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.

Return To The Trout

 I still hadn't made my mind up where to go fishing on Thursday. I had a quick shufti though the river gauges and noticed a couple of the trout rivers had had a bit of a lift from the rain earlier in the week. I decide a trip up the valley of cheese may be a good idea. I checked the weather and seemed it would be a nice, if somewhat draughty, day. What didn't occur to me was that I would be trying to fly fish an easterly flowing river in a strong westerly.  At various points I passed signs proclaiming some road or other would be close from some point or other at some time or other. How you're supposed to read these signs on a sixty MPH road I don't know I suppose I could have made a nuisance of myself and slowed right down and annoyed everybody behind me. Besides there had been several signs claiming the were no white lines. There were plenty of very bright, newly painted white lines. So were the signs even relevant any more. It transpired the road was closed, but I knew the road that they claimed only went to a village in fact went very close to where I wanted to be. I eventually arrived late late afternoon and was surprised to see a couple of anglers fishing my club stretch. They would be the first I'd seen. A natter with one, Paul, found they they were staying nearby for three days as they weren't from these parts and that they'd had three fish between them in the morning. They'd struggled in the wind though.

I ventured Up to the top of the stretch as I thought it may be more sheltered. With the river nearly six inches up and falling it looked a lot healthier than last time I'd fished. I rigged up a duo and fished the faster water in some of the more sheltered spots for a while with no bites. I then tried some of the smother glides but didn't get an signs of fish. I worked my way back towards the car but things didn't get any better. A change of tactics were called for. As the wind had dropped a bit I decided to fish a couple of spiders through the faster riffles. Getting them to turn over was a bit tricky at times. One spot fishing downstream produced a couple of takes but I failed to connect properly. This is always a problem when fishing downstream. Near the bottom of the stretch and back to fishing upstream I  got a good solid take and a very nice 14" wild brown trout was in the net after a bit of acrobatics. No photo though as it jumped clear of the floating net while I was faffing with the phone. Wet hands and touch screens don't always cooperate. Another fish was lost not long after, throwing the hook as it cartwheeled about.

I thought I'd do a lot better after the river had lifted a bit. There was very little hatching apart from the odd small upright. I didn't see any fish rise at all. The two chaps fishing earlier had seen a couple of fish jump but that was it. It wasn't until I got home I realised that I hadn't taken many photos for some reason.

Sixth Day Fourth Session Of The 2023 River Season

 The most exciting part of yesterday's fishing expedition was finding the river. The Dunesfordes are dead end villages. I'd never fished this section before so wasn't quite sure where I was going The sat nav seemed to get confused as you're never sure whether you're on public or private roads. Eventually, after missing a turn hidden behind the apex of a bend and driving into the wrong field I spotted the club sign on a gate. The track through the fields down to the river wasn't as obvious as I'd hoped so I got out and had a wander. It was more obvious on foot than from the car. Eventually I got my way to the river bank despite the apathetic sheep that seemed to be in no hurry to get out of my way. Must be something to do with the solstice.

The river was much as expected. Some 40 yards wide and 2 to 3 fathoms deep. Even though it was some 6" up on normal summer levels there was still very little flow. A brief natter with the only other angler there made me wonder why I'd bothered. He was struggling for bites and had only a couple of small dace for a couple of hours fishing. He said that the all over the place gusty breeze made presentation hard work. There weren't a lot of swims that were easily accessible so I just plumped  for one near where I'd come to a halt in the car.

I set up two rigs.  A 3g slim bolo at 13' for 3 rod lengths out. and a 5g slider rig at 15' for the middle of the river. Hemp and maggots for the inside line and groundbait and maggots for the middle of the river. The middle line was the first to produce with a tiny roach on double maggot. Bites were hard to come by though. A bleak was next up from the middle of the river. I then changed to the inside and had a couple of dace. I then got my hopes up when I got a 6-8oz chub. No more bites were forthcoming so I went out to the middle again and had a slightly larger chub. For the rest of the session I just picked up the odd dace here and there. The other chap left before me and had had a dozen or so small roach and dace. I ended up with 15 fish, 1 roach, 1 bleak, 2 chub, and 11 dace.

Not the most productive day but I wasn't pestered by pike for a change. People tell me this is a winter venue but i know good bags can be had in summer.

Trout And Other Fishes

 Last Thursday I had a bit of a wander  along a stretch I'd not fished for a long time. I only had an hour. I'd set up a duo rig for a bit of searching about if nothing was showing. As I got to where the public footpath deviates from the route I needed to take there was a hare apparently pointing me in the right direction. The section was far shorter than I remembered and I was soon at the bottom of it. There appeared to be a couple of fish rising on the far bank under the trees. I flicked the rig out into the river to start to cast and the klinkhammer shot away and in came a dace. I tried again and same thing, as dace had grabbed the nymph. Looking down from the top of the bank there was a very large shoal of them.

I cast over top the far bank and again the klinkhammer shot under. This time, though, it was a small grayling. I moved upstream and had another cast over to the faster current on the far bank and got another grayling. The slow current on the inside appeared to be full of dace and the faster current on the outside grayling. A I wandered up I had a few more casts. If I got a bit it was either a dace or grayling. All the same size like peas in a pod. I moved up to one of the faster riffles. This was full of ravenous minnows either try to sink the klink or devouring the nymph. The wind then got up and made a nuisance of its self. If it was blowing down stream the fly got dragged along faster than the current and if it was blowing upstream the fly line was held stationary in the slow current. This made fishing the far bank nay on impossible. Anyway time was up.

As I wandered down the stretch on Sunday there was the usual black stuff flittering about, along with the occasional Yellow May. Waders probably weren't the best idea in the heat but the wind was only light so I should be able to get a decent drift.  Near the bottom of the stretch I spotted two, possibly three, 10-12" trout apparently feeding in the shadows near an over hanging branch. They weren't rising but were darting about grab something or other just below the surface.   I set up a duo rig like last time only this time I put on a yellow klinkhammer. It took three casts to get the drift right but right it was. A larger trout of some 18" porpoised grabbed the klink and was away. The overhanging branch must have trailed well into the river as the line was going round it as the fish fled down stream. Sinking the rod tip caused the line to come loose and also the fish. Poo, or words to that effect.

I waited a bit but the other trout didn't return. A bit further up another trout was spotted in the shadows and first cast the nymph was grabbed. A spirited fight and a bit of leaping and my new floating landing nets was christened. A trout of 10" or so. A similar scenario played out a few minutes later this time with a slightly bigger trout. When i released it it sat for a while before launching it's self straight towards the bank and beaching it's self. It didn't make that mistake second time. It was a long release on the next two trout. One took the dry the other the nymph.

It was quite a while before I saw any more fish activity, apart from the parr leaping out of the water. It's surprising how far these little 4-6" beasties can get above the water. I was also surprised I hadn't hooked any. Given the heat I was about to give up when I spotted a fish of a similar size to the others casually swimming upstream in the middle of the river. I dropped the flies ahead of it and it slunk away before rising up to inspect the klink. It continued upstream, as did the klink. It must have grabbed the nymph as it exploded when I struck. Despite keeping the rod low it leapt about all over the place and was an absolute bugger to net, but net it I did. The biggest of the day at 12".

With lots of small grayling, some large shoals of dace and plenty of par about things are looking quite good for the river. A light flush through would be nice with the thunderstorms about. I also noticed a awful lot of pin fry in the margins. How many of these will survive I don't know. Many of the them will end up fattening the trout up. On the way back to the cat I noticed a kingfisher staring into what can only be described as a puddle. It shot away as I approached. Watching the puddle I could see a few 3-4" either dace or chub. I assume they'd ended up there when the river last flooded. A passer-by asked what I was looking at and when I pointed out the fish they suggested I could rescue them with my net. I suggested they were probably best left where they were to feed the kingfishers or what ever. They said they'd never have thought of that and that maybe things like that were supposed to happen to give the youngsters a fighting chance. The opening day of the coarse fish season is soon so I'll see you all then and tight lines to you all.

No Insects - No Fish

 I'd have preferred to fish on Friday, but appointments, etc. meant I couldn't, so Thursday it was. Despite the north-east wind on both days Friday at least had some sunshine, whereas Thursday was dull and overcast. Looking from the bridge the lack of life was astonishing. A couple of bees, a butterfly, and few black things were all the insects I could see. A dipper and a few mallard with ducklings were on the river. Three oyster catchers flew over head making a racket. Never understood this as the oysters must be able to hear them coming and have time to go into hiding.

Rather than fish I decide to have a wander along the river and see if anything anywhere was happening. The answer was no. The odd tiny fish could be seen dimpling the surface. Others gave a splashy rise. Nothing of any size showed at all. No of this was surprising given the weather conditions and the state of the river. It was low and weedy with horrible green slimy algae around. The area looked some what desolate apart from the sheep and a flock of gooses. There were a few interesting looking riffles that may hold fish. The deeper sections looked dire and covered in debris and in some places a brown scum. My local canals have more flow. Herbicide had obviously been recently sprayed as well given the wilting thistles. They lack of insects around the sheep shit was also a tad worrying.

After an early tea I set up a spider rig to fish the riffles. Despite the long walk between the ones deep enough to fish I set off with hope. This had faded by the time I got to the top of the stretch with nothing to show for my efforts. On the way back I switch to dry fly. A klinkhammer and a small black beastie were rigged up. The pink post on the klinkhammer allowing in to show up among the bits of debris and also allowing me to have an idea where the little black beastie was. All that happened they they hit the water was for little fish to attack them. Nothing of any size made an attempt, as far as I could tell, to take the flies. I also tried a nymph in the faster riffles but it always ended up stuck in the weed and slime.

I waited nearly to dark hoping something would happen, but no. not a thing. A spot of rain and a change of wind direction would do wonders for the river and the fishing. I now, however, have a lot better idea of the the parking spots and access places for my next visit.

Sixth Session Sixth River Of The Trout Season

 I could quite easily give up on this fly fishing for trout malarkey, I just seem to be going nowhere fast this year. I had chance of a short session up the valley-of-cheese. There were plenty of fish rising when I got there, but judging by the splashy rises and flashes of silver I suspect they were grayling. This was quickly confirmed when a tiny 4" grayling grabbed my SAE (Shiny Arsed Emerger). It seemed anywhere I cast it to the little buggers would have a go. While it's really nice to see so many youngsters they really are a nuisance when you're trout fishing.

Another angler I had a natter with said he'd had the same problem, along with salmon parr as well. He said he had seen tout rising, but to what he didn't know. We both suspected it was something very small and black given the clouds of smuts here and there. There was also a few hawthorn flies about but these didn't get to the river as the tree sparrows seemed to be feasting on them.

Sitting on the high bank I could see the odd trout rising, just poking their nose out of the water. As opposed to the splashy rise of the grayling. Still couldn't fathom what they were eating though. A poke round the fly box produced the smallest fly  I had. A size 22 IOBO. Despite it's size it was quite visible on the water. The trout ignoring it were also quite visible, under the water. The grayling, though, took a liking to it as if I didn't know what a good grayling fly it can be.

As the trout weren't interested in the smallest fly I had I decide something large may be of interest to them so on went a hawthorn fly. This was ignored by everything. At least i wasn't shaking little grayling off the hook. Time was now running out. I spotted a tout rising in the riffle above me. On went a double badger, a fly intended for this sort of scenario. Although I'm not sure salmon parr are what it was intend for, but that's what i got.

With all the wrong fish rising to the fly I headed back towards the car. As I made my way along I spotted a trout rising in one of the deeper, unwadeable, stretches. My cast landed a bit short, but I allowed it to fish out. Just as I started to lift for the next cast the fly disappear. Something bigger than  I'd been catching was on the end of the line. At this point I realised I'd not thought this though as I was a couple of foot above the water and didn't know the depth of the water below me. Lying down I managed to scoop another bloody grayling out of the water. Admittedly it was a lot bigger than the others. A quick shake of the phone to get the camera up, a pic, and it was back in the water.

That was it. Time was up and still not trout to the net this season. I will get it right one day, or there may be a nice collection of fly fishing tackle up for sale. It's nice to see all the little grayling and salmon parr but I wish they'd let the trout get to the fly.

Fifth Session Sixth River Of The Trout Season

 Thursday, before the bank holiday traffic took hold, I headed up to the valley of cheese in my pursuit of trout on fly. Whilst I've fished the river plenty of times before I've not fished this stretch. I've seen plenty of trout come out of it when I've walked the myriad of paths in the area. On arrival I had a wander up and down the length perusing the clubs notes at the same time. The river appeared to be very much as described with the upper section looking the best. The only thing I saw rise was a couple of mallard, three oyster catchers and the odd wagtail. I did, however, spot an interesting bit of bank protection restoration using old rubbish. Judging by the old MW/LW radio facia I'd say it had been there a long time.  By the time I got back to the car the sky had got greyer and a chill breeze had got up.

As I sat by the car having my cuppa a rather panicky ewe came trotting up the bank and on to the road. She made an attempt to get through the sprung gate onto the public footpath before heading to the field gate and back again. By this time her bleating had attracted her two offspring who came over and attempt to get through the fence. Luckily four bikers turned up. I held the small gate open while a biker held the field gate open and the other three attempted to shoo her towards the gates. She had other ideas though and with a couple of strides and a leap hoped over the barbed wire fence into the field. Her and her twins raced off to the other side of the field well away from us. gate secured the bikers went on their way.

 

With no insects about, apart from the odd bumble bee, it looked like a nymph and/or spider sort of day. A small flashback PTN on the point, a partridge & orange, then a pearly butt bloa on the top seemed a good starting point. Third cast and I was in. A small grayling on the partridge & orange, quickly flicked off the barbless hook. Where there's one there's normally more so I waded further up. Further up the tip of the fly line jagged again and I hit something heavy. It came downstream slowly, like a large twig or some other debris. With only a few feet of fly line out of the tip it suddenly turned into a fish and swung out to the middle of the river before heading downstream a rate of knots. I managed to slow it down before it turned towards the nearside bank and started to head towards some tree roots. A bit more pressure to stop it and it came adrift. What do I have to do to keep them on the hook. By the tattered look of the partridge & orange it was that that was taken. A tad pissed off I headed back to the car for a cuppa and something to eat.

I ventured further upstream flicking the team of three ahead of me until I reached a nice looking spot where the river narrowed somewhat. A couple of casts and in again. Another small grayling to the partridge & orange. A gentleman appeared on the opposite bank, fishing rod in hand. Grayling? he inquired. We had a natter. He'd fished his club beat half a dozen times this season and all he'd had was grayling and one trout that fell off. A comparison of flies showed we were fishing very similar setups. He had a copperhead mary on the point, a bloa on the middle and an partridge & orange on the top dropper. He said he preferred dry fly as nymphs and spiders tended to attract the grayling, but fly life had been scarce when the river was fishable. A deer hair emerger or something small and black were his recommendations for dries unless you can see what the fish were taking. We wished each other tight lines and started fishing again. A few casts later I was into another small grayling on the partridge and orange. 

Further up I thought I saw a rise. I sat on the bank and watched. Over the next couple of minutes there was three more rises in the same area. I changed to a DHE and waited. Nothing rose again. I made a few speculative casts to the area but nothing was interested. Wandering further up I spotted a couple of rises on the far bank. The occasional rise continued as I waded across the river to a suitable spot for a cast. The first two fell short. The third was spot on, and the fly ignored as a rise appeared closer to the bank. My cast was too close to the bank and the fly snagged some trailing vegetation. I had to wade up to release it which kinda ruined the swim. Thankfully something was rising upstream in the middle of the river.  It took a few casts and a change to spot to get a drag free drift. Eventually something took my fly. Another damn grayling, slightly bigger than the previous three.

I wandered to the top of the beat with out seeing any more risers. By now the breeze had got stronger and it was starting to feel cold. As I headed back it started drizzling. Time to go I thought. I kept scanning the river and saw a couple of rises in the spot I'd first tried with a dry fly. I had a cast from the top of the bank and was taken by surprise when the fly disappeared. It was another grayling that refused to fall off the hook even when I gave it slack line. I slid down the bank grabbed the leader and slid my hand down to unhook it. The moment I touched it it flipped off the hook. 

 

That was it as the drizzle turned to rain. By the time I'd got back to the car and made a cuppa it returned to drizzle. The other angler returned to his car. He'd managed a 12" trout to DHE and four grayling on the same method. As he said you just have to persevere and hope a trout gets to the fly before the grayling. Despite the lack of trout it was a pleasant enough exploratory day and I'll be back. The drive home showed how patchy the rain was. You'd be driving through a heavy shower, turn a corner and the road was bone dry.