New insights in spinning fishing

The  previous Saturday went fishing in the local reservoir/dam; arrived at the water at around 8 am and began to test different types of lures. The water was clear, the weather calm and sunny. As I've had the intention to 'test' some pike lures I've took an Fenwick fishing rod, one for Salmon & Steelhead, my 'school bag' full of lures, but forgot to.. bring with me enough wire leaders.

There were few anglers, but most of them were fishing at float and some of them on the bottom, for carp. There were 1 or two other anglers who were fishing with lures, but they were using spoons and spinners. I've fished, mainly, with woblers and, in secondary, with spoons.

As I've grew tired due to the tackle and luggage weight, I've decided to 'walk' up and down the dam banks and so I've 'tested' around 10-15 meters of water length.

Took a Vagabond inject lure - I have 2 in my tackle box and I can say that I LOVE their action and that's because, to me, they are pretty good.. even though they are the most expensive lures that I own

and began to try to 'memorize' their retrieving action. Sometimes, especially on clear water and when I'm in the studying mood, I like to try to understand the lure's action and see how I can play it.

At some time, while I was retrieving the lure in a really slow manner,with small twitches I've saw a bird fishing. Had some stray thougths in mind and I've auto ironised myself - why be afraid of a bird, it's not like you're hiting it, look, she's up in the sky! What you've heard from other anglers, that they've caught bats, snakes and some birds while fishing won't happen to you.. you fool!

...and... life has a way to make you humble- the unexpected happend:

That bird clearlly attacked my lure. I've could see it focusing on it and 'throwing' itself at it. The hook hooked her superficially and I was happy that the bird didn't fly away with a lure attached to it. It was a really light bird, with a weak pinching peak.. If there's something that I regret regarding it is that I've held it a bit rash, though, no tendons or bones were broken, stretched more than it could stand; at least, that's what I think.

Sometime after that or before the bird was caught, didn't bother to memorize the succesion of evens, had two fish attacks. I've got bored and kinda tired and wanted to have some fish attacks so I've began to use some spinners. In the end, I've kept using a Mepps 3 Comet of a bright green. The first perch unhooked itself while the second one was released by me from inside the water.

What was interesting was that this one attacked while the water level was fluctuating. As it can be seen in this video:

the weeds were going 'upstream'. I don't know if that was caused because the dam was open or because it was closed. The attack came from under some 'weed' covers. That's what surprised me. I'm not sure if the perch shoal was 'chasing' the weeds cover or that's where they were hunting and the weeds were just 'en passant'.  This is a theory that I'll try to test in the future, to see if the predators are taking advantage of the covers and they are using them for their own gain. The attack came at a pretty hour, around 10-11 am.

The next day went float fishing.. in the same spot. Wanted to catch some crucian carps for a acquintance of mine to populate his pound. Had no success regarding that. Fished from ~8 am until 7 PM and caught some dace, some gudgeon, 3 small perch and 1 nice roach. The surprise came from the roach as I've didn't expect to catch it. I've got bored and when I get bored while float fishing, well, I target he dace - I bait them really often and I use a light tackle - thin line, ~0.10 mm or even thinner, small hooks -smaller than 16 (I kinda like Maver Katana) and 1 maggot that I hook from the hard part. The 'catch' is that the maggot has to be alive and moving; pretty often, small fish bite it and it's end stretched/pressed and it dies. The predators were frequenting my swim - could see small fishing jumping all around, caught the perch that I've mentioned before, 2 on maggots and one on a maggot and worm on hook. When the water level was fluctuating, the fish shoal (dace) was disturbed and distracted - the baits were rare and had few hooking chances. Though, it's also posible that some big fish arrived and I've didn't know how to hook them. I often tend to be too impatient and either try to hook them too soon or 'chase' the bites and fish for small fish. I need to correct that aproach. Also, another mistake that I do while float fishing is to feed the swim in a too wide circle  - that's a fault of mine caused by me trying to fish too far and/or mistaking the bait density. Another thing that I tend to forget if I don't float fishing for a while is that I should place the hook somewhere at the margins of the feeded place, especially if there are underwater currents. Though, I should test more that idea as I have to take into consideration the water flow, the water depth, the bait's density and so on.
I also tend to postpone too often to change the lightness of the float. Sometimes, you need a heavier float, to put the bait at the right depth and fast enough.

This saturday went fishing again. I've took my pike tackle, tried floating/surface lures but caught nothing. At some point, some birds of the same species as the one that I've caught the previous saturday were targeting my lure - again, the same Vagabond lure. Though, some were eyeing another surface lure that I've tried to use - forgot which one was it exactelly.

At some point, another angler arrived. He had no attacks and, as I was kinda tired, continued to test the same place, again and again. I think that I've fished in the same 10-15 meters for 30 minutes or for 1 hour or so. Had no attacks. In the end, I've recalled that someone, once, used a  Rapala lure, similar to the one from my tackle box and so I've decided to test it. At less than two meters to the bank had a aggresive attack. A small jack attacked it.

The attack came from my right side, it was aggresive nad the jack swallowed the lure. It was around 11-12 am, the weather was clear and sunny, with really small waves. The sun was somewhere on my right going to my back. The are around had really few covers and so that makes me think that the pike was hanging around the banks and/or close to the fallen weeds.

What I plan to do in the future: CATCH a decent size pike on surface lures! I really WANT to see some surface attacks from pike. I'm hesitating between going for jacks with perch tackle or with a more universal rod - both are from Xesta. From what I've saw, the dam/reservoir holds some perch. From other anglers, I've learned that some nice ones were caught. One told me that 3-4 days ago he caught ~2 killos of perch, the biggest one was around half killo - the attack came at worm and that he caught, this winter(?) few that were around 1 killo - I think that he was using small fish.

Decisions, decisions.. Hm. Time will show which are right and which are.. unanswered.

Forgot to add... the dam holds some nice pikes. Last year, I've heard that someone caught one around 10 killos on crucian carp at float. Other lure anglers told me that they've lost big pike due to them cutting the wire leader of 'cause they were unprepared or because they've attacked while float fishing for 'peacefull' fish.

Tight lines!

Lessons from the river bank...

About two weeks ago I've rediscovered an old river stretch. I've forgot about it as I've didn't have enough time to reach some old places and because I've rarely had any catches there.

That day I've walked down the river, through water. It was a sunny autumn day, the water was pretty clear and had the chance for the water to be warm for that season.

At some point of time I've had the chance two different types of fish - colour wise. From what I know, when water's really clear, the fish colour tends to take the surrounding colours. For example, in clear water, the fish tend to take sand like colours.

Here's a fish that I've caught some years ago in the same river, but in another stretch, after few days of muddy waters:

There was a chub that had really dark colour, similar to those who can be caught in still water or in rivers that are really slow going. It was interesting to see it as it wasn't shy - I was in water and walking through it, while he was at almost 2-3 meters far from me. His other mates were swimming around him, but they were more 'normal' colour wise as they had the usual colour for that type of water - clarity and season wise.

I've coudn't take a better image as the sun was almost facing me and my hands were shaking; my camera's also a bit old and can't take photos as it should. In that image, are two fish. You can see the one that I'm talking about and the one who has the normal colour - it's in the right up corner, but it's hard to spot due to him taking/having the sand colour..

Yesterday I've wanted to give another try to the spot from the video, but I've arrived kinda late. I've missed the buss due to me waking a bit late and because I've coudn't find my slippers at time - my mother put them in a place where I've didn't think that they've could be..

I've arrived at the river at around 8 am, tried a random river stretch - was 'building up' my tackle, had few follows, almost caught a fish (small one) at a River2sea beetle and decided - after 10 minutes of fishing to go down river. I've tried to walk through the bushes and trees that but had the bad luck to slip and fall in water - I've half wet myself, my bag (I use a big school back to carry my tackle in it), my camera bag, but I was lucky and saved the camera and phone from water. The bad thing was that half of my body was wet and had to carry some wet clothes with me or on me. The water was cold, very clear and it was getting cloudy. I've caught few nice fish in that place, though. They were a bit tricky to catch as few of them were aggresive, most were taking the lure when it was hiting the water and.. I think that I've coudn't place it in a natural way. I think that they were liking the yellow, green and brown colour. Though, due to the water clarity they were more inclined to attack those lures who were imitating/having natural patters and shapes. I've didn't think at that moment, but, maybe, if I were using a chub/dace like lure I've could convince something bigger to attack.

At around 9 am I've arrived where I've wanted. Had one or two attack on the River2sea beetle like lure - that's one of my few lures that's as natural as it can be.  One of those attacks was really  nice as the fish struck the lure pretty hard and I've almost had it 'in the bag', but it unhooked himself. I've also had few follows where the fish were coming from the deepths, but they were giving up when the lure was too fast for them or when it was leaving their hunting area. I need to find a lure that's working at the smallest reeling, one's who'll move at the smallest twitch - when I've tried to make a Strike Pro Baby lure to imitate a drowning insect/hurt minnow - one who had problems to face the current and, with it's effort was trying to swim up, but the current was too fast or too strong for it, it was ending being 'caught' and brought downstream by the water. Sometimes, you can see some chub who like to 'play' like that, they see an insect in an exposed spot, one where they would also be exposed to predators and they 'jump' on it - they swim fast, take it and let themselves be brought down by the current as a way to arrive faster and with less effort at their hiding/covered/safe spot.

I've also had a pretty nice attack on a soft lure, but.. well, I was fishing with monofilament and the soft lure that I was using was light, it weighted around 1-2 grams.

Even if the water was really clear, I've cought catch fish on 'bright' colours, for example, had 2 or 3 fish (small ones; chub) at this lure - Strike Pro Baby Pro: 

That's one of my favorite colours combination, but I have a hard time finding different models from different producers - I want to find that colour in different combinations and at lures who have different ways of swimming.

At around 1 or 2 pm I've decided to return home and at a spot close to 'civilisation', I've change to a Owner C'ultiva Bug Eye, to my surprise I've had a shy take from a jack/small pike. I think that it was pike because it was long, thin and unchub wise - after 2 or 3 minutes, it changed places and made a big attack on something - the specific pike attack. As I've wanted to verify it's identity I've change to a Mepps 2 Aglia, the silver colour.. but, to my surpise, after almost 5-10  seconds of retrieving the lure, a chub came from the water depths. It wasn't really big, but it was aggresive - I've didn't expect that in a crystal clear water, in sometimes an almost cloudy, but sometimes sunny day, and in a 1, 1 and a half meter depth water to have an attack. I've saw it swimming fast to the water top and taking the spinner. It's companion was a bit slow, but it accompanied it for a bit before returning and hiding. After that I've tried some spoons, snagged them and had to go retrieve them. So.. I've had to change places and did that and after few other throws I've returned home.

Yesterday, I've learned, once again, that it's not up to the angler to decide what the fish likes, but up to the fish. I don't like to fish with spinners, but, sometimes, the situation demands them. If hard baits, if wobblers or spoons don't work, why not use something 'exotic', something that works differently? Also, I think that I was retrieving the lures too fast and that I wasn't fishing too much on the bottom - I've tried to avoid that as I've coudn't recover my lures due to the fact that the water was cold and it had an unknown depth. Had to enter it, though.. as I've had to recover some lures and.. I've even had to break the line for one spoon and one lure, but I've could find them and recover them.

At around 5-6 PM I've fished in a dam. Saw one angler catching a jack on a 3 size spinner. From what he told me, he was retrieving slow, close to the bottom, bettween weeds. The jack was caught after it's second attack, the first one was missed and it unhooked itself really fast, but, it was caught on the second attack. I've liked it's colours, they were wavy - the angler kept it.

Yesterday I've caught my first perch on spinners: 

The spinner was a Mepps Aglia, size 2, the silver one.. the treble, originally, had 3 hooks, but 1 of them broke some time ago and I've coudn't replace it. What I regret regarding this fish is the fact that one of his lips came a bit loose... due to my 'manipulation' of him. I think that it'll survive.

He was accompanied by another perch, a bit smaller. I've release him at the same spot in which I've caught it and I think that I've scared the shoal away.. but, well, I've did the same thing after I've caught my first perch on the drop shot metthod, it was also my first perch being caught at a soft lure:

It was a similar soft lure as this one: 

I've also 'caught'.. or more exactelly, a clam 'caught' my drop shotting weight..

Rainy days and chub fishing

This weekend I've had two fishing sessions.

While the yesterday one was held in the late afternoon, past 5 PM, the today one was held in the morning, from ~7 am to 3 PM.

The weather was contrasting, yesterday it was sunny, really hot and the water was cold, but today the water lever was higher than yesterday, the weather was cloudy for the first part of the day, and it rained a bit  (around half an hour) in the morning; the water was pretty cold, but it got hotter as the afternoon came.

Yesterday I've caught only one fish, at a River2Sea beetle like lure:

Today, when I've first arrived at the river, I've realized that the water level was higher that I've expected, the water was pretty cold and a bit murky. I've tried to test the margins and had an attack, that gave me confidence and I've begant to test new places and new lures. Unfortunatelly, I've caught fish only at one model, from Salmo even though I've tried few other brands.

This is how the water looked like in the first half an hour of fishing:

On the left side's a suspended branch, under it I've had something like a pretty nice follow up, but the fish wasn't convinced by the lure so it didn't attack at it should. On the right side I've caught few small chubs, almost close to the river bank. I think that that's because the water level was pretty high and due to that factor, the fish were forced to change their feeding areas and feedin patterns.

The fact that I've lost a pretty nice fish in the roots on the right side of this place made me persevere and try new places -

After I've saw that the fish were pretty active, at least, the small ones.. I've changed places and kept trying new areas. In the end, I've stopped at one where I've had bad results, one with deep water for this river (around 1 meter and, at most, 1,5 meter depth). In that area, but a bit down, I've caugh few jacks (one can be seen in a previous blog article).

In this area, along the right river bank I've caught my best fish on this river and, maybe, my biggest chub ever. I've wrote 'maybe' because I've didn't measure the fish, nor the others. I've choosed not to put the rod alongside the fish because the fish was on the bank for some time as I've coudn't 'fish out' the forceps out of my bag - I've didn't expect to catch something that needed the forceps.

The fish was caught at around 9 PM at a Salmo Tiny (wasp like) lure. I've didn't expect the fish to attack as I was hiding from the rain under a tree cover and I wasn't really 'fishing' - I've kept changing lures and testing the margins for small chub. The attack came out of the blue - the water was deep at that part and the lure was a floating&top water one so.. in a way, the attack was a surprise for me. In the past, that area gave me few small chubs even though, few years ago, when I was still trying to catch fish at natural small minnows (dace, bleak and so on) I've could catch few perch and small chub; once.. I've caugh a perch at a grasshopper - at that moment, I was fishing on the bottom.

After I've caught this one, I've tried few other places, but.. the fish didn't really like how I've kept retrieving the lure, they were following it, shy biting it and spitting it out really fast.

As I've had some 'dead time' on my hands - the best time for fishing passed and the sun appeared, I've gone to search for an old fishing place, a dear one for me as there I've caught my first big chub, at dead dace on the bottom.

As it can be seen, the water had a strange flow. In the middle was a sand island surrounded by areas with deep water. I've coudn't catch anything in that area at today's fishing session. 

Unfortunatelly, I've coudn't try different areas as the river bank's were 'swallowed' by old vegetation and I've had no acces through it. As afternoon came, the water became clearer.

What I've learned today is that the fish is the one to decide when and at what to bite, especially when as the biggest fish of today was caugh at a area with deep water, cold water, a bit murky and while it rained.

What I need to change/improve in the future is how I 'land' the lure on the water as the 'splash' can scare the fish, there were instances when they've 'jumped' at the lure exactelly when it touched the water, but, after I've began playing/retrieving it, they've became scarred and runed away. I should also be more patient while fishing as some lures need a slower retrieving and because not all fish are active all the time and they need to conserve their energy.

What I plan to do in the future is to test some soft lures and persevere until I'll catch something - there should be some perch out there, but I can't catch it on lures.

Today's tackel:

Rod - Cormoran Black Bull 1-12 grams (...it can hold up to 18 grams, in reality)

Reel - Ryobi Zauber 1000 (back drag)

Line - Trabucco 0.18 

Leader - Cralusso Fluorocarbon (0.25 mm?)

Snap - a duo lock 0 from Sert

Main lure - Salmo Tiny 

Hm, maybe I should mention that I've had to run in the water after that lure for at least two times as I've 'broke' the line in some branches and the lure fell in the water, fortunatelly, I've could arive at time and could see it when I've needed.

Tight lines!

(the fish were released as fast as I've could and they weren't hurt more than it was 'needed')

Fishing for pike in small rivers

Long ago, when I was fishing for chub in a short session of one-two hours in a small river with a width of 7-8 meters and a depth of, at most, 1-1,5 meters, I've had the chance to catch my first small pike on that river.  That was a surprise as I've never thought that that river has pike even thought that I've heared that some poachers caught some in another stretch of the area.

I've never expected it to catch a pike as I was fishing with a Salmo Hornet BE (Beetle) of 3.5 cm (the floating version) just at where the water current slowed down and where the bottom of the river was beggining to differ abruptly. That lure didn't brought me success in other fishing sessions as I have the tendency to use sinking lures as they are easier to control.

As I've already mentioned in the another post, some of my recent fishing sessions were dedicated for fishing for pike with dedicated lures as there were hearings that some small pike was caught, accidentaly, by someone who fished for chub with a Mepps Aglia nr. 2.

I've had 3-4 short fishing sessions for small pike in different days. The first day ended with one small pike at the river bank; I've also had a good attack from a bigger one in the same area but, I've lost it. I didn't expect them to be so close - I didn't control the lenght of the throw and the pike attacked when I wasn't paying attention, the throw was inadequate as it was too far from it's hiding place.

I fished in the afternoon for two-three hours in one of the few stretchs of river that had a depth of more than 1 meter for a lenght of more that 7-8 meters (usually, there are few places with a big depth and those are no longer  than 2-3 meters) and the attacks were on the opposite river bank, where few dead branches were in the water and where the water was a bit shallow.  The treble hooked itself at the outhide of the pike's mouth.

I've used the Cormoran rod, the 1-12 grams one (the Black Bull version), a Berti lure of 9 grams (as it can be seen in the photographs), a braid line of 10 lbs (a no name one=a unknown name) and a Shimano Nexave FC 1000 reel.

The next day I've caught another pike at a different stretch of the river, one where I've caught a good size chub at the beggining/earlier fishing years of mine. I think that the water was slowly rising. The pike was caught at a metallic lure of 10 grams at the end of the river current, where the water was verry shallow. The fishing session was in the afternoon and I've caught the pike when there were less than 2 hours remaining until it was fully dark.

The third succesfull fishing session ended with another small pike at another stretch of the river, one wich was long and where, in other years, the water was shallow; the attack was at the end of the current, where the depth of the water was the biggest. That stretch of the river as that area was a bit unkind to me until then - no chub attacks in the last few years. I've used the same equipment but a different lure. That pike was caught somewhere in the middle of the day; it was sunny. The pike unhooked itself and that's a good thing as I was planning to release it.

In another day, one close to those fishing sessions, on other stretch of the river, i've had a shy attack from a lazy pike, one which just touched the metallic lure; it wasn't verry agressive... I've just saw its action as the water was very clear:

The attack was between those underwater branches.

Now, in the future I plan to dedicate few other fishing sessions just for pike as I have few theories that I want to confirm: 1. the pike isn't so uncommon on that river as there are few places that can hold it/be it's home; 2. when I was fishing for small fish with natural baits I've often had moments when the fish, abruptly, stopped eating even if I throwed them bait and... there were few golden shadows in the water that I associate either with a big perch, either with a pike; 3. there are areas on the river where I rarely can catch or sight small chub (another possible cause for that  can be the fault of illegal fishing/poaching); 4. there are areas where I have caught a big chub... and few others reasons.

Fishing and preconceptions

Do you need to believe in preconceptions ? Are preconceptions needed? I choose not to believe in them as, to me, they are an artificial thing and they can make me change my comportament and so, withouth willing, I'll end up doing something that I don't want to, or even change, temporarly or permanently, my comportament.

One of my last fishing sessions confirmed my beliefs. It was a cloudy day and I've gone fishing with lures; the target fish was small pike, in a small pound, as I wanted to 'verify' the density of fish, where they spend their time and if my fishing skills improved. That fishing session was determined by a previous fishing session, in a small river, where I've target small pike and that's because I've heared from an acquaintance who told me that this year he caught two small pikes - I've also caugh one, but that was two years ago when I was fishing for chub.

The fishing session lasted ~5 hours as I've had to walk more than 5 kilometers to arrive at the fishing place. On the way, an old man wished me 'Good luck!' and a black cat crossed my way, I've also found 1 bancnote, but, after moving it 2-3 meters, i've droped it again - I've hoped that the owner was searching for it and would find it soon.

After I've changed the fishing place - I've gone to a bigger pound - I've tried to find some small pike as I've never caught, nor seen pike in that fishing session in that pound. Unfortunatelly, there was no succes. I've tried various metalic lures, big and small, heavy and light but withouth succes. In the end, I've choose to use a the following lure:

The lure was a metallic one, a Berti lure of 9 grams, one which I've used to succesfully catch small pike on small rivers. The chub was caught in a calm area of the pound, where the water was really still and there weren't any currents, nor wind. As I've fished in the afternoon and it was cloudy, I've choosed a shiny lure. In the morning it drizzled for few hours and the fish coudn't be seen, nor was  very active.

The chub attacked slowly and wasn't very aggresive towards the lure as he attacked at the end of the throw, when there were less than two meters and I was ready to retrive the lure.

 At first I've taught that I've picked up some loose weed, but.. then the line could be seen moving. When the fish tried to go in the banks underwater weeds I've saw that, actually, I've had an attack. The fish wasn't expected by me as, usually, when I fish for chub I use small lures and monofilament ... I've tought that I've caught a small pike but, to my surprise, it was a chub - it's my personal record for stillwater/pond.

The fishing rod is made by Cormoran and is part of the Black Bull seried and it's lenght is of 2.10 meters, 1-12 grams, the reel is Shimano Nexave FC 1000. I've used a braided line, a cheap one, of 10 lbs (5 killos).

My record for river chub is, curently, holded by this chub: