Winning tactics
The fishing has been testing at times, but it has been a memorable year for Dom Garnett for a few reasons. Here are some of his favourite adventures from 2017
from Darren Cox
WAS 2017 a vintage angling year for you, or was it a bit of a struggle?
Memory is always a selective thing and it’s often only with the benefit of hindsight that we can truly take stock and reflect on the memories that will stay with us.
If I take the past few weeks in isolation, for example, the fishing has been somewhere between mediocre and desperate. And yet, if I flick through the picture albums from 12 months there are at least a fistful of stories I couldn’t forget if I tried.
Hopefully you’ve enjoyed some of these tales each week in my Far Bank column, but what will be my abiding memories of 2017? I had a couple of catches I’m unlikely to beat in a hurry, along with some strange finds along the way.
THE GHOST OF ANGLING PAST
One story I found totally captivating was that relayed by my friend Nick Fallowfield-Cooper, an avid London angler and photographer.
My curiosity was instantly piqued as he described his discovery of a ‘lost’ tackle shop, following a tip-off by vintage tackle dealer John Andrews.
Amazingly, Clover & Son had been left untouched since the 1990s.
The bait had long since gone, but rods still stood in racks (8.2m Euro Pole for £49.99 anyone?) and tackle sat there in perfect order over two decades later. Even more eerily, the owner’s spectacles were still sat on the counter next to a half-finished mug of tea.
I was a bit gutted not to have been there myself to cover the tale first hand, but Nick’s photos told the story for Fallon’s Angler quarterly in haunting fashion, capturing a bygone era of fishing.
Weirdly enough, I was fishing with my brother’s mate Vince Skinner in Walthamstow just a few weeks later, who gasped with amazement when I told him.
Having spent years getting bait and tackle in that very shop, he could still remember the smell of maggots, squandered pocket money and various local characters. Nostalgic stuff, when you consider how few old-school tackle shops now exist in the capital.
THE FISH OF TEN THOUSAND CASTS
Those who enjoy my column each week will probably have twigged that my fishing tastes are a bit unusual at times.
I’m perhaps more interested in exploring curious methods and settings than singling out huge fish, but 2017 was a bit special on a couple of counts.
On the face of it, a 2lb rudd
might not seem the most lifechanging catch. But when you’ve spent over a decade stalking the small canals and drains of the West Country, trying to catch one of this size using an artificial fly, a fish like this takes on a different significance.
These rudd are truly beautiful creatures and, to my mind at least, there is no more delightful way of targeting them in this manner. To watch a solid rudd rise and take
“Of course, fish don’t always need to be huge to offer enjoyable sport”
your fly is incredibly exciting. I had come close to two pounds several times, but finally landed a solid fish that tipped the scales at 2lbs 3oz this summer.
Who knows, I may catch a bigger one on my travels next year, but that small-water giant will always stand out for me.
A little earlier in the year I also caught another fish that had proved equally elusive to me, this time via a spot of kayak fishing.
I love to get afloat these days, and the special events now cropping up across various waters are a great way to access spots that are seldom if ever fished.
Such was the case on Upper Tamar Lake, where a dozen or so of us enjoyed a one-day only competition. This water has definitely got harder since its large perch became public knowledge, but by boat you can tease a lure through areas you’d never reach from the bank.
I thought it was going to be a day of heartache too, after I’d lost something really solid in the morning.
Redemption came with another thumping bite an hour or two later, though, as another formidable fish grabbed my drop shotted lure. I’ve never had a perch fight quite like it, and at 3lb 7oz I was bordering on the delirious. The craziest thing of all, though? Two perch of over 4lb were also caught during the event. That’s dream fishing in anyone’s book.
FROM MONSTERS TO MINIATURES
Of course, fish don’t always need to be huge to offer enjoyable sport, and another big part of my fishing this year has been targeting a broad list of smaller critters on light tackle.
Critters such as various gobies, sea scorpions and sticklebacks might seem like fish for kids, but could there be a real sea-change in angling at the moment?
If my experiences in Devon, Dorset and Cornwall were anything to go by, that’s a yes because species hunting is a growing craze. Hooking up with lure nut Andy Mytton and underwater photographer Jack Perks, I had some terrifically enjoyable missions over the summer months, targeting wrasse, blennies, flatties and various rock-dwellers, some of which are fantastically weird.
Naturally, the General was also called into action to make some of these little oddballs look more impressive. He has a knack of stealing all the glory.
I’ve barely told a soul thus far, but my next book will be a multi-species affair, utilising various light line tactics and some remarkable insight and underwater visuals from Andy and Jack, alongside my notes on a huge range of sea and freshwater fish as you’ve never seen them before.
Obviously you’ll be able to read about it first in Angling Times, so watch this space for 2018...