Beaten again

Somehow or other I managed to get to the water just before light this morning. Before I had two baits out the rain that wasn't forecast began to fall. A light drizzle was all and it soon passed over. Small fish were dimpling and flipping in front of me. There had to be a pike or two lurking under the overhanging willows on my right or in the remains of the lily pads to my left. The baits were positioned accordingly before I sat under the brolly to drink tea and watch a flock of long tailed tits twittering their way through the sparse willow and birch leaves.

As the sky began to clear and the light levels increase the small fish stopped showing. The weed is starting to die back despite the continuing warmer than normal weather. This makes presentation easier, and twitching baits. Not that it did me much good. After a little more than an hour, with the drizzle no more, I got the urge to move to a swim where I could fish a weed edge and a marginal drop-off.

Although my confidence rose in the new swim and the sun tried to break out of hiding the pike still played hard to get. A small bird also played hard to get in evading the pursuit of a sparrowhawk, and a buzzard flapped over the lake blithely ignoring the two crows swooping close to it in anger. If buzzards can plod that one did.

It was one of those mornings when I kept pouring tea for something to do. A Delkim let out a single bleep and through the still air I heard a few clicks of a baitrunner as I scanned the floats to see which one might have moved. The middle one rose back to the surface as my eyes reached it. That was it. I gave it a few minutes before slowly reeling the joey in to check for teeth marks. Not seeing any signs of pike on the bait I chopped its head off and cast it back out.

Time was getting on. I'd planned to jack it in at eleven, but put that on an hour and repositioned all the baits instead. Not that it did me any good. Half an hour later I was on my way back to the car.

I'm pretty sure that given the warmth of the water and its clarity a couple of livies would have saved a blank. Pity they're not allowed as the place is stuffed with easy to catch roach. As if to taunt me a grebe popped up in front of me as I packed the last rod away - a small roach in its beak.

The way I see it my options are to stick a lure rod in the quiver, try a different pike venue, or fish for something completely different. There's this water I've heard does a few big perch at this time of year...

---

That's better

That North Western SS4 now has a new handle. Although that was all I was asked to do it was easy enough to clean the blank up as the rings had to be refitted. Glass blanks always seem to clean up nicely - even if it does take a while to get the old polyurethane varnish off.

After

Before!

---

Falling at the second hurdle

Sunday started with a foggy dawn with the promise of sunshine later. Perfect for piking. However I spent it sat in my car on the M6 heading for the Tackle and Guns trade show. If you ever plan to have two days fishing in glorious autumnal weather find out when the PAC convention and T&G show are being held. Never fails.

The tackle show was disappointing. There was one highlight that attracted a lot of attention. A huge tank full of pike and a few perch which was to be used for lure demonstrations. The fish were nothing more than props, but interesting to watch.

There wasn't much revolutionary on show that I saw. Fuji's new Torzite rings look very nice, and shiny, but are hideously expensive. A 40mm butt ring will set you back around fifty quid! Everyone seems to be jumping on the lure fishing bandwagon. The small lure bandwagon that is. It's clearly a market open to exploitation as it caters to people who want to catch plenty of fish regardless of size.

The best two items I saw were clamshell 'bits boxes' from Korum with compartments long enough to hold rig sleeves, and on the same stand Avid's bait and bits boxes - maggot tubs with a lift out tray and no holes in the lids.You could forget the bait and use them to hold clamshell type boxes to keep your gear together.

Watching those pike must have got me fired up because on Monday afternoon I ventured forth into a chilly wind. I'd barley got the baits in the water when the rain arrived. Not heavy but enough to make me put the brolly up and sit it out in one spot. Not my preferred method these days.Still, I had plenty of water in front of me to allow me to move the baits around.

What really put me off was the cormorant which popped up right under my rods. I'm not sure why but when there are cormorants about my confidence for catching pike plummets. There was prey fish still in the area because I watched a great crested grebe swallow a rather large roach later on. Despite the rain it was a nice enough afternoon, which actually warmed up considerably by dusk. The bunny suit had been superfluous for the walk back to the car.

The only times I got excited were when the gusty wind blew reeds onto the line making a Delkim sound. The floats never bobbled or dipped. If it hadn't been raining I'd definitely have moved at least once. After the minor success last time out this was a not altogether unexpected disappointment. I get the feeling morning sessions might be the best option until this month is out and the days are a bit shorter. Using that as an excuse I might have an afternoon roach session next!

---

A touch of glass

"Can you put a cork handle on this?" At first glance I suspected the 'this' to be North western SS4 - 10ft of 2lb test curve fibreglass. With the shrink tube handle removed I was proved right.

The rings had clearly been put on by an amateur! Although it's not a full strip and rebuild I'll have to tidy the butt section up, and I think the joint needs fettling too. Daft as it sounds little jobs like this keep me interested.

---

Up and running

Once more I managed to drag myself out of bed before sunrise. Only just, it was light enough to manage without the head torch by the time I was getting the deadbaits out of the cool bag. This time I had remembered the alarms, albeit at the last minute. Gradually my pike gear is getting sorted out.

A mackerel head got launched into oblivion while the other two rods float legered a lamprey tail to my left and float paternostered a smelt to my right. Both of those were fished next to close range features. By seven fifteen I was settled back in my low chair supping tea watching the clouds in the eastern sky change shape and colour like a lava lamp.

After an hour of ducks and geese noisily flighting in and out none of the floats had moved. Despite his grin even Fred was growing despondent. There'd been next to no fishy activity on the surface. One fish, probably a bream, had rolled well out. A few fry had leapt clear of the water, but not in any organised way as if being harrassed by a predator. The sun was getting high and bright enough to warm the day. A change of swim was on the cards - except I couldn't be bothered.

Something scurried in the undergrowth, most likely a rat that found me blocking its run. A flock of long tailed tits twittered their way along the hawthorns accompanied by a couple of blue tits. That sound and sight is one that always makes me think of winter.

With thoughts of an early finish in my mind I noticed the left hand rod tip was twitching. Surprisingly the float was lying flat. As I picked te rod up the float drifted ever so slowly down wind. I wasn't sure if it was a take, or if it had been and the fish had dropped the bait. Baitrunner off. Take up the slack and there's a fish on.

Well, it was probably a fish although it felt as fishlike as a carrier bag. As soon as whatever it was came into view in the clear water I was sure it was a pike. One that did nothing except tailwalk briefly before I netted it. Which I only did because there was a treble flying in an awkward place - the top hook being lodged in the corner of the fish's mouth. Once in the net the scrawny thing went mental!Still, a fish is a fish is a fish. Not having fought hard, or been out of the water for more than a few seconds, the snake swam off without a hitch.

It was approaching nine thirty by the time I got another lamprey section cast out. Despite having kept the other two baits on the move, twitching and repositioning them at frequent intervals they remained unmolested. I hung on until shortly after ten, by which time it was starting to feel more like summer again. Back at the car I was glad to get the fleece off. Lacking any better options it looks like pike are on my menu for the foreseeable future. provided I can get motivated to get up in time - until the days get shorter I'm not so sure about afternoon pike sessions. You never can tell, though.

---