Homemade weed rake

During the warmer months a few of my tench waters are often choked with weed, leaving very few fishable areas. Occasionally a rake is available to clear swim but more often than not these communal rakes disappear, sometimes snagged on the bottom but usually they end up in the boot of someones car.

I had needed my own for a while but after struggling to find something suitable online I decided to make my own.

The box section, threaded bar, nuts and washers cost less than a tenner, a mate welded the box section for the price of a couple of pints and I 'liberated' the cordage from work. The main cost was time, it took a lot longer than to finish than I first hoped it would, not having the time to complete it in one go, I had to squeeze in 10 minutes here and there. I finished it earlier this month and tested it last week.

Not the most complex designs, but it works well and its built to last

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.

The final push

As the final week of the season approaches most river anglers are planning their final sessions of the season. I'm no different, a busy weekend meant no fishing, but I'm planning two, possibly three sessions before the season closes. Thursday morning (after a night shift), a full day Sunday and possibly a short session on the final day. My local rivers have been in a state of flood for most of the winter, with very few settled periods so fingers crossed for the week ahead.

My most recent session was last Thursday morning after a 12hour night shift, as usual conditions hadn't been great, so I packed a rod a piece for the chub and pike. Thankfully the river dropped overnight and although it was pushing through fast it wasn't too coloured so I targeted the pike.

The pace of the river limited my choice of pegs but I managed to find a few deep slacks to drop a bait into. No interest from the first two pegs, but the third looked promising, about 10ft of depth and snags either side. Twenty minutes past without interest in the float fished smelt, this peg had to hold fish, so a change to lamprey and a quick recast for five minutes before moving. Less than five minutes later the float slid under.

The pike went 11lb 6oz and was obviously carrying some spawn as river pike of this length are usually below 10lb. My first double in a while, blank avoided, very pleased.

Twenty minutes in a final peg but nothing to report, not a bad 2 hour session, hopefully next Thursday's session will produce a similar result.

It's been a while....

Working 60 hours plus weeks and a busier than usual family life has left very little time for fishing recently. The odd occasion That I have had the chance to go fishing the rivers were well up and I didn't really fancy heading to a still water. This is also the first time in a month or so I've looked at a blog, so I've got some catching up to do (plenty of reading material for the night shifts), and a few emails to respond to.

This month I have somehow managed to fit in a few short sessions on my local river which thankfully was at a reasonable winter level for a change.

Fri 12th

An early afternoon til just after dark pike session, a couple of stretches visited and although the river was a reasonable level it was still pushing through fairly fast. The second stretch I visited was deeper than the first which allowed me to float fish the marginal slacks.

Within an hour on the second stretch a mackerel was taken, just a jack, but more than welcome.

My first in a while

Despite trying a few different baits, methods and pegs there was no further interest in the deads I presented.

Sun 14th

Somehow I managed to escape for a couple of hours on Valentine's Day, again pike were the target. A different stretch of river and a different approach, one rod with minimal kit so I could stay as mobile as possible.

3 hours, 10 pegs, zero interest! A definite blank.

Thurs 25th

The same stretch as my last session and a similar roving approach but this session I was targeting chub. Overnight temps had dropped to -3°C and water temp's were just over 1°C. A very shy bite in the first peg brought some confidence, however nothing in the next half a dozen pegs and the session ended in a blank. Winter blanks are fairly common on this river so I wasn't too disappointed.

With the end of season rapidly approaching I am aiming to fish my local river as much as possible, hopefully the relatively settled weather will continue and the rivers stay within their banks until they close. I am planning a pike session on Sunday morning, high pressure is forecast so I will be trotting live baits (if I can catch some!), this method has been successful during similar periods in the past and fingers crossed it will be on Sunday.

2015 review

Flicking through my notes and looking at previous entries on my blog has revealed a much better year than I initially thought when I started thinking about writing this post. I won't ramble on at the start too much as these yearly reviews can be long winded, so here it is my look back on the previous 12 months.

Monthly breakdown of my year -

January

With the rivers in the fields I headed to a canal for a first visit and managed nice a nice double. Predicting the river conditions was difficult, but on the odd occasion I timed it right, I managed a few pike, the biggest being a hard fighting 11lb'er caught from a new stretch.

Doubles from a canal and my local river.

February

Plenty of pike caught from the rivers but I couldn't get past the jacks, a couple of decent chub were also landed. I also attended a Denis Moules talk at my local PAC which was I thought was excellent.

March

A personal best chub on my last session of the season, from a stretch that I would spend some time barbel fishing during the summer months. A second visit to the canal, another 12lb'er.

A best chub of 4.11lb and a second double from the canal

April

A few late season pike to just shy of double figures and a couple of unsuccessful early season tench sessions.

May

With the water temps around 10°C the month started with my first eel session of the year, not a full night session and unfortunately all baits went untouched. A few local carp and tench sessions didn't produce either species, a few bream and a p.b ide was all I had to show from these local sessions.

A short term contract in North East Lincolnshire meant my fishing time increased and my results gradually improved with some nice bream and carp landed.

June

By far my most productive month of the year as I managed to break a p.b on 9 occasions. A first session on an old clay pit saw me break my bream p.b three times, increasing it to 8lb 7oz.

Some nice farm pond carp to mid doubles were taken, backed up by plenty of decent bream and good tench.

Plenty of carp from a lightly fished farm pond, this being the largest I managed

On return visits to the clay pit I beat my bream best increasing it to 9lb exactly. Another visit to the pit and I improved my grass carp, hybrid (roach x bream) and tench bests, my mate Ben also beat his bream best.

Two new bests, a tench of 6lb 12oz and a 9lb 1oz bream for Ben. A memorable session.

A one off visit to a day ticket carp water and I managed (amongst others)a lovely common of 17lb 9oz.

A lovely looking common, unfortunately the self take doesn't compare to this mat shot

July

A return home saw my first sessions on running waster of the season. A good bag of quality chub and perch from my local river, then a few enjoyable barbel sessions on another local water.

The first of the season

August

I was still enjoying the barbel fishing on my local rivers, beating my best on successive sessions.



A new best of 8lb 2oz, which was beaten less than a week later....

... by this 11lb 3oz fish caught in flood conditions on my local river.

A birthday trip to the River Trent saw plenty of barbel landed and I also managed to catch a first zander.

A first of the species and a target achieved

September

I turned my attention from barbel to the pike, struggling at first, then landing a few fish later in the month. Increasing my pike best and a nice perch over 2 pounds was the best session of the month.

17lb 9oz, a new best.

October

Working increased hours I struggled for time throughout this month, managing just the one pike, a hard fighting river double.

A hard fighting river double

November

The start of the wet weather which seems to have stayed with us since. My local rivers were largely unfishable (for pike anyway) so I headed to a gravel pit for a first session. A jack and a broken bait boat were the reward for that session.

December

Again the rivers were in what seemed like a constant state of flood, approaching record levels on a number of occasions throughout the month. I was also struggling for time and didn't really fish much. The only fish landed this month came on the last session of the year, 3 pike from the canal including 2 x 12 pounders.

Two last day doubles

2015 highlights -

Barbel to 11lb 3oz*
Bleak to 2oz (approx)*
Bream to 9lb*
Carp to 17lb 9oz*
Chub to 4lb 11oz*
Cruician to 10oz
Dace to 4oz (approx)
Eel to 1lb 10oz
Grass carp to 8lb 8oz*
Grayling to 12oz (approx)
Hybrid (roach x bream) to 5lb 4oz*
Ide to 1lb 13oz*
Perch to 2lb 1oz
Pike to 17lb 9oz*
Roach to 4oz (approx)
Tench to 6lb 12oz*
Zander to 8lb 14oz*

N° of  times I increased a personal best - 16

N° of new bests (overall) - 11

*Personal best

Thoughts on 2015 - 

I have some great memories from 2015. Those that stand out the most; my first session on a clay pit and managing to beat my bream best three times, my first zander and beating my barbel best from my local river.

My favourite catch being the p.b barbel, a day when I expected to blank as barbel on this river are a tough nut to crack. I can still remember mentally accepting the blank and telling myself just to sit back and enjoy the time on the bank when the baitrunner started spinning. When the fish was finally netted I was literally punching the air! A memory I hope stays with me for years to come.

My favourite capture of the year 

My biggest disappointment of the year was my eel fishing. Although I caught a number of eels these weren't of the size I hoping for and I only had the one session when I solely targeted them. Working nights meant I could only really fish days so I targeted the bream, carp and tench instead. On my return home I kept threatening to get my eel campaign started but kept on getting distracted by the barbel.

Again I've kept a record of each session and recce, blanks 'n' all. These entries are already proving valuable, providing previous river levels, water temps, successful baits etc...

Overall definitely a year to remember.

Plans for 2016 - 

My plans for the rest of the season are to target the pike and perch on my local rivers, if current conditions continue I'll focus on the still waters. A best perch before the end of the season would be nice. In the close season I need to find some other local still waters that hold pike, so I'm aiming to carry out a few recces and hope to come up with a few other options for next autumn/winter.

Currently my only other plans are for eels, as soon as water temps start approaching 10°C I will be targeting them. Luckily I have plenty of options when targeting eels, 6 waters locally, probably more, but 6 that I am planning to fish. Some of these waters have a history (not much) of throwing up the odd large eel, others have plenty smaller eels and others are a complete unknown.

There's a possibility I will be working in N.E Lincs again, potentially around the same time as I would expect to be starting my eel campaign. If that's the case I have a few waters to target in that area and plenty of others to explore. Looking on Google Earth, there are well over 50 still waters within a 30 minute drive from my possible workplace, I'll work days and fish nights!

Other than the eels I would like a few tench sessions and possibly a trip away for either the barbel or zander.

Opening day this year is also the day that England take on Wales in the Euros. I'm looking forward to it already and as soon as I know where I'll be working, a day's holiday will be going in for the 16th! Fishing opening day and beating the Welsh in a tournament (which isn't an easy task with the team that they currently have) would be an awesome day!

Happy new year and tight lines to my fellow bloggers, keep the updates coming as I need the reading material to pass the time on the long shifts I work!

Darren.

Deads 2 - Lives 1

Two outings since my last update, the first of which was on one of my local rivers, targeting the barbel. A definite blank, despite trying 8 or 9 pegs, with two rods when space allowed, zero interest.

My last session of the year was on the same venue as the first of the year, a canal. At over an hours drive it's not really a local venue, but the mild wet weather has left my local rivers in a constant state of flood and the lack of any real frosts have left the still waters choked with weed so my local options are very limited.

With a full day free I was aiming to fit a lot in; pike fish two different canals and recce a still water (an old quarry) on the return journey home, however things didn't go to plan and in the end I was happy with just having enough time to fish the one canal.

The heavily coloured canal didn't really fill me with confidence

I was using my standard deadbait gear, DLST P1's with Shimano 6010's, one rod a simple float fished deadbait, the second rod, a float paternostered live roach or skimmer.

Just over an hour for the first interest, the live bait was taken and a nice pike of 9lb 3oz was soon landed. My first pike for nearly two months and the blank avoided so I was pleased.

The rods were leapfrogged along the stretch, positioning the baits as close to the barges or the far bank features as I could. An hour or so later a mackerel was taken, a slightly better fight this time and a better fish.

Whilst unhooking the pike I managed to cut myself on a treble that someone had left in the pike's scissors. They had managed to cut the eye of the treble off, but left the hook points ?, cheers! It didn't take long to sort, cutting the points and barbs off and it near enough fell out. The fish seemed familiar and once returned I compared it to photos of other pike I've had from this stretch. I had caught this fish on my last session here in March.

Yesterday 12lb exactly (l), 19/03/15 12lb 1oz (r)

The session continued in a similar fashion, leapfrogging the rods every 15/20 mins. Rain was forecast for early evening so I put most of my gear in the car and just kept the essentials on the towpath. The rain was torrential and I was considering packing up early when the deadbait had some interest, a large smelt was taken this time. A couple of minutes later another 12lb'er was in the net.

The largest of the session 12lb 2oz

An enjoyable and productive last session of the year.

Not much happening

Since my last post I've had one still water pike session. I had intended to have a 3 rod full day session, however as I'm currently working nights adjusting to a normal routine at the weekend is a bit of a struggle and getting up early on a Sunday morning doesn't always appeal (Although I'm sure if the rivers were in a decent condition I wouldn't have much of an issue getting my arse out of bed).

The session was a bit of a disaster and I was glad I only took the one rod. The water is still heavily choked with weed, with only the one fishable peg. Needless to say I didn't stay for too long. This time last year the majority of the water was fishable. Hopefully the weather will turn soon and kill the weed as this is the only still water that I can pike fish within 30 mins of my house.

Landing net review

Last xmas Lindsey bought me the Lone Angler landing net handle , a cracking piece of kit.

Before owning this my two previous 'branded' handles had snapped, I stood on one and crushed it and the other snapped somehow. There's no chance of that happening with this handle, I've used it to support my weight whilst climbing up and down the river banks, used it as a wading staff, slipped and landed on it etc... zero damage.

The handle is a beast, far more substantial than a normal handle and more than capable of handling the abuse of river angling. The locking mechanism is solid and will not slip. I've used this for all my barbel and pike fishing over the last 12 months with no problems whatsoever, highly recommended.

A few months back one of my mates showed me a new pike net he had bought, a Fox 36" round net with rubberised mesh. I've had some issues with Fox kit (and their shitty customer service) in the past so generally avoid giving them any of my money, but this net looked great so I ordered one.

I usually prefer triangular nets for pike, as I've always thought round nets are too small, but this is massive. It seems well built and I'm pleased with it so far. The only downside is that the frame is rigid, a bit of a pain in the arse whilst moving pegs and for storage. The main selling point for me is the rubberised mesh, it makes things so much easier than standard mesh when fishing with trebles.

I haven't used the net much but so far so good. I'll put something on here after I've managed to give it a more thorough testing.

I'm not sure when I'll be out next, I've got a couple of weeks off over Christmas so I'll be aiming for a few sessions then, fingers crossed that the rivers are in a reasonable state.

'A bit grim up north'

Flicking through my diary it is glaringly obvious that my results have taken a nosedive. A combination of working 60 hour weeks and less than favourable conditions means my last noteworthy catch was at the back end of October.

Again my only opportunity to fish this week is Sunday morning and typically my local rivers are well rivers are up, almost approaching record levels in some areas. Targeting river pike in these conditions would just be a waste of time, a stillwater it has to be.

Lack of options

My local area isn't really a mecca for angling, the rivers are good, but the lack of decent stillwaters is very frustrating. Like most parts of the country we have plenty of match style puddles but generally I avoid these manicured waters, preferring less crowded more natural waters. These puddles do serve a purpose, however they just don't meet my (current) needs except for maybe for the occasional perch session. Even if these commercials did hold pike I doubt I would target them, pale pike with messed up mouths and god knows how many traces left in them don't really appeal.

Being a member of 5 local clubs (plus a few associations) I have access to plenty of waters to target, over 50 miles of rivers, 15 miles of canals and 10 stillwaters. The rivers are great, hard work but can be very rewarding. The canals hold pike, as most do, but these aren't local, an hours drive minimum, which isn't always viable for a short session. 

Out of the 10 stillwaters I can fish only 4 hold pike and only 1 of these is local (within a 30min drive). Unfortunately it seems like this water only holds jacks, plenty of them but I don't know of anything over 7 pounds being caught in the last few years.

I have a few other options locally but these are either uncontrolled ponds that generally contain more beer cans than fish or overpriced 'carp' syndicates. I have a few waters that I need to recce, hopefully I get lucky and one of these holds a few pike.

Well I'll be out tomorrow, chasing jacks for a few hours, you never know I might catch two at the same time, the only double that I'm likely to get from this water.

River blues

Almost 5 weeks had passed since my last session on running water, it felt longer, almost like waiting for the rivers to open after the long closed season.

I only had the time for a short 3 hour session on Monday morning, a trotting session for pike. Although the levels had been falling for days, the river was slightly up but more coloured than I had hoped for. I headed to a shortish stretch that has around a dozen or so fishable pegs, carrying minimal gear I was aiming to fish as many pegs as time would allow.

I was surprised at how much the riverbank had changed in the last month, the strong winds stripping the trees bare and the heavy floods taking the remains of the bank side vegetation out to sea, winter isn't far away.

The session flew by, I fished at least 10 pegs with zero interest in the baits I presented. I wasn't surprised. I usually struggle when the water is coloured, add to that the water temp dropping down to 3°C, it was always going to be hard.

I'm unsure of when my next session will be, but hopefully the weather settles and I can get on the riverbank whilst conditions are more favourable for pike fishing.

Catch up

As usual I have been struggling for time to get on the bank and on the odd occasion I have a few spare hours the rivers have been in flood.

The planned chub session I wrote about on my last post didn't happen, a visit to Roker Lights lasted longer than I thought and by the time we were back home I couldn't really be arsed.

My latest sessions have both been on still waters, two very different waters and on both occasions it was my first visit to each water.

Gravel pit pike

A first visit to a water that I recced a couple of months back, an old gravel pit, actually an old coal pit which was later used for gravel extraction. Gravel pits are alien to me having only fished one on one previous session (a blank!).

I decided on a static approach, three rods, bait boat and sounder with various deads and a few lives. Fishing into the wind I spent a while with the boat and sounder locating a few underwater features. On two rods I fished with sea deads, either on the bottom or popped up and on the third I used lives with a drifter. The drifter was ferried out with the bait boat with the strong wind directing the float back towards the bank and passing over a number of features on the way back.

The first take of the day came just before 09:00, a mackerel was taken, a very positive take. Somehow I missed it and the bait was taken. A quick recast to the same area with a decent sized smelt and within two minutes the rod was away again.

Another very positive take but I waited slightly longer before winding down this time and felt some resistance on the strike.

A first pike from this water

Nothing massive, but blank avoided and it's always nice to catch a first pike from a new water. The jack was only just hooked on the bottom treble, seems like they are grabbing the bait then running. No more interest for the next hour, so I got the drifter back out, however whilst retrieving the bait boat from the margin I stupidly picked it up by the aerial and it snapped off!

Another expensive session

Not having the bait boat made fishing into an increasing wind difficult, so I decided to move to the opposite bank and fish with the wind on my back. Whilst packing away a Labrador came running over a swallowed a full mackerel complete with balsa popup and retaining wire, luckily I had just removed the trace! The owner was in a bit of a panic when I showed him what was in the mackerel, but admitted that it wasn't the first time that the dog has done this (you would think that the owner would learn to keep his dog under control!)

I suggested a packet of laxatives.

Despite trying various baits and presentations I had no further interest and surprisingly the live baits went untouched all morning.

Gravel pits are a bit thin on the ground in my local area, as are still waters that hold a decent head of pike, no doubt I'll have a second visit in the coming months.

Commercial perch

Last Sunday I headed to a commercial to target the outsized perch that the water is rumoured to hold. The comfort of manicured paths and wooden platforms appealed more than the usual waters I head to whilst the rivers are up.

Tactics were simple, 1.25lb avons, 1 running lead (with a rollover for indication) and 1 over depth waggler. Hook baits were small deadbaits, lobworms and prawns, with some chopped dendra and maggots for attraction.

The fishing was very slow with only two bites on the perch gear, one small chub was landed (air injected lobworm) and the other was missed (prawn).

Despite the healthy bend in the rod, the fish wasn't particularly large or the intended species

Even scaling down and switching to maggot I struggled to get any interest from anything other than the odd small roach. A disappointing session but it was something different, the water has produced perch that would add a couple of pound to my current best so I will be returning at some point.

The forecast for the coming weekend is more of the same, the rivers will be well up and coloured, another still water session beckons......