Trio of big perch on the fly! - Matt Roberts
“I headed to an Anglian Water reservoir to catch perch on the fly. A mate and I set out on the boat early and tried a spot where we’d had earlier success. The fish finder revealed a big shoal of bait fish close to the bottom, so I cast out a roach imitation fly.
“After five or so strips of the line I felt a tap followed by a heavy knock which I struck at – causing my light six-weight rod to buckle over into what I thought was a zander.
“When it surfaced I saw it was a perch! At 4lb 8oz it was 2oz off my PB. In the next hour I landed two more perch of 4lb 4oz and 3lb 8oz.”
(This catch was reported before the third England lockdown)
Matt Roberts and a 4lb 8oz perch
Casting a Fishing Rod Key in Paralysis Recovery
A MAN who feared he’d never walk again after a cycling accident has made a remarkable recovery – with a little help from a fishing rod.
The intricacies involved in assembling a rod as well as the casting motion have helped to exercise Robbie’s dexterity
Robbie Bell, a keen angler from the Isle of Lewis in Scotland, was left with Incomplete Tetraplegia resulting in partial paralysis and loss of sensation in his limbs and torso after a serious bicycle accident.
Now, with the help of a unique rehabilitation programme involving casting a fly rod at Glasgow’s National Spinal Injuries Unit, he’s hoping to be back on the bank soon.
“It’s fantastic to see how quickly he’s progressed,”
said occupational therapist Amanda Howat.
“The intricacies involved in assembling a rod as well as the casting motion have helped to exercise Robbie’s dexterity, and given him motivation.”
Of course, practising his casting was just one part of Robbie’s programme, but he’s now able to move with a walking frame.
“There were points when I thought I’d never walk again,” he said.
“By making gradual improvements I can now look forward to the fishing season.”
Thanks to a unique rehabilitation programme involving casting a fly rod at Glasgow’s National Spinal Injuries Unit, he’s hoping to be back on the bank soon
Locusts...a hopping good bait for fish!
LOCUSTS are top fodder for lizards and snakes, but Ben Ahmed has been using them to sack-up on perch and chub down his local river!
Turns out locusts are a great fishing bait
By nicking a dropshot hook through the tail end and using a single SSG shot for casting weight, the 28-year-old from Kent has been enjoying a bite-a-chuck by freelining the critters in the main flow on the River Stour.
He told us:
“I was shopping for my home aquarium at Pets at Home when I came across these alien-sized hoppers in the reptile food section.
“I remembered that grasshoppers worked for me when I was a kid so when I saw these locusts only cost £2.50 for a box of 10 I just had to get them.”
Similarly to a fly or a beetle stuck on the water’s surface, locusts give off lots of vibration and attraction which according to Ben is just too tempting for fish to resist.
“The kicks from their legs and the fluttering of their wings really provoke the fish to hit the bait hard,’ he adds.
“I’ve had some incredible takes from chub and pike to over 5lb which have exploded clear of the water to attack the locust.
“It really is exciting fishing!”
This chub couldn’t resist a locust hookbait
Angling community pays tribute to Jack Charlton
TRIBUTES have poured in from across the angling world for Jack Charlton, who recently passed away following a long illness.
The 85-year-old, who was part of England’s 1966 World Cup winning squad, was a keen angler and dedicated a lot of his spare time to the sport after retiring.
As well as creating the Jack Charlton Disabled Anglers Association to help introduce more handicapped people to fishing, he was also a staunch supporter of numerous angling clubs in his home county of Northumberland.
David Munt, chairman of Billingham Angling Club, said:
“I remember approaching Jack back in 2003 to see if he would open our new club lake, the aptly named Charlton’s Lake – and he agreed.
“We’d only booked him for a couple of hours, but he ended up staying for four.
“He spoke to everyone and helped the youngsters. He was a true gentleman and we’ll never forget what he did.”
The club is now appealing to the local council to have a plaque placed at Charlton’s Pond in Jack’s memory.
Jack attending a JC Disabled Anglers Association fishing day back in 2017.
Beautiful reservoir koi taken on the fly!
When 15-year-old Albert Coales and his dad, Rob Edmunds, went afloat on Grafham Water, the last thing they were expecting to catch was this vibrant koi carp, weighing around 25lb.
After a morning spent targeting the lake’s zander, the pair headed to a sheltered area of the lake for lunch, at which point Albert spotted the colourful fish feeding by some overhanging willow trees.
“I told him to leave it alone, but he really wanted to catch it,” Rob tells us,
“so he had a cast, but his fly ended up in the willows! I said to gently tease it out and, amazingly, it plopped perfectly on to the surface a short distance in front of the cruising carp.”
It didn’t take long for the fish to engulf the fly, and then it was game on!
“We were lucky that the fish didn’t head for the weedbeds, as Albert was using a light 4-weight rod,” Rob adds.
“As we brought it towards the boat the bottom became stirred up and we couldn’t see a thing, but I plunged the net beneath the surface and the fish swam straight in!
“Albert was delighted and wouldn’t stop talking about it!”
Albert Coales wasn’t expecting anything like this on his trip to Grafham
Monster perch on the fly! - Matt Roberts
“Over the winter I spent lots of time targeting specimen perch from southern reservoirs with flies, although my trips were mostly unsuccessful, with plenty of blanks. Beating my long-standing personal best of 4lb was the goal I wanted to achieve and I was determined not to be defeated.
“With the arrival of milder spring weather, my friend Tim Marks and I booked on to a reservoir in Oxfordshire which we knew held some very big fish. We arrived early and eventually left the dock on our boat at 8.30am, planning to fish until 5pm. The weather couldn’t have been more perfect with overcast skies and a steady breeze, which really helps drift your boat across the water while searching for shoals of prey fish.
“Usually, when I’ve found the prey, the big perch are never far behind. From past experiences, though, I’ve discovered they can also be caught around the jetties, towers and ledges here, so if the drifting didn’t work we had a decent Plan B.
“With the help of an electronic fish finder, it didn’t take long to locate the prey fish so we targeted the shoal on the bottom in around 13ft of water using di7 sinking lines and four-inch baitfish imitation flies.
This 4-inch baitfish fly didn’t do the business on this occasion
“Despite countless drifts and casts, we hadn’t had a single bite by 1pm and morale was low. We racked our brains to figure out what we were doing wrong because these tactics had worked for us before. Tim suggested trying a smaller, 2ins Grey Minkie fly or a Small Grub, whereas I persevered with the longer 4ins versions, thinking big lures would equal big perch!
This 2-inch Small Grub fly worked a treat!
“A few casts later, Tim shouted: “I’m in!” and after a proper good scrap his new PB of 4lb 8oz was safe in the net. Just a few casts later he had another four-pounder! I was over the moon for him, but I was worried that I hadn’t had any success and the day was getting on.
“It was clear now that the perch were feeding on small fry in the reservoir so I tied on the same pattern that Tim was using. By this stage we’d clipped our boat on to a buoy in the area where the bites occurred. It was quite close to a near-bank jetty which featured a ledge that sloped to depths of 15ft.
“I made a long cast towards the jetty then counted my fly down for 15 seconds before adopting a strip, strip, pause technique with my line. I got three cycles in when something powerful engulfed my fly on the pause. The take was delicate but the fish immediately shook its head, stayed deep and my light six-weight fly rod locked up.
“The fight was super-strong but after 45 seconds this perch, which was fat and as round as a football, surfaced and my nerves kicked in! I was only using a size 12 hook and perch are known for shaking them out, so when I watched it slide over Tim’s net the weight off my shoulders was insane. We both knew it was a high-calibre perch and when the needle on the scales went closer to 5lb than 4lb, I knew I’d finally done it.
“We ended the session with three 4lb perch, a 7lb pike and a handful of trout, which were all taken on those 2ins-long Minkes. Needless to say, I’ll be packing those smaller flies with me whenever I go perching now!”
Biggest rainbow in a decade!
RAINBOW trout don’t get much more impressive than this monster 24lb 8oz fish caught from Dever Springs this past week.
The huge fish is the biggest caught from the Hampshire venue in over a decade and was landed by day-ticket angler Josh Sharp – obliterating his personal best!
A spokesperson for Dever told Angling Times: “This is our third 20lb-plus rainbow this winter and the biggest fish in the lake.
“The water here is crystal clear, so anglers who turn up and fish on a day ticket have the chance to stalk these huge fish.
“There’s still a 20lb-plus brown trout knocking around in the lake which a lot of anglers have got their sights on.”
Josh’s superb trout followed his dad’s pb brownie of 13lb earlier in the day.