An early morning meet up with Panto on the drains was arranged. I say early morning by that I mean 8am. Hardly the crack of dawn was it?
We decided to leap frog rather than stay static. A tactic that sort of paid off. Panto was the first to catch and within around 10 minutes of setting up. A plump Pike of just over 11lb followed by a small Jack 20 minutes or so later left me wanting. In fact I was left wanting for a good six hours or so before my float bobbed under and went out of sight. I too had caught a plump Pike, she was full of spawn perhaps adding a couple of pounds to her normal weight. Pre spawning she'd probably weigh around 8 or 9 lbs, laden with eggs she was 10lb 4oz. I had a couple of dropped runs probably by Perch but other than that there was no more action for myself or JP.
Panto's double
The fish that saved the day!
Friday:
I arranged a session on the sluice with Paddy. The fishing conditions were absolutely terrible. The water was chocolate brown and was pumping very hard. Needless to say we didn't catch. We packed up a little early with our tails between our legs. Maybe next time eh mate? :)
Saturday:
Myself and Allan decided to give the drains a rest today. I suspected that the Sluice would be busy, I didn't fancy being part of a crowd so a trip to the canal and fishing on the pole was my preference.
I made my way to one of my favourite pegs and set out for the Roach on bread punch. It's fair to say that the fishing got a little bit competitive between myself and Allan and when we checked the keep nets at the end I'd just pipped him 30-25. I'll say one thing, I'm going to be in for some trouncing by Allan on the pole this season. Despite his shovel sized hands and sausage fingers he's pretty damn good at this pole fishing lark!
I also set out for Perch today, I caught a couple of Pike and just the one Perch of around half a pound, not the biggest of specimens but it's a start.
Hopefully they'll get bigger!
Sunday:
Another trip to the canal fishing for Roach and to target Perch. What a contrast to the day before, I really struggled to get a bite on the pole. I fished the whole day and managed just the 8 Roach. This could mostly be down to the wind that was blowing the pole all over the place, somewhat hindering the presentation of the bread punch.
The Perch rod caught me three Pike, the biggest was around 6 pounds, Squeaky bum time on light line and a sticky clutch but bloomin great fun!
Tuesday:
The end of the fishing season is drawing ever near, with that in mind I couldn't help having a short session on the drains today. It was a decision that I was to be thankful for later.
My first fish came after around half an hour of setting up. I was sat starring at my floats watching debris sailing past me and wondering if I'd even catch at all today when my middle float shot under the surface and was away. A hefty lump at the end of my line tugged a bit and stayed deep but if I'm honest it didn't put up the biggest of fights. At 14lb 4oz it was a good fish, so I wasn't for complaining. Another fish of around 5lb soon followed, albeit a lot smaller but it gave me a much better fight.
The Pike were not done feeding just yet, another double as fat as a barrel and resembling a puffer fish was landed, and just before pack up a Pike of around 7 pounds ended the days fishing just nicely.
I'm pretty sure that if I was able to stay and fish the whole day the blogging would not have finished here. I had fatherly duties to attend to and I wasn't wanting to be on the end of an ear bashing from a disgruntled 8 year old if I was late for the school run.
14lb 4oz
The Puffer fish
The Puffer fish
