I was driving about at work Monday in the horrible wind and rain and all i wanted to do was go fishing, I have a weird thing about putting myself through the worse conditions just so i get that nice feeling when you get home, dry and sat warm with a nice hot drink thinking about what you caught. Then it all seems worthwhile. Nothing stops me fishing and I'll purposefully go in horrible weather just to prove to myself that I'm dedicated, its fishing after all and nothing gets in the way of that!
I did however have to change my plans, i really wanted to get out and try some recent tube flies i had tied but knew it was going to be hard going with the blustery weather, so chucked my light baitcasting set up in the car at the last minute as a back up plan. I quite enjoyed it actually as a change from what Ive been doing recently and its always nice to get a rod out you've not used for abit.
I had a bit of fun with some jacks and decent perch, no trophy fish but they are all enjoyed, Ive never been a big fish hunter. I don't concern myself with all that, i just like to fish and catch and what comes along is a bonus. I'm not even a fan of big lures, not bothered about going big to catch big, it might increase your chances but personally i get no enjoyment from that, for me its all about the method. I'm not going to knock those that like to fish big, that's what they enjoy so that's right for them, i don't believe in knocking anything anyone else does, each there own really. I used to dislike the idea of drop shot when the craze took off thinking it wasn't for me but its another method and i like to try these things out for myself before condemning them. Its not something I'd do all the time but it definitely has its time and place, i proved that to myself this winter when people around me where struggling and I was giving it a go and pleasantly surprised to be catching in excess of 50 fish in the grip of winter!
I got a bit of a surprise when I'd gone out to target perch on the fly the following day, thinking id hooked the mother of all perch i suddenly realised the fight was not perch like at all, i love surprise catches especially when there trout from canals!
Today i just couldn't resit getting out again, anyone would think i was addicted! My kids had after school clubs which gave me an extra 15mins so thought I'd use that to drive abit further away.
I was back on the fly for pike with an outside chance of a big perch, i chose to fish a 4" fly so if i did find a big perch it would likely have a go. When i got my first take it was clearly not a perch as the line shot out my hand, it was a nice double and just what i had hoped for, i was looking forward to getting this on the bank and getting a nice photo, so i set the camera up ready while still playing the fish. I then did something daft which left me standing there feeling like a right Rodney! Every time the fish came close it would see me and fly off at a rate of knots, i kept getting it closer so thought as soon as it was close enough I'd just slip the net in front of it so if it bolted, it would bolt into the net. Well that's just what i did, with a big smile on my face i went to lift the net up and it was light as a feather. What had happened was id actually missed, but the fish had brushed against the net which unhooked the fly without even feeling anything, What a bloody wazzack!
Spitting feather for the next half hour i was eventually into another fish which also looked a nice fish but smaller than the first but at least it was a bonus after that first mistake. I took my time with this one learning my lesson for rushing the first.
Now thinking i was going to go all out for the pike i stepped up my fly size slightly to improve its visibility, the fly i chose has a little story behind it. On Friday i had been using it and had a decent short session but as i was packing up i must have dropped it, knowing this, i went back Monday thinking someone would surely have been fishing on the weekend and picked it up. They hadn't and i found it again!
After a few casts i saw a huge perch come for it but turned away as it saw me, i bobbed down and recast quickly and it came again, i ran out of water so started walking along the margin and the perch was following but not taking, flippin typical! I thought the best option was to quickly change for something smaller and hope it came back again, sadly it didn't so back went on the bigger fly.
Now getting closer to having to leave i got once last bite of the cherry when another decent fish took, thankfully this one was the best of the session and a good one at that! I've caught a few doubles recently on fly and not weighed any of them as i mentioned earlier, its not something that concerns me greatly, having said that again, I'm not actually sure now what my fly caught PB is, would be nice to know but I'm not going to lose sleep over it when i have a nice photo of a cracking fish as my memory.
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