Trotting for Ladies

Last night my son was camping with the Scouts for their 'Chilly Challenge' and as I had to collect him late morning there was to be no fishing through the morning. Also a good enough excuse for me to skive the working party at Triangle which I'll probably get some stick about from the lads!! Anyway, by the time we had walked Barney, collected be-draggled scouts, and had some lunch the day was nearly gone. I decided to have a drive over to the Dove just in case it was fishable for the last couple of hours. I knew from the EA gauge at 0.39m this morning that it would be pushing through a bit much for bugging so I broke out the float rod. The lower stretch at Eaton was carrying a bit too much colour from the Churnet I suspect so I pushed on to Ellastone, here the conditions looked just about OK to wet a line.
My Bruce and Walker was paired with an ABU501 and a 5BB Avon float. Initially I had a few bites in the riffles at the top but could not get the fish to stick so moved further downstream.

Fish then started to come and they put up a great fight in the current, no real lunker grayling but the one above was a lovely fish. I really enjoy this method but it does attract a few too many trout at Ellastone, perhaps 3 or 4 to 1 grayling. (Where were they in the season!). Afterwards I spoke to some gents who had been fishing the Norbury water on the fly and they had found it all going but had persevered all day. There did seem to be some spring in the air today so lets see what the next few weeks brings.

Barton & Walton

This morning I exchanged a few texts with Phil about the aftenoon prospects at Barton and Walton Pool the result being that we both decided to give it a go. The afternoon was quite mild and I was quite hopeful of a perch or perhaps even a hungry pike on one of my new lures.
Upon arrival I worked my way round quite quickly to where Phil had set up to find that he was giving it a go on the float. Although it was mild the pool looked barren and still in the grip of winter. It did seem like spring though when in late afternoon the sun broke through briefly and we hoped that the fish would liven up in pursuit of our lures. Phil had also switched to spinning by now and even had a follow from a perch. Dusk was falling as I left so a blank for me but hopefully Phil's perseverance paid off.
The local rivers are still quite high and hopefully I will get out soon for some grayling fishing when conditions improve.

Some new lures

There has not been much chance of getting out on the River Dove over the last few days due to the extra water but this morning I was perked up by the arrival of some new lures. They were shad patterns by Big Hammer supplied by AGM tackle. So to keep up my spirits I sneaked an hour on the canal this afternoon and the Silver Phantom (!) above accounted for a nice perch of about a 1lb. I had cut it down to 2.5" and mounted as shown on the website. Unfotunately I had left my camera at home so no picture. I only ordered the stuff a couple of days back so thumbs up to AGM for prompt delivery.
Happy New Year all!!

Black Pool

After a few days in over the festive season I had suffered from the onset of cabin fever so snatched a few hours on Sunday morning lure fishing on the Black Pool. This water has a reputation for holding a few predators of moderate size so I thought it was worth a chuck what with the Dove still fining down after the recent rain. It was quite mild day very different to last Christmas when we were in the grip of winter.
As well as the pool there is also the stretch of the canal which is on the DRAC ticket. Spinning was a handy method as it obviously requires little organisation in terms of buying bait and also keeps you on the move searching out different stretches.
My set up is a little agricultural for fishing small lures as the only spinning rod in either mine or my Dad's collection is an old telescopic glass Silstar 9' suited to casting 30-40 grammes. I will keep my eye out over the next week or so and see if I can pick up something a little more suitable for flicking smaller lures, perhaps a Drennan spincast 7' if anyone has any suggestions then please post a comment.
Anyway back to the angling I'm afraid the skinny jack below saved my blank and was taken on an Abu Sonnette. I've been reading up on the net on ABU tackle over Christmas as the 'Tight Lines' catalogue was one of my treasured possessions as a boy. This lure is stamped Sweden on the blade and apparently ABU moved lure production out of the home country in the late 70's/early 80's so is a vintage spinner!
I carried on fishing down the pool from the Weston end to the Swarkestone end but no more takes were forthcoming so had a wander over to the river which was pushing through quite heavily so I gave that a miss. One of the nice things about Weston Cliff is the contrast available in the angling so it was back over to the canal and I fished back down to the bridge. I saw one other angler who had made a good showing of pole fishing a snag on the far bank with a good mixed net of fish. So much more pleasant with the reduced boat traffic in the winter. An interesting couple of hours angling and I hope to get the hang of this lure fishing a little better my next steps will be to try some of these soft plastic imitations.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas to all, hope you are all as ready for the big day as Barney.

Trent & Mersey Canal

I must be getting good at this decorating lark as the job I'd pencilled in for the whole weekend was finished by noon on Sunday! So a rare window of opportunity had me scrabbling round the garage getting some tackle together. I fancied somewhere close and keeping on the move so the canal it was to be with some spinners. I say some but I actually mean the only two I possess at the moment which are both ancient ABU lured. The outfit was quite novel as I realised most of my coarse rods are still in Dad's garage so I coupled a fixed spool reel with a 8 foot #4/5 fly rod.
Not many cars at Willington car park when I arrived and I thought I would walk up to Findern Pond then work my way back down. At the pond I only had a dozen casts and 80% of then came back weeded up so I adjourned to the canal. The weather had taken a turn for the worst a wintry squall starting to seep down the back of my neck, brrrr! There were only a few dog walkers out and it was really getting unpleasant when a perch grabbed my lure. Not a monster, probably a pound or so but very welcome. The lure was an ABU Sonnette one of those I remember looking longingly at in the old Tight Lines catalogue. It has been swapped from box to box over the years as I don't spin much but turned up trumps today.

Sutton Brook

I've posted a couple of times about the DRAC stretch of this water but have not fished it for a good while now. Today I received the following comments to a very early post so I'll cut and paste here for all to see that some stretches of the brook are looking pretty healthy.
Love the website Nick, it looks spot on!! I'm still convinced it is a Mordex though.

Hi dave, browsing around and stumbled across your blog site? I feel duty bound to enlighten/update you and some of your fellow bloggers on your comments regarding Sutton brook .I have fished almost its entire length at some point or other over the past 50 years and been chairman of Blount flyfishers for the last 24. We now control the fishing rights on around 3 miles of the brook from just below Sutton village road bridge almost continuosly as far as Longford. The fishery is run solely as flyfishing for trout and grayling and has survived {not without crisis} for at least 35 years Fortunately for us our fishery creates the perfect habitat for trout and the food they eat and contains a heathy population of indiginous breeding stock,which is supplemented annualy with brown trout of takeable size ,anyone intrested in joining our small friendly syndicate should contact me without delay on 01159 328669 Nick Bulmer chairman Blout flyfishers or visit our germinating website at www.blountflyfishers.moonfruit.co.uk P S, Dave the reels a grice and young not a mordex.