With the little trout beck still looking quite horrible, brown, and full of debris which I thought was rather odd. I later found out a fallen tree, which had been blocking a side stream, had been removed and all the crap that had been trapped behind it was, obviously, making it's way down stream. Fortuitously I'd taken a light lure set up as well as a fly set up, so headed to the canal. Unlike last time it was now back between it's banks and remarkably clear, although the beck that runs along side was still well up and coloured.
The first cast, with a Salmo minnow, produced a small perch. I never like catching first cast as it invariably ends up been the only fish of the day. Another half hour, and several bait changes and I was in to a slightly battered jack much to my relief. I had, however, managed to fright a shoal of of small tench out of the cabbages as the lure passed over. Something I managed to do again later. This is nice to see, as I've seen very few tench over the past few years.
A bit later I hooked another small tatty looking jack, which very kindly shed the hook straight in to the web between thumb and index finger. A bit of surgery and a cuppa later I was back in action. A spare hook replacing the one I'd chopped up. The lure, covered in dried blood attracted the largest fish of the day. Which quickly came adrift, one of the problems of light perch tackle and pike's mouths. A couple more tatty jacks followed quite quickly before I called it a day. I assume the tatty appearance is down to spawning activity.
On the walk back to the car a curlew flew low over a part flooded field, startled by the calves splashing about I assume. Not a bad day considering the bright sunshine.
With the local trout rivers still rather full from the recent rain, and the ponds having too many anglers fishing for me to chuck lures about I headed for Pocklington canal. Unfortunately it was in a worse state than the rivers. The beck and canal were merged together.
Next stop was Selby canal. The club had just acquired an additional length, so I thought I'd give it a go. Arriving at one end of the new length I found it was as brown and rubbish strewn as the two rivers it connects. Still, I was here and thought I should give it a go. This proved quite futile as weed just kept snagging the lures.
I decided instead to just have a wander down the length to see if there was any features, or whatever, that could be of interest at a later date. As I got further down the water seemed to be losing the brown colour, although the floating debris seemed to be as bad. About half way I headed back to the car and drove down to the other end of the stretch. This bit was indeed less brown and there seemed to be parts of it with only a little bit of debris floating about.
After a couple of hours chucking lures about I'd managed one tatty looking perch, which I dropped the moment the hooks came out, and three lost lures.
This stretch looks a lot more inviting than the other end and hopefully, once the debris has gone, it should provide some sport.
With my winter permit coming to an end, on the 31st, I managed to get one last trip in on Friday. Unlike last time, when the weather was nice, there was only a couple of anglers there when I arrived. This gave me a better selection of swims, I plumped for a swim at the same end of the lake as last time. This swim has plenty of features, over-hanging tress to the left, a small bay to the right, deep holes, and raised bars in front.
Tactics were to be, float fished sardine under the trees, float fished smelt to the right, and a legered popped up lamprey section in front. But first I spent an hour or so flinging lures about in a few swims to no avail. I dropped the baits in and settled down with a cuppa. First sip of tea and the left hand float shot away at great speed. A dinky little jack was quickly swung in and the bait back in the same position.
For the next few hours nothing else happened. I had a spot of lure fishing. Moved the baits about the swim, until the left hand float started bobbing about. It wasn't a huge fish judging by the way it was careering about the swim. A rather nice fish of 7lb 8oz. An hour passed by before the right hand float moved away slowly. The rod hooped over before I could strike then went slack. I retrieved a rather chewed smelt.
It was another hour before a latched on to something a bit heavier, back on the left hand rod. Keeping the rod tip under the water to stop anything snagging on the trailing branches. I eventually managed to net a very powerful 14lb 6oz beastie, with the hooks dropping out as I lifted the net. Confusingly, as I placed it on the mat for a photo, there was a trace hanging out of it's mouth. I thought at first my line had snapped rather than the hooks coming adrift, but this clearly wasn't my trace. Thankfully only the lower hook was out of sight. I managed to remove both, barbless, hooks and left the fish in the sack for 15 mins before releasing it.
I sat for another few hours, well into dark with out any more action. Not a bad end to the season on the lake. Time to get the fly rods out me thinks.
