anglersmail.com 9 JULY | 41instead to work a roach through
deeper water. A swim with
some slack water on the inside
would allow me to cast into the
main current and work the bait
back in the same way as any
natural food would fall. That
was the plan, anyway.
My basic sliding fl oat with
a wire trace had just shot on
the line, allowing me to add or
subtract weight as any swim
dictated, and the small roach
was twitched back through the
swim. Takes can happen out
of nowhere when all hope has
been lost, so my concentration
levels were high.
The fi rst couple of casts
produced no interest, but it was
third time lucky, as a swirl just
below the surface signalled the
attention of a resident pike, and
I made an immediate strike,
to set the hooks before the
fi sh had a chance to turn and
swallow the bait.
An acrobatic fi ght ensued
as the hooked pike went
airborne several times, and the
hook could be seen just in the
scissors, before the fi sh was
ready for the net and gently
unhooked.
A comfortably double-fi gure
fi sh, there was time for a
quick photo and release with
minimum fuss. There’s no need
to drag out the weighing and
photographing of fi sh.
It was no surprise when the
performance was repeated on
the next cast with a smaller
predator. I’ve found that pike
will often wind themselves up
if there’s more than one in a
swim, and a second or third can
be caught very quickly.
Perch were now my
priority, and I decided to head
upstream. Trotting a lobworm
along a nearside tree-line,
the fl oat soon disappeared
and my strike met with the
familiar head-shake of a perch.
However, this wasn’t the size
of stripy that I was after, being
considerably smaller than the
bait.
Hoping that there would be
bigger fi sh in residence, I was
pleased to catch two more
fi sh, before the swim went very
quiet. As I persevered, the fl oat
fi nally buried and I was into
a bigger fi sh. As quickly as it
was hooked, it made a bid for
freedom and the hook pulled.It was disappointing, but
there’s always another day, and
I moved several miles upstream
in the hope of fi nding a bigger
perch to fi nish the evening.
An open-access sidestream
comes off the main river Test
and is tree-lined throughout, so
is darker and slightly deeper in
places. Running a fl oat fi shed
lobworm down the near and
far side gave me a handful ofchublets and a rogue trout, but
no sign of a perch, and all too
quickly the light faded and it
was home time.
It was a pleasing session, and
I was glad to fi nd a chance the
following day to head back. This
time a perch of 2 lb 6 oz was
landed, on the same trotted
lobworms. Maybe it was the
one that I’d lost previously.
I’ll never know.A nice double-fi gure River Test pike
for Ollie. Much of the Test is private,
but there are several stretches that
can be fi shed. Asking in local tackle
shops will point you in the right
direction. Note that the methods
Ollie describes can be used on all
rivers and streams to great effect.A smaller pike
unhooked in
the water.