After not much deliberation I decided to have one more go after the big perch I'd spotted on the River Soar a few sessions ago, although by now I was beginning to wonder if I had actually been imagining things!
Finished up at work and made it to Kegworth for half past three and then slogged it upstream once more. Saw that the beds of floating pennywort were really starting to take hold in places and there was a great big raft of the horrible stuff caught in the lock, ready to be released downstream by the next boat. Arriving in the 1980's from Argentina as an ornamental plant without any of its natural pests or diseases and with the ability to grow up to 20 centimetres per day under the right conditions it has since run rampant all over the country. Despite the hard work of the Environment Agency, the Canal and River Trust and volunteer groups, physical removal and pesticide control have only been temporary solutions as it can rapidly grow back from any small surviving fragments.
However, hope now lies with a South American weevil, the adults and larvae of which consume the pennywort and limit its spread, with trials underway to determine its effectiveness as a biological control. Until then we'll have to wait for the first big floods of the year to shift the stuff and send it off down to the Humber. Had the whole stretch to myself again, so was able to drop into my favourite spot. There was still a bit of colour in the water, which still suited the bleak as I had half a dozen on the float rod in quick succession so the perch paternoster was soon deployed on the crease. Didn't have to wait long for a response before the rod tip started nodding and the line pulled out of the clip. However, wound down to feel only token resistance, a greedy little perch being the culprit.
Popped him back with a message for his grandma, rebaited and swung it out onto the same spot. Within minutes the bite alarm signalled another take and this time I felt a decent weight on the end.
However, was quickly apparent that it was the wrong species and after a short scrap the first pike of the session rolled into the net. The little snapper caught me unawares as I was unhooking him, twisting and driving two of the long, needle sharp teeth in the front of his lower jaw into the ball of my right thumb. Spent the rest of the session mopping blood off my centrepin and cork handle of my float rod as a result. Carried on catching bleak, dace, chub, roach and gudgeon on the float while every so often the paternoster rod next to me would rip off. Unfortunately it seemed as if the pike were back in force as I landed another three but had numerous other "smash and grab takes" where the rod thumped over and I wound in to find that the hair-rigged bait had been snatched clean off the hook.
Did have another perch on my last bleak but it was barely bigger than the first one. The "ghost" had eluded me once more. Perhaps I'll come back with a fat lobworm when it gets a bit cooler, although I'll probably still end up catching pike! In fact I think I've caught more pike from the Soar this year "perch fishing" than I did by conventional means all last winter.
Headed home after another hectic session with my now swollen thumb throbbing nicely! Two days later it's only just stopped weeping and is starting to go back to normal so thankfully a trip to the doctor's for some anti-biotics isn't required, although the explanation would have been good - on a par with when I had to get the wife to take me to A&E after getting the urge to do some drunken whittling in the garage at ten o'clock at night and putting the knife through my palm in the process. Got a weekend in North Devon coming up next so will hopefully get a bit of mixed fishing, including another go for the bass on the lures with Joel Squires. They've been like hen's teeth for me so far this year so think I'm due one. Fingers crossed....
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