Carp Fishing, Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold

The one that got away

Roman Lake, Furnace Lakes Fishery, Slinfold, West Sussex. RH13 0QZ

Furnace Lake Fishery

Having spent the winter Pike and sea fishing, It was just about warm enough to do a nights carp fishing at my absolute favourite fishery, Furnace lakes. Apart from being a well managed and beautiful venue and in my opinion each lake has just the right amount of swims on to make it not seem to crowded. It also boasts some of the cleanest toilet facility's that I know in any establishment, not so much a concern for us men, but something that the girls really appreciate. You get a little ride from the car park to your swim with your tackle on a quad bike and trailer, and the place just stinks of big fish. On a quite summer night with no wind you can hear the fish crashing about all over the complex, it resembles someone throwing paving slabs into the water, and adding to the excitement of this magical place, your next bite could easily be a new personal best fish. Of which I have to admit that although I've caught 20 odd carp in the high teens, I actually haven't had a 20lb+ carp.

Here fishy fish!

Me and Sarah arrived early afternoon for a 24 hour session, after a frantic mornings shopping for tackle, bait and food, and a big spring clean of the tackle as it was the first time it had seen the light of day for at least 5 months. The plan was to fish for carp, three 12" Fox Ranger XTS 3lb test rods, two Shimano Baitrunner ST6000RA reels loaded with 15lb Fox Soft Steel mono, and an very old unbranded  baitrunner reel with about 18lb mono line, that I was reluctantly forced to use as I had forgotten about breaking one of my Shimanos and just hadn't got round to replacing it.

Long hair, chopped lob worm, Yum!

At the lodge we decided to fish Roman lake rather than the usual Kiln lake, for no reason other than a change. I never quite know how to fish with three rods, but I figured for a short 24 hour session, it would be best to cover as many options as possible. So I opted to fish one rod close in against the reeds in the margin, single popped up corn bait over a bed of sweetcorn, hemp and spod mix, very easy to accurately cast and feed during the night without big splashes, just a initial dump of bait on arrival and a little handful thrown from the bank over the reeds every hour. The second rod, in the middle of the lake in open water, with halibut pellet bait fished over a heavily halibut flavoured large ground baited area with lots of loose pellets the same size as the bait. The third rod was to be Worm bait, fished tight to the far bank under a over hanging tree against a lily pad, with no feed. I had been watching the lily pads moving whilst setting up, and thought that disturbing the fish with loose bait wouldn't be of benefit, and I'm absolutely certain that no fish can pass up the opportunity of eating a big, fat, wriggling, juicy lob worm, well that's what I tell myself. It's a tactic that has winkled out more carp for me than any other bait.

Caught all by herself, why am I here?

I have to admit, apart from one missed run halfway through the night on the pellet rod, it was dead. Not a bleep, no fish crashing, and unusually not a sound from any bite alarm on any lake. At around midnight after our bbq, I recast all three rods with fresh bait and extra feed, and tucked myself into the sleeping bag with Sarah and had the best nights undisturbed sleep whilst carp fishing I can ever remember. Night turned to day and still nothing! Sarah was Fishing the far bank rod, and we decided that maybe a change of bait was needed, she wanted to try a 20mm cube of luncheon meat, which at least was getting action, the small fish loved it, nibbling away at the edges, until it became a small marble sized ball, it was kind of annoying listening to all the little beeps on the alarm, but at least it kept us on our toes. I changed the margin rod to Red Robin 10mm pellets, and the middle rod to 12mm Monster Crab boilies, but no runs, although Sarah managed to hook and land a small bream all by herself, on the luncheon meat rod whilst I was in the toilet.

Homemade balanced pop up rig

Then an hour before leaving time, the annoying bleeping luncheon meat rod alarm continuously bleeped, and the bobbin gently rose until it reached the rod, the baitrunner kicked in, and slowly gave about 2 meters of line before I struck. I was in! It felt big, but it didn't scream off, instead the fish felt like it was just slowly swimming around without a care in the world, I had my suspicion that this was a catfish rather than a carp, or it was a big carp that really didn't know it was hooked yet? As the fish swam along the far bank, there was nothing I could do to stop it, stripping line slowly off the reel. It was then I realised why I had replaced this old reel, It was shit! The clutch kind of snapped violently releasing about a meter on line each time before stopping sharply, making the rod bounce! Not good with a small barbless hooks, and if that wasn't enough, I had made the cardinal sin of not taking the line out of the reel clip, which luckily snapped clean off the reel when it needed to. The fight continued, I was starting to ache, my back especially this forced me to find comfort kneeling on the ground, but my arms were shaking, I couldn't hide it, the whole rod was shaking. I gained 10 meters of line, he took it back, and vice versa, it was a very amicable tic for tack battle, during which I learnt to control the reel clutch by winding it down very light and use my hand to control the clutch, and was now able to use the minimum amount of pressure to pull back with out bulling the fish. This worked for about 30 minutes until I had the fish very close in, and he knew it! but I'd been expecting this! he run! and run he did! across to the island past my swim past my neighbours swim, hitting all his lines with a chorus a bite alarms, and then continued to the adjacent corner of the lake before stopping. I was back to the start but with a lot more line to recover! and this fish hadn't even surfaced yet! but now I knew he was big, very big, bigger than anything I had ever played before. I returned to the tic for tack fight tactics, I think the run knackered the fish, I was gaining line a lot more easier now and at about 30m out he finally surfaced. It was a big catfish! "F**k me!!! ohhh shit!" was Sarah's very out of character response to the gigantic fish! It was only the tail that showed and I still wasn't really aware of how big this fish might be.




It took another 10 minutes to get the fish ready for landing, Sarah had stopped filming and had swapped our 42" landing net for a larger 50" net which our neighbours kindly bought us, and then the fish's head came out the water, a big 12" wide mouth appearing to smile at me, I was now standing about 5 meters away from the edge of the bank so if he decided to run I would have enough line to stretch with it. Sarah attempted to land the fish, but was stopped moments from doing so, "Don't use the net! Its too big, I'll grab him!" shouted one of the bailiffs as he leaped off his four wheeled buggy. I was kind of relieved, I didn't know what to do!, I was in delirious state of ecstatic shock, Sarah hasn't the experience in landing big fish, or any fish to think about it, and the other people there seemed content with just watching. I wasn't even sure the borrowed net was even big enough! the fish's head came up again and the bailiff whilst laying on his stomach grabbed the line with his right hand and with his left reached out towards the open mouth and bang!! the hook pinged out!!! It took a moment for it to sink in, a deathly silence for a moment whilst the fish slowly sunk backwards into the depths and out of reach. The silence then continued until the bailiff slowly turned round holding the flailing rig "That's my fault." he said.

A very despondent angler :(

The fish had gone, my personal best lost, the excitement had turned to utter disbelief and a gutted feeling that churned my stomach for the rest of the day. It was just an accident, one of those things. I said to the bailiff "that would of been my personal best! it was about 40lb?" he replied shaking his head, "Mate, I don't know if I want to tell you this, that fish was over 60lb" I guess it didn't matter now. I really wasn't too sure weather to include this trip on this blog, but hey, Its fishing, I've lost more big fish that I've landed, blanked more times than I care to remember, its unpredictable and full of shocks and surprises, it's frustrating, and a sheer joy, where one fish can make a world of difference, I love fishing for all of this! and to be honest, fishing wouldn't be fishing without the old aged traditional tales of  "The one that got away."

Bass Fishing, Hastings Beach, Hastings

England v Germany

Hastings Beach, Rock-a-Noir Parade, Hasting, East Sussex. TN34, UK

Typical English bank holiday weather!

Easter bank holiday, my partners German brother and girlfriend were staying over for a week, a hotel booked in Hastings, what could go wrong????? That's right! The weather! OMG! now I know that its a given that bank holiday equals bad weather, but even this was extreme, We arrived at 8am on Sunday to torrential rain mixed with marble sized hail stones and gales force winds with gust of 50mph, As I parked the van, I looked at the sea and knew there was no way of fishing, The surf was too big, the wind was way too strong, and to top if off the hail stones bloody hurt, So we spent the day darting in and out of various restaurants, museums and arcades, and systematically on the hour, every hour checking the forecast for a break in the weather, hoping for the best. Our planned night fishing fell on its face as well, the weather stayed the same through out the night, and combined with the big spring tide the surf was actually hitting the road, which made fishing from my hotel window now possible, but I couldn't as I needed both hands to hold the window because the wind would of ripped it off its hinges, so I just watched the storm with ore, and dreamt of fish.

The morning after

I woke up far too early, went straight to the window and opened the curtains to check the weather, I do it every time I go fishing. Its the excitement, "fishing fever" as Sarah calls it. And what a change! the sun was beaming through the curtains, I looked out to whispering clouds dotting a bright blue sky, with the low tide and big surf! I thought bass! I'd heard rumours that they had started showing, and I knew the fishing should be better after a big blow, but was the blow too big? there was only one way to find out. I woke the other camp in the room next door and before we knew it, we were all drinking coffee and eating bacon rolls with our rods in the water.

Great surf for a bass

Myself and Emil had Shakespeare 11'6" Salt extreme bass rods, with Shakespeare Salt Surf reels loaded with 15lb Ultima Power Braid each, whilst Sarah opted for Spinning with A Shakespeare 9" Ugly Stik Lite rod with a Shakespeare 035 front drag Mach 3 reel, A small,  but very strong, light and extremely well made reel, which was loaded with 10lb fox soft steel mono. The rigs were standard 2 clip down, size 2 hooks, 6 oz breakaway leads. and we had plenty of fresh lug and squid, with a few mackerel.

Fresh lug worm, Top all round bait!

Ive not used braid sea fishing before and was keen to see if it made a big difference to my casting, my first cast and I spooled out!!!! What the hell! that's about 180m of line in the sea and none left on the reel. Then the penny dropped! I didn't see the lead hit the sea but then I realised that it was the gigantic bow in the line caused by the strong wind which had taken all the line, later casts were at best in the windy conditions reaching maybe 60m being cast hard and low with some heavy feathering to keep the line as straight as possible , but this wasn't the time to test fishing lines although my first impression was good, it reeled in a lot smoother than mono and flew silently of the spool.

Aka "the match rig"

Low tide was very quite bite wise, but then 2 hours into the flooding tide they started coming thick and fast, Mainly Whiting and Rockling, I really hate Rockling, the little buggers have got such a tough jaw and usually swallow the hook into their tiny mouths making unhooking them a absolute nightmare and eventually leaving you with a bent and twisted Aberdeen hook that needs replacing! Then my German counterpart hit his first bite and landed a small Dogfish,  whilst my unhooking nightmare just continued, as I landed an Eel. Emile realised that because I was casting further than him I was getting more bites. I then watched as he launched a lead with all his might, 20 degrees straight up at the sky, I panicked for a second as I gauged where the lead would land in the strong wind, thankfully I was about right, it hit the sea about 30m in front of us, he looked at me as if to say that was a big cast, and believe me it was!. I stuck my thumbs up and smiled at him, although I didn't think he had a clue where he actually cast, I knew he had casted just behind the first breaker into bass territory. I was happy for him to leave it there because I was aching to try close in for bass, but the bites were coming further out, and fishing with one rod didn't give me the option to do both. He then asked me to look after his rod saying "If I fish over there with Sarah, I will get a bite!" he took the spare spinning rod and joined his sister in spinning for bass with Dexter wedges and spoons off the groin. It was nice to see them chatting and spending time together, as they don't get to see each other very often.

Here Bassy Bass

 He had only been gone 5 minutes then I watched his rod tip slam down violently! I hadn't seen a bite like this beach casting since the summer, it went again so violently that the rod lifted up into the air and pivoted on the tripod. I grabbed the rod butt just before it came crashing down on the stones. I didn't need to strike, and the braid fishing line meant I could feel a fish fighting straight away, It felt a lot bigger than the other fish, I shouted and screamed relentlessly at Emil and Sarah to get their attention, but the wind made my screams fall silent, I watched them obliviously fishing no more than 15m away as I played the fish. By now it was close in and I concentrated my efforts to beach the fish in the very rough surf, rather than shouting. It was a lot smaller than I thought for the fight and violent bite, but it was a bass and the best fish I've really caught beach fishing so far this year. Me and Emil shook hands and agreed that it was an joint English/German catch, I was just happy to see a Bass!.

I'm a Dab hand!! lol

I managed to catch even more annoying Rocklings, a few Dabs, and even a plate sized Flounder before the bites dried out just before high tide. To be honest, even though it was fairly sunny it was very cold and the wind made it even colder and I was ready to leave. It had been a good session and I hoped that Emil would remember his English fishing trip with a smile, and why wouldn't he? between us we had landed about 25 fish, 7 species and 4 keepers for dinner, which was more than enough to make the previous day and night wash out a distant memory. I've usually had good fishing at Hastings, and this was perhaphs one of the best, but god am I looking forward to some warm weather, please hurry up summer!

Pike Fishing, Barden Lake, Tonbridge

It's the wiggle, and the glitteryness!!

Barden Lake, Tonbridge, Kent. TN9 1. UK

"I know your here!"

As it's coming to the end of the pike season, It was time to have a last session at my nemesis pike venue. I know that it's full of pike, I've seen 2 x 30lb+ caught with my own eyes, frustratingly listened  to stories of carp anglers catching dozens on lures to pass the time. And this is where I learnt to fish, my training/stomping ground. As a small boy I would use a small dart float casting into the natural holes in the weeds to catch roach, tench, rudd and perch, I know this water like the back of my hand. Or do I?? I've only caught maybe 7 pike over 20 years from this venue, the biggest was 19lb,and not one on lures, but considering that I've fished it at least 10 times per year, I cant help but wonder if my faith in this venue is ill placed.

Fresh oily herring

I set off early with my girlfriend Sarah, my new fishing partner. and arrived just before dawn, I had only done this a few times before here, but the thought, that maybe the pike would be more confident feeding closer to the bank in the morning before all the walkers, children, dogs, and bikes stampede the path that goes around the lake, and believe me, it can get very busy and noisy! I had just bought 2 x 9" Shakespere ugly stik lite spinning rods which Sarah was dying to try out, as she likes the more active huntsman type fishing, I decided to try two static dead bait rods and let her spin, covering a few options to increasing the chances of a fish or two.

Running ledger pike rig

We set up in the dark, I picked our first swim as I knew there was a very large deep hole about 10m out, the first thing I done was ground baited the front and back ledge of the hole with some predator ground bait, which I added lots of small pieces of chopped up herring and mackerel, this again was something I hadn't tried before, using groundbait for pike and committing myself to a swim, I normally fish mobile for pike, but this hadn't bought me much luck here before. Using my trusted Fox warrior 2.5lb carp rods and Shimano ST 6000RA bait runners with 15lb mono line, I set up two running ledger rods, with 18" homemade 20lb traces with size 6 barbless hooks, I used a syringe to put air into two 8" fresh herrings to pop the baits up in the water to keep them from being hidden on the bottom in the weeds. Again this was something new for me at this venue, but made perfect sense. The baits were in, and the sun started to rise, I watched for signs of shoal fish breaking on the surface but strangely didn't see any.

Spoon of the day!

Sarah started spinning with a mixed selection of lures, casting in and around my swim, and off my bite alarm sounded!! A run, and a big one!!! on the rod on the far ledge, I picked the rod up, felt the tension and struck, I always strike quite early with pike as I'd rather loose a few than deep hook them. The line went slack???? what? I reeled in, I could feel the small bomb bouncing through the weed as it headed straight at me, about 10m to my left and close to the bank. At first I thought Sarah had caught my line spinning but she was to my right. I kept reeling in, and at about 3m from the bank the bomb meet the trace and bait, but no fish!?! the fish had picked the bait up and swam straight to the bank! when I struck, I moved the bomb but just took up slack!, this was a time when my early strike policy worked against me. but it was action and 100% more than I had all season here. So I decided to stick with the ledgered deadbait plan. and joined Sarah in spinning to keep me busy.

Pike 1

Pike 2

The sun briefly came out for the first time, and bang Sarah was in! she hooked and landed a pike, only a jack, but a pike! it was taken on a 3" silver spoon. Whilst I opted for deep and medium diving plugs of around 6" looking for a bigger fish, in fact any fish. The sun went away as quickly as it appeared. The bite alarms were silent for the rest of the day, except for the few times I recast. The sun reappeared and bang again Sarah was into another jack pike on the same spoon, As I unhooked the fish she said to me, "You know its the wiggle and the glitteryness of the sun that does it!" And you know what! she's right of coarse. Because what worked for her in four hours, hadn't ever worked for me as I've never caught a pike in over 400 hours during 20 years of lure fishing this lake, But that's fishing!!! She done well, and I'm not to proud to admit that I had been watching and copying her wiggle technique. At least I know there are still pike here, because I was really beginning to doubt it! And no doubt I'll be back next season looking for that 30lber.

"Could this be why I don't catch to many pike?"

Beach Casting, The Point, Dungeness

Extreme fishing

The Point, Dungeness, Kent. UK

Dungeness power station at night

I recently got the bug to catch my first cod as you do, so where else was I going to go? Dungeness! I had roped my girlfriend Sarah and good friend Simon to come along with me. This might not have been much of a task, except it was 22mph winds, 2 degrees Celsius and meant fishing into the night! and on top of that we all had the extra cost of buying a rod each for the session, but then again maybe it was all about the cod!?!

Squid stuffed with lug worm

 First stop was Micks tackle in Hythe, where we bought 3 cheap
beach casters, two boxes of squid, 3 score of frozen lug, our aim was to fish whole squid, stuffed with lug. big bait for big fish! The lady in the shop was extremely helpful and gave us good advise, even thought I got the impression she thought the three of us were completely bonkers and didn't have a clue, maybe she wasn't far wrong either!!

The first of many

Upon arrival, it was clear how windy it was! I though what the hell am I doing!, but we had come a long way, and spent too much money to let the weather stop us. On the plus side the sun was out, and with a hour till sunset, with high tide an hour after that, and we planned to fish up to two hours of the ebb tide, so it was only going to be a short session anyway. We took the shortish walk along to the point which I worked out from the road and light house positions on google maps, I was  accurate and we ended up straight where I wanted to fish, then to amazement, 1, 3, 6, 12, 20 30+ rod rips appeared from behind the last high tide shingle bank, It was busy! As we reached the top of the bank all I could see anglers one after the other, each about 8 meters apart! I was surprised knowing what the weather was like, I'd never seen anything of this magnitude sea fishing before, but then I realised they were here for the good fishing and cod, and my plan didn't feel so mad after all, all these people wouldn't be wrong? luckily we found a space large enough for us to fish about 30meters down the beach.

Pulley pennel

It was pulley pennels rigs all round, size 3/0 hooks, with 6oz grip leads, I had made up all the rigs the night before and was keen to see how they actually fished. Whole squid stuffed with lug was the bait,  and we set about fishing. strangely as we were setting up everyone to the left and right started packing up, giving me a false sense that we were fishing the wrong time, but no, it was just getting dark and late, a few remained into the night with us, but we now had lots of beach to ourselves! And alot more bait as the other anglers were kindly giving us their unused bait as they walked past.

whiting with weed anyone?

It wasn't long before the first fish were caught, whiting followed whiting followed whiting, you get the drift? they were small, and I was surprised that we were hooking them on the size baits and hooks we were using, even a few times catching two at the same time one hooked on each hook of the pennel rig, but it was fun! and the anticipation of that big cod was too much! The pulleys rigs worked well, very few tangles in the rough weather, and using tapered leaders 15lb to 80lb for the first time meant we didn't lose any tackle at all. Although I think we would of been fine using straight ledger rigs rather than pulley rigs, I was unaware of the bottom at this time, It was very snag free, shingle/sand even 80 yards out, as far as I could tell.

Dungenes power stations at night

Before we knew it, It was time to pack up, we had nearly 35 whiting between us, and about to keep as they were big enough or were deep hooked and died. I had spent most my time baiting up hooks and unhooking fish for the three of us, a very busy little session! the whiting were prolific, and we had nothing else but, unfortunately no cod, but you know what? that's my excuse to go again! It was my first time to Dungeness, and it lived up to its reputation. it was beautiful! looking out from the point was a panoramic view of the sea, and I swear you can see the curvature of the earth, the warm glow of light rising into the air from the power stations to the right, and standing magnificently behind the point, the light house, and like a guardian, occasionally sounding its horn, just to let us know he was there. I cant wait to return!

Pan fried whiting fillets, yummy!

Boat Fishing, Charter Boat Blue Fin, Shoreham by Sea

Have I got sea legs?

Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex, UK

Charter boat - Blue Fin

I had a few days off during the week and after phoning an old friend and keen fisherman Craig, we had decided that we wanted to do something a bit different, boat fishing!?!. This terrified me at first, due to the fact that every boat trip before hand that I had ever been on made me sick, from sailing boats in the great barrier reef, ice breakers in Iceland and fishing boats in Greece, they had all made me vomit and very ill. But the lure of catching bigger fish, and different species that I couldn't catch off the beach, and my sheer passion for fishing was why this was a too exciting opportunity to miss. And it was a great chance to bag my first cod!

Ginger, good for sea sickness

In preparation for the sea sickness, I got a bit of help from google! I had purchased some sea sickness tablets, several roots of ginger, porridge and ginger biscuits. I had taken two tablets the night before, with two to take in the morning, from the ginger I made a tea, I drank one cup the night before and left the rest for the morning of the trip, I had the porridge for breakfast as I thought this would be easy to vomit, and took the biscuits to eat during the trip. Now this may seem a bit extreme, but if it helped then it would be worth it! and if it did then I would have to do it every boat trip

Blue Fin, charter boat, Shoreham by Sea

We had booked the charter boat Blue Fin from Shoreham by Sea harbour, and was required to be abroad at 7.30am. Once there we meet the captain Mark and the 5 other fisherman It was at this point I realised how out of place I looked and felt, not knowing anything about boat fishing, and for the first time fishing, all I could do was watch and listen as I didn't have an opinion of my own. We had hired the rods, tackle and bait from the skipper, and was pleasantly surprise at the quality of the gear, a 7' boat rod with a multiplier reel, the bait was whole baby cuttlefish and a few boxes of squid.

Running ledger rig

We set off out into the open ocean from Shoreham harbour, the talk on the boat was predominately from Craig, but was interesting listening to all the old fishing tales being told. We ventured out towards a wreck, but due to the sea being very rough, the skipper decided to go to a different location. Once anchored what happened made me laugh out loud, like a frantic spiderman shooting webs all over the place, fishing lines darted all over the place from the back of the boat, all going in different angles, The eagerness of the fishermen to get get the bait in the water was immense and extremely frantic, seven on a small boat all casting at once!. well I wanted too as well, but I was slow out the starting block, and wasn't ready. I looked down and thought where the hell am I going to drop mine without getting caught up!!! I didn't want to be the annoying novice, but after about two minutes everyone had to reel back in because all the lines went under the boat, as it found its resting place in the current. We fished for about an hour, I opted for whole baby cuttlefish whilst other used squid or cuttlefish strips, but no one caught or had a bite, and it wasn't long before we upped the anchor and headed elsewhere.

Baby cuttlefish, inky!

The next place we tried I believed we drifted over flats, I still opted for the whole baby cuttle fish, hoping for a cod! but whilst I had no joy a few had caught some channel whiting and a few dogfish, but I wasn't having much luck, not even a nibble! But at least the skipper kept the teas coming which I drank with my cuttlefish inky black hands, oh yes! now I know why the rubber gloves were on the bait board, and it wasn't for the screamish who didn't want to touch bait.

Pouting anyone?

The bites had dried up, so we set off for our last destination, a couple of rock pinnacles under the sea, it took a few attempts to anchor correctly so we were fishing exactly where the fish were, and credit to the skipper as this detail got us on the fish, Pouting lots of pouting up to 3.5lb, I was still using whole cuttlefish, and was just getting more frustrated as I was getting bites but couldn't hook anything, so I change to small strips of cuttlefish as bait to ensure I had at least one fish to take home, the change of bait worked, I landed four pouting and a 1.5lb whiting literary in the last 30mins of fishing.

Well I didn't catch my first cod! but I did try and used the right bait for them, I had a fantastic time, and for a first I didn't get sick!!! my tablets, ginger tea and biscuits worked!!! now, that's what I will have to do every time I go on a boat from now on, but to be honest, all the time I spent looking out to sea watching my rod tip I felt fine, but I did feel a little queasy when looking at something on the boat, i.e.  putting on bait or talking to other people, maybe that's why I didn't get ill on this trip, either way I will find out next time, I'm sure!!

Pike Fishing, River Rother, Iden Lock

About time Mr Pike!!!

River Rother, Iden lock, East Sussex. UK

roach dead bait

This trip was important to me for many reasons. firstly, a chance to catch a pike, not just any pike but my first of the season. Secondly I would be accompanied by my fishing senior and mentor, Dad. And thirdly the venue held a special place in my heart, because it had produced some prolific pike fishing for us in the past.

We arrived at our mark at 8.00am, although it was early the sun was out with a few clouds and with a gentle breeze was a lot warmer than we expected, The river was pushing through gently and looked perfect, which made a nice change to some previous visits to the river when it was raging like Niagara falls making the 2 hour drive pointless. Ironically we both decided to fish the same way, father like son, each putting out a dead bait on float and lure fishing with a spinner rod. My father opted to use herring and was working the far bank along a reed bed, whilst I was casting with all my might and just about able to reach the mouth of a lock further to the right using float ledgered roach dead bait.

Ledger float rig

An hour had pasted, no runs or takes, but it had become clear that a very large snag in the middle of the river was making lure fishing very difficult, so it was time for a tea and a think. I decided to leave my float out in the mouth of the lock as I thought that many fish would venture into the lock to get out of the main current of the river for a rest. I took the spinning rod about 30m downstream using plugs and spoons. I had about 20 casts and then I notice my float move a meter towards the far bank, I ran! the float then stopped, I continued running and as I watched it started moving the other way, this time with speed, I reached the rod just as the float disappeared under the surface, I immediately struck. 

10lb pike, first of the season

It was fish on! I was concerned about the big snag in the middle of the river, so I played the fish hard trying to keep it up in the water to avoid the snag, and surprisingly it came quite effortless across the river and over the snag, at this point I remember saying to my Dad "its only a small one". But then it surfaced, it was a lot bigger than I thought, not a monster but a very nice surprise! And more importantly my first pike this season and ended a 8 pike session blank.

lure of the day

The next few hour were very quite with no runs for either of us, the river had stopped moving and without the bow in our lines going around the snag we had both caught the snag, but this time we won! with two rods we was able to land it, It was a tree branch! about 11" long and as thick as a human leg, with about 5 other smaller branches coming off it! It was decorated with a assortment of lures and rigs, which my dad helped himself to.

Bonus jack

 I moved over to the other side of the river for a few hours but after being plagued by a mink, that kept taking my popped up roach on a leger, and how I didn't hook the furry bugger is a mystery. I decided to pack up the rods and gear, putting it away in the van. I took a slow walk down the river spinning for pike for the last hour of daylight, which had me hook and land my second pike of the season. a 2 lb jack pike taken on a small silver spinner. Although I've known a lot of pike to come out of this venue, it didn't today, but still produced the goods for me. I couldn't of asked for more, well maybe one for my dad, next time!