• About The Tuesday Swim

the tuesday swim…

the tuesday swim…

Category Archives: The Lea Valley

A London mullet.

17 Monday Jul 2017

Posted by The tuesday swim in General, General fishing, The Lea Valley

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

angling, fishing, lea, mullet, photography, river

Don’t worry fashionistas of Hackney Wick and Dalston, the eighties mullet has yet to return, (for now) you may stick to your acid tones and cool electro beats but only the brave will dress the mullet once more.

My mullet were lurking in the tidal stretch of the Lea by the sanctuary of two discarded water tanks not found on a whim  but more likely a regular journey, summer after summer, sifting through the silt for a easy feed? Notably hard to catch, these stubborn thick lipped variety were positively zip lipped when it came to my free offerings. Do I have the patience to try and fool one of these or shall I stick to the carp? I’m unsure but to witness these mullet as I have done now for the last few days has been a privilege.

The moon & the sledgehammer

27 Tuesday Jun 2017

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp, The Lea Valley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

55, cardinal, carp, carping, dexter, fishing, glass, Hardy, iv, lea, mark, moon, old, petley, phases, river, rod, school, skool

Last summer  I spent the day with author and angler, Dexter Petley, searching out river Lea carp. After many emails sent back and forth from his base camp in Normandy, Dexter finally made it to London while promoting his new book – Love, Madness, Fishing after a thirty year absence. It turned out to be a memorable day (Dexter writes about it in Fallons Angler issue 9) success came in the shape of a large Lea common. I was happy that it was Dexter that caught the near twenty, he only had one chance while I could return anytime, I felt it was the only outcome. What stood out  that day was Dexter’s boyish excitement and confidence in catching a carp, gifted by the fact we had a new moon, perhaps his whispy grey hair and talk of moon phases  captured me, spellbound in some form of carp wizardry? It was a great day, the new moon cast its spell and I became a moon child.

Almost one year on and the river season has commenced, I have been keeping a close eye on the river but the carp have disappeared, perhaps the dry spring sent the carp to deeper more oxygenated waters? On opening day I met with friends Garrett and Tony for a traditional 16th and despite many bream feeding on our groundbait our carp baits only spooked the twitchy bream, the carp were merely ghosts.

So last Saturday we entered a new lunar phase, I woke feeling half-hearted about getting up but the celestial pull took me to the river at a respectable 8.00 am, if the carp were enchanted then hopefully they were still under a spell. I arrived at a usual spot and looked into the river, below were three large carp, boisterous in their swagger as they pushed their way around the swim searching for food, it was the first carp I had seen in a while, their tails in the air, the moon had switched them on, they danced on moonbeams. River carping is not easy but sometimes it all drops into place, it did last year with Dexter and today it looked hopeful. I lowered a bait just one foot from the bank, I felt the line and watched the rod tip, thirty seconds passed and then wham, like a sledgehammer hitting the rod, the tip pulled down as the carp headed downstream, for five knee trembling minutes I fought the carp and finally landed a common, probably just under the twenty pound mark, just like Dexter’s common from last year. The wizardry of carp fishing strikes again!

Love, life and the Lea – a film

20 Thursday Apr 2017

Posted by The tuesday swim in Fallon's Angler quarterly, Photography and video, The Lea Valley

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

fishing, lea, london, river

A short film about specimen angler Bob Hornegold who has spent a lifetime fishing the Lea system, a river close to me, a complicated river that has been changed by man for thousands of years. Today the river still shines with some remarkable fishing available just fifteen miles from central London.

Boy’s Own summer adventure.

15 Friday Aug 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in General, The Lea Valley

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

blackweir, canoe, canoeing, carp, crucian, epping, forest, lea, lost, pond, river

After a few weeks away in both the French and English Riviera I find myself back in London with a twelve-year-old to keep entertained for a few days after the devastating news that his laptop has fallen foul of a hardware failure. Next week I have a two-week stretch looking after my two-year old daughter, a much more daunting task,  this week I thought a digital free two days with my stepson could manifest itself as a mini boy’s own adventure.

Day One:

In my basement along with a collection of fishing tackle, pots of paint and various tools is a canoe suspended from the rafters that has for the last two years hung dormant, today seemed the right day  to get her out (I think one speaks of a boat in a female context?) and take her down the River Lea. This particular canoe has taken me into the drink on a few occasions, she seems to sense a nervous pilot just like a horse. The canoe twitches from side to side until the rower relaxes or the nervousness results in a dunking! Once settled though,  a serene calm takes over and the river is experienced from a completely new perspective. To sit low down in the water is really quite interesting for an angler who normally spends so much time looking at the river as it passes by, in a canoe you become an integral part of the rivers ebb and flow. The Lea was looking splendid though, the water was clear and fairly high for the height of summer, the banks over-grown and looking quite wild. Not much fishing goes on here, well perhaps a little bit?

By lunchtime the clouds were gathering and a darkness came over the river that suggested it was time to set off for home.

IMG_2590

Once home I thought it was time to put on a ‘proper’ film!

Screen shot 2014-08-15 at 15.33.56

Day two:

For our second day we were to go in search of The Lost Pond in Epping Forest, travel light and catch ourselves a mid-summer crucian. The Lost Pond or Blackweir as it is also know is set in the forest away from any road which involves a short walk, this I like, it keeps the lazy anglers away. After passing by Baldwins pond and walking through ancient woodland which was just starting to turn to gold, The Lost Pond appears in a small clearing, surrounded mainly in reeds broken by six gravel banked swims.

IMG_2591

IMG_2588

IMG_2587

With us both fishing, our first three casts resulted in three tiny golden crucians and then nothing, not a nibble! We only stayed for about an hour and a half, trying every swim but nothing would bite, one or two missed chances but not a fish, very strange. Then on my last cast a slight movement to the float resulted in what looked like a rudd/crucian hybrid, in its imperfections it was a perfect end to a two-day, non-digital, 3D adventure.

IMG_2589

August on the Lea.

06 Wednesday Aug 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

august, bird, hackney, kestrel, lea, lower, marshes, prey, restocking, river

Of all of the months in the year, August is probably my least favourite month to fish. By August the rivers are low and I’m in a perpetual state of apathy, my mind is wandering towards September and October. With summer stalking for carp pretty much over (even the carp seem to get lazy in August?) I spend more time just watching. Yesterday the Old River Lea in Hackney looked at its finest with gin clear water running through the sun dappled trees and above I could hear a bird of prey, most likely a kestrel.

It makes me wonder that a small silver fish stocking programme would really make this river complete again and encourage the Lea fishermen of old back to some familiar haunts and show their grandchildren how to fish. With next to no tidal variation on this stretch, platforms could be built on the harder to reach swims while low banked runs like the stretch below would be the perfect place to nurture a new passion for angling. With the nearby Middlesex Filter Beds now flooded, this whole area is really becoming an interesting area for conservation and the natural world.

IMG_2472 IMG_2470 IMG_2469

The Lea takes on the Tour de France.

07 Monday Jul 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in General, The Lea Valley

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

bridge, de, east, france, lea, london, river, road, tour

TDF 4 72dpiToday my ride to work took a slight deviation so I could experience a two to three mile section of the Tour de France, that will take place later on this afternoon. Starting from Cambridge and eventually coming down the Lea Bridge Road, the machine that is the Tour de France will cross the Old River Lea, enter the Queen Elizabeth Park and end up on The Mall.

A breakaway group of three large carp were spotted under the A102 road bridge at around 9.20am but so far no riders…

TDF 1 72dpiAnd then they were gone.

In search of darkness.

25 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp, The Lea Valley

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

carp, Centrepin, lea, old, river, speedia

A river on a summers evening is a magical place, and tonight I was on the Lea in search of a lone dark one. By the time I had hooked a carp it was almost nightfall and when I managed to finally scoop the carp into a fully extended landing net, darkness was all around me. My swim (one of the secret swims) was so small that no space was free to take any decent photos as I disentangled the rod, the net, the line and the hook from one another.  The carp was a lovely dark old fish of around fifteen pounds that was quickly released back into the inky blackness.

IMG_2354

A secret Lea fisher & the hidden swims.

18 Wednesday Jun 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

carp, east, fishing, lea, london, river

Each year around this time, the 16th June to be precise I get the urge to buy a machete and cross the Hackney plains and down onto the River Lea to clear a few swims from the giant hogweed and stingers. After much deliberation I fear that this plan could result in my body being riddled with holes from the rozzer, the machete plan is put aside for yet another year.

Thankfully this plan is never put into action as another fisher of the Lea cuts out three or four swims in a very discrete manner along a run I like to fish. From the path no one would know you are there, a passer-by would not notice these clearings or the small space created for someone to stand and cast a line. I am also impressed that I have never seen anyone fishing these swims which makes me think I have either a guardian angel watching over me (Izaak?) or more likely this fisher is a night stalker. One of my first ever posts on The Tuesday Swim was called Night Stalker on the Lea Navigation, about a young carp fisher I came across one night on the Lea Navigation, perhaps it is he? Thinking it could be the later, its good to know that someone out there shares the same desires to fish the harder places.

IMG_0024

A Clapton pond carp.

16 Monday Jun 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in Carp, The Lea Valley

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

carp, clapton, london, lower, pond

As the season begins on many waters the carp are still spawning. In Lower Clapton pond there is a lone carp that has no mate to perform with, instead it drifts amongst a umber world of oil painted brush strokes.

IMG_2260 IMG_2259 IMG_2262

The Lea Navigation is waking up.

09 Friday May 2014

Posted by The tuesday swim in The Lea Valley

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

bream, carp, lea, lee, navigation, spring

After many months I spotted my first carp on the Lea Navigation just a few days back, a single common carp of around twenty pounds. I watched it for a few minutes casually cruising along side the canals near bank.

Yesterday I saw a huge shoal of bream in the same place all around the five pound mark cavorting amongst one another, dancing a spring time jig. How these huge flocks of bream keep themselves so well hidden throughout the year is a ghostly trick, but I must have seen at least fifty or so preparing to spawn.

For now my sights are on the Sussex tench but this weekend is far too windy for my first proper expedition, hopefully the weekend after will be a little more inviting. Yes, after my last post The Syndicate my renewal came through that very same afternoon, so I have promised myself not to just dream but to actually go and fish this great old millpond.

In the meantime I shall meet with friends and talk of fishing instead…

Fishing & Flying poacher

← Older posts

Read about

  • Barbel
  • Carp
  • Fallon's Angler quarterly
  • General
  • General fishing
  • Music
  • Photography and video
  • Pike
  • Product reviews
  • Reading
  • Tackle
  • The Lea Valley

Instagram

Filming with conceptual artist #diegofortunato at Christies today #sayyesspray #canonc100markii
Come wind and rain, Fallons Angler will bring you angling films with a difference, coming soon with issue 15 fishing in adverse weather conditions #fallonsangler #thesecretestatelake
After keeping our sturgeon film under wraps last year I forgot about this one I caught which didn’t make the edit #sturgeon #britishcolumbia #fraserriver
Winter, possibly the best season for walking? #winterwalk #winterwalking
Pet cemetery #petcemetery
South Downs this afternoon #ditchlingbeacon #southdownsnationalpark #winterwalk
Walking, writing and filming tomorrow on an ultralight rig #sonya5000 #canonef #smallrig #moleskine #lowealpine #klettersack #southdownsnationalpark #sussexdownsman
For almost 30 years I have had the cold comfort of my SLR or DSLR pushed up against my face, intimate moments observed straight through the lens, today, like most things, the world will be only viewed electronically #runandgun #canonc100mark2 #sonya5000 #loweprobags #pakparka
#victorianwaterworks #ironbridge
Arrhhh, taxes done, now for a walk.
After shooting on DSLR’s for the last two years I’ve finally switched to a dedicated video camera, boy this offers so many more functions. Currently storyboarding a really interesting story I uncovered over the last year, another road trip beckons. #canonc100mark2 #independentfilmmaker #canonfd50mm
Tomorrow the streets will be gifted with a little more light #solstice #pagancelebration
I don’t want anything for Christmas except possibly this pocket sized #henrymoore
Back in May Fallon’s Angler set off to #vancouver in search of the #sturgeon not Nicola, the fish! Here’s our adventure caught on film. https://youtu.be/kStwyvOKkbk
Xmas drink with a new copy of #fallonsangler at #Spitalfields perfect #anglingmagazine

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel