ATTENCHON

only 6/9 but what beautiful fish tench are

I love tench, as many of us anglers do and I wish there were more waters where they dominated catches instead of those endless carp. 

low double nuisance fish - lovely colour though

Since catching lots of big roach in April, I’ve been trying to catch a good tench and have struggled to get past the carp, so I write this out of frustration :

‘How come a club chooses to spoil a prime tench water by stocking ever more carp when there are dozens of carp waters everywhere you look?’

Rant over. I’ve enjoyed the struggle and caught a few tench but non of the bigger ones that the water holds. I note in the press that most good catches come after a couple of days baiting a swim but I don’t have the time to fish on more than one day so what should I do?

a lovely spot but too many carp for us tench anglers

Some advise minimising the feed by simply casting a maggot feeder to the same tight spot every so often, tho’ maybe adding a spomb or two of particles if you think the tench will tolerate the disturbance.

Others might put down a good bed of bait but then there is the risk of attracting the mud suckers. As the saying goes, you can put bait in but you can’t take it out … and once I’ve done it, I sit there questioning if I did the right thing. I’m sure you’ve all done the same but that is part of the fun ... and so is the wildlife. The chaffinches fed better on the red maggots than the tench.

even when nothing is happening, something always is

If we knew what was going to happen every time we went fishing, most of us would die of boredom or even worse, take up golf. I should correct that ; playing golf is enjoyable too.

May was a bit wet

Perhaps the weather didn’t help because the tench were feeding well in April when I was enjoying my roach fishing. ‘You should have been here last week syndrome’ for in May the rains came and water temperatures fell. One day I sat there for five hours in rain that was too heavy to pack up in without getting even wetter. It was cold and horrible ... but I caught a carp.

 the worst weather I think I've ever fished in - it was windy too

The tench went off feed and though I did catch one each time I visited, the carp became increasingly greedy and dominated my brief sessions. Not quite what I had in mind but they don’t half pull on tench tackle.

21/3 of battling mirror

peace and tranquility at Sway Lakes

In the end I returned to Sway to catch a few of my favourite roach and what did I catch, tench and carp of course. 

6/5 of battling tench - didn't half test the 3lb line

an all muscle male

However, the common was immaculate and was as beautiful a creature as you could wish to clap your eyes on … and landing it was a tense battle on 3lb line.

absolutely immaculate common of 13/3 - what a fight close to the lilies by this beautiful creature 

I did catch lots of roach too, eighteen over a pound, including four over two and the best a massive roach even bigger than the 3lb5oz giant that I caught in April -but having recently spawned, it weighed ‘only’ 2lb15ozs. 

very long but very thin

However, it was caught at night with a little starlight attached to a tiny pole float and was my PB pole caught roach. No pics to do its size justice as I was alone but it was certainly a monster and at eighteen inches long would have weighed maybe 3/8 or so if caught three weeks ago. A cracking roach all the same.

this is the 3lb5oz roach I caught in April - a PB to savour

dawn magic over the barn owl reeds

I might head up to the place I grew up to start the season, the beautiful Fens. 

a fat Fenland tinca

I can catch tench there without being pestered by carp, though the bream might provide me with plenty of ‘nuisance’ fish! Whatever happens, it’ll be wonderful to be sat watching barn owls, bearded tits and marsh harriers under those glorious wild skies.

the place of my childhood - I just love it up there

MULLET MADNESS - 2013

Peaceful dawn on Grimbury Bay

They live in such a beautiful place and fight so hard that it’s difficult to believe a creature can have so much energy and endurance.

fully engaged in battle

No wonder my friends and I have got mullet swimming through our veins and nagging at our brains when we aren’t out there. Those who’ve tried it know they drive you mad.

mind the anchor rope!

Good friend Steve Derby used to come down south several times every year to fish for barbel in the Avon but since I took him out to try mullet fishing he has hardly cast for barbel ever again.

heading out into heaven

Instead he has bought himself a rig, found a mooring and is out in his boat at every opportunity, introducing several friends to the madness of mullet fishing.

happy Steve - he's going mullet fishing

a fresh breeze greets us

My best mate Trevor Harrop of Avon Roach Project fame was taken out there by friends and like Steve, it wasn’t long before he too bought a rig and is out there weekly, well he'd like to be. 

 Trevor soaking up the rays in the Clay Pool, dreaming of big roach

I often join him or borrow his boat to take our friends out, like Norfolk convert Brian Naylor.

Brian with a nice one

top guide Graham with proof he is

I was first introduced to the life changing sport by old hand Graham Peplar of Davis tackle fame. I wanted to film a sequence for our series “Catching the Impossible” so Graham kindly showed me the ropes and introduced me to one or two spots … and at the first we tried I caught a roach almost first cast so I was happy, especially when we each caught a mullet or two as well.

Martin and Bernard with a small one

Then I had to buy a rig as well, big enough for both Bernard Cribbins and Martin Bowler to fish from while I filmed. We had such a good time out there, so full of laughs, especially when Martin was driven mad by mullet escaping from his hook just when he thought he had them beat. [A clip of the cursing can be seen in Prog 9 of the series, the ‘making of’ bit that I tagged onto the TV series for the DVD sales. It can be viewed on a previous mullet post, Angling Adventures 3]. He got one in the end though.

Martin with a splendid fighter

Our most recent convert has been Pete Reading. He was first taken out by Trevor but sadly he blanked … though we don’t feel any sympathy for him any more because when Steve took him out the following week Pete’s first ever mullet weighed 7lbs1oz … so we’re not talking to him any more!

Pete with his 7/1 - blinding skill or beginners luck?

Though mullet occur all round our shores in summer, our adventures all take place in Christchurch Harbour, either in among the boats in the lower end of the River Stour and Avon or out in the wonderful wide open spaces of the mud flats and sand bars that are ever changing with the wind and tides. 

anticipation at dawn

Wherever you cast, it’s a beautiful place to be, the wildlife decorated water sliding past before rushing out into the Solent at Mudeford.

a birders paradise

There are three types of mullet, the small golden grey, one of which I caught when first out with Graham though I haven’t seen one since, the thin-lipped which are the most numerous and tend to weigh about 2-3lbs and the thick-lipped which can weigh up to 12 lbs, though a good one is anything from five pounds or so and a ceiling on rod and line seems to be about 8lbs. Mind you, size doesn’t matter when a three pounder fights so hard you think you have a monster on the end.

nearly six pounds if I remember correctly

Their appeal is widespread, for as mentioned in a previous post, when asked, the legendary Terry Lampard said that if he could only fish for one species for the rest of his life it would be mullet. He caught three eight pounders in his all too short time on our planet.

Terry with one of his biggies, tho' not 8lbs.

The fishing is simple : a strongish float rod, a centre-pin reel, 4-5lb line, an Avon type rod and float, then trotting or stret-pegging bread flake, with bread mash sloshed in to attract a fish that never eats bread. 

Steve bombing it in

It’s like roach fishing for something that resembles a tropical bonefish when hooked, though mullet are almost as fast and have more stamina. They are awesome.

ten minutes already

getting tense now, he's standing up

result - 5/15 of beautiful feisty mullet

What’s more there are hundreds of them in the harbour this summer, the shoals so thick that you could walk across their backs without getting your feet wet. And it’s such a pleasant change to dangle a bait in a place where there are so many fish, even if catching them is impossible!

dozens of mullet in the Clay Pool before sunrise

But that is all part of the appeal. Everything is changing all the time, the flow, the depth, the fish, the wind, the tides … and by the end of the day you sometimes come off the water feeling you have been in a tumbler dryer filled with water … and it seems however hard you try, you can’t understand why they took the bait, or more often, why they didn’t!

a real biggie - 27inches of muscle

About a month ago I was out there three days running, taking advantage of this wonderful summer, and caught seven mullet the first day, four mullet the second and seven mullet the third and each day they were accompanied by a few bass, sea trout, bream and dace, even a dab, all taken on bread.

tasty bass but they all go back

even tastier sea trout - if only it could be poached!

good bream - notice the cormorant slash on it's belly - greedy sods

a dab/ I'm told it's a flounder - on bread - ridiculous  

I thought I had it cracked but the last two times I’ve been out I failed to catch a single mullet … but that’s why we love it so much, especially when the wildlife is so rich, my blanks more than compensated for by the appearance of two very special birds, bearded tits. I never knew they ever visited Christchurch Harbour.

what an amazing picture of a bearded tit © Edwin Kats

even the small ones battle like monsters

 

not ready yet

not yet either

Mullet fishing has that essential ingredient that all good fishing should have and that’s mystery. Fishing for them is a journey into the unknown, one that drives you out there time after time to try to find all the pieces of the puzzle to complete the picture … but fortunately, most of the pieces are missing.

relief that the war has been won

RUDDY MARVELLOUS - ANGLING ADVENTURES 2

A midsummers dawn - simply the best time to be alive. The longest day had just passed and there was everything to look forward to as we headed towards the best of the years river fishing … but not yet.

There is one species of fish that I have an even greater passion for than roach and that’s rudd. Growing up in the Fens at Ely on the Gt.Ouse and enjoying family holidays on the Norfolk Broads in the late 50's, I grew to love the gorgeous, golden beauties and even today the mere thought of them gets me excited.

Like many of my generation, I was inspired by Bernard Venables' book, 'Mr. Crabtree Goes Fishing' and still enjoy going down memory lane when looking at my battered copy. It's pleasing that the great man is being honoured with a TV series and new version of the book right now.

I was keen to 'live the dream', convinced Mum and Dad that I just had to visit the Broads and when finally there, carefully followed Bernard's lessons to Peter.

I only caught small ones when using the anchored bread trick, but remembered to keep my little boat well away from a large shoal I'd found in a remote corner of Hickling Broad.

I really was 'living the dream'

In the evening I rowed back to them in my little dinghy and remembering to keep well away, made a long cast to the reed edge with bread flake under a stubby waggler. I caught 22 of them before it was too dark to see. The smallest weighed 1/10 and ten of them were over 2lbs, with the best going 2/5 and 2/3. I’ve never really recovered. 

Sorry about the bobble hat but I was only sixteen

With so many happy memories still fresh in my angling memory bank I had to return, so this last two years I’ve made a pilgrimage back to the Fens, exploring the rivers, drains and lakes in the hope of beating my PB of 2/9, a figure I’ve managed to equal in five different waters, including Ireland … one day I might beat it … one day?

red maggots lured them in front of the camera

2/11 and 2/9 - a perfect brace

I had my chance when filming 'Catching the Impossible' with Martin Bowler, a shoal of 14 large rudd swimming beside us in the crystal clear water. I had to film the underwater shots first, then Martin had to catch a couple for the camera before it was my turn. Sadly, my turn never arrived because the shoal just drifted away ... one day ... one day.

 tranquil tench time

In 2011 I tried the River Cam and the drains and lodes, the first time I had fished them for fifty years. Back then, us energetic schoolboys used to cycle over there from Ely, catch rudd and then cycle all the way back. Funny how the wind was always against us whatever direction we were travelling! It’s still a wonderful place, 'the land of sky’, as inspiring as ever and even better now than in my childhood. 

The Land of Sky

c. Danny Green

c. Richard Brooks

Wicken Fen didn’t have breeding marsh harriers and bearded tits then but it does now. I spent as much time birding as I did fishing, harriers regularly drifting over cruisers on the Cam, the occupants blissfully unaware poor souls. In 2011, I managed rudd to 2/4 so a return to the Fens was inked into the diary, especially as all the  locals like Chris Hammond had made me very welcome.

Fish don't get any more beautiful do they?

Yes, that is a swing tip - very effective too

Last year, with help and advice from Graham Tweed – thanks Graham – President and Sec. of CFPAS – enjoyable company on the bank too – I decided to try Milton Country Park, a complex of crystal clear weedy lakes … classic rudd country. Friend Chris said he thought the decision was a bit ‘left field’ but ‘it seemed like a good idea at the time’! I picked the lake with the biggest ones of course and started well, the first rudd going a respectable 1/9. [No picture as it had two ugly cormorant slashes across it’s body]. However, I never managed another much over a pound and I blamed the weather. Strong wind and heavy rain battered into my face all week, the mud getting deeper and the rats more numerous.

I did enjoy the challenge though, especially when of all things, a marsh harrier hunted a nearby reedbed. It was such a rare bird when I grew up in the 50’s, restricted to just three surviving pairs but here it was now, floating over houses by the A14 in Cambridge – wonderful. Just goes to prove the cliché that there’s more to fishing than catching fish. It also proved that not all is gloom and doom out there in the wild.

I did catch plenty of small rudd, some splendid tench to 6lbs or so and several ancient, wild looking bream. They certainly were wild when hooked, one clearing the water by a good two feet. They all weighed about five pounds, their impressive bids for freedom making up for their lack of size, a highlight of the trip.

Believe me, it really did fight

The low point came at the end when the rats got to me ; a dose of what felt like Wiel’s desease or leptospirosis, the symptoms matching perfectly. I felt so awful I delayed driving home for a day. Hospital blood tests and stomach analysis were inconclusive but it took me three weeks to recover. Those big rudd still beckon though ; I saw them out there.