A new member in the making

[mithrandir]

The weekend arrived and it was time to think about fishing again ( not that I ever stop, but work keeps getting in the way).

I had been across La Manche mid-week, and Claudia had to work Saturday so our proposed trip to Linear was cancelled, so Saturday morning found me off to the Post Office to get a rod licence for Kim ( Claudia's daughter), and off to the tackle shop for maggots and day tickets for the canal again. We had planned a dawn assault on the canal, with the lure of a pint and a pub lunch as a Sunday trip out.

4-15 am Sunday morning found me crawling out of bed and starting the flask making process ( do I really do this for fun!!)

Shortly after 5am and we had a family outing bombing down the roads of Wiltshire dodging the early morning rabbits on the road.

We set up at in a 50 yard stretch on the canal, Claudia had planned to use today to get some more practice on the pole, and I was going to set Kim up with a very simple, light float rig in the hope of getting her first coarse fish on her first outing.

Kim and I settled in near a small tree on the bank and I rigged up a float rod and did a few sample casts and showed Kim where to cast and how to control a float rod. I stood back and watched, the wind was at bit of a problem as it was blowing North-easterly and straight into our faces. within 10 minutes and a couple of casts Kim saw the float dive and struck into her very first coarse fish.



A nice little roach.

I unhooked this for her and then went off to set up my rod and see what I could catch, I managed a nice little roach on the first cast, things looked good for the days fishing.

I soon had another roach and Kim was getting used to the gear and learning how to untangle line! I tried to leave her much to her own devices and let her experiment, she had some difficulty with the wriggly maggots and an 18 hook, but soon had that mastered.

after the first little flurry of fish things dried up, I think that a pike was near the swim as I saw a couple of underwater rushes and surges as if a pike was spooking the fish, after that bites were few and far between, and what we did get were very delicate.

I managed a few more roach and a nice little bream



A few more points for the species hunt.

Kim wandered off and had a little dabble in Claudia's swim



Claudia had a good day on the pole, picking up a couple of perch, a bream, a good tench that seemed to go like a train and gave her a good test of her pole handling techniques, and some roach, here is her keepnet at the end of the day.



Well lunchtime came and the boats were getting to be pesky, so we packed up and set of for the pub for a pint and some well earned food.

A nice day out for the family, a new angler in the making, just could have done with a few more fish to make it a bit more fun for a novice.

[fishypaul]

well done all of you and a very special well done to kim

[Twiddler]

Maybe the canal wasn't the best of choice to take a beginner as we have learnt in the past that it's best to move swims after a while.
But we were only s'pose to fish until midday, ended up fishing until 3pm in the end lol.

Once you manage to get the silver feeding and to keep them in your swim, the pike will haul in and kill the swim.

I had a great time though practising my pole fishing.

I started off fishing 7 metres out, approx 5.5-6feet deep right in front of me, 8 elastic, size 18 hook on a 3lb hook length. (banana Steve taught me well)

I was hitting straight in to the roach but the swim dried out very quick, so I started fishing to my left just in front of an overhanging tree, this time I had to extend the pole to 9 metres and it wasn't easy I can tell ya, as the pole is not one of those modern ones which weigh almost nothing, this pole weighs a tone lol.
Still, I wasn't going to give up, as I know that swim can be very productive.
it seems like the spot has a kind of dip where the food might collect and the fish feed.

My theory seem to be right as I was getting all different kind of species from that spot.

Nice perch to about 10oz, bream about 12-14oz and the tench of around3lb8oz, which is my biggest fish on the pole so far and it put up a great fight trying to dive straight in to the snags.

I have learnt my lesson from Steve last time we fished at Longleat together where I lost a good size fish (carp I think) by handling the situation wrong.

This time I was prepared and dipped the pole tip in to the water, the elastic seemed to stretch forever and I really thought the fish would manage to get in tot the snag but I slightly lifted the tip out of the water, pulled it gently back and managed to keep the tench out of the snag.

I then started to take section by section of the pole off until the fish was tired out and finally got it's head up ready to be netted.

I have to admit that I was proud of myself, considering this was only my third session on the pole, of which the first one ended up fish less.

I will practice fishing the pole more often but I might have to invest in a slightly lighter one in the future....my shoulders are still aching lol.

Depending on the weather next weekend, I will take twiddler2 (kim) to a venue were she can bag up all day, as there is nothing worse for a beginner spending all day fishing and hardly catch.

[Greenheart]

Welldone to you both. A couple of great reports. Glad to see that Claudia's teaching Kim the finer things in life. Shame about the Ruffe though. Have you lost your touch Claudia?

[Twiddler]

Originally Posted by Greenheart

Welldone to you both. A couple of great reports. Glad to see that Claudia's teaching Kim the finer things in life. Shame about the Ruffe though. Have you lost your touch Claudia?

No I haven't Ian, I can still manage to catch trees and bushes, however, Steve didn't teach me how on earth you get it out of them with a pole lol



Ohhhhh you mean the ruffe lol.....errrgh looks like it, they not showing for us neither

[Norfolkboy]

Well done all, sounds a nice day

[Catfish Virgin (Still!)]

Two superb reports and well done to Kim. Also to Claudia who is clearly progressing at the usual fast rate with the pole.

Well done all

[Fishing Forum Admin]

Great read and you better watch out as Kim looks like she will get the hang of fishing very quickly

[pingu]

top day there all
fishing then beer, totally my waveleangth


dave

[Banana Steve]

Well done Guys, glad to see you getting on with the pole Trouble