As we know, bank holiday weather is supposed to be somewhat sub-standard and blazing temperatures. With this in mind, and know desire to be stuck in traffic queues I set off just after first light for another spot of lure fishing on Pocklington canal. I really needn't of bothered as it was gone nine before the first fish showed, The rest of the wildlife I saw made up for it though.
On arrival I was greeted by an incredible racket from the rookery. An otter dropped into the beck as I wandered over the bridge. The rooks then decided to harass a heron as it landed by the side of the canal, which looked lovely. Totally fish-less, but lovely. Nothing was topping and apart from a few pin fry nothing stirred. Normally as I wander along fishing I disturb something in the inside edge. A barn owl swooped over the field before disappearing into the woods. A bit later a solitary deer came wandering towards me, on the path. I've seen small groups of deer here before, but never a solitary one. As I was facing east it wasn't the easiest thing to get a photo of, especially with a phone. The first sign of fish was a couple of tails waving about above a cloud of mud, feeding tench I assumed..
Just after nine I managed to snag a small jack on a Slider 6 jerk bait. I had just about given up at this point as it was now getting a tad too hot for my liking. I'm more of a winter person. Half an hour later I managed another, slightly larger jack on the same lure. A little while after this what looked like a largish roach had a lunge at the lure. I have taken roach on lures before, especially around this time of year. I saw nothing more over the next half hour and as I was back at the bridge I called it a day.
With only a short time available to me on Friday I popped down to Pocklington Canal. I wasn't full of optimism given how bright it was, at least there was a bit of wind creating some ripple when I got there. At least the plants hadn't got too big yet, but the path had been mowed and in places the canal was covered in clippings that had been blown on.
It wasn't until I got to an area with a bit of shade afforded by the bank-side trees that I saw my first fish, a small pike. It just sank into the weeds as the lure past in front of it. A bit further along a pike of similar size grabbed to lure just as it came over the edge of the weeds and put up a stunning fight, for it's size, on the light perch tackle I was using. Near the end of the trees another small pike shot out of the weeds before grabbing the lure and continuing towards me. Swinging the rod 180 degrees I just contacted the fish at the end of the strike. Burying itself in the nearside weeds it soon came adrift.
By now the wind had dropped completely. Not holding out much hope with the gin clear water and glass like surface I headed back to the car. As I reached a spot where the bank-side vegetation, that had come adrift, had formed a bridge across the canal I spotted half a dozen reasonable perch hiding underneath it. As the lure passed in front of them they scattered in blind panic. Quite why they were frightened of such a tiny lure I've no idea, but they were the last fish I saw.
Talking to a couple of other anglers on the way back didn't do any thing for my optimism as they'd had nothing at all, not even seen a fish. So my one landed. one lost didn't seem so bad. Especially given the weather, while ideal for a bank holiday trip to the seaside, isn't ideal for predator fishing.
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.
Arriving at the car park, on Sunday, for possibly my last go for pike this season, it was clear the sunshine had brought out the carpers. With limited swims available I was glad to get in one in the area I had hoped to fish. I was also informed that some pike had been seen spawning the day before. The carp were also feeding, as one lad had had one and was playing another as I passed.
After fling lures about for half an hour, with only a couple of tiny jacks following them I got the dead bait rods cast out.. A headless sardine in the margins to the left, a lamprey section, popped up in front, and another, whole, sardine in the hole to my right. For the next seven hours I moved them about, injected them with oil, and told myself that bright sunshine isn't really piking weather.
Around seven the left hand float moved away and I was into a rather lovely little beast around the 8-9lb mark. Just after I returned a bait to the same area the right hand float disappeared, only to pop back up almost immediately. I wound down and with nothing apparently there I gave the bait a twitch to see if I could entice a take. Sadly this didn't work so I left the bait there in the hope something would return to it.
The left hand float then moved away again. Some thing heavy was quickly cranked near the awaiting net. Just as it's huge head appeared at the surface it decided to put up a struggle. After a few minutes I had a certain 20 on the bank. Clearly well fed and full of spawn. The fish was identified as one that had been caught about a month ago at 21lb 8oz and now weighed 23lb 8oz.
I did consider staying a bit longer, but as it was now dark and I hadn't bought a torch, and I don't really like dealing with pike in the dark any way, I decided to back up. I wound in the other two rods and the went for the left hand one only to find a little jack had grabbed the remains of the sardine that I'd dropped in the side after unhooking the big girl. It also highlighted the problem of piking at night. As it was rather deeply hooked and with only a phone to light things this was not going to be fun. Thankfully some help arrived and we managed to unhook it with out and injuries to the pike. All the blood was mine.
Not a bad end to the season, given it hasn't been the best six months I've had pike fishing. Far to many blanks.
