First off a confession!
Well, that’s a different way to start a column, but I have to confess to delaying this monthly offering a bit longer than usual for one main reason: a distinct lack of fish! However, just when I was beginning to think that the first part of the winter was going to be a complete waste of time I enjoyed one of the best outings I have had for some time, that’s fishing in a nutshell isn’t it!
So what then of the early part of the month? Well, with the weather all over the place it really wasn’t a huge surprise that the fishing was much the same. A string of five blank trips on the run on three different venues was hugely disappointing, especially as two of those were taking my nephew fishing properly for the first time and blank sessions were not the ideal way to start, especially as the venue I had taken him to is what I would consider to be one of the easiest in the area!
There was obviously something very wrong and in the main I put it down to a complete lack of colour in the water caused by the lack of rain.
Thankfully that situation gradually started to change over the course of the month as we at last started to see some rain in the region.
I guess that the last fortnight before Christmas summed the month up really. The last week before the festivities myself and friend, Ray Best, fished the Sixteen Foot Drain in just T-shirts and hoodies and caught a few jack pike in exactly the same area where a week before we blanked and had been driven home early by winds that cut through every layer of clothing and chilled you to the bone. That type of temperature rise: from nigh on zero to a recorded 14 degrees is great for us but it is much more traumatic for a cold blooded creature such as a fish especially when, as it did, the temperatures thenfell away again just as quickly.
Still the Christmas holidays were soon upon us and after the ‘day’ the chance to recover from a bit of over indulgence and blow a few cobwebs out was one not to miss so with nephew Adam and friends Mike and Lydia in tow we headed for the Ouse in the middle of Ely to see what we could catch.
For various reasons Adam and I couldn’t get there until late morning, but as we were planning to target the zander into the evening there was loads of time ahead of us. Mike and Lydia had been there since 8am and already had a number of livebaits in the bucket by the time we got there so we quickly pinched a couple and got Adam’s pike rods out and then set up his Christmas present of a whip to see if he could catch a few fish, something that he did on his very first cast with that small boys’ staple – a little perch.
Adam was so focused on his pole that it took a take on Mike’s rods to drag his attention away and Mike duly landed a jack of about 5-6lb; already this was a much better trip than the last few!
It wasn’t too much longer before Adam got in on the action as one of his floats went zooming off downstream. I guess with the events of a week before that I mentioned in my ‘Take a Friend Fishing’ feature Adam went way too soft on the fish, firstly not striking properly and then giving the fish far too much slack, with predictable consequences, and the fish shook the hooks.
Fortunately it wasn’t too long before he got another chance and this time, with a bit of coaching from me, I slipped the net under what turned out to be a new best for Adam in the shape of a 7lb pike.
With Mike helping out we showed Adam how to unhook the fish and also how to hold it properly and he was soon beaming at the camera with his prize. Better still the first fish fired him up even more and he then wanted to catch a zander, a fish he hadn’t even seen, other than in pictures.
Mike too was keen to get a zander to up his very modest PB of 1lb 5oz, but it was Lydia who was next into action as her livebait was off and she very ably beat the fish and partner Mike slipped the net under her first ever pike of 7lb and, of course, another PB!
All the while we were catching plenty of small skimmers, roach, rudd and the odd perch and all of the fish were feeding well as the river was just so slightly up and with a lovely green tinge and looking the best that it had all year.
Adam was soon away again landing another jack of 3lb and then the rot set in as Lydia missed a run, as did Mike shortly after that and then Adam decided to play a fish, which I had a suspicion was a zander, far too gently and again the hooks fell out.
As the last light left the land so the time for zander came and as we all enjoyed a hot cuppa and a bag of chips from the local chippie so we settled in and waited for the zander to come calling. I absolutely love zander and zander fishing, they were one of the first fish that I deliberately targeted with a view to catching a big one but the one thing that I know more than anything else about the species is just how contrary they are almost as a matter of course. Some days when it seems that it should be good it can be crap and days when you think that you have no chance at all you bag up! So when after two hours we had not even had a run it was definitely disappointing and with a nine year old instant expert telling me that we wouldn’t catch tonight it was somewhat satisfying when Mike’s rods signalled a take and though the rod was actually Lydia’s she told him to take it.
As Mike bent into the fish and the rod stayed arched over I had a good idea that it could be a decent one, only to have this confirmed when it rolled on the surface before diving deep once more. Elbowing an enthusiastic nine year old off of net duties I slipped the fish in first time and I turned to Mike and told him confidently, that he had his first double. He was pretty shell shocked but we soon had him grinning in the lens with a new personal best of 10lb 11oz, proper Fishing Magic!
A happy new year to you all.
