HIT AND MISS

     Fishing small rivers for chub in the summer months is a favourite pursuit of ours, especially using ultra light lure fishing gear. When the winter comes however, the chub are noticeable by their absence and the emphasis turns to pike. On a recent day’s fishing near Nottingham, the canal was proving uncooperative and so we decided to have a quick look at the river instead.

     It wasn’t long before Sharkey’s tiny lure drew some interest from a small pike, but the fish missed it completely.

 
     Instead of hooking it, he had to move quickly to prevent the flying lure from ending up in the trees.
The next cast was more successful however, because most pike will come again as long as they haven’t felt the hooks.

 
This time his strike was met with firm resistance and an exciting scrap followed as the jack used the current to try and escape.

 
     Despite one tricky moment beneath the rod tip when it looked like some debris might foul the line, he was soon drawing the beaten fish over the landing net. Despite their apparently frail appearance, modern lure rods are very strong and we have landed far larger fish than this using ultra-light tackle. This may not be the largest pike ever committed to film, but it was an exciting moment on a cold winter’s day and demonstrated that fishing doesn’t always have to mean huge catches to be enjoyable.

 
     Ultra-light tackle makes every fish worthwhile and is a joy to use. It makes smaller venues a more worthwhile proposition and allows even the smaller fish a chance to shine.

Back on the canal, one or two bigger fish were starting to move and as usual Sharkey would soon be among them , but that is another story.