More Max Fishing

My blog is in danger of being completely taken over by a small boy whose passion for angling is showing no signs of waning. He has however started his own blog now, check it out.
Thursdays (cut short by the weather) afternoon session again at Willow Farm was highlighted by Max's first Carp. A pretty apple slice scaled Mirror that led him a merry dance. Max float fished maggots while I plonked a prawn down by the lilies to give us a back-up option. The Carp picked up the prawn and made the boys day.

His next session was scheduled for Saturday but we gave storm Brian a wide berth and postponed until Sunday morning. The wind was still blowing a hooley so we kept the rod tip as low as possible while feeder fishing maggots. The swim took some getting going but after an hour or so the fish started to oblige.
Ever since our first session Max has had a weird obsession about catching an Eel. I have told him that the time of year meant that it was unlikely and that the numbers of Eels are not what they used to be, trying to soften the blow of disappointment. Well I shouldn't have wasted my breath. We had already landed a quality netful of Perch, Roach, Dace, Chublets and the biggest Bleak I have ever seen, when the rod bent over and stayed bent over. Max laid into the unseen adversary, I thought he was attached to a decent Chub so imagine our surprise when an Eel appeared at the net. Excited high fives followed. It was not going in the keepnet so we weighed and photographed it and put it straight back.

Max insisted he was going to hold it for the trophy shot, he obviously had no idea what is involved in holding an Eel. His expressions speak a thousand words.

Eventually he got it under control.

And it took him about half an hour to get the slime off his hands.

Posing with the biggest Perch of the day was much easier!

Dorset Frome: A long way for Trout

A seven hour round trip to a coastal section of the Dorset Frome that is fast becoming an annual trip. We don't endure this considerable effort to catch Sea Trout but they love trotted maggots and are resident in such abundance it is difficult to avoid them. Within the first couple of hours I landed over thirty. Most around half a pound but a couple were a bit bigger, the largest weighing 1lb 9oz and technically a pb for a species that I never specifically target. It put up quite an acrobatic display of head shaking and leaping clear of the water several times.

I did manage a couple of chunky Dace in amongst the Trout but the monster Roach this stretch is famed for eluded us again.

I moved swims in time to see Andy land a huge Trout of his own, the dark colouration and lack of tail fork makes me think it was a 'Brownie' but Andy is not so sure and thinks it is a spawning male Sea Trout. Answers on a postcard please...
We fished on through dusk before treating ourselves to a KFC on the long trek back to the Midlands. A chat with one of the locals has given me plenty of ideas for tackling next year's trip, a change of tactics is in order to avoid the gregarious Trout and give the big Roach and Dace more chance to find the bait.

Trotting the Wye

A day spent trotting for Roach on the glorious River Wye was an opportunity I was not going to pass up. The river was perfect having a few extra feet on, lovely colour and had been fairly settled for a few days.

The day started well with some lovely Perch, Roach and Dace finding the maggots irresistible but then the Bleak moved in in their thousands and absolutely mullered every grub thrown their way.

It was time for a move downstream. Thankfully the Bleak didn't follow and we were able to catch more quality Roach of about a pound, some small Chub and some more Perch.

It was such a pleasure to fish this stunning fish-filled river, I just hope I get to return soon!

It's Lovely Down South

With the amount of water around at the moment and hurricane Frank violently battering us,(it took the roof off the kid's playhouse this afternoon-another job for the New Year!) it was amazing that yesterday we were treated to bright blue skies and some sorely missed sunshine. We had to head way down south to find it though.
Our target was Roach and Dace, not the incessant procession of Trout that found our maggots irresistible.

By moving about the river I did find some Dace up to 8oz which were good fun but the Roach were nowhere to be seen.

We carried on into darkness in the vain hope that they might show but they continued to elude us. Scant reward for a tough round trip of over six hours but that won't deter us from returning.

Adapting for Success

A beautiful sunny September day and a rare (of late) opportunity for me to spend a few hours by the river. 10am - 2pm is probably the worst time to fish and couple that with a river that is lower and clearer than I have ever seen it before makes for a tough angling session. Still beggars can't be choosers.
I wandered up and down the river looking at all the usual Barbel swims but the lack of fish in any of them forced me into a rethink. Luckily I had a plan B involving maggots and the deeper swims. I just fished for bites, pure and simple, any species would do, wasn't bothered.
In fact I had an enjoyable couple of hours, plenty of action involving lots of these.....

and loads of these....

Oh and a solitary Gudgeon.
Fish of the day was this 7oz Dace that I nonchalantly swung in thinking it was a small Chublet but was over the moon when it turned out to be a Dace.

A pretty decent Dace for the Avon and a fun day pleasure fishing. If I had fished for Barbel I would definitely have blanked. Maybe some anglers would have preferred that but not me, it is more fun to catch something than nothing at all.

Max Enjoyment

Last week my eldest daughter joined me, this week it was Max's turn. All week he was as keen as mustard, "how many more sleeps 'til we go fishing Daddy?". He had no idea how happy his constant questioning made me.
Now Max is only four years old and with that in mind I knew consistent action would be required to keep him interested so whilst I put a rod out for Pike I set him up with a maggot feeder in a swim that would hopefully produce lots of bites. There is nothing certain in fishing but thankfully the fish played ball(and the weather was lovely)!

Max certainly looked the part! 

Patience my boy patience!

Casting was my domain but he insisted on reeling in even though he was not strong enough to hold the rod but by leaving it on the rest he could manage to bring in everything he hooked. I thought it wise to keep the anti-reverse engaged to avoid tangles and it worked, not one birds nest all day!

Smug!

We managed to fish for about four hours and ended the day with a pretty decent haul consisting of Roach, Chub, big Dace and a decent Perch. As you can tell from the picture he was pretty pleased with himself.

The Pike rod remained dormant for the duration so I suppose I blanked but it was the most enjoyable blank I have had in a long time!

Too much fresh air?

Wychavon Parish Games-Match Fishing

Match fishing is not my scene, I just don't like being told when and where I can fish but once a year I give it a go. The Parish Games is an inter village tournament of over thirty different disciplines including pool, cross country, 5-a-side football, darts, crib etc. and fishing is one of the events. You must reside in the village you represent and a team of three is required for the angling. The venue is always the Warwickshire Avon in Evesham, the same stretch that holds the angling festival on Bank Holiday August. The river is split into three sections, each team has an angler in each section and where you finish in your section is the number of points you get. Total the three lots of points and the team with the lowest amount wins, simple.
The draw takes place in the local cafe at 8.30am and fishing is from 10.00am until 3pm with a presentation of money and prizes straight after. My team mates are both serious match fishermen who know every peg on this stretch backwards so while they fought it out over pegs 5 and 22 I took the remaining peg, 41.

My tactics were simple, I had two main baits chopped worm and maggots plus pellets as a last resort. Right from the off there were fish topping close in front of me so I set off with 'mag and wag' just below the surface. First cast I had a Dace. It was tiny all eyes and not a lot else. Within half an hour I had a few more but they were so small that the maggot(and the hook) didn't get fully in their mouths and when they came up in the water they just fell off! I thought this will take me ages to get a decent weight and its not my style of fishing in any way so when the boredom and frustration had reached boiling point I changed to a feeder. I continued to feed close in but the feeder was sent further out in search of more substantial specimens. That was my first mistake. A fruitless time followed until I brought the feeder close in and nailed a half decent Perch. That however was a false dawn and was not backed up by any of it's brethren. I went back to tiddler bashing, nailed a few more and changed to worm, another mistake.
This also proved futile as did the last hour of trying for a biggie with pellet, mistake number three.

I ended the match with a meagre nine ounces. Luckily I wasn't the only one who struggled and I finished tenth in my section but I can't help thinking that if I had stayed with the tiddlers that placing could have been so much higher!
Thankfully my team mates had fared much better in their fancied pegs with Don coming a respectable third in his section and Ady winning his and the match to give us a creditable second place overall. The first time our village had been placed for nearly thirty years! Next time...next time!

Exploring the Upper Avon

The upper Warwickshire Avon in it's more intimate and diminutive form is a stunning waterway winding it's way through it's namesake county and boasting more natural bank sides that are not manicured for comfortable angling. Today Martin took me to one such stretch where knowing the time was never a problem as the church constantly reminded us.
Our tactics were in complete contrast. I fancied a day trotting catching anything that came along, lots of action without discrimination of any species. Martin would bait, wait and try to nail some of the stretches famed big Chub. An equally relaxing style but quite specific.

The run I chose screamed Dace with a chance of Chub. A pacy near bank run that flowed under a fallen willow. I fed maggot and hemp and caught right from the off. Dace followed Dace followed Roach followed Chublet with a few Bleak and Gudgeon thrown in for good measure. I soon built up a steady rhythm of nearly a fish a chuck and thoroughly enjoyed myself.

No monsters but some decent size Dace among them. Somewhere in this river there are some monster Dace but as yet I haven't found them, I will keep searching though.
Lunchtime came and went and I decided to explore some more of the stretch. I found a slower glide and chose to freeline some rolling meat along some overhanging willows. In no time at all I hooked into a decent Chub.

Meanwhile Martin's tactics had come to fruition and he landed four decent Chub. The biggest was this 4lb 5oz specimen which he backed up by a trio of 'threes'.

Mid afternoon and the sweaty waders came off and we retired to the pub for cold liquid refreshments.

I do like to be beside the river

My first proper session of the new season saw me armed with half a gallon of maggots and a couple of bags of hemp wandering down to the Warwickshire Avon. No targets had been set just a pleasure session capturing whatever came along in the glorious summer weather we have been enjoying of late. The wildlife was abundant. Spooked a Muntjac on the way to the river. Damselflies flitted about all over the place. An Egret worked the shallow water for his lunch and the fish were in a real feeding mood.

I lost count of the numbers of Roach, Dace and Chub that I landed. No monsters amongst them but a really enjoyable day none the less. It certainly beat sitting by a muddy puddle pulling in Carp with deformed mouths all day. Stunning scenery, beautiful wildlife and fish galore.
What could be better?