Been a busy couple weeks..... but managed some awesome sessions for pike recently in both daylight and of coarse night piking! Me and Adrian decided that it was about time we hit the water on our float tubes! i couldnt sleep the night before getting out on the tubes as they offer sooooo much fun and different approach that you just cant get from the bank or boat! plus this has to be the most fish friendly method going.... if you wanted to you could unhook and release a pike without even getting them out the water! truly brilliant fun and wow was it worth the wait!
I managed the first fish a tiddler to the monsters lurking around on the venue, i cannot explain how chuffed i was when i landed the first fish it was amazing fun i nailed it on one of the new Savagegear spinners with tons of flash in the skirt. this lure worked a treat the other week when me and Jimbo fished here so i knew it would sort me out :-) it wasnt long before me and Adrian figured out how to get around in the tubes which was most of the fun i reckon...... we certainly didnt care if we blanked it was just awesome fun to be on the water like this. Adrian was the next to hook up on a Fox hornet spinnerbait the fish literally came up from 15ft of water and nailed his bait off the top no more than 2ft away from Adrians tube! i could see the look on his face he was giggling like a child but so was i! god only knows what will happen if we nailed one of the 30's...... :-)
we both managed one more fish each making the fish count 13 fish for the session which is good going considering we had a massive learning curve to overcome but i can honestly say i had one of the best sessions iv had in a long long time...... fishing has got so serious in the last few years and i cant bloody stand the attitudes of fisherman in fresh and salt water, we all need to get back to basics and start enjoying fishing for fishing not chasing monsters i didnt have any large pike this session but i had more fun because of the fact i was doing something i love.... watch this space for some more float tubing in fresh and salt water coming up :-) once again a pleasure to get out with Adrian catching fish :-)
we got there early AM. with light mist still lingering it was just perfect! love this venue always done very well with plenty of fish over 20lb being caught and two fish over the magic 30! these are proper pike none of those ressy lumps that fill the mags nowadays, both of us started out fishing savagegear lures myself using 4plays in various colours and Jimbo using one of the new savage spinnerbaits. the conditions couldnt get any better you could feel the atmosphere in the air, both me and Jimbo buzzed with excitement at the possibility of a monster or two turning up :-) Jimbo was the first to land a fish and this tiny 1lb Jack was a welcomed sight as James has had a slight dry patch concerning pike in 2011. its very unusual to see pike this size on this venue i prob see 2-3 a year 
I managed to sneak a small jack on a wobblespinner not long after Jimbo nailed his, the Savage 4plays didnt work at all which is strange as they usually murder this place...... we both had large very flashy lures fishing them with a very lazy sink and draw style retrieve fluttering the lures in and around weeds beds in the gin clear water, it was amazing watching the pike chase over 20ft of water and smash lures in the clear water it was like a fish tank we could see everything. im happily fishing away when i hear James shout 
sods law hay..... but still possitive as there was some huge fish moving and the deffo liked the lures we were throwing! only two swims away i had another decent fish chase again a fish between 12-15lb it was only a matter of time before something huge nailed our lures! i was now gagging for a decent fish now, and it wasnt long before i was treated to a good fish falling to my christmas tree style lure. after a few good hefty runs and some awesome tailwalking this fish was in the net
just scraping the double but it certainly wacked a smile on my face! as i was releasing this fish Jimbo shouts out again! with this time another lump of a pike smashing up behind the lure again a fish of around 20lb! the bright blue skys helping us spot the pike on the bottom but this also ment that most of the time the pike could also see us...... the sun was creeping high in the sky now and the action started to slow a fair bit which is generally what happens on this venue at mid day. but we still kept on chucking lures while James shoots some black and white stills on me catsing and other fishing action shots. we fished prob another quarter mile stretch of canal before deciding that the pub was calling us for a drink and plate of chips....
ended the session with 4 pike to low double and the pub we can safely say a awesome morning out.... still with a couple hows of chilling time when we got home! watch this space we are going to try this venue again next week before Jimbo heads off to guide in florida for two months. fingers crossed for one of those monsters jumping on our lures :-)
Keep your eyes peeled for all my summer antics like the texposed surface frogs and swampys! iv recently managed 4-5 surface sessions and caught on every one :-) so things are hotting up soon be time for night piking!! ill be fishing the next few days and will hopefully get some good images for some write up's. ill also be wacking up some interviews with my angling friends and other known charactors in the lure angling world..... watch this space
