The Ringtail

I have not had much luck in the last few weeks with my fishing. In fact, I have only caught two fish since the end of the river closed season – a half-pound chub on the canal and a smaller-than-that pike at the LAS match at Newport Pagnell lakes. Nothing to write home about, but made all the worse in that I have lost at least four or five nice fish in that time.

Most of my time has been spent on the local canal since the end of the season (in UK canals and lakes don’t have to follow the same close season as rivers) and mostly been experimenting with soft plastic lures.

I’m starting to get a feel for how these need to be fished and have started to get more hits on these than my other trusted lures (mainly spoons and sliders), but have failed to land a fish so far. There is an interesting thread over on the Lure anglers forum about this and I think I need to tweak my approach a bit. I tend not to strike when using lures as the fish do hook themselves to a great degree. However, with soft plastics I think the pike can get a better grip on the bait and this stops the hook setting as the line tightens. On metal lures the lure can move through the pikes jaws and will tend to set the hooks home as the line tightens. A lift of the rod top is enough to make sure the hook sets and holds. With the soft plastic the line tightens but the lure stays where it is and can be got rid of if the pike opens its mouth to expel the lure. I’ve mentioned before that I also have trouble with pike hooked close in and I think this is the same kind of issue – when the line tightens it pulls upwards rather than across and won’t move the lure enough to set the hook.

All the above is very much In My Humble Opinion, but the pattern is obvious enough to make me feel there is something in it. I must have the presence of mind to strike and make sure I get a clean hold on the fish. It’s going to get me more fish on the bank, but will also ensure no fish get injured by throwing the hook and getting subsequently foul-hooked.

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