Lets Get This New Year Rolling

2013 is here, time to get the first fish of the year under my belt. Planned earlier this week to fish the coast, but the gap in the weather seemed to get smaller and smaller the closer we got to Friday, so played it safe and decided to hit the fresh stuff up for some Pike hunting instead. Fishing a West Cornwall Reservoir, the water clarity was looking good, and the surface was just being rippled by a building wind.

With the reservoir providing a bit more room to swing a lure, I was using the Daiwa morethan Branzino Urban Side Custom 8'7 5-24g rod, paired with a 2500 size Daiwa Certate, loaded with 0.8PE / 12lb Sunline Castaway. My wire trace was 10lb Drennen Super Soft, crimped direct to lure. A selection of heavy jig heads and and Ecogear soft lures completed the tackle list.

The lures rigged on a heavy jig head, meant I was able to bounce along the bottom on a slow retrieve, like a small bait fish feeding off the reservoir bed. The water was deep in the section I was fishing, but the set up still allowed good feel at distance. It was not long till the first Pike of the day was guided into my landing net and on the bank. Over a couple of hours, managed to land four Pike in total, which were all progressively bigger. The last fish of the day was a PB for me, but as I do not carry a measure or scales anymore, can't confirm a weight or size.

Pike #1

 Pike #2

Pike #3

Pike #4

The lure doing the catching today was the Ecogear 4.5" BTS shad in a couple of different colour patterns, rigged on 10 & 12g jig heads. The lure looks great in the water, especially being tripped along the bottom, activating the paddle tail.

So a great start to the new year, some decent action and an unofficial PB. This year I am looking forward to getting out onto the fresh water locations more and more. Next target is the first salty beast of the year, and hopefully sometime soon!