Return To The Gravel Pit

With the rivers still playing silly beggars, up and down like yo-yos I decide to return to the gravel pit. I opted for a swim on the sunny side of the pit as the breeze was lowering the temperature to unpleasant. Again I choose a corner swim. Normally I'd only fish this swim when the water level is a bit higher as the inside spot seems to only produce then. The spot directly in front has proved to be good in the past, though dropped runs can be a problem as there are times when there only seems to be small jacks in the area.

A smelt was thrown out to the shelf in front and a roach dropped in the little hole on the inside. Just after eleven, as I was cleaning my clip-ons I lost sight of the float in the sunshine only to see it trundling along to my right by the time I struck the fish had dropped it. Losing sight of my float wasn't helped by the fact that there was another pike float drifting about. We did try to retrieve it, but it never got close enough to the shore and casting around it there didn't seem to be any line trailing from it. It was interesting to watch this weighted pencil float drift about as it didn't go where you'd expect it to. It wasn't until the gloaming and after a short natter with River Foss Fishing that I got my next run. Much to my surprise it was on the inside rod. After a brief thrash about a nice pike of 9¾lb and 87cm was landed. That was it. I would have stayed a little bit longer, but the floats had become invisible in the dark.

Given the amount of pike activity during the day I would have expect more runs, but I didn't blank and it was a nice day so I'm quite happy. The action cam isn't too clever in low light so they video is not great, even after a bit of twiddling with the brightness and contrast, and for some reason there's a bit of a glitch in the middle as if a bit of video is missing.