River Rudd and reservoir Perch. A varied summers fishing. Part 1.

It's been a while since my last blog and this one is going to cover what I've been fishing for over the summer. They say variety is the spice of life and I believe that saying goes for fishing too. Most of my time was spent targeting fenland river Rudd with a few trips chasing big Crucians. I even managed to fit in a rare Carp fishing session!

The summer really kicked off on June 16th. The opening day of the river season. Fishing with Giles Cawston once again and joined for this special day by another friend Chris Netto we would be targeting fenland river Rudd.

We were in the boat so we set off to the known areas from last season. We found some Rudd and cast our float fished bread flake baits out into the crystal clear water. Chris had a bite and was into a good fish. It was a spirited fight and we were glad to see a sizable Rudd go in the net 1st time! It weighed in at 2lb 1oz and was Chris's biggest by far. He was over the moon and we were for him too.

In amongst the Rudd fishing Giles was casting lures around in an attempt to catch one of the fenland Pike that prey on the golden fish we were after. Well on one cast a Pike couldn't resist grabbing hold of Giles lure and proceeded to lead him a merry dance on his light set up! Over 10 minutes later Chris chinned the fish and lifted it into the boat and onto the mat. The long summer Pike weighed 15lb+ and was a personal best for Giles.

It was now late afternoon and it was my turn to get into a good fish and after dropping my bread crust bait on the surface it wasn't long before it was gulped down by a good fish. I struck into it and the fish bolted! I managed to keep it's head out of the weed and a couple of minutes later it was in the net. It was a beautiful battle scared fish with character. The best looking type of Rudd in my opinion. All 2lb 4oz of it!

It was now late in the evening and my bread crust was again smashed on the surface! Another spirited fight and another 2lb 4oz Rudd was in the net. This was a totally different looking fish without a silent scale out of place! A great end to a fantastic day on the river.

Now into July and I fancied a change of scenery. It had been a while since my last reservoir boat trip so I soon found myself at Pitsford water chasing big Perch. I knew the areas to target from previous trips so headed to the Dam wall tower. Drop shotting rubber worms is my go to method when targeting big Perch and it didn't take long for a big stripey to fall for it! Several strong vertical runs later and a big Perch was netted. The needle settled on 2lb 15oz. No matter how much I shook the scales I could not get that extra ounce! Lol

A few more big 2lbers came my way before something a bit special made and appearance. I was smiling from ear to ear when a long 3lb 7oz Perch topped the lot from the tower. Giles had his fair share and the best was also 3lb+ before the action dried up.

Time was getting on and we started back to the boatyard stopping off at the road tunnel for the last few minutes. The echo sounder was picking up masses of fish inside the tunnel but you are not all to fish there for them. We anchored up away from the opening and cast our lures close to the tunnel bouncing them back to entice a take. This worked and a good fish hit hard! The fight was amazing and powerful. A pristine 3lb 7oz Perch was my prize. My 2nd 3lb 7oz fish of the of the day. Giles took an awesome picture of me and this fish and will take some beating to better it.

Those were the highlights of the 1st half of summer for me. But there was even better still to come!

Spring at last! Crucian and Tench fishing at Marsh Farm.

With nice Spring weather here at last I knew exactly where I wanted to be fishing. Marsh Farm in Surrey for a days Crucian and Tench fishing! I was up bright and early packing my car for the 2 hour drive to the venue. I was joined for this trip by my mate Giles who shares this addiction we call Angling!

We pulled into the car park and was greeted by a sea of cars! My heart sunk as I thought the 2 hour drive may be totally wasted if we could not get a swim on Harris lake. I unloaded the car while Giles bought the day tickets. Tickets bought Giles came back and asked if I wanted the good news or bad news? I said bad news first and was told the Tench fishers group had the whole railway bank booked! I asked what the good news was and the reply was "at least we will be fishing". And that's always good news!

With the railway bank was out of the mix so we took a look at was left. I talked to a guy who had only had 1 Tench so far on the float. He also told me the Crucians had been spawning the day before and the lake is not fishing well. So who's knows what they would be doing today?! As he had not caught much on the float I decided to go straight in with a small Drennan inline method feeder and a single hair rigged Drennan bouyant caster. I found a free swim which I knew had some variation of depth. It had a shallow area falling away from the island into deeper water. This way I could cover the warmer shallower water for fish enjoying the bright warm conditions and a deeper area if the fish wanted to get some cover from the bright sun.

Within minutes of the feeder settling on the lake bed I was away with a strong fish which tuned out to be a lovely Tench. Another Tench soon made off with my feeder in tow. A typically hard fight ensued and it didn't stop even when it was in the net! The fishing certainly didn't seem as slow in this area as it was elsewhere. I was beginning to think the Crucians may not be in the feeding mood but I was soon playing a fish that was fighting very different to the Tench. With characteristically short but strong lunges I knew this was a Crucian. Sure enough it's golden flanks were shining in the sun near the waters surface ready for the net. At around 1lb 8oz in weight I was very happy to get at least 1 Crucian in the net. But I need not have worried because this was just the beginning!

I noticed the odd Crucian jumping out of the water a couple of swims away. The guy sat in the swim had not caught anything so I thought they must be moving through his swim. When he packed up Giles noticed a shoal of Crucians right where the guy had been float fishing. It was Crucian soup! How he did not catch anything I don't know?! As Giles noticed the shoal he had 1st dibs on having a go for them. He dropped his feeder bang on the money. A minute later his rod tip banged over indicating a take. Not long after it unfortunately fell off! The fish understandably drifted away which gave me my chance to drop my feeder on the spot. The fish started to drift in again and it was not long until my rod tip was banging away! This time there was no drama and a lovely Crucian was netted. At 2lb 3oz I was very happy to make the most out of this situation.

The fish scattered after that returning occasionally for a mooch around. We could not tempt them again so we went back to our own baited spots. The action continued in our own swims with the occasional Tench and Crucian until mid afternoon when it kicked off big time in my swim! A succession of mostly Crucians succumbed to my feeder tactics (see earlier blog for rig details) over the next 3 or 4 hours. One spot in particular was rocking and that was in the shallower water that drops away from the island. I even had a double take at one point and had a brace of 2lbers in the net! Giles had a fish at the same time too which made for a great photo opportunity.

The activity dropped off as the evening drew in. Which was the opposite to what we expected. It was mostly Tench that were feeding now and we decided to call it a day. But not before I tempted another hard fighting Tench as my rods lay on the ground. I always leave my rods and net as the last things to be packed away as I often bag a bonus fish doing this. I ended up with 14 Crucians up to 2lb 3oz and just as many Tench Giles did great too and was not far behind on numbers and had the biggest Crucian at 2lb 7oz. We were told the lake had been fishing hard. I feel this made us put in the extra effort and reaped the rewards.

Late Winter Tench fishing at Marsh Farm.

It was the last day of Winter and here I was sitting on the bank of Harris lake on the Marsh Farm complex in Surrey. This lake is famous for it's Tench and Crucian fishing but more so in Spring and Summer than a cold day like this! I was fishing with a couple of friends (Giles and Chris) and we knew it was going to be hard work due to the cold North/East wind!

We decided to start on the smallest lake on the complex. Hill pond. Although the smallest lake on the complex it still has Crucians over 3lb in weight and numerous Tench. The pond was well sheltered from the cold wind so we thought a few quick bites would be forthcoming. Unfortunately this was not the case and bites were hard to come by fishing in the shallow margins. I set up my trusty method feeder set up and cast out with an underarm flick. I did this a few times just to get a bit of bait on the spot. I had a quick response and soon had a small but very welcome Tench in the net. Nothing else was interested so Giles and I packed up and headed over to Harris lake to try and tempt the bigger fish to our baited hooks.

The obvious starting point was the sheltered Northern end of the lake. It was flat calm and noticeably warmer. We did have a look further down the lake just in case we saw signs of fish but there were none. I settled for a swim that gave me an island to cast to as well as open water. The first rod was placed at the bottom of the island shelf and the other in the open water. As always I cast the method feeders out several times each to get a bit of bait on the spot before leaving them to snare any hungry fish that come along. The ground bait method mix was a simple crushed hemp mix with a few larger food items such as 6mm low oil pellet, sweetcorn and casters. With the added pulling power of corn steep liquor and pellet betaine liquid. It had the desired affect as the island rod was off to a flier 10 minutes later! With the water still being very cold I was surprised how hard this fish was pulling! It took me all over the place before slipping the net under a fighting fit male Tench. Giles too had a Tench soon after me so it was worth the move already.

Maybe we had just hit the end of a morning feeding spell as we could not tempt another bite for what seemed like ages?! As nothing was happening where we were we moved down the lake to see if we could locate any feeding fish. The problem was the cold wind was pushing down the lake and I doubted there would be much more of a chance of feeding fish here. But rather than sit behind motionless bobbins and silent alarms it was a risk worth taking. I chose a similar swim to the last with island and open water features. The feeders went out in similar areas too. As I feared the fish did not seem to be in this area. We had no action for an hour so had no hesitation in heading back to the previous productive area.

We went straight back to our previous swims. I fished exactly the same spots as before hoping the bait had attracted some fish. It took a bit longer for the bite to come but when it did it was another hard fighting Tench. The Crucians really didn't want to feed today but the Tench were saving the day. Lee the bailiff popped over for a chat. It was great catching up as it had been almost a year since my last visit on the Association of Crucian anglers fish-in. We were rudely interrupted by another screaming take which turned out to be a Tench that thought it was Jack Pike by almost jumping out of the lake a couple of times! Giles was getting in on the action too and had two more Tench.

The day was drawing to an end and the pack up began. Another Tench tore off at a rate of knots and was the final reward on what was far from ideal as far as fishing conditions go. I'm already dreaming of returning in a month or so when the Spring is in full swing and when hopefully the big Crucians that swim along side the Tench will be in full feeding mode. 

Pike or Carp fishing? A last minute change of plan.

It was now the 2nd week of November and my mind had been set on targeting Pike in my local club lake for some time. The problem was I was not feeling the vibe for Pike fishing yet as the weather had been very warm for November! Temperatures in the low 20s degrees celsius had me more in a Carp mood! So the day before the planned Pike session I set up my Carp gear and got 2kg of MCF Hartford mix out of the freezer to dry off overnight. My mate Colin was still going to target the Pike so would I regret my decision to change my plan?

I got the lake around 7.30 am, loaded the wheel barrow and headed up the track to the lake. When I got to the lake I saw I was the only angler there so I had 15 acres of water to myself. Happy days! The wind was a strong southwesterly so I knew the fish would be on the end of it. Sure enough they were showing where I thought they would. I glugged the boilies in a little hemp oil as I needed to draw the fish down to the bait. The lake is deep with an average depth of 25ft but deeper sections to 35ft. The water was still warm so the hemp oil would dispers easily and attract the fish to my bait. I scattered half a kg with the throwing stick about 50 yards out where the fish were showing. I baited the margin with a few bait scoops of mixed bloodworm and carp pellets. Again with a little bit of hemp oil and a light scattering of boilies.

Within 20 minutes the margin rod with half a balanced boilie and plastic corn was away! As is the norm with the fish in this lake it was a hard fighter going on long runs ploughing head down into the deeper water! The fish made several of these runs before I managed to net it. It was a nice fish just into double figures. I took a quick shot of the fish on the mat as Colin was still at home (probably in bed). He did arrive about half an hour later just in time to help me land a fish that took the pop up hook bait out in open water. This was a better fish of around mid doubles.

I topped up the margin rod with a couple more scoops of pellet and 10 boilies and the open water rod with a handful of boilies. This is my standard procedure as I find little and often keeps the bites coming. And sure enough they did. A procession of hard fighting Carp fell to the margin and open water rods. Most to the open water rod though. The fish ranged from 10 to 18lb. Mostly mirrors but the odd common was a nice bonus as they are not so common in this lake. Time was getting on and the light was starting to fade. I was wondering if any of the better fish were going to make an appearance?

I was sitting with Colin and having a good chat when my margin rod slammed down and bent over double as a fish took off at high speed! I lifted into a better fish that was still pulling line off the spool. I managed to slow the fish and turn it back to me. I now had it swimming around under the rod tip but it was still 25ft below me! It hung around at depth for a while until I could start inching it up towards me. Bubbles were coming up to the surface so I knew the fish was tiring. Sure enough we got a sight of it and it was much wider than the others. In the net it went 1st time. We weighed it in at 22lb 2oz and I was well happy to end the session with the biggest fish of the day.

Colin had some action from the Pike but only landed the one Jack and missed a couple. I had 11 Carp by the end of the day and it seemed my change of plan had indeed paid off.

The Theatre of dreams. Grafham Zander fishing.

My Grafham Water fishing addiction was as strong as ever and I needed a hit! It felt like an age since my last trip (maybe a week or two) so me and Giles set about planning our next trip. We had cleared up on the Perch on our last visit so we set our minds on targeting the Zander. I had been brushing up on my vertical jigging technique by watching youtube videos of the Scandinavian guys. Pinpoint accuracy is the key and the way they use fish finders is amazing. They can pick a fish out and target it by dropping the lure right on its nose. 9 times out of 10 they get a hit. Now our fish finder is by no means cutting edge technology but it would definitely be helpful.

The day arrived and Giles was due any moment. However there was one slight problem. I had locked my wallet and garage keys in the garage the night before so I needed to do my Burglar impression and break into my garage! With the help of a crowbar I retrieved my wallet and set about loading the car with my gear. Giles arrived and now fully loaded we headed off to the "Theatre of dreams" as Giles call it. A pretty good description as Grafham is a monster fish Mecca! Not long after joining the main road my car decided to lose power! Could anything else go wrong! Anyway, long story short the car got better again and we made it to our destination with time to spare. Phew!

We piled our gear into the boat and decided it would be rude not to see if the Perch were still in a feeding mood at the Main Tower. We dropped our chosen lures down set up drop shot style but it was obvious early on the Perch were not playing ball. They had been targeted there pretty heavily since our last visit and had moved on to less pressured areas. So we moved to an area I knew had produced some large Zander and Perch recently. We started picking up fish on the finder almost instantly and set about trying to tempt something into biting our jigs. We started a drift over the fish and we started getting a few bumps on our lures but no full on takes. We tried to find the shoal of fish again but they had moved on. Giles thought the sound of the petrol engine may be spooking the shoals so we switched to the electric engine. We started a drift into the main body of the water and again picked up fish on the finder. I felt my lure choice was not quite right and remembered I had found a Berkley ripple minnow lure the previous trip. So on it went and this time when my lure was dropped down I was met with a solid hit. I could feel it was not a big fish but when it turned out to be a small Zander we knew we had found them! He was hooked on the stinger I always put on my rubber lures.

Now we knew we were in the right area to target. In 1,200 acres of water up to 65ft deep you really do need to stay on them when you find them. This is where a fish finder is worth its weight in gold. Even a no frills one like ours. I was putting my homework to good use and fished as accurate as possible. My braided main line has alternating 2ft Black and Orange sections which enables me to count down to the exact depth the fish show on the finder. I dropped my lucky lure down again to where the fish were and it did not take long for another hit to come. This time a small Perch popped to the surface and again was hooked on the stinger. Right at the end of a drift Giles was next into a fish. Again a small Zander was netted and Giles was well pleased to get in on the Zander action. We started seeing less fish on the finder so moved over a little way and found some big shoals! Time was getting on and we had maybe half an hour or so until we had to get the boat back to the Lodge. With the lure dropping down I just hoped it would be met by something more substantial. Well it was and I hit into a knock that bent the 7ft jigging rod double! For a moment I thought it was the lake bottom. I felt a bump and knew it was a much bigger fish. It was heavy and hooked 55ft down so bringing it to the surface was nerve racking stuff! Giles kept saying it was a big Zander and when I saw it surface from under the boat I just wanted it in the net! Well in the net it went and we let out a big cheer of relief as the fishing had been so hard. Yet again the fish was hooked on the stinger and shows how important it is if you want to hook more fish. The angry looking Zed weighed 9lb and was my biggest lure caught Zander.

The fish went back down into the depths nice and strong. We had time for a few more drops but nothing else was fourth coming. After the potentially show stopping incidents in the morning I felt the day had ended on a well earned high. We did very well considering how difficult the fishing had been for everyone else. Although none of the monster Zander put in an appearance this time we still have a few trips left before the end of the season at the "Theatre of dreams".

Jurassic Perch! Grafham Perch fishing.

Grafham Water in Cambridgeshire is a venue I have fished several times before but this trip was going to be something special! Grafham is a predator anglers paradise. It has produced Pike over 30lb, Zander to unofficial record size (over 21lb) and Perch to nearly 5lb. No other venue in the UK can boast all these predators to these sizes.

I was to be fishing with my mate Giles and to say we were excited would be a massive understatement! We arrived at the Lodge early and had a chat to a couple of Pike anglers. This was a good move as we picked up a couple of tips regarding Perch and Zander locations. We paid for our days fishing and loaded the boat with all our gear ready for action. A fish finder is a massive edge on Grafham as it is vast. You could be fishing for hours without so much as a bite if you fish blind so to speak, without a fish finder to help locate fish.

We steamed straight out to the man inlet tower as this is where fish seem to be in permanent residence. We would target the Perch here 1st thing then move on to drift for Pike and Zander later in the day. Our method of attack would be drop shotting as we felt it would offer a great way to present rubber worms in a way that offered precise presentation. Giles was 1st out of the trap and dropped his rig down into the depths. It was around 30ft deep so a heavy weight was required to get down fast. Within a minute he was into a fish. It fought hard and we thought it may be a Trout? A big stripey Perch then popped to the surface to tell us otherwise! It weighed in at 2lb 8oz and was a great way to start the day. As soon as my rubber worm touched down it too was taken and I also had a hard fighting fish on! I dare not think it could be a big Perch but sure enough a big stripey popped up and was scooped up in the net. It too was a 2lber and weight 2lb 10oz and was now my biggest Perch to date.

If that was all I caught that day I would have gone home very happy. But my next drop down was met by something in a different league. I struck into a fish that started taking line from the off! It fought like the previous fish with violent head shaking. The power of the fish surprised me but I had never caught Perch fight as hard as these before. It surfaced and I knew it was far bigger than the previous fish. It weighed in at 3lb 12oz and I was shell shocked. My next drop down was taken very quickly again and produced another 3lber at 3lb 6oz. Was this really happening I said to Giles?! Lol

Giles was next to get something special. He boated another Perch of 2lb 10oz but was soon followed by a massive Perch! As soon as it surfaced we saw it was bigger than the high 3lb fish I had. The look on Giles face said it all. It was a monster! All 4lb 2oz of it. It was a long deep bodied fish that could be around 5lb later in the season. All of the fish we had were long and will easily fill out as the season goes on. Giles followed this fish up with a 3lb 12oz fish. I think maybe half an hour had passed by this point.

The fishing gods were certainly favouring us as we went on to catch another eight 3lb+ Perch (4 each) with several back up 2lbers by lunchtime! We were the only anglers targeting the Perch that day but we decided to move on from the tower to give the fish a rest. To be honest we needed a rest too! We had some much needed lunch before we upped anchor and headed down to the Dam end. The waves were pretty big on the trip down there and we got a bit of a soaking with the spray! No pain no gain though. We picked up a good number of fish on the fish finder and did a drift over them hoping to get into the massive Zander that live there. The depth was around 40ft and the fish were in the bottom 5ft. A 20g jig head was needed to present my ripple shad and fish it effectively in the botton 5ft. I had a few taps before I got a take and my Korum snapper jig rod bent double. It was a strong fish and I was hoping for a Zander but I was not disappointed when a Pike around 7-8lb surfaced. He spat the hooks just as we were about to had it out but I was happy enough as it saved the fish from being handled in the boat.

We had a fish around the Dam tower and had a couple of small Perch but moved on as it was slow. We found lots of fish on the way to a large bay so we dropped anchor. Some good fish were showing on the fish finder but only small Perch were taking the lures. We stayed for a while as the bigger predators were surely in the area. Unfortunately the bigger fish were not playing ball! It was late afternoon by now so we decided to have one last go at the tower. We dropped our lures down but it was hard work to get a response from the Perch this time round. We did manage to finish the day of by boating another 2lber each. We were more than happy to call it a day and win some brownie points with our partners by getting home early. We ended the day with 13 2lbers, 11 3lbers, 1 4lber and a few smaller ones.

Grafham is a venue that can leave you wondering why you bother putting in the time, effort and expense? But occasionally it lets you know why : )

Gold at the end of the rainbow. Fenland River Rudd fishing.

As for most anglers time is something I don't have enough of for my fishing. Especially since my little boy came along (but would not change that for the world). So when a chance of a days Rudd fishing with a couple of friends came up I jumped at the chance! The plan was to target the Rudd in a section of river we knew held massive specimens. I had fished the river a few times for them but as yet the bigger specimens had evaded capture. I pulled up to the river around 7am to find Giles and Chris getting the boat ready for the day ahead. With the boat ready and loaded with bait and tackle it was time to try and track the nomadic river Rudd down.

We decided to have a few casts near to out starting point as this area had produced good sized Rudd on previous trips. A few handfuls of crumbed bread were sent into the depths to try and attract fish to our bread flake hook baits. Bites were fourth coming from the off but small Rudd were the culprits! We upped anchor and headed up the river with me acting as lookout at the front of the boat. It was not long before I spotted some large Rudd scatter as the boat edged closer to them. We maneuvered the boat into position and dropped the mud weights. Chris was lightening quick and had his float sailing out into the river before the mud weights had hit bottom! In a flash  Chris was rewarded with a bite from a better fish and turned out to be a lovely Rudd over 1lb in weight. The fish don't seem to hang around for long after one or two have been caught and as quick as they had arrived they disappeared! We spotted a few more good fish but nothing as big as we know there are in this river so decided to head straight to the section of river they were most likely to be.

As we were pushing upstream I spotted some huge Rudd and got a tad excited! I had not seen Rudd of this size before and was champing at the bit to get a bait out for them. With 3 of us on the boat it was difficult for all of us to present a bait at the same time in the same area. I had a cast upstream as it was an area that gave me plenty of water to fish. It's not easy float fishing upstream as you have to keep reeling line in to keep up with the flow of the river. As the float was making it's way back towards me it dipped from sight. I struck and was into a much better fish then anything I had hooked in the river before. It fought doggedly and buried it's head in the weed every chance it got! Eventually I managed to get it into netting range and it went in the net 1st time of asking. It was easily the biggest Rudd I had caught and we all thought it looked well over 2lb in weight. We settled on a weight of 1lb 13oz after weighing it on 2 sets of scales as we all thought it looked much bigger. It looked huge to me and whatever the weight I was over the moon with it!

Again we moved onto the next area. We got as far as we could in this section of river and decided to fish around the lock as we have had good fish there in the past. There were some very big Rudd in this area. I actually thought they could be Bream or Chub but I was in no doubt when I saw the scales sparkle in the sunlight. All of us were catching nice sized fish to over a pound but again the bigger fish were not playing ball. We decided to head back to our starting point for some refreshment as sitting out in the warm sun all day builds up a thirst! Our plan for the late afternoon into the evening was to head all the way to the lock and work our way back down river.

The weather surprised us in the evening and warm sun and light winds were replaced with cloud and a brisk breeze. This was not much good for fish spotting but maybe the fish would feed more confidently? One of the tactics to find the fish was to feed bread crust and see if anything rises to feed on the floating bread. Unfortunately the bird life new this and followed us everywhere! It did work and before long we were anchored up and fishing again. Rain had now started to come down and I thought it may be the end of the fishing. I saw a rainbow and said maybe a big Rudd would be the gold at the end of the rainbow? Again it was a bit cramped with 3 of us fishing downstream so I had a cast upstream. I was a little deflated by now as the conditions were not great and the birds had seemingly ruined the fishing. But my float slowly pulled under and I struck into a better fish. This fish was playing dirty and buried itself in the weed just in front of the boat! I didn't think it was as big as the one earlier in the day but Giles was much more confident that it was bigger! Maybe I just didn't want to think it was big as it looked like I might lose it? With steady pressure the fish popped up and was scooped into the net. It looked bigger then the one earlier but I didn't want to get my hopes up. The fish weighed in at 2lb 1oz and was a stunner! Chris took some great pictures and it looked amazing in the light of the setting sun. Truly gold at the end of the rainbow!