Friday 24 July 2015

Barbel Fishing First Attempts and Summer Chub

The first trip saw Ryan Hayden and I heading to the banks of the Hampshire Avon in search of some larger chub. The conditions were against us with the sun up high in the sky and the final results were some small chublets, baby barbel and 'bootlace' eels. It's so nice to see a burst of small barbel on the Avon and hopefully these fish will flourish and grow into one of those famous double figure fish!
Barbel taken of trotted maggot
On the same evening I decided to try a local Thames Tributary for the night after the barbel and plonked a couple of rods in subtly with a nice build up of food through the swim with a bait dropper, my choice of hook bait was a Sonubaits Spicy Sausage Oozing Pellet. It would have been such a relaxing night with the gentle trickle of the river and the call of the barn owl, but this was ruined by the numbers of nasty mosquitos. As the light started to prevail, I woke up and watched the barn owl gliding overhead as I started to reorientate myself for where I was! I noticed there was plenty of dew on the ground and knew there was a chance of finding some slugs to try for some of the chub residents. I reeled in both barbel rods knowing after my baits were completely gone that I had been crayed to pieces and perhaps had not put enough food in. It wasn't long until I found some slugs and I was almost instantly into a nice chub, not a monster by any means, but pristine condition!
Pristine chub on free-lined slug
Venturing later in the day to another stretch of this small tributary of the Thames in search of another chance of barbel, I started again with my mind still on chub managing three nice fish, biggest possibly 4lbs or so. Even though I did try for barbel in the afternoon, my swim was gatecrashed by a jack pike, and coupled with the heat levels I felt it was time to call it a day and quit whilst I was ahead...
Best chub of the day on free-lined bread
Thanks for reading and tight lines,

Tom

Mullet, Bass and a Trip to London!

The first trip out on the same weekend after I had the large chub on the third day of the season on the Thursday, my friend Oscar invited me out on his canoe sea fishing on an estuary down South targeting mullet and bass. After a lovely overnight stay at Oscar's grandparents, Oscar and I prepared ragworms, lots of bread and lures for our targets. We arrived at a marina and saw a big singular mullet of at least 4lbs circling around and sifting the bottom of the water. Our excitement levels hit the roof and we went off to launch the canoe as quick as possible. We decided to troll some Rapala plugs on the tail end of the canoe and it wasn't long until we were hitting some nice school bass. After paddling around looking for shoals or singular feeding mullet and not being successful, we carried on the trolling I had an amazing take from obviously a better bass with the rod absolutely arching over. After a decent battle, the fish started to dive down under the boat causing a lot of strain on the line and unfortunately it got away which was huge blow. The rest of the day was enjoyable with a few nice little bass being culprits to our lures, however the fishing in general was frustrating for our target species, the thick lipped mullet and of course the better bass specimens.
Oscar's Lure Outfit
A week or so later, my mum informed me there was a University taster day at one of the Universities she works at part time, the LSE, thinking about my interest in Politics and History I thought it was certainly worth a visit. Knowing I was going to be London I contacted my friend Steve Dedman who had kindly offered me a session on his local river, the Wandle. Unfortunately the day I chose was the hottest, most humid day of the year so far with everywhere being and feeling unbearable. After the taster day I made my way down to Wimbledon from Waterloo and got on a Tram to the location where Steve invited me to fish the Wandle. A short walk from stop, and there was Steve welcoming me in his warm manner. We both agreed that it wasn't easy conditions in the slightest and it was going to be hard going for sure. I was taken to a pretty swim walking upstream and after firing pouch falls of maggots for a few minutes I started running my float through. I was hoping that the presentation achieved would be tripping along the bottom where hopefully a better barbel or chub could see it. After a tiny little roach, bumping a gudgeon and a small chublet we made our way downstream. The outcome was very similar with a chublet or two being culprits to the maggots. After a few minutes at this, Steve suggested that I would go up to the same swim as before and start feeding and running through again hoping possibly a better fish could have come out with the light levels and temperature starting to drop. Sadly, it wasn't to be but a slightly better chublet which pulled the string a fair bit was a result of sorts.
A Chublet Consolation on a Tough Evening after a long day!
Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous

Thursday 23 July 2015

After College Chubbing - A New Venue PB!

I looked at my new college timetable, as I had just finished my AS levels and was therefore unfamiliar as to what lessons to expect on the next stage of the college journey. After having had the day off on the 16th, I noticed my Thursday timetable (on the same week) had both my 2 lessons cancelled and all I was required to attend was a single lecture on whether to do a degree or not.

After sitting through the interesting lecture feeling mixed about possible future choices, I headed for home to prepare some gear. I decided to fish roving tactics for both chub and river carp thus I prepared a pretty substantial feeder rod with 8lb mainline in case I was to hook a big carp. I hopped on the bus and after a good hour or so, I arrived at a river. As expected, it looked even painfully lower and clear. Venturing a few yards downstream, I noticed a few chub in a back eddy skulking around, some even with their heads slightly out of the water. I quickly tied on a size 8 hook and my choice of hookbait to try for these fish was a nice fluffy chunk of breadflake. As the piece of bread flake kissed the water's surface I had an instant take which resulted in this stunning brassy chub.
A nice start, a pretty brassy warrior
I casually strolled on downstream admiring the beautiful countryside and birdlife as I made my way downstream. I eventually arrived at a likely looking area and with the aid of my polaroids, spotted a solitary chub on the gravels. I crawled down the bank and let my bread work downstream towards it, and it wasn't long until it snatched the bait. Unfortunately though, I struck at a poor angle and pulled the bait out of the fish's mouth. I took a good walk a few yards downstream and came to a deeper area which was nice and slack and to me screamed chub or even one of those elusive carp. Pinching a single swan shot on, I flicked the bread into the main flow and let the it settle in the slack. After a minute or so had passed, my rod knocked with an aggressive tap, which was followed by a slow, but positive pull round and I struck into something. To start with it was a decent feeling dead weight shaking its head slighltly, followed by a sudden burst of energy and diving in its desperation for freedom into the nastiest looking snag in the swim and succeeding to do so. All I could do was keep calm and hold the fish and with a bit of steady pressure I tried to use the 8lb line outfit to my advantage giving the fish a bit more strain and thankfully it came through, it was a good chub, well over 4lbs was my first assumption. I saw the dark outline of the fish start to come up but instantly I could tell by the way its dorsal was tensed that it was not finished yet and with pure agility it went thrusted down deeper and all I could do was cup the spool and hope I could stop this powerful fish. With some more steady, but firm pressure I got the fish's head up and could see the hook was merely nicked in the bottom lip hence I jumped down the awkward bank and hurriedly scooped into the net. Filled with adrenalin knowing this was my fish of the season so far, I looked at it's huge flank and frame and knew it could well go 5lbs. This I was absolutely over the moon about, as I broke my venue PB from there on the last day of the season, with it going just drams over 5lbs. Whilst I revived this small stream giant in the net I wet my sling and zeroed the scales and prepared my camera gear for a self take or two. I gently lifted the fish onto the mat and gently placed it into the zeroed sling. I lifted and watched the dial go round to 5 - I looked at the all river in front of me with a huge smile on my face, thinking I had my second 5. I then looked back at the scales and saw the fish had gone an ounce over 6lbs - I could not believe it! This was a huge fish for the venue and one I had only dreamed of catching from there from the first times I started on this small waterway. I held the fish to the camera looking at it in my hands with pure disbelief, it was an absolute chunk and in the heights of winter could smash my current personal best of 6-3lb.
The prize!
After taking a few shots, I returned the fish in the sling, with its head upstream, letting everything get back into order, and after a few seconds of revival the fish started to kick and I watched the huge framed fish disappear slowly back into the depths.
Certainly a crayfish muncher!
A 6lb chub has always been one of those impossibles in the eyes of my early angling days and felt that this result was an end of a journey, as I love my small waterways, and even though I did smash my personal best back in December from 4-4lb to a cracking 6-3lb from the Avon, I felt this was more of an achievement due to the fact that it was on a small, almost forgotten waterway, as well as conveying and emphasising to me and possibly to other anglers that big fish can be found in small rivers and you just have to look at some surprises coming out of  carriers of your typical larger river which tells us they are not there to be ignored.

I was so happy at this point I felt the wise thing to do was to go and get some lunch and be home in time for some dinner with the family - this trip in particular has shown me that whenever an opportunity opens for some fishing it is always worth making use of the time, trying to be resourceful with what you have and get out and have a breather!

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous


Saturday 18 July 2015

Back on the Rivers at last!

On the 16th this year, my friend Hannah asked me if there was any chance I could take her fishing, therefore we pencilled in taking on some chub for the glorious 16th - I thought this would be good fun as it is was the opening day and there was a chance of tempting a few. We arrived as expected, at a low and clear river, spotting plentiful dace, chublets and trout. Early on in the session we managed a few bites, with me losing a trout as well as both of us being a bit slow when we noticed the tip pulling round on a better bite. This first hour or so was slow, but not feeling disheartened, I knew there was a place above where we could get onto a few decent chub.

We arrived and stopped in a nice swim with a side stream entering the main river forming a confluence. I decided to have a quick go just to see if we could get off the mark and to demonstrate to Hannah reacting to the bites. It wasn't long until I had a delicate, but steady pull round and the culprit was this fine conditioned river roach - a very nice start to the season.
A nice start to the season
After travelling a few yards downstream to spot a few nice chub skulking around in a nice slack area. I knew this was a perfect opportunity for Hannah to catch her first fish of the day, as there were a few fish congregating together with the biggest looking round 4lbs. The hook bait we chose to use was a nice strong smelling piece of cheddar cheese which was positioned nicely on the gravel where the chub could see it. It wasn't long until a good chub picked up the bait and Hannah was into a good sized chub for the river. In typical chub style it accelerated into the nearest snag and buried it's head straight in the weed bed, but with a bit of steady pressure and me going in, I managed to get the net beneath it. "Jheeze Louise, that is big!" were Hannah's words, filled with triumph, as I revived it in net. The chub weighed a good 3lb 14oz, a proper stocky fish and after taking this quick shot it was nice to see the fish swim off resiliently.
3lb 14oz
I noticed there were still chub circling round the area, so I threw some mashed bread in to draw the group back in. It wasn't long until I saw some chub slowly swimming towards the area cautiously. A few minutes passed and I saw another fish swim to the hook bait and slurp it in. This was met by a confident strike and Hannah was enjoying another nice tussle from a chub. Although it was a smaller fish, it was another nice result with a big smile on Hannah's face.
The chub now had backed off I spotted a few dace in the shallows. I put a small lobworm on the hook and handed the rod to Hannah and it wasn't long until she hooked a nice dace, her first of the species and we admired the perfect silver flank on it. We carried on downstream onto a shallower gravel run where I had landed a few chub off the surface in the past. I waded in with my wellies and gently let a bit of crust float downstream. It wasn't too long until the bait was engulfed and I was now into a nice looking chub. After some desperate lunges towards vegetation, I managed to guide the chub into the net. We both agreed that the fish was in great condition and the brassy enamelling on it was absolutely gorgeous.
Pristine chub off the top
After restraining a pair of psychotic dogs of which their owner could not control and walking a bit downstream, we both decided it called for a bit of lunch. I thought it was a worthy call to park in a deeper area and sit behind the rod whilst slowly polishing off my sandwich and sharing bites landing some nice trout. After we had finished lunch I noticed a few nice chub lying by the tree and after gently lowering the cheese into the path of the fish, I had a nice confident bite and landed this nice chub.
Nice chub caught on the ambush!
The rest of the day was enjoyed landing plenty of trout, dace and smaller chub and walking along the banks of the beautiful small Thames Tributary and sharing a good laugh, a very enjoyable day out and great sport from some wily chub!
An enjoyable day out!


Tight Lines,

Tom

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...