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

A quickie on the Stroudwater canal

I managed to get out for 3 hours on the Stroudwater canal after some roach or perch, which ever decided it was hungry! I started off below Ryeford lock with a big worm suspended just off bottom under a small bobber float. Without any joy after about 15 minutes I decided to move above the lock and have a crack at some roach using bread for bait. I managed 3 fish in about 2 hours, for a total weight of about 5 ounces, not exactly my best session, but at least I wasn't blanking! With about half an hour to go before sunset I decided to give up on the roach as they weren't really having it, and head down to a bridge which is usually good for a perch or two.

I hooked the biggest worm I had in my tub and cast it to the far bank just out from under the bridge. After a couple of minutes I gave it a bit of a twitch to try and coax any nearby stripy's to attack the worm, and almost instantly the float twitched a little, or at least I thought it did! I gave it another little tug to see if I had imagined it, but sure enough almost straight after it twitched back towards the far bank. I struck into the fish expecting to feel the usual jaggedy scrap from a small perch, but instead it pulled back, quite hard! I only had 2lb line, so I backed the drag off as this was a fish I didn't want to lose! After about 3 minutes playing it up and down the bank, it finally surfaced... But it wasn't the monster perch I was hoping for, it was a pike of about 3lb! After 1 more final dash for freedom I managed to get it in the net, at which point I realised I didn't have any forceps on me. I figured I must have hooked it in the scissors anyway as it didn't bite through the line, and on closer inspection I had indeed hooked it... at the very back of its throat, brilliant! He seemed to be pretty well behaved, so I carefully slid my fingers into his mouth, avoiding the rows of teeth and set about removing the hook. It was at this point he decided being well behaved was boring, and that thrashing his head around was a much better lifestyle choice. Needless to say he got me, and bit through the line, and ended up back in the canal! With my rig ruined, and my leaking finger, I decided to call it a day and head for home.

All I had to show for my efforts was a leaking finger.

Happy new year (and a bit).

It's been a while since I last posted anything, so thought I'd better show myself! I've been busy doing nothing, as it were, the last few weeks with Christmas and whatnot. I did manage to get out on the bank a couple of times, but without even a single bite they weren't very eventful, and with it being freezing cold not much else happened to report on either. I've just booked up this years holiday to Anglers Paradise in the summer which is something to look forward to. I'm also toying around with ideas for a couple of fishing related projects this year, and if they get off the ground I'll be sure to let you know on here. I did manage to get a few snaps while out and about over the holidays, so I'll leave you with this one of the lower river Severn at sunset.

Piking in the fog

The mid day sun through the fog

Today's plan of attack was to head to a local club water with my friend Steve with the piking gear and see if we could net ourselves a toothy old esox. The conditions looked good, being quite mild for the last day of November, and very foggy. We arrived at about 8am and quickly got set up in the thick fog. We were each fishing 2 deadbait rods for the pike and zander, and a maggot feeder in case we wanted to catch some live baits. Steve had a take within the first 20 minutes, but got a bit excited and snatched the bait from the fishes mouth. I suggested to let them run for a couple of seconds just to make sure they have a good hold of the bait before striking, and it wasn't long before his rod was off again and he got the chance to put my advice into practise. This time the hooks were set and the fish was on, and it looked to be a good sized fish. It was at this point Steve informed me that the reel he had chosen for today's predator session was loaded with 6lb line... Muppet! Thankfully the water is deep and the only real snags are on the far bank, which we couldn't see due to the fog, so were fishing about half way across, and he had plenty of room to let the fish run. After a few minutes we got our first glimpse of the fish, and it looked to be a good sized zander. As soon as it saw us it made a dash back down into the depths, but it was soon beaten and with an expert swish of the net by me, Steve had smashed his zander PB with a chunky 7lb fish!

Steve's new PB zander at 7

The business end of a zander

After a few photos the fish was returned and the rod re-cast. I had decided to break the feeder rod out and try and catch some bait fish, but it wasn't really happening. Steve offered me some of his bright red groundbait he'd brought (which is why we have red hands in all the pictures) which I accepted and put 3 balls in the area where I was fishing. It seemed to do the trick and it wasn't long before the tip was twitching giving away the presence of some feeding fish. A few casts later and the twitches finally turned into a bite, but it wasn't the small prey fish I was expecting, having a much heavier "breamy" feeling to it as I reeled it in. A few moments later and my suspicions were confirmed as a bream of around 4lb was slipped into the net. It was a bit of an old warrior and looked as though it had been grabbed a couple of times during its life by some form of toothy predator. It was far too big to become bait, but it meant I wasn't blanking so I was happy!

A battered old bream covered with old puncture wounds and scars

I had a few more skimmers, still too big to be used as bait, and was starting to get the swim going pretty good, when the high pitched beep of my right hand alarm alerted me to some interest in my popped up roach deadbait. I watched the rod tip intently for 10-15 seconds as it twitched ever so slightly as something mouthed my bait. Thankfully it decided it was good to eat, and tried to make off with the roach causing the line to peel off the spool. I wound down and set the hooks and a short battle ensued. At first I thought it was going to be a good zander as although quite heavy it seemed to come in pretty easy. As always with this water though, once I got it up near the surface it woke up and went on a screaming run back down to the depths and I was sure it was actually a pike. A couple of minutes later I managed to regain the line that it had taken, and sure enough a big mottled green shadow appeared from the depths. I could see it was only lightly hooked in the scissors, and thought I'd lost it as it viciously shook its head as I guided it towards the net. Thankfully the hook hold held just long enough to get it in the net, and I had myself a new PB pike of 13lb, and as a bonus it shed the hooks so I didn't have to unhook it either!

My new PB pike at 13lb

The business end of a pike

After a few photos and resting the fish up for a few minutes in the net to recover its strength I released it and watched it slowly drift of into the depths like a green submarine. The rig was a bit battered but it was good enough for another fish, so I re-baited with another roach and cast back to the same spot. It usually takes about 15 seconds for the lead to hit the deck in the deep water and a few turns of the reel handle to take up the slack line. I felt the knock of the lead hitting the bottom after only around 12 seconds this time, and after 5 or 6 turns of the handle the line still wasn't even remotely tight. I was just saying to Steve that something wasn't quite right when the line did go tight, even though I'd stopped reeling! Turns out the donk I felt wasn't the lead hitting the bottom, but was actually a take on the drop, and the fish had swam towards me which is why I had so much slack line! Sadly it must have felt the resistance and dropped the bait when the line pulled on the rod tip, but it was still only mid morning and it was looking like we could be in for a good day.

It wasn't long before Steve's rod was off again, but he somehow managed to miss the bite. It didn't matter though as almost as soon as the fish dropped that bait, his other rod was screaming off! He wound down and the rod hooped over as he felt the weight of the fish. Obviously it had to be the rod with the 6lb line again, and this fish seemed to be going a LOT better than the first, giving him a right merry run around for a good 7 minutes or so. Eventually he managed to get it up to the surface, and a big toothy grin appeared a few feet from the bank. It was a good fish, and I only just managed to fit it in my fox specimen pan net! I helped Steve with the unhooking which was pretty straight forward and took a few photos and weighed the fish. It weighed in at 17lb 4oz, smashing Steve's pike PB! We made sure it was well rested by holding it in the waters edge before it lurked off back into the deep with a slow kick of the tail.

Steve's new PB pike at 17lb 4oz

My swim had been quiet for a couple of hours, and I'd managed to lose the interest from the shoal of bream while helping Steve with his pike, so I decided to up sticks and leapfrog Steve into the next peg. No sooner had I moved all my gear and Steve was in again! This time it was a smaller zander of around 3 or 4lb that came in with little fuss. A couple of passers by stopped to let their children have a look, but decided not to let them stroke it when they saw its teeth! I finally managed to get my rods back in the water in my new spot, and it only took 10 to 15 minutes before I had a take on a popped up mackerel on my right hand rod. It felt a fairly decent fish, possibly another double, but sadly it managed to shake the hooks free about a minute into the fight. Shortly after, as if by magic all the fog just vanished to reveal a bright blue sky with the sun blazing down right in my face. I put up with it for about 15 minutes while I hoped the lost fish would come back for some dessert, but alas it didn't, so I decided to move back to my original peg which offered some refuge from the bright sun. 

Everything stayed pretty dead while the sun was out, bream had been topping across the water for most of the day but even they stopped showing in the bright day light. There was only about an hour left until sunset though, so we decided to stick it out and give it until it got dark hoping the fish would be back on the feed when the bright day light faded into night time. Sure enough, as the sun was setting Steve's rod was off again, and going by the bend it looked to be another good fish. Again it came in fairly easy at first, and then took off as soon as it got remotely close to the surface, showing all the signs of being another double figure pike. A few minutes later and it was under control and it was just a matter of reeling it up from the depths and into the net. As it broke the surface it became clear it was in fact another big zander, possibly even bigger than the first one! It was pretty much beaten so there wasn't any drama on the way to the net, and Steve had smashed his PB again, with a 9lb 6oz fish!

Steve's even newer PB zander at 9lb 6oz!

We gave it another half an hour as it got dark without any more action, and decided to call it a day. As usual I packed everything up leaving my rods till last, and as I was almost done packing away everything else, I heard the buzz of a spinning spool. It was dark by now and by the time I'd located my reels in the light from my head torch it had stopped, and I had no idea which one it was. It clicked a few more turns about 30 seconds later, and the rod tip started to bounce, but not with enough force to take any more line, despite the bait runners being set so light that a gust of wind is enough to take line. I decided to wind down and strike anyway, and it felt like I bumped something off. Feeling rather annoyed with myself I reeled in, but it didn't feel quite right. Turns out the culprit was a small eel of no more than half a pound that had somehow managed to devour the whole roach deadbait and then tie itself up in the wire trace. I felt quite sorry for the poor little fella as he'd gotten himself into a right mess and I didn't hold out much hope of being able to remove a set of trebles from such a small fish. By some miracle though while I was trying to calm him down, he managed to shed the hooks himself, untangle himself from the trace and "swim" across the soft damp grass into my landing net ready to be put back into his watery home!

The sun sets after a good days fishing

All in all it was a brilliant days fishing, breaking 4 PB's between us, and to top it off Steve was so happy he even offered to pay for the kebabs from Dave's kebab van on the way home, amazing! Oh and just in case anyone was wondering, the reason why I have I ridiculous moustache is because I take part in movember, where men grow awesome moustaches for the month of November to help raise money and awareness for male cancers. This year I decided to model my effort on the "Zyg Gregorek" look. If you'd like to donate something you can do so HERE.