Parallel Lines ....the search for a Blonde Ray

Sorry couldn't resist the musical reference !

With the tide and weather conditions being at their best for a trip after Blonde Rays , Jeff took us off in " Jupiter's Moon " to the sandbanks for a try after a big Blonde Ray . It was a good excuse to use my new Avet reel too !

The tide was a small one but the water really does rip across the banks , and our use of braid still meant a pound of lead to hold at the top of the tide run .

But soon parallel lines reached out into the flowing tide ......in search of a big Blonde Ray .

After a whole pack  of Doggies , I managed a small Spotted Ray , but the Blondes eluded us . maybe next time .....

An Adur Morning

Dave N and I met near to the river and guess what ? It had snowed ! Still it was a positively balmy 0 degrees , in comparison to my last trip at -6 degrees. ( balmy or barmy ?) We arrived at the fork with the river at low tide . My paternostered mackerel and a float legered herring soon sat in the tide and we sat on the bank under the brolly sheltering from the freezing wind and the rain . Oh the joys of winter piking !

Dave managed the only spot of interest from the pike as he had a brief encounter with our toothy adversary , but she dropped the bait on the strike . Dave however was convinced it was a "teen fish ", but alas having breakfast taken away so rudely , it didn't return for a second helping .

We did our best to get some action but the frequent moves and changes of spot did nothing to get any action . Next time ......

The Ice Man Cometh !

The thermometer in the car was registering -6 degrees C , when I left it to brave the elements in the search of a Pike or two on the Arun . The first song on the radio was " 10th Avenue Freezeout" too ! Its always interesting on the tidal as the high tide had frozen leaving its mark on the banks , a frozen point in  time .

Sometimes fishing is about " being there" . Deep down you know that the chances of catching are slim ( maybe even non existent !) but you have to be in it to win it .

I had decided to change the approach for this winters Pike fishing , and rather than my tradition long link leger techniques and drop off indicators I would be going back to the floats and bite alarms . On this trip I had intended to fish one rod on a paternoster and one on the deck , but as with all the " best laid plans " , I had managed to leave the paternoster rig tube at home ! So both herrings went in to soak on the bottom .

I moved down the river every 30 minutes but as was to be expected really no Pike came my way . But yet again the turn of the tide brought out the only signs of fishy activity as a number of roach rolled in the swim . But not enough to tempt the Pike from their enforced torpor .

While waiting for the impossible to actually happen , I was fascinated by the patterns in the ice .

 

 With the turn of the tide the best and probably most likely time for a "take" had gone , so I decided to pack up . Still a privilege to be there . The wildlife seems to tolerate us in their world a little bit more when it gets really cold . Maybe they don't want to waste energy on escaping from us if we are not an obvious threat ? The Grey Wagtails were " ice walking " , and the Kingfishers and Dabchicks came really close ( why is the camera always in your bag when the best opportunities present themselves ? I have had Kingfishers land on my rods a number of times now , and my move to get the camera has spoilt the opportunity with a departing flash of blue the only lasting image )

Lots of Cormorants about too .......

I will be back .....

The Ice is here !

Well the planned drop shot experiment suffered a bit of a blow when the lake froze over ! Still I made friends with a Robin while wandering round the lake ,

  So I  thought that my now spare time ought to be well used in a fishy manner . So a quick trip home and a spot of tidying up in the fishing shed  resulted in a comprehensive tackle box clean out !

Taking a leaf out of Dave N's tackle preferences I have gone from a tackle box for each species or type of fishing , to this one box which will cover everything apart from Pike and Carp . Lets see how it goes !

Big Bold Ballans

Sorry about the title but I read an article with this title  in a fishing magazine years ago and the use of alliteration as an angling journalist's favourite tool has always amused me !

Out from Littlehampton on " Jupiter's Moon " , Jeff led the way with a string of Bass to lures . I managed a few as well but really enjoyed the Wrasse . I managed to lose a load of gear so my pay pal account has had some action and the lure box replenished . Roll on the Cod season !

We took a couple of the Bass and a stray  Pollack home for tea. The Pollack is really under -rated as an eating fish in my view and Bass a bit over-rated , but as Dave N says , " No fish is properly  caught until you have the chips round it ! " . Bass recipes to follow ......

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 !