Camping and Fishing Fun

Each year I do my best to take the children away for a short break camping. I enjoy a few nights away living in a very basic fashion and anything that gets the children out of the house and away from computers is a good thing in my book. Fresh air and fun is what I remember of my summer holidays and I want them to have similar memories.
 A couple of years ago we stayed on the banks of Ullswater in the Lake District. Everyone had a good time as there was water to paddle in, a rope hanging from a tree to swing on and a little stream to move rocks about in and create little dams. The only drawback was the crowded nature of the campsite. If you went out in the car for a few hours you'd get back to find someone had pitched a tent in your parking spot. Camping sardines is not really my idea of fun.
This time we headed for something that I hoped would be a little less crowded. I'd found a leaflet in the local tackle shop in Lancaster for a farm a few miles north of Kendal that looked to promise some interesting fishing plus a true camping experience with the only facilities a cold tap and a toilet.
The children's mum kindly let us borrow her car so off we headed in a very full Toyota Yaris for what I hoped would be three nights of camping and fishing fun.

Ullswater 2013

Selside 2015

 

In stark contrast to our last trip we had the place to ourselves. Just us, a small tarn on our doorstep and a six acre lake to fish.
Neither Iris or James have expressed much of a desire to fish. James dabbled for a bit a few years ago but he never really seemed to be that bothered despite catching some good fish including an 8lb carp.
This time I thought I would keep it low key so made up a simple whip arrangement from an old piece of pole I had lying around that they could use if they wanted to. I had read online that the lake was full of rudd so I thought they may like a go.
Here's what happened in photos that were mainly taken by James who is 10.

the view from the tent




the lake

   



formed in a valley

with living and dead trees

 

 

Small is beautiful as everyone catches a fish.

 

 

 

the best rudd of the trip at 7oz

 

there's golden rudd too

 

 

happy campers



 

Rudd are now Iris' favourite fish!

 

 

Summertime

After a Spring that has seemed most unlike it should with cold nights, incessant wind and little sunshine, Summer has finally arrived in the North West. As we approach the longest day I've tried to make the most of all available opportunities to get out fishing. In fact I've been out so much in the last week or so that I'm now hopelessly behind in writing up what's been happening.
Evening trips out have been my mainstay and I've concentrated on the basin area and the half a mile or so of canal that leads up to it. This means I'm essentially fishing between bridge 95 up to the other side of bridge 97, the turnover bridge, which is where the basin begins. About 200 yards down from bridge 95 is a metal footbridge which leads into the Haverbreaks estate. According to local sources this area contains tench. However, despite several trips there I've yet to see any sign at all of tincas being present. With lilies lining the far bank and bankside trees and bushes dipping in to the water it looks to have potential and there are even rumours of an eight year old girl having caught a 3lb specimen recently. As for me I haven't even seen a patch of bubbles when I've fished there and rather predictably it's only been small roach that have graced the bank. I'm beginning to think that if I do catch a tench it will be by accident rather than design.




A beautiful dawn and still no tench


 Other species seem far easier to target and ultimately catch. I tried for a couple of evenings to tempt a decent perch with maggots and worms as my chosen bait. Obviously less selective than say prawns, maggots have nonetheless caught me several perch of more than 2lbs. Sometimes it's just about  confidence and although you may have to work through some small fish you feel there is always a chance of a decent one turning up. Remarkably it worked. It was almost 10pm on the second evening when I hooked a fish that gave that familiar jagging fight and turned out to be a splendid looking specimen of 9oz. Not as big as I'd hoped for but a great fish to end the trip with.

A lively one


Sometimes the most unlikely fish turns up. It was a wonderful still dawn, with a light layer of mist clinging to the canal's surface on a lovely iris lined stretch. I was happily catching small roach on float fished bread and had even managed a bonus bream of one and a half pounds. The sun was warming my bones. It was t-shirt weather at last. A little later a heron appeared on the far bank. I watched it stalk along the shallows and even managed a passable photo given the brightness of the conditions and the zoom on maximum.

Bites began to slow down and I was just thinking it was probably time to call it a day. I had a few last casts as you do when really you don't want the session to end. I tidied away my unused bait and sorted bits of tackle out. A leisurely process whilst I soaked up the sunshine. Mornings like this have been the exception so far this year and I just wanted to enjoy every moment before finally leaving.



I wasn't at my most alert but looked up from my tinkering with tackle to see my float disappearing. I struck and felt a good solid contact. The fish moved away to my left in a determined way and I recognised its familiar fight. A pike on bread! Only a little one at 1lb 12oz but a few unexpected bonus challenge points.




Summertime pike

More news of my roach fishing exploits in the next update in a few days time.

A Slippery Customer

Flushed with the success, albeit very brief, of Saturday's personal best bream - it can only have been a matter of hours before James trumped me with his new canal bream best of 7lb 2oz - I thought I'd better get back down the basin and see what I could do to earn a few more points.
For a change I took two rods with me, one to float fish for roach, bream and perch and another as a sleeper ledger rod to fish meat close to the stern of a boat moored to my right. I was hoping there may be a carp grubbing about in the margins that would take a fancy to a chunk of  Ye Olde Oak's finest.
Two hours later and I couldn't buy a bite on the float despite trying bread, then worms followed by corn.
 I was keeping half an eye on my bobbin indicator on the ledger rod when it suddenly started to move. I let it rise about six inches and struck. The clutch on the Ambidex started to slip and the cane of the old carp rod fought back against the power of the fish. It was only a matter of seconds before I knew what I'd hooked. It's movements were familiar and remembered from years of experience. There was an element of dread, almost fear all mixed up with a sense of excitement. Eels are undoubtedly remarkable creatures but I have to be honest I'm not particularly keen on them. Over the years I've caught a few and have worked out how to deal with them. Getting a photo and a weight just added a couple of extra steps although it seemed wise to keep it in the net.

slippery...

 

This took the scales around to 1lb 10oz and is my best from the canal.

The next couple of hours were quiet with just a couple of half-hearted touches on the float. Once again the swallows gave a stunning display and the proud swans came along to show off their brood of five cygnets. It was impossible to get a decent photo of them due to the position of the sun but they're incredibly cute.
Around 8.30pm I finally had a decent bite on float fished bread. This was a 3lb 12oz bream and that was it for the evening.





I'm planning a dawn trip later this week. Apparently there's a stretch close by that has some tench so it's got to be worth a try.

The Basin and Beyond

Where Burrow Beck meets the canal

The last month or so has seen me continue to explore different stretches of the canal that are either a walk or a cycle ride of up to around 45 minutes from home. There's plenty of variety to be had from open meadow country to tree-lined cuttings, inner city stretches with buildings towering over you and even the hustle and bustle of a busy basin where boats abound. Where I go depends a lot on what I feel like. If I want to get away from it all I'll cycle for the best part of an hour out to a peaceful spot where Burrow Beck runs under the canal. It's beautiful out here with wild garlic and primroses growing along the tree-lined banks. My favourite spot is by the strange horseshoe shaped stone structures that are on either bank. These appear to have been built to help control the beck which runs under the canal.

The deep pool on my bank

 From the far bank I can hear the stream running but on my side the pool is deep and still with a barely perceptible flow leaving as the beck makes its way across the fields and into the River Lune estuary a few miles away.
There's a gap in the trees on the far bank that allows the rising sun to warm the waters of the canal and it looks like a few lilly pads survive close to either bank. Kingfishers speed up and down the canal and the only other intrusion to break my solitude is the occasional walker. In fact one such walker told me that the beck contains trout and the pools often hold a few fish.
At the end of my first visit curiosity got the better
of me and I decided to drop a worm into the pool.
Within seconds it was snatched by a fish and a fine looking brown trout of around 10 inches was lifted from the depths. Naughty I know but I couldn't help myself. A quick photograph and I slipped it back. No harm done and a pretty fish to admire.

Aside from this little bonus catch there's plenty of roach and I even managed to catch my first perch of the year. I'd taken some maggots with me for a change, and although most of the roach I caught fell to bread, later in the morning with sun very bright I had scaled down to a size 18 hook and single maggot. It was just after 11am when I hooked this splendid 11 ounce striped sergeant.

 



My first canal perch of 2015
 

My last visit here was in late April and I plan to return to this area a lot through the summer. It's very much a dawn place for me and the ride there alongside a mist shrouded canal is really quite something. The bluebells will be starting to flower now as the garlic and primroses wane and with the canal warming up it looks to be a promising location.

 

It's almost a month now since the start of the Bloggers Challenge and with only a few points on the board I decided I needed to get a bit more strategic in my approach to fishing. I'm up against some really excellent anglers and already there have been some wonderful fish caught. But it's not just the talents of my fellow bloggers I've to contend with it's also the potential of the waters that are being fished. Just how does the Lancaster canal stack up against those in the Midlands, London or the South West? Should I travel further and return to the Leeds-Liverpool canal near Wigan? I know there's chub that can be caught-a species that seems to be missing completely from the Lancaster canal. But is it worth the cost for just a few extra points even if I was able to catch one? 

No what I need to do is to stay local. After all I have the river Ribble to fish which should see me right for chub, dace, barbel and possibly a decent river roach but I think I will leave that until the Autumn and Winter. As my car is currently out of action I am limited to travel by train, bike or walking which means the canal and one stillwater are within reach. I also need to be more species specific in my approach. If I was fishing solely for pleasure I would probably divide my time between the canal pursuing roach with bread and a few trips out for tench and carp on stillwaters. What I need is a more focused approach that will allow me to catch more species, still enjoy myself and with luck gain a few points. 

With all this in mind I've had three sessions on the basin in the centre of town. My target has been bream which is a species that I have tended to catch by accident rather than design in the past. After brushing up on the species via my canal fishing literature I have set out armed with a variety of baits and some particularly potent vanilla flavoured crumb groundbait.

The basin is fairly quiet in the evenings with generally only a couple of boats on the move. The only issue is finding a decent spot in amongst the moored craft and I've been lucky this week on each occasion. As far as the fishing goes the basin does seem to be a pretty productive area with roach, bream, perch and allegedly tench and carp present. On the first couple of visits I managed some roach, a little perch, a ruffe and a few small bream. Both sessions saw me pull out of what felt like decent bream although I eventually got a 1lb 9oz fish in the net. Not content with this I returned again last night to have another go.

 I'd been at work all day so took my time and had some food before setting off. By just after 7pm I was set up and fishing. The plan was to stay until darkness fell as the bream had definitely started to feed with much more abandon at dusk on the previous session. There's plenty of light sources due to the student accommodation opposite and the clear skies after a sunny day so I didn't need to take anything more than a torch to help with unhooking.

In contrast to the other evenings this one was very slow. After an hour I'd had only one small twitch of the float and was beginning to think I shouldn't have bothered. Thanks to the exciting display by the swallows that have arrived at the basin the time passed pleasantly and even the wind dropped to barely ruffle the surface.
When the bite came it was a couple of small touches followed by a firm pull. I struck and knew straight away it was a good fish. It pulled away out into the basin and gave me a bit of a scare as a narrowboat was bearing down on it but I managed to carefully steer it back towards me. When its tail splashed up out of the water it looked huge. A little more careful playing and I had it in next to the boat moored up to the left of me. Another 30 seconds or so of me carefully shortening the line and I got it to the surface and just managed to fit it into the net. I lifted the heavy net from the water and knew immediately it was my biggest ever bream.. With a quick photo taken I duly weighed it. It took the scales to 3lb 15oz a new personal best by a half a pound.



Basin bream

A bit of a battered looking old warrior but it gave a good fight and turned out to be the only fish of the evening. I think my opinion of bream is changing as this was a bit more feisty than some I've caught and it's always good to feel you've achieved a target now matter how modest it may be.

I stayed until darkness fell and packed up a happy man. I may return for another go in the next couple of days as I've beaten my personal best for bream three times so far this year. Then again there's the prospect of searching out the carp and tench.



The basin at dusk

 

 

Canal Roach on a Mayday Evening

Unusual as it was for a Bank Holiday Monday not to be a total washout, I thought I'd make the most of it with a few hours on the canal last night. I headed down the towpath to an area just past the fancy housing enclave that is Haverbreaks. This is where the grand houses back on to the canal and some people even have their own boathouses.
Once past this exclusive area the canal is bordered by farm fields. There's a huge amount of sheep to the West and more sheep plus a few horses to the East with a couple of what appear to be rare breed sheep that make the strangest noises - a guttural grunting that is almost frightening. It's a rare old cacophony as dusk falls once you add in the ducks, moorhens and all the other birds.
I've been fishing a spot along here for the last few weeks and have even popped down a few times to feed it up with mashed bread, corn, chopped worms, prawns and maggots. So far all my catches have been to either maggots or bread. The fish seem reluctant to take either corn or worms with only tentative bites on both despite cutting grains of corn into quarters and chopping the worms. Prawns just don't seem to work at all at the moment but I keep trying them.

There's a pair of swans that have made this stretch their home and over the last couple of weeks the female has built a large nest on the far bank some 20 yards or so below where I fish. Tonight she was at last sitting on it so I can only assume eggs have been laid. The male doesn't seem to have been a lot of help with the nest building and seems to spend most of his time wandering the stretch. He was sat on the bank for a while tonight eating grass and scaring small children that passed by.

However, he wasn't so brave when another swan came along. He hot footed it back into the canal and proceeded to run across the surface with wings flapping which in turn encouraged the interloper do the same. They were last seen rounding the bend at the end of the stretch.

Bread was my chosen bait for the evening fished on a size 12 hook beneath a homemade antenna float. I introduced some mashed bread in the area of the near side drop off a couple of yards down to the left from where I sat. Bites started almost immediately and a procession of small roach found their way to the bank. The flow was quite strong tonight and the surface was littered with chewed up plant material as a result of the boat traffic. These floating bits and pieces kept snagging the float and line so I dropped the float a little to the right to avoid a tangled mass that was heading my way. Within seconds the bread had been snapped up and I found myself connected to a better fish, Safely netted was a beautiful roach that I thought must be half a pound. With the bloggers challenge in mind I weighed and photographed the fish. I fear I will need every point considering some of the early catches.

It went to 9 ounces on the scales which is my best roach so far this year from the canal.
For the next two hours the bites came and went with some quiet periods and then a flurry of activity as dusk fell. I had another roach of around six ounces that looked like it had been in the wars with a nasty gash on one side near its anal fin. The result of a meeting with a pike or maybe a heron as you see plenty of them along the canal. Most of the other fish were in the two or three ounce bracket and as it became too dark to see the float properly I called it a day.
Walking back along the towpath the bats were out in force darting around the branches above my head which got me wondering where they live during daylight - I must find that out...

Between Two Pubs

Fishing wasn't part of the plan for today. The weather had promised to be wild and wet so I thought a day indoors was on the cards with maybe more decorating to pass the time. However, by nine o'clock I 'd realised it wasn't quite the day I'd expected. There was no rain lashing against the windows, the wind was blowing a bit but the sun was out, so I thought I'd head down to the canal for a couple of hours.
This new spontaneous approach is becoming quite a habit. It's a ten minute walk down the hill to the canal which means that short sessions of a few hours or so are worth doing. I think I'm also buoyed by the confidence I have in my ability to catch at the moment. The presence of the shoal of roach in my current banker swim means that all thoughts of a blank are erased from my mind and there's an optimism about each session that is rarely misplaced.
I set up just along from the Whitecross Inn with my trusty Sealey Octofloat and a battered, yet fully functional, Mitchell 300. There's a bit of a swell on the canal but it's coming and going with the gusts of wind. A large antenna seems the best choice today although I'm a bit concerned about my ability to spot bites given the choppy surface.
A piece of flake does the trick and after a couple of casts I'm into my first fish, a pretty roach of a couple of ounces.  The city clocks chime away for 10am and the sun is still out. However, I'm sat in the shade and soon become aware of the wind chill factor as the gusts seem to be increasing in strength. It really is a case of making sure everything is put away or firmly held down. I can't let go of the rod for fear of it being blown off the rest. In fact the gusts are becoming so strong that the rod is actually bending with the force being exerted on it. I'm also having to strike back into the wind which seems to be taking a lot or the power out of it meaning lots of missed bites.
I persevere and my reward is a couple more small roach. An hour has passed and the slightly out of sync chiming of the clocks begins again. There's been one or two dodgy moments where the gusts of wind have been so strong it's felt as though I will be blown from my stool at any moment. My fingers are freezing as the old mill building is blocking the sun so I decide to move along the towpath towards the basins in search of a warmer spot.

to my right

As luck would have it the only sunny area I can find is just between the stern of this narrowboat and the start of the tables outside the Waterwitch canal side pub.
I sort myself out and put in some ground bait I've made from old bread and cheap Weetabix style cereal. Given the still exposed nature of the swim I decide to bait an area around a rod length out and cast out with a large piece of flake as bait. Somewhat predictably the sun goes in but the wind drops a bit so I take a couple of photos.

to my left

My first bite is a really positive, no messing about pull that takes the float straight under. I'm into a heavy feeling fish that puts a good bend in the rod and I play it carefully to the surface and the waiting net. It's a bream of around a pound and a half. Not a bad start.
There's a real difference here to the previous spot. Back there the bait barely has time to sink before it's attacked by the roach whereas here it's a much more leisurely affair and subsequently slower more positive bites that are far easier to hit.
I bump off the next fish, experiencing the brief sensation of something quite large before it's gone.


Feeling excited by the move and a bit warmer in the sun I have a quick cup of tea before adding a couple more small balls of ground bait to the swim and casting out again. It's not long before I get another great bite and I'm into a strong almost dead weight. I feel it kick away so I give some line as the fish heads off to my left into the centre of the canal. The fish is determined and is using its weight to good effect. The strength of the wind against the raised rod seems to be adding to the power of the fish so I continue to play it with great care. Just then the narrowboat begins to shift on its mooring ropes heading into the swim. Thankfully the rope tightens and it comes to a halt. I'm glad the fish has chosen to go to the left as I've no idea how I would have managed playing it around the boat. Gradually I win the battle. I know it's a bream and sure enough a large shiny slab of a fish breaks the surface before making another dive for freedom. That's its fight over and when it next surfaces I slide the net under it.
I've never been a great fan of bream but I have to say this is a beautiful looking fish that is absolutely scale and fin perfect. It also appears to be the biggest one I've ever caught. I scrabble around and find the camera and scales. The wind catches the plastic bags these are in and off they sail into the canal ( luckily I retrieve them after releasing the fish ).
The bream takes the scales to 3lb 4oz which is a new personal best and with the exception of the pike last time, my biggest fish from the canal. I do my best with the photo given the wind and time constraints before resting and releasing the fish.

 

 

 

After a couple more casts and a giant wind caused tangle I decide to call it a day. I'm glad I moved today even though it was out of the desire to be more comfortable rather than from an angling point of view. Maybe the 'towpath expert' I met last time was right about the basin area. Time will tell as I feel a return trip will be in order very soon. I'd really like to catch a perch so will bring lots of worms and some prawns with me next time as well as the ever reliable bread because who knows how big the bream are here and maybe the roach too...

Predators, Prey and Passers-by

 I've a new pair of fingerless gloves with me today and I'm glad I've got them as the wind is funnelling its way down the canal again chilling me to the bone. It's just after 10am and I've just made my first cast hoping for a bigger inner city roach. The immediate dipping of the float lets me know that the roach are still here and they're hungry. I fail to connect with the first bite but get the second one. These roach are quite speedy and I'm conscious of playing them carefully, but quickly away from the spot where I'm getting the bites and keeping any splashing to a minimum. I try to swing this one in but it's bigger than I thought and it drops off - should've used the net. The first lesson of the day.

The roach hotspot

Bites continue and I land a couple of roach. The second one is a beautiful fish of around four ounces and I'm suddenly struck by how amazing roach look in the winter. A fish in prime condition. It's not just the metallic sheen of the shiny silver scales along its flank or even the ruby red fins that catches my eye, it's the subtle shades of blue and grey across the top of its back that really make it stand out as a creature of rare beauty. It also has the beginnings of that deepness of body that you see in bigger roach. I must have caught hundreds of roach during my time fishing but I still have that same feeling of it being a huge privilege to be the presence of such a wonderful being. They really are my favourite fish and it's probably why I spend so much of my fishing in pursuit of them. Part of it is the quest if you will to catch that elusive fish of a lifetime but most days I'm content to just see one whatever the size. A simple pleasure, but rewarding at the same time and of course there's always the chance that the special fish may turn up. That sense of optimism is somehow always there but it's a part of a much larger and complex set of reasons for being on the towpath.

I've brought some worms with me again today and have a feeling that maybe a big roach will take one. Failing that I'm still convinced there must be some perch about, maybe even a big one that will fancy an easy meal rather than chasing roach about. To boost my thoughts of perch a young lad on a bike stops and chats about fishing with me. He tells me he's been walking his dog some evenings and shining a torch into the water and has seen the many fish just sat quietly close in to the bank and on one such evening he scooped out a large perch with his landing net. Just then a 'towpath expert' appears and greets us with 'the basin up there is the best spot to fish'. I reply with 'I'm doing fine here thank you'. I generally enjoy my conversations with passers-by and have met all kinds of interesting folk and had wide ranging chats about the history of the canal, their personal memories of it and even literature but there's nothing that rubs me up the wrong way quite as much as someone telling me I'm in the wrong place or fishing in the wrong way.
 The expert then decides that showing off to the young lad is preferable to trying to impress me and soon he has his phone out looking for a photo of a large pike taken from the basin. He shows me it too. It's a fine looking fish and the lad is suitably impressed. I'm somewhat sceptical about its supposed 18lb weight as there is nothing in the picture to lend any sense of scale. The expert leaves and I ask the lad why he's not at school. Home schooling apparently so I stop worrying about truancy. A few minutes later and he wishes me good luck and leaves too.

During this time I realise that I've not caught a single fish. I reel in replace the worm with bread and cast out again. The float is pulled under violently and I'm into a what I first think is a better roach. However, it's a tiny jack of maybe half a pound and it has definitely taken the bread, of that I am totally convinced. I put him back some 25 yards along the towpath from my swim.
As I try to catch a few more roach my mind wanders and I try to imagine what is going on beneath the surface. There's obviously tremendous competition for the available food as I'm getting a bite every cast. I picture the bread sinking slowly and hordes of little roach whizzing in to take small bites of it until only a small speck remains. The fish that takes this final morsel is the one I catch.  I've not even bothered introducing any feed at all today as it seems somewhat superfluous. The roach keep coming. They're not more than a couple of ounces but it's fun and stops me noticing how cold it is.
For a bit of variety I try a worm again, fished around two thirds of the way across the canal. I let it settle for a few minutes and then twitch it slightly towards me. After the second twitch I get a really positive bite and I'm into a decent fish. The cane hoops over and I can feel the steady pull of the fish as it moves slowly to my left. It's not a perch as there is no tell tale head shaking. Slowly I began to raise the fish up to the surface towards the waiting net. It's a pike of course and it's by far the largest one I've seen here. It makes a couple of determined lunges away from me but I gradually win the battle and draw it over the net. It's a bit tricky getting it in as it is longer than the net but I manage it without any mishaps.
This is the biggest pike I've ever caught. It's still only a jack but I estimate it to be approaching five pounds. ( It was actually just over 25" long and quite chunky). As I'm unhooking it a voice intrudes on the moment. ' You were just setting up as I went past before and now you've got a fish'. It's an elderly lady that I remember saying hello to before. I'm cheeky and ask if she would mind taking a photo of me with the pike. I show her what to do with the camera and she has a couple of goes. Things don't really work out. She cuts off my head and the pictures are so blurred I could be holding anything. ' I've been having trouble with my eyes' she says as I thank her for trying. Oh for the help of a tech savvy youngster. The pike is getting angry now and I try a shot on the unhooking mat but it keeps flipping about. I eventually get the shot below. I take the fish along the bank and allow it to recover in the net before releasing it back to the depths.

 

catch of the day

It's turning into a funny day. A mixture of predator and prey. I start to imagine the canal as something like the Cruel Sea. The roach are the merchant ships crossing the Atlantic with the ever hungry pike the deadly U Boat pack preying on them. Of course the roach have only their wits to protect them as there is no Compass Rose on the canal.
I catch a couple more roach and another jack of around 2lbs on a worm before the cold, and the need to answer a call of nature get the better of me and I head home. I'm really enjoying these short sessions on this stretch of canal and next time I think I may move further along towards the basin and see what treasures it holds. After I am meant to be exploring the canal and although this spot has provided plenty of entertainment I'm beginning to feel restless.