A farewell to stripes

"Old men", TS Eliot contended, "should be explorers."

While not yet quite an "old man", my years on earth to date would qualify me as one who inhabits that brief and necessarily temporary space in time best described as "too young to be old and too old to be young", and I am aware that with age and passing years I have gained a greater appreciation of the fact that every trip with a fishing rod is an adventure; an escape from the responsibilities that restrict and define modern life and a journey back into something altogether simpler, a now fast disappearing world that once existed. A world that takes me back to the earliest days of my angling journey, themselves explorations and adventures in which visits to an old-style tackle shop (sometimes just to stand and stare), evenings spent pouring over the same collection of fishing magazines and books, and the drawing of maps of lakes and keeping diaries were as much a part of the adventure as the plucking of modestly sized roach, rudd, perch and the occasional plump tench from the local club lake.

Perhaps my fishing is a returning to something I thought was lost. Perhaps that's why I choose to continue my adventures with vintage rods and reels. Perhaps that's why my favourite of all British fish is the first fish I ever caught: the perch.

With Spring almost upon us, and Autumn and Winter nearly spent I had opted for one last session in search of perch and returned to the "perch pond" that has accounted for some fine specimens for me, in the knowledge that soon the adventures will change shape to become forays after tench and crucians in keeping with the changing of the seasons.
Float fishing triple red maggot on a size 18, I was soon experiencing bites, which resulted in a succession of tiny perch and the occasional 3 or 4 ounce roach being swung in to join me on the bank. This is a pond where large perch lurk but, whether using worm or maggot, the voracious hordes of small fish have to be waded through before connection is made with the prize.

After about an hour and a half of striking and making contact with either "thin air" or a mini perch or small roach, I found myself attached to something much more substantial. The vintage glass fibre avon took the strain and after a tussle of two or three minutes a wonderful fat-bellied perch was being drawn over the waiting net. A glance at the fish in the folds of the net led to me wondering if I had, at last, fulfilled my ambition to land a three pounder. The fish was shaped like a football, and I knew it would be a close thing. In the event, it couldn't have been any closer: the digital scales, once the weight of the net had been subtracted indicated a perch of 2 pounds and 15 ounces.

I slipped my prize back into the water, and spent the next quarter of an hour sitting behind my fishing partner for the day, David, and chatting. It didn't feel right to dive back into the pursuit of perch without savouring the after-glow of a new personal best.
David was legering with pellets as bait, his intentions for the day revolving around carp and barbel. (yes, I know: always controversial when stocked into stillwater, but we don't own the lake, we just fish it, and in all fairness the barbel of this pond always fight with determination and look as fit as the proverbial fiddle.)

Sport had been slow for David, with just a few small roach and an F1 to show for his efforts, but eventually his quivertip swung round and a muscular fish powered towards the middle of the lake, leading a few minutes later to him admiring and holding aloft for the cameras a handsome barbel.

By lunchtime I was ready to pack up. In married life there is "no such thing as a free fishing session", and there were two lawns to be mown. The sun was high and hot, the perch had faded away into the shadows (although I did contrive to lose another perch, that looked to be about a pound and three quarters, a loss which disappointed me less than it might have done but probably more than it should have done, in the light of my earlier success.)

In conclusion, this morning's short adventure contained all that is best in fishing; beautiful scenery, good company, memories made and a fish glorious in both appearance and stature.
There are many worse ways to spend a morning, but few better.
And so, for this "old man explorer" the quest for a "three" (and thereby the adventure), for the sake of a mere ounce,  continues ...

Swapping stripes for teeth

It's been a long time since I fished for pike.
Too long.
I blame the perch.

My recent preoccupation with all things spined and stripy has meant that an entire Autumn and Winter has passed without me wetting a line in pursuit of pike, and with Spring, one hopes, just around the corner it was "now or never" if that state of affairs was to be altered. I rang Pete and we hastily convened a Saturday morning appointment with the Grand Union Canal with old esox as the intended quarry.

The early morning air was chill, although the forecast promised a morning that would get milder as it progressed, which thankfully turned out to be the case. We tackled up alongside each other in an area of the canal that has proved productive for us in the past, and set about the task of catching livebaits (itself a diverting and pleasant pastime) with which to tempt any marauding green and copper hued water wolves who might be lurking in the vicinity with hungry stomachs and malevolent intent.

Catching the livebait presented a greater challenge than is often the case, but without too much effort expended we had enough small roach, perch and bleak to begin the more earnest task of snaring a passing predator. Our pike floats bobbed pleasingly on the water's surface as the, doubtless, less than pleased baits performed their underwater task. I was giving a debut to a vintage glass fibre carp rod made 30 or 40 years ago by the no longer with us but (by me, at least) much lamented ET Barlow & Son, rodbuilders of Thames Ditton, whose signature Vortex range was adorned with a cartoon perch logo. The aforementioned fish-bothering stick was paired with an ancient but reliable Mitchell 300 which proudly wears the noble scars and paint chips earned through years of hard use.

Pete's livebait had barely entered the water before it was snaffled by a lively jack which was soon suffering the indignity of being held aloft to enable it to snarl for the camera before being returned to its everyday business of harassing fish smaller than itself.

Thereafter things took a more familiar turn, with watching and waiting the order of the day. The lack of activity was not to the detriment of enjoyment, and conversation and coffee flowed as the sun broke through the clouds, and the grey winter's sky took on an altogether more Spring-like aspect. Pete had appointed himself "cigar monitor" for the day, and two plumes of aromatic smoke were soon drifting towards the heavens as we willed our floats into disappearance.

In the event my float, livebait and a passing pike contrived to fulfil one of the classic cliches beloved of anglers: the last gasp, last cast "blank saver". With the morning almost up, and lists of chores awaiting each of us in our respective domestic lives the float bobbed, ducked, disappeared and pulled away with determination. I closed the bail arm of the Mitchell, wound down and struck and brought to the net a pike of extremely modest proportions. No matter that it was one of the smallest jacks I've had the fortune to make the acquaintance of, I was delighted not only to have plucked victory from the jaws of angling defeat, but also to have "christened" the rod with such a plucky pup of a pike.

I returned the pike carefully to the water, and we watched it lie up sulkily for a full minute or two, exuding surly indignation at  the insult to its pride caused by being briefly plucked from its aqueous home, the fish bringing to mind DH Lawrence's pike: 

"A slim pike with smart fins and grey striped suit,

 A young cub of a pike,

 Slouching along away below, half out of sight,

 Like a lout on an obscure pavement."

... and then, with a flick of her tail she was gone, frozen in time in my memory as a disgruntled embodiment of defiance and fragility, aggression and vulnerability.
Pike desire sated, I reckon I've got one more perch session in me before the cycle of the seasons turns my thoughts to olive flanked tench and chubby crucians.
Obsession ..... what obsession?

Perch: the unabating obsession

I huddled deeper into my winter clothing, collar raised against the chill air and returned my hopeful gaze to my float. Some words from Shelley floated into my consciousness: "O wind, if winter comes can spring be far behind?" and I mused on how easy it is to be philosophical about the weather when sat by a fire struggling only with the strophes, antistrophes and epodes of lyric form. Sat by a lake with no warming fire, philosophical postulation gives way to existential discomfort.

Pete, my fishing companion and I, had returned for the morning to the pond from which just a few week's earlier I had plucked a perch of 2 lb 10 oz. Confidence was high, not only as a result of our firsthand knowledge of the deep bellied, broad backed giants that lurk in this lake, but also due to our recent favourable run of form with perch. Pete was fresh from the capture a fortnight previously of the fine perch pictured above, pulled from the depths of our local canal, and despite the biting temperature we harboured a hunch that this would be no ill wind devoid of cheer.

The perfunctory tasks of tackling up and depth plumbing completed, we commenced in earnest, float fishing with worms while regularly feeding small handfuls of red maggots, and we settled down for a long winter's wait. Bites, when they came were occasional and lightening fast, with lengthy intervals between them. With a similar lack of frequency, a weak wintery sun occasionally made a half-hearted attempt to brighten the insipid pale grey of the sky, but any such attempts were short-lived, futile and ill fated.

Eventually Pete connected with a roach of about 4 ounces, swiftly followed by a micro perch, before the bites again dried up. A spirit of inert lethargy seemed to have the fish in its thrall, reinforcing what every angler knows to be true: it is a far simpler task to catch fish in July than it is in January. After three hours of concentrated effort, I had only one small roach to my name when my float shot under, and to my surprise the strike was met by something solid; the fish barely fought, and offered only token resistance on its passage to the waiting net. At about a pound and a half , although not "monstrous" in size, this was a fish worth capturing and admiring, and worthy of the effort that had been expended for its capture.

An hour later, and it was time for me to depart. It had been a pleasure to give the vintage glass Avon and Allcocks centrepin their first adventure of the New Year and to share the morning with Pete. The weather had determined that the fishing would be a battle not only of wits, but also of attrition between angler and perch, but the last gasp fish ensured that I left not only with fingers numb with cold, but also with the satisfaction of a "job well done."  An hour later, while thawing out at home my phone pinged- Pete, who had remained at the lake following my departure, had caught a perch that looked to be every ounce of 2 pounds, probably with a bit to spare.

For both of us it had been a gruelling contest between man and fish, and Pete's perch was a deserved reward for fine angling and dogged persistence. Sometimes, in fishing as in life, the margin between success and failure is a fine one; this is the first time in four years that my January opener has not seen me blank .... perhaps 2019 will be my year.

"... & a river runs through it."

"A river is water in its loveliest form" wrote the Canadian angler and naturalist Roderick Haig-Brown in his charmingly titled "A River Never Sleeps." He wasn't wrong either. Rivers, whether small  meandering streams narrow enough to be traversed with a single leap or mighty bodies of water inexorably pulsing towards the sea, have a beauty that no seascape, nor landscape devoid of water can come close to equalling, let alone surpassing.

This year I have reacquainted myself with water of the flowing variety, which as I consider myself to be predominantly a stillwater angler, has been a source (no pun intended) of great satisfaction. I have caught chub, dace and pike from the Trent, blanked while pursuing old esox on the Fens and landed barbel from the Severn, as well as swinging a succession of bleak, gudgeon and small perch to hand.

My teenage angling self was often to be found on the banks of the Loddon or Thames of my native Berkshire, and I several times fished a delightful little stream called the Embrook from which I plucked minnows, gudgeon and dace a plenty and the occasional chub of about half a pound. (I once caught 6 of these in a single morning, which constituted a "red letter day" from this diminutive stream of childhood memory.) It was at this young age that I first discovered, and then grew to love, the distinctive smell of a river- a composite of aromas: wet grass, wild garlic and a strange yet pleasant olfactory  oxymoron: the  simultaneous juxtaposition of freshness and mustiness. 

I like rivers for their appearance, their sounds and, as I've already confessed, their smell, but beneath their physical beauty flows a metaphysical current. Rivers run, and in that flow many have discovered a metaphor for life, a movement from source to conclusion with twists and turns, back eddies and carrier streams along the way - cradle to grave, times of being gently borne along, moments of fear as the floodwaters rise. There is a wisdom to be found in rivers, as the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow acknowledged: "Thou hast taught me Silent River, Many a lesson deep and long, Thou hast been a generous giver."

The rivers of my youth, the rivers I remember fishing and those I've forgotten, the sensation of standing in the current while trotting and feeling the gentle but persistent pull of the current, all these have become a part of me, and I and my piscatorial exploits a fleeting episode in their much grander story.
A story that will outlast mine, "and out again I curve and flow, To join the brimming river, For men may come and men may go, But I go on forever" wrote Tennyson, momentarily personified as a small stream in his poem "The Brook", or, as Paul Robeson would have it: "That ol' man river, he just keeps rolling ..."

But until I stop rolling, the river and its inhabitants will keep calling, and whenever time permits I'll grab my rod and creel and head for the door in answer of the call.

Perch ad Nauseum

Any regular reader of my piscatorial ramblings will have noticed a theme developing. The last two entries were entitled "Perch in person" and "Perch in absentia", and to keep with  the common thread that runs like silk through my Autumnal and Winter entries, I have chosen "Perch ad nauseum" as the heading for my latest report, an admission on my own part of my obsession with all things "finned and stripey", and an implicit apology to those who may starting to tire of my perca fluvitalis addiction. 

Following the capture of a splendid, hump backed, cavernous mouthed, 2 pound 10 ounce perch on my last adventure, I couldn't wait to renew my newfound acquaintance with the small pond from which I plucked it. On that occasion I had backed it up with another fish of about a pound and a half, my fishing companion Dave had also had a perch of well over a pound, and another angler on the lake landed a fish that, from where I was sat, looked to be every bit as big as my biggest, possibly even slightly larger. It was clear that my research had unearthed a pond with the potential to provide me with my first ever three pound perch. I needed to return. However, the month of November was a busy one with work and family wise, with a visit to my daughter in London, and our son's 18th birthday to celebrate in addition to a crowded work diary, and so the month passed, unforgivably, without a line being cast. There would, however, be one last chance, as December was earmarked for the final Christian Anglers fish-in of the season, and it fell to me to arrange it...... and so I did, invites went out to the membership (now a very healthy 63) and 8 were able to extricate themselves from work, family and Christmas related distractions to join me for a day of friendship, a "Secret Santa" draw, and the pursuit of some rather special perch.

The day dawned cold but dry, and the lake, which had been very coloured on my previous visit, was much clearer than I would have liked. I was tempted to fine down and fish a light hooklink and small hook, but decided against such measures, as the chance of tangling with carp and barbel overrode the attraction of finesse  in presentation, a decision that would turn out to be justified by subsequent events. In the end I matched a vintage glass fibre avon rod with an Allcocks Record Breaker centre pin, and 4 pound line straight through to a number 12 hook, with the worm dangling beneath a lovely little 2BB Harcork style perch bob. David, with whom I had travelled to the lake, caught a nice roach of about three quarters of a pound within five minutes of setting up, but thereafter the fishing could best be described by the euphemism "challenging." A handful of miniscule perch turned up at intervals before I caught my first fish that required the use of a net, a chub of perhaps 12 ounces.

On the other side of the lake Keith was catching roach, along with the occasional tiny perch, John (R) was sitting in a corner swim with his baits untroubled, and John (M) was walking the bank and enjoying a series of leisurely conversations, his angling intuition probably telling him that it was going to be a struggle. Meanwhile, Roy, Pete and Mick were ensconced on the other lake where Mick was intermittently catching small roach, Roy was picking off the very occasional fish and Pete was proving to be top rod, with a good number of silvers being supplemented by the occasional small carp of 2 or 3 pounds.

A couple of hours in, and my float (true to its name) bobbed before submerging and my strike was met with not just solid resistance, but a manic run in which the unseen adversary raced from the nearside margin to the far bank at breakneck speed, despite the pressure I was applying to the spool of the centre pin. The avon took on a pleasing curve as the fish took me from left to right and right to left on a number of determined runs before snagging me in some underwater roots near my feet. For a couple of minutes everything was sickeningly solid and I wondered whether the fish was still on, but after slackening off, tightening up and applying differing angles of side-strain the fish was once again free, and after a few more moments of heart-stopping histrionics a muscular stillwater barbel was safely enfolded in the net wielded for me by Pete. The barbel weighed 5 and a half pounds, and had provided both angler and tackle with a formidable test.

The barbel pretty much ended my day's sport. I caught several more tiny perchlets, one decent roach and endured much inactivity. John (M) landed a battling common on float-fished worm, his centre pin's ratchet emitting the sound beloved by all anglers as the fish dived and bolted in its attempts to escape, and John (R) actually caught a decent example of the species we were all targeting, with a nice perch of about a pound.

At midday we gathered at the back of the lake for the "Secret Santa", a few words from me about the similarities between the Christian season of Advent and fishing (ie: a time of waiting in hope ... and there was certainly lots of waiting between bites today!), and a prayer for one of our number unable to be present as he was visiting his seriously ill father. Santa (John R, who was given the role on account of his beard and genial, jolly manner) gave me a wrapped package which turned out to contain two Method Feeders, and I mercifully escaped without either having to sit on his knee or lie about having been a "good boy" this year.

After lunch the fishing, which had never been hectic, slowed still further and became almost pedestrian, although Pete managed to catch a fine perch, handsome and defiant, which was about the same size as the one taken by John (R) in the morning, and the aforementioned of the "Johns" also landed a last gasp common carp that engulfed the worm on his "one last cast."

By mid afternoon we were saying our goodbyes. The hoped for specimen perch had failed to materialise, and the fish appeared to be disinclined to feed with enthusiasm, presumably laid up dormant in the cold and gin-clear water, but as is always the case when the Christian Anglers group get together, the friendship, conversation, lack of rivalry, and gentle banter had made the day an absolute pleasure. The fish may have been for the most part uncooperative, the air chill, the weather cold, but there was warmth in the air of a different sort: to be with good friends in a peaceful outdoor setting, away from the pressures of modern life and aware of the One who created the environment we were enjoying was its own reward. Here's to more of the same in 2019.

(click below to watch a video taken from the barbel's fight)

Perch in person...

The truth is that seven days after having to withdraw from attending the Christian Anglers perch fish-in I was still feeling sore about it, and if nearly 40 years of angling has taught me anything, it's this: that the only healing balm for such a malady is to head for the bank and create a new memory to replace the gap left by the one that never got made.

And so David (who had attended the fish-in) and I decided to pursue a rumour and venture to a new pond which, according to stories circulating on the local angling grapevine, possesses serious specimen perch potential.

It's no secret that perch are my favourite species, nor that I enjoy fishing with vintage tackle, and so as I set up my 60 year old cane Allcocks Wizard coupled with an ancient centre pin reel I could scarcely have been happier or more expectant. I plumbed the depth, flicked the Norfolk reed waggler float and hook baited with a lively worm out with a deft underarm motion, threw in a handful of red maggots, and focused all of my powers of concentration on the bright orange tip of the float as it protruded through the water's surface film.

David was the first to catch, connecting with a nice roach of about three quarters of a pound, and soon we were catching our intended quarry, although not initially in the size bracket we were hoping for. A steady stream of bites resulted in a procession of small perch which voraciously engulfed the not insignificantly sized worms that were impaled on our size 12 barbless hooks. The float trembled and dipped once again, but this time my strike met with solid resistance and a steady run, and it was clear that I was attached to a perch of altogether more exciting proportions. After a few hair raising minutes and with the cane taking on a pleasing battle curve a fine perch was nestling in the landing net that David had helpfully wielded for me. The scales showed 2 pounds 10 ounces (a new personal best), but the fish's magnificence had more to do with its dark colouration and bristling defiance than the pounds and ounces (however impressive) that the scales had reduced it to.

Following the return of the fish, we both returned to the established rhythm of brief flurries of small perch punctuating quieter interludes, before I was once again connected to a perch that was clearly bigger than most of its brethren. The result was an enjoyable tussle with another striped protagonist, which although a perch of very reasonable size was smaller than the previous large perch, and was unweighed but estimated at about a pound and a half - another fine example of its species and a good advert for the lake which, as you would expect, will remain anonymous and unnamed in my reporting of the day's adventures!

As the morning wore on the sun rose higher and unseasonably bright, with David and I enjoying bankside warmth far greater than we had any right to in mid-October. The weather, however, only served to put the perch, who favour duller and more overcast light levels, off the feed and bites slowed, with just the occasional perch to relieve the lengthening wait between bites.

Conversation flowed, a large American signal crayfish was landed, defiantly grasping my worm in its aggressive pincers, and in the last hour a soporific stupor overcame the lake and not a single bite was forthcoming. At midday I packed up, with somewhere around 20 perch to show for my efforts, and wished David, who was staying for another couple of hours, "farewell" and "tight lines."

It had been a splendid morning made special by a brace of fine perch, a serene setting, Autumnal sunshine and good company. I suspect it may be a month or so before I have the opportunity to return, but return I most certainly will.
I can't escape an inkling that this pond may have more perch, of an even greater size, to give up to me, and the inkling will, doubtless, transform into a dream, and the dream, we may be certain, will need to be pursued. After all, as anyone who's ever watched a Disney cartoon knows only too well, dreams really can come true .....

Perch in absentia

With a daughter already "flown the nest" and engaged to be married next summer, and a son in his final year of school, I'm fast learning to live with the reality of my own dispensibility. The same may be said this year about the continued progress and development, largely in my absence, of the Christian Anglers group which I set up with a few like-minded anglers four years ago. Initially the brainchild of well known angling blogger and fellow minister Stewart Bloor and myself, the group now has 60 members spread around the country and this year its fish-ins have mostly happened without my being present. I've remained, along with John MacAngus and my fellow Leicester-based anglers Pete and Greg, part of the steering group, but have only managed to attend two events this year, the pike fish-in on the Fens (on which I blanked), and the barbel retreat on the Trent (on which I caught, among other things, ironically .... pike!).

I had been booked in to accompany fellow Christian Anglers on their most recent and final fish-in of 2018, where perch were to be the target, but a combination of busyness at work and having done some fishing related filming the previous week for the BBC meant that I couldn't find the time to journey to Cambridgeshire for the season's finale, where specimen perch were to be the target. However, I'm pleased to report that the fish-in was another successful milestone for the group, concluding as it did, a year in which three of the four fish-ins have deliberately attempted to capture the magic of the changing seasons: pike in the winter, tench in the spring, and autumn perching.

However, my non-attendance doesn't preclude me from reporting on the escapades of those who attended, as, like St Luke in the compilation of his Gospel, I have made a thorough investigation of the facts using eye witness sources and am thus in a position to inform the reader. For those who made the journey to the appropriately named Fenland town of Godmanchester, the day began at lunchtime with a pub meal and tactical briefing from the local tackle shop owner, Stan, and a brief talk and prayer led by John, before the anglers wended their way to the river for an afternoon and early evening in pursuit of perch. The promise of a trophy for the largest perch, with another being awarded for the most perch, added to the excitement.

The river, I'm reliably informed, was picturesque and its perch proved themselves to be very receptive to the allure of a worm or red maggot, with plentiful numbers of them finding their way to the bank. The large perch for which the river is known, were mostly conspicuous by their absence, but with floats regularly submerging no-one was complaining and spirits were high. Paul, who two years ago on one of our Fenland trips won the prize for the biggest fish, repeated the feat, and scooped the biggest perch of the day award with this fish.

The day concluded with the presentation of a trophy for most perch (which went to Mick who caught 30) as well as the biggest fish award which Paul gratefully received. Thanks are due to John Macangus for arranging the day's itinerary and to Stan for his generosity with both his time and advice.

A fine and fitting finale to another successful year for the Christian Anglers club, and my New Year's resolution has already been made and is being "kept on ice" until January: "next year I resolve to better co-ordinate my work, family and fishing diaries and to be present as often in person as in spirit for the year's fish-ins, and this is my solemn vow."