Getting jiggy with it ...

Since the Kopyto Jigs arrived I've not really had many "throws" of them, so in order to rectify that I headed out this morning to try out the 4" yellow / red head relax with a 7gram jig head and size 4/0 hook. Now I have not caught a fish yet using jigs so I was hoping to break my duck.

I got to the river by 7:00am and worked my way up to the top of the stretch stopping at a few of the likely swims along the way. Nothing showed any interest but I decided to persevere with the jig wondering if my lack of results so far was purely down to my retrieval methods with them?

The water was showing just hint of colour, and since yesterdays rain the flow under my bank as it ran off from the shallows up stream funnelling the current onto a deeper pool out in front was a bit strong for my liking . As I pondered the water the first of the mornings other anglers turned up for a look. I told him he was welcome to move in here, as I was heading back down stream to try some slacker areas.  I dropped into the next peg down at the tail of the pool and hooked a nice  jack of around 7lb at a guess on the first cast as the lure was worked literally feet from the bank. The sight of the fish three feet down below me was awesome as it's gills flared in surprise then took off at speed to dive under the marginal weeds. This was the biggest test for my 10 - 30 gram lure rod so far and it performed excellently stopping the fish and turning it with ease. The fish was netted in no time, and my faith in the jig as a method was suddenly lifted.

That funny sense of over assured confidence washed over me as I rushed the photo's to get the fish back in as quickly as possible.  I expected I would easily have at least another couple of fish by the time I got back to the car. This didn't happen of course, I worked the lure tirelessly in all the nooks and crannies I could think of on the way back downstream only to miss a take from a tiny jack just twice the length of the lure itself as I neared the last swim.  The lure works I know that for sure now but is it the best one for the job ? I don't know.  I think that most reputable lures will work for you otherwise why would they develop and then sell them, the important thing for the lure angler is to find the one that suits them and then be totally confident in it. I know that my skills as a lure angler are still in the early stages but as long as I have a lure that I know will at least attract fish I know I always have a chance.  The rest is down to me and how I work it back to the bank.

Tight lines!

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.

Whilst on a weekend away.....

Friday evening and after a last minute decision to head to the in laws caravan in Lincolnshire for the week end, I was soon sneaking a few bits of kit in the back of the car between bags of clothes and beach towels.  First thing Saturday morning and I was up and about looking at a dyke !



With rudd topping all over the corner in front of me, I baited up with some crumbled bread and small pellets, then proceeded to drop a link lead over the top with a pinch of bread folded over and hooked through the fold in the way Jeff showed me on the Warks Avon a while ago. (Try it, it really works & no more agonising if it's still on !).

The first bite was missed but soon after the second pull was struck in time finding a hefty resistance that I wasn't really expecting. I was hooked to something that had the ratchet on the pin singing and my initial thought was small carp. The fish headed straight into the near margin reed line then tried to bury itself on the bottom some 8ft down sending up a fizzy cauldron of bubbles from the silty clay. I guessed it might be something else which was soon confirmed when a tench rose to the surface before sliding into the net. A nice short fight was had on light gear with a 4lb fish, the biggest landed on the new (ish) 9ft feeder rod so far. The rod easily subduing the lunges made by the fish admirably, giving me great confidence for the small stream chub fishing I purchased it for.

Sunday mornings session and I was out again to fish the other dyke to the left. A local angler I spoke to yesterday at dyke one told me that there were some good fish to be had in both waters, particularly the roach, bream and tench. Fishing armed with some corn and spam form the local shop now I was hoping to draw the bigger fish in. Unfortunately in dyke no two it was not to be. Despite seeing some nice fish roll I only managed a small skimmer / bream.  The water was gin clear and I suspect the fish were not too used to seeing much bait thrown in. However the ever faithful corn did the job on this occasion.

That was it for my total of 4 hours on these water, the promise is definitely there for some decent fish and I look forward to trying again next time we're in the area.