For Pikes that like Spikes

Thinking that I'd never done a sprayed perch, only foiled perch, I thought I'd make that the next thing I did. I didn't want it to look fully realistic but have more of a bold appearance. Although I'd change a few things when I do some more I'm happy with how they turned out. I was also thinking about doing some exactly the same but with a totally different colour, like 'fire perch' or maybe a white theme with bold red stripes, for this pattern i suppose the choice could be endless.

A fish!!!

As expected, I turned up at a small local river to find it heavily coloured after the previous days rain. I headed back home with no other options as the canals were frozen over, or at least they were the day before! Passing over the canal it was clear of ice but still heavily coloured abut at as bad as it had been. At least it was showing signs of dropping out and that means next week i could be enjoying a few more short sessions.

I thought I might as well have a go for an hour while I was there. I was surprised to get a hit on my second cast but could tell it was only a small pike, not that I'd have been unhappy with that! Its been awhile since i got out properly so i was just looking for one fish to send me home satisfied.
Eventually a fish came along in the form of a small jack which took a liking to a rainbow trout savagear 4play.

It felt good to see a fish and could tell they had been on the bottom due to the leeches. the photo also shows an old wound near my fingers which has been healed awhile, I hope it isn't that red sore disease scar as it looks similar but have never seen any fish with it in this canal. Its a very shallow canal and theres allot of barges come down in summer so it might even be a prop wound.

I missed another take not long after and that was it really. Another month and things should start hotting up as they go heavy on the feed before getting ready to spawn, this means fish can be really confident at times and in the past I've had doubles coming out of the margins by my feet to take a lure in clear water. Its also the time Ive caught most doubles on this canal in one short space of time, usually the doubles are harder to tempt, the only other good time being when the canal weeds over and they confidently take floating weedless frogs..... Yeah Baby!!! looking forward to that again next year!

Ice Ice Baby!

Well after three weeks of not fishing and seeing good conditions go by, I was determined to get out today after work for an hour or two, I'd past a couple of rivers on my way home and they looked spot on so I was getting hope full. In the back of my mind though i was thinking that the small river i was going to check out could actually be frozen over.

When I pulled up i got excited as i could see the water was free of ice other than about a metre in the margin that i knew i could fish over, I jumped out the car and ran over to have a look..... Rackin-Frackin-Varmit! still god damn flooded and coloured!! My terrible year of poor fishing conditions just carries on and on.

There was one thought I had though on a positive note, there was loads of crap floating down and loose weed, so i thought when it does clear and eventually settle down it should be really clean and weed free. Just have to wait for that time to come.

I had about an hour trying a few lures but I couldn't even see my lures myself so what chance did a fish have, I would have to have been in the luck to get something on in these conditions.

In the end I resorted to getting the camera out and taking some shots of the wintry conditions, if your nice warm and comfortable its really pleasant being out in the winter and theres always the thought of that warm drink when you get home!

Even though I'm not getting out and enjoying any fish I'm still kind of positive in my mind as i know eventually things will settle down and I'll start to catch fish again and I'll enjoy it all the more for going through this bleak period. I do tend to slow down abit this time of year anyway despite the conditions. Getting out after Christmas is over when the pike are getting closer to spawning is always a good time to be on the bank with a lure in the water!

A Blend of Hotcore and Stripper Thong...

I've done allot of natural patterns in the past and feel quite accomplished at these now so wanted to go all out and try some wacky stuff for a change.

The first thing I wanted to try was a 'blend' of colours overlaid with scales so the colours become merged but still visible in there own right. So i went for a blend of purple back, red tail and yellow belly, which when overlaid with the scales kind of merges together to give an all in one effect. certain colours come through at different angles to others.

The next thing I wanted to try was a jerkbait finish version of a 'hotcore' pike fly pattern, this is basically when a hot inner core is just visible through outer layers of material. So for the spray version I tried having a hotcore that would glow through the scales in the same way as the effect of the lure above. I'm happy with the finish but i think I'd like another go at it to get what i really wanted as the hot core doesn't show through enough which was my intention.

And finally I was going to do a bait fish pattern with foiled cheeks but thought I'd just do something completely different so just picked up random colours and thought I'd over lay it with a stencil pattern. In the end it just reminds me of a 'strippers thong' for some reason, maybe it will prove as lucky!

Brownies

 

Still not fishing with the conditions being poor, I was supposed to be out yesterday abut it rained the night before and as is the case this year the rivers were in flood again. Its so frustrating when that happens!

So I've been in the shed again and this time wanted to improve my brown trout pattern and make it abit more of a parr pattern. I'm quite happy with the result, I even re-finished a Cobb's countdown which shape really suited the pattern.

Lures for coloured water

Its that time of year when more often than not you are dealing with lots of colour in the water, surprisingly there is a vast range of colour you can come across each and every circumstance has a lure pattern/colour that comes into its own for cutting through the colour.

I've recently done a range to suit different circumstances, a bright yellow tiger, a white red head and a black with foiled cheeks. By far the best lure for colour I have found is a black lure, it acts as a contrast to the light colour of the silt in the water thus making it more visible. As the colour is dropping out and the visibility improves a white lure is very use full which also takes on a shine and lights up the cloudy water, a bright lure can also work very well as the colour drops out.

So below you will see my white red head which has some holographic flecks in the body to give off abit of flash and the black lure with foiled cheeks to give off a lot of flash. I also used a bigger eye on the black lure to act as a bigger target making it easier to find and even more striking

Its all about lure building.

 

Well as the title suggests Ive hardly done any fishing of late, the weather has been terrible and the flooding just hasn't left me with anywhere left to fish. So I've basically been hammer and tongs with the lure building. Only got a couple finished at the minute but more to come, just thought I'd add some photos as with the lack of fishing I don't have much to blog about at the minute. I'd bought some holographic flecks a while ago that i found in a shop, i often scout around shops for bits and bobs i can use in my lure and fly building. I decided to give the flecks a go, I wanted to try a tiger pattern lure in a different colour scheme so used the flecks for the belly area. I could have done to have put a couple of clear coats over the flecks before spraying the lures but rushed into it with just the one coat. The trouble is the flecks don't sit flat in all areas so after one coat i had to sand the bits smooth that were sticking out, this is when i should have coated them again. You can't really notice any problems with the finish but being a perfectionist I know when i could have done something just that small percent better. around the edges of the eyes would have been abit crisper but never mind you pick up these little things as you try new stuff. I'm quite happy with this pattern its a very bright luminous yellow that should show well in dim light conditions. I found it really difficult to photograph the flecks, it was quite a sunny day so it was either bright sun or shade to take the photos in, I hope you can make them out on the underneath.

 

 

I also had an Aad Dam 'Mini Toppie' that someone wanted re-finnishing in a tiger pattern so I ran this at the same time as the other two.