He is also a very keen angler, having come back to the sport in 1995 following a break of several years. In this regular column he will tell us about his progress as an angler – his thoughts about the sport, what he learns, the fishing trips he makes, the anguish, the humour, in fact everything he experiences as his angling career develops. | ||||
ON THE TINCA TRAIL IN HERTFORDSHIRE The week before the river season started I decided to visit a gravel pit in the county of Hertfordshire in pursuit of tench. The venue in question has some very good fish, but also has the reputation of being ‘hard’. Still, ‘no pain, no gain’ as they say. With that in mind, I set off for a four-night session that hopefully would see me catch a nice tench or two. In actual fact I had set myself the target of two fish, knowing that there was always the chance that I could end up with a personal best.
A trap set in two swims I fished a swim that had a bar about fifty metres out. The bar itself was visible when the sun broke out as it was only a few feet beneath the surface, and of course being a typical gravel pit the water was very clear. The first thing I did was cast a marker float around the swim to get an idea of depth, feature and bottom. Having done that I decided to bait up a margin swim and one at the base of the bar. It was a waste of time setting out to bait up the bar itself, due to the proliferation of coots and tufted ducks that obviously felt very much at home there. The first night saw me out of my sleeping bag at 2.00 a.m. and striking into a tench that had taken my corn steep liquor Tutti Frutti boilie. (That’s a bit of a mouthful isn’t it!). Due to the number of hook-pulls I’ve had recently, I almost gingerly played the fish towards the waiting sunken landing net. It was a good fish, and I thought at the time that it was well worth getting out of bed for! Re-casting I went back to sleep, making sure I was up early enough, not only to look for signs of moving fish on the water, but also to listen to the World Cup’s early morning start on the radio!
Fishless, but the Argies were out! No more fish followed during the first night, but France exiting the World Cup next morning made up for it. And when, the day after, not only did England qualify, but also Argentina got knocked out, I was certainly a happy man. Not that I don’t like the Argies you understand… Nights two and three also proved fish-less, as indeed did the last night! Although, on the final night I did have a run which led to a hook-pull! So – four nights and one fish! But I did say the venue had the deserved reputation of being hard. While I was there another angler fished in the swim next to me for two nights. He ended up with one tench as well, although it was a couple of pounds lighter than mine.
On the Hertfordshire gravel pit, although I catapulted a lot of bait out, I fished with PVA bags with the hook bait. I’ve recently been fishing with bags from Black Cat Baits, based in Shropshire. Check out the web site at www.blackcatbaits.co.uk. The prices are very good and I’ve certainly been very pleased with the product since I started fishing with it in the last few months. Although by the time I came to go home it wasn’t raining, (I’m not a fan of packing away in the rain, particularly when one has the gear associated with a long session) the previous two days had seen some pretty heavy downpours. The area around the bivvy was devoid of grass and so consequently became a quagmire. This session was definitely not for the tackle tart that lives to keep his gear – and himself – nice and clean. By the time I got home I looked as if I’d been on exercise with the Paratroopers!
Barbel and chub are my target species I intend to target barbel, as I did last season. I’ve joined a syndicate on the lower Severn below Worcester (with night fishing allowed), so expect that to feature in my weekly articles. I’m also going to be fishing the River Dove and perhaps the Teme, although I’m not sure I’ll get to fish the latter that much. (I really do need to live to be as old as Methuselah you know. He was a Biblical character that made the ripe old age of 969, in case you’re wondering who he is!). I also intend to catch some decent chub, with the upper Severn figuring in my plans. Over the last couple of winters I’ve been fishing the Staffordshire rivers Mease and Sow. Whilst I’ve had some good fish for those particular waters, I feel it’s about time I pushed my chub personal best up a bit. I’m confident that the upper reaches of the Severn will produce some good fish and I’ve already been doing my homework on a few stretches I intend to fish. But, before the summer finally lets go, I’m going to do some tench fishing on a Midlands estate lake as well. And of course, you’ll get to read how I get on here on FISHINGmagic every week. Still, whatever happens on the fishing front, one thing is sure – I’m certainly going to enjoy the next nine months. And I trust you will, as well, whatever your plans are. As I write, we’re just a day away from the opening of the rivers. With the smell of hemp boiling in the kitchen I’m already feeling like a kid on Christmas Eve. Roll on the glorious 16th I say! | ||||
Well, after three month’s wait, it’s finally come around. I’m talking, of course, about the start of the new river season. Although it’s usually from September onwards that things start to pick up, I can’t wait that long, and so I decided to begin my lower Severn barbel campaign on June 16 itself. I’m usually a slow starter in my fishing campaigns, picking up as time goes by. But join me next Thursday on FISHINGmagic when I tell you how I got ‘Off the mark on the lower Severn’. The Reverend Stewart R Bloor Pilgrim’s Progress – read it every Thursday! |
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