Closing time again

My river season has been a strange one this year -  I've hardly done any to speak of in comparison to previous years. Most of my time has been spent lure fishing the canals for zander and the odd perch instead. My visits to the rivers has been so few and far between I don't think I even fished for barbel this year which I aim to rectify in the new season ahead.

Well, in my usual last minute rush I tried to squeeze a few sessions in over the last remaining weekends in hope of a river pike, and maybe some trotting for grayling. Suffice to say this didn't quite go a well as planned and either the conditions were against me or the fish not obliging. And so we came to my finale on the river on Friday afternoon. Thursday night prior around 10:00 pm, tackle prepared, baits purchased for Pike and maggots for trotting for grayling so it starts to rain and didn't stop until well into next morning on Friday.... just bloody perfect timing.  So as suspected arriving at the first river venue that afternoon to find it chocolate brown and creeping over the banks. No good for trotting nor did I feel confident in searching for pike holed up in any slacks in that lot either.  Next venue and conditions were slightly better the river was up but not too much. A few other anglers were already down to try for barbel.  I found the swim I fancied was free and quietly set up my gear as a barrage of heavy feeders boshed down into the river around  me.  This river was still steadily rising as my carefully positioned banksticks indicated, starting on shore then soon to be surrounded by water.   After an hour of this and not so much as a twitch on maggot or Lamprey I decided to cut my losses and head elsewhere while there was still time. To a smaller river now that can usually be relied upon to throw up a few Jacks in a short session, with the outside chance of something larger. Again within the time allotted for something to have occurred, the same empty result on both maggot and deadbait. I was just not feeling it here either so with one last chuck of the dice I was off to the canal.

First cast on  the half Lamprey I had been using all afternoon and within 15 minutes the line started to tighten and the float sank away resulting in this lovely mid double to save my afternoon. (15lb 3oz)

 

 

The only other notable capture since the last update is this lovely 2lb 4oz canal perch caught at the beginning of March.

 

 

 

 

 

 So that's my end of season update, a season where I spent practically most of the time fishing the Canal and neglected the river, and now I can't fish it I am missing it already- roll on June 16th !



 

 

 

Cutting it's fine...

A great way to break up the working day if you happen to work near a canal is to spend your lunch hour lure fishing. That's exactly what I have been up to in the last few weeks searching a stretch of canal that has been throwing up the a few fish for me already.



Get that down yer neck !

The most successful method by far has been trolling the lure in the edge whilst walking slowly along the towpath. This is how I almost landed a 2lb + perch the other day, and again at lunch today managed a small perch followed by a larger zander of 3lb or so.

The method is an excellent way of quickly locating the fish ( time being of the essence on a quicky lunch hour sessions) and over a few short weeks I have found the areas where I catch are proving to be consistent with fish caught on multiple visits, as opposed to other areas seemingly barren where no takes have been forthcoming. Interestingly I have only caught one fish with a standard cast and retrieve on this particular stretch, whilst trolling has had much more success landing the fish mentioned with a few missed strikes thrown in for good measure.

So far there are two fish holding areas I have located in a stretch less than half a mile.  The water is always pretty murky and brown, not the worst I've ever seen, but with probably just less than a foot of visibility at best. There have been occasional boats coming and going stirring up the muck on most of my short half hour sessions, but this has not stopped me catching.  In these conditions I expect the fish are probably sensing more than seeing, although even if  you can't generally see the lure yourself from the surface I'm sure if it passes within a foot or so of a predatory fish it is a target on both levels.   Big Hammer 3" lures have worked best so far with the ever reliable 2 " Kopyto's scoring well too.  I think the colour is not too important but I seem always go for a bright one. More importantly is to select one that your have most confidence in. Dark lures should work in these conditions too but as I haven't got any at the moment I can't back that up with fact - I will have add some to my next lure order and see for myself.

A small revelation

A cheeky 1/2 hour after work on a new stretch of canal.  I was using my recently purchased ultralight  Ron Thompson Flexide V2 4 - 12g rod working a 1" creamy white kopyto on a small jig head along the edge, I soon had my first zander on the bank.

More of a zedlet really but every one's a result. I continued along the canal for another 200 yards or so before turning around to head back. Occasionally I stopped to cast across the canal under some enticing bushes or feature and worked the lure slowly back along the bottom to my near edge and then, remembering what I'd read on the excellent  Artificial Lite from the waters edge web site by Eric Weight,  I decided to start dibbling the lure in the edge near the pilings and features.  I soon felt a knock and saw a nice size perch twisting on the line under the water but unfortunately it didn't hook up properly. A little disappointed I kept dibbling and managed to hook a small perch to the method - result.

On a slow amble back to the car I trolled a larger 3" hammer shad along the bank under my feet and felt the rod tip pull round near a slight indent of the soft bank, this was followed by a head shake and as I looked down I saw a large perch easily over two pounds, its thick back and bold stripes clear to see up on the surface. I tried to compose myself in those few important split seconds upon realising what I had on and attempting get the fish under control it was all over with a flick and a shake the fish broke free from the small jig head and disappeared !! That was easily a Lure caught PB perch for me but it was not to be today maybe the hook was a little too small?  I tried the lure again and felt a knock but subsequent casts met nothing more.
I moved back to the bridge where the car was parked and tried a few spots on the other side, catching another consolation zedlet on a 2" kopyto in flouro yellow. With the light fading fast and still licking my wounds a little after losing the big perch, I got back to the car and headed home feeling both pleased at the success of new techniques and the pain of lost chances. I think I'm going to enjoy exploring with this new rod. The extra feeling and sensation from a lighter set up allows you to naturally exploit subtle changes in your technique which can't be understood or realised until you try one out. In other words my old spinning rod now feels like a thick carp rod in comparison and just can't hope to give me the information I receive on the ultralite. If your thinking of investing in a lighter set up then I can highly recommend it.

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

 

 

 

 

So far this week ... exploring

 

School summer holidays will be soon over and so the wife and kids are away for a few days through this week.  Left to my own devises (or is that vices?) I've been out over the last couple of evenings after work exploring some new stretches of river and reacquainting myself with some old ones.



New water to learn all about

....and old scores to settle !

Walking along just chucking a lure in here and there is an excellent way of finding out what lies underneath the surface of the river. Vital clues can be gained of where the fish might be lurking to give themselves away by a hook up or even a follow and a missed chance, or just a small detail of the swim that might make you return to that spot, it all goes in the memory banks waiting for the moment to be recalled at some future date when required. You can tell a great deal about each swim you care to investigate, where there are snags to be found, or even just a sense of the depth and bottom substrate can all be ascertained in a few minutes of jigging a small lure slowly along the bottom. Of course all this information can then be used for all your other styles of fishing and not just for lure fishing. Today I searched the river and found a few areas of gravel that are just perfect barbel swims. I wouldn't necessarily know they were there by just looking at the surface, but now they are logged in the memory ready for my eventual return to a bit of barbel fishing.

With a few more free evenings left yet, I might even be able to fit in something other then lure fishing this week, who knows?

Meanwhile, here's a selection  of this weeks photo's to end on.



 

Not quite a massive perch !
 

Harsh beauty

 

 

Hitting my targets for the summer

Like a few other bloggers I've been a bit quiet lately in terms of posts. I have been out a hand full of times but not really had much to report of late . Here's a quick catch up of the past few weeks for you.

I think I'm getting a bit lazy and settling for the easy and convenient option of lure fishing more these days although to contradict myself, I have been planning a few trips for barbel in the coming weeks, but we'll see what happens with that.

front hook removed

I'd love to catch a nice chub on a lure this summer, it's another one of those boxes to tick. My favourite local stretch of small river was the venue to try this out where the chub can run to 5lb plus and the average stamp is in the 3 to 4lb bracket. This is a small intimate river and you must creep around and remain stealthy if you are to have any chance. The water clarity on arrival was decidedly crystal so my presence on the skyline would have to be kept to the absolute minimum. I tried a few spots that have always produced for me in the winter on baits, and I saw a few smaller chub mooching around in places. With some gentle casting to the edges of trees and along streamer beds, the lure landing with an enticing 'plop', I could not get the fish interested in the small plug or crayfish jig I tried.

Finally, I reached the last spot that was fishable and after one or two tentative casts, the lure snagged some strands of streamer weed pulling up a few clumps and dislodging clouds of sand and silt which fouled the water, and must have spooked any fish hiding under the raft I was trying to tempt them out from.



weedless lure required for this swim !

This, a favourite swim, was completely overgrown and nigh on impossible to fish with all the excess vegetation about, so I called it a day and headed to another stretch of river where things are slightly more open.

Here the water is certainly more accessible and although it looked like it would hold some decent chub and perch it also screamed out barbel ! My mind has a tendency to jump about a bit when I see a swim that looks this good.

 

 

The barbel would have to wait on this session though  and I ended up with just one small perch on the jigged crayfish and a jack to a surface plug.

 

 

 

 

 

I visited the Lincolnshire countryside last weekend and managed to get out to look at a local drain that is near the mother in laws caravan park where we stay. It looks mouth watering to say the least and gave me a good idea of the fenland drains of piking legend.

 

I talked to a chap pole fishing who landed a few skimmers and an eel of about a pound or so while I was there. I have no doubt there will be some decent pike to be had in here too. I will be visiting again in a few weeks so I will have the lure rod to hand I'm sure.

 



Lincolnshire drain in summer

 

 

 

Since returning from there, I have only managed to get out for a few hours and landed this small jack after losing a larger fish during one of the downpours of rain we received this afternoon.

 

 

 

 

Funnily when the rain stopped so did the action, so I moved to a nearby canal to see if I could muster a zander or perch. I didn't get a touch but I did meet a guy fishing with an ultra light set. He told me he'd been out in the morning and took up to 20 zeds and a number of perch from another stretch of canal. He then went home had a sleep then came here this afternoon and took a chub and some perch. The lure used was a tiny orange worm (like a small curly tail ) it certainly got my mind ticking over as I have thought about going more ultra light set up than my current set up. If I could catch half of what he claims he can achieve in a session with a set up similar, then it would be a very worthwhile investment I think !!  

 

Next time maybe some barbel ... and hopefully a lure caught chub who knows ?



Nailed !

Been trying out the small 3" Kopyto's since they arrived a few weeks ago but had yet to catch on them. To be fair I hadn't given them much of a go really.

I had another little dabble on the way home  yesterday and decided to leave the spinners in the bag and try to tempt something on the small 3g red /white jig. First cast near some weeds and overhanging bushes and bang fish on !



Nailed ! - first perch on a jig

 

No more interest after that in the couple of swims I tried before heading home in time for tea !

Trent, a quick lure session..

After a late afternoon site visit in Kegworth I headed to the nearby Trent for a chuck of the lures and spin of the...erm spinners. I was soon in the first swim on the stretch with the usual copper gold spinner on winding in under a canopy  of trees looking for that big fat perch to grab it.  A fish almost surfed half out the water to try and snap it up but missed, exciting to see though. Next cast and a sub pound fish was landed.

After a few of these I headed further upstream to a nice deep channel running parallel to the bank, there was a point above a large slack pool where I could stand and cast to my left along a 30 yard line of lillies running along the slacks edge as it met the flow.  First cast and bang - something hit the spinner hard. Turned out to be my first lure caught chub (well chublet) !

The rest of the session saw me landing perch after perch, maybe 20 or so ! The biggest going about 3/4 of a pound.  Having now caught what must be about 50 or 60 of these small perch in the last few weeks, the biggest being a fish of 1lb 2oz, I am starting to realise that although the spinner will catch you plenty of perch it can't catch the bigger fish if they ain't in front of you.  I will need to work harder to locate where  these bigger fish hold up on the rivers I am fishing or suffer more and more of these sub pounders.

I also tried out the new Kopyto jigs that arrived about a week ago. Though I didn't get any interest, it's early days and I need to get my technique right with jigs as I don't feel like I'm fishing them correctly enough yet but once I get that first bit of  interest I know I'll soon learn how to work them as the confidence grows.

Spinning in the small rivers ... (Spinning 4)

Friday after work and yet another half hour on the river which produced one fish and this time it wasn't a perch ! A nice little jack graced the net taking one of the 30 plus 6 gram copper spinners that I'd bought last Sunday.

I spent a few quid last night buying some Kopyto jigs on recommendation from Leo, so when they turn up I'll be straight on the bank to see how I get on with them.  My lure fishing is still in its infancy really and although I've had a few half arsed attempts in the past and as a teenager, It is only this last week or so that my confidence has started to grow.  I'm starting to  see what all the fuss is about now.

Sunday Morning....

among the fields of barley !

After watching one of the best days sport Great Britain's ever produced at the Olympics yesterday, I was ready for a bit of gold myself.  So as I walked through fields of gold (sorry sting) at about 6 something this morning onto a small river with lure rod in hand, it was stripes, spots or even brassy silver I was hoping for.

that's plenty clear enough

Thankfully the river was flowing with clear water having fined down nicely since the deluge of yesterdays thunder storm and torrential downpour.

Summer time and the livings easy ...?

The sport was slow to start with, the gold spinner being ignored in the first pool. The atmosphere was eerily still and quite, a quite so pure in fact that at one point I wondered if I'd suddenly gone deaf ! You can only get this kind of peace being out early - it's a magical time to be on the river in the middle of nowhere. 


The spinner came good in second spot with several small perch being fooled in about a dozen casts.

When the pool had given me all it would,  I simply continued downstream to the next to start the process again. The results were similar but the stamp of fish a bit larger.

 A classic bend round every, erm ..corner !

I wondered further down stream findng new spots I'd never cast a line to before, catching more and more fish none of which would ever worry the net or scales, but even so still an enjoyable morning to be out catching, then back home by 930am to a cup of coffee and some toast. A great start to the day.

Quick Spinning pt trois

On a complete whim I spent six quid on spinners at Go outdoors on Sunday while the wife and kids looked around the other shops next door.

Today - Six pm I pulled up by the river on the way home.  Fifteen minutes later I was on my way again to meet the wife and kids for food shopping, pleased that I'd stopped to land this fish after just half a dozen casts on one of the new spinners, a big copper 9gram jobbie on today's "power session"

Brownie points awarded by wife and a lure caught perch pb of 1lb 2oz in the bag.

perch fin moustache !!

Why haven't I thought of doing this before ???

Gone Spinning - part 2

The girl from accounts said she was going spinning after work, I thought "snap"  but I won't be peddling my little legs off at the gym !!

Instead I managed to sneak in half an hour on a new stretch of river on the way home, where a quick go with the spinning gear produced this little chap.

The stroll between fish-able swims revealed some interesting spots along the way, plenty of chub spots, barbel runs, perch snags and pike holes were noted in the mental map. Hopefully I'll return and give them ago at some point.

Also had a reccy along some of the GU Canal near work at lunchtime. It looks like one of the clearest stretches of canal I've ever seen especially as this was taken at around midday when there would have been some boat traffic ( if there is any along here ? )

Might be worth a go with the spinners or lures. Mind you the shoal of roach that I saw soon had my mind flitting to other targets, one of them was easily over a pound. 

spot the small roach

Here be Monsters ??