Duncan’s
Monthly round-up – May 2015
I
think May should have been renamed April as the weather has been
terrible this month with strong changeable winds, days of rain and
cold nights. I’m not sure what happened but their was a spell in
the middle of the month when bites were really difficult to come by,
however the ones we did get were usually what we wanted.
The
crucian fishing at Enton has been exceptional in terms of big fish
which made the fishing look easy but believe me it wasn’t. Some
anglers almost lived on the venue to get their rewards, something I
just cant do, however the few and short sessions I did manage
produced a few with the best going 3lb 10oz. Now that they have
spawned the venue has returned to normal with vacant swims all around
and we can get about enjoying the venue for what it is without having
to dodge the glory hunters.
Looking
at the sessions managed on the bank initially looked extremely poor,
yet then I realised that with two bank holidays, three days spent on
the bank as a photographer and one spent at a Nash Roadshow at the
Linear Complex it wasn’t that bad. In total I managed eleven
sessions split between guiding (6) and personal sessions (5) one of
which lasted a staggering 45hrs!
Looking
at June, the first ten days look really busy with features and
guiding but then I'm banging lots in too leave the first week of the
river season open to try and get to grips with a new venue where big
barbel live. The weeks leading up will see some bait being introduced
and some feature finding carried out so hopefully the hard work will
repay me with a couple of good fish.
DAY TO DAY EVENTS
1/5/15
– The fishing gods were looking down on us today as I was fortunate
to arrange a feature for Anglers Mail with an angler at Broadlands,
Southampton at very short notice. Travelling down and arriving at
opening I made my way around the lake in the hope that Shawn had
bagged a carp during the night, only to find him bent into a fish.
The session got even better a few moments later, yet I can’t say
anymore. Keep an eye out over the next few weeks for a ‘Venue
Expert’ feature as well as witnessing a very special fish!
Back
at home I found myself sending the completed feature to the Mail some
14 hours after setting off from home! Foe some reason I didn’t feel
tired and still found an hour to post a couple of blogs on Facebook
as well as my website.
2/5/15
– Absolutely shatters as yesterdays events had caught up on me,
however I still found time to do a ‘Long Term Test’ for Anglers
Mail before taking a leisurely stroll around Enton. Amazingly the
venue was quite empty. I did have a chat with Phil Smith who filled
me in on what had been coming out. The odd angler had caught a few
crucians, yet most had struggled, which wasn’t a big surprise, what
with the cold spring and the place being rammed.
3/5/15
– Another stroll around Enton and once again the venue quieter than
expected so back at home I quickly made up a couple of rods in the
hope of finding a swim for a two-hour session, as I would be passing
the venue on Monday morning.
4/5/15
– Should have known better as busy as hell so after a quick glance
returned home to get the kit sorted for a couple of guiding days as
well as giving the tackle shed a bit of a tidy.
5/5/15
– The first thing I did before opening the car door when I arrived
at Badshot Lea at 7am to meet my customer, Mel, was to tape my ears
back against my head, the wind was that destructive. Unfortunately
myself and Mel hadn’t been out for over a year due to one thing and
another but it was good to be back and today was all about banking
one of our boggy species, catfish. Luckily the wind seemed to have
kept most anglers away and we set up in a swim with plenty of water
to go at. With four rods out come 8am we sat back to await the action
and it didn’t take long in coming as after just an hour one of
Mel’s rods rips off resulting in a cat of 20lb 12oz. The action
from then on was steady with a further two cats falling, 8lb and 18lb
8oz plus a bream and a grass carp of 20lb 4oz that I fortunately
landed whilst Mel played a cat! Numerous aborted takes and one fish
that slipped the hook proved that cats aren’t just night feeders
but at this time of the year can be taken during daylight.
6/5/15
– If yesterday was good then today, once again with Mel, was just
as good. The wind was still howling making us sit in the car for half
an hour at Newdigate whilst a squally shower past. Luckily we were
the only mad anglers to have braved the day on this exposed venue and
first cast a personal best graced Mel’s net, an orfe weighing 5lb
4oz. The action continued as a fish was taken every twenty minutes
and come the end of the session ten tench plus four more orfe were
landed weighing 4lb 4oz, 5lb, 5lb 2oz and 5lb 7oz. It was two days of
remarkable fishing, ones we won’t forget, and proof that you need
to know your venue to get the best from it as although two rods were
used with identical end tackle, one was aimed at orfe the other
tench. The orfe rod produced four of the orfe plus a tench and the
tench rod, nine tench and an orfe! Here are a few words received from
Mel –
‘Hi
Duncan,
Thanks
for two stellar days chasing Cats and Golden Orfe.
To
catch Personal Best on consecutive days was terrific and to do it
whilst battling gale force winds and heavy rain was awesome.
I
continue to be amazed at the uncanny way you pick the right swims and
then maximise our chances with the perfect rigs and methods.
The
experience will live long in my memory.
I
look forward to planning some more PB's in conjunction with your
angling skills.
Kind
regards,
Mel.’
7/5/15
– Well what a few days it’s been and after catching Mel plenty of
fish I was looking forward to spending the night at Enton for a spot
of personal crucian fishing. Arriving mid afternoon I managed to drop
into one of my favourite swims, only to find out that it had produced
a 4lb 10oz crucian the day before! A few anglers I knew were around
so it was good to have a social before getting down to some serious
fishing come 6pm, however by the sound of things just catching a
crucian would be a result. The angler next door knew me and noticed
that I wasn’t going with the run of the mill, flat-bed feeder at
thirty yards and we shared some information which I know will help us
both on the venue. He landed a couple of 3lb+ crucians plus some
tench whilst I was setting up however things seemed to go quiet as
evening approached. I stuck with my tried and tested rigs and around
7.30pm was rewarded with a quick brace of crucians both weighing 3lb
10oz. Rubbing my hands together I expected a big hit yet it wasn’t
till 9.30pm that my next crucian came this time weighing 2lb 12oz
along with a tench. My brother fished as well and managed a tench on
the feeder and a 3lb 2oz crucian on the float yet Chris my fishing
buddy Chris fished till 11pm but failed to get on the score sheet. I
carried on till 2am and took another 2lb 10oz crucian plus three
tench before getting a couple of hours sleep. Come 4.30am there was
no getting any sleep as a cuckoo decided to wake the whole lake up
however even after an early start come 7am it was obvious that the
lake had switched off, yet two big crucians made it well worth the
effort.
9/5/15
– The alarm sounded at 3.30am, the reason was that I had to be at
Linear Fisheries in Oxfordshire to attend a Nash Roadshow. The
weather wasn’t kind to start with yet come late morning the clouds
drifted away and the sun came out as did lots of interested anglers.
Back at home I was able to gets a bucket of maize, maize crimp and
hemp soaking for a session targeting grass carp come the end of the
week.
11/5/15
– Today was spent compiling the next in my series of articles for
Coarse Angling Today, this time explaining the Pellet Waggler. Come
late afternoon I grabbed the fishing kit and headed to Enton. The
crucians had switched on due to the warm conditions, yet the bank
they were showing was stitched up so I headed to the railway bank
where I managed one crucian of 3lb 4oz plus six tench. Reports are
that the records gone again with the same fish and that plenty of
fours have been coming out as well as some lumpy carp.
12/5/15
– Another early one to try and get on top of things. First job was
to recreate a map of Willow Park then head off with Dad to get some
images of rivers for Anglers Mail.
13/5/15
– To be honest I’ve been slightly stressed this week as I
couldn’t see enough hours in the week to get everything completed.
Up early (again) the morning was spent writing up the Anglers Mail
‘Where to Fish’ venues whilst all the time loads of hemp, maize
and Crimped Maize boiled. I was surprised to complete everything an
hour earlier than scheduled so after sorting the kit out for
tomorrows bream guiding session, as well as some bits for Fridays
Grass carp guiding session and the kit for a days guiding for
crucians on Saturday thought I could head to Enton for a few hours
crucian fishing myself. Unfortunately straight away things seemed
gloomy as hardly any fish had been out and with the carp going crazy
spawning thoughts are that the crucains aren’t far behind. I did
set up in a swim not normally crucian fished for a few minutes but it
didn’t feel right so I headed home as I needed to take a few images
at a local lake to complete a feature with a pending deadline. With
this sorted and the final particles boiled I was able to put my feet
up (no such luck) and relax for a couple of hours before getting my
head down early as the alarm clock set for 5am, joy!
14/5/15
– Up at 5am and on the road by 6am, this time to Mote Park at
Maidstone. It was a venue first for both me and good friend Ian who
needed some guidance on how to approach a venue for the first time.
Unfortunately the weather forecast was for rain, not just the odd
shower but constant heavy rain and it started just a few minutes
after leaving home. Now normally I would have spent time walking
round the venue but with the rain still falling and knowing bream
follow the wind we set up at the westerly arm, not in a corner but in
swims where open water well out could be reached. Ian fished the tip,
open ended feeder with initially pellet on the hook but going through
the baits such as worm, boilie and finally scaling down with maggot
on the hook. Knowing the bream average 7lb I went in with ‘the big
guns’ scolded pellet around the lead with one rod on corn the other
on pellet. Overcast, windy and pellet is a recipe for bagging up yet
someone else had written the script as come 6hrs later just one bream
came to Ian’s net with myself scoring a dismal blank. We both
received liners to show their were fish around but the final piece of
the jigsaw was missing, in fact lots of pieces were missing. Trying
to work out what wasn’t right my only conclusion was yesterday the
wind was variable and in the early hours it decided to swing to the
east and although their were fish in front of us they weren’t
settled enough to feed. Mote Park is a lovely venue and when Ian
returns then I will be there to get our own back.
15/5/15
– Knowing Badshot Lea Big Pond so well, thoughts after yesterday’s
cold rain were that it would be tough. Meeting Chris and Martin at
6am we dropped into a couple of swims giving access to open water and
soon had the traps set, maize stacks fished over a bed of particles
(delivered by bait-boat). My rods were first out and after just 10
minutes one screamed off in proper king carp style. The fight was
also that of a king carp however all of a sudden the big head of a
grass carp surfaced and I extended the net under her. Fortunately she
was calm on the bank and gave me a pleasing weight of 25lb 2oz, my
best from the venue. Not long after returning her one of Martin’s
rod was away but contact wasn’t made. Rubbing our hands together we
awaited the next bite, yet after resetting the traps a couple of
times we were still waiting come packing away time, 5pm!
16/5/15
– Expecting Enton to be rammed we were surprised to find it
relatively quiet come 6am and both myself and Steve dropped into a
couple of my favoured pegs. Steve’s wife had bought him a voucher
for Christmas a year or so back for a days guiding but for some
reason we had to cancel last years session and reschedule (I think
Steve was just waiting till the lake was doing loads of four pound
crucians). Although the weather was favourable a nice westerly wind
blowing into our pegs and mild temperatures over night, I soon had a
feeling things weren’t going to happen. The reason why is when
Enton fishes fish can be seen moving, something they weren’t doing
this morning. Steve went out on the usual tactic, flat bed feeder and
I did something very different. Casting every 20mins or so failed to
bring a bite until my right had rod rips of in true tench style,
however the fish hooked failed to give the hard battle of a tench and
thoughts changed to a crucian, which it was, one weighing 3lb 4oz.
Two hours later another screamer produced a tench around 6lb yet two
bites in around 8hrs, ouch! Steve stayed on, loosing a good rudd as I
left and then an hour or so later called me to say that on his final
cast had taken a personal best crucian of 3lb 13oz. Well done that
man!
18/5/15
– 19/5/15 – If
you believe in the old wife’s tail ‘when the winds in the west
the fish bite the best’ then think again as last night was the
toughest I’ve ever known on Badshot Lea for the cats. With eight
rods out, two on particle you would have thought we would have
received more than one run but that was it, resulting in a cat of
23lb for Chris. The weather was strange as the skies cleared after a
morning of rain leaving a clear cold night with a strong S/W wind
that didn’t ease. Very little was moving and I would have put money
on the cats feeding with Atmospherics of 1004mb and a stormy feel in
the air but it just goes to show, when you think you have a winning
combination the fish just go and kick you in the painfuls, that’s
fishing. Back at home and after a couple of hours shut eye I started
getting the kit ready for a couple of days tench fishing, hopefully
in sunny Kent but I'm sure it will blow a gale, freeze us to bits and
blow like hell whilst were there!
20/5/15
– 22/5/15 – With
the final preparations made for our trip to Kent we got on the road
at 12.30pm and come 1.30pm were looking at a new lake for the first
time. Having a couple of nights at our disposal Chris and myself
carefully set up and after baiting up and a good chilli we cast rods
out in expectance, yet come first light little had happened. Fishing
in general, all across the country had been tough for a while and the
wind that was swinging here there and everywhere did little to boost
our confidence. Ted our guide for the session managed a 7lb 8oz tench
during the night and Chris had one of 6lb 15oz late morning, a period
that saw myself plagued by what I assume were eels yet during this
frustrating period hooked and lost what could have been tench.
Baiting the swims come evening we sat and awaited action once more
and come midnight another frustrating period on the maggot started,
yet two tench weighing 6lb 8oz and 7lb 2oz did fall to the pop-up. At
2.30am the swim died and apart from a pike that grabbed my pop-up on
the way in that was the last of the action. A really enjoyable,
rewarding and enjoyable session even if the fishing was somewhat
slow. Thanks Ted!
A
full write up can be seen in the blog – Two days in Kent.
23/5/15
– This morning I found myself at Willinghurst Fishery to take
images and take notes for an Anglers Mail ‘Venue Expert’ feature.
Keep an eye out in the magazine for venues near you, this week their
was one on Willow Park, near Aldershot.
26/5/15
– A day of getting on top of paperwork that had started to pile up,
sort tackle for tomorrow and quickly pop up to the river Loddon at
Dinton to get an image for an Anglers Mail ‘Where to fish’
feature.
27/5/15
– Having not fished for a few days I was glad to be back on the
bank and what a joy it was to walk down the path at Enton and find
the place relatively empty. No reason to ask if the crucians had
spawned the answer was obvious and I dropped into one of my favourite
swims, one that I couldn’t get near in previous weeks. Eager to try
out a new tactic that I knew would work soon had the rods screaming
and in the first hour I managed nine tench. Sport then slowed as the
sun rose and although it wasn’t easy the fish came at regular
intervals and over the next five hours a further six tench to 6lb
11oz plus three crucians, 2lb 10oz and a brace at 3lb 1oz.
28/5/15
– The morning was spent creating the words for the Willinghurst
Venue Expert before grabbing the kit and heading back to Enton. I
thought about fishing the whole night but with heavy rain and strong
winds forecasted to arrive by 4am decided to put the bed and shelter
in the car, just in case one of those red-letter sessions came along.
Setting up in the same swim it didn’t take long for the tench to
move in and come midnight no fewer than twenty six had graced my net,
including a proper lump as well as two small commons. In fact the
action tailed away come 10pm and with no crucians showing decided to
head home and miss the rain; however come 9am it still hadn’t
arrived!
29/5/15
– A day spent tying rigs up for Anglers Mail Questions and Answers.
