Winter Piking on the fly

Red and I met up on the middle reaches of the Bristol Avon to continue our learning curve into the world of pike fishing on the fly. I have to say I am beginning to enjoy it more than lure chucking: one because you are so much in contact with the fly, and two because a well tied fly looks so damn irresistible when its drawn through the water. I had prepared well having tied my own creations and set up my own traces as opposed to buying the expensive creations in the shops. In fact I think a good set of mackerel feathers with a bit of extra bulk would do just as well as some of the £4 flies I'd seen! On to the river and the Bristol Avon was fairly low and wadable in places which made it nice. We walked a good few miles casting in likely lies. Persistence paid off as Red hooked his first Pike and it was on the fly. A nice little 4lb jack that gave a good account of itself on his standard reservoir trout outfit with a small streamer pattern. Red was well made up and I was pleased as he would now been keen to keep me company through the winter months while we wait for spring. A very enjoyable afternoon in the Avon valley even though I didn't get a follow or take.

A bit of Autumnal Piking

Met up with Red today and desperate to get some river fishing in we headed for the Bristol Avon for some piking. A took a trusted Shimano light spinning set up whilst Red ventured out with some hefty flies. Unfortunately a match was underway in the area we were targeting so we had to walk a fair few miles to find some water. The river was pretty high and a bit coloured but we persevered. I ended up after one broken rod (I thought it was tough but it was no match for a mature Willow!) and half a dozen lost lures with one jack at about 3lb from just under the bank. Not good for fly fishing though as the banks were high and heavily tree covered. I was surprised at the resurgence of anglers on the river though thinking it was a dying breed.

Late season fish on the Chew and still the Mullet allude me..

Warm sunny afternoon saw me meet up with Red on the River Chew. Loads of Sedge coming off but the fish were not rising. I managed 3 Brownies and 2 tiny Grayling mainly on nymph with the exception of one of the trout which took a Klink. The water level was low and with encroaching vegetation it was quite difficult to fish. The Balsam was lining the banks catching flies at ever opportunity! I enjoyed it nevertheless but think the little river needs some rain to liven the pools up again.

Still no luck on the local Mullet front despite my best efforts to tie every Mullet fly imaginable - perhaps Mullet in murky water just don't feed by sight! Seeing big fish boil just feet from you but that seem incapable of responding to whatever I chuck at them is infuriating. On the bright side I have become a master of  local tides and can even predict when the gravel bars will be covered and uncovered and when low tide pools will get a flush either on the ebb or flow. I know where and when the Mullet feed but just can't figure what gets them agitated. Seriously contemplating a mud/detritus fly if one exists - hell I'll make one up.I still have hope and maybe what must now be a Plan Z up my sleeve but time is running out as Winter sets in.

Poole - pleasant paddle but disappointing catch

Fished Poole Harbour with my bro on the kayak. Calm overcast day with the sun breaking through every now again gave plenty of promise. We fished the boat channel and I had a few solid bites on squid on the bottom but did not connect. A couple of times we landed Spider Crabs but they were more of annoyance than a chance for celebration. After the tide had slowly come in we went inshore looking for Bass and Mullet keeping clear of the nursery area. Eventually the reel screamed off in just feet of water. No Bass but a solitary large Mackerel which I have to say was disappointing after the colossal fight it put up. A bit later into the afternoon and another surprise: after a few unsuccessful follows I caught nice Gar on a surface lure. The Bass were around but preoccupied on something other than what we had to offer. A long day and not much to show for it but a pleasant paddle in the warm late summer weather.

Summer surf in Tenerife - lesson is 'Early bird gets the worm' at Las Americas

During a couple of weeks in Tenerife I managed to get a handful of surfing sessions in with the largest day about shoulder high. Surfed mainly Piscinas off Las Americas as the swell had a fair bit of South in it. Piscinas is familiar to me as it breaks not unlike the Ledges at Kimmeridge with an easy takeoff and a winding left. It sometimes has two peaks combining to lengthen the ride. The right can suck up on the inside but tends to be fat on the outside. The only downside of the break is that it attracts surfers who ride longer boards and a half a dozen proficient long boarders on the peak can keep your wave count down.

Piscinas (or El Conquistador) on the best swell of the fortnight 

One day the swell came in more from the NW and Spanish Left started to work which is a few hundred meters N of of Piscinas. (Its worth noting La Derecha is classy right in between the two which is dominated by good locals). On that swell I did surf the slower right which peels off the other end of Spanish Left (not sure what the wave is called) which is the haunt of the local surf schools. I am amazed that the local shops take groups of inexperienced young beginners out here - not exactly the best conditions to learn in. They troupe them out on the shit pipe into the line up and coax them into powerful waves that offload onto the flattish rock (if your lucky, if not it might be lava lumps). I guess they see it as a local resource they need exploit at Las Americas but surely onshore El Medano would be better option where children and beginners can learn over sand. 

Funnily enough  the best swell of my visit must have sneaked through unseen as the session saw the smallest crowd.  On all days however by mid afternoon every break was pretty saturated with surfers fighting over ragged small peaks in the onshores. I could only conclude that the surf community here at this time of year thrives on social interaction with a certain amount of exhibitionism and few hangovers thrown in. This suits me as I will continue to get uncrowded better conditions at dawn.  Overall I was pleasantly surprised by the amount and quality of the surf in the height of summer when I thought it was going to be pretty flat.

Tenerife 2013 Sea Fishy tales...

Just come back from a few weeks in Tenerife with the family. Plenty of fishing off the breakwaters and rocks with lots of fish caught, most however wouldn't look out of place in your average saltwater aquarium. Light tackle order of the day with Size 12 hooks and reasonably small floats for sea fishing. I did try the fly occasionally but without success. I refined my technique to keep the bait in the water long enough for the bigger fish. This was to use a pinch of my trusty Ramer sponge capped with a squid tip. Bread would soon be removed without a positive take. At times I did groundbait with mashed bread, sweetcorn and tinned fish but I am not sure it increased the chances of hooking a bigger fish and merely turned your mark into a boiling mass of little rock dwellers. The lagoons held good numbers of Salema Porgy (a type of Bream), Vieja ( a type of Parrot Fish) and Mullet with odd European Sea Bass (farmed escapees sub 35cm) and small Cuda but getting a hook up was not easy. Mullet despite being the largest target were impossible to tempt, they seemed pre-occupied with grazing on the algae boulders. In between catching double figure numbers of Canarian Damsel Fish or Ornate Wrasse you might just have a scrap with a Porgy, European Sea Bass, Pompano or Vieja all on my bread substitute, which was nice on light tackle.

Ornate Wrasse

Lizard Fish

Canarian Damsel

No Guilthead Bream this time which was surprising as I did see the odd one snorkelling. Feathers or lures just produced the abundant Lizard Fish which although unusual never exceeded 30cm in length. Larger tides produced more fish in the lagoons particularly a few hours either side of high tide.  If you feel the need to take the odd fish for the table the Vieja is recommended despite its wrasse like appearance was delicious baked with butter, coriander and parsley. Rock fishing in exposed places was dangerous in any form of swell as even with my awareness of set waves I was caught out several times and found myself clinging limpet like to the lava  - sometimes I wonder why I push the boundaries so, it seems fishing does funny thinks to the logical mind. One other word of warning - Green Turtle were occasional visitors close inshore at this time of year which made for some spectacular snorkeling however if you know they are present best to move on when fishing.

Salema Porgy - the most abundant bream in the area.

Vieja - fish deep on the seaward side of inshore reefs
 and be prepared to make ground immediately.

Courting Flounders 

Grazing Mullet - if only they grazed on my bread fly!

Hooked on Mullet on the fly..

After a couple of weeks in Cornwall I finally achieved an aspiration of mine of catching Mullet. Having now got it wired on a fly rod I am slightly obsessed with this wonderful fish. Crazy fighting fish on light tackle - who wants to pay thousands for Bonefish in the tropics when you have these little beauties to target in the UK's coastal shallow water. I have tried for years to hook these on the estuaries around Cornwall and after catching a few on light float gear to start I have now mastered a few on the fly. I even used my trusty Fladen 3 weight with just a 4lb tippet - although I knew after surveillance the location where I was fishing wasn't going to produce anything over a couple of pounds. The fish I caught ranged from 0.5lb to about 1.5lb and even at that size on my light tackle they gave great sport. I used bread flies so not quite as sporting as using a nymph or shrimp pattern but I was pleased nevertheless. The key was to get the fish confidently feeding and cast the fly amongst the feeding fish - the more competition the better. Takes were vigorous and I kept a very slow retrieve to keep in contact with fly at all times - slack line meant no hook up. Size 10 hooks were the order of the day. I am now keen to try my skills closer to home and have already located Mullet some 20 minutes from my door - now how can I get them feeding?