Warwickshire Avon - Androphagy and Aboulomania

"So Sam where to you want to go fishing ?"

"I want to fish the bleak swim, where there is millions of them  and use the Perch bobber rod and try and catch a Big Perch!"

"Suits me, you see Autumn is a great time for big Perch and there are some big ones around there because of the amount of bleak there are"

I rarely fish live baits for predators because well, just not my thing but here there are bait fish in numbers and a handful of maggots brings the bleak to the surface where they are in large shoals.

With a whip and a pint of reds it would be a bite a chuck but this would be catch one and then use it as bait. Their silver sheen is hard to miss in this relatively clear water still, I'm sure one or two Sergeants would be up for biting. 

I've taken Sam from when he was 4 years old and he really is a chip off the old block which is encouraging. A trip to Tunnel Barn would be last on the angling agenda and he loves variety in his fishing which seems to lack in many anglers these days.

He's a thinking angler too, working out where certain species will tend to hold up, and the methods and tactics required to catch a specific target. 

The light Perch set-up was thought out by Sam himself too. "We don't need anything to heavy for perch and, we need to make sure we use wire not line as there are Pike here too and Pike can bite through line.

Ever since I've started to take him fishing, after a year or three eventually he started to absorb the what I would consider smaller details and you could see he wanted to know more and more about fishing and was actively asking specific questions to help us on the next shared session.

It was a fairly quiet session to be honest, heck even the bleak were not in the numbers they usually are. Blue skies didn't help matters but eventually we started to catch some Perch. Nothing huge but they were up for a feed for sure.

A 2-3 pounder came out of nowhere and followed the bleak in on the retrieve but that was only big Perch showing. Still Sam was enjoying himself on the float rod though, and somehow managing to catch 2 minnows on the same hook.

Unbeknown to us though a Pike was waiting in the wings and when Sam was playing another 8oz perch the Pike grabbed it broadside and wouldn't let go. On a 1.5TC rod it was going a good fight as well, the fish taking like on the reasonably tight clutch.

Played a blinder though the Tangleator and I did the honours for him and both fish were landed. Even the perch went back safely despite its ordeal and to be fair I was fully expecting to see more damage, but no it had a lucky escape. I just need to work on his confidence in handling fish with teeth, he'll get there, I'm sure.