Erik's First Fish

Its always a pleasure to take someone fishing and to help them catch a fish . This is especially pleasurable when its the first one they have ever caught .

Malanie's brother in law Erik came fishing with me last year to a local lake where I assured him that he would catch a fish . Well he did get a load of bites but no fish were landed  , and it was me that caught . So this time same place and same float fished pellet paste but I wouldn't fish and would concentrate on helping Erik catch , then I would have a go .

Well we set him up and fed regularly and he hooked one of the carp !

 Then another small one . Mission accomplished ! On with the bacon sarnies ! Now its my go !

The day was changeable and the weather flitted between rain showers and sunshine and it was interesting to take a few pictures of the scenery and the wildlife .

 

 Gold at the end of the rainbow ?

A Milestone met

I am a great fan of lists . Each year I create a fishing " wish list " of species and weights of fish that I would like to catch .

Well I managed to reach one of those with a 3LB Perch from the local club lake .

After my last trip in which I had used groundbait , mixed with maggots and chopped worm , I had some success but I also managed to catch virtually every skimmer Bream in the lake ! So I hatched a plan to feed maggots and fish prawns . I hoped that the prawns would put off the small fish .

I had a bit of trouble ( I immediately thought of Michael Crawford then , must be my age ! Oh Betty  ! ) with carp and lost a few in the lilies luckily most seemed to be fould hooked as I retrieved a few scales each time . thinking about this I may actually have hooked them fairly then the hook slipped to the scales as they fought through the lily stems ?

The small Carp above was fairly hooked and landed with no worries , but its mouth was badly damaged from previous captures . I always hate to see this and unfortunately the mouth of a Tench I caught also showed really bad damage . If the fish had been bigger I might have thought they had suffered cuts from braid whilst being played but as they were both less than 5lbs in weight it must only have been anglers poor hook removal . WHY !! we owe it to the fish to take care of them , barbless hooks work , carry artery forceps or a disgorger and use an unhooking mat please .

I was fishing with a loaded float fished one end only so that I could sink the line out of the way of the strong and blustery wind . I had hoped to fish my small pole float but the wind put paid to that .

Anyway two other perch of 2lb 8 oz and 2lb 12oz graced the net . I like the plan of fishing the prawns and next time I might feed some chopped worms and chopped prawns with some nice red worm extract liquid via a pole cup and see how that works . I also plan to use a " lively " and see if that will bring out the big one !

Lure Fishing - christening a new rod and the law of diminishing returns

Jeff and I had been discussing a lure trip for a while , so off we went to the Arun . It was a lovely day , unseasonably warm for the time of year with a bit of rain . I made the mistake of bringing a landing net but forgetting the spreader block doh !

I quickly picked up a small jack on a spinner bait .

Yes I know the spinner bait is nearly as big as the fish ! but wait .....

I then lost a decent fish which unfortunately dropped off ...next time !

Then I swapped to a spoon ....

The bigger the lure the smaller the fish ?

We then moved to the Rother and Jeff struck gold !

My new rod , a Dave Lumb Duellist 2 , was not really tested (!), no duels today that's for sure ,  but felt really nice , but I need to get a new reel to go with it ......back to the tackle shop then !

Perch Again

A quick fishing fix was the order of the day , so I popped off to the club lake for a try for a Perch . I decided to fish with a small pole float on a float rod . I dont know why but anyway !

The plan was to introduce some groundbait laced with chopped worms and maggots then fish a worm over the top . I baited up two areas one on each side of the swim next to the lillies .

 The first Perch interrupted a succession of Bream , (maybe the groundbait wasn't a good plan ?) At just under 2lb it was a welcome sight .

 Then followed a Bream fest ! Then a better perch at just over 2lb. Now I don't wish to be unkind but some of the pictures of three and four pound Perch in the fishing mags must be a tad exaggerated .This was a big Perch , yet it "only" weighed two pounds . Tishing stories .... I was pleased anyway !