Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
PREDATOR SEASON
With winter on the horizon, Carl and Alex turn their attention to fishing for pike and perch
Birthday session
Alex – It was my 18th birthday a couple of weeks ago, so I had to do something special. I could have had a big party and had loads of friends round, but no, I chose to go fishing! But this particular fishing trip was a special one. Carl and I were going to be fishing with Stu Harris, an incredibly enthusiastic angler and great friend of ours who loves his antique tackle and ‘old school’ tactics. Our previous trips together have consisted of gudgeon fishing on one of his local small rivers and a special session at ‘The Secret Lake’ targeting scaly little mirrors. This time we were going to do a little bit of everything from gudgeon and perch to carp! Stu arrived at our house at 9am, late enough to have a lovely lie-in but early enough that we would have plenty of time to fish. Before heading off to the first spot which was a very small stream, we rigged up our rods. Typically, Stu brought along a couple of cane rods, one being a 6ft fly rod that he hoped to use for float fishing on the small stream and the other being a stronger and longer rod for the lake where we hoped to catch a carp or two. Not only did we set up a float and feeder rod for the stream, I also opted to bring along my ultralight spinning rod that I rigged up with a 0.7g jig head and small 2in rubber lure, in the hope of catching a perch or two. The main aim with small stream fishing is to find the deeper water. Most of the river is less than six inches deep so it was important to find a deeper hole where there may be a fish hiding. I had the first cast with my lure into a snaggy looking swim and, before it hit bottom, it jolted my rod round and I was hooked into a small chub. By this time Stu and Carl had walked further downstream and I didn’t have my phone with me to grab a quick photo. It wasn’t massive but I was pretty pleased to have caught a chub of about half a pound from such a small water. I kept fishing and, a few casts later, I landed another chub of a similar size to the first. I was surprised the first fish hadn’t spooked the other residents of the swim, but this one seemed to because I couldn’t get another bite after this. I trundled through the forest and stinging nettles down to where Carl and Stu were set up and a very exited Stu informed me that they had been catching lots of gudgeon! Yes, what we really came for, a gudgeon! So I quickly made a couple of casts with a tiny gudgeon float that was hand-made by Stu and also got in on some epic gudgeon action! Soon though, the swim went dead and a move was in order. All three of us walked back upstream to another deeper hole that we knew of and while walking I dropped my little lure in every swim we came across. I managed a few small