ONE FINAL FLING ON THE RIVERS
I’ve got so much to do in such a short time as I target end-of-season pike, barbel and chub
THE sun is setting on two seasons – rivers and predators – but I’m not ready to mourn their passing just yet. There’s still time for them (and me) to go out in a blaze of glory, so why not do as I do and get out on the banks double quick?
In a few days, when the rivers have closed or the pike have spawned, you’ll have a long wait before you can renew your vows to the fishing gods.
I love big pike. They are in their prime now, and is there any finer sight to grace your landing net? I know I say that about every species, but every time it happens to me I’m still excited beyond belief.
It was no different on a recent trip, but I had to work hard for that glorious moment. As I sat beside Milton Abbas Lake in Dorset I was frustrated, not by a lack of bites but by too many of them! Thirty-two there were in total, and all from tracedestroying jacks! Normally I’d have sorted out the situation by using a large deadbait, but this season they were proving unappetising to any size of esox.
No option, then, but to clear a path through the bankside vegetation so I could reach the middle of the lake, where I suspected a bigger fish might be lurking. Generously, the owner had provided livebaits from the swarms to be found at Milton, and I made a conscious decision to use the biggest ones first.
I can already see a letter coming in to Angling Times about livebaiting, but while it remains legal and the venue can support its use I have no issue with it. I’m a firm believer in
not giving an inch on anything anglers do because otherwise that inch will soon become a foot and affect the sport we all love so much.
Finally I cleared a pathway and out went the bait, roving freely under a Zeppler float. Had there been more wind a drifter would have been better, but for now I had to steer the bait in the direction I wanted by occasionally flicking the rod.
My 40lb uptrace and 28lb hook trace stood out in the clear water, but the vibration given off by the bait allayed any suspicions on the part of the pike. Out of the depths rose a set of huge snapping jaws and slowly the float slid away. I knew from that moment there was a chance of a big fish, confirmed when I wound down and struck.
On the reel was 60lb Esox braid, strong as hell, so I wasn’t concerned about line breakage. The drag kicked in but then a hook-pull seemed likely when the fish dived into a dense weedbed. It was stuck fast, but fellow syndicate member Craig came to my rescue as we took to the boat in a bid to free it.
What a sight as the monster came to the net while we were afloat in its domain! We both thought it was a thirty, but the scales don’t lie. It went 29lb 10oz – a truly magnificent pike. How could I pass up on one more moment like that before the season’s end?
With the Thames in such poor condition this winter I have sorely missed quivertipping for chub. A tiny window of opportunity whetted my appetite to fish, and thanks to a slightly slower flow and thinning sediment I could finally put in an afternoon on the river.
It was immediately obvious that the swims that had produced for me in the past were carrying too much pace, and that I needed to watch the Thames for a while.
Every crease and fold tells a story and if you look carefully these will tell you where the chub are. Normally that’s a place where the flow brings food directly to them, but today it would be a raft on the very edge of the current that provided food and sanctuary.
Soon I’d narrowed down my options to four swims. I baited each one with a few pieces of cheese and Sticky’s Krill paste, giving me a choice of hookbaits and the chub a mixed menu.
My tackle, tactics and bait never change and that’s because I believe I’ve got them right.
More to the point, they give me the confidence that is so vital when chasing big fish.
My quivertip rod carried a 1oz glass tip and my reel was loaded with 7lb Double Strength. At the business end I formed a float stop paternoster and tied on a size 8 Kamasan B983 hook.
Each swim was a raft, so I started with a large swan shot to hold at the head of the overhanging branches, slowly reducing the amount of lead to swing under the cover on subsequent casts. Always fish close to you to begin with and work your way downstream – a line cast directly through a shoal is a sure way to spook them.
A quick bite told me the chub were there but I had to wait until dusk before a six-pounder fell foul of my tactics. A tap on the tip followed by a slow draw round gave the sweetest of bites. How could I not want more of those before the season ended?
I love and hate this time of year in equal measure. There’s too much to do in too little time, and I get very frustrated.
So no surprise then that I want to go barbel fishing too, because they are now at their heaviest. More daylight hours guide their metabolism, and provided you fish for them sensibly a bite is always on the cards.
A fluorocarbon hooklength overcomes any clarity issues and I have the best of both worlds when I team a boilie and maggots as a hookbait. I can already feel my head spinning with all the choices available.
Which species I’ll pick for my final fling I don’t yet know, but what I do know is that now is one of the best big-fish opportunities of the year!
“I love and hate this time of year in equal measure. There’s too much to do in too little time”