough when put on the scales the digitals read exactly 2lb, I was happy not just by the fact that I'd had one but more by the fact that I might not have bothered to try. It was more of a chance and try than a do nothing job and it had payed off all be it a little lucky. Now a 2lb perch is nothing to shout about in this day an age but I'm sure the potential for a three or maybe even a four is there, only time will tell. We angled on, Jason kept catching on the maggots and nearly landed a pike that had snaffled a small perch when winding in but on the third attempt of netting it decided to let go! I managed to land a couple of snotty bream around the three and a half pound mark and also a few more silvers on the berries. All in all we had an enjoyable couple of days and it was a pleasure to see the smile on  my lads face when every fish came to hand.


This weeks Wednesday trip turned out to be totally different to the previous, we'd encountered heavy rain down here in Bedfordshire from Friday through to Sunday and then come Monday morning we were woken to the sight of a heavy frost so by the time Wednesday came round I was a little unsure as what to angle for?
Steve, one of my angling buddy's was joining me and after a brief telephone conversation earlier in the week and the talk of the perch potential it was decided that we should head back to the canal as he hadn't fished the cut for a long time or the stretch that runs through my home town.
We crossed the bridge to be greeted by smoke rising from the waters surface, it looked good but at the same time looked cold!
I told him a little about the section and how I had grown up on and that it was the first stretch of water that I ever cast a line upon. As it was his first time there I decided to dump his fat arse into the peg that I had tempted old stripey from the previous week while I dropped in just down to his right. We had both chosen to fish one tip rod and one bobber, worms and prawns were the baits of the day complimented with red maggots and a few castors just to spray.
Surprisingly, after three hours or so of trying we were still fish less and had both only received the odd nibble between us. We battled on and chatted constantly while wetting our lips and emptying our flasks of tea, telling story's and planning possible trips to possible places. Just as we were half way through a tale Steve's tip rod pulled round and he was soon bringing a worthy perch to the folds of his net. A curiosity weigh was made and at 1lb 12oz old fat arse was happy and smiling, we left her in the net for time being rather than returning and risking spooking anything else that might be in the vicinity. Forty minutes or so passed and I was still on a total of zilch when once again Steve's rod sprung into action, this time a fish of 2lb 3oz had taken a liking for his worm hookbait. A quick couple of shots were taken and once again the fish was left to chill in the net.
Bugger lugs had to be away by 1ish so whilst I was still on a big fat blank I took the opportunity to move some fifty yards or so up the bank as I had planned to fish until 2.30 or so before heading off to see my grandson for his second birthday. Anyway, I tried and tried but all I could muster for my efforts were two small stripes of about half a pound or so! One thing I noticed was just how cold the fish felt compared to the week before, drastic changes in the weather had slowed the fishing that's for sure.
Never mind, there's always next week and the unknown is quite exciting.

 

 

2lb 3oz

Wearing out 'the old uns'

Although commercial carp lakes are frowned upon by some, they do have their place in the angling world.

A couple of times a year myself and and two work colleagues book the odd day off in the school holidays to take our 10/11 year old's carp fishing.

I would just like to say here, that I know it's not every body's cuppa but for the sake of the junior angler they're a god send!

It was noticeable from the point of the first fish that was hooked by each of them that their angling skills in terms of playing fish had progressed so much due to practice.

'12ft zig rigs are not the easiest it has to be said for playing fish for lads with such short arms and long rods'.

Joe Briars

I'm not going to bore you with a blow by blow account of the day as over a hundred carp were caught and all but a couple were wound in by the lads, while us old un's kept casting out fresh bits of 'plastic grub' and spent most of the day spodding to keep the fish out in front of us.

To say us old un's were knackered was an understatement!!
The wind, the spodding and and twelve hours on our feet had just about done us, but the boys loved it.

A big well done to Jason, Joe and Louis but just remember when us old un's are even older......Please take us fishing and make sure you show us the way and catch us some fish!!

Well done to Jason, Joe and Louis.  "Top angling" <",)))>{

Back on running water

After feeling a bit of pressure of Church lake carping, this morning myself and Jason headed back to the Gt Ouse.

No early start was had, as the bacon butties were calling us.
Arriving at the river  around eleven (ish), we strolled a couple of fields down after passing one other angler of whom I know and after a brief chat and landing a small common river carp for him we headed to our chosen plot.

The water has no flow at the moment so baiting up is done by hand rather than a dropper and after releasing a couple of handfuls I was soon casting a small feeder complete with hemp and a couple of pellets attached to the hook end into the chosen spot.

The bait had roughly been in the water forty five minutes when she rattled round and i whacked it!!

Soon in the folds was a nice looking chub of around four pounds or so of which Jason held for a quick couple of shots.

Second cast, after resting the spot for half hour, all most immediately the tip banged round resulting in another chub of which we weighed in at 5lb 4oz.

Just a couple of weeks ago the chub were looking tatty after their spawning efforts but these two were scale perfect and looking fit as fiddles.

Another hour was given in said swim but after these two causing a bit of disturbance we were soon upping sticks and moving back towards the car.
On passing Malc and having a quick chat and a brew from the flask, he explained that he was only getting a few perch after banking the small common earlier.

We decided to settle (or I did) in the peg that produced the small barbel the previous week.
I fished it for a couple of hours with no proper tugs apart from crays and chublets having the odd go at the bait.
The last hour or so was spent climbing a couple of trees looking at certain clear spot that have come to light in the past week, maybe fish or was it birds that have cleared a bit for us exposing nice little gravel runs in between the mass of blanket weed.
The areas are now etched firmly in my mind for future sessions.

I'll be back on the beat in the coming week all being well.

Lucky chevin on fathers day

On arrival to the car park, my son Jason and I were surprised to see there were no other anglers present.

The plan was to fish  the bottom end of the beat and work our way back towards the car park, but as we approached the swim that I managed the barbel from on the opening day I was suddenly drawn to it like a magnet.

This was Jay's first visit to the stretch and on his first sight he said as we walked across the fields "this looks sexy dad", I chuckled to myself and replied "lovely ain't it"

After getting him to crawl  army fashion into the swim from the high bank we soon got settled in.

We didn't rush, I poured a cuppa from the flask to share, lit a smoke and proceeded to throw a small amount of baits into the area I intended place the hookbait.

The swim is low to the water with a hole in the reeds so that the rod can be poked through at a nice angle to the watery spot.

Rod was prepared and was soon angling, we'd been sat there probably twenty minutes enjoying the warm sunshine and chucking grass stems at each other when he piped up "you sure there's fish in here".

Again i chuckled and replied "patience boy"

As we were watching a couple of dragonfly's dancing past, the rod quivered a little before taking on a nice curved bite.

"Is it a barbel dad"? (Jays never been with me when I've had a barbus) "don't think so mate" I replied.

Soon we landed what turned out to be a bream of around the 4lb mark, "at least we've had something" he said.

A few more baits were thrown out and left to settle while i re baited the rod and prepared for our second cast.

We didn't have to wait to long before the rod end was trying to leave us, and the strike was met with a bit more resistance.

Jason was soon passing me the net and as the fish hit the surface for the first time, I could see it was a large Chub that would look more at home with a saddle strapped to it's back!

We left it in the net, resting in the margin of the swim, while I sorted the scales and the camera out.

6lb 1oz the reuben's recorded, and soon the fish was being returned after a couple of trophy shots taken by "Jason Bailey Burr".

After giving it another hour in that swim and with no other bites occurring, a move was then decided upon.

Again I decided upon a move to a swim that I had finished in a few days previous, a slightly faster current is on the far bank which kicks out from a near bank tree and this meets a slower moving near side of which in turn creates a crease.

New Zealand were playing Italy in the world cup and we sat there chatting and watching little taps on the rod tip that were being caused by Ronnie and Reggie!

We gave it until 4pm before the flask, juice and cheese sarnies had run out and  enough was enough and trotted back to the car happy that we'd wet the net and had a good a good day of it.

"Shut that up will ya Dad"

Where to start?!?

The session as planned to nine acre pit, started as a chilled out affair... I decided to have a stroll round and scrounge a couple of teas en route. Jason was itching to get fishing but understood that there was no need to rush.

After scrounging a tea or two, we decided to head to our chosen swim, the area is a nice little secluded plot with nice marginal bushes and a small island straight ahead. The plan was just to fish margin spots either side in the hope that if there were any tench about they would hopefully be patrolling up and down the marginal shelf.

The weatherman was giving it warm, so with this in mind we began to get our house up and complete before it got too hot.

On this occasion I was using 1.75 test curve rods, coupled with my small bait runners and ten pound line was order of the session. "why line so heavy for tench" you might be wondering? Well this particular lake has carp to just over forty pounds and catfish to just under seventy pounds!! Ok, I would still have no chance of landing such beasts in the tighter area swims but in open water scenarios I might have a chance.

Bait was mixed up at home the previous night and this consisted of a method mix with all sorts of goodies thrown in including casters, hemp, corn and broken down boilies.

A short rig with fake corn was on one rod and a double 10mm boilie completed rod two.

Rods were baited and the first casts were made late afternoon and left to settle ready for the time that is dusk. Not long after these casts were made it was soon apparent how things were going to turn out. As it was Saturday, some anglers departed soon to be replaced by more.

By 6pm, two roach and one bream had been caught... it was noticeable already that if this continued then we were in for a long and busy night!

Two tins of hot dogs were tipped into the pan and a fresh baguette was cut in half and filled with eight dogs each and while I was trying to make the most of such a splendid dinner the right hand rod gave a stuttered take.

Bream number two was landed and my hot dog and cup of tea was now cold!!

Now without a blow by blow boring account, let me just say here that by ten o'clock that night we had landed thirteen fish which included three roach and ten bream! The bream were all in the 7/8lb bracket with all of them falling for the double 10mm offerings, with the corn rod only producing roach.

At 10.30 I managed to get Jason settled into his sleeping bag, but liners continued and we both had trouble getting our heads down. A couple of friends were fishing the opposite bank and thought I was running a brothel as all they could see was my little red head torch coming on at regular intervals!!

During the dark hours after midnight I managed another couple of bream, but my hopes for a tench were all resting on first light.

I must confess here that at 3am I wound the boilie rod in as enough was enough and I needed some shut eye. The quiet corn rod was left out and I managed to see the back of my eyelids until a pair of fighting randy geese decided to wake me up at 5.15!!!

Both rods were re-baited and no sooner had the kettle boiled than the bream rod was off again, and with that I heard a little voice from the bivvy "Shut that up will ya Dad" "All night"! With that he buried his head again!!

Not long after first light the Heavens opened and the bites dried up and this twenty four hour session ended with 4 roach, 14 bream and no tench!

Next time we'll have em!!