Well it's the stillwater season if there is such a thing so rather than wait for things to warm up I've decided to have a crack at a few ponds and the canal, as ever my targets were modest but a little different this time trying to get the following fish.
- Quality roach
- Any tench of any size
- A chub from the canal
- A big perch
1. Roach on the club pond
It was off the club pond first up on Saturday, the weather was fairly warm to start with but I was glad to keep the winter wear on as the day got colder. The fishing was sporadic although I got enough bites to have a good day. Fishing an antenna float which took a couple of no1's most the bites were on the drop with dead maggots working well.
I wanted roach and I got them and good ones too, only a couple of bream interlopers broke the roach monopoly but I wasn't worried, these roach were full of early season strength and vigour and were pushing a pound, there's naturally one that's bigger and although I didn't weigh it I know it passed the pound mark by a few ounces, target achieved, quality roach ticked off.
2. Early Season Tench
A couple of days later I'm down the little tench pond even if I suspected it's a touch early there's still a chance right? Wrong, the tench didn't play ball at all. I stuck at it for a few hours but even the huge hordes of rudd and roach were finicky. I managed sporadic bursts of roach with a few rudd and skimmers so it wasn't a disaster,.
I had also fed my favourite perch swim on the carp pool next door, a masterstroke of pre planning and pre baiting. So in the afternoon I'm off round there only to find the one angler in the whole area sat in it. I had to laugh at that as I knew that was a possibility.
I did manage a carp in another spot off the top on dead maggots which was a laugh, despite being cloudy and fairly chilly by now many of the carp could be seen in the upper layers. Dead maggots are fairly buoyant, a float set very shallow and a boil on the surface was the precursor to a good bend in the rod, a small carp of around 3lb was more than welcome.
I returned to the tench pool but could barely buy a bite now, it was getting colder and a bit bitter so I called it a day, two other anglers there hadn't caught any either but It was a day out nonetheless and a bit of fun.
3. Chasing Chub Down The Canal
Calling the canal at this time of year a stillwater is pushing it a bit, as you can see it was flowing rather well. I was convinced I would find some chub as being local I have decent knowledge of where they are. Ok I'm being a smarty pants, I knew where they were as I saw them the day before whilst walking down the cut. This time I was walking down with the gear and I soon clocked them again in a slightly different area accompanied by some bream also on the surface.
Setting up along the bank a bit as not to disturb the shoal of chub seemed to take an age, naturally they drifted right in front of me, I fed some maggots discreetly so as not to spook them although some did, others however took a few offerings instantly so confidence grew.
However the towpath got busy and the chub got cagey, some fish passed through every now and then looking spooked and the shoal seemed to split, the bream tempted a few casts but they were not interested in maggots then an early boat came through which wasn't ideal. I knew these chub move and sure enough they were gone from the area completely.
It took a bit of walking back and forth to relocate the shoal and they had moved quite a way down the cut, I repeated the process of feeding and soon get a response as my shallow waggler gets ripped under, I battle it to the middle away from snags yet it somehow finds something solid down the track. All manner of objects get thrown in here and the line is grating horribly on one of them, fish and I part company, it wasn't a good start but I knew it was one of those things.
Consoled by the fact I had done nothing wrong I quickly recast only to have the first 'Little old Lady' encounter of the day, she was being walked by her dog Betty. Pleasant though she was she managed to stand right behind me, blocking cyclists and the like on an ever busying towpath, her dog did whatever it wanted and in the process those chub moved out of sight, for good.
With the old lady still standing there as Betty the dog decided to do a sit down protest I opted to move to another chub spot I know. By now the canal had coloured up with the boats so I cast to a known area after a bit of loose feeding. The float goes under and I was conscious of this swim being even more snaggy, this time I was more fortunate and the chub target was achieved.
I then lost another, the hook bent slightly, a losing ratio of 2 to 1 was not good so with no further bites off I went to do some traditional wag n mag fishing for roach.
By now I was regretting walking from my house in chest waders* and heavy jacket, the sun was out, It was cooking and so was I. Worse still I couldn't get a bite which was weird, all the silt was floating up as it was so warm, at times there was even a weird smell, this gave the canal a spring time appearance, but that floating silt always makes things feel a bit strange. The fish were in a funny spring mood so I went back to the chub swim hoping for one more.
* Chest waders are a good hack when fishing somewhere busy, overlooked with no bushes etc, with the aid of an old bottle with a wide neck you can well you, know go without being seen so to speak. Just don't muddle it up with your drinking bottle.
So I'm back in the chub swim in wall to wall sun and the jacket is off as it's now t-shirt weather, a couple of bleak feed on the drop but still no roach or perch, then another chub obliges to take the tally to a more respectable ratio, a beautiful canal chub lay before me gloriously in the sun.
On another day I would have had 10lb of chub so all in all a pretty decent day out and mission achieved to get a couple. If anything it was too warm down the canal, how weird does that sound? As I walked off a kingfisher zoomed under a graffiti adorned bridge and I made my way home.
4. A Mix Back At The Pond
I wanted some more of that roach action whilst at the same time knowing there was as good a chance of a tench or big perch here as anywhere. Trying a different spot to the weekend I managed to pick an area where three herons were all battling each other in a wonderful display of low flying at close quarters, here one perched on the bridge next to my swim.
The fishing started slow which wasn't surprising given the aeronautics which was at a rod length at times, I had to look up in awe each time one of these prehistoric looking birds glided by so close, so it was only when they calmed down that the fishing got going.
By feeding quite a bit (certainly compared to others) I got the fish feeding both on the drop and on the deck. The roach fishing once again was quality with around 3 fish to a pound on average but none quite the size of the fish I had earlier in the week. There was more variety in this spot though as the first brown goldfish of the year put in an appearance, a lovely fish which was ever so strong.
During a spell where the sun came out two rather large swans came over to make things hard, However a strange drinking routine preceded a bit of jiggy jiggy before they made the heart shape with their necks, I marvelled at this whilst at the same time reaching for the camera, too late of course, but the way their spray lit up in the sun, the sheer white of these birds and the ballet of their courtship will live long in the memory. It was spring and what a show.
A few bream snotted up the line like they do, like most of the roach all caught on the drop, this small hybrid was all covered in tubercles, also getting ready for some action, hybrids are not supposed to breed well but this one will give it a good go I reckon.
A couple of rudd appeared, almost as if to show these bream and roach how on the drop feeding is done, little bars of gold on a spring day.
By now the fish were fizzing on the bottom and my bait was there make no mistake. I suspected they were good roach as they can cause small patches of pin prick bubbles and this was proved as many more followed, although I was also starting to pick up more perch, like little balls they were as so fat. I hoped for a larger one or a tench but they didn't show.
It was a great day though, I watched the other seven anglers most of whom arrived after and left before me, they got just 10 fish between them and most were using the same bait as me, by feeding each cast I was on six times as much by the time I had run out of maggots, getting through the best part of a pint, 46 quality roach, 10 perch, 5 bream plus a couple of rudd and goldfish. The others hardly fed anything, why?
No tench or big perch but it'll do. Over the four trips I had 8 species and well over 100 fish in total, two targets achieved and it was nice to get some chub and such fine roach fishing. What was noticeable was how much they were taking on the drop and how on a variety of waters the larger fish were in the upper layers even on cloudy days.
The wildlife on show was fantastic and the fishing was pretty decent on the whole, there's no wonder we as anglers can spend endless hours by a bit of water, setting little targets often reveals much larger rewards and they are really the true prizes on offer on days like these.
