The day comes good in the end.

I was out today with a couple of my fishing mates, we had decided to make a trip of it and go somewhere none of us had been before. Ideally we would have fished rivers but seen as though 'yet again' the weather has not been kind to us fishermen, it had to be a still water.

We decided to go for a reservoir so that there was plenty of water to hopefully keep 3 of us happy for the day. When we arrived we were all pretty hacked off to see it very coloured and the confidence soon drained out of us.

After some pondering and umming and arring we got back into the cars and headed for 'plan b' another large lake. This looked abit more promising, it had colour but nowhere near as bad. We set off round the lake fishing jerkbaits and spinnerbaits but alas we just couldn't find any fish, while all the time the weather was getting worse. I did however manage a PB sapling protector!

 



The decision was made to go back to the cars and think of a 'plan c' after much divulging, cream cracker and jelly snake eating, we just could not come up with anything worth while for the time we had left. Myself and Neil headed for a local venue while we said our good byes to Paul who lived in the opposite direction so made the decision to call it a day.

On the way back up the motorway the rain got heavier and time was running out, Neil decided to go back to a warm house instead and to be honest I couldn't blame him. The only reason I plodded on was because I've been in a nice warm house all week!

I headed off alone to a local spot that I've never blanked on yet so was hoping if i could just get a fish I'd at least go home feeling like the diesel driving around the county wasn't a total waste.
I was happy to see the small river in surprisingly good nick with only abit of colour, but this was not a problem as recent visits had proved.

I fished up the stretch a way with jig flies having not a touch at all, and out of a little bit of desperation and remembering something i had read somewhere about pike often homing in on surface lures better in coloured water, i changed to a hollow body frog and tried this theory out.
Would you believe it, first cast and WHAM! I struck at the right time and felt a good resistance, after a very spirited fight I slid the pike over the net, it was a cracking pike and would have been touch or go whether or not it would have made double figures. sadly as i was setting my camera up, the pike had made an escape from my net which i had left the fish in the margins momentarily to rest, Bugger no cigar!

I cast back out for my second cast, this time in the other direction, and WHAM! another good fish hammers the frog, i feel the line and slowly reel to feel the sensation of a chewing pike but as i reel down to set the hooks i realise the fish has let go, abit slow on that one mi thinks!

I carry on with the frog 'obviously' and its not long before I'm in again, this time i get it right again and strike at just the right time, another great scrap and landed, this time with a mug shot to show for it. Not as big as the other two but i was now enjoying the bit of action I was finding.

I then had abit of a quiet spell before i was in again and another fish landed, i was getting a good hook up rate with the weedless frogs as you don't tend to hook as many as you get takes from. The pike were really hammering the frogs today which i think helped, and they were also giving a very good account of themselves, i was really enjoying the fights they were giving me.
This fish was slightly better and a really nice colour with orangy fins.

The action then slowed off again for awhile before i spotted some bait fish scattering, i headed straight for that area and cast across the commotion, half way across and WHAM! what a take! this fish leaped half out of the water smashing the frog and i could see it was a very nice one, i wondered if it was the same fish I'd had on from the same area a few weeks back that was estimated a mid double, if it was it had eluded me again, it went crazy as it went down with the frog thrashing its tail as it went back down, sadly the frog pulled out!

I had another cast across the area and a small pike had a go but was too small to take the frog! Apart from a few water bulges where fish had started to bow wave at the frog and then turn away, that was pretty much it. Happy that I made something of the day i headed back home.

Pike Fluff

Not much fishing being done recently so i've been at the vice again, heres a few with a photo of there profile. Will be getting out tomorrow for the pike and hoping the venues will suit the fly.

Pike Fluff

Heres a few pike flies I tied last night, I tried a different way of tying which im really pleased with as it gives a nice plump body profile from underneath yet at the same time a nice thin tapering tail. The first 3 are tied with a 'hot core' for added effect, looking forward to getting out soon and giving them a go.

 

 

Bad Timing

I had planned to fish a river on ultra light lures for the chub and trout, and having stopped to check on the river late last week and see what good condition it looked, i was hopeful of a good session.
The story of my summer has really been one of missed opportunities, having such a poor year for weather, I have just not been able to make the most of the rivers in the limited time in between the dreadful spells of weather. This session was again, one of many, that i had looked forward to, yet the timing of the weather had meant that on the day I was to fish the conditions of the rivers had taken a turn for the worst. Its so frustrating when you see a small window of opportunity when the rivers are looking really good, yet your not able to fish them.

So after getting down on the bank and wading into the river it was clear to see that although there was reasonable visibility, there was a fair bit of colour and of course extra water and depth. My mate Pete that was fishing with me started off well with 2 decent trout in the first 3 casts! I thought we were about to embark on a fantastic fishing session. We moved up the river and as i was retrieving across a shallow bar in the middle i felt a strong pull on the line and saw the unmistakable white lips of a chub close and move away, a shame it wasn't taking my lure with it.

We waded on and things never really improved at all, fishing all the likely looking water, which i have to say we were spoilt for choice on features to fish.

 

Later on in the session i had another strong pull which again felt like a chub take but again it was a quick snatch and away without making good contact.

 

It wasn't until the end of the session that i manged to save a blank by taking a couple of nice trout and losing a third off after momentarily playing the fish.

 

Just to finish the river session off it decided to absolutely chuck in down, typical! The water was already showing signs of colouring up more so we decided to move on and spend the last bit of time at a canal spot.

Having reached the canal and seeing it quite heavily coloured, I wasn't very hopeful at all, again the fishing was to suffer from the relentless conditions this year. We struggled on into the evening light with only two modest perch to show for it.

 

A tale of bad timing weather wise, but fishing in the rain with not much hope of catching sure beats sat indoors!

 

Ultra Lights ready for the river

Here's some ultra light lures i just finished ready for a trip out on Tuesday, I'll hopefully be able to temp some chub and trout on them if the weather holds off and the river is wadeable.

Catching on fluff

Last week I spent a few sessions on a small local river that i had not visited for some time due to the ongoing deluge that continues effecting the fishing conditions of most of the rivers.
I had a session early in the week enjoying some action with hollow bodied floating frogs, throughout the summer i usually spend allot of time fishing floating frogs, but this years weather has effected the weed growth that helps really bring frog fishing into action. I've not really had as much success this year and will probably not continue to do so now being at the end of summer and any real chance of prolific weed growth diminishing.

The best fish fell to a jig fly which was a nice fish and made up for a bigger one i had lost off earlier on the frogs.

Later in the week I went back to the same place to try my luck with the fly rod, I've not fished the pike fly outfit for awhile so was keen to get some practise in after spending allot of this year on the opposite scale of the fly fishing weight rating with a 6ft #3.

I worked the river up the stretch with not allot happening before switching to a slightly weighted tinsel fly and working my way back, something worked as i started to get interest in the form of takes and follows. It was either the fly that worked or the fact that i was now fishing downstream of myself, because of the wind direction I had previously been walking and casting behind myself downstream. This could have meant that because i had walked past where i was casting to, i could have made my presence known to any fish I had passed.

I manged to land about 4 fish that were all very small, but at the same time very nice little pike with nice colours and markings.

The fish below had unusual damage to it, possibly due to bad handling as the river is situated close to urbaness.

Welcome to my Blog

Welcome to my Blog, in this blog you can follow my pursuits in catching fish on lures and flies. You can also follow my progress in the building of my own lures and flies as i produce them and fish with them, these range from jerkbaits for pike to ultralight lures for many smaller fish species, along with flies from tiny nymphs upto the more outlandish pike flies.

I'll be updating my blog as often as i can and continuing to re-design it as i go on to keep it fresh and interesting.... Hope you enjoy.... cheers

MAtt