Ryton - On a good day.

Well, the Carp at Ryton are awake. I've heard several reports of anglers catching a few upper double Carp so I couldn't wait to get back onto the pool. The information desk and peg two were occupied and I stopped for a chat, one of the lads had fished the day before and bagged a few good fish and showed me a picture of a good mirror, I was very pleased to see that Morris's Mate is still with us and looking a little chunkier. I made my way over to Morris's on the far bank and settled down for a long session. From this side of the pool the first section of the road bank looks a little strange, most of the tree's have been cleared ready for the bank/peg work to begin.

I fished PVA sticks and bottom baits on one rod and pop-up's on the other, the sticks were out on a spot that I'd seen a fish show a couple of weeks ago, the pop-up was on a very long chuck to the back of the tree's, this was the first to see some action which typically happened when I was reeling in the stick rod. It was a rather uneventful fight that resulted in a small chunky common of nine pound in the net, still, very welcome.

A little chunk!

As soon as the first Carp had been released I checked everything over and put the rod back out to an area where a fish had shown about half an hour earlier, I always take my time to sink the line and it was whilst I was doing this that I felt a couple of sharp tugs, the line then steadily drew up tight, I flicked the bail arm shut and lent back, fish on! This one felt a little better and took me all over the place as it kited through the shallows and into the waiting net. Another fine common of fourteen and three quarter pounds.

This ones not so orange.

A short while later I lost another much bigger fish off the same spot, again it kited around and I lost touch with it as it entered the shallows of the next swim to my right, I always try and learn from my mistakes but I always forget that if I bully the Carp at Ryton too much, I will lose them and this is exactly what happened, it threw the hook, that horrible sick feeling entered my stomach and expletives exited my mouth.

About an hour later another fish went off like a rocket, the third one from this spot, this time I took things slowly when drawing it closer to the net but this wasn't out of choice, this was a much bigger fish and I wasn't going to lose this one. I let the fish go when it wanted too and drew it in when it let me and it wasn't long before I had it safely in the mesh. I was hoping for an upper double and was very surprised when the needle pulled passed twenty to settle on twenty pounds and eleven ounces.

Mint!

I carried on fishing till the sun set but I didn't get any more takes, I didn't even get anything on the stick rod, not even a Tench!

It's what it's about!

It's been a long time since I've visited Ryton with the sole purpose of bagging a Carp in mind, I've chased a few of the toothy ones in the lake over the winter always with one eye on what the Carp were up to and I'd made note of a few spots where fish had shown themselves, it was nice to be able to apply this knowledge. The last weekend in February has always been good for me and seen a Carp on the bank, after having a year off the place catching a Carp would be nice.

An angler was occupying the swim next to the peg I had planned to fish and one of  his line cut across where I wanted to cast one of the rods to so the session had to start on the point. The sun was lovely and warm as I sat there organising tackle, baiting extra hooklinks and tying PVA sticks whilst waiting for a take, if it wasn't for the lack of leaves on the trees you'd have thought we'd jumped forward a season. A good couple of hours passed and I'd just re-cast one of the rods and sunk the line, I was waiting for the line to fully settle on the bottom before attaching my bobbin and was having a chat with one of the parks rangers at the same time but I didn't miss the whir of the reel as it went into meltdown, something was off with the bait and I'd not even switched on the alarm yet. The bait was dropped and when I reeled in the small PVA stick was still on the end, although chewed up and the hooklink was covered in slime, Tench!. The rod was back on the spot as quick as I could get it there but nothing else happened.

The original swim I'd wanted to fish was free by early afternoon so I made a quick move and not long after I did Barry arrived for a mooch around, he wasn't fishing.

Guess what happened a few minutes after he arrived?

I got a run!

My first thought was 'Tench' and it took a fair while to convince myself that I had a Carp on the end of the line but it was. I really took my time bringing this fish to the waiting net as I didn't want to lose it and Barry did an excellent job of landing it.

Ryton Carp, it's what it's about!

My first Ryton Carp for ages and in lovely condition at a chunky eleven and a half pounds.

I carried on fishing for a while but with 'bite time' being so short at this time of year, I didn't get any more takes, I was happy.

An invite to Poach!

We were on the canal at long itch last Saturday, yes, in all that rain. As well as feeling uncomfortable with the damp conditions an old back injury had flared up on the Thursday which added to the days discomforts. I did try to shelter under my brolly but it wasn't good for my back, however, our gear did stay nice and dry. The rain did eventually ease off and it became a rather pleasant afternoon.

Very welcome in all the rain.

Barry was first of the post with a small Zed followed shortly after by another of a similar size that looked as though it had just been grabbed and chewed on by something very toothy. I was struggling to get anything to sniff at my bait and just to rub salt into the wounds Barry pulled out a third fish, a Perch.

It took a good couple of hours but something began to show an interest in the wrigglers I was fishing on one rod, the hope was for a big Perch and the bobbin danced as something began snacking on the worms, it wasn't the fish I was hoping for, it was a rather small excuse for a Zed.

Things went a bit quiet for a while then Barry started to get some dropped runs but did manage to bank another Zander, he then lost something a little bigger. Now, not wanting to look a gift horse in the mouth, after losing this bigger fish Barry said I should try a cast to where he was fishing, I was on it like a shot as you don't often get a licence to poach a mates swim. It only took a few moments for the line from the tip to tighten and the bobbin twitch as something showed an interest in my bait, I struck and felt a resistance that was much bigger than the Zed's Barry had been catching, it was a Pike.

Poached Pike and some trendy headgear.

I really don't know how I managed to bank this fish as the single size two hook wasn't even stuck in the Pike's jaw, I just lifted the baited hook out, it must have been just playing with it's dinner.

Art for Africa

During a Christmas visit to my parents, I saw an old friend from my art college days at Bangor. Claire is off to Uganda later this year to do some work with a charity, EAP (East African Playgrounds), to raise funds she asked me to produce a piece of art for an exhibition in March/April with an auction on the last day of the exhibition to raise cash.

I racked my brains for weeks thinking about what to paint or draw as it's not something I do much of these days, I thought back to some work I'd done at university and remembered something 'Fishy' based that I'd created for a fashion illustration project.

Torn Paper Illustration, 1990.

Rather than give this piece in to be exhibited/auctioned I had a flood of inspiration and decided to chop up some of my old fishing mag's and create something new.

It's taken dozens of pictures of Carp to create this one.

I'm quite pleased with my results so far but I've started work on a second piece made in the same way, more on that soon.

The EAP Art Exhibition will be on from March 23rd to April 6th at the 'Seven' cafe/bar on Blenheim Terrace, Leeds, LS5 3JH.

Bait Shack - Part one

I've started to construct my bait shack, (Garden shed) it's only a frame at the moment but all four sides are ready to be clad in feather edge boards. The laborious task of painting the boards before their attached lies ahead but as soon as this has been done the big erection can take place then a roof can be put on top to keep the weather out.

Plans!

Front and back panels

Side panel with window

It's only the weather that's stopping anything from happening at the moment but I should be able to do a bit more work on my shack in the next few weeks. It's also the weather that's keeping me from the bank, everywhere I want to go is solid under ice, I might go down to the river soon as I haven't had a Chub yet this year.

Planes, Trains and Pigs!

Only the second visit to the bank this year but it was a session that would see a new personal best on the bank by the end of the day. We'd chosen to terrorise some Pike but was unsure about whether we would succeed due to the hard frost the night before, choice of venue was down to Barry's wife, Jan, we were scratching our heads where to go when she came up with what was to turn out to be the best decision ever, thank you.

We arrived expecting to find the pool iced over and be making our way to plan 'B' but everything was still liquid so we set up in a couple of spots we knew and out went the deadbait's. It was nice to have the sun on my back keeping me warm and the locals kept us entertained while we waited for a take. nothing happened for a couple of hours and we decided to move, I'd fancied the far bank when we arrived as I thought the water would be a touch warmer with the sun on it, but we'd both not fished that bank before so stuck with what we knew. We made our move and within half an hour I had a dropped take, things were looking up. I positioned the bait back on the same spot and it was away again, it was a very energetic fight from a small jack and very welcome on a cold day.

When it was in the net I noticed another wire trace hanging from it's mouth, someone had lost this fish at some point and wondered if it was the same fish that dropped the bait on the previous cast, it went back minus it's facial fashion accessory.

Scrapper Jack

A fresh bait was back on the spot and I tidied up ready for another fish, I always try and keep my swim tidy ready to move quickly when I need to and it always amazes me how catching a fish can empty the contents of a tackle bag all over the bank as we weigh and photograph our catch.

I settled down watching the planes take off over our heads and London bound trains rattle past and it wasn't too long before I heard my alarm shrieked over all the noise, another fish gave a sharp tug on the line, it slowly made off with it's free snack before I wound down and lifted into it, this fish was heavy and had a lot more power than the previous jack. It stayed out in the pool for some time and made several runs as I tried to make line, Barry had moved back to a spot he knew over the other side of the pool and had seen me lift into a fish, he arrived just in time to take charge of the net as I tried to guide it in, this fish was tough and wasn't going to give in lightly.

A proper one!

The pig!

This pig was so lightly hooked, I only had to lift the hooks out from the bottom of it's mouth, I was lucky she hadn't thrown them. This big girl pulled the scales round to eighteen pounds and six ounces and beat my previous best by over four pounds.

We both carried on fishing for a few more hours but I think all the commotion caused by the last fish might have put them off.

First of 2012

With the space shuttle no longer flying Barry had a surplus of his wobbly pop which I received as a very welcome Christmas gift, the Elderberry went down well last year. I gave up drinking a few years ago and only have the occasional, social drink now and again, new years eve is one and I cracked open a bottle of Barry's finest strawberry rocket fuel to celebrate and it was very very good. I only had a couple of glasses, I didn't need any more, not drinking means I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol, I'd be a cheap date!

I woke with a surprisingly fresh head and looked forward to the first session of 2012. I had more venue choices this year, Ryton was under a thick layer of the cold hard stuff last winter as were the canals, only the rivers remained free of the icy grip we were experiencing. After mulling over whether to visit the river I decided on a spot of Piking at Ryton instead, the dull overcast weather and decreasing wind influenced my choice.

I stayed away from the main part of the lake as the surface wind would be towing all sorts of detritus along the bottom in the opposite direction, I opted to start at the back of the island. There were a few small fish moving around, probably Rudd, and there were a few thrashes on the surface near to one over hanging tree, I made a quick move to get into a better casting position in order to deploy two deadbaits either side of the feature, then, a long waiting game began.

Something was definitely stalking prey around the submerged branches of this tree as there were two more thrashes on top before it fell for one of the baits, it was a fairly dull fight but it soon woke up as it approached the net.

Bad photo but not a bad fish, twelve pound four ounces, a nice start to the year.

A small audience had gathered to watch as I unhooked the Pike, they made themselves useful when it came to taking a picture on my phone.

Typically this fish came right at the end of the session just as the light was fading so I didn't have a chance of another cast.