A bit pear shaped.

Its gone a bit quiet the last week or so. I must admit that I (or my son for that matter) have seen very few fish of late and its not for the want of trying. One fish of about 8lb for my son comes to mind which was caught in a "pre-dawn raid" at the weekend, I thought a good early session fishing right through dawn may break the deadlock maybe even give us the upperhand. However it was not to be, sunrise was at 8:17am and the fish was caught at about 7:30am and that was all we saw for almost 6 hours fishing. Still what an adventure for my 10 year old boy, driving through the darkness in the wee small hours to chase river monsters with his pike obsessed father.

Myself and Frank (a friend who also fishes) were out on Wednesday and met with a blank having tried three different swims with deads and lures, in the end a combination of cold and lack of interest from the pike got the better of us, we packed up just after lunch. Having said that the river is in the best condition I've seen it for quite some time. I would have thought the spell of cold weather would have got the fish on the feed. Theres good water clarity and its running only a shade above the norm.
So as the fellow says "Where are the Pike hiding"? Lastest information is conflicting to say the least! I met some fluff chuckers at the river the other day and they believe the fish are still to be found at relatively shallow depths considering the time of year. Another angler I met claims they've already gone to deeper water (where ever that may be) for the winter and you need to be fishing hard on the bottom whatever method you choose.

Too much information is beginning to develop into mind games in relation to my choice of swims, riverbank tactics and overall strategy, which of late appear to be lacking somewhat. Time to re think and up the game as the hunt for my second double of the season continues. Playing cat and mouse.... with fish can be a head wrecker!