London Blanker

Date fished  22/2/2019
0630 to 1500

Today's venue was 3.1 miles away but the sat nav said 20 plus minutes! This must have meant I was in the South, South East, London, West London, Teddington to be exact.
I was staying with Pc and Nikki for the weekend to watch the rugby with the boys, so I brought a couple of rods and planned a trip on old father Thames for the day.

Alot of planning found me a free fishing stretch day or night containing just about all species, but notorious for Barbel. A Thames Barbel would do nicely!
The venue was Albany Reach in Thames Ditton.

As we went to bed the alarm was set. The phone plugged in and the sheep counting started. As the alarm went off, I jumped up like a coiled spring. Picking up my phone, I noted the 50% battery, it seems in the South you also have to turn plug switches on to work!! Doh.

Making my flask of coffee, I noted the screw cap was not from this flask. It did not do up. I had a flask of hot coffee, but no cap!! Double doh!

I hoped this was the last of the calamities as I set off for the river. Arriving in double quick time, I was parked (free, in London this is rare!) and headed for the bank. A short walk and I was there. It looked great. A mist rising off the river. I didn't know where the features were along the bank so I opted for a swim that looked comfortable.

I was soon fishing. Pellets, bread crumb in the feeder. Waiting for a Barbel. There was little to report for a few hours other than I had drunk all my coffee as I had no lid and the fog did not burn away!!

There were a few other anglers on the banks, some leaving having been fishing all night, some like me arriving. It was one of the leavers that came to say hello. It was nice to get some local info and after I said I lived in Northumberland, this fellow angler was happy to help me out. He told me, him and his brother had 110lb of bream over night to 6lb plus and several Barbel to over 10lb. I was in the right place, but the wrong swim!!
He helped me with my gear, and took me to the swim they were vacating. He looked at my baits and tackle (non eupho)  and was happy to give advice. A quick change of hook and a new pellet, of the robin red variety and I was ready, again!

As we chatted all things fishing and his brother carried their gear back go the car, my rod twitched. It was the first bite of the day and I was happy. A few more knocks and then it bounced. I hit the bite and was in. Playing the fish towards the bank, my smile was only surpassed by my new teacher! Sadly the fish came off half way to the bank. "Bream" was the response from teacher, expletives from me!
I quickly re cast and was trying again. We chatted about feeders and after giving 1 of the 60 away, it was the least I could do to my teacher,  it was time for them to leave. They left happy that I was nearly catching.

A few hours passed and there were a few more knocks but no fish. There were birds though, heron, kingfisher, cormorant and of course parakeets!! Bright green and yellow, residents of West london flew over head.

It was soon afternoon and nearly time to pack up. Another knock and I was in again. I played the fish to the bank. It was a nice sized bream, a proper river Bream. I had the net ready, and slipped it under the fish. I put the rod down and the weight of the feeder slipped over and out the net. I scooped up the net and it was empty! I picked up the rod and there was no resistance. The bream had slipped away. I was gutted!

I put the bait back on the spot, but sadly nothing happened.

It was time to pack up. There was one last thing to do. Like passing the baton, it was my turn to offer the swim to a couple of new anglers planning on doing an over nighter. They were happy for the swim and the info and I left with a teacher smile on my face too.

Super Shoal

Date fished 16/2/2019
0830 till 1830

We caught fish! Literally! Some I juggled but caught again. The target was Chub and Grayling and we caught both! We lost lots of fish, we laughed, lost tackle, we smiled but we caught fish!

This trip was "sponsored" by ridge monkey as I recently acquired some of their buckets, in both sizes and one with a seat. We were gonna see if they helped us catch fish, as that's what we were out to do.

We decided to fish the Swale at Northallerton, and the spot? Well, obviously our usual spot!!

Meeting at 0730, a quick double sausage and egg with a hash brown was devoured to give us sustenance. After a quick chat with a local dog walker, we headed to our swim. The river was up 6 inches and clearish. It looked great.

Settling into our swims, I cast in my ledgered cheese paste, straight into the bush on the far bank. Snagged, line break, lost the lot! Ellis provided some encouragement with, " it can only get better!"

I re tackled and cast into the water this time, and sat back on my comfy bucket with seat and back rest and waited. Two, maybe three minutes passed and my rod twitched, then hooped over. I struck and was in! The fish was un chub like, darting about quickly in a head shaking way. Suddenly, it was off. We would never know what it was....
More encouragement from Ellis came in the form of " let's just hope at 1830 tonight, we are not sat here talking about the only bite after 3 mins!"

Ellis now cast, straight into the Bush! We were good at this, honest! Maybe he is better at giving encouragement!?

After no more action, we switched to float fishing with maggots. We were targeting Grayling, but I think both secretly hoping for chub! Ellis started the day off with a Grayling, quickly as ghillie, I landed it. This was the routine all day, we were a team and it's easier having someone net your fish, especially when it is a little dark!

I soon had a Grayling too! This was my first ever Swale Grayling, so after a quick pic and juggle it was back in the cold water.

We were feeding maggots easily with the wind assisting us to get to the far bank. If anything it was too strong and every catapulted maggot ended up miles too far! The wind did help with the trotting though, blowing upstream it enabled us to control the float down the swim.

Ellis had full control until his float buried and this was no Grayling! On 2lb line and a size 18 hook, he took his time to play the fish and after a short battle, I slipped the net under his first float caught chub. It was a cracking fish, about 4lb, and we hoped would kick start a match like ambience!! It certainly did after a few hours, but I was not going to be winning the match!

We switched between the float and ledger. We missed quite a few bites. Me missing 2 in about 2 mins whilst ledgering was probably the highlight. Finally my float buried and as I struck, a trout lept out the water.

Ellis was trying his new and improved cheese paste with garlic,  not sure if it was this or the few pieces attached to the hook with pva tape but he was suddenly attached to a chub that was owning him! It nearly owned his rod too, but that's a story that remains on the bank! On the heavier ledger tackle, this chub had eaten plenty of cheese but also spinach! A great fight and soon (ish) I was landing another chub for Ellis, this one going 4lb 8oz!

Ellis encouragement exclaiming " I never catch 3 chub!"

A little time passed now. Float, ledger, missed bites. We were still trying and enjoying it. We sat behind the ledger rods, cheese paste in the spot. Ellis having left his phone in the car, needed to know what else was being caught on the Swale, so it was up to me to have a quick look on the book of faces.
Yes, you guessed right, at that moment my rod hooped over and bounced away, I was in. This fight seemed familiar, but it was on cheese paste! Jumpy, jagged, a big brown trout the culprit. This time we did know it!

As the day turned to evening, we had decided to both target chub on the ledger. Again missing bites, the fish were on the feed. Ellis moving to casting further down stream, he caught 2 quick chub. His never catching 3 chub had turned into 4! He must have found the super shoal!

He let me nip into his swim and have a cast too! After a few mins, my rod twitched but I missed the bite. Soon as darkness fell, the river awoke. Fish were moving about and we were in the right place. Finally I hooked and landed my chub. I say chub, but it was more chu. The fish must have had a run in with a predator as it's tail was deformed and it was about 6 inches shorter than it should be. It's fins were down the end of its tail like a pike.

As darkness took over, I missed more bites. We really had the fish feeding. It was however time to go. As good as the buckets were, they still needed to be carried back to the cars.

Commenting as we left, we had over 20lb of fish between us, including the trout. We will have to read the match rules though, cos am not quite sure you can fish as a team, but today we were the perfect team!

Blog memories

No fishing

With the rivers carrying a lot of extra water, and the weather being " not so good" add you own word here if over 18! I have not been fishing of late.

It's been a time of planning. A trip to the Thames, when I stay with my friends (Pc, Yume, Dwix and Mum. That's actually their names!!) for the rugby.  The Chumbley annual trip, this year is on the Trent in September and sorting through the tackle. It all came out the cupboard, was sorted a bit and piled back in.

This morning, I was sat chilling and my phone reminded me of this day in 2018. It just gave me two pics, so I was intrigued.

I scanned through my blogs and saw the title
"blanks continue"
Oh I thought. I read it anyway. Link
It seems I did have a fish, in a similar spot to my last trip and I didn't see it exactly so was not sure if it was a pike or a chub.
It got me thinking of the times you hook a fish but don't see it, you are always left wondering. Ellis and I commented that if the pike I caught on cheese paste had bitten through my line, we would have assumed a chub and the line broke on a snag, how wrong we would have been. I wonder how many times we have hooked a pb but never having seen it, we never knew?
On the flip side, how many times have we seen a minnow but when if came off, did we think it was a specimen chub?

I am rambling, I must be due a trip soon, but it was nice to read an old blog and escape back to the river again, if only in my head.

Back to blanking with a bang!

Date fished 19/1/19
9am till 5pm

Ellis and I wanted to fish just into dark as we noted that is when many of the Tees Chub are being caught. I was targeting perch, no chub, no perch, no, definitely chub,  I mean perch. I didn't know and maybe that was my issue.
Ellis was targeting Chub, minnow, dace, perch, bullhead, gudgeon and blue whale!

As with all our trips, we plan beforehand. We had planned a streamlined tackle approach including bait and about 8 layers of clothing each! I even had my thermal onesie on.
All the kit was packed, Ellis sporting a new bag with attaching unhooking mat that was very clean at 9am but not by 5pm.

We had planned on a new stretch on the Tees, at Fardeanside. It's very easy to get complacent and go back to the same venue. This has benefits of learning the venue, but it is also nice to find new areas, and this was one of those days.
The stretch looked fantastic and as usual we noted swims for other species on other days. We will be back.

In terms of fishing, I sat behind ledgered steak, worm or cheese paste either mid river or under bushes and I don't think I was ever within 6 ft of any fish! We fished into dark, and with my torch beanie (Christmas present from my sister) providing excellent light, it brought a different if not eerie experience to the trip.

Ellis alternated between ledger and float trotting in various swims. He had repeated knocks on cheese paste and steak but no fish, even when he changed to smaller baits.

We tried an approach that we had not done too much of before. We fed a few swims, left them for 30 mins or so then dropped into them to tempt a now confident feeding chub. Unfortunately this did not happen and we ended up leaving with a blank a piece.

The highlight for me came when Ellis rescued a pike float from the bushes, sadly it wasn't the one I lost on the Swale ( I know it wouldn't be!!) But he handed it to me in a float giving ceremony and I was happy.

The banks were very steep and wet and there were moments in the dark that I thought I would be slipping over with a bang. But that did not happen, so where did the bang from the title come from?
It came from the guns in the field on the opposite bank, it was either a large shoot or a war going on. We were serenaded with a constant boom, shouts and pheasants flying over head. It was almost hypnotising until the wayward shot started raining down on me and the river. Assume it's lead too?

The day was enjoyable, even with the bad navigating by me across the fields in the dark, that nearly got us lost! Shown by the loop below, oops!
As I said, the stretch will be fished again. It just wasn't happening today, my luck resembling that of the poor pheasant that got shot and then fell into the river. At least I had a better day than her!

2019 Targets

Setting a target is useful to focus the trips and strive towards a goal.

This year my targets are as follows:

Swale Barbel.
Float caught chub.
4lb 8oz plus Tees Chub.
1lb 8oz Perch.
Have a maggot session with a keepnet.
To catch on my baitcaster reel.

There may be others along the way, but let's see how I get on.

Broken Scar Match

Date fished 6/1/19
8.30 till early finish! (2.30)

Today Ellis, Rob and I went to Broken scar to fish for Grayling. We must have caught 70  between the three of us, a few trout and many minnows! It really was a great days fishing.

The end.

That's the fishing in a nut shell, but what was great to see was the number of other anglers!

Not only were some of them from Ellis's FB group, that we all met on called Big Elbow, after his boat, but there were new people and blog readers  too!!
It was such a great sight to look down the river and see 6 or 8 anglers all fishing, it looked like a match of old. From what I can make out, everyone was catching fish, so something was working.

We started in our usual spots, and I had 6 Grayling before 9am, they really were on the feed. We gradually worked our way down stream to the deeper sections. Here all 3 of us continued to catch,  until the moon changed, well a dog called lunar who liked my swim for er.... swimming!!  I did not catch anything after this, so went to warm my feet.
This swim soon turned into a stone throwing area, and a polite comment from Ellis had the culprits on their way!

We were able to wade further than before as the river was a long way down from our previous trip. We waded across to an island of very white water, where Ellis promptly poached all the Grayling from my swim!

Moving further along, as is always the custom now, we were looking for new swims, new targets. This trip we definitely found some chub swims for other days.

As we walked back and chatted with the other anglers, it was apparent fish were being caught. Ellis and I going to a spot up close to the boulders and catching 6 fish and loosing many more each in a quick fire 20 mins.

It was soon time to leave, a double weekend of fishing leaving smiles on our now very wind swept faces!

I have fished many river sections and not seen anyone all day. Today there may have been a dozen of us fishing, was hard to tell as we leap frogged up and down the swims. Thanks Broken Scar, your un organised, improtu match certainly made for a great day!

Pike Parmo

Date fished 5/1/19

Fished from 9am till Ellis realised his float was still in, it may still be in!!?

Today Ellis and I fished the Swale at Northallerton. Ellis had recently become a member, so I was showing which swims I had blanked in!!

I was keen to show Ellis how to catch his first chub from this stretch, by taking him to the spot Fred had told me about last time. Unfortunately Fred had not told me what to do when the river was over a metre less full and crystal clear! I had succeeded in showing Ellis how to blank here, and we moved on.

Next we came to the swim where I caught the chub on cheese paste. I could show him something here. First cast, snagged  lost trace, weight and favourite pike float, this was going well.

So, you may have guessed, but to confirm. I was after pike and chub. Ellis was targeting pike, chub and Grayling, he just didn't know it yet!

Moving a little bit further around the bay, I cast a fresh rig out and waited. Soon my float bobbed and started to move away. I struck straight away and it was fish on.  The pike looked a good size in the clear water, and was soon  in the net. After unhooking it, we noticed another trace in its mouth. It was my trace that I had lost 5 mins  before. The bait was deep down, but we managed to remove all the wire and one of the trebles.  The remaining treble also semi barbed was too deep, we didnt want to cause any damage so hopefully this will be lost and not cause any trouble to the fish.

Weighing the pike, confirmed a double, exactly 10lb!

After no further action, it was time for a walk, finding a little beach area we targeted chub. One knock on my ledger was all we had here so we moved on. Both of us seeing a swim with trees on the far side, looking at another and agreeing "chub", the race was on.
I had cheese paste with bread in the feeder cast to the trees before you could say "cheesepaste".

Suddenly the rod hooped over and I was playing a nice chub in the clear water. As Ellis got the net, the chub had other ideas and the hook came out. I obviously blame my Gillie!

In the next 45 mins, I had 3 more savage bites, some I struck and hooked fish, some I struck and missed. No fish were landed though!! Some bites were minutes after casting, I really had the fish feeding in a small area. It was the most chub action I had ever had, and I was enjoying it.

Ellis was now expertly trotting maggots in front of the bushes and his float sailed away, a Grayling, bigger than the average Tees ones, was in the net. He followed this up with another, just to show me how it's done.

After no more chub bites, I decided to fish small maggot feeder for the Grayling, only to catch 3 minnows!! It seems I didn't learn anything Ellis!

We walked back towards the cars, realising we had been in this peg for a while, it was a good spot and one we will visit again.  Near the car, we decided to try for pike. Again, I was the lucky one and a good fish picked up my Lamprey. Unweighed, but about 8 or 9lb.

As we fished on, Ellis's float bobbed and started to move, he was poised for the strike. But the fish must have dropped the bait, cos he was not so lucky. As the darkness quickly descended, it was head torches on to pack up.
Ellis played mum and made sure I didn't leave my unhooking mat, noticing I was walking off with it still on the floor. Everything loaded up, we turned to walk away,  " Ellis, what's that float in the water??" I asked.
Ellis had stopped playing mum, and was now playing dumb!
"Hahahahaahahaahah" or words equivalent was the response. Ellis had managed to pack everything away but not reel in, and was about to walk across fields with his tackle still in the water!! I would say " we've all done it" but am not sure we all have!

This is where our trips usually end, but not today. This one was going to have a social side too. It was back to Ellis's house for beers, chats with his family and cuddles with the dogs. It was a great evening meeting his wife, Carole who looked after me as equally as she does Ellis -doing Everything, is words they both used!!
The night was rounded off with a parmo, something Ellis had dangled in front of me a while ago, but we never got round to having. It was my first ever, and if you have not had one, or don't know what it is, then Google! Please don't expect me to share mine with you though, as it was delicious and like those greedy chub I ate it all down without being caught!