Red letter days

Over the years, September 1st has been a generous day to me and my Dad. It’s the day that Grafham and Rutland reservoirs open for their lure fishing season, and after experiencing some incredible fishing last year, especially for perch, we had high hopes for the first two days that we had booked. We were also looking forward to trying out our new toy - a Minn Kota Terrova iPilot electric trolling motor.

What a contrast it was to last year and previous years though. Over two days, between the two of us, we really struggled for bites. It wasn’t the action packed start we were hoping for, although it only takes one bite to change a difficult days fishing in to a successful one - and that can definitely happen when you’re fishing on reservoirs. Dad’s first bite on the first day came from a perch of 4lb 3oz (47cm) which made the trip more than worthwhile! It took a chatterbait fished on a straight retrieve.

Two days later, I had a boat booked for Rutland, and I was hoping the zander would be more obliging there than on the opening two days at Grafham. I fished with Hugh Arnott, who was in to the fourth day of a challenge he’d set himself, which was to catch 60 species of fish in 60 days, raising money for three angling related charities. Hugh was hoping for his first ever zander, and what better venue to try for one than Rutland?! Or so we thought…

The morning was quite productive, with pike up to around 10lb, a few nice perch, and I’d also caught a couple of zander, but Hugh needed to catch one, not me! After midday though, we started to struggle for bites. 

Zander can often switch on right at the end of the day though, and with just half an hour before the boats needed to be in, Hugh boated his target species! We were both ecstatic! Fishing all around the country in both freshwater and saltwater, Hugh went on to land an incredible 75 species over the 60 days of his challenge - a phenomenal achievement!

 

Over the following few weeks, we mixed up our fishing between reservoir outings and exploring rivers and gravel pits. There was one stretch of river that we’d explored in the summer that we thought was worth a revisit. Chub would be the target species, and with the water being crystal clear, we had some awesome fun spotting, casting to, and watching the fish take the lures!

I’d already caught a nice chub before I spotted three much bigger fish together on a bend. Creeping up very slowly, I made a cast to a small slack area on the other side of the river, so that when I started to retrieve in to the main current, it would swing my Salmo Rattlin’ Hornet Shallow right in front of their noses. Two of them drifted back downstream, but the biggest of the fish remained interested, and chased down the lure, before slamming it in the margins!

The follow and take was exciting enough, but the chub also turned out to be a new personal best of 6lb 5oz and 60cm! Dad and I went on to catch another six chub, plus a couple of perch and pike, in what turned out to be an action packed day!

 

 

A few weeks later, I met up with Fox Rage cameraman, Samim Abbas, for a film about lure fishing on rivers in the autumn. With the river conditions looking ideal, I was confident I should be able to get a few bites for the camera. Samim was actually running a bit late as he’d been caught up in traffic on the M6, so I started fishing before he arrived as I didn’t want to miss fishing at dawn, one of the peak times of day. It’s always nice when you get off to a good start for a film, and on my first two casts I managed to land two perch, with the biggest being 3lb 1oz (42cm).

Samim arrived shortly afterwards and it turned out that the perch were really fired up…

Dad and I have been enjoying exploring a new gravel pit we’ve joined, which I mentioned in my last post. Fishing a new venue is always exciting, and my first perch from the lake has so far been my biggest from the venue, although I’m convinced there are bigger in there…

 

Chatterbaits are one of my favourite types of lures, especially for searching new venues. Fishing a chatterbait of around 4-5 inches in length, you have the chance of catching not only pike, but they’re not too much of a mouthful for a big perch, and zander love them too. Because of their profile, they sink at a slightly slower rate than lures that are streamlined, and you often get bites on the drop when using them. They typically occur when casting to structure, but occasionally, they happen in open water. The chances of the latter happening on a massive gravel pit are slim, but my bladed jig must have landed within a few feet of this metre long pike's nose, as it took the lure on the drop on my first cast in a new swim!

During that time we continued to have the odd trip to Rutland and Grafham, which seemed trickier than previous seasons. What seemed apparent was that feeding spells seemed to be very short - you may get two or three bites in a short space of time, then have no more bites for hours on end.

The reservoirs are full of baitfish at the moment, more than I ever remember there being - look at the sonar screen when you’re motoring across Grafham and you’ll see what I mean! That’s probably because the last couple of winters have been very mild, and the coarse fish have had successful spawning seasons, so silverfish numbers have boomed. There certainly isn’t a lack of food for the predatory fish, so they don’t need to hunt around as much, which we think may have something to do with the short feeding spells. That’s one theory anyway!

For example, on a trip at the end of September, Dad and I had four bites between us - two of those came between 11am and 11.15am, and the next two came between 5.30pm and 5.45pm.

 

 

Three weeks passed between that trip and the next on a reservoir, and we were hoping that the predators might have switched on as the temperatures had cooled. Neither of us had a bite after six hours of fishing though, but all of a sudden we came across a group of what turned out to be some very nice perch. Fishing Slick Shads and Zander Pro Shads either jigged or on a straight retrieve, by the end of the day, we’d ended up landing six of them to a best of 4lb 1oz, which Dad caught. 

 

We were desperate to get back, but with Storm Alex approaching the UK, strong winds were forecast for the next eight days, and I booked a boat for the calmest of those days, which was expected to be 17mph - bumpy conditions on a big reservoir!

Putting up with the wind was made worthwhile though in the first half hour of fishing. I had a take from what felt like either a zander or a very heavy perch - and it was the latter. At 4lb 6oz and 47cm, it was my biggest ever perch from Grafham - what a start!

We knew, going from what we’d learned from previous trips, that the feeding spells were short and there was a good chance we may get some more bites over the next 15 minutes or so, so as soon as we released the fish we quickly started fishing again. On the very next cast, I had another bite and was in again! As it came closer to the boat I could feel this had much more weight to it and it was tearing drag, so I was almost certain it was a pike. I had to back the drag off a little as I was only using 20lb braid on a 2500 sized reel, so didn’t want to apply too much pressure, but thankfully the fight didn’t last very long anyway, and a big pike was in the net! At 23lb 4oz and 105cm, it was an amazing brace of fish!

To say the fish were switched on was an understatement because two casts later, I had another take, which turned out to be another big perch of 4lb 1oz, and as I was releasing that fish, Dad had hooked up and I don’t think I’d even put the net down before I scooped up his perch. It was the ’smallest’ of the day weighing 3lb 15oz!

 

True to recent form, that ridiculous 45 minute spell of bites suddenly came to an end, but it took a couple of hours to sink in what had just happened. I actually joked with Dad that all I needed now was a double figure zander to complete a grand slam of big predators, although I knew the chances of that happening were pretty slim as Grafham has been fishing hard for the zander this year. But you never know on there…

We ended up exploring some different areas for a couple of hours. We’d caught all our fish so far on 11cm Slick Shads in UV Green Pumpkin, but the only trouble was that even before we’d started fishing there were only a couple left in that colour in our box. Dad was using one and by the time mine had caught 2 big perch and a 20lb+ pike, the soft bait had been trashed, so I changed to the closest colour to it - UV Dark Oil, which basically has a dark green back and a slighter lighter belly. Casting around, I had a take - and as I played it, I realised it felt a lot like a zander. As it emerged, it indeed was a zander, and a good one too! It measured 74cm - short, but very fat, and it weighed 10lb 2oz! I was literally speechless.

One more nice pike later, and it was time to head in. That was our last trip to a reservoir, as it came just in time before a second national lockdown in England. Although the reservoirs are now shut for boat fishing, we’re still allowed to fish locally thanks to the hard work of the Angling Trust campaigning for angling to continue. Dad and I have already had a few trips lure fishing on our local rivers, which I’ll talk about next time…

Post-lockdown fishing adventures

What a strange year 2020 has been! Who would have thought on the last day of the river season (March 14th) that a week later, we would be put in to a nationwide lockdown until the middle of May. As well as countless household chores, the lockdown gave me plenty of time I previously hadn’t had to clean and organise my fishing gear, as well as research new venues to try once the restrictions were lifted. I’m lucky that I live within walking distance of several rivers, and our exercise walks along them became the highlight of the day. Watching fish in their natural environment is almost as exciting as fishing for them, and towards the end of the lockdown, we witnessed a fantastic mayfly hatch, which the Trout and Chub absolutely loved!

During the time we were in lockdown, what my Dad and I both noticed was that my local rivers, which normally suffer from abstraction, had a much better flow than normal, despite a dry spring. I’m sure that was probably because water abstraction was less than normal due to businesses being shut. I think nature appreciated the break we gave it when we were in full lockdown, and even before the government loosened restrictions in England on May 13th, I realised how lucky we are to have a sport where we can social distance, whilst enjoying the great outdoors.

When we were allowed to fish again, Dad and I had a few walks around local lakes (as it was still the river closed season), and many were the busiest I’ve ever seen them. Although it was great to see so many people out fishing, we didn’t really fancy joining the crowds, so our first trip was about 10 days after the relaxing of rules. We visited a venue we hadn’t fished before - a large, deep gravel pit, that we’d joined for the 2020/21 season. It’s a fantastic lake with a lot of potential, and it was nice to not only have a change of scenery to fish in, but a change of scenery full stop after two months of no travel! Those first few casts actually felt weird, almost surreal. Fish would be a bonus on this recce trip, but we ended up landing four pike between us - our first fish from the new venue, and our first fish post lockdown.

As I’m still furloughed, I’ve had a bit more time on my hands to fish, and explore new venues. Dad and I have varied our fishing quite a bit since the restrictions were loosened, so what I’ve decided to do is instead of trying to fit everything in to one blog post, focus on freshwater fishing in this post.

I was absolutely buzzing to be afloat on the midlands reservoirs again. The Anglian reservoirs remained shut until early June, so we missed the first few weeks of the flyfishing for predators season, a time where I really enjoy fishing around weedbeds for Pike and Zander. Interestingly though, there was actually very little weed growth on Grafham, which is probably because the water levels had been so low from the summer of 2019 onwards, that the areas where you normally find weed had been dry land for months on end. On that first trip, we managed to find fish in between 11ft and 20ft of water, and in the last few hours of the day, boated 15 zander, each landing a fish over 80cm.

 

 

We returned four days later, and also found fish in similar depths. We had a steady stream of bites throughout the day, with one of those being from a fish of 10lb 8oz, that took Dad’s fly. 

 

 

 

The action came thick and fast, and hadn’t gone unnoticed from the shore. It's not often Dad and I get really wound up when we're out fishing, but we were happily casting away when we heard the high pitched humming sound of a drone hovering above us. It kept circling our boat, at times just two or three rod lengths above our heads. It was very off-putting, causing me to miss a bite and then lose a fish from not getting a good hookset, from being distracted. I managed to spot the user with the remote control, who was around a quarter of a mile away, and after half an hour or so we couldn't stand it any longer. As we started to motor towards him, he started to retrieve his drone and we ended up chasing it back to the bank, and asking him to stop watching us. Thankfully, he left, and it worked out well in the end, as we stopped off at a different spot on the way back from where we'd been fishing, and on my first cast I caught this double figure zander!

It had been an action packed day, and as you can imagine, Dad and I were keen to get back as soon as possible, and I managed to book a boat for four days later, which was on a Friday - the last one left! However, the weather forecast changed during the week, and it turned out to be too windy, so I called up and postponed our boat to the following Friday. It was a good idea I changed the day, not just because of the wind…

Whilst we’d been fishing on the previous trip, I started developing a pain in the left side of my jaw. It progressively got worse during the week, and I also began to get a sore throat and had difficulty swallowing.  On the Thursday night, I started to get aches and pains all over my body, felt a little bit sick and was struggling to open my jaw, so I Googled jawlock and sore throat, and found the symptoms can be linked to the early stages of Tetanus, which is caused by bacteria entering your bloodstream through cuts or punctures. It takes anything between 4-21 days to develop, and I remembered I'd been spined by a zander quite badly on our first trip flyfishing the reservoirs, four days before my very first symptoms. I checked my innoculation sheet and realised I had been due a Tetanus jab back in February this year, 10 years after my last.

I decided to call 111, as the pain was getting worse, and the GP told me to go straight to A&E to get it checked out. Although there isn't a test to confirm diagnosis of Tetanus, I had other tests to rule out other things, and the hospital said it all pointed to the early stages of Tetanus. So, I was given a Tetanus jab, and put on antibiotics and painkillers for the next week. If you, like me, enjoy fishing for toothy or spiny fish, or get a cut somehow and have these symptoms, it might be worth checking to see if you're up to date with your Tetanus innoculations. If you're not immunised and let the symptoms develop, I was told it can sometimes get quite serious, even life threatening without treatment.

Five days later, it was June 16th. I still wasn’t feeling 100%, but was very keen to get out for a few hours on the first day of the season on my local rivers. We managed to get fishing by 6.30am, however, by about 10am I started feeling a bit rough, so decided to return home for a few hours rest, before heading out again later that afternoon. We caught a few chub, nothing massive, but I did manage to stalk a barbel on a creature bait!

Although it was nice to get the season off to a start with a Barbel, during those first few trips to areas that had been successful in the past, we spotted far fewer fish. At first we thought it could be something to do with Otter and Mink predation, but we soon heard rumours that a couple of stretches of our local rivers had been netted, which was terrible news. As I mentioned earlier, during the lockdown I spent a lot of time researching venues to try with the potential of producing some great fishing, and now was the time to venture further afield and try them.

So far this season, I’ve really enjoyed exploring new venues. We’ve actually fished 10 different rivers now since June 16th, and six of those we hadn’t fished before. It’s been a case of trial and error, with some places fishing better or having more potential than others, but I’ve certainly been learning a lot. We’ve caught some nice chub on a variety of different hardbaits, with lures such as the Salmo Lil’ Bug, Hornet and Minnow, that have worked well over previous seasons, being very successful. 

 

 

Earlier this year, Salmo introduced the Rattlin' Hornet Shallow to their range. As soon as I first saw them back in February, I knew they were going to be a favourite of ours for summer chub. They're perfect for when the chub are a bit wary about taking a surface lure, as they dive to a maximum depth of around 2ft, although if you keep the rod tip up and slow down your retrieve, you can fish them just under the surface. Not only have they proved a winner for chub, but perch seem to like them too!

 

 

This year though, I’ve been using more and more sinking crank baits. Where I’ve found them particularly useful is when I can’t drift a floating crankbait downstream under overhanging trees and bushes, because foliage is hanging in the water. Selecting a sinking model will allow the lure to drift down with the current, underneath the foliage, reeds or undercut banks, reaching fish hiding away.

 

 

 

 

As we’ve had a very warm summer, our main target species has been chub, but whilst exploring these new venues we’ve come across a few surprises too. One of those was on a tiny, little known chalk stream, famed in the past for its roach fishing, but we thought it had potential to hold some nice chub. We only spotted a couple of chublets, but it had an incredible head of Trout, catching quite a few between us and spotting many more.

Talking of roach, whilst fishing another river, we spotted a nice fish of around 1lb 12oz, and Dad decided to try for it with the tiny sinking crankbait he had clipped on. He let the lure drift downstream, and as he was retrieving, he gave it a twitch, and one of the smaller roach in amongst the bigger fish nailed it!

Another river we’ve fished also seems to hold some nice perch, and I managed to catch my biggest of the season so far, that beat the chub it was with to a Micro Grub!

Whilst we've been concentrating on the chub, you can't help catching pike, and we've caught a good number this season so far. It's been a constant reminder why it's best to use a light trace, even when targeting chub.

As the water temperatures cool down, I’ll probably be spending less time on the rivers and concentrating on reservoir predators, as many of them open up for lure fishing soon. I’m also hoping to continue fishing for bass, which I’ve really enjoyed this year - but I’ll talk about that in my next blog post!