pike and perch.co.uk

Firstly a Happy New Year to all, i hope it brings some monsters to your net!

Secondly what is up with this weather… gees its depressing – first snow, then freezing temps for what seemed like ages and now its chucking it down every other day! Resulting in the river being so high and coloured its hardly worth fishing. Damn i’m moaning but its doing my head in! I just want to get out there chuck some lures and do what i love doing the most. If i can’t, well i’m just not happy!

Apologies rant over…!

On to my challenge for 2011. To catch a Pike and a Perch on a fly. I don’t know what it is but i really want to catch a stripy and hook into an angry pike on a fly rod. There is just something about the method that intrigues me. I’m becoming obsessed, i’m constantly scouring the web looking at flies that i think could be the answer. Hopefully i’ll be able to go after them when this weather gets a little better. And whatever happens succeed or fail i’ll post updates to let you know how i’m getting on. Until then i’ll keep reading and spending my wages on materials and lures to help me on my mission.

Good luck to all, i hope your 2011 is a good one!

Perch on lures was again the aim for saturday’s fishing trip!  I visited a local pit that looks stunning at this time of year, and thankfully i was just in time before Sunday and Monday’s downpours.  I tried my favourite productive areas but unfortunately hadn’t seen much to give me any confidence so started to have a move from swim to swim.   I only had 2 hours before having to drive to London and I was simply after a quick fix.  After an hour i was beginning to doubt myself a little, should i have gone to where i had good success last weekend.

I had gone through various lures, Rapala jointed shad raps, shallow shad raps, deeper divers, kopyto shads and even the faithful Salmo Hornet that has been so succesfull of late.  Unfortunately nothing had shown a liking to anything i’d chucked in.  I’d seen quite a few pike striking in to the local roach population, they were really going for it and hitting into them roughly every 15 minutes before the sun awoke fully from behind the trees. 

Still working the bank i decided to change lures again.  On went the Salmo Butcher in the Perch colourings.  Tap tap on the first retrieve… hmm maybe we’re on to something here!  Straight back out it went and after a few cranks of the reel bang, a fish had come along that really wanted my lure.  At last I was in and the notorious head shaking thudding sensation was on the end of my line, at last a Perch wanted to play!  Weighing in at 1lb 10oz it was no monster but was a cracking looking little chap, they really do show there best colours this time of year and with glowing red fins it was a cracker.   Unfortunately that was the only bite and unfortunately i had to leave shortly after.  The good that has come of this is that so far i’ve not had a perch out of this lake under a pound, ok they are not there in great numbers but the sizes have been promising.  If all goes well i’ll be back down there again this Sunday morning to see if anymore want to play! 

Please let the remainder of the week at work go quickly!  Good luck to all on your predator adventures!

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!!!!!!!!

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!

I was up well up for some more perch action on friday and with that in mind I made sure i was up nice and early to give a small nearby pit another go. I had my first lure caught perch from this lake the other day and at approx a pound and a bit i was eager to try to find some more.

I drove down there nice and early after de-icing the car and the lake was extremely high but not too coloured so i thought it was definately worth a shot.

First hour not a touch, and i hadn’t seen any movement at all. But then low and behold after moving swims a few times bump bump on the lure and whallop i was in. It felt like a good un and kept its head down for a little while and then up it popped and was scooped into the waiting net. It sure looked like a lure caught pb and once on the scales it went 2lb 2oz’s – at last I’d managed a 2lb’er on a lure! Happy days indeed.

No others were taken and once it got bright i headed home, fingers crossed i’ll be back down there for the last couple of hours of light to try and tempt another one!

Succesfull lure = A white Mepps Spinflex

What a week, high winds and what seemed like an endless amount of rain plummeting out of the skies.  For river fishing that’s about as bad as it can get! 

To numb my pain on Wednesday my latest tackle purchase arrived, a nice new Savage Gear Bushwhacker 10-30g 7’ spinning rod.  I had been reading everywhere about how nice they are to use and with that I couldn’t resist purchasing one for myself.  What does a new lure rod need?  You got it… some lovely new lures.  So I met up with a local chap who sells Rapala’s and treated myself to five new uns.  A couple of X-Rap Shads and a couple of Glass Shad Raps hopefully these would tempt a few perch to play! 

Luckily I managed to get a few hours of lure fishing in on Friday afternoon before darkness in between the heavy rain spells.  I was hoping where I had in mind wouldn’t have been too badly hit by the weather.   

On arrival at the lake I was quite happy that it wasn’t coloured up at all, although it had risen about 6” since my last trip.  I plugged away for an hour hopping swims without a touch, admittedly I hadn’t seen much movement either which was weird for this place.  When I was here carp fishing for a few nights over the summer I saw loads of perch chases on the surface.  Maybe the cold had sent them down a little. 

On went the x-rap shad and I cranked it down… I felt a little tap tap and struck but unfortunately it was just a little weed.  Back out it went this time a little shallower and BANG I was on to a half decent Perch, phew I only had about 30 minutes till darkness and the smile on my face would take some beating!  Yee haa!  I had managed to christen a new rod and lure in one outing, lovely jubbly!  Unfortunately no others came my way but still I could not have been happier.

Below is a link to a video of the X-Rap’s action so you can take a look and see what you think… I will definitely be spending more time trying these out on this lake and other waters nearby! 

Rapala X-Rap Shad Lure

Its just a shame with work that I won’t get out again now for a week and a bit.  Grrrr!