The Ringtail

Well, with the river season nearly upon us, I have been investing in some ‘normal’ fishing gear for roach and chub fishing as well as my usual lure fishing. I thought I’d give the gear a try on the canal today, and I have to say I had a wale of a time. I caught about 30 fish – a mixed bag of perch, roach and a few skimmer bream. One of the roach went about half a pound which made me think about when I started fishing…

I started my fishing career on the Oxford Canal with my Dad. With a crowquill float, a scoop of maggots and the expectation garnered from watching ‘Catch 77′ and ‘The Great Maggot Race’, we had a session of about 3 hours right next to the bridge between Kidlington and Yarnton. My Dad didn’t even take a rod, he just sat and helped me put into practise all the knowledge I had picked up from the Peter Stone, Billy Lane and Richard Walker books I had been getting from the library all summer. I caught six fish on that day – two gudgeon, two perch, a dace and a half-pound roach. The half-pound roach attained an almost mythical status for me from then on, and it was a long time before I bettered it.

Today’s session reminded me of all the times my Dad spent with me, teaching me how to fish, teaching me that the fishing was important, not the size or number of the fish, but the being there. I do love lure fishing, but I felt a lot more ‘present’ today than I usually do when I’m out luring. I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t partly because I actually caught some fish today, but it was more than that – it was a connection to a time and place gone by, and to the person who taught me the most important lessons in life and fishing. Thank you, Dad.

I made a snap decision last night to get up early and pay a morning visit to Bradwell Lake. I optimistically had set the alarm for 5:00, but I was actually awake at 4:30 so I made good time and got to the lake, fishing by 5:00.

The lake was stunning at this time of day. A light mist hung over the water and the surface was quite busy with small fish feeding. The brave ones at the surface were being hammered by a pair of common terns, and by the looks of it, the ones lower down were being hammered by a pike. Full of hope, I set up and started working the area with a Savagear 4-play. This is a nice swimbait and it has a very cool swimming action, but it was just getting dragged through the weed which was killing all the action. I switched to a floating Salmo Slider in Roach pattern, and kept with this pretty much for the whole session. I did try out the Savagear Freestyler briefly, but more on that next week when I’ve given it a proper working.

Not much materialised, but after about 45 minutes I did have a lazy take from a pike right on the surface. It was an odd thing, as it came up and almost slurped the lure down like a carp snaffling dog biscuits. By the time I’d twigged what was going on it was too late and a swirl was all that was left as the fish ejected the lure and made off. Nothing else came from the rest of the session, and I was changed and in for work at 9. Nice!

Well, after my last fishing post, I have managed to get out one more time to test out my new approach. I got to the canal for a couple of hours on Saturday and covered the same stretch that I did before, again sticking to the soft plastics.

About half an hour in I had covered a fair bit of ground using a Storm Wild-Eye shad, to no avail. I swapped over to a Storm grub (not sure of the type) and jigged it around some fallen trees to see if there was anything about, but nothing took. I decided to walk back down to a spot I had a take on before, and I cast the grub in and ‘trolled’ it along as I walked back. I tend to do this quite a bit but have never caught a fish this way before. This time however, a fish smashed into the grub, hooking itself and giving me quite a shock! It gave a good account of itself, and scrapped all the way to the net – dead on 5lb!

This left me slightly despondent. I have not caught more than one fish in a session since before Christmas, and I still had an hour or so available. Undeterred, I carried on, keeping my head held high and trying to keep my confidence up. About 20 minutes later A pike shot out of the near bank and hit the grub about three feet out, but I failed to connect. As a boat was on the way past I backed away from the water and changed my lure to a Pearl Wildeye Shad and waited until the boat had gone by. Once the coast was clear I dropped the lure out and was into the fish more or less straight away. Swiftly in and returned, this one was about 3lb, but felt like a giant to me as I had broken my one-fish spell, and also found myself catching the fish that I was sure were in the area.

I’m meeting up with one of the other LAS members on Saturday to fish Bradwell Lake, so I’ll report back on the results next week. It looks like I may be setting up a Milton Keynes chapter of the LAS so this could prove to be our inaugural fish-in!

Instead of a lunch hour today, I spent an hour at the canal. I had a strict brief:

• No more than an hour
• Only take four lures with me
• Only fish the likely looking spots
• Spend just enough time to cover the spot then move on

I have been getting very hung up on tackle and what-not lately and I have been far more tied up with trying loads of lures than actually trying to find the fish. Spending far too much time in each spot, trying all the combinations, but ultimately on a stretch of water that, more likely than not, was devoid of fish. I figure that if I spend five minutes covering each swim with one lure, I am more likely to catch a fish than if I doggedly spend an hour in each (possibly empty) swim trying 20 different lures. It seems obvious now I’ve written it, but it’s all too easy to get entrenched in a routine sometimes. I was also determined to get a fish using a soft plastic lure so I packed four and went off.

Three quarters of an hour in I had a good strong take from a fish really close in. I struck, hit the fish and got it in the net as quickly as I could. A heart-stopping fight played out within about three feet of where I was standing – exciting stuff! The fish went 4lb 7oz and swum off strongly when I slipped it back in.

I stopped at this point as I felt I had achieved all I wanted to in this session, and I drove off with a good feeling about things and a strong desire to get back as soon as I can to try again. I had covered more ground in 45 minutes than I typically would over two or three hours and I really do think this was the key – I didn’t get frustrated or annoyed, I just moved on as soon as I was sure there were no fish to catch in each spot. Every cast felt necessary, every retrieve was made in anticipation of the fish that was sure to take my lure. I am convinced that it was this attitude that got the fish on the bank.

I have not had much luck in the last few weeks with my fishing. In fact, I have only caught two fish since the end of the river closed season – a half-pound chub on the canal and a smaller-than-that pike at the LAS match at Newport Pagnell lakes. Nothing to write home about, but made all the worse in that I have lost at least four or five nice fish in that time.

Most of my time has been spent on the local canal since the end of the season (in UK canals and lakes don’t have to follow the same close season as rivers) and mostly been experimenting with soft plastic lures.

I’m starting to get a feel for how these need to be fished and have started to get more hits on these than my other trusted lures (mainly spoons and sliders), but have failed to land a fish so far. There is an interesting thread over on the Lure anglers forum about this and I think I need to tweak my approach a bit. I tend not to strike when using lures as the fish do hook themselves to a great degree. However, with soft plastics I think the pike can get a better grip on the bait and this stops the hook setting as the line tightens. On metal lures the lure can move through the pikes jaws and will tend to set the hooks home as the line tightens. A lift of the rod top is enough to make sure the hook sets and holds. With the soft plastic the line tightens but the lure stays where it is and can be got rid of if the pike opens its mouth to expel the lure. I’ve mentioned before that I also have trouble with pike hooked close in and I think this is the same kind of issue – when the line tightens it pulls upwards rather than across and won’t move the lure enough to set the hook.

All the above is very much In My Humble Opinion, but the pattern is obvious enough to make me feel there is something in it. I must have the presence of mind to strike and make sure I get a clean hold on the fish. It’s going to get me more fish on the bank, but will also ensure no fish get injured by throwing the hook and getting subsequently foul-hooked.