Sunday, sunny afternoon. Headed for a light lure session on the River Dane.
With my telescopic spinning rod out of action, I'd packed a 9' quivertip rod, adapted with a shortened tip - it was ideal for flicking out 1g jigs and lures.
The river was low and clear, and the sun hot. The summer riverbank foliage made casting difficult in the first few swims, but then I found a deeper pool, and the first slow retrieve resulted in a solid take. As soon as it was hooked, I knew it was a trout, and it didn't take more than a few seconds before it was leaping out of the water in a desperate attempt to shake the hook. A few leaps later, and I held it in my hand. A fine speckly brown trout.
I tried several swims, but all my lures seem to be attracting was plagues of minnows, none of which were big enough to take the hook, but seemed to like nibbling at the end of the lure.
Then, in an unassuming swim, the first cast upstream met a strong pull. Through my polarised sunglasses, I could see straight away that it was a chub, as it rolled and twisted in the current. I was glad that I had brought a landing net, otherwise I might not have banked him.
It was a good chub for the Dane. I didn't have my scales, but I'd guess he was at least 3.5lbs. I was satisfied with that. My biggest fish so far on the ultra-light lures.
Grabbed a couple of hours on the river again on Saturday morning. Session was going nicely as I caught perch from several swims.
It was a good morning. Saw lots of wildlife, including kingfishers and a salmon leaping.
However, it ended on a bit of a sour note. I was trying to change my soft lure, but wasnt holding the rod properly. Got myself in a muddle and dropped the thing, which ended up with the tip breaking off, losing the top inch of carbon.
Hopefully I can fit a new tip ring and it will be back in action again soon.
I took a trip out on the mountain bike last weekend. Started local on the Mersey, caught a few nice perch and another chub. Good start.
I then decided to head off to try the lures on some new venues. On the way I had to cross the Ship Canal locks. I've seen some decent perch hanging around in the lock, but today, something bigger had arrived...
Safely over the locks, I headed for a small local stillwater. The water is quite clear and it's known to have some pike present. I tried a few different soft lures here, with both jigheads and the split shot rig.
I fished all round the pond, but it didnt produce a single take. In one swim, a small jackpike sat motionless right under the rod tip. I stripped and jigged lures right in front of his nose, but he was either full up, asleep, or just plain stupid. Either way, he was having none of it.
Next stop was the local canal, to visit a few old haunts. I grew up fishing on the canal, and so was full of expectation, knowing that it holds plenty of perch and pike.
I dropped in on about a dozen spots along nearly 2 miles of canal, but despite my initial confidence, I couldnt draw a single take, not even a pluck. A bit of a frustrating end to the day, but I guess that's fishing!
Sunday. Early doors. Still got the itch, so I had to scratch it. Saddled up the bike, and headed off down the Mersey trail, in search of somewhere I hadn't fished before.
Talking of the bike, here's my set up if anyone is interested. I am certainly no bike nut. My dad gave me that thing about 10 years ago. It must be 20 years old, and cost about 80 quid back then, so hardly top of the range. But, it's got wheels, gears, brakes and mudguards (very handy). I also carry onboard a puncture repair kit, a mini-pump, a lock and a bottle of juice. Bought some extra seat padding from Lidl to compensate for the dreadful ride quality. Next bike will definitely have shock-forks.
The telescopic rod and a handy foldaway trout landing net attach to the frame using neoprene velcro straps (ebay - £1 each, always handy when fishing).
Anyway, enough of that, onto the fishing.
First stop was the River Mersey at Woolston. The margins of this river seem full of perch, especially where there is some streamer weed.
A few casts around here soon produced a brace of micro-perch. Both taken on a grass minnow with 2 AAAs as the sinker, a few inches up the line. I didnt stay on the river for long, but managed to see 3 separate kingfishers (I think it was a family), a sparrowhawk and a hare on the track.
Next stop was a stilwater, Grey Mist Mere. Like the quarry yesterday, the Mist is normally a carp / tench water, but at the moment it is festooned with weed. Still, there were a few holes to fish to, so I made my way around and dropped in where I could.
The sun was coming out, and using my polarised sunglasses, I could see the perch chasing my lure right into the edge. Sometimes several fish would all surround the lure together.
.
I caught half a dozen or so, and they were all the usual size, around an ounce, nothing bigger. In one swim a tiny pikelet had several goes at my jelly lure, but I couldnt entice him enough to set the hook.
With the limited options at the Mist, I decided to head back along the river.
Now, I have received some comments that all my photos look like the same fish - insinuating that I am merely photographing the same perch and changing the background. Well, I cant actually confirm whether they are all different fish, but if it is the same one, he must be fairly knackered by now. Here he is again in a new swim...
I took a few more perch as I made my way back home. Then, last cast and I got lucky with another chub. They really do fight well, and I am glad I am on delicate gear, because it makes it so much more fun. Again, a grass minnow was the successful lure, with just one AAA shot this time.
Another enjoyable short session. In fact, it probably takes me longer to uploads the photos and write the blog than it does to catch the fish!
Saturday afternoon, couple of hours to kill, so I strapped the telescopic rod to my bike, threw a few bits into my pockets (Pocket In box, spare packet of hooks, tub of AAA shot and a spool of 4lb flourocarbon) and off I went in search of fish.
Met up with my mate Steve on the way, so we peddled off towards Moore. First stop was the Quarry. Ordinarily, this is where I go to dream about catching big tench, bream and carp, but today, a perch was the target.
The water was gin clear, and there was a thick layer of weed on the bottom. After a dozen or so casts fanned around the swim, I fired the tiny lure out to a patch of milfoil. A couple of feet into the retrieve, and a fish was on. Predictably, it was a stripey.
Cool. Mission accomplished. I was happy with that. I took a few more casts, but nothing was doing, so we hopped back on the bikes and headed to the canal.
First stop in Moore village. A couple of casts in, and a perch was banked.
Only a tiddler, but it's what we came for. Next cast resulted in an instant bite-off from a pike. I was starting to wonder whether I should up my trace, but that would kind of be missing the point. This was all about finesse. The hooks were barbless and the lures biodegradable, so shouldnt cause any problems.
We slowly made our way back towards Stockton Heath, getting eaten by midges along the way. There was lots of fish activity, the canal is full of fry. At one spot, the first cast resulted in a jackpike following the lure, and then it jumped right out of the water on the next retrieve as it tried to hammer the jellybait. The hook didnt set though, and after a couple of boats went through it all went quiet, so I guessed he had moved on.
Ended up with half a dozen perch, and about twice as many midge bites. Good fun though, and I'll be back for those pike!
First Ultra Light trip down the Mersey - grabbed a couple of hours after work. Pocket full of bits and saddled up my mountain bike.
It got off to a great start.
I threaded on a Ecogear Grass Minnow onto a Shirasu jighead, 4lb flourocarbon leader to 4lb mono mainline. First cast in and the lure didnt even hit the bottom before I was feeling plucks on the line. A slow retrieve quickly turned into the familiar jagging dance of a perch. Success!
Next cast resulted in a snag and a lost jighead. Given I only had 4 left in the Pocket In box, I decided to knock up a home-made. Size 10 longshank fly hook, flattened the barb with my pliers, then pinched on two AAA shots just above the hook. Cast back in and straight into another perch.
The perch kept coming and I was loving it. They were mostly small, around an ounce, but a the odd "dumpy" one turned up, often under the rod tip. The technique was simple - wait for the lure to hit bottom, then very slowly retrieve, pausing every now and again.
I moved swim about 4 times, a couple of spots were too weedy, but whenever I could get a lure down to the bottom, within a foot or so of dragging it gently in, more often than not the plucks would come and the perch would follow.
First cast in a new swim and I hooked into something different. After a short spirited fight, I was surprised to land a chub! I knew they were in the Mersey, and had caught them during matches, but this was my first ever lure-caught chub, so I was made up. It weighed about 12ozs or so.
Just as the light was fading, I found myself in a swim with a steep drop to the water. I tried a change of lure, clipping on a pink Power Shirasu. First cast resulted in a tiny perch, which fell off as I lifted it out of the water. I dropped the lure straight back in, wondering if the greedy fella might take it again. As the lure hit bottom I tightened up and started to turn the reel handle slowly. Suddenly everything went solid. I thought it was a snag, so pulled steadily, but then it shifted upwards and I started to make line. I guessed it was a branch, so gently heaved upwards. Suddenly the branch bolted and leapt out of the water, shaking it's head and revealing itself to be a pike of about 6lbs!
For a few splendid moments I fought the pike on my little 6' light spinning rod. Eventually its manic thrashing managed to shake the barbless hook loose and it escaped, but I was still thrilled for the encounter, and impressed that the tiny 2" jelly lure could attract a pike.
Result: about 2 dozen perch, plus 1 chub. 1 lost pike.
Conclusion: I am well and truly hooked. The gear worked fine. The telescopic rod and reel were easy to handle on the bike. Hook and shots worked just as well as the more expensive jigheads. This just might be the cheapest fishing thrills around!
If you've not already tried it, then get on the lures and Join the Ultra Light Revolution!!
I've got the "LRF" bug. Hooked big time.
This week I bought my first set of tiny jelly lures. One little plastic Ecogear "Pocket In" box, containing some tiny jigheads and a bunch of tiny slimy rubbery things. Isnt Ebay great?
I've set this up so I can blog my exploits. More to follow...
