Mersey Paradise!

First Ultra Light trip down the Mersey - grabbed a couple of hours after work. Pocket full of bits and saddled up my mountain bike.

It got off to a great start. 
I threaded on a Ecogear Grass Minnow onto a Shirasu jighead, 4lb flourocarbon leader to 4lb mono mainline. First cast in and the lure didnt even hit the bottom before I was feeling plucks on the line. A slow retrieve quickly turned into the familiar jagging dance of a perch. Success!

Next cast resulted in a snag and a lost jighead. Given I only had 4 left in the Pocket In box, I decided to knock up a home-made. Size 10 longshank fly hook, flattened the barb with my pliers, then pinched on two AAA shots just above the hook. Cast back in and straight into another perch.

The perch kept coming and I was loving it. They were mostly small, around an ounce, but a the odd "dumpy" one turned up, often under the rod tip. The technique was simple - wait for the lure to hit bottom, then very slowly retrieve, pausing every now and again.

I moved swim about 4 times, a couple of spots were too weedy, but whenever I could get a lure down to the bottom, within a foot or so of dragging it gently in, more often than not the plucks would come and the perch would follow.

First cast in a new swim and I hooked into something different. After a short spirited fight, I was surprised to land a chub! I knew they were in the Mersey, and had caught them during matches, but this was my first ever lure-caught chub, so I was made up. It weighed about 12ozs or so.

Just as the light was fading, I found myself in a swim with a steep drop to the water. I tried a change of lure, clipping on a pink Power Shirasu. First cast resulted in a tiny perch, which fell off as I lifted it out of the water. I dropped the lure straight back in, wondering if the greedy fella might take it again. As the lure hit bottom I tightened up and started to turn the reel handle slowly. Suddenly everything went solid. I thought it was a snag, so pulled steadily, but then it shifted upwards and I started to make line. I guessed it was a branch, so gently heaved upwards. Suddenly the branch bolted and leapt out of the water, shaking it's head and revealing itself to be a pike of about 6lbs!

For a few splendid moments I fought the pike on my little 6' light spinning rod. Eventually its manic thrashing managed to shake the barbless hook loose and it escaped, but I was still thrilled for the encounter, and impressed that the tiny 2" jelly lure could attract a pike. 

Result: about 2 dozen perch, plus 1 chub. 1 lost pike.

Conclusion: I am well and truly hooked. The gear worked fine. The telescopic rod and reel were easy to handle on the bike. Hook and shots worked just as well as the more expensive jigheads. This just might be the cheapest fishing thrills around!

If you've not already tried it, then get on the lures and Join the Ultra Light Revolution!!