Friday evening river session

By 4pm Friday I was needing some therapy. I grabbed the rod, and headed down the river for an hour or so before dark.  It was a good decision.

A few casts in and the first fish of the evening was landed, predictably a perch. The medicine was already working.

It was a lovely evening to be out. As the setting sun lit up the far bank trees, the river started to look really "perchy". I was holding out hope for a bigger specimen, as I havent had any more than 4 or 5 ounces from the river yet. I caught a couple more small perch on curly tail grubs before searching out more new water to try out.

I dropped into a swim that had a steep drop off close in. It was maybe 12 feet of water only a few feet from the bank. I paid extra attention to slowly move the soft plastic grub around this margin, and it didnt take long before I connected with something. Something heavy. This was no perch!

The fish moved slowly and ponderously out into the middle of the river. It only took me a few moments to realise that It could only be a pike. The clutch on the tiny reel spun wildly, and I was glad that I had set it so loose. I was also glad for re-spooling the reel with the new flash 6lb braid I had bought, as I was able to feel every movement of the fish as it bore deeper out into the river. 

Slowly, I drew the fish back towards me, making line slowly, and using every ounce of flex in the 8' quivertip rod. There was a few hairy moments as it made lunges right under the rod tip, as I could see the lure right in the middle of the top lip, but thankfully everything held, and after a five minutes or so, I managed to squeeze the pike into the foldway trout landing net that I use. Well, just. 

I was shaking. It's been a while since I fought anything that was significantly stronger than the tackle I was using. It's a good feeling.

The hook popped out in the net, probably as soon as the line went slack as I only use barbless hooks. I didnt have a mat with me, but decided that a quick photo on the wet grass would be less messing about than weighing it. Lining it up against my rod, it measures 32", which reads 7.8lbs on my conversion chart. Not bad on 4lb flourocarbon and a barbless hook!

 
As the light drew in, the wind dropped, and the river took on a weird mirror-like appearance. I didnt manage to catch any more perch, or pike, not that I cared. The session was over and my therapy was complete.