Windy Wasperton

Saturday, Wasperton. It was my turn to introduce Barry to a section of river that he hadn't fished before and to be honest, I'd only fished there a couple of times and not done that well but this trip was to be a little different as predators were the target species. As forecast, the weather wasn't on it's best behaviour and a very strong gusty wind blew straight in our faces, we were there to have a good look round with a view to fishing some proper sessions for Pike and Zander along that stretch, we'd both brought rods to have a go and deadbaits were the tactic. we cast these to some very likely spots, one of them being a huge raft of debris under an oak tree, this was the first spot to we tried, I'd fished this spot a few weeks ago with Chub in mind and caught nothing so I tried a whole sprat and allowed it to drift in the current beneath the raft to see if a Pike was at home, nothing. We tried several other 'Pikey' looking spots and got no interest in our baits, when the sun came out at around lunch time we could see how clear the water really was, crystal clear, you could almost see the bottom, the bright sun wasn't ideal for a predator and a bit of colour in the water would have improved our chances. We weren't to keen on continuing the fishing trip at Wasperton as the strengthening wind were starting to remove small branches from the tree's and we both felt that a move was on the cards, Barry suggested a stretch of canal he knew where a Zed was almost guaranteed and within an hour we were setting up for a spot of canal Zander fishing.

The spot was very calm and sheltered from the wind, being the weekend we did have some heavy boat traffic to contend with but we knew it would dye down towards the evening. We both felt fairly positive about this spot as Barry had fished there the previous week and had a few Zed's on the bank, within an hour Barry had his first fish, an excellent start.

This fish was shortly followed by a series of missed runs then a second smaller Zed for Barry, I had one fish throw the hook before we had a quiet spell. It was during this break in the bites that I noticed the line angle to one of my baits had altered by several yards, there was no indication on the tip or bobbin and I didn't see the line tighten at all, after a quick check of the bait it was back out on the spot, within minutes I had a jerky tightening of the line, I let the fish have a bit of slack before striking, fish on!

I was so glad to get a single fish on the bank!