As realistically expected the first try at the special water was a blank. The weather didn't help with the tactics I decided to use. For the mobile stalking approach to work the fish have to be actively visiting the margins, which probably at some point when it was warmer earlier last week they were, but with overcast, wet, and cooler conditions yesterday they certainly were not. My two companions tried the static sit and wait tactics with bolt rigs, but neither of them fared any better, and there were no signs of activity from the fish throughout the day.
Nothing more than expected, but time spent by the water is never wasted, and there is always something to learn, especially when approaching a new venue. I like the look and feel of this lake, and it somehow seems 'familiar' to me already as it is much like some of the lakes here on the Island I have fished before. As a bonus to the three day sessions we are undertaking, my friends and I have managed to secure some winter fishing on this lake, so we have much to look forward to come the end of the season in the salt this year. I have not been really 'into' my Carp fishing for a long time now, but I feel that this lake and it's stock may well help me find some of the satisfaction and enjoyment I used to gain from Carp fishing. So that's for later in the year and something for me to prepare for later in the year. Two more day sessions coming up when hopefully the weather will be on our side, and then we plan to begin our 'assault' on the Salt !
Sunday, 18 March 2012
Sunday, 11 March 2012
Not quite finished...
I'm nearing the end of the bulk of the freshwater fishing now for this part of the year and looking forward to a season in the brine, but recent events have provided me with a last flurry of activity with which to conclude my fishing in the freshwater. For the next three weekends I have access to a very special water, not something I ever thought would happen, and the opportunuity came as a bolt out of the blue. The fishery owner is making some changes to how this exclusive water is going to be run, after a somewhat chequered syndicate history. Access will be open to anyone, but very limited in the amount of people that will be allowed to fish at any one time. To this end, my friend who is a long time friend of the owner has secured us exclusive access for three weekend day sessions on this water, which contains Carp to a top weight of 50lb!! The back up stock is rumoured to be impressive with a number of fourties and thirties plus twenties and doubles. There is only a small overall stock of fish numbering around an estimated 40 fish, but the water is only relatively small. The fish have grown from modest proportions having been stocked many years ago, to what they are now, and have been for a lot of that time relatively unpressured, compared to some waters. Being a small water, it lends itself well to a stalking approach, something which I love doing, and so this is how we intend to fish this lake.
Being a little rusty on this side of things I decided some practise was in order so I will know exactly what I am doing on this lake when the time comes, so today, as the sun was out, and it has been nice and mild the last few days I knew there would be a good chance of one of my other local club lakes being eminently stalkable for it's resident population of Carp, and would provide me with the necessary practise I needed. I needn't have worried, as with all my fishing I have ever done, it is just like riding a bike, you don't really forget. The only slightly different thing is that I am now using a centrepin reel for stalking instead of a fixed spool reel, so I am still getting used to that at the moment, but the fishing went well and I managed to bank 5 double figure fish from close in margin spots using a float on the lift method. I may try and have a couple more rehearsals this week before we fish the other water next weekend, just so that it all feels familiar and that I have honed my stalking senses as much as possible! Obviously I want to make the very best of the time we have been offered on the big fish water as we may not get such an opportunity again any time soon....
Being a little rusty on this side of things I decided some practise was in order so I will know exactly what I am doing on this lake when the time comes, so today, as the sun was out, and it has been nice and mild the last few days I knew there would be a good chance of one of my other local club lakes being eminently stalkable for it's resident population of Carp, and would provide me with the necessary practise I needed. I needn't have worried, as with all my fishing I have ever done, it is just like riding a bike, you don't really forget. The only slightly different thing is that I am now using a centrepin reel for stalking instead of a fixed spool reel, so I am still getting used to that at the moment, but the fishing went well and I managed to bank 5 double figure fish from close in margin spots using a float on the lift method. I may try and have a couple more rehearsals this week before we fish the other water next weekend, just so that it all feels familiar and that I have honed my stalking senses as much as possible! Obviously I want to make the very best of the time we have been offered on the big fish water as we may not get such an opportunity again any time soon....
A nice mid double figure Common Carp falls to my stalking skills.
Sunday, 15 January 2012
Good start to the New Year !
Happy New Year all, and here's to a great year of fishing!
My year has got off to a good start, a couple of days on a new Roach water saw me bank another fish over the pound barrier of 1lb 3oz. It's another water stuffed full of Roach, but the Carp anglers on there assure me that it does contain some very good fish, almost certainly over 2lb...
The fish I had was landed on feeder and mini boilie, this may well be the way forward on this water instead of pole tactics, as the hordes of tiny 'eyes and tails' make it very hard work indeed, as I found out yesterday, and as it's a little way from my home I cannot introduce bait regularly enough to feed them off nor guarantee to get the swim I want as I could with the other water which is just a few hundred yards from where I live.
The water also contains specimen Perch along with the other lakes on the complex, and it is these that have captured my interest along with the Roach, so I have been 'mixing it up' a bit in the last few sessions with some good results. Last week My son and I had upwards of twenty Perch in two days, from other lakes on the complex, with me taking 8 or 9 over two pounds, to 2lb 10oz, none of the others were less than a pound and a half...and yesterday I had fish of exactly 3lb's and 2lb 14oz from the 'new' water. This brings my total of 3lb plus Perch to 4 now, so I'm definitely looking towards a 4lb'er as my next target.
My year has got off to a good start, a couple of days on a new Roach water saw me bank another fish over the pound barrier of 1lb 3oz. It's another water stuffed full of Roach, but the Carp anglers on there assure me that it does contain some very good fish, almost certainly over 2lb...
The fish I had was landed on feeder and mini boilie, this may well be the way forward on this water instead of pole tactics, as the hordes of tiny 'eyes and tails' make it very hard work indeed, as I found out yesterday, and as it's a little way from my home I cannot introduce bait regularly enough to feed them off nor guarantee to get the swim I want as I could with the other water which is just a few hundred yards from where I live.
The water also contains specimen Perch along with the other lakes on the complex, and it is these that have captured my interest along with the Roach, so I have been 'mixing it up' a bit in the last few sessions with some good results. Last week My son and I had upwards of twenty Perch in two days, from other lakes on the complex, with me taking 8 or 9 over two pounds, to 2lb 10oz, none of the others were less than a pound and a half...and yesterday I had fish of exactly 3lb's and 2lb 14oz from the 'new' water. This brings my total of 3lb plus Perch to 4 now, so I'm definitely looking towards a 4lb'er as my next target.
1lb 3oz Roach
3lb Perch
Tuesday, 6 December 2011
Operation 'Roach'..phase one complete!
Yesterday all the hard work I have been putting in lately paid off. A session using feeder tactics saw me land a beautiful Roach of 1lb 4oz. Now in a water that seems to contain a gazillion Roach, many of them less than 8oz, that is quite an achievement. Over the last few weeks I have been wading through the hordes of small fish, applying a little prebait in between sessions, and the average size of fish I have been catching has slowly been creeping up. So far I have relied on the Pole, but yesterday the wind was just not conducive to this tactic, so with a little thought I came up with a plan that would hopefully work as well as the Pole has been. Fishing the same swim I have been focusing on, but from the opposite bank, ( the lake is fairly narrow here ), I used a small spod to apply a measured amount of Hemp to the area, and cast small maggot feeders over the top. I utilised a two rod approach and used 'speci' tactics using bite alarms and bobbins for bite indication. The day went well, with a reasonable stamp of fish falling to the tactic, and with one fish nudging the magical mark at 15oz I felt I was getting close. Mid afternoon, I hooked a fish that felt quite good, at first I thought I may have hooked a skimmer bream as the odd one had put in an appearance amongst the Roach, then I thought possibly a Perch as there was the odd jag and it seemed to be fighting quite hard for a bream...funny how I didn't allow myself the possibility that it might be a Roach....when it came up just below the surface, my heart skipped a beat, it was just in a another class compared to the fish I had been catching. Safely in the net I knew I'd cracked the pound mark, the scales conforming it at 1lb 4oz, a good fish, not a 2lb'er, but a personal milestone in my quest, and a lovely fish. It showed that my persistance was working along with the approach, and that maybe, just maybe I may eventually get close to or actually achieve my goal.
For scale the reel is a '4000' size.
Thursday, 1 December 2011
Roach sessions..
The quest continues for big Roach, 'big' being a pound or over as a realistic target. Persistance and adjustments in bait, feed and methods has seen the stamp of fish in the stillwater I am targeting go up recently, also a drop in temperature has probably helped in keeping the smaller fish at bay.
A couple of good sessions recently have boosted my enthusiasm to keep at it, some bonus Perch over a pound really stretched the elastic in my pole the other day and were great fun on such light tackle, and a couple of Roach of 10oz or so convinced me yesterday that I am on the right track and hopefully not too far away from achieving my goal. Today I was even more justified to be so confident as the stamp of fish was even better and I managed to creep close to the mark with a nice 14oz fish, that magical pound barrier is within sight, but once I achieve that, my task becomes even harder. I feel sure the water i'm fishing contains fish in the upper pound bracket and just might hold a two pounder, I know this because I have had them to 1lb 13oz from here before, plus I have caught some big Roach while fishing for Tench and Carp using meat for bait during the warmer weather, but of course the feeling of acievement wasn't there due to using tackle far too strong, and I like to catch particular species on my own terms using appropriate tackle and bait.
Appropriate tackle and bait in this instance is an 8 metre Whip, pole float, 3llb line and 2.5lb hooklink. Bait is hemp, maggot, corn and tares. You really do get the best from this species (Roach), by using a pole or Whip, I'm using a 1-5 elastic which to me seems just right and you get a great fight from even 4oz fish! anything over half a pound really gives a good account of itself, and they can really be appreciated on this tackle, so catching one of a pound or more will be a proper buzz! The Perch have already tested the gear to the max so i know what to expect from a decent Roach.
Looking forward to the next few sessions!
A couple of good sessions recently have boosted my enthusiasm to keep at it, some bonus Perch over a pound really stretched the elastic in my pole the other day and were great fun on such light tackle, and a couple of Roach of 10oz or so convinced me yesterday that I am on the right track and hopefully not too far away from achieving my goal. Today I was even more justified to be so confident as the stamp of fish was even better and I managed to creep close to the mark with a nice 14oz fish, that magical pound barrier is within sight, but once I achieve that, my task becomes even harder. I feel sure the water i'm fishing contains fish in the upper pound bracket and just might hold a two pounder, I know this because I have had them to 1lb 13oz from here before, plus I have caught some big Roach while fishing for Tench and Carp using meat for bait during the warmer weather, but of course the feeling of acievement wasn't there due to using tackle far too strong, and I like to catch particular species on my own terms using appropriate tackle and bait.
Appropriate tackle and bait in this instance is an 8 metre Whip, pole float, 3llb line and 2.5lb hooklink. Bait is hemp, maggot, corn and tares. You really do get the best from this species (Roach), by using a pole or Whip, I'm using a 1-5 elastic which to me seems just right and you get a great fight from even 4oz fish! anything over half a pound really gives a good account of itself, and they can really be appreciated on this tackle, so catching one of a pound or more will be a proper buzz! The Perch have already tested the gear to the max so i know what to expect from a decent Roach.
Looking forward to the next few sessions!
Sunday, 13 November 2011
That's not a Roach!
Once again this week I have been focusing on the Roach in my local stillwater, the aim being to try and catch as many fish over a pound as I can and hopefully get somewhere near the two pound barrier....
I have been using tactics that I hoped would produce the goods for me, avoiding maggots I have stuck with larger hookbaits in the form of Corn and Tares, and using hemp as the feed, the idea being to fill up the smaller fish quickly with the seed and draw in the bigger fish. For precise presentation I have favoured the Pole, cupping in the feed accurately. So far although the stamp of fish I have been getting is certainly better than I would get on maggot, it is still falling woefully short of my target. Why this is I am not quite sure, maybe the water temperature is still a bit too warm to put the smaller fish out of the equasion, maybe I am fishing the wrong swims, or perhaps I have got my whole approach wrong...
Admittedly in the past all my bigger Roach have been caught in much colder temperatures and also on maggot although I have had to suffer many small fish as well alongside. We have experienced some very prolonged warm weather here the last few weeks, and only now has the wind switched to the North and temperatures are beginning to barely break double figures, ( we are yet to have a frost ), it will take the water a week or two to follow suit I would imagine, so maybe then things will change and I will start to get the results.
In the meantime I was reminded how you can land big fish on light, balanced tackle at the weekend, something I have been an advocate of for a while now. Although I am tartgeting Roach I am not using what would be termed 'ultra fine' tackle, sticking with 3.4lb line and a hollow elastic rated 5-8. Most matchmen would use hooklinks down to 1lb and elastics in the 1-3 range, but I am hoping for big Roach and I know that I will inevitably hook other species that are much larger such as Bream, Tench, and Carp, so I am erring on the side of caution and hoping I have the balance between enough finesse in the tackle and still retain the strength to deal with larger rogue specimens. This is exactly what happened in the last couple of sessions, one was a Carp of 9lb 12oz, and another one at around 8lb along with a Tench of 3lb plus. The Carp tested my tackle to the limits, but patience and not panicking ( just!), won through and I was able to play and land these fish on the light tackle despite there being snags nearby. I was very pleased actually, and It doesn't mean I am over gunned for the Roach, I still get a decent fight from fish of 1/2lb up, ok it's not the same tackle testing fight as Carp or Tench and you wouldn't expect it to be, unless the fish I was targeting ran to 3 or 4lb...I wish!
I'll keep plodding on for now as the Saltwater fishing opportunities are becoming fewer and far between now that the weather is closing in, and freshwater fishing is coming more to the fore for myself and my friends, hopefully there will be a river trip or two before christmas in search of Chub and Roach, and maybe as the temperatures drop the bigger Roach in my stillwater will begin to show.
I have been using tactics that I hoped would produce the goods for me, avoiding maggots I have stuck with larger hookbaits in the form of Corn and Tares, and using hemp as the feed, the idea being to fill up the smaller fish quickly with the seed and draw in the bigger fish. For precise presentation I have favoured the Pole, cupping in the feed accurately. So far although the stamp of fish I have been getting is certainly better than I would get on maggot, it is still falling woefully short of my target. Why this is I am not quite sure, maybe the water temperature is still a bit too warm to put the smaller fish out of the equasion, maybe I am fishing the wrong swims, or perhaps I have got my whole approach wrong...
Admittedly in the past all my bigger Roach have been caught in much colder temperatures and also on maggot although I have had to suffer many small fish as well alongside. We have experienced some very prolonged warm weather here the last few weeks, and only now has the wind switched to the North and temperatures are beginning to barely break double figures, ( we are yet to have a frost ), it will take the water a week or two to follow suit I would imagine, so maybe then things will change and I will start to get the results.
In the meantime I was reminded how you can land big fish on light, balanced tackle at the weekend, something I have been an advocate of for a while now. Although I am tartgeting Roach I am not using what would be termed 'ultra fine' tackle, sticking with 3.4lb line and a hollow elastic rated 5-8. Most matchmen would use hooklinks down to 1lb and elastics in the 1-3 range, but I am hoping for big Roach and I know that I will inevitably hook other species that are much larger such as Bream, Tench, and Carp, so I am erring on the side of caution and hoping I have the balance between enough finesse in the tackle and still retain the strength to deal with larger rogue specimens. This is exactly what happened in the last couple of sessions, one was a Carp of 9lb 12oz, and another one at around 8lb along with a Tench of 3lb plus. The Carp tested my tackle to the limits, but patience and not panicking ( just!), won through and I was able to play and land these fish on the light tackle despite there being snags nearby. I was very pleased actually, and It doesn't mean I am over gunned for the Roach, I still get a decent fight from fish of 1/2lb up, ok it's not the same tackle testing fight as Carp or Tench and you wouldn't expect it to be, unless the fish I was targeting ran to 3 or 4lb...I wish!
Thats not a Roach!
Thats more like it, but still nowhere near the size I'm aiming for..
Sunday, 30 October 2011
Roach revival
I fancied a change from the saltwater this weekend and so I made plans to fish for possibly my favourite coarse fish, Roach.
I have promised myself to try hard for a big one this year, by big I mean a pound or over as a realistic target, Hemp was bought and prepared and Tares and Corn would be the hook bait. Now I would normally use maggot as the hookbait but of course they are indiscriminate as to the size of fish they will catch, so rather than sit through the hordes of tiny 'blades' I am prepared to get less bites but hopefully pick up a better stamp of fish overall. Being a bit rusty my first session on the Pole went fairly well, and using the Corn and Tares for hookbaits definitely eliminated the 'eyes and tails', and for the most part all the fish were of a slightly better size. I have a few little tactical things to iron out regarding the use of the bigger hookbaits as I seemed to be bumping a good few fish and with some obviously better ones in amongst them it became a little frustrating, i'll have to experiment with the hooking arrangement and try to get some softer Tares but I am on the right track without doubt. Once again my eldest son accompanied me this weekend and he had a nice day catching silvers alongside me in the next swim.
I have promised myself to try hard for a big one this year, by big I mean a pound or over as a realistic target, Hemp was bought and prepared and Tares and Corn would be the hook bait. Now I would normally use maggot as the hookbait but of course they are indiscriminate as to the size of fish they will catch, so rather than sit through the hordes of tiny 'blades' I am prepared to get less bites but hopefully pick up a better stamp of fish overall. Being a bit rusty my first session on the Pole went fairly well, and using the Corn and Tares for hookbaits definitely eliminated the 'eyes and tails', and for the most part all the fish were of a slightly better size. I have a few little tactical things to iron out regarding the use of the bigger hookbaits as I seemed to be bumping a good few fish and with some obviously better ones in amongst them it became a little frustrating, i'll have to experiment with the hooking arrangement and try to get some softer Tares but I am on the right track without doubt. Once again my eldest son accompanied me this weekend and he had a nice day catching silvers alongside me in the next swim.
Does any other fish epitomise Autumn more the the Roach?...
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