Bob Roberts

My monthly fishing diary...

AMONTH when spring arrived yet winter refused to let go. As temperatures fluctuated wildly it came as no surprise the fishing proved challenging. On days when I dropped tactical clangers my catch rate suffered. But at least when I got things half right there were some nice fish to be caught.

Week one...

If the river closed season has one saving grace it is surely the timing of its start, not for the fish, I hastily add, but in that my garden was in dire need of attention. So it was I found myself knee deep in chores, but hang on, is it June already? It certainly seemed like it as the mercury reached record spring highs. The sun was blazing as my wife basked on a sun lounger sipping G&Ts. My interest in gardening rapidly waned as I hatched a plan to dig out the floater gear.

Of course, by the time I finished my chores and freed up a day we were practically back to winter again. Here was a lesson to be learned – seize the day. When I should have been fishing I was gardening and when I should have been gardening I was fishing. More telling than this was lesson number two; fish to the circumstances rather than bright ideas. I rolled up at Alderfen Fisheries with every intention of catching a carp off the surface. Of course, this w was only ever likely to happen if the sun came out and warmed up the odd sheltered area. It was definitely not going to be a day when carp were cruising around with their dorsal fins out of the water. Except, in my head... I arrived early and filled in some time until the temperatures rose, yet despite shivering in a cool easterly breeze my head was planning where I would target later in the day when things warmed up. Which never happened.

So instead of concentrating on looking for signs of fish movement I messed around like a novice. Later in the week I returned, car still loaded from the first trip facing exactly the same options. This time I watched the water until a fish head-andshouldered close to an island. Out went two rods on mesh bags containing broken boilies and a few pellets. And then the sun threatened to break through which launched my mind into confusion. The adjacent lake has lots of bays where carp like to bask and soak up the sunshine. The interest in my carefully presented bottom baits waned and it wasn’t long before I headed off with a bag of floaters and a catty.

It’s a shallow lake and quite clear at this time of year. I could see the lakebed half way across, yet nothing stirred. Logic suggested they would be in the deepest water and I eventually spotted a couple of fish milling around. Over the course of the next 15 minutes I saw two dozen fish cruising up and down in front of one sheltered swim.

I flicked out a few floating trout pellets which were largely ignored. Fish were swimming in and out of the bay in groups of three to six fish. If I was patient enough, who knows, they might switch on. And they might have done just that if a pair of swans hadn’t spotted what I was up to. At first they sat in open water picking off any floaters that drifted their way but that wasn’t going to last for long.

In they steamed and mopped up every bit of feed I had introduced. After that they were going nowhere. Indeed, wherever I went, they would follow. Eventually I stormed off in a rage but how stupid was I? All I needed to do was nip back to the first swim and fetch my gear. A PVA bag on one rod up to the reeds and a second on a zig rig would have surely have provoked a take. Unfortunately I was wearing blinkers; I must catch off the top, I MUST catch off the top. And so I failed. All my own fault.

Week two...

I do like the Twin Isles Lake at Sykehouse Fisheries. From a pleasure angling perspective it has so much going for it. There’s a massive head of silver fish, plenty of skimmers and its carp are no longer in the ‘pastie’ category. In fact, the average carp in Twin Isles now averages 8lb-12lb with the occasional bigger fish thrown in for good measure.

There was a roving match taking place with anglers choosing their own pegs across three lakes. Those who had opted to fish Twin Isles were all fishing the car park bank so I w walked to the opposite side and set up behind the first island well out of their way. It had been my intention to try and get the fish feeding shallow six metres out on loosefed maggots but I also fed a groundbait and soft pellet line further out hoping to catch a bream or two. It always pays to have a plan B, don’t you think? Having cupped in some feed on the bream line I set about catching ‘up in the air’ on a really light shallow rig. My rule

of thumb is the lighter the rig, the bigger the fish. In the early stages I had some cracking roach and rudd but gradually the swim filled up with little ‘flirters’. Swarms of tiny piranhas began to do my head in and whereas in the early stages I would feed first and then flick out my rig to fall through the feed, now I was having to feed and flick my rig away from the hot spot.

It was time for a look on the pellet line and sure enough, first drop in, the float buried slowly. A controlled strike saw a couple of feet of elastic emerge from my pole tip as I gently led a decent skimmer off to the side of the swim. It was a pattern that repeated itself time and time again.

I like bream fishing! A dozen big skimmers followed each other into the waiting landing net and I would have been perfectly happy to stick to my task until a distinct tail pattern disturbed the surface down the margin to my left. It wasn’t as though I could miss it. I flicked a few expanders over the spot and continued to drip-feed more pellets while concentrating on the bream line which was beginning to die on me. As time passed I noted more signs of fish activity in the margin. It was time to dig out a power top fitted with heavy elastic to which I attached a 5lb rig to a size 16 hook. Careful plumbing showed the margin to be 18 inches deeper than I’d anticipated. Commercial margins are usually shallower than this but clearly it was to the fishes liking.

I’d say the expander pellet I lowered in lasted 20 seconds before the float buried and a big fish screamed off into the lake where I simply allowed what looked to be a near-double figure carp to tire itself in open water. My next drop-in produced another of similar, if not bigger, proportions and by the time I’d caught four lumps in as many drops I’d had enough, to be honest.

It’s fun to catch big carp on the pole now and then but when it gets too easy I find my enthusiasm wanes rapidly. Pole fishing is simply too efficient.