Small River Big Perch

It had been a while since I had run a float through for whatever comes along so I headed to a stretch of river that was real Mr Crabtree type fishing or maybe Isaac Walton, all twists and turns, shallows, rushes and overhanging trees, many of which were starting to show early signs of Autumn. Clearly no one had told the woodpigeon what time of year it was as it sat in the tree opposite on a nest, an out of sync bird sharing the swim with an out of sync angler, I had been having a mare lately with the last trip aborted due to me forgetting my fishing jacket so this time I had all the gear and I was keen to wet a line.

Naturally I set up in the most awkward, narrowest spot possible so just for fun I rested my rod tip on the far bank thus gauging it's width to be a whopping six feet, throw in the far bank himalayan balsam that was bent over in the water I had a mere three feet of water to play with, I wanted to run a float through but with it a bit slow I reverted to the matchstick again. Something about the swim looked right though and as the matchstick drifted under the overhang each time it moved and a few small roach and chub kicked things off, the latter doing their best to acquaint themselves with the balsam, something a larger chub soon did successfully forcing me to step up a touch.

I was glad I went a bit heavier as the roach and chub were drawing the attention of something much larger, so with the odd follow and swirl it soon got fearless and started chasing a 10oz roach about as I played it under my rod tip. From my vantage point I could see it was a big perch, however the cunning roach seemed far too agile for the sergeant major and it's chase, I could have let it have a longer go but I bided my time knowing there's one thing perch seem to like gulping down more than anything else.

The perch was still around giving the odd chase and making the fishing hard but after going deeper I finally had what I was looking for, oh yes, a gudgeon. Now perch love gudgeon more than an idiot likes fishing awkward swims and sure enough it didn't hesitate in the attack, it's gills puffing out and sucking it in right under my feet with about a foot of line to my rod tip, my size 18 hook was soon transferred from goby to stripey which I knew would happen, it always seems to to do this, I don't know if it's a barbless thing but perch always seem to get hooked perfectly in the top lip whereas the prey fish gets off somehow and as I stood up a relieved gudgeon tore off into the depths whilst the perch tore up the narrow swim going everywhere, it was on, going like stink and my rod was bent double, with the clutch set perfect and the tip under water at times to avoid all the snags, it was a fun but hectic scrap.

Richard Walker once said "The perch is the biggest fish of all" and that is in no small part due to the fact a good one always seems massive, both in the water and out, this one was no different and looked even larger in the narrow confines of the swim as I drew it over the net. I don't catch many big perch and most are down to a bit of improvisation like this one so I consider anything around 2lb to be a really good fish. So as the scales went round to 2lb 10oz  I was tad surprised as it looked so much bigger. I was happy though as it was a fine fish for someone just pottering about on a short pleasure session on a small river and it was the biggest fish of the day, not to mention the first good perch I'd had in ages.

I packed up soon after with the woodpigeon still sitting on it's nest nonplussed by all the goings on, I had hardly seen anyone all day and it was the perfect temperature so I took a slow walk back to the car wondering whether I should test my scales or my eyesight. "The biggest fish of all?" That's the old perch all right.

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.

A Week on The Severn

The Severn had been very kind to me over the last few seasons, usually on long days trips or overnight stays when the fishing has been at times exceptional on this wonderful river. I have had days trotting amongst the barbel and chub and many successes with those big roach with more 2lb fish than I could have imagined. How I was jealous of those who lived up here so for five days and nights it would be my home and I would be able to sample it's delights each day, so what could possibly go wrong? 

Day One - Arley Left Bank

I only had a few hours before checking in to my holiday accommodation so it was more a case of seeing what the river looked like and any fish would be a bonus. The river was the lowest I had seen it which I expected after checking the river levels online, Initially I thought the water was quite clear but it still had an earthy tinge to it and there was very little weed growth, no doubt due to the floods in spring.

I started trotting pellet and was pleased to be getting bites straight away even if they weren't frequent, the roach were typical pellet sized fish with nothing under 10oz and two or three looking like they were around the 1lb mark, there was no big ones but I'd take this all day, throw in a few decent chub and it made for a really nice first session

I returned to the same spot later in the evening and as the sun went down a couple more cracking roach obliged and some more chub, barbel were absent but it was still very bright with the setting sun illuminating the swim like a flashlight, the good roach and chub had raised my expectations for the rest of the trip.

Day Two - Stanley

After a good start yesterday, today I travelled round to the Stanley stretch where I was there early enough to get a good swim, one which had done me a couple of big roach and was usually good for barbel. However the swim looked so different this time with no weed growth on the shallows, it looked so empty and featureless from the picture I had in my head from last time. I waded out to a hole three quarters of the way across where I thought the fish could be. Once again it was sunny and it was in the short cloudy spells where I picked up the bites, all from chub and some nice ones at that. A couple were around 5lb but were unhooked in the water as I was mid river, were I to know they would be the biggest fish of the week I would have taken some photos, it was hard work for the chub but they saved the day, I really expected the roach and barbel to show at some time but they didn't and the chaps who set up below me had nothing whilst I was there, so at least I was in the right spot.

Day Three - A Long Walk

It all started to go downhill from here or should I say uphill. Looking to get back on the roach I went back to Arley parking on the left bank and walking across the footbridge to the Harbour Inn meadow, however this time it was rammed with all the swims taken so I carried on walking upstream. I was getting somewhat irked to see a couple of rods appear in to view each time I thought there was a spot and even after a lengthy walk there were still anglers everywhere, I really need to get up earlier I thought as I finally stopped off at a good swim if only to rest the legs, this time trotting maggot for a change, however I couldn't get a bite from anything and this was very weird, maybe there was a few pike about, either way It was time to continue my journey upstream.

I was now in Stanley within sight of The Ship Inn. Now that's a bit of a trek especially in chest waders. I stopped at the odd stile here and there to replenish my thirst and sure got funny looks off the horses but there were worse places to be out even if my chesties were now wet on the inside through perspiration. Those horses were standing in the shade looking at me like I was mad and I think they may have been right. I watched two Egrets lead a balletic dance in the air and their pure white was a strict contrast to the green background, much more graceful in flight than the heron I thought and the horses agreed, well they didn't say nay, I really needed to stop for lunch!

It was now well past lunchtime and I had gone all the way to the top of the stretch to find all the spots taken and I had still caught nothing. Dejected I went back down to where someone had packed up thinking how it's only a couple of miles back to the car. I was happy to finally get some bites from anything and it was mostly perch in what usually is a barbel swim, even on big bunches it was mainly stripeys although they made a change from the endless hordes of dace that were hammering single maggot, there was very few roach and chub and they were small and a 1lb perch was the only fish I landed on a day where I spent more time walking than fishing.

Day Four - Hampton Loade Right Bank

I drove round to Hampton Loade as I sure as hell wasn't going to walk that far after yesterday, however I did burn some calories going up and down those steep banks there, trotting maggot brought many dace as expected, but very few chub were showing and once again it was busy with other anglers. Six guys went past me downstream so I worked my way back to the car as the canoes started to come down, I caught one decent chub, it was that slow and my expectations was now as low as the water levels.

Hampton Loade wasn't doing it for me which was a shame as it's usually pretty good there but at least there wasn't ten thousand ducks there like last year as a shower come to dampen the spirits further. I made the decision out of desperation to drive back to Stanley in my chest waders with the rod still set up in the back of the car as it was just down the road, it was still a tired sweaty drive. I tried the pellet again as I just didn't fancy more dace as the weather turned and it got cloudy with a bit of drizzle. Finally I'm amongst the barbel and did I care that it was small? You bet I didn't as it was the first bend I have had in the rod for ages and after all that walking it was more than welcome.

Day Five - Arley Left and Right Bank

The last day was much of the same with a mix of silvers, hard work and far too much walking, It was time however for me to get schooled by an expert, I was struggling once again to get through the dace in the shallows when a Kingfisher appeared in the tree beside me, so close I could almost reach it with my rod tip. With a quick 'plop' it had soon caught one of the many fry from the shallows and was proceeding to bash it's head on the branch as I reached for my camera. To my surprise it went straight in again and repeated the action, two in two was just showing off so I was now ready to get that action shot. It sums up the week that it just took off downstream and I now have a rubbish pic of a blue blur, I had to laugh.

Overall the fishing was hard, the river was low and there was lots of people about and evidence of how busy it had been in lockdown with the odd fence down here and there and rather too much litter for my liking, mostly on the paths, it was silly season after all and most of my trips were during the day when it was pretty bright, I bet the Kingfisher doesn't make excuses like that though, mind you out of the two hundred(at least) anglers I saw, I only saw one catch a barbel during the day. The wildlife was spectacular as ever and if anything the whole trip was cathartic, proving that it isn't a given that you're going to have a great day with the barbel or get a big roach, It shows on those days in the past how lucky I've been and if you want a surefire guarantee of catching - Be a Kingfisher.

The Best Float Money Can Buy

There is a float out there that on it's day will out fish any out there, one that is cheaper than the rest yet more sensitive, one which can fool the biggest and most cautious of fishes, it is also a float that will take you back to being a kid again, it is of course the humble matchstick.

Matchsticks can only be used in certain scenarios so let's get realistic here, you're not going to hit the far bank of the tidal Trent with one, nor will it hold it's own in a weirpool or any significant current and you will also get owned by any windy weather, but use it on a tiny a river on a calm summer's day and you will realise how cumbersome even the smallest waggler or stick float can be in comparison, for fishing on the drop perhaps only freelining can beat it, It's a whole lot of fun that cannot be er......'matched'.

It's on small streams where it really comes in to it's own. If you can see the fish feeding midwater on baits like maggot, hemp or pellets it can be so effective, bread, corn the list goes on, any bait that's not too heavy will work. The beauty of this method is it just doesn't spook the fish, only this weekend was I running a float through spooking the fish left right and centre so much they weren't really feeding well, it was gin clear and sunny and I could see the whole show and they could see my float, I changed to a matchstick and they started to feed much more confidently. I picked off a couple of barbel on pellet before changing to maggot which saw five chub in as many casts, all of which were caught just under the surface as they were feeding so freely, it was fun hectic fishing when they weren't responding to other methods.

On many occasions you can actually see the bait and the matchstick is just a vehicle to get it out there with a no8 or no6 for casting weight, granted that's not much weight and casting can be a learning curve, it's best to have a decent length rod of at least 13ft and be willing to compromise with the cast to get the distance required. I find a flick with the bail arm closed works as if you were dapping a fly on the surface or sometimes you can pull a bit of line out but keep that bail arm closed unless you want a tangle. Centrepin anglers have the Wallis Cast so no matter what reel you use be prepared to do whatever is needed to get that bait falling amongst your freebies, on windy days I sometimes think I've perfected the Wally Cast as no doubt that's what I look like, however the end justifies the means. A whip would be ideal if you are doing this for small fish perhaps with your kids but make no mistake, it's not just a method for tiddlers so expect larger fish to get in on the action.

As for the method of the matchstick madness, you can have it on the surface but I've found a trick that works even better is NOT to let it float, after all a no6 or even a no8 is enough to sink it but that's exactly what I found really worked, by accident, after failing to keep a small matchstick afloat I found having it slowly sink worked much better than trying to keep it on the surface. The bait falls through the water like a dream, the matchstick then gently cocks (be careful not to strike at this moment) then slowly sinks through the water at the speed of the current. The bait falls so naturally it's surreal, the matchstick slowly drifts down in the water and you strike at any unnatural movement you see. You can change depths like any other float and even have the bait resting on bottom in still water. I'll strike at any movement and still get caught out when it cocks and slowly sinks sometimes. However doing the old air strike again and again has no impact on the feeding fish as the float looks like a small fry fish dashing about, I've even had perch follow it on occasion. You can also try holding it back and letting it drop further down the swim, oh and by the way I forgot to mention the bites, they are often unmissable once you suss them and can move the matchstick a very long way.

Above is one of 17 chub I had in a clear swim last Autumn when the usual stickfloat approach wasn't working, I changed and had a great day in an area I had always struggled in, each bite was almost as if it was in slow motion taking the matchstick a good foot or two but only slightly faster than the current, it was eerie, they weren't feeling any resistance at all. It was only when one hooked itself that I realised these were actually bites, also every single chub got into the far bank overhang big time when hooked, as chub do and sometimes the matchstick had slid up a good six feet by the time the chub was netted, this shows how far the fish can get in and also shows how it's possible to get them out of snags when there is nothing on the line to snag up with, I didn't lose a single fish that day and they were all pristine.

This method is really fun if you are on a river where the fish aren't huge, sure it can outwit the wary but most of all it's a fun way of fishing, catching any decent fish on this method puts a crisp bend in the rod as everything is all so direct and they always feel double their size, mind you it is also a great way of catching fast biting dace and wily roach. Sometimes you can pick put certain fish like the largest dace in the shoal or like the other day I found myself trying to get the lone perch that was taking the odd maggot as I had caught all the other species, I got it in the end - all of 4oz but it sure had to work to compete with those big dace.

I've also experimented on ponds and canals albeit not as much as rivers, these can be harder as they are often coloured but it worked here too to my surprise, you often only need a few inches of visibility to see the matchstick cock and shoot off, often I'll try it at the end of a session and pick up bonus fish close in that have been taking the feed and no doubt been laughing at my hookbait all day, it's a devastating method for shy biters like crucians and much more sensitive than even a tiny pole float. I had some good perch last summer on the canal really close in after I had been fishing waggler there all day. Of course this could have been coincidence but In summer I really feel fish prefer feeding on the drop and get used to what's natural looking and what's not.

I realise I've done this all cackhanded as your supposed to promote things in a blog in order to get freebies, well if Swan Vesta are reading I still have around a couple hundred floats left so I should be ok for a while thanks. Perhaps an angling company could do a camo version with a right old mark up on the price, if so I'm in, I would have a Vesta'd interest. Meanwhile I'll continue pottering about experimenting with these 1p floats, I have a goal to get a barbel from The Severn on a matchstick but conditions have to be so right for that so that will be a challenge, plus I'll always have some in my pocket to have a bit of fun with when needed.

So there you have it, next time you see someone pottering about with a matchstick in the margins they could well be baggin' up big time, plus having a lot of fun in the process. After all this used to be the float of choice for our predecessors, it hasn't lost it's effectiveness and could still be one of the best bargains out there.

Amongst The Barbel

It had been a couple of days of contrast on my local river which started on the Monday as I arrived with dad to find the club car park full, a trip on to the next stretch saw that rammed too so an about turn was needed and it was back to square one. After driving ninety minutes to get dad and bring him here I coated the motor in vaseline and marge and squeezed the car in to a tight spot. It didn't take a degree in maths to work out there were more anglers than swims on this short stretch. You are limited to where you can take a wobbly octogenarian so I just hoped dad could eventually get a decent spot where he could catch his first barbel of the season.

As luck would have it two earlies were packing up so I gave dad the only good spot and proceeded to set him up and watch him fish the lead, he soon had a wrap around and landed the first of two small barbel. Any barbel is a good barbel and he was happy so it was job done as far as I was concerned. I eventually got a spot to run a float through and was starting to get a nice mix of roach dace and chub on the float when dad decided he'd had enough, oh well nevermind, there's always the next time I told myself as I took dad home.

The next time was indeed the next day as Tuesday I am back down there on my own, I really felt I needed to wet a line again as didn't really get going the day before. This time it was an evening session after work yet it was still blisteringly hot, it was also rammed once again but I managed to get a swim that I actually really like, it was the only spot left, a swim which doesn't get fished as it's so shallow and narrow, the fish are tight under the rushes and although it's only a few feet wide, for me to run a float through it was just perfect.

It started a bit slow trotting pellet with only a few small chub to show but I stuck at it running my float under the rushes trying to match the feed whilst at the same time making sure to avoid a costly overcast, mind you I was basically lowering the float in it was so narrow. There was also only a few seconds of trotting each run through as the float was soon taken the length of the swim, which to be fair was quite short given that I could only see the float run a few feet from where I was sat, on the deck, legs crossed like a child, each run through must have taken less than five seconds but I love this sort of fishing.

Feed, cast, repeat..... then bam! A good bite rips the float under and everything is solid, finally after a spirited battle the first barbel is in the net, what started slow became typical barbel float fishing when two more followed in the next couple of trotts through, not huge but any barbel is fun on the float and more than welcome.

It then went dead so I made do with first watching a red kite then a buzzard circle overhead quartering the meadow really low, impressive birds and so large when they are close up, I wouldn't want to be a rabbit there that's for sure.  Despite the raptor show I could no longer resist the temptation to run that float under those rushes once more, bites were few but rewarding with a stonking big dace, not much contest on 6lb line but welcome variety nonetheless. I also lost a fine chub which was a shame but I had a feeling there was more barbel to be had. A mate came down from upstream who I hadn't seen for a while who told me the park was busy with paddling kids, a reason no doubt for the sudden clouding up of the water, it was game on and as we chatted I had two in two casts with the extra colour in the water.

Sure enough from then on the other species didn't get much of a look in and it's safe to say quite a few more were had in quick succession, all fairly small but super fun, enough to get 'barbel arm' and it's always good to get one of these sessions under your belt early season. I was playing each fish against a whole array of flotsam coming down from the local kids I could now hear paddling upstream, not sure what they were doing up there but there but drifting by I saw everything from large branches, flip flops, the obligatory tennis ball and even an American football which was a new one. I would do some sort of pun about that but I was looking forward to a superbowl of ice cream when I got home.