To be honest not catching Tench or Carp was becoming tedious
so I was glad of a cooler spell as I felt comfortable fishing for Pike with
lures and I was well up for it. Isaac and I had agreed an afternoon out in a
boat but the forecast was dodgy to say the least, a high chance of light rain
but how light? In the end we said stuff
it and loaded the car, the kit supplemented by waterproofs in case it got
really bad.
We set off from the boatyard at 1600 beneath damp, murky
skies, plan A was to cover water and find fish so I took the oars and Isaac
held a rod. The ‘Angry bird’ worked in
the killing zone, just sub surface and above the weed, creating a nice wake, this
lure has worked very well in the past.
The bulging lure was hypnotic, I kept concentrating on it and forgot to
look where I was going but Isaac steered his lure around most of the weed
clumps. We covered water steadily for
forty five minutes and just when confidence started to seep away, Isaac’s rod
thumped over. A nice fish fought hard
but Isaac was in control and it was soon in the net and unhooked in the
water. We rowed on a way then turned
around to go back over the productive spot but hadn’t got near it before Isaac
was in again but this time the hooks didn’t hold.
With a couple of fish in caught the same general area it was
time for a change of tactics and time for me to have a cast or two. We trolled back to the top of the wind and
the light south westerly pushed us along on a nice slow drift. Now casting, Isaac continued stuck with his
‘Angry Bird’ while I chose a Zoota Wagtail, one of my go to lures in clear
shallow water. We hadn’t drifted far
before a Pike slashed and missed my lure.
A bit further down and my rod thumped over again and this time it stayed
on, another small Pike unhooked in the water.
The drift was slow and I needed to row back upwind a couple of times to
keep us on the right line but it was worth it as the next three drifts brought
three more Pike to my Wagtail as well as a couple of other fish moved. Right at the end of our last drift Isaac was
in again on the Angry Bird and brought his second fish to the boat.
By this time the drizzle was becoming heavier and we made a
unanimous decision to turn round and head for home. I tidied my gear away and Isaac trolled while
I rowed back. Back into the productive
area and a Pike swirled at the lure but missed, would it try again? A minute later the rod hooped round, whether
it was the same fish we’ll never know but it was certainly the biggest of the
day. It required the net for sure but
Isaac declined the camera. The score was
4-3, would Isaac get a chance to even the score? No, as it turned out, we reached the boat
yard around 1800 but seven fish in two hours was more than I’d hoped for. A couple of hours fishing that actually went
to plan for a change and just what I needed ahead of the Pike season. Isaac claimed bragging rights as there’s no
doubt he caught the biggest today. That’s
it, summer is over, it’s my favourite time of the year, autumn is definitely
here now and I’m raring to go.