As I looked over the bridge A couple of the CRTs work boats passed by on their way to repair the bank further down. The first was William Jessop and the second was Wharfe Ⅱ.
I set off with both a pike rod and a perch rod. Really I was after pike but as they can be a tad uncooperative I'd taken the perch rod along just to prevent a blank. After an hour and a half of fling pike lures about in the bright chilly conditions I met a couple of other anglers who'd been fishing for three hours for just one little jack and where now heading back for a warming cuppa. This seemed like a good idea. As I was gathering my kit together I noticed a few small baitfish scatter very close to the bank and could see three decent perch attacking. I flicked out a Salmo Minnow and a couple of twitches later I was in. It wasn't one of the three I'd seen but a smaller fish that had grabbed the lure. A welcome blank saver. I fished around the area for another fifteen minutes but failed to attract anything else. Back at the bridge I changed lure to a Z-Man TRD TicklerZ™ . Second cast and I was in to what felt like a good fish. A rather nice perch of 32cm. Having unhooked it I flicked the bait into the water and prepared to take a photo when i noticed the rod tip bouncing about. A tiny little perch had grabbed the bait as it dangled by the edge. By now the boat traffic had suddenly increased. Four boats were heading towards me and looking through the bridge there was three more heading my way. Time for a cuppa while they sorted themselves out taking it in turns to go through the narrow bridge.
By the time I'd finished my cuppa all was quiet on the water, no boats in sight. I just took the perch rod with me, along with a smaller landing net. It took a while to find then perch. Strangely they weren't in the shadow of the bridge but out in the sunshine. They were obviously a lot of tiny perch down there judging by the rattles I was getting. Eventually I had half dozen perch in the landing net. Things then went quiet for a while before I hooked another. As I wound it in it suddenly got very heavy and shot under the bridge. After a couple of minutes I had it heading back towards me. As I got it to the surface, the perch still in it's mouth, it made another bid for freedom and the hook came adrift. It had been bent out. I grabbed the pike rod out of the car and put on a perch pattern lure. If it was prepared to hang onto the perch for that long maybe it was very hungry and would have a go at the lure. After a dozen or so casts I change to a loud lime green lure in the hope of shocking it into an attack. This didn't work either.
By now it was just about time to leave as I had to be elsewhere. I had a couple more casts with the perch rod before I got snagged up. Unable to ping the lure free I had to pull for a break. I did know about the snag as I'd lost lures on it in the past. As had others. Nobody seems to know what it is but it must have a fair collection of lure attached to it. Whatever it is it's not ferrous as the magnet fisherman have never got their magnets attached to it. Not a bad day although I wish the pike would be a bit more cooperative when I'm down there.
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