I was going to go trout fishing, but remembered it was a bank holiday, and sunny, so it was highly likely that there would be an unnecessary amount of traffic about. I there decide to head to the navigation for a few hours despite the forecast of a sunny day. I hoped the boat traffic would pick up and colour the water a bit. By the time I arrived there was a bit of mist about blocking the heat from the sun, so woolly jumper and fleece was required. Amazingly I was the only angler down there.
I started below the locks where I spent 45 minutes fling a few craft shads about on the U/L baitcasting set up. This produced absolutely nothing, not even a tail nip. I then changed to the dropshot with a little 2" lure. This produced the odd tail nip and rattle. moved into the lock complex and got the same result. A couple more anglers had turned up one of whom had had a 12lb 8oz pike on a little dropshot lure. It was nicely hooked in the top lip with the line away from the teeth. I retired for a cuppa as that's all they'd had, but boats were starting to move through the locks so maybe it would be better with a bit of colour to the water.
When I returned they'd managed to add a couple of wasps to they're tally. A natter with one of them showed that they'd struggled on previous sessions much like myself. After they'd wandered to another spot a boater told me there was a huge pike on the surface in the lower lock but when I went to look there was no sign. Another boat came up the lock and told me there was a twenty pound pike dead near the upper gate. I had a look and sure enough there was a pike struggling to remain upright, but certainly not a twenty. more like quarter of the size. I managed to snag it with a lure and got it in the net and moved to to a shaded spot. Slowly it recovered and righted itself. It felt heavier than it looked. I gave it a quick weigh and it came in at 7lb. I intended to photograph it in case it turned up again, although the scar on the side of it's head would be rather distinctive. As I went back for the phone, which was in my jacket pocket that I'd taken off as it was now quite warm, the pike started to swim off with the landing net. I managed to grab the handle just as the pike flipped out of the net. It appeared to swim off quite strongly. By the look of the damage to it's head I think it may have been hit by a boat.
After that bit of drama I got back to fishing working my way through a few lures before changing to a really light jig rig. A 1.5g jig head with a 2" paddle tail. This worked reasonably well. I was able hit hit every third take and ended up with eleven little perch from around thirty casts before everything went quiet again. All the fish were taken on the drop as the lure slowly fluttered down. I fished on for another thirty minutes or so to no avail. With the sun getting brighter and more and more dog walkers about I decided to call it a day.
