05/10/2026 - Third time lucky?

Thought I'd take advantage of this continued warm weather we've been having and get another short session in on the Soar, so finished work at 3 o'clock and headed down to Kegworth. 

Popped into the village for some maggots but I'd forgotten that Soar Tackle isn't open on a Monday, so I had to shoot down the A6 into Loughborough to Netbusters instead. Half an hour of wasted fishing time later I was back in Kegworth and yomping up to the top of the section. The pennywort had continued to proliferate in the mild conditions and the Deep Lock was full of the horrible stuff. Any attempt to control it this year appears to have failed. We could just do with a really good flush through to get rid of it now. Crossed over onto island and made my way to my usual spot downstream of the weir. Again, the river was low and gin clear - not surprising given that we only had 48% of the long term average rainfall in September, the rain at the start of the month being a distant memory. 

Dropped into the margins and started running the float down towards the bush on the far bank. Had a bite on the second cast resulting in a nice, little chub. Unfortunately, as I went to lift him out he got "t-boned" by a pike that appeared out of nowhere and then just sat in front of me in the lillies with his prize. 

Unsuccessfully attempted to scoop him up with the landing net but it at least caused him to let the unfortunate chub go, still alive but with a few new scars. Carried on with the float rod, adding more chub and some quality dace and roach. 

What were notably conspicuous by their absence were the bleak as again everything was far too big to use as perch bait. Finally got one after about an hour and popped it straight out on the paternoster rod. Next trot down with the float rod resulted in a hand-sized perch and just as I was unhooking him the bite alarm sounded and I looked around to see the paternoster rod nodding away. The culprit turned out to be the target species, but no bigger than the one I'd just had on a single red maggot. To add insult to injury, as he sat in the net the greedy bugger coughed up a sizeable bullhead! Spent the next hour steadily building up a decent bag of chub, dace, roach and a few more small perch on the float rod, although I desperately wanted another bleak! 

Eventually managed to snag one just as the light was fading. Had seen some disturbance to my right earlier, so moved downstream and dropped the paternoster next to a sunken tree. Response was almost immediate, the rod tip banging over and the line pulling out of the bobbin clip. Was another stripey and the best of the evening, but still nowhere near the size I was after. Packed up at this point and made my way back to the car. Time for a change of venue and tactics I think. Had enough of chasing ghosts!  

21/09/2026 - Back for another go

Smarting from the loss of that decent perch during my last session on the Soar I was keen to go back and try again. 

I also still had over half a pint of maggots left somehow (I'm sure they multiply in the fridge), so finished work early and headed down the motorway and was parked up on the bridge in Kegworth by 4 o'clock. Walking up to the lock the river looked a bit lower than last time and was gin clear, so I could easily see the bottom well over halfway across. It was also bright and sunny, so all in all not great conditions for catching a big stripey. However, it was a cracking afternoon and just nice to be out and not in fornt of a screen, even better for having the whole section of river to myself again. Crossed the lock onto the island and followed the path upstream. Before too long I was scrambling down the bank and settling into "my spot" in the run off from the weir upstream. 

Ran the stickfloat down amongst the bubbles and immediately had a small bleak, which went out on the perch paternoster straight away. Didn't have time to pick up the float rod before the bite alarm registered interest and the tip of my Greys 1.25 lb Specimen tapped a few times then slowly pulled down. However, turned out to be another micro-pike with eyes far bigger than it's belly. Carried on trotting and started picking up some nice roach, dace and chub, all too big for perch bait and I began to wonder when I'd get the paternoster out again before eventually picking up a few more small bleak. 

Again, the response on the paternoster was immediate and was from the right species this time, but nowhere near the size I was after. Must have been a few of these around as the next couple of baits that I put out were just harried relentlessly. The rod tip would start bouncing about and then violently pull over, but I'd wind down to feel nothing and the baits would come back scuffed and lifeless. I therefore decided to wind the rod in until the last half an hour and carried on enjoying trotting in the sun, adding more dace, chub and bleak and a few of those pesky perch. 

As the light started to fade I popped the paternoster rod out onto the crease once again and awaited developments. After a few minutes the rod tip tapped a few times and I was quickly onto the rod, pulling the line out of the clip and feeling it running out through my fingers. Wound down into a heavy fish but knew straight away it wasn't a stripey, which was almost immediately confirmed when a green, spotty torpedo erupted from the surface of the river and then charged around the swim, before burying itself headfirst into a bed of pennywort. Dug it out with the landing net and quickly unhooked him, the size 6 single nicely in the scissors, before sending him on his way. Packed up at this point and headed back to the car. Again, another busy and eventful session but no big perch. 

Will perhaps give it one more go before trying something else but might need a bit of water and colour in the river first.

10/09/2026 - Back on the river at last

Sad news recently about the death of Trent fishing legend and local character Archie Braddock. Was lucky enough to fish with Archie, mastering trotting with the long rod and paternostering for perch under his tutelage, although his propensity for speed made the drive to the river from his house in Long Eaton a real white knuckle experience! 

With a bit more water in the local rivers I was keen to get out this week with the float rod. However, demands of work kept pushing my plans back and it was Friday afternoon before I managed to find the time to head the short distance down the motorway to the River Soar near Kegworth. Go the chesties on and then headed up to the top of the section. The hot weather and low river levels over the summer seemed to have suited the dreaded floating pennywort as there were thick beds of it all the way up to the Deep Lock. Crossed over the lock gates onto the island and walked up to my usual spot downstream of the weir, negotiating several new fallen trees, although it looked as if some work had been done to clear out a couple of the pegs that had been unfishable last season. 

River looked in good nick and I was confident of a few bites as I waded out into the flow, disturbing a pike that had been hanging around on the edge of the pennywort as I did so. First trot down and float disappeared resulting in a clonking dace. 

Over the next hour and a half it was a fish a chuck - mostly dace, but also a few roach and chub and a single perch, all in cracking condition. Had a break from the float rod at this stage, breaking out the feeder rod instead and lobbing a "dink-dink" rig over to the far bank. 

Response was immediate but I had to risk the temptation to strike at the small knocks and rattles and instead wait for the quiver tip to slam over. Quickly added another half a dozen, nice dace to the tally. However, the reward didn't match the effort involved in constantly having to re-fill the black-cap feeder, so I was back on the float rod after about 30 minutes. Carried on where I had left off, catching more dace, chub and roach. Was winding in a small perch when I spotted a much bigger one following it in. Had a couple of traces tied up with size 6 single hooks in the bag from a previous session so, not wanting to miss an opportunity, I swapped the feeder rig over to a perch paternoster. 

However, I hadn't caught anything small enough to use as bait up to that point so shallowed up the float to try and catch a few bleak. After a bit of effort I managed to put half a dozen in the net and duly popped one out on the crease, roughly where I'd seen the big perch earlier. Didn't have to wait long before something showed some interest and bent the quiver tip round. However, after token resistance I brought the world's smallest pike in to hand! Popped him back to grow a lot bigger, put on a fresh bait and repositioned the rig. A few minutes later the tip wrapped around again, but I fluffed the strike. Slashes on the bait indicated that it wasn't my intended target anyway, so out it went onto the crease once more. 

A couple of taps on the quiver tip and this time I was straight on the rod, opening the bail arm and feeding the line out before striking into a decent fish. Initially thought it was another small pike due to the lack of head banging, but when I got it in closer I saw it was indeed the big stripey that I'd been after. However, as I tried to stop it from burying itself in a bed of pennywort, the hook pulled out and it promptly disappeared, swiftly followed by a couple of expletives! Took this as sign to pack up and head home. I'd also been having trouble with a tooth all week and it decided that this was the time to give me some proper aggro! Had been a reasonable session in terms of number of fish including some quality dace, but I'm once again rueing losing a decent perch. Next time...

09/07/26 - Summer trotting Part II (dace, dace, dace!)

Didn't get out again in June due to some unforeseen demands at work and by the time those were out the way it had got too hot and oppressive to think about staying outdoors for too long. Did have a pleasant long weekend in the Netherlands visiting the wife's cousin in The Hague, although again a high of 38 degrees Centigrade on the Friday effectively curtailed our initial sight-seeing to the morning. 

A quick nap after lunch was then followed by a trip to the beach in the evening for a dip and a beer and some food from one of the pop up restaurants along the front (along with eveybody else it seemed!). Thankfully it cooled down a bit after that and we were able to explore a bit wider and take in the modern and traditional architecture, along with the many coffee shops and shady, green spaces around the city. Back in the UK and suitably refreshed I checked the maggots I had left over in the fridge from the last session and found them in surprisingly good nick.

With the wife away for work, I therefore packed up work about 4 o'clock and headed to the Derwent. Pulled into an empty carpark yet again (not complaining, but where  is everybody?), got the chesties on and then made my way up to the run at the back of the island. 

Didn't fancy walking too far as it was still warm and my "breathable" waders didn't turn out to be that breathable last time, so decided to just stay in the same swim until I'd run out of bait. Could see from a distance that somebody was camped on the island itself and as I got closer I got a whiff of "medicinal" cigarettes. However, turned out to be a couple of middle-aged ladies who'd been enjoying a bit of wild swimming and they soon packed up and left after I arrived. 

River was gin clear and flat as a mill pond in the shelter of the far bank, but at least it was now overcast and a bit cooler as a result. 

Waded out mid-channel and sent the float and some freebies down the bubble line towards the overhanging trees. Ten, frustrating minutes followed trying to connect with a succession of stupidly fast bites that were violent enough to pull the rod tip around but just resulted in crushed maggots. Eventually I got my eye in and started to connect with the culprits - small dace, all like peas in a pod. Occasionally had a better one that at least put a bit of a bend in the Acolyte, along with the odd chub, roach, perch and bleak. However, it was the dace that kept me busy and the greedy, little buggers were still biting when I finally emptied my bait pouch three hours later. Good fun, but I might be tempted to get the "dink-dink" out next time to try and sort out some better fish. 

07/10/2025 - P is for......?

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....

29/09/2025 - Another bumper session, but still no big stripey

A sunny, warm, dry spring has contributed to this year being a "mast year", where trees and shrubs produce and abundance of fruit, seeds and nuts. Happening roughly every five years this strategy is known as "predator satiation" as there is far too much food for birds and mammals to consume, so some seeds inevitably escape to go on to grow into new saplings.

One crop particularly in abundance locally is sloes, the blackthorn bushes adorned with clumps of fat, purple fruits. Full of tannins and far too astringent to eat by themselves as they suck all the moisture out of your mouth (a good trick to play on your kids!), it only takes some cheap spirit, a bit of sugar and some patience to turn them into something delicious. After a quick walk around the block with a couple of plastic bags at the weekend we had more than enough to make a couple of batches of our favourite seasonal tipple - sloe gin. What's more, after a couple of months the gin will be decanted off to mature and a cheap bottle of red, a bit more sugar and a splash of brandy added to the marinated fruit to make sloe "port". 

At the risk of being predictable, another glut I was keen to make the most of was the fishing on the River Soar and a meeting down near Leicester gave me another opportunity to drop in at Kegworth on the way home. Had got the float and the perch paternoster rods with me again but I'd beefed up the latter, bringing my Greys Specialist with the 1.75 lb tip and replacing the fluorocarbon hooklink with a fine wire trace, both in response to the recent pike activity. There had been another car parked at the bridge but as I got close to the swim I spooked a little egret, so was confident that nobody had preceded me. Arriving at the vacant swim I was surprised to see that the rain over the weekend had made a difference this time.

The river was running much closer to more normal summer level and even had a hint of colour. There was also a lot more foam coming down from the weir, including the odd "iceberg" and a combination of extra flow, colour and foam usually means one thing - bleak! Wasn't disappointed as first trot down resulted in a slither of pearlescent silver that went straight on the paternoster rod and out on the crease. Quickly had several more, the float often skittering across the surface before it had even settled, so soon had half a dozen in the bucket. Bait sorted, I carried on enjoying the fishing, adding a few roach, dace and the odd chublet. Had set the paternoster rod up right next to me, so spotted the tip nodding and had the line out of the clip before the bite alarm sounded. 

Wound down to feel little resistance, so was expecting to see a greedy perch. Instead it was a perfect, tiny pike - predator in miniature. He wasn't even hooked, just grimly holding onto the bait, so carefully popped him back making sure there wasn't any of his larger brethren hanging about first. Carried on with the float rod, adding gudgeon, silver bream and a small perch to the species list. At one stage I caught some movement out the corner of my eye and glancing up I saw young fox picking his way along the end of the gardens on the opposite bank, possibly a descendent of the tame fox that used to live on the island and that was fed by the barge owners. Started getting into some better dace and was bringing one across the surface through the foam when the inevitable happened.

There was an eruption of water, a brief glimpse of a green, spotty flank and the fish on the end of my line was gone. It wasn't really surprising then when the the bite alarm went off a few minutes later and I picked up the paternoster rod to feel a decent weight on the end. Got him in a bit quicker with the Greys Specialist and although I'd taken the precautionary approach with the wire trace, found that he was hooked nicely in the scissors. Was therefore an easy job to pop the size 6 out and release him a few metres upstream out the way. Re-baited and deployed the paternoster out on the crease again, but the alarm stubbornly remained silent for the rest of the session, that big stripey eluding me once more. However, I'd had another enjoyable session and bagged up on the float rod again.

Packed up in the gloom and headed home, the surface of the river alive with dimpling fish. Don't know what I'm doing next, but I may have to tear myself away and try another venue.......or not!

26/09/2025 - Plagued by pike

Had another few days over in Lithuania last week to see the lad and his girlfriend. For a change we rented an apartment on the Coronian Spit, which if legends are to be believed, was created by the giantess Neringa to protect the Lithuanian coast from storms sent by the evil dragon, Naglis. 

A UNESCO World Heritage Site and national park, the narrow strip of land has a freshwater lagoon on one side and the Baltic Sea on the other and is covered in pine forest, a lot of it historically re-planted in the 19th century to stabilise the sandy soil and stop the settlements being swallowed up by sand dunes. Did lots of walking and had some great food, including fish and chips to rival anything I've had in the UK. The chef's secret? Curry powder in the batter! The lad is doing a PhD on birds of prey and we managed to see spotted eagles and a juvenile white-tailed eagle while we were there, along with cranes and great white egrets. Also saw deer tracks and lots of signs of wild boar where they had rooted up the road verges right into town. 

Was indeed a stunning location and one we'll hopefully visit again soon. However, came back to earth with a bump with a sh*t week at work, so decided to have some time to de-stress. Finished up at 3 o'clock, quickly popped in to Stapleford Angling for the usual "pint of mixed" and then headed to the River Soar near Kegworth. Walked up to my usual spot up by the weir and was soon up to my knees in the river and happily running the stickfloat downstream through the swim. Had a few dace and chublets from the off and was bringing another fish in when a spotty, green torpedo appeared from nowhere and snatched it clean off the hook! I then had to contend with this un-wanted attention for the rest of the session as, along with several other abortive takes, he managed to successfully ambush me at least another half a dozen times.

Unfortunately, on each occasion the ensuing tug of war either ended in a bite-off or the unfortunate dace or chub being spat out (retaken and spat out again on one occasion!) before I could trick him into the net. At one stage he sat lazily finning about six feet in front of me like a dog waiting for a treat. He must have sneaked in even closer a bit later, because when I dropped a chub back in by my side the surface of the water suddenly erupted scaring me witless. Despite this I built up a decent mixed bag of fish, adding roach, bleak, perch and gudgeon to the tally. After a couple of hours I got the Drennan medium quiver rod out and tied on a "dink dink" rig again, casting it to the tail of the swim in the hope of a better fish. However, by the time I'd finished off the maggots in my bait pouch I'd only managed to add another dozen modest dace and a single chub, so swapped the dink dink for a perch paternoster. 

I was a bit cautious about putting this out given all the pike activity but as I'd not seen any for a while I put on a small bleak and cast it out away from the "hot zone". After a while the quiver tip registered some interest - a couple of quick taps before hooping over. Picked up the rod to find the bait had indeed been taken by the target species, but not of the calibre that I'd seen on a previous session. Put another small bleak out onto the same spot. After a few minutes the rod lunged over violently but immediately sprang back. Wound in to find that the bait had been stolen, so put my last one out. Again it wasn't long before rod tip was being pulled over. However, this time there was a more weight on the end of the line and after a dogged fight a jack pike slid into the net. Wasn't sure if was the one that had been hounding me earlier, but he was certainly fat enough. 

The light was going by this stage anyway, so packed up and headed home after another short but eventful session. I'll have to see if I can get another one in while the going's good.

09/09/2025 - Dink dink dace

Had a window of opportunity open up for me and with local the rivers having benefitted from a splash of rain I decided to head down to the River Soar again. 

Popped into Stapleford Angling for a pint of maggots and a quick chat before heading down the short distance down the motorway to Kegworth. River was gin clear and there were clumps of the dreaded, bright green, floating pennywort starting to take hold everywhere. Once up at the weir I could see that, despite the recent rain, the water level was even lower than my previous visit and the bed of lillies that I'd been standing in had already virtually died off. On the plus side I could see lots of small fish milling about.

Started off with the float rod but had to wade out a lot further in order to reach the main flow. However, after I'd settled and run the float down a few times it was obvious that the fish were up for a feed. Whilst the chub, dace and bleak were waiting out in the flow, if the float went offline and ended up in the slacker water the roach and small bream (possibly silver bream judging by the size of the eye relative to the head?) were there to take advantage. 

Carried on for about two hours, buidling up the swim and amassing over 60 fish before I decided a change of tactic was in order. Had a brief dabble with the feeder rod at the end of my last session that had me thinking that the better fish were hanging off the back of the swim and mopping up any loose feed that made it through to them. Had therefore come armed with a new weapon - the "dink-dink" rig. Made popular in the 1990s match scene and used to such good effect on rivers like the Trent it originally consisted of a block-end feeder running on a large loop with the hook tied directly to the "tail" of the figure of eight loop knot. Bob Roberts devotes a short chapter to the history of the dink-dink in his excellent book "The Mighty Trent". 

However, for a more contempary take on the method and the version of the rig that I was using on this occasion see Rikki Richard's YouTube video here. Baited up the size 16 widegape with a couple of maggots, filled the black-cap feeder and then lobbed it out to rest at the far end of my float swim. The rod had been in the rests for literally seconds when the rod tip started bouncing violently and I lifted into a small chub. Quickly added a couple more before some better dace took over. It is obviously a very effective method, but one that requires very little finesse or skill as there is no need to strike as the fish basically hooked themselves! In fact, trying to strike just results in missed fish. It's also very intensive as the feeder needs to be re-filled as soon as it is empty. Consequently, after adding a dozen dace along with a bonus perch, I found that I had quickly run out of maggots. 

With about half an hour of daylight left I therefore swapped the dink-dink for a perch paternoster rig, popped on a small roach that I'd retained from earlier and dropped it in the margins to my right. Whilst I'd spotted a decent perch last time out, this was more in hope than expectation as I'd not seen a single sign of any predators on this occasion despite the presence of large numbers of silver fish. True enough, as the darkness descended I wound the rod in and gave my un-touched bait his freedom back, packed up and headed home. With more rain forecast this week the rivers will hopefully get another much-needed refresh, so we'll see if we can fit in another session somewhere.

09/07/2025 - Summer trotting part II (dozens of dace and a bit of improv)

Whilst still windy, conditions had improved enough to encourage me to head out again with the float rod. Had seen off a pint of maggots in my previous session, so popped in to see Scott at Soar tackle just before he shut for the day only to be told that there was a national bait shortage - conditions too hot in the breeding sheds for the flies to lay eggs apparently! 

Luckily he had enough left for a generous pint measure and after renewing my club book I headed down to the River Soar near Kegworth. As usual, only the pegs nearest the carpark had seen any use and the further upstream I went the more overgrown it became, so by the time I had crossed the lock and onto the island I was fighting through shoulder high nettles.  Had a surprise when I got to the swim - the overhanging willow on the far bank had gone, presumably removed to improve the view of the newly installed summer house in the garden opposite. Needed the bank spike and rope to get down into the water, but once installed I started running the float down the foam line followed by a good handful of maggots. 

Missed the first few bites, the maggot coming back crushed, before snagging a fat minnow....but then the dace arrived! Fished the float for three hours and it was literally a fish a chuck. Had fifty fish in the first hour - predominantly dace, with some small chub, roach and bleak thrown in. Second hour I bettered that with sixty-two fish. By the third hour I must have been flagging because I "only" managed fifty-six! At this stage I decided to give the float rod a rest and got the feeder rod out instead in the hope that a better fish might be hanging out at the end of the swim. Swung the black cap out and let it settle but hardly had time to put the rod down in the rest before the tip starting bouncing away. 

Again dace were the culprits, including the best of the session. Was bringing this in over the lilies when a fish made a half-hearted grab for it on the surface. Assumed it to be a small jack but when the water settled I saw a very big perch slowly turn and ghost away out of sight into deeper water. Interest well and truly aroused I unhooked the dace and dropped it into a hole in the pads in front of me. Almost immediately the water erupted as a decent pike shot out of its hiding place, bashing into my front rod rest and waving a stripy tail in the air in its eagerness to grab a free meal! Was in a quandry now as I was tempted to try for the perch with a livebait, but didn't really have the proper gear with me to cope with a pike. 

In the end I had a scrabble around in the bag and found enough bits to cobble together a paternoster rig. Decided to use quite a small bait and it took a while before I caught one I was happy with. Lowered the rig over the lilies and then settled back to watch the quiver tip. Wasn't long before the tip jagged a couple of times and then hooped over. Grabbed the rod and wound into a fish that obviously wasn't a perch, entering into a war of attrition as it shot out into mid-river and then just held station in the flow. After applying as much pressure that I dared I started to make headway and as I got it up to the surface and drew it towards me I could see the bait hanging outside the mouth of a nice pike. Just managed to bundle it into the net before it realised what was happening.

Whilst it had the head and length of a low double it was very lean so quickly unhooked him, the size 6 lodged nicely in the scissors, and made sure he had recovered before sending him on his way. With him hopefully out of the picture I soon had another bait out and again it wasn't long before the quiver tip signalled some interest. This time it was the target species, but was a fraction of the size of the perch that I had seen earlier - the little, greedy bugger! Gave it a bit longer, but with the light dropping and stomach rumbling I called it a day. Had been a mental session and I'll be back for that perch. However, the temperatures for the rest of the week are heading for the thirties again, so I'll probably leave it until it's more comfortable for me and the fish!