Regaining Confidence

Just recently the fishing has been abit poor with less than good conditions, you start to lose confidence at this time of year as the blanks start to look more likely and often than not its not very nice being out in the elements. Sometimes you can go out and have a blinding session and other times it seems devoid of fish, this is what you have to put up with in winter.

Today I visited a little river tributary where I go to get away from it all, being in the middle of no-where its not often you see anyone else. I pulled up to find it starting to flow back into the main river and quite heavily coloured, again my confidence wained as i was in need of a half decent session.

I had nothing better to do so thought I'd give it a bash, and within 3 casts I was into a nice stocky jack. great fun and it actually took some line on the jerkbait outfit. I was using an old jerkbait I made a few years ago that has always done well in coloured water due to the combination of flash and black, maybe I should make some more as within a short while I was into another jack.

 

 

 

I moved away from the area I started and walked a couple of miles to another spot that usually produces, but by now the river had started to flow quite strong as it drained off into the main river. I spent abit of time fishing then headed back casting along the margins where the fish might have gone to get out of the flow. I had another few jacks one of which was a lovely little jack with a really nice colouring.

 

 

 

I saw many tracks in the soft mud at the edge of the bank, and thought the above tracks looked like otter, there is also a fox print in there too if you can spot it!

 

So all in all I really enjoyed my couple of hours and went away happy with getting 5 fish in the very coloured and difficult water, its funny how your confidence can soon be regained after just one good session.

The start of my winter lure building

So the weather is now turning worse and the fishing is starting to tail off, I still go fishing at this time of year but i do cut it down. Its just not pleasant being out constantly in the elements blanking. If I can find some good sport i will be out more often, but in general its hard work.
So to fill my time while not fishing I tend to build more lures on the run up to Christmas. It keeps the interest going and its nice to dedicate abit of time to building.

So I started off with a small batch of red head jerkbaits and refinished a couple of large Cobbs jerkbaits for a couple of people. I really like my rainbow trout finish and hope they will do well on chew, as both are destined for the lake of dreams!

 

 

 

 

As far as the fishing front goes, I've not really had much chance to fish, but did get out Sunday for a canal session with Paul from 'River Piker' Go check out his Blog and read more about our day out. The canal was quite coloured and it was a real struggle but we did end up catching a few small pike so as always it was worth being out and not stuck indoors. Paul took this photo of me fishing, I think its a fantastic shot, I don't often get photos of myself in action so it was nice to see Paul's photo.

 



Jacks!

I had an enjoyable day out on Tuesday, I've had this week off for half term so Ive been keen to get some time away from the kids and the decorating!

So Tuesday I visited a local canal, everything seemed perfect, the weather, the water condition and the atmosphere. I started off with the fly rod and it wasn't long before I had action from a couple of feisty jacks.

 

I fished on but it was getting difficult to find swims with good access and room for a back cast as by now the banks were quite high and I was having to drop down into the waters edge. I had allot of time left so decided to make the most of it and head back to the car for a swap of tactics. I put my waders on which would enable me to access allot more water getting out to the edge of the overgrown margins. I switched the fly outfit for my ultralight outfit, this canal has a very low average size of pike in the 2-3lb bracket so the ultralight outfit would be perfect to enjoy them. I'd sorted a box of lures out the night before and had include some 9.5cm savagear soft 4plays, I'd bought them when they came out as you do but had never really got round to giving them allot of water time. I use the 19cm ones, but have never used the smaller ones as i tend to use other lures as favourites when fishing ultralight.

I rigged the small ones onto the lip skulls and I have to say they were perfect for the venue, they run at just about the right depth, not too deep that they catch the weed and cabbages and not too shallow, they would run just above the cover which was ideal. it was really good fun flicking them out into all the tight places and likely looking areas and the pike really responded to them. I was getting follows and takes and most that took where connected only dropping a few off. Most pike were of the usual small size but I enjoyed a couple that were abit bigger over the 5lb bracket with the fish below being the biggest.

 

 

I ended up with 8 pike all together but it felt like more due to the follows and missed takes. Looking forward to going back and trying again with the soft 4plays and they will now get more water time!

 

 

 

Long awaited fluff chucking session

Sometimes things just seem to go against your plans, Ive been meaning to get out with the fly rod for pike recently but every time I've wanted to, something has not been right. Anyway I finally got a couple of hours earlier this week, and all though I'd have preferred just a touch more clarity in the water than was available it didn't mean the end of my chances. The sport was still very slow on the stretch of canal I fished but I did manage a couple of fish, nothing big but cracking markings.

Theres another stretch I will probably fish next week that usually fishes better but its a more challenging stretch for fly fishing due to the marginal vegetation and high banks. If its not too cold I want to also give this stretch a go from a wading point of view. I've never waded this canal before but think it will give me a good stance if i just wade out a little past the vegetation, i can also then fish the margin more effectively.

Perch Portraits

I just can't help myself when out fishing for perch, I just have to photograph them regardless of size, they are such a fantastic looking fish. I'm always trying to capture the 'essence' of perch, the aggressive spiky dorsal, the blue sheen on there cheeks or the subtle greens and golds in the body.
I had a reasonable hour or 2 today with over 20 fish, nothing special but a few needing netting. I'd have done allot better if the boats hadn't have spoiled things!
I messed around with the camera trying to capture some of that perch 'essence'

 

 

 

Exploring Canals

On Sunday I was up bright and early to meet up with Paul from River Piker  the plan was to start early so we could get to our chosen spot and be there for when the sun started to rise. So at 5:30am we was on our way, the sun didnt really make an appearance for a good few hours which was just aswell because we had to make numerous divertions to get there and the thick fog in places made it difficult to see.

Finally tackled up, ready to go and the light starting to improve we made our way to the waters edge to explore some new stretchs of canal. Our aim was to fish with Kopyto shads as we knew the canal produces allot of perch and theres always the chance of pike so the kopyto's gave us the best chance at either and there great to work new areas and get a feel for contours and what structure is on the bottom. Im really enjoying fishing with just kopyto shads, its one of those lures that can produce anything at anytime as i've found out recently with perch from 2 oz upto and over 3lb and pike upto 21lb! even trout and chub can't resist.

 

 

It was'nt long before we started to get interest, I'd missed a solid take on the drop so cast back to the same spot and this time I was ready and hooked the fish. We was'nt sure what it was, either a smaller pike or a large perch but it ended up being neither as a nice chunky chub came into view. A pleasent surprise and a good start to the session.

 



Paul was then into some action with a string of missed takes from small pike in the margins, finally a better fish was on and he was off the mark too. We continued exploring and after knowing there were chub about i started casting under far bank bushes and such places that chub might hang out. This payed off as another nice fish was tempted.



 

We then hit abit of a dead patch and didnt see anymore fish for awhile so we pressed on exploring and finding lots of great features that would probably fish better in the warmer months. We then came to a lock and enjoyed some much needed sport in the form of lots of small perch that were hammering the kopytos on every cast.

My thoughts started to wonder towards getting a treble so after we had enjoyed the perch and pressed on from that area we slowly made our way back to where we started to see if I could find a pike and if Paul could find a chub he'd also be onto a treble. My luck was in as after a short while a little pike obliged to make my treble.

 

We fished for abit trying to find Pauls chub but it didnt happen. I was feeling pretty ill throughout the day which was getting worse so it was decided to have a quick go at a familiar spot before calling it a day. Nothing further showed up and I eventually go home for some much needed sofa time! An enjoyable day despite the ill feelings but when its fishing you have to push on through it!

Still enjoying the perch

Any time soon the perch will be a forgotten memory until late spring next year when they start to show there faces again. I always like to enjoy them at this time of year when there at there best and fully fed for winter. I've noticed in previous years that as soon as you feel your fingers tingling with the cold its not long after that the perch seem to disappear.

So today I was out again looking for some perch and again I was distraught to find the water very heavily coloured, Ive proved to myself just recently that this doesn't signal the end but it certainly cuts down your chances of getting more fish. Today the visibility was down to about 4" but on top of that it was cold with a very strong wind that made the fishing difficult and not enjoyable to be out in.

I soon started to get the odd knock here and there and sure enough a few fish followed. I was also lucky enough to get one of those takes that makes you think you've snagged something, before checking your rod tip and seeing it bounce away, a very enjoyable feeling! The fish came into sight quite early and was surprised that it looked a very good fish and also that it didn't fight for that long. Another 3lber had made it all worth while suffering in the wind, it was a very long fish and had it been a barrel bodied fish like allot of the big perch can be it would have been closer to 4lb. I casted back to the same area after releasing the fish and soon enough another whack round on the rod tip and another good fish was shaking its head, sadly it didn't stay on for long and whatever remained of the shoal had now moved off as try as i may i couldn't latch into anymore.

I went on to bank about 10 fish which I was pleased with given the conditions of the water and the weather, the smaller fish were in full bristling colour with vivid orange fins and lit up blue cheeks. Such a magnificent looking fish!