The Sessions - April 2022
Return to Johnsons
I finished off last month back on the hunt for Crucians on Johnsons after a brilliant end of season session on the Trent catching some lovely Barbel to 16-03. You may remember I had a fantastic April last year catching the British Record Crucian and I hoped to get somewhere close to that again this April.
09 April 2022 – Johnsons Lake, Marsh Farm
With the lake closing on 15 April I took the week off work to maximize the time I could spend there and planned two sessions for the week. The limit on Johnsons is three days / two nights and then you have to leave the lake for 24 hours so I arrived late on the Friday night for my first session. Arriving late gave me the chance of a good swim once the day anglers had all left but on this occasion my first three choices were all taken so I dropped in my forth choice swim, a spot I hadn’t fished before but it was vacant, a good central swim and close to where I wanted to be.
As per normal practice I set the swim up, wrapped the rods, mixed my special little groundbait ready for morning and went to sleep at 23:00.
I was up at 05:30 and it was very cold at -1 degrees and frosty, I put five spombs of hemp and caster on the spot and then cast two rigs out, both on 35g method feeders and the ever reliable fake caster hook bait.
It remained very cold and still up to midday when a nice westerly came over putting a lovely ripple on the water blowing onto my bank. I was rebaiting the feeders every two hours but the lake was very quiet with no one getting anything. The day passed with plenty of chat and laughs as Zen Bojko was stood with me most of the day and was great company, he left at 18:00 and I topped the spot up with another six spombs of hemp and caster, it was still bright and sunny but felt cold, not great conditions but as I always tell myself, it only takes one bite…..
The first bite came just after 20:00 after seeing fish rolling on the spot, it was a Tench at 5 plus but very welcome all the same.
10 April 2022
I carried on the two hourly rebaits up to midnight and decided to leave them out for the night as the odd fish had been getting caught in the early hours. I was ready to call it a night at 03:00 after two small Tench and two Roach but made myself stick at it, rewrap the rods and cast out again.
It proved to be the right decision as at 03:50 I finally hooked what I knew was a Crucian and it was a good one at 3-13, it was covered in leeches which proved they hadn’t really started moving around as normal yet.
Two hours later the same rod went again and it was the familiar fight of a Crucian and another good one at a shade over 3-15 but not quite the magical four but I was certainly not complaining, the temp was -2 and all the kit was white, I had to peel the net from the floor and the weigh sling was solid, it just shows they will feed in very low temps but the feeding windows are very small and have to be maximized.
I packed up at 09:00 once the gear had thawed out in the morning sun, and drove home very happy with a great start to my week off work.
House fire update
In March after speaking to other people and doing a lot of research I appointed a Loss Assessor to manage the insurance claim on my behalf. I narrowed it down to five companies and then started making phone calls to see what they could offer, Simon who co-owns Property Claim Assist Ltd, was very honest and I liked him straight away so after two phone calls I asked him to take on my case. There is no doubt the insurance company will try to pull your pants down and I felt their loss adjustor was doing just that to me, I wasn’t getting answers from phone calls or emails which just added to the stress of the whole thing. Simon now manages all that and so far has been excellent in getting things moving. He arranged for both Survey companies (one representing me and the other the insurance company) to do a joint visit and come to my house on the 11th. I met them there and after a frosty start they appeared to work well together and came to an agreement of what needed to be done, pretty much everything needed replacing, it even lifted the roof up so that needs repairing too!!
While they were working in the house I was getting the kit, bait and food sorted for the return trip to Johnsons.
12 April 2022 – Johnsons Lake, Marsh Farm.
I thought my planning for the week would work well as I wasn’t expecting most people to arrive until Tuesday morning / lunchtime, but after texts and phone calls with Wil the bailiff on Monday I looked like I’d got it wrong as everyone had arrived Monday and the lake was very busy.
I was going to go anyway and if necessary set up with a view to moving as soon as a better peg was available but my luck changed at 20:00 on Monday, Wil rang me to say the peg I was in on the last session was now free as the Carp angler had seen fish and moved next door and he was leaving at lunchtime on Tuesday. That was perfect as I was doing a charity guide session for 24 hours and wanted two swims next to each other if possible, the back-up plan was to both go in one swim and me not fish.
The van was loaded and I set of in the early hours arriving at 04:00 in the pouring rain, it all worked out well and I got the swim set up, put five spombs of hemp and caster on the spot and started fishing at 05:30.
It was much warmer as forecast, the rain stopped at 07:00 but it remained cloudy. I’d had a message from my pal Carl Hill, he’d had the only Crucian since I left but it was his target at 4-02 and he was very happy, so I knew it wasn’t going to be an easy session. After a quick chat to the carp angler next door I put some tackle behind him to secure the swim and felt relieved it had all worked out in the end.
I had two Rudd, two Tench to 6 plus and suffered a hook pull to what felt like a Crucian before 09:00 and then the bites stopped.
Richard arrived just before midday as arranged and I went to meet him at the gate, we loaded my barrow and took his gear down to the swim.
He won a 24 hour guided session with me on an auction set up by Jerry, the auction was for a lovely young girl called Olivia who needed some life-saving medical treatment. Jerry is simply the best at this sort of thing and gave up countless hours of his time to make it happen and raised a lot of money towards Oliva’s treatment, you should be very proud of yourself my friend. The committee at Godalming Angling Society kindly allowed me to do the session on Johnsons, so I want to thank them and Wil for making this happen.
I’d given Richard the choice of when he wanted to do the session, June / July would have been prolific but the fish down in weight, Autumn they are starting to put it on but the fishing gets tougher, or April when they are heavy but the fishing very difficult, he wanted to try for a big one and went for April.
We got on straight away which is always good on a guide session, we got his bivvy up and his swim set up and I had some rigs made up ready for him. I’d agreed to supply rigs and all the bait and had his ground bait mixed ready. I talked him through the rig and my thoughts behind my ground bait mix and I then discussed fish location and how to fish accurately by wrapping the rods and he was ready to start. His target was a 3 plus so I really hoped we could achieve that.
The usual end of season anglers were all on and it was good to catch up with them all, and congratulate Carl on his big fish, ironically he was mutual friend of Richard’s so it was a good start to the session all round.
The afternoon started well with Richard catching a Tench at 6 plus that looked small against his 6’ 8” frame! I had another four Tench, all 5’s and 6’s and we topped the spots up with five spombs of mix at 19:00.
The Rudd moved in on Richards spot and were infuriating but feeding fish attract feeding fish and he slipped the net under his target fish at 3-03, he was very pleased and I felt the pressure ease straight away as I really wanted him to catch.
13 April 2022
I had another Tench and then nothing all night, Richard was up all night with Rudd and Tench……
I rebaited my feeders at 05:15, it looked perfect, warm, cloudy and a little drizzle and shortly after my left hand rod went and I landed my first Crucian of the trip at 3-13, I quickly re-wrapped the rod and got it back on the spot. I saw another roll so got Richard up to rebait, he did but was worn out after no sleep so jumped back in his bag, I left it an hour and put five spombs of mix in both swims. On the second cast with the spomb I had a take which was another 5 plus Tench.
Richard fished up to 14:00 and had a take right at the death that had us hoping for a while but it was another 6 plus male Tench, he’d done well with 5 Tench, lots of Rudd and the Crucian, our two were the only ones caught while he was there so he went home very happy. It was good to meet him and I’m sure we’ll fish together again in the future.
The afternoon was very warm with a good wind blowing onto the Chicken Bank, it looked perfect. Only two Crucians were caught by other anglers but both good ones at 4-06 so there were good fish about.
I had more Tench to 6-11 through the afternoon and evening and topped up the spot with five spombs of mix at 19:00.
At 22:40 I had a take that felt like a Crucian and I was very happy with a short deep fish at 3-13.
14 April 2022
The Rudd and Tench moved in and I didn’t get a wink of sleep, by 03:00 I was ready to give in for a few hours I felt so tired, but made myself re-wrap and recast the rods, another 6 plus Tench followed and this was quickly followed by a lovely Crucian at 3-15 that made it worth all the effort.
A double take resulted in another 6-11 and 5 plus Tench, I then had another I had to wade out to free from a branch it was crazy fishing.
At 06:45 I got that little feeding window I was looking for with two Crucians and a Tench in 15 minutes, the first Crucian went 3-01 and the second 4-00 and half ounce and as quickly as it started it stopped.
I carried on until 15:00 with one more Tench at 6 plus to finish a lovely end to the Crucian season on Johnsons, it was tough fishing but I finished with a pleasing 5 Crucians and 17 Tench. The one worrying thing seen was a Cormorant trying to swallow a big 3 plus Crucian, it didn’t manage too but they are obviously hunting them and will damage and kill them if they can’t eat them, Johnsons is one of only a few waters with true Crucians left so I really hope the club can control the issue so we don’t lose such an iconic water with record breaking Crucians.
23 April – Rosewater
I was going to start fishing Tring but didn’t fancy my first trip in a strong north easterly wind so booked in and drove over to Rosewater for Tench session.
The lake was busy but they were all fishing on the back of the wind, it was warm at 15 degrees so I felt the fish may be on the wind and went to the meadow bank to the double bush swim. The wind was strong and pumping across the lake, but being warm and low pressure I still felt it was the right area.
I checked the spot at 10 wraps to find it clear, set the swim up and put 10 spombs of hemp, caster and dead maggot on the spot. It then turned into one of those trips:
• I’d taken the wrong shelter so had to position the van to protect it from the wind which didn’t work well.
• One of my reels packed up, so I had to take it apart to fix.
• I’d forgotten my breakfast and wet wipes to clean the cooking gear.
• My lighter packed up so I couldn’t use the kettle and cooking gear.
The main issue came to light later in the evening, the wind was causing a strong undertow that was slowly dragging 45g method feeders to the west along the channel, it’s something I’ve never experienced before but completely wrecked my presentation, by 23:00 I gave in and reeled in for the night.
I managed to fish in the morning from 05:00 to midday but didn’t get a touch, the only picture being a lovely sunrise shot, a very frustrating end to the month but a learning experience all the same.
May is looking busy but I hope to fit some sessions in when I can and am looking forward to making a start on Tring Reservoirs.
Until next month, tight lines and be lucky 😃
Big thanks to my sponsors for their continued support,