River perch

I’ve had a few perch sessions this autumns/winter across 3 different rivers without much to report, the odd small perch, a couple of ruffe and some decent bream was as good as it got.

Things picked up a bit on my most recent outing. Only a short 2.5hr session but I managed to land a couple, lose a very good fish and learn a bit more about the stretch.

I had a 2lb’er second cast, very small knocks on the quiver tip turned into positive bites after twitching the bait back slightly.

Bang on 2lb, my first perch from this river

Very pleased as that was my first perch from this river. Bites on the quiver tipped worm were infrequent and shy so I decided to trot a small live bait over the area I has been fishing the worm. First trot down, float straight under and I was into a nice perch. Unfortunately the hook hold failed before it was ready for netting, gutted. Possibly a 3 pounder as it was much larger than the one I landed.

Bites dried up after the lost fish, eventually a float paternoster live was snatched, however the excitement was short lived as it was a very small jack.

One more good bite on the worm before it was too dark to see produced a 6/8oz perch.

Im planning to head back down to this particular river next week for another go, given what I’ve seen so far I’m hopeful of a few decent perch from there before the season ends. 

PAC talk 

After that perch session I headed down to North Derbyshire to attend a Trent zander/pike talk by Ian Wilson and Steve Lyon. I usually head to the Trent for the day then stop off on the way back up north for the talk but this time I had my dates mixed up and couldn’t get out for the full day. 

The talk/slide show was great, some amazing fish caught by both Ian and Steve, plenty of info and advice shared meant a lot to think about on the long drive home. 

My one and only zander - I’ll be aiming to add a few more from both the non tidal and tidal Trent in the future, maybe not for a season or two as I’m on a long waiting list for the club ticket I want ( plenty of time to day dream).

Autumn pike (catch-up part 5)

Early October came and as planned I headed down to Lincolnshire to pike fish a syndicate gravel pit. The 2.5hr drive passed quickly with the thoughts of the huge pike that are rumoured to reside in this water. The excitement quickly turned to disappointment after seeing the water for the first time as 90% of it was choked with weed from lake bed to surface.

'About 2 months too early' was the thought of the day as I walked around the pit. I decided to recce the water properly and return at a later date. A few pike strikes whilst using the deeper confirmed the presence of pike and then a quick chat with a bailiff confirmed the size of the pike which had been caught in the previous season. 

I decided to head back north and fish a river for a few hours on the way home. The short river session almost went as well as the gravel pit session!

Shortly after my first cast I had a 'take', struck into nothing, same again next cast and the next. The bait was fairly trashed so I changed it to a bluely, within 5 seconds of the bait hitting bottom I had a positive take again, which turned out to be mitten crabs! I've had to deal with crayfish on my local rivers but these things are on another level!

Less than 1 minute in the water

I didn't have time for a move so I persevered for the final hour of daylight then headed straight to the closest pub, which fortunately served a decent pint of Guinness.

Ten days later I was back out after pike, running water this time, only my second session on this river. 

It took a couple of hours before I had any interest, a hard fighting 12 pounder on a margin fished sardine.

12.02lb - sardine

Another hour or so and again a sardine in the margin was taken over a paternoster live bait, slightly larger this time.

13.06lb of greedy, hard fighting northern river pike.

Both pike fought hard, but this second fish really didn't want to go in the net, tail walking, thrashing and even regurgitating a recently taken female mallard on the way in! The fish was rested in the net for 5 mins, whilst unhooking the remains of crayfish and possibly a young cygnet were found at the bottom of the net.

The fish went 13.06lb, I'd imagine it would of been around 15lb or so if it hadn't of ejected the contents of its now saggy stomach on in the way in!

After a couple of short blank sessions, I finally had the time again for a full days pike fishing, unfortunately conditions were against me as the chosen river was carrying 3ft of snow melt. I've found it best to stay active in these conditions, one hour per peg, recast the rods every 30 mins and try to drop a bait close to a pike.

Eventually the tactics paid of and five minutes after casting into the 5th peg of the day an ever reliable sardine was taken. Size is irrelevant on tough days like this, any pike landed makes it a successful session in my book. 

Autumn and winter perch part 2 (river sessions)

I haven’t been able to perch fish my local rivers as much as I would of liked this winter as they always seem to be in a constant state of flood.

Living in an area surrounded by spate rivers you become accustomed to them but this year has definitely been the most challenging for a number of years.

The image above shows the recent levels during a typical winter week on one of my favourite rivers. Targeting predators at anything over 0.8 meters is a real struggle, (pissing in the wind springs to mind). As you can imagine opportunities to target these fish are very limited especially when you factor in family life and 60hr working weeks.

Anyway I’ve managed two river perch sessions so far, one on my closest river which as usual was a bit of a struggle, small live baits fished close to deep marginal snags when unscathed.

A week or so later I headed down to one of my favourite rivers, I’ve never really fished for predators on this river, usually targeting the barbel and chub but I know it holds good perch and pike. 

After catching a few small silvers I chose a peg for the short session with features both up and downstream. A small gudgeon on a float paternoster upstream and a small maggot feeder with worm flicked under the downstream willow. 

It took half an hour or so to get some interest on the feeder a 12oz perch was the first in the net, shortly followed by one of around a pound.

I was being pestered by small jacks on the live bait rod, I was using a light wire trace so all were landed without to much fuss but the distractions did lead to a few missed bites on the feeder.

Eventually a better fish on the feeder, initially I thought it was a chub but eventually a nice perch surfaced, easily my largest from this river.

2lb 9oz, a new river best

Bites were hard to come by after the two pounder, a good wrap around was missed whilst landing a jack. I switched to a larger lobworms as dusk approached, hoping for a final chance of a bigger fish. The bite came but it was the smallest of the day.

One of 3 jacks landed, a nice looking fish 

Hopefully I can get on this river for a longer session in good conditions soon as I think I’d be able to put a few more fish on the bank, maybe get closer to a three pounder.

Autumn and winter perch part 1

A little burnt out from barbel fishing hard all summer and early autumn, I had a couple of weeks off with the thoughts of targeting pike on my local rivers on my return. However the rivers have been constantly up and coloured, far from ideal conditions for pike. 

Luckily a water that had been closed to fishing for a few years had changed hands and was now open to anglers again. The water, a small farm pond, holds some carp, the odd tench, a ridiculous amount of roach/rudd and some quality perch. Ben fished it a dozen or so times a few years back and caught good perch every session, with the largest going 3.02lb.

My first session was a good one, fishing live baits on light float paternoster rigs I landed 6 perch over 1lb with the largest going 3.06lb (a new p.b) and a brace of high 2lb’ers to back the ‘3’ up. 

My first fish from this water, a new p.b of  3.06lb

I also lost a lot of good fish, which I eventually put down to using too stiff a rod. Ben also landed a p.b on his first session back with a fish of 3.05lb but he was also losing more than he landed. We were both using avon rods, I was using Drennan series 7 1.25’s and Ben had an older pair or  rapier 1.5lb’s both over gunned but I thought the 1.25lb’s would be just about ok, however they were just slightly too stiff in the tip.

3.05lb 

Good perch have been landed on each visit with Ben landing the largest so far, 3.10lb. My aim was to catch a ‘3’ from this venue but after that first session visit we have both decided to try and get a four pounder from there before they spawn in the spring. The farm pond is a good 2 hours drive from home so visits there are going to be infrequent but I have also started looking at other waters closer to home. I’m hoping to visit the farm pond a couple of times a month before the end of spring, hopefully we can find those bigger fish.

New rods 

We have both invested in new rods specifically for the perch I initially bought a pair of 11ft series 7 pellet waggler rods, soft in the tip, bend forever but with enough power in the butt to stop commercial sized carp these rods are ideal for perch and have all but stopped hook pulls. However when underarm casting a fair size livebait and rig set between 6 and 8ft they struggled to achieved the distance needed so I also bought a pair of the new Drennan Specialist 1lb twin tips. These rods will be used when live baiting in deeper water or when distance is required, for most of my perch fishing I’ll be sticking to the pellet waggler rods.

Ben went for a pair of Greys 1lb TXL specimen rods, a bargain in the sale at around £60 a rod. Although I haven’t used them they seem a nice rod and have significantly reduced hook pulls.

Another catch up - January to March

The last three months of the season were spent chasing pike during the day and chub on night sessions. Nothing significant in terms of size was caught but chub and pike were landed on most sessions.

A session on the coldest day of the year, - 6.5°C when I arrived rising to - 3°C by the end of the session. I knew the river banks would be empty so I could of headed to any stretch and had my pick of pegs but I choose a completely new stretch. 

A few small chub were had on bread and cheese paste, definitely one of my favourite sessions of the season.

It was my nephews birthday in February so after a trip to the tackle shop we went out in search of grayling. Despite the river being in good condition we struggled to locate any, but found plenty of willing minnows to avoid a birthday blank.

Steady action during my evening chub sessions with a few going over 5lb, not troubling my 6lb target from this river but very enjoyable sessions, which are usually a flying visit after work.

The pike captures slowed down and things got worse as I managed to snap one of my rods whilst roving on a small river.

I had put holidays in for the final week of the season and typically my local rivers flooded with 10ft + of icy cold water and killed the fishing. A few attempts for chub with only one bite to show for my efforts. Levels started to drop and I was hopeful of a final day pike session but we had another flood, slightly warmer water this time though so I had a go for barbel.

Surprisingly I managed one, 8lb 6oz which is a good size for this river, a nice end to the river season. 

A few days later I headed down to a canal for a final pike session, a first visit to this waterway. I was hopeful of a pike or two to wrap up the season but it was hard going, a difficult session with zero interest in the baits, perhaps with the warmer weather the pike were focusing on something other than feeding.

New jack city

Having longer than expected for my first session of the year I decided to head to a new stretch, further upstream on this river than I’d previously ventured.

Steady action from the off, I pulled out of a jack first cast and with the next cast I landed a nice looking fish which was possibly pushing double figures.

I had steady a stream of runs throughout the session, landing 5 and pulling out of a few jacks.

Enjoyable fishing in beautiful surroundings with an abundance of wildlife putting on a show over in the far bank. I was sat opposite what seemed like a buzzards favourite perch and a pair of kingfishers were continuously working the stretch. 

The pike were also in top condition, even the jacks were well marked. A couple of the jacks showed scars from lucky escapes and a much larger fish followed the last jack of the day to the net.

A good start on this stretch, it seems over run with jacks but I know there’s at least one good fish here so I’ll be heading back soon.

Mid-November sessions

That twenty came on the first day of a weeks holiday during which I was planning on getting on the bank as much as I could.

My next session was a short one in between school runs, two rods, one float paternoster lives in the margin the other a ledgered dead which would be cast around the various areas I tried.

Some interest on a ledgered smelt in the first peg, but I pulled out on the strike, no doubt a jack as this stretch is full of them. 

Nothing in the next few pegs, then a positive take from the margins to save a blank. 

The next day I was up very early for the 2.5hr drive down to a Lincolnshire drain I’ve visited a couple of times in the past. Aiming to be at the water for first light and hoping to have the place to myself I was a little suprised when I pulled in and there was 5 cars already on this short stretch.

Not ideal but still plenty of space towards the lower limit of this fishery so I dropped in there. Plenty of space for three rods, so I had two on lives and one on ledgered deads.

The stretch was alive with activity, constant swirls on the surface from pike feeding on fry. Definitely a lot of pike in the area but getting them to take baits was difficult.

I’ve struggled with similar scenarios in the past, but usually a live fished close to the surface gets a fish, not  on this occasion though.

Eventually a margin fished smelt was taken by a short stocky fish, typical of the stretch.

Two more followed in the next hour or so, both smaller.

Despite working hard and fishing into dark I couldn’t tempt any of the larger specimens that live in this stretch. My third visit and and I’m yet to catch a double it but it throws up mid twenties each season so I’ll be back again in the new year.

Why didn’t I think of that

Flicking through an old copy of Pike Fishermen the other day and I came across this article. 

A float paternosterer is my go to rig for presenting tethered lives and it can become a bit of a chore shortening the mono link or making a new longer one to alter the depth the bait is presented at. 

I’ll have a try next time I’m fishing with lives, as it seems like a good idea. My only concern is that the adjustable loop could increase the likelihood tangles.

Perhaps a more upto date version of the rig would be to use a single length of mono (or fluoro) with a heavy enough dropshot style lead and adjust as you would a dropshot rig. 

Jack attack

At the back end of October I headed to another new stretch of river, conditions were fairly shite with a bitterly cold northerly but this river seems to hold a decent head of pike so I was confident of some interest.

It took some time, a couple of hours and a few peg moves before getting a jack on a paternostered live. Whilst unhooking the jack it flipped and caught my palm at the base of the thumb with one of its front teeth, not the usual minor cut or raker rash, but a deep down to the bone laceration. I managed to return the fish and after a while stemmed the bleeding, I thought I would have to leave my gear on the bank and head to A&E but thankfully I was able to  patch myself up and continue the session.

Steady action for the rest of the day, 4 more pike to just shy of double figures and a nice perch of 1lb 15oz made it a decent first visit.

I managed to keep the wound clean and dry but after checking it when I got home it was obvious that I needed to have it looked at. A quick trip to the minor injuries unit, some butterfly stitches, a tetanus booster and a coarse of antibiotics and I thought that would be the end of it. However one of the potential side effects of the antibiotics I was taking is tinnitus.

It drove me crazy for a few days, but it’s either eased off a bit or I’ve gotten used to it. Not the nicest thing to live with but it could be a lot worse. In future I will only taking antibiotics when needed not as a precaution. 

Early sessions

I was still chasing barbel at the start of October so didn’t have my first pike session until the middle of the month.

With the mild conditions we’ve had it didn’t really feel like pike weather but I was becoming a little jaded with the barbel so the pike gear had to come out. My first sessions were all on stretches I recced this close season, none of which seem to have had that many visitors as the banks seemed relatively undisturbed.

The 1st pike of the season, just a jack but a such beautifully marked fish, hopefully we cross paths again.

The first session produced 3 jacks, all to ledgered sea deads. The second outing was much further upstream than the first and despite having longer on the bank it was more difficult and I only managed the one jack, which snatched the bait on the retrieve.

A different river for my third session, a lovely stretch of water which seems to have a bit of everything, lots of near bank features with deep holes in the margins, faster sections mid river and the odd far bank slack. A steady session with 3 fish landed to just shy of 11lb.

My first double of the 18/19 season (10.10lb)

Nothing spectacular but a reasonable start, 7 fish from the 3 sessions all on different stretches. 

Having access to so many different waters I am planning on regularly changing venues, keeping things fresh and learning new stretches. Perhaps if I come across some good fishing I’ll have a few sessions in that area but for now I’ll definitely be visiting a new stretch each session.

Well the bad run continues......

Well the bad run continues. After a very early start and a 2.5 hour drive we arrived in Lincolnshire to find we had the stretch to ourselves. The water was heavily coloured due to the constant pumping, which is normal for this time of year, weather was reasonable, with fish topping as we arrived, things looked good.

I've only fished this drain once before, a difficult session in freezing conditions but we managed steady action from jacks throughout the day. Ben's fished it about half a dozen times, never blanked and the pike are always of a good average size.

Despite the promising conditions things seemed slow from the off, hard work catching baits and no interest until lunchtime. Ben missed a couple of runs before connecting with a jack, half an hour later another take for Ben a short fat fish just short of double figures. My only take of the day was aborted when a mass of floating weed hit my float and line, the pike sussed something was amiss and rejected the float paternoster live bait.

A couple more fish to Ben's rod, another jack and double both on float paternoster lives.

Just shy of 12lb, the largest of the day

Despite fishing well and trying hard I couldn't buy any interest, deads went untouched, popped up baits, free roaming lives and twitched baits all ignored. One of those days for me, which seems to be a regular occurrence lately and a good day for Ben.

A 5 hour round trip for a blank, a bit of a kick in the balls really but I was pleased for Ben as this will be his only pike session of the season due to work commitments.

The rivers have been at a consistent level for a few days now, so I'm heading out for a chub session after dinner. The plan is to try a couple of different stretches and fish for a few hours into dark on the second stretch.

First sessions of 2018

12/01/18

My first session of the year, first session for almost a month and a first visit to this river.

The morning didn’t start too well as we couldn’t get access to our chosen stretch and had to head to another one blind.

We needn’t of worried as the fish seemed to be on the feed from the off, Mick lost one and had a dropped run before I’d even cast a bait.

The first fish landed came to my rod though, a nice 12lb 8oz fish to a ledgered smelt.

Mick was up next, a jack taken on a ledgered sardine.

Both fish were covered in leeches, obviously laid up on the bottom during the extended cold spell.

After a couple of hours in the first pegs we moved downstream to a double peg for an hour. I had one rod on the bottom with sea deads and a margin fished live in a float paternoster. Surprisingly the live didn’t get any interest, all interest on baits hard on the bottom, so I reduced the height of the paternoster so the bait could  just get to the river bed.

Shortly after the live was taken.

Smaller this time, unweighted, but definitely welcome.

Mick had another dropped run in the double peg before we moved again. Plenty of appealing pegs on this stretch, deep margins and willow lined banks, spoilt for choice really.

No interest for a good hour in my last peg, a change to a full lamprey cast mid-river and an immediate response from a jack. 20 minutes later the margin live was taken by a similar sized jack.

And that was that, back to the car just as the last light was fading and home 50 minutes later. A good first session back and a good first session on this river. 

19/01/18

A week later conditions were completely different. A few days of below zero temperatures and heavy snow followed by a slight rise in temps. I was struggling to decide on which species to target, chub or pike, the pike usually win and they did this time.

I was hoping to get on the river before any significant snow melt made its way in. Tactics for this short session were trotting baits.

Arriving at the river I could see that I had things wrong, a nice level but pushing through fast and coloured not ideal for trotting baits and as I had minimal gear with me I didn’t have the option of changing tactics. A blank.

26/01/18

A big winter flood carrying warmer water saw reports of a couple of winter barbel showing. The rivers swelled and were well up,16ft higher than usual on some stretches. I went down with Mick the day after the flood had peaked, the river was still up a good 6ft and pushing through fast. 

We didn’t have a great choice of pegs as the flood left the banks covered in slippery silt and we didn’t fancy taking a dip. 

I didn’t get a touch all day, Mick had a bit of interest in the second peg and the tip flew round as we were having a brew.

A small but welcome chub.

That’s things finally upto date, I’m still having problems with photobucket as I’m not willing to them pay $400/year to host my images. There are plenty of free options (google images seems decent) however most of my older posts (2014 and older) still the have photobucket ransom link instead of the intended image.

Catching up with the blog I’ve also realised how incompatible blogger and apple devices (iPhone/iPad) are. Trying to compose a post of a reasonable length is difficult as you can’t scroll up or down on the blogger editor. A limited work around is the app ‘BlogTouch Pro’ it works reasonably well but some functions are limited.

A better work around will be shorter more frequent posts.... 

A hectic finish

I usually struggle during February, especially on the rivers and this year was no different. A couple of reasonable chub early on in the month was my best result. Other sessions were a struggle in often difficult, hard to predict conditions. I had a first session on a new river, which is a good 40 mins drive away but seems to hold a much greater number of pike than my local. The river was up and pushing through fast, hard going for a first session, which was quiet and was more of a rod 'recce' session as nothing was landed. Some bait snatching and a recce of a potential eel still water kept me busy as the month ended.

A hectic finish

As the end of the season edged closer I made a decision to get on the bank as much as time would allow, short sessions before or after work, even if it was just for an hours fishing. Despite working ridiculously long hours I managed to fit in 7 sessions before the season ended. A quick round up below will bring the blog up to date as I haven't felt the need to get out now the rivers are out of bounds.

02/03/17

A return visit to the previously mentioned river but a different stretch this time. I was fishing with Mick, he has spent a fair amount of time on this river this season and has done quiet well, so I wasn't fishing blind as he shared what info he had gained. Plenty of action (compared to my closest rivers anyway) with 8 takes between us, 6 to Mick and just the 2 to my rods. We both landed 2 each, nothing of size but it was nice to get off the mark on a new river.

A first from a new river, always pleasing regardless of size

06/03/17

Back on my local river, which wasn't in the greatest condition, pushing through hard and coloured. In previous seasons I have really struggled when targeting pike in these conditions, but this season I have persevered and managed to land a few.

A short roving session with float ledgered sea baits, 5 pegs fished with the only coming in the last peg.

The mackerel was lost during the fight so I was down to my last bait, a bluey, a bait I don't have a great amount of confidence in. 10 minutes the float was bobbing, another take from the same spot, however excitement got the better of me and I went arse over tit down the slippy bank! With 17 stone crashing down the bank the pike sussed that all was not as it seemed and buggered off.

07/03/17

A quick detour on the way home from work for an hour after dark chub fishing. I shouldn't have bothered! As soon as I closed the gate behind me the heavens opened and despite having decent waterproof gear I got soaked. One bite from 5 pegs, which I struck far too early and blanked.

09/03/17

I had planned on trotting lives on my local river and was en route to a favoured stretch but a quick call to Mick to find out how the river was called for a change of plans. Despite daily checks of the levels and weather conditions the river had risen and was heavily coloured. I decided to head to a slack bay and sit it out with a couple of dead baits.

Conditions were crap and although I have caught in worse this season I wasn't very confident. Around midday there was a single bleep from the delkim, the line was pulled from the drop arm but none was taken from the spool. I couldn't feel anything on the braid, whatever was there had gone.

After retrieving the bait it looked like an eel had been at the mackerel. I recast to the same area and 30 minutes later the bait was taken. A screaming run this time, the most confident of the season, I was convinced it was an eel until after I struck. The rod went round and a healthy curve was put in the 2.75lb blank, the fish wasn't really fighting just plodding around in the heavily coloured water. I didn't have a clue what it was until I netted it and surprisingly it was a chub, a good one.

6.03lb - my second six from this river in the last few weeks

Six pound chub are scarce on this river, I know of (very) dedicated chub anglers that are yet to land one despite decades of trying. Somehow I've managed two this season, both different fish, caught on very different stretches of river over 5 miles apart. The first was 6lb 6oz and was legitimately targeted and caught on chub gear, this one was fluked on pike gear but I'll take a six any way they come!

11/03/17

As fast as the river rose and coloured it dropped and cleared, the best conditions for a while so I took advantage and went for that trotting session.

I usually lower the bait in a rod length out, allow it trot downstream then edge the bait back slowly along the near bank margin. This means that the bait is fishing 100% of the time and also the bait lasts much longer as no casting is involved.

The session was hard work, 7 or 8 pegs before I got any interest. The pike fought hard, I knew it wasn't massive but thought it might sneak over the 10lb mark, which it did. 10lb 6oz.

13/03/17
Two days after near perfect conditions the river was up and coloured again, down to around 12" clarity. I was roving with a float ledgered mackerel again and despite fishing the slacks I had to fish the rod tip high and keep all the line off the water, which meant fishing off the baitrunner.

It was hard going, no interest during the first couple of hours and I was expecting the blank. Last peg of the session, just as sat down to remove a stone from my boot, the rod went, a barbel-esq take. The fish put up a good fight on my lighter roving gear, but it didn't take too long to net.

9.06lb

14/03/17
My final day plans were to fish my local river for the pike, come home for a few hours, then head out again once the kids were in bed to target the chub on a different river.

In the end I only managed time for the chub session. Mick had been on this stretch for most of the day sitting it out in the hope of a late season barbel. After a brief chat with Mick I was on my way, searching out likely pegs for the chub. It was my first chub session there this season so I didn't really have too much to go off. 30 mins in the first peg before any interest, but it was a very delicate bite, nothing that I would usually strike at. Another similar bite 10 mins later, which again I sat on my hands and left. An otter drifted down mid river, very aware of my presence but it didn't flinch until I moved.

At this point Mick had given up and he called in to say he was going, the delicate bites started again, gentle nodding on the tip, nothing compared to the usual violent chub bites on my local river. Mick stayed to see if I could get anything and within 5 mins I had a nice 4lb'er on the bank. The chub was sacked and I had the rod back out quickly to see if I could tempt another. Within 5 mins I was playing another decent chub, the fight was a little longer but after a a few hairy moments with a marginal weed bed the chub was netted. Just over 5lb on the avons, my best chub from this river.

Mick, 4.03 and 5.0lb

Again the chub was sacked in the margins whilst I tried for another. The bites had stopped, nothing after 20 mins so I got a couple of photos and moved on. After a couple of moves I started to get some interest in the baits, again very delicate bites, even on though I was only using a 2oz tip the bites were hard to spot.

The first was bumped as the hook bait masked the hook point, missed one then landed the next.

4.12lb the last fish of the season.

A hat-trick of decent chub, a great way to finish the season. I'm planning on spending more time next season on this river. It has a greater head of chub than my local and usually they are a larger average size. A six pound chub is a good target on this river, a challenge but should be achievable if I can put the time in.