Sunday 11 May 2014

Funny looking zander...

Canal chub are something of an enigma in my experience, whilst I am well aware of their presence in the canal system they are not a natural target that I think about often. I've heard reports over the years of some very decent fish coming from most of the canals within my reach, but I have never got around to specifically fishing for any canal chub as yet. It's just another entry on my long to do list.
 
As with a lot of the chub I catch they often come by accident when fishing for other species. It happened again the other night, there I was sat in the darkness happily ledgering strips of trout on a stretch of canal for zander to see if I could locate some in a new area, when the bobbin finally slid up to the rod blank and the tip pulled round. I lifted into a fish that fought back and resisted being raised to the surface more than the usual 3 or 4lb zed would. This could be a decent one I thought until this fine chub popped up and slid over the net rim. Though not a big zander I wasn't disappointed to catch this nice chub of around 3 - 4lb.  If there is one fish that fits the omnivorous bracket best it must be the chub. They will have a go at virtually anything, in fact I think it is one of the only British freshwater fish you can catch on almost any method from fly to lure and certainly any bait !









Thursday 8 May 2014

Catching up - to do

Lure fishing can be a fickle mistress at times leaving you wondering why you bother at all. You can at times seemingly catch fish by chucking practically anything in the water and then suddenly without warning you can go weeks without catching much of anything at all.

It all started at one of my local lakes where I lost a couple of fish on a short morning session ending with a blank. Then it was off on holiday to Devon where I spent a couple of early mornings searching for a bass in vain.


Rough ground - surely bass heaven


But nothing to show for a long mornings chucking into a rising tide.

Finally on my return back to the Midlands I managed to get into a few small perch back on the canal, and a small pike from the lake on my old faithful 13cm 4play lowrider in flouro orange flavour.


 

 
 
 
 
As spring is now in full flow I had the urge to get the float rod out and try a little pool for tench and crucians, which was a 50 percent success at least.
 
 
 
Finally I took  walk down by the river on the way home from the last session in order to get some inspiration for the summer ahead.   I shouldn't have teased myself really because now the canal just doesn't seem so pretty and I just can't wait to get back on running water.
 
Frogging spot found.
 

Simple beauty of the river