Spring is erm................ starting to spring

 Well, that's been a long old drawn out winter. Since the rivers shut I have briefly wet a line on just one occasion and for just a few hours, although I have been busy with other fishy things and I am now pleased to announce that as of last week I am now trading as DAB Angling.

 This is only intended to be a small operation which I hope will bring in a bit of extra pocket money. As a lot of you know I make heavy duty feeders up to 6 ounce and I'm currently working on a small selection of species specific baits(barbel and tench for now) which should be on general sale by early next year once they have undergone lots more testing. We will have to see how things go but so long as I keep covering my costs there's plenty of scope to extend both the feeder and bait range.

 So, back to the fishing.
I arrived at my local tench water before 5am this morning, the reason for the early start is that it has all of a sudden become popular with the carp lads despite it been well known as a rock hard water and holding less that 20 original carp in 26 acres of water. Luckily I was first there and so dropped into one of my favoured swims.

 Even though it was a southerly wind it was blooming cold and the temp gauge on the car had been reading just 3 degree, with this in mind I held back on the bait and stuck to only feeding what my swim feeders could carry. I didn't even bother to have a few quick chucks at the start. The fish on this lake do like to give them self's away with the bream rolling and tench fizzing but all I saw all day was one smallish bream roll well out in the middle.

 At around 10.30am one of the alarms sounded and I picked up what was a rather subdued stop start take, the welcome culprit was a nice bream around 4lb. I had another take later when the bobbin juddered upwards before dropping to the floor like a brick and I connected with thin air although it's quite possible it could have been a liner and the fish had picked up the line with its fins. That was it for the day and I left a couple of other tench/bream anglers blanking around 1pm.

Ready to spring into action

 There was a definite warmth in the sun today that's not been felt for quite some time, and although I didn't expect much, if any action it was a glorious morning to be by the water at dawn even after I scraped the ice and over night sprinkling of snow off the car.

 I arrived at my target tench water for the coming months as the sun started to poke it's head up this morning with the intention of getting everything ready for the forth coming warm weather. Dawn is the best time to find the fish on here as they duly give them self's away with streams of bubbles, even with the cold there were a few, not many but the very odd small scattered patch of bubbles right where I expected the fish to be. However fishing was to come second today as I wanted to make good use of the quiet time by putting the marker float to good use.

 I had a quick walk around the lake a couple of weeks back and found the deeper areas in what is a rather shallow, very silty water. Now I knew where they were I wanted to make the most of them. I dropped into the first swim and thrashed the water until I was happy I had found a spot that I hoped the fish would like. I then got the rods out and cast my rigs to the marked spots and made notes of what to aim at on the far bank. They were then clipped up and marker knots tied on with light pole elastic. Numerous casts were made to the marker until I was 100% happy that the rigs would be bang on the money.

 Next up was the job of clipping up the spod rod, again I made plenty of casts Until I was happy that this was also spot on. The only draw back with this was that the small light weight spod falls a bit short of my furthest target when empty and the only thing to do was to put some bait in as it has holes top to bottom and with not having any kind of tape with me I couldn't fill it with water. Once happy that everything was spot on I moved onto the next swim that I fancy.

 To make things easier for me should I not be able to get in my first choice swim I intend to fish the same distance from which ever one I fish meaning I can leave all the rods clipped up and ready to on every trip. As look would have it one spot I have picked (that I fished a lot last season) falls half way between two swims meaning, subject to a friendly word and an OK from who ever jumps in my swim before me I should be able to fish the same spot from two swims. Another stroke of look is that the feature I'm fishing to is a long deeper channel that runs along 3 or 4 swims and once I had a good chuck about with the marker again I found that my clipped up rods could be fished on good areas in all of them.

 It was well after 9am by the time I got a bait in the water and as I wasn't expecting a great deal even before I had spent 2 hours chucking leads and rigs about I set about doing a bit of testing. Last year I fished the water with one standard heavy feeder rod outfit and a sleeper rod on an alarm. Looking back I don't think this was the best approach and with the size and power of the tench in there I have decided this year to fish both rods on alarms. I tried a couple of new rigs out to see how they cast and also to make sure they didn't tangle and I must say the Korum Helli rig kits work a treat.

 I have a lot of faith in imitation, fake, rubber call them what you like baits but really only used them along side naturals. This year I will be going a step further and using them exclusively on one rod at all times so, I tested a few of these out in the margins too. Corn stacks, mag aligners and my personal favourite so far, D-rigged fake casters. 3 of these tied to 8lb fluro carbon and a size 10 hook just look awesome fluttering down on to the lake bed ready to be hoovered up. And as some of you know, last year I started working on my own baits. Firstly came the ground bait that was responsible for double figure PB carp and barbel, now I have started to play around with one for the tench and today gave me the first opportunity to try it out.

 As expected I didn't catch but it was a rewarding day all the same, the sun felt great for once when the wind dropped. The water fowl were busy collecting material to build nests with and I just got a feeling that any time soon everything will just wake up and go mental trying to make up for lost time and I can't wait.

Fish at last

 It's been quite a slog this winter and although not exactly a red letter one I had a half decent day on the calder today with my mate JD and we both put a few fish on the bank.

I arrived this morning to find JD walking to the bottom of the length so I dropped into a swim about half way, dumped the gear and wandered down to see him. He told me he had just spent half an hour in said swim with nothing to show. We chatted for a while and it wasn't long before his first chub of the day was in the net, I quickly hurried back to my gear and chose another swim a little further down. With the rods already made up I was fishing in no time and sat back to see JD landing another.

 Now expecting good things I was left feeling rather cold and puzzled after a couple of hours or so with nothing to show for my efforts. JD had had another and was getting a few bites and Rich had come down to see how we were getting on so I upped sticks and moved down near them. First chuck with a piece of steak on the hook and the tip twitched a couple of times before slamming down and a nice 4lb chub soon lay in my net. Next chuck and away it went again, this time we were all surprised to see a nice looking brown trout of around a pound, also falling to the steak.

 Rich left us soon after and it seems he had taken the fish with him as it went very quiet with just the odd tentative twitch so JD decided to move up stream to one of his favourite banker swims while I stuck it out a little longer. His moved paid off as he was soon into another good chub. I quickly followed suit and dropped into the swim above where I had started. I didn't have to wait long before the tip flew round again and another 4lb chub graced my net.

(must remember to remove the polaroids next time)

 I had another cast in this swim before working my way down stream. I dropped into a couple of swims with nothing to show before reaching the bottom end and the swim we had fished this morning, however I only managed two missed chances on cheese paste. I could see JD into another fish so I headed back up there but that one turned out to be another trout, oddly taken on cheese paste! These calder trout have obviously not read the rule book. I settled into my swim but all seemed quiet until JD shouted he was into a good fish. It was putting up a good battle and as it had taken the paste again we were expecting a good chub only for it to turn out to be another trout, this time around 2lb although it was a stunning looking fish with very large, dark distinctive spots and a pale, almost rainbow trout like body.

 All stayed quiet after this and with a drop in air temperature we called it a day. As we walked back to the car I commented on how much of the river bed we could see with it been so low and clear. We left the gear in the cars and went for an explore. This turned out to be a good idea as it painted a very different picture to the river bed than we had imagined, we also discovered a couple of very nice looking spots that just must hold barbel in the warmer months. Roll on those I say.

Is it spring yet?

 The way this winters form has been going I'll be glad when it starts to warm up as there has been a distinct lack of fish recently and today was no different, although on a lighter note it was rather enjoyable. Since having a first proper go at lure fishing last year I had kept telling my self I should buy the necessary gear and do some more. A couple of weeks back I was offered a suitable rod along with a box of bits and bobs plus some lures, the money exchanged hands and today saw me on the bank with it for the first time accompanied by JD.

  We decided to work our way along a local canal that runs almost parallel to the river Calder, then work our way back down the river. We covered a good couple of miles stopping off at likely looking spots along the way, swapping and changing between lures. Diving plugs, rubber shad types, micro rubber lures, we tried the lot but despite our best efforts we failed to even entice so much as a touch between us.

 It wasn't a bad day to be out and about though, especially when out of the wind. It was enjoyable doing something new for once too and its certainly not put me off but perhaps I might be best waiting till it warms up and the fish are more willing to chase bits of odd looking rubber. We did however discover a few new cracking looking spots on the river as we were wandering along a stretch neither of us had been on before.

First PB of the year

 With a light dusting of snow this morning and the Colne at normal level for once the day was set for some nice grayling sport. Things soon took a downer though when I realised I had left home without my waders. With JD on the map and me driving we set off in search of some new spots to fish only to find I was stuffed without my boots. We drove around for a while before settling on a stretch of the lower river we tried to fish last time and got caught out by rising snow melt.

 I made a slight miss judgement when tackling up and soon found the water in the pool too deep for my grayling bobber float, and a little too slow for the pin and the faster water just too far out of easy casting range. Off it all came and on went a 3 gram Avon float coupled with a closed face reel, third or fourth trot and the float sailed away. Not the intended grayling but a nice brown trout well over a pound, I slipped it back before realising what I had done. Having not fished many upland rivers that fish would have been almost double my PB and I was slightly gutted that, even though not huge I had popped it back without so much as a trophy shot.

 We made our way upstream dropping into a few pools on the way and soon realised the fish were playing hard to get. JD was well ahead of me by now and by the time I caught up with him he was fishing a large, slow deep bend in the river. I remembered from our last trip here that just above this there is a nice deep but not too slow run along the far bank so I headed for there. I got the depth sorted and decided on a spot of tea whilst I fed some maggots. Just as I started to fish JD arrived still fish less and decided to watch me trot along the far bank. Whilst I don't see my self as some kind of expert I gave JD a few pointers on trotting as he admits him self that he is a complete novice at it. I think he was impressed with my skills as I worked the float along the far bank anyway.

 Right on cue mid sentence the float dipped under and I struck into something solid, I though it was the bottom at first as it just held solid before starting to move slowly upstream. It was clearly a good fish and went on a few slow powerful runs, I got it close in and was still no wiser to what I was attached to. It wasn't until it finally rolled in the net that I realised it was the biggest wild trout I had ever seen. Out of season I know but I was well happy with this beast, on the scales it went 3lb 2oz.

 I hooked another, smaller fish soon after that shed the hook whilst doing airborne acrobatics. This must have spooked any remaining fish in the swim as it went stone dead, with JD still fish less we decided on a move to the Calder for the afternoon just a short distance away where another friend of ours was already fishing.

 We arrived to find Rich sat feeder fishing bread for the chub only for him to tell us he had not landed a fish but missed loads of bites, at least they were feeding. JD got into one of his known chub swims a little upstream and I decided to trot between them. I had no choice anyway as I had only brought float gear with me. After JD's cracking session yesterday when he landed 9 good chub in just a few hours on a different stretch he drew a big fat blank today, I didn't fair much better and just couldn't get it together this afternoon. Snagged hooks, tangled rigs and an awkward flow saw me packing up after not too long, Rich on the other hand showed us how to do it finally landing 5 good chub to just over 4lb.

Fresh challange

 As I said on my last post I was fast loosing patience with the rivers this winter and decided to try pastures new, boy was I glad I did looking at the state of them again this week!

 I have not caught a big perch, and by big I mean anything over 2lb for more years than I care to remember and I don't recall actually trying to catch one by design. So, I have set my self a little target of a 2lb perch before spring. I have spent the last couple of weeks since my last trip out searching for likely venues fairly close to home as I don't care to be driving miles at this time of year. The info has been freely flowing from a number of sources and I happen to have found a venue close to home that I had overlooked along with a couple more within reasonable distance.

 After reading numerous articles and no end of rubbish on the web, today saw me heading out for what was my first serious perch fishing trip. Loaded up with suitable rods and gear, plenty of worms and a pint of red maggots I headed off to my new found 'local' perch water. I was disappointed though to find it the same colour as the cup of tea I am sat drinking now! Although with the recent rain I had half expected it as I had seen the water running off the local fields yesterday so I already had a back up in mind just in case. That backup was an area of canal around ten miles away, here the canal widens out a little with the boat channel right along the near bank up to a lock, weed beds on the far side and an overflow around the lock leaving a large peninsular of stone wall to fish along too.

 With the rods already rigged up I was fishing in no time but it some became apparent the strong wind blowing down the canal was going to be a right pain as this stretch has concrete banks around 2 feet or more above the water making securing the rods almost impossible. I chucked out a light free running feeder rig to the stone wall with a full lob on a size 8 hook and dropped a float fished lob just a rod length out, it was obvious as the tip bounce around in the wind that I wasn't going to spot many bites and as the rod blew across the ground for the umpteenth time I decided to wind it in. On the end was a greedy perch around half the size of the lob I had been fishing, deep hooked as I had not seen the bite for the wind so with that I decided to sack the feeder and concentrate on the float fishing as I had managed to secure the float rod between my chair and one of those anchoring points they use to tie boats up to that stick out of the floor. At least this stopped it been blown constantly sideways.

 It didn't take long for the perch to show an interest in my float fished worms and I had 3 or 4 small fish to around 8oz in no time, It was clear this spot held plenty of them as by now my mate JD had arrived and he too was into fish almost immediately on float fished worm. I had brought along an old short pole and a couple of rigs mainly to try and catch a few live baits, so with only the one rod out I soon had it rigged up and set about catching a few. It didn't take long much as I expected and my float fished lob was soon replaced with a small perch. With only fishing off the rod end I was able to keep my eyes on both floats as they were not too far apart, however I seemed to have got carried away with the 'live bait catching' as a procession of perch and roach were swung to hand. Nothing of any size though but at least if I could keep the small fish feeding then there was every chance a large perch might have shown up to see what all the fuss was about.

 Alas nothing big did turn up and after a while the swim started to die off, with this I decided to explore the areas around the lock gates and overflow with float fished lobs. This brought a bit more action but again nothing big and most fish were around 6-8oz. A longer cast down the side of the wall brought a flurry of action as I landed 4 fish all slightly bigger at around 10oz only for it to then go dead. The sun had dropped and so did the temperature so I decided to return to my original line to see if anything had moved back in, after I bite less half hour I called it a day.

Not huge but I'm sure big brother is lurking around that lock.

Winter blue's

 I am starting to feel they have well and truly set in after today's session, as once again my plans were wrecked by the weather. Confused? Well it was a nice day, warm if a little windy but so was yesterday and there lies the problem. Remember that cold snap we had just mid week? Well it did drop a bit of snow right on the tops and the rise in temperature also saw a rise in river levels over night.

 I had arranged a trip onto a river new to me, the Colne up near Huddersfield with my mate JD with the intentions of trotting for grayling. We were also joined by JD's mate Richard who I have not met before but have spoken to now and again on yorksfishing so it was nice to put a face to a name. Alas the melted snow had seen the river rise 2 feet over night rendering this small tributary of the Calder just about unfishable. We wandered the banks trying likely looking spots for a couple of hours before returning to the van beaten.

 It was starting to feel like groundhog day as for the second time in as many trips I found my self sat by the canal again, sport was a little better this time though and I managed a tidy net of small roach in a couple of hours fishing. Not exactly what I had in mind but it was a nice day to be out on the bank with friends.

 So, what next? Well as I said last time I had no real plans for the winter months but I have been looking around for a decent perch water, one with a half decent chance of a 3 pounder and upping another PB. After much searching it would seem that there is a water not so far away from home that seems to throw quite a number of 2's up, and allegedly has produced the odd 3 over the years but is clearly overlook these days so it looks like my time my well be invested there.

 I'm going to start something new too, as I am now looking back over some of my old posts in a diary type way, I though it a good idea to keep a record of the river conditions too. So from now on whenever I fish a river I will be adding a graph from the EA river level site
on line river levels a god sent for all running water fans