Friday night finally came around again, it hadn’t rained all week and as I walked through the door after work the future Mrs Russell was halfway through a movie I had no interest in watching.
What a shame, I gùess I’ll have to go fishing…..
Packing light once again I was ready to really try and up my count of perch per session after my 2 sets of 2 so far this season.
It didn’t take long at all to get off of the mark. The ‘magic lure’ did it’s trick in no time. I had a good first cast over a really shallow area in the canal and a follow by a reasonable fish at the last second. A few casts later over the same area and. my first fish was hooked and on its way to the bank.
My next cast I had a really good bite and I thought I was in with a little line taken before the lure popped out of the fishes mouth. The this was not a perch based on my experience with catching them over the last year.In my head I was thinking it was perhaps a little Jack pike. I cast over the same area ready to strike and hook the fish at the faintest bite and to my surprise there was a knock, a real head shake and then I felt as though I was well and truly snagged. I paused for a moment and slackened the line down slightly to see if the fish might run again. It didnt move. I was now getting worried. The lure I was using had 2 trebles and now I was concerned that I may have a fish on which has managed to snag itself on the bottom with the spare treble.
I have only lost 1 fish leaving a lure in fishes mouth before and that was a pretty bad feeling so I really didn’t want to do it again. (For the record, studies show that the majority of fish manage to unhook lures even barbed within a few days).
I tried a few different angles and gently put pressure on the fish and it started to fight back and I could feel the head shaking but I wasn’t recovering any line.
I had all but given up and was starting to put a tiny bit more pressure expecting the line to give at some point. Then all of a sudden, the fish ran. The Rod went over again and for a few seconds I lifted into the fish again and held on hoping the 4lb fluro mainline would hold as the fish took line.
It did and a few seconds later the fish appeared on the surface about 15 yards away from me looking very still.
At this point I had no idea what it was. It wasn’t a pike or a perch which were the only fish I have caught on the canal since moving here in October.
I had been told there weren’t really any other predators around and if it were a zander, chub, trout etc. I’m almost certain I would be able to recognise the fish from colour and profile. As I reeled the fish in and it got closer it turned it’s head towards me and I almost froze in shock.
It was a catfish! I walked a few meters down the tow path to a spot where I wouldn’t be in the way of any passers by and quickly unclipped my landing net and unhooking mat from my rucksack. I held the net nice and low and slowly pulled the fish towards it. Just as the fish got near the net it kicked as if to start another run but I was able to get the net around and up just in time to lift the fish clear of water.
I was pretty sure this was the same fish that gave me such a good bite a few cast earlier and although not a huge catfish by anyone’s standards it was a lot of fun trying to land it on a 0.5-7g rod with 4lb line and easily my biggest fish of any species this year so far.
The lure was pretty deeply hooked so I used long nose medical style disgorgers to release the now very bent treble hooks from the fishes mouth before putting the fish in my net ready to call the EA as per licence instructions.
Unfortunately just as the net hit the water, the fish kicked and managed to escape the net 😉.
I had 2 further small perch over the coming hour doubling my best haul of the season on fresh water so far.
Next I think needs to be a bigger perch or a little Jack pike to add to the species count. But for now I am very happy to have ticked this awesome predator off the list.
If you want to find out more about catching UK fish on lures, I strongly recommend you try this great book here which provides info on everything you might want to know about lure fishing in the UK and how to catch a huge variety of species
How To Trick A Fish 