Penultimate River Pike Session

My pike season on the rivers, like many other up here, hasn't been great at all. The constant floods have made life awkward with some especially slippy banks when the water has dropped. In the hope of picking things up a bit I headed for a well known hotspot. The river had been up about a metre following Sunday's rain but was dropping so things wouldn't be too bad I thought. Following a later than intended start due to finger trouble I arrived at the pot after a rather laborious trudge through muddy files and slippy paths. I was surprised to find nobody else there on either bank.

A float fished roach was dropped into a nice slack in thirteen foot of water and a large smelt was ledgered in twenty three foot of water. I moved the baits about as best I could in the slacks. A couple of other anglers arrived and setup in another larger slack that I intended to move to later if nothing was happening. Both baits were given a dose of oil after an hour or so. The slowly dropping river meant the slack changed shape necessitating changing the position of the baits. The drizzle and chill wind wasn't making life pleasant. Part way through the morning one of the other anglers landed a pike. A high single by the look of it.

While investigating a couple of other swims, now the rain had stopped, I spotted a Tansy Beetle loitering on some nettles. I don't know if the eat nettles when there's no tansy about. These things are rather rare. The Yorkshire Ouse and somewhere in Cambridgeshire are it's only remaining populations in the UK. After lunch I moved to another swim upstream that has produced pike in the past. The float now sporting a piece of lamprey had to be set a twenty two foot and was tossed in at the upstream end of the slack. The edger was dropped in at the downstream end with a small headless mackerel. The same angler that caught earlier had another. His friend, like me, ended up with  a stick. I must admit the stick I caught gave a very convincing impression of a pike run.

The trudge back up the hill was damned hard work with the sticky mud trying to rip my wellies off. Not the day I was hoping for but one more session to go and a my be able to pick things up, or not.