The "Wanderer" returns...

Hi folks, well I was back down south in Wakefield for Easter and I managed to get another year's membership to Wakefield Angling Club.

This gave me access to fish the nearby canal and I spent two or three days fishing it mainly with dropshot techniques. I ended up having some great sport with perch up to 1 1/4 lbs, I also had 10 mini pike and a common bream weighing 4lb! I was dropshotting with various lures but the top three were:

3" tail section of Gulp Sandworm in natural colour

3" Fish Arrow Flash J split tail

2.5" Evergreen C4 shrimp

I knew there were some good bream present in the canal but I didn't think I had much chance of catching one on a lure, I was secretly hoping for a chub though. It was the thought of various coarse species that made me stick with the gulp sandworm as I have had some great coarse fish on it before. What I found interesting about the bream was that it struck just after a barge had gone past and the ship's passage had really kicked up a big cloud of sediment. I was working my lure slowly through the muddy water when I was walloped by a fish, which nearly wrenched the rod out of my hand such was the ferocity of the take.

I was sure it was a pike as it hit so hard, then tore off up the canal on a blistering run. When the fish breached the surface I was shocked to see a large and feisty bream which fought hard all the way to the bank. I have caught bream before with carp gear but never on LRF tackle and it really was excellent sport. I weighed the fish which came in at 4lbs a new PB as well as being my first lure caught bream.

The perch fishing was wonderfully consistent and although I only manged a couple of fish above 1lb it was really fun fishing.

I will be back for a chub later in the year I hope!

Here are a few pics from the sessions

Mini Pike were present...

And they liked Gulp sandworm...

Who ate all the pies?...

The fattest perch of the trip...

Evergreen C4 shrimp at work...

A nice size for a surprise...

The Bream took Gulp! Sandworm in natural colour...

As did the biggest perch of the trip...

Evergreen C4 shrimps were utterly devoured...

As were dropshotted Ecogear Aqua Bream Prawns...

They loved 3" Fish Arrow Flash J split tails too...

The weirdest catch goes to this swan mussel, I must have dropped my weight right into its shell, which promptly closed onto my weight!

I made a short film while I was there too and this time I had no problems with the editing software!

Tackle used -

Rod: GraphiteLeader Corto EX 7'9" 0.5-8gram Tubular tipped.

Reel: Shimano Technium 3000

Line: Pontoon Exteer braid PE. 1

Leader: 6lb Greylon Fluorocarbon

Thanks for watching!
Tight Lines
Jake

Back on the big Loch

Scott and I schedules managed to coincide for once and we arranged to meet up and head west to the big loch. I was on a mission to try some new lures and Scott was still chasing the elusive Ruffe.

An early start had us by the pier at the loch by 9am only to find the pier under  a foot of water! Luckily we had our waders on and Scott had extending legs on his seatbox so we set up in the wet on the pier.While we were setting up another angler joined us from his nearby camper van, it turns out we had talked via email about dropshotting, indeed he had caught some fine perch the day before and was looking forward to another crack at them.

We all quickly set up our gear and I went with my standard dropshot rig, 8lb fluro leader, #8 hook ,7g weight and I rigged a Lake Fork Live baby shad on the hook. Scott set up with maggot feeder tactics and was into roach within about 5 minutes.

Scott displays another nice roach

After about 25 minutes I still hadn't had a bite so I decided to swap lures and rigged up a 4" Z -Man Finesse Shadz in pearl white.

I hadn't had a chance to try the lure before so I was surprised at how good it looked when worked on a dropshot rig. Due to the buoyant nature of the lure I could really get the lure to shiver and shake with tiny twitches of the rod.

I began to work the same areas as before concentrating on the steep shelf into deeper water. I was concentrating on feeling the weight bumbling along the bottom as it followed the shelf up to shallower water when suddenly I felt nothing. A couple of turns of the handle and a flick of the wrist set the hook into a fish that had taken the lure and swam towards me, which was why I felt the absence of weight on the line. As I set the hooks the fish powered back down the shelf and I instantly knew it was a pike. I held the fish letting the rod do the work and it quickly suppressed the feisty jack with its fighting curve. As the pike rose up through the murky depths Scott readied the net  and I guided the pike into it.

It was a nice looking fish of around 3 to 4lb and while not a big fish for a pike it was great fun to catch on my light tackle. The last fish I had caught had been a blenny so it was very satisfying to catch a fish that was capable of putting a good bend in the rod.

I unhooked the fish and Scott helped me grab a couple of trophy shots before releasing the pike back to terrorise the local roach population.

Drop shotting a ZMan Finnesse shadZ did for this pike.

I carried on fishing , working various lures all around the area but the only action was coming from Scott and his never ending stream of pristine roach. The hours passed and the cold really started to hamper my fishing, luckily Jim magically produced some cups of tea followed by the worlds greatest bacon roll which manged to revive me somewhat. The weather grew darker and still us hardy dropshotters continued to blank.

Scott was still catching roach when he gave a shout and I looked to see his feeder rod with a good bend in it. Could the perch be making an appearance? As the fish rose up in the water I readied the net and was surprised to see a big Powan slipping into the welcoming landing net.

Scott was rather pleased with this lovely fish and quite rightly too, although we found it quite amusing that he had been trying to target one of the most prolific species in the loch only to catch one of the rarest!

Scott manged to catch a rare Powan,a nice size too!

Soon it had grown too dark too fish so we began to pack up, it had been a tough day for us all which really made me appreciate my solitary jack even more. As we drove back with the heater on full blast and the feeling returned to my extremities I couldn't help but feel excited for my next trip back to the big loch. I hope I can get back soon!

Tight Lines
Jake

Move over Rover...

My final session of 2013 turned out to be a trip to a new loch in search of perch and pike.
With no first mate available for the boat I had decided to do a bit of reconnaissance by shore to try and get an idea of how to tackle the venue on future trips. The drive to the loch seemed to take forever but eventually I reached the road that runs alongside it and found a place to park.

The weather was fairly grim and with the cold wind howling down the valley it meant using my ultra light gear was out of the question. Instead I went with my heavier set up; Shimano Yasei Red Dropshot rod, 20lb Sunline super PE braid, wire trace and on the business end I rigged up a baby Manns 1minus plug.

The wind was really ripping across the loch as I waded along the shore casting and working the plug. I battled the elements but to no avail and after a couple of hours I found myself at the top end of the loch with the wind roaring behind me. It had been a real struggle working the lures with the wind blowing across me as it kept catching the line and putting a big bow in it.

Finally with the wind behind me it meant I could keep in contact with the lure so I rigged up a 9.5cm Savage gear soft 4 play on a 7g 2/0 jighead. I waded round the top end of the loch jigging the lure along weed beds and likely looking spots but the crystal clear water was devoid of fish. After a while of wading and casting I came across a small burn flowing into the loch. The flow of the burn had made a small gravel spit that jutted out into the loch creating a nice steep ledge into deeper water. I made a couple of casts around the mouth of the burn then I worked the lure slowly along the drop off. This did the trick as the lure was seized by a pike and it put a fine bend in the rod as it powered off heading for cover. I quickly bullied it back towards me and as it got within a couple of rod lengths out it suddenly dived hard for the bottom whereupon everything went solid. I could see the fish flashing greenly deep in the water but I couldn't feel it through the rod. I tried applying pressure from different angles but I still couldn't feel or free the fish. I really wasn't sure what was going on so I poked the rod tip down towards the fish, I gave it a wiggle and the pike seemed to come free. The pike had manged to roll the trace around itself and it came in without fighting. What was surprising was that the pike was clutching a large tree branch in its jaws! It wasn't the biggest of of pike being about 4lbs but it was right up there for cleverness. I have witnessed chub and wrasse freeing the hook by biting onto roots and weed, magically transferring the hook from their mouth to the branch but never a pike.

The pike had grabbed a large mouthful of sticks.

Chompy the pike really didn't want to let go of the stick

I quickly untangled the fish from the trace and grabbed a picture. Getting the fish to release the stick was another story altogether. The pike hung onto it like a terrier with a bone and I began to wonder if its teeth had got stuck, but eventually it opened its mouth and released the stick before bolting for the depths at top speed.

The wind howled and I continued to fish on until I heard a loud crack followed by a splash. A large branch had snapped off the tree behind me and I decided to call time and head back before I got brained from flying branches.

All in all it was enough to show me that I certainly need to come back and spend a bit more time on this loch and I hope to take the boat for the next visit.

Tight Lines
Jake

Two freshwater targets evade capture once again.

I've had a couple more attempts to catch ruffe and also crucian carp recently. Earlier this month I went to Balmaha on the eastern shore of Loch Lomond with Jake. We split up and adopted two different approaches because we both wanted to catch different species. Jake was after big perch using lures and I was after the perch's little cousin the ruffe using maggots fished on a simple running ledger. I started in a small bay in the boat yard and Jake fished from one of the pontoons. Fishing was quite slow so we decided to move around to the opposite side of the bay. This didn't really improve things much and apart from some small perch, small roach and a single jack neither of us had caught what we were there for so after a while I decided to head along to the pier whilst Jake persevered in the bay.

Jake caught this jack on a Pink Candy Lake Fork Live Baby Shad fished on a drop shot rig.

When I got to the pier and dropped down my bait I got bites straight away and was soon catching lots of perch and roach. Whilst reeling one perch up a pike grabbed it and made good his escape with a free meal. I called Jake to tell him there were plenty of fish around and soon after he came along and joined me on the pier. Whilst I continued to catch plenty of fish Jake carried on fishing various lures and was having a frustrating time. This was made worse when a second much larger pike came up from the depths, attacked a roach I had hooked, missed and shot off back down to the bottom again, giving me quite a fright in the process. This prompted Jake to try and catch it and whilst he tried various different lures and retrieves without managing to tempt it I carried on catching perch and roach hoping that a ruffe might come along and take my bait instead but it didn't happen. Just before we left I caught a roach that was a bit bigger than the rest I'd had and it was in really lovely condition with bright orange eyes and fins.

I admire one of the nicest looking roaches I've ever caught.

So we headed home both quite frustrated, Jake by the lack of big perch and failing to tempt the big pike and me by the ruffe, supposedly the most common species in the loch, having eluded me once again. I shall just have to keep trying to catch the little buggers!

Today I headed up to Orchill Coarse Fishery to try for crucian carp again. I fished the snake pond and after making up some groundbait and tossing in a few balls in front of the reeds that line the opposite bank, I started fishing maggot over it using a float ledger setup. It wasn't too long before I started catching fish.

A lovely little mirror carp in nice condition was the first fish to take my bait. Maybe a ghost carp?

I had several small common carp too. Some of them looked like they could be ghost carp too.

I caught a few small perch, roach and bream too. This little "ghost perch" had rather odd large bug eyes!

A very dark and beautifully scaled mirror carp was the last fish of the session.

All in all I had a most enjoyable day and whilst I didn't get a crucian carp, which would have seen me beat last years species tally, the feisty little common and mirror carp were a lot of fun and it's a venue I'll be returning to in the future for sure.

Tight lines, Hutch. 

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.

Wakefield wanderer.

About a week ago I headed down to Wakefield in West Yorkshire to visit my in-laws. Normally when I go down to visit I tend to fill the car with carp gear and go carping. This year though I decided to leave the vast amount of carp gear and just take my lure fishing kit in the hope of fishing some of the canals and still waters. As it was a family based holiday the lure fishing gear gives me the chance to pop out to the canal whenever I get an hour or two free from fatherly duties! After we had arrived and got the kids settled my first port of call was to join Wakefield Angling Club. For £32 a year this gives access to miles of the river Calder, the Calder and Hebble Navigation Canal and to loads of other still water fisheries, a bargain if you ask me!

The first day saw me pop down to the nearest stretch of canal and have a wander about. I was really hoping to find some chub as they are supposedly quite prevalent on the canal. With this in mind I went with a simple dropshot approach 5g weight, #8 Owner offset worm hook rigged with a 2" tail section of natural coloured Gulp! Sandworm. A couple of hours wandering and searching saw me hook up with one of the fattest little perch I have ever caught! It measured 25cm on the lure forum ruler and wasn't far off that in girth. Still it was my first perch this year and a blank saver!

My first Perch of 2013.

Fat as a pig!

Next couple of days saw me visiting the stretch of canal a bit more still searching for chub. I tried various approaches with the lures and had a couple of bites on a Cultiva Ring Kick Tail but didn't manage to hook up. A short while later I was bouncing the gulp sandworm section about near some overhanging trees  when I had a large bite and a heavy fish started shaking its head. As it rose up in the water I could see it was a nice sized pike. It tried to make a run or two but was quickly on the surface ready to come in. It was not a well fish and its sides were all scraped and marked and its tail fins and anal fins had fungal growths on them. It probably weighed about seven pounds but I really didn't want to cause the fish any more stress and after a quick photo on the ruler I slipped it back. Typical of the pike to take the worm when previously I had been over the stretch with pike lures It was a good job it had been hooked in the scissors as I don't think my 8lb fluro leader would have lasted long. My mate Jamie joined me soon after and again we fished up and down the canal with pike lures and perch/chub lures but no fish at all. The only thing that happened was that I managed to leave my lure forum ruler on the bank and when I went back of course someone had taken it, gutted!

An accidental capture, this pike was in terrible condition. I hope it recovers.

Jamie casts towards the overhanging trees searching for pike.

Day four and I had permission to take the day and go and fish one of the lagoons in Horbury. My Wakefield Angling Club members book states there are some big pike in the lagoon and that there were no restrictions on lure fishing, so needing no further encouragement I headed down. I met up with Jamie again who had also got a season book and we checked out the biggest of the lagoons. It looked good, clear water, reed lined bays with a steep drop off into deep water about eight foot out, perfect pike habitat! Jamie and I set about working lures around overhanging trees and along the drop offs. I decided to go big so went with a 7" Slug-Go rigged weedless with a 1g Decoy shot on the hook shank to allow the lure to get deeper faster. After an hour or so wandering and working the lure with no action I decided to break out the LRF gear to see if there were any perch about. I rigged up a dropshot rig with a #8 offset worm hook and 7g weight to which I rigged a tail section of Gulp! Sandworm. It took about half an hour to get some action in the form of a small perch, all be it on a section of earthworm!

Battle scarred, it looks like this perch has suffered a big injury in the past

Now I had established there were perch about I decided to try and cover both the perch and the pike by rigging up a Fungus Roach  9.5cm Savage Gear Soft 4play on a 7g #2/0 jighead. I left Jamie valiantly fishing float tactics and lures and I boldly stated "the fish will be in that corner of the lake where the wind has been blowing" and off I went to test the theory! As I worked my way around the lake I met some other anglers carping. They hadn't managed any carp but had picked up a nice 6lb jack on a spinner. After a brief chat I carried on working my way round to the bay facing the wind.

Eventually I made it to the bay and although I had fished all around the lake to get there I still hadn't had a touch. Standing atop a pile of large boulders I cast out into the wind and allowed the lure to sink deep. Once the lure touched the lake bed I would jig it up with a couple of sharp jerks of the rod and allow it to fall back down. In essence it was a very slow sink and draw retrieve only with extra twitches and jerks thrown in to make the lure flicker like a dying roach. When the lure was about thirty feet in front of me a felt a good bite so I dropped the rod tip and took up the slack line before striking into the fish. When fishing soft lures with single hooks its better not to strike straight away, I find that when you drop the rod tip and give them a bit of slack it encourages them to take the lure properly into their mouths. The pause between the bite and striking is only about one or two seconds but it makes all the difference! Anyway, fish on and the fight began with the fish boring deep with a powerful run. As I was quite high up above the water this made the fight a fairly vertical one and the majority of the time it was just a question of holding the fish in the fighting curve as it repeatedly tried to dive. As the fight progressed I could see it was a nice sized pike and eventually she was in the net! I clambered back over the rocks and found some nice soft wet reeds at the waters edge where I could lay the pike safely for unhooking. It was a nice conditioned fish and weighed 8.5lbs, my biggest pike this year and a great result for my first time on the lagoon. The carp angler I had spoken to earlier made his way over to see what I had caught and very kindly took a couple of photos of me with the pike before I slipped her back.

I like the textures in this photo,if only I could of got it focused better!

The 9.5cm Soft 4Play lure proved irresistible to this pike.

My second pike this year weighing in at 8.5lb.

That about wrapped up the fishing for the day and although we carried on for a couple of hours there was no more action. All in all it was an interesting trip and really great to get to know some new waters and with Jamie also learning the lakes I know that when I go back he will have found a few more places for us to fish. As always I can't wait to do it again!

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.