Lee Swords Fishing

October fishing blog

Fail to prepare…Prepare to fail

 

Fishing is a strange pastime in that a great deal of success can be achieved over a very short period of time but also conversely a great deal of time can pass without any success whatsoever, I currently feel as though I have slipped into this second phase…

And it is all my own fault.

There is an old saying that states “The angler that fails to prepare should prepare to fail” and it is absolutely 100% true. Now in my defence it isn’t as though I am failing to prepare, it is more a combination of burn-out and lack of time as the gears in my professional life have “slipped”.

The casino where I work has recently spent £2m on upgrades and so the workload has increased and the pressure to increase turn-over has shot through the roof therefore I need to be on the ball or “heads will roll” and that head will be mine…Now I know that my head isn’t all that attractive anymore, in fact it is beginning to look a little careworn and threadbare but it is the only one I have so I would like it to stay where it is for the time being.

Yup, facing the chop type of pressure tends to refocus the mind away from a person’s hobbies and recreational pastimes but as another old saying goes “all work and no play make Lee a dull boy!”

( This is not actually truthful, all work and no play makes Lee a psychotic bastard with a tendency towards explosive expressions of frustration that manifest in all manner of ways from acerbic letters to the Sheffield Star berating everything and everyone that he feels has slighted him to outbursts on social media that occasions his family to periodically disown him )

And so I took last weekend off work to try and get some fishing done and drag myself kicking and screaming back into the happy zone of successful fishing…I failed miserably!

The Trent looked awful, very low and holding what I call a “sickly colour” to it and the bites were very few and far between, even with the cutest of rigs to fool even the most lethargic of beasts all i could must was a single chub and barbel…The river needs rain and it needs it fast!

Alderfen-tastic

After the disappointment of a stale Trent session that did not go at all to plan it was decided that my dad and me would make the most of the Indian summer and spend the day at Alderfen fishery at Wroot. I like Alderfen. Its a cross-over venue in that it has all the accessibility and some of the stock levels ( Match Lake) of a commercial fishery but it also has something for the specialist angler that just wants something a little bit different, be that different species or difference in gear and how it is approached.

Like I have already said, the Trent has not been in form for a few weeks and so I was on a bit of a downer…I needed a booster session!

I decided that I would try for the predators ( perch and eels) whilst my dad would be a little more inclusive and fish for everything with fins.

Now Dave at Alderfen is fine with small live-baits being used for the perch and eels just so long as they are caught on site and not moved between the lakes, try anything stupid or clever and you are out, try bringing your own lives and you are out…so don’t even try it. The rig I use for live baiting for perch is one that I fish with the rod high in the air and a long boom to the lead so that the bait is fished up in the water, it generally works a treat for perch and is responsible for my perch pb of 3lb 15oz.

I also like to use a light bobbin…But I had left them in my other bag…What did I say about the angler that fails to prepare?

That’s right…I said he was a knob!

I may be a bit of an unprepared knob but I am also a bit clever and a bit quick on the thought processes…sometimes….Ok…Occasionally I have good ideas and today was a good idea day…Leadcore!

A length of leadcore was tied to the bank stick and a hook made to hang over the line and Bobs your uncle….A very light bobbin type affair that was pretty much impervious to the wind and very easy to strike through...genius!

Anyway after a few hours I had one smallish perch of about a pound and a dropped run.

My dad was having great fun bagging a fish on every put…but he wanted something a bit bigger so he rigged up a small method feeder rig whilst I persevered on with trying to bag a predator…. It wasn’t going to be my day I decided when I lost what could only have been a very big eel on an underwater snag in open water, eels have a very unique feel to their fight and this was definitely an  eel…I know the venue does 4′s  so that’s what I am going to give it but whatever the size it saw me off and I was gutted.

Anyway I settled myself down eventually and me and my dad cheered ourselves up catching some stunning Crucian carp which went to a VERY respectable 2lb plus.

 

I really do like Crucian Carp there are not enough waters that stock pure bloods…If I won the lottery that is what I would build myself a water containing only Rudd, Crucian carp and Perch

 

Plans were made for a return visit to Alderfen the following Sunday with Dan Stewart Smith and it was decided that we would fish the Specimen Lake….In the meantime

Its raining and the river is rising…happy days!!

As I type this I can hear the rain tapping against the window…its a happy sound! The river is on the move and some good fish will be on their way to having a swift photo shoot before being sent back on their way…what will I catch?

I have to have a pop at a zander for sure, I haven’t had one in a while and they are such dramatic  looking creatures if not the best fighters in the world!

Of course I will also have a second rod out for a barbel and will be on an over-sized Hookbait Company Barbel 5 boilie.

Fingers crossed it all goes to plan like it dis on my midweek trip to Alderfen after the perch when after a grand total of 10 minutes I had my first fish in the net at a very respectable 2lb 12oz…Its nice when a plan comes together!

 

Bowden Houstead Flower Meadow mk II

Last year a few friends and myself set about improving a patch of ferral grassland by moving some of the plants from the doomed Bowden Houstead Fire-station site. Success was patchy but all in all I would call it a success as we did record some nice species of butterfly that we had not spotted previously as well as having a bumper number of Dragonflies.

As you can see between the two shots of the same spot there are far more species of plant now on the site.

In my mind when I decided to start it I wanted to build a refueling point for both butterflies and birds, a place where they could find plenty of food which meant increasing the amount of nectar plants so that there were plenty of insects and seeds for the birds to feed on.

One of the butterflies that I wanted to see more of was the common Blue and I will admit to being a very happy man when I saw the one above and I was even happier when I saw the mated pair of Common Blue laying eggs on a plant moved down from BHF .

I was even happier when I saw the mated pair of Small Heath, a very nice butterfly that is rather scarce…I was very unhappy that I wasn’t carrying my camera though but to give you an idea what I was looking at I will include a shot of a single Small heath as well as a shot of some Narrow Bordered 5 spot Burnet moths doing the exact same thing as the Small Heaths were doing….you get the picture I am sure!

It was a shag fest on the field!

Anyway I began digging out another section of grass this month but as well as seeds and some plugs I have included a fair few snake head Fritilaries as well as some Allium bulbs and wild garlic seed/ bulblets I harvested from a very similar site at Cromwell.

Fingers crossed everything goes to plan!!

Ok that’s me done for now but as the river is getting back into form I should be back soon…