A Sweet Reunification!

After having a car boot slammed on my favourite feeder rod, it certainly delayed doing some of my favourite roving sessions for the chub... After a fair bit of 'googling' and searching on eBay, to my delight, I was lucky enough to acquire another!

I have been in contact with Duncan Charman pretty regularly of late and after pencilling a day, he kindly offered to take me out for a morning after some rather large and elusive chub. With the lack of rain in the South in the last few weeks, I certainly expected the fish to be pretty lethargic. As expected, the river was low and in desperate need of a flush through. Therefore, Duncan and I thought that we should visit the 'banker' areas first, before moving around to cover the stretch. Duncan opted to fish a small cage feeder, whilst I opted to fish the link leger, both using generous helpings of breadflake as our hookbait. On the first swim where I had my highest hopes for a bite, not a single touch was to be had. We then agreed to try an area which is renowned for doing some large residents a little way below. After flicking my bait into a nice little run, it was promising to get a few shimmers on the rod tip pretty instantly. Could it be silver fish or perhaps a wily chub inspecting the bait? I kept my hand close to the rod and within minutes, a jaggedy pull on the tip triggered a strike. I hooked into a good fish which instantly dug deep. In typical chub style it really plodded about and made some quite hairy surges for the snags, but with Duncan kindly on hand with the net, the first fish of the day was landed!

5lb 3oz

It was a great way to christen the new rod and hopefully the first of a few chunky specimens yet! The fish weighed in at a lovely 5lb 3oz, which certainly was a lovely result for my first time out for a while. Duncan quickly took some lovely shots, before I released the chub back to its watery home. Although Duncan had the odd indication on the tip, this was the only fish to be had of the morning. It was great to get back out on flowing water, and I have to thank Duncan now for getting me out again!

Having gotten my motivation back, I headed to another waterway that I knew was also capable of some rather large and elusive culprits. Again, the river in front of me was low and in desperate need of some water. Having rotated a few swims on the link leger, with little to show for my efforts apart from a couple of modest chub, I made my way to a new area. As the mist thickened and the light started to fade, I parked myself in one particular spot which looked perfect for a chub or two. Out of the blue, I suddenly saw some disturbance on the surface with two carp coming into view, cruising near the surface before dropping down towards where my bait was... My quiver tip slowly tweaked in a steady motion, before I hastily decided to strike. The surface erupted and I saw the head of a good common, before getting the feeder rod low and started to play it as my tiny little reel started to sing as line whizzed of the spool. It is fair to say that the fight was pretty sluggish, but with various snags and the common using its body mass to its advantage it was going to take a while to tire. After what felt like many excrutiating minutes, I managed to finally guide the carp into the net, before punching the air with sheer delight!

12lb River Common

The colours on the fish were absolutely stunning and it was such a fantastic way to end what was a very frustrating day on the chub front. At 12lbs on the nose, it was a wonderful result as it is my best river carp so far and what a way to have caught it on the feeder rod! It is undoubtedly one of the nicest looking commons I have ever caught, if not the nicest!

Hope everyone had a great Christmas and wish you all a happy new year!

Tight Lines,

Tom

July 2016 Update: Carp, Tench and Lure Fishing

A fine summer's evening

Last week, I decided to renew one of my Club Tickets to make the most of all the waters within walking distance from my home, and target stillwater species in conditions which are tougher from a river perspective. The species that have been on my mind of late are carp, tench and eels. I have also been contemplating getting into light lure fishing, which was also on the agenda for my local river. For the first outing, I decided to venture down for a short afternoon's session on my local club lakes after some carp and tench. As the light started to fade, and the workers on the peninsula of the lake had stopped strimming, I started to get some takes. The result of this was a few bream and tench, but sadly no carp were around to make an appearance in this duration. I think they key to catching these fish is to introduce some bait, so that the carp can potentially dominate the swim in their, at times, greedy fashion.

A powerful little tench!

On the next session, I set my stalls on another club lake to try and stalk a carp or two out. My choice of bait was a single piece of fluffy bread flake which I was hoping to trigger a couple of fish into slurping in. I arrived at the lake, brimming with enthusiasm as I saw plentiful carp, some of which were bathing and others were slowly cruising. There was also some slurping that was taking place with carp sucking naturals off the Canadian Pond weed. The first swim I chose, I saw a group of fish and a common which looked as if it was up for a helping of flake. After casting just over the fish and teasing the piece of ever-expanding bread towards the fish's path, a few agonising minutes were to follow. The fish carried on taking naturals off the weed and slowly made its way to my bait and paused. The mouth extended and sucked the piece of flake in. I let the fish take the bait and was baffled at the fact that I had managed to strike into thin air! This fish was well into double figures, which was a great shame as it would have been a lovely fish to start with. After missing another fish, cheaply getting away, I found myself right at the corner of the lake which was also thick with weed and a nice group of lilly pads. After drifting my bait to the edge of these pads, a small pair of lips came up and slurped in a medium-sized piece of flake. I struck more positively this time and connected. Despite this being the smallest fish that took my bait, the reward was a lovely dark little mirror.

An enjoyable tussle in the weed!

For the final session, I decided to head out and do some light lure fishing. Having chatted with a mate, Mark Lindsay, about fishing light jigs before, I decided to get myself a light lure rod and some braid for a 1000 sized reel. With the rod having not arrived yet, I decided to dig out a telescopic rod I had found in the garage from a previous holiday. After loading my reel with some light braid for some perch fishing and finding some abrasion-resistant fluorocarbon, I headed to a stretch close to home with some depth. This stretch is very weedy and boggy, but I knew that I was in for a chance of seeing some nice perch and pike in the gaps in the weed to cast to. After fishing a few swims and failing to tempt the perch, despite appetisingly pausing the lure in their field of vision, I headed to a stretch downstream of here. Within a very short amount of time, I had managed a few tiny perch which tend to congregate in this little pool which was certainly a start! Following the fact that I had seen a few little pike in the gaps in the weed and chasing minnows in the silty and stagnant areas, I decided to have a go for a few with my little jig. After getting a few chases, but failing to get a take, I casted the jig in a gap in the weeds which looked a likely area for a pike to be hiding. As the lure started to work, in light-speed a pike came out of nowhere and snatched the lure. The take was amazing through the braid, as you felt the fish crunch into the lure. With a quick strike, I managed to hook the pike comfortably in the scissors and it gave a wonderful little tail-walking scrap.

Maybe one day this will go from a minnow mincer to a duckling worrier!

It's wonderful with these small jigheads how easy it is to quickly unhook the fish and release them back into their watery home. I took a stroll onto a silty and stagnant section nearby and saw this tiny baby pike with a stunning green hue sitting boldly in the silt. With a little flick just over its head and the lure fluttering in its view the lure was absolutely devoured! With an energetic and lashing fight, it was lovely to see another one of these stunning juvenile pike in my hands. The immature markings on juvenile pike are wonderful to feast your eyes on, especially from my local chalkstream. By the time I had managed my third little pike, my lure had been bitten in half, so I felt with my family wanting to have some supper that it was a good idea to go home.

See what I mean about the immature markings?

Thanks for reading and tight lines,

Tom

Withdrawals after River Season and Feature for the Mail

With Duncan shooting the 'On the Bank' feature series for the Angler's Mail, he ran the idea past me of doing a feature on one of my local little lakes for the quality roach. When turning up at the lake we were not sure as to what to expect, but our doubts were soon set aside when there was an instant response. It was a nice morning with some manic roach feeding spells, as well as many fantails and a couple of carp for good measure. With the river having just closed, it was a nice surprise to see the feature released in the Easter issue, coupled with the some late season monsters for some good friends. Big thanks goes to Duncan for organising the feature and taking some lovely shots for the spread.

A successful session!

After a quiet Easter weekend, having not been out in a while, my brother and I headed to a local lake to get a bend in the rod on a fishery where a few takes on the surface are on the cards. It was not long until the carp were soon swirling on the surface for some mixers. Rotating between hookable pellets and bread, my brother and I were soon having some nice sport. It was a nice way to spend an afternoon after withdrawals from the rivers and having been head down in study...

Nice to get a bend in the rod!

Tight Lines,

Tom

Duncan Charman's Specimen Crucian Tips Video

A Day with Duncan Charman After Bream

After getting some bits done for Angler's Mail with Duncan, he kindly offered to guested me on his local Badshot Lea Complex. Duncan knew my Personal Best Bream was nothing very impressive, so the intention was to beat this. Duncan showed me a Helicopter rig setup which consisted of 6lb mainline with a short hook link (Duncan uses 5.14lb preston powerline). The hook bait was maggots and the ground bait consisted of a mix with some crushed up Boilie.

After being kindly dropped at the complex by Duncan's father, Duncan had already managed a few bream from 4lbs to just under 6lbs by the time we had got there. Without further ado, we casted out the helicopter rigs with one closer in and the other considerably further out. It wasn't too long until the bobbin started to rise with the alarm sounding with the first bream going exactly 5lbs. I learnt on this trip, that when hitting into a run on this method, you merely have to pick up the rod calmly, otherwise the fish are likely to 'crack' off. After a couple of bream which were likely to be under 5lbs, the close in rod's bobbin slowly rose and then smashed the top with line screaming off the reel. "Get the backwind on mate" Duncan said, as he knew what I was into was a considerably better fish indeed. The fish went on a unstoppable run, literally rocketing into the middle of the lake. After taking a lot of line, I managed to start guiding the fish towards me. This of course had to be done gently as it was a light hook link. After a few more minutes of arm-aching action and the carp kiting aggressively from left to right, I managed to guide it into the waiting net. After giving it a deserved amount of rest, we realised the carp was a good double and despite it seeing better days a fantastic bonus on this kind of tackle!

A Double Figure Carp

I was very happy with this result and it was great to see the fish swim off as strongly as before! Quite a few bream came to follow after this including this fine fish being the biggest of the day and my new Personal Best at 5lb 9oz, still not massive but a considerable improvement from before.

5lb 9oz Bream

Duncan's father Tony was running low on maggots, therefore Duncan headed off to get some and left us both to fish. Tony had managed a few good bream too already. Just after I whacked out the far out rod, it was long until I got another lively take after this more dry spell I was having. I was into a good fish which was kiting from left to right and even managed to go over Tony's lines. After starting to guide it from the margins, the hook unfortunately pulled. A bit of slime was left on the line and it was a shame to have lost what I reckoned was a nice Tench. Not feeling too disheartened though I got the rig back out. After a very, very quiet spell with Tony only managing a couple of bream and a nice tench of 4lb 12oz, I got my first run for a while. This was another nice bream of round the 5lb range. After a couple more smaller bream, I had another take. This fish fought very differently and topped almost straight away. When we got it in the net, it turned out to be a large roach/bream hybrid, which for me was definitely a PB of sorts. The fish weighed 3lbs 10oz, a cracking looking fish and by the time we put it back, we decided to call it a day as the lake usually goes dead around 2pm for the bream and tench anyway. I thoroughly enjoyed the day and I certainly would recommend a day with Duncan Charman as he certainly knows what he is talking about, and you can book a day or two with him by just sending an email to duncancharman@icloud.com.

3lb 10oz Hybrid

A big thank you to Duncan and Tony Charman for a Great day!

Tight Lines,

Tom

More Stalking Carp & Night Session

During the next few days on my angling adventures, my aim was to catch a carp from one of the harder lakes on my local club complex. The days were getting warmer and I was rather excited, deciding to target these carp from the harder lakes with surface or slow sinking baits, as well as bringing a few bits and pieces for some opportunist bottom bait fishing in the edge. I arrived the day after I had that enjoyable session with Ollie to find that a few carp on the middle lake were yet again cruising and basking. I tried again to gently lower baits into their path but all I was greeted with was the fish spooking and also completely ignoring my bait. I couldn't believe it at some of the points as I managed to gently get the bait to kiss the water and hardly leaving a dimple on the surface but they were still spooking. After a few hours of frustration, I placed a bottom bait in the edge on the middle lake on a small barrel bait which eventually was eventually engulfed by a bream. After this, I felt I should call it quits and go home and think about how to tempt those fish that were showing.

I again returned and tried the two harder lakes which again was a frustrating affair. This time I had stocked up on more dog biscuits as lose feed, therefore I opted to go on the slightly easier lake in search of getting off the mark. After a few minutes of trickling in dog biscuits I managed to get a few nice carp coming up and taking a few mixers and then dropping down again in the pads. It took a while to get one fish confident but with little helpings of mixers now and then one fish started to slurp a fair few up. I saw this as an opportunity, so I casted just above its path and tweaked the biscuit back slightly. This was a painstaking moment as the fish continued to slurp and coming rapidly closer to the hook bait. The first turned and slurped in my mixer along with another; this was met by a firm strike and I had a good fish on. I instantly put some steady pressure on the fish in order to guide it out of the pads, but unfortunately it kited at an unexpected time and therefore consequently pulling my hook. As you can imagine, I was disappointed as I was pretty sure it was a double figure fish, which to me would have been more than welcome. Not feeling too sorry for myself, I chucked out a few more mixers in the pads to see if I could re-gain another carp's confidence. After just over half an hour of watching the odd carp come up now and then and take the odd mixer, I noticed one fish quite happily helping himself to quite a few of my freebies. This I felt was another opportunity and as it was continuing to feed, I managed to cast perfectly over it and gently tease my biscuit bag with leaving barely a dimple on the surface film. This fish hurried to my biscuit in the appetising position it was, and with no suspicion whatsoever, took the bait as good as gold. I lifted decisively into a nice carp and I was ready to cup the spool when it tried to charge in the pads. After a mental battle of kiting left to right and diving down deep, putting my barbel rod to test, I managed to guide it into my waiting net. This was a great result and I punched the air with delight as I was so happy to get some great sport. This fish was no monster but decent enough for my liking! After this quick picture I slipped the nice common back to its watery home and after that I decided to head home and get some revision done.

Low Double Common off the top!

A day or so later, my good friend Oscar Bates and I chose to do a night on the middle lake. The lake itself is shallow and silty and has a good head of carp to over 20lbs (rumours of 30s), Tench to around 7lbs and some nice bream. We opted to fish bottom bait rigs with one rod each after carp and one rod each after bream or tench. Oscar had managed a rather large tench specimen from this swim from the reeds straight ahead, therefore we opted to put our tench and bream rods towards this zone. The carp rods we aimed at the pads nearby on the left after spreading a generous helping of bait in the area. I managed to hit the areas I wished first attempt and after a couple on his carp rod Oscar got a perfect cast on this carp rod. It was just after he had sunk his line and put on the bobbin his alarm screamed off, but when this was met with a positive lift into the take there was unfortunately nothing there. After Oscar put his rod back in, we had a good chat about various things and watched the light fade. It wasn't until midnight but after a few bleeps on my carp rod, it slowly started to rip off and I was also connecting into nothing. We both found this somewhat confusing as there was nothing wrong with our rigs or bait presentation. We assumed it was tench or bream picking up the bait and not being hooked properly but I still do wonder whether it wasn't carp getting away with it.

After a reasonably cold night and the light starting to arrive again, I re-casted both of my rods and it wasn't long after this until I got a run on the tench and bream rod. I lifted into a weight of some description, but this was a leaping bream! I was pleased to be off the mark. I re-casted again to the same spot and again, it wasn't long until a bream had latched onto my bait. After doing another quick flick into a similar position, the next take was a slow but decisive take with the bobbin shooting up. I was again connected to a small fish, but the way it was fighting would to me suggest it was a tench. Sure enough, a small male tench popped up which was great to see as it shows a hopeful sign of new big tench for the future. Oscar had also managed tench similar to this size, which is a good sign of flourishing recruitment for future bigger tench. One more bream was to follow, but it was a nice little session and social with Oscar and certainly looking forward to having more trips with him in the near future...

Tench for the future!

Tight Lines,

Tom

Stalking Pressured Carp with Ollie Johnson

The first session I arranged to meet Ollie Johnson for a bit of stalking on my local lake after a carp or two. I arrived at the lake and this was the hottest day of the year so far, and we both expected the carp to be on or near the surface. We started by walking straight to the top lake and instantly we were greeted with a very fine sight of carp, to what I reckon were over 20lbs, basking in the sun and slowly cruising around. Both Ollie and I were very excited by this sight and crept round the lake in search of more fish. The lake was low and had a lot of clarity, therefore we could both admire shoals of small roach and perch, as well as jack pike chasing them around. We arrived in the area known as 'the bowl' and admired some more carp merely cruising past casually.

After finishing the walk round the lake, we headed back to Ollie's car where we had left the tackle. On our way back though, we saw some reeds moving vigorously with clear ripples of carp moving around on the other bank. Luckily with this lake, it is accessible on the other side, as you can go down the middle on a point. We gingerly crept around and spotted a few fish, but the most likely to feed were the one's Ollie had noticed in the reeds. With polarising glasses he managed to locate one fish he thought was at least upper double and a few smaller fish around. Doing this preparation before hand meant that we had a good idea of what areas we were going to target. We quietly crept away and headed back to the car. We headed down the point where we had located those carp, including the more active ones in the rushes. Ollie headed quietly to the rushes and we both opted to fish a single lump of breadflake amongst the groups of carp. We used a size 8 hook with the top part of the flake merely pinched on at the top so could be fished on the surface or as a slow sinking presentation. I crept around and spotted a few fish and quietly put the bread flake in their path but they either didn't have the interest or confidence to investigate. With thoughtful stealth, Ollie flicked a generous helping of bread perfectly amongst the fish. After a few minutes, Ollie struck into a bite, but sadly pulled out of the fish. "That was a decent fish" he said. Not feeling disheartened, but cautious, as the strike caused some disturbance, Ollie re-placed his bait in a similar position. After slowly creeping towards moving fish, I saw a fish on its own near the pads. I managed to perfectly place the bread offering in its path, but just as it started to move towards the bait, the ducks homed in on it; I was left with no choice but to reel in, and therefore consequently spooking the fish. The next minute I looked up to check if any fish were about Ollie was calling me saying he was into one. I picked up the net and watched the fish lunge and kite in the reeds giving Ollie a good run around. After a bit of steady pressure from Ollie, the fish was ours. We lifted the fish onto the bank and it was a nice conditioned common of 8lb 14oz, a nice first result for the day.

After failing to tempt anymore carp which were basking and slowly cruising by, we ventured back up to the top lake. Ollie picked up some of his bottom bait gear as well, in order to target the carp that would possibly get their heads down as the temperature was dropping. We again were greeted with the same carp in sight slowly moving and basking with circular motions with their fins. We spotted a few carp patrolling in close and opted to try the 'single bread' method again. A nice looking mirror swam perfectly into Ollie's path and he set the bait agonisingly slowly sinking in front of where the fish was heading. The fish clearly noticed the bait and paused as if it was going to consider slurping it in. The bait continued to sink and we noticed the fish was closely trying to monitor the behaviour of the offering on Ollie's hook. At the most uncalled for time, as this was happening, a sudden gust of wind came upon us and affected Ollie's bread presentation which consequently meant that the fish ended up rejecting it. I also tried the slow sinking presentation in its path but it didn't even seem to think about considering it.

After briefly fishing the 'single bread' method in a more static way and having no interest, we decided to go to an area were there were some nice features where the carp were likely to be patrolling. I remained with the one barbel rod and Ollie started to get out his more 'beefed-up' carp gear for the job and flicked some bottom bait rigs a foot or so off the island where the water shelfs down deeper. I casted a zig in a zone where the fish were likely to be patrolling. The temperature was dropping, and the fish seemed to be too so I quickly rigged up with a basic bottom bait rigged and casted it to a nice gravelly area by a tree. Just as the light was fading and it was getting considerably more cold, the anglers opposite us got a screaming take and after what looked to be a very enjoyable fight indeed, they had landed a nice fish. Just as the light faded Ollie also received a screaming run and was also into a decent fish, here's a video clip of the fight:

It was a very nice result that Ollie had landed a couple of lovely carp with this lovely looking mirror going 17lb 6oz. We took a few quick photos and watched the carp swim back in the shallower water and then disappear into the depths. This was a lovely result as it was just before we were due to be heading home and was a nice meeting Ollie for the first time.

Ollie is currently in the process of launching a company, Clearwater Angling Solutions, which is going to be doing bits of terminal tackle for different coarse fishing demands, such as floats and also doing some great baits which will catch all sorts of species from bream to chub to big tench, barbel and carp!
Please check out their Facebook page for updates!

Tight Lines,

Tom Aldous