A GOLDEN START

                                 

the evening of June 15th - waiting for midnight like thousands of other passionate anglers

ANTICIPATION – that is what respecting the traditional closed-season start gives us – the thrill of the glorious 16^th and not knowing what the fishing might bring us on the day and in the months ahead. After the coldest spring for many years this season’s start was more eagerly anticipated than most … and it didn’t disappoint, even if the fishing was rubbish!

2/11 of solid gold

Crucians were our quarry, those golden giants of overgrown ponds hidden deep in the Dorset countryside. Chris Yates, Trevor Harrop and Kevin Parr are the lucky gang who share the trials and tribulations of trying to catch these enigmatic beauties.

upholding the best of traditions

We also get to share Sue’s splendid Victoria Sponge and Kelly Kettle tea and this is as much a part of the tradition as is the banter and story telling that goes with our gatherings by the lake.

Sue's famous cake - another priceless tradition

it's just a bit tasty

essential equipment for June 16th

The fishing this year was ‘interesting’, a real challenge compared with last years crucian fest when we all caught enough in one day to last the season. But that ‘crucian conundrum’ is part of the species charm. Will they bite and if so, are you able to strike at the right moment to hook the tricky little blighters? So often they truffle in the swim but exasperate by not taking our bait … or fail to show that they even exist. This is how they performed this year but that didn’t succeed in spoiling the day. The surroundings and company saw to that … yes, that line ‘there’s more to fishing than catching fish’.

isn't this the most perfect crucian pond

lovely from the other end too

The season started well enough for me, arriving on Monday afternoon – it was raining on Sunday – I walked carefully around the two lakes, looking for signs of where I should make a start. I crept up to a fallen tree and was thinking it looked like the perfect crucian hiding spot when one rolled just feet in front of me as if to say ‘feed me’, so I did.

However, before doing so I was keen to repeat the trick that was so successful last year, raking the swim, but instead of disturbing the peace and quiet, I’d come armed with my underwater filming kit … three landing-net poles lashed together … but instead of the camera on the end was a weed-cutter blade.

the crucian's home ...

I dragged this through the crucian’s home a few times to clear any debris and colour up the water and by feeling the bottom could tell it was quite clear and gravely. Gently dropping in a tiny pole float I found three feet of water ; the signs were good.

... but would they bite?

A few dobs of secret paste were all I offered the fish and it wasn’t long before the float was wavering gently in that inspiring way that crucians have of telling you that they might come out to play. Due to the hard bottom there were only a few bubbles rising to the surface to indicate their presence in that exciting way but by 7pm the float finally told me that the fish had the bait in it’s mouth and soon the first of the season was in the net, though not before the elastic had received a good stretching. Exactly 2lbs this one, which I was carefully releasing just as Mr. Yates crept up.

He sat with me talking as the float wobbled enticingly again before sliding towards the fallen tree. A violent tussle followed before Chris did the honours with the net and a golden beauty of 2/7 lay before us. The season’s anticipation had just been fulfilled.

what a lovely way to start the season

Chris headed off to find his own magic moments while I continued to catch steadily, interspersed by the inevitable missed bites that were un-missable! I ended up with six crucians to a splendid 2/11 along with two gorgeous little rudd before it became too dark to see the float properly. I had to pack up anyway because I had agreed to meet Chris at the van for a glass of wine to celebrate the new season.

tension as the intended catch tries to make it's escape in the lilies

happy memories of the previous years of success

The VW van was bought as a location base, catering wagon and shelter for the filming of “A Passion for Angling” and is still going strong, even if it is on a second engine and held together with copious welding! It will be 25years old this Autumn and the 25^th anniversary of ‘Passions’ first showing on BBC 2, so Chris and I had plenty to drink to, though not on the fishing front sadly. He had blanked, though not without having had several chances in a couple of favourite swims. We talked until close to midnight before the idea of sleep became more attractive.

another beauty lured by the old master and his ancient tackle

I was up in three hours, ready for a cuppa and the first cast of a new dawn, always a magical time in any fisherman’s day. Luckily the fish were still there and still hungry, for I caught four more of around 2/8 before Trev arrived to try to replicate our catch of last year, 34 crucians between us with only one under two pounds. The biggest was 2/15 to Trevor – what a mornings fishing!

aren't they the most perfect fish

 a brace of beauties - the fish I mean

Trev with just one of the crucians from the previous year

I helped him round to his chosen swim and delivered the rake so that he could stir up the silt … and I could hear the crashes like cows falling in from my swim at the other end of the lake. Throwing a rake seems so alien to crucian fishing but it certainly worked last time we tried … though not this year. Trev blanked in that swim and apart from a couple of small rudd, it didn’t work in another swim he tried either.

Trev happy blanking

Chris had returned with Kev at 9am and they failed to catch even after trying several swims each and staying until even the owls couldn’t see.

surely they would bite now but ...

You’re probably expecting me to say I carried on catching in my previously productive swim but on returning from helping Trev I couldn’t buy another bite, not one. I tried another swim in the deepest, weediest water but couldn’t get a bite there either. The lake had completely switched off and why this happened will always be a complete mystery, though we all agreed over tea and cake that the sport of fishing would be much the poorer if it was predictable.

a perfect tench swim

even when concentrating he still missed the two bites

I might have laughed a bit

Chris and I even tried the upper lake in the afternoon and struggled there too, Chris missing one or two good bites and I bumping three good fish, one being the tench that I was hoping for. I did manage some small roach and rudd on caster but the roach and crucians eluded my subtly presented offerings.

you can't beat the pole - but the big fish did

red at night - crucian fisherman's delight

shirt sleeve dawn

Dawn the next day was beautiful and it grew to be the warmest day since September 9th last year but the tench and roach failed to respond.

a new swim in the shallower end of the lake

aren't the flowers wonderful this year

wild flag iris were numerous along the shore

I moved swims and in the end found feeding fish, though the hoped for tench dived into the lilies and on stretching the elastic to breaking point, the hook pulled.

Eventually a lovely pound plus roach saved the day and I returned home a happy man.

one pound plus of perfect roach

roses round the door - and welcome home

The tench will have to wait for another day for I might be off to the Fens soon, returning to the scene of my childhood, trying to find another of our golden beauties, a monster rudd.

gorgeous - but will I find a big one this year?

ABSENT FRIENDS

                         

2/2 of perfect roach

Why don’t I go fishing more often? It’s a question I’m sure we all ask frequently in our busy lives because a day by the water is always so enjoyable whether we catch or not … and my last outing was no exception.

our view of the sunny Scillies from above our cabin

a happy crew

Sue and I, along with close friends Michael and Penny had just spent a week in a beachside cabin on the Scillies and despite an un-seasonal force ten gale and rain, we had enough sunshine to convince us we were on holiday. 

our cabin in a sea of flowers

The wild flowers were glorious and I even managed a few casts off the rocks outside the cabin, catching a little ballan wrasse on half a rubber bass lure tweaked between the kelp. They certainly fight with ‘attitude’ and I’ll be trying to repeat the trick off Dorset’s rocky shoreline before too long.

a bonnie ballan wrasse

On return I was really keen to catch my favourite quarry, big roach, so I arranged to meet an old pal at Sway Lakes for a catch up and hopefully a hook up too. Malcolm Swinfen informed me that we last fished together there ten years ago, a gathering that included Paul Hamilton and Chris Yates, along with Peter Elleray who sadly is no longer with us.

Robin in his element - the wilds of Patagonia

Only last week I lost one of my closest friends who I had shared many adventures with since childhood. We grew up together in the wilds. He was our best man at our wedding and I his and it served as a stark reminder that we should make every effort to share our days with friends as often as possible before it’s too late.

Malcolm concentrating on his precious float

Malcolm and I had kept in close touch on the phone but hadn’t fished together since Oct 2003 and judging by our results last week we should do it more often! I found priming roach close to the reeds in the half light of pre dawn … I was keen … and creeping down to the waters edge with a couple of pole sections I lowered a pellet in very gently, the float didn’t and I landed a splendid roach of 2/9. What a start!

 

polling station - coiled like a rusty spring

what a great start - a 2/9 first cast

Malcolm with a two - first of several

Malcolm arrived soon after and it wasn’t long before I was happy snapping a two pounder for him, followed by another cracker an hour later. He was fishing a pellet below a tiny crowquill he has treasured since 1972 would you believe and we had a bit of a crisis when he nearly lost it in an overhanging branch. The day was saved by my extending landing-net pole with weed-cutter attached.

you can't beat pole fishing short for ultimate sensitivity

Malcolm considered this a 'marvellous moment' and certainly the highlight of the day, despite catching more than ten roach over 1/8 with three two pounders the icing on the cake. I had ten big roach, the last one another two pounder, along with a feisty little tench, all on poled pellet. 

another biggie

It sure was a perfect day, for I left Malcolm still catching big roach, having decided by mid-afternoon that I had caught enough. We decided after that splendid result that we should fish together more often … and we will.

what a cracking roach

BEGINNER'S LUCK?

                         

Charlie with a cracking roach

Charlie showing us older anglers how to do it

It’s easy to dismiss a child’s success in angling as beginner’s luck but I believe there is something more fundamental going on here that we more ‘mature’ anglers should take note of.

Bernard Venables' Crabtree' lean'

  

pike imagery at it's best

pure Crabtree as Ben fights a monster

It is wonderful when our young anglers catch good fish and when friend Jim sent me pics of his two boys, Charlie and Ben before the end of the river season, I felt it was an opportunity to explore the reasons why they were successful when we were struggling.

a cracking fat thirteen pounder from a small carrier for Ben

Jim happily blanking for roach

Jim works for the Environment Agency and along with several other friends I have working there, does everything possible for our rivers and fish life that tight government budgets allow. I know it is fashionable to knock the EA, as it is the NHS, but in the case of the work carried out from the Blandford HQ, criticism is inappropriate and unfair. If our government actually cared about our environment and did something instead of just talking about it then we would all be better off and so would our fish and other freshwater wildlife. Anyway, rant over.

a beautiful big brownie for Jim

Charlie and Ben have the first requirement to be successful and that is a knowledgeable Dad who is keen to take them out and help them catch. But more than that, both boys have enquiring minds and are prepared to try smaller bits of water in the Hampshire Avon water meadows that we ‘grown ups’ might overlook or dismiss.

Charlie trotting successfully for grayling

Secondly, have you noticed how you are often successful when first visiting a water but never quite as successful after that? It’s a tricky one as knowledge is meant to be helpful … and it’s essential when making wildlife films … but I for one suffer from a lack of open mindedness once I’ve visited a water and don’t think it through as thoroughly ever again. Your mind is already cluttered by past experience and so you are less likely to make a decision based on the conditions facing you at the time. You naturally tend to head for a swim where you have caught before when you should be at the other end of the lake or different stretch of river.

using a pin - good boy!

No such problem if you’re a beginner, you just do what comes naturally and catch! You are more inclined to explore and try different things and different places, so the lesson for me at least - “must try harder”!

the cue's for the show stretched into the street

… and now for something completely different. I’m certainly a beginner when it comes to giving talks and film shows, so Friday night saw me well out of my comfort zone. As those who’ve read this blog before, I decided to attempt a fund- raiser to help support the Dorset Wildlife Trust and their sterling work to restore our local gem of a chalk stream, the River Allen.

struggling with the lapel mic - it didn't work

if it can go wrong - talking about pumas instead of showing pumas

I booked the largest hall in Wimborne, a big projector, large speakers and twelve foot screen, then wondered if anyone would show up! In the event, thanks to tireless work by DWT staff, we filled the place and 310 folk contributed £2,000+ to the project funds. The auctioned pic. of Penny the Puma raised an impressive £230 and might have done even better if the DVD hadn’t failed to play after twenty minutes!

 heavy gear - no wonder I needed hip replacements

The audience had to put up with me rabbiting on about my lovely pussy cat instead but they didn’t seem to mind, especially as I was asked if I was ever near to getting eaten by her.

the lady winner of the portrait of Penny the Puma with DWT staff

I survived to tell the story … and survived the even greater ordeal of being in front of an audience, so I guess, if invited, I might even do it again, especially if the river will benefit from the effort everyone put in.

Our BAFTA award winning tiger film next - maybe?

two of our three cute cubs