Good Day Bad Day

I just can't make head nor tail of it lately. I go fishing expecting a good day and fail to catch, then I go fishing expecting to blank only to bag-up. I managed one day out in the boat this week with Ian Whittaker from Tyldesley. Ian had never been out on the lake before and I was really hopeful that he was going to have a good day but it didn't turn out that way.

We started off in a banker swim where I had had three runs last time I fished but three hours later we had not had a touch. We moved on to the next "good" area and at last Ian got a run - within moments of casting in as it happens. Ian was pleased with his pike which weighed a little under nine pounds, but I was hopeful he would catch something bigger.

We moved again and Ian got a second run but sadly he failed to hook that one. Then a little while later, as I was explaining that takes to lures are very rare at this time of year, I had a take on a lure! The fish was around the 17lb mark but was very lightly hooked and as I brought it to the surface we only had chance to get an estimate of its size before the hooks pulled free.

We moved once more but that swim turned out to be a duffer so we went back to the last swim to sit it out until dark. That's when I got my only run of the day on a deadbait and pulled in a pike of around thirteen pounds.

I did my best to look after Ian for the day and he said he had enjoyed himself but I can't deny I was disappointed in the fishing. Surface temperature was 6.0 degrees and once again, the level of the lake was very high. Weather was overcast, with low cloud but there was no wind to speak of.