Tuesday 20 August 2013

Thinking about fish.

I've had a couple of sessions already this week. Both with the light lures and both on the river late evening. I just wanted to get out and have a few chucks to see what I could find. I've been thinking more about places around me that I needed to fish. There's still stacks of river I want to explore and plenty of features I wanted to either try out for the first time or try out again because I'd only ever fished them when maybe conditions weren't right. Monday saw me bag ten small perch and three small pike with one of them around 8lb which put up a monstrous fight ripping line off the reel on the take making me wonder if it actually was a pike and not maybe something else like a trout or salmon. It really was that ferocious. I came home happy but concerned that the dark nights are coming so much earlier than before, it seems as if someone has just flicked a switch.I was very happy I'd grabbed a few fish but thought there was a good chance that I might drop on a larger perch but I never found them despite fishing some very good spots that should be a fish magnet.

So happy with Mondays effort, all day Tuesday I was thinking I wanted to get out and do the same but this time go check somewhere else. I knew the conditions were right and there was a good chance of perch and pike and so any new places should show me the potential for future. Upon arrival I had a small perch first chuck so that was the blank out of the way. Then it went quiet and I couldn't spot any fish along the normal likely looking spots. That made me think that maybe I'd chosen the wrong venue and that despite looking fishy the place didn't really hold much at all. I moved on a little and then had some more casts with one cast having two 6oz perch follow the lure in. Great, signs of fish which now gave me a bit more confidence to give this area a bit more stick. Covering most of the near water I started to pick up the odd small perch and was enjoying the sport, nothing over five or six ounces but it beats being sat indoors. I then decided to target the water further out and I have a heavy spinner I can whack out at distance so gave that a good chuck. First few casts I'm scanning a wide area to see what I can find and many of the casts brought back a small perch, pretty much same as before. I then got a whack of something a tiny bit bigger which turned out to be a gorgeous little pike, aren't they a fantastic looking fish!



I was happy, I'd had a good day Monday and bagged a few today, what more could I want? Well I wanted something a little bigger I can tell you that. I've been thinking about a good few places that should throw up some nice fish. I've been about with Woody for example and found fishy looking spots that we've wangled some nice fish out of, so these spots should hold them too even though they're on a different venue. I had a think a bit and pondered where a bigger fish might be. Deeper water, slack water, just off the main flow? But I'd tried all these spots and apart from the small stuff no joy at all. So why were these bits of water holding just the small fish? I couldn't think of anything at first, then I thought I'd got it sussed. These spots were full of small stuff because the bigger fish were somewhere else! By golly Paul you're like Lieutenant Columbo. Scratching your head and looking all confused, you've just figured something out but haven't a clue what you just did. I kept fishing the same spot in the same way I had been for the last forty minutes or so, all the time with a puzzled look on my face as I searched for the answer. Then just like Colombo himself, after lots of walking up and down and going back over the same spots it happened, I figured it out.

Right in front of me was some fast water, I little out of reach but I figured If I could get at it from another angle. Instead of casting in to the fast water and then after a few yards of retrieve pulling the lure back out again to where I originally thought the bigger fish would be, instead I could cast in to the fast water, hold it there and slowly bring it in. So I gave it a go and it seemed to be spot on, I was doing what I thought I could do and after a few seconds of the first cast, as the lure slowly sank and wiggled away in the current I got a tap, and then another couple and I was in to a perch. Nothing massive but this one was way better, around ten ounces or so. I kept at it working different parts of the flow and I kept pulling in more perch of the same stamp. I'd get the odd smaller perch though most of the time it was when I'd got the lure back in to the slacks after a failed run in the fast water. I launched another cast and with rod held high I just kept the lure there in the current. I felt a tap tap and struck into something completely different. Violent head shakes and plenty of weight to it, and the rod tip wasn't bending it was the whole rod. As the fish came closer I saw the spikes break the surface, it was a cracker. I'm really starting to enjoy the fight a decent perch gives and this one wanted to give me one, motoring right past me and upstream before I turned it back, in to the slack and towards my net. Get in, another nice perch banked.

bang on 2lb


After the weigh in and the trophy shot I couldn't wait to test my luck again to see if it was just one random fish or were there others. I bagged a few more ten ounce sized fish and then again I got a whack and a better fight ensued, though this time it was a perch of maybe a pound and a half. The sport went on for a good half hour where I bagged plenty of perch including another three easily over a pound. What a result and reward for all my day dreaming at work and even sorting my tackle at 23:50pm last night after taking the dog out and suffering the calls of "saddo" from the wife for doing stupid fishing stuff at that time of night.

Relax Kopyto shad

 
The light was now fading again as that same person from last night had seemingly flicked the switch and darkness was nearly upon me. My lure now seemed to be not getting any attention from anywhere and I was thinking it was time to go when all of a sudden I got another whack and then bedlam as a ten pound pike took off with my Kopyto. A great end to a fantastic little session. After that fish I called it a day and came home. That was all the fun I needed for today.


2 comments:

  1. Cracking write up Paul, really enjoyed reading it! What a great session, its really good when it all seems to fall into place. Sat here at work and it mas me want to go fishing now!

    Glen.

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    Replies
    1. cheers Glen. Yeah it's good when it all falls in to place. No doubt I'll go back another day expecting a good session and it'll be a blank, but that's fishing.

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