Supplies!

Fish food!

Back in May, the doctor suddenly announced that I am a type 2 diabetic. Thanks! I won't go into all the happenings since then as they are not relevant to this blog, except to say that finally, I had an appointment with another doctor who answered a lot of my questions regarding diet. This resulted in a clear out of the food cupboards - long overdue anyway, as we found some stuff lurking at the back that was years out of date.

I now have a pile of things I can use, along with stock ingredients that I have by me, to make groundbait, feeder mix, boilies, custards and even some paste. My first plan was to just grind it all up and feed the river down at the other bloke's place, but then it occurred to me I could, with a bit of thought and note-taking, make some effective bait that, if it proves to be good, I can repeat. Apart from a whole lot of breakfast cereal, there is rice, nuts pasta and even a block of fondant icing. Just what I am going to do with that, I have no idea - yet!

I have been aware that I need some boilies, as I seem to have used all the ones I had in the freezer. I am thinking corn boilies, using the cornflakes and some whizzed up frozen corn as the main flavour ingredients. Maybe I will do a batch with hemp seed added to compliment my corn custard. I will have to have a think about it, but in the meantime I need to find somewhere to store it where the mice can't get at it...

Ralph.  

Another day, another fish...

Fishing our local river is a bit of a challenge, to say the least. I have been fishing it using a whip and more recently an elasticated pole. This has paid off but is still restrictive. The problem is, there are not many open places where the fish hold up. Many lengths of the river are very shallow, and shallow weirs have been constructed to manage the flow and prevent it just draining out, at its confluence, into the Ravensbourne River as it nears Catford.

The River Pool (right) meets the Ravensbourne River, at Catford

The pool formed on the downstream side of the shallow weir, where we caught the chub a couple of days ago, is one of the more open places to fish. Down stream from there, the banks of the river are almost completely overgrown and fishing with conventional gear is almost impossible. Scanning the eBay listings, I spotted what might be the answer to fishing in those hard to get to places. A small telescopic rod, complete with a reel for just a shade over £16.00 delivered. Click, bought it!

The telescopic rod combo - cheap and cheerful, but it did the job

I was pleasantly surprised when it arrived yesterday. Okay, it is no Drennan Acolyte, but I did not expect it to be as good as it looked. I stripped off the heavy line that was supplied with the reel and replaced it with some 4lb line and a small float. It takes about 3g to cock this little float. Discussing it on the forums, it seems that opinion is divided as to if this is too heavy or not. As I had no real alternative other than a really light pole float, I decided to use what I had.

The float shotting seemed a bit heavy, but as it turned out, it seemed to work well.

It did work reasonably well, but I think if I had more time at the bank, I might have refined the shotting a little. The small pole floats might have worked, but with little or no weight, they may have been hard to cast with this little rod.

Pole floats might have been too light to cast

Although the rod seems to perform reasonably well, the reel is a bit cheap and cheerful. The line-lay is not good at all, and the drag is as rough as a bag of grit. It does work, after a fashion, but you could not describe it as smooth. Having said that, I am not complaining, it did the job, and for the money, it is a lot better than I had expected.

The great thing about this telescopic rod is the ease of carrying it and the speed of set up. I was fishing within a couple of minutes of arriving at the bank. All I had to do was extend the rod and add my chosen hook length. I chose a 12 inch length and fitted a small No.12 dropper about 4 inches above the hook. I was only using 2½lb line for the hooklength as the target today was small perch. After trying several spots along the river, I was beginning to think I was going to blank. We eventually ended up at the weir, where I had caught the Chub a couple of days ago.

The pool just under the shallow concrete weir

This pool is reasonably deep in places by this river's standards. There is a shoal of chub that are often seen here, and today was no exception. I decided to have a go and see what I could catch, as the perch did not seem to want to come out and play. There is not much river to fish here as the water shallows up very quickly as it flows downstream.

Standing in the same place as the picture above was taken, this is the view looking downstream

I tried casting my new rod and to my surprise, although the reel is a bit rough it worked reasonably well. A couple of casts with no bait, just to see if it was working and to see if the depth was about right, proved that this little rod was going to do the job, albeit a bit rough. I put a single white maggot on the hook and cast watched the float trot (if that is the correct word) downstream and disappear. Fish! I had caught a tiny chublet. Sue was feeding the swim every fifteen seconds or so with three or four maggots.

This was the average size of the fish we caught in ore short session today

The next cast turned up a slightly bigger fish. I was sort of hoping that I would not catch a big one just yet until I had a bit more experience with the rod and especially the reel. As it happened, although we could see the bigger fish, and they were going for the free offerings, none of them took the bait.

Tiny spool for my dropshot reels

I caught several fish, none of which required the landing net. The new rod was a complete success, and the reel will do the job, but I might have to change it for one of my 1500 Fox Ultron Rage reels that I use for dropshotting. I will have to buy another tiny spool and fill it with monofilament line as they are both filled with braid.

I did not end up catching, or seeing, any perch today, but I did catch a lot of fish, so today was another successful session, even if it was only for an hour or so. I need to refine my technique over the next few weeks and months, but one thing I am sure of, I love this river fishing!

Ralph.

Gotcha!

Done it! I have now caught one of the biggest fish in this little river, and it was all planned!

Today's blog is all about the fish. For the past week or so, Sue and I have been watching a section of our river were we have found a small shoal of chublet. Last time we went 'equipped' we had no luck whatsoever. We could not even find the fish in the murky water. Even the odd dangled maggot didn't even get 'chewed'.

This time it was a different matter. We set off late morning and found the fish where we had seen them a few days ago, at the bottom of a shallow weir. The water is a bit deeper here, in fact, it is deeper than it looks, as when a labrador decided to jump in it was way out of its depth and found itself having to swim.

One of the problems with fishing here is the number of dogs that make use of the easy access to the water. We had several dogs in the water during our hour and a half session. Surprisingly, this did not seem to bother the fish too much. Once the water cleared again, we could see the fish swimming around looking for the free offerings we had been feeding.

There is no point in plumbing the depth here as the bottom goes from nothing to two or three feet deep, and back again in all directions. Using my 5m tele-pole which is fitted with No.6 elastic through the top two sections, and a light line and hooklength I was just letting the maggot drift through the water with only the size 18 hook as weight. The only indicator was a small bright yellow float bead set about a foot from the hook. Within seconds a small chublet had grabbed the maggot, and it was away. Easily swung to hand it was the first of many.

First, chuck and we had our first fish of the session

Slowly the fish were getting bigger as they grew in confidence. I was concerned that the commotion would spook the fish, but that did not seam to be the case as I was catching one after the other. The session came to an abrupt pause (paws?) as the section of river was invaded by a pack of dogs. Well, 'pack' might be a bit strong but there were five or six of them. The owner was profusely apologetic, and I don't suppose she expected to see anyone fishing there, besides it is not our river. I was fearful that all this further commotion will have scared the fish off, but as I said above, it didn't.

They were getting bigger...

I started fishing again after a few minutes as I could see the fish were still taking our loose feed. All of a sudden the line went tight and promptly snapped. One of the bigger fish had decided to take my hook-bait in a mad rush. The elastic did not even come out of the pole. I had been fishing light, trying not to spook the fish too much. Time to tackle up a bit heavier. I re-rigged the pole with heavier line and hooklength and this time used one of those nice little Drennan crystal dibbers. A few shot to cock it and a string of droppers ensured that this time I was going to be fishing static on the bottom.

The prize fish of the day - this is the same fish I am holding in the header shot

A few put-ins produced nothing, so I shallowed up slightly and had another go. Sue was feeding two or three maggots over the float every 15-20 seconds. It worked. The elastic berried itself in the river, and I had one of the bigger fish on. It was a bit frisky at first, but it soon quietened down and was making it's way closer to the bank when it spotted the net and made another break for freedom. Luckily, this time the tackle was up to the job and eventually the fish was in the net.

After weeks of watching these fish, I finally had one in the net. What a great feeling. My first river chub and caught on our local urban river right here in the heart of South East London. Although I don't think this fish has been caught by an angler before, the scar on its side looks as if it has been attacked by one of the many herons or egrets that we often see on our walks along this stretch of the river.

A great day, possibly one of the best so far. I know it is not the biggest chub around, but at 16½ inches long, it is one of the biggest fish in this river.

Ralph.

Not a sausage...

...or a fish! Following on from yesterday's post, Sue and I went back to the river with the intention of catching a few fish. It was raining as we stood and watched the fish taking the feed yesterday. It then continued to rain all afternoon and, on and off through the night. Today when we went back to have a go at catching a fish, the water was slightly higher, only by a few inches, and it had coloured up slightly. I could still make out the bottom in places, but the weeds and some deeper parts were now out of sight.

We tried feeding some maggots but there was no interest. It seemed like all the fish had gone. We walked down stream, for a couple of miles, and did not see a fish anywhere. We even stopped at our favoured fishing spot to dangle a line into the opaque water for a while, only to find that the maggot had not even been sucked by the small roach.

Like Goldilocks (sans bears) when we got there, the river was bare!

I posted a question on one of fishing forums for some advice, and had lots of useful suggestions as to why we could find no fish. You can read the thread HERE. It appears there could have been several reasons why our fish were not playing ball today. From the advice given, I tend to think it could have been a combination of factors. Firstly, not only would the water temperature have been lowered by the rainwater but, secondly, the ambient air temperature has dropped dramatically over the past few days. From daytime near record highs at the beginning of the week, to today's well under the average for this time of year - mad isn't it? This can stop the fish from feeding until they have a chance to get used to their new, cooler environment.

We can't get back there tomorrow, but we plan to have another go on Sunday when we will try some of the tactics gleaned from the afore mentioned forum thread.

Ralph.

Five days latter >>>

Our urban fish are getting bigger...

Feeding fish - Look in the bottom left hand corner, you can just see the fish!

Here in Catford, The River Ravensbourne runs under the South Circular road between Catford and Catford Bridge railway stations. Before the bridge was built the river was forded at this point, said to be favoured by cats, which is how the area got its name. 

South of the road, the river runs under the car parks of Halfords and Wickes retail sheds, where it emerges and passes under the railway through one of the arches of the viaduct. In recent years a suspended pathway has been added to allow pedestrian access under the railway and into the area beyond. A few hundred yards further on, the river is joined by The Pool River and the River Ravensbourne crosses back under the railway on its way to Bromley and eventually Keston. 

This area of wasteland was once just that, an area of land behind the houses defined by the river on one side and the railway on the other. In recent years it has been opened up as a park and cycle route running south from Catford to lower Sydenham. Much of this is thanks to the old gasworks site having been decontaminated and landscaped as part of a planning permission deal, when it was developed into a retail super-store and retail park.

Most of the park follows the course of The Pool River on its way to Lower Sydenham. At the the confluence of the rivers there is a footbridge over The Pool where the park opens up out of the heavily overgrown section into a more open stretch of path. To the right there are several well trodden access points to the river, where there is a well defined path that runs for several hundred yards giving good access to the river. It is along this path that Sue and I have fished in the past. Well, that is me fishing and Sue watching, as she does not have (or want) a licence. She has no desire to catch the anything, but is happy to just help carry the gear and feed the fish.

There is lots of wildlife to be found here, and especially birds. Herons, egrets, and even the rare appearance of a kingfisher can be seen moping up the smaller fish. The river has recovered well after a serious toxic spillage, that killed the entire stock of fish and other wildlife, in 2009.

Now we are seeing much larger fish than we have seen for years. Over the past few weeks we have seen several small shoals of chublet and perch, along with other small silvers such as roach and dace. It is the larger chublets that interest us. Some of these fish are now over a foot long. Okay, I know that is not very big in the great scheme of things, but here in our little shallow river, that is big.

Big fish!

Yesterday we found a section of the river, just below a shallow weir, where the fish had congregated and we could see them with the naked eye. The smaller ones were holding station just where the water runs off the concrete and even venturing over the concrete in what can only be a couple of inches of water at the most. As we stood and watched them, we noticed a couple of much larger fish skulking around a clump of weed. These fish were very gently moving around looking for scraps of food caught in the gentle current. They would only move at any speed if they were spooked by our shadow or silhouette against the sky. We stood back at the top of the bank and watched for a good while as they just cruised around.

In the margins were hundreds, if not thousands, of fry basking in the warm shallow water. These would scatter if spooked and then reform fairly quickly, if the disturbance ceased. As we were watching, something dropped off a tree, into the river, and the fish immediately went to investigate. We had no food with us so we could not see if they were feeding. In the past, small pieces of bread have not interested these larger fish and more often than not, the bread going in has spooked them.

Today it has been raining all morning, not torrential, but enough to make everything wet and disturb the surface of the water. We had decided to go back to the weir and see if the fish would take any loose feed. Armed with a pot of maggots and a few slices of bread, we braved the rain and had a go at feeding the fish. Maggots seemed to do the trick. A few showers of a dozen or so maggots got them interested.

As we continued to feed the fish, more and more joined in. We used up the hand-full of maggots we had with us and then decided to give the bread another go. This time, although not as enthusiastic as they were for the maggots, they were taking it. Although the fish were a way out, as we fed them, they would come in close and take the bait we had dropped in the margin.

Tomorrow, time and weather permitting, we are going to try and catch one of these bigger fish. Tactics will involve an elasticated tele-pole and a dibber float on light line and a smallish hook baited with one maggot. We will let you know how we get on.

The next day >>>

Ralph.         

Can't miss a trick...

Today, or rather this afternoon, Tim was on an early shift. That meant he would be home by about 15:00. Sue and I filled the van with tools, and some fishing gear, and set off for Maidstone. We needed to do a small job on the jetties that involved removing some redundant ladders. One of them had come loose a couple of weeks ago and initially we were going to strengthen the mountings and re-fix them. In the end, it was decided that as nobody was using them, the simplest course of action would be to remove them.

This we did with little effort, for once, other than dropping a spanner into the murky depths of the Medway, the job went very smoothly. The spanner will be retrieved (hopefully) next time I am down there, using a magnet and a length of cord. You never know, we might even find a lot of stuff we don't expect.

After we had finished, we took a walk across the foot bridge into town and bought fish and chips for all of us, as by this time Tim's other half had arrived home from work. As soon as the food had been devoured, Tim and I turned our attention to getting a spot of fishing in. It was now getting late and the heat of the day had relented slightly but so had the light. We got about an hour in before it became too dark to see what we were doing and being Friday night we were visited by the 'disco' boat, twice!

Full of old fuds, like me, it must have been somebody's leaving do or anniversary as the music was audible and reminiscent of my youth when clubs were called discos. We managed to catch a lot of small silvers on our tele-poles, mainly dace, with a few roach thrown in. Fishing was close in, to avoid the river traffic, and we were catching high up in the water using a few maggots that Tim had in the fridge.  Even this close in the water is still deep; 8-10 feet a few yards out. Not the most scintillating of sessions but great that we could get an hour in, at the bottom of Tim's garden.

Ralph.