Neither of us had ever caught a grayling before, and my stick float skills are rusty to none existence, so I knew an interesting and challenging day was in in store! Ben lives on the outskirts of Wetherby, and when me and Matt suggested meeting at his house at 8, it was apparent it was a bit to early for him! “Nine will do fine” came the reply from Sir Fisk, I

Our guide for the day, Sir Ben Fisk

The Wharfe is a lovely river, not dissimilar to the upper Don, and talking to a few regulars it holds specimen fish of most species. From trout and grayling, to barbel and chub, and even bream and roach in its slower stretches it really is a very diverse watercourse

The first spot we had hoped of fishing was full of anglers, and we arrived just in time to watch a lad on what was allegedly the boss peg slipping the net under a chub. Still, with no spots available we had to venture further down the river in the hope of finding some free water.

Bens local knowledge served us well, and we were soon tackling up behind a couple of fishy looking swims however. We all used 8XNo4 Lignum sticks, to 3lb mainline, and an 0.10 bottom. Hooks were size 18 B611 shotted with a bulk and a couple of droppers in the pacey water,. Bait was one or two white maggots.

Matt was the first one ready, and before me and Ben had even finished setting up, he was yelling us to come quick as the first grayling of the day was hooked. Seconds later, he slipped the net under it, and what a beautiful fish it was. Only about 10 ounces, but perfectly formed, we had a good look at it, before slipping it back- mission accomplished in the first ten minutes of the day!

A few minutes later, my stick float slid away at the bottom of the swim, and my first ‘lady’ was on its way to the net. This one was tiny, the smallest of the day in fact, maybe only weighing a couple of ounces, but I was still chuffed to death with it. A bigger one followed a couple of minutes later, before Ben had a run and also snared a couple of fish. I had a wander up to where Matt was fishing, and he let me have a go on his rod while he went down to see Ben, and a few runs later, I hooked something that fought much harder. It turned out to be a brown trout about 1lb- a nice surprise!

We had a wonder to a couple of pegs a bit further down the river, where it seemd to go slower, and Ben suggested this water was not as good for oxygen loving grayling, so we made our way back up to the part of river where we started.

The middle part of the day was fairly slow to be honest, but the odd minnow added a bit of excitement, as did a gargantuan tangle in which we managed to get all three rods tangled, and have to snip off and set up again!

Minnow God!

I must just put a word of thanks in here to Ben for everything he has done over the last few months. As regular readers of either mine or Matt’s column will know, we decided to have a bash at the Lindholme Winter League this year, and nobody has been of more help to us in getting to grips with the venue. He has gone out of his way to help us both in terms of telling us what rigs, baits and feeding patterns to use, and also by telling us about the pegs we have drawn and how to fish them. He is a true gent, and made it it his priority on the day to make sure me and Matt caught a grayling, in fact, he didn’t wet a line himself until we both had caught one. Put it this way, it will be us buying the drinks in the Reindeer pub after the league matches for the rest of the winter!

Me with my first pike of the day

I have got to admit, I was out of the car and fishing before poor old Tom had even taken put his hand break on, it looked that nice! I got down next to the bridge, while Tom ventured down to the first bend where there was some weed cover. It wasn’t long before Tom had latched onto the first pike of the day, as he interrupted the stillness with ‘This is how you do it!’

After a short tussle, a small jack of around 3lb shed the hooks as he reached out to land it, but at least they were having a chew! As Tom was getting out another bait, my twitching suddenly went solid, and after giving it a couple of seconds to take the bait properly, I wound into a similar sized jack that had a good little thrash around and gave us a small tail walking display before it was landed. It was only half past seven and we had a pike each! They might only be small, but on a light spinning rod you get some great sport, and you can really admire them. Even the smallest are designed perfectly, with loads of tiny sensors on their heads to pick up vibrations from pray fish, and hundreds of needle sharp teeth all sloping backwards, not a nice sight if you’re a roach of bream but pike have to eat just like any other fish! Loads of match anglers hate pike, but pike definitely do a job, cleaning up dying and dead fish. If they weren’t meant to be there, Mother Nature would get rid of them!

Smelt was our choice of bait

The Fossdyke

Tom with our final pike of the day

Mention catfish and most readers will conjure up visions of wet, slimy but happy anglers displaying huge 100lb-plus specimens with help from holiday pals and guides beside the Rio Ebro in sun-drenched Spain.

But narrow the parameters to English cats and your mind’s eye will probably retract to a less appealing picture of dark nights beside big bucks lakes with mega-powerful tackle…waiting and waiting for something that might never happen.

When I mentioned that I’d like to try my luck for catfish to Gary Barnett, captor of UK wels to a whopping 55lb 9oz, I must admit that this was my own perspective. But the genial gent from Langley, Berkshire, made it his mission to make my wish come true – and furthermore he assured me that he’d heard of a day ticket venue where we were guaranteed to catch in daylight!

My nagging doubts were instantly erased when I pulled into Pondwood Fisheries’ car park at 8am on a mild April morning, to be greeted by the sight of Gary locked in combat with a powerful foe on the Island Pool’s peninsula point swim!

Attaching my big zoom lens, straining sinews in his forearms plus a look of grim determination were clearly visible on his face. A daylight day ticket catfish was on the hook!

Follow That!

Gary’s steady pressure eventually guided the culprit into his giant landing net – and what a sight it was! “A definite 30-plusser,” was his verdict, as we attempted a handshake amid me fumbling for the camera and him guiding the enmeshed creature to the already wet unhooking mat. Already wet because Gary, who’d arrived at first light, had already landed two cats around 8lb plus one at 13lb 6oz!

The catfish doesn’t have teeth as such, just raspers which it uses to grip its pray

“Most of the weight is at the front end, so holding big cats for photos is never easy,” he said, with a cross between a grin and a grimace, as I fired off a few shots.

Next, the marbelled giant was slipped into a weigh sling and hoisted aloft for the ‘tail of the scales’. Gary’s zeroed Reubens spun round to 37lb 12oz. Something of a result, to put it mildly!

Tackle And Baits

Gary assured me that standard pike or carp kit was fine for most UK catfish situations, provided the right gear was used at the business end. Here’s the lowdown…

Gary’s ‘business end’ tackle

Here’s a bait you don’t encounter very often – leeches! Used for medicinal purposes, Gary orders these wrigglers online from www.biopharm-leeches.com. They certainly aren’t cheap at £30 for six, but you can reuse them several times if saved in the gel-filled tubs they come in. A small section of elastic band helps keep them on a barbless hook.

Bait Tips

Gary attaches a buoyant bait popper tied to 14 inches of nylon for a sub-surface pop-up presentation. In really shallow swims, the popper will surface and it’s like watching a float!

Another bait popper placed at the top of a leger stem with a large run ring at the top ensures the line is as free running as possible. Catfish are notorious for dropping baits if they feel undue resistance.

A flying backlead is placed on the main line above the swivel, and Gary often clips on another one at the rod end to ensure the line is pinned down to the lake bed to avoid spooking fish.

Lobworms and livebaits (where allowed) are excellent catfish baits, and a good deal cheaper than leeches. So too is plain old luncheon meat, which Gary also likes to pop up with a sliver of buoyant rig foam. ‘On waters containing lots of small to medium sized carp, like Pondwood, make it a really large mouthful to avoud there attentions!’ Gary advised.

They Don’t Half Pull

“Your turn next,” said Gary, as he slipped the 37-12 monster back into Pondwood’s reed-fringed margins.

An orange pop up bead pulls the bait off the bottom

So after another dash back to the car, I returned bearing a 3lb test curve rod and free spool reel loaded with 40lb braid. Gary passed me his lead boom which I slid up the braid, adding a buffer bead and swivel then attaching the self-same hook length that he’d just banked the biggie on.

“Cast as near the middle as possible. In my experience cats usually prefer to stay well away from bankside disturbance,” advised Gary. Nodding his approval at my cast’s splashdown, he continued:“Now feed out line until the bait popper surfaces, set your free spool to minimum resistance and stick it on the alarm. I doubt you’ll have to wait long.”

Don’t you love it when a plan comes together? Sure enough, my reel went into meltdown 15 minutes later and my first catfish was on. Although a mere ‘kitten’ at 10lb exactly, their reputation for hard fighting is fully justified as no pike or carp of equivalent size has ever put up such resistance.

I think Gary was a bit surprised at my decision to play it like a chub, giving no quarter. But I’ve got full faith in my rod and reel, but not much in big barbless hooks!

Tom Legge with his 10lb kitten!

I fluffed a screaming run around 2.30pm due to fannying around for carp on floaters on a second rod, and reluctantly said my farewells around 4.15pm. Before I’d reached the M25 on my homeward journey I glanced at a text message. It was from Gary – announcing the capture of another cat, this one 32lb 6oz. What a venue! .

UK Wels – A Controversial Species

Catfish are one of the largest families of fish, with more than 2,000 variations worldwide – but here in the UK the name invariably means the Danubian wels (Silurus Glanis).

Europe’s largest and most common cat was first introduced to Britain in the late 1800s. And while the Southern region has the lion’s share of waters containing them, they are still relatively few and far between. Furthermore, the Environment Agency’s current stance on ‘alien’ species means this situation is unlikely to change a great deal in the foreseeable future.

Gary shows of his biggest fish of the day for the camera

Due to some seriously naughty illegal imports of wels far larger than home-grown versions of prior decades, the British Record Fish Committee ceased to recognise the species in the late 1990s. At the time the record was 62lb, but larger specimens – including some genuine UK fish – have subsequently been landed.

I fear that a certain veneer of ‘dodginess’ will always surround catfish in the UK. But the fact remains that this fascinating species is here to stay and a significant number of anglers have become major fans.
To the best of my knowledge, consent to stock cats into stillwaters can still be granted provided proof of UK origin, and if the venue has no possible escape route into a river system (i.e. an outflow stream or close proximity to the main river’s flood plain).

I’m prepared to stand corrected on that point, but neither the EA nor the CCG (Catfish Conservation Group) websites could enlighten me further.

Fancy Fishing Pondwood?

Rules include no groundbait nor loose feed of any kind, no barbed hooks, no keepnets, minimum 6lb line and two rods maximum. There is no night fishing and day tickets are £10.

Tel: Mick Holdaway on 01189 345299 or visit www.pondwoodfisheries.co.uk

Catfish Contacts

www.catfishconservationgroup.co.uk

www.thecatfishsociety.co.uk

Click below for additonal pictures……

The boundaries between ‘pleasure’, ‘match’ and ‘specimen’ angling have become increasingly blurred over the past decade. If you doubt the truth of that statement, take a stroll around your local commercial stillwater and check out the number of folk using a combination of tactics from all of these three supposedly separate areas of the sport.

It’s common to see one rod on a buzzer with another bearing a waggler rig either held or supported on a traditional rod rest. Or a pole being shipped back and forth while a second rod awaits action with a method feeder end rig.

In fact, perm any combination of the above – plus a few more thrown in for good measure – and you’ll see that many modern anglers simply cannot be pigeon-holed into convenient categories. However, one thing they will all have in common is a desire to catch hard fighting carp.

Having overtaken roach as the nation’s favourite species somewhere around the early ‘90s, carp are unquestionably the people’s choice. But ask most of those anglers whether they catch as many carp of as large a size as they’d like to, and the honest answer is sure to be ‘not really’.

There are many possible reasons for this. Hedging their bets with two different approaches could be part of the problem, likewise fishing at the wrong times of day or with the wrong tackle or wrong baits. It’s this latter area which Sensas Carp, the new arm of French-based groundbait giants Sensas, have set out to address with a swathe of new products under the catchy Grab & Go banner.

Mitch with a range Grab and Go products

The brainchild of European and World carp match champion Mitch Smith, the Grab & Go concept involves simplifying the often baffling world of carp baits and presentations into a single package. One which the average angler can take to their local commercial or ‘runs’ water and start catching, with the help of an easy to follow instruction sheet.

The range includes a Grab & Go Boilie Bag, an equivalent Method/Stick Bag, plus a super sized Grab & Go Jumbo Bag which is aimed at weekender sessions. These are available in four ‘2 Go’ flavours: Strawberry, Pineapple, Tutti Frutti and Fish.

The Boilie Bag contains 400 grams of 3 and 6mm pellets, 200 grams of 10mm and 14mm boilies, a pack of pop-ups, 25ml of dip, PVA string plus that all-important instruction sheet.

The Method/Stick Bag contains boilie and pop-up hook baits, 400 grams of Method Mix and 3mm pellets, 250 grams of crushed boilies, dip, plus PVA stick mesh and string. Each sell for a £9.99, while the Jumbo Bag – which also contains 18mm boilies, paste and 6mm expander pellets – is priced at £16.99.

Although the Bags have been ‘grabbing’ most attention since their launch late last year, there are also individual ‘handy bags’, dips and pop-ups available individually which allow you to top up parts of the bag which may run out faster than others.

In essence, it’s convenience angling taken to a new level. Despite the many and various bait bans which exist at commercial stillwaters, there should be a combination there which can be used at the majority of venues.

Mick’s Method Feeder proved popular with the venues resident carp

To demonstrate the variety and effectiveness of Grab & Go, we’ve come to Chestnut Pool – an established three acre commercial fishery situated near the Bedfordshire/Hertfordshire border in the village of Langford.

Like Mitch, owner Pete Wilson has a specimen carp background but also enjoys match fishing. He allows boilies, recognising their nutritional value to his stock which is mainly single-figure carp with a fair head of ‘doubles’ up to the low-20s.

Tackling up at peg 25, facing a narrow causeway between the two large islands, Mitch said: “I fancy the method to get them going, but I’ll also be getting busy with the catapult. Not many anglers loose feed boilies these days, but PVA isn’t everything and on well stocked waters you need to spread the feed a bit wider anyway.”

Aware that most Chestnut carp are in the 3-5lb range – considerably smaller than he usually targets – Mitch had scaled down his tackle. Although he’s a consultant for Grey’s, his rods for today were a near-vintage pair of 2.5lb test curve 12.5 footers hand built by Jack Simpson of Turnford more than 20 years ago. These were teamed with Shimano Baitrunners in 8000 size and 10lb main line, with a 3ft leadcore leader to pin things down at the business end.

A small tri-lobe method feeder housed a swivel carrying a 10 inch hook link of coated braid with a size 10 barbless hook and a shortish hair rig held well down the shank by a silicone sleeve.

On his other rod, he opted for an Anchor BDS 2oz lead on a quick release Korda clip with an otherwise identical end rig. “I can switch this one to a method feeder if things are slow, but somehow I doubt they will be,” grinned Mitch, who had already cast the Method rod out after mixing up the groundbait from a Grab & Go Method/Stick Bag and attaching a 10mm Fish 2 Go boilie. “Look at that indicator!”

Mick hurls his method feeder into the distance

Competitive? Just A Bit!

Throughout the session – with frequent interruptions from Mitch’s alarms – I quizzed Mitch about his background in angling in a bid to find out what fuels his irrepressible enthusiasm and obvious enjoyment of his work.

“Where did it all begin?” seemed a good opener for an angler with UK carp to nearly 50lb on his CV. “Star Lane at Great Wakering, was my learning ground,” replied Mitch, who still lives in nearby Southend. “In the very early days I would fish for anything, but this was one of the famous carp fisheries of the late’70s. The likes of Kevin Nash and Rod Hutchinson were on there, it’s the place where Delkim alarms were invented, so I soon focused on the specimen carp side of things.”

Something which nobody who sees photos or Mitch or has the pleasure of meeting him can fail to notice is that he’s a seriously solid fella – built, in fact, like a shot putter. And that’s exactly what he is, or was!

“I represented Great Britain in the shot putt at European and International level, and was set to compete in the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, but a multiple fracture of my spine ended that dream,” revealed Mitch, who underwent extensive surgery at the age of 20.

With support from family and friends, he refocused his life’s aims and found angling a constant area in which he could channel his highly competitive nature. Initially in a man versus big carp war of attrition, and latterly in the carp match scene both domestically and overseas.

Mitch’s type of carp matches aren’t your typical five or six hour contests, but the specimen carp world’s equivalent –pairs contests of 24 to 48 hours duration.

“You need to be organised and work very hard throughout. You both need to know your role down to the last detail. Regular success is a measurable discipline, which I’ve always liked. Results don’t lie,” he continued.

“When the NFA entered England in the first World Carp Champs in Belgium, I was asked to select and manage the team. Me and my regular pairs partner, John Dean, won individual gold and the England team took silver. It was a very proud occasion.”

Not that this was Mitch’s first overseas success. He’d already won the 2002 European Challenge in France, and set the FIPS-ratified 48 and 72 hour ‘Enduro’ records – the latter with a mega weight of 378.5Kg.
More World success followed in Russia, where a return visit brought mass attention in the Russian mainstream press. “I was pictured on the front page of their Times after being asked to strike a bear pose! Then I helped the sports minister’s son catch a 56lb common,” he recalled.

Last year’s result in Portugal was a disappointing 10th, but Mitch hopes to make amends in Serbia this September. Meanwhile, he could be visiting a venue near you at any time!
“One thing I really enjoys is doing the circuit with slide shows, school talks, after-dinner speaking. Most everyday guys are more interested in hearing ‘I caught ten doubles in a session’ from a water they actually fish’ than ‘Here’s my PB, here’s my French PB, here’s another whacker…’ I chuck in a few silly slides and tales to make ‘em laugh. It’s supposed to be fun after all,” he added.

Mitch also likes helping out younger anglers, such as Tom Orme and Jamie Pool pictured here

Throughout a day spent asking questions, taking pictures, swapping anecdotes and bantering (you’ll never out-talk Mitch!), his method rod’s alarm was seldom silent.

Like all considerate carpers, he had the volume turned right down – but local youngsters Tom Orme, 15, and Jamie Poole, 16, in the adjacent swims to the left were well aware of the big fella’s prolific catch rate. They’d been catching bits on the float, but no carp had fallen yet to their other rod.

Within ten minutes, Mitch had rigged them up with method feeders – explaining every step of the set-up, from how to load the groundbait to the importance of silicone on the hook to prevent the hair rig flipping back and tangling – and sent them forth armed with a fresh batch of method mix groundbait.

Within 15 minutes Tom was into a carp, which was duly landed and photographed. Later, as they left for their lift home, the teenage twosome politely thanked Mitch for all his assistance.

“If only every fishery had someone on-site every day to go round and help out the young ‘uns, think how many would become lifelong anglers,” mused Mitch – whose alarms were still regularly trilling, by the way!

Quantity And Quality

Although the method mix had sent the smaller carp wild, to the point of having two fish in the landing net on more than one occasion, none of Chestnut’s larger residents had yet fallen to Mitch’s rods.
He’d hoped a PVA bag filled with Pineapple 2 Go crumbled boilies secured to the BDS bomb with a rubber band that sits within a cleverly-crafted groove halfway down the body, and cast away from the main feed area, might pull a wary lump. But it wasn’t to be
.

Mitch with a good sized carp

“It’s a very palatable product – taste one for yourself and see! The fruity boilies are based on sweetmeals and soya, while the fish version is very salty,” replied Mitch. “We’ve done our homework with field tests and we know these baits will catch loads of fish, for a price that is excellent value.”

After a cuppa for the road back at the Chestnut’s tackle shop, Mitch launched a selection of Grab & Go bags my way. “Use them, then e-mail me to tell me what you’ve caught – because I know you will catch,” was the big fella’s parting shot.

I’ve not yet had the chance. But I have to say that the common-sense tips on the instruction sheet are spot-on, while the sheer convenience of having pretty much all the essential ingredients for a runs water carp session in a single bag is a marketing masterstroke.

Venue Fact File
Chestnut Pool, Langford, Bedfordshire
Description: Three acre lake with two islands (a cast of 18-30 metres), abundant marginal vegetation and wooden platformed pegs with raised banks behind. Depths run to 6ft and stocks include carp to 20lb-plus, averaging 3-5lb, golden tench, roach, rudd, perch, bream and crucians. Five hour open match record is 187lb, three hour evening match record 111lb. Open 7am to 9pm or dusk, whichever is earlier.
Facilities: Tackle shop, drinks machine, flush toilet, gravelled car park.
Day Tickets: £9 adult (two rods), £8 juniors (12-15), £6.50 OAPs/disabled/under-12s. Summer evenings (4pm-twilight) £5.50, £4.50 concessions. Night syndicate places available.
Rules: Barbless hooks only, size 8 max. No fixed feeders, no leads over 2oz. Branded carp/coarse pellets only. Landing net/unhooking mats provided, leaving rod licence as deposit. Keepnets (fishery own) only permitted in matches. No dogs. One non-angling guest permitted.
Contact: Pete Wilson on 01462 701865. Website: www.chestnutpool.co.uk
Location: Off Church Street in Langford. Exit the A1 at Biggleswade roundabout, pass the supermarket then cross the River Ivel and follow this road round towards the town centre, turning right into St. Andrews Street just before the big fast food joint. Follow this road to traffic lights, turn right then head straight across the mini roundabouts and under the A1 bridge into open countryside. Langford village is a mile ahead, with the fishery signposted on the right shortly after the first traffic calming island. Postcode SG18 9QT.

Some things are never forgotten, like the flashing of the violent electrical storm that reflected in the large silver rose bowl on my companion’s lap. Or the two newly minted gold medals in their presentation cases on the dashboard.

We were members of the triumphant Goldthorpe team, having just beaten 107 teams in our National Championship debut and established a new points record in the process.

Today’s trip couldn’t be more different. Here I was, out to fulfil a promise I made to myself a long time ago. I have always fancied doing some zander from the Fens but somehow never got around to it. That would all change in the next few hours.

I was joining an old mate, a Doncaster ex-pat, near Downham Market for an overnight session on the Great Ouse. “If it runs,” he said, “We’ll catch – for certain! But if it doesn’t, we’ll struggle.”

Bob prepares to net a Zander

Dave’s directions were dead easy to follow and I sneaked up unannounced to watch him catching a small roach every put-in on the whip. He’d even got the bait sorted.

A twig broke beneath my foot and betrayed my presence. Dave turned and greeted me with a look of exasperation, “You won’t believe it!” he said, “It’s been running so hard I was thinking of swapping to a stick float but all of a sudden it’s stopped. If it stays like this, we’re in for a hard time.

Did I care? Did I hell, “Give us a go with the whip then!” I said and another hour vanished…

But there’s no rush with zander fishing when the water is low and clear. Dave’s mate Neil summed it up perfectly, “Ten minutes after the sun dips behind yon floodbank is when we’ll get our first bite.”

All you can do until then is catch some bait, prepare your gear and fortify the inner man. With enough roach in Dave’s net to re-stock the Leeds-Liverpool Canal, we barbecued a couple of pounds of locally made sausages and talked fishing while the sun slowly sank.

Bob believes the lighter the better when it comes to rigs for zander fishing

With the river practically stood we were able to freeline our baits but a missed take and a hook pull to my rods in the first half hour of darkness had me switching over to a heavy running lead that increased resistance – sometimes a complete no-no with zander – but improved bite detection. After that I hit every pick-up. Enough said!

Dave’s prophesy of a hard session was spot-on, but we still landed four fish, the best a shade over eight pounds. This whetted my appetite for more and I returned several times as Autumn approached, scoring on every trip.

We went from low and clear conditions to floods in the next few weeks, putting my 250-mile round trips on hold for a while but I did risk one quick session last week on a day when the EA issued thirty flood warnings. Zander will happily feed during daylight in heavily coloured water.

Disaster struck when a sluice swung open at Denver and the flow rapidly increased to a point where an ounce weight was needed to hold bottom just five yards out. The flow itself wasn’t a major problem but the volume of rubbish coming through was. A constant barrage of twiggs, branches, lillies and cabbage leaves kept hitting my line and it soon became impossible to keep a bait in position for more than ten minutes.

A night with no sleep, no fish and a long drive home loomed, but I didn’t care. Zander fishing is strangely addictive and there’s so much to learn.

I’ll be back again as soon as the conditions settle down again.

Ten Top Zander Venues

The Lower Great Ouse

The Great Ouse Relief Channel

Forty Foot Drain

Twenty Foot Drain

Sixteen Foot Drain

Popham’s Eau

The Old Bedford River

Roswell Pits

Ferry Meadows

Old Bury Hill Fisheries

Coventry Canal

Coombe Abbey Lake

Bob with a cracking drain caught zander

Big perch are nomadic in summer, as eager to swim in the fastest current as haunt the deepest eddy as they seek out shoals of prey fish. In winter they will invariably be found in quieter water and this means swim choice is much easier.

If you can find an area of steady water below a bend with features like rushes, overhanging bushes or better still a fallen tree branch, chances are a big perch will be nearby. Ignore the swirling eddies, seek out areas where the flow is sedate close-in and picking up pace as you work a little further out. Depth isn’t too important. I’ve caught big perch in less than a couple of feet of water from right next to the margin rushes but four to eight feet is better.

Big perch tend to shoal in swims like this and whereas you may need to adopt a mobile approach in summer, taking a fish here and a fish there, multiple catches of big perch may be taken from one swim in winter.

Unlike many river species, perch don’t appear to like coloured water. When levels are high and the river is carrying sediment I suspect their gills become irritated and they can be near impossible to tempt, which is strange in some ways because experience shows that winter perch are more likely to be caught during the last hour of daylight or on those gloomy, dull days when it never really gets light.

One reason why the same old anglers catch really big perch in winter is because they are the only ones who are determined and sit it out until the magic hour. I’ve lost count of the times that I’ve sat with a dry net until late afternoon watched the feint hearted pack up and leave, one-by-one Sometimes the final car has hardly left the car park before I bend into my first lump of the day.

It’s not easy to stick it out on bitter cold days, especially when you’ve been on the river since daybreak, and that’s why I normally have a lie-in on the days when I target winter perch. There is little point in rising early and thrashing the water to foam only to lose interest when you need to be completely focussed.

Bob’s fish friendly camo big perch rig

Float fishing allows you to impart movement of the bait in a way that is simply not possible with a leger. I never just cast out and let the float swing round. Instead I keep working it, lifting the worm six inches and allowing it to flutter down enticingly, drawing it back towards me in jerky pulls, inching the bait sideways and constantly altering depths from hard on the bottom to just off.

Although my main feed will be chopped worm with a few casters, introduced a little way short of the crease, I’ll work the whole swim with my float, anywhere from underneath my feet, alongside any nearside features and out to the point where the main current kicks in. Sometimes I’ll trot at the full speed of the current and then slowly edge the bait back towards me along the margin.

Worm’s are one of the best perch baits around

So, stick it out to the bitter end and you could well be rewarded with a personal best perch.

Five Tips

1. Make sure everything is prepared, have spare hooks tied and ready as you approach the magic hour

2. Step up the hook link and hook size if there are serious snags about

3. Keep working the bait because you can provoke a perch into snapping at it.

4. Search the whole swim until you locate a fish and then concentrate on the area

5. Big perch are deceptively powerful and the swims you need to fish can be quite snaggy. I regard 3lb hooklinks as the absolute minimum and will frequently fish with 5lb line straight through to the hook.

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Five Big Perch Rivers

1. River Derwent, Derbyshire

2. River Trent, Nottinghamshire

3. River Thames, Oxon

4. Upper Great Ouse, Bucks

5. River Stour, Hants

Big perch are among the most attractive fish in Britains rivers

Looking back, that one fish planted a seed in me that still flourishes today. It inspired me above all else to stop just reading the writings of Walker, Stone and Taylor and to actually do something with the knowledge they’d given me. I began to specialise and I had a goal. I too wanted to catch a four-pound tench.

That wasn’t as easy as you might think, living in South Yorkshire. Tench themselves weren’t exactly thick on the ground and the waters I could reach by bike or public transport were unusual in that they contained mostly tiny tincas. Walker wrote that to catch a tench under two pounds was quite rare and he would regale us with tales of his punting adventures at Wooton and Woodstock and the huge bags of four-pounders they took, yet he never did managed to catch a single six-pound tench in his entire life. By contrast the two best tench waters available to me contained shoals of fish in the two to twelve ounce bracket but a two-pounder was deemed a cracker.

That all changed when a club bailiff we kids knew only as ‘Sliding Fred’ set about thinning the dense lily beds in an almost un-fishable pond near Toll Bar. Fred’s endeavours revealed tench of a size we could only previously dream. The four-pound goal was soon reached and the five-pound barrier beckoned. Other club members dismissed my size eight hooks, five-pound line and split cane Avon rod as crude and unsporting. The difference was I landed the fish I hooked, they didn’t, and a lesson was learned that stands me in good stead today. You must always use tackle to match the circumstances.

Bags of three and 4 fish before breakfast became my norm. Occasionally I would land six and on one momentous occasion I took a thirteen yet I couldn’t beat the five-pound barrier, 4lb 14oz being my biggest and what’s more, I’m embarrassed to admit that a five-pounder would elude me for several decades.

How different it is today. Providing I’m prepared to travel I can more or less catch a ’seven’ to order. It’s down to habitat, you see. The clay ponds and estate lakes of my youth seldom produce fish much over five pounds whereas fish of this size are

Bob prepares to net a tench

Horseshoe remains one of my favourite tench waters, mainly because the regulars do everything they can to avoid them, consequently the fish don’t get too pressured and the only bait they are really shy of is boilies. I’ve had sessions where the only way to get a rest was to stop using corn, worms or maggots and put a boilie on the hook.

Early season tench patrol along the margins and can sometimes be found just a few feet out. One of my favourite ways to catch them is to spread a light path of bait diagonally down the margin slope just off to one side of my swim. It’s a bit too close for conventional legering in my book and float fishing invites line bites. Instead I sit right back with the rod tips barely protruding over the margin and freeline, To ensure I reduce line bites but still register takes I do away with a leger weight and incorporate a few inches of Kryston’s Score Gold leadcore between my main line and hook link instead. This nails everything down and you simply watch the line below the rod tip for bites. Of course you can only do this in calm conditions but we are fishing in the best time of year weather-wise.

It’s pretty exciting stuff and sometimes you will actually see a tench take your bait. That surely has to be the most exciting kind of tench fishing on the planet.

Leadcore is a useful tool when tench fishing

1. Feed a mixture of trout pellets, corn, casters, dead maggots and hemp but do not overfeed

2. Ring the changes with hook baits. Combination baits like a grain of corn and to red maggots work really well

3. Sit well back, stay off the skyline and make as little noise as possible

4. Set the rods on sensitive bite alarms just in case your attention wanders

5. Check your clutch is set. A big fish hooked on a short line is a recipe for disaster

Six Big Tench Venues To Try

1. Dorchester Lagoon

2. Johnsons Pit

3. Wraysbury

4. Horseshoe Lake

5. Linear Fisheries

6. Sywell Reservoir

Bob displays a cracking tench for the camera

Despite having every good intention I always seem to get sucked into the social scene and it seems such a shame when you’ve gone all that way not to enjoy the delights of Dartmoor or the Devon coastline, a meal out at some country pub or restaurant in the early evening, prior to having a nightcap or three in Zyg’s spectacular African Bar.

I talk a lot of fishing down there and nurse a few hangovers but seldom do I really get my fishing head in gear.

Recently I decided to put that right by targeting the phenomenal specimens that reside in the Specimen Orfe and Tench Lake. The previous year’s draining and netting removed all the smaller fish and only forty specimens were returned, each one over four pounds. The water in this lake is relatively clear and the fish can usually be seen, but the combination of a full moon, high barometric pressure, clear blue skies, calm frosty nights and bitter easterly winds during the day put the fish down. The orfe, my main target, simply vanished.

The conventional way to catch orfe is to spray maggots with a catapult and fish a waggler about 18 inches deep but there was no way they were having that on this trip. It didn’t stop me trying though. Despite my best efforts nothing responded. I sprayed until my fingers bled but nothing budged. The fish were sulking in the depths and refused to come up to play. It just goes to show when you set out to fish with a single ‘can’t fail’ plan in mind you are riding for a fall. No matter where you fish or what for, you should approach the water with an open mind. I failed to do that and nearly came unstuck.

The biting easterly winds dictated a switch to feeder tactics but I found I lacked certain important items, a hanger for instance. No matter, I set about making one from the soft polythene tag from a shot container lid, 18 inches of line, four shots and a disgorger.

I prefer to fish with two rods in stillwaters but only had one suitable rod with me. That was a stupid mistake. Two rods mean you can cover twice the ground and experiment with baits and presentations. I would make slower progress with one. Still, mustn’t grumble because things went a whole lot better than I could have expected in the end.

Bob displays a good sized Golden Orfe

I also trickled a steady supply of bait into the next area I proposed to attack so that I didn’t have to start from scratch each time I moved.

The fishing was painfully slow. After a couple of quick bites I might wait five hours for the next. It’s difficult to make tactical decisions based on infrequent and sporadic bites but it was a pattern that repeated itself over the three days I fished, but the proof of the pudding is invariably measured by the results you achieve not the hours it takes. Sixteen fish graced my net, an equal mix of orfe (carrots) and tench (bananas), but hand on heart I must confess it wasn’t exciting fishing, more a case of boring the fish out, but sometimes it’s what you have to do.

Five Tips

1. Don’t turn up with a fixed plan in mind

2. Let the fish dictate how much you feed

3. Recognise that sometimes you have to wait a long time for bites

4. Use floating maggots to counterbalance the weight of the hook

5. Think one step ahead. Prepare the next swim in good time.

Bob with a good sized Anglers Paradise golden tench

It was a chub that found the bait first, as always, a succession of savage raps on the rod tips with no hook-ups materialising, even against 4oz feeders. How do they get away with it so easily? Okay you hook the odd one but the dismal ratio of pick-ups to hooked fish is perplexing.

And then a shoal of bream moved in. That’s more like it! If you can find bream, or should I say, when they find you, the barbel won’t be far behind. Yes, it’s a pain to catch bream that average anywhere between 4 and 8lb but I can remember a time when I’d give my eye teeth to catch fish like this.

Perhaps bream stir up the riverbed producing a bit of colour in the water, perhaps they give off a particular kind of vibration, or maybe barbel can hear them chewing. Laugh if you like but Mistral Baits introduced a boilie a while back containing ingredients that give them a crunch. Think about it, carp graze on mussels and snails and these are crushed in their pharyngeal teeth. Sound travels much better through water than through air, so is it too wild a theory to suggest one fish might be able to hear when another fish is eating? It might explain why one feeding fish triggers the next to join in.

Watch one fish feeding in clear water and it won’t be long before another appears. Feeding triggers more feeding so I don’t complain too much about those bream.

The only problem with having them in your swim is that you are never quite sure how much food they have eaten, that’s why I’m using a big feeder to keep topping up the swim.

Suddenly the downstream rod springs to life, the tip is yanked forwards and the reel’s drag screams in protest. I don’t use carp reels with a free spool facility for my barbel fishing, preferring instead to use a ‘proper’ fixed spool reel with the drag set fairly tight so it will only give line grudgingly when a fish takes.

Taking your time when returning barbel to the water is very important, as they sometimes take a while to recover

Never mind, I’m sure a bigger fish will follow. Chances are I’ll catch quite a few barbel during this session and it is a numbers game.

Interestingly this fish fell to the downstream rod. A few years ago I carried out a meticulous comparison between the effectiveness of boilies and pellets. The only genuine conclusion I came up with was that I caught more fish on the downstream rod irrespective of the bait used.

I put this down to fish arriving in the baited area after following the scent trail, whereas Matt is convinced that the line above the feeder is a fish deterrent, hence his obsession with pinning down the line using leadcore leaders and back leads. Me? I use both approaches, leaning more towards camouflaging in daylight.

Midnight approaches. Bites have tailed off now as they so often do in the middle of the night. It’s been a good night so far with 8 scalps on the belt already, half a dozen schoolies between 5 and 8lb, one double and a near miss. There’s hardly been time for a brew never mind ‘sleeping by rods’.

I’m going to snatch a kip now things are quiet. With luck I’ll not get a take for a couple of hours or so and I’ll be ready for the dawn rush.

This kind of fishing is not everyone’s cup of tea.

So what?

It’s been labelled carbelling by some, derided for being a hybrid style, somewhere between carp fishing and barbel fishing. It isn’t. Anglers have been fishing for river carp using identical tactics for several decades now, especially on the River Trent. It is carp fishing. Unfortunately we don’t catch many carp and have to make do with catching barbel!

But hey, it’s not compulsory. You can touch leger if you prefer. You can freeline, trundle a lump of meat or even run a float through.

But if you want to maximise your catches on the big rivers, dig out the bite alarms, point those rods to the sky and break open the piggy bank because you’re going to need a fair bit of bait.

Rig suggestions

Heavy feeder rig

Big/ flat lead/ In-line rigs
Tackle Recommendations:

Rod – depends more on the flow and the weight required to hold bottom rather the size of fish you are targeting but a general guide would be that you use a minimum 1.75lb test curve rod with a minimum 8 to 10lb line. Many anglers opt for light carp rods around 2.25lb test and lines around 12lb.

Bob displays a good sized barbel for the camera

The river here varies between 15 and 25 yards wide at a guess and I’m pretty much spoilt for choice when it comes to swims. The overhanging bushes are obvious starting points as is the deep margin on the tight bend, there’s a bit of a gulley between those two banks of streamer weed and of course there’s that tasty looking swim just before the rapids where the river shallows up and the pace increases.

The depth along most of this stretch is such that I can’t clearly see the fish I’m after so fishing for them is a leap of faith to some extent so I’m using watercraft to predict spots where, if I was a barbel, that’s where I’d want to be.

The trouble is every swim looks so horny but experience has taught me that they don’t all contain fish. Well, not all the time. You see, the fish tend to roam around, laying up in inaccessible places until hunger gets the better of them. Then they’ll go exploring, stopping off for a snack here and there. A swim that is empty right now might easily hold fish later and vice versa.

Adopting a roving approach when barbel fishing is a simple way of maximising the number of fish you catch in a short session but it requires a degree of discipline. I spend as much time, probably more when I think about it, preparing swims rather than fishing them.

Pick Your Time

It helps if you know your river and you do need a bit of space to work in. It’s not the sort of thing you try on a sunny Sunday morning in the school holidays right next to the car park. Be prepared to walk, fish in bad weather and midweek evenings are obviously a better bet than weekends.

The Beauty of small rivers is that feding by habd is almost always an option

How would I feel if the boot was on the other foot?

It also helps to concentrate on half a dozen spots that aren’t too far apart or you’ll end up shattered. You can’t physically manage more than six and I’m quite happy to fish as few as four.

Having chosen my swims I’ll wander between them introducing some feed. All I’m hoping to do is intercept and occupy a fish, or a group of fish, until I get around to fishing the swim.

Small particles, small pellets, corn, chopped boilies or finely chopped meat are the ideal choices as they give off lots of attraction while neither filling up the fish nor getting mopped up too quickly. Introduce six boilies and a single fish could eat them all and be gone in seconds. Chuck in a handful of particles and the same fish might be occupied for an hour or more.

A bait dropper is an essential toolbecause it allows me to bait accurately but it can be too precise. I want a liberal spread of bait in the swim so a fish will remain occupied for quite a while so I might introduce three or four droppers, spread a few feet apart, followed by a pouch of hemp so this scatters around the same area.

Putting in bait with a catapult is more accurate than throwing it in by hand unless the swim is very close to the near bank but don’t mix the feed in your bucket. Put hemp, different sized pellets, boilies or whatever in separately. If you fire them out in the same catapult you’ll find the heaviest baits go further and the lighter ones drop short which defeats the object somewhat.

Mind you, in saying all this, there’s no better bait combination for this hit and run style fishing than hemp and casters – providing you can afford them!

Feeding

Bob unhooks a small river barbel

By the time I’ve baited a second time I realise I’ve already been on the bank for the best part of two hours without wetting a line. Time for that drink. I’ll take my time now to tackle up – one rod. I’ll check every knot, the hook point, my reel line, the reel’s drag setting – everything. Then I’ll check it again.

Tension mounts. I’m absolutely confident that the first fish of the day will shortly be hooked. Easing myself quietly into the upstream swim I gently swing out the rig. It settles, the line draws tight. My rod is pointing directly at the lead, line held between thumb and first finger. I’m feeling for anything, any sign that a fish is in the swim.

Was that a slight pluck? A line bite? Or maybe it was a bit of debris catching the line. Don’t strike!

There, it happened again. I’m now oblivious to my surroundings, the skylark is lost, the distant drone of traffic and children playing in the village. It’s just me, my senses and a few millimetres of line on the nerve endings in my fingertips.

Suddenly all hell lets loose. The rod’s hoped over and I’m playing a fish. I don’t remember the sudden pull or even striking. Everything happened in the blink of an eye while I was on complete autopilot.

Hang on tight, whack the rod over to the left and keep it as low as the vegetation will allow. It’s stalemate for a while as the rod absorbs a series of savage lunges and then she’s coming towards me. The battle will be fast, it will be furious and it will be brought to a swift conclusion.

The fish is netted, carried a short way upstream, nursed and released, none the worse for an experience that gave me so much pleasure.

Two more droppers of bait go in to top up the swim and I wander down to my second swim.

I need a heavier lead but the quick change attachment means I can do it in seconds. Again I swing out the rig and wait, nerves jangling, adrenalin pumping.

Minutes pass. I consider a recast but stop myself. There was nothing wrong with the first cast so why create unnecessary disturbance. I sit tight for another five minutes. Nothing materialises and I decide to cut my losses and move down to swim three. I do not introduce any more bait. There is nothing happening to suggest the bait I have already introduced has been eaten.

Swim three is shallower and I see a barbel flash. There are feeding fish in the swim and I need to be very cautious. Using the lightest lead I can reach with I cast beyond the baited area and let the current pull the rig round on a tight line and then release it as it comes over the area I want it to lie.

I can feel the lead settle, and hold – hang on it trundled across the gravel then – I can actually feel it go tap-tap, and then it stops, probably against a bit of weed or a stone. Perfect. I know a bite is going to follow and it’s going to come pretty soon.

Bang! We’re in again!

I’m sure you’ve got the picture now. Bait carefully, think about what and how much you are going to use. Be stealthy and keep things as simple as possible.

When I’ve completed the circuit, I’ll go back to the first swim and repeat the process. Two cycles will take me the better part of three hours by which time it’ll be dark. Time flies and I’ll only have had a bait in the water for a fraction of the time I’ve been on the bank but every second it was in there I was in with a very good chance of hooking into a fish.

Fishing like this is absorbing, exhilarating and shattering. I’ll sleep contentedly tonight.

Rig suggestions

Light feeder rig

Simple semi-fixed rig employing a leadcore leader (see photo sequence)

Tackle Recommendations:

Rod – dependant to some extent upon the size of fish you are targeting but a general guide would be that you use a 1.5 to 1.75lb test curve rod with a minimum 6lb line, ideally 8 or even 10lb.

Fishing on small rivers can be rewarding, as you can see your quarry at very close quarters