The pike session was on the River Anker during the morning it had decided to snow again. I arrived before the snow, but once it had started, decided that I would stick it out for an hour or two in the hope of a nice’ pike in the snow’ shot. It wasn’t to be though, and despite my best efforts, a margin rod out sporting a sardine and a roach or perch wobbled on the other, it just never really happened.
The only slight chance came and went without me even noticing it. A wobbled 5” roach had been side swiped by something on the first cast into a new swim. I didn’t feel a thing, the roach however came back nearly disembowelled, obviously something had had a go, the teeth marks missing both the hooks – typical.
There were plenty of predators to be seen while I was on the river; unfortunately they were of the avian kind. Over the three hours and in less than one mile of small river I spotted 4 cormorants, 2 pairs of goosander (one a male - green head), 1 white breasted juvenile cormorant, 1 great crested grebe, 1 kingfisher and a flock of tuffties. It’s little wonder that the fish were a bit edgy even the pike I don't doubt. Hopefully the lids will stay off the still waters for a while now to give the rivers a respite.
A quick session on another smaller river after chub and roach a few days later also drew a blank. Was this purely down to the river not being in the mood I pondered to my self during the session?
I’ve been trying to keep an eye on pressure systems lately and what affect they have on my results. On this occasion, checking Weather Undergrounds site, the pressure was rising steadily coupled with falling temperatures, was this the reason the fish were not interested this time- who knows?
I find I’m more bothered about the effects of sudden high pressure changes on the fish, than whether the moons in its first quarter or whatever (that’s just witchcraft to me !)
The only pressure I can feel at the moment is getting some points on the board in the Bloggers Record Weight Challenge.
Jeff’s already sprinting ahead leaving most of us standing, but I’m sure some of our blank cells will get filled in soon, especially with the milder weather due to set in from this week. I think it will certainly become interesting quite quickly once we all get going.
My 'sprint' was more accident than design Lee, I assure you. I just seemed to catch a lot of fish of different species all at once. Now its hard work again! This temperature rise has unleashed stacks of hitherto locked up water as the frozen ground thaws deep down. The local stream is running brown and soupy without a great deal of rain falling, really.
ReplyDeleteI'm looking for the plateau. That point where the weather levels off and remains unchanged for a week or two in usually high pressure. That's where the chances are I think