It was Friday afternoon and having cancelled Thursday's planned trip to the drain because of the weather it was all systems go to get down there before the sky changed its mind. The gear goes into the back of the 'pikemobile' and away we go, brimming with optimism as always, particularly after last weeks success.
When I arrived at the chosen location and parked up there was nobody in sight, I had a couple of miles of drain all to myself. As I was driving down I decided to forego the usual wandering style of fishing and make a swim in the reeds, hunker down and enjoy a little shelter from the wind and listen to the sound effects of wind, water and reeds, I'd allotted three hours before I would head home and walk the two terriers before darkness set in.
I sat for an hour watching a motionless float before it ever so gently disappeared, the fish was on for a minute and then it was gone. Fifteen minutes later the same happened again with a deep run following the gentle take and then a lot of head shaking going on. The pike on this drain run deep and stay deep so I think this was either a zander or a perch but yet again the bait was released and badly damaged with no sight of the fish. Bait up, cast out and start again twitching and drifting the bait down the centre of the drain, this approach resulted in another take and the pike was landed, not big but a fish is a fish. By the end of the session I'd landed four pike, all pretty well the same size, and lost three fish and you have to be happy with that.
