Winter Chub on the Somerset Frome

Having a young son who is keen to catch just about everything has inspired me to branch out with my fishing. Today we set out to catch Chub and have a little dabble at Pike on the fly if that wasn't successful. It has been a long time since I had prepped bait for the next day but I diligently liquidised some bread and made up a quick and easy cheese paste. The paste was effectively cheddar, a bit of the liquidised bread and some clover to bind. We headed to a lovely stretch of the Somerset Frome on the Avon and Tributaries ticket which I knew was frequented by Chub. First swim and a few handfuls of liquidised bread were thrown in. Literally second or third cast and the stick float slid away. After a lethargic struggle our first Chub was in the net and it was a fine fish of I would estimate over 3lbs. James was made up with such a large fish from what he called a shallow river. A few more casts with missed bites and we moved on.

Second swim slightly deeper and slower. Same method few handfuls of bread and let the stick float trot down with a size 6 hook and generous blob of cheese paste. Another clonking Chub in the net. We caught 4 decent sized fish one of which James did all the work on so it was so really rewarding for him on his little 8' Shakespeare all purpose rod.

After the bites dried up I made a few casts with the fly rod and tempted a Pike of 5lb from the bottom. Unfortunately it did not make it to the net and shook the single hook on the surface. We then moved locations and spent the dying hours of day in little mill pool run where James bagged a half a dozen smaller Chublets. He actually enjoyed this more than catching the big ones as it was quick fire instant reaction fishing. A great way to spend a dull miserable Saturday, anything but for us!

Mixing it up with Pike on the fly and a bit of drop shotting for Perch

Took my son canal fishing on a wet windy day. The worse rain all year constrained us to the canal. My first trip to this lovely lilliput canal with naturalised banks and no boat traffic. I set up with my usual pike fly gear while my youngest James had a light LRF rod with a selection of mini lures. It was the first time we had really tried this method. The light reel had 20lb braid with an 8lb fluro leader and Size 4 hook set about 9 inches above a small weight. When we got to the canal some parts were clear but there were large stretches where the nearby ploughed fields had run off muddying the water making it pretty unfishable in places.

I immediately hooked into a nice jack of about 5lb on the fly but failed to get to the bank. Shortly after that I banked, on the fly, a miniature beauty that looked at home in the mini chocolate box surroundings. My son James was beginning to get the hang of the drop shot patiently encouraging the Perch to feed under a small bridge. Ironically though his first fish banked was a Pike about 15" that took the tiny plastic. He then went on to catch several palm sized perch on the drop shot. Pink seemed to be the colour.

All in all I caught 3 small Pike and lost two bigger ones on the fly and James caught 4 Perch and a Pike on the drop shot. It was a brilliant call and made the most of the horrendous weather. It has whetted our appetite to try drop shotting nearer to home perhaps on some of the urban waterways.