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| Sunrise on the river. |
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Arriving at the river at 5.30am this morning i was fortunate enough to be greeted to a majestic sky of amazing colours. The sun was just rising in the East and a thick blanket of early morning mist hung suspended above the forgotten water meadows.
Years ago these water meadows were a working agricultural system that produced an "early bite" for livestock in the early spring months. These days the water meadows are long forgotten and neglected and that word "neglected" is one that should always make the dedicated Pike Angler sit up and listen. I'd set myself a window of just two hours for this mornings session, partly due to possible high water temperatures
and a possible sunny day but also because of a 14hr shift at work in the evening. That said i was surprised how cold it was, the autumn change is most certainly on its way. So armed with lures i relished the opportunity to get chucking as this was the first time i'd been out on my own in over two weeks.
Of
course target fish was the Pike (are there any others). People often
ask me "why pike?" or "don't you fish for anything else?". I always
reply very simply because "I love them". Which I do, there's something
about locating wild river predators that just does it for me.
It's the savageness of the take, the combined power and aggression in
the fight and the fish which may appear to be an ugly brute at first but
which over time becomes a beautiful apex predator. Hunting a hunter in
beautiful surroundings certainly inspires and motivates me and I
certainly haven't had enough of it, maybe I never will.
The river looked fantastic in the early morning light, there was a slight tinge of colour and I proceeded to it with haste and anticipation as today it was all about lures.
Ahh lures, I love them...The river looked fantastic in the early morning light, there was a slight tinge of colour and I proceeded to it with haste and anticipation as today it was all about lures.
Getting out with
lures is great, not only because of the hunting and searching that you
do but because the goal itself is a deception, the perpetration of a
lie. To convince the predator to bite and become the prey is the sole
aim and you keep moving and covering the ground till you find one that's switched on and on the feed.
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| Lunkermainia S-Killer |
I
started off with a Lunkermania Red Headed Perch S-Killer which are
fantastic lures and ones I've been putting through their paces since
being sponsored by the company.
However after a few casts around a deep corner which screamed predators nothing.
Moving down river I arrived at a deeper corner which had a reasonable area of slack water and a nice marginal line.
Switching
to a Jerkbaitmania "Edgell Bomber" in spitfire green as these dive a little deeper I cast up river
and angled the lure to get it to come back down the marginal line. About
half way down a bow wave appeared from the margin and made straight for
the lure "BANG" fish on!
After a tailwalk or two I slipped the net
under a nice plump river pike which had obviously been feeding well. I was chuffed with that, one banked and I still
had over an hour to go. Releasing the pike after a photo, quickly and
safely which I always do I proceeded down river, now hoping for a bigger one.
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| "Edgell Bomber Lure" - The next best thing after having a lure named after you is catching on it. |
Deciding to keep
the "bomber" lure on as it obviously worked I then didn't get a sniff for
about 30 mins, then on the next cast i had a take on it however I hesitated as I wasn't completely
convinced that it was a take and it may have been weed and that split second cost me as I felt a
jarring judder down the line and saw the boil of water as a large river
pike sped away leaving me shaking and kicking myself as the old enemy complacency had
crept in.
Concentration
is vital in lure fishing, it's part of the reason I consistently go
fishing, if you want to be good at something you need to do it
regularly.
I continued to fish the area for the remainder of the time
as she looked a decent fish but alas to no avail, even several changes
of lures couldn't entice her back. A case of once bitten twice shy,
which happens to often when they've felt the cold hard plastic.
Still
I walked back to the car a contented man, one banked which is better
than a blank and a missed opportunity, I will however without a shadow
of a doubt be back!!!
- Nathan Edgell
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www.jerkbaitmainia.co.uk
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