More on the lure ... with another ticked off the list

Just a few quick lure sessions to report on lately, well I tell a lie I did have a blank during a mornings pike fishing on deadbaits the other weekend, but apart from that I've only been  sneaking in a half hour after work here and there.  If I'm honest I quite enjoy these little quick fishing fixes but they do tend to stop me getting around to a proper session after the non predators.

Today was a great example of one of these quickfire sessions, I was trying out the 4play soft body  roach  for the first time down the canal. The lure was twitched slowly back giving a great impression of an injured fish I thought and within about four casts it was grabbed by this great looking zed. My first ever zander caught on a lure and I've got to say was completely unexpected. Weighing in at a reasonable 3lb 13oz - (well reasonable for the canal).
I was really pleased with it, something I've been wanting to achieve for a while ever since watching Mr Hayes on wets nets repeats catching zeds on lures on the Warks Avon. Shame I only had the phone's camera with me.

First of many on the lure ?

The results on my usual river have dipped a bit of late (might be the very clear water conditions prior to the latest floods?) and I can't seem to settle on a lure that I'm really confident in again. I doesn't help that I've been buying them like they're going out of fashion in recent weeks. Too many lures in the bag is not always a good idea. Unless of course your out all day where you might have the luxury of giving them all a decent go. Any way I digress, the good old yellow red head kopyto is still bringing the odd result and tempted this hungry little chap, amazing that he managed to get this three and a half inch lure so far down its throat !



Hungry ?!!

Looking ahead...

I'm really finding lure fishing enjoyable but at the same time I'm hankering for a few bait fished sessions now that Autumn is upon us, and with all the big stripey's that are being caught around the country its hard not to get inspired to try for another big one too.  I know a few spots where a carefully chosen bait fished in the right spot might just produce what I'm after.  Then there's barbel and chub to think about, the barbel will start to get more and more difficult to tempt as the water gets colder. The chub will become slightly easier as winter approaches, or at least more accessible in their hidey holes in the snags when the weed beds start to die back anyway. A few zander trips will definitely be on the cards, visits to the Severn and Avon are already being planned in the hope of a big beast.

Finally there's all the pike fishing I am planning to do over the autumn and winter.  I am looking forward to this the most at the moment, and holding a big pike up for the camera is the image I tend to see in my dreams.  So I expect that it will be the pike that receives most of my attention over the next few months ahead, not least because they are the most accessible large fish to me locally, and until I satisfy my current obsession with them I might just get stuck in a pike rut for a bit.

13cm 4play soft body "Dirty Roach"