Slippery when wet.

Carrying on with my recent return to freshwater I visited the Forth & Clyde Canal with my mate Nick on Tuesday. The weather was pretty miserable being quite windy and it rained constantly all day. We got a good soaking but enjoyed a day's lure fishing nonetheless. At the first stretch we explored I lost a couple of small jacks before landing my first pike of 2014.

There are lots of these juveniles in the canal which is always a good sign. It does produce pike to over twenty pounds as well though. 

Having added another species to this year's tally I decided to scale up to a bigger lure to try and tempt a bigger fish. My mate Ross gave me a pack of chartreuse Daiwa Tournament D'Swim lures so I went with one of those.

My #2/0 jighead combined with a stinger meant any pike having a go should hopefully get hooked. 

Still not a big lure by pike standards really but it soon did the trick when casting out and working it back close to the end of a moored boat when a jack came hurtling out and grabbed it.

A bit bigger than my first.  

Nick also hooked a small jack but as I arrived with my net it thrashed near the surface and threw the hook. After a while we headed further west and tried a few different stretches. After getting heavier for a while the amount of rain falling dropped off to a light drizzle and the sun made a few attempts at breaking through the cloud cover. Casting along past some reed beds from a mooring pontoon I caught another pike after it wolfed my lure almost at my feet startling me in the process.

The bigger lure seemed to be paying off. I rigged one up for Nick to try. 

Chunky teeth filled jaws.

At the third stretch we tried I caught another small jack, the stinger doing its job nicely as the fish took the tail of my lure. Nick was not getting much action though so switched from the big chartreuse paddletail to a small hard lure. This worked almost straight away but he lost the small jack that grabbed it in some weed just before we decided to turn back. As we made our way along the canal towards the car he kept fishing however and his perseverance paid off when he hooked and landed a tiny specimen thus avoiding a big wet blank.

A small Rapala worked quite quickly with little jerks tempted this micro pike.

They all count when you are blanking!

Not the most pleasant summer day to be out fishing but we still had a laugh and a bit of fun. I love seeing pike appearing from the murky water of the canal and launching an attack. They are beautiful fish and I really should spend more time targeting them. This is something I shall try to remedy soon. 

Tight lines, Scott.