Well the current river fishing season is now just over five weeks old and I have had one of the poorest starts to a season that I have ever had. It had been even worse than five or six years ago when there were also really bad floods at the start of the season. But that year I was usually able to catch one or two chub each trip - now I am not even getting that.
All sorts of reasons have gone through my mind, from the idea that maybe the fish hadn't spawned and were all holed up on some gravel shallows somewhere, to the idea that maybe my filming of trips is somehow to blame - perhaps I disturb the fish setting up the tripod, perhaps I fish in a more anxious, less-patient way as I am being filmed . . . .
One possible issue is that I am mainly fishing for chub. Barbel would be a better principal target perhaps, but numbers are so low on the Upper Thames that deliberately fishing for them is almost bound to lead to long sequences of blanks anyway.
So what is my current plan? Well I went for a walk at the river on Saturday morning and remarkably, the river is higher again. It had possibly peaked a little bit higher still (though the evidence for this was rather patchy). But as I write this, we have had 3 days without rain and no rain is forecast for the next few days. So tomorrow I will pop to the river first thing and assess the level yet again. If it is down again (as I'm pretty sure it will be), I will have a trip on Tuesday afternoon / evening. This will be a multi-swim bait and fish in rotation plan, with sweetcorn or boilies as the bait. Then I might go early on Wednesday or Thursday morning for a couple of hours float fishing.
If the river is no lower, this plan will be moved back to Thursday evening.
One other point - I do think that I ought to fish a bit longer than I have been each trip. I have been tending to go for just a couple of hours. This should go up to sessions of four or five hours I think.
And venues? For the moment I will stick to the local stretches of the River Thames - at least I dodn't have to travel far to get to these spots. But when conditions do improve I am thinking of having a few trips to the Thames at Northmoor weir. Or maybe the Pickfords stretch.
Monday, 23 July 2012
Thursday, 19 July 2012
Two short evening sessions
Tuesday
Based on the rain we have had here, I was expecting the river to be down a bit on last week and prospects for chub to be better, so I was somewhat shocked to find it actually up a few inches. Moreover, the path by the river is now a very liquid mud and is really treacherous to walk along. Nonetheless, I was keen on going fishing and so settled in one of the swims nearest the car for an evening's float fishing after chub.
After about 30 minutes I landed a small roach of about 3oz, so at least I wasn't going to blank! But a further hour and a half produced no more bites and the mystery of the whereabouts of the chub remains. Only one decent fish all season in the current poor conditions.
Wednesday
A last minute change of domestic plans opened up the possibility of a short, two hour, evening session. As the river was higher yesterday, I thought the best chance might actually be to fish for barbel - never a great chance of success on the upper Thames, but given the conditions, possibly my only chance of a good fish. I had baited a swim last night with hemp, corn and boilies and so planned to fish "bait and wait" in this one swim tonight.
So I was at the swim by about 7:30. It was actually a much nicer evening than last night with a decent sunset over the far bank. It is possible that I had one bite during the evening, but there was also quite a lot of weed coming down and it might have been that.
Packed up just before dark as the walk back to the car is really difficult in the mud.
The weather forecast now suggests more rain till Friday and then a change in weather towards hot and sunny. So maybe next week will see improving conditions. My next planned trip is Tuesday and I will fish much longer sessions once conditions start to improve.
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZmslnlHtBI&feature=plcp
Based on the rain we have had here, I was expecting the river to be down a bit on last week and prospects for chub to be better, so I was somewhat shocked to find it actually up a few inches. Moreover, the path by the river is now a very liquid mud and is really treacherous to walk along. Nonetheless, I was keen on going fishing and so settled in one of the swims nearest the car for an evening's float fishing after chub.
After about 30 minutes I landed a small roach of about 3oz, so at least I wasn't going to blank! But a further hour and a half produced no more bites and the mystery of the whereabouts of the chub remains. Only one decent fish all season in the current poor conditions.
Wednesday
A last minute change of domestic plans opened up the possibility of a short, two hour, evening session. As the river was higher yesterday, I thought the best chance might actually be to fish for barbel - never a great chance of success on the upper Thames, but given the conditions, possibly my only chance of a good fish. I had baited a swim last night with hemp, corn and boilies and so planned to fish "bait and wait" in this one swim tonight.
So I was at the swim by about 7:30. It was actually a much nicer evening than last night with a decent sunset over the far bank. It is possible that I had one bite during the evening, but there was also quite a lot of weed coming down and it might have been that.
Packed up just before dark as the walk back to the car is really difficult in the mud.
The weather forecast now suggests more rain till Friday and then a change in weather towards hot and sunny. So maybe next week will see improving conditions. My next planned trip is Tuesday and I will fish much longer sessions once conditions start to improve.
Youtube link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZmslnlHtBI&feature=plcp
Wednesday, 11 July 2012
Newest video - "Rain"
It was only when I was watching the video footage from last night that I realised how odd it looks in many respects. For much of the time I am touch ledgering, but also watching the quivertip. And so I was not always fully aware of the extent to which I was being rained on. Actually some of the rain is extremely hard!
I wonder if my youtube videos will still exist in cyberspace in, say, 200 years time. By then, climate change, pollution or something might have wiped out fish stocks and angling might be a sport of the distant past. A cyber-historian might come across a dusty old server in a back room somewhere and when fired up, might discover my fishing videos. And so he will discover what our wonderful sport had to offer - sitting in nettles for hours at a time as the rain pelts down, watching a stationary rod tip and not catching any fish.
In these postmodern times, my latest fishing video is, perhaps, the perfect embodiment of the sport. Or perhaps not. Or, as Gilles Deleuze** put it, in a passage I selected at random from Cinema 2,
The sheets of past exist, they are strata from where we draw our recollection images. But either they are in any case unusable, because death is a permanent present, the most contracted region; or they can no longer be recalled because they are breaking up or becoming twisted, scattered in a non-stratified substance (p.111)
** French Professor of Philosophy and a key figure in poststructualism. Cinema 2 draws on the work of Henri Bergson to offer an analysis of the representation of time in film and the cinematic treatment of memory, thought and speech. Most of it is bollocks of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Css8XBwIj4&feature=plcp
I wonder if my youtube videos will still exist in cyberspace in, say, 200 years time. By then, climate change, pollution or something might have wiped out fish stocks and angling might be a sport of the distant past. A cyber-historian might come across a dusty old server in a back room somewhere and when fired up, might discover my fishing videos. And so he will discover what our wonderful sport had to offer - sitting in nettles for hours at a time as the rain pelts down, watching a stationary rod tip and not catching any fish.
In these postmodern times, my latest fishing video is, perhaps, the perfect embodiment of the sport. Or perhaps not. Or, as Gilles Deleuze** put it, in a passage I selected at random from Cinema 2,
The sheets of past exist, they are strata from where we draw our recollection images. But either they are in any case unusable, because death is a permanent present, the most contracted region; or they can no longer be recalled because they are breaking up or becoming twisted, scattered in a non-stratified substance (p.111)
** French Professor of Philosophy and a key figure in poststructualism. Cinema 2 draws on the work of Henri Bergson to offer an analysis of the representation of time in film and the cinematic treatment of memory, thought and speech. Most of it is bollocks of course.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Css8XBwIj4&feature=plcp
No success with the newest "cunning plan"
My latest "cunning plan" to catch some chub consisted of me baiting up four swims at about 5:00pm and then fishing each in turn through the evening and into the dark. Bait for each would be two pints of hemp, a tin of sweetcorn and two dozen of the smelliest boilies I still have. Then I would not rebait later, simply hope to land on some feeding fish who would recognise the bait straight away, even if they had already eaten everything I had put in earlier.
There had been no rain since Saturday when the British Grand Prix just up the road had been so badly affected, and there had even been some sunshine early this afternoon. So loaded down with the usual stuff I made the 3/4 mile walk down to Shifford lock. I had been there less than 10 minutes when it started to pour down, which it then kept up for the next two hours. I switched my planned four swims to include a couple that were a little sheltered by trees, but I was pretty wet even before I had made my first cast.
And the only possible action I had in the next five hours was in swim two, where I did get a series of very fast taps on the tip when using sweetcorn. I expect these were small fish, but I failed to connect with anything each time I struck. Not a touch on the boilie and no decent pulls on the corn.
But at least it did stop raining about 7:00 and it was actually quite a pleasant evening. Some bats were hunting mayflies along the river. The odd fox was barking. Several kingfishers flew by, or the same one three times. It certainly is a lovely spot in which to not catch fish and a change from last week when my main problem was dehydration. I wrapped up about 10:30 and endured the long walk back to the car through the thick mud that now covers most of the path. But I have to say, I did rather enjoy being out in the dark again. Come late August / September, I shall fish quite a few evenings into the dark.
My next trip will probably be Thursday evening again - I may try the same tactic as tonight. Or I may abandon the river and go trout fishing at Bushyleaze instead! The weather forecast is already really bad for the end of this week, but is suggesting slightly better weather for next week.
I am thinking of publishing a video from today's footage that just consists of me sitting in the rain watching a stationary rod tip.
There had been no rain since Saturday when the British Grand Prix just up the road had been so badly affected, and there had even been some sunshine early this afternoon. So loaded down with the usual stuff I made the 3/4 mile walk down to Shifford lock. I had been there less than 10 minutes when it started to pour down, which it then kept up for the next two hours. I switched my planned four swims to include a couple that were a little sheltered by trees, but I was pretty wet even before I had made my first cast.
And the only possible action I had in the next five hours was in swim two, where I did get a series of very fast taps on the tip when using sweetcorn. I expect these were small fish, but I failed to connect with anything each time I struck. Not a touch on the boilie and no decent pulls on the corn.
But at least it did stop raining about 7:00 and it was actually quite a pleasant evening. Some bats were hunting mayflies along the river. The odd fox was barking. Several kingfishers flew by, or the same one three times. It certainly is a lovely spot in which to not catch fish and a change from last week when my main problem was dehydration. I wrapped up about 10:30 and endured the long walk back to the car through the thick mud that now covers most of the path. But I have to say, I did rather enjoy being out in the dark again. Come late August / September, I shall fish quite a few evenings into the dark.
My next trip will probably be Thursday evening again - I may try the same tactic as tonight. Or I may abandon the river and go trout fishing at Bushyleaze instead! The weather forecast is already really bad for the end of this week, but is suggesting slightly better weather for next week.
I am thinking of publishing a video from today's footage that just consists of me sitting in the rain watching a stationary rod tip.
Monday, 9 July 2012
Video from last week's trip posted
I was away over the weekend and have only just had time to cobble something together out of the video footage from last Thursday. There are the three boats that pass through my swim in the space of a minute. There is a heron that takes off from close to where I was fishing and which I hadn't spotted before then. There are the two bombers that flew over, presumably from Brize Norton over to the west. But sadly no fish. Three others were fishing that evening. Mark apparently blanked but is seeking barbel so that is a good excuse. And two others were fishing in the first main glide and had caught a few roach and perch up to about 8oz. Where are the chub?
I have been sorting out bait for this week and am planning, should the rain hold off a little, to go for an evening on Tuesday. I have a new "cunning plan" to find some chub!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HytjhBkTv0U&feature=plcp
I have been sorting out bait for this week and am planning, should the rain hold off a little, to go for an evening on Tuesday. I have a new "cunning plan" to find some chub!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HytjhBkTv0U&feature=plcp
Friday, 6 July 2012
The excellent "Fishing for memories" blog / videos
There are dozens of fishing blogs out there of course, and some, like mine, are linked to companion video channels on Youtube. The one of these I like best is Mark Erdwin's Fishing for Memories (http://fishing-for-memories.blogspot.co.uk/) I have been studying this blog-video channel in some detail, looking at what he does differently to me, looking for ideas I can use, and so on.
One of the first big differences is frequency of posting. Mark's blog goes back to 2007 and has 103 postings so far, 17 a year on average. I have posted 75 entries in 2012 alone. He has posted 37 videos in that time, while I have posted 8 in just the last few months. This could be that this is the frequency that he fishes, but I actually suspect it is because he is happy to post only when he has a good catch or some interesting film. That's fair enough, and there is no doubt that it leads to an exceptionally high quality blog and video channel - he is an excellent angler with some amazing catches - I am of course mostly interested in his amazing chub catches.
My philosophy is slightly different but shares the view that my blog and video channel are there to preserve memories. So I have taken the view that I should post regardless of success and try, over the entire sequence of entries and videos, to show what "my fishing life" actually consists of day-to-day, week-to-week, and so on. So my current poor start to the season is shown, "warts and all".
So when I'm 90, I will be able to watch myself in my late 40s blanking in a variety of venues while pursuing huge chub and barbel!
I have downloaded all of Mark's videos and am slowly working my way through them - really excellent stuff I have to say.
One of the first big differences is frequency of posting. Mark's blog goes back to 2007 and has 103 postings so far, 17 a year on average. I have posted 75 entries in 2012 alone. He has posted 37 videos in that time, while I have posted 8 in just the last few months. This could be that this is the frequency that he fishes, but I actually suspect it is because he is happy to post only when he has a good catch or some interesting film. That's fair enough, and there is no doubt that it leads to an exceptionally high quality blog and video channel - he is an excellent angler with some amazing catches - I am of course mostly interested in his amazing chub catches.
My philosophy is slightly different but shares the view that my blog and video channel are there to preserve memories. So I have taken the view that I should post regardless of success and try, over the entire sequence of entries and videos, to show what "my fishing life" actually consists of day-to-day, week-to-week, and so on. So my current poor start to the season is shown, "warts and all".
So when I'm 90, I will be able to watch myself in my late 40s blanking in a variety of venues while pursuing huge chub and barbel!
I have downloaded all of Mark's videos and am slowly working my way through them - really excellent stuff I have to say.
A frustrating afternoon-evening
More rain and the local rivers are actual up again - still, the urge to go fishing is overwhelming. I did actual plan to go trout fishing for an evening at Bushyleaze but the local forecast was that it was going to rain hard again around 6:00pm which would wipe out about half my fishing time - not a good idea when the evening ticket costs nearly £20.
So it is back to the River Thames, this time the main river below Shifford Lock. I figured I would have an afternoon float fishing for chub in a couple of my favourite swims down there, not with a high chance of catching anything, but more for the enjoyment of being out.
What I hadn't reckon on was that the afternoon would be so hot. I was expecting some rain and was dressed accordingly, but it was actually quite a nice afternoon with only a few scattered clouds. By the time I reached Shifford Lock I was really overheated and made the mistake of drinking most of the liquid I had brought with me.
What I had also forgotten about was the possibility of extensive boat traffic on this stretch, something that didn't occur back in February-March when I was fishing this area a lot. I had just baited up two swims when two barges came through. I am sure the fish are used to boat traffic overall but that it does spook them for a while and especially early season. So I left the two swims and settled in a swim at the downstream end of Duxford Loop. No boats here and also no fish in the hour of sweltering sunshine that I fished here.
Back to below Shifford Lock and less than five minutes in the first swim when one barge and four pleasure cruisers came through the swims more or less one after the other. So much so that they had to queue at Shifford Lock to get through. One or two boats might be ok, five might be too much.
So a change of plan. I would switch to ledgering and a "bait and wait" approach in one of my favourite chub swims on Duxford Loop. The sun kept shining and no rain appeared. I became more and more thirsty and was reduced to pouring water from the river over my head. Around 7:30 I was surprised to see Mark from Witney, who I had seen lots at the end of last season. I didn't recognise him at the start as he didn't have his thermal hat on and I've never seen him with hair! I complained about the poor start to the season I'd had and he complained about the excessive vegetation growth by the river compared to March - some of the swims we fished last season are too overgrown to get to now. He was kind enough to let me have a few mouthfuls of his rather-nice lime drink. I would have happily drunk it all.
I stayed until just after 9:00. It was actually a really nice evening and clearly I should have gone to Bushyleaze. I will start fishing into the dark soon I expect.
So no chub again and no fishing till the middle of next week as I am off to the Lake District for a few days with Daughter - the weather forecast is for up to 10cms of rain to fall this weekend!
Still I did take a rather nice photo of a spider
So it is back to the River Thames, this time the main river below Shifford Lock. I figured I would have an afternoon float fishing for chub in a couple of my favourite swims down there, not with a high chance of catching anything, but more for the enjoyment of being out.
What I hadn't reckon on was that the afternoon would be so hot. I was expecting some rain and was dressed accordingly, but it was actually quite a nice afternoon with only a few scattered clouds. By the time I reached Shifford Lock I was really overheated and made the mistake of drinking most of the liquid I had brought with me.
What I had also forgotten about was the possibility of extensive boat traffic on this stretch, something that didn't occur back in February-March when I was fishing this area a lot. I had just baited up two swims when two barges came through. I am sure the fish are used to boat traffic overall but that it does spook them for a while and especially early season. So I left the two swims and settled in a swim at the downstream end of Duxford Loop. No boats here and also no fish in the hour of sweltering sunshine that I fished here.
Back to below Shifford Lock and less than five minutes in the first swim when one barge and four pleasure cruisers came through the swims more or less one after the other. So much so that they had to queue at Shifford Lock to get through. One or two boats might be ok, five might be too much.
So a change of plan. I would switch to ledgering and a "bait and wait" approach in one of my favourite chub swims on Duxford Loop. The sun kept shining and no rain appeared. I became more and more thirsty and was reduced to pouring water from the river over my head. Around 7:30 I was surprised to see Mark from Witney, who I had seen lots at the end of last season. I didn't recognise him at the start as he didn't have his thermal hat on and I've never seen him with hair! I complained about the poor start to the season I'd had and he complained about the excessive vegetation growth by the river compared to March - some of the swims we fished last season are too overgrown to get to now. He was kind enough to let me have a few mouthfuls of his rather-nice lime drink. I would have happily drunk it all.
I stayed until just after 9:00. It was actually a really nice evening and clearly I should have gone to Bushyleaze. I will start fishing into the dark soon I expect.
So no chub again and no fishing till the middle of next week as I am off to the Lake District for a few days with Daughter - the weather forecast is for up to 10cms of rain to fall this weekend!
Still I did take a rather nice photo of a spider
Monday, 2 July 2012
Long range weather forecasts
In the hope that the rain might be coming to an end soon, I was looking at the local 10-day weather forecast and basically there is a 70% chance of rain every day for the next week and a half. It rained quite a lot here yesterday and it is doing so again today. This is all rather disheartening. It might be ok if barbel were a serious local target, but chub fishing is just constantly hit by the river rising and colouring up, just as you expect it to be getting better.
As I left on Saturday, I left a marker at the top of the stretch and popping back today, the river is up an inch or two. It reminds me so much of the start of the season in 2007 where the rivers remained in flood till August. Earlier in the year, when I was planning my season, I had been expecting good catches of chub from the local stretches, maybe some fun fishing on clear rivers for chub with floating crust or natural baits. Certainly not this.
If there is a break in the rain tomorrow afternoon, I might go and have a few hours in a single swim, rather than moving about lots. But that's only to be able to get out by the river, not due to a view I will catch much.
I have just been reading the new Angling Times and Angler's Mail for the start of the new river season and they have no chub captures of any note at all. Maybe my 5-05 was actually pretty good! If I had said I caught it on the Windrush, I might have got my picture in the fishing papers again!
Or maybe I sould have a trip after trout again - maybe Bushyleaze?
Addendum - Tuesday
No large chub reported in this week's Angler's Mail. Also, I have been catching up with my favourite fishing blog - Phil Smith's http://www.barbelblogger.blogspot.co.uk/
He has just turned his attention to barbel, fishing from early pm to around 11:00pm on three afternoons last week, managing one really nice barbel. This does suggest that the afternoon into evening might be the best focus for longer sessions. But that is one fish for 24 hours fishing with two rods.
I had a quick trip down to the river this lunchtime and it is up about 2 inches from the weekend. Rain showers are occuring every couple of hours, so the earliest I am planning an evening session is perhaps Thursday. I may go and bait some swims on Wednesday afternoon.
As I left on Saturday, I left a marker at the top of the stretch and popping back today, the river is up an inch or two. It reminds me so much of the start of the season in 2007 where the rivers remained in flood till August. Earlier in the year, when I was planning my season, I had been expecting good catches of chub from the local stretches, maybe some fun fishing on clear rivers for chub with floating crust or natural baits. Certainly not this.
If there is a break in the rain tomorrow afternoon, I might go and have a few hours in a single swim, rather than moving about lots. But that's only to be able to get out by the river, not due to a view I will catch much.
I have just been reading the new Angling Times and Angler's Mail for the start of the new river season and they have no chub captures of any note at all. Maybe my 5-05 was actually pretty good! If I had said I caught it on the Windrush, I might have got my picture in the fishing papers again!
Or maybe I sould have a trip after trout again - maybe Bushyleaze?
Addendum - Tuesday
No large chub reported in this week's Angler's Mail. Also, I have been catching up with my favourite fishing blog - Phil Smith's http://www.barbelblogger.blogspot.co.uk/
He has just turned his attention to barbel, fishing from early pm to around 11:00pm on three afternoons last week, managing one really nice barbel. This does suggest that the afternoon into evening might be the best focus for longer sessions. But that is one fish for 24 hours fishing with two rods.
I had a quick trip down to the river this lunchtime and it is up about 2 inches from the weekend. Rain showers are occuring every couple of hours, so the earliest I am planning an evening session is perhaps Thursday. I may go and bait some swims on Wednesday afternoon.
Saturday, 30 June 2012
Another short session, another blank!
I had about two hours free first thing on Saturday morning - just enough time for a short session after chub on one of my most-local stretches. Of course the river is still high and coloured but it is a little lower than recently. Today's plan is to ledger a strong-smelling boilly in a couple of swims, the alternate bait being lobworms.
My first swim is the one closest to where people park cars. As such it is often fished but I have had a rather mixed record there. Years ago, it was a good barbel swim, especially fishing upstream on the gravel beds below the willow. But I'm not sure many barbel have been there recently. Last season I had two five pound chub from this spot from four or five attempts and Mark, I guy I often see fishing this stretch in winter, had a 5-12 chub and a 3-03 perch. So it can fish well. This morning I only gave it 40 minutes or so and had no suggestions of a bite at all.
Just after I settled in the second swim, where I planned to spend the remaining 90 minutes of my trip, there was a long rain shower - so hard that I actually stopped filming as I was worried about the camera. I may have had one bite in this spot - on one occasion there was a definite small twitch and the bait was gone. But as always, this could have been crayfish.
I spent the last 20 minutes bumping a lobworm bait along the far bank with no success.
So no fish again. Other than the state of the river itself, I think my current problem is that I'm not fishing for long enough. I have been 5 times this season but have probably only fished for about 12 hours. So this week's plan is for a longer trip of perhaps 6-7 hours, maybe Tuesday or Thursday.
But the forecast is for more rain and so the rivers will remain high and fishing will be quite hard I suspect.
Today's video does show me fishing in the rain and so is an accurate example of what so many of us fisherman face on a regular basis. "My fishing life" aims to reflect the true circumstances of my fishing, not just when things go well. So for the moment, I am continuing to post videos of me not catching anything! There is something almost Zen-like in a series of fishing videos in which no fish are caught - a direct pointing to the emptiness of reality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJf3m4jo_kI&feature=plcp&noredirect=1
Sitting in a bed of stinging nettles in the pouring rain at 6:30 on a Saturday morning not catching any fish.
My first swim is the one closest to where people park cars. As such it is often fished but I have had a rather mixed record there. Years ago, it was a good barbel swim, especially fishing upstream on the gravel beds below the willow. But I'm not sure many barbel have been there recently. Last season I had two five pound chub from this spot from four or five attempts and Mark, I guy I often see fishing this stretch in winter, had a 5-12 chub and a 3-03 perch. So it can fish well. This morning I only gave it 40 minutes or so and had no suggestions of a bite at all.
Just after I settled in the second swim, where I planned to spend the remaining 90 minutes of my trip, there was a long rain shower - so hard that I actually stopped filming as I was worried about the camera. I may have had one bite in this spot - on one occasion there was a definite small twitch and the bait was gone. But as always, this could have been crayfish.
I spent the last 20 minutes bumping a lobworm bait along the far bank with no success.
So no fish again. Other than the state of the river itself, I think my current problem is that I'm not fishing for long enough. I have been 5 times this season but have probably only fished for about 12 hours. So this week's plan is for a longer trip of perhaps 6-7 hours, maybe Tuesday or Thursday.
But the forecast is for more rain and so the rivers will remain high and fishing will be quite hard I suspect.
Today's video does show me fishing in the rain and so is an accurate example of what so many of us fisherman face on a regular basis. "My fishing life" aims to reflect the true circumstances of my fishing, not just when things go well. So for the moment, I am continuing to post videos of me not catching anything! There is something almost Zen-like in a series of fishing videos in which no fish are caught - a direct pointing to the emptiness of reality.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJf3m4jo_kI&feature=plcp&noredirect=1
Sitting in a bed of stinging nettles in the pouring rain at 6:30 on a Saturday morning not catching any fish.
Sunday, 24 June 2012
At last, a decent sized fish!
I've missed four days when I could have gone fishing as a result of my bad eye, but things have been getting better since Wednesday and I thought it worthwhile to take a little chance and go first thing this morning for a couple of hours. The venue was carefully chosen so I was not too far from my car if the eye flaired up again and I had to make a speedy getaway. It was also north-facing so I wouldn't have to squint into the sun. I also had eye wash and savlon with me should I get a slight twinge in the eye. No more wiping with rough tissues or cotton wool pads.
So I managed to make it down at the river at 4:30 this morning. There had been more rain during the day yesterday and overnight and some of the ditches were already pouring water into the river. After a couple of days of what have probably been quite good conditions, and which I'd missed, it might have been that today would be another tough day with a rising river.
Today's plan was to fish just one swim, a long glide that has produced plenty of big chub in the past. I would be float fishing sweetcorn, with hemp seed as an additional attractor. Four or five catapults full of each went into the swim when I arrived with regular top ups every couple of casts - classic trotting tactics of course.
It took about 30 minutes to produce the first fish and what a fish. After what has been a very poor start to my river-fishing season, my first decent sized fish is a chub of 5-05 1/2. A really lovely conditioned fish given that it is only June and a possible high five, low six later this year I would think.
I would have expected maybe one or two more fish over the next couple of hours, but though I may have had at least one more bite, I didn't in fact manage any more. There were two or three brief showers and then a longer period of rain and by about 8:00 I was ready to call it a day.
And just as importantly, my eye seemed fine. So maybe I can try a couple of more days this week (weather permitting).
Back home and a rather exciting look at the video I shot, which does contain decent footage of the chub being caught. So after a few trips where I haven't managed much, my 2012/13 season is well and truly off and running I would say.
The video of the trip is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgllwkTuHaM&feature=plcp
Better than my usual fishing photo! A still from the video
So I managed to make it down at the river at 4:30 this morning. There had been more rain during the day yesterday and overnight and some of the ditches were already pouring water into the river. After a couple of days of what have probably been quite good conditions, and which I'd missed, it might have been that today would be another tough day with a rising river.
Today's plan was to fish just one swim, a long glide that has produced plenty of big chub in the past. I would be float fishing sweetcorn, with hemp seed as an additional attractor. Four or five catapults full of each went into the swim when I arrived with regular top ups every couple of casts - classic trotting tactics of course.
It took about 30 minutes to produce the first fish and what a fish. After what has been a very poor start to my river-fishing season, my first decent sized fish is a chub of 5-05 1/2. A really lovely conditioned fish given that it is only June and a possible high five, low six later this year I would think.
I would have expected maybe one or two more fish over the next couple of hours, but though I may have had at least one more bite, I didn't in fact manage any more. There were two or three brief showers and then a longer period of rain and by about 8:00 I was ready to call it a day.
And just as importantly, my eye seemed fine. So maybe I can try a couple of more days this week (weather permitting).
Back home and a rather exciting look at the video I shot, which does contain decent footage of the chub being caught. So after a few trips where I haven't managed much, my 2012/13 season is well and truly off and running I would say.
The video of the trip is at:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vgllwkTuHaM&feature=plcp
Better than my usual fishing photo! A still from the video
Wednesday, 20 June 2012
Acute hayfever strikes!
A bitterly disappointing day.
The plan had been to start early, bait up four swims before initially fishing two swims I'd baited yesterday but which I hadn't added any new bait today, while hopefully some fish found the bait in at least one of the four swims.
I started later than intended due to an unplanned trip to London yesterday evening. I walked the mile or so necessary to bait the four swims and then settled in swim number one. Gradually my left eye seemed to be getting more and more irritated. I had some eye drops with me but they seemed to make little difference. Over the next couple of hours the discomfort got worse and worse and it became apparent that my eye was swelling up. The odd thing was that my right eye was wholly unaffected. Had I got a seed or something in my left eye? Or maybe some pollen had landed in it? No idea really, but it was getting very unpleasant.
I had fished the first two swims with only the odd tap on the rod tip. I then walked to the far end of the fishery to fish the first of the baited swims and had only been there about 10 minutes when I reached the conclusion that the eye was now too bad and needed to get some treatment. By then, a boat had passed through the one baited swim I did fish in briefly.
And the other three baited swims weren't fished at all.
Back home and a long bathe of my eye seems to get some sort of gunk out, but this could have been just the goo my eye was now producing in huge amounts. The rest of the day was a constant series of eye-baths and periods when I just had to stay in a dark room and keep my eye closed. It doesn't hurt anymore but it has more or less sealed shut - like a black eye really. Yet my right eye remains fine!
A shame as the river is getting back into good condition and I was quite confident for today. It was a lovely morning with mist rising as I walked along the back around 5:30. I also spotted a heron in the far distance which I was able to get some film of.
I suspect that this means that fishing will be out of the question for at least the next few days. I have only had this type of extreme hayfever reaction once before and that was more than 10 years ago. It will probably take a day or two at least for the swelling to go down and I should avoid going back into pollen-infested areas for a few days more. Maybe I could try again on Sunday?
I do wonder what I have been taking daily hayfever tablets for over the past month or so. I was supposed to have built up tolerance for pollen by now!
I have posted a slightly-shorter-than-normal video because I quite liked the misty scenes at the start, the cows and the heron. But the video also shows me playing around with my eye far too much and the wrap up scene has the swelling quite apparent. Not good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccenNA6AWY4&feature=plcp
Such is "my fishing life" at the moment - no fish and an extremely sore eye!
The plan had been to start early, bait up four swims before initially fishing two swims I'd baited yesterday but which I hadn't added any new bait today, while hopefully some fish found the bait in at least one of the four swims.
I started later than intended due to an unplanned trip to London yesterday evening. I walked the mile or so necessary to bait the four swims and then settled in swim number one. Gradually my left eye seemed to be getting more and more irritated. I had some eye drops with me but they seemed to make little difference. Over the next couple of hours the discomfort got worse and worse and it became apparent that my eye was swelling up. The odd thing was that my right eye was wholly unaffected. Had I got a seed or something in my left eye? Or maybe some pollen had landed in it? No idea really, but it was getting very unpleasant.
I had fished the first two swims with only the odd tap on the rod tip. I then walked to the far end of the fishery to fish the first of the baited swims and had only been there about 10 minutes when I reached the conclusion that the eye was now too bad and needed to get some treatment. By then, a boat had passed through the one baited swim I did fish in briefly.
And the other three baited swims weren't fished at all.
Back home and a long bathe of my eye seems to get some sort of gunk out, but this could have been just the goo my eye was now producing in huge amounts. The rest of the day was a constant series of eye-baths and periods when I just had to stay in a dark room and keep my eye closed. It doesn't hurt anymore but it has more or less sealed shut - like a black eye really. Yet my right eye remains fine!
A shame as the river is getting back into good condition and I was quite confident for today. It was a lovely morning with mist rising as I walked along the back around 5:30. I also spotted a heron in the far distance which I was able to get some film of.
I suspect that this means that fishing will be out of the question for at least the next few days. I have only had this type of extreme hayfever reaction once before and that was more than 10 years ago. It will probably take a day or two at least for the swelling to go down and I should avoid going back into pollen-infested areas for a few days more. Maybe I could try again on Sunday?
I do wonder what I have been taking daily hayfever tablets for over the past month or so. I was supposed to have built up tolerance for pollen by now!
I have posted a slightly-shorter-than-normal video because I quite liked the misty scenes at the start, the cows and the heron. But the video also shows me playing around with my eye far too much and the wrap up scene has the swelling quite apparent. Not good!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ccenNA6AWY4&feature=plcp
Such is "my fishing life" at the moment - no fish and an extremely sore eye!
Monday, 18 June 2012
Float fishing for chub
If it wasn't the start of the river fishing season, I suspect I wouldn't be going fishing at the moment, but I am so excited to be back out on the rivers that I went again this morning for a few hours before work. When I woke up at 4:00 it was raining heavily again, but by 6:00 the rain seemed to have blown over and it was actually looking quite sunny. So I figured that a couple of hours float fishing on the Thames might be ok.
The river remains high and coloured but was definitely a little lower than yesterday - maybe an inch lower? I planned to fish two swims not too far from where I park the car, so it wouldn't matter much if I struggled again. So I was set up by about 6:30, as three swans made their way through my first swim and then had a chew at the tree at the top end.
At the end of last season I had taken some rather nice chub on float fished sweetcorn from this swim - the best being well over 5lbs. My approach was to feed the inside line of the main flow crease on the assumption that some fish would be willing to feed on this line. But an hour later, all I had to show for my efforts was a small roach of maybe 3oz.
So down to swim number 2, which entails a short wade out through to the edge of the reeds, giving a nice trott down the main flow. This spot was where I had filmed quite a few chub taking floating crust (what became the video "My Fishing Life 3"). So I was reasonably confident as I made my way slowly across the margins. The extra water meant that getting to the river meant wading to thigh high, which was a bit awkward. It was also actually quite cold. But I stuck it out for 30 minutes without any bites at all.
Back to swim one, and a final 30 minutes during which I managed one tiny chub.
I have been pondering on whether my fishing video series should include trips where I don't catch anything of particular interest. Do I want the videos to accurately reflect my season - blanks and all - or do I want them to show my successes (which makes the videos more interesting of course). At the moment, my plan is to produce videos where the footage looks ok, regardless of whether fish were caught or not. Maybe two blanks in a row might be merged together into one film, or one of them just ignored. Don't know yet.
Anyway, I did knock out a short film of this trip, if only because I quite liked the footage of me wading in the river. It can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxHHNoZnSQ&feature=plcp
Thigh deep in the margins
The river remains high and coloured but was definitely a little lower than yesterday - maybe an inch lower? I planned to fish two swims not too far from where I park the car, so it wouldn't matter much if I struggled again. So I was set up by about 6:30, as three swans made their way through my first swim and then had a chew at the tree at the top end.
At the end of last season I had taken some rather nice chub on float fished sweetcorn from this swim - the best being well over 5lbs. My approach was to feed the inside line of the main flow crease on the assumption that some fish would be willing to feed on this line. But an hour later, all I had to show for my efforts was a small roach of maybe 3oz.
So down to swim number 2, which entails a short wade out through to the edge of the reeds, giving a nice trott down the main flow. This spot was where I had filmed quite a few chub taking floating crust (what became the video "My Fishing Life 3"). So I was reasonably confident as I made my way slowly across the margins. The extra water meant that getting to the river meant wading to thigh high, which was a bit awkward. It was also actually quite cold. But I stuck it out for 30 minutes without any bites at all.
Back to swim one, and a final 30 minutes during which I managed one tiny chub.
I have been pondering on whether my fishing video series should include trips where I don't catch anything of particular interest. Do I want the videos to accurately reflect my season - blanks and all - or do I want them to show my successes (which makes the videos more interesting of course). At the moment, my plan is to produce videos where the footage looks ok, regardless of whether fish were caught or not. Maybe two blanks in a row might be merged together into one film, or one of them just ignored. Don't know yet.
Anyway, I did knock out a short film of this trip, if only because I quite liked the footage of me wading in the river. It can be found at:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KvxHHNoZnSQ&feature=plcp
Thigh deep in the margins
Sunday, 17 June 2012
Different venue, same result
I switched venues for my morning trip on June 17th to a local stretch of the River Thames. Though still high and very chocolate-coloured, this stretch does have some slacker swims where there might be some fish.
I started at the old ford. Usually the river drops a foot it goes over the ford, but today you can't even tell there is a drop there - the river's surface is just flat. On the nearside of the river, there is a large bay with a tree in the water. In the past, this has been a good perch swim and this morning I fishing a large lobworm just in front of the tree. One or two sharp taps on the rod tip (which could have been crayfish), but no firm bites.
Off downstream to another tree swim. Usually this is about 2 foot deep, but in current conditions, it is now about 4 foot deep. However the main significance of the extra water is that this swim now has a very stready flow. Once again, I dropped a lobworm into the main flow and let it swing round under the tree. But no bites at all here.
The next swim was one which has produced the odd barbel in the past and which I have been baiting with boilies for the last few days. I had another series of very fast taps on the tip, and one mangled boilie, but no firm pulls. Again, it is easy to conclude that these indications might have been from crayfish.
Two more swims close by were also fished with boilies, but no touches at all. I am beginning to assume that maybe the chub still aren't keen on feeding, but I would expect the barbel to be keen. However, location remains a huge problem for them. Even if they are feeding, they could be hundreds of yards away.
I finally made my way down to another favourite barbel swim. Fished it for 40 minutes with no touches whatsoever.
So trip 2 of the new season was also a blank. Still, conditions are quite poor. If it wasn't the start of the new season, I probably wouldn't be fishing. But at least the wildlife was out in abundance. I reckon I saw at least 4 kingfishers (or the same one four times) flying along the river with small fish in their mouths.
My tentative plan for my next fishing trip is to float fish sweetcorn in one of the steady glides. But really I am waiting for the river to start fining down - then I really expect things to improve hugely.
I started at the old ford. Usually the river drops a foot it goes over the ford, but today you can't even tell there is a drop there - the river's surface is just flat. On the nearside of the river, there is a large bay with a tree in the water. In the past, this has been a good perch swim and this morning I fishing a large lobworm just in front of the tree. One or two sharp taps on the rod tip (which could have been crayfish), but no firm bites.
Off downstream to another tree swim. Usually this is about 2 foot deep, but in current conditions, it is now about 4 foot deep. However the main significance of the extra water is that this swim now has a very stready flow. Once again, I dropped a lobworm into the main flow and let it swing round under the tree. But no bites at all here.
The next swim was one which has produced the odd barbel in the past and which I have been baiting with boilies for the last few days. I had another series of very fast taps on the tip, and one mangled boilie, but no firm pulls. Again, it is easy to conclude that these indications might have been from crayfish.
Two more swims close by were also fished with boilies, but no touches at all. I am beginning to assume that maybe the chub still aren't keen on feeding, but I would expect the barbel to be keen. However, location remains a huge problem for them. Even if they are feeding, they could be hundreds of yards away.
I finally made my way down to another favourite barbel swim. Fished it for 40 minutes with no touches whatsoever.
So trip 2 of the new season was also a blank. Still, conditions are quite poor. If it wasn't the start of the new season, I probably wouldn't be fishing. But at least the wildlife was out in abundance. I reckon I saw at least 4 kingfishers (or the same one four times) flying along the river with small fish in their mouths.
My tentative plan for my next fishing trip is to float fish sweetcorn in one of the steady glides. But really I am waiting for the river to start fining down - then I really expect things to improve hugely.
Saturday, 16 June 2012
Opening day - early morning on the Windrush
June 16th has been a magical day since I took up fishing aged 10 or so - even more magical than the previous day, June 15th, which is my birthday. For the next few years after I was 10, I would have new fishing tackle for my birthday and could try it out the next day. There was the year I got my first "Avon" rod from Billy Lane's tackle shop in Coventry. Or the year I got a Mitchell 300 reel (which I still have - not sure about the rod though). This tradition of fishing-related presents has even continued this year - one of my presents was Matt Hayes' book Fisheye: A Guide to Angling Photography.
So the alarm goes off at 3:30 this morning and I can hear the sound of rain. Not huge amounts, but some. I am up and out of the house by 4:00, for a shortish session on the Windrush. My goal is to catch a barbel, which is really quite a foolish plan. For one thing, the Windrush barbel stocks have been decimated over the last dozen years or so - indeed, I haven't caught one since 1996. But, on the other hand, there was also the issue of river height. The constant rain in June has pushed the rivers up. The Windrush is a thick chocolate colour at the moment. This suggested that chub, my main quarry, might be very hard as well.
Over the last few days, I have baited four swims that regularly produced barbel in the distant past and by 4:30 I was settled in the first. Conditions were worse than I had thought. The flow was very fast and there was quite a lot of debris coming down. I was constantly getting taps on the rod time and the occasional stronger looking pull which would turn out to be a clump of weed. I moved swims every 20 minutes or so without any sign of a real bite.
However, in the second swim I fished I did see an otter for about 4 seconds and this had appeared in the background on the video I shot. Otters are one of the main reasons for the demise of the Windrush as a fishery and so I have rather mixed feelings about seeing one. This is actually the second I have seen this year. Most people will never see a wild otter, so there is some pleasure in seeing this one.
I also scared a heron that was only a few yards from me when we came across each other. They are surprisingly big birds when you meet one close up! I am still very keen to get some good, close-up video footage of herons.
One effect of the trip was to produce my worst hayfever attack of the year so far, with my right eye in particular being really badly affected. I have bought some stronger eye drops - it would help if I wasn't tempted to keep rubbing it!
So because it was the glorious 16th, and because I have a small clip of an otter, I have made a video from today's trip. Going forward, I am not sure there is too much point posting film of blanks, but maybe if something interesting does happen . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdEcbLOd8qk&feature=plcp
So the alarm goes off at 3:30 this morning and I can hear the sound of rain. Not huge amounts, but some. I am up and out of the house by 4:00, for a shortish session on the Windrush. My goal is to catch a barbel, which is really quite a foolish plan. For one thing, the Windrush barbel stocks have been decimated over the last dozen years or so - indeed, I haven't caught one since 1996. But, on the other hand, there was also the issue of river height. The constant rain in June has pushed the rivers up. The Windrush is a thick chocolate colour at the moment. This suggested that chub, my main quarry, might be very hard as well.
Over the last few days, I have baited four swims that regularly produced barbel in the distant past and by 4:30 I was settled in the first. Conditions were worse than I had thought. The flow was very fast and there was quite a lot of debris coming down. I was constantly getting taps on the rod time and the occasional stronger looking pull which would turn out to be a clump of weed. I moved swims every 20 minutes or so without any sign of a real bite.
However, in the second swim I fished I did see an otter for about 4 seconds and this had appeared in the background on the video I shot. Otters are one of the main reasons for the demise of the Windrush as a fishery and so I have rather mixed feelings about seeing one. This is actually the second I have seen this year. Most people will never see a wild otter, so there is some pleasure in seeing this one.
I also scared a heron that was only a few yards from me when we came across each other. They are surprisingly big birds when you meet one close up! I am still very keen to get some good, close-up video footage of herons.
One effect of the trip was to produce my worst hayfever attack of the year so far, with my right eye in particular being really badly affected. I have bought some stronger eye drops - it would help if I wasn't tempted to keep rubbing it!
So because it was the glorious 16th, and because I have a small clip of an otter, I have made a video from today's trip. Going forward, I am not sure there is too much point posting film of blanks, but maybe if something interesting does happen . . .
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NdEcbLOd8qk&feature=plcp
Thursday, 14 June 2012
Only two more days to go!
Up at 5:00 for a walk along a nearby stretch of the Windrush. Over the last couple of days, the water levels have peaked and have now dropped an inch or two - still a murky brown colour though. Ideal for roach and (possibly) chub, maybe passed the peak for barbel. Nonetheless, barbel are my target for Saturday. I have been baiting some "old favourite" swims on the Windrush, but the vibe remains very poor for the prospects of catching barbel on this river - even the lady in the tackle shop yesterday had nothing good to say about such prospects. It's not like it was in the 90s it seems.
A large flock of what I think are greylag geese are in residence on the Thames at Newbridge and I've taken some video footage to use as filler when making fishing videos in the next few weeks.
Mid-morning I went for a second walk, this time along the Thames. Still up a foot or two, but some swims look really good, especially a couple of new swims where trees have fallen into the water over the last few months. One or two swims just scream "perch" so I may have a go for them if the colour remains till Sunday or Monday
One of my better wildlife photos - heron near the Thames at Chimney
A large flock of what I think are greylag geese are in residence on the Thames at Newbridge and I've taken some video footage to use as filler when making fishing videos in the next few weeks.
Mid-morning I went for a second walk, this time along the Thames. Still up a foot or two, but some swims look really good, especially a couple of new swims where trees have fallen into the water over the last few months. One or two swims just scream "perch" so I may have a go for them if the colour remains till Sunday or Monday
One of my better wildlife photos - heron near the Thames at Chimney
Monday, 11 June 2012
RAIN, Rain, rain . . . and more rain
We have been away in Italy for the past week - many days on sunshine and temperatures into the 30s. Apparently back in the UK, it has rained more or less constantly for the past week, slightly spoiling the Queen's Jubilee it would seem.
While this is good for the drought (which should really be over for the summer at least), it has started to cause me some anxiety about my opening day plans for river fishing. When thinking about all this over the last month or so, I hadn't really factored in the idea that the rivers would be in flood.
I had intended to visit the river a few times this week to do some prebaiting. Though I have made a gallon or two of hemp today, I'm not sure I should be throwing it in the river quite yet
While this is good for the drought (which should really be over for the summer at least), it has started to cause me some anxiety about my opening day plans for river fishing. When thinking about all this over the last month or so, I hadn't really factored in the idea that the rivers would be in flood.
I had intended to visit the river a few times this week to do some prebaiting. Though I have made a gallon or two of hemp today, I'm not sure I should be throwing it in the river quite yet
Wednesday, 30 May 2012
A surprisingly easy evening trout fishing
Way back in time, just after 9-11 in fact, I was due for a day's trout fishing at Chew with my banking friend Robert and the famous fishing guide, John Horsey. Due to 9-11, Robert couldn't attend so John and I shared the boat and both fished. When I got there at 12:00, John was really excited saying that huge numbers of fish were hovering just below the surface and we would have a great day on dry flies. And so it proved. We caught something like 120 fish that day, split 75-45 to John. Despite becoming acutely aware of John's obviously higher skill level, I was really pleased with my 45 fish, all taken on dry flies - who wouldn't be? I doubt I will ever have such a day trout fishing again.
But yesterday came close!
Actually really easy fishing days are, in an important sense, actually quite uninteresting as there isn't the challenge there is usually. The story was this. I fished Bushyleaze trout fishery arriving at just after 4:00pm. Bushyleaze is one of my favourite fishing spots though I have only managed a couple of trips to it over the past few years. In particular, it responds well to my preferred fly fishing method of dries or nymphs just below the surface.
I started in the bay at the south end of the lake and soon discovered a huge collection of fish holed up by a tree and keen to take dries or nymphs. In the next four hours, I had about 40 takes, hooked around 20 fish, and landed a fair few (including three foul hooked fish - which is a bit unusual, but just shows how close to the surface the fish were), all of which I returned. Best fish was 5-05, two others over 4lbs and the rest about 2 1/2lbs.
It didn't seem to matter that there were frequent disturbances to the area from hooked fish, the others just kept on taking. I actually hooked 9 fish on the same fly, until it became so tatty that I had to replace it. Virtually every fish was caught on a size 12 daiwl bach nymph - the one with the touch of red. And in the end this actually became a bit dull. Once past about 6:30, I rarely went three casts without a take, at one point hooked five fish in seven casts, and on another occasion had three takes in about 10 seconds, two of which I missed and one fish I lost.
But it is also important to remember that such days are really, really rare. Hardly anyone else caught anything (a guy I showed the fish location to had a couple from there) and I have had many, many hard days catching one or two fish after hours of effort. So such freakishly good days should be accepted gratefully when they occur and remembered fondly when times are much tougher.
Because there is so much action on the video cameras, I have ended up posting three videos of the trip, edited so it doesn't quite look like I am catching one fish after another! I suspect this is rather over-the-top but it did give me lots of good practice at making the films and to do some experimenting with editing. No doubt there will be plenty of videos later in the year where nothing much happens. One thing I did notice with the video is that it appears I am fishing really close to the fish. There is a slight telephoto effect from the camera. I am actually about 15 to 20 yards from the tree, casting down to it so that the fly lands as close to the tree as possible. At times it looks like I'm virtually on top of the fish!
Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6PA_v_bbE0&feature=related
Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuF1sWGWGoA&feature=related
Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYFKb7z_kcU&feature=related
But yesterday came close!
Actually really easy fishing days are, in an important sense, actually quite uninteresting as there isn't the challenge there is usually. The story was this. I fished Bushyleaze trout fishery arriving at just after 4:00pm. Bushyleaze is one of my favourite fishing spots though I have only managed a couple of trips to it over the past few years. In particular, it responds well to my preferred fly fishing method of dries or nymphs just below the surface.
I started in the bay at the south end of the lake and soon discovered a huge collection of fish holed up by a tree and keen to take dries or nymphs. In the next four hours, I had about 40 takes, hooked around 20 fish, and landed a fair few (including three foul hooked fish - which is a bit unusual, but just shows how close to the surface the fish were), all of which I returned. Best fish was 5-05, two others over 4lbs and the rest about 2 1/2lbs.
It didn't seem to matter that there were frequent disturbances to the area from hooked fish, the others just kept on taking. I actually hooked 9 fish on the same fly, until it became so tatty that I had to replace it. Virtually every fish was caught on a size 12 daiwl bach nymph - the one with the touch of red. And in the end this actually became a bit dull. Once past about 6:30, I rarely went three casts without a take, at one point hooked five fish in seven casts, and on another occasion had three takes in about 10 seconds, two of which I missed and one fish I lost.
But it is also important to remember that such days are really, really rare. Hardly anyone else caught anything (a guy I showed the fish location to had a couple from there) and I have had many, many hard days catching one or two fish after hours of effort. So such freakishly good days should be accepted gratefully when they occur and remembered fondly when times are much tougher.
Because there is so much action on the video cameras, I have ended up posting three videos of the trip, edited so it doesn't quite look like I am catching one fish after another! I suspect this is rather over-the-top but it did give me lots of good practice at making the films and to do some experimenting with editing. No doubt there will be plenty of videos later in the year where nothing much happens. One thing I did notice with the video is that it appears I am fishing really close to the fish. There is a slight telephoto effect from the camera. I am actually about 15 to 20 yards from the tree, casting down to it so that the fly lands as close to the tree as possible. At times it looks like I'm virtually on top of the fish!
Part One: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6PA_v_bbE0&feature=related
Part Two: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuF1sWGWGoA&feature=related
Part Three: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eYFKb7z_kcU&feature=related
Thursday, 24 May 2012
New thoughts on filming - a second camera
I was talking to my friend Jerome the other day about video making and he happened to mention that he had just bought a secondhand video camera on ebay for about £10. It was three or four years old, but seemed fine for what he wanted it for. So with that in mind I went onto ebay to see about acquiring a second camera exactly the same as my current one. Several hours later, I now have two Sony Handycams, having paid the princely sum of £29 for another one.
It seems to me that this has quite an impact on my planned filming. Now I can have one camera quite close by to which I direct comments and hopefully show off caught fish, and then I can have a second camera sited well away from me that just takes longer range shots. I have also picked up a long life battery for the new camera as well as a couple more memory cards. Now I can shoot about 6 hours on each camera.
Finally, I came across some tiny video cameras used by people skateboarding, snowboarding, mountain biking, and so on, to take head cam shots. Another £20 has got me one of these. It shoots to a 32GB memory card but apparently has really poor battery consumption. This could be quite a nice add on though.
So now I am really kitted out with video stuff for the new fishing season
It seems to me that this has quite an impact on my planned filming. Now I can have one camera quite close by to which I direct comments and hopefully show off caught fish, and then I can have a second camera sited well away from me that just takes longer range shots. I have also picked up a long life battery for the new camera as well as a couple more memory cards. Now I can shoot about 6 hours on each camera.
Finally, I came across some tiny video cameras used by people skateboarding, snowboarding, mountain biking, and so on, to take head cam shots. Another £20 has got me one of these. It shoots to a 32GB memory card but apparently has really poor battery consumption. This could be quite a nice add on though.
So now I am really kitted out with video stuff for the new fishing season
Sunday, 20 May 2012
Another walk by the Thames
The constant rain of the last few weeks has finally abated and we have had a few days of dry weather. Getting up at 5:30am on a Sunday morning to walk the river was a bit of a shock but I thought it might enable more wildlife to be seen down there.
Duxford ford was still very high but the path further downstream was no longer under water, though very slippy. I was quite surprised by the evidence for how high the water had got - maybe 3 or 4 foot higher than it now is from the silt that had been deposited over the plants growing by the river. Also I was surprised by the number of big tree branches that had split off from their main tree trunks. In 3 or 4 places, the path is now effectively blocked. And much further down, there is now a new tree in the water that could potentially be a very good new fishing spot.
I had brought a few slices of crust with me, more to examine the floodwater flow than on any expectations that I could persuade a chub to rise. But much to my surprise, at one spot, I did actually get about a dozen pieces taken. That was the only spot though where they did seem happy to take it. I wonder if that is a new potential strategy - floating crust in receding floodwater!
I walked as far as the chapel near the downstream end of the section. Some swallows or swifts have arrived down there and were feeding over the river. Attempts to film them in flight failed completely. Two herons also about but I couldn't get near enough to them, and a pair of tufted ducks - the first I've seen this year.
I did take some more video, mainly for a possible short film showing various spots back in March when the river was low in comparison with now when it is just past the peak flood. But I didn't walk all the way round to the hide at Chimney this time.
The weather is supposed to continue improving and we may get some sunshine this week. I might be able to have an afternoon / evening trout fishing and quite fancy Bushyleaze this time. Maybe Tuesday or Thursday.
Duxford ford was still very high but the path further downstream was no longer under water, though very slippy. I was quite surprised by the evidence for how high the water had got - maybe 3 or 4 foot higher than it now is from the silt that had been deposited over the plants growing by the river. Also I was surprised by the number of big tree branches that had split off from their main tree trunks. In 3 or 4 places, the path is now effectively blocked. And much further down, there is now a new tree in the water that could potentially be a very good new fishing spot.
I had brought a few slices of crust with me, more to examine the floodwater flow than on any expectations that I could persuade a chub to rise. But much to my surprise, at one spot, I did actually get about a dozen pieces taken. That was the only spot though where they did seem happy to take it. I wonder if that is a new potential strategy - floating crust in receding floodwater!
I walked as far as the chapel near the downstream end of the section. Some swallows or swifts have arrived down there and were feeding over the river. Attempts to film them in flight failed completely. Two herons also about but I couldn't get near enough to them, and a pair of tufted ducks - the first I've seen this year.
I did take some more video, mainly for a possible short film showing various spots back in March when the river was low in comparison with now when it is just past the peak flood. But I didn't walk all the way round to the hide at Chimney this time.
The weather is supposed to continue improving and we may get some sunshine this week. I might be able to have an afternoon / evening trout fishing and quite fancy Bushyleaze this time. Maybe Tuesday or Thursday.
Friday, 18 May 2012
Latest fishing reading
With just a few weeks to go to the new season, I am doing a spot of pre-season, fishing-related reading. For the last couple of days, I have been reading John Wilson's account of his fishing in 1990. Years ago, when I had only been fishing for a year or two, my parents bought me John Wilson's A Specimen Fishing Year. This remains one of my all-time favourite fishing books and was the main reason I started a fishing diary back in the mid-late 1970s. Go Fishing Year is in the same style but his fishing now has a huge international bias to it, related to the TV shows. I was hoping to glean some valuable fishing-programme-making tips, but it seems that the main lesson is that the teams that make the TV shows are actually quite large - 5 or 6 people - and that each show takes several days to make. But the info about filler and continuity shots was interesting and is exactly the sort of stuff I am thinking about lots at the moment. Really nice photos too.
I bought Targets set and Achieved directly from Phil a few months back. I am a big fan of his fishing blog and the book very much follows the same format as the blog. The individual entries are all very interesting and I have been thinking alot about some of the points made. So overall, I rather like the book. My one and only gripe is actually the whole "targets" approach. I don't think the fishing stories are enhanced particularly by this overall theme - they stand up themselves without it. And it does lead to the unfortunate feature that once the target is caught, that's it, its off to another place.
This book is a self-published affair and interesting because of this. A fair few typos and some odd phrasing here and there, but actually a really good effort more or less on his own.
Next up will be Chris Yates' The Deepening Pool, then maybe Miles and West's Quest for Barbel, both older books from my collection - and I want to read the 60 back issues of Course Angling Today that I acquired over the winter.
I bought Targets set and Achieved directly from Phil a few months back. I am a big fan of his fishing blog and the book very much follows the same format as the blog. The individual entries are all very interesting and I have been thinking alot about some of the points made. So overall, I rather like the book. My one and only gripe is actually the whole "targets" approach. I don't think the fishing stories are enhanced particularly by this overall theme - they stand up themselves without it. And it does lead to the unfortunate feature that once the target is caught, that's it, its off to another place.
This book is a self-published affair and interesting because of this. A fair few typos and some odd phrasing here and there, but actually a really good effort more or less on his own.
Next up will be Chris Yates' The Deepening Pool, then maybe Miles and West's Quest for Barbel, both older books from my collection - and I want to read the 60 back issues of Course Angling Today that I acquired over the winter.
Monday, 14 May 2012
Tentative goals for the new season
Much of my thinking about fishing for the new season has been driven by my planned filming. Within these filming plans, a tentative list of goals / venues is beginning to form.
I expect most of my fishing to take place on the Thames between Duxford and Bablock Hythe persuing chub and barbel - about 4 miles of river, with four or five distinct venues. Northmoor weir is one of my first planned venues on the theory that, early season, fish will like the well oxygenated water. This might be where I first try a "bait and wait", two-rod approach for the first time.
Other nearby venues include the Evenlode and Windrush, both of which I plan to fish for barbel on during July and August, though the chances of catching anything at either venue are not high.
Further afield, I have a couple of stretches of the Kennet which I want to fish a dozen times or so over the summer.
Finally, two rivers that I only plan to fish two or three times each - private stretches of the Hampshire Avon (after a huge chub or barbel) and the Frome (after a personal best grayling).
One other possibility might be to go trout fishing in the Lake District - I thought I might try one trip on Esthwaite Water and maybe one trip to one of the high tarns after tiny wild brownies. I will also do a couple of fly fishing trips to Barnes Lake and Bushyleaze.
I have been studying the various issues involved in filming these trips and am beginning to get an idea about what I am really trying to achieve with this. I am intending to shoot all trips, blanks and all, but perhaps edit consecutive blanks together into shorter clips. This way, the videos will be a complete diary. I am also going to try and film a number of fishing techniques, including things like floating crust for chub, so the films have a good level of variety. My goal is to make somewhere around 50 films in 35 weeks. That is hugely ambitious I suspect.
I expect most of my fishing to take place on the Thames between Duxford and Bablock Hythe persuing chub and barbel - about 4 miles of river, with four or five distinct venues. Northmoor weir is one of my first planned venues on the theory that, early season, fish will like the well oxygenated water. This might be where I first try a "bait and wait", two-rod approach for the first time.
Other nearby venues include the Evenlode and Windrush, both of which I plan to fish for barbel on during July and August, though the chances of catching anything at either venue are not high.
Further afield, I have a couple of stretches of the Kennet which I want to fish a dozen times or so over the summer.
Finally, two rivers that I only plan to fish two or three times each - private stretches of the Hampshire Avon (after a huge chub or barbel) and the Frome (after a personal best grayling).
One other possibility might be to go trout fishing in the Lake District - I thought I might try one trip on Esthwaite Water and maybe one trip to one of the high tarns after tiny wild brownies. I will also do a couple of fly fishing trips to Barnes Lake and Bushyleaze.
I have been studying the various issues involved in filming these trips and am beginning to get an idea about what I am really trying to achieve with this. I am intending to shoot all trips, blanks and all, but perhaps edit consecutive blanks together into shorter clips. This way, the videos will be a complete diary. I am also going to try and film a number of fishing techniques, including things like floating crust for chub, so the films have a good level of variety. My goal is to make somewhere around 50 films in 35 weeks. That is hugely ambitious I suspect.
Friday, 11 May 2012
Walking the flooded Thames
A brief pause in the almost constant rain and a chance to go for a walk along the river - or so I thought. At Duxford the river was over the bank upstream of the ford and the ford itself had virtually disappeared - the water flow over it left it virtually flat. I would guess the river was up about 2 foot. This meant that the footpath downstream of the ford was underwater and it wasn't possible to get much further down.
Following me down to the river were a oldish couple who were apparently there to scatter the man's mother's ashes at Duxford ford. I think they decided to wait for a better day. The man looked quite a lot like famous barbel angler Ray Walton, but it probably wasn't him!
So I returned to Hinton and walked down to the lock at Shifford via the path Bernie uses when he comes dow to lay crayfish nets on his quad bike. The bottom field by the lock was flooded a little - enough to encourage swans to settle on the water and for me to get wet feet walking across the ground. I took a little bit of video of some of the swims in flood conditions and might have some shots of the same area from back in March when it was desperately low.
A few years back, early summer floods rather washed out the first two months of the fishing season - much as I want rain to keep falling, I also want to be able to get to the river to fish, so a let up in the rain in early June, say, would be good.
Following me down to the river were a oldish couple who were apparently there to scatter the man's mother's ashes at Duxford ford. I think they decided to wait for a better day. The man looked quite a lot like famous barbel angler Ray Walton, but it probably wasn't him!
So I returned to Hinton and walked down to the lock at Shifford via the path Bernie uses when he comes dow to lay crayfish nets on his quad bike. The bottom field by the lock was flooded a little - enough to encourage swans to settle on the water and for me to get wet feet walking across the ground. I took a little bit of video of some of the swims in flood conditions and might have some shots of the same area from back in March when it was desperately low.
A few years back, early summer floods rather washed out the first two months of the fishing season - much as I want rain to keep falling, I also want to be able to get to the river to fish, so a let up in the rain in early June, say, would be good.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Detailed review of another John Wilson fishing video
A couple of years ago, I transferred some old videos onto DVDs and then copied them onto one of the external hard drives on the PC. Today's video review is one of my favourite episodes of Go Fishing, the one where John Wilson is fishing for barbel on the Wensum and catches two fish, including an immaculate double from just under a bush on the far bank.
This clip lasts about 10m 40s in total and is made up of 51 seperate clips, for an average of 12 seconds each. Five or six clips are actually quite long, over 30s with a maximum of 54s, but these long clips are the sort I wouldn't be able to take, generally featuring a moving camera recording JW playing a fish. Tremendously exciting, but not possible for me to replicate.
The film also has several shots of fish in the shallow water, also something that I doubt I could replicate.
My next fishing video review will be something from Catching the Impossible - a very different style of fishing programme. Then I will start to summarize my review results so far, and draw up a small checklist of things to remember when I am filming my own fishing.
JW heaving against his double figure barbel - just shows the strain that the tackle can take
Not a bad picture, given that it is a screen capture on a PC from a copy of a video made more than 10 years ago
This clip lasts about 10m 40s in total and is made up of 51 seperate clips, for an average of 12 seconds each. Five or six clips are actually quite long, over 30s with a maximum of 54s, but these long clips are the sort I wouldn't be able to take, generally featuring a moving camera recording JW playing a fish. Tremendously exciting, but not possible for me to replicate.
The film also has several shots of fish in the shallow water, also something that I doubt I could replicate.
My next fishing video review will be something from Catching the Impossible - a very different style of fishing programme. Then I will start to summarize my review results so far, and draw up a small checklist of things to remember when I am filming my own fishing.
JW heaving against his double figure barbel - just shows the strain that the tackle can take
Not a bad picture, given that it is a screen capture on a PC from a copy of a video made more than 10 years ago
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
First fishing video - "My Fishing life 1"
Producing my first fishing video started with a review of yesterday's footage - all 180 minutes of it. Shots showing me casting well were highlighted, some bits of me fishing with bird song on them in the background, shots with fish rising and, in one case, jumping, the actual capture of a fish, various filler shots, and so on.
Gradually a structure for the clip came together. The introduction is fine, there are some ok clips with me casting to rising fish, or the one jumper. Then I switch to the other lake, finally catching the one fish of the day. Shame this bit of the film has a poorly positioned camera angle. The filler shots are ok as well. I decided to not bother with music this time, but I did use some captions. Also I was quite pleased to have hit on the idea of using a neutral clip of me casting for the title page and end page.
I am getting slightly better at edited as well, eventually producing a video of 13 mins 11s in about two hours. As I write this, my video is slowly being uploaded to youtube, something which seems to take ages.
So what did I learn from film 1? Well I did notice that my fly casting technique needs some work. I am letting the rod slip back too far and not loading it properly for the forward cast. And I don't have the rod low enough when I'm retrieving.
And in respect of the movie? I do need to concentrate on getting the shot well framed. I could usefully have a notebook going as I film so I can find the interesting bits a bit easier than viewing it all. And I need to do something to improve the sound. And buy a second memory card so I can record 6 hours instead of 3. And keep a notebook while fishing.
Finally, I did make one mistake initially, which was to prepare the initial upload in 4:3 format rather than 16:9, which is the youtube format and which I did shoot the actual footage in. So the project did have to be uploaded twice before I got it to look correct on youtube. If you do prepare the video in the wrong sizing format, then youtube displays a black border around the movie and it is relatively small on the standard screen. Five minutes to fix, but another 6 hours to upload (we have such low upload speeds out here in the country!)
But overall, I'm actually rather pleased with the film. Roll on the next trip. Here is the video link
http://www.savetubevideo.com/?v=g6gAdwwNTx0
My first fish caught on camera - rainbow trout of about 2 1/2lbs
Gradually a structure for the clip came together. The introduction is fine, there are some ok clips with me casting to rising fish, or the one jumper. Then I switch to the other lake, finally catching the one fish of the day. Shame this bit of the film has a poorly positioned camera angle. The filler shots are ok as well. I decided to not bother with music this time, but I did use some captions. Also I was quite pleased to have hit on the idea of using a neutral clip of me casting for the title page and end page.
I am getting slightly better at edited as well, eventually producing a video of 13 mins 11s in about two hours. As I write this, my video is slowly being uploaded to youtube, something which seems to take ages.
So what did I learn from film 1? Well I did notice that my fly casting technique needs some work. I am letting the rod slip back too far and not loading it properly for the forward cast. And I don't have the rod low enough when I'm retrieving.
And in respect of the movie? I do need to concentrate on getting the shot well framed. I could usefully have a notebook going as I film so I can find the interesting bits a bit easier than viewing it all. And I need to do something to improve the sound. And buy a second memory card so I can record 6 hours instead of 3. And keep a notebook while fishing.
Finally, I did make one mistake initially, which was to prepare the initial upload in 4:3 format rather than 16:9, which is the youtube format and which I did shoot the actual footage in. So the project did have to be uploaded twice before I got it to look correct on youtube. If you do prepare the video in the wrong sizing format, then youtube displays a black border around the movie and it is relatively small on the standard screen. Five minutes to fix, but another 6 hours to upload (we have such low upload speeds out here in the country!)
But overall, I'm actually rather pleased with the film. Roll on the next trip. Here is the video link
http://www.savetubevideo.com/?v=g6gAdwwNTx0
My first fish caught on camera - rainbow trout of about 2 1/2lbs
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Trout fishing at Barnes Lake - first fishing video
It has rained more or less non stop for the past few weeks. The rivers are pretty full round here, though the Thames is back within its banks having flooded briefly the other week. But the main reason to not go trout fishing is that it remains quite cold. The other day it was just 1 over zero over night - and its May!
I called into Barnes Lake last week for a quick look round and to take some "filler" filming of wildlife and trout rising. It had looked pretty good then - indeed I should have fished then as the weather deteriorated again the next day and I've had to wait a week for it to clear up enough. Today was not perfect, but it was the best appearing on the forecast for the next week or so.
My aim today was to try and shoot enough footage to make my first fishing video. I intend to film most of my trips over the next season, so I need to get started on working out some of the logistics. My plan was to set up the camera in each spot I fished and then take about 15 mins of video with one or two variations. Then, depending on what I caught, I would cut it together about 10 minutes or so from it.
I was the only person there when I arrived at around 2:30 and I started on the corner of the smaller lake, where a number of fish seemed to be moving. I was joined soon after by a guy from Newcastle down here on work and the owner, John Barnes, both of whom interrupted my first clip. When they'd moved on, I was able to concentrate on fishing the ripples. I had one or two takes which I missed but probably got video footage of. Some good shots of me casting, with some fish rising on several of the clips.
About an hour later I switched to the big lake, settle in at the far end with the wind behind me to help with casting. Quite a few fish rising, but generally a long way out. Finally, just before 5:00pm, I had a firm take and hooked a fish. This fought really well, though was perhaps only 2 1/2 lbs or so and hopefully made for some ok video.
But after that, things went very quiet and the hoped-for evening rise didn't really happen at all. Yes, some fish were rising but maybe at the rate of one fish a minute when a good evening rise would be over 50 per minute. I did have a couple more takes which I missed.
I stuck it out till around 8:00, remembering to get a wrap-up clip. A quick look at the video when I got in and it seems ok. The one fish I caught is on the film, but the camera wasn't positioned very well for that shot. Enough to make a movie from though, which I plan to do tomorrow.
I called into Barnes Lake last week for a quick look round and to take some "filler" filming of wildlife and trout rising. It had looked pretty good then - indeed I should have fished then as the weather deteriorated again the next day and I've had to wait a week for it to clear up enough. Today was not perfect, but it was the best appearing on the forecast for the next week or so.
My aim today was to try and shoot enough footage to make my first fishing video. I intend to film most of my trips over the next season, so I need to get started on working out some of the logistics. My plan was to set up the camera in each spot I fished and then take about 15 mins of video with one or two variations. Then, depending on what I caught, I would cut it together about 10 minutes or so from it.
I was the only person there when I arrived at around 2:30 and I started on the corner of the smaller lake, where a number of fish seemed to be moving. I was joined soon after by a guy from Newcastle down here on work and the owner, John Barnes, both of whom interrupted my first clip. When they'd moved on, I was able to concentrate on fishing the ripples. I had one or two takes which I missed but probably got video footage of. Some good shots of me casting, with some fish rising on several of the clips.
About an hour later I switched to the big lake, settle in at the far end with the wind behind me to help with casting. Quite a few fish rising, but generally a long way out. Finally, just before 5:00pm, I had a firm take and hooked a fish. This fought really well, though was perhaps only 2 1/2 lbs or so and hopefully made for some ok video.
But after that, things went very quiet and the hoped-for evening rise didn't really happen at all. Yes, some fish were rising but maybe at the rate of one fish a minute when a good evening rise would be over 50 per minute. I did have a couple more takes which I missed.
I stuck it out till around 8:00, remembering to get a wrap-up clip. A quick look at the video when I got in and it seems ok. The one fish I caught is on the film, but the camera wasn't positioned very well for that shot. Enough to make a movie from though, which I plan to do tomorrow.
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