21/09/2011 - River Soar

Became aware this season that there were quite a few signal crayfish in my local section of the Soar, so had bought some rubber crayfish lures to try out on the pike, perch and chub, just hadn't had chance to use them until now. Got my lures and worm hooks from a very helpful Allan Mee at www.agmdiscountfishing.co.uk. Won't go into great detail on the rig as it's pretty self explanatory from the photo, but for more information look up the following site http://www.weedlesslures.co.uk/how-to-use.

Rigged and ready to go

Headed up to the weirpool at the top of the section to start with. River was slightly up following the recent rain and had a bit of a peaty stain to it, but clarity was good. Second cast down the side of the pilings I had a positive thump as I dinked the lure off the bottom, resulting in a jack of about 6lb.

Pike like crayfish

A couple of casts later I had another take right next to the pilings. This time the thumping on the other end of the line signalled a decent perch. However, didn't actually get to see it as it came off a few seconds into the fight. A check of the hook showed that the pike had opened it up slightly and I'd failed to notice it. Doh! Had a few more casts into the pool, but there was nothing more forthcoming, so moved down to the lock. First cast up up the channel towards the gates resulted in a scrappy little perch. As I brought him to the surface I could see several more following him. Carried on the same spot and had three of his shoal mates before they had enough.

Perch like crayfish too

Carried on downstream, dropping the lure into any chubby looking spots. Had a few more bangs and knocks, but didn't connect with anything else. Will have to go back and go for the "treble" another time.