Looks like the good old British summer is kicking in, cold easterly winds and heavy rain all day long! I returned earlier this evening from a day’s fishing in a not so sunny Yorkshire with everything soaked through thanks to the non-stop rain.

I met Mart and Ken of the LAS at 6am outside the gates of our first venue of the day, on arrival we were greeted with a cool wind and heavy rain. It didn’t take long before we were all setup and heading for the waters edge, the 20 acre lake had lovely crystal clear water which I always like so I was feeling confident. After a few casts a jack Pike of about 5lb followed my lure but turned away once it caught a sight of my ugly mug (can’t blame it I guess!) and never returned. 5 mins later I had a missed take in the slightly deeper water 30yds out but unfortunately that was the only action I had from the first swim.

Just up the bank to my left was a pontoon, figured it would be worth a few casts so took my trusty homemade lure (from Mart) and hoped for the best. You guessed it, not a sniff! On the brightside though a nice looking Perch of about 2lb followed the lure then swiftly returned under the pontoon. Quick as a flash I dropped the Pike rod and ran to the van for the ultralight rod, I really wanted to catch that Perch! I spent the next 20-30mins throwing all sorts of ultralight lures at this Perch with only 3 follows to show for my effort. Entertaining but frustrating at the same time but I guess that is fishing. Ken managed a few jack Pike from further up the bank which was good to see where as Mart and myself were struggling to find any hungry Pike. A move further down the lake resulted in a tiny 2lb jack Pike, at least I wasn’t going to blank today! The fishing was apparently very poor compared to usual so we decided to try a different nearby venue.

A 10min drive later and we arrived at the car park of lake number two, a much larger lake but pretty with large reed beds and trees edging surrounding the lake. We made out way to the lake and choose our swims, it was the first time I’d fished here so I choose a swim with some lily pads as there were an obvious feature. I was using my now battered/bruised homemade lure that Mart made for me a while back, it has caught me many Pike so it’s my first choice at a new venue. Made my first cast just to the right of lily pads, retrieved about 20-30ft when I got a big hit. A large splash and the body of a better fish swirled at the surface, the fish was on! Straight away it dived for the lily pads which it successfully did but luckily for me I managed to steer her back out again, after a short tussle and plenty shakes of the head she was safely landed by Ken (thanks Ken!).

Straight away I could tell she was a good fish (by my standards anyway), she was unhooked and weighed quickly. She sent the scales over to 16lb 5oz which I was chuffed to bits with, a new pb for me so I was one happy chappy A few quick photos were taken then she was slipped back where she shot off with plenty of energy which is always good to see.

16lb 5oz Pike, brightened up a rainy day!

I continued fishing the same swim for a further 10-15mins with a take off another Pike but it slipped the hook within a few seconds then it went dead. We fished a few other areas with Ken and Mart having a few take son the surface lures but otherwise there didn’t seemed to be that much moving. The third lake of the day is just down the road so a quick trip in the van and where were fishing again within 15mins. I managed a few missed takes where as Ken and Mart struggled to raise any interest from the resident Pike.

Ken wasn’t feeling all to grand so headed home, myself and Mart felt a bit of ultralight fishing would be fun so we said cheerio to Ken and made our way to the local canal. Again I hadn’t fished this venue before so it was all new to me, it’s always nice to visit new venues so I was enjoying my day (I was still buzzin after my Pike earlier!). We walked half a mile or so to a quiet section which had several empty mooring pontoons, there must be some Perch about here so the ultralight rod was ready to go.

Nice Perch features

First lure of choice was a 5g jighead with a 2″ pink/white curl tail, after a few minutes and had a pluck at the tail and then a fish was on! A little 4oz Perch was hanging off the end, it maybe small but ultralight fishing is great fun so didn’t matter of the size. I landed several more Perch all roughly 4-6oz with one or two follows of some slightly larger 8oz fish. I changed over to a shallow Rapala Shap Rap crankbait, the plan being I could run the lure 8″ off the bottom and may improve my hookup rate with the rear treble

My Perch ultra light setup

The fishing had slowed though with no sign of Perch about, a move up the bank was in order. I fished most of the pontoons and covered the inside reed line as well which got me one or two small Perch but not exactly hectic sport so tried the next pontoon along. I decided to fish the inside reed line on my right first so swung out the Shad Rap so it landed tight to the next pontoon and worked it back next the thick reed bed. The first cast wasn’t quite close enough so I re-cast much tighter to the reeds, half way through the retrieve and a fish was on! A much better fish compared to the other small Perch, a nice looking stripey appeared so was netted. It has been a while since a caught a decent Perch so weighed him out of interest, the nice plump fish sent the scales round to 1lb 12oz. I was very happy with that, specially after my nice Pike from earlier in the day.

A nice Perch taken on the ultralight outfit

We finished the day fishing a few small waters but they didn’t produce anything at all, not even a follow so we decided to call it a day. I had a great day’s fishing, didn’t lands loads of fish but I was very happy with a decent Perch and Pike. A big thank you to Mart & Ken for taking the trouble to to show me around some of their local venues, looking forward to the next session

Last Sunday I received a text from a mate of mine Pete from the Lure Anglers Society asking if I fancied an afternoon’s Piking, obviously I didn’t need asking twice so we arranged to meet at a venue that Pete hadn’t fished before (it’s always nice to try somewhere new). I was up early to make sure I had finished my work by late morning, the van was already loaded so I was ready to make a quick get away.

I arrived at the venue to find next to no one fishing which is always nice as I do like to have a bit of peace and quiet and the chance to fish the swims which are normally taken up by match and Carp anglers. Parked up, setup the rods and made my way to the first swim. Last time I fished here I had a fish first cast so couldn’t help but hope the same would happen, I clipped on my Perch pattern BBZ I painted the night before and hoped for the best. I made my first cast and made my steady retrieve with the odd pause added, nothing! Well that is no good is it, what’s the world coming to when you can’t catch a fish first cast!! Made the second cast to my right, got half way through the retrieve when bang! I had my first take of the day, I was very pleased as it meant my Perch BBZ worked but the Pike was only on for a second or two and was off. Ten more minutes in the swim trying a few other lures produced no more takes so a move was in order.

I decided to fish a swim I don’t normally get to fish due to usually being taken up by Carp anglers so I was looking forward to fishing some ‘virgin water’ (well, new to me anyway!). Since this swim had more open water I decided to switch over to the homemade Perch shaped lure made by Mart from the LAS, this lure casts really well allowing me to cover more of the open water. I had a lot of confidence in this lure after last week’s productive session, clipped it on and within 2 casts I was into a lively fish that seemed to like tail walking.

One of the better fish of the day

Quickly unhooked, took a quick photo and slipped her back safely. I cleaned off my hands, checked the trace, hooks, etc and started my fishing again. I must of moved the lure 10ft and I was into another fish straight away! This was a smaller fish of only 5lb or so but it provided great sport, unhooked and returned. I landed 4 Pike within 15 mins from the same spot plus a few missed takes so obviously there was a few Pike laying up in this spot.

Pete was due to arrive at anytime so I decided to head back up near to where the van was parked so I could look out for his arrival. I returned to the swim I started off at but there was no sign of activity, at which point Pete had just arrived so went over to greet him and have a quick spot of lunch.

With lunch over and Pete setup ready for fishing we made our way to the lake, I had been saving a swim for Pete and I that produced a lot of Pike the week earlier so I had high hopes that Pete would latch into a few Pike. Unfortunately there seemed to be a distinct lack of fish, best laid plans and all that. I was expecting a plenty of action in the afternoon considering I had landed 5 Pike within the first hour but for some reason the fishing slowed right down, this coincided with Pete’s arrival so he took the blame for the slow sport

Homemade lure still working nicely

We moved to a shallow and very weedy section of the lake in hope of some action on the surface lures, Pete fished a Heddon Meadow Mouse where as I fished a weedless Spro Bronzeye Frog, we both had a few takes on each but we just couldn’t transfer the takes to solid hook-ups. Surface lure fishing is good fun so the lack of hook-ups isn’t really a problem, slightly frustrating I guess but enjoyable nonetheless.

The remaining four hours were slow going with myself landing two more Pike to 6-7lb, Pete had plenty of take/follows but couldn’t hook-up at all We had just about made a full lap of the lake when the sky behind the hill opposite turned a rather nasty looking dark colour with the odd flash of lightening. We did hope it might missed us but I put on the waterproofs just in case. I was just changing over a wire trace when I could hear a strange noise, I looked up to see a wall of hailstone making it’s way down the lake! within seconds we were being barraged by hail with lightening cracking directly above us! We figured this would be a good time to sit in the van to enjoy a cuppa and pasty, glad we did as the heavy rain/hail feel for the next 15-20mins. I would taken a photo but my camera really wouldn’t of liked being out in that weather so kept it tucked up in the carryall.

Once the weather had passed the lake became very quiet with no a breath of wind, we fished for another hour or so but with only a few takes/follows it was slow going. We decided to call it a day as the sun was setting, unfortunately poor Pete had blanked and I finished with 7 Pike. The fishing was slow in the afternoon/evening but Pete and myself had a very enjoyable fishing session so it’s not all bad I guess Hopefully we’ll be out fishing again soon with some better results.

Pete fishing at sunset