My first roach on the fly.

I popped up the canal on Sunday with my brook rod to pester the shoals of roach that are resident there. I've had a few attempts at this now and whilst the roach normally show some interest, getting positive bites is another matter entirely. I'm a total fly fishing novice and truth be told the short sessions I've had are more casting practice than serious fishing. Today however I was determined to catch something!

I headed to a large basin near the end if the canal. Fishing some small headed nymph patterns I tried a few different strip speeds and depths and as the water was nice and clear I could see the fly and the fish but it seemed it was to be another frustrating session with plenty of interest but no bites. I persisted for over an hour before I finally managed to get a bite and luckily it was an aggressive one that resulted in my first roach on the fly quickly being landed.

A very small roach but I didn't care!

I'm not sure what I did that induced the fish to bite but I was unable to replicate the feat over the following hour. Whilst fishing away I did however spot a small pike suspended in the margins and it was interesting to watch small meal size roach swimming by it in close proximity completely oblivious to the potential danger. I guess like sharks they are quite a selective predator, preferring to prey on the weak and vulnerable and would rather conserve their energy for a more opportunistic and easy to catch snack than expend energy chasing healthy fish. Anyway, I became mesmerised by this and as the pike watching had become way more engrossing than my fruitless attempts at catching more roach I decided to head home quite pleased that I had christened the rod even if the fish I'd caught had barely put a bend in it.

I guess I'll have to do a bit more research and practice more with my fly rod before I'm filling a keep net with roach!

Tight lines, Scott.

All along the towpath.

I met up with my mate Jake yesterday afternoon for a couple of hours up the Union Canal targeting pike with our favourite soft plastic, the deadly 9.5cm Savage Gear Soft 4Play in Dirty Roach. Both of us elected to lob them with ultra light tackle and fish them using the weightless Savage Gear "Ready to Fish" rigs. 

The weather was overcast and there was the odd light shower but despite this the water was quite clear so I thought it looked promising and hopefully the pike wouldn't be as lethargic as they had been last time when the sun was shining brightly. We worked our way along the towpath and things were very slow with no signs of any activity at all until we reached a point where we had seen a few pike during our last trip. Jake had a follow but like last time the fish seemed a little lethargic, just following behind the lure then stopping and staring at it without actually striking. Jake had a few more casts to try and tempt it but it eventually swam back under the overhanging branches of the tree it had come out from. I had a couple of casts to the other side of the tree and felt what I thought was a snag but then it started to strip some line. Fish on, but it didn't feel quite right and the fight was strange. Only when the pike came into view did we realise it was foul hooked in the underside of its jaw. I played it carefully to the edge so as not to rip the hooks out and damage the fish and Jake chinned it out for me.

At last!

We fished the area for a bit longer but had no further action so we doubled back and started heading towards the car. Again there was no any sign of any fish for a while. We got about half way back to the car when I hooked a second fish at a spot where I'd hooked and lost a big fish several weeks ago. A very subtle take but the pike was hooked in the corner of the mouth this time and put up a spirited little fight before Jake chinned it out and we unhooked it over on the grass.

Slightly bigger second fish. Same happy bloke.

Savage Gear 4 Play in Dirty Roach destroyed I switched over to the Perch colour and we carried on. A bit further along Jake had a follow from a decent perch so he quickly scaled down and rigged up a Gulp! 1" Minnow on a small jighead and tried to tempt it again but unfortunately had no luck doing so. Time was soon up and we headed back to the car. Quite a contrast to all the action we had during our last session on the canal but I was still happy to catch a couple of jacks.

Tight lines, Scott.