Wednesday 27 February 2019

Tusses Freestyle Warm Up friendly.


I'd been really looking forward to the Tusses warm up friendly for quite a while. These friendly get together club matches have a great vibe about them with anglers of all nationalities that love lure fishing coming together for a good time. The only fly in my ointment was the fact that nine days prior I'd had some long awaited carpel tunnel surgery on my right hand to cut the transverse carpel ligament and release the pressure on the median nerve. Thus I was left with a stitched up wound at the bottom of my right hand and the ligament that helps the thumbs movement severed. Prior to the event I had a little experiment with a super light lure rod and found that although I was able to fish I couldn't really cast as such. A second experiment with my left hand had me casting like a drunken toddler so I concluded that in the approaching match was going to be strictly limited to fishing under the rod tip dibbling style.


Luckily for me I was green lit to drive by the quack a few days prior to the event and after a wary drive through dense fog I arrived early to see plenty of competitors readying rods in the car park near the Greyhound pub at Hawksbury junction.

I think everyone had trepidations about the fishing as the recent wall to wall sunshine and high temperatures had probably had little effect on the water temps, so the fish would probably be quite cagey still. This was even worse for me given my limited range; I would be scrabbling around on the shallower shelf rather than being able to search out the deeper water. With this in mind I opted to travel out a bit to find a spot of unchallenged canal where I knew there was deeper water close in and things initially started very well when I hooked and landed a high scoring jack pike early in the match.


After that things went very sour for me. I was intermittently locating single fish that I was just about persuading to bite. The problem I was having was with my hand strapped up in a brace for protection I was just that bit too slow to connect with these very subtle fast hits. I missed or lost no less than ten small fish, most of which I felt vibrating for a moment before they just disappeared. Psychologically it was very damaging as I knew that in what was going to be a tight match I lost what could have been a metre of fish. Towards the end of the match I finally found a decent perch lingering in a bank side snag which tore so hard into the lure that even I wasn't going to miss it. At 29cm it was a very welcome addition to the score card.


My final hope lay in a bridge at the end of the stretch that I had been fishing. Most of the year you can pick one or two fish up around its deep structured margins and I had saved it deliberately till last just in case. My final half an hour saw me work every reachable inch of it again and again until finally I connected with a small zander which looked no bigger than 20cm when it came up to the surface and let go of the lure in one final insult.

Total = 79cm

Once back at the meet point it became evident things had been hard all round and most people had struggled to return any decent scores. Though a few anglers had done very well and reports of a big pike and a few decent zander helped make the difference between the top three and everyone else when the scores were tallied up.

1st Place = Stephen Coldicott 261cm + Biggest pike 79cm
2nd Place = Cautis Tiberius 215cm
3rd Place = Greg Bafia 132cm
Biggest zander = Salwomir Mikolajczak 55cm
Biggest perch = Daniel Everitt 29cm

I couldn't be to disappointed with how I'd done as things were really against me on this one with my hand not being one hundred percent. I was a little gutted that I didn't bank at least a few of those small fish to bulk up my score. Had I have been on point then I am sure I could have added close to a meter to my score which might have seen me possibly placing. It was however a nice surprise to get the prize for the largest perch and win a load of Realistic shad lures to try out before the next match.

At the end of the day though I had a great time as did everyone attending which I must say is down to David Warrens hard work organising the event, and I can't wait until the next open Tusses event in a month or so time when hopefully I will be able to cast further than my rod tip.



Friday 22 February 2019

Practice sessions (GU).


I've been gagging for a decent canal session for a while and it seems that every time I try to get out during the last few weeks things go bad and I end up having to do something else to get my fix. Well with time ticking away before I was due to have an operation on my right hand which would ultimately see me off the bank for a short while, I was left with no choice but to fish in the worst of conditions as it was the only opportunity I had. For the five days which proceeded it the skies were clear and windy, the morning I was due out it started raining heavily about 2am and did so until I thought I may never be dry again. The session although testing my endurance to be out in the wet, was a good one and in changing conditions above and below the water I coped well and made the necessary changes to keep the fish constantly coming  all morning.

Venue - Grand Union Canal











Total = 264

I fished two different rigs on this practice session, using only bigger lures though. Firstly I fished the dropshot as I suspected early on that the perch would be hugging the cover in the clearer water. This turned out to be correct and although few in numbers the larger lures seemed to help keep the average size up. Secondly I fished a Texas rig so as to twitch a lure across the bottom; this turned out to be very successful in tempting a couple of zander and another decent perch which seemed to be lingering in the deeper channel of the canal. Changing to a bright coloured shad with a very active tail finalised this successful outing with yet another canal pike which seems to become a regular occurrence on most sessions for me this year.



Wednesday 13 February 2019

What was I saying.


Who was it that was banging on about the weather being rather mild for this time of year...Oh yeah, it was me! I should have known better than to start whacking on about such things by now as fate has a way of making you look a bit foolish when you make statements like that. In the week that followed that rash sentence the weather here in old Blighty went from hints of spring to practically Arctic in an instant. One day we were thinking the daffodils would soon be out and the next the rivers froze over. It was almost like some kind of promotional stunt for the upcoming final season of Game of Thrones where they had got the actual Night King to come and touch the UK with his icy finger, and freeze it. That or Donald Tusk had turned off the heating to punish us for daring to have our own will and voting for Brexit. Whatever the cause it was cold, very cold and thus the fishing was not going to be easy.

Before I'd even left the house to scrape the ice from the car I knew finding liquid water might be a slight issue. As I chipped away the hard frost I considered that every lake and canal in the county would be out of action so rivers were my only option. Not fancying the Avon I concluded to chip over to the Leam to fish some urban spots where I know the fish shoal up in winter.

Upon arriving I found...
Section 1 - Very frozen
Section 2 - Faster water but still very frozen
Section 3 - I didn't bother with section 3 as I knew it would be frozen

With only a few viable options I headed homeward thinking to check out somewhere on the way just in case it was fishable. Although free of ice when I arrived it turned out I was a bit too late to the party and a group of lads were camped out by the weir I intended to fish. So on I went to my final last chance spot way out in the country where the Upper Avon crawls silently through the potato fields.

Finally my luck was in, the river was flowing and the stretch was vacant. Although there was no more than a couple of hours worth of casting in this field, that seemed a perfect amount of time considering it was currently minus five Celsius.

Between the two freezing margins the river ran winter green. I knew the slower water just off the flow was a known haunt for a perch and chub so I set up a Texas rigged finesse shad from Z-man and flicked the rig tight to the far margin. It took a few casts to find a taker, but all of a sudden I felt a definite thump resonate back along the taught braided line. Suddenly a powerful fish was heading for the far side reed bed and all that I had to stop it was seven feet of lightweight carbon and thirty feet of six pound braid.

I really wanted this unseen fish to be a big chub which this area is renowned for and from the way it kept trying to do me in the bank side vegetation I had high hopes of a five pound rubber lips soon going in my net. Deep down through the winter water I could see a pale fish shape struggling against me for freedom. A few more dives and the fish rolled on the surface and I thought for a moment a pike was attacking my chub. One last surge of power and the fish surfaced. A pike! For a moment I was confused to whether a pike had gone for my chub and somehow the chub had got away and the pike got hooked in the process. It wasn't until I looked and found the size one worm hook driven clean through the roof of the pikes mouth that it clicked that I had been playing a pike all along, no matter how much I wanted it to be a chub!


Really on one of the coldest days of the year so far I couldn't have been happier with this capture even though it wasn't a chub. All the effort I made to actually find a venue on a day when most normal people left the fishing well alone, was worth it, and I continue my unbroken pike run since Xmas.

Friday 8 February 2019

Two days, two rivers and more pike.


I keep having to remind myself that its actually January as my brain and reality ain't quite linking up. The problem is that January is meant to be cold isn't it and to me it just don't feel that cold right now, hence the disconnect. It's at this time of year that I normally let opportunities pass me by with the rivers but this time round I am, or should say was, determined to make the most of the back end of the river season by getting in some sessions when I can.

A few weeks ago I was actually fishing two days back to back on two different rivers and I was determined to get the best out of both sessions no matter what the date and what the conditions. And so on yet another mild January morning I walked across the fields towards the quiet stretch of the Upper Avon with dreams of eager predators waiting for my lure to tempt them into attack.


I have thought long and hard about how to put this and concluded that simply is best! It was January and the fishing was hard...very hard! I worked through two huge entire sections casting in just about every spot possible, reaping very little considering the effort I put in, and landed two perch in a weir pool...



...and two jack pike from some very heavy cover in a dark back water.



Even though I caught I actually went home a bit disappointed as this section produces zander so well in the late summer and early autumn, but once winter kicks in those zander seem to just disappear. I am sure there are some really big ones hiding somewhere on this stretch.

The day after I found myself heading out with my good friend Martin Oxley to fish the diminutive River Windrush in Oxfordshire. It's both underrated and overrated if that makes any sense. It's overrated in the way that the controlling club portray the fish stocks as there's not a huge amount of fish in the river, but I know for a fact that it does throw up the odd insane capture here and there which probably makes it underrated.

Martin had Grayling in mind of which there is a small population on this river; as for me it was all about trying to locate a humongous perch from a tiny river. Through the morning we worked one section on the river hard. I was either presenting lob worms around any perchy looking features or combing the deeper areas using Z-man TRD craws to try and replicate the crayfish that the Windrush is rife with. Apart from an errant chublet which grabbed my trotted worm as it passed a overhanging blackberry bush, all I had to show for my morning was a tiny little baby jack pike which was so small it hadn't developed spots yet and was still stripy.


My afternoon fared no better and on the open runs and deep glides I failed to locate any of the Windrush monsters, even after prebaiting several swims and fishing every likely looking spot with both bait and lure even as good as the water looked.


The highlight of my trip had to be the tiny run of fish I got towards the end of the day. Between the two of us we'd fished every possible swim available to us. I ended up fishing the quiet and sheltered mill race where I caught a small dace and tiny trout trotting maggots in the shadows of the trees. Thinking I had finally found a group of fish I rolled the dice that there might be some predators around and cracked out the lure rod. After diligently fan casting the whole area I got a hit right at the end of the run as the lure dropped into deeper water. I really thought I'd found a good perch judging from the power the first showed on that first run. That was until it came flying out of the water like a rocket two or three times before performing a perfect flip on its last jump. Even once I knew it was a trout I wasn't disappointed as on this light outfit it was the perfect capture on which to end this winter foray.


Friday 1 February 2019

Jack.


Well after a recent session I am considering launching my own aftershave aimed at the modern lure angler called, "Jack", as I seem to be emitting something that attracts Jack pike under any circumstances. I can see the advert now... With moody clouds rolling overhead, Johnny Depp is standing topless in waist deep water surrounded by sexy water nymphs, he reaches down into the water and pulls out a writhing Jack pike and rubs it all around his neck and face before turning moodily towards the camera. He holds his stare for a moment as pike slime drips off his chin and says simply, "Jack". Hopefully I can have that in stock at every Savers and Poundland by next Xmas.

Back to the point, I actually went out perch fishing on this session armed with a light eight foot outfit. My hope was that I could fish small, fly under the rampant jack pikes radar and target the perch which grow to big proportions in this off the grid water. I also had a load of new Z-man lures I wanted to try out so I pitched up to the bank quite early to try and target the perch before the pike got in the swing of things.

After wading out to edge of the reeds close to a deep holding spot known to produce these big sargents, I threaded a Z-man finesse shadz onto my worm hook Texas rigged on 18lb fluro. Eighteen pound fluro is not what I would normally use, but given the pike population I was hoping it would be stealthy yet stand up to the pikes savage teeth if they became aware of my lure.

First cast I punch the rig out over the deep area which is often inhabited by the monster perch. I watched the tight bright green line as the lure sank down to the bottom and the line fell slack. I gave a gentle pull followed by two slight knocks and then repeated the same routine again before BANG! A pike was on! And it was to be the first of many...


The morning was bonkers! The Jack pike were switched on and my idea of fishing so small as not to register on their radar was out of the window; I very quickly discarded the fluro trace in favour of a very light wire one to prevent any unneeded cut off's. What made things even more interesting was the fact I was fishing with a super light rod and 400 sized reel and these little pike tested that to it very extreme. But saying that, I landed twelve and lost a few others through poor hook sets.

On the perch front I did actually find a few amongst the ravenous pike as I persisted. How none of these little fellows didn't get nobbled by those pike I will never know as they were mostly perfect pike size snacks.


About the best of the day was a near 30cm fish which I found lurking close to some structure as I sank a little beyond the edge of my wellies in a particularly stinky silt filled reed bed.


Sadly I do think at one point I may have had one of those massive old mother perch on towards the end of the session. Something hit the lure as I was raising it up in the water to recast. At first I thought it was another pike as it shot off along the reed bed. After getting it back it managed to slip the hook and I saw a large green flank turn in the swirls as it sank back into the cover. At the time I wasn't sure if it was a pike or a big perch, but having seen how silvery all the pike are in the above pictures and how coloured the perch are there is no doubt that that lost beast was a big perch. Hopefully I will get the opportunity to go back and try again to work through the hordes of pike to try and winkle out a perch before the season closes.