Martin Bowler’s Adventures
Meet the next generation of specimen hunters
WHEN I was 22 I began my lifelong journey as an all-round angler.
I still loved the carp that swam in the Bedfordshire pit near my home, but now I was also learning to enjoy casting out a waggler on the same venue for its giant, golden-flanked rudd.
The call of the rivers coincided with the heyday of the Great Ouse and its bountiful stocks of big barbel and perch. From then on I never looked back, revelling in every angling experience the British Isles can offer.
Apparently my wonderful odyssey, taking in everything from grassy banks to gale-lashed storm beaches, is not typical.
Most big-fish anglers concentrate on just the one species, singlemindedly pursuing their goal. But at what cost?
A diverse angling existence is far too rich and exciting to pass up, and if that means I’m a Jack of all trades and master of none, then so be it.
For years this attitude to my sport has largely gone unheeded, but now I sense a sea change among carp anglers, who realise there are better things to do in winter than sit behind motionless sets of rods. You can still love mirrors and commons while enjoying other kinds of fishing.
So when I met up with the fresh-faced 22-year-old Olly Luker it was lovely to spend time in the company of a lad just beginning his specimen-hunting career.
From the age of six Olly has fished the Upper Thames on his doorstep and the Cotswold Water Park close by. Like many of us, he was at first content just to catch
fish – any fish – but soon the big-carp bug bit, and bit hard.
Fortunately Olly still found time for Thames chub, barbel and perch, especially during the colder months. Then he began to foray farther afield and on a trip to the Itchen he temped his best specimen to date – a magnificent 2lb 5oz roach, a fish that gave him his first, but surely not his last, weekly Drennan Cup award.
I first met Olly in my local tackle shop and now, working at Angling Direct in Swindon, he continues to immerse himself in fishing. His every spare moment is spent on the bank, and I was looking forward to joining him on his latest mission.
An overnight temperature of minus 6ºC left everything but flowing water frozen, and under such conditions I would normally not venture out until lunchtime. My keen young fellow angler, though, had other plans and wanted an early-morning rendezvous. It was going to be hard, but if enthusiasm alone caught fish we would both have full keepnets.
The marina where we parked looked a good spot, but I bowed to Olly’s local knowledge when he said the crease created between its entrance and the main river would probably produce the bigger perch. It wasn’t the most Glass tips are more sensitive than carbon.
picturesque of places, with a pub to our left and numerous barges upstream, but Olly had made a wise choice. A human presence brings with it disturbance that prey fish will tolerate but predators won’t, and for that reason locations like marinas become a magnet for fish. This is particularly the case at the end of winter, with spawning imminent.
There was only one fishable spot here, but I was in no rush and happy to watch Olly at work. You are never too old to learn, and I was intrigued to see the tactics that had helped him catch perch
to 3lb 6oz recently.
His rod was a Drennan Avon Quiver with a soft glass tip, and a loop in his 8lb Daiwa Sensor mono connected a small Kamasan Black Cap feeder.
Another loop was to attach the hooklength, made up of 5.6lb Supplex fluorocarbon and a size 14 Guru MWG hook – small, but Olly was fishing a dendrobaena, not a lobworm. The extra movement afforded by this type of worm would prove pivotal to success on such a cold day when the water temperature was only 37ºC.
Another edge to overcome the cold lay within the feeder. A pinch of red maggots was accompanied by Olly’s special stinking mix. Liquid worm and chopped dendras create a pungent slick that any self-respecting perch would find hard to resist.
Midway down the slack lay a snag, and Olly cast in just above it. I can tell a competent angler from a single cast, by the way he or she holds the rod and feathers the line, and Olly left me in no doubt he knew just what he was doing.
I’m sure younger anglers are more competent that I was at a similar age. So much knowledge is easily available, but will the future give them as many opportunities to practise their art? Hopefully so.
At any rate, Olly was clearly enjoying himself, and his smile widened when the tip pulled round decisively and a strike met with the angry headshakes of a big perch.
A predatory pirate with a set of blood-red fins and tiger stripes was his reward for enduring the cold, and proof that the all-round angler is never without hope.
Young or old, I urge you to diversify your angling. That’s the best way to rack up special times and great memories.