I've not posted a fishing report up here for a couple of years now but the fishing was so good the other week I felt I should share...
I'm a bit of a coarse fish specialist but a new job has drastically cut my fishing time so for the last two seasons I've mostly fished small brooks as I enjoy them most.
I thought I knew all of my local venues pretty well but there was one tiny tributary of the Soar I'd never bothered to try. I'd always assumed it was just a little too small to be much use. How wrong I was.
I'd known of this brook for 30 years or more but it was only a couple of weeks back that I decided to finally give it a go, spured on by having spotted a few rising chublets, downstream of a road bridge, whilst out on a run.
I planned on giving it a go just to say I'd caught something from it, sort of ticking it off the list. I like to do this for any water I see just to proove I can catch something on the fly.
Last Saturday(24th Oct) myself and Bakerlight(another forum member) had a crack at the venue. He joined me after hearing I'd caught 20 plus small(perch, chub & dace) fish from there the week before.
We arrived around midday finding the brook quite high and coloured compared to the low clear water I'd had the week previous. I wasn't impressed.
I was thinking it was all about "not blanking" rather than bagging up. Damn.
I set up my 000 wt super, mega, ultra lite rod but with a 4mm tungsten headed olive taddy tied on a size ten jighook. That's right a huge fly on a silly lite rod! This is not as dumb as it may sound though as I knew I'd not be casting just "catapulting" as the stream is tiny and tree lined...no manicured banks here.
Peter cleared off to explore upstream and I went down.
A coulpe of small perch from the first "hole" stopped my blanking thoughts but I was still unconvinced by the colour of the water.

Even perch like that bend the treble 0 rod right round...fun
A couple more small chub and perch came from the each of next few "good" spots I tried and soon I'm managed about a dozen fish...fun fishing but nothing to get excited about.
A narrow glide, only about 18" wide, between nearside reeds and far bank tree roots gave a really savage take which I asumed was a proper chub.
It wasn't....

That really tested the rod and shocked me too...I don't find perch like that often and really wasn't expecting anything bigger than 1/2 pound from here.
Next cast...

This fishing was starting to get good.
A hole under a small alder produced the 1st proper chub. This took right under my rod tip, just a little tap which I thought was a tiddler but the rod bent to the handle sugested otherwise.

The fishing just kept getting better and better and easier!
The final swim I fished produced the biggest perch and a couple of good chub too. That perch...

I'd finished up with 42 fish; 16 chub & 24 perch and I'd only used one fly...never bothered to change, why would you!
Five of the chub were pound plus and also 5 of the perch. That biggest perch must have been 2 1/2 lb or more and all in just 2 1/2 hours fishing.
I headed back to the car bewilded by the magic brook to find Peter also astounded by the number of fish(he'd had around 30 but no "proper" ones).
He too had just used one fly which was almost exactly the same as my choice.
That was over 70 fish between us in a short session.
The brook...

At one point a noticed an audience...

Another snippet of the waterway...

After we'd regrouped we decided to try another brook nearby which is a little bigger and joined to the same water...only about 5 miles by river apart.
This looked even better but in 3 hrs of fishing we only managed 2 decent perch and a solitary chublet.
Just shows it's all about the venue.
Dee

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It's not flyfishing if you're throwing bait in....learn to do it properly

Great report Dave.Nice to have you back,keep up the good work.

Jim

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The Fishermans Friend is the Flirty Fly,Fickle Food for Fleeting Fish.

Great report. Thanks for taking the time to share it. That perch is a beauty!

All I can say is: Less work - a lot more fishing! haha

Really nice report and pics Dee, just goes to show, you never know what's lurking.
S.

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"A glint of sun has warmed the air,The flies will soon hatch out, To lure and tempt from their deep lair, The bonnie speckled trout." SKB tackle supporter. I love Furled Leaders.

A cracking report; and some beautiful pictures! Thanks for sharing them with us!

Mostyn

That's tempted me to get out to my local river and have a crack myself. I know there are some big perch and chub in there but only ever caught on the dry.

What would you recommend for the stripers in a smallish river?

The No. one fly by miles is a taddy with a heavy tungsten bead head(4 or 5mm) even in shallow water. Idealy tied on a jig hook so you don't keep snagging up...the one on my rod now has taken nearly 100 fish and is still there for the next trip out. I doubt that would be the case if it was tied on a regular hook.(I got my jig hooks from Phil at Spider Plus..knapek or something like that)
The heavy head allows you to jig and jerk the fry, lighter flies just won't attract the perch the same as they will flutter and undulate rather than jerk. This is great for chub but perch like it jiggy.
I've got confidence on dark olive but black, brown and golden olive can be just as good and the odd bright one can be worth a dangle if struggling...I tend to change swim more than I'll change the fly though!
Keep the tail short only about 2cm tops for a size 10 short shank. You want the whole fly pretty compact so 1 & 2 oz fish can still take as well as the biggies.
Fishing on the dangle in slow flows is most productive or jigging in the eddies & back flows but casting across or up is also worth a shot.
The colder it gets the more important it will get to have the fly on the bottom and moving slowly but still jerky, if you want the perch...can only really achieve this by fishing dirrectly downstream of your rod tip. You either need a long rod to get the control or get in the correct possition for each spot, this really can be vital in the colder months...get it slightly wrong and you blank.
It really is easy. If your not catching you've either spooked the swim, are not getting down to them or they are not there...move alot!
Dee

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It's not flyfishing if you're throwing bait in....learn to do it properly

What a FAB report!!

Well Done Dave nice catch of fish there some good size perch as well!!
Good to see your back on the forum, hope to read some good winter articles soon

brilliant thread dave, very inspiring stuff, am going to have a go for the perch on my local waters soon, have you ever had any luck with perch on an apps bloodworm? tried it out in the summer for rudd but only ended up catching a 21lb carp! always good to read your stuff, keep 'em coming