Monday 30 June 2014

Bream

Had a wet but wonderful Saturday at Braunston canal festival. The Bream I caught may not have been what my regular Blogistas were expecting - there was a Perch too - but in the torrential rain I missed it - and when the sun eventually came out I couldn't find her in the melee of 80 historic boats!
 



 
 
 

 




 
 

Monday 23 June 2014

Perch on Sunday

A lazy start on Sunday meant I only got to the river for about 9am and the sun was already blazing. Conditions didn't look great! As always location is important with the perch - they seem to move up and down the river far more than the other species - so I spent some time walking and looking. Eventually I spotted some fry scattering and hoped it was perch on the hunt causing the panic.
A quick hunt in the box produced a paddle tailed Fish Arrow that I thought might do the trick - a little bigger than the fry lining the margins, which is no bad thing - little point in being indistinguishable from a million other prey items!



It didn't take long to confirm the presence of my target.





 A morning filled with a dozen hard fighting fish like these meant I wasn't bothered about not finding any of the super-tankers. By 12 noon the sun was intense and  beat a hasty retreat to continue getting ready for the move.

Two nice double figure pike, another over 15lb and one over 25lb, several chub over 4lb and some nice perch completed a fantastic opening week for me! 



Sunday 22 June 2014

Longest Day


I always like to make the most of the longest day and make an early start. With an extended period of warm fine weather and low, clear water, I always feel that early mornings and fading evening light are likely to produce the best chance of a decent fish or two.

A pre dawn start and the excitement of visiting our new home for a driving lesson later in the day meant I didn’t sleep well, and consequently I was on the river bank before 3 am!

I was pleased with this moon shot – hand held and 140x zoom is rarely a good combination.

As daylight crept in a heavy mist rolled off the river, It was stunning watching the swans ghost in  and out of view.



It wasn’t until about 4.30 that the pike woke up and this lean double fish hit my jerk bait.
A few minutes later I was treated by the fantastic sight of a growing bow wave behind the lure as a bigger fish accelerated after a lure worked fast and shallow across the river. As I saw the wave I sped up slightly giving the fish a simple choice – breakfast or go hungry!
I had intended to go chasing perch in the evening but after an afternoon spent learning how to operate our new home with the current owners I was wiped out and decided to wait until Sunday. Hopefully by early next month we will no longer be land lubbers!

I dropped a perch of around 2lb earlier in the week in a new area. I love discovering new haunts for my target species and the excitement of exploring new water! If the perch won’t play tomorrow- I know where a chub or two live!

Friday 20 June 2014

World Predator Classic

I know guys in several of the competing boats so its very exciting watching the live catch reports and seeing places change on the leader board - even a page with GPS showing where each of the boats is!

http://www.worldpredatorclassic.com/leaderboard/

My mate Evaldas and his partner Ivan, who are representing Lithuania are currently 6th - fantastic effort guys!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fiiish

 
 
Thursday evening was too nice to condemn myself to watching our national football team imploding so I decided a wander along the river bank would be far more therapeutic!
 
I had already discovered how effective the Fiiish Black Minnows were during the close season taking a dozen fish over the 5lb mark - they were so good I actually stopped using them and switched to other lures in the hope of avoiding the chub and selecting out the trout.
I had a fantastic couple of hours after work with loads of fish around the 3lb mark with a few slightly better ones thrown in.

 


 

 

Wednesday 18 June 2014

2 Day, Day 2

 
The second day of the season saw me chasing one of my favourite summer species.
A few short weeks ago these were nuisance fish who were annoyingly unaware that I was fishing for the trout and salmon and that they were out of season!
 
 
This one took one of Mark Houghtons' custom bean crank baits. Hollow bellied after spawning recently but still just the right side of 4lb.

Monday 16 June 2014

Opening Day

I've been really excited about the opening of the coarse season on the rivers and not a little jealous of the guys who had booked time off work to fish today. I've been consoling myself with the fact that with the river is down to its bones and the weather being bright and brassy, conditions would make it difficult. I nearly didn't bother going after work but decided that with the fish having not seen a lure for a while I might be in with a slim chance and thought I'd give it a couple of hours.
Within ten minutes a scraper double had put a smile on my face and I was content not to blank on the opening day!


Half an hour later a brutal hit and a thankfully short fight saw this 25lb 14oz beauty on the bank!



Even more pleasing to take both fish on one of my own custom paint jobs


A fantastic couple of hours and a great way to start the 2014 season. I'll be chasing the chub and the perch tomorrow!



Monday 2 June 2014

First Blood

Spent some time last week doing some work on the boat and finally got my first full day out in her today.

Enough gear for one man?





First fish in the boat taken on the urban camo slider....


..taken fishing round.this island


..first blood 



..and a bit of scenery...








Glorious to be on the lake in such fantastic weather!