Winter Perch

Hello,

Sometimes with fishing I get a "feeling" of what I should be doing. For the last ten years or so I have been concentrating on pike fishing with lures almost exclusively, but this year I have been getting to grips with fly fishing and thoroughly enjoyed it. I think having a change from chucking big lures around has done me good. Don't get me wrong I still love lure fishing but locally there is not too much to go at. So, only having a spare three or four hours I didn't fancy a long drive or bothering the local jack population....what else could I do....break out the old gear and go for a short winter perch session.

Only having a short amount of time I didn't want to be lugging loads of gear about, so armed with an old match rod ( the first propper rod that was ever bought for me some 30 yrs ago ) and my first ever center pin reel, the ever reliable "Arnold kingpin" which has been running like perpetual motion for the last 20 years, a small rucksack with a few bits in I headed off for a local pond that is only a matter of minutes from my house.

Setting off, the thermometer showed a chilly 3 degrees celsius and the day was bright and calm. After a short drive I arrived at the venue to find it empty...perfect.

The set up could not be simpler a large hook (Size 6)  then a small gap of about 6 " to the shot which were all bunched here, with just enough to sink the float which was a small crystal waggler. Some may think a size 6 excessive for perch fishing but if a small hook is used with worms it can easily become masked and the larger hook doesn't seem to put the perch off. The float was set slightly over depth and fished "Lift Method" style.

After getting the gear sorted I baited up with a good handful of pinkies and half a dozen worms that were broken up to get the perch rooting around. As the lake was empty I decided to bait another swim up in the same way....just in case.

On went the first worm and before long the float buried, expectations were high but on the strike I knew it was only a tiddler, never mind at least that was the blank avoided which is always a possibility this time of year.

On with another worm and out again with the rig...same result float under and a slightly better perch on. This continued for the next half an hour or so, and though it was good sport these were not really the stamp of perch I was after. One of the problems with worm fishing is that you can get done over by smallish perch before the biggies get a chance to bite. I decided to bulk the bait up and put three or four good sized worms on the hook tipped of with a pinkie to keep the hook point clear.

A few slightly better perch followed with the best one going 1lb 10oz, bites were coming thick and fast with a steady string of perch coming to the net.

Then I started to miss a few finicky bites....a slight change back to a smaller single worm hook bait and the culprit was a roach, followed soon after by another then another....so much for fishing fine for roach in winter, These roach were taking size 6 hooks on 6lb line.  Time for a move to my reserve swim.

A quick top up of bait in the new swim and in with the rig, bites were not quite as frequent here but I was still catching every 5 or 10 minutes and the fish were a slightly better average size with another two going exactly 1lb 10 oz... although these are quality fish and put a nice bend in the match rod they still were not what I was looking for ...a 2lber was my target.

The weather had started to turn a little it was warmer now but with that the wind and rain had picked up and my small crystal waggler was being dragged under by the tow. Another weight was added to the rig and a swap to a slightly longer float...sorted. The steady sport continued as I was building a nice catch of perch but still no monsters. Time was also growing short as I had to be back home just after lunch for child minding duties:)

The pattern continued feed a few pinkies and two or three broken worms, rig in, float under, perch on. I knew that there would be the odd better one knocking about but the number of perch in the swim was making catching a specimen a bit of a lottery.

With about 10 minutes of time left I hit into something that felt a little more solid. The rod hooped over nicely and I even had to give a little line (grudgingly) as the fish hit the surface I thought it might just go two pounds, it was a stocky fish with a full belly.

However the scales refused to budge past 1lb 14oz. Another drop in with the hope of a last minute 2lber was in order but another fish of about 1lb followed..by this time I was risking the wrath of the missus, so decided to call it a day.

I had enjoyed a good session, I reckon I fished for about three and a half hours and had three perch over 1.5lb with one not far of 2lb. These fish were punctuated with a good catch of other perch that averaged about three quarters to a pound. I didn't use a keepnet but would estimate that I had well over 10lb of winter perch, not bad for a short session. Next time out I think I will try a more selective approach to catch a 2lb plus fish rather than the somewhat scatter gun method of worm fishing.

bye for now
Mark

Reel Fishing

Well the fishing has sadly started to slow down for me with a return to work, after a great summer of fishing ( great as in enjoyable, not meaning massive amounts of monster fish ) and getting out very regularly my time is now somewhat limited.

I have still managed to get out a couple of times with the warm end to summer and start of autumn.
First up was a trip to a still water trout fishery with a friend of mine called Bob. We fished at Pennine fisheries and both managed to catch a few fish on dry flies. My best was a rainbow of exactly 6lb which gave a real good scrap.

The most pleasing fish however was a nice brown trout that I stalked out of the margins. Watching the trout take the fly in the shallow clear water after, what for me, was an accurate cast was great fun.
it wasnt the biggest fish of the day but the way I caught it felt good.

Other than this stillwater fishing I found myself spending more and more time on the river chasing trout and grayling with the fly rod, I have to admit being from a Coarse fishing back ground I thought that game fishing was a bit snooty and not for me. Well if you know me you will know that snooty wouldnt be a word to describe me. However, I have really enjoyed the fly fishing this summer it has been a revelation and has given me a new branch of the sport to explore. Its great because after fishing since being a little chap things can become a bit samey but with the fly fishing everything is new and I have loads to learn, it has to be said that it has totally rejuvenated my fishing.

I have even managed to catch a few in my first full season on the fly, my casting still leaves a lot to be desired but despite this a few nice fish have been taken.

The trout have been a little disappointing and I have not managed anything sizeable from the river, just a few small browns.

Even though they have only been small they are stunning little creatures and its nice catching them in some beautiful locations.

I have fared rather better with the grayling and caught these quite regularly, with some decent ones thrown in.

I even manged to give my underwater camera a go, I wont post too many pics as I did catch quite a few decent grayling, but here are a few underwater pics.

and away she goes:-

One from a very clear river, no wonder I spook them.

That pretty much sums up the summer, a few more trips are planned with the fly rod and then I think I will try for some Pike and Perch. I am even getting the feeling that I may even break out the barbel gear.

bye for now
Mark

Last of the summer wind

Hello,

I was reluctant to pile too much into one post, so have been spreading out some of the fishing I had whilst away over the summer with the family. However if I carry on at this rate I feel that I will never get back up to date with the blog. The problem with typing this stuff up a few weeks later is some of the memories and details get a bit sketchy. Nevertheless Im going to try to summarise the rest of the holiday in this one post: here goes.

After the red hot weather and slow pike fishing it was back to the fly rod and down to the river. I am still too heavy handed with the fly casting but I suppose its hard to switch back to the delicate casting of a 3# after hoying 10oz jerkbaits round for 8 hrs the day before. Needless to say I started off having a bit of a mare.   Fly in long grass behind me = fly gone and set up again. Fly in tree on far bank = 3 flies gone and set up again. Rogue boulder = face plant in river and bent thumb. Creep up to slow glide with fish rising, heavy splashy cast = mass exodus of fish. I have had days were things go wrong but this was getting beyond a joke. I did finally manage to hook something that felt decent in some fast flowing water (to be fair most things feel decent in fast water on a 3 weight) I saw a nice flash then the hooks pulled whizzed past my ear resulting in a gargantuan tangle - set up again.

After continuing to get a good kicking from the fish and the river I was begining to think enough's enough. I persevered along the river and caught a glimpse of a little Egret. Now I know its nothing to do with fishing but its the first one I had ever seen so decided to try and get a snap. David Bailey I am not but it is something that I will remember. I managed to get reasonably close before it flew off.

That brightened things up a bit anyway. I carried on to fluff a few chances on the dry fly but there were not that many fish moving, the river was still spectacularly low and clear. despite it being a bit of a shocker fishing wise I decided that if i packed up I definitely would not catch so carried on regardless.

As I started to fish another piece of fast water I got a solid take....please please please dont come off. The fish felt like a goodun and headed upstream. The light rod was bending under the strain and I reluctantly had to give line as I was concerned the 3lb tippet might part. After a great little battle I manged to subdue the fish....it was a cracking looking Grayling.

It was a proper handful as you can see, and really thickset across its shoulders. The only problem when fishing alone is trying to get a decent picture, unfortunately this one doesnt really show off what a pristine fish this was. After the fish was held in the flow for a few moments it swam away strongly to fight another day.
Despite the earlier catastrophes this one showed that when things are going a "bit tango uniform" if you stick at things even a bad day can turn around.

Having got the fly fishing out of my system for the time being I was curious to see if the river held any pike. I checked the rules and lure fishing was allowed, so the next day I headed off with a light jerkbait rod and some smallish lures. I tried a few of the pikey looking deep areas but nothing was about. The river is predominantly low and clear so I was trying out any spots where I couldnt quite make out the bottom. There aren't that many on the stretch so this was only to be a quick session before going out with the family. As I got to one of the bends where there is deep water on the inside, I lobbed a close under arm cast and let it swing in under the trees. As the lure started to sink it got whacked by a nice golden coloured torpedo with teeth. With the reel locked up the fight was more frantic and splashy than spectacular and the pike was soon in the net.

It wasn't a monster but quite chunky and a lovely buttery yellow/gold colour. I was quite pleased to have caught one in such a short time. I tried a few more holes without any further joy so got back to the family to score some much needed brownie points.


A few days with no fishing followed (shock horror) before I decided to go up to a little rainbow trout lake in the hills. Its only a small fishery, but its a lovely place to be for a few hours in the evening.

Some of the places I get out to with the fishing really are breath taking and fish or no fish its a pleasure to be out and enjoy such places.

As you can see the conditions were flat calm but there were a few bows topping. Out with some weird looking dry fly that I tied and before long I started to get a bit of interest. A nice head and shoulders take was met with a lift of the rod and the first fish of the session was on. These fish are not that big when you compare them to Pike, but on the fly rod they give a terrific account of themselves and make for some nice rod bending action.

Check out the rod in this picture....

And the culprit.

Soon after another trout of a similar size made the same mistake as its pal by slurping in one of my dries. I had a couple more nice rainbows of a similar size before calling it quits for the session.


Despite trying to catch up Iv still got a bit more to report from the summer, so I have failed miserably to get back up to date, but I feel that the post is getting a bit long, and if I am getting bored writing it....well you probably haven't even got this far.
Bye for now more holiday catch ups to follow shortly.
cheers Mark

Summer Pike

Hello Again,

I am still trying to catch up with the fishing from over the summer on the blog, so here comes another update from August.

 With trying to get to grips with the fly fishing, the pike have been playing second fiddle of late. I have been spending a fair bit of time fly fishing on the streams and rivers of Wales, but decided that a nice day on the boat was in order.

A late start saw me launch around lunchtime, the weather had been very hot for the last few days so I had an idea that the fishing may not be quite so hot.....but when I get the feeling to fish a certain way that's what I do. Lures were to be the method of choice....again.

To be honest the fishing was very slow, I had a couple of half hearted follows but no proper takes. Even these follows started to fade away to almost non existent action. I usually watch just behind the lure when fishing like this, keeping an eye out for any signs of pike, follows, swirls or flashes sometimes give them away if you look just beyond the lure.

After a few fruitless hours my concentration had started to drift a little, instead of being "on guard" for a hit or even any signs of pike I found myself instead watching the buzzards circle in the distance, paying more attention than usual to the jets flying overhead, basically just going through the motions with the lure.....not that it really mattered. it was a beautiful day in a equally beautiful place. Sometimes when the action is slow I can get a tad frustrated but today it didnt seem to matter.

In one of the moments of just enjoying being there, I was bringing the lure out from the margins over the shelf and back towards the boat. I was using a home made lure that only fishes about 1ft deep, and not really paying that much attention to the fishing. As the lure neared the boat (situated in about 25ft) it  got absolutely WALLOPED just when I was at my most relaxed, this sent an electric shock through my body that gave me a right wake up. There was a big swirl on the surface and before I even had chance to strike the tip of the rod was dragged savagely towards the surface of the lake with what felt like a decent pike.
A short fight followed before I netted the pike. It was a cracking fish, really healthy looking and in pristine condition..I didnt weight the pike as it wasnt quite as big as I first thought when it woke me from my semi conscious state, but it would have made mid double figures I guess.

A quick self take or two followed, then the pike was gently lowered into the water before she made an instant recovery and sped off back to the depths, giving me a good soaking on her way.

I know that I should have a life jacket on and normally do so, but it was a baking hot day, the lake was flat calm and I was only a matter of yards away from shallow water and the bank side.

The fishing continued to be hard work after that. I manged one more Pike that may have made about 6 or 7 pounds on the same lure but I just unhooked the fish over the side of the boat, and didn't get a picture.
So a total of two fish for quite a few hours fishing was not the best of results, but it was nice to get another good double on the home made lure. Despite the lack of numbers of pike, it really was a lovely day just to be out alone drifting around in the boat....the fish were just a bonus.

Grayling on the dry fly

After the last update, where I was taught a lesson in lure fishing by an 8 year old, I thought some R&R alone was in order, so I took myself off to try a little more fly fishing on a small stream about a mile away from where we were staying.

It really is a lovely spot and I very rarely see anyone else there, up to now I have only caught very small fish in here, but it is a nice spot to spend a couple of hours and gives me chance to practice (much needed) a bit more with the fly rod.
I was using my 3wt 10 ft rod, I find this more difficult to cast with than my other rods but really enjoy playing these smaller fish on this light rod, as even the smallest fish put a bit of a bend in it.

In the first pool I managed a couple of small Grayling.

Even though they were on the small side, in the fast water, on the light outfit they still managed to put up a spirited if short display. The second fish soon followed, so with the blog in mind I decided to get a picture or two whilst the going was good.

Having no one to show me what Im doing with the fly fishing, every trip is pretty much a learning experience at the minute. I just try different things until I start catching. The method I was using here, was just sort of letting the fly hold station in the fast water and then inch it back up the pool before letting it swing around in the flow. After a few seconds another short pull upstream and let the fly settle in the current again. Eventually I would feel a sharp pluck and pulled into the fish, I probably missed as many as I caught but at least I was getting some action. It's maybe not the text book way to do it but I was catching.

Even these little Grayling are very strong and wiry when you hold them to unhook. They seem to writhe and wriggle at the worst possible moment which makes getting a snap for the blog hard work whilst on your own.

 Anyway the pool continued to produce lots of Grayling around the same sort of size. Most of them probably somewhere between 4 to 8 oz to the same method. Little gold bead nymphs were working quite well in the turbulent water.

After maybe a dozen or so similar sized fish the action slowed a little, so I decided to head off downstream. I found some calmer water and switched over to the dry fly managing a few more similar sized Grayling. The trout were conspicuous by there absence!

Even though I had the blog at the back of my mind I didnt see the point in getting the camera out for every little Grayling  that came to hand, if I was to catch something bigger or a trout I would get a snap......but I didnt so I didnt.

The only thing that I was keen to try was an underwater shot as my wife had bought me a new camera with waterproof housing for my birthday. Not quite Jacques Cousteau, but at least the camera survived its dunking...

North Wales Pike Fishing

Hello Again,

If I was to report in strictly chronological order, I should now be talking about the three days we had at the coast but to be honest it was again more of a social event ( that got a bit messy at times) and the fishing was again taken less than seriously. What was in fact a great trip away with mates was not very memorable on the fishing front, it was hard work each day with fishy action hard to come by. Tales of late night drinking sessions are not really appropriate for the blog and alas no pictures were taken of the fish we caught. So instead of a full report I will just list the species that were caught over the three days. Pollock, Wrasse, Mackerel, Cod and Bass were taken on lures and a few doggies caught one evening whilst bait fishing from the beach.

So moving swiftly on to things that I can remember and have a few pictures of.

After the trip away with the boys, I was back on family duty. We had a few weeks away on a family holiday, again in Wales. Now even though this was a family holiday, and the beer intake subsided, there was still chance to pop out for a few fishing sessions when the opportunity arose.

The first of these sessions was a day on the boat lure fishing for pike. My little lad does not often want to come fishing (much more interested in playing football, computer games etc) but as I had been missing for a few days with my friends he was keen to catch up and spend some time with me. A leisurely start saw us on the water by mid day. The idea was to fish with lures and cover as much water as possible.
The lake has not been fishing "easy" this year, with numbers of fish well down on last year. Despite this we started off with surface lures, daiwa DOA and Cisco kid toppers for those interested, last year these two lures caught me a lot of fish and as most lure anglers know, when  things are tough you find yourself reverting back to the banker lures that have done well for you in the past. I also wanted to use lures that had worked well as I was keen for the boy to catch a few, to hopefully spike his interest in fishing a little more.

Well we didnt have to wait long for his first fish it was only a small jack, but it was a start and it certainly put a smile on our faces.

After a couple of fruitless hours, another fish hit his lure ( again the Daiwa DOA). The hits on these surface lures can be awesome, this fish left the water and seemed to do a cartwheel with its nose touching the surface of the lake and its tail arcing over the top. A suitably shocked young man began to play the fish, he used to just wind and hope for the best but now it looked like he was playing the fish properly. The fish was a little bigger but not worth weighing, so after I unhooked the pike he wanted a quick picture before the pike was slipped back to his watery home

After a quick snack break on the bank, it was back on the boat and we carried on casting lures, as of yet I had not had any interest. I was reminded of this on a fairly regular basis. Things had slowed down even further and the little fella was starting to get a bit fed up....I sometimes forget hes only 8 and maybe expect him to stay out a little too long. I asked if he'd had enough but to my surprise he said he wanted to carry on fishing. To be fair he carried on chucking the lures like a good un. Whenever I asked if he wanted to change lures he declined the offer preferring to stick with the DOA. I was sure he could do a little better if he went subsurface....but there was no changing his mind.

As he was bringing the lure across a shallow bay, a much more substantial BAADDOOOSSHHH was heard and his rod looped over. I didnt see the take but the fish had left a pretty good swirl on the surface and was taking line from his fairly tight set clutch. "Its a biggun dad....." he said with a touch of panic in his voice. Again, I think I sometimes take for granted the gear that he is using when compared to his age and size. He was attached to a fairly sizeable pike, whilst stood up on a boat, with a heavy jerkbait rod, and 100lb braid so it probably felt like it was pulling back a bit. At one stage he wanted me to take the rod but I told him to carry on and gave him some much needed encouragement to hang on as he was doing well. As the pike got nearer to the boat/surface it decided it was going to give a final surge and dove down deep. At this point I heard " Icant hold it ....Im going to let go of the rod"  I grabbed the back of his life jacket to give him some confidence that he wouldnt be pulled overboard and told him to hold onto the rod at all costs. The next time the pike surfaced it was begining to see our side of the argument so I quickly netted it. 

Until this point he had never had a double figure pike by himself ( when he was about 5 he somehow managed to hook one about 11-12lb on a 1-5 gram ultralite rod, but after a minute or two it was evident that I would need to play that one in.). This was different however, he had done all of the work himself and when I looked at the fish in the net it was going to be 10lb or there abouts. I unhooked the fish for him in the boat but as we were close to the bank anyway we got out of the boat with the fish in the net for weighing and photographs. When he saw the fish lay on the unhooking mat ready to go in the sling he said "WWWOOOAAHHH I cant believe iv caught That!!" The scales went round to just a little over 10lb and I got a few pics of his new PB 10lb 2 oz. 

It was quite funny as there was a family walking past and I couldnt get them out of the way to take the picture so fascinated were they with what must have looked a bit of a beast to a non angler. So thats who the strangers are in the background.

He still needs a bit of practice holding the fish properly but that will come with experience.

After the fish was returned and swam away strongly, to the dismay of the onlookers ( are you not going to eat it?) a high five and a big hug was called for by a proud dad. We got back on the boat and decided to call it a day and end on a high note. On the way back to the launch He couldn't understand why he was shaking like a leaf even though the weather was fine. After a brief conversation about adrenaline rushes and then about a dozen what / why? questions about adrenaline we arrived back to shore. 

Just before we got off the boat I heard "Dad....."     "yes son!" I replied expecting something along the lines of "that was awesome" or "thanks for taking me out Dad" I was shocked to say the least when with a grin he simply said " three nil".  With a chuckle and shake of the head I had to give him that one...

Long time no see !

Hello,

First of all I must apologise for the lack of posts recently, but it has been a bit of a hectic summer. Also I have had very limited internet access for the last few weeks so physically completing any updates has been next to impossible.

Over the next couple of weeks I will try to catch up with what has been going on with my fishing of late. I wont try to put everything here in one big post as it would be too much.

but to start with i will go back about four or five weeks.....
I had arranged to meet up with a fishing buddy (Marc - "Scruffy Piker in the blog list") for a few days of  "mixed fishing" we had about six days of fishing and wanted to hit a few different species. Over a few beers we decided that we would have a day lure fishing for pike to start with, this was quite slow to be fair but we both managed a couple of fish each upto about 14lb, these were not weighed but we are not usually too far off with estimations. All of the fish fell to top water lures and one of the hits from the best fish was one that will stay in the memory for a long time. The fish went completely airborne at close range with the lure clamped between her jaws. she almost seemed to freeze in mid air,pose for a second then crash down into the water with a resounding sploosh, after a strong fight the pike was landed quickly,unhooked and returned....unfortunately we didnt get any pictures of the pike we caught that day.

Now one of the good things about fishing is the social side of it, and when I meet up with Marc this can sometimes have an adverse effect on the fishing as we can sometimes "overdo" the alcohol side of things. This results in very late nights, lots of belly laughs and fuzzy heads the following day with a somewhat lethargic approach to the fishing.....to be fair the fishing isnt very serious, its more of a chilled out break.

However, the next day we had set out with a plan to catch some eels. Marc had suffered a few blanks on his local venues chasing the eels so he was keen to try for them at a new venue when we met up.
After some heavy prebaiting we set up for an evening session, we each fished with two rods and set up in adjacent pegs. The action was almost immediate (showing the value of prebaiting on big waters) with decent sized eels coming one after another... I cant remember how many we had, Marc caught the lions share but we must have had around a dozen eels between us upto about 3.5lb. So although nothing huge showed up it was good to see that the plan with the prebait had paid off, and we had safely ticked off the second of the species we wanted to catch.

Sorry Marc had to pinch one of your pics!

After another heavy session and ridiculously late night, a non too energetic start was on the cards. Marc had never caught a Grayling and with this in mind we set off with the fly rods. The fishing was far from easy as the weather was very hot at the end of July, and the rivers very low and clear. But despite the odds being against us we both managed a few small wild brown trout and a handful of small grayling, again catch results are a little sketchy as there was not enough blood flowing around my alcohol stream. Even though no monsters graced the bank it was nice to go and fish new waters for new species and come away with a degree of success.

That pretty much brought an end to the first part of our trip, the coarse fishing was done ( along with a substantial amount of beer, bacon and burgers ) and the coast beckoned. I would have loved to included some pictures with this post but to be honest, the blog had sort of slipped to the back of my mind and the social / fishing had taken over a bit, so much so i didn't even bother taking a camera along...don't worry though I do have some shots of the fish caught later in the trip.

A lot of  anglers these days seem to hanker after being a famous angler, getting sponsorship from one of the angling companies and making a living from the sport, usually people who have been fishing one method for a couple of years and think that they are experts. Well I think after this trip both myself and Marc deserve some sponsorship.....but perhaps not from an angling company :)

Cheers for now, coast fishing report to follow in the next couple of days.

Mission Accomplished

Hello Again,

A friend of mine (Sam) has been trying for a decent pike for a while on a lake that we both fish, He has caught quite a few pike when out on his boat, but unfortunately none of them have managed to make double figures. Without going into too much detail he has had a bit of a rough time this year and during one of our conversations it was clear that beating the 10lb barrier was something he wanted to achieve.
I decided that I would knock Sam a couple of lures up and invite him out with me on my boat to some of the areas that I have found productive.
Here is one of the lures that I made for him:-

This one is a surface lure, he seemed really pleased with it and I hope it brings him some good luck.

We started off in a small bay, with absolutely no success. So after half an hour or so we decided to move on, after a while Sam asked his usual "are you confident?" after a little chuckle I assured him that we would get some action, as conditions seemed perfect.

We were both fishing surface lures and unfortunately Sam got a bit of a birds nest on one of the casts, I was watching his lure as I brought mine away from it to avoid the two lines becoming tangled, when a decent pike launched itself at the lure. By what seemed like some act of divine intervention, at the exact moment the pike struck Sam had managed to sort his reel out and hit into the fish.

 "Is it on?"  "err Yeah" was Sams reply. For one awful moment we thought he had lost it as the fish swam straight towards us, but Sam did a good job of quickly gaining line and tightening up on the fish. The pike was still down deep but by the healthy bend in Sams rod it was clear it wasn't one of the many Jacks that inhabit the venue.

The look on Sam's face was priceless when he saw the pike coming up in the water, but with a powerful flick of its tail it headed back into the depths taking line from the tightly set clutch. Now Sam's face turned from a joyful look to a somewhat panic stricken realisation that this could be the fish that he had waited so long for. I don't think that I helped matters by proclaiming that it would "definitely be a double". After a few powerful lunges and a spirited, if short lived fight, the pike was safely netted. Sam looked both relieved and delighted, after a quick snip of the hooks with the bolt cutters ( always better to sacrifice a hook or two than delay unhooking the pike) Sam could finally hold his prize.

At 14lb 9oz it was a PB for Sam and by some distance. The fish was a lovely dark green colour with vivid yellow markings. I felt like it was mission accomplished and I am really pleased that I could help Sam to catch his PB. Well done mate hopefully she will be the first of many.

Late update

Hi,

Just a quick one, and a bit of a late update. I have just received a picture from a mate of mine (cheers Sam) of a pike I caught a couple of months ago. This year has been a struggle with the pike fishing as I enjoy fishing for the pike with lures, but unfortunately I have been suffering badly with tennis elbow. This has led to me doing very little lure fishing. On one of the few trips Iv managed to get out with the lures I managed this one. Its not the biggest pike Iv ever caught but it is by far the most pleasing. At a tad over the magical 20lb mark it had me beaming. Iv been fishing this water for a few years and though I have caught plenty of pike from the lake the better fish have eluded me. It was a target of mine this year to catch a "20" from there on a lure, and first trip out this year I cracked it with this one...happy Days

Got the bug

After having a little success last time out targeting coarse species on the fly I thought I would give it another go.

Again armed with my three weight and floating line I set off,  this time to the local canal. The target species today was to be roach or rudd.....to be honest I would have settled for not blanking. I started with the same fly (balloon caddis) that I used last time out. This is quite a bulky fly and I think it may have been a bit too much for the smaller mouthed fish that I was aiming for. After a fruitless half hour or so, I decided to change fly. I switched over to a small cdc fly that I had again tied myself.

This fly brought an immediate change in fortunes, within a couple of casts a small rudd came to have a look and promptly snaffled the smaller more subtle fly.

Another new species ticked of the "fly" list. The fly went out again and within another couple of casts another similar sized fish fell for it. This time a roach.

Now, dont get me wrong these are not monster fish, but I was really pleased to be catching on my light fly outfit and although you couldnt say that they put up much of a scrap they did put a pleasing hoop in the light rod. Bites were coming thick and fast all from roach and rudd of about 4 to 6oz with over a dozen gracing the bank. I was really enjoying just catching steadily on the dry fly, and after all you cant beat "enjoy". In the past I have become a little bogged down with catching larger fish, so much so that at times it had become more of a chore than pleasure. This was back to fishing purely for fun.

Unfortunately this spell only lasted for about an hour before the wind picked up and made keeping the fly static all but impossible. I was now struggling to cast and though you cant tell from the pictures things had become rather blustery. I only had an hour or so of fishing time left before I had to head back home for child minding duty. The Clash song sprung to mind "should I stay or should I go". I decided to stay, but swap over to a sinking fly. I quickly tied on a small pink bug with a red glass bead for a head, again tied by yours truly.

It would be interesting to see if the fish were as keen on the sinking fly as they were in the dry fly.
I needn't have worried after switching to the little pink bug sport was hectic with shoals of small roach and rudd racing towards the fly. It was just a matter of watching the fly slowly drop through the clear water and then strike when it disappeared into the fishes mouths.

I lost count of the number of fish that I caught, all were very similar in size the only difference being roach or rudd.

I did spot a couple of large bream cruising by and dropped the fly in front of them, but they showed no interest at all.......there is always next time.

So after just a couple of hours I had gained loads of confidence in catching coarse species on the fly, it was really effective and made for some terrific sport, with plenty of fish caught and quite a few missed. Some of the rudd were really engulfing the fly....I will have to tie up a few more of the little pinks. I really enjoyed my couple of hours down the cut, and will definitely be back for more, at first I thought the wind had ruined things but the enforced switch over to the bug actually improved my catch rate. So thats chub, dace, roach and rudd ticked of the "fly coarse list" in just a couple of sessions.......hmmm what next?