Monday 21 September 2020

Plan C


It wasn't to have been the first time I had gone fishing, or with the intention of fishing, without critical items before. Most famously rods, for a far flung match, and, most recently, hook bait. 

Today though, today was a day to send all previous efforts into the bin marked 'pathetic attempt' forthwith. 

Fancying an evening behind alarms for a change, the Land Rover took me to the Old Lake with a view to a 4pm start. Travelling light, with as much kit previously set-up as possible, it took only a few minutes to be in a position to kick-off, or at least it should have done. 

I've been spending some time experimenting with open-end feeders packed with hemp and the smallest amount of liquidised bread to hold it in place in search of lovely untouched roach with perhaps the odd rudd and tench. 

The approach on this evening, with a strengthening breeze off my back and dropping temperature, was to try a large bread punch (13mm) on a short helicopter rig. 

So, clipping the feeder and 3" hook length on, I moved to punch some bread...only to find it was still at home. 

Brain racking time.

Ah yes, rubber maggots, they would do. 


Casting the first of the matching pair out about 30m, I leant across to set the rod in rest and alarm as I tightened it up. Ah, no bobbins! 

So how to resolve this? I hastily built a little bobbin using 7lb line in lieu of chains and a quick change swivel linked by silicon tube, but I soon found the swivel stayed on the line after striking and rattled in the rings. 

Some method of creating a clip that would readily pull off the line was a challenge. An inverted gemini clip worked to a degree but the tight area was too short and engaging it too fiddly. 

Then a penny dropped. A little upward nick in the side of the silicon tube would hook over the line and pull off perfectly on the strike...and sure enough it did, quite nicely in fact!

A few swan shot completed the never to be repeated article and the fishing commenced in earnest. 


Somehow the home made bite indication made the evening all the more enjoyable until, to cap it all off neatly, the batteries in the left-hand alarm died and the mouse-like mechanical squeak of the cheap roller had to suffice as an early warning system. 

A few nice roach in the 2 to 10 ounce range followed at dusk but a rudd of just a few drams below a pound took the beauty prize on the night. 


By the time another cast was made there was insufficient light to work with and this wasn't to be afforded the 'into dark' commitment I might on other occasions stay-on for so the odd bit of tackle still in use by dusk was tucked away and loaded into the car. 

As I sat on the tailgate, swapping wellies for Scarpas, tawny and little owls were calling with apparent urgency and Daubenton's bats hovered over calm water close-in, in the lee of the fresh breeze. 

All was well in this little world and the need to have improvised had added to the trip immeasurably with the majority of the fish coming to single red fake maggot. 

Perhaps I should forget more kit more often. 

Or maybe not. 















7 comments:

  1. Great post George. Thanks to you, I have started to catch big roach from a canal using big bread baits.

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    1. That's good to hear Frank. What canal are you fishing?

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    2. It’s very peggy - I’ve found one excellent swim so far but keep exploring other areas so as not to advertise it too much. Other swims with equally good cover, an equally long walk, no moored boats etc just produce bits. I wondered what you thought about big roach not feeding when a swim is baited up as they see the smaller ones being hailed out. My last pounder came to a double 14mm crust on the float with no feed at all. Just a thought. I’m trying to avoid small fish. When I use flake my discs which I fold over swell up to the size of a pingpong ball but still get sucked in OK. I use a barbless size 10 and fish well overdepth to counteract the draw and (often) downstream wind. The fish are shifting the BB telltale and the three BB bulk to give really good bites. 1-06 is my best since July. Had bream to 2-13 and a 1-11 hybrid as well and quite a few roach between 8oz and a pound. Best day was with a 1-03 and the 1-06. I fish afternoons till dark.

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    3. Interesting Frank.
      Swims full of small fish can be a problem, not that we encounter that much in these parts!
      The bigger fish probably can't get to the bait first.
      Sounds like it's working well anyway.
      I remember fishing the Shroppy at Norbury, Wheaton Aston (that was a good bread venue) & others around 1990.
      Thanks for sharing the info.

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  2. I forgot my rods once, but I was a kid at the time so resorted to handlining instead.
    I soon discovered that in the dark, all manner of fish came into the shallow margins.
    I caught a number of Crucian Carp and Tench that night.
    That's the trick. In the dark lots of fish feed in water barely deep enough to cover their backs, even in rivers.

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    1. Very true, and when you think of it, on heavily stocked waters, not only is it the most likely place to forage for natural food, it's where the spare bait gets deposited when 'office hours' anglers leave

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