Session #15 Pike Fly Fishing on the RMC

I finally managed to meet Tony, another PFFA member, after ages of schedules not working out. I met up with him at about 6:30 on Saturday 15th May. We then drove to a section of the RMC he had tried previously and caught 2 pike of 12lbs and 14lbs. After parking up and setting up we hopped over the gate and started working our way along the bank. after about 30 minutes I had three follows of the fly in the same spot. I decided after about 15 minutes to move on and come back later.

We headed even further along the bank until the point that it would be impossible to land a fish let-a-lone return it. We headed back to one of the bends in the canal and Tony started casting whilst I headed back to the area I had seen my pike. I was trying to remember exactly where it was as it looked pretty much the same everywhere. 

Some minutes later I heard  Tony shout and he had one on. I pegged it up the bank to help out, not that it was needed. He had landed a 3.5lb jack.

Tony's Jack

Releasing the prize

Not long after I located my spot and tried my original fly and saw no movement. I poped on a PikeTrek second and with in 5 casts the pike appeared again and took the fly down. I shout for tony who had the net and he pegged it across the field to me to help me land it.

I started to try and unhook it, but wasn't confident enough so Tony was kind enough to do it for me.

Tony unhooking my Pike

This Pike was 3.5lbs also, but Tony insists his was bigger, not too sure about that though...

We headed back to the bridge and over the road to the other side of the bridge. We fished for a bit over here but saw no movement, but did  find catapillars on the nettles in the hundreds:

Hungry little fellas's

We headed back to the car at about 11:30 and chatted to a couple of fishermen by the bridge about the area which was useful.

All in all a very very good mornign for me as I broke my bad run of blanks and also broke the no Pike run too. Cheers again Tony,

Here are the flies I used:

The mornings flies I used

Top Fly is a PikeTrek 2nd which I caught the pike on

Bottom fly is a self tied pattern which got the initial attention

PFFA Chew Valley Event 20th/21st March 2010 (Session #6, #7 Pike)

I had a couple of purposes for this weekend:

1. Catch a Pike
2. Learn how to handle
3. Any info/tips I could pick up along the way (Thanks to Steve and Dave for their input)

The Venue:

Friday 19th March
I started work at 7AM in Bromley with the car loaded with gear ready for the weekends fun. I was supposed to finish at 3, but due to all hell breaking loose at work I got out 45 minutes later, although not much later, I hit the Friday rush hour. after just over 4 hours I arrived at the Blue Bowl Inn. The place looked nice enough and was suitably surprised at my room. I had tried to arrange meeting up with James and Steve for a presession drink, so running late and my battery on the phone dying quickly I was glad to have arrived. Anyway, I got hold of James and he headed over to the Inn for a bevvy. I got hold of Steve also who seemingly got lost on the M6 toll road and was running very late. As we were chatting away in the bar, two slightly strange flella's were earwigging and one said "you with the PFFA?" We answered yes and it turned out to be Dave Smith and Guy Eldrige. We all started chatting and was good to meet a few more members before setting out in the morning.

Shortly after Ben from PikeTrek turned up and joined us for a drink, chatting about fishing and the company. I thought it nice to actually meet someone from the company I got my rod from. After a few pints everyone headed back for some sleep.

Saturday 20th March
It was an early rise for a good breakfast before heading off for the day. When I arrived at the lodge James was already there, as was Steve and Andy. Dave and Guy turned up about 5 minutes later, just before 9. After a meet and greet, we headed in and got the boats sorted.

The boat pairings:
Steve and myself
James and Andy
Guy and Dave

The lake:

We all headed of in in different directions with a positive feeling. Myself and Steve headed to the entrance of Villace for a chuck and drifted a bit there, with no action. We headed around Nunnery and into the next big bay and fished along the northern bank. By this point Steve said it would be easier if we had an anchor in the boat to stop the drifting. It was alomost comedy timing as we noticed the bright orange buoy in the boat with an anchor on the end. Needless to say we put it to use. We continued to work the length of the north bank, Steve had a follow from a trout, but that was it from that bay. We also tried the very very calm quiet bay at the end of the larger bay, I hit the tree twice, but got my flies back with out snagging. Whilst lovely here it did not produce anything.

We moved over to south of Wick Green point. We fished our way along the reed banks at about 20 yards from the reeds casting in all directions, but again nothing. We continued on around the corner past Wick Green point and fished a few spots along the reeds there. In the last spot we were in I had a biggish flashabou self made creation on. I had just retrieved it to about 2 feet from the boat when all of a sudden a reasonable size Pike came from nowhere and went right over the top of the fly. It scared the be-jesus out of me, making me jump. I just wish the Pike had had better aim...

We stayed a bit longr but nothing more came of the area. We were both suffering for the long day in the oat and headed back to the lodge. We unloaded and met the other members.

The catches for the day:
Guy 4
Dave 3
James 1
Andy, Steve and Myself 0

We sorted out meeting up for a feeding over at the Seymour Arms in Blagdon, once freshed from the days sport. Andy headed off, which left 5 of us. We met up at the pub and had a good feed and drink, and discussed the days success's and failures. Steve turned up last after kind-heartedly rearranging a locals rockery for them. It was a really nice evening and a good chance to chat to everyone. All being slightly knackered, we headed off for sleep in preperation for day 2.

Sunday 21st March
Again, we met at the lodge and there was a slight alteration to the previous days boat partners. I didn't meet any of the extra 4 on Sunday.

The boat pairings:
Steve and Guy
James and Andy
Dave and Myself
Ben and Greg
Dave and John

Heading out to drift near the island:

Myself and Dave headed out south of the island and drifted towards it for a while. I loaded up my depth charge line and found this filled my rod a lot better than my intermediate and floating lines. This was to be the only line I used all day.

We then headed towards where I had seen my fish the previous day to give that a quick blast, no joy. We then headed along past Wick Green point to fish the reed banks I had the day before with Steve. It started quietly here and then Dave was on. It was a Jack of about 4 or so pounds and seemed very lazy when it came in. It was in the boat for under a minute whilst unhooked and then sent back to the depths, all 5 feet of them, although it went back just as lazily as it had come out. It was nice to see a Pike up close and handled quickly and safely.

A short time later on a back cast Dave hit into another fish. Again this was a lazy one that didn't fight very much. That was chinned and pulled up for a quick pic.

Fish two being unhooked in the net:


Fish two for Dave:

Once the net was packed away, Dave cast out the the front and BANG, into another fish. This one had a bit more scrap in it and was a good size.

Fish three for Dave:

A little time later Dave spotted some eggs on the oars and also the sling which meant that two of the fish were females as they came in on different sides of the boats.

We stayed along the same oatch in a few of the natural bays. It got to about 3PM and we moved on to try near the island again. We anchored up and moved again quite quickly in search of Guy and Steve. Once the tour of the lake was finished to track them down, we spotted them. We had heard that Ben had seen the Pike in Villace spawning aggresively, so we headed over there and James and Andy were on the edge of the bay already, so we all headed in. All spread out we started covering the water. I looke around and saw Guy hooked into something and Steve ready with a net. A few minutes later a single word echoed across the bay "YES!!!". Guy was a happy man. This turned out to be the 18lb beasty.

Myself and Dave decided that was it for the day and headed for the lodge. During the time we left the bay, Steve caught his first of the weekend. Shortly after that Guy and steve headed in and we packed up and headed home, leaving James and Andy in the bay.

Conclusion
It was great to put faces to names and meet a great bunch. And all in all I can't wait for the next meet I can get to. I learned a lot and found a few holes in my fly collection. That will be sorted shortly.

And lastly, Some people were never meant to take pictures, Dave Smith is one ;). I don't think any of us have seen such blurry images from a point and shoot camera, but then i guess thats why he fishes and not takes pictures...

Links:
Blue Bowl Inn
Seymour Arms
Chew Valley Lake

Session #5 (Pike) - PikeSaber's First Outting Session, Chichester Canal

Having bought the rod over a week ago today was the first chance I had to get out with it. I headed out to my usual haunt, the local canal.

Here she is...

I was using a #9 weight floating line due to the canal only being 3-7 feet deep. I was worried that the line might be a little too light for the rod and it did appear like that sometimes. There are a few areas where I can get a full cast going and the flies flew a lot further with a bit more line loaded into the rings. I think with a bit more room and some better casting from me this beasty will propell the flies great distances. The turn over I had from it was excellent and the flies that caused issues on my #8/9 rod have gone. It feels light and has a very comfortable grip and action. I am no expert by any means but the quality is felt in each cast.

I did manage to cast the last section into the canal but got it back, luckily the line did not snap. Note to self - put the bloody rod together properly or there'll be tears...

Here are the flies I tested out today with the rod:

Can't wait to try it out on the Chew Valley trip next weekend. I will report on it then as well.

Another Blank...

Was intending to pop out to the Chichester Canal Basin this morning at first light but the wind was too high to be safe down there, so back to bed. I headed out this afternoon though, wind had died a little and it was lovely out, albeit cold.

There were three aims to the session:
1) to catch something, anything
2) test out casting the new Orvis Depth Charge 300 line, which cast beautifully
and
3) to test out the new flies I tied. The ones I tied all looked great in the water and moved very well. I had used a strip of copper wire tied to the hook under the materials. They sank really well. (images at the bottom of the post)

Anyway, I fished a miles section of the canal and the waters were very murky from all the rain we have had. I had several pulls which sent the old heart racing, but that turned out to be under water debre from the January snows. Well that was the total excitement for the day.

I dod chat to another fishman and he explained where he had seen the pike before so I headed for those areas, but still no joy.

Here are the flies used today:

Decievers

Session #4A/B (Pike) - Lakeside, Chichester

As I have a 24 hour ticket for this site, day 1 is part A and day 2 is part B of this session

Part A
I fished in several of the lakes with varying flies and saw no action at all. Having spoken to the other fishermen there, they were also missing the vital purpose of being there... Fish!!

I was mainly letting the fly sink for up to a minute before pulling it in at all sorts of speeds and styles. I had a few tweeks on the line, but I think these were more likely underwater obsticles, not bites.

I will be heading back in the morning to see what I can do before 14:15, when my ticket runs out. Fingers crossed.

Part B
I headed back to the lakes around 9:30 to find that they had all frozen over. I was literally limited to one lake and of that there was only 4 swims i could actually cast in. I stayed for 2 hours with nothing taking a look at the fly. I did get to try out some of my creations and all in all they worked quite well in the water. But obviously not attractive enough to get the pike moving.

Well hopefully my next trip will be more successful...

Session #3 (Pike) - The Tree that broke the Tracers Back

I popped down to my local canal again for a quick 60 minute session. I tried out my ostrich feather creation and after a few adjustments it looked pretty good in the water.

I fished a 200 yard stretch this time. The water still mirky from the waters running in from the fields. I managed to cast for about 40 minutes with no joy and then caught a tree for my efforts. It was too high to grab so had to pull very very hard to get the fly back and then bang... the wire trace broke and the fly remained in the tree. After reelling in the line I only had to poke at the fly and it fell down. At £9 a pop, it's an expensive thing not to check.

So the morrel to this story is "check if you can get it, before yanking too hard..."

Session #2 - After the snow has gone

Headed out to the canal again today, slightly warmer than the last time, with a chance of rain. The water was murky from all the rain and melted snow running into the canal. I fished a 3/4 mile stretch casting several times every 20 yards differing speed and depth. But again, no fish.

Chatting to other fisherman out for the walk and not the fish, there wasn't anyone else fishing the canal. I tried out a couple of flies, but not even a sighting of the wolves. It will happen someday, I hope...

Session #1 - A Cold Start to the Year

I popped out to the local canal on Saturday 9th's afternoon for about an hour and it was too cold to stay for long. I didn't catch anything or see any fish, and not that many people to be honest. It was more of an exercise in testing newly tied flies which I will post as well soon.

Casting is quite hard there due to the width of the tow path, but with the snow loading the bushes down it was a lot easier. One tree was crossing the path so I didn't bother to go past that and so worked a 300 yard stretch of water to no avail.

The good news though was that the flies worked quite well although 1 was hard to cast.