Grabbing a chance while we can - Make time for fishing.

I'd not fished with him for a few months and then I heard he'd not even had much of a chance to get out and fish. So I dropped Neil a text to try and sort something out. We needed a catch up and a chilled out couple of hours on the bank and since the weather was cooling off a little we fancied some pike. We'd had some rains a few times and the waters were cooler and had even been up and down a bit a couple of times so we fancied a chance of a pike or two. Getting to the chosen swim was a little tricky as it was well over grown so we had to hack our way through. Neil sent me first to trample down all the nettles and find out where all the hidden trip hazards were. I think we both stuck on a jerk bait to start with and I chose one of three I'd had made by Mark Houghton and not had a chance to use yet.

Chatting and casting around and it wasn't long before we had some attention. Neil had a follow which he only spotted right at the end of the retrieve when the pike turned away then a few minutes later I had a pluck but missed it. I can only put it down to being a bit rusty. It wasn't a proper hard hitting take but I was a little slow reacting and failed. However not too long after, possibly the same fish, hit again in the same spot. Though this time a combination of it hitting harder and me reacting faster meant I was in. A nice bright fish that must have been easily a low double and the new lure from Mark was now a proven fish catcher.

Back fishing and chatting and we were switching things around and trying to get another hit. I thought we'd have had at least another jack by now as time had moved on a little since the last fish, but no luck. Neil chose a smaller Fox Replicant and lobbed it out. He could get this lure down a bit deeper and hope to run it past a toothy predator. The tactic worked and I heard a noise as Neil shouted that he had one on, ah no, then off. Wait, no it's still on. The fish steamed right at him and at first he thought it was off but then quickly realised what was happening so wound like mad to try and get some line back in. Once back in contact with the fish he got it under control and after a head shake and a jump, it was in the net. Again this fish was a nice low double and we were both happy at that. Both of us off the mark on the night but also just great to be back catching a better stamp of pike. Summer ultra light fishing means we still catch pike but on the whole they are small fish. Being back out with the big lures means bigger fish, and we do love pike.

We worked hard, moved pegs a few times and switched lure types and styles to try and get something else but a lively start ended with nothing much more. Just one more fish came and that was to Neil, and again he bagged it on the small Fox Replicant. This time a smaller jack of five or six pounds but we were happy enough. For me I was happy to be back on the pike and I'm sure Neil was just glad to be on the bank after his limited fishing in recent weeks. I know he got out with Matt not too long ago for a frogging session and they had a few fish and even more recently he got out on the boat with Woody for some fun. We all work and have other things to do so sometimes you need to make time for a bit of fishing. It's easy to get out of the habit and not fishing often leaves you not thinking about fishing. I'm sure we'll be out again with the jerk baits now it's much cooler for those hungry pike.

Since Neil hasn't really been out fishing he's not featured in any of my videos yet so I thought I'd knock up a short video from that evening. RiverPiker welcomes Neil to Youtube, I'm sure there will be more to come in the future.