On previous sessions I'd been wondering what had happened to various small crank baits, as the box seemed a bit less full then it should be. A root round the fishing shack produced a box of lures all requiring replacement hooks and/or split rings for one reason or another. My drawer of spare trebles soon showed why they had been abandoned, none of the appropriate size. A trip to the tackle shop saw me parting with a small fortune for the appropriate hooks, split rings and other essentials. Soon the lure box suitably full.
Down at the navigation my intention was to give each of them a run to see if they were all still functional. The first out was a small green and yellow beastie of unknown origin. This produced a perch first cast, so obviously fully functional despite not producing another fish. Next out was a Salmo Executor 7. This bait is a wonderful bait if laziness is your thing, it seems to work best on a simple straight retrieve. This proved to be the case when a large pike hit it with the trace inches from the tip. To see it hit the lure and turn before hitting the steel piling that lines the bank here, before steaming off along the bank clutch screaming, nearly had me falling in with shock. I was glad I'd put a wire trace on the light perch set up I was using. I followed the fish along the bank as it was heading towards some overhanging plant life. Thankfully it moved out to the middle before it got the line snagged and started heading back towards my landing-net that I'd forgot to pick up. It was nearly ten minutes before it finally gave up and came to the net. The problem with light perch set ups and feisty pike is that there are times when you don't really feel in control and the fish just seems to do what ever it wants. I was quite surprised at the weight of the fish when I lifted the net as it hadn't looked that big as it shot about. It turned out to be rather a chunky fish of 10lb 8oz and 90cm.
One of the problems when you're three foot above the water is releasing tired pike. They never seem to want to sit upright in a landing-net that isn't quite big enough, this one was no exception. Eventual, though, it righted itself and tried to swim away then the next bit of silliness started. Every time I tried to tip it out of the net it tried to swim deeper into it. It's next trick was to get it's teeth snagged in the mesh. At this point I started pondering pike fillets for supper, as it clearly didn't want to leave. A final shake of the landing net and it was out.
I gave the lure a gentle lob back out to see if the braid had embedded itself, all was OK. A couple of turns and I was into my intended quarry. A nice perch soon graced my net, quickly followed by a couple more. I forgot about testing the other lures as the Salmo was obviously working well. Several more perch followed as I wandered along the bank along with another pike of 6lb 10oz that came in like a wet blanket, but put up quite a fight once on land. Another pike hit not long after, but came adrift after a short blistering run. By this time the light was fading rapidly and lacking any suitable source of illumination besides the moon I had one more cast which produced another perch. Trying to illuminate a perch's mouth with a phone while unhooking it is not something I'd recommend.
It looks like I'll have to have another visit to check the other four crank baits out. Lets hope they all work as well as the Salmo.
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