Esox elusive.

As my few trips to target pike this year have sadly resulted in not much action and only one pike hooked, that I managed to lose due to not having a net handy, I fancied getting the growing green stripey monkey off of my back. A quick text to see if Jake was free and an hour or so later we hit the road. Arriving at the Forth & Clyde Canal a short drive later we were soon fishing and both decided to test out some Gulp! Alive Swimming Eels that Jake had procured recently.

Like most Gulp! lures these stink but have a fantastic swimming action. Surely the pike wouldn't be able to resist?

We thrashed the basin in front of us and cast around the pontoons and moored boats but no bites were forthcoming. After about an hour or so we both scaled down to smaller lures. The water was slightly murky so I went with a Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Firetiger. As we wandered along the canal a bit further we spotted hundreds of tadpoles in the margins and I then switched to an even smaller lure, a Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner. This again yielded no results unfortunately. By this point Jake had switched to drops shotting Gulp! Sandworm sections for perch, which normally results in pike being caught but this didn't seem to be having the same effect for a change! Heading all the way back to where we started we were both pretty fed up with the lack of action when Jake finally hooked a fish and after I carried out netting duties a nicely coloured perch was on the bank.

A nice golden hue to this spiky little worm gobbling predator and it had nice bright red fins too.

Encouraged by this we carried on fishing heading in the opposite direction along the canal. I scaled up a bit and went with a 3" Kopyto Shad in Roach like colour. Casting to the pontoons and boats on the far side I slowly worked it back across towards me using a slow steady retrieve keeping it close to the bottom but imparting the odd twitch just to try and hopefully illicit a response form any fish it passed by. Plodding along about a metre at a time I finally felt a couple of sharp little tugs and hooked a fish. It soon broke the surface and I could see it was a small jack. I could also see that it didn't look very well hooked. I didn't apply any real pressure to the fish and called along the canal to Jake who had the net. Unfortunately whilst he came along with it the fish took the opportunity to thrash in front of me and spit the lure out before slowly swimming off. After several of hours of fishing with no action at all I was pretty annoyed to lose a second consecutive pike due to not having a net handy! With only a short time left before we had to leave I went back to my methodical approach, standing on a pontoon and casting to a long section of reeds opposite me and with pretty much my last cast I was rewarded with a second bite at the swimming croc cherry. Being a complete idiot though I suddenly realised that the net was further along the pontoon, a fair bit away from me. I had to quickly decide whether to play the fish along there or chance lifting it up the short distance to my hands. I opted for the later and luckily the fish was well hooked this time and stayed on.

My first pike of 2013. Hard earned to say the least!

We headed home, both quite disappointed with the fishing overall, but at the same time glad to have avoided a blank. I was pleased though to get my first pike of the year and whilst canal jacks are good fun I think perhaps we need to start trying some new stretches to try and locate some bigger specimens to work the Gulp! Alive Swimming Eels past. Maybe a less uniform stretch would be nice with a few more natural holding features. Some lily pads would be great as well because after seeing all the tadpoles I'm keen to try some frog lures soon as well for some surface fun.

Tight lines, Hutch.

Glutton for punishment!

Following on from my previous trip to the Forth & Clyde Canal I had to get back with some bigger lures to try for the pike. On arrival the canal was a lot quieter however there was an increase in boat traffic and this had really stirred the canal up leaving it quite coloured. I went with my heavy spinning gear Major Craft Crostage 9'6" 15-42g rod, Shimano Aernos C3000 reel, 20lb Sunline Momentum 4x4 braid, a 20lb wire trace and on the business end a Savage Gear Soft 4Play rigged on a 7g #2/0 jighead.

I began working the same areas as the day before twitching and jerking the lure along pontoons and drop offs. After two and a half hours of walking and searching I still hadn't had a touch! I had also been swapping colours on the Soft 4Play but to no avail. It was hard to believe I was fishing in the same place as the day before when the fish had been throwing themselves at me like girls at a Bieber concert. I had my LRF gear with me as well but I was really trying to resist the urge to use it as I wanted pike on proper pike equipment! After another half an hour of nothing I noticed a small swirl on the surface between the pontoon I was standing on and the bank, my will went and I reached for the LRF gear.

The "swim" a three foot gap between the pontoon and bank.

I still had the same dropshot rig on from yesterday and I rigged the #8 hook with a 1.5" section of Gulp! Sandworm tail. Using classic LRF harbour tactics I dropped the lure in the gap between the pontoon and the wall and gave it a shake. Wallop! The rod tip lurched over instantly as the fish tried to get under the pontoon, a bit of pressure brought it back out again and it went aerial, tangling itself in the overhanging brambles. I quickly slipped the net under it and extracted it from the undergrowth. Typically enough it was a nice little jack again with a hunger for tiny sections of Gulp! Sandworm! I took a couple of pics then released the fish to continue its worm hunting without me!

Gulp! Sandworm claims yet another pike!

A tricky customer from a tricky spot.

I made my way back to the car still working the Soft 4Play but to no avail. I avoided the blank but I was really surprised that the bigger lure didn't yield any fish and due to the topsy turvy nature of the canal I had almost been expecting lots of perch on the pike gear!

At least the fish are active in the canal again though so I hope it won't be long before I can persuade a pike to take something other than lures intended for perch!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Bycatch beauties!

A few days ago I had the afternoon free so I decided to see how the Forth & Clyde Canal was fairing. My plan was to go hunting for perch as the few I recently had down south really whetted my appetite for stripey fish!

After driving through ridiculous May Day traffic jams I eventually reached my chosen area by the Falkirk Wheel. The only thing that had kept me sane throughout the journey was the prospect of meeting Tony, Scott's double captured, scar flanked, lunker perch! So with him in mind it was out with the LRF tackle, 7'10" Graphiteleader Corto EX rod, Shimano Technium 3000SFC reel and 8lb Sunline Super PE braid. I tied up a dropshot rig comprising of a four foot length of 8lb fluorocarbon leader, two foot down I attached a #8 Decoy Offset Worm hook via a palomar knot and clipped on a 5g dropshot weight. Gulp! Sandworm in natural colour was my lure of choice and I attached a 1.5" tail section.

With the rig all set it was time to hunt some perch and I weaved through the crowds of tourists to get to the canal. I began to search about with the lure along the pontoons and margins, casting then retrieving very slowly with little hops and shakes which makes the gulp writhe like an earthworm. I fished my way towards Tony's lair, taking the constant questions from the tourists "Are there fish in there Mister?", "Had anything yet?" and the classic statement "You're wasting your time fishing there pal!". Mumbling pleasantries I started to work the area where Tony the Perch was last caught all the time anticipating a bite. I had worked my way down Tony's pontoon and was nearing the end of it when  the rod tip nodded with a soft but firm bite. I set the hook with a flick of the wrist and the rod bucked wildly as a big fish shook its head, before being wrenched over into its fighting curve as the fish took off. Holy canoli, Tony's gone wrong!

It quickly dawned on me that it was not Tony but a large pike attached by a flimsy 8lb Fluorocarbon leader and #8 hook, I had to play this carefully. The trick to playing big fish on LRF tackle is to let the rod and reel do the work, with the drag set lightly I kept a good bend in the rod and allowed it to gently sap the fishes strength. I find that the fish doesn't panic as much as when you are trying to winch it in, makes sense really, the more you pull, the more the fish will pull back!

The fish lumbered about in front of me staying deep and it made some small runs traveling about 20ft before turning and gently coming back towards me. By now I had a bit of a crowd behind me as the tourists flocked to see what was going on! As the fish broke the surface I readied the net and put a bit more pressure on to bring it in to the margins. This added pressure caused the fish to leap twice like a launching Polaris missile  the almighty splashes as the pike belly flopped back into the canal drew yet more people to watch. Two young lads who had been fishing with there dad/tackle caddie were really excited and clustered around me absolutely mesmerised by the fight.

As I continued to play the fish I gave a running commentary on what I was doing and why, eventually I led the pike gently to the net and quickly slipped it under the fish. The pike went a bit mad at this point causing the lads to shout and jump back but the fish was in the net and the job was done! The fight didn't take too long and the fish had been brought in gently without a panic, that's why it went a bit daft once in the net. I realise I was lucky to land the fish without a wire trace and lucky that it was hooked in the scissors, although what a big pike was doing hunting tiny earthworms is beyond me! I showed the boys how to handle and unhook the fish and got one of them to take a few snaps and a good job he did too! At just under 9lbs it is my biggest fish so far this year and the biggest fish landed on my Graphiteleader Corto EX to date.

At just under 9lbs this pike put up a great fight on LRF gear.

There must have been about ten folk clustered round me and as I was releasing the fish a smartly dressed woman pushed her way to the front. "Excuse me, is that a cod?" she enquired. "No, this is a pike." said I grinning like a maniac. This brought a strange reaction from the woman and her cheeks bulged as she forced air through her pursed lips with a sort of wet farting sound. "Pffftttttttttttttttttttt!" she exclaimed shaking her head in disapproval before stalking off seemingly disgusted with my answer.

Not sure who has got the biggest grin here!

With the fish released the crowd dispersed and I could get on with the hunt for Tony, although after that wonderful pike I wasn't bothered if I didn't get another fish! I continued to work my way down the canal and soon I was getting little nibbles as I retrieved. These soon resulted in a couple of little perch, my first from the canal this year.

This was what I was expecting to catch, Perch and a pretty one too.

The second perch had some nice golden hues to it, I got rid of the leech on release.

I also had another jack which again put up a nice scrap before being landed, this was witnessed by a surprised boat owner who kindly took a picture for me. I slipped it back again wondering why they were so into tiny worms today?!

This Jack was quick to seize a 1.5" section of Gulp! sandworm.

A short while later I managed to land a 6" micro pike, I find them ridiculously cute, perfect miniature predators. At least I could understand the mini pike wanting the worm!

I love the tiny pike too, very cute!

Then time was up and it was time to go home, I really couldn't have asked for a better session I was only there for two and a half hours and I enjoyed every minute! As I drove home high on fish and heavy metal, I had a chuckle about the womans reaction. "Pffftttttttttttttttttttt!" indeed madam "Pffftttttttttttttttttttt!" indeed.

Tight lines, Schogsky.

Autumnal canal session.

Last Friday Jake and I headed to the Forth and Clyde canal for a spot of predator action. We were planning on a session hunting turbot but conditions didn't look great so we headed inland instead. We arrived and quickly started fishing. Jake was drop shotting whilst I opted to fish a variety of small soft plastics on 3.5-7g jigheads. Jake was keen to try and catch my old friend Tony "Scarfish" Montana the perch and we started in the spot where I've caught him twice before. Fishing was tough however with very little action until we moved along and began fishing from a long pontoon. Jake caught a few small perch fishing down between the pontoon and the edge of the canal and then caught a tiny pike which had both of us in fits of laughter.

This small perch took a Gulp! 1" Minnow.

As did this slightly bigger specimen.

How cute is he?

I meanwhile was still trying larger lures and having little joy apart from a long piece of tough rubber that I managed to bully up from the bottom with my Shimano Speedmaster Dropshot rod.

This rubber plank found my Savage Gear Soft 4 Play irresistible!

We then decided to head in the opposite direction, past where we had started, but again there were no signs of any fish. I scaled down a bit and rigged up a Lake Fork Live Baby Shad and after working my way along a pontoon slowly jigging it just off the bottom I managed a tiny jack myself so avoided a blank.

Blank buster.

Shortly afterwards a kingfisher arrived and flew back and forth across the canal, landing on pontoons and tree branches. I tried to sneak up on it and get a picture but failed miserably. Still it was nice to see one as they are beautiful birds and a it was a little reminder that fishing isn't always about catching fish!

Tight lines, Hutch.

Lunch hour session : Forth & Clyde Canal.

Last Friday I had a job collecting some antiques from Dunblane, this would take me right past the Forth & Clyde canal. I would have an hour to spare before I had to deliver the furniture so the LRF gear was stowed in the van. I got to the canal about 1pm and made my way to some pontoons. I rigged up with a short wire trace and a Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Alewife, mounted on a 3g #4 AGM Finesse jighead and began to fish the lure around the pontoons and along side the moored boats. After about ten minutes I watched a small perch follow the lure up from below the pontoon and grab it. A flick of the wrist and the little perch was hooked and quickly landed!

Small, stripey and greedy!

A quick photo and back it went. Excellent, I do love to see the fish taking the lure. I carried on working the lure with a slow twitched retrieve and picked up a further four small perch .

Eyes bigger than its stomach!

I then had a more aggressive bite this turned out to be a jack which did its best to try to get back under the pontoon before it played away from it, landed, photographed and released.

This jack swallowed the lure whole.

With lunch hour nearly up I managed to catch another smaller jack of about 8" just to round the session off. It was a fun packed hour of opportunistic fishing and although the fish weren't big it was a great way to spend my lunch hour!

Tight lines, Schogsky.

An extraordinary week of fishing. Part 3 : Forth & Clyde Canal predators.

With two salt water sessions under our belts we decided to switch to a couple of freshwater marks on Thursday last week. First up was a trip to the section of the Forth & Clyde Canal that runs past the Falkirk Wheel. It's been very productive every time we've visited so far and this time would prove to be no exception although it did take us slightly longer to find the fish. Heading East along the canal and crossing over to fish from a long pontoon opposite the towpath Jake and Ross were first of the mark with a few small jacks and Jake also catching a perch.

Jake's small jacks were all very cute...

...but still demanded respect!

Jake gets the first perch of the day on a silver Lake Fork Live Baby Shad.

Ross wanted some tiny pike action and soon had one on the bank after an epic battle.

Ross quickly also discovered that Lake Fork Live Baby Shads are a perfect mouthful for small Jacks.

I was slightly further along from the them and after missing a couple of takes I finally connected with one and landed a small jack that took a Savage Gear Soft 4Play in dirty roach.

Greedy little jack almost swallowed the lure whole!

Whilst Jake and Ross continued fishing from the pontoon I headed to a spot back towards our starting point where I caught a nice fish during my last visit and whilst I was fishing there they landed a few more jacks and then Ross got a perch.

An even smaller pike for Ross.

A perch too meant I was now due one.

Hoping for a better fish I began slowly working the area from a pontoon. Casting to the reeds on the far side and slowly bouncing it along the bottom back to me. After a while everything went solid and I knew I had a fish on. It wasn't moving much though and at first I suspected it may be a decent jack that was about to go crazy at any moment but as I slowly wound in and the fish came to the surface I could see it was a nice perch. After a bit of head shaking it was in the net and straight away I thought there was some thing familiar about this fish. The scarring on this perch looked similar to that on one I'd caught about 3 months ago from the same stretch. Later examination of the photos would confirm it was indeed the same one!

Hello again!

I've decided to call it Tony on account of the scars it has. I don't normally kiss blokes but made an exception.

The fish was weighed at 1lb and 4oz making it a new PB. Tony has put on an ounce per month since I last caught him and obviously has a little patch in this section of the canal so I may run into him again in the future perhaps!

A nice way to spend the morning and for the second part of our freshwater day we headed off to Loch Lubnaig. Jake had a score to settle with a member of the salmonoid family and Ross fancied one too. I on the other hand was after more perch and hopefully some big ones from a spot I discovered last time Jake and I were there!

Tight lines, Hutch.

Another Forth & Clyde Canal perch hunt ruined by jacks!

Jake and I returned to the Forth & Clyde canal this afternoon to continue our search for perch. After seeing a few chasing my lures during our visit there on Friday afternoon and receiving a bit of local knowledge we decided to try a nice wide stretch just to the west of the small village of Banknock.

Our starting point.

It was quite windy when we arrived but at least it was dry. We both had an LRF setup with us for the perch and a slightly heavier setup (heavier by our standards anyway!) as well to fish larger lures to try and tempt any bigger pike that may be lurking.

We worked our way along the canal and it wasn't long before I had caught a couple of jacks in quick succession and whilst I lost a third Jake joined in the fun landing his first one.

First jack of the session. Feisty little bugger.

Jake joins in the fun with a slightly bigger fish.

Jake had a couple more jacks and then whilst I was slowly working a hard 4" Spro BBZ1 Roach lure I had a larger pike, maybe 4lb, follow my lure in but he turned away at the last moment just when I thought he was going to strike. 

Jake caught two more jacks on a Savage Gear Soft 4Play, bouncing it back along the bottom. The second had a deformed upper jaw. Probably the scars of an attack from a larger pike.

Being a guitarist Jake does the odd power slide with his catch.

Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Dirty Roach on a 7g 2/0 jighead. Pike love them.

Slightly deformed lip and scarring. Goes with being a nasty cannibal!

Shortly afterwards I had another on an Abu Garcia Jointed Tormentor in silver/black. Jake was just admiring the action on the lure when it was smashed quite close in to the reeds by a brutal attack that got the adrenaline pumping a bit. Great fun.

You can't beat seeing the take. Awesome aggression for a small fish.

We headed back along the canal, having a cast or two as we went, adding one more pike to both our tallies.

Jake's final fish and the Gulp! 1" Minnow does the business again.

My last fish took a Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner.

Jake ending up on 6 and me on 4. No sign of any perch though so back to the drawing board on that front.

Great little session and good to see another section of the canal that's full of pike.

Tight lines, Hutch.

Forth & Clyde Canal LRF.

Friday, and with a swell as big as 9ft battering some of our local sea marks we turned our attention to inland waterways. The target was perch and we decided to fish the Forth and Clyde canal for the first time in the hope of finding our stripey adversaries. We decided to explore the stretch of canal starting at the Falkirk Wheel. Whilst I drove, Scott sorted us out with Scottish Federation for Coarse Angling membership which includes permits for both the Union and Forth & Clyde canals. This can be done online for the princely sum of £6 for the year, an absolute bargain! Further details here. After a short drive along the M9 and following the signs, we arrived to find the canal bathed in sunshine, making a mockery of the weather reports.

The Falkirk Wheel connects the Union Canal with the Forth & Clyde Canal via a rotating boat lift.

As the target was perch we went with our LRF gear. Scott used his Nories Rock Bottom Ultra Light rod and Daiwa Steez 2500 reel loaded with 6lb Sunline Rockfish and I went with my Graphite Leader Corto EX and Shimano Exage 3000 loaded with 8.5lb Daiwa Tournament. As pike are common in the canal we were using homemade lightweight wire traces.

The water clarity was surprisingly good in comparison with the Union Canal and it looked perfect. On the business end I rigged up a Berkley Gulp! 1" Minnow in Waermelon/Pearl on a 1.5g Crazyg HD jighead. With the water so clear we could see the lure working as it was retrieved. On the fifth cast I saw a shadow following , it suddenly accelerated and in a flash of dark green seized the lure! Pike on! It still surprises me how much my rod hoops over when you hook a fish but even though it bends at no point do you feel out of control. The fish tried to run against the curve of the rod but it soaked up all its attempts with its fantastic playing action and was safely chinned out by Scott.

Nice start to the session and the tourists were intrigued by it all too.

The Graphiteleader Corto EX, a real pleasure to catch small jacks with.

Not a big fish but great fun and after a couple of snaps was returned none the worse for meeting me. A couple of casts later and Scott exclaimed "Perch!". Two small perch had shadowed his lure on the retrieve and although neither of them looked too interested in his lure we were heartened to see our first perch in months!

We continued to work the lures, amongst passing tourists whilst being given some odd looks and being asked a few questions. About 10 minutes later Scott was into his first pike of the session. It was taken on a Duo Tetra Works Toto 42 in THN05 and was a perfectly formed tiny pike.  The smallest Scott has ever caught in fact. He really wanted the lure and had swallowed most of it so it took a bit of careful unhooking through the gill covers before he was released to terrorise the roach fry again without any photos being taken.

We continued to work up the canal I stuck with the Gulp Minnow and Scott tried a variety of lures in the hope we could tempt a Perch. We continued to catch little pike and we ended up with 4 each and about the same number of pike that threw the hook. Here are a few pics of our micro crocs.

Even small pike have a nasty set of razor sharp gnashers.

Gulp! Minnow claims another victim.

This Jack fell for Marukyu Power Isome, no species can resist!

They may be small but they're still beautiful.

I put Scott's success down to wearing my lucky hat. He says it's LRF skill alone!

This jack is small but the first pike Scott caught was even smaller!

Scott had his 4 pike on 4 different lures. His other three taking a large pink Marukyu Power Isome, a 2" Panic Minnow in Ghost Shad and a 2.25" Lake Fork Live Baby Shad in Golden Shiner.

Variety was the spice of pike for Scott.

We did see another perch, maybe about a pound, following Scott's Panic Minnow but he couldn't be tempted to bite. Soon it was time to leave which was hard to do as the mini pike had been great fun on the light gear! At least we know where there are some perch now and we hope to explore this stretch of water a bit more thoroughly in the future. There are some large pike in the canal too and a local angler we spoke to briefly very kindly gave us a few ideas on their location so we will have to target them as well on some heavier tackle!

Tight Lines, Schogsky.