Something a little diffrent

The Forth and Clyde Canal .
Well to be honest I've never really given it much of a chance as far as fishing goes ,just the odd hour or so spinning and one or two bait fishing with the worm for perch which are in fact one of my favourite fish as they always bring with them many great memories of being a youngster and fishing Barrhead dams were their where some great perch to be had on the worm and on the best of all baits i think for them minnows as you seem to weed out the big one's from the smaller fish and that can make all the difference when perch fishing .
The real reason i was back on the tow path of the canal was I've got a new pike fly outfit and i managed to get it all for just over 110 quid which was not bad considering ,OK the rod is not the bling bling some people have with it being a Ron Thomson ,but it is a specialised pike rod meant for the job at hand being a 9 weight to 10 weight which will give it enough back bone to subdue anything unexpected along the canal banks as most pike seem to be very small and to me that only says one thing ,bigger pike must be getting killed by inexperienced fishermen or other means not thought of by myself ,also the real i got in my hand picked outfit is an airframe 8/9 and has just the drag needed for those big runs that pike can make when in the mood ,as for line well i nearly chocked at the price as I've always been a shakey buyer and this time i knew i had to think of the fish before my pocket as I've heard i true pike line is a must if you mean to subdue these fish quick in order to getting them back in the water and released to fight another day , which I'm hoping will be done by all who fish for pike that visit my site as in waters were pike are they are a big part of the Eco system and food chain and if killed by people who know nothing better than they kill other fish then we will have a bigger problem than you would if you were allowing especially the larger caught fish to return to keep their counter parts smaller pike numbers down as this is something i don't think people realise is that pike are very cannibalistic and it is this that keeps numbers of pike down in waters were pike flourish ,so instead of killing those lovely creatures that grace our canals return them to fight another day I'm sure in time you will see the results of which i am speaking ,anyway after being side tracked their by matters more important than the price of my new Rio fly line which is a nine weight and cost 30 quid which I've never paid out for a fly line before ,but as i said and have now realised as I'm getting older yes the fishing and the catching is still a great buzz but its the fish i more than anything else often find myself thinking of and this can only surely be a good thing ,so ill give myself a pat on the back for splashing out that extra 15 quid in aid of the pikes return to the water alive and well.
I am going to spend the next few weeks of Autumn trying the canal at different times on different locations ,i have however been given some really good tips from a fellow angler of the kelvin and canal Alistair who runs another website dedicated the the river kelvin called urban fly fisher.com I'm sure is the name and i take this guys advice on board as it has never ever let me down ,so a big thanks to you my kind sir, and may the luck of the devil follow you in all your fishing adventures,thanks.
And so it was last Saturday just after picking my sons up i decided to have a go with the new fly rod and straight away i found i was going to find this a little difficult ,casting those big flys as they hinge when in the air and become extremely dangerous attack weapons ,so i decided that i would start of with one of my smaller pike /sea flies and i was off and casting this fly quite well and easily getting across to the far bank were i was sure their must be pike and after a while of cast after cast i decided to put on the bigger fly again ,but this time i had cracked the way in which to cast these bigger flys and so on i fished for another hour or so trying different depth and retrievals to see if i could induce a pike into taking my fly but the only thing with pike fly fishing is your arm does get sore after a while so i decided enough was enough and by the look on the boys faces they thought the same ,so off we went home .
I did however enjoy my day out and it gave me some insight into this type of fishing ,for one it was not going to be easy and i was going to have to give the hours needed to get the reward i am so desperate to get from pike fly fishing so ill just need to plod on try harder and wait just wait until i get that first take on a pike fly ,i cant wait I'm off fishing now wish me luck and if i get a pike ill try to get a picture for the blog and if not some pics of the canal at least OK so see you all soon bye and keep fishing..