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.

Duck Diversions

So much for the start to the fishing this year, I have nothing new to blog about which means this entry is a bit of a rattle about random stuff. My total catches so far still only stands at one fish, only one, no more and we are one and a bit months in. I've been out several times and in all weathers but the catch rate has remained at one lucky Bream. On a plus note, it means that unless Barry catches on our next outing the Duck's still remain his, blanking has never been so good!

The old boilie recipe book.

 

The bait shack (currently 'The Hooch Hut') will soon be in action, I've looked high and low for my old boilie recipe book which I was beginning to convince myself that I'd lost when we moved house a couple of years back, I found it last week, tucked away in the corner of a box I'd looked in several times. Having flicked through the ingredient stained pages, I've started gathering the necessary bits and pieces to make my first batch of boilies in three years, let's hope it's not that long before I catch any fish on them.

 

An old hobby, not dabbled with since my student years, has kept me from freezing my brass bits off this winter whilst fishing for duck's, brewing beer. It's been a welcome diversion away from fishing and even though I no longer drink the way I used to it's been enjoyable to make and then sample the stuff and it also means I no longer have to buy booze from the supermarket.

 

I've come across a few ingredients used in home brewing that are going to make their way into my boilie recipes but this doesn't mean I'm going to be tempting the carp with fermented boozy boilies! (Now there's an idea!)

 

Bottled Brews

The brews I've knocked up so far have of coarse been given names that relate to angling, there's 'Carpers Pit' and 'Pikers Bite' which are both flavoured 'Turbo' Ciders, 'Wobbly Barrow' is a proper old style ale which is bottle conditioning as I write this, the tasting at bottling stage was very promising. Looking forward to brewing Nettle Beer and Elderflower Champagne, when the spring arrives.

Duck's away!

So much for the annual first fish of the year. New years day was lovely and sunny which made a change from what was thrown at us over Christmas, the rivers were out of bounds so I went to Ryton with a Pikey plan in my head. Saw some non predators break surface in one part of the lake but didn't have the tackle or the bait to chuck at them, they'd have to wait till the next visit. The session was a blank which is the first time I've not caught on new years day for a long time.

When you get a chance to fish mid week the weekend's come round really quickly, it only seemed like a couple of days of work had passed before I was back on the lake.

It was our first fish of the 'Duck Challenge'. We settled on a Pike session at Ryton, Barry was fishing one rod on maggot and suggested that I bring some Carp gear with me, it was already in my bag as I'd seen some fish show a few days earlier.

We weren't there too long before another angler fishing the road bank netted a nice mid double Mirror, a small framed fish with a big belly, maybe of the 'Mellissa' strain? It was lovely to see and I couldn't wait for a run from a Ryton Carp myself as I hadn't had one on the bank since early last year.

After a two hour wait I was startled when bobbin rose and the rod tip pulled round signalling a good take, it was a very dull fight and closer to the bank I could see that it wasn't the Carp I'd hoped for but a Bream.

A nice five pounder.

I was surprised as I can't remember the last time I caught a Bream at this time of year, very welcome though.

Neither of us caught anything else and at the end of the session the first Duck of the year went to Barry.

Bah Humbug! it's the years end.

This is another one of those blogg's, an excuse, about why there's been a lack of blogging.

It's not that I haven't been fishing, I have, several times and the catches have either been very small and not worth talking about or I just haven't caught anything.

 

The last two trips should have seen fish on the bank but they just weren't there. A couple of weeks ago we were on the river, the Avon, fishing for Pike and Zed's. The first excuse was the river, it was near normal level after a flood but was fairly pacey with plenty of colour. Number two was that there was a match on the stretch we originally wanted to fish so the day's plans were straight out of the window, we moved to a stretch below where the match was being held but it was too snaggy, excuse number three, I think I lost more tackle than Bailey's sells.

 

Then there was Ryton for Pike, Barry's been catching plenty so things were looking up. Number 4, someone was already on the spot we fancied and had caught a very good Pike earlier on in his session so the chances of catching another along these few pegs on the same day were very slim, we gave it a go anyway. After an hour of bobbin watchin' we moved around to the back of the island but I don't really want to talk about why I didn't catch there. (5) You don't catch many Pike when you chuck your sardine up a tree and it's really embarrassing when you get seen doing it! We continued to fish the remainder of the session along the new road bank, first time for me and my baits were left totally untouched.

 

So much for the end of the year, I was hoping to have blogged about a double figure Zander or a two pound Roach but they'll still be there next year and fingers crossed, a little bigger. The one thing I am very pleased with is my new PB Pike, eighteen and a half pounds, very nice.

Roll on next year's 'Duck' challenge!

Loser takes home!

Barry has been introduced to his new fishing buddy!

Tales and Pastures New

Zander have been on the menu lately and I'm still catching but the biggy I'm after still eludes me. One of my last sessions was a bit of a catastrophe, I'd gone to Itchy for a late afternoon/evening session, the rods had been left tackled up after my last Zandering trip so I was ready to go, that's what I thought until I reached for one of my bobbins, it was missing and must have pinged off the line somewhere en route to the canal, these bobbins are little treasures of mine, one offs that can't be bought. What was going to be a peaceful session turned into a mini disaster as I walked the stretch from where I'd been dropped off to where I was fishing searching for a little glow in the dark. Devastated, I botched together another bobbin so I could carry on with the now shortened session. Despite the problems, it was a gorgeously clear night with a star filled sky which more than made up for the mini disaster and lack of bites, I wished on a few shooting stars and left fishless. The lost bobbin was later found at home, few!

 

A Frosty Start.

The following morning was a frosty start at a new venue, for several years, I've seen plenty of tantalising glimpses of this lake from the nearby road and I've always liked the look of the place. A couple of weeks ago, after a reliable recommendation, I visited the lake for a bit of a recce, it's very urban, it contained the target species we were after, Pike, so it had to be worth a go. There were plenty of signs of previous angling taking place and the lake looked tired after years of being fished by NED's and the E.E.F.E.D (Eastern European Fish Eating Disease) I suppose we have to expect this from such an urban site and it's what puts a lot of anglers off fishing such places but it still had an appeal to it with plenty of features to fish to, there wasn't any fishing pegs as such just sections of clear bank trodden bare by plenty of fishing feet. We started off at the far end of the pool and made our way down the bank to a couple of spots in amongst the frost covered reeds, it was shallow, so uncomfortably shallow that I think the local canal is deeper, we gave it a go regardless.

 

Settled in.

A few other anglers were working their way around the pool, all spinning and all local, we asked a few what the fishing was like and a picture of the lake became a little clearer, it contained plenty of smaller species like Roach, Rudd and Tench so plenty of food for a population of Pike. A few non angling passersby told tales of the lakes bigger inhabitants and where they were seen being caught (not where we were fishing) we nodded in agreement like we knew about the place, gave it ten minutes and made a move to the 'fishier' end of the lake. The tales continued as we chatted to other locals, angling and non angling, we both gave each other a smiling glance when we heard one dog walker tell tales of at least one 'Grandad Pike' residing here, that's got to be worth a good go this winter.

We kept at it, biteless, all session, I'm not sure if I can use the frost and the bright sunshine as a good enough excuse but the place looked dead, as I write this now the temperature outside is a little more favourable and overcast which I would have preferred but we can't book the weather can we? As the sun reached the horizon and the chilly breeze eased, parts of the lake looked as though it was being rained on as loads of small fry dimpled on the surface, a few larger fish topped here and there and we felt that a bite had been earned and was well overdue. Barry's rod was soon away as a little toothy critter made off with his deadbait; it didn't take too long to get it in the net, unhooked and released to sulk in the margins.

 

The small toothy one and his Pike!

Once again, I remained fishless but a new venue is a bit of a learning curve so role on the next session and watch out that Grandad Pike!

 

Mostly Zedding!

What have I been up to the past few weeks? Mostly Zedding, that's what. As well as fishing some of my usual Zander holes I've also tried a few new stretches of canal where I've heard of a few good fish coming out. Luck has been on my side and I've banked several fish, mostly small, I'm trying hard for a double and my best so far this year is a lovely conditioned six pound six ounce fish which is the largest I've had for a while.

 

Six pound six.

I fished an old haunt last week, a stretch of canal that has been very kind to me in the past and I was hoping to hook up with an old friend. I'd seen some swims that screamed 'Zander' on a walk along this stretch a few weeks ago and after having a rove around to check a few out I decided on one spot to settle down on and fish for a couple of hours into darkness. I thought it was going to be a quiet session but I wasn't alone for long, within the space of half an hour a stretch of bank to my left as long as a nine second sprint by Usain Bolt became occupied by five other anglers and by the look of things we were all after the same target. It became so uncomfortable with dead fish flying all over the place as anglers tried to hit their spots in the dark, with all the noise and commotion any decent sized Zed in the area would have packed their bags done a runner up Beduff. Something else that I'm never comfortable fishing around are overhead electric cables, they just happen to cross this stretch of canal at the best fishing spot in the area, whether that has anything to do with how well it fishes is another question to ask.
The drizzle filled air made the cables fizz and buzz overhead adding to the uncomfortable feeling I had about fishing this spot especially as now I wasn't alone. This feeling was soon forgotten when one of my glowing bobbins twitched and rose up towards  the rod gently and slowly, it was like a Zander take but in slow motion, I picked up the rod and waited for things to move, nothing, I tightened up and felt some resistance but it wasn't a fish of the variety I was after, it was a crayfish.

Zed bait?

Through the rest of the session I kept getting tugs on the bait which got rather annoying as I'd never come across this many Cray's in one area but having seen the amount of dead fish being thrown in the water in this stretch I'm not surprised there's so many. As soon as the bait settled on the bottom they were on it, might have to bring Cerys down here for a spot of 'crabbing'. I stuck it out for the rest of the session in the hope that a Zed would find the remains of my bait but ended up blanking.

I wonder if Crayfish would make a good Zed bait?

Rationed Luck and Junk!

My big Pike last week has put a dent in my run of luck; On Friday I was rationed to a single Zed on a visit to one of my favourite stretches of canal. I'd walked a fair distance to the spot that is usually a dead cert for a fish on the bank and it didn't disappoint. After this spot I made my way back giving each likely looking fish hold a good twenty minutes before moving on, I realised that it's been a while since I fished like this, cutting the gear down to the bare essentials making it easier to move around, I had a bag on my back, a stool, two rods and a net, a great way to fish.

Just the one.

I stopped at another spot that's been very good to me in the past and two baits were chucked to where I usually catch, a cross wind was moving my rigs downstream and with the floats nodding away I could see that the baits were just dragging bottom. I noticed one of them stop but it remained motionless for far too long for it to be a fish, I tightened down only to find that I was fastened solid to some bottom debris, "Not the mattress" I thought and walked up the bank to give a different angle to the pressure I was applying to the tackle, it worked, a big heavy weight was slowly dragged in to the bank, I lifted it out of the water and my first thoughts were that it was the part of a car as I could see the red lamp lenses and a few electrical cables but when I put it down on the grass all became obvious, it was the rear cover from an electric buggy.

What the!

Bait!

It was nice to see a few Zebra Mussels stuck fast to the plastic and it’s a good indication as to what bait to try for the Carp along here, the whole thing went back into the near margin but I think I should have tried to put it back in the main run where it came from as it was probably one of the fish holding features that made this spot so good. A couple of seasons ago I moved something similar to this in the canal near to the Foleshill Road, it was a big plastic shop sign, before hauling it in off the bottom this swim was another of my 'hot spots', I dropped the sign into the near margin as it was too big to lift out, since then I've never caught a Zed from that spot.

Despite the lack of bites I continued fish along this stretch until I couldn't see the floats anymore, might have to give these sliders a spray with some glow in the dark paint I’ve picked up.

What's the weirdest piece of junk you've hauled in from the depths?

Has it had an affect on the fishing there?