Month: <span>April 2021</span>

The weather here out on the East Coast has been sunny but cold with frosts at night and a biting easterly wind. Looking at the club’s catch reports some people have been catching but many more have been blanking. Anyway I had enough of waiting for the weather to break so decided not to continue to visit new waters and visit my go to lake where I always manage to catch something.

When I arrived it was still quite early and I was the only one there. One of the advantages of this venue is that you can park right next to the lake and don’t have to carry your gear far! I was soon set up with my feeder rod fishing further out than my float rod in the hope of catching something bigger than the usual baby roach. I had previously lobbed in some groundbait and maggots and had maggots on the hook. Soon the float bobbed away and I was into my first fish, a baby roach! Still, it was better than blanking! That was the pattern of the day really, I lost count of the number that I caught and some were bigger than others but nothing special. Still, I was catching! I couldn’t try any other bait as I realised that I had left it in the freezer once again!

I still haven’t quite got the hang of this feeder lark. I have now got my tangles sorted out and fished all session without problems. The bit that I am still struggling with is bite indication, sometimes I get a quick tap or even double tap then nothing, thinking it is a line bite I leave it for a while but when I pull the feeder in there is a baby roach on the hook. I am not sure whether it pulled the quiver tip over when it picked up the hook and just sat there afterwards or if it just happened to pick up the bait as I was reeling in. 

This is the lake where I usually get bothered by swans but they were not around. Instead some friendly ducks came around and I also had a visit from a peacock. I had spilt some maggots while filling up the feeder and while I was concentrating on the float I felt a presence beside me and turning slowly I saw a peacock having a feed. He stayed a few minutes and went off, unlike the ducks who were completely unafraid of me and were eating maggots next to me and around my feet. Later in the day I heard a noise behind me and saw that they were in my pellets tin helping themselves! I was also visited by a robin and saw a buzzard in the distance so decided to get my compact camera out and try to get an elusive picture. This didn’t work out as when I turned the camera on it said. “Replace the batteries” and immediately turned off. So much for that idea!

It was getting on in the afternoon and I was thinking about packing up when my hand was forced by a tangle which was the cue to start getting my gear together. Although I hadn’t caught anything large I had been catching all day and getting some practice after a fairly long lean spell. I had a nice day sitting in the sun, hadn’t got cold and had taken some interesting photos and will go back to visiting new waters next time.

Not managed to go fishing this week so just some general thoughts. Our club’s Facebook page has had quite a discussion about discarded tackle, in particular rigs which have been cast across to an island and caught in the bushes and been left dangling with the bait in easy reach for ducks. They have had to launch boats several times to either rescue a hooked duck or remove the rigs. Basically what they are saying is that you should learn to cast the proper distance and use a line clip. Reading about the locations where this happened I am pleased that none of them are mine but it did make me feel guilty as I have lost a few method feeders recently! One of the bailiffs posted a YouTube link on how to use the clip which was very informative and so I am determined to do better in future and become a better angler!

The other regular posts which come up are, leaving litter on the bank and not locking the gates behind you when you leave. I am sure that our club is not the only one that has these issues although I have to say that for me personally I can’t understand why anyone would do either of these things but then I guess that is the way I was brought up! Taking care of the environment is such a natural thing to do that it shouldn’t need explaining and as for gates you should always leave them as you find them, which in the club’s case is locked. Several reasons for this including security and keeping strangers off club waters. As far as the landowners are concerned they don’t want to wake up one morning and find a load of caravans parked next to their lake!

Now to photos. I want to record the fish that I catch and the places that I have fished and for this my smart phone is ideal. In fact my photos on my computer have become a diary of my life and a way of checking where and when things have happened. Such a change from when I had to scrape together the money to buy a film and have it developed and I was very careful with what I actually photographed, now I literally have tens of thousands of pictures. Anyway, I digress, as I said the phone is fine for most things but it doesn’t have a telephoto lens, sure you can use the digital zoom but the quality of the picture soon deteriorates. I like taking pictures and use them on my Instagram, Facebook and Twitter accounts and as I have said I get to see nature and would like to have some decent pictures which the phone can’t manage. I have got a very good bridge camera but the idea of taking it to the bank where it can get wet and muddy doesn’t appeal so I have been wondering what to do. Then I remembered that tucked away in a drawer somewhere I have a small compact camera so I found it and had a look. Now I bought this camera some years ago just before phones with cameras came out and made them redundant so I haven’t used it much. To my delight I found that it has an optical zoom and I tried it out from the bedroom window but as I live on an estate I can’t see far so haven’t really much idea whether it will be any good. The only thing to do is to take it with me and see how it performs, I will let you know!

Lastly, I have been thinking about this business of putting a carp rod out while I am float or quiver tip fishing. I thought that I would have a go at catching carp after seeing other anglers catching them and so bought a rod and was lucky enough to catch almost immediately last summer. My catch rate diminished during the autumn and so I gave up on carp and concentrated on river fishing but have gone back to still waters in the close season and have had my carp rod out again but with no luck. Our club waters are not highly stocked with carp and you won’t be pulling one out every five minutes so patience is needed and that is something that I don’t have when fishing, I like to be doing something even if I am not catching anything. What I am worried about is by having two different styles of rods out am I not concentrating on either one properly? Was my success last summer just a fluke? If I put two carp rods out what will I do then? I suppose that I could take a book to pass the time but I could sit at home and read. So the question is, what do carp anglers do to pass the time? I am still mulling this over and would appreciate any comments below. 

Well, that’s it for this week, quite a long blog for not going fishing! I hope that I will be back on the bank for next week!

As my target this season is to fish all the club’s waters I went to another new one this week. There are two lakes next to each other and the one that I hadn’t fished was a long thin shallow lake fed by a stream. It was a beautiful day and I got up early for me as I had to go and visit my mum in the afternoon as we are now allowed to meet outdoors so I couldn’t stay late. As I was walking to my swim I passed a young man with a bivvy up and his carp gear out, I stopped for a chat, as you do and his buzzer sounded and he was on to a fish. He was happy for me to stay while he brought in the fish and was pleased with a high single figure carp. I took a photo for him and went off to my swim thinking that was a great start to the day!

I set up the carp rod and as I had no method feeders left I decided to try using PVA bags which I had got with a job lot of tackle off eBay and which I had never used. I found it quite straightforward, probably due to watching all those YouTube videos and cast across to near the opposite bank. Then it was time to set up my float rod and feed the swim a bit before sitting down with a cuppa. Nothing much happened, I re-cast the carp rod, checked the maggots, had a chat with the ever present ducks and enjoyed sitting in the sun. Then I got a bite, a small roach which led me to expect that I would start catching some more but it was not to be.

As there was nothing from the carp rod I decided to pre-bait an area next to my swim under a tree and try there in a little while. Still nothing else on the float rod so I tried different depths, different baits, bread then sweetcorn but still nothing. I had been noticing some small fish jumping and the V shape on the surface of the water where they were swimming just below and a little while later the float dipped and I was into a small perch. Not the smallest I have ever caught but certainly a contender! I moved my carp rod to the baited area but no luck. I am always surprised how fast the time goes on the bank even if I am not catching much. I think this is because I enjoy being out in the country looking at the birds and other wildlife and because I am always thinking what else I can try to catch more fish. 

Soon it was time to pack up and stop to chat to the anglers I passed who told me that they were having even less luck than me. I saw on the club’s Facebook site later that evening that the young man caught another carp after I had left so he had something out of the day. Thinking about my session I was pleased that I didn’t blank but not pleased that having caught one roach I didn’t catch more. Perhaps it is still a bit cold or maybe the sunshine put them off, that would be a shame as I like fishing on warm sunny days! Also I haven’t caught a carp this year despite having my rods out several times. I am beginning to wonder whether having a float rod and a carp rod out at the same time is such a good idea, perhaps I should concentrate on one or the other, I would certainly have less gear to carry!

I was a bit peeved that I had not caught anything last time out so a few days later I went back to the same venue. This time I chose to fish in the furthest lake and had a chance to try out my new rucksack, which was great. It was fairly comfortable and sat securely and was not too heavy and left my arms free for rods, chair and unhooking mat.

There weren’t too many swims to choose from as the lake is quite small, longish and narrow in shape so I sat myself down in the sun and away from overhanging trees so that I wouldn’t cast into them! I set my carp rod up more quickly this time, having had a practice last time and decided to go for the method feeder with a popup boilie. Once that was done it was time to get the float rod out and do a bit of active fishing! It was not too deep, say about 5-6ft so manageable with my 10ft rod. First cast and almost immediately I had a fish, a roach, small but not a tiny one and definitely worth catching, no blank for me today!

The next fish took a little while but after that they kept coming at regular intervals and I ended up with eleven for the session. In between catching I kept filling up the method feeder and casting around trying to find the fish. Then I saw a decent carp cruising along by the opposite bank so I quickly retrieved my gear and cast towards the fish. The lake was just too wide for me to cast underarm so it was an overarm effort straight into the trees on the opposite bank! By the time I had retrieved the line, minus the feeder, the carp was nowhere to be seen so I tackled up again steadily and tried to cast as far as I could towards where it had been.

The day wore on, even though I was a long walk from the car park one or two anglers came to see me and have a chat. A little bit of me was pleased that they were blanking on the lake I had fished earlier in the week and I was catching! The forecast wind didn’t pick up and it was a delightful day, the sun was warm and the birds were singing. I saw a buzzard gliding over the lakes and tried to take a picture with my camera phone but it didn’t come out very well, I resolved to take my proper camera in future. This lake was free of swans, thank goodness but had its fair share of ducks, they would swim by every so often and looked interested when I threw some groundbait in but wouldn’t come too near me. The afternoon passed with me catching a roach just often enough to keep me interested and I was thinking that it would soon be time for me to pack up. One last underhand cast with the method feeder and crack! It was gone! Two lost today and no more in my box! As it was getting towards home time I put the rod away and concentrated on the float for a few minutes. I got a bite, struck and missed it, the line wrapped itself in an almighty tangle around the tip of the rod and that was that. One look showed me that it was going to take ages to unravel by which time it would be time to leave so I decided to do it at home.

Thinking about the day I realised that I often went home with one rod or another in a tangle and that is what makes me stop for the day. None of this “One last cast,” business more, “One last tangle” for me! I have to say that it is easier to sort it out on the bench in my shed rather than on the bank. To be honest it usually consists of cutting the line, saving the hook length if possible and rethreading the rod ready for next time. The line still seems OK on the reel but one day I will have to buy some more as I will have used it all up!