Pride Cometh...

My spring and summer will mostly take place on two waters.  The first is my favourite place to fish at this time of year, it’s a beautiful place to spend time but the fishing is difficult.  Every year I start off full of confidence, just knowing this will be the season that I finally crack ‘The Marsh’ and unlock its secrets.  Every year I come back down to earth with a crash after a few blanks.  A night spent in a favourite swim saw me doing everything right, good bait on efficient rigs cast bang on the spots I wanted them on.  The session passed with a couple of half-hearted bream pulls and a good night sleep.  The Marsh has drawn first blood but I will be back.

My second water is considerably easier and I expect to catch fish here.  I’ve managed to squeeze in a couple of short evening sessions this past week.  On both occasions I managed to locate fish and I get baits out quietly but both times nothing picked my bait up, unless you count a rather irate Mallard.  I could see Carp moving about but they seemed spooky and unsettled.  I don’t think I’ve done much wrong because no one else seems to be catching either.  Or perhaps it’s the fishing Gods taking revenge for all the “Carp are easy” grief I’ve been giving my mates?  At this rate I'll soon be fishing a third, even easier water.  It hasn’t been all Carp/Tench fishing though…

 A couple of hours of free time in the spring sunshine gave me and Isaac the perfect opportunity to venture out with a lure rod each.  The venue was a pit at which I’ve spent thousands of hours in the past but not for over two decades!  I knew the northern end used to be shallow and weedy, I expected the first lilies of spring to be pushing through and I was right.  This should provide perfect cover for us to fish our lures around.  I started off with a Zoota Wagtail, a cracking little lure that has caught me loads of Pike over the years.  Isaac clipped on his Angry bird and we commenced fishing.

The plan was simple, a few casts in each swim then we’d move on to the next.  I gave Isaac first go in each spot as I really wanted him to get into a fish today.  Despite this it was my Wagtail that got hit first but the small fish threw the hooks.  A couple of swims later the Wagtail was followed in by another Jack.  Meanwhile Isaac’s Angry bird hadn’t been touched and he hinted at a swap.  How could I say no?  Eventually the Wagtail was nailed properly and Isaac managed to haul a small Pike into the waiting net, his first Pike of the year was cause for a big grin for the camera!

After that Isaac switched back to his Angry bird and I had another go with the Wagtail.  We retraced our steps towards the car with a cast here and there.  One more Pike swirled at the lure but I couldn’t hook up, it didn’t matter at all, we’d achieved what we set out for.