The final month I'm sure will drag endlessly but I'm certain if we put the hours bankside & a bit of luck we should net a few pb's
So this time round I've been craving my old faithful light lure rod rated at 1-8g, but with very few canals near me open at this time of year, a road trip would be needed.
So with a spare afternoon to waste it was time to give it a bash. A few messages sent out to a few "lure nuts" pals that live over that way, they passed on some valuable info, they explained after some very heavy rain the day before conditions could be tough.
It was very coloured water & pushing through quite a bit, almost the polar opposite to the norm....
Without much experience of this canal I doubted my sanity of driving the 3 hour 30 minutes round trip but as is mostly my case, my fishing time can be quite limited & this could possibly be the only chance to go in the next month.
With an overcast & warm day forcast I fancied my chances & hastily packed my car & set off about lunchtime.
Arriving at the canal it's looking decent, the water, although still coloured was defenetly fining down a bit.
It was certainly a case of blowing away the cobwebs as my first cast was made into a beautiful lock pool. I felt extremely rusty as I jiggled the rod in a vain attempt to give my grass minnow a bit of extra life.
Just as the lure came into view from the dark brown depths under my feet, I saw a submarine shaped fish just behind............ As expected my rustiness came to the for, I fluffed it, speeding up the retrieve & the fish just melted away to the deeper water.
Various other casts were made in the same area, all to no avail as my thoughts turned to what species was it ????
I was hard to see any kind of colour but the shape narrowed it down to just a couple of species....
Chub or trout ???
I know there are a few chub in this canal but they're by no means prolific at all.
I also knew there were a few rogue brownies & rainbows that no doubt found there way into the canal system via a quite a few floods over the last few years.
Either way I rued my chances as it was a rare fish, esp as it was a good 4lb+
I'm sure this missed chance stuck In my craw for the next 30 odd minutes as I walked over a mile without any signs of fish at all.
Finally I found a pocket of fish tight against the staging normally used for moring canal boats.
Not monsters at all but roughly between 3 & 7oz, my confidence grew that little bit more, like learning to ride a bike, you never forget but sometimes you need five minutes to get back in the swing of things.
With the rust firmly blown away I moved on to another lock with some fishy looking margins covered with tall reeds.
First few casts produced nowt but as I unintentionally held the dropshot weight at dead depth as I looked around for my next likey spot to cast my lure to.
Just as the lock was opened by a bloke ironically very much resembling captain Birdseye. But as the flow increased 10 fold, I felt the minnows paddle tail picking up the pace & twitching my sensitive rod tip.
Bang...... the tip zipped round before I had a chance to think about how appealing this might look underwater. A dogged & lively fight was short lived as I readied the net,
Then a flash of silver caught my eye as the net did its job, hard to believe but it was a nice little chub.
In fact it was my first ever chub on the DS !
Big old paddle on this young chub
With two possible sighting today maybe there are a few more lovely chub in this canal than I first thought.
Next cast just a touch further downstream I thought I'd try the same tactic once again, bingo.......
This felt slightly bigger & zoomed off for the nearside snags but 10 seconds later, with net deployed he was safely nestled in the wet grass by my side.
At last a perch, ok not the 3lb+ sized lump I was desperate to find but at 1lb that will do for now
Unluckily this new tactic didn't work a third time in this pool so a change of swim & lure was on the cards.
Last time on this canal the fox rage mini fry stood me in good stead so that's my next plan of action.
While I think of it I'm using a new hook & knot for my dropshoting
Kamasan B983 hooks that I've used for barbel many times before
A further few miles downstream walked with pockets of smaller perch landed it was an enjoyable afternoons fishing even if the bigger girls didn't show up.
I also bumped into a water vole, swimming from boat to boat
With a final tally of 15 perch & a chub
It was a pleasing few hours work.
But I think next time I should plan a slightly differently attack & just fish larger lures to hold out for a better stamp of perch. I hope 2 get this attempt done before the magical 16th comes along next month & of course I'll let you know how I get on via this blog sometime soon I hope.
Tight lines people & thanks for reading
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