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Who's been catching in the snow?


The Flying Tench

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Ok, so it's the hardest time of the year. Ice on the lakes, inches of snow everywhere, and when it melts all that frozen water, salt and other gunge going into the rivers. This is when the REAL ANGLERS stand out - the MR AND MRS UNIVERSES of the angling world!

 

This is the time when a gudgeon is worth a twenty pound pike. This is the day that THOUSANDS will look back to, when grandchildren one day will ask 'Who was the angler who caught on 6/7th February 2009?' And one person in ten million will stand proudly but humbly, choking back a tear, and say 'It was I.'

 

Do not be coy, my friend. You are amongst amigos. Be honest with us. Was it YOU?

john clarke

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Strange you should post such a topic, Mr Flying Tench. I had quite a surreal day's fishing yesterday.

 

I made an impromptu decision to visit a small water in the middle of nowhere that had yielded some reasonable results a year or so ago. When I turned up, I was rather surprised to find it completely frozen over, seeing as we'd had a reasonably mild spell, following the snow.

 

A quick exploratory proved that the ice was around two centimeters thick, and even a fist sized lump of rock was not enough to break it. Seeing as it was so nice to be out in the fresh air, I hung around in the rain staring intently through the extremely translucent ice, watching for signs of activity. It wasn't long before I had located a shoal of small Rudd, intercepted by the odd larger specimen between 1-2lb.

 

Now, my intention had been to go livebaiting for Perch, and as we all know, first you need to secure some lives! Would these 'summer fish' feed whilst in their Arctic tomb? More importantly would they stick around following the inevitable commotion caused by me breaking the thick layer of ice that separated my pole rig from them?

 

Only one way to find out. I picked up a big lump of hardcore (no wood chip and railway sleepers here!) and slung it out. Within seconds of the almighty bang reverberating throughout the ice sheet, a big mushroom of silt rose up through the water column......immediately attracting the, by now, stone deaf Rudd! Just when you think you have seen it all, eh.

 

Baiting up through an 18" hole in the ice wasn't easy, 75% of the maggots and chopped worm ending up on top of the ice. It became clear that these fish were definitely feeding the second I lowered the pole rig through the hole. It hadn't even cocked when the bait was intercepted by one of the small Rudd. A half a dozen Rudd in the bucket later and the Perch rod came out.

 

I use 12" wagglers for most of my Perch livebaiting, mostly due to the fact that I can move the rig around a swim and it's length will take up any depth variations, without having to adjust the float stops. Today the waggler reigned supreme in that the 8-9" of float above the surface prevented the Rudd from taking the rig under the ice and out of view. Two revelations in one day, and counting!

 

As the hours passed, I bided my time by practicing my 'ice hole' baiting up. Best method turned out to be the 'curling technique', Copyright - Sharkbyte 2009. Simply slide the chopped worm and maggots along the ice, and the hit rate rises to 60% in your favour. The Rudd were co-operative throughout the afternoon, in that when the lose feed started to run low they had a habit of rising up underneath the ice and pecking at the bait visible to them, but laying tantalisingly out of reach.

 

With the witching hour approaching, no action all day and the temperature dropping like a stone, I said to myself, 'now or never'.

 

A few minutes later, the Rudd livebait transmitted his SOS through to the float. A Perch had arrived! No sooner had I become aware of it's presence than it nailed the live and the float withdrew beneath the ice sheet and slid out of view. Game on.

 

I struck into what felt like a solid fish. No surprise really, the smallest Perch we've ever caught from here was 2lb 8oz's. Playing the fish through a hole in the ice was a very strange experience. Whilst there was absolutely no need to apply any side strain, you find yourself subconsciously doing it anyway. The spirited fight gave way to a beaten fish, and a problem! How do I get it to the net? There was about 20ft of ice between him and me!

 

Well, by holding the Perch up to top of the hole, he did the rest. A good kick from him and a tug from me saw him sliding over the frozen lake and into the waiting net. Job done.

 

Luckily, a young lad happened to be passing through this remotest of areas and lent a hand getting the photos and with the weighing of the fish. He'd asked how big I thought it was, my reply being, "it has to be a 3lb+'er". Turned out that it was actually 3lb 10ozs. Had that flaccid belly been packed out, it'd have made 4lb for sure!

 

3lb-10oz.jpg

 

A quick calculation now shows our average fish to be just shy of 3lb 2oz's on this water. There has to be a real lunker in there somewhere!

 

I always remark that my favourite aspect of angling is that you never stop learning. Sat watching those Rudd through a thick layer of ice, in the rain and sleet, the day's supply of apple donuts wolfed in one sitting, I came a gnats away from going back home without even wetting a line.

 

Glad I didn't give in when everything appeared to be working against me. After all, if that mini ice age is coming, I now know that I can get my chair and brolly out on top of a frozen lake, and still have a days sport! :D

 

PS. I'll be making a return visit as soon as that ice thaws, figuring that as soon as it does, all of my 'off target' offerings are going to do a good job of pre-baiting the swim. That's if the 'stone deaf' Rudd haven't gnawed their way through the ice to get to it first.

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Strange you should post such a topic, Mr Flying Tench. I had quite a surreal day's fishing yesterday.

 

I made an impromptu decision to visit a small water in the middle of nowhere that had yielded some reasonable results a year or so ago. When I turned up, I was rather surprised to find it completely frozen over, seeing as we'd had a reasonably mild spell, following the snow.

 

A quick exploratory proved that the ice was around two centimeters thick, and even a fist sized lump of rock was not enough to break it. Seeing as it was so nice to be out in the fresh air, I hung around in the rain staring intently through the extremely translucent ice, watching for signs of activity. It wasn't long before I had located a shoal of small Rudd, intercepted by the odd larger specimen between 1-2lb.

 

Now, my intention had been to go livebaiting for Perch, and as we all know, first you need to secure some lives! Would these 'summer fish' feed whilst in their Arctic tomb? More importantly would they stick around following the inevitable commotion caused by me breaking the thick layer of ice that separated my pole rig from them?

 

Only one way to find out. I picked up a big lump of hardcore (no wood chip and railway sleepers here!) and slung it out. Within seconds of the almighty bang reverberating throughout the ice sheet, a big mushroom of silt rose up through the water column......immediately attracting the, by now, stone deaf Rudd! Just when you think you have seen it all, eh.

 

Baiting up through an 18" hole in the ice wasn't easy, 75% of the maggots and chopped worm ending up on top of the ice. It became clear that these fish were definitely feeding the second I lowered the pole rig through the hole. It hadn't even cocked when the bait was intercepted by one of the small Rudd. A half a dozen Rudd in the bucket later and the Perch rod came out.

 

I use 12" wagglers for most of my Perch livebaiting, mostly due to the fact that I can move the rig around a swim and it's length will take up any depth variations, without having to adjust the float stops. Today the waggler reigned supreme in that the 8-9" of float above the surface prevented the Rudd from taking the rig under the ice and out of view. Two revelations in one day, and counting!

 

As the hours passed, I bided my time by practicing my 'ice hole' baiting up. Best method turned out to be the 'curling technique', Copyright - Sharkbyte 2009. Simply slide the chopped worm and maggots along the ice, and the hit rate rises to 60% in your favour. The Rudd were co-operative throughout the afternoon, in that when the lose feed started to run low they had a habit of rising up underneath the ice and pecking at the bait visible to them, but laying tantalisingly out of reach.

 

With the witching hour approaching, no action all day and the temperature dropping like a stone, I said to myself, 'now or never'.

 

A few minutes later, the Rudd livebait transmitted his SOS through to the float. A Perch had arrived! No sooner had I become aware of it's presence than it nailed the live and the float withdrew beneath the ice sheet and slid out of view. Game on.

 

I struck into what felt like a solid fish. No surprise really, the smallest Perch we've ever caught from here was 2lb 8oz's. Playing the fish through a hole in the ice was a very strange experience. Whilst there was absolutely no need to apply any side strain, you find yourself subconsciously doing it anyway. The spirited fight gave way to a beaten fish, and a problem! How do I get it to the net? There was about 20ft of ice between him and me!

 

Well, by holding the Perch up to top of the hole, he did the rest. A good kick from him and a tug from me saw him sliding over the frozen lake and into the waiting net. Job done.

 

Luckily, a young lad happened to be passing through this remotest of areas and lent a hand getting the photos and with the weighing of the fish. He'd asked how big I thought it was, my reply being, "it has to be a 3lb+'er". Turned out that it was actually 3lb 10ozs. Had that flaccid belly been packed out, it'd have made 4lb for sure!

 

3lb-10oz.jpg

 

A quick calculation now shows our average fish to be just shy of 3lb 2oz's on this water. There has to be a real lunker in there somewhere!

 

I always remark that my favourite aspect of angling is that you never stop learning. Sat watching those Rudd through a thick layer of ice, in the rain and sleet, the day's supply of apple donuts wolfed in one sitting, I came a gnats away from going back home without even wetting a line.

 

Glad I didn't give in when everything appeared to be working against me. After all, if that mini ice age is coming, I now know that I can get my chair and brolly out on top of a frozen lake, and still have a days sport! :D

 

PS. I'll be making a return visit as soon as that ice thaws, figuring that as soon as it does, all of my 'off target' offerings are going to do a good job of pre-baiting the swim. That's if the 'stone deaf' Rudd haven't gnawed their way through the ice to get to it first.

Cracking stripey Mr Sharkbyte and just goes to show the old depth charge method still works eh :D ,Well done thats a mahoosive Perch in hard conditions ,just off to barton Court now if the roads aint to bad Steve.

We are not putting it back it is a lump now put that curry down and go and get the scales

have I told you abouit the cruise control on my Volvo ,,,,,,,bla bla bla Barder rod has it come yet?? and don`t even start me on Chris Lythe :bleh::icecream:

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Ok, so it's the hardest time of the year. Ice on the lakes, inches of snow everywhere, and when it melts all that frozen water, salt and other gunge going into the rivers. This is when the REAL ANGLERS stand out - the MR AND MRS UNIVERSES of the angling world!

 

This is the time when a gudgeon is worth a twenty pound pike. This is the day that THOUSANDS will look back to, when grandchildren one day will ask 'Who was the angler who caught on 6/7th February 2009?' And one person in ten million will stand proudly but humbly, choking back a tear, and say 'It was I.'

 

Do not be coy, my friend. You are amongst amigos. Be honest with us. Was it YOU?

 

Well I'm sat here thoroughly frustrated - wanted to get out this morning - fancied a grayling or two in the snow - but the country lanes round here are just tooo dangerous, I got stuck in the snow on my own drive yesterday afternoon!- and I'm off to footy this afternoon. Might try tomorrow.....

 

 

C.

"Study to be quiet." ><((º> My Blog

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Excellent catch! Excellent story! Many congratulations! :clap2::clap2::clap2:

Wingham Specimen Coarse & Carp Syndicates www.winghamfisheries.co.uk Beautiful, peaceful, little fished gravel pit syndicates in Kent with very big fish. 2017 Forum Fish-In Sat May 6 to Mon May 8. Articles http://www.anglersnet.co.uk/steveburke.htm Index of all my articles on Angler's Net

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Sharkbyte, that's a hell of a story and a hell of a perch! Excellent effort! Thanks for posting.

 

I can only just get out of my driveway! I'm at a wedding today but may try to have a little go tomorrow.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music

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Well done Sharkbyte!

 

Its amazing how cold it can be when the perch will feed! One of my best perch sessions was fishing in the crystal clear Thames fishing against the ice where a frozen over mill stream met the main river! I'm very tempted to go out myself now if I could get there!

 

Rich

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Yup, fantastic story as others have said. You sure deserved that perch after sitting so long in the sleet! I must say I'm very interested that the rudd of all species should have been feeding as well as the perch.

 

I was going to make derogatory remarks about Metcheck and how they specify good, poor and average fishing conditions - a mixture of all 3 this weekend, when I should have thought it should have been BAD all through - but your story shows that maybe they're not all wrong after all.

 

J

john clarke

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That was brilliant stuff. Nice feesh Sharkbyte.

 

.....Regards.....Andy

Edited by Andy Macfarlane

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