Anglers Diary

How to Tie a Drop Shot Rig for Perch

2019-12-01T17:51:00.004+00:00

A year or two back I produced a video and wrote an article about dropshotting for perch. In that video I used a VMC Spinshot hook which is a drop shot hook on a very small swivel. The system works as well as a conventional drop shot rig but it’s quite expensive to buy so for this article and video I’m going to dial it back and show you how to tie a simple drop shot rig for perch.

How to tie a drop shot rig for perch, click below to watch

A conventional drop shot rig for perch starts with a length of fluorocarbon line which acts as a leader. Fluorocarbon is invisible to fish so it’s ideal for the drop shot rig and the fluorocarbon I use for my rigs is Drennan Supplex in 10lb breaking strain. A drop shot leader should be at least 3 feet long (1m), most lure anglers use braid for their main line and for dropshotting, a bright yellow or orange braid is ideal for seeing subtle bites so the leader needs to be long enough to keep the bright coloured braid away from the drop shot lure. I measure mine out by stretching my arms right out, my reach is in the region of 5-6ft and this is the length of my fluorocarbon leader, I prefer longer than 3 feet just to make doubly sure the fish won’t know the lure is attached to anything.

To tie the drop shot rig thread your fluorocarbon line through the eye of your drop shot hook, I use a size 6 VMC Drop Shot Hook for this, once the line is threaded, double it back through the eye of the hook so the hook is free running with the fluorocarbon doubled over. If your drop shot hook is big enough you can simply fold the leader in half and thread it through the eye of the hook. With the hook free running and the leader folded in half tie a palomar knot to secure the drop shot hook to the middle of the leader, you tie an overhand knot then thread the hook through the loop and pull it tight, the hook should sit perfectly in the middle of the leader and sitting at a right angle to it when it’s pulled tight.

Use a Palomar Knot to Tie the Drop Shot Rig for Perch

Apart from tying the drop shot hook to the leader the only thing we have to worry about is attaching the leader to the braided main line, I’ve covered this before and I use a shock leader knot for this job, it’s not a complicated knot but it’s best watch the video for this one as you can see the knot being tied and follow it easily.

Braid to mono shock leader knot for your drop shot rig, click below to watch

The drop shot weight I use for this rig is a Fox Drop Shot Weight but to be honest any drop shot weight will do, the weight is held in place by threading the line through the swivel hole then pulling it up into the recess to lock the weight in position. Generally I like about 12 inches between the weight and the lure, this keeps the lure just off the bottom where you’d expect to find the perch sitting.

Pull the line into the recess to fix the Drop Shot Weight

Last but by no means least is attaching the lure. For this article/video I’ve used a Gunki Whiz Lure, this particular perch lure is 2 inches in length (50mm). It’s simply a case of hooking the lure through the nose and pushing it round the bend of the hook, try and sit the lure right on the bend so the hook point is free to take hold and penetrate on the strike, I put the point into the gunki whiz about 3mm from the nose of the lure, that way it doesn’t interfere with the hooking properties of the rig.

Gunki Whiz Lure on a completed Drop Shot Rig for Perch

That’s basically it for tying a drop shot rig for perch. Dropshotting for perch is a great way of fishing and at this time of year (winter), it can still get you bites. The perch in the video above was caught in minus temps at the end of November, so if you’re a carp angler expecting a slow winter with not many bites then I’d recommend giving lure fishing and dropshotting for perch a go, the drop shot rig for perch is very easy to tie and fishing this way will keep you catching fish and ticking over until spring.

A 'netter' perch caught Drop Shotting with a Gunki Whiz Lure

If you’ve read this far please check out my YouTube Channel and subscribe, there are plenty of fishing videos on there and plenty more to come and it would be nice to see a comment from you.
Until next time
Tight Lines
Mark.

Jig Fishing for Beginners

2018-11-25T16:33:00.013+00:00

Winter is upon us, it’s that time of year when a lot of anglers hang up their rods and the banks get quieter. In recent years some anglers have turned to light lure fishing and jig fishing in particular. Jig fishing sessions can be kept short, there’s no night fishing and you can get sessions in when you feel like, you are kept active too so it’s a great way to get out over the winter and catch some fish. If you’ve thought about trying jig fishing then read on and have a watch of the video that is part of this jig fishing for beginners article.

Jig Fishing for Beginners, click below to watch the video

A Jig Head is basically a weighted hook, the shank of the hook is bent at 90 degrees and with your line attached the hookpoint is always facing upwards so you can literally drag the jig head and your lure across the bottom, it’s ideal for fishing deep down where you would expect to find the fish, especially in winter. Jig heads are measured in two ways, hook size and weight size, for light lure fishing with lures of 1” to 4” in size, you will be using hooks in sizes 1/0 (biggest) down to 8 (smallest), for most lures in the 1” to 3” range that I mainly use myself, sizes 2,4 and 6 are the most common.

A standard ball jig head, a great starting point for a jig fishing beginner

The other way to rate a Jig Head is by weight, jigs are measured in grams and for light lure fishing 1 gram to 5 grams are the popular sizes although I rarely use anything over 3 grams myself. I have a saying for my light lure fishing, ‘stay low to go slow’, keep the weight of the jig head down so you can slow your retrieve right down, a slow moving target is an easy target for a predatory fish like perch, zander or pike especially in winter, remember fish are cold blooded and their body temperature is only just above that of their surroundings so fish will be reluctant to chase when the water is cold, hence the lighter jig heads and slower retrieves.

A jig head is one half of your lure fishing setup the other half is the soft plastic lures that you mount on the jig head. There is a bewildering array of soft plastic lures out there, shads, tubes, creatures, worms, leeches, curly tail grubs, crayfish and many more, for the benefit of this article I’ll stick to naming 3 which have done really well for me although I'm relatively new to the crayfish myself, check these three out and make sure you add them to your own lure box.

Shads
A shad is basically an imitation fish, in sizes 1” to 3” they are great for catching predators, again there is a bewildering array of sizes and colours so I’ll just single out the Relax Kopyto Shad, I’ve been using these for years and they are superb catchers, use a white or bright green one for coloured water and a more natural one if your water is clear. The kopyto shad has a paddle tail and it mimic’s an injured fish, like a slow moving target, an injured fish is an easy target for a predator. You can fish a shad with a straight retrieve or you can vary it, jig it up and down, lift the lure off the bottom and let it flutter down again to help the illusion that it’s an injured fish. Superb, no Lure Box should be without one.

Soft plastic shads, the Kopyto Shad is great for jig fishing

Curly Tailed Grubs
Curly Tailed Grubs were the first light lure I ever bought, they are brilliant fish catchers, the body is that of a grub and there is a curly tail at the back, when retrieved straight and slow the tails waves enticingly creating the illusion that the grub is swimming, again you can jig it along the bottom, lift the rod to bring the curly tail up in the water then let it flutter down to the bottom again, these lures are great catchers and another one that every jig fishing beginner should have in their Lure Box.

Curly Tailed Grub, the 1st jig head lure I ever bought and still one of the best

Crayfish
The third and final lure you should have in your box is a crayfish type lure, in this video I’ve used the Crazy Fish Nimble but there are many others out there, they look bizarre but crayfish have a superb action as they flutter through the water and they are superb fish catchers, perch in particular go for them in a big way as you’ll see if you watch the video that comes with this article. Again crays can be retrieved straight so the claws wave about creating the illusion the lure is swimming or they can be twitched or jigged, lift the lure off the bottom then let it flutter down, the crayfish is another lure you should definitely have in your Lure Box.

Crazy Fish Nimble showing the quick change Fas-Snap connector as used in the video

A decent perch taken on the crazy fish nimble

When it comes to your lure fishing setup, rods are graded by casting weight so a 1 to 8 gram rod like the one I use is ideal, mine is a Sakura Lure Rod and it’s prefect for the job. Reel wise a 1000 size reel will do and mine is a Daiwa Exceler, it’s a lovely reel and the clutch is superb. On my reel I have yellow Power Pro Braid in 10lb breaking strain and my leader that attaches to the braid via a shock leader knot is 10lb Drennan Supplex fluorocarbon. Once your leader is attached to your braid simply tie the fluorocarbon to your jig head or you can use a Fast Snap which makes it easy to change jig heads during your session. You can see a video on how to tie the shock leader knot below.

Braid to Mono knot for attaching Fluoro to your braid, click below to watch

That’s about it for jig fishing for beginners, the method works well on lakes, rivers and canals and as always in fishing, watercraft is the key so check out all your usual features, weed, pads, snags, bridges, locks, turnaround points, back eddys, anywhere you think fish might be present because wherever you find fish a predator won’t be far away.

One of my YouTube Viewers Chris Davies with his first ever jig caught perch

Please subscribe to my youtube channel and my blog for future videos and articles and if you decide to give lure fishing a go this winter then good luck, I have a community tab on my youtube channel, please feel free to post a picture of your catches on there.
Tight Lines.
Mark.

Feeder Fishing for Barbel

2018-09-16T13:34:00.003+01:00

Over the last few years it struck me that barbel fishing here in the UK has become extremely popular. I’ve already written a few barbel articles for this blog and they’ve been accompanied by a few barbel videos on my YouTube Channel. The barbel videos I’ve produced so far have become some of the most popular videos on my channel which is quite remarkable given that I’m a carp angler for the majority of my fishing. I’ve included a few of my barbel videos at the bottom of this article, I’d highly recommend you watch them along with ‘Feeder Fishing for Barbel’ and 'Preparing Hemp for Fishing' which are both included within this article, my channel is worth a subscription too, if you would be so kind.

A typical River Severn Barbel caught on my feeder fishing tactics below

Swimfeeder Groundbaits, Rigs and Hookbaits
I’m a big fan of hemp and pellets for barbel. To compliment the pellets I like to use Dynamite Marine Halibut Groundbait, this particular groundbait is amazing and it really provokes a strong response from all species of fish, it’s also a perfect groundbait to use with Halibut Pellets, or any other pellets for that matter. The hemp is in there because it’s one of the most incredibly attractive baits in fishing and barbel absolutely love hempseed, it gets into every nook and cranny on the bottom and the barbel are perfectly adapted to digging out every last grain, hemp will keep barbel in your swim and keep them rooting around. Below is a video on how I prepare my hemp with a Thermos Flask, it’s mess free and very easy to do up to 3 pints of hemp in one go so it’s just perfect for a day’s barbel fishing and you should definitely check it out. Alternatively, you can get either tins or jars of Hemp ready prepared from Ebay.

Quick and easy way to prepare hemp for barbel fishing

My barbel rig is a simple running swimfeeder, I’ll come to the feeders I use for barbel next, regarding the barbel rig itself, I use 3-4ft of Drennan Supplex Fluorocarbon in 8 or 10lb breaking strain. At the hook end I have a Drennan Super Specialist Hook in size 10, these hooks have been around for many years and I’ve been using them myself since the 1980’s they are incredibly strong and totally reliable, they are also quite cheap compared to a lot of fishing hooks these days!. My hooklengths are 3-4ft to keep the hookbait away from the feeder, where the feeder sits on the bottom is where the line starts to rise up to your rod tip and this is a ‘spook point’ for barbel, specially if the area you are fishing is heavily fished. The fluorocarbon hooklength is used for it’s invisibility to fish in water, my barbel fishing is always done in high summer when the rivers are generally low and clear so the long / fluoro hooklength is the perfect combination to help trick those wary barbel.

Different Feeders for Barbel Fishing
There are two basic types of feeder for barbel fishing, the open end or ‘cage feeder’ and the block end or ‘slow release feeder’. These two types of swimfeeder are quite straight forward, the open cage feeder allows your groundbait, hemp and pellets to empty out of the feeder quickly in the current and the one I use is a Guru Gripper Feeder. This type of feeder is ideal for building a baited spot and repeated casting with a loaded cage feeder will quickly establish a bed of feed and create a scent trail for the barbel to home in on. The slow release feeder holds your groundbait, hemp and pellets for much longer so there will still be a scent trail coming from the feeder even if your bait is whittled away by smaller fish like roach, dace minnows or baby chublets and the slow release feeder I use is a Korum River Feeder. Both of these feeders can be very effective on the right day.

Feeder Fishing for Barbel on the River Severn

Feeder Fishing Tactics for Barbel
My feeder fishing tactics for barbel were actually developed by carp anglers on the banks of the famous Redesmere Lake in the North West. Back in the day the carp anglers had to develop tactics to get bites from these heavily pressured carp. One such tactic was to fish a bed of bait at a comfortable range with one rod on the bait and one rod just off the spot fished as a single hookbait. Those shy biting Redesmere carp grew wary of the baited spot but they would often slip up on the single bait which just looked like a random freebie that had gone astray. I’ve used these tactics on hard fished waters for many years and I used them for my River Weaver Carping, the single or small patch of bait off a big baited area produced 80% of my biggest River Weaver carp, proof indeed that the single bait slightly away from the baited spot really works.

Feeder Fishing Tactics for Catching River Severn Barbel

I had no hesitation in applying this tactic to my feeder fishing for barbel. I lay down a bed of feed and fish an open end cage feeder on the bait. This is my main line of attack on the river and the bait I expect to produce the most fish. In conjunction with this rod I use a second rod with a slow realease feeder as a kind of single hookbait that I fish off the main bed of feed. This rod with the slow release feeder is there to catch wary fish that have backed off the main bed of feed or those fish that deliberately hold back, those wary fish can quite often be the biggest in the shoal but not always. Check out the diagram of my typical feeder fishing tactics for barbel (above), the black oval shape is the main feed and the red dots are the spots I would fish the slow release or single feeder. As a general guide, I start off with the slow release feeder parallel to the main feed in position 2 or 3 on the diagram, this allows the barbel to move upstream onto the feed and up to the hookbait without encountering any lines, just the bait and the hookbait. If bites don’t come and the fishing is slow I’ll often move the slow release feeder to position 1 and fish what I call the tail end of the baited spot, you can fish 10-20yds further downsteam, just make sure the feeders are aligned in the flow so the scent from the main baited spot flows down to the slow release feeder. This can often save you a blank, it can pick up fish that haven’t yet reached your feed or fish that are holding back in the flow and just picking off bits of bait that have flowed downsteam. It’s a great spot for a late blank saving bite and given that river severn barbel can be very nocturnal I often find myself having to use this tactic as we get towards dusk. For your information, the 'hot' time for barbel on the middle severn is usually around 10pm-1am in summer.

A nice 7lb River Severn Barbel caught over bait on the open end cage feeder

So there you have it, these are the tactics I use for Feeder Fishing for Barbel on the River Severn, gone are the old baits like sweetcorn and meat, today it’s hempseed, pellets and a fishy groundbait, the barbel love this combination and the proven big fish tactics allow you to get the most out of your swim. Remember you can use the slow realease feeder for trying other parts of your swim to help you build up your knowledge of spots the barbel prefer but I like to use my second rod as a really subtle trap instead.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this look at my feeder fishing for barbel, check out the previous barbel videos I’ve made below and please subscribe to my Youtube Channel by Clicking Here, thankyou.
Until next time, take care of yourself and tight lines.
Mark.

Dropshotting for Perch

2018-01-28T16:39:00.013+00:00

The technique of dropshotting for perch isn’t difficult to master, in fact it’s a very simple way of lure fishing. In its purest form it’s just a lead weight clipped on the end of the line with a hook tied in slightly higher up with a soft plastic lure nicked on the bend of the hook. In this article I’ll take a look at some of the fishing tackle I use for drop shot fishing and I’ll share a few tips to help you catch canal perch using the drop shot rig.

Dropshotting for perch, a simple way of lure fishing

Dropshotting for Perch, click below to watch the video

Dropshotting Fishing Rod
My drop shot rod is a Sakura Neo Sportism. This is a rod made by French lure fishing specialists Sakura, it’s a rod which is 7ft long and weight rated 0.9g-7g, its incredibly light to hold and a dream to play fish on. For its size and weight rating it’s very deceptive and it has plenty of backbone to handle small to medium sized pike should you be unlucky enough to hook one whilst targeting perch. All in all it’s a great rod and perfectly suited to dropshotting for perch.

Dropshotting Reel
The reel I use for my dropshotting is a Daiwa Exceler. This is a beautiful reel, incredibly light and super smooth, I’m a big fan of shimano reels and this Daiwa reel is easily a match for any of them, the clutch is superbly smooth and that matters when you might need to tame a big fish on such a light setup.

Braided Mainline
All my lure fishing is done with braided mainline including my drop shot fishing, although I use green braid for my conventional jig fishing, for dropshotting I use the Hi Viz Yellow Power Pro Braid in 10lb breaking strain. Power pro braid is an excellent main line for lure fishing and the high vis yellow helps with spotting bites during those pauses in the retrieve when the line is slack. Quite often a fish can hit your drop shot lure from the side and the only indication you see is the line moving to the side and high vis yellow braid makes this easier to spot.

Drop Shot Weights
My preferred Drop Shot Weights are the brass ones by fox rage in 7g, because they are brass they aren't toxic like a lead drop shot weight and i'm happy to use them for this reason and despite there being cheaper lead options available.

Fluorocarbon Leader
Fluorocarbon lines have revolutionised drop shot fishing, their ‘invisible in water’ qualities have been a real plus when it comes to tricking shy biting fish into taking a lure. My chosen fluorocarbon is Drennan Supplex in 10lb. This is the same line I use for my summer barbel rigs and it’s equally at home as my drop shot leader. My leader is at least 6ft long and the drop shot hook is tied in with a palomar knot or I use a VMC Spin Shot Hook, I make sure there is at least 3ft of fluorocarbon from the lure to the leader knot, remember the fluorocarbon leader is pretty much invisible in water and the hook will be sufficiently far enough away for the high vis yellow braid not to bother the fish. Check out the two videos on tying knots that accompany this article, the Palomar Knot is for tying the drop shot hook into the leader and the shock leader knot is for attaching braid to mono so it’s ideal for tying your fluorocarbon leader to your high vis yellow braid.

Braid to mono shock leader knot for your fluorocarbon drop shot leader knot

Drop Shot Hooks
I use VMC Drop Shot Hooks for most of my dropshotting but for the conventional drop shot hook, I tie it in with the Palomar Knot. Lately I’ve switched to the VMC Spinshot Hooks, they differ in that the hook is on its own little mini swivel. You tie the uptrace part of your leader to one end of the swivel so that the hook point faces upwards then you add in a down trace to the drop shot weight to the other end. The spin shot system allows you to change out the down trace part of your leader if it becomes damaged, remember the drop shot weight just clips on the line and fluorocarbon is quite brittle, I’ve broken quite a few drop shot rigs when I’ve moved the weight to adjust the rig and the fluorocarbon has snapped rendering the rig useless. Using the VMC Spin Shot Hooks I can now change out the down trace without having to replace the whole rig. Check out the ‘Drop Shotting for Perch’ video that accompanies this article, the whole rig and the spin shot hooks are all explained in detail.

Palomar knot for tying a drop shot hook into a fluorocarbon leader, click below to watch

Drop Shot Lures
My lures for dropshotting for perch are the same as those I use for Jig Fishing, by doing this I can keep the cost of buying lures down, believe me, once you get into lure fishing you’ll find yourself going overboard on lures, so by choosing lures that I can use on both techniques I don’t need as many. Below are a few of my favourite lures for drop shotting.

Gunki Whiz Lure My current favourite drop shot lure is the Gunki Whiz in hot tiger. This is an incredibly successful lure, it’s brightly coloured like any other type of firetiger lure so it’s ideal for fishing in coloured water. If I had to pick one lure to use all the time I’d be torn between this one and the kopyto shad, both are superb lures.

Shropshire union canal, drop shot caught perch on a 2" Gunki Whiz Lure

Relax Kopyto Shad
I use the kopyto shad for Jig Fishing as well as drop shotting, it’s a superb lure in chartreuse colour, which is a kind of luminous green. The kopyto shad has been ever present through most of my lure fishing on the Shropshire Union Canal and it’s proved its worth time and time again, just have a look through my previous lure fishing videos on my youtube channel to see how successful this lure has been, dropshotting for perch or jig fishing for perch and pike, this lure is superb.

Crazy Fish Nano Minnow
Another lure that’s become a favourite of mine is the Crazy Fish Nano Minnow, when bites are hard to come by or I keep missing them my first change is to a smaller 1” lure and the nano minnow. Remember a drop shot lure is always nicked through the nose so the fish literally has to inhale the lure to get a good hook hold, dropping to a 1” usually does the trick and the 1” nano minnow has saved me a blank many times, like the gunki whiz and the kopyto shad, it’s definitely another lure I wouldn’t want to be without.

Crazy Fish Polaris
Another favourite is the Crazy Fish Polaris, whilst it’s not really a lure I’d use for searching the canal, it does come into its own when you are clearly on a shoal of perch and you want a lure to stay in the take zone. You can literally just twitch the crazy fish polaris against the drop shot lead and without moving it. These small twitches will induce a perch to strike if they are in the vicinity and this lure works really well.

As you can see my top lures are mainly shad baits that all have the paddle tail in common, I find paddle tail lures the best if you have to go searching for the perch which is always how I fish. I do have other lures in my bag like worms and leeches but I only use these when I know I’m on a shoal of perch. With the paddle tail lures it’s just a case of casting across the canal then slowly drawing back the lure to make it rise up and flutter, then let the line go slack so the lure flutters down, working the lure this way makes it very attractive to perch and pike and it will usually induce a strike if they see it or sense the lures presence through their lateral line system if the water is coloured. Lures like worms and leeches are best suited to fishing static where you cast to an area you know the fish are present, then you can twitch the lure to give it movement but without winding it in so it stays on the take zone and hopefully brings a bite.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little look at dropshotting for perch, it’s a very simple but very effective method of catching on the right day. Take a look at the videos accompanying this article, the main one is on dropshotting for perch and takes you through what’s written here, the recurring theme of the video is using the paddle tail lures and drawing the drop shot weight across the bottom then letting the line go slack to make the lure flutter up and down, that is the essence of dropshotting with lures like the gunki whiz and the kopyto shad. The other two videos are both instructions for tying knots, the shock leader knot is great for tying braid to mono so it’s perfect for attaching your fluorocarbon leader to your hi viz braid. The palomar knot is ideal for tying conventional drop shot rigs and using a standard drop shot hook with this knot will certainly be cheaper than using the VMC spin shot hooks I’m using, the spin shot hook definitely has its advantages though, as I’ve highlighted above and in the main ‘dropshotting for perch’ video.

Lure fishing, a drop shot caught perch from the difficult Shropshire Union Canal

Remember the Shropshire Union Canal is a bit of a ball breaker when it comes to catching perch, by way of a final tip I would say watch out for scattering shoals of roach. I’ve had my best days fishing when I’ve seen small shoals of roach scattering to evade a predator, I’ve seen this phenomenon four times this winter and although you might think pike are responsible, every one I’ve witnessed so far has been perch so definitely go to them if you spot prey fish scattering.

That’s it for now, please Follow my Instagram Page and subscribe to my YouTube Channel if you haven’t already, I’ll be back with another article and video in the near future.
Until then, take care of yourself and tight lines.
Mark.

Barbel Fishing for Beginners

2017-09-17T16:13:00.003+01:00

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If you’ve never fished for barbel before it’s great fun, they are one of the hardest fighting fish we have in our rivers and fishing for them isn’t too difficult. You may be a pleasure angler, a match angler or a carper who’s grown sick of the carp scene and the struggle to get a decent peg?, whatever your angling background, barbel fishing is a branch of our sport that offers the chance to fish for hard fighting fish on quiet banks and it doesn’t require you to go camping for days on end so it suits those anglers who are short on time.

The River Severn at Atcham, A great area to target your first barbel

Like any branch of specialist angling the key to barbel fishing is location. Finding the barbel isn’t too difficult and I tend to look for steady flowing water that’s moving at walking pace, always remember, it’s all about the ‘flow’. Shallow rocky areas of the river where you often see white water are areas I use as ‘markers’. I plot these areas on google maps then target the deeper, slower moving sections of river in between them. Within these slower flowing stretches will be areas the barbel will feel safe. Safe areas could be snags, streamer weed, overhanging trees or anywhere there is an obstacle against the bank that breaks the flow of the river and creates an eddy. When you spot these areas it’s just a case of baiting up above them and creating a smell trail in the water that will flow down and tempt the barbel out of their daytime hiding places.

Barbel Fishing for Beginners, click below to watch the video

The tackle you need for barbel fishing is quite straight forward, one or two barbel rods, for many years I made do with a light pair of carp rods but recently I’ve bought a dedicated pair of barbel rods, the Korum Rods have two tip sections, 1.75lb tc and 2.2lb tc so you can pick and choose which tip to use depending on your venue and the size of the barbel that are present. I’ve had these twin tip+ rods for over a year now and I have to say I’ve been very impressed with them. My reels are a pair of Shimano Baitrunners, mine are the larger 4500 size but the old 3500 or 5010 sized reels are perfect for the barbel angler. My reels are loaded with 12lb bs gold label pro clear line which has a very low diameter that helps with holding a feeder in place in flowing water. NB I've since replaced pro clear with 15lb Big Game Line.

Apart from the rod and reel setup I have the rest of my tackle stored in a Ridge Monkey Bait Bucket, it’s a kind of self contained system that holds everything from my Pellet O's Hookbaits, Halibut Pellets, Dynamite Marine Halibut Groundbait, Bait Box, Guru Gripper Feeder, Drennan Supplex Fluorocarbon, Drennan Super Specialist Hook, Shock Beads, Swivels and Multi Clips which I use to tie my hooklengths. Basically everything I need to tie a rig, put a bait on and bait my swim is all at hand which is ideal for my short sessions, it’s also easy to carry which is handy for getting to your peg if there is a long walk involved.

A River Severn Barbel comes to the Landing Net during an evening session

Barbel fishing for beginners is very straight forward, in the video above I’m on the River Severn and I mention two clubs that are worth a look. The Lymm Angling Club section at Atcham is a perfect place to get your first barbel, there are loads of fish in that section and it’s very underfished these days, so much so that you might need to do a little pruning to actually open up a swim for yourself, quite amazing given that it’s prime Severn barbel water and one of the best stretches on the middle river!. Lymm do a ‘Rivers and Canals’ card only which at the time of writing is £40. Shrewsbury Angling Club are also worth a look, their section at Preston Boats can be fished for just £20 a year, it’s a little harder than Atcham but there are still plenty of barbel there, both tickets are great value for money when you consider a 24hr session on Linear Fisheries is £33 for 24hrs at the moment!.

A typical shoal sized River Severn Barbel, an ideal target for beginners

If you’ve read this far I hope I’ve inspired you to have a go at barbel fishing, please watch the video ‘Barbel Fishing for Beginners’ which is embedded into this article (above), in it I show you the kind of stretches of water to look out for and I go through my barbel gear so you can see it all first hand and you can't beat actually seeing what you've just read here.

Should you take on the challenge of barbel fishing I wish you well, believe me barbel are incredibly hard fighting fish and they never give up, so much so that they always require ‘recovery time’ before being released so please treat these fish with respect. When releasing them, keep them in your landing net for a few minutes with their heads facing into the current, this will allow them to regain the strength they need to cope with the current, it’s good practice and something every barbel beginner should learn from the off.
Tight Lines.

Mark.

Lure Fishing for Pike and Perch in Coloured Water

2016-12-18T11:42:00.003+00:00

The Shropshire union canal main line is a very busy canal, it forms part of what boaters call the ‘Cheshire loop’ which is a route they can take around the counties canal system. It’s a very popular route for boaters and holiday makers but it’s a nightmare for anglers and lure anglers in particular. The constant boat traffic churns up the bottom of the canal and as a result, the water is permanently the colour of a bar of cadbury’s dairy milk chocolate.

Lure Fishing for Pike and Perch in Coloured Water, Click to Watch.

Because of the muddy water and lack of sight, most lure anglers look at the venue and give it a wide birth, it’s human nature to do this, a fishes eyesight is at least as good as ours and we can’t see in that environment so it stands to reason the fish can’t either. It’s rare to see anyone on the canal with a lure rod but dismissing the canal because of the water colour is a big mistake. This widely accepted train of thought that lure fishing is no good in coloured water assumes that fish have no other senses besides their eyes, but they do!. They also have their lateral line system which they use to detect vibrations and tiny changes in water currents around them, this system is so sensitive a predator like a pike or perch can still hunt prey fish despite not being able to see in the muddy water. Knowing this, we can specifically select lures that offer vibration and sound to attract bites.

Sight...Think fish not human, this pike hit my kopyto lure after picking up vibrations from the paddle tail

The canal is quite featureless, the biggest attraction for the angler is the margins and the vertical walls that form the canal itself. Canal boats generally travel up the middle of the canal and it’s here the water is churned worst of all. As a result, fish will often sit close in to the bank, not only does the canal wall offer somewhere for the fish to hang out, the muddy coloured water means they can’t be seen in the edge and this is a help to us anglers too because the muddy water means they can’t see us either.

They can't see us either, a perch caught dibbling under my feet

I have a few lures I use for lure fishing in coloured water, which one I choose depends on the target species, for pike my number one lure is a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap in firetiger. This particular lure is superb in coloured water, there are a couple of ball bearings inside the lure that provide a big rattling sound and the lure itself is constructed so it rips from side to side really aggressively. When you work a rapala jointed shad rap you can actually see and feel your rod tip vibrate as the lure moves along and working it under a bridge will give you an idea of just how much sound and vibration comes off this lure, you will actually hear it echoing off the brickwork of the bridge. Fan casting to search the canal with one of these rapala’s you will soon know if there are any pike in residence, I usually give it 10-15 casts in a fan shape but I expect a hit within 5 or 6 casts if the pike are in the mood. You can also work them up and down the canal margin to search long stretches of the canal and this is one of my favourite ways of using this outstanding pike lure.

Rapala Jointed Shad Rap in Firetiger, an outstanding pike lure for coloured water

Most of my canal lure fishing is done with perch as the main target and my best lure for this species is a small Relax Kopyto Shad. I use the brightest colours I can find for lure fishing in coloured water, although the fish can’t see very well I reason that a bright colour can’t do any harm and may help if there is slight visibility close up as a fish strikes the lure. I tend to favour lures that are white or ‘chartreuse’, which is a kind of luminous green type of colour.
For my perch fishing with the relax kopyto shad I tend to favour working with a ‘sphere of detection’. The kopyto has a lovely rubber paddle tail which hammers away and creates vibration when you retrieve it through the water, if the lure comes within 12 inches (30cms) of a fish, that fish will sense the lure is there even though it can’t see it. When you put this ‘sphere of detection’ into use and put it together with the fish liking the canal wall you can work lures close in to the bank with a method which has become known as ‘dibbling’. Basically it entails dropping the lure off the end of your Rod tip and keeping the lure working close to the bottom and within 12 inches (30cms) of the canal wall, anything that comes within the sphere of the lure can detect it’s presence so that’s any fish within 2ft of the wall (remember it’s a sphere so it’s 12ins in all directions). In the case of coming close to a predator like a pike or a perch, a strike will often follow. It’s a deadly method for fishing canals where visibility is near zero and as you can see from the accompanying video above. If you fish this way, you can get bites when lure fishing for pike and perch in coloured water.

Relax Kopyto Shad, a great perch lure in coloured water

I’ve also just started using a Crazy Fish Vibro Worm, this lure too has a paddle tail for generating vibrations in the water but it also has a few extras. The worm is ‘ribbed’ all the way along which helps displace more water and create more vibration when you work the lure. On top of the vibro worms whole body helping create vibration the lure also has a squid flavour impregnated into it so we are bringing into play the senses of smell and taste too. I had a feeling the vibro worm might be worth a look so I bought a pack of white ones which were 2” (50mm) long. I set one of these crazy fish vibro worm up on a 3 gram Jig Head with a size 4 hook and as you can see, if you watch the film above to the end, first time out it’s caught me a small pike which is an encouraging start for this lure.

Crazy Fish Vibro Worm, the latest addition to my coloured water lures

So that’s it for lure fishing for pike and perch in coloured water, think fish not human is the big message I’d like to get across. Play to the senses fish use to detect their food and hunt with and you will catch fish on lures from waters like the Shropshire union canal main line, believe me canals don’t come much busier than this one and as far as lure fishing venues go it’s a tough one, but it’s not impossible with the right approach.
Until next time.
Tight lines.
Mark.

Lure Fishing for Beginners

2016-11-19T20:44:00.030+00:00

I thought long and hard about the title for this blog entry and accompanying short film, lure fishing for beginners seemed to be the most appropriate way to describe a look at my lure fishing tackle and the gear I use, after all, if you’re reading this and watching the film then you’re probably looking to get into lure fishing yourself or you’re looking for ideas on lures to add to your own lure boxes. As someone who takes a camera fishing with them, this look at my gear is long overdue. One thing you will notice is that my gear is basic starter stuff that a lure fishing beginner would use, I don’t believe in spending any more than necessary when it comes to kitting yourself out and I’m not waving round a £300 plus rod and reel combination whilst telling you to ‘buy cheap’, I do actually use the cheap stuff myself as you are about to see.

A look at my lure fishing tackle, click to watch

HTO Rockfish Lure Rod
This is the lure rod I use, it’s an 'LRF' or 'light rock fishing' rod that's actually meant for bass fishing off the rocks but being so light it lends itself perfectly to light lure fishing for perch. The rod has a nice white tip for spotting bites and is weight rated for lures in the 3-12g weight range. The rod in general is well made and light, just what you need for a day on the canal and at a cost of around £35 it won’t break the bank. The rod itself was recommended to me by an angling coach friend of mine and I have to say he was spot on (thanks kev), it’s a quality rod but without the ‘lure fishing’ price tag of some makes.

Shimano Catana 2500 Reel
This is the reel I’ve paired with my rockfish rod, it’s one of the smallest reels in the shimano range but it still has a lovely clutch, being only a ‘1000’ size reel its nice and light and at under or around £30 it’s a great starter reel for lure fishing.

My lure fishing setup for beginners, a HTO Rockfish LRF Rod and a Shimano Catana Reel

Savage Gear Lure Rod
My second lure rod is an out and out pike rod, this is one of the bigger savage gear lure rods at 8ft 6ins and its weight rated for lures weighing 20-60g so it will easily cope with lures over 2oz in weight, this is a lovely rod, very well made and powerful enough to cope with the biggest of pike. This one cost me £60 at the time but I’d spotted a bargain on ebay so expect to pay a bit more today.

Abu Ambassadeur Reel
My Abu baitcaster is a lovely reel, its light and balances very well with the savage gear bushwhacker rod, Abu have a really good name when it comes to baitcaster reels, they are far from cheap and vary in price from £60 up to £200 plus, fortunately I was given mine (thankyou Garry) but expect to pay around £80 for one of these.

Power Pro Braid
Both of my reels are loaded with power pro braid, 30lb for the pike setup and 18lb for the ultralite setup, 18lb was the lowest breaking strain I could find at the time but I’d be happy to drop it down to 10lb braid and I will in future. Braid is an absolute must for lure fishing, no stretch means you can feel every little pluck and pull and it shows up bites really well. Power pro is one of the market leaders in braided line, I’d been using it for years in my carp fishing so it was an obvious choice when it came to my lure fishing tackle.

Savage Gear Lure Net
I carry the larger of the two savage gear lure nets, this net is made with rubber mesh so it’s very lure friendly which is just what you want when you have a lively pike and treble hooks on show, extracting your lure from one of these nets is so easy, they fold up well and I can’t recommend them highly enough. The large net is quite a size and will easily take a big pike, I also use mine for my Barbel Fishing so it’s a duel purpose landing net for me. If you just want one for lure fishing I’d recommend the smaller of the two savage gear nets, it will cope with everything and it’s a tenner cheaper than the large one I have.

Unhooking Mat
You never know when you’re going to need an unhooking mat or landing net when you’re lure fishing, I’ve used a mat from my carp fishing so I’ve yet to go shopping for one exclusively for lure fishing, if I did I’d want a smaller and lighter mat, the small ones that roll up look ideal, remember you’ll be on your feet walking and casting a lot so keep it small and light.

Nash Rucksack
My Nash H-Gun rucksack isn’t strictly lure fishing kit, I’ve borrowed it from my carp fishing and made do. I don’t see the point in shelling out for stuff you might not need, if you have a spare fishing bag, use that instead. The rucksack itself is well made and has loads of room, as you can see in the film, I’ve made good use of the spare pockets and it takes more than enough tackle for a days fishing.

Lure Boxes
Lure boxes come in all different shapes and sizes, I’ve long held the view that these type of plastic boxes cost less if they are for DIY rather than fishing, the storage boxes for screws and rawl plugs are the same thing but put fishing in front of the box and the price goes through the roof!, any flat DIY storage container that looks not unlike a tackle box will do and that’s what I use.

Knot 2 Kinky Trace Wire
My chosen trace wire is the new nickel titanium wire known as knot 2 kinky, you can tie knots in it and I like to use the clinch knot that’s demonstrated on the back of the packet. It’s a very good trace wire but not the only one I carry, I also use Fox Trace Wire and Drennan 7 Strand but the k2k is my current favourite.

Relax Kopyto Shad
One of my lure boxes is dedicated to these relax kopyto shads, they are tremendous lures and I’ve caught a lot of pike and perch on them, the characteristic paddle tail on these lures really makes them work well, straight retrieve or work them erratically they will do the business. I have them in various colors, white and chartreuse are particularly good in coloured water. Every lure angler should have some of these shads in their lure box.

Relax Kopyto Shad, a great lure for Perch and Pike

Savage Gear Real Eel
I’m a big fan of the savage gear real eel, work them with a straight retrieve and the tail waves nicely behind the lure, hungry pike find this lure hard to resist, they literally do look like a real eel in the water and they will produce pike when all else fails. I like to rig mine on the jig head that’s provided in the pack but I also add a Stinger to increase hook-ups. A word of warning about these lures and rubber lures in general, always have a tube of superglue in your box for repairs, a pikes teeth will easily slice through the rubber but you can glue the lure and carry on fishing with it.

Savage Gear 4 Play Lures
Another favourite in my lure box is the savage gear 4 play rubber lures. Like the real eel they are very life like and you can fish them on a straight or erratic retrieve. I’ve got them in small and medium sizes for pike and perch and they rig nicely on a savage gear jig head or with a savage gear lip skull.

Rapala Jointed Shad Rap
I have quite a few rapala shad rap lures and they are undoubtedly one of my very favourite lures. I like the firetiger version for coloured water and a blue coloured one for clearer venues. I also have a few rapala x-rap lures in my box too. Again they are all different sizes, some small enough for perch, others big enough for pike, rapala lures really are superb fish catchers and every angler should have a few in their lure box.

Rapala Shad Rap Lures, one of the best pike lures in the world today

Mepps Comet Spinners
Some anglers overlook spinners these days but again I think every angler should have a few of these lures in their tackle box. The mepps comet has long been one of the very best, in larger sizes they are great pike lures and in the smaller sizes they produce lots of perch. I like to have size 2’s in my box for perch and size 5’s for pike, fish them with a slow and steady retrieve and see what bites. Also, I prefer my mepps comet with red dots rather than blue, the red version has always caught me more fish.

Curly Tailed Grubs
Another fantastic lure that should be in everyone’s lure box. Curly tails grubs work really well, they are fished on a jig head and again you can do a straight retrieve or work them erratically, the curly tail on the grubs waves enticingly in the water and these grubs are irresistible to perch and pike, I carry these lures in various colours and in sizes from 1 to 3 inches along with the corresponding size jig heads. If you haven’t already, get some of these, you won’t be disappointed.

Abu Toby Spoon
Another lure you don’t see used very much these days, spoons seem to have fallen out of fashion but it’s worth having one or two in your lure box. I’ve had an Abu Toby Spoon in my box for many years, it’s done well for me in clear water on the River Dee, the spoon flutters in the current as you retrieve it and the pike seem to like this, if I didn’t have a roach imitation I’d have a plain copper spoon instead, both work really well.

Unhooking Tools
I have several tools for removing hooks from pike, standard Forceps, long nosed forceps, Side Cutters, Long Nosed Pliers and a device called a Hook Out, they all help in the right circumstances, all I will say is make sure you’ve got the longer tools if nothing else, you need to be able to get deep into a pikes throat without risk of your fingers getting cut on those razor sharp teeth and you should have the option of being able to cut through a hook itself if necessary.

Jig Heads
I have a wide selection of jig heads, I carry different hook size and weight combinations so I can cover whatever situation I’m presented with, I try to use the lightest jig head I can get away with and the jigs I use most are under 5g which is well within the weight rating of my HTO Rockfish Rod.

So that’s it for my lure fishing tackle, its good lure fishing kit for beginners and it does me. I’ve pinched some items from my carp kit to keep costs down and I’m firmly of the opinion that what I’ve got is good enough to do the job. Lure fishing can get very expensive but it doesn’t have to be, the fish don't know the price of your rod and reel, putting your lure in the right place and working it enticingly enough to provoke a strike is what counts and you don’t need to spend loads of money to do that.
Until next time
Tight Lines
Mark.

Barbel Fishing on the River Severn

2016-09-25T11:36:00.016+01:00

June isn’t exactly the best month for carp fishing, the carp have spawned, they are down in weight and quite often looking a bit tatty after their yearly nuptials. This isn’t the condition I want them in when I catch them so I tend to take a break from carp and switch to barbel fishing for a month or two until they’ve recovered some weight and condition. This year was no exception so once June 16th passed and the rivers opened again I put the carp rods away and started visiting the River Severn at Ironbridge in search of some barbel. I chose a slightly deeper and slower section of river that looked perfect. It had fast runs at the top and bottom of the stretch with nice steady paced water in the middle. River Severn barbel are known to prefer the faster and shallower runs early in the season so you may be wondering why I was fishing in the middle of a deeper and slower section?. Well the answer to that is quite simple, at heart I’m a carp angler and the deeper/slower sections of the River Severn are the areas I’ve a chance of striking it lucky and finding the equivalent of the holy grail, a River Severn carp. Sadly I didn’t find any carp in this stretch although they have been seen in the area previously so I live in hope that one day I’ll hit the jackpot and find them. Apart from having one eye on finding carp, the faster run above would deposit food into this slower stretch I'm fishing and it would act as a decent holding area for barbel and chub.

Barbel Fishing on the River Severn, Rigs, baits, tips and tackle..Click to watch

The steady paced flow on this stretch looked perfect and I was sure I’d find both barbel and chub on my short evening sessions. My tactics were to mix up a Bait Box full of Dynamite Marine Halibut Groundbait and lace it heavily with mixed sized Halibut Pellets. I introduced this groundbait via a 2oz Guru Gripper Feeder, it was summer and the river was running quite low with very little rain so a 2oz feeder was more than enough to hold bottom. It took 20-30 casts of the feeder to introduce my groundbait and pellets to the swim, once this was done I sat down to rest the swim, tie a couple of rigs and mix a fresh batch of groundbait ready for the evenings fishing.

Dynamite Marine Halibut Method Mix, meant for carp but great for River Severn Barbel

The dynamite marine halibut method mix is a great attractor and why my groundbait was working it’s magic I tied up a couple of barbel rigs. This year I was using fluorocarbon line for my River Severn barbel rigs. Drennan Supplex in 10lb breaking strain was my chosen fluorocarbon line, to this I tied a size 10 Drennan Super Specialist Hook knotless knot/hair rig style and at the other end of my fluorocarbon hooklength was a Multi Clip to allow easy change of my rigs. My fluorocarbon severn barbel rig was 4ft long from hook to feeder, the reason for the long rig was to reduce the chance of spooking any barbel that came in to feed on my groundbait and pellets. Where the main line comes up from the river bed to the rod tip is what I regard as the ‘spook point’ and if the fish realise the line is there they may back off and be more cautious. By having the pellet hookbait 4ft downstream of the feeder I could avoid this problem and give myself a decent chance of a multiple catch of barbel and chub, on top of this, fluorocarbon line is virtually invisible in water so I had an outstanding stealth rig which I’m sure would get me bites on my short evening/daylight sessions. (The groundbait and the rig are both in the video above).

I baited my rigs with pellets Superglued either side of the hair, one rig I hooked over my Rod Rest ready for a quick change when needed, the other was clipped onto the swivel on my line and the Guru Gripper Feeder was free running on the main line. I loaded my feeder with groundbait and did an underarm cast onto the same spot I’d fed twenty minutes before. With a baited rig now in the water I set my Korum Barbel Rod on the rest and engaged the bait runner on my Shimano Reel, now I’d put in the bait it was time to wait.

It was an hour and a half later when the rod tip went over, it was a vicious bite typical of a River Severn barbel but the culprit was no barbel this time, to my surprise a 3lb 12oz chub found its way into my Savage Gear Landing Net.

First fish of the session, a River Severn Chub weighing 3lb 12oz

That was a good start, usually I expect the last hour to be bite time so I was well ahead of the game. I reloaded my cage feeder with more of my dynamite marine halibut method mix and trout pellets then dropped it back on the spot. Twenty minutes later I had one of those famous four foot barbel twitches when the rod pulled right over and this time line poored from the spool as an angry fish shot off downsteam. I disengaged the baitrunner and straight away the fish pulled line off the clutch as it went on a long run. I brought the fish to a halt and it stayed deep as it came up the middle of the river, by now I knew it was a decent barbel and as the runs got shorter and shorter I caught sight of my prize, a decent fish indeed and after a brief scare when the fish actually went into the net then bolted out of it before I could lift it up, I netted my first barbel of the session.

First River Severn Barbel of the session, exactly 7lb.

On the Scales I got 7lb exactly, a nice fish that was maybe slightly bigger than your average shoal sized severn barbel. I got some footage then put the fish back in the net and left it in the margins to recover for 5 minutes, only when the barbel had recovered it’s strength did I return it to the river. Remember barbel give everything during the fight and they need plenty of recovery time before they go back to the river, if you release them with little recovery time you may find your fish has no strength and can’t cope with the flow, often they can go belly up and die without you even knowing so please give them lots of recovery time in the net before you put them back.

I’d already reloaded my feeder and I was fishing again when my first barbel went back, twenty minutes later it was déjà vu as another severn barbel ripped off. When I struck this one I got the impression it was bigger than the 7lber I’d just put back, this fish ran almost thirty yards before I managed to bring it to a halt, the fight was slow and dogged with the barbel staying close to the bottom and making a few long runs, I won out in the end though and a decent fish finally found its way into my net. Over a few trips I’d been catching 7lb fish every session but I was happy to see this one break the 8lb barrier, in fact it weighed 8lb 8oz and was my best barbel of the year so far.

River Severn Barbel, my best of the year so far at 8lb 8oz.

Things went a little quiet after this fish but as we headed towards dusk and the last hour I was away again with a third barbel, much like the previous two this one gave me the run around but I won in the end and I weighed in yet another seven from the Severn, 7lb 8oz this time. I had time for one more bite after this fish and as the light faded I finished my session just as I’d started it, with another chub, I didn’t weight it as I was packing up at the time but my last chub was roughly the same size as the first one so it was well over 3lb and probably near 4lb but who’s counting?.

All in all I had a productive few hours, baiting with the dynamite marine halibut method mix and trout pellets proved to be very good tactics and my fluorocarbon severn barbel rig proved to be as stealthy as I expected as I picked up both chub and barbel in bright daylight conditions that you wouldn’t normally expect to catch in. Over a short evening session of 4hrs I had a hatrick of barbel weighing 7lb, 7lb 8oz and 8lb 8oz plus a couple of decent chub and that's good quality fishing for the River Severn these days.

Barbel Rig from the above film, Barbel Rigs don't come much better!, click to watch again

Until next time, tight lines and be lucky.
Mark.

Ultra Light Lure Fishing Pt4

2016-03-06T12:11:00.005+00:00

My most recent lure fishing trip to the Shropshire union canal saw me start at the double lock again. My favourite lure these days is a 2” ‘chartreuse’ coloured Relax Kopyto Shad, not only does it produce some lovely vibrations to attract the interest of pike and perch, it’s very brightly coloured too so it’s a good choice for the murky water of the canal. A couple of casts in I hooked a decent fish but yet again the hook pulled, I had a wry shake of the head as I was Filming the fishing at this point but the smile was a shallow one and I was annoyed to see yet another decent fish escape my clutches. I try not to dwell on lost fish so I picked myself and carried on.

Twenty minutes later I had another hit right at the end of the retrieve, it’s on the video immediately below along with the lost fish and the one I eventually caught. I missed the hit but I was looking straight down at the fish and I got a good look at it. It was a decent sized pike, possibly even a double which is a very decent fish for the Shropshire union canal. Not to be deterred I carried on trying but after this second hit I couldn’t provoke another. I even changed set ups and tried a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap Lure but that next bite never came.

Click to watch this lure fishing trip

I decided to move on and have another go at the stretch of canal I first started my lure fishing diary on, back on Halloween last year. I kept with the rapala lure and searched as many of the moored boats as I could but to no avail, I just couldn’t buy a bite from anything.

Having spent a few hours working the boats for nothing eventually I called it a day and started heading back towards my parked car. When I’m travelling between features on long open stretches of canal I quite often tow a Rapala Lure behind me to see if I can pick up a bonus fish and on the way back to the car I did this. I actually thought I’d already blanked and when I threw in a pause after covering 50 yards or so I didn’t expect the rod to pull round but it did. The pike must have been following the lure and the pause gave it the opportunity to strike. It was only a jack pike, typical of the size of fish I’ve been catching from the Shropshire union canal, I didn’t mind though, to me it felt like an injury time winner and I was beaming from ear to ear with my late winner!. A few minutes later I was back at the car and on the way home.

A pause in the retrieve brought me a last minute blank saving pike

Prior to this latest tough trip I’d started at the double lock again, we’d had an awful lot of rain at the time and the canal was very much out of sorts. I caught nothing from the double lock until I had a go at ‘dibbling’ along the margins tight against the wall. This produced a good bite and my Savage Gear Landing Net made sure this one wasn’t getting away. I landed another small jack pike that I guessed at about a pound and a half and given the conditions I was glad to be off the mark with a fish.

Click to watch this lure fishing trip

No more fish came from this area but this was no surprise given the rain we’d had at the time. I moved on to a new lock but the canal here looked more like a river in parts. Undeterred I searched the lock gates and the area off the locks overflow where the water wasn’t running so hard. Again I caught nothing from this area and eventually I called it a day with just the one pike to my name. In the end I was glad to catch that one fish, conditions on the canal through January and February haven’t exactly been in my favour and the fishing has been quite difficult.

A Shropshire Union Canal pike saves a blank in tough fishing conditions

It’s early March as I’m writing this and my lure fishing on the Shropshire union canal is coming to an end for now. From now onwards my new target is carp. I’ve had a great time lure fishing on the canal this winter and I’ll definitely be returning to this style of fishing next November. In the meantime please subscribe to my Youtube Channel for all my updates and check out my sister blog to this one if you’re interest in carp fishing, it's called the North West Carp Blog and my next video’s and writing will be published on there.
Tight Lines.
Mark.

Ultra Light Lure Fishing for Pike and Perch Pt3

2016-01-10T11:19:00.004+00:00

After investigating a bridge in Part Two of my lure fishing adventures I moved to a new section of the Shropshire Union Canal and decided to try a canal lock instead. This lock was rather unique in that it was a double or ‘staircase’ lock. I had a lovely little area to fish just off the bottom lock gates and the swim had some outstanding features. Firstly there was an overflow from the upper canal which brought both oxygenated water and natural food to the swim. On top of this I had a moored canal boat and two jetty’s on my left and on the right I had the lower lock gates and a bridge all in an enclosed area. Beyond the bridge was a section of boats moored two abreast and at the end of the boats was a second bridge, the area in general had loads of cover and just screamed ‘predators’ but the lock in particular looked like the standout swim to be in.

I made a couple of videos of the two trips I’ve made to this lock, for the second one I had my new Sony Handycam with me and you can see a detailed look at the swim and see how I got on by looking at this video below.

Shropshire Union Canal Lure Fishing for Perch and Pike (click to watch)

This trip was about 3 hours in total but at least half of that was spent filming boats going through the locks as it was a busy day for boaters on the canal. When I eventually got fishing I picked up a perch around 6oz almost straight away, the fish fell to a 2” Relax Kopyto Shad that was being fished on a 2 gram Jig Head with a size 2 hook. It came from a cast that landed just an inch or two off the far wall and the fish took almost instantly. Getting a perch bite tight against the far wall got me wondering what else was lurking at the foot of my own bank. Fishing light lures tight against the canal wall is one of my favourite tactics and you’ll see from my previous blogs that it’s a very productive method of fishing. I was always going to try my own wall but that first perch made me get to it a lot sooner. After a few minutes of working my lure against the wall I found a second perch, again this one was about 6oz.

My second Shropshire Union Canal Perch on a Relax Kopyto Shad

After the two perch the pike action started to kick in but unfortunately things didn’t go my way, the first pike I hooked managed to throw the hook when it tail walked close in. the second pike was even more disappointing as I got the fish right into the edge. I actually had my fingers in the groove under it’s chin at one point but the fish gave one last thrash of the tail and the hook pulled again so I wasn’t able to lift it out for the camera. I hooked a third pike and again same as the first fish, it threw the hook when it thrashed on the surface.

By now it was obvious the lock was a very good place to fish but I wasn’t having it all my own way with 3 lost pike on the bounce. Looking back at this session now I’ve decided to use my landing net when I fish this swim again, I reckon I’d have got at least two of those pike to the bank if I hadn’t opted to ‘chin’ them out. I also lost a third perch during this time and eventually I decided to change my jig head, I was having far too many losses with this hook, it still felt sharp and looked ok but you never can tell so I changed it just to be safe. This change of hook brought a change in fortune and I banked a third perch, this one was in the 6oz range too but as perch are my primary target species I was happy enough although I’m certainly trying to target bigger fish than this. The pike are enjoyable too and they certainly put up a good scrap on ultra light gear so I’m not disappointed if I see a jack come to the surface instead of a perch, they all count in my book.

Prior to my second trip I’d been at this lock the week before but instead of just targeting the lock I had a look along the boats and the second bridge. I fished in between all the boats mostly for nothing but I did eventually find a small perch with my 1” Relax Kopyto Shad. Despite the boats and bridge looking really good all I could manage was a couple of missed bites once I’d passed the bridge. With so little to show from this area I figured the lock itself would probably offer my best chance of a bite.

Ultra Light Lure Fishing on the Shropshire Union Canal in Cheshire (click to watch)

For this trip I was using a 1” lure and looking for as many perch as I could find. I hooked what I thought was a big perch, it was a heavy fish and it didn’t charge round like the jack pike usually do, unfortunately the hook pulled so I’ll never know if that was the big perch I was looking for. I didn’t actually find any more perch after that loss but I did get some pike, in fact the lock looks like an exceptionally good pike swim now I’ve been a couple of times. My first pike came not long after losing that decent fish, there was no way I was losing this one, the pike hit the lure hard and virtually inhaled it. When I chinned the pike out I found my little Relax Kopyto Shad right in the back of its throat and I needed some Long Nosed Pliers to remove it.

After the first pike I decided to have a go with some heavier lure gear. I actually carry a dedicated lure set up with me just for pike and it consists of a Savage Gear Lure Rod and an Abu Ambassadeur Reel loaded with 30lb Power Pro Braid. At the business end I had a 20lb wire trace made with Fox Trace Wire and the lure was a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap in firetiger, an outstanding lure that really should be in every lure anglers tackle box. The pike setup accounted for a second jack right at the end of my session, not long after the battery had died in my Go Pro Video Camera, just my luck really. I did get a decent photo of the fish with my normal camera though. These two trips to the canal lock have confirmed that this particular lock is a very good spot with potential for both pike and perch. In keeping with my strategy of searching features and finding the best spots to fish, the lock is now the first area that’s made it onto my ‘must visit’ list. There’s plenty of the Shropshire Union Canal left to search and hopefully I can move on and find a few more areas that are as good as this one.

A Shropshire Union Canal Pike caught on a Rapala Jointed Shad Rap Lure

Until next time, please subscribe to my Youtube Channel for further video updates and to this blog for future written updates.
Tight lines.
Mark.

Ultra Light Lure Fishing for Perch and Pike Pt2

2015-11-22T11:39:00.002+00:00

My first Ultra Light Lure Fishing Trip to the Shropshire Union Canal produced a perch and a pike but it was hard work getting bites on that particular section so I moved on. The next weekend I decided to try the adjacent stretch and see if it was any better there. It was the weekend there was a yellow weather alert for heavy rain and it was already raining when I arrived at my new section of canal. The rain meant it was going to be a short session this time but it also meant not much canal boat traffic had been through the area.

Despite my session being short I had quite a few bites. I was using a 2” Relax Kopyto Shad worked close to the bottom of the wall of the canal. This particular lure is a brilliant big perch lure but the smaller fish have difficulty taking it and this tends to result in quick pulls of the rod tip as the micro perch have a go at the lure but miss the hook. I worked a short section of the canal from a bridge and along the margins until I came to some moored boats and during that time I must have had 10 bites. One of them was definitely a pike as I managed to play the fish to the surface where it thrashed around for a few seconds before throwing the hook. The rest of the bites were micro perch but it proved there were fish in the area so I resolved to return to this stretch with a smaller 1” kopyto shad to see if I could catch a few of the micro perch and get an idea of just how small these fish were. You can check out the video of this quick trip below.

Click to Watch last weeks Shropshire Union Canal lure fishing session

Fast forward a week and I was back at the same section of the Shropshire Union Canal I’d lost that small pike at. Unfortunately I arrived just as a second canal boat was about to pass through the section. These boats really cloud up the water and they have a negative effect on your lure fishing when they pass through. Needless to say my first fish through this short section resulted in nothing. I had a bit of a break and a chat with an old chap who’d been out filming an event with his Sony Handycam, I spent about 20 minutes chatting to him before I got back to the fishing. I was going to move on but I decided to do the section again because no more boats had come through.

I started again just before the bridge and before I’d got underneath it the rod tip pulled down indicating a bite. I bent into the fish and sure enough my Ultralite Lure Rod doubled over. I was hoping for a big perch but when the fish eventually surfaced I quickly identified it as a small pike. Fortunately this pike didn’t manage to throw the hook like last weekend’s fish and eventually I chinned out a small jack. It wasn’t the fish I wanted but it was welcome none the less. We’d already seen snow overnight and there was a bitterly cold wind blowing and to be honest I was pleased to catch anything in these conditions. I was grateful to be wearing my Buffalo Special 6 Shirt in that cold wind too. I continued working the stretch but I had no more bites, the micro perch that were there last week had moved on and it was time for me to do the same.
Ultra light lure caught Shropshire Union Canal Pike

My next stop was the next bridge along and I found a place to park and started at the bridge again. I worked the bridge meticulously but I couldn’t buy a bite even with a small 1” lure. Eventually I decided to just try moving along the towpath where there were no apparent features. It was here I finally picked up a micro perch, all 3” of it, the fish wasn’t far off the size of my lure it was so small but at least it was the target species. I carried on working the open stretch of canal but no more bites were forthcoming so I called it a day with one jack pike and one micro perch to my name, not exactly what I was looking for but then again the Shropshire Union Canal is quite a difficult lure water up here at the northern end.

Click to watch Pt2 of my Ultra Light Lure Fishing Adventures

I’ve made a video of the second trip including the capture of my jack pike this week and you can watch the full capture above. I’ll be back on the Shropshire Union Canal again next weekend, it might not be the easiest of canals to fish but I intend to keep searching different sections of the canal until I get lucky and bag myself a decent perch.
Until next time, tight lines and be lucky yourself.
Mark.

Ultralite Lure Fishing for Pike and Perch on the Shropshire Union Canal

2015-11-01T16:37:00.004+00:00

As winter approaches I thought I’d hang the carp rods up for a while and do some ultralite lure fishing for pike and perch on the Shropshire union canal. I’ve crisscrossed the canal many times over the last 25 years when going to and from various carp lakes around Cheshire and I’ve made mental notes of the features I’ve stumbled across, mainly in relation to carp but features hold other species too, most notably pike and perch so I had no problem finding a starting point to target some of the canal's predators.

Click to watch the highlights of this Ultralite Lure Fishing trip on my Youtube Channel

I had a late start on Halloween and I arrived at my chosen section of the ‘shroppy’ just before midday. It was a calm day, no wind but no sunshine either, probably not the best conditions for catching pike and perch but not the worst either. There were plenty of boats on the canal and these would certainly work against me catching, I knew I was going to have my work cut out with the canal being well coloured up and visibility of no more than a few inches, I would literally have to land my lure on a fishes nose to get a bite.

The Shropshire Union Canal, home to the Pike and Perch I'm fishing for.

I started off with a small Mepps Comet Spinner and fished around and under one of the Shropshire union canal's many bridges, my thought being a small lure that made a noise my help me get a bite. I tried the bridge area for a good 20 minutes without success so I decided to put my rucksack on my back and start working away from the bridge area and along the canal. As I left the canal bridge I changed lure to a small Relax Kopyto Shad which was just 1 inch long, this was fished on a 2 Gram Jig Head with a size 4 hook and was attached to a 20lb Wire Trace. The wire trace was a bit heavy but the 1” relax kopyto shad was proper ultralite fishing and it would allow me to pick up any smaller perch along the way. I thought going small would increase my chances of getting some bites and as I get to know the canal I could increase my lure size and start targeting bigger fish. More than anything I was hoping that going ultralite would at least get me off the mark!.

An hour later I’d covered most of the reed bed without a single pluck at the lure and I was starting to think this particular stretch of canal wasn’t going to produce any fish. I was working my small lure close to the bottom and as tight to the reeds as I could get and out of the blue my lure suddenly stopped zig zagging along the bottom and held firm in the same spot. I applied some pressure thinking I’d caught a twig on the bottom when a fish suddenly shot out from the reeds. My Ultralite Lure Rod is weight rated and is suitable for lures weighing from 3 grams up to 12 grams so it’s a really light rod and the plump little perch I’d hooked certainly put a nice bend in the rod. The fish eventually succumbed to the pressure and after flapping about on the surface for a few seconds the perch rolled over and I was just about able to swing the fish out and into my hand.

A Shropshire Union Canal Perch caught on a Relax Kopyto Shad

Finally I was off the mark and a decent perch it was too, I didn’t weigh it but at a guess I’d say it was about half a pound, I took some pics including some close ups of my little Relax Kopyto Shad which was half way down it’s throat, he’d hit my little lure good and proper. Once unhooked I put my perch back in the edge, no easy task with so much reed growth but he went back ok and I gathered my tackle and started again with the same lure. I worked the same area where I’d just had a fish because perch are known to shoal together but no more fish were forthcoming and eventually I covered the whole reedbed with nothing else to show for my efforts. With time moving on I decided to head back to the canal bridge where my car was parked and have a brew and a bite to eat before trying the reedbed on the other side of the bridge.

Once I’d had a bit of a rest I walked about 300 yards along the towpath and the whole length was reed lined margins so I had plenty to go at. Eventually I figured I’d gone far enough so I started again with my 1” relax kopyto shad to see if I could catch a perch or maybe a small pike. This side of the bridge was as tough as the other half, I slowly made my way along the reeds working my little kopyto rubber lure as close to the reeds as I could get. Despite my best efforts I had nothing until again I’d covered about three quarters of the distance back to the bridge.

I was just covering some water were the reeds were a little nearer to the bank when again I thought my lure had caught bottom, it hadn’t and as I applied pressure to bring the lure up an angry little pike shot off along the margins with me hanging on and trying to stop it going any further. Despite it just being a jack it was hard work on an ultralite rod that’s not exactly designed to have a backbone. After a couple of efforts to get into the reeds I eventually had the pike under control and I brought him in through a tiny gap in the reeds and lifted him out and onto the grass before laying him on the unhooking mat once I’d unclipped it from my Nash Rucksack I didn’t weigh the pike, at a guess it was two, maybe two and a half pounds tops but it was good sport on the ultralite lure setup. Again I took a few close up pictures using the macro setting on my camera to get a close up of the lure and of the mouth and teeth of my pike, you can certainly see why nothing gets away once a pike hits a fish, especially with all those razor sharp teeth.

A Shropshire Union Canal Pike caught on a Relax Kopyto Shad

I returned my pike through the same gap in the reeds I’d landed it from, gathered my gear together and carried on working my kopyto shad along the reeds as I headed back to the bridge. No more bites were forthcoming and when I arrived back at the bridge I decided to call it a day. I’d spent a couple of hours working my lure along the edge of the canal and I couldn’t complain with one nice perch and one nice pike caught despite the canal being busy with boat traffic.

This section of the Shropshire union canal is certainly worthy of further investigation and as the boat traffic dies down over the winter and the canal clears a little I think I might find more success on this section of the canal. Even if I don’t I can always move on to somewhere new, the Shropshire union canal has plenty of other areas worthy of a look both in Cheshire and in Shropshire. There is plenty to go at and I’m sure there are plenty of decent pike and perch to be caught, all I have to do is keep at it and I’m sure more fish will come.
Tight Lines
Mark.

River Severn Barbel Fishing Pt1

2015-07-08T19:07:00.004+01:00

If you’ve just stumbled across this blog you may not realise it’s been dormant for many years. As a carp angler I’ve published all my writing on the North West Carp Blog so please feel free to take a look if it’s carp fishing you’re interested in.

Early July saw me take a break from carp fishing as I headed south from my base in Wirral to the River Severn in Shropshire. My target for the day was River Severn barbel. Although I’ve caught the odd barbel in the past from the River Teme I’d never had one from the Severn so my mission for the day was to put that right and catch one.

My tackle for the day was an old carp rod with a 1.75lb test curve, it was my floater rod but being so light it was ideal to use for barbel fishing. The rod was coupled with an old Shimano Bait Runner Reel loaded with 15lb Big Game Line, a proper carp setup if ever there was one, perhaps it was a little excessive for barbel fishing but it was a short notice trip and I didn’t have enough time to pick up and load a new spool of line. I do like to use gear that’s heavy enough to land my fish too, if I’m going to be sitting there all day I certainly don’t want to lose any fish I hook so a heavy breaking strain line suits me nicely. (Oh the best laid plans!) lol.

My simple pellet rig for River Severn Barbel

My end rig was 2 feet of 15lb Kryston Merlin, a green coloured sinking braid that I just happened to have in my tackle box. My hook was a size 12 Korda Kurv and my bait was a couple of the old style elips pellets superglued either side of the braided hair, this was fished knotless knot style with a Guru Heavy Feeder fished running on the line. Bait for the day was Dynamite Marine Halibut Groundbait laced with mixed trout pellets, elips pellets and a tin of spam.

I was advised that early season Severn barbel are quite often found in the fast and shallow runs due to the well oxygenated water, I had a friend with me and he knew one run in particular that was always good for a fish so he kindly pointed it out to me and I accepted his advice and dropped into a nice gravelly peg that was very comfortable to fish, no awkward banks and a little cover to hide from the hot July sun too.

I started with a dozen large feeder fulls of groundbait and pellets fished just above some fallen willows on the far bank. Once the bait was in I set about tying up a couple of rigs in order to give the swim time to settle. Once I was set up properly I re-loaded my guru feeder and dropped my first cast on the money. Surprisingly my swim remained quiet for an hour or so, it was a really hot day, certainly in the mid 20’s and the bright conditions weren’t helping. Out of the blue I got a quick knock on the rod tip that indicated fish were finally in my swim, 5 minutes later my rod tip buckled and my baitrunner went into meltdown as a barbel took my elips pellets and headed off downstream towards the willows. I was on it in a flash and I had a great scrap from a typical shoal sized barbel of just under 6lb. I phoned my mate Mike who kindly came to photograph my first severn barbel and a top job he did too. (Thanks mate).
Returning the fish was easy enough, I had a really shallow eddy in front of me and a pair of Wellies on so I was able to wade out and hold my barbel in the flow for a few minutes until it had fully recovered, only when it was ready did I let it go and my prize swam off strongly which is always nice to see.

Click below to watch the return of my first ever River Severn Barbel

After catching my first Severn barbel my swim went quiet for the rest of the day and I made my first mistake, I should have moved on and roved the river to search out some more fish but I made the mistake of staying in the same swim and just rotating my baits during the day. I paid the price for that with no more bites until 9pm.

During the day I did some filming with my Go Pro Video Camera and one thing I managed to capture was the reaction of small fish like minnows, dace and chub to groundbait. Just watching the video back it makes you wonder just how much of your feed is left after 5 minutes in the water. The fry completely obliterated my dynamite groundbait and it was gone in no time. Watching them I decided to put more and larger pellets in with my groundbait just to make sure I still had some bait in my swim after 5 minutes. I intend to make sure there are some bigger baits in my feeder all the time from now on, especially given what happens in the video below, just click and have a watch!.

How long does your groundbait last when the minnows, dace and chub get on it?, click to watch.

As the sun went down over the trees it was like someone just flicked a switch and the river came alive. My mate mike started catching and I got myself another run myself, this bite was even more vicious than the first one and when I struck into the fish I knew instantly it was a big one. For 5 minutes I tussled with this fish, I gained 5 or 6 yards only to lose it again and 5 minutes into the fight I found the fish was back in the same place I’d hooked it with me neither gaining or losing line as it held in the current. At this point the fish decided to wake up properly and it turned downstream and went on a blistering run, I clamped down on the baitrunner spool to try and stop the fish reaching the sanctuary of the willows and it literally flat rodded me, a few seconds later my 15lb line parted and I was left with that horrible empty feeling you get when you know you’ve just lost something special.

I was gutted at the loss and to make matters worse the fight had trashed my swim, I did manage a 3lb chub an hour later but as far as the barbel were concerned that was my last chance of the day. I thoroughly enjoyed my days barbel fishing and I’m already making plans for a return visit, the loss of that fish is still on my mind and I feel I need to make amends for that loss so my river severn barbel adventure will be continuing soon.
Tight Lines
Mark.

Fishing Videos

2015-04-12T20:29:00.003+01:00

It's been a long time since this blog saw an update, all my current angling is on the North West Carp Blog. I've recently been updating my Youtube Channel to compliment my angling blogging and I hope you like some of the clips and films shown here, I carry a Go Pro Video Camera with me every trip these days so my channel will be seeing quite a few updates as the fishing season unfolds.

I have plans to write Anglers Diary again but for none carp species later this year, my youtube channel will also support my non carp fishing which will be for perch and pike once we get towards the end of the year. In the meantime please have a look at the fishing films on my channel, like and share them and please subscribe for future updates. The channel is very much in it's infancy at the moment but a few clips have been uploaded already, please feel free to check them out below.

How to prepare tiger nuts for carp fishing, click to watch!

How to prepare maize for carp fishing

Snag and Pad Fishing for Cheshire Carp

Cromwell Carp Social 2015

The typical fishing day of a Wirral Carp Angler

North West Carp Blog Channel Introduction

How to apply lead coating powder to your carp leads

Playing a Shropshire Carp caught using a Kevin Nash Zig Float

Long Range Casting

A walk along the Meadows in Chester City Centre

Floater fishing, carp feeding on the surface

North West Carp Blog

2010-11-12T20:14:00.007+00:00

I've moved this blog and renamed it the 'North West Carp Blog'. Here are some of the best entries on the new site, please feel free to pay a visit as all my new work is published there.

Basic Carp Hair Rig

D Rig for Carp

Line Aligner Carp Rig

Leadcore Carp Rigs/Leaders

Making Lead Fishing Weights

Tiger Nuts for Carp

Maize for Carp

Chick Peas for Carp

Groats for Carp

Finding Winter Carp

2007 Winter Carp Diaries Start Here

2008 Winter Carp Diaries Start Here

Fishing for River Dee Carp

Fishing for River Weaver Carp

Capesthorne Hall

Richworth Linear Fisheries

Yateley Sandhurst Lake

Acton Burnell Carp

Walton Hall Park

Selby 3 Lakes

Moon Phase Peak Fishing Days 2008

Viper Icon Bait Boat

JRC Stealth Brolly

Insect Repellents for Fishing

Tackle Box for Carp Pt1

Carp Tackle Box Pt2

Kryston Silkworm

Bankside Entertainment

Trakker A-Lite bivvy

Keeping Warm in Winter

Carp Hooks

Mark

Carp Fishing - Day Ticket Carp Fishing Trip

2009-05-31T10:09:00.001+01:00

I must admit I’m not a big fan of day ticket carp fishing, mainly because of the silly prices fisheries are charging for a 24hr session these days!. If I do fish a day ticket water I want to be sure I’m on the type of water that offers me big fish, after all, if I’m paying over the odds, I want to be in with a chance of a big carp. I’d actually given up day ticket carp fishing many years ago when I thought Linear Fisheries were getting greedy and starting to charge too much, my opinion of Linear hasn’t changed and I haven’t been there for a while now.
The one day ticket water that persuaded me to part with my cash again was the famous Cemex water known as Sandhurst. I’ve fished this cemex carp water a couple of times now and on Friday 24th April 2009 I headed back down to Yateley for my third go at this amazing big fish carp water.

The journey to the lake was uneventful, the only thing that crossed my mind on the way down there was how on earth long distance carp anglers ever managed without a Sat Nav!. My trusty Tom Tom took me straight to the lakes gate and at around 3pm on Friday afternoon I met up with 14 of my mates as we’d booked the lake for our exclusive use.

I had a good walk around, the carp seemed to be fairly well spread and the whole lake seemed to be fishing quite well, the only area that looked devoid of carp was the famous swim known as bailiffs, whilst fish showed everywhere else, this normally productive peg looked like a dead duck as far as catching carp was concerned!. Eventually we drew for swims and I couldn’t believe my bad luck, on my last trip to this cemex water I’d drawn last out of the bag and had to watch as all the decent pegs disappeared. This time I came out second to last and suffered the same fate!. I ended up stuck with ‘bailiffs’ and I knew straight away I’d be in for a struggle, what made it worse was the lake fishing very well and I had to watch as my mates banked an amazing amount of big carp, I haven’t counted them all but over the weekend at least 16 x 30’s came to the bank along with an obscene amount of 20’s!.

My own fishing over the weekend was poor, I was right about the bailiffs swim not having any fish in front of it and I struggled big time. The best I could manage was a lost fish in the early hours of Saturday morning, I had a one toner on my left hand delkim which was fished on a silty patch at around 40 yards. I hit the rod quickly and it thumped over nicely as I struck into a solid lump. I was really pleased to be into a fish given how bad my peg was but that happiness lasted roughly 20 seconds before I felt that sickening feeling as everything went slack and the hook had pulled. I wound in and examined the rig and hook point and I could find nothing wrong so I rebaited and recast the rod.

Nothing happened the next day, at 1pm I wound in and went to the barbeque the lads had organised, I wasn’t feeling too good, I had a headache brought on through lack of sleep and I felt a bit sick, with this in mind I went easy on the food, just a couple of burgers and sausages washed down with a bottle of oasis rather than a beer. After the barbeque I took a couple of headache tablets, retied all my rigs and cast them out. As the evening wore on I began to feel a lot better, I had a bit of a sleep and when I woke up I had just one thing on my mind and that was moving asap as there was still no carp around!.

BBQ in the Cemex Sandhurst car park.

One of my mates was also keen on moving, he’d had 2 fish from peg 11 but he wasn’t happy, the swim he moved to was the second pipe, I’d looked at this swim and hadn’t fancied it so when he left peg 11, I moved onto the road bank and set up again, the move was a quick one, I was only fishing under my stealth brolly so I was packed and round the other side of the lake in no time. Once settled in I got the rods out and just sat watching the water. I couldn’t understand why my mate had moved out of peg 11, there were fish in front of it and the swim looked good for a carp.

I stopped up late that night to watch a film on my Ipod and it was midnight before I got my head down, I hoped for a fish as we got towards first light as this seemed to be a good feeding period on the lake. I didn’t have to wait that long, just an hour after settling down to sleep my middle delkim suddenly burst into life and my line was peeling off my infinity bait runner at a fast and steady rate. There was no way this fish was anything but a carp, the hookbait was a 16mm snowman presentation, a real mouthful that was meant for a carp. I hit the rod and sure enough there was a dead weight attached to the other end. I kept the pressure steady, not too much as I didn’t want a repeat of the hook pull I’d had earlier in the trip. The carp kited left towards peg 12 and I had to drop the rod tip and apply some severe side strain to stop the fish kiting through my mates line next door. I managed this but my heart was in my mouth!, everything held firm and I managed to get the carp close in and ready to net, the fish ploughed up and down the margins for a while and all the time I kept praying it wouldn’t come off. I don’t have many hook pulls, my rigs are extremely efficient and its amazing how one lost fish can play on your mind. I had no problems with this fish and after a long fight under the tip I eventually netted the fish.

I was relieved, despite so many fish being caught by everyone else I’d struggled and this fish had saved me from a blank session. I grabbed my head torch and using the more discreet red led lights I set up my unhooking mat, got my scales ready and sorted out my camera ready for the photos. The carp was a mirror and it was well nailed, no chance of loosing this one!. I weighed the fish at 22lb 14oz, not as big as I’d hoped but it had prevented a blank session and considering how bad I’d drawn, I was well pleased with this fish!.

22lb 14oz Cemex Sandhurst mirror carp.

I rebaited the rod with another snowman hookbait and cast it back out. The rest of the night passed uneventfully and I slept in until well gone 8am. I was due to be off the water at 4pm that day but I wanted to leave earlier to avoid any rush hour traffic. I had some breakfast and began packing up, there were quite a few carp in my swim cruising round in the upper layers, these fish appeared over all 3 of my baits during the morning and I left my rods out as long as I could whilst I packed the rest of my gear away. Sadly nothing happened and at midday I wound my rods in and packed the last of my gear into the car.

Sadly I believe this will be my last trip to Cemex Sandhurst. Just like Linear Fisheries, I believe Cemex are now getting greedy. The introduction of the Cemex plus ticket at a cost of £35 per year has meant a big increase in the price of fishing not just Sandhurst but all Cemex carp waters so for a second time, I’m now retiring from day ticket carp fishing to concentrate on my club and syndicate tickets. In this day and age £25 for 24 hours fishing is just wrong, putting an extra £35 on top is down right despicable and I hope Cemex come to their senses and abolish this fee, one things for sure, I’ll not consider returning until they do.

Tight Lines.

Carp Tackle Review - JRC Stealth Brolly

2009-05-17T12:43:00.002+01:00

Spring is well under way now and summer is just around the corner, after a winter of day only carping I’ve started fishing nights again in the last month or so and I’d forgotten just how handy it is having a decent brolly for overnighters.

The JRC Stealth Brolly is my chosen system for overnighters, the stealth covers my bedchair and sleeping bag easily and leaves me with plenty of room to store my gear at the back of my bedchair. What I like about the stealth brolly is how fast you can get set up, I’m a short session carp angler and I’m always watching the water and looking to move onto showing fish, the speed of which I can put up and take down a stealth brolly really does help me stay on top of things and I can’t recommend this carp shelter come brolly highly enough.

The JRC Stealth Brolly easily covers a Bedchair and Sleeping Bag

The stealth also has an infill panel available to turn it into a bivvy but to be honest, I never used mine such is the protection you get from the standard brolly with sides. You only need six T-Pegs and two adjustable bank sticks to fully secure the stealth brolly, although personally, I rarely use more than the 4 pegs you really need to secure the built in storm sides. These 4 pegs on there own mean the brolly is very very secure and I’d only use the extra two pegs in extremely high winds.

At the moment, Britain is plunging into recession, this doesn’t necessarily mean lower prices for our fishing gear though, our currency is extremely weak at the moment and as such, imported goods are tending to cost more. Most of our tackle manufacturers shipped production to the far east many years ago to help boost their profits and these same companies are now being forced to put up the prices of things like bivvies and brollies. The JRC Stealth Brolly has been around a while now and as such, its price has reduced considerably over the last few years. This makes the stealth brolly an extremely attractive looking investment if your on the lookout for a shelter for winter day fishing sessions and summer overnighters.

My JRC Stealth Brolly from the side, no Bedchair showing means you're nice and dry and 4 t-pegs is usually enough to secure.

The stealth doesn’t cost the earth and its very practical, being a brolly it will fit in the centre of your holdall no trouble at all so there are no extra bags to carry like you’d have with a bivvy, ideal if your travelling light and looking to move quickly. I’ve actually had my stealth brolly for 5 years now and I’ve no intention of changing it. Next time I need a new shelter I’ll certainly be buying another one the same as I need that ability to move quickly and to keep an eye on what’s going on. You can see more of what goes on around you from underneath a stealth brolly than you can sat in a two man bivvy. This itself has the potential to put more fish on the bank, it’s so easy to miss a carp rolling if your inside a bivvy but even lying in your sleeping bag you can still see a lot of water from under a brolly and I find this invaluable when it comes to my short session fishing.

If you’re looking for a brolly, give the JRC Stealth Brolly a serious look, in this day and age its cheap, practical and ideal for a carp angler!.

carp

Carp Fishing - Winter Carping Pt7

2009-05-03T09:36:00.002+01:00

After opening my 2009 carp account with a 14lb 6oz common last week I was back at the lake the following Saturday which was the 24th January. On my way to the lake is was getting increasingly agitated as the fields either side of the road were white with frost. The closer I got to the lake the worse the frost seemed to be and I had a nagging feeling that I might be driving towards a frozen lake!. I was already most of the way there so I didn’t bother turning the car round and going home. When I arrived I found the lake half frozen but fishable although I needed to do a bit of work to reach the area I wanted to fish.

The angler who was on last week was on again, he was in the bay but he didn’t have a lot of water in front of him and I scratched my head wondering why he hadn’t dropped into my open water swim instead?. The answer to that question came soon enough as a carp rolled against the ice in the bay, I looked at the rolling fish and sure enough another 3 shows followed in quick succession. He’d beaten me to the fish again. I’m not one for getting up early to go fishing, I usually arrive at the lake sometime between 10 and 11am and this early bird was beating me to the fish!.

As well as no carp, my swim also had other problems namely a lot of ice that needed shifting, between me and my usual winter hotspot was a strip of ice that was roughly 20 yards long and about 10 yards wide, this sheet of ice was blocking me from casting so I needed to move it. I cast over the ice and slowly retrieved my rig until it got caught up in the ice. At this point I dropped the rod tip to water level and slowly applied pressure to the rod. At first nothing happened but after a few seconds the rod tip began to spring back so I applied some more pressure and again slowly the rod tip began to spring back. I literally pumped that big sheet of ice into the margins were I could break it up. It took me 15 minutes to move the ice from 40 yards out into the margins. It was 15 minutes well spent as I could now cast my rig onto my favourite spot which I duly did.

The second rod went out to the left as close to the edge of the ice as I could cast, as the ice melted I would recast this rod as far over to my left and as far towards the bay as I could possibly get as this was the area the fish were occupying and I had to get as close to them as possible to give myself a chance of catching.

The angler in the bay was having a good day, I saw him land at least 4 carp and I suspect he may have had a few more besides the ones I saw him land. This would be the kind of result I’d expect to have if I was on my own but my late arrivals meant a second best swim for me. I badly needed rid of the ice as it was preventing me from getting a bait into the area the carp were holding up. Just after midday I had the good fortune to feel a breeze on my face, over the next half an hour the breeze got stronger and slowly but surely a massive raft of floating ice slowly moved away from the bay and started to break up. By 1pm the lake was completely ice free!.

I wasted no time, as soon as I had a clear path to my left I wound in the roving rod and whacked a rig and mesh bag as hard as I could towards the entrance to the bay. The rig landed perfectly so I made a decision to leave it there for the rest of the session, I was still slightly off the fish but with an angler in the bay and no ice to hide under I was convinced the carp would push out to were my left hand bait was, with the hotspot already covered this was to be my last roll of the dice for the day and it was time to sit it out for that all important run.

By 3.30pm I was looking at my watch and thinking I’d blown it, there were carp in the area I’d cast the roving rod but nothing had happened, the hotspot rod had also remained spookily quiet and with less than an hour of my session left I was beginning to resign myself to a blank. Its funny how fishing goes sometimes, you expect a run and it doesn’t come, you don’t expect one and all of a sudden your bite alarm springs into life!. That’s pretty much how it was on this occasion, it was 15.50pm when the left hand rod tip suddenly pulled round and the alarm sounded. All I could think about was how much of a relief it was to finally get a run!.

The carp swam towards me very quickly, from roughly 100 yards range it was under my feet in less than a minute, I knew what was coming so I loosened off the clutch on my reel and sure enough, as I gained contact with the fish close in it ran hard and I had to give line quickly. The carp wasn’t a particularly big fish so I had it under control quite quickly, experience has taught me to loosen the clutch when a fish swims towards me because they invariably run when they’ve put up so little fight. With the carp in the margins I just kept a steady pressure on and wore the fish down until it popped up on top and went into the waiting landing net.

I was relieved to say the least, I really thought I was going to blank and I really didn’t deserve that!. I secured the net and got on with setting up the scales and camera. The carp weighed in at 13lb 6oz, another average size fish for the water. I have to say I made a complete mess of the pictures, for once I wasn’t paying attention and in my haste to get the fish back to the water I didn’t take the angle of the sun and the position of the tripod into consideration. The result being a shadow across the carps tail that is in the shape of the tripod. I realised I’d done this but I wasn’t going to subject my carp to any more time out of the water than necessary so I made do with the pictures I had and released the fish back to the water.

This 13lb 6oz January winter carp saved a blank!

With one carp caught I suddenly felt another fish might be on the cards, my hook bait was still on so with time running out I quickly attached another pva mesh mesh bag and whacked the bait back out to the same distant spot. Again the cast was good and I sat down to see if my last half an hour would produce a bonus fish. Instead of packing up at 16.30pm I made do with putting my gear away and sitting it out a bit longer, I was convinced another run was just minutes away and I ended up staying until 17.00pm in the hope of another bite. Despite half an hours overtime the run never came and I finally conceded defeat and packed up.

I did my usual stint with the spod before leaving for home and it was completely dark by time I left. On the way home I thought long and hard about fishing this water for the rest of the winter. With another angler consistently being there earlier than me I was going to struggle and that’s something I’m not used to on this water having had it to myself for so long. I already have my fishing plans in place for 2009 and I’ve started to consider a change of venue for the rest of the winter. I’ve got a week or so to sit and reflect on the change of scenery I’m thinking about, it will certainly mean less runs but at the same time, bigger fish than low twenties would be a very real possibility and right now the thought of somewhere new to tackle is very appealing.

Tight Lines
Mark

Carp Fishing - Winter Carping Pt6

2009-04-12T09:42:00.002+01:00

I can’t believe just how cold its been over Christmas and new year!. Prior to this fishing session I’m writing about now, which took place on Saturday 17th January, my last winter carp session was on boxing day!. With the lakes iced over for a few weeks I eventually decided to make a start on reviewing some of the fishing gear I use and my first review was on kryston silkworm braid, a hooklength material I've been using for over 15 years now. As I've used this material for so long it seemed logical to review one of my favourites first. I’ve also added a few new links to this blog, notably Mo's Co Pva, mo has been supplying carp anglers with pva for years and I use his gear myself, you’ll find a link to mo’s ebay shop in the right hand navigation under ‘recommended sites’. Also added to this section are a few north west based ebay shops, northern monkeys owner Julian Grattidge has a new ebay shop called ‘Darkside Tackle’, Trafford Angling Supplies and the Cheshire based Koala Products. Ebay is a great source of cheap fishing tackle and these guys are local to the north west area so give them your support!.

Saturday 17th January was a cold day, if it wasn’t for the fact that we’d had wind and rain prior to the weekend I wouldn’t have bothered going but I suspected the lakes would be ice free and as I pulled into the car park my thoughts were proved right, the water was bendy and that was enough for me.
I wasn’t alone on this session, there was another carp angler on the water and he had beaten me to the fish. The carp were stacked up at the entrance to the bay and he was just about on them, I couldn’t really drop in on his left hand side as my own angling etiquette wouldn’t allow it, I wouldn’t have been happy if it was done to me so I wasn’t going to do it to someone else!.

I had very little choice but to set up in the main area of the lake, this at least gave me access to my faithful hotspot so I covered this area with one rig and I put the other just off to one side, both rods were just fished with pellet hookbaits and a small pva mesh bag. I was in for a struggle today, the other guy had the fish covered and he was first into a carp, he was also second and third into the carp as well as he picked them off from the bay entrance. My swim remained quiet, nothing showed in front or on my right but I had the hotspot covered and this spot has very rarely failed to produce at least one carp on each winter session!.

The first few hours of my 6th winter session had been quiet, I was sitting watching the water when I had a single bleep came from the delkim. I sat and watched but nothing happened for a few seconds, I wasn’t sure if it was a carp or not as it was quite windy by this time, I glanced at my watch and it was 1.30pm, as I looked back up at the water my delkim started a very slow run and as I went to grab the rod I watched my monkey climber slowly pull up. I hit it and sure enough I found myself attached to my first carp of 2009. I was pleased to be into a fish, I’d have hated to start the new year with a blank!.

The fish didn’t do much, it just kited from side to side all the way in and after a few minutes in the margins I eventually slipped the net under an ‘average for the water’ common carp. That’ll do me I thought, I gathered my unhooking mat and scales, set up the camera and got on with weighing and photographing the fish. The common turned the scales to 14lb 6oz, not a small fish and not a big one either but it was my first fish of 2009 so I was happy to at least get myself ‘off the mark’ so to speak.

First winter carp of 2009, a common of 14lb 6oz

I covered the hotspot again, 1.30pm was an hour earlier than my boxing day capture from the same spot so I had a bit longer left this time and I was hopeful of another fish. Once I was settled down it was back to the waiting, I was slowly getting more and more restless as time ticked by. My reason for this was that evening time is usually regarded as the best time on my winter carp water and I was convinced a second run would come. I held on and held on in the hope that the hotspot would give up a second fish but it never did. I even stayed an extra 15 minutes until 16.45pm but it was all in vain and I couldn’t add another carp to my now running 2009 tally.

I even left the rods as late as possible before spodding in some pellets ready for next week, doing this put me at risk of getting wet as the rainy clouds where looming in the distance. I managed to get my gear in the car just in time and as I pulled out of the car park the heavens opened and it lashed down!. Despite only catching one fish I left feeling lucky I was still dry!

Carp Fishing - Winter Carping Pt5

2009-03-29T10:56:00.003+01:00

After 4 nice doubles on the 22nd December I was keen to get back to the lake on Christmas eve, I set the alarm for 8am and when it went off I woke up with a splitting headache and I felt sick. There wasn’t going to be any Christmas eve fishing session for me this year so I rolled over and went back to sleep in the hope that a few more hours might see me right.

The next chance to get out fishing again was 2 days later, I was fully recovered by then but unfortunately the weather had taken another turn for the worse, gone was the mild weather and lovely westerly wind that had brought me 7 carp in the last 2 trips. Instead, bright sunny conditions and a bitingly cold easterly wind were the conditions that greeted me when I rolled into the car park on boxing day morning.

The conditions may have been poor for catching carp but they were very good for spotting them and I found the fish within minutes of getting out of the car, they were occupying the centre of the lake just off the back of the cold easterly wind. Occasionally a carp would poke its head out of the water and I even saw the odd back breaking surface as the fish tried to take advantage of any warmth the sun had to offer. The carp were well within casting range of my open water swim so I set up there and slowly put my rods together.

I put my first rig on my prebaited hotspot at 40 yards along with a few freebies, this spot was proving to be very consistent as usual and my intention was to keep a rod here whilst I would drop the other rig in areas I could see the fish in order to pick them off. With conditions being so bad I wasn’t very confident in the roving approach, it always seems to work best when there is a big wind on the water to disguise any lead splash.

On my last session I had set up on a huge shoal of carp that had eventually vacated the area I was fishing, I had caught two of them before they left but leave they did. These carp were not liking lead weights on their heads at the moment and sure enough, just 10 minutes after casting a 2oz lead in amongst the showing carp, they had disappeared. It was an hour later when I spotted the carp again, they had moved off towards the out of bounds area and they seemed to be holding in an area that was around 90-100 yards out and slightly to the left of where my first cast went. I decided to try again so I wound the rig in, clipped on another small pva mesh bag and cast out again. I planted my feet when casting and stepped into the cast to generate the extra power I needed to reach the fish as they were right on the edge of my casting range. My 2oz lead weight landed around 90 yards out and this was the near side of where the carp could be seen.

With my cast made I sat down to see if the fish would move again. I was disappointed when they did, the next time I spotted a carp they had moved out of range and I was left scratching my head wondering how to get a bait anywhere near them. Today, they just didn’t seem to want to know. A change of tactics was called for so I simply left each rod where it had been cast. It was going to be a waiting game today and I simply had to keep quiet and wait it out.

Having abandoned the roving style I just sat and watched the water, I had a bite to eat and a drink from my flask and around 1pm I fell asleep!. I slept for around an hour and when I woke up and had another look for the fish I found nothing had changed. I was sitting and thinking about blanking when at 2.30pm the hotspot rod suddenly let out a single bleep, before I had chance to focus on the rod my monkey climber pulled up to the top of the needle as a full blooded run developed.

That good old hotspot, its such a consistent area, it had saved me from blanking on numerous occasions over the last few winters and the area had come up trumps again!. I hit the rod and sure enough it arched over and took on its battle curve. The fish took very little in the way of line, just the occasional shake of the head before it began kiting to the right. Steady side strain kept things on track and in the margins I had a great fight with a common that just didn’t want to give up. Eventually the carp had no choice and as the fish tired, I slipped the landing net under a nice mid double that at least meant I hadn’t blanked.

I secured the net and got the camera and weighing gear ready, once set up I lifted the fish out onto the unhooking mat for a closer look, the carp was nailed in the bottom lip as usual, a clear example of just how effective my basic carp rig actually is. With the carp unhooked I weighed it in at 16lb 2oz, a nice common that was slightly bigger than average for the water and a nice result on what was a very very poor day for carp fishing!.

16lb 2oz Boxing day common that saved a blank!

After a few quick pictures in the sunshine I returned the carp to the lake and got on with trying to catch another one. I still had a few hours left so it was well worth trying the hotspot again. I recast my rod and again topped up the swim with a small handful of pellets that I just scattered around the area to try and pull in any passing fish.

Unfortunately nothing else occurred, the carp that had moved out of range of my roving rod decided to stay there and as they didn’t drift back over as the day went on it became obvious that I wasn’t going to have any luck on that rod. The hotspot also stayed quiet and I had no more action from that area either. At 4.30pm I got the spod rod out and deposited another kilo of bait onto the hotspot. By now the temperatures where already below zero and I reckoned my kilo of feed would probably be the last food these carp would see for a while as a frozen lake would be the most likely outcome of the heavy frost that was now falling around me. I packed up and headed for home not knowing how long it would be before I returned again, this cold weather front looks to be in for a few days so this boxing day session may well turn out to be my last carp session of 2008.
Tight Lines.

Carp Fishing - Winter Carping Pt4

2009-03-15T11:54:00.002+00:00

I had a few days annual leave booked over Christmas and with Saturdays 22lb common fresh in my mind I decided a return trip to the lake was in order so I packed my gear early on Monday morning and headed back across Cheshire to my winter runs water.

Things had certainly changed since Saturday, the wind had eased right off and the carp had decided to show themselves. As soon as I pulled into the car park I was greeted by a carp crashing about 50 yards out and right in the entrance to the small bay off the main lake. I got out of the car and looked over at the area and inside 60 seconds and 5 more carp broke surface, in fact the more I looked the more I saw and the area was absolutely crawling with carp, it was an awesome sight with fish topping all over the area.

There was no time to waste, I had to get to work so I unloaded the car and headed for the bay swim that had been the scene of my boxing day and new years day twenties over last Christmas. I couldn’t get myself set up quickly enough, I had the rod pod down first and my two rods were put together in no time. My rods still had the pellets on from Saturday so I didn’t bother putting fresh baits on, I had to get the rods in amongst those carp as soon as possible so I just attached a pva mesh bag to each rod and cast them out. The first rig went off to right where a lot of carp seemed to be gathered and the second rig went straight out in front just on the edge of where another group of fish were showing.

I was settled in very quickly and I was expecting action straight away. Winter carp fishing can be a bit unpredictable, I thought I’d got my baits in quietly and that the carp hadn’t spooked but half an hour later I was having serious doubts about my swim, the fish had just stopped showing completely!. I made a decision to move the close in rod a bit further out into the middle of where the carp had showed instead of on the edge of the area, I had hoped to pick fish off without disturbing them and I’d obviously failed at that so I just went for the jugular so to speak.

I was actually contemplating a move to the centre of the lake when at midday all hell broke loose, the right hand delkim melted as a carp picked up my pellet and bolted for the horizon. I was on the rod quickly and after just a few seconds of playing the fish the left hand rod did the same!. With 2 fish on at the same time I was in trouble, I had to end the fight with the first carp as quickly as possible so I applied more pressure to try and bring the fish to the net. The carp actually felt quite decent, not as heavy as a 20 but certainly better than average for the water, this prolonged the fight and all the time I had the fish circling the other rod was running!. Eventually I netted a nice mirror, I secured the net and grabbed the second rod, by now this fish was quite a way out but it was still on. I had a job to cut down the distance between me and the fish in case it kited either side as I had bushes trailing in the water that might cause problems. Luckily the fish came straight into the net with very little fight and 5 minutes later I was stood there looking down at two carp in my landing net!.

I had a feeling of déjà vu, I’d caught a common and mirror brace from this swim on the 29th December 2007, just a week short of one year ago. Here I was again in the same situation, as I did then, I got my sling sack out and retained one of the fish whilst I weighed and potographed the first fish, the mirror weighed in at 16lb 12oz and after a few pictures I released this fish and brought the common to the unhooking mat, the common proved to be slightly smaller at 14lb 4oz but together they made up a nice brace of winter carp. Luckily everything had gone smoothly and I was happy to have both fish returned to the water safely.

First of my winter carp brace, a 16lb 12oz winter mirror

Second of my winter carp brace, a 14lb 4oz winter common

I rebaited my rods after my two fish and covered the same areas of the lake again. I sat back expecting some more action but after an hour nothing had showed and the area that looked like a carp stock pond two hours earlier was now empty of fish. I had a bite to eat and a drink from my flask and contemplated a move to the centre of the lake. After giving it until 2pm I finally made that move to the middle of the lake and to my prebaited hotspot. With the carp moving into the main area of the lake, this area would surely give me another chance before I went home at 4.30pm.

I put a pva mesh bag onto my hotspot at around 40 yards, the second rig went slightly off to the left about 50 yards out, this was an area I figured the carp may pass through on their way to the main area of the lake and the out of bounds area. Over the next hour I saw quite a few carp crash and they had moved out of range and into the out of bounds area. The fish obviously knew where to go to get away from angling pressure!. There was an odd fish showing closer in so I was hopeful of another carp before I went home.

I had to wait until 15.40pm before the run came, out of the blue the hotspot rod took off and my right hand delkim burst into life. This fish kited to my right and gave me a bit of a scare as it came close to an over hanging tree but some steady side strain had the fish close in and after a short fight in the margins I netted my third carp of the day. On the mat I carefully unhooked the fish and started my weighing process, on the scales I had 15lb 4oz, a few pictures followed and I returned my carp to the water, a nice mid double winter common to go with my brace of carp from earlier on.

Third winter carp of the day, a 15lb 4oz common

I had my rig back on the hotspot again for the last half hour of my session, by now a few carp had rolled in the area and I was convinced the hotspot rod was going to produce another fish. By 16.25 I had all my gear packed away with just the rods and the net to go. I looked at my watch waiting for 16.30 exactly before I wound in and started baiting up again. I was going to leave the hotspot rod till last as I was sure something was going to happen. When 16.30 arrived I walked over to the rods and just before I picked up the left hand rod it bleeped once, I paused for a second and sure enough the left hand rod in open water suddenly pulled round as a run developed!. I wasn’t expecting that, I was convinced it would be the hotspot rod but I wasn’t complaining, I hit the rod and began bringing my fourth carp of the day to the net. Everything went well and eventually I netted another nice common. I had to go digging in my rucksack for my scales and camera but eventually I got everything set up and my last carp of the day turned the scales to 16lb 8oz, another better than average fish for the water.

Last minute 16lb 8oz carp made it a good winter session.

The light was fading fast and I still had work to do before I went home, I packed the rods away and thankfully the hotspot rod didn’t go before I wound it in although I was still half expecting it too!. Once my gear was packed away I got on with spodding in some more bait as I was planning a return two days later on Christmas Eve. It took me a while and not for the first time I ended up spodding in the dark. With this task duly completed I headed for home more than happy with my four late December carp.

Tight Lines
Mark.

Carp Fishing - Winter Carping Pt3

2009-03-01T10:38:00.002+00:00

Last week I got out of bed on Saturday morning, looked out of the window and promptly went back to bed!. The weather had been so cold I didn’t think it was worth going fishing. It was milder last Saturday but the rise in temperatures was too late to thaw the ice in time so I went Christmas shopping instead.
The following week was Saturday 20th December 2008, the weather had stayed mild all week with quite a few days topping 10 degrees, on top of this there was quite a big wind blowing and I really fancied my chances of putting a couple of winter carp on the bank this weekend.

After an uneventful journey across Cheshire I pulled into the car park for my first look at the lake. No fish were showing but they didn’t have to today, I went and stood in my usual peg and surveyed the middle area of the lake, there was a straight westerly wind piling straight into my swim with white capped waves crashing over my bank, it was perfect conditions for fishing the area I’ve been spodding bait onto every week before I go home.

I didn’t waste any time getting the rods out, I had them assembled and baited with a pellet each in no time, both rigs were accompanied by the usual pva mesh bag of freebies and I cast one rod straight onto my baited area and the other rod slightly off to the right and slightly behind my first bait. The baits were being fished at around 40 yards range but I still needed to put a bit of effort into the casts as the wind was quite strong.

I back leaded both rods and turned round to go and get my sounder box out of my bag, I got half way to my rucksack when one of the spools on my infinity reels started hissing away!. I turned back and grabbed the rod and sure enough, a quick strike saw the rod go over and I was into my first winter carp of the day. The fish kited to my right and I must admit it caught me by surprise, by time I realised what was going on the carp had taken out my other rod and left me with a bit of a tangle. It didn’t stop me landing the fish and after a 5 minute fight under the rod tip I netted my first fish of the day.
Untangling the mess wasn’t too bad once the carp was on the mat and with both rods out of the way I secured the fish in the water whilst I readied the camera for a few photo’s. I weighed the fish first and the scales gave me 15lb 2oz, a nice old common and a good start to the day!.

15lb 2oz winter carp made it a quick start to the day

An early carp like this generally meant a good day was on the cards, my fish had come at roughly 11.15am and I was confident it wasn’t going to be my last fish of the day, it was just a case of how long I’d wait for the next fish and how many I’d end up with!. Nothing much happened after my first fish, I watched the water but nothing showed which was unusual on this lake. The mild weather was giving me confidence but I couldn’t understand why things were so quiet?.

It was 2.30pm before the same rod on the baited spot was away again, I had no trouble avoiding my other rod this time and after a spirited fight I slipped the net under a small common that had a bit of a gammy mouth. I went through the usual unhooking and weighing and despite its small size I took a picture, more for the blog than anything else as it wasn’t a particularly big fish at 10lb 8oz although all carp are welcome on a short winters day.

10lb 8oz, not massive but all carp are welcome in December!

I had just under two hours of my session left so I quickly sorted out my rig with a fresh pellet and attached a new pva mesh bag to the hook before dropping it back on my baited spot at about 40 yards range. I watched the water closely for the last few hours, I saw one fish crash out in the out of bounds area of the lake about 180 yards out, this fish was off the back of the wind which seemed a bit strange as it was so mild and my two fish had come literally in the teeth of it. Another fish rolled off to my left at about 60 yards range and I thought about covering that fish with a bait but with less than an hour to go and two fish already coming to my net I decided to sit tight and see what developed.

I’d had my stealth brolly up during the day and with an hour left I decided to put it away, this meant I could sit and watch the water sitting down instead of standing as I had done for the last few hours, I poured myself a coffee from my flask too and just sat in the wind watching the lake for more rolling carp. I was busy looking at the bay behind me when a single bleep from the left hand delkim focused my attention on the rods. There was a big pause before a second bleep occurred. I had a feeling something was going on so I got up and walked over to the rods and as I did so my monkey climber suddenly shot up to the top of the needle as a full blooded run developed.

I was on the rod quickly and my light strike was met with a solid resistance. It took me a while to get the fish moving towards my bank, playing the fish in was a slow affair and I must admit, at the time it didn’t really register that I might be attached to a decent fish. As with most big carp, this one was like a dead weight compared to low doubles that are usually quite lively but the penny still didn’t drop for me?. I’d like to say I had a dogged fight under the rod tip but this particular carp just came straight up on top and waddled straight into my waiting net. It was only then that I caught a glimpse of the fish itself, it was another common and the gut on this carp and the shear width across its back meant I was looking down at a December twenty and a nice early Christmas present!.

My unhooking mat was hanging in a tree drying so I got it down and set up everything to weigh and photograph the fish, I’d actually began putting everything away in readiness to bait up so this carp caught me on the hop a bit. On the mat I zeroed the scales and hoisted the fish up, it was well over the 20lb mark and the needle settled on 22lb 10oz. Well I was delighted, I’ve had a few twenties from this Cheshire carp lake over the years but I didn’t recognise this one which made it all the more sweeter!.

22lb 10oz, a big winter carp from the North West

I put the rod back out again but there were no more pickups this time. I got the spod out not long afterwards and deposited a kilo of pellets and maize onto the spot I’d just taken my three fish from. It took a while to get the bait in and it was just about dark when I’d finished so I headed off home happy that I’d taken a December 20 after all that cold weather a few weeks earlier!.

Carp Fishing - Winter Carping Pt2

2009-02-15T10:12:00.003+00:00

I was listening to the radio earlier today when the announcer reading the weather stated that we’d had the coldest start to a winter in 30 years!. I didn’t doubt this for one minute, when I banked my first and only double figure carp of the winter so far I actually felt like I’d got out of jail on that trip because the temperatures were so low.

I kept an eye on the temperatures prior to my second fishing trip of the winter and again they were low all through the week. When Saturday came around I very nearly didn’t go because I thought the lake would be frozen over. I always have a back up plan when it comes to my winter fishing so I packed my rover lure bag so I could visit the river dee if the lake did happen to be iced up.

Luckily for me I didn’t need the lures so the pike were safe for another week. When I arrived at the lake it was clear of ice and thankfully there was no fog this time either so I had a good view of the lake. I made my way to my usual swim that covers a large amount of water, the odds were that the carp would be somewhere within casting range so I got myself setup up and cast both of my rigs to what I call my ‘starting spots’, the areas I’ve caught regularly from in past winters. One of these hot spots had done me a carp the previous week so there was always a chance. Whilst I waited for a bite I kept scanning the water for signs of fish moving.

It wasn’t long before my best mate the local robin was being a nuisance again begging for food, I didn’t mind feeding him but he didn’t seem to understand that he wasn’t supposed to crap on every item of fishing tackle I had with me!. I continued scanning the water for most of the day but no carp showed. That might not be much of a big deal on most carp waters but the lake I’m fishing is exceptional and it’s very rare not to see at least a couple of carp roll during the daytime. These carp are so prolific in winter that I’ve even witnessed upwards of 50 shows when the lake has been half iced over!. Today however, I wasn’t seeing anything and it wasn’t until I listened to that radio announcer that I realised just how bad the weather conditions have been this winter.

Cheeky little robin perched on my rucksack!

I continued watching the water for signs of carp right up until 4.30pm when it was time to go home, it had been the quietest winters day I’d ever known on the lake, the temperature barely made 4 degrees all day and with the light fading it was getting very cold very fast. I made haste when it came to spodding bait in my swim and I was finished and on my way home in record time!.

When I got home I could feel my throat tightening and the next morning I succumbed to a cold which stayed with me for most of this last week. I’d recovered enough to go fishing this weekend but the temperatures hadn’t. The lakes had been iced up all week but on Thursday night into Friday morning the temperature rose a little and it began raining. Rain is good news when the lakes are frozen up and I hoped a bit of the wet stuff would get me fishing. I delayed any decision on going until I got up the next morning and checked the weather websites and had a look out of the window.

When I got up I logged onto the internet and had a look at the bbc weather, the temperatures hadn’t come up very much and looking out of the window there didn’t seem to have been much rain during the night. I doubted there was enough of a thaw to have made the trip worth while, there was always the pike fishing on the river but that was going to be my only option and as I’m mainly a winter carp angler I based my decision to not go fishing on the fact the lake would definitely be frozen over.

This brings my winter carp fishing up to date, one freezing cold blank with no carp showing and one abandoned trip due to the lake being frozen over. I hope that announcer on the radio has some better news about the temperatures for next weekend!.

Tight Lines
Mark.