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).

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.

Birthday trip prep

As a birthday treat Lindsey was planning on booking me an overnight stay and a couple of days fishing over the Lake District, but it's still a little early for me to start dead baiting and besides he lakes will still be ridiculously busy given its the last week of the holidays.

Instead I'm heading down to the Trent for a nights zander fishing then a 24 hour barbel session. I'm heading to the same stretch (possibly the same peg) as my first attempt for the zander, a deep slow stretch that (apparently) is usually good for a couple of fish.

My first attempt for the zander was unsuccessful, a bit of interest in the baits, but no confident takes. The interest could of been zander but equally it could of easily of been eels. Besides that session was after finishing 6 weeks of constant nights and I spent most of the time asleep and didn't fish it as well as I could have.

Slow and deep, an ideal peg for my first zander ?

I have more confidence in catching barbel from the stretch I'm booked onto, plenty of info online and some recent catch reports from lads I know. A few fish coming out, mainly during the night which is no surprise given the low water levels. I'll be taking plenty of bait but sticking to a boilie, pellet and ground bait approach.

My gear is 90% ready just a few more hook lengths and some wire traces to make. Hopefully I will be on the bank by 18:00 tomorrow, which should enable me to snatch a few baits and get everything setup well before dusk.

Solar hair gauge

I've been using one of these little tools for a couple of years now. The hair gauge helps take the guess work out of hair lengths and provides a platform to hold the hook while tying the knot less knot, which is handy when it's cold and wet or dark.

Non-starter

It takes a lot for me to give up a chance to wet a line, but I'm currently struggling with a severe bout of hay fever. Usually if I get hay fever an antihistamine sorts me out. Not on this time. Zero sleep, swollen face, loss of hearing and balance, its knocked me for six.

Looking at the pollen count, it's going to be the same all week, but I've been out bought some stronger tablets and am fishing tomorrow regardless.

I'm just back from a recce of the stretch I'm heading to, although the river is fairly low, it looks good. Actually comparing the levels to last year they are fairly similar, I had some decent results from this stretch last season, hoping for a result tomorrow.

Previous sessions (last week)

Before heading home I managed a last session on the clay pit, a difficult session, 4 anglers on the bank and I was the only one who needed to wet a landing net. Two decent hybrids and a bream pushing 7lb, I can't complain too much as I've managed a few p.b's from this water over the last couple of weeks.

5lb hybrid and 6lb 14oz bream

I also managed a session on the Trent, aiming for the zander, but I also had a rod out for the barbel. Not a lot to report really no barbel, no zander but I did manage to catch a few bleak whilst bait snatching, a first for me, as we don't have bleak in my local rivers.

Not a complete blank as I did manage a couple of decent bream. Not the session I was hoping for but I'll be back for another crack at the zander at a later date.

A first bleak and couple of decent river bream

Out for first light tomorrow,  mid river stick float session, 4 pints of maggots, a few caster and a tub of worms, aiming for a nice mixed bag. Although a few good chub and perch would be more than welcome.

A quick update, some DIY tackle and an early Xmas present

I've had two sessions since my last update, both during the period of unsettled weather we've had, both on the river and unfortunately both sessions ended up as blanks. The first session I was after pike on the the middle reaches of the river, I had one take but the pike got off after about 10 seconds. The second session was much further upstream, I decided to try a rod for the chub as well as the pike. The river was slightly higher than we had anticipated, which meant the pegs we wanted to try were unfishable.

We decided to fish an area slightly downstream but it seemed very shallow and I wasn't confident in that area so after a couple of blank hours we moved to a stretch with some more depth. There was another angler on the bank targeting pike but he hadn't had a touch all day. Despite having some success earlier in the season on this stretch, I wasn't surprised when I went home with another blank.

DIY tackle

Over the last couple months I've had a go at making a bit of tackle. I've made some leads, a few pike floats and a drifter.

I had been planning to make my own leads for years but never really got round to it. I managed to get 10kg of lead for free so I though I'd give it ago. I ordered a mould, watched a couple of videos on YouTube, set up the stove and give it a go.

The mould makes 2.5 and 4oz grip leads, which are ideal for the rivers I fish. I'll order a mould for distance work/still water leads in the close season.

The pike floats are made from hardwood dowel and finished with a clear lacquer. I put some effort into making these as the usual shop bought balsa efforts don't last 5 minutes in my hands. Hopefully these will last a long time, I have also started making a lighter version that can hold starlights and hopefully I'll get these finished before I get out for my first zander session.

The drifters are made up from various bits of tackle (John Roberts rigid tube, poly ball, leger bead, tail rubber) and the vanes are made from coloured bleach bottles. They are cheap, easy to make and should last a while. I'm making a shorter semi loaded version for the shallower still waters I fish.

Early Christmas present

I have been needing/wanting a better/longer landing net handle for a while and made a couple of hints (well a link to the website) to my girlfriend. The net handle arrived today and after convincing Lindsey that I needed it NOW, she caved in and gave me it early.

The net handle is the Trefor West Lone Angler - Mega Landing Net Handle. I'd heard good reports about the handle and my initial impressions agree, it's a beast! It's a bit heavier and thicker than other net handles I've used in the past but it feels solid and looks like it will last years.

I'm out for a couple of sessions in the coming week so I'm hoping I can keep a pike hooked long enough to bring it into netting range!

A guided trip on the Rivers Avon and Severn

Last year I booked a guided trip on the River Avon/Severn with Gary Palmer, however due to the weather we had during the winter and other circumstances I never got around to doing the trip. At the beginning of December I gave Gary a call to rebook and we organised the trip for the middle of the month as the forecast looked like the best chance of some stable weather.

I had to set off at around 0430hrs to be at the meeting point on time which was around 215 miles away. The weather forecast for the day was fine but there had been a cold snap overnight. I met Gary there at around 0730hrs (ish) and he already had the boat set up and in the water ready to go.

Initially Gary showed me some techniques on a light lure rod, on his first cast he hooked into a fish which quickly came off. Unfortunately this was little bit of a false dawn as we didn't have a take or even a follow for the next couple of hours. Then Gary hooked a pike close to the boat but this also came off. A few moves around the weir pool we were fishing and I had a take on a small Savage Gear lip lure but missed it, next cast I hooked into a small jack of a few pounds.
 

First fish of the day

After catching the jack I did some trolling as we made our way to the Severn, we stopped along the way for a few casts in some likely spots and I quickly caught another jack on a shad. We continued trolling to the Severn and up to the top of the weir pool with no joy. We spent some time casting the lures around the lock gates without success. As we made our way back to the first weir pool we stopped at several pikey looking spots for a few casts but unfortunately we didn't catch any more.

1st weir pool fished

I mainly booked the trip to get the chance to fish a couple of rivers I have always wanted to and to try and catch a zander.

Although I didn't catch or see any zander I was more than pleased with this trip as I didn't blank (a rarity for me lately), learnt a few new techniques with the lures and gained some experience afloat. Gary also pointed a few spots that are free fishing, which I will hopefully visit at some point in the future.

I would definitely recommend a trip with Gary as he is easy to get on with, very knowledgeable and works hard to help you get the most out of the day.

I am hoping to book again in 2014 maybe for another try for the zander or a bit of pike fishing on a 'large lake'.

Link to Gary's site - http://www.river-guide.co.uk/