Ebro carping.... The highs & lows part 2

A stuttery take on my left margin rod at 8am sparked me in to a burst of adrenaline fuelled excitement & after a 30 meter sprint the heart was certainly pumping. I wound down & hit the take to be met with something solid, I'm snagged I thought, but a slow head shake made me rethink the situation rather quickly. It felt a weighty fish even on Nick's 3.25tc rods, plodding about & not really doing much as I steadily gained line. This rod had one of nicks fruity flavoured boilies so I doubted this was a catfish, although I'm told they very occasionally they do take these baits.

After slowly gaining line for 5 minutes, 

I loosened the drag as I saw the very top of the 20ft leader as I was told they can thrash about in the margins a bit.

The rod creaked & as I went to loosen the drag further........... & the beast was free, the dreaded hook pull. What a choker & it felt a different beast altogether than the English carp I've caught before. After all that time waiting for a take to loose it was a tough pill to swallow but with two days left maybe the fish were feeding at last. 

Another five hours passed without a touch we decided to slip down into the next swim on the left as we had seen a few more fish moving that morning down that way. Probably the fish were moving right to left, escaping the commotion of the London loudmouths to our right hand side. 

As night fell I could hear Zander snapping at baitfish & decided to get the lure rod out, every lure in the box got an outing over the next few days but not a touch.

I even caught some small bleak & hashed together a single hook trace & a float made of foam but the predators just weren't interested at all.

Talking of livebaits over dinner one night Nick told us of a crazy story he had heard a few weeks back, some locals landed a 250lb+ cat not far from where we were fishing, nothing to amazing about that but he then explained what they used to catch this huge beast.

They looped the line over a far bank tree branch & hooked up a 19lb carp on the business end, yes a 19lber..........

Back to the normal fishing & Mark had a twitch on his left hand rod at around 4am that didn't develop any further & we put it down to a pricked fish as when the rig was retrieved in the morning the lead had been dumped. 

But as dawn broke he had another slow bleep that slowly built momentum, enough to give it a strike anyways & after a fairly uneventful fight that I missed as I struggled to find the zip on my sleeping bag, Mark finally slipped the net under our first Ebro fish.

Estimated at around 17lb, as it was under a 20 we didn't weigh it.

At last a fish on the bank & not the Spanish monster that we hoped for but very welcome indeed when times are hard. We felt slightly more relaxed & more confident, moving on to the final two days fishing. 

Our guide suggested we might put out a pellet on one rod as the carp love them too & as long as we didn't feed heavily & attract the cats. Sounded worth a shout to mix it up & within a few hours a tiny twitch on the formentioned rod was struck.....

I thought it was some floating weed on the retrieve but after a few tiny headshakes I realised it was a fish. I secretly hoped for a big roach, the Ebro has become well known for some huge redfins (up to a colossal 5lb). I know it's not quite cricket to catch them on beefy carp gear but just to see a beastly roach would have been fun, alas I was so wrong.....

It's hard to be to mad with my first ever catfish

A little kitten was swung to hand & I let out a big sigh, this mighty river is testing our resolve but at least the bites were coming..... Slowly, but surely our time in the spotlight was on the horizon, we hoped.......

After another night of crashing carp kept the spirits high (to a certain degree) & then I had a tasty sounding run on my margin rod & that was met with a strong fish bidding for freedom......

I took things very slowly with this chunk, consistently making fine adjustments to the drag after learning from my previous carpy disaster. He came in relatively easily & just as the fish surfaced my legs turned to jelly, this was the leviathan we had come for, about 10 metres out a dorsal fish broke the surface & it was huge, this dorsal was probably a depth of 6 inches or more, followed by a huge paddle tail that was just for a moment, stuck way out of the water. The tail then slapped on the surface with immense power as he bored back down into the murky depths.

A few minutes later he remerged on the surface.... time stood still as I waited for the next powerful run. Drag set fine as he zoomed back under the surface as Nick readied the net & walked into the shallows. The battle was coming to an end & once again my luck ran out at this point, inexplicably the hook pulled just a few meters away from the net......

I've never lost a fish with that amount of disappointment & im not to ashamed to say my eyes welled up. With the rod thrown in the marginal bushes as I trudged off for a walk to clear my head, momentarily stopping to kick various inanimate objects away that dared to cross my path.

Later on Nick remarked it the fish was in the 45lb- 55lb bracket, a true Ebro monster, my dream fish..... But it wasn't to be this time unfortunately.

To add insult to injury some rather rude Romanans decided that they would set up between us & our noisy neighbours, thankfully just about far enough away to not bother us too much. 

As we had to leave at the next day at 3pm our last nite drew in & we reset all our traps & topped up our freebies. Also a group of stubborn Germans started to set up right opposite Mark's swim.

Nick got the dingy out to have a quiet word as we had a couple of rods on far side areas. A polite chat fell on deaf ears & we really started to feel the odds were heavily stacked against us, could we pull of a few last minute chunks or had our time ran & luck ran out. 

At 1am we did get a wake up call but certainly not the kind of interruption we were expecting........

Mark's bivvy was closest to the road & he had to rub his eyes & wake up quickly an angry policeman woke him up, shouting in half Spanish & very broken English.

We showed our licenses & it seemed to take an age for them to sort through the minimal paperwork but finally peace was restored. I dived back into my sleeping & just drifted off when a half awake Mark was outside my bivvy.

He was a bit freaked out by the previous hours shenanigans as I don't think he had fully woke up & thought he dreamed it all.

So I made him a brew & managed to chill him out a bit. Finally around 3am I sneaked back to my bivvy, shattered.

A very early bite never came, Mark & I woke up early to watch the sun come up with a brew & willed the alarms to spark into life.

 

Mark at daybreak, as the sun poked his head over the mountains 

Amazingly another slow jerky bite answered our prayers on my mid water rod, just like the clonker I managed set free the day before.

Once again a similar fight ensued with the heavy head shakes, but In my heart I knew it was smaller than the first, how much smaller was the question ?

As it surfaced I knew it was a decent fish but not in the previous colossal bracket, having said that with a modest pb of 22lb I felt there was a good chance it was a personal best.

Taking my time was a good plan & soon he was wallowing in the margins, Mark readded the net & as I walked back we got him in first time.

I let out a roar that hopefully woke the arrogant Germans, finally I had an elusive Spanish river carp on the bank.

In the cradle it was a pb for sure & as Mark adjusted the scales I felt a monkey loosing his grip from my back.

It had been a testing few days & plenty of lows but now I've got a picture to show my daughters of why I traveled all the way down to mid Spain.

28lb of Ebro muscle & a new pb, but its a catch tinged with sadness at the fish almost double the size that escaped my grasp.

           Hasta luego mi amigo

Just as Mark was getting changed (it's like the fish are watching us at times) one of his rods screamed into life, half dressed he struck into what looked like a decent fish.

Again a slow plodding fight but as he rolled on the surface he tested the drag a little more with a couple of strong runs, just as I readied the net & cradle.

Mark's biggest fish of the trip was netted at last & although he was only a mid 20 it felt good, just a shame our flights were in a few hours time.

        Mark's pristine 25lb carp

Next came the slowest pack up of our lives, at least 3 hours & we left the lines wet for as long as we could, but sadly no more fish took a fancy to our baits.

So with heavy hearts we snoozed on the 3 hour drive back to the airport & dreamed of what might have been.

In summary over four days, we had eight takes, landing four fish if you count my tiny cat. All in all a hugely frustrating but amazing trip to a very special place......

Very much unfinished business I felt &

I hope I will be back sometime very soon 

Ebro carping...The highs & lows, part 1

So as I frantically scrambled around, getting as much work done as possible  in south London on a cold wet Wednesday afternoon..... there's only one thing on my mind.

Big, wild & bronzy river Ebro commons is the stuff of carpy dreams.

I'd freely admit I'm a distinctly average  carp angler & if the truth be told it's not totally my bag, but at times there is nothing better than chilling out bankside while watching the wildlife tick by, keeping an eye out for a few carpy signals to give me hope that one chunk might make an error & suck in my hookbait. 

I'm sure I don't have the patience to be a 24/7 carpaholic & variety of fish & methods definitely keeps me sane but there's a lot to be said for setting up basecamp for a few nites, waiting for that shot of adrenaline when the baitrunner screams into life & the buzzers sing my favourite tune, the old 1 toner.

After a mad dash to pick up my Carp addict mate Mark, we sped off to gatwick & in the end had plenty of time to chill & get some grub down our necks. Over a beer we discussed all things "Cyprinus carpio" & honestly we weren't sure what to expect from the next 96 hours of carpy-camping in the wilds of mid Spain.

 

We had chosen Nick Shattock as our guide for our Spanish odyssey, his Facebook page is a testimony to his wealth of knowledge of this captivating & challenging river.

He & his clients have banked countless huge carp to 59lb & with the average size of 27lb, these untamed river lumps certainly fit the bill as my kind of carpy nirvana.

The idea of our trip like this all started when Mark sent me a link to a video on YouTube where Nick guided carp ledge Steve Briggs & he filled his boots with plenty of chunks up to 37lb. Both Mark & I felt this was our kind of fishing & had to give this a bash soon as we could.

Back to gatwick & typically our enthusiasm was dampened a touch with a delayed & turbulent flight. But as we landed we were buoyed again receiving a call from our guides friendly wife Mandi, she pointing out that Nick's dad Andy would be at the airport to collect us & her description of him did make us laugh "just look for the Father Christmas lookalike". She was spot on & we spied him from a large crowd as soon as we collected our luggage. Then it was a two hour journey back to the Shattock household for our last sleep in a proper bed for a while.

Weaving through & over the mountains we quickly sped to our desination as there was no traffic at all at this time of night.

The drive didn't pass without incident though, as we hit the crest of a hill, a pair of deer were standing slap bang in the middle of our lane, within a second or so we were too close & typically they just froze in the headlights. With a sharp bang one of these unfortunate beasts was under the car & possibly a glancing blow to the other deer, all I saw as I was half asleep was a leg flying over the windscreen & I certainly woke up quickly. 

Andy said "ooooopppppssss" at the moment of impact & then as we sped off again he quipped "anyone for venison !"

Upon arriving at the Shattocks Andy assessed the damage to the car & suprisingly it was minimal as the pic below shows.

Amazingly just the front grill was missing

Some well needed shut eye was very much needed & Nick's wife showed us to our rooms for the night & we slept like logs.

Up early-ish & a well needed cooked breakfast out of the way, Andy was behind the wheel for the two hour journey to the river, as last !! We hoped for a less  traumatic journey this time & thankfully it passed without incident. 

Nick had been baiting up a swim for us from the night before so as we made a pitstop for food & water both Mark & i found it hard to concentrate on anything but carp but we knew we would be making our first cast into the unknown so very soon.

Rugged landscape, but just like a millpond & beautifully serene

As Nick greeted us along a beautiful section of the river he had good & bad news.......

Good stuff first & the carp were boshing all over the place last nite as he baited up a few likely spots. He'd also flicked a rod in the margins & had a mid 20 early that morning, but........

The bad news was a group of loud cockney lads turned up at first light & set up right next to where our bait was so carefully placed & were being generally antisocial. They piled in bucket after bucket of pellet for the cats, so Nick made a decision to move a bit upstream but unfortunately meaning that we were having to start again with the prebaiting. Not a great start but these things happen from time to time, thankfully we were now far enough away to not even hear the loud racket that they were making & thank god for that.

So of course we got the baits out (Nick's homemade Prodigy boilies in three fruity flavours) at various spots that Nick had suggested & 20 odd freebies over the top of each bait, also attaching a few halfs on a pva stringer.

Mid water was just about my limit with the casting at first, but I gained in confidence throughout the trip & improved my distance a little. The far bank baits were slightly easier as we rowed them out in nick's little blowup dingy, as we sat back for 10 minutes it was not a time to rest on our laurels just yet.

Time to help Nick get the bivvys & bedchairs out so we didn't have to rush as the sun was looking to hide behind the mountains in an hour or so.

      Traps set, come on you Spanish chunks 

Mark did us proud with a great meal & as we sat back as darkness fell with a beer in hand, bliss. 

Stargazing & watching shooting stars we pondered if the carpy gods would be smiling down on us.

An uneventful night passed but we heard quite a few big fish topping in the area & as the sun came up we watched a few jumping about. We knew the fish were in the area so that, in a way it settled our nerves & it would just be a waiting game for the first bit of action.

We waited & waited & waited some more with only a few liners here and there.

Doubts start to creep into our minds, did the rig tangle on that last cast & should I put some more bait out.......

Nick reassured us & said often the first 24 hours are quiet & be patient. The next day came & went, with hope fresh in our minds we stayed as positive as we could. Early on the next morning a chance finally came our way............

LRF time again

Ever since I had my first bash at these mini sea beasts, I had been counting down the days both Paul & I could come back & catch a few more new species.

Unfortunately Paul had to work at the last minute & I did doubt if I should still go, but as happens more often than not, these sometimes turn out to red letter days. 

Leaving early meant I missed the London traffic but I didn't take into consideration the start of the Bournemouth rush hour at 8am. But with the sun blazing down & barely any wind I rocked up to the pier at 9'o'clock just in time to get a decent parking space & as I got my gear out of the car I watched the early morning divers boarding a boat to take them out for the day. 

With the beautiful weather the pier was quite busy with people milling around, on their early summer holidays no doubt.

So as I rigged up my ever faithful Isome worm I though to myself it was just a stunning day to be out & about, of course I don't want to blank but if I caught a few fish & a new species I'd be a happy man.

If you read my previous LRF blog I'm a sea angling novice, the previous time out was my first foray into this exciting method & I had some lovely fish.

On the top of my list today was a pollock, as they eluded last time out, so a few of those would be ace, along with some scorpion fish, blennys & a wrasse or two.

Flicking my lure around towards various snaggy looking wood pillers gave me my first problem of the day. It seemed like the bottom was covered in some kind of "cotton wool type" weed, every cast resulted in a weedy covered jig head &  worm. Not idea conditions at all, a quick chat with a passer by concluded that it was because of the storm last week & it would take a while for the tides to clear all the weed, I know little about "the way of the sea" but it sounded a plausible theory.

So a plan b was needed.....

I guessed a dropshot rig could be a perfect foil for the weedy problem.

As I scrabbled about in my fly vest for hooks, flourocarbon & spilt shots to make up a few dropshot rigs something caught my attention through the wooden slats of the pier floor.......

A large shoal of roughly 2" silver fish flashing and moving as one, excitedly I grabbed my rod & luckily still had my jig head & worm attached. I just knew there would be a few bigger fish under the shoal, waiting for the right moment to attack & get a free lunch.

First cast right into the middle of the fish ball & as the silvers parted, my jig hadn't even touched bottom when it was grabbed by something decent.

The drag zip... zip.... zipped away & as I turned him quite easily, a lovely pollock sufaced right in front of me. I lifted him up carefully & finally I had my target fish (& previously uncaught) in my hands.

              Lovely start to the day, a pb 

Amazing visual predators with that huge eye

Of course I'm sure I could of have had a few more on this method but I had a feeling there were bigger fish lurking in the weedy depths. 

One lure just shouted out to me so to speak as I peered in to my tackle box, a couple of tiny 5g jigs that Paul bought for me on the last trip, on a recommendation from John Wheeler. 

John, if you don't know is a seasoned sea angler & a fountain of knowledge for all our LRF style questions & we hope to travel down to Plymouth sometime soon & join him for a day or two. 

Back to the fishing in hand.......

First cast with this lure proved I had made a correct decision in changing things up, a big hit from a strong fish that really stretched my skills to the limit.

I managed to get his head up & that's when I started to wobble, an estimated 3lb+ pollock was peeking up at me.

Now I found myself in a stalemate, checkmate if u like..... There's no way I could lift this fish but I had no option as I didn't really think I would have fish of this size. I had a net in the car but that was no good to me now, anyway as u can guess the hook pulled a few feet from the rippled waves, but I'm happy to say the fish swam off strongly but I was really kicking myself I'd made such a silly mistake. 

With the shoal still around I had to take 5 & get my net, praying that none of the eight or so anglers now on the pier would jump in my golden spot. Needless to say, I ran all the way with a heavy heart about that cracking pollock I lost.

My luck was in, nobody else had moved & I also brought my gopro with me, so I as I put the chest mount on, I peered down under my feet to see an amazing sight, the silvers were getting smashed from all angles by possibly five or six big pollock. The water bellow was full of tiny scales & half chomped fish dropping down to the bottom & glistening in the sunlight.

Like an excited school boy on the last day of term I couldn't get my lure down there quick enough & on the first drop my jig got hit again......

A modest fight compared to the last 3lber but a decent fish surfaced & again I'm surprised...... It's a beautifully shiny, silver sea bass, another species I've not had before but I didn't expect to have from this pier & I managed to get some of the fight on camera too. I'll post a link to my YouTube channel when I work out how to do it.

      So chuffed with this lovely little bass

     Fin and scale perfect glinting in the sun

Before you ask he when back well & dived right back to the bottom in a shot.

I wasn't quite sure if this day could get any better (apart from the good pollock loss) but I never could have imagined what happened over the next hour up to high tide.

Three or four casts later I'm getting frustrated as it's almost a hit a cast but unfortunately my hook just didn't keep its grip on various fishes lips long enough for me to land any of them.

The most memorable was a slamming take, on for a matter of a second & all I saw was a large flash of silver that was at the very least a bass of 2ft, maybe bigger.

Of course I checked the sharpness of the treble & found one hook to be bent at a right angle. These standard trebles are quite a fine gage to suit the lure size but maybe an upgrade was needed in the future.

Luckily I managed to bend it back with my pliers & the hook points were still sharp, I swiftly made another cast.....

Bang again & it's another species & another pb

It was a lovely Wrasse estimated at around 1.5lb & I managed to get a video of it on my gopro camera but I forgot to get a pic on my iPhone so check out the video at the bottom of this blog for that fish.

 Again next cast a beautiful pollock & by the end of the day I honestly lost count of how many I had, 15 or 20

              I love these little pollock

I also had a few more wrasse In-between

the pollock party

 Love those bluey/green flashes on the gill        covers

Another cast surprised me even further with this little beaut.

My little 5g lure & a sand-eel hooked fair & square in the mouth

I'm sure this was a pure fluke but it did make me laugh.

At least now I knew what the shoal of silvers were, tiny pencil shaped sand-eels. 

The perch/pike angler in me told me give it one cast with the sand-eel still attached & if nothing happened them I'd release him to live another day.

I feathered the line down & as it touched bottom I turned the reel handle one full revolution & held the rod 90 degrees from my body, watching the tip.

It gently bounced around for all of five seconds before the rod doubled over, this was an altogether different beast, I just couldn't stop the fish snagging me somewhere under the pier before my 6lb hooklink snapped.

I certainly learnt my lesson with that fish & I felt rather sheepish that I'd even attempted it, whatever it was. But I'll bring a heavier rod for some livebaiting next time.

A few more pollack later I was skipping my jig just along the bottom, as close as I dared when I hooked into a good fish, as it hammered off under the pier I thought to myself it's about time I landed one of these bigger fish. I slowed him down, in turn burnt my finger on the spinning spool & quickly tightened up the drag. Strangely he then turned away from the snaggy pier & sped off out to sea, in the direction of Bournemouth I believe. 

Now off the bottom & away from snags I had the upper hand & finally could enjoy the fight.

A good sized slighty red & green fish sufaced & I finally saw the fish that had made my heart skip many a beat in the last 10 seconds. 

        What a beautifully marked fish

As I sat back & looked at my prize i thought to myself, I felt in the past I didn't have a clue about sea species, but now I understand a little more of how to tackle these fish & what makes them tick.

        What an epic Wrasse, all 3lb of it

   I lost count of how many of these lively      fish I had 

A few more pollack & small wrasse came to my net after my big wrasse, but as the large shoal of baitfish disappeared & the tide turned i struggled to even get a bite, even turning back to the normally dependable Ecogear worms.

One thing I'm sure of was it just one of those days where everything went right. As Paul always informs me, any man, any day, any time can catch plenty of fish & I'm thankful that today "I was that man"

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Zld9owIdpMI&rdm=1l0ogl59b&client=mv-google

The dry fly on tiny wild streams

With the closed season agonisingly close Paul & I decided to scout out the river in preparation for the glorious 16th. What we found on our local tiny stream was very interesting, plenty of chub to a descent size & a few big brown trout as well. As we sat & watched the mayflies get gobbled up by hungry fish we dreamed of the first day of the season & what tactics we might catch a these fish on. 

Then it hit me, why not have a go with the fly rod. Now I'm a very inexperienced fluff chucker, every year in June I have a get together with some friends & fish a nice Hampshire lake for stocked trout. But once a year for 4 or 5 years isn't much time to perfect my casting or master fly presentation & I've thought about fishing a small river. But getting all of the essential parts to come together could be a step too step for a man of my "less than average" fly skills.

But after seeing what might be on offer at the moment, it was too big an opportunity to turn down. Yes I may loose a few flies to various river bank vegetation, but just one trout on the dry fly would be amazing. 

We also scouted out a prevously unknown part of the river that looked untouched by fisherman, the two mile hike may have a bearing on fact of course, but we again spotted a few smaller trout milling about in the deeper runs.

                 My weapon of choice

Returning a few days later with my trusty Sonik #5/6 rod & a handful of mayfly tied hooks.

                    Matching the hatch

 I also wanted to test out an idea I had for different mono hooklink. With ultimate buoyancy in mind I used a hollow zig line that I've used to great success when surface fishing for carp. 

Paul came along to have a look at how this fly fishing game works, problem was I didn't have a clue what I was doing either really, not the best time to show him the ropes but I was sure we would have a laugh. 

Arriving at the swim of the big brownie that we saw before, I positioned myself in the deep marginal undergrowth, hopefully out of the fishes eye line & flicked my fly out into the fast flowing river. 

                My first cast in full flow

This river is very shallow in places & rarely over 3ft deep, that fact combined with it only being a maximum 12ft across, led me to believe these fish would be very spooky. That proved right as the next hour consisted of 30 minutes of retrieving my hook from trees behind me & 20 minutes of untangling my gear. Leaving only 10 minutes of "fly-touching-water" time, but I had a good feeling after a few runs down the swim these fish had moved on. 

Next was a bit of a risky move but I decided to slowly stand up & peer into the shallow water with my polaroids. Just as I thought the swim was empty, I just prayed these wild fish were safe & had not ended up on somebodies dinner plate.

On to the next swim & I saw a few dark shapes cruising around under a large tree, first cast looked ok as the fast flow whisked my fly downstream at quite a pace.

As I thought about mending the line a small fish nipped at the fly & I struck thin air. 

Frustrating... Of course but I knew it was only a tiny fish & I hoped more chances would come my way later on. 

A couple of casts later & it was time to move on to the exciting, unfished part of the river.

On the long walk Paul quizzed me about all aspects of this, at times complicated method & I tried by best to fill him in on what little I knew.

First sight of the river looked like a great fish holding area, a far bank run with a lovely little deeper pool on the nearside. We both kept well back from the rivers edge & I flicked my fly as close to the far bank as I dared. 

Don't know what I'm doing here, mid cast maybe 

My artificial hookbait swung round in the flow & stopped at the back of the pool, I left it there for a minute while mulling over my next move as Paul spotted a good fish that topped right in the faster flow, an unexpected place to see a fish as I had thought they would be hanging just off the flow towards the pool.

But I'd be crazy to ignore this sign & I cast 6ft upstream of the fishy movement & just as it reached where the fish showed before.......

My fly disappeared in the middle of a large swirl & for once I didn't have loads of slack line, as the line tightened up I felt a good head shake.

In the fast flow it became apparent this fish is a decent size & sped off downstream, thankfully I managed to get him in the nearside slacks & thus became far easier to handle. As my "gillie" Paul readied the net I saw a mass of silver & spots on a long flank down to a big triangular tail fin, the lean & powerful trout was soon safely in the net.

                        What a beauty !!!!

I started laughing nervously as I saw the size of my fish, from this part of the river no wider than 7ft & a depth of 3ft max, he must have been thriving in this habit. 

We possibly netted him a bit early & he didn't like his picture being taken, he squirmed & wriggled in my hands, but eventually we got a few pictures & rather than weigh him I wanted to get him back quickly & in good nick.

In hindsight maybe I should have wieghed it but my estimate would be around 3lb

Huge mouth & obviously a male with a big kype 

                  Chuffed ain't the word

As he swam off strongly I sat back & knew that was undoubtedly the fish of the day but could I tempt a few more out ?

A few casts later & the swim had died, not surprising really. 

Moving on to the final swim of the day & I decided it was time for Paul to have a go. 

I cast the fly upstream of a big overhanging tree & hastily passed the rod over to Paul, he looked nervous as he took the handle & amazingly a trout darted out from the shadows & nailed the fly. 

Thankfully I had set the disc drag & Paul held on as the trout burrowed for the cover & safety of the tree.

I jumped down the steep bank & got stung by the nettles & a boot full of water but I managed to net Paul's prize at the first attempt. 

A fat bellied stunner but "who ate all the flies" hahaha

Paul's face was a picture, just like a little kid again. I have to admit I love putting people on the fish & I enjoyed that almost as much as my fish earlier.

With the fish well & truly spooked it was time to make a move home. 

I did feel that I learnt quite a bit on steep learning curve (trial & error mostly) but Paul & i were already planning another trip as soon as we can.

As a little footnote, I went back the next week, I struggled with the trout but i had a beaut of a chub take my mayfly.

         Proof of the fly doing the damage 

                Big head & golden flanks

                 4lb 8oz of chunky chub

I thought it would be close to my pb of 5lb 10oz but with a hollow-ish belly she didn't even make 5lb. Still mega chuffed to say the least but I can't wait to get back to more familiar tactics in this swim after the 16th.

Where's my float rod & centrepin ???

Back on the DS

This closed season has been a real struggle for myself, with so many new bits of river found by Paul & I, hours of walking the banks with the poloroids & feeding bread, june the 16th can't come quick enough for me.

The final month I'm sure will drag endlessly but I'm certain if we put the hours bankside & a bit of luck we should net a few pb's

So this time round I've been craving my old faithful light lure rod rated at 1-8g, but with very few canals near me open at this time of year, a road trip would be needed.

So with a spare afternoon to waste it was time to give it a bash. A few messages sent out to a few "lure nuts" pals that live over that way, they passed on some valuable info, they explained after some very heavy rain the day before conditions could be tough.

It was very coloured water & pushing through quite a bit, almost the polar opposite to the norm....

Without much experience of this canal I doubted my sanity of driving the 3 hour 30 minutes round trip but as is mostly my case, my fishing time can be quite limited & this could possibly be the only chance to go in the next month.

With an overcast & warm day forcast I fancied my chances & hastily packed my car & set off about lunchtime.

Arriving at the canal it's looking decent, the water, although still coloured was defenetly fining down a bit.

It was certainly a case of blowing away the cobwebs as my first cast was made into a beautiful lock pool. I felt extremely rusty as I jiggled the rod in a vain attempt  to give my grass minnow a bit of extra life.

Typical canal with some nice bushy margins

Just as the lure came into view from the dark brown depths under my feet, I saw a submarine shaped fish just behind............ As expected my rustiness came to the for, I fluffed it, speeding up the retrieve & the fish just melted away to the deeper water. 

Various other casts were made in the same area, all to no avail as my thoughts turned to what species was it ????

I was hard to see any kind of colour but the shape narrowed it down to just a couple of species....

Chub or trout ???

I know there are a few chub in this canal but they're by no means prolific at all.

I also knew there were a few rogue brownies & rainbows that no doubt found there way into the canal system via a quite a few floods over the last few years.

Either way I rued my chances as it was a rare fish, esp as it was a good 4lb+

I'm sure this missed chance stuck In my craw for the next 30 odd minutes as I walked over a mile without any signs of fish at all.

Finally I found a pocket of fish tight against the staging normally used for moring canal boats.

        It's a start & I'm not a blanker

Slightly bigger than the first but only just

Not monsters at all but roughly between 3 & 7oz, my confidence grew that little bit more, like learning to ride a bike, you never forget but sometimes you need five minutes to get back in the swing of things.

With the rust firmly blown away I moved on to another lock with some fishy looking margins covered with tall reeds.

First few casts produced nowt but as I unintentionally held the dropshot weight at dead depth as I looked around for my next likey spot to cast my lure to.

Just as the lock was opened by a bloke ironically very much resembling captain Birdseye. But as the flow increased 10 fold, I felt the minnows paddle tail picking up the pace & twitching my sensitive rod tip.

Bang...... the tip zipped round before I had a chance to think about how appealing this might look underwater. A dogged & lively fight was short lived as I readied the net,

Then a flash of silver caught my eye as the net did its job, hard to believe but it was a nice little chub.

In fact it was my first ever chub on the DS !

 

Big old paddle on this young chub

With two possible sighting today maybe there are a few more lovely chub in this canal than I first thought. 

Next cast just a touch further downstream I thought I'd try the same tactic once again, bingo.......

This felt slightly bigger & zoomed off for the nearside snags but 10 seconds later, with net deployed he was safely nestled in the wet grass by my side.

At last a perch, ok not the 3lb+ sized lump I was desperate to find but at 1lb that will do for now

Pristine stripy perfection 

Unluckily this new tactic didn't work a  third time in this pool so a change of swim & lure was on the cards.

Last time on this canal the fox rage mini fry stood me in good stead so that's my next plan of action.

Lemon tiger perchy goodness 

While I think of it I'm using a new hook & knot for my dropshoting 

Kamasan B983 hooks that I've used for barbel many times before

After my first session I can highly recommend these hooks & at £1-30 per pack of 10 you can't go wrong.

A further few miles downstream walked with pockets of smaller perch landed it was an enjoyable afternoons fishing even if the bigger girls didn't show up. 

Greedy or what ????

Fin perfect mini perch

Stunning colours on this wee beast

I also bumped into a water vole, swimming from boat to boat 

With a final tally of 15 perch & a chub

It was a pleasing few hours work.

But I think next time I should plan a slightly differently attack & just fish larger lures to hold out for a better stamp of perch. I hope 2 get this attempt done before the magical 16th comes along next month & of course I'll let you know how I get on via this blog sometime soon I hope. 

Tight lines people & thanks for reading

Surface carping

As a little intro to this blog I wanted to say this is just a short one, mainly because I've not been out much latey & also its quite similar to previous blogs. Anyway let get on with the business in hand......

As the river season is well & truly gone, for the next few months at least & the weather picking up again, it's time to indulge in one of my favourite methods.

Digging out my barbel gear, small but strong hooks & my bucket of dog biscuits meant it's surface fishing time.

As I've said before, does it get more exciting than seeing a lump, just under the surface gobbling up mixers confidently in the margins & then make a b line for your hookbait, blissfully unaware that he's being watched. More often than not he'll move on to your hookbait & just stall, millimetres away for what seems like an age as your nerves jangle & the adrenaline starts to pump through your veins........

As you concentrate intensely & will the beast to take it, with rod in hand ready to strike like a coiled spring.

(Your mind is just waiting for the impending classic slurping noise & then all hell breaks loose, as the carp steams off looking for the closest cover, well that's the plan anyways)

Then he inexplicably turns away for no good reason & disappears back in to the murky depths never to be seen again, as you sit back, head in hands.

Arhhhhhhhhhh

It's almost as infuriating as mullet fishing but not quite. 

But my word it's great when u get it spot on & that's basically why we go fishing, 

"the anticipation & the thrill of the chase"

 

Before you say anything I know, I stole the above line from the great carp man Mark Pitchers, but I really feel it's sums up how we all feel about fishing & that's what brings us back to the waters edge week after week after week.

I must also add that I also enjoy the unknown, fishing a wild lake or river where the fish don't have names, probably never been caught. 

Not knowing just how big they might have grown & any second you could be attached to a fish of a lifetime.

With that thought in my mind I've found an old gravel pit that as far as I know doesn't get fished much, if at all, with some very nice tench & carp to well over 20lb+

I hope to be giving that a good bash over the coming summer months.

Ok so back to the story, I'm terrible at getting distracted.......

Just a quick few hours after work I hoped would be enough to entice a handful of carp to get feeding on the surface & in turn hopefully get a few on the bank to have their picture taken.

My chosen lake is a small & quiet day ticket place close to home, it's got plenty of fish to just over 20lb but the average is 6 to 11lb.

With some nice marginal bushes & trees for cover I made a b-line for the scum covered slacks in the corner of the lake, with the wind pushing quite hard into this bay I felt sure I'll find a few carp lurking in this area.

My chosen swim was slowly coming alive 

Three large handfuls of mixers were scattered about in this bay as I set up my rod. Free lining is always my preferred method if I'm fishing close in & I can get away with it. I had controller floats in my bag if the fish became spooky & fed more confidently out in the middle but I hoped I wouldn't need them.

After an hour of feeding & some gentle coaxing closer I felt ready for my first cast, with the wind in my face even just an underarm flick was going to be tricky. So I was proved right as my artificial mixer & hook flew straight into a tree !!!

As you can guess that was game over for a bit as my line snapped but I hastily got an other hook from my bag, luckily I hadn't spooked the fish & they were still feeding positively. 

As I hastily tied on my esp size 10, the carp where luckly still feeding well with a few nice sized black shapes crusing just beneath the surface. 

At this point I have a confession to make, I had my gopro ready mounted to my head but, as I can be at times extremely scaterbrained, unfortunately I had 45 mins of footage from earlier of me feeding carp, attaching myself to the aforementioned tree & my hook tying skills.

I assure it wasn't riveting stuff & to top it off the battery had died. I did have another battery ready charged but I just couldn't risk these fish moving of the feed with only a few hours of fishing time left.

I became focused on the fishing in hand, but I must be more disciplined in the future & I promise I'll have something worth watching sometime soon. 

A pair of very soft zig baits that I rubbed in to earth to give them more of a brown mixer colour

The next 10 minutes were unusually perfect, right out of the "surface fishing bible" 

Three carp were feeding less than a foot from the bank & right under my feet, one of the three was a nice sized common.

So I slowly shuffled back up the bank on my back as quietly as possible, no doubt I looked like a right burk trying to itch my back at the time, but did I care ??

Just as I got in position I turned to see the better common sucking in a couple of biscuits & I speedily dropped my hookbait a foot in from of his nose....... He heard the plop & homed in on my bait, came right out of the water like a whale coming up for air to quickly grab the mixer before one of his fellow pals could get there. 

Game on !!

He bolted off to the left where it shallowed off & headed for the reeds. As I felt the line ping off the vegetation & unseen lily pad roots many times as I prayed for a touch of luck. 

After a minute of churning up the bottom & uprooting plenty more reeds & basically wrecking the swim, I gleefully scooped him up in the landing net, which was just about big enough for this long, lean & powerful carp.

Feeling a touch smug at how "text book" that went & although not a monster I gathered my nerves, unhooked the fish & rested it in the margins while I set my mini tripod up for a quick selfie.

I got myself organised & proceeded to get some half decent pics on my iphone using a brilliant little app called "auto camera" & a joby gorilla pod.

  A scraper double but I was happy as Larry

As this swim was completely destroyed with all the commotion I moved round to another bay & proceeded to catch a couple more fish in a far less text book way with countless missed opportunities but I got there in the end.

I added three more carp to my tally, all of which were smaller than the first but scraped very well for their size.

6lb of fighting fit carp that gave me the run around in a tight swim

A 7lb plump fish that needed attention from my carp care kit

Another lean common in the net, about 8lb+

With the gates shutting shortly I knew after I released fish four it was time to make a move & after an enjoyable four hours fishing but I will be back for the bigger ones, until the next time.....

On a Zander mission

So after three failed attempts at getting a "Sander Lucioperca" into my net at bury hills (hooking & then losing two fish) I felt it was time to heal these wounds.

This meant a trip north was needed, a hundred miles or so from my Surrey home.

We just don't have the canals or rivers with a decent enough stock of these spiny beasts to target them specificly. Apart from the river Thames of course, which is not easy to fish from the bank in areas that the Zander like to hang out, thus far more accessible from a boat.

With my perennial fishing pal Mr Wheatie bagging his first zander the other week along with plenty of plump 2lb Perch, I pestered him to set up a trip north. 

Our last minute plan was to meet up with a couple of Paul's old "Lure Nuts" friends Nathan & Garry (both seasoned lure & predator anglers) at a small midlands canal just before daybreak. In turn this meant a 4am alarm was set & a two hour drive for me, not something I'd do every weekend but this could be a special trip.

A supposedly very early nights sleep ending up being just four hours & most of that sleep time was full of zandery dreams.

The early morning brought a dose of reality to my mindset as these zander have seemed ever so elusive for me & at times, I felt they were almost un-catchable..... my bogey fish. 

Scores needed to be settled & with a war like mentality as I drove into the darkness with thoughts firmly locked on the upcoming battle of wits.

My chosen tactics for the impending conflict was of course the now infamous "dropshot"

Paul did well with his first Zander on the winning combo of dropshot fished grass minnow & we'd be stupid not to use this as our first port of call. 

A was met with a bleary eyed welcome at 6am from the guys & with sunlight yet to arrive, we stumbled off in search of some water. 

Paul's great plan was to walk a couple of miles or so, pointing out good spots along the way, then stopping at a certain lock & making our way back. We would be casting out regularly at fishy holding areas, such as overhanging trees & bushes on the far bank, turning circles (for the many canal boats) as well as parked boats & of course the many locks & bridges dotted along our route back to the cars.

As the sun poked his head just about over the horizon, I had my first proper sight of the canal. Very narrow in places but far from a uniform canal, with regular width changes with plenty of features, yet relatively shallow & with very poor water clarity. 

All in all it looked great & with a clouded sky & warmish temperatures for this time of year, we all cast out into the unknown murky depths.

Bridges are always worth at least a few casts

           Plenty of boat cover to explore 

    Nathan & I trying to sneak out a predator 

After a fish-less first hour, without even a tap or inquiry, I plugged away with my grass minnow as the other guys chopped & changed with tactics & lures.

We thought if we all tried something different & found the winning method on the day then perhaps we could all get on it & share the spoils. 

Of course with best laid plans, it was bound to fail & fail we did, until........

Nathan has a pluck on his lure & a tap on the rod tip from a deep lock, unfortunately resulting in a short lived fight. A glimpse of the fish at around 2lb was all we saw, as mr zander won this particular battle. 

After closer inspection it showed he was never really hooked with the last inch of the lure missing. 

But it showed something was feeding....At Last !!!

With renewed hope we all cast with purpose & gave it our full concentration & luckily I was next to taste some action.........

A cast to a small far bank tree resulted in a slow yet positive take, I'm sure he'd followed my minnow from the cover of the tree & took it halfway across the canal.

With my new 1-8g rod bending very nicely I thought the likely culprit was a good sized perch, with the classic head shaking, ponderous fight.

I rapidly changed my mind as it rolled on the surface & my legs went weak, it's a zander. The fight then picked up a bit & it started to give me more of a darting battle. But that was short lived as I deployed the landing net, then I had a problem.......

The powerful magnet I used to hang the net on my back was now stuck fast on the metal corrugated edge of the bank, as i wrestled one handed with the net, I feared I might lose the fish but today seemed like my lucky day as I landed my prize with gusto. I parted the net to see a bristling creature looking at me with his huge predatory eyes, the Zander monkey was finally removed from my back.

                Another pb hits the net

   I'm far more happy than I look, honestly 

Within twenty minutes Nathan also had a Zander on the bank, dropshot again but he had scaled right down & used an S sized grass minnow. 

  On a rock hard day any fish is so welcome 

Our hard work seemed to be paying off at last but, unfortunately that was the last fish of the day for anybody.

We were all surprised that even a small perch or three didn't arrive.

Both Paul & Garry deserved a fish or two with their dogged commitment but it just wasn't to be today.

I would have loved to celebrate my fish with the other chaps but I didn't feel it was the time or the place to so. I've been in that position far to many times to mention & trust me it's the last thing you want to do.

So with those thoughts in my mind, I decided it was time to tackle the long drive home. Great to meet new friends & you know what this means chaps ?

We have unfinished business on this canal & we will be back soon.