Chairman’s Chat
D
uring our busy daily lives,
the convenience of lure
fishing allows us to escape
the rat race for a few hours fishing,
at very short notice. Especially if
like me, you have a light spinning
outfit, small shoulder bag with a
couple of lure boxes, unhooking
tools etc. and a folding landing net
always ready for action!
So imagine you have two hours of
daylight left, fishing tackle packed
in the car, but where do you go?
Your favourite lure fishing water
is 30 minutes away, too far for a short
session, so look closer to home and
do a bit of research. Identify three
or four waters within 10 minutes of
home that you would not normally
fish and give them ago. Keep them
in mind for your short session
fishing. You are really fishing in
“bonus time” if you think about it,
as you would otherwise just be
watching the telly, so if you blank –
does it really matter? You are likely
to be surprised by what is actually
in your local neglected waters and
they could throw up a surprise.
A few years ago while I was still
working for a living, I walked from
home one evening to the local river,
which I had never lure fished before
despite driving over the bridge that
crosses it every day for the last 28
years. It’s only a short stretch but
enough for an hour or so, with plenty
of features and hardly anyone fishes
it anymore. Well I had a few hits on
the main river likely from small pike
and enjoyed the walk on a balmy
evening but still had nothing to show
for my efforts until I came to the road
bridge itself. I had tried there earlier
but then noticed a gap in the hedge,
which took me to a hidden swim
which allowed me to cast right under
the bridge, in the gathering gloom.
At the time I was using a Spro
Ultralight 6ft outfit – perfect for
casting in very restricted spaces. Well
it was a revelation, as by casting my
size 2 Mepps spinner and 2” Kopyto
shads into the dark space under the
bridge, I was getting hit after hit,
resulting in 10 perch to 1lb! It put such
a silly smile on my face that evening
that my wife thought I had been up to
no good with our sexy new neighbour!!
Most of us have a canal, river, drain,
lake or gravel pit within 10 minutes
from home. It maybe not regarded as
good enough for your weekly, bi-
weekly proper lure fishing time with
your mates but well worth a sneaky 90minutes after work. I now have a
list of 10 or so such waters, that I
visit, when I just need to escape for
a couple of hours. Have a look on
Google Earth, you will be surprised
what’s nearby, then find out if you
need a fishing permit or to gain
permission to fish. Many such
waters are effectively free fishing
with a polite word in the right ear.
The Street Fishing scene is quickly
gathering followers in the UK,
featured
frequently in the
Angling Press
and the most
common methods
used by such
anglers are
Dropshotting and
spinning, which
are perfect for
short session
fishing. In fact,
lots of carp and
match anglers
are taking up
dropshotting for
short session
fishing – nobivvie, boilies or maggots required!
As rivers and drains are subject
to a closed season, you may find in
beneficial to join a local club or
syndicate that own or lease gravel
pits or lakes that you can fish all
year round, unless you know a
friendly local farmer or landowner.
The tackle required can be as
basic or flash as your budget allows.
A 6-7ft spinning or dropshot rod with
a 1000 or 2500 size reel loaded with
8-10lb braid with fine wire trace, a
lure box or 2 containing spinners,
plugs and soft plastics in a small
shoulder bag, gets you kitted out.
As I’m an old fly fisherman, I always
wear a fly fishing vest for all my lure
fishing and with lure boxes in the
pockets and a net clipped to the
D-ring on the back of the vest, you
can even ditch the shoulder bag!
Using this very light weight
tackle is a real joy and I find myself
using this set up for my day long
sessions as well, allowing me to
cover miles of river bank and
explore new waters.
TIGHT LINES!
Kev Taylor‘The tackle
required can be as
basic or flash as
your budget allows’
A 4lb river
chub could be
your short
session rewardKev does the
business with a
17lb pike on a shadGo light for short sessions!