The pond has been reshaped, the liner fitted and the rock pile moved. The tadpoles survived the transfer process and some have become tiny frogs and left the scene, the newts have returned.
Within days of the pond being refilled midges and other flies were laying eggs and soon midge larvae were in evidence. While clearing some duckweed I scooped out a tiny pond snail. Where did they come from? A more understandable visitor has been a female broad bodied chaser flitting over the water and perching nearby in the hot sun which has materialised at last.
The more summery weather has lured me out for a few evenings trying to catch eels. This has proved more frustrating than usual. Using worms I suffered a session of endless takes, connecting with none. So many takes that I dropped down to two rods for the next session which saw a switch to deadbaits, naturally resulting in fewer takes but one eel briefly felt on the strike. Next time out the deads were relatively unmolested in 'perfect' warm and muggy conditions. I'll keep trying, although the temptation to put one rod out for 'anything that swims' is growing just so I can catch something. Anything would do!
I've almost got the fishing bug again. I'm sure I would have got it back if the three sessions I've had feeling full of enthusiasm hadn't all resulted in abject failure!
The first two were short lure flinging trips that were probably a little early. Although the days were warm the nights were cool and as well as the water not having warmed up I think the pike might not have been on the prowl following spawning.
I don't think that my plan to stick to 'retro' lures, ones which got a lot of use back in the earlier days of the big lure boom, that was the cause of my failure. A good lure then is still a good lure. The pike certainly won't have seen many of them! One half hearted slash at a bucktail spinner from a hammer handle was all the action I managed.
More recently with the lily pads spreading and the water warm to the touch I tried a few hours going into darkness for eels. I knew I'd be guaranteed some action. I was. The usual frustrating action that comes with fishing bunches of worms. Not one of the many takes, ranging from the twicthy to the 'unmissable' run, was connected with.
What was interesting, however, was that most of the takes came from open water. The bait positioned near overhanging branches was untouched, the off-bottom bait near some pads which had produced the first two takes was relatively unmolested. It was the bait cast out to no particular feature that kept getting mauled. I was going to have a return match with the eels last week, but when I looked there were only enough worms for two hookbaits and it was too late to get any more. I could have done some digging, I suppose. That way the pond restoration could have been progressed and some bait acquired. Although the ground has dried and hardened.
The pond being cleared ready for the liner removal.
I pulled the leaking liner out of my wildlife pond last autumn and had intended to get a replacement liner in over the winter but the hole in the ground filled with water which was still deep by the time the frogs returned and it stayed that way long after they had spawned, departed and there were tadpoles. The recent dry stretch has seen the level drop rapidly, to the point where there were almost more tadpoles than water!
Linerless and being reprofiled before the frogs arrived
When the frogs had gone and the water cleared I was fortunate to spot a newt. Then another. And another. In total I saw five newts. Definitely five individuals as I counted them all at the same time. There might have been more lurking in the leaf litter on the bottom. I netted a couple out to confirm the species.
The newts seemed to have disappeared by the time I got my new liner and was ready for action. However when I was clearing the pond edge I saw what I took to be a dead one. Stiff legged and on its back I picked it up and paced it on a rock. I went inside to get a camera to take a photo or two but when I returned the newt had crawled part way under the stone! I thought its eye looked bright for a corpse. It must have been playing dead as a predator avoidance technique.
What to do with the tadpoles? The only solution I could think of was to scoop them out and hold them in buckets along with some pond sludge and leaf litter. Then get the liner in and part filled with tap water before putting the taddies and original water in too.
Rather than tip all the sludge in the pond I decided to leave that in the buckets in the pond while everything settles for a day or two.
The next stage is to finish off fitting the liner, which is rather too large so I might extend part of the pond, before starting to add pond plants.
The good thing about being self-employed is that I can be masochistic listening to England playing cricket in Australia at thee in the morning without having to think about getting up and going to work. The bad thing is that when I have a lot of work I can't put it off. Which means that I have had my nose (almost literally) to the grindstone since the last blog entry and am still trying to catch up with new builds, repairs and refurbs.
All this means that I missed the end of the river season without making a trip to the local drains for some back end piking. Perhaps the tench will be bubbling by the time I can manage a fishing session. Although that usually means they are uncatchable!
Back at the pond the frogs have spawned and are now dispersing. Time to keep checking the development of the tadpoles, which should be fairly safe from avian predators with all the weed to hide in. Fingers crossed.
I knew I was going to get busy, so a week last Thursday I fled to the waterside after lunch. It was a lovely pre-spring day of sunshine with a wind to ruffle the surface. A bit bright for pike until dusk, but that didn't stop me trying a few swims before settling into the one I'd caught from on the previous session for the last two hours.
It was around five when a few small fish started to show, leaping in the wavelets. Pike action was anticipated because such activity had preceded the run last time out. Sure enough at ten past the middle float, with a legered bluey tail on the hooks below, dipped then set off on a steady run. I picked the rod up, wound the reel handle to disengage the baitrunner, felt the weight of a fish and struck. All too briefly the fish pulled back before the bait came free. The hooks had shifted in the bait but it wasn't badly mauled. With the upper hook repositioned securely enough for another cast back out went the bait. Not quite to the same spot, but close enough. Thinking I'd probably blown my chances I sat back in the low chair and sulked.
Twenty minutes later there was a single bleep from the sounder in my fleece pocket. The floats didn't seem to have moved. Odd strong gusts had been causing single bleeps from time to time. One of the few drawbacks to braid is that it is more easily blown about than mono. Two more bleeps and a scan of the floats showed that the middle one was moving just as the sounder began a continuous wail. This run seemed more positive and my strike was met with a sustained resistance.
Just like the fish from the last session all there was was a weight that could have been a middling fish or something better. As I drew the pike closer I felt that sensation of the line plucking over a fin, or maybe a hook slipping. And again. If there was a light hook hold I wanted the fish in the net quickly. A rod length out there was a big boil on the surface as the pike changed direction and came towards me from the left. Then I got her head up which resulted in an open-mouthed head shake with flared gills. Fearing a loose hold for the hooks I hustled the fish into the net and breathed a sigh of relief. It looked a longer fish than I'd had all winter, and chunky round the shoulders.
Leaving the net staked in the edge I got the scales and sling readied before lifting what felt like a respectable weight ashore. That was the cue for a mad twisting and writhing session from the pike. After the untangling session I found the hooks were free and my fears might well have been grounded. Lifting the sling I suspected that I wasn't going to quite manage a twenty. So it was. far from unhappy I sacked the fish and set up the camera for a few self-takes. Before getting the sack out of the margin I wound the other two rods in. There was a chance of another run, but I couldn't face the mayhem that would cause! Two shots of each side and back she went, swimming away strongly. By now it was almost dark and I tidied the swim by the light of my Petzl.
The following day a load of blanks and fittings arrived and I've been catching up with work. Conditions have been ideal for more pike sessions but I haven't managed sufficient free time to make the effort. I haven't even felt like writing anything for the blog until this lull in proceedings over a week later.
Now I'm almost on top of things it's got more springlike still and the pike might well be thinking of spawning, like the frogs in my pond have. Bang on cue the first spawn appeared today, previous years seeing it arrive on the 7th, with last year being early on the 4th. Yesterday while waiting for some glue to dry I went and photographically pestered the frogs. Today a head count from a photo revealed at least 83 of the croaking amphibians were in residence!
I also played around shooting some video footage. Video is something I'm sure I could enjoy making. If only it wasn't so demanding of gadgets, and expensive gadgets at that, to get great results. A tripod or some other means of stable support makes a big difference. I used a Gorrillapod for most of the video and the difference is marked between that and the hand-held stuff. The wind noise from the cameras' built in mics is annoying, so an external mic with a dead cat would be required to improve that. Then there's the matter of pans and zooms to make things more interesting and it's all outlay that makes still photography look cheap! Anyway, this is the result - edited quickly using primitive software.
With the warming trend expected to continue I might hang up the pike rods for this season and break out the roach rods for a couple of sessions before attacking the tench with carp tactics. Well, tench tactics didn't work last spring so I've nothing to lose. I just hope that I can avoid catching carp.
Those noisy frogs have been busy fornicating. As a consequence there is a lot more frog spawn in my pond than last year. I thought it was all over and done with at the weekend, but when the sun shone today they popped their heads above water and started chasing each other around all over again!
Usually they all crash dive when I set foot anywhere near the pond, but a couple didn't today. Instead they tried the 'if I don't move I'm invisible' trick, allowing me to take some snaps with my new 'fishing camera'. The other day when all the frogs had done their disappearing act when I approached the pond I caught a fleeting glimpse of a newt wriggling down into the weed. One of these days I might get a decent sighting of one. They're elusive beggars. Unless they're dead...
Like most compacts my new camera is pretty good for close up stuff, and the results are perfectly adequate for blogging. It was due a chance to photograph a pike or two.
The sunshine was so warm through the back windows that I was down to a t-shirt for the first time this year. Despite the moaning cold weather pikers saying their seasons are over the day seemed pikey to me, and I thought there was a chance of a pre-spawn pike or two. Out of the sun there was still a chill. With it only going dark after six thirty there was no rush to get the gear together and I hit the water around three thirty. I had packed a different lure rod this time. I had a feeling I'd been bumping pike off because the rod was too soft. I'd been using the lighter Trickster because it was the only version I have (having sold my original heavier model) and it fitted in the quiver neatly. A suitable rod for smaller crankbaits and spinnerbaits but not my ideal jerkbait rod. I broke out the trusty Axiom 7013.
I started out chucking the inevitable perch pattern Squirrely in a few swims before moving to one where I thought the deadbaits might have a chance. Before settling down I had a cast past some snags and almost at the last minute a lively scamp nailed the lure - and stayed hooked! With the camera living in my fleece pocket it was simple to take a couple of 'action' shots. With a blank averted I put the lure rod away and sat back to soak up the sun.
Despite my confidence the swim I'd chosen didn't produce anything in the first hour. It was decision time. Head for a banker swim or try a fresh one. The bankers have got boring so, with nothing to lose, I moved to a swim I hadn't fished before and chucked the smelt out to the reed line and dropped the lamprey head in the margin to my left. I was just about catching the last rays of the setting sun, a notably cooler feel in the air, whiling the time away playing with the camera taking pictures of the lure rod propped up against a bush and checking the floats between shots. Hang on. There's a float missing!
To my amazement the smelt float was on the move. When I picked the rod up the line was slack so I flicked the baitrunner off, turned the handle to engage the reel properly and wound down. What happened next was a a bit of a surprise. Before I could raise the rod to drive the steel home line was stripped from the clutch! What had I hooked?
The run didn't last long and I was soon pumping in a decent feeling fish that started to spin. Was it a big early eel? Not so. Even more confusing was the small pike head that popped up. It looked like it might scrape ten pounds, but it felt heavier.
As soon as I lifted the net and saw the pike side on it was obvious where the confusion lay. It was as fat as a pig. Built like a trout water porker. I had a pre-weighing guess that the scales confirmed. Fourteen pounds and an ounce or two. Just like the jack it was carrying a few leeches.
Shortly after recasting with a fresh smelt, and while messing about with the camera again, I heard a baitrunner whirr briefly. I checked the smelt float but that was stationary. There were ripples coming from the margin float. That was all. I left it a few minutes before checking the bait. I couldn't see any teeth marks on it. A dropped take from a rooter? Or maybe a liner from a margin cruiser looking for a place to spawn? I'll never know.
The sun set forming a thin band of orangey red low in the western sky. To the east half a moon had risen high in a clear and starry sky. Time to pack up. On the road back home the gritting wagon was out. Cool nights and leeched-up, lard-bellied pike, make me think there's still time for a few more before the bream and tench rods get an airing.
The world is waking up. Birds are singing all day staking claim to territories and advertising for mates. Daffodils are sprouting forth. My pond is full of froggy activity.With the sun shining today the window has been open and the constant croaking from the pond has been a background noise. As soon as a bird flies over the twenty or more frogs splashily dive for cover and the normal hum of the day returns - for a while.
Last year I caught a brief glimpse of a newt in the pond. Yesterday I saw something white in the weeds which I took for a drowned slug. Closer inspection revealed it to be an expired newt. I fished it out and wondered what had been the cause of its demise.
This morning, prior to the racket from the frogs, I saw the first frog spawn of the year. This being a few days earlier than the last two springs when I first spied spawn on the 7th of March. Also the hopping amphibians have chosen to spawn on the south side of the pond away from the gravel shallows where they've spawned previously.
It's been quiet in Lumbland. The reorganisation was going well. I was going to manage to wet a line. Then I fell over. For over a week I've been nursing a bad back not feeling like doing much, and not able to lift heavy weights to take rubbish to the tip or put my rucksack on my back. Today I've started feeling like getting the rods out again. This is was obviously the cue for the weather to turn back into summer normality with a temperature drop, strong wind and rain. Oh well. I've another week of my 'holiday' left...
I have seen freshly emerged damselflies round my pond recently, which has done a bit to cheer me up. Seeing one snatched up by a passing sparrow wasn't quite so pleasing! I'm pretty confident that the damsels have emerged from the pond. Fingers crossed for a few more appearing over the summer.
With last winter lingering so long it's taken my pond some time to wake up, but now it has it's teeming with life. The tadpoles are doing well, some almost froglets now, and full grown frogs are still popping their heads up. Beetles are busy, waterboatmen and back swimmers are about, pond skaters are feasting.
After two springs the yellow flag have decided to flower, the bog bean and water mint are spreading nicely and some bistort I planted last autumn has taken hold along with some pondweed.
A few weeks ago I spotted the first newt in my pond which was pleasing. The species is uncertain as it was the briefest of glimpses and the blanket weed made any further sightings difficult. After the mallards descended last year and ate most of my snails it's nice to see them making a comeback. It might only be a small pond, but it's always changing. Yesterday I spotted a couple of caddis larvae dragging their homes around. The only disappointment is the level keeps dropping. I fear the pond has sprung a leak.
Looking at the Pond Story page just now I realise frogspawn appeared in my pond on the same date last year as this - 7th March. I'd spotted a frog in the pond earlier in the week. Then two, and then four. They wouldn't let me get close before plopping under the surface and hiding in the weed. One considered itself so well hidden with it's head in some weed that it didn't flinch when I gave it a poke with a finger!
Yesterday I spotted a few more frogs. I counted 19 of them. Another count today came to 23! I'm pretty sure there were a few more lurking beneath the surface too.
Where all the frogs have come from I don't know. But they're having a whale of a time. I hope the predicted frosts don't do for the spawn over the next week or so.
If you fancy playing Spot the Frogs click here. The answer (I think) can be found here.
The fishing line over the pond was put there to keep ducks off. A pair of mallards landed on the pond late last year and ate most of the snails. I've seen one or two snails since, so I'm hoping they'll breed as rapidly as my initial stock did and recolonise the pond this summer.
Today I spotted the first damselfly visiting the pond. A hawker flew
over and away last autumn, but this blue-tailed damsel stuck around long enough for me to get a ropey photo of it. I'm assuming it's a visitor, but it might have come in with some weed as a nymph.
There were also a couple of spiders scurrying about on the surface with egg sacs in tow.
Two nice signs that the pond is becoming established.
With this warm weather the pond is really coming to life. The tadpoles hatched a few days ago and are now exploring their temporary home. Plants are starting to grow - there are new shoots on the loosestrife and the broadleaved pondweed has fresh broad leaves appearing. Waterboatmen are active, and leeches have been swimming around.
I took some time out to sit by the pond and scoop around with a kiddy's fishing net tipping the captured creatures into an old white soup bowl. Many of them were tiny like the midge larvae, others were very active like the leeches. Not having fish in the pond means there are plenty of aquatic mini beasts.
There were quite a lot of the two critters in the photo, in various stages of growth. I knew there were freshwater louses in the pond and I thought I'd seen freshwater shrimps too. The pond dipping session proved they were indeed both present. The photo could be better, but they were pretty lively!
I also found out that there is a nice stinky layer of silt in the centre of the pond, just like you find in a 'real' pond. After eighteen months it is naturalising nicely.
