Lake district, Pike and the Kayak 10&11/07/09

At last I`d managed to get not only to the Lakes with the `Yak but I`ve got my good mate Ken with me too this time! So all we had to do was hope the weather held off as we were camping too and wind is no fun when on the kayak!

Coniston was to be the venue as there was a convenient campsite on the banks and we arrived there mid afternoon after a 90min journey and after booking in (incurring many extra charges for extra cars, tents, kayaks, fishing, boats being yellow, being too good looking etc,etc! and they didn`t miss a trick!) we pitched, yaks off the roofs and set up, rods rigged and lures clipped on and we were finally afloat and it didn`t half feel good!
I had the fishfinder on mine and one of the first things I noticed and was concerned about was the depth, 70ft of water in no time at all so I opted to fish the lures over the drop offs close to the bank and seek out some shallower bays and plateaus and the weeded areas. One such place was a short paddle south of the site which was a bay with moored boats and a boathouse and with depths averaging about 15-20ft and in some places weed right up the surface. So after drifting with the drogue and casting all manner of lures as well as trolling some of them around I anchored up in this delightfull looking bay and after trying a few different lures notably spoons, spinnerbaits, replicants, springdawgs, sliders and a few different cranks I thought f*** it! and I`ll clip on a surface lure! and so I did, a Mouldys Hawg Wobbler, which is my favourite Pike surface lure and as Ken was in earshot and we were discussing heading back, this beastie came from the depths and nailed my bait, right on the surface! Brilliant!
I love catching pike on surface baits but doing it on such a water was very sweet!
She was probably only about 7-8lb but big-water pike don`t half go and alot of fun in a kayak!
So after a few more chuck, we headed back to camp for bits of animal on the fire, beer, whiskey, stories & the telling of lies, talking fishing, bushcraft, knives and general bollocks! whilst getting ever so slighly pizzled! it was a great evening, Ken as ever great company and a great laugh and we finally got beaten by tiredness and those fearsome midges!
Saturday morning was totally different, flat calm & bright and although a joy to be out it was hardly good fishing conditions but hey ho! and off we went.
After last nights events we did have another stab on the surface lures but its was a little romantic, and I quickly gave up whilst Ken (as you can see in the picture) worked his previously successful maas marauder to death but to no avail!
I opted to troll for a bit along the drop offs around 20ft of depth with the known big water baits like swimbaits, (mini)depth raiders and spoons and rotated between them , a castaic trout, the buchers and a brass kusaamo professor(try for a bonus trouty thing!) but nothing, apart form a few small perch hunting about but nothing at all esox looking to inspire me.
So as the water was calm we ventured across the water to look for bays, and we did find them, good looking ones too but nothing, I tried with a few shallow raiders and shallow diving cranks such as my favourite Manns 1minus, but again nothing!
After trolling about for a little while we met a couple of guys we were expecting to see, those being Noodle and Jono from the LAS forum so that was good to put faces to names and they gave us some good info for future trips so that was nice!
We bid our farewells and headed off elsewhere, but we were starting to get tired and with the camp to pack up and the long drive back we slowly headed back, I via the moored boats for a few chucks but Saturday ended with a big fat blank!
A great weekend though, and I caught again and got some great piccies and got some more paddling in, so all in all a belter of a weekend with good weather, food, booze and company.
I love kayak fishing!

Yorkshire Coast Kayakfishing 04/07/09

I`ve been dying to get out on the `yak for ages and I did want to get up to the lake district for some Pike action but alas, nobody was playing out and being a social animal I`ve nothing down for 2 days camping and kayaking(fishing) on my own, nevermind the safety issues!

anyhoo! I was trying to tempt my mate Sam Baxter (of www.baxterangling.com) as well as others, he couldn`t make the lakes but offered me the invite to go up to his and get out on the coast (Runswick bay) and then fish the kayak fishing match at Filey the following day. I didn`t think about it too much arranged to stop at my father-in-laws over the Saturday night, dug out my sea gear and I was away!

I arrived at Sams mid afternoon and after a bit of sorting out we headed off to launch where his mate Ben was already out. We sneakily parked where we really shouldn`t and a quick VHF call from Sam to Ben and we set off.
A few speculative chucks with some Bass lures (one of my seasons targets is a lure caught yorkshire Bass) and then off to the Cod grounds for a little jigging. Ben was met and introduced and proceeded to have an hour or so`s jigging with jigs, feathers, hokkais etc.
Long story short I ended up with half a dozen decent mackerel and a cod all falling to hokkais and was great to get out paddling, get some exercise, hook up with sam again and ben for the first time and catch a few and at least give me a little hope for the morning`s match!
So it was back in after a couple of hours and the Yak back on the Van and off to scarboro` for the evening and some chips!

05/07/09 Filey Kayak fishing Competition.

I arranged to meet up with Sam and Ben at 7am and we`d arrive together for the match at Filey.
After getting sorted with the parking and the Kayak set up, £20 fee paid we headed down the steep hill to the beach. Now I have never fished a match of any kind and was really looking forward to the experience and looking around there were plenty of epxerienced kayak anglers about with some lovely looking boats! I was not excactly that optimistic about winning the £500 top prize, but you gotta be innit to winnit!
I headed out with the floatilla of kayaks (I think there was 34 entrants) out beyond the brig and to the known grounds.
I had a decent cod early on but unfortunately that was about it! I lost a ton of gear on the rough ground but it was good again to be out and meeting a few decent people and being on a kayaking social and getting a little burnt from the sun that was sneakily getting me through the clouds!
My Boat for those who know fishing Kayaks is the Ocean Kayak Prowler Big Game, which is the best fishing platform kayak but its a bit of a barge to paddle! with the tide turning and and the sea getting a little snotty I thought I better head back with an hour to spare and that big ****ing hill also to look forward to! and that was that! I didn`t win anything but I didn`t care one bit, the event was brilliant with some great people met and some good fish caught and the BBQ at the end was a nice touch!
Ben won it BTW with a belter of 13lb, I was pleased for him as he`d given me somer hokkias too!
Well done Ben!
All I had to look forward to now was the A64!

Out perching with The Foot

I took the previous Friday off work to hoy some lures at some Ouse Pike, with a little success with a few falling to a Manns 1- and many missed hits (Strangely!) on a Salmo Slider (Tinsel town flavour). The highlight was a decent perch, not quite 2lb on a fox creature spin in yellow, nailing it as soon as it hit the water - it made my day!
But with the gusty wind getting ever worse, off i went home for a little sleep and spend some time with my canine girls.

I itching to play out again, and with Ken, my usual fishing buddy none too well, I used it as an opportunity to tempt out Andy"Footy"Horwood, a lure fishing perch and zander fanatic, whos company I always enjoy, and I love his attitude lure fishing, who was until my call "busy doing paperwork" but it was too nice an evening not to do anything so I picked him up and off we go to one of his secret river perch hotspots for the evening!
I understood that the perch average a good size here and i was advised to use stepped up gear, so I brought along my BromanOdell Esox Lucius 5-25g spinning rod (which I love, its a great fun rod!), Shimano Sedona, 20lb fireline and a good selection of lures within this rods casting range, cranks, spinners and jigs with grubs and shads were all on the menu tonight......
After a little low down on the venue, Andy gets a little perch first cast and then we both get takes straight away, its clear that the perch are `avin`it!
we ended up walking perhaps half a mile on the stetch, with perch hitting all over the place with follows and takes right under our from good fish, some of them looking like 2lb-ers. Andy had nailed a good few fish before long and I`d had a couple about the pound on yellow grub/spinner jig combos, one of them as a was sorting out a bloody great braid birds nest! then just as I pulled free of a snag, a little jack hit my jig just as I sorting the slack out...........They know how to pick their moments!


Everything seemed to go dead for a while, so we headed up to a lock where Andy had a plan, where the ground paddles empty out the lock chambers this is where the perch are waiting to ambush so Andy says as soon as he got one, I was to cast over ond get another one (before you return them and spook the entire shoal) so he did and I then had a cast, and I got one, only mine was much bigger! A pike of coarse, not quite a double but a great fight on light gear-one of the best I can remember, making a right monkey out of me! but we did manage to get her in the net and after posing for the camera she went back nicely.

We ended the day with another couple of perch and Footy got a Jack of about 5lb, so he had a hatful of perch to over the pound and that pike, I had a few perch all around the pound, a pike about the same and that bigger pike. A great evenings fishing, thoroughly enjoyable with Andy great company as ever as well as enlightening me with his tactics and experience doing this kind of fishing......Thanks Mate!!

Dying to get out again now!