Welcome back to the Reel
And the Dorset Stour
Me and my dad wanted to get back to fishing for pike as we hadn’t really targeted them in quite some time. We used to predominantly lure fish for pike and perch and we felt it was a good time as February has historically been productive for us when they start to get more active.
My dad was fishing with lures but I decided to also bring along an 8 weight fly rod I’d built for a test run but also to try and catch my first pike on a fly.
The first issue with trying to fly fish a venue not typically fished by fly fishers is that there is often not a lot of space for a back cast so in most swims I fished, before casting out a lure, I bow and arrow casted my fly around the margins in the hope of picking up a pike sat close in to my feet. My confidence however in the fly dwindled as I lost a fish and had a follow on a lure but this is likely just because I could get more distance with a spinning rod.
Here you can see a pike of 4, maybe 5lb, turn at the last second.
Most of the accessible swims had a little bit of a slack in the near bank where pike could sit out of the main flow and ambush anything that came near. We covered each swim with a dozen casts or so before moving on so we could find the fish as they normally start grouping together more now ready for spawning.
After missing a couple of fish each in the morning, my dad landed his first, a nicely marked jack. Further downstream I got a decent hook up and landed a nice jack on a Kopyto shad.
Then, on the same bend but a few metres along there was plenty of space for me to properly cast the fly rod so I gave it a go with a lime whistler fly, which is mostly marabou but with weighted clouser style eyes which helped it sink in the flow. After a half dozen casts or so I turned off the GoPro to save battery thinking that was that in this swim, but on the next cast, right as I was finishing the retrieve and lifting the fly out of the water a double figure pike jumped to grab it and I was in for a battle that would properly test the rod I’d built.
So minus the weight of the bag it was 10lb on the nose, a stunning pike but a catch made all the sweeter being my first on a fly and first on my rod that I’d built. It took me a minute to process and get fishing again.
I carried on in the same spot, milking the opportunity in case there were more pike down there and I hooked up one more time… Not a monster like the last one but equally happy to have another on a fly.
My dad came close to hooking another pike but as we got further downstream the river got skinnier and faster with less slacks for pike to seek refuge in, so we headed back towards where we’d had more success and my dad managed one more before the light really started to drop and we had to head off.
We’ve got another day fishing together this month and are going to visit an old haunt for us, the Kennet & Avon Canal. I might leave the spinning rod at home this time as catching on the fly is so much fun and not only is there a good chance of a few pike on the canal but we regularly used to catch big perch over 2lb as well, so I might even be able to catch a big perch on the fly which would just be awesome.
Anyway, tight lines and I’ll see you in the next one!
11 сен 2024
