Canal pike

I decided to continue piking for a few more sessions, my most recent session being on a canal with Mick. The season was a bit of a grueller, with only one take each. Mick missed his chance but to be fair the take wasn't the most confident. Thirty minutes later it was my turn, a large float fished mackerel was taken, I gave it a few seconds longer than I usually would (due to the bait size) wound down and stuck into a decent fish. 

After a good scrap Mick did the honours with the net, we both though it was a double and after a quick weigh it went 12lb 1oz. Initially I thought it was the same fish I caught on my first session on the canal, but after comparing the photos they are definitely different fish.

I'm hoping to fit in another pike session in the next week or so, possibly across the Pennines or maybe to the Scots borders, should conditions and time allow. I'll then be spending a few sessions targeting the perch then the tench and as soon as the waters reach the right temperature I'll be focusing on the eels until the rivers reopen. 

A new p.b on my last session of the season

I've had three sessions since my last post, all difficult sessions and all were in some way affected by the river/weather conditions. I'm only posting about my most recent session, as it was the only time I caught something!

Thursday was my last chance to fish a river this season so I headed to a local(ish) stretch with Mick. We were both hoping for a decent pike to finish the season with, although we also took the barbel/chub gear. The first action was to my pike rod, a popped up sardine was taken, line was peeling from the spool and the fish was heading upstream. I wound down, felt the fish and struck..... nothing. The bait was taken and strangely not a scrap was left on the trace or the pop up stick. Baffled I rebaited, recast, hoping for another take.

I was using boilies on the barbel rod for the first few hours but after no interest I decided to change. A large cage feeder filled with minced beef and a piece of hair rigged steak were cast tight to the far bank willows. It didn't take too long to get some interest, but nothing worthy of a strike. A few minutes after a second cast to the same spot and the rod ripped round, an unmissable bite. A decent chub was on and after a short tussle in the increasing flow Mick netted what turned out to be a new personal best.

4lb 11oz
Not a species I target very often so it was good to increase my p.b

Things went quiet so we reeled in, rested the swims and went for a bit of a recce. After a good 45 minutes we returned and realised that the river had risen a good 4 inches on the bank stick marker. I'm never confident fishing for pike on a rising river, especially in the winter. Needless to say we didn't get any further interest in the pike baits. The odd knock on the chub gear but no other fish were landed. It's never a bad session when you land a new best, but I was hoping for more. During the recce we found a few areas that will be night fished in the summer, the areas scream barbel so hopefully we will bank a few in the warmer months.