Ryton Twenty Ten Carp Account - Open!

Even though it's not quite spring, I've started my campaign for the Ryton Carp.
I started early on Saturday and used pop up boilies on one rod, bottom bait and PVA stick on the other and cast these towards areas that were clouded up by the feeding tufties, these spots have accounted a few early season Carp for me on previous seasons and even though you have to put up with the constant line bites and pick ups from the ducks it's somewhere to start. After a couple of fishless hours I moved to another swim with the hope that the sunny spells would start to warm the shallower water unfortunately the wind swung round and picked up slightly and was now blowing straight onto my sunny spot. With the wind having a cold bite to it I made a move to another swim that enabled me to cast to the calm areas sheltered from the wind with a hope that the fish would be there.
Early afternoon saw the session finish on a blank and after seeing the forecast for the Sunday I didn't think I'd be fishing again this weekend.
The heavy rain had past over our region early this morning and the wind was a lot lighter than the forecast so I made my way back to Ryton for another Carp session. I stayed on the back of the wind again and used the same combinations of pop ups and bottom baits to target the same spot's as yesterday. It was only after I made a move that I struck gold with the first fish of the day. The tufties were having a good root around the area of my pop up and at first I thought one of them had picked up my bait as the bobbin was making some very erratic movements, I picked up the rod and started to reel in the bait but couldn't feel anything, then everything went very heavy and I could feel something kick and then kite off to my left, at last a Carp!. The Carp had picked the bait up and bolted straight towards me pulling the top bead off my leader and up the main line, hence the weird indication.

A nice way of finding out how safe my rigs are!

A small Common weighing in at 9lb.

There was still some bird activity over the spot so I put the same pop up out again, I'd only just sunk the line and set the rod on the pod before it rattled off on another run. It didn't feel as big this time and after a short tussle I had the fish in the net.

The Tench at Ryton are always welcome.

Ryton 2010 Carp account - Open!

Ryton Pike - Parts 4 and 5.

Part four was last week which was a complete disaster although I did meet a fellow Leamington club member and blogger Daniel Everitt and we had a good exchange of ideas and thoughts on Carp and Zander so even though I blanked the session was most enjoyable for the information.

Today was much better, I only planned to fish for a few hours over lunch time and I didn't have a clue where to go whilst eating my breakfast this morning, I thought about the canal and Zander but didn't fancy it and settled on a short session for a Ryton Pike. On arrival at Ryton the place was fairly quiet with only the one angler on the road bank, I headed over to the opposite bank and a spot I've been wanting to fish for a while.
Rods were cast out with the usual deadbaits, one free lined with just a small weight sliding on the line, this was the 'chuck it and leave it' sleeper rod, the other bait was under a float which gave me something visual to concentrate on. Today's chilly wind was blowing straight into this peg which made the fishing a bit uncomfortable but the sun was warming on my back as it shone through the tree's. After around twenty minutes I saw a few inches of line pull through the eye's on the free lined bait but nothing further developed and I put it down to the wind, it was only when I decided to bring this rod in and recast that I found I had a Pike chewing on the bait, I think I was as surprised as the Pike!. I soon had it in the net and after dealing with the hooks we both posed for a picture.

9lb on the dot!

I carried on at this peg for a while hoping that another Pike would be in the area before moving around to the back of the island. I left at 2.30pm with just the one fish banked.

Zedlets! - Part two.

It was very cold last night and I had a big decision to make, with regards to todays fishing venue, do I go to Ryton or the canal both of which could be iced up, or, do I go to the river that won't be frozen. I didn't fancy the river and I didn't look at Ryton but after seeing the amount of ice at Meadowlands just up the road it would have looked pretty much the same. I settled on the canal again but had doubts as to how liquid it was going to be and on arrival I had a walk down to the bend with the reeds , I'd fished only yesterday evening and now it was solid with ice. The only section free of ice along the whole stretch I walked was the flight of locks down to the Blue Lias, I had no choice but to fish these or go home but seeing as I had caught one small Zander here yesterday, I thought I'd give it a few hours. Fishing the same spot, half Roach baits were thrown into the deeper parts in front of the gates and the overflow weir and it wasn't too long before the first small Zander was on the bank, over the next couple of hours I had runs and takes from a further three Zeds (also lost one at the net) as well as one small Pike.

The largest Zed was just over 18 inches and I don't think they would get much bigger living in such a confined space but I'm not sure about the Pike.

This Pike was small but I had a strange take that made me think that there was something bigger lurking around in there. I had the float pull down sharply but stop level with the waters surface, after a short while it moved off to one side by a foot but rather than being patient and wait for the run to develop, I decided to hit it and struck the rod up and immediately felt a weight that thumped back, then nothing! the rig came in clean with no bait, a couple of inches of wire trace just above the single treble was all coiled up and I thought it might have been a bigger Pike, I've had traces come in looking like this after missed runs at Ryton.

I wonder how big it was?

Zedlets!

Zedlets - Small Zander no bigger than 2lb in weight.
That's what I was catching this afternoon, the session started at Long Itchington heading up the flight of locks towards Napton fishing a few spots along the way. I've been wanting to have a look along this stretch for a while but there was a fair amount of ice around and not many boats had gone through so there weren't that many spots free to fish. A couple of locks up from the Blue Lias I saw a spot in front of one of the overflow weirs that looked very fishy and I soon had a bait cast over, I was pleasantly surprised at the depth, around five foot and even more surprised when I started getting some strange movements on the float, I knew straight away what was causing these and it wasn't long before I had a small Zander in the net.

I continued to fish between the locks on my way up the canal, the water movement near the gates kept these parts free of ice but after an hour or so of trying I had no more interest in the deadbaits so I continued to move along the canal towards a spot I'd seen on Google Earth last night.
I eventually reached the bend in the canal with a heavy growth of Reeds and Bullrushes along the side of the towpath, this spot looked better than I thought and the depth in front of the reeds was good, not long after casting in the first half a Roach, I had a twitch on the float and then some movement showing that another Zed was interested, a few minutes later, Zander number two was on the bank, another small fish but with the temperature dropping as the sun set I was more than happy to catch them at this size.

I put another fresh bait out onto the same spot and after about ten minutes it was off again with another small one, it was whilst I was dealing with this fish that I spotted my other float giving a twitch and then start to drift around, another Zander of similar size was soon on the bank bringing the afternoon's total to four fish.

I did have plans to fish on into darkness, but with my landing net taking on some weird shapes due to the frost and the big full moon rising into a clear sky, it was only going to get colder, I called it a day.

New film on 'You Tube'

On some of my fishing trips I like to take a video camera and I always save any footage I take until this time of year to edit into short films. One day last summer I shot some footage whilst fly fishing for Carp at Jubilee and I've just finished and uploaded a short film to 'You Tube', click the link below to view.

'Carp on the fly'

Enjoy!

Itching for a Zed!

On my last outing I missed a couple of runs from what I thought were Zander, this weekend, I thought I'd try and bank one.
On Saturday, I fished the Tusses stretch of canal in Coventry, my Zander catches along this stretch had been fairly reliable through the autumn, I only had a few hours but stayed until dark and fished a few spots that had a bit of depth and cover, but nothing sniffed at the baits and I blanked, it was a case of the wrong place with not enough time to find them, so, on Sunday I decided to head back to the stretch of canal at Long Itchington to see if my luck would change.
I started the session at the same spot as last week putting a Roach into the main channel where I'd had both runs the previous week, a second bait was put into the deeper hole in front of the lock gates where I was convinced a few Zander would be and it wasn't long before this bait was away. The few tentative tugs on the float developed into a proper take which I struck and after a few head shakes a Zed pulled a healthy curve into my Avon rod, I soon had the fish under control and in the net. (this year, Avon rods are my chosen weapons for Zander.)
At 24 inches, it was a healthy looking fish of around three to four pounds, a good start.

I quickly returned the fish and put a fresh bait back onto the same spot hoping for another quick bite but an hour passed before the first of many boats made their way down through the locks disturbing the swim, with this I decided to make a move and try a few more deeper spots. A couple of hours passed fairly quickly and I'd not moved that far, only trying the two gates below the Blue Lias, I eventually made my way back to where I started and fished the centre channel again. At around half three I had a very short run which I thought might have been a Pike the way it stopped, I waited for the run to continue but nothing developed and the day ended with just the one Zander.

Itch scratched!

Icebergs!

Today was nice and mild with bright sunshine and compared to some of the weather we've had recently was perfect for a few hours of fishing. I knew the level in the river would be up after Saturday's rain and the melt water from all the snow. I thought Ryton would be worth a look at and maybe one of the canals but they'd been frozen solid over the Christmas break so I wasn't feeling lucky. Most of Ryton was solid with ice, one corner was clear but with all the condemned pegs in that corner, peg choice was limited, plus one of them was already occupied by an angler, one too many for the size of water available!. Time for a change of plan and venue, the canal at the Blue Lias wasn't that far away, the ice here was all smashed up from boat activity so there were a few clear spots including one in front of a set of lock gates which looked to good not to have a chuck, Barry had done well along this stretch on Christmas day catching three Zed's in a hole in the ice so I felt quite confident, plus I'd brought a pack of frozen Roach with me in case Ryton wasn't fishable, their perfect for Zed's so I baited up with these and set my sights on a Zander.
It was a good few hours before I had my first sniff at the bait, I'd tried the deeper holes in front of the gates and the weir on the far side of them and then along the line of rushes on the far bank and not had a touch, bait time in the water was limited by the chunks of ice, like icebergs, drifting around in the wind, at times I managed to sink my line and stay on a spot for about ten minutes before I had to reel in and recast. A couple of boats went through breaking up the ice a bit more so I brought the float back across the canal to the slightly deeper main channel and started to fish this line, it was whilst I was chatting with another angler, Gary, that I noticed the first twitch on the float, there were a few more twitches then whatever it was lost interest, I tried moving the bait a few inches to induce a take but the float didn't move. After checking the bait and recasting to the same spot and it wasn't long before it was off again, this time there were a couple of tugs and then a positive run with the float getting dragged under a sheet of ice, not wanting the float to go too far under the ice I struck but hit nothing.

Another blank but at least I had a run which shows the fish are willing to feed in the cold.
Something I did notice was how light it was at 5pm this evening!!