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Dave Gladwell writes...TIME FOR REFLECTION & REFRACTION, AND A CARPING CONCLUSIONBack end of the Season often gives some of the very best river fishing we experience. Although still impeded by layers of clothing we struggle in the mud and sit it out in the rain yet the enthusiasm pertains. Then we catch a bream or a roach with the spawning follicles on its crown and it dawns on us that another year in our special Calendar is about to close. Always an opportunity to look back and reflect what we have accrued and where we have gone wrong. Reflecting on nightmares of those days when on the journey home we know we should have done better, or just glimpsed and then lost a probable personal best. Fish appear to feed a lot closer in to the bank and in much shallower water than they used to during winter. Probably the easy answer to this is that with the upsurge in predators they are safer and have increased chances of escape where cormorants cannot dive so well and they can scoot along the edge away from mink and larger pike. One of the more positive outcomes demonstrated has been a return to the success of a maggot over the caster for roach like it did in the late 1980's. At that time it was the bronze little beauty or the Turmeric terror which done the damage.
The oily red maggots looking so near to the colour of a bloodworm and a submerged willow root fibre has been a bonus fish bait. With the upsurge of our old stripey friend the perch not just in his individual weight but the proliferation of the shoal size too, it has dramatically enhanced the capability of this bait. The door has been opened slightly to realise the potential, which has quietly developed. Who would have thought there was 22 lbs of Perch waiting to be caught at Wainford Maltings below the Mill Pool in just three feet of water. Certainly not me but the picture shows what worm and maggot brought on the pole for just that in late February. Individual specimens at Oulton Broad, Beccles Quay and the Common have all come out at 3 lbs plus. Baby Crayfish sought out in their profusion with softer shells and claws, have provided a naturally protein enhanced abundant bait. Really big perch have ejected from their gut whilst being unhooked, claws that can come from quite large crustaceans, whilst at Dunburgh two bigger crayfish which had persistently devoured ledgered dead baits, were fished as a stringer off the bottom. They accounted for an 8lb and 11 lb pike opening up room for consideration of this method as potentially lethal pike bait.
This lovely 20 lb of roach from the Bungay Cherry Tree Ac, third swim down from the gate on the Falcon Meadow, was graced by the surprise 4 lb tench that took, like the roach, those red maggots. Fished under a 6BB stick float on a day after the river received some much wanted rain in early March it was great session. Just another Club venue, like Wainford, justifying the value of the Bungay Cherry Tree AC membership. As the sun shines brighter and warms our bones some of our conclusions will have to wait a couple of months before we can try some out. Optimism blooms in our mind of fresh green grass and flourishing flowers. Days to come when fish that rise with a delightful dimple to inspire. Fresh maggots with a black feed spot, that squirm lively in the bait box, and a large fresh shiny lobworm that looks good enough to eat ourselves. For the Carp angler who fishes shallower waters, particularly Commercials, think about this one. When you throw in a hemp based ball of groundbait, a spod full of oily seeds, or even a hefty catapult of hemp, a round greasy patch develops on the surface of the water. We can see it drift away on a strong surface draw sometimes as it creates a level patch. An excellent example of pouring oil on troubled waters. Now get under the water and make a judgement. See it overhead? An immediate attractor? Could be? This also could be the biggest warning of "Angler About" to well fished for carp you could give them. Does it let more light in than the refractions of the ripple? Is it like a searchlight being shined on the bottom? The Commercial pellets purchased to throw in by the handful, also let off a similar alarming patch. Like a poison placed to repel, the fish move off. Use a less fatty pellet if you can, like "Ringers", and the situation can change. Feed the pellets in a small dribble and reduce the release is another option. Fish get used to noises and can come to them, agreed; but do you think the bigger cleverer fish ignore danger signs? The throb of a bait boat and the repetitive pattern of bait it leaves as it regularly deposited contents on the bottom is another aspect? See, there is plenty to think about, but roll on the rivers and June 16th! Dave Gladwell Can you let us know by email if there are any questions you would like to ask Dave regarding fishing technique, equipment or any fishing tips. www.bungay-suffolk.co.uk
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Like a slow season alteration when it is hard to decide when Autumn begins, in angling there has been a subtle change too. 
It is still the unexpected arrival on our hooks of species we don't expect that can make our day even if it is an extra big cocky ruffe or a late tench.