After a long, late and very cold spring, I finally met up with Eddie Bowler and got afloat after talking to him late the previous evening. It had been desperately slow fishing before today, but we were hopeful of a few fish nonetheless. We got afloat at around 08.15am and began to work the shallow near areas we knew fish were almost certainly lying in wait for spawning. I started with Headbanger lutes, whilst Ed prefered Jerkbait. The water was rather murky however and this prompted me to put on a large Wingman Curlytail, which was creamy yellow and a lot more visible. We had been fishing for around 45minutes over several spots when finally we saw a sign of fish, a boil being Ed's jerk bait as a fish almost took it near the surface. A couple of casts late and I had a wrenching take and the first Pike of the day was in the boat, there was relief all round....
The first fish was around the 4-5lb mark, we didn't bother to weigh it, deciding on a quick release. I got my lure back out and two casts later it was my rod slammed around to another agreesive take, this time the fish felt better and I could feel head shakes and more strength. It wasn't a monster, but it was very welcome indeed. A really manic period of bites, so typical of Pike. The fish was duly unhooked , photographed and slid back safely. A short while later I had a third, smaller Pike to complete a hat trick, before things went quiet.
We tried a wide are, searching the water methodically and moving frequently. A favourite area of ours was to prove exciting as the water was very clear. Ed was retrieving his jerkbait along the bank next to deeper water when a good pike ghosted out of the depths and struck his lure. Somehow, it escaped being hooked and proceeded to shadow the jerkbait as we watched on. It then had a second half hearted lunge at the lure, but didn't take before disappearing. A great experience...
Having had no joy further afield we returned to the area we had success at and began thrashing the water with our lures. After an hour we were talking of calling it a day when I had a take and a small fish which completely engulfed my large Wingman! Proof, if ever we needed it, that large lures are the way to go. It was a lillte tricky to unhook and I had just removed the hooks when Ed's jerkbait was attacked beside the boat on the surface. We were both gobsmacked to realize it was a nice Zander, a huge bonus fish! We duly netted it and took some photos. It was around 5lb. or so and was in amazing shape, a very deep bodied fish. This was a nice reward for Ed, who had a tough morning until that point. The Zander went back as well and we were well happy with ourselves. A further strike came to Ed on the jerkbait, but the fish got off. After that it was time to leave, we got the boat tied up and departed at 14,30. A super morning on the water...
Below; In addition, I had brought out a new toy today, a GoPro Hero 5 camera, which we used to film the mornings events. I took a liitle time to edit the footage and have started a channel on youtube for any future filming.
