The Final Count Down - Penultimate Session

For the penultimate session of the season I went down to a local canalised river with a chap that had been getting a few jacks out on lures. Being rather shallow we thought the bright, but welcome, sunshine may cause problems. I didn't get off to a great start when a bit of clumsiness saw me break the heavier of my rods just below the tip ring. The lighter of the two would have to cope. We weren't chucking big lures about anyway and it had managed pike to double figures in the past. I'd also forgotten to put a larger landing net head in the car so would have to struggle with the perch sized head.

 

 

My mate was into a little jack second cast. A lively little beast that took a bit of time to land on his light gear. My first take resulted in the tail going missing from my lure. I replaced it with the first rigged lure I found in the box and had another take as the lure dropped to the bottom. Again the tail was bitten off. A rather frustrating start. Meanwhile my mate had taken a trout, his first from this little river.

We then had a rather quiet spell as we made our way up river. A change from more natural colours to a rather garish yellow/green lure seemed to wake them up. With two coming in quick succession.  The little net coped perfectly well with them. My mate had three of similar size on a firetiger pattern.All around the 50-60cm mark and very lively. 

We then had another quiet spell before I latched on to another very close to the bank which managed to get under a sunken branch. By walking upstream I was able to get it out form underneath and into the net. While it had been stuck under the branch it had chewed the lure to death. What was left was replaced with a blue/silver pulse tail that fell out of the box as I opened it. This proved just as effective as it produced another jack a few yards further on. 

We were now four all on the pike front. Again things went quiet for me but my mate had two more before I latched on to my fifth of the day. Which had a well healed scar in one side.

That proved to be it for the day. Six Five to my mate, plus a trout. One surprising thing was the lack of chub. It was his first lure session on here with out one. The five jacks I caught meant that for the first time this pike season I had an average of more than one pike per session, just. One more session to go before the end of the season.

Two Days To Go

 Two days to go until the end of the trout season and Monday looking pretty dire weather wise I headed out to the beck. Not too early as we'd had our first frost of Autumn. The beck was a couple of inches up and carrying a peaty tinge. It doesn't take much to alter the behaviour of a small beck like this. Some of the slacks were now more like whirl pools and various bits of debris had been washed down. I did pick up quite a few twigs while fishing. With little or no insects about I intended to fish Little Bugger Jig flies. If that didn't work a Gold Head PTN was my next option.

I spent some time drifting a white Little Bugger about in some deeper holes with out success. A change to a heavier Olive version produced a couple of tentative tugs in one swim but that was all. I then tried a Gold head PTN but this was really too light for a lot of the holes failing to get down before reaching the end. I made my was back to the car for a cuppa and a rethink.

The beck was getting a bit clearer and dropping slightly by the time I'd finished my cuppa. I opted for the Olive Little Bugger again. The second swim I tried that produced the tentative tugs first time round produced a solid take. After a bit of thrashing about a nice 11½" Brown trout. Scale samples were removed in the prescribed manner and placed in the envelope. The little beastie rested in the net before being released. Plenty of time for a couple more I thought. Unfortunately as I headed to the next hole I wrong footed myself stabbing the bank with the tip of the rod. I now had a five piece rod instead of four piece.

Most of the time I have three or four rods in the car, but Sod's Law I only had the one, so that was that. Oh well. Still two days to go, but Monday looks dire so maybe just the one.

The End Is Near

 The end of the trout season is fast approaching here in Yorkshire and as often seems the case the weather is trying to ruin the last few days. The salmon & sea trout anglers  are over the moon with the prospect of the rivers being given a bit of a lift. I on the other hand have a limited time to extract a few brown trout from one of the becks for some scale samples. 

Tuesday I ventured forth to said beck in an attempt to catch a couple of browns. Having had a bit of a wander around, noting the fallen trees that will need to be moved so as they're parallel to the bank, I decided nymphing or streamers would probably be the best choice with no obvious fly life about.

 

First fly on the end of a sort of Euro style nymphing rig was a small PTN Jig. After battling my way through somewhat excessive vegetation and fallen trees I arrived at a deep, three foot, pool. First drift through with the nymph produced a take which I missed. A couple more drifts and a chublet took firm hold of the nymph. This was quickly followed by a second. A drift around the far side of the pool produced a small perch which had engulfed the nymph. The little horror managed to spike me as I unhooked it and returned to the depths with out a photo. A few more drifts produced nothing other than a few leafs.

I continued up the stretch to the top. dropping the nymph into any likely looking hole. Nothing seemed to be hungry in these spots. Mostly I seemed to be snagging twigs and leaves. At the top of the stretch I partook of lunch. A change of fly was called for. A small white jig come Woolly Bugger thing was put on. Bouncing it about in a deepish hole at the top of the length produced a a tentative tug which turned into a 15" Rainbow trout. Not what I was after but  another escapee is removed.

I continued dropping the lure into the deeper holes with very little to show. I did get a vicious take in one spot that only succeeded in ripping a lot of the tail from the lure. A change to n olive version didn't fair any better. Nor did a black one. Oh well a few more days to go before the end of the season which is surely enough to capture a couple of the browns. I did, however, add to my species tally from this section of beck. I now have Brown & Rainbow trout, Dace, Chub, Minnow, and Perch on rod and line. Along with Bullhead, and Lamprey during river fly sampling. The damned Himalayan Balsam doesn't seem to be going away either, with more plants popping up here and there.

Earp Pike

Thursday I set off to a section of river renowned for it's humongous pike, that nobody ever captures. The rumours have been around years and just seem to stick. It has, however, been producing some pike recently which is why I was heading there. The info I has was that the pike were been caught late morning into early afternoon so I didn't get there too early. There weren't quite as many swims accessible as I'd hoped do to the water level,. but enough to spend an hour or two in each.

 

A float rod was to be fished next to any overhanging trees and in the slacks and a ledger rod for out in the middle. Bait was limited as I didn't want to buy any more before the end of the season. I had a small herring, some smelt, roach and lamprey. I put a section of lamprey out in the middle and a roach on the float was my starter.After half an hour or so the float started to drift downstream and I contacted with something that didn't feel like a pike. When I got it to the surface it was a pike, nearly. Probably about a foot long it thrashed about on the surface and detached itself from the hook. I put on a roach and cast out again, but with no more action after an hour moved on the the next swim. 

I decided on a cuppa after casting the baits out. This didn't result in any runs, but as I brought the float rod in to recast I thought i saw something following the bait so dropped it back close in. While I was waiting I got the lure rod ready. After bringing the float rod in I had a cast about with a eight in shad with a rattle fitted. After half a dozen cast I had the most almighty hit, obviously something big. I was somewhat disappointed when a little jack surfaced but at least I wasn't going to blank.

If one pike was active and willing to take a lure maybe more were. I therefore spent some time wandering up and down chucking lures about, but didn't see anything else. I settled down in an new swim with quite a large slack the was only about eight foot deep compared to the twelve to fourteen foot of the previous swims. Recasting the ledger rod I slipped and launched the whole lot up into a tree. While I retrieved everything else the lamprey detached itself and landed in the river. Time for the headless herring. It hadn't been out long when the alarm bleeped and the dropback dropped back. Pretty soon an 84cm 6lb 8oz fish was in the net. Despite the powerful rods it managed to put up a reasonable account of itself in the fast current.

Nothing else came from that swim so I had another go with the lure rod to no avail. two more swims were fished before dark, but nowt else had a go at the baits. I'm hoping the rivers have settled and the last few days of the season will produce something better. Hopefully it won't be washed out like last year.

Flinging Dead Fish Into The Blue Waters Of A Clay Pit

As some of the rivers were now a reasonable levels I spent a bit of time having a look at spots I'd like to pike fish. While the water levels were OK, the precipitous banks were not. Even where you could get down safely the flat areas you'd be fishing from soon puddled up into a dodgy slippy mess that put you in grave danger of ending up in the river. I decided stillwater fishing would probably be safer and easier. So it was down to one of the clay pits.

I was the only one there when I arrived, and all day. I don't know it more weed suppressing blue dye had been added but the water was very blue. My intention had been to wander round with a lure rod to start with then settle into a couple of swims dead baiting. While I'd brought a lure rod I'd failed to put a lure box in the car. Deadbaiting it was then. I'm working my way clockwise round this pit so started in the next swim along from my last visit on Boxing Day. A small smelt was dropped under the tree to my right at the top of the shelf and a headless joey mackerel to my right at the bottom of the shelf. I moved the baits about but after a couple of hours wasn't really feeling it and felt a move was needed.

Having moved I went to get a tea bag, etc. out of the car and found a shiny new Westin Swim glide bait. It had been bought at the sales and fallen out of the bag. I put the baits out and had a cuppa before winding in and wandering around the pit for a while flinging the lure about. This was as effective as the deadbaits. While having lunch, some Thai chilli noodles, I flicked a few noodles out for the Robin that had been following me about. They seemed to be welcome. After lunch I moved to a third swim. I changed baits to a small roach and a piece of lamprey. While I lefty the roach next to the overhanging tree the lamprey was cast about the place. All to no avail. I had another wander with the lure rod as it was starting to get dark but nothing cooperated. I'd seen no sign of fish all day. Oh well, there's always next time.

Testing New Kit

As I'd recently bought a shiny new baitcasting outfit for perch fishing and I was going to be in the vicinity of the navigation for a couple of hours I took it along for a bit of casting practice. The new set up consisted of a LMAB La Moustique 2-10g rod, though, I'm not sure naming it after one of the worlds most loathed insects is a great idea. The reel is a Lew's ProSP, one of small number of baitcasters with a half capacity spool ideal for light braid. 

 

I started with a 5g jig head with a small white grass minnow. The first cast ended in a bit of back lash. A bit of a twiddle of the brakes and things improved. After half a dozen casts I was able to get to the far bank some 35m away. On the seventh cast as I jigged the lure back I felt the rattle of a perch and was in. The last three whippings are yellow to help bite detection though I'm not sure it helped.

Over the next dozen or so casts I had half a dozen more small perch. Nothing to really test the power of the rod but the bite detection was excellent. I wasn't too sure about the skeletal reel seat and the small grip but once a reel was on it was perfectly comfortable. I then tried with a 3g jig head. This again I could get well over to the far side but it was too light to fish properly. The tow on the canal combined with the breeze and depths of ten to twelve foot were just too much to keep in contact with the lure. It would be nice, though, if manufactures would make ultra light casting rods in longer lengths. This one is 1.98m, 6'. 2.3m, 7'6", would afford better control of the lures. Still I think It'll serve its purpose.

Sunday I again had a couple of hours spare near another section of the navigation. So had another session with the new outfit. Another angler was fishing near to where I wanted to be taking the odd small perch. Using the same lure as previous I was soon into a record breaking perch, or maybe a little jack pike. The rod performed excellently and quickly subdued the little 61cm beast.  I then had a wander along away from the other angler and picked up a couple of tiny perch from near an overhanging bush. The cold breeze then picked up and I wandered back to the car for a cuppa and the big coat.

While I had my cuppa the other angler left. I changed from a jig head to a weedless setup as the spot I wanted to fish was rather snaggy. The problem with this was the hook up rate was rather low. I could feel the bites but the small perch weren't chomping down on the bait hard enough to expose the hook point. The advantage was that i didn't lose any lures. It took about an hour to land a dozen small perch. Clearly the larger fish weren't in residence. As it got close to packing up time I did manage to snag on something. A length of rope came up followed by a magnet. I suspect somebody forgot to keep hold of the end. It clearly hadn't been in there long as the was no algae or beasties on the rope.

Overall the outfit works as I'd hoped and I look forward to using it on some of the smaller canals.

Weekend on the Navigation - Now With Added Pike

 Arriving at the navigation I found cars strewn everywhere. According to the web site  there wasn't a match on so I assumed it was the new moon rush for the pike. Turned out it was, sort of. It was a PAC get together. I saw one pike come out and believe another had been caught.

I headed in the opposite direction flinging all many of large lures about with out any sign of a pike. As I returned towards the car for a cuppa I met a couple of anglers I'd met before. One of whom had a small pike first cast. I had my cuppa and headed back with a lighter set up. A variety of lighter lure were chucked about with little success until a mighty thump on a Jerkster. Consider how hard the lure was hit the pike came in like a wet blanket. I chinned it and lifted it clear of the water. It was then it decided to put up a fight. The lure went one way the pike the other, skinning my knuckles as it went. A fish of 5-6lb but a pike at last. Time was now running out. As I headed back to the car a bait angler had a fish slightly larger than mine. The two anglers I'd met earlier had had nothing else.

The next session headed further down the navigation. The swans seemed quite happy paddling about the flooded field. While over the other side some twitchers were playing spot the duck, or something. It was a warmer more pleasant day than previous. I started off with a spot of perch fishing under the bridge and eventually managed to winkle four fish out. Little perch like that shouldn't be so hard to catch.

AS I was having a cuppa contemplating whether to fish for perch or pike another lure angler turned up on the opposite bank. He seemed to be having a bit of a problem with his baitcaster. Whether he was new to it or what I don't know. As I finished my cuppa a few fish scattered ahead of a large swirl. I already put a SG Da Bush spinnerbait on with the intention of trawling it along the edge for pike so cast beyond the swirl.  The bait had probably travelled some ten yards along the edge when it went solid, then swung out into the cut. The pike put up a very spirited fight before giving up and allowing me to chin it. A 90cm fish of 8lb 10oz.

I then spent the next hour or so chucking the spinnerbait about but didn't see another pike. When I got back to the bridge a cormorant was happily sunning it's self on the far bank. I flicked the lure over which hit the stone work and had the bird dive into the water. I looked up and down for it to reappear which it did along way down. I'm still surprised how far and how fast these things can swim underwater.

Two sessions. A pike on each. Not brilliant but things are getting better. With another storm on it's way I'm not sure where's go to be fishable later in the week. Somewhere will be and hopefully the fish will get bigger and better.