Sunday Struggle

It was like a scene from Jaws – the first one – do you remember the bit where Jaws comes close in to the shore and take the boy from the surface as if he was a popper – it was like that today at the canal.

Before I tell you about what happened I thought I would share with you guys – I feel as if I have lost my way over the last few months – juggling work, home life, fishing and writing about fishing has been difficult – and then there is the choice of what fishing to actually do. The Kelvin appears to have been taken over by Salmon anglers with nobody really interested in the trout and I have got to admit some of the Salmon shine has been rubbing off on me. I have had a few early morning and dusk sessions for Salmon – the fly rod has been with me however where people catch Salmon is not really well suited for the fly. Also considering I have still never caught a Salmon I have been deciding to make it easier on myself.

Anyway – I have been catching no Salmon. I have been out a few times for Pike and hardly at all for trout. It is the trout I am missing. I have roughly two weeks left before the trout season finishes – I need to catch a few more trout before I need to stop for the six month close season.

Today however I decided to grab the brief respite in the rain and walk the few hundred yards to the Forth n’ Clyde canal. I have been leaving the Pike at this section alone for a while – I came down here a few weeks ago with a pal and we both had follows from fairly large pike – the Pike that was following my slow moving lure lunged at it as I jerked the fly to induce it to take – it was not hooked and it glided away back into the depths. I have been down another couple of times and know I just need to hit it right and I will catch both those big boys – they were definite Jacks.

Anyway – it was while I was standing on one of the boat moorings I seen it – you see, you read a lot about seeing Pike taking fish near the surface and them causing a commotion as they crash into a shoal of fish – and to be honest I have seen this behaviour as well – however never on the Forth n’ Clyde – until today – there was an almighty splash about 20 yards above me – I looked up thinking I would see a duck flying away or even a floating bottle of wine – however instead what I saw was a green back and tail slipping back under the water – I think it took a bloody Swan from the surface  – a lesser man may have shit himself however I stomped over there and started to flail away with a fly that had been sent to me by a true expert.

Alas – even the super fly did not draw the green giant back from the depths – maybe if I had used a popper the size of a duck I may have moved it again from its slumber.

I also found something rather disturbing – a couple of weeks ago I ran into a well known Pike angler who goes by the name of Vinnie – if you have ever fished the canal for any length of time you will know him – he runs up and down on his bike – he is also a bit of a master when it comes to catching Pike. He had told me he had been finding lengths of thick mono tied to the boat moorings set line style – obviously this for someone to not only catch a Pike but to kill it as well – last year he had noticed someone on Gumtree selling a couple of hundred pounds (in weight) of Pike – the only place they could have came from is the Forth n’ Clyde.

Anyway – I found some evidence for myself – a length of mono attached to one of the boat moorings.

All I can really suggest is that if you ever see anything like this you cut it and discard the materials safely and make sure it wastes the time of the  people setting these lines. I reckon maybe even a bell to British Waterways might be in order as well – I might actually give them a bell this week just to see what they say.

Anyhoo – I had a very pleasant hour or so – I watched my fly being followed by Perch which were around the same size as the fly itself.

Here is hoping I can find some time to catch a trout in the next week!