Highs and lows.

Thought I'd round up the week a bit. It's been one of mainly highs with a massive downer at the end. Fish wise I've caught a few and social media wise I've done pretty good. Going right back to last Sunday and the Epic pike take I actually had a few more fish that day which I didn't write about. I was chucking the 2 inch Kopyto shad around in the hope of perch and spotted some chub cruising the surface but every time I cast at them they ignored the shad. I kept picking up small perch but never found any bigger stripeys in the swim, may be they're not there? Casting around trying to find out where the fish were I got a whack and the rod bent double. I wasn't filming at the time but quickly switched on the camera to capture the majority of the battle and a decent low double pike. This time of year the pike are strong as hell and put in a fight and this fish gave me a good run for my money but with a steady approach I eventually got it in my undersized net. I'd only brought the perching net so the fish only just squeezed in. If you follow my Facebook or Youtube you might have seen this already but if not here's the fishy video below.

That was actually the first pike of the day with another four esox coming in total. One more to a kopyto and the others to free lined livebait as I wrote in the last entry. I did lose a couple of pike too which I didn't manage to set the hooks in to but that was to be expected on an ultra light rod. Back on the Kopytos I'd had a few more perch and spotted loads of bleak and small chub cruising the surface with those bigger chub evading me, at least two I'd guess with one a little bit bigger than the other. I'd kind of given up on them and was slow retrieving the shad, no jerks or pauses just a slow as possible motion. It was whacked again and all though at first I couldn't help think it was a pike it wasn't long before I realised I'd finally hooked a chub. Camera switched on quickly as again I wasn't even ready to film. It turned out to be a nice fish pushing 4lb but not quite there I guessed. I put it back and not long after swapped banks, crossing over at the lock gates. This gave me another angle to cast the lures and no sooner had I started my first slow retrieve it was smacked again. You'd think by now I'd have had the GoPro suckered to my forehead but no, silly arse had it in the bag so had to whip it out and catch the last bit of battle with what turned out to be the bigger of the two chub I'd seen and this chub went four and a half pounds, super fish. I reckon I'd just dropped on this spot at a perfect moment, fish of all sizes everywhere in a mass feeding frenzy. If only all fishing was that easy. The tiny Kopyto was simple tactic to use but it bagged up, wire trace and the lot. Just shows that pike, perch and chub don't care about a bit of wire. If you want to see the chub action watch the video below.

So midweek I had some spare time in the evening a couple of days. I could go back but fancied a change of scenery. Somewhere different that would throw up a new set of challenges for me. I do get bored easily and don't always go for the easy option. I arrived at the new canal to find it crystal clear. Not usually the best for lure fishing I find when you add the bright sunshine on top. It was nice to be out though after busy days art work and being alone with mile after mile of canal and not another person let alone angler in sight was great. I set off up canal with all the gear and no sooner had I gone 100m a massive cloud came over. A cold wind came in and the sky turned dark. A distant rumble of thunder had me on alert. When I looked around, the highest object around seemed to be me. I didn't fancy conducting electricity down my two rods so sharpishly headed back to the car. I chucked the gear in and sat watching as the rain lashed down and the storm gave me some fantastic viewing. I wish I'd have had time to set the GoPro up as I might have got some great footage, especially a couple of the strikes which went horizontally across the sky. Proper wow moments.

When the storm past, a good twenty five minutes later I was back out and back to where I'd left off before. Again I carted loads of gear which had be casting the rapala first then having a chuck with a heavy jerkbait before moving on. This was hard work, especially when the cold front moved off to be replaced with flat calm, blue skies and scorching hot sun. I was sweating buckets now and after a good haul and no fish I about turned and went back to the car. I was now heading for a massive blank and had to figure out how to save the day. Everything went back in the car all except a couple of items. Of course a rod, the ultra light set up was chosen and one lure. My trusty 7cm jointed Rapala shad rap. Rather than bright colour I'd chosen a more natural light blue and white version. I left the net, lure box and bag, scales and even the camera. The only other item were a pair of long nosed pliers in the back pocket and off I went.

I kept seeing fish, some nice perch were about but they were not interested. They were settled on the canal bed and even knocking them on the head wouldn't interest them. I think they had already had a feed and were just sat digesting their food. If I could find a jack though he might help me save a blank before I finally had a bit of interest but it was a half hearted take from a 1lb plus perch who wouldn't come back for another go. When it seemed like I was running out of time and water I spotted a movement. A single chub was cruising the surface coming towards me. I cast past it and brought the lure right across it's path and as soon as the chub saw my lure it darted straight for it. The blank was saved with a fish about 2lb. This was then followed up by a take in the deep channel in the middle of the canal with what turned out to be a super looking 2lb stripey. A great result in the end and I went home happy. Pictures taken on the iPhone.

Chub - Rapala Jointed shad rap

Perch - Rapala jointed shad rap

I was out again the next day but where to? Should I go to where I had so much success or back to the hard grind and crystal clear waters? I chose the hard grind, I guess I'm a sucker for punishment. I had a crack with the Rapala again but after an hour or more of no joy I decided it was time for a change. The tactic often worked but it wasn't really now so I went for the Kopyto, though a 2.5inch bright green effort. Often I was casting out and just bringing it in but then I would also mix it up with bottom bouncing and even really, really slow retrieve along the bottom. Trying to puff up a cloud of dust to interest something. By the time I was back at the car I'd probably fished a good 500m of bank in total for no reward, not even a pluck. Today I would blank for sure. Tail between my legs I was nearly at the car and was going to avoid the starting spot and just go home but I gave it one last go. Five perch in total with this the pick of the fish. Luck? Skill? I'd say just perseverance in the end.

Perch - Relax Kopyto

This week I had a few fantastic offers via other fishing related folk on the internet. One is a rather generous offer to fish with a total stranger, but no doubt fantastic bloke, some time in the future. One I won't say much more on just now, only that when it happens I'll gladly tell the story as it will be a fantastic experience. Another was interest in my Youtube video making and fishing skills combined. Another that when it comes off you'll be the first to know. Someone with awesome skills and that I can't wait to work alongside. Then finally late this week an offer of sponsorship for my Youtube videos. There's a new lure shop out there with the name of Lure Lounge and my videos will feature a little plug for his website. While very new, it only opened on Friday, there is already a good stock of lures. Some well known such as Savage Gear and some not so well known to us here in the UK but it seems the lures he is stocking are well known in places such as the US and Australia for starters. That is part of his plan, to bring in and supply not just the easy to get hold of lures but stuff we often struggle to find. So get yourself over to LureLounge.co.uk and have a browse. There's already a bit of variety and some interesting looking lures to try so next time you're needing a lure fix grab some gear from Lure Lounge.


Finally, after a great week of all things fishing for me I ended with a fishing free weekend. I was planning to get out with Woody somewhere, if only to catch a bit of sun. But right at the end of the week I was dealt a massive blow when my best mate suddenly fell ill. My best mate, like many of you lot too no doubt, was my dog Poppy. A real character and genuine, perfect, family loving dog. An absolute gem of a mate and one I am going to miss deeply. RIP Popples.

Poppy

Epic pike take

I was out this morning with the ultra light lures, well one in fact. Just a simple white 2 inch Kopyto shad. I only had a couple of hours in front of me as I had stuff to do in the day and had to be home early. I just bundled the ultra light kit in the car and set off for the canal, no idea what condition it would be like after the recent rains. Often the canals muddy up and lure fishing can be poor when it's like this but when I got there it was ok, result. The few times I've been after perch they've seemed a bit finicky so instead of the usual 2.5 inch kopyto I went for the smaller option hoping the nibbles could be hooked easier. I started catching small perch and having a nice steady bit of fun.

Then it went a bit mental. I caught a small pike about twelve inch long and as it came to the surface a figure appeared. A giant compared to the tiny pike, another pike was very interested in this little fella. I quickly pulled the tiny pike away to safety and the bigger pike sank to the depths. Lucky escape for the little chap. Next I kept getting more perch but then every now and again a perch would get nabbed, they weren't so lucky. My ultra light rod went from steady taps as I brought in a perch to a solid bend. Twice this happened, my perch were getting taken. If you are lucky the hook transfers from perch to pike but with such a soft rod that doesn't always work. Both times I lost the perch and the pike.

With no heavy gear in the car I had to get my thinking cap on. I couldn't come up with much except I tied a new wire trace with just one treble hook. I lip hooked the first small perch that I managed to get through the gauntlet unscathed and lobbed it back in the spot where the perch kept being snatched. With no float I was using my finger as a bite detector. Being careful not to let the perch get to the bottom I only gave it a short run of line, and I kept the slack line tight so that I could feel every thing. A few twitches to keep the perch moving and then I felt the perch panic before the rod just bent and the line tightened on my finger. It was out less than twenty seconds.

Now there's no need to wait. No counting to three or five that's just daft. A tiny perch will be engulfed in one by a pike. So I just flicked the bail arm over and bent in to the fish. The pike was already off and the battle was on. It's not easy with an ultra light rod and a pike on the end. However I was confident I could land the pike, I've caught umpteen on this rod. I wasn't so confident the hooks would be in the pike though. There's no back bone in the soft rod to set the hooks in a mouth that's already full of fish. Then all of a sudden after a minute or so of the fight, it went slack and the perch shot up to the surface. My thoughts were right.  I froze and within a fraction of a second the pike was back on it. It hovered just behind the tail of the perch, I watched in amazement and then BANG! The pike engulfed the perch again and we were off once more. A truly awesome sight and one I can normally only keep to myself but thanks to the purchase of my GoPro I can now share with you all. Just have a look at this.

Link to video

The last fish - The video

Here we are folks, my big lump caught on film to finish the season in style, all ready for you to enjoy. I didn't quite get 100 subscribers, no where near but at 60 now and just notched up 2000 total views. My lad says you should release something on youtube at certain mile stones, so that seems like a couple of good milestones to me. Hope you all enjoy.

Link to youtube video

The last fish

Happy with my last big fish capture, the eighteen pounder, I didn't really make plans to get out in the final week of the river season. Monday came and went and I didn't even bother getting out. Working the 6am-2pm shift I could have grabbed some quality time but instead went home and cut the grass in the glorious sunshine. I think I forced myself to fish a few too many times during the winter and that's not me, I prefer to go when I get that urge. Tuesday was something similar, bright blue skies forecast and I had no plans.

My thoughts started to switch to what I would do in the close season and I was thinking of all the places I needed to visit. Some of the places I'd not been to in ages so I have no idea of where the fish will be hiding up. The more I thought about fishing the more it made me want to go. It wasn't too long in to my shift when I got the urge so text the wife to tell her I wouldn't be home while dark. With the clear blue skies I didn't fancy the river for pike, but thought I could may be give it a go a little later as the sun was starting to go down. So instead I thought about some perch fun, but for some reason I then thought about something completely different.

If I could find some perch, what about using a few as live baits? I'd spoken to Woody and suggested we do this before on a certain spot but we never had a good crack at the river and didn't get around to it. If I caught some I could use them, if not I'd just switch to the original plan of a last hour big lure session. I finished my shift but had to go home to get the bait rod and my bucket so it was about half two when I got fishing. Finding the perch might prove a bit tricky though.

Half an hour and not so much as pluck. I was travelling light in case I had to carry a bucket of water back, no camera and no net just a handful of kopytos and my pliers. Out of nowhere I got a tap on the rod and then the rod bent and I was playing a perch. It fought hard on the little rod but I didn't think much of it, and then as it came up I saw a nice perch which was about a pound in weight. I'd never caught such a big perch in this spot and couldn't believe it. I couldn't use this one, even though I knew a pike would have no problem swallowing it in one go. The fish went back and I cast around a few times again. Tipy tap, bang! The rod was bent again and this time it felt bigger, what the hell? I had no net and had to get right down on my knees to hand land this perch, which was easily two pound. You have got to be kidding me! I was only after tiddlers. Another half hour passed and finally I'd bagged a few small perch, five in total and I felt that was enough to give me a chance of a fish or two.

The bait rod was set up with a simple float set about six inch above my 18 inch trace. I wanted the bait to cover the swims but also knew that there are varying depths and a few snags about and didn't want to have my bait tangled up in a sunken branch. Much of the water is about six feet deep and so any pike would know the live bait was there, usually my lures only work that depth too and that works a treat.

The first bait went out on the edge of some fast water, just in the slack. It moved around a bit but never went to far, just perfect. I was using larger hooks than you might when dead baiting and my plan was to set the hooks fast on the smaller perch which were about five or six inch long. A simple meal for any pike. If the hooks didn't stick then it might be a small fish, I was confident any trophy sized fish would have the whole perch in their mouth and I could strike early. It wasn't long before I had my first bit of interest and the float slid under. I bent in to the fish to feel a bit of resistance and immediately thought it was a double. The video camera was rolling and when it came in to view I was happy, a nice fish which went fourteen pounds. I turned the camera off and it beeped once. Wait a minute, it is three beeps for "stop" and one for "record." Aah you tit you've missed the action.

Second bait back out and in the same spot. Again not too long to wait and it slid under. I wound down and hit it, but the hooks came flying back at me. Let's all say it was a small jack just to make me feel better. I never felt too much so will never know anyway.

Third small bait out and it was out quite some time. Eventually the bait died on me and so I quickly changed the rig a little to use the dead perch in a sink and draw method. Twitching it back In I thought I saw a shadow and then the shadow emerged in the distance. It looked a good sized fish, but I left the bait there for a while and it never touched it. I decided to leave the spot and moved further down, twitching the bait, sink and draw all over the swim. Nothing else happened so I used my last small live bait and after two or three minutes I'd had another pike at ten pounds. I was now left with a small dead perch and one larger perch of around a half pound. I had saved this larger bait, I was going to put it back where I'd seen that big pike follow earlier.


I lobbed the bait back in the same spot I'd seen the fish, well more where I thought I'd pulled the pike in from. My GoPro was mounted on my head mount but to save battery I had it on stand by. I knew now that one beep would tell me it was recording, no mess ups this time if the float goes. The float went under twice as the perch struggled but then it settled and just slowly drifted a few feet from the spot it landed in. About thirty seconds later, less than a minute anyway, the float went under and stayed under and they way it went under told me it was a fish. Especially since there was now a large boil as the surface water moved beside my float.

One beep, I was recording. A brief pause, I knew the bait was bigger so just gave it a few extra seconds. The slack line was taken up so I hand fed a little more off and as the line started to tighten again I decided it was time. I hit the fish and the hooks seemed to stick, at the same time I nearly went arse over tit on a log. I felt a bit of good force and then realised my net was fifteen yards up the bank and so made my way towards it, keeping my eye on the fish but not putting too much pressure on. Walking with the rod, a bit of tension on the spool and then the fish bolting in the other direction could end up with too much force on the hooks so taking it steady as I made my way to the net was a good idea I felt.  At the net I was now settled and concentrating more on what me and the fish were doing, testing my clutch every now and again. First glimpse at distance and the fish looked pretty good. I dare not say it, but it looked a high double easy.

I worked the fish closer, it saw me and turned away taking line. This one isn't ready yet so I patiently kept on playing the fish. As the fish came up again I saw the top treble in thin air, then caught a glimpse of the other treble. It was only hooked lightly and so I backed off the drag even more, slightly too much at one point. I don't like messing too much with the drag during a fight as you can over tighten or loosen too much which can cost you but I had no option but to play it safe. Another reason is I will then forget to set the drag and the next fish could be a disaster.

The battle wasn't explosive, the fish stayed just below the surface for most of the fight but gave plenty of strong runs and had me panicking a couple of times. I turned the fish and finally it was coming towards me. I dipped the net and pushed it out as I worked the fish in. A brief resistance from the fish but finally it was in the net and immediately I knew I had done a twenty. On the mat the hooks were already free so I just cut the line and lobbed the trace to one side out of the way. I wasn't going to be doing any more fishing tonight after this. No more baits, the sun was starting to go down and I had a definite twenty in my hands. I knew there was a bit more to add to that and the scales eventually settled at 23lb 8oz. I grabbed some photos and put the fish back in the water  and as I watched her sail away in to the depths I couldn't believe I'd done a twenty on my last fish of my last pike session of the season.

Don't forget to subscribe to my youtube channel. The video of all the action is nearly complete so subscribe to see as soon as it's released. Thanks!

Good luck to anyone out tomorrow, and I really do hope a few of you can drop on something special. You're own target, your own bundle of fun and hand full of joy. Good luck, tight lines and thanks for reading!