A Trip Down The Canal, Literally

For this session on a canal I decided to concentrate on fishing around some of the stone structures with small jigs in the hope of some perch. There are plenty of features, like reeds, etc, along the rest of the canal but these just seemed to produce pike. Because of the bankside vegetation some stretches have very few swims that accessible. While one end of the canal is like most canals with hard banks a foot or two above the water, as you getting further along it changes. Instead of building locks they simply dug deeper, so it looks more like a spate river with steep high banks. These have become overgrown with bramble and hawthorn in the main hiding the stone bank.

The first bridge  produced a perch after a couple of casts immediately followed by a little jack to a Fox Rage Spikey Shad. Then another little perch. Despite trying several different lures nothing else was forthcoming. On the way back to the car I spotted an adder as it disappeared into the undergrowth. I also saw a Greater White Throat, apparently. This information was given me by a couple of bird spotters ornithologists, A couple of youngsters who really didn't like the former term, I told them about the Adder. They had seen a few about in recent weeks and like me were surprised no dogs had been bitten by one as it's a popular dog-walking spot.

The next spot has a couple of stone structures and a bridge so I had high hopes for it. At the stone landing I hooked and lost a reasonable pike. The hook coming adrift after a couple of fearsome runs. Another was lost thrashing about under the rod tip where I'd hooked it. On the way back to the bridge I spotted a jack cruising along the edge of the reeds near an accessible spot. It ignored the jig three times before I put on a Salmo Minnow, One twitch as I brought it past it's nose and it was hit hard. Thankfully it kited out into the middle rather than dive into the reeds,  After a bit of acrobatics it was in the net. It had quite a deep scar in front of it's anal fin. This was probably from the otter that had been seen heading the way previously. Otherwise it seemed to be fighting fit.

The stone work round the bridge produced a little jack to the Fox Rage Spikey Shad first cast. There then followed  half a dozen perch in quick succession. Bouncing the jig along the bottom close to the wall produce the goods. A barge then passed under the bridge and the bites dried up. It then started to rain.

There had been a bit of drizzle in among the sunshine but his was reasonable heavy. I sheltered under the bridge tossing the lure out towards the reeds on the other side. At first I thought I'd snagged a branch until it got half way back. Another reasonable jack then suddenly woke up and careered about before giving up and coming to the net. This too had what looked like an otter bite near it's tail.

On the way to the next bit of structure I decided try a rather nice looking reed fringed swim. The damp grass and a misstep had me lose my balance as I headed down the steep bank. I wasn't quick enough to throw the rod away and came down on it. Remarkably the rod was OK but I'd broken the stem of the reel. So that was that.

Apart from the broken reel it wasn't a bad session. This isn't the first time I've broken the stem on a reel. The other two times I'd simply dropped them. One was a Mitchell 410 and the other Shimano. Unlike this one they were both metal.

Match Hours On An Estate Lake

 After last weeks change of plan I ended up where I should have been last week, but this wasn't the plan for today either. Today's plan didn't involve fishing as such, but things altered so I was at the tackle shop at open time for some bait and a few bits and pieces. The plan was a spot of float fishing maggots for whatever. I'd be fishing match hours, 10ish to 4ish. After a bit of plumbing about I found the edge of a none to distinct ledge four rod lengths out with 4' 6" of water. I also set up a method feeder to chuck out in the middle to see if anything took a fancy, This was set on an alarm as I didn't expect much action from it.

A mix of red and brown crumb with dead reds and chopped worm was made up to feed the swim and half a dozen small balls were chucked out to start with. Hook bait was double maggots of various colours, though I also had caster and worm. The first problem of the day was the strong breeze blowing down the lake, left to right to me. I'd been advised that fishing just off the bottom was generally the best until the skimmers move in. Because of the strong breeze and the shallowness of the lake you get quite an undertow and the float was moving right to left. While this produced the odd bite it was from tiny rudd, roach or dinky perch., none of which were easy to hit. The only solution was to add a number eight shot 4" from the hook and fish 6" over-depth.

It took the swim a little while to get going, but it was nearly a fish a chuck, only small fish, when it did get going. You could tell the fish by the bite. The float shot away with the perch. The roach bites were a sharp dip and the rudd caused the float to skate across the surface. You'd get three or four fish then a few silly bites before hooking fish again. Casters just got shelled and worm produced the tiniest of perch when I tried them.

After lunch the skimmers turned up. The float would just slowly disappear. Strike before it was underwater and you'd miss. The only problem with these beasties is the snot left on the line. I'd been feeding a golf-ball size ball of ground ball every 30 minutes up to this point, but stepped it up to every 20 minutes. Things then went slightly awry. I bumped three reasonable sized bream in as many casts. The last one coming adrift just beyond the net. The rig ended up wrapped around a willow branch. I had no choice but to re-rig. The skimmers kept on coming and getting bigger, along with the odd roach and rudd. The bites were further apart than earlier. In the mean time the method rod had done very little. Five bites resulted in three middling sized skimmers. As planned I stopped at four. The bites had been slowing for the last hour anyway.

With three middling skimmers removed the fish weighed 11lb 6oz. Not sure what a good weight from here is really. It may have won me a section. Who knows. Apart from the carp angler there were three other anglers all catching. One on feeder seemed to be taking a few as the day wore on. A pole angler seemed to b catch a few more than me.  The third didn't seem to be catching much but he didn't arrive until the afternoon. It didn't seem a bad net of fish considering I wasn't trying to hard.

Attack Of The Mega Pike

A short early morning session on the canal with ultra light gear turned out to be a bit of fun and also gave me the chance to hear my first Cuckoo of the year. In fact there were three Cuckoos about cuckooing. This is ideal territory for them as there are lots of Reed Warblers in the Norfolk Reed along the edges of the canal. While I only caught a glimpse of a Warbler I could certainly hear them as they are very noisy.

 

The first lure was a 7cm Salmo Minnow in dace pattern. Twitched about among the cabbages it looked just the thing a pike or perch might eat. It was a little jack that took a shine to it. I had seen the fish but didn't realise it as it just looked like a root until it snatched the lure. The next one shot out from under the cabbages but managed to throw the hook as it did it's best trout impression cartwheeling about. This was soon followed by another that impaled it's self on the belly hook.

The lovely sunshine disappeared not long after this and I went some time with out seeing a fish or getting a bite. A bit a a gusty breeze then got up which made casting very light lures into gaps or along the reed line rather awkward. I seemed to spend quite a lot of time reeling bits of plant in.

The next fish I saw were a small shoal of tench as they scattered when the lure passed by them. Another little jack grabbed the lure at the end of that retrieve with the leader inside the top ring. As I swung it in it throw it's self from the hooks and up the bank. A quick photo and it swam off no the worse for wear, I hope. I then spotted a larger jack loitering under the nearside bank which ignored my lure even when it passed inches from it's nose. A change to a Perch pattern  produced a similar response but a tiny jack shot out and grabbed it. This spooked the larger jack.

One of the problems with some bits of the bank along the canal is that you don't actually know where it is. The various plants disguise the edge so you have to trad carefully or you end you sinking into stinky mud. It also means a seven foot rod can't always reach to bring a lure along the edge of the reeds where the predators loiter. It was from here that a decent jack of around 3lb hit the smallest lure of the day. It shot out from the reeds, hit the lure and was over on the far bank before I could even strike. After a couple of minutes of lunacy it lodged it's self under my feet in among the bankside vegetation. A poke with the landing net handle and it was bank out in open water then into the net.

Stopping to listening to the Cuckoos and Warblers, and maybe get a picture of the later the time soon passed. As I headed back towards the car I tried a couple of other lures smaller than the ones I'd been using. I've been experimenting with light wire leaders so that these little lures actions aren't impaired. This was especially true of the 3cm Tiny. With a light mono leader it's action is great but wire can impair it. My solution is a perfection loop at one end with a clip on. and an Albright knot to attach it to the braid, This keeps things to a minimum. The little jacks would have been alright on a mono leader but the large one engulfed the lure so the wire was needed, and worked.

It was nice to hear my first Cuckoos of the year and also nice that my experimental leader worked as well. I'll be trying it with small jigs later to see how it functions with them as many of the waters I fish for perch have a lot of active jacks in them. Unless the jacks are hooked at the front of the mouth they can make short work of mono.

Roadworks, Diversions and Lies

I thought I'd deciphered the various signs littering the area around the ponds indicating when the roads would be closed for resurfacing. Things appeared to have changed somewhat as I headed to the estate lake. That road was closed even though the signs said two days previous. The road to the gravel pit was supposed to be closed today but was still open, so it was back to the gravel pit. As I arrived I witnessed a crow doing it's osprey impression, picking a dead fish from the surface. There was also a heron in among the trees trying it's luck in among the roots. I was also on my own.

After a bit of plumbing around I found a couple of spots the same depth. One four rod lengths out in front and three rod lengths forty-five degrees to my right. The font one was to be baited up with groundbait, a mixture of brown and red crumb in a ratio of 51:49. This was to be laced with dead reds and chopped worm. To my right I was going to loose feed caster and hemp.

The set up was to be a crystal insert waggler with a long insert. I'd picked up a section from the tackle shop. I alternated between red maggot, caster and worm as hook bait. Bites were few and far between but nice and positive due to long insert the lift bites were easy to see. The odd skimmer, tiny perch and similarly small roach were picked out equally on maggot or caster. Worm failed to elicit a bite.  After lunch I decided to ball it in on the line in front of me as the few small balls of ground bait weren't attracting much. This didn't really change things as the bites were still scarce. I'd fished on the bottom, off the bottom, on the drop. None of which were any better than the other.

There was clearly some pike activity as every now and then great clouds of bubbles would suddenly rise to the surface and occasional small fish could be seen scattering. Mid afternoon another angler arrived and fished to swim opposite taking the odd small fish very now and then. The changing wind direction didn't help either as various bits of debris got blown backward and forward through the swims.

A heron returned swooping over the edge of the pit causing a few fish to scatter and swirl before it landed it a tree where it spent the rest of the afternoon. Strangely the robin never appeared to demand maggots. There were, however a very large number of tadpoles around the edge of the pit. At first I thought it was just some black silt on the bottom until I looked closely.

With rain predicted for the evening I packed up the moment the drizzle started which was good timing. I'd just got everything in the car when it really chucked it down.  It was a bit of a disappointing session, I'd expected  a lot more. There's plenty of fish in there but the pike just seem to prevent them for settling.

It Rained

 Back down the gravel pit for another match hours session.  Waggler fished maggots or casters over groundbait laced with dead reds and chopped worm was the plan. Like a twit I'd forgot to put the tube of insert wagglers I'd sorted out back in the bag. The only ones I had with me were straight wagglers for river fishing. I dotted it down as far as I could and still see it. At least the was only a short burst of sunshine and very little wind so the float was quite easy to see. After a spot of plumbing about I set the bait just on the bottom over a little ledge. The ledge handily lines up with an over hanging branch so you have a marker for casting. A dozen small balls over groundbait went in. It wasn't long before the noisy little robin turned up demanding to be fed.

First up were a couple of perch which gave quite positive bites. Alternating between double red maggot, single didn't get any bites, and single caster a couple of roach followed. The first sign of pike activity then followed when a few fish scattered under the over hanging tree. Twenty biteless minutes later and the swim started to fizz. A couple of skimmers took a liking to red maggots. Another pike turned up grabbing a skimmer as I brought it in ripping it from the hook. this is how it went for the next couple of hours, the odd fish or two the nothing for a while. I kept topping up the swim with groundbait.

Around lunch time a second angler turned up. I then started to get silly bites which occasionally turned into little roach. The lack of sensitivity on the float started to show. As it got into the afternoon it started to drizzle then turned to quite heavy rain. This slowed the bites down considerably and the last couple of hours produced very few fish. The other lad, who'd happily been catch a few skimmers then had his swim disrupt by a battle with a double figure pike. Which he managed to land on a whip.

 

I reckon that the answer to the pike problem is to have two lines set up and alternate between the two. This would allow time time for one to settle after a pike attack. I also need to remember to put the insert wagglers in the bag as well as I reckon the long tipped ones will show the bites from the roach a lot better. The rain, though, came as a complete surprise. All I'd expected was a little bit of drizzle. Not that it would make a lot of difference as five miles south west at my house it hadn't rained at all, according to the neighbours.

Down The Cut

I arrived at the top of the length the club controls to find the canal the boats had been trundling up and down stirring things up. The canal had turned cocoa coloured and bits of vegetation covered the surface. It was very hard to get any sort of lure  through the water with out picking up debris. I persisted for a while hoping the the coloured water may provoke the perch into action. No sign of any fish but an otter entertained us for a while. Any attempt at a photo of it proved futile as it had the psychic ability to disappear when a camera was pointed at it. While having a cuppa and pondering what to do next I was informed that the water was less coloured and there was less debris near the other end of the section. Cuppa drunk and biccy eaten I set off down there.

It was as described, but the fish didn't seem to be any more cooperative on the first section I fished. There was, though, a large clump for bankside vegetation doing a very good impression of an island slowly drifting along. I also found an alien invader in the shape of a skunk cabbage. There also seems to be quite a few apple trees on this section.

Back near the car I contacted my first fish. A small jack that followed the lure until the trace swivel was an inch from the tip before it hit it. In the ensuing thrashing about as I tried to switch the anti-reverse off it came adrift. I then connected with another very close to some far bank stone work, but a rather ineffective strike and this one was escaped too. Very next cast back along the inside stonework and I was was into a rather angry perch of 1lb 13oz. 

Working the lure close to the tree roots it became apparent that I'd got a bit too close as the lure came to a solid halt. Despite my best efforts it would come loose. Another trace and lure tied on and cast just a little bit further out from the roots. It was just too pikey to ignore. Two turns of the reel and a lunatic jack had hold of the lure. Surprisingly it stayed away from the tree roots and careened about in the middle. Superb fun an a light perch set up. I had to have another go a bit further along the roots. A few cast later and a cute little jack was safely netted.

By now I had to be else where. I got back to the bridge just as the floating island arrived. The breeze had picked up a bit so it was moving quite quickly and looked like it may jam under the bridge but it hit the corner of the stone work and turned long ways on the drift through the gap smoothly. I had a few chucks around it but to no avail.

Not a bad little session in the end. Things seem to be waking up.