pike and perch.co.uk

Lure fishing first outing the season…and the buzz is back!

I had a few new perch lures arrive today and i simply couldn’t wait until the weeked to try them out! Unfortunately i only had 45 minutes of light remaining by the time i hit the Medway after the train home from work and thankfully that was plenty of time to bag a few fish on the spro u/l rod.

First out was a white marabou jig, on testing the jig in the water a small perch attacked but didn’t take it so the first cast was to be made, BANG i was in straight away and a small perch of approx 6ozs had nailed it! Happy days – thats sure not happened in a while but damn was i chuffed to bits. A few subsequent casts were made and a few nibbles but no more takes.

On went a red tipped green 2″ kopyto and a few casts later a perch of similar proportions to the first had gobbled the lure! I was in again! Blimey it seems lure fishing has gotten easier than i remember!

Fish returned happily, the next cast was made along the reed lined bank, silver fish scattered and hello FIIIIISH ON! This time i knew it was no perch, the sedona went on to the drag and this bad boy was taking line! I got it back closer to the bank and oops a daisy it managed to nose dive itself into the reeds… i thought for a few moments it was gonna be lost… but with the spro bent double and giving the fish as much pressure as i could it managed to back out of the reeds to the open water and off it was on another run. This time it had had enough and with the chin up the fish was eased over the lip of the net, Estimated at a 8lb pike! damn these lures were doing the business!

With the last of the light a few more casts were made and low and behold something else had taken the lure, a feisty little perch probably the same stamp as before had engulfed the shad… i quickly unhooked the little fella, put him back and legged it back to the car just as the gates were about to be locked. Phew that was a close shave!! Thank god i didn’t try for another or i’d have been walking home…!

What a night! I simply cannot wait to get back out on Saturday morning to have another go… damn i love this time of year!!!!!!!!

Another good chub fishing trip was had this afternoon.  It didn’t start out that way though i lost a possible five pound chub at the net and thought i’d blown it.  I rebaited the productive area and moved up river, had a small chub about a pound but nothing else.  Went back to the area i started off at and landed a cast around a foot from the far bank, chucked in a few cubes of meat and crouched down behind the reeds to pray that the lump was still in the area.

Ten minutes later and the tip quivered and then swung into a hungry chub, i struck and this time made sure the feisty fish was well away from the snags.  A few minutes later and i lifted my net to bag myself another 4lb specimen.  This time he was only just a four weighing in at 4lb 1oz, another meat loving chub was mine.  It certainly makes me feel that i’m doing something right and hopefully the five barrier can be broken soon.

This one fell to straight through 4lb mainline to a size 8 Drennan Super Specialist, 2 ssg shot on a link leger, the bait was a cube of luncheon meat.

I did have a chat to another fisherman whilst moving swims and he had it on good authority that a 5-14 was caught in the same area last winter so atleast i know i’m firmly in chub land.  Although i shant be using the same bait that the fish was caught on… a sprat with double treble meant for a pike.  Oh and on the mention of Pike i must have seen atleast five of them holding up in the clear water and i reckon atleast 4 of them were doubles.  Hmmm! 

Just a quick post to mention that I have just set a new Chub personal best on meat.  I set off for a quick few hours fishing at 7am and by 7:30 the tip ripped round and shortly after i’d netted a great Chub from a small River Medway backwater.   The scales went to 4lb 10oz beating my previous river best by 1oz. 

Best of all it was hooked only a few feet from the bank under over hanging trees on a 2oz tip set up to a link leger of 2 ssg shot and a size 8 Drennan Super Specialist!  The bait as mention was a cube of luncheon meat around 3/4 inch sq.

Definately a stretch i’ll visit again soon! 

 Update: Picture added, not the best but still not bad for a self take

Mission accomplished.. i set out at 7am this morning armed with the fly rod and a selection of flies and a few dog biscuit.   On arrival I had a quick wander around the lake and found a couple of carp nosing around on the top as the sun started to hit the lake, so in went a few mixers and i nipped off to the other little lake to see if there where any other oppurtunities to be had.  After seeing no other signs of fishy life i returned to my original spot. 

Most of the mixer had dissappeared so i tackled up and out went a small yellow dog biscuit fly.  And low and behold within all of 5 minutes a pair of lips rose to the fly but unfortunately they turned away at the last second, dammit!!!  Undeterred I recast the fly a little further out this time, and straight away up came some more carpy looking lips that gratefully closed around the fly and i quickly took my oppurtunity to strike.  Wehey…. i was in to my first carp on a fly – time to hold on tight! 

The spirited little mirror wasn’t happy from the get go and went on a high speed 20-30 yard run.  I had a assumed my fighting position with rod bent right over and a silly grin on my face that was from ear to ear.  Within what felt like 20 minutes of rod bending action (probably more like ten) this feisty little carp was in the net and ready to be unhooked.   Wow what a total buzz, in fact as i right this this evening i’m still smiling like a kid at christmas! 

I had another wander after putting the little fella back but only managed to see a couple of others that were unfortunately unreachable with the fly rod.  I will definately be back down there soon for another go.

After the carp adventures i headed off to the river but after this weeks rain it was very coloured and seemed more like a day for bait fishing rather than fly and lure.  I had a dabble in various different spots for a couple of hours but didn’t manage to catch other than a take for a small perch that decided it didn’t want to say hello and came off after a few seconds.  Still my day was still made after the carp in the morning!   If all goes to plan i may even try to nip back down there for an hour or two tomorrow. 

With the weather looking perfect this bank holiday weekend the plan is to go out roving.  First thing tomorrow the plan is to go after my first carp on the fly rod, fingers crossed they will be up in the water in the morning sun.  Well thats aslong as the weather man has got it right!   Then its off to the River Medway with the fly rod with some muddlers and minkies to see if i can tempt a few fish.  The Spro ultralight is coming with me incase the flies don’t produce… i’ll update tomorrow evening to let you know how i get on! 

Damn i love the night before an outing!  Sorting through the gear and making sure i’m ready to go first light!   The alarm is set and i’m like a little kid at christmas!

Good luck to all for the bank holiday weekend!

Finally the off season lows are on their way out, its time to get excited and make some preparations for the new season!   The river kit gets a dusting down and the tackle box gets prepared for roaming again.  I simply love this time of year, its light until late, warm enough to travel lightly and cover some serious mileage on the river.  

After catching some nice chub at the end of last season i really am looking forward to targetting them for a while this season.  And of course i’ll out doing plenty of perch fishing, some pike fishing and not forgetting a few socials on the hunt for some nice carp.  Oh and hopefully i may even be able to catch a few river carp along the way!  I saw a nice 20+ cruising along in the sunshine two weeks ago and its given me the itch. 

I’ll be back to post again on the evening of the 16th to let you know how i get on!  Tight lines to all and may the 2010/11 season be a great one! 

Atlast it seems that the cold long winter is behind us and the weather is finally on the up!  The last month has been hard since the river season ended and my time was to be spent on nearby lakes whilst i wait for the return of the river.  This is without a doubt my hardest time of year, especially when travelling by the river each day and it starts to look more full of life as each day passes.  Only this saturday did i see a near 20lb carp cruise on past me during a quick stroll along the banks.  So frustrating!

So what has happened since my last post fishing wise, to be honest not a great deal except for the fact that i managed 3 4lb + chub.  The last being a PB from the river at 4lb 9oz on the last day of the season which was a great result considering there was work on the river that weekend and water levels were 3 feet down from the usual.  What made it even better was that the fish took a liking to my new homemade cheese paste!  I’ll definately be trying that again when the season re-opens.  The other two were taken on pop-ups whilst trying to tempt the odd carp!

Perch wise i’ve been trying a new pit to see what the numbers are like within.  I have managed to do a few hours over the last couple of evenings so far, and last night i finally managed to find one.   Not a biggie but at a pound and a half and coloured the way he was i was delighted.  The little spro ultralight rod really does come in to its own with the perch!   The lure that tricked this little fella was a little Salmo and i’ll be trying it out again down there very soon.   As ever last light was the key again…!   Last night i was losing the light very quickly and in the end i decided to stick it out for ten minutes more in to darkness and it thankfully paid off.   (Just be prepared a head torch is a must for unhooking at night)

I’ll try to update the site again should anything else come my way on this spring/summer evening trips! 

Tight lines and best luck to all

Sunday just gone a change from the norm was in order and 4 weeks ago i decided it was time to try lure from a boat so booked up at Blenheim Palace.  The fishfinder was ordered and a few new lures in the vain hope that we could hit into some of the gems of the Palace lake.  The alarm was set for 4am and i was looking forward to what would hopefully be a great day afloat.

I picked up Jon my fishing bud at 5am and set off on the drive to Oxford.  A short and enthusiastic 2 hours later and we drove through the gates to be greeted by our first view of the lake.  The only word i can think to describe this place is ‘wow’.

The boat was loaded and off we went in search of some action!  The fishfinder ( a garmin 140 ) was mounted so we could quickly gauge the depth and the first lure was cast as the sun broke onto the surface from behind the bank hugging tree line.  Wow this place was stunning!

With temperatures around -2 on the journey over and with ice in the top end of the lake we knew it wouldn’t be the easiest of days, and after two hours of plugging we hadnt seen much at all.  The fishfinder led us to some deep spots of 14-15′ at the dam end and had shown signs of fish below the surface but no matter how many variations of lures we had tried nothing was showing a liking to the bait.  We decided to head up towards the other end to see if our fortunes would change.

We rowed for around 15-20 minutes keeping an eye on the depth and decided to work our way along the Palace bank.  Again nothing was obliging and despite there being 7 other boats out we were yet to see any fish taken.

We turned the corner towards the bridge and again were greeted by another stunning view, this lake was extremely pleasing to the eye!  It was just a shame it wasn’t to be an overly productive day.  We dropped the anchor around 10-15m from the bridge and set about our luring regime again.  After two casts of the Spro Ultralight rod ‘bang’… the 2.5″ chartreuse Kopyto had done the business – i was in!  Bang bang bang on the tip and i thought i’d been lucky and hit into a stripey (perch).  Then the fish picked up speed and the banging stopped, the fish rose up and a pike was in the net!  I didn’t bother weighing the little chap but was more than chuffed at landing my first Blenheim fish!  We plugged away in the area for a further 30-45 mins but none of his friends were willing to give chase.

After our success at the bridge we tried various other areas but unfortunately were not to be blessed with anymore fish.  Although this little chap (below) did stop by to say hello, and i have to say i was equally pleased to get such a good picture of a kingfisher as normally when the camera is out they elude me.

All in all it was a great day afloat, the fishfinder worked well and so did the camera.  Hopefully next time and there will definately be a next time there will be more action to the rods.  It wasn’t that we hadn’t tried our damdest we slung everything into the water, but i think with mixed weather on the lead up to our visit and the freezing temps the fish were never going to be over active.  But hey ho that’s fishing.  Fingers crossed we will get back there when the new season opens, and i’ll be sure to post another report and more pictures.

Thanks for stopping by.
Mark

I’ll will send another update soon as to state of the medway in the upper reaches and hopefully soon the new christmas lures can be christened!

Good luck to all and I hope you all have a great 2010!