Pre Holiday update..

I'm due to go on holiday down south very soon so thought I'd do a quick update of what Ive been upto.

On Sunday I had a session wading along a river with my mate Steve, we had fished this river before on previous years and it always produced a good day and some nice fish. We usually get quite a few perch of a very good average size, a chub usually shows an appearance and Steve usually gets a pike or two, funnily enough I've never had a pike from this stretch yet. There is also the good chance of a trout too so I'm always excited about fishing here with the prospect of a mixed bag and possibility of all four species.

The session started off pretty well with us picking up the odd perch here and there, most were small and not the usual stamp we have come to expect, this was one of Steve's better fish and it still put a great big smile on his face, its always good fun catching fish of any size.

 

We also, including myself for the first time on this stretch, picked up a couple of jacks along the way but the majority of fish caught were perch, most falling to small cranks. Towards the end of the stretch we came to a familiar couple of spots that we knew always held chub, things didn't go well though. Firstly the river was so low we didn't even expect the chub to be in the first spot, the water was only 1foot deep, i was first to wade towards the spot and it was too late when i noticed them. They had obviously seen us long before we saw them and it was game over for that shoal, chub are so spooky at times!  We headed towards the second spot that usually held chub and just before we got there I hooked what i thought was a snag, soon realising it wasn't. A nice stocky pike was on and it was acting very strange, it was using its weight to hold back but wasn't really fighting much, not until i got it in close anyway. It then started to jump and eventually the hook hold came away.. bugger! To add to that, when we looked at the chub spot someone was already fishing it! we had waded all that way to get to the glory at the end and it was going to be no cigar today!

 

We got out the river and walked further up where the water changed abit and it generally becomes more trouty with faster water and more features, we expected trout and chub from here. Again we fished our way upto the best spots and along the way nothing at all was showing, even in areas that looked really fishy. Eventually i got a take which i thought was a small trout but it ended up being my best perch of the day and something along the lines of the usual stamp we get.

 

 

That was pretty much it for the session, we caught a few fish but generally abit disappointed with the quality of fishing given the better conditions, i think the oxygen levels being so low with no rain for a long time must be effecting the fish to some degree.

The only other highlight to mention was the nice brown trout i caught below from the last stretch we fished, it was a lovely dark brown colour and matched the water colour really well. I just love catching trout from different water systems as they differ so much which is a result of there surroundings and water condition.

 

 

On the lure building front Ive done a few nice things recently, firstly i was asked to re-finish a couple of lures. the first was a cobbs jerkbait and the other a manta, both lended themselves to a pike pattern and this is exactly what was wanted. I'm rather pleased with how they turned out.

 

 

Along with the pike re-sprays i also did a small shoal of little 3.5" perch jerkbaits, these have been foil finished too. I love doing foils when Ive not done any for awhile.

 

I might get one more session in before i go away, between you and me though..... I will be sneaking a rod or two into the boot when the Mrs isn't looking, you never know what your going to come across on unfamiliar land and an opportunity is not to be missed!