The search for Winter Chub-Part 1.

Well hello again, sorry the posts are so inconsistent at the moment. I have unfortunately had lots going on and have not had much time to sit on the computer. Anyway this post is going to be about a couple of sessions myself and my friend Kev have had out on the rivers in search of Chub recently. Chub are a great species to target at this time of year because they seem to feed whatever the weather. Most rivers nowadays have a stock of Chub to target and we are very lucky in the South west not only to have rivers with large quantities of Chub but also some real specimens of over 6 pounds in weight!!
Our first Chub adventure was going to be on Somersets river Tone which runs straight through the city of Taunton. It is a relatively narrow and fast flowing river with a good number of all coarse fish. Not living that local to the river we decided to fish the free stretch instead of buying a ticket for the more prolific stretches. We set off mid morning from Exeter and made the 20 minute drive up the motorway. Which actually turned out to be more like a 40 minute drive due to the never ending road works! Even though we were a little late we still managed to get down by the river for lunch time.
Our tactics for the day would be simply to move from swim to swim with big hook baits and no loose feed. My main bait for the day would be bread but Kev fancied a more natural bait in the form of a big juicy worm. These baits would be presented on simple running ledger set-ups in likely looking areas.
The first swim we came too was just past the motorway bridge on a junction between the main river and a small side stream. The spot looked prime to hold a few fish and I began fishing the crease line were the two waters met. Kev was fishing tight to a overhanging tree in his near margin. Chub are known to love snaggy areas and overhangs so Kev's spot looked bang on. It felt like an age had passed however before Kev's rod began to show the first signs of action. Short sharp wraps on his tip indicated a fish had taken a liking to his worm hook bait. He struck into the third knock to reveal the culprit, a small Chub of about a pound in weight was soon in the net. It wasn't the monster we wanted but a good start. A few minutes later my rod was also away but with only a small Roach to show for my efforts.
We decided a change of swim was needed and we set off back down the river. We found two more lovely looking swims, one with a tree in the water and another with a crease line running into a deep hole. It wasn't long before Kev was in again in his new swim. This fish was no Chub though but still made Kev happy as it was his first Grayling. Kev's worm hook bait was certainly attracting the fish. I decided to plug away on the bread though and not long after dropping the bait into a hole just off the main flow, I had a solid pull round on the tip. The result was a Chub of about a pound and a half in the net. On re-casting to the same spot I connected with another Chub and a slightly better one too. This fish was about 2lb in weight. Unfortunately it seemed that the quick action and disturbance had spooked what looked like a good shoal of fish. So after a few more casts it was time to move again.

2 lb River Tone Chub

The session was going well but the next two swims we tried seemed entirely fish less. Not to get disheartened we continued to rove down the river back towards the car. I then arrived at a stunning swim were a tree had created a raft down my own margin. It looked prime for a bite. So a cast down towards the tree with the bread soon followed. The bait was in the water for no less than a few minutes when it was taken with a violent wrap round on the tip. What looked a decent swim in the books proved to be just that! The fish thought harder than all the others and used the current to its advantage to try and shake the hook. After a short battle it was in the net though and looked to be the biggest Chub of the day nearing the 3lb mark. As with the other swims though this instant action seemed to spook any other fish in the area and a few casts later I was off to the next swim. 

The light was now fading as it so quickly does in winter and I was struggling to find any more fish. Kev however managed to bag another one from a stretch of overhanging trees on the far bank. It was to be Kev's biggest Chub of about 2 and a half pounds.

2 lb + River Tone Chub

The session had been a lot of fun and although we hadn't caught any monsters we had however caught in most of the areas we had tried. The bonus was it was all for free too! You can't beat a bit of winter Chub fishing and I now was itching to get out on the bank after the species again.

To watch a video of our River Tone Session check out the You tube Channel 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1lBZuop1Vqw

Would I catch a bigger Chub next time out? Find out in part 2.......

Tight Lines

Summing up January. (COLD!!!!!)

Right so its February 2015 already!!! Crazy, what happened to January?? Time doesn't half go quick as you get older. The sad thing is I can some up my fishing from January in just a short post. I really didn't get out on the bank much in January due to a number of reasons. My main point to summarise January though was it was bloody cold!!

With the temperatures being up and down over the last month or so it does make it difficult to know what to fish for. With that in mind I always tend to stick to the more obliging species at this time of year such as Chub,Perch and Pike. These three species I have found you can catch on even the coldest of days. For some unknown reason though I have had a desire to catch a Carp over the last couple of weeks and have targeted them on a pond not far from my house.

The sessions I have done over the last couple of weeks for Carp though have not be successful to say the least. On the days when the pond wasn't frozen and I could actually fish bites were very hard to come by. Even though I tried a number of different tactics such as Zigs, Maggots and Single pop-ups nothing could get the fish going. When I finally did hook a fish it managed to tear off into a snag and ditch the hook! That's fishing for you and I guess that big Carp is going to have to wait for another day.

So the only real memorable session to speak of was one down my local river Exe in search of Pike. I always keep my sessions short at this time of year as find the best feeding time for the Pike is just before dark. So at about 3 pm one afternoon I jumped in the car and headed to an area of the river I felt certain would hold a few Pike. I wasn't wrong either because the very first cast was met with a savage take within just a couple of minutes of being in the water. A cheeky 9 pounder was the culprit and a welcome start to the session. I tried up and down the river for the next hour or so, dropping my float fished dead bait into any likely looking areas.

It was an area of slightly faster flowing water were I found my next fish. A slow an jagged take was met with solid resistance and I knew straight away it was a better fish. The fish thought really hard and deep for the time of year before giving up in the margin. It wasn't an absolute monster but looked a mid-double. I weighed the fish in at a little over 13 lb then slipped her back into the depths of the Exe. The session was not going badly at all. With about 15 minutes of light left I quickly re-cast full of anticipation. 

The next cast was also met with a take and the kind of take that just makes me love Pike fishing. The float just was sitting pretty on the edge of the flow then in an instant bombed under and powered off up the river. Classic stuff. The fish had some power too and battled out in the faster flowing part of the river for a while. It then shot a long my own margin before flying out of the water! Its quite unusual for Pike to tail walk like that at this time of year, but this fish knew all the tricks.  So after this crazy battle I got the fish in the net to reveal another high single. The light was now gone and it was time to go but it had been a fun session. 

So that's it really for January, lets hope February brings some nicer weather and some better fishing!

13 lb River Exe Pike

Tight Lines!!!

A look back at 2014. The Final Chapter. In pursuit of Pike

Hello again. We have now reached the final chapter in looking back at our fishing memories from 2014. As you can tell by the previous posts we had a very busy and very enjoyable year. When winter arrived however as always the amount of time we were spending on the bank began to filter down into shorter and shorter sessions. It is at this time of year when most anglers attentions switch from species such as Carp and Barbel to the more obliging winter species such as Chub and Pike. My first winter target was going to be a Pb Pike with my pb at the time being 21 lb from the river Exe in Exeter (Pictured below).

21 LB River Exe Pike

The Exe is a fast flowing tidal river with a good head of all coarse and game species. The Pike in the Exe are much sought after and heavily fished for fish though. This can at times make it much harder to catch them as they can sometimes only be located in certain key areas of the river. These known "Hotspots" then become the main focus of all the anglers in the area. As most Pike anglers will know this then has a knock on affect as the one thing big Pike do not like is angling pressure and consistent handling.  Bearing all this in mind it is therefore important to get on the areas the Pike will be holding up early so you can be the first person to catch them that season. The areas I look for when targeting the Pike are deep slacks off the main flow, snags and back channels off the main river.
Our first Pike fishing trip of the season wasn't in search of that monster Croc at all though. It was in fact a walk back in time and a real adventure. Myself and my good angling friend Kevin Dobson set out to fish a river Culm weir pool. The weir pool itself can only be reached by walking across two fields and then through a hilly wooded area. Never the less I convinced Kev that the effort would be worth it and we would definitely catch a Pike.
After clambering down steep banks and trying our best not to fall flat on our faces, we arrived at the stunning weir pool. The session would involve fishing float fished dead baits in the slacks just off the main weir. Straight away it became obvious there were Pike in the area as Kev missed a jolt of a take on his rod. Shortly after my float was then away and I landed the first Pike of the season a very small but very beautiful Jack.

River Culm Jack Pike

It was a nice start and is always better to start the season off small and then build up to that monster I find. The next cast was met with another ferocious take and I struck into what felt like a much better fish. The fish pulled all over the pool and I had forgotten the power these river Pike have. When landed it turned out the fish wasn't that big at all at just a little over 7lb. All good fun though.

River Culm Pike

Almost immediately after I returned the fish though, Kevs rod was away. A small Jack again but another lovely example of this awesome predator and I think Kev was happy with it.

River Culm Jack Pike

We then struggled to get another bite for about half an hour or so and it seemed like we had spooked the fish out of the swim. So we packed up and set off back down the river to try for the Pike in other areas. Although we tried a lot of swims and missed a couple of slow takes in one particular spot we were ultimately unsuccessful and didn't catch another Pike. I did however manage to land an absolute stunning Culm Roach on a float fished maggot. A real surprise and a real bonus. 

Big Culm Roach

With the Culm session over my plans for the next session was to target the Exe and its much larger Pike. I returned to the spot I had caught my personal best from a couple years before. John Jackson would be fishing with me and we were both hopeful of a personal best Pike. The tactics were identical to those myself and Kev had used on the Culm. Float fished dead baits fished hard on the bottom. The area we were targeting was a channel off the main river which when the river is high holds a lot of water and fish. John targeted the area on the entrance to the channel were he could fish along the main flow. I was fishing in the slacker water inside the channel. About an hour into the session we had our first bit of action with John landing a fish of about 8lb shortly after dropping a bait in his right hand margin. River Pike are often quick to oblige and not difficult to catch when located. If you can drop a bait right on top of a Pike that is lying up takes can be almost instant. 

After we returned Johns fish John couldn't wait to recast in the same area. The light was now fading and it looked perfect conditions for the Pike. Johns eagerness wasn't a bad thing either as almost immediately after re-casting he had another take. This fish was much bigger and stronger though and unfortunately went straight out into the main flow and ditched Johns treble hooks. Gutted we both sighed and looked to cast out another bait. Before getting a chance to re-cast Johns rod however my float shot under. I bent into a very powerful fish that shot straight into our own bank. As I got the fish up to the surface and towards the net John shouted "That's a big fish that". It was at that moment I began to shake. Could this really be another Exe monster on my first trip of the season? John slid the net under the fish first time and we looked down into it at a very long Pike. We pulled the fish up onto the bank astonished by its length. John was certain it was a twenty pounder and the biggest Pike he had ever seen. Myself on the other hand had my doubts as although it was the longest Pike I had ever seen it was very lean. I was proved wrong however as the scales shot round to 22lb 12oz. What a fish and what a result!! The Pb Pike had been achieved in the first session on thee Exe that year. We took a few pictures of the fish before I returned the amazing creature back into the depths of the Exe.

22lb 12oz River Exe Pike

PB Pike River Exe 22lb 12oz

As you can tell by the photos the light had completely gone but we didn't mind. The target had been achieved for me and I think John was now inspired to keep pursing the Pike on a river that holds even bigger specimens closer to his home. A drive home to a reward of a KFC after a great days fishing, absolute luxury. The quest for a big river Exe Pike had got off to an absolute flyer and for 2014 was over. What will 2015 bring??

Tight Lines!!

A look back at 2014. Part 5-The Creedy Chronicles

Hello again, so I am nearing the end of the looking back at 2014 posts now and it wouldn't feel right if I didn't mention our fishing at Creedy lakes. We ended up spending most of our summer evenings at the venue tempting the lakes residents into taking mixers off the top. We were very lucky to have some amazing results too. In fact it would take me far too long to write and you guys far too long to read about every one of them. So this post is just going to show some of our best captures from what really was a great few weeks at this busy Devon day ticket water.
Our tactics for fishing Creedy were simple. Mixers, mixers and more mixers. We would tempt the fish into a feeding frenzy on the surface and then cast our trimmed down pop-up hook-baits out amongst the free offerings. This often resulted in instant action. Once hooked we then did battle with what I have to say are some of the hardest fighting Carp around.
Below are some of our best captures:

17lb 

16lb

17lb

18lb

20lb

14lb

22lb

16lb

21lb

19lb

16lb

18lb

15lb

19lb

21lb

18lb

So as you can see, we certainly got amongst them off the top. Not any massive fish but great fun on a summers evening and as I said before these fish offer tremendous sport even on heavy gear. It also is just nice to be out with mates and family at a beautiful lake like Creedy and just really enjoy your fishing. Too often nowadays people get carried away with chasing big fish and putting numbers on every capture, therefore ranking it higher than others that actually may have taken more finesse to catch. 

There was one occasion in 2014 however were I decided not to fish on the top at Creedy. On the day the lake had been rammed with anglers and the fish had been under a lot of pressure. With it being a Sunday though to my surprise by 7 pm I was the only on the lake!!! I then randomly decided to give the fish some bait and heavily baited an area in the silt off the island with Cell boilies. I then cast two of my ever faithful chod rigs out over the area. Within an hour I had fish rolling all over the area. They were straight on the bait!!! It wasn't long before I had a mid-double Common in the net soon followed by a high single. I put more bait in at that point but actually didn't have much left to offer them. Just after baiting up over the top of it my right hand rod roared off. I bent into a heavy fish that then lead me a merry dance all over the lake. It was at this point I was thankful that no one else was around as it may have cut some people up. The fish was just so strong! After a long battle though the fish was mine. I looked down in the net to see what was quite clearly my personal best common Carp. My best at the time was 22lb but it now was 27lb!!! What a result! From a spontaneous act of heavy baiting.

Pb Common 27lb

I think looking back maybe this capture was more being in the right place at the right time and I feel very lucky to have caught the fish. But however you decide to angle whether on the top or on the deck, Creedy really does have a lot to offer. For me though there's nothing better than a summer evening, a bucket of floaters and those big rubber lips slurping em down! 

Tight Lines!!!

To see more of our Creedy adventures check out our you tube video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQg9ct_22WQ