A Dash 'n' Splash

Unsurprisingly, since the birth of my daughter my fishing opportunities have been rather limited. I did manage to spend a few hours on the Avon during Wednesday morning. Conditions were not too appealing with bright sunshine beating down on a low and clear river. I had hoped to target Perch but with them preferring low light that plan was shelved. I also knew that targetting barbel would be a non-starter. So instead, I got some deadbaits out of the freezer and packed the Pike rods in the car.

A welcome visitor

I settled in my first peg and cast a paternostered skimmer to the far bank. I had popped this up to increase its appeal. I then float fished a small roach in close proximity to the near bank. I allowed the flow to take the bait past the nearside bank cover before retrieving it slowly to allow the bait to flutter through the water. It obviously worked as a Pike appeared from nowhere to grab the bait within the first 5-10 minutes. It wasn't huge but welcome nonetheless given my recent abstinence. I had chosen to use single hooks as I didn't want to risk a deeply hooked fish considering the Pike are still very active at this time of year and it was easily removed. Despite employing the same tactics in a number of pegs, it proved to be the only action of the morning and the session ended all too quickly.

I hope to be able to squeeze in a barbel trip or two in the next couple of weeks if I am able to balance everything out and keep all parties happy, wish me luck!