First of 2012

With the space shuttle no longer flying Barry had a surplus of his wobbly pop which I received as a very welcome Christmas gift, the Elderberry went down well last year. I gave up drinking a few years ago and only have the occasional, social drink now and again, new years eve is one and I cracked open a bottle of Barry's finest strawberry rocket fuel to celebrate and it was very very good. I only had a couple of glasses, I didn't need any more, not drinking means I'm a bit of a lightweight when it comes to alcohol, I'd be a cheap date!

I woke with a surprisingly fresh head and looked forward to the first session of 2012. I had more venue choices this year, Ryton was under a thick layer of the cold hard stuff last winter as were the canals, only the rivers remained free of the icy grip we were experiencing. After mulling over whether to visit the river I decided on a spot of Piking at Ryton instead, the dull overcast weather and decreasing wind influenced my choice.

I stayed away from the main part of the lake as the surface wind would be towing all sorts of detritus along the bottom in the opposite direction, I opted to start at the back of the island. There were a few small fish moving around, probably Rudd, and there were a few thrashes on the surface near to one over hanging tree, I made a quick move to get into a better casting position in order to deploy two deadbaits either side of the feature, then, a long waiting game began.

Something was definitely stalking prey around the submerged branches of this tree as there were two more thrashes on top before it fell for one of the baits, it was a fairly dull fight but it soon woke up as it approached the net.

Bad photo but not a bad fish, twelve pound four ounces, a nice start to the year.

A small audience had gathered to watch as I unhooked the Pike, they made themselves useful when it came to taking a picture on my phone.

Typically this fish came right at the end of the session just as the light was fading so I didn't have a chance of another cast.