Bass or Raptor....?

There was an interesting thread about Zander hooks on Idlers Quest the other day, I've no reason to change from the 2/0 Mustad Bass Ultimate Bass hook as it really has transformed my hook-ups and banked fish however I found some Size 1 ESP Raptors amongst my tackle which were recommended in the thread by Lee Fletcher.

They look ideal for the small 2.5" Roach deadbaits I've got in the freezer. Interestingly it has the same size wide gape at around 15mm but a 30mm shorter shank. The Raptor also has a much thicker gauge however and that's one of the reasons why I like the bass hook as it's very thin indeed, and ideal for penetrating the Zanders bony mouth. They are a size up than recommended but I'll give them a go and report back.

A whole raft of problems…

The weather is all over the shop isn’t it, unseasonably mild in the most part but then some a cold morning is followed by a mild one. To add to that the wind doesn’t know what it’s doing either. The evening before my short session after mulling a few things over in my mind I decided to try for a Chub under a nice looking raft on a regular stretch of the Warwickshire Avon I fish. The classic Chub hidey hole.

The river has dropped significantly in a week and it was back to clear again so not ideal conditions but hopefully the raft would offer the sanctuary and security for a big Chevin.

The swim is quite exposed so with the wind gusting I wanted to give it a couple of hours or so and then move to a more sheltered swim. Tactics were two superglued cavier pellets from Lone Angler on a simple running rig. Talking of superglue I’ve found the best to be the small precision tubes. Not so much the gluing ability more the fact the nozzle doesn’t seem to clog up and the top is easily removable even after being used >10 times. 

My best Chub is a rather pathetic 4lb 9oz, I’ve caught bigger in the past but sods law, ‘it was this big’ etc I’d not had scales to hand to weigh them. I’ve set myself a target for this winter, a 5lb’er at least and I’ve no doubt the local stretches I fish has them, no question.

It took ¾’s of an hour for the first bite and it was a half decent Chub, 3lb 14oz’s in fact and at first glance at its tail I thought it was the Chub I’d caught 5 times before, but this was twice its size and closer inspection there were differences. It had a clonker of a head so lots of growing to do, some February it would probably be what I’m after. 

 

I rested the swim for ½ an hour and tried a swim further upstream without even a nibble. I returned to the raft and within a second I had a bite and hooked a fish, only a small Chub though and unluckily for him a Pike came up from the depths and grabbed it, it happened to me last week too, there certainly seems to be lots around. I was only using 5lb line but it stood up the Pike far better than I thought, sadly the inevitable happened and it broke me off. The swim was ruined and with the raft significantly smaller I called it day.

A lucky escape...

For this session on the Warwickshire Avon I wanted to try a certain swim that was a sheltered and slack area away from the main flow. I’d seen some topping Roach there a few weeks ago and with it being reasonably deep at 5ft there was a chance of a decent Roach. The issue I could see was the minnows might get to the bread disc first. It’s stupidly mild for this time of year, 18 degrees when I left at 11.30am and there were even jaspers flying about. To counteract if the little nibblers were an issue I has some lobworms as back-up.

I’ve never really been excited by Pike and I’ve only had a couple of sessions where I’ve targeted them specifically but for this session and as a sleeper rod I decided to use up some sprats I had in the freezer. I swopped the 50lb braided leader I use my Zander fishing for some trebles and a wire trace but essentially it was the same set-up. The biggest Pike I’d caught came to an inch of Lamprey that I’d intended for Chub.

The bread hadn’t settled in the swim for more than a couple of minutes when the quiver whacked round and I was in to a fish. It was trying to get in to the marginal undercut bank so I know it was a Chub. They are such dirty fighters and the reason why I love catching them. It was soon in the net and not the biggest at 3lb on the nose, but it made up for it with a powerful fight. There are some massive Chub in this stretch and come winter time I’m aiming to up my P.B.

The sprat had been in position for about ½ and hour when the Delkim beeped in to the life and rollover indicator was steadily rising I lifted the rod and struck in to what seemed like a half decent fish. The short rod was bent double and the Pike jumped out of the water and started to tail walk and make a right mess of the swim. It felt a bit of a lump when I lifted up the net. Not the biggest of Pike but at 9lb 1oz it beat my personal best. An easy Pike to identify again as it has a large open sore.

It was only a short session but no Roach were banked, I managed a Jack pike and a 1lb Perch took at liking to the lobworm but as I was playing the fish a large Pike took it broadside in his jaws. It let go when it saw me but then as I was netting the Perch, it grabbed it again. Eventually after what seemed like ages it released its prey and I managed to land it. It didn’t seem too badly injured considering its ordeal, just a few puncture wounds. I released it up stream so it could see another day, it had a lucky escape that's for sure.