I just thought I'd share my last few video updates on here just in case any of you lot have missed them. I'm trying to keep them a little bit different each time so it's not just the same thing all the time though eventually I guess it might just be me and Woody catching more fish, and then some more. Where I can though I'll try to keep it fresh if I can manage to be creative enough.
Anyway this first video was posted up to my Youtube pageabout over a month or so ago and it's just a bunch of pike action shots, slow motions and just general spectacular stuff that happens when pike fishing. It's why I do it.
Next we have one of my best productions to date. Out with Woody on his boat there's a few fish and some few high speed boating fun. A short fast and loud video for those with a short attention span like my kids, and probably most other peoples kids too.
Then we have a little video from a few weeks back where I went off on my own to a new bit of water looking for a few fish. I had no idea what to expect as I'd not even scouted out the place before. I was met with a hot day, peace and quiet with a few fish to the ultra light rod and the trusty Kopyto shad.
Finally we have another boat ultra light video with a few more fish caught and a few laughs on top. It won't be a box office smash but it shows what we get up to through the summer while we wait for proper piking weather, not this hot and sweaty crap we have right now. What's all that about?
A few months ago I was invited to fish Chew Valley Lake. A couple of message exchanges on the Pikers Pit forum lead to a total stranger asking me to join him at the lake of dreams. The piking lads on the forum are second to none and there's always someone helping out another piker new or old or meeting up and fishing with someone they've never seen before. Add to that it being full of right old characters it's the place to be for us pikers. The time finally came and Monday and Tuesday of this week were the days I finally made my début at Chew Valley Lake.
Problem. It's fly only and I've never even picked up a fly rod before. So the week before I met up with my lure fishing buddy Matt (Fooling Fish), an all round lure-aholic who fishes with and makes lures and flies of all kinds. A short evening session on the canal where I could at least be shown the basics and have a crack with this curious form of fishing. Obviously a little weird to me at first, a few tangles and casting fails but I started to get the hang of it. We weren't using a pike fly set up just yet though, just a smaller all round pike and perch kit I guess. While I was left to flick around with no hook on for a bit of safety, Matt eventually picked up the other rod and proceeded to catch a dozen or so perch, showing me how it should be done. Cheers for the lessons mate.
I was in bed early Sunday night but it was tough getting to sleep. A bit like waiting for Santa, I couldn't settle but eventually dropped off around 11pm. At 2:40am I was awake, heart racing as seconds earlier I had been playing a good sized pike which had taken me under the boat. I was never going to go back to sleep now so I got dressed and headed downstairs. Everything was ready, I'd sorted it all the night before, even filling the kettle and getting my thermos mug ready so I could just pour in boiling water and then be off. The food and drink was sorted, clothes I was already wearing and the camera and batteries were all set. Since I have no fly fishing tackle at all I wasn't going to be worrying about forgetting anything. Actually I did have a little bit of gear. I asked Martin of MSCustomFlies to make me some, anything he thought I would need, and these are what he created. Super looking flies, which I did eventually get the hang of, and loved fishing with.
With my stuff and all my fly tackle sorted I jumped in the car and set off for the long drive, probably four hours worth of driving. I was early, but I would sooner be sat in the car park at Woodford Lodge for an hour than late. I should easily miss the traffic setting off now, and that I did, arriving at Chew for about 7am. Time for a quick power nap in the back of the car as fishing doesn't start until 8:30am. I didn't sleep at all, just managing to close my eyes for half an hour or so before getting up and having a walk around to see what was in store for me. I don't think I realised how big the water was until I first set eyes on it and even then the distance was hard to gauge, the water seemed to go out for ever. I chilled for a while and then made my way back to the car park and then a couple of minutes later Jon turned up and we met for the first time. The gear was unloaded, me and my one bag of food and Jon with everything else and we made our way down to the boats with the gear and then I nipped back up to the lodge to watch the safety video. "It's just like being back at work" I thought.
Finally I was on board and we were on our way. I had no clue about the place, hadn't done any home work or anything and relied totally on Jon. All I knew was it average about 12ft depth, there were some seriously huge pike in and they were often seriously hard to catch. Using alien fishing gear would surely make it even harder, but I was up for the challenge. I knew that the chance of a big fish was there and while I had that chance I didn't care how hard it was. First few chucks and It was weird as hell. The bigger pike rod and fly were much more difficult to cast than what I used with Matt but I managed to get the fly out. Then I managed to tangle it up, and then I managed to cast like a total twat. I never expected it to be easy so kept my cool, chuckled to myself and got on with it. I had two days of this so getting the monk on now would be no good, I had plenty of time to get to grips with it.
Well what an absolute scorcher of a day we were having. In no time at all we were down to the t-shirts and sweating buckets. I was fearing sun burn and sore skin at this rate and even though I joked about bringing some sun screen, I hadn't and I was regretting that. But then it changed. Good thing that I wasn't going to get burnt to a crisp but bad because it absolutely pissed it down. What a change in weather, one minute blue sky the next it was lashing it down, even making it too difficult to cast, especially for someone new to the sport like me. We decided to take a break, heading back to the lodge for shelter and a sit down while the rain cleared. It didn't take too long to be honest, just enough time to grab a bit of food and drink and then we were back out on the water. It was a nice little break and I felt a little more refreshed and hungry for a fish again. We'd not even seen a fish or a follow in the first part of the day but before long I got my first follow. As we drifted and cast the fly we were nearing a shallow, weedy bottomed bay as I brought in my fly something surged at it and then turned away. I first called a jack but thinking about it I reckon it was a big trout, the way it shot out and then turned away. The trout seem to hit fast and often miss a lure, it was exactly the same as I saw on recent ultra light trout fishing sessions. It was a fish anyway, we're getting closer.
Red hot morning on Chew
Miserable wet afternoon on Chew
By mid evening we still hadn't bagged a monster, nor a tiny jack or a crazy trout. We were seemingly trying everything and every location but just couldn't seem to get a break. My phone went and it was Woody checking up to see how we were getting on. He wasn't surprised we were struggling, he's had days like that on here too and so have many others. About five minutes after the conversation with Woody, Jon flicked on all of his GoPro cameras. He had four or five and had the set up all around the boat and one flick of the remote would turn them all on to film any action from different angles. Brilliant, I need more GoPro cameras too. The cameras must have been on thirty seconds and then I heard Jon, "I'm in!" I was hoping this was a big fish, I'd love to catch a Chew legend but seeing one caught would equally be a fantastic experience. However it quickly emerged that this was just a small jack. At least it was a pike and may be the start of more fish to the boat? It was exactly that, not too long later and Jon was in again. Another jack pike on the fly for Jon.
The last couple of hours flew by and before long it was time to make the way back to the launch, day one was over and I'd failed to land a fish let alone bag a monster. Gear in the car and we headed for the hotel. Too late now for food in the hotel we headed for the Chinese takeaway where Jon grabbed something to eat. I declined, deciding on a brew and then straight to bed. I didn't sleep too bad apart form waking at around 4am with a bad head ache, probably from a bit of dehydration, so I necked a bottle of juice and a couple of headache tablets and grabbed another hour of sleep. I was awake before the alarm, in the shower and down for a full English which went down a treat. I was now ready for another hard day, but this time I wanted a fish.
By now I was a little better with the fly but I wasn't consistent enough. A good cast was followed by a couple of shabby ones, the odd tangle and then another good cast. Again it was hard work as far as the fish, not a single follow or sighting of a pike. I made a decision. It was harder to cast big flies than small ones, that was obvious. So I made a switch, with the thinking being that a smaller fly would be easier to cast, that's what I had been taught by Jon. Easier to cast meant less tangles and less poor casts. I could get the fly out further, and in turn all this would mean a fly in the water for longer. I wanted to give myself the best chance of a fish. The best chance of a fish was while I was fishing, not casting and not faffing. I chose a small white fly, similar to the one Jon had caught on yesterday, apart from the fact that his one was bigger. My casting improved and I was fishing more than before. I was happy, and so stuck with this fly instead of chopping and changing. We covered loads of water, drifting and casting and then moving off to new spots for more of the same. Drifting out of a bay and not far from a shallow to deeper drop off we had a second run at it. We'd drifted ten feet or so and then finally I felt something. Where before all I had felt was a bit of weed on the bottom, this time the bit of weed started to tighten up and instead of breaking free, this bit of weed was a fish. I stripped more line to keep it tight before lifting in to my first Chew Valley pike. Of course my heart raced at first, how big would this fish be? Before I quickly knew this fish was never going to be anything huge. But it didn't matter at all, this was my first Chew pike and my first on the fly. One to remember for sure, hopefully the first of a few more.
My first Chew Valley Lake fly caught pike
A little later another storm rolled in. Knowing what happened the day before we headed off to the lodge before it caught us out. I downed some food and drink and Jon had a little snooze on the bench. I watched the storm roll across the lake, thunder in the distance. Once it cleared we were back out again for another crack, giving it our all right up to kicking out time. No matter how hard we tried we just couldn't get any more fish. It's a tough nut to crack is that place, particularly with a technique I'm not comfortable with. However by the end of the two days I was comfortable with the fly finally. I was casting the big flies with ease, much more consistently and much more like a fly angler. I can see me getting myself a pike fly set up and having a bash on my local spots in the future. It's a great way to fish, and since it's a lure, it'll do for me.
Sunset on Chew Lake
Sunset over Woodford Lodge
As the sun came down, giving us a spectacular sight to finish on, we made our way back to the lodge for the last time. The two days on Chew were a fantastic experience, even without the monsters making an appearance for us. It's probably given me a bit of a desire to fish a few more places like this, the Lakes, Scotland who knows where else. I have to thank Jon for the invite, coaching, supply of the gear and generally being good company, however I will never ever play cards with him. Thanks Jon!
Jon has already knocked up a video of our days on Chew and it's up on Youtube to watch, or click the video below. A fantastic video and to be honest, looking at the few clips I have, I doubt I'll bother making my own version. This one will do for me and it's a great little memento of my first ever trip to the lake of dreams.
Yesterday I went out with Woody to a new river, to me at leastanyway. He phoned me mid week to ask if I fancied an adventure. Silly question as I love going new places. He then dropped it to me where it was, and mentioned the zed word, Zander. I don't know what I was more excited about, the brand new river or the chance of a zed. I was a bit giddy for the rest of the week.
I arrived at Woodys house at around 5:20am. It's the first time I'd been to his house and I managed to find it on the second pass, his house is tucked in a little cul-de-sac off the main road. I pulled in to find the road was tiny so I had to spin the car around, half in someone's drive. At least at that time no one would see me. I then struggled to park as the small road was full of cars, plus Woodys car and boat but I found a space next to a fence. his house lights were on and then Woody popped his head out of the front door. He invited me in, we had a quick brew and he also plonked in front of me his iPad and a video of Matt Hayes from Youtube. A great video and it got the juices flowing for certain. We chucked my gear in his car and then I moved mine around to another spot where Woody said it would be better and then we were off. A good couple of hour drive was in front of us, which I don't mind though the only problem with this is it's fishing time wasted. We'd just have to work harder to make the most of our time when we got there. We'd only been on the road an hour when Woody got a call from his missus Becky to tell him that I'd been slagged off on Facebook for parking on a private drive, that I was this far from getting a ticket from the local self proclaimed wannabe traffic warden. Ha ha, some people are sad. They need to get fishing in their lives and chill the feck out! A bit of drama to start with but the day was going to have more events than a few saddos on Facebook. Straight on to drama number two. We were plodding along the motorway when out of the corner of my eye I see a low flying Wood pigeon. They are often a bit slack as it is but this one had decided to low fly across the motorway. At the last second it swerved to miss the car on our outside in the middle lane. It missed the drivers window by a fraction, up and over that car, but the wind and slipstream caused of that just car sucked it back down the other side and then straight in to the drivers window of our car. Of course Woody hadn't seen it and it had him shitting his pants, to my amusement of course. His window was also open about three inches, how funny would it have been if that thing had flown straight in? Me and Woody frantically doing our best to stop Tike from running around the car trying to catch a pigeon, ha ha!
Pulling up to the boat launch we were now excited. But our first thoughts after checking out what the river looked like were that the ramp was a little steep and the funny angle meant there wasn't much room for mistake as if we got it wrong the trailer would run off the edge of a tight angled, steep short ramp. First attempt saw us slightly wrong and so we had to get the car up the ramp again. The wheels span and it didn't look good, arse cheeks squeezed firmly and it was back for another run up. This time we got it right and I shoved the boat off. All aboard and we were all set for our little adventure though we both knew that getting out might be a little tricky especially if we get some rain later in the day.
We had a little troll of the light lures a few hundred meters down to the bottom of this stretch of river. There was a weir and also some lock gates which we wanted to have a jig around and that's where we were heading. I wasn't targeting a zander, the new river was enough excitement for me but I would love to catch one. Woody had zeds on the brain and wanted to get us both in on the fish, obviously any zed for me was a pb and that was his target. We pulled up at a fishy looking spot and got on with tying up the boat. Woody dropped down a kopyto and started to make it dance. There was a knock and his rod tip was bent and he was in to a fish. Is it a zander? We couldn't help but think that way as it's all we'd talked about. I grabbed the net and watched as the fish kept yanking away and putting a bend in the rod. We were in a small area and there wasn't much room so often the fish was under the boat, even the rod was bent under the boat sometimes so we never saw the fish which just added to the excitement. Eventually up it popped, a small jack. Grrr! We both knew that there was far more chance of us catching our usual prey of pike and perch but you can't help getting excited at the thought of something different. Jigging this spot we picked up a few perch also before moving off thirty yard or so to jig another bit. Again more perch until we moved the next thirty yard where the fish finder showed a mass of black, a ball of fish? This ball seemed to move around so we knew something was here. The something turned in to more perch, they were everywhere. Small ones, half decent ones right up to around ten ounce or so. There must surely be a bigger perch or two here but after half an hour or so it went quiet and we'd not found them.
The plan now was for a steady troll up river to see what was ahead of us. We knew it was a half decent stretch but that we would cover it easily in the time we had so we wanted to get up it, see what fish we could pick up and then target the weir at the other end. There was a very strong flow to the river and this meant it was a bit of a struggle for the boat going up stream. A bit of wind had picked up which added to this but we didn't mind too much as we've fished in worse and caught. It was a little slow but we did keep picking up the odd perch and then every now and again a small pike. We expected to see more anglers on the bank but there was only a handful up to now. They can be a hazard to us trolling as often they are tucked in to some bushes out of sight. We come past trolling out our long lines, they have a couple of rods out and long lines out and then we all end up in a pickle if the lines cross. As we passed one angler, we were sure we were far enough away for this not to happen. But I had a knock which turned out to be nothing other than something on my line that wasn't a fish. As I started to bring my lure in I saw fishing line. I looked across to the bank angler and he wasn't grabbing for his rods at least. I ended up pulling in about sixty yards of strong line with a feeder on the end but no hook link. How the hell this had happened I don't know. The rig looked new and also like it had been done by someone who knew what he was doing. I tied up all the line into a ball and chucked it in my bag to get rid of later.
With the weir in sight, we'd not fared too well and thought we should have had more fish but didn't know why we hadn't. Anyway now we had the lock gates and the weir to have a go at. There were a couple of anglers around which meant we couldn't fish all of the weir but the lock was fair game and this is where we went first. I moored us up and we got to fishing a fast bit of water around the gates, with a couple of slack spots off it including a good slack right at the gates though we weren't quite on that bit yet. Woody was in to a perch in no time which was a bit better than what we'd been having though of nothing of notable size. I too got in to the perch and again a half decent one at that. I got Woody to take a photo since by now I was thinking we were having a slow day and I needed something for the blog at least.
Having given this bit of water some stick we decided to give the gates some hammer but this meant getting up close with the boat and holding in the slack water. Sat afloat just before the lock gates we both looked up and the gates were huge. We passed comment on how we needed to stay sharp and get out of there if we thought there was to be a boat coming our way as we wouldn't want to be there when the gates opened. Jigging around we picked up more perch including a few half decent fish, similar sized as before. There was then a strange noise. I can't actually remember what I heard, a squeal, an alarm, someone banging drums. I can just remember me and Woody looking at each other. I think we both thought, what the fuck? We both also then thought, there's a boat in that lock. I presume most people know why and how a lock gate works but just to highlight on the important bit. We were below the lock gates. If those gates were closed and full of water a boat from upstream can enter, then be lowered and come out our side on the downstream section. However the gates don't just open as that would be thousands of gallons of water being thrown out and a boat riding a massive wave. Instead the water comes out below and lowers the craft gently. Problem being, we were right where the water came out. All of a sudden the water below us started to bubble and boil. We were already getting our rods in at the point we heard the alarm but we were too slow. The boat started to move around and as Woody tried to put the power on and get us out it had little affect. We were riding a massive boil of water, it was churning up at an immense rate and we were in the shit. Apart from panic there wasn't much I could do except panic though I was also watching the back end of the boat to keep an eye out for bubbling water coming up and over the lowest point of the boat. Woody could only panic as he tried to get some control of the boat and some control over himself as he panicked. We finally were out of it after a combination of the boat taking us out and the water forcing us out, though we both know that it was way more the part of the water. You can laugh after an event like that but at the time it was very much arse clenching time. Make note if you are a boat fisherman for future reference.
Very windy day on the river
Next we had a go at the weir. We tried to get as close as was safe, especially with thoughts of our last episode very fresh in our heads. We tried in vain to get in and fish some of the faster water and any slacks but the force was too much and after a while we gave up. We fished plenty of the area with little success to be honest and eventually made our way back downstream, trolling as we went along. We actually started to pick up a few fish and downstream we seemed to be getting more fish than we did coming upstream. We also noted it was far easier to get the lures down than before and that the boat was hardly having to do anything, on minimum revs and we were fishing much better like this. The only thing against us now was the wind from before was now much much worse. In fact we might have been better with a sail than a motor. I took some photos to try and show how bad it actually was but even this picture doesn't look as rough. At least us going with it all instead of against it all was a little easier. We kept on trolling the light lures and as we passed a tree Woody was doing something, I can't quite remember what, maybe getting a sausage roll. He had his rod wedged in his legs to free up his hands. I just managed to look up at the right point as his rod was smacked by something and arched right over. Woody frantically grabbed the rod and it was fish on. Immediately he knew something was different and I wound in my lure and grabbed the net. As the fish came close we both spotted a huge chub. We knew we had a chance of one here and finally we had it. The fish wasn't finished and it wasn't quite ready for the net. I mentioned the current on this river was strong earlier but didn't really say how strong. I also mentioned the wind by now was strong and again hadn't really emphasised the point. We were steadily speedily drifting and as the chub came close it made one last dash, right under the boat and right under the propeller. Woody cut the engine but was fractionally too late and the fish was off and not only that his line was caught in the prop. I dropped anchor so that we could safely sort out the mess but the anchor did little except slow us down, it wouldn't bed in to anything because presumably the river bed was just soft. At one point it held up and we were actually ok but then next time I looked we were off again. We were pushed downstream at an alarming rate, easily a couple hundred meters but at least we weren't right in the middle and there was no other boat traffic about. We got sorted about a hundred metres up from a couple of bank anglers. There wouldn't have been much we could do as we drifted past, trolling the anchor and pulling in their rods!
Getting back to fishing we decided to give a bit of a stretch some stick with a new tactic. By now, even with the strong current and winds Woody had seemingly mastered it to a degree at least. We had some sense of control as we drifted down and our new tactic was to drift and throw jerk baits in all the likely looking weedy spots, under over hangs, slack spots anywhere and everywhere. However this turned out to be pretty fruitless with just one jack to the boat. So back to trolling again we picked up the odd fish and before long we were nearly back at the bottom of the stretch. We'd been back up certain stretches along the way so it wasn't just a straight return trip and so now it was late afternoon. It was time to hit the lock gates we'd had a bit of fun with the perch this morning in the hope something decent might be there.
Mooring up it was to be the same tactics, simply jigging our kopytos. I cast out and slowly started to twitch it back. Typically in perch fashion I felt a nip, then another and then Bang! "I'm in mate" I said and then in no time it turned to "it's a decent perch I reckon." Woody was sorting the net just in case while I had a bit of a battle with something on the other end of the line. As it got close it then went mental and my rod was bent double. Still confident it was a perch by the fight I was now thinking BIG perch. It then came up and gave us a flash of spikes and stripes and we knew it was good. You can now add the usual knee trembling moments you get when you see a big perch on the end of your line. The next time it came up it was in the net, result! Another brute of a perch to the boat after last week when Woody grabbed one just short of three. I didn't think it was quite three but it was a long fish and Woody sorted the scales out while I unhooked and then left it in the net to get some oxygen. It went 2lb 12oz and I was chuffed with that.
After some trophy shots I thought I'd put the fish back in the net to make sure it was fine. As I turned a voice from a moored up canal boat asked "what fish was that?". A lady and he man were sat having a cup of tea on their moored up canal boat and I'd not even noticed them before. With my attention distracted I lost co-ordination somehow and as I went to put the fish in the net I slipped and nearly went in head first. The fish went in the net and I clung to the side of the boat with just half my arm getting wet. Jeez, can we have any more dramas? We told the lady it was a perch and she chuckled at me nearly falling in and then watched on as we put the fish back and then proceeded to catch more perch though none anywhere near as big. Moving on and mooring up in another bit we pretty much chilled out for a bit. We were in a sun trap, out of the raging wind and current and it was actually quit nice now, though just in this corner. We weren't particularly catching much but it was good to just relax a little. I was casting around the kopyto, often you'll bump the bottom and you have to work out if it was the bottom, weed, or a fish. As my kopyto came to the surface it was missing a tail. I must have had a nip from something so I put on a new lure and cast out in hope of a fish. As I did so spotted Tike take a snap at the lure as it swung past his nose. Having watched him do this through the day I was now wondering if it was a fish that had bit my lure in half or the crazy dog. When I asked him him declined to comment. Hmm?
Back to trolling we gave the lower stretch a bit of stick and got a few more fish out. Woody hooked in to something half decent, especially on the light gear which after a good scrap turned out to be a pike of seven or eight pound which was a good way to finish the day. By now the wind was mental and any up stream travel was a little rough and wet. As he turned to make a last attempt for home came the final drama of the day. Woody's cap went flying off as the wind took a hold and before we knew it was drifting off yards away. Coming up behind us was a large canal boat which was actually tramming quite fast and heading for the hat. Woody span the boat and cranked the motor to full speed. I jumped and grabbed the net and we sped off to intercept the hat before the canal boat sent it to the depths. I had to treat this netting job as a 4lb perch or an any sized zander, there had to be no mistake and I had just one shot at it. Get in, as we sped past I scooped it up and Woodys Rapala Cap was saved. We now just had the tricky task of getting the boat back up the ramp. We decided to empty everything out of the boat and leave it to one side to save on weight. Second attempt and we were lined up nicely and we winched on the boat. As Woody let off the clutch, the wheels span briefly but we were off and up. I reckon it was mainly down to me though since I also put my shoulder in to it giving the car a helpful nudge. As most of you will have seen I'm naturally a big lad and it's my natural strength that played the big part. The car was loaded up and we were on our way, with Woodys Cap clamped firmly in the boat's fish finder clamp flapping away to dry off in the breeze as we went. We talked about our day, the positives and the negatives and the lack of zander action which was a pity. We weren't too disappointed but it was a shame as I've never even seen one up close. We might have to do some more homework and go off in search of them again in the near future.
What's up with me? I went out on Saturday and have only just got around to writing out my blog. I must be slacking. Saturday was another boat day with Woody though this time we had some company. Neil had his boat out and was partnered up with Matt. So four of us out in two boats which surely meant a few fish to be had between us. However in the week running up to Saturday there was a bit of rain and so the stretch we normally fish might still be a bit coloured. Without me knowing, (I tend to just agree as I'll ride on a shovel,) the lads had an idea and thought we might be better going further upstream. They knew of a marina to launch Woodys boat in and so made a few phone calls, and then tight arses Neil and Matt found somewhere to chuck in the portabote without having to pay, and we were all set.
Neil and Matt get ready for launch
It was a later start than normal as we'd been told that the marina didn't open until 9am, though we were all there an hour earlier just in case and we were in luck. Neil and Matt had already got their boat in the water and were just sorting the last few things out when we pulled up. It takes Woody and myself no time at all now to get the boat sorted and we were in the water within five minutes of pulling up. The fish finder was beeping away telling us that the water was only two and a half to three feet deep in the marina. I shoved the boat out and jumped on and Woody slowly turned the boat around. As he did I quickly whipped out a lure to put on. Usually it's something like a Rapala jointed shad rap to start off but I had an idea. Instead I grabbed my small copper Vibrax spinner, clipped it on and then cast out. We'd probably moved just ten feet and were still in the marina over less than three feet of water. My spinner hit the surface, I let it sink a tiny bit and then started to wind and within less than two feet of retrieve there was a commotion and I was in. Fish on and we were off the mark with a nice small pike of a couple of pounds. We got out in to the river and spotted the other two just fifty yard or so away and so we made our way to them on the troll. Woody then picked up a perch before we pulled up alongside.
Wait a minute, stop press. This has nothing to do with the story but I feel the need to share. As I type this I do so with a beaming smile. The missus has just plonked plate of burger and chips in front of me and I've just won a bid on eBay for a Cobbs lure for just over a tenner. Little things please me, I know.
Back to Saturday, Neil had a slight problem with a fuel line from his back up tank which he couldn't fix there and then so instead would have to just top up the tank when he had a chance as and when needed. More of an annoyance than a major concern. He sparked up the engine and that was it, we were off along a new stretch of river that to us, was pretty much uncharted by boat. We picked up a couple of fish which strangely to start with saw me catching pike and Woody catching perch. A theme that was to be later repeated a little as once I started to pick up perch it was clear that this was the main fish to be had today by us. Though when we bumped in to the other two a little later it seemed they were catching mainly pike between them.I wonder if there was something in that, something we were doing different. Woody likes to keep a nice pace to the boat and maybe Neil is a little slower, that could be it. Either way it meant that our boat by now was a couple hundred yards in front. We kept bumping in to the boats lucky mascot, a heron, which is also the name of Woodys boat. Every time we got up close it would take flight and fly off fifty yards or a hundred yards up river. I took the opportunity to take some wildlife photos for the blog in the hope of a decent heron shot, either stood or in flight. You dingbat! I forgot to charge the camera battery up! This is all I managed to get before it packed in. At least Woody had his camera in case we caught anything decent.
It seems the lads had made a good call to fish up river. The water was dark, kind of stained but it wasn't too bad. The picture to the left kind of gives you an idea of what it looked like. It wasn't full of muddy silt and still had a decent amount of visibility so when we'd caught fish down at around twelve foot depth we were confident that the fish could see the lure and we'd keep on catching. If you've never fished from a boat the tactics are trolling, jigging and casting and you choose the technique to suit. It's up to you how you go about it and getting the choice right can prove a winner or a major loser. For the most part, we tend to mainly do trolling as you cover loads of water and if conditions are right you will pick up fish constantly. Basically trolling is dragging a lure behind the boat, as simple as that. However there are a few things that will help. Get the speed of the boat right to suit your lure. Too slow and your lure does naff all and doesn't dive. Too fast and the lure might spin out of control and come to the surface. So choice of lure to suit the depths and the speed of the boat will get your lure down to the bottom where often, most takes occur we find. As I said at the start, a Rapala Shad rap is a good choice. If you get one around 5-7cm size they can easily get down to depths of twelve foot or so. The Rapalas are also good because they are a very stable lure and even with a bit of pace to the boat they will still run straight. If you wish, you can add the odd jerk to the lure making it even more erratic and hopefully enticing the fish even more. Back to trolling speed, if you find that you are getting "plucks" which are probably perch you can speed up the boat which means those "plucks" turn in to hook ups. As said before, maybe that's why we were getting mostly perch? Trolling might look easy, or steady and boring to some but you still have lots to think about and work on. If you don't think about it and work the lure and choose the lure to suit, you will sit beside Woody all day watching him catch fish after fish while you blank. You'll think you are doing everything right but you are not.
Another useful bit of tackle in the boat owners armoury is the fish finder. Woody has a couple of units, one being his old Lowrance unit and he also recently got hold of a Lowrance DSI unit which is a good step up. Firstly the unit will tell you things like water temperature but most importantly the depth. So by monitoring the river depth and choosing your lure to suit you will get better results than just blindly trolling along. Once you get to know a bit of river you can quickly switch from a ten feet diving lure to a twenty footer and keep on catching. I've stuck with my ten footer while we've covered the deep water and watched as Woody kept catching fish while I blanked. Once we got back to ten foot of water I started to catch again. I now have lures in my collection to help me cover the depths, it's no fun watching your buddy catch all day. The fish finders are also useful for other things. You can actually see a shoal of fish on the river bed. Sometimes you're toddling along when there's a big ball of shadow on your screen and sometimes you pick up fish straight away. If they're perch you'll catch and if they're balls of bait fish you'll catch. Failing that, if it's a shoal of bream, Woody will catch a bream! lol. The units show you all sorts and it's a great bit of information to use to your advantage. The image below will show you the kind of things you can see. When you see this, you change course and get your expensive Rapalas out of the way before you lose them to a giant submerged tree.
So that's a brief intro to trolling for anyone who hadn't a clue before. Jigging might be more familiar to most without a boat as you can do this from the side of the canal or wherever. If we see a particularly fishy looking spot such as some lock gates, a water outlet, a deep hole or anything we might decide to anchor up and have a jig. Usually just using kopytos lures is all that's needed. Cast out, let them sink and then give them a little jig, twitch or whatever and if there are perch about you'll get one. Well we spotted a likely looking spot as we were trolling along. There was an outlet of some type. Water wasn't gushing in at pace or anything, there was just a small cloud of muddy water roughly ten feet square which gave it's location away. As we came up both Woody and I were looking at it as a potential fishy spot, when all of a sudden the surface erupted and fry went flying everywhere. Too good an invite to refuse we slowed up and pulled alongside. I had a couple of fish earlier at another spot when instead of jigging I'd opted for my copper Vibrax spinner. We had all been hopeful of a chub on this stretch and I felt I had a chance casting under tree branches, keeping my lure in the top two foot of water. I wasn't thinking chub this time however, it was perch I expected and felt I had a good chance. Woody though stuck to his usual technique and lobbed a kopyto into the thick cloudy water. A few flicks and as the lure came out of the murk something hit it. It was one of those, "I hope this isn't a small pike" moments and for the first few seconds you haven't a clue. You can sometimes tell by the fight, the pike lunging with strong burst where the perch tends to be more erratic often banging it's head side to side. I'm not sure at what point Woody realised it was a perch but I was getting the net ready just in case and as it came up Woody confirmed it with cries of "get the net mate." I don't think there's many things as knee trembling as a decent perch on the end of the line. As soon as it came up I scooped it in to the net, this one could be pushing three. I guessed poorly at two six but Woody guessed it spot on, 2lb 15oz. A cracker of a fish!
Woody picked up two more perch from this spot including another at around a pound or more but my spinner blanked. When no more fish showed we continued trolling and stopping anywhere we took a shine to. To say we were on a new bit of river we were still catching plenty and the sport was spot on. In total the stretch wasn't anything massive and we covered it there and back twice comfortably in a shorter time than we would usually be out. We knocked up nearly seventy fish to the boat and it turns out our fishing buddies had matched that too so to get knocking on a hundred a forty predators between us we were more than pleased. With Matt and Neil catching a few decent fish two including a few two pound perch, we can conclude that this new "back up" stretch has great potential.
Now get yourself over to Matt's page and check out his and Neil's version of the day.
I've been lucky enough to go out a couple of times now with Neil and Woody on their boats and we've had some good days fishing. Even the ones which I'm told were very steady days were enjoyable for me since it was with a buddy or two, having a laugh and catching a few fish. I managed to get out again with Woody on his boat this weekend and it looked pretty promising for a few fish. Upon arrival the water was not too bad despite a bit of rain the day before. We reckoned the bit of rain would help more than hinder as it hadn't added much colour at all and since the rivers are so low, a bit of water pushing through might be good. Only one way to find out and in no time we were on the river. It's not the hardest job to get the boat sorted but now I know what my job is I can just go do it rather than be told everything by my captain, giving us a few extra minutes fishing time and that can only be good.
Ok, it didn't go quite to plan. As Woody reverses the car down the ramp to drop the boat in, my task is to simply walk along the jetty and hold on to the rope so the boat doesn't go sailing off down stream. As I made my way on to the jetty I nearly went arse over tit. My trainers skidded on something slippery and I only just managed to stay on my feet. Phew, I saved myself from embarrassment there. As Woody made his way down to the boat he asked "who's stood in the dog shit then?". Aww crap, I didn't quite get away with it did I? I've no idea if it was boat mascot and lucky omen Tike who had done the deed, but there was only two ducks in the area so If I was a betting man! Woody cranked up the engine and we were ready for off, apart from having to clear up a chunk of vomit on the boat carpet. Strike two to Tike! lol
So not the greatest start but we were now off and on to the water. Weapons of choice were the ultra light outfits which we would be doing the majority of fishing with though we did have the large lures just in case we felt the need/urge to use them. Clarity wasn't too bad, probably five feet of visibility which is good enough for the fish to hunt on sight and react to a lure flying past them and it wasn't long before we got in to the fish. We knocked up a couple of fish between us, small pike and perch and then Woody managed a clonking perch of two pound. Excellent start and things seemed promising for a good days sport. My captain proclaimed, "if we get ten fish before we clear this small stretch of water we'll be on for a good tally". We were about ten yards from leaving the little stretch when the tenth fish was bagged. A good day ahead was in store for us, but how good I couldn't possibly have imagined.
We continued along the river picking up fish after fish. A couple of nice perch around a pound sprinkled with some smaller perch and some small jacks. The weather was pleasant enough and it was great to be afloat on such a day. By the time we'd knocked up a few over twenty fish, it was still early morning and we had loads of water to cover. We were getting all the fish on jointed rapala shad raps in firetiger pattern but eventually we both switched around and were picking fish up on most lures we tried. We tried jigging kopytos in a couple of spots that looked fishy but didn't have any luck so it was back to trolling where we got in on the fish again. I couldn't take much more and had to dig in to my Ginsters steak pasty which was polished off by Tike who had been waiting patiently for some tit bits. He's a cracking little dog and makes me smile. A real character who seems at home on the boat. Switching from one end of the boat to the other, from one set of knees to the next. I can forgive this little lad for a bit of shite and a puke, he's ace.
It was starting to become difficult to remember how many of each and what lure we caught them on and even who had caught what so we just tried to keep a tally of fish to the boat. They kept coming and often a fish would be called by Woody as we passed a tree, snag, boat or feature. "5...4...3....2....1..." he would say and then fish on, right on time. "We're due a fish now" and then BANG, fish on! It really was like that. We passed a mark but didn't get a fish. A hundred metres up stream we switched to jerk baits and slowly floated back down river trying to entice a larger jack. It was slow though I did manage one jack on a squirrelly burt. We made the switch back to the light gear and slow trolled back up the same bit of river. We'd passed it once with the trolled lures, then drifted back with the jerk baits but this third pass produced fish. No idea why this time the fish started to hit the lures but we weren't complaining.
Approaching another feature I was told "I've had a few fish off this tree" and yep, we were in, double hook up. One of many this day. Going through a bridge we had a couple of knocks and then a perch was bagged followed by another at the same time we saw a massive ball of fish on the screen of the fish finder. We turned the boat around and came for a closer look. The spot was full of fish and we made the call to tie up and have a jig with the kopytos. The action was immediate and fish after fish came. A couple of nice pound, pound and a half perch. Some small pike and then Woody hooked into something which if it was a perch like it felt, it was a good one. As it came to the surface we both went in to panic mode as you seem to do when you see a nice perch thrashing around on the end of your line. It went 2lb 8oz on the scales. Aren't big perch awesome!
For some reason, Woody fishing on the left kept picking up perch while I kept getting pike on the right. We both swapped and fished both sides and picked up a few of each. Annoyingly I snagged up. I kept flicking the rod and yanking, hoping the lure would flick clear as it often does. Eventually it freed up and I flicked the lure clear and in an instant it was smashed by a pike of five or six pound. This spot was producing some great sport and it was fish after fish. I then got another knock and I was in to a fish again. Not quite sure at first what it was, we then got a quick glimpse of a decent pike. It then woke up and put a full on bend in to my rod. There wasn't much I could do but let it rip line off. It headed for the snags under the bridge and my rod was bent right under the boat. Wow this fish has some power. Finally I got it to the surface and was pleased to see a nice pike of eleven or twelve pound. May be I should have grabbed a quick photo thinking back, but at the time all we were thinking about was the fish getting back to rest and also about catching more fish. Not sure exactly but we probably picked up 25-30 fish this one spot.
The sport eventually eased up and we moved off for some more trolling, picking more fish up along the way. We still had a good amount of water in front of us but instead decided to turn back. If we kept up the catch rate all the way back to the boat launch that would take up the rest of the day, so we didn't have time to go much further upstream. We made it back to the spot where we'd had so much success and decided to test our luck, tied up again and started jigging the kopytos. I think Woody was in before I'd tied up the boat so at least some fish were back in the spot. My first cast, and after a few jigs I felt a good hit. As it came up I was thinking a decent perch before finally it was panic stations again as we spotted the chunky stripy. Not quite as big as the one Woody had but it went two pound on the scales and I was very happy at that.
The troll back to the launch produced fish after fish. The tally kept going up and each target was met and a new target was aimed for. Forty fish, fifty fish, sixty fish it was bloody great sport. Every fish was welcome and each gave us as much pleasure as the last one. What a day, what a cracking bit of fun we had. We pulled the boat in, unpacked the gear, hauled her up on to the trailer and headed off home. The final tally of fish to the boat for the day ended at eighty seven. A mixture of pike and perch, probably 60% perch at a guess. They fell to multiple trolled lures, jerks baits and jigged soft plastics. I reckon Woody had a good few more fish than I did too, easily fifty fish I'd say though I don't think either of us cared who had what it was just great to be out on such a day. Cheers Woody.
By the way, sorry about the lack of photos. I managed to leave my camera in the boot of my car. Woody took a couple of photos so if I can grab those off him I'll add them later.
I got a chance today to get out with my mate, Mr Woodchucker. With the constant floods on the rivers we're all having (are we still talking about floods?) just getting on one has been tough. Working all week and then come weekend it's a wash out. Well it was snow melt that was still running through the river systems this time and it was touch and go whether to stick to the river as planned or jack it in totally and go somewhere completely different. After some lengthy phone calls, texts and the rest, Woody just took the plunge and opted for a day afloat. There's always a chance of a fish anyway but I reckon Woody simply wanted to get out on the river for a day.
We had to have a change of plan, at least on my part anyway. Being mainly a lure-a-holic meant I don't often change things but the river was no where near ready for results on lures so I had to sort myself some dead bait gear out. Saturday was spent sorting it all out and trying to think of what I might need and ended up with me twisting up some new traces ready for Sundays assault. We'd planned to meet early but I was awake even earlier and at 4am I was sat in the living room finishing off setting up the rod which I'd forgot to do the night before. That's why I couldn't sleep then, I must have known something was missing.
I met up with Woody, his mascot dog Tike, got the boat hitched up and all the gear in his car. We were hoping to be on the river for around 7am as with the days finally starting to start and finish earlier/later we wanted to make the most of it. The drive to the river was a spectacular one in itself, mist rolling across fields as the sun began to rise on the horizon. We were both excited at the thought of a day that was to be pleasing on the eye. It's great catching fish but when you can do it in surroundings that look the part too it makes a day even more memorable. We arrived at the boat launch to find a slippery, icy, mud ramp. It looked quite dicey but we got the boat in and were away. There was a bit of colour to the water still and there was also a good bit of pull to it. Today we'd have to find some slacks to drop the baits in. Luckily my ghillie for the day was already expecting this and had a good few spots ready to drop in on. We set off for the first slack hole and as we made the way up river already it was promising something special.
As we pulled up towards our first spot the signs were good. Plenty of fish in the area showing up on the fish finder and a grebe busily working away diving down for a mouth full of silvers. Our slack bit of water had gathered a bit of ice, so we knew this bit of water would be somewhere the fish would be hanging out. We tested the depth and set up our stop nots so that the baits would be sat just right, stuck a dead fish on and cast out. Lamprey, herring and mackerel tail were the weapons of choice for starters.
Owning a boat is something I have found myself thinking more and more about, though funds aren't anywhere near enough and I know from speaking with other boat owners that you need more than you think you need, so I'm a long way off captaining my own vessel. I'm relatively new anyway to serious pike fishing so I've lots to learn and catch up on and in any case, a boat doesn't guarantee you any more or bigger fish. You still have to know you are doing and probably even more so from what little i've seen of boat fishing. The captains job is much more complicated than that of passenger, who apart from the odd job now and again just has to sit there and be guided all day. It's all right for some innit! I just had to sit there and be taken to the fish. I was with a man who knew where to look and how to tackle these places and I was going to be parked right on these spots and even told how to go about wangling one out.
"We'll put a bait there, one there and you should chuck yours there mate," explained Woody. He already had his rods in before I'd finished faffing with my own, then realising it wasn't quite rigged up correctly so quickly having to change it, cut my macky tail and then finally lob it out. We also fancied this spot might hold a perch or two so set about jigging about the area to see if any where around. We were busy breaking up lose bits of ice and scouring the area with the ultra light gear when suddenly my float just vanished. I quickly put the light lure rod down and picked up the bait rod, winding in the bit of slack line ready to set the hooks. The float had come back up but was bobbing about a bit and so I asked Woody what he thought. "You think I should go for it now mate" to which he gave me the nod. Fish on!
This was a good start, the bait hadn't been in the water no more than ten minutes and already I was in to a fish. There was a decent bend in the rod but when quizzed I couldn't say for sure how big the fish was because it was the first fish on my bait rod, and this bait rod felt like a big long bendy thing compared to my small jerk bait rod. There was a bit of solid resistance but I wasn't too sure. We were generally chatting as I leisurely played the fish, Woody sorting the net out then I got a glimpse. "Fuck's sake Woody get the net!" I'd seen the fish and knew it was a nice fish, mid double at a quick guess, though may be deep down I knew it was to be something else. The fish gave a couple of lunges, I faffed with a long bendy rod and fancy new baitrunner reel before finally lifting the fishes head up and sliding it towards the net where Woody scooped it up.
I'd not really seen the fish that much, and to be honest I also tried to ignore the fact it was a lump, telling myself It's "just" a nice high double. Now I don't mean that to sound big headed, in fact I mean it to be quite the opposite. I've not long since had a nice lump out of the rivers and so now I was feeling that it wasn't going to be happening again. I just came out for a steady fishing session, good company and to learn off someone far more experienced than me. Despite me suggesting the fish was just a nice fish, maybe even hoping it was "just" a high double, Woody was having none of it. "It's a twenty is this mate" to which I told him to "Fuck off, it can't be".
Woody unhooked the fish in the net for me while I sorted the camera. I then held the net while my guide for the day set about zeroing the scales with the weigh sling on. As Woody lifted the fish I told myself this fish might be 19lb 6oz, no idea where I got that figure from. If I'm honest it wasn't a guess at the fish more me trying hard to believe I hadn't gone and caught another twenty.
"Twenty two pound, bang on mate" I was told.
I still haven't got a clue how I felt. One of the weirdest feelings ever. Absolutely over the moon to catch a fish as big and as beautiful as this beast. Yet I couldn't help thinking I'd had more than my fair share of good fish recently. I know that for top pike anglers this is nothing but for someone like me who isn't chasing twenties to get two in my last three sessions is ridiculous. Add to that we'd been here ten minutes, and add to that I'd been picked up and dropped on the spot by my mate who had planned the trip, planned the style of attack, planned the peg we'd be in and had even spoke of the chance of a lump despite conditions not being so good. Shit, I hope he doesn't bill me for this, those pro' ghillies charge a right lump.
Hat's off to Mr Woodchucker for that one anyway, a very big thank you from me!
So we obviously stayed here a while longer. I think we picked up a jack and a missed run next and were weighing up the options. You can sit it out in the hope more fish are here or you can move. If you sit it out you might not get anything where a move might see you drop on a fish again in ten minutes, but then again you might be moving away from a good spot only to drop on a blank spot. You just have to go for it and make a call and live with it. We sat it out a bit longer and were rewarded when another float was bobbing away, Woody was in.
It took a while before we got a glimpse of the fish so that gave us hope that it had some weight about it and when it finally showed it's head we were pleasantly surprised as it was another fat fish. I wished it had been another twenty to the boat but that wasn't to be. I want to be there when someone else catches one and I want to share their joy as that's not happened to me yet. Getting out with mates is about enjoying each others moments and that's something I'm enjoying. A quick photo or two and a quick weigh and the fish went back, though we'd need not bothered weighing the fish as Woody predicted 15lb 7oz and it was bang on that. I doubt we'd been fishing an hour by now so the results meant there was no way we were going to move.
We picked up another couple of fish, nothing major just the usual jacks and I also managed to get a good bend in the rod only for the hooks to fling out/not set properly. We finally decided it was time to move on and set about searching for a new slack spot. Again, bait finder and grebe were a good indicator as to where the fish were. This spot was much deeper and so we had to quickly adjust the set ups but it wasn't too long before we were happy and confident of our chances of a fish or two. however it was hard going though this time. We would be verging on moving when one of us would finally get a take, only for it to be a jack. We stuck it out a while longer only for the same result. We bagged a few fish before moving off again and eventually planning on dropping on our first peg on the way back.
However our fishing was interrupted when we had to come to the aid of a pleasure boat drifting aimlessly along the river, and three people looking slightly puzzled, embarrassed and cold. It seems they were new to boats and were having engine trouble. We pulled up along side and Woody proceeded to give them some basic tuition, re routed some pipe work and then set them off on their way with a now working engine.
Time was knocking on now but we still had time to drop on our last swim for the day but that proved not so successful this time round with just one jack and a dropped run to show. Last light and the witching hour only saw to stir thoughts in our mind of big fish on the feed but this wasn't to be and we headed off back home.
For me, an absolutely belting day. Words can't describe it (wait, I think words did just describe it as I've just wrote a blog). Again another big thanks to Woody for taking me out and dropping me on a right lump If only it was so easy to repay with a lump in return.
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
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