| MARK WINTLE |
| Mark Wintle, an angler for thirty-five years, is on a quest to discover and bring to you the magic of fishing. Previously heavily involved with match fishing he now fishes for the sheer fun of it. With an open and enquiring mind, each week Mark will bring to you articles on fishing different rivers, different methods and what makes rivers, and occasionally stillwaters, tick. Add to this a mixed bag of articles on catching big fish; tackle design, angling politics and a few surprises. Are you stuck in a rut fishing the same swim every week? Do you dare to try something different and see a whole new world of angling open up? Yes? Then read Mark Wintle’s regular column. |
| CAMPAIGN BASED ANGLING Sometime in May, I started to think about the forthcoming season. Because I like to catch many different species of fish, and try different methods, there is always a danger of flitting just a little too much, so much so that I end up not getting the best out of my local waters. But how to enjoy the variety of waters, species, and methods yet get the best out of some serious specialisation?  I concluded that a succession of short concentrated campaigns might be the answer. Each campaign would last say two to four weeks, and concentrate on a particular species and water. As far as methods and baits were concerned, I would improvise and retain the flexibility to make adjustments depending on what happened. Perhaps without realising it, I have adopted an approach like this in the past though never for a whole season. Looking through my diaries, I find that I spent two whole months just fishing the Avon for chub and barbel back in 1999, and much further in the past I have had many similar campaigns for big roach. I have also finally realised that many of the extremely successful anglers that I have come into contact with over the years, whose books and articles I have read, and who contribute to Fishingmagic, have all been following variations on this approach.  What frankly bores me to tears, and would result in me packing in the whole sport, is a single-minded approach for one species, and doing nothing else. I could not, for example, just fish for carp or barbel, and especially not with one method all the time. But I take great heart from the versatility of many of the Fishingmagic contributors (all right, I’ll name some: Graham, Andy Nellist, and Ron Clay). You name the method; these guys will have a go. Having decided on this approach for the season, some advantages became apparent: I could ensure that I was carrying the right gear for that water, I could identify likely swims through some reconnaissance, and work out what baits and groundbaits to get. One of the dilemmas that seems to befall me is where to go and fish. I have been known to sit in the tackle-laden car looking at maps unable to decide where to give it a go. With a target water in mind, at least that decision is removed.  First, I needed to identify some potential campaigns. In my head, a few came to mind:
These are just a few ideas at the moment, but I have already put the first two into practice with a worthwhile improvement in results over last season. What I would like to achieve in the course of the season is to beat three or four of my personal bests. I’m not hung up about this, but it ought to be possible to beat some of my modest PBs. With the chub mentioned in last week’s article, it’s a case of one down, three to go (I won’t mention the tench that got away, nor the big carp on Throop). So how do I formulate a campaign? Firstly, I have tried to understand when each species that I might be interested in is likely to be a worthwhile proposition. Crucian carp in January are a non-starter but big roach fishing is often at its best then. And whilst chub can be caught throughout the entire season I didn’t want to try for them before mid July, similarly, barbel fishing tends to get better from August onwards.  Then I tried to understand what venues might be worth trying. I have access to about thirty miles of the Dorset Stour and about twenty miles of the Avon plus other rivers, and many pits, lakes and ponds. At different times of the year and in different conditions, they offer various options. For example, some parts of the Stour are all but unfishable at this time of year but in four months time when the weeds have rotted away, and floods have swept the river clean it will be very different. Similarly, there are movements of fish with the changing seasons that make trying to catch them a viable proposition or not, as the case may be. For each campaign it makes sense to concentrate on a single venue. For instance, trying to catch big chub from the entire Dorset Stour for three weeks would be making things far too difficult. Sorting out the venues and species is the biggest part of the planning. The next stage is getting to know the venue through walking the banks, fish spotting, and asking around to understand likely areas. This is something I have done on Throop already. A couple of two-hour reconnaissance sessions are far from time wasted. It’s amazing what you see with a little patience, and it is surprising how much you learn from watching the fish. This time is also spent understanding what gear might be required to tackle the water; anything from rods, reels, lines, floats, down to tiny details of hooks, methods of introducing bait into swims, and so on. Even finding out the access can have a bearing. If the best swims are over a mile from the access it may pay to travel light, or a roving approach may be better than a static one-swim attack. I have to fit in fishing sessions as best I can. In the summer, this often means evening sessions, after work, of three or four hours. Understanding the best time of day to fish is vital, and fortunately, evening fishing is one of the best times. But this might be different for gravel pit tench, or winter roach. Therefore, any campaign that I undertake needs to be viable as far as my available fishing time is concerned.  Having sorted out the where and when, I can concentrate on what my tackle requirements are going to be. Because I don’t need to cover all bases on every trip this has the effect of simplifying what I need to take. I don’t need to carry six rods. In most cases, two will suffice. This means that I can also cut down on reels; again two will probably be enough. In addition, as I already have target methods and species identified, I can even work out what spools of line to take. Take my recent chub campaign: I used a medium feeder rod teamed with a Shimano Aero 3500 reel loaded with 8lb line for my legering, and a Normark Specimen Match rod with a Shimano Stradic 2500 loaded with 4lb line for the float fishing. Simple! Special requirements included a baiting needle for the boilies, fluorocarbon line for hook links, SSG shot and swivels for legering, and the right hooks and floats. This type of fishing involved plenty of sitting down but rather than take my tackle box to sit on I have treated myself to a new JRC roving chair that weighs less than 5lbs, and fitted a strap. This way I can be really low down, out of sight.  Bait requirements can also be simplified. Recently, this has meant plenty of feed pellets in 4 and 6mm plus hooker pellets in 6mm and boilies (not forgetting 14mm Halibuts for hookbait). Later in the year, when I intend to tackle perch, I shall have to get organised with a good supply of lobworms. Tactically I intend to keep things simple. It’s going to be a one rod approach and I won’t be afraid to try different swims during a session or campaign. I shall have to accept the occasional blank but what I won’t do is to accept continuous blanks. If that is happening, I should be fishing somewhere else, or for something else! There will be times when I simply fancy fishing somewhere else – and why not? Other opportunities to fish different waters and for different species make for interesting fishing. There were times when I adopted this approach last season, and it paid off then. What I am sure of is that I will get to know some waters a lot better than I know them now. Watch this space! Next: ‘If you don’t at first succeed, try, try again’ |
