| MARK HODSON | |
An angler since he can remember, Mark Hodson almost literally lives, eats and breathes fishing. A match angler in his youth, fishing for the junior Starlets, he turned to the dark side and joined the ‘floppy hat’ brigade in his college years. He worked in the tackle trade for ten years, on a part time or full time basis at Chaplains, one of Birmingham’s busiest tackle shops and managed the specialist department there for two years. He now fishes just for fun, although the ‘floppy specialist hat’ still dominates his angling, his writing concentrates on getting the maximum enjoyment from your angling and trying something different from the norm. |
| IN SEARCH OF LOST TREASURE – PART TWO The Location ‘headache’ In the end I made my location decisions easier by only considering two factors; the first was to only fish swims that had the correct features to attract Crucian carp, ie, fairly deep margins with good cover such as lily pads or overhanging trees, the second was I would only fish pegs that no one else ever fished.  Now fishing pegs that no one else ever fishes may seem very bizarre to some, but on Gibson’s it isn’t, as it gets very little angling pressure. The maximum number of anglers I have ever seen on there is four, usually you can have the lake to yourself in the week, and as every peg is a feature peg, only the most comfortable get fished. As a result, only a third of the pegs ever get fished throughout the year, so logic dictated that as the Crucians were never being caught, they probably were localised in one of the unfished pegs. A handful of pegs were picked to start with, each would be fished at least twice with sessions lasting all day, this was a commitment of at least twelve days angling, a lot for some fish that might not even exist anymore and for someone who likes to vary his fishing. But if something is worth doing, its worth doing properly, so in late July my search for the missing Crucians started in earnest. Tactics and techniques This was my next problem. I decided that I would have to fish through the other fish that inhabit Gibson’s in order to catch my target fish. In order to catch the Crucians I would fish styles that would inevitably involve other species being caught as well As I didn’t want to miss a chance of hooking one, I would have to keep my tackle fairly delicate and baits small, which meant the hordes of perch, roach and rudd that were in the lake couldn’t be avoided. One rod would be a 13ft foot standard action waggler rod, teamed with 3lb line and a small waggler. This would be fished with a small bait next to any features that might attract the Crucians. A centrepin would be used for close in work but anything over a rod and a half length out then a fixed spool replaced the ‘pin’, as I’ve never been the best caster with a centrepin. End tackle would consist of size 18 Drennan Super Carbon barbless to a 1lb 14oz hooklength. My second rod would be my experimental rod. This would be a 12′ 1 1/2 lb TC rod coupled with 8lb line and a Korum flat method feeder. A size 14 Drennan barbless carp hook to a 6lb nylon hook link would hopefully snare any Crucian that forgot its naturally shy biting habits and fancied a larger meal. Bait would consist of everything imaginable. On my first session I took the following:
As you can see I didn’t want to leave anything to chance! The pattern is set That very first session in late July set the pattern for what has come since. The swim I chose was on the end of a long point with just a 2ft gap in the marginal reeds to fish through. As you can see from the picture the only practical way of fishing the swim was to stand in the water, thus no one else ever fished there.  That day I enjoyed some of the best days fishing I have had in a long time despite the temperatures reaching the mid 20’s by mid morning. Every time I have returned to Gibson’s I have caught well but I have not caught my intended target, one of those Crucians. I have had spirited battles with my centrepin spinning like a Catherine Wheel as numerous 4 and 5 lb tench powered towards the nearest snag. I have caught bream to over 8lb that couldn’t resist the method rod, and I have enjoyed some sessions that you can’t drag yourself away from; the fishing we enjoyed as kids, as an endless supply of roach, perch and rudd queued up to attack whatever baits I placed in the water. But still the Crucians evaded me and I had nearly given up this quest when there came another twist in this ‘wild goose chase’ of a tale. Professional Help This doesn’t refer to visiting a shrink or counselor about my obsession with the Crucian hunt, although at this point I probably needed to. It refers to information received from two parties who may just have solved my Crucian riddle. The first was from the esteemed Dr Bruno Broughton, who was involved with the Specimen Pool project when he worked for the Severn Trent water authority as Fisheries Biologist back in the late seventies/early eighties. He kindly answered my endless supply of questions but narrowed it down to the following : “The missing crucians? Well, these fish are notorious for ‘disappearing’ after stocking. I have worked out why because I have come across this phenomenon at lots of other fisheries – predation. Crucians are extremely vulnerable to predation by pike, if present, and they are also one of the first species to become impacted by cormorants. In cool weather, especially, they tend to lie, immobile, away from cover, and in this state they are easily targeted by predators. What usually happens is that most perish, but a handful may survive. When they are caught, once or twice a year perhaps, it is common to catch two or three”. Did I have all year to target some fish that might have perished long ago, no I didn’t really and I was giving serious thought to abandoning my latest fishing quest. But then Derek Dennis, Technical Officer at the EA called me with some news that re-ignited my enthusiasm. Derek had been on holiday and on his return had kindly got stuck into the mountain of records kept at the EA and had managed to dig up the original stocking records for the original four pools when they were created. They read as follows: Gibsons – 129 carp = 240 kg, stock density = 166 kg/ha Burdetts – 91 tench = 99 kg , stock density = 247.5 kg/ha Kingfisher – 103 tench = 110.25 kg, 269 roach = 84.25 kg, stock density = 335.34 kg/ha Heron – 30 tench = 25.0 kg, 150 roach = 59.0 kg, 31 crucians = 3.5 kg, stock density = 280 kg/ha  So as you can see, I had been fishing the wrong pool in my Crucian hunt all along. Burdett’s received no Crucians in the original stockings and so when it was joined with Gibson’s none would have existed in there either. The original leaflet that had started this hunt had been incorrect. I laughed out loud and left it at that! 31 fish had gone into Heron Pool though, which was a much better prospect in the search for lost Crucians. It is a little less than two acres in size, has a low predator stocking, and has masses of marginal cover in which the Crucians could survive all these years. With Dr Broughton’s words racing through my mind “but a handful may survive” I have put on hold the search for lost treasure until next summer when my archaeological fishing expedition will move to Heron Pool. Until then all I have to do is thank those who have given their valuable time in helping me out, especially Head Ranger Fred Hopkins, Dr Bruno Broughton and Derrick Dennis from the EA. |
