Fishing friends reunited

Crystal clear 

I am not a big fan of facebook but it is occasionally useful for keeping in touch and finding old friends. I had not seen or even heard from my old fishing buddy Nick Hammond for more than 15 years and it is almost 20 years since we last fished together so you can imagine my excitement as I pointed the car in the direction of Avington Trout fishery and a rendezvous with my old mate and some big Trout.
Avington fishery is an intimate complex of three shallow lakes, chalk stream fed with crystal clear water giving superb visibility and wonderful stalking opportunities. It is located in the stunning grounds of Avington Hall just outside of Winchester and is stocked with some absolutely gorgeous Trout, excellently conditioned full tailed fish. On site there is a well stocked tackle shop, gutting and cleaning facilities and a cafe bar.
The fishery opens at 8am and despite the 80-90 mile journeys we both arrived at virtually that time on the dot. We purchased three fish tickets and went for a recce round the lakes chatting away and spotting fish. The water was so clear that Nick joked it would be easy to just foul hook them.
The far end of the middle lake was teaming with fish so we started there and and within a couple of casts my companion shouted across that he was in, hooked perfectly in the dorsal! His claims of accidental fell on deaf ears considering that it was his idea only moments earlier. His protestations of innocence continued throughout the fight but as we landed the fish it become the source of mickey taking for the rest of the day. That aside it was a good start to the day.

He had caught it on an orange lure so I changed to the same fly, which Nick pointed out was ridiculous as the fish had not taken it properly but it worked and the next cast I landed a 6lb 14oz caught fair and square in the chops.

The rain had started so we took shelter and over coffee caught up on events over the last two decades. Between the ages of 11 and 17 we had virtually lived at each other's houses (when we weren't fishing-which was a lot) so it felt quite surreal chatting away after all this time. Once the rain had passed we went back to the fishing, I took the next fish and we decided to slow down, we had all day and didn't want to bag up too quickly.

Nick fished on while I went for a wander, with only one fish needed for my limit I went in search of a biggie, and I found one patrolling the far margin. It would have to wait though as a pub lunch was calling, far too civilised!
On the outskirts of the estate is the Bush Inn and I would thoroughly recommend it, fine ales, lovely food and a nice beer garden bordered by a babbling chalk stream.

I plumped for the Stilton Burger.....

Nick went for Gammon and duck egg.

With bellies full we returned to the fishing, I found the big Trout which was now named Walter ( If you have not watched 'On Golden Pond' then do so) and started stalking it while Nick fished further along trying to foul hook anything. Mid-afternoon and he put another on the bank, this time it was mouth hooked.

Meanwhile old Walter got spooked by my amateurish casting at him and skulked off to hide so I landed one of his smaller mates.

Nick finished off his limit not long after and that was the end of the action, a brilliant days fishing and we vowed to not leave it as long until next time!

Chub pb

As the sun set on the Warwickshire Avon I spent the evening once again trotting a float down my favourite swim. My target was Barbel but I don't mind catching Chub, they are not seen as nuisance fish in my book rather an added bonus, especially when they are the size of my first of this particular session.
My Loafer float had only just landed beneath the far bank Willows (not an easy cast!) when it shot under and I knew I was connected to a decent fish. Even Chub fight hard in this fast water and when I saw it's big open mouth break through the surface I thought 'this is a five'. It was only in the net that I realised the depth of it and that it could be close to a pb. On the scales it went 5lb 15oz, of course I reweighed it and gave the scales a shake but I could not claim my first ever 'six'. I was and still am however really pleased with a new pb.

Avon Chub don't seem to be long fish but they do seem to be getting heavier and they are definitely deeper bodied than they were a few years back.

I fished on thinking it would be great to get a new pb Barbel on the same session but the chances were slim- I keep doing the lottery too!
I did however nail a brace of Barbel, the first being my biggest so far of this season weighing 9lb 10oz.

I followed this with a 6lb 5oz fish not long after.

I carried on but that was the last of the action.

Trotting for Barbel on the Avon

Just couldn't get to sleep last night, I must have been excited about my first river session of the new season. Surprisingly I didn't feel that tired when the alarm went off at 4am but I am certainly feeling it now. Choosing where to fish was not difficult, I headed straight for my favourite fast water swim to trot some luncheon meat down under the willows for the many Barbel that live there.

It took a little while to get into the swing of fishing in running water again and I lost the first fish probably because I was rusty but after about an hour I had a fish on the bank and it wasn't a bad start weighing 8lb 14oz. 

I helped her recover in the fast water (whilst messing about with the under water camera).
Having got that first fish under my belt a steady succession followed all falling for my moving meat approach.

7lb 11oz

Unweighed Chub about 3lb

7lb 4oz

5lb

4lb 14oz Pug-nosed Chub

6lb 1oz

At midday I called it a day finishing the session with seven Barbel and three Chub- not a bad mornings work!

Still Tenching

Chez Tench

The new season begins but rather than rush down to the river I decided to avoid the crowds and pointed the van in the opposite direction towards the crystal clear gravel pits of Oxfordshire. My Tench campaign has been nothing short of a disaster this year so old Tinca was the target for my worm hook baits. The conditions seemed just about perfect, warm and overcast with just a slight ripple on the water. I arrived late due to a thick head from a mate's wedding the day before but was pleased to see I had virtually the whole lake to myself.
As I walked the bank a Tench porpoised about thirty yards out and made swim selection a doddle. It looked like it was going to be easy pickings but fishing is rarely just that. I had my first run after a couple of hours, just before lunch, an absolute screamer and just as I was taking control the hook inexplicably pulled-gutted. The line was covered in slime so it must have been a Tench and the speed of the fish had me thinking it was a small male.
I was beginning to think that it might be the only bite of the day when the alarms registered a stuttering take. I struck into another fish, much more of a plodder and when it finally surfaced my suspicions were confirmed, a good size female. I let out a sigh of relief as I bundled her into the net and on the scales she registered 8lb 13oz. At last a decent Tench on the board.

Oxford Tench really are stunning creatures.
I managed one more run but annoyingly the hook pulled again so I gave up early, it was father's day and I wanted to see the kids some.

An evening with Carp

It seems like ages since I last had a chance to get on the bank but it is only a fortnight, just far too busy at the moment! This evening I grabbed a Carp rod and a bucket of dog biscuits and popped down to a local puddle for a bit of fun. I knew there was little chance of landing a monster but there has been a rumour circling round that an unknown thirty pound leather has recently come out of the water in question. I had no designs on landing that particular fish, just a pull back on the line would be satisfactory. Upon arrival I stopped for a quick chat with an old bloke who was also floater fishing. He was blanking but I am not sure why, he had fish topping all over the place in front of him!

I set up a couple of swims away, close enough to join in the fun but hopefully not really stepping on his toes. 

It didn't take long before I also had fish in front of me and within ten minutes a decent fish fell for my banded floater. It put up a spirited battle trying several times to snag me in tree roots but eventually it tired and rolled across the net cord. It scraped into double figures weighing 10lb 11oz, an old warrior of a mirror Carp.

The fish became a little spooky after the disturbance but eventually started feeding again in ernest, only trouble was the light was fading and I was struggling to pick out my bait amongst the freebies. I hooked and lost a smaller fish before deciding on a change of bait. I tied on a fake 'dog biscuit fly' which was much more visible in the impending gloom.

A deer hair pattern with a red wooly sighter trimmed to size on a size 10 barbless hook. 

To begin with the fish shied away from it but as it got wetter it sat lower in the water and they took more interest. I missed a couple of takes before eventually I connected with another battling Carp. By the time I landed it it was really dark so I took a quick net shot and returned it to it's water home.

Another scraper double, this time an immaculate Common weighing 10lb 2oz. The promised rain had just started so I called it quits and buggered off home.

I was never going to break any records but floater fishing for Carp is a good way to spend a couple of hours. I certainly caught a more than the idiots blasting out music on the other lake!

Back in the game

 Every angler at some point has to endure a lean spell and with three blanks in a row I hope that today was the end of mine. In my opinion it has been the weather's fault, every recent day off has seemed to coincide with a drop in temperature, the fish must be loathing it as much as I am. This week however has seen a steady increase of several degrees and the fish seemed to have responded. Today Carp could be seen cruising the warm upper layers, a shoal of Roach 'pimpled' the surface as they sipped the substantial hatch of flies and occasionally they would scatter as the Pike charged at them. It all made for an interesting sideshow but I had set my sights on landing some big Tench.
I employed my usual tactics of worm and feeder and I started the session with high hopes. I tried to remain optimistic but as the hours ticked by my confidence began to wain. However just after lunchtime a stuttering bite turned into a run and it was fish on. The fight was fairly nondescript until the fish saw the net and then it went ballistic. I could see in the crystal clear water that it was a decent fish which did nothing for my nerves. I reeled it back within range only for it to set off on another run taking my other line with it. Eventually I bundled it into the net and my poor run of results came to an end.

It wasn't a monster at 7lb 6oz but it was most welcome.

She swam off strongly and soon after I added a feisty little male of 4lb 11oz. That was the last of the action for this particular session but hopefully the fish will really get on the feed as they should at this time of year.

Frustrating Carp blank

This was my view for the evening, perched low behind the reeds in the only sheltered part of the pond whilst the wind ripped across the rest of the water. It was for too breezy for floater fishing on the top especially with a fly rod but if fishing wasn't a constant challenge we would soon stop coming back for more. I had a rare (of late) opportunity for a couple of hours waterside and I was not about to pass it up.

As the sun started to drop below the horizon I finally managed to get a few Carp feeding just beyond the lilly pads. The temperature dropped beyond comfortable but I stuck it out in hope that just one fish would take the fly but alas it was not to be. They sporadically took the freebies but avoided the bait, the view was nice though.

Gravel Pit Tenching

It's that time of year when my obsession with catching a double figure Tench begins again. For the last few years my efforts have centred around the Linear complex, mostly on Hardwick Smiths lake, not because it gave me the best chance but because it is the least heavily fished so fairly peaceful. However this year I have decided to target a different water, well a change is as good as a rest.
My feeling is it's a little too early in the year for the really big Tench, the few weeks before spawning giving the best chance(of a double) which this year will probably be late June due to the long cold Winter. Today I used my usual worm based approach.
It took a couple of hours before I had the first indications and the bite developed into a 4lb 7oz male in the net. A pleasing start to a campaign on a new venue but I would have preferred a big fat female, lady Tench are always bigger than their scrappy boyfriends.

It didn't take long before I was in again, another good scrap and another petulant male on the bank, this time 4lb 3oz, they were getting smaller.

The next run saw me strike into something altogether different. The fight was more sluggish, it felt heavier and I began to think I had hooked either a cracking Tench or a small Carp. Imagine my surprise when it suddenly tail walked across the swim. It turned out to be an angry Pike and a pretty good one at that. "There's no way I am going to land this" I thought to myself, either the 8lb line would break or be bitten through at any moment. I took my time, let it take line when it wanted to run and ever so gradually I coaxed it closer and closer. It tangled my other rods leading me a merry song and dance but eventually I bundled it into the net. Luckily the hook was well lodged in the scissors away from those razor sharp gnashers. Good skill and good fortune in equal abundance.

13lb exactly

Within minutes of putting her back I was in again, this time the target species but yet another male, this time 4lb 12oz.

Another hour later I caught, yes you guessed it,  another male but this one was the biggest so far at 5lb 9oz.

I must have been casting into a Gentleman's only club for Tench, boys 4 girls nil. That was the last of the action for the day.
Mid afternoon there was a tremendous storm, thankfully I had my day shelter with me and I sat nice and dry sniggering at the anglers opposite getting a right soaking.

The last laugh was on me though as a huge gust of wind lifted my brolly up and away down the bank and I ended up dripping wet as well. Serves me right I suppose!

Doing my bit for Angling's Future

The Chatts family

The kids have been bugging me about going fishing for ages so this weekend I came good on my promise. The weather forecast was superb so we headed to a local pond stuffed full of Roach, Rudd and a few Carp. The plan centred around a pellet waggler approach. Watching a float gently bobbing up and down before flying under and then a strike being met by a bucking writhing fish fighting for freedom is a memory treasured by thousands of anglers thinking of their first fish. Maisie has caught before but this was Max's first trip, I hope he remembers it forever but he is probably a bit too young.

The fishing wasn't as easy as I had hoped but by keeping up the regular feeding the float eventually dipped on Max's rod and he reeled in a small Roach. At three years old he enjoyed the experience but I think he is too young to fully appreciate it. 

We carried on catching a few more silver fish but not quickly enough to keep the kids engrossed but at least both of them caught. 

There is a campsite close by and quite a few residents walk their dogs around this picturesque pool. On this day one particularly bigger lady ambled past with her two Golden retrievers. They got about five feet past where my wife was sitting when one of the dogs stopped to do it's business. Who walks their dogs without doggie bags in this day and age? Well this Chav did, she asked us for a bag which we did not have so she kicked it into the bushes! My pregnant wife's sense of smell is particularly heightened at the moment so we were forced to move swims away from the stench. 

Further round the pond we spotted some Carp cruising the surface about the lilies so I catapulted out some mixers and set up a suitable floater rig. Within a couple of minutes the fish showed interest and it didn't take long before I struck into one. The fish immediately motored off into the vegetation and there was not a lot I could do about it on light tackle. The vicious bend in the rod regained the kids interest away from annoying the tadpoles as they wanted to know what monster daddy was connected to. I was forced to passed the rod around a couple of trees to change the angle and by applying some steady pressure I managed to coax the Carp out of the lilies and into open water. Maisie fetched the net and Max the catapult, not sure what for!

I played it carefully, eventually winning the battle. 

Maisie was especially excited to see a big fish.

I then took the opportunity to teach the little ones how to look after a fish once caught: letting it rest in the net, unhooking mat, wetting everything etc. We weighed it, took photos and carefully returned it as quickly as possible.

9lb 13oz Common

On that high note we decided to call it a day. They both cannot wait to go again. I think the fresh air was too much for Max, he fell asleep mid ice cream!

Great wildlife, difficult fishing

Fishing time has been limited of late but last night I managed to sneak in a couple of hours so I grabbed my 8weight fly rod and headed down to the local Carp pool. I spent well over an hour flicking out dog biscuits trying to find the fish until eventually I came across a couple that showed only the slightest interest in the freebies. They took a few off the top but did not feed with any real conviction. I cast towards them but within ten minutes they had disappeared and my scant opportunity had all but gone. The cold water and long winter has made them lethargic but with a bit more prolonged good weather they will soon wake from their slumber. 

Kestral??

It was nice to be bankside again and the other wildlife on show made up for the lack of fish. I watched this bird of prey foraging along the river bank looking for small rodents. I think it is a male Kestral but will stand corrected if anyone knows better.

It was also quite special to see this pair of Muntjacs, they were skittish but hung around long enough for me to take a photo. I have seen these two before but never had a the opportunity to take their picture before.

Nice sunset