Pondip Blog Live and New Swim Trecks!
A warm welcome to this weeks blog update i hope i find you all well and your nets wet. Well i arrived at the bait shop on Friday and unfortunately there was no replacement rod section waiting for me, no fault of the shops just no Preston orders had come in that week, fingers crossed for this week. A tough start to the working week today as i feel the pain from a weekend trampling through the undergrowth and of course that monday morning blues feeling of no fishing for a few days. A third cup of coffee of the morning just arrived on my desk so fingers crossed that this much needed caffeine gets me through this afternoon.
Since the birth of our children my fishing has remained structured but the writing of the blog has been all over the place but i finally feel that i am finding some much needed structure to my week with writing my blog on my dinner hour in work. Jotting my ideas for the blog down over the weekend while fishing means i am now starting writing the blog on the Monday and hopefully this will see me starting to publish my blog on Friday evenings.
On to this weeks blog update.. http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/coarse-fishing-2/canal-bait-2/
Down at the Bottom of the Garden....
Now we all remember the famous program as kids called the poddington pea's, respect to those currently signing the theme tune!! But this week i was literally down at the bottom of my garden amongst the birds and the bees, i didn't see a lot of Little people but i did find a gem right at the back of my garden that i never knew was there. This gem is a elderberry plant and although not yet in full bloom it soon will be and for me as an angler it means i can now have a go fishing with elderberries over hemp seed. A great little find!
I will be leaving this a few days to come into full bloom and hopefully i will beat the birds to this bounty, do they even eat them? sure they do. The first session they are ripe i will be taking a few to the bank and trying them out. The end of the garden is a right little Aladdin's cave of surprises though with a Apple tree currently laden with apples, any ideas on variety appreciated in the comments section. There is also some form of berry tree as well and i am informed its not the best thing to make cherry pie from so i will be giving these a miss but the apples might get a look in if they are edible.
All in all with the bird feeders up the garden has been a real surprise this year. What started out as a overgrown wild garden is slowly getting to a managed state and the wealth of wildlife is astonishing from robins, finches and sparrows to hedgehogs, frogs and squirrels. These have mainly come from the bird table but most have had little don't to attract them in so i can only imagine the oasis we could have if we really directed some energy towards their habitat.
Natural History Museum.....Great Day Out!!
Bank holiday weekend and we decided to make a trip into Liverpool town centre to visit the Natural History Museum. All i can say is WOW! what a fantastic day out and set up they have there it really was a great day out and i have to say it was done in the right way. The exhibitions are set over 5 floors with aquariums, space rockets, dinosaur bones, preserved animals and a bug zone to name a few areas they had. As an angler i was of course pulled by the aquarium bit and it was fantastic to see so many children fascinated by the fish on show.
We had recently visited the Blue Planet aquarium and it was a nightmare with every room containing children's rides or sweet vending machines, all these do is distract the attention of the children and you are left with kids crying to go on rides rather than looking at the fish, in short had we wanted to go the fair ground we would have gone Alton Towers. This place had none of that and it showed in the fact all the kids where looking at the fish and reading the information on show. This spoke volumes for me and it is a place where entry is free!.
Parking right outside the place and i think it was £3.00 for a few hours parking. All in all a great day out and a place i fully recommend for taking the kids too. I know its not angling related but thought it worthy of a share.
Pondip Blog Goes Live.....
My most recent blog for Pondip Tackle Boxes went live this week. It is the second instalment of my canal baits series i am writing for them. This blog looks at castors and hemp seed for fishing the canal and the results it can bring. We all live close to a canal and even the most neglected of waters can hold a decent head of fish, in fact waters that are gin clear and you can see the bottom all the way across are not always the best quality for fish to survive. Why not have a read of the blogs and try your local canal and even better drop me a email or message on facebook and i will feature it in one of the blogs.
link to Pondip Blog: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/coarse-fishing-2/canal-bait-2/
On to this weeks fishing
What is going on!
So Saturday morning and we pulled up on the banks of the river dane and in the gloom of the early morning light the river was looking in tip top shape. We walked the banks looking at all the swims before deciding on where to fish. We are always out on the bank at first light and are very rarely beaten to a peg if we really have one in mind but on this river that is not even an issue as the gear stays in the car and we walk the banks looking at the swims before even getting the gear so confident are we no one will be on the peg when we arrive back.
By the time we walked back to the car the river was fully visible and she looked in mint condition in fact as rivers go she was bang on! The river was carrying a little bit of water, had a nice pace but more importantly she had a lovely colour. You could not see the bottom in the middle and the edges where just visible. Having fished the rivers for a few years you begin to understand how they fish and in both mine and my uncles opinion it looked class and we expected a decent days sport.
I set up in a swim where i placed my basket actually in the water and fished a few yards into the river. The main glide on this swim was on my side of the river so it was nothing more than a two rod length cast to be on the line i wanted to fish. I fed the swim with maggots and fed it slightly down stream so i was confident the fish would not be right up on the feed and my float was settled by the time i got to the swim. A few pouches of hemp seed and i was all ready to set up my 13ft float rod loaded with 5lb line and a 1.7lb hook length.
The fishing from the off was frantic as the fish moved right onto the feed and a shoal of chublet where obviously in residence as the early exchanges where dominated by these fish with their mouths laden with maggots.
At this point it was looking like we were set in for a good days sport as i could also hear my uncle some 50 yards down stream confidently striking into bites. Chublet and the odd roach coming each cast you begin to think it could be a good days fishing with a decent net. The float rarely made it to my bed of hemp seed at this point and i must admit alarm bells where ringing as the bites where beginning to feel frantic and not the settled swim you really want when trotting a float. I persevered with it but slowly i could feel the bites ebbing as i went further down the swim and onto my hemp seed where i found the odd skimmer had taken up residence.
This was around a hour into the day and i will never forget this skimmer as it was literally the last fish i caught on the session as the swim died. From a bite a chuck to nothing and the float going through the swim with not so much as a knock, "it can not be right this" i thought in my head "all these fish can not just go!". This time i was determined to do all i could so out came the maggot feeder rod and ground bait and i began fishing on the tip where i had fed my hemp.
The tip remained as motionless as the float and i even decided to risk a cast right on top of a over hanging tree where there just had to be a fish lurking but still the tip remained motionless. My head ticking over i could only imagine a predator had moved in so i set up a small live bait rig. If any predator was in the swim it must have been blind as this live bait was doing all you would want it to do making a commotion and frantically moving all over the swim.
I have said in previous blogs this place is getting me down and i have to admit on Saturday i finally gave up. I literally said stuff this and packed my gear away and went to see how my uncle was doing. He was a good 50-100 yards down stream and his swim had literally mirrored mine and he was going through with not a knock. I took a picture of my net and thought about what to do next.
Not one to waste time
We had plenty of the day left so we decided to pack in and do some investigation into some other areas of the river i had researched in the last few weeks. The first was a stretch miles upstream and upon getting out the car we where met with head high balsam and nettles. We grabbed the bank sticks and began hacking a route through to a point where we could at lease see the river.
like with most rivers you get through some of the under growth and you find big open expanses of bank behind it and so was the case with this. The river was really neglected so a lot of fallen trees had gone into the river and had not been removed but the whole area screamed fish and had some really nice glides. Getting the gear to the swims was going to be a nightmare so we made our way back the car and vowed to return another time to hack a route through and fish the swims we found and we headed off to another area we had explored the previous week with a view to seeing if it held any fish at all such was its remote location.
Armed with a shovel we began digging in some foot holes and a place to sit on the steep banks.
We fished the swim for a hour or so in the blistering heat, not the best time to be wetting a line on a shallow river but we knew these fish would not have seen a bait so we where confident of getting an idea of species present. My uncle set up just upstream and we took it in turns to trot the swim. Early trots down saw us catching bottom as the swim gradually got shallow but eventually we found a line and to our surprise some stinking dace came to the net!!
By the end of the hour or so on the bank we had caught a few nice dace that showed us this area does have some potential and is worth us dedicating time to this area.
We left again a little frustrated with the days action and we are yet to find an area that can sustain a day session and produce a decent net of fish. Moving and picking around is not how we fish and its really becoming a problem. Hopefully this coming weekend my rod will be here and we can make some moves to other rivers.
Till next week i wish you all tight lines
Danny
Since the birth of our children my fishing has remained structured but the writing of the blog has been all over the place but i finally feel that i am finding some much needed structure to my week with writing my blog on my dinner hour in work. Jotting my ideas for the blog down over the weekend while fishing means i am now starting writing the blog on the Monday and hopefully this will see me starting to publish my blog on Friday evenings.
On to this weeks blog update.. http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/coarse-fishing-2/canal-bait-2/
Down at the Bottom of the Garden....
Now we all remember the famous program as kids called the poddington pea's, respect to those currently signing the theme tune!! But this week i was literally down at the bottom of my garden amongst the birds and the bees, i didn't see a lot of Little people but i did find a gem right at the back of my garden that i never knew was there. This gem is a elderberry plant and although not yet in full bloom it soon will be and for me as an angler it means i can now have a go fishing with elderberries over hemp seed. A great little find!
I will be leaving this a few days to come into full bloom and hopefully i will beat the birds to this bounty, do they even eat them? sure they do. The first session they are ripe i will be taking a few to the bank and trying them out. The end of the garden is a right little Aladdin's cave of surprises though with a Apple tree currently laden with apples, any ideas on variety appreciated in the comments section. There is also some form of berry tree as well and i am informed its not the best thing to make cherry pie from so i will be giving these a miss but the apples might get a look in if they are edible.
All in all with the bird feeders up the garden has been a real surprise this year. What started out as a overgrown wild garden is slowly getting to a managed state and the wealth of wildlife is astonishing from robins, finches and sparrows to hedgehogs, frogs and squirrels. These have mainly come from the bird table but most have had little don't to attract them in so i can only imagine the oasis we could have if we really directed some energy towards their habitat.
Natural History Museum.....Great Day Out!!
Bank holiday weekend and we decided to make a trip into Liverpool town centre to visit the Natural History Museum. All i can say is WOW! what a fantastic day out and set up they have there it really was a great day out and i have to say it was done in the right way. The exhibitions are set over 5 floors with aquariums, space rockets, dinosaur bones, preserved animals and a bug zone to name a few areas they had. As an angler i was of course pulled by the aquarium bit and it was fantastic to see so many children fascinated by the fish on show.
We had recently visited the Blue Planet aquarium and it was a nightmare with every room containing children's rides or sweet vending machines, all these do is distract the attention of the children and you are left with kids crying to go on rides rather than looking at the fish, in short had we wanted to go the fair ground we would have gone Alton Towers. This place had none of that and it showed in the fact all the kids where looking at the fish and reading the information on show. This spoke volumes for me and it is a place where entry is free!.
Parking right outside the place and i think it was £3.00 for a few hours parking. All in all a great day out and a place i fully recommend for taking the kids too. I know its not angling related but thought it worthy of a share.
Pondip Blog Goes Live.....
My most recent blog for Pondip Tackle Boxes went live this week. It is the second instalment of my canal baits series i am writing for them. This blog looks at castors and hemp seed for fishing the canal and the results it can bring. We all live close to a canal and even the most neglected of waters can hold a decent head of fish, in fact waters that are gin clear and you can see the bottom all the way across are not always the best quality for fish to survive. Why not have a read of the blogs and try your local canal and even better drop me a email or message on facebook and i will feature it in one of the blogs.
link to Pondip Blog: http://blog.pondiptacklebox.com/coarse-fishing-2/canal-bait-2/
On to this weeks fishing
What is going on!
So Saturday morning and we pulled up on the banks of the river dane and in the gloom of the early morning light the river was looking in tip top shape. We walked the banks looking at all the swims before deciding on where to fish. We are always out on the bank at first light and are very rarely beaten to a peg if we really have one in mind but on this river that is not even an issue as the gear stays in the car and we walk the banks looking at the swims before even getting the gear so confident are we no one will be on the peg when we arrive back.
By the time we walked back to the car the river was fully visible and she looked in mint condition in fact as rivers go she was bang on! The river was carrying a little bit of water, had a nice pace but more importantly she had a lovely colour. You could not see the bottom in the middle and the edges where just visible. Having fished the rivers for a few years you begin to understand how they fish and in both mine and my uncles opinion it looked class and we expected a decent days sport.
I set up in a swim where i placed my basket actually in the water and fished a few yards into the river. The main glide on this swim was on my side of the river so it was nothing more than a two rod length cast to be on the line i wanted to fish. I fed the swim with maggots and fed it slightly down stream so i was confident the fish would not be right up on the feed and my float was settled by the time i got to the swim. A few pouches of hemp seed and i was all ready to set up my 13ft float rod loaded with 5lb line and a 1.7lb hook length.
The fishing from the off was frantic as the fish moved right onto the feed and a shoal of chublet where obviously in residence as the early exchanges where dominated by these fish with their mouths laden with maggots.
At this point it was looking like we were set in for a good days sport as i could also hear my uncle some 50 yards down stream confidently striking into bites. Chublet and the odd roach coming each cast you begin to think it could be a good days fishing with a decent net. The float rarely made it to my bed of hemp seed at this point and i must admit alarm bells where ringing as the bites where beginning to feel frantic and not the settled swim you really want when trotting a float. I persevered with it but slowly i could feel the bites ebbing as i went further down the swim and onto my hemp seed where i found the odd skimmer had taken up residence.
This was around a hour into the day and i will never forget this skimmer as it was literally the last fish i caught on the session as the swim died. From a bite a chuck to nothing and the float going through the swim with not so much as a knock, "it can not be right this" i thought in my head "all these fish can not just go!". This time i was determined to do all i could so out came the maggot feeder rod and ground bait and i began fishing on the tip where i had fed my hemp.
The tip remained as motionless as the float and i even decided to risk a cast right on top of a over hanging tree where there just had to be a fish lurking but still the tip remained motionless. My head ticking over i could only imagine a predator had moved in so i set up a small live bait rig. If any predator was in the swim it must have been blind as this live bait was doing all you would want it to do making a commotion and frantically moving all over the swim.
I have said in previous blogs this place is getting me down and i have to admit on Saturday i finally gave up. I literally said stuff this and packed my gear away and went to see how my uncle was doing. He was a good 50-100 yards down stream and his swim had literally mirrored mine and he was going through with not a knock. I took a picture of my net and thought about what to do next.
Not one to waste time
We had plenty of the day left so we decided to pack in and do some investigation into some other areas of the river i had researched in the last few weeks. The first was a stretch miles upstream and upon getting out the car we where met with head high balsam and nettles. We grabbed the bank sticks and began hacking a route through to a point where we could at lease see the river.
like with most rivers you get through some of the under growth and you find big open expanses of bank behind it and so was the case with this. The river was really neglected so a lot of fallen trees had gone into the river and had not been removed but the whole area screamed fish and had some really nice glides. Getting the gear to the swims was going to be a nightmare so we made our way back the car and vowed to return another time to hack a route through and fish the swims we found and we headed off to another area we had explored the previous week with a view to seeing if it held any fish at all such was its remote location.
Armed with a shovel we began digging in some foot holes and a place to sit on the steep banks.
We fished the swim for a hour or so in the blistering heat, not the best time to be wetting a line on a shallow river but we knew these fish would not have seen a bait so we where confident of getting an idea of species present. My uncle set up just upstream and we took it in turns to trot the swim. Early trots down saw us catching bottom as the swim gradually got shallow but eventually we found a line and to our surprise some stinking dace came to the net!!
By the end of the hour or so on the bank we had caught a few nice dace that showed us this area does have some potential and is worth us dedicating time to this area.
We left again a little frustrated with the days action and we are yet to find an area that can sustain a day session and produce a decent net of fish. Moving and picking around is not how we fish and its really becoming a problem. Hopefully this coming weekend my rod will be here and we can make some moves to other rivers.
Till next week i wish you all tight lines
Danny
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