Solar eclipse

Not fishing related I know, but as it's such a rare event I thought I'd share an image with you all. I took the day off work in the hope the weather would play ball and I could get some shots of the eclipse. It looked like it was going to be too foggy and cloudy at first, but after a slight location change and a bit of luck from the weather gods I managed to find some relatively clear skies, though I had missed about 15-20 minutes of the start of the eclipse while moving. I took over 300 images in total, and compiled this image from 20 of them.

Solar eclipse 20th March 2015 - Taken using a Canon 700D and 300mm lens fitted with a solar filter.

Not too shabby for hobby level gear, you can even make out a sunspot at the 10 o'clock position on the sun.

Gardners Pool 2015 - Session 2

Steve and I headed back to Gardners Pool for round 2 of our 2015 fishing campaign. This time the weather was overcast with forecast rain and a fairly brisk south westerly, ideal for fishing but not ideal for sitting on the bank, and as such we had the entire lake to ourselves this week, bonus!

Dave the duck getting in a bit of a flap

Logic would have had us set up in the north east corner to make the most of the conditions, but we didn't really want the full brunt of the weather in our faces, so we opted for a couple of pegs on the west bank that were sheltered from the wind but had also done well for us in the past. After the previous sessions success, I decided to stick with the corn approach on my right hand rod, and my left rod I opted to go with a small maggot clip and a maggot feeder instead of the usual lead setup. 

After the rods were in, I had a little play with my camera as I'd just bought a new telephoto lens that I wanted to test out, so set about taking a picture of just about everything that moved, though it proved difficult to achieve a sharp image in the low light while using the camera hand held, and the picture of Dave the duck was about the best I managed. Still, the whole point was to figure it out so I'll be more prepared next time.

A mint common at 14lb taken on maggot.

It was while I was putting the camera away that my left hand rod rattled off with a confident take from a fish. It put up a fairly good account for itself considering the water was still very cold, giving me a brown trousers moment as it made a bee line for an overhanging tree down the left margin, but I managed to turn it and shortly after it was in the net. It was another mint common of 14lb exactly, a good start to the session. After returning the fish I loaded the maggot clip with fresh maggots and filled the feeder before casting back out to the same spot.

It wasn't long before the rod was off again, but this time it felt much smaller. I've never really had any really small carp from the lake, and while there are some big bream in the lake it felt too lively to be one of those, and it didn't feel like an eel so I started to wonder if I'd managed to bag myself a big roach or rudd of which I suspect there are a few in the lake. As it turns out, no I hadn't and there are some really small carp in the lake as I soon had a little pasty of maybe 2-3lb in the net. Slightly disappointed it wasn't a monster silver, I unhooked it in the water and released it with minimum fuss, though on the bright side it meant I was thrashing Steve once again, which is always a good thing!

Cheryl Vole having a nibble on a bit of wood.

With the rods back out I settled down into my chair to wait for the next bit of action when I noticed a constant clicking sound. I didn't think much of it at first but after a couple of minutes it was starting to drive me insane so I decided to find the source of the noise and put it to a stop. I'd figured it was probably a pull cord or a loose flap on my gear flailing about in the wind, but after a little bit of bank side sleuthing I discovered our old friend Cheryl Vole had made an appearance, and she had her chops around some wood! I have no idea why, but it seems she really wanted to chew up that bit of stick as she didn't even bat an eyelid as I crept over with the camera to take a rather blurry photo. I tossed her a few boilies in the hope she'd rather (quietly) eat those instead, but no, she really liked chewing on that stick so I just had to grin and bare it for the rest of the session.

Thankfully my mind was soon distracted by another run, this time on the corn rod. The fish managed to get around the point to my right and had gone right into the margins so I could feel my line grating on the dead reeds that lined the bank. I kept on a steady pressure and soon had it back into open water, and shortly after I had it in the net. Not quite a minter this time as it had some mouth damage, but otherwise not a bad looking fish at 13lb 4oz.

13lb 4oz caught on imitation corn.

I checked my line for damage and all was good, so I put the rod back out on the spot. Shortly after I had another run on the corn rod but the fish managed to shake the hook before I hit it. It was getting towards the end of the day now so I started to pack my gear away when I had another run on the corn rod, and again the fish managed to shake the hook. I decided to call it a day and packed down my rods at which point I realised the hook on my corn rod had bent ever so slightly out of shape, which had almost certainly been the cause for the 2 dropped runs at the end. Usually I check my rigs after each fish but it had slipped my mind this time when I had inspected the line for damage instead. Still, I don't feel I put anywhere near enough pressure on the fish to bend the hook so still felt a little cheated, so another black mark in the book against Korda hooks as it wasn't the first time they've let me down. I think I'm going to give the deception angling hooks ago this year as I've heard pretty good reviews on them from the various facebook groups I'm in, and they're cheap as chips in comparison to the big named brands which is always a bonus!

Steve managed to blank again, so I won the second kinder egg of the year and bragging rights until our next session, hahaha unlucky mate!

The score so far: Jake 5, Steve 0

Gardners Pool 2015 - Session 1

The days are just about getting long enough now to make it worth the effort to get out on the bank after work on a Friday (I finish early on Fridays), so Steve and myself decided to head to Gardners Pool for a few hours.

The rods are in and the traps are set...

As the weather was pretty good for the time of year, the lake was pretty busy so we were limited as to where we could fish. We had wanted to fish the deeper north west corner, but both pegs were already taken, but the north "grass" bank was free. Normally I don't like this peg as it's normally shallow enough for the various bird life to reach the bottom, can be quite weedy and is quite snaggy. But at this time of the year the water level is up, the weed is minimal, and without the vast sets of lily pads, the snags offer some of the best cover on the lake, and to top it off a mild breeze was blowing straight into the NE corner where the snags are, so it was pretty much the ideal location for the day.

Partially submerged trees offering some cover during winter

I baited the snaggy area to my left with about a quarter of a small tin of corn spread along about 10ft of the tree line, and baited a second area about 20 yards out in front of me (that would be on the edge of the pads in the summer) with 10 boilies. On my left rod I was using a 2 pieces of enterprise fake corn on a size 10 korum hook, popped up just a little off the bottom on a fairly short rig, and on the right rod I was using a single 15mm CCMoore live system boilie, with a tiny bag of Sonubaits tigerfish pellets. Both rods were cast to the baited areas and the waiting game began...

About 20 minutes had gone by and neither of us had seen any action. I was confident that the fish would be in the area, but the water was still freezing cold so were probably still feeling pretty lethargic, so I made a decision to recast my baits to slightly different positions in the hope of landing on a fish. The left rod I cast a few feet further down the tree line, and slightly closer to the trees. The right rod I was going to cast a little more to the right to an area that would be in the pads during summer, but as I was about to cast, the left rod banged round followed by a flurry of beeps on the alarm, probably no more than a minute of casting it out! I lifted into the fish and guided it surprisingly easily away from the snaggy branches in the margins. It didn't put up much of a fight (they usually go off like a rocket as the lake is pretty shallow) which further confirmed my theory that the fish hadn't really woken up yet from their winter nap. Without too much drama it was in the net, a proper mint common of 14lb.

First GP carp of the year at 14lb

I got the left rod back out on the same spot, and finally got the right rod back in the water. Another half an hour or so went by without so much as a beep, so I decided to have a little muck about with the camera for 10 minutes, during which time a pheasant had snuck up behind me on the bank. I decided to try end get close enough to get a decent photo, but it wasn't having any of it and immediately took to the air and flew off over the lake, but as luck would have it I had the camera on a continuous shooting mode, so I did my best to track it's flight path while holding the shutter release button, and managed to get one of the many shots in focus, sadly against a backdrop of the sun so its a silhouette rather than the colourful image I'd hoped for, but not bad for a split second bit of thinking!

We named him Phil as it's tradition to name all animals at GP!

I decided to reposition the rods again, and put another catapult pouch of corn down the tree line. It took all of about 5 minutes before the left rod was off again, this time with a bit more conviction than before. Again I guided the fish away from the snags, and after a couple of minutes fighting it under the rod tip it was ready for the net... At which point the hook pulled. I wasn't too bothered as it was only a little one, and it meant that I wouldn't have to get my hands wet in the icy cold water. I checked the rig and all was good, so I put it back out on the spot, followed by another pouch of corn. Ten to fifteen minutes later it was off again and it felt like a better fish this time and proved more troublesome to guide away from the snaggy tree branches. I did eventually get it clear of the trees, and shortly after it was in the net, somewhat smaller than I had expected, another common.

I didn't bother to weigh it but guessed at around 8lb as it was quite the little porker! The rod went back out on the spot, with another pouch of corn over the top. A little while later it rattled off again and a battle ensued with another fish. It didn't last long however, as it dropped off the end about 30 seconds into the fight, a problem I seem to consistently suffer with when using shorter rigs, why I keep trying them just because short rigs are "the in thing" is beyond me as they clearly don't work well for me! By now the sun was setting and it was getting that time of day to call it quits. Steve hadn't had so much as a sniff for the whole session, so despite losing 2 fish, it meant I was the clear victor and had won the coveted kinder surprise egg, which I kindly shared with my fishing friend while gleefully gloating about how well I'd done and repeatedly asking him how many he had caught, as only a true friend would!

The score so far: Jake 2, Steve 0

A little slice of angling history...

Last autumn after reading a post on Martin Bowlers facebook page, I put my name down on a list to show my interest in acquiring a limited edition print of a never before released image of Chris Yates with "the Bishop", signed and numbered by the man himself! Like many anglers of my generation, A passion for angling was a big inspiration to me, and I always admired the quirkyness of Mr Yates and as such he'd become a bit of a childhood hero of mine. Well in true Chris Yates fashion, about 5 months later he finally got around to getting the prints made up (51 in total, 1 for every pound that the Bishop weighed when he broke the British carp record back in 1980) and I managed to get my hands on one!

The Bishop