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ROB KAVANAGH.
The inside line on fishing.
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I'm Rob Kavanagh, your Artful Angler artist and dedicated angler.
My fishing blog is here to share my fishing adventures, ideas, stories, tips, anecdotes, techniques etc.. tight lines!
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18/02/2010
2009
Everest
Wickwar
Canal Chub
Little Avon
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The second half of 2008 saw me doing less and less fishing as a recurring back injury meant that an afternoons fishing needed more than a week to recover. I dedicated my fishing time instead to training for a forthcoming trip to Nepal, hoping my back wouldn't let me down.
The time in Nepal was fantastic. Our objective was to go to Kala Pattar a 5500m trekking peak at the foot of Everest. Unfortunately I did my back a mischief a couple of days before we were due to reach our goal, but I rallied the next day and with liberal dosing of painkillers and some stubborn bloody-mindedness I plodded on. It was hard work in the thin air but the views were just as breathtaking, and regular stops for photography ensured steady progress.
Kala Pattar is a viewpoint on the flank of Pumori and commands a spectacular panorama of some of the greatest peaks of the Himalayas and Earth itself. Above them all was the brooding majestic presence of Everest.
Speechless, I was at the bottom of the top of the world.
2009 was a bit of a non-starter. I did little fishing on my return as I allowed my back to settle, and caught precious little when I did go, but things got a bit better in the spring.
May Carp
An exploratory trip to a club lake at Wickwar had revealed the presence of several solid-looking mirror and common carp. I got a decent mirror that appeared to be around 15lb feeding on chum mixers but it had been spooked away before I got a rod set up by a pike that had started crashing at the little roach which were frantically trying to nibble at the floaters themselves.
I busied myself catching on the waggler and caught some lovely roach and rudd with the odd nice perch. It was teeming with tiddlers and I had a pleasant time trying to get through to the better samples. I reckon there was at least 10lb of fine silvers in my keepnet after a couple of hours. Pike started to become a bit of a pest and one dinky predator of about a foot long took up station next to my keepnet, casting a malevolent eye at the contents.
I began to concentrate on carp. A couple of good fish had showed and I put a leger rig over an area close to the island that I'd baited earlier with some hemp, corn and a few broken boilies.
The rig was a simple running ledger with 10lb mainline and a 10inch 10lb fluorocarbon hooklength to a 10 hook baited with a homemade fishy boilie. This was presented snowman style with a piece of fake corn, and it had only been in the water a quarter of an hour when the spool begain screaming as line zipped off at a rate of knots. After a couple of hairy moments due to the dense weed growth I netted the fish on the second attempt A splendid bruiser of a mirror carp just shy of 13lb.
Crafty Canal Chub
As the weather warmed up those frustratingly spooky chevins on the Stroudwater Canal began to cross my mind. I'd been after one of those beauties for several seasons and had only ever hooked and lost them at best. Some very stealthy tactics were called for, so it was in late May and dressed like a hedge that I crept up on those wily chub.
Armed with a few slices of fresh white bread and a small bag of liquidised bread for groundbait, I had some maggots and worms as alternatives. Tackle-wise I had been in a bit of a dilemma. Experience had shown me that getting takes from these shy fish required a bit of finesse, yet extracting a hooked and explosively charging monster from the horrors of the overhanging trees, the submerged roots and the dense tangle of lillies suggested a different approach altogether.
I settled on a light waggler rig, employing an insert crystal float for the sake of subtlety in the clear water. Mainline was 4.4lb Powerline and the hooklength was 3lb 12oz to a size 12 medium wire hook. Coupled with my trusty 1.25lb John Wilson Avon I felt confident a suitable balance was achieved. Okay so it's not exactly dripping finesse, a decent roach would turn it's nose up at it and swim off chortling I'm sure, but it'd give me a chance if the lillies didn't become an issue. Some of those chub look massive......
Setting up well away from the edge I crept along the bank with my catapult and a bit of bait. Climbing onto the stile I could look down into the swim through the hanging willow branches. A small ball of liquidised bread was fired to the edge of the overhanging sycamore on the far bank and followed up with a pouch of maggots. Soon several chub began mooching out from cover, sharking at regular helpings of grubs. They were looking up for it and I spent a good hour feeding and watching their movements. Several chub would cruise along the fringe of leaves and one or two would circle towards the near bank, keeping to the shade of the furthermost lilypads, before heading back to the cool shade of the sycamore. Another group of fish were drifting from the trees to the bridge and back again every so often, and I watched as the biggest of the three repeatedly sipped at a small piece of crust, before eventually taking it with a gentle slurp.
It was these fish I decided to target. I guessed the smallest at about 3lb8oz and reckonned the next a pound bigger, and the next a pound bigger than that. I opted to intercept them mid-route and carefully got into position. My every movement was as slow and deliberate as possible, one heavy footfall could betray my efforts in an instant. I baited the hook with a nice fluffy piece of breadflake and cast into the path of the group of chub as they returned towards the tree and watched mesmerized as the middle-size fish altered course with a slight flick of its fins. The bait drifted slowly through the water on an unweighted line as the chub glided towards it, feinting left and then engulfing the bait with a swift turn of it's head. Time wound down to a near stop. My heart was in my mouth as I watched the line begin to tighten as the fish headed away and down, expelling particles of bread as it went. Time rapidly expanded back out again and I struck, sure that the fish had taken the bait well, and merely touched the fish striking into thin air. A panicked swirl and the chub was gone, taking its pals with it. Oh dear oh dear oh dear.
Despite that being probably my last chance of the day, especially with that particular trio of chub, I rested the swim for half an hour or so. Spotting for fish revealed that the large bulk of the chub under the tree were still quite confident, but the problem was getting a decent cast over to them and the netting issues caused by the density of the lillies in this area. I amused myself for a while trying to tempt a plump 1lb roach and his mates to have a bite of my bread but at best they studied it from a quarter of an inch away for a minute or so, before swimming nonchalantly away with a look of mocking disdain.
Swim rested I reasoned that some chub may be lurking under the bridge. I'd seen some ghostly shadows drifting that way a while before and so plopped two small balls of liquidised bread tight under the edge. The same waggler rig was cast out although I added another foot of depth. I settled down with a bite of lunch and relaxed into the promise of a lazy sunny day. Staring at the bright tip of the float I was lulled into a dreamlike state and it was with an initial confusion that I regarded its disappearence. The rod tip pulling round and the rod butts increasing pressure on the side of my leg helped the missing pieces fall into place, "I've got a bite...."
A swift strike as reality bites and a good fish is hooked. It rapidly rose to the surface before turning and trying to get its head down, but I refused to let it pick up steam and head for the dreaded lillies. The fish settled fairly quickly plodding in circles under the rod-tip. It didn't seem to know it was hooked, indeed it may never have been hooked before, so the fight was a fairly short-lived affair. I recognised the fish as the smallest of the original group due to a mark on its flank so was delighted when I weighed it at 4lb 2oz. I'd worked hard for that fish so was dead chuffed, but left wondering just how big the biggest is. I very much hope I get to find out this season!
To the River
I had one trip to Lacock on the Bristol Avon in early July and had a pleasant day despite a scorching hot sun and only a few small chub to show for it. As the year progressed my back got worse resulting in an emergency operation in early August. Fishing was impossible, indeed standing, walking and sitting were not an option at first. A follow-up op to address the problem was arranged for early October so I was determined to get on the bank before then, knowing it'd be probably my last chance until the New Year.
I had a short session at Wickwar after carp in early September, catching a pale common of just over 10lb as I was packing up. I gave the Little Avon at Berkeley a go too with mixed results, the first session ending abruptly as I fell in. I'd caught a nice looking brownie on trotted maggot and had moved downstream slightly to have a go for a dace. No dace were forthcoming but I did catch the biggest minnow I've ever seen! As I went to stand I realised one leg was dead. I tried to turn but the dead limb stayed firmly planted and I tripped over it, spinning in the air in a flail of arms and hit the slippery bank. I watched my fingers clawing deep grooves in the mud as I slid down the bank and the current caught my feet, tugging me into the stream by the ankles. I floundered for a while waist deep (deeper than it looked) before dragging myself out. I lay like a beached whale for a few moments emptying my waders as I did so, feeling like a right prat. Could've been nasty.....
Returning a few days later I had a mixed catch of grayling and trout, the best being a hard scrapping rainbow of about a pound and a half. The biggest trout I've caught from the Little Avon and the first rainbow.
With the second op looming it was nice to have had a couple of days on the river, and with it a success things are much better now. 2010 will see me back to full fishing strength. I look forward to it, I was on the verge of a major sense of humour faliure... A bloke'd go mad if he couldn't go fishing!
Rob, 18/02/2010
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