Last Session of the Year

The last session of the year went much as expected, not particularly good. A wander round with a lure rod produce a small jack and after a couple of missed runs a slightly bigger jack came from the margins on smelt. Even the camera decided to let me down by producing slightly out of focus pictures.

Lets hope next year is a bit better.

Winter Walk

With only a couple of hours available to fish, I decide to take a walk along a stretch of river I hadn't fished in a long while. With jerk bait rod in hand the only thing I discovered was the fact it was a lot more snags than I remember. I spent nearly as much time bending hooks out of immovable objects as I did fishing. Still it was a proper, pleasant, windless winters day.

Dead Fish at Dawn

Arriving at the syndicate just before light, I soon had a popped up herring flung out along the bar in front of my chosen swim. A popped up eel section was dropped at the bottom of the bar and a sprat  in the margins. Some hours later the sprat bait was taken and a jack of exactly 5lb landed after giving the impression of a far larger fish. With the sun out it was now warm enough to remove may big coat. I had been moving the baits every 30-40 minutes, but this had failed to attract any pike. Two more runs occurred on the sprat, mid-afternoon. The first resulted in a waterlogged branch and the second left just a small bit of flesh on the hook.

After Sales Quickie

After entering one of these evil tackle emporiums that was having a sale and parting company with far more money then I intended, I headed down to the syndicate for a quick session with the lure rod.
A line through roach was tried first, despite the fact it really did look like a real fish it failed to attract any attention. I then moved to the other extreme with a fire tiger jerk bait which produced the goods in the shape of a 3-lb jack.

Bit Bigger Than a Jack

After a delayed start and heavier than normal traffic, I finally got to the syndicate water just before eleven. With little sign of any fish I decided to chuck a E-Sox Jell-Ignite about, after a couple of casts a three large perch followed the lure before speeding past it, followed by a jack not much bigger than them. Despite trying several more cast with different lures I was unable to attract any more action. 

I set up three dead bait rods. One, with lamprey section, was cast onto the far shelf. The nest, with half a herring, was cast across halfway and the third, with a smelt, was dropped on to the near shelf under the trees. The two furthest baits were moved a yard or so every 30 to 40 minutes. The near one swapped either side of the peg every hour or so.

Finally around 4 o'clock I got a few bleeps on the lamprey rod, which by now was at the bottom of the far shelf and wound in to some thing very solid. Clearly a powerful fish, it continued to hug the bottom and short powerful runs as I pumped it back some 40 yards. Eventually it was netted and was clearly heavier than it looked as I lifted it out of the water. I was rather surprised when the scales read 20lb 11oz. While it was rested in the landing net I re-weighed the weigh sling and then re-weighed the fish, definitely 20lb 11oz and 39" long.

Not a bad for the first decent fish of the pike season.

Syndicated Jacks

Despite a large collection of lures I spent a few hours wandering round the syndicate water through a good old Mepps Aglia about. This resulted in a few jacks and some very small perch, a fish whose greed will never cease to amaze me.

Tagging Trout

Had another paddle around the river today, in search of grayling. The resent rain had done it's job and raised the river about 6", covering areas that had been high and dry last weekend. With no sign of any activity on the surface I opted for a duo rig. First put in and a small trout grab the Red Tag Jig on the point. After fifteen minutes of catching nothing but willow leaves and weed I waded across to the middle to fish the deep run on the far side. AS I change the dropper fly for a drab shrimp to something a garish for the deeper water the rod tip whacked over. Another little brown trout had grabbed the Red Tag as it trailed in the water.

As a rainbow appeared I wondered if was natures way of apologising for the rain. Between showers I continued to fish various runs, mainly picking up willow leaves until another little trout grabbed the bright Pink shrimp on the dropper. A natter with a bait angler confirmed not much about but the occasional small 6-8" trout. Quite where the grayling have got to we had no idea.  Darkness quickly descended as I plodded back to the car. At least I didn't have the bullocks to contend with this time.

Klinkin' 'n' Dinkin'

Having tied up a few more klimkhammmers yesterday evening I decided to have an other go for grayling today, using the klink 'n' dink method. Basically it's just the New Zealand dropper with a klinkhammer as the dry fly. Fishing a lower part of the river than usual and not one I've do particularly well on over the last couple of years. It didn't look very inspiring today either. The river levels round here seem to be still dropping, The bottom swims of this stretch normally require chest waders, but thigh waders would have coped.

Setting the tungsten nymph 2' bellow the klink I spent an hour catching nothing but the occasional bit of weed and the odd leaf as I wandered upstream towards an ever darkening sky. After a cup of tea satin the car watching it chuck it down I moved to the more productive stretch. Using the same technique but with a smaller nymph in the shallower runs. I managed to pick up 3 small, out of season, brownies which were quickly flicked off the barbless hook with out handling them.

Another short down pour interrupted things and a again I retired to the car for a cuppa and something to eat. Unfortunately the bullocks were now in this field and made a bee line for the car. I brought the rod inside and carried on with my tea while the cattle took to licking the car. When it came to moving the cattle weren't so keen, probably waiting for payment for the car wash.

They did eventually get the hint and allow me to move to another stretch. This was the area I'd had reasonable success with the dry fly previously, but even here there was no sign of activity. After a few casts with the klink 'n' dink I change to spiders, but this too proved fruitless. Moving to the deep water I tried using a heavy nymph, but only succeeded in dredging up the odd water logged branch.

Not sure where all the grayling have got to, maybe moved upstream to the more exclusive stretches. I decent drop of rain wouldn't do any harm either.

She's a Stick in the Mud

Had a couple of hours down the river today. Started by throwing a small deep diving plug bait, as I wandered upstream, in to the rather lifeless looking water. Looking upstream from a bend I noticed a pale patch on the otherwise brown and green bank which I hoped was bank-side foliage dying back as the riverside vegetation was making access to a lot of the swims rather awkward.
Having got as far as I was going upstream I headed back with a shallow diving plug on the line, hoping for better results. A few casts later and small acrobatic little jack grabbed hold. On landing turned out to have recently been attacked bay something much bigger judging by the fresh scars on either side of it. Unfortunately a bout of butter-fingers saw my phone heading towards the river as I was about to photograph it as slid down the bank after it I snagged one of the straps on the unhooking mat and topped the fish back in the rivers just as I managed to grab the phone.

I headed further down-stream to a spot where willows overhang into the river. This area normally produces a predator or two. As I headed down the bank I spotted the pale area I'd seen earlier, a cow which I initially assumed to be dead. A poke with the landing net handle confirmed otherwise. It was well and truly stuck in the mud. Not knowing which of the farms the field belonged to I decided to contact the police. The phone reception in this area is not good, to say the least, and it to 3 or 4 attempts to connect to the police non-emergency number. Eventually the farmer turned up and the poor beast was hauled out in a rather undignified manner. None to steady on it's eet it was ushered back to the farm so they could keep an eye on it.

As it was now getting dark I called it a day.

Apathetic Jacks & French Carp

With the pike season open at the syndicate I thought I'd have a pop down with the lure rods. With the lily pads having not died down yet I decided to have a go with the frogs. The first fish to show interest was a carp, which momentarily grabbed a leg before sinking away. A little while later I spotted another, smaller, carp in the path of the lure. I stopped it in front of the carp which again grabbed a leg as I twitched it away. This happened a third time, a little while later. Think l may have to get a bit of garlic goo to cover the frogs in.

I continued round the lake, between the carp anglers, and while I spotted several jacks skulking in the pads none of them showed any interest in the lure at all even when the lure hit one of them it only moved a couple of inches. One small jack that I uncovered when I moved a pad with the lure just shot under the next pad before popping out and grabbing a Daddy Long Legs of the surface. Dry fly fishing for pike anybody!

 










After a cuppa and piece of fruit cake I got the light lure rod out armed with a Mepps Aglia #5. By this time a few of the jacks had woken up and I managed 5 to 5lb 7oz. The Savage gear Finezze rod allowing them to show a bit of spirit.

Red Tag, Yellow Tag

Having tied up a few more dry flies specifically for grayling I decide to have a another go for them today. The first fly on was one that I have no idea what it's called. Tied on a 16, with yellow tag, peacock body and cree hackle, I just have it in some old notes. It did, however, work as fish after fish attacked it, but failed to hook. Which was not surprising as they were some of the smallest grayling I've ever seen, only 3-4" long, their distinctive dorsal fin showing clearly as they attacked the fly.

Moving upstream I found a small shoal rising, to what I couldn't see,  just below a riffle. I managed to fool three of them before they disappeared. It was a quite a while before I found more rising, again I couldn't see what they were feeding on. Again tiny little grayling were the first to the fly, a change to a red tag produced the same result. There were larger fish swimming about below the smaller ones, so I decided to persist. Changing to he good old John Storey had the desired result. It was all but ignored by the smaller fish, and occasionally one of the larger ones would rise up through them to take it. Out of interest, I cut the yellow tail off one fly and tried that. As I hoped it was ignored by the smaller fish and taken by a couple of the larger ones, in fact the largest of the evening. I think the little uns were just seeing, and attacking, the tag .

John and the Ladies

With the trout season ending at the end of the month, I decided, on Sunday, to have another go at catching one on dry fly on stretch I've never managed to. I've caught them on wets, nymphs, lures, even luncheon meat, but never of the surface.

Upon arrival the wind had got up again and was gust straight down the best of the trout swims. I wished I brought a #5 rod instead of the #4. The only fly life I'd seen while having a wander was a few daddy long legs tumbling over the grass banks. So I stated off with one on the end of the leader, an Airflo Polyleader which helped turn the large fly over onto the wind. A couple of small fish had a tentative nudge at the fly, but nothing more.

 



























 As I wandered upstream and the wind eased I gradually decreased the size of the fly via Klinkhammer, APT, down to a size size 18 IOTBB Humpy. Near the top of the length the sun popped out and quite a few fish were rising. All I got were splashy rises and the occasional nudge though. Rooting through the fly box for inspiration sense finally prevailed and a John Storey was tied on. After all the fly was invented on the Rye. First cast with it produced a small grayling followed by several more over the the next three swims.

 










Just as I was beginning to enjoy my self a chill wind got up and the sky turned black. The rises stopped and then it started spitting with rain. Despite the lack of trout I decided to call it a day. I made it back to the car before the heavens opened. While I sat there having a cup of tea and waiting for the rain to stop, so I could get out of the chesties a herd of bullocks gathered round the car. I decide to drive out of this field before getting changed and was escorted by them all the way to the gate. Just before arriving at the gate a hare bolted from cover and caused them to stampede away.

Flapping Flounder

Sunday saw me heading east for another spot of sea fishing. With less wind than last time things looked good, increasingly so when I spotted other anglers upon my arrival. Fishing was to be from low water to high. Armed with the long rods, tactics were one with a cascade rig at 100 yards or so. The other, with a two hook flapper, was to be fished at 30-60 yards. Baits were lug, squid, mackerel, mussel, in various combinations.

It was a little while before the closer rod’s tip started to bouncing about and a 9” flounder was quickly cranked in. While re-baiting the other rod showed signs of life. The culprit this time being a bait thieving crab. This was all the action I had for the rest of the flood. The others there didn’t do any better.

Never Ignore the Locals

With reports that Withernsea was fishing well from low tide up, I decided to give it a go on Sunday with my shiny new Imax Rod and Penn reel. Stopping at the tackle shop to pick up bait, Worm, Mussel,Squid, Mackerel, I realised my rig wallet was not in the car. Thankfully there was a plentiful choice in the shop. Arriving at Withernsea just before low water to find it windier than I'd hoped, as the consensus was that it fishes better in calm conditions.

After some fish 'n' chips for lunch I started to get set up. This is when the first of several people decided to inform me how good the fishing had been last week and how bad it was going to be today. It was also when the second of the day's problems turned up. One leg on my tripod was jammed and no amount of pulling tapping or wiggling was going to unjam it. No matter I'd just have to rest the rod on a groyne. Problem number three occurred with the first cast. A birds nest was ripped from the reel and into the rod rings. This despite the fact that I'd had more than a few casts over grass , to ensure the braid was well bedded in. The bird's nest was quickly unravelled, only to the line out to sea had drifted round the end of the groyne. After much pulling it eventually snapped at the leader. I tied on another one and soon cast out again, only for a similar problem to occur. I'd made sure the leader knot was at the front of the spool. Not sure what was causing this I change spools to mono and enjoyed a trouble free day after that,

I tried various combinations of the bait I'd bought at various distances, but nothing seemed to entice the fish. Really I should have known better than to continue as the was no sign of anybody else fishing. If the locals aren't out, something's amiss. I was eventually joined by a couple of youngsters who showed me some pictures of rays they'd caught earlier in the week and weren't optimistic about the chances of catching.

 

While they fished similar baits to me, at close range, I cast out to a deeper hole near the end of the groyne. When even the crabs aren't having a go at your bait I think it's time to give up and this I did just over the top of the tide.

The problem with the braid puzzled me, so I had another go casting over grass, the next evening, and even with the leader knot at the back of the spool I couldn't reproduce the problem. Must have been a hint from the fishing gods not to bother.

Pink Power

Between gardening, decorating and visiting relatives I only had time for a short session, on Bank Holiday Monday. I opted for a small local pond for a spot of jigging. Opting for the pink 2" Power Shirasu  and a Shirasu jig head I was into small perch straight away, taking half a dozen close through a channel in the lilies. Due to the profusion of Duck Weed swims were limited, but those that were fishable produced up to a dozen similar sized perch. One swim, along side a fallen tree, produced a rather pretty little jack that put a reasonable bend in the HTO Rockfish T. A rather pleasant evening was soon brought to a halt by the biting midges though. I'd forgotten the repellent, so retreated gracefully home and onward to the pub.

Jigging for Minows

One of my favourite little becks has a stretch which is nearly unfishable with a fly rod. Low hang branches, high banks and it's width all conspire to prevent a fly rod being waved about. In the past I've wiggled fly line out of the rod tip in the hope of drifting a fly under the branches down to the fish, but the varying currents rarely allowed a fly to be presented properly. This time I decided to try flicking small jigs about.

With the beck being shallow and clear I decided to start with a natural, brown, coloured lure. After a few casts along side some tree roots a little trout popped out and followed the lure for a yard or so. It did this next cast so I changed to to something more lurid, chartreuse, which was quickly grabbed, but only by the tail. Further on another little trout popped out from under an undercut bank and followed the lure before dodging back under the bank. Again a change of colour, to pink, provided the stimulus for a take. Unfortunately it's acrobatics snagged the line on a trailing briar and by the time I'd got upstream it had shaken it's self off the de-barbed hook.

One thing I'd noticed this season was the lack of coarse fish, hardly any  chub, dace or gudgeon and an astonishing lack of minnows. This was to change in the next few swims, which were rammed with minnows several of which I managed to foul hook. Occasionally one managed to grab the hook and a few grabbed the tail of the lure seemingly unable to eject it.

As I neared the end of the stretch I dropped the lure into one of the deeper, 2 foot, holes and was finally reward with another small acrobatic trout.

At this point I was at the edge of the woods and realised what the background noise was. It had been raining for quite a while. A brisk walk back through the woods got me back to the car just before the heavens opened.

White Only

Another short, after work, session on the Aire and Calder Navigation which resulted in a shed load of small perch to a small jig. The only thing of note to report was the fact they'd only take white lures. Any other colour was just nipped at, but white was the only colour I could hook them on. It didn't matter about the retrieve, quick, slow, smooth, jerky, whatever.