Saturday 30 June 2012

Slugging It Out On The Loddon




The opening of the river season unfortuntaely didn't go quite as I had planned, the family car being stolen from our drive five days prior to the start of the river season, a few days prior another house in the road had their car stolen in daylight and to top this all off, a few days later a stolen jcb digger ram raided the cash machine at the local BP petrol station just round the corner from me. Never a dull moment in Berkshire.. Ram raid three mile cross


No thanks to the legalised crime that is car insurance, a car was eventually sorted out and I was off down the Loddon, armed with the new baits in hope of a Barbus. On arrival the river looked simply stunning and was looking in very fine fettle, dragonflies darting about before perching on stinging nettles as tall as me, although being as short and rotund as I am that really does not take much.


It was a reasonable day, sunny and mild with a blustery south westerly taking the edge off. I decided to place one rod out on the home made boilie recipe, which I have aptly named " red anchovy", due to the inclusion of anchovy and robin red as part of the ingredients. The other rod was placed out on a 12mm hinders crab and krill pellet, both rods to marginal features inbetween the jungle of streamer weeds. My first inquisitive bite was a rap tap affair on the pellet rod, which fell silent for a time, I pondered a while and began to change lens on my camera.




This is always the best possible way to promote a bite and I swear the fish know you can't possibly make it to strike the rod in time, sure enough with camera in one hand and lens in the other, the fish took this as the cue to wrap the rod round, camera placed down as fast as I possibly could, I was soon met by a thud followed by that weightless empty feeling of a fish that had now departed rod and line. Although left feeling a tad empty I was not disheartened, as I find a bite so early on can be a good sign on this river. The crayfish were proving a pain in the derrière as I found out during late afternoon when  two were reeled in on the boilie, both armed with claws the size of small lobsters. The afternoon past quietly and any activity that I previously had was duly killed by a cormorant that appeared right in front of me and commenced its underwater foray, a look of loathing was firmly etched on my face. The mosquitoes were proving to have an insatiable appetite as well, despite making sure to have eaten a good helping of garlic a few days prior, this did nothing to keep them at bay, an armada of dive bombers repeatedly tried to invade and bite me, succeeding no less than 25 times and I'm itching like mad as I write this.


As the portal between daylight and sunset was nearing, I decided to switch to the other freezer boilies I had made, these are the base mix from essential baits, known as the black snail, a lovely subtle meaty, snail aroma, but not overpowering.  

Night time ensconced angler and river as they became one and the barn owls began their calls in earnest, they are one bird I would dearly love to manage a good quality photograph of, but as of yet have not been lucky enough to. As the night grew long my boilie rod gave only the faintest indication,twitching once before nearly launching itself from the rod rest. I was into a solid and powerful fish, my rod arched over as the fish made regular runs into mid-water, the reels drag ticking away steadily as I allowed it to run. After a few more powerful surges the fish was sat resting in the net, the golden flank giving its identity away, the first barbus of the new season. A healthy looking  fish of 11.6.


I was very happy to have my first barbel of the new season under my belt, after a giving her a good amount of time to recuperate, she powered off back to her watery home. On picking up the bag of bait to trickle some more into the swim I was greeted by that soft, slimy, wet feeling of a slug, which actually turned out to be numerous slugs of various shapes and sizes, I don't recollect ever seeing so many of them, their silver trails covering my bait bags, rucksack and flask, from the miniscule in size to the giant, there was lots of them and they were literally everywhere, the first thought that popped into my head was "mmm perfect chub baits". 


The time was getting on for 4am and I had sluggishly (oh dear) packed one rod up, leaving only the boilie rod out, as I was sat back listening to the birds awaken, giving a wonderful early chorus a bolting take occurred and the rod was bent downward, line being taken downstream. The resistance  and power from this fish felt great as it made numerous attempts to get its head down into the cabbage patch further downstream, the line pinging in and out of the streamer weed beds, after a lively fight a feisty Barbel of 8.5 was sat glistening in the net.




This was the last fish of a very enjoyable trip and as I made my way home, thoughts of the Loddon and its other inhabitants swirled back and forth in my mind, the voice of the Thames was also calling to me, contented but undecided where my line will be wetted on my next trip, but happy to have such a choice.

21 comments:

  1. Great blog mark but I think you left out the cheeky mozzi that bit you upon ye sack lol, call me next time you hit the Thames as I will defo join you insearch of the next record ;-)

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    1. Hello David,

      ah yes haha, trust me a ball sack bite is not nice at all, the way it swelled up made me think I might have evolved into having three testicles lol! I will be sure to call you don't worry fella and I hope you're getting amongst those Thames Barbel soon too mate.

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  2. Hi Mark
    Sorry to hear about the theft of your vehicle, im glad you got something sorted and you more than deserved that 11lber. Well done

    Darren

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    1. Thanks Darren,

      it has gone some way to rectifying the sad feeling of losing what was a nice car.

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  3. Fantastic Mark.

    Troubles come in threes, so they say, and two cars and cashpoint is three in my book :) - so onward and upward!

    What a great way to start the season. I've tried the black snail myself on occasion but to no avail. I think I ought to try a night session at some time as it seems the great majority of your barbel are caught in the dark hours.

    I did get a brief morning session on my little stream a couple of weeks ago sticking rigidly to this season's plan of trad baits + centrepin. I had three chub (one on worm, one on bread and one on a big black slug that had crawled up beside me in the swim - black slugs are the pinnacle bait for chub in my experience. Ironically, the chub that gave me the most pleasure was a 12oz chublet (the slug taker)- it's so nice to see that some youngsters are coming through in the face of so many predatorial dangers.

    Anyway, keep the blog going Mark. Great to hear from you again.
    Russ

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    1. Cheers Russ,

      a great shame losing it though, an old red MK1 VW Caddy, great with lots of room for fishing gear. That's the way it goes I guess, I can remember back to the days where I would leave my bike outside, safe in the knowledge it would still be there the next day.

      I have caught with regularity on both the black snail and the shellfish B5 mix. Good reliable base mixes.

      You're right the Loddon does generally feed better at night, although a fair few fish do get caught during daylight, I would generally say evening till early morning are peak times for activity.

      Sounds like a very nice trip you had and fair play with sticking to using the traditional baits, black slugs really are a superb Chub bait, I remember an article in a now defunct specialist angling magazine, where a chap had some real good success targeting Chub on a home made lure made to look like a big black slug.

      I have to say I agree with you, I have seen a fair few small fish and I am generally suprised that they manage to come through given how many predators are about.

      Cheers again mate.

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  4. Shame about your motor Mark but at least the you had a great result fishingwise. Some nice fish there.

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    1. Leo,

      it will be sorely missed, they don't make Caddys like those these days. It was a nice trip and very enjoyable, going some way to help ease the strain of losing a much loved vehicle.

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  5. Ahh the countryside where anglers can mix with the wonderful British wildlife of cormorants, slugs, crayfish and mozzies.............

    Great blog mate I really enjoyed reading about your trials and tribulations. Slugs are the nuts (3 in your case) when it comes to chub, I once had one by dapping a slug on the surface! and this year there seems to be a surfeit of the slimy little monsters.

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  6. Thanks Dave,

    Don't get me started on about the mozzies, my brother rarely gets bitten and same for my dad, he used to many years ago, yet since developing diabetes they seem to leave him well alone oddly.

    Must be the extra damp summer causing the increase in slugs Dave, least thats the conclusion I have come up with, either way there sure is a plentiful supply of Chub bait about right now.

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  7. Hello Mark,
    Thanks for the comments you have left on my blog, I have been watching your blog and maybe glancing in every now and then, Sorry to hear about your bad luck with the car, But believe me the insurers will see to it that you pay for the whole eppisode, I hate them for that as they hit you hardest when your luck is down, Hope everything is sorted quickly,
    Thas a great brace of barble you had and some good weights to,
    But i just loved the picture of the Blue Dragon Fly on the nettle leaf, Just perfect,
    Keep up the good work my friend,
    ,,,Paddy,,,

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    1. You're welcome Paddy,

      I was really glad to see you had got out for a Piking trip as I know how passionate and how much it means to you.

      100% correct regarding insurers, they have been nothing but hell to deal with, wanting receipts for aany of the contents lost and then also trying to plain out refuse to pay out for the vehicle loss itself. Bloody nightmare mate.

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  8. Cracking fish Mark, every picture I see of that river makes it look so appealing

    As for those thieving barstools I hope their fingers rot

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    1. Thanks Rob, the Loddon is a beauty, intimate gorgeous and jam packed with features, it was the first river my dad took me fishing on as a nipper and holds a lot of memories of good times.

      The thieves, yes I wish the same on them mate,perhaps worse...

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  9. Mark, Thank you for creating a nice blog. Thanks again for including the fishing topics in the Blog.Since I am a fishing, Carp fishing lover. I feel very glad to see such a post on the blog.Fishing brings me very closer to the nature and natural species. Since my childhood, i enjoy Carp fishing in my village.Still now, i am haapy when I can do Carp fishing. Thanks aagain for such a post.

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    1. Thank you,

      glad you enjoyed it Carp buddy.

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  10. Hi Mark,

    Another great read. Damn those slugs are big at the moment. Every time I get in the car after a trip I have that tell tale slug trail left all over the interior and no not just the back seat people!

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    1. Why thank you Nathan,

      I know! I found no less than five of the blighters inside the rucksack when I got home, slime all over the place and a certain mother none too happy at the new guests that I had brought in. An interesting read here about the possibility that our native slug is under threat from a Spanish interloper.

      http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18672728

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  11. Hi Mark,
    Just checking in.

    Sorry to hear about the motor being pinched.

    Come the revolution, I'd put all car thieves and insurance companies up against the wall and shoot the lot of them. Might as well add politicians, while we at it.

    Anyway, good luck old sausage!

    Regards
    Alan

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    1. Hello Alan,

      I couldn't agree more fella, I would give them all some nice concrete boots. Hope you're alright mate and keeping well.

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  12. Hi Mark,

    Sorry to hear about the motor being pinched.

    Mark, Thank you for sharing a nice blog. It’s really nice to read fishing topics. I also love fishing and looking to get out on the water and have some fun in the Myrtle Beach fishing. Keep the blog going Mark.

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