On The Navigation Ⅴ : The Return Of The Landing Net

 It was somewhat grey and drizzly when I got to the navigation but the was only a slight breeze for a change. My intention was to try a Z-Man's TRD TicklerZ bait on a light jig head and this is how I started. For some reason I clipped it on to the wrong rod. A slightly more powerful one I normally use for small crank baits. Because of the the stiff tip bite detection isn't great for the style of fishing I was doing but I still managed a small perch on the first cast. I persisted for a while in the same area but suspected the rod wasn't showing the bites properly, as I could see the occasional rattle on the tip but couldn't contact.

A trip back to the car for the lighter softer tipped rod and a wander up to the lock area showed just how many bites I couldn't see. I still couldn't hit them mind you. Eventually I latched on to one. Then got snagged up on the next cast. Then an angler, I believe called Martin, got snagged on something that was heavy but could be moved. I jokingly suggest it might be my landing net and sure enough as it surfaced it was. Only a couple of yards from where it went in despite been down there nine days and no doubt a  fair number of boats had gone through the lock. Apparently it was a new PB for him. Three more lure anglers arrived as we all continued to struggle. The trick to bites, and the occasional fish, was to be as close to the lock wall as possible but not too close so as to avoid the snags. I managed another small perch over the next hour.

By now I'd been fishing four hours for five small perch. Other shad faired less well. After a cuppa I headed in the opposite direction to the locks, but there were three other anglers fishing the area I wanted to fish so I fished a bit away from them. After twenty minutes or so I latched onto something bigger that I first suspected to be a small jack. It turned out to be a nice perch.  Landing it was another matter though. I was fishing over a fence and my net wouldn't reach the water so I had to climb over while stopping the perch from heading into the nearside snags. Thankfully things ended well and a 31cm perch was soon in the net. I fished on for another half hour before I had to be elsewhere. Nothing else bothered my lure though. Not a bad end to the day. Wasp[ bashing shouldn't be such hard work, but even the bait anglers were struggling to catch them. Though they were getting a few roach. I believe Martin ended up with five or six small perch and his lad one less. The other three lure anglers had had a pike and a perch between them by the time I left.