A 3 Cast Day Changer.

Today was a day on the river with Paul, which didn't start off too well. We had a planned a day on a particular spot but when we got there we had cocked up and could not fish there, i won't go into why on here.
We quickly came up with a plan B and spent a good 2 or more hours fishing this river spot with nothing at all showing, we have had many tough sessions on this venue but you usually get follows off weary fish at least. Paul managed to tempt a jack before we decided we were wasting time here and opted for a plan C.

On arrival we was not overly confident due to the amount of colour in the water, but this was soon restored after a few casts from Paul with a savagear real eel which tempted a good mid double to come up through the colour to investigate right at the surface, before vanishing never to be seen again.
Not too long after i manged a respectable jack to save a blank.

We fished a couple of swims before deciding to fish in the opposite direction and Paul was into a fish straight away which sadly came off, in the next swim Paul had a few follows but they would not take.

Then in the next swim everything changed dramatically, first cast and i get a solid thump and a fish is on.

After releasing the fish i then cast back out a few metres to the right of where i hooked the first fish and another thumping take. This time it did the all too familiar thing of a big fish and it stayed low for a while, then it did the complete opposite and came straight the surface and lept out! Leaving myself and Paul in a little shock, what a sight to see. I was papping it a bit at that point though thinking its the prime time for the hooks to pull. Luckily it held and when we looked at her in the net we thought it could possibly be a twenty. It had all the characteristics, a big head, deep and fat body and just looked massive. The scales however only went round to just 17lb, but we later confirmed the fish to be 18lb 6oz after the scales were tested. A cracking looking fish which will easily make that twenty pound mark when it has a full belly, despite it having the belly already it did feel somewhat hollow which explains why it didn't quite match its looks in weight.

I was still beaming over my fish so let Paul fish that swim out before we moved onto the next. First cast and i was in again, three nice fish in 3 consecutive casts, a total day changer! I now thought it only right to let Paul fish around any more swims first before i had a go just to give him that extra chance of catching. A frustrating day for Paul with more fished lost which probably made about 4 lost fish altogether along with follows from a few decent fish. A classic case of being in the right place at the right time and casting right on the money.

Steady Morning

Today i was up early again and heading for a river spot, Ive still got pike on the brain at the minute and have really ignored the autumn perch fishing this year which is a shame. You can't help what your enjoying though and sticking with what you really want to do, besides its not as if i don't catch enough big perch so I'm not really missing that much.

I'm also really enjoying my fly tying and have been tying and catching mainly on my blended flash flies. I just love the look of them and the pike don't seem to mind either.

The morning started off great with two fish in two casts and they were really good takes, i was kind of up a highish bank looking down and saw the pike following the fly into the shallow margin as if it was herding it there. Then just as the fly got with in a foot of the margin the pike surged inhaled the fly and turned at speed, i love takes like that. I ended up with 8 pike with the scabby looking fish below being the best of the session. It felt like id been fishing for ages despite probably only getting water side at about 8:00am but when i checked the time after my stomach started rumbling it was only 12:00. I thought I'd head back to the car and fill my face. I don't usually take a break from fishing i just fish till i drop, the only time id really eat is when heading back to the car to change spots etc. It was nice to just take time out to sit and have a bite to eat and a rest, in fact i was so content with how the morning had gone i didn't feel like i needed to fish on so scrapped my ideas for venue two and just headed home. Its quite a hard slog fishing day after day all week and really its often not as enjoyable as you'd think, i do prefer when you haven't fished for a day or two and you have the desire to get out.

Rifle Pike

The start of my week off work saw me out with my mate Mart, hes mad keen on fly fishing so it was great to get out with someone that shared the interest. We don't often get out together as Mart works night so fishing time is very limited and doesn't match when I'm free. We decided on a new stretch of water, when I'm off work and have more time to fish i like to use the opportunity to fish places i can't when I'm only able to grab a few hours. Things started off slow but eventually Mart got into a fish, I was pleased at this as Mart has recently moved and doesn't have the local pike fishing he used to have. The pike only just stretched out a little longer than the fly he was using but a fish is a fish! I missed a couple of takes before mart was in again and this time a better fish. I wanted to try mixing the photos up a bit as lots of photos all looking the same can get a bit boring, so here's a standard pike photo and one done in a 'rifle' pose, super condition fish.

 

We walked quite a bit of water with no action other than a follow from a big perch to Mart and a follow of a good pike for me, eventually i hooked up and was glad to get of the mark with a rifle... erm.. i mean pike.

We caught a few more smaller pike and Mart nearly tempted more decent perch but that was it, definitely more hard work than reward, i think that's the longest Ive fly casted for and I'm bloody knackered. Was great to see Mart though and chat about fluff and fancy hooks.

Onto day two of my week off, not sure what my plan is yet but I'm on my own for this one and cannot make my mind up where to go, watch this space...

Some for the moaners...

Apparently someone has been moaning that I'm catching too many fish, I don't really know the details, and I'm not really that bothered but its good to know my blog gets read at least. I hate that side of fishing, all the moaning and bitching behind peoples backs borne purely out of jealousy. I suppose i must be doing well if Ive sparked off some jealousy, not a bad problem to have i suppose lol.
Those moaning probably come across multiple postcode regions to fish my local waters and then bitch about what I'm doing on them, classy eh! Wouldn't surprise me if there also posting the fish its taken them years to catch on the biggest social media platform on the world bar none, then moan about a few photos i post on a small probably hardly even read much personal blog, oh the irony. I'm guessing its either someone local that is jealous I'm doing well cos there doing shit, or someone coming from further away trying to lay claim to waters they don't own jealous cos there shit, either way, your shit!

If your reading, massage your green eyes on some more fish, and check in now and again (probably to spy on what I'm doing if truth be known) as there will be allot more to come so get over it and try harder...

Flash, bang and wallop..

This week Ive been tying some flash flies, the first one pictured below was tied with a whole mix of different flash materials to give it a really textured look, i loved this fly and was keen to get out and try it.

It did the business and i banked an early fish before loosing another off and then missing a take. I was happy with that though as the weather on that day was horrendous, chucking it down with strong gales. I didn't was glad i was rewarded for going out in such conditions.

The following day i went back to the vice and tied a few more but instead of just chucking the materials together i tried to create a different blend for the belly, mid body and the back to create a subtle roach kind of look. I love this fly and it looks great in the water. Definitely a favourite of my flies just recently.

I popped out today to try the fly but was disappointed with the coloured conditions. I suppose at least the flash would cut through it a bit. It was a bit of a struggle compared to other sessions recently but i managed a nice fish in the end to get my fix!

First taste of Winter...

What the flippin heck happened Sunday night then? It went from summer to winter overnight! we didn't even get an autumn. I had to check the date and everything as it was such a sudden change, not just the weather either, even the light seemed different.

I was driving about at work Monday in the horrible wind and rain and all i wanted to do was go fishing, I have a weird thing about putting myself through the worse conditions just so i get that nice feeling when you get home, dry and sat warm with a nice hot drink thinking about what you caught. Then it all seems worthwhile. Nothing stops me fishing and I'll purposefully go in horrible weather just to prove to myself that I'm dedicated, its fishing after all and nothing gets in the way of that!

I did however have to change my plans, i really wanted to get out and try some recent tube flies i had tied but knew it was going to be hard going with the blustery weather, so chucked my light baitcasting set up in the car at the last minute as a back up plan. I quite enjoyed it actually as a change from what Ive been doing recently and its always nice to get a rod out you've not used for abit.

I had a bit of fun with some jacks and decent perch, no trophy fish but they are all enjoyed, Ive never been a big fish hunter. I don't concern myself with all that, i just like to fish and catch and what comes along is a bonus. I'm not even a fan of big lures, not bothered about going big to catch big, it might increase your chances but personally i get no enjoyment from that, for me its all about the method. I'm not going to knock those that like to fish big, that's what they enjoy so that's right for them, i don't believe in knocking anything anyone else does, each there own really. I used to dislike the idea of drop shot when the craze took off thinking it wasn't for me but its another method and i like to try these things out for myself before condemning them. Its not something I'd do all the time but it definitely has its time and place, i proved that to myself this winter when people around me where struggling and I was giving it a go and pleasantly surprised to be catching in excess of 50 fish in the grip of winter!

I got a bit of a surprise when I'd gone out to target perch on the fly the following day, thinking id hooked the mother of all perch i suddenly realised the fight was not perch like at all, i love surprise catches especially when there trout from canals!

Today i just couldn't resit getting out again, anyone would think i was addicted! My kids had after school clubs which gave me an extra 15mins so thought I'd use that to drive abit further away. 

I was back on the fly for pike with an outside chance of a big perch, i chose to fish a 4" fly so if i did find a big perch it would likely have a go. When i got my first take it was clearly not a perch as the line shot out my hand, it was a nice double and just what i had hoped for, i was looking forward to getting this on the bank and getting a nice photo, so i set the camera up ready while still playing the fish. I then did something daft which left me standing there feeling like a right Rodney! Every time the fish came close it would see me and fly off at a rate of knots, i kept getting it closer so thought as soon as it was close enough I'd just slip the net in front of it so if it bolted, it would bolt into the net. Well that's just what i did, with a big smile on my face i went to lift the net up and it was light as a feather. What had happened was id actually missed, but the fish had brushed against the net which unhooked the fly without even feeling anything, What a bloody wazzack! 

Spitting feather for the next half hour i was eventually into another fish which also looked a nice fish but smaller than the first but at least it was a bonus after that first mistake. I took my time with this one learning my lesson for rushing the first.

Now thinking i was going to go all out for the pike i stepped up my fly size slightly to improve its visibility, the fly i chose has a little story behind it. On Friday i had been using it and had a decent short session but as i was packing up i must have dropped it, knowing this, i went back Monday thinking someone would surely have been fishing on the weekend and picked it up. They hadn't and i found it again!

After a few casts i saw a huge perch come for it but turned away as it saw me, i bobbed down and recast quickly and it came again, i ran out of water so started walking along the margin and the perch was following but not taking, flippin typical! I thought the best option was to quickly change for something smaller and hope it came back again, sadly it didn't so back went on the bigger fly.

Now getting closer to having to leave i got once last bite of the cherry when another decent fish took, thankfully this one was the best of the session and a good one at that! I've caught a few doubles recently on fly and not weighed any of them as i mentioned earlier, its not something that concerns me greatly, having said that again, I'm not actually sure now what my fly caught PB is, would be nice to know but I'm not going to lose sleep over it when i have a nice photo of a cracking fish as my memory.

Recent ties

Thought I would stick up a few more recent flies, I've also been really wanting to give tube flies a go. I like the idea of them being versatile in that you can change the hooks if they get damaged, another thing that appeals to me also is the fact that you can position hooks further back in the fly for bites where the fish are just nipping. The best example of how this is done is by Nicklaus Bauer, his tube flies and rigs look brilliant and i love the look and style of his tube flies.
I was bored yesterday so thought I'd knock up a device for my vice to hold a tube and try and tie a Bauer inspired tube fly. As previously mentioned I'm still building up my collection of materials so i don't have everything to do a good job of these but I'm pleased with what i have done. The heads are a little on the small size really this being down to the lack of materials for that job. I don't usually fish this big (12"+) as the waters i fish don't hold a decent number of bigger fish so i don't feel i need to fish big. I'll be interested to see what results i get with them though, whether or not i still catch the same amount of smaller fish, if the hook ups are good and if the material wraps round the hooks at all.

I got out the other day too for a few hours and caught on the bait fish flies pictured below, I'm building a serious addiction for PFF now!

Local potential

Just got in from a local session with Neil on the boat, we finally got round to trying a localish spot we have had our eyes on for a few years now but never got round to fishing as we didn't want to risk wasting the chance of a full day on a venue we knew we could do well on. Our plan was to get on it after work and fish into the evening as it was local enough to do that and gave us enough time to try it out and suss out the potential if any for a full days go at it.

We got set up and Neil set us on our way ready for a troll downstream, i flicked my tail dancer over my shoulder and no sooner had it settled into its path than a jack hit it and we was off the mark straight away. I flicked back out and a perch took it straight away!

It didn't carry on like that but it was steady sport. We didn't want to go too far as we was limited for time,  it was more a case of just trying a few spots, seeing what the depths were like and seeing what potential there was by any fish we caught. I chose to fish the taildancer as it would get down deep, be big enough to attract a decent pike but not too big that it would put off perch. It seemed like a perch magnet as i was getting quite a few which was a surprise as we expected most of the action to be from pike.
I'd say the majority was in the perch favour by the end of the session but we managed a good number of both with a tally of fish into the 30's that was enough from a tester session to really encourage us. We didn't even fish some of the best spots on the river.

The few highlights of the session was a nice 2lbish perch for Neil, a mid double that Neil lost off then right at the end a couple of half decent pike to finish off with, Neils maybe just tipping double.

There's was some real good signs for potential and we cannot wait to get back there for a full day at it.

Last week i got out for a few short perching sessions, nothing big caught but some decent enough lumps to put a bend in ultralight rods. There in super condition at this time of year and even the smaller fish are stunningly coloured.