Well, a few days of interesting life has past since we last spoke.
Yesterday I got the Whip out and took the boy to the canal for an hour – I only had the one worm and needless to say I believe the stories I have heard about the declining population of coarse fish down my neck of the woods may be true. My pal up in Kirki had been regaling me with catches of lots of Perch however our float remained steady …
Still, I spotted a splash in the margins and decided to come back after dinner for a cast to see if I could catch it – I suspected it was a Pike. I sent Jim Burns a text as I know he has been thinking about giving them a bash as well and he was well up for it.
Pike have been in my thoughts the last few days for a couple of reasons. One is that the trout fishing has once again dive bombed and two some nice readers have been very good to me. I have written this blog now for around 9 seasons and during that time I can honestly say I have met and fished with some pretty nice guys. All the guys I fish with now and in the past 10 years I have met because of this blog and I am always thrilled to bits anytime anyone stops for a chat beside the river and mention they read the blog – I admit that writing is my only extrovert tendency and I usually let other people do the talking however I still like meeting new people and hope that folk do not think I am rude.Then last week Dougie did what Hardy/Greys could not and gave me an old GRX 4/5 weight he was not using after mine met a rather sad accident with a car door – I was pretty devastated when Hardy/Greys did not keep a stock of them and it looked like there was not going to be happy ending until Dougie stepped in. So now I have my old trusty GRX back (I am gonna pretend it is the same one).
Then, James Bennett from Kirkintiloch sent me what I can only describe as a sack-load of Pike tying materials with some handy flies to copy. I now am fully stocked up in time for my peak of the Pike fly fishing year – Autumn.
With all that in mind a sudden change of plans meant Jim and I ended up at the Loch…..
There were several Pike splashing around however none fancied a bite to eat. We fairly hammered the place and did not seem to be spooking any fish.
I am never really sure whether Pike feed into the darkness, certainly we seen the occasional splash and guys I know catch them during the night on smelly deadbaits however they were really not playing ball.
After seeing some Pike in the margins that looked like Sharks Jim has now caught the Pike bug and another trip is being planned soon.
In other news first Urban Fly Fisher forum was a great success with well into 200 members – it was busy and interesting however descended into what I can only describe as a total rammy where I acquired a stalker which left a bad taste in my mouth. Server problems caused it to crash and burn and I launched it again afresh under the guise of the “k” board which was a single stream of opinions and chat which was fun – the software I used decided to start charging for support and plugins and after all my sites were hacked the forum was once again scrubbed. Since that time I have been busy wondering whether we actually need a forum – some people are of the opinion that forums detract from blogs as comments on posts lessen. The pluses to having a forum are many – for one you guys have somewhere to post trip reports which I enjoy hearing and also a discussion of common issues of urban fishing can be had.
I am aware there are some great forums out there however there are some pretty bad ones as well – pretty much the only good forums I visit are the Wild Fisher Forum and another super secret no fannies allowed invite only one which everyone secretly knows about #grin#
Anyway, on messing around and deciding about forums I installed one and was again forced to wipe the member base as I could not get it talking to the subscribers on the blog. This made me feel like shite as I have made folk sign up twice now and really do not want to muck people around. What it does mean though is that this phase 3 forum would be permanent and static, there would be no phase 4 – it would be up and running and that is it. It is at the same URL and to be honest I am still not 100% sure that I am doing the right thing and I would be interested in hearing your thoughts in the comments (you can also be an early adopter and actually register for it if you like however I will be making a formal announcement in a couple of weeks once I sort out the layout etc)
Out of interest what do you guys think I should do in my tenth year?
Until the next time, over and out!
Wondered when you would get a forum in the air.
Found it, and posted something.
” Out of interest what do you guys think I should do in my tenth year?”
Hmmmm …. let’s think – catch more fish?
-Research and introduce yourself to and utilise the COMMA! 😉
-Catch a salmon.
-Start a Kelvin pubclub night for Kelly anglers.
-Talk the Organisation into permit discounts for the most successful Tag-And-Bag-A-Kelly-Ned member…
I was thinking more about a bbq however the comma thing frightens me !
Publish a map with all you favourite fishing locations???
Seeing the look on your eldest sons face when fishing oh to be that young again and learning how to fish.Saying that had great fun on my first pike fly fishing trip can’t wait to have another go at these monsters
10 years already!
Publish a map of hard found places. No chance these are TOP SECERT if Alistair told you he wound have to kill you.
“he would have to kill you”
That reminds me Jim, I need to see you about something…see you tonight, come alone!
I know this is far from urban fishing but you should consider a trip to Loch Dunalastair in Perthshire, it holds some fantastic brown trout and also has a bay at the top left hand corner (loch Tummel end) known locally as Pike Bay. The loch can be very dour but brownies to 4lb are not un-common, it is best fished from a boat.
I love that photo just as it is! What a great sense of movement. Sometimes we get lucky and create images we didn’t intend to create – but they turn out great despite our lack of planning or skill(in my case!) Great shot!