Black & White & Fuzzy Edges

In a world of increasing unrest and increasing uncertainty there has to be a pressure cooker release valve for us individuals who seek one. The overcrowded nature of things could drive me to drink and drugs while reading and listening to the world order of stuff. A dorsal fin breaking water, a mass of bubbles, the big splash in the distance and resulting water rings breaking the oily calm. The sound of running water in and around your feet or surrounding the beam of the angler’s boat. The sounds of early morning and late evening as all around us comes alive, oblivious to the angler hidden and nested awaiting for the float to bury or the tip of rod to bounce or even that horrible man made shriek of electronic  alarm.

Big fish or little fish, swimming in the water are oblivious to the world order of things. But perhaps the predator underwater world order is only majorly disturbed by other predators. Otters have certainly disturbed the natural order of things though their unnatural and fast spread across our inland waterways during the last ten short years. Any self respecting big pike will need to adapt to avoid an otter out running and out gunning our pikes natural short burst of speed. I hang on to the hope that the senses of our pike can smell the oily otter territory and holt or at least be on red alert when the danger of this critter is close. When roving the banks of my rivers I always look out for otter droppings, these are often left on the overhanging base stumps of willow trees and are green/brown and often a bit shiny in appearance when fresh. If you really feel inclined to test their freshness, have a sniff and they smell just like a fishmeal carp boilee. It’s worth a look out as fresh droppings equal zero pike on that bank and you are completely wasting valuable fishing time in the area. I know of a water with a population of otters surrounding a big pike. This pike has amazed me with her ability to still be around, she has been seen this summer alive and kicking and I’ll not be disturbing her as she has enough to worry about without the man made disturbance of capture and a day or two sulky recovery from lactic acid overload and tooth ache to add to her surrounding vulnerability.

I kinda have a love/hate relationship with cormorants. There do appear to be less of them around on the waters I fish, than say 15 years ago. I well remember watching a group of around thirty of them feeding one early morning on a welsh river. Up and down they dived, feeding in formation and more often than not surfacing with a decent dace to be gulped down quick smart before diving again. As an angler it was heart breaking to watch. After having their fill, during an hour of feeding I wondered how in the aviation world of mechanics and design they actually managed to get off the water and fly back to their favored white, self excrement covered branches. The first year that Chew opened up for us, in fact on the second day, Big Dave and I lost count at three hundred cormorants up in the trees on Denny Island as we headed towards Stratford. Our hearts sank, we’d seen this during the early 90’s on our local Chichester pits where a decent pike would be a big double looking like lizard thing. How wrong we were, over 100x20’s came out on Chew that day and all as fat as you like!  These days they are still around on the rivers I fish, but more often than not feeding solo or in two’s. Perhaps a couple of generations of cormorant bother has seen the DNA of prey fish coping with the big group feeding of the cormorant and the big black oily bird has adapted by feeding more solo or moved back to improving in-shore waters. These birds certainly give us a pointer towards prey fish location and I’ve often moved sticks to areas where I have seen cormorants feeding and found pike and in particular zander not too far away.

Talking about improving waters, across all the different rivers I fish, fry survival has been great over the past ten years. Silver fish populations have fared pretty well as the match weights demonstrate or my own cack handed bait snatching sessions prove. I don’t think it is any coincidence that the well published demise of our eel population has contributed greatly to this. In the late 90’s and early 2000’s eel bother when fishing was all part of the game. I can well recall having to pack up barbel fishing on many a sultry summers evening with swims a heaving mass of the wriggly things. Having plenty of eel sections in the bait freezer was taken for granted back then. A mass of eels will have had their fill of eggs on the shallow spawning grounds of our rivers, keeping fry survival low in tandem with large groups of cormorant feeding. In 1999 I reported to the EA that I’d seen hundreds of dead eels rotting on the bottom of the welsh river on a close season canoe paddle trip. The old bailiff on the Royalty had reported the same on the Hants Avon. Something bad was obviously occurring to mature eel populations and a few years forward the eel was in real danger, or so we were told. Bang ! , last year saw the biggest reported elver populations on my rivers for a couple of generations. I witnessed the amazing sight of 10,000’s of elvers running up a small feeder river close to my home, the small bridge where they could be seen in elver soup became a local viewing attraction for a few days. This year eel bother during zander fishing has become the norm again, so not only have the elver population returned big time but the more mature bootlace – 2lb eel population have appeared again too. Interesting and I’ve not a scooby doo idea as to why. I kind of expect fry survival to demise again over the next ten years in tandem with increasing eel numbers, hopefully some decent big river roach fishing will result as good current populations thin out and get bigger. Decent big river roach fishing has been very scarce for a decade or more so I look forward to that very much in the future as my bones get older and a nice comfortable roach swim will be the order of the day. It’s all about cycles and the anglers who have been kicking around for a good while, year in year out, will get a feel of what is happening on their waters and take advantage of the tip of the cycles for whatever species are at their peak sizes.

Apart from mankind’s ability to effect water quality, the biggest predator with an influence is naturally us the angler. For all the repeat captures reported there are equal losses from poor angling practices, handling and fish ending up in  Tesco carrier bags and as we know our quarry ain't no carp in the ability to survive and thrive on human intervention. Angling pressure in my experience does affect fish behavior and I’ve never agreed with the pike anglers who state pike catching is all down to times and moon phase. Natures push and pull obviously has a big influence and we all know there are windows of time when everything comes together perfectly allowing fish to be caught fairly easily when they are directly in front of us and that fact is not exclusive to predator fishing. Too many times however I’ve seen pressurized fish follow and worry decent live baits and not grab them, when on the very same day in a different place the float would be buried time after time with fish on the mat the end result. It’s no coincidence that at the end of the pike dates on Chew many of us report dropped pick- ups that three or four weeks earlier would likely have resulted in a fish on the boat mat. It’s during these pressurized more finicky times when blending into the background becomes important. Not joining the carp world completely in the disguise of rig and line but thinking about what may be seen underwater by a big fish that has seen it all in the past should be a consideration. There’s nothing more finicky than zander at the best of times, add a dose of angling pressure and converting pick-ups becomes an even greater headache. I’ve always believed that these really big predators in our natural waters are the Queens of their domain and no happening or event underwater escapes their senses. They haven’t survived and grown on to a great size over a decade or more without being in some way smarter than their surrounding compatriots. Perhaps it is luck, if that is the case, they certainly make their own luck. Stealth on the bank and equally on the boat can be the difference between a blank day or driving home with a smile on your face. Too many anglers are too ferking noisy for my likening and I’ll often shout over and tell them so before upping sticks and moving on!  Disturbing the peace should be a red card offence and the noisy angler banned for a month, with repeat offenders sentenced to a life of fishing any old puddle full of stunted F1’s. 

Thanks for reading my scribble and Play Up Pompey !

Interview with Rob Shallcroft

Pike Pool - Hi Rob, thanks for agreeing to be interviewed for the pool, I'm sure many of the pool siders will enjoy this. Ok, your known for many things on the Pool, ex editor, zander and pike catching machine and a music lover. But why is your forum name Emma Hamilton?

RS - No worries, I've always skipped on reading interviews in magazines as i find them boring, just don't ask me what my favorite color float or bait is !. Besides all my waters are flooded out and i'm bored! I've been using the forum in it's two or three incarnations for yonks. I was Horatio Nelson for years, then when the forum last changed and i had to sign up again, I went for Emma Hamilton, Nelsons wife. I like reading about Nelson as i can remember on a school trip staring up at Nelson column and being a Pompey lad, there's that connection with the great man.I like the forum and have stuck with it, i don't "do" other forums just the pit.  

Pike Pool - You've have had some amazing predator captures including some stunning pike from your local rivers, but which one had the biggest impact on you?

RS - Probably a fish that I saw when i was working in a fishing shop in Portsmouth when i was a teenager. A bloke brought in a 29lb fish he had caught from one of the Chichester pits. Folk were always bringing in sea fish to be weighed on the shops scales as the shop in those days had a competition and prizes for the biggest fish of several species. This pike looked huge, well it was bloody huge ! Shame he'd killed it. I'd never caught one, as i was full on into carp fishing at the time on the Chichester pits , so i started chucking the odd herring and spoon about on one of the carp rods in the winter and started to catch the occasional pike myself. Carp and tench had the biggest impact on me , i fished for them for nearly 20 years and apart from chucking out the occasional herring on a fourth rod i didn't fish for much else.

Pike Pool - Zander have featured in your angling for the last few seasons and you have amazed a good number of double figure zeds, what would you put your success down too?

RS - I live close to two rivers and a canal that "do" the odd double figure zander, it's a simple as that really. We all know we can not catch big pike or zander if they are not in the waters we target. I've traveled much further for my river pike fishing in the past so its been nice in recent seasons to be closer to home. I've fully focused on zander and have hardly fished for pike for three or four years. Ive done the occasional day on Chew (that has to be done!) when they've come up and the odd social pike trip here and there but not much. All my eggs have all been in the zander basket recently.

Pike Pool - You have a number of mates in angling and always seem to have time for angling, music and family, but if you had to give one up, what would it be and why?

RS - What a weird question Jason ! It took me 30 years of trying, to give up the fags. I did that in Nov 2012 and still miss lighting them up when fishing so i wouldn't want to be giving anything else up if i can help it. My girls at home are the most important thing in life, fishing comes second, they wouldn't agree with that at past times in my life though, to be fair. Ive pushed it a bit at times, specifically the river pike fishing and it has got me into trouble on a couple of occasions and I brought that trouble home, that's a big regret but i'm older and wiser for it and wont make those silly mistakes that i once did just for the sake of catching a silly wet fish.  

Pike Pool -  One of your other passions is Pompey, if you were a professional footballer, what position would you play?

RS - I'd be a goal keeper. Hopefully not too much to do and i'm good at observing stuff from a distance. I'd be happy doing that. Plus in one half i'd be able to chat to a few mates in the Fratton End and piss the away fans off in the Milton End with a few great saves or giving them the moon and the finger. I've seen my club win the FA cup, play AC Milan in Europe and I've watched them in all four divisions, if we carry on current form i'll be watching them in the Conference next year. I can handle the ups and downs of supporting my club, it is a bit like my fishing, tough times don't bother me too much, if you keep at it, likely it'll come good in the end because it's not a race, eh ?

Pike Pool - Music plays a big part of your life, what tunes are currently on you play list for trips to the bank?

RS - Angling and music have been the two consistent escape things in my life. The music and traveling to see bands has been the thing my wife of 20+ years, Una and I have done together. Rather like I look forward to the next fishing trip, she looks forward to the next gig and that's something we can both share together. We have tickets stuck on the fridge for Modern English playing in London in June and the Stranglers in March playing in Oxford and New Model Army in Bristol in April. It's the Stranglers 40th anniversary year and we must have seen them over 20 times over the years. We book a hotel and make a night away off it, I do like to spoil my dream girl ! 

Current tunes in the fishing wagon are last years Public Image album their first for a decade and it's simply brill. Last years Nick Cave album Push The Sky Away is a great piece of work too, as is Public Broadcasting and their album, Inform/Educate/Entertain.   

Pike Pool - You've gone fishing with Steve Bown (aka Billy Two Fish) and the boat is sinking, the only way to save you and the boat is to throw something over board, is it to be you record collection or Steve?

RS - The record collection. I'd be able to replace that. If we were sinking in a boat together i am sure we would phone John Cahill and Mick Hastings for advice, as they have got valuable experience in that very situation , lol !

Pike Pool - You have caught some amazing predators, but what drives you to keep getting out there?

RS - That's easy .Fishing is my escape from a busy 40-50 hour a week job stuck in a factory where i can't see the light of day .I like the bloody mindedness and physicality off it all, especially the river stuff. If I had my time around again I would not fish and i'd have done something like rock climbing or mountaineering as I've read a lot about that stuff and have big respect for those boys and girls, but we didn't have any rock faces living in Portsmouth City as kids ! We did have moats built in the City by Palmerstone in the 1800's and we could catch fish from them, that is where it all started for me. Anyone who knows me and has fished with me would tell you I'm one of the most bloody minded anglers they know. I'll share a beer afters and a few social trips during the season, but 90% of my fishing is solo, so I am very set in my ways and inflexible. I don't like fishing with anyone else too often, because if i'm honest I don't particularly like sharing the fish! That's sounds pretty selfish, but it's me being honest and I don't hide the fact. If there's a good'un to be caught I want to catch it ! Fishing off the bank and being mobile, if you fish with someone else who knows what they are doing, your'll walk twice as far for half the fish and I just don't want to do that! So, I go fishing most weeks, always have done for 30 odd years, and I bore them out ! I do like to set plans with mates, share stuff and set targets on the rivers I fish and unless the rivers are flooded and proper messy, I'll get out there and go. I am pretty consistent in my approach and catch my share, so i'm happy enough in my fishing soul.    

Pike Pool - Every angler has developed something to make life easier on the bank or boat, what has been you favorite innovation?

RS - Crikey I dunno. I fish pretty simply to be honest. Predators can be caught on simple rigs and methods, especially if they are not hammered by other anglers.Simple equals efficient in my fishing. I catch my own baits and chuck them out on hooks where i think a good'un might grab one. I suppose the only thing i do different to most is that in the last 15 years of predator fishing, i have never gone fishing and sat in a chair. I just never take one, I don't have a chair on my boat either, i ripped them out as they get in the way ! Probably the best big innovation I've seen in my time as a help in my fishing has been the mobile phone tbh. 

Zed Longitude and Latitude....By Rob Shallcroft

Pike fishing had been the mainstay of my winter fishing for 13 seasons, I love it ! My two main pikeing targets past me by. Terrific fishing and lots of effort along the way, I love it ! I fancied a break from it all to be honest and mix it up a bit. What next ?

I fancy a double figure tench, I have a few pits around locally to me that “do” them. I could  put the time and effort in during the spring and summer as my main stay and then during the winter, fish just one long weekend a month and try for a big pike from the Peat Diggins, I’d like that. The thought however of being surrounded by carp anglers fishing for tench, with bivvies and the like puts me off as it might drive me nuts! Perhaps a big winter roach would hit the spot. I’d had a little run of nice ones from one river when snatching baits but I knew I’d not be able to leave the pike alone, plus where the big roach were, was a place I’d rather not be any more. The bailiff did my head in and I’d developed a neck like the girl from the Exorcist film, 360 degree neck turning and looking over my shoulder. No thank you very much, I needed a little break from all that.

Within an 30 mins drive I have two rivers and a canal with a good track record of producing the occasional big zander. I don’t like zander I thought , they eat the pikes food and they are not pike. Pike are the Queens, Zeds are pale insignificant creatures, sandpaper touch and dead eyes. I’d caught one or two in the past and they didn’t really rock my boat…… or so I thought !

UTurn, decision made, a zander season. I kitted out a boat, that is the easy bit as it is simply money and time. I have good mates to call on for help and advice, thanks Steve and Brian. A boat was gained and all kitted out as I wanted, it is however a pain in the backside sat at home, blocking my little driveway up and making it difficult to get the garbage bin out. I’d rather not have the boat at home but it is a necessary evil for efficient pursuit of a big zander on my rivers. A tool of the trade. The boat was kitted out for maximum efficiency. No boat of mine would just be sat in, polished and looked at. I won’t bore you with the details, but everything to ensure I could launch and be on the river quick smart was put in place.

There would be no excuse not to fish short sessions of 3-4 hours, with no mucking around at the slip way. Launching and retrieve was made a “pit stop” affair, being able to launch in under 15 mins and retrieve and drive away in under 15 mins.

 Decisions

Having been in this game of catching big wet fish for a long time now, I've learnt a thing or two from mistakes in the past. It’s always best to keep things as simple as possible. Simple very often equals efficient. I had a long hard look at things over the close season and set my stall and formed a plan of sorts and set rough targets. I “do” targets as they keep me focused and on top of my game plan. Not everyone’s cup of tea I know, but we all take our brew differently and I like plenty of spice in mine.

 Left-ism

I started by reading all I could get my hands on about Zander. I listened to advice from guys I knew who’d fished for them in the past. Lots of conflicting methods and vibe. I should be jigging, I should be chucking shads, I should be float fishing live and dead baits. I should be ledgering with minimal resistance. Big baits sort out the gooduns, don’t ignore sea baits. Small hooks , big hooks, light wire, heavy wire. Barbel rods, pike rods. Day night. Night day. Fish here, fish there, fish everywhere. I was confused ! Clarity came. I’d ignore the whole lot of it and do my own thing and bore them out !

 Slip-ism

I picked a slip way on each river to use and paid my dues to use them. Now for some clever watercraft to pick where I was going to fish, I flicked a coin ! Heads left, Tails right. Heads it was, first decision made, come rain or shine for the whole first season I would only turn left out of the two slipways and fish to their navigatable limit. No big fish reports or info would change that, decision made , turn left it was. This decision simplified things to not flit around too much as there was enough mileage to go at turning left only. Additionally I picked a single bank spot I fancied, to drop into when the rivers were unfishable by boat as a backup, to keep me in the groove,out of the pub and other non fishing mischief I am susceptible to dabbling with.

 

Troll-ism

 Before the season started I made another decision, to troll natural baits only. I’d be at home with this as I only ever use natural baits I've caught myself , both live and dead, apart from when fishing the Trout Waters where the rules stipulate I cannot. I’d done a lot of pike float trolling on big sheets of water in the past, so I’d be reasonably comfortable with the method. To keep faithful to this simple decision discipline, I only took  trolling gear, I couldn’t then change my mind and fish a different option. For three months I simply turned left out of the slip and trolled on the bow mount different areas on my own, holding the single rod and looking at the echo sounder. My fishing and results were very mixed during the first three months, I caught zeds and micro pike trolling but no big fish. However the discipline of sticking to trolling for the first three months gave me a good knowledge of both rivers' contours, snags and bottom paraphernalia. Info gained and time certainly not wasted in retrospect….I did wonder at the time if I was doing it wrong as I was itching for a big fish and not getting anywhere near one.

 First Result

 Come late summer I decided to pull off the trolling malarkey and started to sit on spots I fancied and fish more statically. On one of the first static trips a mate, Brian joined me with the promise of a beer and a lorry ratchet strap for my boat. Taking it in turns on my gear, a rod hoops round and I’m netting a whacker for Brian. At last I’m looking down on a really big zander an impressive sight to the eyes. With photos taken, it only took Brian and hour to turn right and swim back to the slip way! Interestingly another friend caught this same fish a month or so before Brian, several miles upstream, highlighting just how mobile these fish can be and how few in number these really big fish actually are. No real surprises there, as this is often the case in all big fish angling.

In time I became impressed by the sight of a big zander on my unhooking mat. They are fascinating creatures to hold and get a proper good look at. Their jaws are the toughest things out there and big ones have surprisingly big mouths and heads on them. If they don’t want to open their mouths for unhooking the angler really does have to prize their jaws apart with the forceps, yet I discovered these jaws can present finicky bait pickups as they can be delicate/nervous feeders. The zanders colouring varies a lot in different water colour conditions, I far prefer the more yellow/green colouration viewed in clearer water conditions to the pale silver colouring seen in prolonged coloured water conditions. I’m an auto setting “point and shoot” camera angler, so my photos don’t always do themselves justice. The zanders fins can be tinged with magenta colouring  especially the tail root and I caught a few with distinctive yellow spots under their jaws and pink splashes of colour interrupting their white belly mass. Their fins are amongst the most delicate of fishes and I would recommend the use of the rubberized landing net meshes available today.

 Zed movements

Mark Barretts excellent article a few years ago in Pike and Predators magazine, concerning bream movements on his waters interested me greatly. I re-read his piece several times. I’d certainly located at times a large bream shoal on one river and fished in and around these areas. My results were poor, these bream were mostly in the 2-7lb bracket and obviously too big for any zander to prey upon. I could never seem to find smaller sized bream populations. What I did find were large mini perch groups that could often be seen and heard plopping around under their favoured tree lines and bleak populations in open water, the zander seemed to prey upon these food sources. Bleak shoals were often a giveaway, as zander would hit the surface and spiky erect dorsal fins could be spotted. Whenever I spotted spiky dorsal fins breaking the water I would do well with multiple catches made, albeit often smaller fish.

 I’ve found when really on the feed, a group of zeds will graze moving upstream, their movement covering much of the width of the river in group patrol. How do I come to this conclusion ? Fishing four rods spread across the river often it’s the down-stream rods that will go first, followed by other rods in direct order to their placement downstream of the boat. I can not be sure and it is a bit of a lunch time theory, but I kinda got the impression they might travel as a group of feeding fish, spreading out across the river in some sort of feeding formation where the greater good of the group might benefit from prey fish spooking and running into the path of other members of the feeding group. When the first fish is landed it is vital to get the bait and rig back out as quickly as possible. I have a big weighted weigh sling slung over the side of the boat ready for quick keeping of a goodun or two.

 The bigger fish often seemed to pop up out of the blue at any time of the day. Often they would come out on their own. Leading to the thought that these bigger fish are on their own or part of a very small group of bigger fish. Perhaps the rest of their once bigger group had died out leaving them alone or in a tiny group of big hen fish. Multiple captures of bigger fish only appeared for me at the back end of the season where some obvious grouping up of all species occurs in certain areas. Nothing new there as the exact same occurs in my river pikeing too.

 Gear

 Rods are a compromise, a heavy barbel rod and quiver is OK in low flow and little debris or snags in a river and ideal to indicate small “pick ups”. A standard fair pike rod is ideal for setting hooks in the hard bone of a zanders mouth but will not give much visual indication on the tip. I use Lumbys 10ft P4’s from the boat, the tip is reasonably light for a pike rod but they sets hooks well too. Plus, there’s always a chance I might hook into a big pike and if I do I’ll want to be leaning into it to move her away from tree line, snags or anchor ropes. I’ll not be wanting a barbel rod in my hand with a 20lb+ pike that doesn’t fancy it’s photo being taken.

Pretty much standard fair heavy braid and wire traces completed simple end set ups and the only thing I developed differently was the use of my barbel bait droppers, pre-baiting little spots on the day being fished as I rotated my fishing spots, upping anchor and dropping in to different areas on my menu.

 I found normal boat rod rests a total hindrance. The action of pulling a rod forward and out of a Roberts style rest was both too slow and the jolting change in resistance caused dropped runs. Thinking cap on, I designed high, stand up fully adjustable boat rod rests that enabled me to stand by the rods in the boat and hit pickups as if I was on the bank with the rods in rests pointing skywards. I like the rods high up in the boat with the butts at hip height and tips in the air. This enables me to pick a rod up and gently drop the rod tip down to pay out a little line against the current should I wish too.

 Pickups and slip ups

 If I get an unmiss-able pick up with the rod tip bouncing or shaking, something is hanging it’s self on the end , I’ll then whack into the offending creature immediately. Indications at the rod tip are mostly shakes, rattles and rolls, rarely do the zander scream or plod off taking much line off the bait runner. This does mean a lot of missed strikes especially when using live baits as it can be difficult to tell the difference between a live bait that has woken up or a zander grabbing and consuming it’s dinner on the spot. In this respect I think the zander very much hit and pick up baits, in a more direct upstream movement, thus indications are often smaller simply because the bait and hooks are not moving far and more often directly upstream.

 Perhaps this is exaggerated with the zanders make up  of not being so “bendy” as a pike and very much a sergeant straight up and down fish in movement and characteristic ? Zander can be finicky and it always pays to hold the rod and feel exactly what is going on when you can. Zander will pick up and drop baits repeatedly, the tell tale little crush marks can be seen on retrieved baits. The law of averages tells me they are mostly small fish, but not always and I have touch ledgered and hit the offending small pickups and hooked up double figure fish.  Many years of stand up, single rod, touch ledgering for barbel and chub have been valuable to me in the zander twitch stakes and it’s very difficult to describe on paper what to hit, what not to and when to drop the rod to pay out a little line to get a more positive indication, so I’ll have to leave it at that !

We do all have to be reasonably quick in making our minds up in the decision to strike or not. Zander will wolf baits down at times and its far more difficult to remove a hook that is out of sight on a zander than a pike, as they do not have the retractable white stomach lining of a pike that you can pull into view to remove a deeply hooked fish. Although I have had the occasional zander that runs with the bait, I’ve found this rare, with rattles and pulls the norm.

 If in doubt always have the attention to feel what is going on and if not sure have a little feel and a pull to move lead and bait to make double sure a fish is not swallowing a bait on hooks. This is a double edged sword as unlike pike, moving the bait/disturbing the lead any great distance can spook them and often they do not return.

Having now completed two dedicated seasons of zander fishing, I now reflect, it is a short time in fishing life. I learnt lots but only really scratched the surface in any real understanding of their movements and moods. No doubt if I put more seasons into zander fishing, my observations and thoughts would change as that is how it works and I don’t pretend to be an expert zander angler in any shape or form. I did put a lot of time and effort in and managed to bore out a number of double figure fish but the really big one evaded me and that pains me a little. I didn’t like zander much two years ago but have grown to respect them, if I am honest I would rather they were not in our inland waterways as I’m sure the pike fishing on the three waters I fished would be improved without them as they have become the more dominant predator in terms of numbers. That fact is not likely to change anytime soon. I enjoyed the two seasons in their pursuit, but now it is time to move on to the next challenge……. Thanks for reading my scribble.

The Garage Mind Set

Rob Shallcroft

I’ve knocked around trying to catch bigger than average fish of the fresh water species for a few years now along with a few close friends. With up’s and down's, hard knocks and easy pickings along the way.I know some very successful anglers and have observed what makes them tick so to speak. Each one of the guys has a little edge in one department or another. It’s not just "lady luck" if a friend and fishing partner actually catches consistently more or bigger fish than you over a lengthy period of time on particular water, with time on the bank being fairly equal.

Lady luck doesn’t always have the habit of being even over any distance of time. That said does it really matter?. As long as we are enjoying ourselves and catching a few along the way most of us are contented enough. My fishing buddies and I all have common denominators, busy Mon-Fri jobs, family commitments, follow our different footie teams and none of us are flush with too much spare cash. Sound familiar ?

Without wanting to embarrass my fishing buddies and I hope they take my scribble in good spirits I know their edges and what they are able to do far better than me. Let me if I may give you some examples. Here goes....................

My buddy Secret Dave is fantastic at spotting fish, his eye sight looking through,across and into water is exceptional. On clear water rivers or pits he will spot fish that I simply cannot see and would walk past. Barbel flashing across gravel, tench patrolling in the margins or prey fish topping at distance. This is his edge, he knows it and uses his eye sight to put that extra fish or two on the bank. Dave is at his best on clear water, his eyes brighten and twitch with transparency as it’s his thing, his vibe, his edge. He will often up sticks and move if he’s spotted a little something interesting to his eye. Take the clear water away and he is not as efficient as his edge has gone.

My buddy Steve is a long time all-round piker equally at home on foot, afloat, on rivers,big lakes or pits. Steve is brilliant at getting on new untouched waters, he’ll walk round a water and somehow nearly always bump into the owner and through his bright smile and affable nature will secure a day or two fishing and often for free!. It’s his free-spirit and pioneering vibe and edge,Steve has always got some where fresh and new to have a go at. I can never seem to do this as I get tongue tied, am not a people person and probably look like I am up to no good !. Of course his new spots don’t always come up trumps but out of all my buddies if one of them is going to bump into something extra special one day then my money would be on Steve.

My buddy The Doc Donovan is fantastic on the big wild sheets of water where his heart, theories and vibe as to where the pike will be at different times of the year, at what depth and in different conditions is fascinating. His edge lies in his boat control. Float trolling is his thing. Dropping and dragging baits behind a boat is easy enough but the vital control in wind and wave, speed and boat positioning on these big sheets of water is his vibe and edge. The Docs experience is impossible for me to match. Hand over the bow mounted electrics in rough conditions into my hands and I have ended up snapping rods in the sexy Irish reeds, packing up and going home early !.

My buddy Mr V, is the sociable angler on a mission with a net work of friends across the country. He is always in on the “know” on certain waters and will travel to catch his dreams. His time is more limited than the rest of us, but when onto something he will drop everything and spend several days, bivvied up or sleeping in the car to put him close to his dreams. Mr V will put his time on the right waters, at the right times and when it really matters. I am not so sociable and don’t like being away from home too much, much preferring my fishing to be little more than an hour’s drive from home. I do have a couple of holiday travel type trips thrown in every year to waters I’d like to catch a decent pike from along with the trout ressa trips with friends. These to me are more social occasions I thoroughly enjoy and look forward too. They are not however on waters where my real dreams might come true.

Common denominators

Taking common denominators further, I felt these edges were my friend’s natural mind-sets.When fishing with these guys on waters where their vibe comes alive is an honour and a pleasure and long I hope this will continue. A few years ago, I evaluated just who I am,what I want from my fishing and exactly what gave me the buzz to get out there and catch a few wet fish. The majority of my fishing trips are solo short affairs and I like to get out two or three times a week fishing different stretches of river or dropping in on a pre-baited still water. I am happiest fishing for just 2-6hours at my perceived best times even if this means a couple of hours travelling thrown in, in fact when the winter days are short I’ll often spend more time in the car than with a bait in the water.

When on the bank there’s no time for social chat or mucking around with tackle or baits, everything needs to be organised and prepared to be mobile, to get there before it gets light or at the other end of the day to fish into dark. Any failure in organisation or other social interruption to my fishing on the day drives me nuts and I’ll often pack up and go home if my vibe is disturbed in anyway.

This was my edge,getting my buzz from smooth and organised short sessions as I have the

drive and bloody-mindedness to haul myself out of bed or get home after midnight exhausted after fishing and a day’s work thrown in. Total focus when on the bank and fishing with absolutely no interruption to the mind-set. Weather conditions never deter me from going, I like to be out there and in with a chance of a single take that will give me the buzz on the drive home. I get the fishing "tag" of being unsociable and hard work but I know who I am and can live with that!

Maximising the edge

With a busy job and keeping the family balance, fishing two or three short sessions a week can be difficult but I long felt my approach could be improved all round with increased organisation.Thus maximising time available to fish before and after work.

Equally as important would be minimising the time surrounding the preparation of actually going fishing, time spent preparing the tackle and bait needed throughout the season. Less time spent on preparation would mean more time with the family and no late nights or any early morning double checking of the gear prior to any trip.

One of the problems I'd had over the years was a small garage with condensation problems,associated damp and was falling to bits. My garage shared both fishing gear and general home life. I couldn’t swing a cat in there and the general clutter did my head in!. Plans were made to change this. I saved up my pennies and invested in the small fishing garage of my dreams. Luckily for me my mate London piker Stevie T is a chippy and for mates rates, the promise of Guinness , B+B and evening summer barbel fishing, I packed my girls off to the mother–in-laws for a week and we set about converting my garage into my dedicated fishing room.

Steve transformed an old tired damp garage with a wooden floor, insulated plaster boarded walls and ceilings plus new doors with decent locks and we fixed up the leaky roof. I later added an intruder alarm, quality lighting, heating,benches, chest freezer, shelving, rod racks etc. By adding a decent garden shed and outside storage boxes for all the other paraphernalia and clutter of life to be stored I now had a dedicated fishing room with nothing else to distract its purpose of making my fishing time more efficient.

This dedicated space enabled me to remove anything and everything to do with fishing from inside the house, from magazines to photographs, tackle, freezer -bait,clothing etc. I now had a new golden rule, nothing what-so-ever to do with fishing in the house and nothing not to do with fishing inside the garage!. Una the Dream Girl was happy, so was I with a family win/win all-round. Job done!.

With the dedicated room, I took this further with the organisation of the different tackle bags and kit. I added another golden rule, no tackle to be purchased outside the close season when I generally give my fishing a three month break. All spare end tackle, line, hooks, ground-bait, hemp and particles and all the general malarkey that goes with fishing for different species is purchased in the close season and stored in its correct easily found location.

The years of tackle scattered everywhere in and out of the house, bait rotting away in corners of the garage and shed, tackle in boxes to keep it from the elements of a damp garage are now long gone. The regular trips to the tackle shop to stock up with bits needed, probably did not need or couldn’t find in a cluttered unorganised garage are a thing of the past. I added a large stainless steel sink and running water. Yet another golden rule could apply,no cleaning stinking hemp buckets, ground bait bags or dead bait freezer boxes in the kitchen sink. I gained space for a decent dedicated chest freezer for the first time following years of having the bottom couple of drawers in the kitchen upright.

All sea dead baits required for the winters predator fishing are caught during summer bass and tope fishing trips or purchased from Morrison’s or Neville.I now no longer need to make winter trips to shops or pick up any dead bait during the winter. Fresh coarse baits are gathered along the way with the bait snatching kits always in order and ready to go. Everything I can possibly organise to ensure the best baits are available to me throughout the winter have been put in place ensuring near enough that there is not a single week of the winter season that I do not have the necessary baits that I want to use on tap and ready to go.

Preparation of rigs and the gear is now far quicker as it’s organised. Rig making sessions are now exclusive to the garage, heater on, my favourite punky bands at full blast on the CD player, decent bench and lighting make the necessary if laborious task of rig making efficient, quick and easy. If like me you go fishing regularly and fish some snaggy waters with lots of different bait sizes, a lot of different traces are needed to keep going through the winter.

Although I'll leave some trace making kit in the car for an emergency I really do not like making traces or rigs when I’m out fishing and certainly never carry anything other than traces ready to use in my bag. Any-how, the days of rig making in the house with the worry of leaving bits of wire or worse a dropped treble in the carpet are now long gone.

I know there are some interesting developments with longer lasting titanium traces to cut this rig making time down but apart from fixed up-traces I don’t use this material for hook traces.

I don’t like split rings, beads and plastic bits on my traces and as I fish a lot of snaggy water I question the breakdown properties of titanium and plastic/rubber paraphernalia should I snap off and leave a baited trace in the water for a predator to swallow. So it’s still sore hands from tying and pull testing lots of traces for me.

If I can get away from work a little earlier on a particular day during the week, there are no ifs and buts about being able to go because the gear or baits I need may not ready. Conversely when I get home wet, muddy cold and miserable from a trip I go straight into the garage kick the boots off, hang the clothes up under the heater put the trakki bottoms on , pop into the house grab a beer and am ready for family time.


I really can say that the converting of my garage has been fun and has added a little luxury to my fishing life that I had not enjoyed before. Upping the organisation has added to my mind-set and ability to get out there and enjoy my fishing in the effort to catch a few wet fish along the way.

                                                        Play Up Pompey !