The day comes good in the end.

I was out today with a couple of my fishing mates, we had decided to make a trip of it and go somewhere none of us had been before. Ideally we would have fished rivers but seen as though 'yet again' the weather has not been kind to us fishermen, it had to be a still water.

We decided to go for a reservoir so that there was plenty of water to hopefully keep 3 of us happy for the day. When we arrived we were all pretty hacked off to see it very coloured and the confidence soon drained out of us.

After some pondering and umming and arring we got back into the cars and headed for 'plan b' another large lake. This looked abit more promising, it had colour but nowhere near as bad. We set off round the lake fishing jerkbaits and spinnerbaits but alas we just couldn't find any fish, while all the time the weather was getting worse. I did however manage a PB sapling protector!

 



The decision was made to go back to the cars and think of a 'plan c' after much divulging, cream cracker and jelly snake eating, we just could not come up with anything worth while for the time we had left. Myself and Neil headed for a local venue while we said our good byes to Paul who lived in the opposite direction so made the decision to call it a day.

On the way back up the motorway the rain got heavier and time was running out, Neil decided to go back to a warm house instead and to be honest I couldn't blame him. The only reason I plodded on was because I've been in a nice warm house all week!

I headed off alone to a local spot that I've never blanked on yet so was hoping if i could just get a fish I'd at least go home feeling like the diesel driving around the county wasn't a total waste.
I was happy to see the small river in surprisingly good nick with only abit of colour, but this was not a problem as recent visits had proved.

I fished up the stretch a way with jig flies having not a touch at all, and out of a little bit of desperation and remembering something i had read somewhere about pike often homing in on surface lures better in coloured water, i changed to a hollow body frog and tried this theory out.
Would you believe it, first cast and WHAM! I struck at the right time and felt a good resistance, after a very spirited fight I slid the pike over the net, it was a cracking pike and would have been touch or go whether or not it would have made double figures. sadly as i was setting my camera up, the pike had made an escape from my net which i had left the fish in the margins momentarily to rest, Bugger no cigar!

I cast back out for my second cast, this time in the other direction, and WHAM! another good fish hammers the frog, i feel the line and slowly reel to feel the sensation of a chewing pike but as i reel down to set the hooks i realise the fish has let go, abit slow on that one mi thinks!

I carry on with the frog 'obviously' and its not long before I'm in again, this time i get it right again and strike at just the right time, another great scrap and landed, this time with a mug shot to show for it. Not as big as the other two but i was now enjoying the bit of action I was finding.

I then had abit of a quiet spell before i was in again and another fish landed, i was getting a good hook up rate with the weedless frogs as you don't tend to hook as many as you get takes from. The pike were really hammering the frogs today which i think helped, and they were also giving a very good account of themselves, i was really enjoying the fights they were giving me.
This fish was slightly better and a really nice colour with orangy fins.

The action then slowed off again for awhile before i spotted some bait fish scattering, i headed straight for that area and cast across the commotion, half way across and WHAM! what a take! this fish leaped half out of the water smashing the frog and i could see it was a very nice one, i wondered if it was the same fish I'd had on from the same area a few weeks back that was estimated a mid double, if it was it had eluded me again, it went crazy as it went down with the frog thrashing its tail as it went back down, sadly the frog pulled out!

I had another cast across the area and a small pike had a go but was too small to take the frog! Apart from a few water bulges where fish had started to bow wave at the frog and then turn away, that was pretty much it. Happy that I made something of the day i headed back home.