I’m now back at school, and the last six weeks have flown by. Once again, my summer holidays have been spent fishing - and even more fishing! As always, the weather has played a part in our decisions of where and when to fish, or even worse, not going at all. August seems to be the rainy season nowadays, and if it’s not raining it’s been very windy, which makes flyfishing and going afloat in a boat tricky and uncomfortable - so the BBC and other weather forecast websites have been vital in our decision making! Getting too carried away on fishing has also put me behind on my blog, so I’ve now got some catching up to do! To make it easier, I’ve tried to sum up the past few sessions in to one write up.
We were hoping to do a few trips on our boat on the Thames, but due to wet weather we were restricted by the conditions. There was only one short period where the forecast looked just right for what we wanted to do, so we decided to really go for it in the time we had. We spent 2 days and a night on the trot on the river; roughly 27 hours of non stop lure fishing, with just 4 hours of sleep in between! Ever so ‘slightly’ mad - but that’s what we are I suppose! - Or as our great mate, Paul, would say "you've got to suffer for your fish!"
It was a good idea that we did go for it, as the weather only got worse after the trip, and we had some great sport, exploring and trying different areas of the lower Thames. We landed 19 Pike, the biggest 13lb 1oz, which fell to a surface plug - and what a take! Using a variety of jigs, plugs and spinnerbaits, we also managed to boat 90 odd Perch, 8 of which were over 2lb, a small Zander and a 3lb 14oz Chub in one of the weirs, which I caught again on a surface plug. It was extremely tiring, but tremendous fun!
So, the rest of our time has been mainly spent fishing midlands reservoirs, either lure fishing or fly fishing for Pike, Perch and Zander. Over the past few trips, we’ve battled heavy rain, thunderstorms, massive gales and on the odd occasion - had some nice calm, sunny days! It’s been worth hacking the elements though, as we’ve caught a good number of Zander, plus a few good fish, including a new PB for myself - a stunner weighing 12lb 7oz, which took my fly on the drop!
We’ve also had some nice Pike during the summer. Recently, we fished a new water with large lures and had an awesome day, catching two twenties, plus a few smaller fish. My Dad was the first to land his - a cracker of 20lb 12oz, which fell to a spoon.
A couple of hours later (not to be out done!) I also managed to tempt one to take a big Kuusamo spoon fished about a foot under the surface over massive weed beds. It turned out to be exactly 20lb, and when you see a fish that big charge at a spoon near the surface it’s very exhilarating! We’ve had quite a few others on flies too.
Some large Perch have also taken our flies, and one evening, in the space of about half an hour, we both had a good fish - mine was 3lb 8oz, and my Dad’s was 3lb 6oz. They are great fun to catch on fly gear.
If we haven’t been fishing a full day, we’ve tried to grab a few hours before dark, and normally going local, fishing lures, mainly on gravel pits. We caught a few Pike and some nice Perch, and as one of our evenings was coming to an end, we came face to face with a Barn Owl, swooping right in front of us, without a care in the world behind the pit - no more than 8 yards away from where we were standing. I’ve seen plenty of Barn Owls in the past fishing, but never as close as this, you could see every detail in its face.
I’ve noticed that whilst fishing on the reservoirs, the boats are being called in earlier and earlier every time we go, and it’s getting dark sooner - unfortunately the weather will soon be getting colder as well, but cooler water temperatures should get the predators really going, so there’s plenty to look forward to, especially fishing for some fry feeding trout, using minkies and floating fry patterns - which I can’t wait for.
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