I was going to take my barbel rods for this weeks after work session, but decided instead to grab my lure bag and take wander along a stretch I hadnt fished before.
Lure fishing the stretch offers me a few benefits, one of which is I can obviously target pike and perch with lures. However is also offers me the chance to map out the water fairly quickly, by regular casting from each swim with lures you will very quickly establish snags, weed and depth of water. Once I have found areas I think I would fish for carp or barbel, I will clip on a lead and map the area out in my head then later on a note pad or a google earth print out.
So I chose a favourite Thames lure of mine, the spinnerbait.
These spinnerbaits are brilliant on the thames for working close in around the cabbage weeds.
The design of them means they rarely snag, and the blades really throb on the retrieve, creating alot of vibration through the water, and the pike that sit in and around the cabbage weed, attack these lure with massive ferocity sometimes clearing the water as they grab out at them over their heads.
I spent the first hour along a stretch I have fished in the past before jumping in the car and driving a short distance to an area I have not fished before. This area is very shallow close in, if I had wellies or waders on I could have waded out quite away before the water shelved off.
I was casting lures out over the drop off and working them back over , expecting the pike to be laying on the bottom over the drop off and attack the lure as it came over its head.
The first 3 swims didnt produce anything.
The 4th was downstream of a large fallen tree, which created a big slack area close in as the flow pushed past the end of the tree, maybe 20yards out. Within this slack area there were plenty of small fish dimpling the surface, probably eating the many flys and bugs that were everywhere. First cast in this swim was right through the middle of them, and bang the lure was hit!!
The fish was very small and came in very quickly, I chucked the unhooking mat down in the margin and drew the pike over the top of it.
I wandered along the remaining stretch (probably half a mile) but had nothing else.
The whole of the stretch aside from the last 200yards is very shallow close in, before shelving off into the main gravelly channel, as well as 2 marinas and some moored abandoned boats, so definately an area im going to have a few sessions with my barbel / carp rods.
Lure fishing the stretch offers me a few benefits, one of which is I can obviously target pike and perch with lures. However is also offers me the chance to map out the water fairly quickly, by regular casting from each swim with lures you will very quickly establish snags, weed and depth of water. Once I have found areas I think I would fish for carp or barbel, I will clip on a lead and map the area out in my head then later on a note pad or a google earth print out.
So I chose a favourite Thames lure of mine, the spinnerbait.
These spinnerbaits are brilliant on the thames for working close in around the cabbage weeds.
The design of them means they rarely snag, and the blades really throb on the retrieve, creating alot of vibration through the water, and the pike that sit in and around the cabbage weed, attack these lure with massive ferocity sometimes clearing the water as they grab out at them over their heads.
I spent the first hour along a stretch I have fished in the past before jumping in the car and driving a short distance to an area I have not fished before. This area is very shallow close in, if I had wellies or waders on I could have waded out quite away before the water shelved off.
I was casting lures out over the drop off and working them back over , expecting the pike to be laying on the bottom over the drop off and attack the lure as it came over its head.
The first 3 swims didnt produce anything.
The 4th was downstream of a large fallen tree, which created a big slack area close in as the flow pushed past the end of the tree, maybe 20yards out. Within this slack area there were plenty of small fish dimpling the surface, probably eating the many flys and bugs that were everywhere. First cast in this swim was right through the middle of them, and bang the lure was hit!!
The fish was very small and came in very quickly, I chucked the unhooking mat down in the margin and drew the pike over the top of it.
I wandered along the remaining stretch (probably half a mile) but had nothing else.
The whole of the stretch aside from the last 200yards is very shallow close in, before shelving off into the main gravelly channel, as well as 2 marinas and some moored abandoned boats, so definately an area im going to have a few sessions with my barbel / carp rods.
posted from Bloggeroid
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