Oh Fook (X 4)

It's probably some sort of portent when the first thing you do when you get to the swim is slip on the wooden platform and nearly end up in the drink.

 















The tactics for the day were to be the usual. A sprat under the trees left and right, and half a herring at the bottom of the nearside ledge. A couple of small balls of groundbait were chucked around the floats in the hope of attracting some silvers, along with small bits of fish from the chopped up herring head. Occasionally the sun popped through the clouds making the drab surroundings look almost pleasant.

 








It was getting  on for fours hours when I got the first run from the right-hand tree. All I felt as I lifted into the run was the bait being ripped from the hook. How they manage to grab a little sprat with a hook in the middle of it and fail to hook I don't know. I rebaited and dropped the bait under the tree to the left. An hour or so later the herring float moved off. I was met with a good sold run then everything went slack. The trace had gone missing! The teardrop loop it was attached to was still there, so the wire most have snapped/unravelled . It didn't feel like it had unravelled though. New trace and new bait were soon back out. No point dwelling on it as this was the first failure I'd had for three years.

The next run was to the left-hand rod and again it came adrift. I can't blame the hook as poking it in my finger showed it to be good and sharp  Besides I've had days like this before, were pike just don't seem to stick. The last run of the day came to the herring rod just as I was starting to lose sight of the float in the failing light. This time the hook stuck till it was in the net. A spirited fish of 7lb 3oz and 81cm. It was a relief to actually land something and save the blank.

 I'm wondering if I over annealed the wire before twisting it and that weakened it. I've given the rest of the traces a good looking at and another good pull, I give them a good pull when I make them so as to bed everything in. I can't see any problems with any of them. Just one of those things I suppose, although there's a pike swimming round with a trace in it's mouth. Hopefully as the are semi barbless doubles it should be able to lose it. Having said that I've caught more than a few pike with traces in their mouths and no apparent sign of ill health.