2018 Easter Bank Holiday Madness

Monday 2^nd April 2018 (Bank Holiday)

Springwood Fisheries, Melbourne, Derbyshire, DE73 8BJ

Cost - £6 day ticket

Weather – Raining

In the summer, the company I work for held a contest organised as part of the 40^th Anniversary of the firm at this fishery.  There are a few anglers at work and it was decided to hold a contest where the winner would be the person who could get as close to 40lbs of fish as they could.  Higher or lower, as long as you had the closest bag full to the magical 40lb weight you were the winner.  It was organised by Dawn Shuttlewood who is an avid angler and a well-known face around the bankside at the fishery and it was decided that family members could also enter, so we all knew we had some stiff competition from Dawn’s hubby Mike, who is also well known at Springwood.  Dawn’s Dad was going to officiate and he would weigh the carp (if any were caught) so they could be released back into the lake and not kept in the landing net with whatever silvers were caught.

The weather on the day was red hot and a great time was had by all with money being raised for the chosen charity, and far be it from me to cast aspersions, but the top three were Mike, Dawn and Matt Peace.  Dawn and Matt were / are members of the 40^th Anniversary Committee, but as I said it isn’t my place to cast aspersions or question the results…. All joking aside, I have been desperate to get back there and fish the bottom lake again.  Unfortunately for Luke he was on a family holiday when we had the contest and I had been raving about the place for ages so we decided to make it our first outing of the year.

The not so waterproof boots

As usual I arrived late after reaching the M6 – M42 junction, about 15 miles from home, and realising I had left my maggots in the fridge.  I promptly called myself a few choice names and turned around to retrieve the missing bait.  The weather was, to put it mildly, pants but I was armed with my newly purchased ex-British Army desert boots, that had seen service in Afghanistan according to the bloke at Ryder’s where I got them, and my also newly purchased olive green waterproof trousers so I wasn’t bothered by a little water.  I raced around the motorway and was soon heading along the flooded country lanes that led to my destination.  I arrived and saw that Luke and John were already set up, huddled beneath their umbrellas on the opposite bank with the rain at their backs.  I made my way over suitably attired and realised that my new boots were far from water-proof.  I heard “Well they are for the desert you tit” coming from the direction of Luke in reaction to my moaning.

Luke and John had decided that the feeder approach was the order of the day but for me it was always going to be a loaded waggler day.  I don’t know how to describe the feeling you get when your float dips below the surface on your first session of the year, it’s like something washes away all of those niggles and frustrations you’ve endured through the winter and you’re released from the trials and tribulations of work for a few hours at least.  I set up with the trusty Maver 12’ Match rod and Garbolino reel, loaded with 4lb line with a 4” float shotted down with my equally trusty Preston Innovations No. 10 Shotz and finished off with a 6” Size 16 hooklength.  After plumbing the depth I selected two red maggots who were about to give their souls for my enjoyment and I launched my first cast.  The sense of relief washed over me as my season started in earnest.  Saying ’washed over’ doesn’t really do it justice to be honest, it was more like physically feeling the stress lift from me, an almost spiritual sensation if you’re one of those tree hugger hippy types.

The Bottom Pool

Anyway, between periods of rain and a watery sort of sunshine, the ground became more and more waterlogged and soon it was beginning to resemble the photographs of the Western Front.  The water was running down small, shallow ditches into the lake right beside us, the cold started to bite as the day wore on but no-one complained, no-one seemed bothered by the weather and I think all three of us were just enjoying being out on the bankside, The fish were biting and I had a personal best Tench as well as a lot of nice Roach who looked to be in perfect condition, a few Chub and the odd Carp when I decided to get my Shimano 8m Pole out. Luke and John had targeted an area between the two islands and were having some nice Mirror and Common Carp of there, though Luke did manage to hit the overhanging tree branches more than once and the air turned blue at times.  Had the sun been out like on my first visit to the fishery it would have been an almost perfect day, but despite the weather I came away from the fishery on a high and planning my next visit.  I was tired, not so much physically but mentally, that lovely sort of tired that you know will guarantee a really good night’s sleep.

Springwood has now become my favourite fishery and I am hoping to get back there many more times over the summer.  The staff are friendly and offer advice willingly, the hot food available is of a high standard and the toilet facilities are very well looked after.  You can hire pods out for the night right next to the top lake or take a tent or caravan along and pitch up if you fancied making a weekend of it.  Have a look at their website by following the link and make your own mind up, but it is well worth a visit.

http://www.springwoodfisheries.com/

I can’t say enough about this place and they’ve got top marks from me...

See you on the bankside…..

Good Riddance 2017

A friend messaged me a while back asking if I had done anymore on this blog or had she missed my posts and I told her that I hadn't done anything on here for ages.  She said she enjoyed reading them and I was a little surprised because I honestly thought that no one really took any notice of my ramblings and rants, but apparently people do so I thought it was about time I did some more.  I started this blog as a way to release my creativity and avoid the frustration I experience with other aspects of my life and as a way to deal with and manage my bouts of depression but just lately I seem to have slipped back into a very dark place and I'm struggling to find a way out.

Charlie

The last few months of 2017, will go down as the darkest and worst that I have ever encountered in my life and they certainly haven't helped with my depression or anxiety and fishing has been a long way down on my list of priorities.  The reason for this is that my 3 year old grandson, Charlie, was diagnosed with cancer in his bladder at the end of October, and he became the Number One priority in my life.  Life's little annoyances and issues pale into insignificance when faced with this sort of news and you adopt a much more balanced view on what is important and what isn't.  You have questions, everyone does when the 'C' word is mentioned, but once things are explained to you and you start to understand the condition then you kind of slip into auto-pilot and take each day as it comes.

I have found that a lot of the positive energy you need to deal with devastating circumstances like those we faced as a family come from those involved in the fight against this vile disease at the coalface.  My main source of positivity has been Charlie himself, and also my daughter-in-law Sophie and my son Jake.  They have dealt with the news that their little boy has this condition and they have just got on with it, remained positive for Charlie and kind of carried the rest of us along with them.  I have yet to meet two braver and stronger people than those two and they have been so inspirational to everyone with their attitude.  Yes, they have had moments when it's all seemed too much for them, but they have refocused and regrouped and came back stronger each time.

We are now at a point in Charlie's treatment where there is light at the end of the tunnel and in a few weeks time we are looking forward to him being free of this most disgusting and vile disease.  He's still got a long fight ahead of him, we must not lose sight of that, but Charlie has proved he's a fighter, a real little whirlwind battler who has kept us all positive with the smiles like the one in the photo.  I am so proud of the three of them and probably don't tell them often enough really.

I have lots of fishing trips planned with this little bundle of energy and hopefully will have lots more positive posts of our adventures on the bankside.....

First Bonus Day of 2017....

Thursday 23rd March 2017
Poppleton Lakes, A59, Boroughbridge Road, Poppleton, York, North Yorkshire, YO26 8JU
Railway PoolWeather - Sunny with strong breezes
Temperature - Cold

This last week I've been working up around Leeds and so I have been able to stay with my Daughter, Emma, Son-in-Law, Jim and Grand-daughter, Edith at York.  I see them all quite regularly but not as much as I would like to, so any time with them is a real joy and Edith is growing so fast so I really treasure these visits.  One thing they don't prepare you for when you have children is how quickly time seems to pass you by and it seems that one minute you have your own little blonde three year old running around being whichever Disney Princess is the current favourite, and in the blink of an eye she has her own doing exactly the same thing.  I love the time I get to spend with Edith, though having to watch Paw Patrol, Peppa Pig and a whole host of other cartoons is a little trying at times and I long for the days when 24 hour cartoon channels were a thing of the future and Children's TV was only aired between 3.30 and 6pm weekdays.

I had jobs at Leeds Railway station for a very well known and very well established newsagent. bookseller and stationer who has featured heavily on both train stations and the High Streets of the UK for over 200 years, so I turned up for my first job only to find that another one of my sites scheduled for a few days later, was right next door to my first site.  Now it seemed silly to me that I should come back later in the week when I was already there, plus if I were to get this job done early it would free me up on Thursday and I would have just one site on the morning and this in turn meant I would have a free period on the afternoon.  Add to this mix the fact that I had all of my fishing gear on the van and it doesn't take a genius to work out how my mind was working and I could grab a few cheeky hours on the bankside.

With the job done I made my way from The White Rose Centre back to York to collect Jim and we were off for a few hours fishing at the complex just off the busy outer ring road.  First we had to find Mitre Angling for the bait and I was sure I knew where it was but it turned out I had my roads mixed up and instead of being on the Poppleton Road, the shop was on Shipton Road.  We bought a pint of yellow maggots and a pint of reds after asking the owner what was the best bait for the venue and she also advised us to fish the Railway Pool.  We set off and pulled up on the car park within 10 minutes of leaving the shop.

There are 6 lakes on the complex which are the House Lake No 1 which has 25 pegs and is of the snake design.  There are plenty of features to fish to all pegs are of hard standing and are with in easy reach of the car park.  House lake No2 is a mirror image of lake No1 also with 25 pegs.  The Doughnut is next just past the owners bungalow, this also has 25 pegs and is accessed by crossing a man made bridge.  The Railway Lake is the furthest away from the car parks this also has 25 pegs, with one long central island approx 13 metres away from all pegs and is considered to be a pole anglers dream.  The Horse Shoe Lake has 31 pegs in total and the middle section is 16 metres from one bank and 22 metres from the other, there are pegs down the middle section, this lake holds some of the venues biggest residents.  The final lake on the complex is The Specimen Pond where day and night fishing is allowed (though nights to be booked in advance) and you have to use your heavier gear in this lake and use your common sense when deciding on how to approach fishing it.

The Poppleton Lakes Complex

We decided that we would have a crack at the Railway Lake at the far end of the venue, situated adjacent the line that runs from York to Harrogate.  There were some seriously long poles being used on a few of the first lakes we passed so I wasn't sure whether there was a contest going on and thought it would be better for us and them to fish elsewhere.

We made our way down past the cafe and owners bungalow and could have gone onto one of the two islands in the lake which are accessed by bridges, but we opted for the bank closest to the railway lines which gave us a stretch of water about 50 yards long and 12 metres wide in which to fish.  The wind was picking up a little and coming onto us from the north-east making the temperature drop a few degrees.  There was little in the way of cover to act as a windbreak coming down the stretch of water we were on and accurate casting with the loaded wagglers was difficult at first due to the conditions.  I had decided to set Jim up with the Maver Abyss X 12' Float rod and he was soon into his very first fish, a small Roach.  He said he'd been fishing before on the River Ouse, but had never caught anything and so I figured he'd benefit from the slightly heavier gear rather than the old Isis 10' float rod with the Silstar reel which was very light in comparison., so I set him up with the loaded waggler and plumbed to depth for him and he was off.  It wasn't long before he was getting bites and I advised him to keep throwing out a few freebies to get the fish interested.  Within minutes his float disappeared beneath the surface and he struck his first fish, a small Roach.

I was using my older lighter gear which is ideal for the canals but not so good when it comes to stillwaters because there would be no way of landing anything bigger than about 5lbs and there were supposed to be some heavy lumps in this water.  I needn't have worried about these bigger fish because after 90 minutes of trying, of moving pegs and general frustration I was biteless.  Jim on the other hand had caught 2 or 3 more but he was a bit squeamish about touching the fish and I had to unhook them for him.  I had started to worry that my 2 year record of not blanking was about to go west and I would have to suffer the shame of getting water whacked on this session.

I decided to try one last swim just on a corner where the lake came round an island and the wind wasn't blowing so hard across the surface.  The wind had made it feel very cold and this had not helped my mood as I faced the prospect of a 'blank' and so I cast out to a point halfway between the peg and the bend.  Straight away the float started bobbing up and down as I got a few line bites and my excitement started to grow.  The float dibbed below the surface but returned straight away, down it went again and straight back up it came.  I was going to have to time this right but I have never managed to time the strike correctly when there is activity like this on the float.  Down again but this time it was a slower descent and it stayed down longer, I struck and felt that tug you always get when you've got a good contact.  The line started vibrating as the fish tried to dive but a few turns of the reel handle and a little silver Skimmer rose to the surface and rolled onto it's side.  I wasn't going to blank today.....

Jim had been getting himself in a tangle and I spent some time pulling line from under the spool for him and after getting his sorted I wandered off to have a look at the adjacent pool.  The wind was hardly noticeable here as the trees that lined the end of the pool we were on stopped it and there was a very noticeable increase in temperature.  I went back to Jim and told him and we decided to give this pool a try.

We moved everything wholesale down to the new pegs and while we were getting settled a nice looking Carp broke the surface as if he (or she) were checking out the interlopers making all the noise.  Jim had been getting a few bites on his line but he hadn't caught anything for a while and so I was able to see what was going on.  It turned out that he would cast out fine, feed the swim with little amounts of maggots but he wasn't knocking his bale arm over so any strike he made was just pulling line from the reel and he was getting tangled up.  Once we sorted that little problem out he was off again but unfortunately he wasn't destined to land another fish, but I have a sneaking suspicion that Jim will be back for another session.

We had to pick up Edith from the childminders and so with the clock running down we began to pack everything away but I did manage to land a 4lb Mirror Carp before we did so and this ended a very enjoyable, but cold session.  No more fishing for me for a few weeks as I have a busy period coming up with work, my rod licence expires on the 31st March and I will be going to the Northern Angling Show in Manchester on the 1st April.  The licence will be renewed soon and I may buy myself a Waterways Wanderers pass at the same time, but for now until these two very important things are bought its time to go through my gear and replace what needs replacing and give it all a good clean...

See you on the bankside.....

First Session of the Year with Luke....

Saturday 18th March 2017
Mereside Pools, Cloweswood Lane, Earlswood, B94 5SE
Pools 1 & 2
Weather - Overcast with spells of light rain
Temperature - Mild(ish) when out of the wind, Cold in the wind

I have a new favourite fishing venue and I am 100% sure that I will be heading around the M42 to Junction 3 on a regular basis from now on.  It wouldn't suit some anglers and I can't see Damian fishing there because it isn't the sort of place he favours.  He likes those big expanses of water where he can cast some distance and possibly catch something in the 20 to 30lb range and with the huge Earlswood Lakes being right next to Mereside, he'd soon be off over there anyway.  This is a venue where you go just for the sheer pleasure of fishing for anything at all, big, small and for a variety of species.  There are three small pools all located a very short distance from the car park and you can easily move between all three and fish each one, as Luke and the kids did.

Saturday's are usually my weigh in day at Slimming World, and I have been quite good about attending the early morning sessions, but the lure of fishing proved to be too much for me today and I decided to skive off this weekend.  I have to blame Luke for this though because up until he sent me a text asking me to get him a pint of milk for his coffee I was going to go, but you can't leave a mate stranded with no milk, it isn't the done thing and so I sacrificed Slimming World for a mates urgent needs.  An act of selflessness that anyone would do in the same position that I found myself in.  Armed with the aforementioned milk I headed off to Earlswood via the M5 and M42, arriving about 30 minutes later at about 08.00 to find Luke and the kids set up on Pool 2.

Luke and his tribe

I walked down to the bankside and was met with the news that Lauren had claimed first blood and was off the mark with a small Gudgeon already.  I was also told that the cafe they said was at the fishery on the website has closed down and isn't there anymore.  Bang goes a nice bacon and sausage roll then.

It was the mere mention of that Gudgeon sent shivers down my spine and I was gripped with the fear that I was in for a day similar to the day I had with Paul Pountney at Awbridge and I was going to be plagued by these tiny fish.

I set myself up after handing over the milk and had a look at the chosen spot.  As you can see from the picture, the reeds and other plants on the margins are not yet fully established yet and the lilypads in the middle of the lake were just starting to develop, but they should provide some cover for the fish and I decided that it looked like a float rod sort of day.  I unpacked the trusty Maver Abyss X 12' Match rod from my holdall and set up with a medium sized clear loaded waggler with 4 x No 11 Shotz weights down below the float.  My next task was to plumb up and so I started off about 3' from the margins and found it to be around 18" to 2' deep, I slowly moved out towards the lilypads and went out about a rods length and it dropped down to about 4'.  Further out it dropped again and by the time I was just in front of the lilypads I was looking at about 4'6" of water.  It was at this point I wished I'd remembered to bring a marker pen from the van to mark the line with the varying depths and I suppose I could have walked back to the van to fetch one but I figured I could remember.  If truth be known I couldn't be arsed really, though as you can see I didn't have far to go to get to the van.

Not too far to walk really

My laziness won the day and I was soon making my first cast of the day to a point about 3' from the edge of the lilypads, into a little area right in front of me.  Luke was set up with his feeder rod and said that he'd had a few line bites but nothing else.  I was sure it was a waggler type of day and so decided to stick with my choice despite Luke's choice.  My first few casts were a little wayward but I eventually hit the spot I had intended to and began throwing little amounts of maggots out to draw the fish in.  I was aware that I hadn't done this on Thursday and I was going to concentrate on the one particular area as Paul had instead of chasing the ripples.  Having to throw the freebies out with my left hand meant that they could go just about anywhere so I went for the trusty catapult and was putting down a nice steady amount of 4 or 5 maggots every 30 seconds.  One of the things the professional match anglers tell you in the magazines is too feed little and often, so I was going to do just that.

It wasn't long before I had my first bite and I reeled in the first Roach of the day.  It was a stunning example with ruby red fins and in wonderful condition, one of the best examples I've ever seen.  The colours were stunning, the silver scales really popped and the contrasting fins and tail gave it a HD quality.  It really was an impressive fish and not too bad in size either being about 5 to 6 inches long and about 3 inches deep.  Luke looked up from his peg and even he commented on how nice it looked.  I now wish I had taken a photo of it but it slipped from my grasp as soon as I had removed the hook from it's mouth and was back in the water.  My next fish was a Bream and again the silver sides and dark fins really stood out in the subdued light of the day.  I quickly followed this up with another Bream and two more Roach, all the same wonderful quality as the first.

During this period Luke had swapped his feeder rod for his float rod and I suggested he tried fishing just in front of the lilypads on the edge where it swept around in front of him.  It felt like a real "the student becomes the master" moment, as if Luke Skywalker was tutoring Yoda.  My suggestion worked out and he was into his first fish and I had a little smugness type of feeling.  Luke then said something which really lifted my spirits when he said that I'd become an angler, a proper angler.  Up until now I'd considered myself a real novice but he said I had a natural ability for the sport and was getting good.  After Thursday, when I couldn't get past the small fish, I had resigned myself to just being one of those who catches small fish all the time, but some of these Roach were amongst the largest I've ever caught and I'd worked out that by using a bigger hook size, a No 16 rather than a No 18, I was able to bypass the smaller fish who would be spooked easier by the large hook.  Now my confidence had been given a really nice boost.

After about 3 hours we had a walk up to the top pool and had a look there after Rhys came back from one of his expeditions and had watched the only other person fishing land a decent Carp.  He wanted to fish up there after seeing this, especially as he had been having little joy on our pool.  We agreed it was far less windy up there and so we all made our way to a new location.  Luke was first to catch a Carp from the reeds next to his peg while I was setting up and pretty soon I added another lovely looking Roach to my haul which now totaled 19 fish for the day so far.

After an hour or so of fishing I had managed just a few more Roach and a Gudgeon and I was beginning to regret the move but then I caught the most beautiful golden coloured fish.  I thought it was a Golden Orfe at first and then thought it may have been a Crucian Carp, but whatever it  was, I'd never seen one before.  I'm still unsure what it is but after looking in my species guide when I got home I think it may have been a Rudd.  The photo isn't the first one which was a much more colourful gold than this one.  The first one was perfect, no discoloured scales like the one in the photo, just a uniform colour all over.

Is it a Rudd ?

Luke had to leave early because he was taking the kids to see the new Disney film, Beauty and The Beast and Rhys had been having an almost constant whinge about the cafe situation since he'd found out.  It had become like a white noise that Luke was doing a sterling with and just ignoring.  At one point Rhys had asked me if I had been born in Birmingham and when I said I had indeed, he then followed it up with "Where is the nearest cafe then ?"  I began to explain that Birmingham, compared to Burton-on-Trent, is huge but he had a far away look in his eyes and I was a little worried he was looking at me the way cartoon characters do when they're hungry and all he could see was a giant bacon roll.

Luke left about 2.30pm and I had the whole complex to myself.  I toyed with the idea of getting the pole out and having a go with that to see if I could get a bit more confidence using it but figured that I was having so much success with rod and float that I could ruin it.  I did get my Maver Abyss X 12' Feeder rod set up though because I could just leave that out there on the rod rest and carry on with the float rod.  I had a few knocks on the feeder and the tip did a few violent bends but I was using an old D.A.M. Cammaro reel which needs a good servicing and a new line.  The bearings must be dry or need replacing because the action was very jerky and I lost every fish that had been hooked.  Time to pack that away and stick with the float rod.

I stayed until I couldn't see anything in the dark and finally left about 7pm but in that time I had caught a total of 35 fish:

Roach - 22
Bream - 4
Gudgeon - 1
Rudd (?) - 2
Common Carp - 4
Mirror Carp - 2

Some of he best of the day

It really is a lovely little complex and very much suited for the sort of angler who just enjoys catching fish, any fish and one I will definitely be visiting on a regular basis in the future.

No fishing planned for next weekend and the weekend after Luke and I are off to the Northern Angling Show, so I am going to have to try and sneak a quick session in when I can over the next few weeks.

See you on the bankside....

A New Challenge....

Thursday 16th March 2017
Awbridge Lock, Trysull, Staffordshire
Staffordshire and Worcestershire Canal 
(Main Line: Stourton to Aldersley)
Weather: Overcast with the odd burst of sunshine
Temperature: Cold

I usually have a bad day on canals and either blank or catch very little. The only exception to this was the session I had with Luke over at the Moira Canal on the August Bank Holiday Sunday last year, and considering that was my last fishing session of the year and I haven't been near a canal since there was a certain amount of trepidation on how I was going to do.  Add to the mix that this was the first time I'd fished with Paul Pountney, it was also the first time we'd actually met despite having been "friends" on social media for some time and so that fear of social interaction element that comes with depression was also a factor.  However, it has to be said that unlike before when I would cancel at the last minute with some pathetic excuse, I did not have the stomach churning nerves that I used to have either.  I was quite calm as I prepared my flask and got myself ready.

I had agreed to take Jake to work on the morning because he was on the early shift at the Costa Coffee where he works and was opening up.  He wanted to be there at about 5:45am. so that was great for me because I could head straight over to Trysull and get an early start.  Unfortunately things did not exactly pan out that way, not that they ever do for me anyway when being on time for anything is concerned, and after returning home and thinking a quick 5 minutes snooze on the sofa would be a good idea, I woke up 15 minutes before the time I had told Paul I would arrive at the venue.  I now had just 15 minutes to finish my by now stone cold cuppa, brush my teeth and drive the 12 miles from home to the canal, and to do this slap bang in the middle of the morning rush hour traffic.

I eventually chipped up 45 minutes late after driving around some winding country lanes but eventually found this picturesque little stretch of the canal in the middle of nowhere.  I did a little bit of reading up on the place beforehand and discovered that it has featured in the local history publication "The Black County Bugle" who ran a feature on the canal in it's ghost story section that the spirits of those who lived and worked on the canal still haunt the winding tow-path.  Descriptions of the canals ghostly apparitions along the stretch north of the tiered Bratch locks at Womboure is said to be renowned in ghost hunting circles for its mysterious atmosphere and many locals claim they have seen ghostly figures along the canal, especially around Awbridge.

The canal was designed by the famous engineer James Brindley, the man responsible for building the first canal through Smethwick, and which enabled the town to grow rapidly from a few scattered farms dotted along the Birmingham to Dudley road and become one of the Industrial Revolution boomtowns as factories sprang up alongside the canal.  The bridge at Awbridge, over the Staffs & Worcester, is thought to be his first attempt at combining a lock and a bridge into a single structure and this would become a style which is seen all the way around the canal network.

Awbridge Lock from the bridge

Legend has it, that it was not the usual immigrant Irish Navvies who worked on this stretch of canal but that it was French prisoners of war captured during the Battle of Trafalgar, in 1805, who were set to work on the bridge. It is thought that one Napoleonic sailor carved the picture of the ship into the stonework. 

The bridge itself looks unusually ornate compared to most of the other bridges along most stretches of the canal network and instead of the usual plain solid brickwork, a balustrade is formed by brick columns topped by stone.

It is into this stonework that a rough carving of a French warship was chiselled, even though this area of the Black Country is over a hundred miles away from the coast. There is no record of who the sailor might have been or how he ended up in the Black Country so many miles from home, the only clue to his existence being an eerie picture of a French Man o War, but some say his spirit still roams this isolated stretch of canal.

The carving

When I first arrived I had noticed a strange looking figure dressed in blue and topped off with a black hat and did wonder if I had indeed witnessed this ghostly spirit, but through the very light mist that was rising from the water came the unmistakable tones of a Smethwick accent.  "I've saved yow the best peg" and I knew then I'd found Paul.

The enterprising farmer who owns the land around the bridge allows vehicles to park in the farmyard for £1 all day and the money is deposited in a small red box as you walk out of the yard and down to the canal side.  With the nominal fee duly paid I set off for a day of fishing.  I had prepared for the day by getting several types of bait ready and had a pellet and ground-bait mixture in my grey Sandwell Council waste food bucket, a good supply of maggots (red and white mix), a tub of dead maggots (reds), three slices of Hovis medium sliced white bread that had been microwaved for 15 seconds and rolled flat and two tins of pork luncheon meat.  I wanted to be ready for anything.

Because I knew I would be coming fishing again this week I hadn't bothered to take my float rod apart after Monday's session at Hunnington and so I was tackled up from the off with the Maver 12' float rod all set up in the back of the van.  I just had to plumb the depths and set the loaded waggler for the correct depth and I would be good to go.  Paul had set up opposite a moored up narrow boat and was fishing with his Maver pole and told me that he'd been hearing good things about this stretch where 28lbs of Chub had won a match the week previously.  Paul is a member of The Bell Otters Fishing Club and fishes matches most weekends and with The Otters visiting the canal in a few weeks this was a sort of recce visit for him, though they will fish further down the canal on their contest.

My peg was within the 25 metres to a lock entrance that the Canal & River Trust say it is not to be fished as boats have to moor as they wait for the lock to fill with water but this stretch is supposed to be a quiet section between September and April with little traffic, maybe a few working boats every now and then so it seemed safe enough.  I was opposite a tired and sad looking little boat that just needed a bit of TLC to bring it back to life and Paul advised me to fish just to the side of the bow of the boat, where he reckoned the fish would be.  My first cast was spot on and within a few minutes I had a bite and my float disappeared beneath the surface.  My record of not blanking since my my first attempts at fishing the Smethwick Engine Arm and Old Main Line canals continued.  Since those times I had, as mentioned earlier, only fished one other canal and had done well on there.  My problem now of course is that the tension increases with every session now as I await my next blank day.

The weather wasn't brilliant but it wasn't too cold to start with and I was catching quite regularly for the first few hours but the types of fish were very small, mostly Gudgeon and one Minnow, a first for me and one to tick off the list.  I have had a pole for a while now but not really had the confidence to use it.  They say it's the easiest way to learn how to fish and so I decided to give it a go and unpacked it.  They are easy to set up and I can see the benefits of using them because you can't always hit the same spot when casting with a rod, but with a pole you more or less drop in the same spot every time.  Add to the mix a small feed pot fitted on the end of the pole and you can build the swim up with loose feed and attract the fish with your freebies exactly where you want them.

Throughout the morning there had been quite a few boats come through the lock which had been unexpected and it did mean having to stop fishing every now and then as they passed us in both directions.  There is a mutual respect between boaters and anglers as they both understand each others rights to be using the canals and for the most part the boaters will pull up short of the angler and walk a few extra yards to open the sluices on the lock or open the lock gates.  There was one though, a bearded bloke with his dog, who seemed to aim for Paul's peg on purpose and tied his boat up ight between us.  He had an arrogant look and attitude about him that immediately pee'd me off and I was just waiting for him to say something.  His boat had come in really close and scraped Paul's keep-net along the side of the canal wall, luckily not causing any damage to it, but it was his attitude that had suggested he'd done it on purpose and the air he had about him.  The majority of the boaters had been really friendly and asked us how we were doing as they went past us, one even telling us that he'd seen a huge Chub come from these very pegs the week previously.

The fishing seemed to die off a little and I was starting to get frustrated with the pole because I was getting the bites but my strike was all out of kilter and I was missing them.  I decided that I would go back onto the float rod just to start catching again.  I started off with a nice Roach about 4 inches long, still a small one but so much more satisfying than the Gudgeon and then this was followed up with a juvenile Chub about the same length but then those bloody Gudgeon returned and I was into those again.  While all of this had been going on in my peg, Paul had stuck to the pole and remained in one spot, just feeding that area up and not deviating or being distracted from it.  He'd had a few small fish as well but he'd also had some nice Chub and Roach.  It was at this point we heard someone shouting down the canal "You shouldn't be fishing there" and "You're not allowed to fish in mooring areas.  These white mooring points are for us to use when going through the lock".  It was one of those know-it-all types who thought he could quote the rule book to you.  He made no attempt to stop a little further up the towpath and just headed straight for Paul's peg, dragging his keep-net along with him and ripping it from Paul's seat-box.

I was next in his sights but I think when he pulled the keep-net off he realised he'd gone too far and stopped short of my net but I had started to drag mine out of the water by this time and was safe.  The keep-net disappeared under the water and I was amazed at how calm Paul was.  He didn't get angry, he didn't get riled, he just remained calm and got his landing net handle and tried to retrieve the net. I was okay but the boater was stating to really pee me off, worse than the other one did, when he kept quoting the rules concerning fishing in mooring areas.  Now if he had been correct I would have accepted it but I don't think he expected one of us to counter his claims that these were the rules.  I listened to him for about 5 minutes and then chipped in with "Actually Paul is well outside of the 25 metres that the Canal & River Trust say someone can't fish in around a lock entrance.  I'm well aware that I am inside it and I am breaking the rules but Paul isn't" The boater tried to say I was wrong and he didn't know which rules I'd been reading, well lets just clear this up right now...

"Fishing is not allowed in lock chambers, within 25 metres (one boat length) of a lock approach, within 25 metres of a water point or in the vicinity of overhead powerlines." - Canal & River Trust - Updated 26 November 2015

The keep-net was caught on the propeller of the boat and it took a while for it to be untangled, but it had been ripped apart and now lay ruined on the towpath with Billy Bellend still claiming he was not at fault and arguing with e that I was looking at some different rules.  Well I wasn't and I wish we'd taken his photo or the name of his boat because what he did could be classed as criminal damage and he would be liable to buy a new keep-net for Paul.

Anyway, after that little bit of excitement the fish in my swim more or less disappeared but Paul went on a bit of a roll and all of his patience and feeding paid off as he began pulling some really nice big Chub out and finished off with a contest winning bag full.  The temperature had dropped and I had started to get cold and even the sun trying to break through the clouds later on did little too warm me up.  I had also realised that I had started chasing the fish around the swim instead of concentrating on one area.  If I saw a disturbance in the water I started casting there, I wasn't leaving my float in one place long enough and was beginning to get frustrated.  I made one last attempt with the pole and watched what Paul was doing and tried to follow his lead but the fish were having none of it.

All in all it was a great session with great company and Paul had kept me amused with the occasional outburst from his peg as he checked the results from the Cheltenham Festival and one of his bets hadn't come in.  The occasional expletive could be heard followed by some indistinguishable muttering coming down the towpath.  What I learned from the session is that I really need to be more patient and maybe start looking towards catching some bigger fish rather than the smaller varieties I tend to catch regularly.  I think I need to buy some bigger hook sizes and stop using No 18's all of the time, so I'm off to Angling Direct for some No 16's and 14's and a 20g plumb for my pole.  Tomorrow I'm off to Mereside Pools by Earlswood Lakes with Luke and his tribe so hopefully the lessons I learned will start to kick in.

See you on the bankside....

How Times Change....

The last week has seen me working down in Devon and I took my gear along with me in the hope of getting a day on the banks of one of the many fisheries down that way.  However circumstances dictated otherwise and a text message off my bank on the Monday afternoon informing me that they had arranged an informal overdraft extention to cover standing monthly payments that were, or had, gone out of my account meant I was potless until Thursday.  This seriously dented any aspirations I had of any fishing and so with a frustrated resignation I had no choice but to just get on with the job in hand and concentrate on work.

Now in the past I would have had a meltdown at the thought of going over my overdraft and would have slipped very easily into a bout of depression, but this time I adopted a much more positive outlook at the situation and just didn't bother worrying about something that I had no way of fixing. It had happened, it was happening and I couldn't change a thing about it.  I felt the odd moment or two of something I couldn't quite work out at first but then realised it was just pure and simply self pity.  I work long, hard hours doing what I do (Retail IT by the way.  I install PCs, servers, switches, tills, printers and just about everything else to do with tills in some very well known High Street retailers stores) and here I was not able to afford a few hours leisure time.  I looked at my outgoings and realised things had to change straight away, with the bulk of my money going on cigarettes.  I worked out the cost per month and was staggered by the result.....I could afford a decent new seat box every month, I could buy myself a much wanted shed for the garden, I could do such a lot with the £380 every month I'd save if I stopped.

It was at this point I decided that smoking was going to stop, I was going to quit as soon as I had finished the packet I had on the go at the moment but after that I was stopping for good.  I had stopped back in 2007 / 2008, but foolishly started again after breaking up with someone (another reason to dislike her I suppose) and so I knew I could do it again.  I've made some half hearted attempts in the intervening years but never really committed to the process of stopping, but this time I was going to do it for sure.  It helped that I was living in a Travelodge all week because I had a long walk from my room down to reception, had to stand in the cold while I puffed on my ciggie and then had to go walking through the hotel corridors smelling of the tell tale smoke making the return journey feel something like a 'walk of shame'.

I fell foul at the first hurdle on Thursday though and bought a pack of 20, but my determination not to buy anymore was, and is, strong so I thought "Okay, you've bought some.  Let's try and reduce the amount you smoke and not fall back into old ways."  I got back on Friday with 11 left in the pack so that was a positive and immediately set about formulating a plan to keep to.  I left the ciggies in the van which meant I had to go outside if I wanted one and leave the comfort of the sofa, the wind and rain from the tail-end of Hurricane Doris was still about so that added to the discomfort of being outside because the van is a work vehicle and we are not allowed to smoke inside.  With the cost of the habit in mind I worked out that I could spend £30 on patches and lozenges and be in profit after just three days and then the rest of the month would be savings.

Anyway, what I'm trying to say in a very convoluted manner is how my outlook to situations that once reduced me to a gibbering wreck has changed, and I think this is very much due to taking up fishing.  Any angler will tell you that no two sessions are ever the same,one day you could be catching all day long, the next day at the same peg you could blank and struggle to catch a cold, let alone a fish.  You kind of learn to adapt and roll with the punches, find a solution to the problem, look at the bait you're using, change tactics if needed, make little adjustments to your presentation and not get stressed out by things, and I honestly believe that I have started to draw on this and I'm applying it to life and situations in general.  Okay I'm going to have a rough month, maybe two, until I have a firmer financial footing, but things will improve just as they do when you go fishing the next time after blanking (unless, of course, your name is Damian...he did have a spectacularly long run of blanking sessions)

Fishing has been a real life saver for me and considering I used to call Luke and Damian all-sorts of names for being anglers and I was very much in the anti fishing camp, it has surprised me just how much I enjoy the sport now and how much of a positive influence it has had on my life.

That's enough from me for this week.  I'm too busy making a list of things I want to buy at the Great Northern Angling Show in April...

See you on the bankside......

First Session of 2017

Thursday 16th February 2017
Dayhouse Farm Fishery, Old House Lane, Romsley, B62 0EX
Bottom Pool
Weather - Overcast with some light rain
Temperature - Freezing !!!!!

After last years disastrous fishing adventures I am determined to make amends this year and get out as many times as possible.  Last year my first session came around the 23rd February with Luke and John over at Friezeland and it was a bit of a rubbish day with blustery winds and freezing temperatures that didn't help anyone.  The only highlight was when Luke ordered three Sausage & Egg cobs from the bailiff who comes round for the money and takes sandwich orders which are then bought to your peg.  After a short time the bailiff returned and handed over everyone's food but because Luke had ordered three sandwiches his order came in a carrier bag.  Luke didn't bother to check his bag when the bloke first arrived and continued fishing and we all sat and watched as the bailiff, an oldish and hard of hearing chap, walked around scratching his head trying to work out how he had ended up with an extra sandwich.  There were only five adults and two kids fishing that day and we'd all had our sarnies, so a mistake had been made somewhere along the line.  He came up to all of us individually and asked if we wanted an extra butty but no-one did....except Luke.  He figured it would be a shame to let it go to waste (and he had a point because they are lovely sarnies) so he shouted across that he'd have it and duly paid for the extra roll.  The bailiff took his money and happy that he wasn't going to have to throw the extra roll away, he left.  It was at this point that Luke decided to hand out the cobs to the two kids and upon opening his carrier bag discovered just two Sausage & Egg rolls and the realisation that he'd just bought his own sandwich dawned on him.

Anyway, back to this year's first session.  After spending the winter reading the fishing magazines and watching YouTube videos, the excitement has been slowly building and I have kept an eye on the weather just waiting for that little rise in temperature that usually arrives towards the end of February and means that spring is just around the corner.  I had decided that the time would be right when the first of the early spring daffodils pops from beneath the surface, so after seeing a few promising buds appear on the roadside as I have been driving about the excitement had reached new highs and my thoughts had gone from matters relating to work and had been slowly usurped by what tactics should I employ ?, what bait should I use ?, should I go all out with the method feeder ? and am I going to beat a few of my PBs this year ?.  Tuesday and Wednesday had been quite mild compared to other days and the forecast had promised more of the same for Thursday, so I made my mind up.  I was going fishing !!!!!!

I spent Wednesday night humming and arrhing about where to go.  Hunnington was closed until mid-February, the canal was an option but I never do well on canals and I didn't want my first session to end with a blank, I could drive around and find a new fishery and give that a go but that meant the risk of a blank as well not knowing what worked and what didn't.  I needed somewhere familiar and safe, somewhere I had caught in the past and I had an idea of what was needed to catch.  I decided on Dayhouse Farm's Bottom Pool, one of my favourite fishing venues and a place where I knew I would catch something.  There are two pools at Dayhouse, the smaller Top Pool where I struggle every-time and the larger Bottom Pool where you are guaranteed to catch something around he margins.

Dayhouse Farm Bottom Pool

The day arrived and I spent the first few hours getting my gear sorted, preparing the bread I was going to use (microwave for 10 seconds and roll flat), I took the hand blender to a few more slices to get some breadcrumbs for the cage feeder, checked my bait tub and made sure I had enough ground-bait left from last year and lastly I got my trusty old flask from the cupboard and filled it with coffee.  I just needed a pint of maggots and some micro-pellets from the local branch of Angling Direct on Long Lane, Halesowen and I was good to go.

I arrived at the fishery around mid-day and after dipping both the keep and landing nets in the disinfectant tubs I made my way down to the Bottom Pool where I could park the van and get setup.  I had decided to start the session with the Maver 12' feeder rod with a small cage feeder and the hook-length setup with an anti-tangle rig to prevent it from getting caught up during the cast.  I went for a number 16 hook and got everything ready at the peg.  It was a little muddy and I almost went into the lake when my foot slipped as I made my way down the small bank, but with the grace of an elephant and a little girlie squeal I managed to prevent myself from having an early bath.  The peg I went for was dry enough and I placed the seat-box on the concrete slab provided so I had no concerns about sinking in the mud.

I filled my feeder with the mix of micro pellets, groundbait and breadcrumbs and put four medium punches of bread on the hook and I was off.  As soon as I made the first cast I could feel all of the frustration of the last few days lift from my soul and I relaxed for the first time in days.  It has been a bit difficult at home since Sunday because my eldest son has come back to live after he split from his partner and it hurts me to see him so upset, especially when she is putting some horrible things on social media about him.  As usual in these things, she is selective with the truth and is painting a picture of him that is far from the truth and it has led to some heated exchanges between us as I try to reach out to him but he pushes away.  Don't get me wrong, I'm no saint and in the past I've reacted badly and ended up punching him, but I'm determined to avoid that this time even though he says some pretty nasty things.  He takes offence when I tell him he's better off without her and he defends her and it all gets a little messy.  Anyway, once my feeder hit the water all of these issues went and I was happy to just sit and watch the tip of the rod, relaxed, chilled out and oblivious to everything.

I sat for about 10 minutes when there was a bit of movement on the tip, nothing major, nothing huge, just a slight knock as if something was investigating what goodies were on offer.  With my hand poised over the rod I waited and waited but there was no indication of anything to suggest a bite.  After another 10 minutes I reeled in and saw the bread had gone so something was down there so I refilled the feeder and put more bread on the hook.  Same as before, lots of line bites and nudges but no solid bites.  I decided to give it a few more tries before swapping over to the maggots to see if they could tempt a few more positive bites but before that happened the rod tip, which had a slight bend on it as I've been taught to have, went loose.  Something had picked up the hook and so I struck gently and could feel the fish on the end of the line.  I reeled in and saw a lovely Roach around the 2 or 3 ounces mark and I managed to get it out of the water and into my eagerly waiting hands.  Now to me this counts as a catch because I landed the fish, unhooked it and it was clearly out of the water, but some may disagree that it should count because when I went to throw it into my keepnet I missed and it went sailing down the side and back into the lake.

Happy that I wasn't going to blank I decided to continue with the bread for the time being and see what else would fancy a little bit of Hovis medium sliced.  The trend continued with loads of little knocks and nudges and after about 45 minutes I decided to switch to maggots with plugs of my mix at either end and a maggoty treat in the middle.  Four yellow maggots on the hook and the delicious concoction (which had benefited from a shot of Halibut glug) and I was back in action.  The results were startling and there was far more activity on the hook than before.  Another decent Roach sacrificed himself for my entertainment and then the big one, the one that got away.  The rod tip shot round and as soon as I struck I could tell this was a really nice fish.  It made a dash for the centre of the lake and I knew it was either a Carp or a Tench from the way it was fighting me as I tried to bring it into the landing net.  Closer and closer it came until I could see it was a Common Carp of about 4 or 5lbs and it's head came out of the water....then disaster....one quick flick of the powerful neck muscles and he was gone.

I decided that it was time for a change of tactics and set up my 12' Maver float rod with one of my favourite clear loaded waggler floats mounted on a swivel with two stop beads to prevent it from slipping up or down the line.  3 No 8 Shotz below the float and a quick change bead on the end was topped off with a Drennan No 16 hook on a 6 or 7 inch hook-length.  By this time the rain had started to fall, nothing heavy just a steady drizzle, and I set up my umbrella on the back of the seat box with one of the adjustable arms I had bought from Dragon Carp just before they closed their Tamworth clearance outlet.  At £2.50 a throw they have proved to be a bargain and hold the brolly stem fast and should prevent any repetition of my experience at Drayton Reservoir when my brolly was lifted by the wind and dumped unceremoniously in the water where it slowly sank beneath the waves just out of reach accompanied by howling laughter from Damian.  I sat there under the brolly with my flask close at hand and happy despite the weather and the one leg that was soaked as it caught the rain.  I suppose it is a feeling of contented elation that only someone who has fished in the rain will appreciate.

I had told Ryan Shields, a young lad who had played football for me back in the days when I ran Warley Albion and turned out to be one of the best right-backs in our league, who loves his fishing that I was going to Dayhouse and he turned up in his little Chav Mobile and I spent the rest of the afternoon just sitting there chewing the fat with good company talking about fishing and the impending arrival of his first child with his gorgeous fiancee Lily.  The change of tactic worked better than I could have wished for and there was bite after bite and the sight of the float tip disappearing under the water was indescribable.  It has been missing from my life since August, and to me it beats that bend in he tip of a feeder rod every-time for excitement.  It's fishing at it's traditional best.

I ended the day with about 9 or 10 silvers (mostly Roach with a juvenile Perch, Skimmer and Gudgeon as well) and left the lake just before they closed at 5pm, tired but very, very happy.

My catch

Not the best picture but I didn't care...I hadn't blanked

With frozen hands I took everything apart and packed all of my gear away and went home looking forward to that hot sweet cup of tea and the couple of slices of toast that mark the end of every fishing adventure....

See you on the bankside.....