24/05/2013 - June 16th That Magic Day
June 16th That Magic Day
My first ever days fishing was June 16th 1941, this
year’s June 16th will still has the magic and mystery as it did all
those years ago. My tackle on that first day, was a ball of red wool, a few
nuts scrounged from my granddad’s shed and some penny eel hooks from the local
pram shop. The shop also sold a few items of tackle; you could buy for about
sixpence, a length of line with a quill float and hook on a cardboard winder. (Pic
1) Yes, they were dangerous times, Kent
being a front line county in the battle with the Germans; Our nights were usually
spent in an Anderson air raid shelter, where I could watch the search lights
trying to seek out the hated German bombers, hopefully the ack-ack guns based close to
where I lived would then destroy them. It wasn’t just bombs, the land mines on
a parachute were more deadly creating
far more damage as they exploded above the ground. During the day the Royal Air force fighter
pilots in their Hurricanes and Spitfires who would set about the Luftwaffe bombers
and escorting fighters. We boys would clap and shout with joy when the RAF
appeared. A big bonus during the war for me and my friends, we only went to
school in the mornings. Out of school we often fished the stream at Bakers
Meadow for sticklebacks or minnows. We would also go out armed with catapults
and target the German and Italian POWs working in the fields with well-aimed
pebbles. None of us were frightened, even when the V-1 and V-2 rockets were
about, known as doodle-bugs or flying bombs. Fishing becomes an obsession for
us boys; it was an escape from all the problems faced by our parents.
My First Catch
My first June 16th will live on in my memory for
ever, as if it was yesterday. I went fishing with my Uncle Len a sergeant
sniper in the Royal West Kent regiment, who often shot at Bisley before the war.
I caught 7 tiny Rudd, a silver bodied fish with blood red fins. Bait was a
small bit of worm. Having caught those Rudd our peace was shattered by a large
number of German bombers Dornier’s Heinkel’s Junkers along with their Messerschmitt’s
fighters roaring over head on their way to blitz London. Very quickly the
Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Royal Air Force from the local airfields were
up and taking the fight to the bombers and their fighter escorts. Without
warning my Uncle Len said “Look a German bomber has been hit”, I sat there watching
it crash into the Thames Estuary. From
that memorable day I was an angler. Sadly a few weeks later Uncle Len perished
in the sands of North Africa fighting Rommel’s Afrika Korps
71 Years of Angling
June 16th 2013 will see me starting my 71 year of
angling, this time not at an old clay pit as I did on that first day, but on
the banks of a delightful gravel pit in the Cotswolds controlled by Ashton
Keynes AC where they still have a traditional close season. Phil Chun Gary Newman
of Angler’s Mail Dave White of Southport and I started off our season last year
2012 on this delightful water. The weather was terrible gale force wind and
heavy rain, in fact it was more like a monsoon, but we caught some nice tench
in the 6lb bracket, I even had a good six pounder as I was doing a live
interview on BBC Radio Lancashire. Without my small Spomb (pic 2) which I had
purchased the day before I doubt if I could have got the bait out to my swim so
strong was the wind.
This man can really catch fish
Phil Chun is without doubt a very good angler
as is his wife Nina, Phil’s knowledge of baits is amazing, and his fish
catching ability is legendary. I have
learnt a lot from Phil, I remember him joining me on one of the toughest still
waters in the country for big bream. On his first visit he broke the lake
record with a fish of 14lb 6 ounces. On his second visit he upped the record to
15lb 8 ounces. (Pic 3) On another occasion he was fishing a big windswept weedy
gravel pit. He had to cast his baited hook some 90 yards onto a small gravel
patch about the size of a large farm house kitchen table. It was some of the
most incredible fishing that I and my wife had witnessed. Phil had either 8 or
9 takes, hooking and landing everyone, apart from a couple of fish around the
18lb mark the others were twenty pounders. (Pic 4) On another occasion he
wanted to catch some barbel, I suggested how and where he should fish. That
evening he went and caught his first barbel including a couple of doubles. He
also won the British Army Carp Angling Championships 3 years running including
the team title. The best advice I can give is read Phil’s chapter in my book At
the Water’s Edge. Don’t read it once but several times and take notice of what
he writes. You will certainly improve your fishing if you take notice of what
Phil writes.
Midnight
Start
Back to this coming season starting June 16th, I
will travel to South Cerney on the Saturday 15th with Gavin Hurst a friend of
mine of from Wigan from the Longleat angling show meeting up with Phil Chun and
for a midnight start. I must admit I
only fish for about an hour before getting my head down. No doubt Phil will have baited a few swims for
several evenings to encourage the tench to move in.
My serious fishing will start just after dawn, hopefully the
swim will be a mass of bubbles both pin head and larger ones, not all bubbles
created by feeding tench are text book pin head size. If the weather is kind I
will start fishing a waggler float set up, a rod length out from the bank using either
corn, gentles, worms; Pallatrax rehydrated mussels, (pic 5) bread, or casters,
if I can afford the latter. I will also be feeding with hemp; it’s such a great
attractor as usual Phil will have something special for me to try.
My float set up will be a 15 foot rod; matched with a centre
pin holding some 50 yards of 6lb Gamma line, I have used this brand of line for
ten or more years. I was the first UK angler to fish Gamma, which I found
perfect for much of my coarse fishing, having said that I often use braid when
rolling baits for chub and barbel. I find it good for those finicky bites. Not
all barbel give a 3 foot twitch as many anglers believe. Most of my barbels
come from a slight pluck on sausage meat, Pallatrax paste, sometimes a boily or
bread crust, or a combination of bread crust and sausage meat or cheese paste
moulded around the crust, so I’m fishing balanced bait. I buy my braid from
Total Outdoors where the quality and price are right.
I’m
Fussy about My Hooks
Hooks are a debatable subject; I like a strong eyed hook. For
many years I used Allcock model perfect. I would search out the London tackle
shops during my lunch break, should I be lucky to find a supply of hooks I
would often by up all the stock for me and my friends, sadly these hooks disappeared.
I started using Richard Walker hooks from B James and Son; followed by Partridge
hooks from Redditch, I rated these very highly. When I visited the Redditch
works it was like going back to Dickensian times. Sadly the factory closed and
the hook making went too Malaysia. Another hook sadly no longer available is
the Au Lion D’Or. Today I’m using
Pallatrax barbless hooks, I can’t fault them. An important item I wouldn’t want
to be without is a good plummet, make it a heavy one. The best I have found is
in Wye Angling Crofts Court Ross on Wye. I often smear a layer of Vaseline on
the base of the plummet. Then you will get a good idea if you’re fishing over
small gravel or a mixture of sandy silt and grave as it will stick to the
Vaseline.
You Often Need to
Counter Balance - The Weight of the Hook
There are many times when tench can be very finicky
especially when feeding over a bed of small baits hemp, corn, caster and
gentles. I find it most important to counter balance the weight of the hook. If
I’m using casters I make sure that the casters on the hook are floaters, when
fishing corn I dump some grains onto a newspaper, then with a fine needle I
take out the inside of the corn, replacing it with a tiny polystyrene ball,
keeping these as hook baits. Fishing
gentles I often superglue a tiny sliver of rig foam on the shank of the hook. Some
anglers tell me it’s too much bother being this fiddly. I don’t think so, if it
improves my catch rate. It’s an education watching Phil Chun balance his baits
before casting out, his catches tell me it’s well worth the effort in getting
it right.
Get a Good Weed Rake
One item of equipment I wouldn’t want to be without is my
double sided rake, (pic 5) there have been so many times far too numerous to
remember when I’ve caught tench after raking a swim. As other anglers are failing. Lots of times
I’ve had tench move in the swim during the raking progress. You don’t even need
to bait up, just put a couple of red worms on the hook cast out and your likely
to get a bite. Raking a swim certainly attracts the fish in to your area.
Tench Like Boilies
One bait that really deserves attention is the boily, I’m
told a small sweet flavoured boily is
the one to use, I’m not sure. If the baits fresh and you don’t over load the
swim with too many freebies I reckon most flavours will work. I use sausage meat a lot; in fact I used this bait
in the early 1950’s on the advice of my granddad it certainly worked, it still
does today. Through Pallatrax we can now buy sausage sizzle flavoured bolies,
it’s a bait I will be using for my early season tench fishing with a PVA bag of broken sausage sizzle boiles with a
light spray of sausage sizzle. I have used sausage sizzle for some years, it’s
not new. It was in powder form when I first started using it, Lone Angler now
stock it in a spray bottle. Early season tench fishing can be very productive
but also very exasperating. You can see the fish in the swim but they want pick
up your hook bait, when this happens you must fine tune your set up. Hopefully
wherever you start the season it will be a good one.
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