Broomstick woes

Date fished 15/8/2020

7.30am until 4pm

My recent trips have definitely been missing something. Fish? Maggots? Chub pics? No, none of those. The answer is, Ellis!! He has been doing some diy as the weather has been helpful, with alot of it now completed he was able to come out with me this time. He suggested the boat, which I was quietly pleased about as it was exactly what I was thinking. We have not been on the boat in a while and we always have a great time up and down the river, so the plan was made.

See, two floats not one! 

I met Ellis at the Marina and we loaded Big Elbow with the gear. Perch and Pike the target on lures ( I brought the lure with no tail too) and maybe some live baits if we were able. We would have the trusty float/ maggot/ blank saver rod for silver's too!

First stop was at Disco Corner, we had not fished it for ages and it was some guaranteed silver's, or so we thought. Ellis plugged away on the float and although fish were clearly there, none were obliging. I caught a small Perch so we were off the mark.

We tried a few more swims and eventually caught some small silver's for live baits and I caught another Perch. The Pike did not seem to be interested and the floats only had the bait to make them move, and in some cases even that was too much! 

We swapped between the float rod, lures and live baits but still it was proving to be a difficult day. Ellis suddenly had enough, exclaimimg "Pass me my Broomstick!" 

I fell about laughing but duly passed him his 150 gram plus casting weight, 130lb braid broomstick onto which he put a large burt lure. He thrashed the water, but to no avail. It was getting desperate. 

Plan B was in order, I wondered why it took him so long to do it. When he did, he was soon catching Perch after Perch after Perch. Ellis had set up the drop shot rod!! 

We always like to use smaller silver baits for lives, releasing the Perch or better fish. We just do! Ellis catching a great fish that was released.

We discussed how many lures are Perch pattern and obvioulsy Perch and Pike will eat smaller Perch. I just wondered if they prefer fish that are alot less spikey. Anyway, I caught a small Perch and put it on as a live bait. We were in a swim where we had caught Pike before, although there were some large trees in the water here now which were not before. Actually, all along the river there were some large trees looking like potential hazards in the river. I digress, the Perch was cast to where we had just seen a splash.

"What was that?" I asked.

"You will see in a minute" being Ellis's confident reply. 

My float was in the water for about 30 seconds when it suddenly sailed away. I struck and was in. A small Pike, 3 to 4 lb shooting off like Usain Pike. It nearly went up the bank, it went round a floating branch and towards the tree. I tightened the drag, but long story short. The Pike escaped and managed to snag me in the fallen tree!! Hindsight is a glorious thing and maybe the swim was too cramped now with the tree, but that is probably why the fish are in it! 

We tried many more of our usual swims and although the drop shot produced countless more Perch, the Pike count remained zero.

It was a tough day. Back at the Marina, there was time for a few casts off the bank. Just enough to catch a few branches (or were they broomsticks) each, before jumping in the cars and calling it a day until next time.