Fluff Chucking for Toothy Critters

Well the traditional Pike season has come to an end and to be honest its nice not to have hands that smell like the local fish mongers but with Pike still about a fly fishing approach is great sport and its great being able to travel so light and explore. I ventured down to my local canal to chuck a few tied patterns about hoping for a snatch or two..... didn't take long and a couple of greedy jacks had hit the fly, angry little buggers!

On moving some 50 yards down the bank a cast was hit by what i thought was a Pike only the fight seemed very jaggy and up from the depth's i saw a flash of stripes, a Perch and big bugger too, taking it easy hoping to stay attached she went into the net with the fly falling out once tension was released, a very close call. Well to get a correct weight on this fish it seemed silly to weigh it in the deep wet mesh of a giant Pike net so i emptied the contents of my lunch from a carrier bag gently slid the stripy sergeant into it and onto the scales..... 4lb on the nose! I quickly released her called it a day and strolled home a happy chappy.

Escapism

The Glorious river Culm in all its seasonable colours makes for a great peaceful escape, despite a passing angler trying to ruin it telling me id be wasting my time as the otters had eaten all the Chub and very little Dace were left. I am aware of the otters on the river and do see them often but still i would not be put off, i always find if your information isn't from a trusted source ignore them and try for yourself. I'm glad i did as the afternoon was full of hand size Chub, Roach and

lots and lots of Dace. The river was alive and thriving i can only think this chap has not been baiting his hook!

A move to a gentle glide produced some lovely roach.

Another watery escape comes to an end and its back to reality.

Challenge at Chew

All this serious Pike fishing can get a bit addictive and more often than not results don't reflect the intensity and effort done to search out the finer specimens. There comes a time when a relaxed approach is a breath of fresh air and certainly brings more enjoyment.

My first day on Chew Valley Reservoir this year was with my wife Lesley, the boat was actually booked in her name so any misbehaving and i wouldn't be going ( yeah right!). We decided before the off on a wager, whoever caught the most or biggest Pike wins and the loser pays out for a meal for two at Rendezvous in Exeter, not cheap but good grub.
Les was kitted up with an 8ft lure rod and chose some colourful shiny glittery rubber shads to start the day, myself well i had a selection of Rapala's and spoons with a bait rod as back up. As a rule you'd expect myself the angler to have the edge...not so, Les when she does wet a line can be quite useful with a lure rod so i was quite twitchy from the off. After breakfast and a "latte" ( wife's choice of beverage) at the lodge and the mundane wait for boat numbers was over we ventured down to the landing stages where a queue was forming due to the water police checking our bait bags for naughties in the form of banned baits. As I gazed across the vast water wondering what leviathans lurk beside me Les was getting chatted up."Hello do you catch Pike then? Never met a women pike angler before," said a rather curious pike angler, to his amazement Les explained she has caught Pike and she will today....... such confidence!
I certainly had my work cut out as captain having to man the engine and anchor, these are troubles you face when bringing a women aboard. Anchors away and off up to nunnery point just dropping the anchor and Les flips out her lure.... "got one! Eh already! Bloody anchor aint hit the deck yet!" A lively jack of about 4lb was brought to the boat making it 1-0 to the wife, before i even decided on my choice of lure....... "I've another one," a little voice said, and sure enough another Pike of equal size. She was slaughtering me, i 've not had a sniff ! It was around this time that the mickey taking started..... " so how many have you caught? i think I'm going to have that expensive Italian wine". In her head she'd already won but there was still a full day ahead.

Early action for the deck hand.

It was refreshing for me to hear a passing boat shout to his mate," whats that? fuckin Taliban innit"? They were referring to my wife and her choice of hat complete with shades, i could see where they were coming from, made me laugh and shut her up until she caught another Pike!
As lunchtime passed i had sneaked a couple jacks out and the current stats were 4-2 to my wife, all fighting fit fish around the 4lb mark. My dearest was now starting to look a little weathered and requested a retreat to a sheltered area, scouting around the armada in Villice bay had now vacated and looked wind free. Anchored up Les commented, "to have any chance now you'll have to catch one this big"!

As she proceeded to down tackle and spread out for a little rest thinking she'd clinched the win, i lobbed out a drifted herring and while she was resting.... away went the float!

A good strike met with a fair resistance and after a spirited fight I'd pulled one back with a fish of 10-12lb, result!

At the end of the day Les managed 6 to 4lb and i had 3 to 12lb so she wins on quantity and me on quality, making it even I'd say. Quality in my mind always wins, but Les is a little reluctant to except that, she still thinks she won, of course she did?

Tidal Triumphs and Mishaps

I love rivers they feel so alive compared to the many commercial puddles. Fishing on the local tidal river Exe certainly always proves this, with Bream being the main target fish that never materialised, a couple of other welcome scaly characters graced my net instead.

Bogged down with tackle i waded out through the sludge at low tide to greet the waters edge, this itself a challenge with every step sinking deeper and suction on with drawl threatening to strip me of my waders (not a pretty sight). All tackle on dry land a short distance away the plan was to start with trotting a float on the rising tide then at high tide to lob the feeders out with bread, maggots or corn the chosen hookbaits. The weather was overcast and the waters surface dimpling with little fish rising, i think a Dace fest was definitely on. A constant feed of maggots and the float was sent on its merry dance only to disappear in a flash as these bars of silver came thick and fast. There is certainly a different delightful eliment actually being in the water fishing with it running round your waist and drawing fish to hand and seeing mullet and even darker shapes pass your ankles as you stand there poised like a heron. I can watch fish for hours and having them pass you by so close is certainly a distraction.

High tide arrived and gradually forced me back pedalling to the bank, a quick slurp of tea was had and then feeders full of crumb launched into mid river. I was distracted by some over friendly swans that had clocked me loaf and so took my eye off the quiver tips for a moment, upon refocusing a tip was missing and the rods butt just and only just caught on the back rest, getting my hands on it the clutch went off screaming... an obvious tidal carp was on and was not hanging about. This fish was trucking but unfortunately as soon as pressure was added escape she did....... bugger! After a small time between watching a pair of cormorants devour the dace and glaring at the tips another superb bite was hit and again screaming reels only this fish liked to work its way back to me and pelt of with such power and speed this could only be a Mullet and not a bad one at that. Strange fish Mullet hours can be spent chasing these frustrating fish so i was well pleased with the one that just graced my net. She weighed 6lb 8oz.

Changing to corn on the hook brought some good sized Dace and then a bite of such ferocity had me leaping from my seat, a fish was definitely on, self hooked it took so violently, didn 't feel like a carp but was very lively, not like a Mullet either? A spiky fin broke the surface that puzzled me briefly....... it was a Bass, a sweet corn munching Bass, not huge but certainly a nice surprise, and no i didn 't eat it.

Still the Bream remained elusive and rumour was that most were likely up at Salmon Pool Weir
in the more well oxygenated water, unfortunately a private stretch that Salmon anglers control yet if your discreet you can grab an early session there. As the light began to fade a few small Chublets were added to the tally as the tide approached its lowest. My peace was interrupted by my mobile phone, the wife requesting if i could move my van, of course i can me being forever the peace keeper! The camera gear and my other quiver was packed away in a grump and on sealing the bait tubs i noticed my last rod was doing a very merry dance on the rests. Squelching through the mud almost going arse over tit to get to it i managed a hook hold on what could only be a Carp, a real tug of war began as the fish used the out going tide to its advantage, some superb runs with a little grating on the line too due no doubt a snag being out there. Wading out to try and get control of this fish i remembered the wife's call, shit! going to be a bit late, i scrambled for my phone somewhere under my waders whilst the left arm hung on to this frantic Carp. How my phone wasn't dropped i don't know, with the almighty informed time to get this fish to the net. On finally netting this fish i was a little disappointed as i thought it was much bigger but on examining it what a stunning looking Mirror Carp with these huge plated scales and crisp yellows and brown colouring, despite weighing 16lb still worthy of a shot i think.
The fish was sacked and staked out in the river as i re-rigged the camera gear i had only just packed up, all systems ready i waded out to collect the fish, on lifting the fish via the sack handles she was not happy thrashing around like bugger the reason for this was soon to be obvious.... she'd seen her escape route. When lifting the fish out it was like Houdini had escaped, one huge thrash and she was out kiting across the shallow mud covering me in the process...... i only bloody forgot to ensure the sack was zipped right up! one lift she was gone, what a muppet!
I was a bit gutted as it was a stunning looking fish but who knows perhaps she'll cross my line in the future and be a touch bigger?

Glimmering Dace

The humble dwelling that is soon to be home is almost complete and leaves me with visions of all that extra time for waterside ventures, unfortunately there is still a bit to do so to stop myself going crazy i had to down tools and wet a line and what better way to do it than on glorious June 16th by the river. Love it or hate it the close season for me can only be good for our rivers, it will be a sad day should it ever be abolished.

A bright sunny evening session on the local river Exe was where i ended up with Dace in mind on trotted maggots controlled by a pin, very traditional indeed but great fun.

The session was pure delight! stacks of hand size Dace shimmering in the sunshine and loads and i mean loads of stunning greedy Brown Trout topped by a few that were certainly big enough for the table but that's not what its about for me so all were returned non the worse after capture. I did find it unusual not to have any Chub, they are normally very abundant here and certainly compete with the trout with their greed. I'm sure they are about somewhere?

The passion is back with force and i am chomping at the bit to do battle by the waterside again soon, role on that house completion date!!!!

Chew From The Bank

Another assault on Chew Valley Reservoir was done only this time it was to be from the bank, with some ten miles of bank to choose from it was some what a little daunting. Only having previously fished from the bank once with little to show for it my confidence was low. To make things even more difficult the weather forecast was to be dreadful, sleet and lots and lots of rain, what joy!
In the early part of the week a monster Pike of 40lb was taken from the bank at an area with deep water close in, it was reported in all the angling weeklys and the bank from which it was caught was also published. This being an area i fancied i just had to review it as such publicity would see that bank shoulder to shoulder with anglers, one to avoid i think. My companion for the day was to be Paul but as he was off gallivanting up the Amazon on a 15 day cruise his stand in was to be the lovely Lesley, my wife, and believe it or not she actually volunteered. I did try to put her off due to her dislike of all things cold and believe me it was to be bloody freezing!

Leaving home at 4.30am did not fair well with my wife yet the deal was if she was to leave at this time then I'd take my bivvy, bed chair, plenty of water and my stove all for her comfort of course. We arrived at 6.ooam and sneakily entered the car park through a no entry where a van had just opened the gates. Early arrival bank anglers will know that it can be tricky to park as the bailiffs don't like to get up early to open all the gates. I dashed to the waters edge with all the creature comforts for Lesley, bivvy being of importance as dark clouds were looming. Bivvy up and back to the van to grab the gear and a very unimpressed bleary eyed wife! Rods were baited with popped up herrings, chest waders were donned as i waded into the margins to punch the baits out to shelf around 8 to 10ft deep. All traps laid i retreated to shelter as the temperature plummeted and the hail started to fall. Time to warm the wife with a cuppa, well that's as close I'll get after handling smelly herrings believe me! Looking out from the shelter distant lights of blue, red and white seemed to dance on the water, these were actually other anglers sending out their armada of toy boats to drop baits some 150 yards plus. Not only can i warrant the cost of such equipment but have always believed the bankside shelves to be the best features and most are within casting distance, anyway who wants to lumber all that extra gear about.
The day dragged on as did the sleet and rain and all that food and hot drinks that my wife insisted i take were a god send, their always right you know, then around 3.30pm the alarm sounded and the indicator rose to a taking fish...... finally action stations. Allowing a few feet of line to be taken i wound down and struck into what felt a reasonable fish, some good head shaking and a couple of hard surges really started to raise the estimated size of the fish. Once in the shallows some good hard lunges were stopped and some fellow anglers from Essex came down to net her for me. What a stunning looking fish and definitely over 20lb, quickly unhooked in the cradle onto the scales she went, the needle read 26lb 4oz! Even Lesley ventured out of her home for the day to have a look even if she did look unimpressed, deep down i knew she was? So a long day, bad weather and only one fish, was it worth it? You bet it was, only takes one good fish to change the day.

And back she goes.................

Chew Valley Reservoir

As Xmas and new year festivities seem long in the distant past and the days keep rolling into the new year, time doesn't half fly by these days.
I finally received my dates for Chew and was lucky enough to have the opening day. I was optimistic but reserved because despite all the press coverage about big Pike left right and center Chew can be a tough nut to crack, i have seen many a disappointed face leaving the boat stations due to high expectations.

A plan was made as to where and how to fish, due to the current cold weather i reckoned the Pike would be deep and lethargic and lures would be a waste of time. I chose an area over some old dwellings and river beds some 26feet deep where i had seen good fish taken previously.
My boat partner was my old fishing companion Paul, it was good to have him back on the banks after absence due to sad circumstances. There s no one that can spin a yarn quite like Paul.
After breakfast at the lodge and boats issued it was a mad dash to claim positions wish was easy enough as every bugger went the other way to us! To say our decision was right would be an understatement, a fish was on within 15 min of casting out a herring a nice double around 13lb that fought superbly and was in mint condition, then Paul took a nice one around 11lb. I had to chuckle as he remounted what can only be described as the oldest manky herring of enormous proportions one could ever imagine upon his trebles, obviously big bait big Pike mentality. I soon had egg on my face as this bait was picked up pretty sharpish and a tussle ensued but we won, a lovely fish of 16lb (pictured below)

The day continued like this with fish lost too, some felt quite hefty, but for me the highlight was watching a low twenty get the better of Paul, i swear there was about 3 times that fish lunged deep and fast nearly taking Paul with it.... thank god for the clutch!

The culprit below nearly had him paddling!!

Towards the days end it went really quiet then at last knockings my float went, but it was brief as the fish escaped the hooks. In total we had 11 pike 9 of which were double figure fish and cream being a twenty one pounder to Paul. No obscene sized Pike Chew is noted for but who cares when sports as good as this! There was one thing that was noticeable, all our fish were covered in leeches suggesting they were holed up hard on the the bottom so our choice of tactics was spot on.

The approach to the jetty was quite amusing, it looked absolute chaos. The bailiff was having a fit boats approaching all angles bumping and banging, i avoided this lot on approach but got yelled at to dock back round the other side, this was only possible if captain pugwash and his crew of idiots weren't causing a "mucking fuddle". Finally docked and unloaded we escaped the madness quite content on our fruits of the day.

Exeter Canal

As time is precious and DIY still being a priority i still managed to sneak out to my local Exeter Canal for a four hour trip after a Pike or two... or not as it turned out.

I opted to walk the not so busy side of the canal as most days its like Piccadilly Circus here and weekends are a no no for me as every man, boat, dog etc. seems to be on a canal outing, not my scene at all. I walked a good half mile away from all those worn down popular fishing spots to an area that has produced a few twenty pound Pike for me in the past, the traps laid were in the form of two baits fished under a float one popped up and one hard on the bottom. The chosen baits were half a Herring and a plump Rudd. A proven method to search out these Pike for me has been to reposition the baits every 45 mins, soon enough you'll be near some Pike.

Conditions were good, nice cloud cover and that gut feeling that something could pick those baits up at anytime, but unfortunately it didn't happen and Mr Pike didn't want to feed so a blank was drawn. Whilst packing the gear up i was distracted by a huge flock of Starlings doing that mad dance with every bird moving with every sudden change in direction, great to watch, so many types of formations and the wind certainly made it a challenge for them yet they were all synchronised in flight. Incredible. Well the canal will have a few sessions yet so Pike, you can swim but you can't hide.

Thinking of Perch

As the weather is now getting more and more wintry and the Pike season is in full swing i feel myself drawn to pursue this perfect predator, yet i felt the need for one more try at the Perch.


My thoughts were torn, do i go to Spires a busy commercial lake, or do i go to the little fished farm pond with the hope of a surprise or too? Well it had to be the latter as so much magic of the unknown doesn't exist these days as our waters get busier and the fish start getting their own names after numerous repeat captures.
The day itself was more suited to kite surfing down the coast as the wind was irritatingly blustery and very strong, there were moments where an audition for Mary Poppins would have been more appropriate as i held down my umbrella from the offending gusts. Perhaps i should have gone pike fishing i thought, but i was here now so best get on with it. The Rudd were as ravenous as ever and a bite a chuck was had, once again it was a case of persistence with these greedy Rudd and anticipating the arrival of a perch or two.It just took 30mins before my first reasonable Perch came, not a monster but a fine looking stripey, the best part of the middle of the day was full of Rudd and then another nice Perch fell to my float fished worm. All the interest had taken my attention off the weather and upon looking up an almighty black cloud decided to drop its load...... didn't it come down! what with the wind as well everything got saturated, me included! This little pond always chucks out a surprise so when i hooked what i thought was a Crucian carp i was surprised to find it actually was a Goldfish, this amused me immensely. No more big Perch were caught, and my soggy gear and myself retreated back to the van en route to home sweet home. It is definitely time to dig out the pike rods.

Honestly! a Goldfish!

Spires Lakes

Still on a Perch mission a day at Spires lakes was done, if your like me and you favour escapism and solitude in your fishing, then commercial fisheries like this, especially at weekends are to be avoided but occasionally these waters can sustain species to specimen sizes such a place is Spires. Two small lakes, well ponds really, make up this fishery with the top pond being the carp lake. The lower pond is full of silvers and Perch were introduced years ago to control Rudd populations. This pond has produced Perch just short of 5lb and even today is throwing up many two and three pounders. Perch were introduced to the top lake a little later and now this too is producing three pounders, so avoiding the pressured lower pond i opted the challenge of the higher lake to see what lurks.
Arriving at dawn i settled down at the dam end in the deeper water and the usual fat worm under a float was presented close to the margins by an over hanging tree, within minutes i was missing bites as little silvers try to do away with my worm. Inbetween these nuisances small Perch started to show and some sporting carp to 9lb kept me busy as i tried to filter out a big Perch.

Unfortunately that huge Perch never showed and the largest i had was around a pound. Despite the struggle i was entertained by a Kingfisher that chose to fish right from the tree next to me throughout the day which was superb to watch and to top that my last fish of the day was a cracking Golden Orfe of 4lb.

Return to an Old Haunt in Search of Perch

An early morning start was executed, off to an old schoolboy haunt of mine that once held a good stock of hefty perch, unfortunately its only recently that the perch have again become established having disappeared from this pond some years ago, why is any ones guess as the water has always been healthy and food a plenty? The carp here have previously reached near 30lb but many of these fish have died of old age and a younger generation are now packing on the weight, will there be twenty's? The pond in question is delightful, very under fished, somewhat neglected and not of any particular size and still offers a bit of the unknown.
Arriving in the dark i made the small ramble towards the pond only to be ambushed by a flock of hedge hopping pheasants! i think they were as startled as me shrieking aloud as they dashed for cover. After settling down in a swim a fat float fished worm was placed in the margins and bites galore were inevitable as this pond is stuffed with Rudd, even if i had a worm of abnormal proportions these greedy little buggers would attempt to eat it.

As it started to get lighter a few hand size perch were caught along with a carp of around 10lb, a stunning common that made an account of itself on my 6lb float tackle. Another three immaculate double figure carp were caught and then my target fish, a Perch of just under 2lbs,

a nice fish that i doubt has been caught before and i honestly believe if you can get pass the Rudd, bigger Perch could be there for the taking.

One other highlight of the trip was the awakening of a toad under my bait tub, funny fat fella he gave me a pose on some old timber in the autumn sunshine.

CHEW BEFORE THE CIRCUS

A trip to Chew Valley reservoir was done mid September in an attempt to nail myself a decent pike on the fly before the pike trial circus arrive on the 15th of October. I have previously done the trials but due to some bizarre allocation system boats this year were bloody hard to come by.

On entering the lodge i did feel kind of uncomfortable without my fellow pikers around me, instead there was a gathering of trout anglers preparing for a competition scouting to see who is who, even today the sport still attracts those pretentious pompous idiots that look down on you if trout on the fly is not your thing. I took great delight in the end announcing that the pike was my chosen quarry of the day..... many faces of disgust i received!
It was nt long before " engines on and anchors away" motoring off towards stratford bay my chosen area of attack. I chose to use my own tied flies which were basically epoxy heads with a big eye and plenty of mirror flash on a fast sinking line, second cast and my first chew fly caught pike was had (above), and to be honest as chew pike go had to be the bloody smallest in this reservoir! Oh was i wrong, i ended up with a dozen around the same size with a biggest of 6lb but two big girls did follow my fly to the boat but just weren't to be fooled. A good day with plenty of action but will chew ever give up its beasts to me...... watch this space!

End of Summer Summary

The Tidal River Exe

End of summer has finally been and gone and looking back all efforts were rewarding despite sessions being hampered by the call of home improvements which is still a burden now. As well as the swooping owls and a very close otter encounter whilst wading back to the bank the fishing was superb. The challenge of tidal river fishing can be a strange affair with fish non existent one minute and then carpets of the hungry buggers on the out going tide the next. My catches did vary from the odd blank ( excluding dace these silver fellas were always obliging) to a complete bag of bream, odd chub, mullet and some tough tidal carp.

Carp were hooked and lost but balanced tackle finally prevailed the above a shade under twenty pounds gave me one hell of a scrap on an avon rod with 8lb line and battling an out going tide.. absolute magic, other carp soon came along with fish to low doubles occasionally. The main target were the bream and one particular day saw 7 landed, none of these were under 6lb and the biggest a personal best of 9lb 8oz! Mullet to over 4lbs too were taken these hard fighters seem to like my sweetcorn... strange fish?