christmas Pikin and a happy new year!

Welllllll this is the last post of 2011....... been quiet the last month been hectic busy with various stuff so it was time i got out and had a road trip with buddys in search of a decent fish or two! so me Jim Odonnell and Matt Newcombe headed off to sunny Somerset looking for a Pike and Perch :-) but on this mission there was a tweak! Mr Matt Newcombe has never nailed a Pike.......... the pressure was on! i had a few venues lined up but with good old british weather the first was high and coloured after a few snags hooked up was time for venue no.2 and this was looking much better! brilliant visability and good and the signs all pointed to some fish being banked! after a quick faff around a few locks with a few chases and Jim finding a good shoal of Perch i finally nailed a Jack the pressure was on to get Matt his first Pike!

it wasnt long before Matt nails one on the good old trusty spinnerbait! we hit a patch of fish where me and Matt had a fair amount of chases and near misses, Matt was on a roll with nailin a few fish along a 300yard stretch Matt was getting into the swing of things by now with a good bit of banter between all of us we decided to hit one last venue which happened to be one of my banker spots which has always fished well for me! we parked up and headed off to "the spot" it wasnt long before we started to see results the surface was literally boiling with fish, chub pretty much everywhere with the odd big swirl where perch or pike happened to of been having lunch! i headed off to a likely looking swim

within a few casts i get totally slammed! and after a good spirited hard fight i nail this 10lb 14oz double! I could see Matts eyes lighting up as we took these pictures a Pike nails some bait fish off the surface behind us! you could of had hit on surface lures i reckon there was so much going on! Matt has now swapped over to a 4inch white shad and Jim has stuck on a Rattle'smolt it wasnt long before Matts luck struck again! and he was in to a cool rough and tumble fight with his new PB Pike of 5 and a half pound, you could see Matt had caught the fresh water lure bug, the grin on his face was awesome considering he's never fished like this before being a Light Game legend of plymouth.

after these shots it was time Jim had a few and it wasnt long before his lure was getting crunched! while landing yet another one of Matts jacks i could hear Jim's drag belting off the reel but the fish came off after a 15ft or so powerful run after the pike about 7-8lb nailed the lure from right under his feet! within a few more casts Jim gets hit again but loses it :-( im fishing the next swim and get completely slack lined and then connecting with a Jack tail walking to the bank! love this style of fishin! time was against us now with only a hour or so before losing the light and headin back to Ivybridge for tea! we fished around some features in hopes of a couple more before home time when i get a couple chunky Perch follow up behind the lure! the next cast see's this wee beastythis cheeky little one pounder wallops my cannibal shad gettin zapped on the Owner stinger which i make up for shad fishing. bloody love perch! if only they grew to pike size id never fish for anything else! the day was coming to a end now and was time to head back! Jimbo had blanked (but caught a jack the next day) Matt had caught his first Pike and then beat his PB in the same day, cant get better than that ayy :-) all in all a cracking day of with good company, we are heading back here next week i will wack a post up after we have nailed some more fish from here and hopefully got Matt his double figure Pike! so check back in the new year! hope you all have a good new years eve i know i certainly will be!! ;-)

tightlines