Fish From The Beck

Yesterday I was to talking to a friends brother who had been for a wander along the canal in the hope of photographing deer. He told me that he'd seen several pike attacks with fish scattering all over. One attack by at least two, possibly three, pike had resulted on three small roach leaping on to the bank. While two had flipped back in one had landed in a puddle. He'd returned it to the canal just as another attack took place. He didn't manage to see any deer though.

I should know that following up reports like this usually results in disappointment, but with nothing better to do I thought I'd give it a go. As he'd said the weed was dying away and the canal was fishable. I started with a Salmo Slick Stick in Real Bleak as the water was clear and a natural colour would probably better. This proved to be the case as after a couple of casts I got a take from a small jack. Sadly it shook the hooks. A few casts later some bait fish scattered close to the far bank. Firsts cast in the area and I was in after a bit of violent head shaking and zooming about I had it heading towards the net. With great aplomb it managed to avoid the net and dive into the bankside vegetation. After a bit of heaving and poking with the landing net I just ended up with a clump of weed.

I had a natter with a chap fly fishing for pike. He'd had one hit and lost a fish under his feet  as well. After a cuppa I had a wander in the opposite direction. With nothing to show from the canal I decided to have a chuck in the flooded beck. Due to recent dredging it was rather coloured so I tried a Rattlin Hornet. After a few casts I got a good solid hit and was connected to a very angry jack. After a great deal of acrobatics and hurtling about like a lunatic I had it in the net. Not very big at 60cm or so but it had put up a great struggle in the narrow confines of the Beck. It even managed to keep it's angry pose for the photo.

I spent a little while longer fishing the Beck to no avail. Back on the canal things weren't much better. I'd changed the lure to a small Salmo Butcher as the waster was a bit deeper here. I had a couple of follows from some wasps but that was that for the day. I did, however, spot some deer dashing form thicket to thicket.

As the weed growth is dying back on  some stretches it may be worth spending a bit more time on them now.