Short report from today:
Despite being really quite tired after a long day yesterday i managed to drag myself out of bed at 5am this morning, waking with the image of my popper fly being murdered whilst it was twitched over some dark water beneath a tree or two ..............
As i parked the car it started to rain, i had no jacket with me so decided it wasn't worth worrying about, plus it wasn't cold. I walked down to the bank and stood there for moment just taking it all in, after being in cyprus on hols the riverscape was beautifully green. The water was low but i dont mind that, it means you can get in and have a good wade about and reach some spots impossible to cast to from the bank. The water gurgled off rocks and slapped tree roots, a group of mallards set sail and headed downstream and an inch off the river the blue flash of a kingfisher darted past, always a goos sign! I was the only one there, again. I rigged up the popper and soaked it in the edge for a second to bleed the life back into the natural fibres. I then waded across the shallows towards a slack behind a reed tussock, from a distance the way the tongues of current framed it made the smooth surface of the dead water look like a mirror, what lay on the other side of the looking glass i wondered?......
As i neared i was stopped in my tracks, in amongst the cabbages was a long dark shape, the edge of a rock or Esox? Only one way to find out!
I pulled some line from the reel and flicked the fly three of four yards beyond and to the side of the "rock", as the fly touched the surface the rock pulsed into life, i stripped the popper twice before Esox the exocet smashed into it at full tilt! The slack is only 2 feet deep at most which gave for a suberb fight, the fish full of beans and very angry once i'd lifted into him, after a few exciting moments he came into hand before onto the mat for a snap, a great looking fish of around 7lb or so...
I slid him back and carried on wading the shallows popping here and there, by this time the drizzle was full blown and my shirt was getting wet through so i headed for the sanctuary of some overhanging trees, which looked remarkably like the image i woke up with...
I put the popper over the dark water, stripped the fly once then BANG! The surface errupted into a depthcharge scene from a WWII movie and the rod sprang to life in my hand, the fish was smaller, maybe only just 6lb but put up another fantastic scrap with plenty of top fuel dragster runs before i chinned him, slipped the barbless hook from the corner of his jaw and held him till he sulked his way back under the trees.
I put the fly a little further along the dark water, it's around 5ft deep here and looks perfect, although i'm yet to tease a Pike from it. I made a couple of casts across the the pool from different angles before the fly was smashed into, i thought i saw red as the line tightened? Seconds later my thoughts were confirmed, it's a Perch, and it's taken a popper tied on a 4/0 in 5ft of water!! I must admit to worrying about a huge toothy mouth coming up and snatching it away from me and played him in quickly (shame it wasn't on the 5wt). He was a gloriously perfect Perch, looking as only river perch look, bright scarlet fins perfect from one ray to the next, lovely dark bars along his flank broad shourders and a giant chasm of a mouth. I rarely weigh fish these days unless it looks like a PB, it's was no Record but a good 2lb'er i'm sure...
I sat watching the Perch sit in the edge for a while before he slid back into the dark water, the rain stopped, i tried one or two more spots with no luck then got back in the car and met up with my brother on a different stretch and had stacks of fun with the numerous Chub on 4 and 5wts, but that's another story...
Cheers,
Graham
Pike and Perch popped...
Nice report , thanks 
Danny
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