So today after work i went to have another look and took the #3 fly rod in search of some Lunker Bleak! I've caught them before on fly and despite the very small size i find it as thrilling as chucking plastic frogs at pike. Its the anticipation of casting the fly in front of the fish and watching it come up for it really slowly, fantastic.
On the bank i instantly saw the bleak again but these were just small ones, not the lunker ones i had seen the other day, i wasted no time at all catching a few on a hawthorn fly imitation as I'd seen a few about and is one of my favourites for coarse fish as a small black fly often doesn't fail to catch.
I saw a few other fish cruising about just under the surface that looked like roach, then i saw another quite decent one of about a pound which looked like a chub, in fact at this point i was already thinking I'm not sure which they are. It was difficult to get a fly in front of one as there was only a couple and there was allot of cut grass and bits on the water surface that made it a nightmare where these particular fish were. Then i noticed one in clear water so cast over it, in a panic i rushed it and the fly landed about a foot and a half behind the fish, surprisingly it turned at speed and absolutely hammered the fly, i was not thinking it was going to be a chublet by that reaction to the fly. It wasn't a roach or a chub, but a new species for me on any method, an Ide. I was chuffed to bits with that and from what Ive read about them the fact that it turned and hammered the fly seemed about right as there supposed to be quite aggressive. They can grow to over 7lb but at this size it was a stunning little fish.
The fish then seemed to disappear for a while before i found a small shoal rising, i had a really frustrating little spell trying to hook them and had to scale right down to a size 22 klinkhammer, i thought this would be a good choice as there was midge shucks all over the water surface, probably from a hatch the evening before. i thought the klinkhammer would represent an emerging midge perfectly here. It did the trick and i caught a few more smaller bleak, sadly still no sign of the lunkers I'd gone for.
Again things dried up so i thought I'd have a go for perch with a weighted minkie, I found a shoal and had a really good half hours fun catching them on the little fly rod, i really should do more of this because perch go really well on fly gear and dare I say it, its even more fun than on an ultralight lure rod!
The perch started to dry up and i was running out of time having to be back for the school run. i kept noticing small fish having a go at my minkies on the way down so thought I'd have a quick change to a bead head nymph to see if i could catch one and see what they were. The idea didn't work, and i didn't get a take, it was not time to go and I'd let my nymph sink right down in hope of a last ditched attempt at catching something else. I jigged the little nymph back with a very jerky motion just stripping a few inches of line at a time to keep it down. I thought I'd pushed my luck as everything went solid and thought I'd snagged the bottom but i realised it was in fact a fish. The fish tore off and was putting that much strain on the rod and line i thought it best to get the fish on the reel as it was a barbless hook and the jerk motion of the line stripping through my hands as the fish kept boring made me feel like the hook was going to pull. It was awhile before i saw the fish and was panicking now as i had to be on the road to pick the kids up ten minutes ago! Finally i got a glimpse of a decent perch. This was by far the best fight Ive ever had from a perch, absolutely exciting stuff. Finally got it in the net and i had to take a few snaps before dashing off for the kids.
Its a great time of year to be targeting coarse fish on the fly and I'm guilty of not doing enough of it as a few years ago i had a real good effort at it catching lots of species and if you get days like i had today with the variety its really good fun and make small fish exciting.
No comments:
Post a Comment