Uncategorized

Going into the unknown – Part 1

jacksonb1 Uncategorized

The club I belong to has been offered a stretch of newly refurbished disused canal. No information is available other than the owner thinks there are fish in it as a heron is often seen on the water! We have been invited to do a test fish in a couple of days time and I thought this may be an opportunity to look at how a new unknown water can be approached.

We had previously walked the length with the owner and in most parts it is between 10 and 13m wide with some colour in the water. The water has been in existence for 18 years but it is only recently that work has taken place to dig out the reeds that covered it and create a depth of approximately 4 and a half feet down the channel. No sign of fish when we walked the length but it was a cold February day when we did so.

My experience of similar waters has led me to adopt a different approach to the rest of the members who will turn up for the test fish – I am guessing they will turn up with their usual match gear and fish a pole or whip. On these unfished waters the disturbance on the bank plus having a pole over their heads can send any fish away to find shelter. So my plan is to take my trusty haversack seat, a few essentials in a plastic tub, a net bag, bucket with small box of maggots and one of pinkies and a little groundbait, oh and a few slices of bread; this will be teamed up with an 11ft Silstar Ian Heaps canal rod and landing net. I will let the others go first and then decide whether to walk to the far end of the stretch or stay at the near end where there is a wider section and the canal is blocked off. The groundbait will only be used as a last resort with loose feeding pinkies being my main line of attack.

We will see in a couple of days if the plan works! (or if there are any fish in there!)

Bowood Chinese Style!

jacksonb1 Tactics, Uncategorized

Following a couple of threads on different fishing forums got me thinking about trying something different! Firstly although a lot of equipment for the European market is made in China, when you look at the Chinese market the equipment is totally different. I began to wonder what it would be like to fish “Chinese style”, so took the decision to order myself a 17 section 11m carbon  “pole” designed for the Asiatic markets. The pole took about 10 days to arrive and is not a pole in the European sense but a whip, it was telescopic and broke down into a butt section that was approximately 82cm long and 32.3mm in diameter, the tip was 0.8mm. Weight was 635g.

Now on the face of it those specs are not too bad and the advertising pictures show it picking up two coke bottles to demonstrate the power/arc, however being used to a rigid pole and whip when extended this was an eye opener in that the last time I had seen a bend like this was when the Scimitar pole first came out donkeys years ago!

However I thought that I had to give it a go as there must be a reason for it. I had ordered some floats for me to try but as they had been ordered a week after the pole I made up one of my own, with a long 0.8mm glass stem and a multi-coloured 0.17mm top. This took 2 AA, a number 4 and two no 10 stotz.

IMG_0492IMG_0491

I decided to go ultra light to the last pegs at Bowood on the last but one day of the season, taking only the whip/pole (so I would not be tempted to do anything else) and a rucksack seat with a net bag and bait (a pot of worms- that remained unused), a pint of maggots, a pint of micros- that remained unused and some groundbait (Explosive Feeder and red Bream 3000).

IMG_0489

As you can see from the picture above the “pole” also came with a spare flick-tip, heavier than the original. The plan was to fish it at the full 11.4 m to hand despite the conditions being not very favourable with a strong cold cross wind from right to left. It was a day when you needed wrapping up warm!

IMG_0487IMG_0488

The end of the whip had a short piece of strong fabric fixed to it so I tied a small knot in the end and attached the rig using the double loop method. Four balls of groundbait were launched into the 6 foot swim and I began to learn how to cast Chinese style!

There were some interesting points, firstly I reckoned that my float was too light, even though it was heavier than the specialist ones I had sent for, secondly traditional casting with a European whip style just did not work, it was more like a delayed reaction cast to the horizon that was needed, but eventually I got the hang of it.

IMG_0483IMG_0485

The pole/whip/banana, to be fair was well made but the last 2m of the tip was wafting around in the wind like a piece of fly line- no that is not quite right, fly line would have been more stable! The pictures above are the banana in action – no there is not a fish on – it really had to be seen to be believed.

Unbelievably the float dipped and I lifted into a fish – a skimmer of about 6 ounces which was carefully guided towards the net. From there on for the next two hours I had plenty of action and what intrigued me was I only missed one bite despite having about 8m of line between tip and float- and that bite was only missed due to me having a cup of coffee at the time! I even had a bream of 3-5 towards the end which was interesting as you could feel the weight and the odd thud but the tip was acting very much like elastic and taking out any lunges very comfortably.

At the end I had 7-12 in the two hours I was there but will investigate this Chinese style further at some point- certainly has given me food for thought.

IMG_0493

Why Wheatnotcasters?

jacksonb1 Uncategorized

One of the things I have been trying over the last two seasons is the use of wheat as an alternative loose feed. I bought a sack (25kg) for about £14 including delivery (would have been less than half if I could have picked it up!) and after two seasons I still have half a sack left! So what myths and  questions arise with wheat, as it is not a common bait.

1. Preparation – there are a lot of myths and legends but preparing wheat can be very easy if you are able to boil a kettle (more later in a separate blog with pictures on how to prepare it!)

2. Storage – “it doesn’t freeze well”, I keep being told – wrong! If prepared sensibly it freezes well and can be used on several trips if placed back in the freezer.

3. “It is easy to over feed it” – so is any bait!

4.”It is mainly for pre-baiting for bream or roach fishing” – it can be used in those ways but I have caught carp, bream, tench, roach, rudd, gudgeon, chub, dace and perch on wheat !

Preparation I will deal with as previously stated. Some people swear by stewed wheat, I have had plenty of success with my method but I will at some point try some stewed just to see the difference.

Storage – I put approximately 2 pints of prepared wheat into a large freezer bag and seal- the key with this is that the wheat needs to be damp/wet and the sealing takes most of the air out of the bag. A bag can last me 2-3 sessions and is resealed and put  back in the freezer each time. I simply take the bag out the day before or sometimes on the morning I am going.

Feeding – I will loose feed about 6-10 grains every couple of minutes If I am after anything that swims, if i am targeting bream, tench or carp I will put in the equivalent of a large pole pot (250ml) and spread it  in a line  over a metre or so, then loose feed 10-20 grains every 5minutes or so.

Hooking  – I will start off with a single grain on an 18 or 16 hook. The way I hook the grain is by the thicker end so the point of the hook comes out on the side the kernel is split on. If I suspect there are bigger fish present I will go up to a size 14 with 2 grains.

Venues – I have used wheat on all types of waters- canals, rivers, commercials, natural lakes and have always had a response from fish – they like it even if some people think they don’t!

Sometimes it is worth trying something different- you may be pleasantly surprised!

(When I do my next lot of wheat for the freezer I will do a follow up blog with pictures so you can see how easy it is!)

Bossing the swim (Part 1)

jacksonb1 Tactics, Uncategorized

Bossing the swim (part 1) written January 2009

You know when you have a “bright” idea one day and it all goes wrong… Well read on!

I had the stupid idea of doing a short piece for the site on a method I have been using on the local river involving the use of my Giant floats, Now the usual pole float people use on the Bristol Avon at Sutton Benger is 1-1.5g, occasionally going up to 2 or 3g if it is pushing a bit. I have been using 5-6g floats on occasions but more regularly 18g monsters that I had made for some Irish customers to use in the Winter Leagues on the Erne. The rationale behind this was if I could control the float absolutely then I could deliver the “perfect” presentation for the roach, tench and bream that were my quarry.

I had a small window of opportunity before my work and junior angling club commitments took over so made the decision to go for it come what may. Well, you guessed it, Saturday came with a hard frost overnight and the river almost three foot up and rising, cursing I decided to do the shopping and chores and hoped that the river had stabilised by Sunday. Saturday night- it rained!

Dragged myself out of bed on Sunday morning and got myself sorted. Flask made, out into the garage to find that the score was now Mice 0 Me 1, sorted that out and reset the trap, loaded the car and set off thinking that at least it had warmed up.

DSC06104

The river was not looking good, about three foot up and a horrible colour but I walked up to peg 136 above the bottom weir and reminded myself that a bad day’s fishing was better than a good day at work and set about sorting myself out.

The swim was about 8 foot deep at 10 metres where there was a nice crease.

DSC06107

The picture shows the 18g Giant I was using, the other float is a 0.5g for comparison, my bulk consisted of 3 x 5g drilled bullets with a series of BB and AA shot either end as locking shot,. Size 20 hook (a Filstar version not available in the shops) was 12inches below the bulk with a single No 4 as dropper.

Main line was 0.20mm Shogun with a 0.10mm Shogun hooklength.

DSC06108

Worms were chopped and groundbait mixed as a standby.

Three droppers of chopped worm went out at 10m and I shipped out and prayed that something would show an interest. ! I was able to present my bait at what ever pace I wanted and was able to nail it still if needed but to no avail!

water2w

Four hours and four cups of coffee later and still without a bite, despite also introducing groundbait, I gave up – deciding to return when the river was more obliging. Hopefully during half-term (I’m a teacher for my sins!) I’ll return and finish what I intended!

To be continued…