why me

finally thought i'd cracked my blanking for the year.

fishing a very small plug for perch the tip banged over and all hell broke loose.

oh buuger thinks i, i've hooked a pike.
5 minutes later after having the fish shoot up and down the bank like a lunatic, i slip the net under a perfectly lip hooked mid double COMMON CARP, AAAAAAAAAGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!

what's going on where are all the pike and how come i can't catch a perch for love nor money.

Well it's still quite chilly in various parts of the country. We caught Pike on Sunday, which were still carrying spawn, although there were signs that the deed was about to begin anytime. S'wfully late in the year but it seems it's not TOO late. I thought we were looking at a high mortality, if things didn't kick off.
The Perch usually spawn shortly afterwards but again, it's still a wee touch nippy and Perch were never notorious feeders when it's cold. They normally have a couple of short feeding windows though. When? Well your guess is as good as mine. Dusk and dawn are a good bet.
Give the Pike another 2 weeks and they'll be hitting almost anything that lands in the water. I'll be on the sub-surface lures or floating baits for wobbling but for now, jigs seem to be the order of the day but it's mostly jacks that are coming to the bank.
The Perch shouldn't be far behind but they'll take a twitched lobworm, under a float or a slowly worked spinner. You might have to work awfully hard though for one or two fish.

same down south,the pike have spawned,are recovered and feeding.the perch are near spawning,but not hungry.

on my local river,i`ve seen the roach looking tatty after spawning.i wasn`t fishing(just in case people get the wrong idea!),i witnessed them shoaled up and feeding downstream of a treated sewage outfall.
lots of roach fry to feed the little pike fry soon!

in spring 2004, on the local canal,a mate of mine hooked what looked like a mid double mirror using a jerkbait,it was hooked in the mouth,but shed the lure and was lost.
carp are well known to target fry and fish spawn in the spring,maybe they target smaller species which are knackered after spawning,hence the chasing of lures.

Had a nice perch off the Grand Union last week on a small plug last week but been quiet otherwise.

Only had Jacks on the pike front but thats all I ever catch off there anyway!

My mate took a nice 2lb 9oz Perch last week, on a deadbait Trout, intended for Pike. I don't know how to add a link on this forum, so you'll just have to copy/paste, if you want a look.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Poach/AndyCrofts2lb9ozPerch.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Poach/AndyCrofts2Lb9ozPerchWithDeadbait.jpg

that's a nice perch, thanks for reminding me what they look like.

it was a very small crankbait, about an inch long, i've had it for years and never had a touch on it till then.
don't know why i keep using it it just looks right for a small fry to me and always makes me think a perch will have it when they're fry feeding.

I had a similar thing happen a few years ago CC, freezing November night, I'd just returned a 5lb Zed and was waiting for its 15lb Mum to take my 2oz Bream livebait when all hell broke loose. After a fantastic fight, I landed a 19lb 4oz River Carp! I won't say I wasn't chuffed but during the fight I was thinking of who to ring to photograph the 20lb Zed I thought I was attached to!!! lol

Rgds,
Davester

First sustained bit of sunshine and the big fish moved into shallow water, spawned (thank gawd) and finally, one took one of my baits. This was the best of 3 fish.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v507/Poach/Andywitha18lber02.jpg