What do Parrots sit on ;-)

After some of the most shocking weather I have ever seen, pretty much the whole of mid Devon being under flood water I finally got out on a session with the lures! On this session I was joined by my brother for his first fresh water mission together in over 10 years!!! We hit one of my fav venues with the intention of some nice sized Pike although I secretly have a massive obsession with winter Perch! so after a good hour of slogging through slushy mud and over grown reeds and brambles. I set both our rods up with some medium diving plugs Joe had on a Orange Rapala Xrap and I clipped on a Rapala Fat Rap, after about ten mins of chucking in around the features of this bend I got a stinking great follow right up to the surface by a hefty Perch well over 2lb! I kept casting keeping away from the waters edge but couldnt produce a take so I whipped out my usual Perch lures being a 4" natural coloured shad and wasnt long before the magic started to happen!

After four or five casts where I had the follow and there was some Perch holding up under a over hanging bush and smash! This Beauty which i could of swore was a good 3lber hits the net, I was well and truly chuffed we snapped a few quick photos and weighed her tipping the scales at 2lb 8oz I was proper buzzing by now and my brother was keen to get into the action too so we tied him on a another shad and off we went and almost instantly I was hammered again! This time i was into something a bit special this was allot bigger and could tell it was a Perch and a unit at that! got it just under the surface and the hooks pulled :-( it was a beast well into the three's I could of cried! Anyone whos done any Perch fishing knows that a lost fish in the shoal is the worst thing that could happen, these beautys spook all too easily! I cast out again right on top of the fish and wham im in again!

This time its a smaller fish but still a cracking Perch coming in at 1lb 14oz I wont argue with that!!! Mean while my brother is looking a little frustrated as he's not getting a touch :-) fishing was pretty dam awesome right now and things werent about to stop! the very next cast I get smashed again....... now by this time there was quite allot of Perch moving now Its always awesome seeing them close to the surface like this! I had a cheeky cast over towards my brother and got hits straight away, pluck pluck and bang fish on again! but a split second later its off...... :-( by this point my bro is getting a little frustrated so I gave him a go on my outfit but he didnt get any hits, the problem with bumping off perch it soon ruins the fishing! we clipped of our light gear and got out the big guns! We both fished Savage Gear lures I clipped on the larger DP spinner and Joe fished the Da-bush spinnerbait two of my fav lures for Piking as they can be retrieved really nice and slow right in the zone.

This scrappy Jack just under 7lb was a pleasant quick bit of action, it nailed the DP well and after a good bit of tail walking Joe had it in the net. I could see Joe getting eager to smash a fish now and he was thrashing the lure to a foam it wasnt going to be long before he was into something! about 20mins in he shouts he's had a hit on his spinnerbait I was secretly hoping something was going to smash him soon! and it wasnt long before a monster of the deep grabbed his lure, after a good battle I scrambled down the bank with the net to tame this beast!

Mother always told us "its not how big it is!!!" ha ha ha ha Heres Joe with his first pike in over 10years!!! Not the biggest brute thats graced the pages of this blog but I dont care to see my bro nail a Pike after all these years was pretty dam quality and i cant wait to take him out again ASAP. we fished on for a few mre hours and with only a few more hits and takes we ended the day with three Pike to me plus the two tidy Perch and Joe with his Pike, we managed to escape the weather for most of the day with only one small blast of rain, the winds were happily playig ball though and at times gusted really strong but all it all what a top day out! Will do my best to break Joes PB the spring of 12lb and this is my goal until the weather sorts itself out and we can get on better waters for the Green Submarines! until next time tight lines

Danny

What a crap end to the year.......

Hello guys sorry been so quiet but after the worst seasons fishing due to the horrendous weather this year my fishing pretty much grounded to a halt! :-( with the worst flooding iv ever seen the Southwest around Exeter was pretty much shut down with waist height water in most towns the rivers pretty much spilled there guts all over the fields of mid Devon! Recently Iv managed a couple sessions in the Fresh water (something iv totally neglected in the last 2 seasons) it was really refreshing to get back to my roots and fish for pike and Perch.
First session was on the absolute ball ache of a venue Exeter Canal

Above is a true classic and one of my Fav's the good old school Replicant, on this session I only managed one hit and that was on a Replicant in the Perch pattern on the drop across on the far bank, I lifted into it and felt a good head shake and it was on for a few seconds and came off! we fished the rest of the day without even one chase! the water was mint with cracking clarity but with pure blue skys it wasnt all that hopeful! I will be back to the Shipping Canal over christmas when we have some cloud cover and hopefully a better 

report on the days sport!

I spent two hours on my local canal literally behind house! I hooked up on the very first cast using a Savage Gear Da Bush spinnerbait, the tiny jack of about a pound flung itself off the lure as i was surfing it in, I had another few casts in the same swim and fish No.1 turns up this small jack above again taken on the Da Bush lure, this section of canal was looking great with roach topping and the odd swirl there was obviously allot of pred action kincking off! and i had a fish of over 5lb follow literally to my feet before charging off! this type of urban fishing it really ticks my boxes, guess growing up on this canal catching literally thousands of pike itll always be close to my heart!

Heres another tiddler from the last few casts and even though they are only small it was awesome to get out, very much looking forward to hitting it again this weekend, thinking of going further out of town to the gin clear waters where we fish in the summer with surface lures a friend of mine fished it the weekend just gone and had them to 10lb, i know where they are just need to shift this horrid cold i have and upset some decent pike! and if im lucky the odd bonus Perch chucked into the mix! Anyway heres a quick update and ill keep on top of the blog as much as possible through the winter with all my fresh water campaigns so watch this space!!

cheers Danny