Improve Your Coarse Fishing (UK)
Bob Roberts
My monthly fishing diary...
WHAT a thoroughly nostalgic month, pretty much heading back to when I was a young kid, trying to catch Trent roach. It’s been very much a case of problem solving, tweaking tactics, seeking improvements and learning from each step along the journey. In truth, I’m not lot wiser at the end of the journey but it was a lot of fun trying.
Week one...
Anyone travelling on the A1 past the River Trent at Winthorpe on June 15th might have mistaken the vista for a rock festival with tents, caravans, flags, barbecues, dogs, children, discos and flashing lights. Rod pods everywhere, not to mention feverish anticipation bordering on madness. This was mirrored on the opposite bank, too. Welcome to the new Klondike.
Today I looked down from the same bridge and there wasn’t a soul to be seen. The river was deserted. Just goes to show how a few blank sessions is all it takes to sort out the anglers from the campers!
I was heading for the middle river with no intention of even trying to catch a barbel. I was targeting a much neglected species – roach. The river is teeming with them right now. Indeed the roach fishing has not been this good since the late 1980s, before that, the mid- 1960s. Yet few folk seem to appreciate how good it is. Why is that?
I chose a swim with a nice steady pace, dropping off just past the rod end into 7ft of water over gravel. You couldn’t imagine a nicer swim to fish. It was just a case of setting up my platform to sit on and running through a 6xNo. 6 cane- stemmed stick float, feeding hemp and tares each cast. I targeted one line but set up a 2AA waggler just in case fish came shallow.
I had a wonderful, if frustrating, day catching loads of roach. The image you see here is only part of the catch. I put any smaller fish straight back and missed the net with more quality roach than I care to admit. I was ring rusty, for sure. Yet sharp enough to land a big old dog chub.
And then a roach I was playing was chased by a predator. “Pike!” I thought. But no, as the roach came to the surface a huge, spiny dorsal fin appeared in the boil. It was a monster perch. I quickly put the roach in my landing net head and scrambled to set up a perch paternoster rig.
Lip- hooking the roach that had just been attacked, I swung it out to the lower end of my swim so I could continue roach fishing. It was taken almost immediately and I found myself attached to a very heavy perch that swam upstream and hooped the 2.25lb test curve rod round into a full fighting curve before the hook pulled. I swear it was closer to 4lb than three.
It was then a case of trying to catch another roach small enough to use as bait – around 2oz – and that was harder than you might think on hemp and tares. Eventually I did and out it went. I didn’t have to wait long for a nice chunky perch to come along but it was much smaller than the one I lost.
All told I had a fabulous catch of roach but for every bite I hit I must have missed six more. Despite what looks like a fabulous net it was a frustrating experience and one that left me with lots to think about.
Week two...
I spent a lot of time thinking through the previous session, wondering where I could make improvements. Although I had chosen light float tactics to attack the fish at all depths, was this the right way to go?
I felt I’d fed too heavily and had too many fish in front flashing around, competing for every morsel rather than grazing. Also, the wind had been tricky as the water inside the float line was moving faster than the line I fished, producing a bow that was difficult to mend against a light float.
Returning with a clear plan in my head, I was going to use a 17ft float rod and a centrepin reel. It was time to dust off the Adcock Stanton, a reel with a true Trent heritage, but first I needed to apply a light oil to the bearings and load it with fresh 3lb low diameter line. I would be using a heavier float, a 6xNo. 4 alloy- stemmed stick, and drop from a size 16 hook to a 20. I’d stick with the 2lb hooklink. No point in going lighter when there are so many quality fish around. I would feed much less, too, and see how things went.
What I couldn’t change was gusts of wind up to 30mph straight into my face. Catching hold of the rig to re- bait was challenging and I could barely reach the rod end when throwing a pinch of hemp.
The result was a fraction of the bites I’d had on the last trip but I was now hitting a much higher proportion of them. The average size of fish improved with most being 6oz and upwards but, as the wind strengthened, my catch rate fell as I wasn’t coping well enough despite back- shotting.
I’m sure I’m on to a winner now and will need to spend a little time refining these tweaks. Nothing major, yet I’m sure they will evolve. A bit of practise is all that’s required for now.
What I do need to refine is my perch rig. Once again, I caught a good perch on a livebait, plus two pike, but
I lost two more perch when the hook slipped. I think I know why and I will make a few tweaks that will hopefully solve the problem.
Trouble is I’m tied up with builders, deliveries and hospital visits for much of the coming week, plus I’ve been invited to try out a new fishery on the tidal.
So much to cram in, although I have to say my fishing right now is both fabulous and frustrating in equal measure.
Week three...
Pictures of a mate with a fabulous catch of roach and skimmers from a rarely fished stretch of the tidal River Trent threw a spanner in my plans. I couldn’t resist his invitation but I should have been more patient and waited for better conditions.
A cloudless sky, bright sunshine, soaring temperatures, crystal clear water and a nasty downstream wind added up to a challenging day made more difficult than it needed to be by my gamble on taking just hemp and tares. Big mistake. It was a maggot day and I messed up.
I’ll return, for sure, but next time I’ll be better prepared for the glutinous mud into which my platform constantly sank as the tide ran out.
With that distraction out of the way for now I returned to the middle Trent. A new area but once again there was no shortage of obliging roach. Having chatted with Archie Braddock in the week, I set about my perch campaign with renewed enthusiasm. I chose a swim with a huge bush spread out over the water downstream and I had a livebait positioned next to it all day but nothing showed the slightest interest.
I’m currently consumed with catching roach on hemp and tares. Although the wind was again very strong, a feature of this past month, my trusty 17ft Spectron teamed with a centrepin reel gave me good control and it was one of those days when you needed to fish shallow and slow the float’s progress right down in order to get a hittable bite. I could get a bite almost every cast running through at the speed of the current but they were so sharp and finicky I barely hit one in five. Slow it to a crawl and the fish practically hooked themselves.
What I need now is to work out a way of transferring the catch from my keepnet into a landing net head for a trophy shot while up to my knees in water, on my own. I might have managed half of them this time but it still gives an idea of the quality of fishing on offer.
Week four...
As much as I wanted to return to the Trent, our summers are perilously short and there’s so much to cram in. It dawned on me that I’d not had a floater session and time was beginning to run out.
Studying the weather forecast, I saw an opportunity of calm weather opening up so I high- tailed off to Alderfen. Everywhere has been busy through lockdown so I was relieved to see just three cars parked by the main lake. With minimal gear I went looking for signs of fish. Nothing showing in the first pool but creeping into the hideaway swim I spotted a big ghostie nosing through the outer fringes of the reedbed. Spot a ghostie, observe closely and there are usually other fish in the vicinity, just better camouflaged.
Sure enough, there were a couple of nice mirrors. Gently flicking out a few floaters pricked their interest but they were reluctant to feed, just slurping in the occasional freebie. Not to worry, it was likely to be a game of patience. They disappeared for a few minutes, then returned to sip in the occasional floater, gradually getting more confident.
They were joined by a big common and another nice mirror. Five fish now. Surely they would start to compete? Nah! Just careful inspection and the occasional nudge, mouthing at the baits and occasionally bolting off in panic, and that was without a line in the water. I spent an hour observing before chancing my arm. Unbelievably, I cast at the exact second a gust of wind blew up which swept my controller into the rushes rather than next to them. A classic example of how to blow an opportunity, where near enough simply isn’t good enough.
Reluctantly, I packed up and crept round to the back bay where there were fish cruising around in numbers. They responded instantly to free offerings, but I could see a Canada Goose heading my way, its interest peeked by the surface activity.
It was now a race against time. I cast my controller past the fish and eased it back towards the freebies where the hookbait was swallowed in an instant. Fish on! And boy, did it fight in the shallow water. A long, lean mahogany common, almost as wide as it was deep. I took my time and relished the fight as I knew it was game over for floater fishing now the goose had arrived.
It seemed a shame to desert an area with fish in residence but a gaggle of geese will never leave the swim if you keep feeding and the fish will surely move on if you don’t.
I dropped in near the car park for one last try. I couldn’t see any fish but a trickle of baits floating towards a bed of lilies eventually drew a reaction. I carefully fed until fish dropped their guard. One cast, one mirror and that was that. They’d gone. Typical of pressured fish, but two carp in a few hours in glorious sunshine was a successful end to the month, but roach are still calling out.
It won’t be long before bites dry up on the Trent and catching roach will become a struggle. I have to make hay while the sun shines because Trent redfins don’t seem to feed much after the first frosts arrive.