Esthwaite

Well the time finally came to have a crack at Esthwaite again and i was really looking forward to this one. Having previously fished it late last summer and blanking i was aware it can be a hard place to crack at times. Mine and my boat partners thinking was that with the late summer the pike may still be in/around the shallows; possibly feeding on the bait fish that would be there to spawn.
  

The weather was glorious and as we headed off from the boat yard i was confident we may get a few. We headed to the right of the boat yard towards the bottom end. As soon as the sounder indicated that the water was shelving up we decided to have a few casts. I clipped on a new lure that i had yet to test and halfway through the retrieve notices a vortex behind the lure. I was unsure if this was caused by the tail fin so carried on the retrieve. BAM out of the clear water a low double stuck and completely missed the lure.
     Half an hour later and with no further action we decided it was time to try out the shallows at the far end. I managed another strike from a jack but we decided to move towards the first bay. Well what a move this proved to be, i would not like to imagine the amount of fish that was in and around that bay. I had a jack straight away on a rainbow trout glider i had made the following week. The real action came when i switched to another home made lure in perch pattern with a red belly. These new lures i have been playing around with an incorporate a fin like a 'Manta' i was, and am not trying to replicate the action of a 'Manta' because i have never landed a fish one one. The idea was to just get a reasonable glide but keep the profile as trout shaped as possible. The perch one also has a lovely dive and roll at the end of the glide that i must admit was probably the key to its success.
      Over the next few hours i landed 8 pike up to 17lb all but one on this same lure (a floater by the way, that only goes down about 1 1/2 foot. I lost count of the amount that missed the lure or followed, i changed to other lures and simply did not get a touch. On with the perch and Whack, i even had a hit trolling it behind the boat when we moved further down the lake.  I also lost a low double at the boat and saw a few very large pike stalking the lure down only to turn away at the last minute.

What a great day out and thanks must go to the Lure Anglers Society for putting on such a great day. The biggest fish of the day was 22lb, and quite a few doubles came out also. Here are a few images, i seemingly struggle to smile in photos with any degree of sincerity.

                                                        The battered floating gliding perch