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