R.I.P SUMMER 08

It dawned on me today that the summer is more or less over, the leaves are starting to turn, theres a pleasant chill in the air and it's too dark to fish after work. Every year about the same time i start to look back on my summers fishing, or rather, from the beginning of the trout season till september-ish.
In reflection this year has been very different from what i expected. Normally i would fish a local burn for trout 2/3 times a week, making regular trips into the hills in pursuit of spotty creatures aswell.
This was always my main interest, despite being a very keen coarse angler and enjoying many trips for pike, or evenings on the canal with a waggler.

However, at the tail end of last summer i planted a seed. An innocent idea.
I took my fly rod to the canal, more out of curiousity than anything else as i had often struggled to catch roach when they were feeding on the surface. Despite the fact that they proved incredibly difficult to catch i really enjoyed it.
Then i tried for perch (and snapped a 2 weight in the process)
And by autumn i had bought myself a pike fly outfit.

By the time this spring came around i was eager to start where i left off and chase coarse fish on the fly, negelcting my beloved trout for them.
I think this year i have fished for trout maybe 6 times. I would have done that in a fortnight last year. I became obsessed with catching the often overlooked species on fly gear. To be honest, its not something i feel ive truly "done" yet. Rather than a phase i can see it becoming a major, perhaps dominant factor in my fishing.

The start of the summer was very, very poor for me. All my experiments were failing miserably for a whole load of reasons. From poor weather, to poor venue choice, things just refused to click.
By the time july rolled around my fishing improved ten-fold. I was achieving similar success rates to last year except with a fly rod as opposed to a waggler set-up.

In summary, the last 2 and a half to 3 months have been some of the most amazing times ive had fishing. Eventually my experiments paid off, plans came together and new waters began to bear fruit.

Of course there are many trips i never made, many plans that never came to be and many days aborted due to mince weather but i dont want to dwell on them. This year, like the last few has been all about exploration and experimentation. New waters, new methods, new species and perhaps most importantly, new friends through fishing.

At work today i was trying to think what my most memorable trips/ sessions / fish were of this summer.
Was it the day spent in a remote glen in torrential rain with buzzards circling overhead, and the feeling nobody has wandered here in decades. catching FAT black trout with golden bellies on nothing but klinkhamers. with the water rising almost a foot in an hour?

Or was it the day i logged here, the true beginning of my coarse fly success, catching little aggressive perch and pristine roach on my favourite rod, the three weight, from the local canal?

Perhaps it was more recent, my pike fly escapades of the last fortnight, watching near double figure esox taking flies at my feet and making my 9 weight rod look like a piece of spaghetti?

Maybe it was an evening spent fishing tight to lock gates and beating my pb perch 3 times in an hour?

The truth is, its impossible to say. But i know im gonna enjoy this debate in my head all through the winter. Round about now i begin to plan my last trips for trout till march 15th again. My focus shifts (or stays) with pike and perch. Last winter proved to be very trying. I blanked for almost 4 months! I am determined that this wont happen again. I now have new skills to utilise, and new waters to tackle. Im almost looking forward to the challenge that frosty mornings or ice cold gales are gonna present in the coming months!

Hopefully over the coming weeks i will have plenty autumnal predator and trout stories to share.

Scott.

esox lucius

Over the past week i've been doing a lot of fishing, for pike, on the fly no less. Rather than write a seperate post for every trip i thought i should wait and lump all the days in together.

I've been hammering a wee water nearby that has a good head of pike, reputedly up to the golden 20lb mark. Not concerning myself with looking for the BIG fish, i was happy to get anything daft enough to snap at my flies. Unlike last winter the weeds have died back really early, to be honest this put me off at first because the number of features to cast to had been dramatically reduced, also, the water had coloured right up which id never seen there before, so straight away, things didnt look good.

However, within minutes a mini pike bulldozed my fly but managed to wriggle off, this would happen several more times before i got one to stick, in short, i managed 3 pike up to 3lbs that day, with loads and loadd of follows/ takes. it was such an exciting days fishing, every time i cast at scattering baitfish, my line would tighten and id feel that shudder up the line that we all crave.

Bizarrely, all the pike seemed to be concentrated in a tiny corner of the loch. This was my first real success with pike on the fly and was enough to force me out the next day. The biggest fish of the first day.

The second day saw me start in exactly the same fashion, same corner/ fly/ conditions but no fish. I had to cover a lot of water before the first pike had a go, at about 2lbs the fish put up a surprisingly strong fight on a stiff 9 weight pike rod. Another one would follow soon after then there was a dull period.

I wandered along to another water nearby which is one of the most popular pike waters in my area, after a long walk with no success, a green torpedo shot out from the marginal weed and very casually nibbled the fly and spat it out, then just the faintest nibble.....and he was stuck. I set the hook with a subtle lift, then in amazement, just watched him sit there. And sit. THEN, he realised there was a big pike fly in his mouth and tore off for the far bank, for the next 6/7 minutes i enjoyed the best scrap ive ever had from a fish, constantly running this way and that, waiting till i had some sort of control then ripping yard after yard of line from my reel.

Because i had left my net at home ( having not planned to fish here) I had to jump in up to my knees to unhook the bugger. No picture unfortunately but i put about 8lbs on him. That would be the perfect end to a perfect day.

Today, i hit the same water, with decent if not ideal conditions i struggled a bit, not getting any interest for the first half hour or so, i noticed some roach leaping free of the surface in unison. This can mean only one thing... PIKE ATTACK!!!!

After a few fruitless casts, i landed the fly around the area of the initial disturbance, as soon as the fly hit the water my line tightened and i met solid resistance. Typically, any pike over 5 or 6 pounds takes a minute to realise they are hooked and start fighting, this fish was no different.

Once he woke up my drag was put to the test, even with the brake on full the fish tore line with ease. The fact that the fish didnt show itself for a while only added to the excitement, was it 5lbs? was it 15lbs? Its impossible to tell. After another minute or two of spirited scrapping the fish rolled, betraying its true size, i would say about 7lbs. Once he finally came to hand he was very simply unhooked and was off like a shot. It just goes to show that heavy fly gear is essential to tame even these modest sized pike. I only managed shots of the fish during the fight as it swam away so quickly.

The rest of the day was pretty dull truth be told, one more fish about 10 inches which took a fly about 6 inches long! as you would expect it wasnt much of a fighter.

Over the 3 trips i managed to get 8 pike, a respectable total i think, and fingers crossed there will be more and more through the coming weeks!

the wee man. The big man.

forth and clyde canal last friday

sooooooooo its been ages since i updated the blog, i promise this will not happen again!

On Friday i decided i should make the best of my only day off in a fortnight and head out for a few casts.The original plan was to cycle to a nearby quarry that is rammed with perch, fish for an hour or two, then head home and get geared up for a visit to my local-ish hill burn.

After the 30 minute (uphill) ride there i fought my way through the woods to find somebody sitting in one of the two fishable swims. Bugger.

Not to worry, the canal is only five minutes away i reasoned, thankfully the rest of the ride was downhill. I had a few casts for the perch without any interest until i noticed a shoal of roach feeding on the surface, The decision was easy. On with a wee klink that a friend was kind enough to give me and away i go.

Roach are frustrating targets on the fly at the best of times but these chaps were especially awkward! I was getting nibbles on the fly approximately every ten seconds from the wee roach but none were taking with any conviction. after 8976689728697 failed strikes i moved on.

Quarter of a mile or so further east i spotted a smaller shoal of better sized fish, thankfully these fish were a bit more eager, within seconds i was into a wee roach. Im not gonna pretend that roach of this size are fighters but the challenge they present on the fly makes them worth targetting. Over the next hour or so i managed a couple more, some of the takes were surprisingly aggressive considering how placid they usually are.In amongst one of the shoals i spotted a few rogue perch, busy picking off the smaller members of the group. Now would be a good time to chuck on a lure i thought.

Two or three casts later a perch of about 5 ounces smashed into my fly harder than i thought possible for such a wee fish! Watching these wee bullies chase a fly is a real pleasure, dorsal fins erect and gills flared they really are an impressive sight. generally they take close to the bank so although your not fishing on the surface, sport is very visual. I find that exploiting the overly aggressive, predatory nature of the perch is one of the best ways to use a fly rod.

Throughout the rest of the afternoon i watched scores of these wee predators chase and attack my fly, i spotted some really nice fish, nudging 2lbs i guess, but the older, wiser fish couldnt be any less interested in my streamers.

At about 4 o'clock i decided i was well and truly satisfied so began the trek home, figuring that the dual carriageway i have to cross would be safer now than if i left it a bit later. Just before turning off the canal track i bumped into an older guy i meet quite regularly on the canal bank, a keen trout angler himself we never struggle for things to talk about. He recently started fishing for coarse species, pike and perch namely and is always keen to learn about these fish and methods of catching them, an attitude i admire as most older anglers i meet are quick to tell me im wrong or that you "canny catch on the flee in the canal".

I was especially chuffed to learn that advice i gave him a few weeks ago helped him catch his new pb pike.

He shared some stories about his trout adventures in years past, tours of the west coast lasting weeks at a time, fishing every burn, river or loch that he set eyes on. Ive always enjoyed listening to stories about trout fishing from years ago, before sea trout were a myth and pre bow-hole dominance.

Anyways, Two hours later he cycled away, and i spotted some more roach rising....To cut a long story short they teased and frustrated me to the point of insanity so i chucked on a streamer again in an attempt to make the extra hours worthwhile. After drawing blanks at a few swims i managed the best perch of the day, by no means a monster at about hand size he still managed to put up an admirable scrap on the 3 weight rod. He topped off a day that despite not going to plan, turned out to be amazing.

I didnt feel like a had missed out by not chasing the trout, i couldnt have had a more fun day with a fishing rod. My two hour taster turned into an 11 hour epic, fuelled by two packets of crisps and a can of coke. All in all it was magic. The roach presented a fantastic challenge whereas the perch provided some exciting sport.

in search of the lost pike..........

Not so far from where i stay theres a bleak, windswept moorland loch, reputed to be completely dead by locals due to its acidic water. It's the kind of place you dont like to be on your own, eerie and desolate. Its pretty sweet.

But i cant leave it to chance.

During my online research on the place i found an article about the whole area that happened to mention that the loch contains pike, perch and eels but surprisingly no trout. At 145 years of age though i cant go on this information alone.

This of course contradicts the local theory that it is devoid of life, i cant figure out how the fish have disappeared, i have trawled the web and others minds to find an explanation but the only info i found was an even older account which again states that pike and perch "are taken" in this shallow, peaty loch. This one being 166 years old.

Seems bizarre to me that these fish simply disappeared somewhere down the line. Despite the old internet information that describes the inhabitants of the water, every conversation i have draws the same conclusion..nae fish.

Like i said, its still too tempting. I hate the thought that there might be a water nearby that i dont know about. Which leaves me with only one option. I HAVE to fish it.

But how do you go about catching fish that dont exist????????????

The trouble is, ive spent many a full day on a water i KNOW to contain pike and not had a bite, so how will i know when to call it a day on here?

I cant see how the fish were killed (IF they were) its not polluted, its not been fished out. The only answer ive got is that the ph of the already acidic water was pushed over the threshold and resulted in a fish kill. But surely the death of a whole loch would be part of the local knowledge?

I suppose its all just chat until i actually go there, if you have a swatch at the picture you'll see why im so eager to fish it, the place is stunning!!

p.s. from now on im going to leave my name at the bottom of all my posts on the blog because your spelling is rank chris and i dont want people thinking some of your mince is mine :)

SCOTT.

well thursday saw another pike trip. to another pond, perfect pike conditions, overcast, with a slight ripple on the water, warm water, expectations were high, but bites were very few! tryed a variety of tactics rigs. running ledger, float rigs, helicopter rigs non of these worked so in the end returned to the simplest of set ups, a free lined half herring, and a free lined half mackrell on the other rod, this seemed to produce the take. only one little pike, around four pounds, but he was very welcome, the first pike i have seen for a while! pics will be up soon!

peace

the flee!

Today i came to a conclusion, a bit late perhaps but i realised i am OBSESSED with fly fishing!
Not in an elitist "fly only sir" kind of way, i love my coarse rods to death but i love the thougfht of fishing the fly and more importantly im seriously excited about catching fish this way. Not just your usual troots, awesome as they are. The real buzz for me comes from catching less conventional species, tonight i drew up a shortlist of species i hope to catch on a fly this year (including some ive caught already)

here go's ; Trout, pike, roach, carp, rudd, TENCH, BREAM , perch, mackerel, pollack, Bass and finally mullet.

Now i realise there are a couple on the list that are gonna be pretty tough, the last 4 especially given that ive never fished in saltwater, having said that, the highlighted tench and bream will pose about as big a challenge as any fish can in my opinion. Im almost certain by the end of the year i'll have caught about half that list but its always nice to dream.

I reckon im pretty lucky to live in an unlikely fishing paradise, ive got all the freshwater species mentioned within minutes drive from my house, better make sure i take advantage of them!

Troots.

Today there were a distinct lack of them. By that i dont just mean that i caught nothing (which i didnt), i mean that the whole day i saw no trout. At all.

Usually i at least spook some fish and see them scatter off, get the odd take or at very least see a rise or two, but nothing.

The apparent troot free status of the burn worried me a bit to be honest, i noticed a lot of algae in it aswell, for a hill burn at this time of year this is very rare. I just hope theres been no fish kill and that today was just one of those nightmare sessions. Conditions were not ideal, blowing a gale from the east and it was bloody cold, the burn was also bare bones today, hardly any water at all. pretty grim it has to be said.

The only thing that made the day was a dipper giving me a heart attack. Just as i was lifting to cast again there was a massive thud on the rod, HUGE TROOT i thought, but no, i noticed a dipper staggering about on the bankside lookin g a wee bit dazed. Daft bugger had flew into my rod! He flew away pretty quickly after the indignity, made the cold hands worthwhile i guess.

scott.