Organic matter

Sometimes you really notice the great outdoors when your fishing, today was one of those days when the fishing wasn't really happening. The recent rain had left the rivers in a pretty flooded state but i thought I'd go try my luck anyway, better being outdoors sometimes than in.
I got side tracked with the fishing not being very good and started to notice the colours and textures of the decaying matter in the margins. Thought I'd try to capture it in photos, i enjoy taking interesting photos and getting an impression of the little things i see when I'm at one with the wild.

An inspiring evening frogging on a dyke..

Disaster struck earlier in the week with my Mrs phoning to say her car had broke down, it was due an MOT but we knew it was going to be too much money to make it worth while. The head gasket had gone so it was good bye to that car. This meant we would be down to one car until we get her another, this in turn means with her using my car for work 6-7days of the week it would seriously hamper my fishing opportunities, add to that the fact its school holidays and the depression started to kick in.

It was a case of having to take any opportunity to get out whether it meant getting into a row or not, so yesterday i cooked her tea for when she came home and tidied up around the house.... not daft us blokes! It worked anyway as i finished my tea i let out a big sigh.... and told her as it was.

I don't often get to fish evening as other times of the day are better suited to fit in with my lifestyle so it was going to be a pleasant change. I thought I'd use the opportunity to fish a small dyke that i knew held a few small jacks, its only one foot deep in most places and never deeper than two feet so i wasn't expecting much just wanted abit of fun.

At one end of the dyke was a large patch of duckweed, perfect for frogging so i cast out and drew the frog back through the weed, it wasn't long till it was taken in a very subtle way which is odd for a frog take. The result was the smallest pike Ive ever caught on a frog!
I walked along the ditch and picked up a few more fish and was really enjoying being out fishing in the evening, I even saw a couple of Egrets which are quite rare. I think I had six pike altogether from eight takes which is also a good return for fishing weedless frogs which do not hold the best for take/fish landed ratio. I was quite surprised when i got a half decent fish of upper single size in such a small water, this is by far the smallest water I've fished before at probably less than 8 feet wide and such shallow depths as mentioned previously.

Theres something about the evening light that changes the way everything looks and i started to get inspired and couldn't stop taking photos, even the long grasses looked really interesting. I like the thought of photos telling the story so besides giving a brief account of my evenings fishing already, I'll let the photos tell the complete story.

 

 

Making the most of the surroundings

Today I went to a spot that i like to think of as my little sanctuary, once you get away from the road your in the middle of nowhere and it feels like your totally in the wilderness. I've seen all sorts of wildlife here some of which is quite rare.
I tend to do most of my fishing here over winter and into spring, as the river suffers allot from weed growth and flooding. Today the water was quite clear and the weed growth wasn't too bad but still suited frogging better than any other method. I was surprised at how high the water appeared despite a lack of significant rain lately, it was clear water too and not your usual coloured water, even allot of the land around was quite flooded.

So the first cast with the hollow bodied frog across and up river was met with a sideways swipe from a pike, taking the frog under and flying over to the near margin, i wound down and i thought it had let go but after abit of winding i felt the fish so struck into it and it wasn't there! I think what had happened was the fish had swam towards me so i was just reeling in the slack and then not having the right angle to strike effectively. Another few casts and a follow, this was looking promising so headed on.
Nothing was doing really so i decided to head for another spot and on my way came across some swans and a brute of a bull.

 

I reached my next spot and after a few casts I had another take on the frog, i wound down and felt the fish but the same was happening, the pike was swimming towards me so i wound quickly and got a good solid strike in but it was off straight away. I fished around that area and had a few pike come for the frog but not take, one of which i was surprised to see come from at least 10 metres away, i saw the water bulge as it started to home in on the frog but as it got in front of it, it gave the frog a slap with its tail as it turned and splashed away.

I then came to a clear area so thought I'd try a 4play and fish through the water, straight away I had a take getting a good view of the pike come flying in and snapping at the lure, but not actually taking it in, still fish less it was turning into one of those days.

 

I started to make my way back and not think about the fishing and just enjoy the surroundings. I recently set my camera up so that i have it in a pouch on the front of my bag strap so that i can grab it easily, theres times Ive seen things and not taken a photo as the camera has been in my rucksack. I looked across and down an opening in some trees where a small dike cut through and noticed a heron sat in a beam of sunlight while some swans also swam through, i grabbed the camera and took a photo. I'm really enjoying taking photos and think I'll add a better camera to my wish list, the one I have is good for what i need but I'd like to take better photos of the wildlife and things i see, my current camera just doesn't hold the quality when i need to zoom in on something. This would have made a cracking photo if I'd have been able to zoom in and retrain the quality.

 

 

 

i was now back where i'd parked and thought i'd have my last 10 minutes the other way down stream, which looked a little clearer of weed so stuck on another fly with a weighted fish skull on that i'd managed to save myself from a blank with the previous day. It did the trick as after a few casts a modest jack came following it in, id run out of room so i had to let it drop down into the weedy margin where i could no longer see it or the pike. I waited a second or two and then gave it a little jig and the marginal vegetation moved so i struck and was into the pike. I could see it was only just lip hooked and after a few head shakes the hook pulled out...beggar!

This pretty summed up my weeks fishing of missed chances, and things would have been allot different if i'd taken most of the chances that were offered, but never mind i wasn't disappointed as i was glad to be out again enjoying it.

 

As I was about the turn and head back again i noticed something moving out the corner of my eye and was pleased to see a little grass snake having a swim.

 

 

 

The highlight of my day came when i got back to my car and took one last look at the river, noticing a kingfisher sat very close to me on a branch next to the waters edge, I knew it had seen me and as i reached for the camera it flew off! as it did so i saw a big boil in the water so went down the bank with the camera to take a look, thinking it might be an otter. it all went quiet and just when i was thinking it must have been  a fish, up popped a bloody cormorant right in front of me, i don't know who jumped the most, it struggled to fly off at first from the shock of seeing me....

 

Go on beggar off ya fish killer!!!

 





 

As i got back into the car i thought i'd take a quick snap of the field beside me, to me it pretty sums up the time of year, things slowly starting to change, and for fishing, a few good months to come!