Successful second visit....

With the schools half term this week I wasn't expecting to get out at all but when the opportunity came up for a full day I gladly took it. The plan was to head to a still water, fish until lunch and then reassess from there and possibly move to a river for an hour or two on the way home. I prepared all my gear the night before (3 bait rods and 1 medium lure rod) organised the bait freezer, part packed the Jeep and tried to get a reasonably early night. My youngest however decided that I didn't need that much sleep and had me up at 1am and again at 3am. The alarm went off at a quarter to 5 and I was very tempted to turn it off and have a couple more hours, however the urge to get on the bank was strong and before I knew it I was in the kitchen making a brew.

The water I was fishing is a 75 mile drive and in my old Jeep takes around an hour and twenty, I arrived at the water at just after six thirty and it appeared that I had the water to myself. I chose an area that I know has produced in the past (not to me) and although this was only my second visit to the water I was quietly confident.

Rods in by 7 o'clock, sit back and relax

The rods were quickly baited and cast out and by around 7ish I had 3 baits in the water. I did have some trouble with my bank sticks and the rocky ground and a couple of  pointed extending sticks were not up to the job (need to invest in some spiral point sticks). I left the baits alone for a couple of hours whilst I had breakfast and listened to talk sport, nothing happened the backbiters remained silent and still.

The wind picked up slightly and I decided to change my right hand rod to a rig which could be quickly changed from a running ledger to a float. I put a small dart type float on and set this to around 3 foot and cast a roach dead bait out around 40 yards and let the wind slowly drift the float back to the bank. This was repeated a number of times until the wind became a bit much, I quickly changed back to a running lead and cast the bait to around 60 yards. The other rods were also baited and recast. Within 5 minutes of recasting the roach dead bait the backbiter sounded and I was into a fish. After a short scrap I had the fish in the net and thought that it could be a scraper double.

8lb 15oz

The fish didn't make it to double figures, but I wasn't disappointed as it was my first from this water and my biggest so far this season. I rebaited with another roach and cast into the same area. At roughly 1230hrs I had a take on a smelt but this was quickly dropped.

The wind dropped slightly so I reeled in one of the outer rods and had a few casts with a lure, I had a small jack take the lure but it managed to free itself before I could net it. I was about to recast the lure rod when the middle rod went, I quickly picked up the rod, closed the bail arm, took up the slack and lent into the fish. The fish gave a good account of itself and it seemed to be bigger than the pike I had earlier.

10lb 6oz

The fish was my first double of the season and also the first to christen my new DLST P2 rod. The next 2 hours were quiet so I brought in a rod and had a few casts with a lure again.

In successive casts I hooked but quickly lost 2 jacks using a 'Manta' lure, I switched to a Dave Greenwood 'Maxi Mouse XL' and a few casts later I was into a fish.

Lure caught jack

A couple of casts later I was into another jack, again on the 'Maxi Mouse XL' lure. The action on the lure rod was quickly over, so again I cast out a third bait rod.

Beautifully marked clear water pike

I decided to stay until after dark and try to catch a fifth fish, however it was not to be and I couldn't tempt another.

I have struggled with pike this season and before this session I had only caught 5 all season. At the beginning of February I set myself a target of catching 10 pike with at least 1 double before the season ends. After today's fish this takes my total to 9 pike (including one double). Although none of the pike I caught were monsters it was a really enjoyable day and I am hoping on a return visit before the season ends.

A nice view to end the day