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Dave Coster - February 2020 - Part I
My first outing of the month was to the Upper River Witham, on a day when water levels had returned to something like normal, a rare occurrence after all the heavy rain this winter. The current was still quite pacey, but I could just about control a small stick float down the steady glide I had carefully selected. I gave my float rig a good go for three hours, but the only bites I could connect with were from small grayling. I missed a couple of super-fast takes towards the end of the trot, which gave me an idea. I quickly tackled up a simple leger rig on a 10ft quivertip rod and cast down to where I had missed those bites.
I was thinking that a couple of red maggots nailed hard on the bottom might do the trick. I had been feeding small amounts of hemp and casters regularly and felt sure something must have been attracted into the swim by all the bait by now.
After a couple of trial casts, it soon became apparent the bottom was clear of weed, so at least the recent floods had done some good. The first indications on my light 1oz carbon quivertip came from small fish, probably minnows and fingerling grayling having a go at my maggot hook baits. I switched to double casters and the “bits” left this bait alone.
Out of the blue, my quivertip pulled round and I was suddenly connected to something powerful. Fortunately, I had rigged up a strong line and a forged hook, so everything held. Normally on this small, shallow river, the first rod-bending action of the day is provided by trout. I’ve caught some pretty big ones from this stretch, but the fight this unseen fish was putting up was a bit too dogged. Trout normally leap clear of the water, but this wasn’t happening. It turnout out to be a chub around the three-pound mark, the only highlight of a rare day back on running water.
A few days later and rivers were all in flood again as yet another storm rolled in from the Atlantic. It was blowing a gale too, so I decided to have a go for the big roach on the Specimen Lake at Woodland Waters. I picked an area I hadn’t fished before, on the causeway between the two main lakes. The bitingly cold wind was from the east, so at least I could get a bit of shelter, with it coming from behind me in this new spot.
I carefully fed up a long pole line for later in the session and started on feeder tackle, cast 40 metres out into around 14 feet of water. It was slow going with only a couple of rattles on my quivertip the first hour, caused by small perch.
I was using a mix of Dynamite’s Frenzied Worm groundbait, Sensas Black Lake and some brown crumb, which results in a very dark but active feed. Normally putting this in with plenty of chopped worm and casters gets perch and skimmers moving first, which then pulls the big roach in. Regular casting with a cage feeder normally works best, releasing a few particles on the way down, which often triggers fish into feeding. But the water was very clear, probably because this deep lake is spring-fed. A few more perch came my way, then a skimmer, but no sign of any red fins.
When not much is happening it’s easy to become distracted. I was watching a young swan expertly duck under my rod as it carefully picked up odd bits of feed that had fallen from my feeder when casting. You see a lot of birdlife on this complex, including woodpeckers and kingfishers, along with tame robins and blackbirds that like to pinch bait off your side tray. I was obviously not concentrating because I felt, rather than saw, my next bite, as my quivertip rod nearly got pulled from its rest!
I lifted the rod and felt a pleasing thump as something big put a good bend in the blank. The way it was nodding it felt like a big roach, so I played the fish very carefully. I was just reaching for my landing net when the unthinkable happened and whatever it was came off. Probably not hooked properly due to my lack of attention. I wasn’t very happy, especially when that turned out to be the last of the action.
As I was about to leave, I spotted a couple of regulars fishing the sheltered wooded section of the lake, close to the island as I was packing up. They were getting a few bites on window feeders, fished a fair way out and amazingly it turned out one of them had caught a 4lb tench! I had heard there are odd ones in this lake but hadn’t connected with one myself, or met any other anglers who have. Tench in February is a new one on me.
One of these anglers hit into a better fish which eventually slid his landing net under a nice big roach. At last, this species was showing signs of switching on the feed, a month later than they did last winter.