Today i had the day off , but i could not quite get myself motivated, a few puddles were lying when i woke up and the wind was howling . I saw my son off to school ,walked the dog by the river , which was a bit dirty, then decided to go and have a few casts. It was 11:30 before i got down and the river was dirty, it's a pity cause there was a fairly good hatch of fly , better than i'd seen in a while and it certainly would have brought up a fish or two.Nothing left for it but a few casts up the edges of the creases in the heads of pools ripping back a woolly bugger, i put the biggest fly in my box on a size 10 longshank. After a few taps i eventually landed one.
A few more followed including a nice one around the 1lb mark. I headed downsteam content a few hours was enough, i wasnt feeling particularly inspired by the lack of clarity, but as i was walking down i found a riser, i cast a cdc emerger at it but it was ignored , so replaced it with a size 12 MB comparadun , and it took it .
Quite a bonny fish , its pal also succumed to the comparadun.
On my way home i stopped off at the "ditch". I just cant resist it! I had a 12 ft leader on far too long , but somehow got on fine, with it , i started with a dry took a tiny trout then put on a nymph . Ive found the secret with fishing the nymph in the ditch is to "Induce" the take ,simply cast and slowly lift the rod causing the nymph to rise , they' re absolute suckers for it!
After my dinner i needed to take the dog for a walk (cough)! A walk with a rod in hand. So i fancied a dabble at the pike in the canal . mainly to try out my latest purchase Authanic wire. The wind was very strong so i had to galway cast so's i didnt end up whacking myself unconcious on the back of my head. A flash fly was my fly of choice, i worked my way along the bank casting to the otherside, but i knew where i'd get a take. There was one wee area underneath a tree with a bit shade.
On my first cast i hooked a pike looked a good one (for the canal) maybe 5-6lb beuitifully marked as it kissed the surface , it then tailwalked and promptly threw the hook! 3 more pike hit the fly and got off at range ! I rested the corner then came back to it 10 minutes later , and finally got a small consolation of a wee jack pike. The verdict on the wire is it's far better than anything else ive used !
A colourful days fishing!
