Covid catch-up part 2

With restrictions easing I was able to carry out my usual close season recces and even started a short eel campaign on a large gravel pit.

A good number of hours walking the banks with a castable fish-finder and a pair of polaroids, usually followed by a pint on the way home. I find these recces are invaluable, I don't always fish the stretches I recce straight away, sometimes not for a season or two, but they help build up a picture of the whole river and plus they keep me busy when the rivers are closed.

Short eel campaign 

I had planned on fishing for eels from mid-spring throughout the summer, but as usual as soon as the rivers open I found it hard to sit it out on the still waters.

I only managed 5 sessions before the rivers opened, 4 on a large gravel pit and 1 on a small local pond. I had yet to catch or even see an eel from either so always knew it was going to be difficult.

A missed run on the second session on the large pit gave me some hope and I managed two eels on the next visit. 

  

Nothing huge but I was very pleased with my first eels by design for a few years and the first I've seen from this venue 

Back on the rivers

Early season visits to the rivers were difficult, rivers were low and fish were hard to come by.

Eventually a few modest barbel and chub were landed during some short after work sessions, but I definitely should of continued fishing for the eels.   

Stillwater jacks

After the washout on the rivers I was looking forward to a couple of stillwater sessions before hanging up the pike gear for the season.

Not blessed with many options when targetting stillwater pike I headed to a water which also has a history of producing the odd large eel, a pike session and a recce in one.

An hour or so in and the first interest was on a drifted roach, just a jack but a blank saver and caught on homemade gear.

The lake was fairly lifeless to be expected as water temps are still fairly low, but that first jack and a strong warm westerly boosted confidence. 

Mick had some interest on a bottom fished sardine but the bait was dropped. An hour or so after the first fish I had a take on a paternoster roach, a better fish, a bit lethargic in the fight, and full of leeches.


9.01lb

We continued until mid afternoon without any further interest. A few notes taken for future sessions, most probably after eels but maybe an option for the pike when the rivers are out of sorts.

Hopefully I’ll be out again next week, heading to a gravel pit for a first visit. The waters adjacent to this pit have produced eels in the past so no reason why this one won’t, so another pike session/eel recce.

It's been a while

Six months have past since my last update, family and work commitments leaving little spare time for fishing, never mind blogging.
I'll use this first post back to review 2016 and then bring the blog upto date over the next few posts.

2016 wasn't my greatest years fishing, poor conditions on my local rivers at the start of the year, a struggle on both my eel and tench campaigns and then a period of losing almost every pike I hooked.

Eel and tench sessions
I started targetting both species in April, quite early in the year this far north. However I managed a 2lb 8oz eel on my first session but blanked on the first attempt for tench.
I had planned to commit every session until autumn trying to achieve my target of a 4lb plus eel and 50lb of tench. I stayed on track fishing days for tench and nights for eels until the 16th of June when the lure of running water tempted me from the still waters. A few hard going barbel sessions later and I was on the eel trail again.
I fished a couple of new waters for the eels with varying success, one of the waters is very close to home and produced eels on both occasions I fished there so I'll try again there next season.

Eel round up -

Number sessions - 8
Number of eels caught - 5
Largest eel caught - 2lb 8oz

Another very disappointing attempt for the eels, not enough sessions fished and not enough time spent on the water I think has the most potential for large eels. I'm determined to catch a large eel from a local water and will be trying again this spring/summer.

The first of the season - 2lb 8oz

A two pounder from my local river

Tench round up -
Number of sessions - 6
Largest tench - 2lb 14oz
Total weight - 16lb 7oz

Disaster. Tench fishing in my local area is always a struggle, but I thought 50lb would be achievable. I've found a water which holds plenty of tench, probably not capable of beating my p.b, but they do go over 4lb and are usually a reasonable average size. On both visits I caught tench but struggled to get past the smaller samples, a change of tactics needed if I ever revisit.

The largest of the season, caught during an eel session

Other sessions -

A double figure net of silvers on my only stick float session

Late season mackerel to 1lb 8oz

The only barbel of the season, 8lb 4oz, my best from this river

Start of 2016/17 pike season

A change of job means I am working closer to my local river which makes it a lot easier to fit a quick session after/before work. I started my pike season towards the end of September and started catching fairly regularly.

A brace of early season doubles, good going for this river !

By mid October I was pleased with how my season was going, fish on most sessions and a number of which were doubles. Then I started losing almost every pike I hooked. A fish of 8lb at the net, a good 15lb plus whilst live baiting, an unseen heavy fish and then the biggest pike I've ever hooked.

A fish of easily 25lb was lost for no apparent (at the time) reason, I fought this fish for a good few minutes, a solid and very long river fish, easily capable of stripping 30/40yards of braid at will. But I was winning, heart pounding, fish on the surface a few rod lengths out, easing it towards the net when everything went slack.

That fish was lost on the 1st of November and I can still remember that gut wrenching, kick in the balls feeling after realising the fish was gone. I've been chasing a '20' from this river for years, they are rare fish, this was a special fish.

Trying to get my head around the run of lost fish lead to a closer look at my tackle. The only weakness I could see was my reel, Shimano 6010 GT's. Solid reels but the drag isn't the greatest, fine if you back wind but I don't. The drag on my Shimano's needed a good 'jerk' to engage, then it was fine, I'm convinced that the jerky action of the drag costing me fish. I looked into servicing but was advised that parts are no longer made. Time for a change.

I ordered a pair of Shimano 6000 OC and haven't looked back. Solid reels, a bit bigger and more blingy than I'm used to, but they are a quality bit of kit. The drag is very smooth, no jerky action and I'm glad to say it stopped my loss of fish.

I continued my pursuit for a twenty from my local, often visiting the spot I'd lost the big one from, catching a few upto 13lb 6oz.

The largest and best looking pike of the year

River conditions suffered with some snow melt but I was still catching the odd pike and caught a p.b equalling perch.

2lb 4oz, equal p.b

I also started to get the odd chub on deadbait, always after the light had faded, these went to 4lb 4oz, my best from this river.

A solid chub on dead bait

My final session was a visit to a canal, hard going but good fun, we landed 5 pike between us, all taken on lives fished in the upper layers. Ben caught the lions share but I managed the largest.

Final fish of the year, an urban pike

2016 highlights -

Barbel - 8lb 5oz
Bleak - d.n.w
Bream - approx 12oz
Chub - 4lb 4oz
Dace - approx 6oz
Eel - 2lb 8oz
Grayling - approx 12oz
Perch - 2lb 4oz*
Pike - 13lb 6oz
Tench - 2lb 14oz.

* equals my personal best

Not my greatest year but we can't all be Terry Lampard!

Anyway 2017 has started well, hopefully I can get something up in the next day or two.

A quick catch up

A hectic couple of months has seen my blog entries dry up, I've started a few posts but have never found the time to finish and publish them. Thankfully things are beginning to settle at home and a job change a month or so ago means more spare time for fishing.

I've continued my eel and tench campaigns, however I'm still some distance from achieving my targets but I feel like I'm heading in the right direction

A quick sum up of the last couple of months
Eel sessions -

Only 3 attempts since my last update, on a different water on each occasion, 2 eels landed and 2 lost.

The fish landed went 1lb 12oz and 2lb 4oz.

Whilst fishing a carp water I lost an eel of about 3lb at the net and on my most recent session I lost an eel which felt huge, completely in a different league to any eel I've hooked before, unfortunately it slipped the hook after about 10 seconds and I didn't get to see it.

Tench sessions -

Just the 2 tench sessions, the first on a mature gravel pit that I have been waiting to fish for a year. The session was a bit of a disappointment, water still a bit cold no sign of any tench but a nice 2lb + perch as consolation prevented the blank.

2.02lb, worm, lift method

The next session was closer to home, I managed a tench first cast but it was only a few ounces. My caster and chopped worm approach was all wrong for thus water as I struggled to get past the perch, a switch to pellet later in the session saw me land a few more tench but the were all small, the largest was just shy of 3lb.

Barbel distractions -

I was planning on waiting until September before fishing the rivers but a chance to fish opening day saw me on the bank on the evening of the 15th awaiting a midnight start. A disappointing session really, a few knocks nothing more. A second session saw a visit to my banker peg, but again another blank. A short barbel session on my local river (barbel blanks are the norm) saw a solitary chub landed. Another visit to the same stretch as opening day, Ben and I both landed our first barbel of the season, both fish were bests for us both from this river.

8lb 14oz for Ben, mine 8lb 4oz

That's things up to date, I'll be focusing on my eel and tench targets during July and August, in fact I'm out tomorrow evening for a few hours tench fishing on a hard water, a probable blank but the water is capable of throwing up some decent fish.

A short eel session

As usual a hectic weekend left me with little time to fish, I was planning a tench session on a tricky water but after a quick recce of a local urban lake on Saturday afternoon I decided on an eel session. During the recce water temps were into double figures which was surprising given the low temperatures and northerly winds we've had recently.  I hadn't fished this water for about 20 years, I spent many a day during the school holidays fishing here with my mates, catching crucians, gudgeon and small skimmers on the whip. I think my first crucian and skimmers came from this water, nothing over 4oz, but at the time we thought they were awesome.

During that time no eels were caught, nor did we hear of any being caught. I've heard of a few coming to carp anglers recently so I thought I would give a go, not that hopeful of catching but a few hours on the bank and a chance to shake the eel kit out.

I arrived later than I hoped, about 20 minutes before sunset, but eventually got two rods out, both on running leads, one with lobworms, the other with half a roach. No action for the first hour, then I started getting pestered by the ducks. On a couple of occasions a duck dived down and picked the worms up (how they manage to find the bait in 4ft of water during the dark I'll never know), but it was becoming an issue so I was considering changing bait when the alarm on the worm rod sounded, again. This time I turned the head torch on, checked for ducks and couldn't see any, line was peeling from the spool and was being taken into the water, a definite take.

My first take of this seasons eel campaign, a little surprised and very happy until the strike meet with zero resistance. Whilst the rod was out of the water I changed bait to a prawn, hoping for less hassle from the ducks, it worked. The alarms remained silent for the next hour and despite the bitterly cold wind I managed to doze off in my chair. It had gone half past midnight when I woke, I doubt I was asleep for too long but this isn't the type of venue to fall asleep and leave your gear unattended, I decided to stick it out until 01:00 then pack up.

The prawn rod ripped off at 00:40, a very positive take, I struck immediately and felt the weight of a fish, I assumed it was a carp but after a second or so I knew it was an eel. It put up a decent fight even on the heavy tackle I use whilst targeting these creatures, I failed on my first attempt at netting the fish as the net had snagged in the shallow margin, but eventually netted it.

A decent eel to start the season with, I struggled with and eventually gave up with the self takes, so only managed a mat shot.

2lb 8oz - 31 x 6.5"

Very pleased with this capture, my first from this water, first on a prawn and the earliest I have caught an eel whilst deliberately targeting them.

I think I'll struggle to get out this week and I'm decorating two bedrooms at the weekend so probably won't get time then either. I have a weeks holiday in at the beginning of May, two sessions planned so far, a tench session on a farm pond and an overnighter for the eels on a carp water which supposedly holds plenty of eels.

Target achieved

A 36 hour session on the Trent, a birthday treat. This was actually my second visit to this river, the last being a couple of months ago but ultimately wasn't that successful, I was hoping for a better outcome on this trip.

The trip was broken down into 3 x 12 hour sessions. The first of these sessions I was targeting the zander. Initially we had planned to fish a ticket water, but Ben had managed to get us access to a private stretch that we could fish for free, so we opted to fish there.

Home for the first night

The stretch isn't particularly large and without wanting to waste time opening up a new peg, we shared the one peg, which was a bit of a squeeze but manageable.

Ben has fished this stretch before catching quality barbel, bream and chub. We hadn't know of any zander to come out of the stretch, but the section is on the navigable part of the river so has some depth and is relatively slow moving compared to other sections of this powerful river.

I spent some time catching bait and within 30 minutes there was enough bleak and roach in the keepnet to see us through the night. I decided on one rod for the barbel and one for the zander, both setup with simple running rigs, the latter with a small treble wire trace. 

It was a good hour after sunset before the first bait was taken, a live roach was snatched, as soon as I struck I knew it was an eel. A decent size, unweighted, definitely over a pound, but less than two. This is the first eel I have taken on a live bait, we were both surprised with the capture as the bait was a decent size, not what I would usually class as eel size.

About an hour later a bleak was taken, initially I thought it was another eel, it felt a good size too so I was pleased. Ben caught a glimpse of it and said it didn't look like an eel, I wasn't convinced until it surfaced and those trademark eyes reflecting our head torches back towards us were revealed.

Thankfully the fight wasn't very spectacular and although it took a couple of attempts to net, I soon had my first zander resting in the landing net, a decent one as well!

A first zander 8lb 14oz

The rest of the trip could of been a blank, I didn't care, target achieved, a couple of beers were cracked open to celebrate.

The rest of the night passed without any zander being landed. Plenty of runs but they were difficult to hit, the few we did connect with were jacks, two for Ben and just the one on my rod. I also managed a couple of bream on the barbel rod, which probably only just went past the 2lb mark.

The next 24 hours was on a stretch further downstream, much more pace to this section of river so we were going for the barbel. Being a popular ticket water you have to pre-book pegs, unfortunately that meant having to fish a different peg for the day and night session.

The day session was hard, given the low water and clear skies we weren't overly confident in catching barbel during the day. Ben had the only take, on a rod he had scaled down to 6lb fluro and a small 6mm pellet. A pristine 7lb + barbel was his reward. I didn't get so much as a knock all day and I was glad when the evening came.

A new peg, a fresh start, two rods, one downstream to a near bank willow, the second would be cast into open water with a big bait and a heavy lead.

The first hour was spent putting some bait next to the willow, I recast the feeder every 5 minutes, to get a bit of the simple groundbait mix in the area. 

The first take came at 19:45 and I was kept busy thoughtout the night, 10 runs and 7 barbel landed.

My first barbell from this river - 5lb 9oz

The final and largest barbel of the session - 9lb 5oz

The 5 barbel landed between these went - 8lb 14oz, 5lb 15oz, approx 4lb 8oz, 6lb 7oz and 6lb 1oz. A very productive session for me, as the most barbel I had previously caught in the one session was four.

Unfortunately Ben didn't land anything during the night, he lost a good fish first cast, but that was the only take he had.

That's probably my final barbel session of the year, time to concentrate on the predators.

The capture of that zander means that I have achieved one of the targets I set myself at the beginning of the year. The others being a p.b eel, perch and pike. Not asking for much! Probably unachievable but I'm going to give it a good go.

A few sessions for the eels, leaving me the rest of the year to target the perch and pike.

Latest pit session

My most recent session the clay pit was on Saturday, again targeting the bream and tench with a third rod out for the eels.

Bream/tench setup - 1.25lb series 7 avon, Shimano 5010, 8lb Hypersensor, 25g method feeder, 6lb sink braid to a size 12 super specialist.

           Bait - pellet based method mix, with different 10mm boilies for each species.

Eel setup - DLST P2, 8010, 50lb powerpro, running rig with homemade ledger stem to 20lb wire trace and a size 10 ESP Raptor T6.

           Bait - worms and squid. Small silvers are impossible to catch on this water.

I decided to move back to the first peg that I had fished on this water. It has a large gravel bar running parallel to the marginal reeds which I was hoping would hold some good tench, one rod would be cast here, the other in open water for the bream.

I bought some squid to try as a change bait for the eels, usually I prefer roach heads, but there seems to be very few small fish in this water, probably due to the large number of cormorants nearby. It took a couple of hours to get some interest in any of the baits offered and it was the squid on the eel rod which was taken first.

Squid caught eel.

The eel wasn't particularly large but up to that point it was a blank saver. An hour passed, nothing was happening so I decided to try and grab an hours sleep. Less than a minute after I laid on the bedchair the alarm from the open water rod sounded. I knew it was a bream straight away and it felt a decent weight but even on this light(ish) gear it didn't put up much of a fight and it was soon netted. Whilst the bream was resting in the landing net the margin rod ripped off, a definite tench take. After a good scrap, in which the tackle was well tested a good tench shared the net with the bream. A possible p.b bream and a good tench in the net, well pleased.

The bream did beat my best by 9oz, with the scales settling at 9lb exactly, the tench went 5lb 7oz.

Rain was forecast for about 10:00 so I had a quick sort out, recast the rods (the eel rod was left on the bank) and decided to try and get some sleep. I was briefly woken at midday when Ben caught a bream of about 4 and 1/2lb, but then I went undisturbed until 16:00 when I had top pack away and get ready for a night shift.

Only 3 fish to my rods this session a p.b bream, a good tench, a nice eel and 5 hours sleep a good session in my eyes!

Exactly 9lb

5lb 7oz

I've been having a lot of trouble with eel runs on this water, probably because the water contains lots of bootlaces. Many unhittable runs, loads of baits whittled down to nothing etc.... I thought squid might work and it did to some extent, but I'm hoping for a bigger eel from this water, which will be difficult as I can't fish beyond 17:00.

Next time I'm at the water I'll try fishing squid or worms on the dyson rig, hopefully the suspended bait will put off the smaller eels and allow the bigger one more time to find the bait.

I'm heading to a day ticket carp water in the morning, I've never fished it before and can't find much info on the place. Hoping for a good day as I'll be heading home soon and won't be fishing anywhere near as much as I am now, but on the plus side I'll be able to fish my local rivers again.

Still on the stillwaters

With the nearest 'proper' river an hours drive away, I'm continuing to fish the stillwaters local to my accommodation.

On Tuesday I was back on the clay pit for my second session, conditions were less than ideal, bright, hot and a flat calm. I knew the session was going to be difficult and I feel I did well to avoid a blank.

After many missed runs I connected with one and landed an eel, nothing massive but a decent start.

Scaling down to a size 10 was need to hook this eel

I also managed a decent hybrid before calling it a day.

Wednesday I headed to the farm pond again, two rods for the carp and one for the eels. I've never seen an eel from this water but I've been told that the odd one comes out.

I was fishing 15mm boilies on a rod tight to some reeds and 10mm's on my second rod, which was placed near the pads. The smaller bait was the first taken and shortly after a  small tench was landed. A couple more tench and a bream of about 4 pound were also caught on this rod.

One of three farm pond tench during the session, the largest getting on for two and a half pounds.

The only take from a carp was on the rod with a 15mm bait on, unfortunately I lost the carp in the reeds.

On Thursday I fished the clay pit again, a different peg this time, similar tactics, again hopeful that the bream and tench would show.

I didn't have to wait long for the first fish, an eel took a worm bait within a few minutes of it being in the water, again nothing of size but a welcome start.

The first fish on the bream/tench gear was a 7lb 4oz bream, caught on a 10mm boilie/method feeder approach.

The second fish was a bit of a surprise and probably had outgrown someones garden pond. An 8lb 8oz grass carp picked up the bait and gave a good account of itself before it was reluctantly netted. Being only the second grass carp I have landed, the first being a pound or so, this was a definite p.b.

Next up was a hybrid of 5lb 4oz, definitely the biggest I have caught, so another p.b. The next two fish were both tench, my new p.b of 6lb 12oz and a male tench of 4lb 14oz. Both fish came to a method mix that I had specifically made for tench.

4lb 14oz male and a new p.b of 6lb 12oz

 The final fish of the session was a bream of over 5 pounds.

(top to bottom) 7lb 14oz, 5lb 4oz, 5lb 4oz, 4lb 14oz and 6lb 12oz)

Although I'm missing the rivers I'm really enjoying fishing for these bream and tench. I'm hoping to fit another session or two on the clay pit before my short term contract is over and then I'll be hitting the rivers again.

An overdue update

It's been a while since my last update, partly because I've been working away in North East Lincolnshire and mainly that I've had restricted internet access. I have had a few sessions, targeting the bream, carp and tench on three very different waters. A day ticket carp water, a small farm pond and a large mature clay pit.

During half a dozen sessions I've had since I've been working away, I've managed a few decent fish and had a bit of a red letter day on my most recent session, (the first on the clay pit) when I beat my bream p.b three times.

Some of my catches so far -

A couple of doubles, one from a day ticket water, the other a farm pond.

15lb 11oz the biggest so far from the farm pond

Bream, a hybrid and tench from the clay pit

(Weights from top to bottom - 7.01, 6.04, 8.07, 7.08, hybrid unweighted, 4.08, 4.06, tench 5.07, 4.13, 4.13, 6.07, plus another bream of 5.01 that was caught after these were released).

A new best 8lb 7oz

The largest of the few eels I've caught,

I'm hoping for a few more sessions before the end of my short term contract, hopefully I can increase 

my tench best and possibly catch a first zander.