Saturday 9th July, Tiggers & Stripeys

Entry posted by AddictedToScopex July 10, 2011

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Plans were very much up in the air for this weekend until an offer of a days spinning for perch by Tigger.

After meeting up we took a little tour of some waters he knows. Fantastic looking waters perfect for light feeder or trotting work and ones that will certainly be revisited in the future. I cannot say anymore as I would not like to dishonour Tigger for being kind enough to show me and I am certain he would not like me to divulge locations.

After looking at the waters we decided on a walk up the canal spinning for perch. Small bright lures were the pick of the day. Tigger had follows from a mutlitude of small perch almost right away but to no avail. We continued our way up the towpath until I hit the first fish of the day. And when I say hit it I really mean it. It was a poor fry that got nailed by the treble on my small spinner.

We continued up the stretch until we reached a lock and a bridge. Tigger pointed out that he had had some success there and proved it instantly by casting into the gap under the bridge and getting the first perch of the day. A lovely example of the species that while not being specimen size was fin perfect. We had a few more casts in the area as boats moved through and while follows were frequent hookups werent as forthcoming. We observed a lot of good sized fish rolling and bubbling which was refreshing to see given the state of some of the canals I have seen. This one was just teeming with life and had me wishing I had a float setup handy for when we had had enough of spinning. We moved past the bridge to the lock itself and sat down on the wall flinging spinners up and down it and watching follows and also groups of perch attacking fry and even a small jack pike on one occasion. This is where I got my first ever perch on the spinner. A fairly standard retrieve and then the perch cracked into the lure and was firmly hooked. It was lifted out and unhooked and I asked Tigger to take a picture so I could remember in the future which perch was first to fall to a spinner for me.

Tigger also caught one at the same time around the same size showing it wasnt just a fluke. The lock seemed alive with perch patrolling up and down and attacking anything that moved. I had another two takes here but sadly the hooks didnt find purchase. We tried many approaches and lures but we had fished this area out and the perch had become wary. It was time to move on.

Next we made our way down the towpath to the next bridge with Tigger spotting many different species on the way including a large shoal of gudgeon, chub and roach. As we neared the bridge Tigger spooked a small pike from the side of the bank. I made a mental note of this and as we arrived at the bridge I cast down the concrete edge where it had been spooked. First cast resulted in instant sucess. A different fight this time. I knew it was a pike. As it neared me I saw it on the surface but my unforgiving heavier pike spinning rod resulted in the hooks being thrown. I wasnt a happy bunny but these things happen. That is the result of using kinder barbless trebles.

Another cast down the same edge then resulted in another perch for me but smaller than the previous one. I was still made up though. Two perch on my first session specifically targetting them. Result.

We fished this area for a while before making our way back to the cars and spinning along the way. We saw many shoals of fry erupting out of the water but we could also see the small teams of 2inch perch making them do this. We had a few casts anyway but to no avail.

After we returned to the cars we had a good chin wag and then went our seperate ways with a view to meeting up again in the not too distant future to have a days trotting on one of the venues he had shown me.

On the whole it was a very enjoyable day and while we didnt bag up I certainly had enough sport to be very satisfied with the short time we spent on the canal. It was great fun and it was nice to finally meet up with Ian after we had mentioned it a few times in the past. Top bloke and a good laugh.

Cheers Ian :thumbs: