LUCKY DIP

such beautiful fish - why don't I fish for barbel more often?

Firstly, I make no apologies for the lack of posts. The summer continued and I just had to go fishing! I’m also updating my film on the River Allen for the Dorset Wildlife Trust, so I guess that will have to do as an excuse.

S&TA article © Laurie Campbell

Not long ago I was invited to write a piece for the Salmon and Trout Association’s magazine ‘Gamefisher’ and having been a supporter for years, I was delighted to oblige. They do lots of wonderful conservation work, facing up to many of the challenges that our rivers suffer these days, along with other issues and I’d urge you to join them and support their invaluable work. 

a Royalty salmon

Part of the challenge we face with fisheries and fish is a lack of hard evidence and their science teams are working hard to provide the facts that we need to fight the battles ahead.

H.Avon brown trout

The S&TA are not just about salmon and trout … water is water whatever swims in it and rivers deserve all the help we can give them. Anyway, I decided to avoid any of the fishy issues in my article and have a bit of fun, so here goes.

an unhappy polar bear

 male tiger in central India - big aren't they!

Filming an animal that can eat you always adds a bit of excitement to a day in the office. My office might be an ice floe in the Arctic with a hungry polar bear threatening you, a charging tiger protecting it’s cubs in an Indian Jungle or a dark night in the South American Andes surrounded by three mountain lions.

S.American puma looking for dinner © Laurie Campbell

These adventures are just some of the privileges of being a wildlife film maker. They might also include a chance to cast a line into some remote and previously un-fished corners of our planet … a dream of every passionate angler. There’s hardly ever any time to fish when making a film but sometimes I get lucky.

what a beautiful office © Laurie Campbell

We’ve all heard about the wonderful fishing in Patagonia so when spending two years filming pumas in the mountains - and by some strange coincidence - the camera equipment happened to include a couple of rods! In the early eighties the trout were so prolific that the locals could catch them by simply twirling a spinner out, cast off an old tin.

Even in the nineties, I caught trout to ten pounds or so, especially in streams that had recently been damned by volcanic larva. In one lake the trout were feasting on dragonfly larvae in the flooded forest and a live larvae cast between the dead trees resulted in violent takes, spinning reels and blooded knuckles. The fights and resulting meals were memorable.

clunking great brown trout in the Andes rivers and lakes

In the crystal clear, fast flowing rivers, I used fry imitations, swung across the flow and these were grabbed by the most beautiful brownies of three to four pounds. There were also silver bullets that looked like grilse and about the same size but I suspect were a type of steelhead. Whatever they were, they tasted very good and when camping in the wilds, anything is better then our staple, tinned tuna.

camping in the wilds is wonderful © Laurie Campbell

One evening my assistant Donny and I had invited some scientists for a party in our tent, so at dawn I headed off to the river and caught a lovely brownie and silver thingy for our guests. I had to go filming so stored the fish on a string in the lake by our tents. Returning in the evening to cook our meal, I was shocked to pull the string in and there was nothing on the end. Our pet camp fox had nicked our prize. So it was back to tuna and rice – again - though washed down with plenty of Chilean wine, the party went off well.

befriending this fox was a mixed blessing © Laurie Campbell

on the puma highway round the lake © Laurie Campbell

big pussy cat - big teeth © Laurie Campbell

The huge lake by which I spent a lot of time also contained huge trout of twenty or more pounds. The shore was the home of my star big cat and while filming her I often saw these trout causing impressive vortices on the surface. I tried to catch one of course but kept on being disturbed by my cat as she hunted along the coast so had to use the camera instead of the rod. I had to pay attention because mountain lions do kill humans most years in the States … and this story has a tragic ending. Two anglers were fishing on the opposite shore one day when one was caught and eaten by a puma. I guess he saw it and ran instead of standing his ground as I did on many occasions but it sure puts a new twist on the famous ‘last casts’ that we all enjoy.

The privilege of being able to choose the films I made gave me the opportunity to go to one of the anglers ‘holy of holies’ – Alaska. Our film story for ITV revolved around the herring and how important it was to the ecosystem, so we bought a 35ft boat as a base and filming platform … and a place from which to have an occasional lucky dip. It would be rude not to wouldn’t it.

humpback whale too close for comfort

One of the key film sequences was the spectacle of humpback whales ‘bubble netting’. This impressive behaviour involves teamwork, for the whales have to surround a shoal of herring with a curtain of bubbles, make a high-pitched noise to drive them to the surface and then time their lunge to engulf the shoal on the surface. Our job was to be as close to this great sight as possible without disturbing the whales.

I soon became aware of the dead and injured herring that the whales had missed and reasoned that when they sank to the bottom they would provide the perfect ‘chum’ for halibut … so making note of the exact spot on the GPS … and once the whales had finished feasting, we dropped a dead fish over the side and didn’t have long to wait before the rod was wrenched down by a large flatty. I caught one which weighed 106lbs, then next morning got one so large that we couldn’t lift it into the boat. On measurement it was estimated at over 200lbs. and the titanic battle I had to raise it off the seabed will live with me forever.

We never killed any of the big ones for dinner but little ones of ten pounds or so were cooked on the Barbie at the back of the boat. We had to put up with eating either salmon or halibut every day … but someone’s got to do it!

it's the quick or the dead in Africa

Making a film on crocs for Nat.Geo. provided a chance to fish for Africa’s giant catfish, dozens of which would feast on the carcasses of the wildebeast caught by the crocs. One was about 18ft long and only had three legs ; we called it ‘Tripod’. I hooked a big catfish one night that was too big to lift up the bank so a Masai tribesman who was keen to eat it tried to spear it in the head. Alas, the spear was too blunt and he broke the line, a twist on the one that got away.

mum watches young osprey exercising new wings near the Spey

Then when filming sea eagles in Norway there were cod, when filming ospreys in Scotland, trout and salmon from the Spey … and when filming otters in Shetland and the weather was bad I had time to catch plenty of sea trout. Poached, served cold and washed down with chilled Chablis – delicious.

one for the pot

So filming and camping in the wilds can provide plenty of adventures and a diet fit for kings … and it sure beats working for a living!

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