I had a day out planned for Monday to target the perch at a local pit i’ve not visited for 3 months. I’ve had them to just under 3lb from this lake it the past and thought it looked perfect with the weather forecast. On arrival to my dissapointment the water level had dropped 3 feet and the wind was gusting to 20mph. Not ideal but still worth a shot.
To cut a long story short I gave it a couple of hours of baiting and wandering from spot to spot but saw no signs and had no bites to signal interest. By 10am i knew it wasn’t happening, it was the kind of time when you sit there and say to yourself its not going to happen so move. So i decided to try a small stream where i’ve seen some good fish in the past.
Blimey what a difference it was beaming with life! Within the next 4 hours i had caught 4 chub and 8 perch no monsters but i was a very happy man indeed i’ll definately be back there soon to have another bash. I’ve seen chub there before to approx 6lb and perch to at least three. So until the lake improves i think i’ll be spending some more time along this stretch. Nothing like fishing the tiniest of streams and watching monsters linger on through the swim checking out your bait right in front of you. Love it!
Unsurprisingly though fishing is not allowed here! Still you can throw in the odd treat to watch them feed. I’m always dropping by to check them out… its hard not too. Often there are a few perch in there forraging around.
Well after not getting out on the lake or rivers for 8 weeks i was chomping at the bit to get out for the last day. A new dog has been taking up all my time of late but i have reserved the last day for an outing on the River Mole.
The rain the night before helped put a little colour in the water and conditions looked perfect for a few fish on arrival. Unfortunately it was a very hard day, fishing was hard going apart from continuous takes from ravenous minnows nicking the maggots. Various techniques had been tried and by 11am things were going very slowly. Apart from the minnows i’d lost a fish that took a lob fished to the far bank… a nice whang on the quiver tip and a short fight and he had escaped. Still an hour later the tip showed some movement again, a few taps and then all went quiet. Then wham the fish had decided he wanted my bait… this time half a lob to a size 12 super specimen. Initially i’d thought it was a chub due to the speed it moved up stream. Then it rolled and i thought hello red fins, stripes – happy days! A few moments later a nice 2lb 14oz Perch graced my net. My biggest of the season, and what a way to end!
Unfortunately that was the only action of the day. With all the minnows present we were sure they’d be more perch and chub around but we threw everything at em and no more action was to be had. Every likely looking spot was cast too, every bait we had was tried. Oh well, 3 months and it will be worth another try thats for sure.
Until then its a tad more luring the lakes and the fly rod is out on Monday for the first day of the season! Can’t flippin wait!
Another good chub fishing trip was had this afternoon. It didn’t start out that way though i lost a possible five pound chub at the net and thought i’d blown it. I rebaited the productive area and moved up river, had a small chub about a pound but nothing else. Went back to the area i started off at and landed a cast around a foot from the far bank, chucked in a few cubes of meat and crouched down behind the reeds to pray that the lump was still in the area.
Ten minutes later and the tip quivered and then swung into a hungry chub, i struck and this time made sure the feisty fish was well away from the snags. A few minutes later and i lifted my net to bag myself another 4lb specimen. This time he was only just a four weighing in at 4lb 1oz, another meat loving chub was mine. It certainly makes me feel that i’m doing something right and hopefully the five barrier can be broken soon.
This one fell to straight through 4lb mainline to a size 8 Drennan Super Specialist, 2 ssg shot on a link leger, the bait was a cube of luncheon meat.
I did have a chat to another fisherman whilst moving swims and he had it on good authority that a 5-14 was caught in the same area last winter so atleast i know i’m firmly in chub land. Although i shant be using the same bait that the fish was caught on… a sprat with double treble meant for a pike. Oh and on the mention of Pike i must have seen atleast five of them holding up in the clear water and i reckon atleast 4 of them were doubles. Hmmm!
Just a quick post to mention that I have just set a new Chub personal best on meat. I set off for a quick few hours fishing at 7am and by 7:30 the tip ripped round and shortly after i’d netted a great Chub from a small River Medway backwater. The scales went to 4lb 10oz beating my previous river best by 1oz.
Best of all it was hooked only a few feet from the bank under over hanging trees on a 2oz tip set up to a link leger of 2 ssg shot and a size 8 Drennan Super Specialist! The bait as mention was a cube of luncheon meat around 3/4 inch sq.
Definately a stretch i’ll visit again soon!
Update: Picture added, not the best but still not bad for a self take
With the weather looking perfect this bank holiday weekend the plan is to go out roving. First thing tomorrow the plan is to go after my first carp on the fly rod, fingers crossed they will be up in the water in the morning sun. Well thats aslong as the weather man has got it right! Then its off to the River Medway with the fly rod with some muddlers and minkies to see if i can tempt a few fish. The Spro ultralight is coming with me incase the flies don’t produce… i’ll update tomorrow evening to let you know how i get on!
Damn i love the night before an outing! Sorting through the gear and making sure i’m ready to go first light! The alarm is set and i’m like a little kid at christmas!
Finally the off season lows are on their way out, its time to get excited and make some preparations for the new season! The river kit gets a dusting down and the tackle box gets prepared for roaming again. I simply love this time of year, its light until late, warm enough to travel lightly and cover some serious mileage on the river.
After catching some nice chub at the end of last season i really am looking forward to targetting them for a while this season. And of course i’ll out doing plenty of perch fishing, some pike fishing and not forgetting a few socials on the hunt for some nice carp. Oh and hopefully i may even be able to catch a few river carp along the way! I saw a nice 20+ cruising along in the sunshine two weeks ago and its given me the itch.
I’ll be back to post again on the evening of the 16th to let you know how i get on! Tight lines to all and may the 2010/11 season be a great one!
Atlast it seems that the cold long winter is behind us and the weather is finally on the up! The last month has been hard since the river season ended and my time was to be spent on nearby lakes whilst i wait for the return of the river. This is without a doubt my hardest time of year, especially when travelling by the river each day and it starts to look more full of life as each day passes. Only this saturday did i see a near 20lb carp cruise on past me during a quick stroll along the banks. So frustrating!
So what has happened since my last post fishing wise, to be honest not a great deal except for the fact that i managed 3 4lb + chub. The last being a PB from the river at 4lb 9oz on the last day of the season which was a great result considering there was work on the river that weekend and water levels were 3 feet down from the usual. What made it even better was that the fish took a liking to my new homemade cheese paste! I’ll definately be trying that again when the season re-opens. The other two were taken on pop-ups whilst trying to tempt the odd carp!
Perch wise i’ve been trying a new pit to see what the numbers are like within. I have managed to do a few hours over the last couple of evenings so far, and last night i finally managed to find one. Not a biggie but at a pound and a half and coloured the way he was i was delighted. The little spro ultralight rod really does come in to its own with the perch! The lure that tricked this little fella was a little Salmo and i’ll be trying it out again down there very soon. As ever last light was the key again…! Last night i was losing the light very quickly and in the end i decided to stick it out for ten minutes more in to darkness and it thankfully paid off. (Just be prepared a head torch is a must for unhooking at night)
I’ll try to update the site again should anything else come my way on this spring/summer evening trips!
Well i’ve got to admit i’ve been quiet for a while due to doing a bit of carp fishing and working silly hours! Only a few more weeks of madness at work and hopefully i’ll be back on the banks each weekend. With the onset of the colder weather approaching i cannot wait for the chance to get out at 5am at the weekend and try to find some pike, perch and the odd chub.
I will be posting again hopefully next weekend as fingers crossed that will be my one off! I hope everyone is catching well and finding those biggies – wherever they may be hiding!
I went out on Sunday for a quick dabble and managed numerous perch again but unfortunately only up to a pound. They were going mad on a chopped lob and red maggot spot that I had baited up, at times they were suicidal. Unfortunately no bigger ones came along but hopefully in time I can suss out where they are lurking.
On Monday I managed to get a day away from the office and get back onto the bank. I tried a new spot on the river and baited as before and to my surprise I caught my first ever Ruff which came in at 3oz’s. A real heavy set little fish which I was elated to catch. Shortly after a had another before that area suddently stopped producing. Later in thte morning I noticed further the reeds shaking away a little further down the bank, something was on the feed, so armed with a 1oz quiver tip a chucked a lobworm right along side the action zone. Low and behold about 20 minutes later the tip went crazy and pulled round solid. I struck in to something with quite a bit of speed and power! Considering I was using 6lb line with a 4lb hooklink it provided me with a great spirited fight, I wasn’t sure what I had connected with and at first thought it was a chub when to my surpise a common rolled right in front of me before meeting the landing net. I was very shocked at catching my first river carp, I’d always heard that they were in the area but I have never managed to catch one. The swim went dead after the eruption stirred from catching the carp and all that was to follow was a bream around 4-5lb. I did find some great looking pools that look good for the perch and chub and these shall be tried on my next visit.
Not too sure if I’ll ever catch two pb’s like this again in a day but the river holds so many unknowns anything is possible! As for Sunday’s outing, I cannot wait!!!
