Last of the year.

The last session of the year was a week ago on Christmas eve, it was a session for Zander on the canal in one of our usual spots, Longitch. We'd had very heavy rain the day before and a touch of frost over night, I was suspecting things would be rather slow to start with but we were fishing one of the deeper spots so should see some action.

After an hour, Barry's rod was the first to see some interest with the line pulling tight and slackening off but nothing developed, I returned to my rod and noticed one of the bobbins start to move, I thought it might have been a shoal of Zed's moving through our swims as it looked like a classic Zander take. As soon as the line pulled tight again I reeled into the fish, if this was a Zander, it was going to be a good one. The large fishy shape rose to the surface quickly but there was no head shake, it wasn't a Zander, it was a Pike and a fairly good one. Anticipating a session with only small Zed's I'd only brought my large river net, this wasn't going to be big enough, Barry had a couple of stabs at the beast and almost got it in the mesh but it was too lively, as Barry ran down the bank to get his bigger net I got the opportunity to chin it out.

Thirteen and a half

We'd both had Jacks out of this stretch but I'd not had a Pike this big from here before, it pulled the scales round to thirteen and a half pounds.

I think this Pike might have scarred off all the Zed's, I didn't get any more takes for the rest of the session.

Barry on the other hand



Dog walkers, an alternative bait?

despite using the freshest 'dead' baits



Can't get any fresher than this!

and plenty of 'skulduggery', he couldn't get a take.

He even tried an offering to the fishing god!

His swim remained 'lifeless' all day.

Birthday Double.

Every year around my birthday I always struggle to get a line in the water, we either have family visiting or the big day falls mid week making any kind of session impossible. This year was a little different, the family aren't going to visit till the week before Christmas, the shopping and days out were taken care of over the weekend leaving me with a bit of time on Monday to get a bait in the water. It wasn't going to be any kind of fancy trip to chase any more species for the challenge, I've pretty much decided to put that to bed and make do with what I've caught through the year, I think I'm currently in tenth place which will do me. It was a simple trip to Ryton fishing dead baits for Pike, Barry accompanied me and after a quick look around we made do with the first two pegs along the road bank, Barry dropped down onto the information desk and I settled on peg two, it might be the last time we fish these pegs in their current state!!!!!

We'd met Paul earlier on fishing the corner at the back of the point, he was fishing for Perch and wasn't having much luck, the frost might have put them down in the deeper water but it was sunny so there was always a chance, another angler was roving around the lake trying his luck at spinning for the Perch.

We'd been fishing for about an hour and Paul wandered down towards the car park with his gear, he'd had enough but stopped for a chat when a stutter of bleeps came from the direction of my right hand alarm, the back bobbin hadn't released the line but something was showing an interest. I picked up the rod and waited a few moments for the line to tighten before reeling into the fish, it felt good and came straight to the top and rolled a few times, Barry was on net duty and we soon had the fish under control and in the net. With my tool kit to hand I gave Paul a demonstration in gloveless Pike unhooking and after some light dentistry the hooks were out and I was able to hold the fish up for a quick photo......... the camera batteries were flat!

The toothy one had to rest in the margins whilst the batteries were swapped over in the old box brownie and it remained well behaved for the snap before swimming off.

Ten pound and twelve ounces, a birthday double.

Barry made a concerned comment about the condition of some of the Pike he'd caught recently at the pool, they were all good sized fish and should be weighing much more than they were and I must admit, this fish and the last one I caught at Ryton were very long and lean with big heads and would have looked better had they eaten a few more pies, might be something to keep an eye on!

The rest of the session remained fishless but I was happy to have caught something on my Birthday.

So far away but never too far away!

Canton Tower

Last week I was in Guangzhou, China, on a very enjoyable works trip sourcing new materials to use for next seasons designs, the only thing I hated about the whole trip was being so far away from my little girl, it's the first time I've had to make a trip like this since she was born. Guangzhou is a very big, modern city situated on and around the Pearl river delta and my hotel was situated right on the bank of this river with views across to the canton tower and stadium.

I always enjoy an early morning walk when away from home and on the first morning the attraction of the river drew me to it's banks for a gentle stroll, fishermen never stay too far away from the medium our pray swim in and I always find myself being drawn to any waters edge if only to have a look, I had a look and was amazed at how many anglers were fishing along the walkway next to the Pearl.

Pearl River anglers

There appeared to be two methods of fishing the first being a smallish rod or pole with a small float set-up with around a one foot drop, an Eel like live bait was presented on a sizable hook. There were plenty of fish topping all over the place so I can only presume that this was the method used to catch these fish.

Using a bamboo pole.

The other method being used was a little more macabre, a few anglers appeared to be spinning but with a very heavy looking lure, on closer inspection it was no lure that was being chucked out but something that resembled a large breakaway lead, similar to the ones we would use when beach fishing, the only difference being that the grip wires were replaced with what I can only describe as small meat hooks. I think the intention was to deliberately foul hook anything that swam into the path of the 'claw' and an exaggerated sink and draw action seemed the way to retrieve this weight. 

The exaggerated sink and draw

The claw

I saw this dead catfish floating down with the current, it's belly ripped open, not sure if it had crossed the path of an anglers 'claw'!



A cat that got away!

Two more!

A quick trip to Barford was called for to try and bag a couple of much needed species for this years competition, an Eel and a Barbel. The trip had originally been planned for next week but had to be brought forward one week due to a work trip to Guangzhou, China, luckily there weren't any matches on this weekend.

Worth every penny.

Barry had got me a guest ticket and we decided to make a day of it, he'd been down the river a couple of times the week before and bagged both Barbel and Eels, with some much needed extra water in the river and a bit of colour, hopes were high, even if I only managed to bank one of the two species then it would be a result.

The first peg he put me in looked good and I flicked out a lump of luncheon meat into the flow and allowed it to trunddle round to where I thought a fish might be lying, I hadn't even got the second rod rigged up when the baitrunner started to give out line, I was on it like a shot and soon had the first of many Eel's in the net, I haven't caught Eel's like this since I was a kid fishing the small river Braint on Anglesey, great fun. 

Wriggler!

Biggest Eel of the day was 1lb 8ozs

Barry had hoped to get me onto the oak tree peg at the start of the session but I had to wait until early afternoon before I could get onto what he called a 'banker' of a swim, either that or I miss heard him!

It proved to be an excellent swim with several Eel's taken, then, just as other anglers had predicted the late afternoon saw my rod tip slam forward as a whiskered critter made off with the lump of meat.

 

A six pound six whiskered critter!

A hard battle was soon won and I had my second target species in the net, a Barbel.

Just sitting there!

I was just sitting there minding my own business when this lump of dead fish landed right next to me, now, it was a Sunday, I knew there would be a few people around with the intent of pulling us out of the water, weighing us and taking a quick snap shot before throwing us back, I have absolutely know idea why they do this but it must be a popular thing that humans do as there's a lot of them that do it at this lake, some day's you just can't get away from them. Anyway, back to this lump of fish, like I said, I was just sitting there and not really in the mood to do much, the sun was out so it was a bit bright and I just fancied a couple of hours minding my own business before going out for a bite to eat later. This lump of fish smelt great and was defrosting nicely but I resisted for nearly an hour then out of nowhere I had to yawn and before I knew it this lump of fish was in my mouth, I wasn't sure what to do but before I had a chance to do anything something started to pull me towards the bank, now I didn't fancy having my picture taken and did try my best to escape but I soon found myself in the bottom of a mesh cage, then on a comfy mattress before being photographed.

This is me on the mattress!

I was let go shortly after but didn't fancy fish for dinner anymore!

Here Pikey Pikey!

Barry phoned me up last week and asked if I'd like to go on a bit of a Pike fishing session to one of his many haunts, a pass had already been granted so I agreed, like I didn't need much persuading.

Saturday afternoon arrived, as we set the gear up there was a bit of drizzle in the air along with a strong but pleasant smell of burning charcoal and wood from the stoves on the nearby canal boats, we were fairly sheltered from the wind in the spots we chose and had the water to ourselves. It was going to be a late afternoon/evening session so to save time I had everything organised and prepared, it was just a matter of attaching baits and casting out.

After a very brief half an hour I had a take on the bait that was only lobbed out a couple of rod lengths. The strike met with good solid resistance as a very nice sized Pike rolled on the surface, it came in fairly easily then woke up and made several attempts to get out of the pound we were fishing. Once netted I was very satisfied as my PB Pike was only just over twelve pounds, this one pulled the scales passed that and settled on fourteen pounds and four ounces, a new personal best.

A good chunky fish.

Barry was next but even though the Pike pulled hard it was only a Jack with a very nasty scar near it's tail.

Anyone need a tooth pulling?

Nasty bite mark!

After only having one fish each on Saturday, I think Barry fancied a rematch on the Sunday and invited me to join him at Ryton for a few hours Piking. A family swim had been planned for lunchtime which meant I didn't get to the lake until half three so it was only going to be a very short, late session. As it turned out, I didn't need that long to get a fish on the bank.

It was exactly twenty five minutes (Barry likes to time these things) after casting out my first bait that my bobbins started to jump around as a fish made off with the Mackerel. It was another solid fight and another long fish soon found itself in the bottom of my net, however, even though this fish was long with a huge head, it's body was very thin. On the scales it only managed nine pounds and four ounces and was the only fish of the session.

Big head!!

Whilst passing the camera to Barry I managed to smear the lens with Pike slime (my excuse for the bad photo) I don't think they do a 'Pike Slime' plug-in for photoshop!

Like Buses.

A couple of weekends ago I fished one of my favourite swims on the stretch of canal near Long Itchington.

Bites started pretty much straight away but they were very tentative and I was experiencing a lot of dropped takes which were probably from smaller fish. Typically, when I least expected it, I had a run on both rods at the same time but after a bit of rod and net juggling both Zed's were safely in the folds of mesh.

then two come along at the same time!

They weren't big fish but very welcome.

The commotion from the double hook-up quietened the swim a little and I only managed one more fish before it got dark, then all went quiet.

I think this deep spot must be a daytime hole that empties at night time when they all go on the prowl!