The desire is well and truly back..
Entry posted by tomhaggett
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7th Feb 13, canalised stretch of the Kennet.
I finally managed to get back out with the lure rod. Spare time is at a real premium with my new job and juggling my social life and fishing is proving pretty difficult.
I ventured back to the same stretch once again, largely because most other stretches are all but un-fishable due to the flow and water levels. I walked the entire stretch without finding a swim that I could properly work my baits in until coming to the end of the beat where the canal and river met. This had created a lovely slack which to be honest looked almost too good to be true.
Full of anticipation I flicked the shad into the slack, just off an overhanging tree and bumped the lure across the bottom a couple of times before the rod tapped down and the resulting strike was met with a pleasing thump and a shake of the unseen predators head. I'd been hoping to get into some good perch on the lures and very early on in the fight I spotted a set of bright red fins flash a few feet down.. oohh. A short but nerve-wracking fight later and le perch was in the net.. it looked a good'un too. After slipping it into a sling, zeroing the flyweights and hoisting it aloft I watched the needle sail around to 2lb 15oz and 8 drams.. perilously close to the 3lb barrier that I'd struggled to reach the previous year. I got a lad that was carping on the lake behind me to take a few pics which came out fantastically.
I carried on down the canal for a bit, exploring more than anything as I'd not ventured this far along the stretch before. I had a few flicks in a pool where an overflow was pushing into the canal and landed a jack of 5lb or so on the first cast. The rod coped admirably, if anything it was a little stronger than I'd hoped. Only one thing for it, I'll have to buy an ultralight and have a proper go for the K&A perch before the end of the season haha. Nothing else occurred, despite revisiting the successful swim on dusk.
I'm absolutely gagging to get back out there again and after politely sacking off a young lady that I was supposed to be spending a romantic weekend with it looks like I have 2 days of fishing ahead of me 
. The conditions don't look too bad either...
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