The Fishing Coach

We have certainly been blessed with a mild winter this time round and I wondered if the tench in a local shallow lake would be feeding early this year. All of nature seems to have been put out of phase by the unusual warm winter and it was with some hope that I arranged to visit the private tench lake in Surrey. As only one bank was fishable I opted for my favourite swim, even though it meant fishing into a cold strong wind.

I set up two Harrison stepped up float rods both with centrepins loaded with six pound line. Both rigs were set up to fish wagglers but one had a size fourteen hook for maggot and hooker pellets and the other had a size eight for a special bait. The latter hook was a new pattern I was trying, being lighter in the wire than most size eight hooks commonly sold for the carp hauling market, the Kamasan 983 is a very strong hook but made of finer wire to give lightness and a very sharp point. The barb is very small and easily crushed down.

The special bait was prawns which I knew had been sucessful there in the past but I chose a new twist - I fed chopped “Tesco frozen value prawns” but I was going to fish bits of king prawn on the hook. The size of the hook also gave me an option of fishing a sizeable lump of paste.

I was surprised to see that my favourite lilly patch had not totally died out during the winter and this saved me looking for the sunken remains with a plummet. I fed the chopped prawns with hemp to one side of it and maggots, hemp and small pellets to the other.

Most of the bites came to the pieces of king prawn and although I missed more than my share due to the problems caused by the strong wind, I ended the day with four tench and a bonus bream, the latter took a small hooker pellet. Not bad for the last week in February.

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Yesterday I went back to the swims that Chris Clark had shown me at Royal Berkshire Fisheries but this time I left my pole fishing kit at home. I wanted to catch some more big roach but this time on a rod and centrepin combination as the big roach seem to inhabit the margins on this fishery and this makes it suitable for the centrepin approach that I so love.

I set up the Harrison 15ft GTI match rod with a lightweight Youngs centrepin loaded with two and a half pound Maxima, the float was a Drennan stillwater blue carrying 3BB and a size twenty hook to a two pound hook length completed the set up. I intended to fish single maggot or caster so I began by feeding hemp, maggot and caster a little at a time as I set up and for a half an hour whilst I had a cup of tea and a smoke.

I was fishing about five feet deep two rod lengths out very close to an over hanging bush and I had set the float to fish with about six inches of line on the bottom. The casters had been frozen so very few were suitable for hook bait (the freezing seems to make most of them burst) but they were fine for loose feed and I was catching straight away with maggot or caster on the hook. The small fish showed first but clouds of mud in the shallow water warned me that the weather was mild enough for the carp to feed and sure enough I hooked something that took me straight into the roots, my tackle being too fine to stop it.

I set up my Harrison Interceptor stepped up float rod with a youngs purist centrepin loaded with six pound Maxima and started to feed a little sweetcorn with my loose feed. The result was this common carp which put up an excellent fight in such a confined swim. It took double sweetcorn on a lift rig, a method I use a lot for tench but it works on carp as well.

I switched back to the lighter rig with double bronze maggot and soon started to catch the better roach, the best of which weighed a pound and three quarters.

Just before dusk as I was thinking about packing up I caught a perch that weighed exactly two pounds, good fun on light tackle. I am beginning to like this fishery and hope to be able to include it in my coaching portfolio.

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I have just read this article in my local newspaper, the Staines Guardian.

“An illegal angler has been banned from fishing for two-and-a-half years.

Khan Marshall, 21, of Temple Dene Avenue, Staines, received the fishing ban when he appeared at Woking Magistrates’ Court last Friday.

He was also fined £200 for leaving a rod unattended and a further £200 for fishing with three rods but only holding a single licence and was ordered to pay £70 costs to the Environment Agency for both cases.
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Marshall was banned from fishing by the court from holding a rod licence after magistrates took into account a string of prosecutions dating back to 2002.

The court heard that on July 10 last year Marshall had left his rod unattended at Twynersh Fishing Complex in Chertsey, Surrey, contrary to a national bylaw.

A month later on August 13 Environment Agency enforcement officers discovered Marshall at the same fishery using three rods but with only a single rod licence which contravened the Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Act 1975.

Fisheries enforcement officer Graham Haynes, said: “Mr Marshall has a long history of floating the laws of fishing in this country.

From his first warning letter in 2002 he has appeared before magistrates three times for failing to hold a £24 rod licence and giving false names and addresses to officers, racking up a total of £650 in fines and costs.

“It is very rare for an angler to be banned from holding a rod licence, but this extreme measure was taken because of Mr Marshall’s persistent offending. If he is caught fishing within those two-and-a-half years he can not only expect his equipment to be confiscated but he will also find himself with another day in court.

“Those who fish without a licence are not only risking hefty fines, they are also cheating their fellow anglers and the future of angling. Fisheries laws are in place to protect the environment, so they must be adhered to.”

The Environment Agency puts all money raised from rod licences straight back into fisheries work, which helps to protect the environment.

Rod licences can be purchased from post offices around the country or for a small charge they can be bought over the phone 0870 166 2662 or from the Environment Agency’s website.”

Well done the Environment Agency for carrying out what must be a difficult and thankless job. I spent half my life in law enforcement as an officer in the Metropolitan Police Force/Service so I speak with some knowledge.

I would, however like to draw my readers’ attention to one particular paragraph.

“Those who fish without a licence are not only risking hefty fines, they are also cheating their fellow anglers and the future of angling. Fisheries laws are in place to protect the environment, so they must be adhered to.”

Angling is a sport and therefore is controlled by a code of rules that enables all anglers to enjoy their pastime on the same level playing field, the use of dynamite (not the bait manufcturers’ product but the explosive) would produce more fish but we operate within these rules to make it fair for other anglers and our quarry. You cannot choose which of these rules to obey, if you wish to be considered an angler and enjoy the benefits provided then you must obey them all.

I also enjoyed the following paragraph.

“Fisheries enforcement officer Graham Haynes, said: “Mr Marshall has a long history of floating the laws of fishing in this country.”

I hope than non anglers will appeciate this inadvertently appropriate typo!

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I have been coaching Tayler Clark off and on for nearly eight years and I have been fortunate to watch him develop into a fine young angler. I had promised him a pike handling course on the Predator Lake on the Wasing Estate over the Christmas holidays but with the loss of my mum this never happened. Last week he called me to tell me he was about to start his half term holiday and would like to go pike fishing.

I tried to organise a full course but with such short notice I ended up with just Tayler and his freind Aaron. I picked them up from Tayler’s house at 7.30 am Thursday morning and drove down to the Kennet valley. The track to the Predator lake was still underwater but not as bad as my last visit when the flooded Kennet made the lake inaccessable. A little bit of water and mud is no problem for my Toyota 4x4 and after a drive that the lads really enjoyed we were parked at the lake. The floods made the siting of the rods a little problematic as Aaron did not have waterproof boots and the wind added a chill to an otherwise very mild day.

We set up six rods, in three pairs, legering various deadbaits and sat back to wait for some action. After a chat on tactics and a complicated discussion on the ethics of fishing I gave them a demonstation of trace making but we had to retreat to the shelter of the car to heat shrink some off the treble hooks as the wind was so strong. Two and a half hours passed but I resisted the impulse to move as this fishery often does not switch on until lunch time and then the drop off indicator on one of the rods shown above fell to the ground and the bite alarm shrilled. Aaron took the first bite but the fish dropped the bait as he struck, we were all a little disapointed but a missed bite is better than nothing and their enthusiasm was renewed.

We had discussed a rota for taking the bites (ever the optomist, me) and as Tayler’s personal best pike was bigger than Aaron’s we decided to let Aaaron take the first fish. Shortly afterwards the next bite came on a legered dead trout and Aaron was into a good fish which he played quite well. I netted the fish and as I carried it to the unhooking mat I noticed another trace besides our own hanging from its mouth. Our trace was easily removed but the other trace disappeared into the pike’s stomach.

I explained to the lads what this meant and with Tayler’s help I started to invert the stomach very gently but the hooks were very far down and I ended with the pike’s stomach turned inside out further than I have ever had to do before. The top hook on the trace had slid down to the other treble, they were tangled together and hooked into the wall of the stomach. These were of the stainless steel variety probably salvaged from a lure before being incorporated into a homemade snap tackle. This type of hook would have taken a long time to rust away, even in the acidic environment of the pike’s stomach and had to be removed to enable the pike to feed properly.

Using a set of bolt croppers I carefully cut the hooks into pieces and removed them a bit at a time, the lads watched this process in silence and finally understood the need for the comprhensive tool kit I always carry for unhooking pike. I had just completed this difficult operation and had started to replace the stomach of the fish when another bite alarm sounded and I sent the boys to deal with it, telling Tayler to strike immediately. This he did and was soon playing a good fish. I replaced the pike’s stomach very carefully, put in into a sack in the shallows and then went to net Tayler’s fish.

The result was the photograph below, Aaron’s fish on the left weighed fifteen pounds twelve ounces and Tayler’s fish weighed fourteen pounds thirteen ounces. Both were their biggest pike and swam off with no ill effects.

Once the fish were returned and all the excitement had subsided (I still get just as excited as the lads do and the day I don’t is the day they nail my coffin shut) I examined the remains of the snap tackle I had removed from the pike’s stomach. I found that the swivel on the end had no main line attached to it which meant the the knot securing it had probably parted. I wish some anglers would learn to tie knots properly and test them rigourously before use.

Aaron caught one more pike about seven or eight pounds in weight and both lads missed one run each, I explained that these were probably small fish who had not got hold of the bait properly but that it was not worth the risk of deep hooking a fish by waiting longer before the strike.

By about 3.30 pm Aaron was complaining of very cold, wet feet and so we decided to call it a day, one which we will all remember for some time.

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Last Friday I took Les Weller (Weller of the Yard) down to Timsbury Manor to fish the river Test and its carrier streams. Les had asked me about this fishery as he had seen it mentioned on some angling forum but had never fished it and as most of our local rivers were about to burst their banks it seemed the ideal venue.

We arrived at about eight thirty in the morning and found the main river very swollen but the carriers were fishable. Unfortunately the banks were sodden and it was like crossing the battlefield of the Somme just to get to the water’s edge. Walking ankle deep in mud soon makes the legs ache despite travelling light which is the order of the day for this type of fishing. The bailiff was very helpful and advised us on the best places to fish but the whole place has a run down look to it and Les commented that it needed some real money spent on it to increase its appeal. He thinks the place could be a goldmine but he knows about these things as he manages the Surrey estate I have mentioned before.

While we were setting up at the car his rod fell down and his holdall fell on top of it breaking off the top ring and removing the liners to a couple of others, a disasterous thing to happen at the beginning of the day. Doubly so because for probably the first time for years I had not brought a spare float rod, as anyone who has ever fished with me will tell you, I normally bring two or three of everything I need and one or two things that might come in useful.

Les did not let this stop him for too long and we were soon trotting our floats on one of the carriers. We both caught some grayling and a few trout, the biggest of mine, a brown trout weighed nearly five pounds. I have been spoiled by the river Itchen when it was at its peak a couple of years ago and four or five two pound grayling were caught each trip but I was happy with this fish which might have been a pound.

I’ve cropped all but my hands and the fish from this picture because I’m wearing an expression of bewilderment and extreme concentration that would be understood by anyone who has tried to hold anything other than a very small grayling with cold hands, they are like a muscular bar of soap.

The weather was not particularly our friend on this outing as the down stream wind carried very cold rain and despite changing swims several times not much else was caught, although Les did manage a nice roach of about a pound from a very sheltered carrier.

I was using my fifteen foot Harrison GTI match rod and Les obviously took a shine to it as couple of days later he told me he had ordered a slightly more powerful Harrison rod from Mark Tunley, a rod builder he had found on the internet and this chap is repairing his old rod as well. Les wants me to write a review of his new toy when he gets it so watch this space, although I don’t promise to be totally unbiased as I love Harrison rods.

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Last week I received a wonderful email from James Halton, a student from one of my autumn pike handling courses. James has kindly agreed to let me share his email here.

Dear Martin

This weekend I finally had enough time to go for a proper pike fishing session. Rupert was away so a friend of mine, Matt asked if he could tag along. We went to a section of the Aylesbury Arm Canal, near a turning bay near Aston Clinton. On Friday night at the tackle shop I was told that numerous pike come regularly out of that stretch, and the reeds on the nearside bank are always a good bet. On arriving at the canal it was extremely cold and we struggled to catch many livebaits, but luckily there were just enough for the day. So I set up two livebait paternoster rigs just as you had shown me, one for Matt and one for myself. However I found the helicopter rigs a tad fiddly, so I settled for a John Roberts paternoster boom. And a “Pike System” egg bob float to finish the rig off. I used a rubber band which worked very well as a floatstop.

After about an hour and a half one of the skimmers became increasingly agitated, the float bobbed under and slid strongly to the right. Seeing this I picked up the rod and gave it a hefty whack (with my new Greys Prodigy Deadbait which I got for Christmas), I connected into a fine 5 or 6lb jack pike that fought well. Matt landed it and I removed the hooks like you showed me. It weighed in at 5lb 8oz. Matt had the next pike on a medium size roach, he played it well on his new “Monterra carp” rod. I netted it and took out the hooks, a fine fish at 3lb 6oz. I struck into the next pike, but as I soon found out it was much larger than expected. It jumped spectacularly and looked well over 12lb. However unfortunately the hooks flew out at the net and the elusive predator sulked back to the depths of the canal.

The next pike came on a large skimmer and resulted immediately after the cast. It fought hardly and weighed in at 5lb 2oz. Just as our day was going so well, a barge ploughed through the swim ruining it. We then decided to head for home.

Just before Christmas I also had the pleasure of catching a 12lb ghost carp, the biggest fish of my local venue. It took a cocktail of maggot and sweetcorn. But I did not intend to catch it, I was going for roach at the time. It was on my Abu enticer match rod and 2lb line, it looked as if it was going to snap in two! Anyhow some kids helped me net it and photograph it, but they failed to actually press down on the button!

He also sent some fine photographs.

Another young angler set on a path that will provide him with rewards for the rest of his life and he is already sharing his knowledge.

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Last week Chris Clark persuaded me to go after some big stillwater roach at Royal Berkshire Fishery where he did very well last season. The day was very mild with little or no wind and I decided to use my pole with a number four elastic and a two pound hook length. As the lake we were fishing is only about five feet deep I was able to use a very light pole float shotted down until the tip was only a dimple on the surface. The bait was a single red maggot on a size twenty hook. I presented the float under an overhanging bush at about eight metres and fed maggot and hemp.

Chris was into fish straight away and had several very good roach before I got my first bite, we caught fish all day long and between us caught over twenty roach over a pound. Both of us hooked carp, for which this fishery is famous but this was usually a fleeting experience on such light tackle, although Chris managed to land one of the smaller ones on slightly heavier tackle.

The best fish of the day was this fine specimen of exactly two pounds (not one pound fifteen ounces as they usually are). I wish I could catch roach like this on my beloved river Kennet.

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January saw my last two sessions with Keiran from Slough and as he had done so well with a rod and reel I decided to show him the basics of pole fishing. The venue was as usual Twynersh Fishing Complex and we fished the swim where he has had most of his success. On a previous lesson he caught some bream and was troubled by a large pike so I brought some pike tackle along as well, just in case.

He was very interested in the seat box and associated “ironmongery” but then us boys love gadgets and was soon fishing at about eight metres in nearly ten feet of water next to some lilly pads.

I had set him up with a number eight elastic, a pole float taking about three quarters of a gram (due to the depth) and a size eighteen hook to about a three pound hook length. The bait was a single red maggot and I was feeding pinkies and a little hemp.

Keiran was catching roach almost straight away up to about twelve ounces and had soon mastered the technique of shipping the pole in and out each time. He was enjoying the technique so much and I was having fun teaching him that I gave no more thought to the pike fishing until one of his small roach was taken on the way in and Keiran found himself playing a pike well into double figures.

He played it well for about two or three minutes while I waited for it to bite through the hook length and when this didn’t happen I started to feel that he had a chance of landing the fish, sometimes the hook pulls out of the fish that took the bait and into the pike’s jaw in such a way that the hook length is away from the teeth. He was doing very well and had even extended the pole to ten metres to give himself more scope to play the fish, slowly Keiran began to gain line and the pike, a fish of fourteen or fifteen pounds was approaching the waiting net. The light hook length had taken a lot of strain and had perhaps even touched the teeth on occasions and it parted at the net,allowing the fish to escape.

We were both very disappointed but I think he took it best of all and said “It’s not my biggest pike!“.

The next week we did the same, at the same place and this time I set up the pike rod first and the result was a smaller pike but a welcome one nevertheless.

He also caught a number of fine roach up to about a pound.

Keiran has learned a lot during his time with me and is well on his way to becoming a fine angler. I have enjoyed teaching him and look forward to meeting him again in the future.

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