Martin’s Diary - At the Waters Edge

 

Recently Simon asked me if I would write for his  Pallatrax website in a diary form. First I must make it clear all reference to tackle and baits either from Pallatrax or other bait or tackle companies are mine and mine only. I am not paid for writing this, as I am not paid for any of my feature writing for magazines and newspapers. All my writing and speaking fees on angling go to the Army Benevolent Fund and Crossroad Care. Since the start of 2010 I’ve been fishing most days, perhaps my sessions have been just for an hour or so. Despite river being frozen from bank to bank in many areas, I was able to find an area of ice free water.  I often get told you can't catch barbel when the water temperatures are in the low 30 degree F. Don't you believe it. Last season and again his season I have caught my share of barbel when the water temperatures have been in the low 30's F  many of the people I have been guiding this winter have caught barbel, for some of them they have caught a personal best.

 

Despite the tough conditions, fishing has proved quite good, and remember if you don't have a bait in the water you can't catch.  21st January Brendan Ince of Blackburn and I were in Cheshire where I gave a talk to the North west region of the Barbel Society, all we asked for was £30-00 to cover petrol costs. I suppose it was getting on for midnight when we got back on the M6 for our trip to the River Kennet a round trip of 480 miles arriving at 3-30 in the morning. Despite the low water temperatures 36 - 40 degrees F during our four day session we caught chub and barbel. My best barbel weighed in at 11lbs caught on a tiny cube of crust fishing a soft Avon rod, centre pin reel 4lb Gamma and a size 6 Pallatrax hook with 2 LG shot in an open swim at Woolhampton.

 

The only problem I had were water lilies with curled leaves, known as cabbage patches.  I think it might have been Richard Walker or Fred Taylor who first discussed this type of aquatic plant when searching for big roach. Despite the light tackle I didn't have a problem getting this fish in the net.  A soft action rod with balanced tackle in the right hands will soon have the fish beaten.  Also I most big barbel will slug away under the rod tip close to the bottom. You don't need broom handle rods for river fishing.

 

 While on the subject of Gamma line, I have now been using this line for the past few years long before it was available in the UK. I haven't used a better line; I have been using these companies’ products for many years, long before it was introduced in the UK. I was demonstrating fly casting at a big show in Somerset New Jersey, during the show I got to know the guys at the Gamma booth, who were producing some excellent fly line leaders under the name of Froghair stand. I was asked to field test some of these leaders, they were excellent. A couple of years later I started using their Blue Water stiff butt supple tip leaders.  I used them for fishing in various warm water climes from bonefish to tuna. I well remember catching a 40lb jack crevale which I consider the street fighter of the aquatic world on a 20lb tippet without any problems. I was then asked to field test the Gamma line. Though I had my doubts, I said I would give it a go. I haven't looked back since. 

 

During our visit Brendan and I found it didn't pay to sit in one swim. We would often fish a dozen spots in an evening, sometimes driving from one beat to another. We would often walk to the bottom of a beat, dropping broken Pallatrax cheese sticks in some spots, sausage paste in others, with mashed bread in a couple of areas, where from past experience we found chub would move into these spots under cover of darkness. All our baited spots were chosen through long experience of fishing the Kennet. Often having fished for two or three hours, we would go back to the car for a mug of tea and some hot food. Heating up a cottage pie or warming pasties isn't a problem with my plug in the car microwave. Then it was back to our fishing often being on the river past midnight. You can't catch if you don't have bait in the river.

 

Back home I had a hectic few days, day one I was in the BBC Radio Lancashire studios working on a couple of programmes, then on the river bank checking my mink traps and finding out from my bailiffs if we had any fishery or poaching problems. The next day after being on the river at dawn on cormorant patrol, I went home for a late breakfast then worked on my new book.  At home, my time is split between being on my stretch of the River Ribble checking my mink and squirrel traps, doing habitat work repairing fencing and other maintenance work. In twenty months I have trapped and killed 69 mink and many squirrels, sadly I am the only person to the best of my knowledge doing this work on the middle reaches of the Ribble. I also have a permit for culling cormorants. Again I am a single voice waging war on predators in my area. I must point out that all traps have to be inspected every twenty four hours. I also give free fishing to any of our armed forces who are on leave from Afghanistan. I would like to see clubs syndicates owner’s offer free fishing to these brave men and woman. Their doing a tough job.

 

 

 

Thursday 28th I travelled south to fish the Kennet, Loddon and Hampshire Avon for ten days fishing with Wigan angler David Foster conditions were not looking good, I was hoping for this trip we might have a warm south westerly wind with lots of rain. It didn't happen. We had very low temperatures, one night it dropped down to minus 8 degrees but we were still on the river until around midnight. During our stay we caught chub and barbel, David a game fisher was on his first trip to the Kennet, wasn't disappointed catching chub to 4-14-0 and barbel 8-2-0 both personal bests. We didn't just fish, we also done some habitat work, cleared fallen trees and branches from the Dalston and Warren beats on the Wasing fishery. We also covered two foot bridges on the Wasing fishing, having purchased a roll of chicken wire for the job. Friday evening 29th January I decided we would fish the Woolhampton beat; it was a tale of woe for me. I chose to use a new Pallatrax cheese and bacon flavoured paste. Unlike many anglers I didn't want to fish the paste on a cork ball and short hair, even if it’s tight to the hook shank. You can still miss a lot of chub bites. I then spent some time working cooking oil into the paste to soften it up, I was partially successful. After baiting a swim with marble size pieces of the paste I left the area alone for a few hours. 

 

I suppose it was about six o'clock in the evening when we moved into our baited swims, for some reason I don't know why I chose to fish two rods, this was a mistake as you will soon learn. I fished one rod with crust a few feet upstream under an over hanging hawthorn bush. The other rod was baited with paste and cast downstream into a quiet area of water; on this rod I attached a small dough bobbin for bite indication.  In a two hour session I had eleven good takes all on paste, catching two barbel about 8lbs and another which I though might be a double, but it weighed 9-10-0. Eight perfect bites were missed, four of these were through picking up the wrong rod, the other four bites were missed but I don't know why. All the bites were a light knock then seconds later the tip slowly pulled down. Perfect bites in my book all missed. I fished like a clown. Meanwhile David fishing just upstream of me had a couple of barbel, losing what we reckon was a very big fish, I moved very slowly a few yards then hugged the bottom, it then changed direction moving a few yards upstream. Then everything went solid. Eventually he hook pulled free, I reckon the fish got its head into a clump of cabbages. Later on we discover the hook was blunt, I suggested David should get himself a selection of Pallatrax barbless hooks. Lesson learnt the hard way.

 

Our planned three days on the Avon was called off buy Stewart the river keeper at Britford near Salisbury suggesting we give it a miss.  The River Loddon wasn't fishing any better, so we carried on fishing the Kennet. I spent a lot of time with David showing him how to read the river, how to work a piece of crust under over hanging branches, and how easy it was to catch chub if you didn't spook them. As we walked the rivers various beats, I would drop handful of mashed bread into all the likely spots.  On the way back I suggest to David he should put a chunk of crust in one spot tight to a submerged bush. In another spot I suggested a piece of paste. In some swims I told him to use free lined paste bait. It worked, he caught several 4lb plus chub when others struggled for a bite, including a personal best chub of 4-14-0, if it had been feeding for a while, it could have gone over 5lbs.  At the end of our trip David gave me two good cheques for Crossroad Care and the Army Benevolent Fund for looking after him.

 

Back home I spent several days on the Ribble checking traps and fishing for chub and grayling, in the evenings I worked on my new book. I had a couple of very early morning shifts n the studio getting up around three o'clock So I could get some editing done on a few recorded interviews for my radio show At The Waters Edge on BBC Radio Lancashire every Thursday evening which can be heard countrywide for seven days. This is the link http://news.bbc.co.uk/local/lancashire/hi/tv_and_radio/newsid_8116000/8116274.stm click on listen again then At the Waters Edge where you can hear my weekly programme.  Friday 12th February I fished the River Ribble with Mick Holgate it was a very cold grey day with an easterly wind, and a water temperature of 36 degrees F. The river was low and gin clear, I chose to fish legered crust on a size 6 Pallatrax barbless hook 4lb Gamma line with 2 LG shot. I had 4 bites and 4 fish best at 5-4-0 another at about 4-4-0 and 2 at around 3lbs. All bites coming in a thirty minute feeding spell. Mick had one bite one fish again crust was the bait.

 

Saturday 13th February I was in the studio at six o'clock in the morning, after finishing off one programme, I then interviewed Alan Roe we discussed canal fishing, commercial fisheries, and if they were value for money. With a new river trout season starting on March 15th we chatted about the prospects. On the way home I stopped off on the river checking my traps, I had one mink which I dispatched with a shot to the head. Back home for lunch, I got ready to have a session on the River Ribble.

 

Brendan Ince arrived at 3 o'clock after a coffee and chat w headed off to the river. As we sat fishing a big fish moved downstream displacing a lot of water. I said to Brendan "I reckon that was a kelt"  A minute or so later Brendan said "That fish took a chunk of crust"  in the next five minutes a couple more chub took crust off the top. I reckon going by the water that was displaced, that big chub might have gone 7lbs. picking up my rod and a chunk of bread I walked downstream with the intention of fishing a free lined bait to see if the chub were interested. Within seconds of the crust being in the water a fish sucked down the bait. Striking I found myself attached to a good fish which I reckon was in the five pound class. Sadly it shed the hook. During out two hour session we watched several fish taking crust. The only fish caught was a very long chub probably weighing 4bs plus. I caught bouncing on a piece of crust down the swim with enough weight to sink the bait.