Pea Soup - A long autumn tale.

[northern eye]

The temperature had dropped suddenly over night and from crisp sunshine on Saturday when I stocked up on maggots at the tackle shop, the air had caught a chill and the fog hung low over the field as I glanced out of the bedroom window.

Finally, I was to get out fishing after what seems like an eternity. Babies, moving house and all the trials and tribulations that accompany them have meant I've barely wet a line since summer. My fishing gear lay undisturbed and unloved, save for a brief outing for pike last month. My course reels needed re-lining, my float rod tip had snapped at some point in transit and my no.4 pole section was destroyed by a fiesty carp back in August.
Feeder tactics then!! I love feeder fishing, whether its for big carp, summer tench, river chub or winter roach - its my favourite method without a doubt.

Whilst the wife and our little boy slept soundly, I took pleasure in sorting out my neglected gear, and a few hours were spent drinking coffee and organising the mess I had left everything in after the summer.

Luckily the light spool on my Drennan Series 7 reel was loaded with 4lb line and teamed with the most sensitive tip of the Series 7 rod, its a wonderful combination for some light feeder fishing. I packed the car, travelling with just the bare minimum needed, some extra warm clothing and a flask of sweet tea and I was on the way. Driving into the North Yorkshire countryside through the pea soup and onto a little trusty stillwater where I know the roach and perch grow large and feed on the coldest of days.

It was a maggot approach today and I had a pint of red and a pint of white, half of which had been wriggling around in curry powder overnight and had taken on a spicy yellow colouring. The mist drifted in swirls across the pond and save for a crow calling in a nearby tree and the resident water fowl, I was totally alone at the water. I went for a swim that has always produced the goods, knowing that I had packed light and could move at any time if the bites didn't show. A few pults of grubs went in, not too many, and in two areas of promise. The first, over at the island and the second down the middle of a channel that went along to my right. The water was deep here and being a cold night I figured if the fish were not shoaling next the island bank then they would be in deeper water where the cold hasn't quite reached yet.

I set up two rods, one lightweight rig with a tiny maggot feeder, size 16 hook and 3lb hooklength and the other slightly heavier rig with a large maggot feeder, 5lb hooklength and a long shanked size 8 hook. This rig was my wishfull thinking set-up, in the hope that a hungry autumn carp may just want to take my tempting bunch of grubs, about ten of which I had been threaded all the way up the hookshank to produce a wriggling mass of maggots, no late season carp could resist. This rig was cast into open water to my left, leaving the other two swims free for me to cast between with the lightweight rig.

I could see a little bit of activity in both areas, bubbles broke the still surface of the pond and as I took my first slurp of tea, my tip began to show signs that something was interested. Minutes later the delicate tip pulled round and I wasted no time in striking, connecting with the fish and, with a little fight on the light tackle, a roach of around 12oz graced the net. Slipping her back into the water, I again cast to the same spot and waited but nothing this time so I rebaited with some of my curried grubs and cast into the channel. I used no loosefeed here after my initial pult at the start, as the water is deep and I wanted to target whatever may be in the deeper water.

The tip was immediately making little jerks from time to time, but it was slow going and patience was needed here. I refilled and recast my heavy feeder rig, all the while my eyes were on the other tip, its jerks and knocks were becoming more frequent now until finally, it moved around and with a gentle strike, I connected with a fish that felt a little better. It darted left and right as I slowly turned the reel and as it came to the surface, a glimpse of silver revealed a roach of just over a pound. They like curry I thought, and continued with this method, roach after roach took the spicy maggots, varying sizes, nothing much bigger than 12oz to a pound but nothing much smaller either. It was turning into a fun session and the fall in temperature had not affected their feeding habits and switching between the curry and the red grubs produced 18 silvers in all. Not bad for a cold, foggy November afternoon.
Another cup of tea was slurped and the afternoon drew on, the roach were happy to take my bait but what about something bigger. The heavier rig had barely been touched save for a few little knocks.

In my bag were the remnants of a bag of hemp and also some Sensas Lake Black groundbait - I decided to put them to use and changing to a cage feeder on the heavy rig, I had just enough for about six large feeder fulls. These were cast in succession along with some dead maggots, which had been steeping in hot tea for a while to kill them off. I switched to a bomb and cast my big bunch of maggots over the groundbait, hemp and dead maggots and waited.

The cold was starting to set in by now, it was late afternoon as some large bubbles began to show over my swim. The rod tip began to bump, quick and abruptly, at intervals of around a minute. My hand hovered over the rod handle and my heart raced as the tip swiftly arched round and stayed round. I struck, I was in and it felt good, definately a carp. Being carefull, as I was only on 5lb line, I played the fish, letting it run and then gently coaxing it back towards the bank as it stayed low. I brought the rod down, sinking the tip under the water to bring her up to the surface, it worked and a golden brown common turned on the surface, breaking the eery silence of the deserted pond with a crash. She fought well for her size, around 6lbs, and as I slipped the net under her perfectly scaled flanks the steam from my sigh of relief drifted into the air and mingled with the sinking fog.
The beautiful common carp was a fine sight to behold and I held her for a little longer before placing her gently back into the cold water, knowing that she would probably be my last for this year.

The walk back to the car was long and unwanted. It had been a stolen few hours on the bank but a wonderful few hours and thoughts of long hazy summer days were now long gone, lost in the swirls of fog enveloping the pond and the countryside beyond. Will I get back here before the year is out? I hope so. Will we again have to endure months of frozen waters before the bulbs reach out for spring sunshine? I hope not. Whatever may happen, our own little favourite spots will remain, on the rivers, canals, lakes or beaches, we all find our own little escape from the everyday and even a few hours grabbed here and there, whenever we can, are often the most pleasurable. So here's to fishing - the finest way to spend what little free time we have.

[Mozlongtime]

A wonderful post, thank you for sharing.

[chris.oldgit]

nice descriptive read, a thinking angler, well done

[chazyboi]

good read that

[BoldBear]

Brilliant report, a very good read.
Nice one. it almost felt like I was there with you.