Feed them- they will come

Not much I could do wrong yesterday. I decided to anchor up and let the fish come to me. The forecast indicated it would be windy and at points it was, pushing 20mph from the NW, it was a good call.  I did the same thing once last year, early season and the results were ok.  Stewart and I did the same two years ago and also from a boat last autumn. The action was non-stop when we found the fish.

The tactics were simple- dropshot worm and lure over a bed of maggots. When Stewart and I fished this spot last year we didn’t see a Bream all day. My thinking was the Perch gave them too much competition. The Bream were on the scene first, and then the Perch and they seemed to come and go in flurries. Considering dropshot isn’t a preferred presentation for this species, they scoffed the worms like there was no tomorrow. I alternated between lure and bait but the lure side of things just didn’t seem to be doing it for the Perch. When I’ve done this before and had them competing they seemed happy to hit the lure, on each occasion it’s also been the best fish of the day that’s came via this route.

 

By late afternoon I moved operation having had enough of the wind and the Bream. I only had one decent Perch which might have gone 2 pounds. My drysuit, rods, kayak and everything in it was a disaster zone. Messy this bait fishing! I’ve got some serious cleaning to do today at some point and I might need to take a chisel to my drysuit, Bream smear, yuk! After ten minutes, I was back in business catching fish regularly (minus the Bream) I decided to have a couple of drifts over the spot I had been feeding with a lure.

 

The best comes to the lure again

It was brief but brutal battle with the fish ducking for a snag, tearing off under the kayak and leaving me spinning around in the wind, just brilliant.

I worked a few trees/snags as I peddled back and momentarily thought I had hit the jackpot in extra time. About ten seconds later I realised it was a Pike.

 

This was one of my favourite spots for Perch last year. I’ve been here each time I’ve visited the loch in 2016 and not had a Perch. I think I’ve hooked this fish on every visit. The first time it came off, second time I think I possibly foul hooked it as there wasn’t a tooth mark on the lure. So this time after a quick picture I swam it upright in the net 50 yards away. Let’s see if the Perch relocate themselves, it’s a nice piece of real estate for a fish.

This structure extends a fair bit to the left of the screen coming together in a point and merging on the bottom. A good example of traditional sonar and downscan providng structure separation. Not so long ago this was cutting edge. When you have a look at what some people are running today it's now legacy tech. Still does a good job mind. I've saw this dotted with Perch which appear as little spots, most of the time in clusters of 3-5 fish.

A super days fishing. I'm feeling it today though, 13 hours on the kayak , well and truly rinsed.