Perch Fishing For Pike

 Recent weather really hasn't been conducive to fishing, not for me anyway. I did. however, manage a short session on the canal initially for perch. After flinging small jigs and things about for an hour or so the perch appeared to be rather uncooperative. The scattering of small fish and a large swirl showed the jack pike were on the feed. The largest softbait I had, a 80mm white and glittering thing was put on. A couple of casts into the area and I was in. A feisty beats of 48cm put up a good struggle on the perch tackle.

Further on, above the lock, in the clearer water I spotted a similar sized jack. It wasn't a fan of the white glittery thing though. A root round the lure box and a small spinner bait was put on. I reckoned that something entirely different may persuade it to attack. The lure landed some way from the fish but once it started moving the pike was across and on it's tail. Speed up or slow down is always a dilemma. I stopped and allowed the lure to fall though the water. As I sped it up again it grabbed it. The little jack came in very easily until it was near the net. It then decided to perform all manner of acrobatics. I just managed to scoop it in the net as it spat the lure out. Slightly shorter than the previous one at 46cm.

I had another twenty minutes wandering along the canal before the drizzle started again. A robin accompanied me as I wandered back to the car. Clearly the the hope of been fed. It seemed happy with the crumbs from the bottom of the bag of cheese & onion crisps I had while waiting to see if the rain would ease off. It didn't.

Weekend on the Navigation - Now With Added Pike

 Arriving at the navigation I found cars strewn everywhere. According to the web site  there wasn't a match on so I assumed it was the new moon rush for the pike. Turned out it was, sort of. It was a PAC get together. I saw one pike come out and believe another had been caught.

I headed in the opposite direction flinging all many of large lures about with out any sign of a pike. As I returned towards the car for a cuppa I met a couple of anglers I'd met before. One of whom had a small pike first cast. I had my cuppa and headed back with a lighter set up. A variety of lighter lure were chucked about with little success until a mighty thump on a Jerkster. Consider how hard the lure was hit the pike came in like a wet blanket. I chinned it and lifted it clear of the water. It was then it decided to put up a fight. The lure went one way the pike the other, skinning my knuckles as it went. A fish of 5-6lb but a pike at last. Time was now running out. As I headed back to the car a bait angler had a fish slightly larger than mine. The two anglers I'd met earlier had had nothing else.

The next session headed further down the navigation. The swans seemed quite happy paddling about the flooded field. While over the other side some twitchers were playing spot the duck, or something. It was a warmer more pleasant day than previous. I started off with a spot of perch fishing under the bridge and eventually managed to winkle four fish out. Little perch like that shouldn't be so hard to catch.

AS I was having a cuppa contemplating whether to fish for perch or pike another lure angler turned up on the opposite bank. He seemed to be having a bit of a problem with his baitcaster. Whether he was new to it or what I don't know. As I finished my cuppa a few fish scattered ahead of a large swirl. I already put a SG Da Bush spinnerbait on with the intention of trawling it along the edge for pike so cast beyond the swirl.  The bait had probably travelled some ten yards along the edge when it went solid, then swung out into the cut. The pike put up a very spirited fight before giving up and allowing me to chin it. A 90cm fish of 8lb 10oz.

I then spent the next hour or so chucking the spinnerbait about but didn't see another pike. When I got back to the bridge a cormorant was happily sunning it's self on the far bank. I flicked the lure over which hit the stone work and had the bird dive into the water. I looked up and down for it to reappear which it did along way down. I'm still surprised how far and how fast these things can swim underwater.

Two sessions. A pike on each. Not brilliant but things are getting better. With another storm on it's way I'm not sure where's go to be fishable later in the week. Somewhere will be and hopefully the fish will get bigger and better.

The Wrong Wellies

 My first pike trip of the season didn't get off to the best of starts when I discovered I'd managed to bring two right wellies. One size 42 from my summer pair and a size 44 from my autumn pair. Things weren't too bad though, as the 44 went on my left foot without being uncomfortable.

I started in one of the swims that I'd previously fished where the pike had made a bit of a nuisance of themselves. A sprat was to dangled under a float near one lily pad and a roach under another float was to be fished on the bottom by another lily pad. Apart from a carp mouthing the float very little happened.  I tried a few different lures through the swim to no avail. Once I'd thawed out some bits of chopped fish I dropped them into likely looking spots in a couple of other swim. Each swim was given a couple of hours with the baits moved about and the depths at which they were fished varied.

In one swim I a float popped under the water about an inch and stayed there. Winding down to something solid I struck only to come up with a load of silk weed.  I put on a trout to replace the roach and dropped it back in between the overhanging tree and the lily pad. It has to be said there was very little sign of pike activity. No fish scattering nothing. The carp, the other three anglers were after, were happy showing themselves amongst the lilies.

With the radar showing some heavy looking rain on the way I packed up before I got soaked. In fact I had just got the gate shut when the heavens opened. Not the start I'd wanted to the new pike season, but pike are bloody awkward like that. As an angler pointed out on a previous occasion, when we were both being bothered by pike, if come back with pike gear they won't be feeding. One thing I must remember for the next outing is the liquidised bread to attract the roach and rudd into the swim.

Strange Time on the Cut

I've noticed that Friday's tend to be the windiest day of the week over the last month or so. This can be a bit a nuisance at times especially when lure fishing. Trying to cast close to the edge with out the braid getting blown over the bankside vegetation or drop a light lure into a gap on the far bank is rather fraught. As I was using quite heavy lures to start with this wasn't so much of a problem but the wind was also blowing debris about as well. Still I persisted. Following suggestions from @UTSurfaceMike I was starting with a spinnerbait which soon attracted a pike which followed the bait for a yard or two before turning away. This happened five times over the next hour or so. One even shot out of the the lilies creating a bow wave as in followed. They never had another look at it though.The pike were anything from a pounder to a good double. It didn't matter if the sun was out or not, or what colour bait was used.

On the way back I tried a couple of surface baits and a jerk bait The surface baits were attacked a couple of times by small jacks but I never managed to make the hooks stick. Spotting three large perch I clipped a spinnerbait back on. As it passed in front of them, a couple of feet away,  they turned tail and disappeared. This happened again with two slightly smaller perch, but a couple no bigger than the spinnerbait accompanied it in. Between the pike and perch things were looking a bit bizarre. There were quite a few shoals of roach swimming about now. Anything from 3-4" up to hand sized. This made me think the predators may not be active. Time for cuppa and a rethink.

After a leisurely cuppa I headed back, but this time I also had a perch rod with me. I'd rigged it up with a mono leader and a small white HTO bug. When I got to the bridge I flicked it into the water to see what it's action looked like. I hadn't even got the bail arm over when a jack shot up and grabbed it as it fell through the water. A bit of a battle ensued on the light perch rod as 65cm of very fit jack shot about before been safely netted. Thankfully it was lip hooked. Another attempt to see the action of the lure resulted in a perch, the intended quarry. To be honest the lure didn't seem to do much as I twitched it through the water, but a little jack thought it looked edible. This one had engulfed the lure and damaged the mono so I switched to a steel trace. I'd put the mono one on hoping it would allow the lure to have more action, but as it appeared to do very little and the jacks were on the prowl I thought steel would be safer. A bit more jigging along the edge of the barge moorings resulted in a couple more perch and another little jack.

As bites had dried up I wandered toward the next bridge casting the little bug about. The only take I got was from a tiny tiny little pike about 6-7" long.  It hadn't actually been hooked but had hold of the paddle at the back of the lure. As I went to swing it in it came adrift taking the paddle with it. I couldn't find another one so swapped to a small pearl white grub. A few swims further on I spotted a large perch which snatched the lure as I twitched it past. It didn't put up much of a fight as it was spawned out. Even though it was 40cm long it was very hollow, as expected, and only weighed 2lb 7oz. Still a very nice fish. I'd unhooked it in the net and thrown the lure to one side. When I went to move the rod a little perch had attached it's self to the lure. Not quite the brace shot I'd of liked but still.

The fish Around the next bridge seemed to be nearly all roach apart from a couple of skimmers. A bit of jigging along the brick work produced another small perch and a another tiny jack.

The big girls were obviously not feeding but It still turned into a reasonable session even if one or two of the fish were rather fluky. Quite why the perch were scared of the spinnerbaits, or the pike were following them but not attacking I'll really don't know.