Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 2063 Location: North Somerset
Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2020 11:45 am Post subject:
I had another trip on Sunday to try for a zander, this time further up near Gloucester. It turned into a bit of a comedy of errors though. Firstly there was a massive downpour just as I was walking from my car so I was a bit damp and cold the whole session. Then when I reached my first mark I realised that I had left my clippers and pliers in the car so had nothing on me to trim my leader or wire trace. I made do, but wasn’t 100% confident with my setup which is never a good thing.
I spent a couple of hours walking between likely marks and bumping a weedless creature bait along the bottom, but didn’t have a sniff from anything with fins, although very nearly caught a seagull. I then tried a spinner and promptly lost it on a snag, tied on another spinner and promptly lost that when the 20lb braid that is less than a year old parted while casting.
Feeling more than a bit frustrated I walked back to the car and re-kitted completely before a final 45 mins before dark at the road bridge. The chap fishing for bream with a pole said that it was one of the best spots on the canal and you can catch a perch a cast in the summer evenings. He even had an 8 pound zander on a lob worm a couple of months back. Maybe I should be tipping my lures with a worm or piece of prawn!
Today I spent a few hours fishing the dropshot on two different sections of canal that have been VERY hard over the last couple of weeks. The plan was to see if anything would bite and the answer was no until I put a real worm on the hook. I then caught some small perch but nothing else.
I always find if I fish with a real worm it seems to get the perch feeding and they will then take a plastic dropshot lure.
My gut feeling is the perch are also in lockdown
P _________________ Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.
Jan 2021.
I can not go to Farmoor and in the current weather I am not sure I want to go.
But I thought I would have one last go before the lock down and the chance that there may not be any fishing.
Here is a quick video, look out for the home tied crayfish jig.
Joined: 24 Apr 2008 Posts: 2063 Location: North Somerset
Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2021 4:00 pm Post subject:
Nice vid! I like your crayfish jig. I'm sure giving them something a bit different on a hard fished stretch of water is a good tactic.
How deep is the canal on that stretch?
I'm a bit gutted about lockdown. I just found out about a free stretch of canal/river near my house that you can only access by paddling down river and that next to no-ne fishes. It will still be there when we come out of lockdown
Most of the Grand Union around my way never seems to be deeper than five foot but can be a lot deeper by lock gates. When in the kayak with the fish finder the average in the middle is four to five feet. The edges can be as shallow as six inches to four foot. When I tipped the kayak over I of course chose one of the deeper sections
I will be tying some more of those cray jigs, cheap, cheerful and works.
P _________________ Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.
Yesterday, I went exploring a section of the GUC between Watford and the M25. Yes very picturesque.
It is a section that has a good flow of water as the river Gade goes in and out and there is a pumping station outflow.
I took the ultra-light outfit as it was going to be a “long walk with fishing rod”. I thought it would be hard work catching fish and it was. But as the water was very clear it gave me a chance to study the lure action in the margin.
I did snag something, at first it seemed like a long length of line which was attached to a bush on the far bank. I gave it a long slow pull and it came free and I won a brand new Rapala lure for my trouble.
P
[/img] _________________ Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.
Yes, and there is the question???? the line stretched the width of the canal, the lure was not stuck tight so why the break off???
Incompetence maybe
P _________________ Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.
When you have too much time on your hands thoughts wander, mine went back to 2019 and catching Bass in Vermont on the fly.
The fly they seemed to like at the time was a Pat's Rubber Legs, so I came up with this to try to see what the Perch think.
The pic is a bit out of focust as I took it with my phone
[img][/img] _________________ Floating Lines, buzzers, nymphs, stick floats, maggots and throwing lures at bitey things.
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