ok, so i ignored the looks and took my fly rod down the canal!

[Restless Oblivion]

Well, having seen loads of fish ( chub , carp, roach, rudd) on the surface of the grand union canal at kings langley i decided to take my fly rod down and give it a shot!

 

Firstly, i noticed the looks most ( not all) of the pleasure anglers were giving me, a mixture of ' lol, he aint going to catch' to ' downright dirty looks' as i was walking along the canal to the area i wanted to fish, which really just hardened my resolve to catch something.....

 

anyways, setting up my little 7 1/4 ft carbon fly rod, with a a no 4 floating line and about 8 ft of 4.5 lb flourocarbon i tied on a small black buzzer and started to walk slowly looking for signs of life, then ah ha, midstream i spotted a chub about 6 oz cruising along... ( not big, i know, but i wanted to prove it worked!) so i expertly flicked th fly a few inches in front of its nose..... and watched as it bolted away from it.....hmmmm..... not going to plan!

 

Luckily, that one seemed to be a one off, for a minute or two later i saw another couple of small chub, out went the fly, and the two chub practicly fought there way after the fly, and the first one snapping it up in a swirl as quick as it could, a flick of the wrist and he was on! and the beauty of such light tackle being although he was only about half a pound, the rod bend round and he put up a good little scrap on such a light rod with no weights on the line, great fun! After that i lost count of how many chub i watched chase after, splash on, take, turn away, and snap up my fly, i spent the next hour or two continually hooking , landing and losing chub up to about 10 oz, great fun, despite it being a typical hot summer day, thick cloudy water on a busy canal the chub still went for the fly!

 

And as for the pleasure anglers... well, i didnt see any of em catch a a thing, and on the way back i passed two of the most miserable looking anglers i ve ever seen who gave my black looks as i passed them the first time, and again this time, anyway, about 30 yards past them i saw another small group of chub, i couldnt resist flicking my fly among them, and as luck would have it caught one straight away, the looks of suprise on there faces was priceless! and really made my day!

 

Never be afraid to experiment and do something a bit different!

[phil dean]

Well done, Nick in the North wrote a good report on his canal fly fishing tactics last year, maybe you should exchange notes and maybe improve your catchrate (not that it needs much help)

 

I've had tench on the fly on a local pond, that wound up a few of the regulars, though to be fair they weren't annoyed that I caught with a fly, just that I caught, a bit like you I can never resist rubbing it in when they blank.

 

Mind you, these particular blokes have subjected me to the same punishment when I blanked

 

That's life , tight lines

[Richard Harvey]

Great stuff !

Power to The Fly !!

[Warren Gaunt]

Had Carp out the canal in Boxmoor a good few years ago on the fly, great fun.

 

[ 08. August 2002, 10:24 PM: Message edited by: Warren Gaunt ]

[Restless Oblivion]

Warren Gaunt:

Had Carp out the canal in Boxmoor a good few years ago the fly, great fun.

great stuff, not had carp out of canal on fly.... yet i ve had some good chub, roach and small pike out near boxmoor on fly though!

 

I ve had small carp to 3 lb out of the lea at wheathampstead on fly and a 10 lb golden and 12 mirror on fly at a small private lake in st albans whislt trout fishing, suprisingly the 12 lb one was caught on a pink and white catswhisker!

 

the only fish i ve not had on fly so far is , bream, tench, crucians and barbel.... one day....

 

I had 17 pike out in about an hour in the canel at kings langley a few years back, all on a large orange lure, that was a day to remember!

[Andy Macfarlane]

Minted!

[Chris Shaw]

Great stuff.

 

I once saw a TV program in whitch some anglers were fly fishing for tope.

 

They were using really whippy rods very similar to a fly rod, and they were using a big version of a freshawater fly.

 

The tope would rise for the lure, roll onto their backs take the fly(lure) complete the roll and away.

[chevin]

Well, I just retired today and now I am going to have a lot of time to try things I was reluctant to do when my fishing time was strictly rationed. One of those things is to go fly fishing from the local beach. I guess I will get some funny looks too, but I am sure that polystickles, (not truely flies but used on fly tackle) will take some of the local predators. No doubt I will get some strange looks when I begin my experiment, but I can handle that.

[Restless Oblivion]

great stuff chevin, let us know how you get on!

 

that tope fishing sounds like serious fun, hope they had plenty backing!

 

Anyways, i went again this morning, down the canal with my fly rod, against my better judgement, due to pouring rain all night, which continued the entire time i was out! the canal was really thick and grey coloured and looked ever so uninviting.....

 

Still, i decided to give it my best shot seeing as i was out, so i headed two miles down from Hemel to where a small river joinings the canal on the far bank and an out flow of clear water from a near by gravel pit flows into the canal under the towpath, ( just above the ovaltine factory for those who know the area ) cos i guessed the water would be less murky here, anyway, after 30 mins fishing with the buzzer as before and not a sign of a fin, i set up with a small white lure, and cast it across into the current coming from the stream, anyway as it sunk, the line shot forwards, i struck and landed a chub about 3/4 lb which was a huge relief, no blank, and it gave me a bit of confidance!

 

Anyway, no further takes at all, an hour later i moved down the canal looking in the murky water for signs of life, and over the next few hours by fishing very hard, and concentrating on the slightest strange water movement and odd rise in the rain i was able to catch 5 more chub between 4 and 6 oz on a floating black beetle!

 

Not a massive catch, but im really pleased that i caught that many despite the odds, lets face it, fly fishing in pouring rain in a really thickly coloured canal on a cold summers day doesnt exactly inspire great confidance!

 

Well happy now!

[RED HILLBILLY]

Originally posted by Restless Oblivion:

Well, having seen loads of fish ( chub , carp, roach, rudd) on the surface of the grand union canal at kings langley i decided to take my fly rod down and give it a shot!

 

Good for you! Does anybody know how to tie a fly that looks like floating crust? A double figure carp on a fly rod sounds like fun.

 

Hillbilly.