Taking Something's Dinner

For various reasons, like work parties, I've not managed much fishing this years and what little I have done has resulted in rather boring blanks. I wasn't full of confidence on Sunday when I arrived, rather late, at the syndicate water on Sunday, despite a couple of twenties being reported.

Having selected my swim I dropped half a float fished herring under the tree to my right. A small float fished smelt under the trees to my left and a popped up bluey in the tree in front of me. A gentle pull saw it land in the water just where I wanted it. After a few minutes the alarm sounded and the drop off bobbed up and down. I wound down into nothing. The bait showed no sign of damage. I managed to cast it back with out assistance from the tree this time.

The float to my right then bobbed up and down, and again I contacted with nothing, although there was sins of damage to the bait. I dropped it back under the tree. A little while later I went through the same procedure with the same rods. Half an hour later the float over the half herring bobbed  about before moving off. A small jack was quickly landed with noticeable scar on it and damage to the jaw as if some thing had attempted to have it for dinner.

 















A while later the popped up joey moved off and this time I latched on to a feisty jack around 6lb. Whether these were the fish that I'd missed earlier I don't know. Soon after this the rain set in for the day. Despite moving the baits about I didn't get another bite.

First of the Year

For various reasons I've only had a couple of trips out this year, both of which were blanks.

Saturday I decided a spot of trotting for grayling was in order, as the river was looking good, according to a friend who'd passed over it in the morning. After purchasing a pint of maggots, I readied the tackle for Sunday. After a bit of dithering I decided 10 ⅔ feet of cane was the way to go. I picked out a few grayling bobs and other bits and pieces. My intention was to fish short runs in the traditional manner. Tossing the float upstream and lifting the rod as it came towards me then dropping it as it goes past. These runs were the ones I'd been fishing Czech nymph style previously.

Foolishly I didn't check the river levels before I set off and found the river 0.5m up and rising. Still I decided to give it a go and after an hour was rewarded with my first fish of the year. A small WBT! This was to be the only fish of the day, despite wandering a couple of miles along the river. Near the top of the length rod rod started to feel a bit odd. The bottom ferrule had started to come loose from the cane. I seem to remember I was supposed to do something about this after the last time I used it. Not wishing to damage the rod I decided to give up and go home, arriving at the car as it started to drizzle, so it seemed like a good decision.
 

Last Session of the Year

The last session of the year went much as expected, not particularly good. A wander round with a lure rod produce a small jack and after a couple of missed runs a slightly bigger jack came from the margins on smelt. Even the camera decided to let me down by producing slightly out of focus pictures.

Lets hope next year is a bit better.

Winter Walk

With only a couple of hours available to fish, I decide to take a walk along a stretch of river I hadn't fished in a long while. With jerk bait rod in hand the only thing I discovered was the fact it was a lot more snags than I remember. I spent nearly as much time bending hooks out of immovable objects as I did fishing. Still it was a proper, pleasant, windless winters day.

Dead Fish at Dawn

Arriving at the syndicate just before light, I soon had a popped up herring flung out along the bar in front of my chosen swim. A popped up eel section was dropped at the bottom of the bar and a sprat  in the margins. Some hours later the sprat bait was taken and a jack of exactly 5lb landed after giving the impression of a far larger fish. With the sun out it was now warm enough to remove may big coat. I had been moving the baits every 30-40 minutes, but this had failed to attract any pike. Two more runs occurred on the sprat, mid-afternoon. The first resulted in a waterlogged branch and the second left just a small bit of flesh on the hook.

After Sales Quickie

After entering one of these evil tackle emporiums that was having a sale and parting company with far more money then I intended, I headed down to the syndicate for a quick session with the lure rod.
A line through roach was tried first, despite the fact it really did look like a real fish it failed to attract any attention. I then moved to the other extreme with a fire tiger jerk bait which produced the goods in the shape of a 3-lb jack.

Bit Bigger Than a Jack

After a delayed start and heavier than normal traffic, I finally got to the syndicate water just before eleven. With little sign of any fish I decided to chuck a E-Sox Jell-Ignite about, after a couple of casts a three large perch followed the lure before speeding past it, followed by a jack not much bigger than them. Despite trying several more cast with different lures I was unable to attract any more action. 

I set up three dead bait rods. One, with lamprey section, was cast onto the far shelf. The nest, with half a herring, was cast across halfway and the third, with a smelt, was dropped on to the near shelf under the trees. The two furthest baits were moved a yard or so every 30 to 40 minutes. The near one swapped either side of the peg every hour or so.

Finally around 4 o'clock I got a few bleeps on the lamprey rod, which by now was at the bottom of the far shelf and wound in to some thing very solid. Clearly a powerful fish, it continued to hug the bottom and short powerful runs as I pumped it back some 40 yards. Eventually it was netted and was clearly heavier than it looked as I lifted it out of the water. I was rather surprised when the scales read 20lb 11oz. While it was rested in the landing net I re-weighed the weigh sling and then re-weighed the fish, definitely 20lb 11oz and 39" long.

Not a bad for the first decent fish of the pike season.