All creatures great and small.

I woke at up early at 6am. The alarm wasn't due to go off until 6:45, but that didnt matter, it was a fishing day. I was up like a shot.

I grabbed some breakfast and a cup of tea, and set about making jigheads before my mate arrived at 8 for our planned stillwater light lure session on a lake I had not fished before.

I've been running out of jigheads fast, mainly due to snags in the canal, and as they are quite expensive (and I am thrifty) I started making my own.  I am using some light gauge long shank hooks and squeezing on an SSG shot onto the shank with pliers. Simples. 

I was looking forward to today's trip, as my mate reckoned there are some decent perch to be had at the lake, and so I was going to give some different slightly larger lures. The 2" Kopyto shad looked good on my new jigheads, and so I hoped to give them a go.

At 7:45 my mate calls. He's got a flat tyre and has had to cancel the trip so he can go and get it fixed. Nightmare. As I was all revved up and ready to go, I decided I'd make the trip on my own. This was a good decision.




On arrival at the lake, I clipped on a reddy-brown 2" curly tail (my go-to lure at the moment). First cast was out towards a shallow marginal reed line. I was barely a few feet into the retrieve, and the tip of the rod started jagging about. Fish on!

As I brought it into the edge,expecting a perch, I was surprised to find a splendid, tiny pike. It was hooked neatly in the lip, and good job too. Those tiny pike teeth are razor sharp, and anywhere else and it would have sliced my flouro in two. 

I put him back and then fanned a few more casts around the area. I also caught a nice perch, of about half a pound.

With it being a new water, I wanted to explore as many swims as possible. I love adventuring and the first time on a new water is always the most exciting for me.

Next swim further round the lake produced an almost identical result. A mini-pike on the first cast, followed by a decent perch. 

 

This was great stuff.  The lake has good visibility, and through my polarising glasses I could see fish following my lure. Most were smallish perch, but there also seemed to be plenty of jackpike around, and I was bitten off a couple of times.

I kept moving swims, covering new water, trying out different lures.

I was having so much fun that I hadn't noticed my belly rumbling or that it had started to rain. I decided to head back to the van for some lunch and pick up my rainjacket.


Lunch was chilli that I made in the slowcooker yesterday. There was tonnes of it. I was expecting to be feeding my mate too, but I'd made way too much even for two. It always tastes better warmed up the next day for some reason.

After lunch, I headed off to explore a spot where I had seen seagulls swooping down earlier. 

On arrival in the seagull swim, I quickly realised what they had been feeding on. The margins were full of this year's fry. There were a couple of dense shoals of small silver fish, and as I watched, every now and again the surface would burst as a pike or a group of perch worked through the shoal.  It was definitely the right time to be hunting predators!

I put on a clear-coloured grub, in the hope of imitating a wounded fry, and cast out beyond the shoal. First retrieve produced a small perch straight away. Then another, slightly bigger. Next came a better fish of 10-12ozs. 

Back in, same spot, and another perch hit the lure straight away. They were backing off, behind the baitfish, but they were there in numbers. I had definitely found the fish. 

For the next hour or so I caught a steady stream of 2-4oz perch, with the odd better fish amongst them. I also lost two pike, with the hook pulling out both times. It was frantic stuff, and I knew I had to make the most of it, because fishing days like this do not come often.

Then something very odd happened. 

The cast was like any other I had made. The retrieve slow, with brief pauses to let the lure drop. Halfway in, and it felt like I'd pulled into a snag. Everything was solid for a couple of seconds, then the line started to pull back and away from me. It was slow and deep. I guessed I'd hooked another pike. I eased it towards the surface, but as I did, the fish rolled. A black fin broke the surface, followed by a black forked tail.   What the?!!  How?!!  I'd hooked a bream on a lure.



Ordinarily bream do not fight well. But this was no ordinary bream. It was a monster. A fry-eating monster bream. I had to be careful. Thankfully, the pike I caught yesterday evening had given me confidence in my 4lb hooklength - and my knots!



The other thing yesterday's pike had taught me was to bring a bigger landing net. I had, although I hadnt expected to land a bin lid in it! I could barely get the thing in there.  Safely on the mat. I stood there and stared at it. I've caught big bream before, but this was surreal. I weighed it... bang on 9lbs. My biggest light-lure caught fish is a bream!
 

I'm not sure if bream ordinarily eat fry. Perhaps the feeding bonanza was too inticing for it and it felt the need to get in on the act. Whatever the reason, it was a brilliant moment, and something I will remember for a long time.

After the excitement of the bream, I staggered around the lake in a bit of a daze. Everything was a blur. I was searching for something to try and top it, but how could I? Unfortunately I couldnt find any tarpon or mahseer.

I did find a few more hungry perch, and one particularly battered old 6lb pike.

I left the water at dusk, with the odd seagulls still swooping. Perhaps today was a one-off. Right place, right time. It's definitely one I will always remember. 

Scores on the doors:
One flat tyre (not mine thankfully).
Legions of small perch. Biggest about 12ozs.
6 pike (biggest 6lbs)
Half a kilo of uneaten chilli. 
One giant fry-eating crazy monster bream.
One Happy Angler!!