Adapting for changing conditions

Ive been out a few times just recently so thought I'd save it till i had a bit more to talk about before blogging.
Every year our fishing is dictated by the changing conditions and it seems to get worse each year with more colour in our waters. I wanted to try and build a bit of confidence for fishing in colour because usually your heart sinks when you get on the bank and faced with horrible colour. I've fished in the past allot in colour with mixed results but usually its very tough fishing. If you think about it, it shouldn't rule out much chance of catching because pike still feed in pitch black. Obviously the quality of sport is greatly reduced because your lacking the visual side of things but its not the end of a session.

So I've not had chance to go out exploring too much due to time limitations so have had to stick with venues that are probably the worse for colour than allot of other options. Thats good for trying things out but rubbish when you want to get on better venues with better chances of catching. If that's all that is accessible though its perfect fodder for getting to grips with getting better results in those worst of conditions.

I had the usual things in mind which was to fish slower, closer to the bottom, black or really flashy lures, lures with vibration, weedless lures for fishing along the bottom etc..

Results came but it was bloody hard work, often covered in mud, freezing cold and nearly blown off your feet..

I was starting to get a bit fed up as it just felt like i was putting allot of effort in with not allot of reward, and it was frustrating not being able to fish where i would have liked. I was catching the odd fish here and there, which wasn't bad given the conditions, but i wanted some better sport.

I tried bouncing lures along the bottom with weedless crays, the trouble with that is i didn't have the right weight weedless hooks that i needed to fish effectively, plus I'd prefer a much bigger lure to give a bigger more visible target. I'm thinking of making my own big weedless softplastics to try this theory out.

I caught a couple on spinnerbaits which makes sense, and i caught a few on my shads which were not the best lure for the job really, i caught on a black one though on a last cast in very cloudy water after going through many other lure types/colours which was satisfying. 

I then started to think about it a bit more, and realised there was one method i had been missing, and that was fly. In theory i can imagine fly has the potential to totally obliterate lures. The trouble with allot of lure types is that they sink so you have to keep working them to prevent them hitting bottom or snagging etc, this means often you will be working lures at a varying speed. The trouble with that is that at this time of year pike are hard on the bottom, more often than not i would think they will not be prepared to tear off and chase after something if its moving too fast. Also with the heavy colour if you work too fast your not giving the fish a chance to see, sense or catch up with your lure.

So what does fly offer? well you can fish them much slower often even pausing them and just letting them suspend, you can just imagine a pike sat on the bottom with a fly slowly undulating over its head, i bet it would be hard to resist such an easy meal!

Giving it more thought, my theories also fitted in with a few lads i know that have been catching recently, firstly a mate is catching quite consistently on fly, but a few lads have also been catching on squirrely burts. The thing about burts that got me thinking is that they enable you to pause giving the fish more chance, add to that the enticing nature of the grub tail fluttering away, it kind of matches the appeal of what a fly would offer.

I have plans to make my own pull baits similar to burts but not got round to it yet, so i thought I'd get out and give the fly theory a go.

I can't really conclude anything from my session on the fly because the conditions were pretty bad, obviously it was bad conditions i was trying to get to grips with but these conditions were the worst id fished recently so wouldn't be fare to compare these results to previous sessions where the conditions were bad enough but not as bad. 

I chose a same venue despite not doing very well on it previously, this was on purpose, i wanted something to compare. Despite the degraded conditions and not expecting to do very well anyway, i still had two fish on which was quite surprising! A great result but still early days to say whether or not the fly made the difference or not.

 And lastly, i often get photos which i don't use mainly for one reason or another there crap, but i was bored so played around with a few recent crappy photos and came up with some nice images, a bit like graphic art style.

A new Year begins

As much as i love Christmas I'm always glad when its out the way and I'm back into a routine. Family stuff and kids being off school make it difficult for me to get out and to be honest if theres any time to give fishing a little rest and spend more time with the family its at Christmas.

I was glad to get out in the new year anyway after not really getting out much at all in the past 4-5weeks, maybe just a handful of times. Monday was to be a half days fishing even though the kids were not back at school until today.
You cannot beat that feeling of a fish on knowing its your first of the year and the start of hopefully another good one. I managed 3 pike in difficult conditions so i was really pleased with that, a couple of low doubles and a jack to start me off was brilliant. All fish caught on my 7" shad too, still unable to put them down.

I wasn't going to fish today but with rain forecast for the rest of the week I thought I'd make the most of that small window we seem to get allot of at the minute. usually it times wrong and rivers come up just before your due to fish.

The conditions were not great with only 6" visibility but this was a fresh year and i hadn't been out much so i wasn't going to let my confidence wain over clarity. It was just about getting out again and chucking some lures. I did OK in the end with 5 fish and a couple of misses, even better when i bumped into some deadbaiters and a couple of lure anglers who had all caught zilch!

A new year off the mark and i have so many plans this year so allot to look forward to but for now I'm just enjoying a bit more consistent fishing time. Happy New Year.... (sick of hearing that now)

Rod Testing

Got out today to try out the rod Ive been modifying and mentioned previously. The rod is a savagear butch light 50-80g 8'6" and i wanted a longer handle as i have long arms and wanted the butt to rest along side my ribs and not the butt end digging into them.

So I extended the handle by about 3-4" and also added about 35g right in the butt to balance it better. I gave it a test last week with some duplon grips just pushed on but on Christmas eve i had time to fully build the handle. First off all i tried to match the gold of the blank above the fore grip but it didn't look right so i went to wipe it off while still wet and it left me with a really nice effect. I liked the custom look of of it so decided to leave it. I went for duplon behind the reel seat for comfort and added a trim ring of dark cork. The butt was turned in cork, i went for cork because the butt would be sat under my arm allot and cork would be much more durable than duplon that is prone to ripping and marking easily. I made the butt quite slim to also make it more comfortable when tucked under arm, and finished it off with a couple of rings of composite cork to cap it off to protect the end. Finished with a black thread and silver trim.

Onto the fishing.. well i was up early looking to make the most of it and out in the sub zero conditions. It was the first time id felt id needed gloves and even with those on my finger tips where painful. I always wear surgical gloves under other gloves to protect from getting wet when using baitcasters as they can spray water all over your hands. I'm not one for wearing gloves and never wear them unless i know I'll be in pain as its just not worth being uncomfortable when fishing. 

The fishing was quite tough to be honest and i didn't expect any less given the temperatures but i was always hoping for something big to show up but sadly it didn't. I managed 3 pike which keeps me in the fish and away from any blanks but it felt like i put allot more effort in than i got out in reward.

Chuffed to bits with the rod though it does and is exactly what i wanted for throwing my shads on, which i fished with today and caught on. Only trouble is now I've developed a problem, and that's the feeling of needing to use my shads because Ive made them. It will be difficult to fish with other lures at the minute, not so much a bad thing if there catching for you but if i had varied things up a bit i might have caught more, finding a lure that they wanted. 

All work and no play..

Ive been pretty busy recently and just not been able to get out fishing for many reasons. Its not often i go a week without fishing but this month i think Ive only fished twice. So I was pretty keen to get out this week for a few hours before Christmas came.
I've been pouring more shads and wanted to try some out along with another rod project i wanted to test. I've been wanting a longer rod (ooer) for awhile now for chucking my 7" shads amongst other things, i wanted a longer rod to help reach over the margins on the bigger rivers, sometimes, due to the quite dangerous banks you can be perched on a mound further up the bank unable to get low enough to the water but still within netting distance. A long rod help with this amongst other things like control and casting distance, i think it also feels better with a fish hooked on a longer rod. Another requirement i had was for a longer handle from the reel seat to the butt, i have quite long arms and find the butt can by right in my ribs at times which is not comfortable. I was looking about for the ideal rod/blank when a mate offered me a savagear Butch light xlnt 30-80g and at 8'6" it certainly fitted the bill. I thought I'd take a punt on it and had plans to re-build the handle anyway. As it turned out the handle did need to be longer so i extended it by 3-4" which sat right under my arm and left comfortable.
I got to try the rod out the other day along with some new poured shads, if the rod suited what i wanted it for my plan was to order the parts to complete the handle. I was a bit dubious whether or not I'd catch and having gone so long without fishing its surprising how the confidence wains not to mention your updated knowledge of venue conditions. I find when your fishing regularly you build up a kind of mental note of conditions on different venues and you can near enough guess what they will be like after differing weather, but i had no clue what was going on out there as id not been out enough.
The river were still going to be a bit of a chance but what the hell i was just glad to get out. I was chuffed to bits when i got a fish on and was already enjoying the rod alone which did everything i wanted it to do for the job in hand. I ended up with 3 pike to scraper double size which was enough to keep me happy until next time.

Some more natural patterns experimenting with subtle multiple pours.

I've also been trying some foil inserts as shown below which should give off lots of flash and at the bottom some of my 4" shad with Mylar tubing inserts. Still enjoying it and finding it addictive, the trouble now is using other lures as you always tend to favour your own when you make them and catch on them, but i don't suppose theres anything wrong in that.

Product testing

For the first time in probably years i have gone a full week without fishing, and this has been down to getting obsessed with making soft plastic lures. I'm really enjoying it at the minute and today i finally got out to give my fruits of labour a wetting. To say it went well was an understatement, i started off by loosing a decent fish i didn't see that took on the drop while i had slack line due to the wind, even with the bow in the line i felt the pluck but i struck into slack and just felt contact at the end of the strike, not enough to set the hooks and it was off after a short while. Casting back out in the same swim saw me snag up, i pulled for all my might hoping not to loose my shad despite having a box full, the facilities at home to make endless copies and a dealer half an hour down the road to supply me with the stuff to make them. It gave way and i felt i still had my shad on, but then half way back i got another take and i struck and it was off straight away. When i lifted my shad out i realised my stinger had gone, so basically when the fish took i had no hook on!

Off to the next swim with a bit of confidence that my shad was doing the business and i was in first cast after starting the retrieve, a fish that wouldn't have made double but it was seriously fat pushing it into doubles. I was fishing with Paul who was also trying out a shad and he was in on his first cast in the same swim while i was putting mine back. Another double and another obese fish, they had really been feeding hard.

Paul had a jack and we missed a couple of takes before it was nearly time to call it a day with the light fading so it was time to go over a couple of swims again where we had missed takes. I was soon into a fish and thought it was a reasonable jack because it was whizzing all over with allot of energy, not your usual slow plodding of a big fish, i nearly got it in sight and it tore off which made me think, hang on a minute. With the slight coloured water when it came closer you could make out the shape but not enough to see it but it was a big shape!

Finally in the net and weighed on some reputable scales of Paul's (hes learnt his lesson with scales now) it came in at 21lb 8oz. I'm absolutely chuffed to bits, i could have had any lure on and probably caught it but the fact id not been out for a while and then gone out to test my lures and caught such a nice fish made it extra special.

If you really are thinking of giving soft lure making a bash get in touch with Mark at www.lurefactors.co.uk, its easier than you think! You can buy moulds already made so you can pour your own or go the full hog and design your own. The best thing is when you get that lure that catches and gives you confidence in it you can make hundreds cheap! so no worries about shops not selling them.

Minger saves the day

Was out today with Paul chucking some big soft plastics about, we was hopeful of a good day when we saw the water was reasonably clear. It was an over night frost though and high pressure, despite most pikers praying for cold weather to come i still think they need a little bit of time to adjust to it and a sudden change could put them off straight away. Its a guessing game with pike at times and your constantly trying to work them out, sometimes you get it right and often your left with not knowing if your theories are correct or not.

It was certainly cold on the hands to start with and the wind was a bit sharp too, we soldiered on and Paul was having a stinker again missing a couple of fish. Eventually i found a fish though and it turned out to be a nice double in great shape, but hell what a gammy mouth it had! I think it was slightly pug too but don't know if that was due to what ever was going on in its mouth, it had a few growths and generally looked sore. A shame really as it was a nice looking pike but it was obviously still feeding, i think we sometimes think pike are allot more fragile than they really are. They have been around as long as dinosaurs so they can't be that fragile, often you will catch fish pretty beat up with injuries but there still feeding and thriving.

The day never really improved although i did miss a couple of further fish myself, it was a day off work though and catching a gammy pike was better than working.

Riging stingers

Just recently Ive been playing around with rigging stingers and for one of may favourite pike sized kopytos Ive settled on a rig that does exactly what i want. Basically once you start using bigger sized soft plastics they get pretty chewed up from being in a pikes mouth so i wanted to rig them in a way that they would break away from the stinger out side of the pikes mouth which would mean they last allot longer.

I want to get away from using jig heads on larger sized soft plastics because i just don't like to lace my lures with hooks, the thing that appeals to be with the smaller sized shads is the fact that you only need a jig head and pretty much get a good ratio of hook ups and its better for the fish and easier to unhook. I could fish my bigger sized shads with just jig heads but i feel id not get a very good ratio.

So basically i wanted a rig with just one treble placed in the right spot to increase hook ups, this is my rig below unattached.

This comprises of a treble, a nose weight and a pin, the nose weight adds some weight obviously without using a jig head and it is also screwed into the nose of the lure to basically hold it. I then clip my stinger and nose weight direct to my trace clip, the stinger wire is held inline with the pin and then the treble is just lightly hooked into the lure. When a fish takes the treble and pin pull out and the lure swings away out of the way of the teeth. The photo below shows the rig attached in place.

Of course doing it this way is not essential at all but the little things Ive done work in a way that it works for me, i like a neat presentation, the fish don't care but i enjoy it more if i do a better job of it. I like the addition of a pin with the stinger, not only because it neatens things up, that's an after effect, its main purpose is to keep the stinger inline so that the wire does not rid up the side of the lure bringing the treble offline, why is that important you ask? Theres two reasons, firstly if the treble isn't inline it can sometimes cause the lure to spin or not fish right. The second reason is because if the treble rides up one side and the fish takes from the other the rubber lure can actually impair the hook up so for those reasons i like to keep the treble exactly where i want it. 

I really enjoy messing about at home with rigs and stuff, i have plans to make my own nose weights, allot better than the few i have made so far, these were just trials and trying things out. Below is an example of a nose weight i made using a bullet weight and stainless steel wire to form a corkscrew and spike. After making this first one i also made a few with the line tie at the top like a jig head, ensuring that the lure balances right.

I got out today to give the rig a go and it did exactly what i wanted, i actually a great little session with 10 pike banked and on all occasions the lure remained outside of the pikes mouth, the hook up rate was also very good, often fish being hooked in the scissors making for easy unhooking. I caught some nice fish with really orangey coloured backs, i didn't get a photo of the best of the day, a low double as just before my camera fired off it started to kick off so i was out of shot when the camera took. I then noticed i was being watched, so thought it best to put the fish back than mess about setting the camera up again.

I had a few casts with the fly rod too and hooked a really strong fish that tore off to the other side of the river before unhooking itself.

A 3 Cast Day Changer.

Today was a day on the river with Paul, which didn't start off too well. We had a planned a day on a particular spot but when we got there we had cocked up and could not fish there, i won't go into why on here.
We quickly came up with a plan B and spent a good 2 or more hours fishing this river spot with nothing at all showing, we have had many tough sessions on this venue but you usually get follows off weary fish at least. Paul managed to tempt a jack before we decided we were wasting time here and opted for a plan C.

On arrival we was not overly confident due to the amount of colour in the water, but this was soon restored after a few casts from Paul with a savagear real eel which tempted a good mid double to come up through the colour to investigate right at the surface, before vanishing never to be seen again.
Not too long after i manged a respectable jack to save a blank.

We fished a couple of swims before deciding to fish in the opposite direction and Paul was into a fish straight away which sadly came off, in the next swim Paul had a few follows but they would not take.

Then in the next swim everything changed dramatically, first cast and i get a solid thump and a fish is on.

After releasing the fish i then cast back out a few metres to the right of where i hooked the first fish and another thumping take. This time it did the all too familiar thing of a big fish and it stayed low for a while, then it did the complete opposite and came straight the surface and lept out! Leaving myself and Paul in a little shock, what a sight to see. I was papping it a bit at that point though thinking its the prime time for the hooks to pull. Luckily it held and when we looked at her in the net we thought it could possibly be a twenty. It had all the characteristics, a big head, deep and fat body and just looked massive. The scales however only went round to just 17lb, but we later confirmed the fish to be 18lb 6oz after the scales were tested. A cracking looking fish which will easily make that twenty pound mark when it has a full belly, despite it having the belly already it did feel somewhat hollow which explains why it didn't quite match its looks in weight.

I was still beaming over my fish so let Paul fish that swim out before we moved onto the next. First cast and i was in again, three nice fish in 3 consecutive casts, a total day changer! I now thought it only right to let Paul fish around any more swims first before i had a go just to give him that extra chance of catching. A frustrating day for Paul with more fished lost which probably made about 4 lost fish altogether along with follows from a few decent fish. A classic case of being in the right place at the right time and casting right on the money.

First taste of Winter...

What the flippin heck happened Sunday night then? It went from summer to winter overnight! we didn't even get an autumn. I had to check the date and everything as it was such a sudden change, not just the weather either, even the light seemed different.

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.

Predators

I'm hardly getting out fishing much at the minute and I've that to look forward to now its the summer holidays coming up and kids will be at home all day, great!

Anyway a spur of the moment dash out on Friday to get a couple of hours in while i could, I'd actually gone to stalk some river carp on fly again which i cannot let go of at the minute until i get one. The trouble is there is always something not right, i found them feeding on Friday but they were routing in the mud and colouring the water badly so getting a visible fly in front of them was hard work, i got no interest at all so had a last minute bit of time trying to get a few pike on frogs as I'd also took a frog set up with me.

First cast out and an all mighty shovel of a head came out the water and took the frog, the fish went airborne it took it that hard but sadly spat the hook. I cast out again and i thought I'd got the fish again but it was a much smaller fish, as it came closer i could see the bigger fish chasing it and hammering it. It was a fantastic sight to see predators at work, when it wasn't trying to kill the jack it was hugging it and staying so close to it, even when i got the jack in the margin i was reluctant to chin it as the bigger pike was still trying to hit it!
The cheeky  thing then sat right in front of me not giving a dam waiting for me to return the jack! I thought i stood a chance of getting it as it was so aggressive so slipped the jack further upstream in safety. I then went back to the bigger pike and it kept flying up for my frog but turning away.

Its times like that i wish i had a go pro!

Sand, cement and pike.

Well i didnt think id have anything to add to my blog so soon as im quite busy at the moment and not really got a lot of opportunities to get out fishing for a week or so.
I had to pop out to get some sand and cement for a job in the back garden, i went to put it in the car boot... nackers!...my fishing gears still in. Hold on i take that back, im not far from a river and i reckon i have about an hour to spare before picking the kids up. Fishing gear out, sand and cement in.

I thought id try out a lure i had in my bag that my mate John had bought ten of from china, they came as a clear plastic blank with a holographic strip of flash inside. He wanted me to airbrush them and seen as though they were dirt cheap said i could have half for my efforts. I'd only got round to painting the two so far but they were dead easy to paint, and id just done a couple of natural baitfish like patterns. Id chucked one in my bag the other day when i went frogging incase i got chance to try it out but forgot.

 

The lure worked a treat and was perfect for shallow venues, i had 3 fish in quick succession with the tidy fish below the best of the bunch. Not bad for a little unexpected hours fishing.