The Complete Fisher Forum

[BristolFlyer]

My mate just got back from a week fishing remote hill lochs and rivers in the middle of nowhere in Scotland. They go every year and usually get a lunker or two. This year the weather was particularly bad but the big brown trout were in an aggressive mood. They had four fish over 6lbs from the river, with this one being the best one by far. He also had an 11 pound salmon but his phone was too wet for a pic.

[BristolFlyer]

First diary entry for a long time. I’ve not done any trout fishing lately with all the warm weather but have been having fun chasing perch in my local canals and rivers and trying for bass and pollock from the rocks in S Devon and Cornwall. I'm almost an Allrounder these days I’ve caught quite a few perch fishing mini jigs, but they are certainly on the small side compared to the bruisers I’ve had as ‘bycatch’ on Chew while trying for a big Autumn brownie. Although they have been caught up to 3lb 7oz from my local canal, my biggest has been more like 7oz! I will have a whole new respect for the Chew stripeys if I can catch a couple in the Autumn!

Which brings me to the sea fishing. I really enjoy rock hopping and fishing small lures in the gullies and inlets but it seems to be very tide dependant and sport dries up when the tide drops too much. A bit of a pain when I have driven over an hour for a session! To extend my sessions and for a bit of adventure I recently bought a proper fishing kayak that I can use confidently in the sea. It is an Ocean Prowler Ultra 4.3 for those that know care about these things. It is a big beast and a bit tricky to get on the roof of the van, but it handles beautifully on the water. I took it out on Saturday on Bristol harbour to test the fish finder. With all the detritus in the water it took a while to get the settings right, but when I decreased the sensitivity to only show big fish then I started getting a much clearer display and saw a couple of really solid fish deep down. They were probably carp as there seemed to be three or four together, but I also saw a couple of single fish in shallower water near the moored boats. There are pike, perch, bream and mullet in the harbour but I think only pike would grow big enough to show up on the big fish setting.

I’m itching to get out on the sea now, but off to France tomorrow on a family holiday so that will have to wait. I will hopefully get a an hour here and there fishing for perch on the local lakes, but with the very warm weather they have had recently the perch are probably going to be deep and hard to tempt. I will report back..

[BristolFlyer]

Just back from a couple of weeks in France. Apart from everything being very expensive with the weak pound I enjoyed some cheap and very fun fishing with a light lure rod for perch and small pike. We were on the coast west of Bordeaux between the sea and a series of lakes and canals where we have been going for years, but which I only recently found out hold a very healthy population of coarse fish.

I had a couple of evening sessions roving the bank trying to find perch. I walked away from the marina and swimmers and looked for natural structure and overhanging trees, with absolutely no success! It was only when I went back to the marina and cast near the boats and next to the jetty that I started getting strikes. Lots of small perch up to about a pound and a couple of jack pike up to about three pounds. I hooked something much bigger but it buried me in the weed and I straightened the hook trying to pull it out. I saw much bigger perch under the jetties but they would follow behind their smaller brethren and wouldn’t hit the lure.

On one day I hired a kayak and had a fun session fishing the deeper water, drifting and casting and then vertical jigging, which meant I could see the perch follow the lure up out of the depths, but hardly ever take! I found a couple of guys in float tubes chucking huge lures for pike but didn’t see them catch anything. The big ones must be there though, and the lake is 18km long, so lots of potential.

I’m developing a bit of a crush on perch. They are pretty and plucky and quickly wise up that a particular lure isn’t edible. I had to keep chopping and changing to keep the strikes coming and found that the lightest 2g jig heads were the most successful. From fishing Chew I always thought perch would hit anything shiny, but these were a lot more fussy and preferred the more somber coloured soft plastics. I’m keen to expand my horizons a bit and try find some local venues that I can lure fish that hold a better stamp of fish. Cheddar reservoir and the Bristol Avon spring to mind. And I will definitely appreciate any perch I catch in the Autumn on Chew!

[BristolFlyer]

Still new to kayak fishing but really enjoying it and my knowledge grows with every session. I had three outings this weekend at Sidmouth, Lyme Regis and Exmouth. It was a bit blowy at Sidmouth on Saturday but I did some long drifts off the end of Chit Rocks and had a couple of follows from bass right up to the kayak, and one brief pull when I was trolling. With quite murky water they seemed to favour a lure with a rattle in it. I realised that I will definitely need a kayak drogue as it drifts much quicker than a boat when broadside to the wind.

Lyme Regis on Sunday in perfect still weather but the flip side of that was that every man with a boat was out. I suspect that some boats might have had booze on board considering the erratic driving! A bit stressful when you are in a small kayak and there are power boats bombing past every five minutes. I kept close inshore in the morning chasing bass with only a few follows from garfish, and then headed far out in the afternoon in search of the mackerel shoals. In the end all I caught was sunburn!

Exmouth on Monday and I tried trolling lures across the series of reefs between Exmouth and Sandy Bay. With an ebbing tide and water draining out of the estuary the bass apparently sit behind the reefs and wait for the current to bring them lunch. No action but I learnt a lot about how to handle the kayak and what not to do when your line gets tangled in your rudder!

Driving home in the evening I stopped to watch a guy land a good bass from the shore at the mouth of the estuary. That area is off limits to boats and kayaks but the mark is recorded in my memory for future reference!

[RogB]

Nice report and pictures BristolFlyer. I've been kayaking and lure fishing out from Teignmouth so not a million miles from your recent trips. Still don't catch much as the area is very busy! No mackerel yet this year which is a bit odd, and bass fishing is better from shore...

[RogB]

Hi,

Not sure if you are on AnglersAfloat forum but there is a longstanding member (Tfed) on there who has had a batch of kayak drogues made up - his description is

"Quality Kayak drogues for sale.
Brand new and extremely well made from lightweight ripstop nylon. Approximately 1m square with re-enforced webbing and stitching and they come with their own bag which could be utilised as a 3 dimensional safety flag.
Due to positive feedback on those sold and used already I’ve arranged for more to be made in orange (great too as a safety device to get yourself seen in an emergency) £22 collected from Portishead or £25 posted to UK post codes"

I don't have exactly one of these as I bought mine from KayakUk - Simon Everett but unfortunately he had a serious motorbike accident some years ago and stopped making them - I expect these new ones are very similar and hence should work really well as mine does.

Roger

[BristolFlyer]

[BristolFlyer]

After blanking on my last three kayak trips I thought it would be a good idea to fish some of the areas where I have had success from the shore. The thinking being that if I knew they are bass holding areas it would give me the confidence to keep making changes until I had success.

The marks are a long walk from the nearest car parking, but an even longer paddle from the nearest launch site. I had to be imaginative and lower my kayak down a grassy bank into a creek and then drag it across a mud flat to get it into the water. Even then I still had a good hour’s paddle against the tide but at least I was trolling so giving myself a chance. It seemed that my plan had worked when I had my first strike as I approached the first mark. Just a small schoolie but a blank saver! I carried on up the coast and in the next couple of hours I had ten more with two over 45cm and a bigger one lost as it thrashed next to the kayak and I was fiddling with my too-small trout net. I thought it was a clump seaweed at first as it came in like a wet sack until it saw the kayak and went ballistic.

Trolling about thirty yards from the rocks seemed to be the best method and I only had one fish casting up into the gullies. There was a bright sun overhead so maybe they were holding in deeper water until sunset. I didn’t have to switch lures at all in the end. They were happy to eat the Black/silver Yozuri Crystal Minnow, which I will probably use exclusively from now on.

No photos unfortunately as phone charge was low and I wanted to save it as I was in such a remote area. Remote enough that the couple on the cliff with not much on were rather surprised to see me paddle past.

[BristolFlyer]

I thought I would try something a bit different this year and set myself a species challenge. I thought 20 species across fresh and salt would be a reasonable target. By the end of April I was still on one (rainbow trout) so things weren’t looking positive. Luckily I have had a bit more luck since lockdown restrictions were eased a bit. 20 may still be challenging though. I might be targeting micro species like gudgeon and minnows later in the year!

Running list

Rainbow trout
Perch
Pike
Conger eel
Cod
Ballan wrasse
Bass
Mackerel
Pollack

[BristolFlyer]

Kicked the bass account off on Monday. Beach day with the family near Exmouth and I had a few hours in the kayak. I have never seen so many bass at one time. At one stage I was in the middle of a school that stretched a hundred yards in every direction all milling about on the surface feeding on tiny fish fry. I had 9 in all the favourite Crystal Minnow but mostly small so I left them alone to grow on

[RogB]

Great stuff - keep it coming. Hoping to get out from Teignmouth soon on the Kayak.

[Allrounder]

No mention of the biggest Mackeral you have ever seen?

Alan
_________________
Member of ...
The Angling Trust
BRFFA
B.A.S.S.
Pike Fly Fishing Association

If you see me on the bank, say hello... from a safe distance!

[BristolFlyer]

[BristolFlyer]

Well the species hunt isn't going so well even though I have had some excellent fishing. Just lots of the same species!

I missed out on the roach and rudd that have been taking nymphs on Chew, and it was the usual species from the kayak in Cornwall last weekend. I had a couple of good sessions off Gribbin Head with a PB bass that was double the size of my previous best, and another 2lb mackerel that took a 15cm plastic sand eel with a 4/0 hook!

Back to Cornwall tomorrow for a week on the Helford estuary so hopefully more to report. Dare I dream of a gilt head bream? Even a dogfish or ray would be good.