I don't see Rob much these days. Our eldest son has lived in Switzerland since 2018, and visits home are once or twice a year at best. Even so, every time it happens we somehow make room for some fishing. Last time it was pike (documented here) but this time it was going to be tench. Not any old tench, but Exeter Canal tench; tricky tench. With no more than one night and part of the following day available, this was a big ask. A recce trip was essential...
Arriving around 9 o'clock on a warm, sunny morning, we set off along the towpath. The Exeter Ship Canal gets ever so weedy in summer. Very pretty, but it makes fishing a challenge. The gin-clear water was alive with glittering shoals of small rudd and roach, and we passed a number of mobile lure anglers - including youngsters, which was nice to see - hoping to catch some of the many pike which thrive on this bounty. So far, all pretty much as we expected. And then we spotted a carp. In fact, three carp, cruising slowly past, a foot or so below the surface. And they were not alone. Within half a mile or so we must have seen around 15 carp, up to perhaps 20-odd pounds. The tench were soon forgotten.
Several years ago, when Rob was still living nearby, we had laid plans for a modest carp campaign on the canal. Time was limited, but surely we might catch one or two if we put some effort in? Rob got off to a great start in March 2017...
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| 24lb 8oz of lovely, dark mirror carp. |
But such auspicious beginnings were deceptive. Despite a lot of effort - especially by Rob - we caught no more carp that year. One Exeter-based carp angler we met spoke of going fishless for eight months and counting since his last capture the previous autumn, which served at least to console us a little but was hardly encouraging! Anyway, the following year we focused on tench. Wisely, I think. At least we caught a few.
The Exeter Canal is deep - up to 12ft or so in the middle - and not living nearby we had found locating the carp in several miles of water very difficult. Yet now here they were, brazenly parading back and forth for us. We picked an area to fish, and decided to return in a couple of days to put some bait in...
Once again it was a sunny morning, and once again we spotted some carp. Just a handful this time, but enough to keep the plan on track. We would be back the following evening.
Arriving around 8:30pm, we were set up and fishing within half an hour. Although we hadn't seen any carp this time, confidence was high. Well, maybe hope more than confidence exactly, but we were pretty convinced that our prebaiting would have had those carp prodding about close to where our little traps now lay. As the sun set, and passing walkers and cyclists grew few, quiet descended. Considering how close it is to the sprawling city and thundering M5, the Exeter Canal can be quite idyllic at times. Like right now...
Suddenly the peace was broken by the rapid beeps of a bite alarm accelerating into a 'one-toner'. It was my left-hand rod. I lifted the rod and immediately it hooped over. Definitely a carp. The battle was delightfully epic, the fish going on several decent runs and taking line. Grudgingly it succumbed to steady pressure though, and was soon in the net. 'Got to be a big double at least,' said Rob, illuminating the fish with his head-torch. I detached the net from its handle and lifted the fish from the water. Oof! That's when you know. The solid dead-weight of a fish in a net. Surely a twenty? On the scales it weighed 22lb 6oz...
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| 22lb 6oz of Exeter Canal carp. |
I was thrilled of course, but Rob was as chuffed as if he had caught it himself. What a start! Less than three hours into our session, and already a carp on the bank! A very decent fish too. The last 20lb+ carp I caught was in the Colne Valley almost a quarter of a century ago!
I would like to go on to record how this was just the beginning, and how the Exeter Canal carp proceeded to crawl up our rods all night...
But no, that was it. When it got light I landed a bream of 6lb 12oz. Summer bream are constructed mainly of slime, so I don't make a habit of weighing them, but it is so long since I last caught one that I just wanted a benchmark in case a really big one came my way. Initially I thought the next fish was also going to be a bream. Until I looked at it properly...
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| Roach x bream hybrid. |
This is easily the biggest roach x bream hybrid I have ever caught. With hindsight I wish I had weighed it. Anything over about 3lb is considered a specimen apparently, and this one was pushing 5lb. Incidentally, if the fish look bigger in the photos than stated, this is probably down to the fact that these pics were taken on my phone camera, which I am guessing introduces a slightly 'wide-angle' look due to its short focal-length lens. Anyway, I certainly was not holding the fish at arm's length to make them look big!
The hybrid was followed by another bream of around 7lb, then a male tench of 4lb or so. Rob, meanwhile...er...blanked. To be fair to Rob, he was using very different tactics which were a bit more carp-or-bust than mine.
Rob is back in Switzerland later today, and any further angling efforts on my part this year will likely be solo. Hopefully I can motivate myself to have a go. Because clearly I haven't quite forgotten everything I once knew!
