Tuesday 13th March 2012

I finally find time to finish the seasons blog over a month after the season has ended.


Weather  +7c to 13c later. Sunny Spells with the chance of a shower


Its myself and son Dean today on the last trip of the current season. As the river had not improved much from the weekend we decided to have a full English breakfast to kick start the day. We arrived at the boat and are soon loaded and on our way into the city. We had briefly tried for some live baits in the boat yard but never had a bite. We had plenty of dead's so that was not a problem.
We decided to fish just the one area today and concentrate all our efforts there. The ferry boat swim was our choice and we was soon in position with Two rods each covering the normal areas of the swim. 
Despite the river looking much better than of late, we could not tempt a run between us. Three hours soon passed and the writing was on the wall. The tide had been fairly low when we started this morning and it was still dropping off fairly quickly. With prospects getting harder by the minute we eventually decided to head back towards the outfall swim near the boat yard but as we approached the mooring spot, i notice the river level is so low we would struggle for clearance on the engine. 
A last hour in the boat yard was our only option now and we soon had one rod each, Dean fishing a dead Smelt while i opted for a live Perch. 
Within 2 minutes my Perch was taken and a 5lb jack saved a blank.
We struggled on and while i started off loading some of the gear Dean fished on. Just as i was about to call it a day, Deans smelt was picked up. As the line tightened up, he pulled out on the strike. He re cast the bait straight back into the same spot and it was only a couple of minutes before it was off again. This time the strike was met with nothing ! Again he tidied up the bait, re cast so i gave him another Ten minutes fishing time. At 1:45pm away it went again and this time he was connected. After a very careful fight we slipped the net under a lovely 7lb 11oz and Dean had saved his blank too.




Not a brilliant end to the season with the last Two outings being very hard indeed. Overall though the season has been a good one for us Three.
We have had Sixty Pike between us, almost 20 each too. I have increased my PB with my first "20". Dean in his first season had moved up to a PB of 17lb 4oz and Neil a PB of 15lb 8oz. At one point Dean had caught 16 Pike with 8 being doubles, not a bad strike rate.


David  20 fish  Best 20-4  5 Doubles


Dean  18 fish   Best 17-8  8 Doubles


Neil    22 fish  Best  15-8  6 Doubles


Total weight  488lbs 3oz


With all the Pike tackle put away until October, I'm now starting to fish a few matches with my club Sextons AC. Most of them are on commercial fisheries until the season re starts in June. Once the new season starts we start on the rivers until October when we start all over again...
Roll on October !!!!