October was exceptionally mild, especially during the early and middle of the month, so my fishing became an extension of what I’d been doing the previous month. Unfortunately the wind was rarely blowing from the right direction to give me much confidence in bream fishing at the big pit, so I only managed a couple of nights after them… and predictably blanked!
My most successful session during the month, which turned out to be a bit of a mixed bag, was also quite frustrating in a way and took place on Swan Lake on the Bluebell Complex, where I’ve done quite a bit of fishing over the last months, especially for the big carp.
This time around, because it was still so mild and also because I’d got myself into a swim that was both relatively weed-free and had plenty of space to spread the rods about a bit, I decided that I’d put a rod out to target the catfish as well as two rods out for the carp. In the tighter swims, or those with more weed I had been sticking to just the carp fishing, as fights with the catfish can be pretty spectacular and the risk of tangling with another line and getting lines and end-tackles dragged about is greatly increased.
As I was starting to get myself organized, setting up almost directly opposite was a guy called Kev who had been particularly successful on the venue over the summer months. In fact his success appeared to be increasing with every session, while for almost everyone else results with the carp were getter harder to come by. I thought that it might prove quite interesting to compare our results, as the area I’d be placing my carp baits and the main area that Kev would be targeting would be relatively close.
In terms of the carp fishing results I’ll cut a long story short and come straight to the fact that during the time that I was there, Kev had an amazing result and caught ten carp, including three 30’s, and I caught one, a mid-double. Perhaps even more startling was the fact that, as far as I was aware, nobody else on the busy lake caught a carp at all! It was almost as if they were queuing up to get caught in Kev’s swim, while I’d managed to scrape one of Kev’s ‘leftovers’ and the rest of the anglers on the lake were left with nothing. Kev went on to catch a couple more carp after I’d left, so it really does go to show that when someone has got things right across a number of aspects i.e., such as location, bait, tactics, presentation (and I’d guess plenty of self-confidence), then catching can be made to look easy, even when everyone else is struggling for a bite.
Even though I was in the middle of taking a 10-1 ‘spanking’ from Kev on the carp front, I was still pleased to havewhen I caught one myself and even more pleased when at some point in time around the early hours of the second night something picked up the special pellet hookbait on the catfish rod. I was soon doing battle with something that didn’t mind pulling back a bit, but to be honest it wasn’t quite as brutal as many of the catfish battles I’ve enjoyed in the past and so before too long a catfish was ready to be ‘gloved’ ashore. Whenever practical I prefer to haul any decent-sized catfish to the bank using my left hand covered in a gardening glove and a good grip around the bottom lip of the large mouth (which makes a terrific handle), rather than mess about trying to squeeze them into a landing net.
On this particular occasion, after wading out a yard or so to go and grab my prize, I almost reverted back to reaching for the net as the catfish head that appeared before me was rather smaller than I expected. Most of the time when you go to ‘glove’ a big catfish there’s plenty of room to work with, but on this particular fish I almost had to work my hand into its mouth a bit before I could get a good purchase and carefully drag it up onto the weedy shallows.
Although it was no ‘kitten’, the catfish turned out to be the smallest I’ve ever caught from the lake and weighed in at 38lb. Because of the relatively small size it actually had me thinking about the possibilities of this particular fish being ‘second generation’ and whether it had actually been born in the lake. Going back quite a good number of years ago, during one particularly hot spring/summer, there had clearly been a successful catfish spawning, as there were quite a number of little baby catfish that could be found in the weed in certain areas. It’s quite feasible that some of these could have survived through their early years and have grown on to reach a respectable adult size… and I wondered whether I’d just caught one of them. I guess I’ll never know for sure.
The following night there was more action on the catfish rod, but it was a much more hesitant bite and the fish that was hooked never gave the impression of the raw power that a hooked catfish tends to display. My suspicions were confirmed when a pike soon succumbed to the heavyweight catfish gear and came gliding into the view of the head-torch beam. It wasn’t a jack, but with a big head relative to the body and long skinny flanks it was always going to weigh well short of its potential in peak condition at the right time of year. It made 15lb 4oz on the scales and I could well imagine it had been a decent 20lb plus fish the previous winter.
All the above certain made for an interesting and unusual session, which at various times had provided moments of frustration, excitement and surprise. I guess that it’s all part of the fascination of the sport and one of the many things that I love about it and that fuels the desire to be on the bank as often as possible. It seems that no matter how much prior thought and preparation I’ve undergone before a session, results and events can still be totally unexpected and there’s always something to learn.
At this time of year I’m not the only one whose thoughts start to focus more and more towards a bit of pike fishing. I’d have loved a chance to fish Chew Valley Reservoir again at the start of this winter’s pike trials, but I failed to get through on the phone to secure any tickets back in January. I’d enjoyed two days on the banks of Chew back in February as a guest of my mate Ian, where I’d had a couple of doubles, but that’s likely to be my only opportunity this year. Ian and I have guested each other on trips to Chew a total of three times in the past and each time Ian has had to suffer the agony of ‘blanking’ while I’ve caught each time… including when I had my PB 30.14 pike in 2013.
I was convinced that fate was keeping something up its sleeve for Ian and that his first proper run on Chew would turn up something extra special. This October Ian and another mate Dave had been able to sort out four consecutive days on the banks of Chew by careful coordination and guesting each other. While I’d confess to being somewhat jealous, I was also eagerly awaiting news of events, especially as I was still convinced that Ian was going to finally land something gigantic. The dual agony and excitement of having friends fishing the water while you’re stuck at home or whatever had already been highlighted in pretty spectacular style earlier in the month when I heard news that my good friend Justin Grapes had landed a magnificent PB pike of 31.07. Just reward for his persistence over several trips in the last couple of years and all of the travelling involved from his home in Norfolk.
Anyway, as I was at home wondering how Ian and Dave were getting on I finally had the phone call from Ian to say that he’d eventually landed his first Chew pike! I held my breath, as Ian built up the tension and just as I was expecting Ian to declare that he’d just landed a 40, he confessed that he’s just had a jack! I can imagine the smile on his face as he said it, knowing that I’d have been proper wound up and imagining a pike of colossal proportions!
Even though getting over to Chew Valley before next year looks unlikely I’m still really looking forward to doing some pike fishing very soon. I help to run a winter pike fishing syndicate and the potential for a big fish from at least one of the pits on the complex is an exciting one, especially as it’s produced some very big pike in the past.
As well as the pike fishing possibilities I’m hoping conditions are going to remain relatively mild, as I’d really like to try and fit in another bream session or two somewhere. I’m also starting to get the urge to get onto the rivers and do some chub or barbel fishing if the conditions look good, so as usual there’s too much fishing that I want to do and too little time to fit it all in.
Whatever I end up doing I’ll give you an update next time.
I’m hoping that I can simply concentrate on my fishing and have less concerns about my fellow anglers next month. Whatever happens I’ll give you an update shortly.
Until then… happy fishing!
