March madness.

March has been a strange month all in all, the weather has been crazy warm for this time of year, opportunuites have arisen out of the blue, and some short session float fishing has produced some very early Tench.
Let's deal with the big fish water first. Last weekend was our second and last session for now on this special water, though the day was warm and very pleasant compared to the previous week, the fish still refused to play ball. We had hoped the unseasonably warm spell would create opportunities for us to stalk them in some margin spots, but the fish had other ideas and spent the day in unfishable snaggy areas sunning themselves and, I would imagine, digesting a large amount of food they had probably been troughing from someone's baiting campaign. But despite this we were able to get a grandstand view of some of the lake's impressive inhabitants to wet our appetite for a sustained campaign much later in the year during the Autumn and Winter season.

Just a few yards away, some very big fish were sunning themselves......

Early Tench.


One thing I do enjoy is Tench fishing, and this very warm March we have experienced has woken them up very early indeed in my local club water. A few evening float fishing sessions have produced a handful of nice specimens that have given good accounts of themselves.

The third and final report for now concerns a little session yesterday evening with my eldest son and my mate. The three of us descended on the local club water for a short session into dark in the pursuit of some Carp. Fishing a single rod each on some close in margin spots, just how we like to fish. My friend was the first to get a run from what was clearly a good fish, as I approached to assist with netting I could see his powerful Century stalking rod bent alarmingly through almost to the butt. Obviously not a small stockie then! The fish led him a merry dance for a few moments and managed to pick up a loose fallen branch from the bottom of the lake, still playing the fish with the branch attached to the line, my mate tried to inch the fish and branch toward the waiting net, then as it looked as if we were going to be able to net the fish, disaster struck as the Carp, in slow motion, rubbed the hook out of its mouth and into the branch, right in front of us! The fish sat motionless for a second and then slowly cruised off. Gutted isn't the way to describe how we felt, because having got a really good look at it, the fully scaled mirror Carp was clearly well over twenty pounds....

Throughout the session we all continued to receive line bites as the fish fed on our small baited patches, occassionally brushing the lines and making the bobbins rise and the alarms sing. Dark had descended altogether now and the temperature had dropped dramatically, my Son began to ask when we would be going as he was feeling the cold. Just as I was about to give in and declare home time, his alarm began screaming a one toner as a fish shot away from his margin spot having picked up the hookbait and hook !

It was again clear from the start that he was connected to a decent fish and he played it well with a little coaching, and soon it was ready for the net. As soon as I saw it in the headtorch I knew which fish it was, and as I lifted the net complete with fish out of the water I was certain we had another twenty pounder.

The scales confirmed my suspicion, and settled at twenty pounds and four ounces!

As for my trap, well as I went to reel in to go home, I was snagged on the bottom. The vicious liners I had been receiving all evening had dragged the hook into a snag....

A little assistance was needed to help the youngster with his prize !

1st try...but with a bonus.

As realistically expected the first try at the special water was a blank. The weather didn't help with the tactics I decided to use. For the mobile stalking approach to work the fish have to be actively visiting the margins, which probably at some point when it was warmer earlier last week they were, but with overcast, wet, and cooler conditions yesterday they certainly were not. My two companions tried the static sit and wait tactics with bolt rigs, but neither of them fared any better, and there were no signs of activity from the fish throughout the day.
Nothing more than expected, but time spent by the water is never wasted, and there is always something to learn, especially when approaching a new venue. I like the look and feel of this lake, and it somehow seems 'familiar' to me already as it is much like some of the lakes here on the Island I have fished before. As a bonus to the three day sessions we are undertaking, my friends and I have managed to secure some winter fishing on this lake, so we have much to look forward to come the end of the season in the salt this year. I have not been really 'into' my Carp fishing for a long time now, but I feel that this lake and it's stock may well help me find some of the satisfaction and enjoyment I used to gain from Carp fishing. So that's for later in the year and something for me to prepare for later in the year. Two more day sessions coming up when hopefully the weather will be on our side, and then we plan to begin our 'assault'  on the Salt !

Not quite finished...

I'm nearing the end of the bulk of the freshwater fishing now for this part of the year and looking forward to a season in the brine, but recent events have provided me with a last flurry of activity with which to conclude my fishing in the freshwater. For the next three weekends I have access to a very special water, not something I ever thought would happen, and the opportunuity came as a bolt out of the blue. The fishery owner is making some changes to how this exclusive water is going to be run, after a somewhat chequered syndicate history. Access will be open to anyone, but very limited in the amount of people that will be allowed to fish at any one time. To this end, my friend who is a long time friend of the owner has secured us exclusive access for three weekend day sessions on this water, which contains Carp to a top weight of 50lb!! The back up stock is rumoured to be impressive with a number of fourties and thirties plus twenties and doubles. There is only a small overall stock of fish numbering around an estimated 40 fish, but the water is only relatively small. The fish have grown from modest proportions having been stocked many years ago, to what they are now, and have been for a lot of that time relatively unpressured, compared to some waters.  Being a small water, it lends itself well to a stalking approach, something which I love doing, and so this is how we intend to fish this lake.
Being a little rusty on this side of things I decided some practise was in order so I will know exactly what I am doing on this lake when the time comes, so today, as the sun was out, and it has been nice and mild the last few days I knew there would be a good chance of one of my other local club lakes being eminently stalkable for it's resident population of Carp, and would provide me with the necessary practise I needed. I needn't have worried, as with all my fishing I have ever done, it is just like riding a bike, you don't really forget. The only slightly different thing is that I am now using a centrepin reel for stalking instead of a fixed spool reel, so I am still getting used to that at the moment, but the fishing went well and I managed to bank 5 double figure fish from close in margin spots using a float on the lift method. I may try and have a couple more rehearsals this week before we fish the other water next weekend, just so that it all feels familiar and that I have honed my stalking senses as much as possible! Obviously I want to make the very best of the time we have been offered on the big fish water as we may not get such an opportunity again any time soon....

A nice mid double figure Common Carp falls to my stalking skills.