When you’re one of angling’s “lifers”, you have to live in hope during the winter. Well, it’s either that or do very little fishing until spring. Nor is hope completely blind, because is there seldom a completely lost cause. Or, at least, that’s what I still manage to convince myself after decades of this sort of cyclical seasonal torture.
Actually, I don’t want to overdramatize, because if you’re determined enough there’s usually some sport to be had. Recently I’ve been hopping between different styles of fishing, from winter roach to a spot of LRF action. More on these avenues in a minute, but we’ll start with a trip to the festive match.
Tiverton Angling Club’s Christmas Fishing Match
What an eagerly awaited competition this was. After having such an enjoyable season in the club’s tightly contested 2021 league (and semi-miraculously coming second amidst a stronger than ever field of regulars), I really fancied one more shot at glory. Before I woke up and it was bloody freezing! What was I saying about hope and cyclical torture just two paragraphs ago?
Joking aside, this is a fabulous contest and it was more eagerly anticipated than ever this time after 2020’s event was cancelled. That said, there was a relatively modest turnout of 49, which tells you how popular it can be. I was pegged almost at the very end, in “Snakes Wood”. I didn’t really fancy this area but, once again, I live in hope. At least I had some far bank snags. Paul Marks was next to me and quite fancied his peg, which had a big holly bush and good previous form. Eeek!
What a tough start! I put in a modest half a medium cup of liquidised bread right down the deepest “track” at 6m, and also slightly to my left at 11m, along with a couple of chopped worm lines to the snags across. The starting whistle then sounded and… nothing happened for ages. For an entire hour, I couldn’t get a bite even on a tiny bread disc or single pinkie! Nor was I alone. Even the roach wizard Paul Marks was struggling.
Given the cold night and northerly winds, perhaps I should have been more miserly with the feed? Who knows? The only area I could get any joy was tight across, where I fed tiny nuggets of chopped redworm and pinkie at intervals. Every so often, the float would dip, I would strike and the 2lb pike or perch in my imagination would be replaced by a “wasp” of about an ounce. Thank goodness for “choppie” anyway.
Back on the bread lines, nothing! I even started an entirely new line with pinkie to my right and caught a single roach that proved to be a false dawn. I’ve never known bread to be so useless here!
The odd perch to the snags at least spared my blushes and kept a few bites coming. And it still remained quite a tantalising match- just one skimmer or jack pike and you can be in business on a tough day! Regardless of my lack of any such bonus, I enjoyed the surprisingly sunny afternoon and catching up with Paul Marks on everything from the Tidal River Exe to the sad demise of the Angler’s Mail.
At the scales, I had nine perch and two roach for just 360g. Fairly dire but, oddly, I felt I’d fished a reasonable match. Eric priest won with two nice skimmers and a jack pike for around 2.5kg- good to see because he’s one of the real good guys at the club and was due some fortune. My canal pairs partner Les Lloyd also did well to nab third place overall; good karma for his recent generosity in letting me have his old seat box (which, compared to my old one, is like going from a Reliant Robin to a Rolls Royce)! I’m already looking forward to the match fishing calendar for 2022 and another chance to surprise or embarrass myself, according to the whims of the draw bag and my inconsistent form.
LRF action in Dorset
Another hotly anticipated recent event was a catch up with lure fishing friends Andy Mytton, Ben Bassett and Richard Salter. Each of these chaps has inspired this fascinating branch of the sport in their own way, whether it’s developing techniques, writing articles, organising events, posting excellent videos (see Devon Lerfer!) or of course hosting the new Big Lerf Podcast.
Actually, that’s where we started- with mics switched on for an enjoyable hour or so of conversation (click here to catch it!). Our setting was the highly appropriate Chesil Bait and Tackle, which has an awesome selection of the best ultralight lures these days!
We were like kids in the proverbial sweetshop. I could have personally bought half the shop but settled for some essentials and a few new metals to try out. I’m really loving some of the new breed of smaller lures from Major Craft, right now, who Andy Mytton is now involved with professionally. And I can see why he gets excited, because they make some truly beautiful rods and lures.
It was the beautiful little Nano Aji spoons that really caught my eye. Talk about cute! They really are titchy, from less than a gram in weight up to 5g. When I think of the crummy, oversized spoons and spinners I made do with as a kid, we really do live in a golden age of lures! Nor is it just about looks, because the more I dabble with metals and learn from the real dab hands of LRF fishing, the more I realise just how versatile these type of lures are. Ben Bassett took his species tally to over 20 for the year on metals alone in the course of our session!
Weymouth was pretty good in spite of the crummy weather and bitter winds, too. It probably felt a bit more bearable because we took in beer and pizza along the way. The wind did make things tough casting and controlling small lures, but we got bites quite quickly.
Dropshot is always a good bet for breezy days, because you can get decent control with a 5-10g sinker, while still using a tiny hook and a scrap of Isome. We were quickly into black and sand gobies, along with small pout. Richard Salter even caught an angry-looking prawn! Everything is welcome in such horrible conditions.
The real buzz was trying our new toys, though, and the little 3 and 5g Nano Aji metals cast impressively well in brutal winds. There were lots of small whiting about to play with, anyway, which were great fun on light tackle. It required a little patience, however, to allow for the wind and let these lures fall to the bottom, before a sink and draw type retrieve was employed. Most fish hit just as the lures were flicked up off the sea bed. In fact, keeping it fairly low and slow is a deadly way to catch all sorts of fish on mini metals. Look who managed to chip his on the side of a jetty, within about 30 minutes after taking it out of the packet:
What brilliant fun we had, throwing lures into the clear main channel of the harbour. Whiting were the most prolific species, but Andy found pollack and I also had a beautiful little school bass, to quickly take our tally to eight fish types.
As for the highlight of the trip- well, you’ll have to wait for my Angling Times column, I’m afraid, for more species hunting excitement because I don’t want to spoil every surprise! Suffice to say it was a real show-stopper for Ben, putting a real bend in his rod and leaving the rest of us slack-jawed.
Great to fish in such excellent company and the sport was better than I ever dared to expect in such grim conditions. If you’ve yet to read it, don’t forget to grab a copy of Hooked On Lure Fishing, which has stacks of useful lure fishing information and inspiration from a host of great contributors.
Roach fishing at Goodiford Mill
There are not exactly stacks of coarse fisheries in Devon where you can fully expect pound plus roach even in dire weather, but Goodiford Mill, near Cullompton, is one of them. Actually, it has the other advantage that access is easy to the Silvers Lake and Specimen Carp Lake; ideal not just for taking evasive action from the weather but for any anglers who are a bit less mobile than they once were.
Bert Brockington joined John Garnett and me for a great afternoon out this time. Bert is a fine river fisher who has been a family friend for years, but finds awkward banks or long walks tricky these days. Hence it was great to get him back on the bank again, albeit in the less familiar surroundings of a smallish stillwater.
We fished the near bank pegs on the Specimen Carp Lake, but found casts of 15 to 25 yards the best, perhaps because the roach wanted to be in deeper water? Conventional open-end feeder tactics certainly worked, but the best fish came to a specialist style helicopter rig.
Now, to me, this rig still looks all kinds of wrong- but boy is it effective for decent roach! Instead of worrying about when to hit bites, you just wait for the tip or bobbin to go berserk, or give a huge dropback- and it’s fish on!
We only fished for about four hours, but managed plenty of fish, with a couple of lovely pound-plus roach in the mix. I even hooked a rogue carp at one point- which, frustratingly, slipped off the hook just when I was getting a modicum of control after four or five minutes of careful playing.
It was a great day all the same and further proof that it’s still worth braving it and getting out at this time of year. Not that it always works, because I have also had a couple of completely blank sessions, but such is winter fishing.
More to read this month!
For more stories and features from me every week right now, do pick up an Angling Times where you can! These days I’m writing regular news and entertainment features as a staff writer, on top of my regular “Last Cast” column.
While I can’t spill all the beans on this blog, I can guarantee you some entertaining and hopefully enlightening content. So far, I’ve covered sustainability in angling, the crazy carp bait hormones story and interviewed river protector Feargal Sharkey.
You’ll also get the inside story shortly on one of my most bizarre catches of the year with this large and almost albino pike, which needed some suitably unusual thinking to catch.
Until next time, wrap up warm, stay hopeful and be excellent to each other. Oh, and if you need a stocking filler or just fancy treating yourself this Christmas, do have a look at my shop section!
Many of the flies and other bits are back in stock, while Crooked Lines, my illustrated collection of fishing tales is still just a tenner for a signed copy.