And then there were perch!

We save all the trimmings from Bacon Grill punching

The last time we were down by our local river, here in Catford, it had just been raining, and it was running a torrent over the shallow weir and into the pool we have been fishing lately. Today, normality has been restored, the water was crystal clear, and the chub are cursing around looking for anything that might constitute food. We had no maggots in stock, so we took some Bacon Grill trimmings (the bits left behind after first slicing and then punching a whole can into hook-bait) that had been chopped up ready to use as feed on my next outing.

Having never fed these fish with meat before, I had no idea how they would react. It turned out they are partial to cured, processed pig fat and meat! I might try them of meat next time instead of/as well as Maggots.

As we were watching the chub, I caught a flash of stripes. Yes, the perch from downstream have also arrived in the pool along with the chub. Although not as bold as the chub, they were definitely interested and were patrolling the far bank, close to the pilings. Although they did make the odd excursion our direction, they would not move that far away from the far bank. I should have brought the small pole catapult as although the river is not that wide, it is impossible to get the feed over to the far bank without spooking the fish with my flailing arm.

Next time we get the chance, I will take willies with me and paddle over to the other bank, across the weir. The water passing over it is only a few inches deep, most of the time. Once there I can have a go at fishing from the far bank. With that in mind, I have some Bacon Grill punch that has been dyed red - it might just tempt a passing perch. I might even try dropshotting for them with a small plastic fish!

I would never have thought there could be so much fun to be had just a short mile and a half walk from my front door here in South East London. The more I study this small river, the more I like it and the more interesting it becomes. I really enjoy my short sessions actually fishing, but I am getting just as much fun out of trying to learn where the fish are, as there is no one to tell me. I guess this is what they call watercraft, or at least the learning of it.

Ralph.

   

No fish, but I got my spanner back!

The trees have been trimmed - time (and room) to fish

Yesterday, I got back down to Kent to fish with Tim. Having been stuck indoors for the past few weeks, I was really looking forward to a day fishing with the other bloke on The Medway, upstream of Maidstone town centre, attempting to catch a fish! Neither of us did. Since we first fished here, the trees have been trimmed, and the place looks completely different. At last, we will be able to cast with ease. We started off having a go at dead-baiting for pike, as Tim had bought a few frozen roach and skimmers. This was a big learning curve as neither of us had tried this before. Just trying to get the single circle hook through the body of the fish (now unfrozen!) was a bit of a palaver - it would have made a poor comedy sketch. None of what you see on YouTube is as easy as it looks, and this is no different.

Armed with a good few hours of experience, we need to go back to the virtual classroom and see if we can move on a stage. The bait was getting attacked, we were just not feeling a bite, or when we did, we were not connecting with the fish. Hey Ho. After a few hours of 'feeding' the fish we decided to pack it in and go back to float fishing and chatting - sort of what we do best, the chatting that is!

We still blanked, not even a twitch. I guess Saturday's heavy rain had changed the river, that was the clearest I have seen it since we first fished here, back at the beginning of the summer. This part of the river is above the first lock, so the flow is governed by when the lock is opened or the rate water that is allowed to pass. Now, call me thick, but I have just realised that maybe we should be fishing this stretch of the river more like a canal than a river...

Although the fishing was not great, I did come home with a catch, not mine but one of Tim's. When the guys were trimming the trees, he borrowed their magnet-on-a-string and managed to recover the spanner I dropped into the river when we were removing the ladders. That was back on the 4th of August. The spanner had been in the river for a good couple of months. When Tim got it out, it looked in excellent condition apart from what looked like some light surface rust. When I got it home, I gave it a quick wash in warm soapy water and the 'rust' dissipated. It was just a build up of reddy-orange sediment that had deposited itself in the lettering and the jaws of the ring-end. If this is not a good endorsement of quality, I don't know what is. The picture below shows a brand new spanner that I bought to replace the lost item and the recovered spanner. Can you tell which is which?

The lower one has spent the past couple of months at the bottom of the river!

Next time we fish from here, I will be using a slider float and having a go with a long pole. As far as the pike fishing is concerned, I have discovered what we were doing wrong with the rig, I just need to go and find out how to use it! I will let you know how that goes in due course. All in all, it was a great day, with good company and fun fishing, even if we did not land a single fish.

Ralph.