Pike Among The Cabbages

 I had a rather fascinating, and frustrating, session on a gin clear canal this morning. Twitching a 7cm Salmo Minnow about above the cabbages I was soon into a dinky little jack. I could see it dash out from under the plants and grab the lure. The next one to have go missed the lure by a few inches. I tried a straight retrieve but it wasn't interested. On the third go I stopped the lure in front of it. The jack just sat there bristling until I twitched the lure. Again it lunged at the lure but missed, instead it got itself foul hooked in the belly before coming adrift as I wound it in.

I then spent some time stalking deer to try and get a decent photo. I managed a couple of the two on the other side of the canal before spooking a pair of yellow hammer which in turn spooked the deer. So intent on the deer I had completely failed to see either of the rather vivid little birds.

Back to the fishing I had another dinky jack miss the lure. As it was turning for another go another little jack hit the lure head on. Despite the fair old thump I failed to connect with it. Next cast one or the other of them hit the lure broadside and was quickly on the bank.  A little while later I spotted the tail of a larger jack poking out from under a raft of weed. As I manoeuvred between the trees to get a cast at it I managed to spook two or three tench which scattered and spooked the jack which shot off at speed.

Another spot of deer stalking followed but I lost track of it as it jumped a hedge.  It did seem it was intent on going somewhere. As I wandered back the where I'd left the rod and net I spotted a small shoal of perch swimming along steadily. Tossing the lure about four foot ahead of them I waited until they were two foot away before commencing a steady wind. The shoal caught up with the lure and followed it all the way to the bank. Giving the lure a good twitch the smallest, not by much, of the shoal shot forward and grabbed the low. It was hooked and swung onto the bank in one move. It's shoal mates just stopped momentarily before swinging back out into the middle of the canal. I lost track of them while unhooking the one I'd caught.

I then had some more fun with dinky little jacks and their astonishing inability to hit the lure. They wouldn't take a lure on a steady retrieve, but seemed to have a lot of difficulty in hitting one that was been twitched  about. They weren't far away but seemed to attack the place the lure was. As I headed back to the car I spotted another shoal of a dozen, or so, smaller perch. Using the same tactic as before, landing the lure ahead of them, I soon had them following the lure. This time I gave if a goodly twitch after a yard and was met with an almighty thump as a fair sized jack hit the lure launching itself out of the water. After a right tussle on the light perch set up I had it in the net. A very tidy fish of 70cm. It had obviously been hiding under the cabbages and left quite a cloud of sediment where it had launched its attack.

Crossing the bridge as I headed back  I spotted a somewhat larger pike steadily swimming along. It looked seriously battered. Probably a result of spawning activity. I left it alone so it could go and hide and recover. 

I was surprised at the inability of the tiny jacks to hit the lure but I suppose most predators have to go through a learning stage. It was interesting to see in the gin clear water though. The clarity of the water also allowed me to manoeuvrer the lure around the plants. By keeping the rod tip high I could keep it above the cabbages, but by lowering ot I could run the lure deeper through the clear areas. With out the clarity I think I'd have spent most of my time pulling weed off the hooks.