That was a quack one!

Well that was a quick one, don't know where this year has gone.

 

The last couple of sessions have been on a new Zander spot we've found, we were originally after Pike but these alternative toothed ones found our dead baits and at a good average size they were more than welcome to have a chew on the fishy snacks. On our last session I was convinced that this years little yellow fishing companion was residing in my fishing bag but I was wrong. I'd forgotten the two one defeat from a couple of weeks ago and Barry was indeed the keeper of the quacking one.

 

On our last session on the bank for this years challenge I was convinced the duck was heading my way as Barry had a double take within the first hour, both were missed, shame!. Barry lost a fish at the net which would have made things interesting if he'd managed to keep a hook  in it. I had to wait until the witching hour kicked in before I had a good take and the first fish on the bank, it was a good fish but an even better feeling to be one up.

Nice Zed just over four

An even better feeling came on the next cast when I became two up after a second slightly smaller fish.

 

Sorry Barry, better luck next year??

 

Have a quacking of a new year everyone.

 

Chasing Tales

My fishing has been a little hit and miss lately, mostly miss, I haven't been out for ages and the last trip, for Pike, ended in a blank for me and two fish for Barry. This has meant that the duck was still mine even though I didn't actually have it! Barry could not find the duck, I was on the verge of sending out a distress call to all bloggers in case they find the poor little yellow one on the bank somewhere but Barry intervened saying he had found it and would bring it along for the next session.

 

Who has more teeth?

The past two weekends have been spent at home trying to get a few jobs done around the house, the sort of job's that keep getting put off till later, only, 'later' was here and they needed doing. This weekend I managed to reserve a pass for a session on Sunday and true to his word, the duck accompanied us on a session on the canal. Pike was the quarry but a Zander would put points on the board as it's only a few weeks till the end of the year and I certainly don't want to be the holder of the duck when the bell tolls midnight at the start of the new year.

We were looking for a quick bite so settled on a spot of leap frogging to cover ground the thought being that if we plopped a dead bait on a fishes head it'll more than likely take it, much better than sitting behind motionless bobbins in one spot. 

A passer by told a tale of a large fish being caught at a feature a good half mile down the canal from where we started so the leap frogging became a hike and it wasn't long before we had four rods spread out around our new swim. it was a good move as within half an hour my right hand rod kicked into life the bobbin twitching up about half an inch so something was showing interest in the bait, the bobbin remained motionless for a while so decided to reposition but not before puncturing the now thawed bait in several places. It worked, as soon as I parked my arse on the seat after casting out, it was away pulling up tight at first then dropping slack, It was a Zander and a reasonably good one.

 

First fish from the new spot.

It was a real shame that no sooner than Barry had presented me with the duck, it had to be handed back, as soon as my rod was re-cast to the same spot the duck was repositioned on top of Barry's bag. The same rod was soon showing signs of something being interested in the bait and it was away again, another Zed.

 

Second Zed.

 

　

On the Thin and Narrow.

Ryton was still producing some very good fish but all has suddenly gone quiet, too much feed me thinks, less is more!! just wish I could get on there as often as I'd like to, roll on the spring. The last session was a break from the pool, I've been thinking about a stretch of canal I was told held a good head of Carp, Barry had a few out earlier this year and they were good looking fish but it's the tales about one of this stretches larger inhabitants that has me interested. This session was also a chance to try my Ryton 3.4 boilie mix on another water just to check that these baits really do work.

 

I overshot the first lob to a margin reed line but was bang on the second chuck, I was just hoping that the first attempt hadn't ruined the spot. The baits had been in the water for less than an hour when I got a strange take, the bobbin rose quickly and stopped then nothing happened, it was exactly the same as some of the Bream and Tench bites at Ryton. After a couple of minutes, off it went, a Carp, exactly what I was after to confirm that my bait works on other waters, it wasn't a big fish but at least I wasn't going to blank.

Canal Common.

After seeing the damage to its top lip I think these fish may have been caught several times before, maybe this stretch of water has been more heavily fished for Carp than I thought?

 

Another cast onto the same spot resulted in another fast take that pulled the bobbin up tight but whatever picked up the bait spooked off without feeling the point of the hook, I think these fish might be a bit 'cute' to being fished for with boilies. After this take I didn't get any more enquiries and as evening approached I was hovering around my rods expecting a take any second as everything was looking perfect for a bite but nothing developed and left having caught just the one common. Barry bagged up which resulted in the duck changing hands, quack quack!

More Bubbler's

Morris's was free for today's session and Barry fancied free-lining bread in this area so we headed for this corner of the pool. I had my eye on the tree line along the no fishing bank after seeing a fish crash whilst looking around the pool earlier on, I could see a few dark shapes milling around on the top in this area and several patches of bubbling fish.

First fish to take my donkey choker hook bait was a small bream which I seem to be catching a lot of lately, must be something in the new boilie mix, how it managed to pick up the bait I don’t know but it was well hooked. I use a long hair so it was probably nosing around the bag contents and picked up the hook that way.

 

Donkey!

It was late afternoon before I caught my first Carp. I’d been watching some fish bubbling in one area and one spot seemed to be very popular, there would be a few fish in the area, then it would go quiet, then they’d be back on the spot again. During a quiet period between bubbling I introduced a well placed cork ball pop up and laid the rod on the ground ready for the take, it took ages, bubbles started to appear in the area so I got up and went to the back of the peg to stand on a large tree trunk section to get a better view of the area but when I looked all I saw was a huge swirl in the vicinity of my hook bait and heard the fizz of my clutch as the Carp tore off, I’d missed the take and ran round to the rod to catch up with the fish, it kited over to the right catching up in my second line and it was all a bit of a mess but we got it in the net.

 

Nice mid double.

It was another long cast over towards the back of the trees with a cork ball pop up (my buoyant balls are working well!) that saw another take from what I thought was a good Tench or a stockie as there was no run and it was a bit of a lame fight, it turned out to be another mid double common.

 

Another mid double.

With regards to the Duck, I don't have it.

 

First Fish!

My pond has matured enough now to have it's first fish introduced. When I first built the pond Barry said I could have some fish from his as he had loads of all sorts. The date was set and we took Cerys for her first fishing trip, I fashioned an unused pole top section into a toddler sized fishing pole with a small barbless 16 hook on the end, It's barbless only on Barry's lake.

Fishing in the edge.

A nice Rudd.

Maggots were used to tempt the fish in and it wasn't long before we had a bucket full of all sorts and all sizes. A few of the fish that came out Barry had never seen before but he did say that they breed every year so there could be anything in there. Some of the buckets contents had to be returned as they were Barry's prized fish be we ended up with a lovely selection of Goldfish, brown Goldfish, a lovely Crucian (I think?) and some Rudd.

 

Crucian or not?

 

Cerys enjoyed it but I think I enjoyed fishing with my little girl more!

The First and Last.

Back on the pool again, the lake has been very busy with some good catches, both in quantities and size, with most from one particular area of the lake. There has been one fish out which I can't 100% guarantee it was Roxy but from the pictures I've seen and comparing side by side with mine, I'm calling it, it's good to know she's still with us but at a very out of shape weight, however, last winter did drag on for ages which I think has dented some of the bigger fish weights, I was told she still felt a little hollow after spawning so she probably wasn't at her best and could do with getting her head down, roll on spring.

 

I opted to fish the far corner of the pool due to the pressure the other end had been seeing and when I arrived at my peg I knew I'd made the right decision. In front of my swim the surface bubbled away and plumes of mud rose up from the lake bed, I was shaking as I got the first rod out of the bag and I couldn't get it out quick enough, I was all fingers and thumbs selecting which cork pop up to use but the cast was spot on, it went out beyond the fish and I wound down straight away to bring it over the cloudy area and dropped it right onto their dinner plate, there were loads of smaller effervescent bubbling in the area which were probably Tench but the spot I was on had clusters of much bigger bubbles, it was just a matter of sitting back and waiting for the take. I set about getting my PVA bags tied and second rod ready but before I could get this rod out I heard the clutch of my reel fizz as line tore off the spool, I was in and less than ten minutes from arriving at my swim I had my first fish in the bag.

 

First chuck mid double.

The rest of the session was rather non eventful, I chased a few more bubbler's even moving across the bay to get a better angle but nothing developed. I'd baited one spot off the island through the day and did cast to it a couple of times but I mostly left this area alone, it was approaching the end of the session so I put a rig 'bang on' this spot for the last hour and a bit, it was one of those casts that was so good you know it's going to go.

 

This cast sat there for a good hour and I was contemplating moving it as nothing had happened then I heard my alarm give a series of short bleeps, I was having a chat with Barry at the time and ran straight round to the rod to see the bobbin at the top and the line pulled up tight, I immediately though 'Tench', as there hadn’t been a blistering run off the spot, I lifted into the fish and felt a grating on the line, whatever it was had gone through the roots of the island tree I was fishing too, it was still there so I just kept the tension on and it pulled itself free of the roots, then it ran, it was a Carp. This fish fought like stink and just didn't want to give up, I thought it was going to be a good twenty the way it was going and when it did eventually come to the net I was a bit disappointed as it wasn't quite the size it was making out to be, still a good upper double common though.

 

Last cast upper double.

Back on!

The past few weeks has seen me back on the bank at Ryton, I haven't put the effort in for ages but the time seems right to try a small Autumn campaign and it's nice to to be back.
 

A reason to be on the bank.

I've winkled out at least one Carp a session, except for a couple of Sundays ago which meant I went home with the duck, I've also had a shed load of Tench and several small Bream, how a small Bream can get a donkey choker of a boilie in it's gob I don't know.

 

Sucker stockie

Up until this weekend all the Carp have been of the 'stockie' size, probably the recent immigrants from Kenilworth that have yet to learn the ways of the Ryton Carp. Even though they are small I know that my 'Ryton 3.4' boilie recipe is still working despite having an overhaul due to a discontinued flavour, I tried the same flavour from a different supplier and it didn't even smell the same but that's another story.

 

Not big but in mint condition.

The most recent incarnation of my smelly balls has seen my biggest Carp on the bank for a long time, certainly my biggest Ryton fish since last year and It was a popped up boilie made with cork dust kneaded into the dough that tricked this fish. The trap had been surrounded with a couple of dozen free offerings to entice the fish in and it worked as it was my first cast to one particular spot that saw this fish on the bank. It took an hour but a single bleep signaled the pick up, there was then a pause before the fish tore off across the pool on a one toner. It's a long time since I had a good fish from this place and I didn't want to loose it so I just took my time and let the fish do what it wanted to do whilst gaining line, it was a lovely common and Barry did a grand job of netting it for me and taking the pictures.

 

18lb and in good condition

Barry rolled up late for this session so todays fishing was not for the duck, should have kept my mouth shut, I still have it.

Passing it back!

Had a nice session at Ryton last week, just a float rod and a sleeper some bread, sweetcorn and a few borrowed, two week old, maggots. We were on the road bank, what used to be pegs one and two and fishing a rod length out, I was still setting up when Barry pulled in his first Perch and he had another two before I put a bait in the water. It didn't take too long to catch up and we were level pegging for a while, Barry had a good take on his sleeper which he said felt like a Tench but it shook the hook, not too long after I had a nice Tench on my sleeper followed by another one on the float which put me ahead, it's been a while since my float rod bent into a nice Tench.

 

Classic Ryton Tench

We kept experiencing quiet spells which was due to a Grebe swimming in close and scaring off the fish, he kept coming back, disturbing the swim and sending up plumes of bubbles making it look like a mass of Tench were feeding in front of us, at one point I had a lovely slide away take and struck into what I thought was a good fish but the Grebe had caught my line. Visions of being stabbed to death went through my mind as I wound the bird in but it broke free.

 

We both carried on catching and I had a couple of nice surprises, a skimmer Bream which I'd heard of a few coming out but I'd never seen myself, Bream at Ryton are a bit of a rarity. Then I had a lovely slow take on the float that left me puzzled, I didn't know what it was then a lovely Perch broke the surface, it was only around a pound but my favourite fish of the session.

Nice Perch.

Just as we started to pack up, Barry was joking whilst putting a jumper on over his head, "I'll just pull in this twenty pounder" he said at which point his reel went into melt down, It was quite funny seeing him pick up the rod with a jumper half on and scratching around looking for his glasses. It was a good Carp and it broke surface several times as it tore around in front of us, Barry still had his reels clutch locked up from a previous session so the fish pulled the rod into an alarming curve, I felt victory slip away until he shouted "it's off".

 

The duck is now on it's second camping holiday in north Wales, this time, with Barry! (Lucky Duck!!)

Travels with a Duck!

Yes, it's summer jolly holibob time again, this time camping in North Wales, something we haven't done since before Cerys arrived. I forgot how much stuff you have to take on one of these trips, a few extra bits now there's three of us, I had to invest in a trailer to get all the gear to the site.



Duck on the dash!

Only had a few fishing trips and the first was a flop, it was one of those 'I know I shouldn't do this' but did it sessions, I ended up buying bait instead of digging it, did this four years ago and didn't catch anything, did it again and didn't catch anything! Did get very wet though, chose to fish on the only wet day of the whole trip.

Lovely Welsh weather

I took my fly rod out on the next trip as the last time I fished here I caught my first Bass on the fly, I had to try and do it again. I followed the tide in as it filled the harbour and found a cluster of schoolies held up in a back eddie, the first fly I stripped through the shoal got a follow but no take, I tried again and another bow wave chased the fly, I kept at it and cast after cast I could not get a take, I swapped flies over to try different colours they just would not 'ave it'! took to long casting to these fish and being as I was on the opposite bank to the campsite I had to take the long walk around the marsh to get back to the tent. Nice walk though, saw loads of small schoolies and big Mullet working their way up some of the muddy channels, going to bring the inflatable next year and motor up after these Mullet.

Time to do things properly, went out at low tide and dug a load of the small harbour ragworm, they're really small but they work, the lure I was going to use is a modified Mepp's I worked on a few years back and it worked well, the body a mix of beads and weights with sequins between to add a flash of colour, behind this a short length of Amnesia with a size six fine wire Aberdeen hook on the end, a bunch of worms are threaded on the hook and cast out. I started in the harbour allowing the lure to touch bottom and then reeling in at a steady pace.



A tiddler on my special lure

Small Roach sized Bass

I had schoolies almost instantly but they were small, Roach sized. The odd flattie followed the lure and I had two Bass that were 'Tesco' sized, big enough for the pan but they went back, it was the best trip of the holiday and I lost count how many Bass I caught.

In The Lanes (Never Published)

Just found this in my blog list, I'd forgotten to publish it, it was my 200'th Blog!

Bit late but I'll publish anyway

In the wind lanes is where I found the fish last weekend. We'd settled on Jubilee's horseshoe pool for the next leg in our duck challenge. Weather was a typical British summer day, grey with a forecast for rain later in the session. I had a batch of boilies that were ready to go so decided to fish on the bottom for a change, the fly gear taken just in case.

I was very quiet for the first hour or so and the weather was closing in, as usual there was plenty of fish activity with several showing out in the middle of the pool and a glimpse of the odd one or two in the margins which is where both rods were placed. I had biscuits with me and decided to 'cat' a few out and see if anything came up and sure enough, they did.

One rod was quickly brought in and changed over to a controller and whittled down boilie to see if I could tempt a take, the overhanging tree's made sure there was no room for the fly rod in this swim. After several casts and a few bait colour changes I had a fish on, a smallish common was the first on the bank.

When fly fishing I notice that he fish like to stay back just out of casting range which is exactly what these fish seemed to be doing, they were hanging back in a wind lane running across my swim, any biscuits thrown or drifting into this patch of water were being picked off by fish so I concentrated my efforts in casting beyond these and drawing the bait back into the glassy water of the wind lane. I had several missed takes but the fish kept coming back and I managed to bank three others Carp including a mirror that was a good double.

My sleeper rod in the margins kept fishing and after several dropped takes I hooked one of the culprits, Bream, I had two in total one of them bristling all over with tubercles ready for spawning.

Jolly Holibob's

Yes, it's that time of the year we we go off on our annual trip to North Devon only this time it was a little different, the sun was out for the whole week! When it came to the fishing I'm not sure if I can say it was or wasn't a successful trip as I would have preferred the tides to be morning/evening rather than middle of the day and middle of the night like they were, also, because of the lack of wind, the water was crystal clear causing the hounds to move off shore, I didn't see any get caught for the whole week I was there.

 

 

On a plus note, I fished a spot just on the inside of the estuary entrance which I've caught Bass from before, and they were still there and still the same size. (Small)

 

Big bait, small fish!

 

I did catch a Flounder which was a nice change, haven't caught one of those for ages.

 

Nice change.

 

The best fish of the whole trip was a lovely surprise as the last time I caught these was on the Menai Straits back in 1988 the summer before I went off to university.

Whilst fishing the one of my favourite rock marks for hounds I got chatting to a local angler who mentioned that a few Black Bream were coming off these same rock marks to worm baits, now I had lugworm baits back at the caravan ready for a session the next day, the Friday before we came home but didn't have time to get these before the tide covered the spot I was fishing.

The next day I had to make a tough decision, it's the last fishing trip of the holiday, do I try on the rocks for one of these Black Bream or do I go for the Bass in the estuary, I went for the dead cert, Bass but the first bite I received turned out to be something I wasn't expecting to catch.

 

A tip rattling 'Blackey'

 

I dropped several Bream after hooking this one and I thought the 3/0 hook was a bit on the big side for the breams small mouth, I dropped hook size down to a two and it was a bite a chuck, this lasted for only a few casts, the tide was nearing the top and as the current eased off, the fish to moved away.

 

Still a great session though.

Apologies!

I just thought I'd try and squeeze this one in so the June section of my blog list isn't a blank, the apology is for the lack of blogging, there's not a lot going on, I've only been out a couple of times since my last blog and there's only so many fly fishing trips I can talk about and blanks are not even worth wasting keyboard time over.

 

However, on my last blanking trip, after Zander, I had a little experiment with something a little different as bait. Sea baits are not commonly used for Zander however I have caught several Zander using both Sprat and Mackerel, on this trip I was giving Squid a go as I had some left over after a bit of a cooking session the night before, I love squid.

 

I didn't think things were going to work as we remained bite less for a good two hours, a local passer by informed us that the short stretch of canal we were fishing had been drained for maintenance over the winter and the fish moved, after wasting a couple of hours here we made a move to another short stretch which we'd both not fished before. It looked promising, very fishy with plenty of features, Barry made a B-line for an area he liked the look of and I did the same. My first chuck in with the squid resulted in a good pull and a fish on but it threw the hook before I could confirm it's identity, the Squid seemed to be working.

 

I had a couple more dropped takes during the session so the slimy white stuff looks as though it'll be on my list of Zed baits for future sessions, I'll be definitely giving it a go again.

 

That'll be one bag of frozen squid for me and one for the freezer bait drawer.

Just needs fish.

Something I have been working on is another garden DIY project, a raised pond. More on that later.

Anyone for 'T' ?

It was at the last fishing show at the Ricoh Arena that a brief discussion was had about the association not having any merchandise to sell at such events, well, we now have merchandise.

 

Working in the fashion industry it seemed the right time to put my design skills to use and drew up a few ideas, these were presented to the committee and two designs were selected to take through to production, the first small test batch are now ready for association members to buy and wear.

The first design is fairly traditional based around one of the old enamel badges the association produced several years ago, it was given a bit of an 'on trend' twist and kept fairly conservative with black graphics on an olive shirt.

'Splat'

I'm no model but you get the idea.

The second design is aimed at the younger angler, It has a shortened club title and a snappy street style 'graffiti' font, the bright orange on olive looks striking and could quite easily be worm off the bank as well as on.

Graffiti 1

Again, you get the idea.

Keep an eye on the association's Facebook page for details on how to buy.

Going Quackers!

I've had a break from Ryton, the sun was out (for a change) and it was time for some action off the top, so, it was over to Jubilee for a bit of fluff chucking. My first fly flinging session was a bit of a non starter, I lost a good sized 'ghostie' at the net, my leader parted and it wasn't a knot failure, just sheer bad luck. Another spot of bad luck almost saw me land a very good sized goose, you take your eye off them for a split second and....

 

The next day was much better weather wise with hot sunshine and the surface of the pool was peppered with big dark shapes cruising around. A scattering of biscuits started the slurping and out went the first of several casts but these fish were wary of everything that looked like a biscuit, the trouble with sunny weather, everyone fishes on the top. It took a while but I hollered out "Yes" when I hooked the first Carp much to the frustration of Barry fishing the swim next door and it wasn't long till I had a lovely sized mirror in the net.

A zip fourteen.

 

The second fish was hard work, a couple of lads had started spodding biscuits to the middle of the pool and the Carp followed the sound of the dinner bell and out of our swims. The odd fish drifted back and it was one of these that I managed to pick off, it was a lovely common and a little smaller at twelve pound four ounces.

A nice scrappy common.

I had a quick walk around the pool to see if I could find another pocket of fish willing to feed but it was hard to find any, fish just dispersed as biscuits landed on their heads and it took ages to get any to feed, it's a good job I take plenty of biccy's.

 

Barry eventually got a fish on the bank but it was almost the end of the session when he did, this also meant that the little quackers got passed back to Barry again.

Finding it Slow.

I'm finding the fishing at Ryton a bit slow, I'm catching but not what I'd like to see on the bank. The Tench are snaffling up the boilies intended for Carp so the recipe is working, maybe it's more suited to a Tench's palette. The popped up boilies have been on target as well and I've had some lumps roll over the top of the bait so I can only presume that I'm getting done.

Plenty of these.

Quack!

 

I've stuck it out with the hope of a Carp which has cost me some good fishing for the smaller species and I've had to sit next to Barry and watch him bag up on Roach, Rudd, Perch, Bream and smaller Carp, let's just say that I am currently in custody of the ducks.

 

The Stump!

It's peg building season again. I've been asking a few questions about the peg we've put in at the back of the island for a while and it was about time that it went in. The sand bank now has two pegs, the original peg at the bottom of the sandy slope faces the island but we've now added another peg to the right of this that faces the road bank.

Tree's cleared.

We had the platform structure, the legs and a load of other timber and tools to shift and typically the peg we were building was at the furthest point away from the pound. We were going to have to do several trips back and forth carrying arms full of wood and tools, that was until Barry found and old shopping trolley tucked away in a corner, it was put to good use shifting the gear over to the far side of the pool and was nicknamed the 'Hurdy Gurdy', she served us well.

The Hurdy Gurdy

A few tree's had to be taken out and a rather tricky tree stump had to be chopped into to make the wooden platform fit, typically the stump was at an awkward angle to get at from the bank, waders had to be put on and into the lake I went to tackle the stump head on. The water infront of this peg has a good depth and was right up to the top of my thigh waders as we sawed and hacked at the stump. I was a bit concearned that the length of the legs being hammered into the lake bed at the front of the peg were not long enough to make the peg sturdy but once the platform was fastened to the legs and the shuttering between the bank and the back legs were filled in with rubble and sand the whole structure firmed up, it ain't going anywhere!

 

I made one classic error after rolling down the waders to collect some more gear from the pound, I jumped back into the lake and only realised they were still rolled down when they filled up with chilly lake water. It soon warmed up.

View of the finished peg from the road bank.

It takes the weight.

The finished peg looks rather nice and gives fishing access to the fronts of the now closed pegs along the section of road bank beyond the point, it's a tricky cast to be up close in front of the tree's so clipping up is advisable.

 

we came up with the pegs name, 'The Stump', for obvious reasons.

Tench save the day.

Still no Carp showing at Ryton and boilies had been dispensed with in favour of a few grains of maize with the hope of bagging a Tench or two. Barry had handed over the ducks at the beginning of the session but only one of them was heavy enough to sit beneath my pod in the strong wind.

 

Barry was first to bank a small Roach and he enjoyed letting me know that he was once again ahead on the duck challenge. It wasn't long before I had a slow take which resulted in a Tench in the net, the duck turned to look at Barry!

A nice example of a Ryton Tench.

The session was a bit of a slow one and ended with Barry catching one Roach, one Perch and a very nice Rudd, I don't think I've ever seen a Rudd with fins as Red before. My tally was Two nice Tench which out stripped Barry's bag so sadly the ducks never visited their new house and had to be taken back to Barry's again.

Barry, bring them with you next time?

Since last week, the Carp have woken up and a few have seen the bottom of a landing net.

 

Bit short notice this one, a couple of new pegs are going to go in over the next couple of weeks at Ryton so if anyone wants to give a hand your more than welcome, bring sledge hammers and spades.

Give 'em up!

Looks like the weather is breaking at last so roll on those warm summer evenings with a fish or two on the bank. A couple of weekends ago there was a brief spell of sunshine that saw us head off to a stretch of water for another round in our duck challenge.

 

It was late morning by the time we got our lines in the water and sitting in the sunshine was very pleasant, if it wasn't for the five layers of clothing it could have been mistaken for a normal spring day! It didn't last long, a large patch of black cloud moved over and it started to snow. It was during this snow shower that I saw Barry lift into a fish, "the jammy little" I thought and went over for a look, he'd had a small Bream on maggot and this seemed to be the way to go as big dead baits weren't being picked up.

First fish to Barry, a Bream.

 

then another Bream

 

and a Carp!

 

Several snow showers later, with a little bit of sunshine in between, I still sat there fish less willing one of the alarms to signal a take. Barry was bagging up on the opposite point with Bream, Carp and Ruffe and it looked as though those Duck's were coming home to roost at mine.

 

Even though those Ducks are officially mine, Barry seems reluctant to give them up? It's been nearly a week and a half since they were 'won' and they still haven't been handed over.

 

C'mon Barry, give 'em up!

Pants!

I'm struggling to find anything to blog about at the moment, I've still only had the one Bream so far this year not for the want of trying. I've been out several times in an attempt to bank my first Carp of the year but luck has not been on my side, the fishing has just been 'pants!'

 

we were out last weekend at Ryton and typically it snowed through half of the session but my confidence grew slightly when I had a fish rolled over the spot where both baits were positioned, I so wanted one of those rods to roar off. It didn't happen and I even made a quick move to a spot that has always produced a fish or two but still managed to blank.

 

Something I have been doing for the past couple of sessions is sharpening my hooks using the Jag kit that I bought at the Ricoh show a few weeks ago. Using the eye piece to view the point of the hook is a real eye opener, a sharp hook straight out of the packet looks surprisingly dull even though it feels sticky sharp, after a few strokes with the file the point is unbelievable.

 

Something else that happened at the beginning of the month was Cerys's birthday, can't believe she's two already. A party was had for family and a few friends and fun was had by all.

 

Who ate all the cheese?

 

Double Take

Still nothing to blog about but the mild spell we've had has seen a few Carp on the bank which is a very good sign, the end of February has always been good for me and hearing of these catches has got me working on making a few boilies ready for a Carp session at Ryton.

I've been having a good look through the old red boilie recipe book and I've altered my old 'Ryton 3' base mix slightly to accommodate a couple of new ingredients, I won't know whether this tweak will work or not till I see fish on the bank, only time will tell.

A mix of colours and textures.

Plus a few extras.

Ready to use.

It does look good and smells quite nice! The baits will be rolled fresh the day before fishing.

Typically, there's a cold front moving in for the weekend, the fishing at Ryton might switch off again for the next few days which would be just my luck!

Whilst having my usual cup of caffeine this morning I was flicking through one of my magazines, I nearly choked on my coffee when I saw a picture of a lovely girl with some familiar looking curves staring back at me, "is that?" I thought, it certainly looked like her so I had to reach for the photo album and have a good look. The shape was right but after a quick scale check I could see a few clear scale pattern variations.

(Magazine picture at the bottom)

Top picture - Me and Mel

When I first saw this picture I thought the tales of fish thefts in the area were true and that Ryton's 'Melissa' had been a victim.

I breathed a sigh of relief knowing that she's probably still in the pool but did wander whether both these fish were from the same strain of Carp but delivered to various fisheries whilst they were young, they certainly are the same shape.