Oxford PAC talk and a 3lb 3oz perch

Thursday saw me give a talk to the Oxford PAC on everything other than pike, well I did show one slide of a pike.

Kingfisher and pike

A good friend Vince Williams had asked me about 6 months or more ago whether I would like to give a presentation to the group he organises and how could I refuse. The date was fixed for the 31st Jan 2013 at Oxford City board room.

I took friends Steve, Sir Geoff and Andy along as they had not seen the presentation before. There gathered 30 or so pike anglers ready to hurl smelly dead baits if the going got tough.

I needn’t have worried as it all passed quite well with plenty of people saying how much they enjoyed it. Well they are hardly going to say your rubbish.

Having got home at just past midnight and finding the good lady not at home I had to walk to Sir Geoff’s estate to find her having a wee dram with Lady Renee. Well eventually I got home again at 1.15am.

With the alarm set for 6am I planned to be on the commercial lake at 7.30am. The pouring rain and flooded roads meant I was 15 minutes late. 2 other anglers had gathered including Dave who took the photo’s of the perch for me on Monday. Light rain fell as I made my way to the muddiest swim you can imagine.

Andy was going to join me later that morning as he had to take his car to the garage.

The proposed method was prawns again ledgered and maggots being sprayed to get the silvers feeding. The morning was very quite, as the rain eased the sun came out and shone brightly, not great perching conditions. Andy finally showed at 11.30 looking very fresh from a good nights sleep!

He started to fish a corner close to my catch of perch on Monday. Same methods as me. Time ticked by and soon the lines were twitching and a couple of tench came to the net. Only small fish up to 3.5 lbs.

Dave was having a terrible time with tench and carp too. No perch graced his or my net for the entire day. Where as part timer Andy caught 3 with the largest going 3lbs 3oz and another one over 2lbs.

OOOPs

Sorry Andy I should have checked the images before we put the fish back. Only joking!

So as the winter moves on these fish will get heavier with spawn so I hope my chance of a 3lber this year will come to fruition.

Best shot 3lbs 3oz

A few other perch were caught around the lake so at least they are in there to a reasonable size.  I was pleased for Andy as on his last visit it was his turn to be in tench city!

It’s great to have an opportunity to fish for these fish since the rivers are still flooded and will remain flooded for a couple of weeks. I understand that Willow lake is unfishable at the moment because of the flooded conditions, so my chances of roaching are slim too. Soon I’m off to Cuba and some warm weather just hope the fishing is good from the beach, or perhaps I can get out into the mangrove  area’s for tarpon. Hope so!