Hannah dropped me at the side of the canal around mid-morning and armed with rucksack, rod, stalking net and unhooking mat off I squelched onto the tow path excited at the prospect of trying this, new to me, art of Pike Flyfishing.
Late winter on the local canal
To say the water was coloured would be a bit of an understatement, it looked more like a dirty thick soup with an abundance of flotsam and jetsam floating around on the surface. I have to admit to feeling a little disheartened as I knew I had no flies dark enough to provide a strong silhouette in such murky conditions, but I was here and I was determined to at least start on my fact finding mission for the long journey ahead.
The murky mire!
Just as I was clipping on my fly another angler appeared on the tow path, a lure fisherman called Paul who was on his second visit to the canal in search of Zander. A quick chat revealed he'd had no luck with either Zander or Pike but had caught a couple of small Perch, it was quite good to hear he'd been informed that other anglers had caught Zander out of this particular stretch of canal and to see another angler here with similar intent to me lifted my spirits a little.
I picked my way along the occasionally muddy, slippery tow path searching for likely looking 'Pikey' spots both on the far and near banks and started making my first tentative casts. It took a little while before I started to get used to flicking out such a large fly on the #9 weight rod I have acquired for the task, thankfully though it soon started to come together and wasn't long before I was able to get the fly into some nice fishy tight spots between the reeds on the opposite bank.
The first casts...
Unfortunately today was not going to be the day I hooked my first Pike on the fly, I wandered for a good few miles trying various spots but couldn't find a fish. I spent a good few hours searching the depths but to no avail and with some dark ominous looking clouds looming on the horizon and the breeze picking up, I decided to call time on my first Pike Flyfishing trip of the year and headed for home.
'Great British Countryside'
I'm never too disheartened with a blank, it's just nice to be out on the banks soaking in the surroundings. I thoroughly enjoyed my first trip on this new flyfishing path and had to raise a smile when looking through bridge 13 on the way home I saw a boat moored up flying the Union Jack, a very British end to a day out fishing in our wonderful countryside.
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