Slow start eventually bears fruit

The opening of the river season seems to have been an anti-climax for many of the anglers I know. Despite several rivers being fished by some good anglers, the results have been the same - very little to write about.

My opening day saw me fish the Avon after work with a solitary 3lb chub saving a blank. A few days later saw me out again in what looked reasonable conditions. A bit of extra water had coloured the river up but I didn't get so much as a tap. I did get a to watch a family of foxes with an excitable cub, two roe deer and a barn owl all in the space of about 15 minutes, which is all I can say about a pretty uneventful session. 

I changed tactics altogether on my next trip, going lure fishing with my son on a completely different stretch. He christened his new spinning rod with a pike and managed to lose one that spectacularly leapt to freedom. I managed a couple of my own and a small perch. It was just nice to find some fish on a deserted BAA stretch of the river. 

Another blank followed that week and it seemed that the chance of an early season barbel was disappearing fast. As the end of June approached, I went out determined to put that right and set about hatching a plan to see a barbel grace the net. 

I baited up a likely looking spot and then fished some rolling meat to see if anything was lurking. I managed to get the bait moving nicely with just enough plasticine to get the bait down to the bottom. Two chub were caught quite quickly before the shoal spooked. That was the signal to get a bait out and sit it out for what I hoped would be a plan coming to fruition. I had a small chub before all went quiet. Then at about 9pm the rod wrapped around in unmistakable fashion. A barbel was on although it didn't put up too much of a battle. A couple of short runs and it was safely netted where it then proceeded to put up more of a fight than it had at any point in the water. It was a nice fish though. I hoped it might be a scraper double but suspected it would fall short with the scales settling at 9lb 9oz to confirm this. It was a great looking specimen and a fitting fish for my first barbel. 

A lovely conditioned barbel

Autumn round-up....so far!

With autumn upon on us, I set out to get some serious barbel fishing in before the cooler nights were thrust upon on us. It's been a really mild autumn so far and aside from a few frosts here and there temperatures have been unseasonally warm. My hope was that this would coincide with a feeding frenzy and some big fish. But fishing is rarely that simple.

Fishing the Avon on a familiar stretch, I set my stall out for a double. A piece of meat was sent mid-river as light faded. Within 20 mins it was taken and a barbel was on. It felt a good fish, it looked a good fish but it fell 2oz short of a double.

With an influx of rain into the Severn during the third week of September I set off for a stretch not too far from Bridgnorth. The Avon had seen no change to its levels so I felt with the Severn offering more favourable conditions it could be the key to some good sport. It started well. Casting a piece of meat in one of my favoured flood swims a fish was hooked and landed on my first cast. A chunky 8lb 7oz barbel showed plenty of signs it had been on the munch. I sensed a barbel bonanza that afternoon roving to all the swims that have produced in the past. However, the fishing became really tough. The level started to drop, quite quickly in fact and it seemed to curb the resident barbels' appetites. One more fish of average size appeared as light faded but I have to admit to being slightly disappointed with the lack of fish that afternoon.

A few of the better fish of the last few weeks

It's about this time of the year that my interest in the lower Severn increases. It's never easy but if you're lucky enough to land a barbel there's a really good chance it will be a good fish. My first session only produced a blank saving chub. The next did yield a barbel but yet again it fell short of the hallowed 10lb, weighing in at 8lb 14oz. My two most recent evening visits have both resulted in blanks. This is one to come back to as the season progresses.

An autumn pike

In between these two blanks was a short evening session back on my local Avon. A bream and a chub sandwiched another nice barbel but again it fell short at 9lb 6oz. There's been several smaller barbel throughout this period as well as the usual chub that inevitably show up. I also had a few hours with the lure rod which threw up a few fish including a nice pike at last light.

As I write this the weather is getting cooler and the last couple of nights have been chilly. With this in mind I am planning a bit of predator fishing this weekend. The barbel can wait for a bit. There will be better conditions to come.

Pike: Lake District at Grasmere

The Lake District is a magnet for tourists. Beautiful scenery made up of hills, mountains, scenic villages and of course the lakes and the source of Wordsworth's poetry. Much of the landscape was defined during the last ice age some 15,000 years ago. The thawing process carved the huge valleys and created the deep, mysterious lakes that we have today.

With a family break planned, I thought it would be an ideal opportunity to sneak a few hours fishing at some point. Many of the lakes contain trout meaning pike fishing cannot commence until autumn. However Grasmere is not one them meaning it would provide me the chance of some action for the price of a day ticket. Grasmere is considered one of the area's smaller lakes but it is still around a mile long and approaching half a mile wide. With depths of upto 70ft it's a pretty daunting water, especially when confined to bank fishing. A boat would always give an advantage of being able to cover more ground in what can appear to be the proverbial finding a needle in a haystack. There is little information to be found about fishing the water and I knew it would come down to my own watercraft if I was to have any luck.

I arrived on the banks at around 6am. The lake was perfectly still like a sheet of glass with reflections of its surroundings.

The scene that greeted me

There was no doubt that regardless of how it fished, it was a scene of traquillity. An early start meant I had the lake to myself before the hoards of walkers arrived later. I fished Grasmere once before. On that occasion I managed to observe some predatory attacks which helped me find some pike. I managed to land one with some other follows that day. This visit did not afford me any clues as to the whereabouts of the pike. There were small fish topping all over but there was no sign of anything larger.

I started at the end of the lake. The lake itself was characterised by a shallow ledge that extended about two rod lenghts before a sheer drop into the hidden depths. This area looked good for a fish with the water exiting into the River Rothay. I cast a 4" soft shad around the area. It failed so I continued to make my way around the shoreline. The hours passed and I tried every

The hours passed

lure in the box but I didn't even see a pike. I tried not to be too disappointed. It's a tough water afterall and many better anglers than me have left empty handed. The fish literally could've been anywhere and I had only really scratched the surface of this huge expanse of water.  By now it was late morning and the banks were getting busier. Children and dogs were paddling on the gravel beaches and I knew my time had come to leave. A blank was staring me in the face. A stiff breeze had appeared which transformed the lake from a calm picture of beauty to that of waves lapping the water's edge. I was buoyed by this as I felt that this might trigger a feeding spell.

I trudged back to where it had all began at the end of the lake. There had to be fish there with so many smaller fish in the area. I cast out knowing it was now or never. Would they be feeding?

At last

To my amazement I hooked a pike and a lively one too. With the rod held high to keep the fish away from the many dangerous looking boulders, I guided it up and on to the shallow shelf. It was here the fish demonstrated some impressive bursts of speed as it attempted to return to the depths. It was great sport and a reward for the uneventful hours that had preceded it. A fish of around 8lb was quickly photographed and returned. I cast again and another pike grabbed the lure. This was smaller but again gave a good account of itself once in the shallow water. It even gave an acrobatic tailwalk across the surface. A couple more casts returned no more action so I called it a day. After hours of absolutley nothing I had managed two at the death in about 5 minutes. I guess that's just fishing.

Like buses, another quickly followed

Lure Fishing: A stab in the dark

With the rivers up and coloured, you could be forgiven for thinking barbel would be the top quarry at the moment. However, I was not convinced the temperatures were conducive to good sport and this was reinforced by my recent addiction to all things predatory.

Drop-Shotting for Perch

I fancied a change so decided to spend a couple of hours on a Warks Avon backwater. Predators were the target so I armed myself with a traditional lure rod and a drop-shotting setup.

 

Drop-shotting is something I got involved with last winter. If you're interested in knowing the finer points then the web is packed with information from much more credible sources than me. Basically, an artificial rubber lure of a few inches long is attached to a hook on a length of line with a weight at the lower end to keep it in touch with the bottom, as shown in the diagram.

 

 

You then use the rod to impart some action into the lure, keeping a tight line whilst you watch and feel for bites. When I tried it for the first time last season, I caught small Perch immediately but found subsequent sessions a little hit and miss. I was determined to give it another crack and look to find some larger fish.

 

Upon arrival, I opted for the standard lure rod and a small spoon. The backwater I was fishing is something of an unknown quantity. I know it contains a lot of small fish including a good head of Perch. Although pike have to be present, previous trips have provided no clues as to their presence. Therefore, I was pleasantly surprised and pleased when a small Pike was hooked within the first ten minutes. Unfortunately, the light hook hold resulted in the inevitable and the fish escaped. Whilst it would have been great to have landed the fish, I was not too down beat since it proved there is a Pike population present so future visits won't be in vain. I continued to explore the area, casting to moored boats, staging and any other feature that might provide an ambush point for a predator. However apart from my early flirtation with the Pike the next hour or so was a tiresome experience. A Perch of a few ounces did follow at one point but was not convinced enough by the lure to attack it.

 

As the last hour of light approached, I noticed some activity. A few small fish scattered and alerted me to some fishy action. I moved round to the spot and tried both the drop-shot rod and the lure. I then moved a short distance away to a narrow channel. Here I observed a small fish frantically accelerate as a larger fish, almost certainly a Perch, pursued it under a staging. I quickly decided that I should employ the drop-shot method here as it was clear there were feeding fish and one Perch usually means others in attendance. Within minutes, a Perch of around half a pound nailed the 3" replica minnow. In fact it had disappeared from sight when I came to remove the hook. Fortunately, the hook hadn't so it was returned safely.

The first fish of the session

A string of similar Perch followed in what appeared to be a twenty minute feeding frenzy. I also managed to see a couple wriggle themselves free of the hook before a solid knock saw me connected with something a bit bigger. Although not a monster by Perch standards at 1lb 3oz, it was the biggest Perch from the venue to date and gives me reason to believe a 2lb fish is possible. It's a really fun method, which after a little practise is very effective. So much so that I'm already plotting another visit.

 

At 1lb 3oz, this proved to be the fish of the session

 

 

A Lesson Learned

With a few hours spare on Sunday morning I decided to spend them on the banks of the Warwickshire Avon. I had seen a weather forecast predicting a cloudy, mild day but reality brought a bright and clear day with a stiff breeze gathering pace by late morning. With no significant rain for a few weeks and some cold nights, the river had cleared meaning I could see the bottom in 3-4ft of water. With this in mind I had decided to take a quivertip rod for chub and my deadbait rod for pike, I also packed in my lure rod at the last minute.

My chub setup was 6lb line straight through to a size 6 hook baited with cheese paste whilst I used a ledgered paternoster rig to present a half mackerel for the pike. The first swim was given about 40 minutes before I upped sticks and moved downstream. My target was a good chub peg that has produced in the past. My rationale was that if I couldn't snare a chub there then it would probably mean they weren't in the mood. I passed a few anglers float fishing maggots with little to shout about and then met another pike angler who had managed a fish earlier that morning.

A short chat later and I arrived in my spot and cast the cheese paste under the overhanging tree protruding from the near bank. I decided to leave the pike set up at the top of the bank, as for the time being it was do or die as far as the chub were concerned. Twenty minutes later and with not so much as a twitch I reeled in and packed the chub rod away. As far as I was concerned I was flogging as dead horse and it would be pike that would get my full attention for the next 90 minutes or so that I had remaining. I moved a peg or two upstream. I decided to remove the trebles and replace it with a trace sporting a single hook baited with a smelt. This was cast into the river ready to intercept any pike in the vicinity. The pike angler I had passed earlier came walking by for another chat and reported he'd had no further interest since his fish at first light.

By now it had past 11am and my bait was also lying undisturbed. It was obvious deadbaits weren't interesting the pike so out came the lure rod that I almost didn't pack. I connected the spinner that had been successful on my previous session and had attracted lots of perch interest. Fifteen minutes later and it was time for another change and out came one of my new spinnerbaits. I opted for

Spinnerbaits did the trick

a white and silver pattern using the old mantra that natural colours work best in clear water. Within five minutes or so the rod hooped over and I was into a pike. The 7ft, light actioned lure rod I was using meant that the pike, although not huge, gave a good account of itself. It was a plump looking fish that had obviously been feeding well for the impending winter. I estimated the weight at about 5lb, took a quick snap whilst it lay on the unhooking mat before watching it slope in the margins before it disappeared from view.

A chunky looking 'Jack' pike

With confidence renewed, I soon moved into a new spot a little upstream. This almost resulted in pike number two. As the lure made its way back to the bank a pike appeared from nowhere and grabbed the lure. I could feel the pike pulling aggressively as it thought it had found any easy meal. I struck! Unbelievably, it resulted in thin air and I watched the pike vanish almost as quickly as it appeared. I couldn't comprehend how I missed that one and despite persevering for another ten minutes or so hoping it would return, I saw time run out and my session ended.

Although it would have been nice to have caught the second pike it did remind me of some valuable lessons. The first was not to discount lures whatever the month and secondly, if one method isn't working then do something proactive. It would have been easy to sit behind a deadbait for the the session but I am pretty sure it would have resulted in a blank. On another day it might be the best method but on this day the pike seemed more inclined to chase a moving bait. To finish, I must say I've got a bit of the pike bug at the moment. After concentrating on barbel for several years it has been quite refreshing to catch a few different species this season, especially since the barbel fishing has been so indifferent. That means I am already plotting my next predator session.