Getting out and about

This year I'm planning and getting out more to new waters, theres always loads of new places to try out but you never get round to doing it or just stick with what you know. So this year I'm just going o do it and fish waters Ive been meaning to for awhile. I'm sure that i will have many disappointing trips with not knowing the waters but i should also find some good ones and hopefully have some really good sessions along the way.

Yesterday i had half a day to go explore one new spot of canal, I took my drop shot outfit and also an ultra light outfit so that i could cast about more and try for a pike too. It pretty much carried on how I'd left off and started to bag lots more perch on the drop shot, Ive not actually blanked for some time now and a usual drop shot session is producing 20-30 fish which isn't bad at all. Its also pleasing as its been from a few different venues too.

After enjoying the perch it was time to go so thought I'd use abit of time to stop and look at a river on the way back, i expected it to be up and coloured but it was only going to be a general recce. I stopped off on a bridge and when i looked down i spotted a dead pike straight away, it seemed strange as its head looked to have been eaten yet its body was fully in tact, its usually the body they eat and leave the head. I went for a closer inspection to see if i could see otter foot prints but could not get close enough to see although there wasn't any leading up to it so maybe it had washed down stream.

 

I'd taken my gear with me just in case so thought while i was stood by the water i would have a cast into a slack, seeing the dead pike obviously was a sign there could be more about. I didn't expect to get anything with the water being up and very coloured but on my third cast i had the all too familiar feeling of being snagged but the snag suddenly moves, don't you just love that feeling of the penny dropping! It gave a great account of itself before i subdued it, then I'd realised I was going to have to land it. Not expecting to get anything so easily I'd not thought about the difficulty of landing it as i didn't have a net. I knew i was close enough to chin it, that wasn't the problem it was the fact I'd not realised how soft the muddy bank was and it was quite dangerous if I'm honest. I had to shuffle one foot really deep into the mud for grip while i slid my other down the sloping bank enough for me to chin the pike. I manged it but not without stretching and afterwards realising i had pulled my groin!

 

I was chuffed to bit with that and now have a new bit of water to explore when the conditions are much better, i could have had more casts but i thought I'd pushed it already and was better to be safe.

 

I've not targeted pike for awhile now as there just hasn't been the venues and opportunities to do it with the rivers being in such terrible condition. despite catching in conditions that were far from ideal, i think it was more the fact that it was such an obvious slack in a quite boily water that made a place for the fish to rest.