You can't catch them if they're not there!

I headed down the River Yarrow for a quick session on my tip rod. I opted for my favoured swim, and fished bread flake on my cage feeder. Although I received a couple of bites, non were substantial enough to rip my tip around and indicate a bite from a greedy Chub. I stayed for around an hour and a half before packing up to get my gear ready for a nights Barbel fishing with Ben.



The Night Session..........

We headed for a club controlled water that we have been meaning to try for a while. We were rods in just before night fall. Our target species was to be Barbel. However the one and only bit of action that came was on Ben's rod. At around 4.30am his alarm signalled a take. Not unfortunately his intended quarry, he'd caught a Chub of around 3lb. We heard from another angler that some Barbel had been caught further down stream. It would seem that the section of river we had chosen was devoid of Barbel. And as my blog title suggests if you can't catch them if they're not there

What a difference a week makes

Sunday Night

I met Ben at our favoured Carp water at around 8.30pm. We had arranged another night session. After our previous success of 17 fish between us 11 for Ben and 6 for me, expectations were high. I was rods in by around 9.00pm. Ben arriving a little earlier around 6.30pm was already fishing. We settled down for the night after midnight. Neither of us received a run in the night. I was quite surprised by this, as I was sure we would get some action. The conditions seemed good. Slightly overcast and a light breeze gave the water a ripple which lapped the banks that we were fishing. Hours came and past and despite our efforts, we struggled to get so much as a beep on the alarms. An afternoon nap was in order to settle our stomachs after our traditional bank side fry up. I awoke around 4.45pm to see Ben starting to pack up. I was going to stay until the edge of dark, but with the threat of rain I decided to call it a day too. I was folding away my chair when wouldn't you believe it my right hand rod screamed off. I was in! I struck into it and was greeted by a lump at the other end. A little battle ensued but was swiftly dealt with. A Common Carp of 10lb's was in the net. A blank was saved! That was it, I had to stay I couldn't pack up now as maybe they had got their heads down and were feeding. Ben stuck to his plan and managed to tear himself away. I received one more run a couple of hours later. I was guilty of striking a little early and fluffed the run. I finally called it a day and packed up just after 10.00pm A lesson was learned for us both on this session. Just when you think you have the right tactics and you have cracked a water. We Haven't!!! However it is this reason that keeps you going back to the bank time and time again.

Common Carp 10lb and a Blank Saver

Red Letter Day (For Ben) Good Session For Me

After much discussions with Ben as to where to fish this week, we decided to apply for night passes that will enable us to fish this water 24/7. This was a great investment for £48 pounds per year. I arrived on Friday at around 21.30 and was rods in for around 22.00. Ben was into the first fish, the second fish and indeed the third fish. My first run came just before 3 O'clock in the morning. I was awaken by the sound of my last hand rod screaming into action. I was up as quick as a flash, I scrambled down the embankment and promptly fell into the water knocking over my rod pod and rods in the process. I'm not too good on my feet when I'm tired. I played the fish with my pants around my ankles, they'd fallen down during my fall. I landed the fish and tried (unsuccessfully) to wake Ben. Alas there is no trophy photograph of me with my prize catch, a Common Carp of 13lb 4oz. Amazingly by the time I was just getting back into my sleeping bag, one of Ben's alarms was screaming off, I ran to his bivvy to wake him up, much to my surprise he was up on his feet already playing his fish. I ripped into him all day about that (Selective hearing) I nipped to the shop at around 12ish as I'd forgotten to bring a knife, fork and plate for our bankside fry up ;-) Whilst I was away he struck into a decent sized fish, which turned out to be his new PB of 14lb 6oz. After 6 or 7 hours without us so much as getting a bleep, Ben's alarm signalled another feeding spell. In just one hour he clocked up 4 fish to his tally. Today was to be Ben's day. He broke his PB 4 times, catching 7 Doubles and a total of 11 fish. As for me, my heaviest fish of the day was 13lb 4oz and I caught 6 in total. 17 fish between us made for a very good session indeed

Ben's first catch of the session

Typical stamp of fish for this water
Ben's new PB Carp 14.06 oz

I'll have a photo with me with this one mate
Oh no you won't!
My best fish of the session 13lb 4oz
8lb 12oz Mirror

YOU KNOW WADDA MEAN!!!

2 Carp Each and a heck of a lot of rain

My alarm was set at a shocking time of 3.45am. I'd arranged to pick Ben up at 4.45am. Our destination was to be one of our local reservoirs and our quarry was to be Carp. The weather was given to be absolutely terrible, we were not to be disappointed. It chucked it down for most of the day, thankfully due to our early arrival we were able to set up and be rods in before the rain arrived. I wasn't to be kept waiting for my first run. My first fish was on the bank and posing reluctantly for photographs within 15 minutes of my first cast, a Mirror Carp of around 8lb. Were we going to be in for some non stop action all day? Well not quite, a couple of hours later I caught another Carp of around the same size. I'd fallen asleep and was woken by Ben shouting "You're in! You're in!" I scrambled out of my Stealth Brolly and ran off towards my rods, being rather sleepy I wasn't too good on my feet, and I eventually lost my balance and fell over, a grazed leg for my troubles and to add insult to my injury, I lost the fish as it managed to shake free whilst I was playing it. As for Ben he had quite a good day in the office, as he finally managed to break his duck on this particular water. His first fish was the biggest fish of the day, a Mirror Carp of 9lb 12oz, another Carp of around 8lb's was to be his second and last fish of the day. Not a bad days fishing considering the awful weather we had. The highlight of the session had to be the Full English breakfast that Ben cooked up. Good man!

Typical View, note the rain
It's no monster bit it's a quick catch Ben finally catches on this water

Another Carp around the 8lb mark for me

Good session on The Sluice

I headed down to Sixfields with Ben for a session on the Lures. (I say Lures but I was mostly casting Spoons) The weather was looking very grim but the rain held off the whole time we were there. Ben was the first to hook into a Pike, a Jack of around 4lb's I hooked into a fish around 2 minutes later. And much to my surprise it wasn't a Pike. I'd hooked into a faboulous looking Perch of around a pound or so in weight. This is only the second Lure caught Perch I have ever landed. An amazing statistic when you think about how many times I have been Piking and how many casts I must have made. More interestingly I caught my first Lure caught Perch on my first ever Lure session. Ben caught a decent Pike of around 6lb's with practically his first cast on a Spring Dawg Lure. Moments earlier he'd claimed that they never seem to do too well on The Sluice. ;-) I caught a couple more small Jacks and I mean small Jacks. I also lost a decent size Pike that managed to shake my Spoon whilst tail walking. By all accounts a good nights fishing, and more importantly has fed my hunger for some more Lure sessions, because of my coarse fishing they have taken a back burner of late.

Fabulous Perch caught on a Williams Spoon