Float Tube, My First Outing.

blackwater · #1 07-12-2010, 04:16 PM

Hello all,

Well last week seen the arrival of an oppurtunity for myself to get a float tube at better than half price, so i didnt let it pass me by! so i went for it, and for a mere £70 for tube, flippers, pump and buoyancy aid it was a bargain!

10th July

The 10th of July session had been planned for a while it was to be our first all night piking session. After a few failed attempts in England at night fishing for carp and cats i really wanted a fish in the dark.

We left home about 19.00pm and were fishing by 19.20 with 3 ledgered baits. Bivvies took a while to set up as it had been a while since we last had a go at it and probably cause i was thinking more about floating about in a lake where there are HUNREDS of hungry pike

. Well with that all out of the way it was time for me to get into my tube, with hesitance at the start i slowly lowered myself in and it wasnt long until i was afloat.

I did one lap of the sheltered bay without a rod to get used to steering and manouvering the craft, to go backwards which is the way you have to move around requires a motion like pedalling a bike the wrong way, its easy when you get used to it and then steering is just using one leg more than the other. It wasnt long before i was fairly confident on the water.

Now that i was comfortable on it i came back to the bank and picked up the float rod which was baited with a mackerel tail. I got myself across the bay and lodged myself up into a reed bed and cast my half mackerel down to a lilly bed, getting to the lilly bed from the bank requires precision casting but from the tube it is a simple task.

Wasn't long before something showed interest in my bait as the float starting cruising along the surface my heart near stopped, within 15 mins of getting on the tube for the first time i was about to hook into a fish

, I struck into the fish to fight it for about 10 seconds before it got off

i would say it was my fault as i was in a rush to land it cause i didnt want it diving into the lillies.

Well atleast i knew that the tube was going to be a success, so with the rod freshly baited i cast to the same spot and once again lodged myself up in the reeds and waited. Wasnt long before there was more interest in the bait, this time i was more calm and collected, so i struck into to feel a fairly solid fish and this time i knew it wasnt coming off, as the pike swam past me i seen that the hooks had a good hold. I will let the video talk you through the fight...:

^^VIDEO^^Click to play.

I never weighed the pike but i reckon it was about 9lbs possibly 10. As you can hear near the end of the video we got a run on the ledgered rods while i was being recorded, so my dad kept recording and james ran to deal with the other pike, which turned out a nice 6/7lber shown below.

Another fish later and darkness falling i stopped tubing and returned to the bank a very happy first time tuber i must say

. I can safely say that not at one point did i feel unsafe in the water, on a boat i can feel unsafe at times and dont usually enjoy fishing from them, but with the tube i enjoyed every minute of it.

With the other rods setup for the night, with Lamprey section, whole smelt and mackerel tail we headed to the bivvies to get away from the ever increasing wind and rain.

No Pictures of the fish caught during the night yet cause the photos are on my cousins phone, but i will do my best to get them ASAP.

It was 'Beep..., Beep..., Beep...' the whole night from the bite alarms with the wind but it was easy to tell a run from the wind so that was ok. At 00.30 we got our first pike another fish of 9lbs, then another of 6lbs at 01.30 the real surprise came at half 3 when we caught a nice eel of about 3lbs, it shouldn't really have been a shock to us but it was, it was the first we had had out of the lake, just goes to show they really are nocturnal. I got it on whole smelt which was also strange, fairly big bait i must say.

That was it for the night, no more pike until the morning when we had a few about the 6-8lb range. One shown below.

This was a great session for two reasons, first session in my new tube and first night session of the year both proving successful.

With the excitement of the eel we have decided to do another night session tonight to target them. So with Roach and Lobworms we will do our best to bag a few more!

Tightlines,

Justin

headless · #2 07-12-2010, 06:17 PM

Good report Justin

The tube looks fun, well done.

I think I will keep to the river bank myself LOL

Darrell

Maddison_Twatter · #3 07-12-2010, 07:12 PM

I wondered what you was on a bout when you said float tube. I though you was talking a bout some kind of float storage device lol !! I saw something on discovery where these guys wore something similar and jus let themselves drift down the amazon river casting as they went lol