So with the non season well & truly in its stride, the river angler in me was struggling to adjust to life away from running water.
A nice little session with my fishing buddy Paul down a local lake produced plenty of surface caught carp up to 9lb but I still felt a longing for something different. Of course I enjoyed catching small carp on light & balanced tackle, but I couldn't see myself fishing muddy pools for small carp till the magical 16th.
This time last year I was dabbling with my fly rod & I caught a few fish but in all honesty I found it near impossible to cast on my tiny local streams with plenty of foliage about. More than likely it comes down to the glaring fact I'm just a poorly skilled fluff chucker.... More practice needed no-doubt.
After a long chat with my another of my fishing buddies, he explained to me that most rivers holding trout can be fished for by any artificial, lure or fly. Not having considered this before I googled it & it seems this is 100% correct, with the footnote
"Subject to local bylaws". Further digging revealed my local river with a few trout residing in its shallow riffles has no such problems, so my lure gear was readied in ernest. Within a few days, a free afternoon popped up & with excitement I drove back to running water with high expectations of catching my first lure caught trout by design.
Knowing where the chub & trout hang out on this river was a key bit of info & I filled my boots so to speak with two or three fish from each of my top spots, interspersed with a few out of season chub that I returned as soon as possible. Trout to 2lb ish & chub to 3lb although the scales didn't exit my pocket (I didn't feel there was any point of weighing these fish as they were of an average size)
For a small fish they hit lures hard
This one was a chubby little fella
Long & lean but what a paddle
After sampling plenty of small hardbaits, spinners & soft plastics it was clear that two were head & shoulders above the rest...
The Yo-Zuri L minnow, slow sink, 33mm 5g
Spro 33mm 5g floating
Both these hardbaits were similar in shape & rattle & chopping & changing after hits produced the goods with the possible bright vs natural classic difference, inducing a take.
I also found a neat little trick to get the fish in the striking mood, flicking small pieces of bread crust downstream to possible new areas. After 10 minutes it got exciting, watching the trout taking the crusts confidently & casting my floating lure & drifting it down to inaccessible overhanging trees & bushes, with mostly instantaneous results.
Having said that I did loose a couple of nice brownies including a chunk of a trout that threw the hooks after a frantic 5 seconds of fun.
After showing my girls the pictures & explaining the tactics they wanted to have a go so the next weekend I took them for their first lure fishing session. Being complete novices I cast for them & they held the rod at 90 degrees to the river & very slowly retrieved as the flow was reasonably strong, thus letting the water impart the majority of the lures action. I'm happy to say they both caught & a very proud dad prevailed.
Next was a session with my lure fishing addict mate Serhii, back to the same area & this time I found the fish quite spooky & we spent most of the morning failing to get Serhii his first wild brownie. A couple of swims produced hits but failing to hook up. But he did snare a lovely chub from this swim.
I pointed my Ukrainian mate in the direction of the swim that I lost a good fish last time & first cast he hooked into a serious fish, we both thought chub as it stayed low but as it surfaced we both rubbed our eyes in disbelief. I scooped out a long & chunky trout that must have been the one I hooked before but in all honesty I was so happy for him & what a way to kick off his lure caught trout account with a real beauty.
In all the excitement we didn't even weigh or measure this stunning fish but to see it swim off strongly was a delight for both of us. Serhii slumped down on the grass & chain smoked a handful of cigarettes while explaining in full detail that "this fish was THE ONE he's been dreaming about for a long time". I replied with "I've seen that brownie in my dreams too" but honestly I was so happy to see him catch it & as Serhii said, it was a day of teamwork.
I did manage a couple of chub incuding most probably my pb lure caught chevin.
My final trip of this blog was Serhii & I wanting to test ourselves yet further by fishing another river for Trout & the possibility of a Grayling or two.
After an rainy morning the river was very slightly coloured with a nice tinge, that coupled with overcast conditions meant moral was high.
Fast forward an few hours & this particular beat was proving tough, lots of follows but very little in the way of takes, it seemed like the small grayling & trout were in a playful mood rather than a hungry one. We were fishing small jigs & soft plastics with the hope of a tiny mouthed "lady of the stream".
My Ukrainian buddy broke the deadlock with a small yet spirited Grayling, another first for him & boy was he happy.
Next I managed a nice trout with the most amazing spots down its flank, he really held fast in the turbulent current & pulled my little LRF rod into a lovely shape.
Time for a change of location & scenery, same river but further upstream. Again it was challenging but Serhii managed to tempt a following trout into a take, after the grumpy salmonid sat in the margins for five minutes showing no interest of feeding at all.
A beaut in the bag at last for Serhii
On to a new area again & the old bread trick came up trumps on a long straight section of the stream. We rushed down river when a pod of fish attacked the bread & flicked our lures right to where the feeding fish were. Serhii hooked up first with a powerful take that took plenty of line, reason being that this area was shallow & Incredibly fast water, it just wouldn't of made sense to the fish to battle the flow & the angler at the same time.
We both grinned from ear to ear as the fish surfaced for the first time, it's a grayling & a decent sized one too. My mate readied the net & eventually got the fish to a slightly slacker bit of the river & netted this hard fighting lady of the stream.
Mission complete again with his first adult grayling on the bank & caught on an UL hardbait as well.
A poor pic I know but if you've ever held a grayling you'll understand
Last chance saloon for me was the last beat of the day, a deeper & far less frantic section of the river awaited us & I gave my fishing buddy first chunk in a great looking pool. Of course he nailed another powerful fish within a few casts & his day was turning from a good one to an excellent excursion. Another lovely 3lb-ish trout banked & his excitement overflowed saying "Mark thanks so much, my dreams of wild trout have come true". It's a great thing to know you can take a friend out for a few days & get a few quality fish banked, but even I was bowled over at the quality of action we had enjoyed.
But I was even more focused to get another fish after my trout far earlier this morning. Again luck dealt me a cruel blow has I had another good sized trout followed my lure, i stopped my retrieve as the fish caught up after having a swipe at my lure & missing. Then a quick twitch triggered the wily fish to have another go as I watched on in the crystal clear water. As quickly as I struck, but maybe it wasn't quick enough as it must have been a light hook hold & he threw the hooks after a second or two. Gutted.......
On the long walk back to the car I decided to have a quick cast towards an overhanging tree & bingo it was worth my time, a take from just under the surface.
A very chub like fight commenced, diving hard for the tree roots many times but I was in no mood for heartache again & concentrated intently on the matter in hand. Serhii netted the fish swiftly as I regained my breath back after a rather hectic battle. At last I had something to show to the camera & was worthy of a picture.
What a way to end the day & again most probably a lure caught pb
