Phenology
Many years ago I went to an interesting talk by a chap from what was then called the Institute of Terrestrial Ecology on the subject of phenology. Ever since I have always had it at the back of my mind that a closer study of this subject would be an incredible advantage to the angler. Phenology is the study of recurring natural phenomena: such as the first flowering of certain plants, the appearance of the first swallows, leaf fall and also certain aspects of the life-cycle of coarse fish.
A lot of the behaviour of coarse fish is linked to the time of the year, particularly in the spring as the water warms, the days become longer and the fish start to grow and prepare for spawning. Just imagine if you could link everyday events happening in the garden or countryside with the behaviour of our target species. Far-fetched? I think not, but I am afraid that it would take a more meticulous mind than my own to collate all the evidence and catch reports to really do this subject justice. In exceptional years, such as this one, I wonder if the timing pattern breaks down somewhat though?
Whilst the weather has been exceptional this March (the coldest on record in many parts of the country I believe), it is interesting to note that fish tend to respond more to day length than to the actual temperature per-se, so although the fish might only be feeding for short periods because of the low temperatures, they are still catchable.
A good example of this is my old mate Ted Bryan who has been busy catching big tench down in Kent whilst other anglers had written off the species off until the weather had changed for the better. Perhaps we shouldn’t always be so quick to jump to conclusions.
Would a study of phenology pick this up? Maybe. The pike still haven’t spawned in my neck of the woods though, which is late, and we seem to have quite an unusual situation where the perch have actually started spawning before the pike. Interesting stuff indeed, 2013 could turn out to be a poor recruitment year for all the early spawning species if this cold weather keeps up.
Clear Plans
I had a clear plan of what I wanted to achieve from my fishing in March and the first part at least worked a treat, before the wheels came off rather towards the back end. First up it was to be a short but intense campaign on the lower River Severn for a monster zander up to the close of the river season. Thoughts of fishing the river had been at the back of my mind for several years, and I had decided that I really wanted to have a go this year, so on 01 March I fished a short session from the bank running from mid-afternoon until dark. No fish came my way, but I really connected with the place, and so the campaign began in earnest. Most days would see me down at the river either before or after work for a few hours, normally bank fishing with legered BaitBox roach, but also taking advantage of the invitation to fish with my mate Andy Black when he was out in his boat.
I’m not going to recount the blow-by-blow account again of what happened, it’s been featured here on FishingMagic already, but as I often find when I get my head down and feel confident the results come quickly.
The back end of March was a slightly different story though. I always seem to lose a bit of focus after the closure of the rivers, until the tench and bream fishing starts in earnest. This year I had planned to spend a few days roach fishing on a number of venues in search of some nice fish. Unfortunately, the exceptional weather and a bad chest infection, kept me from visiting the ‘roach redmire of the north’ Lochnaw in Scotland, but hopefully a short trip in April might be possible, as it is an intriguing venue that has quickly established a pedigree for some whoppers.
Closer to home a few day trips to local roach venues turned up some great fishing, especially on the waggler. It would have been all too easy to chuck out a couple of helicopter feeder rigs and wait for a fish to hang itself, but with a couple of months of tenching coming up on a big gravel pit that will necessitate the need for feeder fishing, I really wanted to fish the float at every opportunity.
It is surprising how rusty you can get when you don’t use a technique for a bit and I must admit it took me half a day or so to get back into my stride. The venue I was fishing though was perfect for the waggler as the depth was a fairly constant five feet, and a cast of 20 metres was more than adequate. Undertow was quite a problem though, but by setting the Stillwater Blue about four inches overdepth and positioning a no.8 shot just resting on the deck I could hold the hookbait steady. As you might imagine, bites, especially from the larger roach, were indicated by a lift on the float before it slid away.
By packing up time I had got the fish feeding well, and was kicking myself to be honest for feeding too little for most of the day. It was only late on that I had stepped up to around 20 Scopex No.1 flavoured maggots every two minutes, figuring that I had nothing to lose, even if this did over feed the swim. However the extra bait kick-started the swim and bites became much more frequent.
I did have one heart-stopping moment when I hooked a fish that bored deep and that I played with kid-gloves. Unfortunately the culprit was an early tench of around a pound and a half, rather than a monster roach, but on a bitterly cold day who cares?
Fortunately, despite the bitter conditions, roach can be expected to feed on even the coldest days, and they have made an interesting diversion for a couple of weeks. I still have a couple more venues to visit that could produce an exceptional specimen, but to be honest it is just lovely to be getting plenty of bites when most anglers appear not to be venturing out.
I wonder if the cold weather, that no doubt keeps anglers off the banks, means that the many shows that go on over the spring actually see more people through the doors?
Shows
March saw a couple of new shows pencilled into my diary. I had been at the Norfolk Carp and Coarse Show with Nash last year, and had really enjoyed the weekend, this year we were back again with an even bigger stand. We also visited the new Northern Carp and Coarse show in Manchester, and I must say the Trafford Centre’s exhibition suite was fantastic, and ideally placed. With the snow falling and the Easterly winds blowing up I was glad to be inside for a few days!
March has certainly been a rough month, but despite the difficult conditions fish can still be caught if you are willing to brave the elements. Me, I like to get out, but it can be difficult to get motivated when the weather has been so bad for so long. Fingers crossed, we might see some better weather in April, and now Easter is over and the clocks have gone forward, it cannot be long until it is time for tench….
