Little Jack Under the Bridge

The blustery and showery weather continues and I've been seized by the desire to go spinning for pike and perch on the canal. It's been a couple of years since I last did this but my enthusiasm for this is suddenly back again. I like the wandering, roving nature of this type of fishing which frankly becomes more appealing as the temperature drops. It's also a great way to practice some watercraft. Can you think like a pike or a perch? Where would you be if you were the top predators in the canal?
Of course this being the 21st Century you can find the answers to all these questions and more on the internet and even watch a short film giving you all the hints and tips you need to make your trip a success.
However, it's much more fun to just head out armed with a small rod, a net and a selection of lures and use your instincts. I tackled up at the car and briskly walked the three quarters of a mile to bridge 129A. I thought I would start here and slowly work my way back to the car over the next couple of hours.
Conventional wisdom suggests that you should cover the area in front of you with a series of maybe six to eight casts and then move on. I like to try different lures and so tend to linger much longer in one spot. I started with three inch long plastic plug that does a good impression of a wounded fish as you retrieve it. After maybe 20 minutes a cyclist came along and at the precise moment he asked me had I caught anything a pike hit the lure. I gave an expert performance and promptly lost the fish as it leapt out of the water two yards in front of me. It was a small jack of maybe a pound or so. Although I failed to land the fish it at least gave me a taste of the excitement of a take.

I switched to a different lure and moved out from under the bridge. My next take was from a perch that was only marginally bigger than the lure it took. You have to admire their predatory instincts but he definitely bit off more than he could chew. Back under the bridge and I tried casting around 20 yards to my left and then retrieving the lure parallel to the towpath. Low and behold this worked and I got a savage take on my third cast. A quick spirited fight and I had the pike on the bank.

Saucy Jack...

This fine specimen was pushing half a pound and believe it or not this is not the smallest pike I've ever caught. Last year I took one that was around four ounces on a float fished worm. Irrespective of size they are still great fun to catch. ( Please note the blood on the towel is mine not the pike's - I cut my finger the night before and it chose this moment to start bleeding again ).
I'll be back for more soon as I really enjoyed this trip and maybe I'll find a bigger much scarier specimen.

Autumn Roach Diary Week #2: Mad ducks and leaves

This week's first session was at Lake 2. The wind from the previous few days had brought down copious amounts of leaves which seemed to have collected almost exclusively in the area in front of peg 12. As I didn't want to sit there all day picking leaves off the hook I decided to give peg 3 on the motorway side a try.
 My set up for the day was a Mitchell 300A with 2.6lb line, a homemade antenna float, size 12 hook with either bread flake or small discs as bait and a Hardy Match Roach 11 foot cane rod. This rod is a recent acquisition and has whole cane butt and middle sections with a spliced in split cane tip. I believe it was made around 1949 and has been refurbished by one of the country's master rod builders. It is a thing of rare beauty and using it reminds me in many ways of the fibreglass Sportex Mamba match rod that I used for many years when I first began fishing in the 1970s. It's probably a bit heavier than the Sportex but it has the same tippy action which I hoped would help when trying to hit some of the lightening fast bites I seem to get.

Hardy Match Roach

My first bite of the day comes after two or three casts. It's a positive take and soon I'm connected to something resembling a speedboat. I can do little but let it take line from me. After a few minutes it slows down and I gradually bring it back from the middle of the lake. I had hoped it would be one of the decent chub that are in the lake but I now know it's a carp. With only light line all I can do is to slowly and gently try and bring it my way. I succeed in getting it within a rods length of the bank after around 10 minutes. It's a real battle now and the big question is who's going to get tired first. My arm feels like it's about to drop off but the fish, although it's slowed down a bit, is resolutely refusing
 to come to the surface. Eventually I get it in close enough to almost reach it with the net. I can see that it's a common of around 6-7lbs but try as I do it's impossible to get him up to the surface without risking breaking the line. We reach an impasse so I decide to try and force the issue. The line doesn't break. It's the hook that pulls out and so ends the fight.
I re-bait and cast back out. The swim is quiet for around 15 minutes so I pass the time with a coffee and a roll-up. Another bite and I'm reeling in what resembles a wet sack. It's a bream of around one and a half pounds that fights more once I have it on the bank than it did in the water. After much flapping I get the hook out and slip it back into the water.

A bream in very nice condition

The next bite produces a tidy roach of 12 ounces. Some days it seems to take forever to catch what I came for. Around this time 10 ducks decide to invade my swim. They're taking off, landing again, chasing each other and generally being a complete nuisance that I consider moving to another peg.

So common, yet sometimes so hard to catch

Finally the ducks move away and I switch to maggots as bait. I've added turmeric to them in the hope that it may prove to be the miracle ingredient. It is! However, it's small perch that they seem to be the killer bait for. I catch at least 10 of them plus a totally unexpected trout. Only a little chap but I suppose with the lake being stream fed not a complete surprise.

I tried a short session of three hours or so on the canal later in the week but the strong wind whipping down the canal in the same direction as the flow made my usual approach very difficult. I have four spots that tend to produce fish but even these were only giving up one or two small roach and the odd skimmer. A change of approach may be the best way to deal with the canal. I've experimented recently at Lake 2 with legering with a swing tip and it would perhaps be the way to go on the canal as it is generally quite exposed and affected by wind.

My roach fishing has taken a backseat recently as the need to earn a living, poor weather conditions and an exciting trip to Dubai have dominated the last few weeks.

Leaving on a jet plane

The view from one of the fronds of the palm

October in Dubai- 34 degrees, bright sunshine, snorkelling and lazy days on the beach. Would you miss the canal?