Garfish and pike, two species that, from a design perspective, are very similar. They both have long slim bodies, are aggressive predators with mouths full of teeth and they are exciting sport on lures. If only the gar grew to pike sizes! In the last month I have mostly focused on these two fish, with varying degrees of success! We'll start with the day that was much less successful for me, but was a personal best for Ellie.
Exeter canal always captures my imagination. It is not an easy water. It's quite likely one of the most highly pressured pike venues in the South West. But that's for a reason, the place always throws up twenty pound plus pike every year. If you live down this way, it's impossible to resist.
Me and Ellie met up with Adam one morning, to fish the Turf Locks end of the canal, my favourite stretch. It's deep and quite awkward fishing at times, mainly due to the warm autumn not killing off summer's weed and bank vegetation growth. There were still many areas completely unfishable due to excessive surface weed, so we were slightly limited. That didn't stop Ellie though, who soon had a fish on only a few metres from where we parked. Though it was no monster it fought gallantly, diving into cover at every opportunity, Ellie could not hide her excitement as I scooped it into the net. Her previous biggest pike was little over a pound so this fish was a new personal best, weighing in at just over three.
So it was a good start. Ellie kept up the strong form only fifteen minutes later where she just missed another slightly bigger fish. Adam soon had a Jack of his own and the pressure turned on me to catch. I had a couple of near misses with a small fish then a much larger girl that took more weed than my lure unfortunately, leaving me to blank. But Ellie's best moment was to come. In the deeper waters of the marina she decided to use her Savage Gear Spinnerbait, her favourite lure, mainly due to the way it feels as the blades vibrate the line on the retrieve. On the first cast in a new spot she had a fish, larger this time. Again, the fight was superb, these autumn fish have so much more energy than when you catch them in deep winter. A few hairy moments aside, Ellie played it well and although it wasn't quite as big as we hoped, at just under six pounds it was a fantastic fish for Ellie. We all hope for personal best fish when we set off in the morning, that day she landed two, and it was a pleasure to help her catch, although I got the deserved ripping for being the only one who blanked!
I had planned to have another go at the canal but work had other plans, so with only the morning free I joined Maurice on a short local LRF session. I'm glad I did because the weather was glorious and so was the fishing. We arrived at Millbay to find it out of action, the giant mound of earth that worked as as a wind break was being demolished (shame!), so to West Hoe Pier we went.
I had fished it recently with Olly on low water, after garfish with the traditional float fished mackerel strip, I had hooked a couple but quite typically they shook the hook. This time me and Maurice were using small jigheads with various soft lures. We had plenty of hits, knowing the gar were there in force, it was exciting if not slightly frustrating. The experience of Maurice soon showed as he raced into the lead with both a gar and a mackerel in quick succession. His secret was to stop reeling once you had the first hit, then strike after a second or so. The theory being that the gar stun the fish first then eat them on the second go. This technique, combined with the switch to an Ecogear Aqua Shirasu lure was the game changer for me, as I landed my first ever lure caught garfish and forty eighth species of the year.
We had great fun in the sunshine watching these bizarre looking fish chase and harry the lures right to the wall. We lost so many more than we caught but it didn't matter. These fish do everything, they jump, they dive, they head-shake, they are just excellent sport on LRF tackle. I will say though that they are awful smelling, and shed their scales easily, so try to handle them carefully and bring a rag with you when fishing for them.
Adam joined us for the last hour as we moved onto targeting the bottom dwelling species. I quickly caught a goldsinny but again Maurice showed his nous. Switching onto dropshot he had a corkwring, tompot blennies and his own goldsinny. It was a real pleasure fishing with him properly for the first time, he's full of interesting knowledge and tactics, and modest with it. LRF might look strange to some people (angler's included!), but the way it has got me fishing with new people, in new ways, cannot be understated in it's importance to me. It's a great hobby to be a part of.
I went down the next day with Ellie, to see if she could get a gar too, but the wind was up and it was difficult fishing. I managed to get one bigger gar that put up quite probably the best fight I've ever had from a fish of it's size. It went ballistic! Stripping line from my reel for fun, I thought it was a decent mackerel, so I was impressed to see what it really was when I got it to the surface. Having a small audience of passers-by made it all more fun. A few people having never seen a garfish before. We left soon after though as the wind proved impossible to cast into.
After one more blank on the canal, terrible weather cutting my session short. I was in the mood for easier fishing and Olly was too. We decided on Simpson Valley, with a view to catch trout and then try for pike. I like Simpson Valley and the people who run it, but sometimes it can be a little uninspiring. Though myself and Olly caught a few trout, giving excellent fights as always, there's only so many times you can catch similar sized fish again and again, with the chance of a bigger fish unlikely. We moved onto Upper Fuzzy, where last year I had caught a seventeen pound pike. Unfortunately the lake was mostly taken up with carp angler's so our fishing was limited. I still managed two pike but both were small. We cut the trip short and went to see Robbie at a different venue instead, where he managed to catch a nice perch of just under two pound.
I had the next day off too and fished Bake Lakes with Ellie. Trying out deadbaiting for eels. The eels didn't show but I did manage to catch a few decent carp by freelining Power Isome on the surface amongst floating casters. The thrill when you see the carp slurp down the imitation worm then strike is fantastic. Three to four pound carp give such a great account of themselves on LRF tackle too. After that short session we headed off to get some food.
During the whole of November is the Osborne & Cragg LRF Lure competition. With this in mind I will be trying to write shorter blogs, but more often to cover where I'm fishing and sharing hints and tips for various marks and harbours that I fish. Hopefully you will join me with this and hopefully I can catch some new species along the way.
Totals after that are:
Ben - 48 Species - Perch, Roach, Gudgeon, Rudd, Bream/Roach hybrid, Mirror Carp, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Common Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Common Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Crucian Carp, Sand Smelt, Giant Goby, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Bull Huss, European Eel, Topknot, Common Minnow, Three Spined Stickleback, Sea Bass, Mackerel, Bronze Bream, Whiting, Dragonet, Brown Trout, Koi Carp, Scad, Pouting, Couches Bream, Herring, Thick Lipped Mullet, Chub, Dace, Bleak & Garfish
Olly - 34 Species - Perch, Rainbow Trout, Pike, Rudd, Roach, Mirror Carp, Common Carp, Pollock, Ballan Wrasse, Goldsinny Wrasse, Common Blenny, Shore Rockling, Corkwring Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Sea Bass, Giant Goby, Bull Huss, Gudgeon, Crucian Carp, European Eel, Ghost Carp, Poor Cod, Mackerel, Scad, Couches Bream, Conger Eel, Rock Goby, Tompot Blenny, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Minnow, Bleak & Garfish
Ellie - 25 Species - Golden Rudd, Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Perch, Pike, Corkwring Wrasse, Pollock, Mirror Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Tompot Blenny, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Ballan Wrasse, Common Blenny, Golden Tench, Golden Orfe, Bronze Bream, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Giant Goby, Bull Huss, Three Spined Stickleback, Mackerel & Sea Bass
Shane - 17 Species - Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Crucian Carp, Pollock, Shore Rockling, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Roach, Bull Huss, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Blenny, Mackerel, Giant Goby, Dace, Bleak & Minnow
Will - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Pike, Tompot Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Common Goby, Ballan Wrasse, Dogfish, Golden Rudd, Golden Tench & Golden Orfe
Robbie - 14 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock, Mackerel & Thick Lipped Mullet
Head over to www.fishingtails.co.uk for quality articles and fishing reports.
Exeter canal always captures my imagination. It is not an easy water. It's quite likely one of the most highly pressured pike venues in the South West. But that's for a reason, the place always throws up twenty pound plus pike every year. If you live down this way, it's impossible to resist.
Me and Ellie met up with Adam one morning, to fish the Turf Locks end of the canal, my favourite stretch. It's deep and quite awkward fishing at times, mainly due to the warm autumn not killing off summer's weed and bank vegetation growth. There were still many areas completely unfishable due to excessive surface weed, so we were slightly limited. That didn't stop Ellie though, who soon had a fish on only a few metres from where we parked. Though it was no monster it fought gallantly, diving into cover at every opportunity, Ellie could not hide her excitement as I scooped it into the net. Her previous biggest pike was little over a pound so this fish was a new personal best, weighing in at just over three.
So it was a good start. Ellie kept up the strong form only fifteen minutes later where she just missed another slightly bigger fish. Adam soon had a Jack of his own and the pressure turned on me to catch. I had a couple of near misses with a small fish then a much larger girl that took more weed than my lure unfortunately, leaving me to blank. But Ellie's best moment was to come. In the deeper waters of the marina she decided to use her Savage Gear Spinnerbait, her favourite lure, mainly due to the way it feels as the blades vibrate the line on the retrieve. On the first cast in a new spot she had a fish, larger this time. Again, the fight was superb, these autumn fish have so much more energy than when you catch them in deep winter. A few hairy moments aside, Ellie played it well and although it wasn't quite as big as we hoped, at just under six pounds it was a fantastic fish for Ellie. We all hope for personal best fish when we set off in the morning, that day she landed two, and it was a pleasure to help her catch, although I got the deserved ripping for being the only one who blanked!
I had planned to have another go at the canal but work had other plans, so with only the morning free I joined Maurice on a short local LRF session. I'm glad I did because the weather was glorious and so was the fishing. We arrived at Millbay to find it out of action, the giant mound of earth that worked as as a wind break was being demolished (shame!), so to West Hoe Pier we went.
I had fished it recently with Olly on low water, after garfish with the traditional float fished mackerel strip, I had hooked a couple but quite typically they shook the hook. This time me and Maurice were using small jigheads with various soft lures. We had plenty of hits, knowing the gar were there in force, it was exciting if not slightly frustrating. The experience of Maurice soon showed as he raced into the lead with both a gar and a mackerel in quick succession. His secret was to stop reeling once you had the first hit, then strike after a second or so. The theory being that the gar stun the fish first then eat them on the second go. This technique, combined with the switch to an Ecogear Aqua Shirasu lure was the game changer for me, as I landed my first ever lure caught garfish and forty eighth species of the year.
We had great fun in the sunshine watching these bizarre looking fish chase and harry the lures right to the wall. We lost so many more than we caught but it didn't matter. These fish do everything, they jump, they dive, they head-shake, they are just excellent sport on LRF tackle. I will say though that they are awful smelling, and shed their scales easily, so try to handle them carefully and bring a rag with you when fishing for them.
Adam joined us for the last hour as we moved onto targeting the bottom dwelling species. I quickly caught a goldsinny but again Maurice showed his nous. Switching onto dropshot he had a corkwring, tompot blennies and his own goldsinny. It was a real pleasure fishing with him properly for the first time, he's full of interesting knowledge and tactics, and modest with it. LRF might look strange to some people (angler's included!), but the way it has got me fishing with new people, in new ways, cannot be understated in it's importance to me. It's a great hobby to be a part of.
I went down the next day with Ellie, to see if she could get a gar too, but the wind was up and it was difficult fishing. I managed to get one bigger gar that put up quite probably the best fight I've ever had from a fish of it's size. It went ballistic! Stripping line from my reel for fun, I thought it was a decent mackerel, so I was impressed to see what it really was when I got it to the surface. Having a small audience of passers-by made it all more fun. A few people having never seen a garfish before. We left soon after though as the wind proved impossible to cast into.
After one more blank on the canal, terrible weather cutting my session short. I was in the mood for easier fishing and Olly was too. We decided on Simpson Valley, with a view to catch trout and then try for pike. I like Simpson Valley and the people who run it, but sometimes it can be a little uninspiring. Though myself and Olly caught a few trout, giving excellent fights as always, there's only so many times you can catch similar sized fish again and again, with the chance of a bigger fish unlikely. We moved onto Upper Fuzzy, where last year I had caught a seventeen pound pike. Unfortunately the lake was mostly taken up with carp angler's so our fishing was limited. I still managed two pike but both were small. We cut the trip short and went to see Robbie at a different venue instead, where he managed to catch a nice perch of just under two pound.
I had the next day off too and fished Bake Lakes with Ellie. Trying out deadbaiting for eels. The eels didn't show but I did manage to catch a few decent carp by freelining Power Isome on the surface amongst floating casters. The thrill when you see the carp slurp down the imitation worm then strike is fantastic. Three to four pound carp give such a great account of themselves on LRF tackle too. After that short session we headed off to get some food.
During the whole of November is the Osborne & Cragg LRF Lure competition. With this in mind I will be trying to write shorter blogs, but more often to cover where I'm fishing and sharing hints and tips for various marks and harbours that I fish. Hopefully you will join me with this and hopefully I can catch some new species along the way.
Totals after that are:
Ben - 48 Species - Perch, Roach, Gudgeon, Rudd, Bream/Roach hybrid, Mirror Carp, Pike, Rainbow Trout, Common Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Tompot Blenny, Ballan Wrasse, Rock Goby, Common Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Pollock, Goldsinny Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Golden Orfe, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Crucian Carp, Sand Smelt, Giant Goby, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Bull Huss, European Eel, Topknot, Common Minnow, Three Spined Stickleback, Sea Bass, Mackerel, Bronze Bream, Whiting, Dragonet, Brown Trout, Koi Carp, Scad, Pouting, Couches Bream, Herring, Thick Lipped Mullet, Chub, Dace, Bleak & Garfish
Olly - 34 Species - Perch, Rainbow Trout, Pike, Rudd, Roach, Mirror Carp, Common Carp, Pollock, Ballan Wrasse, Goldsinny Wrasse, Common Blenny, Shore Rockling, Corkwring Wrasse, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Golden Tench, Sea Bass, Giant Goby, Bull Huss, Gudgeon, Crucian Carp, European Eel, Ghost Carp, Poor Cod, Mackerel, Scad, Couches Bream, Conger Eel, Rock Goby, Tompot Blenny, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Minnow, Bleak & Garfish
Ellie - 25 Species - Golden Rudd, Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Perch, Pike, Corkwring Wrasse, Pollock, Mirror Carp, Ghost Carp, Black Goby, Tompot Blenny, Long Spined Sea Scorpion, Ballan Wrasse, Common Blenny, Golden Tench, Golden Orfe, Bronze Bream, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Giant Goby, Bull Huss, Three Spined Stickleback, Mackerel & Sea Bass
Shane - 17 Species - Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Crucian Carp, Pollock, Shore Rockling, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Roach, Bull Huss, Lesser-Spotted Dogfish, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Blenny, Mackerel, Giant Goby, Dace, Bleak & Minnow
Will - 14 Species - Rudd, Roach, Gudgeon, Pike, Tompot Blenny, Corkwring Wrasse, Common Carp, Mirror Carp, Common Goby, Ballan Wrasse, Dogfish, Golden Rudd, Golden Tench & Golden Orfe
Robbie - 14 Species - Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach, Rudd, Eel, Ballan Wrasse, Topknot, Crucian Carp, Common Carp, Golden Rudd, Blue Orfe, Pollock, Mackerel & Thick Lipped Mullet
Head over to www.fishingtails.co.uk for quality articles and fishing reports.
As always, thanks for reading
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