Barden 2010-11

Burys Hill 2010

Those who follow this blog regularly will be aware of the fishing exploits of my younger brother Daniel, but you may not be aware of my own personal fishing target of catching a twenty pound monster! This twenty pound carp, of which has eluded me on every occasion, is not the direct subject of this particular blog; however my struggle to catch such a fish in a way it underlines all that I had forgotten about this great sport.

Over the past two years I have been on a quest (albeit not success one) to catch this monster carp, reading article after article, studying new techniques, and purchasing numerous baits; yet it was at some point during this period that I forgot what fishing was all about.
When I was ten, my Dad brought me my first fishing rod and took me to Edenbrigde where we spent hours and hours fishing for stickleback. Years past, and in time Dad and I were joined by Daniel. As the three of us navigated our way through various stretches of the Medway our fishing skills gradually improved until we were soon fishing for all species of fish on all types of venues. Looking back it’s true that we never really caught any monsters but the memories far outweigh any fish we could ever have wished to have caught. The essence of fishing is not the catching nor is it in the hours spent waiting behind a bite-alarm; the essence of fishing is simply forgetting your worries and enjoying nature in the company of those who mean more to you than any 20lb monster ever could.

We arrived at Bury Hill on a crisp summer’s morning an hour before sunrise; this was an oversight on our part but worked to our favour as we were first to a boat. We rowed out towards the far end of the Old Lake to an area known as the “Jungle”. The “Jungle” is an overgrown area of the lake with sunken trees and numerous snags only accessible by boat. As we anchored the boat just short of the snags we were greeted by two beautiful kingfishers eyeing-up the murky waters in search for the day’s breakfast! We had a coffee and set to work.
The plan was simple a bulk rig on one rod whilst float fishing sweetcorn on a second, both as tight to the snags as would allow. The trap was set and after an hour or so my bait-runner was screaming! The fish itself put up a tremendous fight mainly due to the short 8ft spinning rod I was using. Eventually the fish kicked for the last time and Daniel netted a beautiful common of 10lb. This was soon followed by a tench of around 4lb caught which Daniel caught on his float rod. Another hour or so went by and then all of a sudden Daniel had a huge run on his ledger rod close into the snags. As Daniel sprung across the boat he grabbed the handle of the rod but as he engaged the reel his grip slipped and to our horror the fish pulled both rod and reel into the water! After some manoeuvring of our boat we eventually managed to locate the rod (on the bottom of the lake) and retrieve both rod and reel; by this point the fish was long gone, one of five which managed to “get away”.
We had six more fish over the session including a stunning 14lb common caught by Daniel again fishing close into the snags; however as we rowed towards the boat house the evening drew in and I began to reminisce about what had been a fantastic days fishing. Sure we caught some great fish but it was the peacefulness of the lak
e, the stunning wildlife on show and the company that made this day a great days fishing!
Until next time, tight lines!
John

R.I.P The Mere

I have just discovered that the Mere has had a fish kill. The Black Mirror is dead along with an un-confirmed common of over 60lb and a "would be " British record. Along with the carp British record tench and eels were found. Everything in the lake is dead including snails and other aquatic life. This is a sad day for fishing as the mere held some real Jewell's. Although it was illegal to fish the lake it was a real challenge. I am sad to never have had the chance to fish there. This massive disaster happened due to an algae bloom. The Black Mirror was caught first by Jason Hayward in 1992 at 46lb. Terry Hearn and Dave Lane (Picture below) both managed to catch the fish and in there books mentioned seeing an even bigger common. She went over 50lb. This fish kill comes two weeks after Two Tone was found dead. Its been a bad month for fishing.

Linear Fisheries 2010

I have just arrived back from a great session at Linear fisheries in Oxfordshire with my Brother John. After much debate we decided to go to Linear instead of Twynersh because of all the bad sessions we had previously had there. There are five lakes at Linear fisheries St Johns, Manor Farm, Hardwick/Smiths Pool, Oxlese and Brasenose. Oxlease and Brasenose were immediately filtered from our list as pastie bashing was not on our agenda. We decided to look around the three remaining lakes and make a decision. There were bivys everywhere which to be honest we were expecting but we managed to find a nice double swim on smithspool joined to Hardwick. This lake is relatively large and around 20 acres. The lake holds around 400 carp to 40lb (Jordon) tench to 12lb and massive roach to 3lb 14oz. When planning for this trip I decided to have one rod for the roach and so I equipped myself with feeders, hooks to nylon, casters, hemp, sweetcorn, groundbait, micro boilies and maggots.

On the first morning I received a take on my rod fished at distance. After the fish being attached to my rod for no more than five seconds it fell off. During that day we fished for roach and caught some nice Rudd to around 5oz and loads of perch. I really got the fish going at one point and had a fish a cast. This caught the attention of a pike that managed to take three of my hooked fish and destroying my swim in the process.

During day 2 I decided to go for some good roach. As I fed the swim I began to catch the odd Rudd and some perch. Suddenly my float went under and I hooked into a reasonable fish. It took my drag and when It surfaced I could not believe It was a Roach. John did the honours with the net and once weighed she went 2lb on the money. It has to be the greatest fish I have ever caught and it was caught by design. I cant explain how big it looked and was so pleased to have caught it. I did not think I would catch catch a 2lb roach years as they are such a hard fish to catch . After this magnificent fish the rod was out again quickly. Again the float went under I was into a good fish however the rod suddenly bent double and I was re-assured a pike had grabbed my prize before cutting me off. That was the end of the roach fishing. I hooked into another small fish which was again taken by the pike but this time it didn't let go. It wasn't hooked but I managed to net it before it dropped the rudd. This session was turning out to be a strange one.

On the second evening as we sat drinking a beer watching the lake my right had rod pulled tight and a fish was hooked. It put up a strong fight but it didn't feel right. As I reeled it in it became tangled on my other lines and created a mess. We managed to net the fish and a ball of tangled leaders. It was a tench and we weighed it at 6lb. Strangely when unhooking the fish now in the dark I realised my rig was not in its mouth but that of another fishermans was. After scratching my head a few times I came to the conclusion that the leader it was dragging from a snap off had got tangled in my line. It created chaos but I managed to untangle the mess with my trusty head torch and the rods were cast back out. The second night also passed without a bite and although we tried every trick in the book it wasn't to be. It seemed as though the carp were in the Hardwick section of the lake and although the wind changed direction in towards us it didn't have much effect. We could see some fish moving at the far bank and so rods were cast long to where they were showing.

The third and final night passed without a bite. My brothers middle rod let out a couple of screams at around 7am on the final morning. I was out the bivy before him and struck into a fish. It felt like a carp but I wasn't sure. After a strange battle and the fish being weeded up it through the hook and the last minute. My brother was gutted and so was I. We enjoyed our time at Linear despite the carp not putting in an appearance. We will be back next year.

Back to the Eden

On Saturday the 8th of August 2010 I decided to go back to the River Eden in search of some large Perch. My plan was to fish a paternoster rig with a live bait. The other rod would be fished for the chub with just a couple of split shot and a longshank hook fished with lob worm. Phil, my mate decided to join me on the session but was not going to fish. We arrived at the river during darkness at around 5am and headed straight for my favourite corner swim. After an hour or so my chub rod bent round and I caught a nice 2-3lb chub. It seemed slow going so decided to set up in the small weir further upstream. My first challenge was to catch a live bait for my paternoster rig which after an hour or so I was successful at. A small minnow was hooked top lip first onto the longshank hook. After half an hour the rod began to shudder and I hooked a fish. It was a perch and although not big (around 8oz) It was my first perch live baiting and I felt an achievement. With the light enhancing as the day developed the chances of a big perch had become slim and I concentrated on the chub.

We moved to a swim further upstream which I knew usually holds a few goo chub. As I put on my Polaroids I was amazed at what I could see. There was around 6 chub moving quickly at the back of the river bed all of which were over 4lb and two over 5lb!!!. I had a few casts to see if one was interested but they turned there noses up at the free offerings so I moved to the swim next door and have a look. Under a raft I could see a big chub moving in out of the overhang. It was only when It moved out of the cover and moved over a sandstone rock that I realised the true size of it. Honestly it was over 7lb and It was a truly amazing fish. I also spotted another large fish hanging in the water which if a chub would have been a British record but I came to the conclusion It was a carp.

I flicked my lob worm out around the area I spotted the fish and the rod immediately bent around. The fish put up a great fight and I was sure It was the biggun I had spotted earlier. Phil helped out with the netting and a 4lb chub was banked (pictured above left) . It was a stunning fish but not the big fish I had seen. I will be back to catch that one.

Sunday 9th August 2010

Decided to complete another session to try and bank the large chub I spotted yesterday. The river was dead but I managed to bank 2 chub to around a pound. It was not the best fishing session but was enjoyable apart from the weather. I will be back to catch that mysterious chub.

Medway "The Stream"

When I first began fishing over 15 years ago the one place that I can really remember my dad taking me was a place we called the stream. "The Stream" (as we called it) is a small tributary river that flows into the river Medway. It is located in Tonbridge industrial estate and although not set in the most idyllic surroundings it actually offers some fantastic fishing for free. My memories of fishing there are few and far between but I do remember catching hundreds of gudgeon, dace, roach and if I was lucky a perch. During the times we spent there my dad caught a 5lb pike and my brother a 7lb bream but nothing huge. These were the days we were learning the trade and a 5lb bream was not to be moaned at in fact It was a monster. I still remember my brother catching it in the dark. My dad took us down there for my brothers birthday, camping on an industrial estate all night. No bite alarms. bivy, bed chair just three old rods and a tiny tent. My brother fell in once and started to frantically thrash about thinking he was drowning when he realised he could stand up and it was only two feet deep.
I decided to go to the stream 07/08/10 and catch some perch and maybe same chub. It was more of a trail session as I didn't know what to expect. The last time I visited the stream there was rubbish everywhere, fridges , sofas you name it. The stream was inaccessible and it was such a shame to have seen it in that condition. I am pleased to say that when I arrived I was impressed with the condition of the surroundings and the stream itself. Tops tiles have moved in the plot next to the stream and have looked after it including cutting the grass that runs adjacent and clearing all the rubbish. My plans were to fish with red maggot and worms to try and entice some perch. I fished the first swim you come to which was the one we used to fish years ago. There are two concrete pillars protruding out of the stream and are good fish holding areas. I once remember seeing a man fishing with a pole catching 1-2lb roach from this swim so I no it can produce. (swim pictured right)

I had arrived at the stream at 5.15am and had not even had a knock on the rod tip.one and the fish had suffered. The fishing was hard even to get a twitch on the quiver. I decided to have some fun and try catch some dace trotting maggot.I managed a couple but nothing like what I used to catch. I ended up exploring the stream following it down through the industrial estate into tranquil surroundings. I finally came to a sign for Tonbridge Angling Society members only and so decided to head back. There was a lovely house on the stream with a brick built bridge overlooking the river. (picture top right on the bridge overlooking the

I stopped back at a swim by the industrial estate and ,managed a few perch from under my feet fishing beneath the stream bank under cut. Finally the rod tip pulled round hard and after a great fight I landed a chub of around a pound (pic right). It was not the biggest chub in the world but was my first from the Medway so I was happy. For its size it put up a great fight. I am planning to go back to the stream and fish for the perch which is a bit of a gamble as I do not know the size they go up to in there. I am going to live bait small gudgeon on a paternoster ledger rig. There were some great looking perch holding swim which I have noted and will give a go.

Lac Saint Cassien 2010

I am writing this from my auntys villa located near Fayence in the south of France. I have not yet started my fishing and am still preparing for the five days that I will fish one the best carp lakes in the world Lac Saint Cassien. (left: Looking down the south arm on Cassien). This year I feel I have a good chance of catching a carp from this great lake as I have prepared throughly. My reels have been re-spolled with 18lb ESP line, I have purchased an echo sounder and a boat. I have also made some 35mm pineapple pop ups that I have air dryed for two week and bolied for four minutes. These rock hard bollies eliminate nusience fish such as possion chat dstroying the bait before a carp can find it. I have got some good quality Solar carp food boilies (shrimp) and some glugged tiger nuts which will be used as both hook baits and freebies. The tiger nuts will be used in the shallower water and the bollies in the deeper water. This is to stop the possion chat being able to eat my baits as they will only feed within 35ft and shallower and do not eat tiger nuts. Just in case I run out of bait or I feel that the particular baits I have chosen are not producing I have also taken some mainline base mix, sweetner and selection of flavourings.
Right: View down the west arm of Cassien

My boat was purchased from ebay for sixty seven pounds which was a great deal as to buy it new would have set me back seven hundred. The boat is perfect for the job and extremly durable. To fish Lac Saint Cassien you need a boat to find spots to fish to with your echo sounder and to play the fish onced hooked so that you can get above it an eliminate your line being cut on the rocks or snagged. Also many of the swims are only accessable by boat. The boat is a Stearn 838 and even has an outboard to mount a motor on the back. Another vital bit of kit that I purchased was an echo sounder which was also from ebay costing sixty pounds. An echo sounder is necessary for finding depths at which to place your bait and also to show the topography of the lake. Lac Saint Cassien's topography is very "up and down" and it is pointless putting you bait out in 120ft of water when the carp are only known to feed at the deepest in 70ft. This peice of equipment is extremly important and It would be near impossible to find ideal carp feeding/holding areas without it in such an expansive area of water.

Rig choice has been another difficult decision and I have still not made my mind up fully. I have tied both some chod rigs and bottom bait hair rigs. I am not going to use a leeder and fish 18lb ESP line straight through to the swivel although I have got some leadcore and will adapt if need be. I purchased some size 2 Korda curve hooks for the choddies with the 35mm pop ups and size 4 Korda curve hooks for the tiger nut rigs. With the bottom bait rigs I have used Krysten snake skin coated braid (I have not stripped any of the coating) and have just tied a simple hair rig but with and extremly long hair of 3-4 inches. This long hair should cope with 4 tigernuts in a row and tipped with some yellow glugged rig foam to balance the bait out and give it some colour. This will be fished with a simple weed clip or inline lead set up with no more than twenty free baits around it. I am looking to fish with my baits in 15-40ft of water. Another factor to consider when fishing Cassien is the snags that litter the bottom. Cassien was damed in the 50s-60s and so all the trees that were originally in the valley were lopped as timber is a valuble resource. This in turn, once the valley was flooded left hundreds of tree stumps on the bottom of the lake making fishing more challenging. To overcome this I will use a bouyency ball or in my case a ping pong ball attached to the mainline free running above the swivel. I have created two holes either side and fixed in a peice of 3mm ESP rig tube to allow it to run up the line easily. This keeps all your main line from the rig swivel to you rod tip off the snags and hopefully will increase the chance of landing a fish. (left:Cassien taken from the resturant)

The best weapon which I have brought to Cassien is my book "Cassien and Beyond" by Steve Briggs. I reccomend that anyone wanting to fish Lac Saint Cassien should read this book first as it gives you a great insite to how he lake fishes and all the best tactical methods. There is no better advice or information than what that book gives. Steve Briggs has caught hundreds of carp from Cassien and has fished it since 1986 and still fishes it today.

Today (wednesday 22nd July) we went down to the south arm of Cassien to test the boat and echo sounder out. There were some people fishing on the far bank but most of it was free and fishable. To fish Cassien you really need two people so if your out in the boat playing a fish someone else can look after your kit and help you get the boat back in. Because of this I managed to pursuade my dad to do four days with me and one day with my fiance Dani (my mum has agreed to babysit our daughter Freya). So with everything prepared I cant wait to get fishing (although I still need to get my license). Thursday will be my first day on the lake and so I will update my blog when I return and let you know how I got on.

Thursday 23rd July 2010

My dad and I headed down to Cassien for the first days fishing. We jumped in the car a 5am a decided to fish the south arm in a swim called les falaises which in English translates as The Cliffs. (left: my rods and boat in the cliffs swim). Unfortunatley for us the echo sounder packed up and we had to guess the depths where our baits were to be placed. This was a massive blow to me as I had prepared the equipment so that my chances of catching a carp would be increased and now the most important part of tht preparation was ruined. Luckly for us after looking at all the possible defects we found some water in the transmitter which led to the O ring seal not being secured correcty. After some hopeful wishes and a sun bathed transmitter it was dry and began to work. During the day we spotted a huge cricket which I immediatly begun to take pictures of when out of the blue a giant toad pounced out of the bushes a foot away from us and the cricket was lunch.

Two rods wer rowed out around 200 yards both of which were my botom bait snakes skin rigs with three tigers and glugged rig foam on the hair and also 20 freebies around them. The third rod was rigged up a choddie with no bouyancy aid unlike the other two and was baited with a hardened home-made pineapple pop up boilie cast from the bank with not freebies. During the session we did not have any runs but had a few liners and one that I thought would have progressed into a run but it was not to be. I wasnt expecting to catch on the first day so back we wil go today (Friday 24th with the echo sounder) and have a long evening session to once agin try for these magnificent carp. Pictured to the right is an ariel map of cassien with all the "known" swims listed. Please click on the image to enlarge. During this session the weather was extremly hot and one back in th car to return to the villa the temperature reading was 42 degrees.

Friday 24th July 2010

I am writing this on Friday night at 11pm. I expected today to be more organised and pcomposed than yesterdays session as the echo sounder was working and I had confidence in fishing the deeper water located in the north arm. Admittedly I overslept due to the exhausting session the previous day and so we were away at noon but this was not a problem due to me negotiating with the other half and being allowed to fish until dusk. The car was parked at the end of the famous Cassien bridge and we loaded the boat up and drifted down the north arm. Many of the swims were occupied with sunbathers but we managed to find a great swim on the rocks, with shade, facing the bridge and a view down to the dam (pictured below left). It was relitively windy when we set out to the swim but as soon as we were settled the wind picked up. It was an absolute nightmare fishing session. When I tried to row the boat out to drop the baits and check for ideal carp areas the wind blew me straight back into the bank creating chaos. The lines began to tangle and I began to get slightly stressed. My poor dad had to suffer the anger as I shouted to release the bail arm and let line of the spool before the whole lot was a tangle. In the end I had to cast two rods out and catapult bolies around them which I was not confident with at all. I wanted the baits to be in specific depths not chucked anywhere with some random bolies fired out. My confidence was at a low and we had to face up to the fact that we may not be able to get back as the wind increased. Cassien was like a sea with large waves crashing into the rocks. After a few hours fishing we began to notice that there were quite a few men wandering around one of which was completley naked. We joked that we had set up in a gay area and that it was a meeting spot. I said to dad that I would look up the swim name to see wheter there was any link and to my horror the swim is called moby dick. Whether this has any relevence I will never no but I will not be trying to find out. We again failed to catch and put up a poor effort against the elements to suceed. A valuable lesson was learnt through this experience which was to get an electric outboard.

After five hours fishing I decided to pack up as it was pointless fishing how we were and I thought It would be ideal to take the family out for dinner. Rowing back was a nightmare, it took ages and a lot of effort to get back to the bank. The wind was so strong I cant beieve we actualy got back to or destination. I was completly nackered.

Saturday 25th July 2010

I am writing this Saturday 8pm after another session on the south arm with my finace Danielle. I was please to see that the wind had died down and although still breezy it did not cause problems when rowing the baits out. I decided to try the Cliffs swim again as a steady amount of bait had been put in and its comfortable. I decided to just fish the three rods and not four due to the limited amount of space. All the rigs were re-tied with wine bottle corks as bouyancy aids with a swivel attached which was threaded onto the mainline wth a float stop 10-15
inches away from the rig to elimanate tangling. All rigs were renewed and all were the same simple snake skin long hair rig tied helicopter style with the lead attached to the mainline and a adjustable bead above. I felt confident with these rigs and so had no hesitation in keeping it simple and uniform amoungst all three rods. Two rods were baited with two tigers, an 18mm byt boilie and dropped in 40ft of water. The other rod was baited with three tigers and cast 60 yards out in around 20ft of water. Above right: Me and my home made shelter. Suddenly I heard a bite alarm and ran down the rocks bare footed stubling when to my dissapointment it was Danielles phone ringing with a tune that has a similar intro to a screaming delkim!!! Feeling a bit stupid and with Danielle laughing I headed back to my home made shelter.

The day passed uneventful and I still have no carp to my name but just being there in that fantastic environment is great. I still have two days to go and so I think I will try the west arm. On my way back from the lake I have noticed that a swim named Kevin Ellis has been free and it does produce fish througout the season so I will give there a go tomorrow. I feel I fished well today and unlike yesterday and so am not to dissapointed not to catch as I did my best. LeftIn the cliffs swim set up in the mountains:

Sunday 26th July

We headed down to lake at around 1pm looking to do an evening session. I originally wanted to fish the west arm but there were no swims were free. The lake was buzzing with hundreds of people in pedalos, sunbathing, swimming and fishing. As we lifted the boat of the roof-rack and made our way down to the jetty I noticed there was a man and women deflating their boat and packing their carp gear away. The women made way for us and we lowered the boat into the calm turkquoise water. I glanced at the man, recognised the tattoos on his arm and instantly noticed it was Steve Briggs and Joan his partner. Utterly amazed I intorduced myself and remarked that I had read his book which was excellent. He was friendly chap and so was Joan. They reccomended that we fish the north arm just under the bridge on the point and swim known as Pierres Plates. They also stated that they had caught two fish from there at around 18lb at 8-9pm which is the time they were feeding. They advised that the lake is fishing hard but Burnadette had been out to a German at 63lb. Equipped with this informtion and just having met one of the best carp fisherman in the world renowned for catching large carp over 70lb in various countries I was confident and extremly happy. When someone of of Steves Briggs quality reccomends where to fish you listen and so we said our goodbyes and headed to the swim. Steve even said to email him to let them know how we got on.

As I was dropping my baits out I noticed a speed boat heading towards me. It was the police and I was caught red handed as you are supposed to cast your baits for health and saftey reasons. They threatened that I could be fined 135 euros and so I said pardon and shouted to dad to reel the bait in. I couldnt risk my gear being confiscated and fined and so I decided to go out in the boat with my homemade H markers find the spot on the echo sounder, drop the markers down, row back to the swim, cast out, row back out and pick up the markers and then bait up. It was a long lenghty process and the last rod was cast out into around twenty feet of water and some baits catapulted around them. As the day past into evening I felt increasingly confident.

To pass the time my dad and I made a rod out of a twig tied some line to it and a small hook and tried to catch some roach we had seen swimming in the shallows. After some messing about I managed to catch a small poisson chat which is nothing to be proud of but was fun.

We were greeted with a beautiful sun set that evening pictured above right that glowed orange. The lake feel silent and the water calmed. It was absolutly amazing with the surroundings and the atmosphere. Carp were launching themselfs from the water and it felt like it was going to happen.The evening passed fishless but it was a great session and again I felt that I fished well and gave myself a chance. Only one day left fingers crossed.

The last days fishing never happened and I enjoyed the rest of the holiday with my fiance and baby Freya. I will be back for a Cassien carp in 2011.