End of year fishing report

So, with my "busy time" approaching, yesterday's session was my last of 2014, a fishing year bookended by blanks, and that contained a lot of fun and the usual combination of minor successes and failures, fish caught, fish lost and angling puzzles to continue to mull over. It was predominantly a story of two venues, The Grand Union Canal and a pond I'll refer to as "The Carp Lake", and both were responsible for good days and what we sometimes euphemistically refer to as "challenging days."

 

 

The canal was the scene of a number of short sessions lure fishing for perch and pike. Normally early morning affairs, occasionally solo affairs, but more usually in the company of Pete, or on a couple of occasions my son, these provided the opportunity to engage in one of the most enjoyable forms of angling: mobile lure fishing. Travelling light and targeting likely spots, the canal provided us with plenty of perch and the occasional pike, some good fish but no giants. As well as the old dependables, the Ondex and Aglia's, we also tentatively experimented with dropshotting and ultra light lures, experiments, no doubt, to be continued next year.

 

 

 

 

The Carp Lake was the scene of a month of (by my standards) intensive fishing, with five sessions, including an overnighter fitted in to four weeks. Fishing with my son, Pete or Roger, a steady stream of carp fell to a mixture of modern carp fishing techniques, my son and I tending to opt for PVA bagging while Pete's preferred option was the Method. As with the canal, fish were plentiful, and the carp here fight hard, but all were of a modest size, with most fish being high singles.
 

 

 

 

As well as the inevitable commons and mirrors, one late summer session also saw Pete's hair rigged pellets fool not only the intended carp, but also an unexpected brace of quality crucians. Although I suspect it'll take a fair bit to separate my son from his favoured PVA bags or Pete from his method feeders, my intention next year is to fish for the carp predominantly floatfishing the margins and using a centrepin.

The highlight of the season was being accompanied by my son on his first ever night fishing trip, and introducing him to the sounds and sights of a carp lake as dusk gives way to darkness.

In all, an enjoyable year's fishing, the pioneering excitement provided as new sections of the Canal were scouted out, explored and fished, and a return to carp angling after an absence of a couple of years. The one regret would be that I float-fished far less than I would have liked, an oversight to be corrected next year. With the last few sessions of the year seeing few fish caught, I suspect if one of my schoolteachers from back in the day were to write a report on my exploits it would probably read "Jon has tried hard, but failed to maintain his early promise."
Never mind ...... there's always next year.

Last session blues

Today's final session of 2014 was a reminder of two things- stillwater fish are much easier to catch in warm weather than cold, and winter angling can be cruel. For me, fishing in the colder months is like smoking cigarettes - more of an addiction than a pleasure. This morning as I climbed into the car to get my quick three hour fix the car temperature gauge cheerfully informed me that the air temperature was a full 2 degrees, and the weather forecast on the car radio didn't suggest it was going to get that much warmer, either.

Knowing that bites would be at a premium, I decided to go small (size 20 hook and single maggot), with half a pint of maggots and half a pint of castors as bait. As I arrived at the lake the sky had a pretty pinkish tinge, which quickly faded to wolf coat grey. I set up with one of Ian Lewis' (Ian Lewis handmade floats) Norfolk reed wagglers, and began feeding a swim just off the edge of some dead reedbeds.

I was fishing with Pete, my regular fishing companion, who decided to double his chances by fishing a swimfeeder tucked in close to an overhanging tree with maggot as bait, as well as a waggler. In the event Pete had the only bite of the whole three hours that we fished together. Fortunately he connected with the fishy culprit, the result being the carp pictured below.

 

 

After the allocated three hours were up I needed to return to work for an afternoon meeting, followed by a running a training session for the village primary school football team that I coach before taking the first (of many!) carol services this month. My fishing season, which has almost entirely comprised of very short sessions, has lost momentum in recent weeks, with the abundant pike and perch of the spring months from the canal, and the summer's carp giving way to a disappointing winter in which Pete has almost permanently had the "Indian sign" over me.

Pete stayed on for another two and a half hours after my departure, and added this handsome perch to his catch, on what was a gruelling winter session, and- almost certainly for us- the angling swansong of 2014.

 

 

But here's the funny thing: while this morning's session may have been about as pleasant as a bad case of amoebic dysentery, and notwithstanding the fact that January and February may prove even colder and harder to find fish, I can't wait till my next session ........... do they do the equivalent of nicotine patches for fishing? ......... this addiction is getting ridiculous.