A quickie on the Stroudwater canal

I managed to get out for 3 hours on the Stroudwater canal after some roach or perch, which ever decided it was hungry! I started off below Ryeford lock with a big worm suspended just off bottom under a small bobber float. Without any joy after about 15 minutes I decided to move above the lock and have a crack at some roach using bread for bait. I managed 3 fish in about 2 hours, for a total weight of about 5 ounces, not exactly my best session, but at least I wasn't blanking! With about half an hour to go before sunset I decided to give up on the roach as they weren't really having it, and head down to a bridge which is usually good for a perch or two.

I hooked the biggest worm I had in my tub and cast it to the far bank just out from under the bridge. After a couple of minutes I gave it a bit of a twitch to try and coax any nearby stripy's to attack the worm, and almost instantly the float twitched a little, or at least I thought it did! I gave it another little tug to see if I had imagined it, but sure enough almost straight after it twitched back towards the far bank. I struck into the fish expecting to feel the usual jaggedy scrap from a small perch, but instead it pulled back, quite hard! I only had 2lb line, so I backed the drag off as this was a fish I didn't want to lose! After about 3 minutes playing it up and down the bank, it finally surfaced... But it wasn't the monster perch I was hoping for, it was a pike of about 3lb! After 1 more final dash for freedom I managed to get it in the net, at which point I realised I didn't have any forceps on me. I figured I must have hooked it in the scissors anyway as it didn't bite through the line, and on closer inspection I had indeed hooked it... at the very back of its throat, brilliant! He seemed to be pretty well behaved, so I carefully slid my fingers into his mouth, avoiding the rows of teeth and set about removing the hook. It was at this point he decided being well behaved was boring, and that thrashing his head around was a much better lifestyle choice. Needless to say he got me, and bit through the line, and ended up back in the canal! With my rig ruined, and my leaking finger, I decided to call it a day and head for home.

All I had to show for my efforts was a leaking finger.