Reflections on coarse fishing

 Today I've had the first coarse fishing for this season. I've went with a friend and someone else to a new pond of a ~40 meters length and a width of ~20 meters. As for the depth, I'm not sure, it was around 2 meters? 

We arived at ~7 am, when it was still dark. There was a cold breeze, the weather is getting colder and colder as it's late autumn. I've fished on the left side, in a ,,circle" between some underwater reeds on my left and on my right a fallen tree. Unfortunatelly, the results were bad as I've caught only small fish: common bleak (which was my target fish species) and small roach (<10 cm).

I've feed the spot with some mixed bait. At first, the fish were receptive, but after 1-2 hours of fishing the weather began to ,,retreat" and that happened for at least 30 centimeters (length and depth). So, in the end, the bait was placed too close to the shallow water. That could work if I were to fish from the afternoon to the night as behind me were tall trees who shaded the place so, the fish, when the sun appeared were in the far sight, where they could heat themselves.

At this fishing session I've did some mistake:

1. I didn't check the surrounding depth, so.. I've fed the fish a bit too closer, when the water retreated, they also retreated. I've tried to feed a bit further, but that didn't work - the feed was too spread and a bit heavy. I've alsoignored the fact that, underwater, there were few aquatic plants so.. the bait was falling between it, making the fish hide in it.

2. I didn't use a adequate float as the float that I've used was a bit too ,,heavy" and unfit for that place - I've coudn't see it too well due to the fact that the water reflection blurred it. As I was fishing for common bleak, a <0.50 gram float could be better. 

3. I didn't change the hook to fit the fish size. So, had lots of missed baits, either the fish was too small or it was bigger than my hook.

4. Didn't have enough bait to change it on the hook. I've fished with maggots and bread. The results were poor. There was a person who used mashed corn cubes/drops and caught nice crucian carp! The baits were at ~1,5 meters after a weed cover. The float depth was close to the bottom. I think that he used 2 hooks. He didn't feed the fish, from what I've could observe. His float place had some sun and I think that he had baits after the water retreated. He used a peacock feather & and a crow feather float.

5. Went fishing being tired, that made me lose my concentration, patience and made me feel sleepy.

6. Caught 1 small perch, common bleak size and saw some perch attacks as the water depth was shallow and the silverfish were jumping around after the perch attacks. I've could also see some undentified fish shoals who were feeding/staying at the water surface. Either they were heating themselves or there were other reasons. An angler that was fishing from the middle of the pond, by using a boat, said that the fish were staying at the surface. He caught some rudd (~20 cm the biggest), at float, at mashed corn cube(?). He didn't feed the fish, but he was fishing near a weed cover/cleared circle.

There were ~20 anglers fishing, but, in my surroundings, from ~7 anglers, only 2-3 had okay results, they were targeting crucian carp. Very few anglers were feeding the fish, one of them (the boat one) told me that they don't feed the fish as that'll attract the small ones and so you'll miss the big ones.

In the next fishing session at that place I'll try to bait the fish by using big bait, like grains (wheat). Though, I'll have to take into consideration the fishing session length as I don't want to bait the fish only for it to be caugth by others. Maybe I'll also take with me the predator tackle, to fish for perch. Someone caught a nice one (~15 cm length) at worm.

I should also take with me fishing boots and what I've weared made me lose distance. At some point of time, I think that I've had a roach shoal on the feeding spot, had plenty missed baits and caught a nice one (in comparation with the others). 

We left at ~1Pm, when the water began to rise. The fish were moving around, very few common bleak had bain in their mouth so.. that means that either I've fed too little, that they were too many or that the bait was served wrong. As they were feeding at the surface, I've should use cloud making bait and not one who was falling to the bottom most time. I've also used some old bait so... maybe it wasn't too attractive to them?

Pay attention at what you wear

 Today I've planed a perch fishing session as I've wanted to catch some for consumption. Left home at ~12-1 PM. The weather was rainy for the past few days. Today It also rained, a slow type of rain. 

I've forgot to check my foot wear so I've slippen on the dam's margins and hit the fishing rod.

After it rains, the moss/algae get slippery. It's important to check your foot wear before using it; it happened before, when I've used some rain boots, but I didn't expect the same stuff to happen today as I've thought that the shoes could adher to the cement. Unfortunatelly they didn't.

There are some tricks that can help you ,,improve" your shoes, like scratching the bottom with something sharp or hot or by ataching something like a net. Though, with time, that's contraproductive as it's posible that you may deteriorate them or that you'll make mistakes by not being able to adequately evaluate the safe usage of your ,,trick".

Beside that, in some cases, law prohibits such tricks as, by moving from place to place, from water to water, you'll transport bacterias and other dangerous stuff.

The EVA and a bit of the metal were badly scratched. Only time will show what hidden damages were caused.

In total, today, I've caught 6-7 perch and I've kept 3 (of legal size here, 12 cm). The fish attacked a 3-4 cm Relax twister, the same colour as in the previous fishing session. Had one fish attack at a white with black dots creature (~3 cm length). The fish were lazier than in the past and of a smaller size. The water was a bit cloudy due to the constant rain and pretty cold. It's posible that the fish were spooked by the bright colour of the rain coat - strident yellow.

I've also caught 2 clams..

In the videos you can see each clam. They were released shortly after.

First fishing session for this year

 On 5th Octomber had the first fishing session of this year. Went fishing at a late hour, past 3 PM and the first fish was caught a common bleak at ~5 PM; I've snagged it by mistake while trying to apply the twitch fishing method.

The weather was cloudy, but not too cold. Caught 3-4 perch at the stop and go/slow retrieving style.

On 6th Octomber caugh 2 perch.. one of them was the smallest so far.

Today, on 8 Octomber caught 14 small perch and 1 clam. The weather was cloudy, fished from 2 PM to ~7PM. It rained from time to time. The water was a bit muddy. The fish were grouped around a cover in the water as they've attacked mostly in the same place. Almost all fish were caught in the same area, but at different time as I've took a ~1-2 hour break from that place. They prefered the Relax grub.. in that colour, I've coudn't catch them at something else. I'll have to insist on that place as it'll help me improve my casting skills and familiarize myself with the fishing tackle. 

The fish and the clam were released as soon as posible.

The tackle that I've used was the same as in the previous fishing sessions when I've fished for perch. I should improve my casting skills and retrieve & play the lures slowly. Maybe I should also try the drop shot style as I've heard that some anglers caught more fish - perch and there were also bigger ones.

First fishing day of the new season (2020)

Planed to start  this fishing season by catching some chub before trying to catch some perch, but... it wasn't meant to be.

I've fished under a dam, where the water was shallow and pretty clear. The fish could ve seen catching flies and, in the margings, the small ones were busy rushing around.

Tried different lures, had few attacks, but no fish was caught.  I think that that was caused by the fact that the rod was too rigid (Xesta S69s) and by me using a braid line.

As I've conpleted my fishing tackle with  new lures, I can say that, today, I've liked two new acquisitions: 

1. Duo Ryuki Spearhead 50 - it's a great lure and, even though I've used it in shallow water, full of small stones I've didn't snag it (I've buyed an used one and I didn't put the treble i the middle, fishing only with the one on the tail). Unfortunatelly,  the fishh didn't offer any proper feedback. 

2. Some second hand hand mads lures, of which I'm satisfied (tried only the slim model)- I've took photos only of another model, a, hm, plumpier one and of two crankbaits(?).

After I've spent around 1 hour trying to catch some chub, I've gone to try to catch oerch, in the dam lake (around 11-12 am).  Had little success as the underwater weeds grew faster than I've expected- forgot to take that into consideration, or else I would  take adifferent fishing aproach or try a different place; in a way, I half expected for some ,,canals" to be made in vegetation by coarse fishing anglers. 

At some point, saw  roach and striped fish swimming around, after some chased my jig, I've indentified them to be a shoal of small petch. It's a surprise as, even though it was a partially cloudy day, with few drops falling from time to time, the weather was getting hoter and hoter.

Tried different places and had two catches around a water structure- from what I've saw, the fish, in that area, weren't agresive, nor did they like big lures.

Saw few dead fish, one of them in the shallow water - a crucian carp; the zone was frequented by shoals of small fish and.. tgat could be a reason as for why I've could  spot the perch shoal so near to the margins.

At some point.. saw a green leach coming to the bank, at first ,I've thought that it was something natural, a suicidal (kinda) action of it, but after I've throwed it farther in the water, it hid in the grass. I think  that it was surprised by the water fluctuations.

Winter chub at lures

Today went fishing for 2-3 ours in the afternoon. The bad thing is that I've missed the best time for fishing in winter with lures, when it's sunny outside.

After few rainy days, the weather ,,calmed" and it got warmer.

Initially, the plan was to test the perch, but it was getting dark and  coudn't reach a new fishing spot  and so I've decided to try the  chub. Tried few chub lures (small sizes), had few posible attacks and, in the end, caught 2 at different lures. The first one was  caught on a surface lure while the  second one was caught at a middle to surface lure. The attacks came  on a slow retrieve  with small stops...cclose  to an area where calm water was meeting fast water.

 Looks like you can catch chub on lures in winter. Maybe I should insist more and try to catch chub, but there are few spots where they may eating... but I think that search for the  perh

Chasing the perch

The last fishing sessions were intended for perch. Unfortunatelly, on 1st november a law became appliable - you can't fish up/down any brigde for at least 500 meters. It's an interesting part of the  law as it brings into question few ideas like.. the fact that the brigde can be associated with a structere which is needed by fish to reproduce, but also to face the cold weather. Unfortunatelly, there are few things that are unclear, like the reasons as for why that part of the law was legiferated.. and the fact that in the dam/reservoir in which I fish are at least 2 bridges.. so.. almost all of it is, currently, unfishable.

After this fishing sesion: http://anotherangler.blogspot.com/2019/10/breaking-ice.html - had another two who had fish, there were more, but witouth fish.

The first good fishing sesion for perch began with this snagged fish - it's an invasive species (from what I know) here, so I've gave it to another angler to use it as fish bait - it doesn't get bigger and I'm not sure if it's detrimental to other fish. Perch seems to eat it from time to time.

Seeing that there were no good attacks, I've changed the place and decided to fish with a Relax grub of 4 centimeters, the one from the image. The result appeared soon after that.

That day caught enough perch to be ,,hooked" by this fish species. As here you can keep fish to eat, I've kept some who were smaller than that one and bigger than 12 cm (the legal limit).

Today went fishing at around 8 am and didn't have much succes except few perch who were all released.

As I've coudn't fish where I've wanted to - initially I've planned to find a perch spot to be able to understand their attacking patterns, but, in the end, had to try to fish for pike with spoons as there were no places available to fish due to the 'bridge rule'.

In the grass, at some point of time, found this snake. At first, I've though that it was a dried snake as it didn't move when I've photographed it. At the end of the photographing sesion, I've tried to confirm if it was alive or not and tried to touch it with a stick - it was alive and it remained alive as I've didn't touch it, nor did I annoy it more than that.

 I also have some photographs with a toad that I really like how they've ended, but I'll have to download them from my phone.

Next weekend I plan to fish for perch with soft lures in a small river, the river in which I often fish for chub with lures when the time and weathers allow - that happens, most often, in the summer season. Maybe I'll also try to fish in a lake(?) where I've saw big perch being caught at sunfish on the bottom few years ago. Someone also told me that there's a lake, close to that one who has pike, perch and catfish. Maybe I'll give a try..

Tight lines!