Sacrum:

"He was a great friend of Charles Cotton of Beresford Hall, who built a fine fishing-house near the famous Pike Pool on the River Dove, over the arched doorway of which he placed a cipher stone formed with the combined initials of Walton and himself, and inscribed with the words 'Piscatoribus Sacrum.' - the words mean ‘sacred to fishermen’ and are also carved onto the 18th-century fishing temple beside Cromford Bridge.

A game of chess

My tenching has been very hit and miss due to the time I have given it, nine acre pit for sure has a few that live there but how many and what size I'm not sure?

The numbers of bream in the water does not help the cause either as they seem to find the gourmet before anything else gets a chance.

The past few weeks the lake seems to have been busier than usual and some how lost its appeal and only fellow anglers will know what I'm talking about.

June the 16th is fast approaching and the excitement of running water is starting to grab hold of my thoughts...

I have three tickets for the Great Ouse all with varying potential for different species (barbel,chub and perch) with the odd chance of a fluke carp thrown in too.

So with tickets purchased I have now started to clean up the tackle and re-spool where needed.

The next couple of weeks will be spent tying rigs, getting the tackle to a bare minimum and sorting the baits that will be needed to hopefully net a few.

Evening walks will take place to try and get a feel for what lays ahead and hopefully a few fish of some description will be spotted (saying that, come the 16th they'll probably have vanished!!).

As anglers know only to well, this is what keeps our minds ticking.

Let the games begin.......

A pint of mags and a pot of worms

It was Sunday morning and the alarm clock rang it's happy tune at 4.45am!

I was off to nine acre with a float rod and a feeder rod with the intention of catching whatever came along, armed with some hooker pellets, a pint of finest reds and a pot of worms.

The plan with the early start was to attack the margin with the hooker pellets for the first few hours with the hope that old tinca might fancy some breakfast.

Also I would be fishing a second rod of which would be a simple feeder set up, with regular casting armed with the red maggots.

The wind was blowing towards me from the west but there was also a few spots of rain with it, conditions looked good and I was there to chill out and enjoy.

Carp and cat anglers that had been there over night were packing up and slowly departing one by one.

The pellet rod was getting me the odd bite which turned out to be a few quality looking roach but as soon as they were on the feed they were off again and I presumed that a predator of some description had moved in?

I wound that rod in for a while and concentrated on the feeder rod which I was casting around thirty yards out to a shallower hump that was all of eleven feet in depth with an odd scattering of weed.

Bites were soon to be coming thick and fast - again it was the lakes vast roach population that were finding me the quickest but along with them came a hand full of skimmer bream and the odd perch.

Just after lunch there were just two anglers left bivvied up that were staying for another night in pursuit of their quest... the wind had picked up by this time and at one point big dark clouds were above my head and looking like a heavy shower was about to hit me bang on!

It was during this period of darkness that I decided to swap the float rod over from pellet to a big old juicy lobworm but continue to fish it over the area I had been baiting previously with the pellet and caster combination.

I continued to spray pouch fulls of maggot and casters above and around the float fished worm when all of a sudden the float bobbed and glided away.

A perch of about 12oz was netted followed by another half a dozen more all of which were similar size and all looking like peas in a pod.

The next bite turned out to be a jack pike between three and four pound that was luckily hooked in the scissors.

The switch to the worm in the darker conditions looked like it had payed off and it just shows it only takes a quick change to swap species to suit the conditions we're given.

I continued to fish on till 4.30pm, but before the feeding spell on the worm had slowed, I managed to hook and land a fine looking perch with bold black stripes of 1lb 12oz to end what turned out to be the last fish of the day and previously my biggest perch from nine acre pit.

I'm sure there's a surprise to be had, and I'm currently looking at a new method which might just unlock a few kippers for me!!

But I'll save that for another day.....

Be lucky!

Another wet night

As usual I was in two minds whether to go?

I had walked nine acre pit on Friday evening to see a friend that was carp angling but also to see how many were on the lake and where they were situated.

A quite large north easterly wind was blowing up the lake but more importantly there were thirteen carp/cat anglers pitched up all round!

As well as being a tad on the windy side, the forecast was also giving persistent rain for the next twenty four hours!! After scrounging a couple of teas I bid the lads farewell and headed back to the gate to ponder on my way home as a few of the lads were departing on the Saturday but at this point I was still unsure as to what to do?

Saturday arrived and as promised the sky was full of rain and for a full view all I could see were clouds, big old dark ones!!

Out to the shed I popped, grabbed my tackle and bait bags... I wasn't planning on rushing "I'll get there when I get there" I muttered to myself even if it was evening time.

I eventually arrived at just after three that afternoon and again before doing anything else I went on the scrounge for a brew and also to find out if anything had been caught during the last twelve hours? As it happened a new member that was fishing the windward end of the lake had managed to hook himself his first wels catfish, all 63lb of it!!

The previous week a couple of tench had come from the shallower end of the lake and on this day it was also looking nice and sheltered,comfy and cosy (this thinking was probably against the grain but to be honest I didn't fancy the cold wind battered end of the lake!!).

It was with all this in mind that I headed for a nice little secluded swim that has of a channel of water between the bank and the island in front of me.

House erected, bed made and kit all put in its usual tidy place that it goes in most weeks (the OCD comes into place so that I know where to find it during the hours of darkness).

The left had rod was placed to the island margin and the right was under armed just down to my right to the left of the marginal snags in six feet of water.

By the time I had completed all this it was now time for a chillie that would be sat nicely on a bed of basmati rice!

By 9.30 I was tucked up in my bag with a niggling headache having a cuppa and a smoke just watching the world go by but not long after that I drifted off to sleep.

Just after 10.30 the left hand bobbin was up and away and with this I was out there bringing a bream of around the 7lb mark to the net.

Had they found me again?!?

The rain was still falling and had not really let up since I had arrived.

Rod re-baited and I was soon back in the warmth of my sleeping bag, the same rod was away again at 1.30am and led to the same outcome as before and at this point I had imagined that this was how it was going to be for the rest of the session.

All went quiet then and I awoke just before first light, rolled over, flicked the kettle on to await enough light to be able to see enough to replace the baits back on the spots, just after 5am I was back on the bed and I then dozed off until 7.15 am when I was ripped from my sleepy state as the right hand rod bounced into life.

Straight away I could tell that this was no bream as the fish was darting around all over the place with its tell tale twisting and turning.

After losing one the week before at the net I decided not to give it too much wellie at the dying stages.

All went to plan and soon enough I'd scored my first intended caught tinca since them early days some twenty years ago.

The weight (although it did not really matter) came in at 5lb4oz and was a female, but guess what? It had stopped bloody raining and the sun was poking through!!

A quick couple of self takes were done and with one last look the fish was soon returned.

I held on to try and dry the gear and had a slow pack up before quitting at just after 1 o'clock with no more action.

Did it matter? Did it hell!!

I'd had one and the sun was now shining!!

It rains, it pours....

My mind was set just to angle from Saturday morning till Sunday morning but after doing a milk run to a carp angling buddy and viewing the lake I suddenly got the urge to wet a line.

So Friday tea time saw me dashing home, having a swill, mixing some bait and loading the truck and heading to the lake via the Chinese with my dinner in tow!

The lake was quite busy but was always going to be with it being bank holiday weekend.

My sweet and sour chicken and rice set me up nicely and I then began to tackle up in a nice little bay that does not get too much attention.... it is a deep bay with sloping margins and a few hanging trees that drape down to the waters surface.

The time was ticking away and I eventually got the rods placed and baited by 8.30.

It was now time to sit back, pour a cuppa, have a smoke and watch the water for any movement but most of all chillax.

This session I decided to head to the opposite end of the lake to last week as the bream were still making an appearance and I needed a little sleep!

All was quiet when headed for the sleeping bag and the confinement of my shelter, although the clouds were starting to collect and aiming our way.

I'm sure some anglers that go night fishing are actually scared of the dark?

The light pollution to my right caused me to turn over and face the back of my shelter, "turn em off lads" I don't want to see it!

No sooner had I got settled than the left hand rod bounced and shuddered into action as something tore off with my corn offering, it was now raining and looking very angry up above.

Into the net went a bream roughly six pounds in weight... was I in for a night of it or was this the lone ranger?

Rod re-baited, sod it, I'll have a cuppa and if a few had moved upon me then I might just get another quick bite. Nothing else happened until 1.30am and this also turned out to be another slab of around the same weight, it was now raining a little heavier and from the opposite side of the lake I could hear the sound of a fellow anglers alarm "that's good" I said to myself, "I'm not the only one to be getting pissed upon"!

While on the myth subject of it being good for fishing in the rain, I for one seem to struggle in the daylight hours while it pours but occasionally catch the odd something in a wet darkness.

But as for it being the best time to go, let me tell you " it ain't for me"!

I managed a couple of solid hours sleep before the same rod sang its tune but this time the culprit was a roach of around 12oz. I will just say here that I'm expecting to catch all sorts while fishing the method I am so will have to take the rough with the smooth and after all... a fish is a fish!

Back in bed by 4am and it was there I stayed till roughly 5.15 when again the left had rod was attached to something that was adamant on getting into the nearby bush that was hanging to my immediate left.

A little bit of pressure applied and yet another bream was lying in the net and although I didn't actually weigh it, she looked to be near the double figure mark. It mattered not and it was from this point onwards I decided to stay up, re-bait both rods and also set up the float rod and try some early morning pellet fishing to see if I could entice my quarry a different way?

At 7am, just as I was pouring my third cuppa, the right hand rod took on a slightly faster take and straight away I knew it felt different.

This rod had been placed down my right margin and across a bit next to a small bush, of which it tried its hardest to reach, but old Birdy weren't having any of that!

And it was maybe this that caused what was about to happen next?

On grabbing the net and looking down into the margin I could see my target just taking its last gulp, when all of a sudden my stonze weight, flew over my head causing me to duck n dive! The tench was gone and although not huge, I guessed it to be roughly five pounds or so?

This was what I was after but luck this time was not on my side. "Can't do nothing about it now, its gone" I muttered to myself. All good things come to those who wait and lets be honest here, one day it'll happen?

Saturday turned out to be quite a nice day weather wise, but some anglers went and other anglers arrived. I sat and dabbled with the pellet rod enjoying the sun and even managed to catch a good few roach, oh and even a couple of hungry gutted pike that found a liking for my prize as I wound them in.

The rods on the feeders went quite during the day so it wasn't until 6pm that I baited and set the traps for the following night.

Job was done and I then set about cooking my dinner which consisted of (for those of you that are interested!) sausages, potatoes of the new variety and some peas!!

Come nine o'clock that evening, a couple of rumbles of thunder with an odd lightening strike had clapped above me. By ten I was in my cozy bag watching rain drops bounce from the waters surface, my little radio could not be heard due to the noise being made as it hit my little nylon house.

Sod this I thought to myself and decided to get some sleep just in case anything decided to go on the munch.

Nothing did and the rain stayed on all night even to the point of filling my footwear up as I'd left them to near to the bivvy door in case a sharp exit was needed!

Like most, I hate packing up in the rain and by 10 am I was loading the car soaked to my skin and still tenchless!

It rains, it pours!

A new challenge

Although I have other species on my mind at present, my mind is thinking forward to June 16th.

Myself and a couple of friends have been given the chance to angle on a thirty man syndicate stretch of the Gt Ouse in Bedfordshire.

One of the said friends has fished it in years gone by, but not for a few.

I personally have only wet a line there a couple of times in search of anything that would bite but this challenge is going to be different but also likely to get the brain ticking as the said stretch, as a lot of the Ouse (and most other running waters), has been ottered out over the last couple of years and not forgetting the 2007 floods which seems to have also pushed the fish elsewhere.

Barbel will be my main chase but also this beat holds some good chub and also some carp which are rarely fished for.

It's times like this when a new challenge excites the angler and only anglers understand my thoughts and directions. The effort and excitement that is involved every year by anglers of all experiences can't be explained to non angling types.

So with baited breath, although I'm lake fishing at present, my mind is already planning its attack for the new challenge.

And if I get one, it will be another special moment in what is an ever changing pastime that we call angling.

I'll let you know.....

"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!!

Its Spring....... get out there!

Now, the die hard traditionalists will be at home sorting their tackle ready for a June 16th start.

Personally I will be (at least for the next three months) angling for tench on the local home water that I bailiff then come the 16th I will more than likely head back to the Gt Ouse trying my wits against the getting more elusive barbel.

It's a shame really as I remember in years gone by the buzz the three month lay off created and all the preparation that went with it... cleaning the tackle down, re-spooling reels and thinking about baiting strategies, along with this there was also the recce trips around lakes and local canals.

It now seems however that the months between March and June can't be missed and are classed as one of the best times of the angling season to put that maybe fish of a lifetime on the bank.

In my eyes, spring is the time of year that things start to wake up after the long winters that we now receive. Not only the fish, but the trees, flowers, birds and the dreaded mozzies! Longer days, misty mornings and glorious sunrises all add to the spice that is angling.

Come the 15th of June I will buzz with anticipation once again as the urge of running water takes over but until then I will enjoy the spring and do my best to outplay our scaly friends.

Baiting has commenced and attack has been planned.

I am still sticking to my plans of chasing the "doctor" fish.

A couple of times this week I have visited the nine acre pit and baited with a few handfuls of tit bits in certain areas of the margins. The plan is to fish the spring months chasing the tench that nobody seems to angle for.

Rods are rigged up and baits have been selected; myself and my son plan to fish for the unknown this coming Saturday for a twenty four hour session.

On walking the lake this evening one thing is noticeable........ it's still bloody nippy when the sun drops from view and the temp reading when back at the truck was saying four degrees.

Its looking pretty as a picture up there and things are waking up and the trees are budding.

Lets hope the fish like the gourmet i am offering.....

I'll inform you of my findings!!

No success but not a failure

The 11.55 night crossing from Dover to Calais was met and now it was time for a good drive through the night with three excited ten year olds in the back of the truck.

We had decided to take the scenic route to try and avoid the nightmare that is Paris. On doing this, complete with three stops and a lengthy fourth for a much needed rest as no sleep kicked in at about five in the morning!

We eventually arrived at Chapel lake at midday(ish)!! We were totally wrecked and then Tony the owner of the lake arrived to give us a tour of the venue and to tell us a little history.

Eighteen acres surrounded by woodland was now ours for the week.

Swims were chosen all in close proximity of each other for all in all it was going to be a social for us and any fish would be a bonus as we had planned that the young un's would wind in most of the takes.

One thing that didn't look too promising was the weather, some of the days were sunny but with that came cold easterly winds with temperatures dropping like a stone come the evenings/nights.

That first day went like a blurr due to tiredness, but that first tea time one of the lads had a far bank run which turned out to be a small common carp and with that sort of start we thought/expected to have a bagging week!!

A few drinks were had before we turned into the bags, but one thing that was noticeable was..... it was a dark surround.

Quiet, dark and in the middle of nowhere with only the odd squawk to be heard, if nothing else we would have a chilled week with the surroundings we had been given!

First light came and that first morning told us that warm clothing would be the order of the week.

Time had now come to go and venture out into the lake by boat to have a poke and a prod to look for some likely looking areas as the first days efforts were nothing more than pub casts that left the reels in more of a lets hope sort of way!!

The main body of the lake of which used to have a predominant river bed running through it was now six feet deep with a couple of feet of silt below it, hmmm! On boating across to the far marginal snags it soon become apparent that from a couple of rod lengths from the far bank the bottom changed from silt to gravel/sand and a rocky make up. Carp anglers are suckers for this type of area and we were to be no different.

At this point I will just say.... that maybe we'd be proved wrong?

Baits were rowed out and placed on the rests and now it was time to set three float rods up to keep the young un's happy to compete for the roach that occasionally pitted the surface. Now this little game turned out to keep me busy for most of the week due to hook losses, tangles and mega lines wrapped around the backs of spools! The boys were happy and left to their own devices most of the week, whether it was fishing, wandering off into the surroundings to find wood to whittle or just to play hide and seek (although my son Jason didn't like it much when a free roaming Shetland pony chased after him!!).

Donkey's, chicken's and even Limousin cows were roaming free and with the odd sighting of a white heron and the twit twoo from from a local owl in the far bank tree's all was well in the world.

Now, this is not the bagging up tale it could have been with just the odd run coming between us over the period of the week. Different rigs and baits were tried and by the law of sod, three days in and I was singing in the shower of which at this point I will say was pukka apart from the mad dash at the end of it to get off the cold cobbled stones with the cool air temperature.

It turned out that the rod I had set up with my lad in mind who is left handed (yes, reel handle on the wrong way!) had melted off ninety yards away!!

Although I could not see this happening when later told the story it turned out that one mate was holding the rod while another was turning the reel handle! With this sort of heath robinson affair going on, I hasten to add that a very large fish was lost about thirty yards out due to a hook pull!

Some you win, some you lose!!

Still, I was there to relax and nothing was going to faze that.

A couple of fish had to be landed by boat due to fishing tight to snags but again these only turned out to be small ones but over a few days all three lads had wound a fish in and to see them smile while holding a French carp was a picture in itself and something you or I probably never got to do when we were their age and something that will stick in their memories for ever and you never know, they might even travel down through France on their own as a trio of mad keen carp anglers simulating their fathers? Lets hope so!!

Due to the weather being so cold considering we were only about three hours from Spain, one good blow of a southerly might have been a different story for us, but it was not to be and with this we decided to head for our own shores a day earlier than planned.

But on that last morning at 4am one of the party netted what turned out to be the biggest of the trip at 36lb that slipped up on a light linked pop up rig from yes you've guessed it.....the sloppy silt in the middle of the lake! So maybe, just maybe we got the plan of attack wrong? Who knows?

If not for the chilling winds, the company was great, the lake was pretty as a postcard the region was at peace but most of all, to go camping with your son and let him be a lad with angling intent and to experience this sort of trip, well that was enough on this occasion.

We will no doubt return again one day of that I'm sure.