Duncan’s
Monthly round-up – May 2015
Well
what a transformation in the weather from the 1st
to the 30th,
at least it seems that summer has finally arrived now.
It’s
been one of my busiest ever months seeing myself on the bank no fewer
than twenty one times. These trips have been split between Guiding
(9), Personal (10 and Features (2) a total of 135hrs in which a bait
was in the water. These sessions have seen the short crucian campaign
at Enton come to a close resulting in my new personal best of 4lb 4oz
and with the opening of the river the barbel campaign commence. As
you can see time has been spent getting to know a new river as well
as baiting a few swims with the hope that a few barbel with get onto
the feed and give us some results. To be honest I wasn’t expecting
any barbel to show in June, so when the last session produced a
proper ‘big un’ it was a satisfying result. Let’s just hope the
flood gates open and one comes along to smash my personal best that
stands at 16lb 10oz.
June
was also a sad month as Sky TV has pulled on Tight Lines, a show that
has been running for years and one that encourages youngsters to get
into fishing as well as portraying angling in such a variety of ways.
If
you’ve been reading my face book page you will see that I have
tried my best to keep a few teasers posted and for all those that
look forward to seeing what I have been up to in more depth, well
read on…
DAY TO DAY EVENTS
29/5/15
– I didn’t expect to fish again in May and even wrote up my
monthly blog however Ben at Apollo had a contact for me to do a Venue
Expert feature, so put the tackle in the car as it was still made up
from the previous night. Arriving around 4pm I found the venue to be
busy with the weekend carpers already in position so dropped into peg
19. Using my new found method and placing plastic baits on both rods
I cast one out around twenty yards whilst placing the other under the
rod tip. The close in rod failed to produce but further out saw
around a dozen tench taken plus three crucians, 3lb 5oz, 3lb 10oz and
the fish that is being claimed as a new British record and a new
personal best for myself, spawned out weighing 4lb 4oz!
01/06/15
– Summers certainly not here yet as a wet and windy weather front
sweeps the country over the next couple of days. At just 12 degrees
and with a strong wind I nearly stayed at home like most other
anglers but suffering from a bad toothache and struggling to
concentrate on anything headed out into the gloom. Should have stayed
at home as after three and a half hours I failed to get a bite as did
my dad who joined me and with no fish showing knew that Enton was
having one of its off days and packed up once the rain started to
fall. Back at home I managed to get started on tying up some rigs and
answering some questions for Anglers Mail.
03/06/05
– The tooth ache continues even after a trip to the dentist yet I
managed to finish off the AM answers and questions along with sorting
out the tackle for a guided overnight cat trip to Badshot Lea
tonight.
04/06/05
– Unfortunately apart from good company the fishing at BLBP was
terrible. It wasn’t just us as others seem to be struggling and
apart from one bream and a missed run, that was it. Trying to fathom
out why it was so slow we have to look at the weather again. The moon
was full, the temperature dropped from 20 degrees to just 5 and the
wind swung from the S/W to an easterly overnight. Its one of those
occasions when the two anglers will have a return visit on me in a
few weeks time.
Back
at home it was time to tidy the tackle, get tomorrows kit sorted for
Newdigate, and visit the dentist again, before heading to the river
to start a pre-baiting campaign for the start of the river season.
05/06/15
– Another early start, up by 5am and on the road by six to meet up
with Lewis my customer for the day and a session at Newdigate to see
if he could catch his first ever golden orfe. The warm weather
continues, albeit very muggy, the perfect fishy day when you would
put money on them crawling up your rods and after the last few
difficult sessions I was hoping to see some consistent sport. How
wrong was I as apart from a very early tench and tiny golden orfe
things went quiet. The wind was swinging all over the place and a few
hours past with little activity yet a spell late morning saw two
golden orfe of 4lb 7oz and 4lb 8oz caught along with three modest
tench. Come 1pm the sport, as predicted slowed and come 3pm it was
time to head home before the traffic built up. It was great to see
that the big orfe I caught at 6lb 5oz had survived the horrific
injuries inflicted by a heron, although badly scared and well down in
weight at 4lb 7oz, lets hope she starts putting some weight on.
Back
at home it was once again all go as I needed to get the tackle ready
for a Farnham Angling Society Junior Teach-in the following day.
06/06/15
– Knowing that the fishing on Badshot Lea had taken a turn for the
worse of late I wasn’t over confident of catching the two
youngsters, Ethan and Jack, some fish, especially as we were starting
at 9am. The wind was strong and from the side making casting
difficult however the helicopter rig did its business providing a 4lb
bream to Ethan just seconds after casting out. Unfortunately his
younger brother had to leave for football practice early so missed
out on the bream action as by the time he returned his brother had
managed another three along with a few roach and perch. Fortunately
their were still a few fish feeding, mainly perch and roach which
kept him happy. It was a great session, just a shame that so few
youngsters aren’t interested in other species apart from carp and
that these sessions are so badly attended, yet refreshing to help the
few that are. I’m certain that their dad learnt lots; let’s just
hope he puts everything into practice in next weeks army charity
match!
Back
at home I had to sort out the camera kit as tomorrow sees another
early start, this time heading off to Larford Lakes to shoot a
feature with Perry Stone.
07/06/15
– It’s Sunday and I’m a bit dazed when the alarm sounds at
5.45am, yet once I come to my senses I realise I need to be in
Worcestershire around 8.30am. Fortunately the drive was a good one
and I arrived to meet Perry Stone setting up on the Specimen Lake.
Can’t tell you anymore, however if you want to know a few of his
secrets then you need to keep an eye on Anglers Mail as the feature
will be in it soon.
08/06/15
– Tapping away on the computer keyboard by 7am as well as sorting
through yesterday’s images so that I can get the feature to AM by
the end of the day. Come the evening I headed south to pre-bait a few
swims for the fast approaching river season.
09/06/15
– A change of venue from Wylies to Willow saw myself guiding good
friend Ron to a bit of floater and zig fishing. Unfortunately the
strong cold north east wind and spawning activities put paid to
countless amounts of fish and we arrived to find a usually active
lake dead. The zigs failed as did swapping over to helicopter rigs
but after careful baiting we managed to get the odd carp feeding
which finally saw Ron land his personal best carp, a common of 16lb
10oz. It was certainly one of those days when one bite turned what
could have been a blank into one he will remember.
Back
home by 2.30pm I quickly gathered my kit so I could join up with my
dad at Johnsons. It seems the words out that everywhere is fishing
hard as unlike previous weeks the banks were almost deserted! Dad was
already set up and had lost a tench so at least a few fish were
biting and come dusk he had taken around six tench to over 6lb. I
managed a dozen or more fish with two crucians and a tench of 7lb
10oz being the pick of the bunch and my mate Chris fished for a
couple of hours taking three tench and a 3lb 4oz crucian.
11/06/15
– With a couple of hours spare before meeting an angler at
Richardsons on the Marsh Farm Complex I cast out a couple of rigs
into Johnsons in hope of a few crucians yet it was once again just
tench that graced my net. Back on Richardson Trevor was steadily
catching crucians for an Anglers Mail Venue Expert feature. Back home
by 3pm I managed to get the tench kit sorted for a days guiding at
Mill Lane as well as proof reading a couple of past articles.
12/06/15
– Once again I was up early meeting Alan at Mill Lane. He wanted an
introduction to the venue as he was looking at increasing his
personal best tench. We had already agreed that a bite would be a
result as I know some very capable anglers that have taken a long
time to get to know the venue before they started to catch.
Fortunately the venue was quiet and the weather, humid and stormy
seemed to be playing into our hands however the horrid N/E wind that
had plagued us all over the last week or so had decided to change to
the S/W. A good thing you may think yet we were at the changeover
stage and found the lake to be flat calm. A few tench were rolling
and bubbling and we decided to attack the venue in two ways. Alan
went in positive with a few balls of groundbait just over the inside
weed cover whilst I decided to fish for a bite, scaling things down
and fishing the same rigs as those so effective at Johnsons. Alan
looked as if it would be him that caught with loads of fizzing in his
swim as well as constant liners, yet it was my rod that flew into
action producing a tench just shy of 6lb. That was the end of the
action as late morning the lake died and come 3pm, just before the
heavens opened we headed home happy as loads of lessons had been
learnt, ones that he will certainly gain from in his next visits.
15/06/16
– The standard day in the office this time writing my latest
article for Coarse Angling Today. Time was also spent getting the rod
ready for an early start to the new river season.
16/06/15
– Early to bed, early to rise and the alarm sounded at 4am. Meeting
my mate Chris next to the river at 5am we, not surprisingly, found a
couple of other anglers already on the river so as we have been
baiting a few swim leading up to the start had to keep a low profile
as not to be seen. This unfortunately took a part of the river out
that we had high hopes off but we still had three spots to try that
had also been baited. Knowing just how slow the rivers can be during
the first few weeks we had already agreed that getting a bite would
be a result so set about the task of achieving this. Chris fished a
well good looking swim but in the five hour stint failed to get a
response. I had two swims to go at and after less than half an hour
hooked a sizeable fish yet it was definitely not a barbel.
Unfortunately the hooked pulled and I consoled myself that it had to
be a big bream, yet in the back of my mind I knew it could have been
a big chub. A good fish showed itself moving up the far bank, carp I
would suspect, so this was an encouraging sign for the future. The
last swim seemed devoid of fish, yet it was by now late morning.
Back
at home it was time for a couple of hours shut eye before taking the
girlfriend for a meal as her birthday also falls on the glorious
16th.
17/6/15
– In the office by 7.30am and working on a feature on unhooking
mats for Anglers Mail. All finished by 6pm and out for another meal
to celebrate my brothers birthday.
18/6/15
– This is the time of year when burning the candle at both ends
comes into play as this morning I was up at 4am and at Enton by 5am
as I was meeting my girlfriends dad, Mick, who had never fished the
venue before. With the wind pushing into the shallows I hoped spaces
would be free but there wasn’t any and after quickly trying a
couple of new swims but not feeling it, I headed for the railway bank
which was empty. By now the wind had swung to the north east and
literally seconds after setting Mick up he was away with a tench.
Thinking the flood gates would open he then struggled, yet the next
fish he caught was a 3lb 1oz crucian. My dad had now arrived and I
was well into a rhythm having taken two crucians and three tench, yet
although steady things did slow up. Dad however was giving me a right
lesson in catching and by the time I had left at 11am he had caught
me up and landed five crucian to 3lb 2oz plus six tench. I ended the
session with five crucians to 3lb 6oz and six tench so all in all a
pretty good session.
Back
at home and after lunch I was straight back into the office
paperwork, banking, blog writing as well as sending over articles and
images to Anglers Mail along with getting the rods and tackle sorted
for my first eel session of the year and by 9pm the rods were out.
19/6/15
– Unfortunately come 5am and apart from a few very strange bleeps a
run hadn’t developed. My mate Chris however had received two
screamers in the night but unfortunately failed to make contract with
either.
Back
at home I was once again feature writing this time a ‘Venue Expert’
for the Mail before once again grabbing the eel kit and heading off
again for another night, but not before dropping some bait in the
river to keep our barbel swims alive.
Rods
out come 9pm and soon after casting out a pike of around 7lb picks up
my deadbait. Then as darkness arrives the bleeps begin but not before
missing a proper eel bite. Around 11pm an aborted take occurs then I
connect with the next bite and an eel of 3lb 15oz is taken. The
bleeping continues before a change of bait at 12.30am sees the swim
quieten down. Chris tries the same swim as the night before and again
has loads of bleeps and one aborted take.
21/6/15
– It was a toss up whether to go fishing today on the river or
leave it till the morning. Although the weathers far better today I
decided to spend most of the day completing an Anglers Mail feature
and head to the river on Monday. The main reasons are their will be
far less anglers around and after baiting the swims on Friday feel
that the barbel, if any are around, will be ready for some more.
Let’s wait and see.
22/6/15
– On the river by 8am and covered five of the six baited swims
giving each around an hour. First swim had two good fish roll and
started to rub my hands together yet when the bite came the tip bent
round slightly slower than I would have wished for. Straight away I
guessed it was a bream and right I was, one that weighed 7lb 10oz.
The fight was the same as the fish lost last week so I’m now sure
that was a bream as well, albeit in another swim. Baited all the
swims prior to leaving and back at home by 3.30pm giving me plenty of
time to sort the kit for a rudd guiding day tomorrow and a tight
lines feature on Wednesday.
23/6/15
– Managed to get to the Frensham early to see what swims were free
and with the wind predominantly from the west headed to a swim with
plenty of ripple. I was meeting a new customer today, one that I had
met whilst guiding on the river Test at Timsbury during the winter
and had mentioned how he would love to catch a big rudd. After
running through the two similar but slightly different set-ups we
managed to get the rods out by around 3.30pm. Regular casting to
build the swim finally bought a response around 5pm however this was
from a tench that unfortunately threw the hook. Around 7pm Neil Wayte
turned up for a chat and whilst enjoying catching up the alarm
sounded and Ritchie hooked what at first seemed to be a coot, yet
with the coot going one way and the line the other he soon became
somewhat jelly legged and after a short fight managed to place the
fish he had dreamed of in the net, a rudd weighing 2lb 3oz. This
signalled a flurry of bites to both rods and come 11pm he had managed
another four weighing 1lb 15oz, 2lb 2oz, 2lb 5oz and 2lb 8oz. So
happy he even knocked the session on the head an hour early so he
could score some brownie points back at home. Good luck Ritchie, I
know you are going to like Frensham!
24/6/15
– Up at 5.30am as today I was fishing once again for the Tight
Lines crew. I can’t say too much apart from ‘I’m only human’.
The show will go out on Friday 3rd
of July when I will be joining Keith in the Bothy to talk about the
start of the river session.
25/6/15
– With the tackle somewhat in a state today was mostly spent
tidying it up as well as getting things sorted for a tench and a
barbel guiding session on Friday and Saturday.
26/6/15
– Another early morning, 4am in fact and on the banks of Frensham
by 5am. Headed for the bridal path around half way along and prepared
the swim for my customer Andrew who arrived at 5.30am. A few tench
were rolling but it took at least an hour for the alarm to sound and
a tench to pick up his double maggot offering. It was the start of a
steady couple of hours in which four more tench were netted, the best
two weighing 6lb 7oz and 7lb 1oz, both supplying Andrew with new
personal bests. As expected the swim died around 9.30am but a shoal
of perch moved in early afternoon that kept us busy. Come 3pm it was
clear that the tench had switched off so both knackered decided to
call it a day and miss the rush hour traffic.
27/6/15
– Today I was hoping to help young Jake and his granddad William
catch their first ever barbel. Meeting at 8am at Stanford End we were
fortunate to only have one angler fishing and with a couple of good
barbel swims free we were soon settled with the pellet lead cast and
hopefully doing its job, attracting a barbel. I initially sat with
Jake who’s only 11 and just five minutes after casting in the tip
pulled round and he was away, yet it wasn’t a barbel but his first
ever chub, one that weighed 5lb 1oz. William hadn’t had any
enquiries so I decided to keep him on the move trying all the shaded
swims as the sun was now high and the temperatures on the rise.
Second swim and whilst talking to him the rod started to show signs
of fish and then the rod was gone with William not seeing the
three-foot twitch and now experiencing just how powerful a barbel can
be. After a few anxious minutes in which time the fish snagged him we
finally managed to get it in the net, not a big one but his first at
5lb 10oz. Jake was also moving around and could have had another chub
but we decided to wait till the rod ripped round so ignored the chub
taps and pulls. Unfortunately as the temperatures rose well into the
twenties all signs of fish disappeared and we decided that as we had
only fished six hours to knock it on the head and return another day
to make up the ten hours my guided sessions last. It’s not
something that I usually do but having covered all the best swims I
just couldn’t see another fish falling in such bright conditions.
29/6/15
– 1ST
FAS Barbel Teach-in, Venue Stanford End. Hot and bright with barbel
spawning. One chub of 5lb 4oz and an 8lb 12oz barbel caught.
30/6/15
– The hottest day of the year with temperatures into the low
thirties. Knowing that it would be almost impossible during daylight
I had to make a decision between targeting eels or barbel. It was a
far better night for eels with stormy conditions forecasted after
dark but knowing that the river needed its regular baiting up I
decided it would be barbel. Arriving to meet my mate Chris at 7pm we
headed to the furthest baited swim with the plan of working back
towards the car as the session progressed. Tossing a coin we picked
our swims and settled in and it was obvious quickly that my swim
contained fish. Two big heavy rolls, probably bream, showed that the
baiting was working then the liners stated before a steady pull round
resulted in nothing! Chris called soon after this as he had a good
bream and needing images for the Nash e-zine magazine I headed
downstream to take a few shots. Back in my swim and with the rod
positioned once more the same thing happened, it was as if I didn’t
have a hook on. Confident they were bream and with darkness falling
we headed downstream to the next baited spots.
Once
again two big fished rolled before the rod pulled round and yep,
you’ve guessed it, thin air was struck. Replacing the bait and
holding the rod once again saw a bite materialise however this time
the rig did its job and expecting a bream I was somewhat taken when
line started pouring from a tight clutch. To be honest Id seen a carp
in this swim last week and expected one of these to show so was
completely surprised when a good barbel showed. A few anxious moments
followed before the first of the campaign slid into the waiting net
and at 10lb 14oz it was a rewarding end to the session. Chris failed
to get any further enquires and having to work the next day finally
called it a day at 12.30am.
Let
the flood gates open!
One
unnerving point came when saying farewell to James in the third field
down as I turned around to see an oversized cat around 30 yards away
staring at us. This was at 9.50pm so it was quite dark, but we both
agreed it was definitely a cat and as it strolled downstream to get
away from us shining our head torches, every now and again stopping
to look back, it seemed to get bigger! I have heard stories of other
anglers witnessing a big black cat but this is my first sighting and
I’m sure it was a wild cat as it was to far away from any
buildings. On a more assuring note it was also brilliant to see a
barn owl working the field behind, once common on this stretch of
river but unfortunately the first I’ve witnessed for a few years
now.
