Monthly Report September 2016
Opps, may have opened a can of
worms with my comments last month about magic scales as I have had a number of
people asking, is it him and in most cases you are wrong? Let’s look at it like
this. I would only make a comment if I was 100% certain that there was
dishonesty happening. I just wanted
to rattle the cage of anyone that think
they can try it on and get away with it. If you are an honest angler, catching
specimen fish and are weighing them accurately then my comments should not in
any way have offended you.
Well September is finally with us and
do I see a slight change in the weather? Fished a river for the first time this
season and my god, do we need some rain as the river Thames was almost
stagnant! I have to admit, although the fishing was tough I really enjoyed the
company, change of scenery and the occasional roach to just over the pound and
certainly look forward to getting out on flowing water more in the next few
weeks.
Badshot Lea
Big Pond proved that we are still a long way from getting away from the
inconsistent fishing as although conditions looked brilliant for my customer,
come 10am and after catching plenty of bream the lake switched off. We tried
everything to buy a bite but come 3pm, and apart from what probably was a lost
grass carp, we threw in the towel. It just goes to show you that knowing and
being there when the fish are feeding is the difference between a good day and
a bad one.
With the humid weather continuing I just had
to revisit the eel lake for a couple more times with my mate Chris. The first
session was a real head banger as I had at least seven runs where line was
pouring off the spool but failed to connect with any. The first take on worms
saw a big fish hit the surface as I struck. It reminded me of Jeremy Wade
striking a Tarpon whilst in a boat at night that came out of the water to the
side of him, very strange but I have had eels come out of the water on the
strike before so assume I was close but no cigar! The runs came on both fish
heads and worms which tells us these eels are more predatory and are more than
likely going to have wide, big mouths. What was also strange was that Chris
fishing identical no more than twenty yards to my left never had one pick up
which made us think that my runs were coming from maybe the same eel. Whilst we
were there we could hear what we thought were mopeds in the distance, however
well away from any roads it soon became apparent what this was as a European
wasp was attracted by my head touch. Knowing how aggressive these can be and
realising they were very dozy we sat for the next couple of hours in fear of
being bitten and when Chris decided to tread on one that landed close to him,
and knowing they put out a distress signal I felt it was time to leave. The
second night was far less eventful as I failed to get a positive pick up on
bolt rig worms (trying everything now) whilst Chris received four screamers,
finally connecting with one, however we were somewhat disappointed as we were
both expecting a whopper not a s*****r to show. Time to leave the eels alone
this year but we will be back next spring.
My next trip was back to
Enton/Johnson’s, this time with my dad and girlfriend’s dad. Conditions looked
relatively good yet with few fish moving on arrival (always a bad sign here) we
knew it would be tough. I used the Pellet Cone and managed three modest tench
alone with losing one whilst both dad’s failed to catch which seemed the trend
around the lake as I only knew of one other tench being caught, tough or what!
The fun really started when on packing up I heard Mick let out a cry and on
turning saw my father, who’s 84 and just recovering from a knee operation, in
mid air and lake bound! He had to do this next to the dam in the deepest part
of the lake, however with the help of another angler we managed to drag him out
with just the odd cut, bruised and nettle sting (plus a cracked rib which was
later discovered). I’m not sure who was more shocked dad or the passengers on
the train passing as anyone looking would have been confronted with a naked man
revealing all. Not the prettiest sight!
It was good to catch up with my
mate, Tom Aldous this month, however I gave him the choice of venue and species
and he suggested the river Loddon and barbel. Now with the weather set to be
wet all day I didn’t relish roving around so decided to sit in a pool and keep
dry yet after two hours of little activity decided to get wet and go find a
fish or two. Not long after settling in a swim it seemed my run of catching not
a lot was going to continue as the three foot twitch came yet the hook pulled
on what felt a big barbel. Gutted I continued and soon, in another swim saw a
repeat performance happening, yet this time a spirited seven pounder graced my
net. Readers will remember last year me writing about the litter on the banks
of a certain stretch of the river Loddon and that the angler (he can’t be
classified as an angler) who leaves certain revealing items about his identity
on the banks. Well the Benson and Hedges smoking, coke drinking and luncheon
meat user is back as he had once again decided to chuck all his crap in the
bushes! I just wish the bailiffs were more active as it wouldn’t take long to
single this person out and ban him for life, well that’s if he’s a member?
Tom’s a good learner and returned a few days later and bagged himself his first
ever Loddon barbel. Let the flood gates open.
Last month I mentioned how the
rudd at Frensham and the crucians at Enton had disappeared and thought that
they were either full up or eating naturals. Well the crucians have reappeared
at Enton and they certainly have been feeding over the summer, obviously on
naturals as the high two’s are now three’s and the odd one is even breaking the
4lb barrier. In all honesty if I had looked at the weather forecast on Thursday
22nd then I would have never set the alarm for Friday morning but I
felt the need just to go fishing by myself. On arrival at Enton I found the
lake still and covered in mist and with the temperature at only 6 degrees, a
clear sky and no wind forecasted along with few fish showing knew I was there
just for the love of fishing. However there is a saying that ‘all the time you
have a bait in the water, you have a chance’ and that was certainly the case as
after a blank two hours the fish for some unknown reason switched on and
rewarded me with nine crucians to 3lb 14oz plus two carp and a tench. It just
goes to show that we know little about when fish feed and although we can
predict things quite accurately it’s always worth going, even if you think it’s
not!
I also had a few days away with
my dad and brother so time on the bank feels somewhat down this month however
when I looked at my diary inputs I was surprised to see that I had actually
fished for myself nine times, (53hrs) along with guiding on two occasions
(19hrs) and producing three features (21hrs), so not a bad month. These hours
don’t include travelling or getting kit ready, however they are still well down
on what I am trying to achieve so hopefully will start to address this
Day to Day events.
01/09/16 – Headed
to the river Thames early afternoon to produce an OTB feature for Anglers Mail.
02/09/16 – Guiding
day at Badshot Lea in the hope that the bream are feeding. Arrived at 6.30am
and come 10am all looked good for a proper bagging session yet come 10am the
lake switched off. John caught nine quality bream and a tench up till then but
lost just one fish in the next five hours, still 50lb of bream can’t be argued
with.
03/09/16 & 04/09/16
– Spent most of the weekend writing AM articles.
05/09/16 – Headed
to the newly found eel lake with a slightly better approach. Cast out at 8pm
and twenty minutes missed a screamer. This continued into the evening with both
my deadbait and worm rods going, however seven bites came and all were missed!
Chris sat next to me and had absolutely no pucks ups which makes us think we
have few eels in the lake. The ones that are there are predatory big mouth ones
as they picked up both fish and worms and that my bites probably came from the
same one or two eels. We also think these eels are something special. Let’s see
how they handle a bolt rig next week!
06/09/16 – At
long last a day out with my and the girlfriends dad. Meeting at around 7am we
headed to the railway bank at Enton, however with few fish moving we knew it
would be tough. I managed three tench plus one lost come 2pm which as far as I
knew was top-rod for the day as most others failed to catch. Failing to catch
on rod and line. Dad even tried to get in with them at one stage!
08/09/16 – Headed
to Oxfordshire at first light, this time to meet up with my good friend Jake
Lund who was fishing Christchurch Lake on the Linch Hill Complex to get a few
images for an Anglers Mail feature.
09/09/16 – Another
attempt to get an AM feature in the bag, however with a really strong wind and
bright conditions it seemed from the start that we were on a looser, so moved
to a slightly more sheltered area where we struggled for a few roach.
10/09/16 – After
picking Tom up from Winchester we headed to the river Loddon in hope of a
barbel. The weather was terrible but our persistence paid off with myself
taking one which was around 7lb. It could have been so much better but a rare
hook pull on what felt like a big fish was quite gutting.
12/09/16 – The
hopes of a monster eel were dashed when Chris connected with a two-pound
bootlace, yet at least he put a hook in one which was more than I’ve done!
13/09/16 – After
a few hours in the office headed to Richmond to create an AM feature. If you
like stick float fishing then keep an eye out for this one.
14/09/16 – Spent
the day in the office completing a couple of AM articles.
15/09/16 – It’s
going to be a long day as after no sleep due to the noisy storm last night
found myself on the road come 5am heading to the river Wye near Hereford. It
wasn’t the best of journeys but I finally found myself with a nice mug of
coffee in my hand made by Sue at Sink Green Farm where I met up with good
friend Mark Grafham and my customer for the day who was treated by his
girlfriend to one of my vouchers last Christmas. If the other half is finding
it difficult to know what to buy you for Christmas then why not get them to buy
you ‘A day with Duncan’ voucher? Fortunately Mark had done some research
earlier in the week and directed us to a couple of producing swims where we
caught steadily all day on both the feeder and float which what Matt really
wanted to do. The barbel were all sizes from a pleasing 12oz right up to a
proper one weighing 9lb 10oz for Matt along with the odd decent chub. Anyone
wanting to try this fantastic river then get in touch as I am going to be
spending some time there next year and can work out a price and organise
B&B if needed. Come 10pm I found myself pulling into the driveway, totally
knackered but very pleased with how the day turned out.
19/09/16 – 22/09/16
– Spent a few days away with my brother and dad at Coghurst Hall Holiday Park
near Battle in East Sussex. My brother managed to catch some sizable mackerel
of the pier which we enjoyed for breakfast whilst my dad and I fished the sites
lake which apart from a few skimmers and a big eel that I lost at the net on a
white boilie proved somewhat difficult. The following day we fished the Old
Specimen Lake at Wylands and enjoyed all sitting in a line catching carp to
high doubles. We were supposed to leave Friday morning but dad had a pain under
his right arm so needed to get it checked out with the doctor who seems to
think that whilst falling into Enton he cracked a rib!
23/09/16 – Having
the best part of the day to myself I headed to Enton, however after two hours
looked as if I was starring a blank in the face. Then things started to happen
and in the next three hours landed nine crucian to 3lb 14oz, two small carp and
a tench before reluctantly having to head home to sort some financial things
out.
25/09/16 –
Knowing that the crucians were once again on the feed and that a few specimens
were showing made my mate Chris head 
there as I felt he had a very good chance of
beating his 3lb 12oz best. Dropping into a couple of favoured swims things
weren’t looking that good as after a few hours all we had to show for our
efforts were one 3lb 3oz crucian, a small tench and a rudd between us, but then
Chris received a screamer that he initially thought was a tench. That tench
finally turned into a crucian weighing exactly 4lb, a known fish that Paul
Garner caught a couple of times a few years back. Happy days and I love it when
a plan comes together.
28/09/16 – Headed
to the river Loddon with Tom to try and create a barbel video. Arriving at 1pm
in fairly bright conditions and finding the river low and clear it was always
going to be a struggle but I wanted to prove that if you adopt the right
approach then you should be able to buy a bite or two and that’s exactly what
we did. Unfortunately the size of the barbel and chub wasn’t anything to set
the world on fire but I took satisfaction knowing that if I can catch the
smallest barbel in the river then I can certainly catch the biggest, all I need
to do is continue getting bites, which isn’t proving difficult of late. 
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