After another session in early May spent sitting behind a
rod pod, catching bugger all and seeing nothing of note, I fancied a
change. With so much water unfishable
from the bank the only sensible option is to take to the punt and go
looking. So this is what I have been
doing for the last few trips, spending at least an hour mooching around trying
to find a sign but it hasn’t brought a change in fortunes. Last year I managed to spot both Tench and
Carp, even if I didn’t manage to catch them but so far this season I’ve seen
bugger in the way of clues. I’ve also
gone through the ordeal of making the same mistakes; i.e. I really should
remember that traditional groundbait attracts every silver fish for miles. I like float fishing but it’s impossible to
keep a bait in the water, even fake corn gets battered and the float is moving
constantly. If a proper fish took my
bait I might not even know the difference.
I did feel the difference when a decent Pike grabbed a Rudd and swam
past the boat and away taking my size 14 with it.
The way to approach the fishing would be to use the punt to
drop baits into the holes in the weed, top up with a bit of bait then carefully
row away, tie up quietly then sit it out.
That is fine in theory but in practice any kind of crosswind makes this
much more difficult than it should be!
However with a bit of practice this method of presentation is manageable
but it still hasn’t worked for me.
On a recent trip Isaac joined me; I didn’t intend to put a
boilie rod out but brought it along just in case. We spent a pleasant couple of hours messing
about in a boat, which gave me a chance to look for any fish that weren’t
scattered by the commotion of Isaac’s rowing.
We stopped for a while and fished with floats and corn. We caught a few Rudd and had a few laughs
then moved off again. The water was
crystal and we saw thousands of Rudd but still no sign of Tench or Carp. No worries, being lost in the East Anglian
countryside has other benefits, the Cuckoo has been vocal and visible for a few
weeks now and all the usual wilderness residents have been putting in an
appearance. Isaac and I spotted a
Bittern last time out.
By the time I
fish again I expect the fish will have spawned and the chance of a real BIG Tench
will have passed for another year but you never know...
