Last summer I stood in the Usk valley with the one I love and watched a sight…electric x
To the one I love…
10 Tuesday Jan 2012
Author Archives: The tuesday swim
Venturing out for pike in January !
04 Wednesday Jan 2012
Posted in Pike
Tags
bung, by, canal, caught, esox, fishing, gimp, hertford, nature, On, park, pike, regents, river, victoria, winter, wire
It’s the start of January, work is back on the agenda, rain is lashing sideways on my window, even a kestrel has landed on my window sill to shelter from the driving rain and lost opportunities in search of pike over Christmas play on my mind.
Only now the unemployed, unemployable, retired or just plain fortunate can benefit from a short mid-week session in search of Esox. At weekends with limited time the challenge is to leave the comfort of your own home or the lure of the local for a pint of brown and an open fire. January is a fine month for short sessions in the pub, while others take themselves jogging around the park, detoxing and stretching muscles they thought they never had, the January pub is a quiet place for the guiltless few to be enjoyed before the joggers return in a month or two…dissapointed, as predictable as the returning swifts!
But a far more rewarding day can be had venturing out for pike! Armed with gimp wire, a small bag of basics, a few sprats and some plugs, one can be lost in a darkened grey scene with only the orange or yellow of a bung to focus on. So my next excursion will be on the Regents Canal where my friends narrow boat is moored for the winter months. It’s a spot that holds pike, only a few months ago I watched a young eastern european lad (wearing a jaunty placed grey/silver Trilby) spin for pike and although not connecting with one, managed to lure two away from their lair, only at the last-minute the pike veered off, maybe the pike saw that silvery hat!
So without Trilby I shall be on the Regents and The Hertford Union Canal around Victoria Park in E3 in the month of January and February in search of Esox with the added bonus of a wood burner and hot tea to make the experience a little more comfortable.
For those who don’t make it out this winter for pike may instead want to read ‘On Nature’ the second compilation by the Caught by the River crowd. Part of that crowd is John Andrews who has written (with a lot more skill than I can ever hope to) a piece titled ‘Winter Pike Fishing’, this short, sums up the pike and the pike angler perfectly for me. Other writers include Chris Yates, Dexter Petley, Luke Jennings, Bill Drummond and Charles Rangeley-Wilson.
Just as I write this an email has come in from John Andrews also supporting the January social scene with a gathering at The Stag in Hampstead on the 24th January with the first Caught by the River event of 2012. See you there?
Fishing tackle boxes part four – The Marco & Efgeeco bait box!
23 Friday Dec 2011
Posted in Tackle
Not strictly a tackle box but it is included under the ‘fisherman’s tackle kit’ banner and what a beauty! I don’t want to get weepy over a plastic container that is intended to store gentles or worms but this Marco version is the only one I have ever seen. I grew up using (as did millions of anglers from the 60’s and 70’s) the Efgeeco bright green and cream version but this one is a rare breed.
Just to top off the bait box rare breed piece today at the tuesday swim we also have the dark olive green Efgeeco bait box. Some rare nostalgia to place your gentles in…
Forecast! Snowflake by Kate Bush
13 Tuesday Dec 2011
Posted in Music
Tags
The pocket fisherman!
12 Monday Dec 2011
Posted in Tackle
Tags
advert, commercial, fisherman, k-tel, pocket, ronco, tackle, television, tv
Struggling to find that special person in your life a gift at Christmas? Let The Tuesday Swim assist you…
Fishing tackle boxes part three – The spring clip fly box by Malloch’s.
07 Wednesday Dec 2011
Posted in Tackle
With the trout season now put to bed for the winter your fly boxes should be cleared out, properly dried and stored away from moths for the next few months. Here we have a natty little Malloch’s fly box suitable for a selection of small dry flies or nymphs.
The spring clip fly box can be a fiddle to use compared to modern foam versions but on special occasions when a small fly box is required that fits into your shirt pocket, this is ideal when stealing a quick hour or two on a small stream in the summer months. Measuring just 2 1/4 x 3 1/2 inches this little fly box is perfect! A small box, for small flies, for delicate presentation.
Calling Worthing 6120 is that the Sussex Piscatorial Society?
30 Wednesday Nov 2011
Posted in General fishing
Tags
1961, angling, carp, club, fishing, leney, membership, piscatorial, piscators, society, sussex, the
Recently I was given a 1961 Sussex Piscatorial Society membership rule book and a list of their waters. I grew up in Mid Sussex and still fish there when I get the chance to escape London, so this was of great interest to me.
The Sussex Piscatorial Society has always been quite a secretive clan for which I cannot blame them for, as they do have some stunning waters, keeping the waters hush-hush makes good sense. I know if I fished there its how I would like it.
One water that no longer belongs to Sussex Piscatorials but features in the 1961 handbook is one that I now fish in the heart of the Sussex countryside. My fishing is really only spent on places like this now, commercials or ‘tidied’ up lakes and rivers have no appeal, the lost, the overgrown and un-touched is where I want to fish. I’ve spent a few years now fishing this lake and while spending many hours waiting for a bite I think back at the anglers that have sat by the waterside and gaze in wonder of the fish that have resided and indeed still exist in this pool. The lake has a head of old Leney carp but no one knows really how many and how big they go. Its a hard place to net as there is an extensive bed of lily roots, so the lake remains a bit of an unknown.
From the description of the 1961 list of waters it talks of ‘my’ lake as if it was written yesterday, I’m sure the landowners names may have changed but the description of the lake, the farm track, boat house and where you can park a car, is just as it is now, fifty years on. Knowing that some waters stay unchanged is a comforting thought, my only surprise on each return is how the seasons have marked its stamp on the surrounding landscape.
Traditional tackle shops – Wadsworth & Son of Leicester.
11 Friday Nov 2011
Posted in Tackle
Always in search of fishing tackle shops of the past I present local angling legends Tommy and Tony Wadsworth (Tony is now a local radio show host) of Wasdworth & Son of Leicester. ‘Let Tony fix ‘u’ up’ alas no longer possible.
Also I have a short film from 1968 sadly with no sound..
Fishing tackle boxes part two – The cigar box!
10 Thursday Nov 2011
Posted in Tackle
Back in the days when Stewart and Efgeeco weren’t producing plastic injected tackle boxes, a visit to see grandad could result in a cigar box perfect for fishing tackle items. In my case, some pike tackle.
For those observant types the hypodermic needles are for injecting oils into dead-baits not a nasty habit picked up in the east-end of London!
Twenty five pound plus pike?
07 Monday Nov 2011
Posted in Pike
Tags
66, 700, abu, buller, bung, cardinal, chapman, conversion, dennis, fishing, fred, inches, pike, pye, rod, sussex, table, weight
The Tuesday swim finally got the pike season off to a good start with a short session down in Sussex before some ‘proper’ Guy Fawkes celebrations in Lindfield. The lake I fish is a 300 year old mill-pond with a small head of frustratingly hard carp to catch, large tench, perch, rudd and some rather big pike.
Driving down from London I kept my tackle to a bare minimum, fishing just one rod a Chapmans, Dennis Pye 700, Cardinal 66, pike bung and some oil injected sprats (two handfuls for a pound in Roman Road market). As my kit was to the bare minimum my scales were a small set of Salter spring balances that measure up to 20 lbs but I’ll come to that later!
Arriving in Sussex the weather was warm for November but felt like a typical Guy Fawkes night, over cast, some light mist and a smell of bonfires in the air. The lake has a few regulars taking advantage of the warm autumn weather and trying for a final carp of the season. The lake was moody, grey but dappled with orange from the freshly fallen leaves. Casting out the yellow pike bung next to a bed of thinning lily pads, the float settled nicely drifting close to the pads, an ideal spot for an awaiting pike. After an hour and a few re-casts my float dipped a few times and then moved slowly against the wind, waiting for a more positive take the float then sat idle, another five minutes passed so I wound in to find no bait. I thought at least something was stirring beneath the slate grey water.
After a few casts elsewhere I returned to the same spot and thought this time I shall strike a little earlier if the same thing happened… thankfully it did! Again the float bobbed a couple of times (only pike bungs have this distinctive bobbing action due to its bulky body) and then moved away, this time I struck. At first there was some resistance but only slight, then an instant heavy surge resulting in a white form as the belly of a large pike took to tail walking about thirty feet out. After this the pike made a few lunging runs off to both sides of the swim trying to take me into some fallen trees close in, but after applying considerable side strain on the Chapmans rod the pike started to tire. As I retrieved the landing net another powerful surge resulted in the flaring of gills and some more aerial acrobatics but slowly I gained full control and eventually netted the monster.
After un-hooking the pike I got the scales out and watched as the spring balanced bottomed out at 20 lbs with a thud!
Looking at the photo now, my un-hooking matt measures exactly 36 inches, adding another 5 inches for the tail I estimate it to be 41 inches long, so looking at Fred Bullers pike conversion table which is only a rough guide this pike could have a mean weight of around 25 lb? The pike was quite solid in build so who knows what weight it actually was, either way I was very pleased.
The 20lb balances have now been shelved for such trips and my larger 44 lb version are now in the tackle bag!
Update: It turns out that while sorting out the tackle bag two days later I have left the said item, the 20lb scales on the bank, so this mistake shall never be repeated!
Update II: Said item found by fellow angler!
the tuesday swim... 