Due to a succession of storms we havnt been able to do many trips this last week or so. Hopefully as these spring tides back off they will take the sprats with them and our spring fishing will get going. I’ve not got many pictures to show you but I have been getting plenty of fresh water fishing in lately in between trips, work and maintenance aboard the boat. My brother Lee and my self headed up to grafham and Rutland water a few weeks ago. We were joined by different people each time as Dad, Stephen Charles and Martin jumped aboard for a day out. We were targeting predators such as pike, perch and zander each time. With such large bodies of water in front of us we had a lot to learn each time. I had rigged up a fish finder to clamp on to the boat this time which did help us with an idea of depths and features. Our first trip was to grafham and we drew a blank on a damp and dreary day. we had 1 bite and one follow to the boat though I couldn’t get a positive identification of the fish.
Our next trip we headed to grafham with lovely weather and hoping to build on the knowledge we gained last time. When we arrived the car park was very busy and before we even neared the end of the que into the fishing lodge (which had been out of the door!) we heard that the boats were all booked out and we weren’t allowed to predator fish from the shore. We packed all of our stuff back in the truck and headed to Rutland while trying to call the lodge there to check availability of boats. Luckily they had several available and we eventually got fishing there in stead. It was nice to see a different water and Rutland is quite pretty too. However we were back to square one with no knowledge of the water at all. We had a motor off to explore a little and worked our way around the water. We found some nice features and fishing our second mark Lees float went under. We were on the drift and it seemed as though his bait had snagged the bottom as there was no real life on the end of his line. however as it got closer to the boat we could see his line was being pulled off to one side of the boat and then back to other way. He had hooked something but it didn’t realise what was happening. It was very obliging though and swam neatly between the other lines while some ill prepared anglers franticly tried to move them out of the way and ready the net. The fish came up through the clear water and as it neared the surface we got a glimpse of each other. it clearly didn’t like what it saw and took a dive back down again showing its first signs of fighting back. With that it opened its mouth and spat the bait out. It hadn’t even been hooked! Lee swears it was a big zander but in truth we didn’t get a good enough view of it as we were looking back into the reflection of the sun. we tried a couple of other marks after this as we explored this new water. It was my turn for action next. I had a fish follow my bat to the boat and turn away on the surface as we ended one drift and a bite as soon as I put my bait down on the next drift. I never connected with either unfortunately. We carried on fishing and exploring until the eleventh hour when I had given up fishing and taken to trying to position the boat as well as possible in what seemed like a raging gale. I was struggling to row against the wind and instead we seemed to be on a loosely controlled drift. We had seen good signs of fish here though and with minutes to spare lee hooked one. I called Stephen for the net and he looked at me in disbelief! I think he had fallen asleep with his eyes open to be honest. the fish was soon in the net and turned out to be a greedy trout which had taken his lure. Not what we were after but it saved a blank.
We headed back a week or two later with nice weather forecast and renewed enthusiasm. This time Martin joined us too. It was glorious as we steamed across a perfectly still reservoir in the morning sun. to be honest things were a lot slower for us this time. That still morning had turned into a half a gale of wind buy the end of the first drift and several drifts and marks later we had seen no signs of life. Once again it was last knockings before we had any action. Martins float went under, then it popped back up and went under again. He laft it a good while and mine went under too. It seemed we had found a shoal of fish. as martin went to strike his fish his float popped back up but thankfully mine stayed attached. It did next to sod all on the way in and even less once we had netted it but I had caught my first zander! It was a rather modest sized one but if they all fight like that then I wouldn’t rush to catch another. It was something different and a fish I have been after a few times with no success so I shouldn’t complain. We headed in after this to get another rollicking for being late again.
Please take note, I have listed below my weekend availability until the end of June. As you can see weekend Dates are limited after February as things are getting booked up very well in advance. If you would like a weekend booking or a specific date/tide then please get in touch and book as soon as possible or it may be gone. Quite a few mid-week dates have already gone too to please don’t delay.
I do have availability mid-week if you fancy a trip out. Please contact me on 07956411528 to discuss availability.
NEXT SPACES
Not all dates are advertised, I have some midweek availability please contact me to discuss midweek dates.
05/03/22-3 spaces @ £70pp (max 6) or 7 spaces @ £60pp max 10
18/03/22- (Friday) 4 spaces @ £60pp
19/03/22- 6 spaces @ £60pp
10/04-22-4 spaces @ £100pp offshore trip max 6 anglers
16/04/22-5 spaces @ £60pp
18/04/22- 9 spaces @ £60pp
01/05/22-2 spaces @ £70pp max 6 anglers
20/05/22-5 spaces @ £60pp
22/05/22-(Friday) 5 spaces @ £100pp offshore trip max 6 anglers
18/06-22-3 spaces @ £100pp offshore trip max 6 anglers
19/06/22-6 spaces @ £100pp offshore trip max 6 anglers
26/06/22-4 spaces @ £70pp max 6 anglers
Please call me for more information on 07956411528
Dad (Stuart) has availability on the ‘Razorbill 3’ please call him on 07850234077
