Monthly Report February 2017

Monthly Report February 2017

I suppose I’d better start by explaining TRD from last month’s write up. This actually stands for ‘The Rudd Diaries’ however to prove I’m not throwing a red-herring in I’m going to reveal that I’ve given up this winter as I just can’t locate them. Yes and not through lack of trying, well maybe, in a total of seven evenings at Frensham Great Pond I have received the grand total of zero bites! Things did look good, as first evening on, and in the face of a howling breeze my brother managed to bag himself a 2lb 9oz rudd. Anyone that has fished next to my brother will know that his flimsy old set-up seems to bleep for England, how he can tell a bite from the thousands of bleeps is beyond me but bag himself one he did as well as saying he had another chance. That evening I received the grand total of one bleep, that I do reckon was an enquiry. 

Feeling we weren’t in the right spot I decided to head to the opposite bank, albeit in another brewing storm. Some days we just talk ourselves into going, even when we know we shouldn’t and tonight was one of those days! It was a Sunday and I had to pick the girlfriend up from work at 4pm and with the light almost gone come 5pm I was on a loser right from the start, especially heading for an area that I hadn’t fished for a couple of years. Arriving at around 4.45pm I decided to pull the chest waders on in the car park and with the rain and wind growing had to wear my waterproof jacket over the top. With the hood flapping in front of my face and the tackle loaded over my shoulders and with hands full I made my way down the track but halfway to the lake I stumbled on a tree root and landed flat on my face. With my hands full I went down hard and after spitting out a bit of Frensham sand lay there for a few seconds wondering if I’d done myself any serious damage. Fortunately I hadn’t and after picking up pieces of kit that was thrown all over the place finally arrived at a swim to be faced with a howling wind coming straight in my face and the ice that had covered the lake the previous day now creating large flat spots in the heavy swirl. I finally moved up the lake a few yards, where there was no ice and after questioning my sanity managed to spod some hemp and maggots out. By now it was dark and here I was standing in the water thinking about going home all the time, but I was determined to fish. First rod went out fine but on casting the second something went wrong and although the feeder hit the spot I felt that I had clipped a tree behind. On winding in I found two foot of carbon dangling of the rod end, Joy. Frensham has been hard this winter and now down to one rod I finally threw the towel in, yet there was more damage to be seen as on winding in the first rod I realised that the handle shaft was bent. More joy. Wet and frustrated I headed home not realising that this sequence of events would be the highlight of my rudd diaries!

Back to the other things that I have been up to and in truth actually being outside has been dramatically limited, due to a new post that will be revealed next month which has taken up loads of my time. Ten bankside trips have all that I have managed, five being personal outings, mainly evenings at Frensham, three have been guiding other anglers and two have been features which is a shame as halfway through the month we were blessed with some really mild weather, 18 degrees in fact on the 20th. I was hoping that the six pound plus tench taken at the start of the month was going to see an upturn in my catch rate but it wasn’t to be, as from all my efforts I just can’t seem to get any bites, well not from big fish. Fortunately my customers have fared better and caught, so it really proves that I should have knocked the rudd fishing on the head and just gone out and caught what was feeding, something that I will be doing from now on. Although February has seen limited fishing the hard graft in the office is pretty much done so with the days getting longer, the weather getting slowly better and knowing that the fish will be up for a good feed I intend on making up for lost time during the coming months.

Day to Day events.

01/02/17 – Headed to Enton to team up with a mate who was enjoying a few hours on his birthday and with the temperature at 12 degrees thought there may be an outside chance of a winter crucian! Well I live in hope as the first bite of the new month came just as darkness was setting in, the culprit a bloody trout. Looks like my run of form is to continue! Fortunately an hour later another bite came and although not from a crucian it was from a proper fish this time, a 6lb tench. 

03/02/17 – With a storm brewing decided today was office day.

04/02/17 – Headed to Linear Fisheries this morning to team up with my mate Jake Lund and get another Anglers Mail feature sorted. With around 120 rods out the night before and only one fish out to our knowledge Jake took note of what was going on did something different and managed one within 40 minutes of casting out! If you’re a carper and want to put a few extra fish on the bank then it might be worth looking out for this feature coming soon to Anglers Mail. And to make things better I was back hope in time for the rugby, although we won it was a shame it was such a disappointing match.

05/02/17 – Spent the afternoon taking a few images for a feature to be shot tomorrow.

06/02/17 – Headed to a local lake to meet up with a bread/roach expert and gets more article images.

07/02/17 – Fishing come 7.30am, trying to copy a roach approach recently learnt. Conditions not great with loads of overnight rain and by arrival time the skies had cleared leaving a bright sunny start, not what this lake likes. Managed a few roach to just shy of a pound but after just a couple of hours, and once the mist had lifted, knew I was up against it. Loved it though and looking forward to mastering a new art. Should have known that there was something in the air, but headed to FBP in the hope of catching a few specimen rudd (one would be nice!), but fishing another new spot managed just one bleep. Brother Kevin fished next door and lost one as we were packing up. Not sure what hurts most, losing one or not getting a bite?

08/02/17 – Things are on the change, no not the weather or my catch rate but something that will see the direction of my angling career head. Can’t say too much but all will be revealed in around a month’s time. In the meantime and with the weather turning somewhat cooler I spent the day in the office finishing off yet another fishing article.

09/02/17 – The new project is taking up plenty of office hours but struggling to get my head around things I headed to Enton to clear my head. Three hours fishing between 5pm and 8pm on a raw day with temperature constant day and night at 2 degrees bought two bites, both from bloody trout!

10/02/17 – 15/02/17 – I was hoping to get out quite a bit during this period but the new project has taken up far more time than I had imagined, but at least I’m on the better side of it now. The weather over this period hasn’t been that great either and with one of my pets being ill, fishing has taken a back seat of late.

16/02/17 – The planned visit to the Frome had to be thought due to having to deal with the sick pet, so I headed to Frensham Big Pond with Chris in the hope of catching a pike or two to complete a self-take photo article for FAS. I didn’t arrive till 9am due to the problems at home and caught nothing up until noon, yet Chris had a couple in the net as I arrived so job done. Come 4pm I was back on the lake this time in the hope of a big rudd yet we both fished till 8pm when we wound in our rods and inspected the bait which hadn’t been touched.

20/02/17 – Spent the morning with a couple of customers at Waggoners Wells in unseasonably warm conditions, 18 degrees. Sport was steady for all of us with roach to a pound falling to our float tactics.    

21 & 22/02/17 – Another two days getting this new assignment up and running.

23/02/17 – Storm Doris is sweeping the country but where am I, on the Loddon with a customer. As they say a good day for catching isn’t a comfortable day for fishing but roving through the swims Chas was rewarded with three chub, 3lb 9oz, 3lb 10oz and a last cast whopper weighing 5lb 9oz.

24/02/17 – Out with Chas again, this time trotting the Blackwater. After a frost it

was always going to be hard but Chas had chub to 3lb 11oz plus roach, perch, dace, gudgeon and smaller chub. His cousin Jay spent the day on the lead using bread and had four chub, the best around 3lb 8oz.

25/02/17 & 27/02/17 – Another couple of full days in the office getting up to date with things and writing an article for Anglers Mail.

28/02/17 – An early start, up at 5.30am but still didn’t cast out till around 7.30am due to one thing and another. Perch were are target for the day but we couldn’t have wished for worse weather as there had been loads of overnight rain, yet come dawn the ground was frosty and the skies clear. For some reason, every time I plan to head to this certain venue with a customer I’m faced with similar conditions yet we still managed to catch our target species, yet the planned for two pounders and hopeful three’s failed to show. A few carp kept us on our toes but sometimes you just have to take what’s delivered and do the best you can.