More river Pike, but still not Barbel! 03/07/11

Got up at 4.30am for a dawn start today on the middle river. A beautiful morning, and i hoped to pull a fish or two out before the sun got too much.

I had a barbel rod out, with cage feeder tactics and sweetcorn as bait cast to the far bank near some tree cover and a raft of weed. On the near bank, i used a smelt deadbait cast downstream to some dead water under a tree in the hope for a pike.

I quickly started getting indications that fish were about on the barbel rod, but decided to ignore the twitches in the hope for a good pull. Suddenly out of nowhere the rod slammed down and i struck expectantly, but with no response. It was either a chub or barbel, and i was annoyed at missing it! I was just getting ready to cast, when the nearside rod started flying away to a pike run. I lifted into it quickly, so as not to deep hook the pike, and was met with a solid response. After some fun and games for 5 minutes or so, i netted my second double of the year at 10lb 2oz.

I'd guessed that this might have ruined the swim, so a change was required and a quater of a mile later reached my next swim. By now the sun was high, and despite efforts, i struggled to get anymore bites. I brought my deadbait in, unclipped the lead and cast the deadbait out again to try a bit of sink and draw. Third cast, and the bait was hit by this small pike.

By now, it was sweltering and i called it a day. A nice morning out, and now i'm off for a pint. Going to be trying for some bass again soon, so here's hoping.