2 Sessions, 2 Twenties!! I call it skill some call it luck you decide!! Haha

[blackwater]

Hello Everyone,

Well what else can i say, but I am Over the moon! I haven't been happier for a long long time

Session 1

It all started on Wednesday night, with the clouds starting to cover the sky and the light levels dropping i got on the phone to my cousin to organise a session. Armed with Mackerel, Roach and Smelt for bait we headed to our local hot spot as it had started to fish well recently, it had been going through a bad patch and we had a few blanks in a row but it really was looking promising from the off...

My new surface lure fetish had lead to my dad treating me to a new one when he was picking my bait up on Wednesday morning, as i had lost my last one on Monday past. Was a nice present that i wasn't expecting. It was an American popper style lure with some lure-flash tied into the last treble, really is a stunning looking piece of kit.

Started off fishing 2 rods tight to the bottom, as far as i can remember baited with roach and mackerel tail. Also had 2 floated baits, both with smelt, Fished tight to a lilly bed that holds numerous pike so all was looking good! We also had the spinning rod set up with the popper on to give it a cast at anything that moved or stirred up the surface.

Well there was action first of all on the float, it wasnt really like a take or a run it was strange, was swaying side to side. Then we seen what was happening, pike were attacking it! this is the first time i have seen it happening, Anyone else had this happen to them?

So it was action stations and out came the popper!! a few casts and nothing, but i kept plugging away and BANG! the surface erupted and we were in to a nice pike, we thought it was a small double the whole way to the bank but turned out it was just shy of it at 9lbs, was my biggest fish off the top to that date.

I am sorry about this, i know i had a few more nice pike between that and the big one but cant remember much about them! They definitely fell to the float fished baits, thats all i know!

Ok, now the fun begins!

Once again the float was being bombarded by a pike! It looked a few pounds in weight, nothing massive, so out came the popper and the spinning rod to try and pick it up.

First cast.... Popping it past the float and, WHACK! A half decent pike came up and took it on the turn. The wave it made, told us it was a half decent pike. The fight was endless, kiteing around as it wished, splashing about, diving to lillies, taking off in crazy runs, diving deep, you name it it tried it! apart from tail walking .

I am in the process of editing the video that i will upload later on at some stage, a few choice words to remove from it to make it family friendly!! i am sure you know how i feel though, these things just sort of happen when you hit into a twenty!

Well the fish was nearly beat, its head was above the water so i handed the rod over and gilled it! Happy days it was on the bank.

Well hooked by the popper, the pike was almost just holding onto it rather than actually being properly hooked, so was lucky we actually managed to land it!

Weighed, a few photos taken and released to fight another day!

Here are a few better snaps :









That was it for the night! You can imagine how happy i was, no need to worry that we didnt get anymore for the rest of the night, although we watched our floats dancing about into the darkness but nothing really came of it.

Session 2 (this evening)


The outlook

Another unexpected session, We mulled over going here, going there, we were setting ourselves up to go all over the place! but we just ended up going back to the same venue as wednesday night, our old faithfull!!

With the bait from the previous session thawing out we set up again as we did previous...

First fish this time came to the float, was a very very hard fighting fish, nothing huge but gave a great account of its self, which i must say all the fish did tonight. It fell to mackerel tail beside the lilly bed.

We had a few lost fish on the ledgers down to human error i must say, but that's fishing for you! these things happen

We landed a few more nice fish, in the 4-6lbs range and again they fought like trogans.

Beep, beep, BEEEEPPP that was the sound of the alarm as we got a roaring take that left the rod shaking. So up i got and struck into it, felt a fair lump of a fish shaking its head like a good one from the start. When i realised it was a double the other rods came out of the water and i was free to fight it as a pleased, it came in close and was fought fairly close to the bank for the first few minutes from where i could see the smelt hanging off a treble at the end of the mouth, in seeing this the clutch was loosened up immediately to save the dreaded hook pull! A few more kiteing runs and a few heart stopping moments as it dived for lilly cover but i survived and slipped my hand beneath its gills and it was ours!!

Still not really thinking it was a 20 we weighed it again and she was! just over the 20, about 2 or 3 oz heavier than the previous fish from wednesday.

Some action photos :











Well that was action packed!! Now here is the finished product :







Everyone wanted a pic with her, really was a beauty!

Went away like a good'un, giving me a shower in the process

A few more fish after this, the best being my brothers, about 7-8lbs:



Well what can i say? what a week i have had, 2 Sessions, 2 twenties, that really is hard to beat! Skill or luck? you can decide!!

The videos will be along shortly after i convert and edit them!

Enjoy,

Justin

[Sir Blanks-alot]

What a couple of sessions!! Well done buddy, You must be doing something right!!!

[Dubbed Squirrel]

Skillfully lucky? Great fish and photos Justin. You must be over the moon, with 2 x 20lbs+fish. Can`t wait to see the video. Well done.

Peter

[fishypaul]

excellent angling justin , very impressive piking mate

[scottish_and_mental]

Your just showing off now mate

I hope you had the sense to charge a fiver for a pose with YOUR fish !
well done to you and your wee bro
Great session and lovely pics as usual..

[NICK R]

well done mate
a great result , look forward to seeing the video


Bit of advice
Best not to stand up with fish pic 4 and the last one i think

[blackwater]

Thanks guys, the video is on its way, slowly making progress! i am just editing out the parts were we got slightly excited!

[blackwater]

Thats the video, i just hope it works! no idea what its going to do...

Give it a go and tell me if it does or not!

[pingu]

superb, really cant add too much more
video worked fine as well

hope you brought a lottery ticket as well, its definately your week

dave

[blackwater]

Originally Posted by pingu

superb, really cant add too much more
video worked fine as well

hope you brought a lottery ticket as well, its definately your week

dave

Now thats a good idea!



Seems like i missed a 'BEEP' on the video! sorry people