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 .