pike on tuesday

So.. tuesday was supposed to be the day i make my first visit of the season to my favorite hill burn, however my brother decided he wanted to go pike fishing, seen as he doesnt know the first thing about handling/ unhooking pike i decided i better go with him.

It turned out to be a decent day, weather was irritating to say the least, cold and gusty after a beautiful morning, fishing was slow, only two runs all day, both to my rods, and only one of them culminated in a pike on the bank, i do consider this a success though as i was trying out some new pop-up links as the stretch i fished was heavily weeded. Its always nice to reap the rewards of a little thought and pre-planning. It was hardly a monster at 4 and a half pounds but it was certainly welcome, the little bugger jumped two feet clear of the water when i struck aswell, which is pretty rare, i cant get the imgae out of my head, his mouth was wide open and you could see right through his gill rakers. awesome. No pictures as i hardly thought it worth keeping him out of the water for more than a second or two.

On the plus side, pike sport is getting a lot more consistent, the last three trips to this stillwater and ive had a pike each time, maybe not monsters but its definately a good sign.

I'll post up the pop-up rig i used later in the week.

trout.

Well despite my dreams, the water levels stayed high, making the hill burn i wanted to fish pretty dangerous. Instead i fished a lower lying stream closer to home, a significant tributary of the river kelvin but for some reason its slipped under the radar of most local anglers.

With the water the colour of coffee fishing was always going to be difficult, but i managed two beautiful little trout about 1/4 lb each, both in excellent condition and well recovered from the stresses of spawning. Both fish were taken on a simple worm imitation, this pattern came up trumps today , it was the first one id tied. its nothing more than a strand of chenille a few inches long and a copper bead, i reckon the flash of the bead attracts fish in coloured water.

Also saw a mink on the river for the first time today, i know most anglers hate them but realistically they do no more damage than the guy who kills everything he catches. I'd even go as far as to say he brightened up a pretty dull afternoon.

My apologies for having no pics to display, i was too busy concentrating to take the camera out of my bag.

Tuesday!

tuesday will be my first carp trip of this year, i have been stuck with pike for the past 6 months and i fancy a change, i will be posting up a little summary of the trip, with pics of my rigs, bait i use, set up, and if it proves fruitfull or not, hoping it will! hoping! will keep you all you non subscribers posted!

And good luck on ur first days trouting of the year! peace,

TOMORROW!!!!

The 15th of march is the first day of the trout season in my neck of the woods, and is probably the day i look forward to most every year. Hopefully the burns will have dropped a bit as theres been a lot of rain this week, leaving the smallest of burns high, fast and the colour of chocolate milkshake.

I remain undeterred however, im determined to use my new rod come rain, hail or shine tomorrow. I only got it at the tail end of last season so i never got to use it that much, its a sage launch 8'6 three weight, nice and light for these smallstreams brown trout. If theres a minor miracle on the weather front i hope to fish on the burn you at the top of the page ^^^^^

a stunning little water nestled away in the hills , packed with suicidal mini trout. I love the 15th of march.

pike flies

Here are a couple of pike flies i tied up yesterday, my simplified take on the classic bunny bug pattern. These flies couldnt be any simpler, one longish strand of rabbit zonker tied just above the bend in the hook and another strip hackled around the shank, for a head you can either use dumbell eyes or just use thread, ive used stick on eyes on mine but painting them on is another option. You can use strips of crystal flash or whatever to make them a bit more enticing aswell.

I tried using chinchilla zonker for the grey one in the middle and found it pretty crap truth be told, dunno if i just got a dodgy batch but all the fur was coming out and its looks a bit rubbish. Hopefully the pike dont mind too much ;)

These flies look fantastic in the water, they pulse when retrieved and especially in the brighter colours are killer for pike. Another bonus is that they are not too heavy to cast either and they sink fairly quickly, these type of patterns are always my first port of call when im on the bank and work well in all sorts of colours especially black , orange and white.

my wrist hurts....

Sore wrists can only be caused by two things; excessive masturbation.... and casting pike flies. Today i went out for a quick pike session at a local quarry, i expected some pre-spawning action as theres a large shallow, weedy section i intended to fish, but after an hour and a half of flogging this bit of water without a take i thought it was time to change.

I headed for another small water close-by, again not a sniff but it was one of those days where success is unimportant, just happy to be out and about, even when the rain came on it didnt bother me. I reckon i need to spend a full day with the pike rod though to get accustomed to casting it properly, i can put out a decent line but not as easily as i would like and that extra bit of distance could be the difference between a blank and a decent day. After my aching wrists abate i reckon im gonna go create some beefy pike flies. good times.

well whatever it is scott they seem to like me better than you, so im not complaining, haha, yes we waited an age for those fish, about three to four months i think, here are some good pics of me playing the fish and what not, some good action shots i think, well done Scott with your quick camera work!

well it certainly felt good to have a pike on the end again, ill tell you! hope this is the first of many eh scott??

last weeks pike trip...

Last week signalled the first joint fishing trip of the year, and also both of our first fish for the year, we've had a dire winter with endless blank sessions so it was nice to put some pike on the bank.

we fished pretty tight to the margins, focussing on a deeper hole that i found in an otherwise uniform depth water and also on a shallow weedy area that theoretically the pike should be gathering in to spawn just now. Unusually for us, both of these paid off and a fish was taken from each, five runs between the two of us and two fish on the bank. good times

My fish was taken on a float legered half herring only about 20 feet from the bank in five feet of water, just a tiddler at about 5 or 6 pounds but believe me when i say he was the most welcome fish ive had in a long time. You can see his evil head at the top of the page.

chris's fish on the other hand was almost three times the size of mine, taken from a shallow weedy part again, very close to the bank, taken on a legered herring. Judging by the panic in his voice this fish fought like stink but was fairly quickly subdued, chris has been pretty successful from this water, landing a fair few good fish compared to my legion of jacks. I wonder what his secret is? part of me thinks that the large females take his bait because he is quite in touch with his feminine side and they are more comfortable going with a fellow "girlfriend". who knows......

introductions.....

Yo all, I am Chris one of the fishing pioneers, living near Glasgow, fishing ghetto waters up and down the country. I am a dedicated coarse angler, I try to focus on my carp and pike mostly, or in the spring/summer months I like to sit behind a little waggler float, catching roach and perch by the millions,(hyperbole btw) but I am in process of broadening my horizons to the wild brown trout and fly fishing for them, hopefully that will prove successfull!



anyways subscribe to our blog and we will make it worth your while,, with pics of our wonderfull catches, which have been rather dry at the moment, but sport is looking up with the last trip a success, also we will show you rigs we use maybe.. if you are nice.

peace

And i am scott, the "game" angler of the two. In truth i love coarse fishing just as much, im just as happy taking perch as i am trout. But most of my posts will revolve around trout and tiny burns. Although i intend to improve my coarse fishing this year and hopefully i'll have plenty to write about.
My other main love love is pike fishing, whether by bait, lures or flies i dont really care, pike are awesome beasts and i hope to post 695369963293 pictures of them on this blog.
One final note, if you are a pompous, elitist scrote dont bother reading any of this. Because i hate you.

first post

Welcome to our new blog, as the title suggests it is largely about fly and pike fishing escapades. Throughout the year we'll post about almost every freshwater fish you can catch in scotland. This blog is mainly for us to log our catches/ keep a diary of the best fishing trips we have, its always good to have something to look back on in the winter when your just in from fishing, youve blanked and your nuts have disappeared inside you. something to remind you of the times when it was fun.

enjoy