Tales of pike, and a 3 legged dog..

Baz T · #1 03-14-2010, 06:48 PM

After a cold and windy blank session late February on Exeter canal, I decided to give it another go yesterday.
Arrived at about 8.30 am, and decided to fish Lime Kilns area, as I hadn't really fished thar area before. It was quite busy with several anglers already fishing along the wall and also on some of the pegs towards the boat moorings. Most were after bream, tench or carp, but a couple of pike anglers in amongst them. Decided to fish one of the pegs opposite the boats.
I had various deadbaits - sardines, herrings, sprats, smelts and mackerel.
Typically, a bloke further up the canal (who had been there since 0630) caught a pike about an hour after I started fishing. Nice pike - all 25lbs of it!!!! A passing jogger was kind enough to take a pic of the angler and his pike. .I quickly ran up to have an envious look, and saw it was a beautfilly conditioned pike, not a mark on her. She swam off powerfully when released.
Well that got my hopes up!
However after a couple of hours, and still no runs, I decided to alter the depth I was fishing at, and rather than fishing on the bottom, I thought I would fish one float shallower, with the bait just off bottom. In the meantime I had also squashed up some used deadbait into very small pieces (stood on them) and chucked a couple of bits in as groundbait. I flicked my shallower float out directly in front of me, about 10ft from the margin, and had a run within two minutes. Ended up with a 7.5 lb pike, that actually gave a good account of itself. Quick photo, weighing, and back in the water..and it swam off strongly. I wonder if it was the groundbait, or the change in depth that triggered the run...guess I will never know.
Nothing further for the rest of the day, and I did move swim, though just along 20 yards or so, but no run there. The angler who caught the 25lb'er didnt get any other runs either, but then again I guess he was quite happy with just the one pike!

We also nearly had a drowned dog floating past the swims. It turns out a 3 legged dog (yes, I kid you not) had managed to get all the way up to our area, having ran off from its owner who was at Swans Nest carpark. A passing dog walker was walking past our swims, and when he got about 30 yards past us he heard a dog splashing and whimpering in the margins. He looked down and saw a dog struggling in the water. He reached down and helped it out. Poor thing was freezing, and it only had 3 legs (and no, the 4th leg wasnt bitten off by a huge pike!!), and due to it having only 3 legs it was struggling to get out the water. The dog walker put a lead on it, and said he would drop it off at the RSPCA. The dog owner cycled past abou 20 minutes later and was relieved when we told him his dog was safe, but wet, and enroute to the RSPCA.

It was a nice warm day for the most part, although the wind did pick up mid afternoon, and cooled things down. Packed up and left about 4 pm, and happy with just my 1 pike, as it had been a lovely day sitting by the water.

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