Canadian Adventure

As my 40th birthday approached Mrs C asked me, "Would you prefer a party or a fishing holiday?" Silly question really. I have an Auntie and Uncle who have lived in Vancouver for as long as I can remember so arrangements were made for my Dad and I to pay them a visit for a week.

British Columbia can only be described as stunning. Even in downtown Vancouver the architecture is spectacular, high rise buildings reflect both their surroundings and the sky in spectacular fashion. 

Our city planners should learn a thing or two from across the pond and follow suit!

Everywhere else you look there is amazing scenery. Snow topped mountains and greenery abound. Tuesday morning saw Uncle John, my Dad and myself make a short journey North to a place called Harrison Hot Springs. The idea was to stay with friends Alice and Ken and be closer to the fishing. Below is the view from their front door, imagine seeing that every time you went out of the house!

Wednesday morning saw us driving through Chilliwack on our way to the Fraser river to meet up with Steve Kaye aka the Sturgeon Hunter. 

The Fraser river is by far the biggest river I have ever fished at over 850 miles long. In its lower reaches it is huge and powerful and where the snags back home are sticks and twigs, in this watercourse we had to keep our eyes peeled for whole trees floating down and there were plenty of them!!
The tackle was simple. a 9/0 hook attached to 150lb braid and a simple running rig with a 12-14oz lead.
not exactly delicate but effective. Bait used was a either a small Squawfish officially known as a Northern Pikeminnow (which can grow to over 10lb) or an Eulachon (pronounced hooligan). By the time they were attached to the hook you couldn't really tell them apart.

The first bite was instant and before I had chance to draw breath I was playing my first ever Fraser river White Sturgeon.
These fish have remained unchanged for more than 65 million years, prehistoric monsters than can live for over 150 years and can grow to over six metres long.
The specimen I was attached to wasn't quite in that league but still fought very powerfully in the strong flow making my arms ache. After 15 minutes the fish was beaten and my first ever Sturgeon was boated and lay in the sling. 65 pounds of scaleless muscle with protective bony plates called scutes and a solid bony plated head. You could never accuse them of being pretty but they are certainly stunning creatures.

It is obvious why they are bottom feeders using their barbels and long protruding mouths to find and pick up crustaceans, shells and small fishes when they young. When they reach maturity they can manage whole Salmon.
My old man was up next and the nervous energy racing around him was plain to see. He sat through over an hour of waiting before the second bite arrived. Our guide Steve knew it was a big fish straight away and he was not wrong.

For a good twenty minutes or more the banter flowed about him messing about with it and the rhythm method etc while the monster attached dictated the terms of the fight.
Eventually it surfaced and it was obvious this fish was too big to be hauled aboard. There is a rule that anything over six foot has to be brought to the margins so we towed this one to the nearest 'beach'





6' 2" long (same as Dad!) weighing 150lb (bit less than Dad!!) of leviathan, one chuffed old man and a very jealous son!

Far and away the biggest fish that Dad had seen let alone caught.
Next up was a change of swim and Uncle John's turn. By now we had attracted a spectator. A bald Eagle sat in a tree right by the run, looking unimpressed by our efforts.

These huge Raptors are prolific around British Columbia building huge nests that can weigh almost a ton! We saw so many over our stay that the novelty wore off-nearly.

Eagle in nest

Uncle John was actually relieved when his turn came and the fish was not as big as Dad's! He enjoyed a spirited battle with a 45lb fish and the smile says it all.

The old boys kicked back and relaxed after that letting me have the remaining hours rod-time. We moved spots a couple of times before I landed two bigger specimen both around the 100lb mark, 60 and
59 inches long respectively.

Our skipper thought the above specimen was a sea faring fish due to its pale colouration. Probably upriver for its first attempt to spawn.

That was the last of the action but we didn't care, an action packed day with lots of laughs. There was relief as well when we heard the other boat that went out that day had blanked. It would have been a long way to go to catch nothing!
The remainder of the week was filled with more wildlife, beer and laughter.
Hummingbirds:

Wild Chipmunks:

and of course Canadian Geese:

A big thank you to Uncle John and Aunty Geraldine for looking after us so well and thanks to Dad for the company and the plane ticket!

Linear Tench (and Carp)

Not really what you would call a Spring morning!

Following last weekends successful Tench session I had a hankering for more of the same. Linear fisheries, a favourite haunt of mine when chasing Tincas, was the venue. Quite a risk on a bank holiday weekend being as popular as it is but I was relieved to see several vacant swims upon my arrival. I set up in a nice quiet corner on the road bank and within ten minutes of casting out had the first screaming bite of the day. When Tench run it is normally fairly easy to slow them down within about ten yards but this take kept on going and there was little I could do with eight pound line and my barbel rod. There could only be one culprit, a Carp. Eventually I managed to slow it down, gain some line back and within ten minutes there was a pretty little Common laying in the folds of the net.
There are some anglers who would class this fish as a nuisance when targeting Tench but that thought never crossed my mind, catching fish no matter what the species is always a pleasure in my book.

12lb 9oz

It wasn't a shock that there was no further action until mid-morning as I knew the colder overnight temperature would put pay to sport until then and the only sign of life in the swim was a slight drop back on the left hand rod around 10am. I left it well alone thinking there were fish milling around the area and reeling in and risking spooking them would foolish and thankfully ten minutes later a typical stuttering Tench bite led to 'fish on'.
A mostly uneventful battle ensued until I got the fish close in when it proceeded to power around taking the other two lines with it. I managed to net both it and the tangle and was pleased to have a quality female Tench in the bag.

8lb 8oz

Once again worm hook bait had done the trick in fooling an immaculate well proportioned specimen.
Nearly an hour later the same rod signalled another run and similar to the first fish it ran and ran. By the time I managed to gain control it was probably forty yards further away from where I hooked it but unlike the first Carp (by now it was obvious that this fish was a Carp) the fight was much more deliberate and powerful. The nerves started to kick in as I realised this was a large fish and on light tackle with line whistling in the wind, I trod carefully and constantly prayed for the hook to hold. A large tail broke the surface some thirty yards out which didn't help my disposition one iota! Eventually after what seemed like an age I bundled it into the net, let out a sigh of relief and lifted the fish onto the mat.

A stunning chunky Mirror with apple-slice scales weighing 24lb 12oz. My biggest Carp for three years which is not surprising as I don't ever target them. Daft really as I so enjoy catching them!
At that point I could have gone home a happy angler but there was still a chance for some more action. By now the complex was filling up with other fishermen making the most of the three day weekend and spods were flying about all over the place which usually scares the fish off but there was one Tench who remained and he took the middle rod's worm. An uneventful scrap ended with me being victorious.

7lb 1oz

I played with the camera whilst waiting for some more action but that was the lot. A pretty good day's work and I still got home in time for dinner.

Lands End Tench

Having not been able to fish for nearly six weeks (finally moved house!) I was itching to start my Spring Tench campaign. A dawn start with the weather decidedly unseasonal, windy showers drenching the countryside but as we arrived at Bishops Bowl fishery the sun was starting to break through and a dry day looked a possibility. The lake Martin and I had hoped to fish was home to a barrowload of bivvy boys having a 48 hour match however there was one secluded corner of this gravel pit that was free and the owner put us onto there informing us that it was a great spot for Tench. It was so secluded that the bailiff had to show us where it was, it was easy to understand why they called it 'Lands End'! I managed to get completely lost on the way out which Martin found hilarious!
Anyway it certainly looked fishy so we were happy. Tactics for both of us would be to fish two rods, Martin had maggots on one and worm on the other while went out for my usual all out chopped worm attack.
I had only managed to cast one rod out and was setting up the second when the buzzer indicated the first bite of the day. The strike connected and after a plodding battle I landed a small pretty Mirror Carp, not the target but never the less a good start to the day.

Probably about 7lb.

Martin was getting plenty of attention on the maggot rod but failed to connect with some really finicky bites and frustratingly he lost a Roach close to the net. I then missed a screaming run making a mess of the strike probably due to being rusty after my long lay off but made no mistakes with the next one as  I connected with a decent Roach and this time I landed it.

A young looking specimen weighing 1lb 6oz which showed the lake has potential as a big Roach fishery that could possible be home to 'twos'. My fishing buddy also landed one of his own around the one pound mark.

The bites dried up for a couple of hours but the variety of bird life (we counted 16 different types!) kept us amused. I tried to capture as many as I could on camera but the rarer ones were so quick it was not easy.
 I have recently completed an evening course in basic photography and am hoping this will help me take better pics for this blog amongst other things.

a Stone chat

Great Crested Grebe

A Crow trying to scare off a Buzzard

Early afternoon and the action restarted with me finally landed the target fish and an excellent beginning to a Tench campaign, a big female pulling the scales down to 6lb 9oz.

This fish was followed closely by another female weighing 5lb that sported a rather strange dark patch on it's gill which would make it instantly recognisable should it be captured again. At first glance it looked like a leaf but Martin assured me it was some sort of melanin birth mark.

Martin's tactics were now becoming more and more desperate and he bombarded his swim with all the pellets and maggots that he could find.

Bombs Away Captain Roberts

Splashdown!

But then he landed his first Tench of the day an immaculate chunky little female which fell to the worm rod!

4lb 3oz

This signalled a short flurry of activity as the Tench seemed to wake up and we actually had a double hook up, both landing small Tench of 3lb 4oz and 4lb 4oz respectively. For obvious reasons I posed for the brace shot!

We were getting close to the end of the day but there was still time for me to land a small male Tench, the only boy all day and a baby Pike that snaffled my worm as I wound in! A cracking days fishing in stunning surroundings and a great start to what will hopefully become a Tench-full Spring. 

A Pair of Fives

Today was my final opportunity for a running water session before the season closes for three months so there was no way I would pass it up. My preference would have been to target Barbel but the low overnight temperatures convinced me that Chub would be a safer option so armed with luncheon meat and my favourite Chub bait, cheese paste I fought my way through the fog to a familiar stretch of the Warwickshire Avon.
My preferred trotting method was made impossible in the gloom, the float was just not visible for long enough to make it worthwhile so a change to legering was necessitated.
The first two swims I fished yielded nothing, not even a twitch but the third produced a bite almost instantly, unfortunately I missed it as I was reading a text. Thankfully it didn't take long before I had another opportunity and this time I struck into a fish which screamed off downstream instantly. Initially I thought Barbel but the fight soon became a lot easier and I knew it was Chub. A big open mouth came over the net cord and I could see it was a good fish.
The Warwickshire Avon has a healthy population of Chub and their average weight is definitely on the increase. Having said that a five is still a good fish for this river so I was pleased to start the day with a five pound nine ounce specimen. A long youthful looking fish that definitely one day will be over that magic six pound mark, I really hope to renew acquaintance with it then.

5lb 9oz

Normally when I use cheese paste as bait I mould it around the hook but today I decided to experiment with hair rigging it. The former seems to me to be the better option as a succession of twitches, pulls and missed strikes continued throughout the morning which became frustrating.

Eventually one bite materialised into a hook up and after a vivacious battle I landed a rather sorry looking Chub. This one had been through the mill (possible literally) and had a nasty looking growth on the side of it's gill. It was also very lean and clearly not doing well. I didn't stress it further with a weigh in, just took a quick photo and returned it to the water.

A screaming bait runner signalled a third fish hooked and after a spirited effort I had another fish in the net. Not as long as the first and with a slight hump to its dorsal it was clearly a five due to the big belly it boasted. The scales confirmed my initial thoughts as the went down to 5lb 6oz. I was more than pleased with a brace of fives in the same session, it would have been unheard of only a few years ago.

The sun finally burnt off the mist and with that the action died off too.

Spring is nearly here and I have already started thinking about Tench and other species to target over the next few months, cannot wait.

Too Many Fishermen Spoils My Day

Less than a week to go now until the end of the season, sods law that the rivers are looking the best that they have done for months. The Warwickshire Avon still has a foot or so more than normal levels but the colour is dropping out of it and will continue to do so (if the forecast is to be believed!). I felt confident of catching today and unusually was setting my stall out for two different species, Pike in the morning and Chub in the afternoon when conditions had brightened up.
Two rods were set up for the Pike, one with a small Roach as bait and the other had a Herring on it. It was a slow start but I was entertained by three Roe Deer cautiously feeding in the field opposite. Sadly they were too far away to get a decent photo. I remained silent in the hope they would venture closer but they took flight when a couple more anglers noisily trudged along the bank.
Eventually I had a run on the Herring. A small Jack had taken the bait, not it's mother as I had hoped for. The Jack had seen better days battered and bruised and with only one pectoral fin. Hence I only got a head shot.

The rest of the morning played out with little incident but what was noticeable was how many anglers were out making the most of the pleasant weather. A lot of them were lure anglers roaming up and down the banks, quite annoying when they cast everywhere including my swim. They certainly deserved the few choice words they got, not sure they understood English though!
After lunch I moved swims in the hope of finding a bit peace and solitude. I found a deserted section and baited up a run that was slightly downstream and across from the peg where I actually sat. It looked the part for a Chub, overhanging branches covered in flood debris creating a raft of cover over the Chub's heads. Just what they like.
Within an hour an ignorant bloke plonked himself in the next peg down and proceeded to fish the same area I had baited. There was no courtesy of 'alright if I fish here mate?' or 'whereabouts are you fishing?' Some people eh!
After that my heart wasn't in it so I went home and did all the Sunday jobs a day early-brownie points galore from 'er indoors! Maybe enough to get one last session in before the end of the season? We'll see.

It'll soon be spring and we will be treated to lots more of these stunning sunsets.