A 3 Cast Day Changer.

Today was a day on the river with Paul, which didn't start off too well. We had a planned a day on a particular spot but when we got there we had cocked up and could not fish there, i won't go into why on here.
We quickly came up with a plan B and spent a good 2 or more hours fishing this river spot with nothing at all showing, we have had many tough sessions on this venue but you usually get follows off weary fish at least. Paul managed to tempt a jack before we decided we were wasting time here and opted for a plan C.

On arrival we was not overly confident due to the amount of colour in the water, but this was soon restored after a few casts from Paul with a savagear real eel which tempted a good mid double to come up through the colour to investigate right at the surface, before vanishing never to be seen again.
Not too long after i manged a respectable jack to save a blank.

We fished a couple of swims before deciding to fish in the opposite direction and Paul was into a fish straight away which sadly came off, in the next swim Paul had a few follows but they would not take.

Then in the next swim everything changed dramatically, first cast and i get a solid thump and a fish is on.

After releasing the fish i then cast back out a few metres to the right of where i hooked the first fish and another thumping take. This time it did the all too familiar thing of a big fish and it stayed low for a while, then it did the complete opposite and came straight the surface and lept out! Leaving myself and Paul in a little shock, what a sight to see. I was papping it a bit at that point though thinking its the prime time for the hooks to pull. Luckily it held and when we looked at her in the net we thought it could possibly be a twenty. It had all the characteristics, a big head, deep and fat body and just looked massive. The scales however only went round to just 17lb, but we later confirmed the fish to be 18lb 6oz after the scales were tested. A cracking looking fish which will easily make that twenty pound mark when it has a full belly, despite it having the belly already it did feel somewhat hollow which explains why it didn't quite match its looks in weight.

I was still beaming over my fish so let Paul fish that swim out before we moved onto the next. First cast and i was in again, three nice fish in 3 consecutive casts, a total day changer! I now thought it only right to let Paul fish around any more swims first before i had a go just to give him that extra chance of catching. A frustrating day for Paul with more fished lost which probably made about 4 lost fish altogether along with follows from a few decent fish. A classic case of being in the right place at the right time and casting right on the money.