I had another short session today on a little river i just love, I really do love the tiny intimate little streams and rivers. After fishing there the other day and being abit frustrated at not landing many of the fish i hooked, I thought I'd go back for another try with some freshly tied flies.
There is one fly I tie that seems to be really liked by the roach, i don't know why they like this particular pattern but its caught me endless fish and it usually out fishes any other i try.
I also tied a few really small flies for use on a canal i fish where dace often rise, i like a really small fly for dace as they take flies like lightening so the smaller the better which helps hook ups. This fly is tied on a 20, it could probably do with a smaller hackle but i didn't have any left for such a small scale. I find anything small and black is usually best for coarse species.
So when i arrived at the river i was pleasantly surprised to see that in the couple of days since my last visit, they had chopped the bank side vegetation down. This was going to be a god send, not only could i get better access and fish more areas but it would also mean i wouldn't get my fly line tangled as much on the floor.
As i walked along the river i noticed the shoals of fish were not in there usual place, maybe due to the banks being chopped and less cover. I had to walk further before i found them, funnily enough it was a pike i saw first that was sat just downstream of the first shoal. Just goes to show how they follow the shoals and are never too far away from bait fish even in this small river environment.
I got above the shoal and cast back down to them, today they were not interested at all and i had to go through a few flies before i hooked one, and just like the other day the hook pulled not long after hooking the fish! I decided to move on and see if i could find another shoal that might show more interest. The next shoal included some rising fish so i switched over to a small klinkhammer and started to pick off a few small Rudd. I wasn't bothered that they were small as it was all in keeping in the enjoyment of it, wandering down the bank of a tiny little river with a small #3 fly rod and a small box of flies presenting them in such a delicate and accurate way.... the enjoyment is in the method.
I started to catch smaller and smaller fish towards the end but it was still as much fun. I had a frustrating time with one particular fish, what looked like a golden Rudd, which is a Rudd but a very orange coloured one. Ive caught these on a few different venues so I'm not sure whether someone has put them in from ponds/tanks or if its a freak occurrence and the odd few pop up naturally. Anyway i kept seeing this particular orangey coloured Rudd and i could see it come up below my fly and half heartedly attempt to take it, but could i heck hook the little blighter!
Time was up and i had to meet my old man who was with my kids while i was fishing, we had a quick bite to eat then set off for a walk. I remember when i was a young lad myself and there was this particular wild spot where i once went for a walk with my Dad, in those days i used to love exploring in the wild and seeing wildlife. There was about a mile walk until you reached another part of the small river i was fishing, it was along way up from where I'd been fishing though so i was wondering whether or not it would hold many fish.
I suggested we go have a walk here so i could check out the river. It was still a fantastic place and I had the pleasure of being there now as a grown man with my own kids, we spotted a fox, hare and a few deer all within a very short distance from us, the deer were just sat on the grass looking at us before getting up and leaping away when we got quite close. I was really enjoying the walk and then we reached the river... well it just looked fantastic, a little bit narrower than where I'd been fishing but i was actually surprised that it had some reasonable depth for the small size of it, it was probably only 8ft wide if that. My thoughts soon wandered onto the possibilities of pike being around these wild areas, it was difficult to see where the bank ended and the river started so there was certainly plenty of hiding space for pike. In my mind i could already visualise myself there hidden in the long bank side rushes flicking a small lure or even a pike fly along the inside of the vegetation.
I doubt there would be anything of great size but id be happy enough knowing it held a reasonable head of jacks to be honest. As previously mentioned its not all about size and the thing about this river was its wild location, the fact it would most definitely never have been fished much if at all.
I left with that buzz you get about fishing when your really enjoying it and you have new places you want to try. I'm not getting too excited yet about this new location as it might not prove to be very populated with fish but it will be good to go give it a try and find out....
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