An evening at the vice

With duffers fortnight fast approaching I have been studying the other fly fishing blogs and forums with interest for the latest information. I hope to have a few good sessions on the Dove and the Derwent so have made sure my boxes are full of deadly mayfly patterns. However, when doing so I have mislaid my pouch of St Bruno, what rotten luck.

Back to Ellastone

My spring tench campaign had somewhat faltered this year so after GP reported mayfly appearing at Ellastone it was time to pick up the fly rod. I had a few hours this afternoon so headed off with hopes of some good sport. There were no other anglers on the beat and I soon noticed the odd may coming off and a very infrequent rise. The fish have not really turned onto them yet to herald the start of Duffers Fortnight. Some larger dun patterns were tried and got the odd slash from the fish but they were not really taking the drake. I also observed plenty of yellow may duns amongst the green drake.
Well I then fannied about for a while fishing nymphs and also had a go on the duo, a technique which I have become crap at as I use it so infrequently. Eventually the penny dropped that the rising fish were not on the drake but taking large dark olives. I quickly matched the hatch and began catching at last, the trout now taking my olive pattern with gusto. In a little under an hour I took four fish of which the one below was the best. Another of a similar stamp was lost. As the clock ticked towards 7pm the activity stopped and consequently I called it a day. A good return to Elly for me and still the cream of the mayfly fishing ahead.

An Olive Beauty

Since my early success at Findern my tench fishing exploits have distinctly faltered. So what better venue to kick off again that one of the club pools with a reputation for being hard. During one of my dog walks earlier in the week I had spotted a swim I had not noticed before and quite liked the look of it. So after work yesterday I packed the tackle into the car and headed off up to Shardlow. For bait I had casters and hemp plus some sweetcorn. There were a lot of cars about when I arrived but they were all fishing the pool on the other side of the road on which the carp appear to be feeding well at the moment.
I tackled up a waggler on my 14' float rod, the intention was to fish virtually under my rod tip beyond the fringe of weeds, the extra length I reasoned would help me keep the fish away from snags. Double caster first when on the size 14 barbless and I was soon getting knocks on the float and some bites which I just could not hit. Nevertheless activity on the float makes the time fly and it was soon 8pm. I had noticed that periodically the swim was fizzing so I hoped that some tincas were moving in. After catching a perchlet on casters I decided to go for double corn in the hope this would attract a tench. As the light was going the float slipped away and a good fish was on. I could not get it's head up and was certain this was a carp as it was so powerful. Fortunately it chose to run out into the pool and I prayed that there were no hidden snags. Playing it carefully there was no way I could see this as a tinca but on 4lb hooklength did not want to try bullying it up for gander. There was some excitement when the fish finally went for the weeds and I held grimly on but then it surfaced. A tench. With it's head finally up I soon got it in the net. It was in pristimne condition and weighed in at 5lb 3oz. This was a fish I was really pleased with having winkled it out from a difficult water. Lets hope for a few more over the coming weeks.

Where is the tench shop?

Well can anyone help me please as I now need to go and buy a tench. After getting my spring tench campaign off to a great start at Findern a couple of weeks back it has distinctly faltered but hey I suppose that is fishing. Yesterday evening I set off for a sortie to Triangle and when I arrived there were a few cars in the car park. My favourite swim was taken by a carp angler who had been in it since 5.30am so I guess he had sort of earnt it!
Consequently I set off for some swims that I had spent the day discussing with Rob from the DRAC forum. There was to be no messing about so I set up two rods. I fished a feeder at about 20 yrds out and a float in the margins on my Bruce and Walker. Initial interest was all on the feeder rod with some bream getting their heads down on some corn.

This was the best and the biggest bream I have caught at 6lb 9oz. It even put up a bit of a struggle and didn't come straight to the top and flap about like the smaller ones do, most un-bream like. There were little signs on any interest in my offerings on the float though.

It was getting on for 8.30pm when my float finally sailed away and the strike was met with firm resistance. Great I thought until I realised that this was no tench as it then lapped my swim at great speed putting a good bend in the float rod. Soon it was ready for the net but I think the antics effectively killed the swim as the initial margin was very clear and quite shallow at the edge for Triangle. This is I suspect one of the new stock of mirrors that have gone in this spring and weighed in bang on 5lb. So I've usually been able to wincle a tench from Triangle but have never had a bream or a carp from there before. That is definitely fishing!!

Robin Wood

This afternoon we headed up to Robin Wood between Ticknall and Ingelby as it is a great quiet spot where Barney can have a good run around, usually without bothering other people and dogs.

The picture below is looking out over Knowle, a Landmark Trust property, towards Derby in the distance. I always think this would be a great place to rent as it is absolutely in the middle of nowhere and has some real character and interesting features. I can just see myself getting the barby going on that lawn whilst taking some refreshments.

The pond is just north of Seven Sprouts Farm, now some rather attractive developments rather than a working establishment. I'm not sure what has happened to this pond over the last 5 years or so but it has doubled in size. It looks a deliberate enlarging and is now starting to blend in. It was a delightful spot of less than half an acre that just screamed tench and carp although I have nver fished it. There is a commercial fishery that you should just make out before the rape field in the above picture but I do hope this pond does not go the same way. As you would have to walk more than 10 yards to get to your peg this should put the knockers on that.

A glorious day to be out in South Derbyshire, the team below are collecting pond weed for the tadpoles that the kids have kidnapped.

Findern Reclaimed

There has been alot of discussion on the DRAC forum about this pond and last autumn I questioned whether it should be kept on the ticket as it has been badly affected by poaching and anti social behaviour. Whatever was I thinking. That thread generated a huge positive response and now the club members are getting amongst the tench again. Phil Harrison has kindly tidied up some of the swims and there is now a DRAC sign displayed proudly. All my formative tenching was done here in my early teens and the pond was incredibly popular then. So this morning I set out a little late but thought I would get a couple of hours in. There have been reports of good catched this week and I couldn't wait to see what the pond would produce. There was another angler already fishing and I was delighted to discover that he was another member although he had not caught. I dropped my basket into my favourite swim from the seventies and second cast renewed my aquiantance with Findern tench after more than 25 years.

This was soon followed by another fish and a couple of missed bites but after an hour or so my swim died. Not to worry as it was cracking morning and fantastically bright in fact I would not have been surprised by a blank. There will be a few more session for me here this spring and the last hour of light always used to be the best of the fishing. A great return for me and many memories of fishing with my Dad.

The other angler had done slightly better than me, his brace were a bit larger, both being 4.5 to 5lb. I will look forward to a return for some of the big lads and lasses. Unfortunately back to reality though as I spent the last 5 minutes picking up a dozen or so empty 'Fosters' cans. Some of the looks I got as I carried them back to the marina car park were quite amusing though!

Findern though is very definitely back on my list of regular haunts.

Barrow Tanks

One of the things on my 'to do' list of fishing experiences was to do some buzzer fishing on one of the Bristol Water fisheries. Some enquiries had been made and it was suggested that some of the best bank fishing is at the Barrow Lakes, a string of 3 reservoirs just south of the city. These are known locally as the 'tanks'. I arrived just before 1830 on Monday eveing and purchased my ticket from the quirky money in the envelope self service booth. Entirely fit for purpose in my opinion. A brief conversation with the chap coming to empty the box suggested lake no.2 was my best bet and sure enough after I crossed the road the only three other anglers I saw were all fishing no.2. The east bank opposite the A38 was giving a nice left to right wind, a little strong but ideal for drifting a team of buzzers for the right handed caster.

Two black buzzers on the leader and out went my line, no trouble punching an 8 weight out with my Daiwa Lochmor across the wind. Well, only second cast and I got that electric buzz when everything went tight. The fish in the top picture put up a great fight, as good as any I've had from the powerful rainbow. Before 2000 I took four fish and probably missed another two or three takes, absolutely splendid fishing and all fell to Basil's Buzzer my favourite chromonoid pattern. The fish were generally in great condition just look at the tail on the one below, if this was a stockie then it was in great nick. The wind was quite strong setting up a large bow in the line and I got the feeling I was missing a few just counting on feel. Sure enough when I added a strike indicator for the last twenty minutes or so takes were much easier to see accounting for the last two fish in quick succession. Not nearly as exciting thouigh as straight lining and wating for the pull. By 2000 it had got quite cold and I retired for a well earned Chicken Vindaloo.