Tuesday 25 February 2014

Lure fishing the floods

After what seems like an eternity the rivers are finally beginning to drop and with only a couple of weeks left of the coarse fishing season it was time to make the journey to one of my favourite fresh water lure-fishing venues.

After a final check on the river levels I set off this morning with an open mind. I have been fishing on a lake for the past few months which in reality has been a godsend with the floods, I've been nailing some cracking pike like the one below but after 100 or so circuits of the same venue week after week I was really looking forward to being back on the wild water of the river.


On arrival it became apparent that the river levels were still quite high, much of the footpaths were still underwater and for a moment I briefly considered getting back in the car and travelling to a different venue. Something I soon was glad that I decided against.


After a quick wade down the footpath I came across my first sunken tree and with that a small eddy which seemed like a likely holding area for any fish staying out of the main current. After a quick twitch I could see there was a good level of visibility despite the raging currents and after only a few casts I was met by some resistance resulting in my first pike of the day. 


Slightly in shock at how quickly I had landed a fish I got a quick photo and carried on down the path until I came across the next pocket of slack water. Once again I let my lure fall to the river bed and after a twitch again, bang.. another fish on.. 


I quickly realised after another few fish in quick succession that pretty much every little bit of slack water was holding one or maybe two pike that were nailing anything that drifted into their zone. I really didn't have to work too hard and literally letting my lure drop and then holding it back in the slack was resulting in a fish at almost every peg. Over the course of four or so hours I had the best session I've had for quite some time, as soon as the fish were hooking up they would instantly make a run for the main current, doubling the speed of their escape and making it easy for them to strip line off my reel at a fairly scary rate. A heavy pike on light gear is one thing but combine that with the currents from the floods and you've got some serious screaming reels action!








I tallied up 14 fish landed, lost 2 and unhooked a good teen in the water that was too tired and angry to be banked. Most fish were caught in the margins which would usually be the river bank and one I actually nailed right next to a submerged footpath. Lures of choice were the awesome Orka Shad Tails and Tiki Paddletails, two of my favourites for the freshwater!



Safe to say it was a pretty epic session, I really wouldn't have expected such a result with the rivers in that state! What I should say though is if you're thinking of giving this a bash in the coming weeks, do be ultra careful. The banks are really unsafe as I was reminded of on a few occasions when landing and returning fish. On that note I'd better go and clean up that pile of muddy tackle and clothing I dumped at the door earlier..
Tight lines and stay safe out there!!