I'd booked two mornings off this week based on the fact that the forecast of last Friday appeared to show that we were in for some calm and dry conditions - fat chance!
By Sunday night it was all change with several fronts looming in the Atlantic promising us yet more wet weather. Worse still, my local rivers that had been fining down so nicely were forecast to rapidly respond to the rain that would arrive as early as Monday afternoon. With nothing important booked in at work I therefore swapped one of my days and got the pike gear ready for an early morning foray on the River Soar before conditions deteriorated. It was raining when I left in the morning, but it was just some patchy stuff and it had cleared up by the time I got to the river at first light. The sun made a brief appearance as an orange glow on the horizon before it was smothered by a damp, grey blanket of low cloud. Just gave me enough light to do a "stick test" to confirm that there was about a foot of visibility. Not brilliant, but I'd brought some suitably "attractive" baits - smelt, mackerel and lamprey - and had the Predator Plus in the bag if I needed to boost them.
A stiff breeze was already blowing straight down the river, so I headed upstream to the first bend where I knew I'd get some shelter. Set up the usual float leger rigs, starting off with a lamprey down the nearside, while half a mackerel was launched over to the far bank piles. Hadn't had a touch after half an hour, so moved the mackerel closer to some boats. Five minutes later the float bobbed and waddled off, resulting in the first jack of the morning. Leap-frogged the rods along the far bank over the next hour or so, with another run coming in front of the pub. However, by it's mad gyrating it only felt like a tiddler and it promptly unhooked itself halfway across the river. With no more interest forthcoming I upped sticks and moved downstream. The wind made it impossible to float leger a bait over on the far bank, so I concentrated on the nearside margin, putting a bait upstream and downstream of my position.
Didn't have to wait long for the lamprey on the downstream rod to signal a take and for another jack to hit the net. However, the chop on the water was making it difficult to decipher the movements of the floats and I didn't realise I'd got a take on the upstream rod until I noticed I had a big bow of slack line. Slowly wound down to feel a couple of sharp tugs, so carried on winding only to bring back an empty set of hooks minus smelt. Again, probably just a small one. Started leap-frogging the rods again and had a take almost immediately on the lamprey I'd just re-positioned downstream - must have dropped it on its head. Wound into a much heavier fish, the rod staying bent round in a satisfying curve. Well, for all of five seconds at most as the hooks pulled out - b*llocks! Dropped a fresh bait back on the spot more in hope than expectation and then checked on the upstream rod.
Glanced back to see that the other float had already disappeared! Wound down again to feel a nice weight and a couple of head shakes before the hookhold failed once more - double b*llocks! Checked the hooks on both rods and whilst they seemed "sticky" enough I gave them a running over with the file - something I should have done at the start of the session with hindsight (I never learn). Moved downstream again, but lobbed the upstream bait back into the area where I'd lost the fish. Was therefore amazed when the float disappeared with confidence a few minutes later. However, whilst the hooks stuck this time (amazing when you sharpen them!), it turned out to be the smallest fish of the morning. Added another on the downstream rod before deciding to pack up while I was dry, although if it wasn't for work and the daughter wanting the car to go to the gym I could have stayed a couple more hours before the rain eventually arrived.
Was glad to have caught a few, even if they were only jacks, but the lost fish were annoying. Will now be a case of watching the weather and the river levels and making use of every opportunity until the end of the season. Let's just hope it's not another wash-out.
Ah, the barely used hook file at the bottom of the bag....
ReplyDeleteThat's the one. Never used because of the magical, stay-sharp trebles!
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