CATCHING FOR CANCER

                           

                                    - FIRST CAST -

Anglers have a well deserved reputation for money raising for charities and non more so than for the one that I became an enthusiastic supporter of this year, “A BITE OUT OF CANCER”. 

This is the brain child of mad keen angler Mike Smith, who sadly lost his father to the disease. This proved to be a catalyst for his simple but inspired idea which encourages supporters who catch a good fish to then contribute a pound sterling for every pound the fish weighs. 

It’s a win win result, for anglers have a splendid fish to celebrate and all the proceeds of their success are given to Cancer Research UK, thus giving them more funds to fight this awful disease. I’ve lost several good friends to cancer and most of us have probably suffered the sad loss of friends or family too, so this simple idea of Mike’s is helping to save the lives of our loved ones. 

 Impressed by his idea, I encouraged many of my friends to support such a worthy cause, including the Angling Trust’s leader Jamie Cooke, along with Martin Salter, Martin Bowler and not least, the legendary Chris Yates himself. 

 
Mike was keen to meet Chris Yates and share a days fishing with him, so one of the managers of the charity George Frost arranged for a days social at the Wimborne and Districts’ Pinnock tench and crucian lakes.
 

It’s a delightful spot for a dangle and we all caught lots of fish, though Chris didn't fish, concentrating instead on ensuring that Mike and George were both able to gaze down on a beautiful bar of gold. 

At present, most of the fish that are contributing to cancer research are carp, but as many of these weigh upwards of thirty to forty pounds, the coffers fill up quickly, though Mike makes it clear that all fish species can contribute, even small ones, because as they say, ‘every penny counts’. We also contributed some copies of our book 'A Passion for Angling' for auction to help raise more funds and will continue to encourage everyone to contribute.

 

 

No days fishing is complete without enjoying Chris's Kelly Kettle tea and my wife Sue's Victoria sponge and this made for a perfect end to a memorable day. I hope, like Chris and I, you will catch a big fish and contribute to this vital and life-saving work.

 

 The charity has now exceeded their first target of an impressive , £26,000 and their next target is an eye watering £42,000, so we’d better get out there catching big fish to help Cancer Research UK  via Mike's splendid initiative "A Bite Out of Cancer".

 

                                 - SECOND CAST -

Chris and I were also asked to help raise money for another admirable cause, the making of a film about fish for that angling champion, Jack Perks. 

Raising the profile of fish is of vital importance if wildlife charities are to help protect fish and the places they live but they almost always get ignored, even though fish are wildlife too, not something that simply gets eaten by the other wildlife that many of us admire. 

 For years, Jack has done wonderful work on programmes like the BBC’s Springwatch and Countryfile, telling stories about our finned friends by filming them underwater in their wild habitats and filling us with amazing facts that encourage us to protect them.

 His latest project is to make a one hour film about the lives and loves of the UK’s marine and freshwater fish. As he told us, think BBC’s “Blue Planet” but on a much smaller budget! He tried to interest several broadcasters but they claimed that fish were boring and failed to win their funding. As we all know, fish certainly aren’t boring and Jack is determined to prove the broadcasters wrong, so undaunted, he set up a crowd-funding website to pay for it all. 

This is where Chris Yates and I came in because Jack foolishly thought that folk would pay good money to fish with us and put a days fishing up for auction. Much to our surprise he was right and a generous guy called Andy paid a substantial sum to join us and support Jack’s project. We arranged a time to meet up at the Wimborne clubs’ tench and crucian lake again, a prefect place to enjoying fishing in the tranquil backwaters of sunny Dorset. 

As luck would have it, Andy caught the largest tench and everyone enjoyed a splendid day catching lots of tench and crucians. We also enjoyed my wife Sue’s much admired Victoria sponge, washed down with copious quantities of Kelly Kettle tea. 

I’m happy to report that Jack did raise enough money to make what will surely be a much admired film on the lives of several of the UK’s most interesting species, so all he has to do now is find all his stars and record the footage he needs to tell their fascinating stories. 

The film is going to be called “Britains’ Hidden Fishes” and we’ll all be looking out for Jack at the Oscars!

UK NATIONAL FISH VOTE

a lovely brace of River Kennet biggies while filming 'Catching the Impossible' with Martin Bowler - the best went 2lb5oz

I’m going to nail my flag to the mast and vote for the roach because I believe it should be the national fish. Thriving in every sort of water in Britain and available to all, it is not only beautiful but if you’re seeking a big one, a real challenge ... so please excuse me if I show a few too many pics of the rare moments when I got lucky.

a scale perfect roach and close to three pounds

roach live in some beautiful places too

Many of you will be aware that there is a vote in progress that is going to lead to a decision on what is to be the nations favourite fish. It might not be as important as deciding whether to leave Europe or stay but it sure is worth a moment or two of your time.

The idea and initiative has been created by our very own underwater hero Jack Perks. He is masterminding an attempt to raise awareness of our fishy wildlife and we owe it to our watery critters to get behind him and VOTE. After all, the birders among us recently chose the robin as our national bird and we don’t want them to think we don’t care about fish.

So this is the link which will enable you to get behind the venture and make the general public sit up and pay more attention to our fishy wildlife and the places they live ... and who knows, they might even respect us anglers more too.

http://www.btwlfishproject.com/#!uk-national-fish/gus4w

Jack has managed to gain the BBC’s support by having the vote publicised on the ever popular ‘Springwatch’ so several million will be aware of his initiative.

Ely Cathedral was the place I grew up and thanks to the Great Ouse nearby, also became a fanatical roach angler

I chose the roach because it chose me, for when fishing in the Great Ouse at Ely as a child, I caught a big one by design. We normally caught  just small fish, a few roach along with gudgeon and perch off the wall at the Cutter Inn but one day I cast a lump of flake to a large bed of cabbages and fluked a 10oz lump which to this small boy was a monster. I was hooked for life and have been trying to catch big roach ever since.

a Hampshire Avon two from the good old days

Luckily I grew up in the glory days of the H.Avon and Stour when two pounders were the expected catch and I had dozens, even managing a three pounder from both of those rivers and all on trotted bread flake. I even managed two pounders from the Broads, notably from the River Bure and Wroxham Broad, often using cheese paste as bait. This was in the 50’s when it seemed big roach thrived everywhere.

To catch the Broads roach I’d cut up Kraft cheese slices into small particles and scatter them around the float and it worked a treat ... but not before I’d used a quant pole from our cabin cruiser to poke around the bottom to find gravel runs. There was a particular patch on the start line of the sailing club in the middle of Wroxham Broad and though I irritated the sailors at race starts I caught many big roach from the spot, especially in the middle of the day, perched in my little 8ft plywood dingy. Happy days for sure ; I wonder if they’re still there?

2lb6ozs - fat as butter but not taken on cheese

I learnt the cheese technique when fishing with the old boys on the Regents Canal at Paddington in the school holidays. It was good roach fishing and if using cheese paste using a small porcupine quill, we’d avoid the small ones and catch them to over a pound, my best going one pound two.

The bait also worked well on the Serpentine where I caught numerous good roach but never as big as a pound. Unfortunately the bait also attracted eels and when struggling to unhook an above average wriggler, an old lady ran up and angrily telling me I was a cruel boy, beat me over the head with her umbrella!

I’ve tried the cheese technique in notable roach water several times since and never had a bite, though this is one of the joys of roach fishing. You can never be sure where or when you are going to catch a big ‘un, if at all!

good mate Trevor Harrop of Avon Roach Project fame with an Avon two pounder

We all know about the dramatic declines in roach due largely to the invasion of thousands of non-native cormorants but I’ll spare you a rant and simply celebrate the apparent recovery in several rivers, even in the iconic Hampshire Avon, not least because of all the work by the Avon Roach Project.

Trev releasing the future into the H.Avon and hope for keen roach anglers

Britford still produces two pound roach, largely because of the tireless work of river keeper Stuart Wilson in protecting them from the 'black death' .... that's cormorants if you hadn't guessed.

the LAA's river keeper extraordinair Stuart Wilson with one of his precious Britford roach

Still waters are providing some great roaching too, especially when they thrive under the radar, fattening up on carp anglers bait. Sway is just such a water, though Stuart thinks still water roach should only count as half and I kind of agree!

what massive roach those Linch Hill beasts were ... this one went 3lb3oz. caught while fishing with friend Gary Newman

The famous Willow Lake at Linch Hill produced amazing roach, even if they tended to be caught on 'unsporting' bolt rigs. I am guilty of trying the technique there too, just so I could see one of those huge roach you understand! I became known as a ‘jammy bar-steward’ because in only four visits I was lucky enough to catch a three pounder every time. In defence, I did try a sliding float and caught a few two pounders but never a three on the float.

admiring my PB of 3lb5oz - caught on a float too

I had roach to 3lbs4ozs at Linch but my PB came from Sway, just an ounce heavier but caught ‘properly’ on a delicate float. I also had my PB pole caught roach there too, an ounce under three pounds, so a much desired three on the pole is still out there to achieve. However, in my book any roach of a pound or more is a big fish and makes me a happy man and even if I’ve wasted a lot of my life in a quest for big ones I’ve loved every minute of it - well almost!

the pole can be deadly for really big roach

a gorgeous early morning two pounder - what beautiful fish they are

Sadly, a two pounder is now a distant dream on several once famous fisheries but the challenge remains and for me and many of my best pals, roach are still a constant cause of much head scratching and effort. So please get voting ... and if roach are the species that pulls your string, good on you ... but if not then still vote. I could easily have chosen tench or barbel, perch or pike, sea trout, mullet or bass, even carp for I love them all but as the saying goes, my favourite fish is the one I'm fishing for at the time. I just need to go out and fish more often!

beaut. 'nuisance fish' - carp are quite a struggle on roach gear!

As for my wife Sue, she loves tench, as I do ... but she says her favourite fish is the last one she eat!

time for tench