Limited time

With limited time last weekend it was either a very short morning pike session or an evening after the barbel. The pike won.

I was on the bank early, too early to watch a float, so I chucked a ledgered sardine mid-river. No interest in the dead bait, so as soon as it was light enough I began drip feeding maggots a rod length out. Small chub and dace and some reasonable perch were easily caught on the stick float, a better perch of about 2lb was hooked and lost as the hook pulled. 

After half an hour the float rod was packed away and a few small silvers were retained for bait. During my last session the pike on this stretch were very active but it seemed very quiet this time. Three pegs without any interest from the pike, then a take on the first trot downstream in the 4th peg, nothing massive but more than welcome during this short session.

A couple of casts in some upstream pegs but nothing further happened. Size didn't matter on this session, I was just pleased to catch, an enjoyable morning.

Cheese paste

A bit of bait prep this week. I made some cheese paste a couple of winters ago, a simple mix of shortcrust pastry, blue cheese and some mature cheddar. It has worked well on the odd occasion I have used it but to try and make it more effective I've added some Boursin garlic and herb soft cheese and some Sonubaits hemp and cheesy garlic liquid enhancer, needless to say it stinks!

I'll be on the bank at some point this weekend, I've heard reports of large shoals of small grayling and I will be targeting these areas for the pike.