Far Bank Joys of pick ’n’ mix fishing
Sometimes the most enjoyable sport of all is not a single species affair, but a real ‘lucky dip’ of a fishery, writes Dom Garnett
HAS fishing become too laser-beam focused on particular targets?
Most of us dream up a rough wish list of species and even specific weights to tick off each season, but it can become a bit of a trap. Because exciting as it is to have a particular goal in mind, it can be even more fun to cast without a clue as to what will pull the float under next.
Whenever fishing seems a bit too predictable, those truly ‘mixed’ fisheries can be real gold dust.
I have several favourites with a genuine pick ‘n’ mix of species, but such day-ticket venues are not quite as common as they should be. The c-word (carp) are often a big part of the problem. Because hard-fighting and resilient as they are as stock fish, they can make things ever so predictable.
They have become so dominant you sometimes suspect that if the British ever reach the moon they will stock it with mirrors and F1s. Mass introductions of these greedy fish rarely do many favours for roach, bream and tench, while crucians can disappear altogether.
What a delight, therefore, to hear reports of colourful, carpfree bags of fish from Goodiford Mill Fishery in Devon! Bafflingly, the last time I was here some years ago, the Silver Lake was full of rainbow trout. Not on this occasion, though, as we set up light pole tackle with a deliberate ‘catch-all’ policy.
From the off it proved bite-filled but never dull. I had an early tench amid sparkling roach and rudd.
Minutes later I lost what looked like a large crucian right at the net. But it was the huge gudgeon caught in the next peg by my young pal Adam Aplin that truly made my eyes light up. These whiskery fish were once a lot more common – and the fact it was Adam’s first probably tells its own story about their current scarcity.
The day continued in much the same vein, at least in terms of unpredictability. You could have experimented with just about any pole rig in the box, in fact, from an on-the-drop presentation to margin fishing.
Roach, rudd, perch and hybrids all fell for maggots, while skimmers, tench and further crucians muscled in on bigger baits. The fish fed so well that there was hardly time to stop and feed ourselves.
I shudder to think how many pounds we amassed on the day, judging by the small fraction retained in a keepnet. Unlike my recent bivvy escapades on the canal, however, I wasn’t sorry that the only species missing was carp.