2.15 to 4.15pm Thames lock cut

The last time I was here I fished for roach with little success, but when dusk came the pike went crazy. Each time I threw in some groundbait the bleak would leap from the water chased by the perch, and then one or two roach would surface followed by a massive explosion from 2 or 3 pike. Given that, today, we've had 3 days of very mild weather after a cold spell, and the air pressure is high, I had hopes esox would be in similar active mood.

But no, it was a different river, with no surface evidence of fish at all. I started off roach fishing, mainly to attract the pike, but nothing liked my maggot or bread. So I put the roach tackle away and fished a deadbait on the bottom for half an hour, also with no success. You may ask, why didn't I have the deadbait out while I fished for roach? Simply that I was a bit restricted for space which affected my field of vision, and I didn't want to miss a bite on the pike rig and get a deep hooked fish.

So the magic hour arrived, and I switched to wobbled smelt. About third cast there was a fish on, I assumed a small pike, but it turned out to be a nice perch. In fact it looked huge, easily 3 lbs, but the scales said 2lb 12 oz. Still my best perch from the Thames, and best fish this year, so I was very pleased.

But it had swallowed the bait right down. With 2 trebles I didn't know how on earth I would get the hooks out, but somehow they came. But perhaps I should switch to a single hook rig for this type of fishing?