New perch pb

I recently met up with for the first time, another forum regular and blogger Matt Holmes from Fooling Fish. He loves to lure fish and has a far greater variety of skills to his name than I do catching anything from small silvers to pike and even often on his own home made flies or lures. He took me to a canal which is one of his new little gems and while he couldn't promise me a massive perch, there were some in there to be had if we could find them. On my first trip out I managed around eight small perch on a small Kopyto lure that Matt had lent me. Matt faired a little better managing a few more with a nice perch of over 2lb easy, possibly 2.5lbs (photos here). I was happy with my little trip and it was good to meet up with another lure angler to see how other people are doing things. We later had another brief get together, this time with me tagging along late with Matt and Neil who had met up a little earlier. The going was a little tough but Matt had yet again pulled out another perch over two pound, something Neil has noted from his outings with Matt. He always seems to bag a decent stripey! I only had the one fish that evening but it was a little bigger than the usual six ounce perch and I was just happy to get out. A further session together saw me and Neil meet up first with Matt joining us an hour or so later. Neil had three perch and Matt got one in a quiet, head scratching, where have the fish gone, session while I didn't get a sniff.

So today while sitting restless I decided to get out just after lunch time. I decided against jumping straight in to Matts' stretch but still fancied the canal he'd taken me to. So I set about exploring a little further along, having a look at some of the small bridges that criss-cross the canal. My plan was to check out all these features, see if we can get parked up anywhere and then if ever two or three of us meet up here again we've a bit more water to explore in case things are quiet. We'd previously walked a stretch of the canal, leap frogging each other up to the next bridge and then back again. So this time I decided to start at that bridge and continue along and see what is in store.

I had some of my own Kopytos stuck in the post that hadn't yet arrived. My fault for putting the wrong address on my order but luckily I'd bumped in to Dominic Garnett (check out his blog here) at the PACs annual conference in Harrogate last weekend and he had a few Kopytos for sale so I grabbed some. Armed with my new perch catching lure I set about casting at the shadows of the bridge, along the walls and anywhere else you'd expect to find a perch hiding. My first ten minutes or so produced nothing except one strong "pluck" of the lure which I never managed to hook in to. I crossed the road and tried the other side and again no luck before finally settling back on the other side of the road but this time the other side of the canal. I was casting around, letting the lure sink to the bottom as Matt had taught me, and then slowly winding in. Sometimes bouncing it on the bottom, sometimes straight retrieve, sometimes letting it sit on the bottom for a few seconds. Nothing seemed to be getting any attention and since I'd not even seen a perch follow it didn't look promising.

Then bang! My little Greys G Spin rod was bent double as a rather large perch was bashing away on the other end. The water was pretty clear and I soon got a glimpse of the fish and then started to feel the bottom of my arse start to fall out. I squeezed my butt cheeks and quickly grabbed the net. The perch put up a fantastic scrap on the light rod before I got it over the net and scooped up. This was a big perch!

I unhooked the perch and then grabbed a carrier bag out of my rucksack to get a weight. It was a solid, chunky old warrior and I knew it was going to be a new pb, but when the scales dropped just short of 2lb I was gob smacked. I checked the scales, maybe they were a little rusty, so I gave them a good tug and had another go, still just short of 2lb, what the hell? I put the fish back in the net and gave it some water, and then as it gathered some air I gathered my senses. By golly you idiot, that was kilos! It was just short of two kilos and if my math was any good then that converted to a pb by a mile. I got the perch back in the carrier bag for another look. Holly smokes, 3lb 12oz. That looks much better and certainly fits the size of the fish. I've never seen a perch as big in my life up close and what a sight it was, what a creature these big perch are!

pb 3lb 12oz perch

Putting the old warrior back

I make no apologies for blanking out most of the photo. Matt put me on these fish and I'm not about to let out his new little secret so the dodgy photo editing will have to stay. I had another twenty minutes or so in the swim with no more joy so had a walk along the bank about a hundred metres or so. Nothing much happened until I dropped on a shoal of smaller perch around 10 ounces in size. The first one to hit the kopyto lure was chased by another six or seven of the same size. What a sight to see in this crystal clear water. I managed to catch another two from the same spot before it went all quiet again.

I walked back to the car and set about my original plan of exploring the other bridges and features. I didn't spend too long in each spot, thinking that they all certainly looked like perch areas but once I'd not had any action I moved off to the next. Occasionally I'd drop on some small perch which would struggle to get the 2.5inch lure in their mouth and I also dropped a small jack pike which I managed to tempt out, twice, from under a overhanging tree but then lost it off the hook after a very brief tussle. There was nothing to suggest that any of these other bridges held mammoth perch but there's no reason why they wouldn't either because it's the same bit of water just a few miles apart. I'll certainly give them another shot a few times to see what crops up. I set off home happy I'd got that massive perch, but couldn't' resist a cast in another more local canal. I had a few small perch chase, grab hold of and drop off the lure which added a bit of fun before finally a small jack pike of around 3lb smashed out from the weedy depths, took the lure and then set about stripping off around 20m of line. A great bit of fun on the light rod and a good way to finish off my day.

So a big thanks to Matt Holmes for showing me this bit of water. Pity the fish didn't come when you guys were around to see it but as we've already said before, there is lots of potential in this canal and there are some even bigger perch to be had!

2012 pike tally
Doubles 30
Total 197

Largest 22.5lb
Twenties - 2
Bonus Perch 48
Largest 3lb 12oz
Bonus chub - 1

It's what keeps us going back

I've not forgot about fishing or blogging even, i've been having a kind of regroup and a rethink and also a bit of wondering "what if?" You see, I so very nearly had another monster.

Firetiger Reel Eel engulfed

It's been a steady week, the weather not helping my bit of river and then the few times i've made it out most things have seemed to be working against me. For lure fishing, often a bit extra brown murky water with flotsam and jetsam all over the shop is a bit off putting for the pike and they seem to want to get their heads down out of the way. I still like to have at least a half hour whenever I can though, because you never quite know what can happen. I've managed to winkle a few fish out and had I bagged all the takes I'd have doubled the tally easy but as is the case in lure fishing you don't win them all.



I've probably managed to get out about five times in total since the weekend, all short sessions which includes a blank or two. A couple other sessions I managed a fish and one of them I got five and in one tiny session of fifteen minutes I missed two fish before finally getting lucky on the third, which was a nice way to celebrate my birthday.

A birthday pike

I haven't spent hours and hours on the bank and I'm happy with the results, I just enjoy my time out and each fish is a result in it's own right. I've had some good success recently on the lures so I'm not chasing monsters or PB's I'm still just out to have some fun. Every now and again though something happens in pike fishing that drives you on, makes you think about pike fishing more and more and makes you want to get up early or out at every occasion no matter how short, in search of that special fish. A few days ago I very nearly had another monster.

One of the five

I was out in the morning and had a pike lunge at my Reel Eel. I kind of saw it's head come out of the water but struck and hit in to nothing. I couldn't tempt it again but I said to myself that it was another decent fish. I went home, did some chores but was back that evening to see if it was still lurking. Nothing happened in the first half hour or more but I did grab a few fish to keep up the interest, yet no sign of that bigger fish. Maybe it wasn't that big after all or maybe it had just moved on. Looking down on my lure I moved it slowly over a snag and through a gap where there's a bit of a deep hole. It seemed like slow motion and seemed to last for ever, but this huge pike, with a back on it like a gorilla slowly came up from the depths with a kind of wiggle which I won't forget for some time. It casually grabbed my lure yet I felt nothing and for what seemed an eternity I didn't know what to do. I glimpsed the tail of the eel hanging out of it's mouth and struck.....

Nothing. I didn't even feel anything. The hooks just didn't set and the monster returned to the depths. What do you do now, well once you've cast and recast over the top? I suppose I could sulk, curse my bad luck or even cry. I simply took it on the chin and got on with fishing. I've had some good fish recently and I'm not about to spoil my fishing by putting targets up or expecting to catch a monster every time. I want to enjoy my fishing and moments like this one, no matter how frustrating, cruel or heartbreaking are all part of fishing for me.

I still see this fish quite clearly in my head and while I'm at work counting down the hours I'm hoping I get another chance at her. While I'm sat browsing the internet I'm checking the weather and river levels to see if I can get out the next day. Fishing is a bit of an obsession at times and it's no wonder when there's mysterious magical fish out there keeping us up all night.

I love pike fishing.

2012 pike tally
Doubles 30

Total 196

Largest 22.5lb
Twenties - 2
Bonus Perch 35
Largest 2lb 7oz
Bonus chub - 1

Firetiger brightens the mood in failing light

Having a crap day at work, stuck on afternoons and a still only Monday, what a downer. To make it worse, I can see the light fading fast as my shift draws to a close. I'm not even going to have chance to throw a lure about. As I make my way to the car there's still ten minutes of light left easy, time for a fish then!

The river had been clear and in clear water I tend to use bright colours. I stuck on the Reel Eel in Firetiger pattern and you could still see it easily. I tried a couple of swims but no joy. Light was fading fast, but still time for one more swim to try. I threw out the eel, it landed and I started to retrieve. I can remember thinking, "any second now keep focussed" and then BAM!

The fish stayed low at first, but the water is pretty shallow here and I got it's head up and to the surface. It's head came out of the clear water and I couldn't see the lure. This pike had swallowed the whole lure and so I was confident it was a solid hook up so I gave it a bit of stick to get it in. I failed with the first net attempt and then there was a bit of a stalemate where the fish never moved away or closer. She then turned her head and that let me guide her towards my net and she was in!

On the bank, the stinger treble was hanging out of the mouth and tangled in the net. I managed to get it out of the lure weave net pretty easily (thank god for that purchase) and then I decided I needed to make that stinger safe. Those stinger hooks on the larger reel eels are quite big and I didn't fancy that in me. I got the cutter out and snipped it off, then got the forceps and safely secured the treble in those and put them to one side so that I didn't end up kneeling on the treble later in the dark.


I opened the pikes mouth and could hardly see the lure. It was way way way down it's throat. I needed to work fast because light was fading and I'd left my head lamp in my other bag. Luckily there's only a single hook to find and then I spotted it as I looked in through the gills. I got the pliers in easily and pulled the hook free and then had to drag the lure out, at least it wasn't a hard plastic right down there. With the hooks safe I put her in the net and got her in the water for some oxygen. I left her in there for a good ten minutes, it was absolutely pitch black by now but there was no way I was letting any fish go belly up on me. She had an occasional wriggle and I figured she was doing pretty well. Time to get her out, weigh her and get  a few photos.

In the pitch black using my mobile I could make out she was 17lb and that was very pleasing indeed. You only need a fish like this on the lures every now and again to keep you buzzing and I've probably had more than my share to be honest. The pictures aren't the best, heads and tails missing in some but I managed to get a few decent ones out of the lot and I'm happy I could get a souvenir. What an absolute stunning fish. I can't describe how much a gorgeous fish she was, in perfect condition and a proper example of a river pike.

17lb pike

 

2012 pike tally
Doubles 30

Total 188

Largest 22.5lb
Twenties - 2
Bonus Perch 35
Largest 2lb 7oz
Bonus chub - 1

I'm a winner!

It's not often I win many things, but I've only gone and won a competition on the Yorkshire Fishing Forum for Augusts photo of the month. There were some cracking photos which can be viewed here for anyone who wants to see them. My winning photo gets to have a seat on the actual homepage of YorkshireFishing.net and that is enough reward for me. The photo itself was taken on a local pond while I was out late one evening having a spot of fun with some surface lures on a shallow weedy pond, and has already had a little place on my blog with the write up. I'm no expert with the camera and put it down to mostly these modern cameras doing all the work but most importantly the sun doing its finest as it goes down. The sky was a really crazy pinky colour and I had to take a few photos because it was such a sight, I would even say the photo doesn't do the real thing justice.

Ultralite trolling with Chief

After getting out with Woodchucker the other week I was invited again to go out on the boats. This time there was to be two boats, with me and Neil (Chief) in his boat and Woody and Grant in the other. The river was in decent condition, the weather was pretty hot and we had the intention of using ultralite set ups to catch plenty of fish and have some good fun. I'd only previously met Neil once, bumping in to him on the local river as I went for a roam and had ventured in to his territory but we'd chatted before on the forums plenty and he actually lives only a couple of miles from me. Grant was new to both me and Neil but everyone knew Woody and we all share the same cyberspace. Grant seemed a good chap, up for a laugh with the lads, a good fisherman and plenty of knowledge, not bad at all for a Lancastrian but unfortunately he'll have to live with that large fault.

Woody rubbing it in

The bit of mist that had been rolling across the fields had started to lift by the time we got to our launch ramp. As we unpacked the gear we hit on our first problem. Woody had no power but after a bit of a fiddle Grant tracked it down to a loose connection on the battery. Having no power, and no fish finder would have been a bad thing especially when the aim was to help Neil set up and test his boat and fish finder. We got in the river and set off, only to then fall on another problem. Neil seemed to be having trouble with his fish finder. After lots of faffing around and head scratching, he found a bit of loose wiring. This didn't look good and we were getting nothing on the screen. While all this was going on, Woody and Grant were patrolling and bagging a few jack pike and perch just to rub it in. Neil was getting a bit frustrated as I would have been had it been my kit.These things happen and not everything goes to plan. While Neil carried on wiggling wires I had a few casts and got a pike of about three and half pounds. Then our luck changed and there was life in the fish finder. Whatever Neil had done had sorted it and off we went in search of some fish. There was a chance the dodgy wire could fail again at any time but at least for now we had some real time information to help us.

Neil gets his first fish

We got going and not too long in to the ride Neil bagged his first fish. I think that was a moment of relief for him and made him feel much better about everything. Hopefully now we could just concentrate on fishing, if only that cable would hold up. We then picked up the odd small perch or small pike between us and things were looking up.

Woody and Grant were now ahead of us and we could see them picking up fish too and the sun was starting to get a hold and warming up nicely. Neil then had a take but this time it felt a bit better, especially on a very light set up. I could see a good bend in the rod and as it came closer we figured a net be of use this time and then as the pike came to the surface we could see the first double figure fish of the day. I scooped up the fish, Neil got the hooks out and we both noted how slim the pike was. Had this fish been in better condition it would have been a mid double at least instead of a low one of around eleven pound, but still it was a great fish to catch on the ultralites.

Small lure big mouth

Pity this fish wasn't in top condition

When using a boat you have a few advantages, you're more mobile and can cover lots of water and lots of places you can't reach from the bank. Another advantage is the use of the fish finder, keeping an eye out for features, depth and fish. Neil had spotted an interesting spot on the fish finder and then hooked the double, so he made a call to return to the same spot and go over it another time. This call paid off when Neil hooked another good fish. This one not as long, but certainly in much better condition. Great result and a good bit of skippering. Neil was on a good run now and seemed to have the fish finder troubles left behind.

Good conditioned 8lb pike

We'd notched up a few fish between us by now and it was good sport. I then got my first decent knock of the day and was playing a fish. It felt a bit bigger and was putting up a great scrap, but I knew it was nothing in the league of either of those last two fish from Neil. Then as the fish neared the boat, the flash of stripes greeted us. Neil quickly got a hold of the fish and scooped it in to the boat. What a lovely perch, I was made up. This one went in the bag to be weighed and Neil told me it was two pound seven ounces. Not a monster by perch standards, but a lovely fish and one which I am now claiming as my pb perch, since i've never really weighed them or photographed many. It's always great to notch up a new pb and I was chuffed. That would do me for the day even if I caught nothing else. I was also glad I'd purchased the new ultralite rod because I could much more appreciate the fight this fish had in it.

2lb 7oz pb perch

We plugged on and again picked up a few more perch and pike between us with a couple more decent perch each well over a pound. Meeting up with Grant and Woody they were having similar results and Woody had bagged a nice perch over two pounds. I don't know what it was, but every time we went near that other boat, Neils fish finder would play up. The other two headed up stream while Neil tried to get some pictures back on his screen. I made a few casts to the bank and I had what felt like a hit but didn't hook. I cast back at it and felt something in the same spot again, but wasn't sure if it was a bit of a twig or something under the surface. I figured on another cast because I was certain that at least the first knock was a fish and there it was, fish on. It wasn't a big fish but as it came in to view it was a pleasant sight indeed, another pb for me. I've caught plenty of chub in my time, but this was my first lure caught chub, what a cracking result.

pb lure caught chub

We had a bit of a quiet spell with not much showing. The fish finder blinked on and off a couple of times but Neil kept managing to get some life back in to it. with Woody and Grant now visible in the distance we could see Woody was dealing with something, possibly a lump? As we got closer the boat chat told us he'd actually hooked a bream, foul hooked in the dorsal fin. We exchanged banter and threw lots of abuse at Woody, it seems that's what happens on these double boat trips. Woody is man enough to take it and dish a bit out, but I'm not so sure he's keen on those bream though.

Woody

Loves

Bream

We parted company again and me and Neil bagged a few more fish each. I had a couple of small pike totally engulf the lure and so too did Neil. The pike had seemed to have switched off and it had mainly been perch for a while but these couple of small jacks appeared and really did hit the lures.

These pike were hammering the lures

Again we caught up to the other two and could see in the distance Woody was dangling a carrier bag in the water, the carrier bag obviously full of water and a fish inside. They were saving something good we knew that and as we got there we were greeted with the sight of another clonking perch, this one falling to Grant and weighing in at two pound eight ounces.

Grants 2lb 8oz perch

We stopped off at a pikey looking spot and proceed to throw the larger lures around. Woody bagged a couple and there were quite a few follows, some decent fish too. I managed to hook one on the reel eel, felt a couple of head shakes and then it made a dive for under the boat. Unfortunately the hooks came out and I didn't get to see how big a pike it was. We headed up stream ad then Neil realised he was half way in to his fuel supply. This journey, accompanied by another boat, was to find the cracks and iron out the creases and Neil was getting those sorted. We'd covered plenty of water but I think this trip convinced Neil to bring his larger fuel can next time. We turned round and headed back downstream and to be honest much of the fishing was a bit quiet. We soaked up lots of sun, unhooked the odd snagged lure and passed a few pleasure boaters. Even though the fish didn't seem to be coming out now it was still a great way to spend the day. Finally we started to pick up a few more perch with the odd pike thrown in and at least this way we were finishing off with more fish instead of a bit of a lull. Neil then hooked into another half decent perch but somehow between trying to get a photo of the perch with lure still in it's mouth, instead we ended up with Neil and the perch attached to each other. I helped separate the two, leaving the new fishing badge to be seen in the trophy shot.

Neil with his Blue Peter fishing badge

Meeting back up again it was clear the run downstream hadn't been as fruitful but we'd all still picked up some fish each. We had one final fling nearer to the launch ramp, swapping between large lure, ultralites and even doing a spot of jigging. I'm not sure much more was caught here but I did pick up another small perch and pike jigging with some small soft 4plays to cap off a great day for me. I'm sure the other three enjoyed the day too. Plenty of fish caught, some nice perch, a double figure pike, a bream and a chub. I know my own tally was 8 pike, 13 perch and a chub. I even managed to bag more perch today than I have the whole year so far and I guess that's plenty to do with actually targeting the properly instead of half arsed like normal.  Neil had a similar result to me with a couple of extra pike to his tally than I did. This time out on the boat we achieved what we'd set out to do and that was have some fun on the ultralites and let Neil test his new (ish) boat set up.

Cheers for the invite lads what a cracking day!

2012 pike tally 

Doubles 29

Total 186

Largest 22.5lb
Twenties - 2
Bonus Perch 22
Largest 2lb 7oz
Bonus chub - 1

Lure weave mesh from DL Specialist tackle - Review

I bought a 30plus landing net years ago in case I went carp fishing. It never got any use but It ended up being a net for when I was out pike fishing. What a disaster of an idea that was. If you landed a fish you would end up in a right pickle and the hooks would be tangled and you'd spend the next three days trying to sort out the mess. I rarely use the net for a pike anyway and unhook them in the water where possible, but on occasions when I could see the hooks were in a bad place for chinning out, or on those rare occasions when I hooked a monster I'd use the net. Nine out of ten times I'd be in a pickle so I had my eye on a new one, and when I caught the 21 pounder a few weeks ago I had a few hooks in the net and just cut the net. Firstly to save time and put the big girl under the least amount of stress as possible and also so that my net would be in a bad state and I'd have to force myself to buy a new one.

I'd heard the "Lure weave" phrase banded about a few times before so had that in my head and went looking for it. Well I knew where to look if I'm honest. Dave Lumb, a well known angler to many, has his own specialist shop where he sells things he rates and that he uses. It's a good thing to buy from someone who rates a product but when you have a guy who has umpteen years of fishing experience behind him then you best take note. Plus, you can add to that when I recently went out with Woodchucker he had one too. What more do I need to convince me.

So that's the story over with and now the review. First impressions were that at least it didn't have loads of tiny holes, but much larger netting (22mm) and seemed to be made out of much better material. That for a start was much more promising as a lure net. So I removed the old net from my 36inch landing net and threaded on the new one  and just like it says on Dave's website, it fits perfectly. Incidentally the nets come in two sizes. The small version, which I bought, fits 36 inch triangular or 30 inch round frame and the large version fits 42 inch triangular or 36 inch round frame. What else is there to do now except take the thing fishing and see what it's like.

Lure anglers nightmare

Now the worst fish you can catch when lure fishing is a jack of about four pounds. You never bother netting these as they go crazy on the bank, trebles flying everywhere and you end up in a right state. But I just got a new net that is supposed to be easy to get your hooks out. So I dip the net in the water and pull the jack in over the top. As predicted the jack goes mental and even manages to remove itself from the hooks, so I quickly get the pike back in the water. At least that bit was easy.



So all I have to do now is untangle that mess little Jack left behind. Both trebles are tangled in the netting and it will certainly test the claims. Watch the short video to see for yourself. There's no need for any further words from me.

If you haven't got one already, at £18 (or £20 for the large) you can't go wrong. If there's anything better out there on the market I'll never find it because I'll use these from Dave in the future.