Catching Jack ...

The gloom of first light on the canal

I set the alarm for about 6 ish, and sneaked quietly out of my pit to go for a couple of hours lure fishing on the canal this morning; leaving the family happily dreaming away in bed. Arriving before first light about 7:00am, I started off fishing with my new thunderstick fire perch pattern crank-bait plug; eventually swapping over to a jigged softbait shad in a similar pattern (perch) after about half an hour's in-action.

I've never really done much too lure fishing in the past so I'm on quite a steep learning curve at the moment, and I consider any capture to be a significant breakthrough still. It tells me that my technique and watercraft is on the right track at least.  I've only ever caught two species on lure in my life, one being the obligatory Jack Pike and the other a small Bass.

My lures for the session

After moving further down the canal to where it widened out by a private mooring, I proceeded to catch a small Jack of about 4lb on my first cast there, which I think is my first Pike to a jigged softbait lure.

The 4lb Jack caught on a perch pattern jigged softbait

I read an article in the AT while standing in Tesco's the other day (well its not worth buying it anymore is it!)  by a young kid who fishes practically no other method, and his results seemed very good so I decided to give them a fair try this morning.

A December morning on the canal

Of course once the Pike was landed I stuck with this jig pattern and proceeded to catch nothing else on it all session ! On the plus side my "jigging" confidence has improved at least, so much so I may have another go at it later in the week and see if I can tempt one of the elusive Zander that are avoiding all I throw at them for the moment ? Surely they must still feed in a water temperature of 6 c (positively mild for this time of year ?)

To sum up the session not much to report but at least I avoided a blank for a change! and "got my arm in" working the jig method. I did spot a Jay land in tree behind me which was good to see,  no more Muntjac this week though !

Autumn Zander pt 2

Thur 3rd Dec

At 3:30 pm after an unsuccsesful day trying to finish my surveying assignment for my Uni course the wife suggested I go fishing, not one to pass up an oppurtunity I was walking up the Cov canal tow path by 4:00pm.

I fished an old clay pit near the canal first to try for some live baits (namely small Rudd) but couldn't temp any fish despite them topping all around the lake. Soon after as the light failed and I struggled to see the pole float's tip any longer, I gave up and went back up the track to the canal again and started fishing for Zander in earnest.
It was fully dark by the time both rods were in. The water temp was hovering around 5.5 to 6 C and this may have put the fish down a bit as there was no sign of fish topping or moving anywhere. I tried three or four different areas including the nearby marina but never had a touch all session. By 7:30pm I'd had enough and tea was calling me, so I packed up and went home empty handed again. I think I might try for Perch or Roach next if the weather stays this cold. Of course depending on the river levels Grayling might also feature in my targets again with the weather getting into full winter mode now.

This blog is two years old this week and there have been a few decent fish and PB 's reported during that time, hopefully I can improve on these results and maybe add new species to the list in the coming months .. fingers crossed.

Late Autumn Zander Campaign begins

Sun 29 Nov 2009

I fished the Coventry Canal, starting my Autumn/Winter Zander campaign after this facinating fish. I arrived at the canal in darkness just before 7:00am, the weather was cold and damp after rain and soon after arriving I was treated to a heavy downpour for half and hour during dawn, the sun came out for the rest of the session.

I found a swim with a tree opposite and cast out both rods near to its branches on free running rigs to 3oz leads.

 The reasoning behind the heavy leads is that the will allow the line to pull through the run ring easier than with a light lead which will just move with the line and may be detected by the fish. I not sure yet which tactic is better but I will experiment with both theories over the campaign and make my own mind up.

I won't bore you with all the details of the session but suffice to say I ended with another blank and had only one incident where the bait appeared to be attacked as I wound in to recast. I felt the fish powerfully grab the bait and move off with it to my right, but the hooks never managed to take hold and the fish came off. I'm not sure but it may have been a Pike lying in the boat channel, roused by a  bait passing over it's head ? either that or it was lying up ready to strike near my bait on the far shelf, as there were no indications on the tip prior to this.

That was my only chance of a fish all session. I think the sudden drop in temperature down to 6.5C over the previous day or so may have put the fish off the feed generally ?  I leapfrogged the rods along a 1/2 mile  stretch of canal  passing some known fish holding spots but to no avail.

I will be back again for an evening session this coming week to try again. My shorterm target is to get a fish of 5lb or more. There are bigger fish in this canal but I think it's down to a numbers game. At the moment I just need to achive a consistant catch rate before I worry about the bigger fish too much.

Source: www.english-country-garden.com/.../muntjac-1.jpg

Late morning I spotted a Muntjac Deer walking across a horse paddock on the opposite bank, It steadily strided across from my right field of vision to left and into a copse of trees promtly dissapearing from view like a ghost. It alway makes you feel privaliged to see something like that and makes getting up early and being out in the countryside all the more worthwhile I think.