Spring crucian
I’m not an out and out specimen hunter but I do like to target venues that give me a chance of catching something special. Sometimes a certain species has to have more effort put in, simply because they might not be local to me. One such species is the crucian. There are a few places within one hour’s drive that gives me the chance of catching 2lbers which I would take all day. There was one lake that held very big fish and would be my choice to attempt catching a fish over the 4lb barrier. Johnsons Lake in Surrey.
It was the end of March and I had been waiting for the right conditions before I made the 200+ mile round trip for a day’s fishing. That day was finally here. Night fishing is a rare treat for me so long drives for a day on the bank are a common occurrence. There had been a few days of mild temperatures so it was now time for the long drive off to Surrey.
I knew where I wanted to fish on the lake as the sun and light breeze was going to be pushing into this shallow area. It has lots of open water away from other anglers and I was hoping the fish would be here away from all the crashing leads and spombs. When I arrived the car park was as busy as always. I was surprised and pleased to find the area of lake I wanted to fish empty of other anglers. As I was looking over the lake a crucian rolled in front of me. Well that was enough for me.
I opted to fish a cage feeder on one rod to get a bit of bait onto one spot. The other rod was fished with a large 30g method feeder and would be cast at distance to the area I saw the fish. Bait was dynamite baits F1 and silver x carp method groundbait. I added a few 2mm F1 pellets and a generous amount of fresh casters to give them a reason the stay once the groundbait attracted them to the area. Hookbait was a hair rigged single buoyant fake caster.
The morning went by without any indication on the alarms. Out of the blue at 1pm I had a welcome tench on the cage feeder. Around one hour later the method rod was away with an identical take and fight. I was convinced it was a tench until I saw a golden back cut through the water’s surface. I started playing the fish a little softer at this point! I could see it was a big crucian and when it slid into my net all I said was “that’s a PB!”
I weighed the fish and started shaking when the needle spun way past my old pb of 3lb 8oz and settled just over 4lb 5oz! I was fishing on my own but luckily another angler came and took some photos for me. The fish was in perfect condition and round as a dinner plate. It was a very wide fish too and as I slipped her back I had a little laugh as she waddled off back into her home.
I could have quite happily gone home there and then but I would hit the dreaded traffic on the M25. Instead I had a chat with some other anglers and relived the experience I just had. I took my time getting the rods back out and relaxed knowing I had just caught a fish I had literally travelled thousands of miles for over the last four years or so.
Summer river carp
It had been a few years since I targeted the carp in my local river and it had been on my mind ever since. I would hear of the odd capture from various places along the river but one section stood out. The lower part of the river is directly connected to the Great Ouse and this gives the carp hundreds of miles of river system. I expect many have never seen a baited hook.
I previously fished for the carp from my little inflatable boat so I could access areas that were hard to fish from the bank. This time round I would fish from the bank but choose an area far enough away from the car park that most anglers would not venture there and give me competition.
I would be joined by my angling buddy Giles to fish the opening night. We decided to pre bait a swim for a week or so before to give ourselves the best possible chance. After checking a few areas one spot in particular stood out. It had cover from trees, a shallow area on the far margin and deeper in the near margin. Plus lots of lilies for extra cover for the carp to feel comfortable in after feasting on our pre bait.
The anticipation was immense and on the evening of June 15th I could not wait to get to the river! After a detour to the chip shop for the evening’s dinner I arrived at the car park next to the river about 6pm. I unloaded the car and waited for Giles to be transported by boat to the swim. With the boat loaded up we were on our way with dreams of scaly wild river carp.
The good banter and food kept us entertained until it was time to retire to our beds and wait to see what, if anything happened. I could hear fish splashing as the night turned into the early hours of the morning. I was in a kind of half sleep for most of it so when my left hand rod ripped off at 3am it seemed like a dream. That dream soon turned into reality and after a powerful fight I had a stunning river common in the net.
The weight was really not important to me but for the record the fish went 17lb 2oz. It was a long torpedo shaped fish in mint condition and although I have caught much bigger commons from lakes it was certainly one of the best looking commons I had ever caught.
The rig was deposited back in the same spot as before. Just an hour later that rod indicated a drop back and I was surprised it took this long to hook a bream! Well I wound down and felt a solid fish close in under my rod tip. I lifted into it and pulled the fish to the surface when all hell broke loose! The bream had now turned into a very angry carp and proceeded to flat rod me! It took me on a 20 yard run down river!
When the fish eventually rolled over the cord into the net I just stared in ore at a big scaly river mirror carp! The adrenaline was pumping and I was buzzing big time. It was time to do the honours and weigh and photograph the fish. With a few deep breaths to compose myself I lifted the net out of the water and had that lovely feeling of being surprised how heavy it was. As I peeled back the net the fish looked stunning with large scattered scales in a linear pattern. The fish weighed in at 29lb 8oz.
For once the photographs actually did the fish justice. It looked stunning in the early morning sun and was without doubt the best looking carp I have ever caught. It truly was the best opening day of the river season I had ever had.
Autumn zander
Zander are probably my favourite species of fish. Growing up in the 90’s I saw pictures of massive Fenland zeds in the weekly mags and was inspired to try and catch one. On my first trip (20 plus years ago) I was lucky enough to catch two including a double weighing 12lb! Well, in all those years I still have not caught one bigger.
I only had a couple of trips bait fishing for zander this particular autumn. One of these trips did not start so well with my chosen venue not “feeling right”. I cannot explain why I felt like that but I decided to switch to a different Fenland river. There was a storm raging but I know from experience these can be great zander fishing conditions. The wind was not only strong, it was thunderingly loud due to the sheer force of it. It was absolutely brutal and I was questioning my sanity to be out!
I was just about able to fish a quiver tip and make out the odd bite. I used an open ended feeder with marine halibut pellet method groundbait and soon had a few fresh baits. A fresh dead roach was mounted on two size 10 vmc needle point x2 strong hooks. This was fished with a feeder full of chopped fish and glugged with a generous amount of dynamite baits xl liquid predator for massive amounts of attraction.
My first bit of action came an hour after dark with a small zander of 2lb. It was a good omen that the zander were on the feed in the rough conditions. I stuck it out and a couple of hours later I was getting short quick runs with nothing getting hooked. I thought it could be small zander so cut a bait in half and hooked it onto one treble hook. I soon found out the culprit was a wriggly eel! I changed back to bigger baits and two trebles pretty quickly.
It was now dark and suddenly the alarm started beeping and line pulled off the spool. I closed the bail arm, wound down and hit into something much heavier. After a minute I saw a pair of glowing eyes in the torchlight as the fish went crazy on the surface! It was shaking its head violently to rid itself of the hooks. Luckily the hook hold was good and engulfed a large zander in my net. I knew it was a good one and let out a wahoo! The reward was an immaculate Fenland zander weighing 11lb! After a false start and difficult fishing conditions this certainly made it worth the effort.
Winter river rudd
The rivers had been high and very coloured for what seemed an eternity! I was waiting for a window in the bad weather where I could get to the river and present a bait effectively. Good river conditions were one thing but I needed to be well enough too. I had been pretty ill for a couple of weeks and hoped I would be back on my feet in time.
Miraculously such a window came along and I had a few hours available for some rudd fishing before the heavy rain was back. The river had fallen slightly but still flowing hard and coloured. Definitely not the kind of conditions I would normally fish in but beggars cannot be choosers!
Cage feeder, liquidised bread, flake and lashings of dynamite baits xl liquid strawberry were the chosen tactics. The added attraction of the flavouring would hopefully help any fish in the area home in on my hookbait. I could present a bait in slack water areas where the fish would possibly be.
First cast I had a bite which resulted in a rudd of about 1lb. The second cast also had the same result. The bites dried up as soon as they started and for the next hour the tip was motionless. I was recasting every 5 minutes due to debris build up on the line. This was no problem as it kept the feed going in to hopefully draw fish into the swim.
It took about an hour but the bite came and I struck into a heavy fish! I had to guide the fish towards me through the branches and other debris that was still coming down the river. When the fish surfaced close in I could see a big rudd flash in the muddy water. I netted the fish first time thankfully. It was a very deep bodied fish and weighed in at 2lb 12oz.
I put the fish in the keepnet as feeding spells can be very short with big rudd. Especially in the winter. I recast the feeder to the same spot in the hope of another quick bite. Within seconds of it landing the tip pulled over and it felt like another good fish. I had hopes of another big rudd being netted but to my surprise a lovely chub popped up instead! Far from disappointed I placed the fish in the net so I could get the bait out again.
The bites dried up again but I kept recasting like I did before. A while later a bite occurred and I hooked into solid fish. Another good-sized rudd was netted and weighed 2lb 2oz. I placed it in the keepnet so I could make the most of the feeding spell. Sure enough on the very next cast I had a bite before the feeder could even hit the river bed! Another rudd almost exactly the same size as the previous one was the result.
I had another bite less half hour after that so I decided it was time for home. In what I can only describe as the opposite of textbook rudd conditions I had just had 3 hours of the best rudd fishing I could have hoped for! And a bonus chub.
I was so happy everything came together and gave me a chance to fish for a few hours. I did however pay a hefty price for the short session. I was admitted to hospital the next day with pneumonia! I’m sure I would have ended up in hospital even if I had not gone fishing. Well that’s what I told my wife but she was not so convinced!