Des Taylor’s
Great carp and perch fishing, but rubbish dumped on the bank really saddens me
Diary of a Countryman
ANOTHER busy week both in fishing and my private life. Yes, believe it or not I have do have a private life!
I have a wife, two daughters and a grandchild, and they all make demands on me. Joking apart, I could not have a more understanding family, most of the time! Here’s how my week went…
TUESDAY
Officially the first day of spring, and it looked like it, with daffodils in the garden shooting up, the lawn starting to grow and the sun shining. It’s been a long old winter and to be honest I am glad to see the back of it.
I drove down to the River Severn just north of Bewdley for a nice long walk all on my own almost back into the town. I enjoyed my time there immensely, and although the river was still running high and coloured the valley looked superb as the sun shone down its length.
I have seen a lot of rivers in a lot of countries and yet the middle Severn around Trimpley is still up there with the best of them and only 10 minutes from where I live.
I am so lucky. I popped into The Squirrel public house for a pint and a chat with the locals on my way home. Well, rude not to!
THURSDAY
Met up with Max Taylor from Rowley DAS about a show coming up with Nash’s Alan Blair. We’re expecting 200 people, so it takes a bit of organising to say the least.
I love these shows because you meet like-minded anglers over a pint and talk about our favourite subject – fishing, of course!
FRIDAY
An early start to meet my mate Ray Cutler for a carp trip, but as I made my way down the valley I was saddened to see an area where the bank had been turned into a tip.
Freezers and fridges and all sorts of household goods had been thrown down by people with no consideration for our countryside. I was ashamed, and so was Ray.
This rubbish is very close to one of the best stretches of water on the Severn below Bewdley, and the council should be ashamed it has let this happen. I bet it wouldn’t be allowed to happen near a polo pitch!
Thankfully, the carp fishing put us in a better mood and we both caught fish to over 20lb. Ray went on an all-out boilie attack and I chose a bed of pellets and hemp and a boilie on the hair.
Unfortunately, we noticed a couple of the fish had ripped mouths from anglers playing them too hard on heavy test-curve rods and braided hooklengths.
I really do wish anglers would play smaller carp with respect, because these are the big fish of the future. I see anglers playing a fish well because they think it is over 20lb and then, when they see it’s ‘only’ 15lb, they wind down and winch it in. That’s what does the damage, but sadly these anglers know it all and will not listen to the likes of me!
We did well considering the snow had only melted a few days earlier, but hopefully that’s the last of it now, spring will catch up and the carp will get their
heads down. At this time of year you can take some good multiple catches of carp as they wake up from winter, and the way I do that is feed a small bed of pellets and crushed boilies and top up every two hours or after catching a carp.
I find this works better than just putting a load in at the start and fishing over it. Little-and-often is the watchword at this time of year and that constant raining in of bait gets them feeding.
Typical of late March, it was slow in the morning, then most of the fish were caught between
11am and 2pm before it slowed again in the afternoon. When that ‘window’ opens you have to make the most of it.
One other tip worth mentioning here is to ensure you cast to the same spot after catching each fish. I know that sounds daft, but so many times I see anglers catch a fish from one spot and then make a bad cast to somewhere else and say: “That’s near enough!” Sorry, near enough is not good enough!
SATURDAY
I was not planning to fish today because of my impending trip to Holland, but my wife Maggie went golfing all day so I popped down the canal for a chub trip.
A mate of mine reckoned they were on the feed big style after the cold spell.
I fancied lure fishing and ‘walking the worm’ through the stretch, but sadly I didn’t catch any chub. I thought I lost one early on in the session but I couldn’t be sure because I didn’t see it.
I was pleasantly surprised at the number of perch I caught, though, because I had fished the stretch before and not had many. My biggest perch was about 12oz but I must have had 20 of them and missed another 10 – that’s good fishing anywhere on lures.
You could be forgiven for thinking perch start at 3lb, and ‘fours’ are caught just about everywhere. Well, they are not, take that from me, and although I have caught some big perch in my time, today was a good day.
SUNDAY
Flying out to Holland from Bristol tomorrow on a perch trip with my friend John Chester, and we both have high hopes of a four-pounder or maybe even a ‘five’. I spent time packing my fishing clothes and a few ‘special’ shads I rate. The rest is waiting over there for us.