Red fin chasing part 1

As the colder weather is moving in and the clocks going back its time to get back onto the rivers targeting the roach and grayling. I'm lucky enough to bailiff a stretch of the river itchen, I also grew up living opposite the river itchen when I was a youngster I was either swimming in it or fishing it! So bailiff'ing the Itchen was a honour really! I love it so much and luckily it's not fished a lot. 

My fave time of year on the river has to be January when it's really cold and frosty! But there's always an excuse to get out and try and target those finicky red fins! I've found a few different shoals of roach all as finicky as the other to catch with the smaller fish always being the easiest to catch. I call them the body guards! I've been lucky enough to get a few good hits through the years but none of the real bigguns I've found yet. 

Late summer of 2014 

One session every thing came right and will be a session to remember for some years to come! I was house sitting for my mum who was away on holidays for two weeks and being that she lived opposite the itchen meant I could pre bait every eve and keep an eye on one particular shoal. Right stubborn buggers they were being! I didn't have to much luck I had the odd roach but nothing to shout home about! On the last Sunday I was house sitting I popped out for the old classic "I'll only be an hour" I crept up to the shoal and threw in a few red maggot.. Something was different today? They all started to feed! Rather than the smaller roach feeding whilst the bigger roach held back in the reeds and watched they were all at it! I decided to wait a bit and continued to feed little and often and the roach still fed! My favourite tactic is to bulk the shot under the float so the maggot on the hook slowly drift down with the free offerings I chuck over the top as I found the roach like to snatch and flee. I threw out the free offerings and cast the float out.. I watched my hook bait slowly drift towards the hungry roach and the first body guard slipped up and was sitting in my net so he couldn't return to his mates to tell them about his ordeal! Again out went the free offerings followed by my float. I was working through the shoal and surprisingly the bigguns still weren't spooking but we're holding back in the weed. This cast I was the one and I watched the maggots drift towards one of the bigger roach and he swam out grabbed my hook bait I instantly struck and I was in! But sadly for a few seconds and it was all over shoal spooked! Such intelligent fish are roach! 

 

I continued angling for the roach In 2014 but not catching anything over the magic 2lb mark but still had plenty of lovely red fins! 

This Autumn/winter I was really up for trying my hardest in beating my personal best and catching my first 2lb+ roach! I spent a lot of time feeding and watching the different shoals through the close season spotting out the bigger fish dreaming of maybe one day catching them! But like always come opening they disappeared! My first roach session was early October on a Sunday bailiff walk. I found one shoal and targeted them for a few hours before a hungry jack pike moved in spooking the shoal but landed fiver roach with three of them being over 1lb+ not bad for a few hours angling!

I look forward to my next session and maybe I'll be lucky enough to catch a 2lb+ red fin! 

Last session of the season whacker

After my previous big crucian haul I thought I'd leave my crucian fishing there for the season and move onto other species. But I just had a feeling to return to the crucian Mecca just one final time for the year! I enjoyed it so much I wanted one last go. After a long week at work I couldn't wait to get down the lake. My partner Amie and daughter River came along for the afternoon/evening again. We arrived at the lake to find it packed with carp anglers. 

This proved to be a problem for me as I wanted to fish as far away from pressure as possible. Luckily I dropped in a swim close to the same zone as I had my previous haul from.

The conditions where almost spot on other than the temperature had dropped a fair amount at night.. Had I pushed my luck? I clipped up my two rods to the same area around 30 yards and had a little lead about before deciding on a nice firm area in the silt. I clipped my spomb rod to just under 30 yards and introduced a few spombs of bait to see how I got on. I then cast out the feeders and sat back and waited for the first bite... 

Unlike my previous sessions no bites came to the rods not even from tench or Rudd or even small carp? By this time my partner and daughter had left and the evening was drawing in! I was beginning to think it was to late in the year and the cold snap of Autumn had finally put a close on my crucian fishing for this year! After a few teas and dinner it was dark and yet still no bites had fallen to my traps.. It was 7.55pm and the bobin on my right rod slowly lifted up and held position.. Once I lifted into the fish I knew what it could be! Being pitch black by this point I didn't want to turn my head torch on and spook the fish and potentially loose it! Was it a small carp or a crucian? The fish was finally in the margins and rolled on the surface.. It was a huge crucian my heart was in my mouth and I played the monster sized crucian very gingerly! After a epic fight the crucian was in the net! I laid the crucian on the mat and I couldn't believe how big it was! A very deep and thick set fish! This could be a new PB! 

I called the carp angler over from the swim next door to help with photos and weighing. The needle bounced between 4.1 and 4.2lb I called it at 4.1lb another PB broken in a matter of weeks! After a few shots I returned the beautiful old crucian. 

After a few calls to my mates to let them

Know of my good fortune I made a few teas and got my head down! Around 3am I was woken by a little mirror around the 5lb mark. I left the rod out and decided to get it out accurately at first light. It wasn't long before the sun was rising lighting up the beautiful lake. 

I had some quick breakfast then I re cast the rods accurately back on the spot and put out a few spombs over the spot. Whilst spombing my right rod melted off and I lifted into what I thought was a tench but to my surprise it was another crucian! Another hairy fight in the margins and it wasn't long before the crucian was safely in the net! Another good sized fish eaily over the 3lb mark! The needle on the scails jumped round to 3.9lb another epic session for me! 

After taken some lovely photos the fish was slipped back and more precious memory's were made! No more bites came that day! Not one! Not from any Rudd tench or small carp! That was to be my final crucian session of the year but I was made up! Forty six  crucians landed in total from my few months crucian angling! Countless 2lb+ crucians! Six over the magic 3lb+ mark and two over 4lb+ what a season! All caught on different methods ranging from float fishing off the tip of the rod using a Centrepin reel to casting feeders at thirty yards using bite alarms. I learnt a lot and most of all caught a lot. With the shorter days approaching and the cold weather creeping it was time to move onto the rivers and still waters targeting other species. Be lucky in your ventures and thanks for reading another addition to my blog