Attack Of The Mega Pike

A short early morning session on the canal with ultra light gear turned out to be a bit of fun and also gave me the chance to hear my first Cuckoo of the year. In fact there were three Cuckoos about cuckooing. This is ideal territory for them as there are lots of Reed Warblers in the Norfolk Reed along the edges of the canal. While I only caught a glimpse of a Warbler I could certainly hear them as they are very noisy.

 

The first lure was a 7cm Salmo Minnow in dace pattern. Twitched about among the cabbages it looked just the thing a pike or perch might eat. It was a little jack that took a shine to it. I had seen the fish but didn't realise it as it just looked like a root until it snatched the lure. The next one shot out from under the cabbages but managed to throw the hook as it did it's best trout impression cartwheeling about. This was soon followed by another that impaled it's self on the belly hook.

The lovely sunshine disappeared not long after this and I went some time with out seeing a fish or getting a bite. A bit a a gusty breeze then got up which made casting very light lures into gaps or along the reed line rather awkward. I seemed to spend quite a lot of time reeling bits of plant in.

The next fish I saw were a small shoal of tench as they scattered when the lure passed by them. Another little jack grabbed the lure at the end of that retrieve with the leader inside the top ring. As I swung it in it throw it's self from the hooks and up the bank. A quick photo and it swam off no the worse for wear, I hope. I then spotted a larger jack loitering under the nearside bank which ignored my lure even when it passed inches from it's nose. A change to a Perch pattern  produced a similar response but a tiny jack shot out and grabbed it. This spooked the larger jack.

One of the problems with some bits of the bank along the canal is that you don't actually know where it is. The various plants disguise the edge so you have to trad carefully or you end you sinking into stinky mud. It also means a seven foot rod can't always reach to bring a lure along the edge of the reeds where the predators loiter. It was from here that a decent jack of around 3lb hit the smallest lure of the day. It shot out from the reeds, hit the lure and was over on the far bank before I could even strike. After a couple of minutes of lunacy it lodged it's self under my feet in among the bankside vegetation. A poke with the landing net handle and it was bank out in open water then into the net.

Stopping to listening to the Cuckoos and Warblers, and maybe get a picture of the later the time soon passed. As I headed back towards the car I tried a couple of other lures smaller than the ones I'd been using. I've been experimenting with light wire leaders so that these little lures actions aren't impaired. This was especially true of the 3cm Tiny. With a light mono leader it's action is great but wire can impair it. My solution is a perfection loop at one end with a clip on. and an Albright knot to attach it to the braid, This keeps things to a minimum. The little jacks would have been alright on a mono leader but the large one engulfed the lure so the wire was needed, and worked.

It was nice to hear my first Cuckoos of the year and also nice that my experimental leader worked as well. I'll be trying it with small jigs later to see how it functions with them as many of the waters I fish for perch have a lot of active jacks in them. Unless the jacks are hooked at the front of the mouth they can make short work of mono.