Winter to Summer. Chub, Pike, Rudd and Crucian fishing.

It's been sometime since my last blog so I will go all the way back to November last year and through to midsummer this year. Again, variety was the name of the game for my fishing and Chub were on the target list. After catching an incredible 3lb 3oz Roach in October I was mega keen to get my Chub fishing underway. I was going to fish the Fishers green section of the River Lea. My target from this River was a fish over my current pb of 6lb 7oz. 

The River had been in flood just days before my first visit so I guessed conditions would be good as the level would have dropped back nicely. I saw the Relief channel first and it was coloured up like Tea so I was worried the main River would be the same? Luckily my fears were unfounded, and the River looked perfect! I dropped into a swim on the inside of a bend as there was cover from a tree and it screamed Chub live here. I swung out my hair-rigged Dynamite baits Source wafter covered in matching paste, so it was just on the edge of the tree. I had a rattle on the tip after half an hour but that was the only action. A short time later I decided to move as action had completely stopped.

The River was not fishing well and nothing of note had been caught recently according to the bailiff. As to prove this point, I did not get any more action in the next few swims I tried. Time was getting on with the light fading so I thought I would go back to the swim where I had the only knock of the day so far. It was prime time for a bite and I hoped there would be a Lea monster willing to feed. Luck was on my side when the tip hooped over I found myself playing a heavy fish. It made several strong lunges to try and reach any snag it could find. Eventually the fish came to the surface and a pair of big white lips shone in the moonlight. It was a huge Chub and I prayed the hook would hold?! It took a couple of attempts, but it did go in the net and I let out a cheer as I knew this would be my biggest ever Chub. And at 7lb 2oz it smashed my previous best and literally was a fish of dreams!

I had limited time for some Pike fishing over the Winter so I did not want to sit on a low stocked venue  waiting for a biggun that would not likely turn up. I chose a Fenland river I knew had a good head of fish to mid doubles with a chance of a 20lber. My first trip was to an area that had bait fish present in numbers so my thinking was the predators would not be far away. I was using feeders filled with chopped fish to get some natural attraction in the water. I would also fill the feeder with Dynamite baits predator liquid to boost the attraction as the chopped wish would lose it's scent after a little while in the River. Acton started early for me with Jacks falling to ledgered Mackerel and Smelt baits. My mate however was struggling for bites using more standard Pike tactics. He was interested in my feeder and flavouring approach as he could see there was a clear difference in our results. He switched two of his rods over to the feeder approach and started catching well too. Coincidence? The day ended with me landing 11 fish and the highlight was catching an old looking 17lb plus Pike which obviously liked to move around the River. A friend of mine caught the same fish two miles away a week later!

I had another two trips towards the end of the River season and both trip saw me catch numbers of fish with Pike to mid doubles. The last trip in particular was memorable for a couple of reasons. The first was the number of Pike I had from a single swim. In the very first and only swim I fished the whole day I had 14 Pike to mid doubles! Usually I would move swims if the action died off after half an hour but the action just did not stop in this swim. I could hardly keep one rod in the water let alone three at once! When I caught a beautiful mid double figure Pike I just put it back without weighing it as rods were going off around me all the time. The funny thing was I told my mate to come join me as the fishing was crazy and he caught the same fish two hours later! It weighed 14lb 8oz. 

Below is the biggest Pike I had from three trips. 18lb+ of mint Fenland predator. 

On the same trip I could not resist putting a feeder out for the Rudd too. With all the action from the Pike pretty much over I cast my usual feeder rig out consisting of liquidised bread and flake as hookbait dipped in Dynamite baits xl liquid strawberry. The bites came thick and fast with a Rudd being hooked pretty much every cast! It was a case of wading through the smaller fish to get to the better ones. When a better one came along it was a chunky fish of just over 2lb. The next cast resulted in a bigger fish weighing 2lb 4oz. I handed the rod over to my friend who had never experienced this kind of fishing and he soon had a chunky Rudd in the net. It didn't make the 2lb mark but it was a fish he was very happy with indeed. 

So the Covid thing mucked up most peoples fishing over the Spring and it was the same for me. All my Crucian fishing plans were based around this time and it was nearly over by the time things were relaxed. I did make it out for two trips to my Shropshire syndicate where I found the fishing pretty slow as the Crucians did not seem very active. I kept the tactics simple and fished a method feeder on one rod and a pva stick on the other. The groundbait was the Dynamite baits green lipped muscle method mix with corn steep liquor. I caught a few Roach but one take was something all together different! I hooked into a heavy fish after a blistering take and it gave me a real run around on the light gear for half an hour! When the fish gave me the opportunity i scooped it up and I could see a stunning long Common Carp in the torchlight. A Redmire strain fish weighing in at 26lb.

My next trip the weather was far from ideal with bright high pressure conditions. I worked my butt off moving swims and using float and feeder tactics to try and earn a bite. It was the last few hours of the two day trip when I received the first bite on the float but I knew it would not be a Crucian. I had seen some quality Roach feeding in the surface layers so used waggler float tactics to target them. For bait I was using Sweetcorn flavoured with the Dynamite baits xl liquid strawberry and simply cast towards showing fish. After many attempts I finally got a bite which resulted in a mint Roach of 1lb 14oz.

It was almost time to leave and everything was packed on the barrow with the exception of my net and rods which were laying on the ground. My right hand rod with a method feeder whipped round signalling a take and I was soon feeling the tell tale up down fighting style of a Crucian. I gingerly played the fish to the waiting net and lifted it around a Crucian that was to be my farewell present from the lake. For the record the successful bait was two Dynamite baits F1 hooker pellets as hookbait and Green lipped muscle method mix on the feeder.

It seemed to take forever as always but the new River season was here and the Fenland Rudd were waiting for me. I fished the opening weekend for Carp but with no luck there I had my first evening session to target the Rudd. The River had been hammered as lots of people on Furlough seemed to be making the most of the time off work. I tried a different River to my normal one and had some beautiful fish to 1lb 8oz but they were not the biggies I was after. I had half an hour of light left so decided to change venue for my local River. When I got there I walked downstream trickling in bread crust as I went. I walked a few hundred yards when I saw a good fish start taking the crust from the surface. It was now almost dark so I taped a starlight to my float to see it in the fading light. There were now a few big fish in the swim so i cast a chunk of crust flavoured with Dynamite baits xl liquid strawberry a few feet away from them. It was now dark and hard to see the fish but I heard a big slurp and saw my float pull under as a fish took the crust! I struck and it splashed on the surface then quickly snagged itself in the thick weed growth. With steady pressure I managed to free it and soon scooped it up in the net. It was a stunning specimen and weighed in at 2lb 10oz. The chance of another bite had gone but I was more than happy to leave having caught such a beautiful fish.