Canal Pike & Slob Trout

The promise of Autumn pike for me is too hard to resist. It doesn't matter what size, I love them. So as a nice consequence of having to drive a lot of miles recently, I got to target them on two of my favourite waters - The Taunton and Exeter Canals, whilst also catching a few new species along the way.

Due to an early job interview in Weston-super-mare, I found myself with a free afternoon in Somerset. I don't often fish the area, but I really fancied having a go at the River Tone, knowing it had a real variety of species to target. I visited the local tackle shop and left full of verve and excitement for the afternoon ahead. It's worth saying how excellent they are in Taunton Angling Centre, very friendly and helpful with a good variety of stock, a real gem of a tackle shop, it certainly boosted my anticipation for the afternoon ahead. 

I arrived at the 'fast stretch', finding it to be a place of polar opposites: on one hand, it's a charming fast flowing river, absolutely stacked with fish; and on the other, it's a semi-urban walkway with all the character that comes with it. You park under a graffiti covered bridge (most of it actually quite decent, makes a change from 'swilly 4 lyfe' and pictures of dicks we have in Plymouth!), you then fish downstream past trolleys and, on this particular day, an inflatable banana! It's an unusual mix, making the fact I caught countless minnows (a famously clean river fish), all the more surprising. It was difficult to get away from them, but eventually my real target fish started to show, the always welcome chub and dace.

Tone dace have a real fight to them, plus a lovely dark hue compared to fish I've caught before, whilst the chub were classic snag searchers, though I didn't catch one big enough to really test me. I also caught bleak, a fish species I haven't caught since I was twelve years old, still as greedy as I remember them. Time flew by as I enjoyed the simple pleasure of stealthily approaching each swim, baiting up with maggots and trotting down it, all in the hope of a different species every time the float dipped under. The bigger chub, grayling and trout all avoided me, perhaps laughing at my amateur attempts at stealthily trotting. 

Pike were on my mind that day too though, as they often are, so I decided to use the last hour to fish the canal. I remained convinced that a shallow weedy canal would be an excellent place to use senko worms, something I was less convinced of by the time I left. Though I had two hits from pike, they seemed hesitant in their attack, something I put down to a lack of movement and attraction on the lure. The bug had hit me though and I was eager to get back on the canal to try again. 

I didn't have to wait long to be back in Taunton. With myself, Olly and Shane travelling up to Bristol to watch a gig, it would have been rude not to try it again. It also gave the guys a chance to catch a couple new species they'd never caught before. We briefly fished the Tone, Olly catching minnows and bleak, Shane catching those two plus a nice dace.

Then it was back on the canal to try for pike. With a lighter I had melted some old curl-tails onto a few of my senkos to boost attraction, it nearly paid rapid dividends as a large fish snapped at my lure in the opposite margin, weedless hooks require a firmer drag to set the hook though, something I had failed to remember. The excitement drained from me as the drag gave way and so did the hook hold. Still it was a start, we moved on whilst casting where the thick vegetation would allow us. The canal was crystal clear and weedy, becoming an aquarium and giving away a few secrets - like some fantastic looking perch and big shoals of roach. Every so often you would see tiny pike - little green crocodiles balancing the act of being both predator and prey.

We fished round and had little interest in our lures, whilst Olly seemed to be taking more interest in the opposite trees, so often was he losing tackle in them! I will give him the excuse of being hungover but he nearly gave up in a grump a few times. Luckily enough it was him who had the first fish, a classic canal jack of around a pound. I then followed his fish up with one of my own, a fish that leapt clear of the water twice, not coming to the net without a decent fight, but still only a modest fish. Shane lost one and then an almighty wind knot turned his braid into a bird's nest, signalling that we should probably head back.

As always though I wouldn't be satisfied without a better pike, a trait that usually gets me a last cast fish. This time was no different. I had moved on to my favourite Crazy Fish Vibro Worm in Motor Oil, rigged weedless on a one and a half gram bottom jig. It allowed me to fish tight in the margins without sinking into the weed or catching any along the way. I managed to sneak into an awkward spot that had a very promising margin to cast along. As the lure came into sight it was engulfed by a much better pike, my words were a very casual, 'that's a big pike', as the fish briefly stayed still. It obviously didn't think it had been hooked, but then it realised, proceeding to go ballistic. Pushing my new LRF rod to the maximum, the fish dived in every weed it could. I just held on tight and worked the angles to try and subdue it. After a brief tangle in the weed at my feet was solved by a shove by the net, the fish was ready. What a stunner it was too, pushing seven pounds, glorious greens and gold sparkling in the sunlight. A scar near it's tail confirmed my suspicions that this was the same fish I had caught previously in March, on the same stretch. It looked in much better health now though and had put on a bit of weight, fantastic to see and a great surprise. My appetite finely sated, we headed home.

My next short session (there is a theme here), was on the Plym again after mullet. The tide was excellent but the water clarity was not. It was dirty and heavily coloured. We couldn't find the mullet but I did catch a surprise brown trout on bread. Simon of Osborne and Cragg later informed me that it was a 'Slob' Trout. A trout that doesn't make the full transformation to sea trout, but instead feeds in the estuaries, never truly going out to sea, hence retaining its brown colouration. So that was a new one for me, but I unfortunately can't call it a new species.

Having to pick up Ellie from Exeter was an obvious chance to fish the canal. Since we only had a couple of hours, we fished the free section. It turned out to very entertaining, I had a fantastic tussle with a decent jack for couple of minutes, the light gear did not have the required backbone to bully it though, so it eventually wrapped my line round a sunken bramble bush, unhooking itself in the process.

I had two other pike hooked briefly but lost them, all in quite a short time. I then had a pleasant surprise in the form of a small perch. It had managed to hook itself somehow, even though the lure was almost the size of it! It was soon time to head home though so that small 'stripey' was my only catch of that session.

My most recent attempt on the Exeter Canal was another esox blank for me, but my fishing partner for the day, aka my Dad, was more lucky. A long lean jack smashing the lure I had recommended greedily. It was great to see him catch, he's blanked the last few times we've been out. Again this was only a short session (must actually free up a whole day soon), so we left soon after that. My highlight being when I hooked a much heavier fish, who shook the hook. I then changed lures and watched the same fish follow in twice without taking. She was a lovely looking predator, definitely a double, but you don't get to that size without seeing a few lures, she wasn't stupid and casually swam away.

Totals after that are:

Ben - 47 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

Olly - 33 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

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. 

  

Rainbows & Specimen Gudgeon

My last post waxed lyrical about the greed and the beauty of Perch, going as far to say they are the prettiest and greediest of fish in the UK. On Friday I reminded myself of a fish far bolder and arguably even better looking - The Rainbow Trout.
I have always preferred the classic wild Brown Trout to its magenta-hued American Cousin but there is no denying their attraction. They are lightening quick, acrobatic and just plain stunning to look at. A myriad of spots, silver and pink. Olly had never caught one before and I knew the perfect place to get him his first, Simpson Valley in Holsworthy.
Simpson Valley Fishery is a well run and progressive Fishery that caters to all aspects of freshwater lake fishing. They have all the classic Coarse species plus Large Pike and three species of Trout. Recently they had opened up a new Lure & Fly lake which has Trout, Perch & Pike in it. I had fished it before and had reasonable success, a couple of Rainbows and a couple of Jacks, nothing astounding but good fun. So on a damp but not particularly dreary Friday morning we made the trip from Plymouth to Holsworthy. I brought my two favourite set ups with me, my Lrf and my baitcaster. Fishing LRF style was my plan for most of the day and within 20 minutes I had a fish on. An exceptionally strong Rainbow that took a little Spoon. On the light rod it was a fantastic fight but it managed to fling the hook out as it leaped clear of the water. I wasn't disheartened as Olly had one on about 2 minutes later, that too throwing the hook near the end of the fight. That is the trouble with Barbless Hooks, much better for the fish but not so great for your catch rate. I quickly learned that you had to keep the line very tight to the fish during the fight, any run towards you or leap had to compensated with fast reeling and suitable drag. I had lost two fish before I landed my first, this fish wasn't large but put up a great account of itself on the light tackle. To Olly's amusement I managed to slip over on the mud mid fight, planting my arse on the soggy ground whilst trying to keep in contact with the fish. Luckily he stayed on and though wet and muddy I was a happy man with my first Rainbow of the year, taking me up to two species so far.

Me and Olly swapped lures and he was quickly in on the tiny spoon (Trout can't resist small flashing lures), his fish was slightly more subdued but was very interesting once we had it in the net. It quite obviously had survived a Pike attack, a bite mark from a fish of perhaps 5-6lbs was clearly on its side. Trout are incredibly agile and this one had showcased that. 

It did raise the question of how well the Pike are doing in the lake though? The Pike had been moved into the lake from a smaller cloudy one just down from it that was full of Coarse fish. They now found themselves in a crystal clear lake full of lightening fast Trout and the odd perch. It will be interesting to see how they fare in the future as the small Pike have extremely little to feed on and I can only imagine will end up as food for the larger girls who struggle to catch the Trout. With this in mind I used my baitcaster to fish both large Trout and Pike imitation lures to no avail. Perhaps they weren't in the mood, perhaps they wanted something else, either way I'm still yet to catch a Pike this year. I had two other Trout, one on a Fox Rage Mini Fry which has been my favourite lure so far this year, then we went home satisfied with a another fish species and some superb fights. 

On Saturday (seriously hungover from my Dad's 50th birthday celebrations) me, Will and Robbie made our way to our home ground - Bake Lakes. Planning to nail a few different species on float fished Maggot. Simple fishing for hungover minds. I was slightly late getting there and Will and Robbie had already had 2 species by then. Will, a couple of roach, Robbie, a roach and a Mirror Carp. His Soviet Headwear obviously working it's charm! 

I set up and quickly had a couple of small Roach plus a lovely bonus Hybrid Roach/Bream (which for the purpose of the Challenge we are counting as a different species). We stopped for a quick lunch break, headaches still in full effect. Then headed on to Luxor to get even more species. Feeding the swim with Red Maggot we soon had a feeding frenzy going on, with a fish a chuck. Will could barely get his bait in the water without some Roach or Rudd jumping on his hook! Then a magical moment for myself...  A specimen Gudgeon! We were in fits of laughter as we appreciated the monster at the end of my hook. 

In all seriousness a special fish for myself as I haven't caught one since I was a young boy and it was a little silver and blue flanked beauty! Will quickly followed mine up with one of his own, a brace of Specimens. We had numerous fish afterwards and it was a truly memorable way to spend a hangover. One where you are glad to be a Fisherman. 

The leaderboard after those two sessions is as follows: 

Ben - 7 species - Perch, Rainbow Trout, Roach, Rudd, Roach/Bream Hybrid, Common Carp & Gudgeon.

Robbie - 5 species - European Eel, Perch, Mirror Carp, Roach & Rudd.

Will - 3 species - Roach, Rudd & Gudgeon.

Olly - 2 species - Perch & Rainbow Trout.

Phil - 1 Species - Pike.