Perchtastic

Out for another go for some river perch, after my last session I was hopeful of finding a few fish, however I failed to check the weather forecast. Overcast skies at home slowly cleared on the 40 mile drive and I was greeted with bright sunshine when I arrived at the stretch. The river has also lost all of its colour, confidence plummeted immediately and I briefly considered heading home to grab some pike gear and head to my closest river for a few hours.

Two bite-less hours later I reached for the dropshot rod to see if I could tempt something. I’ve had this setup for about 3 years without using it but I thought it might give me chance in these less than favourable conditions. It didn’t. 

It did help me find a dying weed bed a 1/3rd across the river, so I decided to bait this area fairly heavily and sit it out, hoping a perch would visit before dusk. A few dozen worms were chopped into a few big handfuls of mole hill and deposited into the area around the weed bed.

I was surprised when only 15 mins later the rod tip flew round and shortly after I had 2.09lb perch in the net. A new best for this river so I was very pleased.

2.09lb a new best from this river

The next 4 casts all produced bites…. 

2.12lb followed by a 1.11lb which was added to the net without a photo

2.13lb

The last was lost as I was bring it towards the net, gutted as it was the largest of the day! I had a bad feeling that I would struggle to get another bite and that was the case, despite trying a few different things and casting to other areas of the peg I had zero interest for an hour.

I made another couple of large chopped worm/mole hill balls, put them in the same area and then rested the peg for 20 mins.

First cast and a bite but excitement got the better of me and I struck far too early, next cast another bite but again I failed to connect. Luckily neither fish felt anything so I was still confident the fish hadn’t spooked.

A better fish was hooked next cast, a similar stamp to the one I lost, a little more care was taken this time and I managed to land the fish. A quick weigh and the fish went 3.04lb, no photo as I wanted to get my rod out asap.

Next cast and another 2 pounder was added to the keepnet. Time was running low as I had to get back home but I stayed until the very last possible minute which thankfully was enough for one last fish.

3.15lb - a very honest 3.15lb!!!

3.15 & 3.04 - my first brace of 3lb perch

3.15, 3.04, 2.13, 2.12, 2.09, 2.03 & 1.11lb

I managed to beat my best perch for this river five times, with the largest being a new p.b. Definitely my most memorable perch session.

Wye trip (Covid catch-up part 3)

 A trip to the wye during August, keeping an eye on catch reports during the weeks leading up to our trip and things weren't looking too great. A low river and poor water quality saw people struggling to bank the numbers of fish you expect when heading to this river.

An amazing looking river, well worth the 4hr plus drive

Wye not !! - Wye Valley Butty Bach

The trip was split into 3 sessions, a short evening session close to our accommodation, a full day on a wye & usk stretch then a very short morning session on the accommodation stretch again. Thankfully the river was slightly up on our first session. 

First fish to Ben

10.01lb - My first wye double

We both landed a few barbel each and plenty of chub during the first session.

 Day two, colour and levels had dropped, a harder session but eventually we both landed barbel and loads of chub (30 plus between us).

Around the 8lb mark

A very short morning session before travelling back home, one bite and one fish landed between us.

4.03lb - my best wye chub 

  Not as prolific as our previous visit but catching my first wye double definitely made it a memorable trip. I think my next visit to the wye will be in winter for the pike and chub, which will take some planning as I don't fancy that drive to find the river high and coloured.

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.

Just a jack

Well the 'final push' didn't really materialise, the session planned for Thursday morning didn't happen as the river rose 6ft overnight and I was too pushed for time on Monday, that just left Sunday.

The plan for Sundays session was to head to a few stretches that I hadn't fished for a while and cover as much water as possible. The morning didn't start too well as I managed to sleep through my alarm and as the kids were staying at there grandparents I didn't wake until after eight. Usually I would be over the moon with a sleep in but not when I'm supposed to be fishing.

It was well after nine when I eventually pulled up at the first stretch, a couple of cars were parked up and usually this is enough to make me turn round and head elsewhere but I decided to make my way down to the river and hope the areas I wanted to try were free.

I bumped into Marc (who I know through a local forum), he was chub fishing, not a sniff, no fishing rising, dead, was his response when I asked if he had caught anything. Not really what I wanted to hear but the despite the recent flood the river looked in decent enough condition so I was still fairly confident. After a lengthy chat with Marc and a decent walk to the pegs I had in mind it had gone half ten before I had a bait in the water.

The river was still pushing through at pace and although it was still carrying some colour it had around 18" to 2ft of visibility which isn't too bad for this river, water temps were up from my last visit, just over 5°C. Decent conditions and I was quietly confident that I would find a few fish.

Four hours on the first stretch and six pegs covered, not a touch. I decided to head downstream, again to a stretch that I hadn't fished in months. Due to road closures and hoards of Sunday cyclists it took about an hour to move stretches and be fishing again.

This stretch is a lot narrower than the first with many more near bank features, often the pike are found in these areas. First peg, first cast a whole float fished lamprey was taken. Just a jack, but enough to avoid a dreaded final session blank.

Blank saver !

Encouraged by the capture I fished on until dark, but despite covering a fair amount of water I didn't have any further success. Not the most successful final session of the season I've had, but I didn't blank!

An enjoyable day with plenty of wildlife on show, a mink on the far bank stalking a moorhen, woodpeckers doing their thing and a treecreeper coming within a few feet were the highlights,a lovely day to be out, spring is definitely here.

A quick photo snap of the mink

Once the rivers are closed I usually continue to fish for pike until the end of the month, normally I fit in a couple of sessions before my pike season ends, but I'm busy for the next few weeks so I'm only planning the one session, probably on a canal over the Easter weekend.

Limited time

With limited time last weekend it was either a very short morning pike session or an evening after the barbel. The pike won.

I was on the bank early, too early to watch a float, so I chucked a ledgered sardine mid-river. No interest in the dead bait, so as soon as it was light enough I began drip feeding maggots a rod length out. Small chub and dace and some reasonable perch were easily caught on the stick float, a better perch of about 2lb was hooked and lost as the hook pulled. 

After half an hour the float rod was packed away and a few small silvers were retained for bait. During my last session the pike on this stretch were very active but it seemed very quiet this time. Three pegs without any interest from the pike, then a take on the first trot downstream in the 4th peg, nothing massive but more than welcome during this short session.

A couple of casts in some upstream pegs but nothing further happened. Size didn't matter on this session, I was just pleased to catch, an enjoyable morning.

Cheese paste

A bit of bait prep this week. I made some cheese paste a couple of winters ago, a simple mix of shortcrust pastry, blue cheese and some mature cheddar. It has worked well on the odd occasion I have used it but to try and make it more effective I've added some Boursin garlic and herb soft cheese and some Sonubaits hemp and cheesy garlic liquid enhancer, needless to say it stinks!

I'll be on the bank at some point this weekend, I've heard reports of large shoals of small grayling and I will be targeting these areas for the pike.

A nice river double and a quick catch up

I've had a few outings since my last update but these have been a struggle due to the river conditions, I'll mention these later in this post as they weren't very eventful.

Yesterday I finally managed to get on the bank while conditions were favourable, although there was a little extra water it was fining down nicely. I took a rod for the chub and the pike to give me the best chance of getting something on the bank. Things started slowly for me, no interest from either species , after a couple of missed bites Mick landed a nice chub of 3.07lb.

I tried bread, cheese paste, garlic spam and steak but couldn't get any interest from the chub. After a couple of uneventful moves I tried an area downstream of Mick and dropped half a sardine in the margin while I baited an area with liquidised bread for the chub. Ten minutes later and the pike rod started nodding, I unclipped the backbiter took up the slack and struck a decent fish was on. The pike fought very hard for a mid-winter pike, more like a late summer pike, minus the tail walking. I thought the pike was going to be a good mid-double but the avons settled at 11lb 3oz's.

Fought like a bigger fish, but it's hard to be disappointed when they look like this

We fished on for a further hour, no other fish were landed. I had a decent bite on a hair rigged piece of steak but I was waiting for the wraparound that never came and didn't strike.

Previous sessions

13th Jan - I fished a different river than my usual, on a stretch that I haven't had a lot of success. Conditions were awful, very low temps and high winds the river was also up, I had a rod for both the chub and pike. The only interest coming to the chub rod, but I didn't see the bite properly due the high wind, a chub of around 4lb shed the hook as I got it to the surface, the lamprey was well chewed.

The ejected lamprey

15th Jan - I headed to a stretch of my local river, a lot of water had gone in upstream but I was hoping to get a few hours after the chub before the water reached the stretch I was fishing, however I got the timing wrong and the river was rising fast. The river rose about 2ft in the hour I was on the bank and showed no signs of slowing the highlight of the morning was an otter that was running in the shallow margins. The otter was completely unaware of  my presence until it got to about 4ft away from me, a quick about turn and it was gone as quickly as it appeared.

20th Jan - Fishing with Mick we headed to the same river in fished on the 13th but to a stretch much further downstream. Again I took chub and pike gear to keep my options open, the river had some snow melt in but Mick had a nice 4.01lb chub on the bank on his first cast so I was hoping we would have a decent day. It was a struggle no positive bites on the chub rod, nothing on the pike rod. I decided to reposition the pike bait (a large sardine) and as I was slowly retrieving the bait a small jack  shot out from under my feet and hit the bait. I landed the jack which was probably only twice the size of the bait, no other bites/takes for either of us so we recce'd a few areas for future sessions.

A small jack and Mick's 4lber

22nd Jan - A short lure session, my first in a while, nothing to report a definite blank.

Planned sessions

If the weather forecasts are anything to go by it's going to be hard to stick to any plans over the next week or so, but I might try and get out for a couple of hours tomorrow species undecided and will depend on river conditions. Currently Tuesdays are the easiest day for me to be on the bank and next Tuesday will see me targeting chub, grayling, pike or perch on my local river. If the river is in flood I'll probably head to one of my stillwaters to target the pike, but I'm hoping that the rivers are fishable....

Blank, River levels, Recce and planned sessions

On Thursday I fished a stretch of river that usually produces a few pike, 4 of us fished the stretch and I was initially confident that a few pike would be landed. My optimism was short lived as the river was rising, although the water was reasonably clear the rising water usually puts the pike off feeding.

The river rose around 2ft in the few hours we were on the bank and we all blanked, not even a take. The highlight of the session was seeing a buzzard in the nearby farmland and a heron on the water.

River levels

As a river angler I rely on the Environment Agency to update their website so I can keep an eye on the levels. Although the EA's website is ok, I find the River Levels site a lot better as it easier to read and provides some historical data which is a good reference. This is obliviously a massive help to anyone who chooses to fish the rivers but I think the EA could do better. Generally the levels for each station are updated twice in every 24 hours, they are updated more frequently during times of flood etc... but I feel they should be updated every hour.

All river level monitoring stations are automated, so I don't understand why the website isn't updated more frequently. If the levels were updated every hour or so it would make it so much easier for the angler to decide when to fish, where to fish and what species to target.

Generally I can predict what condition the river is going to be in and my time is rarely wasted, but occasionally I do get it wrong and turn up on the river take one look and know I'm going to blank, should of brought my chub gear or should of went to a still water.

Recce

Yesterday I called in on a stretch of my local river that I've never fished before, further upstream than I've ever fished. Its not a known pike area and although I would bet on the occasional pike turning up it is more of a barbel/chub stretch. It looks like a cracking stretch of river well worthy of a summer evening session or two.

The coming week

I hoping to get out at least twice next week, a short session locally and a full day session on a different river and on a stretch that I haven't visited before. I'll be going for the pike if conditions are ok, if not I'll try for some chub.

Last session of the year

Having spent the best part of the last week wrapping presents and then building toys I hadn't had any spare time to get on the bank. This morning I managed to sneak out for a few hours, with the aim of landing a pike or two. The river seemed ideal, nice colour, good level but the water was very cold (2.5C).

Over the four hours I was out I tried a few different areas and various different baits but didn't get any interest. Despite the blank I thoroughly enjoyed the morning as there was plenty of wildlife to keep me interested, a buzzard, grebes, woodpeckers and unfortunately a few cormorants.

I took the back roads home, so I could do a bit of a recce on the way. The roads were still icy and I passed a car that was being recovered from a farmers field, 'dickhead' I thought as I went past. No more than a mile later and I'd went off the road as well!  I hit a patch of ice just before a bend, no brakes, no steering, luckily the verge and hedge slowed me down. After a bit of messing around I managed to reverse straight out. Luckily the jeep wasn't damaged, if I'd been in the car I would of needed to be recovered and probably would of had a large repair bill.

I was hoping for a better session to end the year with, but never mind there's always next time (most
probably Friday). This is the first year since I started this blog that I feel I've fished enough to do an end of year review, I'll try and post it before the years finished.

Not even a touch

With both rivers up I decided to head to a still water for a session, although the strong wind limited me in which waters I could choose from. I ended up at the water I fished last month, I had 3 jacks on my last (short) session so I was confident of getting a fish or two.

I setup in the same area as my last session, 2 rods on a running lead and the third on a float set to about 2ft. The morning past quickly without any interest in the baits so I moved to the opposite side of the lake and setup in a bay with the wind in my face. I was hoping that the pike had followed the wind. If they had they weren't interested in any of the baits I tried today as bluey, lamprey, roach sardine, smelt and sprat all were ignored. I tried the baits on the bottom, popped up, float fished just above the weed but couldn't get a take on anything.

Despite blanking (1st time on this water) it was good to be out, the only downside of the day was that the water appears to have been targeted by poachers. I found some 20lb+ mono with ring pulls tied to it and some other litter (which is out of place on this water). Sadly there was a dead cygnet in the water, I had a feeling that the bird had taken a (poachers) set line so at the end of the session I decided to bring it in. The cygnet had taken a bait but I don't think it was the poachers as it was only about 6/8lb line, I removed all the line from the bird and left it on the bank for the foxes (at least it won't be a complete waste).

I'll probably fit one more session in before the end of the year and I might give the piking a break and have another go for the chub or maybe try for a decent winter perch.

Double take

Yesterday I planned on fishing the river, I decided to fish a free stretch so I could use more than the one rod. It was still dark when I arrived at the water, however it was obvious that the river was still carrying some extra water as it was pushing through at some pace. I made the decision to fish until it was light so I could see how coloured the river was. After setting up I passed the time trying to take a photo of a robin that was begging for maggots.

As the sun rose I could see that the river was still heavily coloured and my confidence started to fade. I stuck if out for another hour but I could tell that 3 blanks would soon be 4 blanks if I didn't move elsewhere.

I did have a bit of interest on a smelt, the rod tip was nodding but I struck into nothing, the head of the smelt had been chewed, possibly by a chub. There was no further interest in the baits so I decided to go to a water where I (unsuccessfully) targeted eels this summer. I had a couple of jacks during my sessions there and although it isn't a known pike water I was hopeful of ending my run of blanks.

The water is still quite weedy so I had a cast around with a lead, found a couple of weed free areas and cast a deadbait (lamprey and mackerel) to each. I set the third rod up to float fish a bait (skimmer) over the weed. I also fished the maggot/whip in the margin hoping to snatch a few live baits for the float rig.

Within 30 minutes a backbiter sounded as the mackerel tail was taken, no line was taken so I took up the slack, felt a fish and struck. A pike was on, it gave a very good account of itself until it became stuck in the marginal weed and I scooped the pike/weed combo from the margin, the net felt fairly heavy and I was hoping the fish would make double figures. After removing about 20 pound of weed from the net it was obvious that the fish was no double.

First of the day 6lb 6oz

I took a couple of self takes with the camera as I'm still getting used to the settings. The top treble was still in the tail of the mackerel so I quickly recast to the same area. I carried on fishing for bits it the margins but I couldn't tempt anything with the maggots. A good 40 minutes after the first fish, the float started to move, bobbed a couple of times and then it flew under. The pike fought well and was probably a little bigger than the first, but the line went slack just before I could it into netting range.

I recast the skimmer into the same area and started twitching the bait back towards the bank, hoping the pike would take the bait again. The backbiter (mackerel) sounded again, this time line was peeling from the spool, I wound down struck and another jack was on. As I was drawing the jack over the net, I noticed the float going under again. I quickly netted the first pike, moved to the second rod on which the baitrunner was rapidly giving line. I disengaged the baitrunner, it was another jack, smaller than the fish I'd just lost and it came to the very quickly. Both pike were lightly hooked and were quickly unhooked. I had caught pike in quick succession before but never at the same time.

Two in the net at the same time a first for me

After the double take things went quiet, I gave it an hour and then moved to the opposite side of the water for the last hour. As I was setting up I spooked a pair of large carp (20lb+) which were sat in the margin. The rest of the session went by without further interest in the baits and I was home by 14:30 to do the school run. My next session should be on Sunday, a few lads from a local forum are meeting up for a pike session on the local river, hopefully the river will be in better condition and we can get a couple of fish on the bank.

My last session for a while....

With a short term, long hours contract starting in the coming days, today was the last chance I would have to get on the bank for a while.

I had my mind set on pike and decided to head for a stretch that is very lightly fished due to the long walk involved. I arrived just before first light and found a few areas to explore, I set up a light stickfloat to try and snatch some bait and fished a deadbait into the slack water. I was expecting plenty of small dace but they were harder to catch than I thought they would be. The kingfisher on the opposite bank was easily out fishing me taking 3 small fish in succession.

I started to pick up the odd fish but they were quite small, after a few (slightly) better fish were taken I decided to stick one on as the deadbait hadn't been touched. After 20 minutes with the live bait on the float slowly went under and held just under the surface, a few seconds later it slowly slid away towards the middle of the river. I leant into the fish and it seemed like a decent size, the fish but up a decent scrap and I had a bit of trouble netting it (could do with a longer net handle), but eventually the fish was sat in the bottom of the net.

The pike went 14lb 6oz and is my second largest to date. I spent another half an hour in the swim and had a few casts with the lure rod, the first cast with a 'Manta' and I briefly had another fish on, it felt decent but was off after a few seconds. The lure was also taken on the next cast but I pulled out as I struck. I had a couple of moves downstream spending 45 minutes in each without any more action. On the way home I called into a different stretch further downstream for an hour, I dropped a lamprey section into the margin and spent the hour casting a few lures. The bait went untouched and I didn't get any interest on the lures either.

I was hoping for another fish but I wasn't too disappointed, hopefully I'll be able to fit the odd session in-between shifts but I'd be surprised if I was out again this side of Xmas.

More barbel

Yesterday I had another go for the barbel, I arrived just after first light and the river was still very low and clear. I decided on fishing the same tactics as my last session, a single bait with very few freebies. I had my first cast at around 06:20 and thirty minutes later I had my first bite. The rod wrapped round and the fish felt fairly heavy, it didn't put up a typical barbel fight, instead it stayed in the deeper water getting itself into every snag and weed bed it could find. Eventually everything went solid and I had to wade downstream of the fish, I put a bit of pressure on and it swam straight out of the weed. The fight lasted a good 5 minutes and I was very relived when I finally got into the net. The barbel was smaller than I was expecting but I still pleased as I knew it was a new p.b.

An early barbel - a new p.b of 6lb 7oz

After the barbel had recovered I checked the hook length, put on a new boilie and was about to recast when I noticed what I initially thought was weed on the mainline. After a closer look I realised that I had been lucky to land the fish, as the mainline had been damaged, it was split and very frayed.

Shortly after 07:00 the sun broke through the clouds, the forecast was for bright sun until 14:00 and I thought that I would struggle to get any interest during this period. I was right, I didn't have any indications on the barbel rod during this time, I had a couple of casts with my lighter rod, a link ledger and worm placed tight to the bushes and a 6oz perch was tempted. There was plenty of wildlife activity to keep me entertained though, plenty of kingfishers, a pair of large herons arguing over a prime spot, a trio of red kites and a 3lb (ish) chub managed to beach itself while chasing fry and minnows in the margin.

For once the weatherman was right and the cloud cover arrived at 14:00, a few minutes later I had my 2nd take. It was another barbel and after a more typical fight it was netted at the first attempt.

Second of the day 5lbs 10oz

Thirty minutes after the last fish the rod wrapped rod again, however no line was taken from the baitrunner so thought it was most probably a chub and didn't bother to strike. Things went quiet again but I was quite happy sat on the bank catching up with the transfer news on talkSPORT. At 19:00 the rod went round again and another barbel was hooked, the fish stayed in the shallower sections and went on 3 or 4 powerful runs downstream before it was netted. The barbel was quite a short fish but it was very broad and deep, it took the scales round to 6lb 4oz.

A short, stocky fish.

I decided to stay until after dark, in the hope that the larger fish would be on the feed. I had a final cast at 20:15 while slowly packing away my gear. I was getting knocks fairly regularly but it took about 20 minutes for the rod to go round properly. I was into another barbel, it didn't feel as big as the earlier fish but it still put up an interesting fight in the dark. The barbel was the smallest of the session and weighted 4lb 4oz. As with the last session all fish were caught on the boilie, the meat and pellets went untouched again.

Four barbell including a new p.b, a good day

This barbel fishing is becoming addictive and I'm hoping to try another new stretch of the river in the coming weeks. I'm also going to try and fit another eel session in this week (hopefully).