With the weather continuing to cool, and the heatwave all but a distant memory, we hit the banks (relatively) early again. First light was at 06:51 today. The obligatory half-hour drive to pick up Gavin Lofty Hughes then on to the River Avon at Kellaways. After a relatively successful trip a couple of weeks back, I was keen to see if the fish were any more fired up with the recent bad weather and lower temperatures.
The weather was overcast and very misty. I thanked the perch gods for my Skeetex field boots before hitting the sodden fields. Today was also the opening day of the Pro Fishing UK Predator League competition. Your best 5 perch and 1 pike all count toward your overall points. Facing 129 other competitors across the country. I was hoping to at least fill my perch card and upgrade as we go from there.
Gav was into the perch straight away and was on a mission- nothing big, but still, the Fox Rage Scented Shads he was using were having the desired effect. I was struggling, to be honest, and after trying some creature baits and luminous Gunki Rockstars, I switched to a more natural pattern of Keitech Easy Shiner. The impact was immediate: on the first cast, I caught a lovely 23cm fish and the first one on the card for the Predator League.
Bites soon dried up, though, and I ended up working the Gunki Peps and Whiz in 76mm to reasonable effect. Gav continued to haul fish; certainly, he was winning the numbers game today. Things carried on in this vein, to be fair. I was picking up fish, but Gav was easily having the lion's share. Gav added a decent chub and 2 small pike, while I recorded the smallest chub in the river.
The return journey was slow, just wasps to show for the effort we put in. In the final swim, the good old Gunki Peps did the job. Gav was just explaining how he thought the action was amazing when a large perch shout ot from the bank and demolished the lure. We both saw it. Me from the bank and Gav from the bridge. The biggest perch of the morning was 31cm. Not a monster, but a very welcome addition to the now full perch card.
In all honesty, fishing the rivers this year has been a huge amount of fun, a huge learning curve, and the highlight of my years of fishing. Just when you think you've figured it out? The weather changes, the water depth changes, the fish's mood changes.
Add comment
Comments