Happy New Year! That's another journey round the sun over and done with for now. I hope you enjoyed your fishing in 2017 and managed to achieve the targets you set yourself and find the fish of your dreams......and if you didn't then there's always this year to have another go.
Whatever you're fishing for, big or small, freshwater or salt - Enjoy it! Tight lines :)
Autumn wouldn't be autumn without some Perch fishing. There's no other fish in freshwater that is more closely associated with the drawing in of the days and the falling of the leaves to me. If you can feel that nip in the air then it's a dead cert that the perch can feel the same. It sharpens their appetite and they can't resist the urge to feed hard in readiness for the approaching winter.
I've never caught a really big perch. My PB stands at a modest 2lb 12oz and has done for quite some time. They are really very impressive creatures when they get big. The easy thing to do would be to head to one of the plentiful commercial fisheries and target the 'known' big fish that reside within. I've tried a few times in the past but the commercials just don't feel right, they takes the mystery out of it for me.
I prefer the larger more 'natural' types of venues, quarries, pits and rivers for my perch fishing these days and if the water is clear then all the better. The clear water brings out their markings much better than a muddy hole in the ground. The perch probably wont get as big as those found in the commercials but what they lack in size they make up for with their stunning, bold markings. Such handsome fish!
I found a water to try this autumn and it had all the right qualities that a good perch water needs. Most importantly there were huge numbers of silver fish providing a plentiful food source and no pike present meaning the Perch were top of the food chain.
I tried fishing it with small lures first at the tail end of the summer to see if there were any follows but the water seemed devoid of life. Other than one small micro-perch chasing my small lure down, it didn't look too good.
With this in mind, I decided to start with livebaits, I figured that if there were any bigger fish present then this would be the best way to try and pick them out. On my first session I was fishing maggots on a pole down the edge catching 3 inch roach for baits when a big fish was hooked. It rolled after a few seconds and revealed itself as a perch well over 2 lbs, sadly the 2.5lb line on my float rig parted on a lilly stem. At least I knew there were some better specimens in there!
Once my livies were all sorted, I rigged up my avon rod with a float-paternoster rig and got to work. I anchored my the baits just next to a large bed of lillies that was beginning to die back for the year. Loose feeding maggots regularly did the trick and within an hour the float sailed away......a lovely perch that went 2lb 2oz on the scales.
It was a good start. Conditions were perfect that day with a steady, gentle breeze and low light conditions. The perch fed hard all day and by the time it was dark I'd had 6 to a best of 2lb 6oz. Not bad I thought for a first attempt, surely there must be bigger in there.
With life being so busy, I only got to fish the venue one more time before the year was out. I managed a further 4 on the second attempt but none bigger than the 2lb 6oz fish from the first session. As I write this now, I'm currently sat in a backpackers hostel in Nicaragua acclimatising and getting over the jetlag before commencing 7 weeks of fishing and exploring through Central America, so that's it for the perch for now. I'll definitely try that venue again next autumn though......there has to be a 3lb'er in there somewhere 😉
CLICK ABOVE TO WATCH VIDEO FOOTAGE OF PERCH RELEASE IN CLEAR WATER
I've always enjoyed fishing for bass, they are just awesome fish. In recent years, I've mostly concentrated on fishing for them with lures and flies when the water has a bit of visibility and the Sussex pea soup eases off a little. Most often from a boat too.
This year I decided to dust off the bait rod, slip into my waders and get back in the surf after them. It was one of the best decisions I made. I've enjoyed my autumnal fishing so much and really got the bass bug back.......so much so that I thought of little else between September and early December. They'll do that to you will the bass.
When the wind's howling and the surf is up there really is no better place to be than on a windswept beach soaking a big bait. I didn't realise how much I'd missed it, there's just something about it. The last time I dedicated some serious time to fishing the surf for bass was back in 2009/10 and 11 which culminated in a night where I manged an 8lb fish and a double in consecutive casts. After that I took a break from it all. I figured my work was done.
But here I am scratching the itch once again.....and thoroughly enjoying it. The pounding waves, the spray in your face, the solitude of it all. I love it. It's not for everyone, that much is true, but it's exhilarating being out there in the elements. Makes you feel alive.
Big squid and mackerel baits fished literally under my feet, no more than 15 yards out are all that's required. A small bucket with a few bits of end tackle, your bait and essentials makes for nice, simple fishing. I do enjoy fishing with the minimum of gear. It's always ready to go too, the buckets in the garage and the bait in the freezer. It's easy to head out after dinner of an evening if conditions are right.
It's meditative in the way you're feeling for the bites, poised, concentrating, waiting for that pull with a clear mind.....and when it comes, it's electric. Wham! There's no feeling like it.
The fish don't need to be big either. Once they're over 3 pounds they start to get interesting and don't really deserve to be called 'schoolies' any more. There's always the chance of a proper beast turning up too, that's what keeps me coming back for more.
I was fortunate catching a good number of fish this autumn, to a best just shy of 7 lbs. But it's not about the sizes.....It's about getting out there and doing it, experiencing the moments and immersing yourself in the natural world. The tug is the drug!
With the cod fishing being so poor, we’ve been looking at alternative options to get a bend in the rod in the latter part of the year. Steve at Brigand Charters had been trying out a few new wrecks prospecting for conger and had been very pleasantly surprised by the hectic sport that was found on occasions. This was something I really wanted to have a go at. They grow big, fight hard and look mean – right up my street then.
Being an all-rounder, fishing freshwater and saltwater too
means there’s always something that I’ve not yet tried or a species I’ve yet to
catch. Conger Eels are one such species that I’d just never got around to
having a go at. With that in mind, I booked myself in with ‘Brigand Charters’
for one of their dedicated conger trips on a suitable tide in early December.
Angler Rob - latches into a big conger
The weather was atrocious leading up to the trip and I had
written it off to be honest. With 40 mph winds it didn’t look good and then out
of nowhere the forecast changed and it was looking 50/50 according to Skipper
Steve. Amazingly, that evening the call came and I was informed we had the
green light. We were going.
Rather than use traditional conger tackle I decided to take
along a heavy jigging rod that I use on my tropical travels and an 8000 sized
Penn fixed spool reel loaded with 50lb braid. I prefer this kind of tackle to
conventional multipliers and I’ve boated tuna over 100 lb on this set-up. I had
no worries about giving the eels some serious stick to get them away from the
wreck should I be lucky enough to hook one.
FishyRob was on board that day jigging up Pollack as we fished for the eels.
The first wreck we tried was no good, the eels weren’t at
home. We tried another one and things improved quickly here. Within 10 minutes
of getting our baits down the bites started to come. There were a couple of
dropped eels at the back of the boat and then my rod tip started to go. I gave
a little line, waited for it to tap again, wound down until I felt some weight
and then slammed the hook home.
There was a dead weight on the end of the line, so I pumped
it hard and away from the wreck a good few times before the eel woke up and
realised what was happening. Then the crash dives started and the fish used
huge amounts of strength in its bid to get back to the wreck and cut me off. I
was amazed at the power it had, my jigging rod hadn’t taken on a curve like
that since I was out on Ascension Island!
Tense moments as the eel comes alongside
It wasn’t long before my sturdy tackle did its job and the
eel was spinning on the surface, 40 feet downtide of the boat. I brought it alongside and Skipper Steve slid
it through the door on to the rear deck. He used a T-bar to unhook the eel
easily and after a few quick photos I slid the fish back. What an amazing
experience it was. Easily the strongest fish I have caught in UK waters, I will
be trying for a much bigger specimen next year.
Later in the day, the eels revealed their true power when
not one, but two rods of my fellow anglers were broken by big fish. I’m glad I
went along with the big guns. If there’s any weakness in your tackle, then a
big eel is going to find it. These fish need to be respected and fished for
accordingly, that’s for sure!
The Brill is one species that has fascinated me for some time. Like all the flat fish native to our seas, I find them rather interesting creatures. I have made a few trips out to the offshore banks off of Sussex in the last couple of years but never managed to catch one! I had been lucky with turbot and rays but a nice brill had always managed to avoid my hooks...........Until now!
I got a call from Steve at Brigand Charters in late October
saying there was a weather window approaching and that he was doing his last
run out to the banks for the year. I shifted my work schedule around and made
the time available. It had to be done, the conditions were looking good. A
perfect little slice of high pressure wedged between some big lows. Last chance
saloon on the banks….could I find my Brill?
The weather on the day was more like August than late
October, it was perfect. Flat seas, clear skies and warm sunshine. It was a
pleasure to be out and we had a great crew on board. We made many drifts that
day and the fishing was steady enough with some nice turbot coming up, some
greater weever, gurnard and small rays. It was more than enough to keep
everyone interested.
It’s a real lottery out there, you never know what’s going
to get caught. I got a typical flattie bite and gave a little line to allow the
fish to get a good hold of the mackerel bait before steadily winding down and
lifting into the fish. It felt like a nice one and we were all debating what it
might be as I gingerly wound it up through the depths. I explained to Steve the
skipper that I’d never caught a Brill before and was hopeful that this may be
my chance.
It was my lucky day. A fine, bin lid of a Brill came into
sight and made a couple of final, heart stopping lunges for freedom before
sliding into the net. It’s nice when a plan comes together and to achieve my
target on the final ‘banks’ trip of the year was the icing on the cake. Another
one ticked off the list.
This year has seen me pursue the whole 'Slow Jigging' phenomenon with a little more interest. It's something I've been doing overseas for a while but had never really applied to my UK fishing. It's hard not to have noticed this new trend as it has been promoted pretty heavily by various brands on the UK tackle market. And for good reason......
The use of ultra fine modern lines and metal jigs with appropriate 'slow pitch' rods really is a pleasure. It enables the angler to fish direct to the lure in depths that were previously only ever tackled with heavy gear, pirks and flying collars. It's a revelation and surely the future of lure fishing from a boat in many ways. It's so much more sporting....
I've been messing around with small jigs when out drifting the wrecks just off of Brighton with my mate, Paul. The technique proves very effective and on the day in the video, out-fished the 'Fish-minnows' Paul was using quite considerably. They're usually very effective lures themselves as it is! The jigs provided a good variety of species too, with pout, bass and codling coming aboard.
I've even tried for the whiting with them too as you see from the picture below. Drifting across sandy areas and bouncing the slow jigs off the bottom has produced some stunning whiting sport over the autumn months. And some rather nice specimens too.......the light jigging tackle gave the whiting a chance to show off their fighting prowess. It was great fun catching them....which is not something you hear said every day about whiting! Give it a try!
It's always fun catching mackerel! Not only are they great to eat but they provide fantastic sport on the right tackle too. My favourite way of catching them when conditions allow is on the fly. There were some perfect days in late August with glassy seas and clear water. When it's like this I enjoy getting on the shingle just before first light and fishing for an hour and a half before work.
It's all about the change of light. As soon as it creeps in to the east the mackerel often head right in to the shingle, herding shoals of fry up against the bank. It's a fantastic spectacle to watch and chasing the shoals along the beach with a fly rod is tough to beat in my opinion. It usually over as quickly as it starts though, once it gets fairly bright the shoals retreat back in to deeper water. I usually find a few scad and schoolie bass mixed in with them, even once caught a flounder doing this. Great fun.
Sole are another species I like to have a go for at about this time of year. They're tricky customers at the best of times but following a few simple little tricks certainly ups your chances of finding a few. Now as much as I'm a conservation minded angler, I do fish for the pot too. It is possible to do both believe it or not. I managed to catch 2 this year and they made for the most fantastic fish supper. In my opinion, dover sole is about as good as it gets in the culinary world with regard to our UK fish stocks.
As for those 'little tricks' then I always fish after dark, ideally just after it's all settling down after an autumnal blow.....reasonably calm with good colour to the water. Small hooks are essential and I favour a size 2 loaded with lug ideally, but rag will suffice. Pinning the rig down to the sea bed by using a small back-lead or split shot on the snoods all helps. This is the soles domain after all.
I find sitting on your hands essential when sole fishing, the bites are a funny affair. The first indication is usually a few twitches and nods as the sole starts sucking on the bait, there's no mistaking when they take it down and hook themselves though....the rod usually lurches right over! They're amazingly strong and muscular, a most interesting and curious fish. I love 'em!
I'm running Panama Kayak Adventure Fishing Lodge & am an all-rounder enjoying all disciplines of angling. I was a finalist in the BBC recent televised fishing competition - 'The Big Catch'. Also a consultant for tackle co 'Masterline Walker'. I write articles and supply photos for fishing magazines around the world. Freshwater or Salt, Big or Small - I love them all! Tight Lines!
