I finally completed all the DIY tasks my good lady gave me due to my ill advised ‘end of river season’ jobs offer. I even earned a few extra brownie points by mowing the lawn without being asked!!! I felt like the universe was now back in balance and I could justifiably get back to fishing in earnest.
Unfortunately I’m not much of a Carp enthusiast, if I was I would have a multitude of waters to try. Its Tench (and maybe even the odd crucian) that float my close season boat, and the pickings are decidedly slim here in the wastelands of the North West. I do wonder why sometimes, how hard can it be for clubs to resist stocking carp in every water? Some of my cards have 20 or 30 lakes and ponds available and yet not a single one of them doesn’t feature Carp! Realistically, clubs probably cater to the majority and the majority love Carp it seems. I shouldn’t complain because I do fish for them sometimes (badly!)
Given the above I consider myself fortunate to have one place available that, despite being a Carp mecca, also features some quality Tench fishing, but it is a deep venue and always takes a few weeks to warm up, even knowing this I still couldn’t resist a recognisance session…. just in case, you never know! This was prompted by encouraging news that another rare North West Tench water, a much shallower lake, had finally woken up and a few were being caught; the bad news was I’m not a member, so I just looked on enviously.
Unfortunately the weather continued to frustrate; despite some lovely sunny days there were regular cold nights keeping the water temperatures down. As a consequence the fish avoided me like the plague, and without them there really isn’t much to write home about in a fishing blog, so apologies in advance of reading! At least my gear was ready to go now, the light barbel rods converted to helicopter rigs and my float rod unearthed from the tackle shed. Bring on the sun!!
05.04.19 Cheshire Mere
As mentioned in the intro, I made a first trip of the season prematurely, and I wasn’t really surprised to suffer a blank. It was a fairly pleasant day and the sun shone nicely, but it gave a false impression. The water temperature was just 9C, though even this didn’t dissuade me, but just 3 cars in the car park should have spoken volumes about my prospects on this usually busy water.
I had the choice of many desirable swims but went for comfort really; a nice spot sheltered from the nippy wind, featuring a lovely overhanging tree to the right that covers a deep hole on a well-known fish patrol route. Obviously I placed one rod here at the end of said tree, a helicopter rig with a black cap maggot feeder, back leaded down to prevent spooking any wandering fish. Bait was red maggots on the hook with a floating red rubber maggot on a short hair to provide some buoyancy.
The second rod was fished about 30m out over a nice clear plateau I had discovered while leading about, it was sandy, around 8-9ft deep. I used a modified drennan feeder with red maggot, hemp and chopped worm, blocked in with krill groundbait, again on a helicopter rig. Bait was sections of lobworm fished on a short ‘quickstop’ hair-rig, which provides quick and easy mounting of the worms, with the added bonus of exposing the hook and removing the perennial problem of them flipping over and masking the hook point.
It didn’t feel like I did much wrong, but I left with my tail between my legs. I don’t think I would have caught if I’d stayed all week; nor did I see anybody else catch anything and the lake seemed completely dead. I will have to watch the weather forecast carefully this week before I decide if next week efforts will be better spent elsewhere.
12.04.19 Cheshire Flash
With the nights still very cold, I decided to pass on the deep mere and head for a shallower and hopefully warmer venue. I chose one of Cheshire’s famous ‘flashes’ for a change. These were created in the past as a bi-product of the salt industry; collapsed salt caverns created long, usually narrow subsidences on the land surface, which soon filled with water and were quickly populated by nature. They are common all over Cheshire, and many are very good fisheries, full of wildlife, with a natural appearance belying their industrial origins.
There were a couple of carpers on when I arrived at lunchtime, who were all fishing right across to the main feature on the water, a large group of trees on a spit of land protruding out into the lake. I always fancy this area but wouldn’t dream of fishing it when somebody is casting to it. Instead I followed the wind to the far end of the lake. I decided to have a go for a carp, not my favourite quarry as previously stated, but there are plenty of them here and I fancied a bite after last weeks miserable blank. I took a water temp of 12C, 3C warmer than the mere, just as I’d hoped.
A couple of hours later I hadn’t had a touch, though there were fish about; huge swirls when a duck swooped low over the water gave the fishes location away, but they weren’t over my bait.
Just as I was thinking about a move, the carp lads packed up and went, and I was in the tree swim in a jiffy. I only had limited time left so I just fired out my remaining hemp about 10m out next to the trees and under-armed my rig over it. The second rod was dropped into the margin to my right and a few broken boilies tossed around it. Both rods were back-leaded down due to the shallow water.
I was far more confident in this swim and started to get the odd bleep from the left hand rod next to the trees; I put this down to bream but just a few minutes later it went off like a rocket, and I had to scamper across to my right to apply plenty of side strain to keep an angry carp out of the snags. Once it was turned it was fairly plain sailing and a nice clean common of around 10-12lb was in the bag.
I gave it a rest in the net then put it on the mat for unhooking but it was leaping and banging about like a mad thing; I was concerned for its safety but managed to unhook it easily enough.
Typically, at that most inappropriate moment the other margin rod screamed off; I was in a right pickle, but fortunately this one headed out into open water so I could leave it and finish dealing with the one on the mat. A quick phone shot for the blog and back it went un-weighed. I sprinted to the other rod and wound down…. into nothing, the second fish had done a Houdini and was gone…gutted!!
19.04.19 Club Water
A last minute phone call from a mate prompted a day trip to this shallow former sand pit. It doesn’t register high on my list of favourite venues but I went for the social, and from that respect it was well worthwhile.
I managed to get set up in the next swim, so we had a laugh and a bacon barm, and that I’m afraid turned out to be the highlight of my day, other than a solitary 8lb common and a mystery lost fish. Oh, and a spectacularly huge red full moon as I was packing up…now that was worth seeing!
My mate stayed on and did well landing a load of carp over the 2 nights he was there, even having to wind his rods in on the second to get some sleep. The weather, just to be awkward was so scorching hot and stale nothing much was happening for anybody during the day, so I probably should have done the night myself on reflection!
26.04.19 Club Water
I nearly didn’t bother today; I was distracted by the prospect of travelling to the mighty Stockport County’s last game of the season at Nuneaton the following day, which if negotiated successfully would win us a league title for the first time in 52 years. Such was the magnitude of the event all other considerations were minor. However I needed to calm my nerves, so I went to a local runs water for a quick couple of hours (you guessed it!)carp fishing!
Despite the weather having reverted back to constant rain and howling winds, keeping the temperatures right down, I still enjoyed the distraction, and managed to snag a couple of fish on the Barbel rods, a common around 15lb and a mirror of 10lb (both estimated).
Both were in fine condition, and like last weeks fish, so lively on the mat I gave up with the scales, and had to make do with a quick phone snap for the blog; I am beginning to see why the proper carp lads are willing to spend the money on fancy cradles etc, worth every penny if it prevents a fish damaging itself.
Both came on standard 15mm boilie fished snow man style with a white or yellow 10mm pop-up, placed just over the shelf about 10m out. I never understand the need for casting too far on this water, as the fish patrol the bottom of the shelf, which is easily located by observing the extent of the lilies. It makes for comfortable fishing, baiting and casting is far more accurate and I usually do well enough without having to stay after dusk.
The trip to Nuneaton the next day went very well and the mighty County triumphed 3-0, thereby gaining promotion to the Conference. I know it’s only tier 5 of the football pyramid but next season we will be just one step below the promised land of the football league (our birth right!) and somehow that dream now seems more achievable! The only downside is the almighty hangover I am still nursing while writing this!
That completes April’s diary, a disappointing lack of Tench from the mere, which seems to be weeks behind last year (I know this because facebook keeps sending me annoying posts from ‘this day last year’ with me grinning inanely clutching lovely big green tench!!). The few small carp I managed were more trouble than they were worth, but as usual there is more to fishing than just catching fish, sometimes it’s just sitting on the bank with the wind in your hair, the sun on your face, a sandwich and a flask in your bag, watching nature put on a show for you. In that respect I am a lucky, lucky man, and it would be churlish of me to bemoan the lack of a few fish!
Till next month, Tight Lines
Dave
Barbel Crazy 