Down At The Docks

This weekend was my first trip to the coast and it seemed weird that it was so late in the year when I normally go down there in spring and early summer, but it had been a strange year with all the goings on. The missus hadn't been out much either so it was finally a good time to get down the docks and do a bit of fishing even if the weather wasn't that great, we both needed to get out on a trip so we headed to the South coast.

These docks have been good to me over the few years I have been 'winging it' at sea fishing, using coarse techniques, tackle and bait so I was a bit dismayed to see half of it fenced off for 'Regeneration' The best thing about this place is it's a working dock and is pretty quiet save for the odd cargo ship and it's safe to say they are much larger vessels than I am used to on The Grand Union or River Thames back home, although they make less wash of course. It will be all leisure boat moorings and fancy apartments in the future which is a shame so lets get on to the fishing.

I set up in a the most sheltered spot available but it was blowing through from right to left and there was a good chop on, not ideal for someone who's default setting is float fishing, undeterred I set up a 6BB waggler and proceeded to feed mashed bread. Casting was at the mercy of the wind as was my feeding so on the rare occasions the two aligned in perfect symmetry I was pleased with myself. The bites would come I hoped and the first nibbles of bread off the surface signalled there were fish on the scene, I now expected a bite and sure enough the float zipped under and a fish was on. It has always been a tradition to take a photo of the first bass of the season and as you can see it was a right monster.

I love the way those bass puff out the gills and spike up those fins as if to say "Don't eat me" and I wasn't going to although you hope in ten years time you may just do that after it has spawned tens of thousands of others, although it's fair to say it's got a right slog to do that. A few more tiny bass followed and it can be hard to get through them but I like the little beggars, much like catching dace on a river you get loads of bites and you hope something bigger comes along, or different and as the float zipped under once more this time It didn't feel like a bass...

Now Mullet are a funny fish, at some places they will wolf down a golf ball sized bit of bread and on other waters they will play blow football with it sucking off the smallest of pieces. Also at some venues you get lucky and some you don't and these docks definitely fell in to the latter category for me. Previously I'd missed fish, bumped fish and lost fish with everyone coming off here which to be fair can happen with mullet but not all of them for crying out loud, but lo and behold the duck was now broken and like the bass it was a beast of a fish. Joking aside I think it takes great skill to catch them this size and joking aside aside I didn't care, this was my first mullet here and my smallest ever by far, so I was delighted.

It soon went back to normal with small bass hammering the bread and I had hoped it would draw in some bigger ones like on previous occasions but the wind was blowing my bread back in and the seagulls were on the scene, even hitting the bites was getting hard as was mending the huge bow in my line, so deep down I knew this was as good as it was going to get and indeed it was as the wind was increasing. To make things worse a squally shower bought sideways rain so me and the poor missus were now hunkered down under a small umbrella 

This umbrella ain't big enough for the both of us as they say in rain affected westerns so I donned a poncho all Clint Eastwood style and faced the weather head on like the worlds worst superhero. Although Waterproof Poncho Man looked like a wally (c'mon Superman wears his pants outside) he had the power to deflect rain and could ride the wind to any destination as long as it was downwind, perhaps his nemesis in that respect could be Hot Air Balloon Man. Both sailing on the wind going somewhere but getting nowhere much like this blog if I keep digressing like this, but we had to see the funny side of the English summer as we were just happy to be out in it.

Even though the shower only lasted ten minutes the wind had got up further and was far too strong for my float skills, my bread was almost hitting me in the face and my casting was much more miss than hit. I tried ever so hard for one more small bass which felt like a minor victory when I swung it in through the wind. By now I was really tired and you know it's time to go when the chop starts getting white horses and the fish feel warmer than your hand, so we packed up a bit weather beaten, but spirits undaunted.

By the time we got back to the car it was wall to wall sunshine, the irony of which was tempered by the fact it was still really windy so we were more than happy to chill in the sun and dry out a bit before the journey home. We then proceeded to get some fine fish and chips and headed to a sheltered beach which was busy with swimmers and sail boats, a stark contrast to the quiet windswept docks which seemed like another world. 

Before anyone gets all pc I would like to think no woman in her right mind would take on the Waterproof Poncho or Hot Air Ballon title even in the just cause of super hero status, they would be far too sensible and would just stay out of the wind and rain and do their own thing much like my missus who was a trouper in such conditions.

Matchstick Magic and The Big Roach Pt 2

Two days later I was back down on the river after spending the previous day (and night) of thinking of ways to outwit that roach, we've all done that haven't we with various fish over the years?. The best I could come up with was a hair rigged bit of hemp as that was the only bait it was taking. I was quite proud to have managed to tie a hair on the old knotless knot to a size18 hook and this endeavour would fool it's oh so delicate pecks off the deck, I would super glue this with a grain of hemp and I this would be coupled with my ultra sensitive camo matchstick, ok the matchstick wasn't camo but aside from going all Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now emerging from the depths like a jungle assassin it was as much as I was going to muster to catch this clever redfin when the river is so low,

However the strangest thing happened on the way to the river, the more I thought about it the more I started to realise I didn't want to catch that roach, at least not today, I'd had enough big roach not to get obsessed with one fish and I actually admired it, I also thought if I caught it where would I go from there? It was a strange scenario given I had spent the last day working out new tactics which lets be honest were never going to work. 

I remembered this distinctive roach a couple of seasons back swimming with it's mate who nabbed my trotted pellet first in the same spot. I know you're supposed to say how the current quarry is much bigger but it was the other way round, It's old mate was the biggie back then so maybe this was the clever one, perhaps the apprentice is now the master, so as I approached the swim in a weird way I actually hoped it was taken. It came into view and it was, this made try somewhere else, after all it's not like I own the swim like those same guys who hog the main barbel spots each time I go, I swear some of them live there. Jealousy aside I was to fish somewhere else and was quite happy to do so, so spoiler alert, no huge roach were caught but this was it's old buddy from the same spot a couple of years back, I hope it's still around somewhere, an absolute beauty.

With the shallow area taken I settled in what is a deeper glide where you can't see the bottom unless you stand like Captain Skyline at the waters edge, I had a whopping three, maybe even four feet of water to play with. I sat on the deck once again legs crossed keeping low, my joints creaking like the willow beside me. I could have fished float but wanted to muck about with the matchstick again fishing up in the water or on the drop, I started on maggots this time as I was after a mix of fish and maybe a big dace, something I knew this swim had or at least used to, you never know with cormorants and the ever changing fish populations. One fish that was still there in numbers were the chub, straightaway I could see them taking the freebies and the old matchstick was soon fooling those chevins as a succession of big white gobs picked off my red maggot, they were a bit tatty but welcome fish mostly around 2-4lb. Then quite a few pristine roach came out to play, not giants but a 1lb roach is still a fine fish especially when they are all scale perfect.

I now had a little rest as the good thing about sitting uncomfortably is you take more breaks, if that makes sense. I got up stretched my legs and had a coffee watching the goldfinches fluttering from tree to tree with their flashes of yellow and red against the green backdrop, it seems there's loads of them everywhere yet can I get one to land on my bird table back home!  Break over and back to the fishing and after a few more nice roach a rogue barbel got in on the act, usually they tend to mainly come up for pellets here but one took my single maggot a good two foot off the bottom, It was well rested before returning as I was on roach gear, beefed up roach gear but still roach gear, it was a lot of fun and swam off strong, It had great colour too compared to the norm for this stretch, colour variations of barbel would be worth a blog post that's for sure.

Another short break sees me feeding the robin which was in the process of raiding my bait tub before the barbel made both of us spring into action, these breaks made the fishing better which made sense as the water was still pretty clear. It actually took a while to get any dace though, usually it's the other way round when fishing on the drop like this but they were worth the wait. I once caught two over a pound in this swim one winter so I hoped there would still be good ones here and there was. You know you got a big dace when it looks like a roach in the water and you can't get your fingers around it, not quite a pound I reckon but come winter or early spring this pigeon chested brute will be topping that magic figure of that I have no doubt.

All in all I had a really nice mix of fish on the matchstick, all the roach were over 8oz yet there was a mix of dace sizes, some perch and gudgeon plus lots of tiny chub, plucky little things that understandably did a disappearing act whenever their bigger brethren were on the scene. I would have changed to float at the end but I had run out of maggots having fed quite a bit as you do with this sort of fishing, plus feeding the robin which we all know is compulsory. All thoughts of big roach were consigned to the 'They'll turn up whenever folder' in  my mind although I may not be saying that if I'm in that swim with that clever redfin next time. Most the time I prefer to catch a nice mix of species and fish for whatever comes along so this was another cracking little session.

So I hoped you liked the second part in this series, I may do a third if ever I decide to actually go for that roach like a decent angler instead of thinking Nah I'll just try and get lucky come winter. Sorry about the picture of the big roach that I caught the other year because I didn't have the skill to catch the clever one this time, putting that pic in is going to fool those who just look at the photos and I am going to look well clever.  However as sequels go I feel it's more Speed 2 than Empire Strikes Back although I was hoping to be more Smokey and The Bandit 2, rest assured if I do a third I will grow a big moustache and look nothing like Burt Reynolds, just like the guy in Smokey and The Bandit 3 I'll also get a Trans Am and a big ol' American Truck and paint the side of it with a big solitary roach as it may be the closest I get to the damn thing

Matchstick Magic and The Big Roach Pt 1

 After extolling it's virtues on The Best Float Money Can Buy  blog post I was back on a small shallow river that wasn't running too well so what else was there to do than dig out the matchstick again. This time I was hoping it's delicate approach would fool the big roach that always seemed to reside in this swim, a roach so wise it would get voted professor of wisdom at Roachford University, failing that I'd get a barbel or chub or maybe a mix of silvers if it's really hard and that would do me. So I rocked up at the river, saw one of my favourite swims was free, soaked up the wildlife as it flew overhead and rustled in the hedgerow and was so grateful I was here fishing.

The sun was out and everything was on view in the clear water in a swim which initially looked empty until a couple of barbel dashed out from the far bank overhang so I set up round the corner and snuck into the swim keeping a low profile until I was sat on the deck ready to lower a bait, all stealth ninja in my mind but a creaky noisy so and so to all the fauna present no doubt.  

I had maggots, hemp and a mix of pellets as bait options and sure enough by now the big roach had drifted into view, it had grown since last season although it was still hard to tell how much it weighed, at one point it came close enough I could see the red of it's eyes and it looked huge, closer to 3lb but at other times it looked like a 2lb fish, the clear water playing tricks with my guestimates no doubt. I started feeding a few grains of hemp and this was the only time this fish took anything midwater, on the very first offering, this lead me to remember other big roach I have had on the very first put in, at the time you think they are flukes but there's something in it that's for sure as it's happened too often to be coincidence. Note in the photo below the large roach taking hemp off the deck but accompanied by one of the barbel just above.

Maybe I had fed too much to start with but it didn't seem so, nonetheless the fish were now feeding on the bottom. I had missed the chance of getting this fish today without using a static bait, but it was now content to pick up the odd grain of hemp off the deck and how delicate it was feeding, every now and then some barbel would come out from the shade and stir things up like Augustus Gloop in a chocolate factory, delicate they were not and after an hour of fishing for an increasingly picky and selective roach I gave into temptation and fed pellets for some of those barbel, I still had hope the roach would take pellet too but for some reason it was ignoring them today so I had to catch something and a few barbel or chub would do nicely.

Lowering the matchstick whilst at the same time throwing a handful of pellets isn't as easy as it sounds as the timing has to be right especially when they are skitty in bright conditions, using a 6mm Robin Red pellet gave me extra visibility and it wasn't too long before I watched a big mouth engulf the tiny red dot and the first barbel was on..

After a couple of quick barbel they stopped taking on the drop but were now picking pellets off the bottom but much more freely than that finicky roach who just ghosted in and took the odd bit of hemp, meanwhile the chub weren't interested in pellet at all, instead choosing to take hemp just below the surface. It sounds like I was feeding too many different baits and maybe I was but It was more a case of studying their behaviour, even though I've fished here hundreds of times I still find it all so fascinating. Usually by now after a couple of fish the swim would be a bit slower but because I was sitting so low and not casting a float or lead they were still on the feed and I was enjoying watching, feeding, and thinking I'm far too old to be sitting like this.

After watching them in the sun I decided to try and fish on the deck but keep things spook free so put on a no1 shot six inches from the hook with the matchstick just below the surface. I suppose you could call it float legering but a sunken matchstick is hardly a float and one no1 shot is hardly a lead, to my surprise it worked and held bottom although only right under the rod tip pretty close in, slightly upstream, it goes to show how slow the river was today but I still expected the current to dislodge it but it didn't. The matchstick was to be the indicator here but even though the pellet was banded on each bite ripped the rod round before I could react and every fish was hooked in the bottom lip, they weren't huge fish but were a whole lot of fun.

By lunch I had 10 barbel which was a really good mornings fishing in such conditions and great for the swim this time of year, I know the fish would have gone a bit cagey using other tactics today, although that roach remained an enigma only taking the odd bit of hemp and giving me a few heart stopping moments when it brushed my line. One thing that spooks fish more than anything is brushing against line and the tighter and thicker the line is the more they dislike it, watching fish in clear water shows this so well. To show how wily the roach was it would come into view pretty close in each time I was returning a barbel in the net resting it in the water, it knew I was there and knew when there was a line in the water and when there wasn't, Here's that roach cruising midwater this time accompanied by a chub.

With the barbel fishing understandably slowing down I put a no8 back on and tried maggot and hemp just to experiment with the chub and to see if there was any big dace about but it was all chub as they had been feeding all the time right in front of me, those big white gobs opening up for the hemp all morning and now maggot, those dudes have had a buffet and it was almost too easy although they are surprisingly quick to eject a single maggot on an 18, I watched each time the maggot disappeared and picked them off with a quick strike as the chap from the swim below came to see the commotion, he soon asked for a matchstick as he had had chub in his swim all day feeding below the surface but only caught roach and perch on float, I obliged as he seemed a decent fellow mind you he owed me for that float, that has to be 1p. 

After getting through the chub there was time to try a small 4mm banded pellet in one last hurrah for that roach even if I knew it was futile, this roach had clocked me and will probably only slip up when conditions are different and no doubt a different angler but fair play to whoever that is. The sensitive approach worked well not for the roach but for this monster barbel and I just love catching them this size.

I walked off thinking of ways to outwit that roach but not before chatting to my new matchstick convert in the swim below, he was still struggling as he wasn't feeding whilst casting, I hinted without trying to preach that it's so important to have that hookbait amongst the freebies or the other way round so I hope he caught a few by the time I got home. Despite being effective and heaps of fun I forgot how tiring this sort of fishing is, watching the bait, watching the fish, watching the fish leave the bait, watching the fish again, watching the pretty jogger with the pony tail, missing the fish take the bait, constant casting, feeding, striking, hitting, missing, laughing and I swear I could see dark shapes swimming about in my sleep that night.