Flies on the Towpath

Whenever the unthinkable happens and it actually looks like summer at this point in the year, I start to crave clear water and canal fishing. It's remarkable how quickly our beautiful rural cuts are dismissed as "unfishable" in the Westcountry. Sure, you might struggle with a pole rig. But that rich, abundant weed is absolutely teeming with life- and the rudd, my absolute summer favourite on the canals, will eat both the green stuff as well as the things hiding in it, not to mention the bug life hatching in and around the towpath. A dry or slow sinking fly can be presented in the slightest gap in the undergrowth.

On the Taunton to Bridgwater Canal, I must have walked six miles or so with Russ Hilton, who opted for free-lined bread in the weedy spots while I cast flies. I cannot stress enough how important it is to be mobile if you want to find the interesting spots and better fish here. A 10ft 3/4 weight rod, long handled net and fly vest are all I need to fish (and in fact the heaviest part by a mile is my Nikon camera plus lenses!).

It was Russ who made the quicker start using bread- although I missed two really positive takes from chub where I watched the line pull away before striking my Spider Sedge right out of their mouths. I really should learn to wait another split second! Not to worry though, because the beauty of this fishing is that there's always another chance a few yards on- and I was soon adding roach to the cute rudd I was getting on my wet flies:

Incidentally, when it comes to fly choice I still rely heavily on either my "Rudd Bugs" (basically soft hackled flies with buggy, loose dubbed bodies that sink really slowly) or the good old Black and Peacock. To cater for different conditions I tend to tie the favourites three ways: totally unweighted, with a glass bead or with a tiny gold bead. If there's a steady breeze or tow on the water, beaded flies offer better control. The tip of using lighter beads made of glass and other materials is something I borrowed from my friend urban fly angler Theo Pike. These sink slower than brass or tungsten, but still cut through surface movement well. After all, canals are changeable. The fish, especially roach, cannot always be persuaded to nick the fly in the top few inches and finding a steady tow is not uncommon at all. At other periods of the day, a small buzzer or bloodworm also worked for the roach.

Perhaps the biggest surprise of the day was the capture of a silver bream (above) of around 6oz. These take a fly well, but are usually much smaller. It took a gold beaded spider, fairly well sunk down. It was a great day for visual fishing in fact. Winds were gentle and visibility improved greatly once the sun came out. Fish like rudd turn the usual "fish early and late" logic on its' head in fact; a sunny afternoon is an excellent time both to spot and tempt them on flies.
It was a day of top viewing pleasure in fact. We saw everything from tench and bream to a few pike. One of these jacks stole a rudd directly from Russ as he played it and we watched the thing sit there with jaws working and a tail sticking out of its' mouth! He also has this happy knack of catching a fish I've just missed. I'd had my eye on a vividly coloured golden rudd but managed to miss the take when it sucked my fly in. About two minutes later the swine had it on a piece of bread. Bah! (To give Russ his dues, he also had the best rudd of the day at around a pound and a quarter- which I'm sure you'll see soon on his "Tales From the Towpath" blog).

When it got too hot to play we also enjoyed the shade of one of the "pill boxes" dotted around. These were built as air raid shelters during WW2 I believe. Not exactly sure why the Luftwaffe would want to bomb the canal, but there you go. Our own raids continued in the sun, We both had plenty of takes and missed some other really chunky fish. For anyone keen to sample a day on the fly in these beautiful locations, I can offer guided days and half days which include a set of "canal special" flies to take home with you. Can't say fairer than that! I've yet to have a guest who didn't finish with several quality roach and rudd.

Bloody Fishing

What have a size 20 dry fly and a lump of sickening offal got in common? The answer is that both have been cast in the last few days in search of fish. Another example, should any be required, that fishing is insanely varied, even in the space of one county. The offal forms the start of a new experiment in search of a reel screaming monster. I'd remembered Richard Walker's accounts of offal being dumped into pools that was devoured by carp and other scavengers- and liver, kidneys and even hearts have a history with species like catfish. Chris Lambert scored a few kilos of pure, blood drenched horror from a butcher and so this line of enquiry begins. Add white coats and clipboards and it could be a scene out of "Reanimator". So far, this is the main type of cat that has been attracted by the stench, the loveable old moggy of Town Parks fishery known as "ginge", -but watch this space to see how the trials progress: Actually, the fishing has been fairly tricky in the heat. The end of May has seen an explosion of plant and insect life however, and so the fly rod has been put to good use. A quiet revolution continues with coarse anglers grabbing fly rods- and fresh from the butchers, Chris grabbed the fly rod to bank a first on game tackle in the shape of this canal perch, which barged through the roach to grab a pink shrimp: We also nipped out for my Dad's birthday to seek further kicks with rising coarse fish on both small nymphs and dry flies. The fish are already gathering prior to spawning and not entirely focussed on eating- although sport was reasonable. Perhaps the best fun of all was taking roach off the surface at Westleigh, with takes falling to either a size 18-20 F Fly or a ginked up spider presented in the surface film. A few Sunday boats then coloured the water- and sight fishing got harder thereon in. Do you need to see the fish and takes to catch roach on the fly? Not necessarily- you can watch for rise forms or use an indicator. But in truth, it's a bloody big help to spot your fish, as is having flies that show up well, whether that means a black fly for light backdrops, or a light tan, pink or hares ear coloured fly to stand out against darker backgrounds. Goldheads have also been surprisingly decent for roach and rudd- albeit only in pretty small sizes (16-18). And that's fly fishing- whatever the species, a little change can be the difference between fish and frustration. Good luck to everyone casting a fly this summer- lots of absorbing sport to look forward to.